Autumn Days at Shacklewell Nights

With a definite change in the season's Shacklewell Nights presented an autumnal menu of

Roast Parsnip Soup with Colton Basset and Roasted Walnuts

Confit of Rabbit Leg with Butterbeans, Rocket and Red Onion

Discovery Apple Jelly with Spiced Mascapone Cream 

Neal Yards Cheese Plate, Biscuits and Hackney Chutney

The next weekend of Shacklewell Nights will be on the 19th and 20th November 2010. For further details and booking 

info@shacklewellnights.com

www.shacklewellnights.com

@Shacklewel1

 

Many thanks to all who were involved, attended and supported us  A special thanks  to Miguel from Casa Leal, Nick from The Drapers Arms, Henry from Leon,  Auchentoshan, and Paddy from Neal Yard’s Dairy.

Images used by permission from www.snapshotlondon.co.uk

The House Made of Tin

I feel slightly guilty, its been an age since I updated the blog with my adventures of cooking and eating. I know that its no excuse but it seems that my summer of fun came slightly later than everyone else's this year. After the success of the first Shacklewell Nights at the end of July, its been a whirlwind of cooking for other people in weird and wonderful locations for the past couple of months. I have also moved into a new flat, which unfortunately doesn't have enough room to hold a supper club and if truth been known, I have been slightly put off cooking due to the acrid color of the walls in the kitchen. The mustardy yellow color is not the most beneficial color to be productive, whether your feeling slightly fuzzy headed or not.

There have been a number if highlights since I fully got into the swing of summer in mid August, but the main highlight was running a pop up bed and breakfast of sorts for friends who were staying  in a converted tin tabernacle in the Isle of Wight in the run up to Bestival at the beginning of September.

Our stay in the converted former 19th Century Mission Hall was a delight from  start to finish. It was easy to forget that  I was in fact there to provide a service for people who were staying at the converted chapel. The beautiful tin structure held even more surprises inside, Vintage Vacations had decorated and styled the interior as a homage to all things vintage and kitsch. The kitchen itself was kitted out in a fully restored 1950's  'English Rose' kitchen. I was in my element, it felt as if you had just been transported straight in to a scene of Mad Men, just without Don Draper being there unfortunately.

Staying at the Mission really was a  week full of  communal breakfasts of Granola, yogurt and Stewed apples from the apple tree in the garden of the Mission or slow roasted tomato's on sourdough, perfect preparation for a hard day's work at the festival site. Once guests returned from the site, there were big pans of chilli, stews and plenty of home baked cakes, waiting for them to recharge their batteries. It was a hectic week of people wandering round with phones glued to their ears. The kitchen table turned into a hub of communication, at one point sitting 10 people their laptops and shouting down their phones, but thankfully once they left to go onto site I had the chance to soak up the atmosphere of the tin house on my own, reading books,listening to Radio 4,drinking tea, baking cakes and day dreaming of Don Draper to my hearts content. 

Images used from www.vintagevacations.co.uk

Feastival

For all those that are off to one of the last festivals of the year  - Bestival on the Isle of Wight.


Keep your ears open and your radio's tuned at 87.7 FM, as Green Onions will be currating Feastival, two radio shows  on Bestival Radio  on Saturday and Sunday afternoon at 1pm.

Hidden Dining

 

So we did it, our first evening of Hidden Dining at Shacklewell Nights. We couldn't of wished for anything better. Many thanks to all who were involved, attended and supported us in our new endeavours.

info@shacklewellnights.com

www.shacklewellnights.com

@Shacklewel1

Images used by permission from Betty Bhandari

Hobo Supper III

 

After the recent rounds of  friends sofa's and spare rooms  for the past week, I have thankfully got a whole house to my self for a week. I was lucky enough to have a house lent to me for a week whilst some friends took their kids on holiday. Their house is one of those houses which I would love to own when I grow up (even though I think I am actually grown up, but more than likely will never own a house, never mind one as amazing as my friends), a beautiful family home in the midst of Hackney full of gorgeous handcrafted objects and decorated internally in a homely yet modern fashion. The main delight of the house though is the large expansive garden out the back, which my friends have turned into a large veggie plot, providing them with all the fresh veg, fruit and herbs that anyone could dream of. 

When I moved in there was a note on the table telling me where the freshly washed sheets were and to make myself at home, but to make sure that I watered the garden every day. In return for watering the garden I could eat any of their produce which was ready to eat - I literally skipped out in to the garden and went to see what was ready and what I could cook and eat for supper that evening. After an initial look around there seemed to be nothing available, but after a closer inspection I spotted a lone courgette peaking out from underneath some leaves. One courgette was enough to produce a plate of supper of some kind surely, having doubts I then remembered a dish that me and a  dinner companion ate a few weeks earlier at St John Bread and Wine , I quickley sprang into action. Well not so much sprang into action, but a slow amble to the local shop to get some more ingredients to go with the courgette.

Courgette, White Bean and Goats Curd

1 x Courgette sliced

1 x Brown Onion finely diced

1 x Clove of garlic

1 x tin of Cannelloni Beans (can use any white beans for this dish including butter beans and haricot beans)

Goats Curd or Soft Goats Cheese  

Veg stock

Fresh Thyme 

Fresh Parsley 

Maldon and Black Pepper

1. Sweat  brown onion and garlic in a pan with a knob of butter and olive oil.

2. Add chopped leaves off a few stalks of Thyme

3. Add sliced courgette and sweat off for a few more moments 

4. Add the rinsed Cannelloni beans, stir and season

5. Add a drop of veg stock to braise the veg and the beans for a few more minutes

6. Once courgettes and beans have braised for about five minutes add some chopped parsley

7. Place the bean and courgette mix onto a plate and then top with Goats Curd or Soft Goats cheese (which more readily available).

Hobo Suppers II

I had a pretty full on week last week. The stress of moving, sofa surfing around the leafy streets of Hackney and of the day job, had pretty much left me an emotional wreck by the time 6pm came round on Friday afternoon. Normally I'm bouncing out of the door, eager for the weekend to properly start. This week was a different story, I just wanted a quiet night in watching a movie and eating good home cooked food. Thankfully a quick phone call to the Brummie, whose house I have been staying at recently, I discovered he was feeling pretty much the same about spending the evening eating, drinking beer and watching a rubbish film to forget the arduous week. I must admit that I had been itching to get back into a kitchen and actually cook a full meal from scratch. Its all well and good eating out or having dinner at friends houses, but I do miss the cathartic and soothing process of the preparation of ingredients and cooking the dishes.

On the train back to  the leafy salubrious surroundings of Cannonbury (far grander than the dizzy heights of Upper Clapton, that's for sure, no burnt out cars for a start !), in a bid to cheer both me and Brummie up I decided that Mexican food and beer would be the only thing that would save the last remnants of what had been somewhat of a 'carcrash' week for both of us.

Most Mexican food I find when you go out to eat are full of melted cheese and covered in tomato salsa and sour cream. I have found that the only place that serves good fresh flavoured food is Thomasina Miers's Wahaca

it serves the best quesadilla's filled with Broad Beans and Feta. I was desperate to try and recreate these, but my copy of Miers book Mexican Food Made Simple is packed away in a box which is stored some where in Hackney. So I free styled the evening, but I have a nagging feeling that I may have spied this on someone else's blog and can't really remember where.

Cucumber, Mango and Mint Salsa 

Serves 2 - 3 

Ingredients

1 x Cucumber. seeded and finely diced

1 x Mango, finely diced

1/2 x Red Onion, finely diced

8 x Mint Leaves, chopped

Freshly ground black pepper

Olive Oil

 

1. Mix cucumber, mango and red onion in a dish 

2, Mix well and season with mint, black pepper and olive oil

3. Leave for around 15 minutes at room temperature and then serve

I found it best to leave the salsa to sit for a few minutes so that the flavours started to combine, but could be served straight away. I also felt that using salt wouldn't really benefit the dish as it would draw water out of the cucumber and not compliment the mango, where as the pepper did.
This salsa was a refreshing alternative to the normal tomato variety. With the abundance of cucumbers and mint at the moment, it was great to combine them to make this side accompaniment which cooled the heat of the fresh chillis in the quesadilla's.

Hobo Suppers

So I moved out of the first flat  I have ever lived in on my own, after 15 months. Its been a pretty eventful 15 months full of adventure, discovery and learning in every way imaginable. When I moved in to the flat last year, I didn't expect that I would have been cooking for over a thousand people eating in my front room. I also didn't expect to rediscover a passion for cooking, eating and providing great environments for people to partake in these joyous activities. So moving out Saturday I did feel slightly down hearted, but armed with lessons learnt, a new confidence and a belief in the future and for all the new opportunities that the future will bring, I strided off to a Toots and the Maytels gig with a smile on my face once the moving was over.


I now find myself, some what semi homeless at the moment and seem to be doing the sofa surfing rounds in 'Ackney. Sofa surfing isn't as bad as what it was when I was in my twenties. Most of my friends now have all the mod cons - great kitchens, spare bedrooms and most of all, eat good food. Thankfully no takeaways, no sleeping amongst beer cans and fag butts and of course no sleeping on air mattresses in corners of  friends bedrooms.


The up shot of all this sofa surfing is that I have had my first commute in nearly five years ( I may live and work in London , but haven't had to take public transport to work as have lived with in a twenty minute walk to walk). The commute home was made a whole lot enjoyable, as I was able to stop off at my favourite fruit and veg shop  and a new Italian trattoria and deli in Newington Green where I picked up some provisions.


After a hard weekend and tiring Monday at work, I found myself alone at a friends flat and preparing dinner for myself and looking forward to reading the new Observer Food Monthly.


Insalata Newington Green
Serves 1 - 2


Ingredients
Mixture of ripe tomato's
1 Ball of Buffala Mozzarella
3 slices of Parma Ham 
15 Basil leaves
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Black Pepper

1. Slice tomato's thinly
2. Slice Mozzarella
3. Tear Parma ham over the tomato's and Mozzarella
4. Arrange on plate
5. Season with black pepper, torn Basil leaves and olive oil.


Obviously I felt a bit weird making this and then sitting down to find Nigel Slater's recipe for Insalata Caprese in the Food Monthly. Its true what God like Mr Slater said in his article, this dish is truly at it best when the ingredients are at their best and most ripest. The whole dish is about the fresh tasting tomato's and cheese and the olive oil shouldn't hamper the fresh taste of tomato's and cheese, whilst the flavour of the pepper and basil do the offsetting instead of the oil. The inclusion of the Parma Ham gives a nice salty undertone which complements the salad as well. All in all a refreshing, comforting summer dish which somewhat revived a very tired and emotional homeless lady on a Monday night.