Olive Magazine March 2018

When I was a teenager and dangerously armed with a student loan, living in a city for the first time, I spent any spare cash I had on ingredients. I had my first taste of belly of lamb on recommendation from Cardiff Central Market’s friendly butcher – “slow cook it, love, with tomatoes and herbs”. I attempted homemade Welsh cakes. I ate Findus Crispy Pancakes and potato waffles, regularly, in rebellion after having been fed (ungratefully) only meals cooked from scratch by mum for the previous two decades. My version of shopping frugally, though, was to buy cheap meat and fish – fatty, chewy mince, flabby farmed salmon fillets, and bland (to my shame) cage-farmed chicken wings and drumsticks. I didn’t know or understand about provenance or sustainability. I didn’t realise meals…

TRENDS TRANSLATOR Each month, the Olive team spots a new trend appearing in restaurants, street-food stalls and supper clubs across the UK, and then translates it for you to cook at home. This time its jackfruit, the meat substitute that vegans are going wild for. JACK THE MEAT IN A prickly green fruit might not be the most obvious replacement for pulled pork – but that’s exactly what vegans in the know have been cooking with. Jackfruit is the largest tree fruit in the world – it can grow up to a metre in length and weigh as much as 45kg – has a firm texture and, when ripe, smells and tastes like a mash up between mango, pineapple and banana. When jackfruit is young and under-ripe, however, the flesh actually ‘pulls’ like…

SAINSBURY’S The supermarkets are responding to the nation’s growing appetite for more fruit and veg in their diets, and Sainsbury’s new flexitarianfriendly range was the first to sell pulled jackfruit, as of January this year. Sold with a sweet and smoky BBQ sauce, it works brilliantly in tacos. £3/350g; sainsburys.co.uk PROJECT JACKFRUIT This Birmingham start-up reckons jackfruit tastes great in rice dishes, burritos, burgers, nachos, jacket potatoes, pizzas and noodles – and you can buy its ready-pulled and flavoured jackfruits (all-American BBQ, tomato curry and Caribbean Jerkpocalypse). £4.99/300g at projectjackfruit.com SPICE BOX This street-food star has been serving a jackfruit tikka masala to great acclaim at KERB market in Camden. The jackfruit is marinated then roasted, before being served in a creamy tomato masala sauce made with cashew-nut cream and peppers. kerbfood.com/traders/spice-box DISHOOM Our favourite Bombay café…

There’s now a huge variety of nut butters available but this new pine nut butter takes things to the next level. Whole pine nuts are blended until smooth and creamy, then mixed with pine nut pieces for crunch and texture. As you can imagine with such an intense, rich nut, it’s super-indulgent so you don’t need to use much (good news as it’s quite pricey, too). Toss it through hot pasta with basil for a deconstructed pesto, or whisk into a creamy dressing to give green veg a lift. £9.40/170g, nuturalworld.com (to order online and for stockist details). Spiced lamb and broccoli with pine nut, raisin and shallot dressing 20 MINUTES | SERVES 2 | EASY | lamb leg steaks 2 olive oil 1 tbsp ground cumin /2 tsp hot chilli powder ½ tsp golden raisins 2…

Tracklements Special Edition Hot & Sweet Chilli Sauce Fiery red and scotch bonnet chillies give this sweet, sticky sauce a good heat at the back of your throat. £3.40/230ml, delis and at tracklements.co.uk Paul and Pippa Apple & Cinnamon Biscuits These sweet biscuits made with extra-virgin olive oil taste like apple crumble with a subtle cinnamon spice. £5.45/150g, lunya.co.uk Wicked Kitchen Muay Thai Curry With big chunks of sweet chargrilled butternut squash, lotus root, fragrant rice and a squeeze of fresh lime, this curry makes a hearty vegan lunch. £4/400g, Tesco Jude’s Vanilla Clotted Cream Ice Cream Made using whole milk, and double and clotted cream, this ice cream is incredibly rich. Serve with hot apple crumble. £4/500ml, Sainsbury’s (from mid-March) Dorset Cereals American Road Trip Muesli Crisp flaked almonds, plump raisins and juicy cranberries all dusted in cinnamon…

Nongshim shin spicy instant NOODLES This is the perfect “It’s 2am, I’m hungry and I must eat” meal. I dress mine up with a dollop of butter, chilli oil and add an egg right at the end to make it creamy. Sour Cream & Onion PRINGLES I’m aware that one whole large can is enough for my entire daily calorific intake. In case anyone is wondering, I can eat two cans in a sitting. 8 blocks of Yeo Valley BUTTER It’s not so much the ingredient itself but the quantity. I normally have eight blocks of unsalted and salted butter in my home at any one time – it’s kind of like my culinary safety blanket! V ery Lazy Chopped GARLIC I’m a chef, I know, but sometimes I just really want a super garlicky pasta and…