Making Mayonnaise

For some reason, it never occured to me to make my own mayonnaise. My family never did; we always had a jar of it in the fridge and I suppose it's not the quickest of activities one can undertake, especially when you don't have any fancy electronic gadgets.

I really hate waste, so when I was faced with two egg yolks after making the orange almond biscuits, my thoughts immediately turned to making mayonnaise. I even had some leftover roasted turkey to eat and as luck would have it - some tarragon in the fridge. It was like a match made in heaven. So, I set about making the mayonnaise. The trick is to whisk fast and whisk hard, expecially at the beginning while tentatively dripping the oil in.

At first, not a lot happened as I painstakingly dribbled the oil in. I had to keep repeating "patience, patience" over to myself, because I simply don't have any and did wonder what would happen if I just chucked a load of the oil in. But I'm glad I didn't, as curdling would have been inevitable.

And so, before my very eyes, mayonnaise was made. It really makes a difference too - it's a pale cream colour and tastes beautifully rich and of the perfect consistency. None of this jelly-like wobble you get from manufactured mayonnaises and their stabilisers, oh no. This is rich, luxuriant, and seriously bad for you. I dived in with gusto.

Mayonnaise

To fill one pesto jar

2 egg yolks

1 clove garlic

250mls groundnut or rapeseed oil

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1 level tsp salt

Freshly milled pepper

Crush the garlic and mince finely. Add to a large bowl with the egg yolks, salt and pepper. Whisk lightly, then add a drop of the oil and carry on whisking. Whisk constantly whilst dripping the oil until you have a thick smooth paste - then add the white wine vinegar, whisk vigorously and then dribble the oil into a steady stream while whisking furiously until all the oil is gone. Sterilise your jar and the mayo should keep in the fridge or up to a week.

To make tarragon mayonnaise, I simply chopped up a tablespoon of tarragon and chives to 2 tablespoons of mayo.

The mayo is quite garlicky, so if you want something a bit more like shop-bought mayo then leave out the garlic, or add a little less.

Orange & Almond Biscuits

My baking skills aren't particularly great. I'm not a huge fan of desserts and this shows as I don't appear to have a natural flair for it.

I recently picked up some rose water from a Persian shop, wanting to experiment with it more. Originally I wanted to make some sort of jelly and with a half-price punnet of strawberries, I simmered them down to a puree, mixed it with some maple sugar I had, and then used agar agar flakes to make it set into a jelly. It was a bit of a disaster - the maple sugar was extremely overwhelming, and I didn't simmer the agar agar enough to dissolve it. Lumpy jelly is not good.

So, rather than rectify my mistakes, I decided to change angle. Out with the jelly and in with biscuits; this time Amaretti biscuits with rose and orange. Typically, nothing went well. I didn't realise that supermarkets weren't open on Easter Sunday, so I did away with the Amaretto and used just rose water for the liquid. Unfortunately, the rose water wasn't powerful enough to shine through the orange. Perhaps next time less orange is needed, or maybe using rose oil rather than water would help.

However, on their own right, these were delicious biscuits, especially to have with tea or coffee. They're fluffy and sweet, with the freshness of orange to lighten it.

Orange & Almond Biscuits

Makes about 15

120gr ground almonds

110gr caster sugar

2 egg whites

20ml rosewater

1 tsp orange zest

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Add the almonds, sugar and the rosewater and mix to a paste. Add the zest and mix to incorporate.

Grease a baking tray and line with baking parchment. Add the mixture in small blobs with a teaspoon, leaving a couple inches space around each. I did the biscuits in two batches. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool and store in an airtight container.

Sake Tasting at Tsuru Sushi

I'm a big fan of Japanese cuisine. For my last birthday I asked if I could go for a slap-up Japanese meal, and more often than not I get cravings for sushi and sashimi. I also rely on miso soup to comfort me when I'm feeling unwell and I'm pretty sure they cure hangovers. Unfortunately, I don't know a lot about sake. I know it's made with rice, and sometimes it's served warm, sometimes cold but I don't know about the whys or hows. So when I saw this sake tasting advertised on Tsuru's website, I gathered some friends and off we went.

Tsuru is located behind the Tate Modern. Inside, it was dark and slick. We were seated at a huge table and given edamame and Asahi beer to warm us up with. Ngaire Takako introduced herself; a warm and affable lady who clearly knew her stuff. We started with a Daiginjo-Shu sake, made in Fukuoka in Japan. This was light and crisp with a slight hint of peach. I was taken aback by this, as most sakes I've had had a slight burn to it, but this was a clean finish. To accompany (but not as a food to drink matching) we had some excellently sticky chicken teriyaki skewers. We were also given some freshly fried gyozas which had a wonderfully light and thin skin and a well-seasoned filling. There's nothing worse than stodgy gyoza, after all.

Next up, we had another Daijingo-Shu, this time made using Namada Nishiki rice. It is said to be the finest of sakes, and the Toji (head brewer) watches the mixture for 72 hours straight, to ensure nothing goes wrong with it. Not something I'd like to attempt! I was also amused to hear that at a lot of breweries, women weren't allowed near them as it was thought they'd sour the sake due to our higher body temperatures.

When I told a friend I was coming along, he said "if you see any Umeshu, steal it. It's excellent". I spotted it as our next taster, and luckily I had the manners to restrain from any thievery. This is made from plums and had a rich flavour with a subtle finish. We were served sushi with this sake; very generous platters of both vegetarian (not pictured) and non-vegetarian sushi and nigiri for the 3 of us. The fish was lovely and fresh, and on the vegetarian platter the inarizushi was delicious, juicy and moreish, and happily the sushi was stuffed with pickled vegetables. Mmm pickle.

Last up, we had a Genmai Aged Sake, made from brown rice. This was my least favourite of the lot as I found it a bit too heavy on the palate. This was, surprisingly served with a chocolate brownie. It was good and squidgy, but I think I'd have prefered something lighter and more Japanese; mochi ice cream perhaps?

All in all, for £18 it was excellent value and a great night out. Emma and Ngaire are excellent hosts, being both patient with answering our (many) questions and friendly. I'd definitely recommend it if you want to find out more about this often baffling drink.

Tsuru

4 Canvey Street

London SE1 9AN

Tel: 0207 928 2228

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

Last week, I visited L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon to try out their extremely reasonable set lunch - 3 courses for £25, just like the one I had at Hibiscus. A friend of mine had spotted the offer, so we booked ourselves in and I hot-footed it down to Covent Garden.

Upon arrival, I was surprised by how dark it was. It was very much a black and red colour theme, and once I'd managed to hop rather ungracefully up onto the (red) bar stool I was also surprised to find that there was a definite theme of apples - a big bowl of apples sitting on fake ice cubes graced the bar, and a gigantic red apple sat just behind it. I wish I'd asked why. The bar was the best place to be sitting; a mere 2 or 3 metres away, the chefs were busy at work and you could happily spy on them.

As with most of these set lunches, the choice was limited. To start, I plumped for the 'Soft poached egg with braised celery, hazlenut and beetroot vinagrette'. The presentation was impressive and I must admit I wobbled the plate a couple of times to see if the egg would topple. It didn't. Cutting into the egg revealed a perfectly runny yolk, although it was rather on the cool side. The flavours were clean, smooth and simple, with each element being quite defined.

For my main, I went for the 'Hangar steak served with dauphinois potatoes, red wine and shallot sauce'. The hangar steak was good and beefy, cooked perfectly to medium rare. I'd have liked a thicker stack of potatoes, but on reflection, the dish was quite rich and I am quite greedy so it did turn out to be enough. The shallot sauce that adorned the steak was gorgeous; reduced down to a sweet yet savoury sticky goodness.

Just like at Hibiscus, dessert turned out to be my favourite course. I had originally told the waitress that we'd have just the one dessert to share, but she ignored me and two turned up instead. Naughty of her, but I'm quite glad because this chocolate and coffee finger was rather delicious. A coffee-soaked sponge nestled beneath the chocolate ganache, and the little silver balls gave a welcome change in texture. Accompanying vanilla ice cream was a good bland foil for the richness of the chocolate, though I felt the meringue perched atop of it to be rather redundant.

All in all, a good lunch but for £35 with a glass of wine and service, I do wonder if perhaps it's worth saving up that extra more (ok, a whole lot more) and going for the full whack to get the real experience of the restaurant. While the cooking was solid and the presentation was lovely, I didn't feel particularly wowed by any of the dishes, especially from a 2 Michelin starred establishment.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

13-15 West Street,

London WC2H 9NE

Tel: 0207 010 8600

Tomoe - Oh No.

I have been eagerly looking forward to my trip to Tomoe, in Marylebone. I've read good reviews here, and here, and here. The day came for me to try lunch out.

I ordered the 'Deluxe Sushi Set'. In hindsight I should have asked how many pieces it included. It had 11. For £17. Yes, it was lovely and fresh and very tasty indeed. Perhaps I chose wrongly. Perhaps they didn't like the look of me.

I left hungry.

Tomoe

62 Marylebone Lane,

London, W1U 2PB


Tel: 020 7486 2004

Baby Octopus Puttanesca

Baby octopus are the kind of beast that would have some people squealing "ewww!". They're not pretty things, being all tentacles attached to a little bulbous sack, but they are a pleasure to eat. When cooked properly, they're tender and flavoursome with just a hint of crunch from the tentacles.

When I found a big (I mean big) bag of these frozen baby octopus in the freezer of a Chinese supermarket last week for a mere £3.70, I almost woopah-ed in delight and I went home a happy girl. I took a handful out this morning to defrost and spent a good 7 hours at work thinking about what to do with them. In the end, I decided to do something simple. I haven't cooked baby octopus before, and I didn't want to spend a lengthy evening making something that could potentially be a disaster.

Happily enough, it wasn't. This Puttanesca sauce worked really well with it. The robust flavours of the anchovies, chilli, garlic and the freshness of the parsley worked beautifully with the octopus - shell-shaped pasta was a good recepticle, though I wonder perhaps if Orecchiette might have been better than Conchiglie.

Baby Octopus Puttanesca

Serves 2

200gr pasta shapes

8 baby octopus, defrosted

2 anchovies (the tinned ones in oil), chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Large pinch of chilli flakes

1 tbsp capers, rinsed and chopped

2 tbsp black olives, chopped roughly

A handful of parsley

1 tin of peeled plum tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste

Simmer the octopus in water for 20 mins. Meanwhile, fry the anchovies, garlic and chilli flakes in some oil until the anchovies have dissolved. Add the capers, black olives, and the tomatoes chopped roughly. Add the tomato paste and simmer for 15 minutes until thickened. Put the pasta on to cook. Drain the octopus, rinse under cold water and add to the Puttanesca sauce. Carry on simmering on a low heat until the pasta is done, and then stir the pasta through.

Garnish with chopped parsley, taste for seasoning and eat with gusto. I served it with some garlic-braised courgettes. Braised lettuce or just a side salad would work equally well.

A Tale of Two Curries

I realise that the blog is starting to look like a restaurant review blog. While I have been eating out a lot recently, this isn't the way of the blog; I'm still eating at home.

After I saw Josh blog Mamta's Prawn Patia, it jumped straight to the top of my 'must-make' list. I love the balancing flavours of sweet, spicy and sour that so many cuisines have. The Filipinos have Sinigang Na Hipon, a hot and sour soup; the Thais Tom Yum, and the Chinese Hot and Sour soup. So it was no surprise that this dish turned out to be a cracker - really good depth of flavours with a sauce just coating the meaty prawns.

I like to have a couple of dishes on curry nights, and one I have been trying to recreate is Tinda Masala, which I first tried at Tayyabs. Tinda is an Indian gourd, likened to baby pumpkins but I haven't been able to find any since. Whilst shopping in Peckham last weekend (a stone's throw from my new abode in New Cross) I saw a small green pumpkin which I thought would work out well. Clearly I haven't got much experience with squashes - I find them a bit too sweet - and the shopkeeper gave it a feel, ordered I put it back and got me a fresher one. Now that's service.

Coconut Pumpkin Curry

Serve 4 as part of a multi-dish meal

1 small green pumpkin, chopped into equal sized pieces, skin peeled

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp ground coridander

1 small tin of coconut milk

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1" ginger, minced finely

1 medium onion, diced

2 chopped green chillis, deseeded

Small bunch of chopped coriander

1/2 tsp garam masala

In a frying pan, heat up 3 tbsp cooking oil and add the cumin seeds. Fry until they are fragrant and add the onions, garlic and ginger. Cook slowly until dark brown but not burnt. Add the green chilli, all the spices except the garam masala, and then the pumpkin pieces. Add the tin of coconut milk with some salt, and simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft. Simmer for a further 10 mins without the lid to reduce to a thick sauce and 5 mins before finishing, add the garam masala. Take off the heat and garnish with chopped coriander.

This curry worked well as a contrast to the prawns. It was slightly sweet but not too much so, and it was very mild and creamy, taking the heat off the prawns somewhat.

If you prefer a more intense pumpkin flavour, I suggest roasting the pumpkin and adding it to the curry later. As it is, I'm a recent convert to pumpkin and so am going down the softly-softly route...