BRUSSELES SPROUTS & PEANUTS

Roasted brussels sprouts with honey & peanuts

Recipe

Lawns, meadows, moors. No he decided the first chapter of the murder mystery would unfold at sea side in winter. He wanted to give something so traditional a modern twist.

ALMOND & ORANGE BLOSSOM

Marzipan & orange blossom ice cream

* 2 cups almond milk

* 2 egg yolks

* 1tsp cornflour

* 135g marzipan, grated

* 1½tbsp orange blossom water

Warm the milk in a saucepan

Beat the yolks & cornflour together, then add a little warm milk, beat till smooth then add back to the rest of the milk, stir continuously till it starts to thicken. Add the marzipan & stir until it has melted in. Add the orange blossom water & cool completely in the fridge.

Churn in an ice cream maker. 

A few minutes into their introduction it panned out that they both drew illustrations for the same magazine

SORREL & GLOBE ARTICHOKE

Globe Artichokes with sorrel mayonnaise

Adapted from Ottolenghi for the Guardian

* 8 baby globe artichokes

* Juice of 1 lemon


* Salt and 1 tsp black peppercorns


For the sorrel mayonnaise 


* 50g sorrel, roughly chopped


* 1 tbsp cider vinegar


* 1 tbsp Dijon mustard


* 1 large clove garlic


* 1 egg yolk


* 150ml sunflower oil

Put the sorrel in the small bowl of a food processor with the vinegar, mustard, garlic, yolk and a third of a teaspoon of salt. Blitz smooth, then, with the machine running, slowly pour in the oil until you have a thick mayonnaise. Store in the fridge.

Bring a large pan of water to a boil. Add the artichokes, lemon juice, peppercorns and a teaspoon of salt – keep the artichokes submerged with a plate on top. Bring back to a boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes, until cooked through. Lift out and drain in a colander, flower facing down, for five minutes. Serve with a bowl of mayonnaise, to dip the leaf ends in.

They where both avid gardeners, so it just made sense to me, I was another piece to the puzzle, so to speak.     

CARROT & LEMON

White wine & lemon poached baby carrots

* 200ml white wine

* 20ml olive oil

* ½ lemon juice & zest

* 1 bay leaf

*1 tsp salt

* ½ tsp green peppercorns

* Bunch of small carrots, halved

Bring the wine to a simmer, add the rest of the ingredients & poach for 6 minutes.

Drain from the liquid & serve with mayonnaise

"Alright, lets take a quick dip in the pool before lunch."

PEACH & LEMON VERBENA

Poached peaches in Lemon verbena & muscat 
Recipe from food & wine magazine

Exquisitely deliciously simple as it was it was only because it was founded on detailed planning - on infinite cleverness & care.  He had forgotten again.  He was drunk.

So simple.  So simple.  So simple.  So clever.  But not tonight.

Patrick Hamilton; Hangover Square

RHUBARB & LEMON VERBENA

Roasted rhubarbs with lemon verbena custard (serves 2)

For the rhubarb:

Cut the rhubarb & roast with a little sugar & splash of orange juice at 160ºC for 40 minutes.

For the custard:

* 180ml whole milk


* 2 sprigs of lemon verbena

* 2 egg yolks


* 2 tsp caster sugar


* 1 tsp cornflour

Gently heat the milk & lemon verbena, until it starts to simmer

Beat together the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour

Pour some of the warm milk on to the yolks and sugar, stirring all the time until all the milk has been added.

Pour this back into the saucepan & stir for about 20 minutes till it has thinkened to custard consistancy. Strain the lemon verbena out.

Pour into a jug, cover with clingfilm & allow to cool.

Carry On's Barbara Windsor and Sid James were all that was needed.

BORAGE & PEA

Borage & pea ravioli

* 4 medium eggs

* 360g '00' pasta flour

Knead together, cling film & refridgerate 1 hour

* Borage flowers

* 1 cup peas, lightly boiled

* 1 egg yolk

* Salt & pepper

* Olive oil

Roll out the pasta into long strips, press in the borage flowers, fold in half, roll out 1 more time.

Blitz the pea, egg yolk & seasoning together & put teaspoon amounts along the pasta sheet.

Cover with another sheet, press down around the edges & cut into squares or circles

Boil in salted water for 3 minutes.

Serve drizzled with olive oil & some more flowers

There was a revival of folk music & flowers that seemed to take hold of the city that year.

CHICORY & TRUFFLE

Griddled chicory & truffle oil

Cut the chicory in half length ways & brush with a little oil.

Griddle till charred & serve drizzled with a little truffle oil

A pair of real heavyweight characters sat down on the next table.

BLACK SALT & VANILLA

Black salt & vanilla popcorn

Crush black salt with a pestle & mortar. Mix with seeds from a vanilla pod & sprinkle into freshly made popcorn.

Largely because in spite of her intelligence & quick wits she couldn't act for nuts but principally because she was spoiled & lazy, & drank too much – because she expected success without having to work for it, & now drank & was lazy in a sort of furious annoyance at the fact that success was not to be had that way.

Patrick Hamilton; Hangover square 

WATERCRESS & ROSE

Watercress & chickpea soup with rose water & ras el hanout

By Yotam Ottolenghi

She waited for his answer, pushed back her chair a few inches, rose, & walked out across the lawn.  

BLACK PEPPER & CHERRY

Roasted black pepper cherries (serves 4)

* 440g cherries,

* 20g sugar

* 30g black pepper corns, lightly crushed

* 360ml pinot noir or another peppery red wine

Stone the cherries & put the peppercorns in a muslin bag.

Mix all together & roast at 220ºC for 15 mins

Allow to sit for at least 2 hours for the flavour to infuse

“The newer dwarfing rockstock ‘Gisella 5’ or the older ‘Colt’ do make cherry growing more feasible”  

ROMANO PEPPERS & ARGON OIL

Peperonata with argon oil

* ½ onion, thinly sliced

* Olive oil

* 2 Romano peppers, thinly sliced

* Splash of Vermouth

* Salt

* Argon oil

Sweat the onion for a few minutes then add the pepper & cook for 40 mins.

Add a splash of vermouth & cook for another 10 mins.

Sprinkle with salt & drizzle with argon oil.

Lila did not conceal her red-hot books.  She went on reading, as though The Tropic of Cancer were Heidi
Kurt Vonnegut Jr; Good bless you Mr Rosewater

CARROT & HAZELNUT

Carrot & hazelnut cake (adapted from Popina book of baking)

* 4 large eggs, seperated

* zest & juice 2 lemons

* 25ml Frangelico

* 180g golden caster sugar

* 250g grated carrots

* 250g ground hazelnuts

* 2 tsp baking powder

* 65g cornflour

Preheat the oven 180ºC

Mix everything except the egg whites & cornflour

Sift in the cornflour

Fold in beaten egg whites

Put into a greaseproof lined 24cm round tin

Bake 45-50 mins. Allow to cool in the tin.

A decision to place the advert as...

* Shoes,Shoes,Shoes,Shoes! / Brown Strappy Heel Sandal with Fringe Detail, Bohemian (Boho) / Hippie

BLACK SESAME & CRANBERRY

Black sesame & cranberry loaf

* 20g plain flour


* 80ml water


* 40ml milk

Gently heat in a sauce pan whisking constantly till it thickens into a paste, cool.

* 135ml milk, tepid


* 20g fresh yeast


* pinch of sugar

mix & set aside for 10 mins

* 360g plain flour


* 30g honey


* 1 tsp salt


* 1 large egg


* 50g black sesame, crushed to a paste with a pestle & mortar
* 40g dried cranberries 


Mix all together with the paste & yeast mixes. When combined knead in 3tbsp coconut oil.  Knead for 15 minutes. Leave to rise about 1 hour till doubled in size.  Knock back & divide into 3 long ropes. Plait together & place in a loaf tin. Let it rise 30 mins – 1 hour. Brush with a beaten egg and bake 180ºC for 30 mins. Cool in the tin.

It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.

Raymond Chandler

BEETROOT & CRANBERRY

Beetroot, dried cranberry & hazelnut bircher

Soak oats, dried cranberries & hazelnuts in beetroot juice over night.

Serve with natural yogurt.

Nothing happened but you got the feeling it was going to be of some significance.

WILD GARLIC & MOZZARELLA

Wild garlic & mozzarella pizza

Top pizza dough with tomato sauce, torn mozzarella, blanched wild garlic leaves & black pepper.

Bake 10-15 minutes in a very hot oven.

Sprinkle with wild garlic flowers to serve.

New Piccadilly cafe – A place where gangsters & tarts mixed with foreign royal exiles, & were you could buy ravioli & chips for three shillings

Still Open: The Guide to Traditional London Shops

KUMQUAT & CHOCOLATE

Kumquat salted dark chocolate brittle

* Dark chocolate

* Kumquats, sliced

* Sea salt

* Cocoa nibs

Melt the the chocolate & spread on to baking paper

Sprinkle with the sliced kumquats, salt & cocoa nibs

Allow to cool before slicing

Stepping out of a coach is not a simple matter. Sometimes it is a decisive step.

The seducer's diary; Soren Kierkegaard

WILD GARLIC & PEA

Wild garlic, pea & mint soup   (Serves 2)

* 1 onion, finely chopped

* 2 celery sticks, chopped

* 1 garlic clove, chopped

* 500ml chicken / veg stock

* Large bunch of wild garlic

* 300g podded peas

* Large handful of mint

* Salt & pepper

Sweat the onion & celery for 10 minutes then add the garlic.

After a couple of minutes add the stock, simmer 15 minutes.

Add the mint, wild garlic & 220g of the peas

Blitz to chunky consistency & add the remaining peas & season

It was a mild & motionless summer day, exactly right for washing carpets

Tales from Moomin valley; Tove Jansson

BEETROOT & RADISH

Beetroot, radish & English mustard mayonnaise open sandwich

* Rye sourdough bread
* English mustard
* Mayonnaise
* Cooked beetroot, thinly sliced
* Radishes, thinly sliced
* Sea salt & black pepper

Ask No Questions was a celebrity panel game that was produced by Yorkshire Television and aired on ITV in 1986 and 1987

STAR ANISE & PEANUTS

Boiled Chinese peanuts

* 100g shelled raw peanuts

* 25g soft brown sugar

* 25ml tamari sauce

* 2 star anise

* 1 small cinnamon stick

* 1 dried chilli

* 235ml water

Boil all covered for 2 hours in a non reactive saucepan.

Strain before serving.

Those casual conversations about their honeymoon were quickly becoming the only topic of conversation. The wine & peanuts on the table were as good a distraction as any. 

WASABI & GREEN TOMATO

Fried green tomatoes & wasabi buttermilk sauce 

* 1 slice of sourdough bread, breadcrumb
* Handful of parsley, chopped 
* 1 egg, beaten
* Green tomatoes
Mix the parsley & breadcrumbs & season
Dip the tomatoes in the egg & the breadcrumbs
Shallow fry
Whisk together a dressing of

* ½tsp dijon

* 50ml buttermilk

* 1tbsp mayonaise

* wasabi 

He preferred to be seen as an artist within the great European tradition of Juan Gris & Georges Braque, while his bold paintings based on the everyday celebrated the arrival of colour, food, fun & a sense of the exotic in British cultural landscape.
Patrick Caulfield at Tate Britain, Tate etc

BLOOD ORANGE & ROSEMARY

Blood orange & rosemary frozen yogurt

* 3 cups Greek yogurt

* 2 tbsp grated orange zest

* 2 cups of freshly squeezed blood orange juice

* ½ cup agave syrup

* 3 sprigs Rosemary

* Pinch of salt

* 2 tbsp Chase marmalade vodka

Heat the agave, orange & rosemary – infuse, cool & discard the rosemary

Mix all & cool in the fridge

Churn in an ice cream maker

A little rouge pigment on her cheeks was all she needed to play the title role.

HAZELNUT & PEACH

Hazelnut & peach muesli

* ½ tbsp hazelnut oil

* 2 cups spelt flakes

* 1 cup barley flakes

* 1 tbsp wheatgerm

* ¼ cup pumpkin seeds

* ¼ cup linseeds

* ¼ tsp cinnamon

Mix & bake on a tray at 180°C for 15 minutes. Give it a shake every so often.

* Add 1 cup hazelnuts & bake for another 5 min.

* Add 1 cup dried chopped peaches

It never occurred to me that I couldn't read an Ordnance Survey map. It was spread out across the breakfast table – a birds eye view of the country waiting to be deciphered.  

RADISH & ROSE

Radishes dipped in butter & rose petal salt

The roses and picket fences were superseded by a more masculine approach.

BLOOD ORANGE & GINGER

Blood orange & ginger steamed pudding

(Adapted from Ruby Tandoh's recipe for Guardian; cook)

He would perform the same magic trick, hiding something under his hat.  He had teased us with that all those years ago. Nothing & everything seemed to have changed in that moment.  

PEANUT & LIME

Peanut, miso & lime dressing

* 2tbsp chunky peanut butter

* 1tsp white miso

* 1tsp brown rice vinegar

* ½ lime, juice

* 2tbsp water

* Black pepper

Mix together & drizzle over roasted vegetables or salad leaves 

He discovers that in being simple, honest, and straightforward, nothing much happens: he speaks the speakable, whereas what we are looking for is the as-yet unspeakable, the as-yet unspoken.

Donald Barthelme

GOOSEBERRY & SAFFRON

Roasted saffron red gooseberries

Put the gooseberries, a knob of butter, pinch of saffron & a drizzle of honey in a baking dish & roast at 180ºC for 15 minutes. Serve warm with a dollop of crème fraiche.

“And what’s more, when they finish, it’s a rite of passage. You’re finished with school. You’re no more a child, and therefore anything that reminds you of school — reading books, having ideas, asking questions — that’s kid’s stuff. Now your’e an adult, you don’t do that sort of thing anymore…”  

Isaac Asimov

MANCHEGO & PEACH

Manchego cheese & dried peaches 

He even proposed that the Colosseum was more attractive in ruins than it could ever have been.

Alan de Botton;Status Anxiety

LAPSANG SOUCHONG & SHERRY

Lapsang and sherry noodles with pigeon

Recipe from Readers' recipe swap, The Guardian Cook 

Poets & academics have given it their all over the years – but there is still room to have new light shone on the subject. Perhaps it is the surprising combination of approaches that gives it an edge over other points of interest.

BUCKWHEAT & SAGE

Buckwheat & sage pancakes    (Serves 2)
Adapted from David Tanis

* 80g buckwheat flour

* 30g white spelt flour

* 1 egg 

* Pinch of salt

* 25g buckwheat groats, finely ground 

* 300ml milk 

* Chopped fresh sage leaves

Whisk all together & rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours 

I have cotton or flannel sheets, depending on the weather.  They have to be ironed, & I get my bed changed nearly every day.

Martha Stewart 

CAULIFLOWER & COCOA

Roasted cauliflower with cocoa, paprika & hazelnuts

* Cauliflower florets

* Cocoa powder

* Paprika

* Crushed hazelnuts

* Olive oil

Par boil the cauliflower in salted water for a couple of minutes.

Drain & allow to dry.

Sprinkle over the ingredients & roast for 20 minutes at 200°C.

The clouds looked weighed down, as if they could no longer hold themselves up there – it was to be a stormy night by all accounts.  

GREEN TEA & PINK GRAPEFRUIT

Steamed Green tea & pink grapefruit sponges

(Serves 5)

* 2 tsp green tea,finely ground

* 100g spelt flour

* 1 heaped tsp baking powder

* 1 egg separated

* 50g caster sugar

* 90ml water

* 5tsp pink grapefruit marmalade

Sieve the tea, flour & baking powder into a bowl

Whisk the egg yolk, water & sugar together

Whisk the egg white till stiff

Fold the yolk mix into the flour, then fold in the egg white

Put a teaspoon of marmalade into the bottom of 5 small glasses, top with 1½tbsp of the cake mix

Steam for 10-15minutes.

Glen was not the type to belt out a karaoke number, so it came as a complete surprise when he & Ruby went all out on the duet.

EGG & SEAWEED

Egg salad with amarme & rice   (Serves 4)

From How to boil an egg; Rose bakery

* Handful dried arame / hijiki seaweed (rehydrate in warm water)

* 2 tbsp soy sauce

* 1 tbsp sesame oil

* 3 spring onions

* Toasted sesame seeds

* 4 hard boiled eggs, sliced

* 3 cups cooked brown rice

* Splash of brown rice vinegar

Keep some the water by from the seaweed

Fry the seaweed in sesame oil, add the soy sauce & enough of the reserved water to cover, simmer till it is evaporated.

Toss all the ingredients together.

Mr Rose claimed to be the inventor of the quiff, he wouldn't hear of it any other way.

ORANGE & COCONUT

Orange bircher topped with coconut & cocoa nibs. Serves 2

(adapted from Bon Appetit)

1/3 cup barley flakes

1/3 cup porridge oats

1tsp cinnamon

2 dates chopped

1 orange, peeled & chopped

1 orange, squeezed

1 cup greek yogurt

toasted coconut flakes

cocoa nibs

Mix all the ingredients except the coconut & cocoa nibs, cover & chill over night

Serve with coconut & cocoa nibs sprinkled on top

The album contains no lyrics. Read into it what you like.  

PEAR & GINGER

Pickled pears & ginger

* 2 pears peeled with stalk on, halved

* 1 tbsp sugar

* 100ml cider vinegar

* 6 slices ginger

* 2 rosemary stalks (optional)

Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar, add the pears & ginger.

Simmer for 15 mins

Remove the pears to a sterilised jar

Boil the vinegar for 10 mins, add the rosemary for 5 mins & pour over the pears

Constance assumed forever meant forever.  Alas, things took a different turn. 

HAZELNUT & TRUFFLE

Hazelnut & truffle Ice cream

* ¼ cup agave syrup

* ¼ cup hazelnuts, chopped really fine

* ¾ cup double cream

* 1½ cup milk

* 4tbsp Frangelico

* Small splash of truffle oil

Simmer the agave, hazelnuts, cream & milk 5 mins.

Take it of the heat & leave to cool for ½ an hour

Add the Frangelico & truffle oil.

Churn in an ice cream maker

Whether in town or country, Saturday afternoons were generally spent indulging in life's finer things. 

CELERY & LEMON

Celery and preserved lemon salad  (Serves 4)

Recipe from Casa Moro

* 4tbsp olive oil

* 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

* ½ preserved lemon, chopped

* 1 head of celery, 1cm pieces (reserve the leaves)

* 100ml water

* 1tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped

* Salt & pepper

Fry the garlic & lemon for 30secs then add the celery for 5-10mins, stirring occasionally.

Add the water & cook for 5mins till evaporated.

Add the parsley, celery leaves, salt & pepper.

Dissertations around the table

…there’s nothing more charming than finding someone else’s words in which to express ourselves

Alla carta magazine