POPdown at The Vaults

Being part of Tabl means I am lucky enough to go along and try lot's of amazing food - it's a hard life I know! Last week I went to the opening night of POPdown at The Vaults so wanted to share a bit of the foodie goodness with you.

POPdown is held in The Vaults under Waterloo station so the walk there and room itself are a welcome step away from another evening in a standard restaurant! As you can see from the pictures below you need to walk down the graffiti tunnel to get there - I got to see artists working on my way in and guys racing motorcycles on my way out!

The food itself was great and sparked a lot of discussion across the table. We were lucky enough to be sat with the lovely Saff & Ade from We Love Food - it's all we eat so we had plenty of foodie chat throughout the meal. POPdown is definitely one of those dinners for foodies as the chefs come round to chat and you even get the chance to go up and learn to plate up like a Michelin star chef! As you'll see from the photos below the plates look more like works of art than food so I think you'll agree the guests did pretty well.

Dinner started with a cultured butter infused with truffle - I'll be totally honest although I could smell a hint of truffle I couldn't taste it so felt it was a little surplus to requirements. Despite this the bread was nice and I was super hungry so was glad there was something on the table we could get stuck into straight away.

Our starter was probably my favourite course and seemed to come up fairly high in the rankings with my fellow diners. The braised cabbage was served with a red pepper foam, dried cabbage leaf (powdered and whole) and roasted hazelnuts with chorizo. It was absolutely delicious and I'll definitely be spending some time trying to recreate my own homegrown version - probably with less powders and foams due to lack of equipment but hopefully equally tasty!

The fish course was cured mackerel with pickled daikon, dill, compressed cucumber and olive ash. I'm not a huge fan of fish skin so I removed it but it was lovely and crispy so perfect for those who do partake. The vegetables complemented the fish well and were fun to pick through and try to identify before the chef came round to enlighten us.

The main was very interesting as it totally divided the table on flavour. I've included an extra picture here as it came with a little cafetiere of 'tea' (a light beef stock infused with herbs) to pour over the dish. The main event was a brined brisket topped with a mustardy-herby crust, the meat was so tender you literally needed to push it apart with a fork and I couldn't recommend it more. It was served with little roast new potatoes and fermented vegetables.

The fermented (pickled) vegetables were the option that divided us - my friend thought they were absolutely delicious, another fellow diner wasn't keen, I was torn as I liked some of the vegetables but not others! Either way it was definitely an interesting taste, you find your brain telling you the slight fizziness must mean the food is past its best but you also know that its just part of the fermentation process. Needless to say we didn't have the same confusion with the fermented grapes from the bar!

The dessert was pumpkin based so very seasonal - there was a pumpkin cake served with pumpkin puree, candied walnuts, a set coconut mousse/jelly, toasted coconut and lavender gel. Overall the flavours went really well together although the lavender gel was a tiny bit overpowering for my tastes. Having said that I'm not great with floral flavours in food so that could just be me! I loved the candied walnuts to the extent that I ended up stealing some off my friend's plate, they went really well with the earthy sweetness of the pumpkin and freshness of the coconut mousse.

All in all I really enjoyed POPdown at The Vaults, not only was the food tasty but it also introduced me to a lot of new tastes and techniques. The flavours were interesting and sparked a lot of conversation across the table. I was left with a really positive impression of Paul and the team as well as some great photos for my Instagram feed!

If you'd like to try out the food for yourself you can buy tickets online at Tabl.

My new late night addiction!

Since moving jobs I've been to a lot more evening events - this has created the need to perfect a super fast late night meal which is still healthy and, more importantly, tasty! This dish turns up in so many guises on my Instagram feed that I felt the need to actually write it down despite the fact that it's not exactly a recipe - as you can imagine it changes slightly each time I make it depending on what I've got in the fridge. It's a great way of cooking something comforting while sneaking loads of veg in so is also a good option for kids.

Pimped up pasta and pesto

Gluten free pasta (non-gf is also fine if you prefer)
Green vegetables, as many as you like - I tend to use a mix of peas, kale, spinach, broccoli, edamame beans (and/or anything else you have to hand)
Pesto - I use jarred as this is a late night speedy dish but it would be lovely with homemade too
Optional extras - garlic infused rapeseed oil, mashed avocado, herbs (basil and parsley are what I use purely because they grow on my windowsill), parmesan, goats' cheese

Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water, time it so you add the vegetables as they will need to cook. I normally add broccoli along with the pasta because I like it to go slightly soft so I can mash it up into the pesto a bit.
While the pasta and vegetables are cooking you can do a few extras if you have the energy. To make the infused rapeseed oil I finely chop a clove of garlic and put it in my serving bowl with a thin covering of rapeseed oil, I heat this in the microwave for a super short burst to allow the oil to warm and the garlic to start to infuse.
If you're using the oil method it's quite nice to add some fresh herbs once it's warm as they will infuse throughout the dish - you might also want to add half a mashed avocado if you've got one handy, it's lovely and creamy and adds to your 5 a day, this is a great way of introducing avocado to people who aren't keen on the texture.
Add pesto to this mix and combine with the cooked pasta and vegetables (if you're not using the mix just add pesto on it's own) - I'd also suggest reserving a bit of the pasta water as you may want to add bit of this to thin out your veg and pesto mix.
Serve topped with fresh basil, a grate of parmesan and / or some crumbled goats' cheese - if you only have soft goats' cheese this is also nice stirred in with the pesto.

The perfect pot noodle!

Now before you start thinking I'm about to tell you how to pour water into a shop bought pot noodle don't panic - this is focussed on how to make your own healthy (aka homemade) version. It's the most versatile lunch option I've found as well as being super tasty. Although it's not my prettiest creation it makes everyone in my office jealous. I've even had incredulous questions around whether I made this myself - the secret is that it's much easier than it looks and smells!

Homemade Pot Noodle

Instant rice noodles - I used MAMA Instant Rice Vermicelli Noodles
Miso paste - follow pack instructions but I like a good heaped teaspoon
Chinese chilli oil - I use Lee Kum Kee chiu chow chilli oil
Vegetables - anything will do here, I like mushrooms, spring onions, broccoli, pak choi but anything you've got in your fridge is worth adding
Silken tofu cut into chunks (you can use cooked chicken or prawns if you prefer)
Hot water
Optional extras - finely grated fresh ginger and garlic, tamari or soy sauce, sriracha chili sauce

It couldn't be easier to make, just chop whatever vegetables you're using into small bitesized pieces and put in a suitable container with your tofu and dry rice noodles, add the ginger and garlic at this point if using - you can also add the miso and chilli oil or keep them separate if you prefer.
Once you're ready to eat decant into a large bowl and top with boiling water to allow the noodles to soften - make sure you stir in all the miso paste to create your broth.
Depending on what vegetables you're using you might want to give it an extra boost in the microwave, I did this when I had broccoli but literally just for a minute or two.
Once it's hot adjust to taste - I tend to add a dash of tamari or soy sauce then top with a bit of sriracha for extra heat but this totally depends on your own taste.
As you can see from the picture below you end up with a nice big bowl of soup to keep you going on those days when things are so busy you find yourself eating at your desk!

Cordial based cocktail experiments

The guys at Elderbrook were doing a little giveaway whereby if you sent them a picture of mint growing - which I happen to have on my balcony - they send you a free mojito kit. Seemed like a good idea so I sent them along my picture below and received back a nice little collection of goodies! I'm not sure if they are still doing the offer but if you send them a nice tweet you might get lucky.

The cordial itself is perfect for a mojito - much better than any mix I've tried before. It also works well as it was originally intended as a standard cordial to be mixed with sparkling water. My only criticism is the tiny bottle, I tend to add more than suggested when using cordial so was only able to get 5 servings out of my 10 serving bottle. This could be because like most cordials they underestimate a little or could be because I have massive glasses - either way I'd like them to start doing large bottles!

To make my mojito below I used:

100ml of Bacardi rum (I told you the glasses are big!)

Juice of half a lime

Glug (approx 10ml) of Elderbrook lime, mint & baobab cordial

Sprig of mint (smack this between your palms to release the smell)

Sparkling water

Fill your glass with ice, add your rum, lime and cordial then top up with sparkling water and garnish with mint - super easy and very tasty!!