SQUASH & SUN-DRIED TOMATO

Roasted Squash & sun dried tomato

Adapted from River cafe book two

* 6 patty pan squash

* 8 sundried tomatoes, quartered

* 2 garlic cloves, chopped

* 1 red chilli, chopped

* Handful of thyme

* Salt & pepper

Cut the tops of the squashes & scoop out the seeds

Fill & roast 200ºC covered for 25 minutes

Lower the temperature to 150ºC, uncover & roast for 15 minutes

Rough scribbles of abstract shapes started to take on new forms & meanings.  

MELON & THYME

Melon, thyme & autumn berry salad

* 50g sugar

* 100ml white wine

* Handful of thyme

* ¼ gala or honeydew melon, sliced

* ¼ cantaloupe melon, slice

* Handful of blackberries / elderberries

* Thyme leaves

Heat the wine, sugar & thyme & leave to infuse.

Cool & strain

Pour over the fruit & serve with thyme

I can’t be clever and stand-offish with you: I love you too much for that. Too truly. You have no idea how stand-offish I can be with people I don’t love. I have brought it to a fine art.

From Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf

MISO & HONEY

Miso & honey ice cream

1 cup milk

2 cups cream

¼ cup miso

¼ cup honey

Serve with honey comb & drizzled honey

It started on a perfectly beautiful Sunday afternoon in July – the very first Sunday afternoon in july. Two or three chunks of cloud floated white & tiny in a distant corner of the sky,

Haruki Murakami; Blind willow, sleeping woman

GOOSEBERRY & HORSERADISH

Gooseberry & horseradish sauce with smoked mackerel

75g gooseberries

1tsp golden caster sugar

1tsp water

½ tsp grated horseradish

Pinch of sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Serve with

Smoked mackerel fillets

Watercress / rocket

Put the gooseberries,water and sugar in a saucepan over a low heat for 10-15mins till soft.

Stir in the horseradish & seasoning

Grill the mackerel for a couple of minutes till warm

Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one may think without being disturbed

GOOSEBERRY & ORANGE FLOWER

Gooseberry & orange flower compote on yogurt

* 200g gooseberries

* 2tsp golden caster sugar

* A couple of splashes of orange flower water

* Natural yogurt

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. 

Scatter the gooseberries on an oven tray and sprinkle with the sugar. 

Bake for 30 minutes until tender. 

Splash with Orange flower water & slightly squash the berries leaving some more whole than others.

Spoon onto the yogurt.

I remember reading in my room a lot. 

HONEY & SALT

Clover honey & sea salt on walnut bread

She accused him of accepting neither responsibility nor work.

CINNAMON & PEANUT

Cinnamon & peanut butter on rye sourdough

He accused her of interrupting what had been a perfectly lovely breakfast.

AVOCADO & GRAPEFRUIT

Avocado & Grapefruit salad  (Serves 2)

* 1 ruby grapefruit, segmented

* 1 avocado, sliced

* Handful frisse lettuce

* 1 spring onion, sliced

* Grapefruit zest

* Pinch of chilli flakes

* Sea salt

* 1tsp white wine vinegar

* 1tbsp avocado oil

She played a gypsy, a gigolo, and a cat, a faun in a torn chamois loincloth; and an Egyptian mummy who comes back from the dead in a jewelled bra. Every time in later life that her name was proposed for some official honor, a chorus of elders protested.

A life of Colette

STRAWBERRY & RADICCHIO

Maria Elia's griddled radicchio and strawberry risotto recipe

That years best supporting actress was to go on to become the nations sweetheart.  

SAFFRON & RASPBERRIES

Saffron raspberries with dried apple & almonds (Serves 1)

* 1tsp brown sugar

* 10 threads of saffron

* ¼ vanilla pod

* 1tsp avocado oil

* 1 ring of dried apple, chopped

* 6 almonds, chopped

* ½ lemon zest

* Raspberries

* Natural yogurt

Bash the the saffron & brown sugar together in a pestle & mortar

Mix in the vanilla, oil, apple, almonds & lemon zest

Gently stir in the raspberries & serve on natural yogurt

’I must have my pillerbox red pyjamas’, ‘I have to stay in bed until the sun works round to the windows’, ‘I’ve absolutely got to drink champagne tonight’

Brideshead revisited; Evelyn Waugh