My Kitchen

NEW VOICES IN FOOD

my kitchen ÂŁ14.99 Paperback with flaps 978 1 84400 849 0 192 pp 229 x 164mm 20,000 words including more than 120 recipes 40 illustrations Publication July 2010 Quadrille Publishing Limited 27-31 Charing Cross Road London WC2H 0LS www.quadrille.co.uk Illustrations by Ros Shiers Photography by Stevie Parle

real food from near and far Stevie Parle

contents 5 intro

january 7 New Year’s Day. Whole beef shin and steamed ginger sponge Supper by the stove: cacio e pepe pasta, crudo ham, raw sprouts and pecorino Cucina povera, cheap eats for hard times A Keralan fisherman’s breakfast –soffritto and other bases

february 21 A gift. A large tin of salted anchovies.

A quiet Japanese supper for a fragile friend A foggy breakfast of pomegranates, cardamom and honey on the deck –umami

march 37 A Sri Lankan supper to bring sunshine Artichokes from Italy Fresh pasta with a toast to Nonna Trivelli Early morning on deck with ciambelline, watching the cherry blossom Bakewell tart –getting the spice right

april 53 Wild tempura Loads of English asparagus Champagne, crab and broad beans.

Celebrating our engagement.

–deep-frying delicately

may 69 Delicious Indian mangoes A Middle Eastern vegetable supper A real treat. A gift of fresh morels A picnic: pork pie and a pot of Dijon –choosing and cutting mangoes

june 85 An exotic and delicate Spanish lunch Black cherries from Provence A visiting Irish angel made us custard pots A Keralan feast –how to handle garlic

july 99 A birthday with a kind of Nicoise salad Chocolate-hazelnut-brandy espresso cake It rained all evening, tamarind rice and shoulder of lamb –mystic tuna

august 115 Delicious fine green beans.

A new love: Mexican food A Ligurian supper for friends –salt is very important

september 131 Allotment bounty - figs, blackberries and raspberries Too many tomatoes An Indian supper Seed cake St John-style Remembering a weekend in Portugal Tandoori chicken and very cold beer.

–balancing acidity

october 147 I found some porcini!

A Sri Lankan breakfast for friends Beef bones and broths –making stock

november 163 Beautiful downy quinces A pretty serious breakfast. Woodcock on toast, tea and a splash of whisky.

Partridges in escabeche Bouillabaisse –thoughts on game

december 179 Christmas Eve. Arrosto misto with in-laws and outlaws Presents you can eat Barbecued lobster at Christmas for family.

None of whom like ‘Christmas dinner’ –slow cooking 189 index 191 acknowledgements

Stevie Parle is a new and erudite young talent with a blistering pedigree. Aged

just 24, he has already worked at the River Café with Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, for Skye Gyngell at the renowned Petersham Nurseries and at the landmark Moro with Sam and Sam Clark. When he set up his pop-up Moveable Restaurant with the River Café head chef last year, fashion leaders clamoured to join Stevie’s twice-monthly word-of-mouth supper clubs, one of which was hosted by Nigella Lawson. Now, Stevie cooks at The Dock Kitchen in Portobello Docks, where he continues the highly successful supper club tradition.

Stevie has lived in Tokyo, while cooking at the famous Salt restaurant, and in New York and Sri Lanka, as well as bussed, biked, walked and boated all around India, Ireland, Morocco, Italy and south east Asia, picking up recipes, magpie-like, wherever he goes. Naturally, the London Evening Standard has named Stevie and his pop-up restaurant partner as the capital’s hottest young chefs.

Stevie lives with his wife on a red barge, the Avontuur, moored at Hammersmith in west London. They keep a pontoon allotment and a dry land plot, and growing fruit and vegetables has become another of Stevie’s passions.

This, his first book, is the greatest hits collection of Stevie’s life in food so far, gleaned from around the world. It is a charming mixture of Stevie’s wonderful recipes, anecdotes and tales from the boat. Divided into 12 chapters for the months of the year, the dishes are based around seasonal bounty, occasions from the chef ’s life, and Stevie’s global inspirations. As well as showing readers how to make British classics, such as a chopped egg sauce for asparagus, Stevie is an expert on exotic dishes such as Kampot pepper crab from Cambodia, using wonderful Dorset crabs, and can also teach sophisticated European favourites such as artichokes in the Roman style.

Within each chapter, Stevie gives a masterclass about a single foodstuff, with the aim of teaching readers how to cook better by watching subtle changes in the pan and paying attention to the life cycles of fresh produce. If you thought you knew garlic and how to cook it, for instance, Stevie may well show you there is more to learn.

The book is beautifully illustrated by Ros Spiers, whose lightness of touch combined with a botanical exactness renders foods perfectly on the page with their character intact. There are also scattered photographs by Stevie himself, of his dishes and travels. An unique cook book from a stunning young talent.

champagne, crab and broad beans. celebrating our engagment | 65

64 | april

champagne, crab and broad beans. celebrating our engagement

W

hen Nicky and I decided to get married, we celebrated with – of course – a lovely meal. There is nothing better than sharing food and moments with friends. We felt very lucky not only to have delicious champagne from Krug, but also a big Dorset crab... and the first broad beans of the year picked from the acquadulce plants we had planted in the autumn.

broad beans and pecorino Picked young, while still soft and very tender, broad beans are at their most delicious raw. Serve them in an enormous pile with a big wedge of aged, salty sheep’s cheese next to them.

kampot pepper crab and jasmine rice

this is a favourite of ours. I found it while travelling in Cambodia, aged 16, slightly mad and looking for delicious food even then. Years later I took Nicky to taste it, cooked by an old lady on a white beach. Kampot is famous for its pepper. The large quantity of fresh green peppercorns in this recipe (find them in good Thai shops) really make the dish. If you can only find those in brine, wash them very well. serves 4

medium live crabs – spider crabs or those delicious big crabs from Dorset, 2 vegetable oil, 4 tbsp fresh green peppercorns on the vine, 10 strands spring onions, whites finely chopped, green roughly chopped, 4 fresh root ginger, thinly sliced, 2.5cm (1in) big garlic cloves, roughly chopped, 3 big ripe tomatoes (from a can and rinsed is fine), 6 oyster sauce, 4 tbsp light soy sauce, 4 tbsp palm sugar, 2 tsp limes, 5

Put the crabs belly up on a board. Insert a skewer just above the tail flap.

They will die instantly. Smash the claws a bit and cut the bodies in half.

Meanwhile, heat the oil until almost smoking in a large wok or saucepan. Put in the crab to frazzle for a couple of minutes then add the peppercorns, spring onions, ginger and garlic. Continue cooking and stirring until the pepper is fragrant and the garlic light brown. Squeeze and tear up the tomatoes and throw them in, too. After 30 seconds add the oyster sauce, soy sauce and palm sugar, then mix.

Reduce the heat and put on the lid to allow the crab to steam for a few more minutes to be sure it is cooked through. Add a splash of water if it looks like it might burn. When it’s ready, the meat should pull away easily; have a look at a bit of the white flesh inside the largest claw, you should be able to flake it from the shell.

JASMINE RICE Rinse 80g (2¾oz) of rice per person Squeeze in lime to taste and serve with until the water runs pure without any milkiness. Drain a pile of jasmine rice.

and place in a deep pot. Add enough water to cover by 2cm (¾in). Bring to a boil, uncovered, then reduce the heat to very low, cover and simmer until cooked through (about 20 minutes). Remove from the heat and allow to sit, still covered, for at least 10 minutes. Fluff it up with chopsticks or a fork before serving.

champagne, crab and broad beans. celebrating our engagment | 65

64 | april

champagne, crab and broad beans. celebrating our engagement

W

hen Nicky and I decided to get married, we celebrated with – of course – a lovely meal. There is nothing better than sharing food and moments with friends. We felt very lucky not only to have delicious champagne from Krug, but also a big Dorset crab... and the first broad beans of the year picked from the acquadulce plants we had planted in the autumn.

broad beans and pecorino Picked young, while still soft and very tender, broad beans are at their most delicious raw. Serve them in an enormous pile with a big wedge of aged, salty sheep’s cheese next to them.

kampot pepper crab and jasmine rice

this is a favourite of ours. I found it while travelling in Cambodia, aged 16, slightly mad and looking for delicious food even then. Years later I took Nicky to taste it, cooked by an old lady on a white beach. Kampot is famous for its pepper. The large quantity of fresh green peppercorns in this recipe (find them in good Thai shops) really make the dish. If you can only find those in brine, wash them very well. serves 4

medium live crabs – spider crabs or those delicious big crabs from Dorset, 2 vegetable oil, 4 tbsp fresh green peppercorns on the vine, 10 strands spring onions, whites finely chopped, green roughly chopped, 4 fresh root ginger, thinly sliced, 2.5cm (1in) big garlic cloves, roughly chopped, 3 big ripe tomatoes (from a can and rinsed is fine), 6 oyster sauce, 4 tbsp light soy sauce, 4 tbsp palm sugar, 2 tsp limes, 5

Put the crabs belly up on a board. Insert a skewer just above the tail flap.

They will die instantly. Smash the claws a bit and cut the bodies in half.

Meanwhile, heat the oil until almost smoking in a large wok or saucepan. Put in the crab to frazzle for a couple of minutes then add the peppercorns, spring onions, ginger and garlic. Continue cooking and stirring until the pepper is fragrant and the garlic light brown. Squeeze and tear up the tomatoes and throw them in, too. After 30 seconds add the oyster sauce, soy sauce and palm sugar, then mix.

Reduce the heat and put on the lid to allow the crab to steam for a few more minutes to be sure it is cooked through. Add a splash of water if it looks like it might burn. When it’s ready, the meat should pull away easily; have a look at a bit of the white flesh inside the largest claw, you should be able to flake it from the shell.

JASMINE RICE Rinse 80g (2¾oz) of rice per person Squeeze in lime to taste and serve with until the water runs pure without any milkiness. Drain a pile of jasmine rice.

and place in a deep pot. Add enough water to cover by 2cm (¾in). Bring to a boil, uncovered, then reduce the heat to very low, cover and simmer until cooked through (about 20 minutes). Remove from the heat and allow to sit, still covered, for at least 10 minutes. Fluff it up with chopsticks or a fork before serving.

too many tomatoes | 133

132 | september

amish paste

too many tomatoes This year I have managed to grow loads of tomatoes. Both the floating garden pontoon and the allotment are laden with heavy fruits of all varieties. I love the smell of tomato plants and the sticky resin they leave on your hands.

Tomatoes are from the nightshade (solanaceae) family; an incredible group of plants that includes some of my favourite things - potatoes, tobacco, chillies and aubergines - as well as wild nightshades both deadly and beautiful.

All tomatoes have different tastes and uses. Some, such as San Marzano, are better for sauces; others like Amish Paste at their best roasted slowly; some should be just sliced and eaten with salt and oil, such as green Costoluto Fiorentino and Tiger.

I love to rub a piece of crunchy toast with cut garlic and then a soft ripe Datterini tomato, drizzle it with oil and sprinkle with salt and dried wild oregano.

Generally I am not a mad preserver or pickler. Tomatoes, however, are a different matter. I really love to use them all year round and often spend a fortune on posh large jars of whole southern Italian preserved tomatoes. The really great thing about these is that they are kept in water instead of that horrible thick, sweet tomatoey stuff you get in a can. This year I am going to turn all my excess tomatoes into delicious sauce and put them in jars for the year.

Having tomato sauce around makes me very happy.

costoluto fiorentino

teardrop datterini costoluto fiorentino, sliced

tiger gardener's delight

san marzano

too many tomatoes | 133

132 | september

amish paste

too many tomatoes This year I have managed to grow loads of tomatoes. Both the floating garden pontoon and the allotment are laden with heavy fruits of all varieties. I love the smell of tomato plants and the sticky resin they leave on your hands.

Tomatoes are from the nightshade (solanaceae) family; an incredible group of plants that includes some of my favourite things - potatoes, tobacco, chillies and aubergines - as well as wild nightshades both deadly and beautiful.

All tomatoes have different tastes and uses. Some, such as San Marzano, are better for sauces; others like Amish Paste at their best roasted slowly; some should be just sliced and eaten with salt and oil, such as green Costoluto Fiorentino and Tiger.

I love to rub a piece of crunchy toast with cut garlic and then a soft ripe Datterini tomato, drizzle it with oil and sprinkle with salt and dried wild oregano.

Generally I am not a mad preserver or pickler. Tomatoes, however, are a different matter. I really love to use them all year round and often spend a fortune on posh large jars of whole southern Italian preserved tomatoes. The really great thing about these is that they are kept in water instead of that horrible thick, sweet tomatoey stuff you get in a can. This year I am going to turn all my excess tomatoes into delicious sauce and put them in jars for the year.

Having tomato sauce around makes me very happy.

costoluto fiorentino

teardrop datterini costoluto fiorentino, sliced

tiger gardener's delight

san marzano

too many tomatoes | 135

134 | september

how to make really good tomato sauce.

this recipe uses ratios rather than quantities, as it is for however many tomatoes you have around, to preserve or to eat for dinner. This is a very useful recipe; always make tomato sauce in this way, it is the best. And very nice indeed with pasta. ripe plum tomatoes garlic, a big juicy clove for every 6 tomatoes olive oil dried red chilli, a tiny bit basil leaves, handfuls

Skin the tomatoes: put a very thin slit in the skin and tip them into a pan of boiling water for 10 seconds, then plunge them into ice water. The skins should slip off easily. If you have forgotten to grow any delicious San Marzano tomatoes, then find some good canned - or preferably jarred - Italian tomatoes and rinse them to remove the horrible thick stuff they are usually covered in.

Cut the garlic in half lengthways and remove and discard the nasty green sprouty bit. Slice it thinly and evenly. Place a small, thickbottomed pan over gentle heat and pour in the oil, add the garlic and fry until it starts to stick together: anyone who has observed cooking garlic like I have will know that there are many different stages in its life. This sticky stage happens just before it starts to brown.

Add your tomatoes, a pinch of salt and pepper and the chilli. Turn the heat right down and leave to cook for a long time, occasionally stirring and squashing any stubborn bits of tomato to break them up. After at least an hour, maybe 2, your sauce will be thicker, sweet and delicious.

Add a glug of good olive oil and a handful of basil if he’s around; if not marjoram or oregano will do.

To preserve the sauce, make sure it is well seasoned with as much salt as possible. Heat preserving jars and lids in the oven until very hot to the touch, then pour in the boiling sauce (a funnel will help). Knock against your kitchen bench to release pockets of trapped air, then screw the lids on tightly. This process should be sufficient to preserve the sauce, though some people advise boiling the sealed jars for 30 minutes.

fatoush

fatoush is the ubiquitous lebanese salad, you can vary the ingredients with the season but you should always use only what is tasting good. It’s amazing when you use tomatoes and cucumbers you’ve grown yourself. You can buy sumac – a wonderful lemony spice – in Middle Eastern shops. Choose your ingredients to represent a variety of textures and flavours.

Lay them out and take a view of the balance, then start chopping. serves 2

pitta bread, 1 olive oil, to drizzle small cucumber, chopped, 1 ripe tomatoes, deseeded and chopped, 2 radishes, chopped, 4 celery heart, chopped, 1 soft sweet herbs (such as dill, parsley, mint, fennel, coriander), finely chopped, about 4 tbsp soft salty white Arabic cheese, a bit like feta, or indeed feta, crumbled, 75g (2¾oz) lemon, 1 sumac, ½ tsp

Tear the pitta into pieces. Drizzle with oil and bake in a moderate oven at 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4 until crunchy; it will take about 5 minutes.

Mix all the vegetables, herbs, cheese and bread together. Check the balance of ingredients; it should look pretty and be green from herbs.

Douse in oil, squeeze over lemon, then sprinkle with salt and sumac.

Taste. It should be zingy and vibrant; if it isn’t add more salt and lemon.

too many tomatoes | 135

134 | september

how to make really good tomato sauce.

this recipe uses ratios rather than quantities, as it is for however many tomatoes you have around, to preserve or to eat for dinner. This is a very useful recipe; always make tomato sauce in this way, it is the best. And very nice indeed with pasta. ripe plum tomatoes garlic, a big juicy clove for every 6 tomatoes olive oil dried red chilli, a tiny bit basil leaves, handfuls

Skin the tomatoes: put a very thin slit in the skin and tip them into a pan of boiling water for 10 seconds, then plunge them into ice water. The skins should slip off easily. If you have forgotten to grow any delicious San Marzano tomatoes, then find some good canned - or preferably jarred - Italian tomatoes and rinse them to remove the horrible thick stuff they are usually covered in.

Cut the garlic in half lengthways and remove and discard the nasty green sprouty bit. Slice it thinly and evenly. Place a small, thickbottomed pan over gentle heat and pour in the oil, add the garlic and fry until it starts to stick together: anyone who has observed cooking garlic like I have will know that there are many different stages in its life. This sticky stage happens just before it starts to brown.

Add your tomatoes, a pinch of salt and pepper and the chilli. Turn the heat right down and leave to cook for a long time, occasionally stirring and squashing any stubborn bits of tomato to break them up. After at least an hour, maybe 2, your sauce will be thicker, sweet and delicious.

Add a glug of good olive oil and a handful of basil if he’s around; if not marjoram or oregano will do.

To preserve the sauce, make sure it is well seasoned with as much salt as possible. Heat preserving jars and lids in the oven until very hot to the touch, then pour in the boiling sauce (a funnel will help). Knock against your kitchen bench to release pockets of trapped air, then screw the lids on tightly. This process should be sufficient to preserve the sauce, though some people advise boiling the sealed jars for 30 minutes.

fatoush

fatoush is the ubiquitous lebanese salad, you can vary the ingredients with the season but you should always use only what is tasting good. It’s amazing when you use tomatoes and cucumbers you’ve grown yourself. You can buy sumac – a wonderful lemony spice – in Middle Eastern shops. Choose your ingredients to represent a variety of textures and flavours.

Lay them out and take a view of the balance, then start chopping. serves 2

pitta bread, 1 olive oil, to drizzle small cucumber, chopped, 1 ripe tomatoes, deseeded and chopped, 2 radishes, chopped, 4 celery heart, chopped, 1 soft sweet herbs (such as dill, parsley, mint, fennel, coriander), finely chopped, about 4 tbsp soft salty white Arabic cheese, a bit like feta, or indeed feta, crumbled, 75g (2¾oz) lemon, 1 sumac, ½ tsp

Tear the pitta into pieces. Drizzle with oil and bake in a moderate oven at 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4 until crunchy; it will take about 5 minutes.

Mix all the vegetables, herbs, cheese and bread together. Check the balance of ingredients; it should look pretty and be green from herbs.

Douse in oil, squeeze over lemon, then sprinkle with salt and sumac.

Taste. It should be zingy and vibrant; if it isn’t add more salt and lemon.

11 | january

delicious noble roasted sardines

from cornwall to cochin, hampstead to hokkaiddo, sardines are a plentiful food well loved by all. I, too, adore them and they are always cheap. Only buy them when they look really beautiful: a fresh fish is a glossy, firm-fleshed, bright red gilled, sparkly-eyed creature. There are lots of ways to cook a sardine, from barbecues (the simplest and perhaps the best) to curries, or don’t bother cooking them at all and have them as iwashi sushi, one of my favourites. This recipe is the chuck-in-the-oven-with-some-nice-flavours style. Add other things if you fancy while the fish are roasting. In the summer I often tear in tomatoes, while a few raisins, olives and pine nuts could add an exotic Sicilian flavour. In a way it doesn’t really matter how much of each ingredient you throw in. Add whatever you think will make your fish taste nice.

serves 4

sardines, gutted, washed and scaled, 8 parsley leaves, roughly chopped, a big handful unwaxed lemon zest, finely grated, a good pinch lemon juice, generous squeezes dried chilli, a flick olive oil, a splash fennel seeds, a sprinkling

Lay the sardines in a shallow tray and season them well with all the other ingredients and some salt and pepper. Roast them in a very hot oven at 240ºC/475ºF/gas mark 9 – it could take anything from 2 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the sardines and how fast your oven tends to be – they’re ready when the skin crinkles and the flesh can be pulled away from the spine reasonably easily.

Stevie Parle is a new and erudite young talent with a blistering pedigree. Aged

just 24, he has already worked at the River Café with Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, for Skye Gyngell at the renowned Petersham Nurseries and at the landmark Moro with Sam and Sam Clark. When he set up his pop-up Moveable Restaurant with the River Café head chef last year, fashion leaders clamoured to join Stevie’s twice-monthly word-of-mouth supper clubs, one of which was hosted by Nigella Lawson. Now, Stevie cooks at The Dock Kitchen in Portobello Docks, where he continues the highly successful supper club tradition.

Stevie has lived in Tokyo, while cooking at the famous Salt restaurant, and in New York and Sri Lanka, as well as bussed, biked, walked and boated all around India, Ireland, Morocco, Italy and south east Asia, picking up recipes, magpie-like, wherever he goes. Naturally, the London Evening Standard has named Stevie and his pop-up restaurant partner as the capital’s hottest young chefs.

Stevie lives with his wife on a red barge, the Avontuur, moored at Hammersmith in west London. They keep a pontoon allotment and a dry land plot, and growing fruit and vegetables has become another of Stevie’s passions.

This, his first book, is the greatest hits collection of Stevie’s life in food so far, gleaned from around the world. It is a charming mixture of Stevie’s wonderful recipes, anecdotes and tales from the boat. Divided into 12 chapters for the months of the year, the dishes are based around seasonal bounty, occasions from the chef ’s life, and Stevie’s global inspirations. As well as showing readers how to make British classics, such as a chopped egg sauce for asparagus, Stevie is an expert on exotic dishes such as Kampot pepper crab from Cambodia, using wonderful Dorset crabs, and can also teach sophisticated European favourites such as artichokes in the Roman style.

Within each chapter, Stevie gives a masterclass about a single foodstuff, with the aim of teaching readers how to cook better by watching subtle changes in the pan and paying attention to the life cycles of fresh produce. If you thought you knew garlic and how to cook it, for instance, Stevie may well show you there is more to learn.

The book is beautifully illustrated by Ros Spiers, whose lightness of touch combined with a botanical exactness renders foods perfectly on the page with their character intact. There are also scattered photographs by Stevie himself, of his dishes and travels. An unique cook book from a stunning young talent.

NEW VOICES IN FOOD

my kitchen ÂŁ14.99 Paperback with flaps 978 1 84400 849 0 192 pp 229 x 164mm 20,000 words including more than 120 recipes 40 illustrations Publication July 2010 Quadrille Publishing Limited 27-31 Charing Cross Road London WC2H 0LS www.quadrille.co.uk Illustrations by Ros Shiers Photography by Stevie Parle

real food from near and far Stevie Parle