It's the Fourth Serving of The Lunchbox
I'm giving you a perfectly chilled cocktail, a summer lunch recipe with a clever vegan twist and how to stay on the right side of your waiter
What I’m currently consuming
The Drink: Freezer Martini
The drinking-from-a-can trend is here to stay. Indeed, there’s a brilliant bar dedicated to it near me in Peckham. I’m still a little way off from drinking my wine from a can (no judgement), but martini? Hell yeah! The genius of this product is that we all know how essential that icy chill is to the deliciousness of a martini, but it’s not easy to achieve at home without throwing all your ice cubes at it. How about just popping a can in the freezer for a few hours…brilliant!
The Film: Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy
The ‘Indiana Jones of Mexican food’ sadly died on the 24th July at the unbelievable age of 99. This joyous film feels like a love letter to an irascible old woman - there’s no sugar-coating of her gruffness - and it makes for brilliant watching. The scene in which she tells one of her students how bad her rice dish is agonising but her straightforwardness is truly inspirational. As is her dedication to her cause: evangelising, documenting and preserving the cooking of Mexico. If you love Mexico and its food, you’re going to love this.
The Product: Marmite Snacks
I’d like to open up a discussion about Marmite collaborations. Love them or hate them? They’re everywhere aren’t they? From the downright obvious, such as Walker’s Marmite Crisps, to the quite obscure, Lynx Africa x Marmite, to the downright unappealing, Marmite fudge, anyone? The Brand Manager of Marmite definitely deserves a medal for all their work. Anyway, getting to my point…the number one spot of my fave marmite product got stolen this week by Marmite Graze. Crunchy, punchy, these guys have got it all. Previous yellow jumper-wearer, Marmite Peanut Butter, is off licking his wounds somewhere. What are your top Marmite collabs? Comments below please!
The T-shirt: Cookin’ Garms x Let’s do Lunch
Talking of collabs, my friend Rory and I at foodie t-shirt dealers, Cookin’ Garms, have designed this cheeky little number in time for the release of my cookbook, Let’s Do Lunch, in September. It’s everything I love in a slogan t-shirt (ie food + silly) and it’s made from lovely organic cotton.
AND the first 20 people to order get 20% off!!
Here’s how:
- Go to Cookin’ Garms Instagram
- Send a direct message saying ‘discount code for LDL t-shirt’
- You’ll be sent a discount code to use for the link here and below
- Send me your pics of you wearing them pleeeeeaaase!
Something to fill you up
Roast Pepper, Tomato & Butter Beans with Basil Aquafaba Mayo
This is summer in a baking tray. A whole meal, all done in one pan so no washing up and no stress. But hang on, we need a sauce! How about taking the magical liquid (aka aquafaba) from the butter beans and making a vegan basil mayo out of them? Now we can add no waste to the list of this dish’s virtues.
And it’s just as delicious cold, I ate this spooned over green leaves the following day and the next day I ate it with feta crumbled over. Definitely making a bigger batch next time. Use any leftover mayo in sandwiches, potato salads or to dip your chips into.
Watch my how-to video here.
Serves 4-6
2 red, yellow or green long peppers, deseeded and cut into 3cm chunks
400g cherry tomatoes, mix of colours, pricked with a sharp knife
A head of garlic, peeled
3 tbsp black olives, de-stoned
1 red onion, peeled and sliced into thin wedges
1 heaped tbsp capers, rinsed
2 x 400g jar of butter beans
100ml olive oil
Basil Aquafaba mayo
100ml drained butter bean liquid
1 garlic clove, chopped
30g basil leaves, chopped
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp cider vinegar
100ml mild olive oil
200ml sunflower oil
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/400F. Drain the butter beans, reserving 100ml of their liquid.
In your largest baking tray, combine all the peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic, olives, capers and butter beans. Pour over the oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Mix with your hands and place in the oven for 45 minutes, stirring 2-3 times, until the tomatoes have deflated and onions and garlic are sweet, tender and golden on the edges.
While it’s in the oven, make the mayo. Place the beans liquid, garlic, mustard, vinegar, basil and a big pinch of salt in a jug. Combine the oils. Using a hand blender, whizz all the ingredients together until smooth. In a steady stream, start adding the oils (you don’t have to be as delicate as with egg mayo), moving the hand blender up and down as you go to get as much air in there as possible. Once all the oil has been added, it should be nice and thick. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
Once the vegetables are lovely and deflated, remove and leave to cool for a few moments. Serve with the mayo spooned on top and a little extra basil ripped over. Delicious hot or cold.
Something to finish you off
Beth O’Brien, a Ballymaloe-trained chef and baker living in Westport Ireland regularly does us baking dabblers a big favour on her Instagram page. She’ll pick a subject, do a load of research to find the nine best recipes, then test them ALL, giving us a very thorough review of each recipe, with a succinct conclusion of her findings at the end.
It’s a great read, especially if you have some baking plans coming up and don’t know which of the 1000s of recipes to choose. In the past she has covered Madeleines, chocolate chip cookies and coffee cake. Above is a pic of her Basque cheesecake research. Anyone who has made these knows that testing nine is no mean feat, she’s a hero. I asked her how she started on this epic journey:
‘I did the first nine-recipe comparison in London with my friend Mary. It was during lockdown, we were a little bored…we decided that as bakers, we probably should have a go-to chocolate cake recipe. But there were just so many recipes to choose from. We ended up picking our favourites, baked them, iced them and tasted each. We made notes so we'd be able to refer back to which one had the best flavour, texture etc.
I kept doing the tests when I moved back to Ireland as I discovered that despite the work involved, it was actually a really good way to get into the nitty gritty details of what makes a great recipe. More recently I’ve taken it to the next level and started adding my own recipe for each baked good based off what I learned during the process.’
My 10 tips for what never say to a waiter
(I’ve heard every single one of these said)
1. ‘But what do you really want to be doing with your life?’
2. ‘When are you due?’
3. *looking at your plate and winking ‘It was disgusting, can you tell?’
4. ‘How do you stay so thin working here?’
5. ‘Give me…’
6. ‘We can’t finish it, would you like the end of our wine?’
7. ‘Can I have my lamb cooked pink, but with no blood.’
8. ‘Thanks, darling/sweetie/babe/sugar’.
9. ‘Didn’t you hear me clicking/whistling at you?’
10. ‘How about I give you my number instead of a tip?’
I’ve given my website a sexy makeover! Have a look here
