Sous Vide Recipes: Sambal Salmon with Lime & Thai Basil

After a long hard slog of a year to move into the food industry full time, it's time for a blog post. It's been emotional and exciting but so far so good and there's no looking back. Experimenting with cool foodie gadgets comes with the territory and this week I've been testing out the Sous Vide Supreme, darling of the slow cooking and poaching world.

My mind got thinking to Chinese and South East Asian cooking techniques that sous vide could easily replicate and enhance. Poached, steamed and slow braised dishes would all be wonderful and plunging a bag into a machine that claimed to cook food to perfection whilst I twiddle my thumbs was extremely welcome.

I decided on an easy classic with a twist for my maiden sous vide adventure: juicy salmon smothered in a spicy Malaysian sambal lined with lime slices and plenty of Thai Basil.

Fish Head Rice Noodle Soup 鱼头米饭

Lately I've been hit by desperate cravings for homely noodle soups. I'd like to think my desperation would make me unfussy, that hunger trumps putting myself through inconvenience. Wouldn't it just be fine to make up some soup through stock cubes, toss in noodles and fillings? Nope, that's not how us noodle lovers roll. I of course had to make everything from scratch and traipse around London for the "right" ingredients. But then I wouldn't have discovered some very interesting details about one of my childhood favourites, Fish Head Rice Noodle Soup.

Pan Chai

Pan Chai opened in April this year to one of the world's retail meccas: Harrod's in Knightsbridge. The latest in the Mango Tree restaurant group, its menu bears similar characteristics to predecessors Awana and Mango Tree itself. We perch on booths in the famous Harrod's food hall underneath a wavy green "awning" and dive into the dishes.

Food Photography Tips with David Griffen

In the latest September installment of Social Media Week London 2012 I attended a fun and informative workshop run by food photographer David Griffen and Great British Chefs providing food bloggers with tips for improving our food photo techniques. It was held at the immense and delightful Google London offices (yes the rumours are true, it's a working-playground in there) with food provided by Michelin-starred Pascal Aussignac of Club Gascon fame.

Fabulous food photo tips & advice, delicious food and all in the company of fun people: for me these are ingredients of a great evening. Here are just some nuggets of wisdom which David shared with us:

1. Don't be afraid to get in real close: even if the context of the food isn't in the photo, it's lovely to capture the detailed textures.

Roquefort, Caramelised Onion & Sweet Potato Tart by Pascal Aussignac