Serious stuff… food hygiene in the kitchen

Soooo boring – I can hear you groaning from here!

Tough – it's the time of year when you do all sorts of crazy things, like eat outside – that is if we ever get any summer weather.

I know before I begin that you'll already be aware and observe what follows, anyway, humour me and who knows, there might be something on the list that you hadn't thought of.

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, just a few basic bits and pieces :

You don't have to use fancy expensive antibacterial sprays. You can't beat hot, soapy water for your work surfaces. If you want to use a spray and I do from time to time I use Milton – if it's good enough for babies it's good enough for me – check out the baby aisle.

I hate and detest (you get my drift) dishcloths, that is to say the type that has to be washed. If you use your washing machine daily then fair enough. If you don't then it makes no sense on any level that a cloth sits and breeds all kinds of yuk. I know that you'll call me names when I say I use disposable dishcloths. I know that it might be considered wasteful and expensive but in this day and age of competitive “supermarkets” and “pound shops”, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Tea towels – yep I get that they have a place but the best way of “drying pots” is to air dry. If you have a “magic box” (aka dishwasher) you'll know that when your cycle is complete and you open the door if you wear specs they completely steam up and the contents is too hot to handle. You'll not get any more hygienic since the washing cycle is at such a temperature the contents is squeaky clean.

Did you know … that the kitchen sink contains more germs than in a bathroom? Bacteria are on our hands, on raw food and on our pets too. It's imperative that you begin with hand hygiene i.e. washing after touching pets, waste bins, before and after touching raw food and obviously before cooking.

Recently I mentioned in A bit of red wine about the lack of kitchen hygiene shown by celebrity chefs – I do appreciate that it doesn't look trendy to talk about boring stuff like education of the food/kitchen sort – may be the celebrity chefs could consider giving something back and include a nugget of knowledge – after all they reach massive audiences.

Vanilla Black - The Book

I know you'd be disappointed if I didn't invest in a Vanilla Black cookery book and so this is what it looks like – complete with tabs to date!

This book – unusually – contains “Vanilla Black recipes adapted for the home kitchen.” Put another way “...from the people behind Vanilla Black, but the food is not from the restaurant. Well, not entirely, anyway.” “...this is a book for home cooks”.

I can see both sides of this coin – i.e. adapting recipes that may be technically challenging – yep, got it. On the other hand I'd expected and looked forward to giving the breads a shot and the butter too.

I must confess to being a smidge disappointed.

However, Andrew Dargue and Donna Conroy got my attention with “Apologies in advance, no pasta bake or vegetable curry”. Hurray and thank you!

There's nothing wrong with the book at all, in fact there are some points made in the introduction that made me giggle and cheer. For example, “...we have a couple of guys washing up constantly. We are guessing that...you do not have...in your kitchen”. At last – somebody out there with some savvy!

The best comment though, is “you don't have to be vegetarian. Just try this food … if you want to serve it with a piece of grilled chicken, be our guest.”

Check out the number of tabs – looks like I'm going to be busy.

A Birthday Treat - Pudding

I'm not a dessert fan but, in the interests of my readers – I hope you realise what a great sacrifice I make in the interests of balanced food feedback for your good selves.

Here are the options :

I have to be honest, I didn't like the long winded and, what I also thought, unappetising vision in my head of option 1. To be fair we did the decent thing and we took one of the desserts each and tasted.

Here's a photograph of the winner and …. how utterly wrong can you be.

I still need to think about the title, it messes with my head and unless I'm getting this entirely wrong it seems to say it can't make its mind up whether it's sweet or savoury. More importantly I don't think it does itself justice.

I suppose what I'm saying is that if I'd have been lunching on my own I would not have ordered it and would have missed an absolute smash. Truthfully, not blown away by the alternative but it just goes to show.

How about the candle and the birthday message – in chocolate of course. It was only mentioned briefly in conversation – nice touch.

Excellent value : £21.50 for 2 Courses and £26.50 for 3.

A Birthday Treat - Mains

The best way I can illustrate how difficult the decision was from the choices is to show you both :

I'm a mushroom girl but, mindful of seasonal choices two hits – asparagus and Jersey Royals, it's easy. The final push would be the Baked High Cross. For those who aren't quite sure what High Cross is, it's a cheese. Hook, line and sinker.

Just cast your eyes over this wondrous plate of food :

Now I know that there are those out there who eat meat and feel deprived and hungry if it isn't on a plate. This main course was probably the best vegetarian main course I've ever eaten in a restaurant. It ticked all my boxes, seasonal ingredients cooked beautifully and cheese. My friend eats meat and her comment was “you don't need it”. Don't knock it until you've tried it.

A Birthday Treat - Decisions, decisions

I just have to say that as a vegetarian (for some 30+ years) it gladdens my heart that I can actually go out to eat and anticipate fantastic food. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I stopped eating out long ago because I became so sick and tired and being served yesterday's tomato sauce tipped over yesterday's pasta – not helped by the fact that I loathe tomatoes – much to the amusement of my meat eating friends.

Anyway – shall it be the chilled pea soup or the sweet potato and puy lentil dhal – hmmm. The dhal wins for both of us.

This is what it looked like :

The presentation was spot on and we were not disappointed on any level. The textures and flavours were perfectly balanced, particularly the soft lentils in the dhal and crispy ones garnishing the dish with the oil. I have to confess – I did something I'd never normally do – even at home – I mopped up the remaining sauce with the artisan breads and I don't care who knows it. I apologised to my friend before I indulged and her exact words were, “thank goodness for that” as she followed suit!

The best compliment I could ever give any chef/cook – I'm not a “mopper” or a “dunker” for that matter – it shouldn't be allowed, but that's another story – rules are meant to be broken.

A Birthday Treat

Now I know what the Queen feels like – two birthdays in a year!

A while back my friend asked, “would I like a day in London with lunch at Vanilla Black for my birthday present?” Erm, give me a nano second - yes please!

Before we landed for our 1pm reservation on the day I'd had a look at their website where you can find sample set lunch menus et al. For starters – so sorry - their information is Vanilla Black 17-18 Tooks Court, London EC4A 1LB 020 7242 2622 www.vanillablack.co.uk.

First impressions are good. Friendly and helpful staff and the ambience is great – have a look see

and then comes the menu – such high expectations!

Initially I can't help but think that clearly the current trend is to produce artisan breads and posh butter or mayo as an appetiser. Don't get me wrong – this is not a complaint - I could sit and just eat the bread and butter and be a very happy bunny!

This ain't any old bread and butter – the taller of the two is the cherry with (from memory, I think) sultana – it matters not in flavour terms – it was divine. The shorter offering was quinoa and soy seeds. Better than divine however was the caramelised lemon butter – on a scale of 1-10 – 20!

This is a great start.

By the way, I happened to notice on our way through to our table – a display of Vanilla Black cookery books - the day just gets better.

Confession time

… how much food do you waste?

Whether you do your shopping by trolley in a supermarket or on line and delivered how many times have you succumbed and been sucked into deals that on the face of it sound great without actually thinking through whether you're going to eat the food?

We all fall for it, even if you plan your meals ahead in an attempt to limit waste and not throw money into your recycling bin.

How often have you found, lurking in the depths of your crisper drawer, wizened carrots?

Shamefully, in my case, I recently bought a 300g punnet of mini portabella mushrooms, they were a great deal. They are a particular favourite of mine so I was a pushover. A few busy days later I happened to check the date on said mushrooms and by now they were at least two, if not three days over their “best before date”.

Drat and double drat.

Here's my rescue recipe for the 300g punnet :

melt a glug of rapeseed oil together with

a generous knob of unsalted butter in a large

saucepan (or frying pan if you prefer)

add a tsp of garlic paste or even two if you're

a fan

ensure the mushrooms are clean and slice

them thickly

add the mushrooms to the oil and butter, season

with salt and black pepper

add a generous pinch of oregano (or

garlic Italian seasoning)

add a glug of either dry sherry or red wine

add a vegetable stock pot and let it melt into

your mushrooms

add a drop of water – 100ml

and cook the mushrooms on a medium heat for

2/3 minutes

Let the mushrooms cool and then transfer

to a pour and store bag for the freezer or an ordinary

container with lid if you prefer

freeze until required

Rescue mission complete, here's a few ideas for your frozen mushrooms when you're ready.

Use as :

a base for a soup

part of a pie filling (with chicken for example)

a Crostini topping – really handy if you have unexpected

visitors

a filling for a savoury pancake, adding a glug

or two of double cream

I've mentioned in a previous post that older mushrooms have more flavour and adding a drop of dry sherry or red wine enhances the flavour.

Phew – waste crisis averted!

P.s. Oh and by the way the rescue recipe is not meant to be swamped in liquid, it's meant to be an intense stock with mushrooms in it. When you're ready to use in whichever way you choose you'll add stock or cream to suit your recipe.