Chicken Yakitori is a Japanese BBQ classic and so simple to cook, it literally means 'Grilled Chicken'. As with sushi chefs, you can train in Japan to become a 'Yakitori Chef'...
There is a fantastic chef called Samin Nosrat who talks about the basic elements of cooking - check out her book "Salt Fat Acid Heat" - it's won loads of awards. At the heart of good cooking lies good decision making and the primary decision regarding heat is whether to cook slowly over gently heat or quickly over intense heat. Cooking food over charcoal or wood on a BBQ can be a combination of both, the skill lies in deciding the perfect moment to start cooking. It is a brilliant way to introduce an extra layer of flavour...
The idea of a dressing is to enhance the flavour of the food you are eating. The acid from the vinegar contrasts with the sugar, salt and oil to heighten the pleasure we get from eating. Dressing hot, cooked vegetables is just as gratifying as dressing cold salad leaves, almost more so.
The tacos that you find on every Mexican street corner are often cooked really quickly - it's street food, you can't hang about. We have a recipe that will allow you to make really quick authentic tacos, that are so tasty, it will become your 'go to' meal.
Unless you are an aficionado on Mexican food, some of the different dishes can be a little confusing - enchiladas, chilapitas, quesadillas, gorditas, chilaquiles, sopes, tamales, tostadas, empanadas. One thing is for sure, each and every one of them will be packing a serious amount of flavour, I guess that's why traditional Mexican cuisine is protected by UNESCO.
Orecchiette is a pasta shape that hails from the Southern Italian region of Apulia and is perfect for this beautiful pasta dish. Pangratatto is effectively just fried breadcrumbs but it's a great addition to this dish as it adds a brilliant texture. There are lots of different squashes now widely available from good green grocers. We got ours from a fantastic local organisation called Root Connections www.rootconnections.co.uk - a charity that helps homeless people. They have a small farm where volunteers and residents grow fabulous produce to supply homes and restaurants with the fruits of their labour, check it out, it's amazing.
The idea of making sushi can be a little intimidating, particularly when you hear stories of 15-year sushi chef apprenticeships. The truth is, it's pretty straightforward. You can experiment with loads of different fillings - they are not hard to find in your local shop, and if you're not a fan of handling raw fish, then use smoked fish or just vegetables instead. You could also try different meat fillings like hoisin duck or char sui pork if you're feeling adventurous.
It’s widely said that at least three-quarters of Mexican’s will eat on the Streets at least once or twice a week. And why not? Here, vendors sell everything from snacks and beverages to massive sandwiches and full platters of food.
Tacos are one of the most popular street snacks. They are commonly filled with pork, beef or chicken but can also contain beans, cheese, cactus, potato or fish. Salsas are always on offer and every taco stand will have one red and one green salsa and often salsas made from avocado, roasted chillies plus a mixture of chopped onions and sour cream.
You could easily be mistaken for thinking that a Poke bowl is a Japanese invention, but actually it's one of the national dishes of Hawaii. Slap bang in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Hawaiian cuisine has lots of influences from the Orient.
Tired of supermarket 'Frisbee style' pizzas? It’s true that in the last few years, the standard of shop-bought pizza has improved, let's face it, we've all eaten some really truly terrible ones in our lifetime...