Il Tricolore: Red, White and Green

Another one of my favourite courses of the fat duck menu was one of the few seasonally changing ones. Heston has developed an amazing idea for the presentation of this course. A white chocolate picnic blanket with a check transfer which just before serving is gently melted with a blow torch before serving and it looks so delicious. Not only this but it tastes delicious, I've already posted about olive oil shortbread which on its own is a really surprisingly good (I would say better than butter....tentatively) but combining it with the strawberry flavours and white chocolate it is even better. Here is my version of the dessert (warning it is addictive and very very sweet) edible flowers are not required for the home version.

Heston's

Il Tricolore: Red, White and Green

 Ingredients (serves 2)

Freeze Dried Strawberries

400g strawberries

Olive Oil Ganache

150g white chocolate

100ml cream

100ml olive oil

Olive Oil Shortbread

50g butter

50g sugar

100g flour

50g ground almonds

vanilla extract

salt

½ egg yolk

1/2tsp baking powder

50ml olive oil

black pepper

Strawberry Syrup

50g sugar

1tbsp balsamic vinegar

Macerated Strawberries

2tsp Cardomon pods

1tbsp sugar

coriander seeds

To serve

50g shelled pistachios, chopped

micro herbs

1.     For the Ganache, line a 18cm/18cm square tin on the base. Heat the cream on a medium heat, to the cusp of boiling. Chop the chocolate into very fine pieces, mix the cream and oil together and pour over the chocolate, leave for 1 min then combine. Pourinto the tin and place in the freezer for 1-2hours till solid.

2.     For the shortbread, preheat the oven 150oC. Cream the butter and sugar together. Then add the vanilla, salt, flour, almonds, oil, baking powder, egg yolk and a pinch of black pepper. Mix to form a soft dough, adding more oil or more flour depending on the consistency. Line a baking tray wit baking parchment and place the dough on top, cover with a layer of clingfilm and roll the dough out, with the rolling pin above the cling film to approx. 6mm thick.  Bake in the oven for 15mins until hard and golden brown at the edges, place in the fridge.

3.     For the freeze dried strawberries, thinly slice 5 strawberries, removing the husks for a flat edge. Place in a preheated oven at 100oC and leave for 30-40mins.

4.     For the syrup, puree 6 strawberries from the 400g and combine with the balsamic and sugar over a high heat will the mixture reduces and becomes syrupy, drain if possible and pour into a sauce bottle, refrigerate.

5.     For the Macerated strawberries, shortly before serving, cut 5 strawberries in half lengthways, removing the husks so they can stand on a flat base. Crush the cardamom pods and sprinkle over the strawberries with the sugar and leave to macerate for 5mins. Meanwhile crush the pistachios and turn the ganache onto the shortbread. Cut the shortbread and ganache with a short knife into rectangular pieces.

6.     To serve, squeeze a line of strawberry syrup onto the centre of the plate to stick the shortbread. Place the shortbread on top. Lay three freeze dried strawberry pieces on top and sprinkle over the crushed pistachios, pressing into the ganache and place a spoonful of pistachios in the top LH corner just above the shortbread. On the top RH corner above the shortbread position 3 macerated strawberry halves curling around the biscuit and different angles. Squeeze a line of strawberry syrup from the bottom strawberry to the edge of the plate downwards. Position 2 more strawberries along this line. Place a coriander seed on the tip of each strawberry and garnish with microherbs.

Birthday Brownies

Birthday Brownies

My birthday this year was all about food (you are only 21 once). Eggs Royale, Pain au Raisin and a surprise slice of strawberries and cream gateaux (soo bad for you) with a candle in the top is quite a good way to start the day. (Thank you U8,U4, U7 and the soprano) I have to say Patisserie Valerie was surprising amazing - I wasn't expecting a chain to come out so well but their patisserie (the pastry and cake) were the best I'd had outside of france, the poached eggs were lovely and runny, the hollondaise was nice and salty and the brioche was a surprise interesting addition to the eggs royal, if only i'd been able to fit in some macaroons.... http://www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk

This cake was absolutely amazing - the sponge was really light, the cream was also light (whipped and sweet and the nuts added crunch. The cream on top was possibly a bit much but the whole thing just floated away in the mouth, sugary creamy fluffiness.

Barely finished breakfast when I had to move into lunch. It's surprisingly difficult to keep eating when you let yourself eat everything you want, it almost becomes an effort (I say almost). but when the comedy girl took me out for a champagne lunch at Harriet's tea room I couldn't refuse. Harriet's was upmarket pub food. The sweet potato fries were lovely if a tad under seasoned, the salmon fishcakes were good if a little overcooked but peas were a little boring. It was tasty food, and my grandma would have loved it but the food wasn't the most exciting I've tasted. Having said this the company was excellent (I mean the comedy girl not the other couples average age 70), the staff were amazing - they suggested champagne and brought out a candle in the lemon meringue pie we shared for dessert without asking! Plus the meringue pie was pretty tasty and the menu was affordable and the atmosphere was quiet enough to chat. I would take parents (or get them to take you) for champagne tea there sometime. http://harrietscafetearooms.co.uk/cambridge-city-centre-tearooms/

For the final cake of the day I had made myself exactly what I wanted Cheesecake Brownies. Pizza Express may seem like a basic restaurant for a massive foodie to go on their birthday but great service, free bottle of prosecco for the birthday girl and 25% off mains is a bit of an incentive. Plus I can confidently say the Calabrese pizza is the best pizza on the menu - there is a reason it is the most expensive. Spicy Calabrese sausage D.O.P, hot soft n'duja sausage, finely chopped red chillies, roquito peppers, red & yellow peppers, mozzarella, rocket, pesto, oregano, grana padano. I had panicked about these brownies because I had cooked them in S staircase which meant running back and forth as I failed to work out how to use the oven twice.... But turns out the combination of a classic Nigella brownie base with basic cheesecake topping is a good one

Cheesecake Brownies

Brownies
375 g soft unsalted butter
375 g best quality dark chocolate
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
500 g caster sugar
225 g plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
Cheesecake Topping
300g low fat cream cheese
150g sugar
1tbsp vanilla extract 
1 egg

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Line your approximatley 33 x 23 x 5 1/2cm brownie pan with foil or baking paper.
3. Mix the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract till smooth, beat in an egg
4. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a large heavy based saucepan.
5. In a bowl beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla.
6. Measure the flour into another bowl and add the salt.
7. When the chocolate mixture has melted, let it cool a bit before beating in the eggs and sugar mixture, and then the flour.
8. Beat to combine and then scrape out of the saucepan into the lined brownie pan.
9. Top with the cheesecake mix and using the base of a fork, swirl for a marble effect
10. Bake for about 25 minutes. (this can vary on the oven)
11. When its's ready, the top should be dried to a paler brown speckle with white splattering  but the middle still dark and dense and gooey.
12. Keep checking the brownies as they cook; remember that they will continue to cook as they cool.\

They taste good warm from the oven or slightly cooled.... In fact they just taste very very good

The Accidental Brownies

The Accidental Brownies

            On the last day of Croatia I was in using up mode. I saw eggs, chocolate and what I thought was flour and immediately thought of brownies. (Plus I had been told off earlier that day by one of the boys for not providing enough between meal snacks – you would have thought with all that food….-) I also saw some mascarpone so decided to add them in too. I melted chocolate, a little salt and butter together in a pan. Meanwhile I whisked the eggs with sugar and added in vanilla and the mascarpone. I mixed this into the chocolate mix. At this point I realised that the flour was not actually flour, but cornflour. I debated throwing the whole mixture away but decided it was a waste of perfectly good ingredients. So instead I added the cornflour tentatively. I was so nervous that I only cooked the brownies for 15mins at 140oC before checking every 5mins to see if they were done. 10mins later they passed my test and I took them out and let them harden up.

            They were a surprise success, more morish even than Nigella’s brownies (the recipe I would usually swear by). They proved useful again when my sister was baking for a gluten intolerant friend; I had accidentally invented my own recipe for the perfect snack for her. 

For the love of Campari

For the love of Campari

            If there is one thing my mother loves in the world more than her children (although possibly not her job) it is Campari. A treat when on holiday, straight, over ice with a Mediterranean view and her children cooking the dinner. So it was inevitable when my sister and I and our 4 friends turn up at a holiday house in Croatia at 10pm after 6 hours or so of travelling, the only drink we had to offer to them on the first introduction to my parents was, Campari?

                                             

            Luckily our friends soon developed a (possibly polite) taste for Campari and we settled down into a routine of beach, card games, scrabble, aperitifs and 3-course dinners. Since this was the same place as we had visited the year before I knew exactly how the lie of the land was food wise. Each morning my mum and I (and occasional extras – although the number of volunteers diminished as the holiday went on and the nights got later-) would go down to the fish market followed by a coffee, veg market and the custard doughnut shop, a staple of every Croatian holiday. The veg market in Starigrad, Hvar is a wonderful variety of fresh fruit and veg, olive oil and honey. Except for the clouds of terrifying wasps food lovers paradise. I was especially popular by the end of the week with our chosen stall (possibly due to the mountains of fruit and veg I bought each day), so much so, we would be presented with huge handfuls of grapes, which, once shaken clean of the ravenous wasps, would be gratefully received. The lady and I, although hindered by language barriers, communicated in a lovely mix of sign language, Italian and basic English. Whatever I did, she seemed charmed, and gave me a hug at the end of the week.

            I had many glamorous assistants in the kitchen, from the actual keen cooks (who even gutted about 100 sardines at one point..) to the more occasional cameos (who discovered whipping egg whites is very time consuming..) We ended up eating a huge array of dishes. The barbecue was put to good use (the part of the cooking considered ‘man’s work’), 

                                                 

with a favourite being the grilled sardines, fresh from the morning.  The veg ran out every day as we made vats of roasted veg (oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary), cherry tomatoes (capers, onions, basil, oil, vinegar, sugar, garlic, salt and pepper) and potatoes (oil, garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper). One of the unusual dishes we had was Thai pork belly and egg fried rice cooked by one of my sisters friends, delicious and my dad didn’t even complain at the spiciness! We even attempted various puddings, such as tiramisu, peach tarte tatin  and honey and lavender pannacotta using local produce. We even tried to make Croatian delicacies, of which the Ajav sauce was a big hit. Roasted aubergine and blackened red pepper pureed with oil, paprika, salt, pepper, sugar and vinegar. Another delicious invention was the fava bean dip. A sort of chunky houmous made by boiling the beans with lemons and mashing them up with olive oil, salt and pepper.

                                               

The most interesting foodie experience in Croatia though had to be the sun dried tomatoes. One of my friends had bought her own homemade sun dried tomatoes that were so good we had polished them off by the second lunchtime. The only thing to do was make some more. So on my friend’s instruction we cut up cherry tomatoes, salted them, put rosemary on top and laid them in the sun for a couple of days. Hey Presto they shrivelled up! We washed them in white wine vinegar (or what we assumed it was – it was called alkoholic and looked like vinegar-) and jarred them with olive oil, garlic and rosemary, delicious.

It seemed such a shame when we had to go home to leave our little routine, but I held on till the very last minute and had the leftover roasted vegetables for breakfast on the ferry home while the others had pastries. I love roasted veg almost as much as my mother loves Campari.

The Great French Adventure

The Great French Adventure

Rose Wine, garlic and other stories

            This summer I went on yet another choir tour (well choir tour is a relative term, it was more a cookery holiday with the odd bit of singing). I don’t think you can ask for much more than the gorgeous weather of the south of France, great company and a massive kitchen completely at my disposal. Luckily the choir was one to a part so they were quite lenient when I would spend most rehearsals leaving mid song saying ‘just got to check on the cookies’. (I think the fact they got to eat the cookie dough may have helped a little bit) All in all it was a rather good set up, the four singers (plus 2 extra tag alongs) and our hosts, all welcome recipients of my experimentations (even if they often turned out not necessarily as planned). Plus a huge herb garden, which I’m sure any chef will tell you is one of the ultimate luxuries, to be able to go out and pick anything you feel like adding to the dish. On top of all this we were able to give a little back with a small number of concerts we managed to fit in around the swimming, eating and cooking.

            My mantra in France was garlic, butter and cream, from there you couldn’t go much wrong. I would spend most days getting up and dragging people to the boulongerie/patisserie for some of the best croissant I have ever tasted (well it was France), before getting started on a routine of cooking with intermittent rehearsals. Of course I always had willing helpers (especially on the washing up front which was a godsend), the soprano was particularly talented at chopping garlic, the bass successfully whipped about 10 egg whites before I found the electric whisk and the tenor had a moment of spiritual revelation over whipping cream.  (There was also the time I set them shelling pistachios – I was not popular..) Then in the evening (sometimes following a concert), we would sit down to an aperitif (usually rose wine a la region though thanks to my influence Campari later made an appearance) followed by a three-course meal. Of course I made some obvious choices, the pea pesto for instance, but I also got to have a go at gazpacho (a little heavy on the garlic, what wasn’t) and snails. My favourite dessert I made that week was lemon meringue pie, although I learnt a few things

1.     Let the lemon curd cool completely before pouring in the pastry cases

2.     Don’t forget about the pastry cases in the oven – they will burn

3.     Cook the lemon curd for longer than you think (mine was liquid)

4.     Sage makes quite a nice addition to the curd

Another big fail of the week was the last night beef. We had a concert so I was determined that I would slow cook the beef in red wine, however I had failed to take into account that the cut we had bought had very little fat on it so the beef came out of the oven old and tough, luckily the amount of herbs I had shoved in the pot meant it tasted good even if the texture was wrong – note to self fat=tender.

            Another not so much fail, but definite disaster moment was the fish. There were eleven of us eating so I had bought 3 large fillets of some unidentifiable white fish which after flouring and seasoning, I fried using a large flat pan on the stove. Unfortunately not only did the kitchen fill with smoke which made my turning down of a cigarette earlier in the evening seem pointless, but also I almost set myself on fire several times. Is it bad that my first thought at this point was not ‘I almost died’ but ‘what will they do without an alto’…..

            Two of the more exciting desserts were the rhubarb tarte tatin and the peach clafoutis. The tarte tatin was simple. I made a caramel using about 3tbsp sugar and a knob of butter, 1tbsp of honey, a split vanilla pod, large sprinkling of salt and some cinnamon and ginger. Then I placed raw rhubarb into the pan before covering the whole thing with a sheet of puff pastry. I cooked for about 15-25mins or until the top was brown at 140oC, then I let it cool. I served this with an orange and basil infused custard. Once you’ve made custard you realise how surprisingly easy it is. You can add any flavour by infusing it in the cream that you heat up (here orange peel, vanilla seeds and basil), then you need lots of egg yolks, sugar whisked up and the key when you combine these two mixtures is just to heat it over a very low heat and don’t stop stirring. It will feel like it takes forever and you will want to leave it, but don’t. If you need to go to the loo, turn it off, if you need to check on a cake, turn it off, but whatever you do don’t leave it unattended.

            The peach clafoutis was a new dessert I’d always seen but never made, it’s a sort of giant, thick baked pancake. The key here is not to undercook it, add vanilla extract and lots of sugar on top to brulee the top. To make the pancake mix, you heat 125ml cream, 125ml milk in a pan with vanilla extract/ any flavours you would like in it (here I added a little bay leaf). Beat 4 eggs and 170g sugar together, then fold in 3 tbsp flour. Add the cooled milk/cream mix and whisk together. Halve peaches and place facing up in a dish (they add a lovely sourness within the sweet batter). Pour over the batter and dot butter over the top. Cook for 20mins at 180oC, take out of the oven and sprinkle over sugar, put in the oven for a further 10mins till the top has browned slightly. The custard I served with this was grand marnier flavour. For this I added grand marnier at the final stage, when I was slowly cooking the final product so that all the alcohol didn’t evaporate. Unfortunately at 9 in the morning when I decided to make this some of the alcohol did come off, I don’t advise starting the day steaming grand marnier, especially if you then have wine with lunch….. We also found with this custard that the grand marnier appeared to strengthen with age, when we had the leftovers the next day for lunch it was a lot more alcoholic than it had seemed the night before….

            By the end of the night, we were usually singing loudly (it was a good thing we could all actually sing) a wide variety of pieces. We managed to go from Rule Britannia in four part harmony, to a memorable rendition of you’re the one that I want from Grease complete with dancing, to Bruckner motets. We did ask some of the locals on the final night if our singing had disturbed at 1 in the morning, luckily the immediate neighbours assured us that they had enjoyed it and it was an advertisement for our concert rather than a deterrent. Luckily plying them with red onion and goats cheese tart was another factor in appeasing the neighbours.

            If anything can make a kitchen smell amazing, it is slow cooking caramelised onions. All you have to do is finely slice red onions and put in a pan with garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, vinegar, butter and sugar and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally till you get a lovely concoction of sweet smelling, sticky onions. Use this to top a sheet of puff pastry and add slices of goats cheese and you have heaven on earth. The French get a lot right.

            In fact other things the French clearly got right as seen from this holiday choir tour.

1.     Garlic (it basically makes you feel better however much you’ve eaten, dunk, sung)

2.     Croissant

3.     Lunch should take at least 2 hours, dinner 4

4.     Even the most basic ingredients in supermarkets should be nice

5.     Butter and Cream make everything better

6.     Baguettes really do make the best sort of bread

7.     Homemade pate is divine, flavours don’t have to be traditional and it doesn’t need to look pretty (e.g fig, chestnut, pepper..)

8.     Wine co-operatives are such a good idea (where anyone who earns a vineyard, donates their grapes to one co-operative, who make the wine and the profit is split. The community then fill up jerry cans from petrol pumps and it is cheaper, nicer and better for everyone)

9.     A little wine at every meal is so much better than England’s binge drinking society

10. If it’s not in season you will find it had to get hold of, even in a supermarket

11. Champagne and macaroons are the answer to everything

It's the most wonderful time of the year

It's the most wonderful time of the year

It's that time of year, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, the goose is getting fat, santa is all over the shops.....oh no wait it's October! However that doesn't seem to stop Ocado from reminding me it's time to book the christmas food shop. Well if I must spend my day planning christmas food rather than reading up on Prokofiev, I must. I am also feeling the creative juices flowing after U8 has told me that she is going to Midsummer house this evening and we have spent the morning looking at the menu and pictures of food.

Over the years I have built up a number of traditions in our house for christmas I'm sure everyone has their own opinions

1. 3 course dinner on christmas eve before heading over to sing in Midnight mass followed by the first champagne of christmas day (usually involves fish main course)
2. Smoked Salmon and Scrambled egg champagne breakfast
3. Some sort of cured fish lunch starter
4. Traditional turkey but no rules as to the trimmings!
5. Christmas pudding is homemade, no suet and made at least a month in advance, everyone in the house has to stir it
6. Only mum and I will eat the bread sauce but that still means we need at least 3 times what Nigella suggests for a dinner for 6
7. LEFTOVERS (for what feels like the rest of your life)

I've decided that this year I have sufficiently introduced my parents to enough new flavours to actually make something with a little spice this year, although piri-piri turkey may be a little far. So for christmas eve I thought we could have a Moroccan theme. Mostly my cooking is french inspired but given the opportunity it would be great to experiment with different cuisines. Although realistically it's like learning a language, to actually be able to do it right you need to live in the country for a while. Anyway. I started with mackerel with orange and Harissa glaze, usually sweetness and spice are good with oily fish as they cut through the oiliness. What to serve with it is tricky. Too much spice or sugar won't match the glaze as it already has both. So after trawling the internet for what feels like 3 hours (but what is more realistically 1) I decide on giant couscous (if you haven't discovered this yet do so soon) AND roasted butternut squash with texture of crunchy almonds and saltiness of olives YUM. At the moment the plate feels a little too orange.... I need some green veg but have no idea what to add to the dish - green beans?? sauteed cabbage? Buttered Leeks....
Starter. I know mezze would make sense but i'm not sure because christmas is such a busy time for cooking and I am morally obliged to make everything from scratch, plus the rest of the meal is now a little on the heavy side and it will be christmas the next day.... So second idea is a simple trio of dips (lemon and coriander hummus, smokey baba ganoush and tzatziki) with melba toast, sorry did I say simple...
Now I know Baklava isn't technically Moroccan BUT they do eat versions of it in Morocco (or at least according to wikipedia they do) 'baklava snake'. So for dessert I want to have a go at making a sort of deconstructed baklava consisting of a rolled baklava slice, topped with ground pistachios, with a rosewater and orange yoghurt mousse and orange coulis.

Breakfast Christmas day is technically already set but I still think there's room for experimentation. This year I'm going to serve the scrambled eggs (beaten eggs, salt, pepper, dash of cream and herb of choice poured into an already hot pan with a knob of butter, already melted and cook over a medium heat stirring till consistency is not too solid -remember it still keeps cooking off the heat-) with thyme, smoked salmon, squeeze of lemon on a bagel with toasted pumpkin seeds (thank you very much for the idea Bills eggs royale breakfast).

For starter on christmas day I'm looking for a cured fish. Since U8 has told me about her recent midsummer house experience (yes this blog post is taking me two days) i am quite keen to try combining salmon and apple, which apparently they have on their menu. Searching for a recipe I'm afraid I didn't find a good version - that recipe will have to wait for a few months (thinking apple puree, apple crisps, confit salmon...), plus I figure cured salmon and apple might be too strong a flavour, confit is better. But I did find a really interesting idea, if I cure the salmon and combine fennel, beetroot and dill I could make a sort of salad with dill mayonnaise dressing, the beetroot just sweet enough to cut through the oiliness of the salmon (plus U8 was also talking about an amazing beetroot dish...)

Someone once told me that all good meals start with the sides but of course here we already know what the main is. When cooking potatoes there are a couple of rules: fat must be hot before you put the potatoes in, you need a little acidity (maybe vinegar), a herb/spice, pepper and lots of salt. This year I'm thinking, bay leaves, thyme, and truffle oil (my new love). Since christmas is a time for overindulgence the other sides this year will consist of creamed spinach, two types of stuffing (chestnut and cherry/pistachio), cranberry red cabbage, garlic and cumin roasted carrots, parmesan roasted parsnips and dijon braised brussel sprouts. For the piece de resistance as it were I could go really outlandish and go crazy with flavours but to be honest I think the side dishes speak for themselves so a simple
clementine and sage gravy with madeira gravy is all it's going to be, the real trick is butter under the skin for extra crispy skin! Now I am a big fan of gin (nothing better than a gin and tonic) so in order to incorporate this into the menu I'm thinking sloe gin cranberry sauce with cloves and juniper berries.... Bread sauce has to be a bit more traditional, so turn to Nigella with extra nutmeg grated on top - some things never change.
The pudding is always special - we tend to go heavy on the fruit and less on the suet. Now I wouldnt normally do this but it's getting late and the pudding last year was particularly good soooo I'm going to use the same one as last year - in fact this one has no suet, just raisins sultanas, apple, prunes, cranberries and more... I am probably just creating unnecessary extra work for myself but I really want to make grand marnier and clementine custard to serve with the christmas pudding as well as brandy butter - it is just soooo good. Plus christmas always needs more booze! Still haven't got very far on the turkey but found a great recipe for cranberry and white chocolate panettone which will be great for boxing day brunch (and to be honest any time we get peckish) and of course Nigella's mince pies which are the only mince pies you should ever really make.

So final menu

Christmas eve

Lunch - Roasted Tomato and Basil Quiche

Dinner - crunchy chickpeas
           - lemon and coriander hummus, smokey baba ganoush, tzatziki and melba toast
           - mackerel with orange and harissa glaze, giant couscous with roasted butternut squash
          - baklava cigar, rosewater and orange yoghurt mousse and orange coulis

Christmas Day

Breakfast - Smoked Salmon, thyme and truffle scrambled eggs on bagels with toasted pumpkin seeds

Lunch - Cured Salmon and beetroot
           - clementine and sage turkey with madeira gravy
           - creamed spinach, chestnut stuffing roll, cranberry red cabbage, cherry and pistachio stuffing, cumin and garlic carrots, parmesan baked parsnips, truffle and thyme roasties, dijon braised brussel sprouts, bread sauce, sloe gin cranberry sauce (somehow I think we're going to have leftovers)
           - fruity christmas pudding
          - clementine and grand mariner custard, brandy butter

Dinner - LEFTOVERS