Time for a coffee

December 24, 2022

A disappointing fishcake

Prior to flying out to Berlin I was staying at The Thistle hotel close to Heathrow Terminal 5. I picked this hotel as it was convenient to the airport and they had autonomous pods that carried you from the hotel to the terminal. They also served dinner. When I looked over the menu there was a choice of things to have. For my starter I had the smoked haddock fish cake, which was served with a soft poached egg, and spinach.

I kind of knew that I was going to be disappointed with this dish, in the main because of the disappointing chicken burger I had had the night before.

Yes I was disappointed.

The fish cake coating was hard and crunchy rather than crispy. There was very little smoked haddock flavour.

It was a soft poached egg. I did think they might serve it on wilted spinach, no it was served on just some plain spinach leaves, which did wilt slightly from the heat of the egg.

I do wonder why they serve food like this, and why they think that they don’t need to worry about it. My guess is that most of their clientele were either people like me who have dinner as part of their hotel deal, or are staying there for one night before flying out and have little choice but to eat in the hotel, and don’t want to to travel somewhere else to eat.

December 23, 2022December 22, 2022

Cheese Games

Met up with some friends at The Stable Game Room for a coffee and a bite to eat (oh and to play a game).

The Stable Game Room has many board games you can play, as well as serving food, alcoholic drinks and coffee.

I had an espresso, which was a little harsh to be honest, so much so I had to add sugar and I generally never do that to coffee. However when I was in Italy in the 1990s I would see quite a few Italians do that, so still felt I was being honest with myself.

I wasn’t that hungry, so I had the Cheese Deli Board, expecting to share it with the table.

The board was quite plentiful with cheddar, red Leicester, stilton and brie. Alongside was apples, grapes, pickle, pickled onions and cornichons. With this came bread and crackers.

I had to ask for butter though. It was a big board and there was lots of cheese. I have to say though, the cheese was nothing to write home about, the sort of cheese you could find in any supermarket. The cheddar was quite bland in comparison to the mature cheddar I usually have. Nice to have some stilton with the dish.

For a little more money you can have a cheese and ham board. Not sure if this means the same amount of cheese and then ham, or less cheese and some ham!

Our table also had a couple of pizzas. They have a pizza oven and used fresh dough, so the pizza looked excellent and according to those that ate them, they were delicious.

Certainly would do a return visit.

December 22, 2022December 21, 2022

Festive Brussels with Chestnuts and Pancetta

As we approach Christmas I am reviewing my processes and recipes for Christmas dinner.

This dish is very simple to cook, has festive overtones and really adds something special to the humble sprout.

Peel and halve the sprouts, now I know some people will think that what is he doing, sprouts are supposed to be whole! Well what I want in this dish is for the sprouts to be a similar size to the chestnuts.

The sprouts are then partially cooked in advance, by placing in simmering water for about five minutes, drained and plunged into cold water and left to one side. You can do this earlier in the day so freeing up hob space for other things.

When you are close to serving time, in a hot frying plan, add a splash of olive oil and add the pancetta. I go for smoked pancetta, as I much prefer the stronger flavour and it goes well with the similarly strong flavour of the sprouts.

Cook the pancetta until is just going crispy. Then add the partially cooked sprouts and the chestnuts. I use the cooked and vacuum packed chestnuts from Merchant Gourmet. These are already prepared and cooked and are quick and easy to use.

You can season with some black pepper, but no need to add extra salt, as the pancetta bacon adds the saltiness to the dish.

Toss and sauté the sprouts and chestnuts with the pancetta and serve with your favourite festive roast.

December 22, 2022December 22, 2022

Have I made a mistake?

Think we may have made a mistake with the turkey roast we ordered from M&S. It looks like we ordered the M&S Collection Slow-cooked British Easy-Carve Three Bird Roast. This is a cooked joint, which you heat up in the oven. I thought it was going to be a fresh three bird roast, which we’ve had before from M&S. It’s not that I have a strong aversion to this kind of product, but I much prefer cooking from scratch (or raw) than heating a dish in the oven that is already been cooked.

It’s difficult to see what else we could have ordered as their Christmas food ordering has closed and they no longer have their choices online. However doing a Google search I was able to bring up an online version of their brochure.

I can see that the page that the three bird roast was on was on the same page as two other choices, partridge, and pheasant, which are not slow-cooked. On the next page was a three game roast (which wasn’t slow cooked), but we’ve had that before, and wasn’t too impressed.

Yes, I can see now that the description does say slow-cooked. I actually don’t think I would have ordered it, if I had realised it was a slow cooked roast.

Well the proof of the dish will be in the eating.

December 21, 2022December 21, 2022

Festive Gravy

gravy boat — Image by ALEXANDER MILLER from Pixabay

As we approach Christmas I am reviewing my processes and recipes for Christmas dinner.

Over the last few years I have taken a different approach to making gravy with our Christmas lunch.

In the past I would utilise the cooking pan that the roast meal had come in to make the gravy. It would have to compete for hob space with the vegetables and pan frying the brussel sprouts. It would all then be a bit of a stress to ensure everything was cooked and the gravy arrived on time.

So, now I make the gravy first! This does mean I can’t use the roasting pan, so I create my own roasting pan.

I use a roasting pan, into which I add some chopped root vegetables. These are usually carrots, onions, parsnips, leeks, as well as some mushrooms.

I also add some chicken, either wings or drumsticks. I add some olive oil and garlic to the pan. I then roast this in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, the idea is that the chicken is cooked and there are juices in the roasting pan.

Having taken the roasting pan out of the oven I place it on the hob, if required I add some extra fat, usually butter and let this melt before adding a couple of spoonfuls of flour. This is then whisked into the melted butter and cooking juices to form a roux.

I then add some port (or red wine) and chicken stock and let the gravy cook for a while. Strain and place in a saucepan or a bowl.

This can now be heated up later when you’re about to serve, you could even use the microwave if you are short of hob space.

I do find it easier to heat up the gravy than make it from scratch as I am about to serve hence making it first.

December 21, 2022December 21, 2022

Festive Carrots

As we approach Christmas I am reviewing my processes and recipes for Christmas dinner.

I will be cooking some nice festive carrots, that I was inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe I saw on a television programme a few years ago.

Take a frying pan, this and fill with evenly cut carrots, either whole or halved in the main. To this add a large knob of butter, a splash of white wine vinegar, the juice from two clementines (you could use similar citrus fruit, or one orange).

Add some fresh mixed herbs. Cover the carrots with boiling water and turn the heat on.

Then let the carrots bubble away gently on the stove top for about 40 minutes. Once the water has evaporated, the carrots should caramelise in the remaining sweet and sour reduction, I always let the carrots brown slightly on the edges.

The result is tender, slightly pickled carrots, full of festive flavours.

December 21, 2022December 20, 2022

Festive Red Cabbage

As we approach Christmas I am reviewing my processes and recipes for Christmas dinner.

For Christmas lunch this year I am planning to make some festive red cabbage.

Ingredients

knob of butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced or chopped
1 x 500g (or half a) red cabbage, shredded finely using a food processor (white core discarded) or with a knife.
2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
splash of Port
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp soft brown sugar
3 eating apples, peeled, cored and diced
2 tsp redcurrant
2 tsp cranberry sauce

Method

Heat the butter and oil in a large lidded saucepan. When hot, add the onion and fry gently until softened. Stir in the spices and season. Add the cabbage and fry for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until glossy. Stir in the sugar, apples and Balsamic vinegar, add a splash of port. Cover with a lid and let it cook gently for 30 minutes.

At this point I set it aside while I cooked the rest of the lunch. Ten minutes before I served lunch, I put it back on the heat and stirred.

Stir in the redcurrant and cranberry sauce (you don’t need to use both, you could use one or none) and cook for a further 10 minutes. If you aren’t using the sauce, taste the cabbage and add a little more sugar if it’s too tart for your taste.

December 20, 2022December 20, 2022

Roasting potatoes

As we approach Christmas I am reviewing my processes and recipes for Christmas dinner.

A key staple of our lunch is roast potatoes. Firstly you need to use the right kind of potatoes. It’s not as simple as buying any kind, the cheapest or whatever. I go with King Edward or Maris Piper.

After peeling and cutting into chunks the potatoes are blanched in boiling water for about 7-10 minutes depending on the size of the chunks. Now the size if dependent on how you like your roast potatoes and how long you have to cook them. Obviously smaller chunks means a shorter cooking time, whilst larger chunks though take longer are preferred by some people. We usually go with smaller chunks,

While the potatoes are being blanched, place the roasting tray into the oven, with a good splash of olive oil and one of sunflower oil. The key here is to heat the pan and the oil. I put the pan into the hot oven (with the oil added) for at least five minutes, though I usually do ten minutes. I usually heat the oven when peeling the potatoes and then add the pan with oil while the potatoes are boiling.

After blanching the potatoes, drain and the key here is to let the heat dry the potatoes. If they go into the pan “wet” they won’t crisp up as well. The next stage is to slightly “bash” the potatoes by shaking the colander or sieve, this will aid the crisping process too. Then remove the roasting pan from the oven and add the potatoes, turning them and maybe a little more “bashing”.

You should also ensure that the potatoes are not too crowded, in other words they need air to be crisp. Better to do two less crowded pans than one crowded one. I think this is critical for crisp potatoes.

Cooked for thirty to forty minutes (larger potatoes take longer). It is a good idea to turn the potatoes half way through to ensure a more even crispness. The end result should be tasty, crisp potatoes with a fluffy centre.

Ten minutes before end of cooking you can add some butter and rosemary for flavour.

December 15, 2022

Well, that was terrible!

When I looked over the menu there was a choice of things to have. For my starter I had the prawn cocktail.

Over the menu there were quite a few choices, but in the end I went with the fried buttermilk chicken burger. This was described as a crispy golden crumbed chicken escalope, toasted brioche bun, pickled cabbage slaw, mayo, lettuce & tomato.

Sounded quite good, but this is what I got!

First impressions was that this might be okay, but it wasn’t.

On the good side, the chips were nice, the roll was fresh.

However, the chicken escalope was overcooked and was more crunchy than crispy. I would expect the 99p chicken burger from McDonalds would be better than what I got. As with my prawn cocktail I do think that they could have spent some time and effort to make this an outstanding dish, but they didn’t.

I really should have complained, but it was late and I didn’t think it was worth the effort. I am also not sure what they could do about it as well.

December 14, 2022December 13, 2022

Now you can get Pret at home

I am not really a fan of coffee from Pret, I think it’s probably more down to the fact they only serve coffee in disposable paper cups. If I am going to get a coffee out and about, and I am going to sit down, then I really want a proper china cup for my coffee.

However I noticed on a recent visit to B&M that you can get Pret Nespresso capsules. So you can drink Pret at home and you can use a proper cup.

Pret are not the only high street chain to do this, Starbucks, Costa and Caffe Nero also sell their capsules in supermarkets.