Only a very short time ago, it seemed like the only food event round these parts was bumping into another poor soul at what is officially The World's Most Pathetic Farmer's Market (every Sunday morning outside the library). No longer. It's now all kicking off here in Peckham food-wise. Just last weekend, for example, no less a personage than Jay Rayner gave Peckham Refreshment Rooms a stonking review; I'll leave it to you to decide whether the fact that (according to Time Out) the "hipness quota really cranks up in the evening, attracting Peckham’s edgy [edgy?] art scene/boho crowd" is a plus or a minus. If such a crowd exists, you may find their presence difficult to reconcile with Vice's considered opinion that Peckham is now "Dalston without the cunts", but these Jamesian social distinctions are, sadly, beyond my grasp. The last time I was 'edgy' was when I was off my tits on billy whizz at a Toots and The Maytals' gig in the eighties.
But back to the food: this weekend we've got the MUNCH food festival happening in Holly Grove Park (that's the tiny strip of green running along the side of Peckham Rye station):
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treme, pronounced treh-MAY, or TREH-may, or tree-mee, or... Have you seen Treme? It's co-created by David Simon, the man behind The Wire, and quite a few of the actors from there appear in Treme as well. There's a fourth season due later this year.
This was quite the nicest Sunday lunch I've made myself in a very long time. I'm not normally one to fuss over presentation, but that looks a bit flippin' Masterchef-ish, don't you think? I don't know what came over me.
We all have our favourite ingredients. Take a gander at the recipe archive and you'll see I use thyme quite a lot, love sherry vinegar, and am rather partial to the odd splash of Henderson's Relish. Well now you can add hot pepper jelly to the list. Specifically Jules & Sharpie's. Sainsbury's sell it at £1.99 for 220g. Ocado sell it as well, at £3.49 for the larger size of 300g. They (Jules & Sharpie that is) also have a section on their site where you can enter your postcode to find your nearest stockist. Any road, I've been using it to enliven many a sandwich/toastie but yesterday had the frankly inspired idea to use it in the gravy for this recipe, rather than the dollop of redcurrant jelly I'd have normally used. It made for a luscious jus. Yes, I did just write jus. Wood pigeons are, bless the little buggers, available all year round. And if you are delicate of nature and have not tried game before, they are a perfect introduction - just gamey enough, but not overpoweringly so. It's a piece of piss to remove the breasts, but you can, of course, ask your butcher to do it for you. This recipe might seem ever so slightly fiddly, but it's all dead simple and you can do the majority of it well in advance. |
SHORTLISTED FOR FOOD BLOG OF THE YEAR 2014
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