1. Midnight psychosis. A life style rather than a recipe.
2. Marmalade cocktail. Amuse your dinner party chums with this aperitif.
3. My Pantry. What’s cooking, Barns?
4. Cherry Cake. Let them eat cake

 

Ingredients

One case of Australian shiraz

1. Drink one bottle every night. You’ll see.

******************************

Marmalade melon marguerite

Ingredients

50ml clear tequila
12ml melon liqueur
One teaspoon of lime marmalade
Melon cubes to garnish.

1. Put the marmalade, tequila and melon liqueur in a jug and muddle gently. Stop when there are still a few small chunks of marmalade undissolved. Place jug in a freezer for 15 mins.
2. Rub the rim of a cocktail glass with lime rind, invert the glass and dip into some lightly crushed flaky salt to get an even coating.
3. Pour the cooled cocktail into the glass and decorate with a selection of melon pieces on a long cocktail stick.

******************************

What makes a good pantry?

Mrs Harry went into my pantry the other day (a rare occasion) and exclaimed “there is nothing actually to eat in here and it’s still full!”

I think she had defined a good pantry. A wall of herbs for every occasion. A shelf for Indian and another shelf for Chinese/Asian spice mixes and jars. A big shelf for bought and home-made condiments and pickles. And, on the top (see photo) a bottle of just about every spirit or fortified wine you will ever need, either to drink or to cook with. The actual food I can buy in fresh on a day-to-day basis.

******************************

Cherry cake with coffee icing.

An unusual combination but it works!

Ingredients
2 large eggs
120g self-raising flour
120g unsalted butter
80g caster sugar
10 coarsely chopped maraschino cherries
A splash of Amaretto
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons instant coffee
Some icing sugar

1. Make a Victoria sponge in the usual way, incorporating the cherries, Amaretto and a bit of the syrupy liquid from the cherry jar. Bake it in a lined loaf tin.
2. Dissolve the coffee in a little water, then add enough icing sugar to get a thick paste.
3. Ice the cake and leave it to set for a few hours. I put a few pecans on top for decoration.

*******************************************