Mini Blog on Thai Green Curry

So last night I made chicken Thai green curry. First and foremost do not get your curry pastes from a supermarket, I have previously made this rookie mistake myself. The supermarket pastes are just not strong or hot enough for the corresponding curry, I found them pretty synthetic to be honest. Luckily my closest Chinese supermarket is on Denmark Street, Wah Yan Hong. It is next to Wongs and on my route home so perfect for impromptu dinner plans. Chinese supermarkets really excite me I love finding new things to try it is like the Aladdin's cave of food shopping. Having visited a few times with Jamie she has pointed out all the best brands and deals for your money and for that I am very thankful to have such knowledge at my fingertips.

For roughly 0.65p of your Earth money you can buy sachets of many different curry and soup pastes. I have tried making red, yellow and now green Thai curry so far, and their are a couple of others next on the list.

Thai Green Curry Paste I use

There are very easy instructions on the back which you can follow directly or go a bit off piste as I did.

Recipe on the Back

I used about two thirds of the paste as I know how hot green curry can be so wanted to test the water before adding more. This turned out to be pretty much perfect for us as it was pretty spicy but not burningly hot. I also used chicken thighs, I always use thighs in dishes like this because the flavour is much better than chicken breast and it doesn't dry out at all with cooking. Once I had added the chicken to the coconut milk and paste I also popped in some chopped potato. The recipe does suggest adding aubergine but seeing as I am not it's biggest fan I decided against it.

I did however add some green beans right at the end along with the kaffir lime leaves, a few drops of fish sauce and a dash of lime. I left the extra chillis this time.

Completed Chicken Thai Green Curry

Chicken Thai Green Curry

Thai Green Curry

So there you have it super satisfying curry to warm you on a cold evening, yes I am aware that it is June and it should not be cold now.

Menu Sampling at Filini at the Radisson Blu

After a delightful lunch at Hotel du Vin the other week, I was also invited by Bristol Bites to Radisson Blu's Filini restaurant to the chef's table to showcase their new Sardinian menu. There were only 5 of us there which made it feel extra special, after being greeted with a glass of Prosecco we were led into the kitchen to watch the chefs at work.

It did feel somewhat odd being sat in the kitchen drinking and eating whilst people worked around us but actually there was no chaos and the atmosphere was pretty chilled. Our glasses were never empty and it was  great to see how enthusiastic everyone was. We were treated to six miniature courses most of which you will find on their Tour of Italy: Sardinia menu, which concludes on the 16th of June before they head on to the next region.

The canapés were brought out in a cloud of dry ice, reminiscent of the video for Total Eclipse of the Heart, I did almost expect some heavenly 80s soft rock chorus to kick in.

Rock Star Canapes

Canapés: 

• Curry cornet with salmon tartar, sweet onion, cream fraiche
•  Poached Quail eggs with Bournoise vegetables 
• Parmesan crisp with goat cheese mousse 
• King prawn with avocado salsa 
• Truffle custard on egg shell with chive potato crisp 
• Asparagus with hollandaise sauce 

 These were as delicious as their entrance I actually didn't get to try the asparagus or the salmon tartar ones but the truffle custard on egg with crispy pancetta and chive crisp was a particular highlight. Savoury custard is definitely a strange concept. I have personally only come across it in chawanmushi, a Japanese dish that did not endear itself to me when described by my friend Matt as 'imagine a savoury creme brulee'. This was definitely something I did not want to imagine. This savoury custard however was smoky and full of richness. It sort of tasted like a fancy breakfast in a few bites. The king prawn with avocado salsa was another favourite, a really chunky prawn with a fresh but not overwhelming accompaniment.

Truffle Custard

King Prawn with Avocado Salsa

Starters
Lemon risotto with scallop and langoustine
Mixed Antipasti

The first starter to emerge was a lemon risotto with a chunky langoustine resting on the top. This was delightful. It was fresh, light, melted in the mouth, perfect flavours for Summer. The antipasti contained a few surprises, mainly the wonderful lamb prosciutto and smoked ricotta. The latter was definitely my highlight I have never had smoked ricotta before it was in no way bland and the smokiness really shone through the rich creamy texture. I found a whole wedge of Pecorino to be a bit heavy for an otherwise light board but that was possibly personal preference, strange as I adore full bodied cheeses usually.

Lemon Risotto

Mixed Antipasti

Main course
Monk fish wrapped with Parma ham, spinach and ceps
Roast rump of lamb with summer beans

Unless you discount sushi, of which I eat a lot of, I don't tend to order much fish when I am dining out, I have no idea why, but it is something that I must rectify. I found the monk fish tasty, the sauce in particular was excellent but for me it was nothing compared to the enjoyment I experienced upon tasting the lamb. The lamb was pink and tender, accompanied by a rich full bodied, meaty sauce. The beans were very well cooked, it might have been my favourite dish of the night but we had so many amazing things I am still not sure I can completely commit to a favourite.

Monk Fish Wrapped in Parma Ham

Roast Rump of Lamb with Summer Beans

Desserts
Chocolate mousse
Biscotti with fresh raspberries
Filini Tiramisu

We were brought a beautifully presented tray of miniature desserts which looked almost too good to eat. But being advised the chocolate mousse disc would melt fairly swiftly we tackled that one first. A melt in the mouth disc of mousse coated in cocoa powder, sheer heaven. As I don't like coffee flavoured anything, one of my only dislikes, I did not try the tiramisu but it looked very pretty and delicate. My favourite was the biscotti with fresh raspberries, both sweet and tart enough to make the perfect pudding.

Desserts

Desserts Galore

The chef's table experience was a wonderful one, if you ever see a restaurant offering such an event up, you should definitely take it as it was different and for me felt like a special evening. For more information on Filini visit their section of the website on the Radisson Blu website here. There is video available of some of the food preparation on the night definitely check this out, I get a very quick cameo as well.

As this was a showcase chef's table this meal was free of charge but did not impact how I felt about the food served, the photos speak for themselves. To see what Bristol Bites thought of the evening check out her review here.

Lunch at Leong's Legends in Chinatown

This will be a post about my lunch at Leong's Legends in Chinatown, not obviously Bristol but definitely a tip if you like a good meal for a good price and you are in London.

It was the morning after the night before, which in question was my friend Andrea's hen do. There was drinking at the beautifully decorated Jewel cocktail bar on Piccadilly Circus and karaoke and set menu Chinese food at Imperial China in Chinatown. The food at Imperial China was actually quite nice especially the pork in ginger dish.

On Sunday I woke up tired but without a thick head, stuck to light drinking you see. After being cooked a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon by Jessie's cousin whom we were staying with, I said goodbye to the beautiful Siamese cats that I had the pleasure of being pestered by throughout our visit and headed from Tufnell Park to Angel.  It was still early so I read my book and watched the rain with a hot chocolate in a nearby cafe. I was due to meet my super lovely fellow excitable foodie Julia for lunch and was really looking forward to a good catch up mostly talking about our latest food experiments. Once I got the signal I went off to meet her and we travelled down to Chinatown.

After a good amble about deciding where to eat and sifting through the Chinese supermarket for various delights we settled on Taiwanese restaurant Leong's Legends.

You have to knock on the door to be let in, which was some what of a novelty. It is quite a small restaurant inside with lots of dark rustic wooden tables. We settled in the corner and sat down with the menu to decide. We decided ordering a few dishes and sharing bits and pieces would be a good way to test more of the menu. We chose, crispy chilli beef, sticky rice steamed in bamboo, some char siu bao, siu mai, prawn dumpings, fried turnip cake and their speciality Legend's xiao long bao or siu loung bao as they are on the menu.

Legend's Xiao Long bao

This was my first experience of xiao long bao, they are described as soup dumpings, I assumed they would be dumpings in a soup. I was wrong. They taste a lot like gyoza, minced pork with ginger and other fragrant spices. However the difference is that they have soup stock inside them. They make these by popping a gelatinous soup stock cube inside the dumping which then dissolves when they are steamed. These were delicious if you see these on any dim sum menu order them immediately, although wait for them to cool a bit first.

Crispy Chilli Beef and Sticky Bamboo Rice

Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai

The crispy chilli beef was spicier than I've had before but very tasty. The sticky rice came in a mini barrel for us to scoop out. It had mushroom, chicken and shrimp mixed in with it and was simply wonderful. I was pretty slack taking photos because I was too busy eating and talking but we ordered just the right amount of food. The siu mai were stuffed with pork mince and shrimp and might have even been better than the ones I had at Dynasty. The fried turnip cake was a revelation it was almost creamy with a very slight hint of sweetness I am definitely keen to try it again it was just so different.

Prawn Dumpings

Finally, always a favourite the prawn dumplings, they look so pretty the crimped translucent bundles of peachy coloured joy. These were some of the chunkiest shrimp filled ones I have tasted so far and the casings just melt in the mouth.

Lunch for two with Chinese tea accompaniment cost us £17 each a total bargain for all the food we had if you find yourself in Chinatown definitely pay Leong's Legend's a visit it is really worth it.

This weekend we are off for a barbecue where I will show off my Pina Colada making skills, wish me luck it's been a while.

Lunch at Hotel du Vin

Last week I was fortunate enough to receive a truly irresistible invitation. Emily from Bristol Bites asked if I would like to go for lunch at Hotel du Vin.  How could I say no? I pass Hotel du Vin every day on the way to work and have heard excellent things from a few friends, but I have never actually been in myself.

It was one of the nicest lunches I have had in a long while the restaurant itself is beautiful, lots of  wine bottles and pictures to catch your eye plus it is full of lovely natural light. 

Interior of Hotel du Vin

It took me a good long while to decide what to eat, that is the trouble with menu's that are packed with delicious options it takes me ages to pick something. Hotel du Vin has a very reasonable fixed rate lunch menu starting at £9.95 for one course, £12.95 for two and £14.95 for three. Perfect if you fancy a catch up or business meeting in a very wonderful setting you can view the lunch menu online here. On this occasion we decided to order from the main menu which you can also view here.

I chose the Chicken Liver Parfait, Toasted Brioche, Raisin Chutney, with the Duck Confit, Lentils du Puy for my main.

Chicken Liver Parfait

This was a truly delicious and indulgent starter. I am a huge fan of pâté and it's variants, it is always the first thing I pick up for when we go on a picnic, obviously followed by a super fresh baguette. The parfait was as smooth as silk and the raisin chutney was tart enough to cut through the richness. My only complaint was that the parfait size and the brioche piece didn't really match, luckily there was extra bread on the table for me to finish up the rest of the parfait. There was no way I was leaving any of this on my plate.

Duck Confit and Puy Lentils with Pancetta

Duck Confit, and the French feel of our table

My main was rich and hearty I've always wanted to try such a dish and I am very glad I now have. The flavour of the duck was smoky and satisfyingly melt in the mouth. We each had a bowl of Lyonnaise potatoes which was very nice but with such a filling main I could only manage about half of my side dish.

We were both pretty full after two such great courses but after a small pause we decided it would be wrong not to check out the dessert menu. Now had I not had such rich starter and mains I would have plumped for the cheese selection but I decided on my general fall back choice of crème brûlée because none of the other desserts tempted me much, I am much more of a savoury person after all.

Giant Crème Brûlée

Dessert was the biggest crème brûlée I think I have ever ordered it was simply enormous. The caramel top wasn't as hard as some crème brûlée's I've had but it didn't really matter because the dish was hot, comforting, smoothly creamy and full of vanilla pod seeds, very tasty. I actually couldn't finish it though it was  that massive. 

If you go to Hotel du Vin at any point to dine please make sure you check out their superb wine list it is immense and you'll be sure to get a glass of something that you really like. They are the knowledge so take advantage of the skilled sommeliers, we were fortunate enough to get a tour of the cellar from head sommelier Ben and it was magical.

Emily's review can now be found here. Here are a few teaser photos to start you off.

Asparagus with Poached Egg, one of the Specials

As the guest of Bristol Bites this meal was free of charge but did not impact how I felt about the food in any way, I will not be censored after all, but you knew that anyway. Next blog may be on my trip to Leong's Legends a Taiwanese restaurant in China Town but have my special tasting trip to Filini at the Radisson Blu to cover and a possible second look at Cosmo's larger buffet offerings from Rich.

Barbecue Weekend Bonanza with the Social Smokers

The final countdown to Grillstock has begun so Joe from the Bristol barbecue team Social Smokers UK gives us the low down on his barbecue extravaganza weekend.

The sun is shining, the weather is rejoice, make you want to drink beer smoke some meat… well something like that.

Yes the weekend of the 25^th May will go down in history as the British summer of 2012.  I can’t see us having another weekend like that, it was seriously hot.  And we, the Social Smokers, were in our element.  Matt, Jon and I spent the whole weekend in the garden, cooking. 

This weekend we were practising for the chicken and beef brisket rounds of the King Of The Grill competition at Grillstock.

Saturday

First up, a sweet BBQ chicken with a citrus kick! We applied a rub of smoked paprika, salt, lemon zest, garlic granules and black pepper.  The oils in the lemon zest really lift this rub.  With the rub applied they were placed in a tray and put in the smoker at around 350F for an hour and a half. 

Barbecue Chicken

When crispy and almost done they were dunked in a lemon and mustard BBQ sauce.  The dunking sauce was made with; 

Onion, 

Garlic, 

Olive Oil, 

Ketchup, 

Sprite, (yes you read that correctly

Lemon Juice, 

Light brown sugar and Wholegrain Mustard.  

The chicken was placed back in the smoker for another 30 minutes, this time straight on the grill grates.  The results were very good.  The meat was juicy and the flavour was sweet and fruity.  The skin could have been crispier but that will come with practice.

Barbecue Chicken Mid Barbecue

Barbecued Chicken Ready to Serve

We had a few drumsticks left over so we decided to make the notorious ‘Death Legs’.  A super-hot Chilli chicken using some of the world’s hottest chillies.  They did not disappoint, the Trinidad scorpion Moruga chilli gave an instant heat whilst the 7 pot chilli had an intense long burn.

Prepped 'Death Legs'

'Death Legs' Ready to Serve (if you dare try them)

Sunday

Roast beef is a traditional Sunday staple in Britain.  We however decided to cook our beef Texan style. Beef brisket is a tough cut that requires a lot of cooking.  We smoked the beef at around 220f for 8 hours.  The rub was a basic BBQ rub of onion and garlic powder, paprika, cumin and oregano, sugar, salt and pepper.  We smoked it with oak chucks that were soaked in water to stop them from burning too quickly and basted it every hour for the first 4 hours. 

Brisket with Texan Style Rub

The mop sauce was made using sugar, vinegar, chilli flakes and dark beer or ale.  After 4 hours the Brisket was wrapped foil and cooked for a further 4 hours. We served the brisket with rolls, coleslaw and BBQ beans. 

Cooked Brisket Complete with Smoke Ring

Carved Brisket

For me brisket is the number one BBQ food.  If you have a kettle barbecue I urge you to try cooking it.  Buy an unrolled brisket with a good amount of fat on the top as this will baste the meat during the cooking process.  Use a decent coal, bricket or lumpwood, not a cheap coal as it will have chemical binders in it which will ruin the flavour of the meat and all your hard work.  I found this out recently when I cooked a lamb shoulder using a budget charcoal from B&Q.  Everything tasted of petrol.  Barbecue Fail!

You can buy a good coal and a wide selection of wood for smoking at hotsmoked.co.uk.

Thanks for the update Joe it looks amazing. Want to follow the progress of this Bristol barbecue team check out their facebook page 

Chorizo Baked in Wine

After a mini discussion on Twitter with various foodies I reveal the recipe I made for my chorizo baked in wine tapas dish. This will be a relatively short post being that the recipe is, although not a long one, a very delicious one!

You can use either chorizo ring or whole mini chorizos, this time round I used both as they take on the flavour in different ways. So if you de-skin and chop the chorizo ring into chunks no smaller than 2cm, I find that smaller pieces tend to dry out in the baking process otherwise. You will also need a ceramic or Pyrex baking dish rather than a metal one.

After chopping the chorizo add between half to three quarters of a bottle of Spanish red, enough to almost cover the chorizo. I then add 2-3 cloves of garlic chopped into strips and scatter around the dish. Add a couple of shakes of paprika and thyme and you are good to go. It should look a bit like this:

Chorizo Baked in Wine

Bake it for about 40-50mins on 180-190 with fan or you can go lower for longer if you fancy, for a more intense flavour, I have baked it for up to 2 hours before. When it comes out it should have dropped about half the liquid level and the chorizo should be much darker, see the photo below the chorizo dish, right.

The Final Product (surrounded by other tapas dishes and empty plates)

Admittedly this isn't the best final photo, We all dug in quite enthusiastically before I got a chance to take a picture. Your guests will not be disappointed serve with crusty bread to mop up all the meaty wine juices and you will be in tapas heaven. Let me know how you get on with this recipe if you give it a go. Later in the week we shall have a report from Joe from the Social Smokers barbecue team giving us an update of his very meaty weekend. Plus the upcoming report of my lunch visit at Hotel du Vin with Bristol Bites.

Refuelling at Mission Burrito

It had been a long time since our last Mission Burrito visit and it seemed the best place to pop in for a bit of post cinema munching. Mexican food is definitely one of my favourites, and it is great to see Bristol now has two central places in which to get a burrito or taco fix quickly.

Mission Burrito, for me at least, pips My Burrito to the post, in taste and construction.  This time round I went for the steak burrito, steak cooked in chipotle, my favourite chilli, sauce and gently roasted. Rich went for a carnitas burrito, slow cooked pork seasoned with thyme and orange zest then cooked for hours very slowly. We always go for pinto beans over black beans because they cook them in pancetta and onions which really add an extra something to the whole of the burrito.

What is really great is that they are very generous with the portions in Mission Burrito and they wrap them so tightly that there is no danger of escaping items or leaking all over your hands that I experienced in My Burrito. Having said that the chicken in My Burrito is superior than the shredded option at Mission Burrito. We also chose a luridly coloured Jarritos soft drink to go with our meal, which actually tasted better than it looked.

Steak Burrito

Carnitas Burrito with Cholula and Jarritos

These are some tasty and weighty burritos, there is no excess liquid and the flavours really come together I chose the salsa verde to go on mine which was meant to be medium but there was no heat that I noticed but the flavour was good. To add some spice I used some of the Cholula hot sauces they have dotted around the place, they also sell these at the counter. Now there are four types of Cholula hot sauces available that I am aware of. I already buy the chipotle one for cooking with, really zings up fajitas and chilli without being too hot. I order mine online but you can also get them in Asda Bedminster, if you aren't a fan of super hot but still want a little kick this is a great sauce range to go for. I tried the hot garlic one at Mission Burrito and that was another winner, may add it my next chipotle order.

Carnitas Burrito

So looking for your next Mexican hit? Check out Mission Burrito, mind you their Park Street location would be hard to miss. Check out Mission Burrito's website for a full menu. You can compare and contrast Mission Burrito with My Burrito by checking our review here. Next week hopefully will include some lovely Eurovision snacks and a curry review.