This Is Not a Cookbook... But It Is About Veg This Week!

From aubergines to awkward afterparties – it's a week of good food & socials.

Hello, you lovely lot!

Hope you're all well this fine weekend. And to all the new subscribers, welcome! It’s wicked to have you here.

As promised, I’m (re)launching “This Is Not a Cookbook” and yes, we’re starting with the thing cookbooks are known for: the actual cookbook.
But with a Lagom twist, obviously.

This week, it’s all about VEGETABLES.

had the absolute pleasure of welcoming Jessie (aka @adip) into the studio to cook two banging dishes from his upcoming book Cooking With Vegetables.

He whipped up:

• One of his viral veg-packed dishes (you’ll see why it blew up), and

• An amazing smashed cucumber number that’s stupidly simple but full of flavour.

A word on veg…

Now look you know me. I’m a meat eater. But I love a good vegetable.
Not your sad, grey, boiled-to-death type. I’m talking properly loved-up, seasoned, crispy, juicy, flavour-packed veg that makes a meal pop.

And let’s be real: we’ve all opened the fridge to find a few limp carrots or half a courgette just clinging on in the drawer.
This is your sign to stop binning them and start transforming them.

I’ll show you how.

Hers the you tube of Jessie and I having laugh in the studio if you fancy a wee watch its a good one!

ok on to the recipes…..

Here is Jesse’s…

Smokey Breaded Aubergine

This technique that Jesse (ADIP) uses on the aubergine is something I always do to my aubergine as I find aubergine a bit flabby and weird! But when I saw Jesse take it one step further and breadcrumb it I was in a world of awe! I have since bastardised the recipe, but I was lucky enough for him to cook me his OG recipe! It’s a bit more chefy than my usual stuff, so here we are.

Ingrdeinets

• 2 Aubergines

• 4 garlic cloves

• Loads of Olive Oil

• 2 Big handfuls of cherry tomatoes

• 2 Shallots

• Gochugaru chilli flakes

Pane Station

• Flour

• Egg

• Breadcrumbs

Garnish

• Buratta/mozzarella

• Fresh herbs (Parsley & Basil)

• Red chilli

Method

Start by burning your aubergine so prick it all over and whack it on something with a naked flame or a grill and burn it until, as jesses explained “they almost go white”. When this is done, cover them so no steam can escape and set to one side.

Make a quick confit garlic by submerging the garlic cloves in oil and cooking over a low heat for 10 mins!

Into a pan whack in a very generous amount of olive oil and get pretty hot so when you chuck your tomatoes in they burst and blister straight away. Cook for 3-4 minutes so the tomatoes start to soften.

Add the thinly sliced shallots and turn the heat down low, let this bubble away for around 10mins on a really low heat. Add in a good shimmy of chilli flakes.

Now you can add in the soft confit garlic and start to mash everything together with a fork to make a rustic sauce. Time to balance add a pinch of salt, some vinegar and maybe a tiny pinch of sugar to make a deep rich almost sweet sauce.

Next, carefully peel the aubergine and keep it as whole as possible. Gently press the aubergine out to make a flat squid-like shape, season with salt, and Pane (Dip in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs). Shallow fry in oil until nice and crispy!

Now to plate: Make sure the sauce is hot and pop it on a plate. Break up the burrata or mozzarella over the sauce, top with the aubergine, and top with a little salad of fresh herbs and chilli dressed in a little oil and vinegar!

This is 10/10 delicious..

Here’s the lagom version

Breaded Aubergine thing (needs a better name)

This recipe is a bastardised version of Jesse’s (@adip) aubergine dish! I saw him do this a year or so ago, and I have been doing it ever since! You can do it as a whole aubergine, which is awesome for a meal or break up the aubergine into little nuggets. You need to burn the aubergine to get that real smokey funk going through it.

Serves: 1

Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

1 aubergine

4 tbsp rice flour

Sprinkle of panko

Small bunch of coriander

Big bunch of mint

2 garlic cloves

1 red onion

1 lime

Olive oil

1 tsp smoked chilli powder

1 head of fennel

Handful of pine nuts

Method

1. The first thing to do is burn your aubergine, give it a couple of pricks with a fork, then whack it on a gas hob, under a grill or on a BBQ to char and burn all over. Remove from the heat and cover in a container.

2. Now, to make this vegan I use rice flour instead of an egg, so make a plate with rice flour, then one with panko then for the “egg”, make a mixture of rice flour and water to thin paste. Then it's just a classic pane set-up.

3. To prepare the aubergine, scrape off all the burnt skin and lightly press out the aubergine so it fans out, season with salt and any other spices you fancy. Then carefully dust the rice flour, then the rice flour batter, and then the breadcrumbs. You can go back into the wet then breadcrumbs to use up any extra breadcrumbs.

4. For the sauce, we are going to make something that slaps.. like zippy slaps to pair with the fatty flabby texture of the aubergine. Finely chop off the coriander and mint, leaving a few leaves for the salad. Then mix with grated garlic, lime zest and juice, ½ a finely diced red onion, olive oil and the smoked chilli. Give this a good mix, and taste and set it to one side - we can season it later when it's all chilled out.

5. For the salad, be sensible, but get the mandolin out and slice the fennel and red onion super fine, pop it into a bowl with mint leaves and season with oil, vinegar and salt. Do this close to when you want to serve so everything stays crisp!

6. Now time to shallow fry the aubergine for around 3-5 minutes on each side until nice and crispy! While thats cooking, toast some pine nuts and chop up finely. Have a taste of the sauce and season with taste.

7. That's it - plate it all up and get involved! YUM!

Jesse’s cookbook is out nex month and you can pre order it on Amzon HERE

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A Week of “Work” (aka Champagne, Oysters, and Awkward Dancing)

You know those weeks where there’s a lot of “work” the kind with social occasions, awkward small talk, and too many name tags? Yeah, had one of those.

It kicked off with the Fortnum & Mason Awards Ceremony, a glossy evening where the who's who of the food world gather to sip champagne and behave impeccably which, obviously, makes me stick out like a sore thumb.

Now, I love food. Truly. But remembering who owns what restaurant? Not my strong suit. So I did what I do best: parked myself at the oyster bar and got as much champagne in me as possible in the two-hour window.

While doing laps around the room, I bumped into Yotam Ottolenghi and said, with all the confidence of someone who knows nothing else to say: “I love your shakshuka recipe.” That was it. My big moment.

Then I accidentally touched Jay Rayner’s bum. Not like that. Just trying to squeeze past to get to more oysters. Still eek.

Next up: a man I think was called Jeremy, the CFO of Fortnum’s. We bonded over oysters. I ended up spoon-feeding him one because he had a walking stick in one hand and fizz in the other. LEGEND.

Afterwards, my mate Conor and I decided to infiltrate the afterparty. Rumour had it they’re wild turns out, food writers’ definition of wild and mine are not the same. We strolled into The Ned with our goodie bags, looking official, and found ourselves in a private room with a DJ playing to a room of people trying not to dance. Naturally, I cut shapes solo like a dad at a wedding.

Then Thomasina Miers rocked up and we bonded over a mutual love of boogying. A few shuffles later, I somehow landed an invite to an exclusive Wahaca event in Paddington.

The theme? Regenerative farming, with dishes by Farshad Kazemian (Ethical Butcher) and Andy Cato (Wildfarmed). Great food, great chat, and a genuinely inspiring night.

At the dinner, I ended up next to Layo Paskin, who I happily chatted to for hours without a clue who he was, only to Google him later and realise he’s a superstar DJ-turned-restaurateur and owns The Palomar. Note to self: brush up on who's who in hospitality.

The next day? Full-on studio filming for a new YouTube series I’m doing on cookbooks. Came home knackered, ready to chill with my son until my calendar pinged. I’d completely forgotten I was supposed to be at the opening of The Jamie Oliver Cookery School… in 20 minutes.

Cue: chaos. I ran out the door (don’t worry, didn’t leave my son alone), dashed to Oxford Street, and made it just in time for Jamie’s opening speech.

Jamie is just one of those people genuine, warm, full of energy. He taught us to make pasta and carbonara. Naturally, there were jokes about him putting garlic in a carbonara and the internet losing its mind. But honestly? He knows his stuff. He respects the traditions, he just adds what he likes. Which is also kind of how I cook.

I didn’t take many photos. Just soaked it up.

I left with a belly full of martinis and pasta, a bag of Jamie Oliver goodies, and the thought: sometimes, all it takes is a dance and a bit of champagne to end up somewhere unexpected.

STUFFED

Dont forget our lovely pod for any long journys or slow days this week end we got you!

Until next week.

Love Mart xxx