The Hackney Butchers Association

This is a great winter dish and seems to be a crowd pleaser. You get a great sauce from the port and prunes, which would be delicious over mash potato or just about any veg.  Here it's done with smokey Red Cabbage.  It works a treat. Like most of the recipes here, it's extremely easy and stress free cooking. Jointing the duck is straightforward after a few goes, but you if don't know how to do it, a butcher will joint it for you in minutes. It comes from a Nigel Slater recipe, published in the Observer Food Monthly magazine.  I'm adding it here as a reminder to myself to cook this again soon & so I can recycle the mag, it's looking pretty tatty & food splattered. 2 whole ducks, jointed 2-4tbs duck fat 500g prunes 500ml port 500ml chicken stock 400g smoked Pancetta 1 large red cabbage 4tbs sherry vinegar Serves 8 Cooking time: 40-60mins First up, put the prunes in a bowl with all the port and leave to soak for 30mins. In a casserole dis...

170g lamb, (minced) 1/2 large red onion 2 good pinches of ground cinnamon 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts Salt & ground black pepper Chopped parsley A sprinkling of paprika Serves 4 Prep time: Buy Hummus, or make some by blitzing a tin of chickpeas with olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, crushed garlic, salt and pepper. Add a little at a time until it tastes how you like it... I usually make mine without tahini. Not authentic I know!.. but it still tastes great. Over a low-medium heat, fry the onion in 3 tbsp olive oil until golden & sweet. Remove from the pan, and stir in the ground cinnamon. When ready to eat, get the pan hot, and add the onions & their oil followed by the lamb. Stir it about to break up & when crispy, add the pine nuts & season with salt & pepper. Put the lamb on top of a small plateful of the hummus & sprinkle over the paprika & parsley. Serve with toasted pitta bread. A little goes a long way, so you can get away...

I was lucky enough to be given a one-day baking course at the fabulous E5 Bakehouse in Hackney.  That was a year and a half ago... but I finally got around to going last weekend.  Damn good it was too!  A very patient & knowledgeable instructor, Eyal Schwarz, the head-baker took the course. On the day we made Fat Bagels (mine shown above), Ciabatta, a 66% Rye loaf & their signature loaf, the 'Hackney Wild'. The Bagels were made with 100% strong white flour, using a white leven & fresh yeast for a very quick rise.  Poached for 1 min in boiling water then baked. The ciabatta were much looser dough which is near on impossible to shape, hence the sometimes random splodges they became.  Tasty though. I wasn't expecting to like the 66% Rye so much, I thought it was going to be too heavy and strong, but on top of looking totally amazing, it has a very interesting flavour that develops as you eat it.  It's a bread (I'm advised) that'...

This is a very pretty side-dish that works equally well with grilled fish as a lamb steak. It's cheap & quick to make, but looks like it wouldn't be out of place in a bistro.  Not bad for a bit of lettuce! Serves 4 Takes 15minutes Quarter 2 little gem lettuces & toss with a bunch of spring onions & 1 tbsp olive oil. Griddle for a few minutes until seared & golden. Heat 15g butter in a pan. Add juice of 1/2 lime & 1/2 de-seeded finely sliced green chilli. Pout over the vegetables & eat!

This is a bloody good soup!  With a bit of bread, or some toasted pitta, it is a filling meal and a bit of a treat. Sweet & subtly spiced. Serves 4 (Left-overs can be frozen) Preperation time 10mins Cooking time 40mins Ingredients: 2tbsp Olive Oil / Rapeseed Oil 1 large Onion, peeled & chopped 1-2 bay leaves 1 carrot, peeled & chopped 1 small celery stick, chopped 3 garlic cloves 4cm ginger, peeled & grated 2 red chillies, chopped (de-seed if wanted less spicy) 1 tbsp curry powder 1 tsp ground cumin 180g red lentils 1 litre vegetable stock Juice of 1/2 lemon Sea salt & fresh ground pepper 1 small handful coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped Spiced Yogurt: 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp coriander seeds 1 pinch of caraway seeds 1 pinch of cayenne seeds 4 tbsp plain yogurt 1 tbsp olive oil On a medium flame, heat the oil in a large saucepan, then sweat (fry with the lid on) the onion & bay leaves for 10mins until soft. Add the carro...

These are from a Rick Stein recipe & they are damn good.  Crispy & very more-ish.  They are very easy to make & can be prepped in advance by a day if needed, just leaving the frying until you need them.  They do have to be cooked in small batches though,  so not the speediest of dishes.  Worth the wait though. This recipe makes about 20 fish cakes, enough for 6 as a starter, or 4 as a main, along with some home-made green chilli sauce, salad and some nice bread.  These are bistro standard beauties, that seem to be liked by everyone, including kids.  They are good hot, and also warm, so would be great for a picnic too. SALT COD RECIPE HERE There was no point in reproducing it, as it doesn't need any altering, it's spot-on as usual with Rick Stein's recipes! Also worth checking out is BAKED SALT COD WITH PEPPERS & POTATOES . Great comfort food...

One of three Mojo sauces on HBA.  This is the green one (Verde).  It's fresh and delicious. Great with fish, pork, potatoes or steamed greens. Check out Mojo Rojo (Red) for the spicy one.  It rocks! Check out Mojo Hervido (Boiled) for another classic. Ingredients ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted 6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed 1 teaspoon sea salt 2 cups chopped coriander (cilantro) ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons sherry-wine vinegar 2 teaspoons water Instructions With a mortar & pestle, grind up the cumin seeds first, then each of the dry ingredients one by one.  Slowly mix in the olive oil until you have a paste. Then mix with the vinegar and water to emulsify.  It's effectively a thick garlic & coriander dressing. Great stuff!

Eaten with some fried fish (Huss and Ling) yesterday, accompanied by piles of home-made flatbreads, Baba Ghanoush, Dukka, and Fennel/Feta Kofte.  Damn good it was too!  This tarator has got a lovely nutty/garlic and lemon/parsley flavour.  It's surprisingly light.  This recipe came from Silvena Rowe's awesome book "Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume.  It came out a little dry, so I added a good drizzle of olive oil over the top just before serving to loosen it up.  It was loved by everyone. Tarators come in many varieties.  This one is Turkish.  In Albania it takes the form of a cold soup, in Iran there is a similar dish called the brilliant sounding "Ab-Doogh-Khiar" an iced yougurt soup with leek & mint (sounds interesting). Many countries use yogurt instead of water, and leave out the nuts.  In fact, it's hard to see what the common link is apart from the name! Takes 5mins, makes enough for eight decent portions. RECIPE BELOW:

  Wow, a surprise 40th birthday present!  This is going to call for some serious munching.  The green & white moulds are apparently fine, they can be washed off with a mix of water/vinegar. Underneath is amazing ham that is two years in the making.  Tomorrow, (hangover permitting), i'll hack into it, and start looking into Palma recipes.  Any ideas, please leave comments.  Cheers!

   Wow, this is amazing.  It's very easy and fairly cheap. Unlike a lot of curries, this one cooks in around 20mins, (marinading time on top of that). I will be doing this again very soon! The flavours are warm and moreish, cumin, coriander seeds, ginger & toasted oniony rice, chilli & of course lamb! The Coriander sauce is so fresh and healthy it makes you feel like you must have just been to the gym. Well, sort of... (having not been to a gym for at least 10years I'm not an expert...) There are quite a lot of ingredients, but mostly dried spices which last for months and months. The only fresh ingredients I needed to get were fresh coriander (cilantro), mint, & green chillies. You could do this without the fresh coriander sauce but you'd be missing out big time. Make the sauce...make the sauce... I used some suckling lamb chops from a local market. £5 for 2 big chops, not bad I thought... for something quite special and amazingly...

This books rocks!  It is a book for foodies, even the index is delicious. I bought this to take on a recent holiday to Turkey and read it cover to cover quite a few times.  The recipes are simple, totally achievable and look beautiful. The photography got me hooked within minutes of opening the book.  This a passionate book by someone who clearly loves their food, and it's very contagious! I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes Eastern Mediterranean food.  It draws influence from Turkey, Syria, Jordan and the Lebanon. The recipes are all based on traditional ideas but have a very light modern feel.  It's really very clever. Bulgarian born Silvena, affectionately includes the teachings of her half Turkish dad, which gives the book a personal feel.  It's a history book, family story and inspiring cook book all in one.  A lovely book. The meat dishes are incredible, (including Grilled Red Mullet with toasted citrus and Nastur...

Ok, so not the prettiest thing you've ever seen, but might tasty none the less! This smoked pigs cheek set me back the princely sum of £3. 3 hours of poaching in unsalted water later... and with the main skin (& hairy bits) removed... I now have a slab of incredibly tasty meat.  It has a very tender texture & can be eaten hot or cold.  It will keep for at least a few days in the fridge, and can be used instead of pancetta to flavour other dishes, or in small chunks with pasta etc.  It has a deep bacony flavour, with a pork belly texture.  It would be a shame to waste it. Unsmoked, the Italians call this cut Guanciale (meaning 'cheek').  There's a curing recipe on this site, CLICK HERE. Today I fried up a few slices in some olive oil with some left over cooked chard and a small sprinkling of cumin seeds.  Thankfully no one else was around, I could have got territorial.

This is very easy & makes an interesting, slightly bitter side-dish.  Good alongside fish, chicken, pork. The recipe below feeds 2 people (1 radicchio) , but could easily be scaled up. 1 hour marinading, 25mins cooking time.

This is really easy & quick. The amounts below feed two but could be very easily scaled up to serve any amount.

Dhudi is an Indian vegetable. It's a member of the gourd family, and tastes like a slightly bitter marrow.  They come in various shapes and sizes, and confusingly have dozens of names in different countries.  The main names to remember are Lauki (India), Hulu (Chinese), and Calabash (USA/Europe). If left on the vine, they thicken up and are often hollowed out, dried, and used in place of bottles. For this reason, they are often referred to as bottle gourds. When young, they are eaten as a vegetable.  You just peel them with a normal peeler, dice & then boil or fry for about 5mins.  By themselves they are a bit bland, so they are usually cooked with lots of spices.  That's where I get interested! They are eaten all across India, Pakistan, in China, Korea, Vietnam and parts of South America, so there are no doubt a huge amount of recipes out there. To get the ball rolling, here's a recipe I tried last night which uses no oil.  I had it with some plai...

Asafoetida is a pungent spice that comes from the sap of Ferula roots.   In it's raw gum form it has a foul smell hence the name Devil's Dung! Once fried for 30secs in oil though, it gives a lovely onion/leek/garlic flavour.  Phew.  It is used widely in Indian, Persian & Arabic food. I found mine at a local asian store, where it was known as 'Hing' , but all the big manufacturers make it, so it will be in a lot of supermarkets.  You can buy it in bags of untreated resin, but it is very pungent & very smelly!  Far more often it comes in powder form in pots, mixed with a little rice flour to keep it dry and make the taste less harsh. Just in case, here are a few stockists.... GREENLIFE.CO.UK SPICESOFINDIA.CO.UK THEASIANCOOKSHOP.CO.UK For USA use  ISHOPINDIAN.COM For the rest of Europe use: INDIASTORE.DE Hope this helps!

This comes from an awesome book I recently bought from Amazon, "India" by Pushpent Pant. His name alone is impressive! It is the first recipe I've cooked from the book, but if it is anything to go by, I will soon be trying the remaining 999 recipes... This book is not cheap, but worth every penny, i'ts a lovely object (that comes in it's own bag) , published by Phaidon,  and packed with enough info, ideas and great images to keep you going for years. Wow. I've just seen they've just slashed the price on Amazon (after I'd bought 2 copies!) to £20.  That really is a massive bargain. Anyway here's the basic recipe with a slight twist as I couldn't get fresh fenugreek and used dried instead. I also added some chopped fresh mint at the end just to freshen it up.  Probably a mortal sin, but still damn tasty... RECIPE BELOW:

Gulf baharat 1 tbsp red pepper 1 1/2 tsp cumin 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 1/2 tsp ground loomi (dried lime) 1 tsp cloves 1 tsp black pepper 1 tsp ground cardamom 1 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp ground coriander 1/2 tsp saffron threads

July Artichokes, Aubergines, Apricots, Buckler-Leaf Sorrel, Broccoli, Beetroot, Blueberries, Blackcurrants, Broad Beans, Cherries, Cod, Crab, Courgettes, Cucumbers, Clams, Cockles, Coley, Dover Sole, English Lamb, Fennel, Grey Mullet, Greengages, Gooseberries, Garlic, Green Beans, Haddock, Halibut, Herring, John Dory, Kohlrabi, Lobster, Langoustines, Lemon Sole, Loganberries, Monkfish, Mulberries, Mackerel, Nectarines, Onions, Peaches, Potatoes, Peas, Plums, Plaice, Raspberries, Rabbit, Rocket, Runner Beans, Redcurrants, Radishes, Raspberries, Strawberries, Squid, Sea Bream, Scallops, Sea Bass, Swiss Chard, Sardines, Salmon, Spinach, Salad Leaves, Tomatoes, Whelks, Watercress. Wild Foods for July Crab Apples, Chanterelles, Green Walnuts, Marsh Samphire, Sea Purslane, Wild Blackberries, Wild Mint, Wood Pigeon. This list comes from the brilliant website The British Larder. I always find their monthly list a great way to remind me of things i haven't eaten or cook...

June Aubergines, Artichokes, Asparagus, Apricots, Borage, Broad Beans, Beetroot, Blueberries, Blackcurrants, Broccoli, Courgettes, Cherries, Cod, Crab, Coley, Cockles, Carrots, Chicory, Cucumbers, Dover Sole, Fennel, French Beans, Grey Mullet, Green Beans, Gooseberries, Haddock, Halibut, Herring, John Dory, Lamb, Langostines, Lemon Sole, Lobster, Mange Tout, Mackerel, Nectarines, New Potatoes, Onions, Peas, Pollack, Plaice, Redcurrants, Rocket, Radishes, Runner beans, Rhubarb, Romaine Lettuce, Raspberries, Sorrel, Spinach, Spring Onions, Salmon, Strawberries, Sardines, Sea Trout, Turnips, Tomatoes, Watercress. Wild Foods for June Lime Flowers, Marsh Samphire, Nasturtium, Sorrel, Sea Purslane, Sea Beet, Wild Mint, Wood Pigeon. I bought a borage plant a few weeks ago, that despite the lack of sunshine seems to be doing really well.  The leaves are spiky like a thick stinging nettle.  Chopped really fine they can be eaten raw and taste mostly ...