Sylvia’s Kefalonian Polpettes (Meat Balls)

I moved to the UK from Greece more than 10 years ago to study in Bath. I then moved to Oxford and eventually London. My husband and I have always lived South of the river, but started off in Battersea. We  moved to East Dulwich in 2009 and finally Nunhead a few months ago. Nunhead was the only place we ever got to meet our neighbours!

I come from a family (half Greek half English) obsessed with food. Most of our activities growing up involved food - whether it was picking, cooking it or eating it. I like meals that go on for a while after the food has actually finished. To me socialising and food are completely interlinked. This recipe is my great-grandmother's - Nona Kate. I love it because it is fairly simple to make, but tastes delicious and always reminds me of long summer meals in Kefalonia. I think it's the garlic!

Kefalonian Polpettes

 

Ingredients
Serves 4

For the meatballs
800g beef mince
2 grated onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 tsp of chopped fresh mint
3 medium eggs
2 tbs olive oil
1 teacup of soft white bread crumbs, soaked in water then squeezed (use fresh bread, as opposed to stale bread for this recipe)
2-3 tbs flour for coating the meatballs
salt
pepper

For the tomato sauce
75ml olive oil
400g of passata
1 cinnamon stick
salt
pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp butter

 

Method

Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs together and knead well. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Shape the mince into balls and flatten slightly on the top and bottom (about the size of a large egg). Flour them lightly and fry them for 3-4 minutes on each side in the olive oil. Set aside on a plate.

In a separate pan put the oil, passata, cinnamon stick and seasoning and bring to the boil. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add the lightly fried meatballs. Gently simmer in the pan for about 45 minutes, adding a little water if required and checking the meatballs don't stick to the pan. About 15-20 minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the sugar and the butter to the sauce and stir gently. Serve with boiled rice or mash and a little grated cheese.

Shona's Cheese Scones

I'm probably a fairly typical 'Londoner' I arrived in late 1998 to attend University, and have never left. In the course of the 14ish years I've lived here my homes have mostly been in South London, from deepest Lee Green whilst at Uni, to Deptford via Wapping & then the past 9 years in Nunhead. Having moved into our first place in Nunhead, we were astounded when a neighbour popped around 2 minutes later asking if we needed any milk. I was even more astounded when I realised my lovely neighbour was an artist and member of the Royal Academy, whilst two doors down we had a world class pianist, but that's the kind of place Nunhead is by and large I have discovered. Made for some interesting evening chats over back garden walls.

Grandmas Lilley's Cheese Scones

But back to my roots for this favourite recipe then. Originally from Somerset, I grew up in Shepton Mallet, with my maternal Grandmother originally from Gloucestershire, but then living in Yeovil. My Mum didn't drive, still doesn't, so a trip to Grandmas involved a 1.5 hour bus journey, just to get 20 miles down the road. The thought of that trip still makes me queasy, but the best bit was we'd always have Cheese Scones on arrival, warm and waiting for us. And so here they are for you now.

 

Ingredients

For the recipe (Makes 10)

8oz Self Raising Flour
6-8oz Strong Cheddar Cheese (try to use the absolute best you can get, Keens, Monty or Westcombe are all classed as West Country Farmhouse Cheddar and carry a 'Protected Destination of Origin')
1 beaten Free Range Egg
A little Milk
Pinch of Salt
1/2 tea spoon of bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

Method

Preheat oven at gas mark 9 (around 250 degrees c)

Add grated cheese to flour. Add the salt, bicarbonate of soda & baking powder, then add 1/2 the beaten egg & enough milk to make a soft dough.

Roll out to around 1/4 inch thickness & cut into scone shape and arrange on a lined baking tray. Brush Scone tops with the rest of the beaten egg & sprinkle each scone with some of the grated cheese before baking.

 Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Whilst still warm cut open a scone or two & enjoy with a sliver of butter.

Aimée's Easter Biscuits

Hi - I'm Aimée, I'm orginally from Cambridge and I moved to Nunhead with my fiancé this time last year. We have had just 1 year to discover the secrets of the lovely little corner of South London, but we are so pleased we have settled here.

I am also your resident blog editor, so I look forward to reading you recipes and posting them up here for you to share. If you have any questions or suggestions for the blog please do let me know.

Here's a little non chocolate based seasonal offering just in time for Easter, they make a lovely Esater gift packaged up in cellophane:

Somerset Easter Biscuits

This recipe is a collaborative effort between myself and my Mum. She was born in London, out this way in fact - she remembers playing in Peckham Rye Park as a child, but she moved with her parents to Somerset when she was still little. This recipe is as close as we can get to the Easter Biscuits she used to have as a child in Somerset  - it has taken some years of tweaking, but she thinks we are there now. My one concession is I like to make them fairly small, I use a 7cm crinkled round cutter, whereas Mum makes them much bigger like the ones she remembers. You could use whatever cutter you like, but traditionally they should be made with a round crinkle cutter. 

Another tradition I recently discovered was to use Cassia oil in the biscuits - perhaps next year I'll 

 give that a try!    

 

 Ingredients

 Makes about 24 x 7cm biscuits

Okay ignore the sultanas, they snuck into my shot, but aren't actually an ingredient in this recipe! 

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

100g softened butter

200g plain flour (or 150g plain + 50g rice flour for a bite of extra crunch)

75g Golden caster sugar 

half tsp Mixed spice

half tsp ground cinnamon

2 heaped tbsp mixed peel

100g Currants

A little milk and extra sugar to finish 

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C or equivalent.

 

 Cream the butter and sugar till smooth and then beat in the egg and egg yolk. 

Then sift in the flour and spices and add the fruit. Mix it all till it combines to form a soft dough. 

Then turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead lightly to bring it all together.

Using a rolling pin roll the dough out to around 5mm thickness and use a 7cm crinkled cookie cutter to make 24 biscuits - you will have to gather up all the offcuts into a ball and roll the dough out again once or twice to use up all the dough and get all 24. 

Lay out on a prepared baking sheet (they hardly spread at all, so can be fairly close together) and bake for 5-7 minutes till the dough is cooked but still pale. 

Take them out, brush each with a little milk and sprinkle with a little sugar and then pop them back in the oven to finish off - 5 minutes or so. 

Keep an eye on them, they are ready when they are nicely golden.
Cool on a wire rack.

These are traditionally wrapped in bundles of 3 to represent the holy trinity.

Hope you enjoy them!

Carlo's pasta sauce

My name is Carlo Vullo.  I was born in Jamestown, New York, south of Buffalo and Toronto near the Canadian border.  My family are mainly Sicilian and Neapolitan and emigrated to the US around 1900.

I arrived in Britain in December 1978 and lived in East Anglia.  In 1980, I met my partner, Nicky Stephens, who lived in Telegraph Hill at the time.  On 7^th March 1982, we bought and moved into our house in Nunhead.  The original owners of the house from when it was built had raised a family of 7.   There was an outdoor toilet, a tin tub for bathing and 1 source of water in the house in the scullery  over the sink and next to the copper.  The house had a warm, happy feeling despite the 60’s & 70’s wallpaper and a holographic picture of Jesus looking at the New York skyline.  Obviously, a souvenir.  We have now lived here for 32 years and seen so many changes over the years, but there has always been a feeling of community here which helps London feel much less intimidating and isolating.   We love our neighbourhood and shopping in Evelina Road where you can find most things you may want.

Basic Pasta Sauce 

Pasta was something that featured quite a bit in our family.  Especially when the whole family was together and we were large numbers.  My grandparents taught us all to cook, but every family has their own version of the sauce, although they are all similar.  There are even different versions within the family.

My grandparents used to bottle their own tomatoes every year, so I have adapted to use tin tomatoes and puree.  This is for the basic sauce and there are a couple of other options at the end of the recipe.  

 Buon Apetito!  

Mangia!

Ingredients 
Serves 6

3 tins tomatoes

1 tube tomato puree

3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

1 large or 2 medium onions finely chopped

1 Tbs Oregano

2 Tbs Basil

1 tsp Thyme

2 Tbs grated pecorino or parmesan

1 Bayleaf

4 good Tbs Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper 

Method

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan until a bit of onion dropped in sizzles.  Fry the onions until they are transparent but not browning on the edges.   Empty the tomatoes and puree into the pan and give a good stir and cook gently.  Put in all the other ingredients and, using a potato masher, mash everything together and bring to the boil.  Cook for at least 1 hour and then leave it overnight for the next day.  

If using meat, brown the meat with the onions at the end of their cooking.  Only needs about 2 minutes just to brown and separate.

During Lent, there was no meat, and another version was used.  When you add the other ingredients, add a handful of raisins or sultanas, some pine nuts and about a handful of walnuts, chopped.

In Sicily, there is always a bowl of breadcrumbs as well as a bowl of grated cheese to put over the pasta.    

Heat some olive oil in a small frying pan.   Fry about ½ cup of dry breadcrumbs, oregano, salt and pepper and fry the crumbs till the oil is absorbed and crumbs start to brown. 

Carlo's grand idea for this blog

Back in November of last year Carlo posted this note on the Nunhead forum:

'I was wondering if anyone would like to start a cookbook reflecting the diverse cultures in our area including a brief history of the contributors of where they came from, originally. How they came to Nunhead and their experiences of living here. Food is always something that brings people together, either in the preparations or meals themselves. I realise this isn't an original idea, as various villages and towns have done it. But we haven't. Maybe the proceeds of the sales (if it goes ahead and works) could go towards the new community centre or something else community based.'

3 pages of replies later here we are! 

Work in progress...

Come back in a few days and hopefully there will be something more to see!