Mad About Spanish Food

When Tony and I got married 13 years ago, we received a slow cooker as a wedding present. It's big enough to cook food for a small country, and we tend to have a lot of barbecues and salads in Spain, so it's languished on the top shelf in the kitchen for the last five years.

Now we're in the UK, and I'm spending several hours a day at the hospital as my daughter recovers from her stroke. For the first, chaotic week, we survived on takeaways and the kindness of friends who passed in casseroles and curries, but now we have to think long term. I went into Argos last week and paid over £15 for a slow cooker, because that was the easiest way I could see to ensure we had healthy, home cooked meals without the necessity for me to start cooking at 7.30 every evening.

Early results are very successful - I've cooked beef in beer, coq au vin and a slow cooked version of my legendary vegetable soup. One thing that occurs to me is that I can also adapt some of my favourite Spanish recipes to suit slow cooking. After all, many recipes use cheap cuts of meat, and benefit from long, slow cooking. Also, I can turn dried chick peas into wonderful things. I've just found this recipe for Spanish style chicken, and I think I'll get that cooking today. I have all the ingredients on hand, and it will give me a taste of home.

When we eventually get back to Spain, I think I'll dust off our wedding present and try out a few ideas. One thing that strikes me is that it will be less  uncomfortable running the slow cooker in the middle of summer, so when we're tired of salads, I can cook up a chicken casserole without having the oven adding to the already high ambient temperature. It's curious how good ideas come out of bad happenings, isn't it?