An Easy Parmigiano Reggiano and Cherry Tomato Tart
Here’s a simple recipe we picked up in British Tomato Week earlier this year using two of the most popular ingredients – Parmigiano Reggiano and Cherry Tomatoes
Pre-heat oven to 200 °C Cut puff pastry sheets into squares and spread with a little pesto sauce.
Divide cherry tomatoes between the tarts and sprinkle over Parmigiano Reggiano.
Brush the pastry edges with beaten egg and bake for 15 minutes.
To finish, top with pine nuts and bake again until the pastry is risen and crisp.
How’s that for speed? Suits me! And the result is so, so tasty! If it appeals to you the full recipe is below. It’s just one of many in a recipe book available
Other recipes: Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, known as ‘Parmesan’, is one of the world’s oldest and richest cheeses – still produced today as it was nine centuries ago. Totally natural – it’s the only cheese with an extensive maturation that improves the nutrition, aroma and taste. The use of raw milk and the richness of natural ingredients make this cheese a unique and superior product. It takes 16 litres of milk to produce one kilogram of cheese! The minimum maturation time for Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is 12 months, but only when it reaches approximately 24 months of age, is it at its best. As well as having fantastic nutritional qualities, it’s easy to digest and is high in calcium.
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) product. PDOs are defined and protected by European Union law in order to defend the reputation of regional foods. This mark ensures that Parmigiano Reggiano cheese can only be produced in designated areas of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna to the west of the Reno River and Mantua to the east of the Po River.
For more information on Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, please visit www.parmigianoreggiano.com
This recipe is so easy and quick it is a great lunch when you are really busy, or when the oven is cooking something else. Provides respite at Christmas as a respite from turkey!
Louise MacLaren, Guest cookery writer
CREDIT:
The Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano
Photography and Reportage: Steve Lee
Recipe and Food Styling: Sue Ashworth
Take a Magical Walk Round Kew Gardens at Christmas
Santa’s Grotto at Kew Gardens
Many years ago, in my youth, public displays of Christmas in London would amount to festive scenes in department store windows and a visit inside to Santa’s grotto. Selfridges and Harrods spring to mind, though I’m sure there must have been others as well. The main shopping streets in London, Oxford Street and Regent Street, would be adorned with Christmas lights, and that would be about it.
These days it’s very different. Every main street in the neighbourhoods, as far out as the suburbs, boasts Christmas lights (the splendour of which depends on the affluence of the area). Somerset House, some years ago now, hit on the idea of an outdoor skating rink surrounded by flickering torches and the beautifully illuminated old buildings surrounding the courtyard (which not many years previously had been a car-park for inland revenue officers). Now it seems almost every venerable institution with the space has gone along with this idea and skaters are spoilt for choice of where to go for their double axels and salchows. Also, for the last few years, Hyde Park has had its own Winter Wonderland, with a Magical Ice Kingdom, Christmas Market and Big Wheel.
And this year Kew Gardens is also getting in on the act with Santa’s Grotto, some Christmas Market stalls, a Helter Skelter and a lovely old-fashioned carousel. But its main attraction is unique: an evening 1.4 mile illuminated walkway has been created amongst the trees with imaginative light and sound installations.
Illuminated walk
Particular trees have been picked out with glorious colour that enhance their bark and leaves. A Mediterranean Garden is alive with birdsong and hung with colourful glass lanterns. Tall bamboos grace the Asian garden where the wintery atmosphere reflects the shapes, noise and growth of bamboo. And after a secret cluster of beech trees where you can create your own sound and light show, a strong scent of incense leads you to the Fire Garden. This is ablaze with flames from 300 torches creating a huge circle of fire in the shape of a Mandala, a spiritual symbol in Hinduism representing the universe.
Sound and lights
Along the way, to keep younger (and young-at-heart visitors) amused, are wonderful ‘plant whisperers’, surrounded by the paraphernalia that allows them and those they invite to participate to communicate with the greenery that surrounds. The lakes shimmer with light and reflections, the coots adding to it all by gracing the evening waters in what they perhaps believe is a strange daylight. The grand finale is the famous Palm House with changing light colours and haunting soundscape.
The Palm House Illuminated
It’s a magical, almost mystical experience, only slightly marred by the sound of too many low-flying jets on their way to nearby Heathrow; we were however assured that that particular flight-path is not used every day!
Notwithstanding the planes, in this age of hustle and bustle, Kew is a haven in the capital to commune with nature, on display in all her glory.
The Christmas at Kew evening trail ticket costs £12.50 for adults and £8 for children, with family tickets for 2 adults and 2 children aged 5 – 16 at £38. Under 5’s go free. It opens at 4.45 on the following dates:
- 28 November – 1 December
- 5 December – 8 December
- 12 December – 15 December
- 19 December – 23 December
- 26 December – 4 January 2014
Full details on the Kew website
Jeannette Nelson, Arts Critic A bit of a culture vulture, Jeannette enjoys art exhibitions, cinema and classical music, but her main interest is the theatre. For several years she ran theatre discussion groups for which her MA in Modern Drama together with teaching skills stood her in good stead. She prefers to concentrate on the many off West End and fringe productions as well as that real treasure of the London theatre scene, the National.
Images provided by RBG Kew
Must Have for Christmas List No:1 Baileys Chocolat Luxe
Just a sniff of the bottle was enough to get a wild response! This drink is something else, a perfect blend of Belgian chocolate and Irish whiskey.
Oh My God, just doesn’t sum it up! It’s deadly for anyone on a diet we think. Perhaps a thimbleful at a time would be best! (That’s once a day mind, make it last!) In fact 100 ml adds up to 371 calories (16g of fat, 27g carbs, 3.5g protein) … you can work a daily dose out for yourself!
The result of a three year project this is a chocoholic’s dream. Anthony Wilson is the son of the man who led the team behind Baileys Original Irish Cream some 30 years ago. So you can expect this chocolate offering to be in the same league of lusciousness.
This chocolate indulgence makes it impossible to envisage ice cream without it. We are putting together a list of other luscious items that would take a good dribbling – how about chocolate eclairs, meringues, jam doughnuts, shortbread and strawberries, cooked pears … the list could go on and on. Must stop fantasising, work to be done. Husband has hidden the bottle … but I will soon find it!
There is a video on the Baileys website link
Baileys Chocolat Luxe is available from October with an RRP of £16.99 for 50 cl. More info at www.baileys.com.
Val Reynolds, Editor
A Wonderfully Warming Soup – Pumpkin and Parmigiano Reggiano
Parmigiano Reggiano And Pumpkin Soup
It’s Pumpkin time! We love that wonderful orange flesh in pies, cakes and soups. We found this Parmigiano Reggiano and pumpkin soup recipe – always a great winter warmer and a great starter for a Halloween celebration.
It’s really easy to make – just combine fried onion, pumpkin, vegetable stock and Parmigiano Reggiano rind and cook until tender. Add grated Parmigiano Reggiano to the vegetables, remove the rind and blend the mixture until smooth.
To serve, sprinkle the soup with fresh parsley, top with French bread with melted Parmigiano Reggiano and season.
Full recipe is included below.
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, known as ‘Parmesan’, is one of the world’s oldest and richest cheeses, still produced today as it was nine centuries ago. Totally natural, it’s the only cheese with a minimum maturation time of 12 months, although its best at 24 months. Did you know it takes 16 litres of milk to produce one kilogram of cheese! It’s easy to digest and is high in calcium.
Parmigiano Reggiano is a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) product. PDOs are defined and protected by European Union law in order to defend the reputation of regional foods. This mark ensures that Parmigiano Reggiano can only be produced in designated areas of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna to the west of the Reno River and Mantua to the east of the Po River.
For more information on Parmigiano Reggiano at www.parmigianoreggiano.com.
Parmigiano Reggiano and Pumpkin Soup
Serves 4-6
150g (6oz) Parmigiano Reggiano, with rind
25g (1oz) butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 medium pumpkin (or butternut squash), peeled, deseeded and chopped into chunks
900ml (1½ pt) hot vegetable stock
150ml (¼ pt) milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to season
4-6 slices French bread
Fresh parsley or thyme, chopped to garnish
Reserve the rind from the Parmigiano Reggiano and cut it into chunks, then finely grate
Melt the butter in a large saucepan, and gently fry the onion until softened
Add the pumpkin, vegetable stock and Parmigiano Reggiano rind and cook gently for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender
Remove the rind from the saucepan, transferring the soup to a blender and add the grated cheese, reserving 25g (1oz) for garnishing. Blend the soup, until smooth. Return it to the saucepan and add the milk. Stir thoroughly and reheat until piping hot
Toast the slices of French bread, sprinkle the remaining Parmigiano Reggiano on top and grill until melted. Ladle the soup into bowls and top each portion with one piece of French toast
To serve, sprinkle with fresh parsley or thyme and season with black pepper
Penny, our resident cook, says: You could try other cheese of course, low fat cheddar is excellent. We make this soup for six and then freeze a couple of portions ready to reheat. It makes a really comforting snack on a very cold day. We wouldn’t go on a long, bracing walk without a flask of this soup. A welcome, wonderful warmer. Can’t say enough about it!
Information provided by The Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano Photography: Steve Lee Recipe and Food Styling: Sue Ashworth
Val Reynolds, Editor
Winter Culture in London – theatre, art and literature
The still balmy days of autumn mean that the hot, sunny days of summer are not yet a distant memory, but promises of imminent cooler weather are a reminder that winter is not a distant prospect.
So now’s the time to shake out the winter woollies and consider options for the darker, shorter days.
Perusing the listings online and in the press, one word resonates in my head: Vienna. Perhaps it’s because this is the city my parents hailed from, but undeniably, it features in various aspects of culture this season.
First, and most obviously, is the exhibition at the National Gallery in London entitled Facing the Modern – The Portrait in Vienna 1900, which is showing from 9 October 2013 to 12 January 2014. Check it out on www.nationalgallery.org.uk and if it appeals, go and luxuriate in the works of Klimt, Schiele, Gerstl et al.
The second, perhaps more oblique reference to that once powerful city centre of empire is perhaps more problematic to see. It’s the production of Hysteria by Terry Johnson who also directs what I believe must be the definitive version of his 20 year old witty and intelligent play. Unfortunately, it is only playing until 12 October, but tickets have been hard to come by throughout its entire run. This is largely due to the critically acclaimed performance of Anthony Sher as Freud, the pioneer of psychoanalysis. An added frisson is that the action takes place not in his famous Berggasse rooms in Vienna but in his consulting room in Hampstead, a matter of a few hundred yards from the theatre itself. Unbelievably, the play treads the difficult line between farce, surrealism, intellectual debate and the Holocaust with extreme dexterity. One minute you’re laughing (especially at the mention of a ‘Freudian slip’ referring to an item of underwear), the next you sit back in your seat in shock and horror. It is a play that only ever so often is revived; catch it if you can. Meanwhile, if you’re in that part of London, why not visit the Freud Museum in Hampstead, where the Bergasse is recreated in minute detail and includes the famous couch www.freud.org.uk.
My final reference to Vienna is cheating a little, as it concerns a book written about 50 years ago that I came across recently via the BBC website. In the run-up to the centenary of the start of the first World War, there apparently had been a piece on the Today programme about the fact that in the year running up to the shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Vienna had been home, albeit temporarily for some, for several well-known figures: Freud, obviously, but also Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito. At the end of the website report, reference was made to the aforementioned book, Thunder at Twilight by Frederic Morton, and a trawl through Amazon secured me a second-hand copy. It makes utterly fascinating reading and has been passed on to several relatives and friends who have all been enamoured by it. Check if your library can get you a copy, the origins of ‘the war to end all wars’ have never been more clearly explained to me.
Which leads me to mention a production that has not yet started, although tickets have been on sale for a while already. The Theatre Royal Stratford East, created by the grande dame of people’s theatre Joan Littlewood, is reviving its production of Oh What A Lovely War! to mark the centenary. It’s comforting for me to know that nestled in the new buildings, immense shopping centres and the Olympic stadium, this theatre, one of the oldest in the capital, can still put on plays that wrestle with the conscience. It’s playing from 1 February 2014 to 15 March 2014. Check it out on www.stratfordeast.com
Jeannette Nelson, Arts Critic A bit of a culture vulture, Jeannette enjoys art exhibitions, cinema and classical music, but her main interest is the theatre. For several years she ran theatre discussion groups for which her MA in Modern Drama together with teaching skills stood her in good stead. She prefers to concentrate on the many off West End and fringe productions as well as that real treasure of the London theatre scene, the National.
In Our Shopping Basket This Week
Sometimes a plant comes on the market with a unique universal appeal, one many of us would love in our gardens.
Lady Marmalade, a rose, falls into this category. Soft, sweet scent, beautiful colour, classic flower shape, with modern disease resistance and repeat flowering throughout the summer. What’s not to like! To cap it all it has just received the RHS award of Rose of the Year 2014.
We’re pretty sure it’s going to be a real winner and if you love the look of it as much as we do we really think you should order it straight away!
Here’s a link to the Thompson and Morgan web page giving full details
Just so you know, we do not receive any kind of remuneration for any of the products we recommend in our magazine. Every product reference is made purely based on what appeals to us and in almost all cases, from our own experience.
We are very attracted to this rose and thought our gardening readers would like to know about it as soon as possible and before supplies sell out!
We notice The Telegraph is selling the same plant in a 4 litre pot for £17.99 whereas Thompson & Morgan are offering a bare root plant for £14.99. Full details for planting and aftercare are on their web page.
This beautiful floribunda rose would be an ideal plant as a gift … Especially to a rose lover – what a lovely surprise!
Elizabeth Gunn, Gardening journalist
Create a Mouthwatering Colour Combination in your garden
Alliums were all the rage a few years ago and they still haven’t lost their attraction. From time to time I’ve seen them dotted around gardens, in masses in borders, even marching along straight borders at Wimpole Hall – they looked exceptionally good.
I was reminded of them having just seen an offer on the Thompson & Morgan website – 100 allium bulbs for £5. The 100 bulbs is made up of different quantities of four different varieties: 
16 bulbs of Allium aflatuenese, 24 bulbs of Allium sphaerocephalon, 50 bulbs of Allium caeruleum and 10 bulbs of Allium Purple Sensation. All flower in early summer. See details on: http://www.thompson-morgan.com/taf147
We are planning on planting them in front of a lovely Cumbrian wall, interspersed with either creeping jenny and/or Alchemilla mollis.
On the BBC plant finder page It suggests campanula portenschlagiana and geranium Philippe Vapelle would work well with them. They comment that for all gardens, large or small, the campanula is an indispensable alpine. Hardy, vigorous and persistent, it’s easily grown on the rockery, on walls, in front of borders or even in pots, forming generous, dense mats of small ivy-like leaves which become hidden beneath the mass of small purple bells in summer.
So that’s sorted. I might even buy a David Austin rambling pink rose to give a beautiful contrast which has a strong scent too – Mary Rose fits the bill. I’d like to add in some lavender to give another purple burst in late summer, when the roses are still flowering.
Purple, pink and yellow … A great combination. Can’t wait for summer!
The Allium offer ends midnight on 20 August 2013 …
Yours in health
Val Reynolds, Editor
News Flash!!! Bargain Plug Plants for 24p
A quick note to all those who follow my Front Garden on the web http://ourfrontgarden.com/2012/02/15/2012-month-by-month/
Wedding Bells – Penstemons
We thought those readers who enjoy gardening, and there are many of you we know! would want to hear about the latest Thompson & Morgan bargain plug plant offer:
24 plug plants of the self same penstemons – Wedding Bells Mixed – that attracted so much attention from passersby at our front garden in Welwyn Garden City
T&M are adding 24 plugs for 24p that’s only 1p a plug! to any orders made between 9-15 August 2013
This really is value for money.
The blooms are striking, bloomed for ages, are perennial and came up well for more than 5 years and showed every sign of long term growth. They look really good in a border, or a pot.
I bet T&M run out of stock fairly quickly so if you want some, and we certainly do!, it would probably be best to order some asap.
| OFFER ORDER CODE: TAF146ZURL: www.thompson-morgan.com/taf146zTerms: Limited to one pack per order.This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or with promotional vouchers. |
Keep in touch!
Val Reynolds, Editor
UK consumers could be losing £100 million in cash benefits every year
Following the recent feature How to Get Money for Nothing! you might be interested in this press release received this morning:
UK consumers who belong to clubs, gyms and thousands of other organisations could be losing more than £100 million every year in cash savings and benefits, according to a major new survey published today by money saving website iMember.co.uk.
A survey carried out in May of more than 2,000 UK adults found that more than three quarters (78%) belong to, or pay a regular subscription to, at least one organization. However, more than half (52%) of those who are members of at least one organisation or service said that they didn’t know or forget what is available.
It seems – with an estimated 10 plus million consumers who belong to clubs and other organisations in the UK which entitle them to average potential benefits of £100 or more each year – most people simply forget or are totally unaware of what is available or what they can claim.
According to Richard Brown, founder of iMember, it’s not the fault of the clubs if members fail to claim benefits and, in response, has launched a new free online service (imember.co.uk) that ensures no one need ever lose out again. The new website reminds users when savings – to which they are already entitled because of their memberships – are available and where.
Young people are likely to benefit most from the site. The iMember survey says they are the big losers with 63% of 18-24 year olds (compared to just 26% of all ages surveyed) not knowing how many organisations they belonged to. Younger people are also more likely to be unaware of what benefits and rewards are available to them – with 39% of 18-34 year olds who are members of organisations or services saying this, compared to 30% of those aged 65+.
This passivity problem is not just exclusive to the young adult market. In fact, one in six (16%) members of organisations or services ‘cannot be bothered’ to use membership benefits. Meanwhile, almost one in ten (9%) say that they ‘don’t have time’ to use the offers that are rightfully theirs – even though as a member of an organisation, it makes sense to reap the rewards that come with belonging, whether it’s a discounted hotel stay or cheaper health insurance.
The survey has highlighted the clear need for a more transparent, accessible and simplified way for consumers to save money. The new iMember website does just that, providing a free service that informs and reminds people what is available and explains how and where to claim.
Combining all of a consumer’s memberships and subscriptions in one handy location, iMember tells them exactly what benefits so many of the UK population should be enjoying already – simple as that. Rather than trawl through numerous websites and marketing materials for each organisation, iMember also keeps the process as simple as possible.
Founder of iMember, Richard Brown, explains: “Only after paying for tickets and attending an exhibition at the Royal Academy, I found out that as a Barclays Premier customer I could have got in free. As a member of many organisations I realised that there are a plethora of benefits and deals out there of which the UK consumer has little or no knowledge at all.”
It may be true that everyone is busier during tough economic times, but people are missing out on savings that are just waiting to be claimed. Membership deals offer money for nothing, but you just have to remember you’re a member. If, like so many UK consumers, you need a little reminder every now and then – that’s where iMember comes in.
iMember is a free and easy-to-use website (imember.co.uk). A smartphone app which will remind you of benefits you are entitled to out and about will be available in July. Registered users can use the site to access reward offers and membership benefits for more than 60,000 places, venues and retailers across the UK.
With more than 10,000 deals on the website database, available through major organisations from the AA to University College London, iMember helps UK consumers to take advantage of their subscription and membership entitlements.
iMember offers organisations the opportunity to remind members, subscribers or customers of the real benefits of belonging to their organization, encouraging to join or renew their subscriptions and memberships.
The iMember website was developed by The Smack Agency. Part of UKNetMonitor Limited, iMember is based at 1090 Galley Drive, Kent Science Park, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8GA United Kingdom.
One comment received from a reader: I’ve never really believed the savings on offers were worth the bother, but this website saves time and is easy to use.
Do send an email with your opinion, experience, view – we’d be interested in your response.
Sources
1 Forrester Report – The Impact of Online Voucher Codes (http://www.vouchercodes.co.uk/press/reports/forrester-report.html)
2 Organisation and Service Benefits Survey – ComRes interviewed 2,017 GB adults online between 15th and 16th May 2013. Data were weighted to be representative of all GB adults aged 18+. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Data tables are available on the ComRes website, www.comres.co.uk
Val Reynolds, Editor
How to Get Money for Nothing!
New website iMember encourages UK consumers to ‘remember you’re a member’
We all have memberships of one sort or another – do you have a list?
The UK may have avoided a triple dip recession but in these tough economic times many of us are relying on cashback offers, online discounts and voucher codes to save money on everyday items. So why do so many membership offers and deals go unclaimed? It is simply because we don’t know they exist.
Remember you’re a member!
Motoring organisations, trade unions, gyms, clubs, alumni bodies, professional societies, and even newspapers and banks offer thousands of rewards and benefits that most of us never use.
“Only after paying for tickets and attending an exhibition at the Royal Academy, I found out that as a Barclays Premier customer I could have got in free,” said Richard Brown, Founder of iMember. “and as a member of so many other organisations, I realised that there was a whole world of benefits out there of which I had little or no knowledge at all.”
iMember http://imember.co.uk/ is a revolutionary new website that makes it easier than ever for UK consumers to claim the many benefits to which they are legally entitled – and it’s completely free of charge!
Developed with the everyday consumer in mind, iMember changes the way people use the entitlements they have as members of clubs, societies, unions, and professional bodies, as well if they subscribe to motoring organisations, gyms, banks, newspapers and more. And if you were going to buy a product or service anyway – it makes sense to know how much money you could save.
iMember will help you get the most out of your subscriptions. It reminds you when you are entitled to a discount or a special offer because you have joined an organisation or subscribed to something great. Just tell iMember what you belong to and it’ll tell you what benefits you should be enjoying – simple as that.
Nero has a popular system of rewards using their stamp a card scheme – Seems this chap can’t wait for his fix!
Using the service will become even easier this summer when the iMember app is launched for both iPhone and Android smartphones. Consumers can get the best deals whilst on the move and never again miss out on discounts that are rightfully theirs.
Membership deals offer money for nothing; you just have to remember you’re a member. And that’s where iMember comes in. Bear in mind all these reductions reflect a lower profit margin for the organisations. Seemingly a good investment if they attract regular, faithful followers. Do you have coffee shop cards? I do!
Currently in Beta mode the website is free to register … have a look you might have a lot of fun!
Val Reynolds, Editor
In Balance 