Sunday lunch in our garden flat
a menu idea for a long fish lunch + a recipe for fiori di zucca fritti
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Nostalgia, the frenemy
As another week races past us, I’d like to take a moment to slow down and share our menu for a long Sunday lunch. There’s so much pleasure in cooking for friends, neighbors, and people you love. I do understand that sometimes hosting for groups, both big and small, can be daunting, but there’s nothing more rewarding than sharing a home-cooked meal and good conversation. I’m savoring every moment we have in our flat here in London. Like the sponge that sits underneath your kitchen faucet, I’m soaking up every last drop of time I have in my kitchen. Admiring the “view” from our garden and the pictures we’ve hung on the walls. As I type this, I can hear myself heading into the dangerous water of nostalgia, but I think, a toe in is good for the soul - no? For someone who is constantly changing (jobs, countries, ideas), you’d think I’d be ready and able to take on this new, yet sudden mix up. But nostalgia creeps in and settles into the hairline cracks. I remind myself that we’ve come so far, we’ve lived this flat and the neighborhood and we lived it well. And so, with that said, let’s have a party! Well, a lunch.
I thought I should take a moment to explain the definition of the word “frenemy”.
noun
INFORMAL
a person with whom one is friendly despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry.
Sunday (fish) lunch
The idea for this Sunday lunch came while at the market. I think the best menus are created when you see something that inspires you. And that inspiration just so happened to come in the form of a small fish - a red mullet to be exact. Bright pink scales, small in size, but with a delicious and meaty flesh. They’re best enjoyed lightly floured and quickly fried but can also be equally delicious when baked or even served crudo style in a bright salad. From the small fishes, we spiraled into an entire fish menu. It wasn’t long until we spotted zucchini flowers. And then new potatoes. And soon after, a long sweet red pepper landed in my shopping bag. And before we knew it, we were hosting a Sunday lunch. From there, we decided on a much larger whole fish to serve as the main, a sea bass - with glistening clear eyes. With our tote bags full, we set home to start cooking.
The menu, flow, and day when cooking a small and intimate lunch goes a little something like this.
11:00AM - Music, second coffee, slice lemons for water jugs, fill water jugs and chill in the fridge, enjoy the silence of a Sunday morning
12:00PM - Decide on which serving plates to use for appropriate dishes
12:30PM - Roast the new potatoes, cut the peppers, add peppers to the potatoes mid way through cooking
12:45PM - Take potatoes and peppers out of the oven, clean the zucchini flowers, make the batter for the zucchini flowers and set aside in the fridge, stuff the zucchini flowers with anchovies and the others with ricotta
1:00PM - Wash and dry salad
1:15PM - Set the table
1:45PM - Cut some peaches for white wine and peaches, maybe pour yourself a glass
2:00PM - Neighbors hop the fence, wine in hands, snacking board being snacked on
2:30PM - Zucchini flowers and small fish are fried for antipasti, sea bass in the oven with potatoes and peppers
3:10PM - Sea bass out of the oven, clear antipasti plates
3:30PM - Gianluca filets the fish, serve sea bass with potatoes and peppers
4:30PM - Wine continues to be poured.
5:00PM - Main dishes are cleared
5:15PM - Moka pot is on, dessert is served
6:00PM - Table is cleared
6:30PM - Dishwasher is running.
THE END.
Fiori di zucca fritti
(2 ways - with anchovies or ricotta, honey, oregano)
Serves 5
Ingredients
10 zucchini flowers (either with zucchini attached or without - female/male flowers)
125g of plain flower
200g of sparkling water or beer
Good pinch of salt to season
Black pepper to season
Pinch of sugar (little less than 1 tsp)
Vegetable oil for frying
5 filets of anchovies
100g of ricotta
Honey and dried oregano for garnish
Notes: I recommend a 2:1-ish ratio of liquid to flour but use the method in the directions below. Slowly incorporate the liquid into the flour and stop once you have the desired coating consistency.
Method
1 hour before you plan to fry, prepare the pastella (batter). Season the flour with salt, pepper, and sugar. Slowly pour the sparkling water or beer into the flour - incorporating the liquid slowly so to lessen the likelihood of a lumpy batter. By incorporating the liquid slowly, you can also judge how thick or thin you need the batter to be. The batter should coat the back of a spoon but be thin enough to drip in a slow dribble from the spoon - closer to the consistency of a crepe batter. If needed add more liquid, if you go over board with liquid, add more flour - but be careful of this dance or else you’ll end up with too much batter.
Chill the batter in the fridge for about an hour or however long you have until you need to fry. While the batter is chilling, clean the zucchini flowers by gently removing the pollinator inside the flower - the stamen. Fill half of your flowers with a sliver of anchovy and the other half of your flowers with a dollop of ricotta. Set aside for frying.
Heat enough oil in a pot in order for the flowers to float - about 3 inches tall. Or you can choose to shallow fry in a smaller amount of oil but the result will leave you with a flat sided flower - equally delicious. Test the oil to see if you’re ready to fry by dropping a bit of batter into the hot oil, it should sizzle and puff up right away. Dip your flowers into the batter, dredging and twisting the top of the flowers end to seal and close it in order to not let the fillings escape during frying. Fry until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel, season with flaky salt. Drizzle honey and dried oregano over the ricotta filled flowers. And enjoy!
Until next time at a standing reservation…
With love & snacks,
Paige
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Need a happy moment?
Bowling, pizza, and friends. What more can you ask for?! We checked out Peckham Bowls this past weekend in Peckham Rye Park and wow, was it a good ol’ time! We had a lane of bowling for 2 hours but had so much fun we stayed an extra hour (literally until the sun went down). Pizza was delivered to the park and well, it was like an adult birthday party if you ask me! Happy moment, secured.