writing, ideas, food, utopia
I've managed to resist disturbing my yolks for almost a week. It's definitely time to see what they've been up to. Left undisturbed for a respectable interval the salt and sugar mix has set much more firmly - as hard as a rock in some places. I dug the yolks out quite cautiously, with the… Continue reading Cured egg yolk – day 10
I love it when the nieces come to visit. There's always an adventure. This time, soon-to-be-sommelier niece arrived with delicious burgundy and pretty French macarons. Once the burgundy was drunk, we fell to musing on the macaron - or macaroon, as the box would have it. For a family of pedants that extra 'o' was… Continue reading Unlikely things to do with a potato: Scottish macaroons
I love shortbread. It’s plain simplicity makes it so much more delicious than other more complicated biscuits, and although it is easy to make it requires a lightness of touch that introduces a little skill into the process – just enough to make it satisfying. The ‘short’ in the name refers to the expected texture… Continue reading Fäviken shortbread
I was so excited by last night's autumn leaf broth that I needed to taste more - thank goodness I'd not used all the leaves in the first experiment! Even better, just a few pages on in the same book was another recipe with leaves at its heart: 'Vegetables cooked with autumn leaves' (p 194).… Continue reading The glory of cooking with autumn leaves – part 2
I'm still working through the Fäviken cookbook, and armed with the weekend's forage of autumn leaves in various stages of maturity tonight seemed like a good moment to try the 'Broth of autumn leaves' (p190). I wasn't convinced that I had exactly the right moss (or the perfect leaves), but I was confident that they were… Continue reading The glory of cooking with autumn leaves – part 1
I love that fact that these yolks are so forgiving of my daily interference. Most things I've ever decided to steep, cure or macerate have needed to go into a permanently sealed container and rest in the darkness of a cool cupboard, quiet and undisturbed, until I've almost forgotten about them. It is so much… Continue reading Cured egg yolk – day 3
Yesterday I started curing some egg yolks, in preparation for a recipe in Magnus Nilsson's Fäviken cookbook. I can't resist checking them to see how they are progressing, and today there is already a change! The yolks are visibly firmer, more intensely orange, and starting to hold a more solid shape. I ruffle up the dampened… Continue reading Cured egg yolk – day 2
I’ve been asked to write a review of Magnus Nilsson’s spectacular Fäviken cookbook for PPC. Based as it is on his intense relationship with local produce, landscape, and year-round foraging and preservation techniques Nilsson’s cuisine and ingredient list is highly specific to the region on the border between Sweden and Norway. So, in many ways, this… Continue reading Winter foraging, Fäviken-style
Salted anchovies have been a recent joy in my winter salad dressings. Chopped or mashed - depending on how soft they are - and mixed simply with good olive oil and white wine vinegar (or more robustly with a little dijon mustard, and red wine or walnut vinegar), this is a regal dressing for any… Continue reading Salted anchovies
Nasturtiums are one of those fantastic plants that combine ease of growth with good looks. Their big tough seeds always come up and the plants seem to survive whatever you or the weather might throw at them. I plant trailing nasturtium seeds around the edges of the pots on my small London terrace every year,… Continue reading Capering around with nasturtium seeds
Jane Levi 