Review of One Blenheim Place

OK, so I've been know to have, maybe just a bit of a Groupon habit in my time. It's great for bits and bobs and getting pointless but expensive things done to you hair. However,I don't often buy food on Groupon. It's just a bit too much of a wild card, and surely if a restaurant can serve up anything nice, people will go there anyway. In short, they shouldn't need Groupon. I got tempted a few months ago however when an offer came up for One Blenheim Terrace that caught my attention by flashing the word Michelin around. Not Michelin stared (don't be silly) but 'Michelin Recommended'. Now, I'm still not sure that 'Michelin Recommended' is a real thing, but I read a fairly favourable review on-line which talked about a very traditional 70's British menu but using Heston style molecular gastronomy to jazz it up. It sounded interesting.

Given that my preferred dining partner is not the biggest fan of fancy restaurants, I thought the traditional, plus the sciency side might persuade him through the door. This, plus a birthday coming up (bargaining power) and a cracking deal attached increased my chances further. He grudgingly agreed.

On arrival we were asked for our voucher right away, which I thought was really good. It wasn't mentioned again, it was automatically taken off the bill when we asked for it at the end. I sometimes find it embarrassing trying explain the voucher, get the bill, debate it all, all in the middle of the restaurant. I've also heard stories of people using Groupon vouchers like dirt in a variety of places. This place handled it really well.

We were seated in their nice conservatory. This would have have been lovely for lunch on a sunny afternoon. It wasn't bad on a slightly rainy Thursday evening either. The prosecco I ordered when we sat down was unfortunately served a bit warm. Then, when I sent it back and it took an age to return. However, when it did it was ice cold and went very nicely with the amuse bouche. This was tiny flower pot full of what looked like earth with tiny bits of vegetable poking out of it. The earth was actually some sort of dried out black olive 'soil' and it was all sitting on top of something that tasted like posh mayonnaise. It was the kind of thing I'd been expecting in the molecular gastronomy stakes. Unfortunately it was also the last of this kind of thing we saw.

My starter was a seared beef salad, with leaves, anchovies, croutons and creamy horseradish sauce. It was very nice but lacking in any sort of amazing flavour or innovation. Rhid's duck eggs on toast with HP sauce, was exactly what it said on the tin and really wasn't worth the £8.50 he paid for it.

For my main course I got the largest piece of salmon I've ever seen in my life! It was however perfectly cooked with a delicious crispy skin. It was served along side a poached egg, coated in a lovely creamy mustard hollandaise and asparagus  All the flavours went together really very well but unfortunately the salmon was so massive that I finished all of the accompaniments long before most of the salmon. All in all I was a little disappointed because the flavours were fairly traditional, the elements were unbalanced and pretty pricey into the bargain.

Rhid reported his fish cake as being mostly mashed potato but nice enough.

Both too stuffed for pudding we got the bill. Once the voucher had been taken off we were pleasantly surprised by the size of this. The offer made the whole experience worth it but if I was paying full price I'm not sure I'd go back. The nice added bonus was that they gave us a full sized brownie along with the bill. This made us very glad we'd missed putting, even though the syllabub looked delicious.

The final verdict is, a nice restaurant with lots of nice extras, good service and if you happen to be near St John's Wood I'd say pop in. There were quite a few fairly priced options on the menu which would have made it more affordable. They also do breakfast which I'd be tempted to try if we lived locally.

Smoked Haddock Chowder

Smoked haddock is the ingredient du jour recently and I've been looking for different ways to use it. I've found recipes for risotto, gratin and this one for a chowder. Not something that I've ever really had before a few years ago. I would probably never have served it up as a main, thinking, 'it's soup, that's not a proper meal!'. I had to take this back a few years ago when I was fed it by my friend Emily. It may be a soup, but it's so filling and so tasty.

The fish with potatoes, sweetcorn, leek and milk is a lovely delicate flavour combination which has started me thinking about what else it could go into. The soup is great, but what about a quiche or even a smoked haddock version of a croque-monsieur?

Anyway, what more can you say about soup? Here's the recipe:

Smoked Haddock Chowder

Serves two

approx 40g of butter
1 large leeks, thinly sliced
a sprinkle of dried thyme
1/2 can of sweetcorn
a handful of new potatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
a couple of undyed smoked haddock fillets
milk, enough to cover the fish
a splash of vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
a sprinkling of black peppercorns
a good handful fresh flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped

In a deep pan, heat the butter until melted, add the leeks with the thyme and cover with a circle of wet greaseproof paper big enough to tuck down a little over the leeks. Cover with a lid so no steam escapes, and cook gently for about ten minutes. Add the potatoes to the pot. Replace the greaseproof paper and the lid and continue to cook for a further ten minutes.

Meanwhile, place the smoked haddock fillets in another shallow pan and pour in the milk, enough to just cover the fish. Add a bay leaf or two and a sprinkling of peppercorns. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook the fish for eight minutes or so, being careful not to overcook it.

Lift the lid of the pan containing the leeks and remove the greaseproof paper. Test the potatoes with a point of a knife. If they're still hard add the stock and some of the milk to the pan and simmer the potatoes a little more until their tender. Once the potatoes are cooked add the flaked haddock to the pan with the rest of the milk, making sure that you don't add the bay leaves or peppercorns. Season. Bring to a simmer and finish with a good sprinkling of chopped parsley before taking the pan to the table for the food to be served into bowls.

Savoury Presents

I rang my mum this week to ask if she had any ideas of what my dad might like for his birthday. I had an all right budget and was all set for a journey to John Lewis. But I was told pretty firmly 'No', just get him things to eat with his gin and tonic. Fantastic, I don't have to brave Oxford Street. I can just potter around Waitrose and my kitchen instead and it's going to be much cheaper. I was happy.

Any one who's ever been to my parent's house at 'Gin and Tonic Time' (When the sun is passed the yard arm, which means 6pm and not a minute earlier) will know what a big deal it is. At this point one of the strongest gin and tonics known to man is almost forced into your hand. The thing that makes this hilarious is that if you express the an interest in a drink a meer five minutes earlier, then your branded an alcoholic.

So, I'm sure you can appreciate that a few snacks to cut through that amount of gin is always appreciated.

I decided to pull out some old faithfuls because I didn't have a huge amount of time to research and think about new stuff. This gave rise to another Ottolenghi recipe, parmesan and poppy seed biscuits and cheese and mustard gougeres.

Parmesan and poppy seed biscuits

These little things are great. They're cheesy and spicy and are actually more flavoured with parmesan and smoked paprika than with the poppy seeds. The poppy seeds however give a bit of colour and visual drama. They're dangerous to have too many around as the second you've got a drink in your hand they just get hoovered up and you seem to drink a lot more too because they're so salty. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.


210g plain flour, plus plenty extra for dusting
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp paprika (I always use smoked paprika)
a pinch of cayenne pepper
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
165g butter at room temp
165g Parmesan Cheese, freshly grated
80g poppy seeds
1 free range egg beaten

Sift the flour, baking powder, paprika and cayenne into a bowl and add the salt and pepper.

Mix the butter with the Parmesan until they are well blended, add the dry ingredients and continue mixing to form a dough.

Divide the dough in half and roll each piece into a long log 5-6cm in diameter using lots of flour. Wrap each log in cling film and place in refrigerator for about 30 mins to firm up.

Scatter the poppy seeds over a flat plate. Brush the logs with the beaten egg and roll them in the poppy seeds until covered. Refrigerate for about 1 hour. (At this stage you can also wrap the logs and freeze them)

Preheat the oven to 170c. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Cut the log into slices approx 3-5mm thick and arrange on the tray spaced about 2-3cm apart. Bake for 12 minutes. The biscuits should be dark golden and smell amazing! Leave to cool completely before serving or storing in an air tight container.

Cheese and Mustard Gougeres

I found this recipe last year. I was looking for inventive ways to use up cheddar when we received one of the oddest gifts I've ever had. We were given 6 large blocks of cheddar. All different types and all very nice but I don't normally eat that much cheese and by the time we'd have cheese and biscuits, mac and cheese, quiche and lots of cheese on toast I was kind of stumped.

These are quick, delicious, very cheesy and look pretty impressive for the effort. I normally flavour with smoked paprika but as I was already doing something paprika-ry I decided to flavour these with mustard. I added a pinch of dried mustard like the recipe suggested but if you love mustard like I do I think it could definitely take more. I also didn't use a standard piping bag with a nozzle I used a disposable piping bag and just cut the end to the right size (about 1.5 cm).

75g plain flour
dried mustard powder
50g butter
2 medium eggs , lightly beaten
75g strong cheddar , finely grated
Sprinkle of poppy seeds (optional)

Mix the flour and a large pinch of mustard powder and season well. Put 150ml water and the butter in a pan and heat until the butter is completely melted. Turn up to a boil. Tip the flour into the pan in one go and beat with a wooden spoon until incorporated. Turn heat down, but keep beating until the mix turns smooth and glossy and starts to pull away from the walls of the pan. Tip into a bowl.

Once the mixture has cooled slightly, beat in the eggs a little at a time with a wooden spoon or electric beaters. It should be smooth and stretchy and fall easily off a wooden spoon but still retain its shape. If it reaches this stage before you've added all the eggs, don't add the rest as it will be too runny to pipe. Beat in the cheese.

Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Line a couple of baking sheets with baking parchment, put a straight-edged cream nozzle into a piping bag and spoon in the pastry mix. Pipe out 30 small heaps of pastry about the size of a pound coin. (If you don't have a piping bag, put the mix in a strong plastic bag and snip the corner off, or use a teaspoon to portion it out). Wet your finger and press down the tip on each one. Add a scatter of poppy seeds if you like. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and firm. Serve hot or make a hole in the base of each with a skewer and leave to cool. You can reheat them if you like.

Michel Roux Jnr's Shepherds Pie

So the BBC revived the Food and Drink show earlier this year. It bought back memories of what was a very traditional 80's cooking show which I remember from my childhood. Men with beards screwing up white sauce and the truly mental Jilly Goolden talking utter bollocks about exploding shuttlecock Chardonnay with hints of creosote

This new format was good. A bit of chat, debate, some cooking and drink matching. Living  with a non drinker I particularly liked the fact that they would always suggest a non alcoholic drink pairing for each dish. The one thing I was less keen on was the way which they dealt with wine, as they would only ever describe the wine they were drinking without giving you a name, price or where to buy it. Watching this programme also had the effect that for a very short (and weird) time developed a bit of a crush on the front man Michel Roux Jnr. This is thankfully over, as it was really adding fuel to the fire of Rhid's opinion that I fancy really god-dam weird men and in turn getting a little bit offended on his own behalf.

Strange food crushes aside, it's changed the way I make shepherds pie, forever.

I was never really given shepherds (lamb) or cottage (beef) pie at home as a child. I'm not really sure why, as it's a British staple food. Maybe it was my father's, very strange, aversion to mashed potato? So this left me with my only experience of this being school food, and therefore disguising. I attempted to correct this in my early twenties by making myself one. However, not really knowing what I was doing, it wasn't particularly successful. It was only really when I was doing chalet cooking for children in the French Alps some years later that this dish really started to interest me. It really is ultimate comfort food.

Ever since then I've been fiddling with the recipe. More or less tomato, lamb / beef / chicken stock, fresh rosemary versus dried, adding red wine or leaving it out, lot of veg or just onions and garlic and various potato versus meat ratios. The latest incarnation was to try browning the meat in batches so was almost crispy in an attempt to add flavour and texture, whilst at the same time cooking down the veg (carrots, celery  onion and rosemary) until it was richly coloured and sweet, which was very nice.

All the recipes I've tried though have always had minced lamb at their core. Michel Roux's version focused on using up the remains of a roast lamb joint. I wasn't convinced, especially seeing as the recipe then required you to mince the lamb (I don't own a mincer) and then adding tomato ketchup of all things! The other thing that I wasn't wild about was that the veg was added raw to the minced lamb and then just slapped in the oven with the mash on top. But what about my beautiful caramelised vegetables?!

However, as Easter lamb was on offer at Waitrose I bought a leg speculatively thinking that we might have people over and if not I could try this recipe. I'm so glad I did. Firstly hacking the lamb leg to pieces and then chopping it up in to mince by hand was really quite therapeutic  I just shoved the veg into a food processor. Therapeutic or not, I'd had enough chopping by then. Then once compiled and served up it was lovely. The roast lamb gives a lovely texture to the pie and not cooking the veg off in advance gave them a lovely fresh, almost crunchiness. The ketchup too was also a winner. I normally add tomato purée but this version had a lovely sweetness added by the ketchup. I'd really recommend that you give this a try.

For this recipe I used the leftovers from a leg of lamb studded with garlic and rosemary so I left out the extra garlic. I reduced the amount of mash in this recipe and also added cream as well as the milk to the mash because, well, that makes the best mash.

Shepherds Pie

400-500g/14oz-1lb 2oz leftover roast lamb, leftover gravy and fat from the roasting tin
1 carrot, chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 sprig fresh parsley, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
5 cloves leftover roast garlic
4 tbsp ketchup
1 kg/2lb 4oz peeled, cooked floury potatoes (such as King Edward, Desiree or Maris piper)
butter, to taste
dash of milk
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Scrape all the meat off the lamb bone and put through a mincer with the carrot, celery, parsley, shallots and leftover gravy and fat from the roasting tin. If you haven’t got a mincer then chop everything finely and mix together. Add sweet roasted garlic cloves popped from their skins and the ketchup.

Press the mixture into an ovenproof dish. Mash together the cooked potatoes with butter to taste and a dash of milk, and top the meat with the potatoes. Use a fork to make a pretty design on top.

Cover the dish with foil and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil and turn up the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 for a final 10 minutes so it’s piping hot and lightly golden-brown on top.
For the stir-fried cabbage, heat the oil in a wok until hot, then stir fry the ingredients together for a few minutes until cooked, but so it keeps its colour and stays crunchy.

More pasta adventures

I started a rummage around the fridge today trying to rustle up a bit of lunch. I didn't have much enthusiasm, thinking that all I had was a bit of pancetta and although this is wonderful stuff, without any fresh herbs or interesting veg, I wasn't sure I had enough in to make it exciting.

I love it when it starts off like that and ends up as something really nice.

On request of having a pasta based meal I started by leafing through the pasta book which I've borrowed (OK, considering it's been two years, I probably have to admit - stolen), from my brother. Starting with a search for bacon (nothing) and then ham. This lead to the idea of adding onions, frozen peas and parmesan (which I always have in) and then cream (of which a tiny pot remained from Friday's pudding). I'm always a fan of a bit of reduced wine in a pasta dish so I threw some of that in too.

The result was very sweet and nice for a starter or a light lunch. If we'd been having dinner it might have been a bit much.

Bacon and pea pasta

Serves two as a light lunch

120g dried pasta
60g of pancetta cubes
1/2 a white onion, thinly sliced
knob of butter and a small splash of olive oil
1/2 glass of white wine
large handful of frozen petite pois
1-2 tbsp cream (creme fraiche would probably have worked too)
handful of parmesan
salt and pepper

Put a tiny amount of oil in a pan on a high heat and add the pancetta. Stir occasionally until starting to pick up a little bit of colour. At this point put the pasta on to boil. Then turn the temperature down to low and wait for the pan to cool a little before adding the onion and butter. Cook the mixture until the pancetta is crispy and the onions are soft and sweet.

Then add the wine and peas and turn the temperature up to bubble off the alcohol and cook the peas. Once the peas are warmed through and the acrid alcohol smell is gone, turn the temperature down again and add the cream, most of the parmesan and season to taste with salt and pepper. Warm through.

By this point the pasta will mostly likely be cooked through so it still has a bite. Strain it off reserving some of the cooking water. Put the pasta back in the pan along with the sauce and stir it through. Add some of the cooking water until you have a slightly looser slippery looking sauce. Adjust the seasoning and put in bowls topped with the remaining parmesan.