Image by Michael Fenichel
Hand To Mouth is very happy to say that it’s off to to the South of France for a week.
I will be mostly hanging out in Provence, drinking wine, eating bread and cheese, and checking out a food market or two.
See you en l’autre side.
À bientôt
It’s been hot, hot, hot in London town this week, and the warm weather has got me thinking about summer food. Aside maybe from a decent burger on a barbie, for me it’s the Mediterraneans that totally nail ‘al fresco’ eating. Grilled meats, crunchy veg and fresh zingy flavours.
These lamb wraps have all that and more. The taste of the spicy, charred, marinated meat and the tzatziki work really well together, and the wraps mean that the dish is still pretty light. We don’t have a garden, so our griddle pan has to do.
Ingredients (makes 3 large wraps)
For the lamb
400g lamb leg steaks
Handful of fresh oregano leaves, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
Juice of one lemon
50ml extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
For the tzatziki
200g 0% fat Greek yoghurt
1/4 cucumber, sliced and diced
Handful of mint leaves, chopped
I love a bit of pork belly, but I don’t cook it at home that often. I’m not really sure why, but as soon as I taste that tasty, unctuous meat and get my teeth round that crackling, I vow to do it more often.
This recipe gives the belly the Eastern treatment using Szechuan pepper and Chinese five spice. Despite a lot of the fat rendering out during the cooking process, it’s definitely not the healthiest meat, but when it tastes as good as it does, who gives a toss.
Ingredients (serves 2)
For the pork
750g pork belly joint
1 tablespoon Szechuan pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper corns
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice
1 teaspoon sea salt
For the greens
200g baby pak choi
1/2 red chilli, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon Light soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
6-8 Spring onions
Sesame oil
Vegetable oil
Method
First up, score the skin of pork belly all over in a diamond formation with as sharp a knife as you’re got. You want to cut through the skin, but not down to the flesh, around 3 millimeters deep.
The Asparagus season in the UK (apparently) runs from 24th April to 21st June, and its a time of year that I love because I can’t get enough of the stuff. I often think the best way to eat it is to keep it simple with a bit of melted butter and seasoning, but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to mix it up a bit.
This ‘recipe’ gives the Asparagus a tasty Italian twist, and is as quick as a very fast thing to put together.
Ingredients (serves 2)
20 spears of Asparagus
Juice of half a lemon (30ml)
70ml Extra virgin olive oil
20g grated parmesan
Freshly ground black pepper
2 slices of bread (sourdough)
Method
First up, put a pan of lightly salted water on the heat, and then prepare the asparagus. The ends of the spears will be quite woody, so snap them off. The spear will break naturally at the right point when bent between your fingers.
Next prepare the dressing. Juice the lemon, pour into a bowl, and add the olive oil and Parmesan. Whisk together vigorously to form a creamy dressing.
The water should be simmering by now, so drop in the spears. They’re going to cook for around 5 minutes until tender. Whilst they’re simmering away, cut and toast two slices of sourdough.
When ready, drain the asparagus and plate up. Place the toast on the plate, and rest the asparagus tips on it. Give the dressing one final whisk, and then spoon over the tips.
Serve immediately. Eat the asparagus and then the delicious dressing soaked toast.
As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been looking at new features to add to Hand To Mouth. My friend Dazzler suggested I try re-creating recipes from weird and wonderful books, which I thought was a great idea. This first ‘Tried & Tested’ post fits more into the latter category, as it comes from a rather lovely new cookery book called ‘Great British Food‘.
Put together by the guys behind the brilliant Canteen mini chain of restaurants, this Lancashire Hot Pot stays true to their ethos of cooking gutsy, tasty, good quality, British grub. The recipe calls for leg mutton, which I couldn’t get hold of at the time of cooking, so instead I used shoulder of lamb.
The recipe takes a bit of prep, but once you get going it’s pretty easy, and it tastes reet good.
Ingredients (serves 6)
50g butter
250g onions, sliced
1kg boned leg of mutton, 3-4cm dice
150g carrots, sliced
10g fresh thyme, leaves picked
3 bay leaves
700g floury potatoes (Maris Piper), peeled ad thinly sliced
500ml meat stock
100ml meat stock
Salt and black pepper
Got the tip off about this porky flavoured slice of grime from my mate Tom, and it’s put a Junior Spesh style grin on my face. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Shadrack and Mandem drop lyrical bombs like “I take pics and I never say cheese, I take food and I never say please”. Pure class.
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I’ve learned quite a lot from my mother in cooking terms over the years. For the most part its been a case of me picking up stuff by watching her at work, but every now and then I’ll steal a recipe or two off her too.
This cake is one of those firm family favourites, and it even gets the royal seal of approval from my very sweet, but ever so fussy niece, Ksenia. It’s a bit tangier than most lemon drizzle cakes because of there’s more lemon juice in the glaze, and that’s how we like it.
Ingredients
For the cake
125g unsalted butter
175g self-raising flour
175g caster sugar
2 large eggs
Zest of 2 lemons
4 tablespoons of milk
A pinch of salt
Butter for greasing your loaf tin
For the ‘drizzle’
The juice of 2 lemons (about 6 tablespoons)
Zest of 1 lemon
100g icing sugar
Method
You’re going to bake this cake in a loaf tin, so first up, prepare and line it. Use a half kilo tin, smear it with butter, and then line with greaseproof paper. Now set your oven to 180 c to get it up to cooking temp.
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