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Blog

Starlight

Remembrance Day falls this weekend, when we honour the memory of all those in the armed forces who have given their lives in the line of duty. As I pinned a poppy to my lapel this week, I was reminded of a rare gem of a tea and coffee house I visited a few weeks back. It is a special place for mindful thought and reflection on the loss of friends, family and loved ones. Let me introduce The Starlight Tea Chapel.

‘Stumbled upon’ is no exaggeration. In Essex for a few days, we had planned a walk in Colchester that was set to pause for tea at a National Trust mill. It was only on arrival we found that the mill was closed – cuing up a hasty search of Google Maps for a nearby alternative.

The Tea Chapel is inside the grounds of the cemetery and crematorium, although you will not find it signposted from the road. Built in 1855, it served for many years itself as a venue for funeral services, but was then decommissioned when the nearby crematorium opened. For a few years, it was effectively a store for garden tools, before being leased out as a tea room.

It now serves as a meeting place for a wake, celebration of life or post-funeral reception. In a touching gesture, the wall around the arched entrance door pays tribute to those whose lives have been celebrated here by loved ones, with pasted covers from orders of service (see photo above).

However, it is actually so much more. The history, the green and peaceful surroundings, and the beautiful architecture of the building combine to make this a special place for quiet and mindful reflection generally, over a tea, coffee, lunch or cake.

As we discovered, it is also open to the general public for this purpose – check on opening times before you go. I can recommend the cake!

So what is the corresponding track for adding to the ADK Spotify Playlist? Coincidentally, around the same time as our visit, I managed to obtain tickets to see Muse, a band I really like, on their UK tour next year. The track Starlight seems particularly suitable for this post, not only because of the title, but the lyrics generally and the promise to Never Fade Away.

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Blog

My Halloween Party

So the ADK Halloween Party was in full swing, all my dream (or should that be nightmare?) guests having arrived.

I asked Jamie Lee Curtis to be in charge of jack o’lantern carving. She told me she’d first done this over 40 years ago, while babysitting. Clearly she’d been quite successful at it, having been asked by her employers to take it up again every few years since. I was very pleased with the results – see my main photo. She can come again.

Edward Scissorhands was sat at the kitchen table, doing his best to turn the carrots and celery into crudites. Opposite him sat Freddy Krueger, his nimble fingers at work on the party dips. I don’t want to carp, but they were both quite messy workers, and the ingredients weren’t as carefully or evenly chopped as I would have liked. But hey – it saved me having to get out the food processor.

Jack Skellington is a lovely chap, if mildly irritating. Every job I tried to give him, he just kept asking What’s this? What’s this? Eventually I put him in charge of sorting out the music.

Everyone seemed to be having a lovely time. I received a nice note from Michael Myers, saying how much he had enjoyed it, and that he would like to come again. At least, I think that’s what he meant – his actual note was left on the kitchen table, with the words on it, scrawled in blood, I’ll be Back!

What’s more, he had pinned the note to the table using one of my best Sabatier carving knives, damaging the tip in the process. I wasn’t best pleased with this, as you can imagine. Why the lad can’t just use a post-it note like anyone else, I don’t know.

All this really did happen, I swear. At least I think it did. The last thing I remember, we were all sitting round the table having a slice of the special Halloween Cake I’d baked, using those strange new mushrooms I picked down in the woods. It all went a bit hazy after that.

Jack’s selection for musical accompaniment is You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween by Muse. I think Matt Bellamy’s falsetto chorus reminds him of This is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas, although the track is still unmistakably Muse.

I’m sharing the video here as it is a lot of fun. The setting looks like a cross between Disney’s Haunted Mansion and The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. Not a place you would want to be alone. After dark. At Halloween.

Whatever you are doing this Halloween weekend, I hope you are having as spooktacular a time as me.

Happy Halloween, everyone!


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Desserts Recipes

Passion Fruit and Lime Pots

I made these recently to share with friends as a dessert after a dinner party. They look good, taste fresh and tangy with a hint of sweet and sour, are a little different from the norm, and not that difficult to make. They can also be prepared well in advance of mealtime. It is a Mary Berry recipe originally, so thanks to Mary for the inspiration!

My recent photo post on Twitter for this dish received a new record number of likes for A Different Kitchen, so I’m sharing the full recipe here.

Timings

20 mins to prepare, at least two hours to set in the fridge.

Servings

This will make six pots.

You Will Need

  • 6 passion fruits
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 600ml double cream
  • 100g caster sugar

Method

  1. Tip the cream and sugar into a saucepan. Heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved, then step up the heat and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
  2. Halve 5 of the passion fruits and scoop out the juice and seeds. Whirl the juice and seeds in a food processor with blade fitted, until smooth. Push through a sieve so that you have a smooth juice, and discard the seeds.
  3. Add the passion fruit juice to the warm cream and sugar mixture, so that the cream will start to thicken.
  4. Add the lime juice also to the mixture, and stir in so that it thickens further.
  5. Pour the mixture into six ramekins and let cool. Once cooled, place in the fridge to set for at least 3 hours.
  6. When ready to serve, cut the remaining passion fruit in half and scoop out the juice and seeds. Scatter this across the surface of the 6 pots, and serve.

The musical accompaniment to this dish should be smooth, mellow and sophisticated, with just a hint of an edge to reflect the combination of sweet and sour. I’ve opted for a band getting a lot of play recently in the ADK kitchen, and that is Massive Attack, here with the excellent vocals of Tracey Thorn. Enjoy Protection.

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Blog

The Thrill of It All

This weekend just gone is one I had been looking forward to for some time. Tickets to see Roxy Music at the O2 Arena in London were a lovely surprise birthday present, and the day had finally arrived!

Roxy have directly influenced so many trends in music, from glam rock, punk and new wave to the new romantics and so much indie and electronic music since. It is difficult to convey how markedly different they were when they first arrived on the scene – an eclectic blend of suave crooning over buzzing guitar, blasting rock sax and experimental keyboards. Unique and original, they really were unlike anything we had seen before.

I have always been a fan of Roxy, and this show did not disappoint. The band performed lots of tracks that I have been listening to for years on vinyl and cd, and still nowadays on Spotify – Virginia Plain, Do the Strand, In Every Dreamhome a Heartache, Love is the Drug – to name a few.

Of course, with the passage of time, Ferry, Mackay, Manzanera and Thompson are all a little older and mellower. However, it still feels a privilege to be in the presence of the original band members when performing these era-defining songs.

My favourite track was Editions of You, played out at the O2 before an Andy Warhol-inspired backdrop, featuring garishly coloured lino prints of that famous Campbells Soup tin, and stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Jackie O. To these had been added vintage portraits of the band members from their heyday, in the same pop art style, acknowledging their own place in the pantheon of modern cultural icons.

I don’t know if we will see a tour like this again from Roxy, but if not, this is a fine way to remember the band and celebrate their wonderful legacy.

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Mains Recipes

Kale and Potato Cakes

As summer slips away into autumn, the space in our garden occupied by sunshine-infused tomatoes and cucumbers is gradually giving way to curly kale.

Kale is highly regarded as a source of numerous vitamins and nutrients that keep our bodies healthy. It is also one of my favourite vegetables to cook with – watch out for some more kale dishes posted before this autumn is through!

This dish started out as a Mary Berry bubble and squeak-type recipe (thanks for the inspiration, Mary!), which I modified to take advantage of the copious amounts of fresh kale that have been appearing each day over our garden wall. I also added scallions/spring onions, which go down a treat.

I served the cakes with a rasher of good back bacon on top, along with a soft poached egg and a twist of chilli flakes. The cakes can be prepared in advance and shallow fried as required. They make a tasty and healthy midweek meal or weekend brunch.

Servings

This will make 8 cakes.

Timings

The first stage of preparing and boiling/steaming the veg (which can be done up to 24 hrs in advance) takes about 20 mins. Once slightly cooled, combining and shaping the cakes (which can also be done in advance) will take about another 10 – 15 mins. Allow 10 mins to shallow fry the cakes before serving.

You Will Need

  • 1kg potatoes – I used Maris Piper
  • 40g butter
  • 100g fresh curly kale
  • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • 50g cheddar cheese, grated
  • 3- 4 scallions/spring onions, finely chopped
  • 40 g plain flour
  • a few pinches of sea salt
  • oil for frying

Method

  1. Peel, chunk and boil the potatoes for 15 – 20 mins in water with a pinch of sea salt added. Drain well and leave in the warm saucepan to cool slightly – this will ensure that any excess moisture evaporates, leaving the potatoes dry.
  2. While the potatoes are cooking, place the kale in a steamer over the saucepan for about 10 mins. Remove the steamer and spread the kale out on some kitchen paper on a tray. With another piece of kitchen paper, pat the tops of the kale leaves to make them as dry as possible, then shred with a sharp knife.
  3. Add the butter to the warm potatoes and mash until smooth. Add in the shredded kale, scallions, cheese and mustard and combine well. Check the seasoning and give it another twist of sea salt if necessary.
  4. By this stage, the combined mixture should have cooled sufficiently to enable you to grab a handful and shape it into a pattie, or cake, the size of a burger.
  5. Sprinkle the flour on a plate and coat each cake on both sides.
  6. Shallow fry the cakes in the oil until brown and crispy on the outside, while soft in the middle.

Customise it!

I put some rashers of bacon in the pan to cook alongside the cakes, and poached some eggs at the same time. You can serve each cake with a rasher on top, and then a soft poached egg, topped with a twist of chilli flakes – see my photo.

For a veggie option, try chopped tomatoes on top, with or without the egg. Another good combo would be smashed avocado with egg and bacon. Be creative!

Choice of musical track is influenced by the gig tickets I managed to secure while working on this dish. I’m excited to say that next year I shall be seeing the Arctic Monkeys on their UK tour. Consequently, their music has been featuring quite heavily recently in the sounds playing in the ADK kitchen.

I am very interested to hear the new album which is due out in a few weeks’ time. I have always liked the band and saw them live on the AM tour at Earls Court, London in 2013. My favourite album of theirs is still Humbug. I liked the 2018 sci-fi influenced Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino album, though it was quite different from what they had done before. All in all, I’ll award it Four Stars Out of Five…

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Mains Recipes

Chilli Mushroom with Lime & Sea Salt Buttered Veg

A roasted filled portobello mushroom makes a great vegetarian dinner. It holds its shape and texture when cooked and releases its juices when you cut into it with a knife. In this dish it is combined with summer veg served with melting slivers of butter infused with lime, sea salt and chilli flakes.

Servings

This will make one serving, so multiply up by however many mouths you are feeding (I’ll say more about this below!)

Timings

20 mins to make the vegetable chilli filling, then 20 mins in the oven to roast.

You Will Need

  • 1 stick celery
  • half an onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • half a red, green or yellow pepper
  • a little vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon of plain flour
  • half a 440g tin of kidney beans
  • 300g vegetable stock
  • 60g red lentils
  • 1 portobello mushroom
  • seasonal veg (e.g. green beans, carrots) for one, boiled or steamed
  • 40g butter, softened
  • zest and juice of half a lime
  • a few twists of sea salt
  • a few chilli flakes

Method

  1. Put the chilli powder and cumin seeds in some oil, until sizzling.
  2. Finely chop the onion, celery, carrot and pepper and shallow fry until softened.
  3. Take off the heat and sprinkle the flour over. Turn the veg over until it is coated in the flour.
  4. Add the stock and bring to the boil. When boiling, add the lentils and kidney beans. Put on the lid of the pan and simmer for 10 – 15 mins until the lentils have softened.
  5. Remove the lid and let the mix reduce through evaporation, until you have a soft, thick consistency.
  6. Remove the stalk from the centre of the mushroom, chop and set aside. Brush the mushroom all over with oil.
  7. Fill the mushroom with the chilli mix, topping it with pieces of the stalk, gently pressed down into the mix. Place on a metal tray and roast in the oven at 180C for 20 mins.
  8. While the mushroom is roasting, chop and boil or steam the seasonal veg.
  9. In a small bowl, mix the butter, lime zest and juice, sea salt and chilli flakes. Place in the fridge until serving.
  10. Serve up the roasted mushroom with the veg on the side. Slice off a few slivers of the butter and let melt over the veg.

Customise it!

Lots of scope for going off piste here, while sticking to the fundamentals of a roasted portobello mushroom, a chilli filling and seasoned butter for the veg. Swap in other types of lentil or pulse, and use some drops of tomato passata if you wish along with the stock. Choose whichever veg you prefer to serve on the side, and prepare it as you like it. Garlic goes well in both the chilli mix, and especially in the butter.

I’ve given the measurements to make one portion here. However, I would quite often make a larger pot of the vegetable chilli and serve some of it on other occasions, in a different way (e.g. with rice) or freeze some of it for a later date. Similarly, the seasoned butter is great with other foods, such as sweetcorn and fish, so I sometimes make a larger batch of that as well.

In other words, don’t be afraid to gross up the amounts. Stick to the instructions above and you’ll have a nice meal for one. Go larger and who knows – you may have enough to feed a Seven Nation Army. Cue the White Stripes!

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Blog

Tea at the Palace

In 2014 I received an invitation from HM The Queen to attend a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.

It was really exciting travelling up to London on the train, and making our way to the Palace. Usually all one gets to see is the famous view from the Mall, on the outside of those imposing railings. How excited we were to be invited through the gates, walk across the courtyard and enter the Palace, making our way through to the vast terrace that overlooks the rear gardens.

The gardens were huge – more like a public park, with paths and beautifully mature planted borders winding off in all directions. While there were many people there for the Garden Party, it was still possible to find yourself alone in a remote corner, and easy to forget that we were actually in the heart of one of the world’s busiest and noisiest capital cities.

A highlight for me was the afternoon tea. I have posted photos of both the menu, and my plate with selections from the finger buffet. You will see from these that I was enjoying the daintily trimmed sandwiches – cucumber, mint and black pepper, and also free range egg mayonnaise with cress. There is also a coronation chicken wrap with spinach and peppers.

The cakes were superb – my plate loaded with Dundee cake, strawberry and cream battenburg, and a chocolate and praline croustillant that bears an edible Royal Crown motif. My choice of drink is an iced coffee.

The members of the Royal Family in attendance were HM The Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Duchess of Cambridge (now the Princess of Wales).

I was one of many invitees drawn from public services and the charity sector. An invitation to afternoon tea at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party was the Queen’s way of thanking us for our contribution, day in and day out, to supporting Britain’s local communities. It was a really nice gesture that was warmly received by all of us.

Following the sad events of this week, as a mark of respect I will be taking a short break from posting during the period of national mourning, after which normal service will be resumed.

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Blog

Lost in the Supermarket

Cooking from recipes prepared by our top chefs can sometimes involve tracking down rather obscure ingredients. Even if we have a vague awareness of the product, we may never have tasted or tried to buy it before. Items that fall into this list for me have included porcini mushrooms, Szechuan pepper, rose harissa and kashmiri chillis.

Searching out products that are unfamiliar can be a challenge. I am fortunate to have a large Sainsbury’s and a cavernous two tier Tesco’s virtually on my doorstep, but can I find these ingredients there?

The usual story begins with checking out where I thought they would be, but without success. My visit then descends into a kind of aimless cruising of the trolley up and down the aisles in the hope of inspiration, or at least that something associated with the item will catch my eye. In a place this size, I’m thinking, surely it must be here, somewhere?

How long to carry on with this pursuit can be a tough call – depending on your viewpoint, it demonstrates either a laudable spirit of not wanting to be defeated, or a petulant state of blind obstinacy.

Of course, I could ask an assistant. However, I never want a member of staff to feel that I expect them to have an encyclopedic knowledge of where everything is displayed, in a store the size of an aircraft hangar. Eggs, bread, cereals – fair enough, but something that even I have never heard of outside of a Jamie Oliver book? Forget it.

My go-to now for specialist ingredients is Waitrose. I learned this after a fruitless search for tahini in the larger stores. On arrival at a smaller branch of Waitrose, a very helpful assistant escorted me to the correct aisle and shelf, pointing out that they had not just one, but three different types. Good old Waitrose.

Although we have a great range of food shops in the UK, we should always remember that they are not all the same – each carefuly targets their own market niche, and as cooks/consumers we should be prepared to use this to our advantage.

After one of these experiences recently, I was playing The Clash’s great London Calling album in the ADK kitchen, and this track Lost in the Supermarket came on. It made me chuckle and I thought I would share it here. To be fair, I am pretty certain that Joe Strummer and Mick Jones didn’t intend this song to be about walking round Waitrose looking for tahini. Then again, you never know.

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Desserts Recipes

Plum and Almond Crumble Squares

Those following on Twitter (@differentkitch) may recognise the above photo from my tweet earlier in the week. It shows a batch of lovely Victoria Plums, which have recently come into season and are appearing on our market stalls. This post shows how I turned them into Plum and Almond Crumble Squares.

I researched some plum recipes, with the general idea that I felt they would be great in a traybake. I settled upon one in BBC Good Food and, as usual, modified it to my liking.

The Squares have several layers, beginning with a biscuity base. On top of this is an egg custardy/almond/ bakewell pudding type layer, and then the subtle taste of the chopped plums. The main area where I modified the recipe was on the topping, adding rolled oats, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds to flaked almonds. This makes a crumble finish which is totally loaded, adding a toasted crunch as it bakes.

Servings

This will make 16 square slices (4 had already been eaten when the above photo was taken!)

Timings

Total prep time about 25 mins, total cooking time about 1 hr – 1hr 10mins.

You Will Need

  • 250g baking spread
  • 225g caster sugar
  • 300g ground almonds
  • 140g plain flour, plus an additional 25g
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 7 plums, stones removed and cut into slices
  • 50g flaked almonds
  • 50g rolled oats
  • 25g pumpkin seeds
  • 25 g sunflower seeds

Method

  1. Grease and line a baking dish with baking paper. My baking dish was 20cm square. Cut one piece that extends across the base and two opposite sides, leaving a little overhanging on each side. Paste a strip on each of the two remaining sides.
  2. Put the baking spread, sugar and ground almonds in a food processor with blade fitted. Pulse until it is mixed.
  3. Remove the mix from the food processor and reserve half of it aside. Put the other half back in the processor with the 140g flour, and mix till it forms a dough.
  4. Remove the dough and flatten it out with a rolling pin on a floured surface. You will not be able to lift it up in one piece (like a pastry base) but, as it gets flatter, lift it in pieces and gradually place these in the base of the baking dish. Press it down with the back of a spoon and distribute it so that it covers all of the base and at least about half way up the sides. It will all meld together as it bakes.
  5. Fill the base with a piece of crumpled up baking paper and baking beans, and place in the oven to bake blind at 180C for 10 – 15 mins. The edges of the base should be beginning to brown.
  6. While the base is in the oven, make the filling. Into the food processor goes the reserved half of the spead/sugar/almond mix. Add the 2 eggs, the 25g flour, mixed spice and baking powder. Pulse it to form a creamy batter.
  7. Remove the base from the oven and add the batter on top. Then gently press the sliced plums into the top of the batter so that they remain visible. Make sure that they are evenly spread across the whole of the cake – when it is cut into squares you want each one to contain plums. Bake in the oven, still at 180C for 25 mins.
  8. In a bowl, mix the flaked almonds, oats, and the two types of seeds. Give them a good swirl so that they are well mixed up together.
  9. Remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle the topping over. As with the plums, ensure even coverage. Gently press the nuts, oats and seeds towards the batter mix, so that they will adhere to it, and not fall off when it is cut!
  10. Place back in the oven for another 25 mins. After about 20 mins, check it and insert a skewer in the centre. If it comes out clear, it is baked. If it has some uncooked batter on it, put back in for another 5 – 10 mins and keep an eye on it.
  11. When baked to your satisfaction, remove and leave aside to cool in the tin. When cool, the base will have set and you should be able to lift it out in one piece, by gripping the two overhanging sides of the baking paper liner.
  12. Put on a board and cut into 16 squares. I find a serrated (bread) knife is better for cutting through the sides of the crust, so that these doesn’t crumble. Any other sharp knife will cut through the bottom of the base.

Customise it!

You could add other types of nuts and seeds to the crumble topping – whatever you fancy really. Just make sure you press the pieces gently towards the batter so that they adhere to the cake. Some of the crumble topping will still fall off and flake into your hand as you bite into it, but that is all part of the fun and indulgence of eating it. It’s food to make you feel good!

Categories
Recipes Sides Starters

Chunky Guacamole

Here is another recipe that is ideal for outdoor summer eating. This avocado dish goes well as a starter with a barbecue, or side with a salad eaten al fresco, particularly if accompanied by an ice cold bottle of Mexican beer. It is based on a recipe for guacamole by those motorcycling masterchefs, those culinary cruisers, those grooming gastronomes (Ed: that’s enough alliteration, thank you) the Hairy Bikers.

Servings

This will make enough as a starter, or side, for 4.

Timings

10 mins to prepare, no cooking involved.

You Will Need

  • one mild chilli pepper, seeds removed
  • bunch of coriander leaves
  • two medium sized tomatoes
  • half a red onion
  • juice of half a lime, plus slice to garnish
  • 2 – 3 fresh avocados

Method

  1. Put the ingredients in a food processor with blade fitted, and blitz until well blended, but still with chunks of veg visible.
  2. Er, that’s it. Scrape into a bowl and serve.

Customise it!

Serve with tortilla chips or with veg crudites, like carrot and celery sticks. The idea of leaving it a little chunky is so that you can pick up some identifiable pieces of the veg, coated in the creamy green sauce. It’s important not to over pulse it in the food processor to the extent that you lose the chunks and it takes on the consistency of baby food!

Enjoy this while the sun is shining on us – it won’t last forever. ‘Avo’ nice day!