Bruce weekend II - something a bit different

So after much deliberation (and after I couldn't find rabbit at the last minute for love nor money), I made the Malaysian chicken curry. Sounds simple, and it is, but curry is something I've never been comfortable with and has resulted in mixed success on previous occasions.


So here's what was needed:
8 skinned and boneless chicken thighs (c 900g boneless weight), cut in half and seasoned with flaked sea salt - I skinned and de-boned at home
sea salt
3 tbsp vegetable oil
6 dried kaffir lime leaves
2 large cinnamon sticks
1 fresh lemongrass, split and bruised with the back of a heavy knife
400ml chicken stock
400ml coconut milk
I also included a few mushrooms that I had left over in the fridge from the duck dish last week, which were lovely


For the spice mix:
5g coriander seeds
6-8 shallots, peeled and sliced thinly
c4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly (I used 6, it was lovely)
c30g peeled fresh ginger, grated
2 bird's eye chillies, chopped with seeds (the recipe suggested 3-4 - I used 2, and I could have included maybe 1 more if pushed, but them maybe I'm just a wimp)


First, I lightly toasted the coriander seeds in a small, dry frying pan over a medium heat until they released a warm, rich smell - then let them cool and ground them in a pestle and mortar. I then put the ground coriander seeds, shallots, garlic, ginger and chillies into a food processor and blended it into a paste before scraping the paste into a container for later use.

 

I then heated a large frying pan, added half the vegetable oil and, once hot, sauteed the chicken until it was lightly coloured. In parallel, I also heated the rest of the oil in a large braising pan and then fried the paste mixture for about 5 minutes, until it was a bit more oily and less wet. The smell was absolutely beautiful - a rich, spicy aroma that made my mouth water.

 

I then added the cinnamon sticks, the lemongrass, the kaffir lime leaves and the chicken to the pan with the paste in it, along with the juices from the frying pan. Once everything was mixed in together, I poured over the chicken stock and half the coconut milk and left to simmer lightly (as opposed to boil) for an hour.

  

After about 40 minutes, I stirred in the mushrooms. After an hour, I added the rest of the coconut milk, cooked for another couple of minutes and then took off the heat. It didn't needed any more seasoning, but I'd taste just to make sure.

The recipe has what seems like a great way of cooking slightly sticky, fluffy jasmine rice - I used wholegrain basmati, which I love, instead. I also steamed some asparagus and pak choi and sprinkled with light soy sauce -not strictly necessary, but nice if you prefer to have your meals with greenery. This curry tastes beautiful and is incredibly more-ish -I have quite a lot left over for the next couple of days (although it will probably only last less than one...). Great recipe, I'll definitely be making this again!Yum.

 

And so it begins... Chez Lucy

So, Julie and Julia style (but clearly far cooler),I've chosen my book to work through - hopefully to teach me a variety of cooking methods, how to make food look nice and hopefully be in a position to start hosting dinner parties with more civilised dishes than the lasagne specials I've made to date.


And here it is - Bruce's Cookbook, the first cookbook by Bruce Poole, Michelin starred chef of the award winning Chez Bruce (which just so happens to be my favourite restaurant of all time). To anyone who buys it, this is an incredibly well written cookbook. The intro is wonderful and really sets the scene for the rest of the book - and each recipe is written with such care that it is a joy to cook from. Right...enough gushing...

For Saturday 21 Jan, I decided on one course, as we had plans that evening. So I chose something that looked simpler than most of them to kick off with. I went for the Duck breast with roast shallots, wild mushrooms, peas and pancetta, for which I used:
4 large unpeeled banana shallots
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable oil
50g unsalted butter
100g fresh or frozen peas
4 duck breasts (c200g each) -I went for Gressingham
2 rashers of smoked, streaky bacon, cut into lardons
100g fresh wild mushrooms (I chose oyster and buna shimeji, and used more, c150g - you can never have too many mushrooms)
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
100ml Madeira or Port (I used port, Cockburns)
100ml chicken stock
1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked off


Firstly, I preheated the oven to 175C (mine's fan assisted, and this was the perfect temperature for the 
recommended time). 
I then put an ovenproof frying pan (I used a paella pan, as that's the closest I had at that point - it worked fine) over medium heat, added a large tablespoon of vegetable oil and waited until it was hot. I cut each shallot in half lengthways (the shallots should remain unpeeled - I removed some of the flakier outer shell) and then laid them, flat side down, into the frying pan. I pan fried them for c 5minutes until they had visibly coloured (a sort of dark brown colour), then added half of the butter and to the pan and put it in the oven for 35 minutes.

In the meantime, I prepared the peas (I used frozen petit pois, cooked slightly less than the packet suggested) until they were al dente, put them aside for later and started preparing the duck. The shallots were done while I was preparing the duck (the onions were soft when touched), so I put a couple of plates into the oven to warm.

For the duck breasts, I then seasoned them thoroughly on both sides. I put them into a cold, non-stick frying pan (although as, at that point, I didn't have a pan big enough for four duck breasts, I used two pans), skin side down, over medium heat. Once the fat started releasing from the skin, I turned the heat down a little and basted the duck with its own fat regularly until the skin had reached a golden brown colour. I have never cooked duck in this way before, and found it very effective.
I then flipped the breast over and fried for another couple of minutes, then left the breasts to rest in the pan for a few minutes before transferring them onto a warmed plate and covering them in foil to stay warm.

I put the used duck pan back onto a medium heat, before adding the lardons for a couple of minutes and then added the mushrooms and the thyme and turned up the heat slightly. I sauteed them for about 5 minutes, added the port and, once the liquid had cooked away, added the stock and reduced this by half. I then turned the heat down, added the peas, parsley and remaining butter and then added a little more pepper.The recipe notes that the sauce should not boil at this point - it should be over a very low heat. 

  

I had also boiled some ready made spaetzle in the meantime, so it was time to plate up - I added the spaetzle and spooned the mushroom and pea sauce onto the plate. I then carved the duck and laid it on top of the sauce, added a roasted shallot, and it was ready to go. In hindsight, I should have layered this dish slightly differently -  spaetzle first, then sauce on top, then duck on top of that - but meh, it tasted awesome.

Iced up with Cookie Girl

I've made a few cupcakes in the last couple of years, and one thing I've been meaning to do for a while is learn how to make them look pretty (as opposed to looking like they've been thrown at icing).

So when I saw an offer for a two hour cupcake decorating class for £27 in Time Out a couple of weeks ago, I jumped at the chance - and last Saturday was the big day.


I'd been excited about it all week (the excitement not lessened by the fact that the class was in Kensal Green, in North London - and everyone knows how much I like to venture North Of The River), and it didn't disappoint. The class was run by Cookie Girl, a business started by a woman called Xanthe Martin that specialises in baking and decorating classes for a number of occasions. We didn't get taught by her, but instead had a very nice girl (whose name I can't for the life of me remember) showing us how to use our nozzles.


When I arrived at the pub in which the class took place, there were 15 or so people waiting to go into the events room at the back. When we got in, we were greeted with a table scattered with tupperware full of different coloured icing and several small jars of decorations.

 

Before we started icing, we were shown how to use the piping bags and nozzles - one tip she gave us was to half turn the piping bag inside out and rest them on a pint glass (I wish I had taken a photo at this point), and then to fill them with icing (which,for those interested, was cream cheese and butter based icing with gel food coloring). The trick is,once the piping bags are full, to twist the top of the piping bag closed and to hold it from the top so that the icing doesn't get too warm. Also, it allows for a more even finish as it allows for a more constant flow of icing.


Then we got down to business - first up, the "Mr Whippy", which was a method where you start from the outside of the cupcake.Once you've iced around the outside once, you then follow the inside line of the icing until you reach the middle,at which point you dip the nozzle and pull up sharply to make a neat point in the middle of the cupcake.


Needless to say my first attempt was pretty poor - however I covered it with green sparkles and mini candy canes and found a flattering angle from which to photograph it (if I'd taken it from the side, you'd have seen just how flat it was!)

I had a second go,with purple icing - slightly better, but still a bit lumpy. However, it became the front for my retro style cupcake - purple baubles, neon pink hundreds and thousands and small black sheep roaming the icing. 

Next up - the two tone Mr Whippy. Basically like the original style, but once you've done the first round, you switch to a different colour icing. I wasn't a huge fan of this version - but quite enjoyed the yellow and pink combo. On the second one, I screwed up the icing slightly- but then learnt how to cover up messy icing by using decorations like the bead flower below. I have a feeling I'll be using this method a lot!!

The next method was what I like to call the blob method. You basically start in the middle of the cupcake, squeeze out a blob of icing,and then dip and pull up sharply. You do the same all the way round - using the optional different nozzle types and icing colours. The one below, I used a rose nozzle for most of it, but for the yellow part my nozzle had a sort of crown shape. I then decorated with large pink edible balls, small ivory balls and edible glitter. I have to say,this is my favourite.

The one below was the using the same method-except I screwed up the tip of one of the pink blobs so put green balls on the tip of each. I then made an inner circle with the ivory baubles (you may have noticed I have a slight love of the ivory ones).

Last method - the rose - you start in the middle like a Mr Whippy, do a tight circle in the middle and then work outwards. This is really pretty when you get the hang of it - which I didn't so well (rose fail) - and again you can cover up your errors with decorations. The yellow one below was my first attempt, which explains why it's covered in stars, hearts and edible glitter. The second one (in pink) went slightly better - and just needed a bit of covering up on one side (although it looks a bit squashed as I took this picture after carrying it home).

 

I left the course with 8 cupcakes, a decorating kit (£15) and a feeling of achievement - several of my friends had to endure photos of cupcakes that afternoon (which was a great relief for those of my friends that had received photos of the blister on my foot a couple of days earlier). All in all, I can only recommend this course - the one thing I would say was that it would have been nice to have a stab at doing fondant shapes, but when I asked, I was assured that Cookie Girl is in the process of setting these up. I'll keep you posted!!

Sunday dinners

So - despite the fact that Mark and I went out for a (fairly substantial) Sunday Lunch today (at the Swan at the Globe Theatre), I didn't let that stop me cooking something proper for dinner. But then, there's always space to eat something out of the Moro cookbooks...

I decided to make a recipe from each - 1. Lamb with Muslim Mediterranean marinade from book 1 (which I've made before, and absolutely love) and 2. Winter tabbouleh from book 2.


The winter tabbouleh demanded pomegranate molasses - basically a pomegranate syrup. The recipes for this on the internet suggest mixing fresh pomegranate with lemon juice and sugar to do this, but the Moro recipe just uses the fruit itself, which I think tastes delicious.
Anyway - to make pomegranate molasses, I popped the juicy seeds of three pomegranates into a sieve rested over a stainless steel pan, being careful to remove all the bitter yellow pith. I then used a pestle to squeeze the juice through the sieve into the pan.

The recipe suggests using a potato ricer or a mouli - I don't have either of those, and a trip to Peter Jones to buy one proved fruitless, so I used the sieve instead. I think it works just as well, but is probably a little more time consuming.


I then reduced the pomegranate juice over a medium heat until it had a syrupy consistency - this took about 40 minutes, and created about 3-4 tablespoons of syrup.

And now for the rest..... Firstly,the Muslim Mediterranean Marinade - mix together:
2 crushed garlic cloves 
The juice of 1 lemon 
1 teaspoon of tomato puree 
2 teaspoons of roughly ground cumin seeds 
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh coriander
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
freshly ground black pepper.

 

Then rub the marinade into the lamb steaks, and leave to stand for an hour or two.

In the meantime, I prepared the Winter Tabbouleh - an interesting version of the better known cracked wheat salad:

140g medium-course bulgur wheat

1 head white chicory, finely chopped

1/2 fennel bulb, finely sliced

75g cauliflower (raw), chopped into pieces of about 1cm each

4 tablespoons roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

2 tablespoons of roughly chopped mint (I forgot I had run out making Nigella's salad yesterday - so used coriander instead, which also works well)

2 tablespoons roughly chopped walnuts (I didn't use these - I hate nuts in salad)

seeds of 1 pomegranate, yellow pith removed

I cooked the bulgar wheat per the packet, drained and left to cool slightly. I then combined the bulgur wheat with all the ingredients in a large salad bowl (my picture looks like a lot - I doubled up to make lunches for the week)

For the marinade, I mixed 1 crushed garlic clove with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of the pomegranate molasses. I then added 1 tablespoon of water and whisked in 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Here, the recipe calls for four, but I didn't think it needed it. It also suggests adding sugar if necessary - I, again, didn't think it was required as it tastes sweet enough just with the pomegranate and cinnamon. I then added some ground pepper, and added it to the salad and tossed it all together.

At that point, Mark was getting quite vocal about his hunger, so I pan fried the lamb (with all the marinade) over a medium heat until it was just a little pink, before serving it with the salad.

 

Amazingly, even though I had my doubts that the two combined would work, they tasted lovely together and the meal was met with some great feedback - definitely something I'll be making again!

Leftovers with Nigella

Saturday brought some accidentally defrosted steak - so what to do with it? I ventured into a cookbook I have had for a while (I bought it from my friend Roisin before I left Frankfurt) but somehow have never used before: Nigella Bites (2001 edition).

I leafed to the "Templefood" section - in the sense of "my body is a". Right at the back of a book with some pretty great (but indulgent) recipes, these are delicious but slightly less guilt inducing.


So I went for the Vietnamese chicken and mint salad (however used beef, which works just as well). Use:


1 chilli, seeded and finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed (I used a couple more)
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of rice vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons Vietnamese or Thai fish sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Half a medium onion, finely sliced (I used a shallot)
freshly ground black pepper
200g white cabbage, shredded
1 medium carrot, shredded
200g cooked chicken breast,finely sliced (as above - I used 200g beef)
Large bunch of mint, roughly chopped


I made the dressing first - mixing the chilli, garlic, sugar,vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, oil, onion and a bit of pepper to taste. That got put to one side while I did the rest (and smelt beautiful)

I then brushed the beef steaks (rump) with oil and ground pepper and grilled until they were tender. I left them to cool while I grated the cabbage and carrot on a mandolin.
Once that was done, I finely sliced the beef very finely and roughly chopped the mint, before mixing together all the ingredients in a bowl.


I then poured the dressing over the mixed ingredients and slowly and gently folded them together with a spatula. This is important so that they don't turn to mush. Once incorporated, the salad tasted beautiful - this is probably one of the simplest dishes I've made recently, and will be featuring in my lunchbox regularly in the next few weeks!!

Zilli weekend - take 2!

Continuing with the Zilli theme, I tried two recipes this Sunday - one for supper, and one to take to work for lunch for the next couple of days. It's new year, so both have a healthier theme than normal - which I expect will disappear soon enough...

1. The lunch option - Root vegetable salad (Verdure e Insalata)

2 large carrots

1 small celeriac

1 large potato

1 small cauliflower, cut into small florets

1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets

1 bulb of fennel, sliced very thinly

2 celery sticks,sliced

--- As an aside at this point, I used six parsnips, four carrots and a bulb of fennel, as Tesco didn't have any celeriac and I didn't want to use potato,broccoli or cauliflower. Also, I hate celery - but I expect you can substitute any root / other vegetables as you wish----

4 garlic cloves (I used 6)

25g fresh rosemary leaves, chopped roughly

25g fresh basil leaves,chopped roughly

---another aside - I used rosemary, basil and parsley as I had run out of enough basil and, well, I love flat leaf parsley. It worked nicely---

 300ml extra virgin olive oil (I don't think this is necessary - I used maybe 100ml and it was fine for roasting, it depends what your preference is)

Juice of 2 lemons

200g rocket

salt and freshly ground black pepper

45m balsamic vinegar, to serve

Preheat the oven to 160C (fan assisted-if your oven is not fan assisted,the recipe suggests 180C).

I chopped the parsnips and carrots into c1cm cubes, and scattered them on a roasting tray. I then sprinkled half the rosemary, basil and parsley and the chopped garlic on top of the root vegetables, topped with a generous few glugs of olive oil (c 100ml) and the lemon juice as well as salt and pepper, and stirred before placing into the oven. The veg then needs to roast slowly until soft or to taste -it took about 1 hour for me and came out smelling (and tasting) lovely.

In the meantime, I sliced the fennel thinly using a ProCook mandolin, a gift from my parents for Christmas and I love it,which is why I feel the need to include a photo of it as well as use it for things that could have been perfectly well with a knife.

Once the roasted veg had cooled, I stirred in the remaining herbs, then added to the fennel. When they were well mixed, I poured them onto a bed of rocket (and a bit of lamb's lettuce left over from the other night). The mix of fresh and roasted herbs with the lemon is divine. I'm storing it in the fridge for lunches (see below) - one portion is already in a box for tomorrow, with a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar over the top. [Note - Zilli suggests later in his book, although not in this recipe, that the best way to use balsamic for salads is to decant it into a pan and heated until the liquid is reduced by about half. Apparently this makes it sweeter and less overpowering. May try this tomorrow, as I have only made balsamic reduction with sugar before]

2. Supper - wild mushroom risotto (funghi selvatici e olio di tartufo), the "light" version

30ml extra virgin olive oil (c2 tbsp)

25g butter (I didn't use butter, instead added an extra splash of olive oil)

4 banana shallots,chopped finely

450g mixed wild mushrooms, sliced (I boringly used chestnut and button mushrooms as Tesco wasn't great on stock again- I expect using shitake or oyster mushrooms would add a stronger flavour, I'd even add porcini to the mix)

2 garlic cloves (I used 4. There are vampires in Putney)

320g arborio risotto rice

250ml white wine

1.5 litres vegetable or fish stock (I used vegetable, and needed much less than 1.5l - maybe slightly less than 1l-before the risotto was done)

1 tbsp truffle oil

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

4 tbsp parmesan cheese (I didn't use this)

salt/freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients shown below, along with brand new Joseph Joseph elevate utensils which I used for cooking/serving. If you don't have them, and are missing any sort of kitchen utensils, get them...

I heated the oil in a medium sized heavy bottomed pan (and accidentally included the truffle oil at this point as I hadn't bothered to read the recipe to the end - not that I think it mattered) and fried the shallots on a low-medium heat until softened (about 3 minutes or so). I then added the mushrooms and garlic and fried (still on low-medium heat) until the mushrooms had softened slightly and released their juices (yes I just said that).

I then mixed in the rice until fully incorporated and then added the wine. Once the wine had been absorbed, I added a small amount (maybe a cupful) of stock and added salt and pepper. Then, a cup at a time, I added more stock until the risotto was done, plus the juice of about half a lemon (as I like lemon in risotto). As mentioned above, my risotto was done after about 750ml-1l stock - but I'd just do it to taste.

When the risotto seemed more risotto-ish and less soupy, I took it off the heat and stirred in the parsley plus a dash of truffle oil (at this point the recipe suggests adding the grated parmesan, which I excluded), and left to stand for a couple of minutes before serving.

I chose to serve the risotto with a few prawns, fried in a bit of olive oil and lemon - the prawns worked well with the risotto, which was met with great feedback (if I had left Mark in the kitchen unsupervised, it would all have been gone) despite the lack of butter and cheese. Result!

Yummy de Cuba

So Mark and I decided to sample the pre-theatre Menu at Asia de Cuba (thank you Top Table), an Asian-Cuban fusion restaurant (if you didn't already realise that from the name). For those of you interested, we went to see War Horse at the New London Theatre,  which is an absolutely wonderful production and highly recommended - timely as well, as the film comes out this week in the UK!


Hidden in the corner of the very stylish St Martin's Lane Hotel, the restaurant itself has great ambiance, a sort of living room / member's club feel with old books and pictures on several large columns throughout the room. So not hotelly at all (unlike Theo Randall's restaurant at the Intercontinental, but that's a different story).

We went for the two course meal option (£19 on Top Table), limited to a selection of 4-5 dishes on each course. The limited menu didn't matter at all though - both Mark and I went for the restaurant's signature dish, Tunapica, which is chopped raw tuna, mixed with finely chopped olives, grated coconut, dried blackcurrants, sesame oil, soy sauce, chopped almonds and lime. This on three won ton style crisps, with a small sliced cucumber salad on the side (with a lime type dressing). It was absolutely wonderful and perfectly sized for a starter. 

We accompanied this with alcohol-free cocktails (we're giving up booze until the end of February...see how that works out!). I had an Oriental Rocket (fresh lychees with lemongrass, ginger / ginger ale and lime juice,which was yum!) and he had an Apple de Cuba (fresh apple with mint, lime and sugar - a bit too appley for me).


For main course, I had the grilled strip steak (rare), with ginger chickpea fries, melon slaw and citrus ginger soy. The steak was coated with what tasted like parmesan, but clearly wasn't, and was perfectly cooked. The chickpea fries, which I was initially sceptical of, were quite nice, if a little tasteless. This was accompanied by a side dish of wok sauteed Asian and Caribbean vegetables (mini corn, mange tout, carrots and something unidentified which tasted pretty good) - lovely if a little over seasoned with soy sauce.

Mark had the sweet soy wild salmon, served on a bed of sauteed Asian mushrooms and topped with cucumber escabeche. Apparently the salmon was nice,  also a little over soy sauced - but the mushrooms were amazing. Given my weird love of mushrooms, I had a fair bit of food envy going on.

On a final note - the service at Asia de Cuba is brilliant. Our waiter was attentive, but not too much so, chatty and down to earth. So - all in all, we'll definitely be going back here - but looking at the prices, I think it will probably be on another Top Table menu!