we'll have to see about... ASPIC TROUT

having got quite obsessed with 70's recipes recently i've decided to try my luck with trout in aspic. however, the wholefood shop only had japanese 'agar flakes' which is a sea vegetable gelling agent. so i plumped for poaching my little fish in asian aromatics to give it the twist that i am already heading for.







2 L water
a handful of peppercorns
a bay leaf (from the garden)
3 finely chopped garlic cloves
2 whole star anise
a nub of garlic, peeled and sliced into shards
1 dried chilli

1 little trout
agar flakes
some chives
some parsley

fill a medium saucepan with the water, peppercorns, bay leaf, garlic, star anise, garlic and chilli. place this on a high flame and simmer for 20 minutes, to make a spicy stock. now turn the heat down to a simmer and curl in the trout. gently heat for 15 minutes, and then let it sit for 10 minutes. remove the trout, and remove all the flesh, paying particular attention to get out the bones. set this aside.







now reheat the stock that you've made and reduce. find a smaller saucepan and decant about 200ml of this stock, straining though a seive so that it is a clear liquid. add the agar flakes (according to the packet instructions as ratios may vary) and gently heat for 3-5 minutes or until the flakes have fully dissolved. finely chop the chives and parsely and add to the trout, decanting all of this into a small bowl. now pour over the solution, cool and place in the fridge to set.

i'm waiting for mine to set but will let you know how it goes! xxx

EXETER EVANGELISM, even for a London Girl

I love London. I don’t leave London very often. I really don’t need to. Everything I love is here: My home, my business, fine food, my friends, constantly exciting Soho with it's speed, fashion and finesse. But this weekend I was on a joint mission out of town, a. to my dear friend Hen’s Wedding and b. in doing so, to stay with my other friend Doctor Helen (heavily referenced in 'Spooning with Rosie'). The wedding at Exeter Cathedral was reassuringly English, and was followed by an ace garden party with a brass band and sandwiches with no crusts – so lavish.

And staying in Exeter, Raf and I were bombarded with the delights of this city. Neither too posh nor heavily industrial, too ‘down-from-london’ or backwater either, with serene Georgian villas and steep little Victorian terraces. First up, Doctor Helen took us to her local, The Hour Glass on Melbourne Street. I can’t get this place out of my head. Everything we ordered, literally everything, was immaculately executed, simple and just good. There was confit duck with a Reform club sauce; potted crab; butterbean and pancetta soup with cider; a beetroot and goatscheese salad and 2 bottles of excellent Uruguaian red to boot. THEN we ordered every pudding on the menu (we three are not the types for abstinence). I had a pear trifle, so very oldfashioned and yet, utterly beautiful. Not school food at all. Raf had a gypsy tart, with however did bring back school memories but only in a really good way. Augh it was amazing. And Doctor Helen had a white chocolate parfait. If this pub was in London it would be full of idiots (like me), but as it is, it’s just perfect.

Next in Exeter was a lovely lazy Monday. We left Raf working whilst we went off round the quay. This again is so pretty and yet not shi shi. We worked our way round to the grocey shop (Magdalen Road) that Doctor Helen had already told me lots about. Bill was a generous waisted and spirited man, who sold me a massive bunch of beetroot (for dinner tonight in Brixton), and some other bits and bobs. The shop is tumbling and the stripy green awning and scribbled labels like any girls fantasy veg shop. A few doors down is Bon Gout, a packed to the rafters deli when lovely staff (really really) and a good selection of cheese. We bought Cornish Yarg and had it with Tomato chutney, bread and salad.

I simply can’t recommend Exeter enough. It’s a theme park of My Kind of Fun.

POST FESTIVAL PASSIONS for the sunshine

after a big old weekend at Glastonbury following raf and his records around, i've been in desperate need of cleansing-of-the-soul stuff. added to which this heat wave is really hitting me hard (try making a coffee and a toasted ciabbatta in these degrees). so, i can highly recommend skiving off work and heading for an exhibition. we scurried down to the south bank to the Walking in My Mind exhibition which is fully air conditioned, and also a real pleasure to meander around the creative thoughts of artists.







the other thing that's truly necessary is salty water after a long festival slog. try buying a ready prepared tom yum soup pack of spices and sauce, and then add in a load of floaters to the pot: noodles, enoki mushrooms, snake beans, loads of mustard leaves and extra chilli. that way you'll be half way to feeling fed and watered again with added green goodness. for the best tom yum packs try china town or the wing thai supermarket. enjoy the juice xxx

http://twitter.com/RosieLovell YUP THAT'S RIGHT

i'm now officially twittering me up. i keep singing to my phone and look pretty odd in the process.

THE BOOK LAUNCHED. whoop whoop

the book has indeed been launched, and is flying off the shelves at Rosie's. i've also had word it's been spotted in richmond in borders. we'll be having a signing at Joy on coldharbour lane on the 11th, which will include our new and exciting and wondrously perfected cupcakes. fun fun fun.

so tonight, after last nights many free drinks at the FrostFrench party (hot and loud and buzzing with excitement) and a hotchip gig (for wrigley's compared by Raf Daddy at The Arches), i'm making some super salad - with chunky french beans, pancetta, provencal olives, spring onions and ruby tomatoes. we've got a few friends coming over, and will hopefully crack open the remaining post launch moet.

ROSIE'S BOOK LAUNCH!

BADGES ARE COMING!!!

ARNO'S ANGELS

look what arno brought me today! they were delicious - little fudgey chocolate brownies decorated with flowers, pistachios and waffer thin birds. what a lovely way to start the week.

"your dinner's in the oven" CASSEROLE FOR LOVERS

i am living the dream: he is at the pub, i have been home sweet home, cooking... i have now eaten (deep and delicious it was too), and he's about to get a text saying "your dinner's in the oven". actually it is rather dreamlike. i get to watch 'celebrity come dine with me', and 'desperate housewives' and he get's to drink lager with his cricket pals. so everyone's doing what they want. but what's in the oven awaiting his doddering return? well, i'm using up every cupboard essential as i'm moving house soon. sausages were from the freezer, tomatoes from the market, kidney beans from the back of a pile of tins, and the red wine lurking on the side board, probably for weeks! determined a. not to spend money b. clean out the kitchen, this is what he's getting. all hail my modern yet entirely ridiculous cliche. i can't work out whether feminism past me by, or that this is actually perfect post feminism.

2 tbsp olive oil
8 sausages
1 onion, roughly chopped
10 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 bottle of red wine... old
a sprig of rosemary
a pinch of oregano
a pinch of aniseeds
1 tin of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper and sugar

preheat the oven to 180C. heat the olive oil on a medium flame, and then brown the sausages. remove to a plate and then add the onions, turning the heat down low. after a few minutes add the tomatoes. sweat the pan for about 5 minutes and then add the wine and flavourings. simmer for about 15 minutes, then return the sausages to the pot and place in the oven for 1/2 an hour. finally season and add the beans and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes. eat your plate, and return the pot to the oven turning it down to just 50C. this should keep it warm til your lover's return.

CULMINATION OF THE CAKE ICING.

Today i perfected a moussy kind of icing that reminds me of goey hot marshmallow. if that isn't a recommendation, i don't know what it. Recipe to follow... x

LEEKY CHEESY pissaladiere

a lickle cheesy leeky thing from the shop. it came from a pissaladiere (that french kind of square pizza lathered with onion and anchovies sold in every good patisserie) but i'm into leeks this week so that's what they got. even a vegan ate it!


7g yeast
60ml luke warm water
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of maldon sea salt
200g flour

big nob of butter
4 leeks
200g lancashire cheese
some dried thyme
some french olives from the counter....

you know how it rolls.

fingers crossed i'm out for ethiopian dinner tonight in brixton. horah.

CAKE me BAKE me MAKE me happy

Saturday at Rosie's...

and then there's the amazing poached egg with marmite smeared sundried onion bread.

hey presto.

xxx

CHAR SOY SLASHED CHICKEN!

CUP CAKE CULMINATION.

i am happy. i have mastered my cup cakes. here's the recipe for really fluffy and fine vanilla classics with sprinkle topping. once you can do these, you can do any of them.

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

115g really soft butter
180g caster sugar
3 organic eggs (makes them really lovely and yellow)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
210g plain flour
1 small tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
60ml full fat milk

preheat the oven to 180C and line a cup cake tin with paper cases (check out www.jane-asher.co.uk). using a hand held blender with a whisk attachment, or double pronged electric whisk, beat the butter so that it is really smooth. add the sugar, continuing to beat on a low setting. one by one add the eggs and then finally the vanilla. it will begin to look curdled but that's fine. now measure out the flour, baking powder and salt into a separate bowl. beat in the flour and milk, starting and finishing with the flour. it should form a really elastic and light mix. decant the mix into the cup cake cases leaving half a fingers depth for them to rise. you will have some left over as this makes about 18 so you will need to bake two rounds. place in the oven for 8-10 minutes, and then remove to a cooling rack until totally cold (if you ice when they are warm it will melt).

ICING INGREDIENTS:

1/2 pat of cream cheese
2 tbsp full fat milk
enough icing sugar to make a stiff mixture
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
multicoloured sprinkles.

again, using an electric whisk, beat the cream cheese and milk until really smoooooth. now sift in the icing sugar and vanilla essence until it is stiff and stands on end when the whisk is removed. stuff this into a piping bag and curl little flowers of icing around the top of each cake. sprinkle at your leisure and hand around with tea.

CUP CAKES ARE TAKING OVER

i spent the afternoon hunting cupcakes with zezi, and then went on to hanway street for guinness with raf. we culminated the soho tour with an earl grey martini at quo vadis (i'd highly recommend them, by the way). on my way to dinner, slightly tipsy, a curved through china town and found these AMAZING CAKES.... they are insane techno cakes and made my evening.





my cupcakes, albeit lemon cream cheese, weren't really a patch on their chinese relatives.

BAKING TIME AT THE ZOO. a tribute to oz

in honour of australian jaunts i've been baking cup cakes, and also making aforementioned puff pastry fry-ups (known to me as Paddo Pots). these make a great on the hoof breka and will definitely be reappearing on the Rosie's black board.












the first cup cakes were for valentines day, pink and fluffy, and the second for Monday motoring, cappuccino. added to this we had a new helper in the shop too. she's a bit small so needs a stool to wash up, but she's rather good at rinsing.

HOME AND FRESHER. time for lemon and ginger

Now i'm back from oz, i've got baking again. that's how i know i'm home.
so today i made a variation on Jamie's lemon cake, but i add crystalized ginger to the inside, and the topping.
what i'm really itching to do though, is try and recreate some australian cup cake delights...
so if anyone has a splendid recipe, send it my way.










And thanks to australia we've now got an even better and yet totally simple way of dressing rocket. at Fratelli (http://www.fratellifresh.com.au), where we went for lunch with the delectables Will and Adam, they add loads of finely grated parmesan into the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. this coats the leaves in a really delicious, salty and unctuous way. it's so delicious we've had it 2 nights in a row.

suck it and see. xxx

LETTERS FROM AUSTRALIA part 3

australian food seems to be all about high concept. whether it's 'a fish called paddo' (an up-market fish shop selling all kinds of asian marinaded fishes to eat in or take away or buy raw and cook at home yourself); or pub cha (pub food tapas style with loads of dumplings, dim sim, greens and money bags. so good we ordered twice) and then of course there's the cup cakes... literally everywhere. in every coffee shop, market and dainty window. some are flourless, some have passion fruit icing, and then some are ridiculously decorated with sprinkles and swoops of gaudy colour. i love it all. simple and effective concepts, making the the eyes pop to the point of painful delight and the taste buds tingle with anticipation.

LETTERS FROM AUSTRALIA part 2

check out the best breakfast for 2, again a tiger mottle of paddington special. the egg was supreme and superior. i'll be making these in the shop as soon as i get home xxx

LETTERS FROM AUSTRALIA

i'm in sydney at the moment, where the sun shines brightly, the food is so amazing i'm currently on 4 meals a day, and the sea the freshest antidote. and there's a beer called Lovells. the coffee from tiger mottle is perfectly flat, the panzanella we made, inspired by lunch at Sofra (a beautiful italian warehouse where we ate this classic bread and tomato salad, frito misto, and stuffed courgette flowers). the food here couldn't be better. always full of clarity, simple concepts and pinger flavours.

SO much more to come xxxxx

MY! FAST FOOD from the Wing Tai

i'm a sucker for fast food.
isn't everyone really?
if you've been working like a beast and suddenly realise it's 9pm then something pretty quick is required.
and because of this, i made garlic soy green beans (fry the beans with finely diced garlic in vegetable oil and then add some dark soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds), and steamed some frozen vegetable gyoza.
these are crunchy with chestnut and their skin wilts wonderfully. buy a bag and keep them in the freezer for these many rainy days.
washed down with some beautifully packaged jasmine tea, and a bbc four documentary,
i feel again happy and restored after a mamoth day of toil.

get yourself down to the wing tai supermarket. there's one in brixton (13 electric avenue), camberwell (52-54 denmark hill), and peckham (just behind morrison's). thai basil? lemon grass? prawns? razor clams? morning glory? crispy duck? all this can be yours, and a fast food dinner too xxx

CHINA TOWN get down

it's chinese new year and it's all going on. it looks lovely.

CAULIFLOWER CHEESE PHOTO SHOOT AT ROSIE'S

NATHAN FLUTE BOX AND LOUIS come to Rosie's

ANOTHER AROMATIC DAY. another brothy way

i bought some oyster mushrooms this morning in the chinese supermarket, so decided they needed some aromatic handling. this soup borrows from raf's chilli chicken aromatic soup but is a little simpler even. rarely it's just me pottering around my little home today so this recipe is for one. i steered clear of chilli because i didn't want to kill the delicate fungus flavours.

1 dsp toasted sesame oil
1 dsp peanut oil
4 thai shallots
2 cloves of garlic
a piece of galangal or ginger
1 pint meaty stock. i used a mixture of oxo and swiss bouillon.
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
100g grey oyster mushrooms
1 leek
3 lime leaves
a small handful of rice noodles.

heat the oils in a medium pan while finely dicing the shallots, garlic, and ginger. fry these for a just a moment before adding the brothy stock and fish and soy sauce. bring the pan to the boil and then add the mushrooms, roughly sliced length ways. allow these to simmer for about 10 minutes until they are beginning to get tender. now finely slice and add the leek and throw in the lime leaves. simmer for a further few minutes before adding a handful of noodles. they will take a few minutes to become snaky and supple. you could garnish with a few coriander leaves, but they make me feel ill i'm afraid.

and then i made some bread and muffins for Haz. ah, it's a hard life.

xxx

DARLING DAL. sweet and sour tamarind type

This is a wonderful cold weather recipe. and cheap to boot. the tamarind injection came from my new madhur jaffrey book (christmas present from my dad) and makes it a sort of west bengal lentil dish for 2. i served it for stav, with basmati rice infused with lots of curry leaves and mustard seeds.

1 cup yellow lentils
5 cups of water
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tomatoes
1 tbsp coconut oil
4 dried hot chillies
a thumb of ginger or galangal
2 garlic cloves
1 leek
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp thick tamarind paste (made by helen's fair hand. thanks!)
2 tsp caster sugar

put the lentils water and turmeric in a pan and bring to the boil. chop the tomatoes roughly and add. simmer for about 40 minutes partially covered, until the lentils are soft and floury but retain a nutty quality. most of the water should be absorbed.

now in a frying pan heat the oil on a medium flame while finely slicing the chillies, and dicing the ginger and garlic. add these to the pan and gently fry. now slice the leeks finely and add these. spoon in the lentils, adding salt to taste. now finally dissolve in the tamarind and sugar (about equal parts so that they balance one another).

et viola. a cheap winter warmer. bitter sweet like january.

PIE FOR LADIES.

i made a pie for the dolly birds with a few leftovers from the season of illness and overeating. chicken with artichokes. it was delicious.

CLEANSING TIME AT THE ZOO. a perfect noodle soup

now that christmas is over it's defo time for some cleansing food. luckily before raf daddy went to ghana he taught me how to make a cleansing chicken noodle soup with lots of aromatics. it's totally addictive, added to which, most of the ingredients can be frozen, which really cuts down on wastage. it's got galangal (thai ginger), holy basil, mint, birds eye chillies, enoki mushrooms, lime leaves (really key), little pink shallots, vermicelli noodles and poached chicken. tuck in!

all you do is poach some chicken pieces in water with a handful of the herbs, 4 or so shallots, ginger and chillies. when it's cooked through, remove all the floaters and the chicken leaving just the stock. now shred the chicken into strands and return to the stock. add another batch of the herbs, shredded, ginger, chillies and shallots (these 3 diced or sliced into small batons) and also mushrooms. bring the broth back to the boil and add some vermicelli noodles. simmer adding a little fish sauce, until the noodles are moistly cooked and ready to roll. salt.

health and happiness xxx

AND WHILE WE ARE ON THE SUBJECT OF CHRISTMAS...

this is a wicked lickle present and the non stick on the pan is really good.








http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heart-Frying-Pan-shaped-Eggs/dp/B00131P5UA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1229626460&sr=8-2

CHRISTMAS DRINKING will make you eat kebabs

as the spirit of the season usually revovles drinking, you may find yourself hunting down a kebab at midnight, once kicked out of the pub. last night this is just what happened to us. so raf, becky and i headed across soho down a few dark alleys to the OPUZ KITCHEN, 27 old compton street, and had ourselves ace kebabs. their halloumi is chunky and firm and deliciously salty, which is just what you need after a few rum and cokes followed by a culminating couple of tequila shots. if you are going to have to devour urban drunk food, it mightest well be really good. go check them out, and make sure you have all the accompanying bits: ketchup, mayonnaise, watery malt vinegar and garlic sauce. enjoy the rotten gluttony!

JAPANESE AT EM'S.

dinner with my lovely school friends in hampstead care of emma. amazing sweet potato tempura; lots of giggling; a dipping sauce that i ended up drinking like miso soup!

CABBAGE & PANCETTA RISOTTO. to allay the ministry

after spending saturday night at the ministry of sound, i've really need good wholesome food today. but i'm not too flush, so have used up an old piece of cabbage, and the perail cheese that's been lurking in the fridge. i bring to you, cabbage and pancetta risotto to ward off a clubbing downfall.

2 shallots
a nob of butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 british cabbage
6 rashers of pancetta
3 handfuls of risotto rice
1 glass of vermouth
500ml hot vegetable stock
90g perail cheese
lots of freshly ground pepper

finely dice the shallots (which really stung my eyes) while the butter and olive oil are melting in a medium pan on a medium heat. add the shallots and fry until they begin turning transparent. meanwhile dice the cabbage and slice the pancetta into 1cm lardons. add these to the pan and fry for a few minutes. then add the rice and fry until it starts browning. turn the heat down to low, and throw in the vermouth, which will sizzle. gradually add the vegetable stock, simmering all the while and attentively mixing and folding. when all the stock has been absorbed but the rice is still quite wet, add the perail and turn the heat off. beat it in thoroughly and place a lid on the pan and leave to sit and melge for 15 minutes. season before dishing up. it'll serve 2 with a misery aftermath.

the only other thing to help me now is EastEnders.

CHEATING TARTAR SAUCE. for a little hangover

after going out to the royal court to see 'wig out' with alice and her family (a really funny song/dance/tight pants packed play about New York transvestites) i ended up back at the 1965 office with some reprobates drinking cheap red wine til the early hours. i've been pretty hungover all day. so fish has been on my mind. fish with tartar sauce, because i love vinegary foods when i feel like this. so on the way home i picked up some red snapper and made a cheats sauce to go with it. this fish is meaty, and yet flaky and also has a slight smoky scent. it's perfect in fact.

to make a cheating tartar sauce....
finely chop 4 cornichons
and 1 pickled baby onion
and mix with 2 desert spoons of mayonnaise.
grind in lots of black pepper
serve with the fish fried, and the green beans blanched.
yum. i feel better now.

ANOTHER YEAR. another pumpkin pie for Jason

recipe to follow....... x

CELERIAC GRATIN. thanks to Lidl

i was passing lidl yesterday so popped in and bought some british celeriac (an old family favourite, which cost 38p this time), creme fraiche (i don't know why but i always pick some up when i see it) and a round of perail cheese (made with ewe's milk in the Aveyron, France). it was a bit of a ready steady cook moment, and gratin sprang to mind though rather more like a remoulade in flavour. (a cold french salad with mustard, mayonnaise and blanched celeriac.) so here it is, a hot crusted remoulade. salty, crisp, tender and creamy:

a small celeriac
200g creme fraiche
100ml milk
1 desert spoon grainy dijon mustard
a pinch of maldon sea salt
freshly ground pepper
90g perail cheese

set the oven to 180C. peel the outer gnarly bits off the celeriac bulb. make sure you do this fastidiously so that there is no mud in the creases. now, using a mandolin slicer, whip it into fine sheets. layer these into a baking dish. in a measuring jug mix the creme fraiche and milk. then season with mustard and salt and pepper. taste. pour this over the celeriac and then lay slithers of the cheese on top. place in the oven for 40 minutes so that it is crisp and brown on top and sizzling at the sides.

i ate this with some blanched green beans but i think it would be delicious with some poached fish if you fancy that too.

SOUTH LONDON SUNDAYS

i often wake up on a sunday morning with an itch that needs scratching. that itch is a sunday morning jaunt down to the farmers market and a quick peruse around primark (my favourite place for frilly knickers and cheap socks). so off i went in my rubbish hickupy car, the crowbar. and it just so happened that my dad was visiting the whitten timber yard so we met up for a strongly brewed tea at the Criterion Cafe too. this establishment has some of the finest signage around. we spent half an hour putting the world to rights while the glass in the windows gradually steamed up before us, and all around us the customers feasted on stewed sunday roasts swimming in gravy, and bacon and toast and eggs and beans.

and down the market i bought some ace and wonderfully plain pork sausages from the game and pork stall and also some delicious eggs. we made a perfect sunday breka to go with the papers. it couldn't really be a better way to start the day, along with some of my tomato chutney.

2 CAKES AND A WEDDING.

today's been busy. i've decorated 2 cakes, one for my dearest friends Kylie and Bharat, married today, and the other for Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. And Lord Smiley was in causing trouble. he did a lovely daffodil arrangement as you can see.

I COULD GET INTO THIS...

i've just bought all those made attachments that allow you to pipe icing onto cakes.
there is a danger it could get out of hand.

ANOTHER NIGHT ON THE TOWN. the cha cha moon and the rest

after pitching up to the social on little portland street for james' far out jazz session, we were hungry for small amounts of tastiness, which is so often the case at 10.30pm in the centre of london. and then there was a whisper in my ear... "meet me at the cha cha moon". so off we went into the drizzly streets with improvisation in our ears. the cha cha moon delivered exactly what was needed. it's almost like tapas. their small but mounded plates are £3.50 and worth every bit: greens with a fermented bean curd sauce (chilli hot); cucumber and noodles; a wonderful mooli salad with bean sprouts (which has converted me to the latter). it was all great and hit the spot. the bill was £21 pounds for two piglets so it's a credit crunching dinner too.
then on to bar rumba for yo majesty who made me want to become a lesbian, rock a boiler suit and generally shake it down. all in all an excellent night out in london town.

ROSA'S CAFE. Hanbury Street, near Spitalfields.

Zahra and i went to Rosa's on Hanbury street (right near Spitalfields market). it was great and really reminded me of new york, where all the meals i ate where honest and true in their ethnicity, but in a stylish surrounding (rather than the harshly light canteen vibes of so many good eateries in London). And the staff are lovely and there's actually a proper drinks menu, and the food was hot and crisp and swift and tasty and punchy and fresh. mint, coriander, dried chillies and peanuts making various dipping sauces with excellent ingredients.

so, we ate.... cod satay with a peanut sauce (the coating on the cod was more like a tempura it was so fine); battered squid salad with a sweet dipping sauce (really fiery); pumpkin and venison curry (which was, i think, full of tamarind, giving a wonderful sweet sour aftertaste); lamb, redcabbage and chilli salad (which was so crunchy i think they must have made it on the way to the table) and jasmine rice.

go and check out rosa's. really do. and you can find more at www.rosaslondon.com

THE INVISIBLE COME TO ROSIE'S

CHECK OUT http://www.myspace.com/theinvisiblethree

ILLIN SOUP

this WHOLE MEAL SOUP is for 2

This soup is absolutely delicious, warming and perfect for when you feel coldy, which is what i've been for the last few weeks. It’s got everything you need for a vulnerable immune system in one bowl: lots of vegetables, liquid, carbohydrate, pure protein and fat. It’ll cost a pittance and make you feel a lot better.

3 spring onions
2 carrots
3 sticks of celery
1 leek
3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 nob of butter
1 large tomato
1 litre of vegetable stock
1 bouquet garni
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 eggs
2 handfuls of riso pasta
freshly ground pepper
Maldon sea salt

Trim and finely slice the spring onions. Then dice the carrots and celery really finely. Slice the leek lengthways into 4 and then slice so that it’s also very small pieces. Finely dice the garlic cloves. Gently warm the olive oil in a medium pan and add the prepared vegetables. Fry lightly for 5 minutes and then add the nob of butter until it melts. Now dice the tomato and add this too. Continue to fry for a few more minutes. Pour over the vegetable stock, add the bouquet garni (if you don’t have one of these to hand, then some sprigs of thyme, and a bay leaf will do fine) and turn up the heat. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Warm a medium pan of water with the vinegar on a high flame. Crack each egg into a separate ramekin at the ready. When the water is beginning to boil, turn it to a medium flame, whisk a whirlpool and gently decant one egg. Then in the other half of the pan, do the same with the second egg. After 1 minute turn the heat off and leave the eggs to stand. Now add the handfuls of riso pasta to the rumbling soup and simmer for a few minutes so that it has plumped up and absorbed some of the tasty stock. Serve the soups and nestle an egg on top of each bowl, well seasoned.

A 36 hour EDINBIRTHDAY

I had a lovely weekend in Edinburgh. It’s an amazing soaring city, and I’d forgotten just how beautiful and stylish and humorously gentile it is. Each meal we ate was impeccable. The first was a delicious thai on hanover street, Muang Thai, (http://www.muangthai.co.uk) where we ate a Scottish beef salad (you could tell the raw ingredients were top notch), chilli scallops (they were so hot that my mouth started talking jibberish), perfect pad thai and a duck curry. It was just what I want from ethnic food. That is, really sophisticated and packed with sour, hot, sweet, and tender sensations. This meal was followed by a Michael Smiley stand up show (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Smiley) and lots of weather fighting beer around New Town.

My hangover was so intense the next day that we just managed to stumble to my old haunt valvona & crolla (http://www.valvonacrolla.co.uk), where I nursed myself on a full Italian fry up including a slice of polenta. They even do coke floats here.

The finale of our Edinburgh escapade was a damn good fish and chips that we spied en route back from the Tracey Emin retrospective (wonderful). D'Alba D'Oro is run by an Italian couple and they sell, on top of the wicked haddock and chips that we merked, many champagnes and cognacs. It’s got a lovely friendly atmosphere and the walls are lathered with booming local reviews. This was the perfect preamble for a live set from The View at Caberet Voltaire (another old haunt from my university jollies) where they larked their way through old and new numbers to a frenzied, fantastically dressed crowd of super-fans.

Go to Edinburgh for 36 hours, and eat brilliant cheap and fun food. I woke up on Monday aged 28, and it couldn’t have been a better place to start the next year of my life.

CHANTERELLE MUSTROOMS

these are a real must. when i was in france a few weeks ago, we went mushroom picking. the sheltered wood was wet and warm, just as the mushroom loves, and it made for a jolly afternoon. we could practically see these little stained, yellow, pink and brown friends growing before our eyes.
so in honour of this dreamy afternoon, i made a fresh chanterelle risotto (and cunningly had some proper chicken stock at the ready, complete with fine strands of delicious dripping french chicken meat)

i highly recommend finding wild mushrooms (i sell these dry though, as do many good delis). you can find really nice wild mushrooms in WILD CAPER (brixton market) and also CRUSON (camberwell church street) and if you can bring yourself, i'm sure WHOLEFOODS (kensington high street) would do a fine selection. the flavour is much more various and woody (naturally). and there is something pretty reassuring about having to remove mossy strands from their little delicate stems.
enjoy.

(incase you don't know... fry up a shallot in lots of butter and extra virgin olive oil. then add the wonderful wild mushrooms, and coat. now add the risotto rice, and seal. bit by bit add fresh proper chicken stock. and a wine glass of dry vermouth. when nutty turn the heat off, add another nob of butter, and a few handfuls of peppery rocket. place a lid on the pan for 10 minutes, then heap of loads of parmesan (the good stuff), give it a good whip up with a wooden spoon, and serve with coarsely ground pepper. done)

i'm off to edinburgh on the weekend, and plan to eat the best fried breakfast.... i can't wait.

TURKISH DELIGHTS on Green Lanes

i had such a lovely time along the green lanes recently that i thought i'd make a turkish delight cake. as you can see, it's pretty psychedelic, but has a wonderful wet texture and a scented icing that really is the icing on the cake.

TURKISH DELIGHT CAKE

75g 70% chocolate (Aldi do some good ones, that are dead cheap)
110g softened butter
110g golden caster sugar
2 medium free range eggs
110g ground almonds
1/2 tsp baking powder

105g icing sugar
2 tsp rose water
a dash of pink colouring
chocolate hundreds and thousands

break the chocolate up into a heat proof bowl and place in a warming oven to slowly melt and butter a small loose bottomed cake tin. meanwhile beat the butter and sugar so that it becomes light. beat in the eggs and then add the chocolate when it is liquid, beating immediately so that it doesn't melt the cake mix. turn the oven up to 200C. now fold in the ground almonds and baking powder. spatula this out into the buttered cake tin and place in the hot oven for half an hour or until firm to the touch. remove and let it stand in the tin to cool.

to make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, and then gradually add the rose water, and finally the turbo colouring. when the cake is TOTALLY cool, spoon this over the cake and decorate with hundreds and thousands.

i also made wicked little cheese pastries that you'll be able to see on www.urbanjunkies.com
i'm off to France on thursday so will have tales of pate and wickedness on my return. x x x

HAZLENUT AND ESPRESSO CAKE. you'll shake.

so, our gypsy summer is finally here. crisp fresh mornings which keep inspiring me to bake. as a result, the deli seems to be covered in ridiculously iced and cherried cakes. it's all very gingham. this little cake is perfectly light, not to eggy with a really bitter sweet icing, and the final pop of a creamy hazlenut (and ground hazlenuts in the mix, to make a really wet texture). it's pretty simple too. even Alice (my darling friend who prefers to be catered to) has taken up this wonderfully feminine art, so i think everyone should be baking this wet little number on sunday afternoon, whomever you are...

HAZLENUT AND ESPRESSO CAKE

110g softened butter
110g golden caster sugar
1 beaten egg
2 shots of espresso or the same amount of super strong cafetiere coffee
50g ground hazlenuts
1/2 tsp baking powder
100g self raising flour
100g icing sugar
some whole hazlenuts to decorate

preheat the oven to 170C. lightly butter a small loose bottomed cake tin that's about 18-20cm diameter.
beat together the butter and sugar using a good whisk. then add the beaten egg. this may look curled but don't worry, it'll all work out in the end.
add half of the strong coffee or espresso, the ground hazlenuts, baking powder and flour and throughly mix this all together. it's best to use a big slotted spoon. turn the cake mix out into the buttered cake tin and place in the oven for 40 minutes. then remove to cool.
meanwhile, make the icing by mixing the espresso bit by bit. it should be quite a thick icing, but spoonable. it always loosens more than you think.
when the cake is entirely cold, place it on the plate or stand you intend to serve it on. spread the icing right up to the edge of the cake and plop on the hazlenuts where ever makes you happy.
eat this cake with a nice pot of earl grey for tea, or with a cappuccino first thing. enjoy x

LAMB STEW. phew

after a rather late night on saturday night, i was in need of some serious soothing.
luckily the shopping was done for me, so i could watch zezi on the tv in peace.
bags of food returned, and i was fed awesome mackerel pate on bread with cooling cucumber.
as i began to feel human, we devised a meal, a la ready steady cook.
a light lamb stew with some chilli, and cumin seeds, lamb, celery and carrot.
the culmination was the sweet potato mash.

LAMB STEW WITH SWEET POTATO MASH
4 lamb steaks
some plain flour to coat the meat
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 tsp whole cumin seeds
4 dried chillis
2 carrots
3 sticks of celery
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 mug of water
1 x 400g tin of chick peas
(next time i'll add a generous handful of parsley at the end)
maldon sea salt
freshly ground pepper

4 sweet potatoes
a knob of butter
maldon sea salt
freshly ground pepper
a handful of fresh mint

preheat the oven to 140C. chop the lamb into chunks and coat in plain flour. heat the oil in a medium pan (which has a matching lid and can go in the oven). when the oil is hot add the meat to brown. meanwhile dice the onion and then after a few minutes add to the pot, with the seasoning. sweat off for a moment. peel the carrots and julienne. clean the celery and dice. now also add these to the pot and sweat for 5 minutes. add the tomatoes and water and bring the pan to the boil. add the lid and place in the slow oven for 1 1/2 hours. during this time, check each half hour and give it a good mix around. add the chickpeas, and turn the heat up to 180C. continue roasting for a further half an hour with the lid off.

for the sweet potatoes, peel and roughly chop into hunks. fully cover with water and bring this to the boil on a high flame. boil until the pink potatoes slip easily off a knife. drain and mash with lots of butter and seasoning. finely slice the mint and whip into the mash. season the stew and serve the whole warm bowl together.

another episode of family guy, and i passed out swiftly after eating this autumnal stew. but next time, i want to fold in a load of parsley.

FRANCAIS JAPONAIS. and dinner with Gido and Gaspard.

another coffee in the Market. it isn't such a tough life really.
then dani and i went over for dinner and G & G's and they made amazing sorbet with fresh berries, and we added a little mint.

for dinner we all cooked a delicious teriyaki sauce, to go with strips of delicious beef, and a noodles salad.
excellent company, in a wicked apartment, great food and wine. it was a perfect end to the parisian foray.

CHEZ PARIS. with Dani

GALETTES IN Le Marche des Enfants Rouges. this is a beautiful old market with loads of different vegetables and restaurants. wonky pumpkins, tomatoes flecked with green, and garlic smudged over our carrot salad. delicious.

RUE DES ROSIERS. the jewish quarter of the marais. we ate delicious bread, swiped with aubergine pesto, and bought awesome fig cakes.

we are going to eat them later with a white burgundy, morbier, reblochon and chevre frais. can't wait.

A CARNIVAL OF FOODS

LEFT TO RIGHT 1. BRAZILIAN COXINHAS (i call them chicken bombs and ate them with my Dad in Harlesden) 2. THE WHOLE SHEBANG with plantain and a delicious clean slaw 3. CARNIVAL DEBRIS 4. JUSTIN, RAF AND TODDLA T

PRESERVE THE SUMMER. new tomato chutney

i love making preserved things and got really into it last summer when i was off work at this time of year with way too much time on my hands. it's so very thrifty and satisfying. and now is the absolute season to buy a box of on the turn fruit or vegetables from the market, and jar them up with spices and tart vinegar and bags of sugar, to last you through the grizzly winter. you can be pretty adventurous.
make sure you start stashing away used jars in order to fill them with the summer's delights. so last week i made a tomato chutney. my lover and i tested it out on saturday morning in sandwiches with the papers: lathered on standard bread with crispy fried bacon and handful of spinach. i must concede it's just perfect: sweet from the sugar and plum tomatoes; full of aromatic preserving spices; and all together juicy and delicious. the flavour is somewhere between a brown sauce and a classic ketchup. making a batch is a great way to spend a sunday afternoon too.


TOMATO CHUTNEY makes 6 or 7 jars. i'm going to make it again to double check all the times and measurements, but this is what i've got so far.

800g onions
2.5k tomatoes
2 chillies
1 pint of malt vinegar
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp smooth Dijon mustard
salt & pepper
800g brown sugar

dice onions and sweat in a pan with 3 tbsp of the vinegar for a few minutes. Chop tomatoes into 12 pieces each, roughly chop the chillis complete with seeds, and add both to pot. Sweat with spices and mustard and salt and pepper for one hour.

Now add the sugar and vinegar and simmer on a very low heat for 2 ½ to 3 hours.
Disinfect the jars that you are using by pouring boiling water pouring in to each jar, with a spoon in each to dissipate the heat. Now pour out the water and ladle the chutney into each jar. Seal immediatelyand leave to cool.

the next condiment thing i make is going to be ketchup inspired by jamie oliver... so watch out!

AN OLYPIC DINNER. for T and T

after an inspirational dinner cooked by my friend Zahra (an awesome array of Moro-esque dishes including a monk fish tagine, perfect spiced rice, crunchy salad, homemade rose water brioche and the best trifle i ever ate) for once in my life, i decided to actually follow a recipe. the brief was spare ribs for Toddla T and Toby. i found a recipe in my favourite of manuals, the australian woman's weekly, and set to it. typically, on arrival i realised i'd forgotten the recipe, so had to ad lib as usual. here's the creation: star anise ribs, pear and chilli salad, and egg fried rice. toddla needs to keep his energy up for his busy DJ merking schedule. this went down a treat, and the noises that came from toby were x rated, which is surely a recommendation.


STAR ANISE SPARE RIBS:
1 jar of plum sauce
4 tbsp oyster sauce
1 chili
3 whole star anise
1 square inch of grated ginger
1/2 lime
1 tbsp groundnut oil
2 kilos of pork ribs

in a medium saucepan on a low flame, warm together the plum sauce and oyster sauce. finely chop and add the chilli, complete with seeds, peel the ginger and grate. now add these , and the star anise, to the saucepan. when it is hot and fully amalgamated, whisk in the lime juice and groundnut oil. leave the marinade to cool. meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C. pour the cooled marinade over the ribs, and place in the oven for 20 minutes to half an hour. you may need to remove them a few times to baste and get excited. when they are cooked through, place under a hot grill for a few minutes so that they become dark and caramelized and really sweet.


for the PEAR SALAD, you need....
2 chinese pears
1 chilli
1 or 2 spring onions
a handful of fresh mint
1/2 lime

slice the pears (which smell wonderful) into very fine segments. finely chop the chillis so that they are diced within an inch of their life. slice the spring onions into roundels. shred a handful of mint. combine these four ingredients into a good sized salad bowl and then squeeze over the lime juice.

TUCK IN!


http://www.myspace.com/toddlat

with this meal under his belt, toddla was ready for 'get loaded on the common', where he dj'd on the main, with serocee. so, everyone was happy.

ABSENCE!

clearly i've been absent, due to the fact that i'm writing a cookery book for harpercollins (called SPOONING WITH ROSIE). as soon as i stop testing recipes and editing words for you all, i'll be back. xxxxxx

HELEN'S MOUSSAKA. changed my childhood memories.

helen made moussaka the other night. i've never been that partial to this dish, because i think my grandmother made a well greasy one.helen's however, was so delicious and homely, and yet the cheesyness was light and not claggy either. the trick, she says, is in using mascapone for the topping, and lots of cinnamon in the meaty bit. and she used 6 aubergines to feed four of us. so it does require a serious vegetable commitment. which i'm always a fan of. i wonder whether the addition of some chocolate would give it yet more depth? i may try it out.we had a lovely dinner at pat's with will too, the latest addition to the south london family.here are some of the naughty market children who pester me in the nicest possible way.

LAZY SUNDAY FOOD MARATHON.

Sunday was a very lazy day due to two smashing parties the previous night, envolving lots of dancing, rice and peas on the Walworth road, one or two whiskey shots too many with Alice, and hanging out with boys in bands who were probably too young to be drinking.
So Raf started the day off with the ace idea of homefries which I had an inkling of in my memory from New York breakfasts. So I chopped and peeled while he made excellent apple and orange juice. The trick to the homefry appears to be a little soy sauce and some cayenne pepper. And actually slightly burning the potatoes so that they begin to stick and brown and balance the sweet sweated onions and garlic. It’s breakfast comfort, along with eggs and bacon.
After more sleep and tv we needed another feed (the pattern on Sundays being that of a baby. Sleep, eat, small bout of fresh air, sleep, eat, sleep). Settling for Madhur Jaffrey curry vibes, we made a light lamb and spinach gingery curry (once the weavels had been removed from the coriander. Nearly a complete crisis) and carrots in coconut milk. But the best bit in my mind, was the cucumber salad. Basically pickled cucumber.
METHOD FOR CUCUMBER SALAD: Skin and slice the cucumber (skinning highly recommended by Dot Cotton)
Chop a chilli and add to 100ml white vinegar. Heat this in a small pan with 50g sugar to make a syrupy pickle dressing. Some of the liquid should evapourate. Pour over the cucumber and let it sit for an hour. You can remove from the plate or leave it swimming in this gorgeousness. The thickened vinegar really knocks you between the eyes, and chilli is moreish and tickly.
Sleep, film, sleep...
Monday again.

en cocotte.... just one way of doing it.

The Elk in the Passage, in camden passage, do really tasty eggs en cocotte. alice and i once ploughed our way through a piping hot one there, and i was struck by the dish. i thought i'd recreate it the other night because i had an impromptu dinner with helen and zahra, two of my absolute bestest. we do lady dinners with a little too much wine, really well. en cocotte can be almost anything, that is, any thick sauce, in a ramekin, with an egg pon top. the classic, as we had, is a quite sweet and thick tomato sauce. but i've seen mushroom, ham and cheese, chorizo.. all sorts. i like this dish particularly, because eggs are my favourite. they are just so clever. so perfectly formed. so well packaged. they almost make me believe in god.
for classic eggs en cocotte, fry an onion in some olive oil, and then add a finely cubed courgette and 4 tomatoes chopped into 8 pieces each. when the courgettes are turning transparent and the tomatoes are beginning to break down at the edges, pour in 100ml of passata and simmer on a very low heat until it is a thick sauce. add a teaspoon of sugar, pepper and salt, and even a dash of balsamic vinegar. if you own ramekins (then you are begining to grow up) spoon the sauce into 3, leaving enough room at the top for an egg (about half and inch). if you don't have these, then one nice ceramic dish will do. place in a preheated oven at 180C. when the sauce is hot, crack in the eggs and return to the oven for 10 minutes or until the eggs are firm. serve, as we did, with little roasted new potatoes and a big green salad.

Potatoes, Pepper, Thyme and Courgettes. a meal in itself

when we were children, my mum used to make this amazing summer hash of courgettes and potatoes with thyme and lemon juice (that i still bore on about til she makes it). it was so fresh and zesty and full of flavour, and on a hot day, these fried vegetables were part of our refreshing garden picnics... part fried that is, and then the lemon juice softens the crispiness and melges the pieces into a more homogeneous whole, together. last night i did a roasted winter version with little waxy potatoes and yellow pepper and courgettes, with a lemon thyme from my balcony, thus combining the two childhood aromas in the one herb. the results were really good, and the perfect accompaniment to Trinny & Susannah and text tennis with haz. if i'd had a whole chicken at hand i'd have roasted it with lemons and had that with it too. but i had the veggie pauper version instead! xxxx

FLORA'S FOR TEA.

my dad and I went round to flora’s last night. And she devised a very well thought out soup: carrot, with wilted spinach leaves, and a yoghurt and nutmeg dollop in the middle. It was one of the most intelligent and careful things I’ve tasted in a long time. Because the carrot and yoghurt relate, being sweet and sour, consecutively, and the nutmeg and spinach are a marriage that bring out the best in one another. So it was an academic and sense triumph. Like flora herself.

PARSNIPS AND AMARETTI BISCUITS. not at the same time.

i've been making parsnip and caraway soup all week. it's delicious for this time of year, being full of sweetness and also substance. it makes quite a thick and hugging soup. my friend joel has pointed me towards the addition of ginger. so now it has a teaspoon of cinnamon, a thumb of ginger, 3 cloves of garlic and a tbsp of caraway seeds, and is a perfect balance of aromatics.

but my real triumph yesterday was charlotte's amaretti & chocolate cake. my dear friend charlotte, when i was ill, brought round a left over side of this dense joyous cake. straight after dinner (an amazing feast by her) i quizzed her for the recipe. i've slightly adapted it because i didn't have any amaretto at hand:

125g butter melted in a baine marie with 150g green & blacks espresso chocolate.
120g sugar beaten with 3 eggs yolks until it is light creamy and pale. Hold whites aside in a very clean metal bowl.
Combine these two mixes, being careful not to cook the egg mix with the warm liquid chocolate. therefore mix them together very quickly.
Add 70g crushed amaretti biscuits to the chocolate mix and also 60g plain flour.
Whisk the egg whites until they are forming firm peaks. Add I tbsp sugar and continue to whisk as you might when making merangues.
fold the egg whites into the chocolate mix, with a slotted spoon but be careful not to beat out the air.
Turn into a 8” greased tin and crumble over a few more amaretti biscuits to make a topping. bake for 30 minutes at 180C. turn the oven off and let the cake sit for a further 15 to dry it out. Remove to a baking tray and cool a little.
You could serve this warm.
It’s especially good when the centre is still quite wet and tempting. one of my customers had a slice, and promptly ordered a second, all for himself. that's success.
right-ho, i'm off to make more chutney.
xxxxx

ORTIZ TUNA. favourite new thing....

this line caught tuna is amazing. i sell it at Rosie's but it comes from Brindisa (there's a shop at borough market and exmouth market). it's a totally different experience to the usual tinned tuna, and is line caught so it's easy on the conscience too. it genuinely does smell of the sea.

i made this salad with it, using some nice french beans par boiled , zingy capers and simple black olives, and a mustard heavy vinaigrette. you should try it.
spotted at Rosie's Deli today: david lovelock, being sweet, and the lovely new Rose Kentish making pastry. also David Titlow and his dad Peter.

xxxx

MAGIC & ACCIDENT, ZUPPA DI VERDURE.

3 sticks of celery
2 carrots
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
5 tomatoes
100g pumpkin
2 slices of pancetta
200ml stock
1 bunch of basil
1 tbsp double cream
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
pepper & salt.

Anna and i combined our ingredients last night. at first it looked unlikely and then i realised it was actually a delicious Zuppa di Verdure. ready steady cook in brixton, if you like. sometimes i feel like soup is a lesser meal, but this is so good, you'll be stuffed with loads of flavours and hot vegetableness, and feel full to the brim.

METHOD: heat an oven to 180C. skin and cube the pumpkin. place it in a lined backing tray along with chopped pancetta, a little paprika and oregano, and some drizzled olive oil, and put in the oven. warm some olive oil in a pan on the hob, and saute the onion and then shortly after, the chopped celery. sweat until they are both becoming transparent. add finely chopped garlic and tomatoes at the same time. simmer for 5 minutes or until the tomatoes are breaking down. add stock and simmer for a further 15 minutes with the ripped up basil in there too. take off the heat and add some double cream (just enough to melge the flavours but not be a 'cream of..' soup) and blend. season and return on a low heat. by now the pumpkin should be soft and the pancetta crispy and tasty. heap into the middle of the zuppa, as you would croutons. and add the olive oil from the pan. it's really succulent too.

CITRUS VIBES.

i've had a weekend of citrus vibes. on saturday morning i made a really tasty but light tart: ALMOND CRUST ORANGE TART. the addition of nuts to the crust makes it a little more subtantial and the juice in the custard makes for a seriously delicate light filling. so it makes a really contrasting experience of textures, which in my mind/mouth is a good one. in honestly, jaz and i devoured a fair amount of it before our customers had a chance.

PATE SUCREE but instead of the full amount of plain flour, use 1/3 ground almonds.
2 ORANGES
2 EGGS
100ml CREAM
4 dsp SUGAR

blind bake the pastry in a 6" tray for about 15 minutes or until it is dried out and beginning to golden around the frills. grate the zest of the two oranges and mix with the juice of one. add the eggs, sugar and cream and beat thoroughly. pour into the pastry case. bake for about 1/2 an hour or until the orangey custard is set. eat it still warm if possible.
and then on saturday night i went on a south london marathon, first going to meet a lovely butcher at borough market, then swiftly eating a steak in battersea for gervase's birthday at the mega santa maria del sur restaurant. then on to bowling in elephant and castle with some ladies, before culminating at cafe tris for toddla and raf's records. the next day we were all in need of some goodness. and so this pile of fruit became our tincture for the day. put through a mega smoothie maker it smacked us all into the day with it's sharp but medicinal vibe.
today i'm nearly human again.
xxxxx

A DOUBLE DATE: ME, DANI, AFRICAN BOY & ANDREW EDMUNDS

dani and i went out on a little celebratory crawl around soho the other day. and ended up in the exquisit and cosy restaurant, Andrew Edmunds. i'd always walked passed thinking it was probably very expensive, but actually it's really reasonable. especially easy to swallow as the food was my favourite kind. unpretentious but very insightful, classic and yet bold too. and the atmosphere is brilliant, just like soho should be: squashed, dark and full of hubub. we shared 3 unbelievably good starters all of a fish vibe:
OCTOPUS SALAD which was really meaty, almost like chicken, with warm little potatoes and morsels of chorizo. a very happy connection of flavours, perfectly balanced. and also lovely light dressed crab, and finally a little castle of smoked mackerel with roasted beetroot and horseradish cream. this was really lovely too. i used to shy away from beetroot because i'm anal and it's messy and stains, but the tenderness with the fish flesh, and the horseradish kick was a perfect plate of alternating textures and surprises. GO TO ANDREW EDMUNDS. 46 Lexington Street, W1. GO GO GO. i think it'd be a stylish first date venue if that's your thing.

then we decided to hit madam jojo's to see African Boy, a brilliant boy who pens funny lyrics about the african community in britain. apparently they spend a lot of time in Lidl. we danced away, and watched idiots dance on stage. because they think he's the joke. but actually he's having the last laugh. although an unusual pairing, i'll be checking out both andrew edmunds and african boy again very soon.

SUNDAY LUNCH FEST. belly of pork, gratin, and Nigella's amazing Syllabub.

it's cheeky to say.. but i seriously surpassed myself yesterday. it was so cold and grizzly but i made a late lunch to conquer the elements, along with some pale sherry and red wine aplenty, for popey, don livione, tom savage, das klo, em and raf. we had a really cosy afternoon literally chewing the fat. it's one of my favourite ways to spend a sunday.

BELLY OF PORK, stuffed with........
50g flaked almonds,
150g sausage meat,
3 cloves of garlic
100g apricots
a bunch of spring onions.
i rubbed all of these together with my hands to make a chunky colourful mix.
the crackling was ace (because i put this mega sausage in the very hot oven for the initial half hour of roasting), and the meat really tender and wet, from the delicious fat surrounding it. with this we had potato gratin and red cabbage stewed with red wine vinegar and cloves. this seems really appropriate at the moment. maybe it's the rain, and that christmas is coming, but cloves conjur a little good will in my mind, and make for a warmer body.

but pudding... seriously. SERIOUSLY SYLLABUB. it's my new favourite thing. and is apparently as old as medieval. i'd already stewed apples with cloves and cinnamon, as that's a sympathetically fitting pudding for roast pork. but i topped this with a nigella syllabub made with sherry. i've adapted it for what was in my larder. all you need to do is put all the ingredients into a bowl, EXCEPT the cream. let it sit for an hour or so to meldge. add this to the cream and whisk. however, make sure you use a hand whisk, not a machine. you are not looking for really tight and firm whipped cream, but rather, a soft feminine sort of peak. when the cream has reached this soft light summit, spoon it over the fruit puree, either in one shallow pudding bowl or in individual coffee cups. refridgerate for an hour or so.

CHEESE & CIABATTA

i'm really enjoying my cheese this week. we are doing a special wintery ciabatta at Rosie's with DRY CURED FREE RANGE SUSSEX HAM, and MRS KIRKHAM'S LANCASHIRE CHEESE, with my plum and chilli relish. it's going to be total sell out. this lancashire is a mild crumbly thing with creamy flavours to boot.
one morning this week became a particular cheese fest. me and smiley salivating over a new roundel i'd got in, called CASHEL BLUE. i'd read about in a food magazine so thought that was as good a reason as any to order a lump. and it turns out that it's just amazing: creamy and rich like stilton, and yet not harsh. it's varied, and full of suprises, as all good artisan cheeses are. smiley even said he could smell the farm yard in it! anyway, we had a lovely time, me, smiley and the cheese. added to this we've also got in the brindisa classic, DIAZ MIGUEL MANCHEGO, in big hunks. it's a well matured hard one and it would be perfect with the apple puree i've got bubbling away on the hob right now.

have a lovely weekend: i'll be cooking mostly. sunday lunch is approaching fast. and the belly of pork is on my mind.
x

BROAD BEANS. Kebab House styleeee.

me, my dad, and my brother went on a jaunt the other day up the goldbourne road. and found ourselves a delicious kebab house. it's so impressive when you see tabbouleh that isn't just a mound of carbohydrate, but rather a parsely salad with flecks of grain, and tomatoes, with lots of wet flavour. and i nabbed some delicous broad beans that seemed more spanish: with mint and chillies. really good hearty filling stuff. the broad beans would be particularly easy to recreate as you can buy them frozen. i keep a bag in my freezer, for when i can't bring myself to leave the house but need a feed.

BROAD BEANS KEBAB HOUSE STYLE:

just heat some olive oil and fry 3 or 4 spring onions. throw in a few handfuls of the beans and let them defrost for 5 minutes or so. finely chop a handful of mint (i keep a few plants growing on my windowsil) and some garlic and a small chilli. add at the last and give it all a good mix around and hold on the heat for a further few minutes....

after the kebab fiasco, i made my way to kathy's for tea in maida vale... lemon drizzle cake, tattinger, chocolate brownies and cucumber sandwiches. just as delicious, but couldn't have been more different.

spotted in the deli today: lots of filling spanish alubias bean soup with paprika.

TEA TIME AT ROSIE'S. and a mackerel gratin...

We had a really great tea party yesterday. tash & radish, mara, dave, ali & charlie, viola, gaelle, zezi, little lucy, bharat & kylie, keith & olivia, me and stav, and lots of others drifting in and out.

the cakes were immense: CHOCOLATE & RUM; CARROT & RAISIN; BANANA, TOFFEE & WALNUT; BAKEWELL SQUARES' CHOCOLATE BROWNIES; LEMON & POLENTA; ROSIE'S ROSE BISCUITS....

and after all that cake we went and had a refreshing pint at the brilliant Efra Pub on Kellet Road, where they do an ace jerk chicken too.

The next party that we do will probably be a mull, nearer to christmas.

AND FOR THE MACKEREL GRATIN: once the pints had been drunk, dinner and a night in was calling me. with zezi, i hunted down a mackerel fillet. (i already had some big new potatoes off the market, along with a couple of celery bunches.)
so i ran into my presently derelict kitchen, quickly chopped the celery into chunks for roasting with lots of olive oil and salt, and set to a mackerel gratin (that i'm sure nigel slater recommends):

4 big potatoes
1/2 bag of baby leaf spinach
a nob of butter
100ml single cream
1 mackerel fillet
100ml milk
100ml edam or gruyere

preheat the oven to 220C. peel and finely slice the potatoes (with a mandolin if you have one). place on a low heat, with the milk and cream and butter poured ontop. gently cook, stirring frequently as the milk and potatoes get pretty sticky. when they are nearly cooked, crumble in the mackerel and set aside for a moment. lay the spinach out in a ceramic baking dish and pour over the potato mix. grate over the cheese, and lots of seasoning. bake for 20 minutes or until the top is crisp and golden and the edges still bubbling and wet.

i ate this with cheap red wine, rupert everett making me laugh, and my nail varnish drying. really good comfort food, full of creamy hugs and an ideal lady evening.

SAFFRON CHICKEN. it's waiting for you.

i cooked this in a flat spin last night before running out of the door to yoga. on my return, two hours later, it had reached perfection. so it's a highly recommendable dish when you've got stuff on. it's my mum's dish, and was one of our favourites as children. the rice gets all golden and brown around the edges of the pot, some bits all crispy like fried rice, and other bits all stodgy and comforting. tuck in. we've got the tea party tomorrow so i've been baking all morning... these delicious looking banana and toffee and walnut treats. and also sweet heart shaped rose biscuits, which i may make my moniker.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 red peppers
3 tomatoes
1 courgette
1 onion
150g provencal pitted olives
1 dsp tomato puree
2 cloves of garlic
300ml vegetable stock
4 chicken pieces
300g basmati rice
1 pinch of saffron
1 cup red wine
preheat the oven to 220c.
heat the olive oil in a metal pan which has a matching lid that is oven proof. add the pepper to this, finely chopped into little cubes. Then add finely chopped onion and courgette and let these vegetables sweat away on a low heat so that they begin to sweeten. (5 minutes or so.) Mean while make a vegetable stock and add to this the pinch of saffron, the tomato puree and the wine, in order to infuse. Set aside. Add the chicken pieces to the pot along with roughly chopped tomatoes and crushed garlic. Pour over the stock mix and olives, and simmer this for another ten minutes or so on the hob, before adding the basmatic rice. Cover the pan, and place in the oven for twenty minutes on this high heat, before turning the oven completely off, and leaving the pot to sit there for 2 hours… while you go to yoga. When you get back, you’ve got a delicious meal waiting for you, still piping hot, and perfectly cooked. Add lots of pepper and salt and serve with a baby spinach salad with a plain olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing.

COFFEE, TEA, AND ME.

RISULTO. tasty cold monday stuff.

last night i made a delicious risotto: with courgette, spinach and smoked mackerel. the right balance of fresh-still-just-crunchy vegetables and the creamy flesh of rich mackerel, which is as luxurious as butter.

here it is. it makes for 2.

1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil and a little butter
2 courgettes
2 big handfulls of baby spinach
2 smoked mackerel fillets
150g risotto rice
300ml bouillon stock
1/2 lemon
100g pecorino

really finely chop the onion and garlic, and fry in a little olive oil and a small nob of butter. when it begins to turn transparent (and be careful the garlic doesn't brown and burn. this really changes the flavour) add the courgettes and rice to seal it. when the grains also begin to turn a little transparent at the tips start adding the stock slowly. nurture it for about 15 minutes, continually stiring and adding stock. squeeze over the lemon juice and add the two handfuls of spinach so that it wilts down. continue to simmer for another 10 minutes or until it is soft enough but not sloppy. crumble in the mackerel at the last, along with the pecorino, finely grated. when serving, grind loads of pepper, but most probably not any salt as you'll get that from the spinach and the stock too.
eat loads of this. it's seriously good warm comfort food. and the mackerel feels like it's doing you good.
xxxx
spotted in the deli: raj and octavia from 'don't panic', talking bizniz.

THE ISLE OF WIGHT. Full of delight.

this weekend i really sampled the delights of British food, whilst on a jolly to see The Draytones and Motion Pictures play a fantastically retro gig. it was in an old football club, blustering and cold, and reminiscent of an old school disco. the isle of wight though, is a fine advertisement for british fayre: we had fish and chips (before the gig, in a freezing changing room) that were seriously crisp, and the haddock really tasty. and the next day, on the sunny sea front, light crab sandwiches and a sweet herring ploughmans. food inevitably tastes better by the sea but this really was super food. i even delved into the realms of chunky pickled onions and gloopy coleslaw. it was all an absolute delight. lets eat it more. however on my return to the metropolis, i've made a lemon and polenta cake. a classic italianate thing full of polenta crunch and sweet lemon love. but back to england... seriously. we should all eat more tartar sauce and crispy fish, and embrace all these good delights. in fact, in honour of this i've recently been making chutney. it's such a deliciously old fashioned thing to do. i've started with apple, and also plum (with chilli) and will be shortly making chunky sandwiches with these sweet vinegary things, and free range sussex ham, and mild cheddar... i can't wait.

BREAD. a great grazing food.

i think i ate a whole loaf of bread yesterday... alice and i had been out to a hallo'een party and were feeling the effects of the jaegermiester and usual sisterly late night ramblings, so i decided to get up early and bake mum's soda bread. breakfast and indeed mornings are one of my top things ever. i love making tea for someone, helping them get their day started, the smell of melting butter, and my mum's marmalade. and ofcourse the indescribable comfort of the smell of baking bread. and bread, like hard cheese, is a boredom food; that is, when hungover, every time you pass through the kitchen, you hack off a piece, for your journey through the home. and before you know it you have eaten the whole bleeding seedy lot. SPOTTED IN THE DELI: felix and roco sharing espresso. zezi and stav frolicing over records.

MERINGUES. i've conquered the art.

so, with the left over egg whites from yesterday's tart, i've made lovely meringues. FIRM. PURE. SWEET THINGS. since buying a new metal bowl they are proving a lot more successful than my previous rather flimsy attempts. and, of course advice from mum... that meringues go in a very low oven, so as not to brown them.
1 egg white to 60g of sugar, beit icing or caster sugar.
you need to whisk the egg whites to merry hell, until they are stiff as anything, and then gradually add the sugar. i use one of those lovely old hand operated two pronged whisks with a double cog. at this point you can also add things like coffee essence, or a dramatic reduction. i've seen them with streaks of wonderful dark blackberry, like little ice sculptures. place them on a greased backing tray, and place in a very low oven. even 80 degrees and let them dry out and solidify, leaving sticky bottoms (the best bit).
these really remind me of our old family kitchen. and also of good double cream. a marriage made in heaven.

HALLO'EEN. ain't nothing but a P thing.

yes, it's a pumpkin thing. and i know i've been banging on about them but now it actually is hallo'een so i can roast to my hearts content: this morning i made a pumpkin, goats cheese and herb tart. the pastry was particularly good because of my new/old ceramic rolling pin. i can't believe i get excited about things like that but the difference in using one of these is immense, especially if you have a marble work top too. this is because it's cold on both sides of the pastry. and i used a couple of egg yolks to bind it too. the tart had a life of it's own. piece by piece, over a period of an hour, it ran out of the shop. the soft and light texture of the egg custard, well peppered, with the floury body of the pumpkin, and the creamyness of the sharp goats cheese, was a perfect menage a trois. the herbs were thyme and parsely, but if i'd had sage, i'd have used that too. with the leftover egg whites i'm going to make meringues.... i'll let you know how it goes...
xxx

DUCK BREASTS. good with hot sweet sauce.

last night me and my mum cooked duck. i've improvised a new sauce, which is sweet but a little chunky too. i'm calling it a Sweet Onion Sauce.

2 onions
150ml red wine
2 tbsp jam (damson, plum, elder etc)
1 orange
a little olive oil
1 tsp brown sugar
pepper and salt.
200ml water.


heat the oil in a frying pan whilst finely chopping the onion. i'm learning to spend more time on prep. it's worth it. fry the onion until it begins to go transparent. add the red wine and dissolve in the jam at the same time. simmer away for a few minutes before adding the orange juice. keep watching and stiring and making sure it doesn't get dry and stick to the bottom of the pan. continue for about 20 minutes, adding water a bit at a time if necessary so that it forms a nice gravy texture. add seasoning at the end. decant into a warm bowl or wide brimmed jug. it was perfect with rare duck breasts and loads of spinachy-mash.

CANELA. drinks with zezi.

and then i went on to canela. i've been here once before and came back to redescover a delicious wine that i'd drunk too much of. it turned out to be 'green wine' called Arca Nova. Vinho Verde DOC 2006. slightly fizzy and dangerously morish. we love it here. small and intimate and again, lovely staff. it quite set me up for a night on the tiles. i'm going to go here all the time now for lady meetings. and it makes me feel quite grown up to know a wine on the list.

WEST LONDON. It's growing on me.

I'm not usually a big fan of west london. but i started off my weekend with a trip to the lovely R Garcia and Sons on Portobello road. exactly what all food shops should be like. the food range is great, spanning from the average continental stuff like tinned pulses, to much more swanky Brindisa type foods - superior chorizo and line caught tuna. it feels fair and good and right and a visual treat. the packaging in these places is always multicoloured and hugely appealing. like christmas all year round. and with the hubbub of the market going on outside, it makes for a great saturday jaunt. added to this, you can step next door to their minimal cafe. the happiest staff i ever came across. the setting is minimal in a modern barcelona way, but the food, incredibly traditional. this makes for a really nice contrast. Churros - the deep fried stuff for dipping in that wonderful thick spanish hot chocolate. Simple tapas. morcilla de arroz- spanish black pudding wrapped with a grilled slither of red pepper sitting on a herbie rice. Lemon and polenta cake. i ate the most wonderful treat that i spied at the back of the counter: queso fresco con membrillo y almendras. that is, a moulded fresh cheese, drizzled with a cinnamon syrup, a smudge of quince jelly and three crunchy almonds. sitting at the coffee bar, with this, and a perfect coffee (a long machiatto) and a beautiful little boy, drowning in chocolate was a joy. the cold dense cheese, and hot refreshing coffee. a stollen ten minutes that only spurred me on to go clothes shopping and have a frivilous lady like afternoon. if west london was like this all the time, i'd move here. i usually just bump into boys from my past though!

BISCUITS. For a rainy day.

at the request of one of my most favourites, zezi, here are some more pumpkin ideas. she says it's her new favourite vegetable. i say get with the programme miss! i've been in bed with pumpkins for quite some time...
1. roasted with chillis to go with pasta and lots of olive oil.
2. poached in syrup. turkish.
3. roasted with garlic, and added to a risotto.
4. in a tart with goats cheese and mint. that's really super good.
5. in with some potato mash to give it sweetness.
6. pumpkin and parmesan soup. add a little paprika to the mix if you like.

so, today i've made my lovely orange and cinnamon short bread hearts. god it seems twee. but they are also delicious and the weather seems right for it: i was really dragging my heals to the bus this morning. they have indeed soothed the hateful drizzley bearness. one of my customers, kylie, said that they are like a danish biscuit called speculaas which has clove and cinnamon in it.
if you want the recipe, then you'll have to email me, because it's top secret and going in my new book, and i'm not sharing it with anyone willy nilly. in fact, that goes for all recipes.
Right-ho. i'm off to watch Ratatoiulle with my lovely biscuits and tea. cheerio.
xxxxxx

PUMPKIN PIE. scarily good.

i decided this morning that in honour of festivity i'd make a pumpkin pie. i already make a delicious turkish poached pumpkin pudding so it's not a far cry. there's something a bit odd about eating a pudding which is constitutes of a vegetable, because your expectation is thrown off kilter. but sure enough i've delivered a gem for the deli. all that lattice seems so old fashioned and comforting.

if you want to taste it, you'll just have to come and get it...

xxxxx