A Serious fan!

I mentioned recently my joy at finding another seriously good dessert from those clever Serious Food people. This fabulously photogenic Gianduja Mousse with Sea Salted Caramel in their slinky newly revamped ceramic pots was their latest creation to adorn my ever popular heart-shaped plates and it tastes even better than it looks.

And then I heard from the Serious Food PR people, it seems my adoration hasn’t gone unnoticed. Each month fellow Serious Food lovers are sent a newsletter with news on their brands, some recipes from their chefs, details of some tasty competitions and a Serious recommends section.

This month Serious are recommending checking out “Come Dine with Me” (which is definitely one of those shows that make you shout at the TV “why on earth did you say that/cook that or feed that to your unfortunate sadly delusional guests?”, the Food Lover Britain website to enlighten discerning food lovers as to their local foodie treats and finally a blog – in fact this little old blog. Well thank you kindly, Serious Food – the feeling is mutual!

All Buffed up!

Hold on to your hat, Stephanie, I thought I’d arrive early and help you set up for the party. Yes, possibly for one of the first time ever I have got my act together and am ready ahead of time. When Stephanie announced the theme of this month’s blog party as “Buffy” as in vampire slayer, I was initially a little thrown. I am aware of Buffy and her tendency for lurking about graveyards and brandishing pointed sticks but I couldn’t remember anything particular about food. I consulted imdb.com, as the font of all vital celluloid knowledge, but it didn’t give me much inspiration. My limited knowledge of vampires is that they don’t eat, unless you count the biting of flesh of a well-turned neck so I am not bothering catering for our fanged friends or the undead. Instead maybe I should consider demon-busting sustenance for the Scooby Gang et al, and I am guessing that generally they wish to repel vampires - apart maybe from Angel!

As usual when the month’s theme is publicised I start pondering the turn my canapés will take, their vital ingredients and presentation. Buffy inspired crockery, I am completely flummoxed here. So bearing in mind that I don’t think any of the “energetically pursued by Buffy” vampires ever turned into a bat (it seems that is very last year for the modern vampire, Mick St John and the dashing Josef in Moonlight don’t go in for bat transformations and Henry in Blood Ties doesn’t either) I decided that artistic licence was in order. It’s not as if my place is awash with vampiric accoutrements (no really!) but I wanted bats – and the bats I’d set my little black heart on was bat-shaped table confetti. Why did I really want bats? I can only think this is some deep-seated love of Count von Count and his batty companions from Sesame Street, rising its head again.

However it seems that these furry bodied winged creatures are considered a tad seasonal, really are bats not for life? And being months from Halloween I had to do a bit of searching, but fear not my quest was successful. Though with the general shortage and all I had to buy a job lot of variously shaped confetti and had the absorbing task of sorting them into their respective genus (be afraid D, I can foresee other confetti-strewn events in Cambridge!) So when DD contacted me and asked what I was doing and I said, “sorting bats” that’s the reason why!

Shiny little black bats duly scattered around the Hell mouth I then had to devise the various little bites to serve (yes, I had to make that pun also!).

Angels on horseback and devils on horseback immediately leapt to mind (also kindly suggested by the multi-brothered J); would they be Buffy-ish enough? I can’t really think of any demonic dishes, but devilled (as in marginally fiery) seems to be a popular culinary treatment! The ‘angels’ should strictly be oysters, but I wasn’t enthused by the crusty examples on offer and substituted them for scallops instead; well I’ve always considered scallops to be far more angelic! The devils I selected for this particular sacrifice were pitted soft Agen prunes stuffed with a slight spoonful of cayenne spiked cream cheese and then wrapped in bacon like the angels. The final ensembles were spiked with miniature wooden stakes (not cocktail sticks, I wanted something heftier so I cut down a packet of wooden skewers) and served the whole on heart-shaped plates. I was going for the whole stake through the heart theme (just in case you are wondering)

First little nibbles done - what next? D had suggested a staked steak, (a pun after my own heart) and vegetarians turn away now, that was the next plate. Hunks of fillet steak impaled by a stake, served suitably bloody of course!

Next I thought I better keep some of the undesirables away, so a sprinkle of salt by the front door and some garlic-laced Boursin stuffed freshly baked dough balls.

Then it was time for more devilment, skewered strips of devilled chick thighs. My devilishly good mixture was a finely sliced garlic clove, a good shaking of Worcestershire sauce, a slug of double cream and a liberal dusting of chilli flakes. And not too scarily hot for me but with that little kick after each mouthful.

After all those savoury goodies, I thought I should end on a sweet bite and decided upon morsels of devil’s food cake impaled by blood red silver stakes (I seemed to right out of bullets). And I understand how devil’s food cake gets its name now; if you eat too much you feel somewhat hellish!

When considering this month’s drink I thought that if others were paying homage to Buffy in a similar vein (holding my sides in mirth!), their obvious choice would be Bloody Mary or even a Virgin Bloody Mary, (perhaps even more desirable in the after world), however not on my watch! Ooh I am really warming to the theme now! Tomatoes, as you may be aware, I really can’t bear in any shape or form but a Bloody Mary seems to concentrate all that I detest in that dreadful fruit/vegetable/salad item/stuff of nightmares (delete as applicable) or is it just that being confined in an aeroplane seat with some imbiber of that foul smelling drink seems to make it more ghastly in the fact that I cannot escape? And secondly, if I need one, that’s the obvious choice. Instead after a little research I adapted the recipe for a Vampire Cocktail – black raspberry liqueur (Chambord anyone?), vodka and cranberry juice. I went for some delicious ruby coloured blood orange juice instead of cranberry juice, it seemed more appropriate and such a lovely colour, I then finished off with a final bat adorned blood red cocktail stick. But then as Coco Chanel always said - "accessorise, accessorise, accessorise!"

Well that was fun, no-one died, surely that makes a successful party and as they say "in every generation there is a chosen one... she alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness”, and perhaps offer them a bite to eat! Must dash, I want to scare Stephanie by turning up over a week early, when the other guests turn up I will post them here and as the great Buffy herself says “People to see, demons to kill!”

UPDATE: As I was so ahead of myself (probably for the first time in my life) I had to wait a while to see the other guests' fanged offerings. But here we all are up to our unbitten necks with stake impaled food and bloody sauces, admiring Stephanie's gravestone adorned table (you don't get to say that often!) I have to admit I was the only one who had invited a colony (some say cloud, I prefer 'fang') of "precisely yet randomly scattered bats" into their inner sanctum.

But then I could live to regret that little act, my previous experience of table confetti is that it’s incredibly pervasive. You think you’ve rounded up every little reindeer / snowflake / heart / star / black and white rubber duck or pale yellow Easter chick but mysteriously sometimes years later they materialise say in the bath. And you wonder where they’ve been hiding for so long. I am intrigued what thought-provoking theme Stephanie has lined up for next month and will it push the envelope of my vast tableware collection? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Faites simple!

One of the finest things in the world just has to be a hunk of well-hung fillet steak; amply black peppered and finished off with a slick of butter, served alongside a handful of the fattest field mushrooms sautéed with a soupçon of grated nutmeg and a mound of some sublimely buttery mash potato. Just keeping it simple!

Eating my greens

I would normally make my own pasta but it’s not always possible with the rigours of a busy life so I thought I’d try these Garlic & Herb Tortelloni with Boursin from Waitrose. I supplemented these little plump pasta parcels was some verdant florets of tenderstem broccoli and a healthy sprinkling of grated Grana Padano.

They weren’t bad at all, not as good as my own home-made ravioli but then I might be a little biased!

'Today's pudding' at the Cambridge Chop House

As soon as I hear of a new eatery called the Cambridge Chop House that boasts of a ‘pudding of the day’ on the blackboard outside my carnivorous little heart demands a visit. So gathering a little band of like-minded meat eaters we enter the curiously empty place. We descend the stairs and immediately wonder if we are the first diners since the tape scissoring and Champagne cork popping. We have a little nose around the cavernous basement; with the elegant Fornasetti clad wall and the dramatic pictures of cows grazing dreamily against the backdrop of the stunning gothic façade of King’s College.

We may be downstairs but it’s so white, well lit with lamps and overhead spots and full of pale wood and interesting alcoves. For once I don’t have to complain about grainy photographs.

Today’s pudding turns out to be the one I was hoping for - steak & kidney served with mash and greens and D and I decide to share one of the fine beasts.

With a mighty pudding ahead of me I settle for a light Smoked Salmon, Herbs and Lemon for a starter. And the rose-tinged slices go down very well. LLcT and E(D) seem rather taken by their Baked Duck Parcels with Sweet and Sour Cucumber but then they’re not indulging in a proper suet pudding.

And now for the main event, our plump Steak and Kidney Pudding arrives with a flourish on a platter and is then split between our two plates and adorned with some mash and broccoli. Maybe because it was decanted onto the two plates or because of the dense ever so meaty interior but both D and I are craving a bit more gravy. Our waiter fortunately overhears us and produces a little jug of the much needed lubrication.

The mash maybe is not quite as buttery as I would have wanted (well it is my specialist subject!) but is the perfect medium to soak up all the meaty juices. It’s a shame initially we didn’t have enough of those. Apart from this initial slight lack of moisture, the pudding was rather fabulous though - you could definitely describe it as 'packing'! Clearly the Fray Bentos and the extremely bizarre Goblin efforts of my childhood have been completely and spectacularly trounced.

LLcT and E(D) have to run off to cram their heads full of historical facts or to flaunt a paintbrush at college and all D and I have planned is a thoroughly exhausting afternoon of shopping! So to fortify ourselves further we feel that a dessert is in order. Just for a change I go for the Chocolate Tart & Ice Cream, which is a very acceptable finale to our pudding-themed meal.

D opts for the ‘when in Rome option’ of Cambridge Burnt Cream and for those who haven’t been made aware of the age-old dilemma of ‘who did it first?’ the local belief is that Cambridge Burnt Cream was the genesis of the world famous crème brulée. And who am I to argue with those cows staring menacingly at me! Two pudding forks for the Cambridge Chop House.

A very nice rice

I was determined to try our this Acquerello risotto I’d picked up at Harvey Nichols. And I had a hunk of the finest Grana Padano burning a hole in my fridge to eat with it. Acquerello risotto rice seems quite expensive but I was intrigued by the fact that it is irrigated by pure Alpine water and cultivated in a nature sanctuary in the Piedmont region of Italy. The unhulled grains of rice are left to age for a year to ensure a greater absorption with plumper, firmer grains. It will be interesting to see if I can detect a difference.

I decided to flick through Giorgio Locatello’s Made in Italy cookbook as he is such an aficionado of the mighty risotto and has dedicated a whole chapter to various ricey recipes. And his very first one is the classic risotto with grana cheese, and explains that back at home he would have used Grana Padana instead of Parmesan for cooking because of the crumbly texture and saved the Parmesan for the table. This is apparently also the risotto you would have been given as a child when you were sick. Not that I particularly feel the need for the ultimate comfort food but it all seemed a good sign and the a perfect way to showcase my new risotto and cheese.

And it turned out perfectly - with the cold cubes of French unsalted butter and Grana Padano used as the mantecatura making the exceedingly plump grains extra creamy. And there was also a pleasing little (all' onda) consistency with the required ripple like the waves of the sea. And most importantly, it tasted exceedingly good!

Another crab

I originally got these Crab Farcis (from the Just for... Seafood lovers range for the Little Big Food Company) for M and my first meal back in little old England after the cruise but she had a major yen for pizza so I called Basilico to feed us. Fortunately as they had already been flash frozen I knew I could squirrel them away for a solo pleasure on another day instead.

They are succulent crab meat in a white wine sauce with herbs and topped with crunchy golden breadcrumbs, serves in a real crab shell, which is actually great as I don't feel the need to hold onto and feel pressure to find storage space for the crab shells as I do the M&S ramekins. And M, you may be pleased to hear that they have just started stocking them on Ocado, in case you're interested.

And after a spell in the oven it turned our rather tasty with a little bit of French bread smeared with a generous dollop of French butter. Délicieux! I was transported to a French bistro for a while though I am not sure if they'd have Gordon Ramsay range of Royal Doulton china to serve it on, maybe something a little more rustic!

Sunday lamb lunch

Sunday lunch should be compulsory! It rounds the previous week off and fortifies you for the next. It's a great opportunity to gather around a table and commune.

But Sunday lunch is also an essential solo occupation. If you’re preparing food just for one it can be too easy to grab something quick, eat it off your lap or worse still stood up in the kitchen and forget about the importance of the ritual of a ‘proper sit at the table meal’. I need little encourage to dress the table on any occasion but a Sunday lunch definitely deserves a little more effort. Candles seemed a little superfluous at lunch time but white linen with pearl accessories seemed to do the trick.

And then there’s the crucial consideration of what to serve. I had a yen for lamb today and the perfect solution seemed to be a couple of cutlets spread with a dollop of Dijon mustard and then topped with breadcrumbs mixed with chopped rosemary and thyme. I only had a crust left and as I not partial to a crust (I always think it should just be for the ducks), I whizzed it up in the Bamix and put it to better use. Sorry ducks!

It hardly seemed the merest effort to make the herby crust for one and I knew it would pay me back in taste. The tender stem broccoli was steamed then draped in a little creamy sauce with plenty of chives and to finish, a comforting mound of mash. What more could I ask for?

Happy Sunday!

A very good Oeuf!

I know, yet another one but Oeuf en cocottes just seem to be my favourite brunch snack at the moment. I like the fact that you can re-purpose various ends of things in the fridge as so far they seem to be the perfect vehicle for cooked, cold slices of new potatoes, crispy bacon, Parma ham, mushrooms, cheese or slithers of smoked salmon. And as you make them up individually you can customise them for your audience. I even persuaded the resolutely egg-dodging LLcT to try one (no mean feat), and ensured that E(D)’s was mushroom free and if I had added a little chopped up steak, it would have been very well done also! We all had bacon and cheese, double cream some had mushrooms and of course, eggs. And I generally like to finish them off with the finest dusting of fresh chives.
MC thought it might have been nice with some cherry tomatoes. Maybe it would have done but strangely enough I don’t seem to have any in my fridge – weird! But I am happy to get them to order in case you think I’m mean, I just need to be forewarned (and then I can clear a little exclusion zone in my fridge!)

I noticed that Nigella in her new book Nigella Express, clearly my current culinary bible, waxes lyrically about these little golden joys also. She suggests artichoke hearts chopped up in the base of the ramekin, truffle oil added to the cream and/or asparagus spears to dunk in the runny yolk.

But sorry Nigella, Simon Hopkinson does one better in his fabulous Week in Week Out he devotes several pages to oeufs en cocottes and firstly insists on forgoing the ramekin in favour of one of those shallow porcelain dishes with ears. He says he can view the egg better as it cooks to his idea of perfection. I wonder what he'd make of Joël Robuchon serving his in Martini glasses?

Simon bakes his with tarragon or spinach or even to a wonderful Elizabeth David recipe which uses fine herbs, a smidgeon of garlic, a smear of Dijon and finely grated Parmesan dusted on the top. But if that isn't already wonderful enough, he also suggests a very decadent version with not only the fresh eggs being snuggled up to a black truffle in a sealed container for a few days to perfume the egg, the egg shell being conveniently porous. He then slips a few slices of the said black truffle into the creamy mixture. Now that really is a good egg!

When is an olive not an olive?

I spotted some delectable little beef olives stuffed with a horseradish sauce in Waitrose Food & Wine that I haven't tried before. Unfortunately my local Waitrose doesn’t sell them but I finished off today’s appointments in Canary Wharf so I have a little more choice for tonight’s dinner. And rather fabulously I served the ubiquitous lamb’s lettuce leaves with the plumpest of fresh raspberries heavily doused in Belazu balsamic vinegar. Hmmm, mmmm.

Probably the best crispy duck in the world?

Many who know me are aware that I’ve never been a massive fan of Oriental food but if the general consensus is to eat at a Chinese restaurant I will concede and just hope that they do a good Peking Duck or Crispy Duck and pancakes. I’m sure there’s something else I would take pleasure in from a Chinese menu but as I have not enjoyed so many things I’ve been recommended I’d rather stuck to a dish that is tried and trusted. Though it is very true to say that I have had some good crispy duck and some very average. The only time I’ve been really disappointed is in a restaurant in Soho, it was late, there was a whole pile of us and I think they just assumed that we were drunk and would eat any old rubbish put before us. I wasn’t drunk and remember distinctly the ever so dry skinny duck carcass I was presented with that instead of yielding moist chunks of succulent duck just flaked to a pile of parched unappetising shards. And the pancakes were dry and tasteless also, the pancakes weren’t really rolling more like bending and snapping over the arid duck shreds. Not very pleasant at all!

Several years ago when I was last in Spain, we discovered a Chinese restaurant in Miami, Miami Playa before you think I’ve gone all disorientated and wandered over to Florida, USA. I'd entered with my usual trepidation but we delighted to find a Peking Duck and had enjoyed it. We often eat out in Miami whilst staying with P, T and B in their lovely big house equidistant between Barcelona and Valencia. As we drive there with the song “we’re going to Miami” playing in our heads and passing the local landmark of the ‘ladies’ perched on folding chairs on the side of the toll road waiting to entertain any passing motorists not really looking for food just outside Miami we are very hungry. We seem to have developed three stalwarts of Miami eateries. Firstly the place that does the rabbit and snails dish, Miami’s finer dining restaurant and enjoyed on several occasions. There’s the ever popular pizza joint that generally have to build up an appetite by queuing for but D, MC, LLcT and E(D) have already dined there on this trip so it’s the turn of the place we discovered last time, the unusually bright Chinese restaurant. Last time I was sat under the air conditioner unit that dripped unwelcome icing water on me throughout the meal and despite moving slightly seemed to follow me. This time being forewarned we avoided the tables on that side and secured a bizarrely decorated table in the middle. I’d had it last time so immediately went to order the Peking duck for me whilst E(D) ordered some chicken curry dish and everyone else split a banquet. This gave me the opportunity to see a plethora of Chinese dishes and whether I would consider an alternative to my duck. And I wouldn’t, it just seems that the gene that allows me to savour Oriental flavours is missing, I know I am in the minority and would always, always favour French, Italian or British food over either Chinese or Indian. Those parts of my culinary taste buds have never been tantalised and may always remain uncharted. I’m afraid wild horses wouldn’t make me eat a curry, and yes I’ve tried and yes I’ve been rather ill after the experiences. But anyway, back to the duck.

What delighted me on the last visit was the shiny extraordinarily shiny and plump bronzed duck which yielded glistening nuggets of the juiciest of meat. The pancakes were the fluffiest I’ve ever seen and seemed never ending. Maybe the pancakes weren’t quite as fluffy today as last time (I guess they’re not typically like that) but tasty nonetheless and the duck was so plentiful I couldn’t eat is all. The plum hoisin sauce was dark and rich and there were pleasing piles of spring onion slivers to join my delicious duck in their pancake rolls.

I think everyone relished their chosen meals but as always, each to their own. Rather curious to consider we are eating Chinese on our first night out together in Spain but we have decided that we will sniff out some great tapas we just haven't decided where yet.

Scrambled crab

One of the first recipes that caught my eye in Gordon Ramsay's new book Fast Food was the Scrambled eggs with crab meat & chives. Being a fan of scrambled eggs after eschewing it for so many years this seemed the perfect new take on the eggy treat. I ordered a pot of picked fresh white crab meat from Ocado for the occasion but for the first time ever I received a substitution! The white crab was swapped for dressed crab so I had brown crab with a tad of mayonnaise, a layer of chopped hard boiled egg and finished with a layer of white crab meat. I figured I could still make my scrambled egg but as tasty as the brown crab meat is it does taint the colour of the happy golden yolks somewhat. Gordon's recipe is topping a slice of toasted country bread but I like my scrambled eggs and toast served separately. I think the scrambled eggs make the toast go soggy and the toast crumbs spoil the creamy unctuousness of the scrambled egg. Myabe the typical toast accompaniment was what turned me off scrambled egg for so long. I became a believer when I was given a little pot of creamy scrambled egg complete with chopped egg in a French brunch restaurant. I understand the point of scrambled egg now! I guess it's not the most elegant of dishes but it sure tastes good, so full marks to Mr. Ramsay for that one - and he's right, it's very quick.

New season's asparagus

This is my first bunch of English asparagus this season and I think they look so alluring and stately, full of delicious promise. I was a bit tardy this year as I didn't get a chance to hot-foot it down to the farmers' market to secure the very first bunch. But no matter, I will enjoy the brief season and am already flitting between ideas as to what treatment should I should give to my inaugural spears.
Shall I just boil/steam my lovelies and then wrap them with some rosy slivers of Parma ham I just happen to have to hand and then dip them in a soft boiled egg? Or maybe blanch them then on the grill pan for their tiger stripes before shaving Parmesan over the gently steaming spears? Stuart Gillies' Pea & Leek Tart with Glazed Asparagus from yesterday's Great British Menu sounds really tasty and terribly seasonal but I think something much simpler is in order for my first foray into asparagus this year. I also love asparagus with hollandaise and we had a fantastic Terence Conran inspired egg dressing for asparagus at Roger's in France last year, so that's two more possibilities, or I could be ultra simple and just have melted butter and a good few twists of black pepper.
Decisions, decisions. Fortunately I have several bunches of these heavenly purple tinged green spears so I could, if so inclined, do all of them!

Oh for bread and strawberry jam!

I’ve got one slice of white bread left and I’ve been really longing for some bread and jam. The only problem is that I can’t seem to get into my new jar of Bonne Maman strawberry jam and I really want strawberry. I’ve got one of those jar lid removers but it seems to be a little too small for the fine girthed Bonne Maman jars, I tried yesterday to open it but gave up. My right arm not really being up to any exertion at this present time. But I really wanted strawberry! Finally after thinking I am going to have to make do with blackcurrant or raspberry (in much smaller Harvey Nichols jam jars and generally easier to open), I hit the side of the ginghamed jar lid on the edge of the work surface and then it popped. I have strawberry jam! Yeah!

Clearly this week of feeling sorry for myself has got me hankering for comfort food from my childhood. I remember sitting by the gas fire at my “big gran’s” and eating strawberry jam sandwiches possibly whilst watching “It’s a Knockout!” I seem to only recall watching “It’s a Knockout!” at my grandparents though I can’t believe we only watched television once a week. “It’s a Knockout!” was on Fridays, and Fridays was bath night! And whether Fridays was also bread and jam night I cannot remember for sure but it’s one of the few meals I recall enjoying at my gran’s. it’s a shame as I believe she used to be a good cook but by the time she used to occasionally feed me, she had got into a tinned new potatoes/butterscotch Angel Delight/slice of jellied ham/reconstituted Smash mash rut and I really didn’t enjoy her food. The jam sandwiches were good though. And so were the custard tarts.

I also remember eating jam sandwiches with ham in hospital. I was there after having my appendix removed and why I had jam and ham sandwiches (other than in a odd Dr Seuss rhyming moment) is unfortunately lost in the mists of time! Perhaps I believed them to be therapeutic!

I also have a feint recollection of another jam sandwich related memory involving a blond haired boy but I will have to rely on F to fill in the gap as I honestly can’t remember. Perhaps you can help me out F?

Nowadays I don’t really like the jam contained in a sandwich – lucky as I only have one slice of bread, so instead I just slather it upon my well buttered remaining white slice and enjoy. Bonne Maman jam is really chock full of (wild, apparently) strawberries and tastes as great as I remembered actually it's probably way superior to the jam my big gran used to feed me and I would never consider eating it with ham now, that would be weird! And of course, just in case M is worried, I didn’t use the same knife for the butter and for the jam. I’ve been taught well!

Ultimate egg & bacon buttie

The ultimate egg and bacon buttie (or sandwich if you prefer) is quite simple really. You just need a soft (and it really must be soft, crusty will just not do) white roll lavishly buttered, not too crispy smoked back dry cure bacon, an extremely golden yolked lightly fried (no crispy edges for me) egg and just the merest smattering of HP brown sauce (always next to the bacon!)

And with any luck you'll end up with the perfect lazing around on a Sunday with the papers sort of brunch food but watch out for that gorgeous dripping egg yolk, a real mouthful!

Mmmm, mmmm.

a French Sunday lunch

D and I felt that our shopping excursion had been cruelly cut short yesterday, though clearly MC and LLcT had the slightly opposing view that we'd been kidnapped! So we plan another excursion but as MC felt particularly abandoned yesterday we figured that we should attempt to lure him into joining us, the carrot being lunch somewhere. Our motives were clear; we enjoy his company, value his opinion and admire his abilities as a bag carrier! I think he thought we solely required him a dining companion and wasn't very happy that shops had to be visited first.

Rather scarily one of my first thoughts of the day was imagining the ideal dishes to serve on those pink M&S plates! Obsessed? Me? Hmmm, possibly!

So to ensure that my bizarre imagining didn't keep me awake at night, we revisited M&S so I could add a few choice pink pieces to the extensive crockery collection. And after a few more purchases we headed off for Chez Gérard which was pleasantly quiet this Sunday.

Strictly for research purposes (or at least that's what D told our waitress) we ordered a tarte flambé to split between the three of us for a starter. We wanted to see how it compared to the flamiche we made the other night. Though on further consideration I think my belief that tarte flambé and flamiche are one of the same is misconceived I think the French name is tarte flambé and the Alsatian name is actually Flammekueche. Flamiche is a leek and cream tart often served in a very similar way to a tarte flambé or even a quiche but also served as a double-crust pie as in Simon Hopkinson’s wonderful recipe that we reproduced. And it's very tasty but we all agree that if we'd had our own individual flaming tart they'd be no room for steak, frites and quelle horreur no room for any chocolate unctuousness! It was a good tart, the bacon was smoky and the spring onion had a nice bite but I am glad I didn't have to try and finish a whole one.

So after our third of a tart we have some of their damn fine rare steak and frites, I had rump and D had some ever so French onglet and we both had some yummy béarnaise to dip our hot skinny frites into. As well as great bread, Chez Gerard do a very fine steak and frites and we just had enough room to squeeze in desserts.

There was chocolate tart with a raspberry drizzle for me, lemon tart with a raspberry drizzle for MC (they seem to like their drizzles!) and mango sorbet for the chocolate dodging D. The tarts were a good size, not to big, well my chocolate one was the perfect size for one, if I had to share it with D, I may have felt deprived and the raspberry was wonderful to cut through the rich chocolate - definitely a perfect match!

Not a bad Sunday lunch at all - and no washing up, result!

update: Okay, I am sorry I had thought we'd all consumed one of Chez Gérard's fine juicy steaks but my memory was clouded by béarnaise and I should have said that MC has a big hunk of lamb instead and he wasn't just there for his qualities as a Sherpa - well, not really!

Shop, eat & shop again!

There's really nothing like a good old shop pounding to make you ravenous so D and I headed into Strada and secured a corner round table perfect for consumption and people watching.
We started off with some schiacciatella which is scrumptious garlic and rosemary bread and a bottle of their filtered tap water. This is a very impressive precedence, Giles Coren in his weekly Times restaurant review column has started marking restaurants down that don't offer tap water or Belu (which is English Shropshire mineral water sold in bio-degradable bottles and whose profits fund clean drinking water projects). At the very least he hope that a restaurant in England would serve English water and not god forbid, Fiji water! I wonder if he's been to New York recently as the 'smart' restaurants offer a choice of waters and a silver plated water bottle caddy of the requisite shape! I don't think he'd be happy at all!
But back to Strada, I ordered the thyme roasted butternut squash, chilli, smoked pancetta bacon finished with baby spinach and toasted pine nuts risotto and D the lobster, crab, sun blushed tomatoes and chilli.
The plan was I'd check to see if the crab and lobster risotto wasn't too tomato-y we would share the two. I was alarmed by the red colour but did give it a go, I thought the lobster and crab were delicious but starting to be overcome by tomato fumes I scuttled back to my Autumn in a bowl roasted butternut squash and pancetta one. It's the second time I've eaten this risotto and again I was really impressed by its smokiness (from the pancetta) the rich comforting flavour of the butternut and that subtle heat from the chilli. It's a very good risotto indeed! And especially because of that dish I think Strada should be awarded the coveted two forks.

Our table was just perfect for examining our earlier purchases and to plan where our next assault should be. I'd already found some gorgeous crystal handled butter knives and a very curious and rather wonderful lobster fork but as yet no crockery purchases had been made!
As D has sworn off chocolate for Lent and nothing would persuade me to drink coffee, we couldn't do pie customised dessert sharing. I went for the warm chocolate tart and D the tiramisu. And there were definitely no complaints there.

After our lovely meal we headed off towards M&S, D wanted to slow me some crockery she become very attached to and would visit the homeware department to stroke them and will them to be on special offer. And whilst I was there I spotted some interesting new crockery also that amazingly was neither white nor black but... believe it or not was pink! I resisted but it was a very intriguing proposition and gave us much to ponder during the rest of the shopping as to the ideal dishes to serve on pink plates. Hmmm well fed and food for thought!

Another slice of pie?

I had it all worked out, I wanted to bake a pie this weekend and enter it for Cook Sister's Waiter, there’s something in my… pie event. Then I decided to spend the weekend in Cambridge but thought that would be even better, I could bake a larger pie than I would have made at home. I’d been promising myself for ages to try one of the recipes from Sophie Conran’s Pies book and I am sure Sophie herself didn’t really believe me when I said I would be recreating one of her pastry joys very soon… in fact less than 24 hours later! On the first glance through this pleasing little pink book I had pounced on the Simon Hopkinson's recipe for Flamiche from his Gammon & Spinach book. This was particularly interesting as I’d become rather a fan of the Alsatian pizza, flamiche or tarte flambé. All the recipes I had even seen were for an open pizza-style base topped with crème fraîche and lardons of bacon and was very tasty indeed. But Simon’s recipe is based on the speciality of the Roye restaurant La Flamiche, and is called La Flamiche aux Poireaux so more like a flat double crust leek pie but being a massive leek fan; I was very willing to give it a try. Though this was probably quite lucky as the rule of the Waiter, there's something in my... pie event was the pie filling had to be invisible until sliced into and a normal pizza recipe however Alsatian would not have been permitted.

Here is Simon's recipe:

Flamiche

75g butter

1kg leeks, trimmed of most of the green, sliced and well washed

5-6 tbsp double cream

500g puff pastry (you’ll need 2 circles either ready rolled or with the end of a dinner plate template)

1 egg yolk, beaten

freshly grated nutmeg

salt and freshly ground black pepper

You will need 2 fat baking trays with no edges.

Melt the butter in a wide frying pan and cook the leeks gently for about 20 minutes until really soft. Season, turn up the heat and add the cream. Allow to bubble vigorously for a minute or two until the mixture is creamy but not too wet. Tip onto a plate and allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 200^oc. Place one of the baking trays in the oven to get hot. Lightly smear the other tray with butter and on it lay one of the circles of puff pastry. Take the cooled leeks and spread them carefully in a piled, though flattish, circle over the pastry, leaving an edge of 2.5cm uncovered; paint this with egg yolk. Form a lid with the other circle of pastry and allow the edge of this to flop down into the bottom layer. Press together lightly all the way around. Now brush the whole surface with more egg and press the edges together firmly with the tines of a fork. Also make a few small cuts in the centre of the flamiche, so as to allow steam to escape.

Decorate with the point of a knife if you are in an artistic mood. Slide the flamiche into the oven, onto the preheated tray. Bake for around 25 minutes or until golden brown and well crisped. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Cut into wedges and eat with salad or just on its own.

As D and I wandered around Waitrose earlier this evening trying to get inspiration for tonight’s dinner, I suggested this particular flamiche but typically the Pies book I’d purchased from last night’s event for D sadly remained on my coffee table and I had to try and recall the recipe from memory. We concurred that as D had Simon Hopkinson’s Gammon & Spinach book back at home, I only had to remember the required ingredients. And luckily with it being a simple recipe, I somehow remembered the 1kg leeks, 500g puff pastry and a small amount of double cream. We also thought that the ‘men’ would not be terribly happy with just a wedge of leek pie however delicious, so we got some of Waitrose’s finest wild boar and prune sausages to inject the required meat into the meal. The need for two flat baking trays thwarted us slightly so we just attempted to quickly form the pie on one foiled topped pre-heated baking tray and trasnfer that back to the oven, well needs must! When it came to decoration I decided that some pastry leeks adorning the top would look most fetching, but actually they came out like rather sinister squid-like pastry sea creatures and I abandoned ‘plan a’ in favour of a few free hand hearts. Well I do love leeks...and pies!

This certainly didn’t taste like any flamiche or tarte flambé I’d tasted previously but it was a very fine melting soft buttery leek pie and it was very tasty indeed and the prefect foil for the incredibly aromatic dark wild boar and prune sausages.
Not that there was the tiniest doubt previously, but I can definitely say that I am a confirmed pie lover after this. More pie anyone?

Year of the pig

I am really hoping this red banner says “Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year” as that’s what I wanted to say but I should really check with someone who knows.

I wanted to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the pig in my own way. Unfortunately I am not a huge fan of Chinese food but I must admit I had the most amazing crispy duck and pancakes in an incredibly bright Chinese restaurant in Miami Playa in Spain. Even though the leaking air conditioner unit was really bothering me (I don’t think anyone really likes being dripped on!) I thought the succulent duck and surprising plump pancakes the best I’d ever had. Though this could be my fault, I have very really eaten in a good Chinese restaurant, it’s normally been with a crowd after a long night drinking and/or dancing and we’ve just entered the nearest place that it still open. And I think because of that I have had some extremely bad Chinese food when I haven’t been drunk enough to ignore how poor it is. I am sure if I did avail myself of a good Chinese restaurant, I would be pleasantly surprised. I have been meaning to try out Hakkasan restaurant as it’s a big favourite of H’s but somehow I have so far resisted.

My plan tonight was to do something more typically Chinese with pork belly to welcome in the year of the pig but I had a piece of gammon in my fridge that needed eating and some fresh eggs, so it became rather non-traditional. It was very tasty though as I believe traditional Chinese New Year celebrations can go on for fifteen days, I still have time to do something interesting with pork belly.

Artistry at Addendum

I had my second visit to Addendum today, again with a client, again with a vegetarian client (well, strictly a pescatorian as fish would have been acceptable!) and again I didn't know beforehand. Clearly I'm failing in my duty as a hostess to ascertain my guests' food preferences. I guess I need to ask more pertinent taste questions when verifying restaurant choice next time. Fortunately Addendum has diluted their caveman only menu in favour of a small but perfectly formed meat, fish or vegetable selection and V seemed happy with her albeit limited choice of blue cheese starter followed by braised celery hearts, wild rice and red wine sauce whereas of course I had to go all carnivore. At least I needn’t have worried about V finding the restaurant rather tucked away in the Apex hotel as her hotel that happened to be booked for this trip for coincidently the Apex!

We were given some interesting amuse gueules to whet out appetites. Firstly there were pistachios and anchovy breadsticks followed by little espresso cups of spinach soup. The anchovy breadsticks were a revelation as I’m not a big fan of anchovies, I would insert them with rosemary into slits onto my leg of lamb but I would never let them infiltrate my pizza. And I recall a painful meal in Valencia when I forgot my Catalan menu primer and ended up with a plate of bones with the merest morsel of flesh clinging to them. This time the anchovies were more of a success and just gave the breadsticks an intriguing salty hit.

My starter was a pan roasted wood pigeon, apple, beetroot leaves and potatoes which were all arranged with Addendum’s usual artistry. I particularly thought the pink beetroot ‘crisp’ was awfully pretty against the dark pigeon meat and the green of the beetroot leaves. And importantly it tasted as good as it looked.

For the main I’d been trying to decide between the chicken breast with truffle panisse or braised pork belly but when I heard about the special of roasted & confit duck, creamed celeriac, figs, radish I immediately went for that. And I received another really attractive plate though the radishes look rather like the sous chef’s fingers. But the duck was really succulent so what’s a dismembered finger amongst friends?

And as the portions were just the right size so as not feel too stuffed, V and I were both able to fit in the very elegant dessert of rhubarb bavarois, ginger ice cream, orange sorbet, poached rhubarb.

Then to accompany our latte and Earl Grey we had our pick of some delicious petit fours especially my new found favourite mini macaroons. V called them something else which unfortunately I can’t remember, I know there’s one of the fabulous Ladurée tea salons in Geneva – home of the world renowned macaroons so she may have had them there. I also had a luscious little jelly cube and V the miniature lollipop as it seemed rude to leave them!

I think Addendum is the perfect spot for a lovely little business lunch and very probably any lunch. The food and service are impeccable and you can even entertain a vegetarian there. The plates looks fabulous and the place is stylish and well lit – surely what every food blogger dreams of? Addendum have two very stylish and well illuminated forks.