This week, the Ladies who lunch, did what they should do , they had lunch!
We have not “Lunched” in quiet a few months and thought it time to resurrect our little lunch club. Not for us a version of ” Come Dine With Me” more like a Bevy of well dressed ladies.
We look for restaurants which are either new, have a good lunch time menu or, and most importantly will take a group. Many restaurants have a maximum number of 6, this is normally to help regulate the kitchen whilst others are only too happy to accommodate a larger group.
So our victim this time round involved a trip to the country to La Caldesi in Campagne, which is in the village of Bray in Berkshire.
Bray,  is a small village about 20 miles west of London, with several Michelin Starred restaurants. There is The Waterside made famous by Albert and Michel Roux, along with their Riverside Brasserie and then the Fat Duck, owned by  Heston Blumenthal, and also the Crown pub and the Hinds Head, also owned by Heston Blumenthal. For such a tiny village, there is an abundance of high-class restaurants.

We were on this occasion, 10 for our lunch, and we had a room to ourselves, probably just as well, as we tend to be rather noisy. There was a lunch set menu with a choice of two dishes on each of the three courses.

STARTER
Parmigiano
Aubergine Parmigiano, basil oil                   or
Bresaola
Northern Italian cured beef, rocket,parmesan and salad

MAIN

Tagliatelle with clams   or
Calves Liver with mashed potatoes

DESSERT

Bomboloni
Italian style doughnuts, vanilla custard, Sambuca and berry jam  or
Tiramiso

Funnily enough, 9/10 chose the Parmigiano, so I felt I had to choose the Bresaola, I wish I had chosen the Parmigiano. The Bresaola, along with the parmesan was very dry and not very exciting, I ended up by adding Olive oil and Balsamic to make it more palatable. Of the Parmigiana, only praise.

For the main course the choices were about 50/50. The calf’s liver was apparently very nice indeed, but I am afraid, that the appearance did not do so much for me ( and I don’t like mash). the Tagliatelle, tasted lovely, but am afraid that it was a bit on the soft side, so not at all Al dente.

And so onto desserts, the Doughnuts, were, well doughnuts, the Tiramiso, apparently tasted great but I was again not impressed with the appearance. It was served in avery large Martini glasses, but was very yellow, maybe it was the liquor that had been added but it looked exactly like the custard that came with the doughnuts.

My personal thoughts, were that it was a nice venue, we had a very pleasant lunch with friends, but would I rush back? Probably not, though I might give their Marylebone venue a try.

Sitting here in Mexico City, mariachi music playing outside and the sun shining ( it is currently about 20-23 during the day). Mexico City because it so high (2,250 M , 7,200 ft equally a mile and half) has very much goldilocks weather. Never too hot in summer, never too cold in winter.

Mexicans eat out all the time, especially for breakfast, ( and lunch and dinner!) and this could be just the corner taco or tortilla stand, or in one of the numerous cafes and upmarket restaurants.

One of our favourites whilst in Mexico City is Lardo in Col.Condesa. We arrived this morning at about 8.30 and it was already packed , we were lucky to get  a small table, but the atmosphere is always amazing, happy and relaxed, never rushed. People have business meetings which last for hours, and the staff are always cheery and willing to help.

This was my fourth visit in as many days and I make a point of trying something different every day.The pastries always look very tempting, but not having a sweet tooth, I do manage to avoid these!

Sunday saw me eating an Estafado de Tomate, Albehahca, Parmesan  y Huevo estrellado, which was a kid of tomato-y ratatouille , with basil, Parmesan cheese and a fried egg along with sourdough toast.
Monday, I chose the classic Chilaquiles verdes, ( day old corn tortillas with a spicy green sauce) but this version, instead of using cream or scrambled egg, came with mozzarella cheese.

Tuesday,  was the turn of the Tortilla de Flor de Calabaza, Epazote, Quelites,y Chile Cuaresmeno. This was a very pretty omelet filled with courgette flowers, amaranth ( more commonly known as pigweed!) and chilli. 
So onto Wednesday,so today I chose the Kale, Hongos, Curry verde y Huevo estrellado! This was kale, ( I think I would prefer spinach to kale, mushrooms, curry sauce, more like Thai green curry, with a fried egg and sourdough toast. Again,  absolutely nothing to complain about,very  tasty and just enough to satisfy any hunger, without going overboard.

Makes me wonder why in the UK, we seem to have the choice of a plain omelette, a ham and cheese omelette , full English or something similar, whereas our experience in France, consisted of, ranging from a bit of banquet to a croissant or if lucky a petit pain au chocolate. In the USA it seems, huge is the criteria. Whereas here in Mexico, the possibilities are endless, be it as, I said the local cafe, street vendor or restaurant.

Moving swiftly on, we mooched through the local market, where there are numerous stands selling pre-chopped vegetables, the ones that caught my eye today were the courgette flowers and the Huitlacoche. Huitlacoche, is a naturally occurring fungus on corn and it dates back to the Aztecs. I have yet to try this, which some view as a delicacy, apparently it has a very earthy flavour.

And so continuing down the street, we come to the Neveria Roxy. This a really old fashioned ice cream parlour, which has been in business for 70 years. It is a local instituion, and they make ice cream and sorbets the traditional way. Is cheap as it only costs 22 pesos for a large scoop. It opens at 11 am and by late afternoon early evening it is buzzing, people come from far and wide, either to buy to take home but more often just to sit and enjoy and ice cream, and if the tables are full, then there is always the bar, the tall outside tables or even the garden benches along Mazatlán.

It would seem that eating ( out) is a national past time, here in Mexico,and long may it continue. The general misconceived impression of Mexican food, is more along the lines of Tex Mex, and it is so much more than that, in fact nothing at all like the so called Mexican food that we ate in Texas, where it was refried beans with everything.Maybe they have a lot to learn!

On a recent drive through the French countryside we over nighted at Colombey-Les-Deux-Églises, the spiritual home and resting place of General Charles de Gaulle. Although he was born in Lille, northern France, he chose this village of a mere 400 inhabitants as his home, as he felt it epitomised La France.  It is indeed a very pretty village, sandstone cottages and manor houses, tea rooms, cafes, small hotels and a Michelin starred restaurant , and all because of de Gaulle.

Long before you reach the village, you see it, as you drive across the fields of rural France. In Colombey ,there is a hill and perched on top of the hill is an enormous Cross, it is the cross of Lorraine, which he made his own and it can be seen for miles .This cross is 44 metres high and was erected to commemorate the landing of De Gaulle in Normandy in June 1944 and became a symbol of the free French . There is an excellent museum as well as his former home La Boiserie, which is also open to the public.

But why were we there? Not necessarily to pay homage to this former general and politician who had a reputation of being cantankerous , but to try a Michelin restaurant ,which was about half way between the French Alps and the Tunnel de la Manche.

We stayed in one of the small hotels, which at €60 was a steal. We wandered up to take a look at the cross and went to the churchyard where De Gaulle’s grave is fairly unremarkable, given his place in French history. Then onto dinner at restaurant Natali.

Restaurant Natali can be found in the Hostellerie La Montagne, a beautiful stone Manor House, set in equally beautiful grounds. There are only 8 rooms at this small hotel, hence the reason we were obliged to stay elsewhere. Many restaurants in France take their summer vacations during the month of August, which always spikes me as rather odd, travellers are on the road and many would like to eat in fine restaurants along the way. But the French take holidays in August and so do many of the restauranteurs.

There are several options for dining here, a la carte or the choice of three different fixed price menus, one at €55, one at €66 and the menu decouverte at € 88.

We chose the menu decouverte and the courses were as follows:-

1. Gazpacho with vegetables and tuna
2. Warm consommé with macedone of vegetables and a courgette flower stuffed with fois gras and summer truffles 
3. Tuna with ham and a sorrel ice cream, with coriander and pink pepper corns, and more summer truffles
4. Hake served on top of a stone, with a mild curry sauce and a vodka orange drink on the side
5. Another fish dish ( not sure what fish though) a very smooth mash, girolles, asparagus slivers and summer truffles
6. Duck breast, topped with nougate artichokes and girolles
7. A Relatively small cheese board
8. Chocolate mousse with a Mirabeau sorbet
9. Ice cream biscuit meringue, strawberries

All in all it was a nice meal without being WOW, the service was very indifferent, wine was served with a mosquito in it, Oh c’est une mouche! A used napkin just dumped in the middle of the table. 

Although all of the dishes looked very beautiful, they lacked taste and the adding of the nougat to the duck was a step too far, but the aagian the French love nougat!

Better luck next year is all I can say !

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.