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