Wish it was Sunday cos that's my fun day...

Pork Belly Roast

Sundays are my lazy day. I like sleeping in and having no plans. Well, at least no plans that require anything too strenuous. Eating is an exception. Dim sum and Sunday roasts. Two things that are synonymous with Sunday's. The meeting of friends over a late and leisurely lunch. Winter calls for roasts, well, the holing up in a cosy space and the consumption of the obvious necessary calories to fuel myself through the cold and harsh wilderness that is London winter. Suddenly I seem to have found a million and one pubs I want to try and suddenly more of them appear to have cracking fireplaces. What seemed so elusive for London has appeared in my past two Sunday pub visits. London never ceases to surprise me.

I finally made it to Highgate Village. It was ever so quaint and as the name suggests, had a villagey feel. The Red Lion & Sun had won some award for one of the best Sunday roasts. Quaint place with fireplace and great beer garden for the summer months. The pork belly roast was nicely cooked with good quality pork and crispy crackling. One of the better ones. The starter dishes of chicken liver parfait and pork cheeks with chorizo, whilst nice, probably wouldn't warrant a second taste. Booking pretty essential.

The Red Lion & Sun
25 North Road
Highgate N6 4BE
0208 340 1780

The Red Lion and Sun - Highgate

Fireplaces - I love

Daily Menu

Chicken Liver Parfait with Cherry and Cranberry Chutney

Braised Pork Cheeks with potato sticks and chorizo

Czech-Mates

Beef Tartar Czech style

Freshly cut beef, pickles, onions, paprika and a quail egg yolk, seasoned, mixed together and slathered on deep fried bread rubbed with fresh garlic. Yum. Something so more-ish about this combination that had me craving it since I first had it in November. It reminds me of a cheeseburger only better - I am sure that is not the most appealing description but I like and crave cheeseburgers! Had a chance to satisfy my craving this weekend along with all the other hearty Czech dishes that are perfect in this frosty weather when visiting some friends who have moved there. Goulash, schnitzel, dumplings, pork and sauerkraut dishes. Food obviously fit for the sub-zero climate that we experienced. Throw in some authentic Vietnamese bun, foie gras, wine, homemade banana muffins, steamboat and a day of freezing and snowbaording on the picturesque Czech mountains makes for a perfect weekend getaway. I think I am also developing a taste for dark beer.

Děkuji T&D!

Deep fried cheese with tartare sauce

A kind of slow cooked pork belly with sauerkraut 

Traditional Goulash with bread dumplings

Pork Neck with potato gratin

Chicken Schnitzel with Pickled Cucumber and potato salad

Bun Mang with Grilled duck

SAPA (Vietnamese area) - Bun Ca - Vermicelli with deep fried carp slices and Cha Ca - Yum!

Pretty Czech mountains

A Perfect Match

Chicken Liver Parfait with Saffron Apple Chutney

Pate, parfait, foie gras - anything laden with fat and cholesterol, and spreadable on baguette, brioche and anything else that is carbohydrate laden and equally as bad for you must taste good. I really believe there is an additive in liver products that make it so addictive. I am sure I am not the only one either. I believe I can exist on a diet of liver products - maybe not for long, but throw in some cured meats, cheeses, bread, pickles and a glass or two of red wine and I am one happy girl. My ideal type of meal is lots of small bites. Preferably served on a wooden board with a slab of something that is artery clogging.

This was my second attempt at chicken liver parfait and it was a better attempt. I added more brandy, perhaps more butter and more herbs and seasoning. I also made a saffron apple chutney to accompany it and the sweet and tangy chutney helped to cut through the richness of the liver. I love that it is Christmas and there are gatherings of people who I can use as guinea pigs.

Packaged up

Chicken Liver Parfait (adapted from Jamie Oliver)

Ingredients (makes about 450g, 4 small jars)
1. 250g block of butter and then some
2. 1 red onion, chopped
3. Olive oil
4. 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
5. 1 small bunch fresh thyme, leaves picked
6. 400g chicken liver, preferably organic or free range, trimmed of sinew or any green bits
7. Sea salt and black pepper
8. 1 medium glass of brandy

Method
1. Make the clarified butter, using about half the block of butter. Put the butter on low heat and let it melt away for about 20 minutes. The clear oil will separate from the white part (whey). Skim the clear stuff off the top and put in a separate saucepan.
2. Meanwhile, heat a lug of oil in a large pan and when hot, add the onion, garlic and thyme leaves. Fry fast for about 4 minutes, tossing occasionally, until soft and starting to colour. Add a splash more oil, your chicken livers and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook on a high heat for 4-5 minutes. (Some recipes say don't overcook and keep the livers pink in the middle but I am abit paranoid so I cooked it through and it was still pretty smooth).
3. Add your brandy to the pan of livers, and let it cook off. You can flame it if you want – this way you can see the alcohol cooking off. I tasted it at this point and I could still taste the brandy but as soon as I blitzed it, this taste was gone so don't worry if you think you have put too much brandy!
4. Tip everything into a food processor with all the juices, and blitz until smooth. The smell changes straight away. Have a taste, and season to a degree where you’re happy, then add a little more as the seasoning goes down when it gets cold, which is how you’ll serve it. 
5. Dice up your remaining pack of butter, and add it piece by piece, with the food processor still running. Wait for each piece to be combined before adding more. Keep whizzing when it’s all in, and you’ll see it start to shine. Taste again and season if necessary, then whiz for 2 or 3 minutes. 
6. You can serve in ramekins or whatever you like. Push the parfait through a fine sieve and then into your serving dishes.
7. Put a piece of greaseproof paper over the parfait and put it into the fridge until set. 8. Once set, if not eating straight away, pour over a layer of clarified butter which acts as a seal. Keeps in the fridge for a week or so.

Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled, with fresh crusty bread, some chutney and dessert wine if so desired.

The apples simmering away

Apple, Saffron and Ginger Chutney

Quick Apple and Saffron Chutney (adapted from Gordon Ramsay)

Ingredients (makes about 350g)

1. Olive oil

2. Thumb size piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

3. Large pinch of saffron strands

4. 3 shallots, finely chopped

5. 150g caster sugar (then add more to taste)

6. 7.5 tbsp cider vinegar or white balsamic vinegar (I used cider vinegar)

7. 3 eating apples, peeled, cored and chopped

Method

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the shallots, ginger and a good pinch of sea salt, then fry for 3 mins. Crumble in the saffron, sprinkle in the sugar and carry on cooking for few mins until the sugar melts and starts to caramelise, stirring all the time.

2. Tip in the vinegar and apples, the recipe says cook for 5 minutes until the apples are just softened and coated in a syrupy sauce. I found I cooked it for quite abit longer, as the mixture was still quite liquid. I added more sugar at this point also to help it thicken and caramelise. You don't want the apples to become mush so keep an eye on them. Cool and serve. It tastes quite gingery when I tasted the chutney warm, but the flavour was not as strong once chilled.

Can be spooned into an airtight container and kept in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Homesick and Restless

Gifted up

I was at home sick. I was restless. I should rest but resting is just so tiring. What should I do? Should I sleep, should I go for a wander, should I cook? My friends think I have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). I don't. I just sometimes find it hard to stay in one spot, focus on one thing, keep my mind or feet still - but that is just because I am good at multi tasking. I decided to cook.

It is almost Christmas and what better excuse to experiment with homemade food gifts than when you have guinea pigs, who are so far still my friends, to bestow them upon. I had seen a Smoked Chilli Sambal recipe I had been wanting to try by Anna Hansen of the Modern Pantry in London. I love chilli, sambals, satays and any sauces of the like. Give me 5 different types of sauces in any meal and I will likely sample, mix or meddle with just a tiny quantity of each. 

I followed the quantity of ingredients in the recipe, except for the addition of 8 fresh chillies and extra chilli flakes initially - it just did not seem right that a sambal did not have any fresh chillies in the recipe. Then again, it was not coming from a native Malaysian source. I tasted it and found it way too tangy, lacking the smokey dried shrimp flavour and I thought it tasted more like a chilli-ginger sauce that usually accompanies Hainanese Chicken Rice. I also think I didn't deep fry the ingredients for quite long enough. It was at this point my mini food processor decided to die on me! I resorted to the hand blender and added some fried dried anchovies, sugar, salt and more chilli flakes. 

After trying to puree this for awhile and the blender getting stuck, I gave up and bottled and processed the jars*. It tasted ok I thought but have decided it is a tangy chilli sambal, rather than a smokey chilli sambal so I am calling it that. It would go well with Hainanese Chicken Rice or perhaps Nasi Lemak, or really just with any meat or Oriental dish as a condiment or even to cook with. Although the non-rest renders me even more sick - at least I have had time to shop for a new food processor.

The array of ingredients

Deep frying all the elements

The ingredients to be mixed and blitzed

All jarred up

Tangy Chilli Sambal (adapted from Anna Hansen's Smoked Chilli Sambal)

Ingredients (makes about 700g)

1. rapeseed oil for deep–frying 
2. 250g red peppers, sliced 
3. 250g onions, sliced 
4. 250g ripe cherry tomatoes 
5. 80g fresh ginger, cut into fine strips 
6. 80g garlic, sliced 
7. 25g dried shrimps, ground finely in a spice grinder 
8. 1 tsp hot smoked paprika
9. ½ tsp dried chilli flakes (add more to your tasting)
10. 125g tamarind paste 
11. 40ml fish sauce (nam pla)
12. 8 fresh chillies (more could be added depending on taste)
13. handful dried anchovies, grounded
14. pinch salt, and sugar

Method

1. Heat some oil to 180C in a deep–fat fryer or a large, deep pan, then deep–fry the red peppers, onions and tomatoes separately in small batches until they are a deep golden brown – almost burnt–looking. Drain them on kitchen paper and then tip them into a large bowl as you go. 
2. Deep–fry the ginger, chillies and garlic, in separate batches also, until golden brown. 
3. In a small frying–pan, fry the shrimps and anchovies in a some  of the oil from the fryer until aromatic. Add them to the bowl along with all the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.
4. Now blitz the sambal in batches in a food processor until almost smooth, emptying it out into another bowl as you go. Mix the batches back together and allow to cool. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate until needed.

*The jars need to be sterilised. I did this by washing them then boiling the jars in a big saucepan for about 10 minutes. Add enough water so it covers the jars by around 1 inch. Keep the jars hot until ready for use. When the jars have been filled, put them back into the hot water and make sure there is at least an inch of water covering them and bring to a boil for around 10 minutes. When done, you might hear a ping as the lid becomes concave, indicating that they have been sealed properly. Let the jars sit for at least 5 minutes before taking them out to cool. Keeps for a month in the fridge.