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.

I’ve just come back from a week at home in the US, and it was great. For once, I didn’t plan every minute of the trip, and it was a revelation. We even got to drive to DC for an overnight!

Going home is always a mix of experiences – eating home comfort foods, seeing old, great friends, and trying not to get too caught up in nostalgia to the point where I refuse to try anything unfamiliar.

It’s easy to feel like you’re still a part of somewhere when you live far away from it, but turning up and realizing that everything you’re used to has changed can be a downer. Instead of focusing on the romance of the old, I’m trying to focus on the joys of the new.

On that note, here is one old favorite, and two new, from my time back on the US east coast.

The view from my old home, Jersey City, towards Manhattan. The skyline changes but the feeling stays the same.

Tasting flights are the best way to try beer, and this was from Forgotten Brewery in Cherry Hill, NJ. New fave!

A blueberry cheesecake “tart” from Ted’s Bulletin in DC, stuffed with preserves and cream cheese filling.

After a week of eating things like that amazing not-a-pop-tart, though, you can probably imagine where this is going.

Today’s recipe is pretty light, really easy to make and … delicious. (What did you expect me to say?) Versatile maybe? It’s that too, don’t worry.

Special guest: roasted red pepper

Recipe note: You can replace the steak with chicken, pork, halloumi or sea bass, but I think steak works especially well.

Serves 4

On the Counter

Sandwich
1 roasted red pepper, sliced*
250 g (1/2 lb) sirloin steak(s) or boneless skinless chicken
1 tbsp neutral, high smoke point oil like rapeseed or corn oil

50g feta
4 small tomatoes
1 cucumber, about 100 g (4 oz)
2 big handfuls of mixed salad leaves

4 whole grain pitas

Dressing
2 tbsp extra Virgin olive oil
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
Remaining pepper juice

What to Do

Chop your tomato into cubes, peel, seed and slice the cucumber and combine it with the salad leaves and roasted pepper slices. Cube the feta (if it isn’t already), and set it aside.

In a cast iron grill pan (or just a plain cast iron pan), heat your neutral, high smoke point oil on high until it’s shimmering and smoking hot.

Dry your steak or chicken with paper towel, then it salt on both sides. Put it into the pan, and let it sit for a short time.

If it’s a steak, flip it over soon after, and you can flip it a few more times. There is no need to let it sit for long periods of time. A steak that’s 1.25 cm (1/2 inch) thick will take about 10 minutes to cook to medium, with an internal temperature of 60 C (140 F) in mind.

Chicken will take about 15 minutes to cook, and it has to be at least an internal temperature of 75 C (165 F).

As soon as the meat is done, turn off the heat. Slice your pita so you can stuff them, and put them onto the still-hot pan to toast and warm up. (Don’t forget to flip them!)

Combine all the dressing ingredients and whisk them together until emulsified (thick and cloudy looking). Toss it with the salad.

Slice up the steak or chicken, and stuff your pita!

* How to roast a pepper

Place your pepper on a metal baking tray. In the broiler (US), or on the grill setting (UK), roast the pepper until it’s black and blistered. It usually takes at least 5 minutes per side, but could take longer.

Once you’ve roasted the pepper, transfer it to a bowl and cover it with a kitchen towel. This will help loosen the skin by steaming it off, making it much easier to peel. Leave it for at least 5 minutes, until it’s cool enough to touch and peel.

Peel it, slice it and get rid of the seeds and stem.

Recently, the gentleman and I were in Sweden for few days. It was my first trip that far north – which is a fact I checked on the map as I write this. (I’ve also just learned that most of Scotland is a lot further north than I realized.)

Besides the super-friendly people, the ease of watching ice hockey on TV (yep hockey fan here), and the interesting (but expensive) beer selection, my favorite part of Sweden was the food. Of course.

Oh, the food. Giant buffet breakfasts with 3 kinds of eggs, caviar in a tube, yogurt with seeds, cereal, nuts – you name it. Four kinds of bread, pastries…

But this is not a breakfast recipe. Because just about everything that I had on our four days in Sweden was excellent. Cinnamon buns at the cafe, chicken terrine, Swedish-style beef tartare and wild boar (a-may-zinng) for our Valentine’s Day dinner, pub dinners that included beef stew, lightly breaded fried fish and brisket…

Ok, I need to stop. Just know that Sweden = delicious.

In the interest of authenticity and a bit of tourism, we had to have try Swedish meatballs. Maybe the ones that were considered the best in town. Maybe we looked them up to check.

And then, maybe the weekend after, just in time for the Sweden/Canada Olympic Ice Hockey gold medal game, we made homemade Swedish meatballs. They got rave reviews from the hockey viewing party, who all happened to be rooting for the Swedish team. I think the meatballs helped heal our crushed spirits.

If you like comfort food that’s easy to make and store in the freezer – you should make these too.

To keep mostly authentic, I’d suggest serving them with mashed potatoes (mine included whole grain mustard because a. it’s delicious and b. there was a lot of mustard in Sweden) and lingonberry jam. Slightly less authentically, we may have also had some steamed spinach. It worked well.

Ikea sells a reasonably good and reasonably cheap jar of lingonsylt (lingonberry jam), and I personally think it’s also delicious stirred into oatmeal or on toast.

Makes about 35 meatballs, and they freeze well.
Serving size: 3-4 meatballs

On the Counter

2.2 pounds (1 kg) ground beef (or 50/50 beef-pork mixture)
2 medium onions, grated
1 tbsp olive oil + 1 tbsp olive oil
2 large eggs
4/5 cup (200 ml) milk
1 cup beef or chicken broth
100 g whole wheat breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp creme fraiche or sour cream
1 tsp + 1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

Serve with:
Mashed Potatoes
Lingonberry Jam
Spinach (optional, less traditional)

What to Do

Combine the milk and breadcrumbs and set aside for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, sweat onions in 1 tbsp olive oil until soft, transfer to large bowl and allow to cool. Add beef and pork to onions, mix in eggs, milk and breadcrumbs, season with allspice, 1 tsp salt and several grinds of black pepper. Combine well and allow the mixture to rest for 10 minutes.

Form meat into balls (roughly one inch in diameter) by rolling them between your palms until they’re tightly packed. Set aside those that you plan to cook and see below for freezing suggestions.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add meatballs in a single layer and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes total. Set meatballs aside on a plate, and finish off all meatballs. Put them all back into the pot and add broth.

Cover the pot, and simmer over medium-low heat until the meatballs are cooked through, (with an internal temperature of 170 F or  76.5 C) about 10 minutes.

Add soy sauce and crème fraîche or sour cream. Stir carefully to just combine and simmer until the sauce begins to thicken. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To freeze: Line up the remaining meatballs on a cookie sheet lined in plastic wrap. Cover them with more plastic wrap. Freeze them overnight, and transfer them into a zip top bag. They should be fine in the freeze for 3-4 months, and probably longer. 

I’m moving in three weeks. Ack. My kitchen is definitely not ready for this. For a few months, I’ll be sharing a two-person flat with two other people before moving into more spacious terrain. This doesn’t leave me much space for my rather healthy supply of frozen meat and veg, nor my well-stocked cupboard.

The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy, but whenever I can squeeze one in, I’ll be making kitchen-cleaning meals. I’m excited for the move, but daunted about what exactly I’m going to do with all of my stuff. (Finding room for all my shoes and dresses should be an interesting challenge.)

This lasagne-style pasta bowl definitely helped in the quest to reduce my cupboard’s inventory. Hopefully if you’re ever in need of a quick, easy and hearty meal (or if you’re moving out soon), this will help you, too. I have a stock of whole wheat mafalda corta, which look like tiny versions of the curly lasagne sheets and they work perfectly for this. If that’s not an option, fusilli (corkscrew shape) or farfalle (bowties) would work well, too.

4

Lasagne-Style Pasta Bowl

5 minPrep Time

30 minCook Time

35 minTotal Time

Save Recipe

Print Recipe

On the Counter

• 1 16 oz (400g) can plum tomatoes
• 1/2 lb (250 g) lean ground beef
• 1/2 lb (250 g) pasta (I used mafalda corta)
• 2 tbsp cream cheese
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tbsp tomato puree/paste
• 1 tsp salt
• optional: freshly grated parmesan, fresh parsley, basil or chives, chopped

What to Do

• In large saute pan, brown ground beef on medium heat. When nearly cooked, add sliced garlic, and cook until beef is browned. Add in canned tomatoes, squashing them with a wooden spoon. I try to get the rest of the tomato out with about 3-4 teaspoons of water.
• Add in tomato paste, basil, oregano and salt and drop heat to low.
• Cook until sauce thickens and flavors infuse, about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, cook pasta in a pot of salted, boiling water. Drain.
• Lower heat to nearly off, and add in cream cheese. Stir until fully combined. Taste for seasoning. Add in cooked pasta and toss.
• Optionally, top with freshly grated parmesan and fresh parsley, chives or basil.

7.8.1.2

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https://www.onmykitchencounter.com/2013/05/06/lasagne-style-pasta-bowl/