Supplemental #29
A selection of recipes published in the papers and online over the last month
Wow. May came in HOT. Here’s a tasty bunch of recipes from that (a) caught my eye; and (b) will also fit neatly into your menu for June.
I hope at least a few of them pique your interest. And that you cook a generous pinch of them as well…
Ed
Aromatic rice
Meera Sodha pitched this basmati rice medley - a kind of pilau - as a dish that can straddle both hot and cold days. Sweet onions, rose harissa, cloves, all spice, plenty of green herbs and salty sharp feta. There are layers and layers of flavour in there and I for one would (will) pile into a bowl of it.
Also, although it’s intended as the main event, it’d be great as a side for a barbecue/ al fresco buffet; particularly if there are lamb chops or leg, beef steak, pink fish or any sort of chicken involved.
Lime leaf, mango mess
Yotam Ottolenghi returned briefly to his old Guardian digs for some summertime eating. I spied a tasty looking ‘Vadouvan Coronation chicken’. But am particularly interested in the fruity mango mess. Which is the usual meringue, cream, fruit ‘mess’ combo. Except there’s some Ottolenghi twists to take it up a level: yoghurt, sugar, lime zest and vanilla in the cream (virtually a fool); a lime leaf blended sugar; and mango purée plus plenty of lime juice over the (very good right now) mangoes.
This’ll be a strong summer pud before the British berries get into their stride.
Asparagus kimchi
Yes, asparagus kimchi.
Kenji Morimoto you have my attention.
Good chicken
As ever (well, as ever of recent years), plenty of good recipes in the FT Weekend. The latest magazine for example, was a food and drink special, with lots of good Anglo-French food (Henry Harris of Racine etc), plus some ideas for the barbecue.
But the recipe I think you should focus on is the barbecue chicken from trendy London Thai restaurant Singburi.
This is, for a few reasons, a great recipe to have been published in the weekend papers:
(a) I can confirm from personal experience that the dish when cooked and eaten at the restaurant is a banger. But as well as being a ‘restaurant dish’, it’s evidently appropriate for home cooks too. Feels generous of Singburi to have shared the marinade;
(b) I like that the quantity they suggest preparing is 10. Meaning you’re already scaled-up if having friends over;
(c) at the time of writing, the recipe remains free for all to see on their website. Which is not always the case; oh and
(d) it notes that you should grill chicken gently at first before giving it some flame. Which, eagle eyed readers will remember, was a point I raised in my ‘how to barbecue chicken’ post. Missed that? Read it now:
Fish and chips
CBA to cook (much) on a Friday night?
I reckon Nathan Outlaw’s garlic roast potato wedges with boquerones and a lemony creme fraiche would be an ace end of working week meal (from The Observer). Bottle of cold white, rosé or something bubbly nearby, ice cream from the freezer and cherries or apricots on ice for pud. Lovely.
A little more effort, but equally effective, would be Nigel Slater’s seafood tart – this tart is packed with a creamy mix of crab meat, prawns and parsley, and Nigel suggests we serve with buttermilk-dressed cucumber and spring onion salad. I’d add a bowl of McCain French Fries from the freezer. Plus the booze and iced things mentioned above.
And no chips, but remaining on the fishy theme, have a gander at this fish balls with a fennel and saffron sauce, by Itamar Srulovich and Samit Packer. You’ll find the recipe on The Guardian’s website, although it’s extracted from their loverly (and simple and useful) new cookbook, Honey & Co Daily.
Some sides from The States
Very into a couple of side dishes by Ali Slagle that have featured recently in The New York Times.
Specifically, this mix of seared courgettes, craggy halloumi, with a zippy red wine vinaigrette and plenty of herbs. Also her miso mustard green beans.
Also spied while browsing that website: consider this Tajin mango cucumber salad; and tomatoes and peached over whipped goat’s cheese (wholegrain mustard and sherry vinegar dressing is interesting - and good - with those ingredients).
Need more ideas for sides dishes to suit sunny eating? Tuck into this post of mine from a few days ago:
Eggs and spuds
Over the last decade or so, my little family have spent a couple of chunks of the year in Andalucia and Mallorca. When in either of those places I exist pretty much entirely on tortilla, tomatoes and cured meat. And I never, ever, get bored.
Back home, tomatoes aren’t as good, cured meats are more expensive, but eggs and spuds? We’ve got those. So I should and could tortilla more often here too.
It feels like we’re in for a hot summer. Fancy joining me on the tortilla train? I get pretty good results and could share the basic steps … but Milli Taylor is for sure better at it. Check out her recent post sharing all the tekkers.
Good things in tins
Also quite Spanish / Continental, and underrated but very much available over here: smoked mussels. Honestly, they’re such a good, no effort and thrifty way to add a bucket-load of flavour into a pasta dish or, say, a coconut milk-based SE Asian curry.
Rarely mentioned in the weekend papers, though. So I immediately bookmarked this smoked mussel, anchovy and caper conchiglie dish by Ghillie Basan when I saw in The Sunday Times Magazine.
Parmesan, lemon juice, pangrattato. It’s Umami Town and super simple. A not insignificant part of the winning formula is the shell-like shape of the pasta, which’ll gather and cup oils and the occasional mollusc nicely.
Frozen fruit
Easiest win for warm days? Bite size pieces of frozen fruit.
I keep my freezer stocked with chunks of mango, pineapple and raspberries (purchased that way - great value), with the cellular structure of each of those things meaning that. after 60 seconds at room temperature, eating said chunk is pretty similar to biting a cube of sorbet. Which makes them a great treat for kids, whether aged 4 or 40 (and a bit).
I digress. But was prompted to do so because when I was scrolling NYT Cooking for side dishes, I stumbled across Zaynab Issa’s frozen grapes with salt, Aleppo pepper and lemon zest. (A sprinkle of Tajin would work nicely too).
Twice cooked and then smashed
Check out Ben Lippett’s version of Ayam Geprek. A dish notable for lots of things, but particularly the two stage confit then fry, achieving both succulence and crunch. As per usual, Ben cooks it well and breaks down the method v clearly.
Project cooking
Our internet-run life has shunted the world towards quick, fast, no effort cooking.
And it’s weird, because we seem to have a weird reverence for tradition and videos of Aunties/Nonna/Yiayias cooking, yet no tolerance for actually spending time at the stove.
Paradoxically, the only place you can really find really truly slow, patient, detailed recipes is online.
Vittles Recipes recently hosted a good example of the kind of dish that rarely gets space in main stream publications: Javahir Askari’s Biryani Tahchin, a vibrant, aromatic, and delicately spiced creation that combines Pakistani biryani and Iranian tahchin.
Also, so many of the sweet/baking/pastry writers on Substack really go into detail around technique.
I guess Nicola Lamb led the way in that regard. Check out the many ‘no cook bakes’ recipes that you could deep dive into through this post (so many delicious things in there).
All Day Cake’s recent hojicha dulce de leche flan is a tempting little weekend indulgence too.
And Edd Kimber’s whipped caramel chocolate cake is doing a nice job of breaking the internet (and breaking out of it) at the moment.
So you should have a read and bake that too. (If for some insane reason you’re not a caramel and/or dark chocolate person, then consider the jasmine genoise with passion fruit and salted vanilla alternative.)
Elderflowers
That’s enough to get on with, isn’t it. So I’ll just finish with a suggestion that, before it rains and/or they’re gone for another year, you should get out into the side roads, canals, parks and paths and cut off any elderflower sprays that are in reach.
Three things that you can do with them:
Cordial. Lots of recipes out there. But go with Mark Diacono’s experience.
Steep into vinegar. Not an exact science - here’s a decent summary.
Deep fry. Try my suggestions …
Enjoy the next month’s worth of cooking and eating, and see you next time.
p.s. Appreciate these monthly round ups? Need some ideas to do something different with the chicken you put in your basket each week? Do consider adding a copy of Peckish to your cookshelf. Please and thanks.
Thank you Ed, for the mention but also