Happy St Anthony's day (Portugal)

Today is St Anthony's Day (mmm obscure, I know. I hadn't actually heard of him until some poking around on the wonderful www.somewhereintheworldtoday.com. Maybe it will provide a nice - though tenuous - link to my sister's blog about theological things.. www.parttimepriest.blogspot.com.) It's most celebrated in Portugal, so that's where we head this week on our peripatetic culinary tour. I think I was most drawn to the imagined sun drenched harbour scenes where people grill fish on barbeques and give each other carnations and pots of basil. Why does everything always sound so much better in hot countries?

Jamie Oliver's blog (which seems to have a lot of contributors who are not Jamie Oliver) suggested simply grilled sardines. The only problem was where to get fresh ones, especially after the massive Sainsbury's at Bethnal Green couldn't help. I should have started nearer to home - the rather smelly and sort of dishevelled fish shop, opposite the similarly described Kings Hall swimming baths, came up trumps.

THE DISH

Grilled sardines. (Jamie Oliver's blog version)

•  6 medium sized fresh sardines
•  1/2 handful coarse sea salt
•   2 large potatoes, like russets
•   2 green bell peppers
•   1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
•   1/8 cup white wine vinegar
•   1/2 onion, thinly sliced
•   2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
•   Salt and white pepper
•   1 Large tomato
•   Some slices of Cucumber (if you like)

Scale and gut the sardines (you can have your fishmonger do this). Wash the sardines under cold, running water and pat dry with paper towels. Lightly salt the sardines with coarse sea salt and refrigerate. Meanwhile, boil 2 potatoes until a knife is easily inserted. Drain and cool.

Roast 2 green bell peppers over an open flame until charred. Place in a bowl and cover it with plastic to allow it to steam for approximately 20 minutes. Remove the plastic and peel and seed the peppers.

Cut peppers into 3-inch wide strips and combine in bowl with 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/8 cup white wine vinegar, onion, and garlic. Add tomato (sliced) , onion (sliced) and cucumber. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Preheat a grill.

Place the sardines on a hot grill. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and place on the grill. When the sardines are done on first side, flip them over, and give the potatoes a quarter turn to create the grill marks.

Place 3 sardines on each plate with 2 potato halves and some green pepper salad. For decoration and extra flavour, drizzle with remaining olive oil

(I misread the recipe and marinated the sardines with the grilled peppers and garlic/oil/onion mix. But then I just cooked it all in a griddle - hot pepper salad instead of  cold, with tomatoes and cucumber on the side).


Toasted Tuscan bread salad with tomatoes and basil (River Cafe cookbook one)

• 1 ciabatta loaf
• 1kg ripe fresh plum tomatoes (the stronger the flavour the better)
• 2 tablespoons best quality red wine vinegar
• 250ml good quality olive oil (you don't really need anything like as much as this!)
• 2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed with a little sea salt
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a handful fresh basil leaves
• juice 1/2 lemon

Pre heat the oven to 240C/475F/Gas9 or the highest it will go.
Roughly tear the loaf into eighths and place on a baking tray.
Bake in the oven until dry and toasted on the outside but soft in the centre (no more than 5 minutes).
Place in a bowl.
Take four of the tomatoes and using your hands squeeze them over the toasted bread.
Mix together a dressing using half the olive oil the vinegar crushed garlic and some
salt and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the toasted bread and tomato and toss.
Skin and seed the remaining tomatoes retaining their juices slice lengthways into eigths and add them with the basil to the bread mixture.
Finally add the lemon juice to bring out the flavour of the tomatoes and pour over the remaining olive oil.


Well spotted that this is not a true Portuguese recipe. It's from Tuscany. Really. But it has so much basil in it I thought those Lisbon-ites must use a similar salad if they're going around giving little basil plants to everyone to celebrate the venerable Saint A. Despite the boys helping with the fun messy bit of squeezing the tomatoes with your bear hands they didn't eat any of it after their first taste.

THE REACTION
Mr Middle: "Ugh I don't like fish." This is a boy who regularly says "my favorite food is fish pie". Muted responses to everyone else, apart from the Youngest who, before they were cooked, stroked the sardines as though they were his new pet. He was excited to find their fins still 'worked' ie concertinaed out of their otherwise rather dead backs. N, as always, expressed surprise, delight and general enthusiasm for something that wasn't Toad in the Hole.

THE VERDICT 

To be honest it was quite hard work. I mean I enjoyed it. (Though to be brutally honest I actually preferred the fish on toast the next day with lashings of malt vinegar. They way we used to have them out of the tin for Sunday suppers as a child). The Eldest Pescatarian made a valiant effort. And ate lots of basil leaves, which was pleasing for me if not filling for her. The boys really must have gone to bed pretty hungry. Mr Middle summed it up thus: I hated the fish. I hated the pepper. Even N turned down seconds. Not something I can recall him doing before. Ever.

Thank goodness for random over dinner conversation which, at one point, went like this:

Kaspar: "Do you know what I believe about God? He has an evil brother called Dave."

Must have been all that talk about Saints and things.

THE PUDDING
I have to say that I had my doubts about the pudding. There were a number of variations to the recipe, but I couldn't find any which had anything other than coffee for the biscuit dunking. A bit tirimasu-ish I guess. But coffee and lemon and cream?? I doubt Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall would put them in his new book Three Good Things on a Plate. I doubted it so much I only made about half quantities. Hence the slightly strange shape of mine.

Bolo de Bolacho Maria (from the slightly strangely named fish and vegetarian recipe website)

Ingredients:
500ml whipping cream
250g mascarpone
600g rich tea biscuits
3 Table spoons lemon curd
2 Table spoons black coffee
2 Tables spoon sugar
1 Lemon


Whip cream with mascarpone, 1 tsp lemon juice and sugar until firm.
Add coffee to 500 ml boiling water.
Dip rich a tea biscuit into coffee for 1 second and shake excess coffee before placing on servicing plate.
Repeat until forming the shape desired with 1 layer of biscuits.
Lightly spread mascarpone cream over biscuit layer.
Repeat the process with 8 layers building towers.
Cover the towers with whipped mascarpone cream.
Add 1 layer of lemon curd on top of the cake.
Decorate as desired and put in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.

But, I was delighted to find, I was wrong. It actually worked very well. And looked pretty impressive to boot. Maybe we shouldn't have given so much stick to Wills when he requested a biscuit cake (presumably of the tiffin variety rather than this foreign muck) for his wedding cake.  

I planted out the basil a couple of days later so, alongside the carnations I made - because on St Antony's day people also write poems and make carnations to give to each other - perhaps we'll at least have a permanent reminder of the visit to Portugal, even if no one really wants to go back there any time soon! (Apart from me of course. Gimme sardines on toast any day).

Jai ho!

It was with some trepidation that I rolled out 'Indian' this week. There is some history. 21 years ago I went to India having not eaten curry in my life and all too aware of a rather  limited diet spanning a couple of decades of fussy eating. The first thing that happened was a delayed flight dumping me in a posh hotel in Colombo. Posh enough to offer western dishes but hey here I was having fled my safe Surrey home life for 9 months on the Indian subcontinent. I was ready to dive in and that evening ordered a curry at random from the confusing menu. Little did I know that Sri Lankan cuisine leaves Indian looking like an insipid cousin when it comes to heat. The up side was that my culinary experiences after that shock were almost all good and I was a curry convert when I returned to the UK. 

I brought home precious recipes from friends I made there and over the years have made a mean dish or two. But, lets face it, Indian home cuisine has not moved on much from housewives rising at 5am to grind the spices on a stone  in order to marinade the meat in time for supper. I have to admit that the home made curries dwindled and the take-outs increased. 

I know plenty of people who raised their toddlers on left over take-out curries, but I could never do it. That might have been because we always polished ours off the night before while she was in bed, or because our eldest has an extremely sensitive palate and can spot a sprinkling of dried chillies at 20 paces, or that I couldn't quite bring myself to serve the glowing, luminous, red gloop to our precious progeny.

Scroll on nearly a decade and I find myself with 3 kids who all, until recently, declared their hatred of curry. Luckily the Eldest discovered (before her vegetarianism) that her favourite school meal was lamb curry. The younger two seem entrenched in their view but I long to take them, one day, to India and so am pretty keen to educate them.

Enough of the backstory. It was a busy week. We didn't even manage to do it on a Tuesday. And we had several friends round a few day before with a great take out which was not entirely polished off.  So the home made 'proper' Indian will have to wait: this week it was Anglo Asian curry night with kids!

THE DISH

Poppadoms with (home made) raita and mango chutney

Sag aloo (potato and spinach)

Kodu masala (pumpkin)

Special rice (with all those red garnishes gently dying the rice crimson. What is that about? I didn't see rice like that in 9 months of travel)

Bindhi (okra)

Good old Patak's chicken korma with toasted almonds

THE REACTION

I was surprised to find a lack of protests but this maybe because I sneakily called it Chicken Korma and tried to avoid the curry word completely. Sadly we didn't manage any music, dressing up, or other interesting side activity. I feel like its been a little light weight recently. But Mr M did dive in with delight at being able to eat with his fingers!

THE VERDICT

Can't believe it. Indian take away was given thumbs up by my children. Well, to be honest I don't think anyone ate the okra. Or Kodu masala (it is an enduring disappointment that my wonderful vegetarian daughter hasn't quite established a liking, yet, for squash). But the poppadom a were popular. And Eldest even made the raita herself, the brilliant girl.

Mr Middle - I love the rice. I love the chicken. 

Youngest - Let's give a silent cheer for the food (followed by much mouth opening and waving of arms.  Did I mention that I love their school??)

Eldest - I think she was a little disappointed to find that quorn korma isn't on the menu of any curry houses I know. I think we need to work on those root vegetables. Or maybe I should take her to Rasa? She did polish off the raita!

N - Isn't this what we had the other night? (Um. maybe that's why we never ate leftover curry!)

PUDDING

All too late for that even. I said it was a bit light weight. Mind you I had to admit to the kids that in all my travelling I never really found an Indian pudding I liked. All a bit over sweet, gloopy or dripping in ghee. We had chocolate ice cream instead. Its good to condition in a 'reward' for an Indian curry well received!!

Arrivederci Italia!

I decided, what with last week's marathon cook and this week's added pressure of packing for Scotland, that this week I would keep it simple. I had been rather putting off going to Italy because we basically eat Italian (pasta, pizza, risotto) about 4 times a week already. But it dawned on me (and this could seriously help us to avoid the really obscure countries) that countries have a plethora of food available to try and we could even go back several times to the same country and try a whole new range of food. Yes. So, gnocchi it was. Easy peasy (unless you make it yourself of course but even my friend who spent 6 months in Rome recommended I bought it ready made) and almost universally liked. I did go a bit OTT though. I am beginning to realise this is my downfall. As tea approached I realise I should have branched out a bit.. not one, but two different gnocchi dishes graced our table tonight. One tomatoey and one creamy. 

THE DISH

Gnocchi and tomato bake (BBC good food)

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion , chopped
• 1 red pepper , deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove , crushed
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 500g pack gnocchi
• handful basil leaves, torn
• half a 125g ball mozzarella , torn into chunks

1. Heat grill to high. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, then soften the onion and pepper for 5 mins. Stir in the garlic, fry for 1 min, tip in the tomatoes and gnocchi, then bring to a simmer. Bubble for 10-15 mins, stirring occasionally, until the gnocchi is soft and the sauce has thickened. Season, stir through the basil, then transfer to a large ovenproof dish.
2. Scatter with the mozzarella, then grill for 5-6 mins until the cheese is bubbling and golden. 

That is so my kind of recipe. Easy ingredients. About 15 mins from fridge to table. Bargain.

Gnocchi with spinach pine nuts and dolcelatte (Delia online.. who disappointingly suggested a 'tub of cheese sauce'... 'ready toasted pine nuts' and 'ready grated parmesan'. Delia! Have you no shame?). Supermarket sell out.

500g pack fresh gnocchi

450g young leaf spinach

1 tbsp ready toasted pine nuts

85g dolcelatte (or gorgonzola)

olive oil

1 tub fresh cheese sauce

whole nutmeg – grated

1 tbsp breadcrumbs

2 tbsp ready-grated parmesan

Pre-heat the grill and put a lightly oiled, 19cm (or similar) round or square baking dish underneath it to heat through. Then wilt the spinach and drain. Now fill a large saucepan with boiling water, add salt and cook the gnocchi for 2 minutes or until they start to float to the top.

While they’re cooking, make the cheese sauce in a small pan (make a roux with flour and butter and whisk in enough milk for a thick sauce. Add grated cheddar and melt in the sauce). Squeeze any excess moisture from the spinach (hands are best). Then arrange the spinach all over the base of the heated baking dish.

When the gnocchi are ready, drain them in a colander and arrange them on top of the spinach.

Next, scatter the cubes of cheese in, along with the toasted pine nuts.

Follow this with the hot cheese sauce, spreading it evenly all over, and grate half of the whole nutmeg over that.

Finally, sprinkle over the breadcrumbs and the Parmesan, then grill it 10cm from the heat – for 3 minutes or until golden-brown and bubbling. 

Polenta bruschetta.

I am not sure whether, technically, you can get bruschetta made of polenta, or whether it's strictly made with some other sort of bread. But I bought some ready made polenta, sliced it, fried it on a hot griddle, and topped it with a variety of olives, sundried tomatoes and peppers, caramelised onion jam, capers and parma ham. And I threw in a salad with rocket, parma ham, parmesan and figs, as well as one with Growing Communities salad leaves plus pink grapefruit.   

THE REACTION
"Is Italy in the same country as Scotland?" (Really think the school should work a little harder on geography.)
"Are we going to Italy?? For real? In an aeroplane??" (Don't think K has quite got the hang of this yet!)
Overall Italy was greeted with some enthusiasm, but it turned to exasperation quite quickly in the few minutes it took me to sing 'Just one Cornetto' at the top of my voice as they came to the table. Should have been an opera singer! In fact I am pretty glad they didn't make the connection otherwise my pudding would have been voted out in favour of one of those cone shaped ice lollies in a trice.
"Wow! I thought you said it was going to be simple tonight? This looks amazing! You're a wonder-,mum!" And other nice phrases were from the lovely Lodger, Helen. She can come again.

THE VERDICT
"This is my BEST tea EVER - a trillion out of a trillion" said Mr K. Not bad I reckon. Until N tried to explain that this was the same, in fact, as if he had awarded the food one out of one. This resulted in one small confused 6 year old. But he had eaten all his tomato gnocchi which I consider to be A Result. I was interested to see that all the 3 kids preferred the tomato gnocchi when usually pasta with tomato sauce is greeted with derision by at least the male contingent. I guess it was all that blue cheese, which doesn't usually feature in my macaroni cheese.
Mr Middle only gave it 3/10, generously extending it to a 4 when he remembered he'd got an extra corn on the cob to make up for the fact he ate very little. Typical, as soon as the fussiest likes something, another declares their hatred of it. Eldest ate her way through most of the tomato gnocchi, declaring her passion for figs along the way.

THE PUDDING
Another Tuesday another cheat pudding. This time M&S supplied a very nice Sicillian lemon cheesecake, Sainsbury's served up Carte D'Or's Tirimasu icecream and we had another selection of figs doused in honey.  That all went down swimmingly.

Should have done a bit more opera, and probably a bit of standing around looking cool in shades, but at least the sun did grace us with its presence and lit up the plates like a tropical sea scape. The other stuff will have to wait till we visit Italy again. I am sure they eat all sorts of different things in Tuscany. Or in Sicily. Arrivederci Italia!

 

  

Rio here we come

It always takes longer than I think this travelling cuisine marlarkey. Trying every shop on the street for tapioca flour. Checking out on google whether tapioca flour is the same as the cassava flour which is the only think I can find in the local corner shop. Wondering what sort of chilly I have bought from the fabulous local greengrocer who doesn't much go in for labelling of products. More googling helped. Fab chilly chart for the uninitiated. But I was still guessing, to be honest. I guess I should have chosen a pudding which didn't call for being cooked for 2hrs and then chilled for 6. No one should have to start cooking Tuesday night tea the day before. And here I am blogging about it at nearly 1am on the following Tuesday as I haven't had a moment to finish it off til now. I've got to get a grip...

THE DISH

As well as the things, below, which I prepared for the main meal, I also bought some banana chips
and some coconut and passion fruit juice for a totally tropical taste. I am sure that there must be a stack of good cocktails but I just ran out of time...

Brazilian Chicken Stew (it seems a great shame that there isn't a wonderful Portuguese name for it..)
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/brazilian-chicken-stew
  
1/3 cup peeled and thinly sliced ginger (3 ounces) 
4 garlic cloves, chopped 
2 jalapeños, seeded and chopped 
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 
1 tablespoon sweet paprika 
2 tablespoons water 
1/4 cup vegetable oil 
3 medium onions, coarsely chopped 
2 cups drained canned plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped, juices reserved 
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk 
1/2 cup dry-roasted peanuts, finely chopped 
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, plus more for garnish 
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish 
3 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth 
Salt and freshly ground pepper 
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces 
Steamed rice and lemon wedges, for serving

1. In a food processor, pulse the ginger with the garlic, jalapeños, lemon juice and paprika until finely chopped. Add the water and process to a paste.
2. In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil until shimmering. Add the onions and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the ginger paste and cook until it begins to brown, about 3 minutes. Add half of the tomatoes along with the coconut milk, peanuts, 1/4 cup of the shredded coconut and 2 tablespoons of the cilantro and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
3. Scrape the sauce into a food processor or blender and puree. Return the sauce to the saucepan. Add the stock and the remaining tomatoes and 2 tablespoons of cilantro and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper and simmer over moderate heat until reduced to 5 cups, about 20 minutes. Keep warm.
4. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil until shimmering. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and sauté over moderately high heat until golden and cooked through, about 10 minutes.
5. Add the chicken; season with salt and pepper. Spoon into bowls and garnish with coconut and cilantro. Serve with steamed rice and lemon wedges.

Pão de Queijo - cheesy puffs

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_brazilian_cheese_bread/

• 1 egg*
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2/3 cup milk
• Scant 1 1/2 cups (170 grams) tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup (packed, about 66 grams) grated cheese, your preference, though we got the best results from Mexican farmer's cheese - queso fresco
• 1 teaspoon of salt (or more to taste)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a mini-muffin tin. Put all of the ingredients into a blender and pulse until smooth. You may need to use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the blender so that everything gets blended well. At this point you can store the batter in the refrigerator for up to a week.
2.  Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until all puffy and just lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for a few minutes.
Eat while warm or save to reheat later.
Note that Brazilian cheese bread is very chewy, a lot like Japanese mochi.

(makes enough batter for 16 mini muffin sized cheese breads).

THE REACTION
Apart from the obligatory melt down from the kids as they waited for food to be delivered, and the obligatory melt down from the mother as the extra burden of delivering the obscure cuisine sank in, it was all quite cool. No one made too much fuss as I served up, they all got pretty well into watching capoeira and videos of mardi gras (which is completely mad and seems much more like the one in the Disney/Pixar film Rio than I ever anticipated!!) and I even showed then a short video from amazonwatch.org/ about the Brazilian tribes fighting the government over the Belo Monte dam which threatens their homes and lives. To be honest the sauce turned out a little sick-looking-like so I was amazed it wasn't greeted with derision.


THE VERDICT
M: I liked the pineapple and coconut juice and the chicken (but he didn't really eat the sauce).  I would give it about 4 out of 10.
K: I liked the whole entire meal. I would give it 10 out of 10.
E: Say that I was the only one who ate it all.  I give it 7 out of 10.
me: I had been rather looking forward to the cheesy balls after the Travellers down the road had raved about them on their Brazilian night. But I thought the casava flour smelt of vomit when I was making them and they didn't improve much once in their mini Yorkshire pudding guise. Maybe that's the price you pay for recipes off the internet instead of getting the genuine article off your Brazilian cleaner. And, if I'm honest, what with the left over tapas rice on the plate with the cheesy puffs and slightly sickly looking stew, it all looked a bit orange. Had to shove on some red pepper and cucumber and a slice of lime at the last minute just for interest's sake.

THE PUDDING

Thanks to Brazilian Ana living in the States for the pudding. I must say it sounded devine and the pics on her blog are amazing. But... after the whole damn shebang of boiling it for 2 hours, whipping cream, cooking a custard, cooling it, layering it, freezing it etc etc I happened to nibble on a slice that I had saved for a garnish. That pineapple may have been lovingly bought by the Lovely Mary for my Lovely Birthday Soiree. But that pineapple was not lovely. Dry, tasteless and hard. Oh my what a disappointment! I reckon this could have been about the best pudding I've cooked for these Tuesday night adventures but I can't really say for sure because with this mediocre fruit it was not exactly the tropical taste explosion I had been hoping for. Damn.

• 1 medium fresh pineapple
• 3/4 sugar
• 1 cup water
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 can sweet condensed milk
• whole milk (use the condensed milk can to measure the milk)
• 1 can crema media (I think I would call this evaporated milk. But this is so 1970s I couldn't bring myself even to buy it. I used single cream instead).
• 3 tbs sugar
• 3 egg whites

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Cut your pineapples is small cubed pieces.

Add sugar, water in the pineapple and let it cook on medium-high heat for about 2 hours until pineapple becomes tender and water evaporates. You should have very little liquid left, and be very careful not to burn the pineapple compote.

In a sauce pan add condensed milk, whole milk, and eggs. Mix with a wooden spatula cook on medium heat until creamy.

Have the crema media can in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using it. With your can opener placed on the bottom of the can poke a hole and let the liquid run down until empty.

Using your mixer beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff. Beat the sugar for about 2 minutes then with a spatula mix the crema media.

Make sure everything is cooled down completely. Start with the pineapple, second, add the cream and third, add the topping made with the egg whites, crema media and sugar. Spread each layer evenly.

Keep in the freezer for at least 6 hours. It has to be frozen just like ice cream. I used some of the pineapple juice that was left with 2 tablespoon of sugar to make a thicker sauce for pouring on the dessert.

Before serving, let it sit on the counter for about 5 minutes, and serve immediately

Hackney Hanami

Last Friday Mr Middle brought home a trip letter from school for us to sign. It is for this Friday when his year group will join together at a local park for a hanami. It sounded fun but I had no idea what a hanami was, so when I discovered the letter stuffed in his lunch box way after bed time I had to google it. A Japanese picnic to celebrate the cherry blossom! How is it that I have reached my 43rd year and no one has told me about this fantastic thing? Hackney is positively bursting with blossom right now, as it is every spring, from tiny spindles of trees lining the pavements full of Victorian terraces, planted in optimistic New Labour days when planting trees in streets was not only seen as a good idea but actually funded too (some come out obscenely early and look almost top heavy they are so laden) to the thick trunked behemoths of blossom which have been knocking around for years. So why are there no hanami? What more excuse does anyone need to spread your picnic blanket beneath such a glorious sight?

Enough eulogising. It at least helped pin down that destination question this week and it seemed a no brainer to travel to Japan.

And upon discovery of the great little website www.somewhereintheworldtoday.com I even had some recipes to hand.

THE DISH

Yakitori chicken

Chicken and marinade:

• 400 – 500g Boneless Chicken pieces – thighs and/or breast are best
• 3 tablespoons dark Soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons Sake (I used sherry... I know it's scandalous. But several blogging gurus said it was OK and where was I gonna get Sake on Chatsworth Road?.)
• 8 to 10 Bamboo skewers, soaked in water so as they don’t burn
• Oil

Tare:

• 100ml Soy sauce
• 100ml Mirin (I, erm, just left this out. I know - scandalous. But the blogging gurus said there isn't a substitute and you might as well just leave it out.)
• 50ml Sake
• 1 tablespoon Sugar or Honey

1. Toss the chicken piecse in a bowl with the soy sauce and sake marinade ingredients. Set aside for at least 15 or 20 minutes.
2. Mix the tare ingredients together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over a medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes.
3. Thread the chicken pieces on the soaked bamboo skewers, leaving an inch or two free at each end and brush lightly with oil.
4. Grill the chicken over hot charcoal or grill in the oven, turning part way through to cook both sides. When the chicken begins to brown, spoon over or brush with some of the tare.
5. When the chicken is cooked through, give the skewers another brush with the tare and serve while still hot.

Tamagoyaki - sweet omlette

• 4 eggs
• Sugar (1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon depending on how sweet a tooth you have)
• 1 tablespoons water)
• 1 teaspoon mirin
• 1 teaspoon Japanese soy sauce (or light soy sauce)
• Pinch salt
• Vegetable or sunflower oil for cooking
• Optional sesame seeds for topping
• Extra mirin, soy sauce and sugar for dipping sauce

1. Beat all the ingredients (except oil) together with a fork.
2. Heat a little oil in a heavy frying pan* over a medium heat, it really just wants to be brushed over the bottom and sides of the pan and not in a pool.
   *If you want to be a` perfectionist then you can buy a special square pan so as to have more solid ends to your Tamagoyaki which makes slicing neater.
3. Add some of the egg mix to the pan (about 2-3 tablespoons) and tilt it around so it spreads out. Cook gently until its nearly set on top. Using a spatula (preferably wooden) roll up the egg pancake to one side of the pan.
4. Brush the pan with more oil if necessary. Add the same amount of egg mix again letting it run right up to the edges of the cooked omelette and even underneath it. When this second layer of omelette is nearly set then roll up the whole of the omelette to the other side of the pan.
5. Keep on in this way until all the egg mix has gone.
6. Allow to cool to room temperature and slice. You can serve the Tamagoyaki immediately sprinkled with a few sesame seeds and with an accompaniment of 50% soy sauce, 50% mirin and a little sugar as a dipping sauce. Or it can also be used use as a filling for sushi rolls. (Sushi maki).

Hanami salad

• 200g Rice vermicelli (fine noodles)
• 2-4 Spring onions
• 100g Pack asparagus or mangetout
• A few radishes
• 1 large carrot
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• A dash of sesame oil (ordinary oil will do but add a few sesame seeds or a handful of peanuts to the salad to give it a nutty flavour)
• A dash of light soy sauce

1. Cook the rice noodles according to the packet instructions and then plunge into cold water to cool. Drain really well even blotting with kitchen roll or a clean tea towel to remove as much of the excess water as possible.
2. Blanch or cook the asparagus or mangetout for a couple of minutes and then plunge them in cold water too. Drain well, again trying to get rid of as much excess water as possible.
3. Chop the spring onions and slice the carrots and radishes finely into discs. Using a sharp knife cut 5 or 6 V shaped nicks out of the radish discs evenly spaced around the edge to make them into a flower. You can do the same with the carrots or use a flower shaped vegetable cutter (a metal clay cutter or cookie cutter will do just as well).
4. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and toss well to coat with the oil, mirin and soy sauce.

Sekihan rice

400g Japanese glutinous rice (or you can use Sushi rice)
1 can of azuki red beans
1/2 teaspoon salt
Gomashio (black sesame seeds and salt) for topping (optional)

1. Wash rice and drain in a colander.
2. Cook the rice (according to the instructions on the packet) along with the azuki beans and  colored liquid from the can. Season with salt and mix well.
3. Sprinkle mixture of salt and black sesame seeds over the rice before serving in rice bowls with chopsticks

A little bit about the festival is here.

THE REACTION
Mr Middle positively beamed when I said we were going to do a hanami picnic. Eldest and Youngest looked a bit bemused, but we had a few johnny-come-latelys join us from school so pretty much everyone was happy. The setting - park surroundings, football, blossom to throw and grass clippings to build with - did rather distract from the eating thing. But that's always the way with picnics. The lovely P brought down some Miso soup in a flask so we felt well authentic but only her two kids and my Eldest got the gold star for eating it. But I must say that even my Youngest tasted it, which would have been unheard of 6 months ago. The wasabi chickpeas were an unnecessary addition that no one seemed interested in. The tamagoyaki came out next and was wolfed by my two boys before anyone else even clapped eyes on it. Chicken ditto. Some liked the rice, some the noodles in the salad. Even the flowery carrots were a hit. Radishes? Not so much.

THE VERDICT
I think we could definitely get away with yakitori chicken again. And Sekihan rice with a bit of persuasion. Even I was a bit doubtful about the glass noodles in the salad, but with the suggested addition of peanuts it was quite an interesting mix. It wasn't quite the environment to get proper feedback... been a bit slack about that recently. But eating out on the grass, on a blanket, from teensy bowls with chopsticks, and delicate pink blossom falling around our ears was always going to be a winner!

THE PUDDING
Erm. I bought a packet of Oreos. Somehow they strike me as so American that I feel sure they'd be ubiquitous in Japan (what kind of perverse logic is that?). Melon appears to be popular, so I bought a peachy cantaloupe melo and skewered some melon balls in a nod to the fact I had not be quite bothered enough to make the special three colour hanami dango (dumplings).

The kids played crazy grass and petal throwing games on their scooters, P and I talked about the travesty which is post occupation Iraq and the evening sun drenched the hospital workers as they filed out of the Homerton and onto the buses whizzing past. Should probably do this every Tuesday in May. We left when one of the drinkers who hang out in that little piece of ground lit a bonfire of a pile of grass clippings and started smoking it. I wonder if that's a feature of many hanami in Japan?