Delicious Food And Beverage fan-Healthy Care And Tips

Everyone's cooking risotto at the moment it seems, and since pasta now sits in the negative column of my diet plan I am increasingly turning to rice as a way of getting that satisfactory carby bloated feeling of gastronomic satiation. British asparagus is in its prime right now and broccoli is nice for a bit of crunch too. I unfortunately can't have parmesan or butter, but frankly they aren't wholly necessary if you're working with a tasty stock, and doing without is that little bit healthier! I used the leftover stock from my chicken and chickpea casserole and just added some more water.

For two people you'll need:

4 handfuls of arborio or carnaroli rice
1 bunch of British asparagus, discard the tough end of the stalks
handful of broccoli florets
handful chopped cabbage
1 sliced leek
3 chopped sage leaves
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 litre of good strong chicken or vegetable stock
1 glass of white plonk
salt and pepper
olive oil


Heat a glug of olive oil in a heavy bottomed frying pan, add the diced onion and garlic and soften until transluscent. Add the rice and coat evenly with the oil, stirring for about 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped sage and stir in. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Add the glass of wine and start stirring the rice grains, cook until the wine has evaporated.

Turn the heat down under the pan to a simmer. You can now start adding your stock, soup ladle by soup ladle, stirring slowly. After the third ladle of stock, throw in the asparagus tips, broccoli, cabbage and leeks. Only add another ladle once the previous one has more or less been absorbed by the rice. This is usually every 45 seconds or so, but you can tell just by looking.
After about 18 minutes, taste your rice for bite. Good risotto should have bite, not be completely cooked to a mush, but the amount of bite is a purely personal taste. Keep adding stock until the rice has the right level of bite for you and the consistency is creamy but not runny and the rice slides off the back of your wooden spoon in a gloop.

Taste and season further if necessary. If you want cheese, stir some in just before serving. Eat in the company of a delicious man and a good movie.

To make enough for four people:

2 cups bulgar wheat (or about 200g)

one massive bunch of flat leaf parsley

one bunch of fresh mint leaves

two lemons

a lime

olive oil

3-4 spring onions

1 red onion

1 fresh red chilli

box of cherry tomatoes or 4 fat tomatoes on the brink of going soft

salt and pepper

dash of cayenne pepper

First prepare the bulgar wheat. Add two parts boiling water to one part bulgar wheat. Cover and simmer gently until the bulgar has absorbed all the water. let it rest and cool down, then fluff up with a fork, like making couscous.

Whilst the bulgar wheat is simmering, chop your parsley, mint, onions, chilli and tomatoes into tiny bits. Mix together in a bowl with the lemon and lime juice and the olive oil. Add the bulgar wheat to this mixture in a large salad bowl. Season generously. Taste, add whatever you think is missing, especially if the mixture is too dry. Finish off with a spot of cayenne pepper. If you're not on a wheat free diet, serve with pita bread and my garlicky hummus for a spring meze...

I promised more on Brixton Village!

Located in unit 65 of "Brixvill", you'll notice it from the pretty red and white tablecloth bedecked tables garnished with fresh flowers and fashioned out of upturned crates. Oh, and the constant buzz of people wanting to eat there...

The point of Cornercopia is not just about using the resources of a market within the market space, but sharing the food experience with locals, interacting with the local community around the table and encouraging the people of Brixton (and beyond!) to invest in their markets and be part of a community in an active, invested way.

I ate here on a gloriously sunny Saturday, although I was really looking for a place to park myself for a quick coffee and a read of the paper, the menu caught my eye, as did a couple of very content looking customers enjoying a brilliantly green looking bowl of soup.

Despite having tucked into pasta only half an hour earlier, I decided to make some space in my bottomless gullet for more food and sat down.

A charming, very attentive waiter came whizzing out with a menu. Two courses for £9 or three for £12, generous sized portions, but not exaggerated and everything in season and bought locally. I had a cox's apple juice and ordered poached egg with leek vinaigrette and bacon. A yummy combination of unctuous yolk, crispy salty bacon and the tangy leeks and mustard seed went down a treat.

This was followed by a sweet cured salmon fillet, served just warm on a bed of English asparagus (cooked to perfection), green beans, rocket and a saffron and orange sauce with orange segments. It was perfect for the weather, with spring colours, good flavours, not too heavy and enjoying my nosh whilst watching both the chef and the waiter chatting away to the locals and catching up on the Brixvill gossip was very enjoyable. In fact, I pretty much ignored my paper and just sat back to enjoy everything going on around me. Which I suppose is the point of a relaxing lunch in your local market.

I'll definitely be back, and would encourage local business people to take advantage of their cheap lunch deals, which include Meze platters for £4.50. Oh and they serve yummy jars of preserved lemons and jams and chutneys and all sorts too...

Catch up with all their activities and read the latest menu online at their Ning network site:

Other Brixton restaurants include: Bellantoni's pasta shop.