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.

I was standing in the supermarket last week, thinking about what to make for dinner. Sometimes I plan meals for weeks in advance, and other times I show up in the produce section and hope for the best. With nothing calling to me, I went to my trusty delicious account (because yes, I still use delicious), where I have a stockpile of recipes waiting for me. I found one I’d saved more than a year ago from one of my favorite bloggers, Cooking in Sens, and knew it was meant to be.

Her recipe for Chorizo, Shrimp and Linguine had been waiting all this time for me to try, and I have to say that I’m upset I waited this long to do it. I did admittedly make one alteration out of convenience. Rather than use chorizo, I replaced it with a lovely French sausage that I’d picked up at one of the many London food markets. I’m not sure the name of my particular saucisson sec (dry-cured sausage) but I know exactly what to look for at any French sausage stall.

While I realize this is a pretty major adjustment, it certainly didn’t make this dish any less amazing. And by amazing I mean that just writing about it, I want to eat more. And more. Next time I find a Spanish market stall (or my Spanish flatmate brings some chorizo from home), I’m guaranteed to make this  again.

Considering how easy this dish is (and how boring so many easy pasta dishes can be), it’s a real testament that this works as well as it does. Seriously. Try this meal.

Serves: 2

On the Counter:

1/4 lb (113 g) or about 10 slices, quartered of French dry-cured sausage 
1.5 tbsp (26 ml) olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
salt and pepper
crushed red pepper (chili) flakes (to your taste)
1/2 lb (250 g) raw shrimp
1/2 lb (250 g) whole wheat linguini
fresh chopped parsley
fresh chopped chives
(optional) freshly grated parmesan cheese

What to Do: 

In salted water, cook linguine until al dente. 

Meanwhile, saute the sausage for about 3-4 minutes and add garlic. Sautee for another 2 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes, a few grinds of salt and pepper, the pepper flakes and bring it to a boil. Turn it down to a simmer for about 8 minutes, or until tomatoes are breaking down. Add shrimp and cook for 4-5 minutes, until shrimp are just fully pink. 

Add linguine to the pan, toss to coat and put on a plate. Sprinkle with chopped chives, parsley and grated cheese. 

This makes your kitchen smell divine and makes for a really lovely next-day meal, too… if it lasts that long.