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The rain is back, time to cook!
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30 April 2010
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Good morning dears! Oops, I did it again… sent my newsletter today instead of yesterday. Growing up, I always believed ageing would somehow sort out all my shortcomings, and handing back my homework late at the lycĂ©e was just me being young and inexperienced. I am now halfway through my thirties (OK, a tad over, but not by much) and as you can all witness, I am still nowhere near a better me in the deadline area. Tell me, what’s the point of getting grey hair if wisdom does not come with the package? I am therefore embarking on a self-improvement campaign and set myself the challenge of sending you next week’s newsletter ON TIME (oh, that’s scary). In the spirit of teamwork I am setting you a challenge too, which is to up your cooking time this week. Prove me you did it by cooking at least one recipe from this issue or last week’s and writing about it in a comment on the recipe page, starting it with: “Thursday challenge”. I will send a bag of homemade cookies to two of you who have risen to it. To make the deal even, if I succeed in my own challenge please can all of you post me cookies too?  Now, this issue of TD is taking you on a trip. Eat the skate with beurre noisette to the sound of an accordeon in Paris, then fly to Thailand for a gorgeous roast and chicken skewers, and stop in India on your way back to eat delicious Alphonso mango delicacies. The Kitchen talk this week is all about those pink, cute and curvy root vegetables now in season (guess which?) and gives you tips on how to become a food packaging slayer while the Ask AL section is back in the bad smell business. Enjoy the cooking challenge et Ă JEUDI prochain! Anne-Laure x
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QUICK week treats
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Thai lime and garlic chicken skewers with peppery Spring salad
Busy: 20 min, Total time: 20 min
| Super quick and sharp tasting, here is a dinner that will shake away all the sluggishness that built up during your day. The bouncy salad is a mix of peppery veggies Spring has on offer with bean sprouts for extra crunchiness. The chicken can be simply sautéed in its tangy marinade, but the lemongrass skewers add more flavour depth and a nice touch of exotic chic to your plate. It's not because it's midweek we should forget about looking good. |
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Skate wing with capers and brown butter on sort of bubble and squeak
Busy: 20 min, Total time: 30 min
| I used to think very little of skate, which our university canteen served us as vilely overcooked fish strings. Then, l had an epicurean awakening in a Parisian restaurant. Nutty butter, full of tiny caramelized, salty bits and carrying soft and sour capers was poured liberally over perfectly cooked skate and potatoes, making a most memorable meal. So fast to prepare too! Time to call my Brit buddy Jamie to fix those offending French unis. |
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Weekend THERAPY
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Roast beef and Spring vegetables with Thai gremolata
Busy: 25 min, Total time: 1 hour
| I don't eat much beef but when I do it has to be special, such as this sprightly and light Thai-style Sunday Roast. The sauce mixing exotic flavours of lemongrass, lime, fish sauce and coriander is a triumph, working as superbly on the juicy vegetables as with the meat. I had leftovers Tuesday night and my kids watched with concern their mother plowing through her plate vigourously while loudly praising herself for being such a taste Goddess. I am. Really. |
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My devilishly tasty Alphonso mango flans
Busy: 10 min, Total time: 40 min (plus overnight chilling)
| Have you seen those small, yellow mangoes pop up on the fruit stalls? They are alphonso mangoes, highly prized for their sweetness and flavour. Their season is short (April-May) so enjoy them now. These pretty sun-coloured flans, served chilled, are a yummy and stunning way to play with those gorgeous fruits. After tasting them, Adele solemnly declared them better than (dreadful) Petits Filous, her ultimate reference. I am so, truly honoured. |
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IN SEASON
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New in April:
Wild garlic, Lettuce, Rocket, Morel mushrooms, Rosemary, Spinach, Cucumber, Asparagus, Spring lamb, Crab, Cockles, Radishes, fresh peas (Italian)
Ending:
Cauliflower
Also in season:
Bananas, oranges, kiwi fruit, alphonso mango, purple sprouting broccoli, broccoli, Jersey Royal new potatoes, rhubarb, sorrel, Spring onions, watercress, Skate, John Dory, salmon, sea bass, sea trout, wood pigeon | |
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KITCHEN TALK
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Star of the week: Radishes
Radishes are available all year round in supermarkets with often a disappointingly insipid flavour. We are now in luck, the British season for red, crisp, peppery, pungent, juicy and refreshing summer radishes has just started and will last all summer long (you guessed right, I am not insensitive to these round little beauties). The most commonly eaten part of radishes is their cute bulb, although the tops can also be used as a leaf vegetable (recipe ideas below). Radishes are typically eaten raw whole or sliced in salads, their bity flavour giving punch to the dullest dishes. Most of the peppery taste is concentrated in the skin s[...]
read more .. >
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The Conscious Cook: Become a food packaging slayer
This week, we take a practical look at how we can apply the first of waste management 3Rs of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. In comparison to our grand-parents, we now buy food bunched in smaller quantities, products that travel from further afield and more processed goods, all of which have contributed to packaging inflation. Recycling helps limit its impact but is enough. A lot of food packaging still cannot be recycled, shipping recyclable materials around the world for processing wastes energy and some recyclable materials such as plastics cannot be recycled endlessly, leaving some waste down the line. With a bit of smart shopping an[...]
read more .. >
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