WeekendFREE Issue 694 | 25 April 2024 ROSÉ SPECIAL Discover the best of the bunch in our eight-page supplement OTTOLENGHI Chef makes supermarket debut with new range for home cooks p2 TOM DALEY Diving’s golden boy on sushi nights and his love of coffee p37 OFFERS Great savings on selected products from Waitrose p44 STACKS OF FLAVOUR Martha Collison’s peanut butter banana bread is top of the pile when it comes to taste, p22
2 25 APRIL 2024 News&Views OTTOLENGHI FLAVOURS IN YOUR KITCHEN An exclusive range of sauces, pastes and spice blends is now available at Waitrose to bring joy in a jar to the nation’s food lovers, writes Emma Higginbotham ‘We’ve done all the hard work for you in these jars, so you need to do very little to turn it into a meal’ When Yotam Ottolenghi opened his first deli in London in 2002, its platters piled high with vibrant roasted veg, spiceinfused grains and salads bejewelled with pomegranate seeds, he quietly sparked a culinary revolution. Inspired by his bold, bright dishes, dinner party hosts challenged themselves to cook Middle Eastern-style recipes, while restaurateurs rethought their menus, and the resulting ‘Ottolenghi e ect’ saw shops filling their shelves with the herbs and spices that give his recipes that exciting twist. More than two decades on, 10 bestselling cookbooks and seven restaurants later, Yotam’s influence is as strong as ever, with searches for Middle Eastern recipes on waitrose.com up 203% on last year. But for home cooks daunted by his sometimes long ingredients lists, or too busy to linger lovingly over the hob, a new range of Ottolenghi sauces, marinades and spice blends could o er a shortcut to a tasty solution. Available exclusively at Waitrose and in Yotam’s delis, it’s the chef’s first foray into supermarket sales. “Ottolenghi to the masses... Well, not quite, but I have always been super eager to get our flavours onto people’s dinner plates nationwide, not just in London, without having to cook it from scratch every single time,” says Yotam. “I’m so happy with our new range, which does exactly that – Ottolenghi flavours, cooked at home, with no e ort at all. I hate to admit it, but the pasta sauce already features heavily in my home kitchen, when no one is looking.” Available from Monday (29 April), with an introductory 20% saving until 18 June, the nine jars range from that very sauce – Kalamata olive and harissa tomato – and a miso pesto to stir through pasta, to two versatile harissa pastes that will elevate soups, roasted veg, salad dressings and more. “Our flavours often take time – we use smoking, ageing, infusing and browning methods to draw out and intensify flavours,” says Verena Lochmuller, head of product development at Ottolenghi Test Kitchen (OTK), where chefs from around the globe work on his recipes. “But we’ve done all the hard work for you in these jars, so you need to do very little to turn it into a meal.” Verena confides that the shawarma marinade – a smoky blend of slow-cooked onions and tomatoes with cloves, cumin and allspice – is one of her favourites. Another is the chilli sauce, created in the style of shatta – a fiery Middle Eastern staple. “It’s mainly used as a condiment, but we use it as a cooking ingredient as well,” she says. “You just need a tiny bit and it brings anything to life – roasted meats, grilled fish, jacket potatoes, toast, tacos, houmous – anything. We always keep a jar in our test kitchen fridge to pimp our meals.” Three aromatic spice blends – Aleppo & other chillies, sweet & smokey and citrus & spice – complete the line-up. “I see them as a kitchen workhorse,” she says. “You can use them in so many di erent ways, from a finishing salt to a dry rub. They’re so good.” The range took more than a year to create, with Verena, Yotam and the OTK team working with the Waitrose product development team to get the flavours right. “We came up with these products because they’re the ones that we love, that we use a lot and just go really well with our style of cooking,” she says. “Not everyone is able to come to London and visit our restaurants, so we wanted to make the flavours of Ottolenghi more accessible, and bring the joy of our kitchen to people at home.” Helping readers to achieve that, OTK chefs will appear in Weekend from next week, using the jars to create dishes including prawn and halloumi tacos with pomegranate and lemon harissa, and zesty chicken schnitzels with mango salsa. The Ottolenghi range is available at Waitrose from 29 April, and selected lines can be ordered via Uber & Deliveroo BOLD AND BRIGHT Yotam Ottolenghi and Verena Lochmuller (above); the exclusive new range (left); prawn & halloumi tacos with pomegranate and lemon harissa (far left) Cover: Photographs: Maja Smend, Food styling: Marinia Filippelli, Styling: Wei Tang, Art direction: Corrie Heale
3 25 APRIL 2024 GOOD NEWS IN BRIEF This week’s uplifting stories from Anna Shepard Record runner A teenager with Down’s syndrome has become the youngest person with a learning disability to complete a marathon. Lloyd Martin, 19, from Cardi , ran Sunday’s London Marathon alongside his mum Ceri Hooper, who has represented Wales in cross country and track events. “We did not say a lot when we crossed the nish line,” Ceri said. “We just burst into tears.” Recognising dedication Weekend columnist Rhiane Fatinikun, founder of Black Girls Hike, received her MBE at Windsor Castle for services to nature and diversity. Rhiane, from Bolton, turned her walking group into a social enterprise in 2019, campaigning to make the outdoors more inclusive. Ornithologist Roy Dennis, 83, was also recognised for a lifetime of conservation work. Festival ready Whatever the weather, you can pack light for Glastonbury this year, thanks to a partnership between Barbour and Oxfam. The Re-Loved initiative will see secondhand jackets cleaned, repaired and rewaxed by Barbour, with many featuring reused materials from T-shirts and merchandise of past Glasto Festivals. They can be rented for the weekend, with proceeds going to Oxfam. Lion litter Three Asiatic lion cubs were born at London Zoo, with big cat keeper Kathryn Sanders calling it a “huge boost for the conservation breeding programme”. Hidden cameras lmed lioness Arya giving birth and tending to her cubs (below). Around 600 of this endangered species survive in the wild only in the Gir Forest in Gujarat, India. The breeding programme, backed by Liontrust, aims to build up the population. The first rhubarb of spring, the first strawberry of summer and the first apple of autumn. Few foods connect us as closely to the seasons as fruit. “Delicious foods are very powerful – they connect our lives to not only the land but the rhythms of the seasons. That’s especially true of fruit,” says Sarah Johnson, author of new cookbook Fruitful. “The greatest anticipation is biting into that first aromatic strawberry of summer, a reminder of sunshine and longer, warmer days. It’s experiences like that that keep me inspired year after year.” Fruitful shares tips, techniques and more than 80 recipes, with chapters covering crops from apples, pears and peaches to berries and cherries. Sarah is head of pastry development for Skye Gyngell’s London restaurant Spring and Heckfield Place in Hampshire. She says there was an expectation that her book would be a paean to pâtisserie. But memories of training with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, “snugly surrounded by boxes of some of California’s finest fruits”, made fruit the focus. Fruitful also shares growers’ stories, from Mags Coughlan, head gardener of Ballymaloe House, County Cork, Ireland, an authority on pears, to David ‘Mas’ Masumoto, whose Californian family farm is world-famous for its peaches. “Most of the life of the fruit is spent with the farmer,” adds Sarah. “By reading their stories, we have a better understanding of the food we eat. That, in turn, makes us better cooks.” Alice Ryan Fruitful (Kyle Books) is out now A community café-restaurant in Su olk is o ering free hot meals to local families with young children, following the success of a pay it forward scheme. The Family Tea Club launches next month at The Canteen in Southwold, partfunded by its monthly Sunday community lunch, where guests pay what they can a ord. The scheme has provided £1,000 for the rst six months, with additional funding from Su olk Community Foundation. The Canteen will provide free fresh meals on Tuesdays in term time for families whose children attend the town’s primary school. Pasta dishes, lasagnes or casseroles will mirror the restaurant’s ethos of using ingredients from local, regenerative sources, and guests can also take the meals home. “Any parent knows how exhausting it can be to provide the family meal,” said Jessica de Grazia Jeans (right), chair of SouthGen, the charitable community bene t society which operates the Old Hospital, home to The Canteen. “This gives the family cook a night o .” Jessica spearheaded a two-year campaign to preserve Southwold’s Victorian cottage hospital for the town after its 2015 closure. FREE MEALS BRING COMMUNITY TOGETHER Fruity tribute to the season’s best That’s the number of bee species in the UK, all relying on flowering plants for nectar and pollen. But since the 30s, we have lost 97% of our wildflower meadows, taking away vital food needed by all pollinators, including butterflies and beetles. You can help by supporting No Mow May, organised by conservation charity Plantlife, which encourages gardeners to let wildflowers bloom. 270 SPRING SPECTACULAR Sarah Johnson’s colourful rhubarb tart recipe The renovated Old Hospital opened in May 2022 as a community hub and also houses Southwold Library, whose membership has tripled since its move there. The Canteen, with all-day dining and monthly supper clubs, is led by head chef Lindsay Wright or a guest chef. An allotment is being developed to supply it. There’s a complete social mix at the Sunday lunches, says Jessica. “The vision is to bring the community together. Take away tourism and second home-owners, and what’s left is a lot of elderly people, a uent retired people and families who don’t have much. We want everybody to come together. And it’s working.” Tessa Allingham Photographs: Sam Folan, Patricia Niven, Camera Press
£1.40 £1.30 £5.20 £4.75 £1.20 £1.10 £3.95 £3.75 £1.70 £1.50 £1.45 £1.25 £1.75 £1.55 £1.80 £1.50 £2.95 £2.75 £1 80p £1.10 £1 £1.90 £1.75 Essential Lemons 6s was 30p/each now 25p/each; Essential British Pork Mince 8% Fat 500g was £5.90/kg now £5.50/kg; Essential Baby Potatoes 1kg was £1.40/kg now £1.30/kg; Essential Spinach 260g was £6.74/kg now £5.96/kg; Essential Easy Peelers 600g was £2.84/kg now £2.50/kg; Essential Sun ower Oil 500ml was 29p/100ml now 25p/100ml; Essential Unsalted Butter 250g was £7.60/kg now £7/kg; Essential British Beef Rump Steak 230g was £17.18/kg now £16.30/kg; Butter Croissant was £1.20/each now £1.10/each; Cooks’ Ingredients Mixed Thai Chillies 30g was £36.67/kg now £33.33/kg; Essential British Chicken Breast Fillets 600g was £8.67/kg now £7.92/kg; Cooks’ Ingredients Garlic 3s was 33.3p/each now 26.6p/each. Serving suggestions shown. Selected stores. Subject to availability. Minimum online spend and delivery charges apply. Prices may vary in Channel Islands, Little Waitrose and concessions. NEW LOWER PRICES ON HUNDREDS OF YOUR FAVOURITES
5 25 APRIL 2024 News&Views THE ARTIST MAKING AN EXHIBITION OF FOOD Ingredients balance, totter and stand sentry in a new collection of photographic portraits, based not on the subject’s face but their favourite foods, from Cheddar to chestnuts. Eat to Live or Live to Eat at Feelium Gallery, London (8-12 May), was the idea of art director and stylist Camilla Wordie, who hopes it will spark debate about our culinary choices. “I want to make people reflect on their food habits, nostalgic moments, the weekly shop and what’s hidden in their kitchen cupboards,” says Camilla. She interviewed 10 people, from shop owners to artists, designers and storytellers for the project. Questions included their favourite 10 ingredients and first food memories, which Camilla turned into portraits, each a still life. “I expected there to be more unusual foods, more processed and branded “Climate change is overwhelming and complex, so it helps to break it down by focusing on one area you’re passionate about, whether that’s food, fashion, biodiversity, plastic waste or anything in between. Once you’ve identi ed what really lights that re inside you, you can be proactive about nding people and organisations tackling it. For instance, look on social media for others working in this eld to follow. If you’d rather get involved in person, look for campaigning groups to join. Teaming up with others prevents those feelings of being alone and powerless – and it’s inspiring.” Anna Shepard DO ONE GREEN THING Focus on one problem, says Clover Hogan, climate activist and founder of Force of Nature, which inspires young people to take eco action NEW ART Camilla Wordie (above); her portraits of favourite food inspired by Jenny Cousins (top left) and Hazel Rattigan (top right) Despite the saying ‘to breed like rabbits’, the number of bunny sightings has fallen by up to half since 2003, according to the Living with Mammals survey released by wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES). The decrease in rabbit numbers highlights how monitoring is essential to future conservation work, with PTES calling for volunteers to take part and record mammals or signs of them in gardens, parks and other green spaces. In 2023, almost 800 locations across the UK were surveyed throughout the year, with more than 20 di erent species spotted, including rabbits, foxes, hedgehogs, red squirrels, hazel dormice and water voles. To volunteer, visit ptes.org/lwm. 50% foods but the top 10 lists were quite similar,” she explains. Common choices were garlic, anchovies and eggs, so she included examples from people’s memories for some of the portraits, which feature brands such as Farley’s Rusks, Camp Co ee and Ryvita. One image includes a samosa, pork pie and soba, another a pig’s head on a loaf of bread and one features nori seaweed curls around a can of fish. “There’s so much that can be seen and can tell a story in a di erent way – it’s incredibly personal, but the person is invisible,” she explains. “Over the years, I’ve always asked people about their food habits and have been amazed at how, whether you ask your best friend or a stranger, it’s never quite the answer you expect. I want people to connect with others over something we all have to do.” Anna-Marie Julyan Photographs: Marco Kesseler, Kirsty Noble, Dunja Opalko, Getty Images
6 25 APRIL 2024 News&Views Easter is around the corner – Orthodox Greek Easter, that is, celebrated this year on Sunday 5 May. It’s the biggest festival in the Greek calendar, a time of gathering, feasting, and roast lamb. So it will be at Georgina Hayden’s north London home, where extended family will join her husband and their two daughters. The London-born Greek-Cypriot cook, Saturday Kitchen regular and bestselling author will slow-roast shoulders of lamb in the wood oven in her garden, and there will be trays of potatoes cooked with the classic Greek flavours of olive oil, lemon and oregano. Dessert is likely to be a baklava feta cheesecake – “my most favourite of all my favourite desserts”, says Georgina. She keeps things traditional at Easter. But her latest cookbook, Greekish, a vivacious follow-up to her vegan Nistisima (2022) and sunny Taverna (2019), is about discovery. You’ll find the recipes for garlicky lamb shoulder, those roast potatoes and that cheesecake, but Georgina also wants us to look up, not least from souvlaki, taramasalata and Greek salads of holiday memories, and appreciate the cuisine’s true scope. The clue’s in the ‘ish’. “Greece is such a melting pot of cultures and cuisines,” says Georgina, referring to land borders with Turkey, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Albania, and seas that ripple between Italy, North Africa and the Middle East, dotted with 227 inhabited Greek islands. “It’s such a special pocket of the world. There’s such variety. The food in Crete is very di erent from the heartier food around Thessaloniki in the north, where they slowcook meat in clay pots, then stir it through pasta,” she says. “One of my favourite recipes is youvetsi, a stew – I make it with beef short-rib – with orzo cooked in the juices. It’s blinkered to think that only one country uses an ingredient. Pasta isn’t only Italian. Food crosses borders.” Flatbreads made with Greek yogurt and flour may be familiar, and are delicious with dips. But try spreading them with tahini, blitzed medjool dates and melted dark chocolate to taste the blurring of Middle Eastern and Greek flavours. Or take a tip from Georgina’s yiayia (grandmother) for a dish inspired by Turkish imam bayildi. She slices aubergines, as if making Hasselback potatoes, bakes them in a garlicky tomato sauce with cumin and paprika, then adds feta between the aubergine slices. Greekish lands, alongside recent cookbooks such as Salt of the Earth by Carolina Doriti and Yiayia by Anastasia Miari, as the appreciation for contemporary, diverse Greek food and wine hits new highs. The country has never lost its allure as a holiday destination – some 4.5 million British tourists visited in 2023 – but its food and drink has traditionally played second fiddle to its spectacular islands, timeless mountain villages and ancient history. Is that changing? “Gone are the days of greasy moussaka in touristy restaurants,” says another London-born Greek-Cypriot chef and supper-club host, Maria Elia. “Greek food isn’t just about taramasalata on pitta. The scope and quality of ingredients is incredible.” The same goes for the wine, she adds: “Santorini wines are stunning. You can compare a good Assyrtiko [the island’s indigenous grape] with Chablis.” She recommends Xinomavro, from Naoussa in northern Greece, for summer thanks to its fresh red-fruit flavour. Waitrose sells wine from the region, including Thymiopoulos Atma Xinomavro (£12.99/75cl). GREECE IS THE WORD A new wave of cookbooks and restaurants are taking this Mediterranean cuisine and giving it a modern twist. Tessa Allingham encourages us to tuck into the trend In focus ‘Greece is such a melting pot of cultures and cuisines. It’s such a special pocket of the world with such variety’ GOING GREEK (clockwise from left) the island of Kastellorizo Megisti; Greek frozen yogurt at Gaia; rolled belly lamb from Agora; feta wrapped in lo pan-fried with olive oil, garlic, chilli akes, honey and vinegar from Greekish; Maria Elia; Georgina Hayden
7 25 APRIL 2024 In my opinion NIHAL ARTHANAYAKE The broadcaster and author airs his views We’re living through unsettling times, for reasons that I do not need to remind you of. As consuming the daily news cycle becomes too great a burden, we must find joy in the little things. If the future looks uncertain, it’s natural that we conjure up positive experiences from our younger years. In turbulent times, why not look back to an era of our lives defined by a carefree existence? Late teenage indiscretions in neon-drenched clubs. Regrettable fashion choices made to keep pace with the pack. That feeling of impending adulthood and the possibilities it will bring. A lovingly curated list of firsts re-emerges from decades past – first car, first music festival, first holiday without your parents, going to university, first job, first rented flat and so on. Viewed through a nostalgic lens, our teens, twenties and thirties take on a cosy hue. So, it’s not surprising that a recent poll by YouGov found that Britons feel life was better in the 90s and noughties, with 57% saying life was better 30 years ago, and only 18% believing it to be better now. The 90s was the decade when the USSR collapsed, Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa and MC Hammer glided into our lives in giant trousers boasting U Can’t Touch This. The fact that 60% of Brits believe life was better in the noughties must be due to Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt marrying during that decade (2000), then divorcing (2005). Or perhaps it was because the International Space Station became an interstellar example of human collaboration. Maybe it just warms your heart to remember jumping around to Is This The Way To Amarillo by Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay, which spent seven weeks at number one in 2005. As I browsed the timelines of both decades, alongside the moments of happiness, I was reminded of global events that shook us. And therein lies the problem with harking back to what you perceive to have been better times – they often weren’t. We find solace in them because they’re an anchor to steady ourselves in a choppy present. To build a better world, we can’t rely on the past to shield us from the responsibility to help shape a better future. Rather than turn life into a museum exhibition, think of the experiences you’re yet to have. When asked for my favourite song, I reply: “I haven’t heard it yet.” That keeps me curious for what’s to come. Nihal’s book Let’s talk: How to Have Better Conversations (Trapeze) is out now. @TherealNihal ‘To build a better world, we can’t rely on the past to shield us from the responsibility to help shape a better future’ Extra virgin olive oil isn’t just for dressings. Georgina uses it to make super-smooth olive oil ice cream, and also mixes it with honey and camomile tea in a fragrant loaf-tin cake. Crumble barrel-aged feta over chopped watermelon, cucumber and lightly pickled red onion for a refreshing salad. Poach nectarines with sweet wine. Try honeyed Muscat from the Aegean island Samos to create a simple sun- lled dessert. Try kefalotyri cheese, using sheep’s or goat’s milk instead of pecorino or parmesan, or fresh Cypriot anari instead of ricotta. Dry-fry or grill black or Kalamata olives to intensify their avour, then crush them onto toast and drizzle with olive oil for a tasty snack. Swirl roasted and roughly puréed apricots through whipped cream and Greek yogurt. Add a dash of orange blossom water, honey and crushed meringues, then top with pistachios for Georgina’s take on Eton mess. “There’s more halloumi in my fridge than any other ingredient,” says Georgina. Marinate cubes of it in olive oil, dried oregano and mint, then thread them onto a skewer between cherry tomatoes before grilling. Filo pastry is key to baklava, but for a more savoury dish, wrap a block of feta in a sheet of lo and pan-fry until golden. Drizzle with olive oil, garlic, chilli akes, honey and vinegar. TAVERNA TIPS Greekish suggestions to elevate seasonal produce A report by hospitality consultants Egg Soldiers points to a new wave of Greek restaurants tapping into the diversity and health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, where simple, seasonal ingredients shine, and vegetables, seafood and olive oil star. They include the opulent Fenix in Manchester, and Gaia in Mayfair, with fresh fish on display ready to be baked, sliced raw, or grilled over charcoal with lemon oil. Kima in Marylebone is about simple ‘fin to gill’ fish cookery with a feta sour cocktail on the side, and Vori in Holland Park o ers steaks and chops to share and generous salads, inspired by the Greek islands and mainland. The arrival this month of David Carter’s Oma and Agora restaurants is the talk of London’s Borough Market. The founder of barbecue-focused Smokestak and Italianinspired Manteca in Shoreditch has now turned to Greece, lured by the ‘serenity, honesty, simplicity’ of food he enjoyed there, and he aims to showcase diversity, especially at Oma with its menu based around skewers. Octopus and chistorra (a spicy Spanish sausage) will be cooked quickly over an open fire, while houmous will show its Levantine personality with the addition of herby zhoug. Downstairs, Agora’s more informal menu o ers the likes of slow-cooked lamb marinated in oregano, lemon and garlic. “Some of the best meals I’ve had in Greece have been souvlaki and chips with a cold beer in a taverna with more cats than customers,” says David. “What’s important is how you interpret something without ever losing sight of what you fell in love with.” Greekish: Everyday Recipes With Greek Roots (Bloomsbury) is out now Photographs: Getty Images, Laura Edwards, Tara Fisher, Gaia, Gilles Draps, Laura Edwards
8 25 APRIL 2024 Prices correct at time of going to print. Selected stores. Subject to availability. £12 SERVES 2 MEAL DEAL 1 MAIN + 2 SIDES STEAKHOUSE This unmissable o er means you can enjoy fabulous restaurant-style avours at home in no time. Ends 7 May Waitrose & Partners 2 British Beef Sirloin Steaks £10/400g These succulent, juicy steaks are full of avour and produced to higher welfare standards by British farmers that Waitrose knows and trusts. Waitrose & Partners Frites £2.60/300g The classic side to enjoy with your steak – coated thin-cut chips made from British potatoes and cooked in sun ower oil. Waitrose & Partners Peppercorn Sauce £2.50/180g A rich sauce with cream, green peppercorns and a splash of brandy, traditionally served with steak, but also good with chicken.
9 25 APRIL 2024 News&Views DIFFERENT STROKES Your eyes are not deceiving you – swimmers really are doing lengths in the sky. Mind the Gap by George Turnbull depicts the 25-metre Sky Pool, suspended 10 storeys above ground, which forms a bridge between apartment towers in London’s Nine Elms. The image was shortlisted in the Sony World Photography Awards 2023, and is on show with other entries at Somerset House, London, until 6 May. The big picture Photographs: George Turnbull, UK / 2023 Sony world Photography Awards
10 25 APRIL 2024 Photographs: Catalina Kulczar / Redux / Eyevine, Getty Images
11 25 APRIL 2024 News&Views It’s 20 years since Annie Clark – aka American alt-rock goddess St Vincent – first became fixated with the idea that we are all born screaming. “I’ve known since I was 22 that I was going to make something – a song, or a record – with that name,” says the Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. “It’s the most universal thing, the most primal thing – if the baby’s born screaming, then thank God. It’s alive. But we’re also sort of born protesting. “Something about the idea just resonated with me. But I felt like I wasn’t really worthy of the title, in a way, until now. I hadn’t lived enough to know the extremities of what that can mean.” Now, though, she’s ready to hold those extremities up to the light. Begun during lockdown at her home studio in Los Angeles (from where she’s talking to Weekend), All Born Screaming is the seventh album in St Vincent’s garlanded career – and one on which she has set out to capture all the agonies and ecstasies of being alive. It’s a record that begins in the dark – the first song is called Hell is Near – before slowly letting the light in through the cracks. “We end with an ecstatic mantra, with all born screaming sung over and over until it reaches a frantic, trance-like fever pitch,” says Annie. “I guess where I sort of get to is that the su ering and the joy and the love… they’re all just part of the same continuum. And that – I know this sounds a bit kumbaya – we’re all in this together. Most of modern life is designed to fracture us, to put us in camps and make us yell at each other and yell in the mirror. But of course, there’s more to that. The only reason to live is love. “I take everything in life – internal and external violence, and chaos, and joy – and just try to make something,” she adds, of her working method. “That’s my version of how to live. We have to figure out how to exist in an impossible world. But it’s also a pleasure to exist.” All Born Screaming was inspired, in part, by some recent deaths in Annie’s life, although she doesn’t go into specifics. In fact, in conversation, she goes out of her way to avoid personal details as much as possible, preferring the elliptical, metaphorical language of the artist (for example, she didn’t just self-produce this album – she “had to walk through the fire alone” on it). Musically, the record ranges across the map from the distorted, metallic funk of recent single Broken Man to the lush, swirling strings of Violent Times (which is surely St Vincent’s pitch for the next Bond theme) and the Princemeets-Madonna synthpop floor-filler Big Time Nothing. Welsh musician, songwriter and producer Cate Le Bon (“my SCREAM QUEEN As Annie Clark releases her seventh album as St Vincent, she tells Paul Kirkley about the urge to create, writing with Taylor Swift, and why ‘the only reason to live is love’
12 25 APRIL 2024 favourite modern artist,” says Annie) adds funky bass to the epic, calypso-flavoured title track, while Dave Grohl provides drums on Broken Man and the “Yes-style prog section” of Flea. The Foo Fighters frontman is, of course, famously the nicest man in rock. But surely even he must have days when he’s grumpy and irritable, suggests Weekend. “I have never met that Dave,” laughs Annie. “The coolest, chillest, best hang Dave – that’s the only Dave I’ve ever met.” The artwork for the album pictures Annie on fire (not literally – it’s all trick photography, she assures us). “We’ve been in a ‘burn-the-witch’ era for a little while,” she muses, of the inspiration behind the imagery. “Probably since the dawn of time, in fact.” Has she felt those flames herself, as a woman in the public eye? “Yeah, but that’s OK,” she says. “I don’t mind being on the spike.” Anne Erin Clark was born screaming 41 years ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her parents divorced when she was three and, at the age of seven, she moved with her social worker mother and two older sisters to Dallas, Texas. By then, she’d already received her first guitar – a red plastic toy from Target, which she’d use to recreate scenes of Ritchie Valens playing his red Fender Stratocaster in the movie La Bamba – and at 12 she graduated to playing the real thing. “Since I was five years old, I just knew I wanted to make things,” she says. “To play, to be a musician, to be an artist. I don’t think I could live without it. I don’t think it was necessarily in the psychoanalytic realm – like: ‘I need to be heard.’ I don’t know if I think about it in those terms. It’s more a need to create. I just need to make things. Things that are exciting to me. I’m kind of the first and final filter. Did I go deep enough? Did I go far enough? Does it make me kind of scared? OK, good. Then we’re in the right place. Then hopefully it resonates with other people. I can’t reverseengineer anything, and give the people what they want. Because I have no idea what people like.” So far, resonating with people hasn’t been a problem. After dropping out of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Annie returned to Texas and joined choral rockers The Polyphonic Spree, before releasing her first album as St Vincent at 24. (The moniker is a reference both to her great grandmother’s middle name, and the New York hospital where Dylan Thomas died.) In 2014, her eponymous fourth album topped many critics’ end-of-year lists – and earned her the first of her three Grammys – while her status as one of alternative rock’s leading standard bearers was cemented when she stepped in to front Nirvana during their induction into that year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. On later records, Annie became obsessed with the deconstruction of persona. For 2017’s Masseduction, she wore fetish gear and made interviewers crawl inside a freshly painted neon pink box to ask questions. Meanwhile, 70s-themed follow-up Daddy’s Home was an artistic response to her father’s release from prison after serving seven years for financial fraud, for which she adopted the guise of Andy Warhol muse Candy Darling, in an attempt to “transform myself into the kind of thing my father would love”. This time, though, she’s dispensed with the cosplay. “Yeah, no more pink boxes,” she says, with a self-deprecating laugh. “I think at the time I was trying to go: ‘OK, if we admit that this [interview process] is a construct, maybe we can get to a deeper level of authenticity. But it ended as us just sitting in paint fumes.” Does being a songwriter and an artist perhaps require unhealthy levels of introspection at times? “I just don’t know another way,” she says. “The thing is, you start writing a song that’s pointing the finger, going ‘you did this’, then slowly the finger starts to just creep around back towards yourself. And you’re like: ‘Oh wait, I did this.’” If this tortured artist persona makes Annie sound gloomy, she isn’t – she laughs easily, asks lots of questions, and gives every impression of being fun to hang out with (if you’re not a journalist who’s trying to squeeze information out of her). Is she... happy? She gives the question some thought. “I’m not saying I’m not some version of happy,” she o ers, eventually. “But I wonder if happiness is even the point. Maybe meaning is more important than happy.” Annie has said she made Daddy’s Home “in the hope that it would heal me”. Did it work? “It did – in some ways,” she says, after another long pause. But no more details are forthcoming. She’s equally circumspect about her love life – and with good reason, after her previous relationships with the actress and model Cara Delevingne and Twilight star Kristen Stewart became the focus of unwelcome tabloid attention. All she’ll say now is she’s “happy not to be the rat in the maze in that regard any more”. So she’s settled? “Yeah, I’m good, I’m good,” she says. “I have great love in my life.” News&Views MUSICAL SAINT St Vincent onstage with Dave Grohl in 2014 (below); with Taylor Swift in 2015 (bottom); winning her third Grammy in 2022 (inset) Photographs: Getty images, Shutterstock, Mary Rozzi / August Image
13 25 APRIL 2024 world tour, and Emily [Roberts] from The Last Dinner Party has one,” says a delighted Annie. “That makes me so happy.” She made number 26 herself in Rolling Stone’s recent list of the 250 greatest guitarists of all time, ahead of such greats as Neil Young and Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour. “What, I beat Neil Young? No I didn’t,” she says, dumbfounded. “That’s not right. I don’t accept that.” In 2020, Annie co-wrote and starred in comedy thriller The Nowhere Inn – but she’s not convinced a Lady Gagastyle sidestep into films is the right move. “I was slated to direct a female version of The Picture of Dorian Gray,” she reveals. “And I went down the rabbit hole with the incredible screenwriter, who wrote this wild script – it was very cool. “But it turns out that, in Hollywood, things just fall apart, and most things don’t get made. Whereas if I have an idea, I can go into my studio and make it, or call up my friends and have them come over and play. You don’t need a financier – you can just make stu . Film is so complicated. If someone was like: ‘Hey, we want you to come in and act,’ I’d be like: ‘Cool, great – that’s three weeks of my life.’ But directing a film is, like, three years of your life. And that’s better spent on the things I’m good at.” What she’s good at is making art, through the medium of rock music. “It’s pretty cool,” she reflects, of her career to date. “I’m lucky to be seven records in, and people are more interested now than they were when I started. That’s not always the shape of a career. It’s amazing. Music has given me my whole life.” Has it scratched whatever creative itch that she needed it to scratch? “Oh, I will never be satisfied,” she laughs. “But that’s not the point. The point is to keep going.” All Born Screaming (Virgin Music/Fiction Records) is out tomorrow (26 April) That attention is nothing, of course, compared to the mass hysteria that greets every move made by her friend Taylor Swift. She recalls being with Taylor at New York’s Electric Lady Studios, and swarms of fans shutting down tra c in the neighbourhood. “I have what I call an ‘occasional free appetiser’ level of fame,” she says. “Oh, the waitress is a fan? Great. That’s my level. I can move freely anywhere – I don’t need handlers or security or anything like that. I’m pretty low-key.” So she wouldn’t trade places with Taylor? “Oh well, I think she’s an absolutely amazing force of nature, and an incredibly talented person and…” She considers the matter for a moment, before deciding: “No, I think I might pass on this question.” Last year, Annie received an unexpected payday when Cruel Summer – the song she co-wrote for Taylor’s 2019 album Lover – belatedly became a viral hit o the back of the latter’s Eras Tour, topping charts across the world. “I’m blown away by Taylor’s fans,” she says. “They took a song FOOD BITES from many records ago that wasn’t even a single, and said: ‘We love this song – this song is a hit.’ And then they marched it up the charts. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve certainly never been a part of anything like it.” She’s also enjoying the next generation of female musicians picking up the striking signature St Vincent guitar she designed for a US instrument manufacturer [Ernie Ball Music Man] in 2016. “Olivia Rodrigo used a purple one on her ‘In Hollywood, things can fall apart. But if I have an idea, I can go into my studio and make it. You can just make stuff’ such garbage growing up – I have no idea how we survived. Favourite restaurant? [LA chef and food writer] Alison Roman’s house. I’m so lucky to have her cook for me. Her frizzled chickpea salad is… wow. What’s always in your fridge? Good Champagne. What did you have for breakfast? Nothing. I’ve had three espressos, and worked out. I think there’s some avocado juice in the fridge. That’s a bit depressing. Are you a good cook? No. If I was left to my own devices, I would subsist on random snacks. What food reminds you of childhood? I’m from Oklahoma and then Texas, so I would say a corn dog. It’s a hot dog, battered in cornmeal, then deep-fried. We ate AMERICAN STAPLE Corn dogs (right)
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15 25 APRIL 2024 Food&Drink ALISON OAKERVEE Partner & food and drink editor The weather may be unpredictable, but with May around the corner, I’m longing for summery food. So I’m making the most of the new-season Jersey Royals and looking out for homegrown asparagus – among the few truly seasonal British foods, they’re a sure sign that summer’s on the way. This weekend, I plan to cook Diana Henry’s mouthwatering menu – it’s bursting with Mediterranean avours and ingredients that make me think of holidays. It’ll be delicious served indoors, but if we get some sunshine, it’s ideal for lunch alfresco – even if we have to wear jumpers! What’s For Dinner? p16 Meal Maths p20 Too Good To Waste with Elly Curshen p21 Martha’s Favourites p22 Weekend Menu with Diana Henry p24 What I’m Cooking with Ed Smith p29 Very Important Producer p30 Wine List with Pierpaolo Petrassi MW p32 Photographs: Ant Duncan, Food styling: Marina Filippelli, Styling: Wei Tang, Art direction: Andrew Moore TASTE OF SUMMER Diana Henry conjures up the holiday avours of deep fried squid with green tahini, p24
16 25 APRIL 2024 Photographs: Sam Folan, Food styling: Jennifer Joyce, Styling: Tony Hutchinson, Art direction: Sharon Davis What’s for dinner? Take the stress out of midweek meal planning with these quick, easy and delicious dishes
17 25 APRIL 2024 Serves 2 Prepare 5 minutes Cook 15 minutes 1 tbsp sun ower oil 300g pack mango, coconut & lime British chicken breast strips 200g pack trimmed ne green beans 250g pouch coconut, lime & coriander rice ½ x 20g pack Thai basil, leaves picked 1 red Thai chilli (or a milder chilli if you prefer), seeds left in, thinly sliced Roasted cashew nuts, to serve 1 Heat the oil in a nonstick wok or frying pan, then add the chicken and fry for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden. 2 Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to boil. Add the beans, bring back to a simmer, then cover and cook for 2-3 minutes, until just tender. Drain. 3 Fold the beans, rice and ½ the Thai basil through the chicken and stir fry for 2-3 minutes, or until the rice is piping hot and the chicken is cooked through, with no pink meat and juices that run clear. 4 Scatter with the shredded chilli, cashew nuts and remaining basil to serve. Per serving (with 15g cashew nuts) 3086kJ/736kcals/ 30g fat/7.6g saturated fat/55g carbs/13g sugars/7.8g bre/ 57g protein/1.2g salt/1 of your 5 a day Mango chicken, cashew & coconut rice stir fry Serves 4 Prepare 10 minutes Cook 15 minutes 2 tbsp olive oil 2 large aubergines, quartered lengthways then cut into bitesized chunks 200g couscous 1 unwaxed lemon, zest and juice 1½ tbsp Cooks’ Ingredients Rose Harissa Paste 25g pack at leaf parsley, leaves roughly chopped 25g pack mint, leaves roughly chopped 150g Greek-style yogurt 1½ tbsp clear honey 1 Heat 1½ tbsp oil in a large frying pan. Add the aubergines, season and cook over a mediumhigh heat for 10-12 minutes, turning regularly, until golden, charring in places and tender. Press down rmly with the spatula as they cook, to help any last bits yield to the heat. 2 Meanwhile, place the couscous, lemon zest and ½ tbsp harissa in a medium bowl and pour over 250ml boiling water. Cover with a plate and leave for 5 minutes, then u up with a fork. Stir in the remaining olive oil, the lemon juice, most of the herbs and season. 3 Fold the rest of the herbs and some seasoning into the yogurt. 4 When the aubergines are ready, stir in the honey and remaining harissa and take the pan o the heat. Serve the couscous topped with the aubergines and with the yogurt alongside or drizzled around. V Per serving 1185kJ/283kcals/10g fat/3.1g saturated fat/37g carbs/10g sugars/5.8g bre/7.8g protein/0.2g salt/ 1 of your 5 a day Harissa honey aubergines with herby couscous & yogurt COOK’S TIP To make this recipe plant based, swap the honey for maple syrup and either omit the yogurt, or use a vegan alternative. Add a crushed clove of garlic to the yogurt, if you want more of a kick. COOK’S TIP Thai basil is gorgeously fragrant with extra aniseed avour to it. Switch it for a handful of regular basil if you have some, or try coriander leaves if you prefer. Food&Drink INSPIRING CLASSES FOR COOKS If you want to learn to make ramen or macarons, build your skills with a class at Waitrose Cookery School in London’s King’s Cross. There are also free online tutorials at waitrose.com/ cookeryschool, or follow @waitrose_ cookeryschool for recipe inspiration and behind-the-scences glimpses of classes.
19 25 APRIL 2024 Serves 4 Prepare 10 minutes Cook 35 minutes 2 x 230g packs Essential British Beef Rump Steak, trimmed of excess fat 175g green lentils, rinsed 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 x 230g packs asparagus spears, trimmed and halved lengthways 90g pack wild rocket 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar 50g Parmigiano Reggiano, thinly shaved using a vegetable peeler 1 Remove the steaks from the fridge. Boil the lentils for 20-25 minutes until tender, then drain. Preheat the oven to very low and put 4 plates in to warm. 2 When the lentils are cooked and cooling, rub 1 tbsp oil over the steaks and asparagus and season generously. Tip the asparagus into a very hot large griddle pan or frying pan and sear for 5 minutes, turning often, until charred and just tender – remove and set aside. 3 Sear the steaks in the same pan for 2 minutes each side for rare, ensuring all the cut surfaces of the meat are browned. Using tongs, cook the steaks on their fatty edge for 1 minute until golden. Move to a platter, spoon over 2 tbsp olive oil, then cover loosely and leave to rest in the oven for a few minutes. 4 Season the lentils, spoon onto the platter, then top with the asparagus and rocket. Slice the steaks thinly across the grain, then scatter over the top. Dress with the balsamic vinegar and the oily resting juices, plus any juices from carving. Season and nish with the parmesan, then serve, with everyone helping themselves from the platter. Per serving 2005kJ/481kcals/26g fat/9.6g saturated fat/18g carbs/11g sugars/16g bre/35g protein/0.4g salt/ 2 of your 5 a day/gluten free Steak tagliata with asparagus & lentils Serves 2 Prepare 5 minutes Cook 25 minutes 320g pack 2 butter ied sea bass stu ed with roast tomatoes & Kalamata olives ½ x 190g pack Cooks’ Ingredients Cooking Chorizo, each sausage halved lengthways 250g Essential Loose British Baby Potatoes, cut into small chunks 200g bag mixed romano peppers, deseeded, sliced into thick rounds 180g pack ready popped petits pois 1 lemon, cut in wedges 1 Heat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Put the sh onto a tray lined with baking parchment and bake according to pack instructions, until the sh is opaque and akes easily. 2 Meanwhile, put the chorizo into a frying or sauté pan, set it over a medium heat and cook for 4-5 minutes. It will start to release its oil as it cooks. Stir in the potatoes and peppers to coat, season, then pour in 100ml water. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, shaking the pan regularly until the vegetables are tender. 3 Stir the peas into the potato pan, add a splash more water, cover and return to the heat. Simmer for 3 minutes until the peas are tender and hot through. Season with a squeeze of lemon juice, then serve with the sh and extra lemon wedges on the side. Per serving 2727kJ/653kcals/34g fat/10g saturated fat/39g carbs/17g sugars/12g bre/42g protein/2.1g salt/ 2 of your 5 a day Stuffed sea bass, chorizo, potatoes & peas COOK’S TIP If you want to make this without chorizo, heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in the frying pan, then add the potatoes and peppers, with a sprinkling of smoked paprika and some chopped garlic. Let this sizzle until fragrant, stirring, then pour in 100ml vegetable stock. Simmer as above, then nish with the peas and serve with the sh. COOK’S TIP Boiling your own lentils is the most economical way to enjoy pulses. It also allows time for the steak come more towards room temperature, which is essential for even cooking. Use two cans of drained Essential Lentils to save time, or even black beans, instead.
20 25 APRIL 2024 Food&Drink Scan the QR code below or go to waitrose.com/recipes for more quick and simple Meal Maths recipes like this one. Using no more than ve timesaving ingredients, you can create delicious midweek suppers or family meals easily. MORE INSPIRATION Continental salad onions Extra large raw king prawns Japan Menyū Steamed Rice Edamame bean salad Serves 2 Ready in 10 minutes Thinly slice the salad onions, keeping the white and green parts separate. Heat a splash of oil in a wok or large frying pan. Cook the prawns and white parts of the onion on high for 2-3 minutes, until the prawns are opaque, pink and cooked through. Tip everything into a bowl, then add the edamame bean salad to the pan (reserving the dressing) with the rice. Stir fry until piping hot (add more oil if needed), tossing in ½ the salad onion greens. Return the prawns and any juices to the pan, toss in the dressing, then spoon onto plates. Scatter with the remaining greens to serve. Great with a pinch of chilli akes, if liked. Prawn & edamame rice with salad onions and soy Photographs: Sam Folan, Food styling: Jennifer Joyce, Styling: Tony Hutchinson, Art direction: Sharon Davis
21 25 APRIL 2024 Food&Drink S C A N T HI S CODE F OR MOR E R E CI P E S 5-10 minutes more, until the bottom is golden, dry and cooked through. Set the pastry aside and reduce the oven to 160°C, gas mark 3. 6 Chop the watercress roughly – the leaves can stay whole. Add the cream, milk and remaining 3 eggs to the beaten egg in the jug. Season and mix well. 7 Place the tart tin on a baking tray. Spread the pea and leek mixture, watercress and trout evenly in the tin, then slowly pour the egg mixture over the top. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until golden and just set in the middle. Leave to cool slightly – this is best enjoyed warm rather than piping hot. Per serving 3791kJ/912kcals/68g fat/40g saturated fat/ 50g carbs/4.8g sugars/4g bre/24g protein/1.2g salt Serves 4 Prepare 30 minutes + chilling and cooling Cook 1 hour 30 minutes 250g plain our, plus a little for dusting 125g cold butter, diced For the lling 1 small leek, nely sliced 20g butter 100g frozen petits pois 4 Longstock Gold Free Range Eggs 25g watercress 220ml bottle Waitrose Duchy Organic Double Cream 50ml whole milk 100g smoked trout, cut into bitesized pieces 1 To make the pastry, put the our, butter and a pinch of sea salt akes into a food processor and whizz until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add 3 tbsp ice-cold water and whizz again. Add up to 1 tbsp more water, if needed, to bring the breadcrumbs together into a dough, then lightly knead until smoother. Shape into a thick disc, then wrap and chill for 15 minutes. Watercress, smoked trout, petits pois & leek tart This pretty tart is perfect for lunch or dinner. Delicate smoky trout nestles among peppery watercress, the sweetness of the peas and the subtle onion notes of leeks, with everything held in a buttery shortcrust pastry shell. It’s ideal served at room temperature, with a potato salad and dressed green leaves. This can be prepared in advance, to be enjoyed over a few days. I used 25g watercress here, but a bit more or less is fine. It’s been designed to finish up the bag, so use what you have and don’t worry if it’s a little droopy. The beaten egg left over after glazing the pastry case is added to the custard mixture to avoid waste. A whole pack of smoked trout and a carton of double cream are also used, so you don’t end up with more leftovers. Don’t be put o by making your own pastry. It’s so easy. But use ready-made shortcrust pastry if you prefer. @ellypear WATERCRESS Too good to waste with Elly Curshen 2 Meanwhile, wash the leek in warm water and drain in a colander. Melt 20g butter in a large frying pan, then add the leek and a pinch of salt. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, until softened but not browned, . 3 Add the frozen petits pois to the leeks in the pan. Stir everything together and allow the peas to thaw under the heat of the leeks and most of the liquid to evaporate, about 2 minutes. Take the pan o the heat. Leave to cool while you continue with the tart case. 4 On a lightly oured surface, roll out the pastry to t a 21cm loose-bottomed tart tin. Line the tin with the pastry, leaving some excess hanging over the rim, as it will shrink in the oven. Prick the base all over with a fork. Return to the fridge for 30 minutes. 5 Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Place a scrunched-up piece of baking paper over the pastry case and ll with baking beans. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the beans and bake for 5 minutes more, or until the pastry is just golden. Remove the case from the oven, then trim the edges with a serrated knife. Beat 1 egg for glazing in a jug, then brush some over the entire case, reserving the remainder. Bake for MORE LEFTOVER IDEAS 1Watercress & crème fraîche sauce for sh Mix some nely chopped watercress into crème fraîche. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and season to taste. Drizzle over cooked sh. 2Watercress pesto Blend a large handful of watercress and some basil with a handful of toasted walnuts or pine nuts, a little garlic (according to taste), and enough olive oil to loosen. Season to taste and stir through hot pasta. 3Watercress butter Finely chop some watercress and mix with softened butter (aim for approx 100g butter per 25g watercress). You can then shape it into a roll, wrap well and freeze for up to 1 month. Cut what you need, thaw and serve over jackets and steaks, mix into mashed potato or spread it in sandwiches. Photographs: Ant Duncan, Food styling: Marina Filippelli, Styling: Wei Tang, Art direction: Andrew Moore
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