A Succession of Treats

I so adore my newly-discovered farmers market in Penge, of all places. I know, I know, but when you come from Islington's Market, down south it's all a little more effort for less reward. But no longer - there is Penge and there am I, so happy days.

Anyway, very unsustainable and unethical, I'm sure, but I have a particular love of monkfish cheeks at the moment. I ended up buying 6 for a few quid, a pot of cockles and some smoked mackerel from the fish stall. Qu'est-ce qu'on fait..?

We-ell, Saturday lunchtime was bacon fried until golden and a little garlic, then I tossed in the (washed - they can be a tad sandy) cockles, a slurp of white wine, the cockle liquor, reduced the liquid and added cream (single because it was there) and served the whole lot up on toast with parsley, a squeeze of lemon and lots of black pepper.

Sunday we had ourselves a Southern feast of ribs from the Giggly Pig and chicken wings, which I rubbed with paprika, cumin, seasoning and brown sugar, before roasting for 40 minutes or so, intermittently basting with a mixture of ketchup, lime juice, worcestershire sauce, maple syrup and chilli flakes. Sweet, sticky and entirely more-ish - chicken wings are a fabulous cheaper treat, easy to cook and easy to adapt to any taste you fancy.

The monkfish cheeks are great on their own, but last night I fried some up with raw prawns (is there no end to my shellfish selfishness?), garlic, chilli, white wine and tomatoes and parsley and tossed the whole lot with tagliatelle and ate outside in the miracle that was yesterday evening's sunshine.

Wings and other things

It's been a while since my last post and Summer seems to be sadly settling down into something more normal. But we soldier on - and I have to admit the garden is loving the rain - next post I promise some pictures of our curiously sudden Wildflower Corner with a plethora of brightest orange nasturtiums - suddenly, suddenly we have colour in the garden and it's ultimately cheering.

Anyway, back to what's been going on... The garden is springing along, with the second crop of rocket and spinach coming along. We're now digging up potatoes, cropping cavolo nero and picking green beans. The kale looks almost ready too. The pak choi sits there dispiritedly wondering if we're ever going to release it from its bed of pain. Sad, but we still can't get to it. Ooh and we have lots of orange tomatoes, which will stay thus and so could adorn a bacon sandwich on Sunday morning.

So, I'm still not buying any veg but I have made a discovery of a Farmers market in Penge just down the road from the Sibling (new character everyone - brace yourselves...). And whatever you can't get there, there is a really excellent butchers just round the corner. I bought some truly good chicken liver pate from Tom's Chickens as well as the most enormous wings you have ever seen - almost pterodactyl in size, but meatier and obviously less leathery... 8 to a pack and barely a couple of quid.

So what did I do with them? Well, for a start we could only manage 3 each but I heartily recommend them for lunch the next day so cook as many as you can fit in a tin. Cover with hearty amounts of olive oil, salt and paprika and roast for 40-45 mins at about 200C. Meanwhile, make a dressing of handful of parsley and sprig of rosemary, finely chopped with garlic. Stir in juice of a lemon, a drizzle of sherry (dry please) and enough olive oil to make it pourable. Chopped chilli, (about a tsp, but as much as you like, bearing in mind the paprika), salt and pepper and leave to sit. When the wings are golden and sticky, spoon over the dressing and leave for 5-10 minutes to cool. (I say this in retrospect - I have no fear of molten food but MCD squeals like a girl if anything is above room temperature, so burnt fingers were a minor issue last night).

With it: runner beans cut into aesthetically pleasing diamond shapes, lightly cooked, then turned in a dressing of finely chopped shallots, red wine vinegar and olive oil, all piled on top of shredded sorrel.