Afro's

Just finished a job making Afro inspired lino cuts to be used for T-shirts. Perfect job.

Potato's Lyonnaise

Last week at The People's Kitchen i tried out an updated potato's Lyonnaise recipe. We had a whole load of leeks as well as potato's and onions so i layered the potato's, caramelised onion and buttered leeks in a roasting dish and topped with breadcrumbs and gruyere cheese.

Ingredients

5 large onions sliced thinly

10 medium potato's

3 leeks cleaned and chopped

fresh thyme

butter

gruyere cheese

 couple handfuls of breadcrumbs

Balsamic vinegar

Bouillon vegetable stock

Directions

*1*

Begin by caramelising the onions. Heat enough olive oil to coat the onions in a heavy based pan. Add the onions and a pinch of salt, turn down the temperature and saute slowly on the hob for around 20-25 minutes until soft and sweet. When soft add a glug of balsamic vinegar and a pinch of sugar, allow the vinegar to cook off then take off the heat.

*2*

Now soften the leeks. Add the chopped leeks to foaming butter and cook on a medium heat until soft. Add the picked thyme and a squeeze of lemon when done.

*3*

Cut the potato's into thirds and layer with the caramelised onion and leek (one layer potato then onion then potatio, onion, potato, leek). Pour over vegetable stock (enough to come one thumb tip away from the top. Finish off with the breadcrumbs and cheese and bake for 40 minutes at 180 degrees.

PK recipes

I've promised some recipe's from The People's Kitchen, so here goes....

Sautéed Cabbage and Chestnut 

If i'm brutally honest i'm not a fan of green cabbage, my heart sinks a little everytime it arrives in my kitchen. Most recipe's using cabbage smother it in cream, butter and bacon masking its woody texture and irony flavour. For the first time i've made a cabbage recipe that i can recommend.

Ingredients

1 cabbage

1 pack of cooked chestnuts

large knob of butter

1 carrot

3 chopped garlic cloves

500mls vegetable stock

slosh of sherry vinegar

a few juniper berries

Directions

*1*

Chop the cabbage up into small 1 inch strips and dice the carrot and chesnut. Heat the butter in a non stick frying pan until foaming and add the cabbage, carrot and garlic. 

*2*

Add the crushed juniper berries and continue to saute the cabbage for 5-10 mins. Now slowly add the vegetable stock. Add the chestnut and allow the cabbage to simmer in the stock until most of the liquid has been reduced. Finish off with the vinegar and some black pepper. Serve with a potato dish.

Banoffee Upside down cake

Just finished a pop up event at the Barking Bathhouse. The bathhouse is a stunning scandinavian style sauna and bathing centre with spaces for art and food workshops. We cooked a meal using surplus foods collected from local groceries and supermarkets. One of the favourites was a Banoffee upside down cake. We had too many bananas for a banana bread (it would be too moist and we didn't have enough eggs to hold it together. So I made a banana upside down cake. The banana's were beautiful with a caramel and the cake was light and not heavy under the weight of banana much.

Caramel

Caster sugar

Golden syrup

Pinch of dark Muscovado Sugar

Knob of butter

Cream (room temperature)

Heat 3mm deep of caster sugar in a heavy based saucepan until golden brown. Swirl the pan (do not stir). Add the golden syrup and muscovado sugar and turn the heat down/off. Add the butter and stir, the liquid should bubble, then stir in the cream and take off the heat. If your feeling decadent add some rum at the end. 

Banana 

5 of 6 ripe banana's

zest of half a lemon

pinch of ground ginger

Slice the banana into 3 cm cylinders, add the ginger and zest and layer in a baking dish lined with greaseproof paper and the caramel ontop of the paper. 

Cake mix

Sugar

sunflower oil 

3 eggs

self raising flour

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp cinnamon

Beat the sugar and oil together (add less sugar if the banana's are v. ripe). Add the vanilla and eggs and mix well. Sift in the flour ant pour the mixture over the banana's. Bake for around 35 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade until a knife comes out clean.

Barking Bathhouse with the People's Kitchen

Menu

Smoked pepper and tomato ratatouille 

Glazed plaintain ( mollases sugar, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, cumin)

Roasted Sweet potato's (with cumin, paprika and tumeric)

Lentil stew

Apple and cider crumble

Plum, blackberry and red wine crumble

Green Salad

Banoffee upside down cake