Easter recipe

Hello food lovers and happy Easter!

I am sorry for not being too active recently, but I couldn't leave you without an Easter post!

Today I would like to share with you a traditional Easter Bulgarian recipe and, in order to do so, I visited a lovely Bulgarian family that has moved to London few years ago.
This dish is composed by tender roasted lamb and a side of rice cooked in the oven with lamb liver.

Ingredients:

(I will use "Ts" for table spoons and "Th" for tea spoons)
Lamb, 1Ts of flour, black pepper, 2 Ts of paprika, 2 Ts of tomato puree, olive oil, water, spring onion, salt, black pepper, cup of rice, 2 eggs, 200g of bulgarian yogurt, butter, Lamb liver, parsley and mint both fresh and dried.

We start with the main dish by preparing the herbs that we will use to season the lamb.
Chop a full bowl of fresh spring onions, parsley and mint. We also need some dried parsley and mint that we will use later.

For the seasoning we need a second bowl with flour(1Ts), salt(1Ts) ,black pepper(1Th), paprika(2Ts), tomato puree(2Ts), olive oil(3Ts) and mix to obtain a soft paste. If it's still too dry add a bit more olive oil and at the end mix everything with half cup of cold water to make it smooth: it must be as in the picture below.

In a roster tin make a layer with the chopped fresh herbs, using a bit less than half bowl.

Take the cuts of lamb that you choose to cook (for better result use pieces of meat of the same size), rub the meat all around with the soft paste and place it in the roster tin.

At this point pour a cup of water on the remaining soft paste, mix it and spread it over the lamb, add water to fill one third of the roaster.

Now we season with salt, pepper, dry herbs and another layer of fresh herbs (keep some for the rice dish). Cover everything with foil and cook in the oven at 200° for around an hour (depending on the tenderness and size of the meat). Turn the meat and cook in the same way for another hour.

While the lamb will be cooking we prepare the side.
Starting with boiling the lamb liver (you can also use kidney) in a tall pan, then remove the liver from the water (keep the water for later) and chop it into small pieces.


Fry the remaining fresh herbs in another pan, add half cup of water and after 5 min add the liver, a pinch of salt, black pepper, 100g of butter, dry herbs and stir for 2 minutes.

Then add 1 cup of rice, stir for another minute and pour into a casserole dish.

 

At this point add 3 cups of the water where we cooked the liver, make sure it's warm (this will accelerate the cooking process) and cook in the oven at 200° for 50 minutes.

In the meantime mix 2 eggs with: 200g of bulgarian yogurt, pinch of salt, black pepper, and a third of cup of water. Remove the rice from the oven when it's done.

Pour the egg mix on top of the rice.

Put it back in the oven until it will be nice and crusty as in the below picture.

So now the side is ready, we just need to wait for the lamb that will be like this picture.

The final touch will be some tomato slices and spring onion on the plate as a decoration for this combo recipe.

Hope you liked it! Enjoy your Easter and stay tuned for more recipes!

L'amuse Bouche Crepes & Galettes

Good Morning Food Lovers.

Today the sun shines over London and the spring makes me happy and energised.
I am going to have breakfast with a famous french delicacy we all love...I am talking about Crepes. In order to do so I will visit L'amuse Bouche, a shop and market stall created by Thomas and Clement selling my favourite crepes in London.

This two french guys have a pretty funny history as they had been competitors for a year before realising that toghether they would have made a great business. Before founding L'amuse Bouche they were both selling french food at Vauxhall street food garden (one french sandwiches and the other crepes).

As they started this cooperation they joined Shepherds Markets group that gave them the opportunity to trade in many different markets in central London. After one year in 2015 they opened a street food kiosk in POP Brixton Market, one of the coolest and unconventional indoor street food markets in London.

The secrets of their succes are easily found in following traditional french recipes and using authentic ingredients such as a high quality goat cheese, raclette cheese and home made butter. This makes a real difference in taste as the melted cheese matches perfectly with the softness of the crepe and you can feel the quality of the butter as well.
Other reasons to love this crepe are that you can also have vegetarian and gluten free options, but most of all their portions are a real meal and not just a snack........if you know what I mean!

I'm getting seriously hungry now....
Thomas, one crêpe s'il vous plaît!

If you also want one find L'amuse Bouche Crepes & Galettes at

POP Brixton: Monday to Friday(11:00 - 23:00, Saturday and Sunday(10:00 - 24:00)
Piccadilly: Monday (11:00 - 14:30)  
Startisans: Monday (11:00 - 14:30)  
Mayfair: Wednesday(11:00 - 14:30)
Brunswick: Saturday (11:00 -16:00)
Broadgate: Monthly.
Paternoster: Monthly.
ONC: Monthly.
Sloane Square: Monthly.
Cardinal Place: Monthly.
Regent Place: Monthly.
Farrington: Monthly.
 

Traditional Balsamic Vinegar

Hi Today I want to write about balsamic vinegar, a product I am really passioned about, traditionally home made in my home town. In my family we still make our own vinegar.

The reason I want to write about it is because there are wrong beliefs about this product. First of all there are two different types: the original one is called Aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena (Traditional Balsamic vinegar of Modena), while the most popular and sold imitation is named Aceto balsamico di Modena (Balsamic Vinegar of Modena), all the difference stands in the word "tradizionale" (traditional). 

The second one is made by adding sugar to some wine vinegar, this is being cooked in order to caramelize it and obtain the typical sweet flavor. 

The real one comes from a natural trasformation process of the grape's cooked must, this is lasting a very long time. The grapes traditionally used are “Trebbiano” and “Lambrusco Grasparossa” or “Ancellotta”. 

During the first year the barrels (every barrel has a different size and they are ordered from the smallest to the biggest one) are filled with must and after one year the must becomes vinegar, but not yet traditional. 
Every year an amount of vinegar is being withdrawn from the smallest barrel, which is then refilled with the vinegar from the barrel next to it. This procedure is repeated for each barrel untill the biggest one. The last one is now ready to be refilled with new must. This process creates a perfect environment for bacteria to grow, one of the causes for the thickening of the balsamic vinegar with no added chemicals and using only barrels made of untreated woods (sessile oak, chestnut, juniper, mulberry).

At the end with 200 kg of grapes you will obtain 2 litres of balsamic vinegar, following the above process each year for 12 years!  We need this amount of time because the vinegar produced in the first 11 years is not considered good enough to be called "tradizionale"

. 

What also makes the difference between types of Traditional balsamic vinegar is where the barrels are kept, (usually under a roof) and how long the barrels have been used: the best balsamic vinegar comes from barrels that have been used for more than a century! Of course the oldest the barrels are, the most product is lost in evaporation, that means that in a very old battery you need much more than 200kg of grape for 2 liters of vinegar.

Now that you have a better understanding of how the traditional balsamic vinegar is made, you will be able to recognise the real one, which is much more expensive, and therefore use it appropriately and in small quantities considering that it is such a precious product. 

For a better understanding of prices I suggest to read this article from Huffington Post.
  

FOLLOW: Street Food Is Good

Hi.

If your passion is food,
if you love to cook,
but most of all you like the GOOD FOOD, 

 YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE!!! 

 

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Brockley Market (SE London)

Hello street food lovers!

Saturday morning I set my alarm "early" to get up and go to Brockley Market, which surprisingly is much closer to St John's or Lewisham station than Brockley! It's located next to the Lewisham College in our beloved neighbourhood SE13!!!

Please don't get scared by the postcode...
just between New Cross and Greenwich, Lewisham is becoming the ideal area for young people to live and hang out, with plenty of quircky and interesting stuff around it.
See?

Now that hopefully I made you a little bit more curious about it, let me explain you what I love about this market.
Brockley Market is developed on the Lewisham College car park, therefore it is very spacious, although it is not easy to find a car park nearby.

When you first arrive you can perceive the sense of community and  you will feel like this is one of the few truly local markets of London. As a matter of fact, even  the exotic traders here (Spanish, Mexican, Italian, Vietnamese) have a kind of British twist. While normally in Central London street food traders tend to show as much as possible the traditions of their country, here this local-exotic formula seems to work very well.

 

Families and people of any age love it also because there is a dedicated area to sit down and have a chat, while having a bite and just enjoying a relaxed Saturday morning.

Within the street food traders the choice is between burger, pizza, crumpets, fresh juices, cakes, coffee and more, depending on the week.
 

However the most interesting part of this market is the selection of local fresh produce (cheese, bread, condiments, preserves, craft beer, sausages), organic fruit and vegetable, meat, fish and something quite unique in the area such as game and poultry.

Brockley Market also has a space where sometimes you can find information about concerts and activites held in the area.

Best enjoyed on a sunny day, it is held every Saturday from 10:00 to 14:00 in

Brockley Market website

Lewisham College Car Park

Lewisham Way, SE4 1UT

Tagliatelle with salmon

Hi Everyone! Hope you had a wonderful week.

Today I am going to leave the street food and London markets aside, because it's time to add some recipes to this blog!
This is a recipe that I learned a while ago. It's really simple to make, but very tasty.

Looks good, right? This tagliatelle with salmon and cream it's a dish that my elder sister used to make for me.

The ingredients are: tagliatelle, smoked salmon, double cream, onions and parsley.

I am not sure whether onions were already part of the recipe or if my sister added them to make her little brother eat onions...but I can assure the result is excellent.

So let's start by the onion: to serve 3 people, finely chop 3 onions. I prefer to use white onions as they become soft and delicate once cooked, giving an harmonious flavour together with the cream to this dish.

We are going to use smoked salmon in order to give to our tagliatelle a delicious "smoky" taste.I am using 210g of salmon (70g per serving). 

Slice the salmon into small pieces as in the picture below or smaller for a smoother sauce.

 

We can start frying our chopped onions into some extra virgin olive oil until they will soften, if you like them crispy you can fry them a bit longer. After that, add the sliced salmon and mix until it will be cooked (it takes no longer than 2 minutes).

Now add the double cream and cook until it will thicken.

Many people prefer to add parsley only once the sauce is done, but I like to add some of it into the pan while I'm still coocking the cream and the rest when it cooles down. (Save some fresh non-chopped leaves for the end).
The amount and when you prefer to add your parsley is completely up to you.

When the sauce will be ready you can start heating up some water into a big pot (you can make the process faster using a kettle if you want), add a pinch of sea salt and when the water is boiling, add 300g of tagliatelle and stir. Drain the pasta when ready as per cooking time on the packet, put it back into the pot and mix it with the sauce.

Now you are ready to serve your pasta. Take some parsley leaves and garnish the plate.

enjoy yor meal!


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Greenwich Market (SE London)

Hello!
Here we are this week once again exploring markets in London.
The market I am writing about has a really special place in my heart...

It is probably the first market I have ever visited when I moved to London, moreover it has been the first market I worked at. I am talking about Greenwich Market.
Located in SE10, it offers a large variety of products such as art and crafts, militaria, vintage clothes, accessosries and hand-made old fashioned toys.
In addition to all the above, a big part of this market is street food.

The area of the market is developed on a covered square surrounded by shops, where the stalls in the north side are selling food, while the ones on the south side are dedicated to art and crafts. Due to the increase of demand for street food and the recent roof's restoration, a new area has been opened on the west side, where mainly you can find hot food, while cold food and drinks remain on the north side. This can be subject to changes depending on the days of the week or for logistic reasons.

This market is ideal for a picnic thanks to its beautiful location by the Royal park of Greenwich. It becomes really busy during weekends and in summer time with a lot of tourists looking for a tasty snack or buying an original souvenir after a visit at the Greenwich Observatory.

Greenwich market  is closed only on Mondays, however it remains open every day during summer time and special occasions. The market has now become a must-see for a visit in Greenwich. The royal borough is worth a visit because of numerous good restaurants and sights of interest such as the Cutty Sark, the famous Observatory and the Maritime Museum.

And for those who love cooking, I suggest taking a look at the accessories and tools for your kitchen and your home: some of them are really different and can be customised to your preference.

You must be curious enough by now so I don't want to add anything else........see you at Greenwich Market!
  

Greenwich Market London SE10 9HZ

Greenwich Market website   

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