FOOD WEEKLY

I design and wrote a spoof front page for a newspaper called Food Weekly. It's a look at what could happen during a future WWIII, regarding food and imports in the UK. Click on the image for a larger version to read...

CHESTNUT AND BACON SOUP

Chestnuts are full of protein and energy. Although they’re only available during the colder months, they are easy to preserve buy peeling, cooking, and vacuum forming into airtight bags. This soup also stores in the fridge for a couple of days, and is a great snack if you’re feeling peckish. It’s filling and very hearty, and best of all, all the ingredients are cheap/easy to grow in an allotment/garden. Bacon lardons are equally cheap from the butchers.

Ingredients:

Bacon lardons
5 sticks of celery
1 large white onion
1 large leek
1 medium sized carrot
Approximately 30 peeled and roasted chestnuts
Sprigs of Thyme
Rapeseed oil

Method

Chop up the vegetables into small chunks. Fry in a small amount of oil, on a high heat till the vegetables turn brown, but do not burn. This requires constant stirring. Add the chestnuts and the thyme leaves, continue stirring for a further 5 minuets. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer on a low heat for 30 minuets. Leave to cool down, before blending. In this time, get on frying the bacon lardons in a very hot pan. There is no need to add oil, as the fat on the lardons should be sufficient. Once crisped up, turn out onto some kitchen towels. Blend the soup in a blender. Return to the pan and heat up again. Serve with the lardons, and optional croutons or bread.

RED ONION, BASIL AND THREE GOATS CHEESE QUICHE

Ingrediants

200g Plain flour
100g salted butter
3 tbsp water

5 red onions, thinly sliced
Hand full, fresh basil
Good quality balsamic vinegar
Olive oil

Three british Goat’s Cheese:
Abergavenny Goats Cheese: full fat soft cheese with a smooth texture
Gevrik Goats Cheese: a soft mould ripened goats' cheese, rich and nutty Cornish goats cheese
Somerset Goats Cheese: a mild creamy soft cheese

1 cup Jersey milk
3 large eggs
Salt and pepper

Method

I started by making the pastry, by simply adding the flour, and butter to a food processer and blitzing till the contents resembled bread crumbs. I slowly added the water through the funnel whilst continuing to blitz. Once the mixture came together, I wrapper it up in cling film, and let set in the fridge. It’s essential, the mixture never gets too warm, as this can cause the dough to loosen up.

An hour later, and I started on lining my quiche tin. I heated the oven to 180°c. I then rolled out my dough, keeping things dry with plenty of flour on my work surface. Once the dough was an even thickness, and large enough to line my tine, I lifted it up with my rolling pin and gently placed over the tin. I carefully pressed in the sides and trimmed the edges. The lined tin was left to set in the fridge for 30minuets. I then blind baked the pastry in the oven for 15 minuets with baking paper and rice. After 15 minuets, I removed the rice and baking paper and allowed further cooking for 5 minuets. Once coloured and cooked, I poked the base with a fork to allow any air to escape when cooking the quiche.

Whilst the pasty was in the oven, I cooked my onions in some olive oil on a low heat, and allowed to reduce to half the size. This requires constant stirring and attention, as to make sure the onions don’t burn. Once just nearly caramelised, I added the basil, roughly torn, and the balsamic vinegar. I continued cooking for a further 5 minuets, until the harshness of the vinegar turned into a gooey sweetness. I seasoned, then added the onions to the base of the quiche. The three cheeses was roughly chopped and also dotted around with the onions.

In a separate bowl, I whisked up the eggs and the creamy jersey milk. I added salt and pepper, and poured the mixture in and around the onions and cheese. I mixed things around with a fork, so some of the onion and cheese came to the surface. I think it’s always nice to have the ingredients of the quiche visible on the surface, instead of sunken at the bottom. I placed the quiche back in the still hot oven at 200°c. After 15 minuets, I turned it down to 160°c for 20 minuets. This ensures a soft, well cooked centre. After 35 minuets of impatience, the quiche came out, to be cooled by an open window on a cooling rack. After it was cool enough to handle I took it out of the tin and sliced it up into generous portions, for all to share and enjoy : )

SWEET ELDERFLOWER AND CARROT HALWA

Carrots have a natural sweetness which when used in sweet dishes means less sugar is needed. Carrot halwa is an Indian dish, which typically has cardamom, a selection of nuts and uses ghee and rich condensed milk. In this recipe, I have used elderflower syrup as a complimenting flavour and sweetener, unsweetened butter, and powdered milk. The flavours are fragrant and delicate. I topped it with a couple of plump, sticky, brandy soaked raisin, from the larder. Best served warm.

Ingredients

1 cup water
4 large carrots peeled and grated
4 tbsp elderflower syrup
25g unsalted butter
2 tbsp powdered milk
Brandy soaked raisins (optional)

Method

In a pan bring the cup of water up to boil. Add the grated carrots and stir for 10 minuets on a low flame. Add the powdered milk and syrup and continue stirring until all the carrots start to soften. Add the butter and stir till melted. Leave to simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 minuets or until the liquid has reduced to a rich sticky syrup. Plate, ready to serve, and top with brandy soaked raisins.

FOUR ROOT GRATIN

In the UK we have a wide selection of root vegetable’s available all year round. Full of energy and complimentary to any main dish, roots are versatile in any situation. I used four different types of roots in my gratin: potato, turnip, parsnip and swede. All have a distinctly different flavour: starchy, acidic, sharp, and sweet. The combination of the four is a well-balanced dish, which can be eaten as a meal its self. Delicious any time of the year; eaten warm straight from the oven, or cold from the fridge.

Ingrediants:

One small swede
One medium sized potato
One medium sized parsnip
One large turnip
2 cups full fat milk
Grated cheddar
3 tbsp of bread crumbs
Pinch of powdered mustard
Salt & Pepper


Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180°c. Peel and wash the root vegetables. Either using a mandoline or a very sharp knife, slice the roots as thinly as possible. Pour the milk in a large bowl and mix in the mustard, pepper and salt. Introduce the sliced roots and mix well with hands, being carful not to damage or break the slices. Transfer the contents of the bowl into a shallow oven proof baking tray. In a separate bowl, mix the grated cheddar with the bread crumbs and a pinch of salt and pepper. Sprinkle the mixture over the gratin and place on the middle shelf in the oven for 30 minuets.

SARAH VOWELL, BOOK TRAILER

MOCK GIANT WICHETTY

My recent interest in entomophagy isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Most find the idea repulsive, other think I may come in time, and some have even re-thought their diet. In the last two months I have found it hard to get people seeing enotmophagy as a way of the future, rather then novelty. It will take a while yet, and one step towards this movement is a restaurant or a British based supplier.

My new area of interest is Protein Politics; where we’re heading with our obsessive protein consumption, and the coloration between wealth and protein intake/spending. I’ve been exploring possible future scenarios and designing objects or dishes which have a sense of irony to them. It’s almost designing for the future, but with a sense of humour.

I combined my recent ventures in entomophagy and mock meats to create my Mock Veggie Giant Wichetty. As possible as the idea of entomophagy is, I’m trying to question whether we will ever reach the point of exploiting this new protein source. Something that has been done for centuries, may become a large industry… maybe like beef, we end up in short supply?

My Veggie Wichetty is also rather mockingly resembles the almost cartoony mock meats, especially popular in Japan and China. Both my parents are vegetarians, and when living in Malaysia used to eat in Buddhist restaurants, where mock fish, poultry, pork and even beef was recreated using soya and mushrooms. They tasted very similar to the meats they were trying to imitate. They fish and prawns did look like they were taken from a Japanese anime. Here’s a link to veggie world, a restaurant and supplier of Buddhist pure vegetarian food in Milton Keynes.

My idea with this dish was to make something that resembles a Wichetty sliced, with a gooey, bloody inside… just like the type Bear Grills eats. It explodes all over the camera. Jokes:


Getting my Wichetty to explode would be a little ambitious. I thought maybe i could achieve this by using poached egg yolks, but i would run into difficulties when rolling. I instead settled for the bloody red of beetroot.


I tried to keep ingredients British and seasonal as much as possible. The filling is all from Tooting market: carrots, spring onion, grated beetroot, the tender stem of broccoli and egg (make into an omelette). I wrapped this up in Nori Seaweed sheets, into a tight roll. I then wrapped this is sushi rice, and cling filmed it up really tight, and let it in the fridge to set for a few hours.


I tried to make Yuba (tofu skin), but this was fruitless. I think the fat content in the soya milk wasn’t sufficient, and didn’t form a proper skin. So I bought some from my local Vietnamese supermarket in Deptford. I soaked in warm water for five minuets. The texture is really bizarre, almost like thick human skin… perfect for recreating a crispy fried wichettty though! It takes a lot of patients, but eventually it was rolled up nice and tight. I brushed a paste of corn flour and water over the top, wrapped up in cling film, and left over night.

Lunch time the next day, and my beauties were ready to fry! The oil needs to be super hot, and it’s always better to use part old oil, and new oil when frying. I let drain, then sliced into my Yuba rolls.


I plated it up and decorated with flowers. I used a cherry tomato, wrapped in sushi rice and nori seaweed with a glaze of soy, honey and chilli for the head. As comical as it looks, it tasted great. A had a selection of dips to go with it. The yuba is great to create a crispy, not necessarily healthy, but gluten free wrap. The whole thing has a very oriental taste to it… not wichetty really, apart from the beetroot, which has a slightly earthy taste to it. It was very fun to make. Time consuming, yes indeed, but well worth all the work and sourcing the ingredients. Happy Eatings : )

Ant Bombay Mix

I started looking at groups of people who may be interested in the nutritional value of insects. A group who are will to push their bodies to the extreme, whilst also being selective with what they eat, is bodybuilders. Bodybuilders need a lot of protein in their diet, and if they were to start eating insects instead, they may be getting more protein intake then eating conventional meat.

So to try out on bodybuilders, I made an Ant Bombay Mix. A healthy snack for any, but may appeal to bodybuilders because of the nutritional value. Full of protein and carbs with:
roasted chickpeas
lentils
mung beans
dhal
and a mixture of roasted cereals

I flavoured it with a little bit of
salt, turmeric, light chilli powder, and dried coriander leaves