Grazia, me and supper clubbing

Grazia oh yes people I have made into a national magazine. My supper club has been featured as a ‘one to try’ in the latest issue (as seen below!) and I am as giddy as a well sourced, local kipper.

The article features a lady in Amsterdam who hosts a regular club from her wonderfully beautiful home. Its pretty wonderfully beautiful that the supper club movement is gaining real momentum.

I started my supper club ‘CanTina’ in September 2011 after a year of selling lunches at Churchill Square farmers market and getting asked ‘do you have a restaurant’ .  I host 3-4 suppers per month from my home in the space formerly known as my sitting room. The suppers offer me the opportunity to get creative in menu planning and cook 5 seasonal courses using wonderful local produce. Menus are sent out in advance and guests are seated on a long sharing table where chatter flows along with the BYO booze.  The aim is to create a casual and fun dining experience with delicious food, offering a quirky evening out. Glamorous live music and gorgeous staff have helped to make these suppers popular and full of regulars.

I was motivated in part by twitter following Kirsten Rodgers AKA
http://marmitelover.blogspot.co.uk/
. Kirsten is the mother of the UK supper club movement hosting evenings from her Kilburn adobe. Her book is a fantastic source of tips and recipes and gave me some comfort during my start up. She has also set up a site to enable guests to find a supper club in their locality and hosts to share thoughts.
http://supperclubfangroup.ning.com/
. Check out the site and Brighton people we have a few though mentions though I think at this point from this list only myself and the Ovingdean supper club are in regular action. There are of supper club located all  around the country. I am really keen to try out
http://supperclubfangroup.ning.com/profile/TheMontpelierBasement
in part as we are twitter mates, their menus sound totally delicious, plus their story of food,  love, romance and meeting on the blog- sphere is just too cute…… a trip to Bristol for me.

I really hope the supper club movement keeps on growing….it offers a great value alternative to a restaurant with fine cooks who are crazy about cooking and sharing.  Mostly my nights are wedding like without the boring rellies and are really good fun. If you havent been to one…’come on, come on, come on’  (A 70′s Status Quo tune?)

Back to Grazia! I have no idea how I managed to get my mention, so if you know, please do tell and if its you then THANK’s in a high-pitched over-excited way. Of course this coverage has done me a chunk of favours, it has driven traffic to my website and I have already fielded a wedding and canape party booking from it. You gotta love a magazine that sits so well in hairdressers and doctors….its the gift that keeps on giving

Sweet potato – Erm – Falafel

I am never sure that one should call a falafel a falafel when it does not contain chickpeas or the traditional fava bean as its main ingredient. However for now I subscribe to the ‘yes you can’ as to find a suitable alternative name is not an easy task: ball, nuggets, a rissole perhaps? The latter a word favoured by my Dad and used in lieu of idiot, so thus this does not sit too well for me.

The debate can rage on, however for now falafel it is and sweet potato they are, I should mention that chickpea flour is an ingredient though still……Move on Tina, move on. Sooooooo  I started making these for my stall at Churchill square to have as part of a mezze lunch  box and a smaller snack bag sitting alongside a sumac flat bread, hummus and beetroot tzatziki.  When cooking for outdoor events I give a lot of consideration to dishes that work well served cold; traditional falafels are just so much better hot from the fryer, the mixture tends to seize as it cools becoming dry and moisture sucking! These sweet potato numbers work great cold though I have since served them hot as a vegetarian alternative for my supper club guests. They are delicious, full of flavour and as long as you start in advance are so easy to make.

The original recipe came from one of the Leon cook books. This London based company started in 2004 by Allegra McEvedy has steadily grown over the past few years, taking fast food and throwing it upside down. Their offerings are seasonal, healthy and mostly delicious, preferring baked to fried, almonds to flour and using lots of fresh fruit and veg.   
http://www.leonrestaurants.co.uk/vision/

My main thing to mention before I start sharing this recipe is that the water content of the sweet potatoes will vary enormously so you will need to be flexible with the amount of chickpea flour you use. However don’t be tempted to add too much, especially if you plan to eat them cold as they will turn out too solid. Be brave, keep them soft. Please note that my photos show me making a larger batch

So to make about 18 Sweet potato falafels:

2 large sweet potatoes (700g ish) –Baked in their skins @ 200ᵒ for about 45 min or until tender

120g gram chickpea flour – (garam flour)

2tsp of each coriander seed and cumin seed – toasted and crushed

3 cloves of garlic – crushed

Juice of half lemon

½ teaspoon of each salt and chilli flakes

Large bunch fresh coriander – chopped

Sesame seeds

The potatoes MUST be totally cold before you start. I suggest baking them the day before.

Peel and mash the flesh along with all the other ingredients. Put in the fridge to firm up for about an hour. Once chilled you are wanting to end up with a not too stick mass that is kind of ball-able. If you find you don’t have this then stir in more chickpea flour a little at a time and pop back into the fridge for another 15 minutes.

Once you are happy that you can roll them, do exactly that dividing the mixture into large walnut sized pieces and sprinkling them with sesame seeds to coat. Place on a well sunflower or olive oiled baking tray and bake for 10 minutes @ 200ᵒ then turn and bake for a further 5 minutes.

That is it! As mentioned these make for fantastic picnic feed, are great in pitta with all the salady bits, good hot with rice and a spicy chickpea and tomato sauce….versatile little erm rissoles.

Oooo La La – L’Eglise – Hove

Tis true…………I do need to make more time to write about food and my adventures with this lovely matter. However I shall hold my hands up; I am not good at routine or self motivation and as such adopt a chaotic approach with a perfectionist desire. Not a great combination but I am learning to accept that’s just the way I am. How these blog posts are to work out I am not sure but when I have a delicious meal I feel I should get something down and share the love.

L’Eglise the French restaurant in Hove is to become one of my favourites for sure. It is run by husband and wife Julia and Jean-Christophe, and oh my they have created a gorgeous dining space that serves simple PERFECTLY cooked dishes. I visited last Sunday on a whim with my Maman.  I have only a couple of photos to share but the food needs to be tasted if one is to appreciate this fine dinery.

I am not a massive fan of massively rich food so French can be a little too much however the food at J & J’s manages to achieve incredible depth of flavour whilst allowing the ingredients to star.

To kick us into the sprit,  St Germain, an incredible elderflower alcoholic liqueur with champagne, HELLO. This delicious alcohol-pop inside the most beautiful Art Deco bottle really worth procuring.  
http://www.stgermain.fr

We shared a board of charcuterie, all of which were the best of the best. Served alongside; a ramekin of cornichons and baby mustard silver skin onions. Cornichons remind me so much of childhood, Dad always came back with car loads of these and Dijon mustard from family holidays. Custom; nothing to declare, wine and fags; no, pickled produce yes. An odd man in many ways!

For the main event; I had onglet, a classic French bistro and brassiere steak. In this country, we tend not to use it as a steak cut, preferring to use something less flavoursome.  The cut come from around the skirt and hangs near the kidneys thus it has a deep taste and served rare is as tender as any fillet but with a 1000 times more flavour. This was served with a salty Paris butter and OMG duck fat chips to kill for. Jean mentioned that they tried a variety of potatoes before the penultimate chip was created. Mother ate duck confit, woah crisp, soft, deep with a red cabbage perfectly perked and a rich glossy sauce, just enough to moistened the meat. Green beans, bang on, with a little diced buttery onion. A red, recommended, a meaty boozy lovely wine with some connection to Jean’s sister, at this stage of the meal I felt a connection to her myself!

Cheese finished us off; 4 well chosen slices, perfect temperature, with ooze and flavour, another glass of recommended wine; food matching ambrosial heaven.  Puddings; all the classics, creme brulee, almond tart and floating islands; saved for another visit.

A corny phrase I know: Hidden Gem, but this really is. Cooking of this standard and integrity is sadly something that is sorely missing in this country, we seem to favour a chain over amazing little independents  like L’Elgise.  Wonderfully sourced produce cooked to perfection, served by a small team who as the charming waitress said ‘are like a family’. You are made to feel so welcome and relaxed, I know for sure I shall happily eat here alone when my own family have buggered off for the day.  There is everything to love about this restaurant, I have already booked again for Mothers day, should I see you, it’s also my birthday, mines a St Germain champagne cocktail.

L’Eglise – 196 Church Road, Hove. 01273 220868 –
http://www.legliserestaurant.co.uk/