Ham Hockusai

To say my parents are keen gardeners would be like saying that Prince Phillip is a trifle conservative. Mum writes gardening books and is a garden designer. Dad spends every second he’s not at work in his overalls doing as Mum says…

Our garden has developed over the 20 years we’ve lived there from being a bunch of fields into a gallery of different artistic rooms . Mum and Dad have created amazing garden rooms inspired by Hepworth, Monet, Rothko, Mondrian, Kandinsky and Hokusai.

It’s a very lateral approach to gardening that oozes creativity. The idea is not to copy or try to replicate the art/painting but to capture the mood and the concept behind it and express it as a three dimensional piece of living, breathing art that might otherwise be called a garden!

So I thought it would be a good idea to pick up where Mum, Dad and Hokusai left off and create a dish that’s inspired by an artist. And when I picked up a cheap as chips ham hock in Waitrose I couldn’t resist creating a dish called Ham Hockusai.

Feeling excited and bubbling over like a glass that’s full to the brim with water and then is depth charged with Berocca, I sought help on Twitter. Lizzie came to my help and suggested braising the pork hock in a mixture of soy, ginger and mirin. We used this as inspiration to create what might otherwise be called a ham hock ramen…

Trim your ham hock. Because you are going to slow cook it you don’t want too much fat floating around. Then put your hock in the slow cooker (AKA Stewie Grifin) and pour in half a bottle of light soy, a sachet of miso soup powder, and enough stock to cover the hock. Then throw in some spring onions, a generous amount of root ginger, 2 star anise, a few chillies and a glug of sake and mirin. Turn on the slow cooker and allow it to bubble away for 5 hours, or until the meat yields.

Then separate the meat from the liquid. Set the meat aside and strain the liquid to remove the floating vegetation. This liquid is like gold dust, so don’t spill any like I did!

Pour the liquid into a pan and place on the heat. Meanwhile, pull the pork apart and keep nearby. Heat a wok and make a stir fry of enoki and shitake mushrooms, pak-choi, beansprouts, garlic, ginger and more chilli. Then add the meat to heat through.

Add some ramen noodles to the broth and once they are soft assemble your Ham Hockusai in a large soup bowl and garnish with sesame seeds and spring onions. I did my best to recreate the Great Wave off Kanagawa but gravity got the better of my noodles!

This has no pretention of being the most authentic Japanese dish. But it was not only huge fun to cook, but incredibly tasty and healthy to eat. The depth of flavour from the stock just kept on going. The pork itself was a delight. It transformed from being tough, flabby and generally being a bit like a tight-head prop into a graceful winger.

Next time, we’re going to cook Ham Hockney – I’m just less sure how to cook it. If you’ve got any suggestions about how to make a piggy David Hockney dish or any other artist inspired recipe I’d love to know.

Have a look at Mum’s website and blog to find out more about the garden. It’s open to the public a handful of times a year and you can also book for private groups.

Tsunami ticks all the boxes

Disappointment. I hate it.

When I think of the times I have been disappointed recently, it conjures up thoughts when I have been unsatisfied, frustrated, uninspired and on occasions, sad.

Despite much effort and perseverance Browny and I have struggled in vain to go out for a flawless dinner recently or even one that wetted our appetites for more. Other than our exciting and inspired trip to the Underground Restaurant in Kilburn in February, we have been let down by one thing or another, whether it’s a stingey portion, over done fish, zilch atmosphere, grumpy, inattentive (smelly) staff and overpriced food.

As I grow older and wiser it seems my palate has an increasing desire for light, delicate and refined foods yet that still deliver on taste, flavour and texture.

Rumour has it Tsunami is a firm favourite of many Clapham locals who have an affection for Japanese cuisine. As the credit crunch continues to bite, when I spotted a 30% off discount at the sister restaurant in the West End we couldn’t resist a visit.

I was concerned that on a damp Monday evening the place would be deserted of punters, but this was not the case. As we entered the funky and stylish room, we opted of the cosy snug part of the restaurant at the rear. Things were looking good; a relaxing atmosphere, a delightful waiter (who managed to smash three full glasses of wine as he directed me to the loo!), delicious champagne cocktails and fragrant light green tea.

But it was the food that really put a smile on our faces. We started our feast with standard nibbles; steaming hot and salty edamame, juicy and moreish chicken yakotori skewers and some stunningly fresh succulent sashimi. The presentation of all of it was exemplary.

The generous portion of tempura of king crab was also superb. The hunky chunks of juicy crab were coated in lightest of batters with a golden crisp. The yuzu butter and creamy chilli garlic dipping sauces were pretty special too.

However the star of the show had to be the black miso cod. I was concerned that with so much hype it would fail the test. But not abit of it. It was truly sensational, to the extent that I just didn’t want the eating moment to end! The cod resembled a large slab of stilton in shape, but the texture was so silky and smooth that the fish simply flaked apart when prodded. And the taste. Wow. Sticky, sweet and tangy all at once. I could go on, but I am rapidly sounding like Greg Green Grocer Wallace!

We left the restaurant feeling so content and our tummies very happy indeed. Tsunami really delivered where so many haven’t. Please go and see for yourself.

Salmon Ramen a la Olive Magazine

Feeling a bit stodged up by eating my own body-weight in eggs and slow cooked lamb this weekend I returned home in need of some clean, light food with a bit of comforting zing. Leafing through Olive magazine, I stumbled across their recipe for salmon ramen and decided to give it a tweak.

I tried to find miso soup sachets in Brixton’s Tesco but failed – so instead I used a Knorr’s new stock pot. Put some soba noodles in a pan and cook until tender. In the meantime, simply bring 750ml of stock to a simmer and add some chili and plenty of ginger. Let this cook for a minute before “slipping” in a couple of salmon fillets. Let this poach for another minute or so before adding a dash or two of so, a couple of chopped spring onions and some pak choi.

Drain the noodles and place in the bottom of a deep bowl. Gently remove the salmon fillet which should be a beautiful pale-pink colour and still slightly rare in the middle so it flakes like a Italian soldier. Then pour over the broth and place the pak choi around the side of the bowl. Garnish liberally with coriander and a wedge of lime before splashing on a few drops of soy.

It was stunningly tasty. As light and zingy as the weekend was stodgy and heavy. We loved the immediate heat of the chili and softness of the salmon. It’s a very understated dish that makes you feel healthier than a nutritionalist.

Excellent recipe from Olive. It’s now going to become one of my healthy staples. I’m going to try to make it more authentic. Does anyone have any suggestions for improving on this/developing it further? Ideas please!

Miso Skate Risotto

Wow. This is the best thing I have cooked this year. And I owe most of it to a chap called Thom Dinsdale who inspired this recipe by sending me his miso risotto recipe. My initial reaction was that it sounded a bit weird and terribly savoury. But. With the addition of the miso skate, some pak choi and Japanese mushrooms it was superb.

Go for a glass of wine after work. Have two or three by mistake and then hot foot it to Waitrose where you know they have all the clever Japanese stuff that this needs. Then realise that they have run out of white/shiro miso paste and hurredly improvise by panic buying sachets of miso soup. Next visit the fish counter and realise that cod is very expensive and opt for skate wings instead. Especially when they are on offer for £1 a wing. Result.

Then pick up some mirin, rice wine, pak choi, spring onions, oriental mushrooms including shitake and those tall skinny ones and zoom home as fast as possible because you’ve promised your house mate and their friend dinner. And you’re already an hour late before setting off!

Burst in. Grab all the saucepans and get cooking. Drink more wine as if it is Lucozade before a big match. Add miso sachets to a pan and add 2/3 of the amount of water that they suggest. Dissolve. Then remove enough liquid to use as a marinade and place in the fridge until cooled having added mirin and some rice wine vinegar. When it is cooled chuck in the skate wings. If you do this when the liquid is hot the fish will get poached.

Add more water to the miso liquid and let it heat up into the stock for the risotto. I added some dried mushrooms to give it more depth as well.

Add oil and butter to a heavy Le Crueset pan and melt. Chop several spring onions and dramtically add to the pan. Imagine you are Keith Floyd at this moment and don’t be afraid of miming a voice over. Feel free to spill most of the contents on the floor. And don’t worry about setting fire to the tea towel. There are plenty more in the drawer. Add a chopped onion and sweat until soft.

Then add risotto rice and let it crackle for a bit. Then pour in half a glass of rice wine or sake. Let this hiss away and then add the miso soup as if it was stock, one ladle full at a time. Stir continously. It will become wonderfully thick and glossy.

Remove skate wings from marinade and place in a foiled baking tray on top of some spring onions to act as a matress.

Pour over remaining marinade and add some ginger and a bit of chilli. Bake for 12 minutes in a hot oven until the flesh is cooked and the edge has browned.

Whilst the skate is cooking, do the stir fry by adding the pak choi and mushrooms to a wok with some oil and blasting over a high heat. Douse in a glug of soy towards the end and drizzle with sesame oil.

Amalgamate all the elements and serve. It is so delicious and relatively easy to do. My next evolution of this dish is going to involve using Gastronomy Domine’s recipe for miso glazed recipe that includes the shiro miso paste that I couldn’t get in Waitrose but adapting it for skate cheeks and skate wing to accompany the risotto. I can’t wait to give it a go.

Miso Trout with Broccoli and Pak Choi

Please, please, excuse the terrible photographs. It just shows that I need to get one of those clever lighting devices that Dinner Diary uses to make their photographs so awesome.

We had a sushi party last week which was awesome. But just in case it wasn’t that awesome, I had prepared some miso trout as a backup. Luckily the sushi went down well so the trout went back in the fridge for some extra marinating. Apparently 2-3 days is optimal.

Here’s what you do. Go to Waitrose or the Japan Centre and buy a packed of miso paste. Place a pan of water on the hob and bring to a simmer. Put a glass mixing bowl on top and empty the gooey miso paste into the bowl and add some water to thin it. Also add sugar, mirin, some vinegar and stir continuously until it has changed consistency to being more like a sauce. It should smell toasty and deep.

ALLOW TO COOL.

The reason this is in caps, is to remind myself. This time I forgot. In my haste I just chucked the trout fillets into the hot paste. Basically they cooked in the heat of the marinate. Schoolboy error from me. But I’ve done it right before now, All you have to do is have some patience and wait till it has cooled before adding your fish to the marinate and leaving it for between 1 and 3 days.

Remove the fish from the marinate and grill until the skin is slightly crisped but the fish is flaky and tender. If you can try to undercook it. You will be astonished at how delicious and gorgeous the fish tastes. It falls apart and makes you feel like a pro. Or at least it does if you haven’t made a big blunder like I did! Luckily it still tasted great, even though the pictures look TERRIBLE.

Serve with sesame oiled noodles, a passion fruit for acidity, exoticism and fruitiness and some stir fried broccoli and pak choi. For the veggies, fry some onions, add some chili, then some garlic and ginger, then some florets of broccoli, then some soy, then some water and then lob in your pak choi. Add a lid of some sort to semi steam the greens and garnish with sesame seeds. In my panic I forgot to photograph this but you can see the work in progress below.

Or better still you could just follow the original recipe from Gastronomy Domine.

We finished up with what turned out to be the star of the show. A lime mousse, cooked to perfection by Cowie, from Ramsay’s new book, Cooking for Friends. It’s just a shame he could be arsed to write the book himself yet still adorns every other page with a cheesy lifestyle shot of himself.

It was a great way to end a really exciting meal. The photos ma be a let down, but the flavours weren’t. Whatever mistakes have been made have been learnt from. My next purchase is definitely going to be one of those clever lights.

Tomoe is really very good

Thanks to An American in London (aAiL) and Londonelicious for fiercely recommending Tomoe on Marylebone Lane. Cowie and I went there today for our Christmas lunch before heading home to our separate families for the festive period.

Everything they both said was spot on…

Cowie was worried it was going to be empty, so we were delighted to be welcomed into the warm atmosphere, buzzing with a mixture of Japanese diners and westerners. From our perch at the bar we sipped on a perfect cup of tea whist formulating a plan of attack. The miso soup that followed the tea was great. I love watching the cloudy broth as it billows carelessly…

We followed some recommendations from aAiL which started with a chirashi sushi bowl. What struck us first were the colours. Vibrant. A chorus of freshness.

It goes without saying that the fish was immaculately fresh and the rice was perfectly at room temperature. Succulent tuna, bright orange salmon and sweet gorgeous eel. I could barely keep Cowie’s chopsticks out of my bowl.

Our assorted sashimi was impressive too. Very fresh and generous for £10.

Dynamite sushi rolls were pretty fierce. The first one I had was warm. So Cowie thought things were safe and tucked in. Tears started streaming. Sweat rolled. Water was gasped for. It turns out that the first one that I had was very tame as the rest were “scorchio”. I guess it’s a bit like the Spanish “Russia Roulette” peppers.

Tempura prawn maki rolls were fantastic. They were all about texture. The cucumber crunched and the avocado squidged. The prawn was sweet and the tempura was every so slightly crispy. I am going to order every time I see them from now on!

We loved our lunch and are planning to return again with some sushi virgins. It feels like the kind of place to induct newbies to the world of sushi because it is reasonably priced and very good quality. Thanks Londonelicious and An American in London for the recommendation.

Sushi Party

My super, sister, Suzy, gave me a sushi set for Christmas. Given my normally embarrassing tendency to not make full use of culinary Christmas presents for at least a decade, it has been almost newsorthy that I have managed to make the most of it in July. Only 7 months on from Christmas.

The kit contained a kilo of sushi rice, ginger, mirin, wasabi paste, rice vinegar, rolling mats, instructions and an amazingly sharp sushi knife. So all I needed to buy was 2 sushi books (why buy one when you can get 2 saying almost the same thing), 3 types of soy sauce, edamame, a rice paddle, and sushi grade salmon, tuna and makerel for 8 people. Cowie and I got most of the kit from an obscure and stifflingly hot Japanese store on Brewer Street before getting the bus to Victoria from the far more sanitary looking Japan Centre on Picardilly. Whoops.

We decided to do sushi as a starter and fill everyone up with miso marinated salmon as a main course. We made the brilliant decision to delegate pudding to Anna and Edwin… and they certainly lived up to the task. This truly was an Anna Surprise which I doubt you’ll find in many Japanese recipes books. Or indeed any recipe book that has made its way past a comprehenisve tasting committee.

Suz met me in Selfridges to collect our fish along with some bright orange fish roe and filleting advice from the charming lady on the immaculate sushi stand. She even gave us some belly tuna free to go in our rolls. We whizzed back to the flat as fast as possible as we realised that not only did all the rice have to be cooked by 7.30… it also had to have cooled! Ah. Panic.

But not to worry. With the Brown siblings working in tandem we managed to get the rice cooked, cooled and made vaguely into salmon, tuna and makerel nigiri relatively easily. The rest of the team feasted on edamame, sashimi and Japanese beers.

Having never made sushi before, I was amazed at how sticky the rice is. But even more so it made me realise that the sushi you are served in Japanese restaurants is stunningly perfect. To get that level of control and precision over such niggly rice is mind blowing. But it also made me realise how crap the sushi is from Tescos and the likes of Prett.

With the nigiri filling everyone up and making us feel more confident we moved onto to using the rolling mats. Our first roll was very ricey, but well put together. After setting the bench mark Suz took over and created master piece after master piece. If she ever gets booted out of Harrods she can always go and become a sushi master! Here she is in action:

These little badgers with the roe on top were stunning…

I guess it shows that I had a more innocent childhood…

And here’s Suz embarking on what looked impossible in the book… but turned out to be pretty easy.

Everyone had a go at making maki rolls with varying degrees of success. It’s such a brilliant way of hosting a small dinner party with everyone getting a chance to have some fun. Very interactive. I can’t wait to give it another go and get seriously good at it. It’s also made Cowie want to go out to all of London’s best sushi restaurants… which is going to cripple me.

On to the now thoroughly unnecessary main course! Miso Salmon. Having had some epic black miso cod the week before I had it in my head that we had to recreate it… albeit with some cheaper fish! With a few packs of salmon tails from Sainsbury’s and a large tub of shiso miso from our weird Japanese shop on Brewer Street I embarked on creating the salty, sticky marinade that turns cheap fish into stunning haute cuisine (or whatever the Japanese is for that). I religiously followed a brilliant recipe I found on Gastronomy Domine. I say I religiously followed it… I’ve got to confess that I only let the salmon sit in the sticky goo over night rather than for the stated 3 days! Next time!

It was stunning. I am still kicking myself for letting the skin char a bit too much. One of my favourite things in the whole kingdom of food is crispy fish skin. And there’s a fine line between gorgeous crispiness and a mouth full of soot! The flesh itself was stunning. The salmon tails had been through a full transformation from decidedly average through to very special.

But not as special as Anna and Edwin’s “Anna Surprise”. Which is rather a kind name for it. I am still not quite sure what it was despite it being the one thing that will stay in everyone’s minds for over. My tasting notes would be… like a creamy, warm, Red Bull and grean tea soup with a hint of gelatine. I am not kidding, my stomach just started growling with horror as I typed that last sentence.

We all had a wonderful time – Cowie and I can’t wait for our next sushi adventure. It’s made me yearn to go to Japan!

Delicious Dinings

I’d read about Dinings in the Metro ages ago and suggested to Ed that he should go there with Erin. So when the opportunity came up to go to Dinings with Anne I got very excited.

It’s hard to find, which is the mark of a good Japanese restaurant according to Jay Rayner, tucked away on Harcourt Street at the business end of York Street in Marylebone/Edgeware Road. Close enough to work to be feasible but also far enough away to be relaxed!

We sat downstairs in what felt a bit like a smart concrete bunker. Concrete screed covers the floor and plain wooded latice divides the closet sized space up. Warm sake made us hungry whilst the edamame made us thirsty. Clever!

We chose wildly hoping that if we through enough mud at the bare white walls that it would stick. None of it disappointed. It all clung to the walls as it were…

Tuna and avocado rolls were beautifully simple. King crab sushi was heavenly. Shrimp tempura was brilliantly light and crispy, but also enormous! Sea bass with yuzu and ponzo dressing was the highlight. Really light and delicate. Tuna tataki was great and the sea weed salad was refreshing.

Not an off note to be heard. I got chatting to the co-owner who was charming. They’ve been open for 18 months and have been far more successful than they had ever hoped. Ever since Fay Maschler wrote a glowing review they have been busy almost every night. And rightly so.

It’s got a great atmosphere, is unpretentious, approachable and very stylish. I can’t wait to go back to try out even more of their menu! Thank you Anne!

Pre Valentine’s Day Roka Extravaganza

I had promised to take Cowie to Tsunami in Clapham for our pre-Valentine’s day meal. But I never booked it. Instead I was really sneaky and booked us into Roka which we had wanted to go to for ages.

We’ve got a history of trying to surprise each other but we normally either get too excited and spill the beans too early or the we see through each other and guess! But not this time. I managed to get Cowie hook line and sinker.

We met on Charlotte Street and went for a casual drink in a pub next to Finos and guzzled down some wine that meant we saved a few quid rather than paying through the nose in “Tsunami/Roka”. The more time passed the more itchy Cowie’s feet became until it was pretty obvious we couldn’t make it to Clapham in time for our booking at Tsunami.

I smiled at Cowie and explained my surprise, but before I could say where we were going instead she had guess it! That’s the closest I’ve got to surprising her properly!

We pottered up to Roka with a very bouncy spring in our steps: partly to do with the booze, a bit to do with the excitement of the surprise and also because we had been dying to go to Roka ever since we heard of it.

You can always tell it’s going to be a good meal when we ask to move seats and are plonked in the best spot. This time we were moved from the goldfish bowl seats by the window to prime real estate at the central bar overlooking the chefs doing their BBQing. It’s a great site to see such amazing chefs cooking live in front of you. It must be a great way of getting people to buy extra things just because they see them being cooked! Flames. Action. Food porn!

After gasping at the price of the set menu we soon realised that we would be better off going off piste and constructing our own meal. Who needs vegetarian dishes when these guys are so good at fish and meat.

We kicked off with some yellow fin tuna tataki which was light, fresh, zingy and beautfiully textured. The only question mark we had next to it was the way it tasted very strongly of the kind of bad pre-ground pepper you got at school.

Then came some well salted edamame and otoro tuna sashimi which was delicious. By far the best I’ve ever had. I love the feel of it as it almost disolves in your mouth. Who needs teeth when you’ve got otoro!

Cowie’s miso soup with scallops was a great success too. Warming, delicately flavoured and very subtle. It’s a great broth that is as full of unami as it is lacking in colour. Pale and unasumming. But very pleasant indeed.

Things got really exciting when our grilled quail with a tart plum compote arrived. The meat was beautifully charred and almost raw. There’s nothing quite like a bit of medium rare poultry to divide opinion. In this instance it was sensational. But I know a lot of people would have complained. The plum lifted the sweetness of the quail and cut through the oily skin leaving your mouth craving more. What a shame quails are so small!

If we thought our quail was good, the salmon teryaki took us up to another level. It was only £10 but was the best thing we ate. The salmon flesh was almost raw and fell apart at the very sight of a chopstick. The teryaki sauce was rich, dark and deep. The skin was crispy and a shinning example to the entire world about how to cook fish skin. There are few finer tastes than properly cooked fish skin. Gorgeous.

Beef and asparagus skewers were very vanilla. Perfectly fine but Wags do them just as well for less. And yuzu soy tuna was a bit dry but I enjoyed my first experience of yuzu. Kind of like tangerine but a lot more expensive!

We boycotted the wine and instead had green tea which meant that we spent well under £100 and left feeling perfectly full, deleriously happy and super keen to come back.

So Japanese

Cowie and I went to So Japanese in Piccadilly last week on the grounds that our TasteLondon card gave us 50% off and the menu had wagyu beef on it.

Typically, I arrived later being kept late yet again by work. Tom and Cowie were already sitting at our table surrounded by white walls and no other diners. They’re going to have to offer even more than 50% off! Having said that many oriental restaurants often seem empty but somehow they must do OK…

The menu was very exciting… the wagyu beef, grilled over coals from Mount Fuji had been getting me going since Cowie had sent me the link 4 days previously. I remember Miles telling me all about the way that Wagyu cows are played Mozart, fed beer and massaged in order to create the most succulent beef you can imagine. Apparently all these embellishments help to disperse the fat throughout the meat giving it the marbled effect you can see below:

We started by sharing a tuna tataki, smoked duck and walnut salad and a delicious scallop and crab tartar. We were bowled over by the quality and freshness of the food. The tuna was simply sublime – delicate, light, straight forward. The duck salad got finished off almost as quickly but wasn’t quite up to the tuna’s impeccable standards. I got the impression the duck had been waiting around too long… like Cowie normally has to when we meet for dinner. The crab and scallop tartar was placed in front of me, which was very unfair on the others because they barely got a look in! Smooth in texture and subtle of taste this dish was divine. It must have used the freshest sea food imaginable. We also had some delicious tempura vegetables which were light and crispy and some super sushi and sashimi.

Between the 3 of us we shared some blackened miso cod and some sizzling wagyu beef. The cod was firm at first and then yielded with even the gentleist prod of a chop stick. It had clearly been cooked by someone who knows exactly what that are doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had perfected it whilst working at Nobu. In fairness, the cod upstaged the wagyu beef, which was tasty and moist, but given its star billing, was a bit bathetic.

Throughout the meal we were attentively looked after by an excellent staff who had little else to do but make sure we were having the best time possible. It’s just a shame that it was so quiet as some bubble and atmosphere would transform So Japanese into somewhere that wouldn’t need to offer 50% off!

At 30 quid each, we were highly impressed with. Almost all of their cooking was excellent. And for the discounted price you can forgive them for the slightly iffy duck and the underwhelming wagyu beef. At full price however, you’d have to think carefully about whether it would be worth going back.