Veal Scallopini with wild mushroom sauce with Rosemary roasted and fried zuchini

I made this as an homage to my favourite Italian restaurant, Numero Uno. Numero Uno/London Eating,  I have this dish pretty much every time I go there (juggled with Taglietelle Frutti di Mare)  The dish comes with roasted rosemary potatoes and the crispy fried courgette (zuchini).  I am not sure which mushrooms they include in their sauce but I am pretty sure there's a porcini and a chanterelle in there somewhere, oh and there certainly is a lot of cream....yum.

So on that premise I undertook this dish, I bought some dried porcini (they weren't cheap) and dried chanterelle and fresh oyster and chestnut mushrooms.

Ingredients for 2 people

• 2 veal escalopes (these should be gently flattened)
• 250ml chicken (or veal) stock
• About a handful of dried porcini and chanterelle (I have small hands so that's about a tea cup full)
• 100g of a mixture of oyster and chestnut (or whatever you fancy)
• 100ml medium dry sherry, 
• 1 flat teaspoon of dried sage (Flat tablespoon of fresh) - Sage is very strong so go easy
• 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, 
• 2 small shallots (very finely chopped)
• 2 cloves of garlic (crushed then finely chopped)
• 100ml of single cream.  
• Black pepper (probably enough salt in the stock if using cubes)
• 2 small courgettes
• 2 medium sized potatoes

For the batter

• Flower and water.  This is really simple just mix water into some flower so that its still very goey and will stick and cover.  You can make a more elaborate one if you fancy but I didn't feel it necessary 

Stage One

Chop the potatoes into cubes, par boil, drain and then add to heated oil in a roasting dish with plenty of rosemary and then season. Toss in the oil and then place in the oven for 25 minutes at 180 degrees.(keep an eye on them) 

Stage Two

Flatten the veal and salt and pepper both sides and leave to one side.  Finely chop the shallots and garlic (after hitting with the back of the knife) and add to a frying pan and gentle fry.  

Stage Three

Put the dried mushrooms in the 1/2 pint of stock so they hydrate.

Stage Four

Slice the chestnut mushrooms but leave the oyster mushrooms whole (unless they are huge in which case halve until you are happy) and add to the frying pan along with the sage and parsley and gentle fry until they soften.  Then add the stock with the now hydrated mushrooms and cook to reduce gently.

Stage Five 

Chop the courgette into small batons and coat with the batter and shallow fry in a wok.  Make sure they are just covered by the oil and the oil is very hot.  These won't take long, probably 4 minutes or so.  Once they have started to brown take them out and place in a bowl with kitchen roll and place in the oven.  If you have timed this right then the potatoes should have browned so turn the oven off and leave to keep warm.

Stage Six

Sear the veal in a hot frying pan and then add the sauce to the pan so you combine the veal juices and then add the cream and reduce until it thickens.

The dish is complete.  Plate up the veal and cover with mushrooms and sauce and add the potatoes and the courgettes.  I used some of the potato cuttings and sliced with a mandolin and deep fried so I had potato crisps as a garnish.  Dare I say that it tasted better than Numero Uno?  Well it was my version and pretty close to the original...you would have to ask the wife as I couldn't possibly comment.

Honey, Soy and Chinese Spice Pork Belly with Celeriac, Wasabi Purée and Prawn and Cauliflower Tempura

This was actually a really simple dish to make.  The only hassle is the tempura but all that involves is battering and frying.  The good thing is everything else can just wait until you have cooked the tempura.  I liked the idea of this dish as you have the succulent pork with the spicy celeriac and the crispy prawn goes very well with the pork dipped in some soy.  Next time I make this however i think i would serve with a more elaborate sauce.  Problem with slow roasting pork belly with the marinade is that it's not like cooking a roast and have lots of lovely browned juices to form the base for a sauce.  However the soy did work well as the saltiness complimented the natural sweetness of the celeriaic and the pork has been marinated with honey.  You could use Hoisin Sauce or make a more elaborate dipping sauce and that you can do by adding sesame oil, lemon juice, garlic and dry sherry.
Ingredients (for 2 people)

• 1lbs pork belly  (the piece I had was very meaty and needed a lot longer to cook)
• 6 cauliflower florets (3 per person)
• 6 raw prawns
• 1/2 Celeriac
• Large teaspoon of wasabi (or use horseradish) 

For the marinade

• 3 star anise
• 1 flat teaspoon of chinese five soice
• 1 flat teaspoon of fennel seed
• 1 flat teaspoon of corriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt

Grind the above in a pestle and mortar and then transfer into a mixing bowl and add the following

• 2 grated cloves of garlic
• 1 piece about 2 inch by 1 inch of ginger grated
• 1 tablespoon of runny honey
• 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
• 4 tablespoons of dark soy
• 1 tablespoon of chopped mint

Stage One

Score the pork belly with a knife but don't cut into the meat.  Pour boiling water over it as this opens the scoring up and the meat tightens up.

Stage Two
Grind the spices in a pestle and mortar and then add them to the remaining marinade ingredients and the coat the pork well.  I coated the rind which in hindsight I wouldn't do again as this does caramelise the fat which means when you come to crisp it at the ends it burns slightly.  Leave this to marinade for at least an hour, longer if you have the time.  I placed the pork on a bed of carrots but you could use a wire tray and then add 1/2 pint of water and cover with tin foil so it doesn't dry out.  It will evaporate so make sure you keep adding water.  This needs to cook for a minimum of 4 hours at around 150 degrees.  I wouls say it totally depends on the cut.  Some pork belly i have had has been very thin and this piece was fat, in terms of meat content and was nearly 4 inches in depth.  This needed at least 5 hours to properly render the fat down.

Stage Three
Cut the celeriac into cubes, keep back 8 cubes which  you will roast in the oven for 20 minutes.  The remaining cubes you boil for about 15 minutes or until they are tender.  Once you have cooked the celeriac add some butter (cream if you just don't care!) and then add a teaspoon or two of wasabi to taste, you don't want it overpowering but you do want to taste it.
Stage 4 
The tempura.  The trick is the water.  You have to have this ice cold.  When i made this before I didn't have the water cold enough.  This time i put a container of water in the freezer. This must be done just before cooking. Sift 3oz plain flour and 1 tbsp cornflour with ½ tsp fine sea salt into a large mixing bowl. Then add 7fl oz ice-cold water along with a few ice cubes using a whisk, but don't over beat. Do not worry if its lumpy. (One recipe used sparkling water which I may try next time.)

Stage 5
Heat up oil in a wok or deep pan so that there is enough to cover the prawns and the cauliflower.  You won't be cooking enough to cool the oil but if you are doing this for 4 people make sure the oil remains hot by not putting too much in.  One thing I would do next time is use smaller florets and may be par boil and then dry and cool down in the fridge.  The prawns take no time at all and you really only need a minute or two but longer for the florets.
Stage 6
Plate up your masterpiece.  I put a dollop of purée in the middle and laid the pork next to it with the florets on one side and the prawns on the other with a dipping bowl on the slate (that's right, slate, how poncey is that!)

This was great fun to cook and wasn't that hard and will be refining this as i think it has potential to be a great dish

Harwood Arms, a pub or a restaurant?

When is a pub a pub and not a restaurant?  Before I answer that with my opinion, which is after all only an opinion and not fact but as a pub landlord I feel entitled to have a view, I want to say that the Harwood Arms is great.  So why does it matter whether a pub is a pub or a restaurant?  Well it matters from a point of expectation, add a Michelin Star and you have a serious identity crisis as expectation suddenly quadruples.  The Chelsea set have standards you know...

The Harwood Arms battles with the desire to still be seen as a pub and the fact that you now can't book a table for 2 months! Drinkers give way to diners, lets face it if you are running a successful business then you are not going to give a table to drinkers when diners are waiting.  That is the essence of a pub in my opinion that it has drinkers.  A pub originally was a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic beverages and rarely served food unless you call the jar of decade old pickled eggs and onions and pork scratchings food.  The invention of the gastro pub was a restaurant in a pub (and a great way of hiking prices) .  Competition from many other sources of restaurant chains, bars etc. meant that the way to survive was to change but that's the point they have changed and as such can't be called a pub (or does having a quiz night mean you are still a pub?).  I guess the difference between a restaurant is that its closed when the kitchen is closed and a pub remains open.

Anyway that doesn't alter the fact that the food was very good, and very well priced baring in mind this establishment is a Michelin Starred restaurant (note 'restaurant').  The prices for starters hovered around the £6-£7 mark, mains around £15 and puddings around £6.  That is cheaper than many of the pretentious gastro pubs that exploded a few years ago selling overpriced kangaroo burgers and ostrich pie.

So down to business what did we have?  The menu is a well balanced selection of dishes, not overly fussy and complicated with an obvious, I say obvious as Mike Robinson, the chef, is passionate about it, slant towards game and in particular venison.  Venison features heavily on the menu and we shared the venison platter for 2 which consisted of the now famous venison scotch egg, carpaccio, glazed rizolle and (not sure why this was on a plate of Roe Deer?) smoked ham with pickled wild mushrooms and radishes.  The scotch egg was molle, perfectly cooked.  The winner was the raw venison, that seemed to have more flavour than the venison around the scotch egg.  Venison has very little fat and I felt that it lacked the moistness that you get from pork.

The other dishes ordered were the snails cooked with oxtail and bone marrow and were sensational, a great mix of texture and flavour.  The ox tongue which was served with a cauliflower croquette was a little bland and personally I am not mad about the texture of the meat, the croquette was a nice addition.  One thing that was starting to feature heavily was deep frying and breadcrumbs with each dish had breadcrumbs included, even the snails and three items deep fried.

For the main course 2 people went for the Cullen Skink, I went for the braised beef cheek and one, the cod with salsify fritters.  The Cullen Skink came with a crumbed deep fried hen's egg which again was cooked perfectly.  The CK was served more like a stew than a soup and was made with mussels and not smoked haddock as I would have expected.  I think I went for the best choice - the beef cheek was beautifully tender and served with a silky smooth jus which had to have been a stock made with pig trotters as it was stunningly gelatinous and flavoursome, one of the best I have ever tasted.  The purée mash was as you would expect, rich and creamy and the glazed carrots were nicely al dente and well seasoned.  I can't say what the pickled walnuts were like as they were forgotten!  I didn't get a chance to try the cod but it was apparently excellent.  The only comment was that all the dishes were served in bowls which made sense for the CK but not sure that it was the best choice for the cod dish.

We couldn't not try the mini doughnuts, what a great idea for a pudding and perfect for sharing as so often when you get to that stage of the eating process sharing is the only option.  The doughnuts have a marmalade centre and served with an orange sherbet and whipped cream.  It's fantastically indulgent pudding (yet more deep fried action).  Finally the last dish was Camp coffee ice cream with bourbon biscuits which I did not try but again was reliably informed was delicious.  

We chose a bottle of Monte Velho Branco, Heredade Do Esporao, Alentejo, Portugal, 2008. Portugal has been terrible at marketing wines as you rarely see them. The only Portuguese wine you tend to see is the fortified variety but this was, as they had described as rich and fruity but crisp which it was, I will be hunting that one down. With my beef I was recommended a glass of Campo Nuevo which never fails, a good tannic wine that got to work on the lovely richness of the dish.

The service was very friendly, not the quickest but as we were reminded that they are a pub not a restaurant! We also weren't informed about any specials even though I understood there was. The bill came to around £50 per head and we had ordered aperitifs and 3 bottles of the lovely wine. I think that represents tremendous value and I hope that they don't succumb to the temptation of increasing the prices as a result of their overwhelming popularity. It is a great place to go and eat, laid back, friendly and exceptionally good food for the price.

Chicken Goulash with Seasonal Vegetables

Perfect cold weather food, make a fire and a pig of yourself 

Well you could argue that this is nothing more than a great way of emptying the fridge of what you have been trying to use up all week and giving it a posh name just by sticking paprika in it!

That's true but this does actually turn out to be a really simple and delicious all-in-one meal which the kids LOVED and that, as any parent knows is a joy.

The recipe can be adapted depending on what you have in the fridge so the following is not essential (apart from the chicken as that would make it another kind of goulash wouldn't it.  A goulash can be a soup or a stew and the word goulash comes from the Hungarian 'herdsman' (ah he knows how to use the internet i here you mutter under your breath)

Just a little sidetrack here about cooking with potatoes.  I love potatoes in stews, casseroles, goulashes or whatever you want to call them.  Potatoes vary from waxy to floury and this is important to know when you are cooking with them.  If you use floury potatoes in stews you end up with potato soup and waxy potatoes make very poor mash. Obvious you say but it doesn't end there.  Different potatoes behave differently at different times of the growing season.  It is worth checking depending what you are using potatoes for at Love Potatoes website

Ingredients for 6 people

• 4 large chicken breasts
• 6 rashes of panchetta (or bacon it's just that I had panchetta and I think smoked streaky bacon would be better)
• 4 large carrots
• 6 medium sized potatoes 
• 2 sticks of celery
• 1 large onion
• 300 g of closed cup mushrooms
• 500g of passata (sieved tomato - this gives the sauce a much thicker consistency)
• 1 pint of chicken stock
• 2 heaped teaspoons of paprika
• 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard (if you have been following this blog you may have noticed I use this a lot)
• Salt and Pepper

Stage One

Cube the chicken into and slice the bacon and add to a hot casserole dish (Dutch oven) and seal the meat and  cook the bacon through.

Stage Two

Chop the vegetables into decent sized chunks so they hold their form and add to the pot

Stage Three

Add the passata, stock, paprika, mustard and bring to the boil.

Stage Four

Once it has simmered on the top for a few minutes check the seasoning and add salt and pepper as required.

Stage Five

Cook for about 2 hours at about 160degrees and take out the oven.  I would then, depending on how thin the liquid is, put on the hob without the lid and reduce as required.

Casarecce and Cauliflower Cheese with Pancetta

Well I had to throw my hat into the ring with the Macaroni Cheese variations and as I wanted to add other elements to it I was politely advised that I could hardly call it Macaroni Cheese if it wasn't!  So this was the answer to find another suitable pasta and create my own dish which still essentially was mainly pasta in a cheese sauce which is pretty much what Macaroni Cheese purports to be.

The idea was pretty simple really - I like Macaroni Cheese and I like Cauliflower Cheese so why not combine the too - add some crispy Pancetta for additional flavour and texture, stick on some breadcrumbs mixed with Parmesan and bob's your uncle so to speak.


The ingredients

• 1 small cauliflower
• 8 rashers of Panchetta
• 250g of Casarecce pasta
• For the cheese sauce see Mornay sauce and change the Emmental for Roquefort (Stilton probably would have been better) and add 150ml of white wine)
• 3 slices of white bread, blended and dried in the oven.
• 1 cup full of grated Parmesan

Stage One
Boil the Cauliflower (8 minutes - must still have some crunch) and the pasta (see packet) and cook the Panchetta until crisp (then pat dry to remove all the fat)

Stage Two 
The cheese sauce was simple.  I infused some bay leaves in the milk and made a Bechamel sauce (see Bechamel Sauce).  I add white wine a heaped teaspoon of Dijon mustard and seasoned.  I then added Roquefort (as i had that in the fridge and strong mature cheddar.

Stage Three

Lay the cauliflower and the Panchetta in the bottom of a deep dish (not to be confused the dance act they would like that).

Then place the pasta on top

Then add the sauce and finish off with the breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese.

The flavours and textures all worked swimmingly well together especially the Roquefort and the cauliflower.  A simple and tasty dish to make, perfect comfort food for a sleety, cold Monday evening.

Spicy Prawn Stuffed Mushrooms

I love mushrooms and I love prawns so this was going to be an easy pairing from my point of view... 

We have been experimenting with stuffed mushrooms regularly and have done the usual, pancetta with roquefort, stilton etc...but we had some prawns and mushrooms that needed using.

This is a really quick and easy dish and just requires having all the ingredients to hand and again you can substitute elements and it won't make the world of difference (apart from the mushrooms and prawns that is)

The ingredients

• 4 Flat open Chestnut Mushrooms
• 1 shallot finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic crushed and chopped
• 100g of finely chopped closed cap chestnut mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons of medium sherry
• 1 teaspoon of tomato purée
• 50ml of stock (I still had the pork stock I made a few days ago)
• 100g of fresh uncooked prawns
• 3 pieces of sliced white bread (blended into breadcrumbs and thoroughly dried)
• 1/2 cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 heaped tablespoons chopped Tarragon
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Sprinkling of Cayenne Pepper (to taste)
• Sprinkling of Paprika

Stage One

Chopped the shallot, garlic and mushrooms in enough oil to be able to cook them through and then add the stock and tomato purée then reduce until virtually no liquid is left .  Add the sherry and cook off the alcohol, add the paprika and cayenne pepper and check the seasoning.

Stage Two

While stage one is happening, chop the prawns into small pieces, keeping back 4 prawns hole and finely chop the Tarragon. Put the breadcrumbs in the oven and dry them out so they are very crispy.

Stage Three

Once the liquid has boiled off add the prawn and tarragon to the mixture and cook until pink, remove the 4 hole prawns and then add the breadcrumbs and the parmesan and mix through.

Stage Four

Add the mixture to the 4 large mushrooms and cover in oil and place in the oven with the grill on and keep an eye on it.  They shouldn't take more than 10 minutes at 180ish.  Once the mushrooms start to wilt you are good to go.  Don't let them cook too much as they start to release too much liquid and you will start to loose the crunchiness of the breadcrumbs.

Garnish and serve...

Salmon and Mango Ceviche with Sour Cream, Caviar and Pickled Cabbage

You know when you're flying by the seat of your pants, you think you have a good idea but you're not sure how it's going to turn out, especially when you have taken something that was originally very simple but you just couldn't stop yourself....well this dish is it...

...and luckily it turned out to be an absolute belter!

I am going to write this up now not for you to read, so that I don't forget, as this is now going to be my dinner party starter from now on.  This recipe serves 4 people as a starter

Right so enough of blowing my own trumpet (well it's not a big trumpet, but it is mine and I am entitled to blow it)  First off I will list the ingredients.  I have to be honest I didn't do exact measurements but in all honesty I am not sure that matters - we're not baking a cake here.

For the ceviche:

• 280g of quality salmon, finely diced. Being a fisherman I have to bite my lip when i buy farmed salmon but what choice do you have if you want Atlantic salmon.  There are 'responsibly sourced' salmon out there and you have to trust the fishmonger or in this instance Mr Sainsbury that he's an ethical chap and all that and when he says its ethical it is. (conscience happy; move on....) 
• 1 finely chopped shallot
• 1/2 ripe mango finely diced
• 2 tablespoons chopped coriander
• 2 tablespoons chopped mint
• 1 lime, use the zest and then squeeze the life out of it
• 1/4 fresh grapefruit juice
• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon of light soy
• 1 teaspoon of red curry paste
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup (or brown sugar)
• Salt and pepper (check the seasoning)

Put all of this in a mixing bowl and mix through and then place in moulds and put in the fridge for about 30 minutes.  Some of the liquid will drain off but that's fine, you don't want it running all over the plate when you come to serve your masterpiece.

For the sauce and plating up:

• 3 large tablespoons of sour cream
• 1 heaped teaspoon of Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons of Lumpfish caviar 
• Pickled red cabbage

To serve you take the salmon and place in the middle of the plate and remove the mould and fingers crossed it should stay together.  Place 4 or however you like it dollops of the cream with a decent amount of the caviar on each dollop and place the pickled cabbage in between.

The sweet and the sour work brilliantly together and the cream is cut through by the citrus and the pickle and the caviar adds to the fishiness and gives another dimension to the texture.  This is one of those dishes that really does make you smile at the end and its also bloody good for you!

Roast Lamb with Anchovy, Garlic and Rosemary

I love lamb, but not pink.  I think the only time I can stomach lamb pink is fillet or rack of lamb.  There's just too much fat in lamb and particularly big joints it just doesn't render down and you are left with a lot of inedible fatty bits (unless you like fat which I know some people do).  I also prefer the meat more akin to Crispy Duck than large slabs of slightly chewy pink meat and so I go for whole shoulder.

For those of you that live in South London and don't know William Rose Butchers then I really suggest you try them out.  Their shop on Lordship Lane got so busy (you could queue for 30 minutes) they opened a second shop in Dulwich Grove.  http://www.williamrosebutchers.com/produce.html.  They make their own sausages on site and deal direct with farms and estates for all their meat poultry and game - and no I'm not on commission.

The shoulder of lamb was well hung, very dry layer of fat on the outside.  I made several slits in the skin/meat and  pushed an anchovy fillet into each whole along with a halved clove of garlic and a sprig of rosemary.  The anchovy melts to nothing and adds a richness to the meat and especially the residue in the roasting tin for making gravy.
The lamb is cooked at a high heat for 20 minutes say 200 degrees and then turned down and cooked for a minimum of 2.5 hours at 150degrees.  If you cook it this way you can cook it for longer if you like.  The shoulder has so much fat that its hard to dry it out and you are left with beautiful succulent meat and lovely crispy bits and fat...

I am going to assume that everyone knows how to cook roast potatoes but I would say a few things.  

• Don't cut the potatoes too small
• Salt the water well so they get properly seasoned
• Par boil them from cold water until boiling for 3 minutes
• Give them a good bashing in the pan to fluff the edges slightly
• Make sure you put them in well heated oil and give them good coverage (Goose fat for those who don't care how fat they get)
• Make sure you baste them and turn them regularly.
• When they are brown they are cooked (40 minutes at 180 degrees)

When is a gravy not a 'jus'?  A gravy is something you make from the dripping left in the pan.  With lamb its really important to drain off as much of the fat as you can and bind the remaining fat with flour and cook until you have created a paste that includes all the delicious brown gooey 'marmite' on the tin.  Then add a decent splash of red wine, at least a 150ml glass worth and then a tablespoon of Red Currant Jelly (thanks Sam and John for yours!).  

I had made some home made stock from bones the butcher had given me (its a real shag and makes your house stink but the results are worth it.  Again it depends on how thick you want the gravy or how much you want to how much gravy you want .  For 4 people you need at least 1 pint of liquid so add that amount as this will all reduce down.  Important to check the seasoning before you add any as the anchovy will make it salty.

Once the meat has been rested and I would say a minimum of 15 minutes you can carve and serve.  The joint isn't easy to carve but cooked this way large chunks will do anyway.

We served with roasted carrots, green beans and gravy.  Very, very nice....

Quo Vadis

Dinner at Quo Vadis as a thank you for helping out with a couple of events at Christmas was always going to be fun.  Not only was this fun but I had never had the pleasure of eating in the restaurant only spending far too much money (and staying out far too late) upstairs in the members bar - something that is very, very easy to do wit (GJ).
The menu is very nicely balanced with pretty much everything on there I would eat with a good selection of both meat and fish/seafood dishes, Queen Scallops, Razor Clams, Dover Sole, Ray and a very healthy selection of oysters.  Meat dishes included Partridge, Rabbit several different cuts of beef including the 56 day hung Longhorn Beef Rib and the now ubiquitous Pork Belly.

We kicked off with a selection of Oysters, a mixture of the fat creamy Pacific's and some of the smaller, more delicate Native's.  I'm a big fan of both loving the creamy texture of the former and the very distinct flavour of the natives.  We also had a plate of Wild Sea Bass Ceviche with avocado and tomato.  This is fish 'cooked' in lime and whilst the fish was flavoursome and had the texture of sashimi it was really only the lime I could taste and had no other flavour dimension.

I was reliably advised to have the Veal Cutlet and Celeriac Purée cooked pink and with some extra mash potato.  This was quite simply superb.  An incredible piece of meat cooked to absolute perfection with a heavily reduced stock which pumped out flavour and with the Celeriac it was divine.  It just goes to show that the less is more and the importance of the piece of meat in the beginning - you cant't dress a turd!

The girls had Crab Linguine and the Octopus, Chorizo and Artichoke Salad.  I didn't get a chance to try the salad but the Crab Linguine was beautifully rich and nicely 'crabby' with the Linguine perfectly covered by the the rich creamy sauce and flakes of crab.  

All this was washed down by a very fine bottle of Puilly Fuisse and a red burgundy, which I didn't take a note of the name but was excellent non the less.  I can't recommend this place more...

So after all that I went home...yeah right off upstairs for several games of pool, and yes I played as badly as ever and blame it on the drink!