Category Archives: food+drink

food+drink

Culinary Adventure #108: Asparagus Tips

We’ve recently had the joy of the first English asparagus of the year. So I thought it might be worth a few tips which I find useful in getting the best from asparagus. This is my experience; as always YMMV.

Buying asparagus. Do not be tempted to buy those thick tree trunks as they’ll be woodier and not good value. Buy sprue – that’s the very thin spears – if you have the choice. They tend to be younger, softer, and more succulent.

Cut off ends & stand in water. If you aren’t going to use the asparagus within about 24 hours, you need to keep it fresh. While the fridge will help, it will tend to dry out the spears unless they’re wrapped in damp kitchen paper. I find the best way is to cut a small slice (no more than 5mm) off the bottom of each spear and then stand them in a small amount of water in a glass or jar. This will rejuvenate them, but don’t try keeping them more than 2-3 days as the tips they will start growing again.

Bundle of asparagus

Snap off the ends. When you’re preparing asparagus you will want to remove the woodier part at the bottom of the spear. But how much do you need to remove? Let the asparagus show you. Lightly hold the spear at the bottom (in one hand) and about two-thirds the way up (in the other hand). Now bend it towards you and it will snap at the point where the woodiness is less. Voila! Job done.

Forget peeling. Just don’t bother peeling asparagus. Why would you remove much of the goodness?

Not always spears. Don’t be afraid of asparagus. It doesn’t have to be kept as long spears. If what you’re cooking needs smaller pieces (eg. stir-fry or salad) don’t be afraid to cut the spears into shorter lengths, and cook as shorter lengths.

Steam, don’t boil. Forget specialised asparagus cookers. And forget saucepans of boiling water. Asparagus is best steamed, preferably as full spears. Just don’t steam for more than a handful of minutes; you don’t want it soft and mushy but very slightly crunchy.

Cook with your pasta or noodles. This is the one time it is excusable to boil asparagus. If you’re doing a pasta dish to include asparagus (and you should), you want the asparagus to be added late on so it doesn’t get over cooked, but it may not cook best in the ragu. As you’re boiling your pasta add the prepared spears about 2-3 minutes before the pasta is done. If the pasta is being added to the ragu, just drain it and tip in the pasta and asparagus together. If you want to serve the pasta separately, then remove the asparagus with a perforated spoon before draining the pasta.
Asparagus goes will in stir-fry too, so you can do the same with noodles: if you’re cooking dried noodles in hot water (usually for 5-6 minutes), add the asparagus at the same time as the noodles. Drain as before.

Now two recipe tips …

Asparagus with butter & parmesan starter. You will want 4-6 spears per person. Lightly cook the whole asparagus spears and serve hot on individual plates with a nob of butter and plenty of shaved parmesan. The first time I did this was for a dinner party; I knew it would work but one of the guests wasn’t so sure until he tried it and said it was excellent.

Cold in salad. Asparagus goes well in a mixed salad with tomato and herbs (of your choice); but for my money it doesn’t want to be raw. You’ll want the spears cut into 2-3cm lengths (match the size to the rest of the salad); you can cut before or after being cooked. Steam the asparagus and remove from the heat just before it’s done; leave it aside to cool (it’ll continue to cook a bit). When cool add to the salad and toss with an oil and lemon dressing.

There’s so much more you can do with asparagus; it’s incredibly versatile. Just Google “asparagus recipes”.

Enjoy your asparagus while you can. The season is all too short, and I don’t like having it shipped across the globe.

food+drink

Culinary Adventures #107: Blackcurrant Fool

For my recent birthday I tried something I’d not done before and made blackcurrant fool. I don’t do puddings very much due to the need to minimise sugar intake, and I’m not used to mucking about with cream. But I felt like having a go, after all it can’t be hard! Besides we had some blackcurrants taking up much needed space in the freezer. So here it is …

Blackcurrant Fool

Serves: 4-6
Preparation: 15 minutes + cooling + 10 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes

Blackcurrant Fool

Ingredients

  • 500g blackcurrants
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 300g double cream
  • 250g thick Greek yogurt
  • Splash cassis (optional)

What to do

  1. Simmer the blackcurrants for about 10 minutes with the sugar and a splash of water (or cassis) until the fruit has broken down and the juices have become syrupy.
  2. Sieve to remove stalks, skins & pips; and set aside to cool.
  3. Once the blackcurrant has completely cooled, whisk the cream until soft peaks hold.
  4. Fold in the yogurt.
  5. Then fold in the blackcurrants, and combine – more or less, depending on the level of marbling you want.
  6. Divide into bowls/glasses and chill before serving.

Notes

  1. I’ve adjusted the quantities from what I did as there was too much, too sweet, blackcurrant cf. the cream. While you want something sweet, you also want some sharpness, and don’t want jam. So don’t overdo the sugar.
  2. If you’re using frozen blackcurrants, don’t worry to thaw them. They’ll cook from frozen, although you’ll need to add about 5 minutes to the cooking time.
  3. Don’t waste time removing stalks etc. from the blackcurrants as they’ll get sieved out.
  4. When folding in the yoghurt and blackcurrants, go easy; there’s a fine line between mixing thoroughly and mixing too much. The more you work the mixture the more the whipped cream will break down.
  5. Decorate with some flaked almonds, or a sprig of mint or basil. Serve with wafers or sponge fingers if you wish.
food+drink

Culinary Adventures #106: Camembert Tartizza

Here’s one I did some days ago. As usual it’s based on a published recipe, but modified.

WTF, I hear you ask, is a “tartizza”? It’s a cross between a pizza and a tart – well I had to find something to call this as it is a sort of a cross between a pizza and a tart.

Anyway, here goes …

Camembert Tartizza

Serves: 4
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 25 minutes

Camembert Tartizza, fresh from the oven
Camembert Tartizza fresh from the oven & still on its baking parchment

Ingredients

  • Plain flour, for rolling
  • 500g block puff pastry
  • 165g jar Kalamata Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade
  • 250g French Camembert
  • 4-6 mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 handfuls cherry tomatoes (halved), or 3-4 tomatoes (sliced)
  • Bunch fresh parsley
  • Black pepper

What to do …

  1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas mark 6.
  2. Take a 30cm square baking sheet. Cut a piece of baking parchment a bit bigger than the baking sheet (3cm overlap on each edge is about right). Lay the baking parchment on the baking sheet and using a blunt object (eg. the back end of a spoon) score the parchment into the rim of the baking sheet. (This is to give you the size of the baking sheet.)
  3. Now put the baking sheet (but not the baking parchment) in the oven to heat up.
  4. Roll out the pastry to the size of the baking sheet (it doesn’t need to be neat) and place on the parchment within the marked area.
  5. Gently score round the pastry about 1cm in the from the edge; and prink the middle part all over with a fork.
  6. Spread the tapenade evenly over the pastry, leaving the edges clear.
  7. Cut the Camembert into slices no more than 5mm think, and lay them evenly over the tapenade.
  8. Top with the mushrooms, parsley, black pepper and finally the tomatoes – arrange as you like, random is fine.
  9. Glaze the pastry edges if you wish.
  10. Slide the pastry on its paper onto the hot baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and bubbling – but don’t overdo it as the tapenade will tend to singe round the edges.
  11. Serve cut into portions with a glass of wine.

Notes

  1. This makes a good, warm, supper. Alternatively allow it to cool and cut into finger-food portions as party food.
  2. This would also work with pesto in place of tapenade.
  3. Add garlic, onion, cooked meat, etc. if you wish. But avoid anchovies unless you’re using a non-salty pesto.
  5. If you find the quantity of tapenade is overpowering, just use about half a jar and spread it thinner.
food+drink

Culinary Adventures #105: Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

Our Jerusalem artichoke plants have done amazingly well. A couple of weeks ago the gardener lifted one of the (dozen or more) plants. This resulted in half a bucket of the best looking, and enormous, tubers I’ve ever seen. (Top tip: don’t lift them until you need them as they don’t store for ever like potatoes.)

As I’ve said before, when I was a kid (in 1950/60s) my parents grew artichokes in a small piece of poor soil and got a reasonable crop. Ours, this year, have been in good soil and well watered so no real wonder they’ve done well. We’ve already decided to grow them again next year.

muddy Jerusalem artichokes

We’ve still not got to the end of this first batch, despite several rounds of roast artichokes (just scrub them, cut them if they’re too big, and roast them in hot oil; no need to cover them, and they’ll caramelise a bit).

As a change I decided to try making soup. As usual with me what I did was a combination of two recipes from the intertubes.

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

Ingredients

  • At least 500g Jerusalem artichokes
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 25g butter
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 floury potato (about 150g), chopped small
  • 600ml vegetable stock or chicken stock
  • 3 tbsp double cream, plus a little extra to serve (optional)
  • 1 tsp truffle oil (optional)
  • salt and black pepper (to season)

What to do …

  1. Scrub the artichokes well (they’re very good at clinging to mud) and chop into small pieces.
  2. Melt the butter & oil in a large saucepan, and add the onion, potato, artichokes, and some black pepper. Cover the pan and sweat gently for 15 mins, stirring now and again.
  3. Pour in the stock, cover and simmer for another 15 mins until the vegetables are completely tender. If it looks too thick add a few splashes of dry sherry and/or a glass of white wine.
  4. Whizz the soup in a food processor, or with a stick blender, until very smooth.
  5. Return soup to the pan. Add the cream and truffle oil; season to taste with a little salt and more freshly ground black pepper; stir together well and return to a very gentle heat for a couple of minutes.
  6. Serve the soup in bowls, with a swirl more cream and any other topping of your choice (should you wish), and crusty bread.

Notes

  1. When preparing artichokes, look them over carefully and remove any damage. The ends of tubers can rot, and any damaged areas will be discoloured (red/brown).
  2. Another top tip: Despite what a lot of recipes say, do not peel artichokes. If you do they’ll just go to mush; the flesh gets very soft and you need the skin to hold them together (although not such a problem with soup). Added to this they’re knobbly, so a pain to peel as you don’t want to lose a large part of the tuber.
  3. Unless you’re going to cook the artichokes within minutes, drop them in some water (add some lemon juice if you like) as the cut surfaces go brown quite quickly (like apples).

The soup was good and substantial. I think we might do it again.

arts, beliefs, environment, food+drink, history, links, medical, memes, science

Monthly Links

Well then … Here we go with another collection of links to items you didn’t know you didn’t want to miss.

Science, Technology, Natural World

In the latest of the grand space projects, NASA has retrieved a couple of hundred grams of an asteroid and dropped it back to Earth.

Now we’re coming down to the top of a 22,000-foot volcano where Earth’s highest-dwelling vertebrates have been found

Japan has a new island thanks to an underwater volcanic eruption.

Still on the fiery nature of Earth, there’s been a swarm of earthquakes happening in Iceland, which likely precedes a volcanic eruption.

Still on earthquakes, a researcher, at the Vatican Library, has found a 500-year-old Hebrew note which reveals an unknown earthquake swarm in Italy.

Now to the natural world …

Serotine bats (above) have surprised scientists by being the first known mammal to have procreative sex without penetration.

Staying with rodents … experiments suggest that rats may have the power of imagination.

In the Amazon there’s a somewhat horrifying parasitic wasp (below) with a huge head, and it is just one of over 100 newly discovered species.

This is somewhat bizarre … it seems that starfish are just a large, flattened head, with no body. [££££]

Health, Medicine

Scientists seem to have worked out why some people get headaches from drinking red wine.

And now we have three items for the female population …

In the first, OB/GYN Dr Jen Gunter tries to once and for all explode the myth of menstrual synchronization.

Dr Gunter then looks at the sense in poking garlic up your vagina.

Finally academic sex researcher Dr Kate Lister tests oral probiotics for vaginal health. [££££]

Sexuality

And now on to actual sexuality … in which Dr Emily Nagoski looks at some approaches to sex for the disabled.

Expert sex therapists suggest the usual 20 ways to revive your flagging libido.

Environment

On the interaction between wild pigs and golf courses.

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

Why is there this assumption British voters become more Conservative with age – and is it true?

Let’s obscure the players’ genders and then see how men’s and women’s soccer compare.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Archaeological finds are revealing that art is much older than our species. [LONG READ] [££££]

There’s a boom in people taking up life drawing.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Near China’s “Terracotta Army” archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a 2000-year-old sheep-drawn chariot.

Moving west, a large number of clay stamps used to seal Roman documents (above) have been discovered in Turkey.

Meanwhile off the coast of Sardinia divers have discovered around 50,000 Roman coins.

A cartographer has created a London Underground style map of Britain’s Roman Roads.

Excavations around Sutton Hoo in Suffolk continue to turn up suprises. One latest find is the remains of what might be an early 7th-century temple.

Coming gradually up to date … A hoard of medieval pennies dating from the reign of King Stephen has been found in Norfolk.

In Germany they’ve found a centuries old grave containing a skeleton with four prosthetic fingers.

Dr Eleanor Janega takes reveals the real story behind the killing of Joan of Arc.

Forensic research proves that the Ancient Ram Inn in Wotton-under-Edge (above) is old, but not as old as is made out. [LONG READ]

London

Here’s a look at the life of Wenceslaus Hollar who is best known for his panoramic views of 17th-century London (below).

Food, Drink

The convoluted story of the sandwich called Gua Bao. [LONG READ]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Mathematician Kit Yates looks at whether the time has come to stop changing the clocks twice a year.

Cheese-rolling, straw bears and weird rituals: one man has made it his life’s work to record the whole of British folklore, and he now has a massive collection.

There’s a collection of walks around the UK’s strange and sacred sites.

Returning to sex researcher Dr Kate Lister, she’s written about growing out her pubic hair for the first time in 20 years. [££££]

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

And finally, in a surprise revelation it has been discovered that a supposed Yeti hair actually belonged to a horse.

food+drink

Culinary Adventures #104: Apples in Nightgowns

This is an old recipe, but one I’ve not tried before. I’m not a fan of the simple baked apple, but I’ve had Apples in Nightgowns in the past (thanks Robert & Theo, wherever you are now) I know how good they can be. So having plenty of apples, a block of pastry and the end of a jar of mincemeat I figured I’d make up my own version.

To get us started, here’s a traditional German recipe. But like most things around here it’s almost infinitely flexible.

Apples in Nightgowns
[Image from the recipe linked above]

Apples in Nightgowns

Serves: 4
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 40 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 good sized eating apples
  • 500g block of puff pastry
  • about a tbsp mincemeat for each apple
  • 2 tsp granulated sugar for dusting
  • 2 tsp icing sugar for dusting (optional)
  • flour for rolling
  • milk (or beaten egg) for glazing

What to do …

  1. Pre-heat the oven to whatever temperature the pastry needs, and prepare a baking sheet lined with baking parchment.
  2. Peel and core the apples being sure to keep them whole. If you wish dip the apples in a drop of lemon juice or water to prevent them browning.
  3. Roll out the pastry; it needs to be very thin to be large enough for four apples. Cut the sheet of pastry into four squares.
  4. Place an apple on each square of pastry and fill the core hole with mincemeat; pack the mincemeat in well with the end of a wooden spoon (or similar pusher); it doesn’t matter if it overflows the top.
  5. Wash the pastry with milk (or egg) and wrap it neatly over the apple to enclose it.
  6. Place the enveloped apples on the baking tray; glaze with milk (or egg); and sprinkle with a little granulated sugar.
  7. Bake for 10 minutes at the pastry temperature; then turn the oven down 20°C and bake for a further 20-30 minutes until golden brown and the apple has had time to cook through.
  8. Dust with icing sugar and serve hot or cold with, for preference, double cream.

Notes

  1. As the original recipe implies, you can stuff the apples with almost anything of your choice: fruit & nuts, marmalade, jam, mincemeat …
  2. I used puff pastry because I happened to have some; shortcrust should work just as well.
  3. Traditionally this is made with cooking apples, but they’ll likely need a bit more sweetening than I’ve used here (although the mincemeat was pretty sweet).
food+drink, history, medical, science, sexuality

Monthly Links

Here we go again with this month’s collection of links to items which interested me and which you maybe didn’t want to miss.

Science, Technology, Natural World

On the colours of the stars. [££££]

There are some small “earthquakes” on the moon, and the cause is somewhat surprising.

They’re still hunting for the missing flight MH370, and now there is hope of finding it using divination by barnacles.

Scientists have found a huge, remote, Fijian cave, and it’s full of tiny endangered bats. [££££]

Scientists are looking at dreaming and REM sleep across the animal kingdom.

So just how old is the oldest aquarium fish? We know koi carp can live to 80, but Methuselah is even older.

Health, Medicine

Explaining both the neuroscience and physiology of fear and anxiety.

More screening for cancers sounds like it could be good for many of us, but there are serious questions over whether the NHS could cope with it.

Girls, your vagina has it’s own microbiome (just as our guts and skin do), so here are a few pointers on how to look after it.

Yes, it turns out the so-called “male menopause” is a thing for at least some men. [££££]

So is pee sterile?

The medicinal leech has a long history, and is still used today.

Most of us suffer from delusions of some form, however mildly. Here are the five most common.

We all have childhood memories – some of us more than others – but how reliable are they?

It seems that some people whose brains flatline but survive can recall lucid “experiences of death“.

Sexuality

Just what were the rules around masturbation in Ancient Greece? As if one can put rules round such a thing! [££££]

Here are some things most of us don’t know, but probably should, about emergency contraception.

Environment

A recent report says that Britain’s ocean fish populations are in a quite some trouble.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Seemingly the speed at which someone talks has no relationship to intelligence.

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Researchers have calculated that the species which were to become Homo sapiens suffered a population bottleneck, and could have gone extinct, almost a million years ago.

Meanwhile researchers in southern Africa have discovered some ½million year old timbers which appear to have been woodworked.

5000-7000 years ago there was a culture in what’s now Eastern Europe which burned its houses down every couple of generations – but we don’t know why.

On the age of, and reasons for, the Egyptian pyramids.

Along with Greek rules around masturbation (see above) the ancient world had various rules about with female beauty. [££££]

Two rare Roman cavalry swords from around 200AD have been found in the Cotswolds.

On a similar note, an early medieval warrior buried with his weapons has been found in Germany.

In around 900AD there was a very powerful woman who ruled over that Papacy.

On the involvement of the Templars in the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170.

A bit further on … a 14th-century cannon has been found off Swedish coast.

Cannibalism in human history has rarely been just about eating to survive.

An Ode to the Rag-and-Bone Man.

Food, Drink

Notable Sandwiches #68: Francesinha e Francesinha Poveira.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

Do opposites attract? Apparently not as research is suggesting that couples are more likely to be similar than different.

Another for the girls … Attractive though it may be, in more ways than one, apparently going braless does come at a cost. However if you’re going to wear a bra, then find your correct size, ‘cos it probably isn’t what you think.

So what is it about school nicknames? Harry Mount suggests that while they can be fantastically rude, the ruder they are, the more affectionate.

Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!

Finally, this year’s Ig Nobel Prize winners have been revealed.