GOD SAVE THE CLAM

River pageants, concerts and tourists will fill London's streets, rivers and parks this weekend. But you'll find me at God Save The Clam. A rooftop pop-up event in East London hosting a very British spin-off of the traditionally American Clam Bake - bringing together two of London's most in demand food pop-ups: barbecue wonders, Pitt Cue Co, and seafood masters Rock Lobsta.

A £40 ticket, purchased in advance, will get you: a couple of drinks, a starter of Pitt Cue Links, followed by Clams, cockles, mussels, devilled crayfish & crab claws, sea beets & samphire - steamed over seaweed & charcoal, Cornish Early Potatoes in Smoked Dripping, House Sausage, BBQ leeks, BBQ Corn & Grilled Sour Sough (OH MY GOSH!), and a choice of sundaes for pudding - if you have any room left!

Tickets for the £40 meal (lunch and supper sittings running from Thursday evening until Sunday evening) are running out fast, so get yours at www.godsavetheclam.co.uk. 

And if you don't want to come for a sit down meal, it's free entry to the rooftop Shack Snack Bar, open all day from Friday, where they'll be serving cocktails, beer and wine, as well as lobster corn dogs, Po Boy sandwiches and lobster popcorn.

Follow God Save The Clam on Twitter @godsavetheclam and find them on the Rooftop of The Emigre Studios, 274 Richmond Road, E8 3QW this weekend!

View Post

PIZZA PILGRIMS

Street food is more popular now than it's ever been. Night food street market, Street Feast, which I have yet to visit, leads the way with it's Friday night feasts off Brick Lane. But not far behind is Berwick Street, Soho, whose offerings seem to increase by the week. I'm lucky enough to work close by and have long been a fan of Freebird Burritos, who get it spot on with steak, carnitas (pulled pork), chicken and veggie burritos, however, they have now got some serious competition. Not only is there fresh Vietnamese rolls, there's a falafel stand, Mediterranean salad stall, Thai and Moroccan.

But my newest favorite lunch from Berwick Street is the pizza from Pizza Pilgrims - fresh pizzas cooked in the back of a tiny van, that I'm sure must have to be towed to the site! It's so small, it's amazing it can produce pizzas, let alone ones of such quality - it definitely cannot be roadworthy! 

View Post

THE LAUGHING STOCK

Underbelly festival has returned to London again recently for 2 months of spectacular shows. I hadn't been before but eventually made it down there a couple of weeks ago to watch Shlomo's incredible Vocal Orchestra - an hour of aural entertainment from 7 very talented vocalist beatboxers.

Situated in an area of Jubilee Gardens, an inflatable purple cow hosts the majority of the performances, while surrounding benches, stools and mini marquees make up the Magners mushroom areas. 

View Post

BEETROOT HORSERADISH MASH

This magic mash is fantastic. I first tried it when my boyfriend's sister in law cooked it for us when we went round for roast lunch. It tasted so good, I couldn't wait to try it again. It is so simple to make, and works wonderfully with roast chicken or beef, but equally as well cold, with oily fish, such as mackerel, for lunch.

This makes enough for 6-8 people.

5 beetroots
1 swede
1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsp creamed horseradish
Handful parsley

Wash and halve the beetroots. Peel the swede and chop into large chunks. Add the beetroot halves and the swede chunks to a pan of boiling vegetable stock and cook for 45-60 mins, until both the beetroot and swede feel soft when cut with a knife. Drain the vegetables, and carefully peel the beetroot. The skin should come off very easily.

Return the beetroot to the pan with the swede and stir in the creamed horseradish. Mash all of it together, add salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with parsley, and eat with whatever you have available! It is such a vibrant colour, looks stunning on the plate, and tastes even better.

View Post

BLUE CHEESE BURGERS with ROAST PEPPER SALSA

After a recent visit to Ealing Farmers Market, I came home laden with meat! Most of it went in the freezer, including some great steak mince from Boarstall Meats in Buckinghamshire. Ealing Farmers Market runs from 9am - 1pm every Saturday, and I like my lazy weekend mornings, so if I do make it, I pretty much always get there for the last half hour - the best time for deals - 300g of steak mince only cost £2!

View Post

LA MASCOTTE - MONMARTE, PARIS

Left to our own devices for a day in Paris and without having any particular plans, we jumped on the metro to Saint Germain, but ended up not quite IN Saint Germain, and not entirely sure where 'St Germain' was. So rather than wander round and try to work it out, we decided to walk to Monmarte. 

What looked like a couple of miles on the map - an easy walk - ended up taking us through busy tourist filled streets and then up winding hills, past kebab houses and launderettes, and eventually into Monmarte. Towards the end of our walk we passed lots of restaurants serving Moules and had been tempted to stop, but none of them seemed to be quite what I was hoping for. But within minutes of arriving at the cobbled streets of Monmarte we found La Mascotte, an innocent looking place, that looked more like a bar tacked onto the side of an amazing fishmonger than a really good restaurant.

La Mascotte turned out to be the best restaurant I ate at in Paris. We sat outside on the pavement, with the sun on our faces. The menu offered every different edible thing from the sea you could imagine, including 8 different types of oyster. We had the second cheapest variety of oyster to start, and served with an excellently sharp and sweet red wine shallot vinegar, they were perfect. Full, flavorsome oysters, tasting like they'd been plucked straight from the sea.

We also had oysters two days later from a lovely French lady in a Saturday food market, who shucked the oysters for us to eat then and there.

We followed the oysters with Moules Mariniere - served by the litre. Delicious. Absolutely delicious. The photo I took of them doesn't even do the mussels justice (so I'm not going to put it on here), they were some of the best I've tried. And they just kept on going, I've never seen so many mussels. Or eaten so many!

La Mascotte was perfect sunny France. I will definitely eat there again.

View Post

CAFE HUGO - PARIS

I spent a long weekend in Paris recently, and having not been there since I was 14, I asked friends who'd been there more recently for suggestions of where to eat. A very good friend of mine, Hugo, said that I should go to Cafe Hugo, on Place des Vosges. I wasn't sure how much this had to do with it being a good place to eat, or with it sharing his name. Anyhow, we ended up here on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and I'm so glad we did! In fact, it turns out that when I was in Paris with my family all those years ago, we stayed about 300m away from Cafe Hugo.

We got there at about 2.30pm and the place was heaving. We got a table though, outside on the pavement, covered with a see-through marquee. It was such a (naughty) treat to be able to sit at my table, in the warmth, and smoke a cigarette!!

But the best thing about Cafe Hugo was the food. Bowls of onion soup, smelling sweet and thick with melted cheese, were carried past us to many of the other diners. I couldn't manage the onion soup and a main course (after a long weekend of many meals) so opted for just a main course - a beautiful rib of beef I shared with my boyfriend. It was cooked to perfection - 'a pointe' as they call it there. And on point it was. Served with a rustic looking dauphinoise, a few grilled spring onions and half a Parmesan crusted baked tomato - not quite the seasonal vegetables I'd imagined from the description of the dish, but all the same, it was really tasty. After 4 days in Paris, eating in amazing restaurants, I had by now learnt that fresh, simple vegetables simply don't exist as part of main courses!

The service at Cafe Hugo was brilliant. We were very well attended to, and felt relaxed and really comfortable, despite the fact there must've been at least 100 people seated for food there. After conquering our main courses and some good red wine, a quick espresso got me on my feet for a stroll around the stunning square that is Place de Vosges, before heading to the station and back to London.  

A perfect way to spend our last sunny afternoon of a wonderful weekend in Paris.

View Post

A VERY SUSTAINABLE DINNER - COLEY

Coley has been called 'the fish that could save cod'. We all know that cod is overfished, but as it is still present in EVERY supermarket, frozen, fresh and from the fish counter, it is easy to still pick it up without thinking. However, my new found love of coley has diverted my attentions, and I hope it can change your minds too. The longer we carry on eating overfished fish, the quicker it is going to run out.

This is a great recipe for cooking Coley, but you can choose any of your favorite cod recipes and replace it with coley. Coley is also particularly cheap.

1 small bag of baby new potatoes
3 leeks
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
4 fillets of coley
4 pieces of parma ham
4 sprigs of thyme
1 lemon

Put a pan of salted water on to boil. Add some cleaned baby new potatoes once boiling.

Wash the leeks and chop into cm long slices. Chop the onion finely and add to an oiled pan with the leeks. Fry gently for 5-7 minutes until everything is starting to soften. Place the softened leek and onion in a pile in a roasting tin, and tuck the crushed cloves of garlic into the pile. Now take your coley fillets. Wrap each fillet with a piece of parma ham, and tuck a spring of thyme and a slice of lemon in between the fish and the ham. Pop the wrapped Coley fillets on top of the leek pile. Grill the fish and leeks for 20 minutes under a medium grill.

Drain the potatoes, and crush gently with a fork. Serve alongside a wrapped fillet of coley and some leeks, with a wedge of lemon.

View Post

DELICIOUS SPANISH INSPIRED LAMB STEW

Stew is a perfect winter food, warm and hearty, and can be left to cook while you go about your day. And this one includes all my favorite Spanish flavours. It also all cooks in one pot, so there is little washing up!

This recipe serves 3 people.

500g leg of lamb, diced
1 onion, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 red pepper, sliced
1 tsp paprika
Chorizo
1 tin of tomatoes
1 tin of olives stuffed with anchovy
1 glass red wine
3 glasses of beef or chicken stock
2 bay leaves
Bunch of rosemary
Zest of half a lemon
1 tin of flageolet beans
Parsley 

Brown the lamb in a heavy bottomed pan over a medium heat. Once brown, remove from the pan and keep to one side. Add the onion, garlic and sliced pepper, and cook until the onion is translucent. Add the paprika and chorizo cut into cm chunks to the pan. Stir for a minute or so. Then mix in the tin of tomatoes and olives. Bubble gently for a few minutes and add the red wine, stock, bay leaves and some rosemary. Season with pepper, and a little salt to taste (the anchovy olives are quite salty though so always taste first). Bring up to a slow simmer.

Replace the browned lamb in the pan with a grate of lemon zest. Part cover the pan and leave to simmer gently for 2 hours, stirring every now and again.

After two hours, add the flageolet beans to the stew. Stir and cook for ten minutes.

Serve with mashed potato, and sprinkle with parsley.

View Post

COCONUT TREATS - COCONUT ICE

These sweet delights are perfect as a beautiful birthday gift or just a treat to yourself. Old school sweeties that are 100% homemade and a million miles better than the shop bought ones I remember from my youth.

Coconut ice is really easy to make, it takes a bit of elbow grease, but requires no cooking so really is just mixing.

397g condensed milk (1 tin)
350g desiccated coconut
320g icing sugar
Vanilla extract
Red food colouring

Take one normal size tin of condensed milk (379g) - try and avoid Nestle, there are plenty of other brands available. Add the desiccated coconut, sifted icing sugar and a splash of vanilla extract. Mix this all together, it will be very sticky and difficult to mix but persevere!!

When all the ingredients are combined, spoon half the mixture into a tray lined with buttered greaseproof paper. Ideal size for these amounts in 20cm x 10cm tray.

Add a few drops of red food dye to the remaining mixture. Mix thoroughly and press over the mix into the tin with slightly wet hands. Once you have an even surface you're done. Loosely cover with foil. Put the coconut ice into the fridge for 4-8 hours. Then remove and place in a cool, dry area for a further 12 hours. Then you're ready to cut the coconut ice into small squares, place in airtight jars and give to anyone you love!

View Post

EALING'S HIDDEN TREASURE

The Bollo in Chiswick is one of my favorite local eat-outs. Their menu offers good hearty meals, with meat and fish, as well as vegetarian, all living up to their own. So, I was  very happy to discover that the owners have a few more gastropubs, the other one nearest to me is the Ealing Park Tavern. Located a walk through the park away from me, it couldn't be better. I booked in for dinner recently and was not disappointed.

I have a small obsession with reading restaurant's menus online before I visit them, and noted that the Ealing Park Tavern had less options on the menu than The Bollo, but seemed to be a slightly more upmarket version, with higher priced dishes - the choice of ingredient dictating the value. I love the food at The Bollo so was excited for the EPT, despite it's unassuming exterior.

The restaurant was quiet when we visited, but beautifully furnished and with a welcoming fire blazing. The service was brilliant throughout, attentive but not intrusive. Our starters of pork, pistachio & apricot terrine, apple chutney, toasted brioche and baked pecan & thyme crusted goats cheese, pickled beetroot, baby pousse, balsamic dressing were very good.

View Post

EASY PEASY TARTE TATIN

A french friend of my mum's cooks the most fantastic tarte tatins that she brings round for dinner parties. I didn't think I had a hope of recreating her amazing tarte, without even a recipe to go on. But I'm pleased to say it wasn't actually far off. Although I have used pre made puff pastry, and I'm sure my mum's friend makes her own!

Using this recipe, tarte tatin is actually really easy to make - there are only 4 ingredients - and can be made well in advance, then reheated and served warm, or just served cold!

This recipe makes a large tatin that feeds 8 people.

7 cox apples (can use Braeburns or Granny Smiths)

80g soft brown sugar

80g salter butter

1 roll of shop bought puff pastry

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Peel, quarter and core the apples. I used cox apples, you can use these, Braeburns or Granny Smiths. Slice the apples as thinly as possible. My magimix came up trumps here, with it's 2mm slicing blade. 

In a large frying pan (that is safe to later put in the oven) heat 80g of soft light brown sugar and 80g of butter. Leave this, on a medium heat, to bubble and foam and become golden and oozing. This takes around 5 minutes. Once it is so, quickly layer your apple slices onto the caramel, as neatly as possible. It doesn't matter if there are a few small holes in between the apple slices. Keep over a medium heat and let the caramel seep up between the apples.

Roll out a piece of shop bought puff pastry on a floured surface, until it's just less than 5mm thick. Cut a circle the same size of the pan out of the pastry.

Once the caramel is turning a dark golden, place the circle of puff pastry over the apples and tuck down the sides.

Put the whole pan into the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry has turned golden and crisp. With a teatowel, remove the pan from the oven - be careful - the handle of the pan will be very hot.

Leave to cool slightly before turning the tarte out onto a plate, with the apples showing.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

View Post