STAR ANISE & PEANUTS

Boiled Chinese peanuts

* 100g shelled raw peanuts

* 25g soft brown sugar

* 25ml tamari sauce

* 2 star anise

* 1 small cinnamon stick

* 1 dried chilli

* 235ml water

Boil all covered for 2 hours in a non reactive saucepan.

Strain before serving.

Those casual conversations about their honeymoon were quickly becoming the only topic of conversation. The wine & peanuts on the table were as good a distraction as any. 

WASABI & GREEN TOMATO

Fried green tomatoes & wasabi buttermilk sauce 

* 1 slice of sourdough bread, breadcrumb
* Handful of parsley, chopped 
* 1 egg, beaten
* Green tomatoes
Mix the parsley & breadcrumbs & season
Dip the tomatoes in the egg & the breadcrumbs
Shallow fry
Whisk together a dressing of

* ½tsp dijon

* 50ml buttermilk

* 1tbsp mayonaise

* wasabi 

He preferred to be seen as an artist within the great European tradition of Juan Gris & Georges Braque, while his bold paintings based on the everyday celebrated the arrival of colour, food, fun & a sense of the exotic in British cultural landscape.
Patrick Caulfield at Tate Britain, Tate etc

BLOOD ORANGE & ROSEMARY

Blood orange & rosemary frozen yogurt

* 3 cups Greek yogurt

* 2 tbsp grated orange zest

* 2 cups of freshly squeezed blood orange juice

* ½ cup agave syrup

* 3 sprigs Rosemary

* Pinch of salt

* 2 tbsp Chase marmalade vodka

Heat the agave, orange & rosemary – infuse, cool & discard the rosemary

Mix all & cool in the fridge

Churn in an ice cream maker

A little rouge pigment on her cheeks was all she needed to play the title role.

HAZELNUT & PEACH

Hazelnut & peach muesli

* ½ tbsp hazelnut oil

* 2 cups spelt flakes

* 1 cup barley flakes

* 1 tbsp wheatgerm

* ¼ cup pumpkin seeds

* ¼ cup linseeds

* ¼ tsp cinnamon

Mix & bake on a tray at 180°C for 15 minutes. Give it a shake every so often.

* Add 1 cup hazelnuts & bake for another 5 min.

* Add 1 cup dried chopped peaches

It never occurred to me that I couldn't read an Ordnance Survey map. It was spread out across the breakfast table – a birds eye view of the country waiting to be deciphered.  

RADISH & ROSE

Radishes dipped in butter & rose petal salt

The roses and picket fences were superseded by a more masculine approach.

BLOOD ORANGE & GINGER

Blood orange & ginger steamed pudding

(Adapted from Ruby Tandoh's recipe for Guardian; cook)

He would perform the same magic trick, hiding something under his hat.  He had teased us with that all those years ago. Nothing & everything seemed to have changed in that moment.  

PEANUT & LIME

Peanut, miso & lime dressing

* 2tbsp chunky peanut butter

* 1tsp white miso

* 1tsp brown rice vinegar

* ½ lime, juice

* 2tbsp water

* Black pepper

Mix together & drizzle over roasted vegetables or salad leaves 

He discovers that in being simple, honest, and straightforward, nothing much happens: he speaks the speakable, whereas what we are looking for is the as-yet unspeakable, the as-yet unspoken.

Donald Barthelme

GOOSEBERRY & SAFFRON

Roasted saffron red gooseberries

Put the gooseberries, a knob of butter, pinch of saffron & a drizzle of honey in a baking dish & roast at 180ºC for 15 minutes. Serve warm with a dollop of crème fraiche.

“And what’s more, when they finish, it’s a rite of passage. You’re finished with school. You’re no more a child, and therefore anything that reminds you of school — reading books, having ideas, asking questions — that’s kid’s stuff. Now your’e an adult, you don’t do that sort of thing anymore…”  

Isaac Asimov

MANCHEGO & PEACH

Manchego cheese & dried peaches 

He even proposed that the Colosseum was more attractive in ruins than it could ever have been.

Alan de Botton;Status Anxiety

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.