A Morning in Maltby St

Last Saturday I finally made it to Maltby Street in Bermondsey, southeast London. It's only about a 15-minute walk from the famous and overcrowded Borough Market, but it's a completely different experience. Maltby Street is a collection of artisanal food producers who have their warehouses under the railway that runs from London Bridge station. (A few of them, called the Bermondsey Seven, were evicted from Borough Market recently. Read more here.) They open to the public on Saturdays from 9am - 2pm. It's obviously popular for those in the know or those wiling to trek out to Bermondsey, but the streets are largely empty, which makes it a relaxing shopping experience. I went with a budget of £40 and ended up spending most of it. Maltby Street is not cheap, but if you're looking for something special, this is the place to come. 

First I bought half a loaf of French Poilâne sourdough, butter, and chunk of a slightly matured, creamy farmhouse Irish goat cheese from Neal's Yard Dairy on Stanworth St for £14. When I got home, I made a grilled cheese with the bread, cheese, slices of finocchiona salami from Tuscany and sun-dried tomatoes. A heavenly lunch.

Fern Verrow, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

At Fern Verrow, 55 Stanworth St, they stock biodynamically grown vegetables. I bought some fresh garlic and a huge lettuce. They also had a variety of berries (including gooseberries and josterberries), and beautiful broad beans, but I didn't indulge. In general I am still under impressed by farmers market style produce in London. The quality was fairly high, but the prices were ridiculous. Only the garlic and lettuce put me out £7.50. I don't understand this idea that fresh, high quality produce is a delicacy. Anyone who has grown vegetables and fruit knows that they always end up with way more than they can use and even if you pay people well, a lettuce and fresh garlic should not cost that much. Fern Verrow share the warehouse stall with the Borough Cheese Co. (who were selling amazing Virginia peanuts) and Coleman Coffee Roasters. 

St John, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

St John, 72 Druid St, which supplies bread to the St John's restaurants in Spitalfields and Smithfield had some nice bread, so I bought a dense white stick for £2. 

Booth's, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

Booth's on Druid St was my favorite. The range of fruits, vegetables, and mushrooms was something I'm more used to. It's not all local, but the quality was quite high. I was a bit disappointed to see some out-of-season fruit (rock hard plums), but that is to be expected in London. I bought a couple of enormous peppers, purple carrots, chives, yellow and green zucchini and an endive for about £8.50. Tonight I think I'll make pasta with the zucchini and the fresh garlic from Fern Verrow.

Booth's, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

Booth's, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

Booth's, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

I ended up at Monmouth Coffee Company back on Maltby St, some of the best coffee in London. This is where they do their roasting. I got a single macchiato and a wonderful little madeleine for £3.50. 

Monmouth Coffee, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

Single macchiato, madeleine from Monmouth (photo: Marina Vidor)

Outside, I indulged in some fennel and orange sorbet from La Grotta Ices for £2 in a cone. That was all she had left besides strawberry, but this lady has a wicked list of sorbet flavors. I wish I could go to try a new one (or two) each week. 

La Grotta's offerings (photo: Marina Vidor)

Fennel and orange sorbet, La Grotta Ices, London (photo: Marina Vidor)

My final stop was The London Honey Company, 54-58 Tanner Place, which opens its studio on the last Saturday of every month. Unfortunately they don't take credit cards and I was out of cash, but I got to see their cute studio. The smell of honey is overwhelming. I'll be back in a month, I hope, to buy some local honey. They apparently have some from Hackney Marshes that I'd like to get my hands on, but they have hives all over the capital in the most unlikely places.

London Honey Company (photo: Marina Vidor)

As I walked back to Liverpool Street and braved the horrendous crowds of the area around Borough Market, I felt relieved that I had spent some time in a much quieter, easy-going place. Maltby St seems to be a place for local foodies and people looking for that special treat. Lots of Italians, French and American customers, as is customary to see in specialty food markets in the capital, and trendy 30-something British people. (I wonder if being Italian-American doubly predisposes me to food obsession.) At any rate, this is not your normal food market. If you're looking for a great deal, this is not the place, but if you want a peaceful, quality foodie indulgence experience, head on over to Maltby St and enjoy! 

My loot from Maltby Street (photo: Marina Vidor)

Personally, my next trip will be to get some honey, a coffee and some of that amazing sorbet.

For more information on all of Malby Street's vendors, visit their website: http://www.maltbystreet.com/

Pan'ino in Florence

Recently I was sent at the last minute to Florence, Italy for work. I had lived there as an 18-year-old during my gap year, but I hadn't been back since. Not knowing the current state of florentine restaurants, I consulted my favorite food blog, Parla Food, in search of some tips. Katie Parla appears to have impeccable taste and her blog is a vast resource of tips and observations. In one of her posts she recommended 'ino, a panino shop in an alley behind the Uffizi Gallery, calling it 'one of most delicious sandwiches of recent memory.' For a girl who will do anything to eat an outstanding hot sandwich, 'ino got jotted down in my notebook immediately. I was going to be filming on my own with a tight schedule, so I knew I wouldn't have much time to eat and 'ino seemed to be the place to try.

I showed up at 'ino sweating like a pig with all of my gear and was greeted with a cute little shop, minimalist and modern and air conditioned (phew!). Speciality products from all over Italy lined the walls and people sat chomping on gorgeous panini. On the walls are pieces of brown paper with handwritten panino suggestions. I ordered 'Il Solito' ('the usual') which was toasted and filled with fresh pecorino, prosciutto, sun-dried tomato, and olive paste. If you've never had fresh pecorino, it's a dream AND spreadable. I had my lunch with the chinotto (slightly bitter soda made from myrtle-leaved orange trees - similar to campari, but sweet) they stock and was determined to come back the next day for more. This was probably the best panino I've ever had.

I did show up the next day for lunch and had a gorgeous panino with finocchiona (salami with fennel seeds), mostarda di peperoni (roasted pepper paste), and fresh pecorino. Then I got another one to take home on the plane to London.

At 8 euro per panino it's not the cheapest, but it filled me up and the quality of the products was outstanding. You could easily spend double on lunch in one of Florence's many restaurants and not eat nearly as well.

‘ino
via dei Georgofili 3r/7r

055.219.208
www.ino-firenze.com
Mon-Sat 11am-8pm, Sun noon-5pm

*Please note that panino is the singular and panini is the plural. This is a common mistake by English speakers, easily rectified!

On the menu tonight... and a beautiful blog

In my effort to be a better food blogger, I've got what's on the menu for tonight! The meal I've created is all about simplicity. (Sorry, posted a day late!)

Menu 16 Nov 2010
Potato and leek soup
Pasta with gorgonzola sauce

To make the soup, you roughly chop equal parts leek and potatoes. Tonight I used two huge leeks and about six medium to small potatoes. Throw the leeks into a heavy-bottomed pot with a tiny bit of roughly chopped onion and plenty of olive oil and a bit of butter. Cook on low with the top on the pot until the vegetables are soft. Then add the chopped potatoes and mix. Add enough water to cover the veggies and add vegetable stock cubes (1 for every 500 ml of water). If you're cool and have homemade vegetable stock ready, use that! Bring to a boil on high and then reduce to a simmer. Stir occasionally so it doesn't burn. Cook until the potatoes are very soft and crumble to the touch. Add freshly ground black pepper and blend with a stick blender until a smooth purée. If it's too thick, add a little water.

For the pasta, take 1 cup double cream and just over a cup of crumbled gorgonzola cheese (I used dolcelatte tonight) and heat them together in a non-stick pan. Stir until the cheese basically dissolves. Add a generous amount of pepper and turn off the heat. Cook the pasta in salty water until just 'al dente'. Mix sauce and pasta and devour with a good amount of grated parmesan on top.

Beautiful blog find: Cannelle et Vanille by Aran Goyoaga
http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/
I was just going through my Flickr page and saw that there was a feature on photos of citrus fruits. One photo stood out and it was by Aran Goyoaga, who is a Basque ex-pat living in the USA, pastry chef by training. I quickly went to her Flickr page and then her blog. The photos are just stunning and the recipes look tasty and wholesome. I don't post them here because I'm respecting her copyright and haven't had time to ask for permission to use her images, but do check her work out. You'll be drawn in by her superb artistry.

Goat Heaven

As I sit here on a rather wet, London day, I wish I were in California with my mom and uncle who are lucky enough to be heading out to Harley Farms this morning to hug baby goats!



If you haven't been, it's worth the trip over to the sleepy coastal village of Pescadero. Harley Farms is on the edge of town and supports quite a herd of goats who dutifully line up each evening to be milked. Their milk is made into delicious, award-winning goat cheese which is available for purchase. At this time of year, the farm is overrun with newborn goats. Apparently they are expecting over 200 this year and the current count is at 173. You have to book to go see them, but what could be better than spending time with rambunctious kids? Sadly, Bart, the goats' 'guard llama' recently passed on.



The cheese is SO good at Harley Farms. You can sample them at the farm shop and read more about them here:
http://www.harleyfarms.com/cheese.php
My favorite is probably the cranberry-walnut cheese, but the ones with edible flowers are beautiful. They're all really tasty!

When you're weary of goats (how could you be, but I suppose everyone gets a bit of fresh-air poisoning), head down to Duarte's Tavern (pronounced "doo-arts") and have some of their world-famous artichoke soup and olallieberry pie! It's and old-style diner that's been around since 1894. I absolutely love their crab melt in the winter, but try out seasonal salads with locally sourced ingredients, too.



Finally, have a stroll around and visit the little shops and my favorite, Arcangeli's, which is stocked with cured olives, local jam, sauces, Harley Farms cheese and their own, wonderful variety of Italian-style breads. Delicious!

Watch this nice little video on Arcangeli's:


I usually come home from Pescadero very happy and incredibly full! On a nice day, head down to the local beach and digest as you watch the sun set into the Pacific Ocean. It's only an hour's drive from Silicon Valley - perfect for a day out.

It's the cheese

As I sit here contentedly digesting some French cheese I bought in Paris yesterday (Tomme Fermière):

Apparently Bush put a 300% tax on Roquefort imported to the USA?! Repeal, repeal!
Video: French anger at US cheese tax - BBC News Online

More in French food news... Norway wins the Bocuse d'Or, kind of the Olympics of cooking.
Norway Wins Bocuse d'Or Competition - NYTimes.com

I ate at Chez Janou in Paris this weekend (check out the film they made on their site). For the entrée I had Toastades de Saint Nectaire (two generous slices of crusty bread smothered in melted Saint Nectaire cheese, surrounded by a salad) and for a main I had an extremely tender leg of lamb with the biggest heap of mashed potatoes I've ever seen - they also happened to be exquisitely creamy with a bit of garlic. This was surrounded by various red wines. Their crème brulée was not very good - 'like scrambled eggs' was what a few people said - but they also had chocolate mousse on the 'honor system'. You are served a huge bowl enough to serve an army and then are expected to take a reasonable serving for yourself. A round of exotic liqueurs was ordered and sampled and we were then given a smooth melon liqueur on the house. Prices are reasonable, the portions generous, so the next time you're in Paris, check this place out. It's cozy and in the classy 3rd arrondissement.

Other things I consumed in Paris: croque monsieur, the best hot chocolate ever, rucola salad with chicken gizzard, quiche lorraine, croissants, and confit de canard.

Tetilla: a buxom cheese

That caught your attention, didn’t it? 

Traveling back to Spain and its culinary wonders, today I’m going to talk about tetilla cheese. It’s called that because it’s shaped like a breast. It’s a Galician specialty, made from cow’s milk and is smooth and creamy. I don’t know how easy it is to find outside Spain, but it’s worth hunting down when you are there. It’s readily available in any supermarket, unwrapped and sitting on refrigerated shelves. Tetilla can also be known as perilla (because it could also be a ‘pear’ shape).

Here is a website on cheeses in Spain with more detailed descriptions of tetilla: Cheese from Spain

In Santiago de Compostela, tetilla is proudly displayed in food shop and restaurant windows in the old part of the city. Each window tries to lure you in with their decadent displays of octopus, cakes (tarta de Santiago) or tanks of live lobster. Below are some photos.

Octopus, clams, razor clams, scallops, tetilla, pimientos del Padrón...

Lobsters!  Bogavantes and langostas, to be specific.

Sacrilege

I will admit that in general I don't like cheese with fish and that as a holder of an Italian passport, I feel I need to be more firm in this stance. It's a pretty well known fact that Italians are usually against cheese with fish because it lessens the enjoyment of fishiness in a dish. Or just because everyone else said that it's against the rules. I happen to like cheese with tuna, mostly because of the great American tuna melt. But you can't get me to put parmesan on a spaghetti with clam sauce. It's got so much flavor already!

The following article is a good argument FOR fish and cheese to be united in culinary bliss. I still don't buy it and will continue to cook fish in interesting ways that celebrate its fishiness, but do read on:

Just Grate - NY Times, by Robert Trachtenberg, 30.Mar.08

An alternative to cheese to enhance the flavor of a fish dish, you ask? GRATED/GROUND PISTACHIO. They do it in Sicily all the time and it looks beautiful and tastes divine.

The Great Mozarella Tragedy

Watch out, folks. That pizza could cause cancer. I've personally switched to ricotta. Just made a pizza with it last night and it was divine. But I admit I'd still prefer a little buffalo milk. Campania - Clean up your act!

How Italy's 'white gold' turned sour - BBC News
Italy recalls tainted mozzarella - BBC News
EU warns Italy over cheese scare - BBC News

Also in the news:

The Great Tam Tam Shortage of 2008! What's a Jew to do at Passover?!

It's Hide the Matzo, for Real: Where are the Tam Tams? - NY Times

And finally:

Everything is connected - as we saw with rubbish in Italy... Bees are having trouble in California, so it's time to truck them in so they can pollinate 80% of the world's almond crop!

Season of hope - LA Times

It's hard times for food!

Mac 'n' cheese and american uselessness

Yesterday at work I encountered racism head-on. A posh Lady donor called into the office asking about an event to which she'd been invited. I think she's probably just difficult by nature, feeling like she's entitled to royal treatment even though it's her husband who earned the title for the two of them. At any rate, the 30-second conversation ended with her calling me a "useless American." This was despite the fact that I dealt with her courteously and efficiently.

Not only has she never met me, she has no idea whether I'm American or not. I'm angry because that kind of class entitlement mindset is just SO not cool. So out of line. So pointless. So backward. {Honey, I hate to tell you this, but despite the fact the royalty is still around, the Empire is over.} For the record, she was also rude to my British colleague.

My reaction at home, following work, was to cook up a posh little macaroni and cheese number to spite her. I can be American AND cultured. I cleaned out all of the random bits of cheese left in the fridge from trips abroad: smoked scamorza, some sort of Roman goat cheese, cheddar, parmigiano reggiano, some hard Spanish cheese.

Five cheese revenge mac 'n' cheese

350g of various grated cheeses
40g all-purpose flour or type 00 flour
40g butter
600ml milk
3 finely chopped spring onions/scallions/shallots
pepper
300g pasta

Make a bechamel sauce by slowly melting the butter in a non-stick pot. Keep heat low and add flour little by little until it has formed a roux. Then slowly stir/whisk in the milk until smooth. When it's all nice and smooth and warm, add most of the cheese (save a tiny bit to garnish the pasta). Grind a bit of pepper to taste. When it's all smooth, take off the heat. Cook pasta to al dente. In the meantime, gently fry the scallions/shallots. Drain pasta and stir in the cheese sauce and scallions. Put the mixture into an oven-safe dish (preferably Pyrex). Sprinkle with extra cheese and grill until it's light brown and crispy. Devour (with some veggies) and think of sweet revenge.

A silly radio clip from NPR on mac 'n' cheese: A Brief History of Mac and Cheese

PS My boss says this is very similar to a restoring, traditional Bavarian dish. So maybe it's not so American after all!