In the event of a calamitous Brexit, the sky falling in and a return to subsistence living, we’ll probably all need to eat less meat. Fortunately, many of this last weekend’s recipes were veg heavy.
Green fingers and forks
Saturday’s Times Magazine hosted a handful of ‘gourmet’ vegetarian recipes by Bruno Loubet – all of them a little more elaborate than most veggie ideas, which is no bad thing. I’m talking roast cauliflower with tofu and kimchi custard; grilled aubergines with green sauce (plus pomegranate molasses, goat cheese and chopped toms); and a vegetable ‘daube’ with eggs poached in red wine.
He branches out to meat and fish occasionally these days, but Ottolenghi often stays true to his ‘new vegetarian’ roots. Saturday was one of those occasions, with his Guardian column focusing on green beans. Considerable imagination (and not a small number of ingredients) matched green beans with: Chinese cabbage, lemongrass, peanuts and lime; wasabi and shiso; braised potatoes and pink peppercorns; and jersey royals and a lemon béchamel.
I imagine Nigel’s squid and tomatoes in the Observer magazine tastes mighty fine – it’s fairly basic at first glance, but then you see that marinated, then grilled squid is tossed with sherry vinegar macerated shallots (piquant, nice), and a lemon and oil marinade is used to deglaze the pan, before being poured over fresh tomatoes and the cooked squid. Even so, I think I actually preferred his wholly vegetarian dish of golden brown baby artichokes, fresh peas and goat curd.
Look to The Telegraph’s weekend pages for a gorjuuus salad from Xanthe Clay – ribboned raw courgettes with prunes, toasted hazelnuts, warm farro and plenty of fresh herbs.
Two blokes called Terry and George had some recipes in the Saturday Times Weekend supplement. Being described within just a few sentences as “cool chefs”, “hip”, “ultra fashionable foodies”, and “the most in demand caterers from Hollywood to Hoxton” smacks of a slightly desperate PR machine. Which is a shame, because combinations such as walnut and potato dumplings with Berkswell, and lemon, berry and mint pavlova were perfectly fine.
Massive mains
Week three of Zoe Adjonyoh’s Cook residency brought Ghanaian street food. I loved the look of chichinga (ground peanut and spices) beef kebabs with a mango and pineapple salad. Zingy.
The Chicken Queen, Diana Henry (she might not thank me for that) provided Brexitgraph readers with an absolute corker of a roast: an oregano and lime roast chicken with roast pepper and sourdough stuffing, and a garlic and smoked chilli aioli. Get that on next Sunday’s menu. Also, excellent use of that key cooking measurement: ‘smidgen’. Her column also included recipes for Brazilian-style fish with chilli and coconut, and a chilli jam.
On the theme of stonking roast chicken recipes, have a look at Simon Hopkinson’s piece about Richard Olney’s Lulu’s Provencal Table in this month’s OFM, where there’s a pretty awesome looking roast chicken with ginger on macaroni (plus roasting juices). Also fennel baked in white wine, walnut gateaux and a number of other things that you just know taste good.
Having done something similar last weekend, I enjoyed reading about Adam Byatt’s hunting and foraging. The piece included recipes for wild mushrooms and foraged green herbs omelette, rabbit and grain mustard wraps, and pan fried wood pigeon with goose egg.
Make sure you read wise words on carbonara by Rachel Roddy in the Graun, and on Moussaka by Stephen Harris in The Telegraph. Oh, and Rowley Leigh in the FT Weekend, who was pushing lamb cutlets ‘Milanese’, served with a sweet, simple, bowl of peas and peas shsoots.
To sate the sweet tooth
Top of the sweet pops, Claire Ptak, said we should make apricot compote with chamomile and cinnamon, and then that we spoon it onto shortcakes along with thick cream and honey. Sounds lush, so no argument from me.
More apricot loveliness in Nigel Slater’s OFM column, where he suggested finishing a meal with chilled rice, apricot compote and sesame seeds. There were also a batch of pistachio and lemon biscuits. And a couple of ace meat dishes: roast lamb with za’atar and broad been freekeh; and a roast chicken, mango and ginger salad.
Anna Jones’ breakfast smoothies were kinda sweet – a green one, and orange one and, best of all, a thicker, pink, raspberry, beetroot and vanilla one to be served in a bowl, covered with frozen raspberries, seeds and more.
Tommi Miers’ Guardian column featured poached sea trout with spring vegetables and lemon aioli, and also a cracking gooseberry, apple and elderflower strudel for dessert.
What else?
Cheese and onion scones from Nadiya. Good tip – don’t twist the cutter if you want them to rise proudly.
And, finally, The Sunday Times‘ The Dish provided a selection of recipes from Fearne Cotton’s new cookbook. I knew there was something missing from my collection.
On the internet
The last three #Supplementals have been in bullet form, so I haven’t done internet notes for a while. Which means I missed saying Lizzie’s potsticker soup dumpling recipe looks ace. Phwoar.
Looking forward to getting my teeth into Neil Rankin’s Low and Slow: How to Cook Meat. But in the meantime, and if you ever need a quick digital glance at how to cook steaks, Serious Eats newly published ‘Definitive Guide to Steak‘ looks pretty useful.
#Supplemental cooking
My low-key Saturday night supper came courtesy of Bruno Loubet’s veggie recipe selection: Baghdad eggs on spinach and creamed corn … I’d recommend it for an easy supper or one heck of a weekend brunch. Consider some flat breads on the side for scooping.
Weekend Menu, 18 and 19 June 2016
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Baby artichokes, fresh peas and goat’s curd
Nigel Slater, The Observer Magazine
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Oregano and lime roast chicken,
roast pepper and sourdough stuffing, smoked chilli aioli
Diana Henry, The Sunday Telegraph, Stella
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Apricot and chamomile compote, cream and honey on shortcakes
Claire Ptak, The Guardian, Cook
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Thank you for doing this. A favourite read for me on a Monday.
Glynis, you are welcome.
Christ, that paywalled Loubet dish looks good. Bugger.