Food Landscapes

I came across this book at a friend's house and was immediately mesmerized by it. Food Landscapes - what? why? And yet...

These were a couple of my favourites. I mean, a salmon sea at sunset - genius. And that little house down there surrounded by broccoli I actually want to live in. But there were so many of them: a meaty wild west; a vegetable-heavy London skyline... It was a seriously massive project. I wish I'd read more about the logistics of it, what I do remember is that it was extremely time-consuming, although clearly you have to also be careful about certain food products going off

 It just goes to show that the weirdest, most unlikely ideas can be amazing if you feel passionate about what you're doing 

We all get brilliant ideas, but putting them into practice is another thing altogether and it's inspiring to see someone take such an strange idea all the way and see it through from start to finish

Cuban green plantain soup

Hello! I'm still here, I just haven't been blogging as much as I'd like to be recently. I might have mentioned before that I have an emotional relationship with food. And so when my emotions are all over the shop, as they have been recently, I can't focus on what I love to do. Which is a shame, as it would probably help. This plantain soup (from A Taste of Cuba by Beatriz Llamas) sure managed to comfort me. I knew it would, which is why I've been meaning to make it for a week now, but even though there are plantains all over Hackney, I couldn't find the right ones in my closest shops, and I didn't have the tenacity or emotional strength to go searching further afield. They need to be green, you see, not speckled or yellow. Apart from that though, it was so simple - only four ingredients! Or five if you count the tabasco

Ingredients

2-3 Green plantains

Beef stock - about a pint

Juice of 1 lime

2 Garlic cloves

Tabasco to serve

Salt and pepper

You peel the plantains, cut them into inch long chucks and cook for about 40-50min in the stock, then blend along with the garlic and seasoning. I was making the soup last night, so left it in the fridge overnight then blended it today. I don't like blending hot liquids, as I tend to get burnt one way or another. Beatriz now asks you to sieve the soup. I started to do this, but then realized that I liked the grainy texture and stopped, you carry on if you must. It will probably make the soup look nicer. Then heat it up along with the lime juice. I'd suggest serving it with tabasco, but again, this is my own innovation, apparently Cubans aren't into spicy food

A Bean and rosemary dip or How to Make the Best of a Bad Situation

The Experiment: Stuffing onions 

The Outcome 

Conclusion: Some things shouldn't be stuffed

The Solution: Blend the cooked onions with cannellini beans, fresh rosemary, some olive oil or a bit of butter, and salt and pepper for a delicious bean dip to have with bread, vegetables etc

Rhubarb martinis for New Year

I try to keep New Year's simple, as from experience I know that this one evening of the year has the most potential to go horribly wrong. At least for me anyway, most people seem to think that it's the best night of the year - I think perhaps that's a part of the problem, the pressure to have a good time, people whooping around you everywhere you go, I just can't get that excited and end up feeling tired and grumpy. But luckily for me, I seem to have finally got the knack of it - keep it simple, stay off public transport, don't arrange to meet lots of people and make sure the people you do meet are on the same wavelength as you. Last night we kicked off with Rhubarb Martinis at a friend's house before going out dancing. These were introduced to me by my auntie in Holland, who got the recipe from a German neighbour (they live on the border). Apparently, it's been in her family for years, passed down the generations, so it's a little bit special. You need a good quality, unsweetened rhubarb syrup. We bought this one in Germany, as you can see, but I reckon you may be able to buy a similar one in a health food store, or perhaps online. Make sure you mix the vanilla sugar in really well with the vodka first. Needless to say, the vodka needs to be ice-cold. We used Wyborowa. Then shake vigorously with ice and strain into a martini glass. Or a desert glass if you don't have any. And if you can't find any vanilla sugar then you can replace that with caster sugar and vanilla essence

Rhubarb Martini - serves two

500ml Rhubarb syrup

500ml Vodka

2 Tblsp Vanilla sugar

Happy 2012!