I’m curious by nature and love chatting to people, the more unusual and different they are the better! So I was chuffed to bits when UK food blogger and fellow expat Steffi Dellner of AlwaysSoHungry agreed to a good old grilling (excuse the very bad pun). Steffi was recently featured as one of four UK food bloggers by Oliver Thring in the Sunday Times, though she’s far too modest to be bragging about it. Below she talks about her passion for food and who inspired her, what made her start blogging and who she’d like to share a bottle of rosé with.
And she even gives us a seasonal treat of a recipe inspired by her Swedish roots:
COCONUT CRAYFISH WITH YUZU DIPPING SAUCE. Yum…
WHAT ARE YOUR EARLIEST MEMORIES OF COOKING?
There are quite a few formidable, spatula-wielding women in my family, so I’m not sure if my love of cooking and food is innate or if it was forced upon me! In particular, I have wonderful memories of my maternal grandmother’s cooking. She would come and stay with us and get up at the crack of dawn (which could easily be 4am in summertime Stockholm) to bake cinnamon buns. I would sneak out of bed before anyone else was up to watch her and, if I was lucky, sample a first batch bun fresh from the oven.
I also remember being very young and helping my mother prepare herring to pickle for midsummer’s eve – a big holiday in Sweden. I remember feeling smug because I was allowed to stay up and gut fish until way past my bedtime. I think perhaps most of my earliest food memories invoke these feelings of something inclusive and exciting.
WHICH PART OF COOKING DO YOU ENJOY MOST?
I enjoy the whole process, from shopping to serving, perhaps even more than actually eating the food afterwards! I’m not sure I’m one for really pernickety dishes, though. And I hate straining purees and sauces through fine-mesh sieves- mostly because I don’t have the arm muscles for it. But that’s probably the only thing I find tedious!
DO YOU HAVE A GAZILLION FRIENDS WHO ALL WANT YOU TO COOK FOR THEM OR DO YOU PREFER TO EAT OUT?
I love cooking for friends and having them round, so that never feels like a chore! My main problem at the moment is convincing them to reciprocate. A few have made noises claiming to be intimidated byncooking for me now that I cook for a living, which is such a shame as I absolutely love being cooked for and will pretty much eat anything (although I’m not keen on fudge and some offal!).
I almost always prefer to cook, but I do think that if you work in the food industry, it is important to eat out, partly, of course, for inspiration, but also to keep you grounded – I spend a lot of restaurant trips staring at the food in wide-eyed wonder. I’m lucky to live in an area of London where there is an eclectic array of great eateries. For example, last weekend we had dinner at a local favourite, the Hackney Pearl. I’ve also managed to get a reservation at Restaurant Story next month, which I’m very excited about.
HOW IMPORTANT ARE ORGANIC INGREDIENTS AND NUTRITION FOR YOU?
Both are important to me in my day-to-day cooking, although I think a little bit of something slightly naughty, like this crayfish recipe, does the soul good too. In general, I pick my ingredients with care and really enjoy coming up with healthier options. A long-standing obsession is experimenting with different kinds of grains – buckwheat, freekeh, spelt, etc.
However, in terms of the blog, I don’t always push a healthy eating or organic agenda. Always So Hungry is probably more a record of my experimentation and perhaps a call to others to push themselves a bit, whether in terms of ingredients or technique. Partly, buying healthy food and organic food is markedly more expensive and I think a heavy focus on this might alienate some people. I’d like to think that everyone could find something on Always So Hungry that they would want to make. Having said that, I do try to stick to seasonal produce, partly because that’s exactly when ingredients are cheaper and when they’re at their best!
ARE YOU GOOD AT IMPROVISING? HOW GOOD ARE YOU AT COOKING WITH WHAT’S LEFT IN THE CUPBOARD?
I love improvising and happy to cook with what I’ve got in the back of the fridge or cupboard (a favourite is spicy tomato and coconut milk soup). However, I’ve definitely had mixed success with some of my store-cupboard experiments. My other half has sworn off any more of my polenta concoctions!
ARE YOU A DELIA-ESQUE PRECISION COOK OR A CHUCK-IT-IN-JAMIE?
If I’m not working, I’m definitely a chuck-it-in-Jamie. I think the key is to taste, taste, taste and not be too gung ho, something I learned the hard way at Leiths School of Food and Wine. Baking, however, is slightly different. I’m much more precise when it comes to baking, but even then, a few grams outrarely seems to matter too much.
IF YOU COULD MEET A (FAMOUS) CHEF, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHAT WOULD YOU TALK ABOUT?
Can I only choose one? I should probably say something like Escoffier circa 1893, but in all honesty, I’d love to share a bottle with Nigel and Nigella. We’d sit in Nigel’s garden and he could talk me through how to grow things without killing them (as I usually do). I’d talk to Nigella about love and loss. To be honest, the three of us might not even discuss food – cooking and life are so intertwined anyway, we probably wouldn’t even notice the difference. We’d eat panzella, drink a Domaene Gobelsburg rosé, followed by spaghetti vongole and affoggato for pudding. But I haven’t really thought about it all that much.
WHAT MADE YOU START BLOGGING AND WHY ARE YOU ADAMANT TO KEEP YOUR BLOG ADVERTISING FREE?
It really came from a spur-of-the-moment, let’s do something different, what the hell impulse. I’d just split up with my boyfriend and wanted something to distract me – I had no idea where it was going to lead or that I’d still be doing it four years down the line (and have got back together and still together with said boyfriend!)
I’ve only had a few offers of advertising and as much as I’d like to say there are lofty, integrity-driven reasons for keeping the blog advertising free, it is mostly because I like a cleaner, less-cluttered look. I suppose partly I also feel the blog never started as a means to an end, commercial or otherwise, so perhaps I’m worried that it would loose something if I were to go down that route.
THERE’S A GERMAN SAYING ‘THE EYE EATS FIRST’ – HOW IMPORTANT IS FOOD STYLING FOR YOU?
Very important – we are a completely image-driven world and nothing is more evocative than an image of a delicious plate of food. I’ve been assisting wonderful food stylists over the past year and a half and worked with some amazing photographers. I feel really lucky to have been privy to this rather unknown world and learn some of the tricks of the trade. Certainly cooking food in a restaurant or school kitchen and cooking for the camera are very different beasts!
Of course, if a recipe doesn’t work or tastes horrible, then naturally the picture is slightly redundant. I’m ashamed to say that in the earlier days of the blog, I would occasionally post a recipe that I didn’t necessarily love, but had made for a good picture. Shameful, really!
OTHER THAN COOKING WHAT ARE YOUR PASSIONS?
Does wine count? I had a career in the art world up until fairly recently and in some respects I feel like I enjoy going to exhibitions more now that I’m removed from that world. My boyfriend is a musician, as are a lot of our friends, so we enjoy going to gigs. I also have a lot of friends in the theatre world and love going to see their latest work. Last but by no means least, I’d say I’m pretty passionate about organisation – I like nothing better than putting things away in their rightful, logical place. Terrible, I know.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR YOU?
I’ve just turned 30 so I’m trying to celebrate that as much as possible this summer by enjoying the weather and catching up with friends. Work-wise, I’m assisting food and prop stylists on a variety of shoots and I’d love to do more writing and recipe testing if I can. Then from September, I’ll be at BBC Good Food Magazine for six months. After that, who knows? It’s both exhilarating and utterly terrifying!
COCONUT CRAYFISH WITH YUZU DIPPING SAUCE
August is crayfish season in Sweden. A time when everyone gets together to gorge on the little critters, drink a lot of snaps, wear silly paper hats and sing drinking songs. Traditionally, they are simply cooked with plenty of dill and served on their own – a delicacy requiring little else. But, in fact, they are delicious all year round and incredibly versatile. This recipe works particularly well as a bar snack.
If you can get fresh or live crayfish, that is by far the best option. However, in this country, you will more than likely find their pre-cooked tails potted in brine at your fish counter. These work brilliantly in pasta and salads, but can also be used in this recipe, provided you don’t cook them for too long or they will be tough.
INGREDIENTS:
For the dipping sauce:
1.5 tbsp yuzu mixed with 1 tbsp. fresh lime juice. (Alternatively, use 3 tbsp. lime juice)
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp water
1.5 tbsp fish sauce
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 red chilli, finely chopped
For the crayfish:
150g crayfish tails
500ml vegetable or sunflower oil
65g plain flour
1 tsp salt
100ml water
75g desiccated coconut
50g breadcrumbs (panko preferable)
To serve:
Coriander, chopped roughly
Spring onion, sliced
Lime, cut into wedges
DIRECTIONS
1. First, make the dipping sauce. Mix together the yuzu and/or lime juice with the sugar and water until the sugar has dissolved. Taste and adjust to your liking.
2. Add the fish sauce, little by little, tasting to get a balance of sweet, sour and salty flavours. Finally add the finely chopped garlic and red chilli.
3. To prepare the crayfish, either remove tails from their shells or, if using pre-cooked crayfish, rinse and drain well. Either way, pat completely dry and refrigerate.
4. Heat the oil slowly in a frying pan to about 160 C (until a piece of bread browns in about 20 seconds). Meanwhile, make the batter by whiskingthe flour, salt and water together. You should have a mixture the consistency of a light pancake batter.
5. Combine breadcrumbs and coconut in a large bowl.
6. Once the oil is hot enough, dip a crayfish tail in the batter and then toss in the coconut crumbs. Deep fry for about 1-2 minutes, until crisp and golden brown. Drain on kitchen towel.
7. Continue with the remaining crayfish tails, frying in batches. You can ‘hold’ the done crayfish in a low (50 C) oven if you want to keep them warm, should you wish.
8. Serve topped with chopped coriander and spring onions and accompanied by lime wedges and the dipping sauce.
Enjoy and I hope you’re inspired!
More information | AlwaysSoHungry Blog by Steffi Dellner
Illustration | Kate Fisher