Marzipan Filled Doughnuts with Dark Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Posted on May 18, 2012 by chloe

We Brits seem have an aversion to marzipan, something that seems at odds with the rest of Europe, who embrace it as I wish we would. I think it must be something to do with the twee and fusty image it appears to have retained; mainly coming as it does in the form of cutesy fruit and animal shapes, or that secret yellow layer, welded beneath the icing of a Christmas cake. I’ll happily nibble away at slabs of the stuff, joyfully eating others leftover bits of Christmas cake, I mean, why leave the best bit? I’d happily eat this daily, forget the cake. Yet almond croissants are eaten across the Country with abandon, and what is that if not essentially a marzipan stuffed croissant?! Almond or pistachio paste however seems to have managed to secure a more acceptible and grown up reputation, though essentially really just the same thing, It appears to me the very word ‘marzipan’ conjours up negative connotations.

Don’t tell him, but I’ve totally tricked the boy, a devout marzipan hater, by telling him he was eating something using the term almond paste. It worked. I’m convinced  the hate is based on preconceptions, I mean what’s not to love about a sugary, almondy, sweet thing?! Of course not all marzipan is good, in fact some of the supermarket stuff is truly an abomination, packed out with sugar and flavourings, I guess it’s no wonder our stuff has a bad rep (having said that I can, and do eat even the worst kind – it’s that damn sweet tooth of mine!).

Now, in this instance, the doughnut idea was prompted by a BOGOF offer in Waitrose, so I lazily just bought their own brand, but feel free to concoct your own far superior marzipan/nut pastes. I have a feeling you could (and I intend to when I can get hold of some) make a fine, intensely nutty version with cobnuts inspired by Demarquettes stunning range of cobnut pralines.

 

So here you go; I can’t think of many things better than a doughnut, piping hot and yielding to a soft marzipan centre, and if you have a problem with that, think of it as sweet almond paste. 

What are your thoughts on marzipan? Love it, or hate it?? 

For these I used the same original doughnut recipe based on the one from Dan Lepard’s Short and Sweet book. I added a small ball of marzipan to the centre of each ball of dough, sealing the edges carefully before letting them rest for around 40 minutes, then frying at 180 degrees for a couple of minutes until golden and cooked through.

Marzipan undeniably goes well with chocolate, but rather than coating them, I prefer a sugary doughy shell, so I made a very simple chocolate dip. I chopped a small amount of 72% chocolate into a bowl, added some double cream and blasted in the microwave for a few seconds, then stirred until the mixture was smooth and glossy. You could vary chocolate to cream ratios depending on your tastes, adding sugar if needed.   

 

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Star Anise Doughnuts with Lychee Rose Caramel Dipping Sauce

Posted on May 15, 2012 by chloe

I’ll admit that the inspiration for this recipe came to me in one of possibly the least exotic locations, during one of my many trips to the local Lidl, a place I often frequent when in need of a curiosity fix; meandering as I do along it’s ramshackle isles can throw up any number of weekly changing and often obscure produce. In this instance giant (and cheap) cans of lychees; I had the sudden urge for a summery dessert, possibly brought on by an infrequent bout of sunshine, I could well be wrong on this point. In any case, I fancied making something highly fragrant and lightly exotic, doughnuts are obviously my current obsession, so they made the obvious base.

I made these in a miniature size as I did with my cardamom and rose petal sugar ones, using the same recipe I have through this whole episode of mine, making them the ideal dainty nibble to accompany a gin lychee martini as I did here.

Taking one sixth of the whole original doughnut recipe, I made a small single portion of six miniature ones, crushing a single star anise in a pestle and mortar to add to the dough. These only needed frying for around a minute at 180 degrees.

The caramel I’m afraid was a bit more of a haphazard method as so many of my recipes are; starting with a layer of muscovado sugar (this is what I usually use and why the caramel looks so dark) in a heavy based saucepan, cook until melted and starting to boil and darken in colour, then add a couple of knobs of butter, stirring as it froths. Add some juice from the can of lychees, a couple of drops of rosewater and a little corn flour to thicken if needed.

 

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Stem Ginger Doughnuts with Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling

Posted on May 14, 2012 by chloe

I adore most spices, with ginger being right up there amongst my favourites so the decision to make these doughnuts was an easy one. Ginger and dark chocolate is a definite winning combination in my book, the only real problem here with such tempting ingredients lies in holding off eating them in their raw state for long enough. But please do as these are really worth the wait, best eaten straight out of the fryer, glistening and piping hot, just be careful not to burn yourself on that molten ganache!

Once again I stuck to this tried and tested dougnut recipe. This time adding some chopped stem ginger into the dough with a good glug of the syrup from the jar, this does make them sticky to handle, however persevere.

For the filling I made a simple chocolate ganache by heating 100g double cream in a pan then stirring into 100g of finely chopped chocolate (I used 72%) until all the chocolate is melted and the ganache is smooth and glossy. I chilled this for a couple of hours then used a teaspoon to make small balls which I then carefully sealed inside my doughnuts before frying.

 

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Pizza Doughnuts

Posted on May 13, 2012 by chloe

You know it’s doughnut week right? Yup, seven days to cram as many fried treats into your gob as possible. Oh, and it started yesterday, so you’ve possibly got a whole days worth of doughnut eating action to catch up on.

I had intended to make a fresh batch of doughnuts today but a hangover addled brain meant I completely cocked up my sponge type starter by forgetting to put flour in altogether. With no time to start afresh for a batch today, I started another for tomorrow whilst thinking about other ways I could put my frothy milky yeasty concoction to good use. My first thought was pizza fritta, something I’ve meaning to make for ages, but without a functioning grill to finish them off I hesitated and was reminded of the other thing I’ve had in my head for a while… Of course, the obvious solution is pizza dougnuts, they are also far more appropriate for the themed week and the perfect snack to nibble with a Negroni whilst pretending to be on holiday in sunnier climes.

A warning, these are obviously designed to scorch your mouth, the molten tomato and cheese is a bugger for the greedy little cook, so let them cool a smidge before devouring.

Also, I lost half my batch to over zealous filling, turning them into soggy sticky useless balls. You really only need a teaspoon of sauce, with a slice or cube of mozzarella and don’t scrimp on the basil, it really elevates the flavour, adding a level of herbal aromatics that lifts the snack beyond the simply stodgy.

Makes 6 small doughnuts

100ml milk

Sachet fast action yeast

Pinch of sugar

125g ’00′ flour

Good quality chopped tomatoes

Half a ball mozzarella

Basil leaves

Seasoning

Stir yeast and sugar into warmed milk, leave for around 15 minutes for it to activate, it should be frothy. Stir into the flour with a pinch of salt until all is combined, knead briefly, return to a bowl, cover and leave for around an hour to rise.

Knead the dough again lightly then split into 6 equal sized balls. Flatten the balls and stretch in rounds then dot on a teaspoon of chopped tomatoes, slice of mozzarella, and a couple of fresh basil leaves. Pull the edges together and seal carefully.

Lower into a fryer preheated to 180 degrees and cook for a couple of minutes until golden.

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The Tweed Run & My Shiny New Pashley

Posted on May 9, 2012 by chloe

My beautiful beastie. Photo by Ian

I’ll be the first to admit that the purchase of my beautiful Pashley Princess Sovereign Hybrid was completely fuelled by dreams of sunny afternoons spent wafting around London’s coffee shops and inspired by my good friend Lady Velos jaunts on the Tweed Run. I fully intend to exercise my right to be a purely fairweather cyclist, our temperamental British weather dictating that this is likely to be less often than I might prefer; a shiny toy for poncing around on first and foremost, rather than the more serious exertions accomplished by proper cycling types. I applied for the Tweed Run as much as a goal to spur me on and get myself started as for the chance to dress up and prance around in vintage outfits. As it was, the thoroughly British Springtime had not been able to lure me out more than a couple of times with it’s threats of rain ready to trick and slip me up, my pretty bike remaining sat in her corner of the kitchen almost exclusively since her homecoming.

I appeared to somehow miss my confirmation email, so the first Tweed Run mailing met me with a mixture of, at first confusion, then excitement and trepidation; I was going to have to get myself back in the saddle, and quick. The day before the run, I managed to cobble together an outfit (I’ll never be as glamorous and stylish as Lady Velo, so I went for my trusted frock and cardi combo, for a sort of take on land girl/charming scruffy urchin). On the morning of the ride, an early rise awarded me plenty of time to indulge in the sort of girlyness I usually shirk in favour of laziness; a luxuriously hot soak in a bath laced indulgently with Penhaligon’s bluebell oils followed by a delicious Workshop Rwandan filter coffee is a fitting start to the day. Once dressed, and the bright red lipstick, that I had intended to wear every day at some point early last year but gave up because it was such a pain to maintain, has been applied I grab my girl and off we hop to London.

Any excuse to try new flavours from Pierre Herme

Only it’s not quite as simple as that is it?! As much as I love her, glamourous and elegant beauty that she is, let’s be fair, like her owner she could really do with losing a few pounds. And a simple trip isn’t that simple when you’ve got three flights of stairs at either end of your journey, yes I know many of you told me this, but……she’s SO PRETTY. So, yes, I ignored all advice but luckily the boy loves this sort of thing (no really….) and has been very helpful hauling her ampleness up and down stairs upon request.

Logistical woes over I arrive promptly, pick up my registration pack, number myself up and settle back to veiw the incredible outfits as they arrive; I have to say I’m suitably impressed with the turn out, every one of the 500 or so attendies is impeccably attired with a stunning array of bicycles, both new and vintage, some accessorised to the hilt, there’s also a pleasing number of VERY cute dogs, many dressed up. Sadly the weather doesn’t wish to play nice, although at least managing to hold off drowning us, it’s super chilly and  innevitably my Raynauds kicks in and I end up sticking my fingers IN a cup of tea to try and revive them. After a group photo we set off and not even the weather can dampen these spirits as we whiz off through Hyde park, wending our way through West London, our marshalls for the day performing a sterling job, keeping us safe and clearing a path through Londons busy streets. Speeding around Picadilly Circus is an exhilerating high point for this new rider, whilst practising cycling at practically zero speed in some patches within a crowd, a lesson in control and balance itself.

Photo by Ian

Photo by Ian

Me and my steed

 

The Vintage Maffia

 

Cute dog in tweed outfit. Photo by Ian

At a half way point we stop for a civilized spot of tea at the Imperial War Museum, cupcakes and bags of Tyrrells crisps are washed down with great urns of the nations favourite brew (yes, this is my rather tenuous link to food). Returning to the saddle, our route takes us through the back streets just south of the river, then back over Tower Bridge and up to our final destination; The Blacksmith and Toffeemaker, where we’re greeted with a welcome glass of Auchentoshan whisky that slips down like the finest of restoritive nectars. The sensible side of me somehow kicks in and I manage to stick to just a single glass of red, conscious of my journey home; those that know me may well be surprised, impressed, proud even that I arrived back at home safe and sound, completely unscathed with not so much as a spot of dirt on my CREAM frock. Here I have to give a massive thanks to @Grobelaar who is the consummate gentleman and escorts me all the way back from the pub to Victoria station, I know it sounds silly but I’m still absolutely petrified of the cars not playing nice (and in fact one bus proved his nasty bastard status, running me off the road).

Our little team made it! Pic from LadyVelo's Instagram feed

 

Smoking a pipe

 

Finalists of the best moustache

Most dashing dames

Most dapper chaps

The lovely Ian & Jools (@Grobelaar & @LadyVelo)

Amazing dog

Marshalls

Stunning £25 000 bike

Hand tooled leather & diamond studded handle bars

Graham Coxon - Token Celebrity with pig

Ian & I. Pic from LadyVelo's Instagram feed

Big thanks too, to the organisers of the Tweed Run for planning an absolutely smashing day out, a super route filled with jolly banter, natty outfits, bells and horns. I can’t think of a better way to christen my beautiful new Pashley.

Incidently I still haven’t chosen a name for my beauty; due to her attractive green hue I can’t help thinking along the lines of the green fairy, Absinthe. Do let me know if you have any good ideas!

Click here for the full set of Ians photos

Big thanks to Edward Horsford for having the ingenuity to geo map the route and produce the above map plotting around 15 miles, far further than I realised we’d travelled at the time.

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Chilli Queen Burger at Byron

Posted on May 2, 2012 by chloe

Yes. I’m writing about burgers AGAIN. I do appear to have eaten rather a lot of them over the last few weeks. I’m not going to apologise though as this is another absolute winner that I’m telling you about for your own good.

The beauty of Byron is it’s consistantly high standard of food, great staff, and rapidly increasing locations, which means you’re never far from a safe burger option wherever you might be in London. There’s regularly a ‘special’ burger on the menu that’s always worth a try, with the Uncle Sam being my favourite so far.  Oh, but Tom Byng, Byron’s founder, has really excelled here with this latest; teaming up with Fred Smith of The Admiral Codrington to create The Chilli Queen, in celebration of the Queens Jubilee. I was one of a bunch, including most of #teamburger, invited to attend a preview last week.

There was no doubt in my mind that the duo of tom and Fred could produce anything less than marvelous, and this burger is exceptional; glossy bun, perfectly seasoned, medium rare patty, green chillis and American cheese, smothered in chipotle mayo all sit on a crispy bed of shredded lettuce and pull together harmoniously. Nods and satisfied murmers around the table confirm that feelings are unanimous; this is GOOD. The accompanying, dangerously addictive, chipotle cheese fries are not only beautiful but taste sensational, sadly not on the menu, they’re so good they really, really should be. 

Wine and the new Byron Pale Ales lubricated the evening, interspersed with Fred’s dasterdly concotion of chilli picklebacks; yes this was a messy one, Tom sure knows how to throw a party.

Tom and Fred; it’s a match made in burger heaven.

The Chilli Queen goes on sale for a month from May 3rd.

Seriously, GO!

 

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Burger Therapy at MEATmarket

Posted on April 29, 2012 by chloe

It seems the Meat Wagon has been a fairly consistently recurring theme during my  relatively short blogging/Tweeting life, my lack of writing in no way indicitive of my love; some things are there purely for enjoyment. My first taste of their cheeseburger following a two hour wait whilst firmly ensconsed in The Florence coincided with my first time meeting many fellow South East Londoners, and fellow Tweeters, and probably far more than I realised at the time. It was also a seminal burger moment and still stands out as one of the best burgers I have ever tasted, no doubt fuelled by two hour hunger pangs fed with booze along with my lack of good burger exposure. I say meatwagon, but this was actually Yianni’s first outing sans nicked wagon and prompted the Meatwagons next incarnation, the terribly messy #Meateasy’s residency in a New Cross boozer.

Operating out of The Rye on Peckham Rye last year was an absolutely winning combination for me, offering the best medicine at a time of extreme heartache. When my Brother asked me what I wanted to do when I arrived at his Peckham Rye doorstep with all my belongings, I just about managed to gurgle through tears ‘meatwagon’. Ever the obliging host, he and his girlfriend (now fiance) dropped everything and we spent the rest of the day in The Rye necking wine in it’s garden, eating burgers and chilli cheese fries.  It was to become somewhat of a habit…

I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that eveyone I know was batshit excited for the first stand alone burger restaurant from Yianni and Scott. Meatliquor was, and is, indeed a roaring success, resplendent with lengthy queues on a daily basis due to it’s no booking policy and well earnt reputation. A strict restaurant license however limits it’s capacity to pack in the drinkers, keeping the atmosphere a touch on the restrained side. That’s not to say that I don’t love it; I do, and in fact had an excellent Birthday there with a bunch of friends late last year. Taking over the main central table, and freaking ourselves out with the crazy acoustics, we gorged on burgers and cocktails; it was suitably messy. Chicken wings and deep fried pickles became my new favourite things, the buffalo chicken burger is still the stuff of dreams.

So, the latest installment in this meaty saga is MEATmarket; more than a little thrilled to be invited to the preview, I joined a group of friends on Friday evening.  Located in the centre of Covent Garden on a mezzanine above the noisy, tourist filled Jubilee Market (entrance on Tavistock Street, thanks Joel), I love the look of the place on first sight. A promising red beakon of a sign glows over trashy picture menus, a short climb up concrete steps finishes at a long narrow room. First impressions is this is serious American style junk/fast food; the kitchen set up is epic. Magnetic letters spell out a relatively short menu above the counter that, I’m assuming, will grow longer when the joint opens proper.

I take to my stool with an immensely trashy Miami Vice slushy cocktail; swirls of pina colada and strawberry daquari combine to create a sweet and toxic tasting concoction that I wouldn’t drink anywhere else and yet hits the spot perfectly here, the previous nights hangover dissipating with each sip. Waitresses waft around with trays of deliciousness that are set to become what the deep fried pickles were for MEATliquor. Poppers; molten cheese and jalapeno peppers, coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried, a sum of greater than their respective components, I eat more than is strictly necessary.

The new burger here is the Black Palace, a sort of take on a giant slider (White Castle; get it?) that is as messy as a good burger can be; double burgers are drenched in yellow plastic cheese and loaded with piles of fried onions and steamed under a cloche as is the norm here.  I relish every juicy messy bite as it slips and slides away from me in all directions, I think it’s my favourite of their burgers yet. There’s also a new dog on offer, a beast of a sausage that is wrapped in bacon and deep fried, those that had it were looking happy. Desserts will come in the form of soft serve ice cream with various toppings including a jagermeister version…

Waitresses screeching order numbers were possibly a few decibels above my comfort zone, as was the rattling of stalls being moved and packed away beneath us, but that was probably heightened by my, more than a little, tender state, and if I’m honest only amplified the frenetic atmosphere.

I’ve no doubt MEATmarket will nurse me, and many other, through many more tough times when they open next week; medicine that I fully intend to indulge in as much as possible.

 

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Candied Bacon Doughnuts with Drambuie 15 Cream Filling

Posted on April 25, 2012 by chloe

Last Friday a bottle of Drambuie 15 landed on my desk. Hmmm, Drambuie. I don’t think I’m alone in associating the liqueur with the older generation; it sits firmly in my head on the same shelf as dusty bottles of sweet sherry, Advocaat, and unidentifiable bottles of lurid alcoholic concoctions destined to be thrust upon guests but once a year. Anyway, I’m not one to turn my nose up at free booze, and my preconceptions are probably a little harsh considering I’ve yet to taste the drink. If in doubt, proposition Twitter. So I did, requesting it’s best use; most responses suggested the classic rusty nail, but that didn’t really appeal, pairing as it does whisky liqueur with whisky sounding a little full on for this beginner whisky drinker. A couple of more appealing alternatives were thrown up by The Gin Blog and Almost Famous that had me teetering on the edge, but in the end I played it safe and added a shot of the liqueur to a Monkey Shoulder whisky sour to add a little oomph to the aperitif. The liqueur neat, is a honeyed version of a whisky, rich and made from a blend of 15 year old Speyside malts, it’s a more grown up version of the original Drambuie whilst retaining the original ‘secret elixir’ of herbs and spices. 

No. By this point I had other plans for my new ingredient.  Can you guess? Can you?

Yeah, you probably did….DOUGHNUTS. I’d been planning on making a candied bacon version with a bourbon cream filling for a while, and at first sip I knew this would a perfect alternative for the recipe. Whipped into double cream it makes a deliciously boozy but not too sweet filling to contrast with the external dough studded with little nuggets of sweet and sticky candied bacon. I replaced a little of the white flour for wholegrain spelt, and the white sugar for light muscovado to push the rich, caramelised notes of the other ingredients. In hindsight a maple syrup glaze might finish these off nicely, but they’re equally good without, and excellent to nibble with a tipple.

 

This recipe is adapted from the doughnut recipe in Dan Lepard’s Short and Sweet except I make 12 smaller doughnuts rather than 6 full size ones.

I replaced 75g of the strong white flour with wholgrain spelt flour and all the caster sugar for light muscovado.

For the candied bacon:

Sprinkle streaky bacon rashers (I used about a rasher per doughnut) with a good layer of more of the light muscovado sugar and bake (or grill, but my grill’s broken) on a high heat until crispy and shiny, being careful not to let it burn; this should take about 10 minutes.

When the bacon is cool, chop into tiny pieces and work into your dough at your second stage of light kneading.   

For the cream filling:

Whip double cream with a couple of teaspoons of Drambuie 15 and a couple of teaspoons of icing sugar until thick.

Spoon cream into a baking syringe and fill doughnuts once they’re cooked. If that’s too fiddly or you don’t have a syringe, they’re equally good just dipped into the boozy cream. 

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Citroën Delicious by DS5 Pop-up for Fare Share with Tim Anderson

Posted on April 23, 2012 by chloe

Who lives in a house like this?

Errr, that would not be me. I also don’t own the cars. Actually, I don’t even drive. So what, you may ask, am I doing at an event hosted by Citroën?

Well, Citroën are sponsoring a four day long pop up restaurant near Londons Liverpool Street from 16th May to coincide with the recent launch of their latest, and first hybrid, model DS5. For a frankly ridiculous £5, diners will be treated to a five course feast designed and cooked by last years Masterchef winner Tim Anderson, based around the theme of the five senses, with all proceed going to worthy charity Fareshare.

I was invited along to a preview last Thursday, hence me writing about something I never expected to on this blog; cars (although equally I never really anticipated writing about perfume either…..). Rocking up to the address stated on the invite, there was no mistaking the Dulwich house, for lined up on the large gravel driveway was a fleet of spanking new, shiny, sparkling cars winking at me. After some introductions and coffees we were rather trustingly let loose on those cars, I was quick to nab myself a driving companion, Will, and off we went on the pretext of a ‘forrage’ which was in reality a badly navigated (yup that would be me) trip to the local posh deli (actually really lovely Good Taste in Crystal Palace)to pick up some ingredients for the afternoon. I really do know nothing about cars, so don’t expect anything intelligent from me on that respect, execpt that they looked mighty pretty all lined up for us, and appeared to have some pretty natty features on the dashboard, including a glaring red SOS button that we were forbidden from pressing (oh, HOW I wanted to press that button…), most importantly Will managed to get it back to the house in one piece; bravo!

Looks like he knows what he's doing...

Once reconvened, we huddled around the kitchen and joined Tim in helping (hindering?) him create the dessert. I did start by diligently jotting down the recipe in my notebook but as things got more involved I had to give up, with about five different elements it wasn’t remotely simple and the technique and ingredients list alone was enough to give me wrist ache. I managed to manoeuvre myself into the kitchen to help make the cassis and rose foam. Once dessert was fully assembled, Tim talked us through the whole five courses, whilst demonstrating the main; taste of beef.

I'm all ears

'helping' Tim

 

My scrawled notes diciphered, reveal the menu to be thus:

Touch - duck glass with duck silk and duck leather; a cocophonony of textures that translate as a dehydrated and laquered duck skin that literally cracks in the mouth, with a super rich half butter, half liver pate coated in chocolate, finished with a duck jerky that’s infused with all the flavours associated with that chinese duck classic.

Sight – five different varieties of beetroot, are served with a goats cheese and wasabi cream, encapsulated within a beetroot shell, for a visually stunning dish.

Taste – fillet of beef cooked sous vide, seasoned with belacon (dried fermented shrimp) and seared in a pan. This is served with romesco, blanched and cooked in cashew nut butter, and a mash enhanced with blue cheese, stock and shiitake mushrooms. A sauce is made from veal stock, Merlot, coffee and prune juice.

Sound – a caramelised bacon lollipop with popping candy, coffee and shizuan pepper; designed to explode noisily in the mouth

Aroma – a dark chocolate mousse infused with coffee, star anise, cinamon, drum tobacco, whole black peppercorns and liquorice is layered over whole peeled grapes and topped with a grape juice jelly, a lapsang souchong, tobacco and syrah mousse, a cassis, port and rosewater foam, and finished with a good smoking before being sealed in individual pots.

We’re treated to the Taste of Beef followed by Aromas of Syrah as a finale to our day, the experience enhanced by a rose centrepiece that emits a flurry of dry ice swirls when watered that release evocative and pungeant rose and wine aromas. The many flavours of the two dishes are complex, yet combine superbly to create an incredible flavour experience.

You can apply for one of the 500 tickets on Citroën’s Facebook page from today

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Brockley Market

Posted on April 18, 2012 by chloe

Last Saturday was a balmy Spring one, full of sunshine that spurred me on to embark on an adventure; it dawned on me it was the perfect opportunity to finally get around to visiting the already much lauded Brockley Market despite it’s relatively short life span thus far…

Located in Lewisham College car park, the market is a joyful sight, no doubt enhanced by the abundant sunrays; people milling around chatting and eating, others leaving with heaving bags of produce, I’m quick to spot a few familiar traders, several from the succesful Eatstreet collective, some from other markets.  As is often the case with places prevalent amongst Twitter I almost immediately bump into a group of friendly faces and we set of for a mooch, regularly checking in to share feedback and, more importantly, bites of food!

I’m criminally not that hungry despite alluring scents wafting from all directions so spend some time just checking out the various stallholders. I’ve seen rather a lot of the Egg Boss on Twitter, not surprising since last weekend was that eggcentric holiday that is Easter, and his serious looking scotch eggs certainly look the part. A good selection of varieties include cumberland, black pudding, lamb merguez, as well as some rather more unnusual ones. My friends tuck into The Rib Man’s Holy Fuck sauce spiked version which appears to go down a treat. I was rather more curious about The Wrong One, an artery clogging Creme Egg, surrounded by peanut butter, coated with chocolate shavings and then deep fried. I’ll admit that the initial description sounded a little disgusting (yeah, I know, who am I to talk when I made Creme Egg doughnuts last weekend?!) but the bite I had worked rather well; salty peanut butter, despite being rich, tempered the sweetness of the egg. Not bad at all, though my body’s probably greatful I didn’t eat a whole one!

The other must have munch on my radar was Mother Flipper I’ve read much good stuff as well as seen some pretty tantalising pictures so quickly got in the queue, agreeing to share a double candy bacon flipper (I’m not a very good day time eater…). By the time our number’s called we’re champing at the bit, those burgers before us looking mighty fine. A little production line of sauce arty bases were then blessed with well seasoned patties, draped in luminous cheese and crowned with a glossy bun. We asked for ours to be sliced for us, to be sure there was no fighting over the bigger half, I questioned my judgement as the other half of my burger was inhaled by The Boy Who Bakes….My half of the burger was a fantastic balance of flavours; deep savouriness of the patties, sweet and salty candied bacon, plenty of piquant mustard and ketchup combining with dribbly meat juice into lettuce, slivers of red onion and pickles, held in place with a robust brioche bun. My only quibbles would be that the bun was a smidge on the dry side and the cheese got a little lost in the mix (but then I am a cheese fiend!) my burger was a little over in doneness than I’d prefer, but overall an excellent offering and we enjoyed every last mouthful.

Full too soon and cursing my inability to ingest more, I can only gaze lustfully at other hot food stands and promise to visit again soon. Luardos has the best pink van knocking out mexican street food, Mike and Ollie  were offering an interesting take on street food with sustainable and foraged morsels in great looking wraps. Simon of the blog Street Feast  tucked into a great looking smoky BLT from The Red Herring Smokehouse which he raved about several times as we wandered around in the sun.

Amongst food ready to eat there and then, is plenty of stalls full of produce; meat, game, cheese, fruit and veg, plants, herbs, oils, salamis, bread and cakes. I hear there’s a chocolate stall sometimes that I’m keen to try, and Brown’s of Brockley often have a space selling dairy products that they use in their lovely local shop. As usual I find myself drawn to an array of cakes, tarts and bakes goods available; there’s a number of producers selling this type of thing including favourite Sugargrain with her ‘free from’ fare.  This time though, I can’t resist a great display from bakery Astons and walk away with a gorgeous chunk of walnut and fig sourdough rye that I’ve been eating for lunch with a good spread of salted butter. A slab of ginger cake that is a perfect combination of dense and sticky, with a fantastic ginger flavour and crystalised chunks on top makes a satisfying dessert that evening with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I finish this visit with a perfectly pulled espresso from local coffee roasters Dark Fluid; I’ve found a good coffee cart is often overlooked for some reason even amongst otherwise great markets so it’s a real highlight here and much appreciated by me, and many others judging by their steady queue.

Brockley seems to have found a near perfect balance of traders here; not heavy on any one thing, just the right size, which teamed with an atmosphere that combines a sense of pride and camaraderie from locals, with a sense of adventure from those from further afield discovering somewhere new, coming together in the name of good food. It really is a wonderful way to while away a Saturday.

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