Kouign Amann, well Breton Kouignettes, and a couple of restaurant reviews

Posted on February 8, 2015 by julianrolfe

Twitter is an interesting tool that can inspire cooking at a instant. A case in point happened to me recently when a very good cook I ‘follow’ Sabrina Ghayour, tweeted a picture from a trip to Paris. The picture was of a variant of Kouign Amann, a Breton pastry from Northern France.

The sticky buttery rich pastry just looked amazing, and as I had a team meeting coming up after the weekend, an excuse to do some research and find a suitable recipe set me going online and attacking the keyboard. My initial concern was time, having made puff pastry by hand before it was a lengthy process taking up to 3 days (allowing plenty of rest time makes it very special), and this was based on a similar process.

I found the answer here; http://eatthelove.com/2014/03/kouign-amann/

A ‘speedy’ way to make a version of the pastry, I set about gathering the ingredients and digging out the food processor from under the cupboard.

The basic premise of this recipe is to incorporate loads of salty Breton Butter (readily available from Waitrose and probably larger Tesco’s) into flour using the method described on the web link above. Once it has had some time to rest and cool down in the fridge, a series of folds to create the layers that puff up and expand when cooking. This is a yeast based dough so the final result is croissant like in its texture.

The last stage requires dusting your work top with sugar instead of flour, which will create the lovely sticky, crispy, caramelised outside after cooking is completed. It was surprisingly straightforward to do, following the steps carefully. I changed one element of the recipe, which was to use vanilla infused sugar to add an extra dimension to the dish.

I couldn’t work out a way to easily get the shape from the original ‘tweeted’ picture so continued to follow the instructions on the website which requires you to cut the final dough into squares, and bring together from the centre, placing into a well oiled muffin tray as above.

They need about 40 – 45 minutes, I had some extra dough left, had some placed on an oven tray beneath the one above and a couple of them went to far! Keep and eye on them for the last 10 or so minutes as you want them dark and sticky, but they can soon burn.

Give them a go, they were bloomin’ delicious!

This week involved a lot of travelling, Newbury to Solihull, then Leeds, then Norwich, then back to Newbury so a couple of overnights would be needed.

My stomach dictates when away from home and gives me the chance to experience new food and restaurants, this week it was to be Tharavadu in Leeds and The House of Thai in Norwich.

Tharavadu is a Kerelan restaurant, a style of cuisine I had not tried before, rich in coconut and spices, and absolutely delicious.

The starter I chose was Adipose Chemmeen, marinated Prawns served with a Lemon Chutney it was amazing, tingling the palate with lots of flavour, it set the scene quite nicely.

Mains were Kerala Khozi Curry, Mambazha Pulisshery, and a Paratha. I was too busy eating this delicious meal to take a picture, but it was very very tasty indeed.

Desert was a Semolina based dish, Pineapple Kesari, studded with raisins and cashew nuts it finished the meal nicely.

The wine choice was very good and reasonably priced, I went for a Trimbach Gerwurztraminer which countered the spicy meal perfectly. The service was excellent, attentive but not overbearing, and the restaurant was busy, busy busy, so book ahead if you fancy a culinary trip to Kerala, well recommended, please give it a go.

After Kerala, my next stop was Thailand, via House of Thai in Norwich!

I had been late arriving at both restaurants as traffic had been particular bad, but have to say VERY impressed at how accommodating both places were.

Starters at House of Thai were Tung Tong, or Golden Parcels, again an amazing starter, getting the taste buds ready for the main course.

The parcels are filled with a herb marinaded chicken and vegetable mixture, wrapped in a thin pastry and fried until crispy. Great starter…….yumm

I struggled picking a main, I have eaten Thai a few times and wanted to try and find something a bit different, so Pla Kra Pao was my choice of crispy Sea Bass with stir fried oyster sauce, served with fresh Thai Red Chillies, Coriander and Basil leaves. Thai Jasmine Rice worked with the Bass nicely it was very good value for money.

Desert was interesting as an iPad was used to show pictures of each of the dishes, a really good idea. Dessert was Banana based, and studded with Coconut, not too sweet but something I had not eaten before, very tasty and I forgot the write down the name. Wine to accompany was a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

The whole meal was very tasty, service was very good and unhurried (considering I was 45 minutes late!), another cracking experience, well worth a look out if you are venturing to Norwich add this to your must do list.

Thats it for now, until next time……….L8ers……..

Malay Meets China, Assam Heh & Nasi Lemak

Posted on February 7, 2015 by julianrolfe

The urge for something tasty, I ended up driving to our local Oriental Supermarket and sought out some appropriate ingredients, such as Pandan Leaves (also known as screwpine), Thai Birds Eye Chilli’s, and some massive Prawns, the dish is called Assam Heh, or Nyonya Prawns!

This tasty number gets it roots from a mix of two cultures, China and Malay who merged through the 15-17th Centuries. The cuisine is often referred too using the term Nyonya, which apparently means ‘women’.

The Prawns need marinading in a mixture as follows;

3 Tbsp Tamarind Concentrate
1 Tbsp Kecap Manis
1 Tsp Palm Sugar
1 Tsp Sea Salt
1 Tsp Muntok White Pepper

I had removed the shell of the Prawns but left the head on, removing the long tentacles and legs to neaten them up. Marinade for a least 1 1/2 hours in the fridge to let the Prawns soak up the flavours.

After marinading, the Prawns just need to be fried on both sides, on a really high heat with a good glug of the marinade to cover them and make them sticky and yummy!

The accompaniment for this treat is Nasi Lemak, a Rice dish cooked in Coconut Milk and Pandan Leaves, which is served with a Boiled Egg per person, some Cucumber, some roasted Peanuts and a couple of Sambal’s or relishes, to add more intense heat and flavour.

I had some Jasmine Rice in the cupboard, and just followed the instructions on the packet, substituting Coconut Milk for Water, and adding 3 Pandan Leaves to the pot, you can see them above nestling away!

The other elements were in part, a cheat. I had some Sambal Oelek (you CAN find it in supermarkets) and bought some Sambal Ikan Bilis (which has anchovies in it), boiled a couple of Eggs, roasted some Peanuts, and scooped out the centre of 1/2 a cucumber after running a peeler along the outside 4 times leaving a gap between each to create a light and dark green pattern, you can see it in the finished dish.

The only critical thing to watch is timing, making sure the cooking of the rice is timed to the cooking of the Prawns. The dish is quite straightforward but absolutely delicious to eat, if you don’t have the confidence to try some of the more challenging dishes on my blog, this one is easy, you can google the Sambal names and find recipes to make your own if you have the time.

The finished dish presents very well, I finely chopped a Thai Birds Eye Chilli and scattered on top of the Rice, which was moulded in a small round souffle dish before turning onto the plate

That’s it for this time, next is a quick Breton sweet dish that is really delicious to eat and a couple of restaurant reviews.

Till next time……………L8ers………..

Grousing Around – Winter Fare and Organic Birds!!

Posted on January 25, 2015 by julianrolfe

Christmas seems a distant memory and January is almost over, its been an absolutely manic month and minimal time has been spent in the kitchen. I’ve been toying with the idea of trying some new proteins, and some I have not had for many years. A trip to Casey Fields Farm Shop just before christmas provided the opportunity to invest in some Organic Game Birds such as Partridge, Grouse, Pheasant and Pigeon which quickly found their way into the shopping basket!

I wanted to introduce some different flavours into the dish, not going down a traditional route tends to mean I will use Middle Eastern or Far Eastern influences for a more vibrant and mouth tingling experience.

Beware – Pictures of Spatchcocked Grouse Lay Ahead

Ploughing through various ‘traditional’ cookery books, birds like Grouse appear to be served with either a fruit based sauce, or a reduced game & veal stock, and game ‘chips’ or ‘Pomme Gaufrettes’ as they are known in France, Potato that has been cut by a waffle blade on a mandolin which creates a criss-cross pattern.

Nope, not for me and I decided to look at some different options with influences from Bethany Kehdy and Sabrina Ghayour, and the books Jewelled Kitchen and Persiana.

For this recipe, Middle Eastern Grouse with Royal Freekeh you will need the following ingredients for 1 person.

1 Grouse (Check whether the Heart and Liver are still in the cavity, mine were!)
1 small Onion
1/2 Preserved Lemon (readily available, I made my own a year ago, it’s easy to do)
2 Cloves Garlic
75 g Freekeh
50 g Butter
1-2 Tsp Harissa
1/4 Tsp Aleppo Pepper
1/2 Tsp Anardana (Ground Pomegranate Seeds)
1/2 Tsp Za’atar
1/4 Tsp Cinnamon
A few strands Afhgan Saffron (Steenberg’s stock this, its amazing!)
1 Tsp ground Coriander
1/2 Tsp ground Cumin
1/2 Tsp Allspice
A handful of Pistachio’s
A handful of Pine Nuts
3 -4 Green Cardamom Pods
a ‘Slurp’ of Pomegranate Molasses
A handful of Almonds
A handful of Barberries
Bunch Fresh Coriander
500 ml Chicken or Vegetable Stock

If you don’t fancy spatchcocking your Grouse, your butcher will do it for you, I have shown how to do it on a previous post with a Chicken, you are just removing the backbone and pushing down on the breasts to flatten.

The Grouse is marinaded by the Butter, Harissa, 1 Clove Garlic grated (I used a fine Microban) and 1/4 of the Preserved Lemon, very thinly sliced. Its needs at least a hour, and could be done a day in advance and left overnight in the fridge.

Grouse is one of the Game Birds I had not eaten before, so this was going to be a interesting experiment to see if I could get everything to work in harmony, apparently Grouse is quite a ‘gamey’ meat with strong flavour so whatever I served with it needed to be ‘gutsy’.

The ‘Royal’ in the dish is my slant on ‘bejewelling’ Rice, but in my case the lesser know Freekeh. Freekeh, Frikeh or Farik is made from Green Wheat, its great at absorbing flavours, has a really good texture, slightly chewy and its good for you! The Jewel components are Pine Nuts, Pistachio Nuts and Almonds which have all been toasted, along with a good handful of Barberries.

Freekeh is available online from a number of suppliers including ‘The Sous Chef’, ‘Ottolenghi’s’, BUT BE CAREFUL and check the cooking instructions on the packet. Whole Freekeh takes a lot longer to cook than crushed or cracked Freekeh!

Timing for this dish is quite important, as I found out! I made the mistake of not checking the Freekeh I was using, and ended up with a Grouse that was ready 30 – 40 Min’s before the Freekeh!

Anyhow, its still tasted really good so you need to finely chop the onion and fry in Olive Oil and Butter for a good 20 minutes, you are looking for the colour above. Don’t be tempted to rush this stage, the smell and flavour even at this stage is lip smacking.

Next, add the Anardana, Za’atar, Coriander and Cumin Powder, Aleppo Pepper, Allspice, Saffron, Cardamom Pods (lightly crushed), Cinnamon a continue to cook out the spices, then add the Freekeh and coat the grains thoroughly. Add the Chicken or Vegetable stock according to the instructions on the packet.

If you are using whole Freekeh it needs about 45 minutes to cook, timing the cooking of the Grouse is really important because you DO NOT want to overcook it, it WILL be tough and nowhere near as good if cooked for the correct time and left to rest.

Searching a number of books and Internet resources i went for the following method.

Set you oven on 200 degrees and allow to heat up, then, get a frying pan hot add a small amount of Olive Oil and Butter, and place the Grouse Breast(buttered) side down into the Pan and Leave for 5 minutes.

After 5 Minutes, put the bird in the oven for 10 minutes, then remove, and leave to rest for 5 minutes covered with foil and thats it! So you need to allow 20 Minutes for the Grouse to cook and ensure your Freekeh is good to go at the same time, something I managed to royally mess up ;-).

I sometimes think of Bejewelling as similar to tempering a Dhal! You have a base of Rice or Grains (or Lentils in the case of Dhal), and add some punchy fresh flavours at the last minute. So a minute or so before you are going to serve up, add the other 1/4 thinly sliced Preserved Lemon, the other Garlic Clove, Grated, and the toasted Nuts and Barberries, you are just warning them all through at the last minute. Finally stir in a handful of fresh coriander leaf, finely chopped and a good drizzle of Pomegranate Molasses.

Despite messing up the Freekeh timings, the dish was hearty, wholesome and delicious. There was a hint of fruit, but also some freshness from the Preserved Lemon and Pomegranate Molasses, I am really chuffed with my first attempt at Grouse, the Middle Eastern influence was something quite special.

Not sure in which direction my cooking is heading next, but as the new year settles down, I hope to get some more time in the kitchen soon.

Until next time……………L8ers……………….

3 Interesting months and Braised Red Cabbage

Posted on December 27, 2014 by julianrolfe

A series of unforseen circumstances and events, and its been 3 months since my last post. Acute Bronchitis, infected leg after an amazing trip to Tunisia, and a health scare with the Mrs knocked my mojo for six. Things started to get better after a work event in late November, driving tanks in wet muddy fields, it was awesome, the antibiotics also had started to do their thing!

So my last post of 2014 is a twist on the Christmas staple of Braised Red Cabbage. This is a dish I always cook at least one day in advance as the flavours develop when left to rest in the fridge, well covered in cling film and foil. This year, I added some more unusual additions in the form of Ras Al Hanut spice mix (I use the Steenbergs variant which is awesome), some Ginger, and Pomegranate Molasses, along with some Kirsch soaked Barberries at the end, which definitely added an extra ‘Christmas’ element to the dish and Middle Eastern influence.

The Ingredients

1 Red Cabbage thinly sliced
2 Onions, thinly sliced
3 Apples (Cox’s work well), randomly cut to form different sized pieces!
30g butter
1 Orange (or 2 Satsumas), juiced
150 ml Port
3 Tbsp Moscatel Vinegar (Red wine will do but its sharper)
3 Star Anise
1 5cm Cinnamon Stick
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Clove Garlic
2 Tsp Ral Al Hanut
1 1/2 Tsp Ginger
1/4 Grated Fresh Nutmeg
50 g Barberries steeped in Kirsh for 24 Hours
2 Tbsp Pomegranate Molasses

Thinly shred the Cabbage, Onion and slice the Apple into pieces about 3-4 mm thick, we want them to retain some texture during the cooking process and not break up and go mushy.

Put some butter and Oil into a Dutch Oven or decent sized oven proof pot, and heat on the hob, adding the Onion first, then the Cabbage and stir for a few minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the Barberries and Kirsch), and keep stirring ensuring all the ingredients are well mixed.

I put a layer of foil on the Dutch oven before adding the lid and placing in a pre-heated oven at approximately 130 degrees (fan). Cook for about 2 hours, stirring every 1/2 hour.

After the 2 hours, remove from the oven, stir once more, replace the lid and let cool, before transferring to a dish that will fit in your fridge, covered with cling film, and then tin foil.

The dish just needs to be reheated on Christmas day (or whenever you decide to have a go!), and add the soaked Barberries for the last ten minutes, which add the occasional ‘zing’ of Christmas spice.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

See you in 2015…………..L8ers……………..

çorba, சூப், ស៊ុប, well back to Europe actually and a Portugese national dish, Caldo Verde (Soup)!

Posted on October 4, 2014 by julianrolfe

I promised I would venture back closer to home with my food, and this weeks post is just that. One of the wonders of organic veg boxes are the surprises you get as the seasons change, this week had one of the those surprises Cavolo Nero. An Italian cabbage used in the dish ‘ribollita‘ it can also be used in one of Portugal’s national dishes Caldo Verde (green broth).

I have been off work all week with Flu and completely out of kilter food wise, so the arrival of the veg box was as excuse to try to find something simple and healthy to eat, which was also quick and would not take too much effort, even doing the simplest of tasks was exhausting.

A chance trip to buy some of my favourite bread, (which does not cause my stomach to grumble due to too much yeast and chemicals), and a well know supermarket magazine found its way into the basket. (Begins with W!). Leafing through the pages and staring me in the face were the dark green leaves of Cavolo Nero, and some dishes to make it more interesting including Caldo Verde, from Portugal. A quick search on the Internet and I had all the details I needed to have a go, and here is how it went.

Luckily, all the ingredients were to hand, including some Chorizo from our local farm shop which is very good. Making the dish is easy, chop the Onion, into a pan with a good glug of Olive oil, followed by Garlic and a couple of Chorizo Sausages (with their skins on). Cook on a low-medium heat for 5 – 10 mins until the Onion is translucent. Then, add some quartered Potatoes and cook for a further 5 minutes or so. I believe the original dish used water to boil the Potatoes, I used a light Chicken Stock (750ml for 2 people), to add some subtle background flavour.

The Potatoes, Onions and Chorizo cook, covered in the stock for about 25-30 minutes until they are falling apart, remove the Chorizo and blitz with a stick blender or food processor and you are nearly finished. I used a whole head of Cavaolo Nero to finish the dish of, which was sliced finely as a Chiffonade. You can see the blended Potato, Onion and Garlic mixture below and the chopping above!

Add the Cavalo Nero and simmer gently for another 30 – 45 minutes, depending on how thick you want the end result. The Soup gets greener (and thicker) the longer you cook it.Whilst your Soup is gently simmering you can finish off the Chorizo. Remove the skins, slice into 3-4mm pieces and fry in some Olive Oil until crispy. Put to one side keeping the Red Spicy Oil and Chorizo together as it will add a final flavour burst to the dish.

This dish was a bit of a gamble, ‘Cabbage Soup’, thickened with Potatoes and some fried Chorizo!

Believe me, its knockout. I am not really a soup fan but sitting down to eat this with the missus was just fantastic. The combination of flavours and textures was beautiful, the Chorizo kick, the slightly bitter Greens, the balanced flavours of the broth and occasional piece of Potato, where I had not done a thorough job with the blender.

Other than peeling and chopping, the mise en place is negligible and the Caldo Verde took little effort to make, but packed a massive hit of flavours (and is cheap to make). So if you get struck down withe Flu, or fancy trying one of Portugal’s national dishes have a go at this one, you will be pleased you did.

It went perfectly with Richard Bertinet’s ‘proper’ bread. Yummmmmmmmm

Until next time…………..L8ers……………

Kroeung (រឿង) – A quick trip to Cambodia (Again)!

Posted on September 22, 2014 by julianrolfe

This blog maybe becoming a ‘sorry’ site, with probably too many apologies for staying in particular regions of the world. So far we have been to Lebanon and the Middle East a fair bit, interspersed with Spain, Mexico and more recently the lands in Asia, which are particularly fragrant.

In my last post I promised to move away, but just could not resist one last recipe, and another tasty curry from the land of the Khmer.

Khmer, or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. With approximately 16 million speakers, it is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language (afterVietnamese). This dish can be found in Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey and as is usual, for me at least is an excuse to visit the local Asian Supermarket for fresh and unusual ingredients.

The 1st task is to create the Khmer ‘Kroeung’, or spice paste. The main components of this amazing mix are Lemongrass, Shallots, Garlic, Chilli’s, Kaffir Lime Leaves, Galangal, FRESH Turmeric and Shrimp paste. The Turmeric was a new one for me, fresh, is more earthy and less vibrant to look at before cooking, compared to the powder form.

Purists might opt for a pestle and mortar and pound each element to a smooth paste, I cheated and whizzed it in a small food processor designed for these type of tasks. A little water and sunflower oil helped the paste on its way, you can see the finished results above.

The protein for this dish was boneless pork shoulder, from our favourite Casey Fields Farm shop, those lads do an awesome job with their meat. Also needed will be Thai Aubergines (the little green beasties above, about the size of a golfball), a fresh Coconut, Tamarind, Fish Sauce, Palm Sugar, Coconut Milk and Thai Basil.Once browned in some oil, the Pork needs slowly simmering in the spicy mix with some water to slacken it a little, about 1 hour should do it. The mix then needs reducing a bit and the rest of the ingredients are added. The smell filling the kitchen was amazing.

The finishing touches include the freshly grated Coconut, I used the water from the Coconut to help slacken the mixture and add more flavour, the Fresh Pineapple which is cut into 1 inch chunks and Red Kampot Pepper (from Cambodia)!. The dish was served with some wilted Pak Choi, and plain Rice (and a delicious Riesling)!

I will try and keep my promise this time, this is the last Far Eastern dish for a while. It’s worth hunting out the ingredients as the taste is stunning, creamy, rich, hot and very tasty. If you google Khmer Pork Curry with Pineapple & Coconut you will find a variety of recipes, better still, buy Rick’s book as there are loads of other delights to try, it’s a worthwhile investment if you like this kind of food.

Until next time…………….L8ers…………

An Evening in Cambodia, Kampot to be Precise! Loc Lac Beef ឡុកឡាក់សាច់គោ

Posted on August 31, 2014 by julianrolfe

Just about to go back to work after a few days chilling and I decided that some more kitchen time was needed, albeit minimalist by comparison to some of my recent ventures. There is sill one more dish I plan to prepare after this one, and then the geography will change and more closer to home!

The tastes of the Far East continue to surprise, along with many of the ingredients. In researching this dish I stumbled across a couple of variations, one in ‘Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey’ the other on a website that Google found on my behalf!

The ‘special’ ingredient is Kampot Pepper, you can get Red Kampot Pepper HERE, along with many other different varieties. Its used in the dressing on the bottom right hand side, along with Fresh Lime Juice and Salt, it has an amazing flavour.

This is a simple recipe, making a sauce to marinade the Rump Steak in before cooking briefly and serving with sliced Tomato, Red Onion, Lettuce and Roasted Peanuts, kind of a Cambodian ‘Wrap’! I put the Galangal, Garlic, Chilli’s and wizzed in a small blender adding the wet ingredients and repeating to form a rich aromatic paste. The Rump Steak was added and well combined, leaving for an hour to marinate.

I did make one minor change to the recipe, well probably two. The first was the Red Onion, I find raw Onion a bit harsh so I decided to make a sousing liquid. If you Google ‘Sousing’ you will find Wikipedia will show ‘Head cheese’, a terrine of an animals head pickled in Vinegar! Mine is a mixture of Rice Wine Vinegar Salt and Palm Sugar, so still using local regional ingredients, but applying a european slant to the dish. Add it to the thinly sliced Onion and steep for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

The 2nd change was adding a small amount of MSG, a naturally occurring non-essential amino acid ,in the form of MAGGI liquid seasoning. You can buy MSG from Oriental Supermarkets, or use a few drops of the Maggi Seasoning which is generally available. Its adds an extra ‘savoury’ or ‘Umami’ flavour giving s boost to the richness of the dish, this detail was in the page google found.

The Rump Steak only took about 3-4 minutes cooking on a high heat, followed by resting for a couple of minutes in a warm dish to relax. The Peanuts were dry roasted in a frying pan, and sprinkled with some sea salt.

The Lettuce (Iceberg or baby Gem), replaces the Tortilla wrap and forms the container for some Steak, Onion, Tomato and Peanuts, dipping into the Lime and Pepper dressing once rolled up. Its a delicious light, zingy dish, quick to make but amazingly tasty and moorish.

The picture does not do this dish justice, its VERY VERY good so thank-you Cambodia and thank-you Kampot, for your pepper, and this tasty dish.

Till next time……L8ers…..

Back to Belgium, Memories of my 40th Birthday – Carbonade Flamande

Posted on August 27, 2014 by julianrolfe

About a week before my 40th Birthday (nearly 10 years ago!), nothing was planned so anything organised was most definitely last minute dot com! I had been to Belgium quite a few times on Business many years before but never had a chance to sightsee. Minutes later, the Eurostar was booked, along with a room at the Metropole Hotel in Place De Brouckere, a 5 minute walk from the famous Grand Place and some interesting restaurants.

Carbonade Flamande is a traditional Belgian dish, a variation on a Beef Stew and quite delicious. Made with Onions, Bacon Lardons & Belgian Beer, its a nice slow cooking winter dish, or one when the weather turns such as the gap in the summer we seem to be having at the moment. I used St. Stefanus Blonde an interesting brew dating back to the year 1295, and followed the recipe in David Lebovitz’s excellent Book ‘My Paris Kitchen’.

To get both colour and flavour, the Chuck Stuck is coated with seasoned flour and fried until deep brown and removed from the pan. Then the Onions and Bacon Lardons get a similar treatment, but without the flower!! All the ingredients then go in together and the Beer is added, time to relax.

The next stage, after things have been bubbling for a while is to add the Pain D’Épice (details in previous post), which has one side coated with Dijon Mustard, this adds some subtle spice and background heat to the dish. The mixture is stirred a couple of times during the 2nd stage of cooking to break up the Pain D’Épice and let it meld into the mixture.

The completed dish was served with a very rich, very Buttery Mash Potato, and some Green Beans, that had been cooked with some Garlic and finished with Tomato Concasse and Butter.

Quite delicious, a very nice meal on our Silver Anniversary, and fond memories of an amazing weekend in Belgium nearly 10 years ago, where our son Justin was conceived and made in Brussels, (and we had some amazing food)!

Till next time……..L8ers…..

Celebrating 25 Years, Pain D’Épice, Babi kecap & Foie Gras

Posted on August 26, 2014 by julianrolfe

25 Years ago today I got married to a wonderful lady, 25 years later I am proud to say we are still together and everything is fantastic. We had planned a few days on the south coast, but cancelled at the last minute when we saw the weather forecast!! Instead, we have booked a trip to Tunisia in October, where I celebrated by 21st birthday MANY years ago!

My better half has recently had an operation and is still suffering with back pains so when I offered to book a nice place to eat, the answer I got was ‘please can YOU cook me something nice, I would prefer it’! Its a double celebration this week as it’s her birthday so I sat surrounded with cookbooks and my trusty Mac, and scoured for something nice to prepare.

David Lebovitz is well known in the food blogging world, an accomplished Chef and writer, I recently got hold of his latest book, My Paris Kitchen. Its a brilliant piece of work and contains some really good recipes, two of which caught my eye.

As previously blogged, I spent a week in Gascony earlier this year and learned some new skills and recipes. One was preparing Foie Gras using something called Pain D’Épice, a spicy bread like cake and very tasty. The one we used was purchased, I had found a recipe to make it myself In David’s book, you can see the end result above.

The reason I picked this was that it is also a component of Carbonnade Flamande, a delicious Beef dish from Belgium which I am cooking on our anniversary today, I will be posting the results later this week. You may wonder why I picked a dish that does not seem s0 special, a beef stew! Well our son Justin was conceived in Brussels on my 40th Birthday, and so the trip holds MANY fond memories for both of us including trying my first Carbonnade Flamande.

The big Red bag of Spice above is something quite special, Piment d’Espelette. It has AOC status, the origins of AOC date to the year 1411, when Roquefort was regulated by a parliamentary decree. In practise this means its production, marketing and sales are tightly controlled. You CAN get it mail order from ‘The Spicery”, I ordered it Friday last week and it arrived Saturday!!!!

Piment d’Espelette is a component of preparing a particular style of Foie Gras, hence my purchase. i also plan to experiment with some Basque cooking, I have just ordered a new cookery book which focusses on this particular cuisine, more on that later.

So for the Birthday treat I turned to Rick Steins Far Eastern Odyssey and Babi Kecap, you can see the ingredients above, along with those for Som Tum (Green Papaya Salad), which I have described before. Both were to be served with Coconut Rice to balance and join the flavours and textures.

To Start Babi kecap you need an ‘Asian Chicken Broth’, essentially a spiced Chicken Stock. Mine was made with a whole Organic Chicken, the flavour enhancers included Star Anise, Spring Onions, loads of Garlic and Galangal and Red Kampot Pepper from Cambodia, (I had recently re-stocked my spice cupboard using Steenbergs mail order and added this to the list as something new to try). You can find the recipe at the back for Rick Steins book, its needs bringing to the boil, skimming to remove the sludge and gently simmering for 1 1/2 hours, job done!

The next stage is to fry loads of shallots until golden brown, then add more Garlic and Ginger, some pork shoulder and colour. Then add the stock and all the other ingredients including the Kecap Manis, a sweet Soy Sauce from Indonesia. After 1 1/2 hours I removed the meat to a warm covered dish, sieved the remaining sauce and hard reduced until shiny, sticky and unctuous!

Served with the Som Tum salad and Coconut Rice it was absolutely stunning, well worth the effort in finding the Sweet Soy Sauce which is available mail order, (just google the name) or, from Asian Supermarkets. I got mine from See Woo in Reading who seem to have all the unusual and difficult to get ingredients including Fresh Turmeric and Green Papaya.

The missus had a great birthday, some food cooked with love, and very tasty too. Watch out for the followup later this week as I have more cooking to do.

Until next time…. L8ers……

Quick & Dirty, because I had too – North West Carolina Pork Shoulder My Way

Posted on August 8, 2014 by julianrolfe

My Wife (of 25 years this August), had to go into hospital recently for a minor operation, just before last weekend in fact. My weekends are typically spent watching, reading relaxing and cooking in between playing with my 8 year old and trips out. I had been ordered by the Romanian nurse that that weekend had to be spent making sure the boss did nothing whilst recovering, so no time in the kitchen was to be!

On the Saturday evening we decided to have Roast Chicken on Sunday, but forgot to take it out the freezer! DOH. Sunday morning came and after some inspiration from Sunday Bruch care of Rebecca Seal, we headed off to Waitrose as my mind started to construct a dish, this had to be a speedy one as I was not allowed to leave the Boss for too Long.

As I wander around, I am mentally constructing a dish, getting inspiration from ingredients such as North West Carolina Pork Shoulder (only needed to be shoved in the oven as it was already marinated etc.). Chicory, Coleslaw, Chilli Bacon Jam! Wait a minute Chilli Bacon Jam, never had that before so in the basket it went.

All the ingredients are in the above two pictures (White Sweet Onions have just appeared on the shelves as have Heirloom Tomatoes which you will need), the result was absolutely awesome, even though it was merely a construction job. The Coleslaw had added ingredients, Lime Zest and Juice, and some chopped Coriander and additional Black Pepper. The Chicory was partnered with a Dressing, 3 Parts Oil (Rapeseed) 1 part Vinegar (2 1/3d’s Moscatel to 1 1/3d Aged Balsamic). a Teaspoon of Dijon Mustard, Maldon Sea Salt and Pepper and well mixed and chilled.

Dress the Chicory at the very last minute, I bought some Italian Flat Breads, they are much nicer than wraps, enriched with Olive Oil and a bit more robust. Place some leaves of Dressed Chicory as a bed for the next ingredients. The Carolina Pork only needs 30 minutes in the Oven, which gives you plenty of time to quickly prepare everything, this is a really quick dish to make.

Next, spread a thin layer of the Bacon Chilli Jam alongside the Chicory, and add some thinly sliced White Onion and Tomato on top of the Chicory as above.

Finally, add the pork, then layer some of the Zesty Lime Coleslaw and finish with a decent drizzle of Sriracha sauce which is available in supermarkets or online at Ottolenghi’s.

I had achieved a couple of objectives, spending as much time with the boss as possible, but also creating another tasty meal, but really quickly. The Chicory with Dijon Mustard Dressing was awesome, and could be a meal In its own right as part of an unusual Tapas, it was really delish..

So if you loved one has to go into hospital, you can still create really tasty food in no time at all.

Until next time. L8ers…………..

Julian Rolfe

My Foodie Life