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WARNING: The images in this post may disturb viewers who don't like rare meat!
In my ongoing experiment with beef recipes, I decided to try Seared Beef Fillet from John Torode's Beef cookbook. The first good thing about this recipe is that you only need a small amount of a very expensive cut of meat and it goes a long way.
The recipe was surprising simple - cover the meat in ground pepper and thyme, sear quickly in a very hot frying pan, slice thinly. You definitely need a very good knife and some interim sharpening, but I was expecting it to be much harder (even if I did outsource the slicing to my sous chef!).
I really enjoyed this - the meat was really soft and flavoursome and didn't taste raw at all. The flavours throughout were really simple, but you could taste every one - the meat, the lemon, the cheese, the pepper, the olive oil. Really delicious. Probably not for anyone a little queasy about rare/raw meat, but for me - winner! This would make a great starter - quick and easy to prepare and tasty and light to eat.
Seared Beef Fillet with Thyme
From 'Beef'
Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main with some bread
12 black peppercorns
1/2 tbsp sea salt flakes
a few thyme sprigs, leaves picked
200g beef fillet
100ml extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon, plus 4 wedges, to serve
2 handfuls mixed leaves, cress and salad sprouts
60g pecorino cheese
Grind the peppercorns and mix with the salt and thyme leaves. Rub the fillet lightly with some olive oil, then rub the pepper mixture into the beef. Heat a ridged griddle pan until very hot and sear the beef on all sides. remove from the pan and leave to cool.
Use a long sharp knife to slice the beef as thinly as possible. Place the slices on a board and press along them with the flat side of the knife blade to extend each slice.
Cover the serving plates with the beef. Season, then drizzle over half the lemon juice. Toss the leaves, cress and sprouts with some olive oil and a little more lemon juice. Scatter the leaves over the beef, and then shave the pecorino on top. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with the lemon wedges.
We have actually been having some sunny weather in London over the past week or so . . . just in time for me to have an assignment due so have to stay inside. Typical. Anyway, we shouldn't get too excited - it may be sunny, but 15 degrees is hardly balmy!
Nevertheless, we took the opportunity for a lunch break mid-assignment on Sunday to walk down to the Alwynne Tavern at the end of Blackstock Road. While not a particularly exciting place, it has the significant advantage of a huge front area full of picnic tables, some of which were basking in the (periodic) sunshine.
Not in the mood for the traditional Sunday English roast, we went for burgers and chips. It wasn't a bad meal, but fairly standard chain-pub style.
Of course, all pub food here is immensely improved by the 'condiments basket'. So many condiments - mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, HP sauce - and as much as you want. Love the condiments basket.
I washed my burger down with a half-pint (I was supposed to be studying) of real cider, only to notice once I ordered it that it was 7.3% alcohol, so hardly taking it lightly. Kyle enjoyed a Bombardier (number 4 on his top 5 list of real ales).
Overall, a very pleasant hour outside in the sun. Must only be a couple more months until we can sit outside without coats on!
Food: 6.5/10
Drinks: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Ambience/sunshine: 9/10
Overall: 7/10The Alwynne
83 St Paul's Road
London N1 2LY
In theory, it should have been good. Roasted Fig Clafoutis - Cointreau-soaked figs, drizzled with honey then roasted and finally baked in a custardy-style clafoutis. Unfortunately, the custardy-style part was more like stodge, masking the figs and making for a very heavy dessert. The really bad thing when you make a dessert like this that you don't particularly like is persevering with it for the next night . . . and the next night. I would probably try the figs again, but look for a much lighter style of batter.
It did, however, give me an excuse to crack open the Wadi Dana (!) Wild Plum Jam (in place of apricot), that we got from the Made in Jordan store in Petra. The jam, at least, is good!
I am conscious that the forced rhubarb season will end soon so am cramming in all the rhubarb recipes I want to try. High on the list was Jamie Oliver's Hot and Sour Rhubarb and Crispy Pork with Noodles from Jamie at Home. This is a great book to have in London, as it is organised by the British seasons, so has really improved my knowledge of the seasonality of food here.
The recipe is an unusual one. Chunks of belly pork are slow cooked in a marinade of rhubarb, soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, chilli and five spice. After 1 1/2 hours, the pieces are removed from the marinade and 'wokked' until crispy. Served with noodles and fresh herbs, it promised to be something very different, which it was as well as being really tasty. At first we thought you couldn't taste the rhubarb, but the sauce was really tart, which was probably the rhubarb coming through. I really like that quite sour flavour, but if you're more of a sweet tooth, it might be a bit of a shock! Unfortunately, because of the soy, you lose the lovely pink rhubarb colour, but the fresh herbs gave the dish a lift and cut through the richness of the marinade and the pork.
We paired the dish with an unusual Argentinian white wine - a Gougenheim Valle Escondido Torrontes. Apparently Torrontes is a particular Argentinian wine. I really enjoyed this - it was light and fruity, similar to a Sauvignon Blanc, but not as sweet. The tartness went really well with the pork, again helping to cut through the fattiness.
Jamie's favourite hot and sour rhubarb and crispy pork with noodles
From Jamie at Home
Serves 4
1kg pork belly, boned, rind removed, cut into 3-4cm cubes (my lovely butcher did all this for me!)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
vegetable or peanut oil
375g medium egg noodles
4 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
2 punnets of cress
handful of fresh coriander, chopped
2 limes
For the marinade
400g rhubarb
4 tablespoons runny honey
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 fresh red chillies, halved and deseeded
1 heaped teaspoon five-spice
a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
Preheat the oven to 180. Place the pork pieces in a roasting tray and put to one side. Chuck all the marinade ingredients into a food processor and pulse until you have a smooth paste, then pour this all over the pork, adding about 250ml water. Mix it all up, then tightly cover the tray with tinfoil and place in the preheated oven for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the meat is tender, but not coloured.
Pick the pieces of pork out of the pan and put to one side. If the sauce needs thickening, simmer on a gentle heat for a bit until reduced to the consistency of ketchup. Season to taste, add a little extra soy sauce if need be, then remove from the heat and put to one side.
Put a pan of salted water on to boil. Heat a large pan or wok and pour in a good drizzle of peanut or vegetable oil. Add the pieces of pork to the wok and fry for a few minutes until crisp and golden (you might need to do this in batches). At the same time, drop the noodles into the boiling water and cook for a few minutes, then drain most of the water away. Divide the noodles onto four plates immediately while they are still moist.
To finish, spoon over a good amount of the rhubarb sauce. Divide the crispy pork on top and add a good sprinkling of spring onions, chilli, cress and coriander. Serve with half a lime each.
I think more than a few people thought I was weird when I said I was asking Mum and Dad to bring me over some Sweet Chilli and Sour Cream Red Rock Deli chips from Australia.
But I can comprehensively say they are confirmed as the best chips. And I would know. As a long-term chippie monster, I have scoffed my way through many a packet. All the chips in the UK are either too cheap and greasy or the good ones, like Kettle, are somehow overcooked. None have the perfect Red Rock combination of flavour and perfect crunch.
I have given this far too much thought . . .
There are so few things now that you only eat at certain times of the year (although the seasonality of food in London has increased this). Easter is only a few weeks away, so when I was stocking up on crumpets at Sainsbury's and saw some Hot Cross Buns, I decided it was definitely appropriate.
Slathered with (lots of) butter, is there anything better?
When we left Australia, I sadly sold all my cooking magazines (to a lovely fellow, who promised to look after them for me). Stupidly, I didn't go through them first to see if there were any recipes I wanted to keep. I am still hearing about Kyle's all time favourite pasta dish (something with eggplant and mozzarella) for which I no longer have the recipe.
One of the other recipes I regretted getting rid of was for Chicken and Lentil Korma, a dish I remembered as being quite easy to make and really tasty. So I was quite excited to get the weekly taste.com.au email featuring take-away recipes you can make yourself and yes, you guessed it, the Chicken and Lentil Korma.
I made it pretty much straight away and it is still excellent (no photos unfortunately). Very happy to have re-found this recipe. Now if anyone knows a good pasta recipe with eggplant . . .
Some time last year, our friend Andy, who works in marketing, told us about this great prize his company was offering - a meal cooked by Aldo Zilli! I think he was really upset when this apparent foodie said 'Who???'. Of course, since then Zilli has turned up everywhere - random TV ads, a cooking class that Gordon Ramsey went to in disguise and then as part of London Restaurant Week. He seems to be desperately trying to make himself into a famous TV chef, but I'm not sure it's working. Anyone read the 'Being Zilli' autobiography? The problem might be the silly Zilli name.Anyway, having unfortunately procrastinated too long to make a booking at Nahm, we made a Friday night reservation at Signor Zilli's - apparently Zilli's flagship restaurant in Soho. After a couple of pre-drinks at the King of Diamonds, we headed over to Zilli's 'flagship restaurant'. Sounds grand, doesn't it? So, we were quite surprised to encounter this tiny room seating maybe 20 people. The maitre'd did made a big deal of asking us whether we wanted to sit there or additional section downstairs. We were happy with upstairs, but later when we saw downstairs, it wasn't really any bigger! Oh well, it's a small restaurant.The London Restaurant Week menu was three courses for 25 pounds. I was immediately taken by two of my favourite restaurant dishes - chicken liver pate and duck confit. Both dishes I love, but wouldn't make at home. My decision was made. Kyle was distracted from the set menu by Tuscan sausages with beans and polenta on the a la carte menu, so decided to go that way, with Breasola with rocket and parmesan to start.
The Breasola was a pleasant enough starter, lifted by a splash of truffle oil and the excellent parmesan cheese. It was, however, no match for the outstanding chicken liver pate, wrapped in parma ham and served with a mango chutney. The pate was smooth and rich and the portion size was enormous, almost too much. An excellent starter and one point for me.
Unfortunately (for Kyle), I was also a clear winner in the mains. The duck confit with spring onion mash and plum sauce was one of the best duck confits I have ever had (and I've had my share). Crispy skin, meat you can cut with a spoon, not too fatty and with the tart plum sauce to cut through, this was a an outstanding example of one of my favourite foods. Kyle's Tuscan sausages had all the makings of a great dish, but was somehow just a little bland and disappointing.
We also ordered (eventually) some Zucchini fritti as a side. I was expecting something more shoestring fry-esque, so was quite surprised when these big chunky things arrived. That being said, it probably made it much less greasy, as the big chunks of zucchini was able to hold its flavour and texture better against the batter. It was actually a very good side dish.
All this was washed down with a bottle of South African Ormer Bay Merlot, a nice fruity and light red.
By now I was far too full to need dessert, but the problem with a set menu is that you've already paid for 3 courses, so you really may as well. I had the berry and custard tart, which was actually a reasonable size and quite light. It was nice enough - light pastry, tart berries - but nothing really special.Overall, the food at Zilli's was a bit hit and miss and bizarrely, for an Italian restaurant, I realised afterwards that my dishes were very French. Hmmm. The service was frustrating in that it started really really well and then dropped off so significantly, we actually had to ask for dessert menus - normally you fight them off for dessert!
A lovely night out, but I'm not sure I would rush back (despite the excellent confit). And I have a little bit of a problem with that silly Zilli name.
Food: 8/10
Drinks: 8/10
Service: 7/10
Ambience: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Signor Zilli
40 Dean Street
London W1D 4PR
Looking back over this blog, I have somehow omitted to record what can only be described as an obsession with rhubarb. I love it! I love the pretty pink colour, the slightly tart flavour, the soft texture once it is cooked.
It needs almost nothing to be a beautiful dessert, as per this very simple rhubarb compote with vanilla ice-cream. Stewed for about 10 minutes with about 4 tablespoons of caster sugar, some orange zest and orange juice, it both looks stunning and tastes divine. A firm favourite.
When I bought the Beef cookbook a few weeks ago, one of the recipes that caught my interest was for oxtail. I've never cooked or eaten oxtail before and it looked delicious in the picture. So when the Highbury Butcher had some oxtail a few Saturdays ago, I decided to buy it and give it a try. Of course, when I went to cook the recipe, you also needed a pig trotter. Besides having no idea how I could get a pig's trotter at short notice, I'm not even sure one would fit in my saucepan! So that recipe was canned and I spent quite a bit of time searching the internet for an oxtail recipe for a disorganised person - i.e. I wanted to eat and cook it on one day and had limited access to exotic ingredients. I finally found this recipe for Oxtail stew cooked in red wine, which met the criteria.
The oxtail was pretty disturbing looking - I mean, it really looked like bits of chopped up tail!
Although it was helped by some cooking. The recipe was really easy, the kind where you chuck everything in a pot and come back a couple of hours later.
We served it with parsnip and potato mash and it was really delicious. A good beefy flavour, but the kind of meat that just falls apart. I would definitely cook this again.
We also got to enjoy it again the next day as a pasta sauce, so it is a dish that keeps on giving!
A couple of weeks ago I made a beef ragu to go with my homemade gnocchi. One of the great things about that sort of cooking is that it is so easy to make a large amount and then you get leftovers. Love leftovers!
So I had heaps of ragu left and when our friends Rhia and Andy were coming around for dinner after Rhia and I were going wedding dress shopping, I thought a lasagne with the ragu would be perfect - easy to make in advance and always a crowd-pleaser!
I used Gordon Ramsey's recipe mostly for directions on the bechamel sauce, but it also had the great (obvious?) suggestion of putting bechamel sauce on the topmost layer of the pasta, so it goes all brown and well-cooked rather than slightly crunchy pasta. Very tasty and with some salad and garlic bread and an Italian red, very nice dinner indeed. I kept the Italian theme going with antipasti for nibbles, asparagus with balsamic glaze and parmesan for starter and tiramisu for dessert.
Of course I forgot to take photos as we went (still getting used to this blogging thing!), but trust me - yummy and easy, which was good because the wine was flowing just as fast! Let's just say, Sunday was a very lazy day. Although I did make Rick Stein's American Corn Fritters for breakfast - deep fry and bacon for a hangover!
I was saying recently that I rarely buy cookbooks in London, but in fact on the day I bought 'Beef', my parents also bought us The London Cookbook as a present, so it was a two-cookbook day. Bit naughty!
I think this will be a great book though - a souvenir of our time (i.e. eating) in London, plus some interesting new London foodie things to do as well as a lot of great recipes. One of the things that immediately caught my eye was the Baked Cannellini Beans.
Last year, I did something I rarely do. I made up my own recipe for homemade baked beans. They were really good. Unfortunately, I didn't write down what I did and now those beans have become the stuff of legend that no beans can compete with.
The Baked Cannellini Beans from The London Cookbook were really tasty served with toasted turkish bread, but did need lots of seasoning. I think maybe more bacon next time and perhaps served with sausages or pork chops would be good.
Baked Cannellini Beans (From The London Cookbook)
Serves 6-8
350g dried cannellini beans, soaked in cold water overnight
2-3 sage leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bay leaf
a strip of pancetta, rind trimmed, chopped into small chunks (I used 3 rashers of streaky bacon, but it needed more)
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
1 x 450g can chopped tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato puree
400ml hot water
a handful of parsley, finely chopped
1/2 tsp sugar
salt and freshly ground pepper
Drain the soaked cannellini beans and place in a large saucepan. Add the sage leaves and enough cold water to generously cover. Bring to the boil. Boil for 1 hour, checking now and then in case the water needs topping up, until the beans are tender; drain, discarding the sage leaves.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based casserole dish. Add the bay leaf, pancetta/bacon, onion, garlic and celery. Fry, stirring, over a medium heat until the onion is softened. Add the chopped tomatoes, mixing well.
Stir the tomato puree into the hot water and add to the casserole, along with parsley and sugar. Season generously with salt and freshly ground pepper. Mix in the cannellini beans and bring to the boil.
Cover the casserole and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. Serve.
I was very excited over the last week to see all the flowers in the parks across London. Of course, I did have to look up what they are (crocuses, apparently), but for me, they just screamed Spring. You could feel it in the air - it was warmer, people were outside, I even downgraded my coat a couple of days! Its coming . . .
It also felt like Spring when I saw white asparagus in the fruit and vegie shop this weekend. Of course, when I got it home, I noticed it was imported from Peru, so hardly indicative of British Spring at all, but oh well.
I decided to try a Jamie Oliver recipe from Jamie at Home for White Asparagus with Lemon and Mint Butter. Really simple, but fresh and tasty. With some toasted turkish bread, this was a lovely Spring-esque lunch.
My all time worst ever cooking disaster would easily be the pumpkin gnocchi I tried to make a few years ago. It was complete gloop, no matter how much flour I kept putting in. We had pizza for dinner that night.
So you could say it was a bit surprising that I decided to try homemade gnocchi, but I felt like a challenge and something new. I also wanted to try something from my new Beef cookbook, but I wasn't very prepared, so the butcher didn't have the cheaper unusual cuts from the book. So gnocchi with meat ragu it was.
The recipe seemed unusual - no egg, lots of flour. In the end, I didn't use all the flour. The first few gnocchi tasted really doughy. I probably didn't roll the gnocchi small enough and after the first couple of batches, ended up cutting them in half and cooking them slightly longer, which was better. What was good, is that you can make them in advance, so I popped the cooked gnocchi in the fridge for a few hours while I went to the hairdresser.
I came back in time to make John's meat ragu. It should have been good - red wine, garlic, tomatoes, cook for 2 hours. I had also bought some bacon to add to the sauce, but somehow, it was still a bit bland. I topped the gnoochi with the ragu and some parmesan cheese and cooked it in the oven for 20 minutes until it was really hot. Don't get me wrong, it was tasty, just not incredible. And considering it was around 4 hours cooking altogether, it was a bit disappointing.
Chocolate always makes things better, so 'dessert' was a couple of those Leonidas chocolates we brought back from Belgium. Very special.
For Mum and Dad's last night, they wanted to take us out to dinner. We found a great TopTable deal at Le Pont de la Tour for 25 pounds for three courses and a glass of champagne. Eating their last meal in London with a view of the Tower Bridge also seemed particularly appropriate.
I love walking through London - it is such an amazing city with so many distinctive buildings. Walking along the Thames in the evening, you know exactly where you are. Added to that, the day had been quite warm and crowds had gathered outside every pub - Summer is coming!
We started with a drink at the Bridge House pub on Tower Bridge Road. While the wine selection was good, the ales were only Adnams, which Kyle is not a fan of. The pub was okay, but nothing special.
The greeting at Le Pont de la Tour was special though - five separate people must have said hello as we walked though the restaurant, which was really lovely. The restaurant was surprisingly large and the views the whole way were exceptional. Unfortunately, the restaurant was far too hot (unusual for this Queenslander to feel too hot!), so we were a bit uncomfortable the whole time.
The set menu was quite good - between us, we ordered almost everything. Three of us had the Ham Hock terrine to start, which looked great, but was a fraction salty. Mum had the smoked salmon.
For mains, the girls had Chicken and Leek pie with sauteed potatoes. The pie looked great, but was a little bland. Beef Daube with mash for Dad and salmon with spinach for Kyle.
To finish, Mum had a white chocolate and peanut parfait (it tasted like peanut butter!), Dad had mocha creme brulee and I had vanilla cheesecake with honey-roasted rhubarb.
The wine list at the restaurant was overwhelming to say the least and the wine we finally settled on was out of stock, but the very posh sommelier said he would find another new world cabernet sauvignon for us (but not Australian) and the Chilean one he brought was very good. I think the highlight though, was the wine glasses, which were stunning! Good wine glasses really make a difference.
All in all, the restaurant was very nice - great location, good service, pleasant food but great company!
Food: 7.5/10
Drinks: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10Le Pont de la Tour
Butler's Wharf Building
36D Shad Thames
London SE1 2YE
I rarely buy cookbooks in London because one day I will have to take them home (or worse, leave them behind!), but we spent so much time in the cookbook section of Borders, that I ended up buying the new John Torode cookbook 'Beef'.
We don't eat a lot of beef in London and as we don't have a barbecue (I do miss barbecue!), that makes it less appealing for me. However, I seem to be seeing recipes for ragu and slow-cooked meat everywhere lately and so this cookbook really appealed. It has lots of information about different and more unusual cuts of beef and recipe sections covering stocks and soups, carpaccios, slow braises, ragus, steaks and even a couple of puddings. It is the most specific cookbook I have ever owned but I think it will be nicely challenging. Added to this, my husband and I are both fans of Masterchef and John is a fellow Australian in London and it just seemed fitting somehow!
Having spent a few hours reading this cookbook, we decided to go to Smiths of Smithfield for lunch (just the cafe). I had to have the steak sandwich after reading about so much beef and that sandwich in particular. It was very simple with rump steak, parmesan and rocket on buttered thick white bread and I had to get some hot crunchy chips and mayonnaise to go with it. Good comfort food (did I mention I was mildly hung over?!).
Most excitingly though, John was in the restaurant, signing some books, wandering around, trying the chips. It was really good to see although as I had just bought the book unsigned (and paid more!), it was a bit annoying. He told me to bring it in and he would sign it, which was nice. I did get a photo taken though - if only just to make Kyle jealous!
Really want to go back to SOS and try perhaps the second floor restaurant.
Food: 8/10
Drinks: 8/10
Service: 7/10
Ambience: 9/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Smiths of Smithfields
67-77 Charterhouse Street
London EC1M 6HJ
It is amazing how fast two weeks goes (and how much you can eat!), but it was already the second-last night of Mum and Dad's visit and time for the last home-cooked meal.
We had a (another!) bottle of champagne to start, so decided to go a bit special with Scallops with a minted pea puree. The scallops were unfortunately a little over-cooked, but the pea puree was delicious.
We had been struggling all week to make it home in time to cook dinner, so decided on a quick simple recipe that is also incredibly tasty - Sausage, red wine and olive penne. It also 'showcased' the excellent English sausages that we are becoming addicted to and Mum and Dad confirmed as much better than Aussie ones.
Mum had wanted to try dessert from a patisserie on the street, so we popped by The Fromagerie and bought an individual chocolate tart, lemon tart and apricot tart then the Italian deli for a caramel cheesecake. Unfortunately, across the board, these were disappointing and I definitely wouldn't get them again. Luckily, by the time dessert came around, we had had so much wine and so much food, it didn't really matter!
Is there anything more English than High Tea? I suppose you could queue for High Tea (at the Ritz?) or you could just go to The Grand at St Pancras station. We were given a voucher for 2-4-1 High Tea, so decided we absolutely should. It was such a lovely experience. The Grand is a beautiful restaurant - I would definitely consider having your pre-Eurostar champagne there rather than the Champagne Bar, as it is certainly warmer.
As you can see from the picture, we got plenty of food - a selection of sandwiches (the egg was surprisingly the best), scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream, a strawberry tart, fruit cake (no good) and an orange cake (surprisingly good). We washed all this down with a glass of pink English fizz and plenty of English Breakfast tea.
The service was excellent, the setting felt very olde worlde English and altogether, we felt terribly English!
Food: 8/10
Drinks: 8/10
Service: 10/10
Ambience: 8/10
Overall: 8.5/10
St Pancras Grand
St Pancras International
Pancras Road
London NW1 2QP
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