At the Table This Week: 6th June
I want rice. I want heat. I want sharp acidity, with vegetables at the centre.
Welcome to Simple Supper.
A short, spontaneous trip to Lille got me craving food that does not involve soft, gooey, pungent cheese. As luxurious and indulgent as it was to spend two days eating traditional estaminet cuisine, the truth is my body eventually reached its limit living on Maroilles and endless bowls of fries.
I want rice. I want heat. I want sharp acidity with vegetables at the centre.
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Suppers, Lately
Roast Duck Leg and Pineapple Thai Red Curry
In many years of cooking Thai curry at home, I have come to understand a few things about my own preferences. I like red curry with pork, duck, prawns or pumpkin. Green curry, on the other hand, I prefer it with oily fish, or a piece of rare steak or chicken. While I prefer to make my own green curry paste, I am perfectly happy to rely on a good shop-bought red curry paste. It is useful and reliable thing, turning a craving for Thai curry into a dinner on the table with minimum effort.
Just before we left for Lille, I froze a quarter of a fresh pineapple leftover from making a salsa, cubbed into bitesized pieces, with this dish in mind. The sweet acidity works so well against the rich, gamey flavour of roast duck. For this version, I use duck legs which I will roast in the oven, rubbed with Chinese five-spice while I get on with the rest of curry.
The combination of Chinese five-spice roasted duck and pineapple is a classic Thai paring that reflects the influence of Chinese cooking on Thai cuisine. Pai from Hot Thai Kitchen explains the cultural background and method in more detail here, if you want to read more about it.
Sweet and Sour Courgette with Pickled Red Onion
I don’t know about you, but whenever I come back from a holiday, as beautiful and restorative as it may have been, I always crave meals with vegetables at the centre. Young courgettes from Italy are in season right now and deliciously sweet. Inspired by the Italian sauce agrodolce, which literally translates as ‘sour and sweet’, I like to simmer cubbed courgettes gently in extra virgin olive oil studded with garlic, until they collapse into tenderness. A handful of plump raisins thrown right at the end, along with a touch of sugar and a splash of good quality red wine vinegar makes the whole thing sing the highest notes.
And you know what makes it even better? A scattering of bright pink pickled red onions in the mix.
Boiled Chicken Soup, with all the Trimmings
Korean boiled chicken soup, baeksuk, is made with a mature chicken to create a deeply flavourful broth that truly tastes of chicken. Unlike the herbal chicken soup, samgyetang, it is typically prepared without the addition of ginseng or other medicinal roots and barks. It is always cooked unsalted, thus diners season both the meat and the broth to their own taste. The dish is either served with a thick rice or mung bean porridge made with reserved stock to bolster the spread, or enjoyed with a bowl of steamed rice and the soup alongside it.
I like to serve the chicken in family style, as whole, with an individual dish of dipping salt made from fresh garlic, salt, black pepper and roasted sesame oil, so that everyone can get their hands (or tongs) in to pick the bits they like the best.
If you would like to know more about the dish, including how to make the porridge, the recipes are in my first book Rice Table.
Spicy Nduja Pasta + Tomato Braised Flat Beans
There are many dishes that remind me of beautiful hot summers spent in other cities. Spicy tomato pasta (this one I am making with nduja) always reminds me of our holiday in Florence, when my daughter was still a wee baby. We found an old run down trattoria in one of the backstreets late at night, who was kind to accommodate us at the back of the dining room where it was cool and roomy. I can still picture her slurping a big bowl of pasta bare-chested with her sweaty fringe pushed back with a bandana.
I usually like to serve pasta with a dish of vegetables or salad to balance the meal. You probably know by now that I am a big fan of soft braised vegetables at any time of the year. Whatever the vegetables, if it has been gently braised in tomato until glossy with a lick of olive oil, it is guaranteed to put a big smile on my face. It takes me straight back to our honeymoon in turkey, staying in a beautiful safari tent perched on a clifftop, on the edge of a historic walking trail. I love the memories these dishes bring back whenever I tuck into them.
BBQ Mutton Chops + Tomato Rice with Saffron
Gone are the days when my husband and I ate out so frequently. Not only because of childcare responsibilities, but more because eating out has become so noticeably expensive. Still, every now and then, it is nice to enjoy a meal that someone else has prepared for you. And I think best meals often do far more than just feed you. A meal that not only reignites something between the pair of you as a loving, care-free couple, but also the experience so profoundly inspiring, so delicious and truthfully heart-meltingly enjoyable, that the entire meal stays imprinted within you. Mountain restaurant was one of those meals. And I haven’t stopped thinking about their mutton chops and fire-baked rice ever since we ate there, completely unplanned, on a cold evening in March. It was like I was transported to the foothills of Spanish mountain, as though I was being looked after by a family in a holiday home. We left beaming with smiles, hugging our hosts like we were new best friends.
My favourite online butcher, Swaledale sells beautifully marbled mutton chops. I cooked them at the weekend when the evening was still gloriously warm enough to stay up late, grilling in the garden. I marinated the chops simply in extra virgin olive oil (cut with sunflower oil to raise the smoking point), along with zest of lemon, ground cumin, sea salt flakes and black pepper. Once grilled medium-rare, I rested them doused in a mixture of lemon juice and the brine from my wild garlic soy-sauce pickle. It made the most incredible sauce, especially topped with slivers of grilled wet garlic and caper berries.
As for the rice, Spanish Bomba rice cooked directly on fire in the style of a paella, scented with saffron, smoked paprika and plenty of finely chopped rosemary.
Small Things Around the Table
The electric energy of Korean barbecue captures Seoul at its most alive. By night, the city shifts, suspended between gleaming skyscrapers and the soft glow of sleepy gardens.
More than grilled meat, Korean barbecue is a culture built around the grill - a ritualised performance in which heat, hierarchy and the city’s ‘work hard, play hard’ spirit choreograph the night.
Conversation begins with the clink of soju glasses and the tempo of eating rises and falls in unison, each diner moving in harmony with the rest. The entire table becomes a symphony of respect and balance, each movement guided by unspoken rules and shared attentiveness.
It is no secret Korean BBQ holds a special place in my heart.
In this month’s Waitrose Food magazine, I wrote about what makes Korean BBQ feel so distinctively Korean to me: the rituals of gathering around the grill, the joy of sharing food at the table, and the memories woven through it all. I also share recommendations for some of my favourite places to eat Korean BBQ, including two spots in Seoul that hold fond memories of my childhood growing up in the city.
You can pick up a copy in Waitrose stores now.