Cook sister!

Spicy salmon fillets with fresh herb salsa

As we all know by now, women are from Venus and men are from Mars, and I very much doubt that anybody who is married will dispute this.

On Mars, apparently, technology is far more advanced than it is here on Earth.  This high-tech environment extends even to the smallest room in the house, where used cardboard toilet rolls are automatically removed from the spool in the middle of the night without human intervention and teleported to the recycling bin.  Sadly, men's Martian DNA means that they retain a life-long inability to identify empty toilet rolls and give these unfamiliar items a wide berth.

Similarly, the advanced technology on Mars means that towels are unnecessary - the Martians simply step into cubicles rather like full-body hairdryers and emerge seconds later, perfectly dry.  This has two consequences:  firstly, it means that the novelty of towels never quite wears off for them, and they are seized by a compulsion to gather and use as many as possible,  regardless of whether the towels belong to them or to their housemates.  In fact, in some expat Maritan communities, the number of damp, crumpled towels in a house is seen as an indicator of prosperity, and therefore a much sought-after status symbol. 

These cultural differences are also much in evidence in the kitchen.  I have heard many reports of the average male Martian cooking session dirtying 7.29  times as many cooking utensils as an equivalent session by their Venusian counterparts, and involving approximately 738% of an adult's Recommended Daily Allowance of saturated fat.

My own personal Martian remains true to his species in terms of the first two cultural quirks, but in terms of the third it seems that he displays some differences.  Not to say he is more like me - he just has different quirks to other Martians.  If I cook dinner, there will be some sort of protein, some sort of starch, and a lot of vegetables.  Yes, this will dirty more than one pot, but that's because it's in effect 3 different dishes (more often than not - I seldom master the art of one-pot cooking!).  And if we had chicken/fish/pasta/pork last night, I will make sure we have something different tonight.  Nick, on the other hand, will go to great lengths to make sure he uses as few pots as possible - if vegetables will dirty another pot, let's skip them!  And I do believe that, left to his own devices, he would eat the same thing every night:  pasta with chopped tomatoes, onions and garlic.  And maybe a braai or two when the weather is good...! But the biggest difference is the speed at which we produce meals. However I cut it, preparing dinner seems to take me at least an hour - but Nick transforms from lethargic sofa-surfing mode into Speedy Gonzales when he enters the kitchen!  I came home from a meeting after work the other night, tired, grumpy and hungry, at about 9pm and my heart sank when I saw that the oven was not even on yet. 

But my fears were ill-founded because half an hour later we sat down to these salmon fillets and their delicious herb salsa, together with sauteed zucchini with leeks!  It seems he had been surfing the net and defrosting the salmon, waiting to leap into action when I walked through the door :)  They have a warm, spicy flavour rather than a take-the-roof-off-your-mouth heat, and the crisply refreshing salsa is a perfect match.

What can I say - my Martian's a keeper :)          

 SPICY SALMON FILLETS WITH FRESH HERB SALSA (serves 2) (from the BBC)

Ingredients

¼ tsp ground turmeric
¼ tsp ground paprika
¼ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp cumin seeds
300g salmon fillet, skin removed
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
handful each fresh chervil, coriander and flatleaf parsley, finely chopped
¼ onion, very finely chopped
¼ courgette, very finely chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. In a small bowl, mix the spices together, then sprinkle onto a plate.
3. Press the salmon into the spices to coat well.
4. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a small ovenproof frying pan and fry the salmon on both sides until golden-brown.
5. Transfer the ovenproof frying pan to the oven and cook for a further 4-5 minutes, or until cooked through.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining olive oil, white wine vinegar and Dijon mustard until thick and creamy.
7. Add the chopped herbs, onion and courgette to the mustard mixture and mix well.
8. To serve, place the salmon in the centre of a serving plate and spoon the herb salsa around the edge.

On holiday - without internet...

You know how you plan it all to the last detail - lovely apartment, WiFi, lots of almost-done posts to go live while you are relaxing... And then the WiFi will not for love or money talk to your laptop.

So apologies for the radio silence - I am on holiday till 6 July without regular internet access - so here is a pic for you to guess where I am in the meantime.  And yes, we really are staying in this house!

Yellow pepper tarte tatin

Yellow is the easiest colour for the human eye to see and is therefore often used in visibility clothing.

In heraldry, yellow signifies honour and loyalty.

For years yellow ribbons were worn as a sign of hope as women waited from their men to come marching home from war.

Yellow is the colour of  mourning in Egypt.

Color researchers believe color yellow to increase self-esteem and strengthen the overall well-being.

In Japan, yellow signifies courage.

Calling somebody yellow or yellow-bellied is to call them a coward. 

The term "yellow pages" was coined in 1883 when a printer in Wyoming ran out of white paper while printing a business directory and used yellow instead.

In Islamic art yellow signifies the sun or the element of air.

According to the doctrines of feng shui, yellow is an excellent colour for children's rooms or the family room - but using too much in a baby's room might make them cry more!

All school busses in the USA are painted yellow.

Sending yellow roses used to be a symbol of jealousy or dying love, but today yellow roses are seen to symbolise friendship (as opposed to the romance of red or pink roses).

Both Lance Armstrong's LiveSTRONG Foundation and Marie Curie Cancer Care have chosen yellow to represent themselves - LiveStrong via its yellow wristbands and Marie Curie through fields of daffodils. 

In motor racing, a solid yellow flag means caution - hazard on track.

Zimbabwe is one of many countries that has yellow in its flag, but one of very few where the government lost an election and now plans a second round of voting... without an opposition party.

For over 100 years lawyers have been taking their notes on yellow legal pads.  Nobody is sure exactly why they are yellow.

3M have trademarked the canary yellow colour of their original Post-it notes.

Yellow is popular with lyricists, featuring in such hits as Tie a Yellow Ribbon, Mellow Yellow, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Yellow Rose of Texas, Yellow Submarine, Yellow and the unforgettably-titled Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka-dot Bikini.

Has all that yellow trivia made you hungry?  Well then, let's get down to the business of cooking!  I have written before of the history of the tarte tatin, an upside-down caramelised apple tart. I mixed things up a little by substituting pears for apples to create a pear and cardamom tarte tatin, but for ages I've been dying to try a savoury version of this classic tart.  The arrival of a bag of perfect yellow peppers and the yellow theme of this month's special Click event (to raise funds for fellow-blogger Bri and her battle against breast cancer) seemed like the perfect opportunity.  So check out my picture below, which is my entry for this month's Click, and then click here to make a donation towards Bri's holistic treatments for one year.  If you donate $25, you will also be entered into a prize draw with some amazing prizes, including a book donated by me :)

YELLOW PEPPER TARTE TATIN (serves 2)

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil
2-3 peppers, cut into strips
4-5 silverskin pickled onions, halved (optional)
1 Tbsp runny honey
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
Salt & pepper
ready rolled puff pastry

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and lay the strips of pepper on the base of the skillet in a pretty pattern.   If using, place a few silverside onions between the strips and one in the centre, cut side down. 

Drizzle the peppers with honey and vinegar and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes without stirring.  Add salt freshly ground black pepper and remove from the heat.

Cut a circle of puff pastry slightly larger than the base of the skillet (I have a skillet with a lid and tracing round the rim of the lid is useful for this!).  Cover the peppers in the skillet with the puff pastry, using a spoon to tuck it in at the edges of the pan so as to cover all the peppers. 

Bake at 200C for 20-25 mins till pastry is puffed and golden.  Remove from the oven, leave to cool for a few minutes, then place a large plate upside down on top of the skillet.  Carefully flip the plate and skillet over and lift the skillet off so that the tarte tatin remains on the plate. 

I served mine with a big green salad, but you could also serve this as a vegetable side dish.  The sweetness of the peppers lend themselves perfectly to caramelisation, but I did love the added zing of the little silverskin onions.  Next time I might try an entire tarte tatin of silverskin onions :) 

Other bloggers who made tartes tatin:

Ximena of Lobstersquad made tomato tarte tatin

  Bea of La Tartine Gourmand made ratatouille tarte tatin

Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything at Least Once made pineapple and ginger tarte tatin

Johanna of The Passionate Cook made a shallot and pancetta tarte tatin

Celeriac remoulade

Nick and I are currently trying our best to learn conversational Spanish.  Why?  Ummm, because I've always wanted to learn a modern European language (Latin, I'm told, doesn't  count!), and Spanish seems the most useful as it's spoken all over South America as well as in Spain.  So here we are, about halfway through our course and battling to remember when to use the estar or ser form of the verb to be; or when to use el banco or un banco.  I can feel new synapses forming in my brain already!

But one of the things you always have to watch out for when learning the vocabulary of a foreign language is false friends - words that look so similar to English words that you assume they mean the same thing... but in reality they don't.

In this way:

* bizarro is not so bizarre after all;

* carpeta is not something you will find covering your floor;

* being embarazado may be a very happy event;

* an exito is not the way out; and

* you won't be doing any shooting with a revolver.

A culinary example of a false friend is a roulade and a remoulade.  They look pretty much the same, give or take two letters, so obviously they must be pretty much the same thing, right?  On this basis, I was always puzzled by the idea of celeriac remoulade - I mean, how could you roll something in a piece of celeriac?  Or, for that matter, why would you want to bake celeriac into a roll of something else??

Au contraire.

A roulade is a French culinary term referring to a thin piece of meat roll around some sort of filling and secured before cooking (although these days it also refers to other rolled dishes, including sweet dishes).  But a remoulade is a thick mayonnaise-based sauce, often flavoured with mustard, capers or anchovies.  Not so similar after all!

Celeriac is definitely not something I grew up with.  In fact, when I came to the UK, I don't think I could have told a beet, a parsnip and a celeriac apart if my life depended on it.  But slowly it seems to have found its way into my lexicon and my kitchen.  Celeriac (or Apium graveolens) is a type of celery grown for its bulbous tap root rather than its leaves and stems - it also goes by the rather unfortunate name of knob celery ;-).  It's a very versatile vegetable which can be mashed or made into a soup or gratin like potatoes but with only 5-6% of the starch; or it can be grated and eaten raw in salads.  It has the same sort of flavour as celery but less intense. 

I've had it a couple of times in restaurants, most memorably at Tom's Kitchen and Vivat Bacchus, but had never made it myself until Nick arrived back from a solo grocery shopping expedition the other day with a huge bulb - "It was marked down!".  Bless.  For a change, the weather played along and we were able to have a cosy little braai a deux for dinner, and to accompany the grilled meat I could think of nothing nicer than some crunchy celeriac remoulade.  We kept ours simple, but you could certainly spruce it up further with the addition of cornichons or capers.  It's definitely going to be a regular on our summer menu from now on!  

Celeriac is high in Vitamin C, calcium and potassium and is low in fat (which makes up somewhat for the mayonnaise dressing...!).  The only note of caution is that it oxidises really quickly, so once cut, you need to rub the cut surfaces with lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown and then black.  Once grated, make sure to mix the celeriac with the dressing as soon as possble to prevent discolouration.

CELERIAC REMOULADE (serves 2)

Ingredients:

one small (or half a large) celeriac
juice of one lemon
2-3 Tbsp good mayonnaise
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 Tbsp capers (optional)
2 Tbsp finely chopped parsley (optional)
salt and coarse-ground black pepper

Method:

Peel the celeriac (easier to use a very sharp knife than a vegetable peeler as the skin is quite robust!) and grate it.  If you have only used half the celeriac, rub the cut surface with lemon juice before wrapping in plastic wrap and returning to the fridge. 

Place in a bowl with the mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice and optional capers and parsley.  Mix well.  Check for flavour and add mayo or mustard as required.  Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with grilled or cold meats - or on a sandwich!

Other remoulades on the food blogs:

Elise of Simply Recipes made avocado remoulade
Haalo of Cook (Almost)Anything at Least Once made fennel remoulade
Alanna of A Veggie Venture made celeriac remoulade
Pille of Nami-Nami also made celeriac remoulade

CookSister in the media (twice!) and announcing WTSIM Berried Treasure

What can I say - blogging can be a real rollercoaster of emotions sometimes. 

Take this week for example.  I will freely admit that the past 7 days have been my unhappiest since I started blogging.  Why?  Because I have had persistent software issues for no apparent reason - and a hell of a time convincing Typepad that there was a problem!  The bottom line was that since last Friday, I could not open my own blog reliably as it just kept crashing Internet Explorer.  Pretty fundamental!  After a week of ditching my entire sidebar and very, ahem, animated correspondence with Typepad because of their wrongly treating it as a load-time issue, I was ready to throw in the towel and stop blogging. But thankfully this morning they tracked the problem to their Share This widget and, having deleted mine, all now seems to be  fixed.  At least it means that my side-bar has been cleaned up as a result of all this drama...

But...my mood brightened considerably when I picked up a copy of the July 2008 edition of the BBC's Olive magazine - because I'm in it!  They do a great feature called Pro vs Punter, where they send a food professional (a chef in this case) and a reader (moi!) to the same restaurant (Cafe Boheme) to review it and then print the reviews side by side.  It makes for an interesting comparison, I can tell you.  And on Wednesday this week I'm pleased to say that I finally made my local hometown newspaper!  The Eastern Province Herald (in their 11 June La Femme supplement) did a piece on my win in the SA blog awards and used a picture taken by my very own Nick.  So now at least my father has tangible evidence of  the success of "this blogging thing" that his daughter does and, as an added bonus, there was a (completely unrelated) picture of my brother in the same edition!

(By the way, as part of the general overhaul of my sidebar, some of you might have noticed that under the "Click here for..." typelist, I have now made a special page keeping track of all CookSister's awards and media mentions.  For those of you who missed it, I've also included a link to the mp3 file of my BBC radio interview.)

And now for the reason behind the rather lovely photo above, which I took at Borough Market last summer.  Time is marching on and June is half gone, so I thought I'd better get a move on and announce a theme for Waiter, There's Something in My..., the popular monthly foodie event hosted in rotation by Johanna, Andrew and me. In keeping with the summer season (well, in this hemisphere anyway!), I have decided that the theme will be berried treasure - absolutely any recipe in which berries take centre stage.  It can be a beautiful berry pavlova, or a tangy berry glaze for meat.  It might be a healthy berry smoothie or a decadent berry ice cream.  It can be an unusual local berry dish (I know Pille will love this one!), or even a frozen or tinned berry recipe for those in the Southern hemisphere.  Let your imagination run riot - the possibilities really are endless.  The only requirement is that you use berries  - small fruit, growing on a bush or vine as opposed to a tree - not just any old fruit.  If in doubt, e-mail me and I will put it to Johanna and Andrew.  Our majority decision will be final ;-) 

Here are the rules for participation:

1. Write up your berry recipe and please link back to this announcement in your post. Please note that it MUST be a new post featuring your dish - I will not accept a link to a post you had already put up before this announcement was made - and the post must not be entered into another event as well (photography events like DMBLGiT excluded).

2.  E-mail me.  Please make sure that Waiter there's something in my features in the subject line.

3. In the e-mail please include:

• the URL of your entry
• your blog's name
• the name of the dish
• your approximate location

4.  The deadline for entries is Sunday 6 July - slightly later than usual because I will be on holiday and probably without internet for a week until this date.  I'll get to the roundup as soon as possible after my return... but if you can get your entries to me earlier (pre-28 June) this will speed things up :)

Char-grilled asparagus, courgette and haloumi salad - I'm in love!

Dear Nigel

This is one of the hardest letters I've ever had to write.  Please know that, whatever follows below, you were my first love and for that you will always have a place in my heart.

I remember when we met - I had no idea who you were.  All I knew was that there was this guy who contributed recipes to one of the magazines that came with the Sunday papers.  The recipes often sounded so good that I'd clip them out and paste them in my big index book, and when I made a couple, I realised that they tasted as good as they looked.  It was only after I recognised some of the recipes in a book I saw at a friend's house that I realised this guy who had written Kitchen Diaries was YOU, my secret Sunday pleasure!  Of course, it didn't take long for me to buy and read Kitchen Diaries from cover to cover, and my love for you was undiminished.  If anything, it grew! Our relationship was warm and comfortable, like a favourite coat.

But of course, we don't live in a vacuum.  Things were bound to change, and women like to try on new coats.

It started off very casually.  Another Sunday magazine, this time from a different paper, left at my house by a friend.  It was the thrill of the new vs. the familiarity of a sure thing.  I flicked through the pages until my eye alighted on dishes so gorgeous I could hardly tear my eyes away.  I was dazzled by the colours, I could taste the fresh flavours.  It was as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes! 

But of course, I was sensible - this could be no more than a passing dalliance.  My heart already belonged to another.  That is, until I made his cake.  Oh, the cake.  So rich and caramelly and fruity.  So clever and easy.  And suddenly there was a voice in my head saying "what if?".  What if you and I aren't meant to be?  What if THIS is my destiny, this rollercoaster crazy ride of exotic flavour combinations and riots of colour?

You're still young - I know you will be fine, move on and find somebody else.  Please believe me, dear Nigel, when I say that it's not you, it's me. 

I think I'm in love with Yotam Ottolenghi.

Yours always,

CookSister!

What more can I say?  I can guarantee you that once you taste this salad, you will be in love too.  Resistance is futile - just go out and buy the book!

The recipe is not a quick throw-together kind of salad - in fact, it may be a good idea to roast the tomatoes the night before, like I did.  But none of the constituent steps is difficult, and the end result is so extraordinarily good that you won't mind the bit of fiddle. The only change I made to the recipe was to substitute haloumi cheese for the manouri used in the original.  Either way, the combination of flavours, textures and colours is sublime.  Enjoy!

CHAR-GRILLED ASPARAGUS, COURGETTE AND HALOUMI SALAD (serves four to six)

Ingredients:

350g cherry tomatoes, halved
140ml olive oil
coarse sea salt and black pepper
24 asparagus spears
2 large courgettes
200g haloumi (original recipe calls for manouri), sliced 0.5cm thick
25g rocket

FOR THE BASIL OIL:
75ml olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
25g basil leaves
a pinch of salt
¼ tsp black pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170C.  Toss the tomatoes together with three tablespoons of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread them out, skin-side down, on a baking tray lined with parchment or foil and roast in the middle of the oven for 50 minutes, until semi-dried.  Set aside to cool.

Trim the woody bases off the asparagus with a vbegetable peeler and blanch in boiling water for four minutes.  Drain and immediately refresh in cold water until all vestiges of heat have gone.  Drain again, then transfer to a bowl and toss with two tablespoons of the oil, salt and pepper.

Slice the courgettes very thinly lengthwise (a mandolin would be very useful for this job, or a vegetable peeler - I just used a large and very sharp knife and a steady hand!)  and dress with a tablespoon of the oil, salt and pepper.

Place a ridged griddle pan on a high heat and leave for a few minutes until very hot. Grill the courgettes and asparagus, turning after a minute and making sure you have mice, clear char marks on all sides.  Remove from the pan and leave to cool.

Brush the remaining oil onto the griddle pan, lightly dust each haloumi slice with flour and fry the haloumi for 2-3 minutes per side, until there are clear griddle marks on both sides.  Drain on paper towels.

To make the basil oil, blitz all the ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Arrange the rocket, vegetables and cheese in layers on a flat serving plate, showing off the contrasting shapes and colours.  Drizzle with as much basil oil as you like and serve.  With crusty bread, this would make a great starter, althbough ours was a substantial side dish for a roast chicken braai with friends.

Other Ottolenghi recipes on the blogs:

Abby from Eat the Right Stuff also made this salad
Niamh from Eat Like a Girl made his grilled peach and speck salad
David of David Lebovitz made his choc-dipped Florentines
Wendy of A Wee Bit of Cooking made his saffron pasta with spiced butter

And last but not least, this post is my entry into this month's edition of Snackshots, the themed monthly foodie event hosted by the talented Michelle over at The Greedy Gourmet.  The theme is (you guessed it!) salads and you still have until 16 June to get your entries in!

Introducing wine bloggers to Bacchus

Yes I know - sounds as redundant as teaching Gordon Ramsay how to swear, doesn't it?

But don't worry, it's not as daft as it sounds.  The Bacchus I'm referring to is the wine bar and deli section of Vivat Bacchus (I previously reviewed my dinner in the posher downstairs restaurant here).  As I've mentioned before, I have a soft spot for the place because of the strong South African connections.  The restaurant is co-owned by South Africans Gerrie Knoetze (who owned the well-regarded Browns of Rivonia in Johannesburg) and sommellier Neleen Strauss.  The head chef Robert Staegemann is also South African, which explains the presence of things like crorodile spring rolls and biltong on the menu.

The place is billed as a fine dining restaurant and the downstairs dining room certainly is all that.  But there is a much larger area upstairs, housing the wine bar, deli and a cheese room, which is perfect for stylish and informal lunches or dinners, and this is where I recently headed to meet up with two wine bloggers.  Given that there are 5 cellars stocked with (largely) South African wines of impecable pedigree on the premises, and the very knowledgeable Gerrie and Neleen to guide you through them, it seemed like the obvious place to take wine bloggers ;-)

Even before I stepped through the door, there was a little touch that impressed me:  when I was booking I gave my surname, and after the briefest of pauses to check her database the young lady taking the booking confirmed my telephone number.  Clearly, customers are kept on a database, making return visits easier.  No need for spelling your name over and over or giving your number again.  It's a small touch, but it pleased me. 

There to greet me when I arrived was my usual partner in crime, Andrew of Spittoon, and soon after we were joined by the charming Robert of The Wine Conversation - a wine blog for people who want more than tasting notes from their wine blogs.  Introductions  were swiftly dealt with and then it was on to the wines,  There is an excellent selection available by the glass, so we thought we'd take full advantage and try all sorts of things.  (I was having too much fun to make notes, so excuse the sketchy details!).  I started off with a glass of Doolhof Cape Boar (a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot) while Andrew went for a glass of Brampton MG (an unusual Mourvedre/Grenache blend) and later a glass of Bilton Shiraz.

But we weren't only there for the wine!  The menu offers both a number of "daily dishes" for between £4 and £11 (as well as a set lunch for £11.95/£14.95 for 2/3 courses), and a selection of deli platters including French, Italian, vegetarian, Spanish, Greek - and South African.  Both my companions went for the South African platter which featured droë wors (dried spicy beef and pork sausage), biltong (air-dried beef), ostrich frikadels (meatballs), Simba crisps, dried apricots, sweet peppers and fresh mango.  I was particularly imprressed with the biltong which was sliced wafer-thin and elicited favourable comparisons with Italian bresaola, and nobody seemed to struggle to finish their platter!  I decided to be contrary and had the French platter, featuring two kinds of saucisson sec (one spicy and chorizo-like), cured ham, celeriac remoulade, Roquefort, Camembert and some French bread.  All the platters were attractively served on recycled panels of wooden wine crates and were priced between about £11 and £12.50.  I was also pleased to note that on the website today, all the platters have slightly different contents to when we visited, so even if you visit often you won't be bored.

But the best was saved for last - a trip to the cheese room!  No sad pre-plated trio of cheeses when you order the cheese platter here.  Oh no, you step into the cheese-lover's Aladdin's cave a.k.a. the cheese room where you are talked through the cheeses available, trying a few before you make your selection.  Your cheeses are then cut and the selection is then brought to the table beautifully presented with fresh and dried fruit, and a selection of crackers.  If memory serves correctly, we shared a Comte, a Brie (or something very like Brie), a deliciously gooey log of goat’s cheese and a fourth which now escapes me.  To accompany this, I had a glass of the Paul Cluver Noble Late Harvest Riesling which was all honeyed sweetness but with the lovely balancing flavours of dried apricots and marmalade.  Sublime.  Robert then decided that there was a wine we had to try and asked the waitress for a complete wine list for all five cellars.  The waitress said they didn't have one - the owner keeps them all in his head (!) - but she'd send him over.  Presumably it was Gerrie who then came over to chat to us - either way, his affable personality and knowledge of wine would be reason enough to return.  Robert asked about the De Trafford Straw Wine (the first of its kind in South Africa, where grapes are first dried on straw mats to concentrate the flavour, then pressed).  Despite its not being offered on the menu by the glass, we were promptly brought three glasses.  That's what I call service.  The wine was sweeter than the Paul Cluver, more pineapple upside-down pudding, but delicious nonetheless.

All in all, it was an evening well-spent - catching up with old and new friends (on that note, see the wonderful pics that Robert took and read Robert and Andrew's reviews), tasting some delicious South African wines and feeling well looked-after by the staff.  If you find yourself at a loose end near Farringdon and feel like something a little different to your usual cookie-cutter wine bar, I can't recommend this place enough.  There's also a wine club with weekly tasting events - and, even better, a new branch opening up in London Bridge in the foreseeable future.

Viva, Bacchus, viva!

Vivat Bacchus
47 Farringdon St,
Holborn,
London
Tel. 020 7353 2648

Purple sprouting broccoli, anchovy and pecorino pasta

There are many things not to like about the weather in London. 

I don't like the fact that there will be a mini-heatwave the weekend after you pack away your summer clothes.  I don't like the fact that there will be rain on the day you wear open-toed sandals to work.  I don't like the way the Underground turns into a movable sauna as soon as the temparature gets above freezing.  And I don't like the fact that last year, the summer consisted of approximately ten sunny days!

But what I love, love, love about London's weather is its four absolutely distinct seasons. 

I know this is not unique to London, but having lived in Totally Temperate Port Elizabeth all my life and then moving here, it is the first place where I experienced this astonishing seasonality.  The sheer excitement and exhilaration of seeing dead trees suddenly sprout green leaves and having daffodils poke up through the snow.  The typically English pleasure of sipping Pimms in your garden at 9pm on a midsummer evening - and stil having sunlight.  The incredibly rich palette of Autumn leaves and the smell of woodsmoke in the crisp air.  And the wonderful surprise of throwing open your curtains on a Winter morning and finding the world totally transformed by a white blanket of snow.      

And with this discovery of the seasons also came a far greater appreciation for seasonal eating.  In South Africa, it was always seen as a coup to be able to serve strawberries in the middle of winter.  But these days, I wait with eager anticipation for winter so that I can gorge on Brussels sprouts and Jerusalem artichokes; and by the same token, I get inordinately excited when Spring and Summer's bounty starts appearing in the shops:  wild garlic, rhubarb, broad beans, strawberries, and purple sprouting broccoli.

As always, I am a little tardy with my post and the world and its uncle has already written about purple sprouting broccoli (PSB), so I won't go into too much detail. Suffice to say that sprouting broccoli is a variety of broccoli which grows into many thin sprouts, rather than one large compact head.  And the fact that it's purple is not down to some mad scientist playing around with genetic engineering, but an abundance of the naturally-occurring antioxidant anthocyanin.  So apart from being improbably, appealingly purple, this member of the brassica family packs potentially even more of an anti-ageing and cancer-fighting punch.

For some reason, the place where I've bought the most PSB this season has been... Lidl.  None of the big supermarkets near us regularly stock it and I haven't the energy to spend my weekends fighting the crowds at Canary Wharf to visit Waitrose.  So Lidl it is - and good for them for stocking English PSB!  If you think the taste is going to be as shockingly different as the colour, you will be disappointed - I can't say it tastes that different to plain old green broccoli.  But there is something appealing and delicate about the long, thin stems - and that colour is too good to miss.  One word of warning though - don't overcook the PSB.  One minute too long and you end up with the plain green stuff!

I have served PSB steamed as a side dish before, but this time I had other plans in mind.  I'd spotted Eat Like A Girl's wonderful pasta recipe featuring PSB and I just knew I had to make it.  The only changes I made were adding shallots, substituting chile flakes for the fresh chile, and adding a touch of cream (because Nick is a creamy pasta saucy kinda guy!).  What makes this recipe is its simplicity and focus on great ingredients.  Nothing is messed about with and the combination of sweet and salty flavours is perfect.  Thanks Niamh - this recipe's a keeper!

 

PASTA WITH PURPLE SPROUTING BROCCOLI, ANCHOVIES AND PECORINO (serves 2)

Ingredients:

250g pasta (I used some we'd brought back from Rome, somwehere between tagliatelle and Spaghetti in shape)
300g purple sprouting broccoli, washed, trimmed and cut into 2.5cm lengths
6-8 tinned anchovies, finely chopped
3 shallots, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp red chile flakes
4 tbsp grated Pecorino
olive oil
salt & black pepper
4 Tbsp single cream
some pecorino shavings to serve

Method:

Cook the pasta in plenty of salted water,  according to packet instructions.

While the pasta is cooking, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed frying pan and saute the garlic, shallots, chile and anchovies (mine were tinned in garlic and herbs, so I addedd a little of the delicious oil too) until the onion starts to soften. 

Add the broccoli and cook for a couple of minutes until it just starts to become tender - don't overcook!  Stir a few tablespoons of water from the pasta into the pan, together with the grated Pecorino. Mix well, then stir in the cream.  You won't get a heavy sauce, but you will get enough liquid to coat the pasta (and please your husband!)   Season with salt and pepper (remember the anchovies are pretty salty already).

Drain the pasta and add it to the broccoli sauce. Toss and serve in warmed bowls topped with the pecorino shavings and a green salad on the side.

Here's what some other bloggers did with PSB:

Coffee and Vanilla's egg noodles with PSB and tofu
A Slice of Cherry Pie's PSB with mint
The Passionate Cook's PSB and smoked haddock Quiche
Real Epicurean's PSB with Parmesan crumbs
Book the Cook's PSB and sheep's cheese tart

A very special edition of CLICK

Readers of this blog will know that I have written before about friends of mine who have done battle with cancer.  My beautiful friend Christelle and my first love Peter both succumbed to this devastating disease, but Gail, Francois and Lizel all came through fighting and winning.  And having watched these people all do battle with cancer in their own and unique ways, I have the utmost respect for those who can face the disease head on, put on their gloves and climb into the ring to show cancer who's in charge here - even more so when this is a re-match.

Brianna of the lovely blog Figs with Bri is one such person.

Bri is one of the 5% of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 30 and when she was diagnosed in late 2005, she had already had a harrowing experience with the disease, having lost her mother to breast cancer 14 years earlier.  Bri underwent a full surgical removal of her right breast (a mastectomy) and underwent a gruelling course of chemotherapy, and it seemed that she had beaten the disease.  But this year, she received the devastating news that the cancer has returned, this time affecting her lungs and bones.  She is at Stage IV (the most advanced stage of cancer), and many people in her shoes might lose all hope and throw in the towel.

But not Bri.  In the words of Lance Armstrong, she has chosen to fight like hell.

In some respects, Bri is in a fortunate position, in that she has armed herself with knowledge about the disease, is surrounded by a loving family, and has her supportive husband by her side.  She also has medical insurance which will cover surgery and conventional therapies like chemotherapy or radiotherapy.  But Bri would also like this time to explore the use of complementary therapies as part of her treatment.  Some of these are aimed at curing the cancer, while others strengthen the body and improve the patient's quality of life - but her medical insurance has declined cover for any of them.

At a time like this, Bri and her family need to expend all their energy on fighting the disease and remaining calm, positive and focused on healing.  The very last thing that anybody needs is to be worrying about expenses and trying to weigh up quality of life with dollars. 

Bri has estimated that the costs of treatments over a year (over and above those covered by her medical insurance) will total $12,000 and this is where my lovely friends Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi stepped in.  Here's what they have to say:

This is an appeal on behalf of a group of food bloggers who are friends of Briana Brownlow of Figs With Bri.

Bri was diagnosed with breast cancer two and half years ago. A mastectomy, chemotherapy and two years of relatively good health later, the cancer is back. It has metastasized to other parts of her body. At the age of 15, Bri lost her 41-year old mother to the disease. Now, she’s waging her own war against breast cancer. Read more about it here.

She is going through intensive chemo and other treatments and needs to focus single-mindedly on healing and finding what treatment works best for her. Her health insurance, unfortunately, does not cover holistic alternatives which she would like to try. Bri and her husband Marc have enough on their plates right now in addition to worrying about her medical bills.

The team organising the JUNE edition of CLICK at Jugalbandi has organised a fundraiser to help Bri and her family meet her out-of-pocket medical costs for ONE YEAR.

CLICK is a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi.  This month’s theme is: YELLOW for Bri.  Yellow is the colour of hope. Through the work of the LiveStrong Foundation it has also come to signify the fight against cancer.

The entries can be viewed HERE. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2008. The fundraiser will extend until July 15, 2008.

The target amount is 12,000 U.S. dollars. We appeal to our fellow bloggers and readers to help us achieve this. Bri deserves a chance to explore all options, even if her insurance company thinks otherwise.

There’s a raffle with exciting prizes on offer. After viewing the list, you may make your donation HERE or at the Chip-In button on any participating site.

Your donation can be made securely through credit card or Pay Pal and goes directly to Bri’s account.

This month’s photo contest also has some prizes. Details HERE.

You can support this campaign by donating to the fundraiser, by participating in CLICK: the photo event, and by publicising this campaign."

I am proud to be one of the prize donors for this event - by donating $25 (that's not even £15), you stand a chance of winning some fabulous prizes, including Flickr Pro accounts, photographic prints, photographic equipment and great books, including this book on food styling for photographers donated by me!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!

Houston, problem fixed!

TUESDAY 3 JUNE UPDATE

After spending all day yesterday and most of last night stressing as to why the permalinks and comment links on Cooksister had stopped working AND the South African Food and Wine Blogger Directory seemed to have gone totally haywire, this morning I woke up to the one thing I really wanted: an e-mail from Typepad support saying that the problem had been fixed and both sites are now working properly!  Hurrah!!

I *heart* Typepad - and normal service will now be resumed.  Thanks for all your patience and encouraging e-mails :)

MONDAY 2 JUNE (IN THE PIT OF DESPAIR)

After four years of trouble-free blogging, it suddenly appears that Typepad has lost the plot.  I was disappointed when I got a fat zero comments on my hot chocolate post.  I was surprised when I still got none on my roasted aubergine dip, and downright distressed when I got none on my beautiful apricot upside down cakes. 

Until a couple of kind souls e-mailed me to let me know that there is a problem with the permalinks and comment links that Typepad is generating for my posts. It appears that the links being generated have some extra text in them, causing them not to work.  Let me show you. 

The permalink Typepad has generated looks like this, but does not work:

http://www.cooksister.com/cook_sister/2008/05/individual-apricot-upside-down-cakes.html

Taking out the extra text, it should actually read as follows, which DOES work:

http://www.cooksister.com/2008/05/individual-apricot-upside-down-cakes.html

And the same goes for the comments.  This is the link that does NOT work:

http://www.cooksister.com/cook_sister/2008/05/individual-apricot-upside-down-cakes.html#comments

But, taking out the extra text, this one DOES work:

http://www.cooksister.com/2008/05/individual-apricot-upside-down-cakes.html#comments

Until Typepad fix the problem (which I suspect is linked to my launch of the SA Food and Wine Bloggers Directory), you can comment by removing the extra "cook_sister" from the URL as demonstrated above, or you can use the CORRECTED links below.  And if anybody has any suggestions as to what I can do or has had a similar experience, I'd love to hear from you.

I hope normal service will shortly be restored...

Individual apricot upside-down cakes post and comments

Garlicky roasted aubergine dip post and comments

Hot chocolate weather and something for my South African readers post and comments