Lemon joy

I’ve made this particular risotto in the best of times and the worse of times.

Many years ago when T got me into risottos I’d seen Nigella make this on her Nigella Bites series and she said what a massive influence Anna Del Conte had been to her. I made this for the first time in T’s previous fabulous new kitchen and we marveled at the quantities the recipe produced. There were three of us so I may have doubled it in fear of falling short but I seem to recall a river of unctuous risotto but definitely as good as it was, there was way too much.

Years later when I made it for D when MC, N and LLcT wouldn’t dream of going near a risotto, again we really enjoyed it but were rather over faced. In June 2004 when I made it for M when we were in dire need of some stodgy solace and there was way, way too much but it did the trick. I can really vouch for the calming effect of making a risotto, the gently soothing motion of stirring the grains and adding the stock a ladleful at a time is ultimately comforting even before you’ve had a mouthful. And this one seems extra pleasurable, as firstly I love microplaning the lemon into a pile of lemon gossamer. I then microplane the Parmesan into very satisfying curls. And the final gratifying part is add the eggy, lemony, Parmesany mixture to the cooked risotto. The egg yolk causes the risotto to take on a sunnier glow as it mingles with the cooked grains. And then of course there’s the eating, there is something very reassuring about a good risotto, all is well with the world for a few mouthfuls.

When I discovered the original Anna Del Conte recipe (though she attributes it to Romana Bosco, a talented cook who runs a cookery school in Turin and then she in turn credits Giovanni Goria), I realized that the only difference was the additional of 5 or 6 sage leaves and one or two more diners! The mystery is solved; Nigella is feeding hungrier people!

I do admit than shallots and celery aren’t always just at hand for me so this time I substituted them for a very finely chopped leek (but I adore leek so this isn’t a problem!)

Risotto with Lemon (risotto al limone)

If you’re Nigella Lawson Serves only 2!
If you’re Anna Del Conte Serves 3-4!

2 shallots
1 stick of celery
60g unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
300g risotto rice
1 litre vegetable stock (Marigold with do)
zest & juice of 1/2 unwaxed organic lemon
needles from 2 small sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 egg yolk
4 tbsp grated Parmesan & to serve
4 tbsp double cream
Maldon salt & white pepper

- Chop the shallots and celery very fine

- Soften the shallot and celery mixture in half the butter & oil for about 5min (a little salt helps to prevent burning) until the soffritto is done

- Mix in the rice and stir to coat all the grains until slightly translucent

- Keep the stock simmering in another pan

- When rice becomes shiny and partially translucent, start ladling the simmering stock and stir thoroughly until the rice has absorbed the stock.

- Add another ladleful of stock and continue. You may not need all the stock; good quality risotto rice takes around 20 minutes to cook.

- Meanwhile, mix the lemon zest and the finely chopped rosemary needles and stir them through the rice halfway through the cooking

- In a small bowl, beat together the egg yolk, lemon juice, the Parmesan, double cream and a generous grinding of black pepper

- Remove risotto off heat and stir in the eggy, lemony mixture and the remaining butter

- Cover the pan and leave to rest for 2 minutes, finish by giving the risotto an energetic stir and transfer to a heated bowl

- Serve with more Parmesan... Dive in!

I finally, got to christen my new Divertimenti lemon squeezer, it is very yellow, efficient and also pleasing to use.

I was determined to try and get an action shot of the risotto, yes I know you’re going to say exactly ‘what action does a risotto do?’ But I mean that as a risotto is maybe not the most photogenic of subjects, a judicious redeployment of my gorilla pod can at least allow a fork magically levitate over the bowl! The effect is more of a J's eye view if you will.

Go on then…dive in.

Buon Appetito!

Oh risotto!

Today I have mostly thinking about risotto. Well, actually this whole past week has been pretty flavoured with risotto. When choosing a place to dine with T, I thought of the new risotto restaurant Ooze. But after reading Jay Rayner's rather damning review in the Observer last week, I wasn't sure I wanted to risk it. T has been a huge fan of risottos as long as I can remember and really introduced me to my love of them many years ago. The first time I cooked the fabulous Anna Del Conte's lemon risotto (though I actually made Nigella's rather generous version) was for T in her new kitchen. And true to form she had a risotto when we dined at Bank on Thursday, though she swore it was the first one she'd eaten for ages.

Then I read over at the il cavoletto di Bruxelles blog that risotto was the featured dish in the latest 'Hey, hey it's Donna Hay day!' and thought it might be fun to add one of my favourite recipes into the mix.

And finally, I found some time to read the wonderful risotto chapter in Giorgio Locatelli's fantastic book 'Made in Italy'. Giorgio's writing is inspirational but ironically the recipe I've decided to do is 'risotto ai cavolfiore' – the cauliflower risotto from Jamie Oliver's 'Jamie's Italy' as I have a spare cauliflower on hand. But I'm going with the maestro Giorgio Locatelli's five point risotto method as it all sounds so much more lyrical in Italian.

Firstly it's the soffritto - the very finely chopped onion is sautéed in butter. Though today I'm using a little leek mixed in with the onions as I have an abundance. And as this is a cauliflower risotto, the finely chopped cauliflower stalk is also added the lovely translucent mixture. Meanwhile the cauliflower florets are added to the pan of hot stock to cook.

Secondly you have the tostatura, the 'toasting' of the rice in this mixture so every grain is coated and warmed up and will cook uniformly. The glass of wine is added at this stage.

Thirdly the stock is added a ladleful at a time. When the rice is half cooked the now soft cauliflower is combined to the rice mixture and each floret is gently squashed into the rice as it's added.

The penultimate and important stage is to take the risotto off the heat for a minute, without any stirring to allow the mixture to cool slightly before the last flourish.

The final stage is the mantecatura, the beating in of the butter and cheese to finish off the risotto. You can really see the risotto come alive as you beat in the butter, the glossiness is very alluring.

The risotto should have a gorgeous mixture of creaminess and bite and if you tilt the plate, the risotto ripples in waves which is called "all'onda".

Before serving, the cauliflower risotto is topped by crunchy toasted pangrattato (some stale bread turned into breadcrumbs and fried in a little pan).

This risotto and the fabulous Anna Del Conte's lemon risotto are probably two of my favourites to cook I find them infinitely soothing to create and stir and extremely comforting to eat. Sometimes only a risotto will do!

'The' North star!

I'd been really looking forward to our visit to Juniper in Altrincham. My appetite had been seriously whetted by the excellent press reviews I’d read and the glowing comments made by Gordon Ramsay. We knew what we were having as Tuesday's have a special menu at Juniper's and at the supreme price of only £30 a head. After we were seated I mentioned my deep and abiding hatred of tomatoes and the goats' cheese in the dessert and was quite surprised by the reaction, I was admonished for not informing them when I made the booking. I was a little surprised and felt suitably chastised. We'd come a long way to eat here and we'd not come for this particular menu just for a night when they were able to squeeze us in this very popular place. Clearly our waitress was a huge fan of tomatoes and goats' cheese and felt I was tinkering with the chef's artistry but after some consultation said "they'd see what they could do".

That being said I had chance to look around at the restaurant and boy, was that worth checking out. I'd never seen so many artificial flowers in a restaurant outside of those mad, local in France. They've got twisty metal light fittings all round the restaurant which on their website are not unnecessarily adorned with red silk roses but at the moment, they are. Personally I think that flowers should be real or not seen. But Juniper has even more surprises. They have a huge tree branch on their ceiling, which is covered in fake blossom hmmm. But enough about the curious décor, what about the food?

This is the menu as written but there were couple of little extras.

Glazed Gruyere Cheese Risotto, Prunes,

Sweetcorn, Garden Peas, Brazils

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Smoked Haddock, Celery, Potato and Dill Soup,

Olive Oil, Chives, Pea Puree, Caviar

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Slow Cooked Fillet of Beef, Roquefort Blue Cheese,

Assiette of Tomato, Barley, Rosemary, Port, Pear,

Saffron, Lemon, Walnuts

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Assiette of Cheese

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Glazed Lemon Tart, Goats Cheese,

Praline and Fennel Ice Cream,

Warm Cream Cheese and Vanilla Anglaise

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Coffee and Petit Fours

Our first amuse gueule was a shot glass with a Cauliflower and Red Pepper Foam with Caper Berries accompanied by a Sea Salt and Chocolate Flap Jack. Clearly this was going to be a seriously special meal.

We were told to keep the little spoon and was handed our tiny dish of Glazed Gruyere Cheese Risotto containing Prunes, Sweetcorn and Garden Peas with a Brazil Nut in the middle. I thought Gary Rhodes served the teeniest risotto ever but this one was just a few unctuous mouthfuls. The peas and the Brazil nut was very apparent but I wasn’t aware of prunes in the couple of mouthfuls I had, I would have expected to detect the sweetness but didn’t. Really delicious though!

And we needed the little spoon again for the Smoked Haddock, Celery, Potato and Dill Soup with a lovely surprise of Caviar hidden in the bottom of the shot glass. The smoked haddock was in the foam on top of the potato and dill soup and again I must admit that I couldn’t really detect the taste; it was just so incredibly subtle (unusually for smoked haddock!) but again, a stunning flavour.

Next it was the main course, this was a lovely piece of Slow Cooked Fillet of Beef with a Roquefort Blue Cheese on an Assiette of Tomato with alarmingly purple Port Barley with Pears and Walnuts. They had swapped my assiette of tomato for an assiette of tapenade and even though I’m not crazy about olives they are so much better than tomatoes so this was great. I was kind of hoping that the Roquefort would be left off as I think the taste overwhelms slightly but I still really enjoyed it. The alarming port coloured barley was really unusual, I’d probably be horribly conventional and have preferred a potato accompaniment but it was different and added an interesting nutty texture to the dish – like undercooked risotto.

Then we were given an Assiette of Cheese to share, I think there were 14 different cheeses here and I was trying to keep all the names in my head. All I really did was earmark the goat cheeses for immediate removal to M’s plate and then I cut the remaining pieces in half and tried to recall their names. They were all at the peak of ripeness but I wish I could remember what I’d had.

Before our dessert we given a shot glass of Cornflake Milk which was a refreshing surprise and then a really fabulous Glazed Lemon Tart which in M’s case came with Goats’ Cheese Ice Cream and mine in a much more suitable Orange Sorbet – seriously good!

The Petit Fours were the tiniest sliver of a very good Custard Tart; I could definitely have squeezed a little more in if they’d offered it and yummy gooey Chocolate Truffles that I had to take with me so maybe I couldn’t have crammed in any more custard tart!

All this was accompanied by a really delicious La Croix des Moines Lalande-de-Pomerol red wine which was really wonderful and we had a glass of Sauternes to accompany the fabulous glazed lemon tart. My attempts to take a couple of photos were foiled by if truth be told there being no light at all but it would have been a really photogenic meal if I’d had a small spotlight with me. I was trying to be discrete so it was seriously no flash – but I needed it very desperately this time.

This was an amazing meal; it really can’t be faulted as each mouthful had some new surprise. I soon forgot about the bizarre décor! A definite three forks for Juniper - this is a North star, Gordon was so right!

Doing Genevieve proud!

I was supposed to be in Cambridge last weekend but felt so ill again (yes, I know – again!) that I put it off for a week and despite still not feeling 100% thought I should get myself on a train and help LLcT belatedly celebrate his eighteenth birthday. And thanks to D’s kindest ministrations I was met with a hearty meal from James Martin’s Great British Village Show Cookbook. D had decided on roast poussin with risotto and grapes with a nicely Parmesan-ed and lemon juice risotto. LLcT didn’t join us for this, he isn’t completely crazy about poultry but more importantly, wild horses wouldn’t persuade him to partake in risotto. But he really missed out, the plump poussin sauce had a pleasant fruity tang with the halved black and white grapes and apple juice and the risotto was delicious. I'm not sure if John Torrode would approve, you know how he feels about risotto being used as a side dish or accompaniment. He would have insisted that the poussin was shredded and mixed through the risotto rice. But fortunately neither the wide mouth John nor Gregg was joining us so we weren't accused of crimes against risotto. The heart-warming dish was heaped onto the rather fabulous Genevieve plates which coordinate rather well with the striking new turquoise tablecloth. And very fine it was all round.

(F)light reading

I had a brilliant idea for a little light reading on the plane; I’d been dying to really tuck into Anna Del Conte’s “Amaretto, Apple Cake and Artichokes” but hadn’t really considered how heavy the book is – even for a paperback. And with the current restrictions on hand baggage, it was a tight fit cramming the book, my handbag and a few emergency packets of Minstrels in my carry on bag. But I was extremely grateful that I brought it along – I starting reading the first chapter “pasta” and started salivating. Pasta with fennel and cream, with garlicky béchamel, with artichokes, with pumpkin sauce, with mozzarella, anchovies and parsley, with a creamy courgette sauce, fish ravioli, with a fontina and cream sauce and all utterly tomato free! Where is a kitchen when you want one? I was just desperate to grab my knife and start creating. And then I espied a recipe for a “one egg ravioli in clear broth”. What was really amazing about this is that I’ve been trying to find this recipe for years. I’d enjoyed a stunning dish of a poached egg inside a ravioli at Gary Rhodes’ original restaurant City Rhodes and had been trying to find the recipe for it since. And here it was, way above the clouds I had eventually found the elusive recipe. Anna Del Conte’s method is to build a wall with a ricotta and spinach mixture onto of the 4” rounds of fresh pasta before popping the egg yolk into the middle and topping with the second pasta round. I have always wondered if I should attempt pressing the fresh pasta round into a mould of some sort and then drop the egg into the resultant indentation before topping off with the other round. This sounds a bit fiddlier and is probably what Gary would do!

On arrival at JFK I stocked up with a couple of US food magazines that I hadn’t read for a while – Bon Appétit and Gourmet. I used to subscribe to both when there was a dearth of food magazines in the UK but now this has been rectified and I read Good Food Magazine, Observer Food Monthly, Waitrose Food Illustrated, Olive, Delicious and Fresh. I used to also try and get “Elle - A la table” and wade slowly through the French. When I picked up the September edition of Bon Appétit it fell open to a recipe for “Soft Egg Ravioli” which as you’ve guessed it was the second time in several hours I’d read a recipe for a dish that I’ve been trying to locate for about eight years. The Bon Appétit recipe used a ricotta and finely zested lemon mixture to build the retaining wall. I have a few Italian cookbooks wending their way to me soon and it will be amusing if they all contain this impossible to find recipe!

Update: I have finally, after first tasting it so many years ago, made my own gooey egg in a fresh ravioli – see here for the results.

The next chapter is “risotto” and one of the first recipes I find is another old much-loved friend – “risotto with lemon”. This innocuous recipe is a favourite of Nigella’s and Anna Del Conte’s recipe appears in “Nigella Bites”. I have mentioned in the past that I’ve been caught out by the quantities as even though Nigella claims it’s a recipe for two, it produces a river of risotto and in my experience is really too much for two, however hungry. Now I’ve got the original recipe with the same quantities I can see that Anna thinks this will feed three to four!

After the fabulous “risotto” chapter it’s “polenta” which I’ve been meaning to get more into, then “bread”, “pulses”, “fish” and “molluscs”. I’m not even a third through the book and I just crazy to get cooking. Nigella is so right about Anna Del Conte, she is the person to turn to when in need of bolstering and comfort and just incredible Italian food.
I am hooked!
Now where’s my knife…?

Easy like a Sunday lunchtime

As we are staying ‘next the sea’ this weekend when we surface on Sunday morning we sally forth for a final burst of the bright lights and seaside air of Hunstanton. But of course this is English summer so it quickly transforms from persistent drizzle to torrential downpour so a paddle in the sea is pretty much out of the question, not that I think we ever really considered it. So we have to resort to the other seaside activity when the deckchairs are packed away and the donkeys trot to shelter and that’s the amusement arcades. We run into the tawdry lighted hut nearest the car park, shaking off our wet tresses we change some notes into buckets of tuppences and hit the machines. When frequenting these gaudy establishments as a little girl when my grandmother would take me on a day trip to Southport or Blackpool, or even Buxton (you’ve got to love that miniature train) I used to be drawn to the one armed bandits but the fruit machines have been replaced by way more complicated ones now. So D and I eschewed those incredibly noisy things and stuck to the old fashioned 2p slot machines, the ones where the 2 pence pieces drop and hopefully knock some of their coppery friends into the waiting retrieval slot below. Though frankly the coins are considerably more likely to slip down the side and into the bowels of the machine, an action which sadly makes all the right noises but doesn’t give up the goods. But despite the terribly unlikely odds D and I are determined to stick to these machines and inexplicably put untold effort into procuring a little plastic skeleton. One slipped out of D’s grasps and committed suicide down the side of the machine but after further 2 pences were rained into the slot she succeeded in winning one, why this pleased us so excessively is hard to explain perhaps it’s a memory of all the times these machines robbed us of our pennies as children, especially those giant hooks that would tantalisingly hover over a vaguely desirable toy but evade all attempts to grab said item and deliver into our eager hands. Ha, revenge is sweet!
With our vast winnings of a plastic skeleton, 2 lollipops and still with 50 pence in the kitty we felt we could now tackle lunch so much to MC’s relief we head over to Titchwell Manor. As soon as N heard I was off to this neck of the woods for a weekend she said I should check out Titchwell Manor and we were immediately inspired to add it to our culinary destinations list. It’s still raining when we arrive but we have to explore and are very taken by their cottagey looking rooms aptly named Rosemary, Basil, Tarragon etcetera encircling a neat herb garden. D is particularly taken by the Potting Shed a little wooden house with a deck to sit out and catch a few rays over breakfast – sadly not today though.
Soon we are sat cosily in the conservatory watching the torrential seaside rain lash the glass roof and the lush secret garden beyond, grateful for the Sunday roast smells wafting enticingly from the kitchen and the fact we had abandoned thoughts of coastal pursuits in favour of a good feed up. The worse an English summer can fling at you can certainly be tempered by a good hunk of beef. And it looked like the finest of beasts were on offer particularly in the form of one of the set lunches of Roast rib of 28 day matured beef, Yorkshire pudding, duck fat potatoes, red wine gravy - there was also Roast loin of Berkshire pork on offer but I didn't spot as many eager takers. It seemed all around us were appreciative noises coming from contented diners forking beef and Yorkshires.
I was very intrigued by undeniably the largest Yorkshire pudding I've ever seen and spotting a handy baby at a neighbouring table I can vouch for the interesting fact that these giants of the Yorkshire pudding world are as big as a baby's head. But to be honest I'm not as wildly excited by these batter behemoths, I wouldn't say "no" if one turned up on my plate but I don't hanker for them particularly so I opted to explore the menu further and was considerably enamoured by the thought of Organic Red Poll Sirloin (Royal Sandringham Estate don’t you know) with horseradish risotto, pea and oxtail. I know John and Gregg from Master Chef would be yelling "don't you know that risotto is a dish in it's own right, it's not an accompaniment to the main feature" but occasionally I've thought that as delicious as a particular risotto is I'd quite like to move on to another flavour.
But before our beefy loveliness we had the small matter of the starters. D and MC had both opted for the Sunday lunch menu so they had Hobson's choice of local asparagus, duck egg dressing, parsley - not I hasten to add a bad thing but having a wider menu to select from I was determined to eke out the seaside theme and plump for the Brancaster cockles with white wine, shallots, cream and soft herbs. It took me many years to appreciate the joy of the fruits of the sea and I remember the first time I decided to try mussels whilst holidaying in Dijon and became an instant convert. Oysters I conquered on my first visit to Normandy. I think my natural aversion to mussels especially had been a frequent juxtaposition of the black glistening bivalves with the dreaded tomato. Michel the chef in Dijon made a special ‘sans tomates’ version for me and I saw the light. The only throwback to those seafood dodging times is a big preference for my seafood not being fridge cold. The oysters I preferred were the ones we'd topped with slivers of chorizo and grilled rather than just shucked and swallowed and I normally leave the prawns to everyone else unless they are warm. A fat prawn wrapped in a little Parma ham, skewered and then grilled is a very interesting proposition whereas a cold and slightly flaccid one lying there suspiciously close to a tomato laced Marie Rose sauce fills me with total dread.
But the clams were tasty - fiddly I have to admit, more work than mussels but with undeniably pretty shells, albeit a lot of them.
After our starters were polished off it was the turn of the beef, bring on the beasts! D and MC’s plates were a towering glory of beef crowned with the gargantuan Yorkshire puddings which they consumed with gusto.
Mine was the more elegant organic sirloin with horseradish risotto and added peas and oxtail. It is stylish, hearty and utterly delicious. There is a yummy breaded nugget of oxtail nestling in some gorgeous risotto with three slices of pink, juicy beef – this is Sunday lunch heaven!
To accompany all our beef we have a wonderfully verdant bowl of spring greens and another of broccoli gratin which seems incredibly apt when surrounded by all glistening greenery through the glass.
With the benefit of hindsight I should have chosen the hot Valrhona chocolate fondant but wanting to go against type I chose the elderflower and lemon tart with Italian meringue and raspberries. It certainly looked pretty and summery, topped with little elderflowers and tasted okay but just not outstanding. The lemon just wasn’t tart enough, it was just a tad bland but then the main course had been a lot to live up to.
D has selected the dessert with her name all over it, the apricot consommé with almond sorbet, marzipan and basil. Not my idea of a good time but then it wasn’t my name all over it! She was extremely happy claiming it to be one of the best desserts she’d ever had. Hmm I think I may have to return to this place and go for the chocolate fondant as it clearly had my name all over it but I chose to ignore the signs.
MC went for the rhubarb and liquorice sorbet with meringue and compressed fruits; he seemed to enjoy his unusual combination.
The conservatory at Titchwell Manor is an oasis of culinary calm from the delights of the June weather outside. We all decide that we’ve eaten enough to sink a small battleship but bizarrely we still want to check out the opening of the Yurt restaurant at Drove Orchards. Though the proviso is that we don’t eat anything no matter how many delicious plates of intriguing nibbles they wave in front of us. However truth be told I did succumb to a small wedge of a Scotch egg. A proper home-made Scotch egg is a wonderful thing and if this is indicative with the Yurt has to offer on future occasions I think another visit is definitely in order. Though not today as that sliver of breaded egg nearly pushed me over the edge.
Titchwell Manor was a fabulous recommendation by N and I am definitely drawn to the place perhaps even for a visit sometime. Perhaps I can surrender to that fabulous Valrhona chocolate fondant and then give them that third fork. Not that it was lacking as truly the memory of that succulent beef will linger for a long time, I know that D would definitely not concur but I didn’t end on a high. Hmmm, I wonder if they’re free next Sunday.

From cookbook to plate in 0-60

The new Gary Rhodes cookbook was placed into my grateful hands today, yes I know “another cookbook!” but I have to admit it looks a real winner. I guess I say that a lot but tasty yet hasty gastro seems to be de rigueur at the moment, apparently we don’t have more than a few moments to linger in the kitchen nowadays, and Gary being a hero of mine is bound to have a delicious take on the theme. The book “Time to Eat” has time-sensitive recipes ranging from the merest flash slaving over a dish to all the time in the world. The chapters are no time to shop, no time to cook, fast food in 15, 20-30 and 30-60 minutes, slow cooking and cooking for pleasure. The first question inside the cover certainly resonates with me, “Do you ever find yourself still chopping vegetables when your dinner guests arrive?”

Generally the first time I get to peruse my new cookbook is on the tube on the way home and the first time I opened Time to Eat the page fell open to bacon and egg risotto in the ‘no time to shop’ chapter. And being hungry and falling into the retail time-poor category but for once having all the necessary ingredients I decided that would be exactly what I’d conjure up as soon as I reached home. And I did and it was delicious and just what I needed! This definitely has to be the shortest time for me from page to plate.

And there are many more recipes I intend to try – as well as a plethora of salads there’s hot asparagus spears glazed with ham, cheddar and Parmesan or lemon and Parmesan pasta, pan-fried white fish with buttery grapes and chervil, a bowl of cauliflower and Camembert, roast chateaubriand with macaroni cheese, risotto Milanese, sharp lime skate with crème fraîche Jersey royals, roast sea trout with spinach, orange and crushed new potatoes, half chestnut guinea fowl, honey, lemon and thyme roast chicken, salt and pepper baby chickens with a red wine vinaigrette and lemon butter and so many, many more. And even though wild horses would never persuade me to eat it but I have to admit the beef tomato and aubergine cottage pie looks stunning.

I cannot imagine that it will be too long before I am flicking the pages and finding time to eat again.

U-mamma!

I read two separate tweets yesterday extolling the virtue of the new cookbook Easy Tasty Italian available in all good bookshops (and most likely those not so good) early next month. One of the tweets handily mentioned how a rampant cookbook-ophile such as me might feed their habit and procure a copy ahead of time and much to my delight a shiny copy of said cookbook was sat on the doormat awaiting my pleasure today. Who knew our post could be so efficient? And this is not just any cookbook this is a really good one! I feel I can speak from the vantage point of an expert of cookbooks, having managed to amass a veritable tower of them over the years and if there was an organisation called Cookbooks Anonymous I would be there taking the pledge.
The author of this delightful missive is the occasionally acerbic and always wise Mrs. Santini from Waitrose Food Illustrated. She’s thrown off her guise of culinary agony aunt and we get to meet the very elegant half Italian Laura Santtini (yes, in the transformation she’s gained a ‘t’!), daughter of the now retired proprietor of Frank Sinatra’s favourite restaurant Belgravia’s Santini.
So why does the world need another cookbook, Italian or otherwise? Well what Mrs Santinni is going to do is add a little va va vroom into your cooking. Her U.S.P. is the U-bomb or umami bomb, the little taste rockets she conjures up are flavoured butters, tasty pastes, salsas, marinades and most intriguingly - the potions and elixirs. The first section of Easy Tasty Italian is all about whipping up this wizardry. There is an artichoke, prosciutto, lemon & ricotta trifolata to juzz up a pasta dish. A rosemary, apple & lavender marinade to transform pork or veal, horseradish & rose butter with which to anoint red meat or oily fish. The glamorous sounding savoury enhancer wild mushroom & anchovy stardust or the secret weapon in many a risotto a Parmesan & prosciutto paste. And not forgetting the surely magical black chocolate elixir to provide that ‘je ne sais quoi’ to a beef dish. Laura Santtini defines umami as the "things that make you go 'mmmmm'" and as umami is the Japanese name for deliciousness she has christened her Italian version of this tongue tingling culinary alchemy as u-mamma! And where can you find this u-mamma in the larder? The answer is in some of those Italian stalwarts - Parmesan, prosciutto crudo, porcini mushrooms, white truffles, balsamic vinegar and salted anchovies. And though I can't bring myself to trumpet the tomato I'll concede their usefulness in Italian cooking, though frankly not in mine!
On top of the larder essentials she spices them up further with her alchemic pantry ingredients, a taster being - hibiscus flowers, pomegranate seeds, Amalfi lemon, pistachios, rose water, pink and green peppercorns, sumac, ginger and for that essential little bit of bling, edible gold and silver. Armed with this epicurean toolbox and a few grinding, cutting and cooking utensils this is where the magic happens. The rest of Easy Tasty Italian doesn't follow the usual formulaic cookbook format of chapters entitled spring, summer, autumn, winter or salads, meat, fish, vegetable accompaniments and desserts. Here in section two we have four poetically entitled chapters that are, Air ‘I was raw’, Water ‘I was cooked’, Fire ‘I was burned’ and Earth ‘I am tasty’. You’ve got to admit that’s a little different!
In Raw there’s prosciutto wrapped mozzarella balls with a soupçon of tapenade, scallops anointed with rose stardust and carpaccio and various ‘rich & thin’ alternatives. In Water the magic is applied to soups, pasta and risotti. I can’t wait to try the ‘cheeky lobster’ though the cherry tomatoes may accidently be forgotten. The creamy pesto with asparagus & crispy pancetta will be a must when asparagus comes back round again and the strawberry and balsamic with a few grinds of black pepper I already know I love but with risotto? I have to try that!
In Heat there’s the oxymoronic ‘hot carpaccios’, the beef tagliata with that ever so captivating black chocolate elixir, the strawberry and cucumber salsa’s swordfish (though I fear swordfish is now too endangered to enjoy) and veal Milanese with a variety of exotic twists. There’s a great bit headed 'roll, wrap & splash' which has all sorts of loveliness rolled in Parmesan gratings, wrapped in prosciutto and then doused in something suitably alcoholic or just extra-virgin olive oil if you must. The beef fillet with mascarpone & rose horseradish sounds truly inspirational.
And Earth is all about slow cooking so we have beautiful hunks of beef drowned in Barolo, the tongue-in-cheekily named Leg-over lamb (check out her reason for how this dish got its name), the infamous 36-clove spring chicken and a dozen twists on vegetables. I’ve always felt that mash potato is pretty tricky to beat but Mrs Santtini adds mascarpone and sweet roasted garlic to elevate it even further and she then suggests you could add an extra dimension to this mimosa with her wild mushroom and anchovy stardust.
If all this has still not whetted your appetite we round up with some charming take on desserts and if I need a licence to gather more table accoutrements Laura suggests ‘pimping your plate’ by procuring all sorts of random little glasses and cups in which to serve your accompaniments. For a final flourish the last recipe is a pink-hued Prosecco cocktail which has a sprig of rosemary as a verdant swizzle stick – sounds delicious!
I’ve been completely entranced by this book on first opening, I’ve already amassed some jazzed-up butter to slice a couple of rounds off to top steak or vegetables but after reading this I think I need to broaden my butter mountain further. I’ve been checking how my larder would pass muster as an alchemic kitbag and I fear it falls a little short, time I think to get out of a culinary rut, take a leaf out of Mrs Santtini’s enchanting book and drop a few U-bombs. They do say Italians do it better and this one may just might!

Homage to Anna

I've often said how much I enjoy the cookbook club events at Blueprint Café (see here, here and here!). How could I not? The merest casual observer to this blog would know I love cookbooks and I love to eat, so what more could I want? Tonight was extra special though, many turned out to pay homage to Anna Del Conte and her latest tome “Amaretto, Apple cake and Artichokes”. This isn't surprising as her books, her food and her writing have influenced so many. I saw Antonio Carluccio, Ruth Watson, Rose Prince and an unconfirmed sighting of Simon Hopkinson. I believe Nigella was due to be here but unfortunately wasn't. Anna spoke about some of her inspiration for the menu we had tonight and she mentioned that the two most referred to recipes in her book were the plum dessert we were due to have and her infamous lemon risotto. Now I know I've made at least two references to the latter on this blog so I guess she's spot on!

Tonight's menu was:

Bruschetta

Scarpazzone Lombardo

Prosciutto di San Daniele, grissini di Torino

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Minestra di pasta e ceci

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Brasato all'aceto

Spinaci

Pure' di patate

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Gelato di crema alla vaniglia, prugne sciroppate al rosmarino Cornetti alle mandorle

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Pecorino Stagionato con Miele

Lametably my Italian is very poor but one menu item leapt out at me Pure' di patate. We are having Italian mash potatoes, heaven! And it was, creamy and with Parmesan. That means the Blueprint Café has earned a place on the Mash Hall of Fame leader board. Well done Jeremy Lee et al, I'm sure you're very proud!

The Scarpazzone Lombardo were cubes of nuts and egg custard & nice little canape. The Prosciutto di San Daniele was introduced by a nice Italian man from Negroni and was very fine indeed. The ham was exceptional as well!

The Brasato all'aceto is the tenderest beef cooked in vinegar and I had somehow mislaid my knife but as you could have easily eaten it with a spoon it wouldn't have mattered (just like one of my favourite boeuf au daube). One of the reasons I really like these events is that you dine with different people on each visit. This time I was sat with the delightful F and D. They seemed considerably less eccentric than some of my former dining companions but no less entertaining. F calls herself a recovering vegetarian; recovering in the fact that she can now eat fish and intends to move on to meat in the next few years. Her reason behind this was as a foodie she felt she was restricting herself to a too limited choice. Hmmm, maybe I need to consider such an attitude to my food black list. With that in mind I did have a few mouthfuls of Minestra di pasta e ceci to see if I still can't abide tomatoes. I can't! Maybe I need to work on this. My foodie credentials have been questioned recently because of my black list and my answer was that the avoidance of the things I don't like encourage me to be more creative with the things I do. But I can see the point I guess, how can I say I love food if I want to run a mile in the presence of tomatoes? All I can think it that the flesh of a tomato makes my flesh crawl, actually so do the seeds and the skin and even the feint whiff of them! I think I may be a lost cause!

The much lauded Gelato di crema alla vaniglia, prugne sciroppate al rosmarino was incredibly good. The plums were so tasty though personally I would have preferred them stoned as they would have been easier to eat. The Cornetti alle mandorle - melt in the mouth rosemary biscuits were just delectable. I am very keen to recreate this dessert for myself and I can see why so many have commented so favourably about it.

To accompany the very fine Pecorino Stagionato con Miele which is the gorgeous ewe's milk cheese often confused with Parmesan, we had a glass of Il Moscato Grappa Nonino Monovitgno which if I hadn’t already mistaken it for my water glass of water and knocked it back in one, I probably would have enjoyed much better! The Grappa was introduced by the Italian daughter of the family who revolutionised Grappa production. When her mother fell in love with her father and then Grappa she realised that Grappa was often relegated to the kitchen and not considered good enough for the table. She went about changing this and this is the resultant drink. I’m sure it was very nice but knocking back believing it was water made me cough somewhat!

It was another fabulous evening, Jeremy Lee and his team produced some stupendous food even though Jeremy is somewhat incapacitated after an adventure on a push bike which has left him rather wrist-ally challenged! Glad to see you back though, Jeremy! And Richard and all the staff out front made sure everything went swimmingly.

I also got a brief audience with Anna, the great doyenne herself. I was able to tell her that I’d been on the photography course with Roger Stowell (who'd shot the photos in his Classic Food of Northern Italy book) and she remembered him most fondly.

And I look forward to seeing everyone again at the next event on Monday 4th December 2006 for Tom Parker-Bowles – ‘The Year of Eating Dangerously’ and I believe the subsequent evenings scheduled are:

Thursday 25th January 2007 - Sue Lawrence – ‘A Cook’s Tour of Scotland’

Thursday 22nd February 2007 - Sophie Conran – ‘Sophie Conran’s Pies’

Wednesday 16th May 2007 - Skye Gyngell – ‘A Year in My Kitchen’

Please check the Blueprint café site for details; I do think they can be a tad shy about advertising these events and they are slightly tricky to locate but here is the link when they are updated.

I’ve tried to include a couple of photos of the food from the night but it was quite dark (sorry, I mean ambient!) and I haven’t really done it all justice. After my photography course, I feel I should arm myself with at the very least a miner’s helmet and a few large white reflectors when attempting a little restaurant reportage. I am sure I’d be very popular!

At least thanks to Roger, I’ve been weaned off using flash; so unflattering for a white plate!

A re-union at USC

There’s something very cosy about Union Square Café, it’s like a big warm hug of a restaurant. DD and I have declared it to be ‘our’ restaurant and no visit to New York would really be complete without a visit. I guess we set a precedence last year by lingering over a long and late, luscious lunch on my birthday and then hanging around the bar even longer to toast KK’s birth with gorgeous pink cocktails (me initiating DD to the delights of the Chambord orb!), wait long enough for the famed bar nuts to materialise and put off the inevitable, unenviable task of departing from Manhattan to spend the rest of the week in the culinary dearth of deepest New Jersey. This time we were determined yet again that our final hours in the big apple would be at USC’s pleasure and we’d also introduce another J to our fave NY hangout. It’s clear that plenty agree with us. One of the fabulous quirks of the menu is that there are daily specials based on the finest ingredients they’ve picked up at the green market in Union Square and weekly specials that are well known and locals will revisit on the say Monday for the special ‘USC’s Lobster “Shepherd’s Pie” – with Mushrooms, Mashed Potatoes, Spinach, Carrots and Lobster Sauce’ night and just have that before heading home or out. We met one of these locals who regularly popped in for a spot of sustenance and sat at the bar whilst his favourite dish was delivered to him. And I am sure I would be a very regular diner if I lived just a little closer!

We were sat at one of the linen clad tables by the door as we hadn’t booked and could experience the full cheesiness of the ‘meeter and greeter’ who had just that specific tone of indifferent and insincere feelings that I expected ‘and you’ll find your exits, here, here and two over the wing…’ to waft over to us any minute. But we couldn’t be distracted by her false smiles for long as the very serious business of the menu being examined at length bought a hush to our table. We decided that we’d start our meal with a Kir Imperial and then share a plate of Seared Foie Gras with Toasted Cornbread, Roasted Mission Figs and Grape Relish before DD tucked in to the Herb-Roasted Amish Chicken with White Wine Jus, Sautéed Wild Mushrooms, Greenmarket Arugula and Parmigiano Bread Pudding, another J selected the Pan-Seared Sea Scallops with Balsamic Butter, Roasted Autumn Vegetables, Guanciale, Currants and Pine Nuts.

I just had so many to choose from prevaricated over the infamous Lobster Shepherd’s Pie or the Crispy Lemon-Pepper Duck or the Grilled Lamb Chops Scotta Dita with Potato-Gruyère Gratin but eventually plumped for the special of the day the Bacon Wrapped Monkfish with Porcini Risotto and Sautéed Escarole. It was imperative that I ordered Union Square Cafe’s Mashed Potatoes with Frizzled Leeks and Sautéed Broccoli Rabe “Mama Romamo style” for us all to share.

The seared foie gras was stunning and delicious and once polished off we turned our attention to pondering extensively about the Amish chicken. I am not terribly familiar with Amish lore but felt that a chicken probably wouldn’t really miss buttons, cars, electricity or even insurance as really they just want to scratch, perch and have the odd dust bath. If the Amish order that bred these very fine chicken was only permitted to use horse and buggy I could imagine that getting the plump chickens to market might be a challenge but perhaps exceptions are made. They were certainly very fine chickens, juicy and oh so flavoursome however deprived of electricity they were. DD’s Parmigiano bread pudding was soft and tasty also.

Another J relished her scallops and even let us appreciate their sweet plumpness for ourselves.

My monkfish was a deliciously undemanding and comforting dish to eat; with unctuous risotto (not quite as stunning at that one at Café Gray but gorgeous all the same) and of course there was some sublime mash to enjoy alongside the verdant broccoli.

We were going to seriously struggle to tear ourselves away from such magnificence. And we turned out to be so stuffed that we couldn’t even face a dessert with three spoons. It was with great regret that we stopped pondering our nicely rounded tummies, settled the bill and ventured into the cold again in search of our luggage and a long train journey.

I can promise the justifiably three-forked USC that we will be back as soon as we can. Please have our usual table waiting adorned with fresh Kir Imperials and herbed, spicy nuts to share. Hmmm, mmmm, mmmm. What shall we say DD, table for 7 o’clock?

Christmas Stuffing!

We’re back in the dining room again, the bling factor has been upped, the stylish crackers are out and we’re all looking forward greatly to our traditional Christmas lunch. 

Well maybe not so traditional, no matter which of the three of Robert Thompson’s Tasting menus you've selected you'll find a turkey-free zone and something rather more glamorous instead.  I've plumped for the seemingly slightly less extravagant of the three (more of that assumption later!) and in a moment of Christmas madness I've elected to have the accompanying sommelier choices of wines alongside. What could possibly go wrong?  

The cheese oozing gougères are out again this lunchtime, still incredibly moreish! 

The appetiser is an elegant glass filled with a tasty spiced aubergine dip with walnut toast. It has a light, moussey texture, a slick of olive oil, a crunch of a finger of toasted walnut bread. All washed down with the ubiquitous bubbles - a nice glass of Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve.

Next is the picture-perfect Local Sea Bass Lightly Cured, Vinaigrette of Oysters, Potato and Tarragon. Again this is a dish I wouldn't immediately plump for on a menu but that's why tasting menus are such a fabulous invention, you get to explore new flavours and not necessarily forgo the old favourites. And this was a perfect foil to the inevitable richness ahead, sweet wafts of tarragon, an oyster-y note, tastes of the sea, very fine indeed. The wine was a cheeky little Silvaner, Villa Wolf, Pfatz 2009. one of the reasons I succumbed to the wine extravaganza. 

Next an unusual dish that provoked much chatter about the inventiveness of Robert and his team. This was the Canneloni of Roasted Goose, Artichoke Risotto and Roasted Various Beetroots. We got to enjoy deliciously delicate risotto hidden inside moist slices of goose (do you see what they did here?) topped with a chunk of soft, yielding artichoke heart. Also there's a wedge of the very earthy purple beetroot and, more preferable to me, the more delicate golden beetroot. A fruity little Pinot Noir, Blanc de Noir/Chardonnay, Uruguay 2008 accompanied the ’cannelloni’.

The perfumed steam from the Baked Scallops in the Shell with Celeriac, Hazelnut, Beurre Noisette and Lemon Thyme was truly tantalizing. The sealing of all the aromatic goodies in the shell certainly intensifies that oh so sweet scallop taste and really was a revelation.  I'd always believed it was sautéed, flash-fried or nothing else for the perfect scallop.  And yes another wine appeared a Côte Du Jura ’Les Varrons’ Julien Labet 2007.

The fish course was Pan Fried Fillet of Local Cod

(originally Lovage but changed to) Spinach Pasta, Chantenay Carrot, Walnuts and Osietra Caviar . The perfect golden cod was fashioned as a high-rise scallop with a verdant quenelle of spaghetti (I don’t think it was ’alla chitarra’ - square cut) topped with dollop-ette of caviar and a vibrant smear of carrot purée. The nut and fish combo was a new one on me and really added to this lovely plate.  The wine is making everything pretty hazy by now but thanks to my cheat sheet I can read that the wine was a glass of Limoux ’Haute Vallée’ La Cave Des Sieurs D’Arques 2007 but I have no recollection. 

So my antidote to dry turkey was the splendid Roasted Saddle of Venison with Root Vegetables, Braised Red Cabbage and Agen Prune, Sauce Grand Veneur. And this really was as good as it looks with deep, deep purple of that intensely meaty hunk of venison nestled up to the perfect roasted roots surrounded by a moat of rich burgundy, prune-y, red cabbage-y sauce. Yes, another sublime dish! This was perfectly washed down more if the wine I'd been enjoying at previous meals - the lip-smacking Malbec, Clos Des Andes, Reserva, Mendoza, Poesia 2006

This curious misconception I had that the menu was less substantial than yesterdays convinced me that I'd have plenty of room for the optional Cheese Course. From the extensive selection I first eliminated the goat and blue ones I chose Brin D’amour, Brillat Trufflé, Sharpham Rustic and Lincolnshire Poacher - a bit of soft and a bit of tangy hard. My cheeses came accompanied with dried grapes, chutney, wedges of fig, a smooth slab of honey-sweet Membrillo and a napkin formed like a dinner jacket containing bread and crackers. The cheese was a nice little diversion but really there wasn't room at the inn.  

I moved tables over to the window and to S and A so we could compare notes on our preparation for this meal (they walked further than me but I got oh so much wetter), our collective excessive food consumption and the highlights of our Christmas dining so far. I think it was A who said when confronted with Locally Grown Apples with Roasted Chestnuts and Dry Cider on the menu he had half expected an apple with a glass of cider. But no, the little joke was what we were really delivered was this elegantly refreshing pre-dessert of a wobbly panacotta, cider granita, apple balls, sorbet, crisp slices of apple and the slivers of essential festive flavour - roasted chestnuts. 

My final dish is a caged pear or more specifically a Poached Pear with Pain D’epice Ice Cream and Quince Puree. Thankfully this dish is perfectly balanced and whisper light so I'm able to taste everything. The juicy pear is surrounded by a little wall of that Burgundian speciality pain d’epice, thin spicy gingerbread that shatters on gentle impact. There's a pear-shaped scoop of the same flavour of ice cream, a smear of fruity quince purée and artful drizzles of caramel sauce. The dessert wine is Château Filhots, 2nd Cru Classé, Sauterne 2001.

As I never drink coffee and rarely drink tea I don't end my meal like everyone else so as we’re still all enjoying our conversations I order hot water and get to also experience the petits fours. 

In another moment of madness I'd pre-ordered the evening hamper in case the hunger pangs strike later. How on earth did I think that could possibly happen.  There are only two words to describe how I feel now after all this fabulously delicious food and wine - utterly stuffed!