Top Ten Festive Drinks – BBC Good Food
Posted: November 29, 2011 Filed under: publications 1 Comment »
I’ve written about Christmas drinks for BBC Good Food. You can have a read here.
The Long Table
Posted: November 17, 2011 Filed under: good times 13 Comments »
Next Friday sees the launch of East London’s first night time street market and I’m absolutely delighted to announce that, once again I’ve been invited to fire up the hot plates and share some of the Bengali home cooked love. I’ll be in some pretty incredible company: other stalls include The Loft Project, Sho Foo Doh okonomiyaki, Moro, Taiwanese treats from Yum Buns, Big Apple Hotdogs, Climpsons Coffee, Doughnut Girl, Jez Meatball Man, London Fields Brewery, Hawksmoor, an Oyster bar from Fin and Flounder and many exciting others. I’ll be there with my traditional slow cooked Bengali goat and potato curry, spinach and peas with home made paneer, smoked aubergine dal, vegetable pulao and plenty more of my home made snacks.
I met up with Dave, one of the organisers yesterday and as we gazed down from the Dalston Roof Park at the remote triangular space hidden away at the end of Abbot Street he explained how with log fires, a huge marquee, acoustic bands and a long communal table at which diners can enjoy their amazing treats, the idea will be to encourage people to enjoy the sense of inherent warmth you only really get from a proper communal gathering. From 6pm -12am every Friday in the run up to Christmas it promises to be absolutely epic and Friday nights in Dalston really won’t ever be the same again.
Autumnal Treats – BBC Good Food
Posted: November 10, 2011 Filed under: publications Leave a comment »
I’ve written a little piece about Autumnal food for BBC Good Food. You can read it here
Spicy Sausage Rolls at the Underground Market
Posted: November 9, 2011 Filed under: baking, good times, lunch, snacks 10 Comments »
Our “ruby murray” stall – photo by Kerstin Rogers
Flaky, delicate pastry with a spicy thwack of chillified filling, my spicy sausage rolls were a bit of a hit on Saturday and turned out to be just the thing for bonfire night.
I literally had no idea what to expect from Ms Marmite Lover’s underground market. I’d never been to one, let alone run a stall there, but her latest was a fantastic, gloriously surreal festival-like shebang. Although I didn’t actually get a chance to see everything, as we were too busy serving food, I met an almost endless stream of genuinely lovely people. I particularly enjoyed the spirit of camaraderie amongst the stallholders, and was really touched by some of the comments about our food.
Quantities had been a bit of a question mark. I had absolutely no idea how much to make, despite having spent the previous few days frantically exchanging emails with Helen from Food Stories and Kerstin trying to work this out. So I was super chuffed and much-surprised at our popularity – we managed to sell out of pretty much everything in the few hours we were open. I’ve always relished the idea of feeding people the food I love to eat at home, you know, the stuff you never really come across in restaurants. Seeing the delighted look on people’s faces after taking an initial bite was an incredible buzz, and some of the nicest feedback came from people who seemed gobsmacked that I didn’t sell my food regularly and demanded that I immediately rectify this.
Huge thanks to Kerstin for inviting us and organising such a terrific event.
INGREDIENTS
8 sausages, slit down the middle and liberated from their casings (I made half a batch with Quorn sausages and half with beef)
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2-3 fresh green chillies
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 inch ginger, peeled
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
2-3 tsp mustard oil
All butter puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
METHOD
- Blitz the onion, ginger, garlic and chillies in a spice grinder/coffee mill
- Heat the mustard oil and when it’s hot add the mustard seeds, which should sizzle immediately.
- Introduce the onion mixture and fry until golden.
- Once this has cooled, mix into the sausage meat, along with the curry powder and a pinch of salt.
- Roll out the pastry and fill with the sausage meat. Seal and brush liberally with the beaten egg and bake for 25 minutes at 200C/gas mark 6 or until golden brown and cooked through.
