Fantasy Veggie Dinner Guest - RICHEY EDWARDS

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

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

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

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

CHOCOLATE TREAT

400g white chocolate

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

Break the chocolate into separate bowls.

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

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

Spread it out using the back of the spoon.

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

Sprinkle any added extras over the top.

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

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

SALAD BAR SALAD

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

'BACON' BITS and MINI CHEESY CROUTONS

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

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

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

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

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

Suggested Serving:

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

• Peel and grate a carrot and grate some cheese.

• Pasta with Pesto

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

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

Fantasy Veggie Dinner Guest - NICOLE DIVER

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

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

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

Come to dinner Nicole, and we will have…

"CHICKEN" MARYLAND

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

Serves 4

4 quorn fillets, defrosted if frozen

4tbsp plain flour

salt and black pepper

2 medium free range eggs*

1tbsp paprika

100g golden breadcrumbs

25g butter

1tbsp oil

300ml single cream

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

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

Crack the egg in a bowl and whisk.

Place the breadcrumbs in another bowl.

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

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

Melt the butter in a pan and add the oil.

When hot, fry the fillets.

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

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

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

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

To serve, place the fillets in a dish

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