Plantes Vertes

Here's a site with many attractive suggestions. It's in French but Google translate should help with the titles, then I'll translate any of the recipes that interest you. http://www.marmiton.org/recettes/selection_pique_nique.aspx?p=0

I finished making a beef consomme that I will serve to my mother at a surprise dinner to thank her for being very kind to me recently. I don't love anyone but her enough to bother doing this ever again...

Cut them in half, sprinkle lightly with salt, place in oven preheated to the lowest setting for 6-12hrs depending on size. They should remain flexible, not get brittle. Store in airtight container or oil.

I don't think that negates any End of History conclusions that we might draw.

I messed about with cherries today, since there's a cherry thread knocking around. I tried a Grape Escape, with cherries instead of... grapes. 5 cherries 5 mint leaves 2oz cognac 1/2oz cane syrup Muddle fruit and mint, shake the lot, top up with Champagne. Or something a bit like Champagne. Mint sprig for garnish. Since I love the truth I will tell you that this drink was not especially brilliant. I suppose the grapes have rather more in common with the wine than cherries do. They were a bit sweet and sloppy. Then I made this one: 2oz Flor de Cana 7 1.5oz red grapefruit juice Splash absinthe 2 bsp simple Thyme leaves from 5 sprigs (~ 1TBS thyme leaves) 5 cherries Muddle the cherries and thyme, shake everything, double strain In my head this was going to be nice with pistachio liqueur in it instead of the syrup but that kicked the bitter grapefruit out the door andmade it taste like Calpol so I dropped it. I thought I was a genius for having thought of the thyme. Then I noticed the Flor de Cana site has a thyme cocktail on the front page. Evidently it was morphic resonance. I garnished it with thyme before discovering in quite an unpleasant way that that was a choking hazard. So maybe go with some discarded grapefruit peel.

It looks beautiful How did you make it? I used to date a jeweler. she broke my heart actually. all the cutting and sanding techniques I learned from her but to form the spoon I made a forming dolly and dapping bowl out of plastic. they were based on an old antique julep strainer with great shape and size but a broken handle that I sacrificed. you pound it a little bit with a mallet then press it in the forms then pound a little more. If I was better equipped I could shrink the metal around the sides a little bitter and smooth it all out with an english wheel. as it is I find the imperfections and limited degree of involvement sort of endearing. I love the naive quality as well, it's lovely. I used to work for a jeweler. One day when I'd cost her about £800 in precious metals failing to make a ring properly, she suggested I should look for another profession. If only I'd thought to make a julep strainer first!

Here are some I started recently: Lemon thyme and thyme: Kaffir lime: Walnut: It's traditionally made with green walnuts but there's no possibility of finding those around here. It works fine with dried ones too. Rhubarb, orange and ginger: I made fruit liqueurs last year. Now I'm trying some other stuff. I made a lot of these little samples so I could experiment with different combinations and different alcohols, and with the amount of sugar. I'll make some of them into bitters and make larger quantities of the ones that work best as liqueurs.

Yes, I've been rather inspired by huiray's broth soups with bitter greens, so I thought I'd try it out. It cooked to very soft in a few minutes and I chopped it up a bit so I could cope with it and a spoon. It's not a type of soup I've tried much before - I usually do the blended type too, but now I like both

I made watercress soup in a broth with garlic, shallots, ginger, chillies, kaffir lime leaves, coriander and salt. It was very refreshing.

You don't have to get six bottles of one thing, just six total. Anyway, if I spot some going begging I'll pick you some up.

Do you mean from trade suppliers? I don't have any trouble finding it. I bought some in Majestic the other day, and they're hardly known for spirits. It's easily available online too.

It looks beautiful How did you make it?

Thanks Keith; I'll bear that in mind in my experiment.

You should keep this kind of info to yourself! Picture eGulleteers descending on stocks like piranhas devouring an ill-fated adventuring botanist

Franci, thank you so much for sharing your pizza wisdom. I'm going to try it! Just have to get some flour; I'll do it tomorrow and show how it turns out.

Spot the Française

SALT

Yes, this is an excellent suggestion. I have access to one at the moment and the bread it makes is superb, and about £0.35-0.70 per loaf depending on flour and other ingredients used. You can also prepare the dough in them and then remove it to bake in the oven, but I find the cooking function quite satisfactory. The downside is that they are absolute beasts and will dominate your counter space like a grumpy despot.

Franci, perhaps you can answer an ignoramus's pizza question; is a typical Italian pizza with or without cheese? It's not a dish I've explored very much as I find the commercial ones available here quite nauseating, and so I have assumed I don't like it, but yours look fantastic. I'd like to know what the original preparation is like. Thanks!

I find that the strings disintegrate if you cook the celery sufficiently. I normally sautee the onion and garlic, then add the celery (chopped roughly, say into 1" lengths) and put the lid on and leave it for a good 10-12mins. The celery should become somewhat translucent. Then I add the stock and boil for about 5mins more, then puree. I use quite a powerful immersion blender that seems to make short work of cooked vegetables. I should have added the parsley before pureeing as well but I forgot. However, the celery that I had was of a particular kind that we get here in supermarkets. It seems paler and more closely packed than the celery that grows naturally and I wonder whether it's forced - that might make a difference. If your celery is the dark and open kind you could try pulling off the outer strings - I've read about that but not tried it as the soup turns out very light and smooth with the method I described. I hope you try it and enjoy your soup!

A great utensil for inexpensive meals is the pressure cooker. It makes bean food easy. You can get one off eBay very cheaply - mine was about £18 if I remember well, and I use it often. It also speeds up cooking so you save on gas/electricity, and you can do 'long' cooking quickly, so you can use cheaper ingredients and make them tender. A herb garden is the other essential, or a window box if you live in a flat. The aromatics will make basic ingredients delicious and if you remember to water them ( ) they'll last forever! You can even grow your own chillies if you have a warm spot, then dry them to use over the year. Maybe mint, basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, coriander, tarragon. They can all go in a small space. It's also good to have a lot of spices about. They'll be cheaper from Asian grocery shops. Don't keep them too long or they'll lose flavour. Indian food seems to be a very inexpensive cuisine. I lived with my SO on £12/wk back in our impoverished youths when we had important things like a bar tab to fund, by buying a sack of potatoes, tinned tomatoes, frozen spinach, lentils, some other beans, garlic, oil rice and spices. Madhur Jaffrey's books are very useful for that.

Celery. It was just a celery, an onion, five cloves of garlic, parsley and stock.

I tried this again today, this time using Angostura and more lime than yesterday. Also more dilution. I admit that the one I did before tasted a bit soapy, and I thought it could use more water. This time it was really great. Thanks for a nice new drink Rafa. You really care about this trial, huh. I sat in the same chair, drank from the same glass and put back on my clothes from yesterday to control the variables.

We had some bourbon slings at home: Then in the bar a Cherub's Cup, which was super summery. I thought it was very funny the way the bartender served this with the garnish trying to escape over the side. (It should actually be garnished with a strawberry but this is England in June. Still basically winter. There was one in there but it might as well have been a pink stone.) 2 parts Hendrick's gin 1 part St. Germain 1 muddled strawberry 3/4 part lemon juice 1/4 part simple syrup champagne (Brut or Brut Rose) ice And a Manhattan:

I tried this again today, this time using Angostura and more lime than yesterday. Also more dilution. I admit that the one I did before tasted a bit soapy, and I thought it could use more water. This time it was really great. Thanks for a nice new drink Rafa.