I have been thinking a lot in the last couple of weeks about Tomatoes, when there is a glut, or they are amazingly cheap, what can you do with them? And what more, are they good for you ?

Well. There is a thought, the real name for tomatoes is SOLARUM LYCOPERISUM, which is the same family as the deadly nightshade, just think about it, the flowers of the tomato are very similar to those of the nightshade. The tomato was first grown in Central and South America. The Aztec word is Tomatl and as the Aztecs were in Mexico, it is assumed that is where they were first grown. 

Apparently in a bizarre twist in what one would normally consider junk food, the medical researchers have discovered that eating Pizza ( Preferably Margharita) could reduce the chance of cardio vascular disease by 30 %. A study led by the Harvard School of Public Health studied 4,00 women in 2003, and concluded that those who ate several servings of Pizza per week had reduced their risk of Cardio Vascular disease. ( not sure what effect it had on their weight though !) But in general it has been found that eating tomatoes, especially cooked tomatoes, the incidences of Esophageal , Colon and Laryngeal cancer  have all been reduced considerably.

The Tomato, is not a vegetable but a fruit ( obviously French Supermarkets do not know this. Here the customer has to weigh their own fruit and veg…. Woe betide you if you do not, no-one will rush to do it for you, so the choice is to leave it on the counter, or lose your place in the queue and go back and weigh everything !) But on the self serve scales, do not click on fruits for tomatoes, you will find them in the vegetable section. Actually one can be forgiven for not knowing this fact, as there are several other fruits, that are commonly thought of as Vegetables., Green, red, yellow peppers, Japaleno and other  types of peppers, Cucumbers, green beans, runner beans, Aubergines, Avocados, Okra and all squashes, including courgettes, and marrows. Bizarrely , according to Wikepedia, in the USA in 1887, there was a tax on Vegetables, but not on fruits. The Supreme Court ruled that tomatoes were in fact vegetables , a decision taken on their use and not on their biological foot print, and so in the USA in 1893, tomatoes became vegetables. On the other hand rhubarb which is usually used as a dessert, is in fact a Vegetable.

Tomatoes have not always been eaten, when they first appeared in Europe, they were feared, it was likened to Misletoe, never to be eaten. The Italians started cooking with it as far back as the 17 th Century. Tomatoes are both sweet and savoury at the same time, this the fifth favour that the Japanese have named Unami.

So in the summer time, fresh tomatoes are abundant, visit any market and the smell is unmistakable. Umm? Memories of child hood, when my parents grew most of our vegetables.

So what to do with all of this excess? For starters, a simple salad of sliced tomatoes, with or without some chopped spring onions, some olive oil and a sprinkle of Balsamic vinegar, fresh bread, what could be better than  that, makes for a good picnic dish. Umm Wonderful.

Being a little more adventurous , Gazpacho, springs to mind. Looking into all things Gazpacho, I found that Gazpacho in Spain dates back to the Romans. There are many variations of Gazpacho, but I think that the one most common, or the one that is thought of mostly , is the red version, which  gains its red colour from Tomatoes. There is white Gazpacho, made dried fruits and green ones. The  common theme with gazpacho is Garlic and Olive oil.

So for interest I have made three different Gazpacho, the classic red one, a pale red one with crab meat and a green one made with apples. 

  
So a rough guide to making a red gazpacho:-

3 ounces soft country bread, any tough crust cut away,  4 large vine tomates , cored and roughly chopped, 3 large spring onions, roughly chopped, ½ small green bell pepper, roughly chopped,½ English cucumber, roughly chopped, 3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped, 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar, freshly ground black pepper, salt to taste, juice of one lemon.

Olive oil for garnish

Tear the bread into small pieces and put into a large mixing bowl. Cover completely with 1½ cups cold water, pushing all the pieces down so they are completely submerged. Let stand until the bread has soaked up most of the water and is soft enough to fall apart easily, about 10 minutes.

 Transfer the bread mixture to a food processor along with the remaining ingredients except the olive oil.

 Process until the mixture is smooth and thick but some texture and flecks of colour from the individual ingredients are still visible. 

Refrigerate until well chilled before serving, at least 2 hours and up to overnight. Ladle the mixture into shallow soup bowls and top each serving with a good drizzle of the olive oil and a few more grinds of pepper.
For the Crab Gazpacho:-

 3 large garlic cloves; 2 slices day-old country-style, crustless white bread; 1/2 cucumber; 1 red chilli; 1 red peppers, 4 ripe tomatoes; 2 tbsp sherry or wine vinegar; 100ml extra virgin olive oil and an extra 3 tbsp; 1 lemon; Tabasco; 200g freshly picked white crab meat few sprigs flat-leaf parsley.

The instructions are basically the same as above, Soak the bread, and place all the ingredients except the crab , the parsley  the Tabasco and the extra olive oil, into the food processor, Blitz, Chill and serve with a drizzle of olive oil , topped with the crab meat and garnish with the parsley. Serve with Tabasco sauce or any other hot sauce on the side .
Finally for the Green Goddess version of Gazapcho:-

Again the instructions are more or less the same. Ingredients :-

 50g stale white crustless bread; 3 garlic cloves; 3 sticks celery, 1/2 cucumber, 3 limes; 2 Granny Smith apples, quatered, 3 spring onions; 1L chilled water; 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 large ripe avocado and a handful of fresh washed baby spinach.

Tear the bread into the food processor bowl. 

Add coarsely chopped garlic. Blitz & rinse and chop the celery. chop the cucumber Add celery and cucumber to the garlicky crumbs and blitz.

2. Squeeze the juice from 3 lime into a bowl. 

Quarter, de-seed and chop the apples, tossing in the lime juice. Add to the mix and blitz. 

Trim and chop the spring onions and add them too.

3. With the machine running, add the water gradually and then 2 tbsp oil in a trickle. Season with salt to taste; it will need at least ½ tsp.

4. Run a knife round the avocado, twist apart, remove the stone and spoon the flesh into the blender.Taste and adjust the seasoning. Chill and serve with a swirl of olive oil and a swirl of plain yoghurt.

So for your health sakes eat lots of tomatoes ( and Pizza!)

The restaurant Rules, is the oldest in London founded in 1798 by Thoma Rule. Rumour has it that it is where the actress Lillie Langtry met secretly with Edward 7 th the Prince of Wales ( who was married to Alexandria and had 6 children). Other notable clientele included Graham Green, Charles Dickens, H.G.Wells, Laurence Olivier and Clarke Gable. 

Downstairs in the main restaurant, the decor is rather velvet and chintz in an old fashioned Edwardian way and many of the dishes on the menu are also of a time gone by, but that does not mean that they are not worth eating. Quiet the opposite in fact. If you are looking for Oysters and game pie, then this is the place for you, or what about Belted Galloway Beef  ( the only place in the UK where you can eat this).They also serve a good selection of fish and seafood, as well as dressed crab, potted shrimps, grouse and suckling pig.

However they also have private dining rooms, one of which is named after Graham Greene and as I go up what looks like the back stairs, and through thick velvet curtains I think of Lillie Langtry on her secret assignations.

I have eaten in the private rooms a few times but twice when himself has organised a dinner for me, I have to say they were ten years apart, but both came as a big surprise. And so it was for my recent birthday, to go up the back passage, through the curtains to be greeted by friends, old and new.

Youngest daughter had again come up trumps by ordering yet another custom made cake from the wonderful chocolate creationists that are Choccywoccydoodah. They have a shop on Carnaby Street, where one can buy ready made simple examples of their artistry ( dog) 

The Rules company own an estate in the High Penines where they teach all the rules of game management and I believe they also run a three day course on all things game. Another project which  they support is the Friends of the Connection Social Care. This is in support of the Connection at St. Martins , which helps over 5,000 homeless people each year.

Make sure you visit during the game season, starting in August with Grouse. And where is it? In the heart of Covent Garden.

This week saw several newbies on our table, Quiche, courtesy of Miss Tess, who loves quiche and Tarte abondance , which is more or less a cheese quiche. Scones courtesy of Miss Tess and Young Mr Alfie , both tried scones and jam and cream on the BA flight over to Geneva last week, and decided they were a hit, and the final one was cantaloupe melon ice cream.Tess at the age of 6 loves to cook, and is good at it, Alfie (8) thinks he likes to cook, but does not like getting his hands dirty!

For our ice cream making the choice of flavour was a bit difficult. They both quiet fancied “Cherry Garcia” until Alfie read that it has chocolate in, he does not like chocolate, and Tess fancied Chocolate chip cookie dough, but again the chocolate issue.. So how about Oreo, umm not really, Oreos are hard to find here in France, Vanilla fudge chunk? Well it would mean having to make our own fudge, coconut? Kit Kat ? Toblerone? The list was endless, we finally settled on Canteloupe Melon. This might sound rather odd, but I have to say the result was excellent !

Ideally, to make this an ice cream machine is useful. I do have one that does the job for you as it has its own refrigeration unit, but the one I have in France requires the bowl of the machine being in the freezer for several hours before use, which is not at all convenient . Consequently I chose, just to put the mixture into the freezer and stir every half hour to mix thoroughly .The quantities given here make about a litre.

:1 small very ripe Canteloupe melon,

: juice of a lemon

:3 eggs

:3/4 cup (170 grms) caster sugar

:1 cup full cream milk (240 MLS )

:1 cup thick or double cream (240 MLS )
Whisk the eggs with the sugar until light and fluffy, add the milk and the cream, whisk to blend. pour into a container and freeze for about half an hour, stir, freeze again, and repeat, several times.

Meanwhile scoop out the melon,, mash using a hand held blender, put this also into the freezer.
When the ice-cream base is fairly stiff all over, stir in the mashed melon.

Return to freezer, stir a couple of times and then leave to set.
Remember to remove from the freezer, about 15 mins before use.
The same base can be use but substitute , a pound of strawberries for the melon.

Today we were treated to another soup, normally I do not eat much soup #2 daughter, the willowy brunette, would eat it everyday, but I find it sends me to sleep.However, on this day. the soup in question was made, not by me, but by a dear friend Yuki. It was a lentil soup with curry oil and coriander, courtesy of the London Chef, Yotam Ottolenghi.

Ottolenghi grew  up in Jerusalem and moved to London in the 1990’s. The food in his restaurants is basically middle eastern  flavours, with many a twist. Other chefs have used a variation of his red lentil soup and as such has been passed down from generation to generation throughout the middle east. When we think of the middle east today, we think of Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon,  Iraq and Saudi Arabia, but to that list we need to add Turkey and of course Egypt, but what about Sicily? it too has been ruled by the Arabs, so there will be middle east influence in their foods as well.

So Claudia Roden in her book on Middle Eastern Cooking, her version of lentil soup, adds cumin, whereas in Morocco, they add, spinach and cumin.Claudis Roden also says in her book on Jewish cooking that Lentils were very much part of the Sephardi diet, where they too add, cumin but also some or all of the following, Turmeric, chopped Chillies, Rice, chopped Tomatoes, Spinach, Coriander, Ginger, Saffron, Lemons and Mint.

So you can see that there are many variations on a theme, none of them are 100% correct but then again none of them are 100% wrong.

So for my version of this delightful and flavoursome soup, I start by making my own Chili oil;

1. 200 ml oil, I use olive
2. 2 red onions chopped
3. 2 cloves garlic chopped
4. a knob of ginger chopped
5. 2 tsp curry powder. 2 tsp tomato paste
6. juice and zest of 1/2 lemon or lime.
7. half a red chili de-seeded and chopped.

Heat just a little of the oil, add the onion, the ginger, the garlic and curry powder and fry gently for a few minutes until the onion is soft, but not brown. Add the tomato paste and stir in well, Add the rest of the oil and the lemon zest and juice and simmer for 30 minutes, leave to cool and then drain.

 

For the soup

1. 1 liter of stock ( vegetable or chicken)
2. 4 oz Sugar snap  or Mangetout peas
3. 2 tabs  Thai red curry paste
4. 2 sticks lemon grass, bashed and chopped
5. 4 Kaffir lime leaves ( from Asian super markets)
6. 250 Grams, of either fine yellow or red lentils
7. 2 tbs of lime juice, or the juice of one lime
8. 1 can coconut milk
9. 1/2 cup chopped cilantro ( coriander)
10. 1 red onion sliced
11. 3 tbs olive oil

Saute the onion until soft, add the curry paste, the lemon grass and the kaffir lime leaves, along with the lentils and the stock, cook for bout 20 mins, until the lentils are really soft.

Remove the lemon grass and the Kaffir lime leaves. Add the coconut and the lime juice , taste and add a pinch of salt.

Blanch the peas and slice into  chunks. Heat the soup, serve with some toasted sourdough bread, with the peas, cilantro sprinkled on top and a drizzle of chili oil.

This week, saw us dining out for breakfast, lunch and dinner, though not all on the same day. On the day of breakfast and lunch out, himself cooked me dinner that evening.
For breakfast we went to one of our local haunts, which is called Fischer’s, on Marylebone High street. It is a sister to The Wolseley , but smaller and quieter, maybe a little off the beaten track ( Marylebone High street , off the beaten track ??) The decor is muted along the lines of an Austrian hunting lodge. The last time here ( about 18 months ago) we were less than pleased, but last week no such doubts. For me, it was very simple, but very nice, yoghurt with berry compote, whilst for himself it was porridge and prunes, the porridge was a large portion and was very creamy and the bowl of stewed prunes enormous!

For Lunch we ventured even closer to home, a few hundred yards in fact to Galvin’s. The Galvin brothers opened this Bistro de Luxe 11 years ago, and initially the menu had a lot of offal, which is off putting to many, but now the menu is not so biased. The set lunch menu is very reasonably priced, although I chose to have two starters from the a la carte. First, came the asparagus , it is currently in season ( of course can now be bought year round, but this was English asparagus and the season is fairly short), second was the steak tartare , which I love.
We lived in Belgium for many years and steak tartare or filet americaine is common place. Youngest daughter, once was out with a young English friend , Katherine and had lunch in our favourite sandwich ( le sandwich) café. Daughter ordered her favourite and the young friend knowing no difference said she would have the same. Not until after they had finished, did Katherine , who thought the sandwich delicious,  ask, what she had just eaten. Moo came the reply, she was not so happy then !

Very often, when restaurants serve steak tartare , it is by using ground steak, but sometimes they do chop it finely instead and this is how it should be. Galvin’s chop their steak and I have to say it was excellent. Of course the best way to eat it is with a plate of double or triple cooked chips ( as the Belgians always do ), but that is being super indulgent!

I have given the recipe before, but in case you have forgotten.

To make your own Steak Tartare you will need:- ( for 4 people)

500g of beef fillet, diced or minced.          25g of shallot or red onion finely chopped

40g of cornichons, chopped.                       40g of baby capers, rinsed

20g of Dijon mustard.                                  

 90g of mayonnaise freshly made or  bought, but it must not be the fat free type

5 drops of Tabasco.                                        14ml of brandy

1 pinch of parsley, chopped.                          Salt and pepper to taste

To serve:-

4 egg yolks.       4 slices of sourdough bread and  Double cooked French ( Belgian ) fries.    100g of rocket .

And so onto dinner, where himself bought, shucked and cooked oysters. We had them in the form of Oysters Rockefeller , Yummy indeed, well they are if you like oysters.

As you must know by now, I have an obsession with markets, so last Sunday I was strolling along and found the Marylebone, Sunday  Farmers Market. Apparently , all food for sale has to be local, a bit difficult in Central London I imagine, but Hey Ho!  There are stalls selling English cheeses, a couple of Fishmongers ( a bit difficult to call these local ) a couple of butchers ( cows and sheep and goats grazing alongside the North Circular ?) But never mind, on a nice sunny Sunday, there is enough there to interest me. This week it was Ox Cheeks.
Ox Cheeks are those cuts of meat that no longer grace the supermarket shelves , being unfashionable and timely to prepare. A bit like in Texas , where it is almost impossible to buy any sort of Offal in the “American” supermarkets but amble on down to the”Mexican” ones and there I could buy Veal Sweetbreads, chip as chips! A pity that my kids thought they were indeed yummy, all the time they thought I was cooking chicken goujons, the moment I told them it was offal, they did a runner!
Still back to my Ox cheeks. They require a fair amount of cutting and removal of fatty bits and sinews , so a fair bit of waste, but then again not expensive. They also require a reasonable amount of cooking time, as they can be a bit tough ( just think about all the chewing that the cow has done). However, once that has been done, it is easy to throw it in a pan, put on a low heat and simmer for an hour or two. Of course the same idea/ recipe for

any cheaper cut of meat

.

So I used
1 1/2 kilos of Ox cheek ( de-fatted, de-sinewed, cut into smallish chunks)
2 large onions sliced
6 cloves of garlic, smushed,
4 carrots peeled and sliced
A dozen or so of green and black olives without stones
A dozen or so de-Stoned prunes
3/4 bottle of red plonk ( I actually used some  Port that was asking to be used)
1/3 jar red currant jelly
Some flour for dusting the meat.
Some Olive oil for frying.

Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the oil and sauté the onion and the garlic until soft but not brown. Remove and put to one side. Dredge the chopped up meat bits in the flour, ( the easiest way to do this is to put some flour into a polythene bag, add some of the meat, seal and give a shake, remove meat and repeat with the rest) sauté the meat in batches, to seal. When all the meat has been sautéed add  the onions, garlic and carrots along with the red wine, bring to the boil tune heat done, give a stir so that all the lovely bits from the frying get off the bottom of the pan, cover, reduce heat to just a simmer and leave for an hour or so. Give an occasional stir. Test by eating a bit of meat. When ready, add the olives, and the prunes and salt and pepper to taste. I topped it all off with a few pomegranate seeds, as they are in season at the moment

.

Serve with new potatoes or pasta and some green beans, enough for four. Himself said Yummy !

Whilst on our travels in Japan, we ate in many fine dining establishments, one star, two stars, but also a Japanese pub. So now back in London, we decided to try Italian. And the winner is??

As the group of 8 are now avoiding raw fish for a while, too much protein and not enough fruit and veg. we  headed  out to Angela Hartnett’s flagship restaurant ” Murano”. I have been a fan of hers for a while, with her down to earth approach, but that was long before she had her own restaurant.  She was once the head Chef at The Connaught, one of Ramseys restaurant in London. We dined there for son’s university graduation, with the Ladies Who Lunch and in  the kitchen at the Chefs table for a daughter’s birthday. Then once she moved to Murano, a couple of times, again with the Ladies Who Lunch. So I felt that I had a history with Angela ( even though I had never met her).

Murano is one of the few  good restaurants that will take reservations for 8, for many 6 is the maximum. This was my choice of restaurant and I was confident that we would eat good food and have a fun evening.

It is a relatively small restaurant with only 55 covers and we were seated at the back, which is not the best place to be, given that it was by the kitchen door!  Four of us were seated on the banquette, however we had to ask for an extra chair, as four on the banquette was too much of a squeeze. We then had to rearrange the table settings ourselves, which surprised me somewhat.

The menu is interesting, it is priced for how many courses are eaten, there is not one which says starters, nor one for main, you can choose which order to eat them in. The pre appetizers were good, tiny arranchini with parmesan, Italian cold meats bread and olive oil. The small plates were not cleared away ( they remain so we can put food on them? strange, as we had eaten all of the nibbles). So plates were pushed to the middle of the table, as there was certainly not enough room elsewhere. Food arrived and on the whole it was good, I chose for my starter the parmesan gnocchi with wild boar and to follow green asparagus ( new season) and for my main Monkfish. This was a disappointment as it was cold. It was sent back and returned to me very quickly, not sure how it had be re done that fast!

The evening was fun as we were with friends for a special evening but to my mind there was too much wrong . The dirty plates left on the table, the position of the table, the maitre d” not knowing his Mooli from his Daikon and of course my monkfish being cold. They did apologise profusely, but not enough to warrant a return even though they did offer a free lunch. So back to my question, one star, two stars Japanese, or one star London? I am afraid Japan wins this contest.

SO today we head back to Tokyo, after a very busy and exhausting ten days or so on the road.After exploring the Buddhist village of Koya-san, we wait for the bus to take us to the funicular, to head on down the mountain back to Gokuuraku-bashi, to Shin-Imamiya to Osaka, the Osaka circle line to Shin Osaka ( new Osaka station) to catch Bullet train # 526 to Shinagawa where we will learn about travelling on the Tokyo subway system during rush hour.

At some point on this multi train journey we all ( minus our leader) charge for an empty carriage, which then leaves us wondering where and when we would change trains. Fortunately our men are a good deal taller than most of the other travellers and one manages to change carriages, so he could keep an eye on us all. Must not misbehave again, is the motto here, I think.

So, on arriving at Shinagawa, ( a new station just outside of central Tokyo) we change to the subway. Remembering we have been travelling but as our main luggage has been sent on ahead we do only have small wheelie bags. However the carriages are jammed packed and other travellers have enormous cases with them. We only need to travel about three stops, but more and mor people pile in and by the time we arrive at the Shimbasi station we wonder if we will be able to alight, especially as there are professional pushers,on the platform, pushing even more people on board. So with myself being almost lifted out of the carriage somehow or other we do all manage to leave the train in one piece.

So now it is a quick shower and change and onto our last dining experience. Japan has 25 three star restaurants ( only one behind France) and 99 two starred, which is considerably more than France. However, I am not sure how these stars are awarded, Service, cuisine, or non cuisine as the case maybe, presentation, I really do not know. But anyway we were going to KIKUNOI, which is owned by Yoshiro Murata. he himself holds 7 stars. His main restaurant is in Kyoto and he is the third generation owner. He now has a restaurant in London, which I think is called Murata.

His Tokyo restaurant is small, with only two alcove tables, 3 normal tables and 8 counter seats. We had the counter seats, which inhibits conversation but does give a bird’s eye view of the chefs.

Japanese haute cuisine or Kaiseki, relies not so much on the cooking but on the visual and the combination of textures , colours and flavours. Most of all it has to look stunning.

We took the 11 course tasting menu and started the evening with some cherry blossom sake followed by some sparkling Sake which is milky in appearance.The subsequent courses were :-

1. Tosazu dressed pickling (Japanese Spanish Mackerel) Sagoshi, with onion and fennel
2. Red sea bream sushi with prickly ash bud, grilled squid with nori and egg yolk,mountain yam,octopus, lily bulb petals with salmon roe, udo stalks, sea bream liver pate with white poppy seeds, shrimp and avocado and ostrich fern.
3. Sashimi of red snapper and red sea bream, seaweed curled udo stalk and carrot wasabi
4. Sashimi of squid with squid liver sauce
   

   

   

   

    

5. Steamed tilefish, cherry blossom petals, cherry leaf,fern heads,rice crackers dumpling and ginger juice
6. Grilled smoked ocean trout and duck breast
7. Strawberry and wasabi sorbet

8.Kinome tofu, udo stalk, butterbur, bud licorice, kinome herb.

 

 

9.   Japanese hot-pot with red sea bream, seaweed, wasabi and sesame sauce

10.Steamed rice with  Bamboo Shoots, green pea soup and Kinome herb

11. Sweet bean paste soup with rice cake and milk ice cream

12.Almond jelly hassaku orange with Thai basil seeds..

This was probably the most beautiful meal we had whilst on our travels,  but was it the best? I am not sure, some of our group, did not like it at all, too much raw fish, but then this is Japan, it certainly was the most expensive and looking at my notes, I put against the grilled salmon trout and duck breast YUMMY! and against the strawberry and wasabi sorbet, I wrote Wow!

So now back to London and it is Thursday, it must be Egg and Chips? Maybe not!!