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Daring Baker’s Challenge: Potato & Rosemary Pizza

Posted in Cooking and Recipes, Dinner recipes

Finally, after months of reading everyone’s stories about The Daring Bakers I finally joined. I was initially hesitant, not knowing if my skill level was high enough given some of their amazing challenges (Opera cake-eek!). But as luck would have it, the first month’s was pizza. Phew I said but then read on, not only would we be making pizza, we would be twirling our own dough. Eeek! The only twirling I’ve ever done in my life is to show off an outfit so this was most certainly new to me. But that’s the whole idea of Daring Bakers: to challenge yourself.

The pizza can be made in stages and the mixing was interesting, certainly using less yeast than I’ve used before. The dough sat in my fridge for 1.5 days and when it was ready, I tried to throw one to no success. The dough was too delicate and I had spread it too far. Also I had no idea about the actual throwing technique, only remember vaguely it done on tv. So I watched a youtube video of how exactly a professional pizza maker makes it (and promptly freaked out, he was so good and fast!). I saw that using your knuckles to push out the dough to the edge to form a high border before trying to throw it helped, the dough on the inside was thin and almost see through and to the point of breaking, while the outer remained thicker and easier to pick up a slice. Flour is also your greatest friend when it comes to tossing so that the pizza doesn’t stick to your hands. I didn’t get mine close to being a circle, as I had an oven tray and not a round pizza stone, it wouldn’t have done even if I had wanted to.

I racked my brains trying to think of an appropriate Italian topping, after all we were making pizza the authentic Italian way. The first thing I thought of was a potato topped pizza. Friends that have been the Italy swear by this creation, and insist (and I do mean insist) that it is only topped with paper thin slices of potato, rosemary and salt. No cheese shall even touch this pizza if you were to make it like they do in Italy. I had to put some sort of sauce on this to qualify for the challenge so I used an aioli (garlic mayo) spread thinly on the base.

The key to this is how thinly you slice the potatoes, if they’re too thick, then they won’t cook in time. You need to slice them as thinly as you can and they should be translucent-use a mandolin if you have one so that they are even. I enjoy the art of potato arranging so that it looks like a shell pattern on a wallpaper.

Below is the non gluten free version of the pizza recipe and I follow this with the utterly simple directions on making the potato and rosemary pizza (for a gluten version, please check out the blogroll with all of the other Daring Bakers). Don’t scoff and don’t be put off by the lack of cheese, it’s absolutely wonderful on this thin and perfectly textured pizza dough with the slightly crunchy base from the cornmeal. Sometimes the simple things in life are often the best (shhh just don’t tell my husband!).

32 comments | October 30, 2008 - 4:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road restaurant, London

Posted in Cheap Thrills, Eating, NQN's most memorable moments and meals, Outside of Sydney

Gordon Ramsay once said that his Royal Hospital Road is his pride and joy, if all goes bottoms up then he always has that baby. Only open Monday to Friday it’s also the hardest place to get a table, and at up to £120 a meal for just lunch, the costliest of his restaurants. To secure a coveted table one needs to ring exactly one month in advance, and to secure the table give them your credit card details and should you not show, they can at their discretion, deduct £100 per person for the meal missed. It’s all phrased very courteously but you get the feeling that they wouldn’t hesitate in doing so.

Dear sister of NQN,

Firstly let me thank you for your interest in Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.

I am pleased to confirm your table reservation at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, located at 68 Royal Hospital Road, London, SW3 4HP as follows:

Where guests wish to make a reservation, it is the restaurant’s policy to secure the booking with their credit card details. In the event that the booking is cancelled in whole or in part by you with less than 24 hours notice or results in a no-show it will be at the discretion of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay to charge £100 per person to your credit card.
We are sorry that this has become a requirement but, regrettably, our experience dictates this precaution. We would be grateful if you could indicate your acceptance by completing and returning this form in order to confirm your booking by fax on 020 7592 1213
Email us at: royalhospitalroad@gordonramsay.com. Unfortunately, we will have to release the table if we have not received the completed form within 48 hours.As we will call you a day before to reconfirm, may I ask you for a contact number where we will be able to reach you on the working day prior to your reservation. Cancellations must be made in writing and sent by fax to 020 7592 1213 or by e-mail to royalhospitalroad@gordonramsay.com

Verbal cancellations cannot be accepted.
We very much look forward to welcoming you at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.
On Behalf of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay

Picture in menu

The night before, we were left a rather firm sounding voicemail that we were expected at a certain time. The outside of the restaurant is understated elegance, with a simple plaque outside the door and a simple white building as befits the upmarket Chelsea area it resides in. Walking through the corridor there is a small area for guests to wait which also has many copies of his 3 Star chef book for those to read. There is no waiting though as service is brisk, they know who we are and lead us to our table. As it’s earlyish (12.30pm) the dining room room is about half full but within half an hour, all tables are full of diners.

The menu (excuse the fingerprints!)

The manager Jean-Claude Breton is a smoothie, reminiscent a little of Jerry Orbach. He asks us who is “hosting” the table to which we reply “Umm no-one”. Ahh ok not a problem, he smiles and hands us all menus. My sister and I don’t have prices on our menu but my husband has prices in his which is a first. It’s a nice touch if someone is hosting the table so that other guests feel more comfortable ordering without keeping watch of the price.

On the first pages are the a la carte menu featuring ravioli or lobster, langoustine and salmon poached in a light bisque with a lemongrass and chervil veloute as well as slow braised pied de cochon pressed then pan fried with ham knuckle, poached quail’s egg and hollandaise sauce as well as other fantastic sounding dishes. These can be had for £120. There is also following a menu Prestige or a tasting menu made up of 7 smaller dishes for £90. Then there is the Menu of the day, with 3 courses for £45.

Bread with salted and unsalted butter

We order a bit of everything from the Menu of the Day so that everyone can taste all of the dishes. Whilst we are waiting we receive salted and unsalted butter and are asked if we would like olive, white or brown sourdough bread. The olive is my husband’s favourite whilst the white sourdough thickly slathered with salted butter is my sister’s and mine. The service from the staff is wonderful, quiet and unobtrusive but anticipatory of your needs.

Amuse Bouche: vine riped tomato consomme

An amuse bouche arrives, a tomato consomme flavoured with coriander. It’s poured at the table and is intensively sweet with ripe tomatoes.

Quail and wild mushroom pithivier with confit leg and celeriac remoulade

25 comments | September 8, 2008 - 8:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Tapas Brindisa at Borough Markets, London

Posted in Eating, NQN's most memorable moments and meals, Outside of Sydney

Tapas Brindisa can be intimidating. Intimidating in that it is ALWAYS crowded, no matter what time you go past and that unless you flag down the manager, you’ll stand virtually ignored, a persona non grata. Brindisa doesn’t take reservations and given the roaring trade, it doesn’t need to. Reservations would simply hold up the process. I adore Spanish food and my gut instinct tells that it is taking over the world (or at least my little part of it). And the thing that has my tastebuds drooling is the idea of eating Jamón ibérico de Bellota, the Wagyu of pork where in Spain or Portugal Black Iberian pigs are raised on a diet of acorns and allowed to roam free in oak forests. The ham is then cured for up to 36 months in the fresh mountain air.

We’re back at Tapas Brindisa at dinner time after being the ignored subjects mentioned above at lunch time when people and plates were whizzing past at a furious speed and our presence caused not a single soul to look our way. We didn’t realise that we needed to get the attention of the manager so we stood there for 10 minutes before leaving as we realised that a table would not be forthcoming, not just because of the huge queue of people already waiting.

Tonight, fortified by false courage, I steel myself and approach the manager thinking that I’ll be dismissed but he gives a broad smile and apologises that there aren’t any table available but that one should be in about 45 minutes so we can come back in 30 minutes. We go for a walk around and take a peek at Neal’s Yard (who have a huge shower running in their store, presumably for moisture to aid in the cheesemaking process) and a Paul Smith store nearby before we return 30 minutes later. There isn’t a table yet although the manager tries to get another table outside set up for us. We wait outside as inside is chaos with bodies standing, sitting and waiting while waiters weave through them with plates of delicious Spanish Jamón and tapas.

While waiting, we ask the manager what time is good to come by and he says “5.30pm but once it is 6 o’clock, all of the tables are gone. At lunch, maybe 12noon?”. A friend who has been here previously has said that even 12 o’clock is too late, it’s 11.50am or nothing. Once the clock strikes 12, it’s musical chairs. He offers us all drinks on the house (wine or soft) for the wait which is a welcome and charming gesture. A table magically frees itself a few minutes later and we are sitting with our complimentary drinks (a gigantic bottle of sparkling mineral water, a Coke and a Rosé wine).

The prize, a food porn worthy shot of the Jamón ibérico de Bellota (Pata Negra)

We’ve already perused the menu having done so while waiting and we ask the waiter if any of the Jamón ibérico de Bellota (Pata Negra) is available and he smiles broadly as if we’ve said the magic words and says “Pata Negra?” and we nod enthusiastically. He points us to the “Gran reserva Joselito Ham-hand carved” for £20 which we immediately order. We also order the Regional charcuterie selection: Teruel Serrano ham, loin, chorizo and salchichon with bread and olive oil £10; potato, chorizo and pepper omelette with aioli £4.65; Deep fried Monte Enebro goat’s cheese with orange blossom honey £6.65 and for good measure, some spicy toasted broad beans £1.

Spicy toasted broad beans £1

The first to arrive is the small plate of spicy toasted broad beans, the beans dried and crispy with a liberal sprinkling of spice powder. They’re like good quality chips.

Gran reserva Joselito Ham-hand carved £20

Our prize, the Jamón ibérico de Bellota arrives next, hand carved and arranged on a plate. I’m surprised at how much we get, from what I’ve seen you get 3-4 slices of it in Australia for about $30 but this looks like more. Tasting it, it’s smooth and intensely flavoursome, a bit like a meat jerky but please don’t let that description put you off, it’s much, much better of course. I mean more as a testament to the intensity of the flavour.

Regional charcuterie selection: Teruel Serrano ham, loin, chorizo and salchichon with bread and olive oil £10

Our regional selection plate is certainly impressive and causes passing pedestrians to almost bump into each other and drool over our table. There is loin (the pale slices), chorizo (thinly sliced rounds), salchichon (another speckled sausage) and Serrano ham, the paler version of the Jamón ibérico de Bellota.

7 comments | August 29, 2008 - 8:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Emile Henry Tagine Road Test: Moroccan Beef Tagine and Creamed Polenta

Posted in Cooking and Recipes, Dinner recipes

Ever since I’d had a Tagine at Kazbah I’d been literally pining for one. I had dropped not too subtle hints to no avail as it was already past my birthday and long before Christmas. Until the kind people at Kitchenware Direct sent me a gorgeous Emile Henry Red Tagine to road test. I liked the look of the Emile Henry Tagines as it had a designer badge (old habits die hard and extend to cookware) but the fact that Kazbah used them meant that it was suitable for frequent use and was therefore durable.

I was curious about these, having been warned that they required all sorts of treatment prior to use and all sorts of sorcery and being short of eye of newt, I had shied away from making an actual purchase. However a friend of mine has one and uses it all the time and said that they’re a cinch to use. When we went over to her house for dinner, she cooked up a gorgeous beef tagine and kindly passed on her recipe.

I rejigged it slightly, well actually simplified it, by buying a packet of Herbies Tagine Spice mix in place of the herbs and spices although I’ve added the spice measurement in case you can’t get a hold of the Herbies Spice mix. If you can, do buy a packet, I’ve tried the Tagine using their spice mix and also using the herbs and spices below and I can say unequivocally that using the Herbies mix makes it that much more aromatic and richly gorgeous. I realise that I’m not being totally traditional (Lamb is more traditional than Beef) and by serving this with creamed polenta instead of couscous is no doubt a politically incorrect culinary faux pas but I had polenta to hand and not couscous. Given the syrupy thick sauce that was in desperate need of soaking up greedily , I figured the creamed polenta, an alternative version to mashed potato, would do quite nicely and it did.

Before first use, boil with milk. No sorcery required

As soon as I opened the box, I grabbed the pamphlet inside the Tagine and read it carefully. It didn’t require some sort of super Harry Potter wizarding skills but rather it just needed to be filled with milk, heated til boiling and then cooled and then washed with warm, soapy water. That bit was easy (although before anything else, you should definitely remove the very sticky sticker on the bottom of the Tagine!). I was also cautioned against the following things:

Never heat an empty Tagine
When heated, the ceramic expands slightly, creating small, thin cracks in the glaze which despite what you may think, is not a flaw, it proves the resistance of the Tagine to temperature changes.
It is made from a new kind of ceramic that can safely be used with any furnace or hob (except induction) and the way it distributes heat is ideal for the slow braising of Tagines and stews.
The glaze is strong so that metal utensils can be used.
It’s dishwasher safe and microwave safe (although who would stick a beauty like this in the dishwasher? I’d lovingly handwash this any day).

The smell of this cooking is immediately beckoning and should you decide to have this at a dinner party, you could always tempt (or torture depending on how you look at it ) hungry guests with the mouth watering smell although I cannot be responsible for any ensuing riots. And don’t even think of packing it away in the cupboard, a beauty like this can be used as decoration around the house, provided it is cleaned properly of course.

8 comments | August 28, 2008 - 8:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

NQN Competition: Win a Herbies Comfort Food or Aphrodisiac Gourmet Spice Kit!

Posted in Competitions

**THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED. THANKYOU FOR ALL OF YOUR ENTRIES. PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE WINNERS**

I’ve heard that there was a time in Australia when the only seasonings or flavours used were salt and pepper. To me, that sounds unfathomable and a little frightening. Where would we be without the rich scents of the herbs and spices that routinely feature in our recipes today? It goes without saying that Herbies herbs and spices are the best in Australia. If ever there was an area to splurge it’s on good quality herbs and spices. They only cost you a dollar or two more than other but are well worth it as they contain no fillers, starches, MSG, free-flow agents or additives of any kind. Just pure unadulterated spice. I often see Ian Hemphill from Herbie’s on TV in the morning and he often shows how to use these herbs, his knowledge shining through.

This month, we’re giving away two Herbies Spice Kits worth $30 each. For those of you still battling the cold weather (me included), we have one Comfort Foods Spice Kit - Seven spices and blends (ground rosemary, mixed spice, Baharat spice mix, tagine mix, chipotle chilli powder, samber spice mix and thyme) with recipes for Apple Crumble, Bean Mash with Rosemary, Lamb Tagine, Smokey Vegetable Soup, Slow-cooked Ox Cheeks, Sambar and Farmer’s Potato Bake.

For Lovers and Wannabe Lovers we have one Aphrodisiac Spice Kit- Six aphrodisiac spices (Pasilla chilli powder, nutmeg, cardamom, saffron and cumin), plus Za’atar which you could team up with known aphrodisiacs like oysters, olives, artichokes and figs in recipes for making Oyster Soup, Bruschetta with Artichoke Puree, The Bird Stripped Bare, Pears with Saffron Jelly,and Spiced Figs. I’d say these will get you some action better than the phrase “I’ll do the dishes tonight honey, you relax!” or “Go ahead and buy that new Chanel bag, it’s worth every cent!”

All you have to do is tell me “What is the difference between a herb and a spice?” and which kit you’d prefer. Email me on: nqn.herbies.comp@gmail.com with your name, email and postage details. You can enter once daily but because the prize is food, I’ll have to keep the entries within Australia -we don’t want the precious spices to get caught at overseas customs! The competition ends midnight AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on Sunday the 30th of September so you have plenty of time!