Food Pairing

Well since I have come across the amazing Khymos blog I have been following links to some great sites.... this one on food pairing was of particular interest.... just how to people come across putting certain combinations together like salmon and liquorice (my friend had this particular dish in Delfina and we marvelled over the unique pairing).

This excellent site on food pairing - is a useful resource.... you can pick a food and see just what goes with it.... take oysters for instance.

You have some of the more common pairings with some cheeses and beef but also more unusual combinations like green tea and strawberries. This is a fascinating site. What goes with rocket - violets apparently! I suppose that isn't such an odd combination - a garden salad with rocket and flowers has always been a favourite.

A great site that I will be using from now on... just hope it expands.

Molecular gastronomy

Recently I came across this blog all about molecular gastronomy.... now I have been interested in this for some time.... with chefs such as Ferran Adria and Heston Blumenthal acting as explorers in this strange new world. I look at the books, watch the videos and find the few recipes out there and yet still I know I will struggle to reproduce anything that remotely looks like molecular gastronomy. I admire the use of science, the experimentation, the sheer inventiveness - but frankly it is beyond us mortals.

Though watching some clips from Ferran Adria's El Bulli I am heartened to at least understand some of the techniques.... in fact I think I could incorporate them into a dish I am concocting.... a sort of variation on salt cod and chickpeas mixed with a pasta dish I know with chickpeas, tomato puree and rosemary.... I was thinking chickpea soil, tomato caviar with salt cod consume and of course a sprig of rosemary to smell whilst you eat the wonderful array. You know if I try this I will post it on this blog... but then I have been thinking about this for some time - you might have to wait some time.


Why does Ferran Adria take a perfectly good olive, reduce it to a puree, make into spheres and serve? Because you gain a new experience - liquid olives. You cannot help but be delighted, enthused, inspired and whatever other adjective you can think of. I know you are playing with the food... taking it, re-arranging, re-forming, re-packaging to bring something new. That is the joy.

Checkout this great blog - Khymos

Kale, kale, kale

The lack of variety of vegetables in the winter has forced me to experiment a bit with some greens that I would never have contemplated before - kale. Sure I had tasted kale when I was younger and frankly had not been impressed. It was limpid, bitter and earthy. When all you have in winter is the old favourites of potatoes, swede, carrots, parsnip and turnip sometimes you need to re-examine your prejudices. Just what would make it more palatable, more interesting and good. I decided that it might well go with pasta if I flavour the sauce a bit and not over cook the kale; still leaving it fresh and crunchy. I cheated a bit by buying kale already cut up which did save on time and made this quite a quick and simple dish.

2-3 handfuls of chopped kale
2 cloves of garlic - chopped coarsely
1-2 dried chilli - chopped
Dash of olive oil
1/4 cup of grated Parmesan
pasta of your choice - I used wholewheat spaghetti
(serves 2)

1. Heat the olive oil on a low heat. Add the garlic and chilli and fry for 2 minutes ensuring the garlic does not brown.
2. Prepare your pasta of choice following the packet instructions.
3. Whilst the pasta is cooking add the chopped kale to the garlic and chilli mix and stir to infuse the kale with the garlic and chilli.
4. Once your pasta is ready the kale should also be.... it should be still crunchy but have cooked somewhat to amalgamate all those wonderful flavours.
5. Drain your pasta and add the kale mix and stir around.
6. Add half the Parmesan and serve, sprinkling the rest of the Parmesan over the pasta.

Adventures in Pasta Making

This is more of a show and tell in the trials and pitfalls of making fresh egg pasta.... we foolishly tried to make our first pasta on New Years Eve thinking that really it wouldn't take that long. How wrong we were! Essentially it took us 5 hours from starting out to actually sitting down to eat.... ok so we were making and eating appetizers and starters and drinking in between all the various stages of making the pasta and we were complete novices but 5 hours! Hopefully next time we could knock a dish out in 3 hours maximum. Saying all that it was great fun and really opens up the world of pasta to you. Now that we have made ordinary pasta we can go on and experiment more - chocolate pasta anyone?

Well first off the ingredients - we chose to follow the Locatelli way:

Fresh Egg Pasta

Makes about 400g

300g ‘00’ pasta flour
3 large eggs, plus 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature


We found these quantities far too much for one meal for four say.... We only used half the dough and then still found we had made far too much. Still when you are going to all that effort to make the pasta you probably need to make this amount and just eat pasta for the next couple of days.

• On a nice clean work surface mound your flour up and make a well in the flour to put your eggs in. Add a pinch of salt to the flour.
• Gradually add your eggs and mix into the flour - I found having a helper to crack the eggs whilst you make a mess with egg and flour mix is very useful. Now I found that I had used too few eggs and had to add another.... probably because the eggs were not big enough... you just have to have a few eggs on standby. Note that the recipe says 3 large eggs!
• Work it into a dough - I found this took me about 10 minutes with about 5 minutes of extra kneading... The result should be something like below.
• Divide the dough into 2 and wrap each half in a damp tea towel. Let them rest for about an hour.

Now to the rolling out of the pasta....

• Take one of the halves and roll into a 1 cm thick piece..... it helps to bear in mind the size of your pasta maker so attempt to make it slightly rectangular.
• Now to the endless rolling your pasta out....
• Pass your dough through on the thickest setting. Below was our fist roll through.... note the irregular shape.... don't worry too much if it does look like this... it can easily be saved. If need be take the knife to it.

• Keep putting the dough through reducing the settings down on each pass through - about 2-3 times.
• Next fold the pasta back in on itself and pass through 2-3 times reducing the setting on each pass through. This is the result after the folding and one pass through.

• Now cut that strip in half and place one half under a damp cloth. Now the idea is to pass the strip through the pasta maker the other way round to help give the pasta a more even consistency. Taking your strip fold it into 3, bringing 1 end in and the other over the top of that and roll out to about 5mm.. bearing in mind you want to put it in width ways now.
• Keep passing it through 2-3 times reducing the setting each time.
• Finally fold the pasta in on itself and pass through 2-3 times again reducing the setting each time until you get a sheet about 1.5mm thick.
• You are now ready to make it into tagliatelle or whatever you want... we made tordelli - large straight-edged ravioli. Putting our filling on one half the pasta sheet as below and brushing egg around the filling.

• You then fold over your pasta sheet as below.

• Gently dab your fingers around the edges of the filling to ensure the pasta sticks together and forms nice parcels.
• Slice up and you are ready to go and cook them. As you can see we had 8 tordelli from just one quarter of the pasta dough we produced.

Seeing this was our first attempt we had few problems.... there was a slight worry when the dough was not coming together but by having some water in a bowl to dip my hands into I managed to get the dough to the correct consistency. It did take forever.... but it was an accomplishment well deserved.

Smoked Eel

I think many people would turn their noses up at eel.... I know the majority of my family did. But really you are all losing out. Eel used to be the standard fayre for the people of Somerset and I dare say probably a few other low-lying areas of Britain for centuries but it has sadly fallen out of favour... and I wonder why. I know that smoked it is divine! Comparable to smoked trout any day.

Now I visited a local smokery to acquire some of this wondrous produce - Brown and Forrest - you can order online if you so wish. They smoke practically anything - salmon, kippers, pork, cheese and of course the local eel. And they are all available to try out in their restaurant at lunch times. I naturally tried it out and relished the great smoked eel on rye bread with horseradish. Great combination.

But if you like something a little more interesting try smoked eel with kiwi fruit. I was surprised.... but there is something about the almost milky smoked eel combining with the crisp fruitiness of the kiwi fruit that happily marries in your mouth. Add the hot horseradish and you are in for a treat.

Skate Wings With Garlic and Wine Vinegar

My friend having a hankering for skate wings induced me to prepare this fishy delight. Skate is one of those no nonsense fish where the flesh once cooked just falls off the bony cartilage. It is extremely easy to eat and is quite tasty. For me personally it is too meaty; maybe it is something to do with the texture but it makes a change from the sea bream, salmon and trout that I invariably cook.

This dish is from the Moro cook book so I cannot really give out the recipe; you can go and either buy the book or get it out the library or something. What I can tell you is that is that you roast the skate wings, and cook the garlic with butter adding some wine vinegar at the end. Very simple and satisfying. We served it with celeriac dauphinoise and a little green salad; a bit of an odd choice but it appeared to work.

Chocolate Truffles

This is a great and easy recipe. Rich, and very decadent. Mmm!

5oz/150g dark chocolate
5floz/150ml thick double cream
1oz/25g unsalted butter
2 tbsp of rum or brandy or any liquer you fancy (I used Amaretto)
(makes about 36)

For the coating
A little dessicated coconut
Chopped nuts
Grated dark chocolate

1. Grate you dark chocolate.
2. Place the cream, butter and alcohol in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.
3. Put the grated chocolate in a cold, glass bowl and pour in the cream mixture.
   
4. Blend until smooth and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
5. Now take a teaspoon and scoop a very rounded teaspoon full.
6. Roll the chocolate truffle in whatever coating you want - dessicated coconut or chopped nuts or grated chocolate.... they all work well. You could try a good quality cocoa powder.
7. I placed my finished truffles on greaseproof paper and placed in a container trying to keep the individual truffles separate. Eat and enjoy and try not and make yourself too sick - it is so easy!
   

Aromatic Baked Gurnard With Chilli Pak Choi

First off the baked gurnard... now this was my mother's recipe which I subtlety augmented with some soya sauce... everything else is hers. Now gurnard is not a well represented fish... you do not often see it in restaurants. Plus it is ugly - well the head is anyway... All rather a shame....because not only does it taste good it is also quite sustainable. If you want to buy sustainable fish then gurnard is a safe bet (at least for now)

2 gurnard gutted and cleaned.... ours were beheaded as well but it is not necessary
A small thumb size of ginger - cut into small slivers
1 stalk of lemongrass - finely sliced
Dash of olive oil
Dash of soya sauce
Seasoning
(for 2)

1. Pre-heat your oven to a medium heat.
2. Clean up your gurnard and place in some aluminium foil - enough to wrap around the fish.
3. Sprinkle the ginger and lemongrass over the fish and rub some into the flesh of the fish.
4. Dash over the olive oil and soya sauce and season.
5. Carefully fold the foil over the fish leaving some space above the fish to let it steam.
   
6. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
   

Whilst your gurnard in baking quickly prepare the chilli pak choi. Pak choi is such a great thing to have, especially in the winter when there is a lack of great vegetables around.

Head of pak choi - separate leaves and wash
1 large red chilli (you want it quite mild really) - sliced
1-2 cloves of garlic sliced
Couple dashes of soya sauce
1 tbsp of oil (I normally use olive oil but sunflower would be just as good. Try sesame oil for a change)

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok - a medium to high heat.
   
2. Add the pak choi, chilli and garlic and stir for about a minute
3. Add the soya sauce and cook for 3-4 minutes but this is really up to you and how hard and crispy you want the pak choi. As you can eat it raw is does not need much cooking at all..
4. Serve with your gurnard.
   

You can add all sorts to the pak choi and chilli - red peppers, beanshoots, water chestnuts.... try a combination.

Pea Soup

This is a brilliantly fresh dish when the pea season comes around.... since I was growing my own I had a plentiful supply of very fresh peas. I recommend anyone to grow peas as the quality of peas straight from the pod is far superior but if you cannot get fresh peas the frozen variety can do almost as well.

1 1/2 to 2 mugs of peas
Clove of garlic chopped finely
About 10 leaves of mint
Couple of tablespoons of yogurt
Olive oil but you can use walnut oil to great effect
1 vegetable stock cube
1 ltr water

Serves 2

1. In a medium saucepan fry the garlic in oil gently for 3 minutes.
2. Add the peas and stir... let them blend for about a minute.
3. Add your crumbled stock cube and the water. I tend to like a quite thick soup so perhaps not so much water is put in.... experiment a little - you can always add a little more water later if it is too thick.
4. Cook for about 3-5 minutes - do not overdo the cooking because half the joy is the very fresh taste of peas.
   
5. Add the chopped mint.
6. If you have a blender - blend away... if not try crushing the peas with a fork. You won't get quite a smooth a soup than with a blender but it should still be fabulous.
7. Return the mixture to the saucepan and add a couple tablespoons of yogurt. Stir in thoroughly.
8. Serve in bowls with another dollop of yogurt.
   

Pea, Mint and Goats Cheese Pasta

Something to enjoy when you have a glut of peas.... I took a classic vegetable dish - peas and mint and combined into this wonderful spring recipe.

Now I am afraid that the quantities are going to be a little approximate.

A couple handful of shelled peas
50-70 g of goats cheese
Quantity of dried spaghetti for two
8-15 leaves of mint
Garlic (chopped finely)
Olive oil
Seasoning
(serves 2)

1. Start to cook the pasta.
2. Fry the garlic in a large frying pan for about 3 minutes on a low heat.
   
3. Add about 1/2 to 3/4 of the peas and cook for 5 minutes. (You want to contain some of that fresh, nuttiness of the peas so do not over cook).
   
4. Mash or place in the blender the pea mixture. You should have a puree of peas - gloriously green.
   
5. Add the rest of the peas and stir - if the peas are small and fresh you can eat them whilst raw.
   
6. Tear the mint up apart from a few sprigs for decoration and stir into the pea mixture.
7. When the dried spaghetti has cooked, drain and tip in with the pea mixture.
8. Mix and add cubes of goats cheese.
9. Serve with a sprig of mint.
   

Asparagus Risotto

You can surely see that risotto is one of my pet loves..... luscious, versatile and gloriously filling. It is that great combination of the freshest ingredients and sublime rice. This is one of my favourites. But only have when the asparagus is in season....

Large bundle of asparagus
Onion (finely chopped)
Vegetable stock
Risotto rice (try to get the best you can)
Glass of white
Parmesan cheese
A good grind of pepper
(serves 2)

1. Taking a large saucepan fry the chopped onion gently for about 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Take the asparagus and cut the end off to clean it up. Depending on the asparagus I take the head it and chop off and keep aside... (if you have some thick stalks of the stuff just cut the top 3-4 cms off). I then use the thicker and tougher ends and chop quite finely.
3. Take the chopped asparagus and add to the onions. Cook on for 4 or 5 minutes.
4. In a separate pan heat up your vegetable stock.... I tend to use one stock cube and about a 500 ml of water... this is approximate - you will have to experiment.
5. Add your risotto rice to the asparagus and onion and stir through.
6. Start adding your vegetable stock to the rice a little at a time stirring constantly. Let the stock reduce down and when the mixture begins to stick a little to the bottom add more stock gradually.
7. Keep on adding the stock ladle by ladle and stirring constantly. After about 15 minutes or maybe more - risotto is not an exact science - your rice should be reaching the correct consistency - the grains or rice should be soft. Add the asparagus tops and cook for another 5 minutes.
8. Give a good stir and add the glass of wine.
9. Keep stirring for about 3 minutes.
10. If you are using cheese grate a good handful and stir into the risotto with a good grind of pepper.
11. Plate up and decorate with a little grated cheese if you are using that. This is a great late spring dish.