tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-176138252008-05-16T13:31:36.700+01:00Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comBlogger336125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-21885960415379238692008-05-14T17:48:00.004+01:002008-05-16T13:31:36.734+01:00

I've been barbecuing a lot in the last couple of weeks, as the UK has sunburned its way through a heat wave. Recently I've been experimenting with old-fashioned barbecue sauce, and I think I've finally come up with a pretty much world-beating home-made version. (Of course, any recipe which starts with eight tablespoons of ketchup can barely be called a recipe - but I hope you'll let me off this

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-41809476519960520922008-05-14T13:30:00.007+01:002008-05-16T13:17:23.407+01:00

I noticed last week that although I've included roast garlic as an ingredient in a few recipes here (use the search tool at the top right of the page if you want to try some when you've made this), I've never dedicated a post to it. This needs to be addressed, because roast garlic, slipped out of its skins onto crusty bread and popped straight into the mouth, still warm, is one of those things

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-71067336448973037312008-05-12T14:15:00.007+01:002008-05-12T15:21:15.729+01:00

Your daily eating schedule in Helsinki is going to be a bit different from what you're used to. Here, it's the norm to eat a simply gargantuan breakfast, then to skip lunch altogether or eat something very, very light in one of the city's cafés. Most hotels offer a large buffet breakfast. Whenever I've been in Helsinki I've ended up at one of the Radissons in town. This visit found us at the

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-17235262029169996472008-05-06T10:26:00.004+01:002008-05-06T11:02:01.808+01:00

I had a stroke of luck the other day, when I found some baby fennel in the supermarket. These tiny bulbs with their tender stalks are delicious. They're a little less strong in flavour than their grown-up cousin, and they've got a lovely texture, giving easily to the tooth with a good crunch even after cooking. If you can't find baby fennel for this recipe, you can use a sliced bulb of the adult

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-92187768869414768052008-05-02T12:36:00.004+01:002008-05-02T12:57:42.224+01:00

The rhubarb has come into season now. We don't have enough room for a rhubarb crown in the garden, but when I was a kid, my parents had a large patch of it, the centre of which lurked under an upturned metal bucket in the early spring to force the pink stems. Gorgeous stuff, and I picked up a muddy armful at the market to make cake with this week, then found I had plenty left over. What better to

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-20946933009286766702008-04-28T12:34:00.005+01:002008-04-28T17:25:51.168+01:00

I'm afraid that this is the second review in less than a month that compels me to start with a wide-eyed appreciation of the toilets. The men's toilets, in this case - one of our friends came down the stairs of this Lappish restaurant, eyes full of bloodlust, and told me I absolutely had to go and have a look at the corridor of death outside the loo. It's an Arctic taxidermist's heaven. A not

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-60605764252197037822008-04-25T14:45:00.003+01:002008-04-25T15:54:10.705+01:00

The Katajanokka area of Helsinki - this translates as Juniper Point in English, which I think is rather splendidly romantic - is where you'll find the Russian Orthodox cathedral, some gorgeous Art Nouveau buildings, and the city's oldest Russian restaurant. Bellevue (Rahapajankatu 3, 00160 Helsinki) opened in 1917, a year which found a lot of Russians looking for an out-of-town venue for

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-69566040576620065102008-04-21T16:41:00.002+01:002008-04-21T21:56:22.489+01:00

So here I am in Helsinki, enjoying fantastic Scandinavian breakfasts and icy-clear sunshine. It's about eight years since I was last here, and I don't know why I left it so long; I love this city, with its mixture of deco and modernist architecture, its lovely tree-lined boulevards, the curiously Baltic quality of light and wonderful, wonderful food. Salve (Hietalahdenranta 11, 00180 Helsinki)

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-51470518406765574092008-04-18T19:38:00.004+01:002008-04-18T19:52:07.184+01:00

Thanks for all the kind emails - I'm still recovering from the flu and am decidedly wobbly, but a whole lot better than I was at the start of the week. Just as well, because next week I'll be in Helsinki, on the lookout for reindeer, vendace roe, rye bread and soused herrings. Cooking's been beyond me since my encounter with this horrible germ, and my tastebuds are still not giving any kind of

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-10486837183738448072008-04-14T09:51:00.004+01:002008-04-14T09:57:21.317+01:00

Apologies to those of you who've been waiting for an update; I'm busy getting over a bout of flu. It's getting better - this is the first day I've been able to get out of bed and look at a monitor without coughing all over it and then being sick, but I'm afraid that the very thought of food is still making me want to crawl back into bed with a box of tissues and die quietly. I am bored stiff.

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-18387339789292146942008-04-07T12:58:00.005+01:002008-04-07T16:25:26.618+01:00

I promised you a post about brining. Brining sounds a bit counter-intuitive at first; how on earth is giving a piece of meat a bath in salty water going to make it taste better? Back in the dark ages when I was at school, cooking lessons were called domestic science. I am unconvinced that there's a lot in common between my constructing a pie and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, but

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-40305004454890627822008-03-31T14:06:00.003+01:002008-03-31T16:25:14.177+01:00

Saki calls itself a Food Emporium. Upstairs, you've got a little Japanese supermarket, all bonito flakes and kewpie doll mayonnaise. Downstairs there's an elegant bar and a small, lacquered-box red and black restaurant. I have spent half an hour staring at a largely blank page, because I have a dilemma. Should I begin this post by telling you about the food or the toilets? I was charmed by both.

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-63412828131636669022008-03-28T12:12:00.003Z2008-03-28T13:05:48.207Z

I was born in the 1970s, which makes Dr W's gift of a fondue set a pleasingly retro and apposite birthday present. Everybody's parents had a set back in the day which they used for entertaining, and I remember hiding on the landing listening to raucous parties, then sneaking downstairs once they'd all finished and my parents had gone to bed. I would then while away the small hours eating any

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-84072918305258762762008-03-25T13:07:00.004Z2008-03-25T14:14:47.336Z

Finally - a gadget I really rate! If you're a regular reader, you'll know that I am not always a huge fan of gadgets in the kitchen. I know that a lot of you have limited storage space your own kitchens, and this means that owning a special great hunk of plastic and metal which is only useful for coring and peeling pineapples is an irritation rather than a help. Most kitchen tasks can be achieved

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-22143510003371460352008-03-10T11:41:00.002Z2008-03-10T12:08:53.344Z

Hotel Chocolat sent me one of their thick-shelled eggs to sample - you can win one in the GD/Hotel Chocolat Easter competition. This year's egg was called You crack me up, and the Hotel Chocolat people appear to have realised since last year that I am, under the wrinkled surface, about twelve, and so respond much better to their slightly less adult offerings. This egg was brilliant - rather than

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-39747546411666117062008-03-05T13:10:00.004Z2008-03-05T14:15:37.211Z

I'm cheating a bit here. The flavours are bang-on Malaysian, but you'd be unlikely to find a shoulder joint cooked in this way in Malaysia proper, where bite-sized pieces of meat are the norm in this kind of a curry. I decided to cook half a lamb shoulder on the bone in this curry sauce to maximise the flavour by keeping the meat near the bone - and because I love the fall-off-the-bone texture

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-54184916708660398452008-03-03T11:33:00.003Z2008-03-03T12:18:53.929Z

This is a lovely starter (or a light meal on its own), and looks a lot more complicated than it actually is, making it a great stand-by for dinner parties. I've prepared my smoked mackerel pate in little ramekins, but you can also take spoonsful of the pate and wrap them, Chinese dumpling-style, in a sheet of smoked salmon tied tight with a string of chive if you want something particularly

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-34250375416337279612008-02-28T12:28:00.003Z2008-02-28T13:00:04.189Z

Way back in the early 1980s, my mother used to get a magazine (now sadly defunct) called A La Carte. It was some serious aspirational 1980s stuff - all glossy pages, gorgeous photos and recipes full of exotic (for the 80s) things like sun-dried tomatoes. Long after the rest of her collection had vanished, one issue of the magazine stayed downstairs on the cookery book shelves. It was Easter, so

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-17276826082815202122008-02-25T11:22:00.001Z2008-02-28T12:18:38.097Z

Easter is coming around the corner very quickly and everyone wants that extra special Easter Egg! Gastronomy Domine has teamed up with Hotel Chocolat to offer you a chance to win some of Hotel Chocolat’s extra special, Extra-Thick Easter Eggs. To enter, click here and simply answer six questions which will take you on an Easter egg hunt to find the secret code. Once you have answered each

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-32305648978040065892008-02-22T09:10:00.003Z2008-02-22T09:21:31.607Z

This is so easy - just slice and bung on a plate - that I hesitate to call it a recipe. Let's call it an assembly. A fennel bulb has an aniseedy, aromatic taste. Its flavour is very smooth, with no hint of acid to lift it, so I like to add some lemon juice whether I'm roasting it or eating it raw. It's a lovely, underused vegetable - try making this very quick salad next time you have a pizza.

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-50179885326278743462008-02-20T13:52:00.006Z2008-02-20T14:43:44.910Z

I don't know what makes me sadder in this article - the behaviour of the animal rights terrorists or the final capitulation of the restaurant. Members of an animal rights group threw bricks through the windows at Midsummer House, attacked their conservatory with glass-etching fluid, used paint stripper on the doors and spray-painted the building with slogans in protest at the restaurant's use of

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-62551372445287000982008-02-20T09:42:00.003Z2008-02-20T10:43:13.321Z

Remember Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas? Gourmet Magazine had heaped hyperbolic praise on it, and called it the USA's best Thai restaurant. We had a good, but not shockingly good meal there in December, but I left unconvinced that the continent lacked any Thai places better than this. What do you know - it's barely two months later, and I've found somewhere that beats it hollow. We visited Typhoon's

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-16241092280529288322008-02-19T15:02:00.005Z2008-02-22T13:09:32.993Z

It's heartening to realise that the richest, velvety-est, most sinful chocolate truffles you can imagine are very easy indeed to make. There's no faffing around with tempering or measuring fat/solid ratios - just some melting and chilling. These dense little balls of silky paradise are full of things that make the animal bits of your brain go tick. The chocolate itself, packed with theobromine,

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-86111973153688616492008-02-18T12:29:00.002Z2008-02-18T12:58:43.267Z

Lemons. Tomatoes. Lots and lots of basil. Who said it was February? I really love a good breading mixture. This one's just great - it's seasoned with lemon zest and freshly ground pepper, so it's really fresh and zingy. I'm sure there are non-fried things just as crispy and delicious as this, but I've yet to find out what they are. To serve four, you'll need: Chicken 4 chicken breasts, without

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17613825.post-29441919168594644572008-02-13T11:05:00.003Z2008-02-13T13:35:14.235Z

Andina (1314 NW Glisan, Portland 97209, tel. 503 228 9535) is the only Peruvian restaurant I've ever come across. It is, at the time of writing, one of Portland's most popular and fashionable restaurants. I should have paid attention to this fact and booked rather than just rolling up on a Thursday night in the hope of finding a free table. There wasn't one, so Dr W and I ended up in the bar

Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13896235681242722952noreply@blogger.com