Absolutely Nothing To Cook : The Key To Key Lime Pie, by Micki Myers
Posted: August 31, 2012 Filed under: Absolutely Nothing To Cook, Absolutely Nothing To Eat Leave a commentOne of the most glorious food items that gets utterly ruined when people try to mass market it is Key Lime Pie. One of the biggest food faux pas is when people mistake or knowingly substitute your regular green limes for key limes, which are not the same thing at all. The key lime is a tiny thing, the size of a cherry, and looks like a yellowish-mottled kumquat. Its flavor is far less tart than its Hulkier cousin, too — instead it is sweet yet piquant, with none of the bitterness of a lemon. The pie made from it is designed especially to showcase this lovely citrus flavor, and is well worth making.
First, you’ll need to zest and squeeze 20 or so key limes. Use a plane zester and an old-fashioned glass squeezer upon which you can palm each half lime. I find myself giving it a quick press and then pinching the spent skin over the glass knob to finish it off. I also take my time, alternating with other chores; try to do them all at once and you’ll bugger up your wrist something chronic.
Make a graham cracker or biscuit crumb base. If you’re American this means zapping graham crackers in a food processor (or just buying it already crumbed); if you’re British it means doing the same with Digestive Biscuits. Mix with the melted butter and sugar, press into a tin, and bake for 5 minutes or so until it’s firmed up a bit.
Mix the zest in a bowl with the egg yolks and lime juice, then add the condensed milk. A tin of condensed milk out to be a pantry staple for emergencies. Be sure to use a spoon to scrape every last succulent, sugary drop of it from the tin rather than simply diving after it with your tongue.
You’ll have a luscious, pale custard. Pour this into the biscuit base, set the whole thing onto a baking sheet, and pop in the oven for 15 minutes until the heat has had a chance to work its magic on the eggs. It will still seem a bit too wobbly when you take it out, but that’s OK — the next step firms it up. Once it has cooled to room temperature, put some cling film over it and pop in the fridge for a couple of hours.
The finished pie will be diminutive in height, and a luxurious creamy color flecked with bits of pale green zest. Cut small slices; this baby’s rich.
If there’s any left, refrigerate until midnight, then sneak out of bed and polish it off.
RECIPE:
Crust: 14 graham crackers or digestives, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup melted butter
Custard: ½ cup lime juice, two egg yolks, 1 14oz can condensed milk
Regular cake tin; moderate oven, cold fridge.
Absolutely Nothing To Talk About with Jools Oliver
Posted: August 29, 2012 Filed under: Absolutely Nothing To Talk About, Absolutely Nothing To Wear 2 CommentsJools Oliver is not only mother to 4 gorgeous children and wife to the brilliant Jamie, but she has also just launched her very own children’s fashion collection, Little Bird, for Mothercare.
She’s beautiful, clever, creative and very very busy….and she still found time to talk to ANTW about all sorts of Absolutely Nothing…..
Absolutely Nothing To Make
It has to be make shift dens in the garden for the kids using blankets, chairs or their climbing frame!!! The best ones are the ones we made in the wood as kids with sticks and branches. They stayed there for years if you hid them well. We are teaching the kids how to make them now and it’s such good fun.
Absolutely Nothing To Do
I just discovered bike riding again after literally 25 years, shocking!!!! We went on a ride with all the children and it was such fun cycling through the countryside, legs in the air, flying down the hills and cycling to the swings, they were all so happy. It was a real trip down memory lane.
Jools and her Pendleton Somerby bike.
Photo copyright of Jamie Oliver
Absolutely Nothing To Listen To
I’ve just come back from a much needed holiday and it was so nice to be able to listen to my husband with out any interruption from little people!!!!! He is really interesting!!!!!
Absolutely Nothing To Read
I’ve just finished Afterwards by Rosamund Upton. Such a lovely written book about a beautiful relationship between a mother and her children with a bit of who done it thrown in to keep you extra hooked. I loved it.
Absolutely Nothing To Buy
I just bought the girls a little digital camera and it’s fantastic to see them take their own pictures and then download them on the computer. They are better than us at all the techno stuff and their images are so lovely. They have a very different perspective on the world to us.
Absolutely Nothing To Watch
I just watched the Usain Bolt documentary, The Fastest Man Alive, in the build up to the Olympics and it was so inspiring, what a extraordinary man. I have so much respect for all athletes after watching this.
Absolutely Nothing To Eat
I’ve just started picking our tomatoes fresh from the polytunnel and adding them to courgettes, green beans, garlic and greens all from the garden. Roasted slowly they have the most fresh, unbelievable flavour.
Absolutely Nothing To Wear
So nice at last to wear a bikini as soon as the sun comes out. Feels so lovely and warm on the skin and great to be able to see all my kids playing in the garden naked!!!!
Absolutely Nothing To See
I’ve been taking the kids down to Audley End Miniature Railway nearly every day this Summer hols they love weaving through the woods on the little steam railway track screaming out at all the teddy bears hidden in the trees. We’ve had some fabulous picnics in the flowers too, very cute.
Audley End Miniature Railway
Absolutely Nothing To Cook
My daughters Poppy and Daisy make the best scones so we love freshly baked warm scones for tea with jam, butter and sometimes with sliced bananas and honey.
Absolutely Nothing To Love
When Mo Farrow won his gold the excitement in our house was unbelievable, such a great atmosphere. I just loved seeing the kids getting in to something so brilliant and inspiring.
Absolutely Nothing To Get Excited About
My new collection Little Bird just launched in Mothercare. It feels so amazing. I’m constantly excited and nervous to check my emails in the morning or the Mothercare website to see how the clothes are selling! It’s all such a new experience for me and it feels really amazing to have the chance to be creative for a change.
The launch of Little Bird at Mothercare
You can also catch Little Bird at this weekend’s Big Feastival in Oxfordshire. More HERE
Jay Jay’s Chilli Con Carnivore and The Big Chair Project
Posted: August 26, 2012 Filed under: Absolutely Nothing To Wear Leave a commentYes he’s my husband but that doesn’t mean he can’t be clever and that I can’t tell people how clever he is….so here we go.
The Big Chair Project is the brilliant creation from The Better Food Foundation, the charity founded by Jamie Oliver in 2002 which aims to give young people a brighter future through food. 2012 marks the 10th anniversary of the foundation and after successful yearly fundraisers, it was decided to do something a little bit special this year to ensure the foundation can keep going for another 10 years and beyond.
20 artists were each given two Fritz Hansen ANT chairs with which to create a unique piece of design. One was for practice and one was to submit to the charity auction, the Big Bid. Jay Jay was one of the artists approached to take part and has created the Chilli Con Carnivore chair which I hope will both make someone very happy whilst raising much needed pennies for the cause.
They also shot this great little film of Jay Jay talking about his chair. Watch it, share it, bid on it or just enjoy it. My kids have watched it about 1,200 times….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMEmkyDthb8&feature=relmfu
The best Tracteur in town
Posted: August 3, 2012 Filed under: Absolutely Nothing To Wear 1 CommentFor those who have been reading ANTW for a while, you’ll already be familiar with the wonderful restaurant Le Tracteur. For those who haven’t, you can read about it here.
So as not to repeat myself, here’s a simple and delicious visual post which I hope illustrates last night’s dinner perfectly :
Restaurant Le Tracteur
Avenue du stade
Sanilhac-Sagriès (30700)
TÉL : +33 4 66 37 19 31
Just peachy
Posted: August 2, 2012 Filed under: Absolutely Nothing To Cook, Absolutely Nothing To Eat, Absolutely Nothing To Make, Absolutely Nothing To Smile About, Absolutely Nothing To Write Home About 1 CommentI’ve been a little lazy with posts recently but if I don’t write this down now, I’m worried I might forget it.
We’re in the South of France at the moment, having a wonderful time with family and friends and eating delicious things. These holidays always very much revolve around food. Conversation at breakfast is generally about what’s on the menu for lunch and dinner and everyone is keen to offer their own contribution to the table. Last night was my turn and so baked peaches with Roquefort and Parma ham for 12 was on the menu. With my trusty sous chef looking over my shoulder by my side, we managed quite a spectacular plate of food and one I’ll definitely be making again….but perhaps in smaller quantities.
So here’s what we used and how we did it :
Peaches – we used a mixture of big round ones and the little flat ones all stoned and quartered. Allow about 4 pieces per person.
Roquefort
Parma Ham
Mixed leaves
Honey roasted walnuts
Thyme roasted almonds – or you just as easily use plain
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Sugar
Olive Oil
First we baked the peaches on a low heat for about 30 minutes. Just all huddled in a tray and sprinkled with sugar, salt, pepper, olive oil and some fresh thyme.
Once done, leave them to cool a little – the salad is best served at room temperature.
The nuts – we bought a bag of walnuts and thyme scented almond. The walnuts we drizzled with honey and put in the oven for 15 minutes or so until the became sweet and crunchy. Once cooled, smash them all up in to little pieces with a rolling pin – the almonds too. Set aside to use later.
We cut the parma ham in to small strips and crumbled the roquefort….more about this later
Dress the leaves with a little bit of olive oil and vinegar. It doesn’t need a strong dressing as all the flavours are to come.
Place a small pile of leaves on the plate. Set the peaches on top and lay the strips of parma ham across them. Not too much. Sprinkle the crumbled roquefort – again, you don’t need too much – and drizzle some of the juices from the peaches pan over the salad. Lastly throw some of the crushed nuts around the plate and that’s it!
France, Figs and Funshine
Posted: July 19, 2012 Filed under: Absolutely Nothing To Wear Leave a commentIt’s our annual tour de France. Three weeks where we eat too much, laugh at with our children and visit as many brocantes and markets as we possibly can. It’s the best three weeks of the whole year. I won’t mention the glorious weather. That would be cruel. Instead I’ll just share my very beautiful brocante dish (5 euros), my favourite plate of food so far, a little bit of child’s play and just a peek of sunshine.
Absolutely Nothing To Cook : Ottolenghi Roasted Butternut Squash
Posted: June 27, 2012 Filed under: Absolutely Nothing To Wear Leave a commentI made this last night and it was delicious. It’s also really good cold with a green salad – as proved by the left-overs consumed today.
I didn’t have every single seed and spice but I don’t think it necessarily needs the lot. Just follow the general flavours and you get the same result.
I’ve copied and pasted the original Ottolenghi recipe from The Guardian website. You can see the full page here.
Roasted butternut squash with cardamom and nigella seeds
By roasting the butternut with Indian spices and some stock, it properly soaks up the flavours and ends up tasting marvellous. Serves four.
20g unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large red onion, peeled and cut into 1cm-thick slices
1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 3cm pieces
Salt
30g pumpkin seeds
1 tsp nigella seeds, plus extra to garnish
½ tsp each ground cumin and coriander
¼ tsp ground turmeric
4 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1 cinnamon stick
1 green chilli, halved lengthways
1 tbsp caster sugar
200ml vegetable stock
100g Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Put the butter and oil in a large sauté pan, and fry the onion for eight minutes over medium heat until soft. Add the butternut, turn the heat up to medium-high and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it starts to colour.
Remove from the heat and add half a teaspoon of salt, the seeds, spices, chilli and sugar. Mix and transfer to an ovenproof dish large enough to hold everything snugly. Pour in the stock and roast for 30 minutes, by which point the butternut should be tender and all the liquid absorbed or evaporated.
Serve warm with yoghurt spooned on top, a sprinkling of chopped coriander and a few nigella seeds.
I want to join the circus….but only if it’s Giffords.
Posted: June 24, 2012 Filed under: Absolutely Nothing To Do, Absolutely Nothing To Smile About 2 CommentsI want to play the accordion, I want to wear Victorian bloomers and over the knee stockings with high heel ankle boots. I want a Shetland pony and I want to learn to dance, properly. I’d like an enormous circus bell tent and a wagon serving fresh cooked pizza. I might even like a tea tent with a never-ending supply of chocolate brownies. Oh and I’d also like a goose, a real one, who follows me wherever I go.
I haven’t been to the circus since I was small and have always been hesitant to go as an adult in case I might spoil the memory. Giffords is just about the best circus experience I could have imagined. I honestly can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday morning, or anytime of the day for that matter, on any day of the week.
The circus will be touring until mid September and wherever you may be, it is more than worth the trip…and the pennies.
Absolutely Nothing To Talk About : Suzanne and Lauren McGrath
Posted: June 20, 2012 Filed under: Absolutely Nothing To Talk About Leave a commentSuzanne and Lauren McGrath are a mother–daughter interior design team who edit and write the design blog Good Bones Great Pieces. Suzanne is a former Style Editor and Producer at Martha Stewart Television and Lauren is a former fashion features writer for Teen Vogue magazine. They live in New York City and Rye, New York.
They took a break from their UK book launch to talk to ANTW about all kinds of Absolutely Nothing…..
Absolutely Nothing To Watch…
Girls on HBO. Lena Dunham’s writing is brilliant.
Absolutely Nothing To Eat…
Our favorite brunch spot at the moment is The Smile on Bond Street in NYC. It’s the cosiest restaurant in the city with the best baked eggs and avocado we’ve ever had.
Absolutely Nothing To Do…
Summer is the best time to go flea market and antique shopping and our number one stop is always Brimfield. It’s a tri-annual antique show that happens in May, July, and September where antique dealers from across America set up shop.
Absolutely Nothing To Cook…
Lauren and her friend Perrin recently threw a dinner party at a friend’s house in East Hampton with a Middle Eastern-inspired menu. The homemade tabouleh was a big hit. Check it out here
Absolutely Nothing To See…
Absolutely Nothing To Wear…
Lace shift dresses by Joie
Absolutely Nothing To Get Excited About…
A “sleeper”- a great tag sale find / antique that turns out to be worth much more than its price tag reveals. Yes!
Absolutely Nothing To Read…
Our new book! Good Bones, Great Pieces: The Seven Essential Pieces To Carry You Through a Lifetime
Absolutely Nothing To Open : Cotton Mailers and Indian Quilts
Posted: June 18, 2012 Filed under: Absolutel Nothing To Open, Absolutely Nothing To Smile About Leave a commentI wasn’t going to tell a soul about these quilts and I’m still not sure whether to part with every detail but they are too lovely not to share – in picture form at the very least.
They were bought online and arrived this morning in the most exquisite hand sewn cotton mailer bag I have ever laid eyes on. It was almost enough on its own.
Absolutely Nothing To Wear 
