I am a fan of seasonal food. Obviously for all the benefits such as being environmentally friendly and less air miles etc. But I love the anticipation and savouring it. If I could relate it to anything, it’s like the long tease of a dinner date and knowing the fun two people can get up to after dinner is over. My favourite seasonal foods like asparagus, strawberries, parsnips and pumpkin are worth waiting for. Last year, I was introduced to a root that I have been eagerly looking forward to tasting again.
Trug full of beautiful jerusalem artichokes from dear beloved’s allotment
That is the Jerusalem artichoke. It’s not an artichoke but a member of the sunflower family. it’s Jerusalem part of it’s name also has nothing to do with Jerusalem. It was a bastardisation of the Italian word “girasole” meaning sunflower.
The colour and shape of them will remind you of a ginger. It’s texture is similar to a parsnip and it’s flavour can only reminisce of the sweet earth doing a rooty tango.
Roasted, sautéed boiled, puréed and steamed. They are an absolute joy to add to the root vegetables regularly added to my hearty diet at this time of the year.
However I can only caution you on it’s most major side effect post-eating. it causes extreme flatulence. As my beloved kindly calls them “Jerusalem Fartichokes”.
Despite this misgiving, I highly recommend you try out this overlooked gem but in the privacy of somewhere comfortable for two days.
Jerusalem Artichoke and Potato Gratin, with bacon and leek filling.
Jerusalem Artichokes and Potato Gratin, with bacon and leek filling.
Serves 4
Ingredients
250g firm potatoes e.g. desiree, estima or marfona types are best.
250g jerusalem artichokes
4 slices of bacon, diced
1 leeks finely diced
450ml double cream
salt and pepper to season
- Preheat the oven at 200°c.
- Peel and slice artichokes and potatoes to 3mm thick slices.
- Pour cream in the bowl and mix with diced bacon and leeks.
- Take a gratin dish and this is the part you can be flexible with. I layered each layer with rows of alternated potatoes and jerusalem artichokes for a better distributed taste.
- On top of the first layer, heap on a layer of cream, bacon and leeks.
- Layer on the second layer of potatoes and artichokes until the dish is completely covered.
- And repeat this process until you have run out of potatoes and artichokes. Place on a final thin layer of cream for a crispy top.
- Bake in the oven for 1 hour – 1 1/2 hours.
- Serve with roasted meat or even on it’s own.
Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes
- Preheat the oven at 190°c.
- Peel and cut the artichokes into desired sizes.
- Dress them in olive oil, herbs of choice and season with salt & pepper.
- Bake evenly for 25-40 minutes depending on size. Turn them over every 10 minutes. Remove from the oven when crispy on the outside and soft when you prick a fork into it.
This year my friend has given me an advent calendar to countdown my way to Christmas.
While advent calendars with chocolate is lovely (and fuel for an unhealthy obsession to chocolate), mine had a funky twist to it.
Behold the Tea-based advent calendar!! An advent calendar with 24 teabags to countdown to Christmas!
Needless to say that I am ecstatic! 24 days worth of tea appreciation and giggling at the names of the tea bags. I’ve had to do some translating as it was all in German, some are called Runny Nose Tea, Magic Potion and Cheerfulness- Herbal Tea. I’m far too grateful the Germans have created this to care about the inconvenience of second-guessing what the ingredients are.
A mixture of white, green and herbal teas are given and I will be looking forward to trying all the flavours. The box opens up into a festive pop out, with a dispenser tray so you can pull one tea bag at a time. In case you were wondering, my friend purchased this online from Amazon.
Today I’ve had my first tea bag through the little dispenser, aptly named Thank You Tea, which I give thanks to as a much needed brew for a sore alcohol-muddled head.
For the next 23 days, I will be looking forward to my daily hot brew.
There are some weekends when it is nice to sit at home and eat a good hearty pizza. Personally I hate the taste of the delivery pizzas, tough overly salty dough with tomato gloop and reconstructed cheese. Last week, my house dinner was home made pizzas made the way I like them. Wafer thin dough with a seasoned tomato, fresh basil, more mozzarella than the dough can hold and for toppings, it is the pepperoni for me.
Being 3 people with 4 servings of dough, I made a garlic bread with the last bit of dough with far too much garlic. If vampires really didn’t like garlic, this would have been like chloroform and knocked them out. It certainly made my eyes water when I had a bite. As far as I know, I don’t have garlic breath or even garlic sweat.
Serves 4 pizzas, approx 10″ wide if they are rolled out thinly.
Pizza Dough Ingredients
500g strong white flour
7g dried action yeast
1tsp caster sugar
2tsp olive oil
300g lukewarm water
Pizza Toppings
200g tomato passata
crushed garlic, salt and pepper to season
few sprigs of fresh basil
minimum of 300g mozzarella (you can use other types of cheese too if you prefer a more mature cheese. However my Italian friend will regard this as a bastardisation)
pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, chicken, fresh egg, spinach, aubergines, olives – be creative with your pizza! However I strongly don’t recommend putting uncooked bacon on it. My housemate suggested this but pizzas cook really quickly and therefore if you want to put bacon on it, make sure it is already cooked.
Method
- Mix the yeast, sugar, olive oil and lukewarm water in a measuring jug. Leave to stand for a few minutes to get the yeast active.
- Place the flour on a clean work surface and make a well in the middle to resemble a small moon crater. (homemade spaceships are optional)
- Pour slowly the yeast liquid mixture in the middle of the well and use a fork (or delicate fingers) to gradually stir in some flour from the edges of the well into the middle. You want to keep doing this until you form a sticky ball of dough.
- Place the dough in a mixing bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to proof for an hour or doubled in size in a warm area. If your kitchen is as cold as mine, then place it by the radiator.
- Meanwhile prepare your tomato passata with some seasoning of salt, pepper and some crushed garlic. Bring out the mozzarella and pizza toppings out and ready to use.
- Preheat the oven at 220°c. Line your chosen flat baking sheet with a thin layer of olive oil, this helps the pizza to not stick.
- The dough should be ready after an hour. You can test this by giving it a whack with your knuckles and the dough should instantly deflate.
- Knock back the dough onto a well floured surface and knead lightly.
- Cut the dough into 4 portions. Using a rolling pin roll out the dough whilst turning the dough after every roll so you get a consistent round pizza shape.
- Spread an even coating of tomato passata onto the pizza base, place your toppings on it and then give it the final layer of mozzarella.
- Slide the pizza onto the baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
- Serve piping hot with olives, beer and good company.
Hope you have enjoy some pizza nights in yourselves!
Since I have written a post about a Herman starter, it is overdue that I give an update on Herman. While you can follow the traditional Herman recipe, I have adapted Herman to become a brownie.
The recipe is:
250g Herman sourdough mix
4 eggs
150g caster sugar
225g butter
1tsp salt
40g cocoa powder
150g dark chocolate
Optional: Raspberries, glacéed cherries, chopped walnuts
Method:
- Preheat the oven at 220°c (or 200°c in a fan assisted oven) and line a small baking tray (approx. 20cm x 25cm) with greaseproof paper.
- Melt the butter and broken up chocolate in a bain marie or the microwave. (To break up the chocolate, it’s best to use this as a great excuse for bashing out your frustration!)
- In a separate mixing bowl, mix your Herman with sugar, salt and cocoa powder together.
- Slowly mix in the eggs into the mixing bowl until it’s a light fluffy consistency.
- Pour in the melted chocolate and butter into the mixing bowl and stir well.
- Pour the mixture into the lined baking tray.
- If you want, you can drop some fresh raspberries, cherries or even some chopped walnuts into the mixture to give it a twist.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Allow to cool when completely baked and cut into squares.
The Verdict:
What I thought about the end results will always be biased and perhaps I’d be harsher on myself too. But I baked it last night and didn’t have the energy to try it out. However on my return home this evening, I’ve discovered over half of it had disappeared! Clearly it was a hit with all my housemates. Therefore take their word for it and not mine that Herman makes moist and rich brownies.
My Italian housemate should have the last word and simply said “La torta al cioccolat perfetta!”
Last Sunday night, my wonderful friend Andy invited me to dinner at Corner Room as work couldn’t allow him to come to my house-warming party. I haven’t heard much about this little place in Bethnal Green before but a quick glance at the website was an indulgent feast for the eyes and I was hungry with anticipation.
Set in the wonderful building of the Town Hall Hotel, it is an impressive stone building. Walking through the foyer, you have to walk up the grand staircase to the unassuming corridor that housed Corner Room.
Andy and I were unsure when we walked in the entrance for there was only one sign at the bottom of the stairs and the kitchen was on the right hand side. For a second, I believed we walked into the back of restaurant! Perhaps they could have benefited from better signs but there was also an air of discovery and secrecy. It was awfully thrilling!
The decor of the single dining room was simple with old solid wood tables and aged cabinets along one wall. The main feature the line of industrial lamps and “an iron spiral staircase that leads nowhere.” (Andy’s words)
The menu that was given to us had a simple selection of 6 starters, 6 mains and 2 platters. However the Onglet steak dish and Serra de Estrela cheese platter was not available on the day we dined. It was a shame because I was ready for a good piece of steak, should you try the Onglet steak yourself, please comment and tell me how it was!! While we waited for the starters to arrive, we were served walnut and raisins wholemeal bread and virgin green olives stuffed with anchovies paste. The bread was simply divine with the thick blanket of butter on it, Andy loved the olives, however the overwhelming power of the anchovies knocked me off my chair. It didn’t exactly whet my appetite.
For wines, we had a bottle of chilean wine, it was one of the most drinkable wine I have ever had. I may not be a connoisseur of wines but the hangover I had the next morning was proof of how much I enjoyed drinking it.
Pigs head dandelion and parsley salad starter
For starters, Andy ordered the pig’s head with dandelion and parsley. This was a beautifully laid out salad with a parsley salsa verde base, layered with dandelion leaves, slivers of radish and topped with a large sheet of pork crackling. I couldn’t see the evidence of pigs head in the dish but nevertheless it was a well-balanced salad with a wide variety of textures. The parsley salsa verde complimented and brought all the separate ingredients together. However judged on its singular merit, it was not particularly extraordinary. But then again a great chef could make seemingly ordinary ingredients combine together in a perfect marriage.
Squid in apple miso and pork broth starter
I had the squid with apple miso and pork broth for starters. The reduced pork broth and apple miso puree was a classic pairing of flavours of sweet and savoury, however the ingenuity of the dish came from getting the perfectly cooked squid involved into a decadent menage a trois. The bed of wafer thin celeriac gave the dish the contrasting crunch to an otherwise soft and moist dish. The variety of techniques used to create this dish was impressive and certainly a good reason to order more bread for polishing off the plate.
Iberico pork & migas
For the mains, we ordered the Iberico pork & migas. It amused me greatly to see the food assembled on only half of the plate. However it was the perfect contrast to the gleaming ruby-red cuts of pork cooked medium rare. The pork was tender and succulent, it’s texture resembled a cut of rare steak. The migas is a Portuguese side dish that seemed to have been laced with ecstasy and pork meat drippings. It was well seasoned and provided a buttery compliment to the pork. Carrots were included in the dish and while they were ordinary, it provided a much welcomed break from the food orgasm I had to endure with every bite.
Beetroot and cereal dessert
Even though I thought I couldn’t quite manage, we made the effort for dessert. As a daring choice for what was an extremely satisfying meal, we ordered the sweet potato and popcorn dessert and the beetroot and cereal dessert, accompanied by Somerset apple cider brandy.
They arrived and the beetroot and cereal dessert looked like a dream with fluffy black olive meringues, deep red oozes of beetroot gel over cereal clouds, and wispy scatter of red vine sorrel. However looks are very deceiving for it was the biggest disappointment of the evening. The beetroot overpowered everything in its tartness. The cereal texture combined with the overly dry meringue left the tongue feel like it was brushed with an exfoliating face scrub. Perhaps my verdict is a bit too harsh but the dessert just didn’t work at all.
Sweet potato and popcorn
The sweet potato and popcorn looked sublime and elegant in its design. It is a simple display of a technical versatility, with the sweet potato purée, sweet potato wafers, sweet potato crisp, sweet potato ice cream and meringue like popcorn. I was told that the popcorns were made with milk powder and a Hy-foamer, which created a light biscuit rolled in popcorn.
This dessert was the best way to end a dinner on a high. The sweet potato heat contrasted the chill of the ice cream. The savoury popcorns were a dry compliment to the moistness of the dish. The wafers were rolled out to a translucent thinness and the crisp provided rough texture to it all. The Somerset apple cider brandy was essentially an apple cider liquor more than a brandy. It wasn’t the perfect partner to the sweet potato and popcorn. However by the time I was sipping that, I was beyond drunk.
Overall I believe that this is a wonderful place that Nuno Mendes has created for the local and the spontaneous diner. The Portuguese influences over the more local ingredients have a fresh reinterpretation on what defines a cuisine. It’s not easy in London to find restaurants at this standard without it being overbooked and over-charged. But for small establishments to be set up like Corner Room is vital to remind us that a great dining experience doesn’t necessarily mean advance planning and advance savings, but could simply allow one to enjoy food firmly in the present.
Ordered Dishes From the Menu
Pigs head with dandelion and parsley £8
Squid with apple miso and pork broth £8
Iberico pork and migas £14
Sweet potato & popcorn £6
Beetroot and cereal £6
Corner Room, Town Hall Hotel, Patriot Square, Bethnal Green, London E2 9NF
Opening Hours
Breakfast 07:00-10:00 weekdays, 07:30-10:30 weekends
Lunch 12:00-16:00
Dinner 18:00-22:30
Bookings only available for lunch from 12:00-15:30
Dinners are walk-in only
Thursday night was my house-warming party and I was determined to cook something simple and delicious. However there were a few challenges that lay ahead of me, firstly I didn’t have a big enough dining table nor enough dinner plates going round. One day that problem will be resolved but for the time being, it was finger food for the menu.
Therefore I decided to make burgers and chips for dinner. Not just some burgers and chips from frozen packets, everything made from scratch (excluding the ketchup and cheese).
The Beef Patties
For the beef patties, there were no savings to be made here. Thursday morning, I went down to Lidgate at Holland Park for a kilo of ground mince beef. I purchased some fresh organic eggs whilst I was there for the mayonnaise I was going to make. I’ll explain more on that later.
To make the beef patties, I placed the ground mince beef on top of a long length of clingfilm. Poured approximately 10 tbsp of fine sea salt on it and mixed it up. The reason why there was so much salt is because salt helps the proteins of the meat join together. Gently I rolled up the mince beef like rolling a giant sushi roll. Actually it would have helped if there was a bamboo sushi mat to control it. But I did this as gently as I could to avoid having to use force to compact the meat together.
The mince beef was rolled up and tightly wrapped in cling film before it was thrown into the fridge to set. I was counting on giving it over 6 hours for the meat to gel together into soft juicy patties.
Later in the evening when I was to serve up dinner, I took the roll out and cut them into inch thick slices before putting them on the griddle for 5 minutes until medium rare. (That is how I like mine done)
The Burger Bun
A burger is not a burger without some serious bread to sandwich it all together. For this I made rye bread buns following the Hairy Biker’s recipe. While their recipe was easy to follow, I found the dough far too sticky and as a result kneaded into it far too much flour to balance that out. Unfortunately the bread was on the tougher side when it did come out of the oven. As it was my first attempt in over 2 years, I am willing to forgive myself because nobody lost their teeth. Next week, I shall do better.
Homemade Mustard Mayonnaise
For the mustard mayonnaise, I only have my friend Andy to thank for teaching me the basics of mayonnaise making. Admittedly when he showed me how to make it, he split his but with a help from science and reassurance from google; we added an extra egg yolk and it turned out absolutely delightful.
So for this, I started with a single egg yolk, hand whisked it until it was light and frothy and very slowly (By slowly I mean a drip at a time) added extra virgin olive oil. “Extra virgin olive oil” I hear you cry! Yes I did use it, I prefer feeding that to my guests by the bucket than vegetable oil. Also the flavour of the olive oil complimented the mustard very well. I didn’t notice how much oil I put in the mayonnaise while I whisked as I focused on getting the right thickness (and not splitting on me!)
For me, mayonnaise should be like sticky cake mixture, it should take a few seconds before it falls off the spoon. I added 3 tsp of English seeded mustard and a pinch of pepper before mixing it well. Then voila! Mustard mayonnaise that was good for spreading on everything!
Heston Blumental’s Triple Cooked Chips
As much as I enjoy this man’s recipes, they are extremely specific. Should you accidentally stray from them, it can go horribly wrong! Which is the biggest lesson I had that day, so much so I couldn’t possibly face three hours of lectures straight after. I hope my lecturers could cut me some slack for some vocational learning.
Considering this is supposed to be one of his simplest recipes, I wonder to myself: where did I go wrong with the recipe? Was there something I had missed?
Of course the answer was very simple. I didn’t have the recipe on paper in the first place! I made the chips from what I remembered from reading the recipe 3 weeks ago. Unless I was the chef at Dinner or Hind’s Head who made the triple cooked chips day-in day-out then I wouldn’t be surprised if I knew how to off by heart. But I am only a student who devours at least 2 books a week. I can’t retain all that information very well.
I have attached the recipe underneath, should you wish to do a better job than I did. Where I went wrong was no draining the chips from loose starch and resulted in floury drippings when it came to frying the damn blasted chips.
An entire kilo of potatoes produced one small serving of chips that was worth serving to anyone, so I improvised with a recipe that has always worked well for me.
Here is my recipe for chips:
Ingredients
- Potatoes, peeled and cut into chips (I prefer mine chunky)
- Vegetable Oil
- Salt
Method
- Preheat the oven at the maximum temperature or approximately 220 degrees Celsius.
- Place the peeled and cut chips in a pot of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes or until the chips take on a translucent colour.
- Meanwhile take a large roasting tray and coat it in a thick layer of vegetable oil, place that in the oven.
- Drain the chips when done.
- Carefully take out the hot roasting tray from the oven and lay out the chips in the tray. Put the roasting tray back in the oven.
- Turn the chips over every 10 minutes, until it has cooked for 40 minutes.
- Take the chips out and leave to drain on some kitchen towel.
- Season with salt and serve.
Here is Heston Blumental’s triple cooked chips recipe:
INGREDIENTS
- 1kg Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut into chips (approx. 2 × 2 × 6cm)
- Groundnut or grapeseed oil
- Salt
Method
- Put the cut chips into a bowl under running water for 5 minutes to wash the starch off.
- Place 2 litres of cold tap water in a large saucepan and add the potatoes. Place the pan over a medium heat and simmer until the chips are almost falling apart (approximately 20–30 minutes, depending on the potato).
- Carefully remove the cooked chips and place them on a cooling rack to dry out. Then place the rack in the freezer for at least 1 hour to remove more moisture.
- Heat a deep-fat fryer or a deep pan no more than half filled with oil (to a depth of around 10cm) to 130ºC. Fry the chips in small batches until a light crust forms (approximately 5 minutes), remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper.
- Put the potatoes on a cooling rack and place in the freezer for at least 1 hour. (At this stage, if you don’t want to cook and serve immediately, the chips can be kept in the fridge for 3 days.)
- Heat the oil in the deep-fat fryer or deep pan to 180ºC and fry the chips until golden (approximately 7 minutes). Drain and sprinkle with salt.
Dinner Verdict
The chips was a diverted disaster and went down a storm. The burgers were wolfed down within seconds. My friends’ only criticism was that the burgers weren’t big enough and the crust of the buns were a little too tough. What have I learnt from all this? Be a bit more generous with the meat with a group of meat lovers and keep practising with the bread making.
On sunday, it has officially been two weeks since I moved into my new house. Now that I’m almost fully unpacked and starting to settle in, the time has come to introduce Herman into the dynamics of the household.
Herman is a sourdough german friendship cake. The cake version of a friendship chain letter. Unlike a letter, it satisfies more than the appetite for love.
Essentially you let this yeast smelling yellow gloop live on your kitchen counter (rent-free), feed it until it grows big & bubbly. After 10 days, you split it into quarters. You cook a quarter into a cake and the other 3 portions you give to your friends with instructions.
Why it’s my preferred choice of sourdough is because the instructions are easy to follow.
You don’t necessarily need specific baking tools. A dinner spoon & a reliable kitchen scale will suffice.
If you neglected it for a day, it won’t be the end for your new friend.
It’s the ideal sourdough for the modern hectic lifestyle, whilst giving you the nostalgic spirit of old-fashioned baking before the invention of packets of instant dried yeast.
I can keep going and sing praises about Herman but it’s something for everyone to discover themselves. Find a friend who has one or if not, start one and spread the love (and yeast)
Today is Herman’s third day in the house and I have given him his daily stir. Next week I will be attempting to make it in it’s wonderful apple and walnut cake form and as a daring experiment into sourdough bread! While you are meant to give three portions away, I am a bit more greedy and normally leave one portion for myself to grow again, one portion as a cake, and the other two portions for friends.
My longest record of keeping a Herman was 3 months. Eventually I think the poor mixing bowl got sick and tired of it living inside it’s white sides.
Should you want to try your own herman, the best site for all sorts of recipes and ideas is http://www.hermanthegermanfriendshipcake.com/
Meanwhile I have a waiting list of Herman giveaways to write and a lovely german to stir and talk to.
A Kinkster for Food 