The Red Hearth: Tomato, Raspberry & the Roots of Belonging

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A Note on Eating Red

This week we're grounding into the Root Chakra with deep red foods. Here's our menu: Breakfast: Shakshuka Lunch: Dishoom's Ruby Murray Curry Dinner: Raspberry Balsamic Glazed Chicken Treat: Scones with Rhubarb & Lychee Jam This Week's Brew: Meadowsweet Champagne

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Download This Week's Resources

Save your recipe card and shopping list for the week: Download Recipe Card (PDF) Download Shopping List (PDF)

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Welcome to Cook in Colour — Series 2

We're back! After completing our first seven-week journey through the chakras, we're starting all over again with a fresh set of seasonal recipes. Series 2 begins at the root — with the Root Chakra, grounding red foods, and the ancient Celtic tree month of Holly (Tinne). The land is heavy with late summer bounty, and we're here to help you cook with intention, eat with the seasons, and connect with what's growing around you. Each week brings four colour-themed recipes, a seasonal brew, a medicinal herb to forage, and a Celtic tree to sit with. Let's begin.

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Where to Meditate: Root Chakra

The Root Chakra (Muladhara) is our foundation — earth, safety, belonging. Its element is Earth, its colour is deep red, and its seed mantra is LAM. Start your week with Lorna's Sunday morning chakra workshop on Instagram: @lorna.mckey. Lorna's workshops are the perfect starting point for grounding into the week ahead. For a Root Chakra meditation in Edinburgh, head to Arthur's Seat — the ancient volcanic core of the city. Sitting on this massive formation of deep-time stone, you can feel your connection to the earth beneath you. It's the most grounding spot in the city, and the climb itself becomes a moving meditation. This week's Ogham tree is Holly (Tinne), which you can find in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh — a peaceful, free-to-enter 70-acre garden just a mile from the city centre. Seek out the holly grove and sit with its protective, evergreen energy. Red picnic idea: Pack a thermos of shakshuka, a flask of meadowsweet champagne, and a jar of rhubarb and lychee jam with fresh scones. Find a spot on the slopes of Arthur's Seat and eat your reds with the earth beneath you.

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This Week's Recipes

Breakfast: Shakshuka

A North African classic that's become a brunch favourite worldwide — and for good reason. Eggs are gently poached in a rich, spiced tomato and red pepper sauce, seasoned with cumin, paprika, and a hint of cayenne. It's a one-skillet dish that's deeply warming, naturally vegetarian, and endlessly customisable. The deep red of the tomato sauce is pure Root Chakra food — grounding, nourishing, and comforting. Serve it bubbling hot with crusty bread or pita for dipping. Get the recipe at toriavey.com

Lunch: Dishoom's Ruby Murray Curry

Ruby Murray is Dishoom's love letter to the classic British-Indian curry house — a deeply red, silky makhani sauce made from tomatoes, butter, and warming spices. The chicken is marinated overnight in yoghurt, garlic, and ginger, then grilled and folded into the sauce. The name is old London rhyming slang for 'curry' (Ruby Murray → curry), and the dish lives up to its heritage: comforting, generous, and unapologetically red. It's the kind of lunch that makes you feel held. Get the recipe at tasty-yummies.com

Dinner: Raspberry Balsamic Glazed Chicken

A 30-minute one-pan dinner that's as beautiful as it is simple. Chicken breasts are seared golden, then glazed with a reduction of raspberry preserves and balsamic vinegar, finished with a touch of Dijon and thyme. The glaze turns a deep ruby red as it reduces, coating the chicken in a sweet-tart lacquer that's perfect for the Root Chakra's colour palette. Raspberries are at their peak in early August — this is seasonal eating at its most vibrant. Get the recipe at feedingyourfam.com

Treat: Scones with Rhubarb & Lychee Jam

This week's treat is something special — Sharon's own original recipe. Rhubarb and lychee jam is a uniquely summery combination: tart rhubarb, sweet tinned lychees, a squeeze of lemon, and a splash of straightforward pub gin (Gordon's or Beefeater) for a subtle botanical depth. The jam is made by macerating the fruit overnight, then cooking for just 15 minutes — a quick-set jam that keeps the fresh flavour alive. Spread it generously on warm scones with a proper blob of butter. Get Sharon's original jam recipe

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This Week's Brew: Meadowsweet Champagne

Meadowsweet is flowering right now along Scotland's damp meadows and riverbanks — its creamy-white, honey-scented blooms are one of the great foraging prizes of late summer. This lightly fermented champagne captures that floral sweetness in a bottle. The recipe from Torrisdale Castle is beautifully simple: 10 meadowsweet flower heads, sugar, lemons, water, and a little cider vinegar. After a few days of natural fermentation, you'll have a gently sparkling, fragrant drink that's perfect for a warm August evening. No colour constraint this week — just what's good and in season. Get the recipe at torrisdalecastle.com

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Medicinal Herbs in Bloom

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) is blooming in meadows and field margins right now. Its round, red-pink flower heads have been used in traditional herbal medicine for centuries as a blood cleanser and lymphatic tonic. The flowers contain isoflavones that support the body's natural detoxification pathways, and the plant has a long history of use for skin conditions and respiratory health. For the Root Chakra, red clover's colour is no coincidence — the deep red-pink of the blossoms mirrors the chakra's grounding energy, and its blood-cleansing properties connect directly to the body's most foundational system. To use, gather the flower heads on a dry morning and dry them in paper bags, or use fresh. Steep 1-2 teaspoons in hot (not boiling) water for 15 minutes to make a nourishing, mildly sweet tea.

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What the Land is Offering Right Now

Early August is a generous time for the forager. Wild raspberries are dripping from the brambles, the first blackberries are starting to ripen, and meadowsweet lines the riverbanks with its honeyed perfume. Elderberries are beginning to darken from green to purple — not quite ready yet, but soon. Red clover is in full bloom in the meadows, and the last of the elderflowers can still be found if you're quick. Apples are starting to drop in the orchards, and hazelnuts are forming on the branches, though they won't be ready for a few more weeks. It's a transitional moment — the last gasp of summer's abundance before the harvest season begins in earnest.

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The Celtic Tree Calendar: Holly (Tinne)

Holly (Tinne) rules from July 8th to August 4th — and we're in its final days this week. In the Celtic tree calendar, Holly represents strength, protection, and the evergreen resilience that carries life through the darkest times. Its sharp leaves and red berries make it a tree of boundaries and guardianship, fitting perfectly with the Root Chakra's themes of safety and grounding.

Holly is one of the few native evergreens in Britain and Ireland, keeping its glossy dark green leaves through the winter when all else has faded. In Celtic tradition, the Holly King ruled the waning half of the year, while the Oak King ruled the waxing half. Holly's wood was prized for its density and was used for spear shafts and chariot wheels — a tree of warriors and protectors.

Next week, we transition to Hazel (Coll), the tree of wisdom and inspiration — August 5th to September 1st. But for now, sit with Holly. Its protective energy is the perfect companion for Root Chakra work: stable, strong, and ever-present.

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Cook in Colour — Series 2

Cook in Colour is a seven-week series exploring the chakras through seasonal, colour-coded cooking. Each week pairs a chakra with its corresponding colour in food, a Celtic Ogham tree, medicinal herbs in bloom, and a seasonal brew — all designed to help you eat with intention and connect with the natural world.

Series 2 schedule: Week 1: Root Chakra (Red) — August 2 Week 2: Sacral Chakra (Orange) — August 9 Week 3: Solar Plexus (Yellow) — August 16 Week 4: Heart Chakra (Green) — August 23 Week 5: Throat Chakra (Blue) — August 30 Week 6: Third Eye (Indigo) — September 6 Week 7: Crown Chakra (Violet/White) — September 13

Recipes selected each week by Sharon for thenofussgourmet.com