I had taken a fleeting glance of the beautifully drawn octopus on the cover of Russell Norman's Polpo in bookshops but I did not register how good the book was. I had missed the buzz about Polpo, the restaurant, which is easy to do if you live out of London.
Last week when I arrived early to meet a friend at Farringdon tube station in London I had time to kill and walked passed Polpo on Cowcross Street, just by the old Smithfield Market. It looked interesting. Café like but not a cafe, somewhere in between scruffy and smart and a glance at the menu sold it.
I asked if I could reserve a table for lunch but I was told they were full but we could take our chance at the bar. We did.
I am not going to go through everything on the menu but highlight one dish in particular. A delicate toast of sprouting broccoli, ricotta, chilli and hazelnut bruschetta. So simply yet so full of flavour and texture.
The whole concept of Polpo is based around the idea of a Venetian bacora. A place where Venetians drink and eat which is akin to a British pub but different. The food is delicious and does not in any way compare the the dry snack food served in pubs and the drink is local wine not beer.
The food served in bacora is bite sized. Made fresh each day it is skewered with a toothpick so the bar tender can pass it hygienically to the customer. There may be crostini topped with marinated sardines, anchovies or chicken livers. 'Aranchini' which translates as small oranges, are little balls of rice made up of leftover risotto and then fried.
One thing for sure is the food is tasty and goes beautifully with wine and is easy to eat while Italian chat away - as they do.
Just the sort of food I like. So the dish below is a cichèti of sorts and it looks stunning laid out on any serving dish, tray or plate.
I will return to Popo again later. The book is wonderful, beautifully written and full of fabulous recipes.
Sprouting broccoli, goats cheese, chilli and walnut bruschetta
Serves 4
8 spears sprouting broccili
4 slices of walnut bread or French bread
100g soft goats cheese or ricotta
1 tsp finely chopped red chilli
Drizzle of very good olive oil
sea salt and freshly milled black pepper
Method
Steam the broccoli until just tender and then plunge into ice cold water for two minutes and drain. Set the broccoli aside. Place the bread on a griddle or frying pan and warm slightly. Remove from the pan and spread with soft goats cheese. Top with sprouting broccoli and sprinkle with chopped chilli. Drizzle the bruschetta with olive oil, season well and serve.
Smashed potatoes
Serves 4
400g new potatoes, scrubbed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chopped rosemary
2 cloves chopped garlic
sea salt and freshly milled black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
Steam the potatoes until very soft. This usually takes 10 minutes depending on their size. Remove the potatoes from the steamer and place them on a roasting tray drizzled with olive oil.
Crush the potatoes with a fish slice so their skins begin to come away and the flesh is exposed. Toss the potatoes gently in the oil and place in the oven. Cook the potatoes for 10 minutes and then season with salt and pepper and scatter over the chopped rosemary and garlic. Return the potatoes to the oven until they are as crisp as you like.