Hodgepodge

A delightful old English word, dating back over 400 years – synonyms include gallimaufry, hash, mishmash and jumble. But if you are Italian, then the word is miscuglio

Last week, a friend gave me a thank-you gift for some sewing I had done for her. ‘This is quite unnecessary’ I said ‘I knew you’d say that’ she replied, grinning. She handed me a pretty pink carrier bag. Inside, I found some miscuglio

It is a delicious, traditional Italian herb mixture of garlic, oregano, basil, thyme, onion and red bell pepper; all very simple ingredients with an amazing combined flavour. Incredibly versatile – they suggest you can

• Make a dip using half sour cream and half mayonnaise
• Add to tomato sauce for pasta
• Shake in omelettes
• Sprinkle on baked fish with balsamic vinegar
• Great on pasta with a good extra virgin olive oil
• Make a delicious salad dressing with your favourite extra virgin olive oil and vinegar
• Mix with mayonnaise and spread on a sandwich

I used some of it to top some stuffed courgettes – and it certainly added great flavour. I think it will be using it in a pasta sauce, and also making some into a dip before too long. You don’t need much – so I hope the jar will last ages.

The bag of goodies also contained Costa Coffee [always enjoyable] some Champagne Mustard, and some Strawberry and Black Pepper Vinaigrette [the latter has already been drizzled over a lunchtime salad…delicious!] These things [apart from the coffee] all came from ‘Oil and Vinegar’. They have an O&V shop in Leicester now.

We have occasionally been in their Norwich store and feasted on their free samples – but it is really lovely to be treated to some of their products like this. Thanks A – a really thoughtful gift which will bring much pleasure. And I have learned a new word-miscuglio!