Wild mushrooms, spinach and yuzu-ed rocket

We've been relatively lucky with fresh(ish) produce and, inspired by Bouchon of Santa Barbara, we attempted to recreate "chanterelle and wild mushrooms served on watercress and spinach with a spinach purée". I am sure the name of the dish is something snazzier but we none of us can remember it.

There were substitutions of course in true duck and thyme style. Nothing too exciting or earth-shattering; the purée was made from rocket instead of spinach. I am not intolerant to spinach which is an exception to the norm, I merely wanted to use up the rocket in the fridge (egad). What we did find though is that rocket is rather stringy, so we had to put it through a sieve to achieve the desired consistency but it was yummy and most of it ended up in my mouth before it got to be "artfully" smeared with my pastry brush on the plate (not a norm but we had dinner guests..).

The mushrooms were meaty and tasty, the spinach, dressed simply, was light and fresh. The (lack of) rocket puree with it's dash of Yuzu, tied it all together. Simple but definitely worth a try!

Recipe serves four as a starter:

400gms Wild and chanterelle mushrooms were wiped with a damp cloth and fried with a little oil, salt and pepper on high heat for about 15minutes, after which half a finely diced garlic and dash of fresh thyme was added. In the mean time, in a pestle and mortar grind 20g rocket leaves with sea salt until it becomes a paste before adding half a garlic, zest and juice of half a lemon, pound then mix in 3-4 tablespoons olive oil and teaspoon of yuzu juice (stuff from heaven). Taste and adjust. Consistency should be at the smearable level, not unlike paint. In a separate bowl, dress watercress and spinach salad (100gm) with salt and olive oil. When the mushrooms are ready, tip into spinach and toss lightly. Serve on rocket purée spread on plate. Could be accompanied with grilled bread but I forgot to do so...

A step backward and into a world of chocolate...

It's one of those weeks where the body needs bed rest and lots of food to recalibrate itself - at least that is what I'd rather call it, instead of the dreaded "setback". Having been almost bed ridden for half the week, I've realised that whilst leaving the house can be trying at times like these, I'm very adept at crawling from bed to kitchen and wonderfully artful at stuffing my face. So much so that I might call in the "secret eaters" police and claim I have no idea how I got to this stage - I positively eat too little, when I'm not eating... Those on the other side of the Atlantic who do not know the delights of the "secret eaters" program, do google!

It's a difficult balance this, eating and sleeping for energy, yet neither delivering when required. But is it so bad? After all it is Valentine's Day soon and therefore the month of love-yourself-very-much. After be-mean-to-be-thin January, February is the complete opposite where we are free to be true to ourselves and our desires and encouraged to indulge-to-impress, be it with chocolate, flowers, steak, yoga, chestnut brownies, etc.

So indulge I did, and only with a bar of gluten and dairy free chocolate, as I could not muster the energy to cook. And it might have been 18x3x1 inches in size and I did not have to share, but I was being nice to myself, and so should you...?

Chestnut brownie: gluten, egg, dairy free

Getting excited is not my usual style; I'm more the water on flame type, occasionally the air around but never the oil, if you get what I mean. Unprecedented as it is, I am rather (read, really) excited about my chestnut brownie. Whilst we have had successes (or so we claim) with recipes from Larousse and Barefoot Contessa, these are tried and tested recipes from real chefs. We, on the other hand, have never had success of this scale in recipes I have created for and by myself! 

However, to caution and be water to flame is my nature and so especially deservedly here - I have not had a "real" brownie in at least two years and so my taste buds would be slightly skewed. The recipe also, by design, calls for half the usual amount of sugar and fat in normal brownie recipes and may not satisfy a palate which is more accustomed to the usual fat-sugar-salt trinity.

But unless my guinea pigs (note the plural here) were all lying to me to protect a false sense of achievement, which are very acceptable and usually encouraged dinner party manners, then the brownies are good. Real good. And "healthy" to some extent too. Recipe included after the picture.

On that belief, we ate with wild abandonment and epic satisfaction. And just this once, I, like chocolate to brownie, was oil to flame. 

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 180degrees (fan). Cream one can of 416gm chestnut purée with 170gm trex (vegetable fat) for five minutes in a large bowl. Add 170gm golden caster sugar - this results in a subtler sweetness but do increase to 250gm if you would prefer a sweet dessert. Cream together for another minute. In the meanwhile, melt 100gm high quality allergy free cocoa powder in 140ml hot water. Add 1 tbsp of instant coffee granules and 1tbsp of vanilla extract (never essence) to the mix. Mix together 45gm potato flour with 150ml water and add this mix to the cocoa mix and stir until well married. In another bowl measure out 110gm almond flour and mix in 1tbsp baking powder and 3/4 tsp salt. Both the chocolate mixture and the dry mixture can be added to the chestnut purée and folded in by hand. Bake in a 12x18 pan in the preheated oven for exactly 22 minutes (I finally got a timer and for once remembered to set it). It is most important to have brownies completely cooled before tucking in so leave to cool for ten minutes and then cover the tin with a tea towel until completely cooled and ready to be eaten. 

We served it with our homemade cashew ice cream - we apologise for being nuts about nuts. 

Strand dining rooms

A fantastic surprise call from an elegant friend on an impromptu two day visit to London led to a last minute booking in The Strand Dining Rooms. Not without classic Duck and Thyme trials of course; we had originally booked a table at Tredwell's but said friend couldn't make it at that time so I changed our reservation and sent a note out to all the attendants... Somehow I missed the guest of honour and guess who turned up at Tredwell's...? Hailing all the way from Singapore and I managed to send her to the wrong restaurant...such is a day in my life.

Profuse apologies later, we started catching up and the poor waiter had to return three times to get us to finally order: both the specials of the day, beef Wellington and silver mullet, and seafood crumble off the menu. The waiter was great, with strong recommendations and with his iPad, extremely conscientious with one's intolerances, a nod here, a discreet shake there, our silent communication as to what one could and couldn't eat. He was even well prepared for dessert-time trials; a rarity for me as waiters usually act as if the main course would have cured me of all my intolerances and I could now eat whatever I desired for dessert.

The silver mullet was tailored specifically for me and it was very good (save for scales, tsk tsk). Stuffed with carrots and almonds, the fish was tasty and cooked just right. I tried the inside of the beef Wellington (to my peril..) and that was cooked to absolute perfection. The wine - I had a sip and wasn't sufficiently enticed to more.

The star of the show, as good as the Wellington was, remains the witty guest of honour and the ensuing gales of laughter. Perhaps company influences the taste of food, but The Strand Dining Rooms is definitely approved, even if based just on the professionalism of our waiter, biased or unbiased as that may be.

Kale crisps!

Kale is a favourite of ours when we are in London and whilst it is no longer trendy in the food fashion world - yes I hear you, food-trend police: kale is sooo three years ago, darling - we still love it. Not boiled, not steamed, not stir fried, but baked in the oven with a generous coating of olive oil, salt and pepper (and a dash of cayenne if you dare) until crispy and a tad brown (10-15 mins in a 190degree oven).

No longer en vogue but still oh-so-yummy, darling, and even the non-veg eater grudgingly succumbs to it, so there!

Sneak Preview of my Allergy free Chestnut Brownie!

A chestnut obsession is driving the other half mad. Creating my new chestnut recipe has been a blast for me but not so for said guinea pig. Or so he claims that he shouldn't like strange brownies as he scoffs it all down, topped with whipped cream and all.

And it is good, and healthy as well! Here's a sneak preview:

Allergy free Puff pastry trials and tribulations..

"Huffed and puffed" pastry has been featuring on my list of to do's for rather a long time and with recent dips in one's recovery just passed, I thought it timely to celebrate with this ground breaking recipe. Or was is? I followed the Larousse recipe for "Puff Pastry with oil" to the letter, save that I made a minor flour substitution...... you know, to accommodate said intolerances.

I'm not quite convinced with the oil situation as after all (my limited understanding of pastry speaks here), isn't it the water in the layers of cold butter trapped in layers of dough which turns into steam when hit by heat which in turn makes a pastry huffed and puffed? No cold butter, no puffing then? An absolutely undeniably resounding no - the "croissant" did no puffing whatsoever and infact was hard enough to break one's resolve to continue, not to mention one's teeth... Yes, it is also rather tragically shaped:

The tragedy was re-enacted with pure sunflower oil which, if you are quite familiar with, isn't as solid as cold butter, resulting in a very soft dough which is terribly difficult to roll and fold, roll and fold, etc. sufficiently. 

Unsatisfied, a third batch was made in which the fat element was substituted with coconut oil from the fridge instead, hoping for the third time lucky charm. 

Well, some sort of pastry (and I use the term here rather loosely) came out from the oven but looks nothing like puff. The second recipe seemed to work best for the other half, who was pretty clear that whatever it was, t'wasn't croissant...

Third on the left, second in the middle, first on the right...and back to the drawing board. I'll keep you posted (ha!)