Lulu Loves Food

The perfect drink.

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:01:58 -0500

The perfect drink.

When I fancy just a glass of wine and amazing cheese, there is...

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:21:52 -0500

When I fancy just a glass of wine and amazing cheese, there is only place for me, and that’s La Cave à Fromage. You go in. You tell them you want cheese and you want wine. They bring it to you. It’s amazing. End of story.

This year I have decided to make more of an effort to learn how...

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:53:00 -0500

Food From Northern Laos

Traditional Recipes of Laos

This year I have decided to make more of an effort to learn how to cook food from Laos. I’ve often been in the kitchen with my mother and various aunties when they’ve been making this food, but I have never taken the time to write everything down. Thanks to my favourite Lao Cook, it would appear I won’t have to. Food From Northern Laos: The Boat Landing Cookbook and Traditional Recipes of Laos are two books are definitely the next cookbooks I’ll be purchasing.

One of my favourite things to eat at Ottolenghi is the fried...

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 03:23:00 -0500

One of my favourite things to eat at Ottolenghi is the fried cauliflower with tahini. Naturally, when Mr. Ottolenghi shared this recipe via The Guardian, I was all over it. It’s not the easiest salad to make, but it is so worth the effort.

Yotam Ottolenghi’s fried cauliflower with tahini recipe

Ingredients

500ml sunflower oil
2 medium cauliflower heads, split into small florets, weighing 1kg in all
8 spring onions, each cut into three long segments
180g tahini paste
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
15g chopped parsley
15g chopped mint, plus more to finish
150g Greek yoghurt
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp pomegranate molasses, plus more to finish
Malden sea salt and black pepper
Roughly 180ml water

Instructions:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Lay in a few cauliflower florets at a time and cook for two to three minutes, turning so they colour evenly. Once golden-brown, transfer to a colander with a slotted spoon, sprinkle with a little salt and leave to drain. Repeat with the rest of the cauliflower. Next, fry the spring onions, also in batches, for a minute. Add to the cauliflower and leave to cool down.
Pour the tahini paste into a large mixing bowl and add the garlic, herbs, yoghurt, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses and seasoning. Stir with a wooden spoon as you add the water. The tahini sauce will first thicken and then loosen up as you add water. Don’t add too much, just enough to get a thick yet smooth pourable consistency, a bit like honey.
Stir the cauliflower and onion into the tahini bowl, taste and adjust the seasoning. You may also want to add more lemon juice.
To serve, spoon into a serving bowl and finish with a few drops of pomegranate molasses and some mint.

Bourdain eating Sup Tulang.

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 16:03:28 -0500

Bourdain eating Sup Tulang.

The Company Shed is one of the places that only those truly...

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 15:31:00 -0500

£11.50 for the seafood platter

The best scallops ever

Colchester Native Oysters

The Company Shed is one of the places that only those truly obsessed with food in the UK go on and on about. It’s almost a litmus test for foodies. If you mention it and the other person’s eyes light up, then you know they are serious about their love of food.

Here’s why coming here takes commitment.

It’s not close. From London, it’s an hour and 15 minutes train ride and another 15 minutes in a taxi. It costs £24 return for the train ticket (per person) and £20 for the taxi (each way).
You can get stuck there. There is only one road in and out of Mersea and when the tide is high, you just have to wait until it goes down.
The place is not fancy. It’s literally a shed. It’s like being in your uncle’s rustic seaside cottage. If your uncle was a fisherman.

However, once you take your first bite of the impossibly fresh seafood, all the adversity melts away. It is worth every effort and I highly recommend it if you’ve not already been.

Here’s what you’ll need to bring with you:

Bread and butter. All they provide is the seafood and some salad. That’s it.
Wine.
Any sauces you like to have with your seafood. If you’re a purist (like I am) ignore this.

Had some saffron kicking around that I wanted to use, so I...

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:50:00 -0400

Had some saffron kicking around that I wanted to use, so I decided to try a fish stew. I couldn’t find a recipe I like, so I stripped it down to the basics: saffron, fish, scallops, fish stock, tomato paste, white wine, shallots, onion and garlic. Turned out well. Served it with a Parmesan crusted baked polenta. A good experiment.

Tried this ricotta stuffed mushroom recipe from Jamie Oliver....

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:47:00 -0400

Tried this ricotta stuffed mushroom recipe from Jamie Oliver. Made it into a salad by adding rocket and grated Parmesan with a drizzle of olive oil.

The best som tum I have had in London, 101 Thai Kitchen....

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:44:00 -0400

The best som tum I have had in London, 101 Thai Kitchen. Fermented crab and fish sauce make a huge difference. Blow your head off spicy.

Finally found decent duck larb in London at 101 Thai Kitchen!

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:40:00 -0400

Finally found decent duck larb in London at 101 Thai Kitchen!

Just want to show my appreciation for the...

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:06:26 -0400

Just want to show my appreciation for the unbelievable Madeleines from St. John. They are fluffy, buttery, not too sweet and they are served fresh from the oven. Melt in your mouth doesn’t even begin to describe it.

There are a lot of tapas joints in Barcelona. While I’m...

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:29:00 -0400

Jabugolicious

Patatas bravas

Fried artichokes

Various tapas treats

Classic tortilla

Grilled squid

There are a lot of tapas joints in Barcelona. While I’m sure even the most mediocre ones there are still better than most places you can go to in London, I was looking for some really great tapas when I was in Barcelona in January.

I didn’t have to look further than Cervecería Catalana. This place had everything you could possibly imagine by way of tapas and the ingredients were impossibly fresh.

It was so good I went two days in a row and contemplated a third.

The perfect chili oil? I think so.

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:20:10 -0500

The perfect chili oil? I think so.

OMG. Anthony Bourdain travel guides.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:08:30 -0500

OMG. Anthony Bourdain travel guides.

Oliver Thring on Sureny and Gresca in Barcelona. I love the way he writes about food.

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:54:00 -0500

Oliver Thring on Sureny and Gresca in Barcelona. I love the way he writes about food.

It was my friend’s birthday a week or two ago and I wanted...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:54:00 -0500

Israeli red from WFC

Mushrooms on toast from WFC

Roasted sweet potato salad from WFC

Spanish stew from WFC

Mushroom pasta from WFC

It was my friend’s birthday a week or two ago and I wanted to take her somewhere special. I started looking around for the latest openings around town and after a week of looking I decided to book at The Wet Fish Cafe, my favourite place to eat in my neighbourhood.

Now I eat at the Wet Fish Cafe a lot and have yet to have a bad meal there, but it never really occurred to me to take people there for special occasions. This summer I took a group of friends from New York for dinner at the WFC and they fell in love with it. I guess I tend to overlook it for special occasions as I think of it as an extension of my own home. It’s kind of like that girl next door you never realise is pretty until someone else tells you she is.

Needless to say my friend loved the food as much as I did and her birthday lunch was a great success. Never again will I take my beloved WFC for granted!

It’s been very difficult for me to find a good roti in...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:38:00 -0500

Fish roti from Roti Joupa

Doubles from Roti Joupa

It’s been very difficult for me to find a good roti in London. When I heard about Roti Joupa, I had some major expectations. While the roti itself as well as the chickpea pastry for the doubles were very good - simultaneously fluffy and chewy - the filling was bland.

As with most things in life, it’s really best to expect very little.

Delicious Dragon Roll from Sushi Gen on West End Lane.

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:33:00 -0500

Delicious Dragon Roll from Sushi Gen on West End Lane.

Food Network celeb chef, Paula Deen, gets hit in the face with a...

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:24:29 -0500

Food Network celeb chef, Paula Deen, gets hit in the face with a ham. It’s kinda fitting that it was a ham considering how fatty her recipes are.

I know it’s not nice to laugh, but it’s SO FUNNY.

The World Foodie Guide makes me want to go to Japan right now.

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:59:10 -0500

The World Foodie Guide makes me want to go to Japan right now.