Freakin' love me a farmers market.

It has been 6 months. 6 months of London life; a move, a new neighborhood and culinary experiences that have ranged from the informal drunken joy of discovering the new local chicken shop to culinary-gasiming over the raspberry souffle cloud of dreams in high heels courtesy of Micheal Roux at the Langham.

A few weeks ago I had the joy and merriment of discovering my new local farmers market in Queens Park. (I now live in Queens Park. Or alternatively I say Kilburn. It depends on how fancy vs 'urban' I feel that day.) This pretty much involved my flat mate and I running around eating every cheese sample available and spending far too much money on purple cauliflowers.



We were keen on something Thai for dinner but didn't fancy the usual chicken or prawn vibe so decided to go a little left field and bought some duck from a raather nice man at the farmers market. To accompany it I made a thai green curry vegetable broth. It was a real Sunday treat and serving the duck as such ensures you get the rendered down crispy duck skin vibes everyone loves.

Serves 2 with leftover paste.

2 duck breasts, skin scored and seasoned
1 tbsp flavourless oil

For the curry paste:
2 lemongrass stalks
2 kaffir lime leaves
stalks of a bunch of coriander
3 fat garlic cloves
2 inch piece of ginger or galangal
zest of 1 lime
2-3 hot thai chilles
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 red onion

An assortment of vegetables , I used aubergine, cavolo nero and cauliflower
Tin of coconut milk
1 chicken stock cube
500 ml water
palm (or brown) sugar
lime juice
the leaves from the bunch of coriander, chopped
2 more lime leaves finely shredded
fish sauce

Steamed rice

Pre heat oven to 200˚C

Blitz all the ingredients for the paste in a processor or bash it up in pestle and mortar.

Now get the duck on. Place it skin side down on a medium heat in a frying pan for 6-8 minutes until golden brown, pour off the fat regularly and then seal the other side for 30 seconds.

Now on a rack in a roasting tin in the middle of the oven roast the breasts for 8 -12 minutes (8 for rare, 12 for medium, cook it anymore and you don't deserve to eat it because your a bad person)

While the duck roasts take two table spoons of the paste and sweat in the oil until fragrant. Add the cubed aubergine, stock cube, water, coconut milk and shredded lime leaves then leave to simmer until the aubergine is nearly cooked through and the sauce has reduced by about a 3rd. Now throw in the cauliflower, broken into florets and the cavolo nero shredded for the last 5 minutes.

The duck should be about done now, whip it out and leave to rest for 10 mins.

When the veg is cooked balance the sauce. Taste it, think about it and then pimp it with the sugar, fish sauce, lime juice and coriander and even freshly sliced chilli if required until you have a salty/sweet/spicy/sour dreamy harmony.

Serve the veg and sauce on a bed of steamed rice and top with the sliced duck breast.

Noodle Soup (Again).

Living with my Dad is acting like culinary kryptonite at the moment. Most people laugh at me when they learn that my average day involves my Dad and I pinging each other emails across London with subject lines such as 'yummy' and 'lets make this' followed by an evening of cooking and watching  the Good Food channel, all the time discussing how friggin' awesome what we've cooked that day is. If I say so myself we are probably the best fed pair of workers in SW London - at the moment Monday seems to be the day for our version of the Olympics.

There are a fair amount of noodle soup recipes on this blog. This is something I refuse to apologise for because, you know what? There is about to be another. This one sits somewhere between Vietnamese, Thai and Schezuan (I think) and was the product of one of mine and my fathers rather elaborate Monday evenings. It is a feast of textures and layers of flavor and is yours to do what you will with, whether you want it more lime-y or chilli hot etc.

Serves 2

For the Chicken:
4 x Chicken thighs, skinned, boned and blitzed in the food processor
2 tbsp flavorless oil
a good handful of sesame seeds
1 tbsp of runny honey

For The Paste:
1 stick of lemongrass, outer woody leaves removed
thumb sized piece of ginger
2 fat garlic cloves
1 hot red chili

For the noodle soup:
1/2 tin of coconut milk
500ml good chicken stock
juice of 2 limes
2 tbsp soy sauce
bunch of mint finely chopped
a few spring onions shredded
2 bok choy
1/2 a red pepper in slices
rice noodles for two

Firstly get a frying pan on to heat to get screaming hot  - while you wait blitz the ingredients for the spice paste in a processor.

When the frying pan is hot fry the chicken in the oil, smashing it up into the consistency of a course mince. Keep frying and tossing until it goes golden and crunchy.

Add the sesame seeds to toast off and then for the last 30 second stir in the honey ensuring it coats the chicken. Turn out onto some kitchen paper to drain off any excess fat.

Now in a big pan or wok in a little more oil sweat off the spice paste and when fragrant add all the liquids and the noodles. When the noodles are nearly done add the other veg to lightly soften.

Ladle into big bowls and top with the chicken, mint and spring onions.

Spicy Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup.

For once I actually have a genuine excuse for my absence from this little Blog. 

I got robbed. Literally. 

Two weeks ago, two young scallywags broke into the house, smashing far more windows that was really necessary to get in and swiped various things in the house including my laptop, iPod and all my car keys, making blogging a bit tricky. The crowning glory moment within this farce was probably having to pay to have my own car clamped so it couldn’t be driven away in the middle of the night.

On a more culinary note, I’m really into noodle soup at the moment. When I have my one treat-eat-out-at-work lunch of the week I have been experimenting with the various noodle soups on offer near my office, I can safely say the superfood sobas at Pod are superior to many out there.

This recipe lies somewhere between a tribute to my favourite Kare Lomen at Wagamama and the Vietnamese Pho noodle soup. It has real depth of flavour and is thoroughly heart warming especially given the arctic weather at the moment. Of course due to my chilli addiction mine was practically lava it was so spicy but the fragrance of the lemongrass and galangal along with the creamy luxury of the coconut milk turns this dish into a real, quick, easy week night treat.

Serves 2-3

For The Paste:

2 lemongrass stalks, outer leaves removed, bruised and roughly chopped

2.5 cm piece galangal root, peeled & roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled & finely chopped

2 onions, peeled & roughly chopped

1 red pepper, deseeded & roughly chopped

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 hot red chili, chopped

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp curry powder

1 tsp shrimp paste 

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Enough noodles of your choice cooked to packet instructions

1 Can of coconut milk

Juice of 1 or 2 limes (depending how juicy they are)

2 chicken breasts, sliced into strips

½ pint chicken stock

For Garnish:

2 handfuls of beansprouts

Finely shredded cucumber and spring onion

Fresh coriander finely chopped

Roasted sesame seeds for garnish

In a food processor blitz all the ingredients for the paste until smooth. Add a touch of water to help it blend if necessary.

Sweat the paste in the oil and when fragrant throw in the chicken strips. When they have sealed add the liquids and noodles and bring to a simmer. 

When the chicken is cooked through ladle into deep bowls and serve with the various garnishes. 

Singapore Noodles.

Whenever I have a Chinese takeaway (which isn’t that often I'll have you know...) I’m ALWAYS a sucker for Singapore noodles (I also have an ongoing love affair with shredded crispy beef, but that’s an entirely different matter...)

It’s something to do with the fact that you’re having a Chinese but still getting a hit of curry-like flavors that just does it for me. Of course I’m also getting my obligatory chili hit and we all know about my little chili problem (if you're new to this space by 'problem' i mean full-blown addiction). So. Yeah. All in all I LOVE this dish. 

Personally I don’t think there are really any rules about what goes in this stir-fry. The general idea is just hot wok, garlic, ginger, chili, curry powder, various forms of protein (I used bacon which is quite essential and tofu since I didn’t have any chicken, but chicken, prawns and pork are lovely too) some crunchy stir fry veg, noodles and egg.

Serves 2

2 tbsp vegetable oil

4 rashers smoked bacon, chopped

Fresh, firm tofu, cubed

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

Thumb sized piece of ginger, chopped

1 hot chili, chopped

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp sesame seeds

2 large handfuls of stir-fry veg

Enough rice noodles for two

1 egg, beaten

1 ½ tbsp soy sauce

Lime wedges and chopped spring onions (to serve)

Cook noodles according to packet instructions

Get your wok on a high heat and heat the oil until nearly smoking, add bacon and tofu.

When that is browned add garlic, ginger, chili, sesame seeds and curry powder. Fry until fragrant and add veg.

Fry for a couple of minutes then push the contents of your wok to the side and pour the egg into the space created, stir the egg until it scrambles then incorporate into the rest of the ingredients adding the noodles and soy sauce.

Taste to see if it needs any more seasoning and serve with lime to squeeze over and scattered with the chopped spring onions.

Southern Indian Vegetable Curry.

Now, there is absolutely no denying it. I am a complete chili addict. I'm the person that could be eating pizza, pasta, a roast or a burger and will ask you to pass whatever appropriate spicy condiment is on offer. Be it hot sauce, horseradish or crushed chilies, if it makes my mouth burn, I'm all over it.


Taking this into account one may assume that Southern Indian cuisine may not be my bag. With all those subtle flavors of mustard seeds, curry leaves, coconut milk and no promise of chili to assault my taste buds,  you may predict me uninterested. But no. 


Having been fortunate enough to travel around India I completely fell for every element of its cuisine and after sampling the traditional breakfast of Southern India, a Masala Dosa (aka the KING of all breakfasts) I fell head over heels for this type of food. 


The recipe that follows is a take on Southern Indian cooking and ticks all of the expected boxes with a bit of added chili for some bite, simply because I couldn't resist. 

Serves 4

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed.

2 large handfuls of spinach or the leafy end of the chard, shredded.

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

a thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

4 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped

a bunch of curry leaves

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 ½ tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1 can of coconut milk

fresh coriander, chopped

In a wok or large, deep pan on a high heat add your oil and mustard seeds, when they start to pop add the onion.

When the onion begins to soften, add the garlic, chili, ginger curry leaves and spices, fry that for 3-4 minutes then add the chopped tomatoes and sweet potato and season.

Fry this for another 2 minutes to develop the flavors then add the coconut milk, cover and simmer until the potato is soft all the way through.

Add the spinach or chard and wait for it to wilt, taste, check the seasoning, then serve with rice, scattered with the fresh coriander and a wedge of lime to squeeze over.