Sainsbury’s are wanting to inspire the nation to be more creative with their vegetables after seeing a massive upturn in sales of vegetables with Avocado (147%), asparagus spears (118%), broccoli (40%), courgettes (30%) and bunched beetroot (25%) leading the way. I do love a salad, but it’s a bit easy just to get a plastic bag of leaves, slice a tomato and say we’re done. There’s so much more that can go in a salad though!
Inspired by their “vegetable butcher” Amber Locke I felt like giving it a go too. I am a recent convert to spiralizing veg and have been going all out to make curly-wurly courgettes. I’ve been trying out the Savisto tabletop model and Lakeland hand-held models lately – look for more detailed reviews in a future post. If you don’t have a spiralizer, just slice the ingredients finely on the cutter side of a box grater or mandoline.
Combined with lightly pickled cucumber to make the base of a dressing and freshly grilled asparagus this salad celebrates plenty of vegetables and would be a vibrant accompaniment to a barbecue.
Sainsbury’s contributed to the ingredients for this recipe.
Mix the pickle ingredients together. Slice the cucumber lengthways and use a teaspoon to scoop out the seeds. Chop diagonally and leave in the marinade while you get everything else ready.
Grill or barbecue the asparagus for ten minutes, or until wrinkled and blackened.
Lay the asparagus on a serving plate. Spiralize or slice the beetroot and carrot and lay on top. Remove the cucumber from the marinade (reserving the liquid) and add this. Shred the lettuces and top the salad. Scatter mixed seeds over the top.
Whisk a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into the pickle mix, and drizzle over the salad.
I’ve been a mild Japanophile since I was a teenager. The best games of the time came from Japan; you had to import them at extortionate prices. As such we pored over every detail and absorbed a lot of Japanese along the way. I took a Japanese module at university to bolster this further, reading James Clavell’s Asian Saga along the way. I’ve always dreamed of going to Japan some day.
It’s against this backdrop I gleefully accepted an invitation to Matsuri St James in the heart of London’s Mayfair. Established in 1993 as a joint venture between the Kikkoman soy sauce manufacturer and a Japanese rail company, Matsuri was among the first restaurant in the country offering tableside teppan-yaki, food freshly cooked on a hotplate.
With a glut of other food writers we were treated to an excellent four course meal. We sampled sushi first, as the sushi chef prepared identical nigiri at astonishing speed. He told me the first month of his training was entirely spent measuring out 15g portions of rice repeatedly, so he is now blindingly accurate. The sushi itself was just as you expect, subtle, refined and clean-tasting. This was followed by crisp and light Tempura vegetables, with an umami-rich dipping sauce flavoured with daikon.
And then the teppan-yaki mains. And what mains they were. The ginger-scented black cod was delicate in texture but dynamite in flavour, packing an awful lot into the innocent looking portion. If you go, make sure you try this one.
An enormous steak arrived next, angry dark meat picked out by creamy yellow fat. After searing on one side the chef flipped it and CAKED it in sea salt. After a few minutes more he scraped the salt off having done it’s job, and sliced the now rare-cooked meat and served it immediately. This is where teppan-yaki works; if you’d simply been served some slices of meat you would’ve missed the spectacle of an enormous hunk of beef being served. The steak itself was excellent, served with a garlic fried rice.
The meal finished with a bafflingly underthought ice cream, crepes and pineapple, flambéed for no other reason than to make people go “ooooh” when the Grand Marnier flames licked the ceiling.
The meal was sensational. Really good ingredients treated with respect. I’d love to return but the pricing is so far out of my bracket a visit would have to be very special indeed.
As a tribute, I cooked a Japanese meal for some friends. We started with sushi…
Followed by tempura veg…
But the recipe I really wanted to share with you is my interpretation of the steak ‘n’ rice dish. A humble piece of ribeye steak (my favourite cut) cooked sous-vide (not essential but the way I like it; if you don’t have one of these contraptions you can cook your steak the way you prefer) in Kikkoman’s teriyaki sauce and egg fried rice cooked with plenty of garlic and vegetables. It’s not quite the same as a visit to Matsuri St James… but it’s a darn fine dinner.
Sous-vide the steak with 70ml teriyaki sauce at 60C for 1 hour. Put aside until ready to cook.
Get a wok and a frying pan over a very high heat. Put a splash of oil in the wok and add the garlic and sugar. After just a few seconds add the onion, carrot and asparagus and stir fry for 3 - 4 minutes until starting to go tender. Add the rice and continue to stir fry until warmed through.
In the other frying pan sear the steak for 60 seconds on each side, adding half the remaining teriyaki sauce to the pan at the end to glaze. Remove to a board then slice into thick fingers.
Add the egg and last of the teriyaki to the rice and stir for another 60 seconds. Spoon into bowls and serve with the steak slices on top. Sprinkle a little sea salt on the exposed flesh of the beef.
So I tried it – and it is as good as it’s simplicity suggests. Just asparagus and bacon powering the flavour along, and I added a dash of creme fraiche to help it stay slick and delicious. A lightning-quick and satisfying supper.
Bacon and asparagus pasta (serves 2):
6 rashers smoked bacon, sliced
1 bundle of asparagus
300g penne
Big handful parmesan
150ml creme fraiche
Get two pans on, one deep pan for your pasta and another big frying pan for everything else. Get the big pan on with rapidly boiling salted water and get your penne on to cook until al dente.
In the frying pan add a dash of olive oil and add the bacon. For the asparagus snap off the woody end, then trim off the feathered ends, reserving for later. Thinly slice the remaining stalks and add to the pan. Stir fry for about five mins and add some seasoning. Turn the heat down and add the creme fraiche and parmesan and stir well.
The pasta should be nearly done now so add the asparagus tips for the last two mins of cooking time. When they’ve had their time drain the lot, reserving some of the cooking water and add the pasta and asparagus to the pan. Toss well to combine, you may need to add some water to slacken it down to a shiny sauce. Check for seasoning and serve immediately.
I always mean to try interesting lasagna recipes – ones that aren’t classic lasagne al forno that is – but when I come to cook it I can’t resist meaty, tomatoey rich ragu topped with creamy bechamel. It takes Jamie Oliver to convince me to try it another way.
This Summer veg lasagne is inspired by one from his 30 Minute Meals book. It’s perfect for the Summer months and ideal for clearing out the fridge! I grabbed a bunch of things that needed using up for here and it came out lovely.
Summer veg lasagne (serves 4):
A bunch of spring onions
3 cloves of garlic
300g asparagus
Large handful frozen peas
Large handful spring greens
Large bunch of basil
150ml single cream
150ml veg stock
250g cottage cheese
250g fresh lasagne sheets
Parmesan
Get the kettle on to boil, get a large frying pan on a high heat and add a splash of oil. Put the oven on 180°C.
Slice up the spring onions and add to the pan. Crush in the garlic and toss well to prevent sticking. Snap off the woody bits of the asparagus then slice up the stems, but leave the tips intact and keep to one side for now. Add the chopped stems to the pan with a splash of boiled water.
Add the peas and greens and keep stirring. Chop the basil and add to the pan with the cream and add plenty of seasoning. Cover with stock and bring to the boil.
Get a roasting tray and start to layer up lasagne sheets and veg mix until you have used everything up. Finish with pasta. Add a splash of boiled water to the cottage cheese to slacken and then spread over your pasta. Scatter the asparagus on top of the cottage cheese and grate over plenty of parmesan. Transfer to the oven and bake until golden and crunchy. Serve with panzanella.
