The day I discovered the deliciousness of cauliflower leaves changed my life. Ok, that’s not true at all. But the buttery, nutty flavor hidden in a silky cabbage texture did surprise me. It also didn’t happen very long ago, leaving me with some shame over all the cauliflower leaves that went thoughtlessly into the trash.

I grew up, as I’m sure we all did, hearing about how we shouldn’t waste food. I didn’t think about it much, especially if it was something I didn’t particularly like eating. But I realized as I got older (and lived with other people) that maybe those lessons had sunk in. It’s traditionally been ‘uncool’ to eat the tougher cuts of meat, or save onion ends for the stock pot. Why is wastefulness cool?

Did you know that the world wastes 33% of human edible food? It’s in every part of the food chain, from farmers plowing extra cauliflowers back into the field to you discovering moldy mystery food in the back of the fridge. Besides the obvious, food waste contributes to global warming and local and international food crises. Every food we buy, whether it’s homemade or ordered, has an impact on the world.

Sometimes it feels like problems are so big there isn’t much we can do about them. It’s easy to ignore them because the negative impact seems much greater than any of our positive actions.

But sometimes, when issues are tackled from all sides, there’s a real opportunity to make an impact. Whether it comes from chefs, policy makers or us consumers and home cooks, tackling food waste doesn’t seem so impossible. I have some suggestions about cutting food waste at home … after all the pretty pictures of the wastED pop up.

wastED, the food waste pop up

wastED was in residence at the Rooftop at Selfridges in London. New York chef Dan Barber, the creator, wanted to draw attention to the wastefulness in our food system, and how with practical and creative choices, even we can make a difference. Every dish on the sharing plates menu highlighted a food waste product and put it to good use. From the tender leaves on top of a kale to the mounds of fruit and vegetable pulp leftover from juice bars…  the menu included lots of inventive dishes with a conscious twist.

A sneak peek of what to expect from the wastEd menu.

His and her’s dippers. Veal nuggets with 3 sauces, charcoal mayonnaise, tomato relish and smoky ketchup.

Bread made with spent bran and barista milk (a-maazing), and pea-skin crackers served with three spreads, including Napoleonic butter (the OG margarine), ricotta and whipped jamon drippings.

Even the decor was accented with upcycled waste products and salvaged wood. The tables, crafted from artichoke thistle and lamps made of seaweed and mushrooms looked like they could have come straight from a Scandi boutique.

We even got to meet the chef! Dan Barber, in residence.

Trendy cod cheeks (…and the rest) with a broken rice kedgeree.

Beet and vegetable pulp burger, made with the leftovers from juicing machines. Topped with bacon from waste fed pigs, it was nestled into a bun made with leftover bread. On the side? Beet runoff ketchup and picalilli. The vegetables came straight from local juice bars.

A kale tree! Tender and sweet, these young leaves get left behind in the field because it’s too labor intensive to harvest them. These trees came from Riverford, the organic veg box provider. We trimmed the delicate leaves to eat alongside a fantastic delicately flavored crab shell broth, with crab noodles and zucchini ends.

What can we do to reduce food waste?

Obviously, opening a sellout pop up restaurant in Selfridges is probably a bit out of the reach for most of us. The lessons from it, though, are pretty easy to try at home.

Many vegetables also more edible bits than we’ve been conditioned to recognize. You can save vegetable scraps for stock, cook up cauliflower leaves (they’re really good!), and save your broccoli stems for stir fries or veggie bakes. Celery leaves, by the way, are totally edible and can go in with regular celery. Chop up herb stems and add them in while you’re cooking, or add them to the stock pot.

Here’s a controversial one. Stop buying so many spices. If a recipe calls for an unusual spice that you’ve never before used and you’ll probably never use again, why bother? You probably aren’t going to notice it’s missing, and most spices are easy to substitute. Otherwise, start researching recipes to use that sumac that’s been going stale in the back of your spice rack.

If you’re a meat eater, try different cuts, or different meats altogether. Have you ever slow cooked lamb breast? (By far, the cheapest cut of lamb you can get.) What about oxtail? Make yourself a big pile of home-cooked chicken wings — they are dirt cheap outside of the States. There are plenty of cuts that don’t get attention, especially on supermarket shelves. Some cuts, like lamb breast, require longer cooking times, but the reward is lower-cost, rich and flavorful food that would otherwise go to waste.

Male goats are slaughtered early on in an economy where goat cheese is prized, but many see goat meat as weird. If you eat goat cheese, it’s worth thinking about what that means for the goats. Some great entry foods are goat curry (if you like curry, that is) or goat Merguez sausages.

Deep freeze

Freezers are our friends, too. Bread freezes well, especially if you’re going to toast it. Instead of buying bread crumbs, take the sandwich-unworthy ends and blitz them up. They freeze well, too.

You can turn bones and wilted vegetables into stock and then freeze it if you can’t use it all. Store those bones and less-than-lovely veggies in the freezer until you’re ready to boil them to smithereens.

Other foods you can freeze:

• nuts
• tortillas
• eggs, outside of their shells
• milk, just shake it up once defrosted
• chilli peppers – chop them after a few minutes out of the freezer, before they fully defrost
• berries and bananas (peeled!) for baking, smoothies, oatmeal (porridge) or eating frozen
• half-cans of food like tomatoes, coconut milk, refried beans – just make sure to take it out of the cans and store in an air-tight bag

I could go on with even more suggestions on how to cut down on food waste, and if you want more ideas, just ask! (Or Google, because there are lot of great suggestions out there.) No one is perfect, but making a conscious decision to change your habits is a good first step to saving money and helping fix the food imbalance.

On one of my visits back to the US, I walked into a bagel shop and bought cream cheese to take back to London. Yes, I’m serious. Scallion cream cheese, specifically. What you might call spring onion and Philadelphia if you’re not American (or Canadian?). It was a really good scallion cream cheese. And it was $5 for a small carton that I wasn’t even sure would survive an 8 hour flight.

Once I’d finished every last speck, the mourning process began. Wistful flight searches. Daydreams about when I could next get a creamy, oniony, freshly made smear onto my bagels. Then I started thinking big. What if I could make my own scallion cream cheese?

Something to rival those neighborhood bagel shops from back home.

And so I set out to whip up a scallion cream cheese recipe for those of us who can’t get this wonder spread.

The fridge stable 8 month old pre-packaged stuff is not the same and I’m not going to pretend it is. Keep on keeping on if you love it, I don’t want to stomp on your flower garden. But really, this is so much better.

Put me, this scallion cream cheese and a few bagels in a room together, and I can guarantee there won’t be any left. But I know everyone isn’t like me, so I’ve come up with other easy ways to polish off your pot of scallion cream cheese.

Quarter scallions lengthwise, then finely chop them. Combine with milk, salt and cream cheese and that’s it! If you have the patience, let it sit in the fridge for a few hours before digging in.

 Bonus: Rainbow bagel, because it was so ridiculous I just had to.

Ideas for using up your scallion cream cheese

Stir it into a quiche. Stir it into the eggy quiche mix, then layer it with your favorite quiche ingredients. Maybe spinach or ham, or whatever you have in the fridge.

Layer it into your 5-6-7 layer dip and break out the tortilla chips.

Stir it into vegetable pasta.

Option 1: Cook up some asparagus or tender stem broccoli (or both) in garlic, then add a squeeze of lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir the cream cheese into pasta, gently incorporate the green vegetables and top with grated parmesan.

Option 2: Pump up a super-easy lasagne-style pasta bowl.

Pile it onto a baked potato, sweet or otherwise. Top with chopped bacon, pan fried mushrooms or just fresh herbs.

Stuff it into chiles, cover them in bread crumbs and bake for pepper poppers.

Serves 2 tbsp

Scallion (spring onion) cream cheese

5 minPrep Time

5 minCook Time

10 minTotal Time

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On the Counter

• 180g (8 oz) container of cream cheese (I use Philadelphia)
• 2 scallions/spring onions
• 1 tsp milk
• 1/4 tsp salt

What to Do

• Quarter the spring onions, lengthwise. Slice them finely
• Scoop the cream cheese into a bowl, and add the milk. Break up the cream cheese then stir to combine and thin out the cheese.
• Add in the salt and spring onions, and stir until the spring onions are evenly distributed.
• Put the cream cheese back into its container and refrigerate.
• It's good right away but tastes a lot better if you let it chill for at least a few hours.

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Here’s another throwback story. Last July, instead of lazing at a balmy beach resort, we went north to Denmark. Copenhagen is the place to be. Have you heard?

Cycle lanes, pared down design, new Nordic cuisine and experimental beer are everywhere. There’s something about the friendly modernity in Copenhagen. The quality of life you read about in every lifestyle article.

The city offers quiet residential neighborhoods, warehouses-turned-hangouts and lots of waterfront views. It’s also known for surprise rain showers. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

It’s an expensive place, like most Scandinavian cities, but if you come prepared for big city prices you won’t have too much sticker shock. Airbnb is big in Copenhagen, and compared to central Copenhagen hotel prices, generally a money saving option. The convenience of a ‘home’ away from home is the biggest draw. Somewhere to have breakfast, sleep in late if we want to, or come back early and watch old movies in the living room with bottles from the local beer shop.

Nørrebro – Northern Copenhagen

We stayed in the north of the city — Nørrebro — which is like the Hackney or Brooklyn of Copenhagen. Mostly trendy, occasionally rough around the edges. This is a good place to pretend you live in Copenhagen, even if only for a few days.

The former workers’ neighborhood has been home to anti-establishment (and WWII anti-Nazi) protests, immigrant communities trying to make a life in the Danish capital, and restauranteurs who couldn’t afford to open anywhere else. Now it hosts a mix of warehouses turned to organic restaurants, third wave coffee shops and solid kebab and shawarma.

One tourism highlight of the district is Assistens Cemetery, which doubles as a park. (Hans Christian Andersen and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard are both buried there.) Apparently the Danes aren’t too freaked out by dead people underfoot, so a cemetery that’s also a public use greenspace is no big thing. It isn’t the slightest bit creepy, and joining the locals for a picnic with Hans Christian feels right. Just watch out for joggers.

Tivoli Gardens

An amusement park in the middle of the city? Across the road from the main train station? That’s Tivoli Gardens. Retro in the strictest sense, it’s a step back in time, but without the rickety structures and loose definitions of safety. This, the second-oldest amusement park in the world, was opened in 1843.

Tivoli Gardens closes for winter, so if you want to ride the Alpine mountain, you’ll have to visit between April and September. And trust me, it’s worth it.

Nyhavn – Central Copenhagen

I’ll just let the photos do the talking for this canal-side neighborhood.

What we ate and drank in Copenhagen

Three and a half days in the city is not enough for a comprehensive culinary tour, but here are some of the highlights in Norrebro, and the rest of Copenhagen.

Baest

Baest is an organic and local product focused Italian restaurant in a fantastic corner of Nørrebro. They make wood fired pizza that’s heavy on toppings. There’s a micro-dairy on site, meaning fantastic freshly made mozzarella and burrata.

Locally cured meat from animals of one specific Danish farm are also ready for sampling. It is a pizza place, but honestly I don’t feel that’s the main draw. You could even skip it and stick to the charcuterie and cheeses. They’re the real stars. We had a lean bresaola bursting with meatiness and creamy, rich burrata.

If I were to go again, I’d go all in on the charcuterie and cheese. Maybe it’s because my mushroom and pesto pizza was a bit heavy on the toppings?

Beer (and food)

Just across from Baest is Tapperiet Brus, a bar and bottle shop from the team behind (brilliant) gypsy brewery To Øl and the Mikkeller bar Mikropolis. (More on them below.) Housed in an old iron foundry and train factory, it’s a modern, airy space with plenty of brushed steel and great beers and cocktails. The people working there are friendly and knowledgeable, the drinks selection was so good, and they’re branding is pretty great. What can I say, I’m a To Øl fangirl.

Brus shares a home with Restaurant Spontan, whose chef won a Michelin star at his previous residence. Spontan offers carefully considered dishes, the freshest and most beautiful ingredients, plus a distinct lack of fussy white tablecloth service meant this was the culinary highlight of our time in Copenhagen. Oh, I can’t forget their beer pairing menu, including a range of styles from around the world.

Mikkeller is probably the second-best known brewery from Copenhagen. (You’ve heard of Carlsberg, right?) Experimental flavors and styles are a signature of Mikkel Borg Bjergsø’s brews. You probably won’t find Black, their 18.8% imperial stout, at your typical local bar.

But getting your hands on a Mikkeller beer is easy in Copenhagen. If you’re there for beer, it would be hard to avoid, in fact. They currently have 8 bars, 3 restaurants and a bottle shop dotted around the Danish city, including a brand new spot called Haven.

Some of the highlights include their old-timey looking sour beer bar Koelschip, a “tribute to Belgian beer” and the neighboring Mikkeller & Friends, and the bright, colorful Mikkeller Bar in Vesterbro, I’m kicking myself that we didn’t try Øl & Brød (beer & bread), their smorrebrød-focused spot.

Speaking of Mikkeller and food…

Ramen tu Bíiru (Ramen and Beer)

Mikkeller also has a spoon in the city’s ramen trade. Modeled after quirky ramen spots in Japan, at Ramen tu Biiru you place an order via a “ramen vending machine”. It then prints a receipt that you take to the counter. It’s a little labored, but bear with it.

Bench seats in a small and very popular spot mean this isn’t the place to dawdle over your slurpy noodles. The ramen, by the way, are actually good. It’s not at the level of choosing the tenderness of your noodles, but they do offer rich, satisfying bowls of umami and warmth. Considering this is technically a brewery doing ramen, it was hard to know what to expect.

The menu includes shio, shoyu and miso ramens – so both meat-lovers and vegetarians are accommodated for – and a range of Mikkeller beers chosen for their ramen matching abilities. Mikkeller also has an eponymous beer specially created to complement the soupy noodle bowls.

The original is in Vesterbro. We didn’t stop in, so I can’t say if it’s less busy than the Norrebro outpost.

Smørrebrød

Dense, moist rye bread is buttered and topped with pickled or fried fish, pate, cold meats or cheese, plus plenty more toppings.

This is what I looked forward to trying most. But open-faced sandwiches (Smørrebrød – stuff on bread) were not the revelation I’d hoped for. I only experienced a 50% success rate for smørrebrød enjoyment.

Skip the central market’s huge line and carve time in around midday for Rita’s Smørrebrød. With a deli-style counter and about 3 seats, this is where the locals go for lunch. And I’m not kidding – get there early because the sandwiches move quickly. This isn’t a fancy place, and a lot of their stuff-on-bread isn’t the most Instagrammable. But you’re not the kind of person who lets that stop you from eating something … right?

Hot dogs

Hot dogs: the street food of Denmark. In true Copenhagen style, the best hot dogs are traditional with a twist.

Døp is an organic hot dog stand offering franks made from a range of sustainable meats, and even vegan ‘meat’ in a sourdough bun. Choose your sausage, then your bread and finally your toppings. Ever had kale on a hot dog? Why not?

I had the goat hot dog, and as someone who likes goat, I thought it was … delicious.

John’s Hotdog Deli is a food truck outside of the city’s main train station, and just across from Tollhavn. I know it’s not the most inspirational location but it’s just good business sense. Can you imagine a more practical place for a hot dog? Stop for a quick bite if you’re catching a train or visiting Tivoli Gardens. Truly worlds better than the hot dogs you’ll find inside the park, it’s worth the early lunch.Papirøen’s food market

Before Papirøen’s (Paper Island) reincarnation, the island housed a series of paper storage warehouses, hence the name. The neighboring science and tech museum Experimentarium would be a good place to take kids or adults who love hands-on exhibits.

Copenhagen Street Food is a range of international food stalls based in one of the once-abandoned halls. From doughnuts to duck burgers, pig out to your heart’s (or wallet’s) content.

Also worth a mention…

Mother is often referenced as the best pizza in Copenhagen, but we didn’t have a chance to try it. Next time.

The Coffee Collective – they have a few cafes around town with a focus on the beans and the farmers who grow them.

Botanical Garden. With a mix of indoor greenhouses and leafy green outdoor paths, this is a great place to visit if you get caught in one of Denmark’s rain/sun/rain/sun events. It’s beautiful.. and free!

Cycling. The traffic system for bicycles is the most organised and safest-looking I’ve ever seen, even compared to Amsterdam. If you like cycling (I don’t, to be honest), rent a bike and become one with Copenhagen. Some Airbnb hosts even let guests borrow their bicycles.

If you have time and don’t need a visa, take the 30 minute train to Malmö for a day in Sweden. Fans of The Bridge would especially get some joy out of it.

Do you like granola? I like granola. But I hate paying £4 for a box with 3 pieces of walnut and one cranberry. If you’re with me, join me by making your own! And might I suggest you give my granola recipe a try…

It’s really easy to scale your granola making up or down. You can also create your very own granola blend. Once you have the proportions down, anything is possible. Mine is lightly sweetened, but you can amp it up to your taste. More sweetener will also give you bigger clusters. For a vegan version, sub in maple syrup – but use less, as maple syrup tends to taste sweeter.

You can use different kinds of nuts, too. I’ve made it with hazelnuts and pecans, Brazil nuts and walnuts, and have even gone as far as a three-nut combo. Crazy, I know.

Add in your own flavorings – a sprinkle of cinnamon or a few drops of vanilla go a long way. Get creative with your crunchy granola self!

Once you have a vat of toasted granola, you might wonder what to do with it besides shoving it straight into your mouth.

Sprinkle that sweet, nutty, homemade granola on top of plain (full fat obviously) Greek yogurt with jam. Sometimes I go off the deep end into DIY territory, but hear me out. You can turn that yogurt into any flavor you want it to be. Strawberry, apricot, blackberry bourbon… just try telling me dyed-pink yogurt sounds better.

Pour some milk on it, cow or otherwise. Sprinkle it onto ice cream. Put it on a fruit crumble. Tweak your cranachan. (If you have any other suggestions, I’d be happy to try them.)

Feel like everything is out of your control? Start small with granola. Then take that slow-release energy out there and tackle the world.

Crunchy nutty granola

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On the Counter

• 200 g oats
• 75 g nuts
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1.5 tbsp coconut oil
• 75 g dried fruit

What to Do

• Optional first step: Sieve the oat dust from your oats.
• Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3/325F.
• Combine the coconut oil and honey. On very low heat, melt them until the mix is thin and runny. This is especially handy if it's cool in your kitchen or your honey is crystallized. Stir to combine.
• Chop the nuts into pieces about the same size (or slightly larger than) an oat.
• In a large bowl, combine the oats and nuts.
• Drizzle the oil and honey on top, stirring the oat mix as you go. Stir until evenly coated. Dig deep!
• Spread the mix evenly onto two baking sheets.
• Bake for 10 minutes.
• Gently mix in the dried fruit and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Don't let it go further than lightly golden brown.
• Cool before storing.
• Mix your granola into yogurt, on top of ice cream, or enjoy it as a cereal with milk.

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https://www.onmykitchencounter.com/2017/02/12/crunchy-nutty-granola-recipe/

It’s nearly the end of a very interesting and hopefully unusual year. From a completely personal perspective, ignoring all geopolitical ramifications, it’s been a pretty good one. I’ve made progress with some of my goals. Some of them cut significantly into my blogging time – in case you haven’t noticed. I’ve also visited new places and met some great new people.

As for the world as a whole, well that’s a different story. But we all know what 2016 has been like.

One of my goals for the year was to see more places, and I luckily had the chance and motivation to do it. With my EU passport in hand, I enjoyed the luxuries of seeing living, breathing cities and playing the ‘what if we moved here’ game.

Way back in May, we visited Budapest for the wedding of two lovely friends. Since we had a week there, we also snuck off to Vienna for a day. But there was plenty to see and eat in Hungary for one post, so you’ll just have to be patient.

Budapest is like two cities in one, the Buda side of the Danube is quieter, and full of the regal, stately buildings you’d expect in the co-capital of a former empire, while the Pest side is trendy and great for a night out.

We arrived at our beautiful Airbnb, right near Parliament on the Buda side of the river to the open-air musical tones of a street fair. Our bags safely dropped and our hunger calling us outside, it was time to explore.

First step: Get some pompos. It’s a Hungarian pizza, a bit like langos but not deep fried. Smothered in sour cream and smoked pork, it was great company for our wander through the market.

Next step: Get to know the neighborhood. The Hungarian Parliament Building has a prime spot alongside the Danube, and it’s made it through a lot of history, including the begrudgingly shared Austro-Hungarian empire and that whole First World War. Sure is pretty though.

The Danube is huuuge! Because I live near the Thames, I just expect every city’s major river to be similar… but this river, which runs through 10 countries, is a whole other kettle of fish.

Soon enough, it was time to visit Pest. To get a drink in one of the most unusual drinking spots in the world, you have to hit up one of Budapest’s famous Ruin Bars. Szimpla Kert is probably the best known and the most popular.

On Sunday mornings, they also have a farmers’ market. You can get all sorts of locally-produced goodies, including Mangalica ham, fresh cheese (including the ultimate in romance – a heart shaped soft goat cheese), honey and plenty of fresh beautiful veg to stock your Airbnb minifridge.

Obviously we also found our way to the brightly colored street food market. I think we might have better appreciated the beef goulash on a day that wasn’t 25C/77F, but an ice cold beer helped.

The Great Market Hall is a mix of food stalls and tat shops, but if you need a £2 souvenir for someone, this is the place. There are also some good baked things to sample, and though we didn’t get any, the veggies looked fresh and tempting.

I was truly not interested in the jostling queues and the irate people running the hot food stalls, so we escaped and grabbed a quick (and surprisingly really good) kebab from a spot. (It wasn’t nearly as fatty as my photo makes it look – I promise.)

One of my favorite places to visit was Margaret Island, an oasis in the middle of the river. Go for a peaceful walk along tree-lined paths, spot the well-manicured make out corner (seriously… it was really hot and heavy over there), and then stop off at the beer garden for some refreshment.

There’s a lot more to see, including a musical fountain and a small zoo, and on a hot day you can escape the heat at the swimming pool.

A good post-beer, pre-fountain show snack.

Obviously I had to buy a pastel plate when I saw this set up…

The city has some great vantage points, including Gellert Hill and Buda Castle. You could take a funicular up to the castle, but if you can face a walk, I would recommend it.

The views are pretty good – and a little less jarring than the Soviet era statues.

After all that walking, scoops of fig and stracciatella ice cream were a must. Levendula has a few locations across Budapest, and I’d recommend a few scoops if you have the chance.

A stop off at a craft beer bar was also essential, and Ganz Söröző was a nice place to rest our weary feet and cool off. It’s the kind of place that doesn’t seem to exist in many big cities – where every single beer is hand-picked by a proprietor who is enthusiastic to talk through their merits.

For a special dinner out, we went to Mák Bisztro (in English, poppy seed bistro) just minutes away from Parliament. This modern Hungarian restaurant showcases seasonal Hungarian produce, in some non-traditional ways.

The friendly, relaxed atmosphere is just right after a sunny day of sightseeing. Plenty of whitewashed exposed brick and easy on the credit cards … especially if you’re used to New York or London prices.

Here are just a few of the dishes we had: A starter of trout with pickled green rhubarb.

Another starter – scallops with green peas, green strawberries, clover and a bright, fresh green sauce. 

The famous Hungarian mangalica pork in filet-form with breaded Jerusalem artichokes and fairy-ring mushrooms. (So savory!)

Chocolate and rhubarb a few ways. A great sweet, savory and fresh combo.

A few blocks from City Park is the Goat Herder espresso bar. We had the absolute best coffee of the trip, coupled with a delicious homemade toffee and walnut cake.

Thank you to Budapest for the great week! While I didn’t take any photos for obvious reasons, we also visited some of the city’s famous baths. Even on a hot day, they’re worth a visit.

Eventually, we had to say goodbye to the view from our Airbnb balcony and leave Budapest behind.

But! That’s not all. We stayed at a quirky hotel for horse riders, stables and all, the night of the beautiful (and entirely in Hungarian) wedding.

I couldn’t share this post without documenting the stewed pork, potatoes and red cabbage lunch that cost a whopping £3.50.

Bonus: Wedding photo, including Converse <3

It has been a busy summer, and I wish I had more time to blog, or truthfully, to actually finish one of the 10 half-posts that have been hanging around. This is my attempt at getting back on the blogging wagon. Recently, I had a request for some gluten-free, meat-free recipes. I immediately thought of this post, patiently waiting in my drafts section. Three (or has it been four?) weeks later, here it is. Spiced up roasted cauliflower and zucchini with tahini dressing. And it’s vegan!

Plant-based foods have a lot going for them. You’re unlikely to have to worry about them poisoning you if they’re undercooked. They’re easy for weeknight meals and generally forgiving of your cooking skills. On top of that, they don’t normally include parts that make you think “ew, I’m not going to eat that” (Here’s looking at you, brains.)

Instead you can eat veggies that look like brains without all the weird thoughts about neurological diseases (yum).

Cauliflower is pretty low on my list of choice vegetables. But sometimes life gives you cauliflower, and you have to accept the challenge. The best way to handle the hardship of cauliflower is to roast and top it with lots of other nice things.

Like almost any veggie, some time in the oven with fat and spices makes everything better.

Add some sweet slow cooked onions and nutty, savory tahini dressing for a winner. I also like to add extra color in the form of courgettes (zucchini, whatever), because it’s (technically still) summer and there are too many of them anyway.

This recipe is adapted from This is a Cookbook: Recipes for Real Life, by Max and Eli Sussman, given to me by a very good friend back in the States.

Serves: 4

Roasted cauliflower and courgettes with tahini drizzle

15 minPrep Time

30 minCook Time

45 minTotal Time

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On the Counter

The vegetables
• 4 tbsp (90mL) olive oil (extra virgin if you have it) plus 1 tsp
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 1 cauliflower head (300g/10.5 oz), cut into 1 in (2.5 cm) pieces, including the stems
• 2 small, or supermarket sized in the UK, courgettes (zucchini)
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp paprika (sweet, hot, smoked - your choice)
• small handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped (optional)
The dressing
• 100 g (1/3 cup) tahini
• juice from 1/4 lemon
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, finely minced
• table salt to taste

What to Do

The vegetables
• Preheat the oven to 230C (450F).
• In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower pieces, courgette/zucchini, 1 tsp drizzle of oil, dash of salt, cumin and paprika together, until the vegetables are evenly coated.
• Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat, until it's just shimmering.
• Add in the onions.
• Lower the heat, stir in 1 tsp salt, and stir frequently.
• Keep the onions going over low heat until they're soft and sweet, at least 20 minutes. If you want to fully caramelize them, it will be around 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, on a baking sheet, drizzle the remaining olive oil and spread it along the tray.
• Put the cauliflower and zucchini/courgette pieces in one layer on the tray. Try to ensure they're not piled on top of each other. Season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
• Roast the veggies for 10 minutes to start, and check on them. They'll likely need another 5 minutes before they're lightly toasty brown. Once they are, toss them around and roast for another 10 minutes.
• To serve, combine the roasted vegetables and soft onions. Toss them gently to spread the seasoning around. Drizzle the tahini dressing (below) on top, and then sprinkle on the fresh parsley.
The dressing
• In a small bowl, whisk together tahini, 100mL (1/3 cup) water, 1 tsp salt, lemon juice, vinegar and garlic.

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https://www.onmykitchencounter.com/2016/09/20/roasted-cauliflower-zucchini-tahini-dressing-vegan/

Between this and cauliflower cheese, maybe there’s hope for cauliflower yet.

It’s nearly summer, and in the UK that means that one out of every 4 weekends will be BBQ-friendly, if we’re lucky.

But if you’re in or near London and you want smoky goodness without having to cower under an umbrella, you should get to the Duke’s Head in Highgate for Prairie Fire BBQ’s June residency.

I got to sneak a peek behind the scenes into the cramped quarters of the Duke’s Head kitchen, where every month, guest chefs take over and share their skills.

Prairie Fire is the brain child of American Michael Gratz, who saw a gap in the market for Kansas City style slow cooked meat. In the Duke’s Head kitchen, you’ll find his collaborators, Londoners Louis Lillywhite and Yasemin Ozekimci managing the meat, the veggie burgers, and all the fixins. Look to Laura’s homemade brownies, if you have any room left when you’re finished.

Speaking of, here’s what you’d find on the menu if (no … when) you make your way over.

Pulled pork tacos in freshly-fried shells, crunchy and absolutely loaded with toppings like chipotle sour cream, spring onions and punchy chiles. Don’t forget to try the refried bean ‘glue’ underneath, especially if you have any shell shards left over.

The mac & cheese is made with beautiful big curly tubes, al dente and covered in a silky, creamy unctious cheese sauce. I decided not to pry for the secret recipe, but this is a down and dirty cheese sauce, not some overwrought stilton and leek gastropub version.

That PFQ burger. A brief moment of doubt crept in when I cut it in half and the patties weren’t as pink as I tend to have them. After taking a bite, I realized I was very wrong. Louis’s blend of chuck and rib tip beef was juicy, meaty … very messy and absolutely packed with flavor. All of that in a toasted bun with gooey melty cheese.

Fall-apart in your fingers 16-hour smoked brisket in a delicious floury but not dry or dense bun. Seriously, why is it so hard to find a good bun? These guys have gotten it absolutely right.

The brisket completely surrenders to a plastic knife. Useful, because I was sharing it. Compared to some recent City-based brisket that will remain unnamed, this was soft and tender, lightly seasoned and obviously given the low and slow treatment. And get a look at that Prairie Fire BBQ sauce…

While it’s easy to ignore the fries as just another side dish, I can’t go without mentioning them. Crispy and crunchy, not even slightly oily, and generously dusted with spice that reminds me just a little bit of Old Bay (for the East Coasters). I barely had space for them but couldn’t stop picking at my portion, and maybe everyone else’s portions, too.

Like I said, there is also a veggie burger, but I can’t say that I’ve tried it. If you do, I’d be curious to know if you recommend it.

If you’re a beer drinker, I recommend spending a few indecisive minutes at the bar with the many great rotating options. There’s also a gin bar with Highgate-distilled Sacred and a temptation-filled cocktail menu.

While Prairie Fire don’t have anything else official in the calendar yet, keep an eye on the Prairie Fire BBQ Twitter for food market updates… and maybe even another residency soon.

Prairie Fire BBQ is at the Duke’s Head for the rest of June, every day of the week, and the kitchen is open from 12pm to 10pm. 

Keep your eyes peeled for them at Brisket Fest, where I’ve been promised you can try something from Prairie Fire that no one in the UK has done before.

Did you know … ? To be considered milk chocolate in the EU, it needs to be at least 25% cocoa solids. Chocolate is only considered dark at 70%.

Recently, I got a chocolate lesson, plus a whole lot of sweet – and fizzy – stuff at Hotel Chocolat in Victoria, London.

In between samples, we learned about the recent history of chocolate, and how tastes have changed and changed back again.

Historically, chocolate was very different – and by that I mean more bitter – than your average chocolate bar is today. Speaking of, chocolate bars came to be in 1847, in Bristol, England. Did you know chocolate bars were English? Neither did I. (So is the internet – no matter what Al Gore says.)

Until the 20th century, chocolate was considered a luxury, and it was generally heavy on the cocoa solids. It all really changed because of World War I.

Food supplies were a concern, and importing was much more difficult, so chocolate had to change. Companies like Rowntree’s and Cadbury got creative and stretched their cocoa further. Maybe you’ve heard of some inventions from that era, like Snickers, Kit Kats and Rolos.

But little by little, the chocolate experimentation has gone the other way, to more chocolatey dark chocolate, with a higher cocoa percentage.

Which leads right into Hotel Chocolat, where I snapped a piece of chocolate next to my ear, and was offered more samples than I could eat. And they didn’t even ask me to write this post – seriously.

Hotel Chocolat have been making chocolate for 28 years from their factory in Cambridge (how great must that neighborhood smell…) and they are in charge of the whole process, from bean to bar.

Their dark chocolate is heady. Rich and lightly bitter, the taste lingers. Everything about it feels luxurious. Break it in to pieces and listen to the snap. It’s completely different from the average chocolate bar. It fights back against you, just a little, before melting down into chocolately bliss.

Milk chocolate? Still rich. Sweet and creamy. Still snaps. So luxurious that you don’t even need a whole bar before you’re satisfied. Does that make it lighter calorie? Let’s say yes.

White chocolate, meanwhile – still not my favorite, but Hotel Chocolat’s contains 36% cocoa, which is the same amount as in a bar of Dairy Milk. Yep.

Oh and before I forget. Did you know you could get a cocoa pesto? And a cocoa gin? When you’re out picking up bars of chili chocolate and Mississippi mud pie, don’t forget the cocoa bitters for your cocktails.

Soon enough, I’ll be turning some 100% chocolate into a Mexican mole sauce. Wish me luck. And if I can get it right – you might just see it turn up here.

Happy greens season! It’s that time of year when all the foodie instagrams, newspaper articles and veg boxes are talking about the stinky green leaves of wild garlic (known in the US as ramps).

The cynic in me notices the apparent trendiness and members-club-feel of foraged greens. My more charitable side wants to justify the excitement.

These are the first edible, native plants that we are seeing and it’s easy to get over-enthusiastic. It’s been a long winter of potatoes, carrots and Chilean vegetables that have traveled further than I ever have. (Future post: are your veggies better traveled than you?)

I’m going choose to be excited – and run with it. This is a recipe for wild garlic pesto made entirely with British produce. From the hard cheese to the oil… everything in it can be grown, harvested or produced within the UK.

I was directed to a hard sheep’s cheese at Androuet in Spitalfields, London. I think it’s even tastier than Parmesan(!). Instead of citrus I use cider vinegar, and I lightened the garlickiness with steamed kale.

A big inspiration for this whole recipe came from a recent event where a professor of food policy insisted Britain should grow more nuts. I went for hazelnuts – unfortunately of mixed origins.

As with any pesto, you can swirl it into pasta, mix it into cream cheese and make a dip, add it to mashed potatoes or toss some roasted vegetables in it. Or just eat wild garlic pesto straight out of the bowl. Your choice.

I have never tried to make this with US produce, but with it being the largest exporter of walnuts in the world, and the existence of the California olive oil industry – I’m sure it’s can be done. If you are in the US and take on the challenge… please let me know!

British pesto

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On the Counter

• 50 g kale, after being stripped from stems
• 30 g wild garlic
• 15 g hazelnuts
• 10 g hard sheep's cheese
• 2.5 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt, and more to taste (Cornish sea salt if you want to go all out)

What to Do

• Steam the kale for 5 minutes
• Roughly chop the hazelnuts.
• In a food processor, or mortar and pestle, break up the hazelnuts even more, then add kale and wild garlic in bunches, pulsing between.
• Add in the oil, vinegar and salt.
• The last step is to add in the cheese.
• If you're freezing the pesto, convention says you should freeze it without the cheese and just add it when you serve it. I freeze it with cheese and haven't noticed a change in quality.
• Break the cheese into small pieces (or pre-grate it), and add it to the food processor/mortar.

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https://www.onmykitchencounter.com/2016/04/18/british-wild-garlic-pesto-hazelnuts-kale/

In case you haven’t heard, kale will probably save your life. If you’re drowning, kale will swim out and rescue you. If you’ve fallen and you can’t get up, kale will call an ambulance and get you a pillow while you wait.

Luckily, kale can also be pretty tasty. Is there nothing you can’t do, kale?

Kale also does great work as a counselor. If you’ve had too many, oh, I don’t know, Cadbury eggs recently, a bowlful of kale with a zingy dressing will assuage your guilt.

It’s a simple concept, a kale Caesar salad. Strip it, steam it, dress it, eat it.

A kale protip I only learned recently: After thoroughly washing it, you can strip the leafy parts from the stems. Just tear it off from top to bottom easily.

Skip the croutons if you’re gluten-free, or just make them with GF bread. I’ve never used it for croutons myself, but apparently it works.

Psst… If you’re looking for a dairy-free (or vegan) version, you can always substitute the yogurty Caesar for this tahini dressing. Just saying…

Serves Serves 2

Kale Caesar Salad

15 minPrep Time

20 minCook Time

40 minTotal Time

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On the Counter

The croutons
• 2 slices of barely-stale loaf bread, ideally sourdough, and ideally not sliced bread
• 2 tsp olive oil (extra virgin if you have it)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• a few grinds of fresh black pepper
The kale
• 100 g kale without stems
• 1/4 tsp table salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Juice from 1 lemon wedge
• Parmesan or vegetarian hard cheese
The dressing
• 2 tbsp plain unsweetened yogurt
• Lemon juice from about 1/4 of a lemon
• A dash of Worcestershire sauce, or 1/8 tsp vegetarian miso paste
• 1 medium clove garlic, minced finely. (Don't use a garlic press as it will be too strong)
• Pinch of ground sea salt or table salt

What to Do

The croutons
• Chop your bread into about 2 cm (0.5 in) cubes. If it's very stale, you might need to drizzle oil on it to start and give it a few minutes to soften before chopping. If you do, skip the oil in the next step.
• Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Toss the bread cubes, pepper and salt together.
• On a rimmed baking sheet or dish, spread the cubes out so they're one even layer.
• Bake for 5 minutes.
• Toss them around so other sides get exposure.
• Bake for a few more minutes, until golden brown, but check on them frequently.
The kale
• Thoroughly rinse and dry the kale.
• From the bottom strip the leaves from the stems in as few tears as possible.
• Lightly salt the torn kale leaves.
• In a steamer over a boiling pot of water, steam the kale for 5 minutes or until tender and still a vibrant green.
• Once it's ready, rinse it under cold water or give it an ice bath. You don't want to cook it any longer.
• Now, either rub (or toss if you're feeling lazy) the leaves with olive oil, then add a few squeezes of fresh lemon juice and toss it together.
• You can make the dressing in advance, or while the kale is steaming.
The dressing
• Combine yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, salt, Worcestershire sauce. Stir together thoroughly.
The salad
• Once it's finished, top the kale with dressing, croutons and some freshly grated Parmesan or vegetarian hard cheese.

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https://www.onmykitchencounter.com/2016/03/30/kale-caesar-salad/