April 2023 Favourites list

 

This month, I’m just going to get straight into this month’s list.  

Food writing 

What's in season in April? The first Jersey royal potatoes, rhubarb, blueberries and rainbow chard: https://realfood.tesco.com/whats-in-season/april.html  

Recipes  

How about Thai banana roti for a sweet and indulgent Sunday breakfast? https://lifehacker.com/make-this-quick-thai-banana-roti-immediately-1850094469 

Chrissy Teigen’s recipe for creamy cauliflower white bean soup with pesto drizzle (plus confit garlic!): https://cravingsbychrissyteigen.com/recipes/creamy-cauliflower-white-bean-soup-pesto-drizzle/  

Packed lunch at work – broccoli salad made the night before: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/broccoli-salad  

The season may changing, but I’m still enjoying homemade soup. This cream of onion has caught my eye, from Nigel Slater: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/jan/22/nigel-slaters-recipes-for-cream-of-onion-soup-and-clementine-and-lemon-tarts  

Homemade prawn toasts (I would personally use fresh ginger, garlic and chilli): https://bart.co.uk/blogs/recipes/prawn-toast  

Hoppers (with 2 restaurants in London) serve up delicious Sri Lankan food. Kavey has shared their lamb shank curry recipe from their cookbook on her blog. (You'll also find one of her always useful cookbook reviews, too!) https://www.kaveyeats.com/hoppers-lamb-shank-curry  

Kitchen know-how 

I always love discovering cooking tips from those in the know. Here some fab cookery writers and chefs share the best advice they’ve ever been given. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/jan/22/top-chefs-best-cooking-advice-jeremy-lee-angela-hartnett  

TV 

Becoming Frida Kahlo 

The Cleaner Series 2 

Music 

Radio 6 Festival 2023: Christine And The Queens 

Film 

Luther: The Fallen Sun 

Minions: Rise of Gru 

March 2023 Favourites List

Hello my friends!

This has been a busy, busy month. I am the module leader of an elective on the Bar Course, which starts soon. Blended learning is a great tool for student learning to foster independent learning habits and to get away from the old fashioned lecture-tutorial-lecture-tutorial course design. However, it does mean the curriculum needs front loading, which means time spent in advance. 

Therefore, forgive me for the lack of pictures and the lateness of this Favourites list. 

 

Food writing

What's in season in March? Mushrooms, spring onions, onions and shallots. https://realfood.tesco.com/whats-in-season/march.html

Ever tried to make something you had in a restaurant and it didn't look quite the same? Gary at Big Spud made Heston Blumenthal's "Meat Fruit". It doesn't look the same, but I'd definitely eat it! https://bigspud.co.uk/heston-blumenthals-meat-fruit/

Kavey writes fab cookbook reviews. Her latest is Mark Diacono's 'Spice: A Cook’s Companion' where you'll find advice on how to source, blend, and cook with these hero ingredients. (Published by Quadrille Food) https://www.kaveyeats.com/spice-mark-diacono

The history of Pasta told through ten dishes. Food, travel and history writing to feed the soul: https://www.shondaland.com/live/travel-food/a42386107/luca-cesari-tells-the-history-of-pasta-through-10-dishes/

Fish sauce doesn't have to be an ingredient you hide and pretend you don't use. It's a hero ingredient. "Fish Sauce, Loud and Proud" by Cathy Erway: https://tastecooking.com/fish-sauce-loud-and-proud/

Becky Krystal on bay leaves and why they matter in your cooking: https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/01/23/bay-leaves-do-they-matter/

How Thai restaurants are not wholly representative of Thai food, and why there are so many Thai restaurants around the world. Interesting thoughts on food, culture, and authenticity: https://www.foodandwine.com/why-are-there-so-many-thai-restaurants-7104115

Kitchen know-how

We are all coping with the rising cost of food products, so we want our food to last longer. However, there is a limit. Please, don’t try to eat mouldy bread (and don’t breathe in the spores, either); just bin it! https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/what-happens-if-you-eat-mouldy-bread_uk_64075d77e4b0c62918de63e3

Cooking tips from top chefs: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/feb/13/fry-pizza-add-marmite-to-roast-potatoes-27-eye-opening-and-invaluable-tips-from-top-chefs

Not so much a cooking tip, as a cooking no-way. Don’t microwave chillies. https://lifehacker.com/why-you-should-never-cook-chili-peppers-in-the-microwav-1850254355

Recipes

Having recently had a chat about confit garlic and roast garlic, here’s how to roast garlic in an air fryer: https://tastyoven.com/air-fryer-roasted-garlic/

I made one of Yotam Ottolenghi’s vegan soup recipes, with peas flavoured with makrut lime leaves and lemongrass, topped with ginger and soy sunflower seeds: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/jan/07/vegan-soup-recipes-green-pea-coconut-pumpkin-walnut-chickpea-carrot-yotam-ottolenghi

“Shaking beef” is a dish I enjoy eating as a main course when going to a nearby Vietnamese café. Here it is, paired with salad, rather than the rice I usually have it with. https://www.lovefood.com/recipes/86346/shaking-beef-steak-salad-recipe

The classic French julienned carrot salad… finally I might use the spiraliser which is languishing in my kitchen cupboard! https://www.davidlebovitz.com/carottes-rapee/

Nigella Lawson’s “Chicken barley” is a comforting and somewhat soupy dish which brings the comfort of chicken soup without the hassle. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/jan/30/nigella-lawsons-chicken-barley-recipe

Three recipes from The Ramadan Cookbook; spicy potato and sweetcorn tortilla samosas, butter chicken, and date and nut slices: https://www.stylist.co.uk/food-drink/the-ramadan-cookbook-recipes/772952

Music

Cherry Ghost – Thirst For Romance

Film

Everything Everywhere All At Once

TV

Unforgotten – Series 5

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.

 

February 2023 favourites list

Greetings to you all, thank you for joining me this month!

I have been enjoying reading about food, planning what to eat, cooking and eating in this month. There has been no discernable theme, other than "things I like". I also had a couple of chances to go out, for Valentine's day (in Petts Wood, Kent, see below) and for a scrummy pub lunch in the nearby Kent town of Chislehurst. 

I've included quite a few items here which are not about recipes, or are about explaining ingredients and techniques. Sometimes I rely too much on recipes, and I would like to do more home cooking off the cuff. 

The cultural pickings this month are thin. It's hard to focus on music, film and TV when you're marking assessments. Hopefully next month will be an opportunity to indulge in a cultural as well as culinary fashion! 

Crab cocktail

Food writing

What’s in season in February? Sweet potatoes, celeriac, kale. https://realfood.tesco.com/whats-in-season/february.html

Baklava, with its layers of pasty, nuts and oodles of sweetness, is a dessert or treat I love. This guide to the different varieties is going to be useful to me next time I'm drooling over the bakery section of my local Turkish grocery shop! https://www.tastingtable.com/1155810/variations-of-baklava-explained/

Whether, like me, you are a huge chaat fan, or if you are taking your first steps into the world of the many Indian snacks under the chaat umbrella packing a big flavour punch, this read is full of inspiration: https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-make-chaat-indian-south-asian-street-snack

Homemade currywurst sauce with Bratwurst and chips

Peter Som, writing about his Grandmother’s cooking, featuring her handwritten recipe from her notebook is one of those amazing peeks into someone else’s life. I bet she never thought anyone else would be reading her notes. https://www.saveur.com/culture/chinese-white-cut-chicken/ Here is her recipe, for people like me who can’t read Cantonese. https://www.saveur.com/recipes/white-cut-chicken-recipe/

Kitchen know-how

A cook’s guide to mushroom varieties: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/feb/21/the-world-is-your-oyster-mushroom-the-expert-guide-to-cooking-delicious-fungi

A guide to all the different types of noodles you might find in an east Asian grocery shop: https://www.seriouseats.com/asian-noodle-shopping-guide

Know your juliennes from your batons and your cubes from your dice - a visual guide to different knife cuts in the kitchen: https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/visual-guide-to-useful-knife-cuts

Scampi, chips and tartare sauce

 

I use oyster sauce to make my stir fry sauce, which I do enjoy, but is getting a bit same-y. So this guide on how to use oyster sauce is going to give me new inspiration. https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/how-to-use-oyster-sauce

Love guacamole, but hate it when it goes brown? Here are 9 ways to keep it fresh, road tested. TL, DR? Lime juice 2nd. Lemon juice 1st. https://www.thekitchn.com/best-way-to-keep-guacamole-from-turning-brown-showdown-23503922

Chicken with orzo

 

Recipes

Recipe for vegan pancakes, with one savoury and one sweet treat for Pancake day (Shrove Tuesday): https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/17/pancake-day-how-to-make-vegan-pancakes-this-shrove-tuesday-2-18294404/

We made Helen Best-Shaw’s roasted swede soup. It’s delicious! Roasting the swede, parsnip, carrot and onion makes a massive difference to the flavour. It works so well with root vegetables. https://fussfreeflavours.com/easy-roasted-swede-soup/

Roasted swede soup

 

What you might have missed at Snig’s Kitchen

My Valentine's Day lunch at Indian Essence in Petts Wood, Kent: https://www.tumblr.com/snigskitchen/709269962858102784/valentines-day-lunch-at-indian-essence-indian

My recipe for Creamy Stilton and pea pasta: https://www.tumblr.com/snigskitchen/708271231586238464/creamy-mini-farfalle-bow-tiebutterfly-pasta

Creamy Stilton and pea pasta

 

Music

If you have not yet heard on4word's exceptionally detailed cover version of Radiohead's In Rainbows album, rendered in Mario 64 sound effects, dig in. On paper it doesn't work. In your ears, it totally does. https://youtu.be/B2JHChJpG_A

Public Service Broadcasting – The Race For Space

TV

Happy Valley – Seasons 1-3

The Gold

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.