Allpress Espresso, Shoreditch E2

Allpress Espresso, Shoreditch

Antipodean cafes continue to spring up around London like the Neighbours cast at panto season. And thank goodness. The Dark Ages of watery coffee from faceless chains, before the Aussie and Kiwi Enlightenment of Lantana, Flat White, Nude Espresso and co, don't bear thinking about.

Allpress Espresso, Redchurch Street

The latest Kiwi kid on the block is Allpress Espresso in Shoreditch. According to my Kiwi chum A, Allpress is a big deal in New Zealand. It started as a small group of cafes in Auckland, and now its Costa Rican espresso beans are one of New Zealand's best-loved coffee brands, with outlets in Australia to boot.

So A was understandably excited to discover Allpress had landed in London. The first thing you notice arriving at this new cafe on Redchurch Street is the hulking coffee roaster taking up half of the cafe, resembling a contraption from Dr Who. Allpress Espresso is one-part cafe and one-part roastery selling beans to the trade and the public.

Allpress's coffee roaster

This has the slight disadvantage of cannabalising the floor space and making the cafe area, all cream-coloured bare brick walls and wooden tables, rather crowded. Allpress was heaving on the Sunday afternoon we visited, with punters huddled by the door or standing around the communal tables waiting for a seat to open up. The word is definitely out.

flat white, Allpress Espresso

A cup of all-important flat white (the control test for any Antipodean cafe worth its salt) passed with flying colours - rich, full-bodied and smooth, made with Allpress's gleaming La Marzocco espresso machine.

scone of glory

 A wooden slab by the till groaned with the homeliest-looking scones this side of a WI tea party. These fat cricket balls were soft and airy, an indecent amount of clotted cream and strawberry jam crammed in the middle. A slab of apple and almond cake (pictured above) was filled with a light, creamy custard and served with a generous dollop of clotted cream. If this is the cake offering, I'm definitely coming back for brunch.

Welcome to London, Allpress.

Friday Find: Stuart Gardiner tea towels



Wildfood tea towel

For this week's Friday Find, I have to thank the lovely Elly, who runs The Pear Cafe in Bristol, and who tweeted me to nominate this splendid tea towel for a Friday Find.

The Wildfood tea towel is designed by chap called Stuart Gardiner. It features a seasonal guide to 70 British forageable foods - from crab apples to seaweed. If Hugh's Big Fish Fight has inspired you to cook some of our more unusual fishy friends, there's also a British seasonal fish tea towel.

When I looked at Stuart's website, I discovered his East London-based design studio is also responsible for several kitchen items I've been coveting lately, including the exceedingly badass Glove and Hate oven mitt, which you can buy from La Bouche on Broadway Market and Rosie's Deli Cafe in Brixton among others...

Stuart Gardiner Love and Hate oven mitt

And this Drop Scones not Bombs tea towel...

Staurt Gardiner Drop Scones Not Bombs tea towel

Aaaand these adorable Teat-Owls (do you see what he did there?)...



Stuart Gardiner Teat-Owls



Tea towels, all £10 each
Glove and Hate oven mitt, £14
All from http://www.stuartgardiner.co.uk/

Recipe: Spelt drop scones with bacon, avocado and maple syrup

Spelt drop scones

Down with self-flagellating new year's resolutions! Honestly, it's grotty, grey and cold in January - why would you choose this of all months to renounce wine, chocolate and vegetating on the sofa watching Glee? But that doesn't mean I'm immune to the shiny promise of the new year's resolution. I've just decided that my resolution for 2011 will involve something I love...

...food.

So I resolve to spend 2011 cooking from my cookbooks. That doesn't sound too hard does it? But like many people I have far more cookbooks than I use. 73 of the blighters at last count. I probably use 15 of them on anything resembling a regular basis. At most. The guilt is getting to me - this forest of words and pictures sat unused on what the boyfriend refers to with a resigned shake of the head as 'the cookbook shrine'...

the 'cookbook shrine'

The rules are to use one cookbook each week, and cook at least one recipe from it. Preferably more. Working my way down the bookshelves from top to bottom. And in the process hopefully discover exciting new dishes and new ways to cook old favourites. I'll also blog some of the recipes as I go.


Last week it was the turn of the cheery and useful River Cottage Everyday. I cooked a couple of vegetable dishes in the week, and then adapted the recipe for wholemeal drop scones at the weekend, omitting the sugar and using spelt flour as I have a large bag of the stuff freewheeling towards use-by. Drop scones are basically fat, baby pancakes - perfect brunch fodder served up with crispy bacon, avocado and a slick of maple syrup...

Spelt drop scones with bacon, avocado and maple syrup

Spelt drop scones with bacon, avocado and maple syrup
(adapted from River Cottage Everyday)

Serves 4 (makes about 25 drop scones)

For the drop scones
275g spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
2 medium free-range eggs
275ml milk
50g butter, melted
A dab of sunflower oil

To serve
 3 rashers of streaky bacon per person, fried until crispy

2 avocados, cut into thin slices
Maple syrup to drizzle

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and break in the eggs. Pour in about half the milk. Whisk, gently at first until you start to get a thick paste. Then add more milk and the melted butter. Beat until you get a creamy batter a little thicker than double cream.

Put a large heavy-based frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add a dab of oil and rub with a wad of kitchen paper to oil the pan very lightly. Or use an oil spritzer if you have one.

Drop a tablespoon of batter into the pan to get a disc about the size of a Digestive biscuit. You should be able to fit 4 or 5 in the pan.

After about a minute, small bubbles will begin to appear on the surface of the scones. As soon as these bubbles cover the surface, flip the scones over with a spatula - be warned, the first batch may stick.

Cook the other side for 40-60 secs, then transfer the drop scones to a waiting plate.

Cook the remaining drop scones in batches in the same way.

Serve with a little butter or streaky British bacon, slices of fresh avocado and a drizzle of maple syrup.

*Do you use all your cookbooks or do you harbour a collection of pristine, unused recipe books? Do you have any tricks for remembering which recipes you have in those books? Let me know in the comments section.*

Friday Find: Robot cupcake moulds and cake tins



Robot cupcake moulds, £15 for four from John Lewis



 Baking paraphernalia leans, let's face it, towards the girly. A pink sprinkle shaker here, a flowery cake-case there. So where does that leave aspiring baker boys? With these seriously cool robot cupcake moulds from John Lewis, that's where. The silicon moulds are part of the new 400-product-strong John Lewis Little Home range, which launches on January 16th. Also part of the range are these cake tins, festooned with smiling robots...



Robot cake tin set, £10 from John Lewis

 I like to think if these tins were around in the 60s, a young Nigel Slater would've used them to transport his lemon meringue pies back from home-ec class.

PS if you're in the market for a robot proper, do check out the exceedingly great My Robot Friends on Cheshire Street, just off Brick Lane.

Friday Find: Gaugin Tea for One Set from Tate Modern



Gaugin Tea for One set, photo © Tate Modern



The blockbuster Gaugin exhibition at the Tate Modern is in its final days, which means Soviet queues and squinting over shoulders at pictures of Tahitian lovelies. I tried to book tickets today with no joy, but I did discover this gem of a Friday Find in the Tate Modern gift shop.



Gaugin Tea for One set, photo © Tate Modern

This Gaugin Tea for One set features the French emigree's Still Life with Idol (1892), which he painted while living in Tahiti. The nifty pot for one is part-tea pot, part cup - with a saucer thrown in for luck. The teapot holds two cups of tea and is made from New Bone Ceramic.

£25 from the Tate Online Shop. Get it while it's hot.

Recipe: leftover lamb with Puy lentils, pomegranate and a warm mint dressing



Lamb with Puy lentils, pomegranate and mint



Happy New Year from Pinch of Salt!
Hope you like the new look.

To kick off the Pinch's 2011 - here's a recipe for the first thing I cooked this year. We woke up on Jan 1st with belligerent hangovers...and bountiful leftovers. For New Year's Eve supper, I slow-roasted lamb shoulder with anchovies, rosemary and garlic. Which is basically this marvellous Jamie Oliver recipe with added umami action courtesy of the anchovies - a traditional Mediterranean combination.

There was a hunk of lamb leftover on New Year's Day so I broke off the soft flakes of lamb shoulder and used them in this segue-into-healthiness dish - well, there's pulses and green things in it - a pretty good place to start.

Leftover lamb with Puy lentils, pomegranate and a warm mint dressing
Serves 2

Ingredients

Leftover lamb shoulder or leg meat, shredded
125g Puy lentils
A bay leaf
1/2 pomegranate
A large handful of rocket
Salt and pepper

For the dressing
One bunch of fresh mint, finely chopped
300ml boiling water
1 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
6 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

Add the lentils to your saucepan with the bay leaf and cover with twice their volume in water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, shred the lamb and deseed the pomegranate.

To make the dressing, chop the mint very finely. Place in a bowl or jug and add the sugar and boiling water and stir. When the mixture has cooled slightly, add the balsamic vinegar and olive oil and whisk together thoroughly.

Drain the lentils. Pour over the warm mint dressing, then gently fold in the lamb, pomegranate and rocket.

Adjust seasoning and serve.