Chicken, orange and fennel traybake and ringing bells
There are people who set off alarms bells — figuratively and metaphorically —and there are people who don’t. Obviously I fall into the ‘set off loudly’ category. A few years ago, I ended up having to ask our Mayor to intervene with a letter to the area Chief of Police because I was being stopped virtually every single time I left the house. It wasn’t all bad though: I once had a very enlightening conversation, pre-Brexit, with a sandwichless picnic type of police officer who took the time to explain, quite condescendingly I thought, that my GB driving licence was not valid in France because Britain was not in Europe and never had been. There’s not a lot you can say to that.
My perennial aura of culpability follows me everywhere, including security and customs, both of which I seem incapable of negotiating without a full body search and scan and lengthy interrogation. I was once detained for some time at the Eurostar terminal in Waterloo while they searched my luggage at length. Bizarrely, this included going through and watching a load of perfectly innocent films on videotape that I had brought with me from France. This was before mobile ‘phones and my mother, imagining that I’d missed my train, gave up and went home without me.
A few days ago, Gatwick airport gave me a chance to flex my wannabe hooligan muscles once again when my baggage and I were stopped no fewer than three times. Poor Léo, who had gone ahead without a single hitch, had to wait for me on The Other Side, and was forced to explain, rather long-sufferingly, that if he was still hanging around it was because he was waiting for his ‘anarchist mother’; they immediately took pity and even offered him a chair.
Ingredients (serves 4)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 spring onions, peeled and sliced
2 bulbs fennel, roughly chopped
2 chilli peppers, sliced
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 handful sage leaves
1 large orange, peeled and cut into segments
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 teaspoon curry powder (optional)
1 tablespoon honey
4 Comments
apuginthekitchen
Wow, what is it that makes them search and detain you. How frustrating it has to be. The recipe sounds just wonderful very light and fresh, You are such a rebel maybe you do have that aura, maybe customs agents get some sort of psychic training and recognize it.
The Healthy Epicurean
Luc says it’s because I look like a potential drug mule, which I could maybe understand if I were 30 years younger! 😀
apuginthekitchen
Oh no, a drug mule sorry to laugh but if I saw you in the airport that wouldn’t even enter my mind. 😂😂
The Healthy Epicurean
Well thank you! It’s reassuring to know that not everyone sees me as a potential villain 😂😂