The Hackney Butchers Association

  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...