Gazpacho Bloody Marys
This is a hedonistic version of “green juice”, give and take
a few ingredients, some equally healthy and delicious, some less healthy but
more delicious (and obviously it's red, not green). That’s a good trade off, I think.
It’s important to remove the skin from the cucumber and not
juice any of the celery leaves, which I would normally do. The reason for this
is the colour. You don’t want the green juice element of the drink to be too
green or you will end up with Mary that doesn’t look half as Bloody and she
should.
Worcestershire and tobasco sauce and vodka I leave up to
you, I’m sure you all know how you like it spiced. The Gazpacho “juice” I used
instead of tomato juice is available at most big supermarkets, it is imported
and seriously glugable just as it is. If you can’t find it, just opt for good
old tomato juice in the can or box. But one thing that is completely essential
is the ice – you cannot drink a Bloody Mary without the glass being at least
half full of the stuff. Don’t ask me why, it’s just has something to do with
texture and flavour and how all the ingredients hang together.
Recipe:
2 long celery sticks (sans leaves)
½ cucumber, peeled
½ fennel bulb (not to many green bits)
2 big beefy tomatoes
1 L Gazpacho or tomato cocktail
fresh lemon juice, to taste
vodka (optional)
sea salt flakes and fresh black pepper
tobasco
Worcestershire
Lots of chunky ice blocks
Enough for 4
Put the celery, cucumber, fennel and tomato through a juicer
and pour the pale green liquid into a jug. Top up with gazpacho or tomato juice
and stir well. You can either add the vodka now or add it to your serving
glasses, which ever you choose, now is the time to add your ice, and lots of
it, to glasses and jug. Season the gazpacho with plenty of salt, pepper and
lemon juice then pour into glasses. Allow everyone to season their drinks with
more salt, pepper and lemon juice if they wish, and then to spice it up with
tobacco and Worcestershire sauce.
Egg, tomato and chorizo rolls
It’s quick; it’s easy and, well, looks and taste pretty impressive
too! All my favourite things on a good, chewy sesame roll, with a little avo
thrown in for good measure, for me this is breakfast heaven.
Recipe:
4 crusty sesame rolls (or whatever you prefer)
olive oil
4-8 best quality free-range eggs
1 long chorizo sausage, sliced
2 ripe red tomatoes or mixed tomatoes, sliced
1 ripe avocado, sliced
2 handfuls of rocket
salt and pepper
and, tomato sauce (for those that are partial to the
practice)
makes 4
Half the rolls and toast the cut sides under a hot grill.
Glug a generous amount of olive oil into a good non-stick pan and fry the eggs
to your liking (I like mine crispy around the edges with the white just set on
top and yolk rather runny). Remove and drain on kitchen paper and keep warm while
you fry the sausage.
Drain some of the oil from the pan and fry the sausages
quickly over high heat, you want them to crisp around the edges but not to cook
so much that the render to much fat and become dry. Leave them in the pan, off
the heat for a moment while you build the buns.
Top the buns with rocket, avo, tomato and an egg or two
each. Then spoon over the undrained sausages (there’s tons of flavour in the
oil so don’t drain it off). Give it a good grinding of pepper and season with
salt. Serve with a little tomato sauce on the side.
