Ladies With Bottle

Watercress and Wine

2013-05-15T13:47:00.000+01:00

Watercress is back in season and Alresford, near Winchester, is holding its 9th Watercress Festival on Sunday May 19th. Watercress was first commercially cultivated in 1808 by the horticulturist William Bradbery along the source of the River Ebbsfleet in Kent. His watercress was sent to Covent Garden and Newgate Markets in London and he even sent watercress to the Great Exhibition of 1851 at The Crystal Palace. Watercress production soon spread and counties that grew watercress commercially included Hertfordshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and Hampshire.

Alresford is the centre of watercress growing in Hampshire and more than 15,000 people visit the festival every year. This May the festival is home to plenty of mouth-watering watercress treats to tempt the tastebuds ranging from watercress ice cream and cakes to watercress beer and soup. You will also find street entertainment, Morris dancers, bands and artisanal stalls selling everything from watercress fudge to watercress sausages!

Watercress is a fast-growing, semi-aquatic plant that is one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by humans. It's a member of the same family as Garden Cress, Mustard and Radish – all known for their peppery, tangy flavour. Watercress has always had a reputation for being a 'super food' – the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Persians used it to strengthen and energise themselves as well as for medicinal purposes:

The father of medicine, Hippocrates, founded the first hospital on the Greek island of Kos around 400 BC and grew wild watercress in the natural springs there, using it to treat blood disorders.

Egyptian Pharaohs served freshly squeezed watercress juice to their slaves each morning and afternoon in order to increase their productivity.

Roman emperors ate it to help them make 'bold decisions' (and to cure baldness and insanity).

The Persian King Xerxes ordered his soldiers to eat watercress to keep them healthy during their long marches.

In the 16^th century the herbalist John Gerard recommended watercress as a cure for scurvy. Captain James Cook (1728 – 1779) was reportedly able to circumnavigate the globe due, in part, to combating scurvy through the use of watercress in his sailors’ diets. It's not surprising as watercress contains more Vitamin C than oranges do, has more iron than spinach, more calcium than milk and more Vitamin E than brocoli.

The plant’s heyday was in Victorian times as the development of the railway allowed tons of watercress to be transported up to London. Street sellers would buy it and form it into bunches, which were eaten in the hand, like an ice cream cone – the first “on the go food”. Nowadays watercress is being recognised once again as a 'super food' with scientific research highlighting all sorts of benefits from helping to battle cancer to getting rid of your wrinkles.

Watercress is now enjoying a boom and you can find lots of different and inventive recipes using it. It's best to buy your watercress from a reputable source as picking wild watercress carries the danger of liver fluke. Watercress is readily available in shops and farmers markets – there is also a red tinged variety that looks great in salads – but make sure it wash it thoroughly before use. Shop bought watercress can vary in strength of flavour depending on the season and where it has been grown, so it's best to take a little nibble first so that you can judge how much seasoning to add before using it in your recipes.

Watercress Soup

2 bunches of watercress (de-stalked and chopped)

450g potatoes ( peeled and finely diced)

1 litre vegetable stock

freshly ground black pepper, nutmeg and salt (to taste)

A dollop of double cream (optional)

Sprig of watercress to garnish

Add all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let the soup boil for 30 minutes and then remove from the heat. Once cooled you can blend the soup in a liquidiser until smooth. Return the soup to the pan to heat through, serve with a sprig of watercress to garnish.

Wine Pairing:

Fleur de Luze 2009 (100% Sauvignon Blanc) - A lovely, lively, fresh and fruity white wine from Maison A. de Luze et Fils, who have been pioneers in the wine trade since 1820. This wine is a clear, crystalline pale gold colour with a very clean citrus, lychee, and mango bouquet. It has a long, fruity after taste which follows through with a slight hint of ripe grapefruit and a refreshingly slight touch of fizz.

Enjoy!

English Mace, Yarrow – Spring Recipe and Wine Pairing

2013-05-08T13:34:00.000+01:00

I discovered a herb that was new to me the other day: English Mace. Having brought my trophy home I looked it up and it turns out to be a variety of Yarrow (Achillea Ageratum Decolorans). Achillea are grown both for their decorative flowers and aromatic leaves in the border and for their medicinal uses. The Achillea family was named after the ancient Greek hero Achilles as legend has it that his soldiers used Yarrow (Achillea Millefolium) to treat their wounds – hence some of its common names such as Allheal, Bloodwort, Soldiers Woundwort.

Traditionally Yarrow has been valued for centuries for its ability to heal wounds made by iron. The French know it as ‘herbe aux charpentiers’ – the carpenter’s herb – for its use in stemming bleeding from injuries caused by tools.

Yarrows were once used to flavour ales and as an ingredient of 'sweete washing water' but English Mace is one of the few Yarrows that is known for its culinary use. The sharply toothed leaves are supposed to have a mild but distinctive Nutmeg or Mace scent. (I wonder if it takes its name from the spice Mace or whether it comes from the old English weapon?).

The best time to harvest the leaves is in the Spring - only the sweet, young, tender shoots are suitable for use in the kitchen as later, the taste is bitter and resinous. As the leaves have a mildly astringent taste they are great for sauces made with cream as their flavour cuts the richness of the fat. English Mace is apparently a good combination with asparagus – for example using it in Asparagus Quiche, or in Cream of Asparagus soup.

The leaves can be used fresh or cooked and add piquancy to chicken, pork, fish, cheese, pasta and rice dishes. They can be used in stuffings, salads (especially potato salads), soups and stews. Dried leaves are used as a tea.

I intend to try my English Mace out with Jekka McVicar's recipe from The Complete Herb Book:

Chicken with English Mace

4 chicken breasts

2 tbsp yoghurt

2 tbsp dijon mustard

seasoning

olive oil

6 tbsp chopped English Mace leaves

juice of 1 lemon

Mix yoghurt and mustard and coat chicken. Season. Place on foil with mace leaves. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Wrap foil into parcel. Cook for 30 minutes at 190C/375F

Wine Pairing:

Bordeaux White – Chateau Mayne Pargade 2010 (80% Semillon, 20% Sauvignon Blanc) from Soulignac in the Haut Benauge. This is very aromatic with notes of sweet summer hay, fragrant broom blossom and beeswax. With good crisp acidity, great structure and balance with flavours of pear, quince and lime, Mayne Pargade will pair really well with this dish.

Enjoy!

Mangos, Chutney and Salsa

2013-05-01T12:09:00.000+01:00

Could Mangos be the next 'superfood'? Mangos have been in the news recently as researchers at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) have found that Mangos have properties that can help regulate blood sugar levels in a positive way as well as have anti-inflammatory properties.

Mangoes are native to India and South East Asia and are the national fruit of India, Pakistan and the Philippines. There are well over 100 varieties, ranging in size from a large fist to a rugby ball. Shapes, skin and flesh colours also vary. The Alphonso Mango (named for Alphonso de Albuquerque – a nobleman and military expert who helped establish the Portuguese colony in India) is becoming increasingly popular in the UK with top chefs including it in their menus. However the Mango first came to our shores in a different form - in the 17th century, Mangoes were shipped to England as pickles to preserve them as the fruits would not keep during the long sea voyages. By the 18th century, the word "mango" had become a verb meaning "to pickle".

Mangoes are widely used in Indian cuisine and British colonials often brought recipes for chutneys home with them - Mrs Beeton includes a 'Bengal Recipe for Making Mango Chutney' in her 1861 book of household management in which she says “This recipe was given by a native to an English lady, who had long been a resident in India, and who, since her return to her native country, has become quite celebrated among her friends for the excellence of this Eastern relish.”

In the 19^th century types of chutney such as Major Grey's were created for Western tastes and shipped to Europe. Major Grey is an elusive character but Crosse & Blackwell (founded in 1706), reported that he was an officer in the Bengal Lancers and was something of a food connoisseur. While in India, he or his Bengali cook created this chutney by combining mangoes, raisins, chilies, garlic, vinegar, sugar and spices. Crosse & Blackwell purchased the Major's formula and the rest is history.

I have a recipe which uses Mangoes which hails from a completely different continent: Mango Salsa - it's excellent as a topping for Halibut. Salsas originated in Central and South America in pre-Columbian times with the Aztec, Incan and and Mayan cuisines. They were made from a mixture of tomatoes with chili peppers and ground squash seeds. The Aztecs used it as a condiment, to be eaten alongside turkey, venison, lobster, and fish. The Spaniards introduced salsas to Europe after their conquest of Mexico and it was Alonso de Molina who first gave the name ‘salsa’ to the mixture, in 1571.

The sea-faring Portuguese introduced the Mango to Brazil in the 1700s. Mangoes arrived in Mexico in the early 19^th century and reached the USA in 1860. Mexico is now the largest exporter of mangoes in the world.

Mango Salsa

2 fresh mangoes

1 red onion

1 orange bell pepper

4 red jalapeños

pinch of salt

1 tsp cumin

Juice of 1 lime

Juice of 1 orange

A big handful of fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Peel the mangoes and slice into small pieces. Dice the onions very finely. Remove the seeds from the orange bell pepper and jalapeños and dice very finely. Mix the lime and orange juices together with the salt, cumin and chopped cilantro. Mix all the ingredients together and serve over the halibut.

Wine Pairing

A good white Bordeaux will be lovely with this dish – Chateau Le Rondailh is an excellent match as it is an aromatic wine with good acidity made from a 20% Semillon and 80% Sauvignon Blanc blend of grapes. Full of character, pure, fresh and well balanced, it has flavours of ripe pears, lemon, lime flowers and red gooseberries with subtle nuances of melon, minerality and passion fruit.

Enjoy!

Almond Water, Orgeat and Cocktails

2013-04-24T14:30:00.000+01:00

I spotted recently that Victoria’s Kitchen Almond Water was introduced to the UK last month along with the launch of two new flavours: Almond Water Coconut and Almond Water Liquorice Mint. The company was started by husband-and-wife duo David and Deborah Meniane. Originally from France, Victoria’s Kitchen Almond Water was inspired by David's grandmother's (Victoria), recipe and was named after her. It's a refreshing drink but you can also use it in a variety of cocktails (their website has several good ones here).

Almonds are part of the plum family and are native to North Africa, West Asia and the Mediterranean. Almond Water (sometimes also known as Almond Milk) has been made for centuries throughout these regions. It was a staple in the Medieval kitchen as cow's milk could not be kept for long without spoiling and was usually immediately turned into butter or cheese.

In the UK – where almond trees don't thrive – we used barley instead, hence Barley Water. Robinsons Lemon Barley Water is still the 'official still soft drink' at Wimbledon (having been so since 1934) – and incidentally warm Lemon Barley Water is great for soothing a sore throat.

With the onset of refrigeration the use of Almond Water diminished but syrups and cordials were made using the same process. Orgeat is a sweet syrup made from almonds, sugar and rose water or orange flower water. It's used to flavour coffees, drinks, desserts and many cocktails – the most famous ones being the Mai Tai and the Momisette.

Momisette

This is a traditional French drink, the name of which literally translates as 'little mummy'.

30ml Pastis

8ml Orgeat

Sparkling Mineral Water

Add pastis and orgeat to a Collins glass, fill with ice and top off with sparkling mineral water.

Mai Tai

Mai Tai is the Tahitian word for good and the Mai Tai cocktail was popularised in the 1950s and 60s in tiki-themed restaurants and bars – it was featured in the Elvis Presley film Blue Hawaii.

40ml White Rum

20ml Dark Rum

15ml Orange Curaçao

15ml Orgeat

10ml Fresh Lime Juice

Shake all ingredients except the dark rum together in a mixer with ice. Strain into a Highball glass and float the dark rum onto the top. Garnish and serve with straw.

You can also add a few splashes of Orgeat to Champagne if you'd like to create a novel aperitif – I'd suggest using a sparkling wine as a less extravagant alternative: Comte de Laube (£8.50) would be a good choice as it has subtle notes of toasted almond and will harmonise beautifully.

There are several producers who offer Orgeat – Torani is based in the USA. In 1925, Rinaldo and Ezilda Torre visited family in Lucca, Italy. The two returned home to their native San Francisco with something very important: handwritten recipes, which they used to create authentic flavored syrups. These syrups helped Rinaldo and Ezilda reintroduce the Italian soda to their North Beach neighbourhood. Today, Torani are a global presence but have remained a family-owned company making over 100 varieties of syrup.

Vedrenne has been making its liqueurs, eaux de vie, brandies and syrups since 1923 in Nuits-Saint-Georges, in the heart of Burgundy in the middle of the burgundian orchards. The company initially won fame with the outstanding quality of its Crème de Cassis and has since gone on to acquire international recognition.

Cheers!

Beef Olives and Bordeaux Wine

2013-04-03T15:01:00.000+01:00

Beef Olives are delicious and just right for warming us up in this cold weather that just won't go away! They are slow cooked, stuffed beef rolls in a rich sauce and although called Beef Olives they don't contain any olives at all. Beef Olives are an old recipe and 'olives' of Fish and Veal have been around since the 16th century in Britain. I don't know how they acquired their name, perhaps it's because they look a little olive shaped when cooked. Some say their name is a corruption of the regional French version of the dish Alouettes Sans Tête (which does contain olives). Alouettes Sans Tête literally translated means 'larks without heads' so both dishes have strange names!

I have both the British and the French recipes of this dish – the British is easier and simpler to cook whereas the French would make a good dinner party dish.

Beef Olives

Serves 8

675g beef topside cut into 8 thin slices

8 small slices of streaky bacon

1 tbsp flour

1 ½ tbsp olive oil (if you prefer beef dripping use this instead – around 25g)

300ml beef stock

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Stuffing

50g breadcrumbs

1 small grated onion

1 ½ tbsp olive oil

1 tsp chopped fresh parsely

1 tsp chopped sage

1 tsp chopped marjoram

freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

1 egg yolk

Mix all the stuffing ingredients together in a bowl and divide into 8 sausage shaped rolls. Beat the slices of beef to flatten them (a rolling pin is ideal for this) and place a slice of bacon and a roll of stuffing on top of each slice of beef. Roll up and tie with a length of kitchen string to make an 'olive'.

Add the oil to a frying pan and place the beef olives in once the oil is hot. Cook until the olives are sealed. Remove the olives from the frying pan and place them into a shallow casserole dish. Return to the frying pan and sprinkle in the flour, cook for 1 minute. Add the beef stock gradually whilst stirring to stop lumps from forming. Add the Worcestershire sauce. When boiling pour over the olives and cover.

Cook in a moderate overn (Gas 4, 350ºF, 180ºC) for about 1 ½ hours until tender. To serve remove the string and place on a serving dish. Pour the sauce over the beef olives.

Alouettes Sans Tête

Serves 8

8 thin slices of beef
8 tsp. Dijon mustard
8 tbsp parsley, chopped
8 garlic cloves, halved
2 thick slices bacon, diced
16 black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, finely diced
2 onions, chopped
1 bouquet garni of 6 parsley sprigs, 2 bay leaves, 8 leafy thyme branches, 2 leafy celery sprigs
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp flour
splash of eau de vie or cognac (optional)
1 cup dry white wine
3 – 4 cups beef stock
kitchen twine
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp additional chopped parsley

To make the rolls: spread each slice of beef with the mustard. Near the wider end, place the halved garlic, cut side down, lengthwise. Add the diced bacon (about 2 tablespoons per roll), 2 chopped olives, and 2 tablespoons chopped parsley. Roll up the slice of meat snugly around the filling. Tie a loop around the roll at each end. Trim any excess.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the rolls on all sides and remove to a plate. Add the chopped onion and carrot along with a healthy pinch of salt and cook in the pan, stirring until softened (about 5 minutes). Add the tomato puree and cook until slightly charry. Return the rolls to the pan, sprinkle with the flour, and stir about gently until flour is no longer visible. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with the eau de vie or cognac (if using) and ignite. Turn the rolls in the flames until they are extinguished. Return to low heat and deglaze with the wine. Bring to a boil. Add 3 cups of stock and stir gently. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat the lowest possible setting.

Cover and simmer, turning the rolls occasionally in the sauce, until very tender when pierced with a knife. This can take up to 3 hours depending on the cut of beef used. Adjust the seasoning, remove the bouquet garni, and delicately snip and remove the twine. Sprinkle with the parsley, and serve immediately.

Wine Pairing

Bordeaux is amongst the traditional wine pairings for Alouettes Sans Tête and Nick recommends it for our Beef Olive version too. There are two superb clarets from the Côtes de Castillon in Bordeaux that would be brilliant with these dishes: Chateau Cap de Faugères 2000 and Chateau Puyanche 2005.

Cap de is Faugères 2000 is from the Chateau Faugères estate and is hailed as one of the up and coming wines from Bordeaux that has got some wine critics quite excited, claiming that it is the beginning of a legend. Being made with a high proportion of Merlot the wines of Cap de Faugères are a luscious velvet style. The wines are full bodied, aromatic and concentrated with blackcurrant, spice, chocolate and floral notes.

Chateau Puyanche 2005 is made by the Arbo family who have been winemakers ince 1900. It’s a dark garnet colour with the aromas of blackberry and plum compotés, leather and spices. Puyanché is a supple, aromatic and complex wine, well balanced and silky and is well worth discovering!

Enjoy!

Easter Lamb Recipe and Rosemary Flavoured Liqueurs

2013-03-27T13:49:00.001Z

Despite its Mediterranean roots Rosemary survives well in my garden and its stiff green sprigs have battled against being frozen with frost and buried under snow. It's a herb that I use a lot and I'm grateful that it has lasted throughout the winter – unlike my sage which has given up. I add it to steamed courgettes in the summer, to stuffing and to joints of lamb for its lovely aroma.

I always associate Rosemary with Remembrance but folklore links it to weddings and love charms. According to legend Rosemary was draped around the Greek goddess Aphrodite as she rose from the sea and its name actually means ‘dew of the sea’ - (ros is the Latin for 'dew' and marinus is Latin for 'sea'). It's so named because it needs little or no water and can survive on just the humidity of a sea breeze.

I was surprised to find out that Rosemary is used in Liqueurs – I had thought they would be a little too powerful, too medicinal but they are said to have sweet camphor, resin and eucalyptus notes. Apparently there is a growing demand for herb infused alcoholic drinks. In the UK, Vermouth, Campari, Benedictine and Chartreuse have all enjoyed popularity in the past – all of which are infused with herbs.

Two well known Rosemary Liqueurs are Marie Brizard's Romarin Essence (30%) and Janot's Romarin (24%). Monin also produce a Rosemary Syrup that has just been released for sale here in the UK: Monin's Sirop Romarin. Both liqueurs and syrups can be used in cocktails (especially in gin and vodka based ones), mocktails, teas, smoothies, lemonades and in cooking (enhancing lamb and pork dishes, for example, and as a vinaigrette for salads and starters).

Has anyone tried a Rosemary Liqueur or rosemary cocktail? This is something that is definitely on my to do list.

I will be using Rosemary for my Easter Lamb this year but the recipe I have decided to make is a slow cooked Lamb Shank from Abruzzo in Italy where lamb is the traditional dish.

Abruzzo lies at the centre the Italian peninsula facing the Adriatic, and is bordered on the east by the Adriatic and on the west by the Apennines, making it is one of the most mountainous regions in Italy. In the past, the region of Abruzzo was well known for the transumanza, the migratory movement of sheep principally south to the region of Puglia during the cold winter months.

Abruzzi Lamb

1 tbsp olive oil
2 lamb shanks
3 oz smoked bacon
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp plain flour
½ pint lamb or chicken stock
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp brown sugar
2 – 3 sprigs rosemary
8 oz cherry tomatoes
salt and pepper

Set the Slow Cooker to Low. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the lamb until browned. Remove the lamb and set aside. Add the bacon and onion to the pan and fry until browned. Add the garlic and cook for 2 mins. Stir in the flour and mix in the stock. Add the tomato puree, sugar, rosemary, salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Spoon the lamb into the Slow Cooker, pour over the hot stock mixture and then add the whole tomatoes. Cover with the lid and cook on Low for 8 – 10 hours. Serve with pasta.

Wine Pairing:

Great with Chateau Roc de Segur 2007 – this is a rich ruby purple colour in the glass Roc de Segur will benefit from a couple of hours decanting to do it full justice. This is a lovely wine and a benchmark for good honest claret.

It has flavours of rich blackberry cassis, ripe raspberries, cedar and spice with a hint of black cherry, herbs and earthiness. The tannins are velvety and supple; the wine is very well balanced and has a lovely long finish. Roc de Segur is an excellent food wine that pairs brilliantly with roast duck, venison, pheasant, lamb, beef and rich casseroles.

Enjoy!

Turkish Spiced Pilaf (Ic Pilav)

2013-02-20T14:39:00.001Z

I read recently that one of the earliest references to Pilaf is in the histories of Alexander the Great when describing Bactrian hospitality (Bactria was an ancient Persian province).

It's certainly a very old dish and there are lots of different regional variations (pilav in the Middle East, plov in Central Asia and pilau in the Indian subcontinent). The rice in the dish should be fluffy and not sticky, the idea being that the grains should remain separate. The Turkish recipe that I have for Spiced Pilaf suggests that Baldo Rice is the best to use. Baldo Rice is a thick, short grained rice that keeps its shape at high cooking temperatures. You can buy it online in the UK but I use Basmati Rice as a replacement and that works very well.

Spiced Pilaf (Ic Pilav)

Serves 10

4 cups Baldo Rice (alternatively use Basmati Rice)

4 tbsp pine nuts

4 tbsp currants

250g chicken (or lambs) liver

1 onion

200g butter

1 tsp ground allspice

½ tsp salt

½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper

5 meat stock

1 tsp sugar

1 bunch dill

Place the rice in a bowl and cover with hot water. Add the salt and stand for 30 mins. Rinse in cold water several times and drain.

Peel and dice the onion. Soak the currants in warm water until they swell, then drain. Finely chop the liver into very small pieces. Melt the butter in a pan and stir the pine nuts over the heat until lightly coloured. Add the diced onion and the liver. Add the rice and stir over the heat for a few minutes. Add the currants, pepper and allspice.

Heat the meat stock up to boiling point in a separate pan and then add to your rice mixture along with the sugar. Cover and bring to a boil over a high heat. Then cook over a low heat for 15 minutes. When the liquid has evaporated and steam holes appear in the surface of the rice, remove from the heat. Stand for 10 – 15 minutes. Chop the dill finely and sprinkle over the dish. Stir and serve.

Wine Pairing


Nick suggests a white wine such as
 Château Vrai Caillou "Les Vignes de la Garène" 
(70% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Semillon & 10% Muscadelle)
This would be good with this pilaf as it's elegance and subtleties
will not clash with the spices.  

Enjoy!

Braised Ox Liver with Mustard Mash

2013-02-13T14:48:00.001Z

Thanks to our kindly butcher I ended up with some Ox Liver recently. I tend to stick with Lambs Liver and had heard that Ox Liver can be rather strong so I grilled a little piece of it to try and was surprised how good it tasted. It wasn't as strong as I find Pigs Liver and although distinctly 'livery' it reminded me slightly of pigeon breast or venison. My butcher recommended we try it braised. I used the recipe below and it was delicious! A lot of recipes suggest that you soak the liver in milk for an hour or so to make the taste milder but I didn't and the family enjoyed it.

1 lb ox liver

2 cups of milk (for soaking the liver in if you prefer)

3 tbsps flour

good pinch salt

1 large onion

juice of half a lemon

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 cups beef stock

Half a cup of sour cream

Cut the liver into strips (soak in milk for an hour if you prefer). Dust the strips of liver in the flour and sauté in hot oil until browned on all sides. Remove and set aside.

Chop the onions into rings and brown in the same pan. Remove and set aside.

Deglaze the pan with the beef stock, lemon juice and brown sugar. Add the sour cream and cook for 5 mins.

Add the strips of liver and onions and cover the pan with a lid. Cook gently for half an hour or so until the liver is tender. Be careful not to overcook as the liver will become hard.

For the Mustard Mash

2lb potatoes, peeled

3½oz butter

3 tbsp double cream

3 tbsp wholegrain mustard

Boil the potatoes until cooked and drain thoroughly. Mash with the butter and cream. Add the whole grain mustard and mix well.

Wine Pairing

Nick suggests that a young bright and full bodied red wine will 
compliment the liver  and recommends: 
Jean Baptiste Audy Cabernet Sauvignon (100% Cabernet Sauvignon)
or the Jean Baptiste Audy Cuvee 
(75% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Syrah)

Enjoy!

A Vintage of a Different Kind

2013-01-09T17:44:00.001Z

We are used to hearing about vintage wines but the word is also used on other products – vintage clothing, vintage cars . . . and now vintage rice.

I had no idea that rice, like wine, has a vintage and that some years are considered to be far superior to others. Tilda has released a Vintage Basmati Rice which comes from the crop of 2006 which is said to be the best year for rice in recent history.

The Vintage Basmati Rice has been aged to create a richer, more separate grain, which producers say enhances its flavour. Basmati is grown primarily in Pakistan and northern India and has a fragrant flavour that makes it popular for curries. When farmers have an exceptionally good crop, they will generally set aside part of their haul for their families to eat on special occasions. This will then be aged to produce a stronger-tasting variety that goes especially well with red meat and game.

Tilda stored some of its 2006 harvest and claims the rice, which comes in a gold-coloured bag and is presented in a black gift box, has an ‘extraordinary nutty aroma and naturally sweet flavour’. The company’s marketing chief Vijay Vaidyanathan said:

“‘We are bringing something completely new to the rice category, creating a prestige product.

As a naturally fragrant rice, it develops more complex aromas and flavours over time, so by carefully storing the rice we are adding new dimensions to the existing offering.”

However, much like vintage wines, Tilda's Vintage Basmati Rice comes at a cost - it is more than five times the price of most supermarket own-brand basmati.

Tilda's website recommend a recipe by Luiz Hara that uses the Vintage Basmati Rice: Japanese Chestnut Rice (Kuri Gohan) here which is s made from a combination of Japanese short-grain and glutinous rice (mochi gome), water, mirin (a type of sweetened sake widely used in Japanese cooking), and chestnuts.

It's usually served with Japanese pork belly, caramelised with brown sugar, ginger and soy sauce but can also accompany roast partridge, pheasant or quail.

If you are searching for the perfect wine to do this recipe justice we'd suggest M de Malle 2005 which is ideal with feathered game and has complex flavours of white blossom, passion fruit, bees wax, quince, citrus fruits and spice. This is a beautifully structured wine that has a good burst of lemon acidity which will really bring out the aromas and flavours of the dish.

Enjoy!

Christmas Chique 2012 - The Old and the New, the Weird and the Wonderful: Pease Pudding and Persimmons

2012-12-19T13:15:00.000Z

A quick trip to our local Morrisons supermarket turned out to be longer than expected due to the weird and wonderful new range of exotic fruits and vegetables they had on display. I couldn’t resist having a good look! Apparently Morrisons have been revamping their stores into new 'Fresh Format' stores complete with ice beds and misting technology to keep the fruits, vegetables and herbs fresh and hydrated. Although our local store hasn't been transformed yet it has benefitted from the new range of exotic oddities – including plumegranates (not a cross between a plum and a pomegranate but an almost-black skinned plum with deep scarlet flesh), graffiti aubergines, candy beetroot, dudhi, green mooli, plantain, turia, arbi, cassava and eddoes.

This is quite a change for Morrisons – when I used to shop 'up North' the most unusual item in my trolley from this store was Pease Pudding. Not that Pease Pudding is unusual in the North East – it's very popular - but it was unusual to me as I hadn't tasted it before. It's delicious. Pease Pudding is a very old dish and was once a staple on the British dinner table but fell out of favour in the 1900s. It's also known as Pease Pottage or Pease Porridge and the small village of Pease Pottage in Sussex takes its name from the dish.

Pease Pudding is made from soaked yellow split peas wrapped in a muslin bag dropped into a simmering pot with a hock of ham. The peas turn mushy and look a little bit like hummus. It can be eaten hot or cold and Pease Pudding is perfect with ham which makes it a useful addition to the Christmas table, especially if you haven't tried it before. Although it’s still very popular up North Pease Pudding is hard to find around here and if you'd like to make your own there is a recipe here.

Morrisons foray into exotic fruit and veg follows on from the news that UK sales of more unusual tropical fruits have soared as adventurous Britons develop a taste for new and more exotic groceries. Sales of persimmons - also known as Sharon fruit (named after the Sharon plain in Israel) - have for the first time overtaken sales of mangoes, while sales of pomegranates have rocketed by almost 30%.

Persimmons can vary in colour but the ones we normally see are orange and although they look a little like a tomato they are actually berries from the tree species Diospyros (meaning 'divine fruit' in Greek). The seedless fruit ripens to a sweet, jelly-like meat that remains encased inside a waxy, thin-skinned shell. The flavour is sweet and mild, a little similar to mango or pumpkin.

Originally native to China cultivars of the Persimmon have spread out across the globe and its fruit is thought to have reached European and American tables around 1800. In the USA Persimmon Pudding is a traditional American dessert a little like Christmas Pudding.

In Indiana it is considered to be one of two local legendary dishes (the other being Sugar Cream Pie) and since 1946 they have held a Persimmon Festival every year. Persimmon Pudding is usually steamed or cooked in a bain-marie and is served with whipped cream or brandy butter. If you fancy trying it as an alternative to our British Christmas Pud the Mitchell Persimmon Festival website has the winning Persimmon Pudding recipes available here.

Enjoy!

Christmas Chique 2012 - Quick Christmas Appetizers

2012-12-12T19:19:00.000Z

If you are pushed for time at Christmas and want to add a little panache to your drinks parties or keep your dinner guests happy before the meal I have some quick and easy recipes for appetizers that don't involve slaving over a hot stove!

Stuffed dates and figs are a true Eastern delight and can be as luxurious as you like. In the Middle East they are usually stuffed with nuts but cheese fillings offer a sweet and savoury taste explosion.

Figs with Camembert

250g dried figs

3 tbsp port

125g camembert cheese, diced

Soak the figs in the port overnight. Cut a slit fig and widen the hole with your finger. Fill with camembert cheese.

Fresh Dates with Ginger

250g fresh dates

125g full fat soft cream cheese

1 tbsp chopped glacé ginger

1 tsp grated lemon rind

Remove the stones from the dates. Beat the cream cheese with the ginger and lemon rind. Fill the dates with the mixture.

Celery boats are super finger food and you can stuff celery with salmon or crab mousses, fish pâtés, cream cheeses and nuts. Seafood and chilled, crisp celery are a refreshing combination – especially with a glass of sparkling wine!

Celery Boats with Prawns

300ml thick sour cream

1 tbsp drained capers

1 tbsp fresh chives, chopped

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

500g cooked prawns

3 or 4 sticks of celery

Chop the capers and add them to the sour cream. Add the chives and Dijon mustard, stir well. Chill.

Chop the prawns into 2 or 3 pieces. Trim the rib off the celery so that it sits with a flat base and chop into 5 cm lengths. Chill.

Spoon the sour cream mixture into each length of celery and top with the prawns.

Salt beef is a popular choice this Christmas but I prefer smoked beef, especially on the rare side. Paired with rye bread and this unusual but tasty tuna mayonnaise sauce these open sandwiches are very moreish!

Smoked Beef Open Sandwiches

10 slices of dark rye bread

butter for spreading

20 – 30 slices of smoked beef

250ml mayonnaise

125g canned tuna

juice of ½ lemon

freshly cracked black pepper

Cut the rye bread into halves and spread with butter. Arrange the smoked beef slices on top of the rye bread.

Blend the canned tuna (drain it first), mayonnaise, lemon juice and capers in a blender. Spoon the sauce over the smoked beef and garnish with freshly cracked black pepper.

Enjoy!

Christmas Chique 2012 - Crazy for Coconut

2012-12-05T15:15:00.000Z

Coconut foods and drinks are big news this Christmas. Coconut Water is apparently the next new trend in soft drinks and is one of the fastest growing beverage categories in both the UK and USA. It has a celebrity following ranging from Madonna to Lady GaGa and is finding favour with sports stars due to its supposed hydrating qualities. It's even popping up in cocktails.

Coconut Oil is also making a comeback and coconut is being used to flavour jams, noodles, soups and sugar. Researchers in Australia have even developed a coconut flavoured pineapple dubbed AusFestival that is due to be commercially available in 2 years’ time!

Coconut has been a popular flavouring in alcoholic drinks for some time – Malibu, the coconut flavoured rum, is launching its newest Limited Edition bottle this winter, Malibu Snowcoco. The coconut flavoured rum has a sprinkling of real coconut flakes so that when swirled in the glass it resembles a snowstorm. There are also coconut flavoured gins (Hoxtons Gin), vodkas (Ciroc and Smirnoff amongst others), brandy (Mendis), liqueurs (Bols, Marie Brizard, Monin's Liqueur de Noix de Coco) and its even used to flavour sake (Ty Ku).

Snowball cakes and lollipops that are covered in desiccated coconut seem to be popular this year and they have reminded me of the old fashioned Coconut Ice squares that we used to make. They were irresistible and are easy to make.

395g tin of sweetened condensed milk
350g icing sugar
350g desiccated coconut
2-4 drops red food colouring

Sieve the icing sugar to get rid of any lumps. Add the desiccated coconut and condensed milk to the icing sugar and mix together. Divide the mixture into two and add a couple of drops of red food colouring to one half. Press the white mixture into the base of a flat dish and then spread the pink mixture over the top. Press down hard to flatten it. Place in the fridge to harden for a day. Once it has set, cut into small squares.

You can be as inventive as you like, adding different layers of colours – for a Christmas theme red and white coconut ices look great, simply add more red food colouring to deepen the colour from pink to crimson!

Seaweed for Christmas?

2012-11-21T17:03:00.000Z

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When I saw the news last week that the first licence to gather seaweed in England was issued to Rory MacPhee of Falmouth in Cornwall I initially thought it was granting permission to use the seaweed as fertilizer (being the keen gardener that I am!). Then on reading the article properly I discovered the seaweed licence was for gathering seaweed as food. MacPhee is keen to give seaweed a marketing overhaul, rebranding it as 'sea vegetables' and wants to take seaweed from being the preserve of health food stores to appealing to a wider audience. For more information on Rory visit www.falassa.co.uk.

I'm glad to see that England's caught up with the times. Seaweed harvesting is a small scale industry in the Outer Hebrides, Northern Ireland and South Wales which is now finding new and wider markets – and seaweed has been eaten for countless centuries along these shores.

Of course as a nation we still have a long way to go to catch up with Japan and China (where over 170,000 tons are consumed per year) but I think it's great that we are starting to realise that we can use seaweed for more than Sushi or as a fried, crispy garnish sprinkled over Asian foods. I am a fan of Laverbread (see Laverbread – the Welshman's Caviar) which incidentally is the same seaweed known as Nori in Japan that is used to make Sushi. However I know that mainstream English, and French cuisine for that matter, traditionally haven't really valued seaweeds. I don't know whether this is because eating seaweeds has been associated with times of scarcity and poverty in the past or whether it is because it has remained a peculiarity of the coastal regions never reaching further inland.

Nevertheless, seaweeds are now big news. Apart from their medicinal and nutritional benefits seaweed dishes are served in 7 out of 10 of the world's top restaurants. Among well-known fans is Heston Blumenthal, who has recommended using Kelp to make NHS food more flavoursome without using additional salt. Heston has also a best selling Steak, Ale and Kombu (Pacific variety of Kelp) Pie for Waitrose and recently served Seaweed Shepherd's Pie to BA passengers in his TV series Mission Impossible. Incredibly kilo for kilo seaweed contains more iron than sirloin steak, more fibre than prunes or bananas and more calcium than cheese.

There are around 650 edible varieties growing along the UK’s 11,000 mile coastline, although only around 35 have ever really been used for cooking. Edible seaweeds can range from delicate saline flavours to a tangy iodine taste. Some are even slightly sweet and others have little flavour at all. Apart from Laver and Kelp the better known edible seaweeds available in the UK are:

Dulse (sometimes called Dillisk, Latin name Palmaria palmata). In Ireland Dulse is dried and eaten as a traditional snack like crisps. It has a delicate salty taste and can be powdered, flaked or finely sliced. Used to add flavour to meat dishes, in soups, salads and added to bread or pizza dough.

Carrageen – (sometimes called Irish Moss, Latin name Chondrus crispus) – A natural setting agent as an alternative to gelatine. Used in desserts such as ice cream, blancmange and jelly, as a thickening agent is soups and even in toothpaste!

Sea Lettuce (Latin name Ulva lactuca) – Used in salads and as a garnish.

Sea Spaghetti (sometimes called Thongweed, Latin name Himanthalia elongata) – Used just like spaghetti! Or in salads.

Irish Wakame (sometimes called Badderlocks, Latin name Alaria esculenta) – Used fresh in salads or dried in soups and stews.

There are a fantastic range of recipes using seaweed in both savoury and sweet dishes at Celtnet here. - including one for Fruit Salad with Kirsched Sea Spaghetti. If you fancy adding seaweed to your Christmas menu Prannie Rhatigan, from Ireland's North West has written a seaweed recipe book Irish Seaweed Kitchen which contains some brilliantly inventive as well as traditional dishes, one of which is Christmas Pudding with Brandied Sea Spaghetti. You can find details at her website www.prannie.com.

Christmas Chique 2012 – Haagen-Dazs New Ice Moon Cake and Plum Pudding Revisited

2012-11-09T13:49:00.001Z

Häagen-Dazs have collaborated with British design duo Doshi Levien to create a limited edition Christmas cake. The result is the Häagen-Dazs Ice Moon Cake – which looks an awful lot like an old fashioned Christmas Pudding to me. However it won't taste like one as the cake consists of a pistachio biscuit base, layers of macadamia nut ice cream and meringue and a coating of raspberry sorbet. Each Ice Moon Cake is hand made in the Häagen-Dazs shop in Paris. Only fifty are available in the UK and they retail at £50.00 each. They sound delicious but what intrigued me was their spherical shape – I haven't seen a round Christmas Pudding for years, apart from the ones on Christmas Cards of course.

The cannon-ball shaped Christmas Pudding was an earlier incarnation of our festive dessert. Before the 19th century Christmas Puddings were known as Plum Puddings and were shaped into a ball, wrapped in muslin and boiled (sometimes in beef broth, which sounds revolting but in Medieval times these puddings contained meat as well as dried fruit). The present pudding-basin shape of Christmas Pudding didn't become popular until well into the 20th century.

Christmas Puddings used to be called Plum Puddings as they contained prunes (dried plums). This was before the days when raisins, currants, sultanas and candied peel were readily available. There is a good recipe for Dickensian Plum Pudding by Josceline Dimbleby which I am going to use this year. It serves 8 – 10 people:

1 small pat of butter
350g pitted prunes
100g crystallised ginger
40g walnut halves
225g large raisins
grated rind and juice of 2 large oranges
125g fresh brown breadcrumbs
125g shredded vegetable suet
1 tsp ground cloves
3 large eggs
2-3 tbsp Cointreau or Brandy

Cut the prunes into small pieces and roughly chop the ginger and walnuts. Put the chopped ingredients into a large bowl with the raisins, grated orange rind, breadcrumbs, suet and ground cloves. In another bowl whisk the eggs until frothy and slightly thickened and stir well into the dry ingredients. Lastly stir in the orange juice and cointreau or brandy.

Leave to allow the ingredients to blend together for half an hour or more and then spoon the mixture into your mould or basin. Steam gently for about 6 hours, checking now and then and adding more boiling water if it has evaporated at all. When the pudding is cold keep in a cool place until Christmas Day. Then put in a saucepan as before and steam for another hour or so before serving. Serve on a warmed plate, stick a sprig of holly on top, pour Cointreau or Brandy round the pudding and set it alight . . .

You can buy metal moulds to make round Christmas puddings but I am going to try it the old fashioned way. I have muslin squares that I use for straining pips, flowers and stalks out of fermenting home-made wine so I can use one of these as my pudding bag. Apparently you spoon out your pudding mixture into the centre of a slightly damp muslin square and form it into a ball. Bring the four corners of the muslin square together and tightly twist to seal. Tie firmly with a piece of string.

Choose a large tall pan – a jam pan would be ideal. Tie the pudding to a long handled wooden spoon that you can balance across the rim of the pan. The idea is to suspend the pudding from the handle of the wooden spoon without it touching the bottom of the pan. Pour in enough boiling hot water to cover the dangling pudding. I think a lid of some sort would be a good idea (if you don't have one you could always make one out of foil) as a lid will intensify the heat and steam where it’s needed and won't turn your kitchen into a sauna. Boil the pudding for 5 – 6 hours, checking to make sure the water has not boiled dry and topping it up if necessary.

Once done, drain off the water and leave the pudding to dangle until it is fully cold. Don't remove the muslin. Wrap with foil and keep in the fridge until Christmas Day. To reheat simply remove the foil, follow as before but instead of immersing the dangling pudding in boiling water, steam it over simmering water for 2 – 3 hours.

Wish me luck!

Christmas Chique 2012: Hot Roots and Seeds – British Grown Wasabi, Horseradish, Tewkesbury Mustard and Smoked Haddock Pâté

2012-10-31T13:20:00.000Z

Wasabi is being grown for the first time ever in the UK by one of our top watercress-producing families based in Dorset. It's notoriously difficult to grow and takes 2 years until it is ready for harvest. If you haven't tried fresh Wasabi before it has a uniquely sweet pungent taste and fiery heat which really wakes up the taste buds and sinuses. It stimulates the nasal passages rather than the tongue and the heat is more akin to horseradish or mustard than chilli.

The Wasabi Company use traditional Japanese methods and grow Sawa Wasabi – the purest, sweetest, hottest and healthiest variety. Fresh Wasabi is unlike the wasabi green paste in tubes that you see sold in shops – these usually contain a substitute which is a mix of horseradish, mustard and green food colouring with as little as only 5% of the real wasabi root.

Sawa Wasabi is native to mountainous river valleys of Japan and thrives along the cool and shady banks of stream beds. Although Wasabi has been eaten in Japan for thousands of years by the 16th century it was restricted to the Japanese ruling class. It wasn't until the rise in production of sushi that Wasabi used became more widely available. It is the preferred flavouring for sushi and was prized for its ability to counteract food poisoning.

This British grown Wasabi has been a boon for chefs up and down the UK with Gary Jones, executive chef of Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons, summing it up as "bloody marvellous, a small miracle of pure taste and flavour." You can buy varying sizes of Wasabi rhizomes (roots), specialist graters and bamboo brush brushes from The Wasabi Company's website. They have handy guides on how much you will need and recipe suggestions – which go far beyond sushi.

I'm not surprised Wasabi has become such a big hit in the UK given our love of horseradish and mustard. Horseradish was used as a medicinal herb in 13th century Britain but became popular in the 1600s. By the end of the 17th century horseradish was the standard accompaniment for beef and oysters among all Englishmen. The English, in fact, grew the pungent root at inns and coach stations, to make cordials to revive exhausted travellers (the Germans still make schnapps out of horseradish root). It's not a member of the Wasabi family but is a distant relative as they both belong to the Brassicaceae group which includes cabbages – and mustard.

We don't live far from Tewkesbury which is famous for its Tewkesbury Mustard which is made from mustard and horseradish (and sometimes local cider!) – a tradition that dates back centuries. It was mentioned in William Shakespeare's play Henry IV and King Henry VIII was presented with Tewkesbury Mustard Balls covered in gold leaf when he visited the town in 1535. The Tewkesbury Mustard Company is the only mustard-maker in Tewkesbury and continues this tradition – they were featured on Ainsley Harriet's The Great British Food Revival on BBC 2 this week! We eat it regularly at home and if you haven't tried it yet please do, it's delicious.

I use horseradish in Smoked Mackerel Pâté (see here for recipe) but this year I'm making Smoked Haddock Pâté for Christmas Eve snacks using our local Tewkesbury Mustard.

Smoked Haddock Pâté

2 or 3 big fillets of un-dyed smoked haddock (cooked)

300 ml double cream

2 boiled eggs (chopped up small)

1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

juice of 1 lemon

3 tsp Tewkesbury Mustard

cress

I tend to poach the smoked haddock in a pan with a knob of butter and just enough milk to cover the fish. Flake the cooked smoked haddock into a blender/liquidiser, discarding the skin and any stray bones. Add the liquid from the pan that the fish was poached in and the boiled eggs, double cream, lemon juice and Tewkesbury Mustard to the blender. Pulse until roughly minced. Deposit into a bowl and stir in the freshly cracked black pepper, put into individual ramekins, sprinkle with cress and serve.

Enjoy!

Christmas Chique 2012 – Game is the New Turkey

2012-10-24T19:02:00.002+01:00

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Apparently Game – feathered and fowl – is going to be popular this year instead of the traditional Turkey. Venison is always a favourite but Pigeon seems to be experiencing a renaissance. The days of Pigeon Pie are long gone and pan fried Pigeon Breast seems to be all the rage. I'm not surprised – it's an easy dish to prepare and is better than duck in my opinion. Pigeon meat is dark and has very little fat. If you haven't tried it before it tastes a little like a mild pâté. Wild Wood Pigeon is usually available in the markets but Squab (young domestic pigeon) is more tender – and plump.

Pigeon is a delicacy in the Middle East - from Morocco to Persia. In Egypt raising domestic pigeons is an important industry and you'll see dovecots dotted about the farms and small holdings along the Nile, some of which are a centuries old. It's believed that they were domesticated starting 10,000 years ago and pigeons are mentioned in 5,000 year-old Egyptian hieroglyphics

I remember a meal I had years ago at a restaurant of pan fried pigeon breast served with an apricot tartlet – it was delicious and would make a good addition to any Christmas menu. The apricot tartlet was very simple – just plain pastry with lattice work over apricot compote - and the pigeon breast was pan fried in butter with no marinade or sauce. Simple flavours and so good it has stuck in my mind for over a decade! Red Cabbage would be a great accompaniment and rather than use a braised red cabbage recipe I thought this one for a Red Cabbage Warm Salad looked scrumptious.

Red Cabbage Warm Salad

1 small red cabbage (finely shredded)

1 red onion (sliced)

4 tbsp sultanas

2 apples (diced)

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Olive oil

1 piece of root ginger (grated)

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp cinnamon

Handful fresh parsley (chopped)

Fry the red cabbage, onion, apple and ginger in a pan in the olive oil for a minute or so until they soften slightly. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 5 minutes. Serve.

Christmas Chique for 2012 – Baked Alaska Makes a Come Back

2012-10-17T16:52:00.001+01:00

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Baked Alaska is making a comeback for Christmas this year as Waitrose have teamed up with chef Heston Blumenthal once again to create a Caramelised Banana and Raspberry Baked Alaska. Last year the chef brought us pine-sugar mince pies that smelled like Christmas trees, the year before was all about the Hidden Orange Christmas Pudding.

Heston's Baked Alaska is a different take on the Baked Alaska that reached the height of its popularity in the 70s and 80s. It is made with raspberry parfait core encased in dark chocolate, surrounded by caramelised banana parfait instead of ice cream.

Heston explained that:

“Baked Alaska is a childhood favourite of mine. I love the juxtaposition of the soft meringue against the smooth creamy interior, but I hated the idea that it all melted so quickly. So I was inspired to create my take on the old school classic by creating a raspberry mousse centre which gave the creaminess without melting and adding one of my favourite flavours – bananas!”

Baked Alaska was popular during Victorian times when 'ice cream cakes' were all the rage but the name wasn't coined until 1876 when the chef at Delmonico's Restaurant, New York, Charles Ranhofer, named the dish in tribute to Alaska after it had become an American territory a few years before.

Like its contents Baked Alaska has a combination of origins – the idea of cooking an ice dessert within warm pastry seems to have come from the Chinese who introduced it to Europe in the 1800s when a delegation visited Paris. The French caught on to the idea and substituted the pastry for meringue, calling it Omelette à la Norvégienne (Norwegian Omelette).

Normally Baked Alaska is made with ice cream on a bed of sponge, topped with meringue which is then placed in a very hot oven just long enough to brown the meringue. However you can make all sorts of Baked Alaska by varying the ingredients and flavours – some are made with ginger or digestive biscuit bases instead of sponge and others have sorbets or frozen yoghurts instead of ice cream. Jamie Oliver makes a Baked Alaska Mince Pie and Aldi have a recipe for Christmas Baked Alaska using Christmas Cake as a base.

Tips for Making Baked Alaska

Save time by buying the sponge and ice cream rather than make them from scratch – you can be as inventive as you like, using from chocolate sponge to walnut cake!

Freeze the sponge before topping it with ice cream to help keep the ice cream cold when you are heating the dessert.

The meringue can be flavoured with spirits such as Amaretto, Brandy and Rum – you can use essences too like Almond, Orange and Vanilla. Be artistic when you are coating the ice cream with the meringue using swirls or piping as this makes a great effect.

Use different toppings as a decoration such as sauce, fruit coulis, chocolate shavings or edible glitter.

Enjoy with Sparkling Wine – a Sparkling Rosé would be lovely!

Christmas Chique for 2012 – Gingerbread's 'Hot' this Year

2012-10-10T13:24:00.000+01:00

Last Christmas we saw Ginger flavoured drinks gain favour with Marks & Spencer seeing sales of Ginger Wine and Ginger Beer up 20% and the launch of new Gingerbread Rum and Gingerbread Cream Liqueur. You may have also spotted Gingerbread Houses at Aldi last December – which sold like hot cakes. According to statistics, exports of Root Ginger from India have gone up by 76% year on year and this year it appears that retailers have caught on to the fact that Ginger is enjoying a renaissance.

This September John Crabbie & Co announced 2 new flavours: Scottish Raspberry with Ginger and Lemonade with Ginger and Bulmers have launched a new Ginger Cider in Australia. Procter’s Sausages produced the prized Champion ‘Essex Sausage’ based on a traditional recipe with Ginger and Mace flavourings running through it and Ginger Honey is now on sale at Morrisons.

For Christmas 2012 the Bakers and Patissiers Just Desserts have created a Fever Tree Ginger Beer Cheesecake and Sainsbury's have a Gingerbread Man Chocolate Cake as well as Gingerbread Dough Blocks (as do Tesco) and a Make Your Own Gingerbread House Kit (easier said than done!).

Hansel and Gretel

It's thought that Gingerbread Houses became popular in Germany after the Brothers Grimm published their book of fairy tales which included "Hansel and Gretel" in 1812 but it's probable that Gingerbread Houses were being made long before this. In the 1600s Nuremberg in Germany, became known as the Gingerbread capital, thanks to the elaborate Gingerbread scenes, animals and figures – often decorated with gold leaf – made by the bakers of the city.

Queen Victoria, and her German-born husband Prince Albert, brought Gingerbread into fashion when they included it in with the other German Christmas traditions they adopted, like the Christmas tree, back in the 19^th century. However Gingerbread has been popular in the UK since the 15^th century. Many English villages had a tradition of young women eating Gingerbread men, or “husbands,” to ensure that they would soon be married. Often towns would have a Gingerbread fair – Market Drayton in Shropshire, is still famous for it, as is proudly displayed on their town’s welcome sign.

There are plenty of Gingerbread recipes for Christmas around: Jamie Oliver's Gingerbread and Sherry Trifle and Nigella Lawson's Gingerbread Stuffing but I really like the one for Gingerbread and Lime Cheesecake over at BBC GoodFood. I've simplified the recipe here and you can use Gingerbread Dough to make the base or crunch up Ginger Biscuits.

225g Ginger biscuits or Gingerbread - crushed

115g butter - melted

300g full fat soft cream cheese

250ml double cream

2 limes - juice and zest

4 tbsp Ginger syrup (you can buy stem Ginger in ginger syrup and use the stem Ginger to decorate the dish)

Crumble up the Gingerbread and mix with melted butter, then press hard into the base of a ring mould. Pop into the fridge to chill for an hour. Whip the cream and mix in the cream cheese, ginger syrup and lime juice. Add the stem ginger and lime zest. Spoon onto the Gingerbread base and spread. Place in the fridge for a couple of hours until firm.

Enjoy with sparkling wines that are aromatic, crisp and palate cleansing or dessert wines that are honeyed, spicy and rich. My choice would be a dry Cremant d'Alsace or Sauternes as they work well with pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Cava and late harvest Riesling or Ice Wine are also good pairings.

Christmas Chique for 2012

2012-10-04T09:16:00.002+01:00

You might be surprised to learn that the UK supermarkets Tesco, Waitrose and Morrisons unveiled their festive foods for Christmas to the press in July this year. Harrods' Knightsbridge store opened its Christmas department in July, hoping to tempt people to shop early and to capitalise on tourists visiting the capital for the Olympics. Christmas has also come early to Asda who opened Santa's grottos in August - which the supermarket says were designed to encourage people to start saving for the festive season. What's more selected branches of Tesco have had dedicated Christmas aisles for a month or so already.

What's going on? It seems that this early Christmas drive has been inspired by research commissioned by the supermarkets which showed that almost half of Mums were more worried about the cost of Christmas this year than in 2011 and that a third had started to buy earlier in the year . . . some as early as late Spring.

Lots of folk get fed up with Christmas coming earlier in the shops and claim it dilutes the festive spirit but I take a different take on this. For me, living in the countryside, Autumn has always been a time of harvest – and of jam making, bottling, pickling, freezing etc. So as the nights start to draw in I am always thinking ahead and inevitably preparing for Christmas becomes part of the ritual. Doing things in advance these days helps busy Mums, especially those of us who are working with families to care for at home, and so planning for the festive season to come not only saves money but precious time.

City folk have the same problem and why shouldn't they pick up some items for Christmas and store them away in a cupboard till needed? In these times of rising prices and shrinking budgets it makes sense to spread the load, to say nothing of the time spent in preparation – after all who wants to spend a frantic few days battling down a crowded high street and cooking up a frenzy in the kitchen because you are under pressure?

With this in mind I have spent some time looking at the Christmas trends for 2012 in food, drink and festive decoration. I've poured over catalogues full of glass baubles fresh from Germany, scoured celebrity chef's new creations for Christmas and pondered over press releases for novel and inspiring Christmas food and drink launches.

I want to create my own spin on Christmas Chique this year with versions of dishes and decorations that are the height of Christmas fashion, which are quick and easy to prepare and that won't cost a fortune . . . so watch this space!

If you have any ideas or would like to share any tips then please get in touch.

The Tomato and Wine

2012-08-15T15:51:00.000+01:00

If you have ever had a bumper crop of tomatoes you may be wondering what on earth to do with them. I usually end up making tomato purée and either freeze or bottle it for use in Winter casseroles and dishes. Of course, there is nothing quite as good as plump sun ripened tomatoes fresh off the vine and I use them in a variety of salads and side dishes during the late Summer and early Autumn.

Tomatoes can be difficult to match with wine as the acidity is high, the texture juicy and the flavour naturally sweet – Susy Atkins writing in the Telegraph reckons that tomatoes pair well with crisp white wines, especially Sauvignon Blanc. We've found this to be true however a chilled dry Rosé can be really good too - Fleur de Luze and Chateau Ballan Larquette Rosé are my favourite choices with tomato based salads at home.

I read a while ago that in the past Guernsey tomato growers (Guernsey was famous for its tomatoes for most of the 20th century) came up with many different uses for the fruit . . . one of which was making wine. Several attempts were made at turning the tomato wine into a commercial venture, though they all seemed to fail – probably as the taste was none too good. Now it seems that a Quebec based farmer has cracked the secret to making a successful tomato wine in Canada. The tomato wine was made to a jealously guarded family recipe from Belgium and handed down over 4 generations. The wine is called Omerto, after Pascal's great grandfather Omer who made tomato based liqueur in Belgium in 1938. Since its launch 2 years ago he has sold over 65,000 bottles.

The wine is made from 6,200 heirloom tomato plants on his organic “vineyard” in Charlevoix, 400km northeast of Montreal. Pascal told the French news agency AFP that before making his first batch, he tested 16 varieties of tomatoes in order to find six that grew well in Quebec’s cool climate. He makes wine the same way in which wine is made using grapes: careful selection, crushing, soaking, fermenting and pressing.

The result is Omerto Sec, a clear, dry, 18% wine, and Omerto Moelleux, a sweeter wine that has been compared to French aperitif Pineau des Charentes. According to Pascal, there is no trace of tomato in the wine, not even in the taste.

The Omerto Sec is described as having the colour of golden wheat with aromas similar to Sauvignon Blanc and lemon and grapefruit. Suggested food pairings are smoked salmon, sushi, cheese fondue, smoked sausage, mussels and oysters.

Elen Garon, sommelier at hotel restaurant La Ferme a Baie-Saint-Paul, describes the ”honey sweet” Omerto Moelleux as having: “a hint of fruit” and “zesty aspects,” and believes it will match well with desserts and spicy food.

Pascal is keen to market his wine abroad and is seeking distribution in the USA, France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Although he can legally call his product 'wine' in North America, he will have to rename it if he starts exporting it to France, where only alcoholic beverages made from fermented grape juice can be called wine.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has tried it!

Chilled Soups for Summer

2012-08-08T14:47:00.000+01:00

I love chilled soups and a good Gazpacho is really delicious. Chilled soups are refreshing, light and can be either savoury or sweet. I prefer the savoury varieties and here are two interesting recipes I came across recently.

Cold Fennel Soup

I'm glad I came across this one as we grew fennel in the Kitchen Garden one year and had a glut of it – it's lovely roasted to accompany a hot meal or steamed and used in chunks in salads.

2 bulbs of fennel

Juice of 1 lime

Tabasco sauce (to taste)

25cl of single cream

Olive oil (for frying)

Small bunch of dill, chopped

4 sprigs of cilantro or tarragon

Salt and pepper

Peel off the outer layers of the fennel bulb to clean it, wash and then cut into pieces. Sauté for 5 minutes in the olive oil over high heat and add salt and pepper. Cover with water and then add the chopped dill. Let it reduce to three quarters.

Mix in the lime juice, Tabasco sauce and single cream. You can then pour the soup into tall glasses and add a sprig of cilantro or tarragon to garnish. Cool and refrigerate until serving.

Cold Radish Soup

This is another great recipe if you have a lot of radishes to use up in the garden! You can make it with all sorts of different varieties of radish – we grew the slightly Black Spanish Round ones which are crisp and pungent.

2 bunches of radishes

1 cucumber

6 natural yoghurts

1 lemon

2 cloves garlic, crushed

6 sprigs of mint, chopped

1/2 tsp crushed coriander seeds

Salt

Rinse and peel a cucumber, grate it and place in a colander. Sprinkle with salt and let it drain for 1 hour in refrigerator. Clean and slice the radishes. Then drain the cucumber and squeeze out the excess juice by pressing it in your hands.

Whisk the yogurt with the lemon juice, crushed garlic and crushed coriander seeds in a bowl. Season with salt and add the radish and cucumber. Garnish with chopped mint. Serve chilled.

A good chilled rosé wine would be lovely with either of these soups – try the Montagnac Syrah Rosé which is made by a small co-operative, Les Vignobles Montagnac, located between Beziers and Montpellier in the Languedoc Roussillon. This is made from 100% Syrah (otherwise known as Shiraz) and has aromas of chocolate, violets, truffles, leather, coffee and black pepper.

If you are interested in making other cold soups check out my blogs: Summer Snacks: Chilled Grape Soup and White Wine and Chilled Soups (Gazpacho, Borscht and Vichyssoise).

Enjoy!

Have You Switched from Champagne to Sparkling Wine?

2012-07-25T16:38:00.000+01:00

Champagne sales have been overtaken by sparkling wine in the UK for the first time. James Hall, writing for the Telegraph, has reported that Champagne sales have fallen by a third since the start of the credit crisis as people cut back on spending on luxuries. Meanwhile sales of cheaper sparking wines have risen by over 50%, according to research by Mintel:

“According to Mintel, Britons spent over £1 billion on Champagne in 2007, which is the year that Northern Rock collapsed, heralding the start of the longest recession since the Second World War.

Mintel forecasts that in 2012 Britons will spend just £690 million on Champagne, a fall of 32%.

Meanwhile sales of sparking wine will have risen by 55% over the period, from £465 million in 2007 to £720 million at the end of 2012, Mintel predicts.

It expects the trend to continue, with Champagne sales falling to £609 million by 2017 and sales of sparkling wine rising to £835 million.”

Despite a fall in Champagne sales, Mintel said that the drink continues to benefit from its association with special occasions, four in ten people now see sparkling wine as a credible alternative for events such as weddings and birthday parties.

There are plenty of sparkling wines to choose from as alternatives to Champagne and I'm pleased that people are switching on to their potential. We've all heard of the more well known varieties out there but hopefully smaller producers and regions that fall under the radar will get the chance to reach a wider audience.

If you are interested in trying some lesser known sparkling wines from the Loire Valley and Alsace check out the new range here at Bordeaux-Undiscovered.

Last month Reuters reported that France's oldest sparkling wine, Blanquette de Limoux, was fighting for its life – not because of falling sales but due to being obscured by better known brands. Legend has it that Dom Pérignon learnt the secrets of Limoux's sparkling wine whilst on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain when he rested at the Saint-Hilaire Abbey. On returning back home to his own Abbey of Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers, near Reims, he started to experiment with the technique on local wines from the Champagne region . . . and the rest is history.

For the producers of Blanquette de Limoux, Cava is the biggest obstacle. Around 300 million bottles of Cava are produced a year whereas Limoux only makes 10 million. If you'd like to learn more about their wines check out www.limoux-aoc.com.

I'd love to know what sparkling wines you have come across and if you have any particular favourites – and if you prefer them to Champagne.

A Good Vintage . . .

2012-07-18T14:48:00.000+01:00

Vintage is a word that has been hijacked over the years – we hear of vintage fashion, vintage cars, vintage jewellery . . . but it's original meaning relates to wine. The word initially meant a 'harvest of grapes / yield of wine from a vineyard' and its root are the Latin vinum (wine) and demere (remove). The British hijacked the French word 'vendage' (grape harvest) and anglicised it to 'vintage' back in the 1400s. British links with France were strong at this time – England had owned half of Medieval France under the Angevin Empire and our monarchies were intertwined. The British drank claret and naturally French words became integrated with our own.

Around 1746 the sense of the word shifted to mean 'the age or year of a particular wine.' This isn't surprising as back in the late 1600s we had started to recognise that good wine came from certain vineyards - the diarist Samuel Pepys wrote about the wine 'Ho-Bryan' (Chateau Haut Brion). As wine making techniques improved and developed it seems a natural progression that we should start recognising a wine from a good year too!

It wasn't till 1883 that the word vintage began to be used to refer to items as 'being of an earlier time' but it wasn't until 1928 that we started calling old cars 'vintage'! Since then it seems 'vintage' hasn't looked back and you can find it applied to anything and everything.

Vintage isn't the only French word associated with wine that we have hijacked – 'claret' is the anglicised form of clairet (the original deep coloured rosé wine from Bordeaux made centuries ago). The word 'ton' comes from the French word 'tonneaux' – there was so much wine shipped across the Channel from France to England in the 1500s that the weight of a ship's cargo became measured by the number of wine barrels (tonneaux) it could hold - giving rise to our word 'ton.

Incidentally we can also thank claret for our word 'butler'. In the 17^th century claret was not sold in bottles, as corks had not yet been developed, and was sold by the cask. The customer would have the wine decanted into suitable quantities into his own bottles for service and the more fashionable amongst them would have their crests embossed on their bottles. The person who decanted the wine was known as the “bottler” who became , in time, the 'butler.

If you can think of any other wine related words we have hijacked please let me know!

New Concept in Cooking – Spirit Sprays

2012-07-12T13:16:00.000+01:00

I have used oil sprays in cooking before but now there is a new concept in adding a dash of cognac to your dish. Two creators in Beaune, Burgundy, have just launched a range of spray-on spirits to update their use in the kitchen. Jean-David Camus and Philippe Stark have founded Brumes Gourmandes:

“We began with the idea of reviving the use of spirits in cooking, as they are part of our gastronomical heritage”

The sprays are handcrafted in Burgundy and range from Marc de Bourgogne, Fine de Bourgogne, Prunelle de Bourgogne, Cognac, Pastis, Poire Williams Brandy, Kirsch, Rum and Whiskey:

“The main advantage is the dose. The perfect quantity can be used, according to the tastes of everyone at the table. Furthermore, millions of droplets that explode are extremely flavourful. Also, one can precisely target the different parts of the dish one wants to flavour”.

The bottles resemble perfume bottles – which isn't surprising considering that their creators have worked in the perfume sector. With 20 years of experience in the spirits industry, the two partners select the producers and cuvees, and then create their own original blends:

“This is where classic gastronomical products and new methods of application, that of a spray, meet. Since it is a novel method of application for spirits, we wanted it to resemble something that already exists, such as perfume bottles”

“If we don’t reintroduce spirits to cooking in a different manner, our children won’t use them”, claims Jean-David Camus, who also underlines the risk that small local producers of sprits will disappear in the future. “If we do nothing, in a few years’ time there will only be 50 big brands of spirits worldwide and no small producers.”

It seems a great idea and I can't wait to try one!

Red Sparkling Wines

2012-06-27T14:23:00.000+01:00

According to the Drinks Business Piedmontese producers are looking to explore a new trend for Rosé Moscato after sales of Moscato grew over 400% in the US market alone last year: Ricardo March, US & Canada sales director for Beni di Batasiolo, a 150 year old winery based in Serralunga d’Alba has said that they see the next new trend as Moscato Rosé Spumante.

I wonder if Moscato will take off over here in the UK (Gallo released a still Moscato wine here earlier in March). It's also got me thinking about sparkling wine – and whether we will see a renaissance in red sparkling wine? The heydays of Lambrusco in the 1980s are long gone but Italy aside there is a market for Sparkling Shiraz in Australia. Sparkling red wine has been made in Australia since the 1860s and although Shiraz is mainly used there are also Sparkling Merlots and Malbecs.

The Crémant wines from France offer a popular alternative to Champagne and you can sometimes find red sparkling wines being produced in these areas. The Crémant AOCs are Crémant d'Alsace, Crémant de Bordeaux, Crémant de Bourgogne (Burgundy), Crémant de Die (Rhone), Crémant du Jura, Crémant de Limoux and Crémant de Loire (formerly Crémant de Saumur). If you search you will find red sparkling wines under the names of Mousseux (Sparkling) or Pétillant (Semi Sparkling) made by the Méthode Traditionelle and the Méthode Champenoise.

Burgundy produce red sparkling wines under the appellation Bourgogne Mousseux Rouge (which are quite hard to find). Better known producers are Parigot, Vitteaut-Alberti and Domaine Chaumont.

The vineyards of the Loire are probably the best bet for tracking down French red sparkling wines – they are about 2/3rds the size of Bordeaux and the sparkling wine AOCs are Anjou, Saumur, Touraine, Vouvray and Montlouis-Sur-Loire. The Loire is the second largest sparkling wine producer in France after Champagne. In fact you will find that some Crémants are made by Champagne Houses with interests in the Loire - Langlois has been owned by the Champagne house Bollinger since 1973 and Bouvet-Ladubay, is owned by Taittinger. Both produce a sparkling red wine- Carmin, is made by Langlois and Rubis is made by Bouvet-Ladubay. Other producers of sparkling red wine to look out for are Louis de Grenelle, Chateau de Brézé, Domaine de la Guilloterie, and Chateau d'Avrille

I'd be interested to know your thoughts on a possible sparkling red wine trend – especially in the USA!