“The Ugly Version” of a probiotic smoothie had spinach, dinosaur kale celery, bananas, pears, cucumber, lemon and mixed seeds, yogurt & milk – more information soon…
Professor Tim Spector MB MSc MD FRCP. Tim Spector is a Professor of Genetic Epidemiology and Director of the TwinsUK Registry at Kings College, London.
Muddle a little fresh ginger and one quarter plum in 3/4 oz dry vermouth
Add 1 1/4 oz of plum infused gin
Stir well on ice
Double strain into a chilled martini glass
Take 2 ounces of the powder of juniper, benjamine, and storax each 1 ounce, 6 drops of oyle of cloves, 10 grains of musk, beat all these together to a past with a little gum dragon, steeped in rose or orange flower water, and roul them up like big pease and flat them and dry them in a dish in the oven or sun and keep them for use they must be put on a shovel of coals and they will give a pleasing smell.
When the chemist opens…
All of the ingredients in this recipe have numerous and well documented health benefits. It’s a refreshing and invigorating drink that I recommend for cold & flu relief and prevention in the winter months..but it’s also a fine idea to drink this daily with breakfast to promote general health- if you take the time to research the ingredients, you’ll see that the health benefits of this drink extend vastly beyond colds & flu. Fine tune the ratio of ingredients to your taste, it’s a tasty and superior replacement for tea, coffee or traditional juice at breakfast time.
1/2 Lemon (peeled) either juiced or squeezed.
1 turmeric root – juiced or fine grated
1 heaped tablespoon (or more) of ginger root – juiced or fine grated
A dash of Cayenne Pepper
A dash of Black Pepper
You can substitute the fresh ginger and/or the turmeric for their powdered equivalents, but this will be less potent and will not taste as good. I think it’s essential for at least the ginger to be fresh. I find the peppers offset the tart of the lemon, without resorting to sweetening the drink with honey or sugar – which lessens the health benefits.
Add all the ingredients to a mug of hot water and enjoy with your breakfast.
Alternatively, if you have juiced everything you can down as a shot without the hot water.
1 cup unsweetened dark French cocoa
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
handful of seasonally fresh basil leaves, crushed and bruised
Combine cocoa, sugar, water and crushed basil in saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often to keep from burning. Remove from heat as soon as boiling starts. Add salt and stir in. Cool down, then refrigerate overnight before processing in ice cream maker for best results.
Once chilled, remove basil leaves and process in an ice cream maker.
Garnish with mint leaf and serve with mild cookie such as Bambi brand Lane Biscuits, if desired
Serves 4-6 guests gathered for a delightful dinner party.
Scale the amounts listed here up or down, depending on how many people are joining you for the meal. This amount should satisfy six people as a side, start or finish to a lovely meal.
one head red butter lettuce washed, dried and carefully torn into pleasant-sized pieces
half as much mizuna treated as butter lettuce above
two cupped handfuls of miner’s lettuce, washed and dried
twelve mint leaves, chopped
greens of 1-2 spring onions, sliced rather thinly
about half of one small fennel bulb also sliced thinly, best with a mandoline
eight small red radishes, sliced
chive blossoms (broken apart) and/or sage flowers (or any small, edible purple flower)
Add the vegetables to your large salad bowl (set the flowers aside). Then, prepare the dressing below:
one clove garlic, minced
heaping tbsp good dijon mustard
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
8 tbsp toasted walnut oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
Add dressing ingredients to a blender, blend until smooth and well emulsified. Starting with a small amount, toss with the salad greens, dressing to your preference. You will have some dressing for tomorrow, as this recipe makes plenty. Finally, sprinkle the flowers on top.
4 egg whites
1 pinch salt
1 cup castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp cornflower
1 tsp vinegar
Preheat oven to 150ºC. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gradually add the sugar beating all the time… MOST IMPORTANT: make sure sugar is totally dissolved. Lightly fold the cornstarch, vinegar and essence into the mix. Turn the mixture out into the centre of a round baking tray lined with baking paper. Shape into a circle (away from the sides of the tray). Turn oven down to 140ºC and bake for 15 minutes, then turn oven down to 120ºC and bake for a further 1 1/4 hours. Let it cool in the oven overnight. Top with fresh whipped cream, strawberries and kiwifruit.
Ingredients:
500g mascarpone
5 eggs – separated in 5 egg yolks and 3 egg whites
5 spoons of sugar
two cups of cold espresso
savoiardi cookies (lady fingers)
dark chocolate powder
Mix mascarpone with 5 egg yolks and 5 spoons of sugar.
Whip 3 egg whites into egg fluff (test by turning bowl over your head).
Slowly fold in egg fluff with mascarpone cream.
Take a square dish. Dip lady fingers in cold espresso and cover the bottom of the dish. Add a layer of mascarpone cream on top, add another layer of lady fingers dipped in espresso, and add a last level of mascarpone cream. Cover the top with dark chocolate powder. Keep cold in fridge for a few hours before indulging.
Lentils (Red Split)
1 tomato
1 onion
Garlic
Ginger
2 green chili
Oil (preferably olive)
Spices (turmeric, coriander, red chili powder, garam masala)
Clean the lentils in water.
Cut the tomato in small pieces.
Cut the onion, garlic, green chili and ginger in small pieces.
Boil lentils in a container until they become puffy.
Put oil on the frying pan and fry onion, garlic, green chili and ginger finely.
Add turmeric, coriander, red chili powder, garam masala and fry.
Add cut tomato pieces and fry.
Add boiled lentils on top, and stir well.
Gluten free. Serves 4
500g leeks, trimmed and sliced
50g butter
1tbsp chopped rosemary
50g walnuts, roughly chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
500g pack ready-to-use polenta
150g Blacksticks blue cheese (or Stilton)
1 Gently fry the leeks in the butter until soft (about 15-20 minutes) adding the rosemary for the last 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the walnuts and season with black pepper.
2 Slice the polenta and cheese into about 14 slices (the cheese will fall apart but you just need some rough slices rather than lumps).
3 Grease an ovenproof dish (mine is about 20cm square. Reserve a few crumbs of the cheese for the top. Starting at one side of the dish with a little of the leek mixture, layer a couple of slices of polenta then leeks, cheese, polenta, leeks, cheese etc across the dish, overlapping like roof tiles. Pour any remaining butter from the leek pan over the top and dot with reserved bits of cheese.
4 Cook in a pre-heated oven 190C/375F/Mark 5 for 20-25 mins until golden and bubbling. You can brown the top more under a hot grill if you like.
5 Leave to cool slightly before serving with plain salad leaves and a wedge of lemon.
Ingredients
Pasta sauce:
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup good red wine, such as Chianti
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, or plum tomatoes in puree, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Breadcrumbs:
5 cups breadcrumbs (made from dry crusty bread)
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Eggplant
Butter, for greasing the dish
6 large eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons water
2 to 3 medium eggplants (about 2 1/4-pounds), cut into 1/2-inch-thick round slices (need about 18 slices)
All-purpose flour, for dredging
Vegetable oil, for frying
4 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
4 oz. shredded romano cheese
4 oz. shredded asiago cheese
4 oz. shredded provolone cheese
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 15 by 10 by 2-inch baking dish.
For the sauce, heat the olive oil in a sauce pan. Add the onion and sauté over medium heat until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and cook on high heat, until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes.
Place the bread crumbs into a large shallow bowl. Combine and add the herbs, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. In another medium shallow bowl, whisk the eggs and 2 tablespoons of water together.
Dredge each eggplant slice in the flour, then dip it in the egg, and finally dredge it in the bread crumb mixture. Shake off any excess breading and transfer the eggplant to a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.
Heat 1/2-inch of oil in a large saute pan over medium heat until the oil reaches a temperature of 385 degrees F. Working in small batches, fry a few of the eggplant slices, turning once, until golden brown, about 3 minutes per batch. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.
Cover the bottom of the prepared baking dish with some of the tomato sauce and arrange 1/2 of the eggplant over the sauce. Cover the eggplant with some of the sauce and cheeses (cheeses combined). Repeat to make 3 layers ending with the sauce. Top with the mozzarella and bake until hot and just beginning to brown, about 30 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.
The food, sometimes the ointment or perfume, of the Greek and Roman gods:
In ancient Greek mythology, ambrosia (Greek: ἀμβροσία) is sometimes the food or drink of the Greek gods, often depicted as conferring immortality upon whoever consumed it. It was brought to the gods in Olympus by doves, so it may have been thought of in the Homeric tradition as a kind of divine exhalation of the Earth.
Ambrosia is sometimes depicted in ancient art as distributed by a nymph labeled with that name. In the myth of Lycurgus, an opponent to the wine god Dionysus, violence committed against Ambrosia turns her into a grapevine.
Tantalus was banished to the underworld for stealing ambrosia from Zeus’s table and for offering his son, boiled and cooked, as a peace offering.
Ingredients:
Several pounds or kilos of words
A pinch of careful judgment
Grammar and spelling as needed
Garnish with flair
Directions:
Start with a vessel to catch your ideas. Add a number of words. Weigh them if you wish. Skim off the tops. Taste and add more if bland.
Pepper it with adjectives. Add declarative verbs and nouns liberally. Let simmer until reduced in size.
Remove most of the adverbs. Reserve them for another use.
Measure carefully as needed. Season to taste.
Serves as many as you wish.
Note: Most will keep 5 to 10 years when refrigerated, even longer if left out to age gracefully.
Maids of Honour tart (also known as maids of honour cake is a traditional English baked tart consisting of a puff pastry shell filled with cheese curds. A variation is to add jam or almonds and nutmeg. Traditionally the tart was puff pasty filled with sweetened milk curds.
The tart is said to date back to Henry VIII when he witnesses some of the Queen’s Maid of honours eating some cakes and demanded to taste one. He found them delicious and named them after the maids. There are ideas that go even further, citing that that the maid who made the tarts was imprisoned and had to produce them solely for the King.
However, there is another theory that they were named after Anne Boleyn, a maid of honour at the time, who made the cakes for Henry VIII.
A tea room in Kew in Surrey, “The Original Maids of Honour”, dates back to the 18th Century and was set up specifically to sell these tarts.
1 kg lamb cut in 3 cm cubes
1 large onion, diced
30 ml olive oil
5 ml ground turmeric
5 ml ground ginger
5 ml ground cinnamon
250 ml water or broth
Pinch of Moroccan saffron
30 ml chopped cilantro or flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
125 ml sliced carrots
250 ml pitted prunes
(dates or dried apricots or a combination can also be used)
30 ml liquid honey
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
15 ml toasted sesame seeds to garnish
Combine the lamb, turmeric, ginger, and cinnamon in a plastic bag and shake or roll to coat the meat thoroughly with the spices and press them into the meat. If desired, leave to marinate for an hour or two. In a heavy Dutch oven or tagine, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute the onions until they begin to soften, then add the meat, and brown lightly. Add the water or broth, saffron, cilantro or parsley, and carrots. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until the lamb is tender, about 1 to 1.5 hours.
With a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a heat-proof dish and keep warm while you finish the sauce. Return the liquid in the Dutch oven to a simmer. Add prunes or dried fruit, honey, and salt and pepper. Cover and cook for a few minutes to plump the prunes or fruit. Remove the cover, and continue to cook until sauce thickens to desired consistency. Return the meat to the sauce, and stir to coat completely. Warm through, and correct the seasonings if necessary. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve immediately with warm crusty bread and a salad. Serves 4 to 6.
250 ml (1 cu) butter
250 ml (1 cu) brown sugar
250 ml (1 cu) white sugar
250 ml (1 cu) flour
250 ml (1 cu) coconut
500 ml (2 cu) rolled oats
5 ml (1 tsp) baking soda
5 ml (1 tsp) baking powder
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla
1.25 ml (¼ tsp) salt
1 egg, beaten
250 ml (1 cu) raisins (or other fruits or nuts as desired)
30 ml (2 Tbsp) milk (if dough is too dry)
Cream together the sugars and butter. Combine dry ingredients and add to butter/sugar mixture. Add egg and combine. Add raisins or other fruit or nuts and combine. Drop spoonfuls onto baking sheets. Bake 8 – 10 minutes at 190ºC or 375ºF.
You need a sourdough starter. Best to get some from someone. My partner Carina made ours about two years ago according to Dan Lepard’s recipe in his great book ‘The Handmade Loaf’. We keep it in the fridge. You can make crumpets with the starter straight from the fridge, but they do like it if you can let the starter warm up a little bit. The texture and crumpet-ness of the finished thing is entirely dependent on how loose/floury your starter is – hard to explain so best just to experiment.
Put 250/300g of starter in a bowl – or whatever amount you would usually remove to make a bread or refresh it. This should make one giant crumpet. This is the best way rather than pretending you only want a small one and using the ring, but up to you. You can always cut it up to share.
Add half a teaspoon of bicarbonate soda to the starter and stir through. Leave starter to sit and swell for a few minutes while you heat a large frying pan and melt a good click of salted butter in the pan so that the bottom and sides are completely covered. Pour in the starter – it will probably gather together in a big clump in the middle, but its best to stretch it out to the sides, reduce the heat a bit. Starter will start to form bubbles… try to get it so that its almost completely cooked before flipping it to finish off the top. Bottom should be crispy and a bit salty from the butter. Flip it onto a plate. Honey, cinnamon, greek yoghurt, fruit… done.
In 2012 I received a scholarship from the Leverhulme Trust for a one-year Artist in Residency at the UCL Urban Laboratory in London, to introduce sound as an art practice to urban scholars and students. As part of my research I decided to dérive the city.
Start:
The Euston Tap, Euston
»
The Bloomsbury Tavern, Bloomsbury
»
Princess Louise, High Holborn
»
The Angel, St. Giles’s
»
The Red Lion, Soho
»
The Golden Lion, St. James’s
»
The Windsor Castle, Victoria
»
The Prince of Wales, Kennington
»
The Rose and Crown, Clapham
»
The Prince of Wales, Clapham
»
The Moon Under Water, Balham
1. pour 2 dl red Rioja wine in a straight glass
2. pour 2 dl SevenUp and 8 cl Absolut vodka, with some ice, in a shaker and shake it.
3. pour the shaked and chilled contents in the straight glass and stir.
4. put two red coktail cherries in the glass.
serve