Tickled salmon pink

Pan fried salmon with wasabi and soy

Nyeh, you've gotta try this ... as the fat-tongued Oliver boy would say.

I think I got part of this recipe from Gordy, part from a noodle packet and part from my imagination.

Mix some wasabi paste with about an equal amount of light soy sauce, the juice of half a lime and some brown sugar (white sugar will do if you don't have brown). I don't know quantities, but it's best to start with about three dessert spoons of soy sauce and go by taste and judgement from there. Place two salmon fillets in the marinade and leave it to soak for a while.

In the meantime, finely slice some salad onions and fry them gently in a wok with some ginger and beansprouts. Add some ready-to-go rice noodles (I prefer thin ones) and splash in a dessert spoon of mirin, a drizzle of sesame oil and a bit of soy sauce.

Once the noodles are more or less ready, prepare a griddle pan over a very high heat and fry the salmon for about 2-3 minutes on either side (without oil, if your pan is non-stick enough). Serve the salmon on top of the noodles straight away, with a wedge of lime on the side to make it look like you've made an effort!

Tasty summer festivals

Hurrah - the Taste festival is approaching!

If you've never been to or heard of this festival before, it's well worth a look. Leading restaurants each have a stand where they sell small 'taster' portions of three of their popular dishes - one of each course. The festival has its own 'currency' - Crowns - so you pay for everything beforehand and carry your vouchers around as if they're golden tickets!

There are also stands with free samples of cheese, wine, chocolate, fruit juice and other goodies, plus things to buy and read. I've only ever been to the London festival before, which is held in Regents Park and has a lovely summertime picnic feel.

It's a great way to learn more about restaurants you don't know and eat good food from those you already know and love. But beware the free alcohol if the sun's out!

Not a misteak

I expect you have all been dying to know how I got on at the Albannach. What do you mean, not really?

Well, it was quite a while ago and I can't entirely remember but I know it was pretty good and I wasn't disappointed by the food. I didn't much like the table we were given or the atmosphere, and the wine list was a big let-down. A restaurant serving hearty meals such as haggis, lamb shank and venison steak should offer some decent full-bodied red wine (preferably French) under £35 a bottle.

So, the food was by far the strongest point, which I suppose is fairly crucial for a restaurant! I ate a trio of cured fish for starter (mackerel pate, tea and whisky cured salmon and sardines), then the rib-eye steak with Dauphinois potatoes. The fish was amazing and tasted 'properly Scottish', while the steak was classic and unfussy in its presentation and flavours. I'd find it hard to choose something different from the menu if I went again!

Oh yeah - pudding. I can't honestly remember what I ate or whether it was nice, so perhaps I didn't have one. I suspect it was the cheeseboard, because I know I drank a lovely glass of port with it!

I'm glad I tried this restaurant and I commend the chef for the thorough 'Scottishness' of the menu. Would I go again? Hmm ... we'll see. Perhaps in the winter.

Moneygeddon

Wow, look: I was talking about fear of a recession over a year ago! I didn't realise the media had had its doom and gloom hat on for that long!

Anyway, the 'hate waste' campaign seems to have quietened down of late, to be ovetaken by the old 'cheap food is fashionable again' thing. Chefs, food writers and supermarkets are telling us that we can do no better than brisket, offal, scrag end and the like. (Ok, maybe not scrag end ...)

Do I agree? Well, not entirely. There's some things on which one can easily economise; value broccoli is much the same as gourmet broccoli (both delicious) for example, and over-priced fancy sausages still split, stick to the pan and taste the same as cheaper ones. But brisket is no substitute for a nice piece of topside. I wouldn't compromise, personally - not after the first time!

Crazy egg

Just a quick thing about scrambled eggs. Have I spoken about them before? Possibly, but who knows? Who cares?! It's not as if you read every day! Oh -perhaps you do! In which case I feel a scary sense of obligation to inform, educate and entertain, like the BBC.

Anyway - make them in the microwave. Just take them out every 20 or 30 seconds to do the scrambling bit with a fork, otherwise (as my colleague pointed out) you end up with an omelette.

Scrambly eggs, as I call them, should be a bit on the gooey side and are best eaten as hot as possible on some ciabatta toast with olive oil and black pepper.

PS: turns out I had talked about them before!

Raising the steaks again!

Hurrah! The fortnight-long, strangely-named London Restaurant Week is here! Apparently venues in Manchester and Birmingham also take part, so it's really just the 'restaurant' bit of the name that's accurate.

During this fortnight well-known and prestigious restaurants offer three-course lunches for £15 and three-course dinners for £25, usually from a set menu.

Now, I'm in two minds about this event. I like the fact that it publicises good restaurants and encourages those who don't eat out very often to try somewhere new. On the other hand, the offer isn't exceptionally good value in most cases, compared to the year-round offers available online.

For instance, I've been wanting to visit the Albannach for a while and checked the list to find that it's taking part in restaurant week. I also checked Toptable, however, to find that they're offering 50% off all food. Well, that's not restricted to a set menu and it'll work out cheaper than £25 a head, so ...

I also noticed that Lanes, on Middlesex Street, is now a Marco Pierre White grill and steakhouse. I've always liked the restaurant but found the menu quite static and the atmosphere a bit 'city'-ish, so I was keen to see whether it had changed for the better. I checked the offers and again the Toptable offer won: I booked and went for dinner last night. Now I feel that I've done my bit for London Restaurant Week without being crowbarred into paying more than necessary!

And yes, it has changed for the better. The atmosphere is far more relaxed and the menu is a meat-lover's delight - a clever mix of fancy cuisine and simple steaks and grills. I'm certainly going to keep my eyes peeled for special offers in the future.

Cake!

My favourite cake recipe, for low-fat apple cake, is probably the recipe I most frequently pass on. So I thought I'd dredge it up again here!

I recently made a new-Delia-like discovery, too - if you have no cooking apples handy, you can use a jar of bramley apple sauce instead! Hurrah for convenience!

The recipe can be found right here.