Cheat’s sausage rolls…shop bought puff pastry + good quality sausages (skin removed)…add a dash of pastry creativity, brush with egg yolk and bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes…job done!
24/11/2010 · 8:54 pm
oh what a lovely pear!
I’ve been following ‘The London Foodie’ blog for a while now. It’s written by a total foodie called Luiz Hara, who is based, yep you guessed it…in London!. I don’t know how he does it but, seemingly effortlessly he seeks out and frequents an endless selection of London eateries, supper clubs and events and then finds time alongside a full time job to share his experiences and mouth watering photography via his blog. He also runs the London Cooking Club, a monthly supper club with a difference…the idea is that every month has a different theme, Luiz devises a menu and sends it out to the attendees the week before for them to pick the dish that they want to prepare and bring along, with an accompanying wine. Past themes have been Ottolenghi, ‘Demystifying Japanese cooking’ and cooking styles from a variety of countries such as Syria and Portugal and it’s usually based on recipes from one particular cook book. I saw Luiz advertising a ‘French Provincial Cooking’ evening focussing on the recipes of iconic British food writer Elizabeth David, who had her first book published in 1960…
She was responsible for bringing French and Italian cuisine to post war Britain. Her recipes convey her strong personality, she was definitely a lady who knew her mind and this comes across in her non-fluffy, succint, verging on curt instructions…I like her! I chose to take on the dessert that Luiz had selected…poires etuvees au vin rouge (pears baked in red wine). The recipe was brief to say the least…
I fell at the first hurdle…I don’t own an aga 😦 and was so ill prepared that I even had to buy a brand spanking new cast iron pot and get it shipped here tout de suite.
I woke early on Saturday morning feeling a bit apprehensive and cracked on prepping the comice pears by peeling them and submerging them in their bath of wine, sugar and water…
where they would remain bubbling away inside a ‘slow oven’, which after having done some internet research I concluded was approx 120 degrees, for 5-7 hours!! I don’t think I’ve ever cooked anything for that long, let alone a humble pear but what Elizabeth wants…Elizabeth gets, who am I to argue?
With a good few hours to kill before those babies’d be ready, I hopped on my bike and headed to Crouch End to pick up the wine I’d selected to accompany my dessert and a wedge of reblochon, my contribution to the cheeseboard.
4 hours later, my house smelled amazing and this is what the pears looked like…good but not yet good enough…
After 6 long, slow hours they had indeed turned a gorgeous dark mahogany colour just as Elizabeth says they would…
I’d only been able to fit 6 pears in my pot and with 12 mouths to feed there weren’t any spares to taste test, which was slightly nerve wracking. So I tried to exercise some patience (not something that comes naturally) and packaged them up in an attempt to public transport-proof them ready for the journey to Islington.
At 7.30pm I turned up at Luiz’s, was welcomed warmly into his stunning home and plied with Sipsmith gin (my fave) and tonic. The guests arrived in a steady stream, we were introduced to one another and given a quick run down of how the evening would work. Not long after this we were served the hors d’oeuvres…rillettes de lapin (potted rabbit and pork) prepared by Cara. I have to admit, I’ve never tried rabbit before and decided it was delicious…
Next we had oeufs benedictine sur brandade de morue (poached eggs on cream of salted cod with hollandaise sauce) prepared by our lovely hosts Gerald and Luiz…
My photo really doesn’t do it justice but I absolutely loved this course…it completely pandered to my love affair with salt!
Next up Tiffany had made the potage creme Normande (Normandy cream of fish soup) but had bravely added a couple of her own twists to add flavour to what was a pretty basic recipe…I’m not sure what Elizabeth would have said about going off piste but I thought Tiffany’s tweaks worked wonders…it was so delicate but full of flavour, a nice departure from the thick stewy soups that have become so popular nowadays…
Kelly and Ben had managed to source the mother of all salmon trout, the length of a strong man’s arm, to make truite saumonee au four avec beuree de montpelier (whole baked salmon trout with montpellier butter). They also decided to veer away from Elizabeths method in favour of Delia, who’s recommendation on cooking times differed by about 6 hours…I don’t blame them!
It was served with puree de celeri-rave at pomme de terre (celeriac & potato purèe) prepared by Lucy…
The veritable meat fest that was the casoulet de Toulouse (beans with pork, mutton, sausage and duck) had been prepared by Elizabeth and Hugh and was divine, tender but not mushy…cooked to perfection!…
And as if we hadn’t already eaten the equivalent of a full meal, this was followed by the boeuf a la Bourgignonne (beef stew with red wine, onions and mushroom) cooked by Libbie and served alongside Johanna’s endives au beurre (endives stewed in butter)…
Again, my photo’s just don’t do the dish justice but the beef was exquisitely tender and the typical bitterness of the endives was balanced perfectly by the rich, smooth butter…heaven!
But next up, was a sight to behold…the cheeseboard of wonder…
We had all brought a French cheese to contribute to this beauty and I’m proud to say, I worked my way through and tried every.single.last.one!
All of this eating and wine quaffing takes time and it was gone midnight by the time I served les desserts…
poires etuvees au vin rouge (pears baked in red wine)…
The moment of truth had arrived and I have to blow my own trumpet and say that my pears were absolutely bloody gorgeous. They were sweet, but served cold, were incredibly refreshing. Just what we needed after so many rich courses. I served them in their juice with some extra thick double cream. I had sought advice from my friend Hannah, earlier in the week, who made contact with Xavier Rousset, MD of Texture to ask for his opinion on wine pairing. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to source the Bouvet Ladubet Rubis that he recommended but I jotted it down and asked for the next best thing at my local wine shop and this is what they came up with…
a sparling white from the Loire. it was delicious and the perfect accompaniment to the sweet, syrupy pears.
We were all completely and utterly sated by this point and my fellow guests started to book taxi’s as it was getting pretty late. I wasn’t far behind but was at the mercy of Luiz’s amazing hospitality and even more amazing liqueur cabinet…
I finally left sometime after 3am, having a had a wonderful evening full of gorgeous food in very fine company. I loved the communal style of dinner party, which everyone had contributed to and shared and despite not having known anyone at the start of the evening I felt like I had made a roomful of friends.
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You’ve got a friand…
Ever since my recent trip to Bettys in York I’ve been obsessed with financiers and trying to find the perfect recipe to try out. I discovered a few that incorporated soft fruits such as apricots or raspberries and I suddenly remembered the blackberries that I had picked in September and stashed at the back of my freezer for an occasion just like this. On my new mission to find the perfect blackberry financier recipe I stumbled on this one by Yotam Ottolenghi for blackberry and star anise friands. What is a friand I hear you ask…and what have they got to do with financiers??? well… let me educate you… friands are based very closely on financiers and are very popular in New Zealand and Australia but you’re more likely to find additional flavours and ingredients in friands such as fruits, nuts or chocolate. I decided to give Ottolenghi’s recipe a go but, controversially maybe, decided to omit the star anise, mainly because I didn’t have any and was feeling too lazy on Sunday night to go and buy some but also because I felt that it was a bit of an acquired taste and didn’t want to overcomplicate my friands and swamp the delicate taste of the blackberries.
I liked the fact that you bake the friands straight into the cupcake tin as opposed to using paper cases as it gave them a gorgeous golden brown crust with a very pleasant crunch…
They were amazingly light and moist and the glaze, which was made by mixing strained blackberry pulp with icing sugar was the most amazing colour…
My friands looked so pretty when I left the house first thing this morning before they took an unexpected a nosedive on the bus. Luckily they stayed in their containers but looked a little worse for wear by the time I got them into work. Fortunately my colleagues/guinea pigs weren’t overly concerned with aesthetics and wolfed them down…after all friands will be friands!
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ooooo Betty!
My love of autumn has been revived by a gorgeous weekend in York…bright blue skies, fluffy white clouds, amazing autumn leaves…
and afternoon tea at a real northern institution…Bettys…
Bettys is ever so popular and there’s always a queue of eager sweet toothed tourists awaiting their turn to sample the delicacies…
With this in mind I’d booked a table upstairs in the ‘Belmont Room’…
what it lacked in busy buzzy cafe atmosphere it made up for with its elegant cruise liner inspired art deco features. The waitresses were dressed in period clothes and a live pianist serenaded us…all very sophisticated!
But let me get back to the main event…
A pot of Bettys tea room blend tea…
and a tower of delicate goodies…
dainty but well filled, crustless roast ham and smoked salmon sandwiches (with real butter of course)…
a sultana scone, which had a very pleasant lemon zing to it served with strawberry jam and clotted cream…
and to top it off a minature chocolate eclair, a fresh fruit tart and a lemon financier…
The financier was so very moist and had a crunchy lemon drizzle topping (definitely on the ‘must bake’ list) but for me the raspberry tart really stole the show…extremely light pastry, a sweet, creamy custard filling to die for, topped with tart but succulent raspberries. It definitely deserves a picture of its own…
Despite having filled myself up with a huge breakfast at the hotel I managed to polish the whole.lot.off…
On the way out I had a recce of the shop, which was chock full of Bettys goodies…
It may have become a Mecca for tourists but the experience of a trip back in time to this wonderful afternoon tea emporium remains a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
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Come on…chop chop
My friend Owen recently accused me of neglecting the, let’s say, ‘less posh’ eateries of London on my blog. I tried to assure him that I still regularly frequent aforementioned venues but probably too frequently to be able to keep up with blogging them all!
However, I thought I would pander to him on this occassion, especially as he was the instigator of our foray into the world of Shepherds Bush’s noodle bars.
So…if you’re ever short on time before a gig at Shepherds Bush Empire, which is exactly the situation we found ourselves in on Tuesday, I highly recomend a visit to Chop Chop. Just minutes away from the Empire, behind a pretty generic looking shopfront lies bowl upon bowl of steaming, tasty noodles and soups and…most of them are under £4!! bargain!
I’ve actually been hankering after noodles for a good few weeks (mostly when hungover) but have been lured away from them in favour of other food genre’s so I was glad to finally get my way.
The Chop Chop menu was pretty extensive, which is always problematic for me and my indecisiveness, but the minute I saw that they did kway teow I had to have it! I have very fond memories of it as my favoured dish when travelling through South East Asia a few years back. A plate piled high with flat, juicy rice noodles, crunchy beansprouts, pieces of pork and chicken and ginormous king prawns mmm….
Owen had the Laksa, which apparently he always has when he visits Chop Chop and only falls slightly short of the BEST, which he told me he tasted in Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo…praise indeed I reckon!…
The king prawn noodle soup looked pretty impressive too…
and rest assured…all of the above were eaten with extremely hygienic chopsticks :)…
and washed down with some tasty Tsingtao beer.
I’ve been told good things about the Kings Cross branch too so come on…Chop Chop!
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Ruby ruby ruby ruby rubyyy…
I’m currently recovering from a very tiring but rewarding weekend. I embarked upon my biggest catering job to date, which I mentioned in passing a couple of weeks ago here. It was my friend Hannah’s parents Ruby Wedding Anniversary party and I somehow single-handedly churned out canapes and a hot fork buffet for 40 hungry revellers. I’d completely under estimated the amount of preparation time that’d be required and worked solidly all day Friday and Saturday with Han’s dad keeping me sane with a continuous supply of tunes from his ipod – bless him!
Even though I was using an old, faithful recipe for a chocolate fudge cake that I’ve made loads of times before and had already experimented scaling it up here it was soooo much scarier tackling the real deal…12 inches, 2 layers and 10 bitten nails worth of chocolate fudge cake (rest assured no nail clippings went anywhere near the cake!)…
sandwiched and coated in litres of chocolate fudge ganache gooeyness…
and decorated with dark chocolate dipped strawberries, raspberries and my handwritten scrawl…
I was pretty happy with the finished article and luckily so were the happy couple.
I usually make the standard 8 inch cake but to scale it up for a 12 inch cake you just need to use double quantities for each 12 inch layer (eg. 350g butter, 350g sugar, 6 eggs etc).
Here’s the recipe for the 8 incher, because after all who’s really going to be making a 12 inch monstrosity eh??…
175g unsalted butter
175g golden caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
3tbsp golden syrup
40g ground almonds
175g self raising flour
pinch of salt
40g cocoa powder
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line 2 x 8inch cake tins.
Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs. Stir in the syrup and ground almonds, these 2 ingredients add amazing moistness to the cake. Sift the flour, salt and cocoa powder into the bowl and fold in gently. Add a little water, if necessary, to make the cake batter a dropping consistency. Divide between the tins and bake for 30-35 minutes or until they spring back when touched and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. I tend to err towards a shorter cooking time as I like it to be really fudgy although be careful as there’s a bit of a fine line between fudgy and undercooked 🙂
Leave the cakes in their tins for 5 minutes or so and then turn out to cool on a wire rack. While the cakes are cooking and cooling you can make a start on the ganache icing…
225g plain chocolate, broken into pieces
55g dark muscovado sugar
225g unsalted butter, diced
5tbsp evaporated milk
1/2tsp vanilla essence
Put all of the ganache ingredients into a heavy based saucepan and heat gently, stirring constantly until melted. It’s really important that you don’t leave this unattended or over heat as it will become grainy. I’ve learnt that the hard way and although it still tastes good, the texture and appearance is compromised somewhat. Pour the melted mixture into a bowl and chill in the fridge for about an hour until spreadable.
Use the ganache to sandwich and cover the cake. And there, my friends, you have it…a moist, dense chocolate fudge cake with gorgeous, gooey, heart attack inducing icing…enjoy!
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Hawksmoor…we’ll meat again…
I’m currently teaching myself Twitter and realising just how addictive it is. Everyday I’m bombarded with tasty tit bits…@HawksmoorLondon have been tweeting updates and alluring photo’s of their new restaurant in Seven Dials and when they announced that reservations were open for their soft launch week I, along with over 1500 others blitzed them with reservation requests. I heard nothing for a couple of days and thought I’d missed out when all of a sudden an email pinged into the inbox offering me a table for 4. I didn’t know who I was going to take with me at this stage but accepted anyway, knowing that I would have no problem finding 3 steak loving accomplices. In the last few days the amazing reviews have been tweeted thick and fast…my excitement knew no bounds!
I’ve been to Hawksmoor in Spitalfields a few times but have only ever sampled their cocktails, which I hasten to add are amazing. I was really looking forward to finally getting a chance to taste the highly acclaimed food plus, during soft launch week, the lovely people at Hawksmoor were offering 50% off food…and I love a bargain!
So last night found me traipsing through the rain, down a dark alley near Seven Dials sure that I’d taken a wrong turning when all of a sudden out of the murkiness shone a beacon…
It was all so new and spangly and smelling slightly of paint and polish (in a nice way)…
Our reservation wasn’t until 8.30pm but we arrived nice and early so that we could sit in the bar and enjoy a cocktail of two. I found the decision making particularly difficult as Pete and his team have concocted a tantalising list of alcoholic beverages. These guys really know their stuff and their bar, lined with jars and flasks full of intruguing concoctions, would make any scientist proud…
In the end we were so overawed we put our trust in the bartender and asked for his recommendation. We ended up with a very yummy selection of drinks, my favourite of which was made with gin and marmalade but wasn’t at all sickly or cloying. I just wish I could remember what they were called…
I think these beauties were called concealed weapons (?)…
After some civilised supping we were lead through to our table and presented with the mouthwatering food menu…
Again we needed help and asked our lovely waitress for advice on cuts and quantities of steak.
*WARNING the following photographs contain a level of food porn that is not for the faint hearted or those of a nervous disposition!*
We sampled a couple of starters…succulent Tamworth belly ribs served with red cabbage…
and melt in the mouth grilled lamb chops with a mint and caper salad…
For the main course both Simon and I opted for a medium, 400g ribeye steak…
Hannah chose the D-Rump, which had been aged for 55 days, eliminating the toughness that is sometimes associated with rump steak and leaving behind an extremely tasty, tender piece of meat…
and Shane went for the humungous 600g bone-in sirloin…
We ordered a selection of sides to share including 2 varieties of chips (triple cooked and beef dripping), grilled field mushrooms and buttered spinach and a veritable feast of sauces and accompaniments for our steaks…peppercorn sauce, anchovy butter, stilton hollandaise and bearnaise sauce…
My fully loaded plate was a sight to behold…
We tucked in with vigour, only stopping occasionally to smile beatifically at one other and make sounds of carniverous appreciation and joy!
I tried a piece of everyone’s steak and although they were all divine, in my opinion the D-rump won out on taste and will be what I order when I return (that’s a given).
We made a valiant effort to finish everything on our plates but were absolutely stuffed and sinking into a meat induced coma. What should you do in this situation?…order pudding of course!
I’m from the school of thought that however full you are, there is always a bit of space left for pudding, a different compartment as it were. We ordered sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream…
chocolate pudding with ivy house cream…
lemon curd served in the most gorgeous mini kilner jar with shortbread…
and we were also brought complimentary ice cream in 2 varieties…salted caramel and cornflake…
I am still reeling from the exquisiteness of the food that we experienced last night. Words (nearly) fail me. I asked my dinner companions to supply me with some quotes to describe their Hawksmoor experience. Here’s what they came back with…read them and weep…
“A culinary experience that that would have made a caveman proud.”
“An orgy of gastronomic decadence.”
“A carnivorous celebration that had us weeping tears of exultation onto empty plates.”
“Got my juices flowing”
“A moo-ving experience”
I received a couple slightly more risqué suggestions, which I have omitted because my Mum reads my blog and they would have made her blush! 😉
Hawksmoor, in my opinion, are the leaders in their field (pun well and truly intended) serving meat porn to the hungry London masses…I hope their success continues and both Spitalfields and Seven Dials go from strength to strength, growing the adoring fan base that they have nurtured. I for one will be going back for more…
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I baked a 12 inch cake, quartered it and piled it up with some very naughty chocolate fudge ganache to make the hugest, comedy slice of chocolate fudge cake in the world for my friend Nic’s birthday!
24/10/2010 · 5:46 pm
Pitch 42…
Yesterday in my lunch break I went on a long awaited pilgrimage to Whitecross Street Market especially to visit Pitch 42. I’ve read amazing things about this unassuming little market stall…
with it’s simple, unfussy menu…
and its cool quirkiness…
They serve Square Mile Coffee…
and produce beautiful coffee…
I had a flat white, which was amazingly smooth, silky and delicious and everything I’d hoped it would be. I’d suggested the cortado to my friend who wanted ‘just a little coffee’, which is exactly what he got….
When the barista saw me taking photo’s he insisted on making an even prettier one and wowed me with his skills…
I’m so glad I finally got to see and experience Pitch 42 for myself. It may not be all singing and all dancing like some cafe’s around town but it’s for that exact reason that I liked it so much. They don’t need to hide behind a highly polished, over branded, super trendy shop front, their coffee and skills speak for themselves. I would highly recommend a visit.
Oh…and while you’re there why not take the chance to sample some of the amazing delicacies on offer from one (or more) of the plethora of food stalls that make up the weekly food market on Thursdays and Fridays. I was lured towards a stall called ‘Lil Italy’ by their mouthwatering display of panini’s and chose the parma ham and scamorza (a smoked Italian cow’s milk cheese, similar to mozzarella) mmm…
My trip to Whitecross Street Market was the perfect treat to end my working week. I have a feeling I may become a regular…I just wish I worked a bit nearer so that I could pop to Pitch 42 on my way to the office in the morning.
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On the spur of the moment I entered myself into the Dorset Cereals Little Blog awards to see how I’d get on. Go on…take a break, make a brew and spend a couple of minutes clicking this link and voting fo me! x
19/10/2010 · 8:18 am
Afternoon Tease 