There weren’t any partiular themes this weekend, so we’ll (again) do the run down on a paper-by-paper basis.
The Independent
Sunday’s magazine was a food themed one. But even with the extra articles and recipe pages, it still felt calming and considered, which is a particular weekend Indy trait.
On the recipe front, Gizzi Erskine carried on from where she left off in the Sunday Times last week, noting that a healthy appetite is one that embraces rather than avoids all food types. Relish the pleasure of eating and all that jazz. A very sensible approach. I particularly enjoyed seeing that her new book includes a recipe for a shawarma kebab (lamb leg, loads of hummous and a lush pomegranate tabbouleh) and chicken Kievs. Loved also her bhel puri tomato salad – which will be all sorts of fresh, tangy, sweet, crunchy and vibrant.
Bill Granger’s portable parcel recipes in the same magazine were very strong. Foccacia stuffed with chard and raisins will be ace, and I can confirm that the harissa coated lamb mince sausage rolls are superb. Though I disagree that these are good for picnics: much better when still warm from the oven (and therefore the meat still loose and juicy).
Mark Hix provided a set of straightforward grill recipes for Saturday’s magazine. It’d sure be cool to see sardines with gremolata or squid and tomato salads coming off portable BBQs in and on British parks and beaches.
The Tokyo Evening News
Rowley Leigh presented FT readers with a recipe for a Moroccan inspired chicken salad. Think preserved lemons and dried apricots, crunch from thinly sliced fennel, and a citrus, ginger and cumin dressing. Poach the chicken, he says, for a superior salad.
The Times and Sunday Times
Florence Knight returned to the Sunday Times Magazine after a few weeks away. She proposed a few Mediterranean dishes for / inspired by the holiday season. I liked the idea of an almond extract and amaretto to go with roast apricots, and suspect chicken legs simmered slowly with wine and sultanas would be a very easy and satisfying Sunday supper.
In the same pages, Jamie Oliver suggested banging a tray of mixed seafood in your wood oven and serving it with a bashed garlic aioli. For those of us without wood ovens (for shame), he suggests an oven at 220C would do the trick. Gonna put it out there: is that hot enough to quickly sizzle and char a packed roasting tray? (and if your wood fired oven is only at that temperature, are you doing something wrong?)
It’d be relatively easy to skip over Saturday’s edition, but for completeness: the Magazine readers saw four things to do with broad beans (in risotto, quinoa, a dip and with chorizo). Ta. There were also some vibrant salads from Donna Hay – raw veg and stuff, basically. A lemon, tahini and ground coriander dressing for chickpea and crunchy veg mix (beetroot, carrot, sprouting, chickpea) should be good.
The Weekend section housed an extract from a book that’s all about chips. Or ‘Fries’. I liked the idea of panko, lemon zest and lemon coated asparagus. But I wonder if baked celeriac ‘fries’ are really worth doing (don’t they dry out / go floppy?). And breaded avocado slices (question mark, raised eyebrows, upward inflexion)?? My view on warm avocado is that if it’s hard enough to cook and stay firm, then you’ve bought a dud.
The Telegraph
Over at Telegraph Towers, Stephen Harris wrote a about British summer berries and provided the recipe for a summer fruit salad, to sit in a tuile basket with lemon verbena ice cream. The light, herby ice cream is the smart bit here – lovely twist.
Anna Jones provided a few recipes for light vegetarian summer suppers. I suspect the omelette with goat’s cheese and loads of fresh herbs is a virtuous and delicious one.
And Mitch Tonks sent up a few coastal recipes from the Seahorse in Dartmouth. Both cured salmon with maple and pink pepper, and crab, fennel and celery salad with fennel and tarragon mayonnaise
The guardian and Observer
I thought Thomasina Miers’ recipe selection in Saturday’s Graun was stellar. Who’d complain about saffron, paprika and cumin yoghurt marinated lamb leg followed by apricots poached in ginger wine and star anise and ricotta whipped with yoghurt and honey? Answer: no one. A proper lush meal that.
Yotam Ottolenghi suggested four recipes for peas. Nothing particularly new in there, but each of the ideas would serve you very well. In fact, I’ve a sudden craving for the pea, za’atar and feta fritters.
Rosie Birkett signed off her excellent Cook residency with some words on BBQs (and the memories of smelling smoky), and a sausage panzanella. She writes so well, and I can totally see how smoky juices would bolster and deepen the acidity of tomato and peppery olive oil to make a more-ish feast.
Speaking of feasts, Jane Baxter’s feast plan was vegan friendly but no less tempting than normal: tagliatelle with chickpeas, broad bean puree, and aqua e sale (which seems to be a paired back panzanlla).
Head to Ruby Tandoh’s baking pages if you fancy a roll-up. Both coffee, ricotta and chocolate swiss roll, and blackberry and passion fruit roulade were lip smacking.
Finally, Nigel Slater deep fried vegetables and fish for Sunday’s Observer. The things to note here are: that his mixed veg includes thinly sliced French beans, which are such a good vegetable to deep fry (per Taberna do Mercado); that his batter for the fish includes a good glug of fish sauce; and that the accompanying dipping sauce is a sour apple (cider vinegar and tart apples) and ginger one. Nice.
Online stuff
I’m keen on this American blog’s charred corn, miso butter, bacon and garlic scrapes.
#Supplemental Cooking
Knowing I had lamb mince and puff pastry in the freezer, I was very interested in Bill Granger’s harissa lamb sausage roll … and fully in love once I’d cooked it. Gamechanger.
Weekend Menu, 25 and 26 July 2015
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Crab and fennel salad, fennel and tarragon mayonnaise
Mitch Tonks, The Telegraph
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Kebab
Gizzi Erskine, The Independent on Sunday
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Ginger wine and anise poached apricots, honey and yoghurt whipped ricotta
Thomasina Miers, The Guardian
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