About a year back, Milton Mermikides sent me a jar of Marmite. I think he was of the impression that it would freak me out. Instead, I made the following spaghetti dish with it.

In Nigella Lawson’s book ‘Kitchen‘, she has a very simple version of this recipe, to which I’ve added a few extra items. Marmite (or Vegemite, if you have the quasi-Australian equivalent) is a rather salty condiment, and Amanda Palmer despises it. Therefore, you might want to consider preparing yourself for the eventual taste if you’ve never tried either before!

I generally make this late at night, often after doing podcast-editing, because it’s very quick and goes well with wholemeal toast (as you might expect). Serves one, so add more to the ingredients if you have others who want to give it a try.

200g spaghetti (I usually just grab a handful of spaghetti from the jar and throw it in)
1 tsp butter
Handful of seeded olives
1/4 onion (diced)
Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
Parmesan cheese
Approx 1-2 tsp marmite.

Cook the spaghetti in boiling water. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the Marmite, cherry tomatoes, olives and onion (and anything else you’d like to try – I’ve heard anchovies might go well with this). Just before the spaghetti is done, take a couple of tbsps of the cooking water and add it to the Marmite/butter mixture. Drain the pasta and mix in the Marmite sauce. Serve with plenty of freshly grated Parmesan and black pepper.

Other suggestions include fresh flat-leaf parsley, a handful of toasted pinenuts and freshly ground black pepper. I’m also very fond of coriander, as the herb-taste adds an extra zing.

This particular pie isn’t standard in Australia, but it seems to be a fave in the USA. I’ve added a slight spin with the base, since I’m fond of the Arnott’s Mint Slice.

The Base:

350g choc-mint biscuits – I used these ones, but notice that you’ll have to use the ‘value pack’ to get enough, or two ‘regular’ sizes

50g butter

The Filling:

150g marshmallows (doesn’t matter as to the size or colours of them, you might even like to use the ones with coconut topping)

125ml milk

2 drops of peppermint essence

2 drops of green food dye (optional)

375ml double cream

(additional if wished – 4 drops creme de menthe – I don’t add this)

Using a 25cm fluted tart tin for the whole creation, blend the biscuits in a food processor and add the butter once they’re essentially crumbly. Blend again until the mixture begins to clump together. You’ll find due to the filling of the chocolate biscuits that it gets pretty cohesive very quickly.

Butter/flour the tart tin to avoid sticking and line the base with the mixture, using the back of a spoon to keep it smooth. Place in the fridge to chill and harden.

Melt the marshmallows in a saucepan with the milk over a gentle heat (careful with this!) and once the milk foams (not boils), take off the heat and mix until smooth. Put into a heatproof bowl and at this point, add the peppermint essence, food dye and creme de menthe if you wish. Leave to cool.

During this time, whisk the cream until it peaks and add the marshmellow mix. Pour into the pie crust and smooth with a spatula, place entire pie in the fridge, covered, to chill overnight / 4 hours until firm.

I do a topping of halved strawberries, but crumbling a biscuit can work too!

If you’d like to know more about the origins of ‘blue moons’ (and the mythology), then you should read the Bad Astronomer on the subject, at ‘2009 says goodbye with a non-blue lunar eclipse‘.

Ingredients (serves two to three)

1 dose of vodka  – substitute bitter lemon soda or lime soda  for mocktail
1 / 4 of a lemon juice
2-3 drops of triple sec – substitute orange zest
2-3 drops Blue Curacao liqueur – substitute splash of blueberry juice, blackberry juice or even blue food colouring
champagne – substitute soda water.

Shaker, ice and flutes.

Method:

Mix all ingredients except champagne / soda water in a shaker with ice; put in flute glass and fill remainder with champagne

Ingredients (serves 10)

1 x 85g pkt Aeroplane quick-set dark cherry or strawberry jelly
1 x packet of 8 small jam rollettes, dice into into 1cm-thick round slices
1 x small punnet of fresh strawberries (washed, hulled and halved)
2 x 450g frozen berry mix (I used McCain Season’s Choice Blueberries and Raspberries)
500ml (2 cups) vanilla custard
250ml (1 cup) thickened cream, whipped
1 x Kit Kat bar (four fingers)

Two bowls – one large (about 28cm diameter) and two small mixing bowls (one for jelly, one for the cream). Blender (for cream whipping), rolling pin (to crush Kit Kat) and large spoon.

Method

Chop up rollettes into 1cm rounds, cover the base of the large bowl and run half-way up the sides. Prepare the jelly as per packet instructions in smaller bowl; crush and crumble two fingers of the Kit Kat and sprinkle into jelly. Place jelly in refrigerator for about an hour to set.

When jelly is set, spoon it over the rollettes in the large bowl. Top with custard and berries, leaving a few berries for decoration on top.

Spoon whipped cream over the trifle and top with remaining berries. Crush second half of Kit Kat and sprinkle on top to finish. Cool in fridge until served.