Have a go to recreate your own dim sum banquet!

I love dim sum, and trips to London always tend to include finding somewhere to indulge in great dim sum. This week was New World on Gerrard Place, which is fantastic for that full-on traditional dim sum experience with trollies madly dashing around the room.

Then there are great modern versions of dim sum, with Yauatcha being my favourite, for both the dim sum and the macaroons. And for quick dim sum whilst shopping there is always Ping Pong, which is great for good food in a hurry, and great cocktails too. But to attempt it at home? Where do you begin?

Channel 4 have got a small selection, which all look tasty and good, and I also like Asian Online Recipes has a more comprehensive selection. You’re going to need to stock up on things like soy sauce and Chinese flavourings and spices, as well as more unusual ingredients like won ton wrappers. The Asian Cookshop is a great online source for not just Chinese ingredients but also Thai, Japanese and Indian.

If you’re the visual type, then there are plenty of videos over on You Tube. There’s a great one for steamed buns, which is one of my favourite dim sum recipes. You could create a whole banquet working through all of these videos, and it may make some of the tricky moments easier to follow. I looked at Amazon, and there aren’t huge numbers of books devoted just to the subject of dim sum. I like the look of Dim Sum Made Easy by Lucille Liang, and also the authentic looking Chinese Snacks by Huang Su-Huei.

To be honest, if I had won ton wrappers in this weekend, I would spend all weekend trying out these recipes and techniques. If I’m going to be snowed in, I may as well use the time to good use! And there’s something about filling the kitchen with more exotic scents that fills the day with warmth. Go ahead, change the air around you!

Fabulous picture of a great dim sum spread by Looks Like Amy on Flickr.

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Please let him come dine with me!

If you’d ever read my other blog, you would know I have ever such a slight obsession with Doctor Who. Which is only slightly driven by a slight obsession with David Tennant. Which means I am on a countdown to Sunday evening when The Waters of Mars airs. Given that it airs at 7pm, it could mean dinner with the Doctor, so just what dishes would you dish up? Here’s my thoughts!

1. In honour of David Tennant’s Scottish roots, then I thought about maybe some good smoked salmon. You could whip up some blinis and get all the accompaniments and have perfect finger food. To be honest though, it’s not really doing it for me. The adrenaline is going to be going mental, it feels like it will need feeding something a little more substantial.I’m thinking of creating a great burger with best Aberdeen Angus mince, something tasty and meaty and satisfying. You can always bite into it when things get tense, rather than biting your fingernails. I’m enjoying Jamie’s burgers and sliders recipe from the new book, try that.

2. It wouldn’t be new Doctor Who without a Welsh contingent. Not only the writing genius of Russell T. Davies but also the fabulous locations in and around Cardiff. It adds a whole new dimension watching it with my very own doctor, as Dr T spent most of his life around the area. So it would be kind of appropriate to settle down with a Clark’s pie and a pint of Dark, but outside of Wales fairly hard to track down either. I think in honour of both my doctors, I would go for Penarth Estate Pink Sparkling Wine, to toast the genius, and drown my sorrows about the beginning of the end. I might knock up a few Welsh cakes to go alongside it.

3. Surely we should utilise the title as well, and therefore I’ve had a quick look at recipes using Mars bars. Well, I avoided it when I did the Scottish thing, no deep frying going on. Putting Mars bar recipes into Google reveals 119,000 entries, of which for sheer cuteness you have to look at Beccy’s Marvellous Mar Bar Cake. But for something a little less noisy, so as not to break the tension, then I’m going for Mars Bar Cheesecake. 

4. And so to the water part. I have to admit that I rather object to the whole bottled water thing, so do the world a favour and get a water filter, or just keep stuff in the fridge. I could be very tempted to mix it with Belvoir’s Raspberry & Rose Cordial, which would give it a nice reddish tinge in honour of the red planet.

So, please don’t ring me after 7pm tomorrow, I will be otherwise occupied! If you’re not sure what you’ll be missing, here’s the trailer. Allons-y!

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This has involved MGG poring over the pages of Ghoulish Goodies, one of the books I featured in the Friday Five about cookbooks dedicated to Halloween. I really love it, and there are great ideas for everything for chocolate treats to cookies and full on cakes. Sadly, the whistling past the graveyard cake will have to wait for another day!

First up, Zombie Eyeballs (they’re monsters in the book, but we took a little creative licence). Perfect to make with kids as no cooking involved, although I would probably melt the butter and possibly warm the peanut butter next time, as these were a little crumbly to put together. But MGG was not to be defeated:

Rolling zombie eyeballs

These need an hour or so in the fridge before the final step: a roll in chocolate, leaving enough space for a cornea and a mini Smartie for an iris!

Next up, Funny Bones. These were fun and games, as we are obviously not as fond of pretzel sticks as they are in the US. I thought I might be in luck and they’d be in the Christmas snack section, but sadly not. We had to make do with a box of Mikado biscuits, but of course this meant the chocolate has taken on a slighly marbled effect. I did think about nibbling all the milk chocolate off first, but thought that probably contravened several health and safety regs!

Bones awaiting their dipping

Once dipped, these just need a few hours in the fridge to firm up. What are the joints? Well, there are uses for mini marshmallows other than for sprinkling on hot chocolate!

Next up, eye of lizard. To be fair, these started out as monster toes, but they spread a lot during cooking, and also the M&Ms split their casings. This gives them a slighly surreal eye look, so we have renamed them into that classic cauldron ingredient!

Eye of lizard heading for the fire

So next up we just need some paper cones, a Halloween menu and we’re ready to go. Unless Dr T has taken the batteries out the doorbell again! But after all that, this is what they have in store:

Zombie eyeballs

Zombie eyeballs anyone?

Eye of dragon

Eye of Dragon

Funny bones

Dem Bones

Happy Halloween, may all your treats be tasty!

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Wondering at wonderful food at St Pancras

By a happy clash of events, I seem to have done a lot of eating out this week, which is no bad thing. So this is a quick review of the recipes of the week, and the venues that served them up.

First up, Monday lunch was at The Betjeman Arms at St Pancras. Now, this is about as far from the average railway station pub as it’s possible to get: no sticky carpet, no crowd of guys who look like they missed the last train home about five years ago and definitely no curling at the edges sandwiches with a limp lettuce garnish.

Knowing I was facing into a three course dinner, I went for something light, and went with the smoked haddock and spinach gratin. Great tasting fish, properly smoked and not dyed, and a good dose of cheese, but not heavy and greasy. It was served with two slices of toast, decent bread dotted through with caraway seeds. A perfect light lunch or supper dish, this would take so little to knock up, it’s practically fast food.

A quick dash back North, and it was off to Langar Hall for dinner. I had American friends staying there, who were just charmed by it, as I thought they would be. Langar is the perfect example of an eccentric English country house hotel, but with charming service and a fabulous menu. That said, a tough menu for those from LA who don’t perhaps have the same connection to the land and food production. The lamb was off, as they do look very pretty when you drive up the approach to the use. And the game, well, not even coming close to being considered!

No such issue from me, I had roast pheasant and really enjoyed it. Whilst it can often be quite rich, the portion was just right and the accompanying red cabbage was perfect. However, the promised bread sauce, such a traditional accompaniment, failed to materialise. The poached pear for dessert was great, as was the tiny creme brulee and liquorice ice cream. Each flavour was exquisite and clean, it was just a pity they didn’t all work together. But I’ll forgive them that. Langar is a perfect small country hotel getaway, I highly recommend it.

A day of very light eating followed, in preparation for dinner at the Red Lion Inn. From what Olive magazine this month called the dream team comes an incredibly well priced Early Doors menu, with 2 course at £12 and I think the 3 courses is about £16. The pub hot smoked salmon is a great choice even for those who don’t think they like smoked salmon, and the blade of beef always seems really popular with the menfolk, and very on trend.

Of course, for those fabulous friends in from LA, it would only be right to order off menu! Given this was Kim’s first visit to a village pub, we thought it best for her to try something traditional, and she had the joy that is the Red Lion’s fish and chips. I love their fish and chips: perfect batter, homemade tartare sauce and what it says are mushy peas but are more like a crushed pea, which is just fine by me. Kim, on the other hand, is the only person I’ve ever met who doesn’t like peas. Don’t hate her, she’s adorable in every other way.

And I’d hate you to think Mini Gourmet Girl missed out. She is a connoisseur of the Red Lion’s children’s menu, but it’s the one place in the world where she is pretty unadventurous. But when the sausage, mash and onion gravy is that good, is it really problem? She has been known to send the sticky toffee pudding back though, the week they decided to experiment with mint in the recipe for her. Just the once!

So, for me, that’s a huge amount of eating out in one week, and there’s more to come over the weekend. No sign at all of a pop up restaurant, but only some very decent, British, seasonal food. And that’s a recipe for some good eating!

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If you spot a quince, grab it!

I had moments of pure envy this week! Thomasina Miers was tweeting that she was experimenting with quince, poaching them with vanilla pods, and then making them into a custard. Which all sounded delicious, but there’s been no sniff of a quince around here yet!

And I have such a hankering to try to make quince cheese, that Spanish delicacy known as membrillo, as there’s a piece of Manchego just winged its way into the fridge direct from Best Foodie Friend’s recent trip to Spain. I’ve never tried making it before, but have tucked into it quite a few times (a particularly good example served up at Iberico in Nottingham, always worth a lunch stop).

If I spot some, then I am buying as many as I can afford as soon as I see them. And I’m inspired by the quince jelly recipe over on The Cottage Smallholder. If you want something different, then have a try of some of the quince recipes over on Historic Food, or just read them as it’s fascinating!

Supply of quinces seems to be a bit hit and miss though, so the only way to really be guaranteed a crop each season is either adopt someone with a tree, or grow one yourself. Trees Online have a number of varieties on offer and not knowing anything else about them I would start with a Champion Quince Tree. Although may just find it has a high opinion of itself!

This option would mean a very long wait for Membrillo though, so I am tempted to order some from Bellota at Food Full Stop. If it’s for someone else, you could go the full hog (no pun intended) and order their gourmet selection which includes a whole host of other goodies such as Jamón de Trevélez, Salchichon Ibérico and Chorizo Ibérico, as well as the membrillo.

Quince photo by erix! on Flickr.

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Melton Mowbray, ruler of rural food

This is the third time we’ve been, and I would say this year was the quietest one we’ve been to. It’s also lacking the big name celeb chefs of previous years. No disrespect to Alan Coxon, but he’s not exactly James Martin or Lesley Walters.  That said, there were still some great producers here, and we’ve come home with some great stuff for dinner tonight and beyond.

So, here’s what caught our eye, our purses and our tastebuds:

1. Leicestershire Food & Drink by Rupert Matthews – had a good chat with Rupert about his book, newly published, and the calorific dangers of living in this area. His London 3 piece suit didn’t last long in the onslaught of pork pies and Stilton, all in the name of research of course!

2. Bedazzled Cupcakes- these were MGG’s pudding of choice from everything at the show. She went for the fudge one, I’d have been tempted by the Oreo one. I’m always happy to see Peppercorn Catering though, as they always have a good, and tasty, selection of gluten and dairy free options for free indulgence by the sensitive amongst us.

3. The Tiffin Food Company- from award winning restaurant The Tiffin in Leicester come some very tasty Indian ready meals, sauces and marinades. We sampled the Chicken Bhuna, which was a little on the hot side for me (I’m a wimp) but Dr T declared fab. Looking forward to trying the Classic Curry sauce tonight.

4. Bobby’s- the legendary Leicester Indian vegetarian restaurant is also providing part of tonight’s dinner. Thrilled to see them there dishing out a buffet of great veggie food. We’ll be having Chilli Paneer, plus a veg samosa and onion bahji. To our shame and regret, we haven’t yet ate at the restaurant (come on, we’ve only been here 6 years) but thought we should put that right any time soon.

5. W E Botterill & Son- these are just up the road from us, and when we have turkey at Christmas then we order it from them. Which meant we stood there debating what we’re having for Christmas dinner this year! And goose is sort of edging in there! Don’t go to Croxton in the first week in December though. An eerie silence will lay over the village, as all the geese will be hanging upside down by then.

6. Fire Foods - funnily enough had connected with Fire Foods on Twitter this morning. We have arrived home with a jar of the Crunchy Chilli Peanut Butter, which you think is just like normal peanut butter…and then the heat kicks in! Perfect instant satay, or for something a bit different on your toast in the morning.  I didn’t love the marmalade, it was just too much heat for me but, as I say, I’m a wimp.

Lots of other favourites from the area there too, including Brockelbys, Mrs King’s Pork Pies, Dickinson & Morris, Riverford and Picks, all providing great meat eating opportunities! So, if you’re in the area and short of something to do, not to mention need to do your weekly shop or just want to support proper food producers, then I would say it was £6 well spent. And kids get in free, though will probably cost you a lot in grazing money!

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The perfect martini?

Last night Dr T and I enjoyed a cultural night out at Nottingham Playhouse to see their production of Blithe Spirit. From this one would deduce that essential kit in many households of the time was a cocktail shaker and a ready supply of martini glasses!

There was a long debate on the way home as to exactly what made up a dry martini, although both of us were quite sure it bore no resemblance to the dry martini and lemonade beloved of our parent’s generation. And the answer seems to be there is no one recipe for the “perfect” dry martini.

There is much agreement that you need the right equipment, and ice. There must be ice and apparently not any old ice. No to tap water ice, but am assuming filtered or best Evian would be ok! And of course it’s not going to taste as smooth if you use Tesco’s Basics Gin or Vermouth rather than a more premium spirit.

So that brings us to the recipe: gin meets vermouth, end of.

Or rather the start of endless combinations. For a dry one, it would appear to four parts gin to one part dry vermouth might be a good starting point. Shaken together over ice then strained into a martini glass.

The extra dry martini could be 12 parts gin to 1 part dry vermouth, and one source quotes the perfect martini as 4 parts gin, 1 part dry vermouth and 1 part sweet vermouth. You could garnish it with everything from olives to cocktail onions to slivers of orange or lemon peel.

But really, it’s all about the spirits. And we’re not talking about the ghosts of either Mrs Condimine. According to the World Spirit’s Festival in January, the best gin in the world was Blackwoods’ Vintage Dry Gin. It certainly sounds like it would be perfect for the job, and also wouldn’t just taste like neat alcohol due to the mix of local botanical ingredients from the Shetlands.

I have to be honest, I’ve never tried it, but I guess could be persuaded to give it a go. My personal favourites in the gin department are Plymouth, Bombay Sapphire or Hendricks, although not sure how purists in the martini field would view the cucumber note in the Hendricks. Personally I think it would be a great addition.

Vermouth really seems to come down to a choice between Martini and Noilly Prat, and given that it’s called a Martini, I might be tempted to plump for that. Although if the bottle looked nice, I might go for the Noilly Prat. Or both.

And then you need good glasses to serve it in. Which seem to be everywhere in recent times, but if you think you’re going to develop a taste for these then frame good liquor with good glass. I like the simplicity of the ones from LSA, which are classy and unfussy, pure of line, which is what a good martini should be.

So, my darlings, I’m going to waft off now and dress for dinner and wait to be shaken, not stirred!

Fabulous photographs courtesy of Mustard Faith on Flickr

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More jam, less Jerusalem

It’s one of those big events in our village today: the annual horticultural show. Oh yes, there are still horticultural and village shows going strong, and there has been competitive pumkin and bean growing going on for months. No tales of sabotage yet but still time for that to surface!

As well as veg and fruit growing, not to mention the fresh flower arrangement inspired by a film title, there are all the culinary classes too. So for today’s Saturday session here’s a recipe recommendation from some of my favourite blogs and sites for each of the classes:

1. Jar of Jam – tip here, nothing exotic ever wins. Or perhaps that should read nothing exotic of mine ever wins. Really I think what you want is a classic raspberry, possibly strawberry. But if you wanted to push it just that little bit further, but still keep it sounding classically British sounding, then I would go for the Blackberry & Apple jam that’s featured on The Cottage Smallholder. Like a little jar of autumn in a jar. Although it rather depends on when your show is theough, as this isn’t going to work for early summer!

2. Jar of Lemon Curd – hard to make this one distinctive, so it’s all going to come down to quality ingredients. Looking at the recipe on Gastronomy Domine, Liz Upton recommends American Meyer or Sicilian lemons if you can track them down. Failing that I would suggest you need unwaxed organic lemons, and the best eggs you can find.

3. Jar of Marmalade – no fruit specified, but I think you can guarantee at our show there is currently little point in entering lime, lemon or even ginger and kumquat marmalade, no matter how delicious! You preferably have to have been organised during the short Seville season and laid away a jar or two ready for the big day. Not from a blog but my favourite food writer, Nigel Slater, shared his recipe for Seville orange marmalade earlier this year, so I’d happily give that a go.

4. A jar of chutney – I’m not sure of the technical difference between a pickle and a chutney, they would seem to be one and the same to me. If only for the very beautiful colour I imagine it goes, then I would try the Beetroot Chutney from Allotment Growing. That said, quite partial to the taste of beetroot too!

5. Fruit cake – so many possibilities, from the light tea bread type to a full on well matured Christmas cake. With no specification, I would think most people would go tea bread type. Which might give you an advantage if you went moist and well matured. Who knows? The judging of these things are a thing of mystery. I rather like this Treacle Fruit Cake recipe from Celt Net, which feels traditional but with a twist.

6. Six savoury vol au vents – seriously, did anyone ever make vol au vents? I mean even if you were going to serve them, you bought the frozen ready made cases, right? And as even Nigella buys ready made puff pastry, then surely not a single one will be made from scratch? I would be tempted to do the full on nostalgia and attempt the mushroom and chicken my mum always made, which always seemed to involve a tin of Campbells’ condensed mushroom soup. Surely the only way to approach this class is with irony?

If you really want serious award winning stuff, then I would guess you couldn’t go far wrong by following the recipes of the WI. There are books on preserves, bread and even tarts! That should keep you in rosettes for a while!

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Always seek a good burger

This is going to sound bad, but in the past week I’ve had a burger on three separate occasions. The only way I can hope to keep up my foodie credentials is to state quite categorically that not one of them has been from McDonalds!

The latest one was at What’s Cooking in Liverpool, and it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t my choice, I am sure Liverpool offers more unique food choices, but it hit the spot after a bit of high culture at Tate Liverpool (highly recommend the Colour Chart exhibition). Service was good, burgers were tasty, and tasted of beef, and nicely chargrilled. Pickles were a bit unimaginative, but overall not a bad experience.

Before that, I’d had home barbecued versions. One lot were Dexter beefburgers that I picked up from Picks Organics at last week’s food festival in Newark, which were amazing. I think they were something like 98% meat, gluten free and incredibly tasty. Simply grilled to medium, served with some fresh soda bread and Tracklements Onion Marmalade was just perfect.

Although, that said, last Saturday night’s homemade burgers with Stilton were pretty sublime too. I am not sure if Colston Bassett would approve of their cheese being used in such a way, but it was delicious. And treated with respect I feel, as we’re not talking a slice melted on the top, but a slice through the middle of the burger so the flavours suffused through the meat.

So whilst the burger gets regularly maligned, I think a true beefburger is a thing of foodie beauty, and taste. I have no idea what the best recipe is, I just think it comes down to using good beef. Ben Watson wrote in last week’s newsletter from Riverford about using diced chuck steak, which is tasty, and very reasonable too because, as he writes, it doesn’t look so attractive and does need a little work. If I was in a rush, then I would just use decent steak mince.  And not a low fat version.

The one thing that is really useful for burgers, especially if you’re making for a crowd, is a burger press. We bought ours from Lakeland years ago, a very good use of £2.99. They’ve even super-sized it now, which means you can now press your own quarter pounders, so hardly excessive. Then the toppings are up to you. If I am being excessive (quite often) then I would be “inspired” by my favourite, the black and blue burger from the OK Diner, which is guacamole and bacon. There again, if your burgers are great, just enjoy them naked. Clothes optional.

Clothes I don’t think are optional at the OK Diner, which is worth a stop if you’re on the A1. You might think Little Chef dreariness, those in the know know it is a true American diner, with great burgers, incredible milkshakes and a brilliant atmosphere. Stop at the one near Stamford and you get the full aluminium clad diner treatment. And in France, I would still skip the golden arches and head for La Boucherie. Not fast in the McDonalds sense, but they know their beef, and the steak hache is a thing to behold.

So go ahead, indulge in a burger without guilt, just put taste over speed!

Photo by Stigeredoo

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There's a glut about

Well, not quite, but tonight’s dinner challenge is a different use of courgettes with every course because, like many of you who might grow your own, there’s a courgette glut still on.

I have to admit to not being the biggest fan of the courgette, but I’m coming around. I think it’s too many years of it being served up wet and soggy, either on is own or in some awful bastardisation of ratatouille. More rat than touille I always thought. But I think tonight’s three ways might be about as far away from that as you can get.

Firstly, we’ll be starting with Courgette Hummus, from the Gastrokid cookbook and as featured in last Sunday’s Observer. Sadly, it’ll probably only use up a max of 2 courgettes as there are only 7 of us. Doesn’t sound like you can go too far wrong with this combination of flavours though, what with all the parsley, basil, lemon juice and olive oil. It may just prove to be a way to get more veg into kids, rather than contributing anything distinctive on the flavour front, but it does look a very pretty shade of green. I shall reserve judgement.

Main course is somewhat easier, as there’ll be grilled courgette. This is the way to serve courgettes to non believers, as it is with many veg. Roasting or grilling really brings out a different side to the flavours, slightly sweeter plus that slight smokiness. Of course, chucking good olive oil and rock salt on helps a lot as well!

And for dessert, I’m going the obvious route, which is Flora’s Famous Courgette Cake out of How to be a Domestic Goddess. Although being slightly undomestic goddess like, I will not be whipping up a lime curd this afternoon, although it is worth doing when time allows. If you’re not convinced by the sound of the cake, check out Mouthfuls of Heaven’s report from when she gave it a go.

Whatever is left from the glut I’m thinking of grating and freezing for going into cakes and soups over the winter. Unless anyone has any other interesting recipes for me to give a go? Go on, let me in on your courgette secrets! From A Forkful of Spaghetti comes the delightful sounding courgette pickle, so that’s a good start!

Photo by Indigo Goat.

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