May 27, 2008 by gastroplod
One (mental) escape from the enforced trogloditism (yes that’s my word) of this year’s Whitsun Bank Holiday might be via a 2 minute video in The Times travel section: that suavely sincere and sincerely suave Raymond Blanc tucked into a pink bib while explaining and demonstrating that classic and exclusive Mediterranean dish, bouillabaisse, in a location just to the east of Nice on the Côte d’Azur.
If Raymond himself fails to delight (hardly likely), pay a cyber-visit to his venue – the fabulous Coco Beach restaurant – for a quick fix of Riviera deluxe. No wonder he’s smiling.
It’s such an old saw that bouillabaisse can be made only with local rockfish that I shan’t labour the point here. Mind you, with French fisherman stunt pulling once more I’ve a good mind to hire myself a speedboat and raid their waters of every loup, lotte, rouget and rascasse I can find. Just need a bit of marine diesel…
Until such time, I am willing to share my delightful version using chicken in place (no pun intended) of fish:
Pouillabaisse™ aka Chicken Bouillabaisse
serves 4
- 8 boneless chicken thighs, skinned and cut in large chunks
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 2 bulbs fennel, chunked – keep fronds for garnish
- 1 clove garlic, sliced fine
- generous pinch of saffron
- a sprig of thyme, 2 bay leaves
- 1 tin of tomatoes (whole or chopped, whatever is on hand)
- generous slug of pastis
- 1 litre or so chicken stock
- 500g waxy or new potatoes, peeled and chunked
- olive oil
We want to keep the flavours pure and clear, so in a large cast iron casserole and over a medium heat, soften the onion and fennel in 2 tablespoons olive oil. After about 5 minutes add the garlic, saffron, thyme and bay leaves then pop the chicken pieces on top.
Sprinkle over the pastis then add half of the tomatoes with their juice (break them up with your wooden spoon if using whole). Add the potatoes and pour over sufficient chicken stock to almost cover the chicken and vegetables, then decide whether to add the rest of the tomatoes. We’re making a bouillabaisse here, and with the price of fennel and saffron we’re in polite company, so mustn’t allow the tomato to shout down the other flavours. Think visually – more yellow than red. If you think the tomato is in danger of taking over the party, top up with chicken stock. If not, add the rest of the tomatoes and top up with stock to barely cover.
Bring to the gentlest simmer, cover and cook for between 30 minutes and an hour until chicken and potatoes are cooked through. There should be plenty of liquid, so serve in shallow bowls, sprinkled with a dash of good olive oil and the chopped fennel fronds.
A homemade rouille sets it off perfectly. Recipe coming soon…
Posted in recipes, restaurants, Summer | Tagged bouillabaisse, celebrity chefs, chicken bouillabaisse, Coco Beach, Cote d'Azur, fennel, Nice, pastis, Raymond Blanc, saffron | Leave a Comment »
May 26, 2008 by gastroplod
Something to cheer up a wet, wild and windy Bank Holiday Monday: lurid splashes of colour in a plateful of home counties Chinese food hot-footed to the door. This Kandinskyesque car crash of a palette is Menu A, consisting of (clockwise from top): Kung Po Pork, Chicken with Mixed Vegetables, Beef with Oyster sauce and Special Fried Rice (I’ll never understand what’s so special about it) and at 10 o’clock we see an extra of my perennial fave: Singapore Fried Noodles.
My truly favourite dish, on which I could gladly subsist, is to be found only at the wonderful Wong Kei on Wardour Street in London’s Soho: Fried Kwai Du. Made with fresh wide rice noodles and lots of chillies, for £3.80 it puts all those timidly spiced and overly oily vermicelli wannabes to shame. Only the Wong Kei doesn’t deliver to Kent – or anywhere for that matter.
Missing from the picture are the comet-like Crispy Fried Won Tons (too quickly snarfed) and a battering ram of a Spring Roll which I wisely passed to Mr T: it rendered him prostrate for the remainder of the day. It’s nice that complimentary prawn crackers and fortune cookies are becoming de rigeur, but whatever happened to the pithy motto? This has to be the wordiest ever:
The delivery boy was our only visitor and hardly unexpected, but I do like chillies.
Posted in fast food, restaurants | Tagged Chinese food, Chinese takeaway, Wong Kei | Leave a Comment »
May 23, 2008 by gastroplod
No, that’s not a random collection of vowels and consonants: while meandering along the vegetable aisle in Waitrose I spied these exotic Buna shimeji, also known as Brown Beech mushrooms, at a delightfully exotic discount. Nothing boosts my culinary confidence like finding a food bargain, and with the summery weather in mind I fancied trying them as an antipasto: turns out it’s the easiest thing in the world and to have such a luxurious treat on hand makes me want to dance a little jig.
Mushroom antipasto, or funghi sott’olio*
- 2 packs Buna Shimeji mushrooms
- 100 ml white wine vinegar plus 200 ml water
- tablespoon sea salt
- 1 clove garlic, sliced fine
- 1 chilli (fresh or dried – whatever you have to hand)
- 2 bay leaves, a sprig of thyme
- olive oil to cover
First cut away the solid base holding them together, then break off the individual mushrooms with your fingers; rinse and drain. Bring the vinegar and water to boil in a non-reactive pan, add the salt, garlic, chilli (crumbled or sliced or not – depending on your tastebuds and your chilli!), bay leaves and thyme, then tip in the mushrooms. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes. Test one for texture after just a couple of minutes as they shouldn’t overcook; al dente, per favore.
Drain and spread them out to dry on a clean tea towel, giving it a little shake every now and then to coax things along, but don’t squeeze or press. Tip them with the flavourings into a sterilised jar which they just about fill and cover with a little olive oil (*sott’olio is Italian for “under oil”). Keep in the fridge and serve at room temperature with a scattering of parsley – if you have it – and good crusty bread: I wouldn’t expect these to keep more than a week, but they’ll be finished long before that, no doubt.
Posted in recipes, shopping, slow food | Tagged antipasti, Brown Beech, Buna shimeji, mushrooms, olive oil, umami | Leave a Comment »
May 22, 2008 by gastroplod
Do you ever buy delicious edibles in jars or tubs? If so, you’ve no doubt acquired more than a few items preserved in olive oil. Now this idea is so obvious perhaps I’m just a slow learner, but until recently, once the olives, or sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes or anchovies were gone I used to throw away the oil left behind.
And then it dawned on me: that way flies food waste and for a frugal hedonist that way lies madness too.
Food manufacturers go to some lengths to keep us buying the fancy “deli” stuff aimed at our sophisticated palates. This usually means adding herbs and/or garlic to enhance the flavour of the main attraction, so while blithely using the contents of the jar, might it not be a really good idea to also make use of the olive oil it’s been swimming in to augment and deepen the flavours of your dish – or even the whole meal?
So if you’re cooking up beef daube with olives, brown the beef in oil from the olive jar (try anchovy for an authentic southern Rhône flavour) – or start your sofrito sizzling with sun-dried tomato oil for an Italian ragù. Try frying the aubergines in artichoke oil next time you make caponata. Kick off a pilaf with the same; add a few drops to plain couscous, a tablespoon or two to pizza dough…
I have even been known to strain the oil into a decanter and poke in a couple of rosemary sprigs – hey presto, rosemary oil for focaccia!
Use in almost any recipe instead of your usual olive oil. If you devote half a shelf in the fridge door to these almost empty jars and use them up quickly, not only is the extra depth of flavour well worth it, you’ll be able to save up your pennies for some really special olive oil.
Posted in food politics, ingredients, recipes, shopping | Tagged anchovies, food budget, food costs, food economy, food waste, inflation, ingredients, jars, leftovers, olive oil, olives, peace oil, preserves, recipes, rising food costs | 6 Comments »
May 21, 2008 by gastroplod
Wine stocks were getting perilously low and with no trip to Nice on the horizon and a brief interlude between French workers’ strikes, time was ripe for a quick jaunt to Calais. A choppy crossing each way rendered walking about a poor idea, so on the return leg, for just under £20 I enjoyed a proper dinner with good wine, starched napery, professional waiter service and sea views in a sanctuary from the staggering hordes. With perfect timing too: we docked at Dover just as I washed down an espresso with the last of the San Pellegrino.
Being insufficiently hungry for the £15 2-course deal I opted for the £11 pièce du boucher (unidentified steak) with 3-peppercorn sauce and chips. It came quickly, was cooked as requested, reasonably tender and tasty; pretty good in the circumstances. Even better was the half bottle of Chapoutier Côtes du Rhone at £6. All in all it made the 90 minute ferry ride sheer pleasure for once: well done, SeaFrance.
A motley assortment of Good Things to buy in (northern) France
- Dijon mustard
- Marseille soap
- fruit tarts (pack carefully)
- Guérande salt
- an enamelled cast iron pot
- boudin blanc
- Belgian endive
- tomatoes (Summer only)
- garlic plaits
- espadrilles (Summer only)
- cheese
- frozen flageolet beans
- crates of oysters (Winter only)
- interesting non-alcoholic apéritifs
- pastis
- wine, wine, wine and more wine (French only, please)
Posted in restaurants, shopping, wine | Tagged Channel hopping, Channel shopping, food shopping, SeaFrance, solo dining | Leave a Comment »
May 20, 2008 by gastroplod
Yet another riff on my olive oil dough theme: I call it inside-out pissaladière as this one contains home-made onion confit, flaked tuna and a sprinkle of capers. I ate it – just catching a last morsel for this snap – for lunch then made another variation for Mr T’s tomorrow but this time added a few anchovies and a scatter of Waitrose’s frozen Grilled Peppers for an antioxidant+fibre hit & run. Made in a toaster oven it’s convenient and economical; two of my favourite things. Oh, and very very tasty.
Brush with olive oil halfway through (200C for 30 mins) for a deliciously friable crust .
Posted in artisan bread, olive oil dough, packed lunch, picnic, Summer | Tagged anchovies, anchovy, artisan bread in 5 minutes a day, canned tuna, cuisine nicoise, empanada, olive oil dough, packed lunch, pissaladiere, pissalat, tuna, Waitrose grilled peppers | Leave a Comment »
May 19, 2008 by gastroplod
Just sharing my latest effort – a boule made with olive oil dough, cornflour wash and sprinkled with sesame seeds.
I’m starting to get the hang of the all-important “slash” technique. Note those wonderful gluten strands, result of a slow rise: you won’t get this from a bread machine.
Posted in artisan bread, olive oil dough, slow food | Tagged artisan bread, artisan bread in 5 minutes a day, boule loaf, olive oil dough | 3 Comments »
May 19, 2008 by gastroplod
Ah, true sunny delight: the borage is in bloom. Such pretty periwinkle blue flowers, all set to adorn a glass of Pimm’s® for whiling away an English summer afternoon.
Wood on willow, polite applause, chin-chin…you get the scene. But there’s something wrong with this picture, surely? Firstly it’s most likely raining and secondly, is not Pimm’s impossibly bland when made properly? And possibly improper when not? For truly it’s a merry devil of a drink, slipping down far too easily and bringing upright folk, even the odd marquee, down in its wake as stilettoes catch in turf and guy ropes do service as guard rails…
Try this recipe for the classic Pimm’s® Cup cocktail…
Over ice, pour:
- 1 part Pimm’s® No.1
- 2 to 3 parts clear, fizzy lemonade (eg Sprite®)
- Infuse with borage flowers, fresh mint and slices of lemon, orange and apple.
..and you too can turn your garden party into The Wasteland.
But there’s more to borage than that; why not use the stems and leaves too? With a delicate cucumber-like flavour they cook to a texture similar to that of chard leaves or beet greens, with which they are often prepared around the Mediterranean as a pasta stuffing or filling for pies and omelettes. The flowers also make a delightful addition to salads and only the churlish could despise them as a garnish on any summery dish.
I’ll follow with a couple of tasty recipes once I have some pix to go with
Posted in herbs, ingredients, Summer | Tagged borage, cocktail, edible flowers, garden herbs, herbs, omelette, recipe, recipes, summer drinks | Leave a Comment »
May 16, 2008 by gastroplod
Yes, you read that right – oak smoked flour from Bacheldre Watermill – and with that great packaging, how could I resist?
Actually it’s oak smoked stoneground strong malted blend flour and as I don’t share the English predilection for malty bits in my bread I thought my first loaf rather ho-hum. The smokiness was enjoyable though, and quite a bit cheaper than setting up a wood-fired oven.
Possible solution: I sifted out those malty bits and fed them to the birds then made a fresh batch of dough, but the resultant loaf was still too worthy, in a knitted oatmeal kind of way, albeit with a crust to stop traffic (literally).
My solution: blend it with regular flour at a 1:5 ratio. Result: a whiff of wood smoke and wheatiness with an excellent rise. Better than saving up for a wood-fired oven any day.
£2.85 for 1.5kg from Waitrose
Posted in artisan bread, ingredients, shopping, slow food | Tagged artisan bread, food, great food products, ingredients, oak-smoked flour, organic, shopping, smoked foods, Waitrose, wholemeal bread | 5 Comments »
May 15, 2008 by gastroplod
Yesterday I happened upon a little pot of tarragon at the local flower stall. I’m a big fan of tarragon’s manifold culinary applications and at a mere £1 it was irresistible, but while scrabbling in my wallet I thought I glimpsed another one, so with my £2 coin I bought the pair.
So, you’re thinking they look completely different, eh? Well they did to me too after I came home and actually read the labels. No problem finding uses for tarragon, but what on earth am I going to do with hyssop? And can you tell which is which?
A quick google turns up little of use. Yet another dubious, labour-intensive remedy for sore throat, bronchitis and so on and so on. One of the 130 mystery ingredients of Chartreuse (only another 129 to discover then). Nothing worth doing in the culinary sense, which a tentative nibble confirms. And I have to share this quote:
Its camphor-like smell reminds you of the sick room.
Well, yum yum yum. The same website suggests it as a substitute for mint or rosemary but I’ll stick with the originals, thanks.
Here’s what I learnt:
- impulse herb buys are not necessarily a good idea
- always read the label
- tarragon and hyssop are indistinguisable if you’re in a hurry
- tarragon and hyssop taste very different indeed
- the lady at the flower stall made an extra £1 yesterday
- buy more tarragon
Am I missing something?
Posted in herbs, ingredients | Tagged culinary herbs, herbs, hyssop, ingredients, tarragon | Leave a Comment »
« Newer Posts - Older Posts »
Gastroplod 
