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March recipes: Sweet somethings

Round & About

February 26, 2024March 13, 2024

All Areas

We’re sharing a taste of The Sweet Polish Kitchen: A celebration of home baking & nostalgic treats by Ren Behan.

Wuzetka – chocolate cream sponge

The wuzetka cake originates from Warsaw, and it was said to have first been baked in a bakery along a road named the ‘W-Z route’ in Warsaw shortly after the Second World War (the road connected the eastern parts of the city to the western, the Wschód-Zachód areas, hence ‘W-Z’). It is a classic chocolate sponge cake, baked in a square tin, filled with cream (the line in the middle of the road) and topped with a cherry. If you are baking this for adults or a party, you can add a little cherry vodka to your soak.

Serves nine

Ingredients:
• 120ml vegetable oil or mild olive oil & extra for greasing
• 200g soft light brown sugar
• Two eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla bean extract
• 240g sour cream
• 200g self-raising flour
• 75g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 240ml fresh hot black tea

For the soak:
• 50ml cherry vodka or fruit tea

Optional jam layer:
• 250g cherry jam or plum jam

For the cream filling:
• 250g mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• 800ml double cream
• 3 tbsp icing sugar

For the chocolate glaze:
• 2 tbsp butter
• 100g quality dark chocolate
• 100g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 2 tbsp boiling water

To serve:
• Whipped cream for piping
• Fresh or canned cherries

Method:
Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4/350°F. Grease and line two 20 x 20cm/8 x 8in square baking tins with baking paper.

In a stand mixer, beat the oil and sugar until it starts to thicken. Add the eggs, one by one, and the vanilla bean extract. Stir in the sour cream. Next, sift in the self-raising flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and stir until there are no lumps. Finally, pour in the hot tea and mix again thoroughly.

Divide the batter evenly between the tins and tap them gently on a work surface. Bake for 30–35 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool slightly in the tins, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack and leave the sponges to cool completely.

To assemble, place one layer of sponge into the bottom of a lined tin and brush liberally with the soak. If using jam, spread a layer evenly over the soaked base. For the cream filling, whisk the mascarpone, then add the cream and icing sugar and whisk until the mixture becomes firm. Spread the cream over the base and flatten slightly with a spatula. Place the second layer of sponge on top and place the tin in the refrigerator, ideally overnight.

When you are ready to serve, make the chocolate glaze by melting the glaze ingredients together in a non-stick pan over a medium heat until thick and glossy, then leave to cool slightly.

Remove the cake from the fridge and carefully take it out of the tin onto a serving plate. Pour the glaze over the top of the cake and smooth out. Cut the cake into squares. Serve with some piped cream and a cherry on top.

Blueberry & almond Babka loaf

The babka seemed to have something of a resurgence over lockdown and, of course, it is a well-known staple treat within New York delis. The original recipe is said to have originated in the Jewish communities of Poland and Ukraine. This type of babka (a sweet braided bread, as opposed to a fluted bundt) was likely taken by the diaspora to Israel, and beyond, establishing itself as a ‘yeast cake filled with chocolate, cinnamon and sometimes fruit’. I was interested to learn that in the early 19th century, challah dough was rolled up with jam and baked as a loaf and that the addition of chocolate and other spices was a much later incarnation.

Some say the word babka comes from the Yiddish bubbe, also meaning ‘grandmother’. A babka made in this way, of twisted strands of dough baked in a loaf form, is different to my earlier recipes for a more cake-like babka, baked in a bundt tin and reminiscent of a grandmother’s skirt. Rather than using chocolate, I like to make mine with either a home-made preserve or, in this case, with a wild blueberry preserve. There are Polish and French versions of such a preserve in most supermarkets. Ground almonds add a little additional texture and another layer of flavour, but you could use finely chopped hazelnuts, instead. Poppy seed paste also makes a good alternative filling to jam.

Ingredients:
• 350g plain flour, plus extra
• 14g fresh yeast, crumbled (or 7g active dry yeast)
• 75g caster sugar
• 75ml lukewarm milk
• Two eggs, plus one egg yolk, beaten (save white for glaze)
• 1 tsp almond extract grated zest of one orange
• 1 tsp salt
• 75g butter, cubed, room temp
• Sunflower oil, for greasing

For the filling:
• 300g wild blueberry preserve or any jam of your choice
• 50g ground almonds
• 50g soft light brown sugar

For the streusel:
• 25g cold butter
• 40g plain flour
• 25g caster sugar or soft light brown sugar

Method:
In a jug, combine 1 tablespoon of the flour with the yeast, 1 tablespoon of the caster sugar and half of the lukewarm milk. Stir with a whisk, then set aside in a warm place for 10–15 minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the remaining flour with the rest of the caster sugar and mix well. Pour in the yeast mixture and keep mixing. Switch to a dough hook and add the eggs and egg yolk, the rest of the milk, the almond extract and orange zest, and mix well for around 5 minutes. Finally, add the salt, followed by the butter and keep mixing/kneading for at least 10 minutes. It should form a lump of dough.

You will need to stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. If the dough is still sticky at this point, add up to 2 tablespoons of extra flour.

Brush the inside of a clean bowl with a little oil. Transfer the dough to this bowl and cover with a clean cloth. Leave somewhere warm for at least hours, but ideally four hours.

When you are ready to bake, line a loaf tin, measuring 30 x 11 x 7cm/12 x 4¼ x 2¾ in, with a single sheet of baking paper, so that a little hangs over the long edges.

Tip the dough out onto a board sprinkled with a generous amount of flour. Punch the dough to get rid of any air pockets and knead for a couple of minutes. Roll out the dough to a 30 x 20cm/12 x 8in rectangle. Spread the preserve/jam for the filling all over the dough, leaving a couple of centimetres clear around the edge, then sprinkle over the ground almonds and the brown sugar. Roll the dough into a log, starting from one of the longest edges. Take a sharp knife and cut down the centre of the log, dividing the whole length. You will then have two long pieces and be able to see the filling on the inside.

Starting at the top, join the two pieces of dough, then cross them over each other. Keep going, as though you are making a braid. You can trim both ends to neaten them up. Carefully transfer the whole piece of twisted dough into the lined loaf tin. Cover with a clean cloth and chill in the refrigerator for up to 2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the streusel topping. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the mixture resembles a crumble or a sandy texture.

Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4/350°F.

Brush the top of your loaf with the lightly beaten egg white, then sprinkle over the streusel topping. Bake in the centre of the oven for 50 minutes, checking after 35 minutes to see whether the top looks golden.

Once it is golden, cover with foil and continue baking for the remaining time. Remove from the oven and leave the babka to cool in the tin.

Serve warm, with a little unsalted butter.

Mother Mother – Grief Chapter review

Round & About

February 21, 2024February 21, 2024

All Areas

Album number nine finds the Canadian band dealing with grief in the best way possible

You’ve probably heard of Mother Mother without even knowing it. After their song Hayloft blew up on TikTok they became something of a viral hit – if the earworm “daddy’s got a gun” means anything to you, then you’ve definitely come across Mother Mother. Hayloft was in fact 12 years old before it discovered a new life as a trend, having appeared on the band’s second album, 2008’s O My Heart. Social media eh? A rabbit hole of wasted time scrolling it might be, but breathing life into old songs is one of its more positive aspects.

Life is at the heart of Grief Chapter, the band’s 9^th or more specifically, contemplating the vagaries of life and the inevitable final chapter. It would appear that Mother Mother has reached something of a midlife/end of life crisis. Not that you would notice if you’re not paying attention, because they have a habit of wrapping up complex and disturbing ideas in finely crafted indie pop. Take for example The Matrix, on the surface it’s a booming, thunderous pop anthem, but at its heart, it’s a defiant and rebellious rejection of the status quo. It’s about making the most of this life because you only get one go around and as vocalist and principal songwriter Ryan Guldemond croons at the start of the song “…you’re going to die”. However, as the song progresses, it veers from nihilism to the spiritual as he starts to ponder the possibility of an afterlife. If all this sounds overly heavy, rest assured, it possesses a hook that is impossible to ignore and a deluge of profanity, which is a pretty fine combination.

Head back to the start of the album, and the basic premise behind most of these songs is laid out in stark fashion. Nobody Escapes, cuts to the chase from the off. You’re dead too. This daunting idea could be overwhelming in the hands of the darker souls out there, but Mother Mother can make heavy concepts feel like a party at the end of the world. If anything, it feels entirely positive. In part, this is down to the band’s capability of mixing tight, catchy rock riffs with dance inspired beats, and vocals that wouldn’t sound out of place on a kids show. This is at play on Explode, a song whose main refrain is the line “when I die, I’ll let go”, which in plain black and white looks like the kind of thing an Emo band would have no problem in over-emoting (the clue’s in the genre name). But with the twin vocals of Ryan and Molly Guldemond it’s all oddly celebratory. As the song reaches its conclusion, it becomes clear that this is an album not so much about shuffling off this mortal coil, as embracing every moment and making the most of the time we have here.

Pinning the band down to a specific style is quite tricky. They can veer from folk stomp to overblown pop ballad in a heartbeat. They throw in Pixies inspired guitar riffs and vocals (Monkey Gone To Heaven and Where Is My Mind? have definitely made an impression on them), strange off-kilter segues, choral flourishes, punk attitude, classical orchestration and occasional discord just for good measure. Somehow, they can deliver lines like “Innocence is just a bridge to pain” or “What if I just rip out her throat?” and make them sound entirely viable as a chart hit. Part of this is down to the smart vocal interplay between Ryan and his sister Molly, but essentially it points to intelligent and subversive songwriting.

Grief Chapter isn’t an exercise in navel gazing – despite its main subject matter. There are moments of social commentary (Normalize tackles gender and sexuality politics), amusing stoner concepts (God’s Plan ponders what the great creator must have been on whilst devising their Earth project), and self-aware in jokes. Anyone who can consider the end of their life and imagine that anyone attending their funeral will just shout for Hayloft has a keen sense of humour.

Ultimately, this is an album packed with pop songs that address the apparent pointlessness of life whilst simultaneously encouraging everyone to embrace their time here on this rock. Mother Mother might have just written a new chapter in the stages of grief, and it sounds pretty damn fine.

Mother Mother are currently touring the UK
Grief Chapter is out now on Warner Music / Parlophone.

Photo Credit: Mackenzie Walker

How to hire amazing people!

Round & About

February 20, 2024February 21, 2024

All Areas

In the first of a series of helpful articles, Oxfordshire business hero Peter Mols offers his words of wisdom to help you employ the best people to help your business grow

300- 1: The #1 rule for hiring amazing people.

In the last month, a staggering 300 people have applied for jobs with our small business, and today, I’ll share my #1 rule for attracting the right people to you.

As a business coach, the facilitator of mastermind groups and the founder of a kick-ass networking group, I speak to lots of people who tell me that they scaled their business, only to find the challenge of “managing people” too hard, and decided to scale back down to being a “solopreneur”. It’s a sad story, which, to be honest, is completely avoidable if they’d just followed my #1 rule.

Decide on the “culture” you want for the business before you’re ready to grow.

In the past month, 300 people have applied for positions at Outside Ideas, and I put it all down to that rule. It’s not because we’re paying the most, it’s not because we’re doing groundbreaking stuff and not because we’re the #1 in our industry (watch this space:). It’s because we focussed on telling the story about the business, where were going and our culture.

“I speak to lots of people who tell me that they scaled their business, only to find the challenge of “managing people” too hard.”

I first learned about corporate culture more than 20 years ago during my business degree, when I read, Screw It, Let’s Do It by Richard Branson, Branson’s quote, “Train them so well that they could work anywhere, treat them so well they wouldn’t want to” sticks with me to this day.

The reality is, that most business owners are so focused on “making the furniture” that they never find the time to decide on the crucial first step to growth: deciding who you are, what you’re great at, where you’re going, and what you stand for; and WRITING IT DOWN.

By missing this first step, they set themselves up for a life of long weeks, short holidays, and spinning all the plates.

In “business coaching” speak, we call this process creating a Vision, Mission, and Values, and I start there with all 121 clients.

If you’re a business owner who’s thinking about growing, my challenge to you this month is simple, spend some time answering the following questions:

Where is the business heading, where do you see it in 10 years’ time? This is your Vision
What do you want to be “world-class” at? This is your Mission
What are your internal values as a human? These are your Business values

Next month, I can share my strategy for attracting the right kind of people to your business using the Oi Way of hiring great people, or I can discuss creating values for your business. You chose, and let me know at [email protected]

Onwards and upwards, my friends!

The Six Nations is the best!

Round & About

February 13, 2024

All Areas

The annual rugby tournament is something to look forward to in this grim month

Shortest day of the year, done. Christmas, hecho. All that’s left is to traverse these next couple of drizzly months before we welcome Wimbledon, Glastonbury and ‘might be too hot’ season. For now, though, we need a vehicle to steer us towards those better days. How about the best sporting tournament on Earth? Oh, go on then. Six Nations time.

Nothing brought my family together quite like the Six Nations growing up. We’d all flood over to my grandparents early enough to be fully caught up with each other in time for the build up to start with John Inverdale or Gabby Logan. You can’t fault our dedication to the pre-match interviews.

As a family resonating from Scotland, we’d sit around the telly, fire crackling, daring to ponder whether today maybe, just maybe would be different. Might Scotland pull a performance out of the bag and pick up their seemingly biennial win? Oh, that renewed hope, always a killer. The game would very rarely be different, and Scotland would very rarely win. But that was never the point (thankfully, or we’d crumble); it was just a nice event to be a part of. So why is the Six Nations the best?

For starters, it’s a simple easy-to-follow format that works. Six teams. Five rounds. Every home nation plays each other, and you never really know who’s going to win any of the three games that take place each weekend. Jeopardy also plays a huge part. So few games equals very few (if any) dead rubbers.

It’s tribal, without being tribal. It always amazes me how these players knocking chunks out of each other manage to channel their aggression so skilfully, but the same goes for those watching on. You’d think you’d need segregation, but oh no. Tens of thousands of fans packed into some of the best sporting arenas in the world, all mixing. A healthy attitude, and an element of perspective seems to be a common supporter denominator. Well let’s hope we win but if we don’t then that’ll be a shame, but this is a fun way to spend a Saturday anyway.

It’s also a spectacle, and it’s dangerous. Thirty people doing things you wouldn’t dream of doing. The players on the pitch become fictional, putting their bodies on the line, running and catching under pressure which feels so far removed from anything we do day to day; unless you are reading this and are some form of medical professional.

The tournament that’s a little under a quarter of a century old in its current format has geography to thank for its success too. London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris and Rome. All varied and popular cities, close enough together that a large number of away supporters will make the trip, but just far enough away that you need to make a weekend of it and populate the local pubs for the weekend.

Rugby is still faced with huge challenges. It has to find a way to navigate its way through a sea of safety concerns that need to be taken seriously and fend off the red trousers and brogues stereotype; something Full Contact on Netflix has made a brilliant start in debugging (just watch Finn Russell and Ellis Genge in the first two episodes). Though through the evolving sporting landscape, emerging new tournaments, investors and formats, the Six Nations is something we’re very lucky to live with, and I really hope it never gets taken away from us.

For the love of wine

Round & About

February 7, 2024February 7, 2024

All Areas

In this, the month of love, our wine columnist Giles Luckett picks out his current top ten passions.

It’s February and love is in the air. Well, it’s in the card shops, the supermarkets, and, somewhat incongruously, my milkman’s van. It’s amazing what you can have delivered with your silver top these days! Anyway, what’s definitely in the air, in my house at least, is the love of wine, and here are my current top ten passions.

I’ve often struggled with New Zealand Chardonnay. Far too often they seem to have taken an oak-first, last, and always approach to winemaking, so you end up with a glassful of ghee. This isn’t the case with The King’s Legacy Chardonnay (Majestic £12.99). Wine, like life, is all about balance and this walks the tightrope between under and over-oaked brilliantly. Mid gold, the nose has plenty of vanilla and honey, but the apple, peach, and melon fruits also shine through. It’s the same story on the palate, which is generous, and plump and balances spicy oak with clean white and green fruits.

“Wine, like life, is all about balance.”

Riesling is arguably the greatest of all white grapes. “Born” in Germany in 1435 (13^th March if you fancy sending it a card) it’s capable of creating breath-taking wines, some of which are breathtakingly expensive – Egon Muller’s Trockenbeerenauslese 2003 will set you back just under £23,000 a bottle. Back in the real world, sensational dry Rieslings are also available such as the Pewsey Vale Eden Valley Riesling (Ocado £18.95). This Australian Riesling hails from the cool Eden Valley and is simply stunning. Ghostly pale, the nose is an arresting blend of grapefruit, peach stones, apple blossom, and honey. It’s taut, precise, mineral-soaked, and complex in the mouth. Green and red apples, grapefruit, stone fruit, pears, and citrus come together in a wonderfully refreshing way. This is perfect with food – we had it with salmon pesto and spinach roulade – but it will be delicious with white meats and green vegetables and will age well over the next few years.

Mention Rioja, and most wine lovers will think of red wines. This is fair as the reds are more famous, and black grapes account for about 90% of plantings. The whites, though, can be just as splendid, especially when made by top producers like C.V.N.E. – their Contino Blanco (Noble Grape £23.99) is an absolutely lovely wine. The one that I keep coming back to at the moment, however, is the Ramon Bilbao Limite Norte Rioja Blanca. Produced from an unusual blend of late-picked Maturana Blanca and Tempranillo Blanco, this is a wine of freshness and depth. Golden yellow, the nose is soft and fresh with lemon and lime notes backed by honey. On the palate its tangy and immediate, offering quince, white peach, and green grape flavours, with something deeper, smokier, and fatter toward the finish. Idiosyncratic and utterly unlike any white Rioja I’ve tasted before, this is well worth trying, especially when partnered with creamy cheeses, white fish, or seafood.

And to so the reds, and I’ll start in South Africa with the excellent Spier Creative Block 3 2018 (Slurp £21.95). Being a blend of 94% Shiraz, 5% Mourvèdre, and 1% Viognier, this is very much in the mould of the Rhône Valley’s famed Cote Rotie wines, but this is no wannabe homage; it’s much better than that. Inky black, the bouquet melds heady spices with crushed plums, black cherries, and brambles. In the mouth, the Shiraz leads the way with intense, fresh blackberry and blackcurrant tones. Then there are subtler, earthier tones of tobacco and smoke from the Mourvèdre and a peachy lift from the Viognier before chocolate and cloves come in at the end. This is a great (big) wine that’s fantastic with red meats, strong cheeses, and tomato-based dishes.

Stepping back into Rioja we have the LAN Crianza 2019 (Hay Wines £15.49). 2019 was a stunning vintage for Rioja, but even taken in that context, the LAN is a little bit special. Very dark, with plenty of spicy vanilla, blackberries, prunes, and earthy spices to the nose. This medium-full-bodied beauty has an arrestingly rich texture that reflects the excellent levels of extraction. A complex composite of black fruits, cherry kirsch, black figs, raspberries, and charred wood, this is an awful lot of wine for the money. Buy a case and enjoy this over the next five to seven years.

When I was learning the ways of wine, I was given to believe that Beaujolais was a light, nothing to get excited about wine. Indeed, only Beaujolais Nouveau seemed to attract anyone’s attention, and not always for good reasons. Fast forward and Beaujolais is once again an exciting, dynamic region that’s producing some of France’s best-value fine wines. Take the Chateau des Jacques Moulin-A-Vent 2021 (Ocado £19). Moulin-A-Vent is one of Beaujolais ten “Cru” villages, and as this is owned by Burgundy’s great Louis Jadot, it’s not surprising that it’s excellent. Deep purple with a crimson rim, the nose is a classic mix of black cherries, strawberries, and raspberries with a background of crushed rocks. Generous on the palate, cherries and fruits of the forest are kept in check by a dry, savoury loganberry acidity.

If you fancy taking on something truly mountainous, then get a team of sherpas/some good friends, whichever you have to hand, and try the Amarone Tedeschi Marne 180 2019 (London End Wines £36.99). Amarone is one of Italy’s greatest reds and is produced using dried grapes. Drying the grapes increases the concentration of the juice and allows wines like this to attain great power (it’s 16.5%), depth, and complexity. Open and let it breathe for a couple of hours and you’ll be rewarded with a fragrant nose of vanilla-tinted dried cherries, cranberries, and blueberries. Despite its heady power, it’s sophisticated and nuanced. Red and black cherries, damsons, toasted almonds, roasted meat, and chestnuts come together to make a mighty mouthful. Try this with full-flavoured dishes such as lamb shanks, blue cheese tarts, or slow roast pork belly.

And so, to the fizz. Regular readers of this column will know I have a bit of a weakness for sparkling wines. A weakness that’s about the size of the San Andreas Fault, truth be told, but as I get to try things like the Graham Beck Cuvee Clive 2017 (Frontier Wines £44.95), is my weakness to be wondered at? All of Graham Beck’s sparkling wines are exceptional, but the Cuvee Clive is in a different class. 60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir from premium cool sites in Napier, Robertson, and Durbanville, fermented in champagne barrels and stainless steel before ageing in bottle for over four years, this wine gets regal treatment. Mid-gold, the nose is a joyously complex blend of ripe autumnal fruits, red berries, yeast, and citrus. In the mouth its mellow, succulent, and packed with flavour and diversion. Peaches, apricots, honey-drizzled melon, dried pears, a tangy, saline-tinted green apple acidity, and a hint of liquorice spice make for a glorious wine that offers something different with every sip.

Champagne remains the greatest sparkling wine in the world, and recently, I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy two brilliant but very different examples. The Gosset Grand Blanc de Blancs (The Champagne Company £55.50) is made from 100% Chardonnay and is as beautiful as the bottle it’s presented in. White gold with amber highlights, there’s richness behind the fresh white fruit and pear nose, with notes of apricots and creamy yeast coming through, thanks to the four years it spent resting in Gosset’s cellars before release. The palate has some of Gosset’s customary intensity but is far more delicate. Citrus – especially grapefruit and lemon – are present alongside quince, green apple, and custard apple. This is sublime wine that, for me at least, is best enjoyed as a soloist.

I’ll finish with a rosé Champagne, the Dom Ruinart Rosé (Majestic £79.99). The Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut 2010 (The Finest Bubble £220) was my wine of 2023, and this is a contender for 2024’s crown. Deep pink, the bouquet is suffused with fresh red cherries and black and red berries, with a vibrant, slightly perfumed note. Give this some time to breathe or even better decant it, and you’re in for a treat as fruits of the forest, cherries, cherry sherbet, orange zest, and plump plum notes assail the palate. This is a wine that I’ve had on its own and with dishes such as rack of lamb and pheasant, and I think it’s even better with food. It has the weight and intensity to cut through, and the food brings out the deeper, darker tones of this great wine.

Right, well that’s enough love for one day. Next time out some new season wines to put a spring in your step.

Cheers!

Giles

A celebration of Australian wine

Round & About

January 30, 2024January 30, 2024

All Areas

Our wine columnist Giles Luckett brings you sunshine, toasting the best wines from the land Down Under

Hello! And a belated happy new year.

January & february may be associated with the blues, but for me, they’re months of red-letter days, with few bigger than the Australia Trade Tasting. This annual celebration of Australian wine is packed to the gunnels with a mixture of unbeatable classics and innovative creations. This year I’m looking forward to tasting a Coonawarra Savagnin, though I may give the Hollick Sparking Merlot (!) a wide berth.

In the run-up to the event, I’ve been doing a spot of training. I’ve been popping, pouring, tasting, spitting, pouring and repeating and here are my current recommendations for those looking for some Australian wine brilliance to banish their winter blues.

First up, a sparkling wine, and not just any sparkling, but one of the best in the world, the Jansz Premium Vintage Rosé 2017 (Wine Direct £31). The first time I tried this tremendous Tasmanian sparkler was at the winery on a press tour where we were treated to a tasting of over 30 wines. I must confess, little spitting was done and the afternoon ended in a contented, if sleepy, blur. I had the 2017 rosé recently and was blown away. Pretty pale pink, and the nose is full of savoury raspberries and succulent strawberries with a floral edge and a background of freshly baked bread. The wonderfully complex palate boasts everything from piquant red berries to sweetly toned fruits of the forest preserve by way of almond croissants, and citrus. This is undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest sparkling wines, yet it remains affordable.

My next recommendation is a new wine from an old friend. I’ve expressed my admiration for Yalumba’s wines before and the new GEN Organic Sauvignon Blanc (Ocado £11) is another winner. Demonstrating this family-owned winery’s longstanding commitment to sustainable winemaking, it’s certified organic and it’s quite delicious. Australian Sauvignon and I haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, but this is excellent. The nose is soft and ripe, with a noticeable peachy tone. On the palate, it offers rounded, pear, peach and melon fruit, a ripe texture with the classic green pepper and gooseberry adding interest from the wings rather than taking centre stage. I had this with a chicken risotto and it was a great pairing, but it’s also lovely as a solo sipper.

Australian Chardonnay is rightly loved around the world. With its dazzling array of sites and soils, Australia produces a glittering lineup of Chardonnays that range from big and buttery to elegantly reserved. Penfolds Max’s Chardonnay (Waitrose £19.95) sits somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. Mid-gold, with a smoky, nutty, apple and guava nose, in the mouth it combines generosity with refinement. It opens with a fresh-tasting wave of green apple, pear and white peach before fatter notes of honeydew melon, crushed nuts, vanilla spice, and minerals come through. Interestingly – well interestingly to me as I’m dull like that – this is a wine whose character is transformed by decanting. Pop and pour and it’s lively and bright. Let it breathe for a couple of hours and it’s much, much richer, fuller, and indulgent.

My next choice is a wine I discovered at the Australia Trade Tasting a couple of years back, it’s the Jim Barry Assyrtiko (Strictly Wine £22.14). Jim Barry is one of the great names of Australian wine – the Armagh Shiraz (Laithwaites £235 is a legend) – and across the range, their wines deliver the goods. The Assyrtiko is a beguiling wine that has the piercing intensity that, like Poly Styrene’s vocals, ‘Could drive holes through sheet metal.’ Lemons, limes, grapefruit, minerals and rhubarb all come through on the nose and in the mouth, but there’s weight, softness, and delicacy here too. This is one of the best Assyrtiko’s I’ve had outside of its homeland of Greece, and it goes brilliantly with poultry, pork, white fish, or stir-fried vegetable dishes.

And so to the reds. When most wine lovers think of Australian red wines, their minds turn to Shiraz. Shiraz certainly helped put Australian wine on the map, and as winemakers have learnt more about site selection, it too now comes in a range of exciting styles. The Robert Oatley Signature Series Shiraz (The Co-Op 10.50) is from the McLaren Vale in South Australia. Shiraz grows well here in a Mediterranean climate that allows a long growing season and gives grapes that are full of complexity and aroma as the Oatley demonstrates. Inky blue-black with a crimson rim, the nose is a joyously heady mix of black berries, black cherries and Oriental spices. In the mouth it’s full but refined, the bold blackberry and blueberry fruit offset by sweet oak, charcoal, chocolate and mint. Put this with a cheeseboard and the long winter nights will fly by…

When Hollick isn’t doing odd things with Merlot, they make excellent Cabernet Sauvignon like their 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon (South Down Cellars £19.95). Cabernet is often referred to as the king of black grapes, and there’s a real breed to this example. Very deeply coloured – there’s virtually no give at the rim – a quick swirl reveals a complex bouquet of crushed blackberries, candied mint, green peppers and a whiff of black pepper. Well-extracted and with plenty of body, there’s a savoury undertone to the crisp blackcurrant fruit, as tones of toast, fresh herbs, cocoa and pencil lead seamlessly intermingle. Give this an hour or two open and serve with fine red meats or a vegetable lasagne.

When it comes to Australian wine classics, they don’t come much greater than the Yalumba Signature Series Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz (Majestic £41.99 a bottle or £34.99 on a mixed 6). Legend has it that pioneering Australian winemakers blended Cabernet with Shiraz as they didn’t have any Merlot to create a Bordeaux blend. Personally, I suspect they were saving the Merlot for Hollick to make into fizz.

Whatever the case, it’s a marriage made in heaven. This hails from the Barossa Valley and is everything you could want in a Cabernet-Shiraz. Massive, exceptionally well-fruited, juicy, complex, and compellingly delicious, it fully deserves its iconic status. The combination of crisp blackcurrants, spicy red berries, plums, morello cherries and tangy loganberries make for a show-stopping glassful. Wine Enthusiast magazine gives this 93/100 calling it ‘Classic Barossa’. I couldn’t agree more.

I’ll finish with a flourish with a wine from another great family of Australian wine, Henschke. The Henschke Mount Edelstone (Hic! £135) is a wine that deserves to be on every wine lover’s bucket list, well, bottle list, at least. One of Australia’s most renowned single vineyard wines, some of the vines in Mount Edelstone are over one hundred years old and give tiny quantities of incredibly concentrated fruit. Predictably inky in colour, the nose is a heady mix of spices, blueberries and blackcurrants with a hinterland of bay and sage. The gorgeous palate is packed with dark fruits – mulberry, blueberry, blackberry, and black currant – warm spices, pepper, chocolate, and grilled meats. The finish is long, silky, and fresh, and the ripe tannins and minerals bring harmony to this extraordinary wine. One for now and the next decade or so.

Well, that’s it from me for now. Next time out as it’s Valentine’s, love will be in the air. The love of wine that is.

Cheers!

Giles

Support for better sleep from Simba

Round & About

January 24, 2024

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Tossing and turning? Hot and bothered? We’ve teamed up to offer some tips for a sounder slumber thanks to the team at Simba

We’re constantly told how important a good kip is for our health. However, if you struggle to get the recommended sleep, this can only add to the feelings of tiredness and anxiety.

As the Simba team recognise, there are many reasons for not getting enough sleep, not least that the nation is home to an estimated 15 million snorers, keeping 78% of partners awake! Lack of sleep and stress are common bedfellows and can create a negative feedback loop that can be self-sabotaging.

Our body temperature and room temperature can have a big impact of our sleep cycle which is regulated by the circadian rhythm and light and dark cycle. Temperature for sleep is important, as the body cools itself down by sending heat away from the core and towards the extremities using vasodilation. Cold feet may disrupt this process, so you may find bed socks will help you to nod off more easily.

No matter the time of year, the ideal sleeping temperature is between 15.5-19.5C (that’s 60 – 67 degrees Fahrenheit). As a general rule, your bedroom should be cooler than other rooms in the house and babies need to sleep in a cooler room (between 16C and 20C).

As any woman aged over 40 will know, trying to maintain a steady temperature all night can prove impossible, with many bedrooms becoming a sweaty, anxious landscape (partner or no partner) in the wee hours.

There’s more bad news for bad sleepers. A higher body temperature is associated with a decrease in restorative REM or slow-wave sleep. During this phase of the sleep cycle, the body ceases most-temperature regulation which makes us more sensitive to the ambient room temperature, and more likely to wake from overheating. Lack of REM sleep leads to grogginess, impacts the immune system, memory, and focus.

And it’s not just hormones, of course: globally, night time temperatures are increasing faster than day time temperatures due to the climate crisis.

So what can be done? Creating good sleep hygiene, and a wind-down bedtime routine without screens has been proven to help, as has opening your windows and cutting back on stimulants. Certain types of mattresses can be warmer than others, so if you’re overheating at night, it’s worth switching from a memory foam mattress to a cooler mattress. Mattresses that promote airflow and use cooling technology can help reduce episodes of overheating and improve overall comfort.

Clever choices of bedding will also help, including The Simba Renew Bio™ fill. The clever sleep experts at Simba have crafted the down-like soft and warm breathable duvet for a non-clammy feel. The fresh, cotton outer features the Stratos® temperature control tech to help dissipate excess heat. We can assure you that this sleep saviour can have you sleeping like a baby (not the best example, as new parents will attest) instead of being at the mercy of those hot night time flushes. It’s also made from recycled PET bottle fibres, biodegrades at end of its life and almost totally dissolves in about two years when deposited in a landfill environment.

Watch this space for more info and a competition to win a Hybrid® Mattress Topper in our March competition.

For more tips or to browse please visit simbasleep.com

Hard & Fast

Round & About

January 23, 2024January 17, 2024

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We’re sharing a taste of The Fast 800 Keto recipe book, as seen on Channel 4’s Lose A Stone In 21 days by Dr Clare Bailey who is on tour with her husband Dr Michael Mosely this month

Creamy broccoli, ginger and coriander soup

A light soup with the warming qualities of coconut, ginger and coriander running through it. The recipe makes enough for four but it keeps well in the fridge or freezer.

Serves 4, Prep 5-7 minutes, Cook 15-20 minutes.

Ingredients

1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped, 40g fresh root ginger, roughly chopped (no need to peel)

1 and half tbsp oil

1 head of broccoli, roughly chopped

1x 400ml tin coconut milk

Vegetable stock cube

15g fresh coriander

40g flaked almonds, toasted, to garnish

Cook’s tip:

Add a protein top-up if you like. Fried diced bacon or feta cheese would go well

1. Place the onion, ginger and olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and saute for three or four minutes until softened

2. Add the broccoli, coconut milk, stock cube and 800ml water (simply refill the empty tin twice). Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Remove from the heat, add the coriander and blitz with a stick blender until completely smooth. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve, topped with flaked almonds.

Persian love cake

Loosely based on a Persian Love Cake, this enchantingly exotic concoction lives up to its name. not sure I do it justice, but it certainly goes down well, with its tangy, orange-flavoured topping, and rich, nutty base. High in protein and nutrients, it has no added sugar, is low-carb and feels like a real treat… Enjoy

Serves 8, Prep 30 minutes, Cook 30 minutes

Ingredients

100g dried figs, finely chopped

60g coconut oil or butter

Two medium free range eggs

60g shelled pistachio nuts, roughly chopped

Two medium oranges, zested and juiced

100g almonds

1tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tbsp free-dried raspberries

1 tbsp cider vinegar

For the icing

60g cream cheese

1tsp honey

1tsp lemon zest

Cook’s tip:

This freezes well (so you don’t need to eat it all at once, as Michael is frequently tempted to do). You could use a loaf tin liner if you have one.

1. Preheat the oven to 180C / Fan 160C/ gas 4. Line the base of a 20cm x 10cm loaf tin with parchment paper.

2. Place the figs, coconut oil and eggs in a bowl and blitz with a stick blender for about a minute, until creamy but retaining some texture.

3. Stir in 40g of the pistachios, the orange juice, half the orange zest, the ground almonds, cinnamon, cardamom, bicarbonate of soda, half the dried raspberries and a generous pinch of salt. Mix well, then add the cider vinegar and mix again.

4. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for about 30 minutes until cooked through and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn out of the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

5. To make the Topping, mix the remaining orange zest with the cream cheese, honey and lemon zest in a small bowl. Spread it on to the cooled cake, then sprinkle the remaining chopped pistachios and dried raspberries on top.

Dom Joly star Q&A

Round & About

January 23, 2024January 17, 2024

All Areas

Dom Joly discusses The Conspiracy Tour, based on his latest book, which visits Maidenhead, Farnham, Basingstoke, Winchester & more this month and next…

Q. Hello Dom. Your new tour, The Conspiracy Tour kicks off in February. What can we expect?

“It’s a companion to my latest travel book, The Conspiracy Tourist in which I travelled the globe again looking into the strange world of the Conspiracy Theorist. I will take the audience through a range of some of the wackiest conspiracy theories out there and what I think of them. I am pretty much a sceptic and so, for balance, I will be joined by an eminent conspiracy theorist, Dr Julian Northcote (author of the book COWS! Britain’s Secret Killers). Expect fireworks.”

Q. What sort of conspiracy theories did you look at?

“I took my long-suffering wife to Finland for a holiday to prove that it exists. There is a theory that it doesn’t. I also went on a massive road trip across America popping into Denver International Airport, rumoured to be the assembly point for the Illuminati come the Rapture. I investigated UFOs with a visit to Roswell, New Mexico. I looked into the JFK assassination in Dallas, Texas. I chased Alex Jones, the Info Wars grifter around Austin Texas. I also took a Flat Earther to one of the four corners of the square flat earth- an island called Fogo, off Newfoundland. It didn’t go well…”

“Conspiracies used to be fun… Nowadays they have gone bats*** insane..”

Q. Why the interest in conspiracy theories?

“Conspiracies used to be fun. Did we land on the moon, Bigfoot, Was Paul McCartney cloned? Nowadays they have gone bats*** insane. They have infected the body politic, with the actual President of the United States supporting Q Anon and urging people to inject themselves with bleach. It’s dangerous and being used by a series of grifters to terrify gullible people and fleece them for money. It makes me angry…but it is also often very funny.”

Q. This isn’t your first travel book?

“No, it’s my fifth travel book. Over the last 15 years or so I have travelled to more than 100 countries and written about some pretty strange stuff. I went on a coach trip around North Korea, an assassination vacation across America, skiing in Iran, walking the length of Lebanon, monster hunting in the Congo, joining an illegal crossing of the US/Mexican border…I even spent a night in Swindon. I seem to be attracted to dark destinations.”

Q. You grew up in Lebanon – is this why you like this sort of travel?

“Possibly. I grew up in the middle of a vicious civil war and yet, I had an unusual but wonderful childhood. Lebanon is an exciting, beautiful place and I always try to find the same in other places that maybe have a bad public image. My favourite fact about growing up in Lebanon was that I went to school with Osama Bin Laden for a year. I was six, he was 18 and so we were not friends but I long to get a school photo. The weirdest part is that it was a Quaker school…Quakers being famous for pacifism.”

Q. You first shot to fame in Trigger Happy TV- how did that happen?

“I did my life the wrong way round… most people do silly stuff when they are young and then knuckle down. I did the opposite. I was a diplomat in Prague and a producer for ITN in Parliament. Then, I started making satirical comedy but fell into just trying to be as funny as possible when Channel 4 spotted my stuff and asked me to make Trigger Happy TV. I am immensely proud of it. I put blood sweat and tears into every episode and we sold the show to 80 countries and it opened so many doors for me.”

Q. What were your favourite moments making Trigger Happy TV?

“Often, they were the behind the scenes, private jokes. We used to work next to the office where Tony Blackburn worked and we got his autograph every morning, at exactly the same time for seven months and he never noticed. I also, dressed as a traffic warden, once gave a fire engine a ticket while they were putting out a small fire, only to find that I had lost my cameraman and nobody was filming. My favourite Trigger Happy sketch was probably the large snail crossing the road because only in Britain would the traffic stop and wait so patiently as I crawled across excruciatingly slowly.”

Q. What makes you laugh?

“If I had to sum it up, it would be ‘travel vast distances and make an enormous effort to do something totally pointless’. My favourite sketch of all time was actually in a sequel to Trigger Happy TV called World Shut Your Mouth in which we flew all the way to Northern Canada to ‘frighten an Eskimo’ by sneaking up behind him and crashing a large pair of cymbals together before running away and flying back home in triumph.”

Q. What makes you happy?

“My dogs… all dogs actually… except for little ones. No dog should be smaller than a cat.”

Q. What makes you angry?

“How much time do you have? Jacob Rees Mogg, trains, bigotry, bullies, injustice, poor grammar, Boris Johnson, tax dodgers, people failing upwards, grifters, Covid deniers, bureaucracy, traffic wardens, people who stand up the moment the plane lands, people who say eXpresso, automated customer services, Elon Musk, religious zealots, scammers, Q&As, Swindon…”

Q. What have been the highlights of your career so far?

“Learning to fly a hot air balloon. Getting the BBC to pay for me to visit all Seven Wonders of the World in one trip just to stand in front of each one and say “That… is sh*t…” Making a show called Dom Joly’s Happy Hour for Sky One in which I travelled the world getting drunk with my best friend. The Sky lawyers got nervous and asked me not to say that I was ‘getting drunk’ would I mind saying that I was ‘investigating cultural attitudes towards alcohol’ instead. Surviving for three weeks on The Island with Bear Grylls. I lost three stone and nearly my leg. Getting my Alexa to turn all the lights in my sitting room on when I tell it to.”

Q. What do your family think about your life?

“A strange mix of pride, confusion and disappointment. My wife, Stacey is Canadian and much nicer than me and is often very embarrassed by my behaviour. My daughter, Parker just graduated from Oxford Uni and is now working at the university looking into a cure for Alzheimer’s. My son Jackson has just started at Durham and has exceptional music taste which I like to think that I had a part in. We are a very argumentative family. We once drove across the Canadian Rockies in a motor home. If we had recorded the trip, I am convinced that we would have had the best reality show in history…except for Below Deck.”

Q. What does the future hold?

“Who bloody knows? I am developing a Trigger Happy Movie. I am working on a TV series of The Conspiracy Tourist for the US. I’ve only just really discovered radio and it’s something that I really want to explore further. I also have a list of places I have yet to go to. Algeria is currently top of my list. I am obsessed with the place. My son and I want to go storm chasing in America. I want to walk the Cotswold Way with my dogs.”

Dom Joly The Conspiracy Tour lands at theatres around the UK from 21st February, including Farnham Maltings on 29th, Oxford Playhouse on 18th March, details and ticket information at domjoly.tv/dom-joly-tour/

Dom Joly’s The Conspiracy Tourist: Travels Through a Strange World is out now (£22, Robinson).

Tuesday 16 Jul 2024

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We’re sharing a taste of The Sweet Polish Kitchen: A celebration of home baking & nostalgic treats by Ren Behan.

Wuzetka – chocolate cream sponge

Blueberry & almond Babka loaf

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