Tip of the Iceberg Lettuce

"I think iceberg lettuce is so underrated!" is the statement Australian cook and presenter Dani Venn came out with.  At the time it made me chuckle and initially think how I could shoehorn the same sentence into a conversation.

So far I haven't been involved in a suitable conversation, but I'm going to the pub later so you never know!  In the meantime I've written this short blog because it definately got me thinking.



Iceberg for a while now has been the lettuce left in the corner and I can understand why when you eat a leaf on its own.  Low in flavour and nutritional value, on face value I can see why people want to flirt with the likes of raddicio's bitterness or rocket's peppery flavours.

Iceberg was popular in the 1980's, at the time it suited our unadventureous palates.  However, now more people are exploring different countries and eating in the many different types of different international restaurants that have opened up, our taste buds have developed too.  This is a good thing, but would account for why UK sales of iceberg dropped 35% last year, while the likes of rocket and watercress rose by 37%.

In the USA iceberg is the still the most popular lettuce where it is known as "Crisphead".  It was breed with a much higher water content to stop it spoiling when being transported and also to make it fridge friendly.  That was ok if all you want an all-year round vegetable... but it does also explain the reason behind the lack of flavour!

With everything going against it, iceberg is not a bad product if you know what you are dealing with and only a bit of culinary effort is required to make some very enjoyable dishes.  The crisp and vessel like shape of it's individual leaves is the key, making it the perfect vehicle to carry other flavours.  Fillings such as a simple creamy blue cheese such as Dorset Blue Vinney topped with crumbled bacon, or shredded chicken with aioli and cracked black pepper, or even crushed roast tomatoes with anchovies all make the humble iceberg lettuce leave a tasty delight and I encourage you to create some of your own.

However, credit where credit is due, as it was Dani Venn who inspired me to write this blog, it is only fair that I refer you to her very own use of iceberg lettuce in her Crispy Rice Paper Rolls recipe http://danivenn.com/2012/10/30/crispyrolls/   Enjoy!

Simple Sunday Snack

One of the most simple dishes I have ever done.

Bok choi cut lenth ways.

 

 

Steam for about 5-6 minutes

 

 

Serve straight away with hoi sin sauce.  Delicious!

A streaming bowl of Pho!

During a recent trip to London with my mate Andrew, a good friend who has an inquistive palate as I do, we decided to have a bite to eat before our return to Southampton.  We had decided it was going to be either Vietnamese or Peruvian and after some deliberation we went with the Vietnamese option and headed for Pho Cafe in Wardour Street.

Pho Cafe specialises in the wonderful Vietnamese noodle soup called Pho (pronounced "fuh").  Pho is a dish made up of noodles with thin slices of raw beef, you can then add chilli, coriander, bean sprouts and thai basil to personal taste.  A rich beef stock is then added which cooks through the beef and warms the noodles.  In Vietnam the same stock would be used throughout the day, so the later in the day, the more intense is the stock

I had Pho Tai which is the classic described above, while Andrew had Pho Bo Vien, where the thinly sliced beef is replaced with meat balls.  I can understand why they say pho is a Vietnamese national obsession, it is full of flavour.  I could quite easily have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

To accompany our pho's we had Goi Xoai, a spicy green mango salad, accompanied by pork, dried shrimp and peanuts.  It was the most refeshing salad I had ever eaten, it was delightful.

I look forward to visiting a Pho Cafe again sometime and try some of there other wonderful dishes, maybe even sample a cup of rare weasel coffee!

Courgette stuffed pancakes - a dinner from left overs

It was pancake day yesterday and couldn't bring myself to throwing out my unused batter, so I came up with the following recipe.


There was enough batter left to make one large pancake, which I cooked off and left in the fridge until ready to use for next day's dinner.


I addition to the pancake I had the following ingredients to hand.

2 courgettes chopped into medium size chucks.
1 clove of garlic finely chopped.

Heat vegetable or olive oil in a pan.  
Add courgette and garlic, seasoning with salt & pepper.
Fry on a medium heat for 15 mins until soft and tender.

Take pancake and place in oven proof dish.

Place cooked courgette onto pancake.

Fold pancake over courgettes and then with a bechamel sauce or as I had some left over home made curry sauce,  pour this over the folded pancake.

Cover with aluminum foil and cook in 180 C oven for 20 minutes.
Eat straight from oven or as this is a left over dinner, why not serve with whatever else you have left over in your fridge!

Home-style Chicken Curry

Anyone who enjoys a curry should have there own recipe and this is mine.  
The meat doesn't have to be chicken, I use lamb and pork regularly. 

Start by peeling and chopping 3 medium onions, red is more authentic due to the sweetness they impart, but white onions work well.  Take a large pan and add enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan, place on a medium high heat and add your chopped onions, along with a pinch of salt and start let them brown stirring occasionally.   

I also like to make my own masala paste and do so as follows:
2 pieces of ginger root, peeled
4 green chillies
6 cloves of garlic

If you don't have time to use a pestle and mortar, place into a your favourite food processor and add the following spices.


2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper







In addition to the spices add 1 teaspoon of salt and the juice from a tin of tomatoes and then blitz into a paste.


When the onions have browned, add your masala paste to the pan, turn the heat to high and start to fry the paste for a couple of minutes.

Then add 4 chicken thighs,skin removed, but left on the bone.


Leaving the bone in the thigh adds flavour and can be easily removed after cooking.  Chicken legs can be used but it's more difficult to remove the skin. 

Turn chicken thighs so they get evenly coated in the masala, then add the tomatoes from the tin used to make the masala paste along with a  splash of malt vinegar.  Stir well and then add enough chicken or vegetable stock to almost cover.  If you don't have stock, use good old fashion H2O.


Bring to a boil and then let it simmer on a low heat.  At this point I like at add a few potatoes, peeled and chopped into bit size chunks.  They helps thicken the sauce and makes your curry go further.  Let it cook slowly for about 1 hour 20 mins, but keep and eye on it.  It's ready when sauce nicely coats the chicken.  Just before it's finished cooking, deseed and finely chop 2 more green chillies and add to pan.

Serve with rice.

Laminated is rarely good.

Restaurants in the UK with laminated menu's never fill me with confidence.    I usually try and avoid these establishments, but occasionally and usually with a group of people from work, that I will end up in one of these well known "chain restaurants".  If I know what is going to be on the menu without having to look at it, then where is the enjoyment or anticipation in that?  Now if you go to a restaurant with a blackboard for a menu.. now we're talking.  Seeing an item struck through because they have run out talks fresh food, which usually means it's seasonal and if we're really lucky - local.

Now there is one exception and that is if you are in the USA.  If you are given a laminated menu here, then there is a good chance your are in a diner or a BBQ shack... and with these places you can sometimes hit the jackpot.  Usually the gold mine is the place that has been run by the same family for generations.  Good, home style food, but fresh ingredients that they turn it over in huge quantities.  If only we get could get more of that style of mass catering here in the UK, then I would be very happy to be given a laminated menu.

Food, Travel & Me

I have been very lucky to travel from a very young age.  My first holiday was to Majorca and we flew from London on the now long gone Laker Airways.  I was 2 years old and from what my parents tell me, I spent my time walking down the aisle of the plane, offering to help other passengers open their patties of butter.

One day I was writing down all the countries I had visited - I am not sure why I decided to do this, but whatever the reason it turned out I had been to 27 different countries.  I  went to the world map I had on my wall and proudly inserted pins into all the different places I had been.  That was it, I there and then decided that I had to put as many pins in my map as I possible could.  Quite by accident I had become a "country collector" and so far I have reach 80 - Costa Rica being most recent new stamp in my passport.

So where does food come into all of this.  I had always been quite adventurous in trying different foods.  My dad is convinced that it was due to the fact that the baby food I was feed on, was a far spicier mix than what was available ever before.  However, my first real memories of finding food interesting was watching Keith Floyd on television and his culinary trips around the world.  I think I only started watching it to indulge my passion for travel and find out more about the countries he was visiting.  However, what I actually discovered was his passion for food.  What he was saying -  it all made sense, if you liked Thai food you shouldn't just go to a Thai restaurant, but you should buy a plane ticket and go to Thailand.

Keith Floyd's programmes for me were addictive and I was hooked.  I even went out and bought his videos, so I could watch it all over and over again.  From that point, I not only wanted to learn more about food, but I wanted to cook food.

So why a blog?  I want people who are not into food, to get into food and people who are not into travel, to get into travel.  For those people who are already there, then maybe they will appreciate what I write.  Anyway a blog is a personal thing, so at least I will have a good record of all my culinary adventures.