CIDER & SEAWEED

Cider & seaweed loaf

250g wholemeal spelt flour

250g strong white bread flour

1 tsp salt

14g dried yeast

3 tbsp chopped dried seaweed

150ml sour milk / buttermilk

1tsp honey

250ml cider

Warm the milk and honey

Add to the flours, salt, yeast & seaweed

Add the cider and combine

Knead on a floured surface 1 min and return to the clean bowl

Cover and leave in warm place 1 hour

Knead 1 min and leave a further 30 mins

Shape into a ball and put on a floured baking sheet, dust with plenty more flour

Bake 240°C for 25mins

By mid-morning it would be stained with butter and honey. 

BANANA & BLACK GARLIC

Baked banana

1 banana

Juice & zest of ½ lime

Drizzle honey

15ml rum

1 clove black garlic, finely chopped

Peel the bananas and halve lengthways. Sprinkle the lime zest, juice and drizzle the honey.  Scatter with garlic and pour over rum. Put in an oven preheated to 220°C and bake for 15 minutes.

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl

With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there

She would merengue and do the cha-cha

Copacabana Lyrics

LEMON & CHEESE

Lemon pickle & Wensleydale cheese on crusty bread

* 1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds

* 1 tsp cumin seeds 

* Small handful curry leaves

* 2 unwaxed lemons, chopped

* 3tbsp caster

* 1 small chilli, deseeded & finely sliced

Fry the mustard & cumin till they start to pop

Add the curry leaves for 1 minute then the rest of the ingredients

Cook for 10 minutes

Jamie magazine Sep/Oct 2012

The geometric, herringbone parquet flooring did very little to absorb the sound of the vacuum cleaner, TV and sounds of the 60’s which caused some heated discussion among the neighbours in the multi-occupancy flats.   

BLACK OLIVE & DARK CHOCOLATE

Black olive & dark chocolate tapenade

100g pitted black olives

10g melted dark chocolate

15g of anchovy fillets, drained

2 cloves of black garlic

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

½ tsp wholegrain mustard

Black pepper

1 tsp finely chopped rosemary

2 tsp Cocoa Nibs

Finely chop & mix all the ingredients

Artist, typographer, designer, critic, children’s author & amateur botanist; Peter Campbell.

GREEN OLIVE & WHITE CHOCOLATE

Green Olive & white chocolate scones

* 40g white chocolate, chopped

* 40g green olives. Chopped

* 10 scratches of nutmeg

Add to a scone recipe for 8

On a Saturday morning in November 1966, Tom Phillips picked a book at random from a pile of novels at a house-clearance sale in Peckham-rye.  Phillips had never heard of WH Mallocks A human document (1892), but he liked the title & handed over 3 pence.  Back at his kitchen table, Phillips began a process of remaking or treating the book by painting over most of each page with acrylic ganache or ink, he left a visible stream of text which, in dialogue with the images he added told a new story.  

Adam Smyth writing about A humument: A treated Victorian novel 

EGG & APPLE

Apple salsa & fried egg on toast

* ¼ Granny Smith apple, finely chopped

* ¼ cucumber, finely chopped

* Small handful of coriander, roughly chopped

* 1 spring onion, finely chopped

* ¼ green chilli, finely chopped

* ½ lime

* Salt & pepper

* Toast

* Fried egg

Mix all the salsa ingredients together & pile onto toasted sourdough

Top with a fried egg

“A short back and sides please - actually just shave it all off”

COCONUT & ANGOSTURA BITTERS

Coconut water & angostura bitters

Add a couple of drops of bitters to a glass of coconut water

It feels the right sort of day for resolutions and starting a new book

AVOCADO & MARMITE

Avocado and marmite toast

Brush the bread with olive oil & place on a hot griddle pan, repeat on the other side

Thinly spread marmite & top with avocado

Sprinkle with chilli flakes & lemon

“Bring the kids over and they can make playdough”

THE PUNCH

CHESTNUT HONEY & SCHEZWAN PEPPER

Roast chestnuts with chestnut honey and Schezwan pepper

* Chestnuts
* Chestnut honey
* Schezwan pepper

Roast the chestnuts 
Toss in a frying pan with honey and pepper

I'm looking for buttons to go on that tailored tweed jacket.

GREEN TOMATO & LEMON

Green tomato and lemon marmalade

*1 lemon, thinly sliced and seeded

*550g green tomatoes, thinly sliced

*1.5 cups sugar

*1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

*Pinch of salt.

*Crystalised ginger, chopped

Bring lemon slices to a boil in a pot of water. Drain.

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer, stirring, to dissolve sugar. Cook at a bare simmer until tomatoes and lemon slices are translucent and syrup thickens, 40 minutes. Cool completely; store in refrigerator.

François’ brother tries to turn his backyard garden into veritable country wilderness, oblivious to the sight of three giant high-rise buildings that have sprouted only a kilometer or two away.

Agnès Varda’s 1964 Le bonheur (Amy Taubin)

GREEN TOMATO & PEANUT

Green Tomato Salad

*1 red onion, halved then thinly sliced

*2 tsp peanut oil

*25g peanuts, very finely chopped

*2 tbsp freshly chopped Coriander

*Green chilli, finely chopped

*1 tbsp lime Juice

*20 baby green tomatoes, halved
*1tsp fish sauce 

*Salt

Mix the ingredients, and serve with rice noodles

The routine was to get up before the others & paint the cities turquoise, emerald and azure domes.  The end result was usually a disappointment but after contemplation over drinks at the end of the day there was a renewed belief in tomorrow’s attempt.   

PEAR & AMARETTO

Pear & Amaretto crumble cake (Adapted from Ottolenghi cookbook)

*100g bramley apple, peeled, 1.5cm diced

*150g pear, peeled, 1.5cm diced

*30g walnuts, roughly chopped

*Grated zest 1 lemon

*2tbsp amaretto

*210g plain flour

*3/4tsp baking powder

*3/4tsp cinnamon

*1/2tsp mixed spice

*45g ground almonds

*3 eggs

*180ml sunflower oil

*200g golden caster sugar

*1/3tsp salt

Crumble mix

*50g plain wholemeal flour

*25g ground rice

*25g golden caster sugar

*50g butter, cold and cubed

Grease & line loaf tin

Preheat the oven 170°C

Mix Pear, apple, lemon zest, Amaretto

In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking powder, spices, ground almonds and walnuts

Separate 2 of the eggs, mix the yolks with the 3^rd egg

Beat the oil and sugar for 1 min and slowly add the egg yolk mix

Quickly add dry ingredients and fruit

Whisk egg whites and fold in

Top with crumble mix and bake 1hour 30mins 

The noble facade of the cathedral is not spoiled by the modern haberdashery.

Camillo Sitte; the art of building cities

WHISKY & SWEET POTATO

Sweet potatoes with whisky, coffee and maple

*2/3 cup strong hot coffee

*2 tbsp pure maple syrup

*2 tsp (packed) dark brown sugar

*1/2tsp of instant coffee

*2 tbsp whisky

*1 tbsp butter

*Sea salt and black pepper

*4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 2 1/2-inch–3-inch pieces

*1 tbsp olive oil

Stir coffee, maple syrup, sugar, and instant coffee over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil 6 minutes.  Remove syrup from heat; add bourbon and butter. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until sauce is reduced, 40-45 minutes.  Toss sweet potatoes in oil, salt and pepper. Roast 220°C, 35mins shaking pan often.  Drizzle some warm sauce over ad put in the oven a couple more mins.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales began in a pub, the Punch and Judy publication developed in a pub, trade unions were formed in pubs, political groups and societies met in pubs.

Scottish highlands website

CARROT & CHESTNUT HONEY

Carrot & chestnut honey porridge (Serves 1)

*½ cup porridge oats

*½ cup milk, 1 cup water

*1 carrot, grated finely

*3 dried apricots, chopped

*Pinch of ground ginger

*Pinch of cinnamon

*Chestnut honey

Cook it on a medium heat until the oats start to swell up.

Turn down the heat to low & stir until it’s thickened

Drizzle over honey & milk when serving

He wanted to take up bicycle polo… it was a shame the local sports centre didn’t offer it. 

APPLE & PEANUT

Baked peanut butter apples

*Bramley apples

*Peanut butter

*Cinnamon

*Brown sugar

Core the apples leaving the base in tact

Score round the middle of each apple & fill with the peanut mix

Bake 200°C for 30-40 minutes

A Seed

To fashion a Tree in due course of time;

Tree with rough bark and boughs' expansion,

Where the Crow can build his mansion,

Or a Man, in some new May,

Lie under whispering leaves and say,

"Are the ills of one's life so very bad

When a Green Tree makes me deliciously glad?"

William Allingham

AVOCADO & SUMAC

Avocado & sumac dip

*1 mashed avocado

*½ tsp sumac

*½ lemon juice & zest

*1 garlic clove

*salt

*2tbsp tahini

*Hemp oil

'Thanks so much for this; you're a real friend for helping me out. I don't feel comfortable leaving the flat for so long, not with the cats... You'll like it, it's a nice flat.'  

Will Wiles : care of wooden floors

SWEDE & VANILLA

Swede chips with vanilla mayonnaise

Cut Swede into batons, toss in oil & salt

Bake at 200°C for 45 min

Mix vanilla beans with mayonnaise

There are many realities, not just one.

I like the fact that there is always another way of doing something, never just one…

Dunhill advert

SHRIMP & APPLE

Cider & brown shrimps on toast (Serves 2)

Jamie Oliver recipe

*200g brown shrimps

*Knob of butter

*100ml cider

*Black pepper

*Toast

Heat the butter in a pan & add the shrimps.  Pour in the cider & bring to the boil.  Simmer for 3 minutes. 

Season with black pepper

Serve on toast (with good bottle of cider along side)

At the time I didn’t think I would remember or romanticize about that afternoon.         

ORANGE & ROSEMARY

Orange & rosemary drizzle cake

Drizzle cake sponge with grated zest of 3 oranges

For the drizzle:

*3tbsp golden granulated sugar

*125ml water

*6 sprigs of rosemary
*(Boil and let rest 30mins)

*4tbsp orange juice

Skewer the cake in the tin when it comes out of the oven & pour over the drizzle and juice.

Garnish with extra sugar and rosemary sprigs

My first impression was that he was knowledgeable, sincere, veering on the melancholy side.

SUMAC & CHERRY

Sumac & sour cherry crispbread (Dan Lepard recipe)

100g wholemeal spelt flour

50g white flour

1/8tsp bicarbonate soda

1/8tsp baking powder

Pinch of fine sea salt

15g butter

40g dried sour cherries

62ml water

Sumac

Sea salt flakes

Combine dry ingredients

Rub in butter & add cherries

Add water and bring together the dough

Roll out thin onto a baking sheet & cut into 4" squares

Sprinkle with sumac & sea salt

Bake 220°C for 10-12 mins

The basic elements of beauty, be it a red cardigan

COCONUT & CARDAMOM

Coconut & cardamom porridge

¼ cup oats, ¼ cup buckwheat flakes

1 cup water

½ cup coconut milk

1 tsp desiccated coconut

2 cardamom pods

1 tsp golden linseed

1 tsp wheatgerm

Honey, toasted coconut & milk to serve

He was selling a vision of eternal oranges and sunshine door to door in a land where people ate apples & it rained a lot.

Richard Brautigan : Revenge of the lawn

PEANUT & JALAPENO

Peanut butter & jalapeno peppers on rice cakes

That Autumn my past lay dormant; I belonged wholly to the present.

Simone de Beavoir : The prime of life

ORANGE & THYME

Orange & thyme shortbread

225g butter

125g golden caster sugar

400g white spelt flour

100g ground rice

1tbsp thyme

1 orange zest

Beat the butter until light

Beat in the sugar zest and thyme

Mix in the flour & rice in 3 goes

Roll onto a baking sheet 1cm deep & score slice shapes

Put in the fridge for ½ and hour

Bake 170°C for 50 minutes

Cut shapes

Dust with extra golden caster sugar

He made a specific point of drawing all his architectural sketches with an orange bic biro

SWEET POTATO & ANGOSTURA BITTERS

Baked sweet potato & Angostura bitters

Bake at 200°C for 45 minutes

Cut open & add a splash of Angostura bitters

“The usefulness of something unfinished is that it can be taken over and claimed as ones own” 
Boris Mikailov; Unfinished dissertation

GOOSEBERRY & APPLE

Gooseberry, apple & elderflower pie (serves 2-3)

For the pastry (makes double quantity)

butter, 100g

golden caster sugar, 100g

an egg, lightly beaten

plain flour, 175g

baking powder, ½ tsp

a little milk for brushing

For the filling:

400g bramley apples, peeled

250g gooseberries, top & tailed

50g golden caster sugar

1½ tbsp elderflower cordial

Cream the butter and caster sugar for 5 mins

Mix in the lightly beaten egg, then gently add the flour and baking powder.

Knead the dough for a minute or two until smooth and soft.

Cling film and refrigerate for about 20 minutes

Preheat the oven 180C

Cut the apple into chunks and put in a saucepan with the gooseberries, sugar & elderflower.  Boil for 10-15mins

Put into a pie dish

Roll out pastry and cover the fruit, brush with milk  and bake 40 mins

The two of them could have become a common relationship cliché, but they are a duo which just seem to visually work with unquestionable tones of the unexpected.

COBNUTS & PLUMS

Marrow Stuffed with cobnuts & plums (serves 4)

Recipe from the kentishcobnutsassociation

1 large marrow

2 medium onions, sliced thinly

2 cloves garlic (optional)

300 g (12 oz plums)

400g (1 lb) cobnuts

150g (6 oz) mushrooms, sliced thickly

4 tomatoes, sliced

100g (4 oz) butter

2 heaped teaspoons grated fresh root ginger

1 teaspoon mixed fresh herbs.

Wash the marrow, split in half lengthways, and remove the seedy central pith. Place in an oven-proof dish.

Stone and halve the plums, and shell the cobnuts and chop them coarsely. Fry the onions in half the butter. Mix all the filling ingredients together and season to taste. Pack into the marrow and dot with the rest of the butter. Cover and cook in a moderate oven (170°C, gas mark 3) for 1½ to 2 hours, depending on the size of the marrow.

They were just the kind of woolen socks that Alan Bennett would wear on a crisp Autumnal day.

CHOCOLATE & PINK PEPPER

Chocolate & pink peppercorn mousse

30g chocolate

2tbsp water

1 egg

A few pink peppercorns

Melt the chocolate and water in a bain-marie. Stir until smooth.

Separate the egg and stir in the yolk

Whisk the whites until stiff and gently fold them into the chocolate until mixed

Spoon into a glass and put in the fridge for a couple of hours

Sprinkle with crushed pink peppercorns

‘Making cocoa for Kingsley Amis’ is such a wonderful title for a poem.

CLEMENTINE & CARDAMOM

Clementine & cardamom cake

Adapted from Nigella Lawson's recipe.  Adding 15 crushed cardamom pods.

The cinema had special ‘couples chairs’, with no central armrest.  

WASABI & ALMOND

Wasabi marzipan

Knead wasabi paste into marzipan. 

“I just wanted to say thank you for an excellent and very useful newsletter. I think the content is excellent, informative, useful, practical and no waffle. Just what a working artist needs”.  Cecil Rice.

The Artists Information Company

TARRAGON & LAVENDER

Tarragon & lavender vinegar

Infuse the herbs in white wine vinegar

“You are young: beautiful, out of boarding school and visiting your French Aunt.  You love playing dress up.” 
Celine fashion show 2000

REDCURRANT & ELDERFLOWER

Redcurrant & elderflower sorbet

400g redcurrants

2 tbsp elderflower cordial

100g golden caster sugar

Take off the stems & boil with 2tbsp of water, then simmer for 5 minutes.

Sieve and add the elderflower cordial

Dissolve the sugar in a pan with 300ml water over a low heat then boil for 10minutes.

Stir in redcurrant puree, bring back to the boil then simmer for 2 mins.

Cool completely then churn in an ice cream maker, freeze.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a village near the forest.  Whenever she went out, the little girl wore a red riding cloak, so everyone in the village called her Little Red Riding Hood.

One morning, Little Red Riding Hood asked her mother if she could go to visit her grandmother as it had been awhile since they'd seen each other.

"That's a good idea," her mother said.  So they packed a nice basket for Little Red Riding Hood to take to her grandmother…

PEACH & BRANDY

Grilled peaches with bay, vanilla & brandy

1 peach cut in half per person

Drizzle with honey, brandy, vanilla, splash of apple juice and bay leaves

Grill for 5 minutes till starting to brown

Sprinkle over flaked almonds

Put back under the grill for a couple of minutes

I am going away with him to an unknown country where I shall have no past and no name, and where I shall be born again with a new face and an untried heart.

Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

PARSLEY & WALNUT

Parsley & walnut pesto flatbreads

1 cup parsley

½ cup toasted chopped walnuts

¼ cup grated parmesan

1 clove garlic, crushed

¼tsp salt

½ cup olive oil

1tbsp lemon juice

2tsp lemon zest

Sea salt & ground black pepper

Blend parsley, walnuts, cheese, garlic, and salt

Add oil, lemon juice, and zest

Spread onto grilled flatbreads

I'm trying to make out why some things stick in our minds

BLACKBERRY & MAPLE

Blackberry & maple compote on cinnamon French toast (serves 4)

200g blackberries

2tbsp maple syrup

2tbsp light muscovado sugar

1½ tsp ginger wine

½ lemon, juice

Heat 1/3 of the berries with the rest of the ingredients for a few minutes

Strain, mashing down the berries

Mix with whole berries

4 slices sourdough bread

4 eggs

8tbsp milk

Cinnamon

Butter

Soak the bread in the egg mix for 20 minutes

Fry until golden on each side

Top with tbsp each of natural yogurt and berry compote

“For me, the summer will be pure grey - mother-of-pearl grey, very pale grey”.

Gianni Versace

SESAME & MULBERRY

Sesame & mulberry flapjacks

Replace half the butter in any flapjack recipe with tahini

Add 150g dried mulberries

She makes her own playdough… and has nice nails… and doesn’t worry about the mess: THE PUNCH 2012-06-16 

BUTTERBEAN & ROSEMARY

Butterbean & rosemary hummus

(adapted from Kitchen & co. by French & Grace)

Sprig of rosemary, stalk removed

400g tin butterbeans, drained

3 tbsp tahini

½ lemon, juice & zest

1tbsp avocado oil

Sea salt & black pepper

Pound rosemary with pestle and mortar

Blend all ingredients

Frequently the very crucial stage of preparation is foregone when endeavoring to plaster for the first time, ultimately the reason to plaster is presumably to mask an unsightly surface.

RHUBARB & BEER

Rhubarb beer jam

400g rhubarb, diced

220ml wheat beer

95g sugar

1 lemon zest

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Combine all the ingredients and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool, then transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate overnight or up to 5 days.

Strain through a sieve and into a wide, heavy-bottomed pot (save the rhubarb for later). Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat for about 12 minutes. Return the rhubarb to the pot and simmer for 15 minutes.

Funnel into sterilised jars

Nonchalant

Origin: mid 18th century: from French, literally 'not being concerned', from the verb nonchaloir

Oxford dictionary

APPLE & ROSE

Rosy Apple juice

Add a tsp of rose water to apple juice

Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Lewis Carroll

CORIANDER & BLUEBERRY

Lemon, blueberry & coriander muffins

Add ½ tsp of ground coriander seeds to any blueberry muffin mix for 12 muffins

…indulge the mind & go for a wonder in Daunt books.  In this elegant bookshop, you’ll find all the books you ever want.