Laurent Perrier’s Champagne Pairing Christmas Menu at The Greenhouse

Laurent Perrier’s Champagne Pairing Christmas Menu at The Greenhouse

Posted on 14. Dec, 2011 by .

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Nestled at the back of a block of flats in Mayfair, hidden behind a landscaped garden, you find a winding path lit by twinkly lights, which leads down to The Michelin starred Greenhouse restaurant. It was here that we were recently invited to experience their Christmas Menu hosted by Laurent Perrier,  Champagne pairing with fine French food.

On entry to The Greenhouse we were warmly greeted with a glass of bubbly, the first of many of Laurent Perrier’s range of champagne.
Chef Antonin Bonnet and the Laurent Perrier team had designed a menu to complement 5 prestigious Champagnes . His festive menu had hints of Asian influence which he introduces with a lightness of touch and the flavours did not overpower or clash.

Laurent Perrier is run by the Nonancourt sisters who are carrying the tradition of their father Bernard, maintaining its position as one of the largest independent Champagne brands in the world. What’s really impressive for a commercial wine producer is that they have introduced sustainable grape growing and implemented environmentally friendly policies in all its activities.

Ensconced in the private glass walled dining room at the edge of the main dining room, we could see that the elegant main dining room was quite full and buzzing. The clientele seem to be a mix of suits and Mayfair locals.
Following an Amuse Bouche served in an egg shell, we start with an  Apple Cider Marinated Mackerel with horseradish snow and pickled black radish. The lightly pickled super fresh mackerel contrasted with the texture of the radish, creating delightful flavours.

The Greenhouse Apple Cider Marinated Mackerel

Accompanying the meal, we were presented with a basket of breads and the outstanding one was the buttery roll, rich and flaky, could have eaten a whole basket of that.

This course was paired with the extra dry Laurent Perrier Ultra Brut, with no added sugar, it’s citrusy but  intense, a great partner for this fish dish.

The next course was Atlantic Cod with leek fondue, smoked potato, yuzu and Champagne sauce. Exact cooking of the fish and a light enhancement with Yuzu which can sometimes be  overpowering. The Laurent Perrier vintage 2002 accompanied this dish, bottle-aged for 8 years, its ripe fruit and honey flavours was a good match.

The Greenhouse Atlantic Cod
Atlantic Cod with leek fondue , smoked potato,yuzu and Champagne sauce

Just when we thought that the inventive combination of flavours could not be topped, the next dish of Poached Scottish Lobster with cep mushroom ravioli, chicken oyster and lobster bisque was just stuning. Interesting texture to the cep ravioli where it was fried rather than boiled providing a contrast to the poached lobster.

The Greenhouse Poached Scottish Lobster

The Champagne that was paired with this dish was the favourite of the evening. It was the Laurent Perrier Grand Cuvee- Grand Siecle which was the only bottle to be poured from its sexy black bottle from its own cradle.

This is their first multi vintage prestige cuvee and has been aged from over 6 years. This Champagne has a long history and was inspired by old tasting notebooks of the cellar masters. Smooth, complex, more please.  All this being expertly served by The Greenhouse’s charming sommelier, Marc Piquet.

The Greenhouse Laurent Perrier Grand Cuvee Grand Siecle

A couple of sweet course followed, starting with  Pineapple Sorbet with Coconut foam. This was paired with the Laurent Perrier Demi Sec.

The Greenhouse Pineapple Sorbet

The second was a delicious tangy Rhubard and Apple Millefeulle with pear sorbet, paired with the Laurent Perrier Cuvee Rose, made from pinot noir using the unique saignee method and tasting of berries. The perfect choice for special occassions.

The Greenhouse Rhubard and Apple Millefeulle with pear sorbet

To top off this superb evening of sophisticated food, excellent Champagne, we ended with a delightful selection of petit fours.

The Greenhouse is one of the restaurants in the stable of the Marc Group and seems to have positioned themselves perfectly for their clientele.

The Laurent-Perrier champagne-pairing menu will be available at The Greenhouse restaurant from 15 November until the end of December 2011, priced at £240 per person, including champagne.

Greenhouse on Urbanspoon

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Nduja Cooking Club at The London Foodie

Nduja Cooking Club at The London Foodie

Posted on 12. Dec, 2011 by .

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A perfect recipe for a leisurely Sunday is a warm kitchen, lots of friends around a table laden with fabulous home cooking. Recently, The London Foodie hosted another London Cooking Club and theme was not around a cuisine but an ingredient, Nduja. This year seems to be the year of the nduja. It seems to be everywhere now and it’s even recently been featured on BBC’s Something For the Weekend where they made Nduja Hash.

Nduja London Cooking Club

Nduja is a spicy sausage from Calabria and is traditonally made with fat, offal and lots of chilli. Due to it’s s high fat content, it melts when heated so it works best when used in recipes to spice up a sauce of just to spread on a piece of toast. It’s an incredibly versatile ingredient.

Nduja London Cooking Club

Unearthed, a company that sources interesting products from Europe and beyond to introduce to the British public has added Nduja to their list of offerings. The inspiration for this cooking club came about after the recent nduja recipe challenge. The menu for the cooking club includes some of the recipes that were submitted to the competition and some extras to round off the menu.

Canapés

Spicy Nduja Palmier
(Prepared by May – Slow Food Kitchen)

Unearthed Mezze Platter
(Prepared by Unearthed)

Nduja London Cooking Club

Starter

Linguine with Nduja, Cherry Tomatoes & Basil
(Prepared by Fede – Pasta Bites)

Nduja London Cooking Club

Mains

Pan-Fried Cod on Butter Beans and Nduja with a Lemon and Sage Dressing
(Prepared by Luiz & Rosana – The London Foodie & Hot and Chilli)

Nduja London Cooking Club

Pimp My Piri Piri Poussin
(Prepared by Qin & Nic – In Pursuit of Food and Cherrapeno)

Nduja London Cooking Club

Accompaniments

Buttered Samphire & Crispy Roast Potatoes
(Prepared by Luiz & Rosana – The London Foodie & Hot and Chilli)

Greek Salad
(Prepared by Sian – Domestic Sluttery)

Dessert

Lemon Posset
(Prepared by Cassey – A Girl Has to Eat)

My favourite dish from this menu was the” Pan-Fried Cod on Butter Beans and Nduja with a Lemon and Sage Dressing” which was served with the very moreish bean stew what went with the fish.

As per the usual London Cooking Club tradition, there was way too much food. As some of these dishes were really substantial and it was like having 3 full meals in one seating. Do try some of these nduja recipes or make up your own recipe with Nduja which is available from major supermarkets or check out their website for more outlets. http://www.discoverunearthed.com/

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Malaysian Pineapple Tarts

Malaysian Pineapple Tarts

Posted on 25. Nov, 2011 by .

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Pineapple tarts are little short crust pastry tarts with home made pineapple jam. In Malaysia, these are made for special ocassions like Chinese New Year, Deepavali and Hari Raya (Eid). Families used to make it but in this age of “I don’t know how she does it”, we tend to buy them from the many cottage industry vendors in town.

I made these for Vanessa Kimbell’s Let’s Make Christmas bloggers’ swap recently as they were suitably festive. The only concession that I made was to use a star shaped cookie cutter instead of the usual round ones.

Every one has their own favourite version of these tarts. I like them with crumbly buttery, short crust pastry and a sweet but tangy pineapple jam. You can cheat by buying in the jam instead of making it yourself but it is quite easy to make. It just takes a bit of time but well worth the satisfaction.

 

Malaysian Pineapple Tarts

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

Makes 30 Tarts

Malaysian Pineapple Tarts

Delicious Pineapple Tarts for any ocassion.

Ingredients

    For the Pineapple Jam
  • 500g grated fresh pineapple. If you can’t find fresh pineapple, you can use the equivalent tinned pineapple in juice (remember to drain away the juice)
  • 250g caster sugar. Adjust to your taste but reduce the sugar if you’re using tinned pineapples in syrup
  • 4 cloves (optional)
  • 2 cinnamon sticks (optional)
  • For the Short Crust Pastry
  • 300g plain flour
  • 175g salted organic butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk for egg wash

Instructions

    To make the pineapple jam
  1. Cook the grated pineapple, spices and sugar in a saucepan on medium heat until it starts to bubble, stirring as you go. Note, you can use an electronic chopper instead of grating if you prefer.
  2. Once the mixture is bubbling, reduce the heat to low and stir regularly for about 1 hour or until pineapple jam has reached a sticky consistency. You need the jam to be quite dry or it will run all over the pastry when you bake it.
  3. Make sure you keep stirring the jam as it burns quite easily. Once the jam has thickened, turn off the heat, remove the spices and allow to cool completely. You can bottle this for use later.
  4. To make the pastry
  5. Rub in the butter and flour until the mix resembles bread crumbs.
  6. Add in the beaten eggs to bind but don’t work it too much as the pastry will get too hard. If it is too dry, you can drizzle a few drops of water (ala Delia). Don’t be tempted to make it too wet.
  7. The dough should all come together into a ball. When it does, wrap in cling film and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours.
  8. About an hour before you are ready to roll out the pastry, take the dough out of the fridge and let it get to room temperature or it will be too hard to roll out.
  9. Putting the tarts together
  10. Preheat oven to 180°C. Using lightly oiled hands, roll out about a teaspoon of the pineapple jam into balls and place aside. Don't be tempted to make the balls of jam too big as they will overflow over the pastry.
  11. Roll out the pastry dough to a 0.5cm thickness (pound coin) between two sheets of non stick baking sheet or use a lightly floured rolling pin. Remove the top sheet of paper and use your pineapple tart or cookie cutter mould to cut out shapes of your pastry. Use the handle of a wooden spoon to make a small circular dent in the middle. You can then either remove the excess dough and slide the baking paper with the pastry onto your baking tray or remove each cut piece and place it on a baking sheet.
  12. Place the prepared balls of pineapple jam into the middle of each tart and place decorative pastry on top of jam if you want. Traditionally, small pieces if dough will be rolled out and placed as a cross across the jam. In this case, I used some star shaped sprinkles to match the cookie shape after the tarts were cooked.
  13. Brush pastry with egg wash and bake on the top shelf of the oven for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is slightly golden. Cool on a wire rack to allow the pastry to crisp up and store in an airtight container.
http://www.slowfoodkitchen.com/malaysian-pineapple-tarts/

 

Make a massive batch to give away. They are always better than the shop bought ones.

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Brazilian Chocolate Brigadeiros

Brazilian Chocolate Brigadeiros

Posted on 25. Nov, 2011 by .

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I found this recipe on another food blog and they looked so lovely that I had it on my list to try. Then came along the Let’s Make Christmas event, so I made it for my swap contribution. See below for my adapted recipe.

They are really easy to make and the recipe makes about 30 balls, depending on how big you roll them. This could be a really fun job to involve kids in. Get a lot of different coloured sprinkles and create a whole range of amazing looking sweets.

Sidebar: In the process of making this, I discovered the world of glittery sprinkles in a cake supplies shop nearby. It’s like a kid being let loose in a toy shop. Now I need to find more recipes where I can use the colourful icing, the icing pens, glitter, etc. Fun!

Brazilian Chocolate Brigadeiros

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

30

Brazilian Chocolate Brigadeiros

Really fun Brazillian sweets that you can make in a jiffy.

Ingredients

    For the Brigadeiros
  • 1 400ml Can of Condensed Milk
  • 3 tbsp of Drinking Chocolate Powder
  • 2 tbsp of butter
  • For Decoration:
  • Chocolate Sprinkles
  • Fancy Sprinkles
  • Baking glitter
  • Crushed Pistachio nuts

Instructions

  1. Pour the condensed milk into a medium saucepan and place over medium heat.
  2. Add the drinking chocolate drinking and butter and keep stirring your Brigadeiro mixture until it starts to show the bottom of the pan when you scrape it with your spoon. This is the only crucial bit to watch out for. As you scrape the bottom of your pan with the spoon, the Brigadeiro mixture should be thick enough to show you the bottom the pan for a couple of seconds before the mixture levels out again. This takes about 10 minutes.
  3. Pour the Brigadeiro mixture into a glass container and leave your Brigadeiros aside to cool until it’s room temperature, then you can put them in the fridge. The mixture can stay in the fridge for 3 to 4 days until you’re ready to roll them out.
  4. When you are ready to roll your Brigadeiros, remove the mixture from the fridge and let it warm up to room temperature again as this makes it easier to handle. Using a teaspoon, scoop a small quantity and roll it into a small round shape, about the size of chocolate truffle. If you spread a bit of butter on your palms before rolling, this will prevent the mixture from sticking. (You can make this a fun group activity to get the kids to do this part)
  5. Drop the Brigadeiro ball into a bowl containing your choice of topping and gently roll it around until it’s totally covered. I chose some chocolate sprinkles and some colourful edible star shape sprinkles from Sainsburys.
  6. Transfer your Brigadeiro to a mini cupcake cup. (I bought my mini cupcake cups from ebay where there are loads of choices.)
http://www.slowfoodkitchen.com/brazilian-chocolate-brigadeiros/

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Food Bloggers’ Swap at Let’s Make Christmas

Food Bloggers’ Swap at Let’s Make Christmas

Posted on 24. Nov, 2011 by .

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The fabulous Vanessa Kimbell started a conversation on Twitter to organise a Christmas gift swap between food bloggers, with handmade edible. This eventually turned into an event held at Fortnums and Masons and a very competitive competition judged by Dan Lepard.

Let’s Make Christmas was born. 50 food bloggers, many, many amazing handmade foodie gifts from Christmas cookies, seasonal chutney, very professional chocolates and sweets and an impressive range of alcoholic infusions.

Xmas_FM

After Vanessa announced a list of prizes for each category of baked goods, drinks, sweets and preserves, the competitive gene kicked in. The star prize was a Kenwood K mix for the winner of the baked goods category, so of course I had to make one thing for that category. I chose to make some Malaysian Pineapple Tarts which is something that we make in Malaysia (or rather, buy in from some lovely lady who bakes millions for each festival) for Chinese New Year or for Hari Raya (Eid).

I have not done much baking or pastry for ages so this was a great opportunity to start again. I totally under estimated the time that this would take and it was a mad scramble to make short crust pastry at midnight, while stirring a pot of pineapple jam on the side.

I had to improvise with some star shaped cookie cutters to make it look more festive. We usually make these in a round shape with a specially designed cookie cutter that simultaneously cuts the pasty and creates the indent in the middle for the jam. There was much improvisation but it turned out quite well in the end.

Malaysian Pineapple Tarts

I had originally planned to just make some Brazilian Chocolate Brigadeiros which are just simply sweets made with condensed milk.The making of these were quite easy but it took hours of shopping to find the colourful sprinkles, the little gold cups and a suitable sized box to put the sweets in. Here are the finished results. I fell in love with the colourful sprinkles in different shapes and colours and have discovered a whole work of cake and cookie decorating goodies at the local cake shop. Oh no, I feel a new addiction kicking in.

Cinammon Kitchen 049

Here is an idea of the competition on the day.

Lets Make Christmas- Baked Goods

These are some of the entries for the baked goods category. There was a lot of talent in the room.

Lets Make Christmas- Baked Goods

Entries for the sweets category.

Much serious judging by Dan Lepard and the man from Fortnums.

Lets Make Christmas-10

There was much socialising, networking and meeting food bloggers that we only know by their Twitter handles. So many people had come down to London for this event, it was really an amazing gathering.

Lets Make Christmas-12

Helen (Fuss Free Flavours), don’t know, Vanessa, Sarah (Food For Think)  and not sure and didn’t have a chance to meet.

Lets Make Christmas-13

Fiona (London Unattached), Jackie (I am a Feeder) and not sure.

Lets Make Christmas-17

The winners: Jay (Jaynerly) , ?, ?, Urvashi (Botanical Baker), Dan and Vanessa. Sorry, can’t remember the names or the blogs of everyone I met that day.

These are the gifts I got from my swap. Chocolate Peppermint Crunch from Heidi Roberts and glittery Honeycomb rom Gail Doggett (One Million Gold Stars).

Lets Make Christmas-20

Lets Make Christmas-22

 

 

That was a really fun afternoon, met some new food blogger friends, got some delicious brownies from Michelle (Utterly Scrummy) and left with a little goodie bag from Fortnums. Big thanks for Vanessa for organising a really fab bloggers event.

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