So Restaurant & Sushi, London, UK
A good friend of mine agreed to play tour guide and culinary guide to me while I was visiting London.
I had a few days off in between changing jobs and Jez had a conference in London, so I got on the train too.
For lunch, my friend Y took me to one of his favourite Japanese restaurants. He thought it might be a little cheeky to take me to go eat Japanese. But I was instead extremely grateful, having been terribly deprived of ethnic restaurants, especially good Asian restaurants.
It was a harmonious blend of modern and traditional. Meticulously prepared, beautifully presented, modest serving sizes (but you certainly don’t leave feeling hungry), good value for money, polite service.
My friend had the vegetable set lunch and let me try everything :)
I had the “Express Lunch” which, like the vegetarian bento, was the Chef’s daily creation. I had vegetable tempura, beef, salmon, a croquette, pickled cucumber, pickled cabbage, rice, and miso soup.
It had also been a long time since I’d drunk good Japanese green tea. It was fine and smooth.
Do we want dessert? Certainly.
The desserts were nice enough, offering a different twist on the normal. But at almost the same price as a set lunch, I thought the main meal was better value.
My friend got the pumpkin crème caramel with caramel ice cream
and I got the tofu cheesecake with vanilla bean ice cream
The winner for me was the caramel ice cream.
Pussy cat pussy cat…
Pussy kat pussy kat, where have you been?
I’ve been up to London to claim my machine.
Pussy kat pussy kat, what did you there?
We carried it back, it’s damn heavy I declare!
Wageningen, NL
I can’t believe I didn’t know this earlier, but Wageningen, a small town not far from Nijmegen, is a hot spot for food science and food research. It is part of the “Food Valley” and many international food companies are based there.
That gave me 2 reasons to visit. Work and research.
On one occasion I went to see a recruitment agency for a huge multinational food company. I didn’t want to get back into food technology so soon, so I tried to see how far I could get with a culinary role. Not far enough on this occasion.
The second investigation was to talk to a professor about research opportunities at the university. I was accepted into a Masters of Food Technology program, specialising in Gastronomy, but unfortunately I’m not going to take it, as I don’t have a spare €25,000 and the applications are already closed for the scholarships and fellowships. I’ll save that one for another lifetime.
Den Bosch, NL
Back in March, I went to the Immigration Office at Den Bosch to go and pick up my residency card.
So I’m officially a Dutch resident, but only until September. Plus, I have to renew it 12 weeks before it expires, when I’m sure I will have to pay the Dutch government another exorbitant fee, after paying the last ridiculously high one in December.
Ever get the feeling you’re not wanted?
Regardless, I took the opportunity to have a sticky beak around Den Bosch. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly?), it was just like every other Dutch city in Holland. What I mean is that you see all the exact same chain stores in every town centre, just in different buildings or a different layout. But it’s always the same brand names. It’s all just more of the same.
I’m sure that if I spent more time there I would discover little treasures. But this was my first impression anyhow.
Here are a couple of pictures of the less commercial parts.
Four minutes? Scary but true
While reading in bed last night I came across this snippet of information. It made me gasp “woah!” Not because I was amazed or impressed, but because I was shocked and horrified.
Mass-Produced Breads
“…Ordinary mixing, kneading, and fermentation require several hours of work and waiting from the bread maker. In bread factories, high-powered mechanical dough developers and chemical maturing agents (oxidizers) can produce a “ripe” dough, with good aeration and gluten structure, in four minutes. Yeast is added to such doughs mainly as flavoring…”
(Source: McGee, Harold (2004) “McGee on Food and Cooking”)
Back to Fontainebleau, FR
About a month ago, at the end of April, we went with some Dutch friends to go camping near Fontainebleau. I’d never been to such a well equipped campsite, with hot showers, flushing toilets, basins, washing up areas, a coffee machine in the reception, free Wifi. This was not the camping I was familiar with. But all these luxuries did not stop the wet and cold creeping up from the damp ground during the night.
The weather was disappointing, raining and cold. But it meant we got to do more exploring of the local region.
We went to seele Château de Fontainebleauwhich I thought had some really beautiful aspects that were more pleasing to me than Versailles. While Versailles is certainly impressive and on a scale of its own, it can be totally overwhelming with the masses of tourists, the queues, its size and so forth. One of our travelling companions found all of the riches discomforting, which I totally understand, because of the stark contrast between rich and poor. But if you can just forget about all the social implications for a minute and admire the beauty and intricacies of the artwork and masterpieces, then it’s truly breathtaking.
One morning while walking to the markets, we happened upon a street we had never been down before. It was full of artisanal shops showcasing a glorious array of products.
It was from this fromagerie below that we bought the local cheese “Fontainebleau” which reminded me of sweetened whipped cream which we ate with fresh strawberries from the markets. It was mild, sweet, fluffy, light and creamy, and the gauze wrapping was a novelty, but I don’t think I could eat it too often. On further investigation, it seems that it is a blend of fromage blanc and heavy cream and has a fat content of 60-75%. It must be eaten the day it’s put out for sale. You can see it in the cups in the bottom right hand corner of the photo.
We stocked up on alot of other cheeses from here too.
We finally found a pâtisserie that looked quite good and the constant queue of customers out the door gave us a hint that it was one of the best in town.
After the markets we went back here to sample some treats. By the time we went back there was much less to choose from.
Jez got a tartelette with rhubarb compote, raspberries and a crumble topping.
Which was pretty damn good
I got a palmier in a shape I had never seen before
And this was also very fine, very crisp and nicely caramelised.
Their baguettes de tradition were also very good.
The flowers were blooming in town.
And the rain did stop enough for us to do a little bit of bouldering in the forests. Below, Dom is climbing the famous l’Elephant.
We ate at a good Italian restaurant one night. Their fried baby calamari, and the pappardelle and lamb ragout were wonderful. The panna cotta was one of the best I’ve had, so smooth and creamy and just the right softness. I don’t have any pictures from that evening, I just remember everyone enjoying their meal.
Before dinner we went to the supermarket to stock up on things that you can’t get in the Netherlands. I was worried that our friends would think that Jez and I were crazy, but they were doing exactly the same thing!
One evening the boys made a fire in the bivouac and we threw some potatoes in the fire.
Here’s a happy Dutchman with his potatoes.
I did a bit of prep and Jez cooked the barbecue.
All food was from the Fontainebleau markets that morning. Fresh asparagus, saucisse de Toulouse (comes in those spirals, I asked for half a kilo and the guy took a swipe at the big coil and the piece he cut off for me weighed precisely 500g), chipolatas, fresh prawns, aubergines, potatoes.
The little Bodum bbq, while it looks great, barely created enough heat to cook for 2 people. We had 6 hungry mouths to feed so Jez had to improvise a little and he mostly used the little kettle bbq as a smoke house, and to keep the food warm.
Dinner was delicious, but unfortunately the Dutch boys were still hungry! Sorry guys. I’m not looking forward to having to feed teengage boys one day.
Carrot cake
Carrot cakes are well known and liked in places such as the UK, USA and Australia. They are less well known, less common and less accepted in the Netherlands.
But, I intend to have a good carrot cake on my menu, and I had a big bag of organic carrots to use up. Plus there were enough expats around to appreciate it, so I sallied forth.
As well as carrots, I decided to put diced fresh pineapple and grated apple in it also.
I choose to use butter and raw sugar on this occasion. Once these are creamed together, you add the egg yolks one by one.
Then the dry ingredients are mixed in — wholemeal flour, plain flour, ground almonds, raising agents and spices.
Then I stirred through the carrot, pineapple and apple. And then the organic hazelnuts that I’d toasted earlier (I’m not much of a walnut lover).
Next you whip up the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold this through the carrot mix to lighten it.
Spread the mixture into the prepared tin.
And bake for 1 hour
It should be deep golden all over.
Remove from the tin and leave it to cool.
Then make the cream cheese and mascarpone icing, flavoured with orange and honey.
Cut the cake in half and fill the middle if you want to, but remember that you’ll need more icing for this. Spread icing generously over the top and decorate with toasted nuts.
Most importantly, taste it to make sure it’s okay.
Next time, I’m going to increase the carrots and work on my quantities so that there is less liquid in the whole mix. While carrot cake should be a little denser than normal, this one was a little bit too wet.
But boy, was it hearty, after eating one slice you felt like you’d just eaten a whole meal. Luckily it keeps well.
Sweet potato muffins
Muffins made of roasted sweet potato, warm spices, whole wheat flour and dates… sounds wholesome and delicious. The sweetness of the kumara/sweet potato and the dates replace much of the sugar, it uses hardly any butter, and half of the flour quantity is whole wheat. (Source: “Good to the Grain” by Kim Boyce).
This is a good way to use up leftover roasted sweet potato. If you don’t have any on hand, you begin by roasting the sweet potatoes whole, until very dark and beginning to caramelise.
Let them cool, peel them and set aside.
Prepare the different components for the muffin mix
Cream the butter and sugars (brown and half-white). Mix in half of the sweet potato and the egg.
Until thoroughly combined.
Then mix in the dry ingredients (whole wheat flour, plain flour, cinnamon, baking powder and soda, salt, nutmeg and allspice) until partly combined.
Add the buttermilk and yoghurt and mix until combined.
Add the dates and the remaining sweet potato and mix until barely combined.
Scoop into 10 greased muffin holes
Bake for 40 minutes until the bottoms are dark golden. I gave them a bit of extra time.
It was at this stage that I took them out to check them. Below is what I thought was a dark golden bottom.
Alas, undercooked! I did usebasetersuiker, but not a great deal of it. Was it enough to affect the cooking? Or did I use too much sweet potato? This is still a bit unclear to me. You see, “2 small sweet potatoes” to me, might be “2 medium sweet potatoes” to someone else. I ended up using one and a half. Regardless of arbitrary size allocation, was the approximate weight that was given referring to the whole raw potatoes, or the flesh only (already roasted and skinned)?
And this is what the muffins thought. They sunk in the middle because, no, they weren’t ready to come out of the oven yet.
I made sweet potato croutons with the undercooked ones we’d already bitten into, and served it with fresh pineapple and strawberries. Though not as intended, it was not a bad way to eat a muffin.
Meanwhile, I popped the rest of the muffins back in the oven. In total, I cooked the muffins for 60 minutes (20 minutes more than was recommended). You would surely think they were cooked by now.
If they don’t stick like crazy to the sides of the pan, then you should twist each muffin out and rest it on its side or top to cool, so you don’t get soggy bottoms.
The combination of factors (ingredients, quantities, coming out of the oven before they were ready, going back in the oven to cook again) meant the muffins didn’t get a chance to rise and be fluffy, they ended up being rather dense, but at least they were finally cooked through. The flavours were promising, but this recipe needs a retest.
Market flowers
One of the things I love about Europe is how inexpensive and plentiful fresh flowers are.
Here are some darling buds of April
And another shot taken after the buds had opened a bit. This bouquet costed only €5 and lasted a very long time.
Looks like a pretty standard bunch of (beautiful) tulips, 2 bunches for €6.
Slowly opening over the next few days
Then POW! Out come the doubles!Dubbele tulpen(double tulips)
Absolutely stunning. Unexpected. Magnificent.
Apple, walnut and custard cake
I thought this cake sounded delicious. So one day when I had some old apples that were beyond happy eating, I set out to make this cake.
First you had to make the custard. This custard falls somewhere in between the smooth vanilla-laden crème pâtissière I learnt in Paris, and the rehydrated “yellow cream” premix I used to make in a neighbourhood bakery in Nijmegen.
I didn’t like the ratios, but stuck with it since I thought it still had to go through another heat process of being baked in the oven, and it had to mix in with other substances and hold its form, so I trusted in the recipe. It ended up looking “claggy”. Tasted fine though.
Next was to make the apple and walnut filling by caramelising apples and walnuts with brandy (I replaced this with amaretto), sugar and water.
They were cooked on a high heat until they looked like this. The apple pieces still looked huge, but again, I stuck with the recipe.
Then the cake batter was prepared, spread into a lined tin, topped with the custard, and finally the apples and walnuts. I was supposed to chop the custard roughly and fold it through the cake mixture, but 1) it wasn’t solid enough to cut into chunks and 2) I forgot to do this step before spreading the mix into the tin, so I swirled spoonfuls through the mix instead, before piling the apples and walnuts on top.
Some cool baking-in-oven pics:
You can see the mixture has risen over the apples.
Finished:
However, it was underbaked on the inside, even though I already gave it an extra 10 mins. The flavours were good, but I found it too sweet. The apple quarters were way too large, though perhaps the apples I used were too big to begin with. The custard was a funny grey colour after baking.
For this recipe I used Dutch “basterd” sugar in all 3 components, since I can’t buy brown sugar here, and I hadn’t yet raided the UK supermarkets at this stage. I know basterd suiker has its place, but it’s not in my baking! It just doesn’t behave the way that I would expect sugar to behave. It’s made from finely ground refined white sugar crystals which are coated in a thin layer of invert sugar syrup. Caramel or molasses solutions can also be added for colour.
You would think it sounds an awful lot like commercial light or dark soft brown sugar, but they’re not the same. It holds its moisture more, which has the intended benefit of slowing down the rate at which cakes and biscuits go stale and keep them soft for longer. But it also slows down my baking. Bah!
