ALE & LEMON

Ale sorbet shandy

Sorbet

* 500ml Ale

* 50g Icing sugar

Gradually stir in the ale to the sugar, churn in an ice cream machine before freezing

Lemonade

* 1 lemon, squeezed

* Sparkling water

* 2 tsp honey

Scoop the sorbet into the homemade lemonade

If he walks too slowly in the middle of the road he will fall down in a heap and will have to be lifted into motion by some extraneous party. This is an unfortunate state the postman has cycled himself into, and I do not think he will ever cycle himself out of it.

Flan O'brian; The third policeman

PEANUT & ROSEMARY

Peanut & rosemary cookies (makes 20)

* 100ml rosemary infused avocado oil

* 120g golden caster sugar


* 40g light muscavado sugar

* 1 tsp honey


* 2 tsp rosemary, finely chopped


* ⅓ tsp mixed spice


* 1 medium free range egg


* 150g salted peanuts


* 200g white spelt flour


* ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Beat the oil, sugar, honey, rosemary and mixed spice together

Add the egg and peanuts

Sift in the flour and bicarb & mix all together

Roll the dough into pingpong ball sizes & flatten them spaced apart onto a lined baking sheet

Bake at 180C for 12 minutes

Books that one dips into but never reads through, books that one reads at a single sitting & forgets a week later

George Orwell; Books v. cigarettes

ROSE & LEMON

Rose & lemon salt

* 1tsp dried rose petals

* ½ lemon zest

* 100g pink Himalayan salt

Store in a jar for at least one week to let the flavours infuse

'Nip it in the bud' was the best advice I could dish out

ALE & TOMATO

Fruity ale & tomato ketchup

* 1kg ripe tomatoes, chopped

* 2 onions, chopped

* 2 garlic cloves, chopped

* 1 eating apple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped

* 1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped

* 2 tsp mustard seeds

* ½ tsp mixed spice

* 3cm piece fresh ginger, grated

* 100g sultanas

* 200g light muscovado sugar

* 300ml cider vinegar

* 300ml ale

* Salt & pepper

Bring all slowly to the boil & simmer for a couple of hours

Blitz to a smooth sauce 

It was copied in other countries.

ALE & CHOCOLATE

Ale truffles (makes 16)

* 75ml ale

* 20g light muscavado sugar

* 120g dark chocolate

* 120g milk chocolate

* Cocoa powder

Warm the ale & sugar together in a saucepan then stir in the chocolate until melted

Cool in the fridge then roll into balls & roll in cocoa powder

When I was in my early teens I used to sink luxuriously into a romantic novel as though into a hot bath.
Diana Athill; Somewhere towards the end

PINEAPPLE & PEANUT

Roasted pineapple, peanut & rum

* ½ pineapple, cut into rings


* 1 tbsp chunky peanut butter

* 1 tbsp agave syrup

* 2 tbsp rum

* Ground allspice

Roast all for 15 mins at 190C

Presently our hostess appeared looking, I thought exactly the same as she had some twenty seven years ago, at Hampton. She had been in her fifties; she was now in her eighties; she had seemed old then & not a day older now. She must once have been pretty.

Nancy Mitford; Don't tell Alfred

RED ONION & APPLE

Red onion & apple loaf (adapted from Dan Lepard, Short & sweet)

* 1 small dessert apple


* 1 small red onion, finely chopped


* 75ml ale


* 175ml warm water


* 2tsp dried yeast


* 100g sunflower seeds


* 250g malted grain bread flour


* 175g strong wholemeal bread flour


* 1 tsp fine sea salt


Grate the apple into a bowl, peel and all, but without stalk or pips, then add the onion. Stir in the ale, water and yeast, add the seeds, flours and salt, mix and leave for 10 minutes. Lightly oil a worksurface, knead the dough for 10 seconds, then return it to the bowl and leave for 45 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, then place on a tray lined with nonstick paper. Cover with a cloth and leave to rise for an hour. Preheat the oven to 220C, cut a cross in the top of the loaf, bake for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 180C and bake for another 20 minutes.

Many fundamental questions of craftsmanship versus mass production, the relationship of usefulness and beauty, the practical purpose of formal beauty in a commonplace object, and whether or not a single proper form could exist, were argued out among its 1,870 members (by 1914).

ALE & HONEY

Alehouse rolls 

Recipe by Dan Lepard

Those lunches always made feel rather drunk and stupid for an hour or two afterwards
Nancy Mitford; Don't tell Alfred

YELLOW BEETROOT & PORCINI

Yellow beetroot, porcini & dill soup (Serves 4-6)


* 1kg yellow beetroots
* 1 large onion, sliced
* 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
* 2 sticks of celery, chopped
* 8g dried porcini mushrooms
* 170ml stock
* Splash cider vinegar
* Large handful dill
* Salt & pepper

Roast the beetroot with a splash of water covered in foil 180ºC until tender
Slowly fry the onion, garlic & celery in oil in a covered sauce pan for 45 mins
Meanwhile soak the porcini in 150ml hot water for 30 mins, save the liquid and add them to the onions for 10 mins
Peel & chop the beetroot, add with the remaining ingredients except the dill
Simmer for 30 mins then blitz
Add the chopped dill

Their first attempt to talk to one another only resulted in an intense & ludicrous situation about the solar system 

PRUNE & PARMESAN

Prune & Parmesan muffins (Makes 9)

* 200ml milk
* 25g olive oil
* 100g baby leaf spinach
* 2 medium carrots, grated
* 250g wholemeal spelt flour
* 1tbsp baking powder
* 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
* 50g Parmesan, grated
* 80g prunes, chopped
* 75g sunflower seeds
* 1 egg, beaten

Grease 9 holes of a muffin tray or use muffin cases
Boil the milk, butter & spinach. When cool blitz until finely chopped
Sift the dry ingredients together & add the carrots, prunes and most of the parmesan & seeds
Beat the egg into the spinach and fold all together
Spoon into the tin & sprinkle the remaining parmesan & seeds
Bake 190ºC for 20-25mins

She wore a straw hat that she had bought on their first weekend away to together.