happy birthday to me! (or why I love the pea)

My love of peas has been a constant in my life. I have often wondered if it is to do with things that happened on and around the day of my birth. It’s a long time ago, a distant memory but I was there, remember!

My pregnant mother had decided to have me at home - a home birth. Her GP, a fierce ex-miner called Dr Heathcote, had advised total bed-rest for the last month of her pregnancy. And as a woman who was full of energy this was always going to be difficult. A solution was reached. My father arranged to have a television installed in their bedroom in order that my tennis-obsessed mother could watch Wimbledon during the last weeks before spawning.

save (the) bumblebee . . . i hope it's not too late . . .

No, not that bumblebee although you should. This is actually me coming over a little bit NIMBY; I want you to help save a local and much-loved shop - Bumblebee on Brecknock Road in Kentish Town. Please, please, please help prevent a much-loved local shop being forced out of business; reject the application!

last chance to vote for me! and a big thank-you!

I just wanted to say thank you to all of those very kind people who have voted for Marmaduke Scarlet in the Observer Food Monthly Awards.   

For those of you who don't know, The Observer (and its sister paper, The Guardian) host both the exemplary Word of Mouth blog as well as the Food Monthly magazine - both genuinely innovative and interesting contributors to the British food scene. Of course my absolute favourite food writer in the whole world also writes for them (if you couldn't tell who it is . . . it is of course, the divine Nigel Slater).

smoked salmon, feta and asparagus salad

A late spring or early summer salad of my favourite green vegetables combined with sublime smoked salmon. The creamy, tangy flavours of feta together with the smokiness of the fish work wonderfully with the crisp, green vegetables.

killer chocolate brownies

killer chocolate brownies

Grown men have wept for these chocolate morsels. They have fought over them. Wrestled with Tupperware containers and tried to hide the last crumbs. I have had duels conducted to force me to release the secrets of this chocolate heaven (though never successfully) and more offers of first-born children than I know what to do with. Thank god I am not the vengeful, sacrificing kind.

But the time has come to put this recipe for killer chocolate brownies out there. Not double chocolate, not triple chocolate. This is chocolate four-ways (quadruple doesn't really roll off the tongue). These brownies are, to my mind, perfection - dense, moist and intensely chocolate-y, unadulterated by nuts, just total chocolate.

the perfect hangover cure? drunkard's noodles (pad kee mao)

I have no idea why these noodles are considered drunken . . . a quick look on the internet says that it is a favourite at noodles stalls with Thai men after a hard night of drinking (better than the ubiquitous British kebab!) . . . I must investigate further. It sounds like the perfect hangover cure. 

what's in season: june

Henry's pink aquilegia 2011

The fountain murmuring of sleep,
A drowsy tune;
The flickering green of leaves that keep
The light of June;
Peace, through a slumbering afternoon,
The peace of June.

A waiting ghost, in the blue sky,
The white curved moon;
June, hushed and breathless, waits, and I
Wait too, with June;
Come, through the lingering afternoon,
Soon, love, come soon.
Arthur Symons (1865-1945) - In Fountain Court

June is probably may favourite month, for no better reason than it is my birthday month, the days are getting longer and as a child I was firmly convinced of June’s magical properties; Mid Summer Day was full of faeries, enchantment and stories of future loves and I had no reason to disbelieve this. When I was 16 I was given a bottle of homemade wine as a present, with a beautifully designed label entitled “Rachel’s Midsummer Magic” and I have been trying to maintain this ever since!

strawberry salad with blue cheese dressing

There is a glut of strawberries this year because of the phenomenal weather we had at Easter. I love this early summer salad of strawberries and spicy watercress. Toasted almonds add a nice nutty crunchiness to contrast with the creamy blue cheese dressing and the bitter and peppery watercress.

fat couscous and chickpea salad with a lemon-chilli dressing

fat couscous salad with feta and chlli

It isn't very often that I eat a supermarket ready-meal and think "delicious. I must rush home and try to create it". In fact it has never happened before. But recently there has been one thing I have rather enjoyed and that is one of Sainsbury's range of Taste the Difference Giant Cous Cous and Feta salad pots.

I spent years trying to track down Israeli couscous in England. But I finally managed to identify it as mograbiah or moghrabbiyeh. This is also known as Lebanese, pearl or Israeli couscous. And until I had a word to describe it, I just called it fat couscous; it shall always be fat couscous to me.

what's in season: may

© British Asparagus

The month of May was come, when every lusty heart beginneth to blossom, and to bring forth fruit; for like as herbs and trees bring forth fruit and flourish in May, in likewise every lusty heart that is in any manner a lover, springeth and flourisheth in lusty deeds. For it giveth unto all lovers courage, that lusty month of May.
Sir Thomas Malory - Le Morte d'Arthur (1485)

Out with the old and in with the new . . . most of our winter crops are coming to and end and stores of fruit and vegetables are dwindling. But British seasonal foods are just beginning to come into their own.

I'm not a particularly patriotic person; you will never see me wearing a Union Jack t-shirt (although maybe some Union Jack slippers), but I will admit to feeling a faint stirring of something when I first saw the enormous UJ bunting decorating Regent Street in London recently (up for for the Royal Wedding) . . . although that could have been due to indigestion. But I will definitely give a big old whoop and a cheer for glorious British asparagus, a very short but sweet season of six to eight weeks.

chicken with chilli, lemon and mint

chicken with chilli, lemon and mint

This Easter weekend in April was so warm it felt like summer. Ah, the joys of English weather. Not surprisingly a barbecue party was in order. It was perfect weather and I had good friends who are more than happy to let me do the food.
The first thing I prepared was some grilled chicken. This is one of my favourite barbecue dishes. But it is equally easy to do under the grill and while it is infinitely nicer served warm, but it also works well at ambient temperature; the flavours are strong yet subtle enough to fill your mouth with glorious Moroccan flavours.

basil pesto sauce

basil pesto

While a pesto made with basil isn't strictly a seasonal recipe, I had made a bucket-load last weekend. I was cooking for several picnics over the Easter holiday and the weather was divine, as good as you could hope for. (London was apparently hotter than the Sahara!) So while my basil plants are still little more than seedlings, a trip to my local Middle Eastern deli, Phoenicia in Kentish Town, armed me with bags of the stuff at a very reasonable price indeed.