Accentuate the positive

Eating our way around Mexico ( again) or Accentuate the positive!

In London towers, we had another significant event, well not actually London Towers, and not even close by. But wherever it was, it was a good reason to try yet another nice restaurant.

Biko is in Polanço, Mexico City, is listed as one of the best restaurants in the world and stands at # 30! A couple of years ago we tried another in Polanço, Pujol, with which I was not duly impressed. Having eaten now widely in Mexico, attended a couple of cooking classes, been on street food tours, I feel I have a good understanding of Mexican cuisine, and Tex Mex it is not.

So to Biko, a Wednesday evening in November , the temperature warmish, the traffic as usual in this part of town, dreadful. Biko is located just off President Mazaryke , which is the main road in this part of town, and where one can find most of the smarter shops and cafes., that is when it is not being dug up, which seems to be most of the time.
So let us start with the positives, we were warmly welcomed, our chief waiter introduced himself and explained how their menu worked. Nickinlaw ( family joke) duly explained, the girls had Kir Royal ( more Kir than royal, which had to be diluted with more champagne, of course) whilst the boys had a deconstructed Bloody Mary, in this case, Tequila with spicy tomato juice on the side. Interesting!

We chose the tasting Menu, which consisted of 7 courses, albeit they were small. And here comes the negatives, Grey seems to have been the colour theme of the evening, ( in Pujol it was beige), almost everything was various shades of Grey ( and not, I add 50 Shades of Grey, might have been more exciting if it had been!) The fois gras was grey, the tuna, grey/pink and the pork grey / white. And the restaurant it self was Grey, or beige or Dull. Food tasted OK service was Ok, atmosphere, not Ok. Reading various comments on Trip Advisor ( not always the best source of information, I must admit) others too were underwhelmed.Pricey? Yes, worth a second visit, No, there are too many very good restaurants, to go to one that we think mediocre. I wonder sometimes, who actually ranks the restaurants, and the criteria used for the rankings.

Meanwhile back at London Towers, we had a first! A First was a take-away! We have had in the past, I must admit had en Famille a Pizza Movie Night, especially confined in the Snowy Mountains of France, where we drive down 7 hair-raising hairpin bends, slip-sliding to the original Pizza Hut……. La Cabane, a little wooden hut, which night after night just makes Pizza, to go, and whilst you wait serves either a Vin Chaud or a soupçon of vin rouge.all over the French Alps it is possible to find these small, Take Aways, usually Pizza, but sometimes Pasta.
But this was a real, live delivered to your front door, take away. And I have to confess, that after being out all day, it was a great meal. Might just do it again! Watch this space!!

Mulligatawny soup recipes!

Ron’s Mum Mully Soup

2 Onions chopped finely

6 cloves of garlic crushed

2 tsp both of Turmeric and of ginger

1 litre of water or stock ( you may used bought)

1/3 of a cooked chicken ( no bones or skin please, you can use those to make your stock)

1 tin condensed cream of chicken soup

2oz creamed coconut 1 lemon cut into wedges

Fry the onion in a little butter or ghee until translucent , add the spices, add the stock along with the chicken. Bring to the boil and add the can of soup, mix well. Add the creamed coconut and stir well to mix. Test for taste and adjust seasoning ( salt and pepper) serve with a wedge of lemon.

Alternative Mulligatawny Soup.

2 onions chopped , 4 cloves of garlic chopped, 3 carrots, chopped, 3 sticks celery chopped, one medium size potato or sweet potato peeled and chopped.

1/3 cooked chicken cut into pieces

1-2 tablespoons curry Powder

1 cup of long grain rice

1 1/2 litres of chicken stock

1 tablespoon tomato purée, 2 oz ground almonds, 4 oz plain yoghurt
Some sour cream and fresh coriander to garnish.

Melt some butter or ghee and add the vegetables and stir fry for a few moments. Add the curry powder, mix well and cook for 3 mins. Add the stock , the tomato purée , and the rice. Cook for 15 mins or so until the rice is really soft, add the chicken, and warm through, add the yoghurt and using preferably a stick blender, purée the soup, it does not have to be super smooth. Adjust the seasoning to taste and if too thick, add some boiling water to obtain the required consistency . Serve garnished with a small scoop of sour cream and fresh coriander. Enjoy!

For richer, for poorer, but not for Lunch!

It is that time of year again, we are on the move and as such, it means sorting out the refrigerator, and so I make soup. Fortunately, Himself likes soup and although I married him for richer, for poorer, I did not marry him for lunch! So this at least is an ideal compromise, as I make soup, bag it in Zip Lock bags ( perfect for one person….Large portion), remove the air and flat pack them in the freezer, ready for whenever!

So my most common soup, when clearing out is my infamous Refrigerator soup, others include, Cauliflower and blue cheese ( always have Stilton left over after Christmas), Leek and potato, ( always have too many potatoes), and french onion,( again too many onions and garlic),and when I have too much lettuce I make pea, sometimes with ham, and sometimes without, just depends if I have too much ham.

Seriously, though, my refrigerator soup, is made with whatever is left and todays version has the title of Refirgerator Soup, a la Provencal, as it could almost be Ratatouille!!

So as I say, when needs must I make soup from almost anything , more or less the only ones that I can really replicate time and time again are French Onion and Pea! But I came across a recipe the other day, hiding in my numerous Cookery books . Ones that are less popular have been decamped to France and in some cases, ones that are extremely popular have been duplicated in France, and I subscribe to French cookery magazines and web sites, always interesting to have an insight to other cultures and cuisine .
However the recipe I happened upon, was aptly named Ron’s Mum, Mully Soup!
Ron’s Mum was I believe of Burmese origin but sadly died many years ago, and so did Ron . I always said that the recipe would die with Ron’s Mum, and whilst living in the US circa 1994 , Ron asked ” do you by any chance have my Mums recipe for Mulligatawny soup? And I did. So here it is, it was the best Mully soup going but this was dated about 1970, so times have changed and I think I would use ready cooked chicken today and maybe not the condensed chicken soup, but give it a try and see for yourself.

Soups from Top to bottom are, Soup a la Provençal, thick Mulligatawny and Ron’s Mum Mully Soup! Given a taste test the other night the general consensus was They preferred Ron’s Mum, however, number two daughter declared after looking at the contents of tinned soup ( lots of filler and only 3% soup) that if she had known beforehand then she might not have eaten it! Ah well! It could be a quick semi homemade soup providing you have the cooked chicken and the can of soup ( I normally do not) enjoy!

January in the mountains

Once upon a time, January in the mountains, meant freezing temperatures, good snow, and Ice. This year we have the Ice and Rain and wind ,obviously some snow higher up, but wind helps to make lots of ice and swipes away what snow there is.

This equals good news for some of the restaurants as now they are busy at lunch time as well as in the evening. One of our favourites in Morzine, is La Grange, a very rustic place decorated with cow bells, and sleighs and other artefacts of a bygone era. It is owned and operated by Alex ( British) and Fred ( French) . In the off season, Fred uses this time to try his hand at different types of cuisine, ( and does a wonderful Steak Tartare) but in the Winter it is cuisine Savoyard that comes into play. Other restaurants that have tried to be non conformist seem to have failed, the Savoyard cuisine is the one that the tourists are looking for. It is not for the faint hearted, as I have said before, variations on Ham, Cheese and Cream are the order of the day, however the a la carte menu does offer good quality steaks, chicken ,duck pork and fish ( though personally am not keen on FERA du lac, which is a lake fish and I always find it tastes a bit muddy!)
However on our recent visit, it was packed to the doors, but Alex was her usual smiley self and food was as good as usual and copious. I started with the Tarte d’ abondance, which is a very a very rich quiche like tart, but with, I think more cheese and cream, than in a quiche!

Liking it so much, I decided to make it last night, did some research and fiddling with recipes, came up with this:-

Pastry, you can use a packet of bought short pastry ( I always make my own, but then you can all me odd!)
6 eggs, beaten with enough single cream to make up 1/2L of liquid,
500 grams of good cheese, here it would be Abondance, but any of hte following can be used, Beaufort, Emmental, Gruyere, or even goats cheese, but would not recommend any of the british cheeses, either too strong, or do not melt the same.
Roll out the pastry and line a greased quiche type dish with it. Fill dish with the cheese and pour over the egg/cream mixture. Bake at 170/180 degrees for about 40 minutes until golden brown.When hot the filling will be runny but sets on cooling, so best eaten warm, but not piping hot. Serve with a green salad.

Over the Festive season, youngest daughter also took her turn in cooking dinner and she came up with Vegetarian Chilli, which although she is not a vegetarian, enjoys being creative with pulses and grains. so here is her dinner, which is YUMMY!

4 garlic cloves chopped plus 2 large chopped onions
2 cups of chopped vegetables, to include mushrooms ( optional), red/green peppers, carrots, sweet potatoes
1 hot pepper, seeded and minced (optional)
1 Cup frozen peas and or corn
1 tsp ground cumin, ground coriander, chili powder, salt and black pepper
2 cans chopped tomatoes
16 oz – can tomato puree
1 – can kidney beans, ,black beans, red beans, or any other such as chick peas or lentils. all drained
2 Cups water
1/2 Cup bulgur wheat or quinoa cooked
Hot sauce or cayenne pepper (optional)
1/4 Cup minced fresh cilantro, for garnish
sour cream, and mashed avocado for garnish (optional) grated cheese

Directions
put some oil in a large pot. Sauté the vegetables and spices in the oil over medium to medium-low heat for 10 minutes or until tender. Add a few tablespoons of water if the veggies begin sticking to the pot.
Add the remaining ingredients except the cilantro, sour cream and avocado and simmer over medium-low heat, covered, for 30 minutes. Stir and simmer for an additional 20 to 30 minutes until the veggies are cooked through.
Season with salt and, if more spice is desired, hot sauce or cayenne pepper to taste. Serve sprinked with the cilantro with the sour cream grated cheese and avocado on the side
Tip: Leftover chili freezes

Photos from the top, filet of beef, onion tart, supreme of chicken, Tarte au fromage, my Tarte au fromage and the interior of La Grange br />

Christmas Dinner anyone?

oystersandchampagne

Christmas was here, best time of year! Mistletoe and wine etc! But is Christmas dinner the best dinner that you can have?

I questioned that concept about 30 years ago and have not cooked on Christmas Day since. Even before then, I always experimented with what we would have on that special day. My first Christmas dinner ( one that I cooked rather than my Mom) I chose Suckling pig. However it, skinny little thing was too big for my minuscule oven, so had to chop it in two and I cooked the front end first. I duly stuffed his mouth with an apple and stuck him in the oven. As he roasted tears rain down his face, or so it seemed, have not cooked suckling pig since. So we have gone from various ideas, roast loin of pork, standing rib of dry aged beef, goose, duck, wild duck to…

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Dinner in Dinner!

It has been a busy time of year in London Towers and a few weeks ago we had Dinner in Dinner. And for the uninitiated , Dinner is a restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental, London. It was set up by Heston Blumenthal along with his Head Chef Ashley Palmer-Watts.

The Ladies who lunch , had lunch there, sometime last year and enjoyed it immensely , hence the decision to return, ” en famille”. We actually ate at the Chefs table in the kitchen which is in itself an experience. Ashley himself was on duty that night and treated us royally. If you have never eaten in a working kitchen, then it really is a “Must Do” . A couple of years ago on Valentine’s Day, I was treated to a morning in the kitchen at Sat Bains in Nottingham. He has two Michelin Stars and the location is very unimposing, set somewhere off the motorway in a light industrial estate ( he has to forgive me if I am wrong, but that is what it felt like!) I was the only one there with the chefs and being a very organised person in the kitchen myself, I was impressed , by the methodology, calmness, total organisation. We ( himself and I) then had a superb lunch, in the kitchen! Sat Bains motto is ” Two many Chefs, but only one Indian”! His family is from the Indian sub continent.
Anyway, back to Dinner, if there is any one Kitchen Table that you have to go to, then this is it. Very relaxed, the staff are wonderful and the fact that the head chef was there, made it extra special. He explained all of the dishes as he went along.
The menu is extremely interesting as, they have researched old recipes from as far back as 1390!

The menu was very eclectic and interesting. When booking the table I was asked if there were any allergies, or major dislikes,, but not really , # 1 daughter does not eat Mushrooms, # 2 daughter, no Hollandaise sauce, and #1 son, no beans, me? Not keen on liver or kidneys, but himself, well, he will eat anything, and he does!
#2 daughter declared, she was out of her comfort zone on some of the items on the menu, but all was eaten with great gusto, except the Pigeon. One assumes it was not shot on Trafalgar Square, but for me ( and the others ) it was the most disappointing of the dishes.
Our favourites, the Meat Fruit, (1500), which is chicken liver parfait with fois gras, made to look like a tangerine, and the Tipsy cake (1810) but all of it was wonderful, from the Earl Grey cured salmon (1730) to the Lobster and cucumber soup (1730). to the Frumenty (1390), to the roast iberico pork chop (1820) , to the strawberry tart (1560) . Frumenty reached the UK from Persia and beyond, was made with grains and Venison, or fish or even eggs., was a traditional Celtic meal and in England served on Mothering Sunday. It is mentioned in Thomas Hardys, The Mayor of Casterbridge, and Lewis Carrols, Alice through the Looking Glass. It as been said to be England’s oldest dish!
Anyway, , it appears that the Fat Duck in Bray ( the original Heston venue) is to move Lock Stock and Barrel ( staff dishes, front door )to James Packers Crown Resort Hotel, in Melbourne for 6 months, whilst the building in Bray undergoes refurbishment. After that it will return to Bray, but what will remain in Melbourne is a second edition of Dinner! I wonder if it will be traditional English, or will Heston and his team find out what the first Australians ate? Would be nice to find out!

Fischers and Kai

Fishers and Kai
We recently had a significant event in London Towers, 16,071!
Days that is, of wedded bliss! And never a cross word? Well how boring that would be. So himself, took me out to lunch, to a Michelin starred restaurant ( as he explains, ladies who lunch expect nothing less). However this came with an interesting twist, it was Chinese ! Yes, a Chinese restaurant with a Michelin star is an oddity but why not? Hidden amongst the antique shops and art galleries on South Audley Street, one finds Kai. Even the taxi driver asked if it was an Art Gallery, as the only thing to be seen from the street is an enormous blue and white Chinese vase.
The restaurant is on the ground and lower ground floors of a typical London Town house and as such is relatively small, we were taken downstairs where there was only one other table occupied, and it remained so during the course of our lunch, which was a shame really as atmospheric, it was not. Elevator, funky music blasted out, which fortunately , they did turn down, when requested.
Tapas, or small sharing plates seem to be the order of the day, in many restaurants, I assume it is the current trend, the waiter ( excuse me it is my first day, by myself) suggested 8 such dishes.
So we chose
Each dish was beautifully presented and each was really tasty, spoilt only by a fairly indifferent service and by being in the basement, otherwise it was a very nice lunch, one for the ” Ladies” to put on their list of ” must go to ” restaurants.

Corbin and King who are the masters of understated dining venues own the Delauney in Aldwych, Colbert on Sloane Square, the Wolseley on Piccadilly, Brasserie Zedal near Piccadilly Circus, and now Fischers on Marylebone High Street and also a hotel in Mayfair.
Their first venture ( after divesting themselves of The Ivy group) was The Wolseley , which is my favourite and such a great place to people watch, Brasserie Zedel is their low end venture, just off Piccadilly Circus, all day dining with a Menu du Jour for as little as £8.95 for two courses! Colbert on Sloane Square came about after the Earl of Cadogan ( the local landlord ) ate in the previous occupant of the site, The Oriel, he hated the food, the service and the prices and told them that he would not renew their lease! And he didn’t !
So now, in Marylebone there is Fischers.

So off to Fischers for breakfast we trotted one Sunday breakfast, with number 2 daughter in tow, she is probably even more picky than myself, if that is possible, so it would be a good test.
The decor is that of an Austrian inn, with wood panelling, mountain scenes and stuffed boar on the walls. Himself chose, the black pudding on top of rösti potatoes, with a poached egg, whilst the girls took the Birchermüsli, the musli was good, just how I like it and himself declared the black pudding concoction worthwhile. We will most certainly return.

A-FORAGING-WE-WILL-GO!

October 2014

A Foraging We Will Go

Almost sounds like a song from the folk mega group Bellow Head, they sing, A “Begging we will go!”
So I am not begging but sitting in a converted goods shed, next door to Canterbury West Railway Station, and surprisingly it is called the Goods Shed. It is a farmers market, that is open 6 days a week from 9 am, with a fish stall, a butchers, a general stall selling Kentish cider and beer, a bakery, a wine merchant, a fruit and vegetable stall and a couple of Cafes, they have a
chart on the wall comparing prices with the local supermarkets, so shoppers can compare .

But what am I doing here? Well I am waiting for Fergus the Forager to appear, at this point in time am not too sure of his organisational skills, as I caught an early morning train from London, to be here for 9 am and then, oops, it has turned into 10 am! Ah well we shall see!
So he has just appeared, he is over subscribed for this course, so Dave, one of the foragers has been despatched to find his car, so we can get to the woods, en masse! One look at Fergus’ car makes me wonder if it has ever passed a vehicle inspection, the front is taped together and the radiator has sprung a leak( hence an enormous plastic jerry can which came in very useful as my chair). But never mind. We are off to the woods. We begin with a talk on fungi in general and he
has lots of specimens and we learn how to identify them. Bottom line? Not so easy! Firstly one should buy a couple of books,
one or two of them slim line editions but a couple are indeed weighty tombs, but then one does need to be sure, after all it is a matter of life and death!

Many years ago, whilst living in southern Germany, we decided that we should ” do” as the locals and hunt for mushrooms.Our field guide was a bit confusing, on one side, the description was highly flavourable ,whilst on the other it read ” deadly poisonous. After much debate,and to no conclusion, we fed them to the dog! Quelle Horreur, I hear you say, well, he lived as did we!
Hence my second debut into the life of foraging!

Well we did find lots of various types of Funghi, some of which were very much edible, others
edible, but not wildly exciting and others to be avoided at all costs. Some were Rock hard and indeed looked like Rocks , whilst others felt like leather and could be mushed up and made into paper. Dave ( he of extra car)
declared that he had hunted mushrooms for years and his rule of thumb was ” if it smelt like a mushroom, then it was a mushroom, hence safe to eat” well I guess he had just been lucky over the years, as this not a good rule at all.
So our best edible find were the chanterelles, not a huge amount, but they were just beginning to
poke through the undergrowth. After discussing all of our finds, we were bundled back into the
vehicles to another wood, where some of us did wonder, if In fact this was where we were to be
“bumped off” with the headline ” Foragers gone missing” But no! Deep into the wood we found
half an oil drum hidden away, Fergus, unpacked his enormous rucksack and proceeded to cook
lunch, soup, pasta with our chanterelles and a fake crumble, with pears ( windfalls of course )
and some type of foraged berry.

Fergus did not partake of this foraged feast, as he is currently living on, chestnuts ( usually ground and made into some type of porridge) walnuts, Hawthorne berries, nettles, a type of seaweed and a couple of other berries, the names of which I can not remember.

Not a diet that I would relish I think., I think he is quiet mad, but then I also think we need more mad people, it would be very boring if we were all the same.
As for Funghi ?, maybe this weekend? Maybe I will have to test them on Himself, as we no
longer have a dog!

Head to Malaga for a fantastic Market

We are on the Costa del Sol with new old friends ( none of us old you understand) to enjoy the sunshine and the golf and some sightseeing as well ( currently it is raining” Cats and Dogs” and has been all night) The rain has curtailed our trip To Cadiz the oldest inhabited settlement in Europe .

One of the Axarquia villages, in the hills away from Malaga

However we have been to Malaga, to the old city and had a driving tour of the old villages of Axarquia . Very pretty white Peubla villages nestled in the mountains up very steep and narrow roads.

Growing up a neighbour ( and mother of an old boyfriend) used to come to this part of Spain, she had the bleached blond hair with the dark roots showing and skin like leather. My Mother ” tut tutted” and talked about the Costa Del Crime. I think over the years the area has had a bad rap. True the unfinished developments are there to be seen and from parts of the freeway one could be forgiven for thinking that one was in the outskirts of Delhi or another developing country. But away from this the countryside is beautiful and Malaga city centre is fascinating, the narrow streets, the cafés spilling out onto the streets and the Market!

The market is housed in a beautiful 19 th Century Iron Clad building in the middle of the old town with the original Moorish gate, that once connected the town to the port. and is open daily ( 8- 2 but not Sunday’s ) we were there late morning along with the rest of Malaga, but these were real people and not the tourists and ” foodies” of Borough Market fame. These were local people doing their weekend shop. And Oh I could have bought everything there, the fish, the snails, the clams, the meat, the sausages, the olives, the mushrooms, the spices, oh the list is endless! And the prices! Compared to London, as cheap as could be! Look at the pictures and decide for yourself .

The Art Deco Market Building — The Art Deco Market building

Whilst here, wehave been sampling the local food ( and wine)! Just down the road from where we are staying is a restaurant called ElJinete, there you can dine outside and have a three course meal for €17 (€22 on Thursday and Saturday when they have live music) the entrecôte steak is excellent. Further along the coast is a restaurant called Da Bruno, again eat out under the stars, the service is excellent as is the food. And the wine was extra special.

Filet of sea bream on a bed of wild mushrooms

Old friends, Chez Bruce and Borough Market

A short while ago, we were treated by Old friends ( friends that we have known for a long time, and not old at all) to a wonderful dinner at Chez Bruce in Wandsworth ( London). Not my neck of the woods at all, and in fact in all the years that I have been connected in some way or another, have never been to that part of London! After all, it is south of the river! South of the river means transportation is just that little bit more difficult. So difficult in fact, it meant we had to drive! Quelle Horreur! But the friends and the restaurant made it all worth while.

Chez Bruce is one of the three restaurants run by Chef Bruce Poole .

Chez Bruce opened for business in 1995. Nigel ( Nigel Platts Martin business partner and owner of the Ledbury and the Square) and Bruce added The Glasshouse, in Kew in 1999; and La Trompette, in Chiswick in 2001 to the London-based group.

We have been many times to La Trompette which is a very affordable Michelin starred restaurant in a back street Chiswick ( London W4). Likewise the Glasshouse in Kew ( handily next to the tube station).

However this was our first visit to Chez Bruce, and I have to say that it lived up to it’s hype as far as food was concerned. BUT himself felt that the service let it down. One time he was fiddling with his wine glass, with maybe a soupçon of very quaffable wine left in it, when the waiter descended and said “shall I take that away?” and before himself could protest, away it was gone. Later on, after dessert, again the waiter came with a “Are you done with that?” not so much the words but the tone, and then the lights went on, bright lights, I was almost expecting the chairs to be put on the table ( we were not the last by any means).

But as I said, the food was very good indeed and you can judge for yourself.

Today , we took a trip to Borough Market, which is by London Bridge Tube/Railway Station. I really like going to this markets, but then I love markets. However, this has gone really upmarket in recent years and I have not been for a while and was really surprised by how much more upmarket it has become. There are in fact less market type stalls, many specialist food stalls, especially olive oil, and truffle olive oils. Not so many fruit and vegetable type stands anymore but oodles of food stands, anything from melted cheese to bratwurst with all the trimmings to vegetarian hamburgers to venison sausages to Thai curries to Japanese noodles, the list is endless. If you are ever in London and at a loose end then it is worth the visit. It is now open Wednesday through Saturday, with Saturday being the busiest day. If you want to shop then it is almost impossible as it is now really a “destination” place for ( on the whole) standing and eating. So trying to “shop with shopping trolley in tow, pushing past punters with plates of steaming Paella is near nigh impossible. Likewise on the other open days, avoid lunch times as again it is really busy.