Food for sharing...

Feeding people is one of my favourite things to do. I think that the best thing about creating something in your kitchen is sharing the results with loved ones... it makes any effort so worthwhile. 

Something as simple as a whole camembert, baked in the oven for 15 minutes with honey, garlic and thyme and served with crusty bread and a few fresh figs is just made for sharing.

Whole camembert baked in a ceramic pot with garlic, thyme and honey

fresh figs on my windowsill...

Day one as an official market trader

Today was Cornflower Kitchen's first ever market stall at South Lambeth Market. The weather held out, bountiful coffee kept me warm and most importantly I completely sold out of tarts, scotch eggs, savoury cakes and cheese straws...

Moroccan lamb tarts with feta, mint and pomegranate, cheese straws, scotch eggs (original for the purists and scotch eggs with fennel seeds and chilli for the more adventurous), beetroot and cheddar cake, olive and Parmesan cake and cherry tomato tarte tatins were all available to buy.

More of the same (and more!) next month...

Leiths week 2 - sea bass cerviche, parsley pasta, wild mushrooms & warm red salsa

Week 2 at Leiths started with removing the skin from a fillet of sea bass, marinating it in lemon juice, lime juice and birds eye chillis and chucking it in the fridge for a couple of hours. While the cerviche was cerviching, we made a quick salsa with tomatoes, coriander & avocado and 'degorged' some red onions. Degorging is a brilliant word for removing the moisture from something using salt. The thinly sliced onion was covered in a salty layer, left for 20 minutes and then rinsed, covered in lemon juice and sweetened with sugar to create a bright pink accompaniment to the fish.

The pasta machines came out next to make 'parsley pasta'.. basically young parsley springs sandwiched between two sheets of pasta and then re rolled though as low a setting you can, without tearing. The resulting pasta is very pretty looking, with the parsley springs showing through the pasta sheets.

This would be a great pasta to use in an open lasagna.. I used it cut into small pieces and served with some (very) garlicky wild mushrooms and a warm red salsa made from finely diced red peppers, olive oil, basil, lemon juice and a concasse of tomato (another new term learnt today, this is just a fancy name for finely diced!)

Next week, twice baked crab souffles and partridge with lentils, pancetta and thyme.

An ode to tomatoes...

How do I love thee, tomato? Let me count the ways....
I love thee juiced, pulped, chopped, sliced, roasted, fried, grilled, or just whole, devoured with wanton greed. Yes, I love this humble fruit.

What I love even more is stumbling across beautiful specimens when you're least expecting them. We're in October now and the prime tomato season of August is pretty much over. So to find these juicy little beauties yesterday  - from Venn Street Market - was even more exciting and called for a celebration of all things tomato.

Organic tomatoes from Wild Country Organics

First entrant to the tomato feast was a classic Spanish-style gazpacho. Fresh and fragrant with basil, cucumber, fiery garlic and of course the flesh of the red tomatoes. Parsley and cubes of cucumber and red pepper make a great crunchy addition just before serving...(recipes follow below)

Greek basil flowers and a drizzle of olive oil to serve...

Next on the list was a tomato tarte tatin, using small sweet cherry tomatoes - yellow and red. These are sweet and sticky from brown sugar and balsamic vinegar and have the perfect amount of garlic to balance out the sweetness...

For the gazpacho (makes 2 large bowls)

• 700g tomatoes
• half a red pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 - 3 spring onions
• glug of good olive oil
• splash of sherry vinegar
• 4 inch piece of cucumber, peeled
• pinch of salt and pepper 

First, cover the tomatoes with boiling water for 2 minutes. Their skin should split and it will be easy to remove. Once you have removed the skin, cut each tomato in half and remove the seeds.  
Put all ingredients in a blender and whizz until smooth. To make the garnish, finely chop the remaining half pepper, a small piece of cucumber and a handful of parsley. Serve ice cold, with a couple of ice cubes in the bowl too. 


For the tomato mini tarte tatins (makes 2)

• 4 - 5 cherry tomatoes per tarte
• garlic clove, crushed
• splash of olive oil
• splash of balsamic vinegar
• pinch of light brown sugar 

Take 2 mini cake tins (the ones I use are about 5 inches across) and put a splash of olive oil in the bottom of each. Cut the tomatoes in half and place cut side down in the base of the tins, ensuring to squeeze them in. Add a splash of balsamic and a sprinkling of sugar. Add a small amount of garlic to each tin and put in the oven at 200C for 10 minutes, until bubbling. 

In the meantime, cut rounds out of puff pastry sheets and chill until needed. The circles should be large enough to cover the tomatoes. 

Add the pastry to the top of the tomatoes, return to the oven and bake for a further 12 minutes until the puff pastry is risen and golden. 

Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Turn out onto a plate and admire your handiwork.

Battersea and Venn Street markets

I love markets - especially food markets - and I'm lucky enough to have a fair few on my door step in South West London. In fact, I didn't realise quite how many there are until I started seeking them out.

Battersea Food Market

Today, I sniffed out Battersea Food Market. Situated on Battersea High Street, this petite market provides all you need for your weekly food shop (minus a fishmonger). There's even a stall selling fresh coconut juice!

I then headed from Battersea to Clapham and the Venn Street Market to pick up organic tomatoes from Wild Country Organics (more on my obsession with tomatoes tomorrow), some rare breed lamb mince from Garlic Wood Farm, smoked duck breast from award winning chef Thomas Maieli and a Chelsea Bun from The Old Post Office Bakery  - London's longest running organic bakery.

Chelsea Bun from Venn Street Market

I'm not sure my neighbour's poor tired dog appreciated being dragged round Battersea Park and two farmer's markets though...

Food shopping is hard work...

Tomorrow... Electric Avenue and Brixton Farmer's Market!

Supper for an Indian Summer - gnocchi with garlicky leeks & mint

I can't actually believe how stiflingly hot it is in London at the moment. My kitchen is about 100C, even with the windows wide open. Not that I'm complaining, it's just not what I normally expect when October's round the corner.

When it's that hot, something Autumnal and wholesome like a partridge pie (which was the original plan), really won't cut it - something lighter (mint, gnocchi, peas and pan-fried garlicky leeks, topped with Parmesan) is much more likely to hit the mark...

Rose and raspberry sorbet

We seem to be having an Indian summer at the moment and, with the warm weather apparently set to continue until the weekend, I thought I could get away with a quick sorbet test before the Winter truly sets in...

This crimson pink ice uses fresh raspberries which, combined with the essence of rosewater, results in a lovely light fruity and flowery concoction. It's also really easy to make, which is an added bonus.

Recipe follows below...

For the sorbet syrup:
30g liquid glucose
100g white sugar
175ml water 

For the sorbet:
500g raspberries (frozen is fine)
2 tbsp rose water
200g sorbet syrup
Juice of 1 large lemon 

To make the sorbet syrup, add the liquid glucose, sugar and water to a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes then leave to cool. 

To make the sorbet, simply add the raspberries and sorbet syrup to a pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Retain 1 dessert spoon of the seeds and add back to the sorbet mix. Add the juice of the lemon and the rose water, put into a large freezer-proof box and put into the freezer (or into an ice cream maker if you have one). 

If you don't have an ice cream maker, take the sorbet out for 5 minutes before serving to soften.