Lemon linguine with crab

I absolutely adore crab. Despite our strict budget on our recent California road trip, I managed to squeeze in a portion of fresh crab in Monterey Bay - and I'm not sure much beats eating pure crab meat in the sunshine with the tiniest squeeze of lemon. However, if you actually want to be full after a crab meal (without spending 3 hours cracking enough crabs to fill up on crab meat) - crab linguine is a decent solution. 
This is a rich treat of a meal - the clotted cream and crabmeat combine into a luxurious sauce, lightened up a tiny bit with lemon and tomatoes. The original recipe called for peeling the tomatoes, but I never have patience for that (and tomato skin doesn't bother me at all) so I would just skip that, especially for a cozy meal at home.
Sadly I doubt this will ever be in high rotation for us, but I will certainly return the next time I have a huge crab craving and don't feel like murdering a pile of crabs.

Lemon linguine with crab
Adapted from Gousto

Ingredients

40g Cornish clotted cream
200g linguine
1/2 tsp chili flakes
2 tomatoes
10g fresh chives
1 veggie stock cube
1 lemon
100g Cornish fifty fifty crabmeat
3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tsp French Dijon mustard

Method

1. Boil pasta for 8 minutes.

2. Dissolve half stock cube with 50 ml boiling water. Zest half the lemon. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Chop the chives finely. Chop tomatoes into quarters.

3. Add 2 tbsp olive oil to wide based pan over low head. Add garlic, chili flakes and lemon zest and cook for 1 minute until golden and aromatic.

4. Add shaoxing and cook for 1 minute. Add stock and cook for further 2 min.

5. Separate white crab meat from brown crab meat. Remove stock pan from heat and stir in brown crab meat, clotted cream, Dijon mustard, tomatoes and half the chives.

6. Add cooked linguine and juice of half the lemon.

7. Loosen sauce with pasta water if needed. Add white crab meat and remaining chives and toss. Enjoy!

Tautog's Restaurant

205 23rd St
Virginia Beach, VA 23451
USA

I took a too-short weekend trip to see some of my favorite women in the entire world. Virginia Beach ended up being the best location for everyone to get to (a bit awkward from London, but it was going to be hard for me no matter where they chose in the US). We enjoyed the free hotel breakfasts and snacked enough throughout the day to make lunch unnecessary, but the two dinners I was there for were great opportunities to eat some seafood and catch up on hanging out time. We went to Tautog's on the second night and I had the snow crab legs for dinner. Man, I have missed having enormous crab legs. They were fantastic, as was the cup of drawn melted butter to dip the sweet crab meat into. We also had raw oysters and oysters Rockefeller, so all in all, I was a satisfied customer by the end of the meal. The place was rammed full so make a reservation - or prepare to be disappointed!

Smoky Fish on Mash

Looks fancy, tastes good.

Smoky Fish on Cheese & Spinach Mash
Serves 2

Ingredients

400g potatoes
2 spring onions
40g cheddar
2 medium eggs
2 garlic cloves
2 smoked fish fillets (haddock, saba, etc.)
150g spinach
1 tbs butter
1/4c milk
olive oil
pepper
salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C/390F. Boil a kettle of water.

2. Cut potatoes into wedges (leave skin on). Peel and roughly chop garlic. Add potatoes and garlic to a pot of salted boiling water and boil for 15 minutes or until you can easily pierce potatoes with a fork. Boil another kettle of water.

3. Wash spinach in colander, then point boiling water all over it so it wilts. Rinse in cold water and squeeze excess water out. Chop spinach roughly. Boil another kettle of water.

4. Grate cheddar. Slice spring onions finely.

5. Place fish on baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, and season with pepper. Put tray in oven for 10 minutes or until fish is cooked.

6. Drain potatoes and mash with butter and milk. Add spinach, cheddar, and spring onions and season with salt and pepper to taste.

7. Bring a pot of salted boiling water to a simmer over medium heat. Crack eggs into water and leave for 2 minutes. Transfer them with slotted spoon to kitchen towel.

8. Serve smoked fish over mash with poached egg on top.

Southern California - Part 2 - Los Angeles

Hi readers (all 5 of you!)

Who wants to know about the rest of my trip to Southern California?

Ok, here goes.

More breweries, as we drove from San Diego to Los Angeles. First up, Alesmith. More flights of beer. I was designated driver so stuck to having a bit of whatever stout looked most interesting to me. A took full advantage of having a personal chauffeur. We kept exclaiming over how spacious breweries and tap rooms are in the US, compared to the squashed confines of railway arches in London. Plus, as we were doing a weekday brewery hop during a late morning / early afternoon drive, there were only a handful of other similarly geeky beer tourists around. Good if you want to spend your time tasting / discussing beer with the knowledgeable staff. Bad if you want atmosphere.

Ballast Point was next door. They are more established, which was obvious from the much more expensive décor and fully bustling restaurant and gift shop. I am appalled that I did not write much down but there were definitely some beers here that were right up my alley. Too bad I’ll never remember what they were.

As it was a Monday, another brewery close by wasn’t open (Green Flash) and we decided to skip Karl Strauss as we’d had a few of their beers in San Diego and two breweries in a morning seemed like a pretty decent achievement.

Back to what I care about – lunch options! Both Kotija Jr Taco Shop and Carnitas’ Snack Shack are in Del Mar, and why eat at one when you can eat at both? We started with a fish taco and taquitos at Kotija – again a pretty great example of what a bit of freshly grilled fish and shredded cabbage can be when done right, and the taquitos were full of greasy childhood nostalgia. Then we hit up Carnitas’ for their famed Triple Threat pork sandwich (our AirBnB host in San Diego raved about this). I’m glad we tried it, but it was just too over the top for me. Deep fried pork loin, pulled pork, and bacon smothered with aioli and relish – even having half of it made me feel a few years closer to a heart attack.

With some lunch, A was ready for another brewery so we went to Stone’s headquarters in Escondido. It was really difficult to find as there isn’t much signage out front and looks like a weird office building complex, but in the back there is a pretty incredible beer garden. While this is where they do most of the brewing for their mainstays, the location in San Diego has a lot more experimental beer, so if you were choosing to visit one, I’d recommend going to the San Diego location (which is also surrounded by a lot more stuff to do).

While Rip Current and Latitude 33 were also on our map, we were keen to get to LA before dark so we ended up skipping them. Leaves us some places to visit on the next trip…

Our first two nights in LA, we stayed with C in Pasadena. She took us to a great casual Italian place for hearty bowls of pasta and broccoli rabe which helped me cleanse after the crazy pork sandwich for lunch.

The next day was a downpour unlike anything I’ve ever seen in LA. This meant that A and I could only see things from the car – Griffiths Observatory was a bust, and we made a quick stop at Squirl for some avocado toast (fine) and bread pudding (way more than fine, I would eat this over and over again). Maybe the rain is the only reason why we managed to find a table and get served without a long queue. We then proceeded along Sunset Blvd heading west, going at a crawl and pointing at things through the blurry windows. 

Another stop at one of the many outposts of Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, for, you guessed it, chicken and waffles – we really liked the fried chicken as it was juicy and crisp. I know it can be variable in quality but we hit a good one. We decided to hide out at the cinema and watch The Hateful 8 in 70mm, as the rain just never stopped, and afterwards drove around Hollywood and Beverley Hills, gawping at mansions, until it was time for our reservation at Pizzeria Mozza.

Pizzeria Mozza gets its own paragraph. I’ve heard endless raves about the pizza, the butterscotch budino, the warm atmosphere, both here and at its sister restaurant next door, Osteria Mozza. It lived up to it all – my friend K met us for dinner (C couldn’t make it, sadly) so between three of us we attempted to stuff ourselves silly. Arancini and bone marrow for starters (A’s first bone marrow!) and then two phenomenal pizzas (mixed mushrooms, and a Brussels sprout and pancetta special). A, whose top gripe about pizza is when the crust is too thin/soggy to hold up to toppings, pronounced these excellent and we had no trouble finishing it all. Then, because we couldn’t decide between the butterscotch budino and the caramel coppetta, we got both. A preferred the caramel, I preferred the butterscotch, K didn’t discriminate. It was perfect. I love it when places meet your high expectations.

The next day, the same downpour meant another curiously indoor day. The Broad Museum was my kind of place – small enough that you could see the whole thing in a couple of hours, big enough that the collection was interesting. Also your free tickets come with an audio guide that really helps you understand what you’re seeing – I am getting really into audio guides lately as they are transforming my experience of museums. After, we headed to Little Tokyo for lunch. I don’t have pictures or the name of the restaurant, but it was a pretty standard bento box experience and we’d go back, if we could ever find it again. For dessert, we hit up The Pie Hole, which was doing a special Yoda pie – green tea and salted caramel. I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about pie. I think I like it? But then when I look at the picture I don’t crave it.

A and I stumbled across Joe’s Restaurant Office while we were on Abbot Kinney and took advantage of their happy hour margaritas. The bartender was outstanding (and outstandingly friendly) but sadly their website says they have closed after 24 years…

Then we met up with K again in her neighbourhood and went all out for dinner at Leona. There was some homemade cheese, another mushroom pizza, duck confit, beef shortrib, fries and roasted Brussels sprouts. Again, lots of exclamations of delight (and the two lovely bottles of red that K brought didn’t hurt!) I think we were too full for dessert (or I just didn’t take any pictures).

Finally, on our last day, LA showed off what it’s known for – sunshine and warmth, even in January. Thank goodness, because I think A was starting to think that I was a massive liar. With bright blue skies and T-shirt temps, we headed to the beach, first to Venice, where we shared a breakfast burrito at The Sidewalk Café. It was fine, but the view is the real draw. Then we visited the Getty and soaked up sunshine at the outdoor amphitheatre, and took the PCH up to Malibu. 

We capped off this drive with one of my favorite meals of the trip – fried clams and grilled fish at Malibu Seafood. Something about fresh seafood by the seaside in blazing sun just amplifies the blissfulness of each individual component. 

And the last thing we did before catching our flight was getting a quick Double Double at In N Out – can’t come to California without at least one stop there.

Southern California – Part 1 – San Diego

A and I were lucky enough to be able to plan a week in Southern California before coming back to London. We decided to split our time between San Diego and LA – I went to both quite a lot as a kid, but A hadn’t been to either, so we had plenty of exploring to do.

San Diego was exactly as expected – sunshine, dudes in baseball caps, and a booming craft beer scene. We stayed in North Park for the first two nights, which is full of breweries and hipsters and made us feel right at home. A few of the places we dropped in on, in roughly chronological order:

Mike Hess Brewing – you can get flights here (which come with a souvenir glass which is shaped like a beer can and labelled with one of their brews). A loved some of the IPAs he tried; I struggled a bit more as I’m a wimp when it comes to hops but did taste every stout/porter they had on and liked the seasonal pumpkin one the best. I’m such a sucker for seasonal pumpkin flavours, mainly because they’re not common in the UK so I go a little nuts on them when I’m back in the US.

City Tacos – we needed a quick snack after an evening of trying beers so picked up a mahi mahi taco and a carnitas taco. Both were decent but were topped with the same mango salsa, which A and I both found too sweet and fruity for our tastes.

Breakfast Republic – this place was rammed already at 10.30am on Saturday, but there’s free coffee for those waiting and it’s warm and sunny outside, so A and I get caffeinated and bask in the glow. When we finally secure a table, we know what we want – crab cake benedict and French toast with fresh strawberries. I think the anticipation that built up over the wait and seeing how eager other people were made our food a slight disappointment – nothing was wrong, but it wasn’t the kind of breakfast that you talk about for the rest of the day, either. My hash browns were distinctly undercooked. But lovely outdoor seating and a friendly waiter.

Barleymash – we stopped in here for an afternoon drink while walking around downtown. I had a hard root beer (why is this deliciousness missing in my life?!) and A had another IPA (surprise!). While drinking, we looked at the menu and got fixated on the range of mac&cheeses they do. So… we came back for dinner and split the version with confit duck and duck scratchings. Again – something that had been built up in my head for too long; the sweet hoisin-esque sauce ruined it a bit for me. I’m really glad we shared it, we saw another couple start with a giant pile of nacho fries, then order a separate mac&cheese each, which I’m pretty sure should kill you on the spot.

Cat Eye Club – we headed here after dinner to catch their Saturday night happy hour – they do an excellent mai tai for $5 until 8pm. We couldn’t stop drinking these. The balance between sweet, dry and bitters was absolutely perfect, and then the jazz band that came on added to the atmosphere. Sadly I discovered that three mai tais is my limit – but we headed home feeling like we’d stumbled on some magic place.

Urban Solace – our AirBnB host recommended the Sunday bluegrass brunch and I’m glad we went with it. The band was great – they play outdoors in a covered patio area. I had the beef cheek hash (YES!) and A had the full kitchen sink – sausage, bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy (YES AGAIN!)

At this point we moved on the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina for one night – I have no idea what this place is like in the high season, but it was quiet, luxurious and very well situated for our stay.

El Pescador Fish Market – stunning selection of fresh fish. We tried the fish tacos – because they forgot our order, they also brought us some clam chowder on the house. Clam chowder was good (but not as good as the San Francisco sourdough bread bowl one we had a few years ago) and the fish in the tacos was fresh, but sadly pretty bland. A hell of a lot of shredded cabbage.

Oscar’s Mexican Seafood – another attempt at a fish taco. This one was my favorite, and finally helped A understand why people go nuts for them. Grilled fish, avocado, crispy cheese, just enough cabbage for crunch. This is when I started to realize that fish tacos are not fast food – every place so far was making them to order, which is fantastic, but it does mean there is a bit of a wait.

Stone Brewing World – this is the touristy outpost but actually the more interesting of the two, since they do smaller batches of more creative beers here but they still have the full list from the main brewery too. It being January and Sunday, the place was pretty empty, but that just made it all the easier for me and A to get two flights of beer. They do food too, but my constant fish taco ingestion made that unnecessary.

Modern Times – my favorite interiors of all the breweries we visited (though many were pretty spectacular). One, they had a mural of Michael Jackson with his monkey, made out of post-it notes. Two, they had a wall made out of book covers. Three, there were some spectacular lights / chandeliers. And of course the beer was good too – their unusual addition is their own coffee, cold-brewed and available by the growler. When you’re brewery and a coffee producer, you obviously then make some beers with that coffee, and I really liked the one I tried.

Pizza Port Ocean Beach – A and I were both a little surprised by how casual this place is (and how many tv screens there were showing various sports) – they make their own beers and there are certainly some unusual options available. I think I had some version of a hefeweizen, I’m assuming A had another IPA, and then we ordered kale salad and a pizza. What surprised me most is that the kale salad was one of the most delicious things I’d eaten all day, and the pizza paled in comparison. I can’t believe I’m saying this about a pizza place, but go for the kale salad?

Hodad’s – couldn’t resist popping into this burger joint staffed by a bunch of surfer dudes who were the friendliest, most chilled out waitstaff you could ask for. There were definitely some strong weed scents floating out from the back, accompanied by drum solos on the grill played with spatulas, but they delivered a juicy burger and fries quickly and competently (and even pre-sliced it in half since they knew we were sharing).

Olive Café – our last meal in San Diego and we wanted a traditional American breakfast. This was perfect – pancakes, eggs, hash browns and bacon (it’s one dish but A and I split it and it ended up being just the right amount to fill us up for the morning). A quick walk on the beach and we were ready to hit some of the breweries between San Diego and LA.

Phew.

The Old Coastguard

The Old Coastguard
The Parade
Mousehole, Cornwall TR19 6PR

Another treat from the August Bank Holiday (shhh I know that was many months ago!). C booked us into lunch at The Old Coastguard, one of a group of pubs that are all excellent (see Felin Fach Griffin in Wales and Gurnard's Head in Cornwall). The prix fixe lunch at £14 for two courses is an absolute steal, what with the astonishing quality of the cooking and ingredients. You'll see my choices above - pork rillettes to start, followed by some of the best grilled mackerel I've ever had. We were being greedy pigs so also got a starter of crab to share, which we loved, and A's prix fixe starter of tomatoes with goat's curd was also superb. We were sadly too full to squeeze in dessert (hardly surprising after three starters) but maybe on a return trip?

The Watch House

The Watch House
1 The Square
St Mawes TR2 5DJ

August Bank Holidays are often spent in Cornwall visiting C - a perfect time of year to sit outside and stuff our faces with seafood while admiring the views. St Mawes is just across the river from Falmouth so it's a pleasant trip - this time we took the car and ferry, but sometimes we just shoot across on a boat. The Watch House is right about where the boats land and has a reputation for super fresh seafood so we gave it a try and loved it. C's starter of scallops won that round (the monkfish cheeks above were pretty good too but no comparison to the scallops) while for mains, A and I both braved the fish specials which involved whole fish - mine was Dover sole, his was plaice. A has come so far from when I met him - he bravely made a good attempt at dissecting his fish and was still able to enjoy eating it. I of course was in heaven - simple, freshly cooked fish with solid, flavorful sides - no fuss needed at all. C enjoyed her fish and chips as well. One to revisit.

Prawn and Salmon Pilaf

Finally cleaning out my old stash of recipes torn out of magazines, printed off from websites, and generally just collected from any old place. This one seemed worth a try - it's a Rick Stein recipe I tore out of some magazine that I've simplified by quite a lot (sorry Rick, it has to be a special occasion for me to boil prawn heads and shells and then strain stock). Also I didn't have enough prawns so hence the salmon.

Prawn and Salmon Pilaf

Ingredients

225g cooked peeled prawns
200g salmon fillets, cooked and flaked into prawn sized chunks
50g butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 small carrot, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp tomato puree
900ml chicken stock (I used stock cubes to make this)
350g basmati rice
2 small onions, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
3 cloves
3 green cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick, broken into 4 pieces
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
salt
3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
300g baby plum tomatoes, halved

Method

1. Heat 25g of butter in large pan, add the first chopped onion and carrot and fry over medium heat for 6-7 minutes, until lightly browned. Add tomato puree and chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins. Boil until reduced to 600 ml.

2. Rinse rice in a few changes of cold water until the water runs relatively clear. Cover with fresh water and leave to soak for 7 mins. Drain well.

3. Melt the remaining butter in a pan and add the other two chopped onions, garlic, cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, and turmeric and fry gently for 5 mins. Add the rice and stir well to coat the rice with the spicy butter. Add the stock to the pan, season with salt and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to the slightest simmer, cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 10 mins. Don't lift the lid during this time.

4. Uncover and gently stir in the peeled prawns, salmon, coriander, diced tomaties and some seasoning to taste. Re-cover and leave for 5 minutes to warm through. Spoon into a warmed serving dish and serve.

Lemon-Avocado Spaghetti With Shrimp From 'Pasta Modern'

I thought this would be a nice summery pasta dish and wasn't wrong. It's quite lemony, in case you are sensitive to acidic dishes - but the creaminess of the avocado is a very nice way of creating a sauce that is both healthy and deceptively lush. I'm sure you could substitute a lot of different types of seafood in (I subbed salmon for shrimp, to start) or you could even leave it out entirely for a vegetarian version (perhaps with some chunks of zucchini or squash to replace the protein).


Lemon-Avocado Spaghetti With Salmon
Serves 4
Adapted from Serious Eats


Ingredients

1 large onion, finely sliced
1/4 cup (60 ml) dry white wine
250 g fresh salmon filets, no skin
Olive oil
Salt
500 g spaghetti
1 avocado
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper 
chopped parsley to garnish

Method

1. In a skillet large enough to hold the pasta, combine the onions and wine over medium heat and simmer until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes. 

2. Add the salmon and raise the heat to high to evaporate any remaining wine; as the salmon cooks break it into large chunks and cook until the onions are caramelized and the salmon is cooked, about 5 minutes. Off the heat, add 1 tablespoon oil and salt to taste.
 
3. Boil the pasta in salted water until it is al dente. Drain and toss with the onions.
 
4. Meanwhile, peel and pit the avocado and puree it with the lemon juice, in a blender or small food processor until very smooth. Stir the mixture into the pasta and add half the lemon zest until well combined; re-season the dish with salt, if needed. Top the pasta with the remaining zest, parsley and pepper.

Assa

 

53 St. Giles High Street
London
WC2H 8LH

So since my first visit to Assa in 2010 I've been back a few more times with my Korean food loving friends.  It's in such a convenient location for pre-theatre meals, and it always helps me deal with my kimchi cravings when they hit. This latest visit was with P before we went to go see Once (which was pretty good, but I like the film more). I have been accused of going nuts with the ordering whenever P and I get together, but it worked out well at Assa. A kimchi seafood pancake was absolutely terrific - crisp crust, juicy seafood and the fermenty funk of kimchi all combine well here (plus the pancake didn't fall apart like it does at so many other places). I also loved the kimchi and pork belly over tofu - it felt like a relatively light dish due to all the tofu and cabbage, but the shreds of pork belly gave it this incredibly luxurious edge as well. And finally, a spicy chicken dish - probably the most "normal" dish of the evening but it came with plenty of rice for two people and was a great way to round off the meal. All that, plus a couple of Korean beers - exactly the right amount for greedy people like me and P. 

Bacchus Pub & Kitchen

 

177 Hoxton St

London 

N1 6PJ  

I should start this by saying I believe Bacchus is closed now. But I’ll forge ahead anyway. E, S and I were looking for a place to go for a Saturday lunch with our boys right before Christmas. When the first few pubs we tried wouldn’t take reservations, I remembered Bacchus – I’ve been here both in its previous incarnation as a fine dining restaurant but also in its current pub form and enjoyed both. At 2.30pm this day, it was essentially empty and we noticed loving goodbyes scrawled on some walls and pillars – indications that we were there for the last throes. But nevermind, my sea bass was still great, with crisp skin and fluffy roast potatoes underneath. A’s fish pie was good as well, and our two bottles of red helped us all celebrate merrily. And our final chocolate mousse with some tart Morello cherries was much darker and richer than expected, making the portion size perfect. So farewell, Bacchus – I hope something great comes back in your place.