I'm going to start this blog as I should by wishing my good buddy Martin a very happy 40th birthday.
I'm very fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my life but Martin and his amazing wife Ellie are two of the best friends anybody could wish for. Ever since I moved away from my hometown of Watford I've felt a little distanced from my family and for some people I can imagine that being extremely hard however I was lucky enough to make the acquaintance of these guys and since that first meeting they have become by family away from home.
Martin and I share many passions and traits with food and music being top. He has an infectious and friendly personality which endears him to almost all he meets. He's never backward at coming forward and will not hesitate to make conversation with anybody he meets and that's not born out of extreme confidence it's purely because he's a genuinely nice bloke.
He's my pal, my confidante, my rock and my brother so glasses up to one of the people who make this world a great place to live in :-)
To celebrate the date Ellie had arranged for the 4 of us to take a trip to one of my absolute favourite restaurants in the world and a truly mean that. I would go as far as to say that if I could choose one place where I had to eat for the rest of my life it would be at the Pot Kiln in Yattendon just outside of Newbury. Forget all those places I've eaten and adored on my travels because this place is Britain on a plate.
Opened in 2005 it quickly became one of the best country pubs in the UK where it remains today. The pub is owned and run by Mike and Katie Robinson and their dog Sassy. Mike is best known for his TV appearances and shows such as the Heaven's Kitchen series as well as two others set entirely at the Pot Kiln. He also tours the country giving food demonstrations and educating the public on the wonders and advantages or eating off the land and all things wild and local.
I have been lucky enough to meet him when he judged the final of RSC 2010.....made the wrong choice obviously but no grudges :-) and recently a couple of his recipes accompanied and article I'd written for the Reading Post which quite honestly blew me away.
The pub itself couldn't look more quintessentially English if it tried. Set way out in the countryside surrounded by farming and woodland it's the ideal location for Mike to source the restaurant staple which is game. Everything that is not shot by Mike himself or grown in the gardens at the pub is sourced from local producers or suppliers, they passionately follow this ethos right down to the beer they have on tap, they even have a real ale made for them exclusively by the west Berkshire brewery called "Brick Kiln Ale".
Upon entering the pub you find yourself in a tiny public bar with very original decor and fittings. There you might find a few locals or perhaps some ramblers with their dogs all decked out in either work clobber or wax jackets. The former might have a foaming tankard of ale whereas the latter might have a glass of one of the pubs wonderfully sourced wines.
Walking through to the restaurant area you instantly notice it's mish mash of furniture and it's this that gives it a tremendously rustic yet formal charm. Rarely will you find a matching chair on a table for four but the renovated light wood table will be dressed as neatly as any top city centre eatery. The walls are brightly painted and lightly adorned with pictures as well as other hunting paraphernalia, the odd Deers head or fishing rod here and there but nothing scary enough to put you off your dinner.
The menu is ever changing as you'd expect with a kitchen that is reliant on what is available that morning or season. Everything is fresh, Mike's knowledge of game is not bettered by anybody in the business and this ensures and that all the meats are hung and prepared as perfectly as they can possibly be.
To start I went for a dish named "Tongue and Cheek" which unsurprisingly is made up of thinly sliced Ox tongue and served alongside a few crispy coated nuggets of slow braised Pig's cheek. Accompanying these was a a Kohlrabi remoulade, a couple of hard boiled quails eggs and some bite size pieces of pickled shallot (£7.50)
The meats were perfect and the remoulade added further richness to the dish. The pickled shallots added just the right amount of acidity giving excellent balance. I'd have preferred the quails eggs to be soft boiled as I think a dab of the velvety yolk would have been great with the golden crusted pig's cheeks but other than that tiny aspect I could not fault it at all. It looked as beautiful as it tasted too.
Martin chose the same starter as myself. Ellie chose the Berkshire pigeon breast with salt baked artichokes, pickled mushrooms & walnuts with pumpkin crisps (£7.95) and Carley opted for the potted confit or wild rabbit and fois gras with quince jelly and soda bread (£7.95).
All the starters looked amazing and judging by the "oohs" the "aahs" and the "wows" they tasted great too, many a time I looked up to see Ellie staring at a piece of pigeon with wonderment then saying something like "I can't believe how good this tastes".
For main I chose the braised feather blade of Hereford beef with bone marrow, roasted shallots and beetroot (£18.95).
Feather blade along with brisket are two of the cheapest cuts of beef you can get but both when cooked well are vastly superior in flavour and texture than all the other more fashionable cuts. The piece I had on my plate was about four inches in diameter and about two inches thick yet it could carve it with the side of a fork and it tasted ten times better than any fillet I have ever had.
I cannot fault this dish at all. If I'd been served this at a double Michelin starred restaurant for three times the price I'd still have been happy, it was beef perfection.
Carley had a wonderfully crafted dish of Pheasant Kiev (£15.95). Unfortunately I've completely forgotten what Ellie had but rest assured both courses got the same reception as the starters.
Perhaps the most poignant part of the evening came when Martin was eating his Pavé & stalkers pie of Lockinge fallow deer with purple sprouting broccoli and pan juices (£17.50)
As I mentioned before Martin shares the same passion for food as I do. He understands the effort, work and knowledge that goes into producing great food and the sourcing of ingredients that separates places like the Pot Kiln from others. His Pavé of deer was cooked to perfection but the Stalkers pie actually bought a tear to his eye because it was that good.......When was the last time something on your dinner plate actually made you emotional?
I think this sums up the Pot Kiln perfectly. It's a food lovers paradise, it's everything local, British and wild rolled into one. The crossover between fine dining and wholesome and hearty is never more perfectly personified than here.
We finished up our meal sharing a complete cheeseboard between us. We had all ten of the British cheeses on offer (£30.00) from the superb Stilton rivalling Barkham Blue (I think it's better than Stilton but keep that to yourselves) to the legendary Stinking Bishop.
For drinks during the meal we had a bottle of Spanish Garnache (£23.00) which was very easy drinking and a nice way start. This was followed by a Chilean Pinot Noir (£28.00) which had a bit more body, more fruit and a really wonderful deep cherry red colour. With the cheeses we all had a glass of port(£5.50), I'm not a huge fan of port as I find it a bit too sweet but I had no problem polishing it off.
All in all it was perfect. I've been here a few times now and I've never left disappointed. I can absolutely guarantee that Martin & Ellie will return and I don't just recommend that you go there too I actually demand that you do.
Toodlepip xxx
Friday 25 November 2011
Tuesday 15 November 2011
Venison......
Been a while since my last ramblings and it's laziness that is the issue here rather than anything else as I've had plenty of time even with our new arrival.
I must admit fatherhood is really quite special. Sophie is a complete angel too, she hardly makes a noise and sleeps right through the night.
Instead of people telling us how much sleep we are going to lose and how hard it is they've now switched tack to let us know that it's the teething that's hell, oh and the terrible twos blah blah blah.
So for those reading this I'm genuinely very sorry that you've had such a torrid time bringing up your children but please stop trying to wish that on me. Perhaps there is a chance that Sophie might change and start playing up but at the moment she's not and if her parents are anything to go by then she's not really likely too either. Maybe use it as a good news story to other future parents :-)
So onto the food.....The following is the latest article I've had printed in the Food Monthly magazine and it's all about my favourite meat Venison. In the magazine they followed up my piece with a couple of recipes from the UK's number one game fanatic Mike Robinson of the Pot Kiln in Yattenden. He's a big influence on me and I'm a big fan so I was so chuffed when I saw it. I felt privileged to share a stage with him at RSC and now to share printed page space is just off the radar.
-----------------------------------
At this time of year when autumn is turning to winter I think of all things homely and heart-warming.
I think of evenings being encircled by my friends, family or both around candle lit dining tables being gradually warmed by the flickering glow of an open fire. All the while there will be a convivial babble of conversation interspersed with those hearty laughs that’ll inevitably explode out with ever increasing gusto as the evenings repast is quaffed down with a few fine ales or perhaps a bottle or two of hearty red wine.
On these occasions the food needs to fit the mood and to me that means rich, full flavoured meat. A roast chicken could be switched in favour of a brace of seasonal pheasant and if you’ve never tried it or fancy having a go at something a little daring and different how about swapping that beef or lamb joint for a nice piece of venison?
Before you think “I can’t eat Bambi” here a few facts which might sway you into overlooking any sentimental feelings you might have about Hollywood’s most famous ruminant.
Firstly venison is very low in fat; it has less fat than a skinned breast of chicken.
Secondly iron levels are higher and cholesterol levels are lower than in any other red meat.
The term venison itself derives from the Latin verb “venari” meaning “to hunt” and it originally referred to the flesh of any hunted animal, it still does in many parts of Europe; indeed the French still include wild boar under the same tag although on British shores venison is used exclusively to describe the meat of the deer species.
Farmed venison is a little milder in flavour than wild but both are available all year round. Supermarket stocked venison will tend to be of the farmed variety and have a uniform taste however my advice would be to visit your local butcher and ask for some wild venison. The depth of flavour that comes from a free roaming animal and its mixed diet really adds complexity to the whole eating experience.
In texture venison is very much like beef and the comparative joints can be cooked in the same way although due to the much leaner fat content in venison extra care should be taken not to overcook it as the result will be less than desirable. Regular basting, larding or wrapping in bacon is essential for slow roasting joints and cooking a steak to any more than medium should certainly be avoided.
The taste of venison can again be likened to that of beef with a slightly richer and gamier tang and it’s that richness of flavour that brings a certain amount of luxurious decadence to the spread.
Serve up a whole roasted joint and surround it with bowls of buttered seasonal vegetables and lashings of viscous red wine jus.
Of all the entries in the diary of Samuel Pepys that mention venison I think this sums it up perfectly for me -
“At the Clerk’s chamber I met with Simons and Luellin, and went with them to Mr. Mount’s chamber at the Cock Pit, where we had some rare pot venison, and ale to abundance till almost twelve at night, and after a song round we went home.”
-----------------------------------
I'm about to submit my piece for the Christmas special and I've kept on the theme of thing I love and written about Brussels sprouts. I've included some recipes that I hope will also make the cut......and also make it onto your dinner tables.
Toodlepip..
I must admit fatherhood is really quite special. Sophie is a complete angel too, she hardly makes a noise and sleeps right through the night.
Instead of people telling us how much sleep we are going to lose and how hard it is they've now switched tack to let us know that it's the teething that's hell, oh and the terrible twos blah blah blah.
So for those reading this I'm genuinely very sorry that you've had such a torrid time bringing up your children but please stop trying to wish that on me. Perhaps there is a chance that Sophie might change and start playing up but at the moment she's not and if her parents are anything to go by then she's not really likely too either. Maybe use it as a good news story to other future parents :-)
So onto the food.....The following is the latest article I've had printed in the Food Monthly magazine and it's all about my favourite meat Venison. In the magazine they followed up my piece with a couple of recipes from the UK's number one game fanatic Mike Robinson of the Pot Kiln in Yattenden. He's a big influence on me and I'm a big fan so I was so chuffed when I saw it. I felt privileged to share a stage with him at RSC and now to share printed page space is just off the radar.
-----------------------------------
At this time of year when autumn is turning to winter I think of all things homely and heart-warming.
I think of evenings being encircled by my friends, family or both around candle lit dining tables being gradually warmed by the flickering glow of an open fire. All the while there will be a convivial babble of conversation interspersed with those hearty laughs that’ll inevitably explode out with ever increasing gusto as the evenings repast is quaffed down with a few fine ales or perhaps a bottle or two of hearty red wine.
On these occasions the food needs to fit the mood and to me that means rich, full flavoured meat. A roast chicken could be switched in favour of a brace of seasonal pheasant and if you’ve never tried it or fancy having a go at something a little daring and different how about swapping that beef or lamb joint for a nice piece of venison?
Before you think “I can’t eat Bambi” here a few facts which might sway you into overlooking any sentimental feelings you might have about Hollywood’s most famous ruminant.
Firstly venison is very low in fat; it has less fat than a skinned breast of chicken.
Secondly iron levels are higher and cholesterol levels are lower than in any other red meat.
The term venison itself derives from the Latin verb “venari” meaning “to hunt” and it originally referred to the flesh of any hunted animal, it still does in many parts of Europe; indeed the French still include wild boar under the same tag although on British shores venison is used exclusively to describe the meat of the deer species.
Farmed venison is a little milder in flavour than wild but both are available all year round. Supermarket stocked venison will tend to be of the farmed variety and have a uniform taste however my advice would be to visit your local butcher and ask for some wild venison. The depth of flavour that comes from a free roaming animal and its mixed diet really adds complexity to the whole eating experience.
In texture venison is very much like beef and the comparative joints can be cooked in the same way although due to the much leaner fat content in venison extra care should be taken not to overcook it as the result will be less than desirable. Regular basting, larding or wrapping in bacon is essential for slow roasting joints and cooking a steak to any more than medium should certainly be avoided.
The taste of venison can again be likened to that of beef with a slightly richer and gamier tang and it’s that richness of flavour that brings a certain amount of luxurious decadence to the spread.
Serve up a whole roasted joint and surround it with bowls of buttered seasonal vegetables and lashings of viscous red wine jus.
Of all the entries in the diary of Samuel Pepys that mention venison I think this sums it up perfectly for me -
“At the Clerk’s chamber I met with Simons and Luellin, and went with them to Mr. Mount’s chamber at the Cock Pit, where we had some rare pot venison, and ale to abundance till almost twelve at night, and after a song round we went home.”
-----------------------------------
I'm about to submit my piece for the Christmas special and I've kept on the theme of thing I love and written about Brussels sprouts. I've included some recipes that I hope will also make the cut......and also make it onto your dinner tables.
Toodlepip..
Thursday 27 October 2011
Articled pink....
I had my second piece of food writing published yesterday which was nice. The article was about my favourite meat venison. I cooked venison as my dish for the final of RSC 2010 which was judged by celeb chef Mike Robinson of The Pot Kiln in Yattenden so it when I saw that they had followed my article with two recipes from the man himself I was pretty chuffed to say the least!
I'll be heading over to his fine establishment very soon and I'm already looking forward to sampling some of his very own venison dishes. I've never had a bad meal there and his local, seasonal and often self sourced produce means that the menu is always different.
Game is always a major part of the food at The Pot Kiln and it's something I've been experimenting with lately although I have to say not with a great deal of success. Only yesterday I had to bin a Mallard that I'd been trying to confit under vacuum but after about 2 hours in the waterbath my duck looked more like a sparrow. I think I had the temperature set too high but it's a work in progress.
My efforts with Pheasant too have been less that satisfactory. My first pan fried attempt resulted in a very dry texture although because I overcooked it however the flavour was quite good.
The second effort was done in the waterbath and although it was softer and juicer I think the actual product was a bit dodgy. The flavour was much stronger and I got the impression it'd be hung for longer than was needed, it was also very bruised. I'd expect a bit of bruising where the shot from the gun had hit but this one looked like it'd been shot with an Uzi 9mm. I'll revisit pheasant another time but for now it's shelved.
By far the best result I've had is with partridge. I made a kind of partridge vol au vent and it was incredibly tasty, well worthy of any restaurant menu and sticking my neck out I'd probably say it's the best recipe I have ever created. Of course me being me I think it can be improved and I have a brace of partridge ready in the fridge waiting.
Once I have retested the recipe and method I'll post it up and it's so easy to do I reckon anybody could do it.
Toodlepip xx
I'll be heading over to his fine establishment very soon and I'm already looking forward to sampling some of his very own venison dishes. I've never had a bad meal there and his local, seasonal and often self sourced produce means that the menu is always different.
Game is always a major part of the food at The Pot Kiln and it's something I've been experimenting with lately although I have to say not with a great deal of success. Only yesterday I had to bin a Mallard that I'd been trying to confit under vacuum but after about 2 hours in the waterbath my duck looked more like a sparrow. I think I had the temperature set too high but it's a work in progress.
My efforts with Pheasant too have been less that satisfactory. My first pan fried attempt resulted in a very dry texture although because I overcooked it however the flavour was quite good.
The second effort was done in the waterbath and although it was softer and juicer I think the actual product was a bit dodgy. The flavour was much stronger and I got the impression it'd be hung for longer than was needed, it was also very bruised. I'd expect a bit of bruising where the shot from the gun had hit but this one looked like it'd been shot with an Uzi 9mm. I'll revisit pheasant another time but for now it's shelved.
By far the best result I've had is with partridge. I made a kind of partridge vol au vent and it was incredibly tasty, well worthy of any restaurant menu and sticking my neck out I'd probably say it's the best recipe I have ever created. Of course me being me I think it can be improved and I have a brace of partridge ready in the fridge waiting.
Once I have retested the recipe and method I'll post it up and it's so easy to do I reckon anybody could do it.
Toodlepip xx
Monday 17 October 2011
Veally veally good.....
I have to say that I sit here pretty damn chuffed with my Sunday lunchtime culinary sensation, and my Saturday sensation too come to think of it so perhaps I'll start there and then follow up with the Sunday dish in another blog.
As keen followers of the blog you'll know that a week or so ago I went to Jamie's Italian in Reading and when there I had the Ossobuco off the specials board and I really liked it and from that point I've wanted to give it a go myself. So on Saturday morning my partner and I whisked ourselves off to Reading farmers market in the hope of getting ourselves some lovely (well reared of course, just like the cheeky chappie below) shin of veal.
Alas there was none to be found there.....Nor at the four subsequent farms shops and butchers that we tried. There was plenty of diced veal and veal escalopes to be found but no shin, what do they do with them ?!?!?! Perhaps those crafty farmers and butchers are keeping them all for themselves because they are just so damn good or more likely these joints are shipped off to the continent to our European buddies.
There is such a taboo in the UK with regard to veal which I find quite unnecessary. Yes the cows are young when they are slaughtered and yes they do look cute and cuddly but what exactly is the alternative for these cows other than to be destined for the dinner table? The reality is that veal calves are just a by product of the dairy industry. No dairy farmer in their right mind is going to prolong the life of an animal giving it food and pasture just because it looks pretty.
A herd of dairy cows needs no more than one or two bulls to keep it going so when the cows themselves give birth to males a couple maybe saved for working the land but of course these days that is highly unlikely, even then they would be made steer (castrated). There is no financial point in continuing their growth for the 12 months it take for veal to become beef because a dairy cow is a dairy cow for a reason. Why outlay all that cost for something that'll will taste inferior to another animal which has been bred for purpose?
Every single milk giving dairy cow will give birth, not too many people can get their heads around the fact that for a cow to produce milk it has to be pregnant. The cow belongs to the ungulate family which like us are mammals, the female of our species produces milk in the same way, it's life. For every black and white cow you see in every field in the world there will be a calf inside, 50% of which will be male and unwanted for dairy use.
The whole animal is useful for other things though apart from it's delicate pale meat. The bones are used widely is the making of stock and other sauces, the rennet used in cheese making also comes from these calves.
The farming and welfare issues of old are being addressed and the vast majority of UK reared veal these days comes from free raised animals that get to spend time in herds for a few months or more and the old aged method of packing them into crates straight from birth is outlawed and hopefully a thing of the past. So instead of blubbing at the thought of tucking into a nice plate of veal just find some that has been reared with welfare in mind and get stuck in.
Find a butchers that stocks veal shin, (Jon Thorners at Sheeplands, Hare Hatch was the only place I could find it locally and even then it was frozen) get yourself two nice slices per person and then crack on with this method of mine for this Italian classic.
Ossobuco with gremolata and polenta.
Serves 2
Ossobuco translates literally as "Bone with a hole" and its quite clear to see why when you have the meat in view because the cut is taken from a cross section of the upper part of the veal shin and you can see the bone with the marrow inside. This marrow melts with the slow cooking leaving the hole that the name suggests.
The dish itself is of Milanese origin and dates back to around the beginning of the 19th century. The original version "Ossobuco in bianco" doesn't use tomatoes but my version is more like the the modern more popular version that does.
All versions are traditionally served with a gremolata which is a mixture of chopped herbs to which I like to bind together with olive oil. Again I've made my own version of this which differs slightly from the original Milanese version and I'm serving mine with plain polenta rather than Risotto ala Milanese as they would in it's place of origin.
For the gremolata just finely chop a couple of cloves of garlic, a good handful of fresh parsley, a few capers and the grated zest of a lemon. Mix these with a tablespoon of so of extra virgin olive oil and leave it in the fridge until you are ready to serve. (You could add some chopped anchovies to this too if you have any)
Firstly preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Then the next thing to do is to dust the meat joints with a light coating of seasoned plain flour. Put a frying pan over a fairly high heat, add a glug of olive oil then brown off the meat for a couple of minutes on each side so that they get a nice colour to them. Do them a couple at a time so you're not overcrowding the pan because this will make you lose heat and the meat will end up boiling instead of searing.
Set these aside while you prepare the vegetables. These vegetables are going to be the base onto which you will roast the veal shin joints and seeing as this is an Italian dish you'll need to prepare a "Soffritto" or as the French would call it "Mirepoix" which is just a mixture of finely chopped onion, carrot and celery, equal amounts of each is fine.
To the soffritto add some de-skinned, de-seeded and finely chopped tomatoes, use about two or three fresh tomatoes per person.
Before you put that chopped veg layer into your oven dish firstly give the whole lot little sauté in the frying pan you browned the meat off in. You really want to try and get as much of that flavour into this vegetable mix as you can. When you can see the onions turning opaque it's time to tip the vegetables into your oven dish.
Stick the pan back over a high heat and pour in a good glug of white wine, as this bubbles up it'll de-glaze the pan even more. When you are happy the you've scraped and salvaged as much tasty goodness as you can from the frying pan just pour the reduced wine over the vegetables and on top of this lay your browned off veal shin slices trying not to have them overlapping.
Finally before this Italian masterpiece is sent to the oven pour over a healthy large glass or two.....or three of white wine, add a few stalks of fresh rosemary and a generous seasoning with sea salt and cracked black pepper.
This will need around 90 minutes of cooking time. Try to turn the meat every 30 mins but be careful because it'll get so tender that it might just fall to bits as you do so.
When the cooking time is up take it out the oven and let it rest for a good 10 minutes. While that is happening add some plain polenta to a pan of boiling water and cook until it a nice creamy consistency stirring in a little unsalted butter to finish it off.
To serve spoon a good portion of the polenta into the centre of the plate, (works great with a pasta plate) onto this add a couple of spoonfuls or two of the cooked vegetables then top the stack off with the cooked veal shin.
Finish by spooning over some of the juices from the oven dish and then finally add a liberal sprinkling of the gremolata.
I did take a picture but having just upgraded my iPhone to OS4 without backing it up I have lost all my piccies :-(
As keen followers of the blog you'll know that a week or so ago I went to Jamie's Italian in Reading and when there I had the Ossobuco off the specials board and I really liked it and from that point I've wanted to give it a go myself. So on Saturday morning my partner and I whisked ourselves off to Reading farmers market in the hope of getting ourselves some lovely (well reared of course, just like the cheeky chappie below) shin of veal.
Alas there was none to be found there.....Nor at the four subsequent farms shops and butchers that we tried. There was plenty of diced veal and veal escalopes to be found but no shin, what do they do with them ?!?!?! Perhaps those crafty farmers and butchers are keeping them all for themselves because they are just so damn good or more likely these joints are shipped off to the continent to our European buddies.
There is such a taboo in the UK with regard to veal which I find quite unnecessary. Yes the cows are young when they are slaughtered and yes they do look cute and cuddly but what exactly is the alternative for these cows other than to be destined for the dinner table? The reality is that veal calves are just a by product of the dairy industry. No dairy farmer in their right mind is going to prolong the life of an animal giving it food and pasture just because it looks pretty.
A herd of dairy cows needs no more than one or two bulls to keep it going so when the cows themselves give birth to males a couple maybe saved for working the land but of course these days that is highly unlikely, even then they would be made steer (castrated). There is no financial point in continuing their growth for the 12 months it take for veal to become beef because a dairy cow is a dairy cow for a reason. Why outlay all that cost for something that'll will taste inferior to another animal which has been bred for purpose?
Every single milk giving dairy cow will give birth, not too many people can get their heads around the fact that for a cow to produce milk it has to be pregnant. The cow belongs to the ungulate family which like us are mammals, the female of our species produces milk in the same way, it's life. For every black and white cow you see in every field in the world there will be a calf inside, 50% of which will be male and unwanted for dairy use.The whole animal is useful for other things though apart from it's delicate pale meat. The bones are used widely is the making of stock and other sauces, the rennet used in cheese making also comes from these calves.
The farming and welfare issues of old are being addressed and the vast majority of UK reared veal these days comes from free raised animals that get to spend time in herds for a few months or more and the old aged method of packing them into crates straight from birth is outlawed and hopefully a thing of the past. So instead of blubbing at the thought of tucking into a nice plate of veal just find some that has been reared with welfare in mind and get stuck in.
Find a butchers that stocks veal shin, (Jon Thorners at Sheeplands, Hare Hatch was the only place I could find it locally and even then it was frozen) get yourself two nice slices per person and then crack on with this method of mine for this Italian classic.
Ossobuco with gremolata and polenta.
Serves 2
Ossobuco translates literally as "Bone with a hole" and its quite clear to see why when you have the meat in view because the cut is taken from a cross section of the upper part of the veal shin and you can see the bone with the marrow inside. This marrow melts with the slow cooking leaving the hole that the name suggests.
The dish itself is of Milanese origin and dates back to around the beginning of the 19th century. The original version "Ossobuco in bianco" doesn't use tomatoes but my version is more like the the modern more popular version that does.
All versions are traditionally served with a gremolata which is a mixture of chopped herbs to which I like to bind together with olive oil. Again I've made my own version of this which differs slightly from the original Milanese version and I'm serving mine with plain polenta rather than Risotto ala Milanese as they would in it's place of origin.
For the gremolata just finely chop a couple of cloves of garlic, a good handful of fresh parsley, a few capers and the grated zest of a lemon. Mix these with a tablespoon of so of extra virgin olive oil and leave it in the fridge until you are ready to serve. (You could add some chopped anchovies to this too if you have any)
Firstly preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Then the next thing to do is to dust the meat joints with a light coating of seasoned plain flour. Put a frying pan over a fairly high heat, add a glug of olive oil then brown off the meat for a couple of minutes on each side so that they get a nice colour to them. Do them a couple at a time so you're not overcrowding the pan because this will make you lose heat and the meat will end up boiling instead of searing.
Set these aside while you prepare the vegetables. These vegetables are going to be the base onto which you will roast the veal shin joints and seeing as this is an Italian dish you'll need to prepare a "Soffritto" or as the French would call it "Mirepoix" which is just a mixture of finely chopped onion, carrot and celery, equal amounts of each is fine.To the soffritto add some de-skinned, de-seeded and finely chopped tomatoes, use about two or three fresh tomatoes per person.
Before you put that chopped veg layer into your oven dish firstly give the whole lot little sauté in the frying pan you browned the meat off in. You really want to try and get as much of that flavour into this vegetable mix as you can. When you can see the onions turning opaque it's time to tip the vegetables into your oven dish.
Stick the pan back over a high heat and pour in a good glug of white wine, as this bubbles up it'll de-glaze the pan even more. When you are happy the you've scraped and salvaged as much tasty goodness as you can from the frying pan just pour the reduced wine over the vegetables and on top of this lay your browned off veal shin slices trying not to have them overlapping.
Finally before this Italian masterpiece is sent to the oven pour over a healthy large glass or two.....or three of white wine, add a few stalks of fresh rosemary and a generous seasoning with sea salt and cracked black pepper.
This will need around 90 minutes of cooking time. Try to turn the meat every 30 mins but be careful because it'll get so tender that it might just fall to bits as you do so.
When the cooking time is up take it out the oven and let it rest for a good 10 minutes. While that is happening add some plain polenta to a pan of boiling water and cook until it a nice creamy consistency stirring in a little unsalted butter to finish it off.
To serve spoon a good portion of the polenta into the centre of the plate, (works great with a pasta plate) onto this add a couple of spoonfuls or two of the cooked vegetables then top the stack off with the cooked veal shin.
Finish by spooning over some of the juices from the oven dish and then finally add a liberal sprinkling of the gremolata.
I did take a picture but having just upgraded my iPhone to OS4 without backing it up I have lost all my piccies :-(
Wednesday 5 October 2011
A re-visit to Jamie Oliver's Italian.....
Around 5:20pm yesterday evening I had this sudden urge for a pint of real ale so after leaving work I headed into Reading and settled down with a nice pint of Doom Bar at the place where I have my Friday night DJ residency (Cape Bar, Reading.......Big Friday night party launch this week by the way)
Whilst sat there having a nice bit of time to myself my mind started to wander towards food and about halfway down my follow up pint of Hooky Bitter I decided that I'd pay another visit to Jamie's Italian at The Oracle on the riverside.
I've reviewed it once or twice before on this blog and although it started out as a very impressive eatery subsequent visits have not been so great meaning that I'd virtually written it off of my dining radar. The last time I was in there I was only there to get a book signed by Gennaro Contaldo for my mum, I didn't eat at all !!
It may sound odd to some people but I really enjoy going to restaurants on my own. I find that rather than spending time chatting away I tend to get more immersed in the atmosphere and I notice what's going on around me much more. Don't get me wrong I also enjoy dining with others too but occasionally just my own company and a few checks of Facebook is enough.
So onto the venue and again I differ a bit here from the usual stuffiness of the English in that I appreciate a busy, noisy and bustling restaurant. I'm not talking about the crappy fast food eateries or other mediocre places like Nando's or Pizza Hut because I'd rate Jamie's Italian as being gastronomically far superior to these in virtually every way. What I mean is that I like the way Jamie & Gennaro have tried to create this little bit of the authentic Italian atmosphere in the UK and I do feel slightly taken back to my time in Rome when I eat there so it has nostalgia.
What they've also done with the food is of course keep to authentic Italian cuisine but where possible they use produce from the UK which to me serves to add to the influence that Jamie Oliver's personality has in the menu creation. Lets face it the vast majority of people who go there for the first time are going there because of the name so to not have that connection once you get there would be disappointing.
So the food. Feeling rather hungry I chose four courses but instead of a dessert I had a rather impressively made and wonderfully tasty Negroni cocktail.
Starter - Marinated Sardines £3.75
This course was the highlight for me and not because of the sardines, not because of it's accompanying salad and not because of the rosemary flavoured bread, although they were all very good. The best bits though were the capers, they had such excellent fresh flavour, almost floral. They linked all the other ingredients so well. I will have this over and over again on later visits.
Antipasti - Artisan Meat Board £4.45
There are three options to choose from here and I went for the English wild boar salami. You get 9 or 10 slices on a board drizzled with some oil which might not seem a great deal for the price you pay but you can tell in the eating that the effort taken to produce this salami justifies the cost. The salami itself has a slight flavour of game but the overriding taste is that of acorns which tells you right away that this came from a genuinely hunted animal free to feed itself on natural resources rather than a farmed and fed animal.
Pasta - Mushroom Panzerotti £6.55 (£10.35 for main course size portion)
Good flavour from the brown and porcini mushrooms in the filling and the tomato sauce was light and fresh tasting with a little chilli zing which only served to heighten that freshness. The pasta was a half moon shaped ravioli which was stuffed with the mushroom mix and I was a little confused by it. The filling wasn't very uniform meaning that some of the parcels were light on the filling and other more full. Personally I'd have preferred to have less parcels with more filling than the other way around but perhaps this filling randomisation was intentional to make you aware (if you weren't already) that it's handmade at the restaurant.
Main - Osso Buco (£12.75 off the specials board)
For those who don't eat veal or agree with it because the red tops tell you it's inhumane I feel for your naivety because you are really missing out here. This slow roasted shin of veal is so wonderful. Here they serve it up on a huge plate with some wet polenta and topped with some fresh gremolata (chopped lemon zest, garlic, parsley and olive oil.) Honestly the plate is so big you could use it to serve up sandwiches at a children's party!!!
Service throughout was splendid and the two glasses of red wine I had during the meal were both of decent taste and quality (Merlot & Primitivo £4.25/£4.45)
To be honest it would have been pretty hard for the cooks there to get this meal wrong as it's all pretty simple but the restaurant was very busy so well done to them and the waiting staff for making it a very enjoyable couple of hours. It's now back on my dining radar :-)
Whilst sat there having a nice bit of time to myself my mind started to wander towards food and about halfway down my follow up pint of Hooky Bitter I decided that I'd pay another visit to Jamie's Italian at The Oracle on the riverside.
I've reviewed it once or twice before on this blog and although it started out as a very impressive eatery subsequent visits have not been so great meaning that I'd virtually written it off of my dining radar. The last time I was in there I was only there to get a book signed by Gennaro Contaldo for my mum, I didn't eat at all !!
It may sound odd to some people but I really enjoy going to restaurants on my own. I find that rather than spending time chatting away I tend to get more immersed in the atmosphere and I notice what's going on around me much more. Don't get me wrong I also enjoy dining with others too but occasionally just my own company and a few checks of Facebook is enough.
So onto the venue and again I differ a bit here from the usual stuffiness of the English in that I appreciate a busy, noisy and bustling restaurant. I'm not talking about the crappy fast food eateries or other mediocre places like Nando's or Pizza Hut because I'd rate Jamie's Italian as being gastronomically far superior to these in virtually every way. What I mean is that I like the way Jamie & Gennaro have tried to create this little bit of the authentic Italian atmosphere in the UK and I do feel slightly taken back to my time in Rome when I eat there so it has nostalgia.
What they've also done with the food is of course keep to authentic Italian cuisine but where possible they use produce from the UK which to me serves to add to the influence that Jamie Oliver's personality has in the menu creation. Lets face it the vast majority of people who go there for the first time are going there because of the name so to not have that connection once you get there would be disappointing.
So the food. Feeling rather hungry I chose four courses but instead of a dessert I had a rather impressively made and wonderfully tasty Negroni cocktail.
Starter - Marinated Sardines £3.75
This course was the highlight for me and not because of the sardines, not because of it's accompanying salad and not because of the rosemary flavoured bread, although they were all very good. The best bits though were the capers, they had such excellent fresh flavour, almost floral. They linked all the other ingredients so well. I will have this over and over again on later visits.
Antipasti - Artisan Meat Board £4.45
There are three options to choose from here and I went for the English wild boar salami. You get 9 or 10 slices on a board drizzled with some oil which might not seem a great deal for the price you pay but you can tell in the eating that the effort taken to produce this salami justifies the cost. The salami itself has a slight flavour of game but the overriding taste is that of acorns which tells you right away that this came from a genuinely hunted animal free to feed itself on natural resources rather than a farmed and fed animal.
Pasta - Mushroom Panzerotti £6.55 (£10.35 for main course size portion)
Good flavour from the brown and porcini mushrooms in the filling and the tomato sauce was light and fresh tasting with a little chilli zing which only served to heighten that freshness. The pasta was a half moon shaped ravioli which was stuffed with the mushroom mix and I was a little confused by it. The filling wasn't very uniform meaning that some of the parcels were light on the filling and other more full. Personally I'd have preferred to have less parcels with more filling than the other way around but perhaps this filling randomisation was intentional to make you aware (if you weren't already) that it's handmade at the restaurant.
Main - Osso Buco (£12.75 off the specials board)
For those who don't eat veal or agree with it because the red tops tell you it's inhumane I feel for your naivety because you are really missing out here. This slow roasted shin of veal is so wonderful. Here they serve it up on a huge plate with some wet polenta and topped with some fresh gremolata (chopped lemon zest, garlic, parsley and olive oil.) Honestly the plate is so big you could use it to serve up sandwiches at a children's party!!!
Service throughout was splendid and the two glasses of red wine I had during the meal were both of decent taste and quality (Merlot & Primitivo £4.25/£4.45)
To be honest it would have been pretty hard for the cooks there to get this meal wrong as it's all pretty simple but the restaurant was very busy so well done to them and the waiting staff for making it a very enjoyable couple of hours. It's now back on my dining radar :-)
Thursday 29 September 2011
Demo approaches.....
After a minor setback yesterday evening my preparation of my take on meat and two veg for the Reading Town meal demo can get back on track today.
I've already had a run through of the dishes and I now have a clear image in mind of how it all should proceed, the only thing I'm really concerned about is getting the crackling right on the Pork......or not if the case maybe.
Because it takes such a long time to cook I had to purchase a rather large pork belly joint from my local butchers (Jennings in Hurst) so that I could prepare half for the actual demo and half for further practice and variations on how to get that crunchy crackling.
My idea so far has been to separate it into two joints, rub the skin side of each with sea salt the rest skin side down on a bed of salt for 24 hours to draw out any excess moisture. This is done and I think it's been a success, the skin feels more rigid and it's changed to a more pale colour.
The problem then was that I went to vacuum pack them and realised I'd run out of plastic vacuum seal bags! What followed was a manic drive to Waitrose to pick up all kinds of things I thought might do the job but none could. Thankfully an internet search pointed me to the Lakeland store in Reading where they stock a different brand to my normal supplier but I assume they are all much of a muchness. I'm glad I gave myself that extra day to prepare.
The added bonus of using my local butcher was not only the fantastic piece of locally reared pork that I purchased but I also bagged the rib bones. I had the butcher cut these out and from them I've made a terrific stock which will be perfect for making the rich Calvados sauce that'll accompany the meat and two veg.
The veg for the dish will be a simple savoy cabbage and bacon mix with an equally simple celeriac mash/purée. I took a trip up to Waltham Place farm shop on Tuesday to see what I could grab from there to use in the demo and I came out with some of their own back bacon and a couple of tremendously well packed cabbages.
The bacon is very nice indeed, of course I got far more than I needed because it's absolutely necessary to try it in a bacon sarnie before using it in a dish as elaborate as meat and two veg :-)
It's not organic bacon as it does contain sodium nitrate, this is very clearly stated on the packaging so it gives me confidence that they are trying to be transparant in all they do. As a small farm slaughtering maybe a pig a month I'm guessing this is necessary for preservation purposes. Having said that when I cooked it there was none of that white gunk you get streaming out of cheap supermarket bacon and the meat was firm and not at all likely to rip apart like some type of wafer thin processed ham. I really need to look into bacon production some more to get a proper understanding of the processes they use.
Best of all when I enquired as to whether they had any savoy cabbages the guy there jumped to his toes and exclaimed that this years crop were the best he'd ever had and ordered me to wait while one of is farm hands ran off into the fields to cut a couple fresh off the land, I'm really looking forward to using these, I think the could make the dish!
The real highlight of the demo preparation has to be concerning the dessert. I'm going for an incredibly simple dish of poached pears with raspberry sauce. It was the addition of a raspberry leaf tea bag into the poaching liquid that has proved to be a winner and I think with it's simplicity, it's taste and it's presentation I'm onto a real winner.
Overall I think I've hit the brief right on the head here. I'm cooking a classic family staple of meat and two veg using very affordable ingredients that have either been sourced within a 5 mile radius of where I live or are from the independent producers whom themselves are taking part in the event.
It's all kicking off in Forbury gardens from midday on Saturday (1st Oct) and you can get all the information from here
My demo is first up at 12:15 then I'll be followed by this years RSC finalist Rick Wyatt who'll be cooking up something that he's paid absolutely nothing for, his approach to food and cooking is really quite inspirational and it's well worth listening to his thoughts on foraging for food and using game.
After Rick it'll be Paul Clerehugh, owner of London Street Brasserie and the Crooked Billet in Stoke Row. He was voted Reading's first "Food Hero" and his work providing his local school with meals way before it was a twinkle in Mr Oliver's eye is just one of the reasons why this was awarded.
There is just so much going on for everybody to enjoy and the first 1000 people get a two course meal absolutely free which is being cooked up by the students at Reading catering college.
It might all sound a bit Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and it really is. It's all about what we can all do to help ourselves and of course it's mostly about the town of Reading and it's wonderful people.
I've already had a run through of the dishes and I now have a clear image in mind of how it all should proceed, the only thing I'm really concerned about is getting the crackling right on the Pork......or not if the case maybe.
Because it takes such a long time to cook I had to purchase a rather large pork belly joint from my local butchers (Jennings in Hurst) so that I could prepare half for the actual demo and half for further practice and variations on how to get that crunchy crackling.
My idea so far has been to separate it into two joints, rub the skin side of each with sea salt the rest skin side down on a bed of salt for 24 hours to draw out any excess moisture. This is done and I think it's been a success, the skin feels more rigid and it's changed to a more pale colour.
The problem then was that I went to vacuum pack them and realised I'd run out of plastic vacuum seal bags! What followed was a manic drive to Waitrose to pick up all kinds of things I thought might do the job but none could. Thankfully an internet search pointed me to the Lakeland store in Reading where they stock a different brand to my normal supplier but I assume they are all much of a muchness. I'm glad I gave myself that extra day to prepare.
The added bonus of using my local butcher was not only the fantastic piece of locally reared pork that I purchased but I also bagged the rib bones. I had the butcher cut these out and from them I've made a terrific stock which will be perfect for making the rich Calvados sauce that'll accompany the meat and two veg.
The veg for the dish will be a simple savoy cabbage and bacon mix with an equally simple celeriac mash/purée. I took a trip up to Waltham Place farm shop on Tuesday to see what I could grab from there to use in the demo and I came out with some of their own back bacon and a couple of tremendously well packed cabbages.
The bacon is very nice indeed, of course I got far more than I needed because it's absolutely necessary to try it in a bacon sarnie before using it in a dish as elaborate as meat and two veg :-)
It's not organic bacon as it does contain sodium nitrate, this is very clearly stated on the packaging so it gives me confidence that they are trying to be transparant in all they do. As a small farm slaughtering maybe a pig a month I'm guessing this is necessary for preservation purposes. Having said that when I cooked it there was none of that white gunk you get streaming out of cheap supermarket bacon and the meat was firm and not at all likely to rip apart like some type of wafer thin processed ham. I really need to look into bacon production some more to get a proper understanding of the processes they use.
Best of all when I enquired as to whether they had any savoy cabbages the guy there jumped to his toes and exclaimed that this years crop were the best he'd ever had and ordered me to wait while one of is farm hands ran off into the fields to cut a couple fresh off the land, I'm really looking forward to using these, I think the could make the dish!
The real highlight of the demo preparation has to be concerning the dessert. I'm going for an incredibly simple dish of poached pears with raspberry sauce. It was the addition of a raspberry leaf tea bag into the poaching liquid that has proved to be a winner and I think with it's simplicity, it's taste and it's presentation I'm onto a real winner.
Overall I think I've hit the brief right on the head here. I'm cooking a classic family staple of meat and two veg using very affordable ingredients that have either been sourced within a 5 mile radius of where I live or are from the independent producers whom themselves are taking part in the event.
It's all kicking off in Forbury gardens from midday on Saturday (1st Oct) and you can get all the information from here
My demo is first up at 12:15 then I'll be followed by this years RSC finalist Rick Wyatt who'll be cooking up something that he's paid absolutely nothing for, his approach to food and cooking is really quite inspirational and it's well worth listening to his thoughts on foraging for food and using game.
After Rick it'll be Paul Clerehugh, owner of London Street Brasserie and the Crooked Billet in Stoke Row. He was voted Reading's first "Food Hero" and his work providing his local school with meals way before it was a twinkle in Mr Oliver's eye is just one of the reasons why this was awarded.
There is just so much going on for everybody to enjoy and the first 1000 people get a two course meal absolutely free which is being cooked up by the students at Reading catering college.
It might all sound a bit Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and it really is. It's all about what we can all do to help ourselves and of course it's mostly about the town of Reading and it's wonderful people.
Tuesday 20 September 2011
Meat and two veg........
With the Food4families cookery demo coming up I took the opportunity to meet up with this years RSC runner-up Rick Wyatt to discuss what we are going to cook and how the programme of events would pan out.
Rick is very much a "from the earth" cook, he sources most of his ingredients from his surroundings either foraging for vegetables and herbs or hunting for game in the countryside, it's quite inspiring really.
Food4families is all about growing your own produce and sourcing ingredients from your immediate surroundings and as a town Reading has so much to offer in that respect so it's not really all that difficult to come up with recipes that'll fit the brief. I suppose being inland that slightly hinders the choice of saltwater fish that you can source but we do have an abundance of lakes, rivers and fish farms which are well stocked with trout etc etc.
That's not to sat that you cannot get saltwater fish because the famous Smelly Alley fish company stock super fresh fish daily from the fertile British coast.
I was going to use fish but then again I was going to do three dishes which although achievable within my thirty minute slot is probably a bit too adventurous.
Instead I'm going to go for my take the great family staple that is meat and two veg and I'm going to follow that up with a dessert that makes the most of two classic British fruits.
For the meat and two veg I'll be pre-preparing some slow cooked pork belly and serving that up with a celeriac mash and some fresh peas. I'm also going to make use of the bottle of Calvados that I won at a recent raffle and create a sauce from that and as a little bit of extra pork flavour I'm thinking that I might crisp up some bacon then chop it up into very small pieces or grind into a powder then sprinkle over as a garnish.
For the dessert I'm going to do a simple dish of poached pears with raspberry sauce and chantilly cream, maybe shave some chocolate over the top too.
How does that sound?
Why not come along and have a taste for yourself? October 1st from around midday at Forbury Square in Reading town centre. Rick and myself will be leading up to a demo by Reading's number one chef Paul Clerehugh and there will also be plenty of stalls setup by people who have grown their own produce as well as local professional producers so it'll have a kind of farmers market/family fair atmosphere.
A great deal of the produce in the Food4families program is grown at local schools and it really gets the kid interested in producing vegetables and more importantly they get enthusiastic about eating their greens :-)
Toodlepip xxx
Rick is very much a "from the earth" cook, he sources most of his ingredients from his surroundings either foraging for vegetables and herbs or hunting for game in the countryside, it's quite inspiring really.
Food4families is all about growing your own produce and sourcing ingredients from your immediate surroundings and as a town Reading has so much to offer in that respect so it's not really all that difficult to come up with recipes that'll fit the brief. I suppose being inland that slightly hinders the choice of saltwater fish that you can source but we do have an abundance of lakes, rivers and fish farms which are well stocked with trout etc etc.
That's not to sat that you cannot get saltwater fish because the famous Smelly Alley fish company stock super fresh fish daily from the fertile British coast.
I was going to use fish but then again I was going to do three dishes which although achievable within my thirty minute slot is probably a bit too adventurous.
Instead I'm going to go for my take the great family staple that is meat and two veg and I'm going to follow that up with a dessert that makes the most of two classic British fruits.
For the meat and two veg I'll be pre-preparing some slow cooked pork belly and serving that up with a celeriac mash and some fresh peas. I'm also going to make use of the bottle of Calvados that I won at a recent raffle and create a sauce from that and as a little bit of extra pork flavour I'm thinking that I might crisp up some bacon then chop it up into very small pieces or grind into a powder then sprinkle over as a garnish.
For the dessert I'm going to do a simple dish of poached pears with raspberry sauce and chantilly cream, maybe shave some chocolate over the top too.
How does that sound?
Why not come along and have a taste for yourself? October 1st from around midday at Forbury Square in Reading town centre. Rick and myself will be leading up to a demo by Reading's number one chef Paul Clerehugh and there will also be plenty of stalls setup by people who have grown their own produce as well as local professional producers so it'll have a kind of farmers market/family fair atmosphere.
A great deal of the produce in the Food4families program is grown at local schools and it really gets the kid interested in producing vegetables and more importantly they get enthusiastic about eating their greens :-)
Toodlepip xxx
Monday 5 September 2011
Books I want....
It's slow days like this that draw my attention elsewhere and today it's been mostly drawn to Amazon and the cookery book section. I can't honestly remember the last book I purchased that wasn't about food. I think it was a rather crazy book called "Tomas" by James Palumbo who was the founder of the London superclub Ministry of Sound.
Brilliant book by the way, nothing to do with the dance music scene at all, it's a properly twisted fantasy about a psychotic murderer....strange really isn't the word but compelling reading nevertheless.
The first book I want was the reason I went to Amazon in the first place and it's "The French Brasserie Cookbook" by Daniel Galmiche whom I've had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times albeit very briefly. He's been along to the Eat Reading Live festival and demo'd for both of the years it's been running and he was recently back on the TV as a guest on Saturday Kitchen.
As executive chef at The Vineyard in Stockcross near Newbury he's taken classic French food and given it a contemporary twist using British ingredients, he's a massive fan of our coastal seafood and he has a real passion for supporting local producers and local events. All round top fella really and I just cannot do without his new book.
The next three books are linked to one of, if not "the" most famous and mostly decorated restaurants of all time El Bulli. The restaurant in Catalonia was opened way back in 1964 with legendary chef Ferran Adriá taking full reins in 1987 until it's "alleged" closure this year. It's whole future is pretty much shrouded in mystery and I don't think anybody other than Ferran Adriá truly knows what will happen. At the moment it is the El Bulli foundation but apparently it'll open as a restaurant once again in 2014.
The restaurant was mega exclusive in it's time, the entire final season was sold out in one day, that's 8000 covers to fill from 2 million requests....yep approximately 2 million people tried to book!!!
Not that it made an money mind you, it ran at a loss every year since 2000 with the most of it's funding coming from books, merchandise and public appearances by Mr Adriá himself. Hardly surprising for a restaurant that only used the absolute finest of ingredients and had the best part of 40 chefs in the kitchen at any one time serving up 30+ course meals at £174.00 a pop which I consider an absolute bargain.
The first of these two books "A Day at El Bulli" gives you an insight on how a day there actually worked and takes you into the mindset of not just Ferran Adriá himself but his whole team.
Next up is "The Family Meal" by Ferran Adriá. It's his latest offering and the title tells you what it's content will be about but other than that I'm not really sure as it's still a month away from release. Currently the only things I have relating to El Bulli in my house are a couple of bottles of flavoured oils bearing Adriá's moniker that I got from Wokingham food and drink festival a couple of weeks ago. I think perhaps having these books and those oils I might get about as close to the real El Bulli as I'm ever likely too.
The final book of this trilogy is not from Adriá himself but from one of the young chefs working behind the scenes. "The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season at El Bulli" by Lisa Abend comes from the perspective of one of those 40+ kitchen chefs who graduate through the El Bulli academy.
I'm fascinated to know just how these guys and girls train in order to provide perfection day after day and just how much they can take from the experience and apply elsewhere. There must be some that are just completely broken by it's regime but others must thrive under the weight of expectation.
Apparently it only contains one recipe and that is there purely to highlight the work and thought that goes into each individual dish produced at El Bulli.
My final book choice is not exactly a new book but it's by one of my favourite modern day food writers Matthew Fort. "Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons: Travels in Sicily on a Vespa" was publish in 2009 and I vaguely remember watching another cooks program on TV when they actually bumped into Matthew on his Vespa when filming. At the time I thought to myself that I must look out for whatever book it was he was researching and today I found it.
I remember saying to somebody that although I love my Dad dearly and with all my heart if I ever had to choose somebody else to fill those shoes without hesitation it'd be Matthew Fort.......with Prue Leith as a step-mother :-)
Toodlepip xx
Brilliant book by the way, nothing to do with the dance music scene at all, it's a properly twisted fantasy about a psychotic murderer....strange really isn't the word but compelling reading nevertheless.
The first book I want was the reason I went to Amazon in the first place and it's "The French Brasserie Cookbook" by Daniel Galmiche whom I've had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times albeit very briefly. He's been along to the Eat Reading Live festival and demo'd for both of the years it's been running and he was recently back on the TV as a guest on Saturday Kitchen.
As executive chef at The Vineyard in Stockcross near Newbury he's taken classic French food and given it a contemporary twist using British ingredients, he's a massive fan of our coastal seafood and he has a real passion for supporting local producers and local events. All round top fella really and I just cannot do without his new book.
The next three books are linked to one of, if not "the" most famous and mostly decorated restaurants of all time El Bulli. The restaurant in Catalonia was opened way back in 1964 with legendary chef Ferran Adriá taking full reins in 1987 until it's "alleged" closure this year. It's whole future is pretty much shrouded in mystery and I don't think anybody other than Ferran Adriá truly knows what will happen. At the moment it is the El Bulli foundation but apparently it'll open as a restaurant once again in 2014.
The restaurant was mega exclusive in it's time, the entire final season was sold out in one day, that's 8000 covers to fill from 2 million requests....yep approximately 2 million people tried to book!!!
Not that it made an money mind you, it ran at a loss every year since 2000 with the most of it's funding coming from books, merchandise and public appearances by Mr Adriá himself. Hardly surprising for a restaurant that only used the absolute finest of ingredients and had the best part of 40 chefs in the kitchen at any one time serving up 30+ course meals at £174.00 a pop which I consider an absolute bargain.
The first of these two books "A Day at El Bulli" gives you an insight on how a day there actually worked and takes you into the mindset of not just Ferran Adriá himself but his whole team.
Next up is "The Family Meal" by Ferran Adriá. It's his latest offering and the title tells you what it's content will be about but other than that I'm not really sure as it's still a month away from release. Currently the only things I have relating to El Bulli in my house are a couple of bottles of flavoured oils bearing Adriá's moniker that I got from Wokingham food and drink festival a couple of weeks ago. I think perhaps having these books and those oils I might get about as close to the real El Bulli as I'm ever likely too.
The final book of this trilogy is not from Adriá himself but from one of the young chefs working behind the scenes. "The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season at El Bulli" by Lisa Abend comes from the perspective of one of those 40+ kitchen chefs who graduate through the El Bulli academy.
I'm fascinated to know just how these guys and girls train in order to provide perfection day after day and just how much they can take from the experience and apply elsewhere. There must be some that are just completely broken by it's regime but others must thrive under the weight of expectation.
Apparently it only contains one recipe and that is there purely to highlight the work and thought that goes into each individual dish produced at El Bulli.
My final book choice is not exactly a new book but it's by one of my favourite modern day food writers Matthew Fort. "Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons: Travels in Sicily on a Vespa" was publish in 2009 and I vaguely remember watching another cooks program on TV when they actually bumped into Matthew on his Vespa when filming. At the time I thought to myself that I must look out for whatever book it was he was researching and today I found it.
I remember saying to somebody that although I love my Dad dearly and with all my heart if I ever had to choose somebody else to fill those shoes without hesitation it'd be Matthew Fort.......with Prue Leith as a step-mother :-)
Toodlepip xx
Cities.....
I'm going a bit off the foodie track for today........
I'm just back from spending a couple of days away in Edinburgh for a friends pre-wedding stag weekend. I've been to the city before but it was only for a couple of hours when I took a train over from Glasgow so I didn't really get to explore it nor did I get to experience the people.
Whenever I visit somewhere new I somehow visualise the city as a relative or person because to me all cities have their own unique characteristics. For instance I think of Barcelona as a favourite aunt. It welcomes you with open arms and you are really pleased to see it, it'll feed you healthily then want to show you photos, it'll enjoy a drink with you before tucking you in for a nice nights sleep.
Rome is a long lost relative, it's interesting to look at, you can stare at it for hours trying to work out which bits of it you recognise, it's a bit stand offish to start with and it takes a while for you to feel comfortable but once you have gained it's trust you feel accepted as one of their own.
Frankfurt is one of the cooler teachers at your secondary/high school, it reminds me of one of my physics tutors. It has an exterior of uniformity, it knows where everything should be but even so you know in the back of your mind that it likes to have fun once the working week has been completed.
Ibiza is your best friend, with it you'll have the absolute best times of your life. You'll also have some not so good and no doubt you'll fall out with it from time to time over something silly but you'll soon get over it and be inseparable best buddies again.
Edinburgh reminds me of a favourite uncle, it has interesting buildings that all have a story to tell, it'll treat you like a best friend and then most of all it'll take you out on the town and get you absolutely clattered giving you one of the craziest, wobbliest and rib achingly enjoyable nights out you'll have had for ages.
I'll elaborate more once I have the photos. I'm not sure the phrase "What goes on tour stays on tour" is applicable is this case because it was all very innocent fun.
Until then....toodlepip xx
I'm just back from spending a couple of days away in Edinburgh for a friends pre-wedding stag weekend. I've been to the city before but it was only for a couple of hours when I took a train over from Glasgow so I didn't really get to explore it nor did I get to experience the people.
Whenever I visit somewhere new I somehow visualise the city as a relative or person because to me all cities have their own unique characteristics. For instance I think of Barcelona as a favourite aunt. It welcomes you with open arms and you are really pleased to see it, it'll feed you healthily then want to show you photos, it'll enjoy a drink with you before tucking you in for a nice nights sleep.
Rome is a long lost relative, it's interesting to look at, you can stare at it for hours trying to work out which bits of it you recognise, it's a bit stand offish to start with and it takes a while for you to feel comfortable but once you have gained it's trust you feel accepted as one of their own.
Frankfurt is one of the cooler teachers at your secondary/high school, it reminds me of one of my physics tutors. It has an exterior of uniformity, it knows where everything should be but even so you know in the back of your mind that it likes to have fun once the working week has been completed.
Ibiza is your best friend, with it you'll have the absolute best times of your life. You'll also have some not so good and no doubt you'll fall out with it from time to time over something silly but you'll soon get over it and be inseparable best buddies again.
Edinburgh reminds me of a favourite uncle, it has interesting buildings that all have a story to tell, it'll treat you like a best friend and then most of all it'll take you out on the town and get you absolutely clattered giving you one of the craziest, wobbliest and rib achingly enjoyable nights out you'll have had for ages.
I'll elaborate more once I have the photos. I'm not sure the phrase "What goes on tour stays on tour" is applicable is this case because it was all very innocent fun.
Until then....toodlepip xx
Thursday 1 September 2011
Balls...........
Please excuse my lack of regularity in my blogging exploits, my longest recent hiatus was due to getting heavily involved in a deep game of Football Manager 2011. Once immersed in a new career I simply cannot turn the laptop on without having a game.
I have recently purchase a new laptop too which has only made me play the game more however that has developed a fault and is on it's way back to the manufacturer to get fixed......losing all my game data in the process :-(
Anyway since my last post I have been experimenting away in the kitchen trying to create some scotch quails eggs after being inspired to do so by my friends at LSQ2. My initial attempt was good but I put far too much casing around the quails eggs and this mean't that they were a bit heavy eating.
I also mixed in some brown shrimp with the tiger prawn casing mixture as well as a splash of Thai fish sauce which made it a bit too fishy and this drew some flavour away from the egg itself which in my opinion should be the star of the show.
Big pluses from this attempt though was the firstly the use of fennel seeds in the casing and then serving the completed scotch eggs with a teriyake glaze with I admit was a shop bought one from Waitrose.
LSQ2 serve their original version of this dish up with XO sauce which is very tasty and incredible rich, it also takes a multitude of ingredients to make which unfortunately I don't have in the store cupboard. LSQ2 have actually posted the full recipe for their original version on their Facebook page so go and have a look.
Preparation really is the key to making these scotch eggs. It's quite a delicate operation getting the quails eggs cooked and peeled before encasing them, getting them crumbed and finally deep frying them until golden brown.
Unlike the store bought scotch eggs you get these are cased in minced tiger prawns rather than sausage meat. It gives them a much lighter texture and the combination of fish and egg is a classic, a fish pie just isn't a proper fish pie unless it has hard boiled eggs in it and let us too not forget the time honoured curry flavoured breakfast classic that is kedgeree.
As I mentioned earlier I think that the star of this show is the quails eggs themselves. I think the whole point of this would be lost if you overcook them, it's absolutely essential to the success of the dish to have a runny yolk.
To achieve this you must first bring a saucepan of water to the boil and close to hand should be another bowl of iced water. Four whole quails eggs should be put into the water and cooked for exactly two minutes before being removed and put immediately into the cooling water to stop the cooking process. If you take them off the boil before the two minutes is up you run the risk of the egg white not being set enough to handle after shelling and if cooked for more than two minutes you will start to set the yolk.
After around 10 minutes of cooling carefully peel the shells from the eggs. You need to be really delicate here because you don't want the yolk sac to break. You may find that some of the egg white comes away with the shell but don't worry too much about this they can still be used. The casing will protect the yolk as long as that part of the egg is still intact. When done set them aside ready to be cased.
Next up is to prepare the actual casing and it really couldn't be easier. Just get all the ingredients list below and blitz up in a blender until its the consistency you want. Personally I like a bit of texture in mine rather than a smooth paste but it's entirely up to you, the flavours will be there regardless of how much you mince it up.
100g x Uncooked tiger prawns
1 x Good pinch of fennel seeds
1 x Small clove of garlic
1 x Pinch of ground ginger
1 x Slice of dried galangal (optional)
1/2 x Spring onion (slice lengthways leaving plenty of the green top)
1 x Pinch of sea salt and black pepper
The final part of the assembly if the breadcrumbs. You can get some already prepared from the supermarket or you can just make your own. I prefer the latter just because it's so easy. In our house we tend to use the "best of both" white/brown bread and all I do is take 2 slices of this which I harden up a little in a hot oven before blitzing up with some seasoning. Takes just a few mins from start to finish and costs pennies.
Empty the breadcrumbs into a bowl and alongside this have two further bowls one containing a beaten egg and the other some plain flour. No you are ready to get messy and form your scotch quails eggs.
Firstly take a piece of the prawn mixture and put it in the centre of your hand. Flatten it out a bit so it's between 5mm and 10mm in thickness then lay on top of this one of the quails eggs. Now very carefully build up the prawn coating around the egg until it's completely encased, it'll be very sticky but you'll get there eventually. Ideally once done it should be just a bit larger than golf ball size.
Drop the ball into the flour and give it a thin coating before double dipping in the egg and breadcrumbs. Double dipping means to coat the ball in the beaten egg, then cover in breadcrumbs and then repeating again to ensure you have a good crust.
Repeat this process for the remaining 3 eggs then you are ready to deep fry. I use rapeseed oil when deep frying but you could also use sunflower or vegetable oil. whichever you decide to use the most important thing to get right is the temperature at which you have the oil. Too cool and it'll make the finished eggs greasy, too hot and you'll end up with a raw prawn casing, especially if you have made the casing too thick.
I test the temperature of the oil by use a piece of bread. Just drop it into the oil and if boils ferociously it's too hot and if it just bubbles around the bread it's too cool, you want to get a happy medium between these too. Everybody knows hot oil can be dangerous so do be careful, make sure people stay away from the hob when you are doing this and at any time there is hot oil around afterwards.
Carefully lower the formed scotched eggs into the hot oil with a slotted spoon and fry them off until the are evenly golden brown all over. Let them stand for a few minutes on some kitchen paper the serve sliced in half and drizzled with teriyaki glaze.
Go on...give it a go....toodlepip :-)
I have recently purchase a new laptop too which has only made me play the game more however that has developed a fault and is on it's way back to the manufacturer to get fixed......losing all my game data in the process :-(
Anyway since my last post I have been experimenting away in the kitchen trying to create some scotch quails eggs after being inspired to do so by my friends at LSQ2. My initial attempt was good but I put far too much casing around the quails eggs and this mean't that they were a bit heavy eating.
I also mixed in some brown shrimp with the tiger prawn casing mixture as well as a splash of Thai fish sauce which made it a bit too fishy and this drew some flavour away from the egg itself which in my opinion should be the star of the show.
Big pluses from this attempt though was the firstly the use of fennel seeds in the casing and then serving the completed scotch eggs with a teriyake glaze with I admit was a shop bought one from Waitrose.
LSQ2 serve their original version of this dish up with XO sauce which is very tasty and incredible rich, it also takes a multitude of ingredients to make which unfortunately I don't have in the store cupboard. LSQ2 have actually posted the full recipe for their original version on their Facebook page so go and have a look.
Preparation really is the key to making these scotch eggs. It's quite a delicate operation getting the quails eggs cooked and peeled before encasing them, getting them crumbed and finally deep frying them until golden brown.
Unlike the store bought scotch eggs you get these are cased in minced tiger prawns rather than sausage meat. It gives them a much lighter texture and the combination of fish and egg is a classic, a fish pie just isn't a proper fish pie unless it has hard boiled eggs in it and let us too not forget the time honoured curry flavoured breakfast classic that is kedgeree.
As I mentioned earlier I think that the star of this show is the quails eggs themselves. I think the whole point of this would be lost if you overcook them, it's absolutely essential to the success of the dish to have a runny yolk.
To achieve this you must first bring a saucepan of water to the boil and close to hand should be another bowl of iced water. Four whole quails eggs should be put into the water and cooked for exactly two minutes before being removed and put immediately into the cooling water to stop the cooking process. If you take them off the boil before the two minutes is up you run the risk of the egg white not being set enough to handle after shelling and if cooked for more than two minutes you will start to set the yolk.
After around 10 minutes of cooling carefully peel the shells from the eggs. You need to be really delicate here because you don't want the yolk sac to break. You may find that some of the egg white comes away with the shell but don't worry too much about this they can still be used. The casing will protect the yolk as long as that part of the egg is still intact. When done set them aside ready to be cased.
Next up is to prepare the actual casing and it really couldn't be easier. Just get all the ingredients list below and blitz up in a blender until its the consistency you want. Personally I like a bit of texture in mine rather than a smooth paste but it's entirely up to you, the flavours will be there regardless of how much you mince it up.
100g x Uncooked tiger prawns
1 x Good pinch of fennel seeds
1 x Small clove of garlic
1 x Pinch of ground ginger
1 x Slice of dried galangal (optional)
1/2 x Spring onion (slice lengthways leaving plenty of the green top)
1 x Pinch of sea salt and black pepper
The final part of the assembly if the breadcrumbs. You can get some already prepared from the supermarket or you can just make your own. I prefer the latter just because it's so easy. In our house we tend to use the "best of both" white/brown bread and all I do is take 2 slices of this which I harden up a little in a hot oven before blitzing up with some seasoning. Takes just a few mins from start to finish and costs pennies.
Empty the breadcrumbs into a bowl and alongside this have two further bowls one containing a beaten egg and the other some plain flour. No you are ready to get messy and form your scotch quails eggs.
Firstly take a piece of the prawn mixture and put it in the centre of your hand. Flatten it out a bit so it's between 5mm and 10mm in thickness then lay on top of this one of the quails eggs. Now very carefully build up the prawn coating around the egg until it's completely encased, it'll be very sticky but you'll get there eventually. Ideally once done it should be just a bit larger than golf ball size.
Drop the ball into the flour and give it a thin coating before double dipping in the egg and breadcrumbs. Double dipping means to coat the ball in the beaten egg, then cover in breadcrumbs and then repeating again to ensure you have a good crust.
Repeat this process for the remaining 3 eggs then you are ready to deep fry. I use rapeseed oil when deep frying but you could also use sunflower or vegetable oil. whichever you decide to use the most important thing to get right is the temperature at which you have the oil. Too cool and it'll make the finished eggs greasy, too hot and you'll end up with a raw prawn casing, especially if you have made the casing too thick.
I test the temperature of the oil by use a piece of bread. Just drop it into the oil and if boils ferociously it's too hot and if it just bubbles around the bread it's too cool, you want to get a happy medium between these too. Everybody knows hot oil can be dangerous so do be careful, make sure people stay away from the hob when you are doing this and at any time there is hot oil around afterwards.
Carefully lower the formed scotched eggs into the hot oil with a slotted spoon and fry them off until the are evenly golden brown all over. Let them stand for a few minutes on some kitchen paper the serve sliced in half and drizzled with teriyaki glaze.
Go on...give it a go....toodlepip :-)
Tuesday 30 August 2011
Food & Drink...
Quite a nice chilled weekend just gone. Played our penultimate game of the cricket season on Saturday and I seem to have hit my peak right at the end of the proceedings, hopefully I can carry the form into next year but alas saving relegation was never possible.
Sunday was the highlight of the weekend as we went over to the Wokingham food & drink festival. They had plenty going on there for people of all ages, activities for the kids, various stall selling homemade and/or local produce and a bar serving up local ales which reminds me I must pop over to Bingham's Brewery to pick up some of the wonderful beer they had on show.
The main reason we went was to catch the cookery demo by Tony and Sally Cole from LSQ2. A great job they did too cooking up my two favourite dishes off the menu. I'm going to be trying out my own variation of the Pork Belly and Scotch Quails Eggs myself this evening so I'll get the recipe for these up sometime this week.
It would have been so easy just to lay around all day yesterday as I had the inevitable aches from cricket and with just 8 weeks to go until our new arrival Carley wasn't exactly full of beans either but we did manage to muster the energy for a walk down to Waitrose to pick up a spot of lunch and also for a meander around in search of the evenings meal.
We went for confit duck in the end as it's such a comfort food especially when served up with celeriac mash, peas and a red wine jus. Of course I cheated with the confit and just bought the canned variety which is perfectly fine although not as good as doing the whole process yourself. I blogged about how to do this a while back so a quick search will find you the method, it really is the best way to eat duck.
A can containing two portions of confit duck at Waitrose comes in at a hefty £9.99 but if you bear in mind the amount of duck fat you get to keep for those perfect roast potatoes or crunchy chips then personally I think it's money well spend.
Another reason we're glad we went to the food & drink festival was because of the amazing gadget we came across. It's called the "Wean Machine" and it's a rather brilliant little invention for feeding small sprogs when you are on the go.
There is a lot more information about the product on their website but here's the demo video with the inventor who was at the festival on Sunday.
Sunday was the highlight of the weekend as we went over to the Wokingham food & drink festival. They had plenty going on there for people of all ages, activities for the kids, various stall selling homemade and/or local produce and a bar serving up local ales which reminds me I must pop over to Bingham's Brewery to pick up some of the wonderful beer they had on show.
The main reason we went was to catch the cookery demo by Tony and Sally Cole from LSQ2. A great job they did too cooking up my two favourite dishes off the menu. I'm going to be trying out my own variation of the Pork Belly and Scotch Quails Eggs myself this evening so I'll get the recipe for these up sometime this week.
It would have been so easy just to lay around all day yesterday as I had the inevitable aches from cricket and with just 8 weeks to go until our new arrival Carley wasn't exactly full of beans either but we did manage to muster the energy for a walk down to Waitrose to pick up a spot of lunch and also for a meander around in search of the evenings meal.
We went for confit duck in the end as it's such a comfort food especially when served up with celeriac mash, peas and a red wine jus. Of course I cheated with the confit and just bought the canned variety which is perfectly fine although not as good as doing the whole process yourself. I blogged about how to do this a while back so a quick search will find you the method, it really is the best way to eat duck.
A can containing two portions of confit duck at Waitrose comes in at a hefty £9.99 but if you bear in mind the amount of duck fat you get to keep for those perfect roast potatoes or crunchy chips then personally I think it's money well spend.
Another reason we're glad we went to the food & drink festival was because of the amazing gadget we came across. It's called the "Wean Machine" and it's a rather brilliant little invention for feeding small sprogs when you are on the go.
There is a lot more information about the product on their website but here's the demo video with the inventor who was at the festival on Sunday.
Getting excited about baby products must mean we're close :-)
As for my own cookery demos I'm delighted to have been asked to participate as a cook and presenter at the food4familes Reading town meal on the 1st October being held in Forbury Gardens.
There will be three other former Reading, Steady, Cook participants taking part along with myself which is just brilliant and there will be other demos from the irrepressible Paul Clerehugh as well as some from the students at Reading College so as you can tell it's going to be a feast of all things local.
It's not all about the cookery demos either because there will be plenty of other things going on for people of all ages and if you fancy getting involved yourself then pop along to their website and you can find all the contact info you need right there as well as info on the event itself.
So until I'm back with a wonderful Pork Belly recipe for y'all that's it, you're all up to date...............Toodlepip xx
Thursday 25 August 2011
Gingalangalgoolie.....
Had inspiration to cook up some fish yesterday with some Thai Green Curry sauce alas when I looked in the larder it was bare.....I'd run out of the pre-made paste I normally buy from my favourite Asian supermarket.
Luckily we have a rather well stocked spice cupboard so I got to work on making my own and I have to say that even though I was missing some Lemongrass (which any cook would normally consider integral to this paste) I was very pleased with the result....dare I say it was even better than the shop bought Thai import.
By far the most interesting ingredient for me was the dried Galangal that I'd bought a while back from Waitrose. I'd never really taken the time to analyse it before and I really liked it's citrus aroma which somehow seems to also have a savoury aspect to it.
It comes from the same family as Ginger so I can now see where that smell and taste comes from. There is even a Polish Vodka flavoured with the stuff which I simply have to get my hands on and not just because I think it'll be good for shots but because I think it'll make for a fantastically boozy fruit flan or trifle. Incidentally did you know that the Italians refer to trifle as "English soup"?
So anyway I took three slices of the dried Galangal and put them into my mortar along with one clove of garlic, one shallot, a couple of dried Kaffir lime leaves, a tablespoon of coriander seeds, a dozen or so fennel seeds, a splash of lemon juice, a second splash of vegetable oil, a third of fish sauce and finally a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. Grind all these up until you have a nice paste then you are ready to use it.
Once the paste is made it'll last for quite a while so you can increase the number of ingredients accordingly but this was more than enough for two.
The sauce when done can be served with virtually anything you like, it'll work equally as well with fish as it would with chicken or beef and it really couldn't be easier.
In a pan over a medium/high add a little oil and then the curry paste. Cook this out for a bit so that all the spices, onion and garlic heat up to release their flavours and at the same time allow the texture to soften. Give it a couple of minutes the pour in the contents of a small can of coconut cream. Combine the whole lot as it bubbles away and that's pretty much it. The long you leave the sauce cooking the thicker it'll get and it'll also change colour becoming darker, the darker it gets the more nutty the flavour will become.
Luckily we have a rather well stocked spice cupboard so I got to work on making my own and I have to say that even though I was missing some Lemongrass (which any cook would normally consider integral to this paste) I was very pleased with the result....dare I say it was even better than the shop bought Thai import.
By far the most interesting ingredient for me was the dried Galangal that I'd bought a while back from Waitrose. I'd never really taken the time to analyse it before and I really liked it's citrus aroma which somehow seems to also have a savoury aspect to it.
It comes from the same family as Ginger so I can now see where that smell and taste comes from. There is even a Polish Vodka flavoured with the stuff which I simply have to get my hands on and not just because I think it'll be good for shots but because I think it'll make for a fantastically boozy fruit flan or trifle. Incidentally did you know that the Italians refer to trifle as "English soup"?
So anyway I took three slices of the dried Galangal and put them into my mortar along with one clove of garlic, one shallot, a couple of dried Kaffir lime leaves, a tablespoon of coriander seeds, a dozen or so fennel seeds, a splash of lemon juice, a second splash of vegetable oil, a third of fish sauce and finally a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. Grind all these up until you have a nice paste then you are ready to use it.
Once the paste is made it'll last for quite a while so you can increase the number of ingredients accordingly but this was more than enough for two.
The sauce when done can be served with virtually anything you like, it'll work equally as well with fish as it would with chicken or beef and it really couldn't be easier.
In a pan over a medium/high add a little oil and then the curry paste. Cook this out for a bit so that all the spices, onion and garlic heat up to release their flavours and at the same time allow the texture to soften. Give it a couple of minutes the pour in the contents of a small can of coconut cream. Combine the whole lot as it bubbles away and that's pretty much it. The long you leave the sauce cooking the thicker it'll get and it'll also change colour becoming darker, the darker it gets the more nutty the flavour will become.
Tuesday 16 August 2011
Potato forms.......
Occasionally it's more than agreeable to just take the cooking out of your own hands and put your trust in some good old fashioned pre-prepared frozen comfort food.
I don't mind admitting that sometimes myself, and I'm guessing even the most hardy of home cooks will at some point just say....."I can't be bothered this evening".
Peas and potatoes are my main vices. I do love spending the time shelling fresh peas from their pods, they taste so much sweeter and firmer this way but frozen peas are perfectly acceptable too.
I'd never use that horrid frozen mixed veg though because I find it completely vile. I actually got some served up to me once at a restaurant and I was truly disgusted and I've never set food in the place since. It was La Fontana in Twyford by the way. I have no problem naming and shaming them because of this. Fancy living in a village surrounded by fields and serving up cheap, sweaty and nasty frozen veg, it's just not cricket I tell thee.
Potatoes are where I think frozen food does well. I often contemplate and change the order in which I rank my top 4 frozen potato forms. Current order is thus -
1. Potato croquettes
2. Hash browns
3. Potato waffles
4. Chips
The order changes each time I try a new variety.
Tesco's and Aunt Bessie's come out tops on the croquette front. I quite like Waitrose ones too but they tend to split when you cook them and I prefer them to keep their shape.
Hash Browns too can be hit and miss with own brand versions so I just stick to McCains as they get nice and crispy but still have a loose chunky inside. For absolute nirvana though you simply cannot get better than a piping hot McDonald's Hash Brown.
Potato waffles can only be from Birds Eye. Grilled until crispy and topped with a couple of free range, organic fried eggs they make a perfect breakfast.
Frozen chips can be a bit disappointing, especially the cheap ones. Personally I'll either got for an Aunt Bessie's homesytle or perhaps some McCains crinkle cut chips because they seem to crisp up more but still remain fluffy inside. Both of those though still come out quite dry. For ultimate frozen chip heaven though you have to go for McCains simply gorgeous chips. They really are the ultimate, cut from real spuds and cooked in beef dripping........worth the extra cost? absobloominlutely.
Are there any other frozen potato forms I should be checking out?
Toodlepip xx
I don't mind admitting that sometimes myself, and I'm guessing even the most hardy of home cooks will at some point just say....."I can't be bothered this evening".
Peas and potatoes are my main vices. I do love spending the time shelling fresh peas from their pods, they taste so much sweeter and firmer this way but frozen peas are perfectly acceptable too.
I'd never use that horrid frozen mixed veg though because I find it completely vile. I actually got some served up to me once at a restaurant and I was truly disgusted and I've never set food in the place since. It was La Fontana in Twyford by the way. I have no problem naming and shaming them because of this. Fancy living in a village surrounded by fields and serving up cheap, sweaty and nasty frozen veg, it's just not cricket I tell thee.
Potatoes are where I think frozen food does well. I often contemplate and change the order in which I rank my top 4 frozen potato forms. Current order is thus -
1. Potato croquettes
2. Hash browns
3. Potato waffles
4. Chips
The order changes each time I try a new variety.
Tesco's and Aunt Bessie's come out tops on the croquette front. I quite like Waitrose ones too but they tend to split when you cook them and I prefer them to keep their shape.
Hash Browns too can be hit and miss with own brand versions so I just stick to McCains as they get nice and crispy but still have a loose chunky inside. For absolute nirvana though you simply cannot get better than a piping hot McDonald's Hash Brown.
Potato waffles can only be from Birds Eye. Grilled until crispy and topped with a couple of free range, organic fried eggs they make a perfect breakfast.
Frozen chips can be a bit disappointing, especially the cheap ones. Personally I'll either got for an Aunt Bessie's homesytle or perhaps some McCains crinkle cut chips because they seem to crisp up more but still remain fluffy inside. Both of those though still come out quite dry. For ultimate frozen chip heaven though you have to go for McCains simply gorgeous chips. They really are the ultimate, cut from real spuds and cooked in beef dripping........worth the extra cost? absobloominlutely.
Are there any other frozen potato forms I should be checking out?
Toodlepip xx
Monday 8 August 2011
The article...
For those who have asked and are unable to purchase a copy of the Reading Post here is the article I wrote for them -
-----------------------------------------
The Perfect Toast
By Ben Zagorski
Toast is home and toast is comfort according to Elizabeth David. In her book English Bread and Yeast Cookery she even tells her readers that when the Duke of Wellington landed at Dover in 1814 after a six year absence from England “the first order he gave at the Ship Inn was for an unlimited supply of buttered toast”.
It’s just one of those things most of us love to eat. We smear it with butter, top it with cheese, daub it with sticky jam, dip it in runny egg yolks even tar it with the “some do some don’t” yeast extract that those deplorable Danes have recently outlawed.
Most often, like many others it seems, I’ll have toast made with sliced white bread and spread with plain butter but in having it this way for me the toast must be cold and the butter must be thick.
Another personal favourite is to have fairly thick cut hot toast with a plentiful plastering of peanut butter and I have no preference on the type of bread used nor to the spread being either crunchy or smooth for it’s the desiccant stickiness I seek.
On occasion I’ll treat myself to a trip down memory lane and have a toasted cheese sandwich.
Nothing fancy just two slices of wholemeal or granary bread toasted and buttered with slices of mature Cheddar sandwiched between or “Cheez wiz tost” as my late Polish grandfather used to call it.
This family favourite was always served up with a mug of piping hot tea. Protocol was to take a bite of the sandwich then quickly take a sip of the tea and have them both in the mouth at the same time. The general consensus within our brood is that this works perfectly and is in no way a tiny bit strange……….
The list for fillings and toppings really could go on forever but aside from that what about the toast itself? Is there a way to ensure you have the perfect slice of crunchy toast?
The answer is “apparently so” because a bunch bread baking boffins down at Vogel’s bakery in the Wiltshire village of Salisbury claim to have uncovered the secret to the ideal slice.
They reveal that after years of testing and quality control the results show that from being just a plain slice of bread, going through the median (Cm) before ultimately becoming charcoal there are inevitably various stages the toast must go through. Taking into account the elasticity (V) of the bread versus toasting time (t) an individual’s preference can be defined and plotted along their “Vogel Curve”.
I quite like the fact that somebody has taken the time to analyse this favoured foodstuff in such precise scientific detail however light-hearted it may be. Toast deserves special consideration.
Could toast even have changed the course of history?
Nigel Slater said “It’s impossible not to love someone who makes you toast”.
Had Kitty Wellesley believed this too then perhaps the Iron Duke might have not gone abroad “to seek the comfort and happiness that he felt was denied him at home”.
-----------------------------------------
Toodlepip xx
-----------------------------------------
The Perfect Toast
By Ben Zagorski
Toast is home and toast is comfort according to Elizabeth David. In her book English Bread and Yeast Cookery she even tells her readers that when the Duke of Wellington landed at Dover in 1814 after a six year absence from England “the first order he gave at the Ship Inn was for an unlimited supply of buttered toast”.
It’s just one of those things most of us love to eat. We smear it with butter, top it with cheese, daub it with sticky jam, dip it in runny egg yolks even tar it with the “some do some don’t” yeast extract that those deplorable Danes have recently outlawed.
Most often, like many others it seems, I’ll have toast made with sliced white bread and spread with plain butter but in having it this way for me the toast must be cold and the butter must be thick.
Another personal favourite is to have fairly thick cut hot toast with a plentiful plastering of peanut butter and I have no preference on the type of bread used nor to the spread being either crunchy or smooth for it’s the desiccant stickiness I seek.
On occasion I’ll treat myself to a trip down memory lane and have a toasted cheese sandwich.
Nothing fancy just two slices of wholemeal or granary bread toasted and buttered with slices of mature Cheddar sandwiched between or “Cheez wiz tost” as my late Polish grandfather used to call it.
This family favourite was always served up with a mug of piping hot tea. Protocol was to take a bite of the sandwich then quickly take a sip of the tea and have them both in the mouth at the same time. The general consensus within our brood is that this works perfectly and is in no way a tiny bit strange……….
The list for fillings and toppings really could go on forever but aside from that what about the toast itself? Is there a way to ensure you have the perfect slice of crunchy toast?
The answer is “apparently so” because a bunch bread baking boffins down at Vogel’s bakery in the Wiltshire village of Salisbury claim to have uncovered the secret to the ideal slice.
They reveal that after years of testing and quality control the results show that from being just a plain slice of bread, going through the median (Cm) before ultimately becoming charcoal there are inevitably various stages the toast must go through. Taking into account the elasticity (V) of the bread versus toasting time (t) an individual’s preference can be defined and plotted along their “Vogel Curve”.
I quite like the fact that somebody has taken the time to analyse this favoured foodstuff in such precise scientific detail however light-hearted it may be. Toast deserves special consideration.
Could toast even have changed the course of history?
Nigel Slater said “It’s impossible not to love someone who makes you toast”.
Had Kitty Wellesley believed this too then perhaps the Iron Duke might have not gone abroad “to seek the comfort and happiness that he felt was denied him at home”.
-----------------------------------------
Toodlepip xx
Friday 5 August 2011
Ugly but tasty....
There are many objects in this world that are not so pleasing on the eye but have a strange beauty about them, there could be people that fall into the same catagory.
Take for example the Gherkin building in London. To some people it's a blot on the landscape but to others it's a work of art and a thing of beauty. I have to say I fall into the latter.
One thing however I'm pretty sure everybody can agree on is that the humble Monkfish is truly truly ugly.......
Check out this little critter
Ugly as it may be the one redeeming quality is has it that it tastes so damn good!
The tail is the edible part and it's texture can be likened to Lobster. Not so long ago this delicious flesh was used for Scampi, it was almost considered the offal of the sea but since it's been used by chefs worldwide it can now even command a higher price that it's shellfish peer.
Monkfish has a very firm texture, almost meaty. It's not as delicate as a flaky Cod which means that when cooking you can actually afford to give it a bit longer and it won't spoil the taste too much.
When cooking Cod I'll always try to make sure the flakes are just opaque rather than completely white but with Monkfish you can give it that little bit more but as with any fish over cooking is a cardinal sin. You can substitute Monkfish for Cod in the recipe I'm about to give and if you're not into fish you could even use Chicken.
Also I say "Buerre blanc" but it is in fact a variation on it which I made up to compliment this dish....it probably exists in some French cookery book and has an elaborate name.
Baked Monkfish fillet with butternut squash purée and buerre blanc
Serves Two
Ingredients -
2 x Monkfish fillets
2 x Slices of parma ham
1 x Finely chopped shallot
1/2 x Glass of white wine
60g x Unsalted butter, cut into cubes
5g x Finely chopped dill
8 x Chopped capers
1/2 x Dried bayleaf
1/2 x Butternut squash, cubed
1 x Pinch of ground clove
200g x Green beans, trimmed
Milk
Salt
Pepper
1. Put the cubed squash into a small saucepan along with the bayleaf, ground clove and half of the chopped shallot. Cover this with milk and bring to the boil over medium heat then reduce the temperature so it's a slows to a simmer.
2. In another pan cover the green beans with water and bring to the boil then again reduce the heat and simmer until tender.
3. Meanwhile heat the oven to around 140C then take the Monkfish fillets and wrap them in the parma ham. Place these on a non stick baking tray and once the oven is at temperature cook for 10 minutes.
4. Take the cooked butternut squash from the saucepan and put into a blender. Whizz it up to form a smooth purée using a little of the heated milk to loosen up if needed. Transfer the puree to a squeezable bottle setting it aside until ready to serve.
5. Fry the remaining shallots in a pan with one cube of butter, let these go soft before pouring in the white wine. Boil the contents until it's reduced by half then remove from the heat. Add in the dill and capers then all but one of the remaining butter cubes. Whisk continuously until the butter has completely melted and emulsified into the sauce. Set aside.
6. Onto the centre of a round plate squeeze a zig zag of the purée. On top of this lay the green beans, squeeze a little more of the purée in a line across the centre of the beans then top with the Monkfish fillet.
7. To finish the buerre blanc whisk in the final butter cube to firm up the sauce then drizzle over the Monkfish. Finish the dish by squeezing increasing blobs of purée on the side of the plate.
Tooodlepip xx....
Take for example the Gherkin building in London. To some people it's a blot on the landscape but to others it's a work of art and a thing of beauty. I have to say I fall into the latter.
One thing however I'm pretty sure everybody can agree on is that the humble Monkfish is truly truly ugly.......
Check out this little critter
Ugly as it may be the one redeeming quality is has it that it tastes so damn good!
The tail is the edible part and it's texture can be likened to Lobster. Not so long ago this delicious flesh was used for Scampi, it was almost considered the offal of the sea but since it's been used by chefs worldwide it can now even command a higher price that it's shellfish peer.
Monkfish has a very firm texture, almost meaty. It's not as delicate as a flaky Cod which means that when cooking you can actually afford to give it a bit longer and it won't spoil the taste too much.
When cooking Cod I'll always try to make sure the flakes are just opaque rather than completely white but with Monkfish you can give it that little bit more but as with any fish over cooking is a cardinal sin. You can substitute Monkfish for Cod in the recipe I'm about to give and if you're not into fish you could even use Chicken.
Also I say "Buerre blanc" but it is in fact a variation on it which I made up to compliment this dish....it probably exists in some French cookery book and has an elaborate name.
Baked Monkfish fillet with butternut squash purée and buerre blanc
Serves Two
Ingredients -
2 x Monkfish fillets
2 x Slices of parma ham
1 x Finely chopped shallot
1/2 x Glass of white wine
60g x Unsalted butter, cut into cubes
5g x Finely chopped dill
8 x Chopped capers
1/2 x Dried bayleaf
1/2 x Butternut squash, cubed
1 x Pinch of ground clove
200g x Green beans, trimmed
Milk
Salt
Pepper
1. Put the cubed squash into a small saucepan along with the bayleaf, ground clove and half of the chopped shallot. Cover this with milk and bring to the boil over medium heat then reduce the temperature so it's a slows to a simmer.
2. In another pan cover the green beans with water and bring to the boil then again reduce the heat and simmer until tender.
3. Meanwhile heat the oven to around 140C then take the Monkfish fillets and wrap them in the parma ham. Place these on a non stick baking tray and once the oven is at temperature cook for 10 minutes.
4. Take the cooked butternut squash from the saucepan and put into a blender. Whizz it up to form a smooth purée using a little of the heated milk to loosen up if needed. Transfer the puree to a squeezable bottle setting it aside until ready to serve.
5. Fry the remaining shallots in a pan with one cube of butter, let these go soft before pouring in the white wine. Boil the contents until it's reduced by half then remove from the heat. Add in the dill and capers then all but one of the remaining butter cubes. Whisk continuously until the butter has completely melted and emulsified into the sauce. Set aside.
6. Onto the centre of a round plate squeeze a zig zag of the purée. On top of this lay the green beans, squeeze a little more of the purée in a line across the centre of the beans then top with the Monkfish fillet.
7. To finish the buerre blanc whisk in the final butter cube to firm up the sauce then drizzle over the Monkfish. Finish the dish by squeezing increasing blobs of purée on the side of the plate.
Tooodlepip xx....
Thursday 4 August 2011
I'm toasting my toast....
Well I can honestly say that I never thought I'd ever see anything that I'd written being put into print. English really wasn't my strong point at school. I don't think I'd read a book all the day through until I found Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and that was published in 1990 when I was already about to turn 16 and already well on my way to leaving school as soon as I possible could.
So seeing my first article printed in the food monthly section of the Reading Post this week has given me a great sense of achievement. For me it ranks higher than pretty much anything else to date.
Not sure about the dodgy picture though!
Hopefully it'll be well received and I'll get to do many more because I really loved writing it and researching it. I got quite a bit (quite a lot actually) of help with the structure of this one prior to it being published which was needed but it's a learning process and I do tend pick things up very quickly.
Please do go and grab a copy if you are local. Those further a field will just have to hang on a few more days before I can post it on here.
It's about Toast by the way :-)
Toodlepip xx
So seeing my first article printed in the food monthly section of the Reading Post this week has given me a great sense of achievement. For me it ranks higher than pretty much anything else to date.
Not sure about the dodgy picture though!
Hopefully it'll be well received and I'll get to do many more because I really loved writing it and researching it. I got quite a bit (quite a lot actually) of help with the structure of this one prior to it being published which was needed but it's a learning process and I do tend pick things up very quickly.
Please do go and grab a copy if you are local. Those further a field will just have to hang on a few more days before I can post it on here.
It's about Toast by the way :-)
Toodlepip xx
Tuesday 2 August 2011
What's that green stuff?......
I was wandering around my local supermarket last week looking for something to cook for a good buddy of mine and while buying up some scallops I saw some sea aster sitting there alongside the samphire.
Sea aster grows mainly in salt marshes or river estuaries and whereas samphire is a stalky kind of vegetable the edible parts of the sea aster plant are the leaves.
Because of where it grows it has a slightly salty flavour which compliments fish perfectly.
Having never seen it before let alone used it I was keen to give it a try and got myself a packet because I thought it'd be fantastic alternative to the sautéed spinach I was going to use.
If you cannot find sea aster yourselves then samphire will be just as good in the recipe I'm about to give but failing that you can use sautéed spinach with a good pinch of sea salt.
The scallops I used were without coral which is the orange coloured roe usually attached to the scallop, had they had coral I would have used that too in another sauce but for this dish I think they are best left off.
They were also very small so I used a good handful per portion. I'd have preferred to use much larger diver caught scallops but alas you don't really get these in supermarkets. If you can get nice big scallops I'd suggest using three per potion as a starter and five for a main or fish course, odd numbers always look better on a plate.
Scallops & Chorizo with sea aster and cauliflower purée
Serves two as a starter
Ingredients -
350g x Fresh scallops without roe
100g x Chorizo (peel off the thin clear casing and cut into cubes)
70g x Sea aster
1 x Baby cauliflower (remove any small leaves and chop into quarters)
Whole Milk
Unsalted butter
Salt
Black pepper
1. In a small saucepan put the quartered cauliflower and then add enough milk to just cover. Put this over a medium heat and bring it to the boil. Once boiling point is reached lower the heat to a very gentle simmer.
2. Take a frying/sautee pan and put it over a medium/high heat. Let the pan get hot then add in the cubed chorizo. Fry the cubes so that take on a nice colour and start to form a crunchy looking crust then remove from the to a clean bowl. ** Do not tip the chorizo out of the pan because you want to keep as much of the chorizo oil in the pan as possible.**
3. In the same pan over the same heat add a small knob of butter allowing it to melt and bubble then add in the scallops. Allow them to cook on one side for 45 seconds before turning over and cooking for another 45 seconds. This is all they need, do not be tempted to cook them any more as they will go rubbery (personally I like them cooked even less so that they are virtually raw in the middle). Notice how they take on all that lovely redness from the paprika in the chorizo oil. Remove these from the pan and add to the bowl with the chorizo and give it a mix up.
4. Again using the same pan but over a lower heat tip in the sea aster and let this wilt down while you prepare the cauliflower purée.
5. Remove the cauliflower from the milk and put into a blender along with a small knob of butter. Give the contents a whizz up adding a little of the cooking milk as you go until you have the consistency you require. Season the purée with salt and pepper to your taste and once your happy with it you can plate up. Pass the purée through a fine sieve if you want a smoother finish.
Spoon some of the cauliflower into the centre of a round plate and onto that scatter the wilted sea aster. Top this with the scallop and chorizo mixture and then drizzle round some of the remaining cooking oil from the frying pan.
Of course you should be as adventurous as you like with the presentation.
The flavours in this recipe just work so well together and it's really easy to do so give it a go. It's the perfect dish to have on a summers day and when washed down with a nice light white wine you really couldn't ask for more.
Toodlepip xx....
Sea aster grows mainly in salt marshes or river estuaries and whereas samphire is a stalky kind of vegetable the edible parts of the sea aster plant are the leaves.
Because of where it grows it has a slightly salty flavour which compliments fish perfectly.
Having never seen it before let alone used it I was keen to give it a try and got myself a packet because I thought it'd be fantastic alternative to the sautéed spinach I was going to use.
If you cannot find sea aster yourselves then samphire will be just as good in the recipe I'm about to give but failing that you can use sautéed spinach with a good pinch of sea salt.
The scallops I used were without coral which is the orange coloured roe usually attached to the scallop, had they had coral I would have used that too in another sauce but for this dish I think they are best left off.
They were also very small so I used a good handful per portion. I'd have preferred to use much larger diver caught scallops but alas you don't really get these in supermarkets. If you can get nice big scallops I'd suggest using three per potion as a starter and five for a main or fish course, odd numbers always look better on a plate.
Scallops & Chorizo with sea aster and cauliflower purée
Serves two as a starter
Ingredients -
350g x Fresh scallops without roe
100g x Chorizo (peel off the thin clear casing and cut into cubes)
70g x Sea aster
1 x Baby cauliflower (remove any small leaves and chop into quarters)
Whole Milk
Unsalted butter
Salt
Black pepper
1. In a small saucepan put the quartered cauliflower and then add enough milk to just cover. Put this over a medium heat and bring it to the boil. Once boiling point is reached lower the heat to a very gentle simmer.
2. Take a frying/sautee pan and put it over a medium/high heat. Let the pan get hot then add in the cubed chorizo. Fry the cubes so that take on a nice colour and start to form a crunchy looking crust then remove from the to a clean bowl. ** Do not tip the chorizo out of the pan because you want to keep as much of the chorizo oil in the pan as possible.**
3. In the same pan over the same heat add a small knob of butter allowing it to melt and bubble then add in the scallops. Allow them to cook on one side for 45 seconds before turning over and cooking for another 45 seconds. This is all they need, do not be tempted to cook them any more as they will go rubbery (personally I like them cooked even less so that they are virtually raw in the middle). Notice how they take on all that lovely redness from the paprika in the chorizo oil. Remove these from the pan and add to the bowl with the chorizo and give it a mix up.
4. Again using the same pan but over a lower heat tip in the sea aster and let this wilt down while you prepare the cauliflower purée.
5. Remove the cauliflower from the milk and put into a blender along with a small knob of butter. Give the contents a whizz up adding a little of the cooking milk as you go until you have the consistency you require. Season the purée with salt and pepper to your taste and once your happy with it you can plate up. Pass the purée through a fine sieve if you want a smoother finish.
Spoon some of the cauliflower into the centre of a round plate and onto that scatter the wilted sea aster. Top this with the scallop and chorizo mixture and then drizzle round some of the remaining cooking oil from the frying pan.
Of course you should be as adventurous as you like with the presentation.
The flavours in this recipe just work so well together and it's really easy to do so give it a go. It's the perfect dish to have on a summers day and when washed down with a nice light white wine you really couldn't ask for more.
Toodlepip xx....
Monday 1 August 2011
Oooh it aches...
Mondays come round too quickly don't they? I had to use a tad more energy than normal yesterday on the cricket field and my body is certainly letting me know it's age today.
Apologies for the lack of blogging activity lately. I'm sure it was sorely missed :-)
To be honest I've just been a bit lazy. I think it's a culmination of trying to save some pennies and a general lack of enthusiasm but I'm back in the room now and looking forward to some exciting foodie related action coming up.
I have a meeting this week to discuss food competition ideas which all going well could mean a really good format for an independently run local competition. I have my mum coming to visit soon too so I simply have to treat her to some culinary sensations and I am still getting content together for the new website which has been dragging on for while now....all because of my laziness.
I have a DJ gig coming up this Saturday for "Erotique" at Bar Mango in Reading. I've been given the garden responsibilities and I'll be joined in there by Dancin Martin and Kingpin. Inside are the host honchos Filthy Funk Funk with Bon Finix and Samantha Bond so it should make for a rather splendiferous night out.
So that's a quick update from me but expect more tomorrow.......
Apologies for the lack of blogging activity lately. I'm sure it was sorely missed :-)
To be honest I've just been a bit lazy. I think it's a culmination of trying to save some pennies and a general lack of enthusiasm but I'm back in the room now and looking forward to some exciting foodie related action coming up.
I have a meeting this week to discuss food competition ideas which all going well could mean a really good format for an independently run local competition. I have my mum coming to visit soon too so I simply have to treat her to some culinary sensations and I am still getting content together for the new website which has been dragging on for while now....all because of my laziness.
I have a DJ gig coming up this Saturday for "Erotique" at Bar Mango in Reading. I've been given the garden responsibilities and I'll be joined in there by Dancin Martin and Kingpin. Inside are the host honchos Filthy Funk Funk with Bon Finix and Samantha Bond so it should make for a rather splendiferous night out.
So that's a quick update from me but expect more tomorrow.......
Tuesday 19 July 2011
More than just mash......
I was hoping to bring you all some jolly news about my July menu starter attempts last night but I forgot to pick up some Parma ham on the way home so those plans were scuppered.
But fear not for another success was born......
There's something very comforting and very nurturing about British food. When I think of traditional British dishes the first things that spring to mind are big family meals, one pot wonders that form the centrepiece to the dining table. I envisage Mum or Dad being responsible for portioning it out or perhaps everybody in turn getting a chance to tuck in for themselves.
British cuisine is very much maligned throughout the world but that is completely unjust because we have just as much regional variation in our traditional dishes as Spain, France or Italy. One of our hearty stews is a match for any variation of Estofados, Cassoulet or Osso Bucco (Does that count a stew?)
We may have only the Fat Duck still in the worlds top 10 restaurants but that matches the Italians and the French too have only Le Chateaubriand in Paris up there and had that not have jumped two places from last year those Gallic Gastronauts wouldn't be represented at all.
To me there is nothing more comforting than a portion of Shepherds or Cottage Pie and it's the latter that I whipped up last night. Just to clear any confusion a Shepherds Pie uses Lamb and a Cottage Pie uses Beef and as long as either is topped off with some mashed potato then the rest of the filling is up to you.
It was the topping yesterday that made my one so special. Instead of using the traditional boiled potato mash I made up a healthy portion of potato mousseline, well I say healthy but perhaps that should be "generous" as there really is nothing healthy about using nearly a full block of butter and around 200ml of double cream in anything......but this is comfort food.
Potato mouselline is really easy to make, the ingredients and quantities are also really simple to remember. The real difference from this type of mashed potato versus the standard is that instead of boiling the potatoes you bake them and then scoop out the insides once completed. This really gives a great potato flavour because rather than all that potatoey goodness dissipating in the boiling water it gets concentrated inside the skin giving it an almost nutty taste.
For 1kg of baking potato flesh (King Edwards or something else floury) you need 200g of unsalted butter, 200ml of slightly whipped double cream, 4 egg yolkes and some grated Nutmeg plus seasoning to taste.
Very simple numbers to remember and then divide or multiply dependent on how much you need.
Method is simple too........
1. Tip the potato flesh into a saucepan and give it a good mash (Larousse instructs you to pass it through a fine sieve first or you could use a potato ricer but I like the odd lump in mine)
2. Put the saucepan over a lowish heat and add in all of the butter giving it a stir until it all melted and fully combined with the potato.
3. Slowly add in the egg yolks stirring all the time so that they don't form big lumps of scrambled egg.
4. Remove from the heat and then fold in the cream again until it's fully combined.
5. Add the grated nutmeg and seasoning to your taste and then it's ready to pipe on top of your filling.
6. Heat the oven to around 190/210C and cook it until the top has a nice golden crust. Perhaps stick some grated cheese on top......
Potato mouselline can replace standard mashed potato in any dish, try it and think about how else it can be used...............
Toodlepip xx
But fear not for another success was born......
There's something very comforting and very nurturing about British food. When I think of traditional British dishes the first things that spring to mind are big family meals, one pot wonders that form the centrepiece to the dining table. I envisage Mum or Dad being responsible for portioning it out or perhaps everybody in turn getting a chance to tuck in for themselves.
British cuisine is very much maligned throughout the world but that is completely unjust because we have just as much regional variation in our traditional dishes as Spain, France or Italy. One of our hearty stews is a match for any variation of Estofados, Cassoulet or Osso Bucco (Does that count a stew?)
We may have only the Fat Duck still in the worlds top 10 restaurants but that matches the Italians and the French too have only Le Chateaubriand in Paris up there and had that not have jumped two places from last year those Gallic Gastronauts wouldn't be represented at all.
To me there is nothing more comforting than a portion of Shepherds or Cottage Pie and it's the latter that I whipped up last night. Just to clear any confusion a Shepherds Pie uses Lamb and a Cottage Pie uses Beef and as long as either is topped off with some mashed potato then the rest of the filling is up to you.
It was the topping yesterday that made my one so special. Instead of using the traditional boiled potato mash I made up a healthy portion of potato mousseline, well I say healthy but perhaps that should be "generous" as there really is nothing healthy about using nearly a full block of butter and around 200ml of double cream in anything......but this is comfort food.
Potato mouselline is really easy to make, the ingredients and quantities are also really simple to remember. The real difference from this type of mashed potato versus the standard is that instead of boiling the potatoes you bake them and then scoop out the insides once completed. This really gives a great potato flavour because rather than all that potatoey goodness dissipating in the boiling water it gets concentrated inside the skin giving it an almost nutty taste.
For 1kg of baking potato flesh (King Edwards or something else floury) you need 200g of unsalted butter, 200ml of slightly whipped double cream, 4 egg yolkes and some grated Nutmeg plus seasoning to taste.
Very simple numbers to remember and then divide or multiply dependent on how much you need.
Method is simple too........
1. Tip the potato flesh into a saucepan and give it a good mash (Larousse instructs you to pass it through a fine sieve first or you could use a potato ricer but I like the odd lump in mine)
2. Put the saucepan over a lowish heat and add in all of the butter giving it a stir until it all melted and fully combined with the potato.
3. Slowly add in the egg yolks stirring all the time so that they don't form big lumps of scrambled egg.
4. Remove from the heat and then fold in the cream again until it's fully combined.
5. Add the grated nutmeg and seasoning to your taste and then it's ready to pipe on top of your filling.
6. Heat the oven to around 190/210C and cook it until the top has a nice golden crust. Perhaps stick some grated cheese on top......
Potato mouselline can replace standard mashed potato in any dish, try it and think about how else it can be used...............
Toodlepip xx
Monday 18 July 2011
Greetings......
Well hello and thankyou for popping along to read these beans of wisdom that I am about to spill.
Since my last blog I've been thinking tirelessly about the starter for my July menu and it's really giving me some problems. I'm just struggling to think of something to make with the ingredients I've chosen so I've decided to bring some chicken livers into the equation.
I'm thinking that a light chicken liver mousse coated with a layer of wild mushrooms then edged with Parma ham and topped with a couple of poached Quail's eggs might be the way forward.
I'm researching hard to try and get some inspiration and I think that tonight I'm just going to experiment and see what I can come up with.
The weekend just gone was all jolly good fun. It was mostly spent celebrating our little ones 8th birthday. My better half did some serious baking and the birthday cake was brilliant. I should really say "cakes" because there were loads of little ones on a stand and they were all beautifully decorated as you can see by the picture.
We had family over for a few nibbles on Friday then on Saturday a hall was hired along with a street dance instructor and I think the kids really had a great time.......the adults did too, especially when I got the tea trolley out and walked across the hall like an old lady. I wish I'd have dressed up properly for that now, the kids would have loved it.
On Sunday we had a table booked for lunch at LSQ2 and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. They had a guy playing guitar and singing in one corner and although it's a bit of a novelty I really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere it created. Mind you it helped that the guy was really good, can't imagine it'd be all that great if he couldn't sing or was better at plucking chickens than he was at guitar strings.
Foodwise I was happy with what I had. I went for the hot scotch eggs to start as I've been dying to try them for ages and I followed that up with the pork shoulder roast dinner. Carley had the same as me but Emily started with the pork cracking sticks and opted for the chicken roast dinner.
Loved the scotch eggs, absolutely adored them actually as did Carley and Emily happily munched her way through a stick or two of the pork cracking although she did mention that she thought it could have done with a bit more salt. When asked why she thought this she replied "because it'd make it have more flavour of course"..........Couldn't really argue with that even if it was from an 8 year old! Actually made me warm inside :-)
The pork shoulder roast was very nice and for me the perfect amount on the plate however I could envisage some people thinking there wasn't enough there to warrant the £9.95 but like I say it was perfectly portioned for me and I'm certainly no glutton.
Emily didn't finish hers as I think she was still a bit full from eating earlier on but she did start it off by saying it was the best chicken she'd ever tasted. I tried a bit myself and I have to agree it was pretty delicious. Kids under 10 years old have the roast for free anyway and that really goes give it incredibly good value.
Dessert for the girls was the baked Alaska and even though meringue and ice cream are Emily's favourites I reckon it probably wasn't a 50/50 split on the shared consumption!!!
I went for something off the cocktail menu to finish lunch off with. I reckon they knew that I am a sucker for a Negroni because I've not seen that on a restaurant menu in the UK let alone Reading. (They do have it at Sahara though as you'd expect them too being a cocktail bar and the Negroni being the cocktails makers cocktail of choice) I just had to have one and it took me back to my time spent in Rome.....as they always do. Perfect end to a pretty darn good lunch.
Emily's inspired comments didn't stop at seasoning either because we got her to fill out the customer feedback form and she made some very good comments.
Firstly she suggested that they could make the welcome a bit warmer by perhaps have a sign up saying "Hello". OK not particulally useful but I do think they entrance could do with a bit of a re-vamp myself. Perhaps not with neon signs though.
Secondly she said she felt a bit uncomfortable having to choose from an adult menu because it felt like it was a restaurant only for grown ups and she would have preferred a kiddies menu.
Lastly and this is my favourite because she suggested that they have brighter lights over the kitchen area so you could really see what was going on a lot better. I'd not really thought of that until she said it and I found myself in agreement. I love seeing the chefs working away as I think it adds extra theatre to your meal. I'd even go one further and have mirrors pointing down too but I don't think the ceiling design could cater for that.
So to finish up if you are looking for somewhere a bit different to take the kids on a Sunday lunchtime I cannot recommend LSQ2 any higher. It is the complete opposite to any Hungry Horse or Toby carvery. You might not get to go and help yourself to mountains of overcooked cheap vegetables but you do get probably the best roast dinner I've had in a restaurant or pub ever (OK at least approching par with The Pot Kiln) with real flavour and quality. Then there's the atmosphere, especially with the musician, it's just different class.
So that's it. Blog will be migrating soon to my own personal domain, we're just finalising some of the design and it's looking really nice and professional so I'm excited about that.
Apologise for the irregularity of the posts lately. I've gone and got myself engrossed in another game of Football Manager 2011 and in between trying to create a July starter it's taking over my life :-) ......Come on Sutton United!
Since my last blog I've been thinking tirelessly about the starter for my July menu and it's really giving me some problems. I'm just struggling to think of something to make with the ingredients I've chosen so I've decided to bring some chicken livers into the equation.
I'm thinking that a light chicken liver mousse coated with a layer of wild mushrooms then edged with Parma ham and topped with a couple of poached Quail's eggs might be the way forward.
I'm researching hard to try and get some inspiration and I think that tonight I'm just going to experiment and see what I can come up with.
The weekend just gone was all jolly good fun. It was mostly spent celebrating our little ones 8th birthday. My better half did some serious baking and the birthday cake was brilliant. I should really say "cakes" because there were loads of little ones on a stand and they were all beautifully decorated as you can see by the picture.
We had family over for a few nibbles on Friday then on Saturday a hall was hired along with a street dance instructor and I think the kids really had a great time.......the adults did too, especially when I got the tea trolley out and walked across the hall like an old lady. I wish I'd have dressed up properly for that now, the kids would have loved it.
On Sunday we had a table booked for lunch at LSQ2 and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. They had a guy playing guitar and singing in one corner and although it's a bit of a novelty I really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere it created. Mind you it helped that the guy was really good, can't imagine it'd be all that great if he couldn't sing or was better at plucking chickens than he was at guitar strings.
Foodwise I was happy with what I had. I went for the hot scotch eggs to start as I've been dying to try them for ages and I followed that up with the pork shoulder roast dinner. Carley had the same as me but Emily started with the pork cracking sticks and opted for the chicken roast dinner.
Loved the scotch eggs, absolutely adored them actually as did Carley and Emily happily munched her way through a stick or two of the pork cracking although she did mention that she thought it could have done with a bit more salt. When asked why she thought this she replied "because it'd make it have more flavour of course"..........Couldn't really argue with that even if it was from an 8 year old! Actually made me warm inside :-)
The pork shoulder roast was very nice and for me the perfect amount on the plate however I could envisage some people thinking there wasn't enough there to warrant the £9.95 but like I say it was perfectly portioned for me and I'm certainly no glutton.
Emily didn't finish hers as I think she was still a bit full from eating earlier on but she did start it off by saying it was the best chicken she'd ever tasted. I tried a bit myself and I have to agree it was pretty delicious. Kids under 10 years old have the roast for free anyway and that really goes give it incredibly good value.
Dessert for the girls was the baked Alaska and even though meringue and ice cream are Emily's favourites I reckon it probably wasn't a 50/50 split on the shared consumption!!!
I went for something off the cocktail menu to finish lunch off with. I reckon they knew that I am a sucker for a Negroni because I've not seen that on a restaurant menu in the UK let alone Reading. (They do have it at Sahara though as you'd expect them too being a cocktail bar and the Negroni being the cocktails makers cocktail of choice) I just had to have one and it took me back to my time spent in Rome.....as they always do. Perfect end to a pretty darn good lunch.
Emily's inspired comments didn't stop at seasoning either because we got her to fill out the customer feedback form and she made some very good comments.
Firstly she suggested that they could make the welcome a bit warmer by perhaps have a sign up saying "Hello". OK not particulally useful but I do think they entrance could do with a bit of a re-vamp myself. Perhaps not with neon signs though.
Secondly she said she felt a bit uncomfortable having to choose from an adult menu because it felt like it was a restaurant only for grown ups and she would have preferred a kiddies menu.
Lastly and this is my favourite because she suggested that they have brighter lights over the kitchen area so you could really see what was going on a lot better. I'd not really thought of that until she said it and I found myself in agreement. I love seeing the chefs working away as I think it adds extra theatre to your meal. I'd even go one further and have mirrors pointing down too but I don't think the ceiling design could cater for that.
So to finish up if you are looking for somewhere a bit different to take the kids on a Sunday lunchtime I cannot recommend LSQ2 any higher. It is the complete opposite to any Hungry Horse or Toby carvery. You might not get to go and help yourself to mountains of overcooked cheap vegetables but you do get probably the best roast dinner I've had in a restaurant or pub ever (OK at least approching par with The Pot Kiln) with real flavour and quality. Then there's the atmosphere, especially with the musician, it's just different class.
So that's it. Blog will be migrating soon to my own personal domain, we're just finalising some of the design and it's looking really nice and professional so I'm excited about that.
Apologise for the irregularity of the posts lately. I've gone and got myself engrossed in another game of Football Manager 2011 and in between trying to create a July starter it's taking over my life :-) ......Come on Sutton United!
Tuesday 12 July 2011
Mushrooms gone wild.....
So I gave the July starter a go last night. It's still going........
It's actually turned out better than I thought it would because I didn't do it as I intended simply because I wasn't paying attention.
I should have guessed it would give me difficulties from the start because I couldn't get fresh wild mushrooms from the supermarket and had to plump for some dried ones. I'm not sure that they are too bad either because there is a great variety in them, much more than I'd get if I'd found one or two wild ones packaged on the shelves
My idea is to make a kind of mousse from some cooked chestnut mushrooms (with a little shallot, chopped garlic and a dash of marsala) whizz that up with soft cheese an egg yolk and some double cream to give the setting part of my terrine.
Then I want to take my coarsely chopped fresh wild mushrooms, give them a quick sauté in a little butter and combine these with the mousse a whisked up egg white to lighten the texture up a bit and then finish it of with some dill.
For some reason or another I forgot that I wanted to cook this and when making the first part I added melted butter and omitted the soft cheese as if I was going to make an uncooked pâté. Oh well it was too late now so I just carried on with cooking it in a bain marie and hoped that the butter wouldn't split out and ruin it.
After 90 mins I took it out and it actually looked fine so after letting it cool it went into the fridge and there it remains. I'm hopeful that it'll actually be rather good and that the mistake of adding in the butter might have been a lucky one.
Whether it sets fully is another matter, if not then perhaps I can rescue it by folding in the soft cheese and then remoulding it......now there's an idea !!!
I also tried the Quails Egg in the water bath for the same amount of time at 62C but I'm not convinced on that and I think just a minute in boiling water followed by a quick cooling in some iced water will work for this recipe just as well if not better.
The flavours will definitely be there no matter so regardless of how this first try comes out I'll be able to see if the combinations work. That really is the great thing about creating your own dishes you get to experiment with technique and with that brings increased knowledge ultimately making you a better cook each time.
So onwards and upwards....toodlepip xx
It's actually turned out better than I thought it would because I didn't do it as I intended simply because I wasn't paying attention.
I should have guessed it would give me difficulties from the start because I couldn't get fresh wild mushrooms from the supermarket and had to plump for some dried ones. I'm not sure that they are too bad either because there is a great variety in them, much more than I'd get if I'd found one or two wild ones packaged on the shelves
My idea is to make a kind of mousse from some cooked chestnut mushrooms (with a little shallot, chopped garlic and a dash of marsala) whizz that up with soft cheese an egg yolk and some double cream to give the setting part of my terrine.
Then I want to take my coarsely chopped fresh wild mushrooms, give them a quick sauté in a little butter and combine these with the mousse a whisked up egg white to lighten the texture up a bit and then finish it of with some dill.
For some reason or another I forgot that I wanted to cook this and when making the first part I added melted butter and omitted the soft cheese as if I was going to make an uncooked pâté. Oh well it was too late now so I just carried on with cooking it in a bain marie and hoped that the butter wouldn't split out and ruin it.
After 90 mins I took it out and it actually looked fine so after letting it cool it went into the fridge and there it remains. I'm hopeful that it'll actually be rather good and that the mistake of adding in the butter might have been a lucky one.
Whether it sets fully is another matter, if not then perhaps I can rescue it by folding in the soft cheese and then remoulding it......now there's an idea !!!
I also tried the Quails Egg in the water bath for the same amount of time at 62C but I'm not convinced on that and I think just a minute in boiling water followed by a quick cooling in some iced water will work for this recipe just as well if not better.
The flavours will definitely be there no matter so regardless of how this first try comes out I'll be able to see if the combinations work. That really is the great thing about creating your own dishes you get to experiment with technique and with that brings increased knowledge ultimately making you a better cook each time.
So onwards and upwards....toodlepip xx
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