Eddie Izzard is a three time Emmy Award winner and an eight time nominee. He is also an accomplished stage performer, most notable for his celebrity impersonations of a multitude of famous people such as Elizabeth Taylor, Will Smith and Bjork.
Eddie Izzard has written several books, most notably The Boy Who Smiled Beads, The Jacket, A Long Way to Brugges, and A Concise Introduction to Lao Tzu.
He has also written and performed several feature length one man shows and for television, including an episode of the BBC series “The First 48”.
Izzard is known for his liberal views and advocacy for sex workers’ rights, and he is a strong advocate for marijuana legalization.
Eddie Izzard’s association with food began when he was performing in the Northern Ireland comedy circuit and noticed his audiences reactions to certain food.
In an interview he stated that the audience reactions seemed to follow his sense of humor, and it inspired him to try out some recipes of his own.
In his book, he describes the processes he went through when developing the recipes and describes the reaction of a photographer he took pictures of, Martin Parr. Eddie Izzard goes on to say in the book that the photographic evidence of the experiments that he makes will be used as the cover of his next album.
In this article I will list out Eddie Izzard’s food ideas that he has developed to share with you the world. I will also share some of the things I have tried so far.
1. The perfect Florentine
Firstly I have to say that if there is such a thing as a “perfect Florentine” then my Florentine is it. This is in part due to a recipe that I have developed myself.
I was a fan of everything deep-fried for a long time, so I tried making some deep-fried risotto balls for a personal challenge. I’m pleased to say that the risotto balls turned out well but the deep-fried Florentines were a massive failure.
I have tried many different variations but I still have the deep-fried Florentine that I made for my birthday back in the summer that I was disappointed in.
This recipe is my favorite because I got a relatively accurate batter recipe that I could use to imitate the classic Florentine. It is a fairly easy recipe, which can be cooked in an oven or a deep fryer.
2. Lamb paste
This recipe is derived from the recipes I use when making Spaghetti Bolognese, which is my favorite family dinner. Spaghetti Bolognese is really easy to cook and I cook it for dinner a lot.
However, I had never tried making the sauce from scratch. When I was watching the National Geographic Channel, I saw a cooking demonstration for lamb paste and I thought it would be really easy to make and tasty too.
I tried it out and it worked pretty well, although I am a big fan of my Bolognese sauce. I’ve tried some other recipes as well, and some don’t work as well, but this one works for me.
3. Tuna tartare
This is a really simple idea that I came up with because I wanted something to dip my prawns in, and also so that I could have some protein when I am eating out for dinner. Tuna Tartare was a simple, quick, easy, and tasty recipe, but it was pretty hard to get the right ratio of fish to other ingredients.
To begin, I made an easy roux of butter and flour, which is a really quick and easy starting point for any good dish. I then added my tuna, for which I made a perfect marinade using chopped garlic and soy sauce.
I cooked it, slightly softened, and then served it in lettuce leaves with some wasabi and ginger mayonnaise and some crispy panko crumbs on top.
4. Baked camembert
The really hard part with this recipe was finding the right texture. My quest was to find a Camembert that I could cut into slabs rather than florets.
I really enjoyed eating this with slices of French bread with some Dijon mustard and parsley. I used store-bought puff pastry and I was pleased with the final product.
5. Blueberry sauce
The two main ingredients for this recipe are:
- baking powder
- sugar
I started off with making my own blueberry filling, which was really easy.
I crushed the blueberries in a blender and then added in some lemon juice and juice from half a lemon, along with some sugar and flour.
I baked it in a basic white cake pan until it was set.
This was a very quick and easy recipe.
6. Strawberries, melon and watermelon Salad
The base of this salad is a simple combination of ingredients. I started with melon, strawberries, and thinly sliced onion, which I chopped into very small pieces.
I then added in some chopped tomatoes, halved cucumber and a handful of mint and arugula, which I finely chopped.
I then mixed it all together and topped it with a white dressing of mayonnaise, cream cheese and crème fraiche.
I made this for a family dinner, where I was cooking for the mother-in-law. I must say that this salad was really tasty and really fresh.
7. Lemon-zest carrot soup
The main ingredient of this recipe is, in fact, carrots, but this recipe requires lemon zest, which is quite time-consuming to get. I started off with peeling the carrots, and then chopped them finely.
I made a simple lemony caramel sauce by chopping up the peel of a lemon and adding in olive oil, butter, and sugar. This took a long time, but it tasted really great.
I then finished off with cooking the carrots in the lemony sauce, and served it in bowls with a little potato pancake on top.
It tasted very good.
