How to be savvy shopper and a clever cook

The Big Treat is almost upon us and I am really looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible.

http://blog.mindapples.org/2010/07/10/big-treat-line-up-announced/

SavvyCook is all set: we finally managed to source a kitchen cupboard and found this fabulous, 1950’s piece which I think will look great.

Here’s a pre-view for those of you who are planning to come to the The Big Treat, or  after the event …

for readers who’ve been “shopping MOTed by SavvyCook, the Gok Wan of the kitchen cupboard” .

Here are some helpful hints and lists as well a handful of delicious & easy recipes to get you started. The idea behind the shopping MOT is

to empower you to cook more and to show you how to make cooking as fuss-free and enjoyable as possible.

Which is entirely possible if you have a well stocked kitchen cupboard! Think of it as your basic cooking wardrobe, with fresh, seasonal ingredients as the dynamic accessories that provide colour and texture.

All recipes serve 2

Cooking from the cupboard

How to be a savvy shopper

Recipes for quick, easy & delicious meals

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

Best,

Monique

End of week 1 of my “LookLocal” challenge

I’d be lying if I said that this has been an easy week for my “LookLocal” challenge.

Not only has it been a very busy week, but restricting myself to local, independent retailers and paying particular attention to the provenance of the food I buy has not been easy.    

Usually, our family shopping is done like this:    

we have a list on the go, broken down into sections (fruit + veg, dry goods, wine etc.)    

one of us will do a staple supermarket shop once or twice a week, stocking up on cleaning products, laundry detergents, pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, bananas etc. You get my drift.    

If we are not eating a Savvy meal, then meat and fish I tend to buy from the butcher and fishmonger as and when I need it. Buying meat up to 3 days in advance is fine, provided you store it correctly. Fish and seafood needs to ideally be bought and eaten the same or the next day.    

We’re lucky that there is a good fishmonger, butcher, fruit + veg shop and bakery not far from where we live: but it’s still a 5-10 drive in the car + finding car parking, so I tend to do this not more than once or twice a week and combine this with doing something else in the area.    

We also have several delis, a cheese shop and wine merchants within a short driving distance.    

A farmers’ market is held once a month within walking distance, so this does not really count much towards our weekly food shopping beyond once a month being able to pick up some special goodies or fresh food which will eaten in the days that follow.    

So, on top of the supermarket staples shop + one or two trips to the fishmonger/butcher/baker one of us will do another quick shop during the week, mainly for fruit and vegetables.    

Once a month, I like to venture out to specialist (ethnic) shops and stock up on speciality ingredients, such as pickled lemons,  spices and Asian groceries. This actually is the kind of shopping that I enjoy most, and going into some of these shops feels like a mini holiday.    

Salvino in Kentish Town

 

Seeing it written down like this, it looks like we spend a big part of life gathering food!     

So, this brings me to the lure of the supermarket which is convenience, without a doubt. And a trip to Waitrose is actually a nice experience!    

The things that stick out in my mind most from the first week of “looklocal” is that shopping this way does require a certain amount of planning and cooking confidence (because shopping this way is less predictable than working your way down the list in the supermarket) and yes, it does take more time.    

It is also a lot easier I think in the countryside; having spent the previous weekend in North Yorkshire, I noticed lots of signs for farm gate sales (eggs, soft fruit, potatoes) and farms shops are more numerous and more accessible both in terms of range of produce and how easy it is to get to them.    

From the back of the van

 

On the flip side, shopping this way is more of a pleasure, you chat to other shoppers and the sales staff (I do anyway) and probably end up being a bit more adventurous about what you buy. Also, you come home with a lot less packaging, which is a good thing for the planet.    

Yesterday, I met fashion writer turned food blogger Karen Homer (appropriately at Borough Market) to discuss the “LookLocal” challenge which Karen has taken on.    

Check out Karen’s well written blog  www.acookslibrary.com  where she talks about her experience of and personal take on shopping, cooking for and feeding a family and about what she eats and why. You can also follow Karen on Twitter @acookslibrary.    

Next week, I’ll tell you what I have found out in terms of provenance and pricing.    

Can you assume that independent retailers automatically stock local or British produce?    

What about price? Is it more expensive to shop this way and if the answer is yes, how much more?    

And, is it possible to eat fresh, good quality food everyday?    

I think it is … and later this  month I will share with you my approach to kitchen keeping. What to buy and when, clever recycling of left-overs, what to keep in your store cupboard and finding economical ways of buying good quality ingredients.    

By then, The Big Treat which takes place on 16 & 17 July will be behind us and I will have talked “shopping MOT with SavvyCook, the Gok Wan of the kitchen cupboard” with hundreds of visitors.    

http://mindapples.org/thebigtreat/    

Pop along next week to our urban pop-up  health farm in the middle of London, it would be nice to see you!    

And wish me luck … as I write I have yet to find a suitable kitchen cupboard/larder unit like the one below.    

I want one like this!

 

Happy shopping, best    

Monique

Samphire: love it or loath it?

Samphire is one of those foods that is a real treat to most food lovers, but totally alien to others.

It looks like green coral, I suppose, and can be found on the seashore and marshes around the coast.

It is a wild vegetable and free!

The revival of  the fish trade around the Kent/Sussex coast supplying restaurant kitchens + High Street fishmongers in London has led to samphire enjoying a mini renaissance.

Samphire was very popular in Victorian times and the plants were boiled or pickled.

It’s quite difficult to describe samphire’s taste: I’d say it is a bit like like spinach crossed with a taste of the sea. The texture is pleasingly crunchy.

Expect to pay around £10 per kilo.

I used 500g of samphire last night as a side vegetable dish for 3 (quite greedy) eaters, but a little would go a long way if you use samphire as an ingredient in a recipe.

Just wash in cold water and remove any discoloured and woody stalks.

Then blanch briefly in boiling water, drain and serve.

I added a small knob of delicious beurre d’Isigny and plenty of freshly ground pepper; you’ll probably find you won’t need to add salt as samphire has a naturally slightly salty taste.

Blanched samphire would also work a treat in a salad with fresh crab or smoked trout, fresh peas, peashoots + a mustardy dressing.

Or try adding it to a nice piece of  fish cooked “en papillotte” with a few cockles, white wine + butter.

I am interested in your samphire recipes and, if you are new to samphire, what you think of it.

Love it or loathe it?

Also, I am keen to make the most of the plentiful supply of elderflowers at the moment and I am looking for recipes other than the ubiquitous cordial and sorbet.

So do get in touch – I look forward to receiving your comments.

Happy days of summer!

Monique

Identita Golose chefs’ congress

Gennaro Esposito preparing linguine with eel

 

I realise this post is rather late , a week after the event took place at Vinopolis on the South Bank and days after the more dedicated (or should that be organised) food bloggers wrote about their experience. 

Apologies for the “so-so” pics: the event attracted its fair share of professional food bloggers, all poised with their cameras to capture everything and everyone. 

… and to be honest with you, I just felt a little embarrassed about whipping out my camera all the time preferring instead to look, talk and remember. 

Identita London is the only venture outside Italy of the internationally renowned Identita Golose www.identitagolose.it , Milan, which has become one of the world’s leading gastronomic events where globally acclaimed chefs meet to present and exchange ideas. 

The focus of the 2010 event was themed around The luxury of simplicity, which is about chefs being inspired by ingredients and their seasonality. 

Beyond this, the event is an ambassadorial platform to promote Italy + Italian cuisine and to counter its common association with pasta and pizza. 

So, with true Italian styly + flair, Vinopolis’ Great Halls where decked out in minimalist white + oxblood red, glamorous assistants dressed in black, clear perspex Philip Starck “Ghost” chairs and moody lighting. 

The event was presented by Paolo Marchi, one of Italy’s most respected and renowed food journalists and columnists and founder of Identita Golose in 2004. 

His c0-presenter was Tom Parker-Bowles, foodie, journalist and son of. 

If I had any criticsm of Paolo and Tom it would be that they were so focussed on (eating!) the food being prepared, that there was very little interaction with the audience and little or no space for time and questions. 

The event was supported by Grana Padano, San Pellegrino, Lavazza and Pasticio Dei Campi amongst many others, offering tastings of gourmet gelato, San Daniele ham, top wines and olive oils. 

 

Antica Corte Pallavicina offered delicious cold meats from the Nera Parmigiana native pig breed: the best salamis I have ever tasted, soft, butter almost and a world away from the pre-sliced packaged variety.  

The salami above (long sausage shape) is cured for only 15 days. 

The chef’s demos I enjoyed most were by Ashley Palmer Watts (who talked about dishes with a historical context for his menu at the soon to open restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental) , Massimo Bottura, Gennaro Esposito (the science behind preparing pasta) and Davide Scabin. 

Those of you who know me are aware that I believe that you are what you eat and try to balance nutrition with taste, but the one demo that bored me was by Heinz Beck who I felt made healthy eating dull. 

The dish he created with quinoa + herbs (“to give you emotion”) with a “cheese bouillon” amongst many other worthy ingredients, I thought looked really messy and unappetising on the plate. 

Sorry Heinz, no offence meant but your approach does not float my boat! 

There was a goodie bag for every delegate and one of my favourite gifts of the year so far is Grana Padano’s bright yellow brolly. 

Pity I have had to use it a bit too often recently.

Ban the Supermarket Challenge

Ban the Supermarket Challenge

Join me and avoid buying fresh foods from the big 4 for one  month!

This is why you should:

It’s about

• supporting local retailers, making shopping much more of a family and community experience
• re-connecting with local producers of good honest food, paying attention to the massive influx of imports and avoiding them
• forcing us all to really consider the broader farming issues behind our previously all-too-easily purchased products
• raising awareness of the need to collectively ‘do our bit’ for the country’s ‘carbon footprint’

 And … it is about stripping away the convenience, ease (and let’s be honest, the laziness) of food-shopping.

Come on, you know it makes sense and it with longer, warmer days and an abundance of fresh fruit + veg around it won’t be as difficult as you may think.

I’ll be charting our family’s progress here and share my experience and tips on how to make shopping locally easier.

Here’s to looking local!

Monique

Gourmet gems & expert tuition

Savvy Cook’s “Learn to Love your Kitchen” workshops got a mention in the March issue of Living Magazine!

Review of Savvy Cook's "Learn to Love your Kitchen"

Check out the website for more “gourmet gems” from Sudi Pigott

www.sw.greatbritishlife.co.uk

Although workshops have a central theme (that, with a little knowledge, imagination and planning, eating well can be easy+  delicious), classes are bespoke and as much about instilling confidence as spending an enjoyable couple of hours with friends whilst learning something new.

Get in touch to find out more

info@savvycook.co.uk

Best,

Monique

Women’s Food & Farming Union

The WFU has formed a new branch strategically orientated close to the political and media centres of power in London!

In a ceremony held on Friday at the Farmers Club near Whitehall, Lady Sara Apsley was appointed as the official London Branch spokeswoman. 

Speaking to a large audience at the branch’s inaugural meeting, Lady Apsley, herself an already credited and nationally-famed campaigner for farming issues, rallied the crowd by saying that, “While the work on the ground and in the countryside is being completed on a day to day basis by our dedicated farmers, it is our duty as women to get behind them and enliven a nation. To truly speak for Britain and it’s food production, and to get the job done of converting consumers into a healthier and more patriotic way of life, which includes food shopping, as well as appreciating the countryside and it’s issues.” 

The WFU was formed more than thirty years ago, when a group of feisty women joined forces to prevent the British apple market from being decimated by foreign imports. “We fought back in order to protect our local farmers and producers,” said Teresa Wickham, one of the original WFU founders present at the launch.  “And we’re still fighting today,” said Wickham in her speech. “The WFU is the key organisation of women actively working to link the producer and consumer, a distinction that has allowed us to build up a special rapport with shoppers and household decision-makers. Publicly as a national entity and privately as women we are dedicated to engaging UK consumers, families, the media and the government and about food and farming issues.” 

In her enlivening tribute to the WFU’s steadfast legacy of active campaigning, Lady Apsley rallied the audience to,”Show your support for our farmers and for those in the countryside.”  In further raising the call with the London branch’s newly enlisted members she vigourously added, “Now, let’s get out there and start upsetting the apple carts!” 

Sarah Chase, Head of PR and Marketing for RURAL TV who along with original WFU founders Teresa Wickham and Elizabeth Browning, first conceived the idea of a London Branch commented, “Many of us in London, myself included, find that we are in an age and an area of disassociation.  While many of us here have ‘country’ backgrounds we see all around us children, women, men and whole families who carry tragic misconceptions about what it means to be rural, to live in the country and to be involved in the farming community.” 

Teresa Wickham added, “The WFU sees London as a strategic move into an urban environment, which has the advantage of being a place of both public and political interest.” 

When asked to explain the goals of the branch, Sarah Chase stated,”In London, this branch can effectively work to inspire our nation to support our farmers, to help consumers, politicians and the media understand where their food comes from, to examine the broader issues and policies that drive production and to each do our own part as individuals to look local for our food and to live more conscientious, healthier and ultimately more sustainable lives.”

What’s so good about butter?

Apart from the fact that good butter is delicious, research has shown that eating a little butter also has plenty of health benefits.

I eat a little butter most days: melted on vegetables and I use it in soups + when I make risotto.

What’s so good about butter?

Butter may contain saturated fat, but it has plenty of natural goodness.

Research (see notes) reveals that butter made from cows’ milk contains unique acids that protect the body against viral illness, fight tumours and guard the gut from pathogenic bacteria and the negative effects of microbes and yeasts.

Butter is also rich in vitamins A and D, which help the absorption of calcium, benefiting bones and teeth.

Surely butter is fattening?

Not necessarily. Evidence is emerging that eating a little butter helps with weight loss.

The short- and medium-chain fatty acids (such as butyric and lauric acid) contained in butter are used rapidly for energy; faster than those in other oils, including olive oil.

This means that the same calories from butter are more rapidly burned than those in long-chain fatty acids as found in corn or olive oil. The medium-chain lauric acid in butter actually raises metabolism.

Butter & Weight Gain

The notion that butter causes weight gain is a sad misconception. The short and medium chain fatty acids in butter are not stored in the adipose tissue, but are used for quick energy. Fat tissue in humans is composed mainly of longer chain fatty acids. These come from olive oil and polyunsaturated oils as well as from refined carbohydrates.

Because butter is rich in nutrients, it confers a feeling of satisfaction when consumed. Can it be that consumption of margarine and other butter substitutes results in cravings and bingeing because these highly fabricated products don’t give the body what it needs?

Notes:

Dr Mary G Enig, a US-based nutritional scientist and biochemist has studied fats for more than 30 years

Levels of linoleic acid in adipose tissues reflect the amount of linoleic acid in the diet. Valero, et al Annals of Nutritional Metabolism, Nov/Dec 1990 34:6:323-327; Felton, CV et al, Lancet 1994 344:1195-96