A Grubworm's Gnocchi

By Leluu
This time last year – life was completely different. We had only started to look at food blogs before we started the supper club and now it is a way of life to read the ones we follow religiously. One of my favourite is The Grubworm: a food blog about food in (mostly) London restuarants and food that The Grubworm himself makes – usually for dinner - for him and his, Mrs Grubworm. It is quite inspirational - very insightful and completely interesting in prose and of course - content! Here is someone who adores cooking, who incorporates food into his life. He lives to eat! He doesn't eat to live.

He got me making gnocchi. I love simple food and tasting small amounts of ingredients, combined together. As soon as I read the post, I targeted the mission. However,  I misread the quantity of eggs – I used 5 eggs instead of half an egg! It was completely wrong! The Grubworm then changed it from
“ .5 egg" to "Half egg” and it worked perfectly - you can easily miss that - dot - which I clearly did. I was very proud on the second run! I thought they were the only things you can buy from the shops or order in the restaurant.

The recipe is on his blog and I have asked him if I can share it here too – it is ever so easy! It took me 20 mins to do and it tasted just wonderful! so here it is:

Ingredients:
500g Maris Piper Potato

125g Plain flour
Half an egg, beaten

Salt & Pepper to season

Method
Cook the potatoes in boiling water until soft
Mash it with a masher or rice - do it well and don't leave any lumps or it will show.

Don’t be too lazy and put it in the blender because it will become extremely waxy - (believe me - I;ve tried that route and its the route back to the market to get more potatoes)

Stir about a third of the flour and the egg into the potato to form a light dough.
Put the rest of the flour on a board and tip out the dough on to it. Knead the potato dough into the flour until it forms a pliable dough.
Add more flour if necessary.

Break the dough into small balls and roll out into thin sausages about a centimetre thick. Chop into 2cm long pieces. Drop into boiling water. When they float they’re done.


I never used to like gnocchi very much because I always happened to have ones that make me feel like I have eaten little stones.

After eating the most beautiful gnocchi ever at the Saltoun Supper Club, I was hooked.
I found out by testing them that if you take the gnocchi out as soon as they float to the surface, its very light – whereas if you over cook them – they are like little rocks.

Another tip is to use Maris Piper or King Edwards for a floury and light texture.
I love it with just butter, Parmigiano-Reggiano, fresh basil, salt and pepper.

Thanks to The Grubworm, I can make my own gnocchi in 20 minutes and have a simple yet delicious meal! You should all try it too! Its so great that food bloggers such as The Grubworm can inspire us to try out new things and make us see that things can be so simple sometimes when you give it a chance and try it out.

A Day At The BBC With The Hairy Bikers

By Leluu

A couple of weeks ago, the BBC chose us to visit their studios and help the Hairy Bikers make a pilot for their new show coming to your screens in the Autumn. It was really exciting, Simon’s mum – Susan, came down from Hereford. They tested the amazing Paella. Recipe Here. We didn’t want to be televised so this was a great day out to discover what happens behind the scenes of one of Britain’s much loved cookery shows, featuring its much loved Hairy Bikers.

The preceding evening, we went to White City and stayed at The Ramada Hotel (would recommend their dirty breakfast sausages – awesome) because we had to be at the studio at 7am. We couldn’t sleep due to the mega excitement – both of us had ‘Inception’ dreams where we both dreamed we woke up at 1030 and were late!

We had been liaising with the Assistant Producers, Ingrid and Ben  for about two weeks prior, who are incredibly hardworking, friendly and very nice. They even visited us and Susan - all the way in Hereford; they asked us all sorts of questions about our past and present lives, really doing good research into who we are so that the Hairy Bikers and the Producers would know exactly who we were when they would meet us at The BBC.

And so the day started very early, we were transported to the studios. We had not been in there before, and we got to use the Green Room where they used to put Top Of The Pops guests! Imagine that – everyone from The Beatles, to The Rolling Stones, Duran Duran, to Madonna, to Kylie had been in there using the beaten up sofas and drinking tea. OK – probably something stronger…

We were prepped by Ben and Ingrid, with scripts and schedules. We even got our makeup done and someone who followed us all day making sure we were not shinny, our hair in place and our clothes good for continuity. And runners who always made sure we were neither thirsty nor hungry and treated us so nicely.

What I was really looking forward to was the food at the BBC Canteen – famous in many comedians speeches about how bad it is – made me wonder if its anything like our school dinners (which I loved). We got to eat in one called The Foyer. Simon and his mum, Susan, did well choosing the grilled tuna as that is just fried in the pan and done. I chose the lasagne. : ( and some tomato soup! Big mistake! Big! I think my school must have done really nice school dinners!

Nevertheless, it was such a great experience, to see how the Home Economist was at work and how the stage manager and production team dealt with everything.

What was great were those Hairy Bikers, Si and Dave were just fantastic. They are like they appear on TV – so generous in spirit and alive in conversation. We loved them and they loved Simon’s Paella.

We can’t reveal anything about the show or publish our photographs until after the first broadcast in the Autum.

Thank you, Ben Walton & Ingrid O’Reilly and everyone at The BBC and The Wonderful Hairy Bikers.

Turin Brakes & Me

By Leluu

Fatima and I went to see Turin Brakes at The Brixton Academy at the release of their second album Ether Song back in 2003. We fell in love with them even more than we were already in love with their music - The Optimist LP. We drove home in a high after seeing them perform such an amazing gig – we were so happy and thrilled. For us, it was like touching upon a higher form.

I am not sure what possessed us, but we drove around London, with their music blasting from some muffled car speakers and completely loving life. We were young, and we had the world at our feet. At 4am, we drove back to The Brixton Academy, because we must thank Turin Brakes for just being brilliant! We got there, and of course, no one was there! Heh! What did we think…?

I am a loyal Turin Brakes fan, its like unconditional love; buying everything they release without failure and then absolutely loving what they are making.

Olly Knights, songwriter and lead vocalist of Turin Brakes and I met about thirteen years ago when we both studied Film & Video at Central Saint Martins College Of Art in Long Acre, Covent Garden. It was one of those courses that born a lot of musicians for some reason. There was the infamous Jarvis Cocker a few years before us, then Turin Brakes and the controversial rap artist, M.I.A –and Nima Nourizadeh – ads Director and now Hollywood Director to name but a few.

Olly and I used to share the sound room for recordings. There wasn’t anyone else who was keen on sound as we both were. I remember Olly made really beautiful films, there was one called, “Two Stories” where Olly captured the clouds shadowing a beach like running ghosts as time passed by. For each album cover that is released, I saw roots of where the artwork came from: this wonderful film he made.

I had no idea where Olly was going. I last saw him when we spoke about how scary it was to go out into the big open world. A few months later, he was playing a gig at The Astoria and I carried his music with me all over the world and through all of life’s journeys over the last 10 years.

Looking back, I feel so lucky to be part of this wonderful course where it taught us all to have vocals beyond the conventions and to be ourselves, free to express at will. What an honour it was to have grown roots with those who have blossomed wonderful lives and shared with us their artistry, and those yet to bloom.

I had lost touch with Olly until I found Turin Brakes on Twitter and to my delights, Olly had been returning my tweets. No longer seeing Olly as the boy who shared the sound room with me, Olly is my favourite band of all time. I am completely star strucken!

@The_Real_TB
“@loveLELUU @nimanourizadeh ha! I miss those days, every time I read about MIA I think what crazy lovely lives we all went off and had!”

The new album, ‘Outbursts’ verifies everything I love about Turin Brakes. It is very unpretentious, stripped back to what made them great in the first place with The Optimist LP. What I really like about them is that they do not pretend to be anything other than what they are: which is full of beauty and melodic visions in sound and music.

Every track on the album brings the listener to a different place, an old memory or a new feeling. They have a unique and superior way of story telling with beautiful and simple arrangements, masterfully bought together by Olly’s voice. (It is also great to hear Gale Paridjanian – the other half of Turin Brakes sing too). One song sounds like being in a David Lynch movie on a hot, slow, sizzling summer’s day to being in the place with someone you love with the utmost heart and tear.

Thanks to Twitter, Olly and I are now in touch again and I have invited him to join us at the supper club. He’s looking at the dates so he can “come and stuff my face”.

Yay! : )
“O no! My world is on fire, someone get some water cos I think I 'm gonna burn”

Check Out Turin Brakes' Blog here
& www.turinbrakes.com

Banh Mi & Pho Bay

I am so pleased that there are so many Vietnamese restaurants opening up in London – that the words, Pho, Banh Mi, Banh Cuon, etc are rolling off the tongues of food lovers.

Nearly thirty years ago, when I left Vietnam as a child, we all thought that there we were to eat our last grain of rice. My mother would seek high and low in Dalston market for beansprouts and mangos. One day, she came home, ecstatic to have finally found coriander in China Town.

How times have changed, and I am ever so happy that more and more people are getting to love my native cuisine.

London has a very small population of Vietnamese people compared to Paris, New York and Los Angeles, however, it hasn’t stopped Vietnamese people from sprouting eateries anywhere they can lay their hands on. But perhaps, it is because the population is so small and that the restaurants are not actually catering for Vietnamese people that I feel a lot of the restaurants ‘cheat.’

I went for lunch at ‘Banh Mi & Pho – Bay’ off Grays Inn Road on Theobalds Road. It has a charming country style about it which is really nice and airy with French/ country pine tables and display cabinets.

I ordered ‘Pho – (bo tai & nam), and it came with all the proper garnishes including plum sauce which is a nice touch. Unfortunately, the broth was rather bland and I had to ask for some fish sauce.

As a cook, I am on a mission to cook very good pho and eat good pho. This one was rather disappointing as it lacked ingredients or was watered down. Not sure which – just saying how it tasted.

However, I was not put off and shall be back to try out their barbeques, meat dishes, banh mi and bun in hope that it will be half decent.

I am just really happy that I can go and have lunch and not eat a sandwich! I am really glad that other people can enjoy our cuisine and feel much healthier and happier when eating Vietnamese food. Vietnamese food is full of flavour and sunshine.


Banh Mi & Pho Bay

4-6 Theobald's Road, Holborn, London WC1X 8PN

020 7831 4079

My Mum & Her Carpenters

By Leluu

My mum is the most amazing woman I have ever met. I would say that because she is my mum. And because I am her daughter, I know her so well, all my life – that I qualify when I say that she is the most amazing woman I have ever met.

The Three Of Us - Saigon 1980

When I was little, I used to write to my father all the time. He left her when my brother was 5 and I was 7. We had only just been in the UK for 2 years, he put us into school and got us housing from the council, then disappeared.

As I learned how to write and speak in English, I used to scribble away with my bic pen, pushing hard onto the paper as I go, causing my middle right hand finger to enlarge. I used to write how much we all missed him, which made my mum sad and cry. She didn’t really know where to send it – so she just sent it to my Grandmother – in hope that soon enough she would pass it onto my father. She was confident that I will be a writer when I grew up.

My mum thought my writing was brilliant because it moved her – although, in all fairness, she was probably just moved by the subject. When my brother and I were on school holidays or at the weekends, we used to play my dad’s records. He had a large collection of LPs that he left behind– he was really into music and had a great late 70s and 80s collection of everything from The Bee Gees, Abba, Blondie to Richard Clayderman.

One of our favourites was The Carpenters – we used to mimick in between playing ‘post office’ with her hair comb, ‘why do birds, suddenly appear…every time, you are near?’ My mum would believe that we were good enough to become pop stars.

And so, she worked day and night, not only to feed us but to invest in our future: she bought us a brand new piano. She wanted my brother and I to be like The Carpenters.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t keep up on piano lesson fees since we couldn’t even practice on it because the walls were too thin for the neighbours to bare –blah blah black sheep.

My mum bought us up believing in anything we did and supported it no matter how grand (or silly) the idea. From helping me open a boutique to looking after my dog whilst I traveled the world to taking my shoes to be repaired (as she knows how much I love shoes). Sometimes, she helps us at the supper club to make sure that we get all our Vietnamese dishes spot on, traditional and completely yummy.

I love my mum. She loves to cook. She loves to eat and I learn everything Vietnamese from her.

Here is what we made last week thanks to my mum:

‘Morning Glory’


Banh Cuon With Pork Belly

Prawn & Squid Paste in Sugar Cane


Chicken Salad (or Crab, Pork & Egg Terrine)


BBQ Spare Ribs

Bun Bo Hue


Lemongrass Beef & Peanuts In Vine Leaf


Coconut Sorbet

My Second Guest Post On Ooh.com

 

Uyen Luu talks supper club joys and disasters

Uyen from Fernandez and Leluu’s supper club is back with another great guest post. This time, Uyen tells us the ups and downs of having an underground restaurant and what really happens when you let strangers into your home. Read on to find out about hair set on fire, the man who had a noodle hanging off his eye brow and marriage proposals.

‘How do you feel about having all these strangers in your house?’ everyone queries, ‘have there been any incidents?’

Prepping and doing supper clubs is like living in a little capsule – we are in the kitchen, chopping, peeling, slicing, marinating, cleaning, cooking, tasting. It takes all day and we don’t stop, sometimes there isn’t even enough time for lunch or to eat dinner!

And then all of a sudden, at 7.30pm precisely (rarely are people too early or late), the door bell rings and enter a bunch of strangers, none you have met before but they all start to have a good time, downstairs in our living room!

So far, no one has rifled through my knicker drawer or hidden in the cupboard overnight. The amount of people who have been to our supper club and respected our home is a true testament to how honest and kind most people actually are.

Guests are told to get their own water, lick their spoons because they are not getting another one, and to quiet down after 11:30pm. Some guests help with clearing plates or getting tap water for everyone. When someone can’t finish their plate, I encourage others from the table to take the last bit and they do, because it’s a house dinner and you are not in a restaurant – the boundaries are completely different.

Some people are really polite, thanking us to the ends of the earth for the dinner. We are ambushed with compliments and gratitude. We get dinner invites and make new bonds and friendships with some of the most charming and charismatic personalities.

There have been a handful of bad stories, such as people not donating (not the ones who forget – the ones who forget are traumatized and come back straight away). And some people don’t eat anything because they’d come for a birthday party and don’t like food in general. Or there’s that couple that just had a blazing row at the front door and burst into tears. Once someone even got their hair set on fire (by accident – that was quite funny)!

Of course, there are many annoying last minute cancellations but that is to be expected at any eatery – underground or over-ground.  If you book to eat in our home, you shouldn’t really cancel on the day, but sometimes things happen and it’s understandable. We’ve heard of a lot of excuses; the dog chewed up my homework sort of thing. Once, we had a no show which we were really worried about because we never heard from them again.

There hasn’t really been a nightmare guest, just the noodle guy who had a noodle hanging off his eye brow and threw all his food everywhere because he was too drunk. Simon ejected him after we found him urinating in the street.

Drunkenness is not uncommon, because people get to bring their own wine; but even so, people have been very respectful.

Some people stay on really late. Sometimes, we don’t let them go and stay chatting to them into the early hours. A few times, people have slept over and we’ve started all over again at breakfast. Many of our guests are fantastic, we have so much in common. A few weeks ago, I met someone who had been to school next door to mine, then went to Central St Martins during the same years – in the same building – in Long Acre! The greatest thing and the most valuable thing is making all these new friends.

More than anything, there have been some great nights, singing, dancing, marriage proposals, birthday songs, jokes and stories told.

We always want to join the party but we have to work and cook so sitting down with guests for dessert is a godsend! To be honest, sometimes I feel completely exhausted and just want to crawl up like a baby in my bed. Once, there was a couple who were really funny but it was getting very late and I was at my last tether, so I was really rude to them. I’m still so ashamed about how I lost it with them, stamping my feet around the room, making lots of noises, and slamming doors! They were a little unhappy upon departure… Simon is always happy to talk to everyone and is so patient. Feeling so bad having upset my guest, I will never do it again no matter how tired I get.

We don’t expect people to treat our house like it’s a home as well as a restaurant. You can’t have the best of both worlds and decide which one you want to pick when it suits you. The truth is, people will cancel, some people will take the piss, some people will be a little rude – but that’s because it’s just the way some people are – if we are to welcome people into our homes from all walks of life, we have to deal with what all walks of life involve.

The 30-year running supper club owner Jim Haynes, rightly says: “there’s no point in trying to understand people; we have to tolerate people and accept them the way they are and welcome everyone equally and with open arms.”

To find out when Uyen and Simon are offering their next supper club evening, click here. If you want to be in the know about food activities going on in London, check out Ooh.com.