Confit of Salmon

Forget about everything this salmon comes with - forget the sauce, the crunch, the courgette, those are mediocre at best, I want you to focus on that piece of salmon.  It melts like butter in your mouth.

Three years ago at a restaurant I had a piece of salmon poached in duck fat and it blew my mind away.  I think it also came with some fancy garnishes like lobster foam, duck yolk raviolo and other bits and blobs but those were not memorable.  It was the salmon, the taste of it lingered on for days as its texture was simply sublime.

Best Eats This Week: Bun Bo Hue (Salvation in Noodles, London)

A pho is like a warm hug - it's reassuring comfort food on a cold day and a hungover morning.  With its mellow flavors, its aromatic broth, it is as soothing and curative as food can get.  It is the noodle dish we think of when we think of Vietnamese cuisine.  This weekend, on a particularly sunny and hot afternoon, I was introduced to Bun bo Hue at Salvation in Noodles and it was the complete opposite.  It wasn't delicate or gentle or calming, it was a bowl of full-blown excitement.

White Chocolate and Cardamom Mousse Cake

Okay I kind of cheated a little.  I needed to test out a recipe, just the mousse, and I was too lazy, so the sponge is store-bought *gasp*

I am in search of a new hobby.  I'm thinking something artsy, like oil painting or pottery.  School's been stressful and I come home with the life drained out of me.  I am physically and emotionally parched.  I'm tired, I'm lost, I'm sad, and time's ticking away and I desperately need a new therapeutic activity to restore some joy (cooking's long gone -- this was just so I could test a recipe for my exam dish at school).

Mirza Ghasemi (Persian Aubergine, Tomato & Egg)

Sunday afternoon I spent dogsitting.  It was sunny, we went to the park, we played in the terrace, we napped on the sofa - everyone needs some dog therapy.  It was such an uplifting day where I allowed myself to do absolutely nothing.  I had brought my laptop with the intention of doing some work but I just went 5 hours straight without doing anything.  I was at my friend's place who lives with three chefs and thus the house has an impressive cookbook collection.  That's where I found this recipe. Yea, 5 hours of sitting in the sun, playing with the dogs and reading cookbooks - more Sundays should be like that.

Sweetcorn and Spring Onion Fritters

Oh move over achromatic root vegetables and cabbage, it's time for some color on your plate.  With blinding sunlight, I say, instead of greens, you need warm colors.  Yellows, reds, oranges, adjust your diet accordingly.  Think about getting some of those beautiful yellow squash, some scarlet tomatoes, and putting some bright citrus wedges into your salads.

Sunflower & Pumpkin Seed Cookies

 They're just simple cookies, with the texture akin to biscotti, crunchy and satisfying with nutty notes coming from the seeds.  I needed to make something simple.   After two days of making an entremet that consisted of a white chocolate and cardamom mousse, a sesame sponge, a lime sable base, a mango and lime gel insert, and then a white chocolate glacage, altogether topped up with tuile and chocolate garnishes - I just wanted to do something simple at home.

Summer Corn Salad

I remember as a child, the best thing about a mixed salad was the kernels sweetcorn that laced through the lettuce leaves and tomato slices. I remember the Pizza Hut salad bars, and how I'd get scoops and scoops of sweetcorn.  Then there are also the ears of hot steaming sweetcorn in the winter sold on the streets for literally pennies.  I've always liked sweetcorn.