Kitchen Person

Turkey, gammon and leek pie

2011-12-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

There are few things more satisfying than a properly made pie, requiring the basic but core skills of meat cookery, pastry and sauce making to produce something homely yet impressive.

This is an great way to use up Christmas leftovers but is excellent any time of the year-just substitute chicken for the turkey meat. I usually remove the legs of the turkey and just roast the crown. I confit the legs in goose fat in a slow cooker and make stock from the remaining turkey carcass which comes in particularly handy for this recipe.

The mix of roast breast meat and rich confit leg works very well and the stock is perfect for the veloute sauce. If you're cooking a gammon especially for this recipe, you can use the cooking liquor to make the veloute instead, otherwise a stock cube will also do just fine.

Ingredients
(serves 4-6)

500g cooked turkey meat, diced
200g cooked gammon, diced

For the pastry
300g plain flour
150g butter, cut into small chunks
1 egg yolk
water to bind
pinch of salt

For the poached leek
1 large leek
25g butter
250ml turkey or chicken stock to cover
salt and pepper

For the tarragon veloute
50g butter
35g plain flour
500ml turkey or chicken stock or gammon poaching liquor
100ml cream
1 dssp chopped tarragon
salt and pepper

Egg wash made with 1 egg and 1 tbsp milk whisked together

1. In a large bowl, rub the butter into the flour and salt until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the egg yolk and enough water to bind into a dough. Work lightly with the dough but make sure its well combined, otherwise it will crumble when you try to roll it out. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 30 minutes.
2. Trim the leek by cutting off the green leaves and removing the first layer of skin. Slice into 1cm rounds and soak in cold water for 20 minutes to remove any dirt.
3. Melt the butter in pan and add the drained leeks in one layer. Cover with stock, season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover the leeks with a butter paper or cartouche and poach until tender. Drain, retaining the cooking liquid and set aside.
4. Make the veloute by melting the butter in a pan and stirring in the flour. Cook for a minute or two, stirring continuously. Add the stock a ladle at a time, stirring all the time. Bring to the boil , reduce the heat and add the cream. Simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes. Add the tarragon and season with salt and pepper.
5. Add the turkey, gammon and leeks to the veloute and stir well to combine and set aside.
6. Butter a deep sided 22cm pie tin.
7. Remove the rested pastry from the fridge and set aside one third. Roll out the remaining two thirds on a well floured work surface to a 3mm thickness. Line the pie tin with the rolled pastry, trimming the edges with the back of a knife. Egg wash the lip of the pie base
8. Pour the filling into the pie and place a pie funnel in the centre. Roll out the remaining pastry and cover the pie. Using a fork, press the the two layers of pastry together, trimming the excess with the back of a knife.
9. Cut a small X in the centre of the top of the pie to allow the funnel to protrude and egg wash the top of the pie. Bake in the oven at 180ºC for 40 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Serve with boiled new potatoes and green beans, both tossed in the reserved leek cooking liquor.

Rye and beer bread

2011-12-18T11:19:00.000-08:00

I developed this recipe after interviewing butcher George McCartney about his hand made corned beef which was named Supreme Champion in this year's Guild of Fine Food Awards.

He was kind enough to ship me some over from his shop on the outskirts of Belfast, mentioning that his favourite way to eat the beef was with homemade rye bread. Its such a delicious, special and painstakingly made product that I thought the very least I could do to honour it would be to make some rye bread of my own to go with it.

Barry Hawthorne of the Isle of Skye Baking Co. had also be kind enough to send me off with a parting gift of some ales from the Isle of Skye Brewery when I visited him earlier this year and it seemed the ideal opportunity to put one bottle of it to good use. The results were spectacular even if I do say so myself. I hope when you try making this bread that you agree. Just make sure you’ve got some of that corned beef to enjoy with it (list of stockists here ).

Rye and beer bread
(Makes two loaves)

Ingredients

500ml Isle of Skye Brewery Hebridean Gold porridge oat and malt ale or beer of your choice
200ml water
20g fresh yeast/10g dried active yeast
500g rye flour
250g wholegrain seeded flour
250g strong white flour
20g lard
10g sea salt
10g smoked sea salt
10g caster sugar

Method
1. Heat the ale and water in a microwave for 30 secs or until tepid. Alternatively heat gently in a pan.
2. Measure the remaining ingredients into the bowl of a Kitchenaid mixer. Afix the dough hook attachment and mix at the lowest setting to combine.
3. Slowly pour in the liquid and mix for 5 minutes on the lowest setting. Turn the machine off and scrape down the hook with a flexible spatula. Mix for a further 5 minutes or until the dough has come together and looks bouncy and alive.
4. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently but firmly into a ball. Set aside in the cleaned bowl, covered, in warm draft-free place for an hour or until doubled in size.
5. Knock back the dough, divide into two and form into a loaf shape. Cover and allow to rise again for an hour or until nearly doubled in size.
6. Bake in a hot oven (about 200 to 220°C for a fan oven or 240°C for a normal oven) until nicely coloured. Cool fully on a rack before slicing and serving with McCartney’s of Moira’s corned beef.

The return of Clock DVA

2011-11-30T08:40:00.000-08:00

This is primarily a food blog, but this post has nothing to do with food - we all need a break from our obsessions once in a while. The reason for this temporary detour is the return to performance and hopefully recording of Clock DVA. You can read more about them here and there's a recent interview with founder and former member of an early incarnation of The Human League Adi Newton here.

If you can find them, buy Thirst, Advantage and Buried Dreams - three of the greatest alternative/experimental records made by a British group in the last 30 years. Although the highly polished, melodic and slightly over produced Advantage flirted with the mainstream, they are a severely under-appreciated outfit. Clock DVA is rarely if ever heard on radio and I don't think they've ever been on TV in the UK, although Newton was interviewed for The Beat is the Law documentary about the Sheffield music scene. They are never going to be everyone's cup of tea, but they deserve to be better known.

Here's one of my all time favourite DVA tracks, Velvet Realm from Buried Dreams:

And here's the performance recently uploaded to youtube that features the first new DVA material for over 15 years, and it sounds cracking:

Recipe: crushed and roasted potatoes

2011-08-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

I created this recipe by accident and as far as I know it's original. A few weeks ago, I overcooked the potatoes for the Sunday roast without realising it. I drained them and following the sainted Delia Smith method, shook the pan as I usually do in order to rough up the edges of the spuds which creates the lovely crispy finish that Delia's roasties are famous for.

When I took the lid off I realised my mistake; about half the potatoes were reduced to chunks too small to roast. Rather than waste them, I piled them into a poaching ring to create fat discs of potato and roasted them along with the surviving potatoes. The result was a revelation - they were beautifully crisp, better in fact than the traditional roasties and had a very pleasing texture, somewhere between a roast potato and a hash brown. I've since made them for the family instead of roast potatoes to great approval.

This simple recipe could be embellished with the addition of parsley, rosemary or thyme and garlic mixed into the potato before it's moulded, but I think it works fine as it is.

Ingredients
(serves 4)
800g main crop potatoes e.g. Maris Piper
800ml cold water
8g salt
50g lard or fat or oil of your choice

Pre-heat your oven to 180C. Peel and chop the potatoes into large chunks. Rinse well, then cover with the cold water and bring to the boil. Add the salt and simmer for 5-7 minutes until par-boiled. Meanwhile, heat the lard in a roasting tin in the oven.

Drain then crush the potatoes using the back of a spoon. You want a chunky mixture and not mash. Spoon the potato into a 9cm by 3cm poaching ring, pressing down gently to compoact the potato so that it holds its shape. Repeat three times so that you have four discs.

Place the discs in the roasting tin and baste with the hot oil. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until golden and cooked through, turning halfway to ensure even cooking. Serve with roast meat and all the trimmings.

Vote for this recipe at LoveTheGarden.com

Rojano's in the Square

2011-08-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

On the square with chef Paul Ainsworth

Paul Ainsworth is probably best known for his wildly over the top 'Trip to the Fairground' dessert he created for the BBC's Great British menu series this year. You can try it for your self at Ainsworth's smart No 6 restaurant in Padstow if you've got the odd £21 burning a hole in your pocket. As that feeds two, and the prices on the rest of the menu are hardly greedy, you can't begrudge the chef cashing in just a little bit on his telly fame.

However, if you're after a more relaxed, affordable and family friendly experience, then his new venture, Rojano's on the Square just around the corner from No 6 might better fit the bill. Ainsworth has taken over a Padstow institution that's been around for three decades and bought it bang up to date. The smart, modern interior is decked out with black and white Rome-themed photos and Warhol-style screen prints of Lambrettas.

The menu is somewhat in the tradition of Jamie's Italian-olives are 'the best', tomato bread is 'really garlicky' and fries with garlic and parsley are 'funky'- but Ainsworth beats Oliver at his own game. Presentation, quality of ingredients and portion size are all a notch above the famous high street chain. But that's as it should be - this is a one off after all, although the price point is very close. Service is utterly charming and attentive.

Nearly everything delights, with only some lower quality pitted black olives on a 'rustico sottile' ultra thin pizza and an overly-large and less than thrilling accompaniment of peppers, chorizo and potato with some beautifully cooked fillets of lemon sole falling short of the mark.

An antipasto of parma ham, salami milano, spianata calabrese, bresáola, salami napoli, baked cheese, porcini relish, pickles, olives and rosemary toasts sounds expensive at £20 but would easily satisfy four as a starter or two as a light lunch.

Ainsworth has filled a gap in the Padstow market for high quality, casual Italian dining with the sort of easy style that could happily translate to the high steet; the first floor 'grazing bar' is a nice on-trend metropolitan touch. Watch out Jamie?

Calamari, garlic mayo (in the bucket) sweet chilli tomato salad

Mozzarella arancini with Arrabiata sauce

Antipasto

Capricossa pizza - ultra thin crispy base but what's with the cheap pitted olives?

Linguini al gamberi e rucola

Burger Italiano

Rock fries with truffle and parmesan

Fish of the day - lemon sole with potatoes, chorizo and peppers

Gelatio mostro

White chocolate pannacotta, berry compote and honeycomb

Rojano's in the Square
9 Mill Square
Padstow
Cornwall
01841 532 796; rojanos.co.uk

Food Writing Workshop with Andy Lynes at the Brighton and Hove Food and Wine Festival 10 September 2011

2011-07-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

So You Want To Be A Food Writer?

Interest in food has never been higher and the opportunities to write about food in print or on the net have never been greater. Professional food, drink and travel journalist and veteran food blogger Andy Lynes shares his insider knowledge in a three hour interactive workshop that covers the practicalities of how to break into the field and get commissions as well as how to develop ideas and research, structure and write food and drink features, news and reviews.

The workshop will also look at recipe writing, food related travel writing, restaurant reviewing, food blogging, how to get a book deal and food and drink copywriting opportunities. There'll be an interactive task or two and a Q&A session – in fact all the tools and information you need to try your hand at the business.

Two sessions on Saturday 10 September 2011:
either 10.00am-1.00pm or 2.00pm-5.00pm
The Learning Centre
Jubilee Library
Jubilee Street
Brighton
BN1 1GE

To book email andylynes@gmail.com or call 07838 299589. £50 per person, including handouts and light refreshments.

About Andy Lynes
Andy Lynes is a Glenfiddich Award nominated freelance writer specialising in food, drink and travel. He developed and taught the Food Media and Creative writing module of Brighton University's MA in Culinary Arts and has appeared as a guest speaker on both the Leith's School of Food and Wine and London City University’s Food Writing courses. He is the former editor the Metro newspaper's Good Taste food and drink pages (published every Tuesday) and the paper's regular guest restaurant reviewer.

He contributes the Food Miles column, food and drink themed travel features and hotel reviews to the Independent on Sunday and for three years wrote the paper's Food of the Week column. He is a regular contributor to Food Arts magazine in America and his work has appeared in Jamie magazine, olive magazine, The Times, Sainsbury's magazine, Waitrose Food Illustrated, Restaurant magazine and Caterer and Hotelkeeper. He is the author and editor of Britain's Finest Restaurants (www.britainsfinest.co.uk)

Andy appeared as a judge on five episodes of the Channel 4 series Iron Chef UK (www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/iron-chef) and has appeared as a food pundit on the BBC's Breakfast news programme and UK Food TV. He is a former committee member of the Guild of Food Writers and edited the Guild’s magazine Savour.

He was a founding affiliate of The eGullet Society for the Culinary Arts and Letters (egullet.org) where his many managerial duties included Dean of The eGullet Culinary Institute, contributing editor of The Daily Gullet and host of the UK forums. In the late 90's, he launched UKGourmet.com, one of the first food blogs in the UK. In 1997, Andy reached the semi-finals of BBC TV’s Masterchef competition and in 2000, was the only British competitor ever to participate in the prestigious Trophee des amateurs gourmands held in Lyon.

Recipe: roast Mediterranean courgette and pepper stew

2011-04-04T03:48:00.000-07:00

This is basically ratatouille without the aubergine, and there's no aubergine because there wasn't any in the fridge when I was decideding what to cook on Saturday night. So this is a true store cupboard/leftovers recipe. I served it with plain roast leg of lamb and some boiled new potatoes dresed with a little extra virgin olive oil and sea salt, but it would work with just about any roast meat or fish. You could try reheating it gently in the oven with an egg or two cracked in the middle for lunch too.

2 tbsp olive oil
2 courgettes, roughly diced
1 medium Spanish onion, roughly diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 red chilli, finely diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 red peppers, diced
1 tbsp tomato purée
20 cherry tomatoes, quartered
50ml reduced chicken stock or stock cube
salt and pepper
20 basil leaves, torn

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan and fry the courgettes until they take on some colour. Set aside. Heat the remaining oil in a saucepan and sweat the onion until soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add the chilli and peppers and cook until softened. Add the tomato purée and cook over a medium high heat for a minute or two until the colour deepens. Add the cherry tomatoes and chicken stock (if you are using a stock cube, add 50ml of water at this point) and stir well. Add the reserved courgettes, season with salt and pepper and cook gently for 30 minutes until all the vegetables are cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly. Stir in the basil leaves at the last minute.

Recipe: carrots slow poached in cider and rapeseed oil

2011-03-31T02:19:00.000-07:00

This recipe was inspired by chef Charlie Lakin of The Marquis in Kent, who told me that he always throws in some whole carrots to a braise and serves them as hot pot carrots on his menu. He also adds a fat such as beef dripping to his braising liquids so that the meat is almost confited. I've taken both ideas and applied the spirit of them to this side dish with delicious results. If you don't have a slow cooker then just cook the carrots over a very low heat on the hob or even in your oven, but check for doneness after an hour or so.

500g Chantenay carrots, trimmed and peeled
500ml Healey's Classic Oak Matured Cyder or other cider of your choice
150ml Rapeseed oil or olive oil
50ml reduced chicken stock (or use good quality stock cube)
1 bay leaf
5 peppercorns
2 cloves garlic, left whole but crushed
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig rosemary
2 tsp chopped flat leaf parsley

Place all the ingredients apart from the parsley in a slow cooker and cook for about 8 hours or overnight. Remove the carrots from the cooking liquor. Strain the liquor into a pan and reduce by half to two thirds. Add the reserved carrots to the pan and gently reheat in the sauce. Serve, sprinkled with chopped parsley with any roast meat.

Eight hundred words: writing for the Metro

2011-03-19T04:22:00.000-07:00

Between March 2010 and February 2011, I was the acting editor of the Metro newspaper's weekly Good Taste food and drink pages. The paper has a national circulation of over a million copies and a claimed daily readership of 3.5million. I was given complete freedom over what I chose to wriote about with no editorial interference whatsoever, and a budget to commission writers when I saw fit. In short, it was the dream job for a UK food writer.

During my stint, I produced over 50 double page spreads - at one point writing three in a week - and commissioned half a dozen more, all while scheduling, commissioning and editing the paper's daily 60 Second interview slot. After six years freelancing with variable success, it was an incredible luxury to have both a regular outlet for my work and a reliable, steady income.

The Good Taste word count is around 1500, split between two to three box outs, a one-liner 'top fact' above the headline and 800 words for the main feature. While at times I found that to be a frustratingly small number, the discipline of hitting the target week after week proved hugely beneficial to my writing and hopefully to the readers too.

I realised that in order to say what I wanted in the space available I had to make every word count, although I admit that I may well not have achieved that ambition a hundred per cent of the time. My aim was to produce entertaining, informative but above all useful articles. At the back of my mind was the question 'once someone has finished reading this, what can they do with the information?'. The academic, arcane and 'interesting' fell naturally by the wayside in favour of ingredient, technique or issue led pieces with a topical or seasonal hook, with the odd celeb or personality-led feature thrown in for good measure.

If I interviewed a chef (and I often did), it mostly wasn't because I wanted to know about them or their restaurants, I wanted their expertise on a particular area of cookery, be that vegetables or shellfish or specific seasonal ingredients. So a reader didn't just learn that there are many more varieties of tomato than they were previously aware of, but also what their characteristics were and how best to prepare them. Although that inevitably meant highlighting some artisan producers and often focusing on regional and seasonal food, that was not the central concern. The goal was to help the reader find new or improved flavours to enjoy.

Apart from a few exceptions such as a Christmas/New Year feature on trends in Champagne production and consumption, the articles often centred around one interviewee. The relatively short length of the pieces seemed to suit a single voice rather than a multitude which could seem cacophonous in such a tight space, and I was able to get into what I felt was a sufficient depth of detail for the given subject rather than have lots of passing comments.

It made sense on a practical level too. With the 60 Seconds daily deadline and scheduling taking up a surprising amount of time, I needed to use my time as efficiently as possible in order to meet the Good Taste deadline, write the additional material for the page and be planning and arranging future pages. I favoured face to face interviews as they allowed me to observe dishes being prepared and really get into the fine detail of the subject. I'd often spend a whole morning or afternoon with a chef gathering information. But the idea was not to overload the page with too much information; taking the time to see and talk through a process end to end enabled me to uncover the most pertinent and useful facts that otherwise may have got glossed over in a shorter phone interview.

I did allow myself indulgences however. I couldn't resist the opportunity to interview long time hero Marco Pierre White, even if it did mean playing phone tag with him and allowing him a shameless plug for the portable BBQ he'd put his name to. I did manage to prise a few cooking tips out of him though. I also jumped at the chance to meet Alain Ducasse even though the fact that he was launching a new book only emerged once I was actually in Paris. The interview was justified by a topical hook after all, but more by luck than design. My interview with Heston Blumenthal was another one that had no real practical value beyond informing readers about the most high profile UK restaurant opening since Ramsay opened up shop in Royal Hospital Road a decade earlier.

Despite the paper's broad readership, I aimed the pages squarely at food lovers. While I was careful to make everything crystal clear to the general reader, I chose subjects that interested me and that I knew would attract those similarly obsessed with food and drink. For the most part I avoided trends – I'm proud to say that I never wrote a word about whoopie pies for example but did cover the Sustainable Restaurant Association which I felt had a little more substance– concentrating on things that I felt would really improve readers gastronomic lives in the long term rather than short lived foodie fads. Yes, there was a touch of 'molecular mixology' but with a focus on flavour combinations and ideas for ingredients for making cocktails at home rather than just adding to the hype.

Having the job for a year allowed me to see through all four seasons, write my asparagus and oyster articles, my Fathers Day and festive features with the advantage of not having to figure out how I'd avoid repeating myself the next time around. But that would be a very small price and I'd be more than willing to pay it to say once again that I had Good Taste.

Recipe: home made garlic bread

2009-11-27T08:20:00.000-08:00

Using a bridge roll to make a mini-garlic loaf is such an obvious idea that I'm sure someone's thought of it already, but I haven't seen a recipe anywhere for it. In theory, you could use any compound (flavoured) butter for this but just make sure the flavours will match what your going to serve it with. A bit of cheese in the mix would be nice, but chilli, coriander and lime would be just plain weird

Garlic mini-loaves

serves 4

4 white bridge or finger rolls
10 cloves of garlic, finely minced or grated on a microplane grater
25g parsley, leaves picked from the stalks and finely chopped
250g butter, softened

Mix the garlic and parsley with the softened butter then form into a thick sausage by wrapping in cling film and twisting the ends like a Christmas cracker. Chill in the fridge or freeze (this will make far more butter than you'll need for the recipe but its very handy to have around for melting over steaks or grilled fish).

Slice the rolls at an angle from top to bottom four times, but don't cut completely through. Place a slice of the chilled butter (if frozen, use a serrated bread knife to cut through it) into each of the roll's four "pockets" then wrap the rolls in foil. Bake in a hot oven (200°C) for 10 minutes, then open the foil parcels and bake for a further five minutes for a crisp finish. Serve with pizza or pasta, or just gorge on them straight from the oven with a glass of wine or beer.

Gordon Ramsay's God-awful year

2009-11-27T05:26:00.000-08:00

Gordon Ramsay's 2009 annus has been nothing short of horribilis. Following allegations in late 2008 of a seven year long extra marital affair, Ramsay seems to have endured nothing but bad news ever since. That could well have something to do with the fact that he split from his publicist Gary Farrow in January, but even if Fleet Street has declared open season on him, most of the stories centre around Ramsay's troubled business empire and declining TV popularity rather than his apparently messy personal life.

In April, Ramsay made the front pages of the tabloids for selling pre-prepared food in his pubs after castigating restaurateur Mick Martin for doing the same thing in an episode of Kitchen Nightmares aired in January. In June, he was described by the Australian Prime Minister as "a new form of low life" after the chef insulted TV host Tracy Grimshaw by comparing her to a pig. Then in July, it was announced that profits for the group had plunged by 90%.

The Ramsay group has lost three senior staff this year including Gillian Thomson, head of operations in May, chief financial officer Nick Fletcher who departed in “mysterious” circumstances (according to the Caterer) over the summer, and in November right hand man Mark Sergeant left to become “creative director” of the Swan Collection. If you believe scurrilous industry gossip (which of course I don't), there are more high profile walk outs on the way.

In October the Ramsay Scholarship was scrapped due to lack of funding and his Kitchen Nightmares TV series was put on hold due to a lack of restaurants willing to take part (hardly surprising given Ramsay's own recent business track record and the number of restaurants featured on the show including Ruby Tates and Momma Cheri's that subsequently closed).

The new series of the F Word attracted just 1.8million viewers, less than a documentary about black holes on the BBC. Subsequent episodes have been pushed back an hour to a 10pm slot and re-edited to appeal to a more foodie audience. To add insult to injury, sales of Gordon's gin, for which Ramsay acts as poster boy were reportedly down by 3%.

In addition, Ramsay has closed a Maze restaurant in Prague and “handed back control” of both his LA restaurant and Gordon Ramsay au Trianon, the latter only weeks after it had won two Michelin stars. He also appears to be no longer involved with Cielo by Angela Hartnet in Florida, although the restaurant appears still to be trading.

No official announcement has been made but the restaurant has disappeared from his website (the same strategy was used when La Noisette closed, see Ramsay Roulette for details. And it now seems that the La Noisette site in Sloane Street has also been quietly withdrawn as an events/functions space as that too has gone from GordonRamsay.com).

Now comes the news of winding-up petitions by the Inland Revenue and Customs against Gordon Ramsay Plane Food and Maze Ltd (petitions against The Narrow pub and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay were dismissed as debts had been cleared by the time the case went to court). If the outstadning tax debts aren't cleared, the restaurants will be closed and assets sold off.

Its perhaps not surprising that Plane Food in Heathrow's troubled Terminal 5 is struggling, but Maze is critically acclaimed and by all accounts one of Ramsay's busiest establishments. Despite the closure of the Prague franchise, there are Maze restaurants in New York and Cape Town with Melbourne and Doha to follow next year.

So while Ramsay can shrug off failures such as the ill fated La Noisette, closure of the original London Maze would come as quite a blow. Sauce PR however have issued a typically ebullient statement, saying that, "In the summer, Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH) announced a restructuring of the businesses' finances following short-term cash-flow problems. The company announced it was repaying debts, but it would be a process that would take several months. In the High Court... the judge accepted this was the position and dismissed two of the petitions on the basis the debts had been cleared. She also gave GRH further time to settle the other two debts."

Ramsay might at this very moment be sitting somewhere quiet, newly botoxed head in hands, rocking back and forth, weeping silently, but somehow I doubt it. If Ramsay isn't simply whistling in the dark, and his entire business empire doesn't come tumbling down around his ears before the new year, the gob from Glasgow looks set to soldier on into 2010.

Early next year (the date previously announced on the website of 11 January seems to have evaporated into the ether) the new Petrus is scheduled to open a matter of yards from the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge where Ramsay protégé Marcus Wareing runs his eponymous restaurant that was formerly known as - yes you guessed it - Petrus.

Even if it is just a very expensive FU to Wareing (the pair had a spectacular falling out in 2008 after being inseparable for years, see Ramsay Roulette for details), it will undoubtedly be one of the highest profile openings of the year.

A new, critically acclaimed fine dining restaurant could go a long way to rehabilitating Ramsay's reputation as a serious restaurateur. With apparently dwindling appeal as a TV celebrity chef, it could be exactly what he needs to take him into the second act of his undeniably fascinating career.

Easterhouse - Whistling In The Dark (Official Music Video) - The top video clips of the week are here

Hot dog, Ludlow slog, Abergavenny

2009-11-26T02:59:00.000-08:00

Game consommé with bacon cream and a small game hot dog at Phil Howard and Rebecca Mascarenhas's new Kitchen W8 restaurant in Kensington is quite obviously The London Dish of The Moment and anyone who doesn't realise that is a fucking idiot, probably.

Do you think they'll put that on the reviews page of their website? It would look good next to Andy "Limpest Passive Aggressive Handshake in the Known Universe" Hayler's "Phil Howard does seems to have the magic touch" quote wouldn't it?

For those who haven't tried it (the hot dog, not shaking hands with Andy Hayler), it's "an intensely flavoured consommé based on grouse, venison, pheasant and mallard, topped with a rich, velvety foam. It is served with a small game hot dog, the sausage home-made and based on venison, hare and pork and it's topped with a sweet and sour “brown sauce” based on onions, spices, malt vinegar and beer." Sorry about all those "based-on"s but that's unedited (well this is a blog, I don't get paid for this you know) from the horses mouth. The baby foie gras potato served with grilled ox tongue and shallot purée is most definitely the Spud-I-Like.

Driving through torrential rain in the dark - for bloody hours - is not my idea of fun. But even The Shittest Journey couldn't take the shine off arriving back in Ludlow. I love the place and would probably move there if my wife didn't hate it with a furious passion (that probably has something to do with the fact that I forced her to take the annual family holiday there one year simply so that I could do a one day stage and eat at Shaun Hill's now legendary The Merchant House. Well, I enjoyed it).

Sadly The Merchant House is long gone (now a B&B), as is Hibiscus and apparently Mr Underhill's might not be long for this world, but don't tell anyone I told you that. So all we're left with is La Becasse. But that will do very nicely thank you. Will Holland is a very ambitious young Michelin starred chef and if you haven't heard of him before, you will very soon. He's in the rather spiffing new Yes, Chef!: 20 Great British Chefs 100 Great British Recipes book by Saturday Kitchen producer James Winter and James Bulmer, son of Derek of Michelin guide fame.

Dish of the night from the menu gourmand was the technically dazzling, rather unusual, but totally delicious confit leg and smoked loin of locally shot rabbit, foie gras terrine, passion fruit and celery salad, toasted brioche. I retired to my palatial suit at the charming De Grey's b&b a happy man and nodded off reading the Fat Duck Cookbook, which I've just review for foodepedia (did you see what I did there? Relentless self promotor, that's me).

After a bloody great bacon bap for brekkie and an interview with Chef Holland (coming to a publication near you soon, hopefully), it was time to get hopelessly lost trying to find The Walnut Tree Inn. I'd got hopelessly lost the last time I visited the place two years ago in order to interview the previously mentioned Shaun Hill for Restaurant magazine.

The restaurant is on the B4521, which is simple enough, except that in order to stay on the B4521 as you're driving away from Abergavenny town centre, you have to make a right into Grosvenor Road, otherwise your on the Hereford Road and heading in completely the wrong direction. One small problem - THE RIGHT TURN IS NOT FUCKING WELL SIGNPOSTED. What am I? Fucking psychic or something. OK, so I'd been there before, but that was two years and copious amounts of booze ago and my memory is not what it was. My memory is not what it was (boom, and further more, boom).

A good half an hour late and rather flustered, I was relieved to see a smiling Mr Hill waiting for me with a glass of champagne to calm me down (God, I hate being late). On my previous visit, the restaurant hadn't even opened so I was treated to a tasting with the brigade as the builders worked around us in the kitchen. This time I got a seat in the dining room and some of the best food I've had all year. The menu is a stunner; a list of everything you could possibly want to eat, and a few things you hadn't even thought of.

I toyed with the idea of ordering three starters (I was dining by myself) but Shaun isn't the type of chef to suffer that sort of foodie bullshit messing up his lunch service gladly, so I restricted myself to pheasant pudding with crisp sage and bacon (a sort of riff on quenelle de brochet; the tower of pheasant mousse filled with a hidden surprise of wild mushroom fricassee) followed by a sublime loin of Berkshire pork, belly and cheeks served with black pudding, mash and cabbage. Best of all however was an historically good muscat crème caramel with Agen prunes.

I joined Shaun for a chat in the bar after, and he was on his usual acerbic and hilariously undiplomatic form which made most of the conversation unrepeatable. It was a quiet Friday lunch but he was expecting to do around 160 covers the following day. "The only thing that gets me through it is knowing we're closed on Sunday and I won't have to do it all again the next day," he told me. But he also said that after 40 years in the business, he's never tired of the kitchen, "it's just all the other stuff I can't stand."

Dusty in here

2009-11-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

It's cold and dusty in here. I haven't looked in all summer, and now autumn is almost half over already. I've been busy, its true. But then I'm always busy. Writing, travelling, shopping, cooking, cleaning, drinking, sleeping; all the ings. Just not blogging.

I like to think I can blog for fun as a prelude to writing for money, just like Richard Herring does with Warming Up but it just doesn't work that way for me. I've only got so many words in me in any given day it seems.

But for the moment at least, I'm back. I do an awful lot of stuff that I never blog about, mainly because I've got other plans for it, or I hope to use the experiences for other outlets and I don't want to piss it away. So it's finding stuff that's appropriate for Kitchen Person that's the problem.

Earlier this year I blogged quite regularly about my training schedule for the Galvin Tower Race that took place in Hyde Park back in June. In the end, I didn't participate. I was nowhere near fit enough and a minor health scare the week before was enough to deter me. Since then I've let my training slip completely and I'm nearly, although not quite, back to square one. I don't know what I'm going to do about that at the moment, but I'll have to do something I suppose.

Going forward (I'd never write something as redundant as "going forward" if I was being paid, but as this is my blog I'm going to be lazy and start a sentance with the phrase. "Thinking outside box" coming to this blog soon) I've got a handful of new recipes to post (which I record mainly for my own use; this blog has become a very useful way of capturing dishes that I create on the hoof and would otherwise probably never cook again), and I'm back on the road next week after two weeks of jury service which has kept me in Brighton. So maybe I'll post something or other about London, Ludlow and Abergavenny in autumn. The world holds its breath I'm sure.

Recipe: Return of the mash

2009-07-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

In the 90's flavoured mash was all the rage. From Simon Hopkinson's “saff mash” flavoured with saffron to the ubiquitous olive oil mash, you couldn't get away from the stuff. These days, its not quite so common, probably because most chefs would rather spend their time figuring out how to palm off their kitchen scraps as a £100 “degustation menu” than make a decent plate of food. Or if they're not above serving good grub, then the St John school of new puritanism demands that mash tastes of potato and nothing else.

So lets turn back the clock and remember a time when making a pot of mash meant open season on every herb, spice and condiment under the sun. This is a fairly restrained version, but utterly delicious none the less. An optional addition of a handful of finely chopped chives would add a little colour and subtle onion flavour that will work well with the dish.

The ratio of water and salt to potato was given to me by Tim Payne, ex-Marco Pierre White head chef and it works a treat. By measuring out the water and salt instead of simply guessing, you can ensure the potatoes don't take too long to come to the boil and therefore won't overcook, and that they'll be perfectly seasoned too.

Parmesan and mustard mash

serves 4

1kg floury potatoes, peeled and diced
1 litre cold water
10g salt
50g grated Parmesan
150ml double cream
1 dessert spoon Dijon mustard

Bring the potatoes to the boil in the water and salt and simmer until cooked through. Drain and return to the heat for a few minutes to dry out the potatoes. Pass through a potato ricer or mash until smooth. Combine the cheese, cream and mustard and heat gently until the cheese has completely melted then stir into the mashed potato. Serve with sausages, grilled meat or fish.

Recipe: Gratin of spring greens, mushrooms and squash

2009-06-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

Bechamel isn't exactly a cutting edge sauce. You're unlikely to find it on the menu at el Bulli, but it should be an invaluable part of every home cook's repertoire. Your lasagne would look pretty sick without for a start. Here, it unifies three dispirate vegetables into a coherent dish that you can use to accompany any roast or grilled meat, or even fish. Serve it with homemade bread for a delicious vegetarean lunch.

The best way to get maximum flavour into your bechamel is to infuse the warmed milk with parsley, thyme, bay and peppercorns for an hour or so, then strain before stirring into a roux base. In the recipe, I've used a short cut by simply adding the herbs and peppercorns to the sauce while it simmers as the flour cooks out. Not quite as good, but it works fine if you're in a bit of a hurry. The teaspoon of mustard powder gives the sauce just that extra little kick of flavour.

Use all the spring greens, including the outer leaves. Just wash them very well and cut out the tough central stalks. The fleshy leaves add body and texture to the gratin.

Gratin of spring greens, mushrooms and squash

serves four as a side dish, two as a main course

350g spring greens, washed, central stalks removed and sliced into 1 inch strips
1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon butter
2 dessertspoons olive oil
3 sprigs of thyme
300g button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
salt and pepper
150g Parmesan cheese

for the sauce

55g butter
40g plain flour
1 teapsoon English mustard powder
568ml full cream milk
150ml double cream
5 parsley stalks
2 springs of thyme
5 black peppercorns

Blanch the spring greens in plenty of boiling salted water until just wilted (about one minute) then drain, refresh under cold water and set aside. Saute the squash one tablespoon of butter and a dessert spoon of oil until lightly coloured then add the thyme sprigs and transfer to a hot oven until cooked through which should take about 15 minutes. in the meantime, saute the mushrooms in the remaining butter and oil until they give off all their liquid and take on some colour.

For the sauce, melt the butter in a pan then stir in the flout until it forms a smooth roux mixture. Add the cold milk a little at a time, stirring to avoid any lumps. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer and add the cream, herbs and peppercorns. Cook gently for 20 minutes to cook out the flour. Add more milk if the sauce is too thick.

In a greased baking dish, combine the all the vegetables and season well with the salt and pepper. Strain over the sauce and mix through well. Grate over the Parmesam cheese and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until brown and bubbling.

Recipe: Mushroom and butternut squash risotto

2009-06-20T04:59:00.000-07:00

This is yet another recipe created with "found food" (i.e. stuff leftover from other dishes)from the fridge. To my surprise, the kids loved it so its become a regular standby for the weekly menu planning session, especially if I'm runing out of inspiration.

You've no doubt read a million and one risotto recipes (my personal fav is risotto of radicchio, Taleggio and red wine from Anthony Demetre's wonderful book Today's Special) so I won't bore you by going on about technique, except to say that a chef once told me to cook the rice grains in the butter until the take on a tiny bit of colour and very lightly toast. It not only improves the flavour of the finished dish, but gets the cooking process off to a flying start so the grains will absorb the cooking liquid more quickly and easily. It's a nice little tip that I don't recall seeing written down before so I'm passing it on here now.

Mushroon and butternut squash risotto

serves 4

2 tablespoons of butter
2 dessert spoon of olive oil
1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into small cubes
3 sprigs of thyme
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
300g of mixed mushrooms such as ceps, girolle and chestnut
500g arborio rice
150ml white wine
2.5 litres of simmering vegetable stock
125g grated parmesan cheese plus 50g to grate over the finished dish
handful of chives, very finely sliced
salt and pepper

Cook the butternut squash in a tablespoon of butter and dessertspoon of the oil in an oven proof saute pan until coloured. Scatter over the thyme sprigs and transfer to a hot oven (180 degrees C) until tender, about 15 minutes.

Sweat the onion in a tablespoon of the butter and a dessertspoon of the oil until soft and translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook for a minute or two then add the garlic. Cook until the mushrooms have given up all of their liquid, then add the rice. Cook until lightly toasted then pour in the wine and cook until completely absorbed/evaporated. Add the simmering stock a ladle at a time, stirring the risotto all the time. When the rice is just cooked through, stir in the squash, cheese and chives and season well with the salt and pepper. Serve immeadiately in warm bowls, and grate over the remaining cheese.

Recipe: Smoked haddock fishcakes, parsley sauce

2009-06-11T16:13:00.000-07:00

A simple dish, but one that requires your full attention over serveral stages and different cooking techniques including poaching, boiling, shallowing frying and sauce making so make sure you allow enough time to get it all done. The fishcakes and sauce are ideal for freezing so double the recipe and you'll be more than repaid for your efforts.

I prefer shop bought breadcrumbs for this recipe; they just produce a better tasting and better looking result. Plus they don't absorb as much oil as fresh homemade crumbs would do. I've got a drum of Paxo breadcrumbs in my cupboard, but feel free to use the more fancy panko variety if you like; they do produce a beautifully crunchy result.

Smoked haddock fishcakes, parsley sauce

serves four

for the fishcakes

1 pint full cream milk
600g undyed smoked haddock
1 bay leaf
5 black peppercorns
1kg red skin potatoes, peeled and diced
1 drum of Paxo breadcrumbs
2 eggs
200g plain flour
salt and pepper
vegetable oil

for the sauce

55g butter
40g tablespoon plain flour
milk reserved from poaching the haddock
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
25g flat leaf parsley, leaves picked from the stem and finely chopped
salt and pepper

Put the haddock in a large pan and cover with the milk. Add the bay and peppercorns, cover the pan with a lid and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and let the pan sit for 4 minutes. Remove the fish from the milk (which should be strained and reserved for the sauce)then skin, bone and flake the flesh and set aside.

Put the diced potaotes in a large pan, cover in cold water, bring to the boil, add a generous pinch of salt and cook until tender. Drain, return to the heat to dry out the potatoes then mash until smooth. Fold in the fish and season with salt and pepper and allow to cool.

Form the mixture into eight equal sized balls, flatten slightly then pane them by tossing them first in the flour, then the egg and finally the breadcrumbs. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a pan, add the flour and stir until amalgamated and slightly coloured. Whisk in the milk bit by bit until you have a smooth sauce. Cook over a low heat for 20-30 minutes until thickened. Add the mustard, parsley and season with salt and pepper.

Heat about an inch of vegetable oil in a frying pan until hot and fry the fishcakes until golden brown on both sides. Transfer to a hot oven to cook through for five minutes.

Serve two fishcakes per person on a bed of wilted spinach with the sauce spooned around the plate.

Recipe: BLT - I did it my way

2009-05-17T15:21:00.001-07:00

Leafing through Alfred Portale's Twelve Seasons Cookbook : A Month-by-Month Guide to the Best There is to Eat
gave me the inspiration for this dish. He's one of the few top ranking chefs that I know of that includes sandwich recipes in his books and 12 Seasons has a couple of crackers includng prociutto, pear, arugala and honey mustard, and grilled potato, Roquefort, red onion and smoked bacon (how good does that sound?). It set me thinking about how I could make that old favourite BLT into a main course.

I replaced white bread with griddled pain de campagne, spread with tomato compote (inspired by the heavenly tomato bruschetta served as a freebie at Theo Randall's excellent London restaurant) and topped with braised lettuce and a bacon chop instead of bacon rashers. I served the open sandwich with sweet potato wedges spiced with cumin, paprika and cayenne and a creme fraiche dip (actually Richard Corriagan's creme fraiche, olive oil, lemon and mint dressing from The Clatter of Forks and Spoons) which I had left over from the previous night's dinner, although I would recommend replacing the mint with basil for this dish.

Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato

serves 4

for the tomato compote

1 red onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
350g cherry tomatoes
salt and pepper
teaspoon caster sugar

for the braised lettuce

25g butter
4 spring onions, sliced
2 baby gem lettuces, trimmed and cut in half lengthways
200ml chicken stock
salt and pepper

4 bacon chops
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

4 slices pain de campagne
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

For the tomato compote, heat the oil in a pan and saute the onion until soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper and sugar and cook over a gentle heat until the tomatoes break down and form a sauce.

For the lettuces, heat the butter in a pan and sweat the spring onions until soft, add the lettuce and cook until slightly wilted, turning once. Pour over the stock and simmer over a gentle heat until the lettuce is tender.

Heat a griddle pan until smoking. Season the bread with salt and pepper and brush with the oil on both sides. Griddle until nicely coloured.

Season the chops with pepper and brush with oil and cook under a hot grill until the fat sizzles, turning once.

Place a slice of grilled bread on each plate, spread a quarter of the tomato compote on each and top with a lettuce quarter and finally a bacon chop.

Tom Aikens profile: part three

2009-05-14T11:12:00.001-07:00

That Aikens has emerged as a leading chef and restaurateur in one of the most competitive markets in the world is remarkable enough. But the achievement is all the more impressive when you learn that in 1999, his London career came to an abrupt and very public halt.

At the time, he was the 26 year old head chef of Pied a Terre in Fitrovia, the youngest ever to hold two Michelin stars. But a storm of bad publicity surrounding an alleged “branding” of a junior chef with a hot palette knife brought his career crashing down around him.

“The way it was handled in the press was just shocking; it was dealt with in a nonsensical way. I found myself thinking, “what am I going to do. No one in London wants to employ me.” It completely fucked my life up.”

Aikens says he had metamorphosised into his former bosses – a succession of Michelin starred chefs that included Pierre Koffmann at the then three starred La Tante Claire in Chelsea and the mercurial Richard Neat at Pied a Terre - absorbing not only their culinary knowledge, but also their worst traits. By the time he took over as head chef of Pied a Terre from Neat in 1996, he admits that he was a nightmare to work for.

“I was a complete control freak and I wanted to do everything myself to make sure it was right. When I look back I think I must have been bloody crazy to have that amount of pressure and stress.”

Aikens found refuge as private chef for the Bamford family, owners of JCB the construction and agricultural equipment company. Working on the family’s organic farm in Staffordshire and helping them set up their range of Daylesford Organic foods had a profound effect on Aikens subsequent career, not only influencing the ingredient-driven style of food at Tom’s Kitchen, but also providing the inspiration for Aikens own range of food.

“I’d always wanted to do something like Tom’s Kitchen,” says Aikens. “People’s tastes have changed and developed and simplified and so have mine. When I go out to eat, I want something very simple, easy and down to earth.”

Opened in November 2006 in a converted pub just a few hundred yards from Restaurant Tom Aikens, Tom’s Kitchen encompasses a ground floor restaurant, 1st floor bar and private dining rooms on the 2nd floor. A basement cold room for aging whole sides of meat is visible through glass panels in the floor of the main dining room.

Chunky wooden furniture, white tiled walls decorated with black and white portraits of Aikens’s suppliers and an open kitchen make for a buzzy atmosphere. The easy going menu puts the accent on meat with familiar and comforting dishes such as beef burgers, confit duck leg and sharing plates of côte de boeuf with big chips and béarnaise sauce and seven hour braised lamb shoulder with onions and balsamic vinegar.

Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and Saturday brunch, the restaurant serves in excess of 2,000 covers a week. Its success has spawned a retail version in the food hall of the prestigious Selfridges department store in London’s Oxford Street, serving branded ready meal versions of some of the restaurant dishes as well as pies, pates, terrines, sauces, chutneys and a range of soups and sandwiches all prepared in a commissary kitchen in Bermondsey, south London.

“Having a brand is a powerful, powerful statement. Tom’s Kitchen has an image and portrays a story, and it’s a bloody fabulous name as well,” says Aikens, immodestly.

After a period of rapid expansion, Aikens appears to be taking time to consolidate his position. There will be more Tom’s Place restaurants, maybe in 2009, but his next confirmed opening won’t be until 2010 when a second Tom’s Kitchen restaurant will open in London’s Canary Wharf. In the meantime he’s writing his second cookbook Fish, due for publication in 2008 and there’s that much longed for second Michelin star for Restaurant Tom Aikens still to bag.

It’s a safe bet that, despite his chiselled- good looks, you won’t be seeing Tom Aikens attempt to dominate the TV schedules a la Gordon Ramsay; his natural reserve combined with an avowed disinterest in the medium will see to that. But don’t be surprised if there’s a sudden, unannounced flurry of activity from the Aikens camp in the near future.

“You only have a certain shelf life as a person and as a business before someone else comes along and tries to hustle in on the glory,” says Aikens. “Its very exciting and being part of it is great but in terms of longevity of the business who knows? Restaurants are very tricky animals – one day you can be flavour of the month, the next gone.”

Tom Aikens profile: part two

2009-05-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Although Aiken’s has focussed his attention on opening Tom’s Place, he rarely misses a service at his flagship restaurant. And that’s just where I find him at midday on a crisp Monday in December.

Striding into the kitchen, he asks the nearest kitchen porter for a cup of tea and then positions himself at the pass where his first job is to fire up his Apple Mac and check his e mail. Just because he has a dining room of customers to feed doesn’t mean he doesn’t mean he has to miss a business opportunity.

“I only began to think of myself as a businessman from January 2007,” says Aikens. “Until then I was still in essence in the kitchen “chopping onions”. That doesn’t happen anymore because I just don’t have the time. But I am here at lunch and dinner and that won’t change. When people come here they expect me to be here because my names above the door - it’s an important factor of the business.”

“Tom Aikens” the business currently employs around 160 people (including Aiken’s twin brother Robert as operations manager for Tom’s Kitchen restaurant and retail outlet) and is formally structured with a chairman, board of directors, shareholders and key managerial personnel including operations manager HR manager and finance department. Aikens even has his own PA to help him navigate the various demands now made on his time.

“Everyday is different,” says Aikens. “But generally speaking, I’m in the restaurant by 7.00am and I spend until 9.00am answering e mails doing PR and working on my book. Then I’ll go through the lunch menu with my head chef and take meetings until 11.00am. I’ll be in the kitchen for service until 2.30 – 3.00pm, then its back to e mails and meetings. I always go to the gym between 4.30-6.00pm - that’s my sane down time for me - but I make sure I’m in the kitchen by 7.00pm. I’ll be there until we finish, and then I’ll go to Tom’s Place and Tom’s Kitchen - never am I out of there before midnight.”

It’s a punishing schedule by any standards, but must seem like an easy ride to Aikens compared to the routine he endured for a year in the mid-90’s as a chef de partie in the kitchens of Joel Robuchon’s restaurant in Paris.

“I was working 20 hours a day. I’d be up at 4.30am and by ten to six I’d be in the kitchen. I’d have a half hour break in the afternoon and finish at 12.30 to 1.00am. Come Thursday, I’d have splitting headaches from the sleep depravation. It was horrendous.”

Restaurant Tom Aiken’s boldly elegant black and white design by Anouska Hempel helped set the 60 cover restaurant apart from its shades-of-beige fine dining competitors when it opened in April 2003. But it was Aikens no-holds-barred creativity that really put it in a category of its own. He decorated his plates Jackson Pollock style with countless jellies, foams and sauces, scattered micro greens with abandon and served lamb with sardines on toast.

Now, things have calmed down considerably. A meal at the restaurant remains a dazzling display of technique from an amuse bouche of beetroot gelee, beetroot foam and, foie gras mousse with diced cured venison, to the bewildering display of petit fours that includes tuiles, madelines, lime and earl grey chocolates and a variety of sweet mousses served on long handled spoons.

But dishes such as a richly satisfying starter of roast scallops with braised oxtail, black pudding parsnip puree, chicken boudin and red wine sauce display a renewed sense of the classical. “You grow up don’t you,” is Aikens simple, unguarded explanation for the change in style that has seen the restaurant attain a one star rising rating for the first time in the 2008 edition of the Michelin guide.

With a brigade of 14 chefs and 12 front of house staff on the payroll, Aikens admits that, despite charging £65 for a la carte and £100 for a “classic” seven course tasting menu, the restaurant isn’t hugely profitable.

“People imagine that because of the prices we charge and who we are, we’re making a lot of money, but gastronomic restaurants are a loss leader,” says Aikens.

Tom Aikens profile: part one

2009-05-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

Tom’s Place in London’s upmarket Chelsea neighbourhood is no ordinary fish and chip shop. It’s nothing less than a radical eco-friendly, 21st century sustainable reinvention of a British institution. Although the suite of fryers and hot cupboards that you’ll find in any one of the UK’s 8,000-odd “chippies” are present and correct, the similarity to a standard takeaway ends there.

Opened in February 2008, the compact two storey premises features a striking retro design with high red plastic stools and chairs, marble effect counter tops and tables (all made from eco-friendly recycled materials) and a large electronic menu board instead of wasteful paper menus. The cutlery is made of biodegradable corn starch and all napkins, boxes and bags are made from recycled paper and cardboard.

But it’s on the plate where things get really interesting. Forget the usual suspects of haddock and plaice and think pollock, megrim sole and squid. Once you’ve tried the deep fried battered gurnard, you’ll never want to look poor old endangered cod in the eye again.

But perhaps all that innovation and creativity is what you’d expect from a fish and chip shop run by Tom Aikens, one of the UK’s most prodigiously talented chefs.

Since opening his eponymous fine dining restaurant in 2003, the 37 year old Aikens has quietly transformed himself from jobbing chef to catering entrepreneur. In addition to Restaurant Tom Aikens, his diverse portfolio currently encompasses modern bistro Tom’s Kitchen, a traiteur version of Tom’s Kitchen in the food hall of Selfridges department store, a partnership with leading contract caterers The Admirable Crichton and now the fish and chip shop.

“Tom’s Place is a completely different business from Tom Aikens or Tom’s Kitchen. Because it’s a fast food kind of thing I’ve made the whole atmosphere and theme a bit more lively and modern - put a bit more “umph” in it,” says Aikens.

Aikens has paid the meticulous attention to detail to the development of his fish and chip recipe that you’d expect from a Michelin starred chef.

“The process of getting the dishes to perfection has taken more time than you’d think. For our beer batter for example, we’ve played around with different types of flour, yeast, bottled and tap water, we even tried white wine. It’s taken a huge amount of trial and error to come up with the perfect recipe,” says Aikens.

So what is the perfect batter recipe? Aikens is not prepared to give away what he sees as his competitive edge. “We use particular flour and a particular mix to that of sparkling water and beer, and that’s all I’m going to say.”

The restaurant opens daily between 11 in the morning and 11 at night and serves up to 300 people a day, split between one third takeaway trade and two thirds eat in. Although customers have embraced the more unusual options such as grilled mackerel with beetroot and potato salad, cod (which accounts for just over 60% of all fish sold in fish and chip shops in the UK) has to be on the menu.

“Our cod is from the Pacific Ocean and meets the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Chain of Custody standard. That means we can trace it back to fisheries that have been certified as sustainable by the MSC,” says Aikens.

With the restaurant selling a ton of chips a week and limited kitchen space, Aikens has outsourced the basic prep of his carefully sourced Lincolnshire Maris Piper potatoes to his vegetable supplier, saving time and in house staff costs without sacrificing quality, a issue very close to Aikens heart.

“Everyone uses Maris Piper for chips, but we looked into the theory behind that before making our choice. They have the right amount of dry matter, which is the starch. The starch turns to sugar when it’s cooked, and that will then determine the colouration of your chip. You also need enough water in the potato to create the steam to give you the fluffiness but you don’t want it too wet otherwise it won’t crisp properly.”

Although Aikens agrees with the common choice of potato, he has eschewed the practice of blanching the chips from raw in oil and frying them once at a high temperature that often results in the classic British “soggy” chip.

“We steam the chips for between 8 and 10 minutes at 90ºC first, then blanch them in oil for 8 minutes at 148-152ºC and then fry them at 176ºC for 4-5 minutes.”

There’s traditional malt vinegar to douse your fish and chips with, but Aikens has gone the extra mile and provided complementary home made tomato ketchup (a richer and slightly sweeter tasting version than the most common commercial variety) and freshly made, and very delicious, tartar sauce.

The effort pays off by elevating the experience far above the fast food norm and justifying the slightly higher than usual price tag of £10.50 for cod and chips (compare to £7.69 at the famous Harry Ramsden’s chain fish and chip restaurants).

While the ground floor kitchen knocks out the deep fried menu items, French head chef Yves Girard is busy in the basement preparing pan fried and grilled fish including Cornish sardines on sourdough toast with shallot chutney and “bowl food” such moules marinière and bouillabaisse. It’s an embellishment to the traditional chippy completely in keeping with the chi-chi Chelsea neighbourhood that is home to all three of Aiken’s restaurants.

“I knew we couldn’t just do deep fried food because we’d be cutting off half our market here. You are always going to have people that want something light and easy like grilled fish,” says Aikens.

(NB - this article was written in February 2008. Tom's Place closed in August 2008)

Tom Aikens: bad timing

2009-05-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

In October 2007, I was commission by Food Arts magazine in New York to write a profile of Michelin starred chef Tom Aikens. The idea was to chart Aikens' growth not only as a chef but as a business man too. At the time, Aikens not only had his eponymous flagship restaurant and the more casual Tom's Kitchen, but was about to open his upmarket fish and chip restaurant Tom's Place and was supplying Selfridges foodhall with a range of traiteur foods. A second branch of Tom's Kitchen had been mooted for Canary Wharf.

The research for the article turned out to be a protracted business and included a 90 minute interview with Aikens plus three hours stood at the pass in Restaurant Tom Aikens observing a hectic lunchtime service to get a feel for Aikens style both on the plate and in the kitchen. When the opening date for Tom's Place was put back from late 2007 to February 2008, I had to miss my original December deadline (Tom's Place was to be central to the feature as it was to be run in the march 2008 seafood themed edition of the magazine). I then interviewed Aikens a second time once the fish and chip restaurant had launched, and by that time had eaten in all of Aiken's restaurants several times.

So it was with no little pride and some relief when I finally submitted my lengthy, and very well researched copy to my editor Jim Poris. Then, on the day the magazine was due to go to press (the day before the Labour Day public holiday no less) the story broke of the closure of Tom's Place.

As long as Aikens had plans to re-open Tom's Place at some point in the future, the story could go ahead with a few minor tweaks. But to my astonishment Aiken's people advised us that there were no such plans, that the concept would not be revived elsewhere so at the very last moment, the story had to be pulled for a major re-write. Then later in the year when Aiken's financial woes really began to kick in, the story was dead in the water. Aikens was no longer the up and coming business man and my lovingly complied profile looked hopelessly dated.

In the end, the story was completely re-written as a piece on fish and chips and broadened to include other big name UK chefs serving the dish. It finally appeared in the March 2009 edition of the magazine.

As the commissioned work has now been published, I have decided to post the full original text here. Although much of it is out of date and only of historical interest, it does capture something of Aikens as a cook and a person, so has some intrinsic value. The quote from Aikens that I chose to close the article with now seems scarily prophetic.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it (or hopefully a great deal more - the process was not without it frustrations on a number of levels).

Eye with chocolate dandruff

2009-04-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

skyfullofbacon.com

Cologne Calorie Catasrophe Averted

2009-04-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

Back from two nights and three days of eating and drinking my way around Cologne for the Independent on Sunday (publication date not yet known) and have somehow managed to avoid putting on any weight. This, despite a long lunch at the three Michelin-starred Dieter Muller and a no holds barred dinner at one star La Vision. I did however spend a great deal of time walking around the city and, while I certainly ate enough to fill a 900 word article, I didn't over do it too much.

German cusine continues to impress. I had some of the best meals of my life last year at Schwarzwaldstube in the Black Forest and at Cologne's other three star restautant Vendome. This trip reaffirmed my opinion that German chefs are some of the most technically gifted in the world.

Their approach lacks the playfulness that has made the Spanish avant garde so appealing to journalists (flavour is more difficult to write about than visual puns and tricks), but any gourmet would be blown away by the precision of the execution and more importantly the clarity and definition of the flavours. Or to put it another way, its bloody delicious.

On the downside, I was so knackered from my gastronomic wanderings, and from only getting 3 hours sleep on the Sunday before I flew out (an early flight meant a restless overnight stay in an airport hotel and a 5.30am wake up call) that I didn't manage a run while I was away. Its been well over a week since my last outing but today's run wasn't a total disaster, in fact I managed 12 minutes of continuous jogging, the longest duration so far. Before the break in training, I had managed 9mins 45secs so I'm pleased.

I'm not really back on track however and will need to put in some hard work the rest of the week. That will be tough as I'm reviewing a total of three London restaurants for the Metro and Stylebible.com before Friday but I will have the time and its just a matter of will power and getting out and doing it.

Training: day fifteen

2009-03-26T02:34:00.000-07:00

The same old song

The two sessions since I last posted both went extremely well. I'm now up to five minutes jogging and one minutes rest repeated five times. It didn't feel particularly hard work at the time and I recovered very quickly.

Because I'm hauling my 37 BMI bulk around for 30 minutes which I've hitherto mostly alowed to remain in a prone position, my muscles and bones complain long and loud after a session. So I need to take it steady and train slightly within my current capacity to ensure I can complete three runs a week.

Further proof of my improved fitness came on Sunday when my wife and I took Lulu out for a walk in the woods. Its quite a hilly route which would usually have me breathing heavily, but this time I managed it with ease.

Since then however, a minor disaster has struck my schedule in the form of a developing cold/flu. My son was bedridden with it last week and I've been feeling progressively worse since Tuesday night when I crawled into bed, shivering and feverish. It hasn't broken yet, so I'm hoping it may pass but I've missed one run already and won't be out today.

Training has hit rather a boring period of consolidation and I seem to be singing the same old song, so until things get a bit more interesting (my first race in May for example)I intend to simply post a summary of my sessions in the following format e.g. 5 x 5 minute running, 1 minute rest and then blog about more interesting things.

Training: day fourteen

2009-03-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

Second hand daylight

I consolidated my progress on Wednesday by repeating my success of Monday with another series of eight, three minute jogs. I was able to "sprint" the final 100m and now feel like I'm working well within my capabilities so its probably time to step things up a bit. Four minute jogs from now on?

I'm getting bored running under the tyranny of the second hand of the stop watch, checking every few strides to see how much longer I've got to carry on for. The sooner I can just get out and run, the more enjoyable the sessions will become. However, it is proving a highly effective way of building up my fitness so maybe I should be patient and stick to the plan. I don't want to risk over doing it and injuring myself.

Yesterday in London eating at The Wolseley (vanilla millefuille highly recommended) and Tamarai (beef satay highly recommended) punctuated by 90 minutes of wandering the streets searching unsuccessfully for preserved lemons (in shops you understand; I'm not labouring under the misapprehension that the streets of London are paved with Moroccan-style salted citrus fruits) and topped off by a late night has probably set my training back a bit. I was feeling very tired today and have consequently deferred my final session of the week until Saturday when I fully intend to put in some hard work.

Training: day thirteen

2009-03-18T04:39:00.000-07:00

The Changing Man

Another small milestone on my journey to fitness on Monday. I managed eight, three minute jogs with a minute's rest between each one. Just three weeks ago, that would have been unthinkable. I feel like a changed man. For the first time, I'm beginning to believe that I'll be fit enough by June to actually finish the race.

I keep on seeing articles in the press about running, so it seems as though I'm following some sort of trend which I never like to knowingly do. I suppose its the perfect credit crunch (that's another pound in the swear box) exercise - not much special equipment required (apart from shoes) and no gym fees.

There was one in The Times and there's one in this month's Sainsbury's magazine too. It features a plan for building up to running for 20 minutes, which I would have followed if I'd seen it earlier. I'm quite well into my 30 minute plan so I'd feel as though I was copping out if I switched now.

I picked up Michel Roux Jnr's book The Marathon Chef:Food for Getting Fit for a song on Amazon recently. The recipes are delicious and I'm cooking quite a bit from it this week. An unexpected bonus is the excellent section on breads; I made the soft rye buns on Sunday and served them toasted for breakfast with spinach, poached eggs and bacon (another recipe from the book).

In order to cut down on calories, I've pretty much stopped eating sandwiches entirely but I have been baking quite a lot of bread. Its extremely rewarding and surprisingly easy. Ferran Adria's innovative molecular gastronomy is all very well but there's nothing more amazing in the whole of cookery than combining a bit of flour, water and yeast, knocking it about, putting it in the oven and thirty minutes later producing a warm loaf.

Training: day twelve

2009-03-16T02:12:00.000-07:00

Walking the dog

The local youth football team had occupied my usual training ground on Saturday (I must have a word with them about that) so I was reduced to running up and down the flat bit of the adjoining recreation ground. In fact, its not flat at all and I've noticed that any uneveness is magnified by ten when I'm out jogging. All I want to do is put one foot in front of the other, and I really object to expending extra effort getting up an incline or avoiding pot holes.

Lulu the pointer is quite a pain to take running. I'll have to stop mid-jog at least once to pick up her poo, and I have to put up with her barking madly as she races after the local wildlife in an attempt to kill it (unsuccessfully so far). On Saturday she found a ball in the bushes and ran ahead of me, dropping the ball at my feet wanting me to throw it for her. I managed to kick it once or twice as I jogged past, but she was mostly disappointed.

Although I love to go out unencumbered, leaving her at home is not an option. She gets extremely excited when she sees me putting on my running shoes, and starts pacing and whining in anticipation of a walk; the idea of disappointing her doesn't even enter my head.

Despite the doggy distractions, it was another good session incorporating several 3 minute bursts of jogging. My legs still feel very tight, but at least they only hurt while I'm running so there's no damage done. I'm still slowly losing weight and the exercise seems to be having a positive effect on my appetite. I'm not missing the sweet stuff, and I appreciate it much more when I do have a biscuit or a cake.

Recipe: shallot and bay roasted pork with potato and turnip gratin

2009-03-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

serves 4

for the pork

1.3 kg rolled boneless leg joint of pork
450g of shallots, ends trimmed and sliced in half across the middle
6 bay leaves
salt and pepper

for the gratin

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
200ml double cream
100ml full cream milk
50g butter
250g turnips (peeled weight) thinly sliced
250g potatoes (peeled weight) thinly sliced
salt and pepper
100g grated cheddar cheese

for the French peas

25g butter
5 spring onions, finely sliced
half a head of cos lettuce, shredded
250g frozen peas
125ml hot chicken stock
salt and pepper
juice of half a lemon

Pre-heat the oven to 160 C. Line the bottom of a roasting tin just large enough to hold the pork with the shallots (cut side down) and bay leaves and add enough water to just cover the shallots. Sit the pork on top and roast in the oven for two and a half hours. Check for doneness after two hours.

In a saucepan, bring the garlic, cream and milk to the boil then turn off the heat and allow to infuse for 30 minutes. Butter the bottom of a baking dish then pile in the turnips and potato slices, season with salt and pepper and toss to ensure they are evenly seasoned and distributed. Pour over the cream mixture, dot with the remaining butter and scatter over the cheese. Bake in the oven with the pork for 1 hour or until tender. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

For the peas, melt the butter in a pan and cook the spring onions until tender. Add the lettuce, peas and stock, season with salt and pepper and simmer gently until the peas are cooked though. Add lemon juice a little at a time; you want to just lift the flavours rather than taste the lemon in the finished dish.

Remove the pork, bay and shallots from the roasting pan and strain the liquid in to a pan and reduce to concentrate the flavours. Divide the peas between four plates and serve two thick slices of pork per person with some of the reduced cooking liqour spooned over. Serve the gratin on the side.

Training: day eleven

2009-03-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

I can't go to sleep

Another really good session yesterday, the two day break did me a lot of good. I not only managed the full 10 reps of 2 minutes running, but topped it off with a 3 minute "sprint" finish. When I say sprint, I mean I increased my speed from a plod to a jog, but it was something of a breakthrough for me nevertheless.

I only got out of breath towards the end of the session and recovered quickly between the runs. The only thing stopping me from pushing myself harder was my aching calf muscles which felt very tight and quite painful. There doesn't seem to be much I can do about the problem apart from ensuring I'm properly hydrated and keep stretching in the correct way. I plan to increase to 3 minutes running to every 1 of walking from tomorrow to see how that goes.

With the exercise progressing quite well and diet much improved with a big reduction in alcohol, chocolate and crisps and an increase in fresh fruit, veggies and fish, the last piece of the puzzle is getting a good night's sleep to ensure I'm in the best condition to train.

With the increased physical activity, I had anticipated that I'd be out like a light but not a bit of it. My comment in an earlier post about getting a better night's sleep was a little premature. Instead of feeling tired, I've got extra energy which is exacerbating the usual difficulty I have in trying to nod off. I find it very hard to shut my brain up, which insists on entertaining itself when it really ought to be resting. There are some good tips for a good nights sleep here which might just do the job, but maybe all I need is a nice cup of cocoa and some relaxing music.

Recipe: generic ragu sauce

2009-03-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

Everytime I make a ragu sauce, it turns out slightly differently. Last night's version was a real cracker, so I wanted to save the recipe here for future reference. Those in search of the authentic taste of Italy, look away now; if you want a quick and very tasty sauce to serve with any sort of pasta (its very nice with rigatoni) then you're in for a treat. The secrect's in the double dose of umami from the stock cube and Worcestershire sauce.

serves 4

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
2 sticks of celelry, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely choopped
1 small leek, white only finely chopped
1 clove of garlic
500g minced beef
400g tinned tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 beef stock cube
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 dessertspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teapsoons dried oregano
1 bay leaf

Sweat the onion, celery, carrot, leek and garlic in the olive oil until soft. Do not allow to colour. In a seperate pan, fry the mince until brown, then drain in a colander capturing the fat and juices in a bowl. Allow to settle, then spoon off most of the fat. Add the mince and meat juices to the vegetables, along with all the remaining ingredients. Add water if necessary to cover the meat and vegetables. Bring to the boil then simmer gently for an hour. Serve over pasta with chilli flakes and grated hard cheese of your choice.

Food Style Icon #3

2009-03-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

Mario Batali The Italian Kitchen 7.5 Qt. Cioppino and Stew Pot

Persimmon Orange

porcelain enamel on cast iron

Copco design team and Mario Batali, 2007

www.italiankitchen.com

Training: day ten

2009-03-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

The Weight

So I drove all the way from Brighton to Blackheath to borrow my brother's running machine -thinking how great it would be to have a flat surface I could run on in all weathers while listening to The Fall on the stereo - only to find that when I got there I wouldn't be able to use it afterall. Neither of us had considered that I would exceed the treadmill's upper weight limit of 100kg.

I had wasted an afternoon, not too mention a few quids worth of petrol, and ended up feeling depressed about my weight to boot. And what did I do to cheer myself up? I bought a pair of electronic bathroom scales to find out exactly how much weight I'd put on, down to the last gram.

The good news was that I'd lost a few pounds since being weighed at the doctors surgery a week or so ago, but I've still got a long way to go. Running up stairs takes twice the amount of calories as running on the flat so I really need to shift as much weight as possible before raceday to give myself a good chance of at least finishing. The fewer kilo's I have to haul up those 475 stairs the better.

I gave myself the day off training today, a mistake I know but I'm still feeling the after effects of Monday's run and was not motivated to add to my aches and pains. I will however make up for it tomorrow and also run on Saturday to get back on track.

Recipe: Prawn and pork egg fried rice

2009-03-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

This is my take on the classic Indonesian rice dish nasi goreng. This isn't authentic by any stretch of the imagination, but it does taste good. You could substitute chicken for the pork and add peas or chinese cabbage. Rather than stock up on ingredients such as sambal oelek, ketjap manis and shrimp paste that I'm only likely to use occasionally, I took the easy route and bought a ready made nasi goreng mix for 88p from See Woo in Lisle Street, London.

serves 4

2 cups of brown basmati rice, cooked, drained and cooled
200g of broccolini, blanched for one minute in boiling salted water, drained, refreshed and chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 dessertspoons plus 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
4 eggs, whisked
thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
2 cloves of garlic, grated
5 spring onions, finely sliced
1 green chilli, finely diced
3 tablespoons of nasi goreng spice paste
350g diced pork
330g prawns, cooked and peeled
2 large shallots finely sliced and shallow fried until crispy

Heat the teaspoon of oil in a wok, pour in the eggs scramble until just cooked (they should be still be very moist). Remove to a bowl and set aside. Heat a dessertspoon of the remaining oil until smoking and add the pork. Stir fry for a few moments until nearly cooked, then remove to a bowl and set aside. Add the last of the oil, then stir fry the ginger, garlic, spring onions and chilli. Add the paste and fry until fragrent. Add the rice and stir fry. Add the pork and prawns and fry until heated through, then fold in the eggs. Serve sprinkled with the shallots.

Recipe: Fresh tuna salad with anchoiade toast

2009-03-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

This is a version of salad nicoise, but adapated to what was in my fridge. I used a jar of anchoiade which I picked up from the gourmet shop at L'Hospitalet when I was in the Languedoc last year, but if you need a recipe there's one here. Use yellowfin tuna as bluefin is on the endangered list.

serves 4

125g green beans, cooked in boiling water until tender, drained and cooled
6 tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and cut into strips
1 head of cos lettuce, washed and torn into bitesized pieces
1 large shallot, finely sliced
half a cucumber, deseeded and roughly chopped
handful of black olives, pitted and chopped
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
4 x 170g yellowfin tuna steaks
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon of olive oil
16 small new potatoes, cleaned and boiled
4 eggs, hard boiled and cut into quarters
4 slices of toasted wholemeal or sourdough bread
jar of anchoiade paste

Put the green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, shallot, cucumber and olives in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and dress with the lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil.

Season the tuna steaks with salt and black pepper. Heat the olive oil in a pan and sear the tuna steaks until cooked to your liking (I prefer mine medium rare).

Arrange 4 egg quarters and 4 potatoes on each plate and top with a quarter of the salad. Rest a tuna steak on the salad and serve with a slice of toast thinly spread with the anchoidae paste. A glass or two of Limoux Chardonnay would go down a treat with this.

Recipe: Potato and leek soup

2009-03-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

This is potato and leek rather than the more classic leek and potato (or Vichyssoise) simply because I had more potatoes than leeks in the fridge. That the result was so good just goes to show how adaptable a recipe this is. I served this with homemade bread made with Waitrose's excellent malted grain bread flour.

1 onion, finely sliced
2 sticks celery, peeled and finely diced
1 leek, sliced, washed and dried
25g unsalted butter
500g floury potatoes (peeled weight), finely sliced, washed and drained
500ml chicken stock or water
125-150ml double cream
salt
white pepper
bunch of chives, finely chopped

Sweat the onion, celery and leek in the butter until soft. Add the potatoes and the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are completely cooked through. Allow to cool, then blend until smooth. Reheat in a clean pan and stir in 125ml of the cream. Season with salt and pepper and check the flavour, adding the remainder of the cream if necessary to achieve a smooth and creamy consistency. Serve garnished with the chives.

Galvin's Chance tower race training: day nine

2009-03-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

Discipline

After Friday's disastrous session, I replaced Saturday's run with a long walk on Brighton's pebble beach. Although it was still exercise, I felt like the wheels were starting to come off my training schedule so today I was determined to do well. For the first time since starting the training, I knew from the moment I put on my running gear that I was going to be able to complete the session. I felt rested and full of energy so wasn't surprised when I completed the 10 reps of two minutes running and one walking. It was something of a breakthrough for me and proof that my fitness is improving already

However, before I get too excited, its worth putting this apparent triumph into context. When I say “running” what I actually mean is two minutes of plodding round a field accompanied by a great deal of huffing and puffing. The casual observer would probably find it difficult to determine the difference between my walking and running pace.

I'm also hopelessly behind in my running schedule. According to Sunbird, I should be running for five minutes and walking for one by now. I'm unlikely to catch up with it, so have decided to follow my own regime. The Runner's World schedule may be for beginners, but its a bridge too far for this 44 year old beginner with a BMI of 37 and a bit of a drinking problem.

Instead, I'm going to run three times a week Monday, Wednesday and Friday rather than their suggested four, thereby giving myself the whole of the weekend off to recover. I'll still be building up my running time but more gradually, increasing on a weekly basis rather than from session to session. That means I've got two more sessions of two minutes running and one walking to complete this week and I'll only increase to three minutes of running to one of walking next week.

If I feel I can do more, then I will but I'll listen to my body rather than try and stick to a strict regime for the sake of it. I may also leave my first 5k run until May when I should be able to finish in something like a respectable time, rather than attempt the April event and have to walk half of it.

Recipe: Rosemary, garlic and lemon chicken with lentils

2009-03-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

I came up with this dish as a more healthier alternative to the traditional Sunday roast. It's just as delicious, but much quicker and easier to prepare and creates far less washing up. It also produces its own gravy. I happened to use organic green lentils from the Camargue but any old green lentils will do. Don't use brown or red lentils as they'll break down and you want them to hold their shape and texture. Serve with roasted parsnips.

serves 4

for the chicken

4 chicken legs
1 head of garlic seperated into cloves and lightly crushed
4 sprigs of rosemary
1 chicken stock cube
juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil

for the lentils

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
160g Camargue lentils
500ml water
1 bay leaf
4 peppercorns
salt
25g unsalted butter

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Scatter the rosemary and garlic in a roasting pan just large enough to hold the chicken and place the legs on top. Mix the stock cube, olive oil and juice of the lemon into a paste and spoon over the chicken. Add the two halves of the juiced lemon to the pan and roast for around 45 minutes or until tender, basting the meat every 10 minutes.

Sweat the onion, carrot and celery in the oil until softened, add the lentils and cover with the water. Bring to the boil, skim then add the bay leaf and peppercorns and simmer uncovered until the lentils are cooked and the liquid has mostly been absorbed or evaporated. Season with salt.

Once the chicken is cooked, set it aside and deglaze the pan with a little water or stock, making sure you scrape up all the residue and squeeze out the roasted garlic flesh into the sauce. Pass through a sieve into a clean pan and taste. Reduce to intensify the flavour if necessary. Whisk in the butter to enrich the sauce and add body.

Serve the chicken on a bed of lentils and spoon over the sauce.

Recipe: Prawn, chickpea and avocado salad

2009-03-08T03:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the recipe for the dish I mentioned in an earlier post . I ended up cooking the chickpeas exactly as per Richard Corrigan's Langoustines with Chickpeas and Cumin as it appears in his book The Clatter of Forks and Spoons . That recipe isn't online and I don't have permission to post it here so you'll just have to buy the book, but its a simple thing to do and involves cooking dried chickpeas with onion, garlic and cumin seeds.

The ingredients are quite healthy - low fat prawns, cholesterol-lowering high fibre chickpeas and potassium-rich avocados that can help regulate blood pressure.

serves 2 as a generous main course or 4 as a light lunch

for the salad

170g cooked and peeled prawns
250g chickpeas (dried weight) soaked overnight and boiled until tender
2 avocados, peeled and diced
4 tomatoes, chopped
half a cucumber, deseeded and diced
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced
1 red onion, diced
juice of one lime
bunch of coriander, finely chopped

to serve

cos lettuce leaves, torn
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
wholemeal pittas

Combine all the salad ingredients in a bowl and toss to combine. Season with a little salt. Arrange the lettuce leaves on a plate and dress with the vinegar and oil. Pile on the prawn salad and serve with the pittas.

Galvin's Chance tower race training:day eight

2009-03-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

It's a beautiful day

A poor show today. Was out for around 40 minutes but only managed about 6 minutes of running. That goes to prove what I knew already that spending the day in London, lunching at Corrigan's restaurant in Mayfair (review to follow at stylebible.com soon) and a private preview dinner of Bjorn and Justine van der Horst's forthcoming Eastside Inn is not the best way to prepare for a training session. In my defence, I did walk for well over an hour in London yesterday and was crossing Hyde Park just as the sun was setting over the Serpentine. Despite the chill in the air, it felt very much as though spring had sprung.

If I'm travelling up to London from Brighton, I like to try and pack in as much as possible, so I'd rather do lunch and dinner in one day that make two seperate trips as it saves on time and money. However, if that's going to put my training into jeopardy, I may have to rethink.

I'll also have to schedule in runs during my forthcoming "research trip" (i.e. three days of non-stop eating and drinking) for a foodie travel feature on Cologne. As I'm travelling alone, it will be pretty easy to do so, but group press trips where the itinerary tends to be packed with very little free time will be more problematic.

All clear from the doctor today. Overall, I'm in the low risk catagory for heart disease and incredibly (given all the rich food i eat) my cholesterol at 4.7 is fine. I just need to shift a couple of stones and my blood pressure should reduce. You could make foie gras from my fatty liver, but there's no unreversable damage done and that will recover as I continue to cut down on the booze. For someone of my weight, age and lifestyle, its about as good a result as I could have hoped for.

That means I can commit to the training programme with no health concerns. On today's showing, the idea of me over doing it are slim, but I still need to take things steady, if only to avoid injury.

Galvin's Chance tower race training: day seven

2009-03-04T04:37:00.000-08:00

Give blood

I don't have very good veins apparently. I gave the medical assistant three stabs at getting a sample from me today, but luckily she drew blood first go. I am generally speaking a physical coward but for whatever reason needles don't bother me at all. I was far more worried about removing my T shirt for my ECG and exposing a vast expanse of hairy flesh. I was mortified when the assistant said she have to shave my chest in order to ensure the monitors would stick. Luckily it was just a few very small areas; I had visions of emerging from the procedure looking like an overweight Chippendale.

Blood pressure was a slightly more reassuring 166/103 but still way too high, (although I believe my reading may be a little distorted due to white coat hypertension - i.e. I find being in the clinic stressful). The bottom figure, indicating distolic or resting pressure, needs to be around 80 so I've still got some way to go, but I'd like to think that my efforts so far have had some effect even in just a few days. Nothing awful on the ECG, but the GP will need to take a closer look. I'm going back Friday to discuss all the results.

I'm glad I've got a handle on my health now before it got too late, but I can't say I'm relishing the visits the medical centre; they're making me feel like an old, ill person and I'll have plenty of time for that in a few decades time.

It was another hard and quite scrappy training session, but for over half the 30 minutes I managed two minutes of running for every one of walking which is an improvement over Wednesday. Hopefully Friday I will manage that for the full 30 minutes, although I'll still be behind schedule as by then I ought to be running four minutes and walking one.

But I'm going to take it easy on myself. A week ago was out of breath from tying my shoelaces or putting my socks on so I'm delighted with my progress so far.

Heston Blumenthal and me

2009-03-03T06:28:00.000-08:00

Phased flavours: an idea too far?

In the early part of this decade, I enjoyed a short correspondence with Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck. I'd met him through a rather negative review of the Fat Duck I'd posted in March of 2001 on the food website I ran at the time called The Food Store, a forerunner of the countless amateur restaurant review websites that are around today.

There was quite a debate on chowhound.com at the time about the restaurant and Blumenthal posted on the forum to invite anyone who wanted to eat at The Fat Duck as his guest to try and change their minds. I was the only person to accept and had a fantastic meal followed by a pint with Blumenthal at the Hinds Head.

We kept in touch by e mail and the odd phone call. I was still working for BT at the time and spent an awful lot of time when I should have been auditing daydreaming about food. In February 2004, I came up with the idea of Phased Flavours which I thought would be perfect for the Fat Duck and sent Blumenthal the following proposal:

Phased Flavours – Development Proposal

The Theory

Phased flavours is a theoretical proposition which suggests that foods or extracted or synthesised flavours could be presented to the diner in a series of carefully assembled combinations, regulated by the degree to which their flavour profiles match, thereby producing a “phasing” effect on the palate. The combinations would be designed to move in and out of synchronisation in order to short circuit the diner's expectations and create a disorienting effect, quite dissimilar to the usual dining experience.

The Inspiration

The inspiration for this idea comes from the minimalist or serialist music of Philip Glass and specifically his use of circular rhythms. A technique borrowed from classical Indian music, circular rhythms are created by the interaction of two or more cells of different lengths being played and repeated at the same time. For example: pattern A consists of four eighth notes, whereas pattern B contains only three. When the two are played and repeated at once, the two patterns starting eighth notes will sound at the same time every twelve eighths. This produces a phasing effect which Glass describes as “wheels within wheels”, turning at different speeds, falling in and out of synchronisation or phase with each other.

On first hearing minimalist music, the average western listener may well find the experience bewildering, being used to hearing music in 4/4 or ¾ time. It is possible that, without a memory of music played outside of these standard time signatures, the listeners brain may struggle to make sense of the signals it receives from the ear.

It may be that the brain attempts to reconcile what is being heard to what it understands as music and this increases the dizzying effect of the circular rhythm. In a similar way, when a diner encounters Molecular Gastronomy for the first time, they may find the experience jolting and confusing as their usual reference points are taken away from them or manipulated or changed.

Phased flavours would therefore seek to replicate the experience of hearing minimalist music by “playing” combinations of flavours across the palate in order to stimulate the brain to taste in a new way.

Proposed Methods

There are three initial, untested proposed methods of achieving phased flavours:

i) A “baseline” ingredient is combined in series with other ingredients whose flavour profiles match that of the baseline profile to a greater or lesser degree. For example, white chocolate might be paired with caviar, then olives, then capers, then chilli and so on in a series of small bites, with each combination becoming progressively less well matched. The series would then continue, with the combinations then moving closer together in terms of flavour profile match. The diner would work their way through the series in a defined order, thereby experiencing the phased effect on their palate.

ii) Flavours are combined within a single bite (in flavoured paper form perhaps in the manner of WD50’s lemon paper) and engineered to be revealed against the baseline flavour in turn, so that the phasing effect is produced in one hit, resulting in a dramatic impact.

iii) Flavours are suspended in liquids of varying density so that they can be layered. These are built up in a dual straw-like glass tube to mimic the structure of a phrase of minimalist music, for example four flavours repeated three times in one side of the tube and three flavours repeated four times in the other. A diner would then suck up the two columns of layered liquids simultaneously and experience different combinations of flavours in a phased sequence.

Potential Barriers

What we eat and drink can potentially effect and influence the flavours of what we eat next, therefore this may interfere with the desired phasing effect. It may not be possible to predict how the combination of flavours will taste to all diners and therefore the phased effect, should it be practically achievable, may not be experienced by all diners. It may not be economic to produce the required delivery systems/apparatus.

Potential Benefits

If successfully developed, phased flavours may constitute a genuine innovation in the presentation and delivery of flavour in the restaurant setting and could present the diner with a unique and memorable experience. The development of a purely hypothetical idea may move in previously unforeseen and potentially fruitful directions that could deliver results over and above or indeed quite different from those anticipated.

Methodology

A practical methodology of identifying the most appropriate foods, extracted or synthesised flavours would need to be defined, and would probably involve an iterative process of trial and error initially based on known flavour profiles. It would be necessary to confirm that the theoretical phasing effect could in fact be detected by the palate and brain which might be determined from a combination of existing research on the subject and field trials. Finally, it may be necessary to design new delivery methods and systems if those existing are found to be inadequate.

© Andy Lynes 2004

Blumenthal was interested and sent me an e mail the following day (interestingly, his reply hints at the beginnings of the now famous hot and cold tea):

Hello Andy,

Thanks for that. I think that the main issue here will be to try and minimise or at least control the amount of variables and work on something as simple as possible to begin with.

I have forwarded this to three or four friends of mine, a flavourist who writes music (believe it or not), a professor of flavour technology, the head of research of the flavour company that we work with and an experimental psychologist in Oxford.

I will leave them with it for a few days and will think some more on this myself.

In the meantime, I am also trying to work on an adaptation of what is called synthetic heat.
This is when adjacent warm and warm and cold stimuli produce the sensation of heat.

If you want, you could try and have a look at this more on Taylor and Francis health sciences site.

I came across a paper on the desk of a friend of mine called Synthetic heat at mild temperatures (Somatosensory and motor research 2002; 19(2):130-138

I hope that this is enough info.

Basically I wondered whether it would be possible to taste two temps of an ingredient that would both, on their own be varying levels of cold-warm but when you ate them together, they would produce a mild burning sensation.

Speak to you soon

Regards

Heston

I was delighted that Blumenthal had taken the idea seriously and replied:

Heston,

I'm thrilled that you like the idea enough to pass it on to others for further consideration, I'm really glad I didn't let this one slip away! I think that somewhere in all this there is a beautifully simple and elegent solution struggling to get out, but that complexity has a role to play. For instance I was thinking about the way a great wine reveals itself as you drink it, layers of flavour and aromas seems to appear one after the other, the same thing with a properly made civet. I dont know exactly how that could apply to this idea, but it might be useful to capture it anyway,

Andy

The final e mail I still have on record from Blumenthal on the subject, dated 22 February 2004 is as follows:

Hello Andy

Regarding the phased flavours, I do think that the answer to this if there is one will have to be quite simplistic.

There are so many factors and variables involved when looking at the interaction of foods that one could get totally tangled up in this whole idea.

It known that for example, a sip of water after a piece of lemon can make the water taste sweeter. Some residual salt in the mouth when eating or drinking something bitter can reduce this bitterness. A sip of a particular sherry taken just after eating a particular blue cheese on a particular piece of crusty bread will eat very differently when the order is changed around and even things like the type of crunch from the crust will have an effect.

This really is scratching the surface so we will have to wait and see but I reckon that this could prove to be a pretty tricky job.

Anyway, if everything was that easy then we would all be doing it!

Speak to you soon

Heston

In the end, Blumenthal considered the idea too complicated to persue. I had intentions of approaching other cutting edge chefs, but then my personal circumstances changed and in April 2004 I was working hard on my new career as a freelance food writer and didn't have time to follow the idea up further.

I'm still not sure if the idea was utterly ridiculous or is the one that got away. It will be interesting to see if the sort of techniques Blumenthal applies during his new Channel 4 series Feasts that starts tonight will be quite as out there as Phased Flavours. I'm sure he'll have outdone himself as usual.

Galvin's Chance tower race training: day six

2009-03-03T03:41:00.000-08:00

Dry county

Out goes the chocolate biscuits and crisps, in come fruit, nuts and seeds. The shopping basket does look different this week, what with all the brown rice and peppermint tea. I'm turning into Neil off of the Young Ones. I think I'll go and hide those Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison albums.

This week's menu includes a few old favourites such as roasted veg with cous cous and grilled chicken with lentils du puy, but I've also thought up a new dish: prawn, avocado, chickpea and chilli salad. It's inspired by Richard Corrigan's Langoustines with Spiced Chick Peas and Shaun Hill's Fish Soup with Garlic, Saffron and Chilli . I'll post the recipe once I've cooked it on Saturday, as I'm not exactly sure how it's all going to come together until then.

Absolutely no alcohol this week either, although I am out in London on Thursday for lunch and dinner so will need to watch what I drink then, but considering that I've greatly exceeded the recommended 21 units a week on a regular basis for years, anything is going to be an improvement.

A boring day today with just a walk and then fasting this evening in preperation for my blood tests tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll get the results soon and can make firm plans for the future.

I'm already feeling the benefits from my new regime and am getting a better night's sleep, feeling a little fitter and a bit less fat (although I made the mistake of measuring my waist earlier this morning and made exactly the same sound as Homer Simpson when he weighs himself on the bathroom scales).

Having completely ignored my health and diet for many years, I'm now getting a bit obsessed with it which is just as bad. The sooner it becomes a routine part of my life, the sooner I'll be able to expend less time and energy thinking about it.

Galvin's Chance tower race training: day five

2009-03-02T02:18:00.000-08:00

Running on Empty

I was hoping that yesterday's rest day would leave me brimming with energy and ready for another week's training. In fact, I can still feel last week's sessions in my legs and my back is aching a little after the stretching exercises. Not surprising given a decade of inactivity, but disappointing nevertheless.

I eased back on the training schedule, running for two minutes then walking for two minutes rather than the prescribed two running, one walking. I recovered from the run so quickly that I'm now regretting the decision, especially as Wednesday's run should be three running and one walking. Nevertheless, I have increased my time spent running from last week's 10 minutes spread over the 30 minute session to 16 minutes,which I'm pleased about.

I've been giving my diet more thought over the weekend, looking into what someone with high blood pressure should and shouldn't be eating. Because I cook from scratch for the family most nights, we eat quite well already. There are plenty of fresh vegetables in our diet, and we eat a wide variety of foods generally. I rarely deep fry food, although we do enjoy a traditional roast on a Sunday (although that was replaced by homemade lamb biryani with vegetable curry this week).

That means I'm avoiding the sort of high levels of salt that you find in pre-prepared foods, although I do like my food correctly seasoned. The advice to use herbs and spices to season food instead of salt is just wrong. They won't do the same job at all. No amount of parsley cam make up for an absence of salt, which enhances and amplifies the flavour of food. Herbs and spices add interest and complexity to a dish, but don't season in the same way as a pinch of Maldon will. That said, I'm up for monitoring my salt intake more closely.

We don't eat enough fruit, mainly because getting hold of ripe fruit that actually tastes of something is bloody impossible in this country. There are always crisps, biscuits and sweets in the house, so that's two areas that definately need looking at.

I also drink a lot of coffee and tea. The jury's still out on caffiene's effect on blood pressure. but to be safe, I'm planning on cutting back gradually by switching over to tisanes, although I'll still have the odd cup of java. It will be interesting to see how different the weekly shop looks from here on in.

Galvin's Chance tower race training: day four

2009-02-28T04:20:00.000-08:00

The Back of Love

My back has been aching a bit during and after running, but no longer! A few simple stretches seems to have eased the problem considerably. That didn't make today's session any easier. I thought I'd have to give up at the fifteen minute mark but I pushed on and the one minute runs became easier to complete. I am however very glad to have a days rest tomorrow.

Despite my hypertension, I'm going to have a glass or two this evening to help me relax and spend tomorrow doing as little as possible. The health issue has taken the wind out of my sails a bit. Up until yesterday afternoon's bombshell, I'd been feeling better than I have in years. Now I know that getting healthy could be a little more complicated than I'd anticipated. Voluntary changes of lifestyle suddendly becoming mandatory ones puts things in a different light.

That said, I intend to stick to my training plan until advised otherwise. Although I'm finding it a challenge, it's a gradual and gentle regime and one that won't put me in danger. He says. Like he knows what he's talking about all of a sudden.

I'm booked in for blood work and ECG on Wednesday so should have the results fairly soon. Till then its business as usual, although I'll be looking closely at my diet from here on in and at ways of managing stress. You may think that being a food writer is a piece of piss, but pitching for commissions, meeting deadlines and the tyranny of the blank page are no joke.

Galvin's Chance tower race training: day three

2009-02-27T10:56:00.000-08:00

High Tension Line

New running shorts arrived, but could only squeeze into one pair, despite them both being XXL. Oh dear. Discovered that I've been stretching incorrectly and that leaning on a tree is not the best way to loosen up your calf muscles. Standing upright, putting your weight on one leg while lifting your toes up towards your shin is better as it doesn't put a strain on your lower back and neck. In fact there's a whole debate about stretching in general that I need to investigate further. It's a contentious issue. Who knew.

Today's run was as hard as I expected it to be, and wasn't helped by it actually being sunny at midday when I headed out. However, I managed to complete all 10 reps of one minute running and 2 minutes walking, although it felt like torture. I'm not looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow. I keep telling myself that the first week is the hardest.

The check up at the doctor's today was not the walk in the park I expected. I knew he was going to tell me I was overweight (my BMI is 37) and that I should drink less. What I hadn't expected was a blood pressure reading of 170/110. That's dangerously high and I've now got to go back for blood tests and another blood pressure reading on Wednesday to ensure it wasn't a one off unusually high reading.

I'm ok to continue my training at the current level. Exercise and weight loss, along with moderating my alcohol intake will be key to decreasing my blood pressure. I can expect it to fall in due course as long as there is no secondary cause such as diabeties which the GP seemed to think was unlikely, although I'm not quite sure why. But I could need medication to get it down to a safe level. Fingers crossed that won't be the case.

The Fall: High Tension Line

Galvin's Chance tower race training: day two

2009-02-26T00:37:00.000-08:00

A walk in the woods

The only side effect from yesterday's inaugural run is slightly aching calf muscles. However, I'm glad all I have to do today is 30 mintues of easy walking. Friday and Saturday's runs will be tougher, and I know that I'll feel progressively more tired as the week goes on.

At the moment, the excitement of getting back into shape is spurring me on, as well as little things like buying kit, setting up my schedule and even researching the best way to tie my shoelaces.

But that won't last for long. Training will settle into a routine and I know that somedays I'll struggle to get myself motivated at all.

In the meantime I have a doctors appointment to look forward to, my first for a number of years and my first ever physical check up. Given the state of the NHS and the sort of pressure GPs are under these days, I'm expecting no more than a blood pressure test and a couple of questions about my diet, so I may try and get an appointment at a Wellman clinic where I can get a blood and urine test too.

Next week I plan to nip over to Blackheath and pick up my brother's currently unused running machine. He is far fitter and thinner than I am and has just completed the Brighton half marathon, but he does all his running on the road. The machine appeals to me partly because of the novelty but also because it will provide a completely flat surface to run on. Not having to run up hills at this early stage will be bliss, although I will have to incorporate hill work later on. I am training for a tower race after all.

It will also make it easier to monitor my speed - not important now, but useful for later on when I'm trying to decrease my minutes per mile. Currently I'm completing a mile of running and walking in about 15 minutes which is frankly pathetic. My first goal once I'm running continuously is 10 minutes and ultimately I'd like to get that down to 7.5 but I'd settle for 8 minutes. For a 3.2km race, that will be pretty slow, but there is the small matter of 475 stairs to consider.

The Fatima Mansions: A walk in the woods

Galvin's Chance tower race training: day one

2009-02-25T05:55:00.000-08:00

Look what fear's done to my body

In preperation for my run today, I ate a bowl of muesli for breakfast then a banana at 10.00am and drank a glass of water at 11.00am to ensure I was properly fed and hydrated. I'm still waiting for my new shorts to arrive from Natterjack so I headed out with my long baggy summer shorts rolled up over my knees. Nice.

I took Lulu, my GSP (German Shorthaired Pointer) around her usual walking route in Patcham which I calculated to be approximately 3.5km using the Good Run Guide. Its the perfect distance, but until I started running today, I hadn't noticed quite how hilly the route is. That meant I only managed to run one minute before having to walk for five in order to get over an incline. I did however stick to the one minute run , two minute walk for the remaining 24 minutes.

I was surprised at how much hard work it seemed. The minute runs seemed to last forever while the 2 minute walking rests went by all too quickly. Following advice from Runners World, I didn't do any stretching before the run which turned out to be a terrible idea. My calf muscles (yes, I still have some after all these years) began to tighten up almost instantly and I had to stop to lean against a tree and loosen them up.

I really felt the excess weight as I ran and hate to imagine what I looked like - a fat bloke out for his first jog for a decade probably.

Towards the end however, I was running more freely and remembered for a fleeting moment how good it feels to be fit. Tomorrow is just a 30 minute gentle walk, which is handy as I'm out at the Eagle pub for a Brighton Journalists social night. I know from past training experience that I'll feel any alcohol consumption in my legs, which will tire more quickly.

My next run is Friday when I plan to stick to running around the local recreation ground which is much flatter than the circular walking route. Less interesting, but I think it will improve my chances of completing the full 10 minutes of running which is the important thing.

Galvin's Chance Mayfair Park and Tower Race 2009

2009-02-24T12:29:00.000-08:00

On 17 June this year, I'll be taking part in the Mayfair Park and Tower Race in London. Its an invitation only 3.2km race around Hyde Park and up 56 flights of stairs to the finish line at the Galvin at Windows restaurant in the Hilton Park Lane Hotel. I'll be running in aid of the Galvin's Chance charity which aims to get disadvantaged kids out of gang culture and into full-time jobs in Park Lane Hotels.

The only problem is that I'm 44 years old with a matching waistline measurement. The only exercise I get is walking the dog a couple of times a week, supplemented by regular trips to the fridge for beer and chocolate.

I was something of a runner in my youth, completing a half marathon and several 10k races, but its a decade since I last trained regularly. Consequently, I'm taking the possibility of injury and the risk of putting an unbearable strain on my heart (we are talking about running up 475 steps after all) seriously. I'll be consulting my doctor later this week, and will proceed depending on his advice.

In preparation, I've bagged a bargain pair of off road running shoes and scheduled the Runners World 8-week Beginning Runner's Training Program into my Sunbird calendar.

I start the programme tomorrow with a 30 minute walk/run that alternates one minute of running with two of walking. By mid-April I should be running for 30 minutes. I'll then spend the rest of the training time before the race increasing my speed and practising running up stairs.

My goal is simply to finish the race rather than end up clutching my chest somewhere on back stairway of the Hilton. I'd also love not to be the last person through the restaurant's doors on the day.

I'll be moderating my alcohol intake quite a bit and eating a little more healthily, but exercising properly everyday (apart from Sunday when I'll be resting) rather than just a brisk walk once or twice a week will be the biggest change I'll be making.

I won't be counting calories or weighing myself regularly. I know from previous experience that its ultimately counter productive. I do want to loose my beer gut but will be using the idea of being able to fit into a clothes that have laid unworn in my wardrobe for years as my motivation, rather than trying to attain a specific weight.

In order to help me stick to my training regime, I plan to update my progress on how I combine the indulgent and sedentary life of a food writer with trying to reverse the effects of middle age spread on this blog. Wish me luck; I've got a feeling I'm going to need it.

Spaghetti Incident

2009-01-06T05:34:00.000-08:00

Starring Steve Austin
Filmed by Attic on Super 8mm, Southsea, UK circa 1980
Music by Myopia Score
Brain Booster Music

Tastes of 2008

2009-01-04T09:16:00.000-08:00

Salmon "Haeberlin"
Andre Garrett's La Decouverte de L'Alsace menu
Galvin at Windows , London

Sausage roll
Hibiscus, London

Nahm Arharn menu
Nahm, London

Celeriac baked in ash
The Ledbury, London

Macaroons
Mme Blanchez, St Emilion

Macaroni Cheese
Central Michel Richard, Washington DC

Croquettas
Bar Inopia, Barcelona

Degustation menu
Cinc Sentits, Barcelona

Ice cream and sorbet selection
L'Anima, London

Assiette of veal head
Schwarzwaldstube, Baiersbronn

Country terrine
Anchor and Hope, London

Hake and chips
Steins Fish and Chips, Padstow

Mottled ravioli of mascarpone
Vendome, Bergisch Gladbach

Tournedos Rossini,
Orrery, London

Bubble and squeak
St Pancras Grand, London

Ravioli of Lymington crab
Montague Arms, Beaulieu

Black Cherry

2009-01-04T08:55:00.000-08:00

Music by Goldfrapp
Slideshow compiled by Andy Lynes and the hand of chance

Food Style Icon #2

2009-01-04T08:44:00.000-08:00

Speed Peeler
Designer:Unknown

Stephen Williams's crisp potatoes with garlic butter

2008-12-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

Chef Stephen Williams serves the best potatoes in London at Fulham gastropub The Harwood Arms and here's how he does it. Boil small Roseval potatoes until tender; drain and cool. Gently crush the potatoes using the heel of you palm until the skin cracks but the potato remains whole. Deep fry at 170° until crisp, then toss in garlic butter. Simple but utterly delicious.

Nico Ladenis

2008-12-06T03:49:00.000-08:00

Nico Ladenis on the 1980's cookery show Take 6 Cooks

Marco Pierre White, Raymond Blanc

2008-12-06T03:43:00.000-08:00

The young Marco cooks for former employer Raymond Blanc with help from a juvenile Gordon Ramsay and Stephen Terry

The Clatter of Forks and Spoons by Richard Corrigan

2008-12-05T14:45:00.000-08:00

Book Review

Reading London-based Irish chef Richard Corrigan’s second cookbook The Clatter of Forks and Spoons is a pain in the neck. Holding the monster-sized tome that weighs in at over 3lbs for extended periods of time doesn't help, but its the constant nods of agreement that are the real problem.

“Philosophy of life, politics, religion maybe – but cooking? It’s just people trying to sound more meaningful than they really are.” (Nods reflectively) Couldn’t agree more.

“What is good cooking all about? Knowing your ingredients, and understanding what goes with what.” (Nods knowingly) Yes, absolutely.

“What’s the use of chefs at all, I sometimes wonder, when there is food as simple and gorgeous as Dover sole or a native oyster out there?” (Nods vigorously) Oh, someone get me an Aspirin.

Although primarily aimed at the home cook, there’s so much culinary common sense crammed into the book’s 400-odd pages that no chef should be allowed within a mile of a professional kitchen without reading it.

A cookery booked named after a quote from The Dead by James Joyce with a picture of a sink on the cover was always going to be a class apart. Numerous articles, essays and extended introductions along with the evocative landscapes, still lives and portraits by photographer Kristin Peters break the usual recipe/photo mould.

Corrigan underlines his ingredient-led approach by profiling some of his favourite producers or “extreme artisans” as he calls them. A veritable Irish Mafia of “stubborn, cranky people” includes cheesemaker Bill Hogan of Schull in West Cork and the Seed Saver Association in Country Clare that conserve heritage varieties of fruit vegetables and grains.

Despite his enthusiasm for artisan produce, Corrigan resists being too prescriptive with his recipes. Apart from a general exhortation to spend less in the supermarket and more at the butcher’s shop and farmers market, you won’t have to search too hard to find ingredients for the majority of the dishes.

A love of cheaper cuts such as pig’s trotter and ham hocks and relatively inexpensive fish including mackerel, hake and gurnard means you won’t have to break the bank to cook from the book (although there’s plenty of luxury produce like wild salmon, lobster, grouse and foie gras too).

An eclectic range of dressings and sauces including Italian salsa verde, Catalonian romesco and North African harissa, and dishes ranging from Mediterranean influenced stuffed baby squid with chorizo and feta style cheese to Thai crab and mussel soup reflect the globetrotting style prevalent during the 1990’s London restaurant scene where Corrigan first made his name.

The Clatter of Forks and Spoons also tells Corrigan’s own story, from growing up on a farm in County Meath to the recent opening of his posh new Mayfair restaurant. Although Corrigan’s time cooking in the Netherlands, working with Stephen Bull and opening the Lindsay House restaurant in Soho are all covered, you can’t help feeling that there must be more to say about such a larger-than-life character (try reading Stephen Bull’s side of the Fulham Road restaurant story in his excellent Classic Bull: An Accidental Restaurater's Cookbook and you’ll see what I mean).

With the assistance of Shelia Keating (“without whom,” the author admits in his acknowledgements “the words wouldn’t be on the paper”), Corrigan has produced a volume that more than bears comparison to modern classics such as Alastair Little’s Keep It Simple and Roast Chicken and Other Stories by Simon Hopkinson.

The book embodies much of what is great about British cooking in the 2000’s, and by doing so guarantees it will be used for decades to come.

Recipe: Spiced tomato sauce

2008-12-05T08:22:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

A medium Spanish onion - substitute two banana shallots if you feel the need to be superior.

A tablespoon of single estate, extra virgin olive oil – sunflower oil would do just as well but you don’t live on a council estate do you?

A clove of Lautrec garlic - imagine how impressed your friends will be!

A dessert spoon of smoked paprika – smoked, that’s good isn’t it? I could hug myself.

Two teaspoons of toasted cumin seeds – use ready ground cumin if you’re a big fucking pleb. (Actually, in this instance, toasting the seeds yourself makes a big difference to the flavour, so do as you’re bloody well told).

A tin of tomatoes – pay as much as you want for them, but try not to be too much of a middle class twat about it.

Method

Take an 8inch Global chef’s knife and that really expensive black marble chopping board you’re so fucking proud of and put them in the bin because they’re shit. Finely chop your allium of choice on a plastic board that won’t blunt your perfectly adequate Victorinox household standard quality, black polypropylene-handled kitchen knife, because your name isn’t Gordon-sodding-Ramsay.

Heat the single estate extra virgin olive oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan until it smokes, then pour it down the drain and try and remember only to use it for salad dressings in future. Start again with the vegetable oil and gently sauté the onion or shallots until soft and translucent.

Smash the garlic with the side of your knife and mince finely while thinking exactly how much money you could have saved by buying the bog standard stuff. Add the garlic to the onions and stir quickly to prevent burning while reminding yourself to say, “I only use Lautrec garlic now, the difference in flavour is just amazing” the next time your pretentious friends come round for dinner.

Add the paprika and cumin and fry gently until your whole house smells like an old sock. Stir in the tomatoes and adjust the seasoning (google language tools: translate text “adjust the seasoning” from Foodiewankspeak to English =“add some salt and pepper”).

If you’ve had enough sense to buy Smart Price tomatoes, you might want to add some sugar or a dash of ketchup to counter their car battery acid-like qualities. Smug gits who traded their first born for a tin of San Marzano can omit this last step.

Simmer the sauce gently for 30 minutes and serve with roasted vegetables and cous cous flavoured with spring onions, mint, flat leaf parsley, coriander, lemon and that single estate extra virgin olive oil your just dying to use, while quietly muttering “this is a bit bloody Delia isn’t it?” under your breath.

Food Style Icon #1

2008-11-26T07:02:00.000-08:00

Sainsbury's Ground Cumin
Parker Williams Design, London 2007
Glass jar - 104ml
Silver plastic cap
Paper label
Font:Interstate

Kitchen Person

2008-11-20T06:21:00.000-08:00

Music by The Associates
Slideshow compiled by Andy Lynes and the hand of chance

Restaurant blogs

2008-11-11T05:29:00.001-08:00

All restaurant meals to be blogged by 2020
(with apologies to The Onion)

Every restaurant meal eaten will be written up on the internet by 2020, the government has announced. A new law passed today will make it illegal to eat food in a public place without reviewing it at length on the world wide web.

Customers will have to critically appraise their meals on a personal restaurant review blog within 48 hours of paying the bill or face heavy fines. Repeat offenders could be jailed for up to three months if they fail to report on the tastes and textures of dishes consumed.

“We applaud the efforts being made to record every mouthful of food digested in catering outlets worldwide,” said a government spokesperson. “However, they are currently unstructured and disorganised, leading to a less than comprehensive coverage.

“For example, we estimate that only 50% of all meals consumed at el Bulli have been documented. This new law will ensure that every single customer will be able not only to post photographs of themselves standing in front of the restaurant sign and posing with Ferran Adria, but to write in arse aching detail about every single thing put in front of them.”

Although news of the law has generally been well received, it has attracted some criticism from industry commentators who fear that a run on clichés could jeopardise the long term sustainability of the initiative.

“Emperor’s new clothes; the best meal of my life; perfectly cooked; acidity cuts through the richness; my companion plumped for – these are phrases vital to all restaurant bloggers. There’s a very real risk that their repeated use on such a massive scale could literally wear them out,” said an internet insider who wished to remain nameless.

The government have responded to the comments by saying that they have plans in place to mitigate the risk, should it occur.

“We have a crack team of our own bloggers working on new clichés to be phased in over the five to ten years which will ensure that no one phrase will be used to destruction.”

St Alban restaurant

2008-11-10T15:56:00.000-08:00

The Dinner
(with apologies to Harold Pinter)

A restaurant. A brightly coloured banquette.

Andre: Have you got beer?

Waiter: We do have beer!

Andre: I’m glad.

Waiter: Alhambra. On tap.

Andre: That sounds good.

The waiter exits. Andre takes in his surroundings. The large room bustles with life. On the table opposite, a famous theatre director leans towards his companion as if to underline a point. At another table, a group of young thrusting businessmen in open necked shirts talk in loud voices. A lone female diner taps away at a laptop while she waits for a friend.

Waiter: A glass of Alhambra. Can I get you anything else?

Andre: I’ll wait, thank you.

He studies the menu.

Martin: Sorry I’m late.

Andre: You’re not late, I’m early. I’m early for everything. Do you know what they call me?

Martin: No, what do they call you?

Andre: Mr Early. Do you know why? Because I command respect. No one uses my first name, not even my mother. She calls me sir.

Martin: Have you seen the menu?

Andre: Food? I never touch the stuff.

Martin: What do you fancy?

Andre: I can’t decide between the French bean salad with smoked ricotta and black olive dressing and the sautéed Cornish squid with black rice and aioli. Why don’t you choose for me.

Martin: The squid.

The waiter approaches the table

Andre: (to the waiter) I’ll have the tortelli of cavalo nero and mozzarella followed by sea bream ‘a la plancha’ with coco beans and pesto.

Martin: You’re a man who knows his own mind.

Andre: I’m decisive.

Martin: You know what you want and you go for it.

Andre: I don’t dither. You, on the other hand, couldn’t decide to jump off a railway track if there was a train coming.

Martin: I’m having deep-fried soft shell crab with tarragon mayonnaise followed by braised lamb with chilli and chickpeas.

Andre: You’re an enigma.

Martin: I’m an enigma wrapped in a mystery.

Andre: What’s that on the walls?

Martin: Damien Hirst.

Andre: Hasn’t he got anything better to do than hang around restaurant walls all night and day?

Martin: It’s butterflies; hundreds of dead butterflies.

Andre: At least they’re not on the menu.

Waiter: If I might make an interjection. I heard you talking about Damien Hirst and I wanted you to know that the butterfly paintings are seven metres long. Michael Craig-Martin, the godfather of the YBA’s painted the wall murals and selected the colour palette for the interior design.

Andre: I can see that. Anyone who has eyes can plainly see that the interior of this fine restaurant has been created by no less an artist than Michael Craig-Martin.

Waiter: You’re a Martin Craig-Martin fan.

Andre: I’ve never heard his name before in my life.

Martin: You’ve been drinking.

Andre: I’m rarely sober.

The maitre’d comes to the table

Maître’d: It’s raining cats and dogs out there, did you get wet?

Andre: I ran between the hailstones. I’m as crisp and dry as a newly printed five pound note.

Maître’d: Well, that is good news. I’m so glad. Hope to see you later. .

Andre: That is why this is one of the best restaurants in the whole of London – they know what the standards are and they keep to them. They reach and maintain the highest standards and never waiver from them, do you understand?

Martin: They’ve never waivered, at least not to my knowledge.

Andre: It would be more than his job’s worth.

The waiter delivers the starters.

Andre: My sainted Italian grandmother couldn’t have made better pasta than this.

Martin: Your grandmother’s Italian?

Andre: She’s from Peckham; in the south. How’s the crab.

Martin: You should try it. The batter is so crisp it will change your life. It’s changed mine already.

Andre: That’s life changing crab; there can be no mistake about it.

He sips his wine.

That’s a nice drop. I like a nice drop if wine, especially at six o’clock in the morning. There’s no better time to be drinking wine, especially Pinot Nero 2006 from Franz Haas. It’s even better at eight o’clock at night.

Martin: Do you know who owns this restaurant?

Andre: King and Corbin; men of integrity, valour and courage.

Martin: The salt of the earth.

Andre: You can rely on them.

Martin: They’ll never let you down.

Andre: They’ve never put a foot wrong yet.

Martin: They’re no fly by nights.

The waiter serves the main courses.

Andre: The fish.

Martin: It’s perfect!

Andre: It’s overcooked.

Martin: I can see that. The lamb is perfect.

Andre: It’s not overcooked, I can see that. It looks perfect.

Martin: There is no way on earth the chef could have improved upon it.

Andre: I should have ordered the charcoal grilled tuna with Provencal gnocchi. You can’t go wrong with charcoal grilled tuna.

Martin: It’s not all about the food.

Andre: It’s about other things. It’s about life and how to live it. It’s about seeing and being seen. It’s about art and dead butterflies.

Martin: It’s about colourful banquettes.

Andre: I’ll drink to that, even if it isn’t six o’clock in the morning.

The waiter delivers dessert.

Waiter: Could I interject?

Andre: We’d be delighted.

Waiter: It’s just that I heard you talking about the chef earlier. His name is Dale Osborne. I know him; he’s from Bournemouth. He used to work at the Orrery and The Wolseley. Now he works here. He likes cooking Spanish food.

Silence

Andre: No one can cook tarte tatin. It isn’t possible, it can’t be done.

Martin: There simply isn’t a physical method known to man.

Andre: The pastry chef has sold his soul to the devil. I know; I was there at the crossroads the night it happened.

Martin: What did he get for it?

Andre: A recipe for pear tatin.

Martin: Not one for rice pudding with caramelised oranges?

Andre: Evidently not.

Silence

The Waiter stands alone

Waiter: My grandfather introduced me to the mystery of restaurants and here I am still right in the middle of it. I have a sense of dignity and honour in my work that never leaves me; of service to a cause.

If I may, I’d like to make another interjection…

Slow fade to black.

The Dinner is a work of fiction. St Alban is a real restaurant.

St Alban, 4-12 Lower Regent Street, London, SW1Y 4PE (020 7499 8558; stalban.net)

The Harwood Arms

2008-10-30T05:29:00.000-07:00

Gastrocide: A Day on the Eating Streets
(with profound apologies to David Simon’s Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets)

Removing his reading glasses, Andre Batch stares down at his food. He’s seen a thousand similar plates before, and he’ll probably see thousands more before he’s done reviewing restaurants. Poking at the lump of meat with his Laguiole knife, he throws his dining companion a knowing glance.

“That’s been dead a while,” he says, his craggy face betraying not even a hint of emotion. Batch knows a piece of well hung t-bone venison when he sees it (even though it’s a highly unusual cut) and as he chews his first perfectly medium-rare forkful, his pleasure is unmistakable. Things could be looking up for new Fulham gastropub The Harwood Arms.

Amongst his fellow restaurant critics working the London district, Batch is something of legend. Stories of serial restaurant binges that have taken in half a dozen of the city’s top spots in a day are circulated with equal measures of awe and incredulity. But recently, the grizzled 50 year old been suffering from burn out.

“You know, when I first started reviewing restaurants, I’d get so excited about the prospect of a truly great lunch I could hardly sleep the night before,” says Batch, taking a sip of the delicious and reasonably priced Tarret Viognior house white from the south of France. “Now the thought of yet another gastropub makes me want to pull the covers over my head.”

Critics like Batch recognise two distinct categories of restaurant: dunkers and who’d-eat-there’s. Dunkers are the sure fire hits run by top professionals serving the sort of food anyone with even half a decent palette would crawl over their dying grandmother to eat.

Who’d-eat-theres tend to be either ego driven dens of pseudo-gastronomy that are bound to suffer an unsightly but natural demise due to sheer cluelessness; or cynical money making operations that use low prices to extend their natural life span just long enough for the original owners to sell out to a faceless corporation.

Batch knew all too well that Fulham Broadway was more likely to be home to the latter rather than the former, but pulling the case file, he was pleasantly surprised to discover the name of the pub’s owner.

“Brett Graham, yeah I know the guy. Cooks at The Ledbury in Notting Hill, he’s got a hell of a rep, and a Michelin star to hang on it too,” says Batch. “But how he hooked up with Mike Robinson is anyone’s guess.”

A presenter for cable TV channel UKTV Food, Robinson is not the most obvious choice of business partner for one of the country’s rising star chefs. But whatever Batch’s reservations, there’s no doubting the telly chef’s culinary credentials.

“I hear only good things about his other place The Pot Kiln in Berkshire. And apparently he’s handy with a rifle too,” says Batch noting Robinson’s predilection for shooting his own muntjac deer.

A menu can tell you a lot more about a restaurant than just what there is to eat and for a seasoned pro like Batch, it’s a smoking gun at the scene of the crime.

“You never want to feel laminate between your fingers. You can forget creativity and seasonality; they might as well have set the menu in stone,” he says while studying the Harwood’s single cream coloured sheet. “But they can print something like this everyday.”

Batch runs his eyes down the concise list of five starters, six main courses and five desserts. “With a menu as appealing as this, you have to keep your wits about you and use a process of elimination, otherwise you’re never going to make a decision.”

Batch learnt long ago to ignore enticing descriptors like “warm”, “crisp” and “slow braised” and concentrate on the main ingredients, but he’s finding it hard to ignore one particular element.

“Salad cream is critic bait, pure and simple. We’re all suckers for atavistic ingredients; we’ll fall for it every time.” And when his starter of smoked trout with leeks and wild sorrel arrives, he’s glad he did.

“It’s simple but masterful cooking, the work of a real pro. The leek vinaigrette is tender as a baby’s cheek and the contrasting pink of the trout looks beautiful on the plate with those wafer thin slices of radish and tiny sorrel leaves. There’s a little too much mustard in the salad cream, but overall, that my friend is a triumph.”

As the lunch wares on Batch looks increasingly at home among the scrubbed wooden tables, mushroom coloured wainscoting and leather sofas. A bowl of warm (there’s that word again) Bramley apple doughnuts with spiced sugar and a particularly good “flat white” coffee served by the enthusiastic, young Antipodean front of house, and he looks ready to settle in for the afternoon.

“In this job, you never know what’s going to hit you. That’s what keeps it interesting, even after all these years. The Harwood Arms could have been just another gastropub, but today at least, it was something else, something more.”

The meal seems to have reinvigorated the previously weary Batch, who begins to pontificate on how something as simple but original as the crisp potatoes with garlic butter served with the t-bone can be revelatory, when his mobile rings. A short conversation later and he’s heading for the door with dining companion in tow.

“A major West End restaurant has just announced a new chef and menu, I need to get over there,” he says and heads out into leafy Fulham in search of a taxi and his next case.

Gastrocide: A Day on the Eating Streets is a work of faction. The Harwood Arms is a real restaurant.

The Harwood Arms, 27 Walham Grove, London SW6 1QR (020 7386 1847; harwoodarms.com)