This season's Spiced Damson Chutney is sealed in jars. Call me fastidious... I remove each stone before cooking the fruit. Painstaking, I know, but I am left with one product which fits the discussion here.
A few years back this was my dessert offering for some dinner guests; Prune and Honey Cake with Pressed Apples and Mahlab Cherry Stone Ice Cream from David Everitt-Matthias' book 'Dessert'. It involved ordering and paying for supplies of those unusual, rather bitter cherry stones for the ice cream which I've identified with spray-painty rings below. Used sparingly to steep in the cream before churning, they counteract the rich fruity sweetness from other elements of the dish.
Mahlab Cherry Stone Ice Cream... and a few other tasty elements
That recipe came to mind as I made my chutney. The resulting stones suddenly became precious things. I was soon to make an almond ice cream. Milk and cream were heated with ground almonds but the most rewarding flavour would come from the addition of a handful of kernels from my damson stones. Each one yielded a small nugget of bitter almonds. A careful hammer tap through a tea towel envelope on a wooden block anvil released the bounty.
It's not a huge victory in the fight against waste but it still makes good sense. Blanched apricot and plum kernels find their way into jams and nougatines. Or toast them and scatter on porridge and tagines. They don't just add flavour. You also have the satisfaction that a little trouble has produced a free ingredient.
Ah, just in case you were wondering... yes, I will hurry to publish #101TTDBNT: Number 7a. It will be aimed just at me and be called, "Stop using silly mock cockney titles right now... most unbecoming".
After recently delighting in this dish at the restaurant home of its creator I just had to take a shot at reproducing some of its loveliness. Our tomatoes were ripe and ready and all but one of the other vegetables to be used were available for picking from the garden.
Tomatoes from our garden
The first task is to make the essence. Using the recipe's weight of fruit, I extracted at least 100ml more than suggested so I had plenty for the risotto and enough for tomato jelly, sorbet and granita. If they pass muster you might see them here soon. If you do see too much red 'bleed' into your extract you might try passing the liquid only through a double muslin again.
Tomato essence well on the way
Here is the selection of vegetables ready for addition to the risotto and for final dressing. Those home frozen peas are almost back to room temperature!
Home grown... all except for the fennel
It was now time to trust our chef's instructions and, for my first time at least, intrepidly abandon the usual twenty-five minutes constant stirring. In the end the 'single bubble' simmer worked a treat and it was rewarding to have come close to reproducing the special course we had enjoyed so much from Le Manoir's kitchen.
Creamy, dressed with extra vegetables and ready for eating
Our initial experience of this recipe was a small portion, perfectly cooked and presented. My version for dinner at home was larger and full of all the right flavours but could not quite match the indulgence of that first pleasure.
If you are not familiar with the disarming, intelligent and infectiously enthusiastic Monsieur Blanc I urge you to make his acquaintance. He has more joie de vivre than many people find in a lifetime. There is plenty of that on show in this episode of 'Kitchen Secrets'. Flip to around 5min 45seconds for Raymond’s explanation of his tomato essence and risotto dish.
Uploaded by Chef and knife on 2018-12-03.
Most of the tomato recipes from that programme, including the risotto, are here. They vary from those in the 'Kitchen Secrets' book but in any case the risotto must rely on whatever is seasonal, ripe and to hand... be prepared to adapt but, above all, don't compromise on the quality of your tomatoes.
It's what we have done for years. Mrs Cheoff was always a terrific cook with the ability to plan, prepare and present great food to a big gathering of people. She has created lovely menus for oodles of special occasions... birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations of all sorts of success and achievement. Sometimes the only excuse was to entertain and please. A fine excuse if you ask me.
Eventually, I wasn't afraid to interfere and contribute.
With our combined love of cooking and the eagerness to share our results it seemed perfectly natural to offer a spot of afternoon delight to treasured family and friends as part of our Ruby Wedding celebrations. We managed to arrange this on the day of our anniversary. A buffet lunch.
After reviewing pictures of the main and dessert tables it behoves me to resort to uncustomary honesty. Both those tables are heaving under the strain of far more of my wife’s work than mine.
Looking at much of cheoff.com will give you a false impression. Yes, I do often spend time with more demanding recipes but the savoury and sweet spreads shown here represent the bedrock of what has come out of our kitchen for decades.
From this point on, you are gathered here today to view most of the food items on offer. Links are there for recipes where available. Salads were also homemade and the only one shop-bought ready-made was pork pies from our local Brown’s Family Butchers.
Shooter’s RollOur trusty - regularly tried and trusted - M&S cookbook recipe. Like a vulgar sausage roll. One which demands that you embrace any vulgarity after the very first bite!
We are asked for the recipe constantly. Here you go…
Coronation Chicken No idea (recollection of) which recipe we used. Perhaps something close to the ‘original’. You surely have your own favourite. It’s been tweaked for decades!
Terrine of Summer FruitsFrom ‘Delia Smith’s Summer Collection’ Made by us since 1993 when the book of the TV series first appeared - a book which was reprinted twelve times in that year!
Deep Lemon TartWith cream to counteract that awfully sharp lemon attack! #winkemoji
Wimbledon Cheesecake This was a baked variety which followed swiftly on from the second time Andy Murray had lifted ‘The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Championship of the World’ trophy ten days before. Sorbet, ice cream and meringues* were all there if needed to help this go down the better. Ooh, oooh, I made two out of three of those! *’Merigues’ according to our typo label!
Just ‘cake’ to finish. My rich fruit cake richly decorated by Mrs Cheoff. Mrs Cheoff’s sponge cake with a restrained seasonal ‘coronet’.
Rather like the aftermath of Christmas cooking, our anniversary efforts for family and friends left us with extras which lasted well beyond the day itself.
Other options - outside caterers, hospitality venues and the like - were available. We chose the cheaper and totally daft alternative. Without any regrets. All the work put in had left us a little weary but, rather like the effort put into our forty (and a bit) year relationship, a tiredness overlaid with huge satisfaction and happiness. With hardly any regrets! -xx-
Savoury and Dessert labels by Mrs Cheoff
I'll drift off now into a reverie filled with nostalgia. I prefaced a short speech to our assembled guests by accessing and playing a recording of this piece of music. It's the tune to which Jan entered the church on our wedding day...
website http://www.gertvanhoef.nl/. Water Music of Wassermusik is een van de bekendste composities van Georg Friedrich Händel. Hij schreef deze in opdracht van een diplomaat, baron Von Kielmansegg, om op 17 juli 1717 uitgevoerd te worden ter gelegenheid van een boottocht op de Theems. 'Alla Hornpipe' een prachtig deel uit deze Watermusic, wordt hier uitgevoerd door Gert van Hoef tijdens zijn concert in Harlingen.
“Phwoooar!” he ejaculated. (I do hope readers will recognise my old-fashioned turn of phrase. I remain a devotee of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Doctor Watson. And a permanently big fan of Mrs. G!)
Our celebration of so many (FORTY!) years of marriage started in June with a trip back to Norwich where Jan and I met. This could have involved a bit of soppy nostalgia but the city is so darned vibrant and interesting that, whenever we visit, we have no need to mush over student days. Instead we discover what has changed (Oswald Sebley Jewellers ceased trading a while ago) or what is brand new. We did include familiar ground by visiting the university campus. The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts opened four years after we left but we have explored it since and this time viewed the latest in a fine series of exhibitions which are aimed at distracting from the fabulous regular collection.
It was terrific to see the Cartier-Bresson photographs lined up. Many of them are iconic images but having the chance to view them outside the pages of a printed book was refreshing.
The Giacometti 'Line Through Time' was our favourite of the two exhibitions. As a 'retired' history of art student, I found out much fresh information about an artist whose work, although comfortably familiar, had all sorts of nuances which had previously escaped me. Alberto's work is shown world-wide. You can see how transfixed Jan was by a quintet of the sculptor's figures when we walked round the Maeght Foundation seven years ago. I still insist that her expression here reveals a magnificent pout rather than a scowl.
Picture not taken in Norwich
At the Sainsbury Centre our visit was supplemented and enhanced by a hugely knowledgeable attendant. He also alerted me to a lovely publication, giving a fascinating, sometimes rambling, history of the building itself... on sale at a knock-down price in the SCVA shop.
Both exhibitions are finished now but the Centre, along with the rest of the city of Norwich will continue to offer lovely things for any visitor.
We had already tried one of the newest, loveliest things in Norwich last November. We rounded off our summer 2016 trip with a revisit.
'Benedicts' is now a year old and has developed at breakneck speed into a compulsory place to book for anyone who loves great food. Our bill tells very little about the delights which we enjoyed a second time round. I will provide a link to my proper review as soon as it's ready. Suffice to say that, after making impressive first impressions back in November, the Bainbridge Brigade still managed to raise the bar with the quality of food and service.
We wandered around parts of the rest of the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and made good use of our National Trust membership. One of their properties proved to be the source of a special item which we took home. More of that in a future post.
We haven't had any break beyond five days so far this year but that's not been a bad thing. Spring in Barcelona was vibrant and intense. Different areas of Britain have provided new bursts of historical, artistic and geographical interest but Norwich will remain most likely to draw us back again soon.
Bear with me. You won't find too many words here... "What a refreshing change," I hear you cry!
This is an interim post while I collect my thoughts and prepare to do some sort of justice to our recent visit to Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons.
Please explore the pictures below as well as the linked images. They go some way to representing the attention to detail and luxury of our experience.
"Aproche, aproche"... the welcome
Walnut
Marble
Red skin
Lapis Lazuli
Leather
Silk
Carpet
Green skin
Enamel
Opal
Lait
Peacock butterfly
Lace
I'm not a religious person but I do recognise and wonder at drama and innovation... both to be found in abundance at Le Manoir. Which gives me a lovely excuse to share a glorious creation from six hundred years ago at the same time.
Seraphim
That will do for now. As far as I can tell, we didn't encounter any fallen angels... but heavenly beings were certainly at work in Great Milton.
I will tell you more about their works when I have found the right words.
101 TTDBNT: Number 6 - Read An Insanely Complicated Cook Book
Heck, don't just read one... buy one. If you borrow this type of book from a library there will be so much detail to absorb that you may as well bite the bullet and purchase your own copy. The alternative would be to keep renewing your loan for a twelvemonth at least.
I didn't even have to buy the example of devilishly intricate instructions which I'm promoting here. It was a lovely gift from my son, James. I would call him Sous Cheoff but he is already far ahead of me in cooking skills at a much younger age. Little Cheoff (other son, Jonathan, not the occasional roadside stopping place!) isn't afraid to tackle tasks in the kitchen but chooses not to spend as much time in there.
A few pages are available on the 'Look Inside' feature here. Not the entire book - but you should get the general idea of complication, adventure, precision and eye-watering refinement which await.
The publisher's blurb says most of what needs saying. I put myself in their bracket of 'serious home cooks' who must have this book.
“The essential guide to truly stunning desserts from pastry chef Francisco Migoya In this gorgeous and comprehensive new cookbook, Chef Migoya begins with the essential elements of contemporary desserts like mousses, doughs, and ganaches showing pastry chefs and students how to master those building blocks before molding and incorporating them into creative finished desserts. He then explores in detail pre–desserts, plated desserts, dessert buffets, passed desserts, cakes, and petits fours.
Throughout, gorgeous and instructive photography displays steps, techniques, and finished items. The more than 200 recipes and variations collected here cover virtually every technique, concept, and type of dessert, giving professionals and home cooks a complete education in modern desserts.
More than 200 recipes including everything from artisan chocolates to French macarons to complex masterpieces like Bacon Ice Cream with Crisp French Toast and Maple Sauce Written by Certified Master Baker Francisco Migoya, a highly respected pastry chef and the author of Frozen Desserts and The Modern Café, both from Wiley Combining Chef Migoya′s expertise with that of The Culinary Institute of America, The Elements of Dessert is a must–have resource for professionals, students, and serious home cooks.”
I admit to having pored over the descriptions and techniques in this book more than actually cooking from it. There are accessible parts for the amateur but there is an immediate indication that we are in a world rather different to that of Fanny Craddock, Jamie Oliver or Delia Smith. The measurements in this American book discard cups and have very accurate weights given in grams and ounces. There is no other way to achieve the results on show. Precision is the order of the day. The photography reveals what is possible after so much care and attention. You can certainly eat with your eyes even if you don't attempt a recipe.
But with this sort of book on a shelf you will always have the option of tackling something which will challenge and develop you as a cook.
Do consider that option... before next Thursday, please.
Here's the beauty of #101TTDBNT Number 5... you really don't need to actually do this one until a Thursday in 2017.
Since it's a bit late in the gardener's tomato planting calendar now this is intended as a bit of inspiration for what to do when next season comes round.
We have no greenhouse except for a four shelf plastic 'sentry-box' affair and have grown our crops from seed or with bought plants for almost ten years now. No allotment - just an eight by ten metre back garden which has about a third devoted to raised beds and borders for cultivation. We put in a few flowers for the first time this year... just for some extra colour after four decades of marriage!
Our 2016 tomatoes were all grown along a west facing fence - ten plants in ten rough clay drainage cylinders which were at the bottom of the garden when we moved in forty years ago. They make things easier for dedicated watering and feeding and the roots have plenty of chance to establish before they reach the earth below. I'll have to exert a little more control next year. Growth was so rampant that it was difficult to keep up with the pinching out and nipping off to keep things from going 'Triffid'. Sweet peas, fennel, French beans and runner beans completed the jungle on view here.
Here are the varieties we grew this year. That one 'Big Boy' is the first to ripen on the vine. Experience suggests we might have to pick subsequent fruits for ripening indoors before attack from all sorts of things, including baby snails and slugs which rasp out little holes.
From top left, clockwise:
Supersweet (cherry), Moneymaker, Golden Sunrise, Black Cherry, Sun Baby (yellow cherry), Big Boy, Tumbling Tom Yellow (cherry), Roma (plum)
Tomato sauces have already been made and green tomato chutney beckons, made following my favourite recipe.
With such lovely ingredients inspiration is never far away but after a visit to Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons my most pressing task is to reveal the essence of tomato and use it for what must be one of the more simple but most exquisite dishes I have enjoyed for some time. If you or I make Summer Vegetable Risotto to just half the standard which was served to me last week we will be transported to a version of heaven which is not described in any religious writings. Those online recipes give you enough information to work through but Monsieur Blanc's 'Kitchen Secrets' offers deeper understanding of the methods and the way to achieve perfection. I already have the book and that risotto recipe is on page 183... Woo Hoo!
None of the recipe books or online offerings show the refined presentation which came from Le Manoir's kitchen but the flavours alone are the essential and wonderful starting point for this one.
First things first, though. Mrs Cheoff has already made her rather stupendous tomato soup from a batch of our plum tomatoes. A hint of smoked bacon and a lot of basil. It's not the only reason I love her for all eternity... but it does add another layer to the cement which binds us together - tomato yumtious!
Of course you might find splendid people who can supply you with fine tomatoes but please consider finding space for at least a couple of plants of your own. If things go well and you discover even mildly green fingers the delights of the tomato are yours for the picking.
All because you did something before that Thursday in 2017.
