The countdown is on

It's hard to believe that Dave and I only have two months left in London after nearly two years absolutely filled to the brim with good times.  But there's plenty of time to reminisce about London. We've got a four month trip to look forward to and the planning is well and truly under way! Dave has created the mac-daddy of all mac-daddy spreadsheets which he is intently populating with dates, expenses and itineraries. I stick to food-based research and occasionally help find accommodation. It's much more exciting. I did however plan our itinerary for our first stop outside of the UK: Morocco. It's always been high on my travel agenda but Dave took some convincing. Now that I've planned out what we will do and shown him the amazing scenery we'll drive through, he's really excited about it too.

What I'm most looking forward to is of course the food. I love a good tagine and I've heard the harira soup and freshly squeezed orange juice from the markets is out of this world. Hopefully we'll discover some new dishes and foods along the way to expand the home cooking repertoire.

During our trek through the Atlas Mountains we're stopping for a night in the Todra Gorge at an eco-hotel with its own vegetable garden in the middle of what appears to be barren middle of nowhereness. Apparently they are famous for the aubergine dish they serve for dinner. All sounds pretty damn good to me. I decided to have a little practice run the other night and made this aubergine and chickpea tagine. I don't have a tagine (yet) so I used a casserole dish but if you have a tagine then you can make the real deal.

Dave took the photos with our new camera - what you think?!

Recipe
2 aubergines
1 onion finely chopped
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1 chilli finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 inch grated fresh ginger
1 can of chickpeas
1 can of chopped tomatoes
500ml of vegetable stock
1/4 of preserved lemon roughly chopped
a handful of dates roughly chopped
a handful of raisins
fresh coriander
olive oil

Turn oven on to 180 degrees
Chop the aubergine and add to a large hot frying pan with plenty of olive oil. Brown all over for 5 mins then remove from the pan and set aside.

To the pan add some more olive oil and the onions. Cook for about 5 mins. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and fry for another minute. Next add the spices and cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the chopped tomatoes and stir. Then add the aubergines, chickpeas, vegetable stock, preserved lemon, dates and raisins and stir together. Cook for a further 5 mins.

Transfer the ingredients into a hot casserole dish (or tagine if you have one) and cover. Place the dish in the oven and cook for 20 to 30 mins until cooked.

Remove the dish for the oven once cooked and set aside to cool slightly. In the meantime prepare your couscous (cover with boiling water for about 3 to 5 minutes then fluff up with a fork, adding olive oil to help separate).

Serve with the couscous and fresh coriander.

Serves 4

Inspiration for a healthy soup

I've been uninspired lately. Winter comes along and it becomes difficult to be inspired. Difficult to find the motivation to cook healthily, to look after myself and to be the active person my summer self is. As you can tell, me and winter are not the best of friends. There's no doubt about it, winter does bring with it some gems - particularly in the Northern hemisphere. England is in some ways made for winter with its cosy pubs and comforting food traditions. Pies, sausages and a multitude of culinary delights that are bad for you come into their own in the winter. All so good, but I've found it hard to be inspired to cook anything particularly interesting.

But the other day a friend from back home wrote on their Facebook page that they had made a salad inspired by one I had posted on this blog in the summer. That inspired me. It's pretty epic that people actually read this and that so many friends have gone out of their way to tell me how much they enjoy it. Thank you. And thank you for inspiring me.

Soups are the epitamy of winter food. And there are an infinite number of soup recipes out there. Some of them are super interesting. All energised, I decided to make a healthy yet hearty soup. I'd seen a recipe for a ginger broccoli and white bean soup a while back on Hemsley and Hemsley. They are two London based sisters who provide basically high class ready made meals to the rich and famous and write for Vogue. I love their stuff.

I had some leftover cavolo nero so I made some kale chips to pop on top of the soup, finished off with toasted cashew nuts. It was warming but fresh. The boys didn't even realise I was detoxing them!

Broccoli, ginger and white bean soup with spicy cavolo nero chips

For the soup
1 large head of broccoli (or 2 small heads)
2 large onions, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
3-4 inches of peeled ginger chopped
juice of 2 limes
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1200ml of chicken stock
2 cans of white beans - I used cannellini
4 handfuls of coriander, roughly chopped or torn
large handful of cashews, chopped

For the chips
small bunch of cavolo nero or kale
1 tsp chilli power
olive oil

Heat oven to 180 degrees.
Toast the chopped cashew nuts in a dry pan and set aside.

Chop the stalks of the broccoli and set aside then roughly chop the heads.
In a big pot heat a tablespoon of cooking oil. Add the onions, garlic, ginger and cayenne pepper and gently saute for 5 mins.

Add the broccoli stalks and about 3/4 of the stock.  Simmer for 8 minutes.

While this is cooking make your chips. Chop the cavolo nero into thick strips and lay out on a baking tray. Drizzle over olive oil and cover the cavolo nero with the oil using your fingers. Sprinkle over the dried chilli and put it in the oven to bake for about 5-8 minutes or until just crispy.

Add the broccoli heads to the soup, the beans and the coriander. Cook for 5 minutes. Cool slightly before blending. Add more water during the blending process to get the right consistency.

Add lime juice and season with salt and pepper.

Pour soup in bowls and arrange the kale chips on top. Sprinkle over toasted cashews and serve.

Serves 6 - enough for a family or for leftover lunches!

Mexican dinner party

I've cooked dinner for people before; simple dishes with limited stress and preparation involved. But a couple of weekends ago Dave and I hosted our first proper dinner party. The start of our dinner party careers perhaps? I hope there will be any more to come. I definitely need the practice! I completely underestimated how much effort would be involved in cooking Mexican for 8 people. Oh boy.

The dinner party was the third in a series of dinner parties a bunch of us New Zealanders are hosting in London. It's a come dine with me type scenario, so as ridiculous as it sounds, we mark each other at the end of the night. On the whole its all just a bit of a laugh. But we wanted to win of course. We decided on a Mexican theme and set about devising our menu. We found what seems to be the only Mexican supermarket in London run by a very well spoken elderly English couple in a pretty poor East London neighbourhood to purchase essential ingredients including Mexican beer.

Dave worked tirelessly the week before on the grand finale - a piñata. Reconnecting with the craft  loving child within was brilliant. This is until the home made glue Dave whipped up turned mouldy and made our entire room smell like we'd left a bunch of rotting bananas under the bed. I was too busy to notice - creating the menu:

Home made tortilla chips with pico de gallo (salsa) and guacamole with classic margaritas

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Soft tacos: tequila lime prawn; chicken tinga and Yucatecan 'pulled' pork

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Carne asada (roast beef in a Mexican marinade) served with home made refried beans, salad and green rice

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Margarita cheesecake 

Making tortilla chips from scratch was tricky. The masa flour used to make the corn tortillas was pretty hard to deal with. I couldn't roll it out - too much water and it turned to quicksand, not enough and it cracked. In the end I ended up patting out tortillas with my fingers. But the end result was not too bad. Crunchy chips with a pico de gallo - enough salt and jalapeno to get a thirst on. The margaritas were sour enough to dry the mouth but we quickly made up some sugar syrup and all was redeemed. 

But then real disaster struck us. I'm still getting used to the oven in our new place and I had the oven on grill instead of bake. The pork which was supposed to be pulled was still raw and the beef overcooked. Thank goodness I'd had a few margaritas and a tequila shot by this stage or I think I would have cried. So much planning and preparation all for it to be ruined by a stupid mistake. We threw the pork shoulder into a pot along with its marinade and cooked it till it was edible. The tacos ended up being pretty tasty all things considered. 

We smothered the beef in a char-grilled tomato salsa I made but no-one was fooled! Never mind, the refried beans were delicious - I was pretty proud of what I had achieved with that one.

Dave's margarita cheesecake with a salty pretzel base was delicious. We then worked off our dinner by smashing the heck out of Dave's piñata. 

I'd put so much effort into the party and had such high expectations about the food I would create but really didn't matter. We had a great night because we had fantastic friends at our table. We also really enjoyed ourselves. I think the tequila helped too! Next time I have a dinner party I'll take a leaf out of Donna Hay's book and keep it simple. 

I thought I'd share the recipe for the chicken tacos and the re-fried beans as they were my favourites of the night. Warning: the refried beans should probably be illegal. They are not healthy but are so blimmin good!

Many limes and lemons went into the making of this dinner party...

The trio of soft tacos

Like my mo?

Refried beans 

2.5 cups dry beans - I used black beans

1/2 chopped onion

1-2 finely chopped garlic cloves

3 tbsp bacon lard/drippings

1/4 cup water

salt 

cheddar cheese

sour cream (optional)

Wash the beans then put in a large pot and cover with water. Simmer until cooked - about 2.5 hours. Drain and set aside. Return the large pot to the heat and add the lard, then add the onion and garlic. Stir constantly for a minute or two. Add the beans and water. Simmer for a minute or two. Add a pinch of salt. Then either mash the beans with a potato masher or use a hand processor. You can add a little dollop of sour cream at this point if you want to make it more creamy. Or water would be fine too.

Serve in a bowl with a sprinkle of grated cheddar cheese. 

You can keep leftovers in the fridge and use for days after.

Chicken tinga tacos

For the flour tortillas:

4 cups flour

1.5 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp butter

Put flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl and mix well. Work the butter into the mixture with your fingers. Add 1.5 cups of warm water and stir until a soft dough forms. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead about 20 times. Place the dough in a bowl. cover with a clean tea towel and set aside for 10 mins.

Divide the flour into each pieces. Roll into balls and then roll out into 12 inch rounds. 

Heat a cast iron pan over medium to high heat. Cook each tortilla for about 1 minute each side until they blister and brown in parts. Wrap in a tea towel to keep warm. 

For the chicken tinga:

2-3 chicken breasts

1 small onion finely chopped

1 chipotle chilli/1 tbsp chipotle paste 

150 grams chopped tomatoes

1 clove garlic finely chopped

1 bay leaf

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp coriander

optional: half a small chorizo finely chopped

juice of 1 lime

Poach the chicken breasts on a low heat with the bay leaf and a pinch of salt until cooked (about 15-20 minutes). Remove the chicken and reserve the cooking water. 

In a pan heat a tablespoon of oil and add the onion and garlic. Saute until soft. Add the chorizo and spices and stir. Add the tomatoes, chipotle  and a few spoonfuls of the cooking water if it needs more moisture. Cook on a low to medium heat - stirring continuously - for 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice. 

Serve with avocado and fresh coriander. 

Simple suppers: Green spelt risotto

Making something out of nothing. It's an interesting conundrum. By nothing I don't mean nothing, but creating something from what you have. Living within your means; not being overly greedy. Our grandparents were pretty good at it and I have distinct memories of it when I was kid. Nothing was wasted and in the weekends we'd make do with anything leftover. I never complained when we had sardines on toast or canned soup. Sometimes dad would make his special 'chow mein' with instant noodles and whatever else he could find to throw in. He was pretty proud of it and each time we'd hear about how he'd made improvements from the previous version - clearly on his way to reaching the true heights of Asian authenticity. Now it's a memory we use to tease dad.

University days forced me to make do - in a flat of five girls there was never a scrap of food left at the end of the week. I often get hungry after I go to bed and have to sneak back to the kitchen for a midnight snack. Far less glamorous than Nigella, my midnight indulges during university often consisted of bread toasted to conceal the all too apparent staleness. I'd flavour it with a slap of butter. If there was any left. Come shopping day we were like a pack of hyenas circling around, mouths watering over the replenished supplies.

But as our generation has forged ahead in life and careers, I can't help but think we are a generation of excess. We want the best of everything, we love eating out and drinking is our favourite pass time. It's fantastic that we have the means to do all of this, but sometimes I like to remind myself that it's not all really necessary. After a weekend of excess and a fancy dinner out earlier in the week, I felt a teeny bit guilty. So I decided to make dinner with more or less what had left in the fridge, freezer and cupboards. I had been wanting to try making spelt risotto for a long time so I purchased my farro and set about making something out of nothing. Me and my buddies around the dinner table were all pleasantly surprised - it was good. Wholesome and healthy and definitely not overly indulgent. You could substitute any of the vegetables with whatever you have lying around. Pumpkin would be good with kale or spinach.

Recipe
olive oil
1 cup pearled spelt (the packet I bought didn't say it was pearled but you could tell the grains had been rubbed as they were white in parts)
1-2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
1/2 broccoli
1/2 cauliflower
handful of kale
peas - frozen or fresh
zest and juice of half a lemon
splash of white wine
2 cups of vegetable stock
parmesan
s + p

Put half of the broccoli and half of the cauliflower in a food processor and blend until fine. If you don't have a processor finely chopping will do. Chop the remainder into small florets. Pour stock into a pot and keep hot on a low heat to use for cooking the risotto.

In a pot heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Add onion and garlic and saute until translucent. Add the spelt and stir. Start adding stock, half a cup at a time. After about 7 mins add the broccoli and cauliflower florets. Keep adding stock as the last measure is absorbed. Stir in the kale and the processed broccoli and cauliflower. If you are adding peas, throw these in when you add the last measure of stock. all up it should take about 20-25 minutes for the risotto to cook. The spelt will still be firm but have a soft texture.

Once cooked remove from the heat and add lemon zest and juice. Stir then grate in parmesan to taste. Add salt and pepper.

Serves 2

Post summer recovery: Pho Bo

After one epic hiatus I'm back on the blog! I got distracted by sunshine, parties, trips abroad, alcohol and a summer jam packed with freaking good times. Since I last wrote I've been to Croatia for a sailing trip; eaten seafood in the serenity of the Cinque Terre; watched my friends run a half marathon in Stockholm; and most recently drunk steins of German beer at Oktoberfest in Munich. In amongst all that we had a wonderful London summer that well and truly made up for last year's abysmal effort. It really has been an amazing carefree time that I know I will look back fondly on for years to come (with only 5 months left on the visa I'm getting nostalgic already!).

During this time we've also moved house and now live in Balham. Still south west London but nonetheless a new area to explore and so far we are loving it. It's really interesting and alive with lots of great pubs, restaurants and cafes. Our new favourite haunt is Milk cafe which somehow manages to serve delicious brunch food out of its pokey kitchen, makes decent coffee and has great service - not always easy to find in London. Unsurprisingly the weekend brings with it a queue, but it's worth it. I'm looking forward to finding other gems over the next few months!

All of this life activity has meant cooking and looking after myself has taken a major back seat. Eating out, eating junk and drinking far too much has been the general theme. There's really only one remedy for it: Vietnamese Pho Bo. Ultimate hangover cure; cleanser after over consumption of gluten - it always makes me feel healthy again. I went to Vietnam last year with my sister and a life long friend. We absolutely loved the place. The people are are beautiful and their culture revolves around food and coffee which suited us just fine. We were invited out one night with a group of young guys who took us to one of the many quintessential roadside food vendors for dinner. Turns out they had already eaten, but extremely generously ordered an array of different dishes which we devoured in between the slightly stilted conversation while sitting on little plastic stalls. Those for me are the travel experiences that really make it all worthwhile. You feel like you are truly a part of that culture for a fleeting moment rather than just observing from afar. While we were there I don't think a day went by where I didn't have pho. The pho they make in Vietnam seems much more simple than the one I make yet infinitely better. It's all in the stock. I don't have the time it takes to make a magical stock so I don't even try. This is my version. It's no Vietnamese pho but I reckon it's pretty good. Prepare to be cleansed.

Recipe: Pho Bo
1-2 beef steaks (depending on how big they are) preferably semi defrosted
1 litre of beef stock
1/2 pack rice stick noodles
1/2 brown onion
1-2 inch stick of fresh ginger
1 star anise
1 stick of cinnamon
1 clove
1 red chilli
fish sauce
lime
mung bean shoots
coriander
mint
sliced spring onions
optional vege: sliced mushrooms and bok choy.

With the skin still on, char the onion and ginger under a flame or oven grill. This gives it a sweet, slightly smokey flavour. When the skin is blackened remove from heat and leave to cool. Remove the skin and slice the onion and chop the ginger into match sticks.

In a large pot bring the stock to a simmer along with the star anise, cinnamon and clove. Add the onion and ginger. If you want to add sliced mushrooms add them now. Simmer on low for about 30 mins to allow the flavours to infuse.

In the meantime cook your rice noodles by soaking in boiling water for about 6 mins. Drain and divide among two bowls.

Very finely slice the semi defrosted beef steaks. If you aren't keen on doing it this way you could cook your steak and slice it afterwards. Place the steak slices into the bowls on top of the noodles.

Strain the stock and return to the pot to return to a simmer. Turn off heat and add a few tablespoons of fish sauce and lime juice to your liking.

Pour the stock into the bowls over the steak. The steak will cook from the heat of the stock.

Garnish with mung bean shoots, sliced spring onion and serve with sliced chillies, herbs and extra lime wedges.

Serves 2

Ottolenghi

I haven't written in a while! We've had a few weeks now of stinking hot weather in London and my friends, it's most definitely not something to be taken for granted. Any indoor activities such as blogging have been pushed aside: the priority is summer and all that comes with it. It's amazing. The only downside is the lack of water. When I've been sitting in the park absolutely dripping with sweat I've pined for the water that is never far away in New Zealand. Almost always the sea is close by, but failing that you'll usually be near a lake or crystal clear river. Here in London we must find alternative havens of coolness.

Cue Ottolenghi. I'd been wanting to go to Ottolenghi for a long time and finally got my act together. On a hot Saturday a bunch of us lined up for a table at the Islington restaurant/deli. Inside it is cool, without being stark. The perfectly white interior provides a blank canvass for Ottolenghi's beautifully colourful bowls of salad and gorgeous sweet treats. We tried as many of the salads as we possibly could. It's a seemingly simple concept but every salad is surprising and interesting. When you take a closer look, each salad has many ingredients and often ones you wouldn't think to put together. His Middle-Eastern heritage shines through but there's not a rigid adherence to it.

I love this style of food. It's creative, healthy and damn good looking: truly something to aspire to. After our fabulous lunch, I made this salad, inspired by a green bean salad we had. I think Ottolenghi would approve.

Beetroot and bean salad
3 beetroot
200g green beans
100g mangetout
50g hazelnuts
100g feta
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp agave nectar
zest of 1 orange
juice from 1/2 orange
bunch of dill

Peel and very thinly slice the beetroot a arrange on a plate or in a bowl. Trim beans and mangetout. In a dry pan  briefly toast cumin seeds then set aside. Roughly chop hazelnuts and toast in a dry pan.

For the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, orange juice and agave nectar.

Steam the beans and mangetout so they are just cooked but still bright green. Arrange over the beetroot. Sprinkle over cumin seeds and hazelnuts. Crumble over the feta and sprinkle over orange zest and dill. Pour over the dressing.

You'll feel good just eating it.

Serves 4 as a side.

Summer salad inspiration

Summer has finally made her appearance in London. Granted, she has her moments, but in general it's been lush and that festival vibe that London takes on in the warmer months has arrived. We took a day off and practised the fine English art of queuing last week at Wimbledon. After an extremely early start and a few hours killing time on a picnic rug, we got in. It's worth it; the place is truly magic - the atmosphere and traditions (think Pimms and strawberries and cream) make it so special. After even more queuing we managed to weasel our way into centre court. I feel so lucky that I got to experience that.

The weekend was full of fresh air, picnics and gin and tonic. I even managed to get a bit of colour on my pearly white limbs. Very exciting indeed. Everything in summer seems so colourful. I think that the fact this country is draped under a heavy cloud of grey for the majority of the year makes it feel as though the world is painted in vivid technicolour in the summer. This salad represents summer for me. It's a little bit special. You could leave out the chicken for a vegetarian version or if you wanted to serve it as a side salad at a BBQ.

Chicken, strawberry and haloumi salad

2 small chicken breasts
2 garlic cloves, crushed
zest and juice from half a lemon
1/2 punnet strawberries
1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes
seeds from half a pomegranate
a bunch of rocket
1 block of haloumi
s + p

For the dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of half a lemon
s + p

Turn on oven to 180 degrees. Marinate the chicken breasts in the garlic, lemon zest and juice and salt and pepper. In a pan heat cooking oil and grill the chicken breasts until brown on both sides. Finish off in the oven.

In the meantime, slice strawberries, cut cherry tomatoes in half and slice the haloumi into 1 cm thick strips.
In a hot pan, grill the the haloumi for a couple of minutes each side until golden brown.

Slice the chicken. Arrange the rocket, strawberries and tomatoes on a large platter or salad bowl. Add the chicken and haloumi. Sprinkle over the pomegranate seeds. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad.

Summer on a plate.

Serves 3