Veal chop Milanese at Bice

Again, I havent posted for a while…but this Veal Chop Milanese which I had yesterday at Bice deserves an acolade. Delicious juicy, thin enough to be crispy, tasty, just the best. Bravo Chef. Well done.

hungry?

I decided to shorten my posts, better than nothing. Plan was to have a little holiday story here. But this will anyway never happen. Here is saw hungry family having lunch, and I got hungry too. I shot probably 90% food related pics, and will upload soon some more.

 

                                                                    

Obsessed with tomatoes

Tomatoes are essential ingredient for tomato sauce, pasta dishes, salads, cooking in general. It is unbelievable what kind of rubbish tomates we get in supermarkets. Grown in greenhouses, tasteless, lifeless without soul and juice. Toamtoes are suposed to be the paradise apples, the hormone Serotonin is responsible to evoce feelings on happiness (…)

Whilst they all look the delicious, on the grapes, different sizes, cherry sweet, cherry spicy sweet, plum, whatever. It has nothing to do with the real tomatoes that seduced me in Spain, in this small vegetable shop run by a local farmer and organic vegetable grower. Make a tomato Spaghetti Pomodoro Fresco with a “good” tomato and you will seduce any diner you cook for, just as the Paradise Apple (or tomato?) aparently seduced Adam and Eve, or the snake, cant remember.

Anyway, problem is that most people dont buy this delicious fruit, because they are expensive and sometimes slightly beaten, not like the supermarket artificial tomato which shine, are faultless and keep for days in the fridge. Same applies for fruits, we all want organic grown but impecably looking fruit and vegetable?

Grilled and marintated vegetables

Grilled and marinated vegetables are a delicious hearty but fresh company with all grilled meats, especially lamb and beef. It could also goes well with grilled goats cheese. To prepare, put a side at least 1 hour time. (served on ciabatta bread, this makes a delicious vegetarian sandwich)

Ingredients:

2-3 Aubergines
3-4 Sweet peppers, red (and yellow)
4 Courgettes
6 ripe tomatoes
1 bunch of basil, 1 bunch of parsley, some marjoram
3 garlic cloves
Olive oil, Sherry vinegar, salt, pepper
optional, but delicious, a bunch of green asparagus

Preparation:

Put the peppers as whole in the oven, 200 Celsius, 40 minutes.

Slice aubergines thinly approx. 1 cm, sprinkle with some salt and leave for about 30 minutes.
Slice courgettes.
Half the tomatoes.

In a heavy grill pan, or over a BBQ, grill the courgettes on both sides, about 1-2 minutes, leave still slightly crisp. Drain the water from aubergines, then grill.

The peppers need to be peeled. After they have browned – blackend in the oven, remove and put in a plastic bag to cool a bit, this will make it easier to remove the skin. Remove skin and seeds, tear in pieces.

Grill asparagus.

Squeeze the juice of the tomatoes over a sieve to remove the seeds, into a large dish or bowl.

Add the crushed garlic cloves, salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar, then combine all vegetables in the sauce. Add lots of roughly chopped basil and parsley, some marjoram, season to taste, add oil and vinegar if necessary.

Now grill the tomatoes quickly, cut in half again and add to the vegetables.

Mix well and leave for a little while to infuse with the rest of the vegetables.

Chanterelles and Morilles: Taglierini, funghi trifolati

It’s this lovely mushrooms, sauted in a hot frying pan in some olive oil, new seasons garlic, seasoned and fresh parsley. All very quick, then mixed with some fresh taglierin, olive oil, some fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Done. Delicious.

In Italian they call the mushrooms sauted in this way “trifolati”, it also goes deliciously on a toasted Poilaine bread, rubed with garlic. That’s it.

Scaloppine al Limone – Veal Escalopes with Lemon

…cooking yesterday needs to be shard…the best since a while was cooked in our pots and pans for dinner. after an extensive shopping day (and the first real day off in 4 weeks or so) we ended in Selfridges food halls, I think one of the best places to shop all you need food. By the way, if you are after some real continental items such as Braten Sauce etc. you find it here.

We decided to cook paper thin veal scaloppine, pan fried in some butter and olive oil to give them a nice golden color, served with a lemon sauce made with Italian unwaxed lemons, and all of it served with fresh taglierini.

The secret lied in the sauce, the freshness, acidity and deep flavor of the lemons going in harmony with the fresh made veal stock and cream sauce, light, balanced and endless deep. I pan fried in some olive oil wedges of lemon with a large piece of fresh new season garlic, added a few leaves of sage, a tiny sprig of rosemary, a pinch of salt, sugar and pepper. The lemons and the juice starts to concentrate to a thick syrup like liquid after a while, adding a bit of water and simmering on until the lemon rind is completely soft and delicious to eat.

After the scaloppine were pan fried, set a side in a baking dish, the pan is deglazed with some white wine, reduce, add the lemons and the juice, reduce slightly and add veal stock, the juice from the scaloppini and a dash of cream, season, some chopped flat parsley, all of it over the scaloppine and for a minute or so in to the oven. Served with fresh cooked taglierini, delicious.

I made this dish before but never with the slow cooked lemons and the concentrate juice which really makes a difference.

(For a starter we had, Steffi’s inspired Chicore also called Endive Belge salad, with lots of orange segments and a few completely squeezed and mashed out ones, with the flesh, some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, a very fresh and crisp way to start the dinner.)

Lemon Grass Iced Tea

I had this in Ping Pong, the contemporary Dim Sum “mini chain” in London, it looked so fab we had to take a picture, found this to be very inspiring. On the right, the Lemon Grass Iced Tea and on the left, a Raspberry and Pepper Iced Tea…

Turbot, pan fried with lemon and capers, roast potatoes and cherry tomatoes

Turbot is a very delicate flat fish, like a flounder. In German we call it Steinbutt, Stein = Stone, Butt = I have no clue, maybe butt? Stones on the butt? The grey color makes him invisible for enemies. As I’m more of a culinarian then a marine biologic I am unable to get into more detail. Go to wikipedia.

A delicious recipe is tough the Turbot, roasted, served with new potatoes, boiled or lightly roasted, and a light sauce of capers, lemon and cherry tomatoes, made with some fish stock. It is once again an Italian recipe from guess who? and is light and fresh.

Preparation Time
20 minutes preparation and 10 minutes cooking

Ingredients (for 4 people)
4 Turbot Filets, approx. 180-200 gr. per person
1 Lemon, peeled, without seeds and cut in dices
12 pieces of Caper Apples (large capers), halved (Caperi di Pantelleria)
8 hands full Fresh baby Spinach, washed and rinsed
16 pieces Medium sized new Potatoes
2 Tea Spoons Flat parsley, chopped
1 dl Fish Stock
2 pcs. Large tomato, peeled, de-seeded, and in cubes
Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper

Preparation:
1. Boil the potatoes, slice and saute in olive oil, keep warm when lightly browned.
2. Season fish filets with Salt and Pepper. Preheat oven to 170° C.
3. Pan-fry fish in a hot pan in olive oil for 2 minutes on each side,
then place on a non-stick tray in the oven. (max. 3 more minutes)
4. Deglaze the pan where fish was fried with fish stock, bring to
boil, then add lemon, capers, tomatoes and parsley. Season with
salt and pepper and take pan aside.
5. In a other pan, sauté quickly the spinach in some olive oil, season
with salt and pepper. (alternatively, and this is the best way I know to make spinach is: Place washed spinach on a baking tray, season with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, place a few minutes in a very hot oven, toss and serve.)
6. Serve on hot plates; a bed of spinach in the middle, the fish on top, potatoes and the sauce.

Loup de mer – know your fresh fish.

A lot of people look for Loup de mer (Sea bass). I have 2 on here that work very well, especially the Seabass roasted with potatoes, olives, capers, white wine, garlic and tomatoes.

Recently I got an amazing shot of a just line caught seabass, about 2.5 kilos heavy and wilder then wild. Line caught fish dies because they suffocate when caught, that’s immediately. If fish is caught on large trawlers with nets hanging in the sea for days, the fish drowns and the flesh starts to “cook” in the salt water. (i.e. if you put meat in salt water, its like preserving in brine) Therefore look out for sustainable fished fish!

How to know your fish is fresh:

The eyes are shining, bright, bulging.

The fish is covered in sea slime. (scales are plenty and not dry)

The gills are bright red.

The fish doesn’t smell fishy but pleasant of fresh sea air.

The meat when sticking finger into is not soft but resilient.

Happy cooking.

Sunday brunch and the best Egg Benedict @ Cookbook Cafe on Park Lane

Sunday I had the best Egg Benedict in my entire life, at least so far. Now how does an Egg Benedict qualify to be “the best in 30 years” of life time. In all fairness to all Egg Benedict’s out there, this one was with Smoked Salmon, Creme Fraiche and Caviar. I only know and eat EB since about 12 years, so not my entire life, but usually EB gives me instant heart burn. This one didn’t at all. It was made with 1 and not 2 eggs. The hollandaise was light and creamy, not like a warm thick mayonnaise but just the way a lite contemporary and elegant Hollandaise should be, the right balance between richness with a hint of acidity to break the fatty edge on the palate. The happy laid free range egg, perfectly poached, was sitting on top of a toasted muffin, with a slice of smoked salmon! The caviar gave and bits of creme fraiche gave it this extra touch of extravagance, I just gulped the whole plate down and wanted another one. I didn’t, because when shopping on Saturday I couldn’t fit the usual size suits…This egg was served at the Cookbook Cafe during Sunday brunch. Steffi met with a friend around 1ish and I joined in later. A lady DJ from London was spinning the Vinyl with some groovy ambiance, nu-jazz and other light to digest on Sunday brunch tunes. The view through the great windows onto Park Lane and a wintry Hyde Park laying in low level winter clouds, the passing traffic and Sunday crowd made this a most memorable Sunday brunch, a casual urban feel, not stuffy and stiff at all.

Bloody Mary, Iced Tea Martinis and other cocktails, water, soft drinks and coffees are included “as much as you like” in the price of £39. There is a market style table in the center of the restaurant with all the great food you can imagine. Seafood, Muffins in baking trays, salads, breakfast items, Home Made Granola with Greek Yoghurt, Seafood, etc. Steffi was raving about the crayfish cocktail, I didn’t try it because I hate crayfish with passion. The main carving station had roast beef, duck breas, leg of lambt and some other stuff, served by a medium introverted but knowledgeable cook.

The head chef Michel Gehrig was around all the time ensuring all foods are fresh, explaining to guest what it is, how it’s prepared, provenance, it’s not often that one can see the Head Chef in the restaurant, and I thought that was really cool.

Roberto, the restaurant manager and his team of good looking waiters and waitresses, in funky stripy shirts, are a really cheerful, happy and very friendly, not pushy crowd and give the place a good relaxed vibe. Overall, a place to hang out for hours, read the newspaper, chat the afternoon away with friends and have some bites to eat in between. Oh and I forgot to mention, the roast potatoes with herbs and garlic were to die for…

Cookbook Cafe, InterContinental London Park Lane, 1 Hamilton Place, London.

The Year of the Dragon – Kum Hay Fat Choy!

Kum Hey Fat Choy – or happy new year in Chinese!

Tomorrow the new Chinese Year of the Pig starts and the year of the Dog ends. Each year in the Chinese calendar is represented by one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, the Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger and Rabbit. London’s China town and Oxford street are colorful decorated with red lanterns, dances, dragons, firecrackers and fireworks take place. The year of the pig is supposed to bring good luck and prosperity. Now this time it is a golden pig year, which happens once in six decades. London (and all other) Chinatown’s are colorfully decorated, there is a parade, the restaurants are full and everybody goes for great lunches and dinners. There is even some sort of a baby boom in China…it’s the lucky year to make children that will become rich and successful. On the day before New Years day people clean their houses, pay the loans, get new clothes etc. My friends are going for Hot Pot to China Town tomorrow, I have never had it the real way and perhaps we will join!

I was born in January 1977 which was also a Dragon year, besides the Dragon year I was born in the period of Fire, so I am a Fire Dragon!! In China, the Dragon is the sign of the Emperor of China or the male element Yang. The Dragon is the symbol of power and wealth and many other great things… In Chinese tradition fire is one of the five elements. It is associated with the planet Mars, summer and the south, and the colour red. It is believed to govern the heart. Fire is associated with the qualities of dynamism, strength and persistence, and with restlessness and a sense of adventure.

Ok, now take a break, here is a video I found on youtube, it is cracking funny and has nothing to do with Chinese New Year or Dragons, Pigs and other animals, listen to it carefully from the beginning to the end…it is some guys that order in a Chinese take away shop and then call up another one, the first one repeats the order to the second one, then chaos, it’s hilarious.

And here is one of my favorites when I cook Chinese at home…

Roast Chicken, parsley, garlic, pagnotta bread, lentils, rucola

Once again, I was walking around the kitchen where I work, the smell from the wood burning oven againg and again draws me closer to it and my brain immediately sends signals to my stomach, chefs are all over the place preparing great food, doing prep work, butchering, cleaning vegetables, fileting fish, seafood, live lobsters are cooked and crabs are picked, meat is hanging in the fridges, bresaola is hanging to dry, all home made, … and then, again and again I have to stop when I see Theo or Gillian preparing what I would say is some of the best food in town. It is every time an ultimate inspiration to watch them smoothly working like an orchestra, in a perfect swan lake ballet choreography, see the glow in the eyes while they prepare a new delicacy. The best thing about it, they all always have time to explain, show and share how to and what is best. Thanks. One chat and walk is as inspiring as reading 1000 cookbooks.

Chicken with garlic, parsley, pagnotta bread, lentils, rucola…this dish I was told, is originally from Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in California. It is a simple, juicy and tasty, elegant and rustic way to roast a chicken. Whether one is a pro or hobby cook, it is just mind buggling to watch them and chat about the food. The garlic and parsley infuses a mild interesting flavor to the chicken.

The chicken:

1 whole free range chicken
Garlic cloves, boiled (to take some of the sharpness)
Bunch of flat parsley
Olive oil

Pagnotta bread (or Poilaine if you cant get the Pagnotta which you most likely cant get)

Prep the chicken as if you wanted to grill, cut out the bottom and lay flat, remove bones. Chop garlic with parsley. Stuff into all open spaces. Sear the seasoned chicken in a pan, roast in the oven with the bread on top, about 15 – 20 minutes at 160 Celsius, slowly. Don’t cook the hell out of the tender juicy animal or it will go dry.

For the lentils:

Lentils de Puy
Chili
Sage
Garlic
Red wine vinegar Olive oil

Cook the lentils slowly in water with a bunch of sage, a pierced chili, garlic clove, salt. Strain when cooked, leave some of the water, add olive oil, salt, pepper to taste, vinegar. before serving, remove garlic, chili, sage.

Finishing it off:

Cut the chicken in large pieces, same with the bread. Put on top of the lukewarm lentils, some rucola leaves, chicken, bread, drizzle with the juice and some olive oil. Done. Enjoy.

(to all ingredients I don’t use any words as “best extra virgin olive oil” and other adjectives as this is a given if you want to prepare good food, don’t go for the Tesco Chickens and alikes…buy free range, from the local butcher, good vegetables and so on, it’s worth it worth every fucking penny spent)

Free range, home made “Chicken Noodle Soup” with root vegetables

…after this incredible unhealthy food lovers alcohol loaded weekend in NYC I had the urgent feeling to do something good for my system and incredible appetite. I am not into gym, running and other body killing habits so I decided to cook a Chicken Noodle soup. Tina, Steffi’s sister helped preparing it and what came out was one of the most delicious broth I had in a long long time…

Following my instructions she bought a really good free range chicken from the local butcher, about 1.2kg of size.

Put the chicken in a large heavy cast iron pot, add cold water, chopped up carrots, celery stalks and celeriac, leeks, 2 halved onions roasted black on the open face side (for the color of the soup), some parsley, pepper corns and 1 bay leaf. Simmer gently for about 1 1/2 hours. Skim the scum from the soup to get rid of all impurities.

Remove the chicken from the stock. Drain stock through fine sieve and bring back to boil. I took all the meat of the bones, kept the whole breasts for Chicken – Rice and Curry salad and put the same variety of vegetables used before, but cut in cubes, into the stock. Boil until soft, add the pieces of chicken and separately boiled risoni or short noodle pasta. Salt, pepper to taste.

Amazing, simple, so delicious and with the remaining chicken bones I cooked a second stock, can be used for a delicious risotto!

Image of real happy free range chickens by foxglove. Thanks! (when you are in London, I’ll cook you the soup…)

Beef carpaccio with horseradish and rocket

To start with, it only works with great meat. I found that besides the Ginger Pig butcher in Marylebone which sell the greatest well aged and top quality beef, Lindgates on Holland Park is closer to where I live and as good.

The quality of the meat and the flavor is key to this dish. I like the combination of fresh, wild hot horseradish, Maldon sea salt and good Olive Oil, with the fresh spicy flavor of ruccola makes one of the best starters you can get. Theo Randall once served this to me as “canape” where he rolled a thin slice of beef with some rocket and fresh horseradish inside, what a great and simple stuzzicino.

Buy well matured beef fillet in a whole piece. Slice it thinly and put the slices between cling film and beat it thin. Lay on the plate, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, coarse sea salt, ground pepper. (you can add a few drops of fresh lemon juice), serve with fresh horseradish and rocket. Yes it’s that simple and there is nothing else that should be added. Keep it simple.

And that’s what it looked like in my “restaurant”, and tasted just wonderful.

Butcher Shop, Lidage, Holland Park Road 110, London.

Something for the cold winter; Spaghetti with meatballs

Spaghetti with meat balls, more an American then Italian cult dish, kinda New York, I find it somehow “mafioso” to cook a tasty meatball sauce. It always reminds me of the movie Goodfellas, when the Boss, Paul Sorvino, used a razor to slice the garlic and he used to slice it so thin that it used to liquefy in the pan. “Later, the central figure’s drug-fuelled paranoia is signalled by his obsession with the meatballs and tomato sauce he’s cooking as the FBI move in. ‘Keep and eye on the sauce and watch the helicopters’, is almost his last order before the Feds arrive…”

I use minced beef only for the meatballs, some add minced pork. Use 500 grams of good quality, not to lean, minced beef. If its to lean the meatballs will be dry once cooked (for that 1/3 of minced pork could be added) but also all the great flavors of the beef are in the fat and will then integrate nicely into the sauce. Soak 2 or 3 slices of white toast in some milk, crush until a paste. Chop one nice golden onion, a few (3-4) garlic cloves and add this together with the bread to the meat. Add a few spoons of good extra virgin olive oil, a few dashes of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce, salt, ground pepper, some Provence herbs if you like and mix very well with your hands until a compact dough texture is achieved. Check seasoning. Form meat balls with your hands oiled so the meat doesn’t stick, about the size of a golf ball or a bit smaller. Keep on the side.

Take a large heavy pot that can go in the oven. Heat. Add oil, fry meat balls until evenly colored but not to dark. Remove fried meat balls. Add some chopped onion and garlic to the pan, a few whole stalks of celery, fry with remainders of meat balls and roasting crust in the pan, I always add a bit of butter because it helps the roasting crust to melt and give away all those flavors. Add tomato paste, deglaze with red wine, reduce red wine until thick consistency.

Add the meat balls and 2 or 3 tins of chopped toamtoe. Stirr well and simmer. Salt. Pepper. Bayleaf. Thyme. Rosemary.

Gently cook in the oven with the lid on the pot for about 1 hour with lid and 20 minutes uncovered. Check seasoning. Remove celery stalks.

Serve with De Cecco Spaghetti Nr. 12, the thicker spaghetti’s are better for this rich sauce.

Parmesan served on the side. Drink full bodied Italian red win, i.e. Nero d’Avola, Sangiovese (Chianti) or some new world power wine, often thoughwithout finesse. I prefer old world wines. They are more elegant.

Late Sunday lunch, La Fromagerie, Moxon Street

Last Sunday we just wanted to buy some cheese for dinner. The best place to do so in London is the amazing little foodie haven on Moxon Street, just of Marylebone High Street. The shops has a cheese room, like a walk in fridge or “humidor” with the most amazing cheeses one can find. My dream would be to have a dinner in the room, a few people, lots of very good wine, and cheese.

We ended up eating there, on the back of the room there is a large wooden communal table in the middle and some individual smaller wooden tables with stools. We chose a cheese plate and a selection of charcuterie, together with an Organic Ale from Kent, a perfect afteronoon. Staff is friendly altough not very switched on, but the lovely atmosphere makes up for it. Actualy the people working in the cheese room are extremly knowledgable.

The shops sells various other great sourced products such as organic honeys from Valtellina, (north Italy, close to my hometown), vegetables and fruits, salumi, terrines, olive oils, breads, cakes and everything a foodies hart desires. All extremly well sourced. They also serve brunch. The menu is super exciting, somehow English with items such as Eggs and Soldiers (made of Poilaine bread) and then again some Continental items. A real treat. Next door is the most amazing butcher, the Ginger Pig. Go there for well matured and hung meat, home made pies and other delicacies. On Sundays there is a little but superb farmers market on the parking area behind the street.

SOOOO YUMMYYYYY….

sunday morning and an organic breakfast

Sunday morning, warm weather sunshine (not normal in London although we have summer) so I decided to go and shop some bread for breakfast.

Shopping bread is not like you can go to any shop and get decent bread. You need to go to a specialist.I walk down Westbourne Grove to Fresh & Wild a very cool, great products organic food shop, if your really into it you can even get organic tooth brush…The Muesli with summer fruit:

1 Peach in slices
1 Apple in slices
1 passion fruit, halved, scooped out
2 bowls for the muesli (good crunchy muesli, I used Pertwoods, it contains also dried fruits, nuts, oats, rye, barley etc. just healthy.)
1 plain yogurt
honey or maple syrup
Rachel’s organic milk

top the muesli with some fruit, a few spoons of yogurt, fruit again on top, passion fruit over it, honey, milk.

pronto, healthy and it tastes delicious on a hot summer Sunday morning