Brockley Market

I love checking out markets especially ones where food is involved. One recent new discovery thanks to Giulia of Mondomulia is Brockley Market, the brainchild of Toby Allen, who felt that there was a lack of seasonal produce in the area. Brockley Market was born and it was definitely a welcomed addition judging from the amount of people walking around, eating, buying produce and just enjoying the day. I for one absolutely loved it! The market was filled with various kinds of street food, cakes, bread,  pies, fresh seasonal produce, fish, meat, herbs, Spanish Artisan food and coffee, things that will make a foodie very happy!

Brockley Market, only a 7 mins train ride from London Bridge Station is opened from 10am to 2pm on Sats. The best thing to do is to go there for breakfast, have a walk around to buy some produce and then have lunch before heading off! ;) Benches and tables are placed around the market makes for a comfortable eating experience. 


Without further ado, I present to you, some of the sights of Brockley Market!!!


There's Flavours of Spain who brings in various kinds of charcuterie, chorizo, cheeses, Spanish spices and Spanish store cupboard essentials.

Pies from Marsh Produce

There's of course Egg boss with one of the best scotch eggs in the London!! Perfectly seasoned and isn't that egg yolk perfection!!! My only regret is not buying more!!

Astons with it's range of fabulous artisan bread and pastries.

Cakes from the London Particular, a cafe in New Cross.

Fresh reasonably priced produce from Perry Court Farm

Coffee from Dark Fluid, Brockley Market's resident Barista!

Besides the above, there are still quite a few traders such as Motherflipper, Mike & Ollie, Red Herring, Laurdos, Honest Carrot, Blintz boy, Wild Country Organics, A G Brookman and Browns of Brockley to name a few. It'll probably take a few more trips to try every stall but it'll definitely a worthwhile hike from the North of London!!

Visit with an empty tummy!!!!

29 July 2012

We finally made another trip to Brockley Market and this time, we couldn't miss the much talked about Mother Flipper cheeseburger, a moist, juicy, medium rare, no tendon, well seasoned beef patty topped with melty, gooey cheese sandwiced between a soft broiche bun. It was simpley luscious!

Mother Flipper Cheeseburger

On the day we went, Cinnamon Tree Bakery made their debut at the market. Usually trading at Borough and Broadway market, they have now expanded and will be a regular at Brockley Market too. I've heard about their famous Shortbread owls and Cinnamon Elephants so I was really excited to try them. Freshly baked crunchy biscuits with the right amount of sweetness that goes so well with a cup of tea. The cinnamon elephants were well spiced with no over powering after taste. And aren't they cute!!!?

Shortbread Owls

Cinnamon Elephants

Brockley Market

Lewisham College Car Park

Lewisham Way, 

SE4 1UT

Every Sat, 10 - 2pm

Closest station: St Johns(London)

Ultra easy beer bread

I love recipes whereby everything is thrown in a bowl, mixed together and whacked into the oven to do it's magic. These yummy coconut cookies I made sometime ago and another one I came across recently, the beer bread over at Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice, both fall nicely into this category!

When I first saw this recipe, the words that caught my attention were 5 mins + No kneading + No proofing = EPIC WIN!!!!!! Oh Yeah!! Easy Peasy! The result was a very moist and chewy bread mildly flavoured with whatever beer you choose. Since it was the St Paddy's weekend, Guinness Stout was my beer of choice but feel free to replace these with a beer to your liking.

The main thing I changed was to use self-raising flour as I didn't realise that I've run out of plain flour. Note to self: Always check on the ingredients the day before...not on the actual day!!! Silly! ;)

Adapted from Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice 

Ingredients: (Makes 1 loaf 9 x 4 inches)
3 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
350ml Guinness Stout or any beer
2 tbsp olive oil


Method:
1.  Grease a 9 inch x 4 inch loaf pan.  Pre-heat oven to 190C/375F.
2.  Sift all the dry ingredients together into a bowl.
3.  Make a well in the centre, and mix in the beer until incorporated.  You should get a thick, lumpy batter.
4.  Pour the batter into pan and bake for 40 minutes.  
5.  5 minutes before time, brush the olive over the bread and finish up in the oven.
6.  Bread is done when you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.  Turn out and cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Thank you Perry Court Farm!

About 2 weeks ago, I saw a tweet from @PERRYCOURT_FARM which said 'Retweet for a chance to win a 5 min shop' and so I did. I totally forgot about it until last thursday when I woke up to a tweet from the good people at Perry Court Farm to tell me that I won the 5 min shop!!! Woohoo!!!


After a few emails, we decided to drop by the stall in Notting Hill Farmers Market early Sat morning to do our shop.The market had just opened and there were already a queue for in front of the stall! That's just shows how popular they are! I could see why too as the stall was filled to the brim with ultra fresh looking fruits and vegetables!

The husband and I joined the queue, told the stall owner that we had won the 5 min shop. She then gave us 3 plastic bags, told us to take anything we like within 5 mins and we went on our fresh fruit/veg spree!  Here's what we came back with and I can't wait to finish everything all up!

One of the first things I've tried was the pippin apples and sweet apple crisps. The apple was wonderfully sweet, crisp and flavourful! It was indeed refreshing! Perrycourt Farm also sells apple crisps made from apples grown and prepared by hand in their farm in Kent. Warm air is blown over sliced apples for hours until they are ready. I wonder if i could just use a hair dryer to do the same but it'll be much easier to just buy these delightful crisps! haha The crisps were amazingly crunchy! I've had apple crisps before but never were they as tasty and crunchy as these ones.

The Sweet Apple, Tangy Apple and Dried Pear crisps can all be bought online from the Perry Court Farm website. Perry Court Farm Stalls can be found in Brockley Market  and all over London. Details of their locations can be found at the London Farmer's Market website.


Thank you once again for a great shop, Perry Court Farm. We'll definitely be back to buy more amazing produce!

Pearl Barley Water

In most Chinese households in Singapore, Barley Water is a popular and healthy drink. One known to have a cooling effect on our bodies so what does one do when it's hot outside? Yes! make this drink! :) The barley grains are also a good source of fibre, has anti-oxidant and healing properties so it's better to eat rather than discard the grains to enjoy the full goodness from it. Also, the best thing about it is that it's so easy to make!!!

Ingredients
100g Pearl Barley (Rinsed under running water)
3 Pandan/Screwpine Leaves (Rinsed and tied into a knot) - Optional
10 candied winter melon - Optional
1.2l of water
Rock Sugar to taste

Pandan/Screwpine Leaves

Candied Winter Melon

Method
1) Place Pearl Barley, Pandan Leaves, Candied Winter Melon and water in a pot and bring to boil.
2) Once boiled, lower the heat and simmer for about 45 mins.
3) At this point, add rock sugar to taste. I didn't add any as the water was already slightly sweet from the candied winter melon.
4) Strain off the grains immediately as it'll start to soak up the liquid if it's left sitting in the water. Just add the grains back to the water once you've scooped it into a cup.
5) Drink hot or cold. It's pretty refreshing when it's cold. 

Pork Adobo (Filipino Pork Vinegary Stew)

When I was working in Singapore, I had my first taste of Filipino cuisine when my Filipino colleagues brought me to a cafe in Lucky Plaza along Orchard road. It sure was tasty and a few of my faves are Sinigang(Tamarind Soup), Sisik(Hot plate minced pork and other parts of the pig.:P), Bicol Express(Coconut Pork Stew) and of course the very appetizing Pork Adobo. It's essentially a pork slowed cooked in a vinegary marinade. Other variations of Philippines National dish, Adobo include chicken, pork and chicken as well as squid.

 I haven't yet found a Filipino restaurant in London but will definitely be on a lookout for it. In the meantime, I shall just have to cook some of the dishes myself and hopefully do them well -ish. :)
It could have done with more browning(totally my fault as i should have waited a little longer when sautéing the pork) but it still tasted fab!

Recipe adapted from Pinay in Texas

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

800g pork shoulder, cubed

9 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium-sized onion, sliced

3 shallots, sliced

3 pcs whole bay leaves

3/4 cup vinegar

1/3 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup of water

1 Tsp black peppercorns

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Procedure:

1. Marinate pork in soy sauce, vinegar, honey, bay leaves, 6 cloves minced garlic, and  sliced onion for at least 30 minutes. 
2. Remove pork from marinade and gently heat marinade.

3. In a large saucepan over medium heat, sauté remaining garlic and shallots in oil until shallots are translucent.

4. Add pork and sauté until juice starts to come out. Add the marinade, water and peppercorns. Mix well. Simmer for about 45 minutes or until pork is tender. 

Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup

I love sweetcorn in all forms! Grilled, steamed, in salads, in soups, popcorn and even straight out of the can! When I was much younger, I used to place a can of creamed corn in the fridge, opened it and eat it straight away. I know it's not the most sophisticated way of eating it but it tasted great! somewhat like ice cream!

One of my fave is the Chicken and Sweetcorn soup, one dish that is usually ordered when we dine out as a family. Being away from home, I seem to have forgotten about it until Lisa from My Lemony Kitchen posted it recently. I've no idea why I didn't think of making it earlier but am glad that I finally did! Initially, I wanted to follow strictly to Lisa's recipe but I couldn't find creamed corn anywhere!  I guess it should be sold in Chinatown but I didn't get a chance to drop by so I decided to come up with my own recipe. The husband loved it so it's a winner!

It's a rather long winded recipe and I decided to do everything from scratch, that being the stock and poaching the chicken, all on the same day. It was well worth the effort though! Feel free to use pre-prepared stock or left over chicken.  For a vegetarian version, just leave out the chicken and it'll taste great too!


Inspired by My Lemony Kitchen


Ingredients (Makes about 3 big bowls)
Stock & Chicken
1 medium carrot, roughly chopped
2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
1 spring onion/scallions, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, quartered
3 cloves garlic, smashed
8 whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 litre of water
3 chicken breasts or chicken thighs

Soup
1 can sweetcorn
50g frozen corn
2 eggs, whisked
3 tbsp corn flour mixed with 6 tbsp of water
Sesame Oil
Salt 
White pepper
Sliced spring onions and chilli, to garnish(Optional)


Method
Stock & Chicken
1) Place all stock ingredients except the chicken in pot and bring it to a boil.
2) Once it comes to a boil, turn down the heat and  simmer for at least an hour. You may need to top up the water.
3) Add chicken to the stock, bring it to boil, lower the heat and let it simmer for another 15 mins or until chicken is cooked. (Poaching the chicken in the stock adds even more flavour)
4) Once this is done, remove from the heat. Shred the chicken and set aside. Carefully pour the stock through a sieve and squeeze the day lights out of the vegetables. 


Soup
5) Pour the stock back into the pot, add canned and frozen corn and bring back to a boil.
6) Stir in the corn flour mixture.
7) Slowly pour in the egg whilst stirring the soup.
8) Lower the heat and simmer for another 1-2 mins until egg is cooked.
9) Season to taste
10) Place shredded chicken into the bowls, scoop soup into bowls, garnish with spring onions and chilli, drizzle some sesame oil and serve.

More Street Art around East London

One thing I really love about London is that there are always areas to explore. In some cases, there may even be new things popping in the same area. One location where this happens would be in and around Brick Lane. A couple of months back, we joined the Alternative London tour and saw London in a whole new light! Today, the sun was shining and made for a good day out so we decided to revisit the area as we wanted to look for new pieces of street art and the husband wanted to take some street photography. (Shameless promotion alert! :P) Here are some of his photos just in case you are interested to take a look. Yes, he takes much better photos than I do!!! :)


OK, now back to the street art...here are some of the new ones we encountered today. Enjoy!