Green

Stalowa Wola, Poland, July 2011

Homemade Gravlax

If you've had it before, you'll probably agree that the taste of grav lax is easily leaps and bounds above the often one-note saltiness of most smoked salmon. It's usually subtly salty, with hints of sugar and dill. Unlike it's smoked brethen, this lovely cured item is can be hard to find in supermarkets or on the menus most eateries. However, with a few simple ingredients and some patience, these delicious salmon slices can be easily created at home. 

You'll need to get a hefty hunk of salmon fillet - we had about 1 kg of fillet, sliced in two. Go ask the Google Gods for a tasty recipe - there are many out there. Manbacon cleverly combined a few recipes to come up with our own very tasty version. Most will include plenty of dill, salt and sugar, as well as two days or more of curing time. It really takes hardly any effort at all. 

Be patient, because once the salmon is cured,  you'll be rewarded with your very own, immensely tasty slices of grav lax. Enjoy them with plenty of crusty sourdough and creamy butter, or just be indulgent and pop whole slices into your mouth. 

Sugardaddy Cakes

Something tasty will be happening at the Tea Rooms this weekend. The Bake Club boys and I are teaming up to start a new cake stall, serving plenty of homemade goodies. If you're around Brick Lane this weekend, why not come over to say hello, and have some tea and biscuits? 

Lights in Glasgow

From the Ibis Hotel, from the Christmas carnival, from Ingram Street, from the Hunterian Museum. 

From December 2011. 

Village Food (Part 2)

Click here to see Part 1 of what I ate while in Chainat, Thailand.

After a couple of hours to digest our earlier (and massive!) meal, we were taken to another little riverside restaurant, where our group turned out to be the only customers. The staff had set up our table on a little platform right on the water - very pleasant since the slight breeze helped cool us down after the stifling heat of the day. 

Lots of fish dishes again, as expected from a riverside restaurant. The picture above is of a dish of whole fish, each about 5 inches long, deepfried until crunchy. It's very addictive, I tell you! 

We also had a plate of chicken, some papaya salad, a bowl of jungle curry, and some frogs, served sizzling on an iron plate under a spicy sauce. The frogs were far from my favourite dish, not because of any sort of squeamishness associated with eating frogs, but because of the strange gristly texture. 

The jungle curry, though spicy, was nothing compared to the raw, numbing heat of the papaya salad. Big chunks of chilli and chilli seeds will do that to your tongue. Maybe I'm a masochist, but looking through those pictures makes me want a papaya salad now!

Likya Ocakbasi Restaurant

It's probably because I don't eat out enough, but I often equate Turkish with late night kebabs. Good thing a couple of friends persuaded me to trek over to Golders Green for dinner at Likya. 

It's probably no surprise to hear that we ordered too much food - multiple starters to share, as well as a main course each. Starters included battered calamari, artichokes, taramasalata, various breads and grilled liver. The liver was a bit of a revelation for me - breaded and richly spiced, I found myself unable to stop picking at them. 

Those starters were pretty filling, but of course, we went ahead and ordered mains as well. My main was grilled quail, which came with a sizeable salad on the side. Manbacon had a bowl of lamb shank with carrots and potatoes, as well as a large bowl of steamed rice to accompany it. The other guys ordered some grilled chicken with aubergine, as well as a chicken kebab dish (it's been a while, I can't remember what they're called - oops!).

My quail was tasty and juicy, not dry the way they can be. However, quail is probably not the best bird to order when eating in polite company - it has many tiny little bones, and should ideally be picked apart and eaten with your fingers. I didn't want to do so while in a restaurant surrounded by families and courting couples, so had to make do with attempting to dissect the quail as delicately as possible with my fork and knife.

As I said above, it's been a while since we actually visited it, so I can't remember too much about it, except that the wood panelled decor reminded me very much of a Polish house. What I ate was very tasty, though not tempting enough to make me go all the way to Golders Green just to dine there. I will, however, be more than delighted to revisit it whenever I'm in the area. It just takes so long to get to Golders Green though!

Likya Ocakbasi Restaurant

68 - 70 Golders Green Road

NW11 8LN