Family Matters
As family members fly the nest, it’s time to get creative with your home cooking
Carina Contini finds time to try out trickier recipes like the perfect calamari
SQUID is one of those ingredients that you never think of as being Scottish. You associate it more with warmer waters like the Mediterranean, don’t you? But squid is a fish that is a bit like me – an Italian Scot.
People are often surprised I don’t speak with an Italian accent. I suppose it’s confusing as my family have been here for over 100 years and I was born and educated in Edinburgh. I can’t speak Italian fluently, but my name and my passions are so truly Italian.
Squid are more like me than I realised. They like both warm and cold climates so, from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, they’ll be happy anywhere. Maybe the reason they’re happy anywhere is they tend to be found in large numbers. They’re a big family fish. It’s being together with our families that really gets us through the good times and the tough times.
Whether it’s in Scotland, Italy or Spain, I’m equally happy if my family is with me.
September saw two of our big babies moving away from home. They’ve started the next stage of their journey and it’s strange, but it’s exciting that their journeys are taking shape.
November is looking exciting for us, too. We’ll have more time with my last baby, Arianna – who has had the least of my time over the last few years – and a little excitement too that Victor and I will be spending more time together. Don’t get me wrong, I miss them hugely, but we’ll be back together for Christmas, and this year more than ever, we’ll be looking forward to that.
More time together and a little bit more time off gives me time to cook more at home, as if I needed an excuse. I cook all the time, but I go into autopilot. Having fewer people to cook for means I can experiment a little more and cook things that have to meet fewer tastes.
Trying to find favourite dishes that all five of us love can be a challenge but now we’re down to three, the odds are far better. And having a smaller number to cook for makes it easier to do trickier things – like squid.