Available for Hire: Ferdie's Food Lab

I first met Simon (a.k.a. Ferdie) when I was trawling through grubclub looking for a chef to host my birthday. As soon as we spoke, he won me over with his humour and down to earth style, focusing on bold flavours and sharing dishes. 

We began designing a menu together right away and settled upon five savoury courses leaving me to come up with dessert.

The food was fantastic and I had so much fun I forgot to take proper photos (always a good sign)... But here are some of the highlights...

My very own thrifty table decorations consisting of a £2 tube of gold acrylic, three £1 pineapples and leaves from the garden!

Incredibly delicious Vietnamese carrot salad with Thai basil and shredded chicken. So so good

Beetroot cured salmon with horseradish parfait and orange candy

Slow cooked pigs cheeks in a crackling crumb served with a herb and lime sauce and afghan bread

Pork loin with a passion fruit gravy 

My birthday cake (as in I made it - sad, I know), a dense chocolate and hazelnut cake served with milk ice-cream

My photography skills rapidly deteriorating...

Simon was great fun to work with and utterly recommended. If you don't have any private parties coming up, you can eat his marvellous food at the London Cooking Project in Battersea. I went for the first time last week and had an excellent time getting (too) drunk and eating incredible food. Review of that coming soon...

Sole food

After a working weekend, a nice supper was required. I had been craving fish for ages (clearly I'm not seasonally aligned), so I decided to pop to the fishmongers before they closed for the week and pick up some lemon sole. One of the great things about cooking fish is that eating fish itself is so guilt free, you can adorn it with naughtiness without feeling too bad. With that in mind, here is my recipe for lemon sole with caper berry butter, chips, asparagus and hollandaise sauce. 

For the chips:

2 small maris piper potatoes or one very large one cut into chips (approx 1.5cm thickness)

3 tbsp flour

4 tbsp light olive oil

A handful of fresh chives finely chopped

Sea salt

The trick to these is to heat your oil in a roasting dish before placing the chips in the dish. Heat the oil at 2.20 degrees for approximately 20 minutes in a deep dish. In the meantime prepare your chips by rolling them in the flour, salt and chives. Once the oil is piping hot, remove the tray from the oven and place your chips in the dish. They are likely to spit so make sure you're wearing an apron and standing well back. These will need approximately 40 minutes, but I'd turn them after 20 to make sure they don't cook on one side. 

The chips take by far the longest for this meal, as fish and asparagus cook in no time so in the meantime start making your cheats hollandaise. This recipe is based on a Delia cheat I came across a while ago and is a total god send for 2 reasons: 1. It's easy and impossible to curdle, and 2. It's about 1/4 as bad for you as real hollandaise. I'm never going back.

For the hollandaise:

200ml half fat  crème fraiche

3/4 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 desert spoon lemon juice

2 large or 3 medium egg yolks

2 knobs of butter

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp corn flour (regular flour will do if you don't have any)

Salt to taste

This is almost too easy. Place all your ingredients excluding the butter into a small saucepan and whisk over a medium heat. Allow the mixture to start simmering and continue whisking until it's thickened slightly. Set aside to cool for a couple of minutes, then season and taste. Add more lemon juice or white wine vinegar depending on your taste (I always add more vinegar), then add in the butter and whisk that in so you have an even consistency. At this point, I usually decant into a teacup or small serving bowl and cover so you end up with a sauce just above room temperature.

For the asparagus

I boiled a kettle of water and put it in my steamer with the asparagus before I embarked on the sole, as the fish will need constant attention once you've started cooking it, so you can't afford to be messing around with anything else at the time. The asparagus can sit in the steamer above the water until 2 minutes before you're ready to serve, at which point turn on the heat until they're cooked through but still crispy.

For the fish:

2 whole lemon sole

Caper berries (as many as you please)

A glug of white wine

Dusting of flour

Grated lemon rind to taste

Flour a surface that you don't mind getting fishy and heat your plates. If you can be bothered, grate a little lemon rind over it and add salt and pepper. Then lightly dust your whole soles in this mixture on both sides whilst heating a shallow frying pan and some light olive oil. Place your fish in the pan once it's hot. They will only need a few minutes per side and should be cooked until they're golden brown with the fish coming away from the bone easily. Remove the fish from the pan and plate it up, whilst pouring your white wine and capers into the pan and scraping any charred fish from the bottom. Reduce for a few minutes until you have a golden mixture and pour over your fish. 

Plate up the chips and asparagus and serve. Allow people to add their own hollandaise, as some people will prefer it as a dip for the chips and green than over the fish. Personally, I can drink the stuff. 

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Flo's Monthly Mischief: October

I can't get enough of Theo Brainin's photography - see more here

I am perpetually unaware of what the date is, so these 'xyz of the month' posts are a real challenge for me. Friends, I hope you read this and understand that whenever I have forgotten all of your birthdays it is nothing personal. Hopefully these posts will, over time, at least improve my awareness of what month it is, if not what day...

In characteristically late fashion, here is my monthly mischief, (for the details of my three trusted suppliers see my first monthly mischief here.)

These are real comfort treats, deliciously earthy, warming and indulgent (cheese, wine, chocolate).

1. La Fromagerie's (Marylebone) Brie aux Truffe from Ile de France, £51.35/kg: 'a Brie de Meaux with a sandwich filling of Creme Fraiche and chopped black Perigord truffles. This is a rich and decadent combination and should be eaten freshly made rather than ripe.' This is AMAZING - using proper black truffles rather than the sometimes artificial tasting truffle oil, this cheese is a super indulgent treat. Earthy and delicious, it is a walk through a leaf-strewn park in October in a mouthful. I can't wait to go back for more.

2. I am devastated to say that Finborough Wine Cafe (West Brompton / Earls Crt)has now closed. Its wine tasting deal was clearly too good to be true. The Las Orcas 'Decenio' Rioja Reserva 1999 I tasted there is available at butlers wine cellar online for £12.95 a bottle. This is full bodied red with a nice warm spice to it. Perfect for a fire side drink, and pretty good at balancing the earthy cheese. 

3. Fortnum and Mason's (Picadilly) Salted Caramels, around £1 each. They do a few salted caramels but this one is by far the best in my eyes. The bitter dark chocolate melts in your mouth until it can no longer hold the salty caramel liquid in. Mmmmm. I am getting withdrawal symptoms already.

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Flo: Lavender Roasted Duck and Perfect Pomme Puree

Lavender slow-roasted duck legs with a Red wine jus

Triple sieved pomme puree

Caramelised shallots, spinach and oyster mushrooms

When I want to cook a romantic, Frenchified dinner for 2 (or for a dinner party if you multiply up the quantities), this is my new fail-safe. It is classic and, aside from the lavender, not particularly unusual but it is virtuoso in the techniques you can display in it - perfect pomme puree, lavender infused red wine reduction, and a delicious combination of sweet, earthy and irony vegetables. Tried and tested a few times now, it really does deliver on flavour. If I was served this in a well reputed restaurant I would be really happy. 

Despite the slightly show off nature of this meal, it is pretty low risk (it takes a good while before duck legs become dry). Duck legs are also pretty cheap for dinner party food - around £1.75-£2 each. 

If you are planning on doing this meal for more than 2, I would recommend enlisting the help of a friend so you can give your pomme puree proper attention. It would make the preparation all the more enjoyable and you could each have a glass of the spare cooking wine while you do it.

I have made the recipe very precise with timings and colour coded recipe components because I think it is very important to feel in control when you are hosting. This way you will know if you slip behind and will have to settle for a twice sieved puree! 

For the Duck and Sauce

2 duck legs

1 tbsp dried lavender, if not, rosemary

2 tsp fennel seeds

1 star anise

6 cloves of garlic

200ml red wine

2 tbsp plum jam, redcurrant, quince or crab apple jelly… marmalade can work too. (less if you don’t like it too sweet)

Pomme Puree

350g mashing potato such as maris piper, scrubbed. 

100g butter, cut into cubes.

1 medium sized glass of milk

Caramelised Shallots, Oyster Mushrooms and Spinach

4 very small, round shallots
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp honey
1 tsp sherry/wine/cider vinegar

8 pretty little oyster mushrooms

tspn butter

4 big handfuls of spinach

IN ADVANCE

Marinate the duck in the lavender, fennel seeds, anise, garlic, sliced lengthways, and enough of the wine to cover it. Cover and refrigerate overnight, for a day, or, if last minute 15 minutes will make a difference.

1 1/2 HOURS BEFORE SERVING:

Preheat the oven to 190c fan.

Once preheated (hopefully after 15mins), sprinkle chopped garlic and lavender on a foil lined baking tray and cover with the duck legs, having shaken off the wine into the marinating bowl. Sprinkle with salt.  Place in the oven for 1 hour – set a timer for 40 minutes - when the shallots need to go in too - and then set it again for the last 20 minutes. 

SAUCE: do this in 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour all the wine from the marinade along with the rest of the wine into a little saucepan. Add the jelly or jam, bring to a simmer and reduce for 5 minutes then strain and put aside.

POTATO PREP: 4 minutes

Start bringing a pan of water to the boil.

Make sure the potatoes are around 1inch x 1inch or less - cutting them up when necessary. 

Place them in the boiling water.

SHALLOTS: do this in 11 minutes 

Carefully peel the shallots to maintain their pretty little tufts.

In a saucepan Melt 1 tbsp butter. Add the shallots and fry whole for 3-4 minutes, taking off the heat every so often to ensure the butter doesn't burn. Add the honey and vinegar and fry for 3-4 more minutes on a very low heat until they have nicely browned. Pour out onto a foil lined baking dish to go into the oven later, when your timer goes off.Then set another timer for 20 minutes.

POTATOES REMAINING COOKING TIME: 5-10 minutes:

check the potatoes - they should be soft enough that you can poke a knife through them with no resistance. They will probably need 5-10 more minutes. 

POMME PUREE MASTERY: 25 minutes

Once soft enough, strain them and leave them to cool a bit. Once cool enough, peel them with your hands by rubbing the skin off. If this is too difficult you can use a knife to skin them instead.

Bring the milk to the boil carefully avoiding it boiling over and making a mess of your hob. Once the milk is boiling, turn off the heat and leave aside.

Remember to put the shallots in when the timer goes off, and to set another timer for 20 minutes (by which time the duck will have had an hour)

Return them to the dry pan and mash them up. Place over a very very low heat to warm up whilst stirring in the butter bit by bit. It should begin to form a doughy puree.

The puree will be very thick. Slowly stir in as much milk as it takes to bring it to the consistency that you like. I don’t like mine too liquidy myself so don’t use all the milk, but its good.Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Once it is right, take it off the heat and push the potato through a sieve. I do it once when I’m feeling lazy but if you do it three times, as Joel Robuchon does, it really does make a difference. Proper high-end restaurant style pomme puree.

When you have sieved it, you can put it in a Pyrex bowl over boiling water and heat it up, stirring it every now and again.

velvety

BACK TO THE DUCK, OYSTER MUSHROOMS AND SPINACH: 10 minutes

The timer should now ring for a second time and the duck should have had 1 hour. Remove the duck from the oven and spoon off almost all the fat (save it for roast potatoes).

Pour the wine mixture around it and return to the oven for 10 minutes to finish cooking and reduce the sauce.

In this ten minutes, quickly give your mash a stir and check it is getting hot.

Now, fry the mushrooms in butter, salt, and pepper briefly for 3 minutes. Carefully remove the mushrooms and put in the oven with the shallots.

Don't bother washing up your frying pan and add the spinach straight into it with a pinch of salt, stirring gently till it begins to wilt then turn the heat off cover with the lid.

SAUCE: 

After the last 10 minutes, take the duck out, put the legs on a plate and rest in the oven (that you have just switched off) for a few minutes.

Pour the sauce through a sieve into a little pot to reduce further if it is not thick enough. You want it to be liquidy but with a good viscosity – like a good old balsamic – not quite syrup though, since it thickens as it cools anyway.

FINAL TOUCHES: 

Serve by neatly forming a circle of potato in the centre of the plate and place the leg on top. Put the gravy in a gravy dish. I like to serve the sides in a pretty tea-cup with the spinach first and then the shallots and mushrooms. 

p.s. If you really want to show off, it looks more restauranty to trim the joints as I did the next time I made it. See this photograph of my rather scatty job - I was not in my own house and there were no sharp knives! I forgot to photograph it when cooked but you get the idea...

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