You Rich and Evil Tart!

A Rich and Indulgent Tart

Chocolate and raspberries - you really can't go too wrong with this combination, the sharpness of the raspberries cutting the rich and bitterness of the chocolate in a perfect marriage of flavours. 

A new Magimix in tow (thanks peoples!), and a reason to bake had me sampling this recipe I had bookmarked for awhile now. The pastry was rather delicate and hard to roll out without breaking but nonetheless, once baked, you will know no difference! My tart tin was smaller than the recipe called for so I had plenty of chocolate mixture leftover. Baked in small ramekins, this makes for an easy and quick (but very rich) dessert. I would perhaps add some orange zest to the mixture and serve with creme fraiche or cream, if you are not concerned with the extra calories from what is already an extremely indulgent dessert! 

Silky Chocolate and Raspberry Tart (Serves 10-12)
(Takes 30 minutes to make, 50 minutes to cook, plus 35 minutes chilling)

Ingredients

1. 1. 150ml whole milk
2. 2. 500ml double cream
3. 3. 65g golden caster sugar
4. 300g good quality dark chocolate (ideally 70 per cent cocoa solids), broken into small squares
5. 4. 2 medium free-range eggs
6. 5. 1 tsp vanilla extract
7. 6. 200g fresh raspberries, plus extra to serve (optional)
8. for the crisp chocolate pastry
9. 7. 175g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
10. 8. 25g good quality cocoa powder
11. 9. 50g icing sugar
12. 10. 100g chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
13. 11. 1 medium free-range egg yolk
14. 12. 3-4 tsp cold water

Method

1. 1. For the pastry, sift the flour, cocoa powder, icing sugar and a pinch of salt into a food processor. Add the butter and whizz until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Beat the egg yolk briefly with the water. Add to the food processor and whizz until the mixture starts to stick together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until smooth. Shape into a flat disc, wrap in cling film, then chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
2. 2. Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll it out thinly on a flour-dusted surface. Use it to line a 25cm (across the top), 4cm deep, loose-bottomed tart tin. Trim the pastry edges, then chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
3. 3. Put a baking sheet onto the middle shelf of the oven and preheat to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6. Line the pastry case with a sheet of crumpled baking paper and a thin layer of baking beans or rice, then blind bake on the preheated baking tray for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans/rice and blind bake for 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool and crisp. Turn the oven down to 170°C/fan150°C/gas 3½.
4. 4. For the filling, put the milk, cream and sugar into a pan and slowly bring to the boil, stirring gently. Take off the heat, add the chocolate squares and stir until smooth. Cool slightly, add the eggs and vanilla extract, then mix together well.
5. 5. Scatter the raspberries in the tart case. Pour over the filling, carefully slide the tart back onto the baking sheet in the oven, then bake for 20-30 minutes or until the filling is cooked but still slightly wobbly. It will continue firming up as it cools. Remove and leave to cool somewhere cold (but not in the fridge) until set. Serve cut into thin slices and serve with additional fresh raspberries if desired.

Chocolate Pastry

I used 70% Cocoa Lindt chocolate

Perhaps less raspberries than this to allow more chocolate space!

Silky Chocolate Ganache

Out of the oven

Duck Duck.....Waffle

Duck and Waffle

A combined birthday dinner brought us here, up on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower, on Bishopgate, the sister restaurant of Sushi Samba and only recently opened at the time. Lead up through a nicely designed bar with an accompanying roof terrace that would afford a beautiful setting and views over the city on the few balmy London evenings that we encounter.

It is not uncommon for us to order copious amounts of food between our friends. In fact, it would almost be a crime to not do so. Quite used to being told we have ordered too much, and rather smugly always proved the wait staff wrong, on this occasion with a menu of small bites, we did ask the waiter to tell us if we had too much. So we ordered...and ordered...with a menu that is actually not very big at all, we read through the list and asked for the recommended umber of portions. We would be fine he said.

So out came the food. The problem was it did not stop. We were comfortable after the starters and yet had numerous 'mains' to follow. So much so, that in a blur of flavours, meats, sweet, savoury and all the rest, I can only recall a few dishes.

Crispy Pig ears - my favourite of the evening. Deep fried and covered in BBQ salt, would be nicely paired up with an ice cold beer. Reminded me of McDonalds shaker fries, only nicer. I would go back to order this...but prefer it to go!

Bacon wrapped dates was another dish that stood out for me, very simple, mix of savoury and sweet and whilst you could not eat too many. It worked. Foie All Day Breakfast - I can't say I actually loved this dish but it was interesting and for my love of all things foie, I remembered it.

Now by the time, we had got through al the smaller bites, we really struggled to breathe. But alas, we had the mains to come..a whole roasted chicken on a bed of mushrooms with truffles. This was one of the best dishes of the night (after the pig ears), but it was brought out last and we could not eat it nor appreciate it at the time, but it was extremely tasty.

The last dish was their signature Duck and Waffle - a confit duck leg on waffles with a fried duck egg on top, accompanied by a maple-ish dressing. It was interesting but at this point all we wanted was our bed. Nonetheless, a nice evening with beautiful views across London, all in good company and I would return for this and the pigs ears alone.

Duck and Waffle
Heron Tower
110 Bishopgate, London
EC2N 4AY

Crispy Pig Ears

Bacon wrapped dates

Foie All Day Brekkie

Chicken with mushrooms and truffle

Beautiful View of the City

Paris - A Manger

Paris by addresses - my growing list of places in Paris to eat, to drink, to snack and to shop. Something I can add to on subsequent visits - which, there will be many of. Without a doubt most of these places are going to centre around my favourite area - Le Marais (3eme and 4eme). I am biased as this is the area I have spent the most time in, but, after my most recent trip, also extends to the 1eme and 2eme, around the Rue Montorgueil area. 

Being able to spend a full week in Paris with no real agenda, with could dos, not must dos and having the time to just soak in the Parisian charm, people watching and sipping aperitifs is a luxury that I could relive again and again. There is a certain joie de vivre in Paris that you just can't escape.

On an unrelated note, I learnt a new French phrase yesterday - "Plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose" - The more things change, the more they stay the same. Whilst can be applied to many things, my love for Paris is certainly one of them.

A manger (To eat) - The lines are rather burred given the large number or Parisian 'bar a vins', that also serve meals but nonetheless these are my distinctions. 

Les Fines Gueles - beautiful building

Les Fines Gueles - Beef Tartare

The best beef tartare in Paris? Fameux Tartare de Limousine au Couteau - Hand-cut steak tartare. The meat was drizzled with olive oil and mixed with fresh basil and aged parmesan. I hadn't had French beef tartare until now so I have no point of comparison but the beef was hand cut and the dish resembled an Italian beef carpaccio with the addition of basil and parmesan, Whilst nice, I do prefer the Czech version though sun and lack of appetite detracted from this meal. However, equally it was one of these so called bar a vins, housed in a beautiful building near the Place des Victoires, where you could have an aperitif in the afternoon.

Les Fines Gueles

43 Rue Croix des Petit Champs

Paris, 75001

Metro: Bourse or Sentier
http://www.lesfinesgueules.fr/ 

L'avant Comptoir

Savoury macaron of black pudding and pig trotter croquette

Ham croquettes and Fried foie gras 

L'avant Comptoir was easily one of my favourite places of my most recent trip - so much so, that I went twice and the waiter recognised me and gave me a frequent visitors card. If only I could. It was a mixture of the food, service and experience on both occasions. It is a tiny tapas bar, next door to the well known bistro - Le Comptoir, but unlike its neighbour - you can walk in anytime of the day. With only standing room at the bar, you would have a better chance in the off hours where you could stand leisurely and have the place almost to yourself - as we did. The menu is hung on the ceiling with laminated cards and ranged in price from EUR3-7 for bite size, tasty, and some creative tapas. A perfect way to wile away a wet afternoon.

L'avant Comptoir
9 Carrefour de l'Odeon
Paris, 75006
Metro: Odeon

Kunitoraya Sainte-Anne

Onsen tomago - highlight of the meal

Natto udon

Katsudon

Recommendation and a craving for Japanese lead us here. A udon place in the Japanese area around Rue Sainte-Anne. A small line was formed outside the restaurant when we arrived, and like all places Parisian, we were greeted by a small dining space with just a few seats around an open kitchen. Whilst the udon was good, we perhaps did not choose the best, ordering the Natto (fermented soy beans) version, and the Katsudon was the better dish. The highlight however, was the Onsen Tamago (Hotspring egg)- a super creamy egg cooked slowly at a low temperature. I first had this at an Onsen in Japan and whilst it created a curiosity of how to replicate this homestyle, sans hotspring waters, the taste in Japan actually did not compare to the one in Paris. It's just an egg you say - it is, but an extremely creamy and tasty one. We tried to order more, but they said no. I don't think it was personal, the kitchen was just closed.

Kunitoraya Sainte-Anne
39 Rue Sainte-Anne
Paris, 75001
Metro: Pyramides 
http://kunitoraya.com/ste-anne/

Verjus

Crispy Basque pork belly,  pickled chillies and spicey mayo

Celery Root Dumplings with dan dan sauce

Verjus - interior 

Supper club, Hidden Kitchen, run by an American couple has been turned into a restaurant/wine bar called Verjus. The menu at the bar a vin consists only of 7 or so small savoury plates, some cheese and a handful of desserts. Only open in the evening, the dishes are all heavily Asian influenced. Worth a stop perhaps if you are in the area for a glass of wine and a craving for buttermilk fried chicken or dumplings, Oriental style. 

Verjus
52 Rue deRichelieu
Paris, 75001
Metro: Pyramides
http://www.verjusparis.com/ 

Au Petit Sud-Ouest

Foie gras cru (raw) 

Foie gras poelee (fried)

Margret de Canard (Duck breasts with Cepes)

French heavy, hearty fare does exist in Paris - we just really didn't eat much of it on this occasion -instead preferring little wine, tapas bars, picnics or Oriental eateries. On a previous occasion a group of us had a meal of duck and foie gras - that was essentially what the menu consisted of. So if you don't like duck, foie gras, or really, if you don't like artery clogging, fattening food - I would suggest you don't visit this place. Duck itself being already a highly fatty meat, combined with large portion sizes makes for rolling out of this place - but great service and a private room/cellar/storeroom made for an enjoyable evening.

Au Petit Sud-Ouest
46 Avenue de la Bourdonnais
Paris, 75007
Metro: Ecole Militaire
http://www.au-petit-sud-ouest.fr/

To be Continued.....

Pret A Diner - 'Italian's Do It Better'

Ready to Dine - at 50 St James Street

I hesitated before booking in for the Pret-a-Diner pop-up restaurant experience (their tagline reads: 'This is not a pop-up restaurant, this is a dining experience'), wondering if we were going to be paying for a gimmicky night with all style over substance. However, it did sound rather interesting and hey, the world is going to end in six months right. The concept was born in Berlin and moves around the world and with different themes.

This years theme was 'Italian's Do It Better', and promised Italian artists, music and of course food by various Italian chefs both in London and Italy. Upon walking up the stairs we are greeted by a red cross apparently made up of 500 red LED lights. The dining room itself is made to look like a basketball court (sort of) with fences and 'graffiti' on the walls. The wooden tables were decked out with candles and flowers and as always we were in the naughty corner.

Starting with an amuse bouche of a creamy apple and celery substance and tuna tartare and warm bread rolls in brown paper bags that were ripped open. For the three courses (2 starters/1 main with dessert and wine extra), we were given a choice between a traditional menu or a creative menu. We were also able to switch the courses over or 'upgrade' the main to a particular type of beef for an extra 13pounds - which we later discovered was well worth it, definitely the best dish of the night. I chose the creative menu and would say 2 out of 3 courses were better than the traditional menu. Dessert was rather disappointing for both. We tried but failed to get hold of the menu in the end so I only have memory to go off!

Two musical acts performed whilst we were there - first was a girl named Zara Kershaw who performed some covers and a song or two of her own. As much as the guys wanted to request, I don't think she was going to do Call Me Maybe. The other act was a guy by the name Hypo-potamus - I have no idea how to spell it but it wasn't hippopotamus. A beatbox? kinda act with some jungle-like sounds complete with Capoeira swaying movements, it was surprisingly intriguing and captivating.

Whilst not something you would do everyday and by far not the best simple, nor creative Italian food to be had - the service, music, setting, combined with the the food, company and even a birthday wish - rounded up the evening rather nicely. Next stop...Berlin...

Stairway up to the dining room

Ready to Dine

Amuse bouches

Bread rolls in paper bags

You'll miss me when I'm gone

Entree 1 - creative menu - Beef tartare with burrata

Entree 1- traditional menu - Scallop sashimi 

Que sera sera.. except it said Che..

Entree 2 - creative menu - gnocchi with smoked salmon and balsamic

Entree 2 - traditional menu - tomato risotto - very uneventful

Main - creative menu - Slow cooked veal - nice, if not for comparison of the other 2 mains

Main - traditional menu - Veal cheeks, again, not as nice as the upgrade beef

Hypo-potamus

Creme brulee -  blah

Is ti gravity or attraction that keeps me here?

Let's go get lost

The setting

The open kitchen which was like a trailer

Irony: No matter how many times we tried, we could not take this picture. It said 'I can see clearly now'

This is not a pop-up restaurant, this is a dining experience