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
Showing posts with label gooseberry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gooseberry. Show all posts
Thursday, 16 June 2011
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
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