007. The Joy of Missing Out
On being a bit of an introvert, actually, and a Café de Paris butter of sorts.
Hello everyone and happy new year! I hope your Christmas break was relaxing and full of loved ones and really good food, and left you, in the words of Gregg Wallace, fully nourished! And now welcome to 2022, the year I hope we finally see some vaccine equality across the globe (no one is safe until everyone’s safe!) and get some semblance of normality back. I don’t want a new normal thanks - I want our old lives back - where we can plan things without a second thought and hug friends and kiss strangers and do whatever we please without thinking “will this sound responsible to the track and trace lady in five days time?” To leave the house for a last minute pub lunch with friends without panicking you haven’t packed a mask and have left enough time between your morning coffee and your lateral flow.
That normality is something the pandemic has denied us for almost two years and most of us can’t wait to get it back, but conversely, what it’s also robbed me of is the joy of missing out. Saying no to something I really don’t want to do that years ago I would have said yes to out of politeness. I’ve said this a thousand times recently, but if spending New Years Eve in my own house, in comfy clothes and sparkly make up with an expensive bottle of wine and cheap crisps whilst watching TV I’ve seen countless times before was a ticketed event, I’d pay anything between £100-150 for it. After two years of cancelled or subdued celebrations, I’m worried everyone will get a taste for staying in - it’s just not the same if everyone else is doing it. The joy comes from everyone else doing something I’m more than happy to be missing.
This isn’t about sacking friends off - there’s no joy in letting people down, but managing my time better and not immediately spending £100 on concert tickets without questioning if I really want to go, or just letting that new restaurant do its thing for a month or two before booking a table. (That said, if I see one more Instagram story of someone at Pasture I’m going to block you all.) I can remember about ten years ago throwing myself in to X Factor so I’d know what everyone was talking about on the lunch table all week, and now I happily nod along without a clue what my work pals are talking about - ignorance sometimes truly is bliss. Once I realised I simply can’t watch, eat, listen to, read and attend every single thing, and started being more choosy with how I spent my time, I let the joy seep in to the things that I was doing
So don’t be surprised if, when things finally get back to normal hopefully some point this year, I haven’t caught up on two years of socialising in one month - as this little introvert will be relishing the chance to miss out once again.
Roasted Cauli with Café de Paris Butter.
I’m certainly not one for Veganuary (January is bleak enough without making major diet changes that are usually unsustainable in the long term) however last year I bought Ottolenghi’s Flavour and cooked my way through it. Not specifically a veggie book, but rather a “celebration of wonderful, versatile vegetables.” Whilst I doubt I’ll ever be fully meat free, it’s definitely helped with at least a few nights a week and you absolutely don’t feel like you’re missing out. I currently have an obsession with cauli after years of not entertaining any vegetable that wasn’t carrot, I’ve realised if I can add enough things to make it taste like something else and make it very very crispy - I’m a fan! Here’s an Ottolenghi inspired Roasted Cauli with Café de Paris Butter - lush as a main dish or on the side - you’ll want a splodge of the butter with everything. The recipe itself is a closely guarded secret but there’s plenty of iterations out there on the internet - I’ve added the mushroom stock pot for extra umami but you can absolutely leave that out and feel free to play around with the herbs too!
Ingredients.
1 Whole Cauliflower
For the Butter
250g Salted Butter
50g Tinned Anchovies
3 Garlic Bulbs, peeled
1 Shallot, peeled and quartered.
125ml White Wine
1 tspn Mild Curry Powder
1 tspn Paprika
1 tspn Mustard Powder
Worcestershire Sauce
1 Knorr Mushroom Stock Pot
30g Parsley
20g Tarragon
10g Sage
Method
Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees (fan) and bring a large pot of water to the boil on the hob.
Put the anchovy fillets, garlic and shallot into a food processor and whizz together, then transfer to a saucepan over a medium high heat. Heat through, adding a bit of extra olive oil if needed, then add the white wine. Reduce the wine by at least a half.
Add the curry powder, paprika and mustard powder, stir through then add a really good splash of Worcestershire sauce. Stir through once again, then add the mushroom stock pot with a splash of boiling water.
Whilst the sauce heats in the hob put the fresh herbs into the food processor / chop very finely, then add them to the pan. (If you’re using dried rather than fresh herbs reduce the quantities by a third.)
Add the butter in chunks and stir through until its foaming. Taste and correct the flavour as needed. There’s already salt from the butter and anchovies but add a sprinkle if you feel it’s missing. Turn down to a simmer.
Add the whole cauli to the boiling water and cook for 10 mins until tender. Transfer to a deep oven proof dish, pat dry, then pour half the butter over the cauli and add to the oven.
Check on the cauli after ten minutes and baste with the butter from the dish, then repeat after another ten minutes. Cook for 30 mins in total, or until the cauli is cooked through and crisp on the top. I served with Ottolenghi’s Portobello mushroom steaks and white bean mash and green beans, drizzled with the leftover butter.
There’s absolutely no way to photograph these without making them look like roasted brains - please take my word that they were delicious!
Micro Doses of Delight
London Zoo are carrying out their annual animal audit and the pictures are delightful. You’ll be relieved to hear the ant colony is classed as one, so no-one needs to tally up hundreds of tiny ants.
The latest addition to my early morning scroll - Wordle. You have six goes to guess a mystery 5 letter word with a new one released each day. The origin story here is also wholesome as heck.
Airbnb for garden space - genius! Not to get all earnest but I found the mental health benefits of growing produce to be immeasurable over the last two years - the thrill of making a salad with stuff from our own green house was enormous! And it goes without saying, Joe Lycett’s garden updates on Instagram are worth getting an account for alone.
On this note - my wild garlic plant is making a comeback! It died fairly quickly after I brought it home last year (out of season, to be fair) so I’ve tucked it away in the sheltered bit of the garden with the rest of my herbs and to my delight it’s showing early signs of flourishing once more. Please comment all and any of your favourite wild garlic recipes below!
I make a lot of noise about not watching TV, I know, and a lot of the reason I don’t is because once I sit down with something I want to watch it all in one go, which is exactly what I did last weekend with Only Murders in the Building. Funny, twisty, with great characters - but watch it for the beautiful New York apartments alone. And please someone buy me a “Nice, Hot Vegetables” print ASAP!
Finally - Father Christmas brought me a jigsaw of a historical map of the world - I don’t get out of bed for less than 1000 pieces but lord this one is hard! That’s where I’ll be for the foreseeable and I’m sure I’ll post completed pictures on every social media platform once I’m done!
Thanks as always for reading and if you think someone else will enjoy, please feel free to share. N xo