Fantasy Veggie Dinner Guest - D H LAWRENCE

David Herbert Lawrence, one of England's greatest novelists, was born just a few miles from Zelda's present location, in Eastwood.

She loves to visit the little terraced house of his birth which is now a museum. 

Here she is outside it with her friend, Julia.

Eastwood  is (unnecessarily) dominated by businesses which capitalise on Lawrence's reputation such as The Lady Chatterley pub where Dave enjoyed a pint.

Sons and Lovers has always been Zelda's favourite of all his novels; she loved it even before she could walk up Castle Boulevard in Nottingham or see the remains of the mining headstocks at Brinsley.

Zelda would like to prepare him a meal, taking as her inspiration - and hopefully improving - one mentioned in Sons and Lovers. 
Miriam was moving about preparing dinner. Paul watched everything that happened. His face was pale and thin, but his eyes were quick and bright with life as ever. He watched the strange, almost rhapsodic way in which the girl moved about, carrying a great stew-jar to the oven, or looking in the saucepan. The atmosphere was different from that of his own home, where everything seemed so ordinary.
"I'm ready for mine," said the young man, taking up the newspaper and reading. Presently the rest of the family trooped in. Dinner was served. The meal went rather brutally. The over-gentleness and apologetic tone of the mother brought out all the brutality of manners in the sons. Edgar tasted the potatoes, moved his mouth quickly like a rabbit, looked indignantly at his mother, and said,
"These potatoes are burnt, mother."

Here is a recipe for a lovely stew, taught, step by step, to Zelda by her Mum, Sandra.  Just make sure you don't burn the potatoes! 

STEW and DUMPLINGS

Ingredients  (Vary quantities to suit the number of people to be served. This makes enough for 4 to 6)

For the stew:

2 large carrots 

1/2 large swede

5 medium potatoes

2 leeks 

salt and pepper 

about 1pt stock made with 6 vegetable Oxo cubes

For the dumplings:

250g self raising flour

125g vegetable suet

2tsp salt

Method

First prepare the vegetables:

Peel and chop the carrots and swede.

Wash and slice the leeks.

Place all in a large saucepan.

Make up the stock and pour over the vegetables. You may need to add more water to keep them all covered, now or at any time during the cooking process. Season, bring to the boil and then simmer over a low heat.

Peel and half the potatoes, placing in a bowl of water until later.

Simmer for at least half an hour (and up to an hour if possible). Stir every now and again to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. 

To prepare the dumplings:

Mix the flour, salt and suet together and then add enough water to bring it all together.

Shape into balls (You should have about 12)

Add the dumplings to the stew. 

Simmer for about 45 minutes. (The dumplings will also thicken the stew.)

25 minutes later, add the potatoes.

Simmer for 20 minutes. The stew will now be ready to serve. If you want, you can turn it off at this point and re-heat it later.

LIME AND CHILLI SALAD DRESSING

juice of 1/2 lime
2tbsp olive oil
1tsp chilli flakes
1tsp fresh coriander, chopped
salt and black pepper
teeny tiny pinch of sugar

Mix all together!

Fantasy Veggie Dinner Guest - RICHEY EDWARDS

For girls of Zelda's generation, Mr Richard Edwards was an enigma, and a poet. 

Sadly, If I'm honest, we loved the fact that he took everything so seriously that, when his authenticity was questioned, he carved 4 Real into his arm with a razorblade. 
But, looking back now with the benefit of time and maturity, the sad human being behind it all becomes, ironically, more 'real'. It is clear that Richey was not suited to stardom and all its pressures. He suffered persistent and prolonged bouts of depression, leading to anorexia. One of the most promising signs of his so-called (or hoped for) improved mental health at the start of 1995 was when he was seen enjoying a bar of chocolate. Sadly, the progress was short-lived and by that February he had disappeared, leaving only a series of clues which continue to intrigue to this day. 

How much more might he have achieved if he had managed to conquer his depression...

In Zelda's world, where Karen Carpenter can clear her plate and cartoon dogs enjoy a plate of spaghetti, there is no reason why Richey can't - without any feelings of guilt - fill up on this brilliant chocolate treat. 

CHOCOLATE TREAT

400g white chocolate

100g dark chocolate
(+ optional extras such as a small packet mini fudge chunks
and a small packet of chocolate chips)

Break the chocolate into separate bowls.

Place each bowl over (but not into) a saucepan of simmering water and stir until all the chocolate has melted.

Place baking paper on a tray and pour the white chocolate into the centre. 

Spread it out using the back of the spoon.

Drizzle the dark chocolate over the top. Then use the handle of a teaspoon to swirl it all together.

Sprinkle any added extras over the top.

Put in the fridge to set.
Then, either serve on paper as a slab...

...or place on a board and cut into pieces with a very sharp knife.

SALAD BAR SALAD

This is for all those (like Dave) who like a nice healthy salad but have a penchant for the tasty extras which grace the salad bars in chain pubs and fast food franchises.

'BACON' BITS and MINI CHEESY CROUTONS

For the 'Bacon' Bits:
Take 3 pieces of vegetarian bacon and fry until crispy.
Drain on absorbent paper, then place on a board and chop away!

For the Mini Cheesy Croutons:
Toast a slice of bread on both sides and remove the crusts.

Finely grate about 2tbsp of cheese in a bowl and add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil. Mix together well.

Then spread over the toast, using the back of a spoon to smooth.

Place back under the grill for a few minutes until the cheese starts to brown. 
Allow to cool, then cut into strips and chop into small cubes.

Suggested Serving:

• Prepare your own or use a half a bag of pre-prepared salad leaves.

• Peel and grate a carrot and grate some cheese.

• Pasta with Pesto

• Fresh from the garden, we had radish, cucumber and tomatoes which I mixed with some basil leaves.

• I also added a mix of dressings: sweet chilli, mayonnaise and a French-style herby one.

Fantasy Veggie Dinner Guest - NICOLE DIVER

Nicole Diver was the last major representation in print of F Scott Fitzgerald’s wonderful but troubled wife, Zelda. In The Beautiful and Damned, he showed her at her beautiful, captivating best. By the time he published Tender is the Night, however, she had been living in a succession of sanatoria and psychiatric clinics, so this portrayal is raw and more realistic. However, Nicole is a woman who seems in control. With her husband Dick, she has made the French Riviera popular and all the women look up to her. When she leaves Dick, he is ruined.

Fitzgerald toyed with the structure of the novel, but many editions of the book begin when Rosemary Hoyt, an impressionable young actress, first encounters Nicole, Dick and their entourage in the South of France:

Nicole Diver, her brown back hanging from her pearls, was looking through a recipe book for Chicken Maryland. She was about twenty-four, Rosemary guessed – her face could have been described in terms of conventional prettiness, but the effect was that it had been made first on the heroic scale, with strong structure and marking, as if the features and vividness of brow and colouring, everything we associate with temperament and character, had been moulded with a Rodinesque intention, and then chiselled away in the direction of prettiness to a point where a single slip would have irreparably diminished its force and quality. With the mouth the sculptor had taken desperate chances – it was the cupid’s bow of a magazine cover, yet it shared the distinction with the rest.

Come to dinner Nicole, and we will have…

"CHICKEN" MARYLAND

This is not to be confused with the strange dish which the UK 'enjoyed' in the 1960s and had the bizarre inclusion of banana. Nicole Diver, sitting on a French beach in the 1930s, would certainly have been searching for the traditional East Coast recipe.This is a vegetarian version of it.

Serves 4

4 quorn fillets, defrosted if frozen

4tbsp plain flour

salt and black pepper

2 medium free range eggs*

1tbsp paprika

100g golden breadcrumbs

25g butter

1tbsp oil

300ml single cream

*I started this recipe with one (see pic) but found it needed an extra.

Mix the flour and paprika on a plate, and season with the salt and pepper.

Crack the egg in a bowl and whisk.

Place the breadcrumbs in another bowl.

Dip each quorn fillet into the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs.

Repeat if necessary. You need a good covering of breadcrumbs over each one.

Melt the butter in a pan and add the oil.

When hot, fry the fillets.

Turn them after a couple of minutes, to ensure that they are golden on each side.

Cover the pan with a lid and allow to stand for a few minutes so that the fillets are hot right through.

Remove the fillets and place on a plate in the oven or under a grill to keep warm.

Pour the cream into the pan and stir well until you have a thick sauce. 

To serve, place the fillets in a dish

and pour the cream sauce as a gravy. Sprinkle a little paprika on the top.