DO REAL MEN DO DIPS? THESE DIPS JUST MADE MY SUMMER
PLUS THE CONDIMENT YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT & RESTAURANTS I ATE IN
Just to be clear I am talking about delicious culinary dips not Arnold Schwarzennegger tricep dips. If you believe tik tok trends, dips are gendered as’girl dinne’r. Ridiculous. They merely need liberating from those sad little plastic pots and given a restaurant style ‘glow up’.
I’ve been fortunate to eat out a lot this past week which has given me lots of fresh dip inspiration easily transferable to home as well as some restaurant recommendations that go beyond those few that many are fixated on.
My default for entertaining, especially with drinks in the garden, is a couple of beautiful, enticing dips. It is the most convivial way to get the evening going and also gives the cook time to finish off last minute preparation, and swoop in for a few dips.
You have to be generous with the dippers too!!
At JERU, an intriguing Mayfair restaurant that reimagines a blend of Mediterranean, Lebanese, Australian and Israeli influences, one of the best starters is the under-appreciated black-eyed pea pulse made into an ultra creamy, velvety hummus with a subtle peppery flavour that is absurdly good for you and good for the planet. Black-eyed pea plants have extraordinary heat and drought tolerance and need very little water so thrive anywhere. The restaurant version is fulsomely garnished with enoki mushrooms that complement the nutty, earthy hummus and make it even more of a nutritional powerhouse.
Intriguingly the legume got its name from the black ‘eye’ in its centre where it was attached to the pod. Originally they were known as mojette (French for ‘nun’) as the black eye resembled a nun’s head covering. In Africa, they are known as cowpea. Planting more traditional crops such as these will make our future food security more resilient.
What makes this hummus truly memorable is a finishing drizzle of vibrant green, herby, piquant TATBILA, a zingy condiment popularly used to finish hummus in Israel. (Its name comes from the Hebrew tabila, a particular spice mix. Usually, it is made with green chili, garlic, olive oil, a little vinegar, lemon, coriander, parsley, cumin and paprika. Popular with Yotam Ottolenghi and Sarit and Itmar Packer, ‘The Honeys’. It is so easy to make at home, that it is a game changer.
Trying the dip at Jeru is a must for their 72 hour fermented potato bread that is so soft and billowy with excellent crust and comes with its own miso dip and truffle honey.
Whilst at Jeru, the tuna tartare with an unusual, crisp fennel salsa and whipped avocado is also thrilling as are the irresistible crisp haloumi doughnuts with goat's curd, lemon zest and chives besides truffle honey..
240g cooked black-eyed peas or tin of Hodmedod carlin peas in water
1 garlic clove, minced
4 tbsp tahini
1 tsp ground cumin
1.2 tsp smoked paprika
Good pinch of salt
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Drain black-eyed peas, puree with all the ingredients. Add chilled water, blending after each tbsp to achieve desired consistency, taking it slowly.
I’d heard that JEAN-GEORGES VONGERICHTON’s fresh PEA GUACAMOLE has been divisive.
When it was launched in his ABC KITCHEN in New York it caused an absolute furore. Though JG is nonplussed: ‘new flavour combinations are what chefs do’. Yet, most of his New York customers voted with their palate, deciding it wasn’t sacrilege and utterly delicious. Now, almost every New York table starts with pea guacamole and tortilla chips to go with a margarita. The fresh ginger margarita at ABC Kitchen at the new all-suite luxe hotel The Emory is sensational, better still accompanied by that dip with its English garden freshness and kick of smoky jalapeno and I am certain every table in London will be starting with this too.
The salads are sensational too, sophisticated in their simplicity.
A subject I will return to next week with some restaurant takeaway salad recipe inspiration, mixed with my own.
Other outstanding orders at ABC Kitchen, whose kitchen is run by former Gordon Ramsay chef Ben Boeynaems, are the sublime raw marinated scallops that are eaten tacos style wrapped in thin slices of mouli and shiso leaf and the Dover Sole goujons, also served tacos style with cabbage and apple slaw and aioli. The gariguette strawberry dessert with yuzu is beautiful and light to finish.
120g shelled sweet peas
Leaves from a medium bunch of fresh coriander,
plus 1 tbsp finely chopped1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 medium jalapeño chilli
1½ tsp kosher salt
2 ripe avocados, halved, pitted and peeled
3 spring onions, white parts only, thinly sliced
Juice and zest of 2 limes
Pinch of sea salt
Tortilla chips, to serve
Cook the peas to a medium saucepan of boiling water until tender, around 1 to 2 min.
Next, blanch the coriander: add the whole coriander leaves to the pan and cook just long enough to wilt them — about 5 seconds. Strain the peas and coriander into a fine-mesh sieve and plunge the sieve into the ice water to stop any further cooking. Once cool, transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper to dry.
Add the sunflower seeds to a dry pan set over medium-high heat and toast for about 1 min, until fragrant and golden brown. Transfer to a plate. Add the whole jalapeño chilli to the skillet and cook, using tongs to turn it often, until charred. This will take 8 to 10 min. Transfer the chilli to a small bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 5 min.
Peel the skin from the jalapeño, remove the stem, halve the chilli lengthwise and remove the seeds with the tip of a paring knife.
Add most of the cooled peas (aside from 2 tbsp) and the blanched coriander to a food processor, along with the charred jalapeño and ½ tsp of the salt. Pulse the mixture until coarsely chopped then transfer to a medium bowl. Otherwise, mash with a pestle and mortar.
Add the avocados, spring onions, lime zest, lime juice and remaining 1 tsp of salt to the pea mixture and mash with a fork.
Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with the sunflower seeds, the remaining peas, the chopped coriander and the pinch of sea salt. Serve with tortilla chips.
It’s been quite a week for eating out and I loved returning to JOE’s BRASSERIE on Wandsworth Bridge Road which I fondly remember eating at in the late 1980s. A former employee, Susan has now bought the site and revived it into a cosy, welcoming and already super popular neighbourhood bistro with exceptional food and very reasonable prices. Chef Ben Smith comes from Quality Chop House which speaks volumes. On a sunny Thursday lunch time, the terrace was still packed at 4pm. I would recommend sharing a wholly enticing selection of snacks and starters including the ambrosial whipped cod’s roe with crudites and cured egg, the crab toast: glorious with peach and basil, prime anchovies unusually served with tiny slivers of preserved lemon and chives, and the chicken karaage with maple syrup. If the special: a marinated cod’s collar, a first for me, is on, do try this usually discarded fish which is as juicy and slightly gelatinous as the kokotxas often found in Catalunya.
I also found myself at PETERSHAM NURSERIES Covent Garden, almost as bucolic as the original for a North Italian Alps/Südtirol wine dinner hosted by PETERSHAM CELLARS. Not only did the dinner convert TheSconeMan to the delights of polenta with braised fennel sausage, we also made some stunning wine discoveries, most too expensive for us to entertain but we did succumb to Alto Adige the Terlan 100% Pinot Blanco 2023 wine and ordered a half case which seemed impressively grown-up. A pale yellow wine, with delicate aromas of apple, ripe pear, blossom, it well structured with light, balanced acidity and memorable minerality.
THREE BONUS DIPS YOU MAY NOT BE FAMILIAR WITH
SKORDALIA
Made with either potato, for a smoother texture, or bread with a more grainy finish, skordalia is finished with nuts: walnut, almond or chestnut, depending on the region. Sometimes an egg is beaten into the skordalia for a richer dish. As with most dips, it is best made in a pestle and mortar for a better consistency: simply pound mashed potatoes with olive oil, vinegar, raw garlic, lemon juice and almonds. Served at room temperature it is usually a dip with raw vegetables whilst chilled warm pita bread makes a better accompaniment.
FASOLE BATUTA
Romanian food is beginning to be better appreciated and smooth, creamy fasole batută a traditional Romanian bean dip made with mashed white beans combined with minced garlic, oil, bean stock, salt, and pepper is a healthy, fibre rich dip to add to the repertoire. It is typically topped with onions which have been cooked with tomato paste, sugar, and paprika and served with flatbread and olives.
MUHAMMARA
Muhammara is originally from Aleppo. The Syrian dip is made with a combination of roasted red peppers, olive oil, and ground walnuts. The peppers give the dish a particular sweetness and smoky flavor, while ground walnuts make it texturally exciting. It is served with freshly baked pita bread.