To all my readers and followers, I wish you and all your families a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful year in 2014 filled with lots of love, adventure and good times.
This Christmas I managed to make my first Christmas puddings in many years, one was split between two work colleagues and one will be going to my sister in law’s for the four of us tomorrow. Will post about it when things quieten down a little.
Have a safe and happy break and many thanks for stopping by to read my little blog!
For our French wine dinner at work the other week we had Duck liver Pate, chicken and mushroom terrine and salmon rillettes for the entree. When we did the tasting for the dinner a week before, I realised that we needed some kind of pickled items to go with all that rich, fatty goodness that we were serving. A few years ago I pickled some white grapes to go with a chicken liver parfait, which set my mind in motion and noticing some red grapes in the coolroom I decided to pickle those. I also remember seeing somewhere pickled cherries, conveniently we had cherries in the coolroom so I decided to pickle them as well.
I only used a basic pickle mix of sugar, vinegar, water, cinnamon, whole cloves, coriander seeds, bay leaves, salt. I was only able to let them sit for around a week so could imagine they would taste better with a bit more time to sit and pickle. I used the same mix for both the grapes and the cherries.
The pickled grapes went really well with the salmon rillettes, while the cherries were a hit with the pate.
Pickle Mix
625ml White Vinegar(use one with 5% acidity)
500g white sugar(or for some variety raw caster sugar)
2 Tablespoons Maldon Sea Salt
15 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
6 whole cloves
1/2 cinnamon stick
10 coriander seeds
Place all in pot and bring to boil. This is enough for around 1.3kg of fruit.
Deseed and destem your cherries by cutting them in half (warning you will stain your fingers, use disposable gloves if you can) or cut seedless grapes in half place in to pickle jars.Pour the hot brine over cherries or grapes, leaving 1.5cm of headspace. Wipe the rims, apply lids and rings (mason jar) process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.Using tongs, take them out of the water and leave to rest on a towel for 24 hours.
Store in cool, dark place until ready to use.
The pickling leaches some of the colour from the red grapes and cherries, giving an attractive colour to the pickling liquid in the jar. Drain when ready to use. I could also picture using the pickled cherries with a nice roasted duck or goose and the grapes warmed through with a piece of panfried salmon.
Unfortunately no photo as I only got the entree before the cherries and grapes went on.
Seeing as our recent week in Tokyo was my fourth time there, I figured I should really make the effort to visit Tsukiji Fish Market. I especially wanted to go this time as soon Tsukiji will be history. In the next few years the Tokyo Metro Government will be relocating the market to make way for construction of a tunnel and highrise apartments in time for the Olympics in 2020. This seems like a sad thing to do to a market that is considered the beating heart of the worldwide spread of sushi culture and has nearly 80 years of history behind it.
A short walk from bustling Shiodome and Ginza, Tsukiji Fish Market is a bit scruffy around the edges and definitely showing its age. Set on around 50 acres of land the market has several distinct parts. The main auction area which is off limits to visitors, the trading floor where the restaurants, caterers and fish shops buy, which is open to the public after 900am, the fruit and vegetable market and the outer market where little (and I mean little) restaurants are located next to shops selling fruit and vegetables, knives, kitchen equipment, tea, seaweeds, pickles and many other food products.
It took 3 attempts for me to visit the market. Monday the market was closed for a public holiday, Tuesday I was very early and ended up being politely asked to leave as visitors aren’t admitted before 900am. Wednesday was windy but I made my way down again and got there around 1000am. Unfortunately most of the action was over, I think I should have gotten there at 900am. I was able to get a few photos of some of the amazing seafood available.
Boxes of fish ready to be picked up for delivery to restaurants:
Danger lurks everywhere within the market compound and pedestrians do not have right of way. Little pallet carts zip around so you have to constantly be on your guard or run the risk of being hit.
While I saw quite a few dealers with unagi, in various stages of preparation, I stumbled across a fishmonger with live eel in various sizes. The ones in the photo were about 5cm long, and squirming like mad. The fishmonger was in the process of changing the water when I took the photo.
Not only were there vendors of scallops, fresh and frozen out of the shell, there were crates of live scallops every couple of stores.
Something I have only really heard about but never actually seen was the horseneck clam. These are a clam that have a syphon that isn’t able to fully retract back in to the shell. Looking at some photos of them on google was an eye opening search, some of them get sooo big!
Whelks,abalones in many different sizes(little ones bottom right) and other varieties of molluscs abounded:
Hairy crabs all trussed up. I had seen another variety of these on TV but was amazed to see these ones up close. Such fine little clumps of “hair” all over them and such a pretty colour combination. These ones look like they have had a buzz cut, there are hairier ones in the ocean:
Of course, the ubiquitous Fugu was at the market, a little early in the season for them, peak season is late autumn and winter. I didn’t realise that fugu are now harvested after spawning in spring and moved to floating cages in the Pacific Ocean to grow to maturity. This is to protect the fugu population, nice bit of aquaculture. Fugu is the only food the Japanese Emperor is forbidden to eat, for his personal safety.
Live lobsters, these were not very big and I assume that the price was per kilogram:
These live ebi(prawns) were certainly jumping around in their baskets:
The fruit and vegetable market was also amazing to see. Have you ever seen one mushroom that costs around $70? I was shocked when I did the conversion to AUD$. Beside the big one are two trays with 7 mushrooms for around $60!!! Must be some fantastic tasting mushrooms!
If you look to the top right you can see some rather square looking persimmons. Square persimmons were in a lot of shops this year, even the local supermarket near our hotel had them. There are some trays of mushrooms in this photo for around $90, $120, $130 and $160!!!
Also in the fruit and vegetable section was a huge variety of baby flowers and leaves for garnishing, pine needles, gingko leaves and nuts, maple leaves and the cutest baby turnips. Everything is beautifully packaged and the one thing I regret not getting a photo of was a watermelon with a belt/handle woven from fibers of some kind. Most of the mushroom boxes were made of wood and then lined with straw.
Of course there was plenty of wasabi around too. Ordinarily I would have expected the price to be the same, however the price varies depending on the size and grade.
After doing your looking around, you can drop in to any of the little restaurants in the outer market for some super fresh sushi and sashimi or a nice piping hot bowl of noodles before doing a little shopping for some plates, knives, kitchen goods or matcha (green tea).
Should we get back to Tokyo next year and Tsukiji is still open I think I will visit again and time it a bit better to get a bit more of the action. I really enjoyed my visit and it was great to see seafood that I have really only heard about. If you happen to get to Tokyo before the market moves you really should drop in for a look around and if you are avoiding because you think fish market equals fishy smell, don’t worry the market is super clean and there is no fishy smell at all.
Recently we had a visit to one of our favourite cities in the world, Tokyo. One thing that I go out of my way to purchase when visiting Tokyo is hand made knives. I love Japanese knives so much that all my household knives and most of my work knives are now Japanese.
Usually I shop for my knives in the many shops on Kappabashi Dori in Asakusa. Our first stop though when we get to Asakusa is always Senso-Ji.
After walking through the magnificent Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate) you get to the 200m Nakamise Dori. Filled with shops selling various snack foods and all sorts of touristy bits and pieces (yukata, fans, knick knacks etc) Nakamise Dori has a history going back several centuries. It is not only foreign tourists buying the mementos, but many Japanese who may only visit once in their lifetime are also buying up bits and pieces to take home. After walking through Nakamise Dori you will reach the Hozomon Gate behind which is the magnificent Temple main Hall, the five story pagoda, gorgeously landscaped gardens and many smaller shrines and temples.
We particularly like to visit during late October/early November when the chrysantemum displays are on. Some of the chrysanthemums are the size of a bread and butter plate in diameter and then nearly 10 cm high. A lot of them need support, which you can see in the photo below.
After our stroll through the temple grounds we have a wander in the backstreets before heading back to Asakusa Dori and over to Kappabashi Dori.
After a short walk you hit kitchen ware heaven!!! A whole street devoted to kitchenware, equipment for commercial kitchens, knife shops, restaurant furnishing shops. Basically anything you can think of that a restaurant might need and then some extras thrown in.
Unfortunately this year the weather was quite incliment so our visit to Kappabashi Dori was quite short.
I did get a new knife surprisingly at Mitsukoshi Department store in Ginza. On the eighth floor amongst the home wares and household goods, Mitsukoshi stocks a range of ceramics, metalware, glass and knives made by skilled artisans. The day we went they had Yusui Nakanishi from Takeda Hamono Blacksmith showing a range of knives and offering sharpening. I ended up buying myself a Deba Bocho. The blade is made with a very high carbon content steel which gives the blade a sexy black colour. It is VERY sharp and as yet I haven’t used it. Still just looking at it.
Also in Ginza we stumbled upon lots of little shops selling artisan made products. One at which we did shop was filled with wooden items, bowls, trays, chopsticks, cups, and much more. We settled on 2 pairs of chopsticks one in red and the other in black. They are even dishwasher safe. This shop was a little treasure house of beautiful pieces to either display or use. We will be going back on our next visit for some of the bowls and cups. They were even beautifully packaged in paper to match the current season.
My final purchase this year I made on my visit to Tsukiji Fish Market. Amongst the shops in the outer market was a small one selling ceramic goods. They stocked mass produced items and some artisanl ones. Some of the tea cups were over $100. After a good 20 minutes trying to decide what to buy, I settled on two of the classic rectangle plates for sushi. These were a bargain at ¥290 (about A$3) each. Just as well I only bought two as I would have needed another suitcase.
Only a little shopping experience this time but next time I will prepare and have a list of things to buy, just wont take too much in the suitcase.
Below is a shot of my knives for home, the ones on each side were bought here in Australia at The Chef’s Armoury in Rosebery and the other 3 in the middle were bought in Tokyo and Kyoto
Thanks for dropping buy to see what I bought in Tokyo this year.
One restaurant that we didn’t have time to try in 2012 was Strip House on 12th Street. This year we found they have a second restaurant in Mid Town, where we were staying so we decided to go there for dinner.
Strip House Midtown is a large restaurant and bar spread over 2 floors. Rich siren red walls adorned with original Studio Manasse prints of 1930’s burlesque performers and decor that combines old world glamour with modern style and sophistication. The large crystal chandeliers are quite amazing.
We decided to sit upstairs and had a great waiter named Ray. Something about him reminded me of a young Sinatra, he seriously would have fit in with the Rat Pack. Our table overlooked the ground floor so we had a great view of what was happening down there.
Some of the Studio Manasse Prints lining the walls:
Menu and rolls with a glass of rose champagne:
I loved the little covers for the butters:
A shot of Gazpacho for our amuse:
Being a fan of Surf and Turf Mr. CA4G couldn’t resist choosing it, along with Striphouse Steak Sauce. The prawn was the largest we have ever seen, almost the size of a marron, the steak was a classic fillet.
I went for the Kobe striploin with caramelised soy, yuzu and radish salad. The caramelised soy was very good, sweet and salty, the salad of radishes and yuzu really cut through that saltiness. We added a side of garlic and herb chips to go with our steaks.
Of course you can’t visit New York without having a New York Cheesecake. This was a huge slice of cheesecake and we were so glad to share it. Served simply with a berry coulis.
After dinner we had to have a big walk to work off soem of the great food. We were very happy to be able to dine at Striphouse this year and look forward to going again next time we are in Manhattan.
About time for another recipe, I think all these travel posts are making me itch for another holiday. Wait, that’s right Tokyo this month. Anyway, after reading a blog post from the also well travelled and well fed Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella, I discovered Vic’s Meats Market Day.
Held every Saturday at the Vic’s Meats factory in Mascot, it is a chance for the public to buy restaurant quality meat at great prices. Each week they have a different selection of sausages as well as the good old thick and thin beef sausages. So far one of our favourites has been the lamb merguez in the chipolata size. This is mainly because I serve it with cous cous and raita/tzatziki.
The recipe is enough for two people but you can increase quantities to suit.
For the raita/tzatziki:
200ml pot of Greek style yoghurt
½ clove of garlic, finely chopped
10 grams onion, finely diced
Mint, chopped finely
8cm piece of Lebanese cucumber, grated
Lemon, a quarter will be heaps, squeeze the juice out into bowl
Salt and pepper to taste
Put the grated cucumber in your hand and give it a good squeeze to remove most of the moisture.
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine well.
For the cous cous
9 Merguez sausages, chipolata size
½ packet of pearl cous cous
50g finely diced onion
½ a garlic clove
1 cups chicken stock, salt reduced
1 Tablespoon currants
5 dried apricots, diced
20 Pisatchios, roasted and salted removed from shell
1 Tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon chopped coriander (if you really love coriander add a little more)
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat the oil in a small pan, sauté the onion and garlic until soft and translucent.
Add the Cous cous and lightly toast, then add chicken stock reduce heat and stir occasionally, until cooked, about 10 minutes.
Just before serving add the apricots, currants, coriander, pistachios, salt and pepper.
Cook the sausages how you like, I pan fried ours and added a little stock to help keep them moist.
When serving the cous cous I like to lightly press it in to a ring(I cheat and use a large size pastry cutter at home), and the arrange the sausages and raita/Tzatziki around or over it. Garnish with a nice sprig of coriander or mint if you like.
I hope you enjoy!
The hotel for our week in Paris was Banke Hotel, located on Rue Lafayette, a quick walk from Les Grand Magasins – Galleries Lafayette and Printemps. It was also a short walk from the Opera Garnier, Le Louvre and many other sights.
Situated in a former bank headquarters, Hotel Banke is housed in an early twentieth-century building, designed by architects Paul Friesse and Cassien Bernard and was refurbished to become a hotel in 2009. The stately facade dominates the corner of Rue La Fayette and Rue Pillet Will with a style that revives the charms of Paris’s “Belle Époque“.
The hotel makes a statement with its spectacular mosaic floored lobby crowned with a glass cupola, and retaining many of the original bank features, teller counters, safe deposit boxes. The colours are predominantly deep red and gold, lots of gold. A décor that blends original architectural elements with contemporary design bringing a twenty-first century touch to a Haussmann-style building.
We were quite fortunate that we were able to spend time in two different rooms during our stay. Our first room was a Superior room, mid tone woods, rich burgundys and lots of designer touches. Our second room was an Executive room that was a little more spacious. Still with the mid tone woods and burgundy colours, a feature was the leather headboard and gorgeous leather lounge and leather woven rug. Stencil furniture prints were painted on the walls giving a whimsical touch to the decor. Both rooms had marble bathrooms with good sized tubs, and joy of joys the toilet was separate from the bathroom. While not the largest rooms we have stayed in, there was plenty of storage space, with great wardrobes, and drawers.
During our stay at Banke Hotel, we decided to try the hotel’s restaurant, Josefin.
The stunning glass domed lobby is home to the reception desk, restaurant and bar. On one side of the spectacular mosaic tiled floor is the restaurant and the bar is opposite.
Glamourous gold leather banquettes, dark wood and leather chairs, gold metal and crystal chandeliers with dramatic red and black highlights were the feature of both the restaurant and bar. Along the old teller counters were whimsical little vignettes, plants and flowers.
Our amuse of salmon:
Beautiful freshly baked breads served with my favourite butter, Beurre d’Isigny
Unusually for us we both opted for seafood entrees. Mr CA4G ordered the tuna Tataki
While I ordered the carpaccio of lobster, aged balsamic and Spanish extra virgin olive oil.
For main I had a panfried duck breast with wok fried vegetables. Quite light even though it was duck.
Mr. CA4G had scallops with a shellfish foam and mushrooms.
We skipped dessert as we had a big lunch.
Banke Hotel is a great spot to drop your bags and stay in Paris, and is easy to walk to most places. Metro stations are a short walk in several directions. We walked from Banke Hotel to Le Tour Eiffel, Sacre Coeur. Both are big walks but enjoyable and you get to see a bit more of the real Paris.
A quick note the photos of the hotel are from the Banke Hotel website as we forgot to take photos, to see more of this fabulous hotel visit their website in my links.
The day before our reservation for lunch at Dinner by Heston, we decided to take a walk to Knightsbridge so we could get our bearings. We took a detour through Hyde Park, where preparations were under way for the Barclay’s Summer Festival. The day we wandered through was a sold out Rolling Stones concert. Hyde Park was a delight to walk through and the Serpentine was a lovely spot to stop and rest for a few moments.
After locating the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, we had a quick look through Harrod’s (see separate post). We wandered back past the Mandarin Oriental and found Bar Boulud, one of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants. Having missed dining at a Boulud restaurant in New York, we decided to have our lunch here at Bar Boulud.
We decided to take advantage of the Prixe Fixe menu for £23.00 (approx AUD$40). Travelling overseas we find that lunch is the best time to dine out as there are some great lunch specials
For his first course, Mr. CA4G had a Parfait de Volaille (chicken liver pate) topped with a layer of red wine jelly and served with lightly toasted sourdough bread, pickles and mustard.
As it was a hot summers day I opted for the Soupe Glacee de Tomates, a Provencale style chilled tomato soup served with ratatouille, tapenade crouton and basil oil. Perfect summer soup.
We had a great selection of wines by the glass to choose from. Of course nothing beats a Grand Cru Chablis on a hot day, so we ordered a glass of Domain Christian Moreau Pere & Fils Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2007. All the wines by the glass are poured from double magnum bottles. I felt sorry for the poor girl who had to pour our wine as the bottle was quite full, and therefore really heavy. A couple of years of age on the Chablis was a great bonus. We are really appreciating aged chardonnays, be they from Chablis or anywhere else in Burgundy ( and some exceptional Aussie Chardonnay). Fabulous choice.
Mr. CA4G loves his fish, which I seldom get to cook at home. Personally I am not fond of cooked fish, give me sushi and sashimi any day. On the Prixe Fixe menu the fish was seared Sea Trout, red grapes, green beans, ratte potatoes and lovage sauce. Topped with some golden salmon roe. Looked great on the plate and Mr. CA4G loved it. I think he was surprised when I told him that sea trout is what we call ocean trout in Australia.
I love duck! There was a Magret de canard a l’orange so chose to have it. Although I was tempted by the third option which was a Thai flavoured sausage. My love of duck won out though. The magret de canard was an oven roasted duck breast served with brocolini, potato mouselline (a very fine potato mash), orange segments and orange tamarind sauce. Even though it was duck the dish was surprisingly light. Sometimes duck can feel a little heavy to eat.
We had yet another course to get through. We very seldom have a three course lunch, but when you are only paying around AUD$40 you just can’t pass the opportunity up.
My dessert was a variation on a typically English summer dessert, strawberries and cream. My Coupe de Fraises was a delightful bowl of Strawberries, vanilla pannacotta, strawberry-yoghurt sorbet and a sprinkle of violet crumble (yes real flowers in the crumble mix, not the chocolate bar). So light and with a great combination of flavours. A perfect summer dessert.
Mr. CA4G went for something neither of us has tried before, the Gateau Basque with brandied cherries, and vanilla crème anglaise. The gateau was layers of almond pastry and a rich crème patissiere filling. I want to give this one a try at home.
We had noticed a magnum of rose going around the restaurant. It looked to be quite popular so we decided to have a glass of it with our dessert. Thankfully this bottle was nearly empty so it wasn’t too heavy for our server. Chene Bleu Rose from the Rhone Valley, is a rose made from a blend of Grenache (vines 25 years and older) and Syrah (vines 40 years and older). A great choice for dessert and one we will be trying to get hold of here.
Bar Boulud is our second very enjoyable experience at a Daniel Boulud restaurant, the first being db Bistro Moderne at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. We will definitely be trying some more of his restaurants on our travels.
Thanks for dropping by!!
One of our most watched movies is ‘Something’s Got To Give’ starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton. One of our dreams while visiting Paris was to dine at the restaurant Le Grand Colbert which is shown towards the end of the movie.
After settling in to our room at Hotel Banke on Rue Lafayette, we went for the first of many looooonnngggg Parisian walks. In effect we became ‘flaneurs’, exploring the boulevards and rues of central Paris. Our first outing saw us walk to the Musee du Louvre, les Jardin des Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, across Pont de la Concorde to the Rive Gauche, along Quai d’Orsay to Pont Alexandre III, then up Avenue Winston Churchill past the Grand and Petit Palais, along the Champs Elysees where we saw them setting up all the stands for the Fete National parade. From there we walked back to Place de la Concorde, up rue Royal to Place de la Madeleine, up rue des Capucines, down Boulevarde des Capucines to Place Vendome. Wow getting exhausted writing it all down. After a walk around Place Vendome we went back up rue de la Paix to the Palais Garnier and then back to the hotel.
After all that walking we needed a break to think about where to eat dinner. Looking at the map I discovered that Le Grand Colbert was in fact not far from our hotel. In the end we ended up dining at Le Grand Colbert 4 times during our trip. As it turns out we were not the only ones who were repeat diners, apparently another Aussie couple had done the same.
On our first walk to Le Grand Colbert we happened to just turn our head and were struck by the following amazing view of Basilique du Sacre Couer. It seemed every place you looked there was something to take you breath away.
Anyway enough of the pretty view, on to dinner.
Located on Rue Vivienne, Le Grand Colbert is a classic Parisian Brasserie. Mosaic floors, plaster mouldings, brass light fittings, etched glass, leather banquettes, all the traditional brasserie decor elements you could ask for. Service staff were amazingly helpful and I didn’t have to use my really bad French as they all spoke very good English.
As you can see from the picture they are quite proud of the association with the movie ’Something’s Got To Give”. People have been known to request the exact seat where Jack and Dianne sat.
With a menu full of classic brasserie fare, I decided on the half chicken and Mr. CA4G had the Steak Frites with sauce béarnaise. Mr. CA4G is such a lovely man he said my bearnaise is better, should I believe him?
The wine list, while not large, has a very good selection with wines by the glass, half carafe, and bottle. On our first night we tried Delice De Prieure, a Saint- Emilion grand cru classe. Normally we don’t like merlot, but this 100% merlot was easy drinking and fantastic flavour. So good in fact we had it each time we ate at Le Grand Colbert. Before you order a bowl of crisps and olives is bought to your table.
Another visit we had the cheese plate after our meal.
On our other dinners Mr. CA4G kept to the steak frites with béarnaise while I tried the lamb cutlets with ratatouille, melon with pata negra(prosciutto) and the French classic, Blanquette de veau was my final dinner in Paris.
Desserts were amazing if huge. I had two profiteroles with hot chocolate and an ice-cream filling, Mr. CA4G had a Mont Blanc that had chestnut ice-cream, chocolate sauce, cream, almond flakes. He loved it.
One thing we love about visiting European cities in summer is the sun doesn’t go down until 10pm, allowing for a post dinner stroll. Not far from Le Grand Colbert is Le Palais Royale and then Le Louvre, nothing like a bit of grand architecture after dinner.
So have you been to a restaurant featured in a movie? Was it what you expected? Le Grand Colbert lived up to ours, and should we happen to be in Paris again in the future, we will be heading back for more great food at Le Grand Colbert.
Cooking Across 4 Generations 
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