Monthly Archives: May 2017

Baking

Focaccia.

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Focaccia had to be made and it will be made again, as it’s not very complicated, but it will not be served as a starter before pasta dish, it will be served as a main course, with maybe some parma ham on the side and some wine, unless there are friends over. Neither Florek nor I could keep our hands off it, which resulted in lack of enthusiasm for pesto.

Paul Hollywood’s recipe, with a touch of Jamie Oliver- 250 g of strong bread flour, 50 g of which was a fine semolina, that was the Jamie bit. 14 g of fresh yeast, Hollywood likes dry stuff, I don’t. 1 tbsp of olive oil, a good pinch of salt. 200 ml of cold water. All this worked in kitchen aid, left to prove till doubled in size. Knocked down, flattened out in the tin generously greased with olive oil. Proved again for about 40 minutes.  Then olive oil on, a nice drizzle, sea salt, fresh rosemary, kalamata olives and cherry tomatoes. Tiny bit of grated parmesan. 220 degrees, 20 minutes.

I love the crust, I love the saltiness of it. It will be done again, maybe with some friends, as perfect for sharing.

Good Food

Spaghetti alla puttanesca.

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Sunday, therefore fresh pasta.  Yesterday in Saturday Kitchen puttanesca was somebody’s food heaven, accompanied by fresh focaccia, so I looked it up. I looked at Nigella’s and read a nice little article comparing what Gennaro, Jamie and Angela Hartnett had to say on “whore’s pasta”.  We gave up on focaccia this evening, we decided we’re not hungry enough for both, but it might still get done mid week. While Florek The Husband was getting on with fresh spaghetti, I made the sauce. Simple, delicious, flavoursome and moreish. 4 anchovies chopped and fried on olive oil, 2 crushed garlic cloves in. Half a tsp of chili flakes in( could have taken more), a handful of chopped capers. Kalamata olives, pitted, chopped, about twice as much as the capers. And then tomatoes; I used half a can of Italian tomatoes, a tsp of tomato puree and about 15 cherry tomatoes, blanched and skinned- all blitzed together into a flavoursome passata. Nigella just recommends tinned tomatoes, I didn’t see why not use the lovely, sweet cherry tomatoes. It all reduced for a few minutes, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, some basil and that’s it.  We loved it and would have pigged more if there was more.  Fab!

Good Food, Room for improvement

Eggs benedict with a successful hollandaise.

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I tried last weekend, a disaster. The sauce split, I used all the worst words in my vocabulary to let it know what I thought about it and we ended up with poached eggs with ham on a toasted muffin.

This time I did my research. I know that last time I made it too hot and that’s why it took 3 seconds to go to hell. Today- barely simmering water, 2 egg yolks in, a tsp of white wine vinegar whisked gently, making sure the bowl does not touch the water surface.  I didn’t bother with clarified butter this time, just about 90 g of it melted, added slowly to the yolks. And it split. And I cursed. And I added another yolk trying to save it- internet’s advice. That did nothing, so I cursed some more, but that also did nothing. So I threw 2 ice cubes in and whisked and….miracle happened, the mixture turned into a lovely, thick, glossy sauce, that just needed seasoning and a splash more vinegar and lemon juice and it was ready to cover my poached eggs. Which I did differently today as well, Jamie Oliver’s way. Skipped the vinegar in the water, had it barely simmering and therefore 3 minutes in. Not bad overall, but more practice needed.  🙂

Eaten out

Dinings SW3.

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Last week I got a call from a certain Nicolo Sandrini of Dinings, who asked if I could bring my man and daughter to London on Wednesday the 17th. Dinings team were to open their second location in London and were inviting “friends and family” to join them and have dinner on the house.  Just for being considered “friends and family” more than 4 years after leaving the company, I’d have walked to London if I had to.  The idea of seeing all the lovely people again was even more appealing than the food, the Jap food heaven that Dinings has been for years. So I didn’t have to beg Florek to take a day off, we went, in pouring rain, back to Scumdon.

Nicolo sent me a video of the restaurant at about 1pm earlier yesterday, still basically a building site, expressed his doubts about the success of the coming evening and also said he wanted to die ( he’s from Verona). 🙂

When we arrived in Knightsbridge, still in pouring rain, the place was still a mess, but there was Nick, my former Chief, the most awesome and knowledgeable man in catering, as well as one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. If he ever asked me to work for him again, I’d shelve my macarons and run back, sadly all the business is either in London or Tel Aviv. There was the other Chief, Masaki, there was Fuku, with his stunning little daughter, I also saw Grace and Alex and Mika, whom I’ve not seen since Ubon.

The food took ages to arrive, but that was understandable. Probably because of the circumstances the food itself was not as mind blowing as I remembered, plus our eel and foie gras sushi roll never materialised( I was dreaming about it for a week). Our wagyu sushi never arrived- that was probably due to the girl who took our order, not sure if she knew what wagyu was. There was lovely fresh and beautifully presented sashimi, shrimps in tempura as light and fab as only these guys can do.  Lovely sake.

We had to pass on dessert, as it was getting close to 9.30 pm and Izzie was showing signs of tiredness.  Going back would be fantastic, dinner in Dinings is nothing but cheap though. Great evening!

 

Dessert

Fraisier, first attempt.

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I saw it being made on Creme de la Creme, I saw it in my posh Laduree book, it had to be made. Especially with a jar of pistachio paste sitting in the pantry. Ewa and Co were to come yesterday for the last installment of Izzie’s birthday, so there was a great excuse.

Almond sponge; 3 large eggs whipped with half a glass of caster sugar. 3/4 glass of plain flour and same amount of ground almonds plus a 1/2 tsp of baking powder gently mixed in. All baked for 20-25 minutes in 170 degrees. I’ve made the sponge the day before, the filling  and the rest today.  5 egg yolks whipped with half a glass of sugar again, while 130 ml of milk was being heated up on the stove. 4 gelatine leaves soaking in small amount of water as it happens. Half of the milk added to the yolks, the whole thing returned to the pan with the remaining milk, slowly warmed up till slightly thickened. Gelatine added with its liquid. Pistachio paste added, about 2 tbsps. The colour didn’t amaze me, so I added a little green colourant.

Finally 500 ml of double cream, whipped. Combined with cooled pistachio cream.

I sliced the sponge horizontally, soaked with some Grand Marnier, arranged strawberries along the form. There’s got to be a  better way of doing it, so that the cream didn’t get in between the strawberries and the form and ended up looking as awesome as on the picture.

All left to set overnight. Before serving some crushed pistachios were added on top and it was ready to be sliced.

Opinions are divided. Florek loved it. Izzie had quite a lot and kept on asking for more. The guests liked it, but they are the guests who like everything. I think it’s pleasant, but I’m not blown away. With better strawberries, not those I had and maybe more pistachio flavour it would have been better. Might have another go at it  when strawberries in season properly.

Ps. I must add on Monday evening, this cake does not keep well. Strawberries seem to start fermenting and the whole thing tastes funny. Shame, quite a chunk of it down the bin. 🙁

Good Food

Squash and blue cheese ravioli.

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As pledged ( election in the UK next month), fresh pasta on Sunday evening happened again. This time roasted coquina squash, blue cheese( St Agur), roasted garlic, shallot and pine nuts made into a filling.  Served with a simple tomato sauce and basil. Once again, rather excellent. Next fresh pasta will be spaghetti or tagliatelle. 🙂

Good Food

Mushroom ravioli with Evesham asparagus.

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The new pasta machine has arrived.  🙂

 

We’ve spent a lovely hour in the kitchen, the three of us, Florek making pasta and rolling it out, me stuffing it and cutting out, Izzie playing with flour, making mess and being happy for being included in making our dinner. Good times.

And even better result, I think I should make a 5 star category here, that really was one of the nicest pasta dishes we ever made.

Asparagus is turning up now, British, not Italian or Chilean, ours, from Cotswolds, from Evesham. Fresh, crunchy and fantastically flavoursome. I bought 2 bunches in Hayles Farm, tossed it in olive oil, seasoned lightly and chargrilled for a few minutes. The filling for ravioli was a mixture of finely chopped cup mushrooms and shallots, fried, one large cooked potato, squeezed through the ricer, some grated parmesan and some thyme from the garden, a splash of truffle oil too. Cooked ravioli I still tossed with some bacon lardons, finished with parmesan shavings, more truffle oil. Phenomenal. We might make Sundays pasta days, making it from scratch is so rewarding.