Tag: Thomasina

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Thomasina Miers’ recipe for juniper and lemon martinis and deep-fried olives | Christmas food and drink

Thomasina Miers’ recipe for juniper and lemon martinis and deep-fried olives | Christmas food and drink

The joy of entertaining at home is underrated. You can have fun creating a great menu, like this glamorous combination. Preparing the olives ahead makes them achievable snacks; throw in some infused gin martinis and you have the makings of a serious party – something we all deserve this year.

Juniper and lemon martinis with deep-fried olives

The infused gin recipe makes enough for six to eight martinis, but in the method below, I have given the quantities for making two.

Prep 20 min
Infuse 3-4 days
Chill 1 hr
Cook 15 min
Makes 2 martinis, olives and gin for 6

For the martinis
2 unwaxed lemons
350ml good-quality gin
2 tbsp juniper berries
2 sprigs rosemary
1-2 tsp agave syrup
Dry vermouth

For the fried olives
1 anchovy fillet in oil
½ orange
50g cream cheese
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 tsp thyme leaves
Salt and black pepper
200g pitted green gordal or queen olives
3-4 tbsp plain flour
1 egg, beaten
100g panko breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil, for frying

To infuse the gin, use a vegetable peeler to pare the zest from the lemons, then add to a sterilised jar with the gin and juniper berries. Add the rosemary and agave, leave for three to four days, then strain.

To make the olives, chop the anchovy with the flesh from a quarter of an orange and the zest from half. Mix with the cheese, garlic and thyme, and lightly season. Pop this into a piping bag and use it to fill the olives.

Put the flour on one plate, the egg on another and the breadcrumbs on a third. Season the flour with some pepper. Roll each olive in the flour, then the egg and finally the breadcrumbs. Refrigerate for an hour to ‘set’, or longer if you want to make them in advance.

When you’re ready to cook, fill a small, high-sided pan two-thirds of the way with vegetable oil and heat to 180C/350F – it’s ready when a piece of bread dropped in sizzles and turns golden in about 30 seconds. Fry the olives in batches (so as not to crowd the pan) for two minutes or until golden; drain on kitchen paper. You can either do this as your guests arrive for a bit of drama or fry the olives in advance then simply reheat in a moderate oven (150C (130C fan)/300F/gas 2) just before they arrive.

To make the martinis (I make two at a time), fill a mixing glass with ice. Measure out 100ml of the gin and pour into the glass with 20ml vermouth. Stir with a long spoon until the gin is ice-cold. Pour into martini glasses, offering your guests a choice between a dirty martini (with a trickle of olive juice from your jar) or one with a twist of lemon peel squeezed over the surface of the drink to release its oils. Serve at once.

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Thomasina Miers’ recipe for greens on toast with tomato jam | Food

Thomasina Miers’ recipe for greens on toast with tomato jam | Food

Tomatoes are unquestionably just one of the most flexible fruits: uncooked or roast, poached or pureed, you could make infinite salsas and sauces with them. We can get wonderful homegrown kinds in the United kingdom now, so make the most of them with this fragrant jam. It transforms a sandwich or cheese plate, or would make for this very simple supper, which also celebrates the summer’s greens.

Greens on toast with tomato jam

The jam should really previous for a thirty day period in the fridge, but use preserving sugar if you choose a firmer established.

Prep 25 min
Cook dinner 50 min
Serves 2-4 (depending on appetites)

250g chard or big leaf spinach
4 tbsp further-virgin olive oil
3 huge garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
250g ricotta
Juice and zest of ½ lemon
4 slices sourdough

For the jam
1kg tomatoes, halved
1 onion, peeled and minimize into wedges
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
1-2 purple chillies, to taste
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
75g smooth brown sugar
100ml red-wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 star anise

The jam need to previous for a thirty day period in the fridge, but use preserving sugar if you like a firmer established.

Heat the oven to 200C (180C enthusiast)/390F/gas 6. Line a baking sheet with foil and lay the tomatoes cut facet down on best. Place the onion wedges in the gaps, drizzle the good deal with oil and year. Roast for 25 minutes, then include the chilli and garlic, and roast for a even more 25 minutes, until finally every little thing is looking roasted, collapsed and slightly jammy. Cleanse a several jars although the tomatoes are roasting and, 10 minutes prior to the stop of the cooking, change off the oven (but leaving the tomatoes inside of), and place the jars within to sterilise in the residual heat.

Set the sugar, vinegar, bay and spices in a big pan on a medium warmth. Squeeze the roast garlic flesh out of the skins, about chop the chilli and insert equally to the pan. Stir in the roast tomatoes and onion, carry to a boil, then simmer about a reasonably large warmth for 12-15 minutes, stirring each couple of minutes to stop it catching. Blitz around with a adhere blender, so there is even now some texture to the jam it is prepared at this point, but the jam will improve if you simmer it for one more 50 percent-hour.

Meanwhile, clean the greens in chilly drinking water and slash the leaves into huge ribbons (if you are making use of chard, finely chop the stalks, too). Set a big pan on a medium heat, increase fifty percent the oil and the garlic, and saute, stirring, for a moment. Increase the chard stalks, if utilizing, saute for a number of minutes, then add the leaves, deal with and prepare dinner on a small heat for 8 to 10 minutes, right up until wilted the water clinging to them from washing will be enough to steam the leaves. Year generously.

Whip the ricotta with a fork, time properly and insert the remaining two tablespoons of oil and lemon zest and juice. Grill or toast the bread, depart it to cool a tiny, then distribute the ricotta on to the toasts. Major with the greens, spoon around some tomato jam and take in at the moment.

The basic flex

There are masses of plant-based mostly ricottas on the market these times, but you could also top the toasts with a environmentally friendly mole as a substitute, produced with soaked almonds blitzed with a significant handful of summer herbs and a minimal olive oil.