Brixham Cockles & Clams

The last few weeks have been absolutely mental working with the Gingerline girls! It's not up yet but check out their website in the next few days to see what I have been getting up to. I hope this may go a little way to explaining why I have been so quiet (or lazy) on the blog front.

This weekend I have swapped Brixton for Brixham in Devon and am having a throughly foodie time with my parents. Last night the mamma and I had a feast starting with this dish, Cockles & Clams with smoked bacon, prawns & rosemary oil.

The local fishmonger Stephan was given a bag of clams that morning by one of the local fishermen and did us a very good deal so I couldnt resist making this little dish.

1 Smoked bacon rasher (or lardons), Sliced

1 clove garlic, grated

Butter

1 tomato, finely cubed, seeds and core removed

1 glass dry white wine

1 squeeze of lemon

Curly parsley

100g shells off prawns (little brown shrimp would be great)

2 large handfulls each of clams and cockles

A drizzle of rosemary oil (optional)

Fry the bacon in a large pan until crispy. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds more before adding the white wine and a generous knob of butter. Fiercely simmer the wine for a few minutes to burn off the alcohol. Meanwhile place all the molluscs in a large bowl of cold water and after a few minutes discard any that don't close. Add the rest to the pot along with the prawns and cover with a lid. Cook on high for a few minutes until all the shells have opened - discard any that don't. Add the tomatoes and chopped parsley and season with some black pepper. Divide into bowls and drizzle with rosemary oil (Basil oil is lovely here too).

Serve with hot baguette and a chilled white wine.

We followed this with a rare rump steak, salad, asparagus and holandaise sauce.

Finishing up with a stinking camembert and grapes. Good work La Mamma.

Makerel Pate with Beetroot and Orange Salad

Delicious. Get the best smoked mackerel you can find. Flake it into large chunks. Add some black pepper, a spoonful of creme fraiche, a generous grating of fresh horse radish and a squeeze of lemon juice.

For the salad peel and grate one beetroot and two carrots. Squeeze out any excess liquid with your hands or ring out using a clean tea towel and pour over a little orange juice. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil. Easy peasy.

Prawns & Chorizo on Ciabatta

The lovely Anna who I work with at Flavours in Tuffnell park almost always orders in a couple of extra ciabatta on a Wednesday to make prawns on toast for her supper. I have never asked for her recipe but was inspired to make this for my supper the other night...

225g king prawns.

1 chorizo (get the ones that need cooking as they are softer and juicer), chopped into chunks

1 clove garlic, chopped and crushed with the back of a knife

lemon juice

white wine (a glug for the pot and some to drink)

1 small bunch of parsley, chopped.

Avocado & Salad leaves to garnish

This takes 5 mins to cook. Start by frying the chopped chorizo in a large frying pan. Do not add any oil before frying as the chorizo will give out plenty as it cooks. Cook on hot for a few minutes then add the prawns and continue to fry for a minute or two more. Add the garlic and fry for 20 seconds or so before glugging in roughly1/2 a glass of the white wine. Let it bubble away and evaporate (I like to add a knob of butter at this point but it is not necessary). Meanwhile warm the ciabatta in a hot oven. When warmed slice in half, place in the middle of each plate and drizzle with some good olive oil (or spread with generous amounts of butter...). When the prawns are cooked pour straight onto the warmed bread, squeeze over some lemon juice and sprinkle with parsley. Serve with sliced avocado and a light salad.  

Rosie's Wedding

Looking through some of my foodie photos the other day I cannot believe this never made it to the blog. A mixture of being super busy and super lazy over that period it must have gotten lost in the either and never quite made it into ciber-space.

Catering for lovely Rosie of Rosie's Deli Cafe fame (check out her book and blog here), I joined forces with the amazingly wonderful Stephanie Boote and Louise Wakefield (like myself, both ex-employees of The Bride). Here are some photo's of the food we served for Rosie and Raff's big day.

Steph places borage flowers on the chilled cucumber & thyme soup

A garden salad of asparagus & radish with nasturtium flowers

A table of salads to accompany the main course of chicken in sauce messine: Garden salad, Feta & mint stuffed courgettes, tomato salad with capers, olives & Basil, Creamy potato salad.

A trio of desserts: Rich chocolate tort, meringue kisses & Elderflower & prosecco jelly

Steph's Eggs

Beautiful Stephanie would make us these eggs while we were working together on The Gingerline (check out their website for the last event we worked together) and I don't think I would have made it through some of those days without this simple dish to kick-start my day.

Poached, scrambled or boiled eggs on sour-dough toast, garnished with chopped parsley, chilli flakes and your choice of condiments; I have gone for homemade chilli jam (thanks to the lovely Miss Green for giving me a pot!) and mayo topped with green chilli sauce by El Yucateco. I crave these eggs regularly and have to have them at least once a week.

Thank you Steph!

Delicious Sushi meal in Colliers Wood.

This meal is so worth a page or two. It was delicious! Invited down to Colliers wood to celebrate my sister Emily's birthday we all tried our hand at sushi making and it was a really great meal and lovely to get so involved.

My brther in law Jack is a practised Goyza maker and taught us how to make them from scratch with fresh pork mince, raw prawns, chillies and spices and they were amazing and very impressive. Here we all are preparing and then gorging ourselves on the fruits of our labours...

Salmon, tuna, prawns, scallops, avocado, cucumber, crispy salmon skin, wasabi

Flour-less Raspberry & Vanilla Cake

Created for my younger sisters birthday then refined for my elder sisters a couple of weeks later this is the first cake recipe I have made up from scratch and I am quite proud of the results. Light and moist this cake has gone down very well on both occasions and would also work very well as a dessert cake with a drizzle of cream or some nice ice cream. 

7 large organic free range eggs
10oz Ground Almonds
8oz Caster Sugar
1tsp good vanilla essence
1tsp baking powder
300g Raspberries
125g Melted butter

Separate the eggs and beat the whites into soft peaks. Add the almonds, caster sugar, vanilla, egg yolks, melted butter and baking powder and fold into the egg whites. Fold in 2/3 of the raspberries and pour the mixture into a large, greased and lined cake tin. Lightly place the remaining raspberries onto the top of the cake mixture. Bake at gas mark 3-4 (160 degrees/ 150 degrees with a fan assisted oven) for 40 minutes or until the cake is golden brown on top and is cooked through when tested with a skewer. When cooked allow to cool in the tin before removing and dusting with icing sugar. For a grand birthday cake divide the mixture between two smaller tins and sandwich together and ice using a white chocolate ganache.