I thought I would share one of my favourite salsa recipes with you. I make this salsa so often that I do not know where I first came across it but I know that I have adapted quantities and flavours to my own taste over the years. It goes with just about any grilled fish, but is outstandingly good with mackerel, particularly barbecued. I went down to the fishmonger yesterday evening to pick up 2 fat mackerels only to find it closed after the bank holiday weekend. What I do in the event that the fish monger is closed, is turn 180 degrees on my heels and cross to the other side of the road to the butcher, and vice versa if this is closed (if they are both closed I don’t know what I would do ok?). Last night I picked up 2 rib-eye steaks and we found the salsa and steak pairing to be a (at first thought unlikely) success! This salsa is also something that I make often when I am in one of my ‘healthy’ periods (as I am at the moment). It is so good for you that you can heap an enormous pile of it onto your plate with no trace of guilt whatsoever. I vaguely remember that the original recipe called for olive oil but I think it is completely unnecessary, and much fresher without it.

Avocado and Mango Salsa

2 Hass avocados, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
3 large tomatoes, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 red chilli, chopped
Handful coriander leaves, chopped
2 ripe mangoes, chopped
Salt and pepper

- Place the chopped avocado in a serving dish and squeeze over the lime juice
- Add all the other ingredients, season with (fine) salt and pepper and mix gently.
- Set aside for half an hour or so to let the flavours marry.

N.B: You can also make a nice variation using pineapple in place of the mango; be warned though,

Helen: ‘Don’t you remember I made a nice variation on this with pineapple?’
Chris: Yeah, it didn’t really work though did it because you didn’t cut the pineapple small enough – too chunky’
Helen: ‘Oh yeah’

We visited Notting Hill Carnival yesterday for the first time, having just missed it last year by moving from Oxford to London in September. I had no idea whatsoever about the sheer scale of the event and I have since found out that it is the second largest street party in the world, after the Rio Carnival in Brazil. The floats and costumes were really very impressive and our small party could be found dancing in the streets until the light started fading and the rum ran dry. There were many stalls selling Caribbean food and I couldn’t resist trying some Jerk chicken after my recent visit to the Jerk Cookout Festival. I have to say, the carnival Jerk was nowhere near as good, the flavour of the Scotch Bonnet chillies was not there and neither was the depth of spicy sweet flavour so particular to the Jerk seasoning. We did try some fried dumplings however, which were very good, crispy outer coating, with a sweet and fluffy inside and a hint of nutmeg. Chris ate his with a large dollop of hot pepper sauce on the side. Very moreish indeed.

I love cooking Indian food, the exotic aromas and colours are so exciting and make me feel like I have a carnival in my kitchen. Just as exciting is the preparation, the shopping for ingredients before hand, especially on a beautiful sunny day like today. As I’ve mentioned before, East Dulwich is a treasure trove of food gems. We ventured out early this afternoon to stock up on ingredients for a curry that I promised to make. Chris enjoys a king prawn vindaloo and I will not fail to deliver. The only problem here is the question of authenticity, but I am not a snob about this kind of thing. The vindaloo originated in Goa, created by the Portugese-Indian colony and it is said that a vindaloo recipe cannot be authentic unless pork is used, as the fat from the pork, combined with the vinegar and garlic, creates a unique taste. The word ‘vindaloo’ comes from the Portugese word for wine, ‘vinho’ and for garlic, ‘alhos’. The authentic vindaloo does not include potatoes as you will find in many Indian restaurants over here, this is presumed to be an error as a result of the word ‘aloo’ meaning ‘potato’ in Hindi.

For this version, I have adapted a paste by Rick Stein, which is fairly authentic (here), and I found inspiration for the rest from a recipe by Madhur Jaffrey, in her book, ‘The Ultimate Curry Bible’. So I am partly sticking to tradition and partly adapting the recipe for today’s taste. I originally wanted to use prawns as this is Chris’ favourite variation so we headed down to our fishmonger, Moxon’s. (Brilliant. I wanted to nominate them as a local food hero but there was some problem with the website, so they missed out due to a technical error. They do not open on Monday’s as there is no catch on a Sunday – such reassurance that the fish is fresh). When we get there however, shock horror, no prawns!

So, a last minute change of plan (don’t you love that about cooking?) takes us a few steps across the road to the butchers where we pick up some beef, which I find so satisfying in a curry. After a brief discussion with the butcher about the curry I will be making, he recommends rump, and so we go away with enough to last us for several servings each as apparently, one should make a vindaloo the day before eating and so we want enough for tomorrow too.

I did make a couple of small changes to Rick’s paste recipe, but overall it was fantastic, so aromatic with a powerful kick at the end and the flavour of the cloves works so well. I used half the amount of chillies as I couldn’t find Kashmiri ones and I removed a few of the seeds. If I made the recipe again I would also use a slightly larger onion. I did use potatoes but next time, I think I will leave them out.

We ate the vindaloo with a vegetable rice, tarka dal, raita and onion ring salad. This is the real thing, so perfumed, with a satisfying fiery punch.

Vindaloo

For the paste

7 dried red chillies, some of the seeds removed (if you can find Kashmiri chillies, use double the amount as they are milder)
1 onion
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 ½ tsp whole cloves
3inch piece of cinnamon stick
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 inch piece fresh ginger
4 tbsp garlic
A walnut sized piece of tamarind pulp (soak for 30 mins and pass through a sieve if you have the stuff with seeds and stones still intact)
1 tsp jaggery or soft brown sugar
2 tbsp white wine vinegar

-Preheat the oven to Gas 8 (230°C/450°F) and roast the onion (unpeeled) for about and hour until it is soft to the core

-Put the peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon and cumin into a pestle and mortar or spice grinder
and blend to a powder

-Add the spices to a blender along with the peeled onion and everything else

-Blend to a paste

For the vindaloo

Rump steak, diced
1 large onion, sliced
9 fl oz water
6 small new potatoes
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp chilli powder
6 curry leaves
2 tbsp vegetable oil
A handful of fresh coriander, chopped

-Smother the meat with the curry paste and leave to marinade for 1 ½ hours

-Heat the vegetable oil and fry the onions and curry leaves over a medium-high heat until the onions begin to brown at the edges

-Add the meat and sear all over before adding the water and spices

-Turn the heat to low, cover and cook gently for 1 ½ hours

-Add the potatoes until cooked and the curry sauce is thick

-Finish by stirring through the coriander

We visited the now annual Jerk Cookout Competition yesterday, held in the beautiful gardens at the Horniman museum. These gardens are a favourite destination for walks and are conveniently only five minutes from our house. The festival began last year and features fifteen of London’s best Caribbean restaurants.

We were really hungry when we arrived and the cooking was in full swing. Huge barrels converted into barbecues lined the perimeter of the field, the smoke carrying a mixture of spicy scents making our mouths water. There was a wide range of ‘jerk’ on offer; chicken, pork and snapper alongside dishes like curry goat and rice and peas. Apparently, ‘if you can eat it, you can jerk it!’

I decided to stay simple and ordered jerk chicken with salad which was delicious; perfectly grilled chicken, succulent and juicy with excellent balancing of spices. The chef had managed to capture the fruity flavour of habanero chillies without keeping too much of the heat. The chicken was then given a liberal slathering of spicy sauce which again was lip smackingly good.

It’s a shame we didn’t have time to sample more before the heavens opened and we retreated hastily to the local pub. Although it is obvious that the festival is fairly new, there was a really happy vibe and the quality of the food was high. Its definitely worth a visit of you live in the area.

I love sandwiches. I love them so much that I eat one nearly every day in one form or another. If a meal includes some sort of bread then I can usually be found stuffing it with whatever else is on the plate. There is something very British about the sandwich (think cricket and cucumber sandwiches sans crusts), apparently named after the 4th Earl of Sandwich, although exact origins are the subject of some debate and of course, different countries have their own versions.

I have spent a large amount of my time attempting to perfect favourite sandwiches and it’s about time that I started documenting them here. I think it’s only fair that I should start with one of the best, a classic of the sandwich world, the BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato, an idea I believe came from the USA). Now, this can be terrible if made with poor ingredients; just cast your mind back to those limp, fatty, flabby pre-prepared fakes that you can buy at many lunch counters. I’m afraid that most sandwich shops, made for the purpose and full of promise don’t do it for me any more (unless they are really good, of course).

I tend to make a BLT on a Saturday morning, marking the start of my weekend, although I have to take regular breaks from this habit when Chris begins to tire of them. The trouble is I want every filling to be perfect. I am a seriously dedicated fan.

I’m getting pretty close to the goal with this one now, after trying endless variations. There are several key points to be made here. The first is the bacon, it must be streaky, as good quality as you can afford and cooked until the fat is golden and crispy. Cheap, watery bacon just will not do (if white scum starts appearing when you are cooking, water has been added).You can’t beat that deeply satisfying umami flavour from the caramelised fat. The second is the inclusion of avocado; this adds a fresh creaminess to the layers of flavour (this is what the sandwich is all about, the layers) and they must be Hass avocados. The Fuerte variety, (smooth skinned and green) is just not worth it, they lack the creamy flavour of the Hass (brown skinned and knobbly). For the ‘T’, choose ripe, flavoursome tomatoes (i.e. not in the middle of winter). I recommend cherry as they are sweeter. For a nice variation try this with some of my tomato salad (in which case, use plain mayonnaise instead of chive).

For the ‘L’ element, there are a number of options. Quite often, I will just use what comes in my weekly vegetable box – whatever; it must be very fresh and have some crunch to it. It all depends on how many other flavours you have in there. If you are using the tomato salad, I would say go for a plainer leaf. Otherwise, I have used rocket (arugala) and watercress, which is one of my favourites for its peppery notes.

Finally, I have experimented with various ‘oniony’ elements in this sandwich as I think that, introduced subtly; it can really lift a sandwich from mediocre to magnificent. At first, I tried adding a sprinkle of very finely chopped spring onions (scallions) but I found the flavour a little raw. If you are using the tomato salad, you already have the onion in there. Recently, I have been adding some snipped chives to good quality mayonnaise which imparts a nice mellow flavour. The mayonnaise is very important in terms of flavour and texture so, if you have the time and inclination, make your own, it is so worth it and much easier than people are led to believe.

Now to the bread. The options are endless really, but if you have a lot of layers to your sandwich you really need to keep things simple and it comes down to a matter of personal choice. I like a rustic loaf with a deep, wholemeal flavour but some people insist on white and so be it. Recently, I’ve been experimenting with different bread recipes, particularly a savoury courgette (zucchini) loaf. Since noticing the distinct lack of savoury courgette bread recipes my mind has been firmly set on the task. The recipe isn’t quite perfected yet though, so I will get back to you on that one, although you can get some idea from the picture above. The second attempt contained chives, which I thought might do for the onion layer of the sandwich, but it wasn’t as pronounced as expected and so I added a few chives to my mayonnaise anyway.

So, that’s it for my first sandwich installment really. I deeply hope that someone out there loves them as much as I do, for there are many more posts to follow and I promise you, my appetite is never satisfied. Chris made the wholemeal loaf that I used for the sandwich today; the recipe is from Delia’s site here although he baked it on a tray in place of the loaf tin.

Helen’s BLT Sandwich (Serves 1)

2 slices of your favourite bread

Half a Hass avocado, sliced (keep the other half in the fridge with the stone in and add a squeeze of lemon juice to help minimise browning)

4-5 rashers of good quality streaky bacon, or pancetta if you feel that way inclined

Crisp salad leaves

Sweet juicy tomatoes, sliced

Good quality (preferably homemade mayonnaise), 2 tablespoons

Chives, snipped (about a dessert spoon, or to taste)

-Grill the bacon until the fat is caramelised and crispy
-Mix the snipped chives with the mayonnaise and spread onto one of the bread slices
-Place the sliced avocado on top of the mayonnaise, followed by the tomato, the bacon and finally the leaves
-Add a good grind of black pepper, top with the final slice of bread and press everything down gently
-Cut in half if you wish, sit back, relax and enjoy your work