wednesday night supper

wednesday night suppers ought to be simple, quick to put together and shouldn’t require intensive grocery shopping. o had been through a gruelling six hour assessment centre and i wanted to cook a nice mid-week dinner…in my fridge i had a tub of yeo valley crème fraiche with a looming best before date. i also had some lemons and garlic and pasta in the pantry cupboard and on my windowsill are pots of herbs. there had to be a way to make a tasty supper out of this. it didn’t take me long to realize that salmon was the answer. o loves salmon! so off i went to the grocer after work and bought some oak smoked salmon trimmings and some peaches to bake for dessert. it took me roughly twenty minutes to put this whole thing together.

first, i put generously salted water to boil for the pasta. then i peeled some and chopped some plump cloves of garlic, took out the trimmings from their packing, washing a big handful of dill and chopped it up roughly and grated the zest of the lemon. 

i started making the pasta sauce shortly before putting in the pasta to boil. first, i heated a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to which i added the chopped garlic and the lemon zest. i fried this slightly until it released its aroma and the garlic was lightly coloured. after this i added the tub of crème fraiche and heated it gently. it is at this point that i put the pasta on to boil. i used fusilli but penne or linguine would be good too. 

back to the sauce, i added the smoked salmon trimmings and warmed them through. be careful with the heat here. it should be as low as possible otherwise the crème fraiche will curdle and that won’t be fun. the roughly chopped dill should be the last to go in. once your pasta is cooked, drain and add to the sauce. stir it gently to coat evenly and then tuck in. oh, and a dash of coarsely ground black pepper. it does marvels!

emni: indian rediscovered

i have a one-month trial membership from tastelondon, which i am putting to good use. the other day o and i tried an indian place in islington called emni. emni sets out to rediscover indian cuisine reflecting it in the diversity of its menu that includes regional dishes from around india. let’s be very clear, if it hadn’t been for tastelondon i wouldn’t have tried this place because both o and i are agreed that for the size of the servings it’s a bit on the pricier side. we’re both from the sub-continent and are more prone to eating our indian and pakistani food in the east end that is markedly cheaper and very very good.

so returning to emni. o picked a fantastic starter – a harra (green) kebab. it took a while for the starter to arrive but when it did it was worth it. spiced spinach and lentil kebabs with a centre of fig served with some tamarind sauce.

our mains were a selection of dishes including a west bengali kamla phool kopi: cauliflower and potatoes in a rather spicy and almost reduced sauce. a benarasi rampur chicken korma, which was rich with cream and spices including the infamous red kashmiri chilli, that gives it lots of warmth. lemon rice dotted with peanuts, saffron and onion seeds, which tasted exceptionally good. the rice was perfectly boiled with each grain tender and yet whole. as an after thought we had a punjabi saag paneer (spinach and cottage cheese) given the size of the servings. i have to confess that there was ample paneer and the spinach was well seasoned and spiced.we also had ridiculously over priced tandoori roti.

on the whole the food was really good. the spices were top notch and you could easily detect the different notes as they came through in layers. the korma for instance had a creamy note with a kick of chilli in the end. and the saffron and lemon in the rice didn’t compete for attention but came together in a perfect marriage. having said that i don’t think i’ll be coming here unless i get a tastelondon card. without the 50% off i would rather go to the east end or perhaps even nip into masala zone, which despite being a chain offers some really good indian food.

square mile coffee caff's

so, square mile’s coffee seems to be all the rage in london right now. independent caff’s seem to be hooked onto square mile coffee beans. i happened to try tina, we salute you and the espresso room this week both of whom use square mile coffee. here’s what i think…and should you be wanting a list of more caff’s serving the same you can find one on the square mile blog. 

the espresso room which is in the heart of the bloomsbury, london’s leafy and literary borough is literally the size of an average sized room in a london flat. it’s high ceilings however, give the space depth and openness and the illusion of being much much bigger than it really is. there are shelves along one wall, quite high to reach that stock bags of coffee. there are also long slim wooden benches lined up against the wall and window. and you can breathe the coffee in the air. t and i were there friday afternoon at lunch between work… quite keen on trying this relatively new place i went with the flat white and she with a double macchiato. the coffee blend here is a bit like a lazy sunday. not hard edged but rounded and warm. its good on a friday afternoon in preparation for the beginning of the weekend but i’d probably need something stronger in the morning on weekdays. the barrista there recommended a piccolo if i wanted something stronger and t advised on a double shot of espresso in my flat white. in its perfection of coffee the espresso room’s service is a tad bit slow – so you should either be willing to wait in the interest of good coffee, or try and come at a time when there isn’t too long a queue.

saturday found o and i at tina, we salute you. i have to confess, what drew me to going here is the name. i was curious about tina. turns out tina is the woman on a poster who the owners of the café have a soft spot for. this place has a slightly grungy vibe. the music is loudish and there is a cacophony of voices. on this saturday afternoon the communal table is over run by mothers and their children. assorted bottles of preserve, runny honey, peanut butter and squeezy marmite sit around the table. o and i spent a considerable chunk of our afternoon here, reading the newspaper and running through some forms – along with coffee [a long black for me], a flat white for o, a slice of vicky’s sponge and some crumpets too. the coffee was very good and so was vicky’s sponge. it was a pity that we were so full because the sandwiches looked damn good. they were made with extra thick sliced bread. too sad tina’s isn’t nearer to me, but i may just be tempted to make my way there again.

peacock at the rowsley

on bank holiday o and i were out in the peak district in derbyshire. our weekend splurge involved a three-course dinner at the peacock at rowsley. the dining hall is a simple rectangular room whose windows look out into a well-kept garden. one of the walls is painted a spring green lending freshness.

we start of with aperitifs in the bar and then make our way to the dining hall. once seated o and i are handed the dinner menu. we consult back and forth on our choices and eventually decide as follows – i start on a salad of a melon, berries and rum. it is beautifully presented with my melon sculpted in a rose shape served on a disc of watermelon and berries and cherries on the side. the dressing is of rum. it’s a quintessential summer salad and the fruit is very sweet and juicy. on the other side of the table o is tucking into a rather elaborate starter – a square of toasted brioche topped with a poached egg, a disc of warmed goats cheese, an asparagus spear and hollandaise sauce. for a person not so keen on goats cheese o looks quite satisfied and before i can say anything he tells me that the goats cheese is quite mellow and hasn’t over-powered the rest of the ingredients.

our entrée’s arrive and are once again beautifully presented. o’s is a classic british roast, slices of carved beef whose centre is a deep pink edges are seared a dark brown. with it is a yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and gravy. steamed vegetables bring up the side; bright carrot batons, peas and cauliflower with cheese. i have chosen sea bream that comes sitting on top of puy lentils – its skin is bring silver and glistens lightly. the sides have a length of warmed turmeric cream. the fish flakes easy and is full of flavour.

choosing dessert turns out to be a tricky affair as most of the choices are tempting. first both of us are tempted by the creamed rice pudding that comes with cherry preserves but we veto this choice as it’s something we can get pretty easily, all the time. next is the trio of ice cream that includes strawberry sorbet and passion fruit ice cream both of which are homemade. o also toys with the idea of white chocolate cheesecake with blueberry compote that i am not particularly keen on [i like the good old fashioned baked cheese-cake!]. then there is the lemon tart…but really i had already made up my mind on the sticky toffee pudding. and o after some mulling over chose the same. we couldn’t have chosen better. the pudding came served in a bowl, warm and a dark toffee in colour. there was a huge dollop of cream on top and thick toffee sauce all round. each bite revealed a dense toffee flavour with the zest of orange.

we finished on after-dinner coffee that was served with cream and milk and delectable hand-made truffles whose centres were liquid dark sea-salt caramel that oozed after the first bite.

roti & naans

i love roti, in all its shapes and forms - the laal mandari which is round, quite thick and made of wholemeal flour (strangely termed ‘laal atta’ which literally translated means red flour). then there is pateeri roti made of slightly fermented dough and is slightly thinner. roti’s white flour cousins are called naans - roghni is a round patterned one, sprinkled with sesame seeds and brushed with clarified butter as soon as it emerges from the tandoor. afghani naans tear away in long strips as they are long and linear hemmed in by a thick and very soft crust. stuffed naans are a meal unto themselves and are best enjoyed with yoghurt, plain or minted, the best is keema naan (minced meat). on my last visit to the tandoor mum and i stood in the sweltering heat and while we waited for our order of roti and naans to be prepared we couldn’t resist the temptation of a fresh roghni naan. fingers and tongues slightly scalded we tore bits and peices and ate, all the while grumbling about mid-meal snacking. to me roti from the tandoor is what warm bread is from the oven to europeans - or as euphorium bakers say, it is the simplest pleasure in life.