In The Kitchen With: Jules Pearson, Co-Founder, London on the Inside (LOTI)
In the kitchen with…’ celebrates female founders and creators. This week M+K talks to Jules Pearson, Co-Founder, LOTI.
Author: Marmalade + Kindness
Strawberry and Yuzu Ice Cream with Pistachio Dacquoise
Strawberry and yuzu ice cream is sandwiched between two layers of crisp, salty pistachio dacquoise. This recipe is great because you don’t waste the egg whites from the ice cream, and the dacquoise keeps in the freezer if well wrapped. Cut a slice and enjoy the taste of summer!
What Masterchef Australia has taught me about mindful cooking
Now in its twelfth season, Adamantia Velonis, Founder, Marmalade + Kindness reflects on what MasterChef Australia has taught her about ‘mindful cooking’.
I must admit, on a cold Australian winter night, tuning in for MasterChef Australia was always a guilty pleasure. Rugged up on the sofa, tea in hand, I was mesmerised by the contestants’ journeys.
Unlike other reality shows, MasterChef has stayed true to itself – supporting talented home cooks reach new levels of mastery and giving them a platform to pursue their ‘food dreams’. But like all good competitions, the way the contestants play the game teaches us a lot about facing challenges, developing skills and ultimately sharing our strengths to spark joy in others.
Meet challenges with mindfulness
The clock is ticking. Your anglaise has split, you look over your shoulder. The person behind you is already popping their parfait out of a mould. Your stomach sinks as you realise you’re way behind…There is nothing quite like an elimination challenge to test contestants’ skills and resilience!
Sometimes we see contestants resign themselves to failure – ‘I’ll never catch up…I don’t have time to make another one…’ they say as they sigh into the camera – or we see them make another choice. They may not be able to restart the clock, but they realise they can reset their approach.
Mindfulness allows us “to build greater awareness of the ‘here and now’ – a greater awareness of the changing moment-to-moment experience of our minds and bodies” says Ryan Niemiec, author of Mindfulness and Character Strengths. Rather than allow themselves to be overwhelmed by their emotional whirlpool and the shouts from the gantry, it’s inspiring to see the ‘light bulb’ moment when contestants realise that all they have is the present. There is still time left on the clock and they can respond to the demands of the situation. They may not dodge elimination, but by staying engaged and drawing on their personal strengths and food expertise, they know they are making the best of the opportunities they have.
Be vulnerable to be brave
And what about those episodes when a season favourite is having an off-day – despite having made caramel a hundred times before, they keep burning the sugar! It’s painful to watch but what MasterChef teaches us is the importance of not giving up – plate up what you have made and let it be judged. Courage researcher and professor Brené Brown puts it like this, ‘there is no courage without vulnerability’. The real loss would be allowing fear and perfectionism win by not being in the race at all.
Find creativity through limits
From waxed flowers, to horn melons, morels, Buddha’s hand and quandongs, mystery box challenges over the years have included weird and wonderful ingredients. Yet the creativity of participants to produce tasty and beautiful dishes never fails to inspire. How do they do it? They trust their senses. By tasting the ingredients, noting aromas and texture as well as flavour, they find the foods’ best attributes and pair them with complementary ingredients. Ironically, limitations can actually give us the space to experiment, make new discoveries and build confidence.
Pursue mastery
Season after season, we fall in love with personalities who are willing to work for their dreams, because there is joy and meaning in the process. “The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset,” says Dr Carol S. Dweck author of Mindset. We can’t help but find role models in people who learn from adversity, with humility.
Work together
Michael Jordan once said “talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships”. MasterChef team challenges teach this lesson so powerfully. No matter how talented you are as an individual working with other people exposes a different set of strengths and weaknesses, and can deliver many more rewards helping people achieve something they could not have done on their own. Contestants discover they impact each other’s journey and that delighting real diners is a team effort.
All you need is love
The episodes I love the most are the ones inspired by the contestants’ personal memories. Often prompted by a family photo, they share stories of early experiences cooking with grandparents or of traditional cuisines. These memories stay with us because food has the power to connect us with our family, culture, history and identity in a deeply personal way. Although we as viewers can’t taste the food the look of delight on the judges’ faces is where the show has its greatest pull, in reminding us that food is meant to be eaten and enjoyed. In the end it’s not about a picture-perfect plate, but about bringing joy and comfort to others.
From de-mystifying unusual produce, inspiring ‘project cooking’ or just getting us to dig out a beloved family recipe, MasterChef has been a driving force in encouraging home cooks across Australia to expand their skills and get creative in the kitchen. And lucky for us, we can cherish its lessons long after the 2020 winner is crowned.
In The Kitchen With: Charlie Fowler, Founder, MOA – Magic Organic Apothecary
In the kitchen with…’ celebrates female founders and creators. This week M+K talks to Charlie Fowler, Founder, MOA – Magic Organic Apothecary.
In The Kitchen With: Margot Vitale, COO + Co-Founder, Curate Beauty
In the kitchen with…’ celebrates female founders and creators. This week M+K talks to Margot Vitale, COO + Co-Founder, Curate Beauty.
Greek ‘Gigantes’
Greek 'gigantes'
July 12, 2020
: 6-8
: 5 min
: Easy
‘Gigantes’ are traditional Greek baked beans, and are best made with jumbo butter beans. The base recipe is vegan and can be eaten warm or cold with chewy sourdough. Serve with some crumbled fetta, a fried egg, bacon or sausage to mix it up!
Ingredients
- 125ml olive oil
- 1 red onion, finely chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 small fennel, cored and finely chopped
- 3 celery sticks, de-threaded and finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons Greek oregano
- Fresh nutmeg
- 3 tablespoons tomato puree
- 400g tin plum tomatoes, crushed
- 330g bottle Sicilian sweet cherry tomatoes (we used Seggiano’s Organic Sicilian Cherry Tomato Salsa)
- ¼ - ½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3 Greek bay leaves
- 700G jar jumbo butter beans, drained (we used Navarrico Judion Large Butter Beans)
Directions
- Step 1 Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a dutch oven. Add the onion, garlic, fennel, celery and cook for 10 minutes, or until translucent.
- Step 2 Add the oregano, grated nutmeg and tomato puree and fry off for about a minute.
- Step 3 Add the plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, water, sugar, bay leaves and butter beans and season generously. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Step 4 Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celcius fan force.
- Step 5 Cover the dutch oven with the lid and bake for 1 hour. Leave to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Poetry tends to encourage mindful reading. The careful arrangement of the words, sounds, format and sentence breaks, are opportunities to pause and contemplate meaning. Unlike narrative which moves the reader from beginning to end, poetry often suspends time or introduces a way of making meaning that is non-linear.
Choose a favourite poem and re-read it, savouring every word. Or discover something new at The Poetry Society.
How to boost and protect your immune system during a pandemic
Special guest contributor, Ati Farmani, food scientist, food coach, nutritionist and founder, Ati Nutrition, shares her tips for boosting and protecting your immune system during a pandemic.
In The Kitchen With: Sheena Patel, Co-Founder + CFO, Change Ahead
In the kitchen with…’ celebrates female founders and creators. This week M+K talks to Sheena Patel, Co-Founder + CFO, Change Ahead.
In The Kitchen With: Lara Morgan, Founder, Scentered
This week M+K sits across the table with Lara Morgan, the Founder of Scentered. Scentered is a mindfulness lifestyle brand that has created a unique Wellbeing Ritual, teaching people how to use the power of smell as a tool to direct our thoughts, emotions and actions to live happier lives. She talks with us about her life during the pandemic and how she is managing her energy.
1. My cooking inspiration…
Delia and my mum.
2. A meal that reminds me of home…
Shepherd’s pie with petit pois and ketchup was what I looked forward as my first meal home from boarding school. Heavenly.
3. A life lesson cooking has taught me…
If you can read you can do anything.
4. When I want to be creative I…
I am rubbish at being creative! I look at my youngest daughter’s art and just can’t believe she came from me! I do sketch stuff out to make sense of a problem or a challenge though. Does that count?
5. The most transformational book I’ve read is…
How to become a Rainmaker by Jeffery Fox. Not everyone’s read but packed with invaluable ideas.
6. The routines that keep me grounded are…
Exercise, limiting my coffee, meals with family (always at the table not in front of the TV!), Saturday coffee with my husband, brushing my teeth and applying our Focus Balm first thing each day.
7. I recently learnt…
That after the age of 45 we all kind of have a fuel shortage. Having raced through life learning and then accumulating, we then seem to crash and need a reset. I think we need to learn better about new ways of living, sharing, growing and putting back into society.
8. Favourite random act of kindness…
Giving someone a Scentered mini balm – it’s a beautiful gift for someone who needs a lift.
9. To make a difference in my community I…
I offer my time to share lessons learned and hope to inspire and lead by example. I am by no means perfect and happily am still making mistakes which I will learn from faster than ever.
10. Right now, I’m grateful for…
Living in the countryside during the pandemic and having more family time, with all of my children, than we could have ever hoped for. I am also hoping that this global experience allows us to stop, inhale and reset the way we work, live, share, experience and live better and healthier lives.
Lara Morgan is the Founder of Scentered, a mindfulness lifestyle brand that has created a unique Wellbeing Ritual, teaching people how to use the power of smell as a tool to direct our thoughts, emotions and actions to live happier lives. The idea was born while she was building a successful global hospitality business. She was travelling all over the world hundreds of days each year and realised the need for portable aromatherapy products to support her mindful transitions from home to office to travel to “me time”. Scentered was created to meet the demands of eco-conscious consumers hungry for natural, portable aromatherapy and essential oil solutions to help them mindfully transition their moods, thoughts and emotions from moment to moment on demand throughout their everyday journey.
To connect visit:
www.scentered.me (UK)
www.scentered.com (US)
Scentered have generously offered Marmalade + Kindness readers 20% storewide. Use promotion code MK20 at checkout.
Clam Pasta
Azure seas, glimmering white heat, an outdoor trattoria, clam pasta or ‘spaghetti alle vongole’ is summer on a plate. Enjoy with a glass of chilled white wine, and make a whole afternoon of it.
In The Kitchen With: Desirée Gullan, Author + Executive Creative Director
In the kitchen with…’ celebrates female founders and creators. This week M+K talks to Desirée Gullan, Author + Executive Creative Director.
In The Kitchen With: Tessa Clarke, Co-Founder + CEO, OLIO
This week M+K sits across the table with Tessa Clarke, the Co-Founder and CEO of OLIO, a free app tackling food waste. She talks with us about cooking, creativity and her passion for sustainability.
1. My cooking inspiration…
My children who are 5 and 7. Prior to having kids, I was rarely seen in the kitchen – in fact, I was so bad I managed to hospitalise myself when hosting a dinner party once! Since becoming a mother though, I’ve become much more aware of what we’re eating, and in particular all the chemicals in our food. Also, since founding OLIO I’ve been on a journey to lead a zero-waste lifestyle, and so those two things combined mean I now spend a lot of my time on the weekends batch cooking. I find it surprisingly enjoyable as it’s a great way to unwind and know that I’m doing something good for my family and the planet, plus I tend to multi-task and listen to podcasts too, which I absolutely love.
2. A meal that reminds me of home…
A classic Sunday roast, or English fried breakfast. My parents are farmers and so these were very much staples during my childhood in north Yorkshire.
3. A life lesson cooking has taught me…
To not be afraid to experiment. I invariably find myself missing one or more ingredients, and so from that point onwards, I tend to ‘freestyle’ the recipe. And – much to my amazement – more often than not it turns out great. Being comfortable with experimentation means less stress and I’ve also discovered some fab twists to classic recipes, which I would otherwise never have discovered.
4. When I want to be creative I…
Go for a run and listen to a podcast. I find that running whilst listening to stories from others really gets my creative juices going – I often have to stop and send myself a note of all the great ideas I’ve had.
5. The most transformational book I’ve read is…
Probably The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. It’s really informed how we’ve approached everything in launching and growing OLIO to where we are today.
6. The routines that keep me grounded are…
Exercise and a good night’s sleep. Not exciting, but highly effective, so I guard them carefully!
7. I recently learnt…
Reducing food waste is the #1 most powerful solution to the climate crisis! And that it comes above solar power, electric cars and even plant-based diets. I was so surprised I wrote a blog post about it.
8. Favourite random act of kindness…
I’m not sure if this counts as a random act of kindness, but I regularly pick up litter in my local community, as it’s a small way to make a difference. I’m inspired almost every day though, by stories of random acts of kindness that are shared in the Forum section of the OLIO app, where it’s not unusual to see OLIOers giving each other small gifts of thanks, or going out of their way to support one another during this challenging time.
9. To make a difference in my community I…
Have been taking part in OLIO’s #Cook4Kids campaign. As a result of the school closures, 1.3 million school children who used to receive free school meals are at risk of hunger, and so along with the OLIO community, I’ve been cooking extra portions of food and sharing them via the app with local families. It’s a really easy way to make a difference to your local community and we’ve had over 15,000 meals given away so far.
10. Right now, I’m grateful for…
My health, my work and the fact that I have enough food to put on the table. It’s heartbreaking to realise how many people are suffering during COVID-19. I’m hopeful though that we will take the opportunity of this collective pause to re-build our future in a way that’s fairer and more sustainable for all.
Tessa Clarke is the Co-Founder & CEO of OLIO. OLIO is a free app tackling the enormous problem of food waste – and waste more broadly – in the home. It does this by connecting people who have food & other household items that they don’t want or need, with their neighbours living nearby who would like them. In just over 4 years OLIO has grown from a local initiative in North London to a global movement with over 2 million users in 50+ countries, who have together shared over 5 million portions of food. Tessa is passionate about the sharing economy as a solution for a sustainable world, and about ‘profit with purpose’ as the next business paradigm. She firmly believes that diversity is key to unlocking the future we all want.
To connect visit:
https://olioex.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tecook/
https://twitter.com/TessaLFClarke
