Recipes from Brixton Village is the new cookbook by Miss South, one half of the duo behind the North South Food blog. Award-winning Miss South has lived in Brixton for ten years and for the last four she has shared recipes and reviews of local restaurants on her site (alongside her brother Mister North). Her dishes are seasonal and feature the best ingredients she can find at local markets (she shops on a limited budget and rarely buys food from supermarkets).
Miss South first book “Recipes from Brixton Village” features contributions from the traders of Brixton Village, a place I adore and which I have blogged about a few times already (here). Publishers Kitchen Press invited me to the press launch in Brixton Village last month, during which Miss South and Lindsay Faller of guided me on a tour of the market to put the book into context, meet traders and sample some of the dishes .
We started at Brixton Cornercopia, a neighbourhood restaurant and cornershop by Anne Fairbrother and chef Ian Riley, where you can sample dishes prepared with local and sustainable ingredients.
We ate Beetroot & Sheep’s Milk Cheese Pasties and Three Cornered Leek Fritters that were cooked to perfection and tasted amazing.
After a brief chat with Anne and Ian we walked to Jalisco, a Mexican restaurant by Venezuelan Wilson Porras and Yexeli Sanchez. Jalisco’s menu features Mexican dishes that the British people know and love, although Wilson still uses his mum recipes, making Jalisco effectively a Mexican-Venezuelan food joint.
We tasted their delicious Shredded-Beef Tacos and Tamarind Margaritas, made with tamarind pulp and twice-distilled “silver” tequila.
Next stop was Fish, Wings & Tings, the Caribbean restaurant by Brian Danclair (I blogged about it here).
Brian showed us how he makes his famous Codfish Fritters with Ginger & Lime Aioli, a recipe featured in Miss South book which looks super easy to make at home. All you need is boiled salted cod, flour, chilli peppers, onions, spring onions and water (though I’m sure it would take me years of practice to make it as good as Brian’s)!
After all the savoury dishes it was time for some dessert at nearby Lab G, an artisan ice-cream shop where you can taste authentic Italian gelato freshly made by Giovanni every day.
The Salted Caramel Ice-cream is Lab G’s most famous flavour, so we had to try it of course! Obviously I had already tasted Lab G ice-cream before, you know being Italian and all it is my duty to find the best gelato in London! ;)
Look at those creamy cups of joy! I reclaimed one from the other bloggers and journalists and ate it all by myself. It was incredible!
The final stop of our food walk was Snugg: a recent addition to Brixton Village, it’s a tea room and café where you can also enjoy fantastic food platters by chef Ella Killingley, cocktails and live music.
Visit Snugg for coffee and cakes, as well as their savoury dishes which are a mix of classic English, Mediterranean and African. We were treated to their Cheese & Mushroom Tarts and Salmon and Pate Crostini with a cup of freshly-brewed coffee made with a French Press.
I have a copy of Miss South book and I can’t wait to start cooking from it, recreating at home my favourite dishes from the market!
Recipes from Brixton Village was published on the 22nd of May and went straight to number one in the Restaurant Cookbook category on Amazon UK! Check out the book and most of all visit Brixton Village (and nearby Market Row) to support our amazing market traders!
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of the book and I was invited to the food walk as part of the book press launch. All opinions are my own.
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