Why oh why did I forget the swirl of olive oil? I could have gone to town with a swirl of cream too. Such was the anticipation of eating the soup – it smelled so good…. It’s a well-documented hazard of food blogging; you forgot to swirl the olive oil, to add the final flourish of herbs, to take the photograph at all…. Well, at least I managed to take a picture. The hazelnuts make this soup much more interesting; I pinched the idea from the Riverford vegetables site (thank you , Jane Baxter), and added some crispy bacon for texture and umami and some celery for a grassy note.The nuts are ground and added at the end of cooking time, with the cream, when the soup is blended. I left mine with a little texture although I must admit it wasn’t by choice – I really, really need a new blender. It is so frustrating. I bought mine around 6 years ago and it wasn’t great then. It is a crime to my kitchen.

I crushed the nuts in a pestle and mortar which I think is just as addictive as crushing toasted spices in the same way, the aroma is almost intoxicating and makes me feel a bit giddy. It also helps to work them to a smooth paste, to stop the soup from turning grainy. For a vegetarian soup, swopping the chicken stock for vegetable and the bacon for crispy parmesan croutons would be delicious.

Today is officially the first day of my Christmas holiday and so represents the first opportunity to cook at my leisure for weeks. I’ll be making Florentines and mince pies to give as gifts to family and friends. It doesn’t really feel like Christmas for me until I start to cook.

Jerusalem Artichoke and Hazelnut Soup with Crispy Bacon (serves 4)

500g Jerusalem artichokes, scrubbed and sliced
1 large onion, sliced
1 table spoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 sticks of celery, washed and sliced
900mls chicken stock
100mls single cream
6 rashers bacon
100g hazelnuts, toasted and ground

- Gently fry the onions with the celery for 5 minutes
- Add the garlic and artichokes for 30 seconds
- Add the stock, bring to the boil and then simmer for around 20 minutes
- Meanwhile, grill the bacon until really crispy and chop into pieces
- Blend until smooth, then stir in the hazelnuts and cream
- Top each serving with some of the crispy bacon pieces, and a swirl of olive oil and cream if you remember!

Finally, finally….after much anguish, many phone calls and a couple of engineer visits, I am back online. Phew! I’ve missed blogging so much more than I ever imagined, a part of my life has been missing for nearly 5 weeks now. The only thing that has helped me through is reading everyone else’s food blogs. I couldn’t have done it without you.We’ve moved to a location which is even better for the food lover than our previous home. We are now on the halfway point between East Dulwich and Peckham Rye, which has opened up a whole new world of influences and ingredients. East Dulwich is great for meat, fish, cheese and whole foods. There’s also a fab deli, an old fashioned confectionery shop and a plethora of restaurants. Chris has just returned home with groceries, along them an artisan loaf, which comes with information about the baker. It’s from a weekly stall outside the fish mongers and it turns out they will be joining Lordship Lane (the main artery of East Dulwich) in early 2008! The leaflet says they are a family owned outfit and will be baking, ‘breads, cakes and patisserie’. At the moment, I can’t bear the thought of not living here forever…

Now however, now, we may also dip our culinary quill into the vibrant ink that is Peckham. The area has a bad reputation, but has been the focus of an intensive programme of regeneration and some of it at least is unjustified. Don’t get me wrong, it’s far from perfect, but the area has a buzz about it – a happy, energetic vibe. It’s noisy and vibrant and I love it. The mix of cultures here means there is a huge variety of ingredients available; shops piled high with exotic produce compete against each other with loud music. There’s a really diverse community of people, Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Nigerian, Eastern European and more. It’s exciting and fresh – like a whole new world for my taste buds! If you really want to get a sense of the place however, I urge you to pick up a copy of ‘Persia in Peckham’ by Sally Butcher. Sally and her husband run a shop called ‘Persepolis‘, selling all manner of things Iranian, including some really exciting ingredients. How lucky am I? I’ve just moved to the area and I find this famous little gem right on my doorstep! Sally includes a chapter called ‘the Peckham influence’ which celebrates the diversity and energy of this community. It’s really absorbing.

The book reads in the same way as the best ones always do, like a story. Well, it is a story, Sally tells us how she has embraced the culture of Persia, about her family and of course, the food they share. This is definitely the most spine tinglingly good cook book I have picked up in a long time. As part of the same Amazon binge, I ordered a copy of ‘Knife Skills Illustrated‘. My friends seem to find this a source of amusement – the word ‘geek’ has been mentioned several times. Oh, but it’s so useful! Some of the techniques seem obvious, but are they, are they really? This fills in gaps in your knowledge and makes sense of things quite nicely thank you. It also confirms something that I’ve been thinking; you only need two knives, a chef’s knife and a paring knife. Now, I’m not an expert on knives or the accompanying skills by any means, I have just noticed I only ever use two knives, and that’s it. Oh, except for the bread knife.

‘Persia in Peckham’ is one of those books where you can’t decide what to make first. I end up frantically flicking between pages, ‘I want to try this, and this and this….’ Here’s a few I managed to pin down……

Pomegranate soup
Persepolitan roast stuffed chicken (roasted with fruits, nuts and spices).
Broad bean balls (rice, minced lamb, herbs with yoghurt sauce).
Mackerel pan fried, coated in hemp and sesame crumble.
Sour cherry rice.
Rose, raspberry and almond roulade.
Saffron fudge.

The way Sally opens the door to Persian cuisine is so inviting. She explains the cornerstones of the Iranian way of eating, the ingredients that pop up over and over; mountains of fresh herbs, rice, pomegranates, saffron….
I’m working up to ‘Fried Brains‘. I don’t think I’m quite ready for that one…….

NB: I’ll be visiting Persepolis as soon as soon as possible. If anyone else has been, please, please let me know everything!