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.

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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

MISO & WHITE CHOCOLATE

Miso & white chocolate sauce

* 100ml water

* 25g honey

* 30g white miso

* 175g white chocolate

In a saucepan simmer the water & honey. Add the miso. 

Pour over the chocolate & stir till smooth. 

Leave to cool.

Serve poured over frozen / fresh fruit

Beyond its low hedge of neglected fuchsia bushes a steeper slope of heather & bracken dropped down into cavernous combes overgrown with oak & yew.

Sylvia smiled complacently as she gazed with a School-Of-Art appreciation at the landscape, & then of a sudden she almost shuddered.

Saki; The Music on the Hill