I was making lamb and cauliflower puree again, though I had no carbs to hand. I found some polenta in the cupboard and though I’d make some firm polenta pieces as something to mop up juices with. Crisp on the outside, chewy in the middle, this is just the thing to partner with excess sauce or gravy.
Polenta cake:
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
Ground polenta
Lamb stock
*For quantities, use a ratio of 3:1 liquid to polenta. I just used a ramekin to dole it out.
Preheat an oven to 180C, with a shallow baking dish in it. Preheating the dish ensures a crisp base.
On the hob, whisk the stock and polenta together for a couple of minutes until thickened.
Season, add the thyme and pour into the baking dish.
I grew up on Canvey Island, which is famous for many things though sadly not it’s food. There is one shining star on the isle, the fabulous Labworth restaurant with sensational sea views and supremely fresh seafood. On a recent trip Liam had pork escalope in a creamy mushroom sauce and was interested how it was made. I had a taste and said we’d give it a go at home.
So the escalope was easy enough; hammered and breadcrumbed pork fillets. The pork has to be quite lean as it’s not cooking for long. But the mushroom sauce was a touch more intricate, a roux-based sauce made with chicken stock and cream and thyme. I should’ve added more liquid to this one though, it was a touch too thick which can only be rescued before the cream is added. A pretty darn good approximation though.
Pork escalope with creamy mushroom sauce:
4 pork fillets, hammered thin between two pieces of cling film
2 tablespoons flour, seasoned
2 eggs, beaten
100g breadcrumbs
For the sauce:
200g mushrooms, sliced
75g butter
3 tablespoons butter
1 pint chicken stock
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
Fry the mushrooms in a little butter and oil until coloured. Remove to one side.
In the same pan, melt the butter and stir in the flour to make a roux. Allow to cook out for a minute.
Add the chicken stock a little at a time until absorbed and you have a creamy finish. Season to taste and add thyme.
Stir the cream into the sauce then return the mushrooms to the pan. Keep warm while you prepare the pork.
To make the escalopes, dust in flour, dip into the egg then roll in breadcrumbs.
Heat oil in a pan and fry the escalopes on each side until golden brown. Leave on kitchen paper to drain for a minute before serving with the sauce drizzled over.
I was passing through Waitrose in need of a lemon Fanta after a great nine holes, when one of their recipe cards caught my eye. And this is me having a bash. There’s lots of disparate parts here. but I’m a sucker for a pasta bake, and one of my favourite meats chorizo has a look in too.
The results were nice, but could’ve been a lot better. The elements were tugging at each other, rather than coming together harmoniously. If I did it again, I’d get the chorizo sweating early in with the tomato sauce, to get a more developed flavour out of it. I’d also be adding a little stock to thin the sauce out, encouraging everything to blend and get a bit more moisture to the whole dish. Finally I’d be slicing the aubergine and pepper before griddling, getting more smoky flavours throughout. Can’t really see what good the basil leaves are doing that early on either. A good first draft though, see you next time. Below is the method on this effort.
Chorizo pasta bake:
1 aubergine, halved
1 red pepper, halved
200g rigatoni
1 tin tomatoes
Handful of basil leaves, torn
1 ball mozzarella, torn
200g chorizo, diced
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.
Griddle the aubergine and pepper until charred on both sides.
Meanwhile, heat the tomatoes and add the basil leaves.
Dice the veg and pour the tomatoes, pasta, chorizo and veg into a baking dish.
Being a Jamie Oliver nerd, I’d been waiting for the opportunity to try one of his restaurants. Being a fellow Essex boy I’m constantly disappointed that there isn’t one of his places in this great county. When Jamie, when? I’ll work there for free!
I do however make regular trips to Brighton, so knew the next time I would be sampling Jamie’s Italian. They don’t accept bookings so the four of us (3 adults + 1 child) rocked up in anticipation around 5pm and got seated quickly. I even asked to sit at a banquette to give us plenty of room and this was no bother at all.
My first impressions were of an American diner – quite chunky and glitzy. Jazzy murals of trainers and mirrors adorn the walls, meanwhile you can see right into the kitchen through a glass partition. The waiters have a pretty area, with butler sinks and rustic dressers to store their stuff. It’s pretty massive as well, not that they were short of covers!
Though the little one with us was sure to eat an adult’s portion, I asked for a child’s menu anyway because I’d heard they were unique. Indeed they are – 80s Viewmasters! Though the pictures are cute bafflingly there are no descriptions on any of them, so you’ve no idea what’s being ordered. The menus themselves are large and full of cheeky Jamie-isms as you might expect.
Immediately we ordered olives, being a firm favourite of my family. Described as ‘best olives’, that was certainly an apt description. Rich, plump green beauties with a meaty, almost parmesan-y tones. Set over ice and accompanied by ‘music bread’ – whatever that is – and olive tapenade, these truly were the best olives. Incredible.
Following from that we had a plate of meat antipasto and veg antipasto between the four of us. Antipasto always gets me giddy, I love courses where you can pick and nibble at different bits and pieces. These were an absolute triumph, laid on breadboards set atop two upturned tins of tomatoes. Wafer thin San Daniele ham, salty prosciutto, chewy mortadella… the meats alone were of the highest quality. Yet another fat olive and curiously plump capers finished this section off. There’s a cheese in the middle I can’t recall, but reminded me of manchego with membrillo. There was a tangy side dish of pickled carrot and beetroot which was just the right counterpoint. To leave the best til last, the mozzarella was the finest we had ever tasted. A paper-thin crust held a ball of soft creamy cheese that oozed in the mouth. Utter heaven. On the veg side there were some pleasing mixed mediterranean bits – courgette, artichoke etc – that were also delicious.
We then had an array of mains: lamb lollipops acheived that great combination of fun and tasty, with an array of dips; sweet potato lasagne that was warm and soothing; bolognese proclaimed to be “the best ever”; while I went for soft-shell crab. These were writhing great monsters, apologies for the dodgy pic but I was in a hurry to devour them. They were sweet and crispy and tasty, a real treat. If I had one complaint, it would be that there’s almost too much of it – even with my massive appetite I had out-crabbed myself – there were two whole crabs to nibble! In all the mains were incredibly satisfying, especially when paired with wilted greens and balsamic chickpeas.
For dessert we barely managed a bakewell, orange tart and range of sorbets. All were marvellous, the bakewell almondy and jammy, the orange tart thick and citrussy.
It was a superb meal – the best I’ve eaten this year and one of my favourite meals ever. Now when’s the Essex branch opening?!
