Page 26 of Kept
‘Now and Always.’
Tomato Sauce
Mother Sauce 4: roux and tomato
Ingredients:Butter, flour, tomato, garlic, herbs
Method:
Cook butter, add garlic if desired, add vegetable stock to form a roux, slowly add tomato puree and stir, add whole parsley leaves, and reduce on low heat for one hour, or until thick.
Strain out herbs and lumps before serving.
For a milder sauce, use onions instead of garlic, crush the parsley leaves to infuse the flavour through the sauce.
8
“I am so very sorry, Josephine, I’m an arse, please, can you ever forgive me?”
I look up from the breakfast counter and frown – this is not the reception I was expecting.
“James?”
“For standing you up. I’m so terribly sorry; after I took so long to convince you to have coffee with me too.”
“You stood me up?” I frown.
“You are right to torture me,” he shakes his head and turns away, “I deserve it.”
“No, James,” I laugh, “wait. I’m not torturing you. I thought I was going to be apologising to you – I had a fright at home and had to call the police, and by the time I had settled down, I realised I couldn’t meet you. But I didn’t have your phone number, so I couldn’t reach you to let you know. I tried the bar, but they said they didn’t recognise anyone of your description.”
“And they didn’t,” he turned back to me, smiling ruefully, “because I wasn’t there.”
“What happened?” I hand him a croissant and watch as he bites into its buttery richness, piping hot, straight from the oven.
“You first,” he says, his lips glossy with butter.
“Oh, it was, well, there has been someone lurking around our apartment block, apparently, and last night I went into the back alley to feed the cat, and a man all dressed in black, tried to grab me, I think. I don’t know, the more I think back on it, the less sure I am.”
“What were you doing in an alley at night?” he frowns.
“You sound exactly like Blake,” I laugh, “I was feeding a cat.”
“Blake?”
“Uh, Officer Reynolds, the cop who came when I put the distress call in.”
“I see. Are you in the habit of being on a first-name basis with the police?”
“Just this one.”
I want to change the subject quickly. I’m not the two-timing type, and I feel strangely guilty about setting up a date with one man while I was standing up another.
“Your turn.”
“There was an accident in my street, you know I live just up the road from the restaurant La Boufantania?”
I blush and look down, busy myself making his hot chocolate, so he doesn’t see my expression, “yes.”
