The Charcoal Burner

A Sunday full of light and shade had shards of bright sunlight, a coffee for two, rehabilitation for the Dogg's muscle strain and an exotic new frittata. 

On the player was Jeff Wayne's Musical version of HG Wells' apocalyptic novel "The War of the Worlds". It is a piece that shows how brightness can rise ultimately from seemingly inevitable defeat and so is highly relatable for many of us today.

The ingredients to make this recipe are as follows:

4 Duck Eggs

100 grams of Kale

6 Basil Leaves

2 Tomatoes cut into half.

A pinch of White Pepper.

0.1 litres of Skimmed Milk.

Fifty Grams of Charcoal Cheese cut into small pieces.

The method to make this recipe goes like this:

1. Beat the Duck Eggs together in a measuring jug until they are fully blended. 

2. Fry the Kale in a frying pan in some sunflower oil on a medium heat for around 10 minutes stirring frequently to avoid it being burned. 

3. Add the Duck Eggs, Milk, Tomato, Basil and White Pepper. Split the Tomato evenly over the top of the Frittata.

4. Cook on the hob for around ten minutes using spatula to get under the Frittata to save it from sticking as it warms through. 

5. Scatter the Charcoal Cheese over the the Frittata.

6. Remove the frying pan from the hob, keeping the Frittata in there, and put it under grill on a low heat for two minutes prior to serving. 

The Kale was juicy yet crunchy while the Duck Eggs carry a richness and protein to fortify us through a wild March. The Charcoal Cheese meanwhile is like no cheese I've ever tasted with the charcoal itself being a good aid to the immune system. 

And Soup and I

Two soups eat as one

The ides of March was a time in the month that, when the Romans were around, was seen as a time to settle debts and the ides of March are seen in folklore to be a time of the year to be wary of. Yesterday seemed to live up to that at first as typhoon style rain battered the Western Wall of my house while I waited anxiously to go on a wander with the most irreplaceable part of the band.

To fuel us up for a walk in the hills in the west  I decided to prepare a bright Beetroot Soup. On the player was Yes' dynamic "Keys to Ascension" Box Set that covered several re-union shows the band had with star keyboardist Rick Wakemen and wonderful new studio tracks the were the best the band had forged since their seventies heyday. 

The Recipe

Three Beetroots, topped, tailed, scrubbed clean and then cubed.

The leaves and stems of the three Beetroots. 

Three Cloves of Garlic, topped, tailed, peeled thinly sliced. 

One Hundred Grams of Fresh Root Ginger, peeled and thinly sliced. 

One small Red Chilli cut into minute pieces.

Half a pint of Vegetable Stock

The Method

1. Fry the Beetroot Pieces, Beetroot Leaves, Stems, Garlic Cloves, Ginger and the Chilli in sunflower oil on a medium heat in a deep sauce pan for ten minutes stirring regularly.

2. Add the Vegetable Stock and simmer for one hour.

3. Blend and serve or put in a flask to take with you on a walk to keep you warm. 

The ratio Ginger and the Chilli made sure the heat of the soup was evenly distributed while the sweet, earthy taste of the Beetroot gave the recipe real body. 

We took the soup to a place out in the west where the skies were wild and the horizons showed us, wild, distant, untamed but somehow forbidden countryside. There we took our cups of soup and drank our health and to the future adventures and wild wonders that we would experience.