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Brazil Has Never Had a Black Woman on Its Supreme Court. This Movement May Change That
Brazil Has Never Had a Black Woman on Its Supreme Court. This Movement May Change That
In a short Brazilian film starring an all-Black cast, a young girl frees her imagination on what she can become when she grows up. Dressing up like her role models, she plays with becoming a singer like Iza, an athlete like Daiane dos Santos, and a writer like Conceição Evaristo — all successful Brazilian Black women. At some point, her mother asks, “But you know you could be a Supreme Court Minister, too, right?” The daughter becomes confused. “Like who, mom,” she asks. The young girl has never seen a Black woman like her occupying such a powerful position. And a growing movement in Brazil aims to change that.
2023-09-30 01:56
The only three recipes you need to seize the summer
The only three recipes you need to seize the summer
As the weather warms up and the nights get longer, there’s nothing better than a light and colourful summery feast in the garden, balcony, doorstep or basically any perch in the sun you can find. And there’s few who do it quite as well as Angela Clutton, author of Borough Market: The Knowledge. In her summer column for The Independent, she shares one of her all-time favourite salads: oregano-poached peaches, halloumi and hazelnuts. A mix of sweet and salty flavours, it’s simultaneously refreshing and completely beautiful on the plate. What’s summer without tomatoes? Terrible, that’s what. Clutton says the best seasonal toms need little more than olive oil and salt to bring out their supreme flavour and the salad options are inexhaustible. But one not to be missed is her Nicoise “bundles”. The classic Nicoise elements of anchovy, mayonnaise, capers and egg are piled abord little gem boats for ease of eating. Lastly, her labneh with watermelon, honey and mint is a recipe that straddles the boundary of sweet and savoury, perfect for those for whom dessert is not a priority. Her top tip is to always do more labneh than needed, as it’s such a useful thing to be able to reach for in the fridge. Equipped with these recipes, you’ll be dining al fresco – or faking it indoors if it, ahem, rains – all summer long. Oregano-poached peaches, halloumi and hazelnuts There are fresh herbs, there are dried herbs, and then there are frankly incredible dried herbs. Into that last camp fall dried herbs that are produced to exceptionally high standards and don’t just harness the flavour of the starting point, but elevate it. Those are the only dried herbs really worth having in your store cupboard. This recipe goes for poaching fresh peaches with dried oregano, which brings even more depth of flavour than fresh oregano would. Given the choice, I use one of the beautiful dried sprigs at Oliveology, but their ground oregano is lovely too. The poaching liquor is then reduced to a fragrantly sweet syrup for pouring over tender peach slices and fried halloumi, and finished with seasoned toasted nuts and mint. Perfect for a hot day. Serves: 2 as a main, 4 as a side or small plate Ingredients: 2 tsp dried oregano (or an Oliveology dried sprig) 1 tbsp honey 1 orange 2 peaches 40g skinned whole hazelnuts 1 tbsp fruity olive oil 6 sprigs of mint 225g halloumi Method: Pour 500ml water into a medium saucepan. Add the dried oregano (or oregano dried sprig), the honey and two broad strips of zest from the orange. Bring to the boil and, meanwhile, quarter and stone the peaches. Put them into the water, lower the heat to a simmer and sit a piece of baking paper on top. Simmer for 7-10 minutes until the peaches are fully tender. Use a slotted spoon to lift the peaches out and set aside. If their skins start to flake away as they cool, just peel them off. Strain the poaching liquor, discard the oregano and orange peel, then pour the poaching liquor back into the saucepan. Don’t worry if a few pieces of oregano are left in the liquid. Boil over a high heat for 10-15 minutes to reduce to a syrup – you are aiming for about 75ml syrup. While the poaching liquor reduces, toss the hazelnuts in the olive oil along with some salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper. Set a small dry frying pan over a low heat, then add the seasoned nuts and stir for 3 minutes or until they are just getting nicely toasted. Transfer to a bowl. Once they have cooled, roughly chop with the leaves from the mint sprigs. Cut the poached peach quarters into slices about 1cm thick. Once the syrup is almost sufficiently reduced, cut the halloumi into 1cm-thick slices. Set the same frying pan the nuts cooked in back onto the heat, then add the halloumi pieces turning each over after 2 minutes or so once they are browned. You might need to do this in two batches. Serve either on individual plates or on a large platter. Sit the halloumi on first, then arrange the peach slices prettily on top, scatter over the seasoned nut and mint mixture, and finish by spooning over your oregano-infused peach syrup. Niçoise bundles The classic niçoise salad is served here as individual bundles that are perfect for a summer lunch or starter. I’m giving you two versions: one layers up blitzed olives and capers with egg and an anchovy; for the other, flaked tuna sits on an olive bed with tarragon mayo. Their simplicity makes it important that each ingredient is chosen for maximum flavour. Perhaps especially the fish. I make these with (my favourite) Brindisa Ortiz anchovies and the same maker’s yellowfin tuna belly ‘ventresca, which in one bite of its long, tenderly rich hakes took me from thinking I didn’t really like tinned tuna to stockpiling it. Serves: 4 as a main or 8 as a small plate or starter Ingredients: 16 leaves of little gem lettuce and/or red chicory For the tarragon mayonnaise: 1 egg yolk, at room temperature 1½ tsp moscatel wine vinegar ¼ tsp English mustard powder 100ml sunflower oil 50ml mild olive oil 1 sprig of tarragon For the olive and tuna mix: ½ tsp raspberry vinegar 8 basil leaves 100g pitted black olives, drained weight 110g tinned yellowfin tuna For the egg, olive and anchovy mix: 2 hen’s eggs or 4 quail’s eggs 150g pitted black olives 2 tsp capers 1 garlic clove 7ml peppery olive oil, plus 1 tbsp for drizzling ½ lemon 8 anchovy fillets Method: Wash and dry the lettuce or red chicory leaves. For half of the little gem/chicory leaves: Make the mayonnaise by gently hand-whisking the egg yolk with a pinch each of salt and ground pepper. Stir in the vinegar and the mustard powder, then hand-whisk in both the oils — drop by drop to start with, then in a steady, thin stream — until you have a lovely thick, shiny mayonnaise. Check the seasoning, chop the tarragon leaves and stir through. Sprinkle a little raspberry vinegar, salt and pepper inside eight of the little gem / chicory leaves and line with a basil leaf. Chop the olives and sit them inside. Top with flaked tuna. Serve with the tarragon mayonnaise on top, or alongside to be spooned over. For the other half of the leaves: Hard-boil the 2 hen’s eggs (or 4 quail’s eggs) and set aside to cool. Put the olives, drained capers, peeled garlic, 75ml of olive oil and a good squeeze of lemon juice in a blender and blitz to a paste. Peel the hard-boiled eggs. Quarter them if hen’s, halve if quail’s. Spoon the oli relish inside the lettuce / chicory leaves, sit a piece of egg inside too and then over the top the whole anchovy fillet. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Serve the bundles on platters for people to help themselves, or portion up two of each type per person. Labneh with watermelon, honey and mint I like to serve this as part of a medley of salads on a hot day. Or – noting that it is really on the cusp of savoury or sweet – lean into the sweetness and hold back a little on the salt: as a dessert it is especially appreciated by anyone without a super-sweet tooth. Making your labneh is simplicity itself – it is, after all, just strained yoghurt – and a lovely thing to do, so long as you start at least six hours before wanting to eat it. Actually, every part of this recipe can be made ahead of time, chilled, then quickly assembled for serving at room temperature. Serves: 6 as part of a sharing feast Ingredients: 500g labneh made from 900g thick Greek yoghurt (see box) About 800g watermelon 2 tbsp olive oil ½ orange 1 tsp wild sumac 2 tbsp wild thyme honey Handful of mint Method: Spoon the labneh into a large serving bowl. Trim the ends of the watermelon and cut the fruit into triangles about 1cm thick. Mix the olive oil with the juice from the orange, half the sumac and a good pinch of salt. Get a griddle pan (or barbecue) good and hot, brush the watermelon pieces with the dressing and sit the pieces in a single layer in the pan (or on the grill). If using a griddle pan you will probably need to do this in two batches. Turn them over after a couple of minutes, when nicely charred underneath. Let the other side char, then lift the slices out to cool. Add any juices from the pan to your leftover oil, orange and sumac dressing. Whisk in the honey and the rest of the sumac. Add more salt. Sit the watermelon pieces on the labneh and pour over the dressing. Chop the mint and scatter over, then finish with a grinding of black pepper. You can visit Borough Market at 8 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1TL (020 7407 1002) or find more recipes online at boroughmarket.org.uk/recipes. Read More Three quick and easy vegan fakeaway recipes Budget Bites: Three light recipes that sing of summer What the hell is Scandinavian food? Lighter fish pie: Comfort food you won’t feel guilty for eating How to make Norwegian potato pancakes Rhubarb sticky buns for an idyllic Scandinavian afternoon tea
2023-07-03 13:52
What is Signal? The basics of the most secure messaging app.
What is Signal? The basics of the most secure messaging app.
The secure messaging app Signal has been around for years but, in 2021, it saw
2023-06-13 17:59
Ryan Bartlett Named Chief Technology Officer at Food and Ag Gene Editing Leader, Pairwise
Ryan Bartlett Named Chief Technology Officer at Food and Ag Gene Editing Leader, Pairwise
DURHAM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 11, 2023--
2023-07-11 22:28
Comic Con for Die-Hard Sports Fans? This Company Wants to Make It Happen
Comic Con for Die-Hard Sports Fans? This Company Wants to Make It Happen
Sports merchandise giant Fanatics Inc. is introducing a new events business in a bid to create a network
2023-07-13 20:47
How to pimp up your instant ramen (and save money)
How to pimp up your instant ramen (and save money)
There is something so wonderfully comforting about a bowl of ramen noodles, whatever the season,” says chef and TV presenter Shivi Ramoutar, author of Cook Clever. “This version uses packet ramen – don’t turn your nose up at it; I assure you that with the added flavours, veg and protein, it becomes something spectacular and amazingly easy to accomplish. This is one to elevate to your heart’s content – you really can’t go too OTT with this. Have it slurpy or dry as you like.” Pimped packet ramen Serves: 2 Ingredients: For the base: 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil 1 spring onion (white bulb discarded), snipped 1 tsp garlic purée 2 mugs of boiling water 2 packets of ramen noodles (or any other instant noodles) OR 300g ready cooked noodles and 1 chicken stock cube, crumbled OR 300g ready cooked noodles and 2 sachets of miso soup mix For the protein (choose from): 1 mug of frozen, fresh or cooked chicken strips 1 mug of frozen, fresh or cooked seafood 1 mug of frozen or fresh gyoza dumplings ½ block of firm tofu, broken into smaller pieces For the veg: 250g packet of pak choi, leaves separated ½ mug of frozen vegetables Toppers (choose as many as you like): Soft-boiled egg halves Drizzles of chilli oil 1 tbsp sesame seeds Fresh coriander sprigs Fresh chillies Kimchi Drizzles of sriracha Method: 1. Heat the oil in a small saucepan over a medium heat and cook the spring onion and garlic purée for a couple minutes, stirring often until aromatic. 2. Add the boiling water, along with the dried noodles and their flavour sachets, or the cooked noodles with the crumbled stock cube or the miso soup sachets. Stir together and cook for a minute or two until the liquid is mostly absorbed. 3. Add your chosen protein and the veg and cook until the protein is just cooked through, about five minutes or so. If you are using fresh chicken or seafood it will take less time. If using tofu, add in the last few minutes so it doesn’t disintegrate. 4. Serve into bowls and go crazy with the toppers. ‘Cook Clever: One Chop, No Waste, All Taste’ by Shivi Ramoutar (HarperCollins, £20). Read More The dish that defines me: Mallini Kannan’s baked honey-soy salmon Breakfast for dinner and four other things you should cook this week How to save money in the kitchen according to top chefs Money-saving chilli con carne that absolutely slaps with flavour Do it for the Gram: Speedy but spectacular goat’s cheese linguine Where to find the best Guinness in London – and how to spot a bad one
2023-08-16 13:48
'Hamilton Sing-Along' is coming to Disney+
'Hamilton Sing-Along' is coming to Disney+
Disney+ is releasing a sing-along version of Hamilton tomorrow, providing a valuable resource to everyone
2023-06-30 10:22
All the AI announcements from Google I/O 2023
All the AI announcements from Google I/O 2023
Google had a lot to announce at this year's Google I/O event. And most of
2023-05-11 05:29
How to save money in the kitchen according to top chefs
How to save money in the kitchen according to top chefs
As the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite, many of us are looking for ways to save money where we can. Food shops are one of the main things that have become more expensive in recent years – so are there any easy ways to save a bit of cash in the kitchen? Chefs are on hand to share their top money-saving tips… Make simple swaps Suzanne Mulholland, author of The Batch Lady: Cooking On A Budget (HQ, £22) recommends letting go of loyalty to brand names. For example, she says: “You’re not going to notice a difference in flour – yet it’s about a fifth of the price of a branded one.” Mulholland continues: “If you love to eat haddock, then buy hake instead. If you like to eat cod, buy coley instead – monkfish? Buy seacat. These are all very similar fishes, but they’re just not the most popular ones everybody else buys. “You wouldn’t actually notice the difference between eating a different type of fish, because hake is very much like haddock – yet because it’s not that popular, it’s half the price. It’s also locally sourced, because these are all British fish.” Maunika Gowardhan, author of Tandoori Home Cooking (Hardie Grant, £25), also advocates cost-effective swaps. “If it’s a chicken recipe, I normally use chicken thighs over chicken breasts,” she says. “It’s a cheaper cut of meat, and it’s a more flavourful cut of meat.” If you’re a keen baker, The Great British Bake Off’s Kim-Joy (Bake Me A Cat, Quadrille, £16.99) has a top tip for you. As butter “has become so much more expensive”, she recommends “using more vegetable oil in baking”. Make a plan “Most people are cooking blindly,” says chef Max La Manna (You Can Cook This!, Ebury Publishing, £22), “Pulling ingredients together and cooking – they do the same when they go to a supermarket, they buy ingredients – and a lot of waste happens when people don’t have a plan.” La Manna’s top tip is firstly “cook the food you already have before you go out and buy more”. After that, it’s all about making a plan. “Shop smarter,” says La Manna. “Create lists when you go to the supermarket, and stick to that list.” Make your ingredients last longer Throwing away produce that’s gone off is money down the drain – so La Manna is keen for us all to make ingredients last longer. “You can extend the shelf life of ingredients – for instance, most people throw away bag salad or herbs,” he says. “What I do with my bag salad, once I bring it home I’ll wash it and also let it sit in cold water – because it firms up and it gets crisp and it stays fresh a little longer.” Once he’s washed the salad, he divides the bag of leaves – putting half in a container in a tea towel (“to absorb some of the moisture”) and use within the next three or four days. “The other half I cook in hot water – blanch it really quickly, squeeze out the water, then I have this kind of pre-cooked spinach. Roll that up tightly, place it in the freezer and then when I need something in a week’s time – a stew, a soup, a curry, a stir-fry – pop those in.” You can also reduce waste by knowing how to store all your other produce properly. “That’s where a lot of waste is coming in, people put ingredients away, they turn their back and the food’s already gone bad,” says La Manna. “Know how to store your produce and where to store it – potatoes should be kept in a cupboard somewhere dry, dark, cool but well-ventilated so they don’t begin to sprout. Same thing with onions. Bananas like to have their own space – bananas don’t like to be with other ingredients, because they release a chemical and will ripen quicker.” Instead of throwing away bananas on the turn, La Manna says: “It’s great for the freezer, [or] use them in smoothies. Use them as a batter for cupcakes or cakes.” Use every part of your ingredients “With Chinese food, there really is a ‘no waste’ policy,” says Kwoklyn Wan (One Wok, One Pot, Quadrille, £16.99) – and he suggests this ethos could help you save money in the kitchen. “Even when you peel your onions, use the onion skin in the stock” – along with anything else you might normally throw away, such as the top ends of carrots or fish heads. “That’s so important – if people learn to use every part of that ingredient… You can have a fantastic dish with all the best bits, and at the end of it, you’ve got this fantastic soup base. All you’ve got to do is add really cheap noodles into it, and maybe a few veggies and tofu, some chicken – whatever. “You’ve got this lovely broth – and that’s your next meal completely free, or near enough.” Be smart with your ingredients Most of us are guilty of buying an exciting-sounding ingredient for our store cupboard and only using it once. If you really want to save money in the kitchen, it’s all about being smart with what you buy – and making sure you’re going to use it a lot. Lydia Vernon, co-author of Caught Snackin’ (Hamlyn, £20), says that on Caught Snackin’s wildly popular TikTok channel,”we like to keep with the same ingredients for each recipe. “We stay around things like mixed herbs, garlic powder, plain flour – those kind of staples you have in your cupboard all the time, which are going to be cost-effective.” Food writer Gurdeep Loyal (Mother Tongue, Fourth Estate, £26) takes this one step further, saying: “My advice would be to equip your pantry with four or five very flavour-forward ingredients – things such as tamarind paste, things such as brown miso, things such as fennel seeds, for example, or something like tandoori masala powder. “Because these four or five pantry staples can transform anything really simple and basic – just adding a spoonful of this is going to amplify your cooking into hundreds of different directions. “It means you can use very basic supermarket staples, then turn them into something incredible” – without having to spend money on fancy new ingredients every week. Read More The dish that defines me: Mallini Kannan’s baked honey-soy salmon Breakfast for dinner and four other things you should cook this week Money-saving chilli con carne that absolutely slaps with flavour How to pimp up your instant ramen (and save money) Do it for the Gram: Speedy but spectacular goat’s cheese linguine Where to find the best Guinness in London – and how to spot a bad one
2023-08-16 13:57
North Carolina governor signs bill adjusting new abortion law before it goes into effect
North Carolina governor signs bill adjusting new abortion law before it goes into effect
North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law significant changes to the state's recently passed 12-week abortion ban before it is set to go into effect Saturday.
2023-06-30 10:20
The Dyson Airwrap is an impressive multi-styler that's by no means essential
The Dyson Airwrap is an impressive multi-styler that's by no means essential
UPDATE: Nov. 7, 2023, 5:00 a.m. EST We've updated this review after testing out the
2023-11-07 18:58
Liz Weston: Safer ways to raid your retirement, if you have to
Liz Weston: Safer ways to raid your retirement, if you have to
Generally, it’s best to leave the money in your retirement accounts safely tucked away
2023-06-26 21:56