....or marmite with 30% guinness yeast extact
What is it??
A limited-edition version
of regular marmite, which is normally made with a blend of yeast
extracts. The bods at marmite have released 300,000 jars onto the
shelves of Waitrose and Tesco for St Patrick's day 2007
Is it any cop?
Looks like regular marmite, has the
texture of regular marmite, tastes a little less salty and meaty than
normal marmite. Unless you're either a guinness or marmite-geek, you're
probably not going to notice the difference. The aftertaste is also a
little sweeter, and vaguely guinnessy than it's predacessor. Reports
suggest that it has already sold out in many outlets. Cool jar.
Probably not worth the extra 30p for its limitededitionness...
What is it!?
My bastardaisation of a recipe for spicy beetroot and coconut soup from BBC food.
How to make
Take a 5cm finger of ginger, 2 cloves of garlic, two red chillis
(de-seeded) and the juice of a whole lime and whizz round in a blender
to make a smooth paste.
Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan and add to that a handful of cumin seeds and half of the paste. Gently heat for a couple of minutes to release the flavour and stir in two chopped shallots. Gently sweat and coat with the paste.
Next, chop up around 250g of pickled baby beetroots and 150g of baby sweetcorn. Add half the beetroot and all of the sweetcorn to the pan and lightly fry for about 5 minutes.
Whilst the beetroot, paste and sweetcorn mix is cooking, take a whole coconut, drain the milk into a bowl and chop the flesh into small chunks. Using a food blender, cream the coconut flesh and milk into a paste. The paste should be thick and still retain a good deal of texture.
Make up a pint of vegetable stock (gravey mix will do!) and stir into the contents of the pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 7-9 minutes, stirring occasionally. The soup should be medium brown in colour.
Finally, remove the pan from the heat and add the rest of the paste, beetroots and coconut. Blend vigourously and watch as the soup takes on an awesomely bright pink colour. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
Serve in a massively deep bowl, with a good hock of unbuttered wholemeal bread. sprinkle with corriander, mint leaves and a tiny blob of creme fraiche (don't add too much unless you want a lukewarm, rich dish!
How does it taste?
Though it might seem an unlikely combination, the fresh coconut and
sweetcorn adds a really thick, almost brothy texture to this dish,
perfectly complimenting the liquid-sweet-sharpmess of the beetroot. The
blend of spices add a not-too-overpowering kick, deepening the flavour,
with a satisfying chilli and ginger aftertaste. Perhaps another clove
of garlic would compliment the pickledness of the beetroot.
Whilst it is slightly reminiscent of an innocent smoothie, in
appearence, the colour and texture of this soup makes it both
appetising and filling.
Tweak it!
Experiment with chopped celery, tomato, paprika and lemongrass. Use coconut milk for a less textured dish.
What's something you should throw away, but can't?
It's gotta be my old, old trainers which I walk EVERYWHERE in. They're so scummy, i'm not even sure what colour they started out in, but they're the comfiest shoes around. (despite the fact that there's holes in both the soles and lining To add to the sadness, I walked them into a bog today whilst out kiting and now they need a good run in the washing machine. A new pair of shoes just wouldn't be the same.....
"a plague burial site, a dried-up oxbow lake, a name derived from the anglo-saxon chief Morta"
It is, suprisingly impossible to see even a whisp of London from my bedroom window, which, being in the attic, looks out over the bricky flatness dipping down to the thames in the North and the shapes of Kew to the west. Even the nearby Budweiser factory provides its own punctuation-like a metallic castle between the puffy cartoon clouds. I would have taken a photograph, but in my haste to capture the sunset, I managed to pop my hand through a windowpane which rattled down the roof and smashed upon contact with the ground. I'm a bit worried about the blind woman who lives downstairs, as most of the glass fell on to her patio. I've still not met her yet, despite repeatedly knocking on her door...(writing a note would obviously be to no avail)
Other than a very plasticy-feeling ceaser salad with bacon and peppered mushrooms, I've had little food of interest today. In contrast, Wednesday saw my housemate cooking an absolutly scrumptious joint of beef, little overdone, but not so that it tasted like a piece of old shoe. The highlight of the meal was clearly the roast potatoes, par-boiled and ruffled the night before, then swathed in melted butter with a good dose of fennel seeds, garlic and corriander, before being bunged in a roaster for around a half-hour. The spicy-crispyness was perfectly offset with a hearty parsnip and carrot mash and a pile of delecatly creamed wilted spinach. Needless to say, none of us were really hungry for the duchy of cornwall tart for afters, but about half-an hour later, we dug in. Now i'm not a big fan of chocolate tart, on the account of it being far too heavy and rich, with a rather dry pastry, but the addition of a smidge of apricot glaze between case and filling provided a not-too-sharp sweetness which removed the usually unplesent mouth-coating sensation from the chocolate filling.
