The model and actress Lisa Faulkner won 'Celebrity Masterchef' in 2010. She lives just a few streets away from her sister, Victoria Scriven, who is a full-time mother.
Lisa: Our family has always loved food. Grandma and Granddad used to ring us every Wednesday and their first question was always, 'What have you had to eat today?' Victoria and I always ended up in the kitchen because that's where Mummy was. We'd do our homework at the table and end up watching her cooking. She died of cancer when I was 16 and Victoria was 14. We took on her role – there was nothing else we knew how to do. When Daddy went shopping he'd buy the same things every week, and we'd cook from it, mainly comfort food, stuff we had learnt from Mummy. Toad-in-the-hole was one dish – I could make it in my sleep now. I was so scared when I went on Celebrity Masterchef and was faced with all the ingredients. But when I saw a chicken leg I thought, 'I'm just going to do chicken and mash, because then I'll feel like I'm at home.' Cooking makes me feel safe.
Victoria and I speak all the time about food. She'll ring me, even though she really doesn't need to, to ask 'Do you think this chicken will be OK?' She helped a lot with my cookbook. I didn't care if nobody bought it; it was just important to have a book of Mummy's and both grandmas' recipes.
Victoria: I remember Lisa and I making soda bread, scones and Yorkshire pudding with Nanna every Sunday. At home, Mum loved cooking, especially for dinner parties, and she'd get one of us cleaning the silver while the other whipped the cream. When I went through a vegetarian phase she bought all these cookery books and said, 'If you're going to be vegetarian, you've got to do it properly,' so I'd help her with the meals. When she died we both wanted to look after Dad. That's when we started to cook seriously. When we left home and I had my daughter, Lola, at 24, Lisa was still partying so there were times when she'd come round feeling dreadful, and I'd make her dinner. The kitchen became somewhere to go when you needed to be looked after.
Because I've got three kids I suppose I'm more of an it's-a-bit-of-a-chore-but-I'll-do-it cook. I love it when I don't have to cook. Lisa winning Celebrity Masterchef inspired me. Whereas before I might have thought, 'Oh, that's a faff, I'm not going to make that,' I now think, 'Lisa would do it,' and I ring her up to ask for help. We cook at each other's houses a lot, especially when Dad and Nanna visit. Nanna loves a roast dinner and we always make a nice pudding when Dad's coming.
Mummy's toad-in-the-hole
serves three to four
175g (6oz) plain flour
2 tsp mustard powder
4 eggs
450ml (¾ pint) whole milk
500g (1lb) sausage meat
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 apple, peeled and grated
4 streaky bacon rashers, chopped
1 tbsp freshly chopped sage
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
90ml (3½fl oz) olive oil
onion gravy, to serve (optional)
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
First, make the batter. In a bowl, mix the flour (I always sieve it twice), the mustard powder and some salt and pepper. Whisk the eggs into the milk in a separate bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the egg and milk mixture. Beat until mixed and set aside.
Mix the sausage meat, shallot, grated apple, bacon, sage, garlic and some salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Shape the mixture into nine little balls.
Heat 15ml (1 tbsp) of the olive oil in a frying-pan and fry the balls for three to four minutes until they are just browned, turning over as and when needed.
Pour the remaining olive oil into a 3.6 litre (6 pint) ovenproof dish and put it in the preheated oven for about seven to 10 minutes until the oil is smoking hot. Add the balls and pour over the batter. Put the dish back in the oven for 40 minutes until it is puffed up and golden brown, and the batter surrounding the sausage meat has set.
Serve the toad-in-the hole with onion gravy, if you like.
