Tricolour Carrot Tagliatelle with Orange Zest, Coriander Seeds and Scallops

This started out as a healthy experiment that worked well in principle but wasn’t quite right taste wise and evolved into a dish I’m really proud of. Inspired by the success of making salsify tagliatelle I thought it would be fun to do something similar with carrots. But whereas the creamy seafood sauce worked wonders with the salsify thanks to the white root vegetable’s oystery taste, my horseradish carbonara was best consigned to the compost bin.

But rather than give up I mulled things over, invested in some multi-coloured carrots and had a look in my Flavour Thesaurus. Prior to peeking inside, I had wondered whether orange and a Middle Eastern spice might work well and was delighted when I stumbled across the fact that Niki Segnit recommends both orange and coriander seeds as two great flavour combinations to throw at carrots. So I thought, what the hell, let’s try both. And then threw some scallops in as well to turn it into a proper meal.

Ingredients:

A bunch of peeled, long, multi-coloured carrots
Coriander seeds
2 oranges
4 scallops
Red chilli
Salt
Pepper

Method:

Using a vegetable peeler, cheese slicer or mandolin, shave your carrots into thin strips. Then cut all these carrot strips into tagliatelle width slithers. You’ll be left with a bowl of raw carrot tagliatelle.

Squeeze the two oranges into a pan and reduce the juice with a tea spoon of honey and some crushed coriander seeds. Add the zest of half an orange and check to see it all taste vibrant. I added a touch of chopped red chilli as well for good measure, but you needn’t if you don’t fancy it.

Then boil the carrots briefly in salted water. And sear your scallops having seasoned them first.

Add the carrots to the sauce and combine. Serve in a bowl. Season. And then add the scallops on top. Then gasp at how beautiful, healthy and delicious this is. It may not be a traditional bowl of pasta. But it’s certainly strikingly different.

If you’ve got any thoughts about flavours and sauces that could accompany carrot tagliatelle please let me know…

Further reading (beware it’s all a bit health foody):

Griddled salmon with carrot spaghetti
Carrot spaghetti with green pesto
Carrot tagliatelle with almond garlic and brocoli

Cowi-lenghi

As sad as it may sound, salads really do excite me. When made properly they ooze creativity and can be as saintly or sinful as you like. Salads are vastly underrated and whilst the sun is shining its little heart out during these summer months, Browny and I have decided to embrace the noble salad for what its worth.

Whether a salad is hot or cold, meaty or fishy, full of grains or pulses, veg or fruit, spicy or cooling, for me, the combination of freshness, lightness, differing flavours and textures can only be a good thing. Plus if you’re lucky, if you delve the serving tongs into the bottom of the salad bowl, token goodies will always come out of hiding.

It was a glorious sunny Friday lunchtime when I was introduced into the world of Ottolengi. How on earth had I a) not heard of this venture before and b) why hadn’t I feasted my taste buds on their fantastic grub until now!

As I walked into Ottolenghi on Motcombe Street in Belgravia my eyes were on stalks as I took in all the marvels in front of me, not to mention the incredible but wicked looking pastries, bakes and meringues. On this occasion I was so absorbed by the food I ordered a majority of the salad selection in front of me, plus a delightful and tasty salmon kebab, the bill was embarrassingly large, especially owing to the fact that I wasn’t paying.

I craved more Ottolenghi action and wasted no time in ordering their superb cook book. We were in for a treat. With my new book in hand I trawled Sainsbury’s to find all the vital ingredients… this was only 60% successful and was tipped off by Helen that the recipes must be followed word for word. To accompany two delicious rainbow trout I decided a selection of salads would work nicely. Once I had finally decided which salads to prepare I set to work on supper.

Now, its fair to say that I am somewhat of a nerd when it comes to a tidy kitchen and spotless work surfaces. If I have finished using a knife.. I wash it up. If I have chopped up an onion, I put the remnants and its skins straight into the bin.. But not on this occasion. The Ottolengi recipes require so many processes and ingredients to create the tasty wonders, my kitchen looked like a child’s playroom in no time. But it was so worth it. Here is the evidence:

Scorched broccoli with nuts, garlic and chilli

Pomegranate, fennel and goats cheese salad

Bulgar wheat with orange zest and tomato

Aubergine salad with pomegranate, spinach and saffron yoghurt

Baked trout with lemon and herbs

I urge everyone to go out a buy this beauty. It’s exciting, different, creative and believe or not, healthy!

Spooning with Rosie – Book Launch

Brixton was at its best on Saturday. Buzzing with energy. Warm. Optimistic. And full of cheer. The market was bustling and Franco Manca had a queue the length of a how long I imagine a piece of string is. Wild Caper was overflowing with people and the sound track to Pretty Woman was blaring out of the hair dresser opposite the butcher on Electric Lane.

We pottered into Rosie’s not knowing quite what to expect from the launch of Spooning with Rosie and settled down outside with a cup of tea and an espresso and realised that the world is a pretty cool place. We’d arrived just as Rosie, her Mum and the rest of her team were busy getting everything ready. So we landed up helping out by moving a few tables and chairs which just added to the charm.

Just as I was draining my coffee a cool looking woman with short dark hair wheeled along what looked like an old granny trolley and proceeded to set up a one man DJ stand playing the perfect Brixton book launch soundtrack.

We bought a book from Rosie’s Mum and were delighted that Rosie signed it.

Apart from the fact that it’s got one of the best titles ever to adorn a book, it’s full of brilliant recipes that are loved by the locals who adore Rosie’s Delic Cafe. What I love about it is the fact that it is clearly such a labour of love. It completely reflects Rosie’s personality and is a joy to read. I’ve also falled head over heals for the illustraions and love the fact that it is based in Brixton. Favourite recipes include scrambled eggs with chilli sauce and all sorts of delicious risottos, pies and sandwiches. I’ve got my eye on quite a few recipes to try out. It’s also inspired me to want to write a book.

We spent ages chatting, nibbling on incredible sandwiches made with ciabatta baked in Franco Manca’s ovens and gorging ourseves on cupcakes. It’s a brilliant place that is full of warmth and creativity. If you can show me a cafe that’s better, I’d love to see it.

Rosie’s website
Rosie’s blog
Rosie on Twitter
Spooing with Rosie on Amazon

Diana Henry’s Gastro Pub Cookbooks

Last Saturday, during a fabulous meal at The Wellington Arms, we discovered Diana Henry. Well that’s a bit dramatic. We stumbled across two of her excellent guides to the best gastro pubs in the UK. The fact that they were both signed and featured the not only the pub we were eating in, but also a photo of the table we were dining at made it extra special.

I was planning to buy both of these books, but Cowie got there first and bought them before I got a chance! I’ve been avidly reading them since they arrived and we’re already planning weekend breaks for the early months of 2009. A cosy meal at the Gurnard’s Head in Cornwall is already pencilled in! It’s all very Royal Well Tavern in Cheltenham which is inspired by the cooking of Simon Hopkinson and Rowley Leigh.

You can find Diana Henry’s book Gastro Pub Cookbook and Another Helping by following the links.

Le Cool-est Guide to London

I couldn’t be a lot less cool. So I try to make up for it by subscribing to city guides like Flavorpill, Kultureflash and Le Cool and read city sites such as Londonist.

Flavorpill is always great and offers up a brilliant range of alternative ways to enjoy London and I am loving Londonist even more now I am part of their crew as “The Sandwichist“. But it is Le Cool which is the most explosively awesome resource. I get their weekly email which is normally a bit too far out for me, but I feel a bit cooler by reading it. My love of Le Cool was cemented when I stumbled across their guide to Barcelona days before our trip to El Bulli and Barcelona. We used the book as our bible for 2 days and had such a brilliant time. In particular we loved Flash Flash Tortilleria which was enthusiastically recommended by Le Cool.

So when I was reading Amelia’s blog and I discovered that the have launched a London edition I entered my bank details quicker than you can say “online credit card fraud”.

I haven’t had a chance to devour the entire book yet, but I have read the sections that fit my mental map of London – South London, Soho and Fitzrovia. I’m already super excited about visiting the following places in South London:

Breads Etc… Cowie has been talking about this places for a while now. But I hadn’t realised that it was so special. It’s on Clapham High Street and serves their special breads and jams to take away or have in and toast yourself.

Having thought I had grown out of Infernos I found myself there on Friday night and had a whale of a time. But I hope I won’t be going back too soon. I’d rather go to The Loft, above Tescos on Clapham High Street, which gets a great little review.

I’ve always been tempted by Gastro, opposite the Clapham Picture House, but we always think it’s a touch too expensive and go elsewhere. But the review in the Le Cool book has tempted me to pay it a visit soon. Great steak and red wine apparently. Probably best to save it until after the film! It gets great reviews on London Eats.

Having had a brilliant night at Fujiyama and Brixton Bar and Grill on Friday I’m delighted to see that Brixton gets a great write up too. I’m now planning to pay Plan B and Dex a visit. But the places that are on top of my to do list in Brixton are Franco Manca which serves allegedly the best pizza in the UK according to the Observer and Upstairs which can be found, if you look really hard, on Acre Lane.

It’s such a cool book. Get your hands on one before they all sell out.

Read more reviews about Le Cool London Book on:

Londonist
Life Moves Pretty Fast
Think Demux
We Heart Stuff

James Backhouse – Leon Rhubarb Jam Expert

James and Henry are the legends behind the “Farmhouse Kitchen” which took the Stourhead Show by storm back in the soggy summer months… James is the chap in the fetching apron above.

This is just a quick post to register my surprise at seeing one of his recipes in the amazingly designed Leon Cookbook that has just found its way onto the shelves. I took a sneaky picture which shows James’s Rhubarb and Ginger Jam recipe. Nice one Backhouse!

It’s a stunningly designed book, full of fold out pages, posters and above all delicious and healthy recipes. If there was a magic wand that could turn all McDonald’s into Leons the world would be a much better place.

Age of Conversation for Food Bloggers?

In the marketing and social media world the Age of Conversation project has caused quite a stir. Last year 100 marketing bloggers each contributed a 400 word essay on the subject of starting conversations and the implications this has for marketing. This co-created book has been a huge success. So much so that it is evolving and growing into a bigger project this year.

All of the articles are fascinating. And it is great to see a book walking the walk as well as talking the talk. All the books were available from Lulu.com which is an on demand publisher. This meant there were no problems with print runs. You never have the problem of being either short or long on books.

I think it would be a great idea to organise a similar project for food bloggers. What would it look like?

Maybe we form a blog specically for this project with the working title being completely up for debate – but bascially meaning Food Bloggers Recipe book.

We could then set the agenda of who writes which recipe and then go about looking for submissions. If we had 30 starters, 40 mains (veg, meat and fish) and 30 desserts we could create quite an impressive book.

Photography could all be done by bloggers too. And we could put together an introduction and preface written by a few well known bloggers. It could get great PR and make us all a little bit of money.

Please let me know if you think this is a terrible idea… hopefully you’ll think it words and want to get involved. If so leave a comment and we’ll start something fun!

Jay Rayner, The Man Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Meal

I should probably start off with confirmation that Cowie can’t say Jay Rayner’s name. This comes hot on the heels of Cowie blurting out that she liked nothing better than a good bibliography, when she meant biography. So from now on Jay Rayner will be referred to by his new name, “Ray”. An amusing addition to the special Cowie dictionary.

My copy travelled with me to Chicago, Brugge and Paris and was devoured with a degree of greed that Ray himself would be proud of! It kept me company in the Blackhawk as I was bored by the pilgrim waitress!

Ray’s analysis of the restaurant scene in Moscow was spot on. It’s a seriously murky place. A city where you are always only seconds from disaster. Ever since I was kidnapped there I’ve always been fascinated by and wary of all things Russian. We ate at Cafe Puskin and devoured some seriously good and expensive caviar with some icy vodka followed by 2 grilled quail with a bitter fruit sauce. The food was delicious but the setting is false and somewhat alarming. There’s nothing like being watched by a whore like a hawk to put you off your food! She was perched at the bar rather like a bottle of chilled wine sits in an ice bucket. Apparently this is normal in Moscow!

Ray discusses the way that the world’s uber restaurants have evolved and homogenised. The nouveau riche cities such as Dubai, Las Vegas and Moscow come off badly. They have embraced the fact that chefs from America, London and Paris are happy to franchise themselves for serious bucks. As a result you get glitzy venues and flashy food. But not the true experience. No connection to locality. No concept of terroir.

On the other hand the old school classics such as London, Paris, New York and Tokyo are rooted in their locality. This gives them their identity and as a corollary, their integrity and ability to franchise their names out to the rest of the world.

Highlights include:

Ray eating at seven, 3 and 2 Michelin star restaurants in 7 days

A galloping gourmet extravaganza around 5 restaurants in New York

Ray’s love of food blogging and social media (hello Ray!)

Ray’s bowel failure in Tokyo which had me wetting myself on the train in Chicago

It’s a shame that Ray didn’t review El Bulli or The Fat Duck… if you are in search of the perfect meal then surely you’ve got to visit the best two restaurants in the world. Especially because the molecular gastronomy movement is one of the most exciting phenomena in the food world. Restaurants like Alinea and Bacchus have strung up mimicking Feran Adria and Heston’s style. But none of these new school restaurants get a look in. Maybe this could be a good theme for a follow up book.

Maybe a trip to Spain would have been good – on top of El Bulli, San Sebastian would probably have a few restaurants that could be contenders.

I was interested to read about Ray’s family background and his Jewish food roots. I’ve been reading his reviews in the Guardian for ages and one of them came crashing back to me… He reviewed Blooms with Silverbrow and opened up with this comment:

“I once said that bad restaurants were like car crashes and chest infections, in that they were never sought but were, instead, something that just happened to me. After my dinner at the Jewish restaurant Bloom’s, in Golders Green, northwest London, I realised the analogy goes further. You also feel the effects for days afterwards, too. Every time I let slip an involuntary belch, which was often, I was right back there at the table – and that was not a good place to be. Never has the late John Diamond’s great joke about Jewish keep-fit lessons – eat three bowls of lockshen pudding, press your hand to your chest and say, ‘Feel the burn’ – been so true.”

I had read an interview with Silverbrow on the Trusted Places blog that referred to that trip to Blooms. The foodie world is a very small one. And the online foodie world is even smaller.

Towards the tail end of the book Ray gets very excited about food blogging. It’s clearly a passion of his. And this is where I got really interested. I’ve yet to get stuck into Opinionated About or Mouthfuls, but I now can’t wait. I’ve just found Steve Plotnicki’s Opinionated About Dining Guide. Looks like a really interesting read. And right up any food bloggers ally.

It’s a good book that’s had a lot of publicity and has given me a much more in depth view of what Ray is like as a person… But it’s not a classic and I wish it had included Spain and had given a better account of London’s restaurants. I was also disappointed that Ray seemed to lose his enthusiasm for food and restaurants by the end of the book, to the extent that he even considered giving up restaurant reviewing. Don’t give up Ray. Your reviews make my Sundays! I just hope you get your Mojo back.

Books for Cooks, Notting Hill

I’ve been gagging to visit Books for Cooks for ages. I stumbled across a reference to London’s premiere cooking book shop in Olive magazine around 6 months ago and have been looking for a window of opportunity to investigate…

It’s just off Portobello Road, surrounded by cool cofee shops, market stalls, spice emporiums, lingerie shops and the Electric Cinema. You will seriously struggle not to find what you are looking for. I was gobsmacked by the range of cook books they had and could have bought pretty much half the shop! I held myself back and walked away with a list of books to buy on Amazon and a paperback copy of Anthony Bourdain’s “Nasty Bits” for the tube ride home.

The books I’m keen to get my hands on are AA Gill’s Table Talk, Herve This’s Kitchen Mysteries and a book on game by Clarissa Dickinson Wright. The assistants couldn’t have been more helpful. They were experts and sussed out what I’d be interested in within a minute. Whilst Amazon’s “other customers liked” style recommendation is good, it’s not a patch on the service you get in Books for Cooks.

But it’s not just an amazing bookshop. It’s also a cafe and cooking workshop. There was a queue through the store to the cafe at the back where they were serving delicious looking mushroom soup and pumpkin tarts.

I’ve looked through the list of workshops and am pretty keen on this one:

“Recipes from Moro with Sam and Samantha Clark

We are delighted to welcome back the chef-patrons of award-wining Moorish restaurant Moro! Do come and experience their passion for the food of Spain and the Muslim Mediterranean at first hand and take home a collection of their always exquisite and inspirational recipes.”

I’ve just bought Moro East so it would be a perfect way to get the most out of it.

Bob Blumer the Surreal Gourmet

I’ve just stumbled across Bob Blumer on Treehugger whilst researching how to cook salmon in the dishwasher and have been bowled over by his site and innovative ideas.

I’ve read about Beer Can chicken before which is cool…

But I absolutely loved his take on “Bed of Polenta”… inspired.

Here is a fragment from an interview with Bob from Gremolata

“Bob Blumer published The Surreal Gourmet: Real Food for Pretend Chefs in 1992 and hasn’t looked back since. Formerly Jane Siberry’s manager, Blumer combined his skills for living well with little money , his artistic talent and his playful interest in surrealism to produce one of the most influential cookbooks of the 90s. The book was a hit and he has been inspiring cooks since with three more volumes. Ever looking for interesting ways to present food, earlier this year, Blumer brought his unique outlook to Paris, where he opened a “temporary restaurant” for a week.”

I’m going to have to get myself a few of his books and try his ideas out.