i was shown this place to eat by Kirsty Ogg from the Showroom. It's only a walk away from where I'm working, in a pavilion by the lake in the famous Victoria Park. Traditionally a park for the health and recreation of the working class of the east-end, the area is now well and truly gentrified - serving up hordes of new-ling parents delicacies such as lamb and lentil stew or organic mushroom soup. Oh and they do flat whites with bonsoy. How very Melbourne!
winter-ness
Catching up...
Bacalao is a Portuguese/Spanish way to prepare Norwegian salted cod. I learnt to make it in Trondheim from a woman named Helga, who had an incredible instinct for cooking.
I only have images of the preparation prior to cooking:
BACALAO
Best made in a great big pot and shared with many.
Ingredients:
1 dried, salted cod (saltfisk) - you can buy them at the Mediterranean Wholesalers, those whole dried fish that look as though they are roaring
2kg fresh tomatoes, thickly sliced
1kg white onions, roughly chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato puree
1 whole bulb garlic, roughly chopped
Loads of olive oil
Water
2kg potatoes, peeled and sliced
2 habanero chillies, finely chopped
Cut the saltfisk into chunks and soak for 24 hours, changing the water 3 times during the soaking period. Keep refrigerated whilst soaking. Drain.
Put the sliced potato in water about 2 hours prior to cooking and leave to soak, then drain. This helps the potato to cook evenly with the fish.
Heat a large, deep pot, put a splash of olive oil, a handful of onion, a can of tomatoes and a handful of fresh tomato (chopped) into the pan and cook until the onion begins to become transparent. This is to sort of start it off.
Then turn the heat off, and layer the pan up in this order, the way you would a moussaka:
Potatoes, fish, onion and garlic, tomatoes, chili, daubs of puree or splashes of canned tomatoes.
The order is important, the fish needs to rest on top of the potatoes.
Layer right up to the top of the pan, then pour on about 1 cup olive oil and 1 cup water or so, such that when you tilt the pan you can see the liquid appear.
Cover and bring to the boil, then lower heat and cook for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. It is cooked when the potatoes are ready.
Serve with fresh, warm bread (ideally pariserloff), herb butter, and a bowl of olives.
who said food in england was shite?
on my way to the studio this morning (driven threre by a bout of anxiety that time is a slipping....i mean its a saturday....) and i got distracted a wee bit by the lure of BROADWAY MARKETS. Everyone i've met over the last 10 days insists on it, and so, a freezing but somewhat bright morning seemed perfect to try out what, on approach, made itself abundantly evident that it is THE bourgiest little corner of London (i think - i mean i havent exactly exahusted all the possibilities for this and I'm sure such corners abound)...and we know what this means don't we - the best food on earth.....almost.
like this here fresh pheasant:
and it gets better - wild mushrooms!! and they cook them on site into a "medley of mushroom sandwich"....errr i wish i hadn't eaten that brown rice museli an hour before...
and these quaint wooden barrels full of stuffed olives, tapenade, dolmades, harissa et al...served up by 2 incredibly good looking and somewhat arrogant french ex-patters. That'll be 3 pound 45, please
which i took to the studio and used to spruce up my rather white-looking lunch of lima beans (they call them butter beans here....a garnish of dolmades and extra-oily tapenade that i still seem to be digesting almost 12 hours later....urgh
recepie for lima/butter beans:
1 cup of beans - soaked overnight and simmered slowly until tres tres soft but not falling apart. this can be tricky at times...i often find my beans in a mashy-soupy state and it really is too late once this transformation has occured....i find that the longer you soak the beans (ie. overnight) - the better chance yr gonna have making sure they stay intact during the cooking process. Cook for like, 20 minutes, and be at the pot so as to catch them if they dare threaten to get any softer...
1 leek, chopped
1 onion chopped
lots of garlic
fresh or dried rosemary
sea salt
pepper
olive oil
lemon zest
++ sauted the onion til clear and starting to caramelize (in lots of olive oil....and add water a bit to help soften)...i usally grind in heaps of pepper and add sea salt toward the end of this stage - chilli can be nice too
++ add the leek and rosemary and cook til soft
++ then add the garlic and keep cooking (by the way stirring consistently, adding water to soften etc)
++then add in the cooked beans, more seasoning, more oil, and water and cook away, stiring and stewing until it gets all creamy
++ when done, stir threough lots of lemon zest and some roughly chopped italian parsely
+++ so this is what is above in the image (lunch box)
+++ ontop are some roasted tomoatoes from the night before (which have simply been roast in the oven for about one hour with olive oil and sea salt and pepper)
+++ then a flavor explosion is added from the 2 dolmades and the most delicious tapenade i've eaten in a long time.
brown rice museli-ish breakfast
I've been eating japanese-style breakfasts most mornings since being in London, tofu, wakame, miso et al.
But this morning was in need of sweetness!
This is something i forgot about until i saw the honey jar on the kitchen table. YEAH!
ingredients
- brown rice - best if its freshly cooked, but i usually have a container in the fridge ready to eat
- fat dried raisins
- dollop of tahini (scott would HATE this....)
- vanilla essence
- freshly minced ginger - or powdered ginger is good too
- little bit of cinamon
- toasted sesame seeds
- honey to taste
- soy milk
process
++ steam up the rice in a double steamer (if you are using from a pre-cooked batch -otherwise cook your rice absorption style), add the raisins in there too - they swell up to perfection
++ while that's cooking, get a bowl, add in the tahini, ginger, vanilla, cinnamon, and toasted sesame seeds - mix it all up into a creamy consistency. I find adding a bit of water to moisten is a good trick.
++ add in the hot rice and raisins, and also the sesame seeds, and mix it all together
++ add in soy milk as you would museli
extras
+++ add chopped fruit on top, i had kiwi fruit this morning (was craving greeness...which has been hard to get in a wintery city dominated by root vegetables....) but i think strawberries or any berries are better with this
+++ i always find i need to add extra honey
+++oh and i had some awesome organic soft goats cheese in the fridge which was delicious on top too!
This is one of the best teas i have ever tasted. i had it at a microbiotic cafe here in amsterdam and it's served with apple juice and honey. MU tea is made up of about 15 different herbs, it's amazing! I must say foods that have been on my mind of late include: soy yoghurt and waffles. the waffles are so addictive here it's insane!
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