My Mac has recovered, so its back to France for a few posts.

When we visited the food market at Forcalquier, as mentioned in this post, the missus spotted some courgette flowers for sale. We both remembered seeing Jamie Oliver deep frying some ricotta stuffed flowers on one of his shows, and despite not having a cookbook or any access to the interwebs, we decided to gave it a go.

Without blowing my own trumpet, the results were great, and to be honest it was easier that I thought it would be. The following recipe serves 6 as a small starter (2 flowers each), and although I didn’t at the time (because my father ain’t fan of the spice) I’ve added some red chilli. Not very French, but there you go.

Ingredients

12 large courgette flowers

For the stuffing

250g Ricotta

50g Parmesan, grated

1 tablespoon finely chopped basil

1 tablespoon finely chopped mint

Zest of 1 lemon

1 red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

For the batter

1 cup 250g self raising flower

1 cup of cold lager

Pinch of salt

Groundnut / rapeseed / vegetable oil for deep frying

Lemon wedges and salad leaves to serve

Method

The first thing to do is make the batter. Sift the flour into a bowl, and then add the beer and salt. The batter should be thick enough to coat your finger, but not stodgy. Now set it aside whilst you prepare the flowers. Resting the batter for this time will help make it crisp.

Now make the stuffing, which is easy enough. Just get all the ingredients listed above and mix them together. Have a taste, and then add salt and pepper if required. Now the hard-ish bit, getting the stuffing into the flowers.

The easiest way to do it is to spoon the mixture into a sandwich bag, and nip off the tip of one of the corners to make a piping bag. The fresher the flowers, the more open they’ll be, and the easier they are to fill. To fill, pick up a flower, and poke the business end of piping bag into the open end of the flower. Squeeze slowly but firmly, gently filling up the flower. The flowers will expand as you stuff them, but be careful not to overfill them or they will split. It’s not a disaster if they do, but better if they don’t. When they are almost full to the top, stop filling and then twist the top of the flower closed.

Now get a heavy bottomed pan of oil on the heat. You’re going to be deep frying the flowers, so the oil needs to be four or more inches deep. After around 5 minutes, test the temperature by dropping in a small piece of bread. If it sizzles and turns brown quickly you’re good to go. To cook, hold each flower by the stalk and dip into the batter. Let it drip off for a second or two, and they ‘lay’ into the oil away from you to prevent splashing. Cook two flowers at a time. Gently turn them in the pan with a slotted spoon. When they are golden brown, after 40 seconds or so, remove from the pan and place in a bowl with kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil.

Repeat the process, cooking the rest of flowers as quickly as you can. As soon as they’re all done, plate up with a few dressed salad leaves and a lemon wedge.

Things have been a bit quiet at Hand To Mouth towers over the past couple of weeks. The day job has been kind of getting in the way of my other life, but as should be clear by now I was born to eat, so normal service will be resumed soon.

In the down time I’ve been doing a bit of research finding out what people think of the blog, and what they’d like to see more or less of. I got some really good feedback, and there are a few things that I’m going to try and make happen over the next few months.

One is incorporating a bit of video into the site to give a bit more of an impression of techniques, textures and consistencies. A word of warning, I’m not in any way trained, so I  may well lead you astray.

Another was an idea my mate Darren had. He’s suggested I tackle a few recipes from some weird and wonderful cookery books. I’ve got quite a few oddities knocking about at home like Len Deighton’s ‘Action Cook Book‘, so expect to see some throwback grub here soon.

Finally, my friends Lou and Liam who run the lovely Reading Rooms B&B in Margate, have asked me to contribute an item to their already cracking breakfast menu. I’ve got something in mind, it just needs a bit of tweaking, so more on this soon.

Any other comments or suggestions are welcome, so if you’ve got an opinion, please drop me a line.

See you round like a rissole.

(I can’t remember where I found the above image, so I’m sorry to whoever created it. Let me know and I will amend with credit where credit’s due).

Just got back from a whistlestop trip to Oz to meet the future in-laws. Sydney is definitely a town that loves to eat, and we munched our way through the city from North to South, East to West.

Highlights included discovering toasted banana bread (where have you been all my life), fish and chips on the beach in Balmoral, some fine Roka style Japanese nosh at Toko, a dirty pie at Harry’s Cafe De Wheels, amazing Lebanese at Emma’s On Liberty in New Town, a cracking roast chicken sandwich from Chargrill Charlies, great coffee from Campos, and a couple of delicious breakfasts at Pure Bronte Pistachio on Bronte Beach. A very fine way to start the day.

But probably the best meals we had were at a cute little Italian place called A Tavola in Darlinghurst. A seriously good veal ragu pasta and a nice bottle of Sicilian red. I could eat it again now. And feasting on the famous chilli crab at Harry’s Singapore Chilli Crab. Insanely good.

Oh, and I also picked up some great recipes from my future mother in law, Connie.

I’ll be reporting back on my findings in more detail once I’ve recovered from the jetlag.

Until then…

It was Valentines Day at the weekend, and as Hand To Mouth got engaged at New Years, I thought I’d better make a bit of an effort. Not being a fan of going to restaurants on VDay (always disappointing) I whipped up a three course feast fit for the future Mrs HTM. The menu:

Salt & Pepper Squid

Baked Cod & Leeks

Lemon Posset with Lemon & Almond Shortbread

I’m going to do a post per course as I don’t have the time to do them all at once, so first up our starter, Salt & Pepper Squid. If you can’t get hold of Szechuan peppercorns, just use 3/4 of a tablespoon of black peppercorns instead.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns, ground

1 teaspoon chilli flakes

1 tablespoon sea salt flakes

4 tablespoons plain flour

4 tablespoon corn flour

2 squid cleaned

1 large red chilli

2 spring onions

Rapeseed oil for deep-frying

Salad leaves and lemon wedges to serve

Method

First up, prep the squid. If you’re a bit squeamish you might want to get your fish monger to do it for you, but it’s not hard. Rip off the head and set aside, then pull off the fin that’s towards the end of the body or ‘hood’. When you remove it, you’ll see some clear film come away with it. Try and get the rest of this off the hood. Now turn the hood inside out. You do this by poking the pointy end in on itself. As you do this the squid’s ‘backbone’ should pop out of the top. It looks like a clear bit of plastic, grab it and pull it out, and then clean out the inside of the hood with running water.

Next slice down each the side of the hood, cutting it in half. You should end up with two roughly triangular pieces per squid. Lightly score the surface of each piece on the diagonal creating a diamond pattern, then cut bite sized strips of the squid. Now grab the head and cut it just below where the tentacles join together. Discard the rest of the head, and remove the ‘beak’. This is the hard part in the center.

Set the squid aside, and get the coating ready. Grind the Szechuan peppercorns with a pestle and mortar, and then add the chilli flakes and salt and grind again. You’ll end up with a fine-ish red powder. Put the flour and cornflour in a bowl, add the pepper mix and stir together.

Ad this point, put a wok or pan on the heat with enough oil in it for deep frying. Use something low on flavour like rapeseed or groundnut. Whilst this is heating up, coat the pieces of squid in the chilli flour, and shake off the excess. Then chop the spring onion into centimeter batons, cut up and de-seed the chilli, and coat these too.

Now test the oil is hot enough by dropping in one piece of squid. If it curls up and turns a golden brown after 30 seconds or so it’s ready. Fry the squid, spring onion and chilli in batches, being careful not to over cook them (the squid will go rubbery if overcooked) and drain on a few sheets of kitchen towel.

As soon as everything is cooked and drained, eat immediately served on a bed of peppery salad leaves (rocket and watercress is good) with a wedge of lemon.

Love at first bite.

The video write up says it all:

“John Nese is the proprietor of Galcos Soda Pop Stop in LA. His father ran it as a grocery store, and when the time came for John to take charge, he decided to convert it into the ultimate soda-lovers destination. About 500 pops line the shelves, sourced lovingly by John from around the world. John has made it his mission to keep small soda-makers afloat and help them find their consumers. Galcos also acts as a distributor for restaurants and bars along the West Coast, spreading the gospel of soda made with cane sugar (no high-fructose corn syrup if John can avoid it)”.

In an age of faceless corporations and consumerism, its a joy to see a guy who’s so committed to his particular niche, his suppliers, and his customers. I hope the Galcos Soda Pop Stop weathers all the financial storms and fashions that come it’s way, and gets passed down to the next generation of soda obsessives. And apologies for the bad Star Wars pun in the title.

I seem to be on bit of a Italian tip at the moment, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

This recipe is kind of inspired by that bit in Goodfellas where the coked up Henry Hill is running all over town convinced he’s being trailed by a helicopter, whilst also preparing a homecoming feast for his sick brother. He’s there making the meatballs (or polpette), a vat of tomato sauce, aubergines and so on, and despite his paranoid state, all the food looks really tasty. I think Henry’s polpette were made with beef;  these are a mix of veal and pork mince, but whaddaya gonna do?

Ingredients (Serves 4)

For the meatballs

400g veal mince

400g pork mince

2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

A good grating of nutmeg

Salt and freshly milled black pepper to taste

Plain flour for ‘dredging’

1 large egg

For the sauce

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 large stick of celery, finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped

1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

50g tomato puree

3 tins chopped tomatoes

200ml white wine

Salt and freshly milled black pepper to taste

Method

To make the meatballs, put all the dry ingredients in a bowl, grate in the nutmeg, add the salt and pepper, and mix with a spoon before cracking the egg in. Now get your hands in there and combine all the ingredients really well. You’re now ready to make the balls. In terms of size, you’re looking for something between a radish and a squash ball, and it really helps if you have wet hands to stop the mixture sticking. Take a dollop of the mixture, compact it in your hands, and then roll into a ball. Simple.

Depending on size, you should end up with between 20 and 30 balls. Once all the mixture has been used, scatter some plain flour on a plate, and then roll the balls through it. Roll the balls from hand to hand to shake off the excess flour before setting aside. Now pop a thick bottomed pan or casserole dish on the heat and add a few glugs of olive oil. You’re now going to brown the balls in the hot oil; you’ll probably have to do this in batches. As soon as they are coloured all over, remove and set aside.

Using the same pan and oil, you’re now going to make the tomato sauce. Add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic and sweat off until tender. Add the chilli, rosemary and seasoning. Fry for another minute before adding the tomato puree. After another minute or so, add the white wine and de-glaze the pan. Next add the 3 tins of chopped tomatoes and bring up to simmering point. Pop on a lid and cook for a good 30-40 minutes.

Now take off the lid, and pop in the balls and simmer for another 20 minutes with the lid off. This is going to make sure the balls are cooked through, and also reduces the sauce a bit. Now get your pasta on, spaghetti or linguini is perfect. Cook until al dente, drain, divide across 4 plates, and then spoon over the meatball and tomato sauce.

Eat whilst piping hot with a good sprinkling of Parmesan and a glass of Chianti, and then go get your f**kin’ shoeshine box.

Not surprisingly, I’m still a way off nailing a good imitation, but this bread is pretty tasty, even if I do say so myself, and has a great crust.  The recipe uses an 80 to 20 mix of grey flour and rye flour to add a bit more flavour and texture. If you can’t get grey flour, strong white would do just fine.

Ingredients

400g grey flour

100g rye flour

5g yeast

7g salt

300ml water

1 x teaspoon honey

1 x tablespoon olive oil

Method

First up measure of 300ml of tepid water and mix in the yeast and honey. This should activate it before you add it to the dry ingredients. Next weigh out the flours and mix together with the salt in a big bowl. Now add the water and yeast mixture , the olive oil and mix together. As you mix, the mixture should come together to to form a dough. You’ll have to get your hands in there to combine everything.

Once you’ve done this, turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for at least 10 minutes. Everyone has their own technique, but this video should get you started. Why do you need to knead? The short answer is that it develops gluten, which makes the mixture ’stronger’ so that it can trap the carbon dioxide that the yeast creates and makes the bread rise. If you don’t knead enough, or your yeast is inactive, you’ll end up with a very dense, heavy loaf.

After kneading for 10 minutes, form the dough into a round ball. See my previous focaccia recipe for the technique for doing this. Once prepared, either place the dough in a proving basket in a lightly floured tea towel, or in a bowl inside a plastic bag  and allow it to rise. This will take about an hour during which time the dough should have doubled in size. When you’ve got to this stage, turn out the dough, ‘knock it back’ (again see the focaccia recipe), form into a round again and repeat the rising process.

When the dough is twice the size again, turn it out and knock it back again. This time roll the dough into a cigar shape, and then flatten it. This should leave you with a strip a little over a foot long. Now fold this strip over end on end, so it becomes a third of the length and flatten down. Tuck the longer sides under with the edge of your palms to create a cylinder tapered at either end. Transfer this onto a floured board or peel, cover with a tea towel and leave to ‘prove’ for about an hour.

Now turn on your oven as hot as it will go, and place a baking tray at the bottom. Just like with the focaccia, you’re going to fill this with boiling water when you bake the loaf. When the oven is up to temperature, the loaf should have swelled to double it’s size again. Slash the surface of it (which will help the bread rise), and then slide it into the oven after putting the water in the baking tray. Don’t hang about.

Bake at full temperature for 10 minutes, at which point the bread will have risen as much as it’s is going to as the crust will have ’set’ and should be golden brown. Turn the oven down to around 170 / 180 and bake for a further 20 – 25 minutes, depending on how hot your oven is.

After the full 35 minutes, remove the bread and place on a baking tray. Resist the temptation to cut into it now. The bread is still cooking, and if you cut it open you’ll release heat and steam, and the bread won’t finish cooking properly. And that’s it. When it’s cooled, slice and eat with whatever you fancy.

The 25th of January means that it’s Burns Night chez Hand To Mouth. Despite my name I’m not Scottish, and neither of us are huge poetry fans, but we both love a bit of haggis so we celebrate Scotland’s favourite son with a bit of haggis and a drop or two of whiskey.

People get a bit squeamish about haggis as it’s made with sheep offal (lungs, liver and heart) and (traditionally) cooked in a sheep’s stomach. These days most haggises are sold in artificial casings, and there’s really nothing to worry about as all the contents are mashed up and mixed with onion, oatmeal, beef fat, spices and salt.

When it’s liberated from the casing the haggis it warm, sticky, hearty and really tasty. We have ours with neeps (mashed swede – still no idea why it’s called neeps), greens, and and intense onion and whiskey gravy.

Tradition dictates that you welcome the haggis to your table with one of Burn’s most famous poems ‘Address To A Haggis’. It’s pretty tricky to read, but it’s a bit of fun.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 small haggis

1 medium swede

1/2 a large onion

300 ml chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon marmite

1 heaped teaspoon plain flour

25 ml whiskey

150g spring greens

Butter

Olive oil

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

First up, release the haggis from it’s plastic casing then wrap up in tin foil. Put a pan of water on the heat, and when it’s up to boiling point, pop in the armour clad haggis and cover with a lid. You’re going to simmer it for around 45 minutes.

Next prepare the gravy. Chop and slice half an onion, and then brown in a pan with a little olive oil and butter. When the onions are nice and soft, add marmite. Next add the flour and stir in to the onions, forming a paste. Cook this off for a minute or so before adding the whiskey. Burn off the alcohol, and then add the stock, season with a good few grinds of black pepper, and simmer until the liquid has reduced by about a third.

When the haggis is about 25 minutes from being ready, peel and chop your swede and add to boiling water. Cook the swede for around 20 minutes, then drain and mash with some butter, salt and pepper. Whilst you’re doing this boil up the spring greens for about 3-4 minutes until tender, and then drain and also season with butter, salt and pepper.

Next remove the haggis from the water, take off the foil and then slice the casing open with a sharp knife. A word of warning, the contents of the haggis expand during cooking, so they can spill out pretty fast when you make you’re incision. Scrape out the good stuff, discard the skin and serve with the neeps, greens and a generous helping of the onion gravy.

Eat with a little dram of your favourite whiskey, and toast Robbie Burns.

The long and short of it is that Starbucks is going to pick a few select outlets and un-brand them in order to create coffee shops with a more old fashioned and local feel. If this test is successful, they will then roll it out to other sites. Some people have described this move as a demonstration of a business being mindful of what their consumers want, but in my mind is proves what a cynical and aggressive brand Starbucks has become, and to be frank it pisses me off.

How Starbucks started as a business is a million miles away from where they are now. Originally a one off shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market that sold artisan coffees and equipment, it didn’t become the phenomenon that it is today until it was sold to an entrepreneur called Howard Schultz in 1987. Famously in the 90s, Starbucks opened a new store every working weekday, and this pace was maintained well into the noughties.

As a result, for many Starbucks has become the ugly face of globalisation, and the site of protesters camped outside whenever they roll out yet another identical, anodyne store, a familiar one. This, along with the proliferation of all the other high street coffee chains all vying for our business, seems to have kick started a healthy trend for more traditional, independent coffee shops.

Unlike their chain gang counterparts, these shops place the emphasis on quality and ambiance over quantity and branding. A couple of great examples of the sort of place I’m talking about are The Scandinavian Kitchen and the recently opened Kaffiene that are down the road from where I work. These cafes are different, have a personality all of their own, and are a nice place to spend time. You don’t feel like you’re having a ‘vision’ thrust down your throat when you’re in there, and shock horror, they also serve up a decent cup of coffee. Not a hazelnut syrup or ’squirty’ cream canister in site.

Not surprisingly, disillusioned people have begun to migrate from the chains to seek refuge and good coffee in these independent shops. After all, if you’ve got half a brain and some taste buds why wouldn’t you? This has obviously been noted by the business bods and money grubbing analysts over at Starbucks, and they now want to get a slice of the ’slow coffee’ action. Their plan? To open ’stealth stores’ that imitate the increasingly popular indie coffee shops that have been set up as an antidote and alternative to their own brand.

With the buying power, financial backing and clout of a company like Starbucks, these fucks (I’m sorry, but in my opinion they are) will be able to open a raft of these imitation indies much faster than any start up business, either by turning existing stores or buying up prime real estate. They will no doubt clumsily flood the market with their interpretation, and in the process fool thousands of consumers into believeing that they’re having an experience that they’re not.

So how long before the idea of an indie coffee shop becomes as ubiquitous as your friendly neigbourhood Starbucks and the real indies are forced out of the marketplace? Who knows. And you never know, maybe consumers will smell the fat corporate rat and vote with their feet. I certainly hope so.

Rant over.

Illustration by Chobopop

Hand To Mouth is about to enter a short period of self imposed radio silence and competitive eating.

Have a great Christmas and New Year wherever you are, and see you in 2010 for more food related shenanigans.

X

It’s bloody cold in London right now, and add hangovers into the mix from all the Christmas partying, you need some seriously restorative food to get you back on an even keel. This French onion soup ticks all the boxes in terms of comforting, warming and tasty sustenance, and will have you ready for that next session of festive boozing before you can say zut alors!

Ingredients

Olive oil

Large nob of butter

1kg of onions

5 fat cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

70ml French brandy

150ml French white wine

750ml chicken stock

750ml beef stock

Plenty of freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of salt

For the croutons:

French bread, sliced on the diagonal and toasted

1 clove garlic

Grated Gruyere cheese

Method

Peel and half the onions, and then slice them finely. Melt the butter and the oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan or casserole dish, and then add the onions, garlic, thyme and salt and fry them slowly on a medium heat. The idea is to sweat the onions down and cook them until they become golden, sticky and sweet. This will take a good 15  minutes.

When you’ve got to this point, add the brandy and set light to it to burn off the harsh alcohol. This will start to deepen the flavour of the soup. Next add the white wine, and de-glaze the pan, scraping off any sticky bits from the bottom and around the sides. You’re now ready to add the stock, do this and bring up to simmering point. Taste, and add salt / freshly ground black pepper as you prefer. The soup needs about another 15-20 minutes simmering to reduce a bit and let the flavour develop.

Whilst the soup is simmering, get your grill on as high as it will go. Cut your French bread on the diagonal in centimetre thick slices, and lightly toast on both sides. Once done, cut a clove of garlic in half, and rub all over one side of the toasted bread. Then grate a bunch of the Gruyere.

When the soup is ready, ladle it into what ever bowls you are going to eat it from. Cover the surface of the soup with the garlic croutons, sprinkle on a good quantity of the grated Gruyere and then pop under the grill.

The soups are ready to eat once the Gruyere is bubling, and the edges of the croutons have gone dark brown (be careful not to burn them). Serve with a final grinding of black pepper.

Ingredients

Leftover roast chicken

Good quality French baguette

Mayo

Dijon mustard

Black pepper

Olive oil

1/2 clove garlic

Rocket

Method

First up, stick a griddle pan on your hob and get it nice and hot. Next mix together equal quantities of mayo and dijon mustard in a small bowl, and then grind a bunch of black pepper into the mix to taste (the quantity of ‘dijonaise’ you make depends on the number of sarnies you are making).

Now, cut a decent length of baguette, and slice it down the middle. I like to scoop out some of the dough from the inside the top slice, this helps make room for the filling. Drizzle some olive oil on the inside of the baguette slices, rub it in, and then place on the griddle, dough side down.

Once the bread has got nice golden brown lines on it from the bars of the griddle, remove and then rub with the cut garlic clove, before spreading liberally with the mayo / mustard mix. Place a generous quantity of roast chicken and a big handful of rocket on the bottom slice and then slap on the top and press down.

Cut in half, et mangé.

Luckily, my day job allows me to escape the office from time to time to get some head space and thinking time. There are a number of places I like to go for a bit of peace and quiet, and the Nordic Bakery is right up there with my favourites.

As the name suggests, it’s a Scandinavian style cafe, specialising in bread. The food and bread are good; simple Nordic fare including rye bread open sandwiches and cured fish, but the killer for me are the amazing cinnamon buns and the coffee.

I don’t think the buns are as fluffy as they used to be, but they still taste amazing. The cinnamon is almost intoxicating, the dough satisfyingly heavy and so sticky it’s almost a challenge to eat. Add to this a rocket fuel strength latte, you’ve got yourself a perfect afternoon break.

It’s also a really peaceful place, which is a bit of a rarity in Soho, so f you’re going to check it out, put the phone on silent and shhhhhh.

London is awash with KFC immitators who knock out chicken of a very dubious quality at very low prices. From the lyrics it’s clear that the ‘Junior Spesh’ consists of a piece of chicken (leg or wing), a portion of chips and a can of drink, all for £1.50. Not a bad deal.

Don’t forget, mayo is an extra 20p.

Around the World a crazy amount of food is wasted every day. In the UK alone it is estimated that households throw away a staggering 25% of the food they buy. This is not only shocking from the point of view that there are over a billion people around the world suffering from malnutrition, but this waste means that we are producing and transporting much more food than we need to, which in turn puts a strain on the planet and the environment.

An event being held in Trafalgar Square in London on the 16th December aims to draw attention to this issue . Called Feeding The 5000 the aim is to make a delicious lunch for 5000 people for free from food and ingredients that would otherwise have been wasted.

Visit the website to find out more about the event, food wastage and how you can get involved.

See, there is such a thing as a free lunch.

Photo - Princess Diablo

And while we’re on the subject of harvest festivals, it’s Thanksgiving today, so Happy Thanksgiving to all my American and Canadian chums.

Like Christmas dinner over here, Turkey is at the heart of any decent Thanksgiving feast, but for as long as I live I’ll never understand the whole sweet potato marshmallow thing.

Whatever you’re eating, ‘have a nice day’.

Image - factmagazine.co.uk

Joe Goddard of Hot Chip fame has just released a solo album called ‘Harvest Festival’, and I’m liking it. I’m a big fan of the Chip, and listening to ‘Harvest Festival’ it’s clear who influences the beats and bleeps in their releases.

Each of the tracks has a fruity theme (hence the post), Apple Bobbing, Go Bananas, Sour Grapes to name but three, and range from the melancholy and melodic to the more bass bin troubling.

There’s also a nice surprise if you buy the CD or vinyl. You get a recipe for a Tomato Harvest Chutney from the suspiciously well connected Rosie Lovell of Rosie’s Deli Cafe in Brixton. Nice touch.

Ingredients

500g English strawberries

75g vanilla sugar

Juice of half a lemon

Method

Hull the strawberries (remove the leafy top and pale fruit) with the tip of a sharp knife and then wash. Dry off with a tea towel and place in a large pan. Add the vanilla sugar (vanilla sugar is easy to make – every time you scrape out a vanilla pod, put the remains in a jam jar with caster sugar – after a week or so the sugar will take on a lovely vanilla smell and taste) and lemon juice and stir.

Before you put the pan on the heat, get a saucer and place it in the fridge. I’ll explain why in a minute. Next, put the pan on a high heat and bring up to the boil while stirring. Before long the fruit will start to give up its juices, and the mixture will begin to resemble jam. You need to simmer the jam for about 10 minutes to bring it to setting point. A scum will probably develop on the surface of the mixture; skim this off every few minutes.

After 10 minutes take the pan off the heat, and dribble some of the mixture onto your cold saucer. Place the saucer back in the fridge. After a couple of minutes, take it out again and perform the ‘wrinkle’ test by running your finger through the mixture. If it wrinkles, the jam is at setting point and ready to store, if your finger slides through return to the heat for a few minutes and repeat the test.

If the jam is at setting point, put the mixture in a sterilised jar. You can sterilise jars by pouring in boiling water to the top or placing in the oven for a few minutes at 100ºC.

Leave the jam to cool and then eat or refrigerate. It should keep for 3 – 4 weeks.

I’m not sure why, but I was thinking about songs featuring food the other day. I was probably hungry. After a bit of brain wracking I came up with the following top 10.

Photo: Whipped Bakeshop

In no particular order:

1. AFX – Children Talking

Why do you hate mashed potatoes? A good slab of crazy from the Aphex Twin.

2. The JBs – Pass The Peas

Classic funk from the Godfather of soul’s backing band.

3. Harry McLintock – Big Rock Candy Mountain

My mate Matt who lives in New York introduced me to this. Also on the ‘Brother Where Art Thou’ soundtrack.

4. Mongo Santamaria – Watermelon Man

There are lots of versions of this track, but this is one of my favourites, and with a name like Mongo you can’t loose.

5. Link Wray – Beans & Fatback

First heard Link Wray’s stuff on an Andy Weatherall rockabilly mix. No idea what it’s got to do with pork fat and beans, but its a tune.

6. The Beastie Boys – Egg Man

Curtis Mayfield sampling gem from Paul’s Boutique.

7. Led Zeppelin – The Lemon Song

Citrus sauce from Led zep II.

8. ZZ Top – TV Dinners

A song about being addicted to TV dinners. An 80s oddity from the much underrated Top.

9. Booker T & The MGs – Green Onions

A funk standard from 1964. Classic.

10. Weird Al Yancovic – Eat It

The most food filled song I know, and a tribute to the late MJ. A fitting end to the list.

For the past couple of years my mate Ollie has been organising a hog roast, and last weekend was what has now been dubbed as ‘Hogfest 09′.

It’s basically a gathering for friends and family at his folk’s place in Shropshire, culminating in a hog roast. I know it all sounds a bit ‘River Cottage’, but for me escaping London and getting primal with a whole pig, a big fire and bunch of booze is my idea of a good weekend.  Ollie usually lives in Cairo where this kind of pork based entertaining doesn’t go down too well, so for him I think it’s also rare opportunity to feast on pork with impunity.

The preparation process is relatively simple. The pig gets scored all over with a Stanley Knife, given a good rub down with olive oil, and then sprinkled liberally with salt and pepper. No herbs or any other ‘fancy stuff’.

Cooking is a bit more complicated. The fire gets started at 5am, and then at 6 a barbecue pit of sorts is created using 2 sheets of corrugated iron, and by spreading the fire out into a hollow rectangular shape. The hog then gets mounted on a spit (bought on ebay and imported from the States no less)  and turned a quarter rotation every 5-10 minutes.

The fire’s heat should be more intense at the start to get the skin nice and crisp, this is pretty obvious when it happens, and then the rest of the cooking is slow and methodical. I think our pig was about 70 kilos and took around 12 hours to cook.

By 7pm (after a good half an hour resting) the meat was perfectly roasted. I had the honour of carving the beast, but after seeing it cook for so long my meat lust kind of took over and I went at it a bit like a demented cavemen butcher. It tasted amazing. Lovely salty crackling on top, sweet,  smokey, tender meat underneath. Totally worth the time and effort.

There are some more pictures of the lucky pig and the rest of the day here, and if you fancy doing it yourself there’s some ‘How To’ help here.

Welcome to Hand To Mouth, a blog about food. Eating it. Cooking it. Reviewing it. Reading about it. And everything in between.

Depending on how into this I get, I’ll be regularly posting recipes, restaurant reviews and opinion and conjecture about anything food related that grabs my eye. Hopefully there’ll also be a few laughs along the way, and I promise not to cut the cheese.

If you like what you see please let me know, and equally don’t be afraid of throwing a few rotten tomatoes my way if you don’t.