Another Food Blog

The chicken thighs were skinless and boneless, and were £2 for 4.  I find them quite tasty, and easier to cook moist than chicken breast.  I browned the outsides of two of them quickly in a pan, then put them at the bottom of a casserole dish (I saved the other 2 in the freezer).  Next came chopped onions, courgette, carrots (par-boiled 5 minutes), red pepper and mushroom.  I added mixed seasoning and Italian herbs.  I used the water from the carrots to make chicken stock from a cube, and covered the whole lot under a lid.  I cooked it for 1 hour in a 180 oven.  It all came out nicely moist and tender, and very flavoursome.

Sausages do not go with chardonnay, of course, but my dining companion ordered a plateful of scallops at the St John’s Chop House, and Los Espinos Chilean chardonnay looked about right to accompany them.

It has a very fresh, clean taste with notes of citrus and tropical fruits, oaked a little, but still with the characteristic buttery flavour of the chardonnay grape, and it comes in at 13.5 percent.  And the sausages?  I always regard sausages as an excuse for mustard, and I went to town.  I ordered pork and English mustard flavour sausages, sitting on a bed of mustard mash, and with mustard on the side.  I chose a port sauce to offset all this, and found the dish both excellent and thoroughly enjoyable – even with white wine.

I often use apples as a kind of filler to bulk out the berries in a fruit compote.  That’s because I really like apples.  I really like cherries, too, and this time there were “sweet English cherries” on the market, so I bought half a pound.  I halved and stoned them before putting them in a pan with two peeled and cored eating apples and enough water to cover.  I added no sugar at all, and it only took a few minutes to soften the fruit without it losing its shape altogether.  That was it: apples and cherries, plain and simple.  I chilled it and ate it with a dollop or two of half fat crème fraiche.  Mmmm.  Simple, but very effective and a really nice taste.

It is really a starter course at the Loose Box, but is filling enough to stand in for lunch.  It is Cornish crab on toast with tiny shrimps and lemon mayonnaise, plus a token garnish of salad.  They asked what type of bread I wanted, so I specified wholemeal and that made it even more filling.  It was quite delicious, and I ate it with Boor’s Kloof, South African chenin blanc alongside.

I found time in Oxford to visit COPA wine bar with its rather good selection.  This time I tried The Pass by Vavasour, a New Zealand sauvignon blanc blended of grapes from both Awatere and Wairau Valleys.  This gives it the aromatic fruit of the latter and the minerally note of the former.

It has a pale straw colour and a scent of gooseberry and citrus, while the taste has tones of passion fruit and cut grass.  It really is a lovely wine, and not among the more expensive ones, either.

I was in black tie yet again, this time as guest of honour at a dinner for the St Andrews Conservative Association, past and present.  We were in the Carlton Club, one of London’s most prestigious, and started with drinks in the so-called “Cads’ Bar” before moving into a private room.  We began with smoked duck and chicken mousse with tomato, coriander, red onion and herb dressing.

For the main course there was a breast of guinea fowl with artichokes, wild mushrooms, broad beans and a Madeira jus.  I took the skin off the bird before talking a picture.

Finally there was a mango and passion fruit pavlova served with a seasonal fruit coulis, and after it came coffee and club mints.  I was able to enjoy my meal, together with the Chateau Meaume 2005, without worrying about my speech for once.  That was because the speech was before the dinner, as happens often on the Continent.

I was in black tie for a debate in the Oxford Union, but first we had a champagne reception and a pre-debate dinner.  The first course was advertised as tuna Nicoise, but did not come shredded or in chunks with a lettuce-based salad as it usually does in Nice.  Instead it came as a more attractive tuna steak with eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and an anchovy adorning it.

The main course was duck, braised with sherry and ginger, and again there was a satisfyingly large piece of duck.  I avoided the white wine because it was a German Riesling, and instead drank a pleasant enough burgundy.  They saved the best course until last.  It was advertised as an “oatmeal basket of summer fruit,” and was in fact a kind of oatmeal brandy snap – a large one, with assorted berries and a dollop of marscapone.  It was delicious, but alas, I forgot to photograph it.

After the Beer Festival my companion and I felt the need for some very light food, and chanced upon Vaults, with its array of tapas dishes.  The recommended norm of “2-3 dishes per person” would have been way too much, so we ordered 3 between us.  There were king scallops, goat’s cheese tart with a fig relish, and roasted vegetables with Halloumi cheese, Mediterranean style.  All of them were pretty good.  I drank a New Zealand pinot noir, while my companion went for a Riesling to go with the food.

I went to the Cambridge Beer Festival on Jesus Greeen, not far from my house in Cambridge.  There were hundreds of beers to choose from, in addition to the ciders and the mead I tried last year.  This time I sampled 3 bitter ales.  There was a Windsor & Eton Conqueror (5%), Whim’s Flower Power (5.3%) and Tintagel’s Harbour Special (4.8%).  I found the Flower Power had too active a taste for my liking, and while I rated the Harbour Special OK, the one I preferred of the three was probably the Conqueror.

There was time for lunch before my flight back, so I went to Les Jardins du Capitole on the Promenade des Anglais.  I sat, wondering if the volcanic ash cloud would make its way sufficiently far South from Iceland to affect my flight, while I contemplated the menu.  I did not want to rush, so ordered something that would not take too long.  Finally I ordered a pizza, and chose La Reine, with ham, cheese, mushrooms and olives.  It was nicely done and very appetizing.  I managed to get through about three-quarters of it, helped by the house rose wine, vin de pays du Var.  I made my flight with time to spare, and my flight, unaffected by the ash cloud, arrived ahead of schedule.