Balsamic roasted tomato and burrata tart from Clodagh McKenna
Prep and cook 1 hrServes 6
2 sheets Tesco Finest ready rolled all-butter puff pastry
1 tbsp Tesco Finest balsamic vinegar of Modena
1 tbsp Tesco Finest Spanish forest honey 1 tbsp Tesco Finest Sicilian extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves 500g Tesco Finest tomatoes on the vine, sliced1 x 250g Tesco Finest Italian burrata, torn 8 fresh basil leaves, torn
For glazing1 egg, beaten
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Place the two sheets of puff pastry on top of each other on a lightly floured work surface. Roll into a 28cm round, and then transfer to the prepared baking tray. Fold in 2cm of the pastry edges to create a border, overlapping so it's slightly wavy. Pop into the fridge while you get everything else ready.
In a bowl mix together the balsamic vinegar, honey, olive oil and fresh thyme, and toss with the sliced tomatoes, until they are completely coated.
Remove the pastry from the fridge. Overlap the tomato slices in circles in the centre of the pasty until it is covered.
Brush the border with the egg wash and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then top with the torn burrata and the basil leaves. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and serve.
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Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Telegraph
The millionaire Marxist who became a political problem for the BBC
Sally Rooney once argued that writers have more influence than they deserve. 'Novelists are given too much cultural prominence,' she said in an interview with The New Yorker in 2018. 'I know you could point out they're really not given a lot of prominence but… it's still too much.' And yet, surely, a prominent voice and an outsized cultural heft were exactly what Rooney was banking on when she wrote a piece in The Irish Times last weekend saying that she would be using funds generated by the sale of her books and their BBC adaptations to support Palestine Action, which has been proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK. 'If the British state considers this 'terrorism', then perhaps it should investigate the shady organisations that continue to promote my work and fund my activities, such as WHSmith and the BBC,' was one of the 34-year-old's many controversial lines. A self-proclaimed Marxist, Rooney has frequently been outspoken on abortion rights, housing reform and climate change. But it is her stance on Palestine that has garnered the most coverage. In 2021 she made headlines around the world after rejecting an offer from an Israeli publisher to translate her third book, Beautiful World, Where Are You, into Hebrew (despite the company already having translated her first two) owing to her views on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Until now, the Ireland-based author's interventions have not hindered her career. But given the immediate backlash to her most recent pronouncement – which means she could now face legal proceedings should she travel to the UK – has she finally overstepped the mark? Some certainly appear to think so. The Campaign Against Antisemitism has denounced Rooney's actions as 'utterly indefensible', accusing her of clearly stating her intent to channel money 'towards a group that… terrorised the Jewish community'. 'Platforms and publishers profiting from her work must urgently review their relationship with her, as they now risk enabling the flow of funds to a terrorist organisation,' the group said in a statement earlier this week, adding that it intended to pursue private prosecution if the pro-Palestinian writer travels to Britain and authorities fail to take action of their own. For those connected to her work, Rooney's stance clearly presents something of a conundrum. On the one hand, she is one of the most revered and most profitable novelists of her generation, and the darling of the Left-leaning publishing scene – on the other, alienating a significant proportion of the market is rarely a move any finance department favours. One publishing insider says Rooney's agents' 'hearts will be sinking'. A top London literary agent goes further still: 'If an author wrote a piece saying they were planning to fund Hamas, we would be appalled. This is a ridiculous state of affairs. I have had authors who have turned down prizes because they disagree with the sponsors, but I have never heard of a situation where someone is actively supporting an illegal organisation – she's implicating a lot of people without realising it.' The agent believes Rooney's British publishing house, Faber & Faber, will be forced to make a statement. 'I imagine they will want to take an agnostic view on this, as it is a no-win for them. If they support this, there may be legal issues, but if they say nothing, they are allowing it to be unchallenged that they are taking money… and giving it to someone funding an outlawed organisation.' Rooney's net worth is reported to total at least £10m, owing to her runaway success in recent years. At just 24 – then a Trinity College Dublin graduate and European champion debater – she was taken on by the prestigious Wylie Agency and over the past decade she has been lauded with a string of awards. In the UK and Ireland alone she has sold more than six million copies of her four novels, Conversations with Friends, Normal People, Beautiful World, Where Are You and Intermezzo, which have been translated into 40 languages and adapted into some of the 2020s' most beloved television shows. In other words:Rooney may be a Marxist, but she is also thought to be one of the richest young writers in the world. Today she still lives in the west of Ireland, a few miles from where she grew up, and remains close to her parents. Both are committed socialists, and Rooney has spoken about how she worries that her own dazzling career borders on the frivolous. 'There is a part of me that will never be happy knowing that I am just writing entertainment, making decorative aesthetic objects at a time of historical crisis,' she once told the Irish Independent. 'But I am not good at anything else.' Perhaps that sense of concern has motivated her forays into hot-button issues. Whatever her motivations, at home, Rooney's stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict is a popular one: Ireland is – by and large – very pro-Palestine (and has not proscribed Palestine Action). But in the UK and the US, where her major publishing houses are based, she is causing problems not only for herself but for people associated with her work. This includes editors and producers, and may yet see A-list actors such as Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, who had break-out roles in the BBC adaption of Normal People, drawn into the controversy. Like Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe from the Harry Potter franchise – who stood against JK Rowling and her stance on the trans debate – they can be expected to face uncomfortable questions about where they themselves stand on this subject in the days to come. As for her relationships within the industry, Rooney will receive a lot of support in part because of her sales record. 'If Sally Rooney were a failure then the question would be different,' says literary agent David Godwin. 'But publishing houses, like all businesses, are always tinged with self-interest – they're shameless in many ways, and she sells so many copies. I can't imagine a situation where they wouldn't publish her. That gives her a lot of freedom.' Still, he agrees that most executives would prefer her not to be quite so open about her beliefs. ' When it comes to Palestine, publishers are much more frightened these days,' he says, 'and they are more inclined to stay far away from controversy. Publishing was once very individualistic and authors were left to say what they wanted, but things are more corporate now and people are conscious of what could create a backlash.' Equally, others note that Rooney isn't the most profitable writer on the circuit – and that she can't always expect unwavering support from publishers. 'She sells a lot of books, but she's not the biggest author out there,' says another literary insider. 'She's the biggest author for Faber, and she's culturally significant, but there are many authors in front of her in terms of sales. Richard Osman sells far more books than she does.' More than the response from readers (one agent claims most of her fans will already be aware of her beliefs and so are unlikely to suddenly stop buying her books), her editors will be concerned about Rooney's ability to promote future works. 'I would be worried about whether she would be able to travel to the UK easily,' says one. 'A book tour is an essential way of getting sales up – can she legally come here now?' And then there is the question of America, where entering the top 10 means earning millions of dollars but where the debate over the future of Israel is even more fraught than it is in Britain. Jessa Crispin, a US-based author and the editor-in-chief of the literary webzine Bookslut, says Rooney may ultimately emerge unscathed. 'Sally Rooney is one of the few writers who sells enough worldwide to have a real power to make a stand within publishing,' she says. 'She makes her publisher a lot of money, it seems, so if she doesn't want to be published in Israel or translated into Hebrew, they will want to go along with that to keep her happy.' And luckily for Rooney, the publishing industry on both sides of the Atlantic tends to be far more Left-leaning than the general public. 'I think her readership is probably with her,' says Christian Lorentzen, a US-based writer and critic. 'I think she's brave and admirable and righteous on this question, and it might even increase her sales, but I do not think at all that she's acting cynically. She's an idealist and it's to her credit.' Television and film, however, is a different story. For authors, that's where the real money usually lies – and Rooney must be aware that Hollywood takes a stronger view on this debate than most booksellers. 'The likes of Netflix and other corporate people will evaluate the risk versus the reward of working with her from now on,' says Mark Borkowski, a British PR executive and author with an interest in reputation and crisis management. 'By doing this she sacrifices a lot of potential relationships in Hollywood – which is very supportive of the Jewish cause. From now on, she will be fairly Marmite in terms of deals, which will shrink her commercial ecosystem.' As for the BBC – which is closely linked to Rooney after adapting two of her novels and which she singled out in her editorial – it may well pause before collaborating with her in the future. 'The BBC will obfuscate on this topic for a long time,' says Borkowski. 'I would think that they are pretty uncomfortable because it puts them in the firing line.' Some have even argued that there might be room for legal action against the corporation. 'By providing financial assistance to an organisation which clearly intends to commit criminal damage in the UK, she is likely to be guilty under UK law for knowingly assisting the commission of criminal offences,' says Jonathan Turner, the chief executive of the legal advocacy organisation UK Lawyers for Israel. 'I think the BBC and sellers of her books could also be liable for assisting criminal offences by Palestine Action, as well as offences under the Terrorism Act 2000, for transferring funds that may be used for the purposes of terrorism.' The BBC, which now finds itself facing calls to pull Rooney's dramas from iPlayer, has itself said: 'Matters relating to proscribed organisations are for the relevant authorities.' The corporation is not thought to be working with Rooney on any projects at present. As for the author herself? Rooney may yet ride out this storm – but at 34 she has a long career ahead of her and, by taking such a controversial stance, has made herself more vulnerable. 'She will have made some enemies by doing this,' says one agent. 'Let's just say that this is not the time to put out a bad book.'
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
‘They are turning him into a hero': Kneecap solidarity gig held in Dublin
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Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
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Corrie's Todd Grimshaw trapped in dark spiral as horrifying Theo twist revealed
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Eagle-eyed Corrie fans noticed in a recent episode two tattoos on Todd's calves, which he had done during his heavy metal days. 'There was always a part of me that wanted tattoos, but another part of me thought they weren't great for an actor, because they can get you typecast,' he says. 'I waited until eight years ago and decided to get them on my legs, so they're not always visible. There are a few different bits, but primarily there's a stag with a rising sun and an owl with a moon. They do have some significance, but I also just like that neo-traditional style. 'We've always shot around them on screen. Then, more recently, we decided that there was no real reason that Todd couldn't have explored some tattoo culture off-screen during his London years!'
