Scallops with Bacon, Nectarines & Dill

Sounds like a weird combination, doesn't it?

I feel like I've lost a bit of cooking inspiration recently. It's been all stir-fried noodles, simple pastas - the kind of thing you can cook in 15 minutes. This has been because of it being cheap to make, quick to make, and requiring little to no imagination. Work has been busy, but life has also been busy. The sun has been out and I've been trying to make the most of it, even if it means I rarely see the inside of my flat and I'm sometimes exhausted.

I'm trying to change this though, and have resolved to cook at least one recipe from my cookbooks a week. I once spent 5 hours on a Sunday cooking pork belly and the result was so satisfying, but this I haven't done in a long time. Perhaps practically living alone has been the cause of this, but I'll just drag my mates round to eat more.

Anyway, enough about me. I spotted these lovely scallops in the supermarket on the shell for 99p each and couldn't resist them. I absolutely refuse to buy scallops without the coral on them, they're so packed full of flavour that I feel like I'm being cheated if they don't have them on. Scallops work well with both sweet and salty flavours (think black pudding and apple), so I took these elements and created a very experimental dish. Thankfully it worked really quite well; the juicy sweetness of the nectarines was balanced well with the salty bacon, and well - we know dill works with seafood pretty well. It was a perfect light lunch.


Scallops with Bacon, Nectarines & Dill

Serves 2

4 scallops, roe on in their shells
1 small ripe nectarine
2 shallots
30gr butter
2 slices of smoked streaky bacon
Juice of half a lime
3 sprigs of dill

In a non stick pan, add half the butter until foaming. Add the bacon and fry until coloured. Add the shallots and fry slowly until softened and golden. Then cut the nectarine into slices and fry for 4 to 5 minutes on a medium heat until all is slightly sticky. Take the fronds of dill off the stems and chop finely. Add to the pan with the lime juice, stir well and take it off the heat. Spoon into the shells evenly.

Wipe the frying pan clean, and add the rest of the butter with a drop of cooking oil. Heat until almost smoking but not burning, and add the scallops. Tilt the pan, spooning the butter mixture over them. Cook for about 2 mins depending on the thickness of the scallops, then turn over. They should be nicely browned. Cook for a further minute, then carefully season with pepper and lift onto the shell mixture. Serve with leaves dressed in olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

Thai-Style Fish Cakes

I've just returned from 4 days in Ibiza. There was a lot of partying, a lot of sun-bathing, and rather too much eating of junk food - think Burger King, KFC and a fry-up slung in there too. I am a bad foodie.

So upon returning home, a little sad and more than a little skint, I spotted some basa fillets going cheap. It's not particularly environmentally friendly, given that they're from Vietnam, but they are sustainable. They're a white fish, and have a tendency to be a little tasteless so I packed them full of Thai aromatics in an attempt to liven them up a little.

The usual Thai fish cakes such as the ones you get at restaurants are made by processing white fish with red Thai curry paste and green beans, then deep fried. Since I don't have a food processor, I decided to do this the traditional way by using a pestle and mortar. The springiness of the cooked fishcakes comes from pounding the fish into a paste, so I did some limbering up and set about to work. The fish was chopped into small chunks and pounded around the mortar with a little cornflour. When I thought I got the right consistency, I set about to adding the flavourings, pounding and grinding as I went along.

The fishcakes could have perhaps benefitted from a few more minutes in the pestle and mortar as while they didn't have the same rubbery texture as onces made in a food processor, they were well flavoured and delicious. They were light and had a good kick to them. Coconut rice was a good accompaniment to them to make them into a whole and satisfying meal.

Thai-Style Fish Cakes with Cucumber & Peanut Dip

Serves 2

1 large basa fillet

1 stick of lemongrass, tender inner part only

1" piece of galangal

1 clove garlic

2 kaffir lime leaves

2 red chillis

3 sprigs of coriander, roots as well if possible

Juice of half a lime

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp cornflour

For the sauce:

5 tbsp rice wine vinegar

3 tbsp water

80gr caster sugar

1/2 cucumber

25gr roasted peanuts, chopped roughly

1 red chilli

1 tsp fish sauce

Chop up the fish finely and pound in a pestle and mortar with the cornflour. Add the rest of the ingredients chopped finely and pound into a thick paste.

Meanwhile, deseed and dice the cucumber. In a saucepan, add the suagr and the vinegar and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the water and simmer for 5 minutes. Take off the heat, leave to cool, and add the cucumber, chilli and fish sauce.

Heat about an inch of oil in a non-stick frying pan. Shape the fish paste into patties with wet hands and carefully lay them in the oil. Fry for 3 - 4 minutes each side, depending on the thickness. Serve with coconut rice on a bed of Little Gem lettuce leaves, broad beans and sliced radishes with the dipping sauce on the side.

Beetroot Leaf & Potato Bhaji

As with many other bloggers, Abel & Cole contacted me asking if I'd would like to be sent a box of theirs in return for a review. Now, before we go any further, a word about freebies and the like. While I'd never ask someone for something for free in return for a review - I am not shameless or big-headed enough - I won't turn down a freebie if I'm genuinely interested in it. A PR company contacted me recently asking if I'd like to sample some ice cream in return for a review, which I turned down (if my housemate reads this she may never speak to me again), simply because I'm not a fan of ice cream and I don't think I could write an interesting post on it. On the flip side, I've been looking into getting a veg box and was put off it by tales from friends about over-dosing on squashes over the winter season, so I thought this was a good way to see if they were right for me.

What I liked about the box was that you can go online and see what's going to be sent to you. Similarly, I liked that you could opt to never receive certain vegetables, like sweet potatoes which are the root of all evil. It was an interesting and varied box - apples, nectarines, melons, Little Gem lettuce, beetroot, green cabbage, new potatoes. Problem is, my housemate works two jobs and usually I'm out at least two nights of the week, so I have no idea how I'll finish it. It was all very fresh, so I hope it keeps a while. Another thing I'd find hard about it is that I'll still have to go shopping; I use a lot of herbs in my cookery, and the box didn't come with any. At roughly £15, I'm not sure that this box is suitable for me. Perhaps better for households of 3 or 4.

So with that in mind and with a bag of coriander languishing in the fridge, I decided on this beetroot leaf and potato bhaji. Bhaji as in a dry curry, rather than those battered deep-fried affairs.

Beetroot Leaf & Potato Bhaji

For 2 as part of a multidish meal

The leaves and stems of 2 beetroot, washed and sliced into 1" pieces

4 large new potatoes

2" ginger, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, diced

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Boil or steam the new potatoes for 10 minutes. Slice into halves. Meanwhile, heat some oil or ghee and fry the cumin seeds until they sputter. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and fry until browned but not burnt. Add the rest of the spices except the garam masala, then add the vegetables and stir to coat with the spices. Put the lid on, turn the heat down, and cook for 15 - 20 minutes. There should be enough steam to keep it from sticking, but if it does add a touch of water. Next, add the garam masala, cook with the lid off so that it becomes drier. Take off the heat, garnish with the fresh coriander, and serve.

I ate this with some raita, chapatis and fresh tomato salad with mustard seeds and red onion.

Camino - Tapas in King's Cross

During a Spanish wine tasting and a private view of Picasso at the National Gallery last month, I met Richard Biggs, who owns Camino. Cards were exchanged, a generous offer of dinner accepted, and off I went to the Regent's Quarter of King's Cross along with a fellow food blogger and a wine blogger friend. It was a beautifully sunny evening, and the bar area was bustling. The dining room was arranged in a circular shape, with banquette booths around the circumference and a few tables sunken in the middle. We were sat directly underneath the above roof, bathing us in perfect light for photos.

While we browsed the menu, we had some Pan Con Tomate, with Manchego and Jamon, washed down with a light and crisp Jaume Cordoniu Brut cava. A glass of Oloroso sherry was reminiscient of almonds, so much so that we ordered some to accompany it. The menu consists of all the tapas dishes you'd usually see in Spanish restaurants with a couple of twists. I got very excited when I saw that veal belly was on the menu, as Richard quite rightly said pork belly is a bit ubiquitous now. Dishes were duly ordered, and we settled back and awaited the food.

Pimentos de Padron were delicious as always and I am developing a fast-growing addicition to them, though I didn't get a spicy one. Decently dusted with salt as they require, I spotted more little Padron stalks on my plate than was polite when sharing. A mammoth portion of Pulpo was drenched in rich, fruity olive oil with the kick of paprika. It was the perfect texture; soft, slightly gooey and yielding to the bite.

Chorizo was suitably spicy and pungent and complimented a bottle of fruity Baboix Montsant 2004. Croquetas de Jamon had an excellent crunch, were silky smooth within and was served with a fruity chilli sauce that packed a kick. Nuggets of salty ham in the bechemel made them extremely moreish.

Scallops were prettily served in the shell with a saffron and Idiazabal sauce. Caught off the British coast like all their fish, these are hand dived, which perhaps explains the £4.75 price tag per scallop. Very fresh and perfectly cooked, though I wondered what had happened to the coral. The sauce, slightly cheesy with the subtle fragrance of saffron, begged for bread to mop it up with, or just tipped straight into a hungry mouth.

A dish of Arroz Negro, rice cooked in squid ink, was a revelation to me. Tiny pieces of squid lurking within the rice provided a great texture contrast with the rice, while the very garlicky aioli coated the mouth and brought the mouthful together. It's one of those dishes that I can believe I haven't before. Later on, looking it the mirror I was more surprised than I should have been to find it's turned my lips slightly black.

We decided to share a few mains between us. Fillet steak and rib eye steaks are offered by the 100gr - this is cooked on a grill especially imported from Spain. Many believe the Spanish are best at their seafood, but Richard believes they are also excellent at cooking their meat.

The rib eye steak, cooked perfectly cooked to medium rare had decent charring on it. While the meat was well hung and had a deep beefy flavour, I found it a little dry and thought it lacked the fat I so love about the rib eye cut.

Star of the show for the mains was the pan fried veal belly with chickpea mash. This, unlike the steak, was riddled with gorgeous fat, melting on the tongue with tender and succulent meat. I would go back there for this alone. I must find a supplier of veal belly to experiment with.

Desserts were solid in execution and a little unexciting. The creme Catalan had a caramel crust that broke pleasingly beneath the fork, and vanilla ice cream with sweet Pedro Ximinez poured over it was suitably boozy.

A night cap of rum and an espresso finished me off properly and I staggered off into the night with the afterglow of having spent over 3 hours in excellent company, and sampling delicious food. True, I haven't been to many Spanish restaurants in London (Barrafina, Dehesa, Fino) and some might argue that I don't have a good point of comparison, but Camino impressed me greatly. The Arroz Negro was a thing of great beauty and I was raving about the veal belly for some time afterwards.

Camino

The Regent Quarter,
King's Cross
London N1 9AF

Tel: 020 7841 7331

Full set of photos of the feast we had are available here

Taste of London, Regent's Park

Kingfish Marinated in Carrot & Passionfruit with Avocado & Salad - Pied a Terre

Taste of London is a restaurant festival, held in Regent's Park over a weekend. Restaurateurs and chefs have stalls selling sample dishes in exchange for crowns, (£1 for 2) the festival currency.

This year's festival was met with some controversy in the blogging world. The PR company for Taste contacted a few bloggers and asked to advertise on our sites, but didn't offer any tickets to the event in return until asked specifically, and flat-out refused any requests for crowns. It seemd the PR company just wanted some free advertising and it didn't sit well. Instead, Taste Fringe was created by Susan over at Guardian's Word of Mouth blog. So, armed with a press badge, I set out to eat as much as I could lay my grubby mitts on whilst posting my thoughts on Twitter.

Some highlights:

7 Hour Braised Daylesford Organic Shoulder of Lamb with Balsamic Onions & Mash - Tom's Kitchen

The lamb was very tender and was a deeply savoury dish when combined with the balsamic onions. The mash was very light, almost like a foam. Excellent texture contrasts. It wasn't a particularly summery dish though, but I'm happy to eat stews in the blazing sunshine.

Seared & Marinated Scottish Salmon with a Jalepeno, Grapefruit, Fennel & Coriander Salad - Boxwood Cafe

The salmon tasted as though it was marinated in dill, and while seared on the outside it was raw in the middle. This was a pretty big portion, but it was so light and fresh that it didn't dent the appetite too much. The fennel worked really well with the fish, as did the chunks of juicy, slightly spicy grapefruit.

Lamb Cutlet with Ajo Blanco - Fino

Fino's lamb cutlets were tender enough for your teeth to sink in like butter. They were juicy and perfectly cooked.

Celeriac Baked in Ash with Hazelnuts, Summer Truffle & a Kromeski of Wild Boar - The Ledbury

When we approached The Ledbury, we were invited to sit down at a prettily made table and was served this. The commis chef, Tom, explained to us that only two portions can be made out of a whole celeriac. This was so delicious; the celeriac reminded me of a Chinese stew, when you braise daikon with meat - it was juicy, ever so slightly bitter, yet balanced with sweetness. The hazelnuts went really well with it, as it did with the Kromeski (a parcel of meat in the Polish style), which was rich, slightly crispy and unctuous inside.

Strawberry & Hibiscus Bellini with a Warm Vanilla & Strawberry Doughnut - The Ledbury

As if I needed any further confirmation that The Ledbury is at the top of my wishlist, we were served this bellini. We actually giggled when we took the first sip - it was the best dessert or even drink I've had in a long time. The foam tastes intensely of strawberries and of summer, whilst the slightly floral notes of hibiscus resonates throughout the drink. The little doughnut served warm was cute, though a little superfluous in my eyes as it was all about that drink. The best dish of the day.

And the not-so-highlights:

Penne with tomato sauce and pancetta (I think - I missed the menu listing for this) - L'Anima

This was a bit disappointing - pretty stodgy and tasted like a pretty basic tomato sauce with some tough-as-old-boots pancetta thrown in. We were impressed with their fettucine with wild mushrooms and summer trufffle though.

Foie Gras with Sweet Soy Roll (on the right) - Dinings

I only tried to foie gras and sweet soy roll so I can't really comment on the rest, but I found the flavour of foie gras with the texture of rice to be quite an unpleasant combination.

Lamb Sweetbreads & Lamb Tongue with Parsley, Mint & Pearl Barley - Hereford Road

I found this to be the most disappointing dish. The parsley was overwhelming and the sweetbreads and tongue were a little bland. The pearl barley didn't add much to the mix and I didn't detect any mint.

I'm glad I came to Taste London, even though it was very last minute - I leapt out of bed at 12pm on Sunday to get there for 2pm. It was a beautifully sunny day and there was a good atmosphere to the festival. However, I think it would be an extremely expensive day out; tickets are at £25 and most of the dishes were at 6 - 14 crowns (£3 - £7). There were a few 'icon' dishes that weighed in at a whopping 24 crowns (£12), including this wild mushroom and summer truffle fettucine. If you consider the level of cooking on offer, this may not seem much but I would balk at the £25 ticket price.

My full set of photos with descriptions can be viewed here.

You can also have a look at the full set of Twitter updates by clicking here.

A Cream Tea

If there's one thing the West Country is known for, it's their cream teas. Although it is said to originate in Devon, there were many signs for cream teas in Padstow. Sadly, we didn't manage to have one ourselves; after a 6 mile walk round the headlands near where we stayed, we chanced upon a bed & breakfast advertising cream teas. When we roamed around the gardens, like a pack of 8 hungry wolves, a face appeared at the window. "No cream tea". And that was that.

So when I came back to London I had a scorchingly hot sunny day to while away and I decided to give making my own scones a whirl.

It was surprisingly easy. I'm not an expert baker by any means, but these were so simple I imagine I'll be making them again. Eaten warm from the oven, slathered in strawberry jam and clotted cream, I tried both the Cornish method (above) of jam first, then cream and the Devon method (below) - cream first, then jam. I am happy to report the Cornish way is preferred for me; sinking your teeth into the cream was ultimately satisfying. By the way, they're pronounced 's-cons' in this household.

Plain Scones (adapted from this recipe)

Serves 4

225 self raising flour

1/4 tsp salt

50gr butter, chilled and cut into cubes

25gr caster sugar

125ml full fat milk

The juice of half a small lemon

Extra flour for dusting

Strawberry jam & clotted cream

Preheat the oven to 220C. Add the flour to a mixing bowl and add the salt. Rub in the butter, lifting it as you go to aerate it until you get fine crumbs. Stir in the sugar.

Make a well in the flour and add the milk with the lemon juice. Mix it lightly until it forms a soft and slightly sticky dough. Add more flour if it's too sticky to handle.

Flour your work surface and knead the dough a few times. If you're using a scone cutter, flour it well and cut into the dough but don't twist the cutter. It should make a satisfying "ummphh" sound. pat the dough back and cut another until you have four. Alternatively, an up-ended mug does the trick just as well, though you will have rather mammoth scones.

Dust a baking tray with some flour, brush the scones with a little milk and bake for 10 - 15 mins so that they're slightly browned and cooked through. Leave to cool down a little on a wire rack and then scoff 'em all.

This is best served with tea, but I found it also works well on a hot day with a gin and tonic.

Fishy Times

The view from our house at dusk

I've just returned from a week in Cornwall. We stayed 2 miles outside of Padstow, in a converted lifeboat house. We first stayed here a year ago and the house is absolutely stunning. This year, myself and only two others of the original party returned with 5 friends, and the response from everyone else upon reaching the house was overwhelming. I'd forgotten how great it is; there was much shrieking, "oh my god!"-ing, and general excitement.

One thing we didn't manage to do last year due to choppy seas was to go mackerel fishing. On our first day, we booked it in. Of course, when the time came it was raining, but undettered, we got our raincoats on and hiked into Padstow. After all, we survived the torrential downpours of Bestival; what's a bit of light rain?

The sea was pretty choppy and one of our party turned a slight shade of green. We stopped once to chance our luck, but as none of us caught anything we moved on. Suddenly, people were catching fish left right and centre. One of us even caught this hapless crab (above) - it just hung onto the weight and wouldn't let go. More the fool him.

Typically, since I was bouncing around with excitement about the trip, I was the only one to not catch any thing at all. Luckily my mates caught 28 mackerel between them, so we had a plentiful haul. After a pretty harrowing descaling and gutting session, the mackerel were ready to be cooked.

The mackerel were then stuffed with lemon, liberally oiled, seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked on a hot barbeque until the skins were crisp. Simply served with a salad, these were beautiful; the fruits of my mates' labours and delicious to boot. We even convinced my fish-disliking housemate, who caught the most, to give them a try. She liked it, and thus we crowned her Fish Queen of the week.

Unfortunately the crab fared less well. We stuck him in the freezer for half an hour before dropping him (yes, we also named him - Crab C. Nesbitt) into rapidly boiling water. He seemed fine when he went in, but when he was cooked we found he'd dropped his claws and when we prised the shell open only brown water poured out of it. Given that we had no internet access or 'phone signal and none of us had ever cooked crab before, I gather we must have cooked him wrong which is a real shame. It could also have been his 2 mile journey home in a plastic bag.

Nevertheless, the claws were delicious; the meat was sprinkled with black pepper, spread on two slices of heavily buttered toast... divided into squares for 8 people. Still, you can have too much of a good thing, right?