OMELET 'A LA MENTA"

I went to Milan earlier this week to launch Inspiring Girls Italy with our partner there, the business association ValoreD. What an amazing day! You can see pictures in my instagram (miriamgonzalezdurantez) but  I could have stayed for hours listening to the volunteers telling their life journeys to the girls. So utterly inspiring. I came back mesmerised by the professionalism, energy and strength of Italian women - the kind of strength that comes from the inside, a 'serene strength'. Thanks so-so much to ENI, Intesa Sanpaolo and Courriere de la Sera, who sponsored our event there and also to the Minister of Education for backing us. We are already in four countries and we set all this up from scratch, fancy that!

The night before the event I was taken to a restaurant, where they served omelet 'a la menta', which I had never tried beforehand  It was the kind of moment when you wonder: why, oh why, didn't I think about this beforehand?! so simple but so very gorgeous. The freshness of the mint with the warmth of the egg and the parmesan - a revelation. I am prone to liking any recipes with eggs, but this... I just love it.

All you need is:

- 2 eggs
- a couple of spoons of olive oil (use a small frying pan)
- a pinch of salt ( not too much as the cheese is salty)
- a tablespoon and a half of grated parmesan cheese
- two teaspoons of finely chopped mint leaves

Heat the oil in the frying plan. Beat the eggs (not too much) with the salt and the mint. Pour the egg mixture onto the pan. After 30 seconds stir it a couple of times so that you get 'folds' in the omelet. Sprinkle the parmesan on top. wait one more minute and fold the omelet in half as you normally do with any omelet. It should all take barely 2 minutes so that the omelet is moist inside. Eat it immediately. Just heavenly.

STRAWBERRY CRUMBLE

A journalist friend (yes, they do exist, in fact many of them…but for some reason none in the Daily Mail!😉) has asked me to bake a Brexit crumble.  This particular recipe comes from the wonderful Nigella Lawson and calls for almonds and vanilla, but over the years we have cut down on the sugar, replaced the vanilla with lemon zest and the almond with hazelnuts (only because a year ago I went through a time when I compulsively added hazelnuts to almost everything - they are particularly good with mackerel and orange I must say) The crumble, just like Brexit, seems fine on the outside, though if you look attentively you can see that there is a mess bubbling up inside. And it will definitely fall apart when you serve it no matter how hard you try. Though to be perfectly honest, I am not sure the messiest of the crumbles does any justice to the mess we are all in.

You need:
- 300 g strawberries
- 100 g sugar
- 100 g hazelnuts (ground 30 g thinly and the remaining 70 g coarsely)
- 110 g plain flour
- zest of a lemon
- 75 gr cold butter
- a tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees

Cut the strawberries in half. Put them on a baking dish (you can also bake this in individual dishes) Sprinkle them with 30 g of sugar, the 30 g of thinly ground hazelnuts and the lemon zest.

Separately mix the flour and baking powder  with the cold butter (diced). Rub the butter with your fingers for 5 minutes. The add the remaining sugar and Hazelnuts. Tip this on top of the strawberries. Bake for 30 minutes (22 minutes if you bake this in individual dishes)