A Pre Christmas Dinner.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a Pre Christmas Dinner chez Nous. Amazingly all were available and so to plan our meal. We decided to visit Smithfield, the London Meat market. but one has to go early, so off we trotted and were there at about 5.30 in the morning, but even so some of the traders had already left for the day. But what fun, oodles to choose from and the traders that were still there, all to a man ( and woman) were jolly.

Taken in Mexico City
Taken in Mexico City

A couple of these photos were taken in Mexico City, but meat markets seem to be the same world wide.

We thought that we would have a fillet of beef, something of a luxury, not usually cooked just for 2, and maybe not something that the kids could afford to serve. We also bought a 6 Kilo boned Turkey crown, for son who was doing his wonderful Turkey breast for Christmas day. A 6 Kilo Turkey breast is a tad on the large side, and so it was cut into 2 and frozen.

What else to have ? Well, I love Scallops and know that some of the others do as well. Right that takes care of starters, sautéed scallops with crisp pancetta and some Panko covered shrimp on a bed of leaves! Ah stop! Son in Law, allergic to shell fish, right, plan b) for him it is baked goats cheese on sourdough toast with the yummy deep pink ice cream that is Beetroot ice cream. Onto the main event. Well roast beef, with a rich sauce, made with onions, port, dijon mustard, worcestershire sauce and blackcurrant jelly, UMM! along with baked potato skins filled with cheese mash, braised red cabbage, French beans. Ah Ah, maybe not every wants beef, so another plan b came into force, a Salmon Coulibiac ( a kind of Salmon Wellington) was also made, along with a beurre blanc sauce, and maybe something else should be an alternative, YES! Biriyani Rice, chop an assortment of vegetables, cook the rice, sauté it in wok along along with curry spices, add the vegetables, umm umm the smell is Devine. 

Right, so now we can move onto dessert.
What to make? Well, Miss Tess, her dad and himself all love crumble, actually Miss Tess makes a pretty mean crumble herself ( she is 8) . So crumble it is, apple and raspberry in individual ramekins. Next Master Alfie Just loves Meringues, and so it is going to be a raspberry Pavlova with him in mind. And the rest, well Molton Chocolate Pots with stem ginger ice cream. And that should do it! 

Miss Tess aged 5 making her Crumble
Success
Strawberry Pavlova Mexican Style
Raspberry and Apple Crumble

Whilst I busied myself in the kitchen, himself set the table ( it is his job and knows exactly what to do and how to do it, it might seem pretty easy but I can be kind of OCD when it comes to table settings) and after that being at a loose end he wrapped the presents. We were being conservative this year and a mere 7 hours later he had finished. We always put cryptic clues on our gifts and this was exacerbated by himself deciding to to write them languages other than English, so constant trips to computer and bablefish !
All duly arrived, dinner was served. I am pretty sure everyone knows how to make a crumble mix, BUT although I am not a crumble eater, I choose to make my crumble topping separately from the actual filling and put the filling on wen itself is ready. This way I can make multiples of the mix as it freezes well, and is ready for future use.
My Crumble Mix
12 oz ( 340 grams) plain flour
4oz (113 grams) brown sugar you can use more if you have a sweet tooth
8oz ( 225 grams)unsalted butter
very simply if you have a food processor, put the flour and sugar into the processor and then add the COLD butter which has been cut into chunks. Switch on the machine and when the clonking stops ( in just a few seconds) it is ready!! How easy is that. You can add then if you like some ground almonds or chopped nuts to the mix.
Spread out onto a baking tray and bake 180C/350F/Gas 4.for about 20 mins or so, occasionally giving it a stir so that it all cooks evenly. Leave to cool and then can be used straight away or frozen. To assemble the crumble, either use fresh or frozen fruit, cook the fruit first and then top with the crumble mix and bake until hot. Can be made for a more formal occasion in ramekins rather than one big crumble. When I make it for himself, I usually make one large one and then when cold cut it into portions, and freeze, so that it is there ready for his late night snack !!

Tempura Shrimp
Scallops with bacon
Fillet of Beef

Miss Tess even chose Crumble “CAKE” for her 6th Birthday !
Frying potato skins
Stuffed potato skins before baking

To Eat or not to Eat , Street Food that is!

We have all been warned about the dangers of eating street food in third world countries, warned about Gibby Tummy, Delhi Belly, Montezumas revenge and other such delightful phrases! How not to eat anything that has not been freshly cooked, to avoid raw fruit and vegetables and God forbid having a Gin and Tonic with Ice, the ice could be contaminated!

There are exceptions to the rule, eating on the streets of Bangkok and other Thai towns never produced any of those symptoms, there are street stalls and centres selling food all day long and the same could be said of Singapore. In Singapore, the term “hawker” no longer describes the person selling street food, as in the early days, nowadays, hawkers are located in ‘hawker centres or food courts. All the food I have eaten in such places have never produced any undesired effects.

The same can not be said of India, notorious for unsanitary conditions , where in a land of 1.28 billion people over two thirds do not have a toilet, the streets are filthy and trash is everywhere. Hence, it is not surprising that street food is not safe. But when backpacking in China, the rule of thumb was, if it is being cooked in front of you and not located next to a dog pound, then it was safe to eat.

I always was very wary however in Mexico, I avoided street food. I stayed in reasonable accommodation ate good food and got sick, copious amounts of Imodium were always in my suitcase. This was the case until I went on a street food tour of Mexico City.

We went on the Eat Mexico Culinary Tours. We, #1 daughter, himself and myself, met our guide in the fairly smart centre of Mexico City and spent the morning going from stand to stand and eating our way through them all.

We started at Tamales ( corner of Rio Lerma & Rio Panuco), tamales are traditional Mesoamerican dish made from masa (corn) which is steamed or boiled , grilled or fried in a leaf wrapper. The wrapper is discarded before eating. They can also have grasshoppers (especially delicious ), small anchovy type fish and served with salsa, red, green or Jalapeño . Usually eaten early in the morning or late evening. 1 Tamale and drink cost $10 peso (5 pence). I chose the green Salsa, Yummy!

Next was a side trip into the Mercado Cuauhtémoc, outside was a wonderful array of flowers and fruit, inside fruit and vegetables and food stalls. A delicacy which is sold every where, is Chicharron it is pork skin after it has been seasoned and deep fried. In Mexico, they are eaten alone as a snack, drier and much nicer than pork scracthings . They are also used in soups Tacos and stews. We were also served, Atol, which is a hot drink made from corn, can be as thick as porridge or very runny more like gruel, can be flavoured with cinnamon or can have chocolate added. Always served on the Day of the Dead, however I have to say, it did not really ‘tickle my fancy’.

Next stop was a Tortilla factory , corn tortillas that is. The small Hole in the Wall factory makes fresh corn tortillas daily, standard size is 6″ and they sell for $12 peso a kilo. The average family eats about 9 kilos a day, and this little factory produces an unbelievable 800 kilos a day. Tortillas are to Mexican families, what a baguette is to French families. Nothing goes to waste, stale tortillas are made into breakfast dishes such as Chilaquiles .

We then continued our tour by stopping at a fresh juice stand ( fresh juice of all kinds is a delight in Mexico) and then moved on to Tlacoyos and Quesadillas. In Mexico City the preferred filling for these delights, ( quesadillas are flour tortillas which are sandwich together with a filling and grilled or baked in an oven) is cheese. In other parts of the country they choose such things as Salsa Verde, Huitalacoche, courgette flowers, cheese and meat. Once upon a time I made on a weekend what I called Breakfast Quesadillas, which I filled with scrambled egg, chopped ham and cheese. What is Hutalacoche? Well it is also called Corn Smut, does that give you a clue? It is indeed a fungus that grows on ears of sweet corn, but Mexicans use it in soups and for fillings for quesadillas ! As yet I have not tried it, and # 1 daughter has a thing about fungus of any kind, and that includes mushrooms!

We then proceeded to Tacos de Canasta, these Tacos were filled with pulled pork, but pulled pork, like you have never tasted before. The wife of the stall bolder arises at 3.0 am everyday to make the fillings for 800 tortillas. He sets the stand up at 6.0 am to catch the early morning trade. The Tacos cost €8 pesos, and they have been doing this for an amazing 18 years!

We ate Fresh fruit dusted with chile powder, and odd combination you might think, but no, really interesting. We went to a Burrito stand, Burritos are not really Mexican ( more Tex Mex) but in the City they have become a hit and have been in business for 6 years. They are flour Tortillas filled with sautéed peppers, cooked pork or chicken and different salsas.

Our last stop was Carnitas, it is fried pork and every part of the pig is used ( except the testicles known as Prairie Oysters in Texas), again it is a corn tortilla, filled pork of choice, chopped onions, salsa and cilantro.

This tour certainly changed my mind with regard to Mexican Street food. The rule of thumb given to us by our guide was

Choose a stand that has children, the vendors will not be wanting to hurt their own children.
Choose a stand that is popular.
Choose a stand that looks clean
Choose a stand where the vendor wears disposable plastic gloves
Choose a stand wear the plates used are not washed up in dirty water but covered with a disposable plastic.much cleaner.
Follow these rules and you too will be able to avoid the dreaded Montezumas Revenge!

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!!