Bill's cheese souffle with tomato salad

This recipe is from Bill Oglethorpe, trader at Borough Market and owner of Kappacasein Dairy. It first appeared on the Borough Market website as part of my series, I Am What I Eat, where I interview Borough Market traders about the foods that are important to them and why. This dish was one that his father used to make for the family when Bill was growing up in Zambia. 

“My father used to make a soufflé and that’s an incredible transformation,” says Bill Oglethorpe of Kappacasein Dairy. “It’s quite magical to see it rise in the oven. It was a special event.” Did his father used to make it for special occasions? “No, I mean it was an occasion because the soufflé made it special.”

This was my first time making soufflé – despite being a competent cook I have always been terrified at the prospect. It turns out there’s no need to be; if you follow the instructions carefully it will work just fine. However, timing is everything – a hot soufflé will last at most 5 minutes out of the oven, so have your plates, sides and guests ready. 

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Borough Market Blog, Sydney prawns and Dad's "benchmark" aioli

I’ve just started a series of guest posts for the Borough Market Blog. Check out the first post here. In the series I will be touching on some of the themes I have covered on my food anthropology page on food and identity. I’m interested in the special significance that people attach to the foods that they grew up with and the role this plays in defining who we are.

Over the coming months I will be speaking to seven traders from different ethnic backgrounds about the foods that are important to them and why. For the first post, I decided to ask myself the same questions I will be asking the traders. What are the foods that remind me of home? What foods make me feel nostalgic? What foods evoke special memories for me?

One thing I miss most about Sydney (my other home) is the seafood. In London, the best quality seafood is to be found at Billingsgate, which is very much geared towards the wholesale market. If you want to buy fish from there you have to get up at sparrows fart and trek out to Poplar (far for me). The Sydney Fish Market, on the other hand, is centrally located and aimed at both retail and wholesale customers. 

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Chanterelles a blanc, inspired by Child, Bertolle and Beck (and the mushrooms themselves)

This is another of the recipes I made in France. When I saw these glorious golden chanterelles on the market in L’Isle sur la Sorgue, I had no idea what I would do with them, but they just looked too delicious to pass by. I had brought my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking to France (paperback!), as I thought it would be fun to cook something from it while I was there and so I looked to Child, Bertolle and Beck for inspiration.

When I packed the book, I was thinking along the lines of something a little more challenging, like a soufflé or quenelles, but the chanterelles needed very little doing to them, they called for something simple, yet elegant and I thought the light and delicate flavouring in the champignons a blanc would provide just that.

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Vinaigrettes - here’s one that I prepared earlier

I have two core vinaigrettes that I make up in jars and always have ready in the fridge to use as salad dressing. They keep for ages, the only fresh ingredient (garlic) being preserved by the vinegar and oil. Since I will refer to these a lot in my recipes I thought I should do a separate post on them, so as not to continually be repeating myself.

Just a little point of trivia – always one to err on the side of caution, I was doing some research to ensure this was the correct use of the term ‘vinaigrette’. I was concerned that in order to fit the definition, the preparation must involve the slow pouring and whisking of oil into vinegar to create a creamy emulsion. As it turns out, this is just a style of making vinaigrette, but by no means a definition.

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Simple and delicious smoked mackerel pate

 I can’t believe I ever used to buy smoked mackerel pate from the supermarket when it is so damn quick and easy to make.

A few months ago, the boyfriend and I went on a rather uninspiring daytrip to Maldon. Why? That is a very reasonable question and one I put to him quite bluntly at the time:

“Why Maldon?

“I thought it would be nice to get out of London”

“But why Maldon, what is there to do or see in Maldon?”

“There’s a river and a quay, we could have a picnic.”

“There’s a pond and heath in Hampstead, we could walk there and save the drive.”

 “The sea salt you like comes from there.”

“I have some here.”

... and so forth.

Anyway, you know who won. The boyfriend knows that throwing food into the equation usually tips the balance in his favour, so he offered to buy me lunch. Had I known the choices I would be presented with upon arrival in Maldon, I would have stayed put. However, one good thing was to come of this lack of culinary choices. Mackerel.

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