Too Late for Shrove Tuesday But better still Beef Short Ribs

I’m sorry a bit late about Pancakes but better late than never, after all one can eat pancakes/ crepes any time of the year. Yes Shrove Tuesday, ( aka in the UK at least ) is Pancake Day. Himself has become the pancake maker in chief, he makes them for our various grandchildren when they come to stay. Our own children ate them regularly for breakfast at weekends with 2 of them vying for the position of #1 Pancake Eater, especially when spread with Nutella! Yes even back then, Nutella was very much on the menu.

Nowadays the only time we eat pancakes is if we are in the mountains and stop at a cafe for lunch, and then it is always a savoury Crèpe.

Savoury crèpe are usually made ( in France at least) with Sarrasin ( buckwheat) flour and of course I have some in the pantry. Therefore the logical conclusion was to make a savoury one for dinner. For once I followed the instructions and have to say I was disappointed with what I made. I added more liquid than was stated and yet they were still too thick, so needed to add more. The finished result was OK, but obviously I need to try harder and make them again. Hence, there is no recipe but will share our dinner picture.

So now we are well into Lent, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not cooking or experimenting.

This last weekend we had the pleasure of our eldest granddaughter, 15 years and continuing with our self imposed tradition , theatre and dinner and an overnighter! Theatre the very funny and energetic Operation Mincemeat, her choice and then into China Town for Dim Sum! The downside was she needed to meet her Volleyball team at 7.15 am ! Consequently, by 7.am, I had packed breakfast and lunch, made a fruit crumble and cooked, what we call Mexican Eggs for Breakfast as well as packing up some beef short ribs to Sous Vide for dinner ! phew, I have to say I function better in the morning.

I had fancied cooking short ribs for a while, but this time around and managed to buy some in Selfridges Food Hall, not the cheapest place to shop, but at least it was only a 2 stop bus ride.

For those of you who have a Sous Vide machine, it is very simple to do the pre cook. Simply seal the meat in bags, heat the water bath to 150 F and I cooked mine for 6 hours. Cooking via Sous Vide, is a bit of Give it a Try, as books and online instructions vary enormously and the timings go anything from a few hours to 2 days !

Then, remove from water bath, open the sealed bags and pat the meat dry. In a cast iron pan put about large knob of unsalted butter and sear the meat on both sides , cover and roast with the bone side upper most. Cook at 170 C( fan oven) for about an hour. At this time, the fat within the ribs, should have just melted away and the meat falling off the bone. I served with a sauce.

Knob of unsalted butter
1Onion chopped
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, coriander, ginger, cayenne pepper
1Tablespoon tomato paste
Juice of 2 oranges
Cup of tomato juice or half a can of chopped tomatoes
3 Oz dark or cooking chocolate
1tablespoon dark brown sugar.

Melt the butter in a pan, add the onion till soft. Add the spices and when blended add the tomato sauce and paste. Add the orange juice, brown sugar and chocolate. Simmer a little until thick and unctuous. Pour over the ribs and serve.

I served them with some plain new potatoes and sautéed sweetheart cabbage.

If you don’t have a sous vide machine then it is equally easy to basically follow the above except cook the ribs in the oven for about 3 hours ( at least) until they are tender and falling off the bone.

And if that wasn’t enough, somewhere during this, I decided that we would have one of my all time favourites Oysters Rockefeller! Why is this dish called Rockefeller? Well according to legend, the dish was created in 1899 by Jules Alciatore at Antoines. It was a well kept secret but another chef claims to have written down the recipe courtesy of Alciatore. But Rockefeller the name ? The dish is as sumptuous as Rockefeller is Rich.

There are of course as many variations. I like them made with spring onions, celery, breadcrumbs,Tabasco, spinach grated parmesan cheese and as I don’t have any Absinth I use Pernod.

Lunches and a Dinner, a Late lunch, and Sunday Lunch.

So seem to have been out a lot recently, feast or famine or so it seems.This week saw us having lunch with Ray White, well actually at Raymond Blancs famous Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons, in Great Milton Oxfordshire. Dinner at Stoke Park Cub, a girls lunch at the Swallow Street rooms ( part of Bentleys restaurant) in Swallow Street London, a very late Good Friday Lunch with the willowy brunette, lunch with friends in Sloane Square and Sunday Lunch with son and wife in Fulmer

Needless to say Le Manoir topped the list both for food and service, not to mention the location. This world-famous restaurant and hotel is now part of the Belmond group of hotels ( formerly Orient Express group). I love Le Manoir, ever since we returned to the UK, it has never failed. The service is exemplary , food delicious, they encourage children to come, as well as encourage photographs to be taken. Raymond’s eldest Son, Olivier (Olly), happened to be in the same french class at school as my eldest daughter. The french master always took great delight in the filling in of the blancs in a french test by saying Remplir les Ollys! Very odd, but something that has always stuck in my mind.

We went with friends and their friends, the sun shone and the gardens as well as the food was perfect ( apart form the constant arrival of guests, Via Helicopter!

The next visit was to The Swallow Street rooms, for a birthday girls lunch. This was wonderfully organised by the lovely Antonia for her Mum, and it turned out to be a complete surprise with girl friends descending from Belgium and far-flung places.

As Cate, the Mum, is from Wales originally, Antonia took the opportunity in her dad’s absence to have Lamb as the main course.

The Swallow Street rooms are a private dining room which seats 24 or so below Bentley’s. The room is made to look like a smart library with sage green Panelling and mirrors. Bentleys is the place to go for Oysters and people watching as it would seem that a lot of M.P.s go there as well!

Onto Stoke Park Country Club, for dinner with the older male members, a once a year event, which I have the impression is just an excuse to raise money for their drinking fund! However it is usually a very nice evening in good company. For dinner this year, the starter was poached salmon, which tested very nice, but to my mind it was a pity that they did not remove the skin, crispy skin is great but sloppy skin, on poached fish, Uh No No!, For the main course it was Pork Cutlet with Ham and Swiss cheese, again I feel that the execution was not the best, it looked very dry and burnt at the edges. If this was me cooking it, I would make a pocket in the pork, fill it with goats cheese and wrap in Parma ham. Fortunately, I chose the alternative choice which although a bit skimpy was a far better dish, Salad with King Prawns. Dessert for those who have a penchant for Puds, AN apple crumble with Blackberries.

Onto Saturday Lunch. we went to Colbert on Sloane Square to have lunch with friends from the Cotswolds. Colbert is part of the group of London Restaurants run By Corbyn and King. Fortunately it is Jeremy King and Chris Corbyn ( and not Jeremy Corbyn, otherwise we might indeed be a bit concerned.)

Apart from Colbert, they also own The Wolseley ( my favourite) The Delaunay, on Aldwych, Fischers in Marylebone, Brasserie Zédel in Piccadilly, The Beaumont a hotel in Mayfair, which won best hotel 2016, and within the hotel the American Bar and the Colony Club grill. There was one other, on Lower Regent Street, but they changed their format, and it just didn’t work, it is no more. So all of the above have a similar theme, a grand European Brasserie type restaurant. Fischers, is based on an Austrian Theme, Brasserei Zédel, very much a french brasserie with a Prix Fix very good value menu.

Maybe I have just eaten out too many times in the recent past, plus himself is learning to cook, as I was left disappointed with my lunch. My starter salad was beetroot and goats cheese which i really liked, but when I see dressed crab on the menu, i expect os see A Dressed crab, not a tiny pile of crab on a plate for £17.00 and himself chose the Feuilletés Anchois as a starter, and expected the very least a small pastry case filled with Anchovies, but think again, it was just like Cheese Straws with a smidgen of Anchovy. I have to say that the Filet Americain however was good, or so he said. Our waiter was on the other hand surly, too quick to remove plates and generally did not seem to love his job. So not good marks I am afraid, they must do better.

Col1

Sunday Lunch on the other hand was for the most part what the Doctor ordered. We had, ham Hock Fritters and heritage tomato salad, followed by, Sausages and Mash, Smoked haddock fish cake with a poached egg, beer battered haddock and chips followed by a crumble and Ice cream. This was in The Black Horse, in Fulmer, a small very pretty village in Buckinghamshire, worth a visit, they have rooms lots of outside tables, parking and seem to serve food at least on a Sunday, pretty much all day.

And finally, it being Sunday, breakfast was cooked. A His and Hers.

His was Sautéed mushrooms on Toasted Sourdough Bread with Soft Poached Eggs, Rocket, Tomatoes, Chimichurri sauce and a Mexican spicy salsa.

Hers a bowl of Berries!

his and her

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.

Ladies who Lunch

Last week, the Ladies who Lunch, well Lunched! We usually meet about 6 times a year and try out the hottest and newest restaurants in town. Last week was the turn of a “pop up” owned and run by the same people who own “Pied a Terre” , a Michelin starred restaurant in Bloomsbury, London and its Sister restaurant “L’autre Pied”, in Marylebone , also in London. The pop up, was also a play on the name as it was called, “Pieds Nus”, and was also in Marylebone.

I arrived to find my friend perched on a very high bar stool at a very, very high bar/table, without my saying a word, she said “We can’t sit here, I have already told them!” The waitress arrived, and I repeated this, only to be told that they were full and that no other table was available . Umm! The manager arrived and we repeated ourselves again, he also said, they were full! At this point we decided we would go elsewhere. And then a miracle happened, a normal table was available! And just two men were seated at the Bar and I have to say, they were not full.

The meal itself was unremarkable, and the portions minuscule , there was not a lunch time menu, which is normally a very good deal at good restaurants, when small portions are acceptable. It was only a la carte. Several of us chose the starter with Jerusalem Artichokes, all with the comment” we do not see Jerusalem Artichokes on the menu that often. Well, these artichokes had never been near Jerusalem and were in fact just small normal artichokes. This was pointed out to the waitress, she just said” oh it must be a misprint”!!

The menu and a photo are here. Just as well it was a Pop Up and has already Popped Down, as we would not be in a hurry to return.

( Having said that, we have eaten well, and been well served at the sister restaurants).

Shrove Tuesday ( Pancake day in the UK) has been and gone. Apparently in Russia and the Ukraine, it is almost a week-long celebration, and of course around the world is Carnival, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans, in the USA.

I actually did make pancakes this year, it is something I almost never do, ( except when making them for breakfast for my grandchildren). However, I made Crepe Salé. Savoury crepe, which are usually made out of Buckwheat flour.Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat. It is not a grass but belongs to the same family as Sorrel and Rhubarb.Tibetans have long eaten Buckwheat noodles and in France it is known as either Sarrasin, or Blè Noir.

In any case, it makes very good savoury Crêpe.

Ingredients

250 grms/9oz/2 cups of Buckwheat flour ( plain flour can also be used)
6 eggs
900mls/1 1/2 pints milk
150 mls/5 fl oz cream
butter for cooking
pinch of salt

Method

I believe in the “all in one” method of mixing, it easy beyond belief, especially if you have a food processor.

Put the flour into the food processor. pour together the milk, cream and eggs into a container. Switch on the food processor and with the engine running pour in the liquid mixture. Switch off and scrap down the sides of the machine, switch back on and process again until you have a smooth mixture. Check for thickness, it should be like thick pouring cream, too thick, will make a real stodgy pancake, too thin it will be very difficult to handle. Many recipes call for resting after making, I never do this, it is not going to rise, as you are using plain flour.

Lightly grease with butter a flat pan ( 10″), preferably a crêpe pan, I only use my crêpe, for making crepe. I have a cast iron one, which I never wash, just wipe clean. Set over a medium heat and ladle in enough batter to cover the base of the pan, when you tilt it make sure you cover all the pan. Cook without turning for about a minute, or until the top side is just set. Turn over either with a palette knife or by tossing. cook this side for about 30 seconds. Be ready to lose your first crêpe, the pan needs to season a little. If the first crêpe seems a little thick, dilute your mixture with some milk. Repeat this until you have used all of your mixture. Alternatively, make what you need and store the rest in the refrigerator for a few days.. Then you can fill them how you like. This year for my Crêpe I filled them with a mixture of Ricotta cheese, soft goats cheese and cooked drained spinach ( frozen spinach comes in very handy here, but you must drain it well.)

Spread onto a crêpe some of the fillings, and top with another crêpe, repeat the filling process. Repeat this until you have a small stack of 6-8 crêpes. Grates fresh parmesan cheese over the top and bake for 15 mins in a medium hot oven, until hot all the way through.

Serves 3-4, serve with a mixed salad.

Chicago and London, Restaurants and Food

I returned home from Chicago, where I had been for the Marathon ( not me I hasten to add) to find my home resembling the scene from the film Dr. Zhivago,where he returns to his home only to find it occupied by a load of strangers and himself being confined to one room! Yes! We have builders, and so we have been forced to leave.

Whilst in the USA, we dined on the obligatory post Marathon Hamburgers, in the not so customary Hamburger Joint of the Ralph Lauren Restaurant aptly named the RL. It is attached to the Ralph Lauren store, on Michigan Avenue ( aka the Magnificent Mile). The Decor and interior were just like the Ralph Lauren shops, pretending to be Olde Worlde English gentlemen’s clubs, lots of wood and leather, rather overcrowded with the number of tables, but pleasant surroundings nonetheless . The service was slick, despite having to ask twice for an ice bucket for our post Marathon “Bubbles”, the service was also fast, a tad too fast, but hey it is the USA, AND, someone had just run 26.2 miles (again)! The Hamburgers were just what was needed and were really good.

The next morning ,we hunted for the best pancakes in town, another post marathon ” must have”. We happened upon the ” Wildberry” and judging by the line outside, decided it was for us, the wait? An hour or thereabouts, fortunately we were given a buzzer to hold, which enabled us to grab a coffee and sit along with the rest of Chicago in the sun, waiting our turn. The Wildberry did not disappoint .

Following on from these two delights was “The Cheesecake Factory” this is a fairly upmarket US Chain, and it is a bit of a factory, but having just been up the Hancock Tower to fight with the masses for the wonderful view of Chicago by night, this restaurant was just downstairs. We opted for a salad, which of course was enormous, but then just look at the desserts! Heart attack here we come!

Back to reality, well not quiet , eating in the wonderful Pied a Terre restaurant in London. It had been a two star Michelin, but now sadly only one star.

To start with we both chose the same, which was the Veal Sweetbreads served with Steak Tartar and smoked eel, Delicious! Veal today is perfectly acceptable to order and to eat, gone are the days when it was considered not correct. Veal is the meat of young cattle, it can be produced from a calf of either sex but most veal comes from male calves of dairy cattle breeds. Only one Bull per herd is required and so the young bulls would need to be slaughtered in any case . Nowadays they are given freedom before slaughtering .

Following on from this I chose the Pan Fried Halibut with Heritage carrots whilst himself had the Honey and Lemon Thyme duck with dumplings.

Neither of us chose a dessert,which was just as well, given the plate of petite fours that arrived with our coffee, along with some doughnuts!

So now we really are back to reality, we are back in France, our Home from Home, where we have celebrated Halloween, carved Pumpkins, and made Toffee Apples, but more on that later!

The Worlds Top Restaurants 2013

“My Tamales are Red Hot”, so sang Hugh Laurie ( of House Fame) on his 2011 album Let Them Talk. Unfortunately, PUJOL number 13 on this years Best 50 Restaurants in the World list does not seem to have heard this. Pujol is in Mexico city where one might expect a certain kind of spiciness when eating out, even if you don’t want Red Hot Tamales all of the time.

We dined at Pujol on the 20th April, this year and we took the tasting menu at 995 Pesos ( about £50 or $77). Our reservation was for 7 pm, which for a city like Mexico was early indeed. We soon realised why we’d been unable to get a later booking as they stagger the arrivals – only a quarter of the tables were occupied when we arrived. Fair enough, but we were offered the table, next to the bar, which doubled as the glass washing and the coffee making area. We rejected this and took another table.

We started our meal with some snacks. This was fun, a smoking pumpkin, with baby smoked corn, some tiny tacos, a finely sliced avocado and a consommé. I’m honestly not sure what was in the consommé, but it was wonderful. However this was where the service started to fall down. Before I had finished my nibbles, Boom, Bang, the next course began to appear. Quelle Horreur!! We had to ask them to slow it down somewhat. And they did but the service on the whole was very indifferent.

So there were 10 Courses, YES TEN, but they were only tasting size. The first was Tortilla souffle with escamoles. For those who do not know, ESCAMOLES are ants eggs! And they either come from the roots of the Agave tequilana ( Yes you are right TEQUILA)

or the roots of the Agave americana (Mezcal) A must try!!

Next came Beef tartar tostada with Alfalfa and Serrano chili sauce

As you can see the Tostada dominated the plate, the serrano chili sauce was nice without being too overpowering

So now onto course three, this was Fish ceviche taco with Hoja santa tortilla. Beans. Hoja santa (Piper auritum) is an aromatic herb with a heart-shaped, velvety leaf which grows in Central and Southern America as well as in parts of Florida.The name hoja santa means “sacred leaf” in Spanish. I ate it several times whilst in Mexico, cooked a number of ways, but I really feel it is not memorable enough to go hunting for it in my local grocery store. At PUJOL, the Hoja Santa leaf served as the taco to the ceviche and although this was a bit gimmicky, the whole thing worked (this is their signature dish) and was delicious.

Next came Purslane noodles with grilled onion and spearmint. We were not overly impressed with this dish, neither in its appearance nor its taste, sort of cactus and Purslane. Not our favourite. Though Purslane is valued for its high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids; it is considered to have higher levels of this essential fatty acid than any other vegetable!!

Our next course was also rather nondescript, Sorry! it was a small aubergine and not sure what else, see for yourselves

Then, it was Pork confit with Almonds, Raisins and Cumin Mole, an absolute delight and one of our favourites. On the down side, it was another plate of food, which was brown and cream in appearance.

But then we went onto Mole. This was called Mole Madre, the taste was interesting but a plate of Mole by itself?? For the uninitiated Mole is a rich thick, dark, brownish-red sauce, but the term is really more general than that. Mole can be anything from dark and thick to soup-like and bright green, with red, yellow and black mole. Three states in Mexico claim to be the home of mole, Puebla, Oaxaca and Tlaxacla, with Peubla and Oaxaca being the best known. However it is almost always served over something, meat or fish, or even rice, but on it’s own?? Did you eat it with a spoon? ( we did not have one) or scoop it up on a fork, or even a knife?

Then came the desserts, all four of them. Honestly, you can see for yourselves, they were all cream in colour, and not one of them stood out as being memorable.

But honestly they all blended into one, both in appearance and taste.

Firstly it was Banana served with macadamia zest, camomile flower.

Thyme biscuit. Lemon gelatin. Pulque sorbet. Cookie soup. White chocolate.

Guava Sorbet, Mezcal and Chilhucle chilli salt

And this? well some sort of Mousse in a chocolate casing? but as I said, all the colours and all of the flavours in the desserts blended into one!

So all in all, I will not be recommending this restaurant to anyone, anytime soon, but the consolation is that although it is rated one of the best restaurants in the world, it does not come close to being one of the most expensive, that honour goes to Guy Savoy in Paris at a whopping $1200 for two people!!

One other restaurant that I will mention here is “Dinner” by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental in London. It is rated this year at # 7. I love Heston’s food, having eaten at his flagship restaurant ( the Fat Duck in Bray Berkshire, UK ) many times, even before it became famous. “Dinner “is no different, it is innovative, fun and the service is exemplary, having said that the bill for two will set you back about $600. Not to be sniffed at!

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Tag: restaurants