
Rukmini Iyer's quick and easy recipe for gildas in carriages
Gildas are such a lovely pre-dinner snack: really good olives and anchovies on a stick, with any number of variations, such as artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, bits of cheese … The one I had most recently, at Brett in Glasgow, was beyond wonderful, and featured chicken fat-topped croutons and homemade green chilli sauce with plump Perelló olives and anchovies. Inspired by this, I made a lemon-spiked green chilli and artichoke tapenade for hot focaccia, topped with the same excellent olives and the best anchovies.
I don't usually specify brands in my recipes, but when there are so few ingredients, it really is worth getting the ones recommended below as a treat. They're very rich, too, so a few go a long way.
Prep 15 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 6 as a starter or pre-drink snack
250g focaccia
125g jarred artichokes in olive oil (drained weight), plus 25ml oil from the jar1 tsp sea salt flakes
Juice of ½ lemon1-2 large green chillies, depending on your tolerance to heat150g tinned green olives (drained weight; from a 350g tin) – I like Perelló1-2 47½g tins anchovies in oil (27g drained weight) – I like Ortiz
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. If the focaccia is part-baked, cook it according to the packet instructions. Once cool enough to handle, cut the focaccia into 3cm-wide x 7cm-long x 1½cm-deep pieces (essentially long and wide enough to hold two slices of olive, as pictured). Put the focaccia pieces on a baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes, until crisp.
Meanwhile, roughly blitz the artichokes, olive oil from the jar, salt, lemon juice and chillies in a high-speed blender or food processor to make a rough paste, rather than a smooth puree.
Drain and cut the olives in half and open the tins of anchovies. Once the croutons are ready, spread them immediately with the artichoke tapenade, then arrange two olive halves and half a piece of anchovy on top. Leave to cool for five minutes, then serve warm with drinks.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Sun
44 minutes ago
- The Sun
DIY jobs Brits hate the most revealed including leaky taps and cleaning behind the fridge
THE most-postponed home maintenance jobs in British homes include servicing boilers, clearing gutters, and cleaning behind the fridge. A poll of 2,000 homeowners revealed the top 20 overlooked tasks around the home, with replacing shower heads, draught-proofing doors and windows, and cleaning vents and fans also featuring on the list. 1 It emerged more than one in 10 (12 per cent) think about these jobs on a daily basis – even if they rarely get around to actually doing them. And 20 per cent admitted they care more about how their house looks than the maintenance below the surface. Nearly a third (31 per cent) prioritise aesthetic tasks like painting walls or hanging pictures over functional ones like bleeding radiators or servicing boilers. Jessica Rawstron, engineer at British Gas, which commissioned the research, said: 'Keeping on top of the little things around the house might not seem urgent, but it can save homeowners a lot of time, money, and stress in the long run. 'Summer can be a good time to catch up on home maintenance tasks that have been forgotten or delayed, with boiler servicing a prime example – especially before colder weather returns. 'Think of it as an MOT for your boiler – it helps identify and resolve any potential problems early, and by booking one in the summer you can have peace of mind that your heating is in full working order before you need it during the colder months.' According to the research, two thirds of respondents would only take action on a home maintenance task if the problem became visible. And 38 per cent of people who have had something go wrong around the home had been putting off fixing it for ages, only for it to then break completely – with 31 per cent of people who have put off a job admitting this left them with a bigger, costlier problem down the line. The top reasons people put off these little jobs are lack of skills (27 per cent), the cost (26 per cent), and a lack of time (25 per cent). But 21 per cent of those polled via OnePoll worry about making the issue worse, while 15 per cent have looked at the weather forecast and decided to wait for a different day. British Gas has created a home maintenance checklist to give homeowners handy reminders for when tasks need doing throughout the year – whether that's the best time to bleed radiators or a date in the diary to sense check the thermostat settings and consider a smart tech upgrade. Spokesperson Jessica added: 'A dripping tap or a patch of damp may seem minor now but left unchecked they can quickly turn into much bigger, and more expensive, problems. 'Regular maintenance not only protects your property but also helps preserve its value. 'Whether you own or rent, staying on top of small fixes is one of the simplest ways to avoid nasty surprises and keep your home running reliably and efficiently. 'With seasonal offers available, summer is a sensible time to make sure everything's in good working order before colder weather returns.' Top 20 home maintenance jobs Brits put off gutters 2. Cleaning behind the fridge 3. Fixing a leaky tap 4. Fixing a squeaky door 5. Replacing a toilet seat 6. Servicing the boiler 7. Bleeding radiators 8. Installing a new tap 9. Cleaning vents and fans 10. Replacing kitchen appliances 11. Replacing a light bulb 12. Replacing a showerhead 13. Repairing a roof leak 14. Changing a door lock 15. Installing a doorbell 16. Installing curtain rods 17. Repairing plasterboard 18. Weatherproofing windows and doors 19. Unblocking a sink or toilet 20. Building a garden shed


The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Children's books should reflect the diverse world they live in
Regarding gen Z parents not reading to their children (Letters, 5 June), we must also consider what children are offered to read. It's not just about reading more, but about stories that feel relevant, spark curiosity and reflect real lives. Many parents we work with say that books often feel repetitive, irrelevant or dominated by the same voices. When children and parents see themselves and their communities in stories, they enjoy reading more, which supports emotional development and academic success. Yet diversity in children's books is falling. The latest CLPE report shows that ethnic minority main characters dropped from 14% in 2022 to 7% in 2023, despite nearly 40% of schoolchildren in England being from those backgrounds. Our study with the University of Manchester, due to be published later this year, highlights how representation boosts Black children's confidence and enjoyment of reading. Diverse stories help children build empathy, understanding and emotional literacy. If we want families to read more, we need books that truly reflect the world we live Ehigie Founder, Imagine Me Stories, Dr Nicola Lester Lecturer in psychology, University of Manchester Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.


The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Kid rotting': why parents are letting their children go wild this summer
Name: Summer kid rotting. Age: The name is new, but long school summer holidays started spreading in the 1840s, thanks to the US educational reformer Horace Mann. Appearance: Laidback and a little messy. What's this Kid Rot then? Does Kid Rock have a brother? No, it's a 2025 way of describing 'letting your kids do nothing in the summer holidays', also known as a 'wild summer'. American parents are fighting back against (or giving up on) expensive, overscheduled summers of camps and activities for their offspring. 'What if, some are daring to wonder, my kid does nothing?' the New York Times reported. A return to the old ways, huh? When I was young, we were sent out with a penknife, a tin of pipe tobacco and a bottle of dandelion and burdock on the day school broke up. It was strongly suggested we should not return home until 1 September. No, you weren't. No, OK, we weren't. We spent six weeks bored out of our minds, watching TV and fighting. We'd have loved expensive, overscheduled summers! Well, some US parents are sick of paying through the nose to keep their kids out of trouble – one interviewed by the NYT spent $40,000 (£30,000) on occupying her three children for eight weeks. Inflation is making summer camps unaffordable for many: a survey found 30% of parents go into debt or defer payments. And while the situation isn't as bad in the UK, it's still a struggle for parents: research last year found UK summer childcare costs £1,000 a kid on average. Ouch! And kids don't even seem to enjoy organised summer stuff much: 'It was a fight every day to get them to go,' one parent told the NYT. 'He cried every single day at drop-off,' a journalist at the Cut said of her son's summer camp. Maybe a bit of boredom isn't so bad. Being bored is being rebranded as the better option for pushy parents. 'I tell them their kid will be more 'ahead' with their own experimentation,' a US educational consultant reassures her anxious clients. But 'their experimentation' will be whatever the algorithm decides – kids will be glued to YouTube, won't they? Yes, screen time is a concern, and if the little darlings manage to enable in-app purchases, your iPad could prove a more expensive babysitter than the fanciest camp. If they're going to be screen rotting all day every day, parents could at least put them to work - give them a bitcoin and a day-trading account and see how much money they can make by September. A bitcoin is currently worth 81 grand – you'd get a lot of fancy summer camps for that. Do say: 'We're having a wild summer.' Don't say: 'Yeah, we're going large at Glasto, microdosing in Mykonos, then an ayahuasca retreat in Peru. What are the kids doing? No idea.'