GUARDSMAN: Here is a rural fellow
That will not be denied your highness’ presence.
He brings you figs.
CLEOPATRA: Let him come in. (Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra) Continue reading “Fig and Walnut Tarte Tatin”
Category: Shakespeare
Quinces
For this post I am going to break my rule of literary chronology, leaving the early 18th century novel for the time being in order to revisit the late 16th century and an author who has featured frequently in this blog, namely Mr William Shakespeare. And the cause of this literary rewind is the quince, the strange, knobbly pear-like fruit which, as the Observer food writer Nigel Slater says, “can’t be eaten raw” and is “a devil to peel”. We have a quince tree in the garden and about a month ago my landlady challenged me to find some literary/culinary uses for the plethora of fruit that ripen and rot very quickly if not picked and made good use of; I like a challenge, so the research began.
Shakespeare the Vegetarian
I’m not suggesting that Shakespeare – or indeed any of his characters – was a vegetarian, but having a number of veggie friends and family-members who follow my blog, and being rather partial to meat-free days myself, I decided to research what Shakespeare has to say about the eating of vegetables. Continue reading “Shakespeare the Vegetarian”
A Shakespeare Feast
Something a bit different this week. I thought – following the suggestion of a friend – that it would be a nice idea to get together a group of my friends who live locally and have been complimentary about my blog, and feed them. Thus, the Shakespeare Feast was designed.