Over the weekend I had  the good fortune to eat in three of  Richard Caring’s restaurants, which is actually not very hard to do, if you live in the London Area. Richard Who? And restaurants? I hear many of you cry. Well, for the uninitiated, Richard Caring is the owner of amongst other things Wentworth Golf Club, but he also owns or has serious interests in many restaurants, amongst them The Ivy, Le Caprice, J. Sheekey, Daphne’s, Scotts, George, Soho House, Annabel’s, Bam Bou, Carluccio’s, Belgo and Cote.

Cote is a French style Brasserie, think of Cafe Rouge, think of Chez Gerard, and then think better. There are 26 branches of Cote in the capital and another 18 or so in the home counties. They are very reliable, housed in attractive buildings with smart waiters, good service and on the whole good food. They always have a lunch special, 2 courses for  about £10 and likewise an early dinner option. Otherwise the a la carte menu has starters from £4.50 and mains from £10. Wine prices are also not unreasonable. They are open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.
So on Friday after a round of golf we ate at the Richmond branch. It’s not, in my opinion, the best building for a branch of Cote. It is on Hill Street, so right in the heart of the town, but it is rather cramped and on two levels. We were seated upstairs, where I could see the dumb waiter and the dirty dishes and a stack of high chairs by the emergency exit. Now those who know me know that I am really fussy about where I am sat, so Himself changed places with me so the detritus was out of sight.

So what did we eat? Well to start with I had the crab mayonnaise with avocado, cucumber, capers and tarragon with toasted sourdough bread.  I have had this before and it is very good. This was followed by Himself and I sharing a Cote de Boeuf, which was a special of the day and was excellent. Our friends had  the Rib Eye steak and the Skate. This is a really meaty white fish not often found on menus and she said it was very good.

On Saturday I took myself off to my local Cote for a light breakfast, where I had the yoghurt with fruit compote and granola. It is served in a very pretty large glass dish and is good. On Sunday I returned with Himself and # 2 daughter, again for breakfast. It is usually pretty reliable, though on this occasion the crepe complet was disappointing, with the eggs being over cooked. Ah well, you can not win them all.

However the other Richard Caring restaurant we visited, was J. Sheekey, St. Martins Lane, which is between Leicester Square and Charing Cross, London. I really like J. Sheekey. The menu is seafood predominately but they do cater to both vegetarians and carnivores alike. I had some oysters to start with followed by oops! dressed crab, didn’t I just say that for Cote! Am I predictable of what? Ah well, it was very good. Better than Cote? Yes. More expensive than Cote? Again yes at £6.95 -£17.95 !  Himself had the Shrimp & Scallop Burger with spiced mayonnaise in other words a Posh Burger! So this is what I decided to cook for Sunday dinner.

Looking up the recipe I found that  it was made with shrimp, scallops and salmon. As I did not have scallops, I made a Posh burger using salmon trout, shrimp, and crab meat. The result was delicious and easy to do. Normally when making any type of fish cake, there is a binder, either with potato or breadcrumbs, (I usually make then using Panko breadcrumbs) and mixed together with beaten egg, coated with beaten egg and then dipped in breadcrumbs before frying. These “posh” burgers are just pure fish, no fillers, no eggs

So this is my recipe for Posh Fish Burgers with Chilli Mayonnaise.

Makes +/- 8

For the Chilli Mayonnaise

• 1 medium whole egg ( I use whole egg trying to be a bit healthier)
• pinch fine Sea Salt
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
• +/-1/2 cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 chopped red chili
• 1 clove of garlic

Method

Put egg, salt, lemon juice and any spice or garlic and water to a blender or food processor  (I use a stick blender). Blend on medium high speed well.

Slowly drizzle the oil into the egg mixture until you have added all of it, keeping the blender on medium high speed the whole time.

Blend until you have a creamy, opaque emulsion….mayonnaise.

I do not refrigerate as the cold will sometimes make the mayonnaise separate.

For the Burgers

• 4 fillets of Salmon Trout or 3 portions of salmon
• 1Lb, crab claw meat ( I buy it from Costco, see photo)
• 1Lb uncooked large Shrimp( I buy them frozen from one of the Chinese supermarkets, or fresh from Billingsgate fish market)
• 1 red onion finely chopped
• 2 red chili peppers finely chopped
• juice of one lemon

Method

Finely chop the salmon, and the shrimp. Shred the crab meat, put all into a mixing bowl, along with the onions, and the chilies and lemon juice. Mix well.
Shape into patties, heat some olive oil in a non stick pan and and gently fry them on both sides until golden brown, care is needed when turning them, as they are fairly fragile put the cooked ones in a warm oven whilst cooking the rest.
Serve with steamed asparagus and the chilli mayonnaise. Do not forget the 1/4 of lemon, which has been trimmed. See the photographs.

Have Fun and Enjoy!

Have you tried juicing? Well, I did in a former life. I was once given a juicer by a friend whose husband worked for Black and Decker. I tried it out but found the whole process to be incredibly time-consuming and the machine was such a pain to clean – too many bits and pieces to take apart and reassemble – that the juicer did not last long in my kitchen.

So twenty-five years on, I am giving Juicing another go. Eldest daughter surprised me on my recent visit by producing very inventive arrays of juices each morning and her machine was easy to use and did not take a lot of cleaning either. So when I returned to the UK, I bought a machine. Just what I need another machine, but there you are.

So which juicer to buy? A good question. Well for me a top priority was one that could be left on the counter top and was relatively small. The other consideration as always is price. There are juicers on the market for as little as £30 and up to as much as £500, so there’s obviously a lot of choice out there. As always the conundrum does Cheap = quality? Does it do the job? No and then it is a waste of money! And just because it’s expensive, is it any good?

In any case, whichever machine you choose must be left on the counter top of your kitchen otherwise it WILL NEVER BE USED.

So after some research I went middle of the road. There are actually two type of Juicers, one is a Masticater and the other a centrifugal juicer.

The Masticating type of juicers use a slowly rotating screw that crushes produce against a stainless steel filter by a process similar to a mincing machine. So in theory these produce a better, healthier juice. These days the vertical auger juicers are low speed but they do juice very quickly because the augers and filter screens are much bigger and can be left running whilst rummaging in the refrigerator for another ingredient to add. Most vertical auger juicers come from the Hurom factory, are marketed under various names and this is what I bought.They are also very quiet.

Centrifugal juicers work by using a flat cutting blade on the bottom of a rapidly spinning basket. Food is shredded by the cutter and flung out to the sides of the basket. Due to the high centrifugal force, juice then passes through tiny holes in the basket and through a spout.  The juice produced by centrifugal juicers may not be quite as rich as juice from a masticating juicers, but it is surely better than shop bought? These machines, however, can only be used in relatively short bursts (so can not juice for the neighbourhood) and are comparatively noisy.

What is fun though is creating juices from whatever is in your refrigerator. My daughter has a great market nearby and shops there especially to find fruits and vegetables to juice. The day after market day her refrigerator is packed with washed and cleaned fruits and vegetables,ready to go. She juices carrots, celery and BEETS (Beetroots…. Raw) that produces a glorious deep red coloured juice.

Me? I am a little bit lazy and I check to see what I have. A favourite is Avocado, here you see below, avocado, spinach, cucumber,rocket, a whole lime and a chunk of fresh ginger. The other one is, what I might call “Sunrise”, it is Strawberry, nectarine, lime, tangerine, and an apple, (I used a cox, as I love their taste, but they are very English) and again ginger. I love the zing of ginger and historically it has a long tradition of being very effective in alleviating symptoms of gastrointestinal distress.  So it must be good!

“Eat your fruits and vegetables” is one  true recommendations for a healthy diet. Eating plenty of vegetables and fruits can help you ward off heart disease and stroke, control blood pressure, prevent some types of cancer, avoid diverticulitis, and guard against cataract and macular degeneration, two common causes of vision loss. But how much? The latest dietary guidelines call for five ( in the UK) to thirteen  and even 15 ( Japan) servings of fruits and vegetables a day (2½ to 6½ cups per day), depending on one’s caloric intake. (1) For a person who needs 2,000 calories a day to maintain weight and health, this translates into nine servings, or 4½ cups per day (2 cups of fruit and 2½ cups of vegetables). So when you take this into consideration,  most of us DO NOT eat the amount that we should.

I would recommend buying a book to give you inspiration and recipe ideas. The one I bought is called “The Funky Fresh Juice book” by Jason Vale aka, the Juice Master.

So get healthy and get juicing!