The Hairy Bikers are like Marmite. Either you love them, or you hate them. I’m a hater I’m afraid. Well OK, maybe hate is a bit strong, but I’m not a fan, so anything that pokes fun at the irritatingly cheery Si and Dave is OK by me, and this little remix by the ever brilliant Casetteboy pushed my play button.
Sorry to the Si and Dave lovers out there. All two of you.
Like the previous recipe, this one also pairs up lamb with some heat and punchy flavours. The harissa loses some of it’s heat in the cooking, and creates a lovely tangy, spicy, sticky crust on the lamb. I got my hands on a fine leg of Yorkshire lamb from my new favourite meat source, Marky Market. It’s a great idea. Mark gets up every day to go to Smithfields and Billingsgate, you place your order the day before, and then he delivers to your door. Brilliant.
In terms of prep time, the potatoes are a bit of a faff, but the lamb is simplicity itself, so it’s swings and roundabouts. We served it with a gorgeous heritage tomato, red onion and mint salad, and a tzatziki (you can find the recipe for the latter here).
Ingredients
(for the lamb)
2.5 kg leg of lamb
90g Harissa paste
90g 0% fat Greek yoghurt
Juice and zest of one lemon
(for the potatoes)
1.7 kg of potatoes (Desiree / King Edward)
1 white onion
1 red onion
I FINALLY made it down to The Meateasy earlier in the week, and whilst it was fantastic, I’ve decided not to do a review for a couple reasons. Firstly, because I reviewed The Meatwagon a while ago, and secondly because it’s already had loads of blogger covereage and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t add anthing different.
That being said, I took some (not very good) pictures, and because it’s been such a phenomenon, I thought that it definitely warranted a post. (more…)
So St Paddy’s day is upon us again, and in light of a rather tasty Irish themed bloggers dinner at The Ship in Wandsworth earlier in the week, here’s a pic of a mighty slab of corned beef from said meal.
Have a good day.
Pretty much anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a mild addiction to Pakistani food, and in particular the tandoori lamb chop. I’d more than happily spend an evening at Mirch Masala in Tooting, or Tayyabs, but my favourite place to get a fix is Lahore in Whitechapel (long overdue a ‘Local Hero’ post). The chops may be a bit smaller, but my god they taste good. Spicy, deeply flavoured and smokey. Yep, my mouth is watering and it’s only 9am.
But enough about my issues. This recipe is my attempt to re-create Lahore’s greatness at home. Funnily enough, I don’t have a tandoor in my kitchen so I use a griddle pan to get the charring and smokey flavour, and whilst this recipe doesn’t quite live up to East London’s finest, it’s not half bad. If you don’t have a griddle pan, you could grill them on both sides.
I use lamb cutlets as opposed to thicker chops, and serve them with a coriander and mint raita.
Ingredients
8 lamb cutlets
(for the marinade)
2 large cloves of garlic
1 thumb sized piece of ginger
2 green chillies, seeds removed
I realised the other day that I hadn’t done a ‘Local Hero’ for AGES, and by chance I happened to pass The Market Coffee House the very same day. Serendipity in the truest sense.
When I was thinking about the whole ‘Local Hero’ side to this blog, The Market Coffee House was exactly the kind of place that I had in mind. Special, but unpretentious, and quietly plugging away at doing what they do best without all the bluster, PR and twitter noise that’s become so common.
I first started going to The Market Coffee House when I worked around the corner in Spitalfields what now seems like ages ago. Before the days of the Aussie and Kiwi coffee shops, the MCH was my go to place for a decent cup of coffee. Back then, it was the only café I can remember that had proper Baristas who took great care and attention over each and every cup. They also sold their coffees in the smaller cups that have now become more familiar. Quality over quantity before it was fashionable.
This is a ‘Big Dog’ from Big Apple Hot Dogs on Old Street. It’s big and it’s tasty. If you’re in the area, go and get one. You won’t regret it.
My buddy Tom over at Nation has been working with Abiye, the man behind the dogs, on a new website, branding and all that jazz for his enterprise, and I’ve been helping him out with some well chosen words and some (hopefully welcome) thoughts on food branding.
There’s nothing to show you yet, but I’ve got to say, it’s a real joy when work and hobbies collide. I’ll be doing a proper post once the new look and feel is live, so until then, keep it locked.
My wife came across this amazing set of pictures on Flickr the other day, and I thought they were far too good to keep to ourselves.
The photo set brilliantly captures Parisian nightlife circa 1962 in all it’s soft focus glory, transporting you to another era. One of markets, smokey bars, cafés and restaurants. They are testament to France’s love and respect for all things food, and each one is packed with so much atmosphere.
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