Note: I have known Dev personally for a number of years so I can’t say it wouldn’t influence my review. But the book is brilliant so please check it out. Dev’s book is available from Amazon.
Masterchef contestant Dev delighted the judges with unusual yet invigorating flavour combinations and this is even more evident in his first book. Filled with vibrant colours, original pairings and delicious photography, Dev’s recipes will inspire you to try something a little different for dinner tonight: melon and tofu salad, red lentil kedgeree, banana peel rendang. This book is very definitely a journey and a surprisingly personal work. Journey to Flavour is more than a cookbook, it’s a lifestyle.
Dev on Masterchef
Drawing on both his personal experiences and his travels around the world, Dev has created truly fusion food that wows you with combos you’ve never heard of yet still feel right. Take this vegetable and red lentil dahl:
copyright David Silver
A dahl is as wholesome and comforting as you can get, familiar to millions. But the touch of pomegranate seeds bring it back to life again.
Or maple-seared peaches with a tofu and rocket salad:
copyright David Silver
Peaches are nothing new in a salad but the addition of maple and tofu takes it in a spectacular new direction leaving it feeling fresh and exciting.
None of the recipes are difficult either – lots of pan-frying, oven roasting – nor time consuming so don’t feel you are going to have to burden your cupboard with dozens of spices you will never use again.
Dev is passionate about hearty, healthy food that still feels vibrant and indulgent, underpinned by clear message of reducing our carbon footprint. Please try out some of his recipes – you won’t be disappointed. Check out this sample recipe below.
pumpkin and sage tempeh katsu curry with toasted pumpkin seeds
This is the perfect katsu curry for autumn, deliciously moreish and comforting! By Dev Mukherji
Author Gary @ BigSpud
Ingredients
3tablespoonsolive oil
1large oniondiced
5garlic clovesfinely diced
3teaspoonsgingerfinely grated
2medium carrotspeeled and sliced
2cupspumpkincubed
1heaped tablespoon white miso
1tablespooncurry powder
1teaspoongaram masala
4teaspoonstamari or soy sauce
2teaspoonsrice vinegar
2teaspoonsmaple syrup
1tablespoonpeanut butter
250gtempehcubed
3cupsplant milk
sesame seeds to garnish
Instructions
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan, add diced onion and sauté until almost transparent. Add garlic and ginger and fry for another minute or two. Add sliced carrot, cubed pumpkin, curry powder and garam masala. Stir around and fry off for a minute or two. Now add the miso paste, peanut butter, vinegar, maple syrup, soy sauce and stir it in and fry another minute.
Now add the plant milk to the pan and let it simmer for 20–25 minutes on gentle heat till the pumpkin and carrot are softened and cooked through. Now cool this mixture a bit and blend to a smooth and creamy sauce. The sauce should be salty from the soy sauce and miso paste but add a bit more salt if required.
In a separate saucepan heat a tablespoon of olive oil and add the cubed tempeh and fry till the surfaces are a little browned. It should smell nutty. At this point add in the pumpkin katsu sauce and mix it in with the tempeh, heating it up gently till piping hot. Sprinkle sesame seeds to garnish.
2021 became a year of comfort food. With more time spent indoors and more time connecting to those people who really matter, the food you chose to bring around the table meant something. The bestsellers of the year included Nigella’s Cook Eat Repeat, Raymond Blanc’s Recipes from the Home, Jamie Oliver’s Together… the yearning for simple was clear. And my choices this year reflect that too. Easy, comforting stuff written from the heart.
I mean, this is almost cheating. Recipes from Tom Kerridge, Gordon Ramsay, Angela Hartnett, Jamie Oliver, etc. etc. etc.? How could it not be a winner. What’s more it’s recipes not from the restaurant but from the home. All lockdown-inspired cooking with comfort at the heart. If I’m honest, some of the recipes read like chef recipes, assuming multitudes of pans, lots of ‘leave this to stand overnight’ and long ingredients lists. But the book has been brought together by Hospitality in Action, and sales help bolster the hospitality industry who have obviously had a dreadful 18 months or so. So it’s a charming book and a sneak peek into what chefs might gorge themselves on at home.
Cook this first: torrijas, a sort of Spanish crepes suzettes
A girl all about spuds, I was destined to write about this! After tearing up TikTok with her potato-led recipes, Poppy has now written her own cookbook and looks to only be bigger as time goes on. This is 100% comfort food – as she puts it herself on the back cover “this is not just the food you want, it’s the food you need.” It’s very accessible stuff, nothing that will stretch you too far but solid recipes that you’ll bookmark for later. I can’t wait to see what Poppy does next.
Cook this first: stroganoff pie. A clash of two comfort classics.
And despite me banging on about comfort food, familiar food, homely food, my number one spot this year goes to a cuisine I know very little about. But the tagline on the cover says it all “simple Vietnamese food to cook at home.” I spend most of the summer cooking from this wonderful book, wholesome stir fries, refreshing salads and satisfying soups. Spicy, sweet, savoury and sour, it’s all there. A great book that will shake up your midweek meals but without needing a brand new cupboard just to store the ingredients in.
Cook this first: shaking beef, a savoury salady delight.
Sage’s appliances are known for the high quality finish and thoughtful tricks. This toaster is no exception; as with most of the range this toaster is finished in brushed steel, with a chunky appearance and large buttons. The ‘tricks’ in this case boil down to these features as far as I’m concerned:
The A Bit More button – when pressed the toaster cooks the toast for just 30 seconds longer. Doesn’t sound like much but it removes that “I’ll just pop it in again…” then forget about it and come back to charcoal toast.
Crumpet toasting – this engages the inner elements to heat up stronger than the outer elements. In other words, to cook one side more than the other. In the case of crumpets, this means crispy tops and slightly softer bottoms (!). Also works great on bagels!
Lifting handle – pull up the handle during cooking to take a peek. But crucially the cooking process doesn’t stop. Instead of cancelling the toasting, it just carries straight on.
LED-lit timing slider – as the toaster toasts, this LED timer blinks down to pop-time. Simple but effective for knowing how long is left on your toast.
All little features that add up to inventive design.
As ever with Sage products, these come with a price tag that puts them above run-of-the-mill appliances. At time of writing it’s £99. A lot for a toaster, you can likely pick one up for a little over £10. But it’s the clever gimmicks that end up being more than gimmicks – the LED timer, the ability to look at the toast while cooking. And the button that gives it it’s name – A Bit More is exactly what it needs without sending it straight to burned.
I think it’s a great gadget – if you think about how many times you use a toaster in a week then per use that can make the maths stack up.
Sage have a number of espresso machines in their range. I went through a long process before buying this particular model, so what’s my verdict? Find out with my Sage Barista Express review. (Note: in other regions, Sage are marketed under the name Breville).
I’d be lying if I didn’t say cost didn’t factor into the decision. This is the cheapest machine in the range that is bean-to-cup i.e. has a built-in grinder. The next up (Barista Pro) has a dual boiler which means it can heat the water for coffee and milk simultaneously. The tExpress can’t and This will slow down your routine. That’s not a deal-breaker for me as I usually only make coffee for one. Then you have the Touch and Oracle systems, which are a lot more expensive but almost one button press dispenses the complete beverage. It’s about three to four times more expensive for that. I’ve had the pleasure of using their top-of-the-range Oracle Touch and it does make fantastic coffees, but I actually want some of the fiddly optimising and tweaking that the Barista Express requires.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
What are the features of the Barista Express?
Each time you change the beans you use and try out a new product, you’ll need to tweak your machine to get your perfect espresso. The Barista Express has a number of features to help you brew it to perfection.
Choosing grind size. Add your beans and set your grind size from coarse to fine. The size of the grind will affect how quickly water can pass through the grounds and therefore adjust the pressure.
Choose your dose. Once ground, you can adjust how much is dispensed and keep it the same each time you use it.
Tamper and Razor. You get a tamper with the machine that is designed to work precisely with the portafilter. You align the tamper with the top of the portafilter, apply pressure and this should compact the grounds into the perfect puck of coffee. The tamper also neatly tucks away in a magnetic slot on the machine. The Razor is a tool you use after tamping to scrape away any excess grounds. If I’m honest, I don’t find using this adds or subtracts from the coffee at all.
Pressure gauge. The gauge on the front of the display tells you how much pressure the water needs to force through the coffee. There is a ‘sweet spot’ that gives an indication where you want to get your shot. Not too fast, not too slow.
Steam / water. On the right of the device is a dial relating to hot water and steam. Turn it one way to enable steam. Turn it the other way to pour hot water which is perfect for topping out your espresso into an Americano.
Range of portafilter baskets. You get four baskets in the box to adjust for the type of coffee you use and how you drink it.
Programmable. You can adjust settings for temperature and timing then lock them in, so you can bring them back at a button push.
What are the negatives of the Barista Express?
Fussy. If you want to click and go, this is not the machine for you. You can potentially waste a lot of coffee beans and milk trying to get the perfect drink. The amount of settings can be frustrating.
The manual. This machine retails for £599. You get a 22 page manual in the box. A lot of that is concerned with safety plus two blank pages. There’s a lot of how you operate it, and not a lot of how you make good coffee. There’s one page which is very useful for deciding what to adjust to improve it, but not much more. For such a high ticket price I would expect more guidance to get the right beverage. I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos to perfect it so I knew where to start, but I’m surprised there’s not more.
Mobility. Other models in the series have a lockable wheel to move the machine around. This model doesn’t and it makes it clumsy to get to the back of it. Which leads me to…
Water tank placement. It’s right at the back of the machine, and assuming you push the Barista Express up to a wall, you’re going to need to reach to the back to yank out the water tank to refill. Not very convenient.
What are the positives of the Barista Express?
Customisation. The opposite of the fussy point – you get full control over what happens to your espresso and get it exactly the way you want it. More or less crema, more sweet, more bitter, more concentrated… it’s up to you. And then the milk options are up to you too. Add as much steam as you like, and bring it up to your preferred temperature.
Design. The Sage look is in full force here, brushed steel, block caps and large round buttons. Everything feels purposeful and well-built.
Everything in the box. You get water filters, cleaning equipment, a milk jug and other portafilter baskets. Apart from beans you can get it up and running, flush hot water through the system and you are ready to go. You won’t need to buy anything else. And everything that comes with the machine has a compartment where it belongs.
It makes great coffee. I should highlight that as it needs saying, but it does make great coffee. You need to set up the customisation for your coffee beans, but once you’re there you are going to pull great shot after great shot.
Economical… eventually. Obviously there is a large outlay at the beginning but at some point you will hit break-even on the machine. If you paid £599 for the machine, and spend £2.50 on a barista coffee twice a day, it’ll start paying back in about 120 days or 4 months. Add back on the cost of buying beans & milk and you can probably add a couple more months on to that. So in about 6 months the machine pays for itself. So see it as an investment. It’s also worth pointing out that they hold their value well for resale if you decide to sell it on in the future.
Sage Barista Express opinion
During lockdown I’ve missed having regular cappuccinos. I’ve tried hacks with cafetiere, electric whisks and mini frothers and it just isn’t the same. You need a full-strength espresso shot and steamed, textured milk. And this espresso coffee machine delivers. I’m smitten with this device.
The negatives aren’t deal breakers to me. You should be prepared that on buying this you are getting a new hobby. I fully enjoy the customisation and getting the drink exactly the way I want it. There’s quite an outlay at the beginning, but it should give you satisfaction for years to come.
Top tips for using the Sage Barista Express
Buy fresh beans that have a “roasted on” date. Find a supplier – local to you if you can – and buy little and often. Once roasted the oil that provides beans with their flavour evaporates. You need to get between 4 – 20 days from roasting for best results. Supermarkets never give you this, just an abstract “best before” date. Fresh beans = fresh tasting coffee. (Shout out to CoffeeLink in Suffolk who sell a brilliant decaf Brazilian Cerrado which I love.)
“The single biggest mistake many people make is buying coffee that hasn’t been freshly roasted. Supermarket coffee is generally mass-produced and is often roasted many months before being consumed. Freshly roasted coffee is in a completely different league by comparison!”
Get a container with opaque walls for storing beans. Excess heat and light can allow beans to lose their freshness so store them away from sunlight.
Use your scale. Work out how much coffee you get from a weight of beans, then how much espresso that creates. That will tell you an awful lot about what’s going on.
Keep it clean. Set a reminder once a month and maintain your machine. Check the water filter, run descaling and flush it with espresso cleaner. Pull everything out and flick out all the loose grains of coffee, give it a wipe.
How do I clean and descale my Barista Express?
I’ve made a video for it here:
Are Sage and Breville the same company?
No, Sage and Breville are not the same company, but they are related. Breville is an Australian appliance manufacturer that produces a wide range of kitchen appliances, including coffee machines, toasters, and juicers. Sage is a brand owned by Breville Group Limited, which is marketed in the UK and Europe, and specializes in high-end coffee machines, juicers, blenders, and other kitchen appliances. Therefore, while they share the same ownership, Sage is a distinct brand from Breville and focuses on a more specific range of products.
