Zucca, Bermondsey revisited

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When I go to restaurants I know are really good, I don’t want to go with a big group of people because I want to keep the focus on the food. As the wine is flowing it is quite easy that you’re just having such a nice time with your friends that you forget about the food although it is amazingly good.

So when I went back to Zucca for the second time, I only had my best friend Emma as company so we could focus on the food as well as on the conversation, wine and the people around us.

 

 

To start we shared three small plates as we had trouble choosing. We had speck with rosemary crostini and gherkins. Very simple but very tasty. The pickled cucumber was delicious with it subtle flavours.

 

 

We also had a very creamy burrata with baked butternut squash and cumin. This was definitely my favourite, anything with that lovely silky burrata has my name on it!

 

 

Emma’s favourite was this plate of broccoli and cauliflower florets with chopped nuts and grated ricotta. Stunning!

 

 

We chose the same maincouse for the simple reason that neither of us would be able to handle the other person getting a dish that was better ones own. Us competitive? No…

This amazing linguine with mushrooms and parmesan was absolutely delicious to the last bite. This is what pasta should taste like!

 

 

After all that we were so full, but still temped by a scoop each of salted caramel icecream. It was definitely enough to satisfy the sweet craving after a big meal and we left full and very very happy.

 

Zucca
184 Bermondsey Street
London SE1 3TQ

 

A Swedish luncheon

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Yesterday I was invited to a Swedish luncheon in London’s Brick Lane, and I brought my friend Emily with me.

I don’t know what I expected from the lunch, but I was rather surprised of how nice it all was. First we were greeted by two ladies showing us in to a temporary red cottage where a large table was beautifully decorated in a nautical way. On one wall a slide show of Swedish scenery from the West Coast was displayed and at one end of the room we could see the chefs hard at work.

To start we had some elderflower cordial and were greeted by another lady chit-chatting to us about Sweden. Soon after our plates arrived showing an array of items smorgasbord style. We had a wonderful soup made from mushrooms and langoustines, Toast Skagen with langoustine, scambled eggs on crisp bread with mackerel, goat’s cheese crème with baked cherry tomato and two cheeses with quince jelly.

One of the chefs, Jenny, also came to chat to us, and told us about how they cooked the food (the soup contained smoked mushrooms for instance) and about where she was from.

It was a nice and efficient (I shouldn’t have doubted the Swedish efficiency either) event and I felt very proud of my country’s tourist board’s efforts.

I was invited to this event by SunVil, who organises travel to Sweden and many other destinations and the event itself was hosted by Visit Sweden.

Dinner at Yashin Sushi, Kensington – so good!

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Absolutely delicious prawn tempura roll with green beans and chilli ponxu jelly 

Since I was introduced to sushi ten years ago by my friend from Uni; Annie from Stockholm, I have really loved it. She took me to the first sushi place in our university town Lund, and I came back again and again, trying one weird fish after the other. And by the time I left Lund we had several good sushi places. So coming to London a few years later I expected a good sushi restaurant on every corner, and was quite surprised when that wasn’t the case. Instead there are plenty of chain sushi restaurants – some decent and some really terrible.

Luckily London has a few good sushi places too, and Yashin Sushi is definitely one of them, if not the best. Recommended by two colleagues I was really keen to try it when my best friend and sushi lover Emma came to visit. We rounded up a few more girls and we had a great time at the restaurant.

Deep-fried soft shell crab roll with avocado and sweet soy – amazing! 

Don’t be put off of the almost military sounding greeting as you walk through the door – the staff is friendly and efficient. The restaurant is small with a sushi bar and chefs at work on the ground floor as well as a few tables. Downstairs you find more tables and a small bar.

Yashin’s unique concept is that the sushi comes without soy sauce. Instead, the soy is already incorporated in the sushi. The ginger is also different to regular gari, here you have big lovely chunks of it, with no doubt pickled by the chefs.

And the sushi? Ama-zing! This is probably the best sushi I have ever had. We only had rolls (as they are the most fun) and ordered three of the five options on the concise menu as well as some salmon avocado rolls not on the menu, but still available.

Salmon avocado roll

All the rolls were deliciou and good in size. The rice had the perfect texture and was sticky enough not to crumble but still very fluffy. The rolls were moist and scrumptious and although all the rolls had fantastic flavours, I think we all liked the soft shell crab the best. Do not miss it!

Lovely deep fried asparagus roll with tomato sauce 

Yashin Suhi
1A Argyll Road
Kensington
London W8 7DB
Tel 02079381536

Dark chocolate pannacotta

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These little pots are the perfect ending to a casual dinner party. They taste fantastic but seem (and are) effortless. You make them ahead of time, and just reach into the fridge to serve pudding.

But they still impress. The chocolate flavour is rich the texture thick and creamy so you don’t need many spoonfuls to satisfy a serious chocolate craving. With the addition of salt, I think chocolate becomes even more flavoursome and delicious – so do try this.

Dark chocolate pannacotta, serves 4 (small portions)

350 ml double cream

2 tbsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp gelatin powder

70 g dark chocolate

Heat up cream, sugar and gelatin in a saucepan. In the meantime, chop the chocolate. Remove the cream mixture from the heat as soon at it has started to bubble. Add the chocolate to the mixture and stir to dissolve. Let the mixture cool a little before pouring into little cups. Leave to cool, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Sprinkle on some sea salt or vanilla salt before serving. 

Avocado mousse and chilli prawns

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Isn’t it funny how ones view of vegetables change over the years? As a child you think of different ways to avoid them, especially at school where the green vegetables more looked yellow and not very appetizing, and even at home, I tried to avoid the peas.

Then during the teenage years you realise, that all those healthy things you battled with your parents over are actually really nice. You might still avoid the peas, but the broccoli, root vegetables and salad companions you really like. Like avocado. Probably still my favourite vegetable. I mean, you can eat it as it is with only some salt. You can have it in salads. You can make guacemole (oh hello!).

Or you can make this simple yet wonderful starter. When I made it for my flatmates and visiting best friend the other day they seemed very impressed, which is nice, but it is rather simple to make. But you do need a trusty food processor or a really good stick blender.

I love things I can prepare in advance, unfortunately this is not one of them, but it is a swift operation getting it done, so I don’t mind.

To follow this starter we had the wonderful lavender chicken with roasted potato slices, a reduced jus from the cooking juices and green beans. That went down very well too!

Avocado mousse with chilli prawns, serves 4

150-200 g raw tiger prawns

1 tbsp neutral oil

2 tsp chilli flakes

some lime zest

salt & pepper

The mousse:

2 ripe avocados

100 ml creme fraiche

3 tbsp olive oil

1 lime, juice and zest 

5-6 drops Tabasco

1/2 tsp Worchestershire sauce

salt & pepper

Decoration:

limeslices cut into quarters

crushed rose pepper corns

chopped parsley

Marinate the prawns in a bowl while you make the mousse. Cut the avos in half, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Mix the avo flesh until smooth in a food processor. Add the creme fraiche and olive oil and incorporate. Season to taste with lime, Tabasco, Worchestershire sauce, salt and pepper. 

Fry the prawns in a hot frying pan until pink on both sides. Pipe the mousse onto the plates, add the prawns and decorate. Serve with crusty bread. 

Heston’s salted caramel popcorn icecream

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I am not one to buy ready made meals very often, and when I do, I usually get very disappointed with them. Even if they don’t taste bad, I knew that I could have done it better myself. And some really do taste awful.

And then we have the nutritional value of processed food and the additives, to put us off. But most important is the taste.

That is why I quite like the idea of the Heston Blumenthal for Waitrose range of ready meals. When looking at the ingredients most are non-processed ingredients that you would use yourself, and I do hope the taste is there.

So far I have only tried the icecream, which of course was delicious. I am a sucker for salted caramel, and this is a fun ‘very Heston’ flavour. Reading the ingredients list there are some things you wouldn’t find in homemade icecream, but I find it more important that say the Shepherd’s pie contains nothing processed than an icecream.

Broccoli parmesan fritters

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Just like Deb at Smitten Kitchen I love fritters and her recipe for broccoli parmesan ones is really good. Eating them on their own their nice enough, but serve with a super easy sauce with creme fraiche, parmesan and lemon zest and this is amazing. Promise!

Eat these for lunch, supper or cook them for your friends at brunch. Just make them, ok?!

Broccoli parmesan fritter, serves 4

Adapted after  Smitten Kitchen’s recipe.

ca 225 g broccoli

1 egg

65 g plain flour

30 g grated parmesan

1 small garlic clove

1/2 tsp salt

black pepper

oil for frying

Cut the broccoli stem into pieces and divide the crown into florets. Bring to the boil in salted water and let it cook for 3-4 minutes if you like them firm, a few more minutes if a bit softer. Drain. 

Beat the egg in a bowl and add the cheese, garlic, flour, salt and pepper. Mix the broccoli in a food processor or mash with a potato masher. Add to the mixture.

Fry in oil on medium heat. Serve with a cold sauce. 

Cold sauce with parmesan and lemon

200 ml creme fraiche

2 tbsp grated parmesan

1/2 lemon, the zest

salt and pepper

Mix and serve. 

Dinner at Le Cercle, Chelsea

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I quite often get asked whether I have many Swedish friends in London. I have a few, but I know them all from before I moved here. It is far more interesting to get to know people with different nationalities than my own, especially when I can fly home in 2 hrs.

One friend I know from secondary school back in Sweden, but who also lives around London at the moment, is Helena. When we last met up we had supper at a French place in Chelsea, conveniently located just a few minutes from Sloane Sq.

I read about Le Cercle in the Sloane Ranger mag Tatler, and I thought it was a new addition to the restaurant scene. Apparently it is not, however it is the sister restaurant of famous Club Gascon.

We both had the duck mini burger to start and it was very nice. The bread was a brioche and therefore really moise and both the duck meat and the condiments were full of flavour.

Helena had panfried halibut with creamy leek and crab civet as a main course. It tasted just as delicious as it looked.

I (always the carnivore) chose a suckling pig variation with little juicy cutlets, lovely belly with crisp crackling, jus and charred red onions and endive. Really nice!

Helena later had a coffee and we received the perfect size petit fours; marmalade and coffee macaron.

Le Cercle
1 Wilbraham Place
London SW1X 9AE

Yoghurt pannacotta with baked apples

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This is a perfect weekday treat. Why? Because it is easy to make, a joy to eat and (wait for it) healthy. So healthy in fact, that I even had one for breakfast one morning. Need I tell you it was nice then too?!

The pannacotta needs to be prepared in advance and you can prepare the baked apples too if you like. Just refridgerate after baking them, then heat them up until lukewarm before serving and add the rosemary then. I actually made mini pannacottas, and the recipe below made about 7 mini ones, but it serves 4 if normal sized portions.

Yoghurt pannacotta with baked apples, serves 4

300 ml natural yoghurt

100 ml milk

100 ml single cream

50 ml caster sugar, maybe a tad more

1 tsp gelatine powder

2 locally sourced apples

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp caster sugar

2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

Add yoghurt, cream and milk to a saucepan. Add the sugar and gelatine and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and leave to cool for a few minutes. Pour into ramekins. Leave to cool then refridgerate for at least 4 hours for the pannacotta to set. 

Wash, core and dice the apples. Place in a buttered ovenproof dish and add the butter in dollops and sprinkle in the sugar. Bake until soft, for about 30 minutes in 180C. Stir occasionally. Leave to cool until room temperature. Add the rosemary and top the pannacottas with the baked apples.

Mackerel tartare

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I like to plan. A lot. Especially meals. And because I plan ahead, it is easy to prepare in advance too, having more time with your guests when you have them over for supper.

Last week when my fish loving friend Jenny came for supper I made us a mackerel tartare as a starter. Since we both like fish I made big portions, but you can easily use the recipe below for four as a starter as well.

Mackerel tartare, serves 2-4

Step 1:

6 medium mackerel fillets, about 250 g

almost 1 tbsp salt

1/2 tbsp caster sugar

a few sprigs dill

Step 2:

2 tsp dijon mustard

juice from 1/2 lemon

olive oil

salt, pepper

Start 1-2 days ahead. Place the fish (skin removed) in a tupperware or dish with sides. Clap the salt and sugar into the fish and put the dill on it. Cover with clingfilm clinging to the fish and add some pressure with your hand. Refrigerate for at least 24 hrs. 

Take out the fish and remove the water. Finely chop it and mix with mustard, lemon juice, oil and seasoning in a bowl. Add more dill if needed. 

Shape into 2-4 ‘burgers’ and plate. Serve with a cold sauce (creme fraiche, dijon, lemon juice, salt and pepper) and rocket.