I love sobrassada. The first thing I ate on my very first visit to Barcelona was a toasted sobrassada sandwich and I fell in love with the spicy paste. This Mallorcan treat is a cured raw pork sausage that is soft and spreadable and flavoured with plenty of paprika. In Barcelona, you can find it plain, baked into pastries, cooked into dishes, and of course, as a sandwich filling; I’m sure I’ve left out lots of other things to do with this wonderful spread. Luckily, it is available here in London but you have to search for it. I buy mine at R Garcia and Sons on Portobello Road; actually, I purchase most of my Spanish goods there.
It’s sold in two forms in the shops. The first is stuffed into an intestine skin, looking like a giant red sausage (pictured below). You’d usually buy thick slices of it, throw away the outside skin and eat the insides. The second form is just the cured pork meat in a small plastic tub. There’s nothing wrong with this – I’ve had excellent versions. The main thing you want to look out for is that it’s sobrassada de Mallorca.
The next step on the sobrassada sandwich scale was an introduction to a hot sobrassada and cheese sandwich a couple years ago. I was introduced to Forn Mistral by another friend now living in Barcelona, a great bakery/cafe near the Universitat metro stop. It’s a great place to stop in for a treat and what I chose that day was a this thin little flute filled with sobrassada and cheese. Absolutely delicious.
This past trip, at a tapas bar with Blai and his brother, we shared a toasted sandwich with sobrassada, cheese and honey. Honey! Oh, its sweetness goes beautifully with the salty, spicy fattiness of the sobrassada. Inspired by this, last weekend, I turned a can of refrigerated crescent rolls (don’t judge – it was on sale and I was curious and I was working all weekend!) into delicious sobrassada, cheese and honey crescents which we wolfed down in about 10 minutes flat. Of course, the filling ingredients would go together wonderfully in a toasted sandwich too.
Sobrassada, Cheese and Honey Crescents
makes 6.
For the pastry, I used one can of refrigerated crescent rolls but a sheet of puff pastry somehow cut into 6 triangles would work too. Along the short end of the triangle, lay out about 2 tsps of sobrassada, a bit of cheese (I used manchego) and a good drizzle of honey. Roll them up, pop them into a preheated oven (follow the instructions on your packet) and there you have it – hot yumminess. Eat.
Two Saturdays ago, just prior to Valentine’s day, we left a cold, cloudy and windy London to hop onto a Eurostar train and 90 minutes later, arrive in Lille … also cold, cloudy and windy. Ah well, despite the rubbish weather, we still enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. With lots happening with work, we both needed a little time away to ourselves and had decided a month before to visit Lille, the last major Eurostar stop that we had not explored properly.
We checked into our hotel as soon as we arrived and then hit the ground running; the plan was to spend the afternoon walking the narrow streets of the old city. From our hotel, it wasn’t long until we hit L’Eglise Saint-Maurice, a beautiful and surprisingly spacious church with medieval origins. A promising start.
We saw most of the usual sites Lille had to offer that day, from the Vielle Bourse (the old stock exchange) in the Grand Place to the Opera House. The little streets of Lille are absolutely charming and well worth a good afternoon of wandering.
Saturday seemed to be a very busy day for all the shops in the centre and a lot of the patisseries were busy. Oh, they were all so tempting but we didn’t have a way of storing all the pastries that I wished to try. This patisserie, Les Merveilleux de Fred, specialised in meringues covered in whipped cream and rolled in either chocolate shavings or speculaas crumbs. Unfortunately, there was a queue out the door and we didn’t stop to try one.
All that walking had us thinking about having a nice sit down and what better place than the most well known patisserie/chocolate shop in Lille, Meert. Sitting in the tearoom behind the patisserie, we shared two treats: a chocolatey Diderot and their most famous confection, La Gaufre Meert. The Diderot was your classic French patisserie style very chocolatey mousse, with a crème brûlée filling and a little (quite dry) macaron decorating the top.
It was their classic waffle (gaufre) that really impressed though. At first I was disappointed that the waffle was quite cold but one bite shut me up – the creamy Madagascar vanilla filling was outstanding. I bought a pack of six at the patisserie in front before we left.
To drink, we opted for cold drinks as we were thirsty and a hot chocolate could never quench that. That’s my refreshing Evian avec un sirop de grenadine in front and Blai’s excellent Tonic Citrus (orange sanguine, abricot, mandarine, fruit de la passion, citron) at the back. It’s not a cheap little tea shop by any means but it’s definitely worth a visit – the original chocolate shop has been occupied by Meert since 1761.
There was a little more walking to see the Citadelle and its surrounding park (and peering through the gates of the free zoo; it was opening after its winter break the next day and we missed it. We could hear the monkeys from outside though) and then we headed back to our hotel for a little break before dinner.
That night, we had dinner at Bistrot Lillois on the Rue de Gand; this street seems to be the street to eat, it being lined with estaminets and restaurants and is recommended by everyone and every guidebook. However, do make a booking in advance, especially for a Saturday night. I called that morning and didn’t get space at the first two estaminets (the French Flanders equivalent of the bistrot and the places to eat traditional food of the region) on my list. I managed to reserve a table at this bistrot and when we arrived for our meal, we found that it too was complet with everyone without a reservation turned away and indeed, we did find that this homey little eatery filled up with both tourists and locals alike.
We started with a couple of excellent local specialities: croquettes aux crevettes grises (grey shrimp croquettes), possibly a Flemish dish as we had the same in Brussels, and flamiche au maroilles, a tart made with maroilles, a local and very odorous soft cheese.
There were a number of specials written on mirrors on the walls and it was from this selection that we chose our main courses. When we were handed our menus, the chef actually came out and described all the specials to us in such loving detail, it was difficult not to, really! Blai had the medallions de veau a la creme et champignons, frites, legumes. The sauce was wonderful, with plenty of cognac or brandy, and paired well with the tender veal.
I chose the cuisse de canard confite aux navets, frites, legumes; I never would have guessed that turnips could taste so good! Their delicate sweetness, tinged with a bit of characteristic bitterness, paired well with the rich confit duck leg. It was just a shame that the skin wasn’t crisp but the sauce was good.
Our tummies were starting to ache but we pressed on with dessert. A crêpe au sucre for Blai was just that – well, two crêpes with cassonade, a brown sugar, to sprinkle on top. He adored them. Likewise, I was enjoying my huge pain perdu à la cassonade et sa boule de glace vanille, a large slab of French toast sprinkled with more of that brown sugar, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and swimming in a pool of crème anglaise. It was delicious but I just couldn’t finish it all. Doesn’t it remind you of those thick slices of toast that are popular in Asia?
The next morning, we walked all the way to the Marché de Wazemmes, through a city that was amazingly deserted – ah yes, Sundays in France. Everyone seemed to be at this market which sold just about everything and located about a 20 minute walk out from the old centre. No photos from that as it was extremely crowded and by the time I found the indoor food market, I was feeling a bit lazy to pull out my camera. Well, not too lazy to photograph a freshly made waffle filled with chocolate and strawberry paste we bought for only 70 cents from one stand.
Not long after, it was lunch time and I randomly chose Chez Justine, just on the edge of the market square. We could have purchased goodies from the market itself but we had no place to eat them. If you ever go to Lille, here’s a tip we learned after: most people buy drinks at the bars on the square and then sit down on tables set outside to eat their treats from the market. Despite the fact that the rotisserie chickens looked amazing, I’m glad I sat inside, out from the cold! Anyway, this little place looked just the ticket and we both ordered from the menu on a chalkboard on the wall. Blai started with a terrine de campagne that didn’t look particularly great but tasted delicious.
We then got to try two more local specialities. Our main courses of poulet au maroilles (chicken with maroilles, that strong local cheese again) and carbonnade flamande (a local beef stew made with beer and spice cake) may not have been much to look at but both were very flavourful. Both were accompanied with large plates of freshly fried frites and a simple and refreshing salad with a strong mustard dressing.
I ended my meal with a slice of tarte au speculoos maison, which wasn’t anything to shout about but it was quite interesting to see how a biscuit can be transformed into other forms. I had also purchased a speculoos spread earlier that day in a supermarket.
Actually, something I’d like to mention here is the popularity of a dish called a Welsh throughout the city. Of course, this turned out to be a Welsh rarebit made with the local beer!
Our afternoon was then spent at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, considered to be one of the best general art collections outside Paris.
We spent a few hours there and managed to see everything they had on display. It’s definitely quite a good collection and well worth the visit. Our favourite piece was possibly Dirk Bout’s La Chute des damnes, a spectacular depiction of what hell is like (possibly).
We weren’t contemplating a heavy dinner that night but there was still space for a treat before we caught the train back. Unfortunately, the centre of the city is absolutely dead on Sundays but there was one place that was open – Meert! Yes, we headed there again. This time I got to try their Tartelette Framboise-Macaron, which I was eyeing up at a neighbouring table the day before. This was quite a unique raspberry tart with a thick frangipane base and gosh, it’s just beautiful, isn’t it?
Blai went the simple route and chose a pain au chocolat, a fabulous and flaky pain au chocolat.
I have to mention their chocolat chaud that I forgot to photograph. It didn’t promise much when it appeared as it was thin and obviously quite milky. But the taste! Sure it was thin but that just made it so much more drinkable. It was very chocolatey with none of the powderiness that always puts me off. Delicious. We whiled away the time here, trying to keep our thoughts away from the realities of the next day.
And so ended our trip to Lille. We walked back to our hotel, picked up our goodies we had purchased at a supermarket the day before (really, if you go for a weekend, do all your shopping on the Saturday) and went to the train station (walking rather briskly as it was cold!). It had been a lovely weekend and just in time for Valentine’s Day too!
It might just be my feeling but I feel like this little city, despite it being one of the main Eurostar stops, isn’t promoted enough; there wasn’t a single mention of it in the on-board magazine, which was all London/Paris/Brussels only. I think it’s definitely worth a visit! (On a serious note, Eurostar, you really have to sort out your toilets at the Lille station.)
All my photos from Lille, including the most adorable meringue poodles, can be found in this Flickr photoset. Also, a great article on estaminets in French Flanders appeared in the New York times a week after we came back!
Méert
27, rue Esquermoise
Lille, France
Le Bistrot Lillois
40, rue de Gand
Lille, France
Chez Justine
12, Place de la Nouvelle Aventure
Lille, France
A classic black forest cake was something that Blai had requested I make for about two years now and it’s only a couple of weeks ago that I finally got around to making one (for his namesake saint’s feast day – I’ll admit that I didn’t have a gift ready for him!). I don’t regularly make big elaborate cakes and now I remember why – they’re a lot of work!
The recipe for the sponge came from this recipe on allrecipes.com. The more astute of you will notice that this recipe should make four layers whereas I had three: that’s because I am rubbish at slicing cake horizontally and so managed to destroy one entire layer. Actually, this turned out to be a good thing as the full four layers would never have fit into our fridge! Each layer of cake was doused in a mixture of cherry juice and rum; a more correct version would use kirschwasser but I wasn’t going to buy a whole bottle of liquor for the sole purpose of making this cake. In between each layer of cake was a layer of slightly sweetened whipped cream and a layer of sour cherry preserves (a jar of Turkish preserves which contained only whole cherries). The entire thing was then covered in more of that sweetened whipped cream, maraschino cherries and dark chocolate shavings.
And it was pretty good! It could have used a bit more of the preserves and perhaps a bit more cream between the layers but overall, it wasn’t bad. The sponge cake was delicious and light, the preserves were excellent and saved me when I couldn’t find jars or cans of sour cherries and it’s amazing how the chocolate shavings hide all errors in one’s frosting. Thank goodness it was tasty as we were eating it for four days straight.
Though it’s not much to look at, I’m quite proud of it and so am forcing all of you to look at it too. I won’t be making another for a while, I reckon!
Work has seen me in the Paddington area some mornings and I often find it’s lunchtime when it’s time for me to make a move back through Kensington Gardens to South Kensington. How convenient then is Bonda Cafe, situated on my way to the park! I remember eating there when the little basement space was called Nahar; I hadn’t returned since it became Bonda Cafe but Les’ blog post reminded me of its existence. Still, it was only recently, due to my work, that I was able to visit again.
If you’re not familiar with the area, you might be surprised to find that the cafe’s in the basement of Mara House, at the intersection of Sussex Gardens (a street I associate with very cheap hotels) and Spring Street, with only a simple banner indicating that there’s an eatery downstairs. The decor really isn’t much to look at – it’s a small basement room with very basic furniture and the cutlery is in a jar on the table but it’s a simple Malaysian caff with good Malaysian food (it’s all halal).
I wasn’t feeling like rice when I lunched there first and so ordered a mee goreng mamak (£6.00, if I remember correctly) from the a la carte menu. Mee goreng is fried noodles and the mamak here means the Tamil Indians in Malaysia. So, fried noodles Indian style, as found in Malaysia – a style of cooking not often encountered here. The egg noodles were delicious with lots of bits and pieces: I found egg, potato, fritters, squid, and prawns. It was a huge portion too. The perspective’s a bit funny in the photo below – the boiled egg at the back was from a hen, not a quail!
Another day, I opted for the nasi campur (£4.50 for one dish with rice and vegetables, £5.50 for two dishes with rice and vegetables, and I think £6.50 for three); all the ready-made dishes available for this quick meal are displayed on a steam table at the back of the room. There were about 6 different dishes from which to choose, from chicken to squid to vegetarian options. As I wasn’t feeling very hungry, I chose only one dish – chicken in a rich and thick coconut sauce that was absolutely luscious. I love how by default, the nasi campur always comes with stir fried vegetables on the side; there’s no guilt if you then order three very meaty dishes!
As it turned out that I was hungrier than I expected, to go with my nasi campur, I also had a prawn fritter (80p) from the display under the heat lamps (where they display fried items) right by the steam trays. It’s not the best fritter you’ll ever encounter but it was crispy enough and tasty enough with the accompanying chilli sauce (which I suspect was Lingham’s, a favourite with many Malaysians!).
So, a couple of ways to eat here then: nasi campur with ready-made dishes or off the a la carte menu. And both methods fed me well. Besides the steam table and the heat lamps, there’s also a refrigerated display case nearer the front with a good selection of Malaysian kuihs (cakes) that I love – I need to remember to save room for these next time! I’ve yet to visit for dinner but I’m sure I’ll be dragging Blai there one night and I’m looking forward to more work that sends me to Paddington.
Bonda Cafe
190 Sussex Gardens
Paddington
London W2 1PU
Pollo a la brasa (that’s grilled chicken) is a very popular Peruvian dish that’s made its way over to America but unfortunately, not here. I’ve read blog post after blog post about how that rotisserie chicken is freaking delicious and cheap and comes with a multitude of amazing sides and of course, the craving set in. It does seem ridiculous that I’d crave something I’d never tasted before but it’s roast chicken! There’s something quite universal about it, isn’t there?
I set out to make it at home. There are quite a few recipes for the marinade online and I based mine on a few that I found. I wanted to use fresh garlic rather than garlic powder and one recipe that used it suggested putting it under the skin of the chicken rather than mixing it with the marinade as the acid was likely to turn the garlic blue. Some suggested that the acid be lemon juice; others said vinegar. I just put together what sounded good.
Oh, and it was good! That marinade went right through the skin and the garlic definitely made itself known. Apart from the garlic, the other flavours melded together in a way that you couldn’t put a finger on each individual component; yes, the sum was greater than its parts. Finger licking good. Sure, it may have been more amazing if charcoal grilled but hey, I think my oven did a pretty good job of it.
We had it with a few sides; it’s never a proper roast dinner without all the fixin’s, eh? From what I understand, French fries/chips are normally served with pollo a la brasa but I wanted to go all out. We had fried plantains (slice and shallow fry in sunflower oil; sprinkle with salt), garlic rice (same as I make for Cuban rice), black beans (Molly’s recipe is my go-to recipe for quick beans), a chopped avocado and tomato salad, and a fresh green chilli sauce to brighten everything up. That rice was insanely good with the juices from the roast chicken poured on top. It all makes for a nice change from the usual roast potatoes and boiled veg.
The chicken recipe was adapted from those at Leite’s Culinaria, Wandering Chopsticks and Sunday Nite Dinner. The green chilli sauce was adapted from a recipe at Peru Food.
Peruvian Roast Chicken
1 chicken, approximately 1.5kg
For the marinade:
5 cloves garlic
2 tbsps paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Trim your chicken of any extra fat. Pat dry both inside and out. Use your finger to carefully separate the skin from the breast and thighs, creating “pockets”. Crush or mash the garlic cloves and distribute evenly between the “pockets”, spreading and smoothing the garlic from the outside.
Mix together the rest of the marinade ingredients and schmear it all on the inside and outside of your chicken. Leave in the fridge to marinade for a few hours or overnight. Take it out half an hour before you want to roast it.
Preheat the oven to 220C. Place your chicken breast side down on a roasting tray and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes. When the time is up, turn your oven temperature down to 160C and flip your chicken so it’s now breast side up. Continue roasting for an hour or until the juices at the thigh run clear (or you can check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer).
Let your chicken rest for 15 minutes before carving.
Green Chilli Sauce
a small bunch of coriander
1-2 green chillies
1/2 clove garlic
a pinch of salt
extra virgin olive oil
Wash your coriander and pick off the leaves. Discard the stems or use them elsewhere. Deseed the chillli if you wish (it makes it less hot). Toss the leaves, chillli, garlic and salt into a mini chopper or little blender or whatever it is you use and add about 2 tbsps olive oil. Blend, adding more olive oil if required.
