The Food Diaries

Chinese-style broccoli stem salad

Cut a small bunch of tenderstem broccoli stems into bite-sized rounds (around 2 cups). Bring a pot to a boil, drop in the broccoli with a 1/2 tsp baking soda (to keep the stems a vivid green). Drain after 1 minute and rinse under cold water. Drain well and place in a serving dish.

Mix together 4 tsp soy sauce, 3 tsp sesame oil and 1/2 tsp brown sugar. Stir till well combined and add to the broccoli.

Serve at room temperature.

Spicy potato wedges

Take three medium roasting potatoes (600g in total), scrub and then cut into 8 wedges. Boil for 5 minutes and then drain. In a large bowl mix together 1tsp paprika, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground chili, and a sprinkling of herbes de provence. Stir in 1 tbs olive oil and combine till you obtain a paste. Add the potatoes and coat well in the mixture. Don’t worry if the potatoes get bashed about as the extra surface texture will help make a crispier outer coating.

Place on a baking tray and sprinkle with a bit of sea salt and pepper. Bake in the oven at 200c till golden (around 25 minutes).

Ideally, serve these with a side of mini burgers and a garlic mayo.

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Samphire, roasted cod and ratatouille

Samphire is not actually a seaweed but a succulent which grows in tidal zones (estuaries, creeks, etc). It has a nice crunch to it, with a slightly salty flavour and provides a bright vegetable addition to the dinner plate. It can be foraged, but it’s recently become quite trendy so is much more easily available at the fish counter. It goes very well with fish.

This recipe serves 2.

Take a large handful of washed and trimmed samphire and snap into 2-3 cm pieces. Place a knob of butter in a pan (or substitute with olive oil) and stir fry the samphire for around 2-4 minutes, until the samphire starts to soften nicely. Season with sea salt and pepper, add a squeeze of lemon juice.

Serve with a couple of nice pieces of grilled cod on top of the samphire with a garnish of ratatouille on top. You’ll find the recipe for the ratatouille here. A wedge of lemon wouldn’t go amiss either.

Jersey Royal Mash with herbs

This is by no means a pretty dish, but this is moorish nonetheless. 

Take 500g Jersey Royals (or other new potato variety) and boil in their skins till tender.

In the meantime, in a frying pan drizzled with some olive oil gently fry together a small bunch of slivered spring onions,  and a large handful of finely chopped mixed herbs (mint, chives, parsley) till they start to soften. Add two finely chopped garlic cloves and stir around till the they become fragrant.

Once the potatoes are done, drain and add to the herb mixture. Mash the potatoes coarsely (either using a masher or a large fork), add a large dollop of sour cream, and season with sea salt and pepper, and stir till combined. You can optionally add 1tbs finely chopped capers, or I like to use a caper paste, which is similar in texture to an olive tapenade.

Serve as a side or on its own.

Spicy sesame wok-fried Brussel sprouts - or how to turn this much-maligned vegetable into a winning dish

This recipe (from Peter Gordon’s Vegetables) is so tasty and moorish you won’t even realise you’re eating sprouts! I also speed up this recipe by using a cook’s cheat (frozen, pre-peeled and finely chopped Asian aromatics - garlic, lemongrass, ginger, red chilli).

In a wok (or large frying pan) add 1 tbs rapeseed/canola oil, then 4 garlic cloves, a 2-inch piece of ginger, and 1 red chilli (all finely chopped). Stir around on medium-high heat till it begins to colour. Now add 1 tsp lemongrass (finely chopped) and stir around. Next add around 2 cups/250g sliced rings of brussel sprouts. Turn the heat up and add 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds (either black or white or a combo) and 1 tsp sesame oil. Stir around. Finally, add 2tbs soy sauce and toss. Remove from heat (the brussel sprouts should still have a bit of a crunch to them). Sprinkle with additional sesame seeds if desired and serve.

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Potato Latkes - a holiday treat

A Jewish Eastern European speciality, latkes (a type of potato pancake) is eaten during the December Hanuka holidays. I’m off by two weeks this year, but you don’t need much of an excuse to whip these up. They are delicious eaten on their own with a little sour cream and apple sauce (in Eastern Europe there is a tendency to mix the sweet and salty - in Poland they sprinkle sugar on top!) and really terrific as a side to a rib roast.

Peel and grate coarsely four large Russet potatoes (King Edward or Desiree will do fine too). Put in a mixing bowl with two eggs and 1/3 cup matzoh meal (you can usually find it in the kosher section of the supermarket, otherwise substitute with a mixture of half plain flour and half fine breadcrumbs). Season with some sea salt (about 1 tsp).

Heat up a good glug of rapeseed oil in a pan to medium-high. Using an ice cream scoop (or large spoon) drop the mixture into the pan (don’t crowd them too much). You may need to add some more oil if the pan gets too dry and for the new batches. Continue cooking till they crisp up nicely to a golden brown and then flip over to crisp the other side. It will probably take around 8-10 minutes. Once they achieve an all-over tan then transfer to a baking tray.

When you have finished all the mixture (I tend to use two pans to speed up the process) pop the baking tray in a low to medium oven (150c) to to ensure the latkes are cooked through and to keep them crisp till you are ready to serve. They can keep like this an hour or two if need be.

Serves 6 as a side dish.

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Crisp Cabbage & Bacon

Winter is coming on, but I have been in denial about it. But with the lush summer tomatoes, courgettes and berries all gone, the savoy cabbage can finally come into its own. This recipe is a one-pot, 10-minute wonder to help survive winter with a bit of brightness in the kitchen and a healthy boost of vitamins in the diet.

In a large pan over medium-high heat place a generous amount of smokey bacon rashers snipped into pieces. Fry the bacon till it starts to crisp up nicely. Add 1tbs of fennel seeds and toast lightly. Now cover the bacon with some shredded savoy cabbage. Add a dash of water to keep everything from drying out, cover, and cook for a few more minutes, till the savoy starts to soften. Don’t cook for too long - the cabbage needs to stay sharp and bright. Finish off with a drizzle of sherry vinegar (let reduce down), then add a sprinkling of sea salt and pepper and a little olive oil. 

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