Wild Garlic

Confessions... maybe be sleeping while I finish of my current contract but saw this down at my local Farmers Market and felt it was worth sharing. Always loved wild garlic, but think I love it even more now.

Not dead... Sleeping

Confessions... Is on a break. Need to get my current contract sorted and then we will be back up and running.

Masterchef

“A franchise that has been stretched a year too far with John and Gregg, whose credentials for judging brilliance in the kitchen have always seemed somewhat sketchy, becoming ever greater parodies of themselves.”

John Crace, The Guardian

Masterchef New Zealand - The Final

Watching Ross, the rude fat bloke and the scary bloke in glasses judge the final... And all I can think is... I miss Gary, George & Matt from the Australian show.

Masterchef New Zealand #2

Finding the New Zealand version of Masterchef hilarious, but for all the wrong reasons. And by 'hilarious' I mean 'crap.'

My wife summed up the experience of watching the show really well, despite having watched every episode of the series so far, it still feels like you are are joining it in the middle and don't know or care who any of hopefuls are. 

And none of them can cook. I mean... at all. 

Not doing the image of New Zealand food any favours.

And why does Ross Burden talk like an out of control Speak and Spell? He makes William Shatner's famous stilted delivery sound flowing and natural. 

So why watch? 

I guess because like with any car crash TV its difficult to look away. There is a strange and morbid fascination with just how naff it can get. It's not bad... just feels like it's a version of Masterchef done by a load of media students.

Masterchef New Zealand is on Watch. 

Great Carrots

Went down to the farmers market this morning. It was pretty quiet thanks to stinking North London weather but there was some fantastic produce to be found. 


Vegetables covered in mud, clearly fresh out of the ground, begging to be cooked. There is something very exciting about seeing a knobly carrot, a parsnip or a potato covered in mud, wet from the rain and just waiting to be taken home and cooked. Well, there is to me anyway.


Compare that to the carrots that you get from a supermarket. All the same size, all the same shape, straight, boring... dull. Of course I've bought carrots, and other veg, from a super market just saying I prefer the ones from the market. 


Also managed to get a smoked ham hock... which is also very exciting and I might well post about tomorrow when I've worked out what to do with it. Is it a little sad that I get excited by pork and carrots? Probably... 

New Job

So I got a new job. Which is great, but already Confessions has taken a hit. It's difficult to keep up this very high level of writing and insight while doing a job. He says... coughing... Ill try and keep the posting up because I love it, just need to juggle the cooking, eating, digesting and posting with the job.

Angry Dumplings

We are having a long slow cook beef stew tonight, which my wife is cooking. It was my job to make the dumplings... According to my wife they look angry. I'm not sure what an 'angry dumpling' looks like... but to be fair she is probably right.

Valentines Day Lunch

A long walk and then into the Rose & Crown. Simple, uncomplicated, good proper pub food.

A couple of pints and the woman I love.

What more could a man ask for on V Day?

A sharing sausage platter of four distinctly different sausages, one a white chicken and three pork, sparky sauerkraut, a selection of mustards and hot, crunchy, properly salted chips. Perfect with a beer... perfect to share... perfect lunch.

Sunday Dinner... Fail

There is an REM song where Michael Stipe's lyrics go 'sometimes I feel that I can't even sing...' Clearly he can sing. Beautifully. But sometimes I feel that I can't cook and I get very frustrated with my own clumsiness and lack of creativity, the inability to handle flavour and make ingredients sing.

That's why, I guess, that I'm the amateur flailing round my kitchen and I'm so in awe of some of the truly great chefs whose restaurants I've eaten in. A great cook is like watching a great jazz player... it's instinctive, it comes from somewhere else. I'd settle to be just be able to be a decent cook.

Yesterday I made a traditional Sunday lunch. Roast beef, pink, with roast baby parsnips in butter, a little sugar and thyme, mash with fresh horseradish, roasted carrots and a gravy from the pan juices, red wine and stock. It was nice. My wife liked it. It looked good. But for some reason I wasn't happy. It felt clumsy, heavy and too rich. I suppose in cooking if you throw enough butter at something, some flavour will stick.

Maybe I'm just a little tired of the heavier, earhier, winter flavours and am looking forward to some spring lightness... maybe I'm just being a little grumpy... maybe 'sometimes I feel that I can't even cook.'

Masterchef

Gregg Wallace yesterday.

Masterchef is back and this year it’s… different. From the trailers and the press it looks like they are taking a much closer approach to the Australian format, complete with auditions and a cast of characters that we get to follow through out. Great… that worked really well down under.

The set looks closer to the Oz version too, complete with a balcony for the judges to quite literally look down on the hapless contestants from.

Surely for one who so closely resembles Humpty Dumpty, Gregg Wallace would be a little more wary of heights. Faced with countless weeks of Gregg’s dessert eating/sex face I’m filled with a mixture of delight and horror. But probably more horror.

Masterchef is on BBC 1 form this Wednesday. 

Hangover Cure #1

If only real hangovers where this twee.

Last night I met a few mates and fellow new fathers for a cheeky friday night pint at the local. I don't remember it being a big night. In fact apart for the beer I had before I went out, the three pints in the pub and then the two more beers I had when I got home... I hardly drank anything.

Oh....

So not surprisingly this morning I woke up with a hangover, about 4 on the HO scale. 1 is barely a hangover at all and is dealt with by brushing your teeth, a cold shower and black coffee. 10 is the full on pneumatic drill behind the eyes, explosive gastric track distress and a total conviction that you want to drown quietly and quickly in a vat of the your own self pity. So 4 is a slight feeling of wanting to nap and the need for something hot and ever so slightly greasy for breakfast. 4 is livable with. Just.

This morning that meant my take on Welsh Rarebit. Welsh Rarebit, is basically, posh cheese on toast and traditionally is cooked with brown ale or cider and some flour, but this morning the last thing I thought I needed was more alcohol (although hair of the dog is probably exactly what I did need) so I omitted that ingredient.

'Not real Welsh Rarebit,' I hear you cry, 'a pale imitation' I hear you moan, to which I reply 'sod off I've still got a bit of a hangover and am in no mood to argue about recipes.'


Take a couple of good handfuls of strong cheddar finely grated, mix in two egg yolks, a good teaspoon of english mustard, couple of hearty dashes of Worcester Sauce and a dollop of creme freche to loosen the mixture up (if you are using ale of cider you don't need to had the creme freche.) Spread the mixture on thick slices of sour dough bread. Grill to golden brown. Eat with a dollop of tomato ketchup and start the process of recovery.

528 Views... the 1000 View Challenge

To my personal astonishment I've had over 500 views. Looking at the stats it would appear... like certain New Romantic bands from the mid 80's... I'm quite big in Eastern Europe.

Thank you... thank you whoever you are for taking some time to read Confessions... feel free to leave comments.

So here is the deal... if I make 1000 views by the end of the month, Ill post a video. I have no idea what of, but if there is something you want to see, leave a comment. I also have little idea how to do it but I'm sure I can work it out. I'm up for the challenge if you are...

Dinner on Thursday Night

Tonight is a Marks & Spencer special accompanied by Absolut for me, a cheeky glass or two of Sauvignon Blanc for my wonderful wife and a new regime in Egypt rolling out live on BBC News. I know packaged food is rubbish, salty, fatty, dead food... but today defeated my desire to cook. I'm having some kind of odd looking beef stew and my wife is having a fish pie.

Umami

Some people still think that Umami, the fifth taste, is like the Loch Ness Monster or fairies at the bottom of your garden... something nice to believe in, but ultimately a fantasy.

How wrong can you be... Umami is the savoury taste that sits alongside sweet, sour, bitter and salty. It's the flavour of Parmesan, cooked tomato and, rather gruesomely, caramelised blood and meat juices. (That's why a steak or a perfectly cooked medium rare burger tastes so very good...)

It's real, it exists, and it will give a savoury punch to any stew, casserole and even gravy. Cumin and Star Anise both have high levels of Umami which is why I tend to use both a lot in meat cookery, so do cooked mushrooms, caramelised onions, anchovy, Worcester sauce and, of course, Soy sauce... the stuff is everywhere.

And now someone has bottled the stuff... or more accurately... put it in a tube. Worth a try... I've used it and it's one of those handy stand buys to have in your fridge to give any brown sauce, stew or casserole a bit of a kick. Taste No 5: Umami Paste can be found here... http://www.laurasanttini.com/home.html and it's also available in Waitrose.

Man V Food Wants You

I might love my high end dining, all white pressed table clothes, perfect service and incredible wines, but sometimes I just want something to stuff my face with, something that will result in greasy fingers and a satisfying attack of heart burn.

Preferably that something is covered in melted cheese, high in fat and salt, comes wedged between two halves of a bun and is served with fries and several ice cold beers. I'm talking burgers... or chicken wings... or proper Pizza from New York... or hot dogs from Time's Square... or burritos from a road side stand somewhere in Southern California.

You might call that junk food... but when the mood takes me I call that heaven.

The king of that kind of Americana food, at least when it comes to eating it in vast quantities, is one Mr Adam Richman host of the Travel Channels Man V Food. The man (and his colon) are quite incredible. Not only does he tackle the stomach cramping quantities of food with obvious joy and excitement but he comes across as a totally nice bloke. It's not really a food show... and it certainly isn't about cooking... but it is totally watchable.

And now MVF want's you. Details... here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjWJhA_4M9g

In the UK Man v Food is on Good Food Channel. Thanks to my bro for forwarding the youtube link. Right... I'm off for a burger the size of a small dog.

The Perfect Roast Chicken

Lunch.

This is how I do my perfect roast chicken. You may do it differently and, lord knows, it's a dish that is open to many different variations, but this is what works for me.

So for the basics... get a free range, organic chicken. If it doesn't cost you at least a tenner... why bother? A cheap, supermarket chicken, for under a fiver is a disgusting affront to the animal, to cooking and the idea of good food. The poor bloody bird will have lived it's life in pain and misery... and that is not acceptable and, what's more, it will have a pappy, fatty texture and no taste.

I know... I know... we live in difficult times. Money is tight. And I get as fed up as anyone seeing multi millionaire chefs on the TV bang on about how you must spend the equivalent of most peoples monthly food budget on a single bottle of olive oil or you are a complete arse.

But buy a decent chicken and you will get two, maybe three meals out of it. Buy a cheap one and you get... very little. Maybe wind. And some things should cost a little more... it's a living animal, a living thing and deserves to be treated, and eaten, with respect.

Ok... off my soap box and back to how to cook the damn thing.

First I like to get my knife out and do some very basic butchery. I think it makes the bird look neater, but also maximises the flavour by creating a meaty trivet while minimising the amount of fat that can leach out, but it's also quite possible that I like to show off with sharp knives.

Trim off the tail (parsons nose), cut through the knuckle at the end of both legs (when the bird cooks, the flesh will pull back from the bone, rather than ripping) trim any excess skin round both ends, cleaning up the neck and remove the wish bone. This is a little fiddly and might take a few chickens to get right, but makes the carving of the bird a whole lot easier.  Then take both wings right off between the first and second section. Now you can carve and present the breast on the bone which makes it look a lot better. It also means that both wings can be used as a trivet and will caramelise under the bird to help create a richer, meatier gravy.

Insert half a lemon or half an onion up the birds chuff.

Smear with lots of butter and season with lots of salt and pepper. Add a couple of peeled carrots, a whole onion quartered (washed... but skin on...) and some whole un-peeled garlic gloves. Also what ever fresh herb you have... thyme being the absolute favourite. I often also sprinkle a few cumin seeds over the bird as well.

Bung in the over for 20 minutes at about 220, then turn down for about another 40 at 170-ish. Check that is cooked by pricking the legs and making sure the juices run clear. Let the bird stand for at least ten minutes uncovered.

Make the gravy in the pan... gravy is a whole different post.

Rubbish Dishwasher

Not so long ago we bought a new dish washer because although I love cooking I'm less keen on washing up. Like a wayward child it has been nothing but a disappointment. To be frank... It's rubbish. Good kitchen kit is worth it's weight... Bad stuff is just a pain and an annoyance. Do yourself a favour and give this brand of Siemens dishwasher a miss.

Masterchef New Zealand

In the never ending advance of Masterchef across the globe, the latest version to hit the screens in the UK is from New Zealand.

Really like the UK version, totally loved the Oz re-boot and have yet to see the Ramsay fronted US take.

Masterchef New Zealand is still at the audition stage so there is the usual parade of hapless idiots who clearly can't cook and probably should be banned from ever entering a kitchen again - last night featured asparagus dipped in chocolate. The judges seem well cast... there is the fat jolly one and the thin, slightly scary one... but how on earth did Ross Burden manage to creep into the mix?

Did the producers feel that they needed to supplement their two otherwise presumably perfectly well qualified judges with a housewives favourite gone to seed? And when did he start doing a full time Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet impression?

I'm sure it will be a grower and I'll be hooked after a few episodes but at the moment... not sure.

Masterchef New Zealand is on Watch.

Roast Chicken

NOT the chicken I cooked yesterday. This is a stunt chicken.

The chicken from Riverford was pretty good.

Although I have to admit that I probably didn't give it the love that it deserved. Yesterday was very much a 'sunday afternoon' day. Nothing really happened, the weather was rubbish and everybody and everything seemed out of sorts and slightly off key.

But I promised my wife a roast chicken and that is exactly what she got. With roast potatoes and roast carrots. And a red wine and onion gravy. A one pot roast which, actually, was pretty damn nice when it was served in a big bowl and eaten in front of the TV. A lazy mans Sunday dinner.

Perfect Roast Potatoes

A while back I promised to share my Perfect Roast Potatoes... something that took a great deal of research and a fair few spuds to finally achieve. 


A bit like the mash, there isn't any real great secret to a good roastie and it all starts with the right potato. King Edwards or Desiree work well.


Peel and cut. I think it works best cutting along the longest length of the spud to increase the amount of surface area... the more surface area you have the crispier the roastie should be. 


Boil in plenty of very salted water until they are just about to fall apart. Time to be brave... you want them to be on the very verge... But leave it too long and you'll end up with potato soup. 


Once you've let them go as absolutely as far as you feel you dare, gently drain them. Give them a gentle shake in the colander if you need to rough up the edges. And then set them aside to dry... the drier they are, the less moisture content (obviously) and the all the more crispy they will get. You can let them go cold, even put them in the fridge.


Get your oven hot. Very hot. And then on the hob, using your heaviest bottomed frying pan, fry the potatoes in small batches of a few at a time in quite a thick layer of olive oil. You don't have to fry them hard, just enough to get a golden colour started on all sides. Set each batch aside on kitchen paper to stop them getting too greasy and season as you go. If you cover them you can get to this stage well in advance of needing to put them in the oven.


Put them in a hot pan in the oven, with another sprinkle of olive oil, a couple of unpeeled garlic gloves and a sprig of rosemary. Turn half way through cooking. 40 mins or so later they should be perfect and very crispy. And they are pretty unforgiving, so will keep warm in a low oven if you need an extra 10 or 15 mins to get everything else done.

Meat

I am not the most organised of people. Whatever I do I tend to leave it to the last minute, partly because I enjoy the stress and pressure of a deadline, but also because I think... that's just the way I am. Post remains unopened, bills unpaid, tax unreturned. It gets done... but just at the last moment. I suppose that shows a certain arrogance that everything will wait for me.


I like to think it's an artistic streak... but I guess it's just being disorganised. 


Same with cooking. I'm not great at planning a week of menu's, shopping and then cooking to the plan. I like to just wing it and see what I fancy on any particular day, what looks good in the shop or market. 


But in an attempt to be a little more organised, and to cut the cost of shopping for every meal, we decided to order a organic meat box from Riverford Organic. http://www.riverford.co.uk/

We went for the small box, £50 and claiming to feed to adults for up to a fortnight. And this was what was in it...

• pork loin joint 1 kg
• pork + basil sausages 450g
• back bacon 250g
• turkey burgers 440g
• beef grilling steak 440g
• minced beef 450g
• lamb chops 450g
• whole chicken 1.6 kg

Have to say, it all looked very good and, although I hate seeing meat wrapped in plastic, seemed butcher fresh. 

Not sure you'd really get a fortnights worth of food out of it. Partly because the steak, sausages, burgers, mince and chicken had all to be eaten by the 7th (Monday) the lamb the day after that and the pork by the 13th. So given that the delivery arrived on the 3rd... Hmmm... that's more like 6 days of rather intensive meat eating than a fortnight.

If you knock the bacon out of the equation as purely for breakfast, you are left with 7 meals. Which for two people comes out at about £3.50 a head as a main ingredient. A little high maybe. Even if you add the bacon in as a meal, which at 7 slices of very good back bacon, it could be and manage to squeeze a second meal out of the rather small chicken, you are still looking at £2.77 per head for the main ingredient. 


Is it worth it? Yes. Yes, it is.


Sure a Waitrose home brand, ready meal lasagne for 2 is £3.29, or £1.64 a head... but a ready meal is a ready meal... good organic meat is a different thing entirely. If you are going to buy good quality organic meat you really should expect to pay a little more. 


There is too much cheap meat on sale in supermarkets and cheap meat is not good for any sense of a balanced diet. So is £2.77 a head worth it? Is £3.50 a head worth it? I think so... in fact it's a pretty damn good price. 


You can buy a whole chicken at Tesco online for £2.12. Just because you can... doesn't mean you should. 

So far we've had the Turkey Burgers (surprisingly moist - kids would love them), the bacon, the steak and the mince. All really good... the mince made a pretty stunning Cottage Pie with everything else so far being cooked off pretty simply. Today is the test... today is chicken day. 

Rick Stein

I know I haven't posted for a few days... Not that it really matters, no one is reading this. I'll do a proper update tomorrow. But just watching Rick Stein on Good Food channel. The Fruits of the Sea series I think. A great chef and a great communicator. I've seen all his shows many, many times over first on the BBC then on Good Food, they are like sitting with an old friend and sharing a glass of wine and talking endlessly about ingredients, cooking and eating. Food TV can be pretty hit and miss... But a half hour spent with Mr Stein is always time well spent.

The Perfect Herb Mashed Potato

I realise I didn't post how to make this... it's pretty simple. 


First make a herb butter. Add salt, pepper, a bunch of parsley (including the stalks), a good amount of rosemary and thyme into a hand blender. Add some cubed cold butter, about half a pack and a splash of olive oil. 


Blend and blend and blend until you have a smooth light green creamed butter. 


Put in the fridge to harden.


Make your mash as normal including adding butter and seasoning. Never stint on the butter or the salt. 


Before serving heat the herb butter up, melting it all down in a pan which also ensures that you cook out the woodier herbs. Once the butter is liquid fold through the mash, but don't work it too hard, it looks really nice if you let thick ribbons of herb buttery-ness form. 


You can do something similar with a watercress butter which is very good with beef. 

Perfect Mashed Potato

Every kitchen needs one of these.

There really isn't any great secret to good mash, just a few little tricks. And butter. Lots and lots of butter.


First... choose the right potato, you want something like a King Edward or a Desiree. 


Then... peel and boil. 


If you want to be extra fancy you can bake your potatoes whole, on a bed of salt, then when they are cooked scoop out the insides and use that as the base for your mash. 


If you are going to go the more traditional route and boil them I find that the larger you leave them the less water logged they get, but the more careful you have to be to ensure that the outside of each spud doesn't fall apart while leaving the centre raw. And you must salt the water very well. 


Once the spuds are soft to a knife, strain them and then pour them out onto a paper lined baking tray to steam dry for at least 5 minutes. Then, and this is an essential bit of kit for every kitchen, use a ricer to mash them. A ricer is fantastic because it stops the potatoes over working and becoming gluey and starchy. 


Season. Well. And add lots of cubed butter. Half a pack for mash for 4 people is on the mean side... You can add a very small amount of milk, literally a couple of tablespoons, or slightly more of cream. 

The great thing about mash is that is can keep really well if you make a double boiler.

Put your mash into a glass, heat resistant, bowl over the top of a couple of inches of water in the bottom of a pan. Don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Cover the bowl with foil and get a very gently steam going in the pan and the mash will be quiet happy for sometime.

The great thing about mash is, not only is it fantastic laden with butter and well seasoned but it can be adapted for different dishes. Adding mustard or horse radish is great with beef and a mash with a herb ribbon running through it is pretty damn fine.

Walk in the park, pint, Sunday lunch.

Today was almost perfect. 


We took the dog and little M for a long walk in the park where they both got pooped out and then, on the way home, walked past our favorite pub and, on the spur of the moment, decided that we both deserved a pub sunday lunch. 


One glass of red wine, one pint, two pork loin lunches later we waddled home, full, happy and with a universal feeling of good will. Some hardcore napping on the sofa followed and sod the budget.


Sunday lunch in the pub is one of those meals that can be totally wonderful, or totally rubbish. It's such an abused meal. The reality is that most people could (or at least should) do it better at home, but it's sometimes really nice to be cooked for and a groaning plate of meat, gravy, roasties and assorted veg, when you haven't had to buy, peel, prep and cook them, can be bliss. 


Now... look... I know that just a few posts ago I had a go at most, if not all, pub food as being less than great. If you haven't realized by now this is not going to be a balanced or measured blog and I reserve the right to often and fundamentally contradict myself. 


However I do stand by the fact that pub food is often pretty poor, and that goes just as much for sunday lunches as any other meal. In fact... probably more so. A busy pub will clear as much as 50% of there food profit over a weekend and most of that is on Sunday but it's an expensive meal to make both in terms of food costs and staffing (all that extra prep, waiting staff... ) so the temptation is to pile the plates high, but often with less than great produce, especially meat, and to turn tables. The more people that you can get through the doors - the more profit you make and that is why you never have to wait long for your Sunday lunch and the veggies can seem a little over cooked. 


Fortunately we are lucky that we have a particularly good selection of food pubs close to where we live. 


But when a pub sunday lunch is good... it's very, very good. 


And, lets be honest, it's about who you are sitting with, more than what you are eating, that makes it perfect. 

V is for Vodka

I do like vodka. Martini with a twist, over ice with lime, in a Sea Breeze, with a splash of lemonade, neat... It's clean, its crisp and I love it. 


For what its worth I like Absolut Blue as a day to day vodka... (that sounds wrong...), Grey Goose for Matini's and for drinking neat and, on one rather memorable dinner party, Camtiz which is sparkling vodka. Might sound rather weird, maybe even not all that nice, but it is really rather lovely.

And as a result I can't remember that much from that dinner party.

Say Cheese

Having to rework last night's dinner at short notice I had to turn to what ever I could find at the bottom of the fridge and cupboards. Fortunately there was a passable cauliflower in the fridge which, when the outer sorry looking green leaves had been stripped away, was still in a pretty good condition.

Last night there was only one thing that could be done with the cauli and that was to combine it with cheese.

Cauliflower Cheese is one of those dishes that can be wonderful, yummy and more-ish or gloopy, bland and, to be frank, fucking horrible.

This is how I do mine:

Take the head of the cauliflower and cut out the central core. Split it into separate florets. Let the face of the cauli talk to you, a little gentle pressure means that it should split into it's natural florets.

Put them in one layer in a thick bottom pan and just cover with cold full fat milk. Add a whole peeled shallot, a teaspoon of cumin seeds, half a dozen whole pepper corns and a good sprinkle of salt.

Bring to the boil and simmer gently until the cauli is soft to the end of a knife.

Remove the cauli florets, keep them warm and discard the shallot, strain the warm milk and set it aside for the cheese sauce.

To make the cheese sauce melt a good chunk of butter then add a tablespoon, maybe less, of plain flour. Cook the flour out and then start to add the milk a slosh at a time. The roux will go lumpy and thick, keep adding the milk a little at a time, whisking, whisking and whisking... it will go smooth. I don't like cheese sauce too thick so I tend to keep the basic white sauce on the thin side.

Now add the cheese. Lots of cheese. A good, strong English cheddar. At least a couple of handfuls. Stir it in until melted, then add a couple of teaspoons of proper English mustard, to taste. But you do want to be able to taste it so don't be shy with it.

Stir. Taste. Season.

Just before pouring over the top of the cauliflower florets stir in one egg yolk.

Put in a medium oven for about 20 minutes.

Now... if your cheese sauce splits because your oven is a bit too hot or you left the cauli cheese in there too long all you have to do is take the florets out of the sauce, let the sauce cool a little and, in the same pan, whisk the sauce by hand. It should come back together again.

Friday night dinner

Tonight's dinner was meant to be steak but for reasons too boring to go into the steak is going to have to sit in the fridge for another evening and something else will be rustled up for dinner tonight. 

My wife, a lapsed vegetarian, is not happy. She was rather looking forward to some meat.  

(Must come back to lapsed veggies another time...)

I think steak and beef cooking in general could be this years 'project.' Not wanting to sound all OCD about the kitchen but over the past couple of years I've become rather obsessed with one ingredient or style of cooking in an attempt to, if not produce the perfect example, certainly produce the very best version that I can. 

The year before last it was roast and mashed potato, last year was roast chicken and slow roast pork belly... this year just might be steak and beef. It's not like I start every year with a 'project.' It's just that i get obsessed with something and end up cooking it more and more to try and get it better and better. It's more that the ingredient picks me... than the other way around.


I love beef (I am English) but all too often it can be totally tasteless and disappointing in texture. Even the best beef can need a lot of help and the lightest of touches to bring it to life. 

Without blowing my own trumpet I now do a pretty damn good roast and mashed potato and give me a half decent chicken and, I like to think, I can cook it in any number of pretty tasty ways. When it comes to the belly pork is such an incredibly complex and wonderful product that I think you could cook for 50 years and still learn new things.  

Over the next couple of days I'll post my way of doing roast & mashed potato and a roast chicken. No doubt everyone will look at my efforts and insights and go... 'well, yeah... of course you do it like that.'

200+

I have had over 200 views... thank you, thank you whoever you are.

Just need to get some followers... !

Brillat-Savarin

In case you are wondering who he was and why he has a quote at the top of this blog, Brillat-Savarin was the first modern food writer. 


And by 'modern' I mean after antiquity and before Jamie Oliver. 


He was French (of course), an amateur and a fantastic eater of food. A gastronomic hero. 


His writing is still very readable, very witty and surprisingly modern in outlook. If you think you love food and love eating you really should read his book. 


It can be bought here: 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Physiology-Taste-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140446141/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1296145772&sr=8-6


It can be downloaded for free as part of Project Gutenberg here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5434


And his Wikipedia entry is here: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Anthelme_Brillat-Savarin

Pea & Ham Soup

I'm not in the business of pimping chef's recipes and certainly not the all too often deeply disappointing super-market range that every Tom, Dick and Harry who have ever stood behind a range love to churn out.


However... I've made a version of this and its extremely good and, of course, you actually have to make it rather than pour it out of a carton.


http://www.waitrose.com/recipe/Heston's_Pea_and_ham_soup.aspx


Let's be honest. Heston Blumenthal is one of the best chef's and nicest blokes in a kitchen today. And he makes great stuff. If you want to try the original recipe, the one that I can vouch for, which calls for making a ham hock stock then it can be found here.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/recipes/article2063855.ece


Give it a go. It is very good and makes the entire house spell of simmering Pork which can only ever be a good thing. 

M&S Shame

Two pints later and I've stumbled through the Oxford St M&S and grabbed assorted ready meals, wines and pre-packed puds. I know... Hypocrite.

Pub

Sitting waiting for a meeting in a pub in central London... Normally a horrible prospect, but they have Adnams on tap, a rarity outside of Suffolk. And they do a pork shoulder and black pudding sausage which I rather like the sound of. Although it's served with mash & gravy (fair enough) and onion rings?! Rather a Bernys Steak Hoyse throw back isn't it? Bet the mash & gravy aren't great. Pub mash is rarely anything other than packet mix or water logged and the gravy will be granules or, at best, a onion and stock mix thickened to gloop by granules.

So... Good beer, interesting sounding sausage, predictably awful sides.

I haven't eaten it... And might be very wrong... But the standard of cooking in a lot of British pubs leaves way too much to be desired. No detail... No fucking care or pride.

From the Hungry IPhone

Addiction

I think I'm developing a lime pickle addiction. I've always liked it on left over cold roast chicken and, of course with curry, but this evening I had it on a lump of strong cheddar. And it was lovely. I feel better for having shared.

Sometimes not even cooking helps...

So much for updating this everyday with a record of everything that I eat and cook. 


I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth. 


All rather out of sorts... not really interested in cooking or eating. Maybe this funk will pass... but one thing is for sure, my wife is cooking tonight.


I dislike January, I dislike not having a job and I dislike the state of our food cupboards. All I want are Mars Bars, that have been allowed to go cold and hard in the fridge. Probably because when I was a kid they where the ultimate treat, something to be savoured and treasured, partly because they where a rarity, but also I remember them being huge, almost too big to be able to finish in one sitting. 


Now, of course, I can polish the things off in three or four bites, but when I was a kid there was something slightly intimidating about a cold, hard, Mars bar. 

Take Away Love

After a truly rubbish day I'm taking solace in a couple of tins of San Miguel, embarrassingly bad music that I used to love as a kid (care of Spotify) while contemplating a cheeky mid week take away. 


Probably a curry... 


Why is it that take away curry is almost always better in anticipation than when is sits there, a mass of mush on your plate? 


Maybe I'm ordering from the wrong take out place? 


Maybe my wife is right and I just order too much?


Maybe I don't really want a curry.


Last nights dinner, by the way, was sausage and mash with a good gravy. A simple, almost cliched meal, helped into the levels of the spectacular thanks to some very good ingredients.


Proper organic Cumberlands, a butter laden mash with handfuls of herbs running through it and a gravy made from browned onions, mushrooms and thyme, deglazed with wine and then a good wet beef stock reduced down and down and down. 


Finished off with a squeeze of lemon, butter and seasoning (including a pinch of sugar...) It was thick and rich and wonderful and pretty luxurious but it was a mid week dinner party so seemed worth it. 


Now I want mashed potato again. 


And a vodka martini... actually, just the martini. 

Is there anything better...

... than well seasoned mashed potato with loads of butter?

I don't think so... but if you do, leave a comment.

Stella Stelle

Monday night cooking is all about getting something hot and tasty as quickly as possible, usually accompanied by a large glass of wine, to help cushion the shock of the start of another week.

Last night the combination of pork and pasta was needed, especially after the day I’d had.  

Thin, chipolatas fried and then run through the oven to make them sticky.

Set to one side and then slices of onion, a fat chilli thinly sliced, a wonderful Portobello mushroom in chunks all softened in the same pan, then the sausages returned.

Half a tin of quality tinned tomatoes, slug of red wine, chicken stock and then a hand full of Stelle Pasta.

Stelle is the little star shaped soup pasta which when cooked down brings to together a wet sauce into something approaching a risotto, but with all the body of pasta.

I don’t use it that often, but I do love the stuff.

The result… a real stick to the gills dinner of spicy, savoury, pork-y-ness.

Mind the Gap

We all trooped down to the Farmers Market yesterday; me, my wife, our little baby and bloody hell was it cold. The wind was cutting and we all froze, except for little M who was wrapped up in enough layers of insulation to survive a nuclear winter.

She, of course, managed to sleep through the entire sorry trip.

Despite bracing the North London elements we where greeted with virtually nothing for sale in what is usually a very impressive market. One of the veg stallholders had put up a large sign blaming the early arrival of the Hungry Gap that, if it was true, would make it very early indeed.

The Hungry Gap is the month or so between the end of the winter brassicas and the start of the early spring crops like broad beans, it falls around March time and usually means that there is little of nothing at the market except for some sorry looking potatoes, rather tired root veg and Kale.

Lots of Kale.

Now I like Kale, in fact I like Kale a lot, but sometimes it needs a little kick to lift it and that is exactly what I did when I served it with a couple of thick, fatty and juicy pork chops last night.

The result?

A wonderfully, messy, yummy, spiky mix which acts as both vegetable and sauce and goes perfectly with the fatty pork.

Fry off some peeled apple segments in butter, just enough to give them a little colour. Throw in some garlic.

Add a splash of brandy. If you want to be a kitchen show off, you can flame it. Always impressive and always makes you feel sadly chef-y.

Add the washed Kale, having removed the tough central stalks.

Season.

Add a splash of water to let it all steam, or chicken stock if you have any.

Clamp on the lid and let it steam until the Kale is tender.

Before serving… stir in a spoonful of mustard (your choice…English, Dijon, Whole grain doesn’t really matter) and another knob of butter.

Recheck for seasoning.

The apples should have fallen apart and made a rather lovely, potent, mustardy sauce with the irony Kale… perfect for fatty pork.

Oh God... not another food blog

Aren’t there more than enough already?

Do we really need or care about the restaurant reviews of a frustrated accountant from Tuscon or the recipe insights of a retired teacher from Colchester?

The answer is almost definitely, ‘no we do not.’

There are plenty of very talented professionals out there writing about, and creating, great food day in, day out with the only requirement placed upon us amateurs being simply to just sit back, read their work and stuff our faces.  

The Internet is awash with a great many people, saying very little at the top of their voices.

So why am I doing it?

Because I want to.


Is there a blog equivalent of 'do as I say, not as I do?'

One more thing... while everyone is welcome, with all views and comments, I just want to make one thing very clear. I am not and have no interest in the term FOODIES.

I really don’t get on with that nerdish breed of food obsessive’s who collect menus form top restaurants and play one up man ship on the rarity and exclusivity of their olive oil.

You have come to the wrong place to boast about the age of your Balsamic vinegar.

I will say it loud and say it proud, this is NOT a foodie blog.

So what is Confessions of a Hungry Mind about?

Exactly what it says… a year of eating, cooking and digesting.

More than that… who knows? 


Leave a comment..! 

Retro

The three post below come from articles I wrote for the excellent Retro Magazine. 


Check it out... it's very good indeed. 


http://www.theretrocollective.com/


I should be doing some more food writing for them shortly, so got any food memories, retro classics or dishes that time forgot that you'd like to be seen given a modern twist? 
Just leave a comment. 


A couple of people have also asked if there was any recipes to go with the articles. The answer? 
Yes. Yes there was. And here they are. If you try them out, let me know how they tasted.


Angel Delight

Angel Delight is basically a fruit fool, one of the simplest and tastiest desserts there is. 

You can substitute any soft fruit; black berries, raspberries, banana and get a fantastic result although you might want to slightly alter the amount of sugar for less tart fruits.

For 2 good portions.

250g strawberries

50g icing sugar

A lemon

250ml double cream

A large spoonful of full fat Greek yogurt.

Take your strawberries and remove any green leaves, cut in half and if they are particularly large cut out the tough hull.

Blitz them in a food processor with 2/3 of the sugar.

Taste and if its too tart add a little more sugar. 

If it’s too sweet add a squeeze of lemon. 

Keep tasting until you are happy but remember this is a chilled dessert and chilling dulls flavour so you want your fool to be as punchy as possible.

In a separate bowl whip the cream until it reaches a firm consistency, but don’t over work it. Fold in the yogurt, which will help stabilise the mixture and then fold in the strawberries. 

If you want to be extra fancy, pass the strawberry pulp through a sieve first to get rid of any little pips or hard pulp.

Place in suitable glasses and put in the fridge for about an hour.

If you want to be particularly classy garnish with squirty cream and a glace cherry. 

Coq Au Vin   

You will need:

A large jointed chicken

Half a dozen rashers of un-smoked streaky bacon 


2 onions 


A large carrot 


A stick of celery

2 or 3 cloves of garlic 


Sprinkling of flour 


Slosh of brandy 


Chicken stock

A bottle of red wine 


A few sprigs of thyme 


A couple of bay leaves 


Butter 


Plain flour

Large handful of small brown mushrooms not white buttons.

Cut the bacon into strips and fry off with a little butter in the bottom of a large casserole until they are golden brown but not burnt. 

Remove and put to one side.

Season the chicken with salt & pepper and place skin side down in the casserole. 

You want to develop a golden colour to the skin. This is where your deep flavour will come from. Once the skin looks beautifully browned turn the chicken over and briefly colour the flesh side. 

Take the chicken out.

Put your chopped onions, carrots and celery in to the pan. 

If you want you can dice all the veg relatively small to give the dish a more refined look or leave them chunkier to make the whole thing more peasantry. But don’t cut them straight through, cut small or on an angle to increase the surface area.

Just before returning the bacon and chicken to the pan add your chopped garlic. 

Add you thyme and bay.

Cover with your red wine. 

You have to be prepared to give up a whole bottle of decent French red and if you want to be bang on the money it should be Beaujolais. 

Put shit wine in… you’ll get a shit flavor out.

If there isn’t enough wine in one bottle to just cover what’s in the pan make up the rest with chicken stock. If you can’t be bothered to make chicken stock try and get the fresh wet stocks that most supermarkets carry. Don’t use a stock cube, everything will get too salty and kill the flavor of the chicken. 

Better to use water than a stock cube.

Bring to a gentle boil, cover and reduce to a simmer.

Fry your mushrooms in a little butter in a separate pan until golden brown. 

At the last minute deglaze the pan with a slosh of brandy, flambéing it to get all the extra flavour into the mushrooms. Always make sure someone is around to see you do this… it looks impressive and everyone will think you must be a serious chef even if it does cost you your eyebrows form time to time. 

Set to one side.

You are looking at about 1 hour for the dish to be cooked. The chicken should be soft but not falling off the bone. Once you are happy that its cooked take the chicken pieces out and add the fried mushrooms while kicking up the heat to reduce the sauce.

Make a beurre manie by taking some butter and forming a paste with you flour. It should look like a white gob stopper. The more flour you use the more your sauce will thicken. Better to add crumbs of the beurre manie gradually because you can’t take it away once it’s in the pan.

Drop the beurre manie into the sauce and stir on the boil until the sauce looks thick and glistening. 

Taste and adjust the seasoning if it needs a little pepper or salt. 

Return the chicken to the pan and serve. 

Prawn Cocktail

For the perfect Modern 1970’s Prawn Cocktail you will need

Raw king prawns on the shell. 3 per person depending on size.

2 tbsp Helman’s Mayonnaise

2 tbsp Crème Fresh

1 tbsp Heinz Tomato Ketchup.

A dash of Tabasco.

1 Baby gem lettuce per person.

Olive oil.

Lemon.

Fresh chives.

To cook the prawns:

Boil a pan of water, reduce to a simmer and place the prawns ‘shell on’ into the water to poach. Depending on the size this can several minutes. While still warm peel the prawn but leave the heads on. (If you are a serious prawn lover the meat gained from crushing the heads in your mouth is not to be missed.) 

Dress the prawns in a very small drizzle of olive oil. 

Season with salt and pepper.

To make the sauce:

Mix the Mayonnaise, with the Crème Fresh and the Ketchup. The Crème Fresh helps to keep the sauce lighter and less claggy. Add Tabasco to taste, a squeeze of lemon salt and pepper. Marie Rose sauce is so intensely personal that there is no other option than to taste as you go along and balance the sauce in the way you like. 

Mix together and put to one side.

To prepare the lettuce:

Shred as finely as possible, preferably into long thin strips. Just before assembly dress in a very little olive oil and add some finely chopped Chives. Do not add salt as this will draw water out of the lettuce.

To assemble:

Place the dressed lettuce in the bottom of a glass, pile the prawns on top and spoon some of the sauce over the prawns. But don’t flood the glass with the sauce – let the prawns be the stars. Sprinkle a small amount of chopped chives on top, twist of pepper and serve immediately.