The Food Diaries

Corn fritters with avocado salsa

This is inspired (taken from) Peter Gordon’s Providores cafe/restaurant in Marylebone, London. A fabulous place to waste away the weekend - moving from late morning coffee (courtesy of Monmouth Coffee), to corn fritters, to wine, to dessert, etc. Don’t be put off by the savoury mix of flavours - this is a great and classic brunch dish.

In a food processor place 525g fresh (or canned) corn kernels, 1 small red onion chopped, 2 eggs, 15g chopped coriander leaves or chives, 125 g flour, 1tsp baking powder, some salt and some pepper. Pulse till combined (but ensure you can still see bits of corn).

Heat up a pan with 1 tbs vegetable oil. Drop two tbs corn batter at a time into the pan (I like to use an ice cream scoop). Keep them well spaced from each other. Turn over after a minute or so (till golden on each side). Transfer to a warm oven while you finish up all the batter.

Serve with an avocado salsa made by mixing together 2 ripe avocados, diced, 1 quartered, deseeded and chopped tomato, 2 tbs lemon or lime juice, a dash of Tabasco (optional), some sea salt and pepper.

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Prawn Cocktail stacks - A modern twist on the retro appetizer.

Using a presentation ring (or you can use an empty can opened at both ends) stack the following in order: 1 shredded gem lettuce, 1 small sliced avocado, a drizzle of yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit that tastes a bit like mandarin) or lime, a layer of marie-rose sauce (my version is made by mixing together 2 tbs mayonnaise, 1 tsp ketchup, 1 tsp yuzu, 1 tsp Sriracha, 1 tsp cognac or whiskey, a dash of salt) and then topping with a 1/2 cup of cooked prawns and a dusting of smoke paprika.

Remove the ring and serve with some rye toast. Serves 1.

I tried out this new recipe this weekend. I think I have been missing my lobster and shark tacos from my trip to San Diego! The flavours are really fresh - quite authentically Mexican (well, I kind of cheated by adding sour cream/crema - but then I also systematically add parmesan to seafood pasta, a serious crime by Italian standards!).

Prawn and Crab Tortilla

100g prawns (cooked and shelled)
100g crabmeat
Juice of 1 lime
1 large shallot, sliced
1 red chili, seeded and finely chopped
1 avocado, sliced
4 corn tortillas
4 tbs salsa (or freshly chopped tomatoes)
4 tbs sour cream
2 gem lettuce, shredded

Mix together the prawns, crab, lime juice, shallot, and chili and marinate for 1 hour. Warm the corn tortillas on a hot, dry pan then build them up in the following order: lettuce, crab and prawn mixture, avocado, salsa and sour cream.

Makes four tortillas.

Chef’s note: I added finely chopped spring onions as a garnish, along with a sprinkling of Tajin - a mixture of lime, chili and salt. It’s the miracle seasoning (I add it to lots of things - and especially freshly popped corn).