I’ve got a new Saturday lunchtime habit and it’s called The Dogfather. Nothing sorts a hangover quite like a ‘Mexican Elvis’, which is a chilli dog of extreme tastiness.

The man dishing up the dogs is Cooper who, like all maverick street food traders, wouldn’t tell me where he buys his ingredients, revealing only that the dogs are made by “a Jewish guy.” What I do know however is that they’re 100% beef, kosher, halal and contain no mechanically reclaimed meat, sulphates and something else I can’t remember the name of; whatever nastiness it is though you can rest assured it isn’t in there.

The taste of that juicy dog is to die for and I wonder if he uses the same supplier as Yianni from The Meatwagon. Yianni and Cooper’s chilli dogs are totally different in the dressing though. Yianni uses much more chilli and cheese while Cooper keeps it a bit lighter. I love them both.

The dog is packing: fried onions, 100% beef sausage, a glorious chilli with meltingly tender beans and shreds of meat, cheese sauce, tangy jalapenos and a cheese slice. The bun, as ever, is key and it’s perfect; soft but with enough stamina to finish the race. Hot sauce, French’s and extra fat jalapeno slices are optional.

It’s all about the show with street food and as I watch Cooper (dressed like Elvis) flip, squeeze and fry we chat about the dogs and how he got started; he tells me he used to work in a diner and just got the bug for the style of food. It’s as good a reason as any.

There are 4 dogs on the menu at The Dogfather: The Mexican Elvis (chilli dog, my favourite); The Snoop Dog (pictured above, beef dog, bacon, BBQ sauce and creamed corn mayo); The Slum Dog (a curry based dog with saag aloo and onion bhaji flakes) and a 4th dog I can’t remember. It’s okay though as Cooper’s just signed up to Twitter, so I’ll find out soon enough. Let’s face it, I’ll be back there on Saturday anyway, inhaling my weekly treat.

The Dogfather
North Cross Road Market
East Dulwich
SE22 9EV

North Cross Road Market is now open Monday-Saturday.

A dreadful thing has happened: I am too busy to cook. If I’m at home of an evening then I’m so dog tired that I just need something fast, tasty and relatively healthy before I fall asleep in front of the telly, glass of wine in hand.

Octopus on toast is ticking all those boxes. I buy ready-cooked baby octopus in oil, chop them up, mix with herbs, chilli and lemon, pile on toast and sprinkle with a little good EVOO. You can find cooked baby octopus in fishmongers, or they are readily available uncooked in Asian supermarkets (a cheaper option). You can also buy octopus morsels tinned in major supermarkets.

This was delicious and ready in 5 minutes. I can see ‘things on toast’ becoming extremely popular in this house over the next few weeks.

Salty pork works very well with sweet stuff. Bacon and maple syrup with pancakes or bacon and onion brioche are both excellent examples. If you can feel that vibe then try candying bacon; it’s really easy and you end up with crisp, sticky, varnished rashers that shine like porcine treasure. It works much better with streaky bacon, because it’s fattier and candied pig fat is to die for. It’s still good with back bacon, just be prepared to fight for the streaky end.

Apart from chopping it into pieces and serving with an ice cold beer (even better if you sprinkle a bit of cayenne on the meat before cooking), there are other glorious uses for candied bacon. Here are some of them, foraged from the web by me, while munching on the above. Sticky keyboard ahoy.

• Candied bacon ice cream is the bomb. I use David Lebovitz’s recipe, although I make extra candied bacon to sprinkle on top. This brown butter candied bacon ice cream recipe is next on the hit list.
• Candied bacon martini anyone? It’s clearly not a Martini, as the author points out but I’d sure as hell drink it anyway. I think.
• Jamie whips up a candied bacon salad. In 30 minutes or under, I hope.
• Chocolate covered bacon sweets are so popular across the pond they have their own Wikipedia entry. The Americans as ever are way ahead when it comes to putting sugar where you’d imagine it doesn’t belong and people have started businesses selling sticky porcine confections.
• Candied bacon with pecans or praline bacon – probably my favourite candied bacon recipe of all time.

As I munched on my third piece of candied bacon, I couldn’t shake off the thought of trying to work it into a sandwich. An idea lurked at the back of my mind, both exciting and faintly disturbing. People, I bring you the eggy-bread and candied bacon sandwich. Behold!

The only way to make this sandwich more of a guilty pleasure would be to make it illegal. Fluffy eggy bread yields to the crunch of candy then salty pork. Oh deary me, I did feel the shame. My boyfriend and I managed half each. We couldn’t look each other in the eye afterwards.

Candied Bacon

Streaky bacon, the best quality you can afford. If possible, ask your butcher to cut it quite thick (if you haven’t read the post above, yes I used back bacon. It’s fine but streaky tastes much better).
Light brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 200C. Lay the bacon slices on a non-stick baking tray and sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of sugar over each one. Cook in the oven for about 6-8 minutes or until golden and caramelised on one side. Remove the slices from the oven and carefully turn them over, wiping them around in the melted sugar on the baking tray. Return to the oven to cook again. You need to watch that bacon like a hawk as it will catch and burn easily. Allow to crisp and cool before eating.

For some sweet variations try using maple sugar to candy the bacon, add some spices or perhaps some smoky chipotle flakes.

My friends ask me for this recipe more than any other. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to type it out here once and for all to save myself typing it out every single time someone asks. Idiot. Anyway, I make these rolls for most parties and gatherings and they always disappear rapidly.

As far as I’m concerned, there are 3 roads you can go down when making sausage rolls. The first involves the most effort and that is to go and buy sausage meat and season it entirely yourself with onion, herbs, spices, whatever (I sometimes use chunks of soaked, dried apricot). The second is to cheat and squeeze the meat from a pack of really good sausages and do nothing else except wrap it in the pastry and the third is the same but with a bit of pimping here and there according to my mood on the day.

This time I used the meat from 6 sausages and felt very strongly that the absolutely essential thing to do was to add more onion and so grated in half a small white one. You could add an extra herb if you’ve chosen quite a plain sausage – sage or thyme are both good choices. The sausage meat is obviously already seasoned so you don’t need to add any salt or pepper. Clearly you’ll need to buy your puff pastry if you want this to be quick and to be honest I’ve never been arsed to make my own anyway.

Probably a 30 minute job from start to scoff. People will love you.

Very quick and very easy sausage rolls

500g sausages (this was 6 sausages but it depends on the size of your er, sausage)
1 x 375g packet ready-rolled puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
Any pimpage your heart desires – onion, herbs, spices etc. (if you’re unsure you might want to fry off a teaspoon of the meat to test it)

Preheat the oven to 220C

Squeeze the meat out of the sausages, into a bowl. If you are using extra herbs or onion, add them now too. If adding onion, you will need to grate it, otherwise it won’t cook properly. Mix very well with your hands.

Open your pastry out onto a lightly floured surface. If it’s pre-rolled then you’ll just need to roll it a little thinner (same rectangular shape) until it is about the thickness of a 2p coin. Cut it lengthways into 4 strips. Divide your meat into 4 balls then use each of the balls to make a long sausage along each strip of pastry.

Brush one edge of each strip with the beaten egg then fold each roll over and seal it as best you can. Turn it over to make sure it is well sealed. Turn it back over and cut into 1 inch lengths. I like to snip the top of each roll with scissors but it’s not necessary. Brush each roll with more beaten egg then put them on a baking tray (you can lightly grease it but don’t panic if you forget, they won’t stick too badly) and bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

If you’re not serving them on the day you made them, reheat them in the oven for 5 minutes, otherwise they will be soft.

We’re two thirds into December and I’m feeling the need to vary my beer snacks. I turned to Peckham for inspiration.

Bright yellow patties stack up high in shop windows but most of them have been pre-made and frozen. They always look jaded and sad to me but I could see the potential so I had a bash myself. The primary stuffing is minced beef (fish and vegetable fillings are also common) wrapped in the easiest flaky crust, stained yellow with turmeric and curry powder.

Jamaican patties are a product of English colonialism and East Indian migration into the Caribbean: the former brought the idea of pastry while Indian slaves brought cumin. Both mix well with the Caribbean flavours: thyme, spring onion, scotch bonnet pepper and allspice.

The patties are highly savoury and perfect if you’re growing tired of snacking on mince pies, deep fried brown things and crisps, as I am. The way to eat a Jamaican patty is to pick it up and dunk it gleefully into your favourite hot sauce. Wash it down with a Red Stripe.

Jamaican Patties (makes 8-10)

For the crust

250g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g fridge cold butter, cubed
5-6 tablespoons cold water
1 egg, beaten

For the filling (I have a bee in my bonnet about doing a slow-cooked goat filling next time).

250g minced beef
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 inch piece ginger, finely chopped
1 heaped teaspoon thyme leaves
5 spring onions, finely chopped
1/2 scotch bonnet chilli, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 tin chopped tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 170C

Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable or groundnut oil in a pan and add the ginger, garlic and chilli for 30 seconds. Add the beef and cook until brown. Add the spices and stir for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, spring onions and thyme and let simmer for 10 minutes or so, stirring every so often, until nearly all the liquid has evaporated.

While the beef is simmering, make the crust. Sift the flour, turmeric, curry powder and salt into a bowl. Add the cubes of butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mix resembles fine crumbs. Add 5 tablespoons of cold water (add another if it’s too stiff) until you have a stiff dough then turn it out onto a lightly oiled surface and knead until smooth. Do not over work the dough, knead it just enough until it is smooth.

Grease two large baking trays. Roll out the dough until a few millimetres thick and use a saucer to cut circles from it – as many as you can. You can re-roll the trimmings to get more circles. Lay the circles on the baking tray (they will be too hard to move once filled) and brush the edges of each with the beaten egg. Dollop some of the filling in the centre of each then fold over to form a patty. Seal the edges by crimping with a fork.

Brush the patties all over with more beaten egg and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with hot sauce and beer.

The crust recipe is adapted from the Waitrose website.

Oh how I love to stuff a squid. Two favourite fillings are chorizo and rice or minced pork and lime leaves.

Last night I found myself once again with the urge to stuff. I buy bags of frozen baby squid either from my fishmonger or the local Asian supermarket; they’re cheap and they de-frost quickly, making them perfect for a speedy dinner.

Rather than use something soft inside like a grain I wanted to keep a bouncy texture; prawns immediately came to mind. Once minced, they bind together into a wonderful springy filling, like that of a Thai fish-cake. To increase the effect I chopped up the tentacles of the squid and added them to the mix too.

This seafood centre is studded with the extraordinary deep, salted and funky flavour of fermented black beans. I had to stop myself from eating it all pre-stuffing.

The squid would be great eaten straight from the BBQ in warmer months but last night I served them sliced over rice for a more substantial meal. A pile of steamed greens on the side is very welcome too, and adds moisture for the rice.

Baby squid stuffed with prawns and black beans

8-10 baby squid
200g cooked prawns, finely chopped
3 spring onions, finely chopped (white and green parts)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon light soy
1 teaspoon dark soy
1 tablespoon fermented black beans, rinsed and roughly chopped
2 large pinches of hot chilli flakes
A few drops of sesame oil

Rice, steamed greens and extra spring onion, to serve

Remove the tentacles from the squid if still attached and chop them finely. Heat some groundnut or vegetable oil in a wok (a couple of tablespoons) then stir fry the garlic, ginger and black beans for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the tentacles and stir fry again for 30 seconds. Add the 2 soy sauces and cook for a further 30 – 1 minute. Remove from the wok and set aside in a bowl.

Mix the tentacle mixture from the wok with the chilli flakes, spring onions, prawns and lime juice. Make sure it is very well mixed.

Stuff each squid 3/4 full with the mixture. Secure the end of each with a cocktail stick. Heat a heavy based frying pan, add a little oil and fry the squid for a couple of minutes each side. You’ll need to adjust the cooking time to the size of your squid. Test they are warm in the middle by inserting a skewer into the middle.

Serve sliced over rice with steamed greens. Add a few drops of sesame oil to serve.

The way to get good at cooking is to go at recipes over and over, not flit around from one place to another and never look back.

I ate a stunning baba ganoush at Maramia Cafe recently as part of a ‘lamb banquet’ organised by Carla. The meat was soft and tasty as hell,  but the baba was what really blew people’s minds. It was thicker than mine; I wondered how they’d achieved the consistency and considered straining the yoghurt. I’m a serial strainer – you end up with something almost cream cheese-y but way more refreshing. I tried using it in the baba and the result was of course, richer. I’ve also started using smaller aubergines, which means that the smoke can penetrate all the flesh, rather than just the outer layer.

That’s it really – makes all the difference.

Baba Ganoush

8 small aubergines
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 lemons (juice)
1 handful mint leaves, chopped
1 handful coriander or parsley leaves (or a little of both), chopped
6-8 tablespoons tahini (I like a good whack but you may want less)
1-2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
Salt and pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil (not extra virgin)
4 tablespoons strained yoghurt (see below)

First, strain the yoghurt. If you don’t remember to do this the night before it doesn’t matter, even a couple of hours will make a big difference and the process itself takes seconds of preparation. Take a 500g tub of decent Greek-style yoghurt such as Total. Full-fat will obviously taste better than low fat but the latter does work okay. You’ll need some butter muslin, which is available from hardware stores easily. Cut a square of the muslin and line a bowl with it. Mix the yoghurt with a scant teaspoon of salt, mix well, then dollop it all into the middle of the muslin in the bowl. Gather it up, tie string around the top then tie the other end to something (I use a kitchen cupboard handle). Leave it for a few hours or ideally, overnight with the bowl underneath.

Pierce the aubergines with a fork and place directly on the gas rings of a hob (1 per ring) on a low flame, or put them under the grill, turning occasionally until blackened all over and collapsed. They will burst but this is fine, it just requires a bit of attention so you don’t lose the flesh. Remove to a plate and let cool slightly, then scrape the flesh from inside, leaving any bits of blackened skin and liquid on the plate behind.

Blend with all the other ingredients and season and adjust as necessary. You may want to add more lemon, yoghurt or salt for example.

Allow to sit for a few hours before serving with hot flat breads or pitta for scooping.