Plum jam with star anise & cinnamon

It's autumn, and with leaves falling from the trees and the nights drawing in I felt compelled to spend a few hours over the stove, stirring something sweet and comforting.  Jam is pretty easy to make - in this case you just take equal quantities of plums and sugar, and optionally jazz it up with some spices. 

I used about 10 plums and filled two 500g Le Parfait jars, with a bit left over to be eaten that afternoon.

Jam keeps up to two years in a sterilised jar, if you don't know how to do this then read on...

Plum jam with star anise & cinnamon

Ingredients

800g plums, (weight without stones - about 10 plums)
800g caster sugar
2 star anise
1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Wash, quarter and stone the plums.
2. Toss the plums with the sugar and cinnamon until thoroughly coated.  Leave for a couple of hours.  This isn't essential but does help to draw out the juices and make the jam quicker to cook.  You could always do this the night before and leave them overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to 140C/275F/Gas 1.
4. Put the plum mix into a saucepan with the star anise and heat gently until the sugar has all dissolved.  Once this has happened you can bring the jam to the boil.
5. Once the jam has reached setting point, decant into the sterilised jars and close the lids while the jam is still hot.  Setting point is at 105°C/220°F, so go by your sugar thermometer if you have one.  Alternatively, you can test the jam by putting a drop onto a cold plate and pushing with your finger to see if it wrinkles - if it does, you're done.

Why not try substituting some vanilla seeds or ground cardomom for the cinnamon and anise?  Or you could try splitting the plum stones and adding the kernels for an almondy flavour (although I must confess I didn't have much success with the splitting).

Enjoy!
The Princess

Polpo, Soho - a bit of a no-no

The occasion: the award ceremony to distribute prizes from a disastrous food quiz way back in February; the attendees: Helen of Food Stories, Chris of Cheese and Biscuits, Su Lin of Tamarind & Thyme and yours truly; the venue: Polpo, the latest hot "Venetian tapas" restaurant opening in Soho.

While Venice isn't exactly known for its food, our expectations of Polpo were high after its comprehensive media coverage and significant twitter-hype. The restaurant had already achieved 4/5 in Time Out and 3/5 in the Metro, always a good sign. Restaurant magazine recently featured two pages on this new venture, where I learnt that the co-owner, Russell Norman, was previously operations director of Caprice Holdings and the head chef had "a brief stint" at Bocca di Lupo. So far so good.

We eager four arrived at the restaurant, tucked away in a Soho side street almost opposite Bob Bob Ricard. It was dimly candle-lit (hence the lack of photos), absolutely packed and had quite a buzz. While checking in with the waitress, people walking in off the street were being turned away, so busy was the restaurant that night. The stripped down brickwork and brown paper menus developed the rustic theme Russell was clearly looking for. Service was youthful and friendly and the menu looked delicious. A different take on tapas. Our mouths were watering.

So we ordered a selection of plates - 3 or 4 per person seemed to be the done thing although no advice was offered by our waitress. We were intrigued by the pricing - some dishes seeming pretty reasonable but the turnip tops in particular stuck out as being very expensive at £5.80, the same price as the slow roast duck. We decided to order them, thinking they must be cooked in some spectacular, decadent fashion. We also ordered a selection of breads, seafood, meat and veg.

After quaffing a bit of reasonably priced Venetian wine, our waitress arrived with the pizzetta bianca. It was ok. The dough was thin and crisp, and the cheese and onion topping was, well, cheese and oniony. Not spectacular, but not horrendous either. An ok bar snack.

Next to arrive were the arancini, crisped golf balls of risotto stuffed with courgette and stringy cheese. I love risotto, I love cheese and I love crispy fried stuff. It doesn't seem like a difficult thing to get right. But these had absolutely no seasoning whatsoever. Faces were starting to fall around the table. Su Lin got out the salt shaker. We tried to keep our spirits up and held out hope for the next dishes.

We devoured plates of mussels & clams, slow roast duck with green peppercorns, black olives and tomatoes, pork belly with radicchio and hazelnuts, anchovy and chick pea crostini, cuttlefish in its ink, octopus salad, fennel with bobby beans and cobnuts. The duck was bland. The octopus was too salty. The mussels were not all open. The pork belly was just ok.

None of it was delicious, or even tasty for that matter, save the cuttlefish cooked in its own ink which was good. It was as if no-one in the kitchen was tasting the food, no love or care had gone into it. We were truly upset, Helen looked like she was going to cry. We wondered, charitably, if were choosing the wrong dishes, or if they were just having a bad night, but then half the menu can't be wrong - can it?

And then came the turnip tops. It's a real shame that the place was so dark that my pictures didn't come out, but try to imagine this: a small dish of bedraggled spinach. For £5.80. "Aren't turnip tops what you feed to sheep?", asked Su Lin. "Yes", we all agreed, "and they probably get more than one between four". It was truly shameful. The night will forever afterwards be known as Turnip-Top-Gate, if we can ever bear to speak of it.

So we got to the end of this mediocre spread and felt deeply disappointed and also pretty hungry.

Re-reading the Restaurant article today, I discovered that Polpo means Octopus. "The name has no significance at all", says Norman in his Restaurant interview, "it's just a very friendly word that you can't mispronounce." Sadly, the lack of substance seems to goes for the restaurant too - it's a great concept, superficially it's well executed - it looks good and it sounds good, the service is pleasant. But the food just doesn't match up.

Such a shame, we really wanted to love it but instead we ended up skipping dessert and topping up on ribs & wings at Bodeans. So Polpo, if you're listening, it's an easy fix - put some love into the food, season it and taste the blooming stuff before you serve it. All style and no substance does not a successful restaurant make.

UPDATE: Since we visited, the turnip tops have been reduced in price to £3.80
Polpo, 41 Beak St, London W1F 9SB
http://www.polpo.co.uk/

Farewell Floyd!

When James of Back to the Chopping Board and Julia of A Taste of Cherry Pie came up with the idea of a blogging event to honour Keith Floyd, I had to join in. 

Keith was an eccentric character who really put the fun into food, and my earliest memories of TV cookery were of him and his frequent "quick slurps" of wine whilst whipping up something homely and delicious.

I decided to adapt this delicious Lapin aux Pruneaux, because a boozy, slow cooked casserole is the sort of dish that really epitomised Floyd.

Lapin aux Pruneaux (Rabbit with prunes) - serves 4

Ingredients

600g diced rabbit
100g ready to eat stoned prunes
4 finely diced shallots
2 cloves crushed garlic
100g diced bacon
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup white wine
1 tbsp tomato puree
Fresh thyme
Oil/butter for frying
Seasoned flour for dusting

1. Lightly flour the rabbit pieces with seasoned flour.

2. Heat some butter and oil in a pan and fry the rabbit until browned on all sides.

3. In another pan, fry the bacon until golden.  Add the shallots and garlic, stir and fry gently until softened.

4. Add the prunes and white wine and then allow to simmer.

5. Add the tomato purée and stir in to the bacon, shallots, etc.

6. Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer.

7. Add the rabbit pieces and thyme and simmer gently for about 40 minutes or until tender.  Add water if it starts to get too dry.

8. Season and serve.

Enjoy!  And don't forget to have a quick slurp while you're cooking...

The Princess

Breakfast at Hunstrete House, nr Bath

After a hearty lunch at the Hind's Head in Bray, we continued our drive down the M4.  Well, he drove and I slept - I was full of grouse and treacle tart after all.

Our destination for the weekend was Hunstrete House Hotel, a beautiful country pile with a 2 rosette restaurant, hidden away south-west of Bath.



No dinner here for us, as we were off to a wedding for the evening, but I couldn't help noticing some interesting puddings like "deconstructed pimms" on the menu.

On our return late that evening we cosied up in the bar with a Baileys (me) and a Laphroaig (him).  It felt very Mitfordesque and grand, like staying with an ageing rich relation rather than at a hotel. 

Next day, we awoke bleary eyed and slightly hungover to the sight of herds of deer galloping past the window.  We eased ourselves from the four poster bed and dragged our weary limbs and throbbing heads down to breakfast. 





It was a grand affair with the usual fruit/cereal buffet and an impressive selction of cooked options, all based on local ingredients.  Service was high class, slightly on the slow side, but we were in no rush.

Hubby went for the full English, which went down very nicely.  In particular the "Saxon Splendour" pork sausage was firm and meaty, full of herby, porky goodness and not too much rusk.

I've had bacon, eggs, pancakes, maple syrup and blueberries in many combinations, but never all at once on the same plate.  It was glorious.  Rich egg, salty bacon, toothachingly sweet maply syrup and zingy blueberries with a crepe style pancake to mop it all up with. 



If that's not a hangover cure, then I don't know what is! 

Hunstrete House, Pensford, Nr. Bath BS39 4NS
01761 490 490
http://www.hunstretehouse.co.uk/

The Hind's Head

We had a long and dull drive down the M4 to Bristol on Saturday, and what better way to break the journey than by stopping for lunch in Bray?

The Hind's Head is a pub. Heston Blumenthal's pub to be precise. An expensive pub, but still just a pub. It is charming and quaint, with beams and smiley waitresses and awkward family gatherings and Japanese tourists and screaming babies. We were seated upstairs where we had a great view of the Range Rovers pulling up outside, the smart people coming inside and the slightly smarter people heading down the road to the Fat Duck.



We skipped starters as we had accidentally gone out for an impromptu tasting menu at the Dining Room the night before. Instead we dived straight in to mains of grouse (me) and blade of Scotch beef (him). We also ordered sides of the legendary triple cooked chips and the broccoli with anchovies and almonds.



The chips were divinely crunchy on the outside and velvety on the inside. I could have happily eaten the whole bowlful, but was forced to share. The broccoli was more bog standard, but being an anchovy freak, I still enjoyed it. My grouse was savoury and pink. I was particularly excited to find myself chewing on some real shot, proving that my bird was indeed a wild beast who had been gunned down in his prime.



Puddings were equally top notch pub fare. I tucked into treacle tart with a silky milk ice cream, while hubby tried his luck with quaking pudding, a quivering jelly/custard hybrid speckled with nutmeg and cinnamon.



It's not the Fat Duck, but that's not really the point. It's great pub grub, service with a smile and well worth a detour if you're on the M4.

The Hind's Head, High Street, Bray SL6 2AB
Telephone: 01628 626151

Come Dine with Miele

Remember the Miele steam oven, which I raved about back in March after trying it out at their test centre in Oxfordshire? Well, it's now sitting proudly in my kitchen and helping me turn out dish after dish of perfect rice and veges.

In order to test the oven to the max, Miele asked me to host a dinner party. A sort of steamy Come Dine With Me, without the snippy comments and £1000 prize money. I chose our pals Nick and Sal as our victims, Sal having a few food allergies that meant the meal had to be nut-free, meat-free and cheese-free. This was an interesting challenge for me as often when cooking for vegetarians I tend to fall back on the old cheese-on-everything-to-make-it-tasty trick.



We started with an Asian rice salad - simple but zingy, with courgette, fresh herbs, soy, garlic and honey dressing. The rice was of course steamed in the oven, but you could easily boil it instead. The Miele oven proved perfect for the task as I simply set the timer and left it to do its work while I got on with the rest of the preparation.

Next up was a mediterranean vegetable gratin - kind of a ratatouille with extra beans and a crunchy breadcrumb topping. The veg were all to be steamed in the Miele oven and the topping blasted under the grill at the end, but calamity! The dish I had prepared the gratin in was too big for the steam oven. So, I cheated and added some extra wine, put foil on the top and bunged it in my conventional oven. Sorry Miele, I had run out of dishes!



I also made a cheeky dish of potatoes dauphinoise baked in the regular oven for a crispy top.

Finally, several glasses of wine later, we tucked into the piece de resistance - a steamed syrup pudding with clementines and whiskey. This was a big hit - nice and stodgy, with the citrus flavour cutting through the sweet syrupy sauce. Again, I just had to put the dishes in the oven, set the timer and leave it to do its thing, perfect for a dinner party when you want to spend time with your guests rather than being stuck in the kitchen.



So, what do I think of the steam oven? I still love the way it cooks vegetables and rice, but I've also discovered it's very versatile and can reheat meals beautifully without drying them out, sterilise jam jars, prove dough, melt chocolate and even "boil" eggs.

My only gripes are that the door sometimes swings shut when you are trying to get things out and, for my kitchen, it is just a bit too big to have on the worktop. It's not a replacement for a conventional oven, but it's a very useful, and healthy, addition to a foodie kitchen.


Individual Clementine and Syrup Sponge Puddings (makes 6)

Topping
15g butter
6 teaspns golden syrup
1 clementine


Sponge
150g butter
150 g soft light brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
75g SR flour
75g brioche crumbs
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Finely grated zest of 1 clementine
75g sultanas
75g dried apricots
1 tbspn whiskey


Sauce
4 tbspns golden syrup
juice of 1 clementine

1. Melt the butter and use to lightly grease the inside of 6 individual pudding tins. Place a teaspoonful of golden syrup in the base of each pudding tin. Thinly slice the clementine into six rounds and put a slice into the base of each tin.

2. To make the sponge; cream together the butter and soft brown sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs. Gently fold in the flour, brioche crumbs, cinnamon and clementine zest. Finally stir in the sultanas, chopped apricots and whiskey.

3. Divide the mixture equally between the pudding tins and cover each tin with a small piece of foil. Place the tins on to a shallow, perforated steam tray. Cook in the Miele steam oven at 100ºC for 45 minutes. Alternatively, steam them in a pan of simmering water.

4. To make the sauce; place the golden syrup, clementine juice and whiskey in the base of a shallow solid container. Cover the container and place in the steam oven for the last 5 minutes of the cooking time to allow the ingredients to melt together. Alternatively, microwave for a couple of minutes until hot and the ingredients have combined.

5. To serve; turn out the cooked puddings on to a serving dish and drizzle with a little of the sauce. Serve the rest of the sauce separately. I also served this with creme fraiche.

Enjoy!
The Princess

Julie & Julia & Boeuf Bourguignon

I was lucky enough to be invited to a pre-screening of Julie & Julia last week, along with heaps of other food bloggers. I really enjoyed the film, it's a combination of the book-from-a-blog "Julie and Julia" and Julia Child's autobiography "My Life in France". While Julie is a bit of a whingey, self-obsessed loser who doesn't deserve her angelic husband, the story of Julia and her lifelong love affair with food, France and her husband Paul is truly beautiful. Meryl Streep's performance is just uttter genius. I can see this one ending up on my DVD shelf with Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman!

I'm now reading My Life in France on the commute into London and have almost finished it in a matter of days. Julia's energy and zest for life really comes through in her writing. Of course now I want to go and live in Paris...

Being British, I wasn't as familiar with Julia's work as those across the pond seem to be, so I decided to try one of her recipes for myself. As luck would have it, Julia's publisher has the recipe for her signature Boeuf Bourguignon on its website. I haven't replicated it here as you really need to read it in Julia's words to get the full effect! If you would like to have a go yourself you can find the pdfs here:

http://knopfdoubleday.com/marketing/cooking/BoeufBourguignon.pdf

The recipe was quite a bit of work, but the little tips and tricks Julia gives help you achieve a truly delicious result. Even the method of sauteeing mushrooms was a revelation to me. I know which cookbook I will be buying next....

So, in summary

Julia - yes! yes! yes!
Julie - not so much