Barrafina

by Charlotte

A while back I went to Barcelona and ate some amazing food. Around the same time I started hearing about Barrafina, and how it was London's Cal Pep (the best tapas place in Barcelona). Finally, about a month ago I went to Barrafina, and yes, I will be going back.

Barrafina is tiny and popular so one should abide by these rules:

If you are dining there for lunch arrive at 12.15 ideally, 12.30pm latest

At dinner you should aim to arrive by 6.30, no later

The best thing about it is you sit at the counter, not a table in sight. You watch the chefs pour you a glass of insanely good Spanish sherry and cook your food. Everyone is friendly and there's a real Spanish vibe amongst the packed in, hungry, excitable crowd. I was lucky enough to be advised by a regular diner (he chose everything) and our menu consisted of:

Summer Sherry 'En Rama'

Pimientos de Padron

Jamón de Jabugo

Chipirones - deep fired tiny squid!

Chips with Brava Sauce

Tortilla - it was a special that day and the name escapes me, however, it was quite possibly the best tortilla that has ever touched my lips

Brill

Beer to finish

A second trip is imminent...

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Barbeque the Italian way

by Charlotte

I recently gave these two recipes to our local magazine, Living South. Having spent some time thinking about a particular bbq in the hills of Bologna 7 years ago. On this occasion we got scooted into the hillside on the backs of mopeds vaguely knowing to keep an eye out for a patch of sunlight woodland. We found it and all the guys started to make the barbeque, lay a table, cook the meat and make all the salads – pretty impressive to us girls. It was all about the food, everything had to be perfectly chopped, dressed, marinated and presented. It was a delicious feast that I’ll never forget. Here are two Italian recipes that are good for sharing with friends.

Spiedini di miale (pork kebabs) - this makes six seriously meaty, authentic Italian kebabs.

12 x 1 inch cubes of pork (I use pork fillet)

6 Italian sausages – Cumberland are a perfect substitute

6 slices streaky bacon, cut in half

18 sage leaves

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 lemon, zested and halved

Extra virgin olive oil

6 skewers, soaked if wooden

Firstly marinate the meat. Twist the sausages into three so they balloon, cut them and put them in a bowl with the pork and the halved bacon. Add 12 of the sage leaves to the bowl. Using a pestle and mortar crush the garlic, remaining sage leaves and lemon zest to a pulp and then add four tablespoons of olive oil and the juice of half the lemon. Pour over the meat, mix and leave to marinade for 1-3hours.

Skewer the kebabs; I roll the bacon (two rolls per skewer), fold the sage leaves in half and alternate with three pieces of sausage and two pieces of pork per kebab. Put on the barbeque. If you fancy, throw some rosemary sprigs onto the coals before you put the meat on so that the leaves flavour the kebabs while cooking. When the meat is golden and cooked through serve the kebabs with the remaining lemon juiced squeezed over them.

Radicchio - the round purple lettuce from the Veneto with a bitter taste.

1 large radicchio, halved lengthways

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Season the halved radicchio on the cut side with salt and pepper, and rub with olive oil. Barbeque cut side down for a few minutes until hot through – the closed leaves will actually keep in the steam and help the lettuce cook. Turn it over and grill for 3-4 minutes more. Splash with balsamic vinegar and serve as a super side dish.

Enjoy.

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Pork Pies & Potted Things...

Pork Pies & Potted Things by Charlotte

The al fresco dining afternoon/soiree was planned for a beautiful mid July afternoon. Everything was going well, a little too well. To spice things up the rain arrived, I cancelled the borrowing of the bbq and announced grilled food with kitchen/lounge party as the order of the day.

In keeping with my Mark Hix obsession I had two recipes from British Regional Food planned, plus some salads, Matt's homemade burgers with Fergus Henderson ketchup, plus bits and pieces that others were turning up with, such as chilli halloumi, a large Tuscan sausage, Brasilian potato salad, homemade scones and raspberry coulis and Borough red wine. Treats, so many treats.

So, my chosen Mark Hix recipes were Pork Pies and Potted Shrimp. Two absolute classic dishes that Greg Wallace would be thrilled to get his little hands on.

The pies are very simple and tasty, requiring fatty pork shoulder and pastry made with hot water and lard; intriguing, warm and as Rachael will agree, the lard is key!

Here's what Mark says about his Pork Pies -

Makes 6-8

Homemade pork pies are nothing like the ones you buy in the shops. The pastry is easy to make and if you haven't got a mincer at home on your mixing machine, you can just chop the meat up very finely by hand. A helpful butcher might mince the filling for you. All you do is take a large disc of pastry and shape it round the filling into a bulgy-sided pie, then join it to a smaller circle of pastry at the top by pinching round the edge. You could use this recipe to make two big pies, or even one very large one.

I prefer to eat the pies warm rather than cold, as that brings out the flavour and the pastry tends to be crisper. You can also add other seasonings such as anchovy essence, mace or allspice and a bit of sage to suit your taste - it's entirely up to you.

For the filling

1kg boned shoulder of pork, including 20-30 per cent fat

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the hot-water crust pastry

500g plain flour

1tsp salt

175g lard

1 egg, beaten

First prepare the filling: chop some of the best bits of pork into rough 1cm dice and mince or finely chop the rest. Season it well and mix in the diced meat. Take a small teaspoonful of the mixture and fry it to check the seasoning, then adjust it if necessary. Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas 6.

Then make the pastry: mix the flour and the salt in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Bring 200ml water and the lard to the boil, then stir it into the flour with a wooden spoon to form a smooth dough. Leave the dough covered for about 15 minutes or so, until it can be handled.

Divide the dough into 6-8 equal pieces. Take one of the balls of dough and divide it into two balls, one twice the size of the other. Roll the larger piece on a lightly floured table to about 12-14cm in diameter. Use the smaller piece to make another circle about f half the size for the top. Put some of the filling in the centre of the larger circle, lay the smaller circle on top and raise the sides of the larger one up, then pinch the lid and the top of the sides together with your fingers. If it looks a bit of a mess, you can reshape it, as the pastry is quite pliable. Repeat with the rest of the pastry and filling.

Brush the pies all over with the beaten egg and cook them for 35-40 minutes. If they are colouring too much, cover them with foil and turn the oven down.

Serve them warm or cold, preferably with homemade piccalilli.

Next up Potted Shrimp...

Potting things is of interest to me. Its simple but exciting, several small filled ramekins giving off different aromas gets most peoples attention.

Mr. Hix, of course, did not disappoint - I came across his recipe for potted shrimp with tales of the shrimpers of the Sefton coast. I went to the fishmonger to check out the brown shrimp on offer and found them to be rather pricey. We had a chat and started talking about potting crab, which got me all excited and I ended up leaving with both shrimp and crab.

I potted them both in the same way according to the recipe and actually would have to say I enjoyed the crab rather a lot. The shrimp were good too but do have a slight maggoty look about them which most people managed to point out at some point.

Recipe as follows -

180g unsalted butter

Juice of a lemon

A good pinch of ground mace or nutmeg

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 small bay leaf

1tsp anchovy essence or paste

210g peeled brown shrimps (or crab meat – I used a mix of brown and white)

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Melt the butter in a pan, add the lemon juice, mace, cayenne pepper, bay leaf and anchovy essence and simmer on a low heat for 2 minutes to infuse the spices. Remove from the heat and cool the mixture until it is just warm.

Add the shrimps and stir well, then season with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Put the mixture into the fridge and stir every so often. When the butter starts to set, fill 4 ramekins with the mixture or spoon it on to plates. If you aren't serving them that day, return the ramekins to the fridge and cover with clingfilm. Don't serve the shrimps straight from the fridge, as the butter will be too hard to spread nicely on to the toast, and won't taste as good. Serve with hot buttered toast and lemon halves.

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Glastonburger

A world of extremes on Worthy Farm.

Devoted Keston Kitchen followers will have enjoyed, and been somewhat overwhelmed, by Charlotte and Matt's food diaries from their gastronomic tours (see On Location Paris and On Location Sicily for the comprehensive documentation of their holiday feasting).

Not to be outdone, Rachael and I decided to document our food consumption at our annual trip to Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts; the funnest five days of the year.

A scary prospect, given that we usually abandon our foodie ways and focus on finding excellent bands and dancing like lunes; relying on cider and rum to fulfil our nutritional needs.

However, as we have developed into mature women, we have become increasingly aware of the fine eateries that can be found on our treks between stages. In fact, there is an array of local, health-restoring, delicious meals to be bought.

But Glastonbury is a world of extremes. You will see from the food catalogue below that we have not abandoned our festival roots - there is an irrepressible urge for fried bacon in the mornings (of whatever quality) after particularly riotous nights. And Rachael has been on autopilot on the pre-festival supermarket run for over a decade: I had to point out that there is no need for a 29 year old woman who has been on Leith's cookery courses to eat dairylea dunkers. But the shopping list hasn't changed since Reading back in '99.

Thursday

(to note Rachael has already been here for a day guarding the pitch, but no food record exists)

I arrive at midday and decide that I must immediately have a pint of cider and a burger.

This was to reward the extreme mission I had just completed - it is too traumatic to go into, but involved carrying twice my body weight in camping equipment, sequined clothing, wellies and cider through the London rush hour - train/tube/train/bus - trekking through many many muddy fields and a heroic effort with an airbed and a £2 pump.

I was just at the point of collapse when Rachael announced that Meat Wagon were making their debut appearance at Glastonbury. Halleluiah.

Rachael and Julia both ate Dubble Bubble burgers.

Generally Glastonbury involves one proper meal a day*, followed by snacking on random items from the '99 list. Therefore for dinner:

Julia: Snack a Jacks. Hummous. Bread.

Rachael: Sainsbury's pasta salad. Dried apricots.

Friday

Breakfast

Rachael: cereal bar, carton of apple juice, satsuma.

Julia: woke to the immediate realisation that cereals bars wouldn't cut the mustard and headed straight for the nearest bacon buttie vendor.

Lunch

Rachael: Bread roll, hummous, french fries (s&v), caramel chocolate wafer biscuit (those ones with the red and gold foil), apple, dairylea dunkers

(Julia still full of bread and meat)

Dinner

Rachael: Stonebaked pizza: peppers and mushrooms

Julia: Stonebaked pizza: meat feast

Saturday

Breakfast

Rachael: Cereal bar, carton of apple juice, satsuma.

Julia: Bacon baguette the size of my forearm

Lunch

Rachael:Bread roll, avocado, McCoys (steak flavour), caramel chocolate wafer, apple, dairylea dunkers

Julia: no need

Dinner

Rachael:Thali Cafe butternut squash curry with rice

Julia: Realised severe lack of veg in recent days - headed to Manic Organic for a vegetable stir fry and side salad.

Sunday

Breakfast

Rachael:Cereal bar, carton of apple juice, satsuma

Julia: Sorreen malt loaf, apple, orange juice

Lunch (or more accurately, random snacks dispersed though the day)

Rachael: carrot cake, smoothie, doritos (cool original), apple

Julia: carrot cake, watermelon, iced-coffee

Dinner

Rachael: Made a pilgrimage to Pie Minister for a Henny Penny pie (of course) - chicken and porcini mushroom. With mash and mushy peas

Julia: Discovered an amazing organic falafel stand with no queue. Falafel on flat bread with hummous and three salads (carrot and orange, beetroot, leaves)

Monday:

Let's just say it involved a service station and a very long drive. Best not to divulge.

*Unless you are Robert or Jack, in which case you buy 4 meals a day, at least one of which is a Meat Wagon burger.

**not necessarily consumed in the am.

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Goosnargh Cakes (pronounced 'Goozna')

These little beauties are easy to make, they can be served as a sweet or savoury biscuit/cake, and not only that, they come from my favourite cookbook of the moment - British Regional Food by Mark Hix. These tasty little cakes, or biscuits, come from the north west, Lancashire to be precise. They can be dusted with sugar for a sweet kick or served with some cheese if you are that way inclined. This week I have been mostly eating Goosnargh cakes with cheese at my desk at 11am. Satisfying it has been.

They may remind you of shortbread with a caraway kick. Pretty darn good.

ingredients:

275g plain flour, sieved

225g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

20g caster sugar

2tsp caraway seeds

icing sugar to dust (optional)

method:

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees.

Put the flour and butter in a bowl and rub together with your fingers until you achieve a breadcrumb-like consistency.

Add the caster sugar and caraway seeds and mix well. It should now be a smooth dough (mine was a little sticky so I added a bit more flour). If you think the dough is warm chill it in the fridge for ten minutes.

Roll out onto a lightly floured surface to about 1cm thick. Cut into rounds, I used a 7cm cutter.

Dust with sugar (or not if you're taking the savoury cheese route).

Bake for about 20 minutes until they just begin to colour.

You can dust again while hot and cooling on a wire rack.

Enjoy.

Thanks Mark.

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Harry Potter marathon sweets

If like us, you are planning a Harry Potter marathon, in order to watch all seven spectacular films before the final battle arrives on our screens in July, it may be wise to take a few minutes to consider what sweets to serve. The films are long and require much snacking. We are now over half way through, having watched four films and the list below details the sweets which have worked well for us so far:

Strawberry liquorice wands

Popping candy (super loud)

Bertie Botts every flavour jelly beans

Jelly snakes

Chocolate caramel frogs

Jelly babies

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Green Gazpacho

Summer Soup: fresh and green as pastures new

Selecting the starter for Supper Club numero dos was a drawn-out affair. I was feeling despondent after weeks of making roasted vegetable terrines that did not set, when Charlotte stumbled across this recipe from Plenty by Ottelenghi. It ticked all the boxes: seasonal, light and a perfect match for Rachael's delicious ricotta and sun dried tomato stuffed chicken which would be making its debut as our Main.

A somewhat risky choice to feed a room of strangers (cold soup?!) but the guests lapped it up and cried for more (they didn't get it, we were carefully controlling portions so that they had room for the main, trio of desserts and exquisite macaroons we had in store).

The reason for its success? The nuts and basil give it a rich, full flavour; the chilli gives it a kick. And if you put that combination of delicious green things in a glass it can only lead to one thing: a taste fresh as a summer's day.

I served the soup with croutons made from homemade soda bread. Baking your own bread is a bit extravagant for croutons and not strictly necessary, but that's just how we roll in the Keston Kitchen.

Enjoy

Jules xxx

Green Gazpacho

(Serves 6 - big portions)

2 celery sticks (including the leaves)

2 small green peppers, deseeded

1 large cucumber (weighing about 350g), peeled

3 slices stale white bread, crusts removed

1 fresh green chilli

4 garlic cloves

1 tsp sugar

150g walnuts, lightly toasted

200g baby spinach

25g basil leaves

10g parsley

4tbsp sherry vinegar

225 ml olive oil

40g Greek yoghurt

250g ice cubes

2tsp salt

white pepper preferably, but black works too)

Croutons:

2 thick slices bread

4tbsp olive oil

To make the croutons, preheat the oven to 190C. Cut the bread into 2cm cubes and toss them in the olive oil and a bit of salt. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 mins or until golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Roughly chop up the celery, peppers, cucumber, bread, chilli and garlic. Place in a blender and add the sugar, walnuts, spinach, basil, parsley, vinegar, oil, yoghurt, water, half the ice cubes, salt and pepper. Blitz the soup until smooth.

(n.b. our blender is small so I had to do it in batches).

Lastly, add the remaining ice and pulse once or twice to crush it a little. Serve at once with the croutons.

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