Fourth of July: Air travel chaos resumes ahead of Independence Day
Extreme weather and storm threats pose continued challenge as Americans celebrate the Fourth of July.
2023-07-03 22:50
Roller coaster with crack in support pillar set to be investigated today at Carowinds in North Carolina
Inspectors are due at a North Carolina amusement park Monday as they continue investigating a roller coaster shuttered since shortly after a dad spotted a crack at the top of one of its steel support pillars.
2023-07-03 19:27
European Stocks Extend First-Half Rally as Cyclicals Advance
European stocks extended gains on Monday, led by cyclical sectors, as signs of cooling US inflation fueled appetite
2023-07-03 15:59
Hong Kong to Reopen Cathay’s In-Town Airport Check-In Wednesday
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.’s check-in desks in Hong Kong’s central business district will reopen Wednesday, after a more
2023-07-03 15:30
How to shop at Borough Market in the summer
Food markets fizz with a very particular kind of energy in the summer months. That’s as true anywhere as at Borough Market where the energy somehow hits me as I’m still walking the stairs up from London Bridge tube, way before I even see the market gates. It’s not just the sun’s moodlift that makes things palpably different in the summer than at any other time of year – it’s the distinctive culmination of the summer vibes that marketgoers bring. Whether seasonal cooks there to stock up on longed-for summer produce; friends on a wander for a day out; or food lovers after a few deliciously easy wins to enjoy on a rug somewhere. Any kind of picnic (garden/beach/park/lounge) can be so easily catered for at a food market. In one swoop you can pick up chilled bottles of interesting wines, beers and softs; breads for ripping into; butter and seasonal young cheeses; charcuterie; salty black olives, and all kinds of fabulous fruits. Tins of preserved fish make for interesting rug-chat over the beautiful boxes. At Borough there’s no shortage of choice of those at The Tinned Fish Market stall. Sometimes there I’ll go for the Cântara small squid stuffed with onion, rice and tomatoes; other times the Pepus mussels in escabeche. Or else it’s the never-fail Ortiz tuna at Brindisa, home to so many foods that are a picnic-maker’s dream. (Fino sherry, truffle crisps, jamon, salted almonds… do I need to go on?) That ease the food markets gift to feeding a gathering translates seamlessly to the ease they offer summer’s everyday cooking and eating. The stalls (almost) struggling to fit in all the magnificent seasonal produce that is so often best enjoyed when hardly anything is being done to it. Courgettes, peppers and aubergines gleam with proud beauty among the glory of all the other summer vegetables and fruits. Pods of garden peas and broad or borlotti beans beg to be bought by the bagful. All of them are a joy to mindlessly and mindfully pop out of the shells when you get home, but the borlottis perhaps most of all as that’s the only way to really be able to admire the purple mottles of the bean before it disappears upon cooking. The best seasonal tomatoes need little more than olive oil and salt to bring out their supreme flavour. Salad options are inexhaustible – go for big sharing bowls of a fattoush or panzanella; or the neat Nicoise bundles featured in Borough Market: The Knowledge. There the classic Nicoise elements of anchovy, mayonnaise, capers and egg are piled aboard little gem boats for ease of eating. Another of my all-time favourite summer salads is in that book too: oregano-poached peaches, halloumi and hazelnuts. Its mix of sweetly salty flavours manages to be simultaneously refreshing and completely beautiful on the plate. The peaches in it becoming the very best version of themselves by being poached with dried oregano and honey. The choice of honey is no accident. In the summer I always make sure to stock up at the market on blossom honeys that will delicately yet effectively infuse so many foods – and drinks – with a floral undernote. Perhaps the lavender honey at From Field and Flower, or the wild thyme at Oliveology. That’s the one I use in the dressing for making The Knowledge’s labneh with watermelon, honey and mint. It’s a recipe that straddles the boundary of sweet and savoury, with watermelon griddled in olive oil, orange and sumac for peak refreshment. My top tip in making this is to always do more labneh than needed in the recipe because it is such a useful thing to be able to reach for in the fridge. All it takes is 900g of really good, thick Greek yoghurt mixed with 1 teaspoon of salt and spooned into a muslin-lined sieve. Let that drain for 6-12 hours (depending how thick you want it – longer equals thicker) and the result is approximately 500g of labneh. Use it for salads, or to spread on toast with perhaps just a few sliced apricots. Summer is mackerel season at the market. A fish that is packed with flavour and goodness, and also incredibly easy to cook. Griddle it, bake it, fry it, or over-fire it. And then, when any kind of cooking seems impossible in the heat, even sit it in vinegar for a while and let its acidity do the “cooking” for you. Try the same thing with the small fresh anchovies that the fishmongers also have in now. They absolutely don’t need to be gutted, but the skilled fishmonger will happily do it for you (and at the same time showcase exceptional filleting knife skills). Whenever I head to the market on a produce-shopping mission it tends to be just that – a mission. I do try to make sure to spend time checking out what is what because the very nature of market shopping is that it is never the same. What the stalls offer week on week is at the mercy of not just the season but whatever choices traders have been made on what to stock that week, that day. Yet, as I beetle around, I am always a bit envious of the market wanderers. It’s a feeling that grows even stronger in the summer when these marketgoers without any agenda of shopping lists to mark off, or a fridge to fill, are enjoying being among all the glorious foods on the day out with friends and family. With nothing to do except admiringly soak it all up while stopping off for the occasional energy-boost by way of an ice-cream or a glass of something coolly bolstering. What a great way to spend a day. The cooks, the picnic-ers, the wanderers. Each as welcome and as catered for in a summertime market. All playing a key role in building the atmosphere that makes these months there so deliciously special. For more information on what you can find at Borough Market, visit: boroughmarket.org.uk Read More Three quick and easy vegan fakeaway recipes The only three recipes you need to seize the summer Budget Bites: Three light recipes that sing of summer What the hell is Scandinavian food? Lighter fish pie: Comfort food you won’t feel guilty for eating How to make Norwegian potato pancakes
2023-07-03 14:18
The only three recipes you need to seize the summer
As the weather warms up and the nights get longer, there’s nothing better than a light and colourful summery feast in the garden, balcony, doorstep or basically any perch in the sun you can find. And there’s few who do it quite as well as Angela Clutton, author of Borough Market: The Knowledge. In her summer column for The Independent, she shares one of her all-time favourite salads: oregano-poached peaches, halloumi and hazelnuts. A mix of sweet and salty flavours, it’s simultaneously refreshing and completely beautiful on the plate. What’s summer without tomatoes? Terrible, that’s what. Clutton says the best seasonal toms need little more than olive oil and salt to bring out their supreme flavour and the salad options are inexhaustible. But one not to be missed is her Nicoise “bundles”. The classic Nicoise elements of anchovy, mayonnaise, capers and egg are piled abord little gem boats for ease of eating. Lastly, her labneh with watermelon, honey and mint is a recipe that straddles the boundary of sweet and savoury, perfect for those for whom dessert is not a priority. Her top tip is to always do more labneh than needed, as it’s such a useful thing to be able to reach for in the fridge. Equipped with these recipes, you’ll be dining al fresco – or faking it indoors if it, ahem, rains – all summer long. Oregano-poached peaches, halloumi and hazelnuts There are fresh herbs, there are dried herbs, and then there are frankly incredible dried herbs. Into that last camp fall dried herbs that are produced to exceptionally high standards and don’t just harness the flavour of the starting point, but elevate it. Those are the only dried herbs really worth having in your store cupboard. This recipe goes for poaching fresh peaches with dried oregano, which brings even more depth of flavour than fresh oregano would. Given the choice, I use one of the beautiful dried sprigs at Oliveology, but their ground oregano is lovely too. The poaching liquor is then reduced to a fragrantly sweet syrup for pouring over tender peach slices and fried halloumi, and finished with seasoned toasted nuts and mint. Perfect for a hot day. Serves: 2 as a main, 4 as a side or small plate Ingredients: 2 tsp dried oregano (or an Oliveology dried sprig) 1 tbsp honey 1 orange 2 peaches 40g skinned whole hazelnuts 1 tbsp fruity olive oil 6 sprigs of mint 225g halloumi Method: Pour 500ml water into a medium saucepan. Add the dried oregano (or oregano dried sprig), the honey and two broad strips of zest from the orange. Bring to the boil and, meanwhile, quarter and stone the peaches. Put them into the water, lower the heat to a simmer and sit a piece of baking paper on top. Simmer for 7-10 minutes until the peaches are fully tender. Use a slotted spoon to lift the peaches out and set aside. If their skins start to flake away as they cool, just peel them off. Strain the poaching liquor, discard the oregano and orange peel, then pour the poaching liquor back into the saucepan. Don’t worry if a few pieces of oregano are left in the liquid. Boil over a high heat for 10-15 minutes to reduce to a syrup – you are aiming for about 75ml syrup. While the poaching liquor reduces, toss the hazelnuts in the olive oil along with some salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper. Set a small dry frying pan over a low heat, then add the seasoned nuts and stir for 3 minutes or until they are just getting nicely toasted. Transfer to a bowl. Once they have cooled, roughly chop with the leaves from the mint sprigs. Cut the poached peach quarters into slices about 1cm thick. Once the syrup is almost sufficiently reduced, cut the halloumi into 1cm-thick slices. Set the same frying pan the nuts cooked in back onto the heat, then add the halloumi pieces turning each over after 2 minutes or so once they are browned. You might need to do this in two batches. Serve either on individual plates or on a large platter. Sit the halloumi on first, then arrange the peach slices prettily on top, scatter over the seasoned nut and mint mixture, and finish by spooning over your oregano-infused peach syrup. Niçoise bundles The classic niçoise salad is served here as individual bundles that are perfect for a summer lunch or starter. I’m giving you two versions: one layers up blitzed olives and capers with egg and an anchovy; for the other, flaked tuna sits on an olive bed with tarragon mayo. Their simplicity makes it important that each ingredient is chosen for maximum flavour. Perhaps especially the fish. I make these with (my favourite) Brindisa Ortiz anchovies and the same maker’s yellowfin tuna belly ‘ventresca, which in one bite of its long, tenderly rich hakes took me from thinking I didn’t really like tinned tuna to stockpiling it. Serves: 4 as a main or 8 as a small plate or starter Ingredients: 16 leaves of little gem lettuce and/or red chicory For the tarragon mayonnaise: 1 egg yolk, at room temperature 1½ tsp moscatel wine vinegar ¼ tsp English mustard powder 100ml sunflower oil 50ml mild olive oil 1 sprig of tarragon For the olive and tuna mix: ½ tsp raspberry vinegar 8 basil leaves 100g pitted black olives, drained weight 110g tinned yellowfin tuna For the egg, olive and anchovy mix: 2 hen’s eggs or 4 quail’s eggs 150g pitted black olives 2 tsp capers 1 garlic clove 7ml peppery olive oil, plus 1 tbsp for drizzling ½ lemon 8 anchovy fillets Method: Wash and dry the lettuce or red chicory leaves. For half of the little gem/chicory leaves: Make the mayonnaise by gently hand-whisking the egg yolk with a pinch each of salt and ground pepper. Stir in the vinegar and the mustard powder, then hand-whisk in both the oils — drop by drop to start with, then in a steady, thin stream — until you have a lovely thick, shiny mayonnaise. Check the seasoning, chop the tarragon leaves and stir through. Sprinkle a little raspberry vinegar, salt and pepper inside eight of the little gem / chicory leaves and line with a basil leaf. Chop the olives and sit them inside. Top with flaked tuna. Serve with the tarragon mayonnaise on top, or alongside to be spooned over. For the other half of the leaves: Hard-boil the 2 hen’s eggs (or 4 quail’s eggs) and set aside to cool. Put the olives, drained capers, peeled garlic, 75ml of olive oil and a good squeeze of lemon juice in a blender and blitz to a paste. Peel the hard-boiled eggs. Quarter them if hen’s, halve if quail’s. Spoon the oli relish inside the lettuce / chicory leaves, sit a piece of egg inside too and then over the top the whole anchovy fillet. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Serve the bundles on platters for people to help themselves, or portion up two of each type per person. Labneh with watermelon, honey and mint I like to serve this as part of a medley of salads on a hot day. Or – noting that it is really on the cusp of savoury or sweet – lean into the sweetness and hold back a little on the salt: as a dessert it is especially appreciated by anyone without a super-sweet tooth. Making your labneh is simplicity itself – it is, after all, just strained yoghurt – and a lovely thing to do, so long as you start at least six hours before wanting to eat it. Actually, every part of this recipe can be made ahead of time, chilled, then quickly assembled for serving at room temperature. Serves: 6 as part of a sharing feast Ingredients: 500g labneh made from 900g thick Greek yoghurt (see box) About 800g watermelon 2 tbsp olive oil ½ orange 1 tsp wild sumac 2 tbsp wild thyme honey Handful of mint Method: Spoon the labneh into a large serving bowl. Trim the ends of the watermelon and cut the fruit into triangles about 1cm thick. Mix the olive oil with the juice from the orange, half the sumac and a good pinch of salt. Get a griddle pan (or barbecue) good and hot, brush the watermelon pieces with the dressing and sit the pieces in a single layer in the pan (or on the grill). If using a griddle pan you will probably need to do this in two batches. Turn them over after a couple of minutes, when nicely charred underneath. Let the other side char, then lift the slices out to cool. Add any juices from the pan to your leftover oil, orange and sumac dressing. Whisk in the honey and the rest of the sumac. Add more salt. Sit the watermelon pieces on the labneh and pour over the dressing. Chop the mint and scatter over, then finish with a grinding of black pepper. You can visit Borough Market at 8 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1TL (020 7407 1002) or find more recipes online at boroughmarket.org.uk/recipes. Read More Three quick and easy vegan fakeaway recipes Budget Bites: Three light recipes that sing of summer What the hell is Scandinavian food? Lighter fish pie: Comfort food you won’t feel guilty for eating How to make Norwegian potato pancakes Rhubarb sticky buns for an idyllic Scandinavian afternoon tea
2023-07-03 13:52
The Top Dim Sum in Hong Kong, Picked by Star Chefs
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Chinese Cookie Tycoon Gains $1.2 Billion in Taking Firm Private
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How to watch the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest with & without cable: Full streaming guide
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2023-07-03 06:46
Five Key Charts to Watch in Global Commodity Markets This Week
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2023-07-03 05:22