Cocktail of the week: Oren's harissa bloody mary – recipe
This is a twist on the classic brunch drink. We serve it as part of our new 'Slow Sundays' offering, and instead of the usual Tabasco, we use a house-made burnt harissa to add a real kick and smokiness.
Serves 1
For the burnt harissa
10-15 red chillies, to tasteA pinch of salt
1 small garlic clove, peeledOlive oil
For the drink45ml vodka – we use East London Liquor Co.150ml good-quality tomato juice
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
10ml fresh lemon juice
A pinch of celery salt, plus extra to rim the glass, if you like
1 tsp burnt harissa (see above and method)1 guindilla chilli, 1 pickled cauliflower floret and 1 olive on a skewer, to garnish
First make the harissa. Scorch the chillies over a gas flame until blackened and blistered all over. Once they've cooled down slightly, peel off and discard the skins and finely chop the chilli flesh. Put this in a blender and grate in the garlic – add a little more, if you like, but you really don't need much (at the restaurant, we use about a tablespoon in every two-litre batch). Add a pinch of salt and a dash of olive oil to loosen, then blitz to a smooth paste. The harissa will now keep in a clean sealed container in the fridge for about a week.
To build the drink, measure everything into a mixing glass filled with ice and stir gently to combine. Strain into a highball glass (we use a 350ml one) filled with fresh ice (if you like, rim the glass with celery salt first). Garnish with a skewer of a guindilla chilli, a pickled cauliflower floret and an olive.
Oded Oren, chef/patron, Oren, London E8
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
15 hours ago
- BBC News
Friends of comedy giant Rik Mayall enjoy festival in his memory
A comedy festival in memory of Rik Mayall has been proclaimed a huge success with friends of the actor and writer saying he would have loved died 11 years ago and more than 200 performances have been taking place this week across 30 different venues in his hometown of Droitwich, in Worcestershire as part of a celebration of the Davies, Helen Lederer and Shaparak Khorsandi have taken part with Mayall's friend and collaborator Ben Elton the festival's patron."Of course he would love it what's not to love?" said friend Lederer. "He would say bring it on." "I know he would have loved it, because he got some stinky reviews - he carried on, it's a very competitive world and he believed in what he was doing and he's no different to anyone else."Earlier this week, Lederer took part in an intimate and no-holds-barred evening at a sold-out Norbury Theatre, where Mayall first performed as a child. She said the festival was "eight days of amazing comedy events, a mix and match of free events".Speaking afterwards, she described her favourite memories of Mayall, who she said was always encouraging and "accepting of everyone"."He loved what he did and he loved what other people did, and apart from being the most charismatic performer ever," she have said they would like to make it an annual event and local traders said the town had been extremely Fellows, landlady of the Old Cock Inn which sits opposite the theatre, has been hosting events. "It's been amazing. Absolutely fantastic, " she said."You just couldn't imagine I don't think the impact on Droitwich that's it's had."She said so much had been going on and that she had enjoyed hosting acts."We've just been rammed all day - Saturday was just a stupidly insane day busy-wise and I think the whole town was just buzzing with it and even for a Monday night we had two nearly sell-out shows here and we've got sell out shows all week which is great."It's not just for local people, there's people down from Scotland, from Dorset staying all week or the weekend." Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Finch 'picking the brains' of Dwarshuis and Duffy
Worcestershire fast bowler Adam Finch says he is learning a lot from "picking the brains" of the club's overseas signings Ben Dwarshuis and Jacob Duffy in this season's T20 bowling two overs for 29 runs in the Rapids' narrow opening defeat against Lancashire, the 25-year-old picked up 2-19 from his four overs in the win over Yorkshire at New Zealand seamer Duffy has 18 wickets in four County Championship matches so far and is bringing his international experience to the Blast, having taken 32 wickets in 23 T20Is for the Black Dwarshuis is in his second T20 spell with the Rapids and has played eight white-ball games for Australia as well as featuring in the Indian Premier League, Pakistan Super League and the Big Bash. "They are two high quality bowlers and I've really enjoyed picking those guys' brains to understand those little skills and instincts they get about the powerplay and at the death [of an innings]," Finch told BBC Hereford and Worcester."They show their class and use the change-up in variations just as much as the top-of-the-stumps deliveries."Finch played in the first two red-ball games of the season for Worcestershire, taking three wickets but is now set for a more regular role in the shorter 25 wickets from 27 T20 matches, and an economy rate of just over nine runs per over, Finch knows the importance of developing control within his game."It's something that's constantly an evolution of mine - just try to develop skills and not be one dimensional," he said."Having guys like Duffers and Dawshy to learn off is really helpful and something I'll continue to do over the course of the tournament."It's a really difficult skill to bowl those sorts of deceptive slower balls and that's why those two are some of the best in the world at it." After one defeat and one win, the Rapids are next in action on Friday as Northamptonshire come to New Road (17:30 BST).They then travel to Trent Bridge to take on Nottinghamshire the following back-to-back matches, momentum in T20 can shift quickly and, either way, Finch is confident the Rapids have the ability to cope."I'd back this group, even if we did go on a run of a couple of losses to change the momentum," he said."We're a really tight, close group and we know that, just as if you win a couple of games and get some momentum, you can lose it - and if you lose a couple you can build it back."I back us from any position, regardless of results."
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Telegraph
The underrated region of the Midlands that inspired Tolkien
The scene from my window at Great Malvern's Mount Pleasant Hotel is achingly English. Looking toward the Severn Valley, I watch the afternoon sun flare across languid green fields, while in the foreground a medieval parish church stands proudly as dense grey rain clouds hover ominously nearby. The 17th-century diarist John Evelyn called the view from the 1,394ft-high summit of the Malvern Hills 'one of the godliest vistas in England', and it's hard to argue. Often mist-strewn, and straddling the counties of Worcestershire and Herefordshire (plus a fragment of northern Gloucestershire), the hills are an eight-mile-long ridge running north to south with the hillside town of Great Malvern acting as its quaint and curious epicentre. The Victorians flocked to this corner of the Midlands in their droves, convinced the newfangled 'water cure' would solve all their problems. Or they'd get a rare hot bath out of it, at any rate. Charles Dickens loved visiting this salubrious spot, and 100 years later, during the 1950s, another British literary titan was just as enamoured. Though for JRR Tolkien, it was the landscape that profoundly affected him and he loved taking walks in the Malvern Hills. Seventy years ago, in 1955, Tolkien published The Return of the King, the last of his epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, and he may well have been inspired by the Malvern Hills when describing some of the book's most notable locations. Like all good authors, Tolkien never discussed his inspirations, leaving that up to his readers, but there are certainly some clues. 'The Severn runs north to south and that's why the hills stick out so much,' says my guide for the day, Dan Johnson. 'Towards Wales, there's the Black Mountains in the distance. And it's very similar to The Lord of the Rings when they're heading to Mordor.' Johnson once worked as a BBC sports journalist, but these days is an outdoor enthusiast, having given up the office to juggle various gigs in the elements, including working as a lifeguard. Clad today in sturdy caramel walking boots, navy shorts and a black Lord of the Rings T-shirt, his Tolkien enthusiasm is perfect for our walk in the author's footsteps. For the uninitiated, Great Malvern's Church Street is on a serious gradient and we've barely reached the lofty Belle Vue Terrace before my thighs start feeling the strain. Mercifully, there's a Victorian drinking spout pouring pure Malvern spring water piped directly from three springs above the town, Happy Valley, Rushey Valley and Ivy Scar Rock. Refreshed, we stroll north along balcony-like Belle Vue Terrace and past the Unicorn pub. Dating back to the 16th century, it's probably the oldest building in Great Malvern and was once used as a staging post between nearby Ledbury and Worcester. Tolkien loved walking with his great friend and fellow novelist CS Lewis, and this timber-framed haunt was their favourite spot for a post-walk pint. 'They were quite fussy about their pubs – Tolkien in particular,' explains Johnson. 'He hated technology and he hated radios. This was back in the Fifties. So apparently, if they went into a pub with the radio playing, he'd turn around and walk out. They decided the pub they liked the best was the Unicorn, as it was quite old-fashioned and served beer in proper glasses.' Unfortunately, I doubt Tolkien would enjoy the place in its current form. My visit the previous evening was soundtracked by the incessant bleeps and bloops of a gambling machine near the bar, while late-1980s Stock, Aitken and Waterman synth pop videos blared from the TV screen. Though it does have a crackling fire, a hallmark of any self-respecting rural pub. Continuing on, we take a serpentine route on this crisp and sunny spring morning through the hillside suburbia of Link Top before looping around past the former homes of composer Edward Elgar and local headteacher George Sayer, a great friend of Tolkien's with whom he would stay when visiting the town to walk the hills. With Lewis, the three of them formed something of a walking power trio, though in very different styles. 'Lewis liked to walk fast and build up a sweat, stomp on and push ahead,' says Johnson, as we walk through a thicket of tangled woodland up into the hills proper. 'Tolkien was completely different. He liked to walk slowly and stop and point at everything, 'What's that plant? What's that tree?' He liked to ponder, but also talk a lot. He didn't like to walk and talk at the same time. He'd always stop to make his point and throw his arms about and gesticulate, which drove Lewis mad.' I always imagined novelists as the genteel type (with occasional exceptions, like Ernest Hemingway and Hunter S Thompson), insular and averse to any sort of physical exercise, but Johnson's colourful descriptions of Tolkien and Lewis make me reconsider. We power on past craggy cliff faces as buzzards hang in the air above, before coming to a high opening where Worcestershire fans out in front of us and the houses we walked by an hour ago now resemble distant Monopoly pieces. As we circle around the track to the 1,302ft summit of North Hill, Great Malvern looks particularly handsome from above. 'The idea that The Shire, where the hobbits are from, is a nice, safe little place, is a bit like Malvern,' says Johnson as we put our bags down to admire the view. 'Obviously other places claim they're what The Shire was based on. But it's certainly based around a small English rural town.' After descending the 99 steps back down to the street level, there are plenty more reasons to stick around. Located down a narrow side street, the superb Carnival Records was named – to the surprise of almost everyone here – one of the best vinyl record shops in the world earlier this year. Heavy on the melted Montgomery cheddar, Belle Vue's Faun plates up one of the finest cheese toasties I've ever had, while back on Church Street Weavers of Malvern pour a smorgasbord of local real and craft ales. And for perhaps the most visceral experience of the hills, the nearby Morgan Motor Company offers the opportunity to take a windswept solo drive around the Malverns in one of their iconic hand-built sports cars. But whether Tolkien took his inspiration from here or not, this tremendously underrated corner of England should be seen in person, and not simply read about. How to do it Direct return trains from London Paddington to Great Malvern start from £63 with Great Western Rail. Double rooms at the Mount Pleasant Hotel cost from £250 per night in season, and £112 out of season. James March was a guest of Visit the Malverns.
