This Week...I Wanted... I bought.... I cooked

Friday we still have the Mont D'Or from last week so there will be some crudite and some crusty bread and some wine...

Quick trip to Borough Friday, though made the mistake of going about midday - wow! was it busy. Hated it! Bought milk at Neals Yard - £1.55, coffee from Monmouth £19.50, nothing from Ginger Pig - nothing! Went to Gastronomica for ham, spicy salami and pancetta as possibles for dipping in cheese - £7.40. Bought one packet of pork scratchings last week from Northfield and they are so incredibly good that this week I bought 2 packets - and was loathe to share! £3 Bread from Bread Ahead - £2, some of their stuff is really good. Olives and cornichon from Fresh Olive - £3.50 and chocolates from L'Artisan - £3 Fennel, endive and cucumber as well as a few clementines from Paul Wheeler -£3.40 and I was done. Until I went to Brixton and bought greens, rice, sesame paste, chilli oil and thai basil at Wing Yip - £15.90

The Thai basil became a defining element for half the week because it costs £2.50 a bunch - it's a big bunch but it seems a lot for a herb I grow in the garden in the summer. So all original plan for the week went out the window and instead we had lovely things with thai basil.

Saturday we are away for the weekend, so raisin toast and coffee for breakfast
Actually the man made porridge, kept us going till lunch in the country

Back Sunday afternooon lamb curry from freezer with rice and cucumber raita

Had a plate of salami olives and cheese on our return, with a small bowl for the other packet of pork scratchings!
We had been out Thursday last week to try the new Camberwell Arms, new pub from the people at the Canton and not much further to walk! Shabby elegant interior, open kitchen behind a stretch of bar, very nice ambience. Glorious starters and then we had the roast chicken - lots of it! Didn't finish it so brought the leftovers home and made a stir fry with rice noodles, greens and thai basil for dinner

Monday out to see Happy Days
Breakfast of muesli and coffee and fresh juice, lots of carrot and ginger
The man had some rice noodles for lunch with a bag of chocolates and a clementine - o lucky man!
To Brixton for veg for juicing - £3.50 and Greensmiths in Waterloo for some pork mince and a sausage roll for my lunch - £6.40

The man has a terrible cold so though he went to work the theatre tickets went back - boo! So we had dinner at home - bun noodles, a salad of lettuce, cucumber and thai basil all topped with pork cooked with lemongrass, ginger and garlic, very good!

Tuesday
Spiced pork balls - mince in freezer - with roasted pumpkin salad and greens
Breakfast of muesli and coffee after juice
Man had the rest of Sunday's rice noodles for lunch
Decided I really fancied laksa or similar so went to Brixton and bought tofu and tofu puffs as well as coriander, soy sauce, coconut milk, green beans and veg to juice - £9.50
The laksa was a treat for dinner and used some more of the thai basil

Wednesday
 Italian cauliflower salad from PBS Splendid Kitchen
Juice then muesli and coffee to start
The man had the rest of the laksa for lunch and I ended up with some buttered salty crackers, all I felt like, they are £2.69 a pack from Malinka but last ages as there's dozens of little packs inside
Had cheese and olives when the man came home with a beer. Dinner was some lamb curry from the freezer with rice, cucumber raita and red onion sambal - so quick, so fabulous

Thursday
Tofu, steamed aubergine and rice
Juice then rhubarb and yoghurt with coffee - have a few little pots of rhubarb in the freezer for start the day treats
The man had a tub of rice and leftover salads from last night - we'd scarfed all the curry! I had salami roll - salami from Camisa - £3.24 and bread from Wild Caper - £1.80
Dinner is chorizo and anya potato tortilla with salad and a chunk of bread on the side

Spent £86.38 over the week

This Week I Wanted...I Bought...I Made

Have decided to approach this regular weekly post in a slightly different fashion and post a menu list Thursday for the rest of the week - I do the main food shop Fridays, and keep track of what food bought and eaten when to see how the food evolves both weekly and over time. Will add in pricing as well just so I know where it's going and also where the idea for the food comes from to try and develop that into a broader or better thought through meal plan.

Friday there is smoked salmon in the fridge and eggs not eaten so that's dinner right there with a green salad and the rest of the soda bread toasted
Breakfast was muesli for the man who left very early and coffee and a slice of thickly buttered soda bread for me
Went to Borough in the morning and blow me down but the sun was shining - what a delight after all the rain. I swear everyone was cheerier than usual
I started at Neals Yard and bought 2 litres of milk, a large tub of yoghurt and a reduced price tub of clotted cream - £6.80
Then to Ginger Pig thinking I'd only get eggs but oooooh, temptation! they had 4 big thick gammon steaks for £10 and I could not resist - £13 with the dozen eggs
From Gastronomica I bought a thick slice of Pecorino and a bag of dried penne £12.80
At the place that sells the Comte I bought instead a tub of rillette for snacking - £5.50
Borough Olives have petit luque in, could not resist, £3.50 for a medium tub
Prosciutto di Parma from the parma ham and mozzarella stand £6.80
A warm scotch egg - something of a guilty pleasure for me - £3 from Roast takeaway - my lunch, the man took the rest of last night's leek and potato soup to be pinged in the microwave and eaten with a slice of soda bread
A most enormous cucumber from the used to be Booths and enquired about the price of the rhubarb - £5 a kilo, hmm I said, tell you what 4 quid'll do, okay I said and he pulled down all the rhubarb that was there - close to 2 kgs - and said have the lot, £3.50. Cheers - so £4.40 with the cucumber
Spent  £55.80

Snacks with a drink both green and black olives with a little rillette on a buttered cracker before dinner of smoked salmon, eggs, salad and very thin slices of hot toasted soda bread

Saturday porridge to bolster us against the rain, then sandwich for lunch as we are out in the evening to see Midsummer Night's Dream and so shall have an early supper at Comptoir Gascon
Almost none of that came true- had toasted soda bread with the man's mothers' fabulous marmalade with lashings of  fresh coffee at breakfast then rillette and olives, Hungarian salami from when we were in Budapest, cucumber and cheeses to snack on for a light lunch and a slightly under par tea at Comptoir Gascon - disappointing as I have eaten here on and off for years and it is generally really good - but not this time. Good production though - best Bottom ever!

Sunday a roast perhaps, some time since I made one
More soda bread toast and marmalade to start the day then, after Dallas Buyers Club at the Ritzy we mistimed arrival at The Canton and  waited a very long time indeed until we finally got a seat and had a seriously gorgeous roast  beef with potatoes and creamed leeks - perfect lunch
Back to snacks for supper after such a late lunch - the last of the rillettes with crackers, some parma ham and olives and cheese and cucumber

Monday tofu and noodles
Juice of carrots, peppers, pears, ginger and clementine with muesli for the man and coffee for me as breakfast

For lunch the man went out and I bought a couple of rolls from Di Lieto - 60p - and had the last of the parma ham
Went to Brixton Market and bought peppers and bananas - £1.70 and made a batch of coconut cookies from ingredients I already had in so practically free!
Dinner was creamy bowls of penne with fennel after a snack of macadamia nuts - I had fennel from last week that needed using and a tub of creme fraiche in the freezer that needed using

Tuesday carbonara as there is guincale in the freezer
Juice this morning from peppers, carrots, pears, a stick of celery, ginger and lime then a breakfast of yoghurt with stewed rhubarb and coffee for me, lunch was leftover pasta and the tin of coconut biscuits and a banana for the man, I bought salami from Camisa £2.80 and a couple of rolls from Di Lieto - 60p great combination
From Waitrose I bought butter - I love the French butter that is unsalted and then large crystals are added to give grainy little explosions of salt but it is not widely available. Often I buy waitrose own brand but it seems to have altered recently and has less salt so I was on a mission to find the real French version. Did so at John Lewis foodhall - the poshest of posh waitrose but still a supermarket - and bought 3 blocks of Buerre d'Isigny and a couple of blocks of President unsalted which was £8.77. A lot to pay just for butter but it will last the month so worth it for the pleasure of weekend eating. Also went to Brixton for veg - carrots, beetroot, parsley and pears - a much more reasonable £2.59
Dinner - after a beer and a few macadamia nuts - did indeed start from the freezer but it was a litre of stock and some leftover ham hock that went with wild mushrooms and lashings of butter and cheese for a very fine rich risotto

Wednesday lamb curry from the freezer with rice and some interesting sides
Juice today was deepest red - beetroot, carrots, celery stick, pears, ginger and a couple of red peppers then breakfast again was yoghurt and rhubarb, coffee. The man took the rest of the risotto and a banana for lunch, I had scrambled eggs
Dinner was chargrilled gammon steaks - technically from the freezer but only because that's where I put them Friday - with egg and chips. Bliss on a cold wet windy night

Thursday out to see Superior Donuts at Southwark Playhouse - it's a new play by Tracy Letts who wrote August: Osage County which I liked a lot in the cinema, unlike most reviewers!
Breakfast was juice same as yesterday's but no celery and less peppers, still gorgeous then yoghurt with rhubarb + coffee for me Lunch for the man was the rest of the risotto and the biscuit tin came home empty so made a fruit tea loaf for tomorrow and the weekend

Bought peppers, carrots, coriander, spinach, chillies, beetroot, celery, spring onions and an orange at Nour stores in Brixton - £5.44 - a mix of stuff to juice and make salad, the orange is for the tea loaf. Bought focaccia from Wild Caper - ~£2 and ham from Di Lieto - £2.50 for decadent lunch for me
 Quick early supper at home - spiced roasted chicken pieces with a quinoa salad - chicken from freezer with garlic, ginger, chilli rub - not a lot on offer round Elephant

I wanted ...I bought... I made

The only baking this week was my very first loaf of soda bread

Friday night we are out for birthday drinks and some fun. Went to Androuet in Spitalfields and it was very good indeed.

Saturday I think we might have takeaway Chinese for lunch for whatever reason! Decadently had another sit down meal - dim sum at Bright Courtyard after a decidedly unsuccessful attempt to buy a new duvet cover. I washed a pink shirt with the old - formerly white - duvet. Lunch was most fine, I had read about the restaurant in an article by Fuchsia Dunlop. Delighted to find a new place I'd never come across before, though Baker Street is not really a regular haunt.

Saturday night grilled pork chops - from the freezer - and lots of veg from the organics stall at Oval Market.

Sunday lunch at the Canton, gloriously fabulous porcetta in such enormous slices that we took the last of it home, though the man still managed a little cream topped chocolate pot. Mad a spinach pie for the evening - tentatively freezer related as I have some filo needs using. Bought more filo as well as spinach and spring onions in Brixton, feta and eggs from Borough, and a Spanish tomme from the new Lidl that's opened round the corner, which worked really well.

The spinach pie was a very fine dinner Sunday night but also great cold in lunchboxes with roasted peppers and fresh cucmber and lasted till Thursday quite happily.

Monday King Lear, started early so I made some roasted onions and peppers for serious sandwiches with the leftover porchetta and some fresh rocket. Felt underwhelmed by the production after expecting great things, didn't quite work.

Tuesday beef pot roast and mash - chinese takeaway and some good Cote du Rhone.

Wednesday I'm out so the man shall have a treat - was cancelled so we had salade nicoise by request of the man - bought lettuce in Brixton but otherwise had everything in, even some crusty bread in the freezer.

Thursday - soup and cheesy buns - actually soda bread that I made after being inspired by this week's perfect. Used yoghurt from the corner shop, not buttermilk as I couldn't find it anywhere. The rest of the stuff I had in the cupboard.

At the market I also bought coffee - sad to hear they currently have no Indonesian which I've been loving for the past few months - £13 for Costa Rican beans instead, bought Artisan chocolates for the lovely sister in law - £6,  eggs and one pork chop from Ginger Pig - £10 even, milk and half a St John fruit loaf from Neals Yard - they now stock very little St John bread so it was a real treat to snaffle even half a loaf for weekend breakfasts - £4.15. Also bought lots of veg from Brixton for the insatiable beast of a vegetable juicer - another £7 (approximate)

Tidbits

 The blog has changed a bit of late - Borough Market was once the focus of my food but it has changed and so have I. Nowadays my quest for fabulous encompasses lots of other places as does my weekly food shop. So, welcome to tidbits - all the other stuff I ate this week!

 We had a light supper at Fernandez & Wells at Somerset House, one of the most beautiful rooms I eat in with its impossibly high ceilings and enormous windows and utterly fabulous selection of mostly pork - hams, salami, chorizo, morcilla to go with a couple of well chosen cheeses, and a couple of  perfect nibbles of grilled padron peppers and salted marcona almonds. With a glass of wine there is no finer way to dine before the theatre. Sadly, the play - The Captain of Kopenik starring the inestimable Antony Sher - was a little less than the sum of its parts.

 Maybe one in twenty padron peppers is really hot - and it's always a suprise!

In our second cultural outing for the week we were headed to the Young Vic for A Doll's House, a play I'd never before seen on stage. We started with dinner at The Anchor & Hope, a place that I have really loved for years for its brillaintly cooked, gutsy British food. There was a time when, if there was a dish I'd never eaten but fancied, I would order it in this pub knowing that it would be the best rendition possible and I could decide if I liked it or not. And now, sadly, it's not so. It has many changes of staff over the years and it feels like the puff has gone. Dinner was perfectly reasonable - the man had sweetbreads with peas and bacon and I had a Barnsley chop with sweet potato - but we didn't come out zinging with the pleasure of our meal. It was the same last time we ate there, and I've heard similar reports from others that have eaten there lately. Shame.

The play, however, was brilliant, if you're in London and can get tickets, I urge you to go. It was one of the best nights at the theatre we've had in a while.

Friday brought with it the possibility of adventure. I had booked  to go to A Balkan Dinner, at the Frog on the Green, an event organised by Foodtrips, a brilliant foodie adventure that creates fabulous holidays I lust after and occasional nights like this. I know nothing of the food of the Balkans but it turns out the unifying elements is yoghurt. Which works for me - I am very fond indeed of a good yoghurt.

Chef John Gionleka stems from Albania, but his family and interests both span the entire region. His love of peasant food is paired with not quite so peasanty technique. John runs "Frog on the Green", the amazing deli on the Nunhead/Peckham borders that was host to us for the night.

My favourite of the night - chicken with a lemony yoghurt finished with hazelnut butter and mint

Globe zucchini stuffed wtih pork and pine kernels was well matched with soured goats' yoghurt

Loved the spring lamb but was almost defeated by the yoghurt gratin

 It was a brilliant evening - the shop had been converted into an ad hoc dining room and a group of fairly random strangers gathered to indulge in this lovely feast with musical interludes between courses.

 Saturday morning I nipped  up to my local farmers market at Oval. There's a good organic fruit and veg stall - the loss of Tony Booth from Borough is what really made the wheel fall off my food trolley, finding a new supply of great veg is an ongoing challenge. Bought potatoes, candy striped beetroot - because how could I resist?! - and probably the final purple sprouting broccoli of the year. Was planning a salad but alas is still too cold.

This is my biggest delight of the week. It's a tofu mould that I had to send to China for as they seem to be unobtainable any where closer than that. I have bought Asian Tofu, largely because I have never been able to buy tofu that comes anywhere near the bean curd flower we eat at Baozoi Inn. It is one of the best things I have ever eaten and it is more seductive every time I try it. So, adventures in tofu coming up!

Pot Roast Guinea Fowl with Onion Sauce

Recently I was invited to a French guinea fowl masterclass and what a fabulous evening it was.  Andy Stephenson, chef/propritor of Hallidays in West Sussex, gave a brilliant demonstration of the versatility of this wonder of the poultry world. It's been a while since I've eaten guinea fowl and it was good to be reminded of just how tasty it is.

Andy talked the group of assembled bloggers through the highlights of the bird - the simplicity with which it can be treated due to the richer than chicken flavour, low in fat it is a good source of protein particularly as the birds are raised to a high welfare standard. At the same time, with enormous skill, he demonstrated boning out and stuffing the legs with a truffled mousse, gently hot smoking the breast to be the star element of a sublimely French salad with black pudding, fried apple and toasted hazelnuts and then completed this fabulous hat trick with the balantine served atop a platter of spring vegetables with a gorgeous light cream sauce.

The following week I noticed the Ginger Pig was selling guinea fowl, not just French but label rouge from the Gers, where once we had a house, and a region well known for its fabulous poultry. Gotta be a sign! I bought one, vaguely wondering about my ability to bone and stuff the legs with mousse, but once home I set on another course. I found an English recipe of Frances Bissell's that pot roasted the bird with herbs and garlic lifted with citrus peel under the skin and finished with a cream sauce. I couldn't resist.

 Pot Roast Guinea Fowl, stuffed with herbs and garlic, with onion sauce

I do indeed mean a whole head of garlic here, but don't be afraid. The long wet cooking softens it down till it is just a deep flavour to the finished sauce.

1 free range guinea fowl
fresh herbs such as tarragon, chervl, parsley and thyme
1/2 lemon
1 head of garlic, new season if possible
55g butter
1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tbspn brandy
75ml dry white wine 
2 tbspns cream


Gently ease the skin away from the breasts and thighs of the guinea fowl, inserting your fingers between skin and flesh at the end of the bird to make a pocket between the two. Push the soft herbs under the skin as well as small tender sprigs of thyme. Pare off thin strips of lemon zest and put them into the bird's cavity, together with any extra herbs. Squeeze the lemon juice and rub it over the outside then lightly season the whole both inside and out.


Peel all the garlic and, in a deep flameproof casserole, fry them in the butter with the onion slices for a few minutes without letting them brown. Turn the guinea fowl in the hot butter till the skin is well coated then add the brandy and wine. Cover with a lid and cook in a pre-heated oven at 175C/325F/Gas 3 for about 90 minutes.


Transfer the bird, whole, to a warm serving dish and cover with foil. Pour the cooking juices through a fine sieve, crushing the remaining juice from the garlic, into a small pan and bring to the boil. Add more seasoning if necessary, cream if you like, and perhaps sharpen with a drop of lemon.


Serve with the bird.

It made a wonderful dinner that night just with mashed potatoes and rocket garnish to soak up the gravy, and cold it was the star of salad the following night. I pulled the last of the flesh from the carcass and boiled the bones for stock, then froze the lot for a final future feast from my birdy of risotto with wild mushrooms.

I wanted... I bought.... I made

I love great vegetables!

Apologies for intermittent blogging lately, not keeping up as well as I should but have had trips away and folks to stay. Normal service should resume...

Friday we are out and Saturday the lovely Marie is coming to visit with baby Teddy which will be a treat. Planning muffins for lunch, easy and good with salad. Dinner might be pork chops leftover muffins and snacks and bits. Sunday I have a chicken in the freezer that I want to steam then crisp the skin, think it would be good with salads roasted in plain and simple with hot boiled veg that became potato salad for lunches. Monday tofu and greens salad nicoise, Tuesday pork balls, spicy with sweet potato and salad pork chops!, Wednesday dal as I've been reading about it and have a hankering tofu and greens. Thursday omelette and salad risotto with the last of the chicken with spring onions.

Borough was busyish Friday afternoon, very odd to approach and find Flour Power gone, no more famous brownie towers or toast bread for that matter. They were told to go as the trustees claim they have grown too big, but that doesn't seem to apply to Hotel Chocolat's multinational status. The space is now filled by the plant people - largely decorative rather than edible.

Started at Neals Yard to discover they had no bread left. With flour Power usually the first stall you come to, now everyone is round the corner and into Neals Yard, cleared the lot before lunch apparently. The guy serving was just about to increase the order for the next day but not good for me. Pfff.I bought yoghurt, milk and pasta, spent £8.40

Then to Silfield as I have been fancying ham hock recently and I always buy theirs. Glad to see a hock mountain - one for me £3.50 though the guy serving said I could have 2 for £7

To Chegworth for exquisitely scented strawberries and a lovely fresh lettuce - £4.50

Cucumber from Organics - £1.30

Chocolates from L'Artisan - still a totally bargainous £2

Eggs from Wild Beef - gone up 40p a dozen but they are worth it - £3.40 now

Suddenly fancied grilled pork chops, so to Ginger Pig for 2 lovely specimens - £6.50

Wanted olives so was round to Fresh Olive, looking for green ones with tarragon but no joy. Bought green ones with jalapeno and garlic stuffed inside and they are divine. £3.50

Spent just over £33 but had very little veg.

With Booths gone shopping at Borough is a much less satisfying experience, it is such a good fruit and vegetable monger, great range and quality at reasonable prices. Turnips is still trading but they are seriously expensive, and Secretts don't even bother to put prices on their produce. Chegworth have a few little bits of very nice vegetables, Harriet has good organic stuff but a very limited range, and Ted's Veg is only there Saturdays. I've tried our local market at Oval but their veg is not very good, the fruit shop round the corner has good stuff sometimes but is not reliable and they are currently selling carrots from China. Decided this week I'd try the farmers market at Brixton Sunday - bought beautiful watercress, nice looking potatoes that sadly had almost no flavour, some fresh peas that were nice but not more and a cabbage I've yet to try. It's really frustrating after years of great produce. Next I will bite the bullet and shop at Turnips as the alternative is shopping at Maltby Street, which I'd love to do but it is a considerable schlepp, a couple of hours extra at least which is lot every week. But I may do it!

Do read about the current Borough scenario here if you have some time.

Also went to a new cheese shop in Victoria and bought some lovely bits there to top up our snack repertoire and was back to Borough early in the week for more yoghurt and milk as smoothies delight for weekend breakfasts meant we used loads.