March 2014 Favourites List

March has been a quiet month on my blog. My sister just got married in Kerala, in south India, so I’ve been away. The wedding was beautiful, touching, emotional, colourful and joyful. My congratulations go to her and her new husband.

Kerala is a stunningly beautiful place, and very different from northern India. When people commonly visit India, they go to the architectural and historic sites up in the north west; Delhi, Agra (for the Taj Mahal), Jaipur, and Udaipur. The north west is dry and hot, the food has Mughal and Muslim influences with wheaten handbreads and rich yoghurt and ghee based sauces.

Chinese fishing nets, Fort Cochi, Kerala

 

Kerala in the south has a cuisine shaped by the prevalence of ingredients; rice is plentiful and is cooked as it is or ground. The flour is used to make noodles, idli or is fermented to make a batter used to make appams (curved pancakes). The rice native to the area has fat rounded grains with a red skin which has to be milled away. Coconut oil is the frying agent and coconut milk is frequently used in sauces. Fish is plentiful and is often cooked in banana leaves to lock in the moisture and prevent overcooking. The many fruits and vegetables are used in curries and rapidly stir fried salads called thorans.

Kerala’s moist and tropical climate means spices grow readily and banana trees and palm trees are everywhere. The beaches and backwaters are green, lush and a tonic to the jaded senses of people who have faced the long English Winter.

So naturally, my pictures this month are from my trip. Spring has finally sprung in the UK, and I am lucky enough to write this in my kitchen with the sun on my back as I type. The sky is blue and birds are singing by my back door. I’m looking forward to soon putting my coats away.

Kerala's tranquil backwaters

Blogs Worth Following:

http://talesofpiglingbland.com/ Gill describes her blog as "Tales of triumph and disaster in the kitchen", but it's triumph all the way - varied recipes from baking to dinners

http://linsfood.com/ Cookery tutor and all round culinary expert Lin's lovely blog

The backwaters at Kumarakom Lake Resort

Recipes:

Vegetarian recipe by Deena Kakaya, a Roast potato, mung bean, tomato and feta cheese salad with herbs and spices: http://www.deenakakaya.com/2014/02/24/roasted-potato-mung-bean-tomato-feta-salad-indian-spice-zaatar/

Worknight supper dish of Cod, Chorizo and potatoes. Kavey works her magic again. http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/02/baked-chorizo-cod-potatoes.html

Chickpea, Carrot & Coriander Falafels - recipe by Jack Monroe http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03w164g/features/falafels

From my friend Karin Struyk, whose friend Bozena Uranowska found these Russian fermented veg snack recipes - any translation or English versions would be much appreciated!  http://gakish.com/zdorove-i-pitanie/xonk-cheremsha-recepty-prigotovleniya.htm

A stew of beef and mooli radish inspired by Cantonese cuisine: http://tamarindandthyme.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/braised-beef-and-daikon/

For the bakers among my readers, how to make Soda bread: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/feb/05/how-to-bake-perfect-soda-bread

Freeze ahead Lentil Ragu, for students or anyone else pressed for either time to cook or money: http://www.rachelphipps.com/2012/11/student-suppers-freeze-ahead-red-lentil.html

Burmese Chicken curry named "Kyet Thar Sipyan": http://www.mycookinghut.com/2009/05/09/burmese-chicken-curry/

Tea country, Munnar, Kerala

Hot and spicy sweet potato cakes with an East African influence: http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/05/how-to-cook-east-african-wilderness-sweet-potato-patties-with-piri-piri-sauce-4290049/

Never had the guts to poach a whole chicken, but this Hainan Chicken rice recipe is tempting me to try... http://www.theravenouscouple.com/2014/01/hainan-chicken-rice-com-ga-hai-nam.html

In honour of avid foodie and cook Clarissa Dickson Wright, who died this month, pork with plums: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/10710910/Clarissa-Dickson-Wrights-pork-stuffed-with-prunes-recipe.html

Articles/Know How:

The most common problems and solutions for effective pressure cooker use. I don't have or use one, but I do know they are pretty damn good for stews, curries and the like. http://www.hippressurecooking.com/infographic-the-pressure-cooker-trouble-shooter/

Author of the Miss Masala cookbook, Mallika Basu shares her top 10 tips to make Indian food healthy and fast: http://www.thekitchn.com/mallika-basus-10-tips-for-quicker-healthier-indian-cooking-kitchen-tour-199977

Film:

Inside Llewyn Davis

Enough Said

Despicable Me 2

Music:

Candie Payne - I Wish I Could Have Loved You More

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left

Arctic Monkeys - AM

Water taxi on the backwaters

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.

Augustine Kitchen's Nicoise Salade

Nicoise salad is a classic southern French dish. The original version has certain rules to it, such as ALL of the ingredients being raw. Yes, even the green beans! 

Franck Raymond of Battersea restaurant Augustine's Kitchen has created his own version, which retains the best elements of the Nicoise tradition (from Nice on the south coast of France), but with a modern and accessible twist. 

Augustine Kitchen is Franck's big move into the London restaurant scene. It celebrates his roots in the south of France on the border with Switzerland in the town of Evian, famed for the mineral water of the same name. The food is honest, prepared with love and care and have a different feel from the Parisian bistro food we are more familiar with in the Uk.

One of my favourite features of the restaurant is the strong sense of family recipes and heritage present. The pictures of family members and their influence on the recipes and menu selections make this restaurant like taking a little step into French territory.

I hope you will give this quintessential salad a go at home. It is easy and quick to make.

Augustine Kitchen's Nicoise Salade

Serves 4

Franck's Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

A pinch of salt
50g Dijon mustard
50ml red wine vinegar
100ml vegetable oil

Method:

In a large bowl make the vinaigrette by whisking together the vinegar and the mustard.

Slowly whisk in the oil in a thin stream to emulsify the mixture.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

If you don't use it all in one go, you can put the remaining vinaigrette in a glass container or jar and keep in the fridge for up to a week. 

Franck's Nicoise salade

Ingredients:

100g of French beans, topped
4 quail eggs (boiled and quartered)
12 black olives, pitted
1 can of tuna, fully drained
100g of mixed chopped peppers
4 cherry tomatoes, which you can halve or quarter
8 salted anchovies
a small Cos lettuce


Method: 

Drain the anchovies of oil and pat them dry. 

Bring 4 cups water to a boil in the bottom of a steamer. Add half the beans, cover, and steam until they are tender firm, about 6 minutes. 

Remove from the steamer and let cool on a wire rack covered with a cotton tea towel. Repeat with the remaining beans. 

Transfer one-third of the dressing to a medium sized bowl. 

Toss the beans and the peppers with enough vinaigrette to fully moisten them. Top them with the anchovy fillets. 

Quarter the eggs, and place them, with the tomatoes. 

Break the tuna apart into large pieces. Sprinkle with the olives. 

Drizzle with any remaining vinaigrette. Serve immediately.

February 2014 Favourites List

This has been a wet, cold and pretty miserable month, hasn't it? We've had an unbelievable amount of rain. My brolly is cursing me for taking a complete battering! If any of you have suffered over this period of fairly freaky weather, my thoughts are with you.

My working life has been frenetically busy too. Exam marking is a necessary evil of my job and it has taken a lot of time. You can't miss anything. Each student needs to be given full credit for every item which demonstrates their knowledge and understanding. So I've had to concentrate and put the necessary hours into careful and painstaking reading of my students' work. As a result, I've been disorganised, low in focus and have not been cooking as much as I would like.

My students will, at the end of this month, have exactly two months before their big knowledge exams, which are centrally set. That's enough time, if they start now to cover and learn everything they need to pass. 

I was a student once, and not a hugely talented one. I have my lazy streak, and I can be a real procrastinator. As a result, I always suggest a 6-8 week revision period to allow for all those days where your revision goes slow. Or you get distracted by friends or family and get nothing done. Or you spend a day on facebook instead of knuckling down. Or you stare at the page and nothing goes in.

Revision is exactly that: RE-vision. So the first thing a student needs to do is to ensure they have covered the syllabus once before making a start. I know that as a student I had to be honest with myself. I had to look over what I had studied and made notes on and identify the gaps. They had to be filled first. Then I had to ask myself which topics were the ones I had an incomplete understanding of - they were my next target. Then I could safely say I had studied the topics over the first time. Only once this process was complete could the true revision begin. 

Revision can be a tedious business, and it is always stressful. I hope you will wish my students well with theirs. If any of you have any advice or suggestions for them, please do get in touch and let me know. 

I am regularly tweeting tips for effective revision and study, which you can find by searching for the hashtags #revisiontips and #studytips. If they are of any use to any of you, I would be delighted.

I started a series of posts all about Vienna. So it is no surprise that this month's pictures are from my trip. Hope you like them!

The iconic Weiner Schnitzel

Blogs Worth Following:

http://vohnmcg.com/ Vohn's Vittles - lots of cooking and recipes

http://www.italiankiwi.com/ Authentic Italian cooking

http://thisisrocksalt.com/ Cooking and eating out - the Rock Salt blog

Recipes:

Jardaloo Ma Murghi – Chicken with apricots by Cyrus Todiwala: http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Recipe-Cyrus-Todiwala-s-Jardaloo-Ma-Murghi-8211/story-20466962-detail/story.html

The humble Chilli Con Carne gets a makeover with some tempting high quality ingredients: http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/04/how-to-cook-the-ultimate-chilli-con-carne-4288936/

Feeling under the weather? Cold, cough or similar? Time for some Aadha cha - Ginger tea! http://cookingwithsj.com/2013/12/08/ginger-tea/

I really like Dishoom. the Bombay cafe style eateries in London's Covent Garden and Shoreditch. They serve authentic food which is a cut about the rest. Here is their Whisky Sour cocktail recipe.

http://editer.com/food-drink/dishoom/

Making "couscous" out of cauliflower. A sneaky way of getting kids to eat their veg? http://food52.com/recipes/21165-spice-merchant-cauliflower-couscous

Proper posh Valentines' day cooking by Mr Ottolenghi. Forget the steak & Black Forest Gateau! http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/07/valentines-day-recipes-yotam-ottolenghi

Vegetarian and vegan easy lentil and veggie soup for cold days: http://www.getmecooking.com/recipe/simple-kitchen-sink-soup

I'm not sure Mozart used a mobile phone...

Yakisoba by Junya Yamasaki, head chef at Koya (a stir-fried noodle dish you can make for less than £5): http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/19/recipes-under-5-yakisoba-noodle

A south Indian style Cashew nut curry, in tribute to Vineet Bhatia Rasoi in London's Chelsea: http://www.thepasadenachef.com/2013/03/cashew-nut-curry-southern-indian.html

A speedy soup supper with the bold flavours of chilli and blue cheese (and broccoli, a superfood): http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/03/how-to-cook-broccoli-chilli-and-blue-cheese-soup-4285743/

My favourite colour is purple. But did you know purple fruit and veg contains anthocyanins which reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Parkinson’s? Here is a purple salad recipe to make the most of them!  http://familyspice.com/recipes/recipe/?recipe_id=581

I've been asked about what to do with whole Urad dahl. I'd say something very slow cooked. Dahl Makhani is a Punjabi classic. http://www.tarladalal.com/Dal-Makhani-%28-Punjabi-Recipe-%29-30900r
Alternatively, http://chefinyou.com/2012/09/dal-bukhara/ Dahl Bukhara.

Pan roasted cauliflower with some Sicilian influences: http://food52.com/recipes/24372-cavolfiore-palma-a-la-leah-pan-roasted-cauliflower

Articles/Know How:

I've reviewed Brixton Market's Kao Sarn restaurant at Snig's Kitchen. Here is a broader round up on Brixton Market: http://editer.com/food-drink/brixton-village/

French chefs call time on food photography in their restaurants... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-26189607

Forceful and passionate response to Edwina Currie on food banks by the Trussell Trust's Chair. http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/01/edwina-currie-is-wrong-about-food-banks/

Film:

A Separation (Iran)

TV:

When Rock Goes Acoustic (documentary)

Music:

Temples - Sun Structures

Heaven 17 - The Luxury Gap

Warpaint - Warpaint

Led Zeppellin - III

Viennese hot dogs with a hollowed tunnel for the sausage

Naschmarkt, Food Market, Vienna

"Naschen" is the German verb for "to nibble". So it should come as no surprise that Vienna's Naschmarkt is a fantastic place to find all manner of food. It is truly a nibbler's paradise! It is full of shops for buying ingredients, delicatessens, ethnic grocers, hot and cold food snack bars, take aways, restaurants and small bars for a tipple. (There is another story about how the market got its name, which suggests that it used to be called Aschenmarkt because of the ash wood milk bottles which used to be sold here, but that just doesn't fit as well, so I'm going with the nibbling if that's all right with you all!)

 

If using public transport, Naschmarkt's closest station on the U Bahn underground system is Kettenbrückengasse on the U4 line. An alternative is Karlsplatz Station which is served by the U1, U2 and U4 lines. It is not far, however, to walk from the city centre and is close to the Secession Museum. If you have trouble finding it, just ask someone where it is, because everyone who lives here knows where it is!

It is a large space, of a length of around one and a half km. If you want to explore it, I would advise that you allow yourself a good amount of time. If you love food and drink then you won't want to rush. Besides, you'll miss out on the fun and energy of the place if you have to march around quickly through a lack of time. I understand there are guided tours available of the market, but I'm more of a wander around and see what you stumble upon kind of person, so I didn't bother with one. It's up to you how you want to see the market, and a guide isn't really necessary, just follow your nose and what looks appealing on the day! Most of the traders speak English, and the restaurants all have a menu in English.

Naschmarkt is, apparently, Vienna's most popular market. We visited on a Saturday, and we can vouch for that fact. It was as if the entire city had come out to soak up the sunshine and atmosphere! Perhaps elsewhere the crowds of people would have resulted in chaos, but somehow here it is all very joyous and pleasant. It's a happy, friendly busy rather than a stressful and shoving busy. Locals and tourists alike wander around, shopping for food, eating, nibbling and drinking. 

The tourist board reckon there are 120 different stalls. I didn't count, so I take them at their word. There are so many stalls that I do think you need to consider your strategy. You either have to visit when hungry, ambling and eating as you go or you have to do a reccy, scope out the place and then home in on where you really want to eat. It depends on the size of your appetite or your belly and what your plans for the day are. 

The array of fresh fruit and vegetables in the market was incredible. I was so impressed. The variety beat almost any other market, shop or supermarket I've ever seen. It made me more than a little envious that we have nothing quite like it in London. What a joy it would be to be able to get such a diversity of fresh produce so easily and in one handy place!

A good selection of cuisines are represented in the Naschmarkt. You'll find Austrian food alongside the food of other central European countries, and going further afield, Turkish, Persian, Greek, Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese. Whatever your tastes, roam freely and you will find something delicious.

I heard that Anthony Bourdain featured a visit to Naschmarkt on one of his TV shows. He visited a charcuterie shop called Herr Urbanek, which he heartily recommendeded as a brilliant place for cured meat and cold cuts. I personally did not visit it, but pass this on in case you want to follow in Bourdain's footsteps.

Some of the stalls can be pricey. If you are on a budget, you may want to ask about the cost of items before buying. Check the quality before you pay. Markets anywhere in the world have a range of goods, going from really great to naff. This place is no different. 

We had a enjoyable afternoon just grazing, stopping off for a drink a couple of times and doing a bit of people-watching. Families came out together to eat, others met their friends. It was great to see so many people kicking back, enjoying food and having a good time. My idea of heaven.

On a Saturday, the far side of the Naschmarkt is given over to an eclectic flea market, or "Flohmarkt". It's a fun mix of second hand goods, although a lot of it is frankly old tat. Whether you visit this part of the market depends on how much you feel about flea markets and car boot sales. The food market begins to peter out into a clothes market before the Flohmarkt starts, so you can choose to call time on your visit once you hit the clothes section. 

The market restaurants and bars stay open late, so it's a great place for a late bite or for a night on the tiles. 

The market reflects the seasons, being particularly fun in December with Christmas trees and Gluhwein (mulled wine). Vienna is very cold in Winter, but it sure sounds like fun! Maybe one day I'll go back then... [drifts off into fantasy travel dream mode.....]

Naschmarkt

Wienzeile

1060   Wien

www.wienernaschmarkt.eu

http://www.wien.info/en/shopping-wining-dining/markets/naschmarkt

Closed Sunday