HEMSLEY & HEMSLEY

Gingernuts!

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:05:43 +0100

HEMSLEY & HEMSLEY for

We think you’re going to love this one…

http://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/2013/05/22/hemsley-and-hemsley-gingernut-biscuits

Not much beats chocolate in our books but there is definitely a time and place for a ginger biscuit.

Spicy, chewy and crisp - it’s a pretty simple recipe with only six ingredients: ground almonds, ground ginger, date syrup, lemon zest, sea salt and baking soda.

When you bake your own biscuits you can control the quality of the ingredients, creating food that is free of wheat, gluten, refined sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oil, flavourings, preservatives and all of the other ingredients and chemicals that commercial brands don’t have to list.

We love the hot herb ginger - a tasty rhizome that works well for headaches, sleepiness, indigestion, upset stomach and motion sickness.

Drink a fresh ginger tea to aid digestion or try ginger tisane on a larger scale - a tangy ginger bath will help you sweat and draw out those toxins.

Don’t overdo the sweets though, healthy treats are still treats. Nuts and dried fruit are not a replacement for meat and two veg!

Just Ginger

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:45:13 +0100

Ginger is used either fresh or dried in nearly two thirds of all traditional Chinese and Japanese herbal formulas. Fresh ginger is used to relieve dryness and heat whilst dried ginger relieves dampness and chill.

Popping in for a B.I.T.E

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:34:00 +0100

Coconut water, kite surfing, skaters and ‘made you stare’ sunnies at Beach in The East.

Psychadelic Beach Blondies for B.I.T.E.

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:36:00 +0100

There’s a chilled 70’s beach vibe coming from East London today… And of course it has everything to do with the creatively cool Yasmin Sewell. She’s just opened the doors to her luxury pop-up store in the Clifton Street showroom of Paper Mache Tiger.

It’s called Beach in the East or BITE. The theme is California beach with seventies skateboarders, The Z-boys, inspiring the concept.

Yasmin asked us to create something delicious to have on hand for visitors to the space. We decided to create a HEMSLEY & HEMSLEY version of the blondie (blonde ‘brownie’) - a delicious fudgy cake originating from the US.

And so our Psychadelic beach blondies were born. Made with Brambletye Farm free range eggs, virgin coconut oil and other nourishing, organic ingredients, these blondies are free from; grains, gluten, dairy, nuts and refined sugar.

And it’s these superfoods that make those crazy psychadelic colours; spirulina, super greens, turmeric, paprika, beetroot, acai and blueberry.

A pat on the back for us we think…

If you want to taste one then you’d better go and see what all the fuss is about.

Beach In The East, Paper Mache Tiger, The Lower Ground G, 123 Clifton St, EC2A 4LD.

Vogue blog

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"The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:43:00 +0100

“The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?”

- Buddha

Do-It-Yourself pot noodle

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:50:00 +0100

HEMSLEY & HEMSLEY for

http://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/2013/05/16/hemsley-and-hemsley-kelp-pot-noodle

Ah the Eighties and the Nineties - a time when it was okay to make food from sweeteners, flavourings, colourings, additives, preservatives and hydrogenated this and that. Pot noodles and microwave meals ruled - we all felt so advanced and free from the kitchen. It was somehow humourous to comment that your kid was running around “crazy on E numbers”. Out went our cooking skills, our patience for washing up or food prep and our confidence around food and our health. Up rose food intolerances and the power of the supermarket offering us choice but also creating a new relationship with food, disassociating us from its real provenance. We have said it before but thank goodness for pukka Mr Oliver and the rise of the TV cooking programmes. They have helped us come full circle and got us into the good life again. The recession and increased environmental awareness has also lent a helping hand. It’s now cool to be both frugal and splash out at farmers’ markets for quality food that supports both quality producers and our health!

This is our version of the pot noodle - fill a heat proof jar with an assortment of vegetables, top quality properly fermented miso, ginger and a handful of kelp noodles. Add hot water and wait for the magic to happen. Delicious topped with a soft boiled egg.

Chocolate cupcakes peppermint icing and a lemon swirl

Sun, 12 May 2013 11:45:00 +0100

We use supergreen powder and ground turmeric to colour our coconut cream and raw honey icing, flavour it with Nielsen Massey peppermint extract, then stud with raw cacao nibs - see our White chocolate & peppermint coconut truffles for something similar…

Must try: Umemboshi dressing

Sun, 12 May 2013 00:02:00 +0100

We’re big fans of the Clearspring range and we love their properly fermented Tamari and miso.

They asked us to share a recipe with them and we knew it had to include umeboshi, a tangy salty picked plum revered since ancient times as both a food and potent health tonic. It adds an incredibly powerful flavour to broths and sauces and its particularly beneficial to your digestion

Roasted carrot and fennel salad with umbeboshi dressing

Ingredients: serves 2

Salad

60g quinoa, we used black quinoa but use red or white too (ideally soak 8 hours or overnight, then drain and rinse for maximum nutrition and digestion)
1 medium fennel, quartered
2 medium carrots, sliced lengthways on the angle
10 asparagus (when not in season, green beans or tender stem broccoli work well too)
3 pink radishes sliced
1 tablespoon of black and white sesame seeds
1 teaspoon of coconut oil
2 spring onions sliced on the angle
a little fresh mint and coriander

Umeboshi dressing

1 tbs umeboshi puree (Clearspring)
2 tbs water
4 tbs sesame oil
1/2 inch piece of ginger
1 teaspoon tamari (Clearspring)
1 teaspoon raw honey
optional - a little fresh red chilli to your taste

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200C.
Drain and rinse the quinoa and cook in hot water or hot stock (for more flavour and nourishment) according to the packet instructions, approximately 10-15 minutes. Drain and set aside
Quarter the fennel and slice the carrots lengthways on the angle - rub with coconut oil and roast for 8-10 mins or until tender
Toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan, remove and set aside
in the same pan, dry fry the asparagus by laying out on the pan, not too close and let them dry fry and brown on a medium heat for 1-2 mins on each side, depending on their thickness
Prepare the dressing by blending all the ingredients or chopping everything finely and whisking with a fork or shaking in a jam jar
Slice the radishes and spring onions
Roughly chop the mint and coriander
Spoon the quinoa into the centre of the plate and arrange the carrots, fennel and asparagus in the centre. Scatter the radishes, spring onions, herbs and toasted seeds around

"You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you are too busy then you should sit for..."

Thu, 09 May 2013 20:51:00 +0100

“You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you are too busy then you should sit for an hour.”

- Old Zen saying

Party in your mouth - Za'atar!

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:47:00 +0100

HEMSLEY & HEMSLEY for

Sorry about the spelling in the title of this post - it should read ‘Party in your mouth - za’atar’. Tumblr doesn’t ‘do’ apostrophes in the headings!

We love this. You’ve got to try it. And if you like this Middle Eastern blend of herbs, sesame seeds and sumac then go ahead and make batches of it - keep a jar in the fridge to jazz up any dish and then make gifts of the rest for friends when you visit.

http://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/2013/05/08/hemsley-and-hemsley-zaatar-salad-recipe

HOOK & SON

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:21:00 +0100

Refinery 29 asked us where we loved to shop in London:

“When it comes to milk it has to be Hook & Son. This family team makes real milk: unpasteurised, unhomogenised, full-fat, grass-fed milk, with cream on top just like back in the day. If we can get down to Borough Market early and beat the tourists, we’ll snatch up two litres of their delicious full-fat milk and a pot of their thick raw cream, as these are the only versions worth eating. If you have family and friends who also want to get their hands on proper organic milk, butter, and cream, then you can mail-order direct from the farm to your door.”

Another birthday celebration!

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:10:22 +0100

"Life is like a mirror, smile at it and it smiles back at you."

Sat, 04 May 2013 20:18:33 +0100

“Life is like a mirror, smile at it and it smiles back at you.”

- Peace Pilgrim

Caramelised garlic tart with an almond flour base

Sat, 04 May 2013 13:20:00 +0100

Sweet caramelised garlic and butternut squash combine with creamy goat’s cheese and the aniseed flavours of tarragon to make a delicious, uniquely flavoured tart with a twist – we use ground almonds to make a nutritious and gluten-free crust.

Our recipe for a rich garlic and tarragon tart in today’s Guardian Cook supplement:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/may/04/10-best-garlic-recipes

THE SET TABLE - THE ART OF SMALL GATHERINGS

Fri, 03 May 2013 17:11:00 +0100

Our dear friend, Hannah Shuckburgh has just published her first book.

As a stylist, writer, incredible cook and host extraordinaire, Hannah encompasses everything we love so it’s no surprise that we have been devouring her book and page marking, underlining and noting down every one of her tips and pearls of wisdom.

Her book ‘The Set Table - the art of small gatherings’ is a guide to making a table look lovely with very modest resources. It’s all about really simple, beautiful things you can do to make even simple suppers look special.

Hannah guides you through the elements of a perfect table - from linens to glasses, salt to napkins - revealing a little history of how our tables came to look the way they do, and giving ideas for how you can create a really welcoming table for the people you love.

There are easy things to make, ideas for things you can reuse for a new purpose that you might already own, clever tricks for flowers, lighting, and so on. It’s about making every gathering special - even if its a bowl of homemade soup at the kitchen table, you can snip a little sprig of cherry blossom from the tree outside, pop it in a jam jar; fold out the creases of an old tablecloth, and you have elevated a simple supper to a feast.

Hannah loved our anchovy dip so much, she put it in her book! Page 121 entitled ‘Mel’s bagna cauda’. What an honour!

Buy it here - you’ll be wanting one copy for you and a stash of them for presents

Follow Hannah on twitter @han_shuckburgh

Japanese inspired superfood salad. Tahini miso dressing

Wed, 01 May 2013 19:07:00 +0100

HEMSLEY & HEMSLEY for

Hello sunshine - so super to see you! How about a superfood salad to celebrate with? The ingredients list reads like a who’s who. We’ve got:

purple sprouting broccoli

asparagus - get it while you can!

shiitake

arame - that’s a seaweed

lemon juice

sesame seeds and their paste -Tahini

miso - properly fermented

chilli

coriander & mint and…

coconut oil!

Enjoy x

CHICORY FRAPPE - THE NEW ICED COFFEE

Wed, 01 May 2013 13:47:00 +0100

Our Chicory Frappe recipe on

IF YOU LIKE THIS BLOG, PLEASE VOTE FOR US!

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:08:00 +0100

The voting has started for Observer’s Food Monthly Awards!

Category number 8 is ‘Best food blog’ and if you think we deserve it, we would love it if you could vote for us

Here’s the link

http://www.easyanswer.net/observer/

Thank you!

The Big Buzz!

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:34:02 +0100

We’ve just heard from our friends at Katharine Hamnett that the EU has banned those poisonous neonicotinoid pesticides for 2 years which will give enough time to show what a difference it can make.

Photo Nick Hopper

BBC: After Monday’s vote the EU Health Commissioner, Tonio Borg, said “I pledge to do my utmost to ensure that our bees, which are so vital to our ecosystem and contribute over 22bn euros (£18.5bn; $29bn) annually to European agriculture, are protected.”

Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director Marco Contiero said Monday’s vote “makes it crystal clear that there is overwhelming scientific, political and public support for a ban.

“Those countries opposing a ban have failed.”

Unfortunately that means us - the UK was among 8 countries that voted against the ban…

Thank you Vogue!

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:15:24 +0100

Happy anniversary to us and Vogue.co.uk!

Thank you to Lisa and the rest of the team for our beautiful flowers! It’s been really lovely working with you. Thank you for looking after us x