Month: November 2011

Champagne tasting at Harrod’s

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Last week Christopher and I joined another 300 people at Harrod’s champagne tasting. We have been to two more wine tastings there; one with Tuscan wines and one with wines from Bordeaux, and both took place in Harrod’s wine cellar. This was a bigger event however, and was therefore hosted in one of the restaurants.

I definitely had high expectations for this event, as there would be 80 champagnes to try and a few of the rarer and expensive kund.

Just like at the other wine tastings we each got a glass, a brochure about the wines, a list for notes and a pencil. Since I don’t know that much about wines I find it difficult to take notes, but I still note which ones I really liked.

Plenty of well known champagnes were represented as well as a quite a few unknown to me. The big names included Krug, Lanson, Veuve Clicquot, Perrier Jouet, Mumm, Moët & Chandon, and we defintely wanted to try a few of those, although a few we had no interest in as we have tried them before and were not very impressed.

We started the evening at the Taittinger table and tasted us through all four champagnes they had to offer. Already at this point I could feel the bubbles, because the men and women pouring the champagne were very generous! There were baguettes and water at every table though, which helped, and trays of canapées came frequently from the kitchen.

I will not bore you with which order we tried the champagnes and describe them all, to be honest, I don’t even remember them all, but I will tell you which ones we really enjoyed as well as a few that disappointed.

The champagne house that made most of an impression on us was definitely Philipponnat, a small champagne house but one of the older ones. All of their four champagnes were amazing, although the non dosé (=without added sugar) was too dry as an aperitif but would work well with food. Their Royal Réserve NV actually tasted a bit like a vintage champagne and had the butteryness of older champagnes. Uttley beautiful and great value for money.

Another favourite was Ruinart‘s Blanc de Blanc, the champagne Ruinart is most famous for, and also the only one I really liked out of their champagne.

We also tried Gosset, which was completely new to me, but I learned it was one of the absolute oldest champagne houses and they have a great reputation. And after tasting their champagnes I definitely see why.

Goutorbe-Bouillot, Jospeh Perrier och Dampierre were other brans we really enjoyed and that I would happily by. The latter is served at the French embassys around the world and the former we got recommended by one of the staff at Harrod’s who definitely knew his wines.

One of the highlights of the evening was of course to try the more expensive champagnes. It felt a bit surreal to be able to enjoy Dom Perignon, Cristal, Krug och Pol Roger Cuvéé Sir Winston Churchill in one single evening. Out of these the Dom Perignon and the Cristal were a bit to young to be at their best, but still very enjoyable. Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill however was quite disappointing, especially since I really enjoy the Pol Roger NV. As expected though, Krug var delicious.

We had planned to skip most of the mainstream brands as we have tried them before and also because we knew we would be disappointed. But with twenty minutes left towards the end we still tried a few. Veuve Clicquot and Moët & Chandon were really disappointing after having tried all the others, and we expected that. Even the Moët & Chandon 2002 was not up to scratch. The best out of the mainstream brands would have to be Perrier Jouet, even though I am not really a fan. It lacks flavour and feels quite watery.

Out of the big names we would not buy any of the above but instead focus on  Laurent Perrier, Louis Roederer and Pol Roger (only the Brut NV), and after this tasting I could just not settle for anything less after seeing what is out there, even to similar prices.

Another champagne that I would like to mention, now that it is Christman soon, is the Leroy-Duval Paris Brut, which to me qualifies as the perfect gift. The bottle is wonderful with its Paris decor and the champagne itself is lovely, and not what you expect from a pretty bottle. It is however what you expect from the brand, which is good.

Delizie alla Romagnola

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I spied this new (for me) type of pasta bake on a Swedish food blog. You take fresh lasagne sheets, add cheese and ham (and possibly courgette as well, which I forgot), roll them up, cut them in half and place them in a gratin dish. Add tomato sauce, bechamel and grated cheese. Really nice and more upscale than your regular pasta bake. And it is great to serve with bread to soak up the sauce.

 Delizie alla Romagnola, serves 2

Adapted from this recipe.

8 fresh lasagne sheets

6 large slices good quality smoked ham

24 slices medium hard cheese, I used cheddar and Emmenthal cheese

50 ml grated cheese (same as above)

Tomat sauce:

400 g passata

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tso sugar

2 tsp dried Italian herbs

salt, black pepper

Bechamel sauce:

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp plain flour

500 ml milk

grated nutmeg

1 dash of concentrated chicken stock

50 ml grated cheese

salt, white pepper

Place about 3 slices of cheese on each lasagne sheet. Divide the ham between the sheets and put it on top of the cheese. Roll them up from the shortest side. Place the rolls on a flat surface, i.e. a chopping board or plate with a weight on top so the rolls will keep their shape.

Add all the ingredients for the tomato sauce into a sauce pan. Bring to the boil and let it thicken while stirring, for 15 minutes.

Melt the butter for the bechamel in a non stick pan. Add the flour while whisking. Add some of the milk and stir with a whisk. Once the sauce has thickened a little add more milk and repeat this until you have used up all the milk and the sauce is thick. Add the cheese and let it melt. Season to taste with stock concentrate, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Grease a gratin dish (10x20cm). Cut the lasagne sheet rolls in half and place them with the cut upwards. Pour over the tomato sauce, followed by the bechamel. Sprinkle grated cheese on top and bake in 200C for 15-20 minutes. Serve with bread/garlic bread and a nice salad.

Warming chicken soup with beans and mushrooms

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I like to eat soup at least once a week when it is cold outside, but mostly I stick to smooth soups, but it is about time I venture into different soups as well.

This chicken soup is perfect to use up leftover chicken and very tasty, warming and filling. I added some sambal oelek for heat and flavour, and although I made this with homemade chicken stock it works just as well with a stock cube or concentrate.

Chicken soup with beans and mushrooms, serves 3

1 carrot

1/2 onion

2 celery sticks

1 tbsp mild olive oil

500 ml chicken stock, homemade if possible

400 g tinned plum tomatoes or tomato chunks

400 g tinned borlotti beans

2 tsp sambal oelek

1 garlic clove

3 tbsp cream

1 tbsp maizena

7 sliced, fried button mushrooms

1/4 chicken, cooked and the meat shredded

salt, white pepper

To serve: grated parmesan

Peel the carot, rince the celery and peel the onion. Place it all into a food processor and mix. Heat up the olive oil in a 3 litre sacue pan. Add the minced vegetables and fry for a minute or so. Add the stock and tomatoes and bring to the boil. Stir occassionally. Rinse the beans and add them to the pot. Bring to the boil again and cook for a few minutes. Add sambal oelek and garlic, then cream and maizena. Then add the fried mushrooms and the chicken meat. Let it all heat up. Serve with grated parmesan.

Tsunami, revistited

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You new Tsunami, the Asian restaurant I keep going on and on about? It is still going strong.

A little more than a week ago I meet up with my friend Sinead for a meal here. We started off with water and a beautiful bottle of Sancerre and some starters to share; snow crab dumplings and chicken gyozas. Both came with a soy dipping sauce and both were fabulous in its own way.

The dim sum style dumplings were sticky and moist just like they should be and the gyozas just melted in your mouth. They were far better than the ones I order from Wagamama from time to time.

For her maincouse, Sinead had chicken, which she always does. It came with a teryaki sauce and rice and looked nice and juicy.

I was very unadventurous and chose the same thing as the times I have been here before – sushi! I just can’t get enough of it and it is the best I have ever had. Just like before I had the spicy tuna rolls and the ebi fry rolls and I could eat this every day for the rest of my life and be in heaven.

Instead of pudding we had a cocktail each, that is definitely enough to satisfy the urge for sweetness you sometimes get after a meal.

The service wasn’t as great as before, our waitress started off the evening in a bad mood, but was nicer towards the end. All other staff were friendly and professional though, so still a place I recommend for service as well as food.

Tsunami
5-7 Voltaire Road
Clapham
London SW4 6DQ

Scandi tip #6: ginger thins with stilton

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It might seem a little bizarre to team Scandinavian ginger thins (best brand is displayed below: Anna’s pepparkakor, sold at IKEA among others) with Brittish stilton, but it is a match made in heaven. The sweet with the salty always works and it gives these crunchy little biscuits a whole new dimension. Try to stop eating them, I challenge you!

If you would like to make your own ginger thins I have a great recipe here. That is the one my family use every year and the biscuits are delicious.

Scandinavian Kitchen

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Since I moved to London I miss Swedish groceries less and less. Not because I like it less, but I have become a lot better at finding substitutes and I know which supermarkets to look in for Swedish stuff too.

But a few times a year, close to the holidays of course, I really crave Swedish food. And then I make sure I pay Scandinavian Kitchen a visit. The shop and café is situated a short walk from Oxford Circus and is open during the day.

My friend Jenny treated me to lunch here last week, and the first thing I saw after entering the shop was the Christmas beverage Julmust, a dark malty soft drink, so I gave off a little happy sound which Jenny found very amusing.

But back to the lunch, they serve open sandwiches with traditional Scandinavian toppings as well as a few different salads. They have two lunch offers on where you can mix what sandwiches and salads you like. Either three or five. We went for the large plate for £8.95 and that was great value for money. Tasty too.

Above is my choice of salami sandwich, roast beef sandwich with remoulade (Danish piccalilli and crispy fried onions, egg and prawn sandwich, salmon and dill wrap and potato salad.

Jenny chose the same salmon wrap, carrot salad, beetroot salad, meatball and beatroot sandwich and a salmon sandwich.

Here is the lovely Christmas drink! I had to buy one to take away as well, so I can enjoy it with gingerbread. Yum, yum!

It was a great lunch, thanks Jenny! And in my opinion it beats an English sandwich every day. These look prettier too!

A simple yet classy canapé

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If you want to make quick canapés, I know the perfect shortcut. These crustades you can get in Waitrose (by the crackers) and fill them with anything you want to create a gorgeous canapé. Only thing you need to think about is that if the filling is at all moist, you should fill them just before serving.

I filled these crustades with some ripe brie, but the tray in the oven and baked them for a few minutes, until the cheese has melted. Add a little green fig preserve and you have a delicious canapé. Perfect to munch on while preparring supper.

Briestuffed crustades with fig jam

creamy ripe brie

crustades (get them from Waitrose, savoury biscuit aisle)

fig jam, I used Tip Tree’s green fig preserve

Trim the cheese of the crust. Cut into small cubes. Place one cheese cube in each crustade. Place in 200C oven for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Remove from oven and top with 1/2 tsp fig preserve. Serve immediately.

Gaucho, Piccadilly

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A little while ago now, we managed to meet up with Ian and Anna for dinner at Gaucho, this meat-centered restaurant serving Argentinian steaks.

There are a few Gaucho’s to choose from in London, and we settled for the Piccadilly branch in between Piccadilly and Regent Street. The decor is typical for the chain of restaurants and consists of a lot of cow skin, dark wood and dimmed lights.

Anna and I had been shopping during the day so we took the opportunity to sit down with a drink and relax before the boys arrived. I had a glass of sparkling wine and Anna fresh cranberry juice. When the boys arrived we were directed upstairs to the dining room. We thought it would be quite empty on a Sunday night, as we haven’t seen many prople arriving when we were in the bar, but the dining room was almost full.

The menu at Gaucho’s was a bit disappointing with regards to starters and desserts, but the steaks (the reason we were here) did not disappoint. A waitress also walks around the restaurant with a big wooden board displaying the different cuts of meat and explains to the tables what cuts they are and how they are best cooked.

The menu was a bit disappointing with regards to starters and desserts, but the steaks (the reason we were here) did not disappoint. A waitress also walks around the restaurant with a big wooden board displaying the different cuts of meat and explains to the tables what cuts they are and how they are best cooked.

We went straight to the maincourse. Anna decided on their burger which she found really food and especially the dressing with mayonnaise, mustard and red wine was superb.

Both Ian and I chose the fillet medallion. I asked for mine blue and Ian had his rare. We also ordered fries and sauce. Bearnaise (always) for me and peppercorn for Ian.

Christopher wanted a large steak and settled for 400g sirloin and the same trimmings as me. Christopher was the only one out of which was slightly disappointed, as he thought the steak was as good as the ones we eat at home. We normally I have sirloin, from Aberdeen Angus, just like these, so I could see his point. Because I ordered a cut I don’t eat as often, I was very happy with mine. It was cooked perfectly, had lots of flavour and was so tender I compared to to cutting butter. And this was with a normal knife I might add, no steak knives needed at Gaucho.

I really like Gaucho, and my meat was spectacular. The fries were just regular fries and to be honest a little on the soggy side. The bearnaise wasn’t thick enough and tasted a bit too much of tarragon, so there is room for improvement on other areas.

Parsnip soup

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I never get tired of soups during the autumn and winter, but I like to try new flavours and my aim is probably to try to make soup of most vegetables.

I have actually not made one with just parsnip in before, but this was really good. Parsnip is a sweet vegetable so it definitely needs the onions and garlic as well as the mushrooms on top to balance that out. Add a little truffle oil to enhance the mushrooms even more and this soup could be served at a dinner party as a starter.

Parsnip soup with fried mushrooms, serves 2

500 g parsnips, peeled and cut into smaller pieces

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, pressed

water

1 tsp concentrated vegetable stock

100 cream

1 tsp dried thyme

salt, white pepper

To serve:

6-7 chestnut mushrooms, thinly sliced, fried in butter and oil + truffle oil

Fry the onion in olive oil in a large sauce pan without it browning. Lower the heat and add the garlic. Fry for 30 seconds. Add the parsnips and fry for a minute or so. Cover the parsnips with boiling water. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Cook until the parnips are very soft. drain 1/3 of the water but set it aside. Mix the 2/3 with the parsnips until smooth. Add more of the water if needed. Bring the purée to the boil and add cream and thyme. Season to taste with stock, salt and pepper. Add some milk if the soup is too thick. Pour into bowls and top with the mushrooms and truffle oil. Serve straight away.

Roast chicken with smoked salt and garlic, white wine sauce and butternut squash with feta and pine nuts

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Last week we had the Sunday roast on the Saturday, which worked really well actually. I served it with a creamy sauce instead of gravy to make it worthy of a Saturday night supper, and it worked!

I also tried some smoked salt I bought a while ago from Halen Môn. I have been dying to try it and thought chicken was the perfect place to start. To make it adhere better to the chicken I crushed the salt flakes in my pestle and mortar first.

Apart from the smoked salt I only used butter, garlic and white pepper to season the chicken. It tasted lovely and came out very moist, but if you want a more distinct smoked taste you need to add more salt.

I also put some potato chunks and red onion in the roasting tray with the chicken so they could soak up the meat juices and taste all lovely. Roasted butternut squash with feta cheese and pine nuts as well as green beans was the perfect addition.

And then the sauce. It was a creamy concoction with white wine and a dash of balsamic vinegar and it was excellent with chicken. I will definitely make it again. Soon even.

Roast chicken with smoked salt and garlic, serves 4

1 medium chicken

3 tbsp butter

3 tsp smoked salt, crushed

white pepper

3 jacket potato sized potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1/2 red onion, cut into wedges

Rinse the chicken and trim it if needed. Make a cut in the skin above each breasts. Stick your finger into the whole and create a pocket between the skin and the meat. Make two slashes on each thigh with a knife. Mix the butter with garlic and fill the breast pockets with this mixture. Smear it onto the thighs and rub what is left onto the whole chicken. Season with smoked salt and white pepper all around the bird. Place in a roasting tray with the potatoes and onions. Roast for 45-60 minutes in 200C or until the chicken is cooked through (clear meat juices by the thigh joint) and the potatoes are done. Leave to rest for 10 mins covered in foil before serving. Sprinkle on some more smoked salt when carved.

Roasted butternut squash with feta and pine nuts, serves 4

1/2 butternut squash

3 tbsp crumbled feta

1 tbsp pine nuts, toasted if you prefer

Remove the pips and cut off the ends of the squash. Cut into chunks and place in a small roasting tray. Sprinkle with feta and pine nuts, salt and pepper. Roast in 200C for 20-25 mins.

White wine sauce with chicken, serves 2

100 ml white wine

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp concentrated chicken stock

100 ml cream

1 tsl mild chilisås

salt and pepper

Pour all the ingredients into a sauce pan. Bring to the boil and heat up. Adjust the stock and seasoning.