Had a few editorial comments about my food article which I've taken onboard and now submitted a second draft. I happy that my first ever effort at a proper article got some uplifting comments but me being me I want it to be perfect.
If I'm honest when I read through the first draft I did feel that it was lacking something and I can't say that I ever felt it was right. It shows the importance of always giving yourself plenty of time and seeking advice rather than leaving it to the last minute because this time round I feel it's much more complete and I'm really happy with it.
I feel like I'm back at school again but this time paying attention and not messing around!
Another positive is that the blog has hit 7000 viewers (although Google analytics suggests over 10,000 !?!?)
Given the July menu some thought and here's what I'm thinking. Please feel free to add comment or suggestion.
Starter -
Wild mushroom terrine with poached quails egg and white truffle oil.
I don't think this need to be a substantial portion at all because there are some quite rich flavours going in there. Still deciding as to whether the terrine should be served warm or cold. I'm going to add a bit of dill in there too which may give it all a little lift.
Fish -
Crab and chilli linguine with saffron cream
I love the combination of fish with spice because it makes the flavour so much fresher on the palate and enlivens the tastebuds. Again the portion doesn't need to be big and I'm thinking swirled up fist sized ball of the crab and linguine would be ample.
Main -
Venison loin, potato mousseline and cumin carrots with red wine jus
Just classic flavour combinations really. Venison is my favourite meat and it's a pretty similar dish to the one I cooked in the RSC 2010 final but this time I hope to add more finesse to it.
Dessert -
Raspberry three ways with dark chocolate and a frangelico shot
I can't resist a raspberry. I might try and get hold of some black raspberries for this too as I've been hearing about them recently and I'll try mix up the reds and blacks to be a bit artistic in the presentation. The three raspberry elements will be a mousse, a jelly and a purée. Not really settled on how I want this to look yet but I have a few ideas so may just have to give them all a go.
Toodlepip xxx
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Submitted.....
Well my first draft has been submitted and I suppose I should really wait until it's actually published before adding "Food writer" to my list of skills for the CV.
Not that I have a CV of course. I have done one in the past but I'm not sure I've ever actually submitted one to anybody. I've never needed to thankfully!
I'm already thinking of a new seasonal menu for July and this time I'm going all out on a full 4 course effort and I'm going to concentrate on one key ingredient for each dish.
Starter - Wild Mushrooms
Fish - Crab
Main - Venison
Dessert - Raspberries
Again it'll be easy to cook with plenty of elements being able to be prepared in advance....or if you want to be extra gastro "Mise en place".
I'll also be pairing up wines with each course too but for the time being I'll just get on and research some ideas that I already have.
Apart from all this I had a rather wonderful weekend. Saturday was spent over at a friends house for a birthday celebration BBQ. Beforehand I popped into Binghams brewery in Twyford and picked up a minipin of Twyford Tipple. I realised not long after arrival that I'd be the only person drinking this and lets say it was going down nicely! Not quite all 18 pints of it mind you.
Sunday we invited our good buddies Martin & Ellie over for dinner but prior to that we hopped in the car and all headed over to the Hurst country fayre. It was a glorious day and naturally most of the time was spent in the firstly watching some falconry followed by a street dance troop then finally some good old fashioned morris dancing.
Martin won't thank me for informing the world that morris dancing used to be one of his favourite pastimes but I was glad for this as he was a wealth of information....all very interesting too....uh hmm!!
On the back of the programme we noticed that visitors to the fair we're entitled to a free tasting session at our local vineyard "The Stanlake Park wine estate". Not being ones to pass up a free libation we decided to stop off on the way back and I'm so glad we did. It's a really wonderful place and taking the weather into account we could have been anywhere in the world. It reminded me of the winery tour I did when visiting Melbourne earlier in the year. It's a real gem and I'm going to give it it's own write up in due course.
Needless to say we were always going to buy a bottle or two so six purchases later we were on our way back for a nice Sunday dinner.
We had an alfresco starter of chargrilled vegetables, stuffed olives, seafood salad, hummus and pitta bread which went perfectly with the wine and sunshine.
For main I'd made a chicken, asparagus and tarragon pie with some potatoes and peas with panchetta. I've understated the potatoes a bit there because they we're in fact potato mouselline from a recipe by Larousse. Absolutely stunning they were too. I'm, not sure I can ever have potatoes done a different way again !!
I need to tweak the dish a little more before giving the recipe because I wasn't particularly happy with the pie filling and I want to work on it a bit.
Highlight of the weekend though was getting my first feel of a Bumpska bump :-)
Toodlepip xx
Not that I have a CV of course. I have done one in the past but I'm not sure I've ever actually submitted one to anybody. I've never needed to thankfully!
I'm already thinking of a new seasonal menu for July and this time I'm going all out on a full 4 course effort and I'm going to concentrate on one key ingredient for each dish.
Starter - Wild Mushrooms
Fish - Crab
Main - Venison
Dessert - Raspberries
Again it'll be easy to cook with plenty of elements being able to be prepared in advance....or if you want to be extra gastro "Mise en place".
I'll also be pairing up wines with each course too but for the time being I'll just get on and research some ideas that I already have.
Apart from all this I had a rather wonderful weekend. Saturday was spent over at a friends house for a birthday celebration BBQ. Beforehand I popped into Binghams brewery in Twyford and picked up a minipin of Twyford Tipple. I realised not long after arrival that I'd be the only person drinking this and lets say it was going down nicely! Not quite all 18 pints of it mind you.
Sunday we invited our good buddies Martin & Ellie over for dinner but prior to that we hopped in the car and all headed over to the Hurst country fayre. It was a glorious day and naturally most of the time was spent in the firstly watching some falconry followed by a street dance troop then finally some good old fashioned morris dancing.
Martin won't thank me for informing the world that morris dancing used to be one of his favourite pastimes but I was glad for this as he was a wealth of information....all very interesting too....uh hmm!!
On the back of the programme we noticed that visitors to the fair we're entitled to a free tasting session at our local vineyard "The Stanlake Park wine estate". Not being ones to pass up a free libation we decided to stop off on the way back and I'm so glad we did. It's a really wonderful place and taking the weather into account we could have been anywhere in the world. It reminded me of the winery tour I did when visiting Melbourne earlier in the year. It's a real gem and I'm going to give it it's own write up in due course.
Needless to say we were always going to buy a bottle or two so six purchases later we were on our way back for a nice Sunday dinner.
We had an alfresco starter of chargrilled vegetables, stuffed olives, seafood salad, hummus and pitta bread which went perfectly with the wine and sunshine.
For main I'd made a chicken, asparagus and tarragon pie with some potatoes and peas with panchetta. I've understated the potatoes a bit there because they we're in fact potato mouselline from a recipe by Larousse. Absolutely stunning they were too. I'm, not sure I can ever have potatoes done a different way again !!
I need to tweak the dish a little more before giving the recipe because I wasn't particularly happy with the pie filling and I want to work on it a bit.
Highlight of the weekend though was getting my first feel of a Bumpska bump :-)
Toodlepip xx
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Pt 3.....Dessert
Lets get this straight right from the start I'm not a dessert man but I'm starting to get my head around a few classic concepts that may very well spark my dormant passion for the sweet stuff.
The urge to make a crème caramel came after a request from my expectant partner for something with custard.
Well if I don't understand the excitement some people get from the thought of a sweet dessert I do understand cravings.....I have them all the time, usually not all that gastronomic either! Quite the opposite.
A classic dessert such as crème caramel needs a classic recipe so out came Larousse Gastronomique. I'm certainly not going to take any credit for coming up with this all by myself although I did add a sliver of dark chocolate to the finished pudding as I thought the bitterness or the chocolate might be a nice contrast to the sweetness of the baked custard and caramel sauce.
There are three elements to this dessert. The custard and caramel really need to be done at the same time but the chocolate element can be done at any time. You only need to allow the custard to cool before serving as it can be served slightly warm but I like my custard cold so for me preparing a day (or few) before and leaving in the fridge overnight gives the best results.
You'll need 4 ramekins or similar oven proof moulds. The ones I used had small lips near the top which made it quite difficult to turn the finished desserts out neatly (as you may notice in the pic) so I'd recommend you use moulds without completely flush sides. Also they must be perfectly dry because any moisture will ruin the caramel.
Crème caramel with dark chocolate
Serves 4
For the caramel -
100g x Granulated Sugar
1 tsp x Lemon Juice
1 tbsp x Water
1. Put all the ingredients into a small saucepan, a heavy bottomed one works best. Heat until the sugar melts and keep heating until it turns a pale brown colour.
2. Pour a little of the melted caramel into the bottom of a mould and swirl it around until it covers the base completely. Don't be tempted to put too much in, you really only want to just coat the mould. Repeat for the remaining moulds and set aside.
(Many recipes will instruct you to coat the whole mould including the sides but I found that this just give too much caramel and makes the finished dessert far too sweet)
For the baked custard -
4 x Egg yolks
2 x Whole eggs
125g x Caster sugar
500ml x Milk
1 X Vanilla Pod
1. Preheat the oven to 185C and find an oven dish big enough to house the 4 moulds and also tall enough to be able to fill with water near enough up to the top of the moulds. This is called a "Bain marie".
2. Pour the milk into a saucepan then split the vanilla pod and scrap the seeds into the milk. Slowly bring the milk to the boil over a medium heat then remove once it has boiled.
3. While the milk is coming to the boil put the egg yolks, whole eggs and caster sugar into a mixing bowl and whisk until is all combined.
4. Next you need to slowly add the milk to the egg mixture. It's important that you whisk the mixture all the time while adding otherwise the eggs will start to cook too quickly and you'll end up with scrambled egg rather than a nice smooth custard.
5. Pour the custard into the moulds leaving a bit of a gap at the top, no less than 5mm then place the moulds into the oven dish.
6. Using a jug fill the surrounding oven dish with cold water until it comes level with the custards inside the moulds. Then being extra careful not to let the water spill over into the moulds place the bain marie into the middle of the oven.
7. Bake for around 40 minutes until the custards are just set then remove from the bain marie and allow to cool.
8. If you want to serve them warm them all you need do is run a knife carefully around the custards then turn them out. If like me you like them cold then prior to serving you'll again need to give them a quick warm up in a bain marie for about a minute or two (which you can do on the hob) so that they loosen up a little and then run a knife around and turn them out.
For the dark chocolate -
(optional)
25g x Dark chocolate
(min 70% cocoa solids)
10g x Caster sugar
10ml x Double cream
1. Heat the cream and sugar in a small saucepan over a low heat then break up the chocolate and add into the bowl stiring until is all combined and smooth.
2. Get a sheet of baking paper and pour the chocolate onto it spreading it out evenly into a thin layer then put in the fridge to cool.
3. When it comes to serving you just need to score out the shape you require and then using a thin cold knife just lift the chocolate shape off the baking paper and onto your serving dish.
I'm thinking that next time I do this I might try and cut a chocolate circle which matches the size of the turned out crème caramel !??!
So anyway that's it. My seasonal dinner party menu is complete. An easier and tastier menu I challenge you find :-)
Toodlepip xxx
The urge to make a crème caramel came after a request from my expectant partner for something with custard.
Well if I don't understand the excitement some people get from the thought of a sweet dessert I do understand cravings.....I have them all the time, usually not all that gastronomic either! Quite the opposite.
A classic dessert such as crème caramel needs a classic recipe so out came Larousse Gastronomique. I'm certainly not going to take any credit for coming up with this all by myself although I did add a sliver of dark chocolate to the finished pudding as I thought the bitterness or the chocolate might be a nice contrast to the sweetness of the baked custard and caramel sauce.
There are three elements to this dessert. The custard and caramel really need to be done at the same time but the chocolate element can be done at any time. You only need to allow the custard to cool before serving as it can be served slightly warm but I like my custard cold so for me preparing a day (or few) before and leaving in the fridge overnight gives the best results.
You'll need 4 ramekins or similar oven proof moulds. The ones I used had small lips near the top which made it quite difficult to turn the finished desserts out neatly (as you may notice in the pic) so I'd recommend you use moulds without completely flush sides. Also they must be perfectly dry because any moisture will ruin the caramel.
Crème caramel with dark chocolate
Serves 4
For the caramel -
100g x Granulated Sugar
1 tsp x Lemon Juice
1 tbsp x Water
1. Put all the ingredients into a small saucepan, a heavy bottomed one works best. Heat until the sugar melts and keep heating until it turns a pale brown colour.
2. Pour a little of the melted caramel into the bottom of a mould and swirl it around until it covers the base completely. Don't be tempted to put too much in, you really only want to just coat the mould. Repeat for the remaining moulds and set aside.
(Many recipes will instruct you to coat the whole mould including the sides but I found that this just give too much caramel and makes the finished dessert far too sweet)
For the baked custard -
4 x Egg yolks
2 x Whole eggs
125g x Caster sugar
500ml x Milk
1 X Vanilla Pod
1. Preheat the oven to 185C and find an oven dish big enough to house the 4 moulds and also tall enough to be able to fill with water near enough up to the top of the moulds. This is called a "Bain marie".
2. Pour the milk into a saucepan then split the vanilla pod and scrap the seeds into the milk. Slowly bring the milk to the boil over a medium heat then remove once it has boiled.
3. While the milk is coming to the boil put the egg yolks, whole eggs and caster sugar into a mixing bowl and whisk until is all combined.
4. Next you need to slowly add the milk to the egg mixture. It's important that you whisk the mixture all the time while adding otherwise the eggs will start to cook too quickly and you'll end up with scrambled egg rather than a nice smooth custard.
5. Pour the custard into the moulds leaving a bit of a gap at the top, no less than 5mm then place the moulds into the oven dish.
6. Using a jug fill the surrounding oven dish with cold water until it comes level with the custards inside the moulds. Then being extra careful not to let the water spill over into the moulds place the bain marie into the middle of the oven.
7. Bake for around 40 minutes until the custards are just set then remove from the bain marie and allow to cool.
8. If you want to serve them warm them all you need do is run a knife carefully around the custards then turn them out. If like me you like them cold then prior to serving you'll again need to give them a quick warm up in a bain marie for about a minute or two (which you can do on the hob) so that they loosen up a little and then run a knife around and turn them out.
For the dark chocolate -
(optional)
25g x Dark chocolate
(min 70% cocoa solids)
10g x Caster sugar
10ml x Double cream
1. Heat the cream and sugar in a small saucepan over a low heat then break up the chocolate and add into the bowl stiring until is all combined and smooth.
2. Get a sheet of baking paper and pour the chocolate onto it spreading it out evenly into a thin layer then put in the fridge to cool.
3. When it comes to serving you just need to score out the shape you require and then using a thin cold knife just lift the chocolate shape off the baking paper and onto your serving dish.
I'm thinking that next time I do this I might try and cut a chocolate circle which matches the size of the turned out crème caramel !??!
So anyway that's it. My seasonal dinner party menu is complete. An easier and tastier menu I challenge you find :-)
Toodlepip xxx
Friday, 24 June 2011
Part 2 - Main Course......
Yesterday I gave you part one of the easy seasonal dinner party menu and today I give you the main course, again it's very easy to do, it takes little effort but gives a great result.
I'm using Lamb which we're told is best at this time of year but as renowned chef Paul Clerehugh will tell you however this is not necessarily true. The notion of British spring lamb is really just a bit of a marketing ploy originally intended to push the sales of New Zealand lamb in the UK because for a Lamb to be ready to eat in spring it needs to have been born in November.
Anybody with even the slightest knowledge of seasonal Britain will be all too aware that weather conditions in November really do not tend to produce the lush green fields necessary for good grazing. Around the end of March is when most lambing occurs so in fact the ideal time to really be eating British lamb is around September or October when they have had a whole summer of lush vegetation to eat rather than being bred mainly indoors and fed on protein pellets which only diminishes the flavour and texture.
Nevertheless good lamb can be found but you need to be picky. Don't go for the cheapest you see on the shelf. Look for something with pedigree and preferably organic. Better still go to your nearest specialist butcher rather than the supermarket.
My defence for calling this a seasonal dish comes from this public perception of spring lamb and because the flavour of lamb really does lend itself to a warm sunny day especially when using rack of lamb which I do in this dish.
It comprises of three elements and I'm starting with the lamb element but you could easily prepare the vegetable and broth parts in advance because they only need re-heating prior to plating up.
Like I keep stressing this whole menu requires very little cooking on the day which leaves you to be the stress free and cool as a cucumber host that makes other people jealous.
Rack of Lamb with summer vegetables and lamb broth
Serves 4
For the lamb -
2 x Rack of lamb
Unsalted butter
Olive oil
Dried thyme
Salt & Black Pepper
1. French trim the lamb (video) and cut each rack in half leaving 4 joints with equal amounts of meat, usually works out at 3 or 4 cutlets per person. Season each half rack all over with some salt and pepper.
(If you think there is too much fat on the topside of the meat then shave some off with a sharp knife. Some of the fat will render off when cooking but anything more than about 5 millimetres won't be pleasant when eating)
2. Set the oven to 140C/285F to preheat then take a frying pan and put on the hob over a medium heat. Add in a good knob of butter and a glug of olive oil and let this melt down until the butter/oil mixture starts to bubble.
3. Brown off the lamb on all sides in the butter so it they have a nice uniform colour all over then transfer to an roasting tin.
4. Before putting in the oven sprinkle over some of the dried thyme then place in the middle of the oven. It'll take around 20 minutes for the lamb to cook rare and around 25 minutes for medium which is what I would recommend. It's important to let the lamb rest for at least 5 minutes (preferrably 10) before carving into individual cutlets.
Summer Vegetables
400g x Jersey royal potatoes
300g x Asparagus
200g x Shelled fresh peas
200g x Fresh Broad Beans (skinned)
1 x Bowl of iced water
1. Wash all the vegetables under cold running water then boil the potatoes until they are tender then drain and transfer to bowl of iced water.
2. Put the peas and broad beans into a saucepan of water and bring to the boil. While they are boiling remove the woody root ends from the asparagus by holding them lightly at each end and bending them until they snap (discard the woody bits). Cut off the whole of the tips then slice the remaining stems into 1/2 inch thick pieces before adding to the pan of peas and broad beans.
3. Boil the vegetable for a further 3 minutes then drain and tip into the iced water bowl along with the potatoes. This halts the cooking process as well as keeps the brightness of colour.
As I mentioned before this can be done a few hours in advance because the final process before serving is to simply drain them off and heat them through in a frying pan over a medium heat with some butter and seasoning. (Cutting the potatoes in half before heating through is a good idea)
If you do decide to prepare them early then once they have fully cooled in the water drain them off, transfer to another bowl and toss in a little lemon juice. This will also preserve the colour of the veg.
Lamb Broth
500ml x Lamb Stock
1 x Small onion
1 x Small carrot
1 x Celery stick
1 x Clove of garlic
Fresh mint
Salt & black pepper
Olive oil
1. Heat a little olive oil in a pan over a medium heat.
2. Slice up the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and then add to the pan and allow to cook a while until the onions soften then pour in the stock and allow to simmer. There is no need to be dainty with the veg, it'll be sieved off later.
3. After a minute or two throw in around 8 or 10 chopped mint leaves. You could use dried but if you do bear in mind that dried herbs are stronger than fresh ones and for me they lack the zesty zing you get from fresh herbs.
4. Keep it simmering away making sure you taste regularly and add seasoning as you go. The stock I've pictured is from the cooks ingredients range at Waitrose. You could make your own, buy one like I have mentioned or if absolutely necessary use a stock cube or two although I find these very salty and nowhere near as good as decent liquid stock.
5. Once you are happy with the taste strain the broth through a fine sieve and either leave to cool for heating up later or keep warm until you are ready to serve.
Again presentation is up to you but because the broth is involved you will need fairly high sided serving plates and large pasta bowls would work perfectly.
Just pile up some of the warmed vegetables in the centre of the then on top of these rest your carved lamb cutlets. Finally spoon over the liquid broth. Maybe sprinkle over some finely chopped mint to garnish and there you have a wonderfully light and tasty seasonal main course.
And what do we have in tomorrows blog? Dessert of course.............
Crème caramel with dark chocolate
Yes I did have a little difficulty getting them out of the moulds but because I did I can explain why you don't have too :-)
.............toodlepip xx
I'm using Lamb which we're told is best at this time of year but as renowned chef Paul Clerehugh will tell you however this is not necessarily true. The notion of British spring lamb is really just a bit of a marketing ploy originally intended to push the sales of New Zealand lamb in the UK because for a Lamb to be ready to eat in spring it needs to have been born in November.
Anybody with even the slightest knowledge of seasonal Britain will be all too aware that weather conditions in November really do not tend to produce the lush green fields necessary for good grazing. Around the end of March is when most lambing occurs so in fact the ideal time to really be eating British lamb is around September or October when they have had a whole summer of lush vegetation to eat rather than being bred mainly indoors and fed on protein pellets which only diminishes the flavour and texture.
Nevertheless good lamb can be found but you need to be picky. Don't go for the cheapest you see on the shelf. Look for something with pedigree and preferably organic. Better still go to your nearest specialist butcher rather than the supermarket.
My defence for calling this a seasonal dish comes from this public perception of spring lamb and because the flavour of lamb really does lend itself to a warm sunny day especially when using rack of lamb which I do in this dish.
It comprises of three elements and I'm starting with the lamb element but you could easily prepare the vegetable and broth parts in advance because they only need re-heating prior to plating up.
Like I keep stressing this whole menu requires very little cooking on the day which leaves you to be the stress free and cool as a cucumber host that makes other people jealous.
Rack of Lamb with summer vegetables and lamb brothServes 4
For the lamb -
2 x Rack of lamb
Unsalted butter
Olive oil
Dried thyme
Salt & Black Pepper
1. French trim the lamb (video) and cut each rack in half leaving 4 joints with equal amounts of meat, usually works out at 3 or 4 cutlets per person. Season each half rack all over with some salt and pepper.
(If you think there is too much fat on the topside of the meat then shave some off with a sharp knife. Some of the fat will render off when cooking but anything more than about 5 millimetres won't be pleasant when eating)
2. Set the oven to 140C/285F to preheat then take a frying pan and put on the hob over a medium heat. Add in a good knob of butter and a glug of olive oil and let this melt down until the butter/oil mixture starts to bubble.
3. Brown off the lamb on all sides in the butter so it they have a nice uniform colour all over then transfer to an roasting tin.
4. Before putting in the oven sprinkle over some of the dried thyme then place in the middle of the oven. It'll take around 20 minutes for the lamb to cook rare and around 25 minutes for medium which is what I would recommend. It's important to let the lamb rest for at least 5 minutes (preferrably 10) before carving into individual cutlets.
Summer Vegetables
400g x Jersey royal potatoes
300g x Asparagus
200g x Shelled fresh peas
200g x Fresh Broad Beans (skinned)
1 x Bowl of iced water
1. Wash all the vegetables under cold running water then boil the potatoes until they are tender then drain and transfer to bowl of iced water.
2. Put the peas and broad beans into a saucepan of water and bring to the boil. While they are boiling remove the woody root ends from the asparagus by holding them lightly at each end and bending them until they snap (discard the woody bits). Cut off the whole of the tips then slice the remaining stems into 1/2 inch thick pieces before adding to the pan of peas and broad beans.
3. Boil the vegetable for a further 3 minutes then drain and tip into the iced water bowl along with the potatoes. This halts the cooking process as well as keeps the brightness of colour.
As I mentioned before this can be done a few hours in advance because the final process before serving is to simply drain them off and heat them through in a frying pan over a medium heat with some butter and seasoning. (Cutting the potatoes in half before heating through is a good idea)
If you do decide to prepare them early then once they have fully cooled in the water drain them off, transfer to another bowl and toss in a little lemon juice. This will also preserve the colour of the veg.
Lamb Broth
500ml x Lamb Stock
1 x Small onion
1 x Small carrot
1 x Celery stick
1 x Clove of garlic
Fresh mint
Salt & black pepper
Olive oil
1. Heat a little olive oil in a pan over a medium heat.
2. Slice up the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and then add to the pan and allow to cook a while until the onions soften then pour in the stock and allow to simmer. There is no need to be dainty with the veg, it'll be sieved off later.
3. After a minute or two throw in around 8 or 10 chopped mint leaves. You could use dried but if you do bear in mind that dried herbs are stronger than fresh ones and for me they lack the zesty zing you get from fresh herbs.
4. Keep it simmering away making sure you taste regularly and add seasoning as you go. The stock I've pictured is from the cooks ingredients range at Waitrose. You could make your own, buy one like I have mentioned or if absolutely necessary use a stock cube or two although I find these very salty and nowhere near as good as decent liquid stock.
5. Once you are happy with the taste strain the broth through a fine sieve and either leave to cool for heating up later or keep warm until you are ready to serve.
Again presentation is up to you but because the broth is involved you will need fairly high sided serving plates and large pasta bowls would work perfectly.
Just pile up some of the warmed vegetables in the centre of the then on top of these rest your carved lamb cutlets. Finally spoon over the liquid broth. Maybe sprinkle over some finely chopped mint to garnish and there you have a wonderfully light and tasty seasonal main course.
And what do we have in tomorrows blog? Dessert of course.............
Crème caramel with dark chocolate
Yes I did have a little difficulty getting them out of the moulds but because I did I can explain why you don't have too :-)
.............toodlepip xx
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Easy dinner party menu...part 1
Dinner went well last night. I really think that I might have come up with a seasonal menu that virtually anybody could do for a dinner party because so much of it can be done way in advance.
Followers of the blog will know that I've been working on a dish using mackerel and gooseberries after being inspired to do so by LSQ2 restaurant in Reading. They posed the question on twitter asking what they should do with some gooseberries they had picked.
Instantly my mind went down the dessert route and a gooseberry fool popped up but then I thought a little more about what else was in season (in the UK) and started to research for some ideas.
I have a wonderful book called "The flavour thesaurus" by Niki Segnit. It's a really fantastic find because it lists hundreds of flavour combinations, some well known but also some unusual pairings that you wouldn't ordinarily think to try. I'd recommend getting a copy especially if you want to be a little more adventurous with your own cooking but are too scared to experiment with flavours.
In the oily fish section the book suggests right away that the pairing of mackerel and gooseberry is an all time classic because the acidity of the fruit cuts through the fattiness of the fish. For fear of repetition I won't go over the whole thought process because you can find that in previous posts so I'll just get on with the recipe.
It comprises of four elements of which three can be prepared up to a few days in advance. The forth element can be done on the day with very little fuss.
(Please excuse the photography too. They were taken on my iPhone camera and the light in my home kitchen is a bit poor to say the least)
Pâté of hot smoked mackerel with pickled fennel and gooseberry purée (served with sliced crostini)
Serves 4
For the pâté -
6 x Hot smoked mackerel fillets
75ml x Double Cream
100g x Unsalted Butter
2 tsp x Strong horseradish cream
Black Pepper
1. Melt the butter slowly in a saucepan over a low heat then set aside and allow to cool a little.
2. Take 4 of the mackerel fillets, remove the skin and flake into a blender trying to remove any bones as you do so.
3. To the mackerel add around 50ml of the cream, the horseradish and a good pinch of black pepper.
4. Pulse the mixture in the blender and slowly pour in some of the melted butter a little at a time until you have a nice smooth but not runny mixture. You should only need around half of the butter at this stage so don't pour it all in and keep tasting all the time, add some more cream or seasoning as you go depending on your own taste.
5. Transfer the mixture into a bowl then after removing the skin from the remaining 2 mackerel fillets flake these in, again being sure to try and remove any bones. The bigger the flakes of fish the more texture you'll get in the final pâté so use your own discretion as to how you want it. Folding the mixture rather than stirring it will retain also retain more texture so be delicate.
6. I used a square mould for setting my pâté. This was purely because of the way I wanted to present it but you can use any mould you like, it's entirely up to you, be creative. Whatever you decide it very important that you line the mold with cling film before filling it otherwise you'll have terrible trouble turning it out when it's chilled. (Another tip is to grease the mold with oil before lining with cling film, this will make it even easier to turn out)
7. Spoon the mackerel mixture into the lined mould leaving at least 5mm to spare at the top. Make sure that it's pushed into the corners and that no air gets trapped inside. Level the mixture off as much as you can (tapping it down on the worktop will help it settle nicely) then pour over the remaining melted butter to seal it off.
8. Leave it in the fridge until you are ready to serve. It'll need at least a few hours in the fridge to set properly if doing it on the day.
Pickled Fennel
1 x Fennel bulb
8 x Gooseberries
2 x Juniper berries
Olive oil
White wine vinegar
Lemon juice
Salt & Black Pepper
1. Wash the fennel under some cold water then trim off the root end to get rid of the exposed end and do the same to the stems. The Dill like fronds can be saved and used later as a garnish.
2. With a vegetable peeler shave the fennel lengthways giving you nice thin slivers. Set these aside for the moment while you make the pickling mixture.
3. Into a bowl or Tupperware dish pour a good amount of olive oil, around 10 tbsp. Then pour in the white wine vinegar, around 3 tbsp. Give this a whisk up until it forms an emulsion.
4. Add the gooseberries to the vinaigrette by chopping them in quarters then passing through a fine sieve. This will ensure that no seeds of skins get into the mixture.
5. Finely chop or crush the juniper berries giving the whole mixture a whisk. Taste as you go seasoning with salt and pepper as you feel necessary. You want the pickling vinaigrette to be slightly sharp but not too acidic. You can temper the acidity with a pinch or two of caster sugar but not too much as the sharpness is essential to the finished dish.
6. Finally add the shaved fennel to the vinaigrette and mix it up so everything gets a coating then cover and store in the fridge until ready to use. Again if preparing on the day give yourself a couple of hours to get the flavours fully developed but overnight would be better.
Gooseberry Purée
250g x Gooseberries
15g x Unsalted butter
50g x Caster sugar
Dash of lemon juice
1. Simply add all the ingredients into a saucepan over a low heat and heat until the fruit goes soft, keep stirring so that it doesn't burn then pass the mixture though a fine sieve, allow to cool and store in the fridge until ready to use. A squeezable bottle is ideal because then you can just squeeze the purée directly onto the serving plates when needed.
I vacuum packed the ingredients an softened in a water bath set to 80c which is the ideal way to cook the fruit so if you have one (which any semi serious cook should in my opinion) then use it.
Sliced Crostini
1 x French baguette
Olive oil
1. Cut the baguette at an angle into thin slices around 5mm in thickness.
2. Lightly brush on both sides with a little olive oil.
3. Toast under a hot grill until golden.
The presentation is entirely up to you. I garnished mine with a few fennel fronds on the pickle and some finely chopped fresh mint on the pâté which again give it some more depth of flavour.
Personally I'd prefer to see how this looks on a white rectangular serving dish alas I have none :-)
Tomorrows blog with be for the main course of -
Rack of Lamb with summer vegetables and lamb broth.
Toodlepip xxx
Followers of the blog will know that I've been working on a dish using mackerel and gooseberries after being inspired to do so by LSQ2 restaurant in Reading. They posed the question on twitter asking what they should do with some gooseberries they had picked.
Instantly my mind went down the dessert route and a gooseberry fool popped up but then I thought a little more about what else was in season (in the UK) and started to research for some ideas.
I have a wonderful book called "The flavour thesaurus" by Niki Segnit. It's a really fantastic find because it lists hundreds of flavour combinations, some well known but also some unusual pairings that you wouldn't ordinarily think to try. I'd recommend getting a copy especially if you want to be a little more adventurous with your own cooking but are too scared to experiment with flavours.
In the oily fish section the book suggests right away that the pairing of mackerel and gooseberry is an all time classic because the acidity of the fruit cuts through the fattiness of the fish. For fear of repetition I won't go over the whole thought process because you can find that in previous posts so I'll just get on with the recipe.
It comprises of four elements of which three can be prepared up to a few days in advance. The forth element can be done on the day with very little fuss.
(Please excuse the photography too. They were taken on my iPhone camera and the light in my home kitchen is a bit poor to say the least)
Pâté of hot smoked mackerel with pickled fennel and gooseberry purée (served with sliced crostini)Serves 4
For the pâté -
6 x Hot smoked mackerel fillets
75ml x Double Cream
100g x Unsalted Butter
2 tsp x Strong horseradish cream
Black Pepper
1. Melt the butter slowly in a saucepan over a low heat then set aside and allow to cool a little.
2. Take 4 of the mackerel fillets, remove the skin and flake into a blender trying to remove any bones as you do so.
3. To the mackerel add around 50ml of the cream, the horseradish and a good pinch of black pepper.
4. Pulse the mixture in the blender and slowly pour in some of the melted butter a little at a time until you have a nice smooth but not runny mixture. You should only need around half of the butter at this stage so don't pour it all in and keep tasting all the time, add some more cream or seasoning as you go depending on your own taste.
5. Transfer the mixture into a bowl then after removing the skin from the remaining 2 mackerel fillets flake these in, again being sure to try and remove any bones. The bigger the flakes of fish the more texture you'll get in the final pâté so use your own discretion as to how you want it. Folding the mixture rather than stirring it will retain also retain more texture so be delicate.
6. I used a square mould for setting my pâté. This was purely because of the way I wanted to present it but you can use any mould you like, it's entirely up to you, be creative. Whatever you decide it very important that you line the mold with cling film before filling it otherwise you'll have terrible trouble turning it out when it's chilled. (Another tip is to grease the mold with oil before lining with cling film, this will make it even easier to turn out)
7. Spoon the mackerel mixture into the lined mould leaving at least 5mm to spare at the top. Make sure that it's pushed into the corners and that no air gets trapped inside. Level the mixture off as much as you can (tapping it down on the worktop will help it settle nicely) then pour over the remaining melted butter to seal it off.
8. Leave it in the fridge until you are ready to serve. It'll need at least a few hours in the fridge to set properly if doing it on the day.
Pickled Fennel
1 x Fennel bulb
8 x Gooseberries
2 x Juniper berries
Olive oil
White wine vinegar
Lemon juice
Salt & Black Pepper
1. Wash the fennel under some cold water then trim off the root end to get rid of the exposed end and do the same to the stems. The Dill like fronds can be saved and used later as a garnish.
2. With a vegetable peeler shave the fennel lengthways giving you nice thin slivers. Set these aside for the moment while you make the pickling mixture.
3. Into a bowl or Tupperware dish pour a good amount of olive oil, around 10 tbsp. Then pour in the white wine vinegar, around 3 tbsp. Give this a whisk up until it forms an emulsion.
4. Add the gooseberries to the vinaigrette by chopping them in quarters then passing through a fine sieve. This will ensure that no seeds of skins get into the mixture.
5. Finely chop or crush the juniper berries giving the whole mixture a whisk. Taste as you go seasoning with salt and pepper as you feel necessary. You want the pickling vinaigrette to be slightly sharp but not too acidic. You can temper the acidity with a pinch or two of caster sugar but not too much as the sharpness is essential to the finished dish.
6. Finally add the shaved fennel to the vinaigrette and mix it up so everything gets a coating then cover and store in the fridge until ready to use. Again if preparing on the day give yourself a couple of hours to get the flavours fully developed but overnight would be better.
Gooseberry Purée
250g x Gooseberries
15g x Unsalted butter
50g x Caster sugar
Dash of lemon juice
1. Simply add all the ingredients into a saucepan over a low heat and heat until the fruit goes soft, keep stirring so that it doesn't burn then pass the mixture though a fine sieve, allow to cool and store in the fridge until ready to use. A squeezable bottle is ideal because then you can just squeeze the purée directly onto the serving plates when needed.
I vacuum packed the ingredients an softened in a water bath set to 80c which is the ideal way to cook the fruit so if you have one (which any semi serious cook should in my opinion) then use it.
Sliced Crostini
1 x French baguette
Olive oil
1. Cut the baguette at an angle into thin slices around 5mm in thickness.
2. Lightly brush on both sides with a little olive oil.
3. Toast under a hot grill until golden.
The presentation is entirely up to you. I garnished mine with a few fennel fronds on the pickle and some finely chopped fresh mint on the pâté which again give it some more depth of flavour.
Personally I'd prefer to see how this looks on a white rectangular serving dish alas I have none :-)
Tomorrows blog with be for the main course of -
Rack of Lamb with summer vegetables and lamb broth.
Toodlepip xxx
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Freddie rocks up......
I'm still a bit dumbfounded about yesterdays antics. Did I really spend a whole day knocking about on a cricket field with my ultimate sporting hero?
Was the weather so nice that I'm current sat here trying not to change any facial expressions due to the pinkness of my sun scorched head?
Also just how big are world class international (ex) cricketers?
The answer to the first two questions is "Yes" and the the third is "Huuuuuuuuuuuuuge"
Freddie was down at Sonning CC quite out of the blue to film a documentary for the BBC on the effects of weather on sport. He was a really nice guy and had no quarms about signing autographs for the kids when they came over once school had finished.
Having dropped him in the deep early on I was singled out for catching practise, pretty unsuccessfully I might add. My hands today are aching.....that lad can get some height on those cricket balls I tell you !!!
Ultimately though "safe hands" Zagorski proved too good for the young upstart and he had to make the lonely walk back to the pavilion (or maybe it was just the end of filming that segment.....you decide)
All in all a really good and wholly unexpected experience. We only knew about the shoot the day before. I'm guessing they keep the schedule tight so that there isn't enough time to get the word around and have hundreds of people turn up making background noise and harrasing the celebrities.
We were told that our club was chosen for the film shoot because of recommendations from other clubs for our reputation as a hospitable and picturesque venue. Personally I think it was all down to the hanging baskets and flowerbeds :-)
Back to normality today and a busy day ahead it is too. I have a few technical bits I need to tidy up at work then at 2:30pm I have to head off to the Royal Berks Hospital to have a small operation on my hand......nothing to do with Freddie and the dropped catches I might add although the local anaesthetic might be a welcome relief.
After that I have my very good buddy Razer coming over for dinner. I take Razer's opinion on food very seriously, he's a bit of an aficionado so I'm keen to make a excellent spread. The menu is -
Starter - Hot smoked mackerel pate with pickled fennel and gooseberry purée.
Main - Rack of Lamb with summer vegetables and a minted Lamb broth.
Dessert - Crème Caramel with tempered dark chocolate.
I've tweaked the starter even more from my previous efforts this time using hot smoked mackerel rather than fresh and added some horseradish. I've combined a bit more spice and seasoning with the pickled fennel and I've retained more sourness in the gooseberry purée rather than have it too sweet.
I've never tried the main course before, it's something that just popped into my head and I think it's really going to work well.
The dessert again is something I've not really tried. I did have a trial run a couple of days ago and since then I've given it a bit more of a tweak especially with a bit more vanilla in the custard and less caramel. I've never tried to temper chocolate but I think a small sliver of bitterness will be a nice contrast to the sweetness of the caramel.
As a menu it's really rather a good one to use for a dinner party because the starter and dessert can be done a day or two in advance and the only really cooking on the day is for the main course which really shouldn't be difficult at all. It's seasonal, has lots of good flavours and is well balanced.
I'll let y'all know how it goes....toodlepip xxx
Was the weather so nice that I'm current sat here trying not to change any facial expressions due to the pinkness of my sun scorched head?
Also just how big are world class international (ex) cricketers?
The answer to the first two questions is "Yes" and the the third is "Huuuuuuuuuuuuuge"
Freddie was down at Sonning CC quite out of the blue to film a documentary for the BBC on the effects of weather on sport. He was a really nice guy and had no quarms about signing autographs for the kids when they came over once school had finished.
Having dropped him in the deep early on I was singled out for catching practise, pretty unsuccessfully I might add. My hands today are aching.....that lad can get some height on those cricket balls I tell you !!!
Ultimately though "safe hands" Zagorski proved too good for the young upstart and he had to make the lonely walk back to the pavilion (or maybe it was just the end of filming that segment.....you decide)
All in all a really good and wholly unexpected experience. We only knew about the shoot the day before. I'm guessing they keep the schedule tight so that there isn't enough time to get the word around and have hundreds of people turn up making background noise and harrasing the celebrities.
We were told that our club was chosen for the film shoot because of recommendations from other clubs for our reputation as a hospitable and picturesque venue. Personally I think it was all down to the hanging baskets and flowerbeds :-)
Back to normality today and a busy day ahead it is too. I have a few technical bits I need to tidy up at work then at 2:30pm I have to head off to the Royal Berks Hospital to have a small operation on my hand......nothing to do with Freddie and the dropped catches I might add although the local anaesthetic might be a welcome relief.
After that I have my very good buddy Razer coming over for dinner. I take Razer's opinion on food very seriously, he's a bit of an aficionado so I'm keen to make a excellent spread. The menu is -
Starter - Hot smoked mackerel pate with pickled fennel and gooseberry purée.
Main - Rack of Lamb with summer vegetables and a minted Lamb broth.
Dessert - Crème Caramel with tempered dark chocolate.
I've tweaked the starter even more from my previous efforts this time using hot smoked mackerel rather than fresh and added some horseradish. I've combined a bit more spice and seasoning with the pickled fennel and I've retained more sourness in the gooseberry purée rather than have it too sweet.
I've never tried the main course before, it's something that just popped into my head and I think it's really going to work well.
The dessert again is something I've not really tried. I did have a trial run a couple of days ago and since then I've given it a bit more of a tweak especially with a bit more vanilla in the custard and less caramel. I've never tried to temper chocolate but I think a small sliver of bitterness will be a nice contrast to the sweetness of the caramel.
As a menu it's really rather a good one to use for a dinner party because the starter and dessert can be done a day or two in advance and the only really cooking on the day is for the main course which really shouldn't be difficult at all. It's seasonal, has lots of good flavours and is well balanced.
I'll let y'all know how it goes....toodlepip xxx
Monday, 20 June 2011
Motivation zero.....
The weekend has kind of left me with a lack of any get up and go today. I really didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning but that was partly to do with wanting to see Rory McIlroy claim the US Open gold title. What an amazing achievement for somebody so young and he handled the post tournament interviews like he'd been winning majors for years. I never thought that I'd see anybody as good as Tiger Woods again in my lifetime but this victory for Rory was the best golf I've ever seen, even eclipsing the great Woods' 13 shot victory of a few years ago.
One fellow player even commented that you couldn't have wished to play better golf on the Playstation let alone on a real course.
So back on blogging track (quite literally) and Fridays antics mainly involved comfort food, red wine and the afore mentioned Playstation. After a rather fast paced and speedy day at work I returned to my empty home (my girls were off camping in the new forest) via Waitrose to pick up some Chicken Kievs. These are my favourite home comfort food at the moment and they have been for a while. I actually ate around ten different supermarket Chicken Kievs in ten days once just so that I could compare them and find out which were the best. Waitrose won closely followed by Marks & Spencer. I'm talking the best quality own brand Kievs too and not the cheap kind that use reformed minced chicken.
Chicken Kievs generally come in packs of two and I just can't leave one Kiev on it's own so out of mercy (OK....greed) I have to eat both. I've also discovered the perfect accompaniment to these timeless family classics and that is chilli peas. I'd seriously recommend trying this combo. Adjust quantities to your taste but I just get some smoked streaky bacon and chop it up into small lardons and fry them in a little unsalted butter until they have a bit of colour, then add in some finely chopped red chilli before finally adding some frozen peas and cooking the through. Bit of cracked black pepper to taste and there you have the perfect match for chicken kievs. That is all you need, forget chips just chicken and peas.
This good feed I washed down with a rather yummy Rioja reserva which put me in firm mood to complete the next endurance race on Gran Turismo 5....a 1000km challenge around the Suzuka curcuit. I raced for a full 4 1/2 hours before having to put it on pause and heading to bed.
I woke on Saturday at around 7am then went straight back downstairs for a cup of tea and a further 2 hours of racing to complete the remainder of the 172 laps necessary to claim the 5 lap victory. In fairness I could have completed it about 45 minutes quicker had I chosen a faster car but I wanted to keep it fairly competitive so rather using my Pescarolo Le Mans series car I went for my GT2 Corvette.......Oh if only it were real life.
Saturday daytime was a food filled affair. I got myself over to Wargrave for their first ever taste festival. They'd arranged for a few demos to be done and first up was a master butcher from Jon Thorner's who are based in Shepton Mallet but have an outlet just down the road at the Sheeplands farm shop in Hare Hatch.
Their demo was to butcher a whole lamb and describing each cut and it's uses along the way. It's a rare glimpse at how this is done and the skill involved is incredible.
Following them was the Haweli Indian restaurant from Twyford. These guys are my locals so I was very much looking forward to seeing them on stage and they did a great job. I was very interested to know that they marinade their Lamb for over 24 hours before cooking and that they use only the leg meat from baby lambs which will explain why their meat dishes differ in texture so much from other restaurants. They did actually give me the marinade recipe but I've only gone and forgotten it! Looks like I'll be having curry at some point this week then......Oh well :-)
The restaurant does get very busy and I was eager to know just what goes on behind the scenes during these hectic weekend services. I was amazed when they said they have a minimum of 11 chefs cooking on 12 six burner ranges. Quite extraordinary when you consider the size of the place.
The last demo I stayed to see was from the irrepressible Paul Clerehugh (Crooked Billet, London Street Brasserie, Market Kitchen & BBC Berkshire). You can clearly see he loves doing these food festivals and most of all showing his passion and support for local and British produce. I knew what to expect as he'd bought with him all the props he'd used at the Eat Reading festival just a couple of weeks previously but he'd slightly adjusted the routine to fit the different audience leaving out the references to the "Porsche Cayenne driving hooray Henrys" which he'd used in the Reading show.
All in all it was a very nice little food festival, good first effort and I see no reason why it can't get bigger and better next year. The weather wasn't great but it was pretty much all contained under a huge marquee and it did brighten up throughout the day, so much so that instead of jumping on the train back to Twyford I decided to walk.
Saturday evening was always going to be a messy affair. Not only was I DJ'ing for one of the most recognisable brands in worldwide clubbing (Bora Bora) at my favourite place to DJ (Mango Garden) but it was also the first time in ages that I'd be catching up with a very good buddy who'd been off travelling the globe.
Everything went pretty much as expected which was bucketfuls of beer until well into the Sunday morning daylight followed by a slap up breakfast and a train home to bed.
Our normal brekky of choice is taken at the Ibis hotel on Friar Street but we were a bit too early for that so after a bit of a wait and some no doubt pointless banter it was over to McDonalds.
Now as gastronomic as I want to think I am I do concede that for all it's other failings Ronald and his team at McDonalds have really hit the nail on the head with their Sausage and Egg muffins. I can't say I'd honestly want one every morning but for times like these they are perfect. If the hash browns are piping hot too then hungover/still drunk satisfaction is guaranteed.
Sunday wasn't the complete write off I'd been expecting. I did manage to get myself up to the farm shop and back home to the sofa by about 1pm. After a couple of hours rest I made us a rather yummy and very vast roast dinner. I even attempted to make some Crème Caramel desserts.......would have been great too had I not turned the oven off !!! Still at least we'll have dessert tonight :-)
I'm thinking it might have to be Chicken Kievs and chilli peas again.
Toodlepip xxx
One fellow player even commented that you couldn't have wished to play better golf on the Playstation let alone on a real course.
So back on blogging track (quite literally) and Fridays antics mainly involved comfort food, red wine and the afore mentioned Playstation. After a rather fast paced and speedy day at work I returned to my empty home (my girls were off camping in the new forest) via Waitrose to pick up some Chicken Kievs. These are my favourite home comfort food at the moment and they have been for a while. I actually ate around ten different supermarket Chicken Kievs in ten days once just so that I could compare them and find out which were the best. Waitrose won closely followed by Marks & Spencer. I'm talking the best quality own brand Kievs too and not the cheap kind that use reformed minced chicken.
Chicken Kievs generally come in packs of two and I just can't leave one Kiev on it's own so out of mercy (OK....greed) I have to eat both. I've also discovered the perfect accompaniment to these timeless family classics and that is chilli peas. I'd seriously recommend trying this combo. Adjust quantities to your taste but I just get some smoked streaky bacon and chop it up into small lardons and fry them in a little unsalted butter until they have a bit of colour, then add in some finely chopped red chilli before finally adding some frozen peas and cooking the through. Bit of cracked black pepper to taste and there you have the perfect match for chicken kievs. That is all you need, forget chips just chicken and peas.
This good feed I washed down with a rather yummy Rioja reserva which put me in firm mood to complete the next endurance race on Gran Turismo 5....a 1000km challenge around the Suzuka curcuit. I raced for a full 4 1/2 hours before having to put it on pause and heading to bed.
I woke on Saturday at around 7am then went straight back downstairs for a cup of tea and a further 2 hours of racing to complete the remainder of the 172 laps necessary to claim the 5 lap victory. In fairness I could have completed it about 45 minutes quicker had I chosen a faster car but I wanted to keep it fairly competitive so rather using my Pescarolo Le Mans series car I went for my GT2 Corvette.......Oh if only it were real life.
Saturday daytime was a food filled affair. I got myself over to Wargrave for their first ever taste festival. They'd arranged for a few demos to be done and first up was a master butcher from Jon Thorner's who are based in Shepton Mallet but have an outlet just down the road at the Sheeplands farm shop in Hare Hatch.
Their demo was to butcher a whole lamb and describing each cut and it's uses along the way. It's a rare glimpse at how this is done and the skill involved is incredible.
Following them was the Haweli Indian restaurant from Twyford. These guys are my locals so I was very much looking forward to seeing them on stage and they did a great job. I was very interested to know that they marinade their Lamb for over 24 hours before cooking and that they use only the leg meat from baby lambs which will explain why their meat dishes differ in texture so much from other restaurants. They did actually give me the marinade recipe but I've only gone and forgotten it! Looks like I'll be having curry at some point this week then......Oh well :-)
The restaurant does get very busy and I was eager to know just what goes on behind the scenes during these hectic weekend services. I was amazed when they said they have a minimum of 11 chefs cooking on 12 six burner ranges. Quite extraordinary when you consider the size of the place.
The last demo I stayed to see was from the irrepressible Paul Clerehugh (Crooked Billet, London Street Brasserie, Market Kitchen & BBC Berkshire). You can clearly see he loves doing these food festivals and most of all showing his passion and support for local and British produce. I knew what to expect as he'd bought with him all the props he'd used at the Eat Reading festival just a couple of weeks previously but he'd slightly adjusted the routine to fit the different audience leaving out the references to the "Porsche Cayenne driving hooray Henrys" which he'd used in the Reading show.
All in all it was a very nice little food festival, good first effort and I see no reason why it can't get bigger and better next year. The weather wasn't great but it was pretty much all contained under a huge marquee and it did brighten up throughout the day, so much so that instead of jumping on the train back to Twyford I decided to walk.
Saturday evening was always going to be a messy affair. Not only was I DJ'ing for one of the most recognisable brands in worldwide clubbing (Bora Bora) at my favourite place to DJ (Mango Garden) but it was also the first time in ages that I'd be catching up with a very good buddy who'd been off travelling the globe.
Everything went pretty much as expected which was bucketfuls of beer until well into the Sunday morning daylight followed by a slap up breakfast and a train home to bed.
Our normal brekky of choice is taken at the Ibis hotel on Friar Street but we were a bit too early for that so after a bit of a wait and some no doubt pointless banter it was over to McDonalds.
Now as gastronomic as I want to think I am I do concede that for all it's other failings Ronald and his team at McDonalds have really hit the nail on the head with their Sausage and Egg muffins. I can't say I'd honestly want one every morning but for times like these they are perfect. If the hash browns are piping hot too then hungover/still drunk satisfaction is guaranteed.
Sunday wasn't the complete write off I'd been expecting. I did manage to get myself up to the farm shop and back home to the sofa by about 1pm. After a couple of hours rest I made us a rather yummy and very vast roast dinner. I even attempted to make some Crème Caramel desserts.......would have been great too had I not turned the oven off !!! Still at least we'll have dessert tonight :-)
I'm thinking it might have to be Chicken Kievs and chilli peas again.
Toodlepip xxx
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Red n Hot......
One might think that announcing your intention to visit an establishment named "Red n Hot" situated on the outskirts of London's Soho area could raise a few eyebrows!....However hold those thoughts because it's neither a building busily bursting with busty babes nor is it a bordelo bulging with bouncy bi-sexual beefcakes, it is in fact a rather fantastic little Szechuan restaurant.
(I wonder how many hits I get in the blog because I've used those words)
I say fantastic with regard to its food rather than in reverence to it's appearance. It's not exactly plush!
I was first drawn in there by hunger but also too by the name. I like my spicy food and I like to challenge my taste buds to the heat so seeing something called "Red n Hot" with the the suffix "Szechuan Cuisine" was just too tempting.
I always play it pretty safe when I go there and have the same the house special of Sliced beef sichuan style. Described as lavishly topped with chilli & sichuan pepper and I accompanied that with some egg fried rice.
Now I say safe because even though it's incredibly hot (so much so that this time around it even anaesthetised part of my tongue) it's rather tame considering some of the other dishes on the menu......uh hmmmmmm......These are taken directly from their menu and not made up or altered in anyway.
002. Husband & Wife’s Pork Lung Slice
004. Shredded Hot & Spicy Pig’s Tripe
006. Marinated Duck’s Tongue in Chilli Sauce
014. Hot & Spicy Beef Tripe
017. Slices of Pig’s Ears in Sesame Oil
052. Dry Fried Pig’s Intestine with Red & Green Peppers (Sichuan Delicacy)
054. Gong Bao Pig’s Intestine with Peanut
060. Fire Exploded Kidney Flowers, Crisp & Fast Fried
115. Dry Fried Frog Legs with Chilli Peppers(Authentic Sichuan Dish)
And curiously on the vegetable section of the menu one finds these -
140. Dry Fried Green Beans with Minced Pork
142. Aubergine in Fish Flavoured Sauce
145. Diced Chicken with Aubergine in Oyster Sauce
146. Pea Sprouts & Shredded Chicken with Thousand Year Egg in Rich Broth
159. Spinach & Shredded Chicken with Thousand Year Egg in Rich Broth
......You really couldn't make this stuff up but if you still don't believe me you can check it out for yourselves right here
I think I've been there three times now and I've never seen another western person in there. I do get some funny looks when I walk in. I think they must assume at first glance that I'm either lost or delivering something.
Each table doubles up as an induction hob too. They do this wonderful looking dish involving what seems as big bowl of broth which is kept hot on the induction hob and a huge board of meats and vegetables which you dip into the broth to cook then transfer to your bowl to eat.
It looks amazing but I'm yet to try. Firstly because I am not brave enough to even think about what meats are on that board let alone try them and secondly because it's so big that even if I did summon the cojones to get involved I'd never get close to finishing it on my own.
Next time you're in London and feeling peckish I seriously recommend popping in and giving it a go. It's on Charing Cross road on the far edges of Chinatown if approaching from the Piccadilly Circus end.
The ongoing mackerel and gooseberry experiment got another tweak on Monday and I'm pretty chuffed with myself for getting it almost right. This time I made a mackerel pâté garnished with a little chopped fresh mint and served that up with the absolutely winning pickled fennel, toasted bread and a gooseberry purée rather than a jelly.
To make the pate I used six mackerel fillets which I'd cooked in a water bath and then allowed to cool. Of these six fillets I removed the skin from four and blitzed up with some double cream, melted (unsalted) butter and seasoning until it was smooth then into it I folded the flaked remaining mackerel fillets and put in the fridge to set.
Of course you don't have to use a water bath you can just grill, bake or steam them.
The acidity and anise flavour from the pickled fennel compliments the mackerel so perfetcly and then the sweetness of the gooseberry purée balances it all so well together. The hint of fresh mint gives an added layer of flavour but as it's just a garnish you can choose how much or how little yourself rather than it being overpowering.
This time around I shaved the fennel lengthways. (I used a vegetable peeler, you could use a knife if you're skilled at doing so but a veg peeler is much easier and quicker). It gave it a little more flavour but also added much more of the missing bite from the last pickling attempt. Mix that with the relative smoothness of the pâté, the crunch of the toast and the purée and you get all these wonderful textures and flavours combining.
My only concern with the dish now is presentation. I have ideas for this but it involves rectangular plates and not setting the pâté in ramekins......I don't have rectangular plates, the mould required for setting the pate or a kitchen with decent enough light to take good photos........yet !!!
Toodlepip xx
(I wonder how many hits I get in the blog because I've used those words)
I say fantastic with regard to its food rather than in reverence to it's appearance. It's not exactly plush!
I was first drawn in there by hunger but also too by the name. I like my spicy food and I like to challenge my taste buds to the heat so seeing something called "Red n Hot" with the the suffix "Szechuan Cuisine" was just too tempting.
I always play it pretty safe when I go there and have the same the house special of Sliced beef sichuan style. Described as lavishly topped with chilli & sichuan pepper and I accompanied that with some egg fried rice.
Now I say safe because even though it's incredibly hot (so much so that this time around it even anaesthetised part of my tongue) it's rather tame considering some of the other dishes on the menu......uh hmmmmmm......These are taken directly from their menu and not made up or altered in anyway.
002. Husband & Wife’s Pork Lung Slice
004. Shredded Hot & Spicy Pig’s Tripe
006. Marinated Duck’s Tongue in Chilli Sauce
014. Hot & Spicy Beef Tripe
017. Slices of Pig’s Ears in Sesame Oil
052. Dry Fried Pig’s Intestine with Red & Green Peppers (Sichuan Delicacy)
054. Gong Bao Pig’s Intestine with Peanut
060. Fire Exploded Kidney Flowers, Crisp & Fast Fried
115. Dry Fried Frog Legs with Chilli Peppers(Authentic Sichuan Dish)
And curiously on the vegetable section of the menu one finds these -
140. Dry Fried Green Beans with Minced Pork
142. Aubergine in Fish Flavoured Sauce
145. Diced Chicken with Aubergine in Oyster Sauce
146. Pea Sprouts & Shredded Chicken with Thousand Year Egg in Rich Broth
159. Spinach & Shredded Chicken with Thousand Year Egg in Rich Broth
......You really couldn't make this stuff up but if you still don't believe me you can check it out for yourselves right here
I think I've been there three times now and I've never seen another western person in there. I do get some funny looks when I walk in. I think they must assume at first glance that I'm either lost or delivering something.
Each table doubles up as an induction hob too. They do this wonderful looking dish involving what seems as big bowl of broth which is kept hot on the induction hob and a huge board of meats and vegetables which you dip into the broth to cook then transfer to your bowl to eat.
It looks amazing but I'm yet to try. Firstly because I am not brave enough to even think about what meats are on that board let alone try them and secondly because it's so big that even if I did summon the cojones to get involved I'd never get close to finishing it on my own.
Next time you're in London and feeling peckish I seriously recommend popping in and giving it a go. It's on Charing Cross road on the far edges of Chinatown if approaching from the Piccadilly Circus end.
The ongoing mackerel and gooseberry experiment got another tweak on Monday and I'm pretty chuffed with myself for getting it almost right. This time I made a mackerel pâté garnished with a little chopped fresh mint and served that up with the absolutely winning pickled fennel, toasted bread and a gooseberry purée rather than a jelly.
To make the pate I used six mackerel fillets which I'd cooked in a water bath and then allowed to cool. Of these six fillets I removed the skin from four and blitzed up with some double cream, melted (unsalted) butter and seasoning until it was smooth then into it I folded the flaked remaining mackerel fillets and put in the fridge to set.
Of course you don't have to use a water bath you can just grill, bake or steam them.
The acidity and anise flavour from the pickled fennel compliments the mackerel so perfetcly and then the sweetness of the gooseberry purée balances it all so well together. The hint of fresh mint gives an added layer of flavour but as it's just a garnish you can choose how much or how little yourself rather than it being overpowering.
This time around I shaved the fennel lengthways. (I used a vegetable peeler, you could use a knife if you're skilled at doing so but a veg peeler is much easier and quicker). It gave it a little more flavour but also added much more of the missing bite from the last pickling attempt. Mix that with the relative smoothness of the pâté, the crunch of the toast and the purée and you get all these wonderful textures and flavours combining.
My only concern with the dish now is presentation. I have ideas for this but it involves rectangular plates and not setting the pâté in ramekins......I don't have rectangular plates, the mould required for setting the pate or a kitchen with decent enough light to take good photos........yet !!!
Toodlepip xx
Monday, 13 June 2011
Cleaning up.....
A pretty good weekend really. Drinks on Friday evening were nice although I got squiffy quite quickly on white wine which made it pretty difficult to properly review LSQ2 so I'll save that for another day when I can make a fair comment rather than a slightly blurry one.
I'm not sure why it happens, sometimes I can drink for Britain and not get too wobbly then sometimes I have 3 glasses of vino and I'm all over the place.
Saturday morning was a struggle but Carley had the urge to get up and spring clean so I tried my best to help by doing a bit of hoovering but that to and fro motion just made me feel even worse so I thought it'd be best to get out of the way and head to Twyford beer festival.
The festival itself is not a major affair, certainly nothing along the lines of the Reading beer festival but Ian who organises it all puts it such a big effort to get it running and all the volunteers who help out over the 2 days earn a great deal of money for the Orchid male cancer charity so a big well done to each and every one of them.
I could only manage to stay for half of ale because the hair of the dog just wasn't working and the band that were playing were not helping at all....they were terrible. I thought that maybe my hungover state amplified their awfulness and perhaps I was being a tad harsh but no.......they really were terrible. I wanted to stay to see my buddies band "The Skangsters" perform, they really are excellent but alas I needed some sofa time before the 7pm table booking at the Haweli in Twyford.
I really wanted to go in there to enquire about a restaurant premises in the village that has recently been vacated. I know that the guys at the Haweli own it so I was after getting my interest know however I was informed that it already has plans to be a Mexican restaurant which is a shame because I think that "The Twyford Brasserie" would be a bit of a village sensation.
I know people have their own opinions about Indian restaurants, everybody has their favourites and they vociferously build them up as the best while condemning all others to the curry house pit of hell. Well I'm not one of those although I do love my local Indian not just for it's food but also for it's warm welcome which makes going there a real treat.
They know me. I'm Mr Ben and I like my curries hot, they know that. I also like to drink red wine with my curries and they know this too. Their food might not be as gastronomically diverse as The Royal Tandoori in Reading which is another of my favourites but the reception and hospitality I get at my local is what makes them special. the fact that they are consistently voted in the UK's top 100 Indian restaurants is a bonus too.
Before heading out to the beer festival I did promise Carley that I'd bring her back some lunch and while wandering around Waitrose I thought that just a sandwich was not enough and she deserved much more than that. The sun had gotten itself out for a brief spell so I went all Mediterranean. OK fair enough it might have been a tad too much for two people !!!!
Roasted peppers, chargrilled vegetables, a chorizo tortilla, pitta bread, spinach falafel and piri piri hoummas........yum yum!
The remainder of the evening, until around 3am, was spent glued to the TV's watching the coverage from the Le Mans 24hr race and playing Gran Turismo 5 on the Playstation. Yes we do have two TV's in our front room......not for long though Carley I promise :-)
Incidently I'm amazed at how Alan McNish and Mike Rockenfeller survived these two crashes. Such a testament to the safety aspect of these extreme race cars that other than some bruising the only injury suffered was a cut to the Rockenfeller's arm. I'm dumbfounded that they both walked away.......especially the 2nd one, there is literally nothing left of the car but a burning shell. For the full devastating impact check it out around 7:40.
Sunday started of miserably as the weather was awful and I knew it'd mean that my cricket match would be called off. In the end that proved to be quite handy because I had work to do which due to my work computer crashing mean't that I had to come into the office rather than work remotely.
So instead of whacking cricket balls around I was spending my Sunday morning with Harry Potter and Optimus Prime. I do love my job but I wish the studios wouldn't leave such hectic schedules for getting all the film elements together. With both Harry Potter 7 part 2 and Transformers 3 due to be released I'm thinking it might be a busy week ahead.
I only had to complete the processor intensive bits at work rather then the rest I could finish remotely so come 1pm I was ready to head back down to the beer festival this time getting to sample many more delightful ales, ciders........and awful bands.
More top sport followed this with the England U21 v Spain U21 footy match. A good 1-1 result for England who would have been expected to lose against such a strong Spanish side but they managed to get a goal right near the end then even pressed on and could have nicked it. Not a great match but a good result and I'm backing Daniel Sturridge to shine in the coming games.
Sporting highlight has to be Jenson Button's amazing win at the Canadian GP. Taking 6 pit stops and being in last place at one stage to then come through the field and win is something I've never seen before and never likely to see again in my life time. A truly awe inspiring victory.
Unfortunately I didn't get the time to perfect my Mackerel & gooseberry dish but given that the weather looks as miserable as it did yesterday I'm thinking that nets tonight are looking unlikely so perhaps I'll get the time to do it this evening.
Toodlepip xx
I'm not sure why it happens, sometimes I can drink for Britain and not get too wobbly then sometimes I have 3 glasses of vino and I'm all over the place.
Saturday morning was a struggle but Carley had the urge to get up and spring clean so I tried my best to help by doing a bit of hoovering but that to and fro motion just made me feel even worse so I thought it'd be best to get out of the way and head to Twyford beer festival.
The festival itself is not a major affair, certainly nothing along the lines of the Reading beer festival but Ian who organises it all puts it such a big effort to get it running and all the volunteers who help out over the 2 days earn a great deal of money for the Orchid male cancer charity so a big well done to each and every one of them.
I could only manage to stay for half of ale because the hair of the dog just wasn't working and the band that were playing were not helping at all....they were terrible. I thought that maybe my hungover state amplified their awfulness and perhaps I was being a tad harsh but no.......they really were terrible. I wanted to stay to see my buddies band "The Skangsters" perform, they really are excellent but alas I needed some sofa time before the 7pm table booking at the Haweli in Twyford.
I really wanted to go in there to enquire about a restaurant premises in the village that has recently been vacated. I know that the guys at the Haweli own it so I was after getting my interest know however I was informed that it already has plans to be a Mexican restaurant which is a shame because I think that "The Twyford Brasserie" would be a bit of a village sensation.
I know people have their own opinions about Indian restaurants, everybody has their favourites and they vociferously build them up as the best while condemning all others to the curry house pit of hell. Well I'm not one of those although I do love my local Indian not just for it's food but also for it's warm welcome which makes going there a real treat.
They know me. I'm Mr Ben and I like my curries hot, they know that. I also like to drink red wine with my curries and they know this too. Their food might not be as gastronomically diverse as The Royal Tandoori in Reading which is another of my favourites but the reception and hospitality I get at my local is what makes them special. the fact that they are consistently voted in the UK's top 100 Indian restaurants is a bonus too.
Before heading out to the beer festival I did promise Carley that I'd bring her back some lunch and while wandering around Waitrose I thought that just a sandwich was not enough and she deserved much more than that. The sun had gotten itself out for a brief spell so I went all Mediterranean. OK fair enough it might have been a tad too much for two people !!!!
Roasted peppers, chargrilled vegetables, a chorizo tortilla, pitta bread, spinach falafel and piri piri hoummas........yum yum!
The remainder of the evening, until around 3am, was spent glued to the TV's watching the coverage from the Le Mans 24hr race and playing Gran Turismo 5 on the Playstation. Yes we do have two TV's in our front room......not for long though Carley I promise :-)
Incidently I'm amazed at how Alan McNish and Mike Rockenfeller survived these two crashes. Such a testament to the safety aspect of these extreme race cars that other than some bruising the only injury suffered was a cut to the Rockenfeller's arm. I'm dumbfounded that they both walked away.......especially the 2nd one, there is literally nothing left of the car but a burning shell. For the full devastating impact check it out around 7:40.
Sunday started of miserably as the weather was awful and I knew it'd mean that my cricket match would be called off. In the end that proved to be quite handy because I had work to do which due to my work computer crashing mean't that I had to come into the office rather than work remotely.
So instead of whacking cricket balls around I was spending my Sunday morning with Harry Potter and Optimus Prime. I do love my job but I wish the studios wouldn't leave such hectic schedules for getting all the film elements together. With both Harry Potter 7 part 2 and Transformers 3 due to be released I'm thinking it might be a busy week ahead.
I only had to complete the processor intensive bits at work rather then the rest I could finish remotely so come 1pm I was ready to head back down to the beer festival this time getting to sample many more delightful ales, ciders........and awful bands.
More top sport followed this with the England U21 v Spain U21 footy match. A good 1-1 result for England who would have been expected to lose against such a strong Spanish side but they managed to get a goal right near the end then even pressed on and could have nicked it. Not a great match but a good result and I'm backing Daniel Sturridge to shine in the coming games.
Sporting highlight has to be Jenson Button's amazing win at the Canadian GP. Taking 6 pit stops and being in last place at one stage to then come through the field and win is something I've never seen before and never likely to see again in my life time. A truly awe inspiring victory.
Unfortunately I didn't get the time to perfect my Mackerel & gooseberry dish but given that the weather looks as miserable as it did yesterday I'm thinking that nets tonight are looking unlikely so perhaps I'll get the time to do it this evening.
Toodlepip xx
Friday, 10 June 2011
It's a worker....
Following on from yesterday and my gooseberry themed recipe creation I think I can say although it wasn't a resounding gastronomic success I was hoping for but it was certainly on the right track.
First off I was slightly disappointed with Waitrose in Twyford not having any fresh mackerel at all so I had to buy frozen (sustainably sourced of course) and even though the Waitrose in Caversham did have two fresh mackerel left one of them looked like it had been gutted by some crazed knife wielding maniac.
Unfortunately too from a photographic perspective a couple of the down-lights in our kitchen are blown, combined with the fact that I only have a iPhone for a camera the pictures I did take are not really worth posting up so you'll have to take my word for it that the dishes looked good.
I'll start with the dessert as it was an absolute success. The gooseberry fool was very simple to make too. I just created a syrup out of some gooseberries and mixed that with a chantilly cream whisked to soft peaks before topping it off with some chopped roasted almonds.
To make the gooseberry syrup I just put a layer of washed, topped and tailed berries into a small saucepan and just covering them with water I simmered until the fruit had broken down into a pulp. I then added a small glug of white wine vinegar and around 4 tablespoons of caster sugar, a little extra water and gave a it a good mix.
You don't want the mixture to be stiff at this stage otherwise it'll set when cooled rather than keeping a syrup like consistancy. Also I like to keep all the lumpy bits in for texture but you could strain through a sieve if you liked before setting aside to cool down.
Chantilly cream is just double cream, caster sugar and vanilla whisked together. I do this by taste so I can't really give you exact measurements but again if you do make it add the vanilla and sugar a bit at a time until you have the flavour you want then whisk the whole lot to a soft peak stage.
(You can use vanilla pods but I have a really brilliant little bottle of vanilla extract which I use, it's quite expensive but lasts much longer and even have the black seedy specks in it.)
To serve I put a layer of the cooled syrup into the bottom of two glass ramekins then folded the remainder of the syrup into the whisked and chilled cream so it gave a kind of marble effect. After spooning equal amounts of the cream into each ramekin I topped with chopped almonds and left in the fridge until it was time to serve.
This can be repeated for virtually any fruit and need not be restricted to just gooseberrys. Apple and rhubarb work well too.
The Mackerel dish was a triumph in a sense because the flavours really did compliment each other. Rather than just have a plain fennel salad I decided that I'd try to pickle the shaved fennel in a gooseberry vinegrette, worked excellently with the oily mackerel!
To make the gooseberry vinegrette I just whisked up olive oil with white wine vinegar along with some seasoning, as per a normal vinegrette, then I added some skinned fresh gooseberry which I'd cut into a small dice. To that I then added my shaved fennel which once stirred and covered I set aside to begin the pickling process.
This really is quite a sharp pickle so I added a bit of sugar water to balance the flavour a bit more. You still want it fairly sharp though so it cuts through the fish so don't over do it.
The gooseberry and mint jelly didn't really work at all although it had a very nice flavour and I think that if combined with vodka it'd make one hell of a good jelly shot! The coldness of the jelly was just too fresh especially as the fish was warm.
Yesterday I griddled the mackerel fillets and rested them on a bed of salad which I'd dressed with the fennel and gooseberry, although it looked and tasted very nice it was a bit muddled and quite difficult to eat.
All I kept thinking while I was having it was that it would work so much better if I'd made a terrine or pâté out of the mackerel, perhaps with a little horseradish then served that up as a starter with some of the pickled fennel and a gooseberry and mint jam rather than a jelly. The salad need not be there at all and you could just serve it with some nice crisp bread.
I'll try this over the weekend if I get time then report back.
Onto the weekend plans and tonight I shall be meeting with a few friends at the Ivory Lounge on Reading's riverside to celebrate the birthday of one of my wonderful friends. We'll be there until around 9pm then we'll be heading a few doors down for dinner at LSQ2.
So far I have a free day on Saturday and if it stays that way I'll retry the mackerel dish as described above and then maybe head up to watch a bit of cricket at Sonning providing the weather looks OK, maybe town in the evening but most probably not as I'm down to play cricket on Sunday again providing the weather holds off enough to get a resonable game in.
Toodlepip xxx
First off I was slightly disappointed with Waitrose in Twyford not having any fresh mackerel at all so I had to buy frozen (sustainably sourced of course) and even though the Waitrose in Caversham did have two fresh mackerel left one of them looked like it had been gutted by some crazed knife wielding maniac.
Unfortunately too from a photographic perspective a couple of the down-lights in our kitchen are blown, combined with the fact that I only have a iPhone for a camera the pictures I did take are not really worth posting up so you'll have to take my word for it that the dishes looked good.
I'll start with the dessert as it was an absolute success. The gooseberry fool was very simple to make too. I just created a syrup out of some gooseberries and mixed that with a chantilly cream whisked to soft peaks before topping it off with some chopped roasted almonds.
To make the gooseberry syrup I just put a layer of washed, topped and tailed berries into a small saucepan and just covering them with water I simmered until the fruit had broken down into a pulp. I then added a small glug of white wine vinegar and around 4 tablespoons of caster sugar, a little extra water and gave a it a good mix.
You don't want the mixture to be stiff at this stage otherwise it'll set when cooled rather than keeping a syrup like consistancy. Also I like to keep all the lumpy bits in for texture but you could strain through a sieve if you liked before setting aside to cool down.
Chantilly cream is just double cream, caster sugar and vanilla whisked together. I do this by taste so I can't really give you exact measurements but again if you do make it add the vanilla and sugar a bit at a time until you have the flavour you want then whisk the whole lot to a soft peak stage.
(You can use vanilla pods but I have a really brilliant little bottle of vanilla extract which I use, it's quite expensive but lasts much longer and even have the black seedy specks in it.)
To serve I put a layer of the cooled syrup into the bottom of two glass ramekins then folded the remainder of the syrup into the whisked and chilled cream so it gave a kind of marble effect. After spooning equal amounts of the cream into each ramekin I topped with chopped almonds and left in the fridge until it was time to serve.
This can be repeated for virtually any fruit and need not be restricted to just gooseberrys. Apple and rhubarb work well too.
The Mackerel dish was a triumph in a sense because the flavours really did compliment each other. Rather than just have a plain fennel salad I decided that I'd try to pickle the shaved fennel in a gooseberry vinegrette, worked excellently with the oily mackerel!
To make the gooseberry vinegrette I just whisked up olive oil with white wine vinegar along with some seasoning, as per a normal vinegrette, then I added some skinned fresh gooseberry which I'd cut into a small dice. To that I then added my shaved fennel which once stirred and covered I set aside to begin the pickling process.
This really is quite a sharp pickle so I added a bit of sugar water to balance the flavour a bit more. You still want it fairly sharp though so it cuts through the fish so don't over do it.
The gooseberry and mint jelly didn't really work at all although it had a very nice flavour and I think that if combined with vodka it'd make one hell of a good jelly shot! The coldness of the jelly was just too fresh especially as the fish was warm.
Yesterday I griddled the mackerel fillets and rested them on a bed of salad which I'd dressed with the fennel and gooseberry, although it looked and tasted very nice it was a bit muddled and quite difficult to eat.
All I kept thinking while I was having it was that it would work so much better if I'd made a terrine or pâté out of the mackerel, perhaps with a little horseradish then served that up as a starter with some of the pickled fennel and a gooseberry and mint jam rather than a jelly. The salad need not be there at all and you could just serve it with some nice crisp bread.
I'll try this over the weekend if I get time then report back.
Onto the weekend plans and tonight I shall be meeting with a few friends at the Ivory Lounge on Reading's riverside to celebrate the birthday of one of my wonderful friends. We'll be there until around 9pm then we'll be heading a few doors down for dinner at LSQ2.
So far I have a free day on Saturday and if it stays that way I'll retry the mackerel dish as described above and then maybe head up to watch a bit of cricket at Sonning providing the weather looks OK, maybe town in the evening but most probably not as I'm down to play cricket on Sunday again providing the weather holds off enough to get a resonable game in.
Toodlepip xxx
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Gooseberries.......
I've been thinking about these little green orbs of fruitiness since yesterday evening when LSQ2 posed a question on Facebook asking what their followers think they should do with the big batch they've just picked. My mind started ticking right away.
Instantly I though of a classic gooseberry fool. Who can resist the swirled green, slightly sour gooseberry purée mixed up with a vanilla sweetened and chilled chantilly cream perhaps topped with some chopped toasted almonds? I'm not even a big dessert fan but that sounds devine !!
However............
Having ditched my recipe making plans yesterday for an evening of sport and beer at my cricket club followed by a curry from my buddies at the Haweli. I've been enlightened by the thought that gooseberries may very well be a perfect accompaniment for these little beauties...
Mackerel.
All fish like Mackerel need a bit of acidity to cut through their natural oiliness and I think that a couple of nicely cook mackerel fillets over a fennel salad could be brought to life with some lovely gooseberry flavour.
I was first thinking of just a basic gooseberry dressing but then I started imagining how it would feel to eat and how it could be made a little more complex in texture and taste.
You'd get a bit of crunch from the fennel salad but maybe adding some croutons would add another texture level. The dressing would add flavour but why stop there? I'm thinking that adding a bit of fresh mint to the dressing would really lift it all in terms of taste so now it's become a gooseberry and mint dressing....better still a gooseberry and mint jelly !!!!! Even betterrerrerrrerer both a dressing and a jelly !!!
Oh this is sounding good....I'm even going to give cricket practise a miss to make it. Actually I'm going to make both. Massive gooseberry off this evening :-)
Toodlepip xx
Instantly I though of a classic gooseberry fool. Who can resist the swirled green, slightly sour gooseberry purée mixed up with a vanilla sweetened and chilled chantilly cream perhaps topped with some chopped toasted almonds? I'm not even a big dessert fan but that sounds devine !!
However............
Having ditched my recipe making plans yesterday for an evening of sport and beer at my cricket club followed by a curry from my buddies at the Haweli. I've been enlightened by the thought that gooseberries may very well be a perfect accompaniment for these little beauties...
Mackerel.
All fish like Mackerel need a bit of acidity to cut through their natural oiliness and I think that a couple of nicely cook mackerel fillets over a fennel salad could be brought to life with some lovely gooseberry flavour.
I was first thinking of just a basic gooseberry dressing but then I started imagining how it would feel to eat and how it could be made a little more complex in texture and taste.
You'd get a bit of crunch from the fennel salad but maybe adding some croutons would add another texture level. The dressing would add flavour but why stop there? I'm thinking that adding a bit of fresh mint to the dressing would really lift it all in terms of taste so now it's become a gooseberry and mint dressing....better still a gooseberry and mint jelly !!!!! Even betterrerrerrrerer both a dressing and a jelly !!!
Oh this is sounding good....I'm even going to give cricket practise a miss to make it. Actually I'm going to make both. Massive gooseberry off this evening :-)
Toodlepip xx
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
We thawt about it........
OH Please excuse the terrible pun in the posts title.....It'll make sense in a bit.
We decided after much discussion that we would withdraw our interest in the house we viewed on Monday. Good sense prevailed because we asked ourselves do we really need to move? Are we in anyway unhappy with where we are? Can we really afford it?
All answers were "No"
Fair enough we don't really have room to swing a cat in our Victorian terrace (however tempting it is) and the extra elbow room would have been nice. Having an extra room for the newbie would also have been a bonus but ultimately, as it usually does, it all comes down to finances. I'm sure we could have it and get by but there might be times when funds get a little tight which can bring tension into the household and it's just not worth risking our current harmonious lifestyle especially when we've got little "name to be announced soon" on the way.
So with that I shall move onto the foodie bit and an interesting article that I came across from the New York Times after following a link on Twitter from Fiona Beckett AKA @food_writer.
The article is written by a true legend of the culinary world Harold McGee. This guy has almost single handedly revolutionised the way the worlds top chefs think about cooking and is an inspiration to people like Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adrià.
The topic covers the benighted ideas behind the thawing out of frozen meat. For those a little bit concerned about which are the safest and quickest ways of doing this the article (follow this link) is a very good read.
I have mentioned it before but I will do so again because if you are reading this and are serious about food in anyway then you really need to get yourselves a copy of this book.....in fact both of these books -
I'm now thinking about food and what to make for this evenings supper. I'm feeling the urge to come up with a new recipe. I'm thinking seasonally of course but also thinking something that will fit in with the dietary requirements of my beautifully radiant and expectant other half.........so ERM.....lots of thinking.
Stay tuned for tomorrows exciting episode ...... toodlepip xx
We decided after much discussion that we would withdraw our interest in the house we viewed on Monday. Good sense prevailed because we asked ourselves do we really need to move? Are we in anyway unhappy with where we are? Can we really afford it?
All answers were "No"
Fair enough we don't really have room to swing a cat in our Victorian terrace (however tempting it is) and the extra elbow room would have been nice. Having an extra room for the newbie would also have been a bonus but ultimately, as it usually does, it all comes down to finances. I'm sure we could have it and get by but there might be times when funds get a little tight which can bring tension into the household and it's just not worth risking our current harmonious lifestyle especially when we've got little "name to be announced soon" on the way.
So with that I shall move onto the foodie bit and an interesting article that I came across from the New York Times after following a link on Twitter from Fiona Beckett AKA @food_writer.
The article is written by a true legend of the culinary world Harold McGee. This guy has almost single handedly revolutionised the way the worlds top chefs think about cooking and is an inspiration to people like Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adrià.
The topic covers the benighted ideas behind the thawing out of frozen meat. For those a little bit concerned about which are the safest and quickest ways of doing this the article (follow this link) is a very good read.
I have mentioned it before but I will do so again because if you are reading this and are serious about food in anyway then you really need to get yourselves a copy of this book.....in fact both of these books -
I'm now thinking about food and what to make for this evenings supper. I'm feeling the urge to come up with a new recipe. I'm thinking seasonally of course but also thinking something that will fit in with the dietary requirements of my beautifully radiant and expectant other half.........so ERM.....lots of thinking.
Stay tuned for tomorrows exciting episode ...... toodlepip xx
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