Hello everyone! Welcome to my January 2021 favourites list written during Lockdown 3.0 in London. We had the excitement of a dusting of snow this weekend, which gave us a much needed morale boost. Sadly, it was loose and moist snow in my corner of South London, so the local children found it wasn’t suited to making a snowman. I’ve enjoyed seeing the photos of those who made snowmen, snowwomen, and even snowcats, so thank you to everyone who shared them.
I’ve been doing a lot of cooking recently, going back to neglected cookbooks. I find it easy to buy a new cookbook, get lost in my enthusiasm to try as many recipes from it in quick success and then forget the other books on the kitchen shelf. Is this something other people do, or is it just me? Spending time leafing through cookbooks I have had for years has been therapeutic these last few weeks. Perhaps it is misplaced optimism, but tagging the recipes I want to make with Post-It tags has given me something to look forward to.
I’ve not been up to much since the last favourites list, more of the same of teaching online, spending/wasting time on social media, watching TV, listening to music or the radio, and cooking. So I don’t have much news to share with you.
But I do hope you will like my food pictures, and I hope you will enjoy some of the food articles, recipes and other stuff which has interested me this past month.
I hope you and your family and friends are doing well. Look after yourselves and stay positive.
Food writing and food articles:
If you like to grow your own veggies and herbs, January is a good time to start growing chillies, basil and aubergine from seeds. Tips and techniques here: https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/10-seeds-to-sow-in-january
What is in season in January? https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/whats-season-january
Guardian readers share their lockdown cooking tips. I can vouch for microwaved poppadoms: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/dec/22/frying-pan-pizza-and-frozen-grapes-guardian-readers-best-kitchen-tips-from-lockdown
Culinary school graduates share their top kitchen and cooking tips: https://www.buzzfeed.com/melissaharrison/culinary-school-cooking-tips-hacks
Have you ever added too much salt or too much acid or too much chilli to a dish? Here are some solutions to help: https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2020/12/16/how-to-fix-overseasoned-soup-stew/ (Non-paywalled version: https://archive.is/8HwvP)
How making and baking your own bread can help you deal with anxiety: https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/03/why-making-bread-baking-can-calm-anxiety-during-covid-pandemic-13352204/
Food myths quashed by a nutritionist: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/food_myths
Recipes:
When Crystal's Cooking Fun posted her TikTok video of her trick for making quesadillas with her panini press, she probably didn't think her quarter-for-each ingredient hack would take off. In case you aren't on TikTok, here's your catch up, and a few ideas you might want to try yourself: https://food52.com/blog/25890-tiktok-tortilla-hack
What to do with leftover cooked Turkey? How about a Turkey and glass noodle salad. (I would use Mung bean noodles for this one, personally.) https://www.nigella.com/rec.../turkey-and-glass-noodle-salad
Nigella Lawson created a Fish finger bhorta after seeing a Twitter thread about it from Ash Sarkar. The result is the recreation of Ash's much loved childhood dish, a mash up of western ingredients and eastern cooking techniques: https://www.nigella.com/recipes/fish-finger-bhorta
This Weetabix Slice recipe has gone viral. It looks a lot better than any breakfast cereal based bake has any any right to be: https://www.cookingwithnanaling.com/weetbix-slice
How To Recognize & Cook A Few Common Indian Dals (Lentil), A Collection of Dal Recipes: https://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10182
A recipe for Spicy yuzu miso ramen with prawns: https://www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/s/spicy-yuzu-miso-ramenwithprawns.html
A recipe for Korean Bulgogi grilled chicken from Kavey: https://www.kaveyeats.com/bulgogi-grilled-chicken
A recipe for chicken, kale and mushroom pot pie: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-kale-mushroom-pot-pie
Recipe for Easy One Pot Italian Rice with Pesto and Tomatoes: https://fussfreeflavours.com/easy-one-pot-italian-rice-with-pesto-and-tomatoes/
In Japan, there are specialist Soba noodle restaurants where they make buckwheat noodles by hand. Although it isn't quite the same, this is the cold dipping sauce you would have with the springy fresh noodles: https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/chef-recipes/zaru-soba-cold-soba-noodles/
How to make the perfect Waldorf Salad: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/nov/18/how-to-make-the-perfect-waldorf-salad-recipe-felicity-cloake
Food 52’s collection of their best “Big Little recipes” – ones with big flavours in 5 ingredients or less: https://food52.com/blog/25846-best-big-little-recipes-2020
Music:
My YouTube playlist of music from 2020: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcZVuU7Jd5iam5cLWAuZxjZ4Yn8PaPhOq
Songhoy Blues – Music In Exile
Bruce Springsteen - A Letter To You
Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
TV:
The Serpent
Staged - Series 1 and 2
Nigella Lawson: Cook, Eat, Repeat
Radiohead at Glastonbury 1997
Kate Bush at the BBC 1979
David Bowie: Serious Moonlight in Vancouver
Please note: as with every monthly Favourites List, all of these items have been selected by me simply because I love them. I do not receive any money, benefits in kind or other incentive for posting these links or recommendations.