THE BEST CHICKEN EVER

Last night was delicious enchilada night. I tried a new recipe from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen and it worked a charm. Enchiladas with leftover carnitas, rice with onions, garlic and cilantro and all topped off with tomatillo salsa. (No, we didn't cheat - at least not on the tomatillos. They're grown on the Isle of Wight). Tonight featured the most basic (and potentially most bland) ingredient: chicken. Specifically, a massive monster of a chicken breast purchased from The Natural Kitchen in Marylebone. (Skin on, bone in - thanks, much. I'm not some sort of healthy eating masochist who removes all the good bits!)

I decided to use one of my fave recipes on the chicken, garnerd from Cooks Illustrated ages ago. As a quick sidenote, I love Cooks. They try EVERYTHING when developing a recipe and detail it so you don't fall into the same sandtraps. Fantastic food journalism and delicious recipes. Anywho, here's the basic idea:

• Brine chicken breasts for 1/2 hour in salted cold water (I accidentally left mine in for an hour - it was fine)
• Heat the oven to medium hot - can never recall precisely, but about 200c.(Nearly forgot the most important part - pour yourself a bigass glass of wine)
• Heat a tablespoon or two of canola oil in a heavy, oven proof pan until it's damned near smoking.
• Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry with paper towels.
• Place breasts (the chicken's - not yours) skin side down in the hot pan. Cook until the skin is brown and crispy, about 2-3 minutes (you will be burnt by popping oil at the point, it's best that you just take a swig of wine and accept it).
• Flip the breasts over and cook for another 2-3 minutes and then (here's the ingenious part) slide the pan into the hot oven.
• Chill for 18-20 minutes (or, if you're like me, madly rush to prep a cornucopia of sides)
• Take the chicken out of the oven. Do not touch the pan with bare hands. Seriously. Ouch. Remove the chicken to a plate and keep covered.
• Reduce the juices in the pan, sauté some onions and garlic in. Reduce some wine. Add some herbs (pronouced 'ERBS! ongoing battle with my Brit husband) and presto-chango, you have have a delicious sauce for chicken.
• Transfer the chicken back to the pan. Cover in the sauce. Serve proudly.

Now, tonight the chicken was accompanied by delicious local asparagus, fingerling potatoes with butter and parsely and with a first course of crabcakes. I know what you're thinking, crabcakes? Really?

Hey. I had some extra crabmeat to use up. What's a girl to do?

Play by Play - Taste of London 2009

5:30pm - Rendezvous at The Albany with Ed, another food geek to go explore the wonders of the Taste.

5:40pm - Enter the Taste at Regent's Park, surrounded by delicious smells and BA flight attendants offering brochures.

6:00pm - 6:30pm - Get our barings. Map it out.

6:30pm - Reach our first destination, the LoveBeer stand, run by LoveBeer@Borough, Utobeer and The White Horse. We are immediately greeted with samples of delicious beer and the happy news that a Beer and Cheese Tasting is about to begin. This is led by the marvelous Melissa Cole, beer queen and someone who I would gladly follow into any brewery, any pub and, it turns out, any open part of Regent's Park populated with tents.

BEER & CHEESE MENU

• Sword Swallower (Schmaltz Brewery) + Wensleydale Creameries Wensleydale
• Victory Ale (Batemans Brewery) + Capricorn Somerset Goats Cheese
• White Sheild (Worthington) + Denhay West Country Farmhouse Cheddar
• XXXB (Batemans Brewery) + Davidstow Extra Mature Cheddar*
• Ola Dubh 12 (Harviestoun) + Colston Bassett Blue Stilton**

* The best pairing, where the combination improved both flavors.

** The most surprising pairing - as one who doesn't usually like stilton, this was absolutlely delicious.

The lessons learned from the tasting? Beer should cut, complement or contrast the cheese with which it's paired. Also, unlike wine which creates a film in your mouth when tasted with cheese, beer wipes the palatte clean, preparing your for a clean taste.

7:00 - We ventured to our first taste - The Salt Yard and Tamarind.

At the Salt Yard, we sampled:

• Spanish style meatballs with a plum tomato and basil sauce with Pecorino Nero - while Chris thought the meatballs were nothing special, the combination with the sauce was delcious - definitely a restaurant worth trying!
  
• Slow-cooked Ibérico pig cheeks with a pea, broad bean and Jamón Ibérico boullion - a hit! A palpable hit! The pig cheeks just melted into the deap and delicious broth.

At Tamarind:

• Pepper chicken and coconut rice - delicious, but generally agreed that Le Cinnamon in Brook Green does better curry.

7:15pm - Headed up to the Taste Theatre to watch a maestro, Michel Roux Sr., the architect (along with his brother, Albert) behind the original Le Gavroche and The Waterside Inn. Michel prepared a Tarte Anglaise for us, as well as demonstrating the ease with which fresh pastry can be made. He mixed, kneeded, sang and shocked the British onlookers by using a mountain of butter for his 1:1 flour to fat ratio for pastry. His answer? It's good his brother Albert isn't here, or the ratio would have been 2:1! He also took a few swipes at Gordon Ramsay, asking why would one swear at staff in the kitchen? Everyone should be happy and polite. It was devastating in the way that only the French can pull off.

7:45pm - Encouraged by Michel to go patronize his nephew (also named Michel Roux and now head chef at Le Gavroche), we headed that way towards both Le Gavroche and Asia de Cuba.

At Le Gavroche:

• Bisque de homard, parfumée à l'armagnac - delicious lobster bisque, hilariously served in a small plastic picnic wine glass. When finished, you had the added surprise of lobster chunks saturated with brandy.
• Daube de boeuf à l'ancienne et gratin dauphinois - one of the true stars of the evening, just an amazingly tender braised beef with the creamy goodness of gratin.

At Asia de Cuba:

• Mexican donuts - delcious deep-fried brioche, dusted with cinnamon and sugar, filled with butterscotch sauce and served with a mojito sorbet. A lovely dessert.

8:00pm - We headed toward The Grill at the Dorchester, Tom's Kitchen and Ed splintered off in search of Joël Robuchon's foie gras burger.

At The Grill at the Dorchester:

• Seared scallop with sardine pie and cauliflower purée - Eric had this one and let me sample the scallop. Delish - so sweet and light. It just shows what elegance quality produce and simple preparation can bring.

At Tom's Kitchen:

• Seven hour braised Daylesford lamb shoulder with balsamic onions and mash - another one of the best dishes of the night. The lamb fell apart at the mere sight of a fork and the balsamic onions were a sweet gooey mass of goodness, complemented perfectly by the unearthly smooth and creamy potatoes.

At L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon:

• Le burger au foie gras et aux poivrons verjutés - an amusing take on the burger, with a piece of perfectly cooked minced beef, with a lightly carmelised pepper slice separating the beef and a delicious morsel of foie gras.

8:20pm - We dashed back to LoveBeer's stand for a beer and canapé tasting, stopping along the way at L'Anima:

• Fettucine with wild mushrooms and summer truffle - now I see what all the fuss is about. Truffles are delicious, and L'Anima's chef's certainly didn't skimp. It's a warm earthy flavor unlike any I've had.

8:30pm - Back home at LoveBeer, we delved into beer and canapé parings (and came out quite a bit drunker at the other end)

• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale + Duck Liver Parfait
• Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted + Beer Poached Trout
• He'brew Origin + Dark Chocolate Mousse *
• Harviestoun Ola Dubh 12 + Colston Bassett Stilton

* A delicious beer brewed with pomegranates which perfectly matched the mousse, cutting through the sweet creaminess with a slightly bitter refreshing taste.

9:00pm - it was now go time, the final round, time for us to use up our remaining 25 coupons at Bentley's, Le Pont du Tour and Launceston Place.

At Le Pont du Tour:

• Plateau Fruits de Mer on ice - Ed came back with this marvelous mix of oysters, lobster, prawns, crevette... all sorts of fresh deliciousness.

At Launceston Place:

• Potted devilled brown shrimp and crab in a shell on pebbles - by the time we arrived, these were two for one. Delicious and salty with a fabulous presentation.
• Roast Aberdeen Angus beef fillet wtih taragon mousse - All have hailed this as the best dish of the night. I dream of preparing beef this tender and the taragon mousse - with just a hint of aniseed - was incredible.
• Rhubarb and custard ice cream crumble - served in an ice cream cone, this was also a huge success, a delightfully fresh take on a traditional English dish. The chef, Tristan Welch, lists this as among his favorite dishes.

At Bentleys -

• Tipsy Trifle - we used our last four coupons on this light and refreshing (and boozy trifle).

9:30pm - We bid farewell to the Taste, sated with gourmet food and saturated with good beer. Launceston Place is hailed as the new find, the place we will save up our pennies and try one special evening. Back settled comfortably at The Albany, we learn that we have good reason to praise this restaurant. Tristan Welch came up through L'Aubergine and Le Gavroche, bouncing to Paris for a stint at L'Aperge and returning to London to work at Petrus.

Goodbye, Taste of London, we'll definitely see you next year...

Cucumber Soup

For the past three days, I've brought my lunch to work - a scrumptious cucmber soup which I adapted from Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It's ridiculously easy and delicious.

Peel and seed 2 cukes
Blend with 1 C Greek yogurt and 1/2 C water
Chill

When you're ready to eat, simply add 1 clove minced garlic (Fresh garlic is amazing in this), a few pinches of dill and a squirt of lime.

Glorious :)

Terms of Endearment

Darlin'. Love. Sweetie. All part of the warm and inviting market vocabulary. In a city which can simultaneously feel overwhelming and alienating, it helps to create a sense of community and establish a neighborhood. This is difficult in Soho because the population is so transient. Thousands of workers flee the end of the day, while even more people flood in looking for a night out. The streets can either feel like the set of a zombie film (9am on a Saturday morning) or like an outdoor rave (Shaftesbury Ave, 11pm on a Saturday night). Either way, it's difficult to get a true sense of of the 'hood.

It's now Day 4 in my buy local program and things are looking up on this front. Today I conducted my shopping at the deli entirely in Italian and was bestowed the wonderful compliment of the owner assuming I was from Milan. To him I am 'Cara.' After three consecutive days at the market, the vendors are beginning to know me, recommending veg and steering me away from less savory purchases. I don't think we'll ever get on a first name basis, but then - I wouldn't trade being 'Darling' for anything.

The Verdict

DELISH. Heat a little bit of butter and olive oil in a pan. Season the salmon with salt, pepper and a dash of cayenne to spice things up. Fry for a few minutes skin side down, flip over (carefully, of course) and cook until done. We served it with sauteed zucchini, sepia pasta with fresh garlic and chilies and a tomato and rocket salad.

That's it. Delicious seafood is that simple. The trick is to get the good stuff. Occasionally I've caved (like a flan in a cupboard) and purchased seafood at Tescos or Waitrose. The result has ranged from decent to inedible, but never scrumptious.

This, however, was delectable. I highly recommend.

Fishy Fishmongers

Day three in the Buy Local experiment and time for a new addition – the fishmonger. I’ve now located my favorite green grocer. He has a gorgeous selection, fantastic prices (80p for a kilo of new potatoes? Really!?!) and most of all, a sense of humor. A typical exchange: ‘How’re you doin’ today, darling?’ ‘Just fine, thanks, and you?’ ‘I can see you are fine, love’ etc. etc. Love it. But the lack of an easy, cheap and quality fishmonger has been troubling.

Living in Soho, everything else is at our fingertips:

In need of fresh veg? No worries, just pop to Berwick Market during the week, meander down the South Bank to Borough Market on Saturday and stroll to the Marylebone farmer’s market on Sunday.

A good cut of meat? Simple! Blackfoot Butchers has opened on Charlotte place. Owned by the inspired foodies behind The Salt Yard and Dehesa, they have a limited but delicious selection and their chorizo is, as Michael Steele would put it, ‘off the hook.’

Piping fresh bread? Any number of bakeries would suffice, though I’m partial to the delicious breads found at the Neal’s Yard Dairy shop found in Covent Garden.

Delicious fish? Well...on Saturday there’s Applebee’s at Borough market. I’ve never had a bad purchase there and they are surprisingly reasonable. The shop always smells like the fresh ocean, rather than the fishy odor found in other stalls. Sunday? We’re out of luck, basically. And during the week? Chris has tried a renowned fish shop in Notting Hill, but the quality of their product is inversely related to the price. And not in a good way. Recently we bough shrimp for £20.00. Frozen. They were acceptable, but if I’m spending that much? I want some damn good shrimps with the shells still on. So today, armed with an easy preparation for pan-fried salmon, I ventured out to the fishmonger at Berwick market.

I shall have to report on the quality tomorrow, but the service was superb. He cut two gorgeous slabs of salmon for me (for under £10.00!) and sold them to me with a smile, a joke and a laugh. You couldn’t ask for better service.

All of this reinforces my belief that food shopping should be FUN. It’s not a chore, a necessity or a burden, if you go to the right places.

The Guilt of a Banana

I'm currently about two-thirds through Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (written with her daughter and husband) and I thought I needed to stop and jumble down some thoughts. First, READ THE BOOK. It's marvelous. Kingsolver's writing is beautiful in its simplicity. In fact, I recommend all her writing, especially High Tide in Tuscon but with the exception of The Poisonwood Bible (not a fan, found it dry and unappealing, lacking the warmth and passion of her work). Right, enough of literary musings.

Second, be prepared to strive to seriously change your eating habits. Chris and I don't do that poorly. We try to buy organic, local food and patronise farmers' markets spending more than we should (but the buffalo mozzarella looked so damn good!). During the week, however, we're both guilty of last minute trips to Sainsbury's or Tescos, grabbing produce shipped in from thousands of miles away and wrapped in about a yard of plastic. I don't like this kind of shopping. I certainly don't enjoy it. Shopping at Treasure Island in Chicago or The Co-op in Bozeman is a joy, a nightly ritual that reveals the delicious possibilities of dinner. Shopping the in the UK supermarkets (even Waitrose, I might add) is miserable, a chore, a means to an end.

With this rushed, bleak post-work shopping, I often shop on an empty stomach and often fill my basket with items I don't really need that either to go waste (that second pack of tomatoes) or to my waistline (Pringles - which have been legally established as a potato snack, by the way) and always make a dent in the bank account. Basically, these midweek shopping habits were both unhealthy for the diet and for the pocketbook.

Delving into Kingsolver's world of living and eating sustainably has inspired a recent change. I've forsaken the supermarkets and started shopping at a local market during the lunch hour. This gives me the added luxury of escaping the office for some fresh air, while not the added cost of a lunch out. The market is fantastically stocked, and while some items are still shipped in (the green grocer today pointedly told me I was buying French potatoes) most are grown locally, organically and by smaller farms.

These noontime forays also force me to plan the menu ahead. I've always loved planning meals, but somehow at the end of the day it can seem like chore and I'll tend to whatever's easiest. As a result my repertoire diminished and my creativity faltered. There are only so many times a week you can have Puttanesca. This week, however, we're trying something new. I outlined the week's menu on Friday (what else are you supposed to do while trapped on a plane thousands of feet above France?) as well as what needed to be purchased each day. So far (and I'll admit, it's early days - we're just two in) the plan has worked like charm. I nip up to the market for ingredients at lunch, dash off to the gym after work and have a delicious meal by 8pm. Amazing. It's not only healthier and cheaper, but also more efficient. I have more time to savor the actual cooking, as well as the shopping and planning.

The Kingsolverian inspiration does come with a cost. Guilt. Even with this recent turnaround, I'm not doing enough. I used sausage from Tescos today, rather than trekking up to the butchers before it closed. I succumbed at the market and purchased gorgeous ripe mangoes (most likely flown in from some far away land). Mostly? I feel guilty for the pleasures of bananas. As part of a improving health kick, which also has the regrettable aspects of treadmills and rowing machines, I've started eating breakfast. A banana, each morning at work while I sort through emails and messages left overnight by people who fail to realise businesses close at regular times. I still indulge in a delicious vat of coffee (fair trade and locally roasted, thank you very much), but I've added a banana. My banana. And, I must say, it feels good. Or, rather, it felt good. Until Barbara Kingsolver made me feel personally responsible for the destruction of the rainforest and global warming. The guilt of a banana is heavy. Not so heavy that I've found an alternative yet, but with the weight of the world on my shoulders? That English apple is looking pretty damn good...