Another Food Blog

I gave a talk to sixth-formers at the Down’s School at Compton in Berkshire.  They are a bright lot, asking intelligent questions.  Afterwards I was taken for lunch with the head of economics and three of the students.  We went to the nearby Compton Swan, a pub-restaurant which serves pretty decent food.  We all chose from the bar menu, but ate in the restaurant part.  I chose garlic mushrooms with pan-fried chicken breast.  It was done just right with an extremely tasty sauce, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  With it I drank a glass of Chilean merlot.  I didn’t see its name, which is a pity because it was velvety smooth as well as fruity.

A friend brought me a bottle of a Canadian Whisky called Crown Royal.  I looked it up before drinking any, and discover it’s one of the most highly-rated premium Canadian whiskies.  As a single grain malt man myself, I’m not sure how I’ll take to a blended Canadian, even a premium one.  However, I came across a whole slew of recipes for cocktails which can be made with it, and I can hardly wait to give some of them a try.  The site is at

http://www.drinksmixer.com/cat/2264/

and the two that tempt me to start with are the Avalanche and the Dick Wells.

Avalanche recipe:

1 shot Crown Royal Canadian whisky

1 shot Kahlua coffee liqueur

fill with cream

Mix in highball glass over ice, shake well. (8 percent).

Dick Wells recipe

2/3 shot Bailey’s Irish cream

1/3 shot Crown Royal Canadian whisky

Fill shot glass 2/3 full with Bailey’s, then top off with Crown Royal. (24 percent).

I’ll let you know how I find them…

I make quite a few soups myself, including pumpkin and cock-a-leekie amongst others.  What about prepared soups?  I never buy cans or cartons of soup, but there are some packet soups I use.  These are the instant ‘cup of soup’ variety that are made by pouring half a pint of boiling water over them in a mug.  Some can be quite good if you stir them pretty thoroughly – I sometimes even whisk them to make sure all the powder is dissolved.  The mixed vegetable sort don’t really work properly, in that small hard pieces of carrot floating in them are not to my taste.  I guess if I simmered them it would soften the pieces, but that rather loses the point of an instant soup.  When you want a starter course and don’t want to take time off the main course, soup is an option.  I often pep them up with extra ingredients like spices, herbs or pepper.  My favourite is probably beef and tomato – I just jazzed up one of those by adding the heated up leftovers from a slow-cook sausage hotpot.  It made half of a good lunch.

Yet another good idea from teenage chef, Sam Stern, now deep into his studies at Edinburgh University, where I took an MA in History some years ago.  He points out that we are just getting the first rhubarb, the indoor variety we call “forced” rhubarb.  It has a milder taste and a less stringy texture than some of the outdoor kind.  I bought a big stick of it on the market (above).  After washing and chopping it, I brought it up to the boil with a spoon of soft brown cane sugar and half a level teaspoon of ginger, plus just enough water to cover it.  When it boiled I turned it to simmer with the lid on, and kept checking it until it was tender.  I then made half a mug of custard, using semi-skimmed goat’s milk and custard powder.

Both rhubarb and custard went into the blender, where I zapped them into a purée.  I started to pour it into bowls, but decided to use glasses instead – it’s more traditional.  It was still runny, so I popped it in the fridge in the hope that it would set more by dinner-time.  It did, and hey presto! Rhubarb fool, and a pretty good one, too.

I was taking an early lunch with three student historians at the Anchor pub in Cambridge’s Silver Street.  It has a superb location alongside the Bridge, with Queen’s College opposite. There’s a ground level room, and upstairs overlooking the river, and a lower level alongside the water where the punts move up and down the river.  Two had the chicken Caesar salad which came in generous portions, but I contented myself with cheese covered garlic ciabatta.  When dessert was offered, people were going to decline, but when the words “chocolate fudge brownie” were uttered, one gave in straight away, and two others quickly followed suit.  It looked delicious with its artful strips of chocolate and little sprigs of mint.  They said it tasted delicious, but I just ate the mint and enjoyed the fudge vicariously while I finished my pint of Old Speckled Hen.

Stewed apples are easy and reliable, but sometimes I like to liven them up with a few changes.  I made these from a large Bramley apple.  As I peeled it I rubbed lemon juice over it to stop it browning.  I sliced it and cooked it in just enough water.  I added a level teaspoon of muscovado brown sugar and a fair handful of raisins.  When the apple went soft it took almost all the water into itself, leaving me with a nice juicy dessert.  I allowed it to cool, then ate it with a big dollop of goat’s milk yoghurt on top.

This was a low cost meal.  I bought a small butternut squash at about 60p, some mushrooms for about the same, and a wedge of Danish blue cheese.  I already had a bag of pecans, olive oil and dried thyme.  I peeled the squash, halved it and scraped out the pulp and seeds from the small hole in the middle.  I cut it into one inch pieces and brushed them with olive oil and set them on a baking tray.  I sprinkled dried thyme on them, and baked them at 175 for 35-40 minutes.  I cut up the mushrooms and prepared to sautée them in oil and butter with powdered garlic added.  When the squash was cooked, making it tender and sweet, I tipped the pieces into a bowl, and added crumbled Danish blue cheese and pecan nuts, and a final sprinkle of thyme.  I served the mushrooms alongside, and drank a Milford Point Marlborough sauvignon blanc from New Zealand (12.5 percent) with it.

I was in Oxford for a Union debate on money in politics.  These are very stylish affairs, with boys in back tie – and office bearers in white tie – and girls in long silk dresses,  There are drinks beforehand, a dinner for the committee and the visiting speakers, and a photograph session to be fitted in before the actual debate starts at about 8.30pm.

Dinner began with a filo basket of double panied brie cheese, with salad leaves and a sweet chilli sauce.  This could hardly fail, and certainly didn’t.  It was followed by a darne of wild salmon with chive butter sauce, sautéed vegetables and baby new potatoes,  This was good, also, with moist and succulent fish.

Finally there was a whisky crème brulée  served with a warm ginger sponge alongside topped by chantilly cream.  The chef was David Curtis Smith, I was told, and he certainly gave us a good, classy meal.  The wines were the college red and white.  I had one glass of the white, and did not drink any of the port until my speech was delivered and the debate was over.

Quick food was called for on a cold, windy evening.  The Brasserie Gerard on Cambridge’s Bridge Street looked good, and there were tables.  I went for seafood (as so often), starting with scallops done into a kind of pie on a scallop shell, and with a creamy white sauce.  They were quite stunning.

I went much simpler for the second course, ordering the cod goujons and fries.  The fish was good and the batter crisp.  I have to admit a preference for fat chips, but these were nice enough.  I ate fewer than half of them, though.