MOCK GIANT WICHETTY

My recent interest in entomophagy isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Most find the idea repulsive, other think I may come in time, and some have even re-thought their diet. In the last two months I have found it hard to get people seeing enotmophagy as a way of the future, rather then novelty. It will take a while yet, and one step towards this movement is a restaurant or a British based supplier.

My new area of interest is Protein Politics; where we’re heading with our obsessive protein consumption, and the coloration between wealth and protein intake/spending. I’ve been exploring possible future scenarios and designing objects or dishes which have a sense of irony to them. It’s almost designing for the future, but with a sense of humour.

I combined my recent ventures in entomophagy and mock meats to create my Mock Veggie Giant Wichetty. As possible as the idea of entomophagy is, I’m trying to question whether we will ever reach the point of exploiting this new protein source. Something that has been done for centuries, may become a large industry… maybe like beef, we end up in short supply?

My Veggie Wichetty is also rather mockingly resembles the almost cartoony mock meats, especially popular in Japan and China. Both my parents are vegetarians, and when living in Malaysia used to eat in Buddhist restaurants, where mock fish, poultry, pork and even beef was recreated using soya and mushrooms. They tasted very similar to the meats they were trying to imitate. They fish and prawns did look like they were taken from a Japanese anime. Here’s a link to veggie world, a restaurant and supplier of Buddhist pure vegetarian food in Milton Keynes.

My idea with this dish was to make something that resembles a Wichetty sliced, with a gooey, bloody inside… just like the type Bear Grills eats. It explodes all over the camera. Jokes:


Getting my Wichetty to explode would be a little ambitious. I thought maybe i could achieve this by using poached egg yolks, but i would run into difficulties when rolling. I instead settled for the bloody red of beetroot.


I tried to keep ingredients British and seasonal as much as possible. The filling is all from Tooting market: carrots, spring onion, grated beetroot, the tender stem of broccoli and egg (make into an omelette). I wrapped this up in Nori Seaweed sheets, into a tight roll. I then wrapped this is sushi rice, and cling filmed it up really tight, and let it in the fridge to set for a few hours.


I tried to make Yuba (tofu skin), but this was fruitless. I think the fat content in the soya milk wasn’t sufficient, and didn’t form a proper skin. So I bought some from my local Vietnamese supermarket in Deptford. I soaked in warm water for five minuets. The texture is really bizarre, almost like thick human skin… perfect for recreating a crispy fried wichettty though! It takes a lot of patients, but eventually it was rolled up nice and tight. I brushed a paste of corn flour and water over the top, wrapped up in cling film, and left over night.

Lunch time the next day, and my beauties were ready to fry! The oil needs to be super hot, and it’s always better to use part old oil, and new oil when frying. I let drain, then sliced into my Yuba rolls.


I plated it up and decorated with flowers. I used a cherry tomato, wrapped in sushi rice and nori seaweed with a glaze of soy, honey and chilli for the head. As comical as it looks, it tasted great. A had a selection of dips to go with it. The yuba is great to create a crispy, not necessarily healthy, but gluten free wrap. The whole thing has a very oriental taste to it… not wichetty really, apart from the beetroot, which has a slightly earthy taste to it. It was very fun to make. Time consuming, yes indeed, but well worth all the work and sourcing the ingredients. Happy Eatings : )

Ant Bombay Mix

I started looking at groups of people who may be interested in the nutritional value of insects. A group who are will to push their bodies to the extreme, whilst also being selective with what they eat, is bodybuilders. Bodybuilders need a lot of protein in their diet, and if they were to start eating insects instead, they may be getting more protein intake then eating conventional meat.

So to try out on bodybuilders, I made an Ant Bombay Mix. A healthy snack for any, but may appeal to bodybuilders because of the nutritional value. Full of protein and carbs with:
roasted chickpeas
lentils
mung beans
dhal
and a mixture of roasted cereals

I flavoured it with a little bit of
salt, turmeric, light chilli powder, and dried coriander leaves

ENTOMOPHAGY VISUAL FACTS

It can sometimes be easier to see data visually, so i created three visual data pieces which may help people see why entomophagy may be the future of protein in take:

Entomophagy: The practice of eating insects

Encouraging people to start incorporating insects into their diet is tricky. Most people see it as novelty in the west. 70% of the world population is said to eat insects regularly. South America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia all eat insects as part of their protein intake. This is mainly because these continents all have large populations of diverse insects and arachnids. Entomophagy is not only considered a better source of nutrients and protein, but is also much better for food miles and the environment.

In developed countries, the average intake of protein per person is 80kg a year, in the USA, this is much higher at 120kg. In the developing countries, the number significantly decreases to 25kg. All figures are rising, and because of this, we need to reassess our protein intake. Traditional meat (beef, lamb, pork and chicken) when imported have massive food miles and release high levels of CO2. Most people tend to forget about animal feed also. For 10kg of animal feed, you get 1kg of beef, 3kg of pork, and 5kg of chicken…

So how are insects better nutritionally and environmentally?

For every 10kg of animal feed you get 9kg of locus
Insects need less space to be farmed
Insects need less energy and maintenance
Insects reproduce at a higher rate and in bigger numbers
A short life cycle – reached maturity quicker
Insects need 1/10 of the energy it requires to rear traditional farm animals
100grams of insects has as much protein as 150g of chicken
Insects contain, fiber, protein, sugars, minerals and even omega 3
In the UK we can eat worms, grasshoppers, ants, slugs, snails, larvae, termites & wood lice

Even with such impressive stats, the west is still a little bit sceptical about this ancient protein source. We eat insects everyday without realising: 1 in 20 dates has a caterpillar in it; muesli sometimes contains the larvae of varies beetles; food colourings made from the shell of beetles. The idea of eating insects can seems unhygienic, primitive, and even disgusting, but if this is the future of protein intake, we may have to change our perceptions of insects. It may seem drastic, but many scientists have looked into it as a way of solving the world food crises. Even if the insects aren’t eaten whole, protein and nutrients can be extracted and used in food manufacturing or to boost protein levels in food.

I’ve tried to come up with a welcome recipe for people who are unsure of the idea. Insects need to be farmed properly in order for them to take on a good flavour. Oven baking and frying insects results in a crispy texture, but a lack in flavour. I found these BBQ worms at edible.com, and thought it was a good easy way to introduce the idea of eating bugs:

Nacho Worms:

Corn Chips
Ice-burg lettuce, shredded
Avocado
Lemon Juice
Crispy BBQ worms from edible.com

Salsa:
Tomato
Tomato paste
Red onion
Red chilli
Coriander


I chopped the ingredients for the salsa as fine as I possibly could. I mashed the ripened avocado with a fork and squeezed lemon juice over it to stop it discolouring. I assembled… and munch munch munch!


They went down well with my friends. I think they were easy to digest due to the salsa and avocado. The worms were more crunchy then anything. To get more nutritional value from them, I would have had to put twice as much on the top… one step at a time though eh?

With a new cuisine out there, I’m up for the challenge. Maybe the flavours need to be worked on as this is something so new, our pallets are not accustomed to the textures and flavours. It will be interesting to see how willing people can be to new ideas and new avenues for food.

CRISPY CRICKETS & PEARL BARLEY STIR FRY

Pear barley is a great substitute for rice. Produced in the UK, it has less food miles then rice, and is healthier as it releases energy slowly. Beetroot and leek are both flavoursome and compliment each other well. Dehydrating, sound more difficult and nerdy then it really is. This way of cooking concentrates the flavour and can be done at home with a conventional oven. In this case, dehydrating the leeks and beetroot makes the dish less stodgy and stops the beetroot turning the whole dish purple. The crickets can be bought from pet shops or specialist bug shops. It “art” of eating insects is called enthomophagy, and is practiced around the world, but there is reluctance in the West. Many people have claimed that this could be the future of protein consumption, as not only are insets high in nutritional value and low in fat, but they are abundant and beneficial to the environment. Whilst it takes 10kg of animal feed to produce 1kg of beef, with locust, we see nine times as much being the outcome. 9kg of locust contains enough protein to keep a person sustained for just over a month. Insects can be cultivated at home, and need not be killed before eating. It is vital to feed the crickets on fruit or herby leaves for a few days before cooking. This gives them a nicer flavour. The day before cooking, place the crickets in the freezer, as this allows them to fall into a deep sleep, making the cooking process easier and preventing any guilty feelings.

Ingredients

2 Cups Pearl Barley
4 Cups Chicken stock
Fresh Grated Beetroot
Thinly sliced Leeks
Field Crickets
Rapeseed Oil
Salt & Pepper

Method

Turn the oven on to 130 degrees Celsius. Place the pearl in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Place over heat and allow to boil. Drain, and rinse thoroughly under cold water. This washes of the starch and prevents the pearls from sticking to each other. Return the barley to the pan and cover with cold chicken stock. Bring up to the boil, then reduce and let simmer for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally. Cover two baking trays with greaseproof paper, and spread the beetroot on one, and the leeks on the other. Place on the bottom shelf in the oven, and leave the oven door ajar. After about an hour, the beetroot and leek should have turned crispy. For even dehydration, carefully move the small pieces around every so often. To cook the crickets, heat up some oil in a frying pan. Once the oil starts to steam, place the crickets in and cook for about 2 minuets on each side, depending on the size. Place on tissue paper and allow to cool. Assemble plate, and sprinkle liberally with the crispy crickets. The legs are especially delicious, as are the heads.

Crispy Gnocchi With Mushroom Gravy and Cheddar

Gnocchi is a classic Italian staple made from potato. In England we are lucky to be abundant in many different varieties of spuds. Using standard British ingredients, I have given a twist to an Italian favourite. Meatless, but still rich in protein and carbohydrates, this dish is filling and warming and is perfectly satisfactory for winter blues. I used cold pressed rapeseed oil, a more sustainable British oil which is seeing a reappearance in British cooking. Subtler in taste then olive oil, which also doesn’t overpower the palate. Perfect for when you want the ingredients to speak for them selves.

Ingredients

2 cups mashed potatoes
1 cup plain flour
Salt to taste
One large red onion
Garlic
Chucky chopped chestnut mushrooms
One large red onion
½ pint of Vegetable stock
Salt
Pepper
Cold pressed Rape Seed Oil

Method

Boil skinned potatoes. Mash well whist hot to a smooth consistency, and sieve in the flour. Mix well, and then turn out to a wooden board, or surface. Kneed with hand until the gnocchi mixture is slightly glutinous. Divide the mixture into six, and roll each section into long cylinders then cut into walnut sized pieces. Put to one side to let dry out. Start boiling a saucepan full f water for the gnocchi, thill then, fry thinly sliced onions and crushed garlic to rapeseed oil in a pan. Fry till tinged, then add the roughly chopped mushroom. Add the vegetable stock to the mushrooms and season well, then allow to reduce. Whist the mushroom gravy reduces, add the gnocchi pieces to boiling water. Once they float to the surface, drain then fry in a hot pan of rapeseed oil. Stir regularly. Once the pieces have crisped and gardened, remove from pan, and serve with the mushroom sauce and a liberal grating of cheddar cheese. Enyjoy!

Rabbit Liver Pate

Rabbits are available all year round, and are also considered pests to rural framers. The heart, liver and kidneys of the rabbit are all edible. Rabbits are suitable for both rural and urban environments. If one can get beyond the idea of eating Thumper, then one will find the meat lean, and very similar to chicken, but more flavoursome.

Ingredients

2 Rabbit livers
1 white onion, diced finely
Handful of parsley stalks
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Black pepper
Sea salt
Good quality cider
50 grams salted butter
250 ml whisked double cream

Method

Fry the onion in some oil with the parsley stalks, until the stalks wilt and the onions start to turn brown. Add the livers to the pan and sears on either side add the cider to the pan and a pinch of nutmeg. After the sauce has reduced, and the livers are fully cooked, drain and blend with the butter in a food processor. Once blended to a fine consistency, fold into the whisked cream. Once the mixture is an evenly mixed, pour into ramekins, and let set in the fridge for 4 hours. Serve with crusty bread.

Mock Pineapple Jelly

Mock Pineapple Jelly

The combination of Rhubarb and Strawberry recreates a very similar flavour to Pineapple. So I have called this Jelly recipe mock Pineapple, as during the war time there were quite a few “mock” recipes which tried to recreate flavours and textures of unavailable or expensive ingredients. I decided to add natural yellow food colouring as it looks more like pineapple jelly.

Ingredients

Preserved Rhubarb in syrup
Preserved Strawberry in syrup
Gelatine leaves
Natural yellow food colouring

Method

Soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water. It is recommended that four leaves are sufficient for a pint of liquid, but this is all dependant on how firm you like your jelly. In a saucepan, heat up some preserved strawberries and rhubarb in their syrup, but be careful not to boil. Once the gelatine leaves are softened, add them to the saucepan and whisk till totally dissolved. Pour into mould, and leave to cool to room temperature. Pop in the fridge to set for five hours. Serve with whipped cream.

Vegetarian Manchurian, making the best of left over Chinese

It’s really annoying when you order food online/over the phone, and what you get is not exactly what you expected. It’s even more annoying when the take away can charge ridiculous prices for their food because they’re the only restaurant that deliver in the area, and accept card. Anywho, so I believe one has to at least try and make most of a shit take away. So when I had loads of disgustingly sweet Kung Bo “Seasonal” veg and fried rice left over from my Chinese take away last night, I thought even though it was shit, I was going to try and rectify it by turning the two very dull dishes into one very excitingly tasty dish: vegetarian Manchurian.

The kung bo “seasonal” veg already had in it (nothing seasonal at all):
Cashewnuts
Pineapple
Pak Choi
Mushrooms
Carrots
Water Chestnuts

I drained the veg of the horrible sauce, and to add a bit more flavour, I added:

Chinese Five Spice
Chopped Chilies
Shallots
Grated carrots
Roughly chopped Spring Onions

I blended all the above in a food processor. To make the mixture thicker and well bound I added some rice flour. I used a teaspoon and shaped the mixture into roughly formed balls. I deep fried in batched of 8, careful not to over crowd as this can cause sticking and could also mean lack of colouration. I wanted the rice in the mixture to give the balls a dark brown exterior, and a nice crisp coating. When cut open, they should retain a moistness, although the rawness of the rice flour should be cooked off. It’s essential that the oil be kept over a consistently medium flame and that the balls be around the size of a golf ball. This should ensure well-cooked Manchurians.

To make the sauce, I fried some thinly sliced garlic and chilies in some oil till the garlic started to turn slightly brown. I then added some Saracha sauce, light soy sauce, and honey. I let the mixture bubble and reduce till it became a sticky constancy. I added the Manchurian balls, turned the heat off and rolled the balls so they were coated. I didn’t want them sitting in the sauce for too long as they would start to absorb the liquid and lose they’re crunchiness. Lastly I garnished with a healthy hand full of spring onions.

I personally think as a dish, it can be eaten by it’s self, but just to bulk it our I had it with some left over noodles from the night before…. Happy Eatings : )

HAPPY FOOD

I designed a poster for a concept website where people can get recipes for umami sauces, depending on their region (locally sourced/grown food), seasonality and choice of ingredients. The aim is for people to realise the variety of flavours there are out there and the ways they can make their food more interesting by using the taste of umami, even with limited ingredients.

WHO’S U-MAMI SAUCE

So with all my research into the umami flavour, I wanted to great a sauce that could be used in cooking as a way of enhancing or bringing out the natural flavour of ingredients when used in small amounts. When used in larger amounts, the flavour of the sauce would mask any nasty tastes of unpleasant foods, that would be eaten for nutritional value (eg, brussel sprouts, soya, offal).

I looked into ingredients that could be found in England, and suitable ways of preserving them. Making a sauce seemed the most convenient. Most of the ingredients used are easily preserved in their state, but I had a few cherry tomatoes which was given to me by a friend who has started growing indoors.

Ingredients:
Soy Extract (umami ingredient)
Mushroom Extract (umami ingredient)
Cherry Tomato Puree (umami ingredient)
Anchovies (umami ingredient)
Shallots
Garlic
Scotch Bonnet
Szechuan Pepper
Molasses
White wine vinegar

Method:
I started by frying off 4 garlic gloves, 4 shallots, 2 scotch bonnets and a table spoon of Szechuan pepper, until the oil was flavoured. I then added Mushroom extract and soy extract and let simmer on a low heat for about 10 minuets.


I removed the whole ingredients, and let the concentrate cool. The whole shallots, chillies and garlic could be saved and used in future cooking. As the umami flavours of the soy and mushrooms would have been absorbed, the shallots, garlic, and chillies can be used in other dishes to enhance flavour.


In another pan, I started by frying off a few fillets of anchovies. Once melted, I added my cherry tomato puree. I stirred in the soy and mushroom concentrate, added a couple of table spoons molasses and two table spoons white wine vinegar then left the sauce to simmer for an hour. Once cooled. I poured into my bottle.

I made a label to stick on my bottle:



I spread some of my special sauce on toast before grilling with cheese on top. It’s a delicious sauce, with complex, deep flavours. It gives simpler dishes a fuller flavour. Only very little has to be used as the glutamate levels exceeds roughly about 600mg/100mg from my calculations. This is seven times more then cheddar cheese, and half as much as marmite.

I developed this idea as a sure guarantee of having a tasty meal in the case of a poor harvests, unavailability of certain ingredients, and a way of preserving. If we were to become self sufficient, simple solutions like these would help keep people creative in the kitchen.

UMAMI

Umami is said to be the 5th taste along with sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Umami, is hard to describe best many do by calling it subtly savoury. Umami was first discovered by the Japanese scientist Dr. Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University in 1907. He did some research into why dashi (a Japanese stock made from Kombu- a type of seaweed), tasted so good. He found that Kombu was high in glutamatic acid, and this was the what gave dashi its delicious flavour. Dr. Ikeda termed this distinctive flavour, Umami. With further research, a wide variety of foods from around the world were discovered to have high levels of glutamatic acid: like tomatoes, anhovies, beef, asparagus, green tea, mushrooms etc.


“Those who pay careful attention to their tastebuds will discover in the complex flavour of asparagus, tomatoes, cheese and meat, a common and yet absolutely singular taste which cannot be called sweet, or sour, or salty, or bitter…” - Dr. Kikunae Ikeda

Dr Ikead, successfully managed to isolate the glutamatic acid from kombu, and from this created sodium glutamate, better known as Monosodium Glutamate. The company Dr Ikead worked for, the Ajinamoto Coperation, took this discovery forward and produced a marketable product. Ajinamoto was sold as a flavour enhancer and spread world wide. Being cheap and as readily available as salt, the product was much welcomed in less developed parts of the world. Places where harvests were less predictable, and where the range of ingredients were limited.


There has been a lot of bad press surrounding MSG, and this tends to be because of its use in manufactured products. There are no serious or harmful effects from it, although claims of migraines have been reported, but this is due to high levels of consumption. Until recently, MSG could be bought in supermarkets, but due to our change in food attitudes, this is no longer available. Many restaurants, though, still use MSG as a way of keeping the level of food consistent. This is an example of a great discovery taken out of context. We have very little room for “unnatural” ingredients, but if we were put in a situation where we had limited food, and a lack of choice when in came to ingredients, would we too re-think an ingredient like Monosodium Glutamate?

POP-AGANDA!

So, I’ve been really interested in a supposed World War 3 situation, and how we would cope with it. The reduction of imports would mean exotic ingredients wouldn’t be so readily available. Our dependence on locally grown, seasonal and preserved foods would grow. Government propaganda would also surround us, encouraging us to support the choice of war. As you can imagine, a WWIII would be significantly more devastating compared to previous wars. With nuclear weapons and chemical war fare destroying cities with a simple touch of a button. I’m pretty sure, a war on this scale would last for many years, with the consequences being way bigger then ever seen before.

So with all this horror, I came up with a subversive product which the British Government could realise: Popaganda. A lollypop, which bought by kids, would encourage and condition them for war. The lollypop shaped like am army man, would be handed out to kids as a treat. Maybe this sugary treat would lift the moods of children, whilst also being a pre-training for war.

I looked into different flavour combinations, and from reading an extract by Edmund and Dixon, American food writers from the 1800s, I found the combination of rhubarb and strawberries, created a mock Pineapple flavour. This flavour combination could be used in other possible foods and drinks from tarts to cocktails.



I needed to make a casting, so I could make a lollypop shaped like a solider. So I got my mould of a solider from a toy army man. I stood him up on a plinth….



I covered him in a box of clear acrylic. (It wasn’t a perfect box by any means, so I needed to seal up any gaps with some plastering.)



I filled it up with rubber silicon and let him set for a good hour. Once removed from the over, I broke of the acrylic, cut down the sides, so to create the male and female parts of the mould. I filled it up with my sugary rhubarb and strawberry mixture (This was very difficult, as I made the mixture without using a sugar thermometer. I do highly recommend getting one if making any kind of sugar craft). I let it set for 20 minuets, and then removed from mould.



I also made a wrapper to go with it. I used the net, of old ice-lolly wrappers. They seemed well suited. I was in a bit of a debate, as to weather I should have called the flavour pineapple, or Rhubarb and Strawberry, but in the end, as the colour I chose was red, I decided to stick with the latter. I also came up with a few other possible typical English flavours like sherbet and strawberry & cream.

SHOOTING STARS

I came across some edible paper in the Sainsbury’s the other day, and picked it up, not really knowing what I wanted to do with it, but knew I wanted to do something. It was only 99p for a pack of 12 A5 potato starch sheets, which is very decent, so why not. I found the paper very similar to rice paper. It is a little bit more stiff then rice paper, but still quite malleable, and as the serving suggestion suggests, good for cake decorating. It is pretty taste-less, but this means it can take on not only colour, but taste also. One thing I really like about edible paper, is its “third dimension”: taste. It can also be its downfall though, as any liquid added on it instantly dissolves the paper, reducing it to mush. So great care has to be taken with handling it, but otherwise, it’s a great “new” product available in most supermarkets.

So, anyhow… I was playing about with the paper, trying different origami shapes, and one that seemed to hold really well was the origami star. The stiffness of the potato starch paper means too many folds and creases result in tears and weak edges. But the star holds very well, and has a hollow centre great for filling…








There are a few things I could have tried to fill my starts with, but nothing would have been best suited then a sweet, spongy, meringue filling. So I made a few stars, set them aside, whilst I made a simple meringue mixture: 1 egg white; 70grams caster sugar; 1 tsp corn flour; 1 tsp white vine vinegar. I separated it into three and added strawberry flavouring to one, peppermint to another, and lemon to the last.




















I got three syringes (left over from the Cherry Bombs) and filled each with a different meringue mixture. I injected a couple of stars, being carful with how much went in, as the meringue filling would expand during cooking. I also had to be careful that they weren’t sat around for too long between the injecting and popping into the oven phase, as the liquidly filling inside would start dissolving the paper. Before they went into the oven, I gave them a quick brushing of natural food colouring mixed with honey and sugar to give them a slight glazed exterior.



They didn’t take longer then 5 minuets, and came out with a crisp finish. I let them cool for another 5 minuets so that making the holes for the sugar spear was made easier.

I made the sugar spear by melting sugar in a pan, till it just started to turn a rich caramel colour. I then let it cool a little till it was just manageable to handle, and plied it to a spear shape. I must add that this was rather coincidental as I was initially trying to create this shape with a spoon, but as it cooled and stuck to my spoon, I tried to twist and pull it away, and thus… this rather perfect shape was created! I made a pierced the stars through with the needle from the syringe, then very carefully let the sugar spear follow through. This was a very delicate job.




















Well, it’s not really a filling desert as such, but it was rather fun to create. It’s quite remarkable what can actually be done with edible paper. Used with the right vegetable ink, edible paper can leave suspended txt/images in jelly. This looks very impressive, but is actually really quite simple. You can also buy edible ink (not for all printer types, mainly inkjet Canons and HPs), which doesn’t have the best quality finish, but does mean you could possibly eat a picture of yourself!!! Homaro Cantu’s restaurant in Chicago, Moto, prides itself on being a futuristic, postmodern eating experience, by using inkjet printing on edible paper in their recipes/inventions. Diners order from, then eat the edible menu which is made of parmesan-flavored rice paper which has been imprinted with edible soy ink. Puffed rice and freeze-dried shallots frame the menu, which sits on bed of crème fraiche. Once the presentation has been admired and the food ordered, the “menu” is stirred up and becomes the first course of risotto. Sounds mental… looks it too. Here’s a link to their website: http://www.motorestaurant.com/ . It’s defiantly worth a gander if molecular gastronomy is your kind of thing. Happy Eatings!

THE ULTI-MELT BLT

Everyone loves a good BLT, and I’m sure there are a few interesting takes on the classic. I have quite a few: BLT with a healthy spreading of Philly; BLT with dried onions; BLT with mustard and mayo; BLT with a generous dollop of Nando’s sauce…. But this is all dependent on what’s in the fridge really. It’s good to improvise I find. A good veggie take is Baco Bits instead of actual bacon… it’s surprisingly yummy, but nothing compared to real bacon. I have sampled a lot of bought BLTs and none come close to Pret’s. I think it’s the generous filling that does it for me. The equal amount of bacon to tomato and lettuce and the creamy mayo all in between two wholegrain multi seeded buttered slices. I also recommend Madison’s (New Cross). They have a “special BLT” which has the addition of coleslaw, and if you ask, red onion too. The problem with shop bought BLTs is that they tend to use streaky bacon, and as crispy as it is, it’s not as good as a proper rasher of salty, meaty, porkyness. A nice rasher of bacon gives a fullness to the sandwich, so a home made BTL wins hands down, any day for me. It’s something that I think requires a bit of time and dedication. So before my cousin’s engagement do on Sunday, I knocked up a few hearty sandwiches to see us through the day. It didn’t help with getting into our saris, but it kept us content till dinner.



The four essential ingredients: Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, and the Bread, have to be of reasonably good quality. I used free range, beechwood smoked English dry cures back rashers, from Hampshire Bores. Their meat is known for its tenderness and taste. I got my tomatoes and gem lettuces from the local farm shop. The multi seed bread was bought the day before from our local baker. It really isn’t very expensive to ensure the use of good quality food, it just requires a bit of effort and it’s well worth it in the end. My additions were: Camembert cheese, shallots in balsamic vinegar, oxford sauce and mayonnaise. Oxford sauce is difficult to describe. It’s a little bit like HP sauce, but not really. It goes well with mayo. The BLT works well, cause it has the saltiness from the bacon, the crunch from the lettuce, and the tomato acts as a flavour combiner and natural sauce creator. There are so many things that work well with each element of the sandwich that makes combinations limitless. Like cheese, mayo and butter. All quite fatty, but they go well with the salt from the bacon. The freshness of the salad leaves and tomato cut through the salty fattiness, and cleanse the pallet, ready for the next bite. The shallots were caramelised in balsamic vinegar to rid of any acidity and make them a little sweeter. Shallots tend to crisp up a little to, so also add a bit of texture as well as taste.



To cook my bacon, I got my griddle pan out, turned the heat up on the gas, put a little oil in the pan once it got hot, then once it started to smoke, I placed my bacon rashers down. I gave them less then 30 seconds on each side, took then off and placed to sit whilst I got on with toasting my bread. If I were feeling really naughty, I would have got my toasted bread and soaked it in the bacon juices in the pan. But instead of this, I toasted my multi-seeded bread in the grill, then spread on my special oxford-mayo sauce. I then began the stack:



For food porn lovers… here’s a close up….



Right, so I closed the sandwich… sat down with a big cup of tea and took my time over enjoying ever bite. My mother wasn’t very happy, but she’s a vegetarian and got a cream cheese and salad sandwich. “Why are you taking pictures of your sandwich? We’re already running late.” She did have a point. But it was so yummy, I could have had another one… oh well, till the next BLT… Happy Eating!

DRYING FRUIT… THE EASY WAY… AND SOME

As Autumn comes around the corner, and as less fresh fruit is in season, a good way of preserving the tastes of summer fruits is simply drying them out. I’ve had quite a few apricots and peaches I bought from a local farm in Olney sat in my fruit bowl. I was planning on doing something with them, but just couldn’t make my mind up on what. So a few days passed, and I started to notice my organic apricots were starting to become a little over ripe. I needed to take drastic action. I didn’t want to make apricot jam, as it seemed clichéd and there wasn’t much left to the imagination after the jamming process. So I looked into other preserving methods, and drying seemed the most obvious. Now, the dried fruit you by from the shops tends to have been through a really long soaking and drying process, which I just didn’t have the means of recreating. They also then to have a lot of added sugar in them which takes away from the actual sweetness of the fruit. So I looked into other more traditional ways of drying, but this requited a hot, dry outdoor climate… not going to happen. But I could try and create a hot, dry environment with my oven. This, I found out, could be done by turning the oven up to a very modest temperature of 60°C and leaving the oven door slightly ajar. Also, to ensure the fruits dried evenly, they had to placed on the lower shelf, and straight onto the rack. The cooking process is long, and dependent on how big/dense the fruit pieces are and on how “dry” you want your fruit. All fruit before drying in the oven needs to be preserved in some kind of sugary preserving solution. In mine, I dissolved 1 part sugar and 1 part honey to some water. I placed on the hob till it bubbled and reduced. I then added the pitted and halved apricots and let them sit in the solution for 2 minutes. I removed and placed on my wire rack in the oven. I was initially planning on keeping them in the oven for 6 hours, but after this time, I realised I needed to push the fleshy part of the fruit up a little and let it dry out a little more for a further 2 hours.




















Long, yes. But it is well worth it. The flavours are even more concentrated and the skin becomes wonderfully chewy. My apricots were finished by 10 in the evening, and as I had a little munch on my dried fruit whilst watching Top Chef… I had a little brain wave, that just wouldn’t leave the circulating thoughts in my head…. Peach Meringue Roulade. I had all the ingredients… I needed to make it reality. Crisp, but spongy meringue, peach jam, honey vanilla cream, topped with flaked almonds and chopped dry, chewy apricots! I set about making it:

Meringue Base:
5 Egg Whites
300g Organic Unrefined Caster Sugar
3 tbsp Cornflour
1 tbsp White Wine Vinegar

To make the meringue base, I whisked the egg whites till they got to the soft peak stage. I then whisked in the vinegar and gradually added in the cornflour and sugar. The meringue mixture is ready when I becomes glossy and very stiff. I spread out the mixture as evenly as possible at approximately an inch thick on a large piece of greaseproof paper, and then placed in the oven on the middle shelf at 160°C for 15 min. I then turned the temperature down to 110°C for a further 20 min. Once completed, I took it out of the oven to cool.




















Peach Jam:
4 Plump Peachy Organic Peaches
200g Organic Unrefined Caster Sugar
4 tbsp Lemon Juice

I firstly got my peaches and scored a cross on the bottom of them. I placed them in boiling water for a couple of minuets. I then removed them and instantly placed them in a bowl of iced water. This process helps making removing the skin a lot easier.

Once skinned, I chopped them up and placed in a saucepan along with the sugar and lemon juice. I read somewhere once, that to keep the colour of any jam, it needs to be cooked on a high heat, and very quickly. So all in all, once blitzed and allowed to bubble, I let it reduce and cook for no longer the 15 minuets. I let it cool by an open window. Once cooled, it becomes more viscous and more jam like. I spread this on the turned-upside-down meringue.



















Dried fruit:
I decided to chop up some of my dried apricots to use in my roulade. So I carefully removed, chopped and separated the chewy skin parts and the fleshy inner parts for the apricots. The skins to be used as a topping on the roulade, and the fleshy part to be mixed in with the cream.




















Honey, Vanilla, Apricot Cream:
1 Pot Double Cream
1 Pot Crème Fraiche
1 Vanilla Pod
3 tbsp of Honey
10 Fleshy Halves of Apricots
200g Organic Unrefined Icing Sugar

I whisked the cream and crème fraiche together till it became thick. I then mixed in the vanilla seeds, the honey and the apricot halves. I slowly sieved in the icing sugar which I thought I decided to add to give the cream mixture more stiffness… but it became a little more watery at this stage which was worrying. I let it set in the fridge for a good half hour, and nothing changed. It was getting late, so I decided to pour the cream out over the meringue anyways and let it set. I waited another 30 minuets.




















The time was coming closer to 2am, and my patience was running thin. I was starting to feel a little tired and run down by the long cooking process. Surely I had the patience to wait, especially after all this hard work…




















What can I say. Impatience got the best of me. It was purely a moment of impulse, and if I was thinking straight I would have known, Icing sugar takes a good hour to set properly. I knew it was a destructive reckless moment and there was no way of mending my now very sorry looking roulade.


































I was very very upset, but all I could do was make best of what I had. So I plated it up as well as I could, sprinkled my toasted flaked almonds and dried apricot skins over the top. It didn’t look very nice, but it tasted absolutely delicious! It was tangy, sour, creamy, crunchy and so very naturally sweet. They honey and vanilla cream complimented the peach jam very well. The meringue sponge was the right density, but still lovely and crisp on the outside. It was lovely. I think next time I will have to either exclude the icing sugar… or just be more patient, as the next day when I opened my fridge to get some milk, I noticed the cream in the roulade had set nicely to the right consistency… oh well. Made a nice change from Weetabix for breakfast. Happy Eating!