Scrumptious Scampi

Tonight I bought a pack of scampi. Not the breaded kind (which I do like) but the real thing. I was thinking about an italian dish I have enjoyed, Scampi Thermidor.

Good old Google let me down as I could simply not find a recipe that wasn't American and used "shrimp" which are of course king prawns for us. Even my Chefs Compendium circa 1973 wasn't able to help, some friends will remember this one.

So this is how I cooked my scampi

Lightly cover the scampi in seasoned flour
Mix one teaspoon of dijon mustard with two tablespoons of double cream
Fry a finely chopped red onion in butter and olive oil
Add the scampi cook for two minutes turning halfway through
Add a splash of calvados or brandy
Add the mustard and cream, cook for five minutes
Season

Serve on a bed of spinach and with fresh asparagus

Countryside and Coffee

Here is Ashwoods nursery on a lovely sunny May day.  Ashwooods is located in the countryside near Kingswinford, South Staffordshire and displays many its of its plants in natural settings with walkaways and ponds. It is great for getting ideas for colour and type combinations and for visualising new displays.

I think that many people come here to browse and in particular to visit the exceptionally good cafe/restaurant. It is the cakes that are the stars of the show

More photos than usual in this blog but I just had to show you my steaming latte and warm soft crumbly cheese and onions scone. They automatically offer you a second plate for sharing

www.ashwoodnurseries.com/

Rocksalt

I have been keen to try Rocksalt Folkestone for some time and last week got my chance.

The setting is simply stunning, there are few places where there is only a chic wooden deck between you and the sparkling sea.

I was pleased that the tide was in, so no muddy bottom just fishing boats bobbing around and chugging in and out of the harbour. Blue sky, then a sunset and even a rainbow all appeared to complete the scene.

Inside the curved design makes sure that every table gets the best possible view

To get a real sense of the place take a look at the link

rocksaltfolkestone.co.uk/

Drinks in the upstairs bar started the evening well, again great views.  We went for the a la carte menu plenty of choice but not too overwhelming. I had expected fish but there are plenty of other options, all locally sourced.

My first course of shells, clams, mussels and prawns glistening in a light covering of sauce and strewn with fresh herbs was very good. I was less use about the smoked cod brandade chosen by my friend. It was a vey strong taste and lacked the colour and contrast of my choice.

For main course his special of brill with mussels and broth was the winner. My local cod with seafood sauce was perfectly cooked but the sauce was uninspiring. A side of radishes braised in stock and butter was unusual and looked good.

Rocksalt certainly lived up to expectations although it is not a cheap night out. But just look at the view you could well be in the South of France.

Rib End

Rib of beef with its succulent texture, brown crispy skin and just the right amount of fat is very hard to beat.

So it was with some scepticism that I was persuaded by the butcher to try rib end. "Cook it like brisket" he said

He was right, it was very tasty and very easy.

Guided by the very brilliant Jamie Oliver www.jamieoliver.com/foundation (his charity accessed via this link is truly inspirational.)

The method was

Heat to oven to 160 degrees fan

Put the 1.5k piece of rib end in a casserole - ideally the sort suitable for the oven and hob.
Add 2 smashed garlic cloves, 10 peeled shallots, 5 carrots peeled and cut into chunks.
Pour over 500ml beef stock, a glass of red wine & 2 tbs tomato puree
Add a bunch of fresh mixed herbs

Put on the lid and cook for 3 - 4 hours

Remove the meat and vegetables and keep warm

Thicken the gravy with a tbs cornflour mixed with a little cold water.

The meat falls apart it is wonderfully tender with a real depth of flavour. Rib end or brisket is also a great value cut of meat.

Perfect Pies on Parliament Hill

A Saturday Farmers Market before a walk on Hampstead Heath with good friends Susan, Lucy & Ellie.

On first glance the market behind William Ellis School looks ordinary with the the usual range of breads, vegetables, free range meat and of course home made cakes.

Little Jack Horners is tucked in the corner (yes really). The good natured stall holder is selling pies.

Samples of lemony mustard chicken and new potato pie filling were generously offered. Sausage roll tasting as well, black pudding and apple was delicious

These are no ordinary pies. They come in three sizes (serving 1, 2 or 6) with full cooking instructions and are sold in attractive white enamel tins which you can bring back for a £2 refund. Their aim is "updating and reinventing traditional recipes for contemporary tastes"

www.ljhorners.com/home.html

Check out their blog for weekend farmers market locations.

I came home with a slow- cooked beef, mushroom and light ale pie and am pretty sure I will be tempted to try another variety when I return my tin

Eat Soup

I like the soup options that are available in the chains such as Pret and Itsu (which was the subject of an earlier blog)  My most recent soup experience was at Eat.

As you can see from the link below they have a huge variety and soups are freshly prepared

www.eat.co.uk/



Shiitake, Miso & Udon Noodles is one of their spicy soup options. At £3.99 it is pretty good value.

It is packed full of a huge range of fresh crunchy vegetables, mushrooms, herbs and spices with just the right amount of soft noodles to make it seem like a real meal. Although for me the tasteless sponge like tofu does not add much. I did like the optional additional chilli which you can see in the picture, even though it made my eyes water.

The miso broth is clean and fresh full of eastern spice and flavour

Healthy too only 250 calories (or 6 weight watchers points)

Lovely Leeks

The smell of leeks cooking at 10am on a Sunday morning isn't to everyones taste but luckily for me there were no complaints.

In truth the leeks should have been out of the ground a month ago. Already they were sprouting new tough inedible shoots.

But they looked far too good to send straight to the compost bin

It was worth a bit of effort,  ten portions of leeks trimmed, cleaned, cooked and frozen. Just right for soups and stews in the coming weeks.

Better still this years leeks are in their pot and will be ready for planting out soon

Strawberry Cake and Midwinter

Visiting family in Dorset has meant a couple of days of tasty seasonal food. Fresh salmon, rhubarb and custard, boned chicken stuffed with sausage, apricots, sage and thyme. All very delicious.

Dessert last night was freshly baked sponge cake topped with whipped cream and strawberries with more cream poured over. You really can't beat that sort of dessert and here is a picture

The midwinter part of the dish is the plate. I have known this china for as long as I can remember although it is a little faded now.

 According to the V&A museum Midwinter Queensberry Stripe china was "a runaway success in the 60's". They have a number of pieces in their collection.

There is currently also a full dinner service on ebay which looks in mint condition. This was leading edge design in 1962.  Shame really that  the most recent bid for the whole set is for £10.

Popularity of china clearly comes and goes but sponge, cream and strawberries are a lasting favourite.

Turkish Food at its Best

Ozgur restaurant in Tenterden Kent is a gem of a place. This family run authentic Turkish restaurant has been thriving since 1990. The food is quite simply delicious.

Just take a look at the link below

ozgurturkishrestaurant.co.uk

The four course set menu at £16.95 is incredible value, it has hardly risen in price over the last two decades. You get to try a great range of delicious courses for examples

Cold Meze, aubergine, tabule, carrots in yogurt, hummuz, creamy beans in sauce
Hot Meze pastry borek, kofte, squid, liver saute
Mixed kebab tender chicken, steak, lamb and optional kidney with rice and chilli sauce
Turkish desserts and fruit
Coffee

Efes beer and Villa Doluca wine from Eastern Anatolia are a perfect match to this meal.

I had a number of holidays in Turkey in the 1980s, travelling and sailing and was bowled over by the unique food.

Ozgur restaurant is distinctive and special

Cakes and Birthdays

I arrived home from work on Tuesday (my birthday) to find a lovely chocolate cake waiting for me in my kitchen. This had been baked and decorated by my good friend and neighbour who is a bit of a dab hand at cake making. Here it is

The revival in home baking is amazing and everyone loves the results.

Cake at work has become a regular Thursday treat. My team covers a large geography so we only have one day each week all in the same place. Eager faces wait expectantly cake tin to be opened to see what sugary goodies lie inside. Do we wait until the end of the meeting to dive into the contents, not likely.

Recent weeks have seen Fruit Cake - a New Zealand recipe, Carrot and Lemon Drizzle Cakes and a Chocolate Easter Tray Bake.

So it is my turn to be baker tomorrow, given the birthday.  I have made Cherry Bakewell Muffins a recipe from May Olive magazine.

Here is the first batch, in their tin and ready to go

Rainy Tuesday in London

Itsu

Emerging from Piccadilly Circus tube station last week the yellow sign of Itsu promised “health and happiness”. Both seemed in short supply on a wet Monday lunchtime so I decided to try it out.

Itsu is the little sister of Pret a Manger bright, modern and Japanese. Itsu began in 1997 and now has 35 outlets across London; Quiet at midday, half an hour later all tables are full, mainly a young crowd of singles and pairs of office workers. The take out business is also thriving.

Fresh, sustainable and designed for the calorie conscious the selection of cold and hot food is tempting.

The tuna in my sashimi with noodle and herb salad with sweet chilli dressings was good enough. The generous portion of fresh salmon was soft and succulent served with ginger, soy and wasabi. The endame beans were tasty but messy, still in their pods.

The friendly server thought my selection of miso soup was a “great choice”.  It smelt good but the taste of lemon grass was a bit overpowering.

So did I feel healthier and happier after my £11.99 Itsu lunch? Yes I did. It compares very well with the other similar outlets.

Entertaining Friends

When Bank Holiday Monday lies ahead what better way to stretch out the weekend than cooking dinner for friends on Sunday night.

The May edition of Olive Magazine provided the inspiration I was looking for.  

Potted crab with brown shrimp butter and pickled radish the brown and white crab meat was flavoured with lemon, paprika (smoked for extra kick) and nutmeg as a mace substitute. Blended with butter and topped with potted shrimps. The pickled radishes steeped in rice vinegar, salt and sugar contrasted perfectly and I added some salty samphire for colour.

A rich starter lovely spread on toast.

Followed by Braised chicken thighs with grain mustard sauce, Jersey Royals, peas and bacon. 

Garlic, thyme, cream, mustard, white wine and chicken stock are the main flavours of this easy good looking dish. Boiled halved jersey royal potatoes were reheated with diced bacon and peas to give it different and colourful side dish.

The Olive recipe uses rabbit not chicken but in we have enough of rabbits hopping around the garden demolishing anything they can find.

Then for pudding Key Lime Pie (a quick and easy version from the Good Food site) with cream and strawberries.

It all went down very well

Imelda May at the Albert Hall

4 May & its Imelda May, what a brilliant concert, two whole hours, she and her band were fantastic. Mayhem & Kentish Town are top favourite songs. Skiffle band Severed Limb in support weren't bad either.

We went for an early dinner at Giraffe in Kensington High Street. This UK restaurant and cafe chain has been around since 1998, it has 46 locations.

At first it is tricky to work out whether Giraffe is for burgers, Mexican or Asian. Then I realised it is all these and more.  "Feel-good food and music" is the theme.

We shared a Nachos Nirvana £6.95 to start. For main we both chose from chefs seasonal dishes.
Miso -Lime Salmon (picture below) £12.95, roasted salmon marinated in miso, soy & lime, with wasabi rice. The salmon was good and perfectly cooked.  The dish well balanced although a bit more of a wasabi kick would have been good.

The Chilli Beef Enchilada £10.95 was tasty but needed more chilli.

However, we do like our food well spiced, many people do not and Giraffe is a restaurant targeting a wide audience.  It has impressive information to hand (and on its web site) entitled "what is in our food". A chart gives dish by dish information about nuts, dairy, gluten and other ingredients which interestingly include celery (certainly disliked  by most men I know)

The drinks menu matched the varied menu, smoothies, gourmet coffees, beers, ciders, wine and wide range of cocktails which were certainly popular. We opted for a Sauvignon Blanc from Chile which was very good

Try Giraffe it has something for everyone and is good value

www.giraffe.net/

Speedy Mushroom Soup

My last blog was about the one stop soup maker. This is not a cheap purchase as even at show price it cost around £80.

It however you love really healthy soup with a zero points value (in terms of that well known weight loss organisation) then it will prove a great purchase.

So here is the approach

Chop vegetables of your choice, add hot stock, choose smooth or Chunky setting. Press switch wait 15 minutes two portions of soup are ready.

 The ingredients for my mushroom soup

250g mushrooms chopped
2 onions chopped
1 garlic clove peeled and chopped
Dried tarragon
Black pepper
500ml stock (I like porcini mushroom cubes but vegetable or chicken is fine)

Once cooked test seasoning, add some milk if too thick, add a splash of Worcester sauce and for even better flavour a splash of dry sherry.

Enjoy and try out a whole range of other veggie combinations.

Morphy Richards Soup Maker 48821