Steak Bavette or a flank steak is a beef cut, sourced from the underbelly - a well-worked part of the cow, just below the bottom of the sirloin. It’s sometimes called the butcher’s cut as it’s known to be reserved by butchers, due to its rich flavour, excellent texture and quite a low price. Steak Bavette is great marinated - some treatment before cooking is always a great idea, and then cooked quickly on a very hot pan, served medium rare with sweet potatoes, hummus and fresh herb salsa. Find the recipe here…
BBQ Sauce
I’ve never eaten such superb and tasty tomato sauce as this BBQ wonder. Smoky and a little hot, can be used for bbq chicken, pulled pork, tacos, and burritos; it also goes great with pizza and burgers. You can adjust the flavours to your liking – it can be more tangy or sweet, smoky or hot. You can have it thinner or thicker- just keep it simmered longer on the hob. Homemade BBQ sauce tastes better than a store bought product, and its ingredients are known to you. Fine the recipe here…
Mexican Black Beans with Tomatoes and Totopos
This is a simple side dish, full of Mexican flavours and heat, cooked from ingredients everyone has on hand. The delicious, albeit quite an apparent combination of black beans and tomatoes has been enhanced with spicy chilli flakes and aromatic ground cumin. Mexican Black Beans with Tomatoes get more flavour with time, so prepare this dish in advance and keep it in the fridge at least overnight. Reheat and serve warm with tacos or Mexican crisps Totopos. Find the recipe here.
Salmon Rillettes (Rillettes de Saumon)
I am a breakfast person who likes to start the day with a delicious meal. The better breakfast, the better day. Salmon Rillettes with a slice of a freshly baked sourdough can make a perfect breakfast if you feel like eating fish in the morning. The rillettes is extremely delicious, pleasantly filling and elegant. It can be served as an appetizer or afternoon snack as well. It requires some work and a few unusual ingredients such as white wine or green peppercorns, but it is absolutely worth this effort. Salmon Rillettes can be made a day ahead. Find the recipe here….
Roasted Tomato Soup with Comté Gougeres
This soup blends perfectly the flavours of fresh garden tomatoes, white onion and garlic. It’s very aromatic, velvety, comfy and healthy. The tomatoes are roasted to perfection in the oven as roasting brings out the sweetness and adds a ton of flavour to the soup. I serve this tomato soup with a dash of cream to create extra texture. French Comtè Gougères make the soup elegant and add an extra flavour to the dish however, it tastes great with a slice of toasted sourdough bread, a freshly baked small bun and sprinkled with grated Parmesan or Comtè. Find the recipe here.
SoBulgogi - Korean BBQ Beef
The secret of this traditional Korean dish is good quality loin beef thinly sliced. The meat is marinated in sweet sauce and grilled on barbecue or stove in a frying pan. SoBulgogi has been cooked for thousands of years, is very popular in Korea and throughout the world, consumed in restaurants and at homes, during events and parties. The cooking method of SoBulgogi evolved and today varies by region. I met with Eun-Young Choi at Laurence Pidgeon Design to talk about traditional Korean food and learn of her favourite homemade dishes. Eun-Young comes from South Korea and lives in London. Find the recipe here...
Red Pickled Onions
They are the wonderfully vibrant condiment that goes with pretty much anything savoury – burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, salads, slow-cooked meats and fish. They add piquancy and a sharp finish to Mexican tacos, tostadas or quesadillas but their flavour doesn’t overpower the dishes. Tangy- sweet Red Pickled Onions are super easy to make and ready to eat in 4 hours. Keep them cold in the fridge up to a week. Use only red onions because they have a more mild flavour. Find the recipe here…
Homemade Seed-Topped Crackers
I like these simple flat and crunchy crackers because they are versatile and fancy. They are perfect pair for cheese and wine or a cheese and charcuterie board, great with dips made from pulses like hummus and peammus or fantastic as a classic snack with the seed topping. Homemade Crackers are simple to bake, the only challenge I can find is rolling the dough as thin and even as possible which ensures that they are crispy. I cut the crackers in advance but they also can be snapped into shards after baking – their irregular shapes look amazing in bread baskets. Find the recipe for Seed-Topped Crackers here