One gorgeous summer evening, gloriously sunny in my little urban garden, I gazed out my window and thought, what can I cook that will be bright, cheerful, quick, colourful and tasty? A quick perusal of the fridge contents revealed broad beans, some prosciutto, a little cream and pecorino, and some parsley. The scene was set. I was going to make a twist on carbonara.

Broad beans and ham are such a gorgeous combination. Opposites attract, early season tender sweet broad beans meet the robust boldness of a cured prosciutto. It’s a cliche but it is a match made in heaven.

Carbonara is one of those gorgeous comforting dishes. Traditionalists and purists say DON’T TOUCH. But I do, I can’t help it. It’s one of those dishes that lends itself to lovely interpretations, and so quickly. I’ve made carbonara’s with many different ingredients, chorizo & kale was a lovely one, and now with broad beans and prosciutto.

Isn’t it difficult?

No. The dish (according to Marcella Hazan), was born in Rome during world war deprivation, when American GI’s had eggs and ham and little else. So, they asked the locals to make them a dish, and carbonara was born. Purists (and I am generally one), don’t add cream to their carbonara, the sauce gets it unctous creaminess from egg yolks, and egg yolks alone. Parmesan and pecorino romano add depth of flavour, saltiness and some texture, and should it require it, some water from the just cooked linguine pot will add moisture. Parsley adds colour and flavour, and some garlic, fried in the olive oil and removed when brown, adds a subtle garlicky undertone, which caresses each bite.

How did I make it? Recipe below, but  I did add cream, as sometimes you just must. The luxury it confers is delicious. I’ve written the recipe per person. I always cook for two, as I am generally just feeding myself, and I like my leftovers for lunch. This actually reheats nicely, it’s a different dish, but I love fried spaghetti the next day, and the eggy sauce almost scrambles. It sounds wrong, but it tastes very right.

Ingredients (per person):

100g spaghetti
2 slices of prosciutto, torn into strips
250g broad beans (weighed in the pod)
1 clove of garlic
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp cream
1 tbsp pecorino
1 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
Some grated fresh parmesan or pecorino, and some chopped flat leaf parsley, to serve
Olive oil for frying
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:

Double pod the broad beans, remove the outer green pod, then the little white casing around each one. Trust me, it’s worth it. The delicate sweetness of the broad bean lies within. Cook for a couple of minutes in boiling water until tender. Refresh in iced water to arrest the cooking process, and preserve that bright green colour.
Cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions.
Add the cream, pecorino and parsley to the egg yolk and whisk until combined. Season. Leave to the side in a bowl big enough to hold the pasta.
Heat some olive oil and fry the garlic until brown on both sides. Discard.
When the pasta is almost done, add the broad beans to the oil, and heat through.
When cooked, drain the pasta reserving some of the cooking water.
Add the pasta to the egg yolk mixture. Toss so all of it is coated. Add a little pasta water if it’s dry.
Add the broad beans and prosciutto and toss. Season to taste.
Serve immediately with some parmesan/pecorino and flat leaf parsley as a garnish.
Enjoy!

Eh?

Brainchild of Dan of Food Urchin and wild garlic distribution fame, where’s my pork chop is a side project, born out of frustration from reading our collective tweets about our dinners, while poor Dan is stuck at work, working late shifts and watching hungrily from the sidelines.

He came up with a solution, and asked if we’d be willing to offer him our leftovers and he’d give us something in return. I thought it sounded great and was only delighted to take part, and that’s how I found myself at Oxford Circus one lunch time, cradling leftover prawn curry. That’s also how I got my free tickets to Taste of London, I’ll blog about that another time. Thanks Dan!

Why prawn curry? It’s one of my favourite dishes, homely and comforting, fruity and fragrant. Light and perfect for summer, with a fruity tomato base, and creamy cocnut overlay, it seemed a good fit for a man stranded in an office, watching life go by on the internet as he slogged away, all the while analysing dinner tweets. 

The truth is, I had wanted to make him chickpea & chorizo stew but Dan of Essex Eating beat me to it. I hadn’t made prawn curry in months, so it was due, and I was quite looking forward to indulging myself also.

I had a few hurdles to cross. Firstly, it was a gorgeous day in London, so after work I met a friend for a glass of wine on the South Bank, which quickly became half a bottle. Oooops. Then I had to go buy prawns, they needed to be as fresh as possible, as they needed to survive two rounds of cooking and still be edible. Having sourced them, I trekked home and put my key in my front door at 10pm. Late. Crap.

Like I said, it had been a long time since I had made these and I was soon to find out how long, as my spices had lost their ooomph. Crap. I was very disappointed. Normally this curry is fragrant and bright, my dull spices would not make this dish sing. However, it was late, and I had no time to buy new spices or line up and alternative so I persevered.

11pm and my curry was done, and having packaged Dan’s portion for the next evening, I sat down in front of Sex & the City and indulged. It was nice, but the spices were dull on the palate and that was a shame. Never mind. Dan enjoyed it and that make’s me happy. You can read about it here.

If you’re interested in making it (and I recommend that you do, but with fresh spices), the recipe is here – Prawn Curry.

I love the weekend for many reasons. I don’t have to get up early, I don’t have to work, I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do. I love lie ins, large cafetieres of coffee, indulgent and creative breakfasts and the weekend papers. Within the weekend papers, my first stop is always the magazine, and within this, the food section. I particularly love Yotam Ottolenghi on Saturday in The Guardian and Nigel Slater on Sunday in The Observer.

Recently, Nigel Slater wrote about burgers, gorgeous pork and chicken burgers packed full of spices and fragrance and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them since. I wanted to make some. And I wanted also to try my hand at making my own. I was determined yesterday, so I meandered home via the deli and the butcher and bought some boisterous cooking chorizo, good quality minced pork and fresh flat leaf parsley. I already had a stockpile of fresh garlic from the Isle of Wight Garlic Farm, and I chose one particularly small and juicy one, with a nice long stalk. I adore fresh garlic, the season has started, and runs for about a month, so I bought lots and I plan to make the most of it.

Fresh garlic. Isn’t that the same as green garlic, or wet garlic? Yes, they’re all the same. Fresh and still wet, you can use it as you would a spring onion, it’s bolder but doesn’t yet have the pungency that it will attain as it matures. I shred it finely, and use in the place of shallots. It’s perfect in meatballs and burgers like these.  For this recipe, I used the whole stalk, which was about 8 inches, and half the bulb, removing the outer dry casing, and retaining and using the rest. You may chose to use less or to substitute spring onion. For me, it was a perfect amount, complimentary and not overwhelming, however, the bulbs vary in size, as does individual taste.

Use soft cooking chorizo here, not the dried hard one. Chop it as finely as you can, but it should still be in chunks, don’t puree it or mince it. The recipe could take a bit more, but I didn’t want the chorizo to dominate the lovely porky flavour.

I like this served simply, with some green salad and juicy small tomatoes in pita bread. Khobez or wraps would be lovely too.  This amount made 6 burgers, 2 per person.

Ingredients:

500g minced pork
Half a small bulb of fresh garlic, including the stalk
75g cooking chorizo
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Chopped tomatoes (I used juicy small tomatoes)
Rocket or similar salad leaf
Small pita breads (or a wrap, ciabatta bun or similar)

Method:

Chop the fresh garlic as finely as you can. Include the stalk, it’s delicious.
Take the skin off the chorizo and chop as finely as you can.
Add the garlic, parsley and chorizo to the minced pork and mix thoroughly.
Season with salt and pepper. I had a particulary nice oak smoked sea salt which went really well.
Cook a small amount and check the seasoning, adjust if necessary.
Shape the mixture into 6 patties.
If you have a griddle, heat it until it’s extremely hot. Otherwise use a frying pan.
There’s lots of fat in the pork so you won’t need any oil. Fry on one side for 4/5 minutes and turn. Reduce the heat slightly and allow the burger to cook through. It should take up to 10 minutes. Check by cutting into one, if it’s pink, it’s not ready.
Serve in toasted pita breads (or your bread of choice), with some mayo, rocket and tomatoes.

Fancy a free trip for you and a friend to a Food and Wine Festival in London? I have 50 pairs of tickets for you lovely readers of my humble blog. Blurb follows.

TAKE A TRIP DOWNUNDER FOR FREE!

Toast Festivals is the UK’s largest celebration of the Southern Hemisphere and it’s on course to hit Clapham Common 26-28th June 2009!

Take the day-trip of a lifetime sampling the very best food, wine, sport and entertainment from South Africa, New Zealand or Australia on us!

We have 50 pairs of tickets to this years festival up for grabs for followers of www.eatlikeagirl.com. (Tickets usually £25!) Taste the very best local food from the likes of Aussie Masterchef John Torode (BBC), savour the latest tipple from award-winning wine producers, learn to manage a BBQ the downunder way in a BBQ masterclass, enjoy authentic cultural performances plus international polo as the antipodes go head to head against Britain.

All you need to do is email rsvp@goaheadevents.com with your full name and which Toast you’d like to attend (South Africa – Friday, New Zealand – Saturday, Australia – Sunday) and you’ll receive an e-ticket in return!

SIMPLE!

For more information visit www.toastfestivals.co.uk

I adore light summer pastas, so I thought that I would do a little series, starting with one of my favourites, crab linguine. Crab is a wonderful delicate meat. Light and fluffy and tasting of the sea. One of my favourite restaurant dishes ever, was a River Cafe starter of crab on toast with a light salad. It was so simple and gorgeous, with stunning fresh ingredients.

Growing up in Ireland, I thought that eating crabs was plain insane. Our elderly neighbour used to catch enormous ones in a bucket at a rocky beach near our house and boiled them up for her alsatian dog. I envy that dog now but at the time I felt it was an act of cruelty. I was also terrified that she would come near me with her bucket of living sideways walking friends. I was afraid of crabs, and really anything living in the sea, I remember standing on an isolated rock shrieking with horror as the crabs ascended. I thought that they would eat me. They didn’t but that’s another story.

You don’t need to go to such enormous lengths for this dish. You can buy perfectly good fresh crabmeat already prepared for you. It seems expensive at roughly £5 for a small tub, but this goes a long way, especially in this dish. If you can, it’s better to get a fresh live crab, then you have the benefit of it’s gorgeous fluffiness and the deeply savoury brown meat. I had mine delivered along with an Abel and Cole veg box, they now do lots of other things, and one of these things is fresh Cornish crab meat, which was delivered very cold surrounded by ice gel packs. Very handy for a busy girl like me. Which brings me back to the recipe, which is also very handy for a busy girl like me, as it’s super quick and tasty. This made enough for three, add more crab meat if you’ve got it.

Ingredients:

300g linguine
the very best unwaxed lemon you can find
flat leaf parsley, a handful, chopped
White crab meat (100g)
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped finely
nice fruity extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Cook your linguine according to packet instructions so that it’s just shy of al dente (it will cook a little when you add it to the crab).
Heat about 2 tablespoons of the oil, add the chilli and stir for about 30 seconds.
Add the crab and stir until it’s nice and hot.
Add the linguine to the crab and chilli, and stir through, ensuring that the pasta is nicely coated, drizzle with some more oil if it’s dry. Add fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste, and some lemon zest with the parsley. Season with fresh ground S&P. Stir through and serve immediately.

It’s a keeper, I think!
Add the cooked linguine

Complex, you would think? A gorgeous hunk of meat, that is full of flavour and moisture. A HUGE and gorgeous hunk of meat.

Complex? No. All it requires is your time, your patience, your oven, and a good cut of meat supplied by your local friendly butcher. That’s it!

Mine had some extra complexities. That probably won’t surprise you. These were not the fault of the pig, or the oven, the oils, or any attendant spices. The issue my friends, was my accent.

The most complex thing about it was ordering it. I called my butcher in advance and ordered a shoulder of pork, bone in. He had explained previously that I would need to order it in advance, as they rarely have bone in joints on the premises. I wanted the bone in, as it would help retain the moisture over a slow roasting time and would retain much more flavour.

Bone in, my butcher repeated. I had discussed it with them last time I was in the shop, so satisfied that the joint was ordered, I hung up.  I called the next day to check they had it. In fact they had three. Huh? Three? I thought they never had any? They did, he said. I checked, bone in? And he said, no, you asked for bone out. Sigh. So, we started again. I called the next evening but he couldn’t understand me, so I went on faith, in the hope that this time my pork shoulder would be there. That evening I successfully collected 4 kgs of pork shoulder with the bone in, and lugged it home.

And that was the difficult bit completed. Cooking it was easy. I didn’t need to cut the skin with a knife as my butcher had already done it for me. I first poured some boiling water over the skin to help the crackling plump up, just a brief splash, and then dried it with some kitchen paper. I crushed some sea salt and fennel seeds in my pestle and mortar and rubbed it all over the pork and into the grooves between the cut skin, then placed it in a roasting tray in  a hot oven (220 degrees celsius) for half an hour. I then covered the roasting tray with a double layer of foil, and lowered the temperature to 170 degrees celsius for 5 hours, basting occasionally. I then removed the foil and roasted it for a further half hour, to crisp the skin even more. I rested it for half an hour and then we tucked in.

And there you go. Delicious and simple. There’s lots of i’s in that recipe, but that’s how I did it, and it’s a story more than an instructive recipe.

Pork shoulder in khobez flatbreads with salad. I’ll be making it again. Only I’ll make more next tiem so that there’s lots of leftovers!

Hola! I went awol there, apologies. An unintended break and longer than expected, life intervened, as it tends to do. I’ve been busy with work, on a particularly demanding project which has just wound up. Work aside, I have been personally busy, lots of events, visitors and unpacking (still ongoing and in the slowest manner possible – I have a mental block with it!).

I am in the process of making some changes here too, but it’s taking a little time so watch this space. I failed to write the last two (was it three?) monthly round ups, this was deliberate because it felt like I wasn’t blogging enough throughout the month to do them, but I will resume next month. It seemed senseless to start summarising so few posts.

This little blog had it’s second blogiversary, which, in the flurry of activity that was last month, went unnoticed. Happy Birthday Blog! I also celebrated my birthday and my first niece was born the day before. I visited an English vineyard, found a new favourite curry house, went to Dine with Dos Hermanos at Casa Brindisa. And that’s just the tip of it.

What a month! Brilliant.

My birthday deserves a mention, and only for the food. I roasted a magnificent pork shoulder over 7 hours, and roasted a leg of lamb with anchovy, garlic and rosemary. I’ll blog the details soon. We washed it all down with lots of cremante, prosecco and rhubarb, rose & raspberry bellini’s with a sprinkling of eighties music. Bonnie Tyler, anyone? There’s a story behind that, but I’ll not get into it now. I had planned elderflower bellinis but failed to finish the syrup in time, having started it, oh 3 hours before the party. Doh. I tidied up the weekend with some more rhubarb bellinis in the park the next day with a gorgeous sunny picnic, I love the urban decadence and I plan to fill the summer with such days. I do need to even out the horror of a farmer’s tan that I acquired that day!

Roast leg of lamb with anchovy, garlic & rosemary

Lots of other stuff happened. London Food & Drink Bloggers, we now have a group on Ning, do come join us if you aren’t there already. We had a fantastic wine tasting with Catavino at The Westbridge recently, and lots more similar events to come. Gabriella wrote a great post about it here.

But, what of the bellini? You’ve been reading for ages now and still no recipe? Apologies, here it is. It’s freeform, but really, it’s easy, I promise. Trust your nose. I experimented lots with the bellini so keep an eye out for more recipes incl. elderflower bellinis. Yum!

Ingredients:

Some rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch chunks (4 or 5 sticks will suffice, but make as much as you like, this is great with yogurt etc. too)
Raspberries, 1 per bellini
Sugar, to taste
Rosewater to taste
Some nice fizzy, prosecco recommended

Method:

Boil the chopped rhubarb with some sugar and water. It will start to come apart after 5 minutes or so. Add sugar to taste.
Allow to cool and add rosewater until you get a hint of fragrance. Depending on how much rhubarb you have, you may need to add a lot. I had to add half a bottle or so!
Add a raspberry to your champagne flute (or wine glass if you’re going to the park like me and don’t want to risk your crystal!), crush with a teaspoon.
Add about twice the amount of rhubarb.
Top up with prosecco, or whatever sparkling wine you are using.
Enjoy the rest of your decadent day with many more bellinis!

In the BBC, drinking prosecco having just witnessed the spectacle that is the Eurovision semi final, 20 + food bloggers gathered around Andrew Webb, brainchild of this fun project. Yielding a canvas I love Peckham bag full of ping pong balls, I anxiously awaited my turn to choose a ping pong ball with a country name on it. Portugal! I really wanted Portugal. I hoped and watched everyone draw a country. It was still in there! I know a great local community Portugese off licence come greasy spoon and I wanted to go there.

I didn’t get it. I got Sweden.

Which left me slightly flummoxed knowing nothing whatsoever about Swedish cuisine, save what I’d experienced in IKEA (not bad!). Naturally, my earliest initiation to Swedish Cuisine as the Swedish chef on the Muppet Show. I loved him. But that’s not really exploring cuisine, or is it?

So, I arrived home, my brain whirring and got on google, facebook, twitter (hello @swedishmike!), and gathered as much information as I could, armed to make a decision on Friday evening.

It was so much fun. The more I read and the more I interacted with Swedes online, the more I found to like. They love the Eurovision! They seem to like comfort food. They liked the Irish entry! They love meatballs. I love meatballs! They like random meats. I want to try some of that! Elk, reindeer, I want to try it. They bury herring and eat it. I’ll leave that one alone. Sorry, I’m sure it’s lovely but I need to build up to that one.

So, what did my investigations reveal? Little Sweden! Little Sweden? Yes! It exists. Not far from Edgware Rd lies a Swedish Enclave with a Swedish Church, a Swedish pub (The Harcourt Arms), a Swedish shop (Totally Swedish), a Swedish Restaurant (Garbo’s), the Embassy of Sweden and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce. Well, that was where I needed to be!

I rang Garbo’s to make a reservation and the owner, answered. I asked if I could reserve a table for half an hours time. He said I could. I asked if he wanted my name? He said, oh, ok. And then he hung up. Informality! I love it.

We arrived, and it was quiet for a Friday evening but I had read that lunch time is their best time and also their busiest. It’s a very cute white restaurant with an enormous stuffed elk head on the wall wearing a viking hat. This was perfect.

We started with some cocktails, Wolf Paw and Valhalla, well, how could we not? Very nice they were too, Wolf Paw the favourite, vodka with lingonberry juice. To start we had Janssen’s Temptation, a rich and unctous creamy potato dish laced withr anchovy. It was enormous and I was glad we had decided to share. Next up was our very meaty main courses, Kåldolmar, a stuffed cabbage dish that I had been told to try, cabbage leaves are stuffed with beef and pork and served with a sauce, and Kötbullar I Gräddsås, Swedish meatballs in a creamy sauce. We didn’t try the braised elk on this occasion, as I was keen to try everyday food, but I’d like to go back to try it. The cabbage dish was a bit sweet for my taste but the meatballs were tasty and good solid comfort food, I think I will have to make them this week. After all of this meat and cream there really was no room for dessert.

I had a chat with the owner, a really friendly and approachable man, to get his thoughts on the Eurovision. We had a fun chat! He’s less than enamored with the current effort, but the glory days were good, and we chatted at length about Abba, Fabba (yes!), Roxette and Ace of Base, all of whom (excl. Abba) had eaten at his restaurant. Indeed, Roxette had an album launch there. Brilliant! There was also a photo of him with Sven Goran-Eriksson on the wall, and the Irish connection, a photo of him with George Best.

Next, we careered to the Harcourt Arms. A very lively spot, full and buzzing, selling the usual tipples and Swedish cider Kopparberg and Swedish beer. I like Kopparberg, although be warned, it’s deceptive, a very fruity and unalcoholic tasting mixed fruit cider is a dangerous 7%! Dangerous when you don’t know, that is, which is how I found myself drunker than pals in a round one Christmas some years ago. I quickly partook of some water. The Harcourt Arms do food too, I’ll be sure to go back to try it. They had a big Eurovision party last night and it would have been so perfect it I could have gone, but a friend was getting married, and that trumps Eurovision.

So, that was it. A great couple of days, investigating, interacting with random Swedes I’d never met before, finding Swedish food bloggers and exploring Little Sweden. It was brilliant and I am going to make a point of exploring in this fashion. London is such a great city, and has so much to offer, and this reminded me how good and surprising it can be!

Garbo’s, 42 Crawford Street, Marylebone, W1H 1JW Tel: 020 7262 6582

The Harcourt Arms, 32 Harcourt Street, W1H 4HX

Read everyone elses adventures here: http://eatingeurovision.wordpress.com/.

See all my photos of my Eating Sweden experience on flickr here.

Well, I’ve not had much time to explore Swedish London, I work full time and that has its demands, but I sent some emails last night and did alot of googling before bed and I am quite excited about what I’ve found. Swedish shops, delis, pubs, restaurants, churches, a map of Swedish West London, Swedish people, on twitter and on facebook, and some Swedish food bloggers. Wow!

So, I’m all fired up and can’t wait to explore. Reading the others adventures is fantastic, but I want one of my own too.

In advance of my mini-journey, fellow blogger, Axel, and a Swedish one at that, wrote a digest on Swedish food for me. Brilliant. You should also read his blog AKIFOODWINE.

Swedish food is fairly diverse and is different from region to region. Along the coasts of Sweden a lot of fish is consumed and in the far north of Sweden a piece of moose or reindeer could end up on your plate. Swedish cuisine is mostly known abroad for meatballs which is traditionally served with boiled potatoes or mash together with cream sauce (basically a sauce made from beef stock and cream) and lingonberry jam (a tart jam made from lingonberries which are similar to cranberries). It’s a delicious dish which can be experienced abroad in for instance IKEA but that is unfortunately a far cry from the meatballs cooked by Swedish grandmothers.

A lot of Swedish food is based around the festive seasons. At Christmas the Swedes eat a lot of varying dishes like herring, meatballs and ham. This tradition is called “Christmas table” and it’s almost like a collection of tapas laid out on a table that the guests can mix and match. Lamb is a popular dish during Easter and lots of eggs are also consumed during this holiday. Another Swedish tradition is “kraftskiva” which takes place in August. During this tradition the Swedes often dress up in funny little hats and eat crayfish a long with lots of snaps. The Swedes like to get together to celebrate holidays with lots of food and drink – a piece of our heritage that is still very popular today.

Overall the holiday dinners are often accompanied with lots of snaps, aquavit or icecold vodka and of course singing and dancing – all in all it’s a lot of fun!

Thanks so much, Axel!

So, I’m off to investigate! Wish me luck and come back tomorrow to read all about it.

As part of a throughly fantastic and fun project – Eating Eurovision, I found myself at the BBC last night, with 20 + food bloggers and the online Eurovision people from the BBC, watching the Eurovision, drinking sparkling wine, and then choosing a country via a bag full of ping pong balls and… I AM SWEDEN!

Makes sense. I am tall, leggy and blonde after all, and I do sing beeeeautifully.

So… I would be most grateful for any of your tips on Swedish food and culture in London! Where are the best meatballs? What should I be drinking? Anything quirky I should know about?? Do I have any Swedish readers?! I want to hear from you!

It’s got to happen tonight to be blogged tomorrow.

More information here: http://eatingeurovision.wordpress.com/

Life’s simple pleasures are the driving force for getting through each day with a smile on my face. Food, wine, music, friends, jokes, laughter, a good book, some occasional trashy TV, all contribute towards a day I brand a success, and one that makes me want to repeat the experience when I fall out of bed the next morning.

Some days need more than this, whether you’ve had a grim day at the office, are entertaining friends or simply require a dash of some decadence in your life, some extras are called for. When I have had a bad day I comfort shop and I comfort eat. The two are inextricably linked. I buy things that give me comfort: good food, new sheets, nice wine, something nice to wear. I am nice to myself, when for whatever reason, I feel the world is rejecting me or treating me with disdain. Bah!

This particular occasion I was in fine fettle and entertaining a good friend who happens to be a vegetarian, so no need to picture me with a cloud over my head and chocolate stains all around my mouth with a bag of crisps on my hand, running to the nearest department store with a bunch of notes in my hand. Dramatic, yes, but you’ll get used to that! I wanted to make something quick that was full of flavour and indulgent, allowing me plenty of time to catch up, drink wine and still produce a meal that I would enjoy and be proud to share.

I also had a box of goodies to explore, truffle goodies from Savitar in Italy, the most decadent box I’ve ever had in my cupboard containing a range of superb products, including, for this dish, truffle pecorino (ewe’s milk cheese). I am a big fan of traditional dishes, and generally don’t like to mess with them. I stick faithfully to Marcella Hazan’s recipe for carbonara, it’s a lovely thing, but there are some twists on this that work, and one involves asparagus. I would often have asparagus and pancetta in this, but for this evening, meat was murder and I was temporarily veggie, so to spruce it up I used truffle pecorino in the place of the usual parmesan and pecorino mix.

This worked so well. The truffle was sublime and decadent but complimented the asparagus, which fresh and in season was full flavoured. The sauce was light and creamy and licked the linguine without being cloying. I’ll be making this again, although if for me and not vegetatians, I will include pancetta.

I put this together quite intuitively as I have made carbonara or versions many times. I cooked enough linguine for 3 people, about two thirds of a pack. Spaghetti is traditional for this dish, but linguine is a reasonable substitute should you have none, which was the case for me. As it was cooking, I snapped the woody tips from the end of some delicious English asparagus, and boiled thm for a couple of minutes until approaching tender. Place in a bowl of iced water or run under the cold tap to arrest the cooking process. I chopped these so that the stems were in centimetre chunks with the tips at full length.

The next step requires a little prep. I use one egg yolk per person from a large free range organic egg. Beat them with approx. 3 generous tablespoons of the truffle pecorino and one tablespoon of freshly grated pamesan cheese, season and leave to the side. Lightly mash a clover of garlic and fry until golden in some olive oil over a medium high heat. Remove the garlic, add the chopped asparagus and about half a glass of dry white wine. Fry off the alcohol, reducing the volume a little as you do.

When the pasta is cooked, toss in the egg and cheese mixture, and add the asparagus. Serve immediately with some freshly grated pamesan or for extra decadence a mixture of truffle pecorino and parmesan. Enjoy with a fine glass of wine and some good chatter.

Twitter! Everyone’s raving about it or moaning about it, and like all of the best things that this world has to offer, it polarises opinion. Love it or hate it, pointless or not, everyone has something to say.

What do you think? Love it? Hate it?

Me? I love it.

I was loathe to join the crowd and write about it, but it’s been an interesting place lately and deserves a mention. And only with regard to food, don’t worry. I care not about mrs kutcher’s bum or insert-random-celebrity’s-random-very-mini-adventure. At least not here.

Like most things I love, it drives me crazy. Crazy! It demands immediacy, and this I can’t provide. Like most bloggers, I work for a living, so twitter is not a space I frequent 9-5, save the occasional lunchtime for a browse. This means that I miss things. Lots of things. Events, gossip, you name it, if it’s interesting, it’s probably on twitter. I don’t like that.

It does demand separating the wheat from the chaff, as there’s lots of crap on twitter too, I’m no twitter evangelist and I see it for what it is, a useful space with manageable chaos full of interesting people and random scary ones. But, hey, that’s ok! It’s worth it, the good uns are keepers and the scary ones can disappear.

The good ones you say? Who are they? For me, lots of interesting food bloggers, producers, wine bloggers and suppliers. Lots of interesting folk with lots of knowledge, available within seconds of a tweet. It’s better than google, you’ve already done your  quality control, and just wait for the answers.

So, if you read my last post you will have read about my wild garlic adventures, where I met fellow food blogger, food urchin, in Borough to collect a plant that he’d dug up from his garden. Fantastic! How did that happen? All through twitter.

If you follow me on twitter or read the Times Online, you might have read about my rhubarb escapades with Celia Brooks Brown. Now, this is a funny one, as I’ve been aware of Celia’s cookbooks for years. Recently she started tweeting, and mentioned that she had lots of allotment rhubarb, would anyone like some?

Why, yes!

The best thing was it was only 20 minutes walk from my new house, how could I not pay a visit? A lovely visit it was too, Celia generously supplied me with lots of rhubarb and other treasures: rocket flowers, cavolo nero, purple sprouting broccoli and lots more. I got to try some asparagus, fresh from the ground and deliciously sweet. We also had a beer as it was cocktail hour at the allotment. Nice! A few days later Celia sent me a link detailing my adventures on Times Online, unexpected and a treat! You can read more about alloments and vegetarian food on her blog, and view more photos here if you’re interested: http://www.flickr.com/photos/niamheen/sets/72157617358540500/

It doesn’t stop there. Friendships are forged, like minded people discovered, seedlings and  restaurant recommendations shared and blogs followed. It’s a fantastic space, with a throbbing food community. If you’re reading this, I think you should be on there with us. Follow me at http://twitter.com/eatlikeagirl and come join the fun!

Wild Garlic, Cream Cheese & Roast Tomato Pate on Toast

Seasonal eating is all the more fun and exciting, when you can forage and get the food for free. The ultimate bargain, and usually something that’s quite hard to find to buy. Wild Garlic is the perfect example of this. I’ve not had time to go to any food markets, and had no idea where I could forage it. I’ve looked around the local parks to no avail, and tried on twitter, coaxing friends and followers to reveal their secret stash with the promise that I would not tell anyone. I got some tips  but there was no time to investigate. I was resigned to a wild garlic free week, when fellow blooger Danny (@fooodurchin on twitter and blogging at food urchin) revealed that his garden was teeming with it, and offered to bring me in my very own wild garlic plant.

Excitement! I couldn’t wait. I popped down to Borough to meet him, we had a great chat, and I left with a large blossoming and lovely plant. I couldn’t resist devouring a leaf or two there and then, although I am not sure I would advise this as it’s a little astringent raw. I enjoyed it but will not be responsible for this should you try it.

Wild Garlic Plant

What to do with it? Well, to start try and keep it alive, so far so good. The flowers are delicious and gorgeous in salads, the leaves great in pestos and mayonnaise, soups and salads. I had a vegetarian friend over for dinner and thought it might be nice to start with something quick and light, that could be done in minutes and free up time for chatting and wine, the most important part of the evening after all!

Wild Garlic can be a little sour, so I wanted to balance it with something sweet, and smooth out the flavour with something light. I decided on tomatoes and cream cheese with a little chilli to lift the flavours. So, I blanched about eight wild garlic leaves for 20 seconds or so, rosted some nice tomatoes from Borough market with a little balsamic vinegar for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees celsius, chopped a dried red chilli very finely, and mixed these with about 4 tablespoons of cream cheese. I griddled some good fresh bread, lightly brushed with some olive oil and liberally spread the veggie pate. It was fragrant and light and a nice little stop gap. I’ll be adding it to my repertoire for future quick dishes!

Well, make hay while the sun shines, as they say, and asparagus is in season right now, so I am eating a lot of it. I’m a big fan of the Sunday brunch. The lazing and grazing, the paper, the giant cafetiere of coffee, the pj’s… I love it all. Add asparagus to my list and that’s a near perfect weekend morning.

I’ve always had a taste for fried potatoes, leftover boiled ones that I store in the fridge, waiting patiently for the day that I fry ‘em up! This particular brunch day, I also had an heirlom tomato, the size of a normal tomato but packed with flavour. I had a slice of rosemary pancetta, which I finely chopped and some flat leaf parsley. It needed no more. Fried pancetta and potatoes with some tomato glue, some greenery and a couple of spears of fried asparagus crowned with a fried egg. Glorious.

PS. Real recipes coming back soon – promise :)

It’s such a relief when the world starts to wake up again after Winter. Flowers bloom releasing their soft scents in the air, and fruit and vegetables become more lively and interesting. I love Winter vegetables, but they are few, and the bright and broad range offered by late Spring is very welcome.

Favourites for this time of year are varied, but asparagus has got to lead the pack. I love it fried and dipped in molten egg, whether that’s boiled, fried or poached is irrelevant, but that egg yolk has got to be soft. I like to fry the asparagus spears, sometimes wrapped in ham but most often on it’s own, so that I can savour the flavour.

This particular brunch, I wanted a poached egg, sometimes with a tender tum there is nothing better. It was my breakfast of choice on the morning of exams in University, when my stomach would be shredded by adrenaline and needed the comfort of something soft, comforting and delicate, that would also power me through the morning, as I desperately tried to kick start brain cells into action after very little sleep and way too much caffeine. Poached egg on toast it was. Now, as a wage earning member of society, I decadently accompany it with asparagus and savour every morsel.

Poaching eggs requires a little dedication, although not much. You need very fresh eggs, as fresh as you can get, or they won’t form that lovely oval shape when you drop them into the water. The water should not be boiling, it should be just before, when delicate bubbles rise to the surface, not unlike a glass of champagne. Add some vinegar to the water, about a tablespoon, white is best so you don’t discolour the egg. . Some salt for seasoning, and you’re good to go. Stir the water quite vigorously (without splashing yourself!) until you get a whirlpool effect. Drop your egg into the middle, it might be easier if you’ve cracked it already and have it in a glass or ramekin. The whirlpool will pull it together into a nice oval shape, the vinegar helps the egg white congeal quicker and take that perfect shape, and if it’s fresh enough, it will obediently follow, and form a perfect poached egg. It doesn’t take long to cook, I keep an eye on it, and when the white is set but the yolk still wobbly, I retrieve it, and add it to my plate.

Tagged: Asparagus, Brunch, egg, english, english asparagus, new season, poached, poached egg ]]> http://eatlikeagirl.com/2009/04/15/new-season-asparagus-with-a-poached-egg/feed/ 36 eatlikeagirl New Season Asparagus with a Poached Egg http://eatlikeagirl.com/2009/04/14/easter-sunday-lunch/ http://eatlikeagirl.com/2009/04/14/easter-sunday-lunch/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:44:53 +0000 Niamh http://eatlikeagirl.com/?p=630 ]]>

I have a new house! You may have heard me mention. Once, maybe twice, maybe more? I’ve moved in now and I love it, with it’s big kitchen, range cooker, bay windows looking out onto a little garden, full of yellow and pink flowers, bathed in swathes of light. I’ve yet to unpack but that didn’t stop us having friends around for a big Easter lunch.

The ground floor with the kitchen and living areas was perfectly respectable, but upstairs behind every door and one in particular (mine!) lay bags and boxes, the house’s unconscious, repressed memories of former houses and bad wardrobe decisions, pots and pans, condiments and kitchen oddities purchased for celebrating obscure festivals, I do love randomness in my life! So, we kept everyone busy downstairs, collaboratively producing a fine Easter lunch, interrupted occasionally by an Easter Egg hunt or a munch on some chocolate or a painted duck egg.

So, what did we do? We kept with tradition and had a succulent roast leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary with lots of crisp roast potatoes served with roast vegetables and a fresh bright tomato salad prepared by my flatmate and friends. I worked with my cooking partner, 3 year old Lola, making chocolate nests for mini eggs, heart shaped chocolate things with leftovers and dessert, a rhubarb coulis with raspberries and rosewater, intended for a fool, but with more fruit than cream it resulted in a half fool or a foolish. We also had some delicious Russian Easter Cake baked my a Russian friend. It was lovely and not unlike panettone.

The day before we had made lots of painted duck eggs, fun to make and delicious to eat, although, I can confirm that it’s easier to eat many chocolate eggs, duck eggs in swift multiples can move quickly from delicious to tiresome, even if they are the prettiest ones you’ve ever seen.

I hope you had a lovely Easter! It felt so close to Christmas for me, especially as I site here typing and eating chocolate and mini egg nests for breakfast. I need a purge or a detox. Or someone to take me away for the kitchen and the temptation, save me from myself!

There’s some invitations that can’t be refused, and an opportunity to go to a 2 Michelin starred restaurant for a 5-course lunch that’s matched to a series of champagnes from a reputable champagne house is one. Added to this, there’s the preceding tasting of 5 disgorgements of champagne aged between 6 months and 12 years. The restaurant was L’atelier de Joel Robuchon and the champagnes Bruno Paillard.

Now, I’m a novice compared to the wine bloggers and wine writers, I know a bit but not alot, I can appreciate a good match between wine and food and am getting better at matching myself but I needed a mini tutorial when it came to appreciating the disgorgements, which was happily provided by Dan from Bibendum and Bruno’s daughter Alice.

So, what’s a disgorgement? Dan advised that it’s the process of removing the dead yeast cells after the second fermentation of the wine. I’ll borrow a little from Denise at The Wine Sleuth to explain further

the wine really comes into it’s own, aging throughout the years, passing through 5 or 6 distinct stages ranging from fruit dominated flavours and aromas all the way to the candied fruits and aged roasted notes of mature champagne (link)

The tasting was a lovely experience, the champagnes becoming progressively richer as they got older, it was interesting to note how the flavours developed. I do prefer the younger, lighter champagnes, but it was great to get a taste of the full gamut of flavours.

Joel and Bruno attended and described, in French with translation, their appreciation of each others craft, of the champagne’s and the food, how their ethics matched, always looking to achieve the best, an artisan product. Bruno was in attendance with his daughter Alice, a really friendly pair, always smiling and keen to help even the inexperienced like me.

The most exciting bit began next, our lunch, preceded by some delicious jamon. Now, this was good, rich and not too salty with bright and delicious fat. All the time, we could see the chefs in action in the open kitchen, moving with delicate precision, I couldn’t wait to tuck in.

We started with Fine jelly flavoured with lemon matched with a fruity Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Réserve Privé. This was a really delicious and spritely appetiser, the lemon jelly was topped with fennel cream, which was a lovely fresh and savoury contrast.

This was followed by New potatoes marinated with truffles with shavings of truffles and foie gras, this was exceptional, the textures and flavours of earthy sensual truffle flirting with the foie gras supported beautifully by the sweetness of the new potato, and matched with Brut Millesimé Assemblage 1999 which was bold and rich enough to play with it.

Steamed crayfish with spring vegetables cooked in Paillard’s Blanc de Blancs 1995, a very pretty dish, complete with Patrick from Sponge Bob Square Pants, or so Denise and I thought! It semed straight from a cartoon set in the kitchen, I half expected to hear Spongebob wail. Joking aside, this was a gorgeous dish, with tiny pearls of vegetables, crispy and sweet set in a decadent champagne broth that was slightly sour and had sweet crayfish floating within. It was a treat for the eyes and the taste buds. The champagne served was the same as that within the dish, another rich champagne and a lovely match once more.

Seabass cooked with spiced honey, ginger and baby leek, my favourite dish, the fish was perfect, light moist chunky flakes of fish, lightly scented with delicate aromas and topped with a perfect crispy fish skin. It was paired beautifully with a lovely fruity  NPU (Nec-Plus-Ultra) 1995. It was also served with the famous Joel Robuchon mash, famed to contain more butter than potato, delicious, rich and creamy, it really reminded me of home.

Chou pastry with hazelnut praline and mandarin-flavoured Tahitan vanilla ice cream, a lovely nutty spongy and savoury dessert, fragrant with mandarin. Light and delicious and accompanied by a delicious Rosé Première Cuvée, one of my favourites of the day.

Our next dish was a visual delight, a delicious dessert of fruit and sorbet encased in a sugar sphere – A sugar sphere with Yuzu and an ‘effervescent’ sorbet – which we cracked open delcately with a spoon and delighted at the inertior before, with temporary regret, eating it. That regret quickly dissipated once I tasted the tart fruit and delicate sorbet, with shards of the lovely sugar sphere. This was served with the same fresh and fruity Rosé Première Cuvée.

Lastly, we ventured to the roof for coffees and some air on the terrace. A little rain too although, after such a lovely lunch,  my spirits couldn’t be dampened. The coffees were served with a very decadent side, resplendent with popcorn and gold leaf, an unusual combination, very decadent and humble at once.

A wonderful lunch, and a fabulous tasting experience, thanks to Bruno, Alice, Joel & his myriad of chefs and Willie & Dan from Bibendum.

Photoset on flickr.

Denise at The Wine Sleuth has written lovely descriptions of the champagnes – I’d recommend a read.

http://www.joel-robuchon.com/

http://www.champagnebrunopaillard.com/

I had to quickly share something with you that caught me out and made me laugh. Konstam’s April Fools Menu. I should be ashamed to admit I believed it, it’s pretty ridiculous, but – hey – I was busy, in the middle of ten things and have a gullible disposition at the best of times. And I’m sticking with that.

So, I used to work near Konstam, the restaurant famed for sourcing everything within the M25 (a motorway that circles London) known to most through the TV show “The Urban Chef”. I loved lunch there, and I love the way they cook, so despite now working miles away, I still receive the emails. It’s like culinary masochism. Every day I look and think how I can’t have it and how crap Victoria is for lunch options.

Today’s menu came through and I read the email.

I’d been pretty busy and in truth my brain was frazzled following a series of meetings, so I thought, intriguing! Wonder what this is about?

So, I opened the attached menu (click image to see larger size).

I thought – wow – Camden Town peacock soup with sour cream & nutmeg! They cooked a peacock?! Wonder what that tastes like. At Braised North London iguana with onion & allspice salad & sour cream, I began to smell a rat. Next pan-roast London Zoo giraffe neck fillet, purple sprouting broccoli, almond & barley salad and pan-fried, aquarium-reared hammerhead shark with mashed potato, braised chard & apple balsamic & garlic dressing. I knew I’d been had, and laughed a lot. I’m still chuckling now.

It brought a smile to my day. I hope it does to yours too :)

A recession makes for interesting times. Success does not rely on large financial outlay and clever marketing schemes, customers have less money to spend and want to spend it well. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the birth of the Underground Restaurant or Pop-Up Restaurant movement in London coincides with our depressing economics times. Quirky and individual they offer a unique experience and a talking point, and the opportunity to immerse yourself in someone elses domestic environment for a few hours while you indulge in the comforts of their home cooking. I dined at one such restaurant in London recently, run by a fellow food blogger MsMarmiteLover from her gorgeous home.

We food bloggers travel in packs to these kind of things, I went with Helen of Food Stories, Lizzie of Hollow Legs and Chris of Cheese & Biscuits. My usual partners in crime in food forays and otherwise, and always good indicators of a fun night out.

We arrived promptly and were greeted warmly with a Kir Semi-Royale. We had no idea what to expect, having only had the pleasure of MsMarmiteLover’s company online, and were immediately at ease and chattering with fellow diners before sitting to eat at 7.30pm.

MsMarmiteLover offers a 3 course meal with aperetif for £25 a head. Her daughter and her friend waited on us, and were a very charming addition to the evening. The Spring menu was on offer the evening we dined there. A lovely comforting home cooked affair, starting with raviolo stuffed with Portobello (bought from Portobello Rd market), oyster and button mushrooms with an onion cappuccino cooked by Charlie Nelson, a velvety affair with an earthy mushroom interior. I can vouch for Charlie’s sauce particularly, as later on I spied two food bloggers sipping from the ladle and licking the spoon ;)

The main course followed, salmon en papillote with creme fraiche and dill with Aga-roasted exquisa potatoes in olive oil and herbs served with foccacia. I could have sworn there was nutmeg in the spiced salmon crust, alas my palette failed me, the salmon was delicately cooked and very moist and the spice crust, fragrant and crispy, is something I plan to try and replicate at home.

A brief trip to the lovely terrace followed. I experienced serious flat envy all the while, MsMarmiteLover’s lovely home represents my ideal, homely, comforting and quirky with a lovely terrace and steps to a big garden.

The evening was drawing to a close and it was time for desserts and coffee. Tarte au Citron served with meringues and coffee from the thing I coveted the most, a gorgeous porcelain moka. This was a nice finish, perfectly light, the tartness of the lemon perfectly complemented the preceding salmon.

To our surprise, Chris confessed that he could play piano, and we were treated to a session of requests which was fantastic, there’s a certain energy brought to a room with such an impromptu affair. It all felt very Gatsbyesque, without music or food, where would we be? A great night, MsMarmiteLover’s warm personality, delicious home-cooked food and lovely home provide a decadent escape fromthe day-to-day grind. I’ve got it on my list for visitors to London, we’re lucky to have such things, let’s make the most of them!

I love St Patrick’s Day. Traditionally a day of indulgence, we were allowed to eat all of the sweets we’d been storing over lent and weren’t allowed to eat (we always gave them up and *always* failed). It’s a bank holiday in Ireland and most towns hold their own parade. Filled with irish dancing floats, marching bands, local groups and often filled with adverts from local companies. Dancing nurofen anyone? I actually saw that once, and loved it when it threw me sweets. I’ve since bought a lot of nurofen. Connection?

The day always started bright and relatively early with mass, or more accurately my mother’s battle to organise us all and get us out the door to mass. It was essential to wear green to mass on Paddy’s Day. I’m not kidding. At least in my house. We’d stop at my grandmothers and she’d douse us and pin us with some fresh shamrock, gleaming and dripping on our jumpers, and competing for space with the traditional St Patrick’s Day badges and ribbons, and off we’d go, thinking all the time of the parade we’d attend later and often participate in as scouts, or brownies (not the food!), Irish dancers and even once, age 12 as a pioneer.

So, what does it mean to me when it comes to food? I was always jealous of people who got to eat green things, although I can see now that that is madness and not good for any child. When I think food for Paddy’s Day I think of Irish food. Irish food? I think of Beef Stew, Liver & Onions, Steak & Onions, Peas, Stewed Apple, Black Pudding, White Pudding even more so, Pork Sausages, Peppered Pork Chops, Crubeens, Pig Cheeks, Bacon and Cabbage, Lamb, Soda Bread, Smoked Salmon, Fried Potatoes, Spiced Beef, Boiled Ham, Apple Tart, Rhubarb… so many things. Rustic comforting food, all made with great produce.

In recent years I think of my childhood favourites and the new ones from the fantastic producers all over Ireland, the wonderful cheeses and sausages, the smokeries and their salmon and eels. A personal favourite is Frank Hederman’s salmon. He smokes and does all kinds of wonderful things with wild salmon. I’ve never tasted better. What better way to celebrate our national day, than with a green white and gold salad, which has some of his salmon and potatoes? So, that’s what I did.

I toyed with the dressing and it’s not perfect but it worked well, I may add some white wine vinegar also next time to cut through the fat in the cheese. Use a light white wine, as a stronger one dominates. Use any roast salmon in this, although I will say Frank’s is pretty special if you can get it. This recipe is a guide, use your eye and alter to taste.

Roast Chilli Smoked Salmon & Potato Salad with Cream Cheese Dressing

Ingredients (for one)

Salad:

1 large potato, cooked, cooled and diced finely
2 spring onions, sliced
Fresh parsley, chopped, approx 1 tbsp
As much of the smoked salmon as you like, I used the same as the potato, half and half, flaked

Dressing:

1 tbsp cream cheese
2 tbsp light white wine
1/2 tsp grain mustard

Seasoning: salt & pepper

Method:

It’s pretty simple really. Prepare your dressing by mixing your ingredients. A mini whisk is very useful or whisk with a fork. After mixing all your salad ingredients, drizzle the dressing on top, and gobble it up.

Enjoy!