Anna Jones on capers, Tommy Banks's taste of happiness, plus restaurant tips and recipes – everything you need for a delicious week ahead View in browser | The new weekly Observer Food newsletterAnna Jones on capers, Tommy Banks's taste of happiness, plus restaurant tips and recipes – everything you need for a delicious week ahead |
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Welcome to our brand new weekly newsletter! We've packed away the old, slow-cooked monthly offering (though we remain monthly in print) and fired up the heat to bring you more frequent updates from The Observer gastronomic universe. Not only has the pace shifted but we're adding lots of new elements too, featuring contributions from some of the biggest and most exciting names in food. This week, Anna Jones reveals her secret ingredient, which she uses to pack briny deliciousness into pasta sauces, salads and martinis. Michelin-starred chef Tommy Banks answers our new Q&A, musing on kitchen smells and underwhelming watermelons before tackling the titular question: "What does happiness taste like?" And our writers share their current obsessions, from fiery chilli pastes and elegant pinots to an unimprovable neighbourhood Spanish restaurant on the south coast. Scroll to the bottom and you'll find a recipe for the chilled Middle Eastern soup that we'll be making this weekend to offset the heat, along with links to the food stories that caught our eye over the past seven days. Thanks for reading, let us know what you think, and see you here again same time next week.
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Inspired by Nutella's limited edition jars showcasing sunrise spots around the UK and Ireland, discover the six best places to eat your breakfast in the great outdoors this summer. From a pebble beach in Cornwall and a lovely loch in the Scottish Highlands, to the perfect place to perch in the Lake District, seize the day this summer with a spot of dawn dining. Plus, find six breakfast recipe suggestions from Nutella.
Click here to read more →
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Anna Jones's secret ingredient: capers |
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When I became vegetarian, what I missed the most were the ingredients I previously used to amplify flavour in dishes, such as anchovies or pancetta. And that's when I most often reach for capers. They add that base note, that salty, rounded umami flavour. I use them in all sorts of ways, but one favourite is to take a tablespoon and chop them quite finely, and then – in the same way you'd melt a couple of anchovy fillets – fry them off with garlic as the base of a pasta sauce. But there's almost no end to capers' capabilities. I use the brine a lot. It's brilliant if you're making focaccia and have a jar of liquid left over. It can replace the salt and some of the water in the dough and it salts it through even more fully. The brine is also amazing in margaritas and martinis. My favourites are the little non-pareil capers – the smallest variety. But as a caper fan, I usually have a few different types in the house. I most often get capers in brine or vinegar, rather than the fancy salted ones, just because I'm lazy and it skips a step. But if I'm making a slow-cooked sauce, that's when I'll reach for the salted ones – they get a bit more time to mellow. I love frying capers in olive oil. They open up like little flowers and you get that amazing crispy texture. But I also use them raw in salads and herby salsa verdes, to drizzle on top of roasted vegetables or farinata on a hot summer's day. Anna Jones's most recent book is Easy Wins. annajonesfood.substack.com |
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Amari, Brighton Andy Lynes
On the face of it, Amari is simply a buzzy neighbourhood bistro serving delicious, affordable Spanish food. But look beyond the croquettes and patatas bravas (both excellent) and you'll find something more interesting. Chef Ian Swainson has cooked at some serious places, including the Samling in the Lake District, where he held a Michelin star. Running service in the intimate room is Swainson's partner, Justyna Maria Ciurus, who has worked in excellent local restaurants such as Brighton's Little Fish Market. Elegant dishes such as a crispy-skinned fillet of torched mackerel with an opalescent sorrel and Gordal olive dressing, and crispy chipirones with fideuà and squid ink velouté have rightly brought Amari to the attention of the restaurant guides and at least one national critic. But despite ambitious food and the well-drilled, friendly service, Amari is more about a fine time than a fine dine. Especially when you add cocktails such as an Amarillo martini (made with yellow pepper gin, chamomile and lemon), an all-Spanish wine list that covers all major regions, and a selection of sherries. Swainson keeps his menu updated with new dishes so there's always a good reason to return. The restaurant is tucked away; you'll find it on a side street close to Brighton's Open Market, a short walk (or shorter cab ride) from the city centre. But Amari is worth seeking out. Please don't eat all the patatas bravas before I get there. Amari, 15 Baker Street, Brighton, BN1 4JN |
What does happiness taste like? |
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...with Michelin-starred chef Tommy Banks. Interview by Tony Naylor.
What's a red flag if you see it on a restaurant menu? Massive menus. I know what it's like to run a kitchen and you just can't do big menus well. Less is always more. What should restaurants stop doing? Deconstructed desserts. You still see it. I love desserts. But if it's sticky toffee pudding, I don't want date-flavoured mousse, a clotted cream panna cotta and caramel sauce. It's just weird. It's like tiramisu: just make tiramisu. Tiramisu is class. Name one restaurant you'd love to eat at but have never had the chance. Casa Julián [steak restaurant, Tolosa, northern Spain]. I've heard so many people talk about how great it is and it looks it. Ridiculously tasty protein cooked on a big old fire – perfect! What do films and TV get wrong about cooking in kitchens? I can't watch any of it. Friends in the film industry love The Bear but I found it far too stressful (I ended up watching Ted Lasso), and Burnt, the Bradley Cooper film: awful! My thing's always been, I want calm kitchens. If they're not calm, you're out of control. That's not impressive. I struggle with the drama – the over-dramatisation – and the notion it's so serious, like we're saving lives. The joy of hospitality is you share amazing moments with people. But it's not life and death. The notion it is really turns me off. What do you hate about cooking? I hate being smelly. I love working at the pub we've got but hate smelling of the fryers. What's your favourite 3am snack? Bloody hell! 3am? This is super boring, but I've stopped eating at night. I find it very difficult to switch off after work. If I eat, because my body's digesting, it's even harder to get to sleep. What's the most overrated ingredient? Very rarely do I think melon is delicious. It's largely watery and not very nice. Avocados, a similar thing. They're incredible in the US or Caribbean, but 99 times out of 100 in the UK they're hard and bland. Everyone thinks they're amazing, but they're rubbish. What does happiness taste like? Perfectly cooked steak. Hot sunny day, barbecue, cold beer. Tommy Banks runs Yorkshire's Black Swan at Oldstead and Roots (both Michelin star holders) and the Abbey Inn. |
M&S Collection Hot Calabrian Chilli Paste Andy Lynes
My fridge is full of ageing condiments and sauces I purchased for a particular recipe and never finished up, but a jar of M&S Hot Calabrian Chilli Paste (£2.50, 100g) never seems to last long enough. I originally bought some to make salmoriglio, a southern Italian salsa verde, from the cookbook of the Four Horsemen wine bar in Brooklyn (great recipe, great cookbook). It added an addictively fruity, moderate heat to what is now my go-to sauce for any grilled meat or fish. The paste, which also includes mushrooms, peppers and sundried tomatoes, works as a condiment by itself but is even better as a flavour booster for chilli con carne, pico de galllo and tomato pasta sauces. |
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Róisín Curley wines Killian Fox
Last year I gave my brother a bottle of Burgundy by the Irish winemaker Róisín Curley for Christmas and thought I'd really outdone myself, until I realised he'd gotten me two in return. We're both a bit obsessed by Curley, who lives a double life. In one, she co-runs the family pharmacy in her home town of Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo. In the other, she rents space at a winery in Beaune and makes sublime wines using grapes from local growers. "I like to work with people who grow organically or biodynamically and have good intent with everything they do," she tells me when I call her up at the pharmacy. "That carries through into the winery: the wines make themselves, so to speak."
She's being modest: both bottles I received – a fresh, bright 2018 Saint-Romain le Jarron chardonnay and a strawberry-accented Beaune Les Chardonnereux pinot noir from 2019 – were knockouts that evidenced considerable vinification skills (she became a Master of Wine in 2020). Curley has a fast-growing fanbase in Ireland, Scandinavia and Japan, but the UK market has yet to catch on. |
In case you missed it... 'When you're homesick, you want comfort'From the great Palestinian-British chef Sami Tamimi, whose cookbook Boustany we featured in our May issue, here's a classic Middle Eastern salad reborn as a chilled soup – perfect for the hot weekend ahead.
Click here to read more → |
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