CASHEW MISO CREAM WITH YOUNG VEGETABLES
AS DC COMICS’ HIT BATMAN SPIN OFF SHOW PENNYWORTH RETURNS FOR A SECOND SERIES, DANIELLE DE WOLFE SPEAKS WITH STARS PALOMA FAITH AND JACK BANNON TO LEARN WHAT’S IN STORE FOR FANS
(Serves 4)
INGREDIENTS: ½ baby romanesco; 1 baby cucumber; 1 baby gem lettuce; 4 (yellow) butter beans; 2 Paris market carrots; 2 courgette flowers (if available); 2 purple carrots; 2 hakurei turnips; 1 baby Chioggia (candy stripe) beetroot and its leaves; 1 pink turnip; 6 amaranth leaves (if available); 6 blueberries; 4 purple basil leaves; 4 shiso leaves (if available); 4 Greek basil tips; olive oil, to serve.
For the cashew miso cream: 250g raw cashew nuts; 220ml water; 50g chickpea miso or a sweet, nutty brown rice miso; ¼tsp salt
METHOD:
1. Soak the cashews in cold water for at least two hours or overnight.
2. Drain, then combine with the water, miso and salt and blend on high speed until smooth. It may take a while.
3. Clean and slice the vegetables, keeping edible leaves on where possible. All vegetables in this particular salad are raw, sliced thinly or into florets or left whole depending on the vegetable. It’s about taking a whole bunch of beautiful, in-season vegetables and treating them like crudites, dragging them through the cashew dip.
4. Dress a plate with the cashew miso cream and arrange the vegetables on top. Dress with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste.
FAITH is not one to stand on the sidelines.
However, during her most recent filming stint for Pennyworth series two, the performer had no choice but to let someone else undertake the action sequences.
She has recently given birth to a healthy baby girl following a planned C-section, but speaking to her prior to the new arrival, she reflects on being pregnant during filming in the midst of a pandemic. “I had a whole new experience,” recalls Paloma, 39.
“Throughout the bit where we returned to film, which was after the first lockdown, I was in a pregnancy, so I was growing bigger and bigger by the minute.
“And then as I grew, so did the number of body doubles.
“Because I’m somebody who likes to do all my stunts myself, it was quite difficult at times.
“’I was like ‘can I just do it?’ and the stunt coordinator was very worried about his insurance.
“So, I just kept getting put to one side and [had to] watch someone else do the mutilation that I wished I was doing myself.”
Adored by DC Comics fans on both sides of the Atlantic, Pennyworth is a dark Batman spin-off packed full of twists and turns.
The tale of the Caped Crusader’s loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth, played by The Imitation Game star Jack Bannon, the series sees Paloma flex her acting muscles as sociopathic Raven Society member Bet Sykes. Villian Sykes is an anarchist with sociopathic tendencies and Paloma says she drew inspiration from a variety of sources ahead of filming, including serial killers.
With Pennyworth following the misadventures of Alfred, a former SAS soldier, during his 20s, series one saw him form a security company and undertake work for young billionaire Thomas Wayne, the father of Batman star Bruce Wayne, played by Our Girl and Fleabag actor Ben Aldridge.
After initially becoming a target of the fascist Raven Society – a group conspiring to take over the British government, the action became frenetic, as Alfred found himself fighting against them, helping an American group known as the No Name League.
Series two picks up one year after the events of the first, where EngPALOMA land finds itself in a civil war. Alfred and his SAS friends lead a resistance force in North London and are tasked with holding the city, but really he yearns for a new life in the United States. According to Paloma, her recalcitrant character is “promoted for her loyalty,” in the new series, something that brings out the worst in her.
“She flourishes but she starts to take the law into her own hands and create her own rules – irrespective of what side she’s on – and sort of be the ruler, or dictator, of her own mini universe.” Paloma notes that her days spent at a northern university put her in good stead for Bet’s accent. “I do keep saying to people I really worry that it’s too
Coronation Street.
I keep saying ‘I’m trying to be high-brow! I’m trying to be Alan Bennett!’
“I spent three years doing a dance degree when I was 18 in Leeds, so it did have a big impact on me. “Observing northern colloquialisms – and obviously because I’m a touring musician, I go back there quite a lot and revisit and check in that some of the slang is still maintained and stuff.
“But it feels every time I go too northern, I get called in for additional dialogue recording to overdub the actual words.
“They’re like ‘we don’t understand what ‘owt’ is. Can you just overdub ‘nothing’?”
Despite its period setting, Paloma thinks the show is still relevant to today’s issues. “I feel like its origins are always influenced by the time in which it’s written or authored.
“So, for me, when I watch the show, there’s definite acknowledgement of current political climates on a global level and there’s parallels, because unfortunately, history repeats itself over and over again and humanity’s not clever enough to stop making the same mistakes.”
Starring Jason Flemyng (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) as Lord James Harwood and Emma Paetz (Gentleman Jack) as roving journalist Martha Kane, a host of familiar faces
are set to return for series two.
“The events of season one have taken their toll,” notes Jack, 29, of his character’s storyline.
“[Alfie] is flourishing in the sense that he’s running a large nightclub in the middle of Soho, which is a neutral zone.
“He wants to get enough money together to get to America and start afresh. He’s sort of a bit disillusioned with life and certainly not the kind of happy chappie he was at the start of season one.”
It is a show entirely removed from the Gotham that Batman fans traditionally know and love, focussing on an alternative London that combines fictitious events such as public executions with stylised elements of both the 50s and 60s.
“Obviously Michael Caine was a big influence,” notes Jack of his character. Caine played Alfred in several of the Batman films. “He was also the archetypal film star of the 60s, so we were able to watch Harry Palmer films and stuff like that.
“We tried to get more and more slang and things like that in there, it’s been quite fun.
“But obviously, because it’s made for an American audience, you can’t go too obscure because they don’t really understand what you’re on about half the time.”
I worry that it’s too Coronation Street...I’m trying to be Alan Bennett Paloma Faith on her character’s accent
Pennyworth Series 2 is on Starzplay now
IF YOU’RE spending lockdown caring for a loved one with dementia, don’t expect any solace from the movies. During the past few months it has felt like every third film I’ve streamed has been about this horrible illness. Soon-to-be-released dramas Supernova and The Father should feature heavily at this year’s award ceremonies.
And before Christmas, we had brilliant Aussie horror Relic, Netflix’s Dick Johnson Is Dead and that heart-breaking Jack Charlton documentary.
Now, the condition has reached the gangster movie. Here, Tom Hardy’s Al Capone is suffering from paresis, a form of dementia brought on by syphilis.
Confused and incontinent, the 47-year-old crime lord has seen his prison sentence for tax evasion cut short on compassionate grounds.
Now he’s prowling through his sprawling estate in Florida in a bathrobe, unable to distinguish fantasy and reality, with family and flunkies terrified and the Feds watching his every move (insert your own Donald Trump gag here).
They suspect Capone hid a huge stash of cash before his arrest and are hoping he lets its location slip. If you’re familiar with Hardy’s work, it will come as no surprise that this involves a whole lot of acting. His Capone is a collection of grunts, roars and wild-eyed stares at his poor wife Mae (Linda Cardellini).
This will be more than enough for his legion of fans but I suspect a quieter performance would have been a far more compelling one.
In The Father, I really felt for Anthony (a restrained Anthony Hopkins) when he couldn’t recall where he’d put his favourite watch.
A $10m hoard and gold-plated Tommy gun weren’t quite as relatable.
On Netflix now
(Hardy’s) Capone is a collection of grunts, roars and wild-eyed stares at his poor wife