Cooked out

The young men's Bolognaise was a brilliant success and I prepared gooseberry fool to follow it. But even with a night off I'm still cooked out and plan steak frites for this evening with the rest of the crumble from Monday.

It's a grey wet day and I'm having trouble getting the young men out of bed - even at 10.30. This provides me with some quiet time to think about some suppers we are giving over the weekend and early next week. On Saturday we have eight - the young man's friend's mum and some friends we met last year in Antigua at Xmas who have a house nearby. On Monday we have the family - at least two cousins (possibly three) and their associated husbands, wives and offspring. This could amount to twelve or more. What to eat?

I'd like to do fish for both meals. Traditionally I have done a large monkfish outside for the family meal but this year, since we have not lit the charcoal grill even once, I'm toying with the idea of a big hake cooked inside. As I mentioned in an earlier post I have great difficulty resisting local line-caught hake even though the MSC would have me eat hake only from the Cape. Actually, they are considering downgrading their advice on channel hake as the stocks have recovered very well but the issue is that Spanish trawlermen hoover up hake wherever they can get it as the market for merluza is so strong at home. Anyway, Dave is on standby to buy a big one on Monday morning. This leaves me toying with the idea of a Turbot for Saturday.

The one piece of batterie that I have always coveted but never justified is a Turbotiere. The English and European markets almost completely ignore this historic pan. There seem to be no European retail offers on the web but Mauviel, whose various pans I use and really rate, do make one for the US market. It's listed only at Williams of Sonoma and will set you back a cool $1090.


A mid Victorian antique version in very heavy copper is therefore a snip at £575 but it will need re-tinning. Either way since I only cook whole turbot once or twice a year these magnificent pans are an extravagance too far.

Catch of the Day have been stocking 'chicken turbot' at around 1 Kg but in my opinion these are too small and the flavour is inferior to 3 or 4 Kg fish. Given the lack of Turbotiere and the desire for a fatter fish perhaps I will divide the fish into fat tronçons and overcome my desire for the theatre of a whole fish and the opportunity to excercise our fish servers...

The boys are now up and my quiet perusal of Grigson, Stein and Fearnley-Whittingstall has been interrupted by the sound of music videos on the television.

What are we going to do today?

When'sa your Homemade Ragu Day?

"The best cooking is where you get to do everything for yourself" says the young man "with no 'rental interference". Taking them at their word I give them a copy of Family Cooking and set them off to cook Bolognaise. They need to plan, shop, prep and cook this for Tuesday night. What follows is their post

__________________________________________________________

A mixed-weather Monday morning heralds a trip to Totnes to collect the following items;

• 1 carrot
• 2 celery stalks
• Milk (In a ragu? Crazy stuff...)

Note - Eat home-made Ragu, that hasn't been sold to you by that shady looking Italian in the corner there...

My chauffeured trolley ride around the Supermarket proved that Morrisons was worryingly easy to navigate around, compared to the usual labyrinth that some call 'Sommerfield'. The items were collected and were 'neatly' stowed in the boot.
Totnes high street could be aptly described as a confusing destination for shoppers, partly because of the sheer amount of places to shop for food! 500g of minced beef, easy enough right? We were mistaken...

It turns out that there are 3 different butchers on Totnes high street, each with their own share of customers.We opted for Luscombe (at the top of the high street) , which rather conveniently had just finished a laborious mincing session!
'Country Cheese' also satisfied my cheesy disposition with Keen's cheddar from Sommerset. The staff were very helpful and eager to please, worth a try!

We then returned to the house and started assembling our ingredients for the task ahead. Three Bolognaise-related arguments and three quarters of an hours later, we had assembled our ragu. It took two hours to cook it down, but in our opinion it could have done with another half an hour with the lid off, just to reduce the wateriness.
Apparently, Ragu should always be cooked twice (which goes against all I have previously been told about food) After a rewarding Surf-fest, we re-heated it and added it to our fussili pasta (spaghetti just doesn't hold the sauce) which went perfectly with a choice of Parmazan, the new cheddar, or pecarino!

The recipe, nicked from 'The River Cottage Family Cookbook' was a huge success, if not for the fact that anything not containing sand was considered perfect. However, we do believe that there might have been too many liquids in the mixture and that the recipe could be tweaked a bit to thicken the sauce, but that's just our slightly substandard cooking skills , enjoy!

Happy Eggs..? The Egg Test.

We are reaching the end of the stock of Burford Brown eggs that we brought from London. Eggs keep very well for a couple of weeks and the flavour doesn't deteriorate significantly but thereafter there is a risk. We brought 30 eggs from London and only 6 remain. So we need more eggs. But which eggs?

In a desperate move I bought a pack of 'Large Brown Organic Free Range Local' eggs in Morrisons in Kingsbridge. They were completely undistinguished and 5 remain...

Yesterday, after delivering the wife back to the station, we tried the larger Morrisons in Totnes in the vain hope that they might stock Clarence Court eggs of any variety. But no, they do not. I couldn't see anything that I though worth buying but the young men's eyes alighted on Happy Eggs.

"At the happy egg co. we believe that happy hens lay tasty eggs."

"bah! marketing types..." I told the young men. But they insisted. With such bright and yellow packaging and with such simplistic hen cartoons I thought they had been completely suckered. But we bought a pack anyway.

Then we went to Country Cheese...They've taken over Robin Congdon's Ticklemore cheese shop extending their north Devon franchise to the South Hams. I wanted some Harbourne Blue and some Ticklemore goat (now made by Sharpham). Country Cheese specialise in English cheese and I was seduced into buying a 'heart' of Sloe Tavy on which I'll report later. This is what Country Cheese say:

"- Cheesy Pete makes this beauty exclusively for Country Cheeses. Made with goats' milk, he washes these heart shape stinkers in Plymouth Sloe Gin as they mature. Wow.

The young man's friend then notices eggs. Lots of eggs. We discuss eggs and find that there is a local flock of Maran chickens at the Greenway farm. These dark brown eggs are large and look too good to resist. I buy 18 looking forward to great structure and depth of flavour. Now we have the basis for an egg test. Happy Eggs v. Totnes Marans.

Round 1. - Packaging and exterior

Both eggs are packed in recycled cardboard. Happy Eggs is dyed bright yellow with printing on both sides. Greenway has a stuck on address label. The young men think the happy eggs win hands down..

Greenway eggs are larger and browner. Both eggs have a producer number. Happy eggs have a useby date and a Lion mark.


Round 2 - the uncooked egg

The Greenway eggs are clearly the more resilient egg. The white is much firmer and the yolk is larger, brighter and more orangey. We all agree on this.


Round 3 - Cooking

The happy egg spreads immediately and almost fills my 20cm pan... the larger Greenway egg maintains consistency and cooks from the outside towards the centre.


Round 4 - Taste and texture

The young men believe the happy egg tastes better. I am surprised...I do think the Greenway egg is better, but the happy egg yolk also tastes delicious but it's white tastes much less. The texture of the Green way egg is clearly superior with more structure to both the yolk (cooked runny) and the white. The young men don't think this matters.

Round 5 - Welfare

Both eggs claim to be free range. However the happy eggs are also provided with swings, sandpits and other toys according to their web site. The young men think this does matter.

The verdict

The young men prefer happy eggs. We'll buy more. I prefer the Marans and I already bought 18. Just goes to show though, taste is in the mouth of the taster.

The Winking Prawn

The Winking Prawn

Booking the Winking Prawn is a ritual that we now undertake in early June. So popular is this beach front establishment that leaving it any later always results in disappointment. A visit to the Winking Prawn is a night off for the blogger and I try to have one of these at least once a week - we all need a holiday...

Every seaside resort should have a place like this. The Winking Prawn is a restaurant inside serving both lunch and dinner. But outside it's a beach cafe during the day and a BBQ at night.



Drinks and take-aways can be ordered from the bar and taken to the beach. If you want Salcombe Diary Ice Cream this is available from the (non-mobile) ice cream van and buckets, spades, crab lines, lilos and kites are available from the beach-store caravan. With 50 covers inside and 160 outside it's now a big place. We've watched it grow from the start when everything was crammed into the original building.

Salcombe harbour entrance is a deceptive piece of water. Although there seems to be almost 1/2 mile of entrance opposite Sharp Tor beneath most of this width is a very shallow sand bar made famous by Tennyson's poem 'Crossing the Bar'. Tennyson crossed the bar in the steam yacht Sunbeam but today most of the traffic is smaller. Nevertheless I could watch the entrance for hours and the Winking Prawn provides a perfect view point.

North Sands is a cove right opposite the mouth of the harbour and the restaurant nestles at the bottom of the valley and at the head of the cove. It's a perfect spot and there is really nothing else around at sea level except a large beach car park and the tennis club. But the beach is a big draw for families and with ample parking, safe water, rock pools and smooth sand it has everything a family beach could need. The Winking Prawn is the icing on the cake.

First and foremost it's a family restaurant. Whilst we've moved beyond the need, there's even a big dressing up box for the younger diners and youngsters can be left to play outside in a small play/sandpit area visible to the adults whilst they dine inside. The variation we use, which works when there are plenty of teens, is where they eat BBQ outside leaving the ageing 'rents to enjoy the à la carte menu inside. Last year the young man had five friends staying for a week and this proved a popular option for the independent-minded newly-teens. The restaurant is decorated like a Cape Cod beach house with muted Georgian colours and beach paraphernalia wedged between the rafters

We came here on Friday with another family - a friend of the young man and his parents and sister. Eight of us started dining at 7.30 and were still enjoying conversation at gone 11.00. We enjoyed the food too. The Winking Prawn does not aspire to the culinary heights of the Porthminster Beach at St. Ives or the Riverside Restaurant in West Bay but it produces reliable food reliably.

Three adults chose scallops to start, but the young man and I chose mussels. The adults all enjoyed monkfish wrapped in bacon, and the young people enjoyed steaks and lamb rumps. The young people followed this with Salcombe Dairy ice cream of various flavours whilst the adults chatted over coffee. I was too tired and emotional to remember to photograph the food! Perhaps during the next visit...Thank goodness it's only 10 minutes from the house. A good night off for the blogger.

The Old Signal Box Cafe

Friday

The wife is arriving today by train and we have to go to Totnes Station to pick her up. But first we need to replace some of the vast quantities of food that have been consumed. We go to Catch of the Day and buy Cod for Saturday night. We also discuss with Dave what fish it might be best to buy for some large suppers that we have planned for next weekend. I would like to cook a big Hake or a Monkfish and he thinks it should be possible to buy either. We probably need a 5kg fish so a bit of advance warning is needed.

We also buy a goodly piece of rolled sirloin from Lidstones - from their own farm - as you know both the wife and the young man think Rosbif is their favourite. I spy good Wiltshire outdoor reared pork and buy a big chunk of belly for early next week. We don't need anything for tonight as we are going out to the Winking Prawn with some friends that have been staying nearby. After a visit to Alan's Apple to replenish fruit and pick up Fennel (for the Cod) and to the supermarket to replenish oil and butter, yoghurt and crème fraiche, papers, bags and much other kitchen ephemera. We cannot find tahini - which is essential for the cod recipe - but fortunately we have not completely run out and have enough for Saturday night.

The wife's train is slated to arrive at 2.07 so we leave Kingsbridge in plenty of time to get to Totnes with time to have lunch at The Old Signal Box. This venerable establishment really deserves a review on eggbaconchipsandbeans - a 'greasy spoon' blog by Russell Davies that I follow. Looking again at his format, I realize that I have fallen down on the photography and failed miserably to photograph the condiments let alone the ambience...Any way

The Old Signal Box Cafe

In the days before electric signalling mechanical signals were connected to signal boxes by levers and manually operated by a signal man who would observe the traffic and reset the signal to 'stop' or 'slow' according to which trains had passed through. Points were also manually operated from the signal box. Totnes is now just a small stop on the old Great Western Railway from Paddington to Penzance. But in the days before Beeching there were branch lines to Kingsbridge, to Buckfastleigh and to Dartmouth. There was also an important goods yard here where all the milk from the South Hams was loaded on to tanker carriages for distribution to bottlers. Of this infrastructure remains the milk depot - but distribution is now all by road tanker, the Buckfastleigh single track which is operated as a tourist and hobbyist line and the vast old signal box.

For as long as I can remember this has been a cafe serving both the station users, train tourists and the milk depot workers. Photos on the walls serve to remind diners of the 4-6-4 locomotives that used to pull the Penzance Pullman in the days before diesel. In addition to serving food, the cafe is the station's newsagent and confectioner. The long thin signal box host two rows of plastic covered tables for four and in the morning rush hour all these can be occupied. But Friday lunch time seems not to be a peak hour and just two other tables were occupied. The menu offers standard cafe fare and of course we opted for breakfast which is served until 2.00pm

Two breakfasts with extra hash browns (for the young men) and a super breakfast (for the blogger) arrived in short order supported by strong tea. I had 1/2 fried 1/2 toasted as the bread option and this provided ample sustenance for the 22 minute delay in arrival of the First Great Western service. (signals hit by the wrong sort of lighting).

Of course the eggs had no puntillas and the sausage seemed to be composed of approximately 50% meat but with a bill of less than £11 for three hungry greeters how could we but be other than satisfied.

If you ever find yourself at Totnes with time to spare, the Old Signal Box is a must.

Petit paquets de lotte

As you will see below, after surfing all afternoon, the young men produced petit paquets de lotte en prosciutto and fresh nectarine and blackcurrant and it was delicious... and as well as getting them to cook supper I got them to write the blog.

What with the young men and the housekeeper, shortly like Bilbo, I shall disappear completely...

The Blogger

Monkfish, friend style!

This is a guest post by the young men

Hello Internet! This is the young mans friend and I've had a bit of a relaxed time when it comes to the kitchen, I've had to eat a cooked breakfast almost everyday day and I've had lunch literally put on a plate for me but when the sun dips behind the trees and the blogger starts to even think about dinner I immediately rush to my book hoping he might leave me to read and just use one man for the lesser culinary jobs.This doesn't work and I get put by the table top and asked to pulp some garlic or wrap some monkfish or skewer some beef.I guess this isn't that bad but the garlic sticks to everything and the monkfish smells and the lemon stings as it seeps into the scratches on my hands and the lambs kidneys freak me out and you get the picture,I like food more than cooking! However, at times it can be peaceful, that is , if you get the easy jobs like chopping(but not peeling!).

Today the blogger tells me "we're having monkfish", at first I thought that it would be fine, then he said that it needed to be wrapped in parma ham and that the potatoes needed to be peeled.When something 'needs' to be done it means that we(the young men) have to do something.This is: Monkfish with Parma Ham.

The blogger filleted the monkfish and cut them into approximately 135g pieces(quarters of a whole tail). I,the guest, then prepared them rubbed a little oil,salt,pepper and a squeeze of lemon into the fillets .I then wrapped the monkfish in the parma ham beautifully to make four neat parcels ready for roasting (a tip: put the fillet diagonal to the parma ham,on a chopping board,and at a diagonal to the ham and at one of the top corners,then roll the monkfish down,again on a diagonal, to make sure that the monkfish is completely covered) then roast in a fan oven at 210 for 7 minutes in an oil-less shallow roasting dish.

'His Majesty' The Young Man - As if this conglomeration (spelt correctly?) of flavours was not enough, I tortured table-sitters with my blend of Nectarines, Blackcurrants and L'Occitane hand-cream. Nectarines were cut into questionable quarters with uneven amounts of Blackberries spread over the three bowls. If you have managed to complete this task, Congratulations! You qualify for the same medication as me. If not, you have suceeded in serving fruit ...in a bowl.

NotCurry

Tuesday (posted Wednesday)

The young man has a friend staying for the next week or so. This is good as he has someone to speak teen to. But it does increase the food consumption. Two teens can pack away an awful lot of food. At the weekend I watched in awe as they polished off over £20 worth of raspberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants in a single sitting. The day after they consumed 2lb rhubarb and its associated crumble. And that's just puddings...Meanwhile there seems to be an intravenous drip of smoothie going into their hyper-fuelled bodies. Remind me to buy some Innocent stock. The young man thinks his appetite might still be depressed post H1N1..!

Meanwhile it is raining. It's been raining on and off since we arrived and we have not got the charcoal going once as yet. I have already cooked a leg of lamb and some kebabs that had been intended to be cooked outside but were eventually done inside. I'm pleased to report that the Risoli griddle performed well when pressed into service as a kebab grill with the young man's friend as kebab turner. Tonight, with over 750g of left-over lamb leg my thoughts turn inevitably to curry. But with last week's experience to moderate my thoughts I need to think about notcurry so as to ameliorate the young man.

Eventually I am inspired by Atul Kochhar. The wife and I have enjoyed Benares and Kochhar's subtle spicing and eclectic approach to the regional food on India provide me with the chance to make Indian food and still be able to claim this is not curry. I make 'Mamsa Ishtew' which he calls an 'aromatic stew with coconut milk'. Definitely not a curry. The recipe below is adapted from Kochar's as I started with par-cooked lamb. If you'd like to cook it from scratch, you'll need the book.

Mamsa Ishtew

750g rare roast lamb leg in cubes
300ml coconut cream
15g root ginger julienne
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt to taste

4 tbsp sunflower oil
8 garlic cloves thinly sliced
2 large onions halved and thinly sliced
3 green chillies in julienne (no seeds)

12 curry leaves
1 large star anise
5 cm cinnamon stick
4 cloves
8 cardamom pods
3 bay leaves

25 black peppercorns
1 1/2 tspn ground turmeric
3 tspn ground cumin
3 tspn ground fennel seeds

Place the coconut cream and lemon juice in a sauté pan, add the lamb and sprinkle on 3/4 of the ginger. Barely simmer (use a diffuser) for 20 minutes with the lid on.






Heat the oil in another pan. Sauté the garlic briefly then add the leaves and whole spices. Let them crackle a bit then add the onions and chillies and soften them without colouring. Add the spices and sauté for a further 10-15 minutes. Don't burn the onions.

Add this mixture to the meat and stir it in. Simmer again for 20-25 minutes. Again this should be very gentle but this time with the lid off. Garnish with the rest of the ginger and serve.

We served this with Bombay potatoes which is probably as mistake as both dishes are yellow. But it worked as notcurry and both young men woofed it down. If I had a better response to green I would probably choose to serve it with Sag Aloo.

Knife Crime

I've always preferred carbon steel knives. I inherited my first carbon steel knife from my (French) grandmother when I was in my late teens. I remember it well: it's greying blade honed razor sharp had a pronounced curve to it's edge. I thought it was supposed to be like that and it wasn't until a year or two later when I bought my own first cook's knife in Paris that I realised that it's shape was the result of several decades use of the steel.

Carbon steel is softer than stainless. This means that it can be honed more easily and it's possible to get a brilliantly sharp edge to it. Of course it also means that it blunts very quickly. Carbon steel also rusts and discolours and many people wouldn't consider them as they (mistakenly) think them unhygienic and unattractive. But for a cooks knife I wouldn't consider anything else. Unfortunately, as they need sharpening often and as sharpening them is so rewarding since one ends up with such a sharp blade, it's easy to end up with a knife shaped like my grandmother's. Knife crime! it's easy to do...

Carbon steel kitchen knives are hard to find. It's really only the French who continue to produce them - usually one of the Sabatiers producers from around Thiers. But all these producers now offer knives directly to cooks around the world on their web sites. This year I realised that my own 20 year old 6" cooks knife had begun to be shaped like my grandmother's and it was time to buy another. I chose a Sabatiers 'K' knife and, having ordered it it arrived in just 48 hours. And here it is...



We're very glad to have it in Devon (though it will go back to London at the end of the summer). It joins my 8" cooks knife (also London based) and forms the base of the kitchen's preparation batterie. For preparing vegetables, chopping, mincing and slicing there's nothing to beat them.

We do use stainless knives. There are two Wusthof flexible slicing knives that are also indispensible for slicing meat and fruit and for carving. All of these are maintained with a fantastic Wusthof diamond coated steel. A cook and his knives...how obsessive is that?

Kingsbridge: The Old Bakery

Kingsbridge is the local market town. At least, it used to be the market town, but where I remember the cattle market to have been is now a bus terminus as well as the 'Town Square'. It sits at the head of the ria* six or more miles from Salcombe by boat but 10 minutes by car. As the market town it's where we do the main shopping whilst we are here. Fore Street boasts the fishmonger 'Catch of the Day', Lidstone's the butchers and Alan's Apple greengrocery (about all of which more in a later post). Our visit to Kingsbridge was to buy local fruit from Alan. But first we need lunch.

At the bottom of the town, where the creek ends, there a a number of Georgian properties and the associated Georgian stabling in tiny mews running behind the buildings. We were headed down one of these mews to Pig Finca Cafe but when we arrived - Pig Finca was gone. In its place had arisen 'The Old Bakery'. The young man and I agreed that this was an inappropriate name (even though the building had been a bakery in the early twentieth century). The Old Bakery sounds like a nice place for tea. What we found was anything but genteel. It turns out that The Old Bakery is a tapas bar. A laid-back, funky, eccentric and rather cool tapas bar with a kitchen that's as sharp as two bright pins.

Apparently this enterprise replaced Pig Finca last year but, with a summer that was washed out, we were here only a short while before we escaped to Turkey to go sailing. So we missed it. But this means they are bedded in and they seem to be surviving. This is good because they are serving some delicious and (for Kingsbridge) adventurous food. Persuaded to stay for lunch the young man and I had scrambled eggs, potatoes and morcilla; a ration of Boquerones - home marinated and a ration of four spanish cheeses - beautifully kept and ripened - with a round of their fresh home baked bread. (Focaccia and rough brown - the sourdough was finished). I have trouble at home getting the wife to eat morcilla so I was impressed that the young man enjoyed it. I'm even more impressed that The Old Bakery can keep this on the mainstream tapas menu here. So far so good.

But there's more. They are also open in the evenings from Wednesday to Saturday. Wednesday is 'Paella Night' and Thursday to Saturday feature an à la carte menu. This week's menu promises amongst other delights a 'torchon of pigs head' - an ingenious combination of the cheeks, ears and skin in a kind of pressed sausage that is first boiled then fried. With line caught Cod and local Crab, Lobster and dive caught scallops from Charlie Yeoward, this has to be worth try - and we will. A sample menu is here

There's also breakfast from 9.00 am which promises 'Baked breakfast of chorizo, morcilla, piquillo peppers, eggs, grilled bread' as well as full English and a Greek Breakfast...I really can't wait! Brunch menu is here.

Inside these mews properties the space are varied and eccentric. The Old Bakery is furnished with an eclectic mix of table and chairs together with big sofas and coffee tables and dressed with 60's lights, Objet trouvé and driftwood...it's really rather fun.

The chef/patron is Giorgio. He was only too willing to talk about the food, his suppliers and to reveal the secrets of his 'torchon' recipe. All in all the whole team seem really comitted to making the place work. We hope they do.

The Old Bakery

Promenade
Kingsbridge, TQ7
01548 855 777

*Ria: Salcombe Harbour is a ria - a sea inlet. There are no significant rivers at the heads of the various arms of the harbour. The whole area is sea water and tidal. This creates an important and unusual ecology and the whole ria is an SSSI due to the important habitats and feeding grounds for sea birds and the various unusual plants and animals that live in the intertidal zone.

Help in the kitchen

We are in Devon.

After an almost 6 hour journey in the pouring rain followed by 2 hours of unpacking and rearranging it was all I could do to prepare steak frites yesterday evening. Then the laptop didn't recognise the router (whilst the young man's did) and I was detained later into the evening trying to unpick the vagaries of Vista.

(I guess we must consider ourselves lucky to have broadband down here provided by Demon. BT will no longer supply this hamlet as it's too far from the exchange. So we are a notspot - it's official)

So it was with pleasure that I got up this morning, made coffee, and heard the front door opening. It was the housekeeper.

Every year I hope that we might find a summer housekeeper who is really a help in the kitchen. So far I've not been very successful. It's all very well being happy with the hoover and ace with the iron but I could do with some holiday time too. On the other hand I'm a bit fussy about eating. I'm consistently amazed at what passes for cooking...

But this year I think we may have chosen well. 'S', our twenty-something housekeeper is relaxed and fun. Her car is covered with stickers - which appeals to the young man - but she does come with previous experience as a chalet girl and as a commis in a country house hotel near Bath.

So this morning I showed her the fried egg dream and she produced Juevos Fritos for breakfast in short order and without spraying boiling oil round the kitchen. (I know it's not the weekend - but we're on holiday!)

Encouraged, I gave her the Focaccia recipe and she duly made the dough and moulded the loaf. And then she made Boulangere Potatoes and Hoummous..! Now I'm impressed.

I baked the Focaccia and it's fine! This is a very good start...

Al-Dar

On Wednesday, Swine 'Flu-free and Tamiflu finished, we go to the opening night of Harry Potter on the Kings Road. This is a two and a half hour blockbuster and we'll need sustenance before battle with the Dark Lord commences. So we all meet up at Al-Dar for an early supper of meze.

I've been to Beirut only once and probably shouldn't have. Certainly I wasn't scheduled to be there but in 1980, with a second weekend free between Damascus and Amman, I decided that it would be good to visit the city and hired a car for the 170 km trip. With a war raging around me I went through 4 checkpoints on the way and was probably lucky not to be taken hostage. Perhaps people in their early twenties are just lucky. Anyway I spent Thursday evening and Friday in Beirut, ate meze and more meze, swam, drank Arak and enjoyed the city and managed to return to the Intercon in Damascus without anyone noticing I had been away.

Al-Dar is a little piece of Beirut magically transported to Chelsea and certainly turns the heads of passers-by as the tempting aromas of lamb and chicken shawarma (شاورما ) waft into the Kings Road. Many are tempted and there is always a lively queue at the counter as Chelsea shoppers mix with taxi drivers and bike messengers awaiting their chosen sandwich to take away in black cabs or to their fixies. Lebanese shawarma lines the pita with tahini or hummous followed by the meat and then the sandwich is topped with various pickles. Turnips, beetroot and radish are common together with salad leaves.

But one can also dine in. Al Dar translates as 'at home' and beyond the counter there are 12 rather basic tables for four where one can meet friends and family eat meze and then pastries. If your party is two you will probably have to share. Maroush or Noura it is not. One does not dine here to enjoy the heights of Arabian cuisine. But it is friendly and reasonably priced and one can eat fast or slow. The menu features all of the Lebanese meze one would expect - Hummous, Moutabel, Tabouleh and Falafal are standard fare and these are followed by more substantial vegetarian meze - the young man particularly enjoys the grilled Haloumi and we enjoy the pickled stuffed aubergine - then meat. We often cannot resist the pastirma though from time to time this is 'finished'. So too are many of the Lebanese wines suggested by the list. The best plan is to go to the bar and see what they really have. (I no longer touch Arak tough they offer several varieties). Or order one of their made-on-the-spot fruit smoothies. With sweets and pastries to finish it's a perfect pre or post cinema treat. It's a very cosmopolitan little cafe and in addition to Arabic and English one often hears conversation in four or five different languages. Enjoy! - we do.

Whilst we enjoy Al Dar in the Kings Road this is a growing culinary enterprise. With 4 other outlets in and around central London as well as a home delivery service and a 'traiteur' providing meze catering for the home and office it's clear that Beirut is alive and well in London. Look out for 'le patron' around town. You will know him by his license plate - A1 DAR.


Al-Dar II,
74 King's Road,
London,
SW3 4TZ

Spices & Curry Trouble

We buy our spices at the Spice Shop just off the Portobello Road.

This tiny emporium reminds me of the spice vendors in the central souk in Damascus piled high as it is with seeds, arils, barks, buds, stigmas, roots, rhizomes and resins that are the culinary riches of exotic lands. All this is presided over by Birgit Erath who started the business in 1990. Nowadays, though the shop is the front of the business, the back end is run from a large warehouse in Germany.

Birgit is passionate and knowledgeable about spices and finds many rare and interesting varieties on her travels. She also blends many tradional spice blends such as Za'atar, Ras al Hanout and various Garam Masala. All of this is available to order online but a visit to the shop is also worth the trip especially if Birgit is around. She also runs the occasional course at Book for Cooks just opposite the shop. (The Spice Shop: 1 Blenheim Crescent, W11 2EE London)


So we did curry the rest of the lamb leg on Monday night. Unfortunately, the young man has decided that, "Dad, I just really don't like curry".

I don't think this is actually correct as he has previously eaten other curries with both lamb and chicken. I think it's because I chose to make Saag Ghosh which is generously laced with spinach. Fortunately he had already grazed on 1/2 pack of oat biscuits and an entire block of cheddar whilst the cooking proceeded...anyway

Saag Ghosh

2 tblspn good sunflower oil
5 Cardamom
2 Bay leaves
2" Cinnamon

2 Sweet Onions
2 Garlic cloves chopped
1" fresh ginger peeled and chopped

The rest of the lamb cubed
250 ml passatta
500g fresh spinach
50ml veal stock

2 tspns coriander seeds
2 tspns cumin seeds (slightly roasted)
2 dried Kashmiri chillies
1/2 tspn salt
1 star anise
- all these ground quite fine in the pestle

Garam Masala - to finish

Heat the oil in a saute pan. Add the cardamon, cinnamon and bay leaves. After a minute add the onions, garlic and ginger. Soften the onions until they just begin to turn. Add the meat and ground spices and sauté for a few minutes turning the meat and mixing in the onions. Add the veal stock, (actually I used the left-over gravy), and the passatta. When this is simmering pile the spinach on top. Turn down the gas, put the pan on a diffuser, cover and wait for the spinach to cook through. Uncover, stir in the spinach and taste. Add garam masala if it is needed and reduce the liquid until it is a thick sauce.




Spice photo credit: Eloeeze

Franglo-Morrocan

Despite the Swine 'Flu the young man is still eating. It must be the Tamiflu...

I roast a leg of Lamb.

First I spike it with 2 garlic cloves cut in slices and inserted into the flesh. Then brush it with a little melted butter. On this I sprinkle dried thyme and a mix of 2 tspns cumin seeds ground fine and mixed with 1 tspn sweet paprika and 1/2 tspn salt.

Roast the lamb leg at 250 for 15 minutes then turn it down to 190. Add 150 ml white wine. After 10 minutes add 200 ml veal stock and baste. Baste it every 10 minutes and cook for 12 minutes per pound. Add another 100 ml veal stock as the liquid evaporates. When done remove and wrap expansively in foil to rest.

Strain the gravy and taste. Add more wine if it is too salty and boil off the alcohol.

Carve coarsley after 15 minutes rest and serve with roast potato and peas...(the only green that the young man will countenance)







Finish with British strawberries.











Curry tomorrow!