foodierudy

I love Mexican food.

I have fond memories of eating these really tasty enchiladas when I lived in Park City, Utah.  Chunky chicken, rolled in soft corn tortillas, smothered in a fragrant, fiery sauce with rice and grated cheese on the side.  Perhaps more Tex-Mex than authentic Mexican, but very good.

Park City had a large Mexican population, employed in the usual lowly cleaning jobs that the local Americans wouldn’t do.  Since I was just a poor pastry chef, I lived in a poorer part of town, in some dodgy condo development.  A couple of times a week some Mexican would park his car outside our building, and start selling burritos wrapped in foil from his boot!  He’d be surrounded by kids, dragging along their mums (and purses!).  To this day I regret not trying them.  Judging by their popularity with the kids, they must have been good.

Back in NZ, I loved eating at the Flying Burrito Brothers in Wellington, great atmosphere, with good fresh Mexican favourites.  When I returned to Masterton for a flying visit, some couple had also opened a little Mexican cantina - simple fare, but nice fresh flavours.  Here in London,The Texas Embassy near Trafalgar use to be the place to go for Tex-Mex food.  However, after repeated disappointments, I refuse to go back, and have been searching ever since.

So, after reading a very good review by the Metro’s excellent Marina O’Loughlin, I was very keen to try Benitos Hat, a new mexican fast-food/cafe/restaurant.  It seems “Mexican” is in at the moment, with a whale load of new places offering good, cheap Mexican eats.    There’s often a Freebird Burritos van parked in Goodge Place, swarmed by a hungry crowd of burrito-lovers.  I’ve also noticed El Burrito in Charlotte Place, and Soho’s Mexicali, which I walk past often enough on my way for a flat white at Flat White (of course).

Last night after work, I met the lovely M in town, near Goodge St.  We found the place easily enough - a happy, bubbly little joint chocka-full with people.  We squeezed our way in and after a perfunctory glance at the menu choices, started building our burritos.  I went for the slow-cooked pork option (hmmm - tender, fragrant and very meaty), while M chose the chicken.  As I inched my way along the counter the chirpy serving girl continue to compose my feast - refried beans, fluffy rice, frrresh guacamole, fiery salsa, crisp lettuce leaves - until the soft tortillas are filled to bursting point.  Somehow, utilising some mysterious skill, she managed to fold it all neatly into a little package, wrap it in foil, and place it in my little plastic basket, with a sprinkling of tortilla chips on the side.  Behind me M arrived with her neatly folded bundle.  Beer for me, freshy squeezed Limeade for M, and we’ve just cracked £15.  Not bad.

It’s a lively little place, no frills, but friendly.  The walls are a zesty lime green, and for furniture a collection of hard chairs squeezed around little tables.  (M reckoned the little stool I’d scrounged for her was more probably comfortable than my chair - I agreed.)  Benito’s Hat is definately not the place for a long, romantic dinner - but for a fun, cheap and cheerful meal, with great tasting food, it’s fantastic.

The food was very good, filling, and cheap.  Next time we have to try the margaritas on offer - made with freshly squeezed lime and 100% agave tequila, no mixes!

Benito’s Hat, 56 Goodge St W1

A little while ago, I pickled some veg. Finely sliced white and red cabbage, flavoured with some onion, garlic and salt were firmly pounded with my trusty beech rolling pin and pressed into a preserving jar. I kept pressing it down from time to time the rest of the day, until enough juice had escaped from the veg to cover and seal them. Then I left it out on the bench top for a few days, making sure the veggies were submerged in their own juice. It started bubbling quite soon, and developed some acidity. About 3 days later, when it had slowed down a bit, I put the seal on the jar, and popped it into the fridge. I kept tasting once a week, both to release the pressure in the jar, and to check it was maturing nicely.

Now 5 weeks later, we’ve broken into that first jar. It has turned a nice shade of pink, and the taste of the onions and garlic have mellowed. I was surprised at its taste - tangy, but not too sour, and much less salty than the commercial stuff you buy in supermarkets. It makes a nice accompaniment to meals, and we’ve been enjoying its fresh taste and crunchy texture. M, who’s usually not too keen on Sauerkraut, even had some, and liked it! Success!

I have made another 2 jars, sans onion, to see what plain cabbage will taste like. I will keep using a mixture of red and white cabbage, because the red’s компютриanthocyanins might be good for us. Anyway, it makes for a far more interesting colour! I plan to keep us fully supplied with health-giving pickled veg every winter from now on!

Next project - Kimchi…

We recently ate at Cha Cha Moon, Alan Yau’s new take on a Hong Kong noodle bar. I’ve been quite excited when I read he was opening up just off Carnaby Street, so, one Fri night, I dragged the ever-patient M along to try it out. We arrived to find a very long queue (life, after all, is one big queue…), but were assured by the friendly staff that it would only be about a 20 min wait. It must have been our lucky night, since after about 5 mins’ hobnobbing with the plebs, a waiter took us right to the front of the queue, and we were in! (Still don’t know why, but it sure made my day!) Once seated at the bare wooden tables, we were smartly joined by our waiter who sported a snazzy grey t-shirt asking “are you going to the Moon?”. Well, yes we were!

Read the rest of this entry »

I love pancakes.

I’ve been searching for the perfect pancake recipe for a while now. I grew up with Dutch-style pancakes, which Dad would cook for us sometimes on Saturday evenings - thick, heavy pancakes the size of dinner plates, studded with raisins, chunks of tinned pineapple, or pieces of apple for Mum and us kids, and bacon and cheese for Dad (a man’s pancake!). A typical recipe would be 1:1:1 - 1 cup of flour to 1 cup of milk to 1 egg - even I could remember that!

When I started cooking professionally, I came across crepes - the delicate, thin French-style pancakes, which were great with lemon juice and sugar (or nutella!). Good, but I need more substance for breakfast! Read the rest of this entry »

Just got passed this bit of news - Stefan is a friend from way back. Great to hear they’ve done so well! Congratulations of the achievement and recognition! However, what I found cooler was the parts about how they prioritise their life - God, family, work. Good on them!

It’s finally spring! One thing I’ve really missed since moving to London is a garden. I love growing stuff, getting my hands dirty, and harvesting the fruit of my labours. I grew up on a farm, and now that I’m living in a city, I miss that close connection to the land. I’m a Christian agrarian at heart.

There’s no greater lunch than some crusty sourdough bread with butter, and a nice salad made with just-picked cherry tomatoes, still warm from the sun! I miss mum’s herb-garden, where I could pick rosemary when making focaccia, or fragrant thyme for a bouquet garni. Or parsley, sage, chives, lemon thyme (great in steamed fish parcels), borage, fennel, mint - I’d find food a bit boring without herbs!

So, being a nice warm sunny day, yesterday my lovely wife M and I went to Homebase and bought some herbs, a planter, and some potting mix. Visiting a garden center made us miss NZ…

The thyme was already in flower, so I need to give it a good trim (shame really) but I’ll wait a week to give it a chance to settle in first. We’ve also got some rosemary, some parsley, and I’ve sown chives and basil.

M remarked we were becoming quite domestic… :o)

Their bright greens cheer the kitchen up too!

Due to the generosity of the many friends and family who gave us squillions in wedding gifts, we are now the proud owners of a Le Creuset 24 cm Round Casserole. It’s a good solid cast iron enameled jobby, in the timeless Volcanic (orange), and came with a complimentary grill plate!

Mum had one for some 20 odd years, and it has a lifetime guarantee, so I’m pretty chuffed.

Let the stewing commence…

On Tuesday evening I listened to the excellent Sandor Katz speaking on the topic of fermentation at the London College of Naturopathic Medicine. Sandor is a friendly hippy who explained how pretty much every culture on the Euro-Asian landmass has some way to preserve their produce using fermentation, from Korean Kimchi, to German Sauerkraut. Many of the foods we eat daily involve fermentation at some stage in their production (ie. yoghurt, cheese, wine, beer, chocolate, bread, salami, coffee, etc). Enthused, I thought I’d make some Sauerkraut… Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t normally give money to homeless people around, I’m not a scrooge, and really like helping other people, but everyone says giving money doesn’t really help them in the long term here and here. What to do? Seeing them on the streets saddens me. I still won’t usually give them any money. I have bought a Big Issue before, however when I handed over my quid, the guy refused to give me his paper, reckoned it was his last one and he needed it to make some more money. Felt ripped off. I let him keep the quid tho. However, on a cold, rainy day, I have walked past some very miserable people, and then given (actually M usually gives) a couple of quid. Out last night, walking with M. Saw someone walking past drop something, got a little annoyed at people littering etc, but it turned out to be £5! Looked back, but couldn’t identify him/her in the crowd, so shoved it in my pocket. Felt a little guilty for not giving it back, hopefully no-one saw me, and then suggested to M we give it to someone. No beggars in sight (strange I know, this is London after all), thought I might put it in collection box at church tomorrow. But then, they do all right, a fiver is not going to make a big difference. Ended up giving it to a homeless guy further along. Almost walked past him, then remembered the 5 squid burning a hole in my pocket. When I gave it to him, he cracked the biggest grin on his face, M smiled, and I got all warm and fuzzy inside. Still felt embarrassed that so little gave someone so much joy. Hope he spent it wisely…

Yesterday, we stumbled across San Marco, a lively Italian “Ristorante - Pizzeria” on Clapham High St. We were walking around, looking for a nice little place to have some dinner, stopping to peer at menus and see if anything caught my, oops, our fancy. The first thing M noticed was a bowl with resident goldfish in the window. Why? - we wondered. Peering through the window, we saw the place was packed with a queue of eager punters waiting for space - always a good sign. Checking out the menu, we noticed prices were very reasonable, and there was a “daily specials” menu scrawled on an orange flyer stuck to the window - again a good sign. We peeked through the door, but thought we’d try elsewhere, as we didn’t fancy waiting for a table. We walked further along the strip, past heaving bars and pubs, rowdy patrons spilling onto the footpaths. So many choices - noticed Esca (looked very quiet, M admired the tall, shelves, stacked neatly with deli-wares), Eco (very busy), and The Rapscallion (name sounds like a rock band - looked cool - scruffy, noisy, easy menu and reasonable value). Around the corner, we stopped to check out Gastro, in Venn St, opposite the Clapham Picture House. A & L had been there last year, and A said it had a great atmosphere - like a little slice of Paris. The menu read very French, but also very pricey. Gut feeling - no. About turn, and off to the high st again.

Anyway, we decided to keep Bierodrome and Bodean’s for a boys’ night out. Mmmm…beer…meat…. Before we knew it, we were back at San Marco, and the queue was gone - hurrah! Read the rest of this entry »