Fantasy Veggie Dinner Guest - SYLVIA PLATH

Sylvia Plath, literary icon of the 1960s, is Zelda's latest dinner guest. 

She only lived to be 30, but her short stories, poems and exceptional novel, The Bell Jar, ensured her place as one of the most respected writers of the 20th Century. 

Mushrooms, one of her most famous poems, is an extended metaphor for the struggle she - and other women - had to be heard and taken seriously.

Overnight, very

Whitely, discreetly,

Very quietly

Our toes, our noses

Take hold on the loam,

Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,

Stops us, betrays us;

The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on

Heaving the needles,

The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.

Our hammers, our rams,

Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,

Widen the crannies,

Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,

On crumbs of shadow,

Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing.

So many of us!

So many of us!

We are shelves, we are

Tables, we are meek,

We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers

In spite of ourselves.

Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning

Inherit the earth.

Our foot's in the door.

QUORN WITH CREAMY LEEK AND MUSHROOM SAUCE  

Serves 2 - 4 

4 quorn fillets
600ml vegetable stock
2 leeks, cleaned, split in half and roughly chopped
6 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2tbsp olive oil
25g butter
1tbsp plain flour
150g low-fat soft cheese
4tbsp double cream

Heat the stock in a saucepan and poach the quorn fillets for about ten minutes.

Remove the fillets and set aside, keeping the stock warm.

Meanwhile, place the leeks and mushrooms in a large pan with the butter and oil.

Cook over a low heat until softened.

Add the flour and stir well to coat. 

Then add enough of the stock to make a gravy which just covers the vegetables.

Stir in the soft cheese and add the double cream. 

Replace the fillets and heat through, allowing the sauce to thicken a little.

Serve with rice, potatoes or additional vegetables of your choice.