Lentil Soupville

London's first snow of the year, what do you cook? I cooked lentil soup, rich, thick, savory. I am about to have another bowl for lunch. I used green lentils, chunky carrots, pureed onion, sliced fennel, small sliced potatoes and plenty of spices, umami paste, mushrooms, two kinds, bacon, yum, just a little bacon. It cooked up quickly and easily for a post Thanksgiving meal to soothe the belly and cleanse the system.

All you folks in America had your Thanksgiving on the day. We celebrated on Saturday night at a friends. The menu was simple Thanksgiving. turkey, mashed potato, sweet potato, sausage stuffing, brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, pecan pie, all homemade, all wonderful and a great entrance to the season.

I made a brine for the turkey which involved finding something to brine the turkey in. Our little London flat doesn't hold a turkey sized stock pot. I went out for a container and found one, a plastic storage tub for about 5 gbp, back on the London bus and home to squeeze the box into the cute refrigerator in our flat. Onto the pie!! I baked and it did come out picture perfect and tasty too. The aesthetic value of the yolk wash on the crust is priceless. I took the spare crust and rolled it out and added cinnamon, sugar and brandy butter. This is something my mother always did with extra crusts. It gives you a preview of your crusts' flakiness and taste and it is a small treat for kids or you. The brandy butter was my own inspiration. 

I feel like this is a perfect pie.

Submerged bird, brine makes it so good.

 The next morning, Saturday, our Thanksgiving, I got up at 6:00 am and was dropped off before G went to work. I arrived at our hosts with a drained turkey and had some tea and croissant before we started working on the dinner. When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find the Thanksgiving decorations well underway. The powerhouse behind the festive decorations? Young Maisie. She looked up a bunch of brilliant Thanksgiving photos on the internet and even found a hand turkey instructional. We made 'hand turkeys' and colored them in while the turkey roasted. We had Indian and pilgrim headdresses to wear and we all wore them. What fun! Note:  It is difficult to cook with feathers hanging from your Indian chief headdress.

Maisie's fantastic table decor!

First Thanksgiving dinner!

When I made the stuffing I used sausage, onion, mushrooms, chestnuts and loads of butter and herbs. The mashed potato was pretty straight forward, milk, butter and some sour cream mashed in. The sweet potato we did with sweet white miso and butter mashed together (so good). Besides that, basic cranberry sauce from a bag of cranberries and some sugar and water, one of my favorites, I might eat some right now! Turkey and gravy made the meal and we all ate it up. We had a real traditional dinner and even added some of my family's favorite Thanksgiving traditions:  wine, silly behavior, arguing, shots, and a trip to the ER. The next morning I made fried bread dough, another family tradition, so good yet so bad.

Jamie's Place in my holiday heart

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day, in America. I am in London. It was Thursday here. It was very cold here but, it was not Thanksgiving. In the morning, I felt fine. We are celebrating Thanksgiving on Saturday at a friend's place and I have a pecan pie that I am baking right now. I also have a turkey deep in a brine in a plastic box I went out and bought this morning. So, I had some Thanksgiving preparations to think about. A few hours later, I wasn't feeling as good, lonely and really missing that spirit you feel when almost everyone is at the same purpose of holiday enjoyment. So, I went out into the cold, hopped on the bus, hopped off the bus and kept walking through London. It was a brisk cold weather walk, which can be a great thing. I walked for about an hour and then got on the tube and headed over to Westfield, the giant mall where I was meeting G after work to get our turkey.
I was hungry for lunch and decided to treat myself for Thanksgiving so when I saw that Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant chain had opened there, I decided that would be acceptable. I have eaten at Fifteen in Amsterdam and at Jamie's Italian at Canary Wharf when it was still new. I had had a good experience at Canary Wharf and it wasn't very 'chain' restaurant feeling then and I was looking forward to it. Ok, enough set up, onto the meal.
I ordered the bruscetta with oven dried tomatoes, basil, garlic and ricotta, the Mushroom Tagliatelle special (a half order), and the chocolate espresso tart with figs and orange cream. The greeting was good but I got seated by the window and side door on the coldest day so far this season. So, I felt like I should ask to be moved, since there were many tables open. But, I didn't, I put my trust in the hostess and restaurant to be warm and comfortable. I began by ordering the Grape and cucumber martini sounds good and I needed a kick. The waiter came back and told me they were out of grapes so I could choose something else. So, I  said, what if you just make it without the grape garnish and let me have it? So, it came and it was refreshing. The bruscetta was tasty and I enjoyed it. On the waiter's recommend, I had the special and it came out hot and the pasta was cooked well. The problem was, the mushrooms, a couple weren't soaked well enough and I got grit in my dish in 2 or 3 bites. That ruins the dish. It is no fun to eat grit in your pasta. I left most of the mushrooms and did finish the pasta. I ordered dessert and a dessert wine and contemplated telling the staff about my grit issue. The tart was good and not too sweet. So, I did call the hostess over and I explained my grissue. The manager came over and we talked about it and he was very polite and thanked me for telling him. The check came and I got charged for everything. I thought he would take it off. It was only around 6 pounds. The waitress came and brought the credit card machine and a new check which had the dessert deducted from the bill. I payed and tipped and left. The service was not what I expected. My first waiter was nervous and perhaps it was his first day, it felt like it. My later waitress was more comfortable and helpful. I did end up being cold at my table and that side door was used once during my meal. These are not crimes against humanity but...
In the end, I am reminded the cache that comes with the celebrity name does not translate to the chain restaurant or perhaps I don't translate to the chain restaurant. I think that may be the real grissue. That aside, I love Jamie Oliver and what he is doing. His lunch program, the new fish sustainability program, his 30 minute meals are showing an undereducated public how to cook real food easily and quickly. Thanks Jamie.

Paella sans mussels

Last night I took that juicy chicken and stripped it. I boiled down the carcass with some thyme and rosemary and made a nice stock. I sauteed some chorizo and added the chicken and tossed it in the yummy chorizo oil. I put that aside and sauteed a sort of mirepoix of carrots, garlic, shallot and fennel in the same meaty pan with a little olive oil, toss in paella rice and fry up a bit longer, add umami paste and saffron, then add chicken stock to simmer down. I studded the top with that meaty goodness and off we go. I hadn't even thought of making paella. I found the rice in the cabinet and it all happened from there. The rice got that lovely crispy brown bottom on it and turned out tasting very very nice. G had two bowls and took the rest to work this morning. He did leave me a little for my lunch to which I added a bit more chorizo. I am going to get better at this, I will (meaning:  I did not photograph it). Yum

Sundays of brine and brussel sprouts

At this point, the moisture under the crispy skin was bubbling underneath which gave an alive alien sort of feel to the chicken.

Here is a picture of last night's brined chicken. I am boiling in into a stock right now and am going for some soup or stew this evening. The brine was  brilliant again and I swear the chicken was pulsating with juicy chicken loveliness. Below see the lovely brussel sprouts that I love so much. To make these, you need some smoked bacon and chestnuts. We forgot the chestnuts and I improvised by getting hazelnuts, still tasty but not as good. This is another ode to DC. The sprouts are halved but you also toss in some strips of sprout which cook up into crispy carmelized bits. I can't get enough of these. Yum.

Start these in a pan and finish them under a broiler.

This is all in preparation for Thanksgiving. Although, not an actual holiday here, it is widely recognized and they also do Black Friday sales coming up this week. I have got a dinner planned for Saturday night with some good friends. I will brine the turkey in the salt and sugar mix but may add some other things to that brine(a shoe, mud, etc.). I am making some pie and need to go and buy a pie plate and rolling pin.

Chicken briney

I have been charged with this task so I, like some knight of the food realm, must. I must blog about my culinary adventures and stop just teasing with my Facebook headers.

So, here you go. Last Sunday G came home with a medium sized chicken. We, being decent folk, decided to roast it. There isn't all that much that goes into roasting a chicken well (I know this is a much discussed and written about topic.) I am simply saying that the best chickens I have had, roasted, have a lemon shoved in with some herbs and a massage of olive oil, salt and pepper and they come out pretty perfect. G who so often and correctly looks to David Chang for a bit of inspiration pulled out a brine for the fried chicken, half cup of salt, half a cup of sugar, a warm water bath a couple hours in the fridge. Why not? we asked. So, in you go chickie. After a good soak, the chicken came up from the depths and into the oven with the aforementioned, simple ministrations. Well, out he came from the oven just the crispiest skin and the most succulent juicy meat I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. It was shocking how good it was. It changed chicken for me. It was a poultry revelation. If religion was this good, I might be interested.

We added to the meal some mashed sweet potato with miso butter. This, again thanks to DC for the miso butter, is such a lovely combination of salty and sweet that you will promise to not harm your precious taste buds with anything not so pure and good as these flavors again. (This may be a bit much but, I am going for it!) The chicken didn't ask for this addition to the plate, nor did it need it but, in the end it didn't seem to mind. Push a fluffy bite of sweet potato onto the tender meat and insert into mouth, savor, listen to the silence, marvel at the perfection your mouth holds within, look forward to another bite.

Well, it is Sunday again and chicken is on the menu. This week a good friend sent 'The French Menu Cookbook', thanks to you S, G wants to make a veal stock. I am making the shopping notes. The stock is to cook almost everything in. This is the new experiment, report to follow, this week photos of our friend and new love chicken briney for you to see.