Gastroplod

an afternoon at the butchers, a night at the Opera

November 12, 2008 by gastroplod

waiting in line at the boucherie, Place St Francois, Vieux Nice

Talk about a view – this was mine for a full 50 minutes last Saturday. We waited and we waited and we waited: and then we waited some more. All I wanted was to pick up a couple of grillades de boeuf at a great price, but the entire population of Vieux Nice descended simultaneously on la Boucherie Chez Francis, standing 12 or more deep, with a mission to supply themselves and their extended families with sufficient meat to outlast the current geological era. And every piece cut precisely, if you don’t mind…. We noticed a certain correlation between the apparent poverty of a customer and the exactitude they demanded of their butcher (of whom I counted 10 either working the counter or sawing away in the backroom). Escalopes of this, paupiettes of that – yes, joint those rabbits and cut their heads in half while you’re about it. Surely some kind of class warfare going on – the well-dressed expressed their outrage at the wait, only to be rebuffed by the garrulously painstaking staff, while each scruffy personage, once having achieved first place at the counter, prolonged their position in power for as long as their wallet extended. Many euros and even more minutes later they would finally relinquish prime place and saunter over to the cash register to pay and collect their spoils – all bagged, tagged and delivered by overhead conveyor belt. What an amazing operation.

the crowd starts to thin - note mountain of orange body bags bottom left

Happily we had already bought tickets for a charity gala at Nice Opera House – a splendid neo-classical edifice with sumptuous interior – which turned out to be an evening of unmitigated musical delights and the perfect gilt-edged, velvet-trimmed, crystal-chandeliered antidote to our afternoon of waiting in line with the hoi polloi: and just a five minute walk from home through the Old Town’s pedestrianised streets.

Boucherie Chez Francois : Place St. Francois, Vieux Nice

Nice Opéra House : 4 & 6 rue Saint-Francois-de-Paul, 06300 Nice
Tél. 04 92 17 40 00

Posted in shopping | Tagged butchers, Vieux Nice | Leave a Comment »

I ate doggie poo…

November 6, 2008 by gastroplod

…and I loved it. No, I wasn’t auditioning for a remake of Pink Flamingos, but as in the direct translation of the Nissard dialect’s Merda de Can and no, it’s not actually what it says on the tin, rather a gnocchi Nissarde made with swiss chard (blettes) and/or spinach, shaped to resemble its namesake; I doubt if the resemblance goes further than that. This wryly-named Niçois speciality is one of my favourites I usually buy at a wonderful pasta and sauce shop, La Clé aux Pâtes in Vieux Nice, to cook at our flat around the corner or even freeze to take home in my luggage. Other artisan pasta joints in the neighbourhood get more press coverage but in my experience their products don’t come close in quality to what is made on the premises here. For a change though, today I enjoyed my traditional dish of canine poop with beef daube sauce at celebrated Old Town haunt of authentic Nissart cuisine L’Escalinada.

How the young waiters manage their combination of cool insouciance, sharp wit, friendly yet professional service is beyond me but it’s very welcome when all too often any hint of an Anglo accent triggers the dreaded treatment touristique.

The dish was delish, but I have to say Clé aux Pâtes does it more to my liking. L’Escalinada’s chef produces a looser stool, metaphorically speaking, than does the genius on rue de la Boucherie, and I like my doggy do with a bit more bite. T went for the sautéed rabbit which although on the dessicated side of succulent was saved by exquisite tagliatelle with pistou; both made on the spot, perfectly simple and simply perfect.

Couldn’t possibly find fault with our starter either – Ribambelle de l’Escalinada – a starry selection of niçoise nibbles for two to share: after a help-yourself bowl of chickpeas with raw onion and aïoli, our platter delivered sliced raw baby artichokes, stuffed vine leaves, beignets (fritters) of courgette and aubergine, roasted red pepper, marinated octopus and best of all, exquisitely teeny-tiny cuttlefish, freshly battered and deep-fried. In contrast to its soggy-seeming appearance the beignet batter was light and crisp with a creamy interior, the recipe for which I am delighted to see featured in Nice Matin’s August 2008 review: must try and if it succeeds I’ll post with my recipe translation.

It has been raining buckets for the past week apparently but this afternoon we were treated to sunshine warm enough for basking outdoors on L’Escalinada’s jaunty terrace while sipping our pichet of Côtes de Provence rosé and watching the perennial people-parade along rue Pairolière: it’s so very nice to be back in Nice.

L’Escalinada, 22 rue Pairolière, Nice 06300
La Clé aux Pâtes, 8 bis rue de la Boucherie, Nice 06300

Posted in Autumn/Fall, overseas, restaurants | Tagged Vieux Nice | 4 Comments »

Lancaster’s Sun shines through the gale

November 4, 2008 by gastroplod

our view from the room the morning after the storm

As part of my position I am required to attend top-secret conferences scattered around the countryside: this one in Lancaster, which is about as far as you can go without running into the Lake District. The journey should have taken five hours but it took nine, of which four were spent in such mind-numbingly boring stop-start M6 motorway traffic that we only have the knowledge of time having passed: either that or we were abducted by aliens, but I don’t recall any little green men probing my anus. We finally reached the Sun hotel in the heart of downtown old town Lancaster at 9 pm, its integral bar abuzz with Friday night revellers: once T had macheted his way through the crowd to the reception area at the back we were led up several carpeted flights of stairs to Executive Room 32. After the long drive flat screen satellite TV, wine glasses and corkscrew were almost all we needed and after a quick trip down to the bar to pick up a bottle of Rioja we settled happily into our comfortable, cosy eyrie under the eaves.

one well-stocked bar

Terrific idea for breakfasts: five items from a selection of eight included with room price, or choose from the individual breakfast menu: Eggs Benedict, Kippers, etc. You could stay a week and have something different every day, enjoying the morning tranquility of the bar with self-serve juice, cereal (if you must) and coffee laid out opposite an array of newspapers, a basket of toast and preserves plus the full Monty brought to your table by friendly-enough but blissfully not too-so staff. Very very pleasant: even Katie Melua on the tannoy couldn’t upset me. I just wish we hadn’t had to be anywhere afterwards.

smoked bacon, herb sausages, white pudding, poached egg, grilled tomatoes

Sorely tempted by the Eggs Benedict I found myself seduced twice over by the 5/8 selection: gosh do I love a bit of white pudding.

: bacon, fried duck egg, sausages, mushrooms & flageolet beans in tomato sauce

After a leisurely breakfast like that there’s no need for lunch and barely room for dinner even, so the £70 a night room price looked increasingly bargainly. What with the weather – remember the recent hullabaloo over 10 million fell runners swamped by storms? same area, same weekend – exploring Lancaster was pretty much off the menu, so after the conference we snuggled in once more. Champagne by the glass at £6 (£6.50 for rosé) set the mood for a laid-back evening, although I could have done without the strawberry floater: it was decent champagne, so why make me stick my fingers in it? T’s stomach empties faster than mine so he ordered a Lancashire hotpot from the bar menu (they stop serving at 7 pm – not entirely convenient for folk with continental habits) which I gather was well tasty, although not good-looking enough to snap.

We loved staying at this hotel – beer aficionados would love it even more – and recommend it heartily. Visit their website to get a feel for the place; it more than lives up to its own marketing.
virtual tour

the Sun Hotel & Bar, Lancaster

Posted in Autumn/Fall, pubs & bars | Tagged hotel, Lancaster, pubs & bars | Leave a Comment »

the view from a hill

October 24, 2008 by gastroplod

Sunday afternoon in Tunbridge Wells – where to go for a lunchtime drink that’s both within walking distance of the town centre, yet comfortably removed from its urban hum and traffic drum? Btw, that’s a stroll in nice shoes, not a heavy-booted hike up hill and down dale.

Dim memories of a bar set into a cave on the Common, somewhere over there… off we plodded, Dorothy and her cowardly lion. Amid the winding paths, rolling lawns and bracken forests we were relieved to find the Mount Edgcumbe Hotel snuggled at the end of a short gravel drive. Although it must have changed hands a-plenty over the years and the complimentary bar snacks of yore seem to have vanished, to my delight its gingerbread granny’s house-in-the-forest enchantment lives on.

Popular rather than heaving is just my kind of place, and an outdoor table in the sunshine the Maraschino in my Manhattan: not that I ordered one mind – it’s not that kind of a place. No; my tipple was a glass of Chenin Blanc, a varietal I order with a ripple of anticipation but tend to drink with a shudder of disappointment. I don’t want to give up on CB by the glass – Lord knows it’s more interesting than PG – but this South African’s spiteful skinniness reminded me of an encounter in M&S last Thursday (this is not just a checkout girl, this is a nasty bitch looking for a scrap): more for masochists than oenophiles. Ok, I exaggerate; the wine wasn’t that bad, even if the checkout girl was. By contrast T lucked out by puckering up to a pleasingly passion-fruity Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. I can’t be too judmental of the Mount Edgcumbe’s wine list anyway because here beer is the star – Harvey’s Best Sussex Bitter AND Peroni on tap, no less – but beer just ain’t my thing.

Ah well, although I wasn’t quite enjoying my wine the bowl of bar menu Nachos (homemade salsa with a nose-wrinkling drop-kick of cumin – isn’t salsa supposed to be refreshing?) helped wash it down and I passed the beautiful autumn afternoon enjoying my view of both the Common’s sandstone outcroppings and at closer range, the undulating human landscape …

Mount Edgcumbe Hotel

Posted in Autumn/Fall, pubs & bars | Tagged pubs, tunbridge wells, wine | 2 Comments »

a civilized day out

October 13, 2008 by gastroplod

: Somerset House photo credit: Jan van der Crabben

A couple of weeks ago we dashed up to the Big Smoke on a sunny Saturday to catch the last weekend of the Courtauld Institute’s Cezanne exhibition – which was stunning, btw. And what a stunning day all round: Somerset House itself; at the far eastern end of The Strand, children frolicking under its courtyard fountains in the autumn sunshine and the chiaroscuro effect of the afternoon light on the Neo-classical quadrangle’s façades filled me with a sense of satisfaction and contentment normally only induced by a lazy luncheon with a glass of wine. Or two.

My delight had much to do with having sourced our train ride snack from the countertop cornucopia of Carluccio’s caffè. A can of San Pellegrino Limonata for me: sharp, tart and truly lemony; very grown up and tasting nothing like pop, and a tinny of Peroni birra for he. Mine came with a foil cover to keep the sipping hole clean, which doubled up nicely as a micro-plate for our delectable little savoury biscuits: one each of parmesan/herb and walnut/rosemary flavours. Mmm – crisp and crumbly with the quality of their ingredients resonating on the palate: not much more than a morsel per piece yet intensely satisfying.

I do hope the delightful Antonio is feeling better after his recent knife mishap. His erudite books and television works are informative and entertaining, and although he is no longer involved with the caffè chain which bears his name, it’s still a civilized pleasure to stop by and shop. Best wishes for your recovery, Mr Carluccio!

We visited another bastion of civilization that day – the ever-urbane Fortnum and Mason on Piccadilly. A lunch date elsewhere meant foregoing the joys of the 1707 cellar wine bar, but who wants to be underground on a beautiful day anyway? I did discover, however, what the deli counter does with the leftover fat from their Pata Negra Gran Reserva ham – they send it to the kitchen, clever devils. I was hoping to acquire it cheaply for my own devices but at F&M they’re not fools. Instead I came home with a goodly package of saffron – saffron indeed – salami, and a very goodly thing it turned out to be: resembling more a lomo than a salami – no casing, the meat wasn’t chopped and fat evident only in the marbling – but all the more enjoyable for it, especially at just £3 for 100g.

The saffron-gilded edge was beautiful to behold and its flavour subtly enhanced the top notch pork flesh. I wish I could say more about this product but there was no information on the label and my server, although charmingly helpful, knew as much as I of its provenance. The mystery remains…anyone out there know?

Courtauld Gallery

Somerset House map

Posted in Autumn/Fall, shopping | Tagged art, food, Fortnum and Mason, London, shopping | Leave a Comment »

duck and cover

September 18, 2008 by gastroplod

Following the laziest roast crispy duck in history my duck fat jar runneth over … almost. So it should see us through the coming winter unless we take it into our heads to make confit and, considering the mess involved, I rather hope we don’t.

Duck fat is by far the best medium for roasting potatoes or greasing Yorkshire pudding tins and it’s ever my fat of choice for browning winter casseroles or starting off any dishes from the Basque or Languedoc regions. Now I know goose fat is supposed to be even better, but given the price of a goose you might as well resign yourself to buying a tin of it and forego the satisfaction of making your own. But duck fat is different: easier to come by and a most inconvenient waste product to dispose of if you can’t be bothered to save it. If prepared with a modicum of care and kept in a reasonably cool and dark place it will survive for yonks outside the fridge: I keep mine on a shelf in the garage.

Just pour off the rendered fat during and after roasting a duck plain and slow (eg 6 to 7 hours at 140C) and leave it to cool overnight in the fridge. Lift the fat away from any stray juices lurking underneath then reheat it to liquify. Any moisture will bubble away, so when its puttering stops strain the liquid fat through a sieve lined with a couple of layers of muslin or even kitchen roll into a sterilised preserving jar and seal. Discard the brown bits! Enjoy its golden glow fading to white as it cools then hoard and scoop out as needed with a clean, dry spoon.

Depending on size one easily-available Gressingham duck should render at least 250ml fat. If you do nothing else with it, use a couple of tablespoons for roasting potatoes and greasing your Yorkshire pudding tin: you’ll be glad you did.

Posted in Autumn/Fall, ingredients, slow food, Winter | Tagged cooking fat, duck, duck fat, preserves, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding | 2 Comments »

if it’s yellow let it mellow

September 8, 2008 by gastroplod

Limoncello – what’s not to like? For me it conjures up memories of a certain bijou hotel bar just off the Spanish Steps in Rome, we nuzzling and snuggling into the velvet sofa to the sound of our multi-talented and heavily-accented Italian crooner twiddling his Moog synthesizer while giving us his vocal stylings of Captain of her Heart, or fond reminiscence of a sweltering afternoon in Vieux Nice when the heavy-set fortune-telling proprietor of Chez Palmyre refilled our espresso cups with a dose of home brewed, brought up in a metal jug dripping cool from his cellar next door…

…so why oh why does my own homemade effort look like piss and taste worse? I’m hoping for limpid and cloudy – lots of mouthfeel thank you very much – but instead it’s a screechy dose of acridity, more of a morning after than a night before and no matter how long I keep the damn stuff it just doesn’t get any better.

Considering I went to the trouble of heaving back a couple of kilos of organic lemons from Menton on the Côte d’Azur, scrubbed them well and used organic sugar I think I might be forgiven for expecting a better result.

My big mistake might have been using alcool pour fruits rather than voddy but seriously, do they use vodka in Sorrento? I imagined this would make it all the more authentic but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

If anyone has managed to produce a classic pale yellow, opaque digestif from lemons, alcohol and sugar I sure would love to know how you did it.

Posted in Summer, wine | Tagged limoncello | 4 Comments »

one fine day

August 31, 2008 by gastroplod

With hot sunny weather forecast for Saturday all other plans went on hold so we could seize the chance to soak up every available ray of sunshine on the deck of our new penthouse apartment. Thanks to the frankly not great British summer it was our first opportunity to bask under an open blue sky since moving in at the beginning of August, so in holiday mood I hauled out the deep fryer from deep storage and tossed in a shoal of whitebait for a nautical treat.

Resurrecting my darling porcelain fish platter was sheer delight, and as it received the rustling cascade of tiny crisp fishes I think I may even have seen it crack a smile: or was it the combination of French rosé and UV rays going to my head? I think not.

Deep-fried Whitebait

454g frozen whitebait
200ml milk
4 TBS plain flour
1 tsp paprika pimentón
4 litres oil for deep frying

Defrost the whitebait in a bowl, with the milk poured over, overnight in the fridge. Drain well and discard the milk. Heat the oil to 190C. Mix together the flour and pimentón in a large bowl and toss in the whitebait. Shake the bowl about to coat the fish then transfer them to a colander and gently shake off excess flour.

Tip the whitebait into the fryer basket, lower carefully into the oil and fry for two to three minutes. They’re done when they float so keep a close eye and don’t cook them any longer than necessary. Served with lemon quarters and green tabasco: briny heaven on a fish plate.

This bottle of Domaine Grand Milord organic rosé was a perfect accompaniment, made from 10% Syrah and 90% Caladoc. It’s not every day I come across a grape variety I’d never heard of: a quick google reveals that Caladoc is a disease-resistant hybrid of Grenache and Cot, both respectable southern French varieties, and being deep coloured and with ageing potential a tasty choice for making into rosé: and organic to boot: cin cin!

Domaine Grand Milord organic rosé

Marks and Spencer £5.99

Posted in recipes, Summer, wine | Tagged whitebait, wine | 4 Comments »

blue cheese & butternut bread

August 13, 2008 by gastroplod

This stuffed bread makes wonderful picnic food as the filling holds itself in place allowing you to eat it with just hands – and a napkin for the fastidious. We took it for a packed lunch while decorating our new apartment and it was much more sustaining than the bag of Doritos (T’s choice, not mine) we’d munched on the day before: it didn’t stain everything orange either, which is a bit of a bonus when you’re trying to paint everything in shades of white.

It’s a handy vegetarian addition to my picnic / packed lunch recipe repertoire.

Butternut squash and blue cheese bread

100g crumbled Stilton*

100g diced cooked butternut squash

a sprig of fresh sage, chopped

1 TBS chopped pecans (optional)

a handful of olive oil dough

olive oil

*Any creamy blue cheese such as dolcelatte, gorgonzola etc. will do just as well; here I happened to have some Stilton left over from Christmas haunting the freezer.

Gently stretch out the ball of dough on an oiled swiss roll tin – or toaster oven tray – coaxing it towards the edges. It will relax and stretch further so don’t be anxious about this.

Strew the cheese and squash over the surface of the dough, padding the filling towards the edges. Scatter with the shredded sage, then make a papoose by bringing the long edges of the dough to meet over the top and press them together to seal so the cheese doesn’t leak out when it melts in the oven. At this point it will not look at all promising, but have no fear. Sprinkle chopped nuts, if using, across the seam and press them lightly into the dough so they stick.

Bake in a hot oven (450F, 200C, Gas 7) for about 30 minutes, basting halfway through with a little olive (or hazelnut/walnut if you have it) oil for a delicately crunchy crust: cover the nuts with a strip of foil if they’re browning too fast (or blackening in my case, one hazard of using a toaster oven).

Cool, loosen the bottom with a palette knife, then cut into slices or wrap the whole in foil to slice later.

The sage makes a delicous ménage à trois with the blue cheese and squash, which the richly nutty pecans turn into a veritable orgy of flavours, or for an enjoyable alternative you could try swinging with rosemary and walnuts instead: a bit of gustatory promiscuity can produce some pretty interesting offspring.

For a punchy packed lunch just add a handful of rocket leaves and for a picnic add whatever you like, but the way this British summer’s been shaping up you’ll be needing a blanket, windbreak, hot water bottle – and your head examined: it’s blowing a gale as I type this.

A note to British readers: some branches of Waitrose sell frozen butternut squash, which is pretty darn handy for this recipe as it’ll cook in the microwave in 4 minutes – and there’s no skin to deal with!

This post is my first-ever entry for the WTSIM… summer picnic blogging event.

Posted in artisan bread, packed lunch, picnic, recipes, vegetarian | Tagged butternut squash, olive oil dough, packed lunch, pecan, picnic, Stilton, stuffed bread, Waitrose | 7 Comments »

Servus interruptus

August 4, 2008 by gastroplod

Gastroplod is in transit, so my apologies for any inconvenience.
Normal service will resume shortly, once Mr T’s had a bit of rhinoplasty…

◊ transformation is the buzzword this year ◊

Subscribe to my feed and be the first to know when I’m back on the block

Posted in Summer | 1 Comment »

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