A day out in the countryside or in an inner-city park is best spent with plenty of yummy provisions, I find, such as muffins. To me, of course, they are usually of the sugary kind and coupled with a cup of milky coffee as a firm part of my afternoon routine, but muffins can be a real savoury treat, too!
These chewy, aromatic little cakes receive their wonderful aroma from nutmeg, the buttery crunch from roasted pine nuts and the strong, uncanny umami taste and saltiness from the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese – a true feast for the senses! As an extra treat for the eyes, garnish the Parmigiano-Reggiano and spinach muffins with a dollop of nutmeg-spiced cream cheese and a crispy Parmigiano-Reggiano round made from grated cheese. These muffins are the perfect finger food for filling up your picnic basket as well as making wonderful party nibbles and stunning brunch displays.
Ingredients:
For 10 muffins
For the batter:
280g mixed, plain flours (white and wholemeal)
1 tbsp. baking powder
2 large eggs
225ml milk
75ml vegetable oil (extra oil for greasing the muffin moulds)
60g Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
100g baby leaf spinach
50g pine nuts
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 pinch sugar
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp. butter
For the decoration (optional):
280g cream cheese
10 tbsps. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
What you’ll need:
Mixing bowl
Whisk
Kitchen scales
Grater
Tablespoon
Teaspoon
Small bowl
Strainer or colander
Measuring jug
Frying pan
Chopping board
Kitchen knife
Wooden spoon or spatula for stirring
Muffin baking tray (with 12 moulds)
Flat baking tray with non-stick baking paper
A glass with a small diameter, e.g. a Champagne glass
Pastry brush
Method:
Thoroughly wash the spinach leaves. Melt butter in a pan and add the spinach. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula. Cook the spinach for approx. 5 minutes. Let it cool off.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flours with baking powder. Add eggs, milk, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and vegetable oil. Season the batter with sea salt, black pepper, ground nutmeg and sugar. Stir well until the batter is smooth and free of lumps.
In a dry frying pan, roast the pine nuts until they brown. Let them cool of briefly before adding them to the batter as well. Add the cooked spinach to the batter along with the chopped garlic. Use a tablespoon to fold in the spinach, garlic and pine nuts and stir until the mixture is uniform.
Pre-heat the oven to 170°C (fan).
Take a large muffin tray (12 moulds) or two small trays and use a pastry brush to grease the moulds with vegetable oil.
Use a tablespoon to evenly divide the batter among the moulds. It should suffice for at least 10 muffins. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, middle rack, at 170°C.
For the Parmigiano-Reggiano rounds (decoration) take a Champagne glass or similar (ø3cm), fill it with a tablespoonful of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and turn it over on a flat baking tray covered with non-stick baking paper. Repeat the process until you have produced then evenly round mounds of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Make sure that there is enough space between the cheese mounds so they won’t fuse together. Bake them in the oven for approx. 10 minutes, and then leave them to cool off.
In the meantime, use a small bowl to mix the cream cheese with the ground nutmeg. Stir well. Once the muffins are done and have cooled off, decorate them with a heaped teaspoonful of nutmeg cream cheese whip each and top off with a Parmigiano-Reggiano round.
(Credit to: Castelli/Parmigiano for these beautiful recipes)
“The Beatles meets Simon & Garfunkel meets Scissor Sisters meets Bon Iver meets Mumford & Sons meets Serious Child meets Andy Ruddy”
Serious Child & Andy Ruddy
turn the music down
Last October, as airline pilots continued to stack the shelves of Tesco’s, and performers re-invented themselves as online tutors in the absence of live work for the foreseeable, the Government offered us all a piece of not so Sage advice…
When they gave us Fatima, they told us “the arts is not a strategic sector. Forget all your years of training and development, the 10,000 hours of practice, the dedication of your whole life to your art, and think about a job in Cyber”. Rethink. Reskill. Reboot. Indeed.
For songwriters Alan Young (Serious Child) and Andy Ruddy, Fatima’s next job was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was time to write “Turn The Music Down”. Time to document all the times that they got well-meaning advice to get a “real job” and all the frustrations that come with being an artist of a certain age, from not being able to buy a house to being over the hill at 23.
The single, taken from the forthcoming album Talk About The Weather, is part of a unique and fascinating project that has seen two artists of different generations and musical backgrounds, come together and explore what unites people of different age groups in British contemporary music. For the songs, they had a basic rule – each one had to be about something. A topic, or an emotion, that appealed them and would be of interest to other people of all different age groups.
Due to the COVID-19 restrictions the album was written completely interactively on Zoom and Google Docs across 8 months of Thursdays. The actual recording of the album also provided some challenges which included Andy having to sing his parts in a wardrobe surrounded by his partner’s coats! Rock n Roll!
Dates for a September 2021 UK Tour will be announced shortly, and the guys have confirmed that they will be joined by Kirsty McGee, who’s song ‘Sandman’ featured in Danny Boyle’s fil ‘Trance’.
SERIOUS CHILD
Serious Child is songwriter and roots musician Alan Young from West Sussex. He draws from a wide range of acoustic musical influences from folk to pop to bossa nova to explore the world around us with a poet’s ear for emotion and a comedian’s eye for everyday detail.
“brimming with vigour and style” ???? RnR
“the year’s first home-grown album of depth, vision and commitment” ????? Spiral Earth
“taking acoustic rock to new levels” ???? Maverick
“a jamboree of versatility and melody”, Featured Album of the Month, Folk Radio UK
ANDY RUDDY
Andy Ruddy is a 31-year-old singer songwriter from Bradford, currently working for the charity Give A Song performing to vulnerable people in lockdown. In 2015 he released his debut album ‘Everything Is In Order’ with the help of ex-Shed Seven musician Fraser Smith. It was a surprise hit, peaking at No.6 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart.
The following year he was nominated for ‘Best Unsigned Male’ at the Best of British Unsigned Music Awards and by 2018 had released his second album ‘Vital Signs’ which charted at No.12.
His more recent music has featured on the series finale of BBC 1’s The Syndicate and been played at Bradford City, his beloved home team.
Talk About The Weather – The Album
Released 3rd September 2021
“The phrase ‘talk about the weather’ has become symbolic for us in terms of doing this album together. We are two very different people from different generations- but we’ve found common ground in talking and writing these songs. Each song only exists because both of us were able to find interest in the concept and contribute. The writing process has worked well because we both have given it our all. It is a very even and joyful collaboration.”
A classic Italian recipe, this is great for when you come home tired and want something quick but wholesome and delicious too. Very good for a romantic night in with your loved one!
Ingredients
4 chicken breast fillets (Cut into small pieces) 7 slices bacon (chopped) 1 medium onion (chopped) 1 crushed garlic clove 6 mushrooms (sliced) 2 chicken OXO cubes 300ml hot water
250ml double cream
200g Philadelphia Cheese
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 large glass of white wine
6 tagliatelle pasta nests
Method
Fry the chicken and bacon cubes in a hot pan.
Add onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until browned.
Pour away any excess fat.
Add the sliced mushrooms.
Dissolve the OXO cubes in the hot water.
Pour this into the pan and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the double cream and stir in a sieved tablespoon flour.
Be careful not to allow lumps to form as this can easily occur.
Add the Philadelphia Cheese.
Finally add the wine, stir occasionally, allow to simmer until sauce has thickened up.
Meanwhile, place the tagliatelle nests in a pan of boiling water with a pinch of salt.
Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, drain.
Serve the tagliatelle and add the chicken mixture on top.
Drizzle over any remaining sauce.
Serve with warm crusty bread
For a more filling meal add some cooked broccoli
Please let us know if you try this recipe, we are sure you will enjoy it
Hair is definitely one of the most defining parts of us, and so it is important to keep it in good shape, both texturally and structurally. In these muggy days of Summer and with added colourants, it may seem a little dry. The stresses of everyday life can also play a big part in the condition of our hair, and so now is the time to take action.
One of the most ancient traditions in keep hair shiny, thick and healthy is the application of oils, and in some cultures that tradition has endured and is key to the condition and appearance of their incredible hair.
In a recent interview with some ladies who are either working mums or semi-retired, their reluctance was that it was too time consuming as you would have to wait until the oil soaked into the hair and then was it out several times to make sure it had gone. But in reality, it is far less time than a visit to the hairdresser.
How would it be to work it into your weekly beauty routine, either at weekends or chose an evening when you can take the luxury of time, perhaps whilst watching a film, and massage it into the scalp and gently into the hair itself. You then wrap a warm towel around your head and wash off after a couple of hours. Imagine the end result, which is sleek shiny tresses you have envied on others over the years. It can also help to thicken your hair and produce a healthy regrowth.
I think most of us by now will have seen the hilarious video posted on YouTube for World Mental Health Day in 2019 with Prince Harry and and Ed Sheeran faking a misunderstanding about being ginger. A brilliant introduction into the very serious issues surrounding us today around mental health.
As more and more famous people come out to tell their story of dealing with anxiety and depression and with the shocking suicide of stars like Robin Williams through mental health, it has now become apparent that we need to tackle mental health issues head on and not sweep them under the carpet.
Don’t hide anxiety and depression away, discuss it openly, take measures to combat it and even if it does not disappear completely you will have it under control, and most importantly of all – know that you are not alone.
As cliché as it sounds, ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’ is a wise old saying but very true in this case, as it has been a stigma for so many years to discuss our individual mental health issues almost as if we will be excluded if we do. Perhaps it is inherited memory of a time when that was the case, but far from true today.
The pressures are such that it is almost unthinkable not to have the latest iphone or laptop or to be constantly on social media, so much so that we are forced onto a hamster wheel of ‘success’ and ‘achievement’, with some of the old values of human interaction being thrown out with the bath water. But it is good to talk.
The key to dealing with the ‘demon’ of our society is to listen to each other without judgement, and listen also to ourselves. There may be no apparent reason why many of us are suffering, some of the most anxious and depressed people appear to have everything, a beautiful family, friends, successful career and some are extremely wealthy. There is no rhyme or reason and Mental illness does not discriminate.
Another wonderful video put together by both Royals and Celebrities is EVERY MIND MATTERS, which is a new online initiative to help all of us deal with our individual mental health concerns and help us make a plan to manage them so that we know we are in this together.
July 13, 2026 1811 Sir George Gilbert Scott 1933 Patsy Byrne 1942 Jim McGuinn 1859 Sidney Webb 1940 Patrick Stewart 1944 Erno Rubik 1903 Eric Portman 1942 Harrison Ford 1960 Ian Hislop
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