Couscous is local too

Felt the need for a break from the book so we went down to the centre of Bristol for the weekly farmers' market (where I got an amazing fish bargain, of which more tomorrow)

I'd also heard there was a Portuguese food shop round the back which I thought might be the best place to buy salt cod. There's a dish I remember having way back in Oporto which was a bit like a fishy gratin dauphinoise based on salt cod, potatoes and cream which I thought would make a good addition to the book.

The very nice woman behind the counter explained exactly how to make it but I rapidly realised it wasn't going to be a quick (or, of course, particularly healthy) option. What I should do, she said, was just cook it with potatoes, lots of onions and olive oil which sounds typically Portuguese but not quite so delicious. It'll keep for a few days though so I've got time to think about it.

The whole area is brilliant for adventurous foodies. The Portuguese family who own the shop (O Celeiro) also run a tiny restaurant and takeaway, there's a South African shop called Kalahari Moon (I think, although that does sound more like a place that sells crystals, always possible in Bristol), a Caribbean wrap stall, great cheese and olive stalls and an excellent Moroccan restaurant which serves couscous and - wait for it - o ye felafel lovers, felafel!

Of course we had to try it and I have to say it was very good. Quite different from the Israeli/Egyptian kind - curiously soft so they must have either added a lot of water to the chickpeas or incorporated some gram flour (the latter, I suspect). The spicing was spot on though and they served it with a really delicious yellow pepper and sultana relish I hadn't come across before and which would be good with carrot too, I think.

It also brought home that buying and eating local isn't just about supporting my charmingly old-fashioned neighbourhood shops but the rich variety of different food cultures that Bristol has to offer. I don't think I could live in a better place.

Faffing around with falafel

These are the falafel I made last night. Not bad for a first time attempt, eh?

A word of advice, though. Don't even think about it. By the time I'd discovered my neighbour's food processor wasn't up to the task and transferred the mixture to my more powerful blender then found even that wouldn't break down the chickpeas and tipped them into a bowl and chopped the herbs and ground the spices and washed up the mountains of equipment and crockery I had used I must have spent a good two hours in the kitchen.

They tasted good, granted but to achieve that light fluffy texture that the best falafel have I suspect you need to have several generations of felafel-making in the family or be cooking them every day of your life. They're one of those foods like croissants or strudel pastry that you could master if you spent a year or so perfecting your technique but why bother when you can sate your falafel-lust at any halfway decent street stall?

Anyway the good news is that the accompanying salad leaves from the veg box were very tasty and that there were enough for another helping today. Later on I'm tackling the cauliflower . . .