April 2021 Favourites list

Hello everyone! Welcome to this month’s favourites list. Without much news to share, I think I will get straight to my list of lovely stuff for the month.

There should be lots of sustenance here for food fans and home cooks. For the first time, I am featuring some recipe tuition videos. Let me know if this is a new feature of the list you would like me to continue. 

 

Glorious Magnolia tree in full bloom, Bromley Road, Catford

Food writing:

What's in season in April, with recipe inspirations: https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/features/whats-in-season-april

Traditional foods for Easter from across Europe: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/guide-international-easter-foods

The curious tale of the food “influencer” wanted by the FBI: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/mar/21/the-wannabe-food-influencer-wanted-by-fbi-hargobind-tahilramani

Initially Lockdown got home cooks excited about making lunch and dinner at home. Did that wane for you? And was it your lunch which suffered? https://www.tastecooking.com/have-sad-desk-lunches-gotten-sadder/

“I Rejected Cooking in the Name of Feminism—Until I Had to Feed Myself” – a thoughtful and beautiful musing by Aurvi Sharma: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/rejected-cooking-for-feminism

The “Idli equation” or, how you can use other pulses for your lactofermented steamed Indian snacks, from Krish Ashok, author of Masala Lab: https://lifestyle.livemint.com/food/discover/the-idli-equation-111615478082190.html

Forget me nots (Myosotis Alpestris)

 

Food videos:

How to make Japanese Chashu pork, for ramen or salads, from Tomo’s Kitchen: https://youtu.be/x8KVGMrGpaM

How to check eggs are fresh: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/cookery-videos/a657141/how-to-check-eggs-are-fresh/

Recipes:

How to make a “Focaccia garden” bread: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/people-are-going-wild-for-spring-focaccia-gardens-heres-how-to-make-them_uk_6059d42ec5b6bd9511801175

Garlic tear and share bread from Janice at Farmers Girl Kitchen: https://www.farmersgirlkitchen.co.uk/wild-garlic-bread/

Lucky Peach’s Miso-amped Hummus, a vegan recipe: https://www.dorothy-porker.com/vegan/miso-amped-hummus-from-lucky-peach-presents-power-vegetables/

Snake beans, also called yard long beans are available in Chinese and Indian grocery shops. Kavey has shared a Sri Lankan snake bean curry recipe from Peter Kuruvita’s book, Serendip: https://www.kaveyeats.com/sri-lankan-snake-bean-curry

Rosemary flowers (Salvia rosmarinus)

Smoked haddock, pea and chorizo macaroni cheese by Kirsty Scobie and Fenella Renwick: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/mar/29/20-best-cheese-recipes-kirsty-scobie-fenella-renwick-smoked-haddock-pea-chorizo-macaroni-cheese

We made this fish pie, substituting a fillet of monkfish, scallops and king prawns for fish pie mix. The recipe is good, but watch out – the video shows cheese being added to the white sauce, which is missing from the instructions. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/family-meals-easy-fish-pie-recipe

Speedy, spicy prawns and pasta for a weeknight dinner: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/prawn-harissa-spaghetti

Leek, herb, bulghur wheat and almond tabbouleh, a vegan recipe from Meera Sodha: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/apr/03/meera-sodhas-vegan-recipe-leek-herb-almond-tabbouleh

Raymond Blanc's pea soup recipe is simplicity itself for a weekday lunchtime: https://www.itv.com/food/articles/pea-soup

Yellow pansy flower

 

What you might have missed at Snig’s Kitchen

My recipe for wild garlic soup:

http://snigskitchen.blogspot.com/2021/04/wild-garlic-soup.html

If you want to make a quick and easy creamy sauce for stuffed pasta, here is my recipe for a shallot, garlic and Vermouth sauce:

https://snigskitchen.tumblr.com/post/646923036804661249/stuffed-pappardelle-with-shallot-garlic-vermouth

Film:

Billie: In Search of Billie Holiday

Dogman

TV:

Amsterdam Vice

Unforgotten – Series 4

BBC Radio 6 Music Festival – Laura Marling

BBC Radio 6 Music Festival – Michael Kiwanuka

Music:

Goat Girl – On All Fours

Massive Attack – Blue Lines

Pet Shop Boys – Introspective

Sananda Maitreya (formerly known as Terence Trent D’Arby) - Introducing the Hardline According to…

 

Purple pansy flower

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.  

 

Wild garlic soup

Some years ago I was given the gift of a wild garlic plant. Given to me by Food Urchin blogger (http://www.foodurchin.com), foodie, content editor and social media manager Danny Kingston, I lovingly planted it in my south facing back garden.

 

If you have wild garlic available to you, whether in your garden or foraging (although my European friends tell me you can actually buy wild garlic in the supermarket), you might want to preserve it. My friend and food blogger Kavey has this advice on preserving wild garlic: https://www.kaveyeats.com/how-to-have-wild-garlic-all-year-round

I’ve been warned about how wild garlic can spread and “take over” your garden. Somehow the winters in South London have managed to limit the ambitions of my wild garlic plant, which is limited to a small corner of the back garden flowerbed. I left it for a few years to acclimat
ise and build up its strength in its new home. I am well aware that bulb plants need to be left alone before you can bother them. 

 

This year, it looked vigourous enough to take some leaves and flowers from to do some cooking with. After all, that was the point of growing it, right?

One of my Twitter friends suggested making a soup with the wild garlic leaves, so here is my version of wild garlic soup.

This makes enough soup for 4 portions. You can choose to make the soup and split it up into two portions, one to have now and another to have later. If so, then miss out the topping stage when you portion up the soup for the fridge. Leave the serving ingredients for when you reheat the soup and serve up. Remember that when you reheat you should not allow the soup to boil, but to heat up until it is piping hot (it is steaming and hot all the way through).

Wild garlic soup

 

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

500g floury potato, peeled and diced

50g wild garlic leaves (you can include the stalks as they are fresh and garlicky flavoured in the Spring, they are not woody at all), cut into strips. 

 
One organic onion (medium to large), peeled finely diced. You could use a leek instead, particularly the green parts for the colour.

1 litre hot vegetable stock

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt, to taste (optional, as the stock may already have salt – check to taste)

To serve:

2 leaves wild garlic, cut into narrow strips, to serve

4 wild garlic flowers, to servie

4 tablespoons double cream, to serve

Method:

First heat up the 2 tablespoons of olive oil on a medium heat and when hot, add the finely diced onion. Cook for 12 minutes on a low to middling heat. You want the onion completely soft but not coloured.

 

Next add the 500 g diced potato and 1 litre of hot vegetable stock. Cook this for 20-25 minutes on a medium heat.

  

While the potato was cooking, I shredded the wild garlic, leaves, stems and all. I left this until later to prevent the wild garlic from drying out or wilting. 

Take the pan with the potato, onion and stock off the heat, add the wild garlic, stir well to combine.

Now blend the soup. I did this in the pan with my trusty stick blender. You can always use a worktop blender. 

 

Once blended, add a sprinkling of raw shredded wild garlic, a drizzle of double cream (about 1 tablespoon per bowl) and a wild garlic flower. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Taste for the salt content and add salt if needed. 

Enjoy immediately, unless you are reserving half for later, as per the instructions above.