marinated prawns with ginger and lime

by hannah williams

I’m a recent convert to prawns having taken a while to appreciate their meaty texture but since a recent trip to Portugal I’ve been eating them with wild abandon. This tasty marinade is one of my current favourites and gives the prawns a fresh, fragrant edge – prefect for a summer barbecue. All the marinade ingredients are readily available on the stalls and shops surrounding Ridley Road market.

preparation: 5 mins plus 1hr marinating
cooking time: 4-5 mins
makes: 6 – 8 skewers

Ingredients
1 clove garlic
thumb-sized piece ginger
juice of 1 lime
handful coriander – finely chopped
2 tbsp dark soya sauce
180g good quality cooked prawns

1. Finely chop the garlic, ginger, and coriander and mix together in a bowl.
2. Add the lime juice and soy sauce and mix together to form a thin sauce. Feel free to use a blender if you have one but make sure you keep the mixture fairly thin.
3. Dip each prawn in to the mixture making sure it is fully coated and place in a bowl. Repeat with all the prawns, before pouring the remaining sauce into the bowl. Cover and leave in a cool place for a minimum of 1 hour or maximum of 5 hours.
4.When the prawns are ready place on a wooden skewer, putting 4 to 5 on each stick and keeping the remaining marinade to one side.
5.Grill the prawn skewers on a barbecue (or grill pan) for 2 minutes on each side or until slightly browned. Serve using the leftover marinade as a dipping sauce.

spinach and feta parcels

by guilaine le joncour

Nothing spells summer better than barbecues and picnics in the park. This recipe, inspired by “spanakopita”, otherwise known as spimach and feta pie, is the perfect dish to complement your picnic. I simply love the combination f the fresh mint along with spinach and feta. And while I’ve kept the ingredients simple, it’s possible to add nuts, such as pinenuts, and other herbs into the fold.

preparation: 30 min
cooking time: 15-20 min
makes: 20-25 parcels

ingredients:
500 g spinach
1 large oninon
2 cloves of garlic
large bunch of mint
1 egg
1 egg yoke
250 g feta
pinch of nutmeg
pepper
3-4 Tbsp olive oil
pre-made filo pastry sheets

Preheat the oven at 180°C.

1. Pour the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.
2. Chop the onion in small pieces, add to the pan and fry until translucent.
3. Add the chopped garlic and spinach to the onion and cook until the spinach has wilted. Sprinkle the nutmeg and a good dose of pepper. Drain any excess water and set aside to cool.
4. Chop the mint in small pieces and add to the cooled spinach.
5. Crumble the feta cheese into the spinach and add an egg.
6. Cut the filo pastry in 12cm (5in) squares and use two sheets together. Add a large tablespoon of spinach and feta mixture and close the pastry around it in the form of a parcel.
7. With a brush (or alternatively your finger), cover each parcel with egg yoke. This will give them a lovely golden colour once baked.
8. Place the parcels on a baking tray covered with parchment paper (otherwise they will stick to the bottom) and cook at 180°C for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

lemon curd loaf cake

by camilla smith

Lemon is such a summery flavour, and even though the sun seems too shy to peep through the cloud clogged sky at the moment in overcast Shacklewell, it is no reason not to enjoy the flavours of the season. This is a simple cake to make which makes it all the more satisfying as whilst it bakes it gives you time to squeeze fresh lemonade and prop up the parasol. It was devoured and heavily complemented at its “premiere”!

you will need:
175 g caster sugar
175 g butter
2 medium eggs
250 g self raising flour
zest from half a lemon
lemon curd
white sugar cubes
freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven at 175°C.

1. Cream the butter and sugar together.
2. Add the eggs and combine one at a time.
3. Blend the flour in.
4. Now blend in a dollop (a dessert spoonful) of lemon curd and the grated zest.
5. Spead the mixture evenly in a loaf tin and bake at 175°C for an hour or until a knife poked in the middle comes out clean.

The cake may seem a bit like a soufflé during baking but it does firm up at the end.

Once it has cooled down, slice the cake in two length wise, and spread a generous amount of lemon curd inside. Then put the cake back together, smash the sugar cubes into smaller pieces, drizzle the top of the cake with lemon juice and sprinkle the sugar cubes on top. To add a bit of “neon” to the cake’s appearance you could sprinkle some lemon zest on top as well.

relish

by whetham allpress

food ****
coffee **
vibe ****
value ****

The quietly booming cafe culture in east London is marred only by those new joints that beneath the surface are either just tarted-up sandwich shops or upmarket greasy spoons. Relish, however, is one of the proper ones, designed from scratch, sitting brand-spanking-new on the banks of Newington Green. It is firm evidence that Stoke Newington fine dining is drifting south.

It is designed as a cafe/deli with generous shelf and chiller space dedicated to finest european vittles. You’re probably not going to do your grocery shopping there but you might well collect a weekend treat or last minute dinner party opener after you’ve had your breakfast and read the free papers.

Coffee
We had two rounds of cappuccinos and lattes (they didn’t know what flat whites were so we defaulted) and unfortunately were a little disappointed. Like so many of London’s breakfast emporiums, the barista skills were sadly amiss. All four coffees were weak, too hot, and the milk was burnt. And the second cappuccino came out in a bloody great latte mug. Sighs of resignation and lament for London’s coffee shame.

Breakfast
After drowning our sorrows in free papers we consulted the hot breakfast menus. All the basics were covered from the full english through various poached egg and hollandaise combos to mushrooms and boiled duck eggs, and of course pancakes. A simple menu, and really when it comes down to it, all you want (as far as we were concerned quiche and salads and fish cakes come way later on a weekend, and are best kept out of a breakfast cafe menu, no?).
We ordered a round of pancakes, a full english and eggs royale (with salmon) and were handsomely rewarded. After the coffee fiasco, Relish lept back into favour with some very very nice food. The pancakes (bananas, berries and maple syrup) were not huge but lovely, fresh and just enough for two to get started with. If coffee is one litmus test for a breakfast joint, poached eggs are the other and the Relish chefs proved they knew what they were doing.
The full english was huge, well presented and sported crispy bacon and an organic sausage. The Royale was simple and perfect, the eggs beautifully tender, mantled in creamy hollandaise and mounted on finest flakey salmon.

So what the hell went wrong with the coffee? Relish should sit its front of house staff down and ask this question then go to all lengths to help its coffee makers to solve a problem that could keep it from being recognised beyond local borders as a place worth a trip to.

address: Relish, 44-45 Newington Green, London N16 9QH
telephone: 020 7354 4377