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