Clip Art…Clip art is a type of graphic art. Pieces are pre-made images used to illustrate any medium. Today, clip art is used extensively and comes in many forms, both electronic and printed. However, most clip art today is created, distributed, and used in a digital form.

Artisan Cheese…By ‘artisan’, it is meant cheeses made predominantly by small producers using traditional methods, and often making only one cheese and with the milk from their own herd. France has long been the holder of the title for producing the most Artisan cheeses but now… the Brits hold that title although they don’t consume as much cheese as our neighbours…Across the channel, the average Frenchman consumes an average of 25 kilograms of cheese a year…

Quartermaster…Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions.

Farthingale…A farthingale is one of several structures used under Western European women’s clothing in the 16th and 17th centuries to support the skirts in the desired shape and enlarge the lower half of the body. It originated in Spain in the fifteenth century.

Artists…An artist is a person who creates novels, poems, films, or other things which can be considered works of art. His books are enormously easy to read, yet he is a serious artist. An artist is a performer such as a musician, actor, or dancer.

Tarts…A tart is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry base with an open-top not covered with pastry. The pastry is usually shortcrust pastry; the filling may be sweet or savoury, though modern tarts are usually fruit-based, sometimes with custard.

Tarts are thought to have either come from a tradition of layering food or to be a product of Medieval pie-making. Enriched dough (i.e. shortcrust) is thought to have been first commonly used in 1550, approximately 200 years after pies.

Rythym of my Heart…Rod Stewart…

Dart…Modern darts were invented by a carpenter from Lancashire named Brian Gamlin in 1896. However, history goes back much further. Darts began as a military pastime originating in England during the medieval era in the first couple of decades of the fourteenth century.

Artichoke…The artichoke is a thistle plant in the genus Cynara, and the globe or French artichoke is the most common variety of this green vegetable. To a novice, a fresh artichoke can look a little intimidating, and the thorny vegetable takes some preparation to get to the meaty heart. While artichoke hearts are canned and frozen, they’re definitely different from the fresh version, which can be steamed, baked, boiled, or grilled…Artichoke needs to be cooked before eating, typically by baking, boiling, braising, grilling, microwaving, or roasting.

Though they share a name, artichoke and Jerusalem artichoke (or sunchoke) are not closely related. Both plants are members of the aster family, but they split from there. The artichoke is of the genus Cynara, which includes the cardoon. The Jerusalem artichoke is in the Helianthus genus and is a species of sunflower. Additionally, the edible part of a Jerusalem artichoke is the tuber (or root). It is eaten raw or cooked and has a texture much like a potato but with a sweet, crunchy chestnut flavour.

Art Garfunkel…

Art Deco...Art Deco is a popular design style of the 1920s and ’30s characterized especially by sleek geometric or stylized forms and by the use of man-made materials. The main characteristics of Art Deco architecture are its sleek, linear, often rectangular geometric forms arranged and broken up by curved ornamental elements. A series of setbacks creating a stepped outline helped create the monolithic appearance of typical Art Deco façades.

The Art of Destruction…for which “The Who” was famed for…

Steak Tartare…

Steak tartare is a dish of raw ground beef or horse meat. It is usually served with onions, capers, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and other seasonings, often presented separately, to be added to taste. It is often served with a raw egg yolk on top…so many flavours I like but also something I am hesitant to eat but it always looks so delicious and is a very popular dish…

The first recipe for steak tartare appeared in 1938 when Prosper Montagné included it in the bible of gastronomy, the Larousse Gastronomique encyclopedia…although there are many tales of earlier versions… despite its huge popularity in France, steak tartare is not actually French in origin. It was introduced throughout Europe in the 17th century by Russian ships and is thought to come originally from the area covered by modern-day Mongolia (hence the name tartare or Tartar).

This is my take on a tartare and one I love to eat…

Beetroot Tartare.

Ingredients:

• 160 gm of cooked beetroot.
• 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp of double cream

For Fried Capers:
• 10 capers
• Oil to fry about 3 tbsp.

For the crispbread:
• 2 very thin slices of stale bread
• 1 tbsp of olive oil.

Let’s Cook!

Make the crispbreads by cutting the bread into squares allowing 3 to 4 squares per person.

Heat the grill on its highest setting and put the bread on a tray and drizzle with the oil. Grill on each side for 1-2 mins until crisp and golden being careful not to burn (like I did)

To make the tartare, finely chop half the beetroot and blitz the other half with the olive oil to make a rough paste, and then combine with the chopped beetroot and cream and season to taste.

Rinse the capers and pat dry then heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat add the capers and fry for 30 seconds until they have started to open up then drain on kitchen paper.

To serve: Place a 6-8cm ring on a plate and put in some beetroot mix then remove the ring.
Garnish with capers and crispbread…

Sand Leek “Art”

Art’ is a curious ornamental cultivar that bears umbels that open in early summer. Each purple flower is held on a long wiry stem. These umbels develop bulbils at their base.

Thank you for joining me today on Saturday Snippets I hope you have enjoyed the prompt”Art” as always I look forward to your comments xx