Abercrombie & Feast

Remember the birthday parties of our childhoods?  I’m sure I’m showing my age here (which is 27, so it’s not that big a deal), but it did seem like every birthday party had the same menu. 

Pigs in a blanket were really popular.  So were Doritos (really good parties had both Nacho flavoured Doritos and the newer Cool Ranch flavour.)  Pizza was always a big hit, but some moms went with the Bagel Bite option instead.  Health-conscious moms would put out a tray of baby carrots and Ranch dressing.  Rice Krispie Treats were often featured, as well as a cake from Piggly Wiggly (or Food Lion) or, if you were really lucky, an ice cream cake from the Dairy Queen.  And there was always always always a bowl of Ruffles chips and a tub of French Onion Dip.  I actually think there was a law in the state of Georgia that stated that you could not throw a party unless you served store-bought French Onion Dip.  And the moms of my childhood friends were very law-abiding citizens. 

Things have certainly moved on now.  I have seen menus for childrens birthday parties that include sushi, barbequed prawns and a baked potato bar.  All of which sounds delicious, actually… but I do miss some of the foods we grew up partying with. 

For those of you who may also long for the carefree days of ice cream cakes served to the sounds of the 69 Boyz, I suggest you make this onion dip and take a stroll down memory lane. 

It’s not exactly like the gloopy onion dip of our childhoods.  This is onion dip for grown-ups.  Onion dip that is subtle, rich and full of the sweetness of slowly caramelized onions.  I adapted the recipe from The Barefoot Contessa.  I added some chopped parsley to give it a bit of freshness and a tiny dollop of horseradish to pep it up and add a bit of background heat.  You can make it without these additions and it will taste even more like the onion dip you ate off of paper plates while you dripped into your lemonade at a pool party.

Caramelized Onion Dip
Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Makes about 2 cups of dip

2 large yellow onions
3 tbs unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
4 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1 tbs chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp prepared horseradish, or more to taste

Cut the onions in half and then slice into very thin half-rounds.  You’ll end up with about 3 cups of onions.

Heat the butter and the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.  Add the onions, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper and fry for about 10 minutes.  Then, reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 more minutes.  You want the onions to be brown, soft and caramelized.  Allow the onions to cool.

Meanwhile, place the cream cheese, sour cream and mayo in a large mixing bowl.  Mix together well with a wooden spoon.  You want the mixture to be smooth.  Add the onions to the cheese mixture and mix well to combine.  Stir in the horseradish, if using, and mix well.  Stir the parsley through the mixture just before serving so it stays bright and fresh.  Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary. 

Serve at room temperature with veggies for dipping… or with Ruffles for a more retro experience! 

My parents came to visit us earlier this month and it was so much fun having them here!  We went to Oxford, London and the Isle of Wight… as well as showing off our gorgeous hometown of Winchester.  We had lots of cozy pub meals, pastys and pints.  But, mostly, we cooked.   

My mother is a very good cook, so whenever we’re together we do lots of cooking.  Other than my husband, my mother is the person I feel most comfortable with in the kitchen.  We can get in each other’s way, steal things off each other’s cutting boards and fuss about who is going to wash the lettuce (we usually make Daddy do that!) all while assembling a healthy, yummy meal and listening to music.  During their stay with us this time, mom and I really did ourselves proud.  We made cookies, banana bread, raspberry shortbread bars, chilli, spaghetti sauce, stuffed zucchini and more. 

After a very exhausting Tuesday of sleeping in, reading our books, strolling into town for lunch and strolling back up the hill, my mother decided to make a vegetable soup out of all of the leftover veggies in the World’s Smallest Refridgerator.  She boiled up broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes and anything else that she found in the crisper drawer.  Then, with a bit of chicken stock added, she pureed the whole thing to make a smooth, green soup. 

Now don’t worry… I’m not going to give you another soup recipe.  But, I do want to give you a recipe for a great companion for soup.  Cheddar and fresh garlic biscuits.  Similar to the rolls served at Red Lobster in the States, but smaller and more savoury, thanks to the addition of fresh garlic, rather than garlic powder, these rolls smelled amazing while they cooked, tasted even better straight out of the oven and transformed our dinner of simple veggie soup into a mid-week feast.  It was my mom’s idea to make them and, like so many other things, she was right. 

Cheddar and fresh garlic biscuits

Makes 16-18 small biscuits

2 cups plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup + 2 tbs melted butter
2 tsp garlic, grated or very finely chopped
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup butter
1 tbs chopped parsley
1/2 tsp sea salt

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 (450F or 230C.)  Sift the flour into a large bowl.  Add the baking powder, salt and 2 tbs melted butter.  Mix well with a wooden spoon. 

Add 1 tsp grated garlic, milk and cheddar to the flour mixture and stir well to form a stiff, thick dough.

Drop dough by tablespoon fulls onto a greased cookie sheet.  Place into the preheated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. 

While the biscuits are baking, combine the rest of the melted butter (1/4 cup), the rest of the grated garlic (1 tsp), the chopped parsley and the sea salt and stir to combine.

When the biscuits are almost done, take them out of the oven and brush with the butter mixture.  Place the biscuits back in the oven for one minute to brown. 

Serve hot with soup, salad, pasta or alone as a really indulgent snack!

“Every year I get all excited and plant far too many zucchini.  Then mid-July rolls around and I’m handing out bunches of zucchini to anyone who stands still for too long on the sidewalk in front of my house.”  These were the words of my neighbour on Monday morning as he thrust armfuls of zucchini at me.  He looked relieved and I was thrilled… everybody wins!

Zucchini (or courgettes as they are called here in Jolly Old England) are a great summertime treat and my husband adores them.  I’ve been using zucchini in everything for the past few weeks… salads, curries, casseroles, even fried.  So, I thought I’d share a few of my most successful recipes to help you deal with your own glut of zucchini or to give you a few ideas for the next time you’re at the grocery store. 

Zucchini and spinach curry

Serves 4

2 tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 slice (about 1 1/2 inch thick) fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps ground cumin
2 tsps ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or more if you want the curry to be spicy)
1 cup uncooked red lentils
3/4 lb zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch rounds
3 cups baby spinach
1 quart chicken stock
1 can chopped tomatoes, including the liquid from the can
salt and pepper to taste
fresh coriander (cilantro) chopped, to serve

Heat the oil in a large soup pot.  Add the onions and ginger and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.  Add the cumin, turmeric, coriander and pepper flakes.  Cook these together until the onion is soft.  It will be dry and paste-like. 

Add the lentils, zucchini and tomatoes to the pan and stir to combine with the spices.  Cook for 3-4 minutes.  Add the stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.  About 10 minutes before you’re ready to serve, add the spinach and allow to wilt down into the curry.  Before serving check the seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed (I added plenty of both at this stage.) 

Serve in bowls, topped with chopped coriander and with flat breads for scooping. 

 Zucchini fried in grits

Serves two as a snack

1 large zucchini, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1 large egg
1/4 cup flour
1 small package of instant grits, plain flavour
1 tbs Cajun seasoning
vegetable oil to fry

Place the egg in a small bowl and whisk.  Place the flour on a small plate.  Place the grits on another small plate.  Add the Cajun seasoning to the grits on the plate and mix together. 

Place a small frying pan over medium high heat.  Add 1/2 inch of vegetable oil to the pan and allow to heat, but not to smoke.

Coat the zucchini slices in the flour.  Add the slices to the egg and coat well.  Add these slices to the seasoned grits and coat well.  You want a crispy coating on the zucchini slices.

To test whether the oil is hot enough to fry, sprinkle a small amount of flour in the oil.  If the flour starts sizzling right away, the oil is hot enough.

Fry the coated zucchini slices in batches, until golden brown and crunchy on both sides.  Remove from the oil and drain on paper towel.  Sprinkle with salt and serve hot, with Tabasco sauce on the side. 

Raw zucchini and tomato salad with basil dressing

Serves 4 as a side dish

For the salad
2 large zucchini, cut into very thin (1/4 inch at the most) rounds (I used my mandoline to do this, but you can do it by hand)
2 very ripe tomatoes, diced
1/4 of a red onion, diced
2 tbs white wine vinegar

For the dressing
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbs basil leaves, finely chopped
2 tbs dijion mustard
2 tbs white wine vinegar
4 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Approximately 30 minutes before you want to eat the salad, combine the red onion and the vinegar in a small bowl and allow to sit.  This will pull some of the harsh flavour out of the onion and make it sweeter.  Drain the red onions before use. 

Combine the zucchini, tomato and drained red onions in a large bowl.

Combine all of the ingredients for the dressing in a glass jar and give it a good long shake.  Taste the dressing.  If you want it to be sharper, add more vinegar.  If you think it’s too sharp or sour, add more olive oil.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss well to coat.  Allow to sit for about ten minutes to let the flavours develop.  Toss well again before serving. 

With the weather beginning to heat up here in England, I find two things happening more regularly.  First, I can’t be bothered to turn on the oven for any amount of time.  Second, I have large piles of leafy green vegetables hanging out on my kitchen counter tops.  These leafy growths are usually the result of overzealous purchasing at the farmers market.  I seem unable to resist huge bouquets of dark leaves. 

As a result, I have been on a serious pesto kick for the last month or so.  I’ve made classic basil pesto, spicy watercress pesto and, in a fit of fridge cleaning, a surprisingly delicate spinach pesto.  In fact, the spinach pesto was such a success that I wanted to make it again.  I went to the farmers market last Sunday and came home with what I thought was a huge bag of spinach.  Not baby spinach leaves, but proper large leaves. 

It should surprise no one that what I bought was not spinach.  I opened the pack to wash and dry the leaves and tore off a piece to taste.  It was slightly bitter and a little tough.  The leaves were as long as my hand and had a pointed end.  What was this stuff??

Clearly this leafy mix-up had to happen on an evening when our fridge died (RIP World’s Tiniest Fridge!) and we had no other options in the house for dinner.  So I perservered in turning the mystery leaves into pesto.  I added some of my homemade marinated garlic, some toasted almonds, some locally made rapeseed oil and some lemon juice.  I whizzed it all up in my little food processor and forced myself to take a bite.  I admit, I was expecting the worst.   

Well, blow me down!  It was delicious.  Tangy from the lemon, slightly spicy from the leaves, not oily like some store bought pestos.  I literally have no idea what I used, but I suppose it simply proves that you can make delicious pesto from just about anything. 

If you have any suggestions as to what you think I bought, I’d love to hear them! 

Mystery pesto

Serves 2

4-5 cups loosely packed leaves
4 cloves of marinated garlic or 2 cloves of plain garlic
1/3 cup flaked almonds
rapeseed or olive oil
lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Place the almond flakes in a dry frying pan over a medium heat.  Toss them around a few times until they begin to get lightly golden and smell delicious.  Once they are golden, remove them from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Put the leaves, garlic and almonds in a food processor.  Add some of the oil (about 2-3 tablespoons) and begin to process.  The mixture will be dry and slightly grainy at first.  Add a bit more oil and process again.  Continue doing this until you have a consistency you like.  I prefer my pesto to have a bit of texture, so I don’t use a ton of oil.  But if you want your pesto to be smoother, add more oil.

Once you’ve achieved the texture you want, add the juice of 1/2 a lemon and process again. 

Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. 

Serve over pasta, stirred into soups, as a dip or a sandwich spread.

We went to Japan for 16 days last October and we loved it.  We loved the order, the flow, the rituals, the attention to detail, the quirks, the kind people and the food.  Oh, the food!  Each meal was an opportunity that we seized with relish!  We couldn’t speak the language and there were a few inevitable mistakes (see below for my reaction to the accidental ordering of squid balls in mayo), but from our first meal at a tiny local ramen house to our final sip of green tea the morning before our flight, we were enraptured.

And here are a few more pics from our trip to Japan, just because I can’t resist!

When we returned to Sydney we ate at our local Japanese restaurant at least once a week.  We spoke to the staff in the tiny bits of Japanese that we’d picked up and we’d slurp our noodles and talk about moving to Tokyo tomorrow, or at the very minimum returning ASAP.

And then, disaster struck.  We moved to the UK.  We were warned that Japanese food over here wasn’t up to scratch.  In fact, because we have lovely friends who understand and support my culinary obsessions, the dismal state of Japanese food in England was one of the things we heard about most as we were planning our move.  We assumed everyone was overstating the case and didn’t cancel our move. 

Now that we’re here, I think I know what they were talking about.  It’s not that the Japanese food available is terrible, it’s that there are so few options.  The only place in our town that sells sushi is the local mini-mart.  I am not so hard up for Japanese food that I’m going to eat mini-mart sushi. 

As we near our 3 month anniversary in the UK I decided that I wasn’t going to just skip out on Japanese food for the length of our stay.  I mean, we live one hour outside of one of the greatest cities on the planet.  Japanese food HAD to be available… and I set out to find it.

Forgive me, I’m going to stand up and do a wiggly victory dance.  I’ll be right back…

Ok!  I found Japanese food!  I found excellent Japanese food.  Some of the best we’ve had outside of Japan.  It took some mad internet research skills, but I can report that London is not void of all Japanese deliciousness.

We went to dinner at Asakusa last Saturday.  The menu on the walls is entirely in Japanese.  The staff is entirely Japanese.  We felt right at home!  We ordered all of our favourites and tried a few new dishes.  There were two lovely ladies sitting at the next table and they even let me try the spinach right off their plates (yes, if you offer me a taste of your food I will probably take it!)  The spinach was delicious and we ordered some for ourselves.  We also ordered the tasting set of sake, which may explain why we left feeling so happy and smiley.  Although, it may have also been the shatteringly crisp soft-shell crab karrage.  Here are some of the photos from the evening:

I was going to line up some of our photos from our trip to Japan next to the photos from our dinner in London, just to prove how authentic the food was, but I don’t think I need to.  Those skewers really speak for themselves. 

Asakusa
265 Eversholt Street, Camden, NW1 1BA
Tel: 020 7388 8533/8399