Just a little peek…

You never know when inspiration will strike. I seem to like the absurd challenge of figuring out what to make for dinner when I get home and root through the fridge and freezer.

This time, the carrots, carrot greens and a summer cabbage made me think “stir fry”, and the salmon made me think “crispy skin”. Sweet potato noodles that I’d picked up in a past life at a Korean supermarket finished it off. Though since my go-to Korean supermarket has been demolished thanks to the addition of a new train line in London, I’m not sure where to go to replace them. (Any suggestions out there? …Bueller?)

If you haven’t tried sweet potato noodles (in Korean: dang myun), they’re like glass noodles but thicker. They’re chewier and slipperier than wheat noodles, and are really light in flavor so you can enhance them with whatever you want – plus they’re gluten free!

I’ve half-heartedly tried meal planning before, but it just doesn’t seem to work. Sometimes plans come up, or Main Ingredient is missing or has gone off…

But maybe that’s how it should be. I don’t think I would’ve thought of this in front of a google doc spreadsheet. I needed to see to be inspired. Thank you, wizened carrots of the crisper drawer.

Serves: 2

On the Counter

Stir-Fry
320 g (12 oz) salmon, scaled (80 g/3 oz piece per serving)
1 tbsp neutral oil, such as peanut, rapeseed or sunflower
2 large carrots (about 300 g or 2 cups)
2 big handfuls of leafy green vegetables, your choice
1 medium onion (about 110 g or 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic
200 g (7 oz) Korean sweet potato noodles

Dressing
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp red chili flakes
1 tbsp naturally-brewed soy sauce (Kikkoman is my preferred)

What to Do

Combine the sesame oil, chili flakes and soy sauce, and set it aside.

Slice the carrots into matchstick sized pieces, and chop the onion. Chop or tear the greens into bite-sized pieces.

Pat the salmon filets dry and lightly salt them on each side. Make sure it’s been scaled or you definitely won’t want to eat the skin.

Heat the oil in a flat, cast iron or non-stick pan on medium heat until shimmering and hot enough to make a drop of water jump out.

Place the salmon in, skin-side down. Don’t touch it for at least 4 or 5 minutes. You’ll need patience. When it’s ready, you won’t have to put in any effort to get the salmon and its skin out of pan. If it’s not easy to pick up with a spatula, leave it alone. That’s how you get the best crispy skin.

Once your skin is crispy, flip it over and cook for another 2 minutes. Set it aside, covered, or in a low-heat oven.

Cook the noodles in boiling water for 5-6 minutes, until they’re a texture you’re happy with. Immediately rinse them in cool water to stop the cooking process.

While the noodles are cooking, stir fry the vegetables in the pan you used for the salmon. It should take about the same amount of time to cook as the noodles. At the very end, add in most of the spicy soy dressing, and combine it with the vegetables. Save the rest to drizzle on top of the salmon.

Once everything is done, you can mix the noodles into the saucy stir fry, and give your crispy skin salmon a place of pride on top.

At a time in the not-too-distant past, some friends and I were looking for a place to for dinner before a gig, and found ourselves at Prawn on the Lawn, a fishmonger/tiny restaurant in Islington, north London.

All their seafood is sourced from Britain, and they use some of that delicious local production for a small menu of dishes in an even smaller space.

Our table was a barrel (literally), and we squished together, 3 of us, slurping oysters and sampling each others’ main dishes. PS: If you go, have the expensive but absolutely delicious soda bread and butter.

The monkfish and chorizo stew was the inspiration for this recipe, and I have come up with my own version based on what I remembered it tasting of and what I like to eat.

Don’t mind the low-light iPhone photo, but this was some good seafood

In the UK, monkfish are a sustainable species, though they were in trouble for a while. It’s been an interesting ride for the monkfish as a food source. It went from a “trash fish” to “poor man’s lobster” to a delicacy that needed to be protected, and now it’s a sustainable, meaty and generally easy to find fish.

PS: Did you know that monkfish is a type of angler? No wonder you never see a whole one at the fishmonger, they are pretty ugly fish.

This is what happens when you have the time and light to take a reasonable photo.

This stew is hearty and warming, but not so hearty that you can’t enjoy it in the spring… though if you’re enjoying a spring that’s more like summer, you might want to save this recipe for the inevitable cooler days.

Serves: 2 hearty portions/4 with a starter or bread
Cook time: 35 minutes, not including prep

On the Counter

350 g monkfish cut into chunks
50 g chorizo
1 (400 g/14.5 oz) canned tomatoes
600 mL vegetable or fish stock
50 g carrots, about 1 large carrot
1 yellow or orange pepper
1 medium onion
1 stalk of celery
2 garlic cloves
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
fresh parsley, chopped for serving

What to Do

Dice up the vegetables into bite-sized pieces, and mince the garlic. If you’re not very fond of celery, chop it smaller. Also dice the chorizo into 1 cm (1/4 inch) pieces.

Meanwhile, turn the oven on to broil/grill and roast the pepper on each side for 1-2 minutes, until blackened. Once it’s ready, put it in a bowl and cover with a cloth until it’s cool enough to touch. Peel it, removed the seeds and chop it.

In soup pot or casserole pot, heat the oil over medium-low until it shimmers. Add in the celery, carrots and onion until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Push the vegetables to the side of the pan and add in the chorizo. Fry it, stirring, until it starts melting and browning, another 3-4 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes, breaking up the large pieces with a wooden spoon. Add in the roasted pepper, stock, paprika, red pepper flakes and salt. Stir. Simmer, covered, on low heat for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes are up, add the monkfish pieces and cover the pot again. Let it cook for another 15 minutes.

Sprinkle fresh parsley in each bowl and serve.

Boxty on the griddle,
boxty on the pan,
If you can’t bake boxty
sure you’ll never get a man.

Who doesn’t love an old-fashioned rhyme to go with their pancakes?

Boxty are Irish potato pancakes, and they’re a little bit different than any other potato pancakes I’ve made before. They’re traditionally from the northern parts of Ireland (Republic of) and used to be called “poor man’s bread”.

They are easier to make than rosti/hash browns, which I just cannot get right. Boxty include cooked mashed and raw grated potatoes, making them more like cakes than hash browns, and they are perfect if you’re looking for a different way to serve up potatoes. They’re best served with savory accompaniments, and are delicious at breakfast, lunch or dinner.

When I make them, I don’t rinse the raw potato, but if you want a slightly less starchy final product, you can, as long as you strain it well.

I served my boxty with baked cod (cod, sprinkled with salt, pepper and a tiny bit of paprika and baked for 15 minutes on 200C/390F), steamed baby spinach and chimichurri sauce on top. (Chimichurri: garlic, red pepper flakes, parsley or cilantro/coriander, salt, olive oil and cider vinegar blitzed together)

Makes: about 15 pancakes

On the Counter

1 cup (250 g) raw grated potato
1 cup (250 g) raw potato in chunks
1 cup (250 g) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp (or so) butter
1 cup (230 mL)  buttermilk*

What to Do

Boil the chunks of potato in salted water until soft, about 6 minutes. Drain and mash them up.

In a wide, flat skillet or cast iron pan, heat the butter over low heat until it melts and starts to bubble.

Mix in the raw grated potato (which you may have rinsed to remove some starch), flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine.

Slowly add the buttermilk and incorporate it into the mix. It should be like a cake batter, not doughy. Add more milk if necessary, but I didn’t need it.

Use a tablespoon to measure a heaping portion of potato mix and drop it carefully into the pan. You can spread it out a bit with the back of your spoon. Fry it for about 2 minutes on each side, or until it’s golden brown.

[You’ll see that some bubbles will start to come up, and the top of the pancake will start to look drier on the un-fried side. If you try to flip before they’re ready, you’ll just get a very messy spatula.]

*If you don’t have, or don’t want to buy, buttermilk, you can cheat by mixing 1 tbsp of white vinegar with 1 cup of milk and letting it sit for 5 minutes.

England (and maybe the rest of the UK too?) had been in the midst of some really lovely autumn weather… a little rain here and there, but mostly it’s been warm, sunny days. It does mean that the fact that it now starts getting dark around 5 seem strange, especially when it’s still nice enough to sit outside.

A couple of weekends ago, we went for a walk around some of the wooded areas of Surrey, and it was hard to believe that it was really autumn. We had lunch outside at a great local pub, The William Bray, where the food and the beer were both delicious.

Along the way, I picked some chestnuts for roasting, and wished that I knew enough about wild mushrooms to choose between the tasty ones and the deadly ones. I wonder if there’s a field guide to mushrooms somewhere out there that would make me confident enough to try.

There weren’t as many colorful leaves as you’d expect in mid-October.

…but there were still a few prime specimens

I wish I knew enough about mushrooms to pick them and not die.

We did roast the chestnuts I picked, which were sweet and soft right out of the oven. However, we just had to make do with mushrooms that trustworthy people had gone through the trouble of growing and sorting, when it came time for the main course. 

I think the combination of salmon and lentils combines two very different types of flavors – lentils, which can be heavy but very lean, and salmon, which is less dense, but rich and fatty. The leeks add sweetness and green to the plate, and, well, mushrooms taste good.

For any gluten-free readers out there, lentils are often harvested with wheat, so it’s worth being extra-careful and reading online reviews of brands when looking for lentils that will work for you. 

Serves: 4

On the Counter

4 filets of salmon
475 mL (2 cups) vegetable stock
1 leek, thoroughly washed
250 g (1/2 lb) chestnut or cremini mushrooms
175 g (7/8 cup or 6.2 oz) French green lentils (lentilles vertes)
1 garlic clove, chopped
small handful of chopped fresh parsley

Dijon Sauce
4 tsp dijon mustard
8 tsp water
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried thyme

What to Do

Preheat oven to 200 C/390 F.

Rinse the lentils. Bring the vegetable stock to a boil. If you are using unsalted stock, add 1/2 tsp of salt. Once the water is boiling, add in the lentils and cook according to the package. Green lentils should boil for 10 minutes and simmer for 35 minutes. Drain the lentils.

Meanwhile…

Thinly slice the leeks and mushrooms, but set them aside separately.

Combine Dijon mustard, thyme, water, 2 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tsp of salt, whisk. Set half the sauce aside.

On a baking sheet lined with foil, place the salmon skin-side down. Cover the salmon with 1/2 of the Dijon sauce. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

On medium-low, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a sautee pan until shimmering. Add in the leeks and stir frequently, until they begin to soften – about 5 minutes. Add in mushrooms, and continue to stir frequently, for another 3 minutes or so, or until the mushrooms begin to soften and shine. Add in garlic and 1 tsp of salt and cook for another minute until garlic is fragrant and soft. Mix in 1/2 of of the remaining Dijon sauce (1/4 of the total), and set aside.

When the lentils are finished, spoon them into a wide-bottomed bowl. Top with shallots and mushrooms, and then salmon. Sprinkle parsley on top.

Full disclosure: I haven’t been to Vietnam, so I can’t promise this is going to make you think of late nights and food stalls in Hanoi, but I can tell you that it tastes pretty good.

There is just one thing though … to make this, you need to plan ahead. This is not a sandwich you can slap together in 10 minutes, but it’s portable, you can eat it with your hands, and it will impress your friends.

If you’ve never had the chance to try a bánh mì sandwich, well, you should really do something about that. The real-deal is a mix of Vietnamese and French influences, from back when Vietnam was a colony of the bleu, blanc et rouge. A toasted baguette, some pickled vegetables, pork paté, and a bit of spice come together for something truly delicious. The words bánh mì technically just means bread, but outside of Vietnam, it is really all about this sandwich. Typically they’re filled with something porky, but I really like this version. It’s a little lighter in taste and you can feed it to pescetarians.

adapted from: Five and Spice
Serves: 4

Make Ahead

Pickled Vegetables (make between 30 minutes and 2 days in advance)
1/2 daikon radish or 10 regular radishes
1 large carrot
1 cucumber
240 mL (1 cup) cider vinegar
120 mL (1/2 cup) water
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. salt

Slice all the vegetables into matchstick sized pieces. Combine all the pickling ingredients with the vegetables. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 days, covered.

On the Counter

Equipment
1 baking tray
1 small bowl
aluminum foil

Marinade (make between 30 minutes and 1 hour in advance)
4 filets of sea bass, (about 100 g or 3 oz each)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 spring onion/scallion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 inch (1.25 cm) piece of ginger, peeled and minced or grated

Sandwich
4 demi-baugettes or 2 full-sized baguettes, halved
a handful of fresh coriander/cilantro
3 tablespoons sriracha hot sauce
3 tablespoons Greek yogurt or mayonnaise
1 japaleño or green chili, sliced thinly

What to Do

Mix all marinade ingredients together and pour over filets. They don’t need to be skinless, as you can easily take the skin off once they’re cooked. Marinade for at least 30 minutes, up to 1 hour ahead. Any more than that and the fish will start falling apart.

Line your baking tray with foil. In a 180C (350F) oven, bake the marinated filets in one layer for 10 to 15 minutes until cooked through and the fish flakes easily with a fork. Cut or flake the fish into generous chunks.

Meanwhile, mix the sriracha and yogurt/mayonnaise and set aside.

When the fish is cooked, set the oven to broil/grill and place the baguette halves in for 2 minutes, until lightly toasted.

Slather one side of the bread with sriracha cream, add the fish, pickled vegetables, sliced chili and coriander. Close your sandwich and eat!

I’ve seriously been on a smoked paprika kick lately. It’s one of my favorite spices to start with, and I just love smoky flavors, but lately I’ve wanted it on everything! I’ve been trying it with some of my staple dinner ideas, for a bit of a variation, which is how this came to be. It’s quite similar to the baked haddock recipe, but with a bit more smoky goodness and bonus side vegetables.

There’s a shop in Brixton, in south London, where you can bag your spices and all sorts of interesting plant-derived things, and they are my suppliers for smoked paprika. With the opportunity to get as much as I want, I thought I overdid it – but with the speed at which we’ve emptied the first jar’s worth, I think I made out like a bandit, in the end.

If you don’t love smoky paprika (but seriously, how could you not) you can use sweet paprika, or … skip it entirely, though you’ll be missing out. If you don’t love cilantro/coriander on the other hand, just replace it with parsley. While I’m lucky enough that it doesn’t taste like soap to me, I feel for you if it does.

Note: I wouldn’t recommend reheating the fish, as it loses its soft flakiness and just turns rubbery, which is not tasty, no matter how much smoked paprika you put on top.

Recipe note: Add the carrots in first, give them 10 minutes, add the fish, give it 10 minutes, and then add the broccoli for 10 minutes.

Smoky Baked Cod

Serves: 4

On the Counter

4 fresh sustainable cod filets, about 4 in (10 cm) long and 1 in (3 cm) thick (can substitute with pollack or haddock)
6-8 cherry tomatoes
1 banana shallot or 3 regular shallots
2 cloves garlic
5-6 fresh sprigs cilantro/coriander (or parsley), leaves stripped from the stems
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp smoked paprika + 1 tsp set aside
1 tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp set aside
1 tsp cayenne pepper powder

What to Do

Mince the garlic, slice the shallots and quarter the tomatoes. Drizzle with 1 tsp olive oil and toss to combine, adding 2 tsp. of smoked paprika. Set aside.

Chop your herbs of choice. Combine the 1 tbsp. olive oil, cayenne pepper, herbs, 1 tsp. smoked paprika and salt. Coat each fish piece and set it aside for up to 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425 F (220 C).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. If the fish are not well coated in olive oil, drizzle a little onto the paper/foil and lay the fish pieces on top. Spoon the vegetable mix on top of the cod.

Roasted Paprika Carrots and Broccoli

On the Counter

1 head broccoli, cut into florets, without main stem
8-10 carrots (depending on size)
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
6 sprigs cilantro/coriander, (or parsley) leaves stripped from the stems
2 tsp. smoked paprika
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. salt

What to Do

Preheat the oven to 425 F (220 C).

Slice the carrots thinly on the diagonal, about 1 cm thick (just under 1/2 inch). Chop the coriander and combine it with the paprika, garlic, olive oil and salt. Divide the mixture into 2.

In one bowl, toss 1/2 the spice oil with the broccoli. In another bowl, toss 1/2 the spice mix with the carrots.

Line a large baking sheet with foil, and spread the carrots widely. (If you don’t have a big enough tray, you can cook them separately – like I did.)

Roast the carrots for 20 minutes. Add the broccoli onto the baking sheet and roast for an additional 10 minutes.

First thing’s first. Scallops. They’re tasty, they’re good for you (more than 80% protein, and packed with magnesium and potassium), and they are easy to overcook.

But they’re worth the effort to get right – and by running a few scallop tests, I intend to save you some trouble. (When you can get a good deal from a fishmonger on scallops – it’s worth testing … and eating your results.)

The quickest way to cook scallops, and the best for a risotto, is to sear them in some olive oil and butter. Before cooking them, make sure they’re dry, and then season each side with a sprinkle of salt and black pepper. Kosher salt or ground rock/sea salt are your best options, but using what you have has always seemed reasonable to me.

After that, the two most important things are heat and time. Make sure that your pan is smoking hot (literally!) and that you have a timer ready.

King scallops, or the big guys seen below, take 1:30 on each side to cook. Nothing crazy is going to happen if you go slightly over, but if you’re anything like me, it just takes one minor distraction to go from soft, buttery scallops to tough, disappointing scallops.

So that’s:

a. dry, seasoned scallops
b. smoking hot skillet with some butter and olive oil
c. a timer (1:30 on each side)

Personally, I like to eat the coral (the orange bit that’s attached) but if you don’t, or you’re not comfortable eating roe, then it’s really easy to remove before cooking. Just pull them off!

Make the scallops as your final step, even though I’ve gone and made everything confusing by talking about them first. But they’re much better hot and fresh out of the pan. Plus, the risotto is less likely to suffer from waiting 3 minutes than the scallops are waiting 30 minutes.

Serves: 2 [and easy to halve for 1]

On the Counter

for the risotto

1 medium onion, finely diced
200 g chestnut or portobello mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
25 g butter
1.25 L (5 cups) vegetable stock
120 ml (1/2 cup) white wine
200 g (1 cup) carnaroli or arborio rice
130 g (1 cup) peas, defrosted
50 g unsalted butter, cubed
50 g Parmesan cheese, grated
handful of fresh parsley, chopped

for the scallops

25 g butter, melted in a skillet
1 tbsp olive oil
6 large scallops, cleaned, seasoned and dried. (coral removed if desired)

What To Do

Bring the stock to the boil and set aside once it’s boiled.

Melt the 25 g of butter over medium heat until sizzling. Soften the onion in a skillet, for about 5 minutes, then mix in the mushrooms and cook for another 3 or 4 minutes. Add in garlic, stir and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the rice. Turn the heat up to medium high, and stir to coat the grains with butter.

Once the grains begin to turn translucent, add the wine. Stir until the wine is mostly gone. Add 1 ladle-full of stock, stir until nearly absorbed and add more stock. (You don’t have to stir constantly, just ensure the rice does not go dry.)

After 10 minutes, stir in the peas, test the rice for doneness, and add stock in smaller portions until the rice is as firm or soft as you like it to be.

As soon as the rice is ready and the stock level in the pan is low, take the risotto off the heat. Stir in the remaining butter and the parmesan cheese. Mix until well combined and creamy.

Set aside, covered (or serve immediately if not making scallops.)

Meanwhile, when the rice is very nearly done, heat the olive oil and 25 g of butter in a skillet until the butter has been sizzling for a few minutes.

Once the butter is hot enough, prepare a timer for 1 minute 30 seconds. Quickly put the scallops in and leave them unit the timer goes off.

Flip the scallops and cook for another 1 minute, 30 seconds.

Serve the scallops on top of the risotto and garnish with chopped fresh parsley.

Am I a bad blogger? I don’t always have my camera ready for meals, and when I’m hungry, it’s really hard to convince myself to stop, take photos, get the best lighting and take more photos.

Plus there’s the matter of forgetting until everything is finished cooking that I should probably have documented the process.

This meal came from what we had in the freezer and the gentleman’s request for pasta with courgettes. I don’t normally server pasta as a side for fish, usually the fish is mixed in or there’s no pasta at all. It worked pretty well, and I might have to start doing the fish/pasta combination more often.

Also, even though it’s technically 2 recipes in 1, it didn’t take long at all – 15 minutes of cooking time and about 15 minutes of preparation.

We just got back from a series of “aways” for the holidays, including an extended New Year’s at a friend’s house outside of London. This was the first real meal of the year at home, and the first attempt to get back to more sensible eating. (No more buttery garlic bread and cheese for lunch.)

This time of year it’s easy to fall into the trap of making really ambitious resolutions that are almost impossible to live up to, but in the midst of thinking about wanting to buy fewer things, eat healthier, exercise more and learn something new – I’ll stick with the goal of having my camera nearby whenever I cook.

What’s your new year’s resolution?

Serves: 2

Roasted Dover Sole

On the Counter: 
2 filets dover sole
1 large clove garlic, minced
3-4 sprigs dill, chopped
1 lemon wedge (for serving)
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

What to do: 
Generously season filets with salt and pepper, let rest for 5-10 minutes on an oiled roasting tray.

Preheat oven to 355 F (180C). Brush some more olive oil on top of the filets. Top with garlic and dill.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and squeeze lemon juice on top. One 1/4 lemon wedge should be enough for 2 filets.

Zucchini and Tomato Pasta

On the counter:
1/2 cup (120 g) whole wheat pasta, Mafalda corta or penne
1  medium or 1/2 large zucchini, cut into chunks
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp (set aside)
1/2 tsp crushed chili flakes
1 tbsp fresh herbs (parsley, chives, dill) chopped
1 lemon wedge
fresh parmesan, grated (optional)

What to do:
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a sauté pan until shimmering.

In a salted, boiling pot of water, add pasta and cook for 7-9 minutes, until al dente.

Meanwhile, add onions to hot oil and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. Stir in zucchini and cook for 4-5 minutes, until zucchini softens slightly and changes color. Add tomato chunks, chili flakes and 1 tsp olive oil, stir to integrate. Cook for another 3-4 minutes, until pasta is done.

Drain pasta and add to sauté pan, add fresh herbs and the juice from 1 lemon wedge. Toss to combine.

Serve alongside sole and top the pasta with parmesan.

Cooking is about much more than a recipe and a stock of ingredients in the house. I’m the kind of person who likes to shop for groceries and food, and the more options, the better. You can sometimes find me agonizing over the perfect lemons or the biggest head of garlic.

One of my favorite places to shop for those ingredients in London probably isn’t the first place people would expect. Maltby Street market has great food to snack on and speciality items to take home, Borough Market is the foodie’s paradise in London, and North End Road is the place for those who like an old-fashioned working class London experience.

However, my personal favorite has to be Brixton Market. Brixton has everything from measure-your-own spices to the freshest shrimp, with the cheapest vegetables and some of London’s best Neopolitan-style pizza in between.

Recently I introduced a good friend and fellow blogger, Natalia, to the joys of Brixton market. We wandered between market arcades, visited shops, stopped at a few stalls and took lots of photos along the way. Check out her blog post about our day on her blog Nat w Londynie (note: it’s in Polish)

I got to spend a little time being a London Tour Guide (which doesn’t happen very often… the accent probably puts people off) in this slightly off-the-beaten-path neighborhood that isn’t actually very far from Central London. As I write this, I again have the Eddy Grant song “Electric Avenue” in my head, which was written about Brixton’s Electric Avenue, the first market street in London to be lit by electricity.

We picked up quite a few things, like shrimp at Jeffries Fish Market, inside Market Row, across from Franco Manca, where you can get some of London’s best pizza. I love Jeffries (and Franco Manca, for that matter). The seafood is affordable, with a great (fresh!) selection and the nicest people. I would go out of the way for their shrimp – the best I’ve had in London, by far.

Plus there’s Nour Cash & Carry, a wholesale, cash-only store where you can buy all sorts of bulk foods, cheap (so cheap!) fresh vegetables and herbs and some really interesting, unusual things. Definitely not the kind of stock you can find at the local Tesco.

Lots of meals have come from my purchases in Brixton, but this one is symbolic of a day roaming between market arcades and local stores in Brixton.

Polenta with Shrimp and Tomato Sauce

Serves: 4

On the Counter

soft polenta:
2 cups (340 g) coarse-ground corn meal (polenta)
8 cups (2 liters) water
1 tbsp coarse sea salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter

tomato and shrimp:

1.5 lbs (700 g) fresh shrimp (prawns), peeled
1 can peeled plum tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, finely diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 cup (100 g) fresh or frozen shelled peas
crumbled feta to garnish
fresh parsley or cilantro to garnish
salt and pepper to taste

What to Do

Start the polenta by boiling the water in a large pot over high heat, with salt. Slowly whisk the corn meal in, until smooth. Simmer, covered, on lower heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste for desired consistency. Once it’s cooked, whisk in the butter until completely melted.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add garlic and shallot, cook for 2 minutes, or until shallot is translucent. Add in chilli flakes and tomatoes, and break up with a wooden spoon. Add tomato paste and about 1/2 tsp salt, stir to combine. Cook for 15 minutes, tasting, until sauce is mostly smooth. Add more salt if needed. Toss in shrimp and peas, and cook for an additional 5 minutes, until shrimp is pink and opaque.

Spoon the polenta into bowls, top with tomato sauce and shrimp, top with feta and parsley/cilantro.

I got nearly every ingredient for this (including the salt!) from Brixton market, so this meal really was a reminder of an interesting Saturday and the joys of shopping around for quality ingredients.

It’s been a while since my last post. In the process of moving in with the gentleman, a few trips and lots of packing and unpacking (and trying to eat my way through a pantry and freezer full of food), I just kind of lost the opportunity to sit down, edit photos and write up a post. Now that I finally feel like I’m getting back into a routine, I think I can start writing again. I have about 10 meals photographed and ready, so there might be a bit of a backlog coming up!

This is one of the first meals that I made living in the temporarily new place, (yep more moving to come), and I think it does a pretty good job of celebrating the season.

Just today I finished reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which I was a few years overdue on picking up. In the process of reading, I’ve decided to try even harder to focus on local, seasonal food with a good provenance. Right now, I can afford to make the extra effort and take the time to really consider what I eat and cook with, and if my choices have any effect on what the supermarkets stock, or the success of my local CSA, even better.

Speaking of the CSA, all of the veggies in this recipe came from our weekly vegetable box. Unfortunately there aren’t any shrimp deliveries, so I had to make do on that one. This recipe works well with any combo of seasonal veggies that you’re happy with, and it makes a great (and quick) dinner for a warm spring evening.

(Oh yeah, and if you leave out the shrimp, this is vegan!) I learned a great trick about getting butter-style emulsified sauces without the butter from Serious Eats, one of my favorite places for food know-how. It’s a great trick to keep a simple pasta dish dairy-free without sacrificing the sauciness. And everyone needs a bit of sauciness now and again.

On the Counter

1/2 lb (225 g) whole wheat spaghetti
1/4 cup (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large or 2 small zucchini (courgettes), halved lengthways into quarters and sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped (and peeled if you’re feeling ambitious)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp corn starch (corn flour)
(reserve) 1/2 cup pasta cooking water
10-12 raw shrimp (prawns), peeled (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Fresh thyme leaves, off the stem
1/2 tsp red pepper (chili) flakes
salt and pepper to taste

What to Do

Start the pasta in a pot of salted, boiling water and cook until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water.

While the pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in skillet/frying pan. Add onion, toss and sauté until slightly translucent, about 4 minutes.

Add zucchini, garlic and bell pepper to the pan, and sauté  for 5 minutes or until the zucchini are nearly softened. Add corn starch and reserved pasta water, stir to dissolve corn starch and turn up the heat.

Add tomatoes, shrimp, red pepper flakes and thyme. Sauté until shrimp are just cooked and tomatoes soften (about 3 minutes).

Add lemon juice and toss the pasta in the hot skillet.

Season with salt and black pepper.

Because asparagus are finally in season here, I steamed some with a bit of garlic to serve on the side – which is why you’ll see their cameo appearance above. I love asparagus in pasta too, but that is certainly a matter of preference.