LONDON Borough Market: Shopping Haul + Street Photography

At the heart of a genuinely delicious meal is its raw ingredients. I've had a list of things I've been wanting to make for awhile including truffle mac and cheese and marinated mozzarella, the latter inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi. Knowing I wouldn't do either recipe any justice without the perfect set of ingredients, I took a 15 minute tube ride to London Bridge,  desperately hoping the overcast sky would hold back its rain until I'd done my shopping. 

My truffle mac and cheese craving was triggered when I saw Courtney Lapresi's version on Master Chef 2014. Sadly I couldn't find the recipe online but I did find the exact clip on youtube. Because I am, after all, a mere student prone to the occasional bout of laziness and not a gourmet chef, I'll be making attempting the dish without the lobster; and instead of three cheeses I'll only be using one cheese (see said cheese in the photo below). Edel de Cleron is a mild, light and creamy cheese which I hope will go well with the intense truffle aroma on my mac and cheese. The vendor at "The French Comte" was extremely helpful when I told him I wanted a mild cheese I could melt into a sauce.

At £7, the tiny bottle of white truffle oil from "Tartufaia Truffles"  seems like a lot to pay until you actually dip some bread into it and try it for yourself. With flavour so intense, you won't need a lot of it to suffuse your dish with the nutty, mushroomy aroma of truffle. 

I've always wondered why burrata costs so much in restaurants. After all, it doesn't appear to me (though I might be wrong) like much skill is required in prepping a marinade and garnishing a plate. Either way, I've had a recipe from Lottie + Doof for Marinated Mozzarella bookmarked for ages so I got myself some creamy, velvety burrata from "The Parma Ham and Mozzarella Stand" to try the recipe out with. By far my favourite type of cheese, burrata is light, delicately flavoured and simply amazing with cherry tomatoes. 

Since this is a post about Borough Market without any actual photos of Borough Market, I thought I'd post the ones I took as part of a photography course assignment a while back: 

Shopping List: 

White Truffle Oil.................£7

Burrata 250g......................£5
Cheese wedge....................£3

Mushroom Pate (Pate Moi)......£4

Custard Buns (Bread Ahead)...£2.50 each

Total: £24

Borough Market 

Tube: London Bridge

8 Southwark Street

SE1 1TL

020 7407 1002

LONDON markets: Borough Market

The Honest Carrot: Nutty Crumbles at £3 each.

The Honest Carrot: flower pot bread 

Portugese Egg Tarts

Just look at all that hummus!!

Raclette cheese toast

Pistachio Birds Nest Baclava

You can't write about food in London without covering Borough Market. I don't even know where to begin. It's a messy amalgamation of food stalls selling gourmet-esque, unique food. You're literally spoiled for choice; and the fact that there are tasters at almost every stall isn't much help. My personal favourites to bring home are the nutty crumble (from The Honest Carrot, made of breadcrumbs, walnut, carrot, almond, leek and cheese) and the mushroom pate (from Pate Moi). Then again, this is a manifestation of my psychological need to compensate for my cake love with healthy meals. 

In a more indulgent mood, I'd go for the Raclette cheese toast or the gnocchi. Though the food is a bit more on the expensive side, it's worth every penny. A relatively new addition (yes, I go often enough to notice these things) is the lebanese/mediterranean food stall. It has a dozen varieties of hummus and delicious baklava - that's a lebanese dessert made of nuts and pastry drenched luxuriously in honey that welds the everything together. 

Other things to look forward to:

Truffle oil (as a dip or drizzled over pasta - I make sure I never run out) 

Fig jam

Gluten-free toasted cereal 

Cheese tasting (buffalo mozzarella!) 

Carrot cake

Lamb "hotdogs" - because to call them sandwiches would be a massive understatement. 

(Leave a comment below if you've been to Borough and think I've missed out anything!) 

Before you start thinking Borough Market is some kind of food heaven - a few words of warning: kangaroo burgers and crowds. I no longer remember what the kangaroo burgers tasted like, but I felt slightly sick after consuming about a quarter of it. Maybe it was the thought of the lovely creatures leaping across a plain or the awkward aftertaste. Either way, it's definitely not something I'd try more than once. Another put off is having to weave through masses of slow moving people but then again I don't blame them, it's a natural consequence of placing good food out in the open - we're drawn to it like bees are to honey. 

Borough Market

8 Southwark Street

City of London, Greater London SE1 1TL

020 7407 1002