Have you been Tangoed ??

Please forgive the tasteless title of this post but i could help myself and i am about to share with you a passion for one of my most favourite late winter fruits. The majestic, alluring and almost jewel like blood orange.

Between, February and mid March many of us have endured a long cold winter of soothing comfort food. Mostly of the braise, roast meat and autumn stored fruit variety. Withdrawal symptoms for seasonal variety and bright coloured freshness becomes a love sick moan. Few treats come into season until late February or early march. I'm already kind of getting sick of champagne rhubarb. Most of the time, when it is in season, alot still comes from Holland and not our native Britain.  Still, we should be grateful because it is the first treat after Christmas. Blood oranges are now in full flight and they are already all over London's menus.

Skye Gyngell often will have then served simply as a dessert. Sliced like the wheels of a bicycle, the white pip lines resembling the spokes of a wheel. A good drizzle of honey, a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds and a few sprigs of rosemary. DONE.

The Ottolenghi teams new restaurant NOPI just opened today, serves then with gorgeously creamy burrata cheese and coriander seeds.

The Modern Pantry in clerkenwell serves them in a salad with nigella seed roast earthy beetroot, toasted walnuts, stile ton english blue cheese and a pomegranate dressing. A certain chef had a influential hand in this creation but had a little quiet huff to himself because i didn't get my psychedelic favourite Castel Franco radicchio placed into the mix.

Then off course, there is that famous Italian aperitif of blood orange juice, Prosecco and Campari.

I absolutely love it and when I'm working in the kitchen during a long shift, i will have possibly gorged on more of the fruit than of what eventually reaches the customer. It has this amazing dark deep red and orange colour that often greatly differs from what you get in the supermarkets to what we get in the restaurant. The later the season, the darker it will get. You cannot foul a chefs well tuned palette either. Compared to original orange it has so much more depth of colour and can be extremely acidic (even more than a hard unripe orange). Its flavour to me resembles, a cross between citrussy sherbet and a slight hint of pomegranate. I guess this is why, it is so suited to that versatile product pomegranate molasses.

If you can find the best of this fruit, cherish it as much as you can. It is quite a little treasure and can be strictly seasonal, even in these times of hugely air freighted supermarket produce. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Alice B. Tolkas - The American Elizabeth Daivd

Alice B. Tolkas (pictured above on the right) as the title suggests was in the same league of food writing as Elizabeth David. She was born in San Francisco and spent many of her school years here and in Seattle. She moved to Paris in the early nineteen hundreds and met her long time lover the famous writer Gertrude Stein. Both, hosted a salon hosting many American writers. She remained much in the background of Stein and became her secretary, critic and cook. They were famous lesbian lovers until Steins death in 1945.

After the death of her partner, Toklas began to write her own literary memoir of sorts. This would soon become titled The Alice B Tolkas cookbook. It was and still is considered one of the most famous and classic titles in food writing. She would include in it, many recipes from her travels throughout Europe. Some off which included a recipe for an elaborately decorated poached salmon dish cooked for the famous artist Picasso. Many old and elaborate dishes and some which i find are quite unusually in there methods. Think wild grouse washed and marinated in milk, Singapore ice cream and the famous "hash fudge."

It is a product of her 25 years together with Gertrude and the many recipes she collected entertaining there many famous European artists and musical composers.

It is one of those books which i find quite intriguing and a true curious delight. I have always had a secret fascination for old period cookbooks. She may have only written one or two books but she really is, i think in the same league as Elizabeth David. I really do recommend any young or otherwise mature cook, chef or avid food writer to be transported to this curious period of history and food, in Europe. Seen through the eyes of Alice B. Tolkas.

Food for Plenty

When i get a day off from  a long, tiring and busy period of work I constantly enter some form of book shop, no matter were i am in the city. When I hit the cookery or food section, I enter an almost mental trance. I escape into my own little world and when i pick up the first cookbook which catches my intuitive eye, it is hard to distract me or pull me out of the shop. I like many other obsessive cooks, have a dangerous and often expensive love for cookbooks or food writer novels. There will be certain times in the year, were I will almost buy at least one book every time i get a day or two off. Although, it is the really intriguing, memorable and well written books, which i will browse over, each time i go into any book shop and often decide after a couple of times flicking through it to finally buy it. I have a couple of her books at home in Ireland that i had bought while i was training in university. The Gastro pub cook book and  Crazy water, pickled lemons. She writes in a way that you never bore of her and you always at some point pick her books off the shelf and continually browse over them. When i was training i used a few of her recipes for a Moroccan and Spanish themed gourmet night. Her influences are wide and culturally varied, which makes her an always instant hit.

I was so proud to find out that she is actually from Londonderry in Northern Ireland. A county just beside my home wilderness of Donegal. Luckily, she was influenced by a family of cooks/bakers from a very early age. Watching her mother and grandmother bake wheaten bread in the family kitchen.  She was making her own little sweets and cakes by six and organising little candlelight dinners by 16. Much to the bewilderment of her unadventurous 16 year old guests. Being influenced at a young age by pictures of jugs of flower waters and trunks, as she so describes, bursting with figs and pomegranates in Arabian Nights books. While, studying English at Oxford, she would spend rainy afternoons, scouring the city for rare and unusual middle eastern or Indian ingredients. These culturally diverse expeditions must of had a huge influence on the style and variety of cooking and recipes, she documented and wrote about in her books. A latest product of which i just bought recently is Food for Plenty.

Before i knew much about her, i kind of figured and just assumed she must be of Moroccan or middle Eastern decent but not so.

Her latest book, is quite possibly one of her most varied and extensive yet. It is literally a true reflection of the many influence's she has had or experienced over the years.

She documents not just one but eight other recipes for roast chicken, each one of a different cuisine. Think Corfu, Greece or American style buttermilk roast. Other recipes include, simple platters of seasonal and fresh vegetable crudities, sushi, Moroccan seven vegetable cous cous and Vietnamese sweet potato curry. Like many proud Irish or Northern Irish expatriates she doesn't forget her family roots either, placing a few of granny millers cherished recipes into the culinary kaleidoscope too.

Its modern day relevance is shown through, sections on which unsustainable fish to avoid. Other chapters inform the reader and keen cook on the sections of cow/beef and pig/pork you can use. Pulses, grains vegetables. The list is almost endless.

This cookbook and its author are sure to be a winner, will stick around for quite some time and i sure will be at my side for quite some time.

Melbourne. My most favourite city in the world

It is often on quite rare occassions that i get to spend two weeks off work, during christmas and new year. While working in Sydney i was thrilled to spend time with family for one week and the other in melbourne. Many antipodian city sleekers  will quarrel over the ultimate question. Which is the greater and more desirable city. Melbourne or sydney. For me, melbourne seduced me from the moment i stepped off the train. For chefs, melbourne has got to be one of the most culturely diverse cities. Two produce markets open early all week. One of which is located next to an extremely tempting Essential Ingredient store. An entire street dedicated to restaurants of all levels. A casino which holds host to many internationally recognised chefs restaurant. Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar and Grill, Gordon Ramseys Maze, Guillaume Brahimi's Bistro and one of my favourites, Robert Marchetti's Guiseppe Arnaldo and Son's iconically designed Italian trattoria. His own hand crafted and glass cabinet dry aged salamis provide an awinspiring focal point in the middle of the restaurant. Foccocia stands tilted to the spotlights in the servers area like a gallery dedicated to edible art............................

The greatest providores

The Secret Garden and the Flavour Shed..........

...........or Petersham Nurseries Restaurant and Tea room.

I meandered through the bustling and busy streets of Richmond upon Thames. The chill and wet of the last of the winter stimulated the need for a hot coffee to awaken my sleepy eyes.

I approach Petersham road. It feels like it will never end until I turn left into a little park area with benches on one side and mysterious entrance to a tunnel on the other.. The Thames river slowly flowing beside me. I walk along slightly confused and feeling just a little lost. I push through a turn style like little gate and a big flat and long plain grassy field captures my horizon. A small dirt track divides it and leads to another gate.

Good things come to those who wait and work hard for it. Yet, I wonder how long it takes to get to my destination on foot. As I get through the second gate, I curiously ask a passer by, "Is this the way to the nurseries? She smiles, and directs me to the end of the lane and into the right. I anxiously dip my head and crawl through the small gate, cut out of the large wooden gates to the inside of the nurseries.

I am greeted by too large and long greenhouses and at the end are two sheds. The restaurant kitchen or flavour shed and the quint tea room. I finally arrive at Petersham and with butterflies of excitement in my stomach eagerly await the start of my week with Skye and her family of cooks in the kitchen.

I'm greeted by Lughan, on my first day, and swiftly shown around and given something to do via the kitchen prep list. The atmosphere in the kitchen each day, is like a good stock pot. Well arranged with a slight simmer, as the flavours are produced and gently flow through. Everyone is hard at work and casually chat as the morning goes by, throwing in the odd, joke about the Master chef presenters. You can tell straight away that there is no room for egos in this kitchen and each chef is passionate to Skye's food philosophy. I always remember Tito. The gentle Italian. Possibly the kindest, well natured, and gently spoken chef i have met. He shows a keen eye for adjustment of each finished dish, under the watchful eye of Skye. As I cook pappardelle with cavolo nero sauce, I'm instructed to add just a little more olive oil and lemon juice. To balance out the flavours.

There was also clams with bruschetta, roast quail with sweet potato and lentils, sardines with tomato, baked ricotta, custard tart with champagne rhubarb on the menu, throughout the week. They hold a more extended menu on a Saturday and Sunday with a choice of three or four starters, three or four mains and three desserts with a simplistic cheese plate.

Each dish contains a protein, fish or seasonal vegetable with just a few garnishes. Cooked with local, seasonal produce with doesn't need much working with. The flavours speak for themselves.

It is this philosophy with i have grown to love. A passion for simplistic flavour and seasonally motivated cooking with small Italian or Australian influences.

Skye Quotes in her book, "My Favourite Ingredients"

Food fascinates, seduces and entrances me. Produce in its purest form, in peak condition - tasting as it should - can lift and dazzle me with the excitement of its possibilities.

I love this quote. It represents all that i love about petersham Nurseries restaurant and what she has made it. Produce and flavour driven with no un necessary fancy strings attached.

She has a passion for food which i feel is hard to find in many young chefs today.

Michelin and plate art or food texture is too common now and often flavour is compromised.

Restaurant food, cooked by many of these chefs almost feels, fake or airbrushed. They cook for chefs and not the customers.

Throughout my week at Petersham, i have enjoyed every minute of it and am constantly keen to get more permanent work there. I have enjoyed the place so much, i want to go back soon and to stay there and work. Cook the food i was meant to cook and absorb the philisophy that every chef needs to learn.

"PEACH"

My first memories of this humble fruit were not particularly good. As a child i has forced to eat slices of ice cold peaches, taken from a tin, and drowned in thick glue like hot birds eye custard. You know, the powdered kind, whisked into milk and left on the stove to thicken, lumps optional.

I always thought this was what a peach tasted like. Little did i know that years later, as i gradually teased and trained my curious and initiative palate, that i would truly discover the real hedonistic mesmerising and highly perfumed fruit.

NO other flavour can really best describe the unique and individualistic flavour of a peach. Even the word itself, conjures up fond memories of the sensation of biting into their first ripe peach ( minus the tin, off course).

There are many recipes that exist for peaches. chilled soups, purees, ice creams, sorbets, Bellini's, the list is endless.

Yet, there is nothing more enjoyable that just leaving its flavour and texture be. Letting it speak for itself, grilled, simply poached or just sliced into a salad with some prosciutto and almonds.

I once sat up almost all night, unable to sleep because I kept thinking up different things to serve or eat with them.