Here’s the dish for this post… but first a little bit about my visit to the Borough Market in London….(you can skip to the bottom for the recipe).
A few days ago, I visited the Borough Market in London with a fellow Paleo blogger, Ceri, from Natural Kitchen Adventures. I had been wanting to go for quite some time, but for some reason it just seemed too far a trip. It turns out it’s not and it’s quite easy to get to. In fact, for those of you in London, it’s literally right above the London Bridge tube station and very close to the Shard. One word of caution though: take a few bags (and plenty of money!), as you’ll want to buy everything in sight! 😉
Ceri and I met in person last year and had been wanting to do a market outing together for some time; and now we finally got around to it. She has been to the market many times before and acted as an impromptu guide, showing me around the vegetable, butcher, fish monger and specialty stands.
If you haven’t been, it’s a must see, even if you’re just a tourist in London. It’s really a beautiful market with mostly organic produce, grass-fed meats and wild caught fish. I honestly can’t speak much about some of the specialty shops, as I didn’t visit them. But there are a load of places selling pastry, chocolate and sweets and even organic muesli and cereal mixes. There’s also a Spanish shop with a wide variety of cheese (many unpasteurised), jamon serrano, salted cod, and other traditional foods. And there are plenty of places to eat, although most of them are not Paleo-friendly.
On one of our turns around the stalls, we bumped into Hook & Son, a raw milk supplier and producer of raw cream, raw yoghourt, raw butter and raw buttermilk. I hadn’t had raw milk since I was a child in Spain, so it was quite a treat to sample it again. I must say, it’s so delicious and creamy! And it didn’t even bother my tummy. I’m lactose intolerant and regular, pasteurised milk sits like a bomb in my belly. Granted, I only had a little bit… but Ceri and I did share an apricot-flavoured, sugar-free yoghourt and loved it! What’s even cooler about Hook & Son is that there’s a British documentary that has been made called The Moo Man. Stephen Hook, the very friendly and informative farmer, who attended to all our queries, is the protagonist (along with his herd and family) of the film, which apparently was a surprise hit at the Sundance Film Festival 2013. I look forward to finding a screening near us, as it’s supposed to be a very interesting and heart-breaking love story of Mr. Hook’s journey to remain organic and preserve his herd and farm. I also look forward to finding the time to visit his farm. But in the meantime, the good thing about Hook & Son is that they deliver raw milk all over England and Wales! That’s quite exciting for me, as I want to make good quality kefir and pasteurised milk doesn’t cut it. (For more information on the film, please check: moomanmovie.com.)
Anyway, at the market, we really had to struggle to control our shopping impulses. Everything is so beautiful. The fruits and vegetables look simply amazing and picture perfect. So much so, that I actually succumbed and bought a purple cauliflower, some yellow courgettes (zucchini), purple kale, and some figs, which were simply just too expensive, but I hope worth it!
As we were ready to leave, Ceri took me over to The Ginger Pig stand, a butcher, specialising in organic, grass-fed lamb, beef, pork and poultry. We kindly requested some beef bones for broth and the nice butcher gave us a bag full!
It was not easy to leave the market, but at least we left happy and already brainstorming how to use our purchases…
And here’s a recipe with the yellow courgettes that I bought. I used both the yellow and green ones I had previously on hand to add more colour to the dish. But you can make this with just the regular green ones, and also add in aubergines, if you like (I would’ve added them, but didn’t have any left).
- 6-8 red mullet filets, depending on appetite and size of filets
- 1 medium green zucchini (courgette), sliced diagonally to make larger “rounds”
- 1/2 large yellow zucchini (courgette), sliced diagonally to make larger “rounds”
- 2-3 medium tomatoes, sliced
- 1 medium red onion, peeled and sliced
- 3-4 cloves garlic, sliced lengthwise
- Herbes de Provence
- freshly ground rosemary
- coarse sea salt
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- freshly chopped parsley
- Rinse the fish filets and set on a paper towel over a plate. Sprinkle with some coarse sea salt and set aside.
- Prepare the vegetables.
- Preheat the oven at 180C (350F) while you set up the vegetables, as follows.
- In an ovenproof dish, alternate between the zucchini, tomato and onion pieces, layering until you have covered the dish and used up all the vegetables.
- Drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle some coarse sea salt over top.
- Sprinkle some Herbes de Provence (I used about 1-2 teaspoons) and some rosemary (I used about 1/2-1 teaspoon) over top.
- Place in the middle rack of the oven and cook for about 30-40 minutes until the zucchini are tender.
- Remove from the oven and drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar. Let sit a few minutes before serving to absorb the vinegar flavours.
- About 10 minutes before the vegetables are ready, you will need to cook the fish.
- Add some olive oil (about 2 tablespoons) in a pan and set the filets and garlic inside.
- Over low heat, cook the fish, turning over to cook each side, about 3-4 minutes on each side.
- (Red mullet filets shrink quite a bit and also may “shrivel” up. So, make sure to cook just long enough, but not overcook or it will be too dry.)
- Serve immediately with some freshly chopped parsley as garnish and the roasted vegetables as accompaniment.
Was great to catch up with you Debra – and a pleasure to show your round! The dish you made with the courgettes looks stunning and I’m looking forward to seeing your cook up of those purple cauliflower! I agree – the market is far too expensive, but a great place to get inspiration from all those brightly coloured phytochemical filled fruits and vegetables!
It was great catching up with you too! I hope we can do it again soon. And yes..I’ll keep you posted on the purple cauliflower! ha! 😉
Looks fabulous – will try that roast veg mix tomorrow as I have all the ingredients to hand, including aubergine. It’s a great time of year for a variety of interesting local produce. I’m also really excited to have accidentally found two UK-based (?) paleo/real food bloggers! Other people ARE out there, hooray! I made your beet cake (as muffins) today – they are amazing!
Thank you Zoe! Yes, there are more of us out there in the UK. Who else did you find, Natural Kitchen Adventures perchance? And glad to hear you liked the beetroot cake. It’s one of my favourite recipes as well; I do not tire of it. 😉