Something of a departure

Perhaps contrary to my Friday afternoon Champagne drinking ways, I have a much more practical side. The side of me that has to think about how the mortgage and the bills are going to get paid while I'm figuring out just how I can maximise my enjoyment of life - and shopping.

So where do we go for affordable wine...well, other than my trusty Sainsbury's and Waitrose deliveries (which can be very nice by the way), we tend to pop out to the nearby Co-op. I was very disappointed when my local 'around the corner' wine buying options shrank and Sainsbury's petrol station became unable to sell wine (some new law) and left me the choice of Oddbins (sorry, not a huge fan), Tesco (expensive, not very nice wine in the smaller shops) or the Co-op. So, we decided to try the Co-op - and we were oh so pleasantly surprised.

Now, don't get me wrong - this isn't wine that I'm going take to a fancy dinner party to impress someone. I'd take it almost anywhere else though - and we are happy to have some any night we happen to feel like having wine. There is always wine at 'half price' which goes for somewhere around £3.75 or £3.99 - white, red and, pleasingly, usually rose. We've had a summer full of rose bargains that were exceedingly pleasant and have already dug into couple of reds that would do a winter stew proud. Add this to other reasons to like the Co-op, fair trade and the like, and well, it's all good. Give it a try.

Friday Afternoon Champagne (Part 2)

Last Friday, girl-e and I decided to sample another champagne bar to compare our experience at Hugh's a couple of weeks ago. We decided to visit the Veuve Clicquot Champagne Bar at Malmaison on West George Street. The champagne bar is downstairs and just outside the bistro - it's really just a clever use of what might otherwise be a foyer or ante-room with ample nooks and crannies to display the distinctive orange-yellow branding of the Champagne House. Archtecturally, it's interesting as this was formally just the space between two buildings that's been enclosed and filled with comfy furniture - but still gives just a hint of the feel of being outside without being subject to the elements. The bar menu was extensive with cocktails and snacks - but we were pretty focused on the champagne. The list was short but nice - two Veuve Clicquot selections (NV Brut and NV Brut Rose), one lesser known Champagne (Mercier) and one prosecco. We splurged on the Brut Rose first (11.95 per glass). This is definitely a splurge - but this wine is gorgeous, elegant and balanced. If you are content to have one of something fabulous rather than several of something so-so then this is the ticket....gorgeous orange-y salmon-y colour, lovely summer berry nose with hints of sweet biscuits baking. Sadly, it was outside our budget to have a second glass but the Mercier NV brut was a very nice stand in at £8.95. Referring back to my comments in the previous post, it doesn't have to be from a well known champange house to be very enjoyable and a champagne bar that gets this wrong is very disappointing. The Mercier was lovely - soft, light and fresh with a more apple/pear/flower sort of personality than the berry fruits of the rose. To add to what was already an exceedingly pleasant experience, we ordered a single order of chips to split (since we sat in the bar for best part of 3 hours!) and these were stellar - crisp outside, soft inside, cut into thin strips, nicely salty. This was a very nice experience that I would be keen to repeat when I want to treat myself to something a bit special.

Friday Afternoon Champagne

Here I am this Friday afternoon, eating lunch at my desk, thinking about last Friday afternoon when I was sitting in Hugh's in House of Faser on Buchanan Street with girl-e. It was a very warm day and the dark chocolate brown decor of Hugh's seemed a lovely place to hide from the world. As an in-store cafe, it's a rather nice, quiet atmosphere for snacks, teas, coffee, drinks, etc.. Might also be a nice place for your other half to hang out while you get on with the business of wearing out your credit cards. We didn't try the food on this occasion so I can't say much here - but the menu was fairly thorough and I'm sure most would find something here. Some of it seemed oddly heavy (confit of lamb shoulder?) for what must be a lunch or snack destination - but perhaps I was unduly influenced by the heat of the afternoon in forming this opinion!

As a Champagne Bar (it was set up by a company called Champagne Bars Ltd which created a certain expectation), well, it was fine.The champagne section of the menu offered 6 choices by the glass (a not bad number) - 4 non-vintage 'white' champagne and 2 non-vintage rose champagne. For vintage, you need to order by the bottle. What disappointed was that we took our server's recommendation and tried a glass of the Boizel rose champagne. We were entirely underwhelmed - it was indeed pink but it was really rather bland, missing soft summer fruits or floral notes almost entirely. There are plenty of excellent quality wines that would have fit this price point - to have one that was so disappointing just made me wonder if they knew what they were doing. It could have been a less than stellar bottle so perhaps I am not being fair - but I don't really want to give it another whirl at £9.50 for 125ml. To make up for this defeat we had a second glass - Pol Roger non-vintage. This was every bit as lovely as I would have expected it to be so we were significantly cheered up by this (and at only 50p more per glass). All in all, it was pleasant - and I'd go back again if I were in Fraser's. I don't think I'd make a special trip though - and I might just order a coffee anyway. (Or a champagne cocktail, they has a most interesting selection of these!)

Don't get me wrong, a cool glass of Champagne to soothe a weary shopper is a spectacular idea - but every time I hear 'champagne bar' I get rather excited. Usually, though I am disappointed. I do realise that I might be somewhat harder to please than most in this regard and I also realise that restaurants and bars can be constrained in their purchasing by contracts out of their control and based on whatever fickle system of sales and distribution applies. But for me, I'd like to see some really well thought out choices: reliable, big name, non-vintage (they did achieve this) and maybe a vintage or two by the glass at a reasonable price, delightful and expertly chosen lesser known labels by the glass, non-champagne fizz by the glass (it's really about the bubbles isn't it?). I like sparkling wine and I am happy to pay a premium for high quality wine - but a cool glass of lovely prosecco would have done nicely rather than poorly chosen actual 'champagne' that wasn't worth it's premium price. We do know what these bottles cost in Oddbins so we understand the mark-ups - and I do know that we are paying for the location, the experience, the decor, the convenience, the service etc. But I could also just have a coffee. Was I somewhat unfairly put off by mediocre champagne? Perhaps. But while I will settle for mediocre wine in a pub (that's me with the ice in my vin de pays), I'm not there for the wine. I don't go to 'Champagne Bars' to be disappointed.

Warm Quinoa Salad

Once the weather starts to warm up, we, like most probably, adjust how we eat. Our thoughts turn to the light and fresh and we move further away from the rich and heavy. Of course, this doesn’t mean we are any less time or energy constrained than at other times of the year – and lighter and fresher doesn’t necessarily mean quicker! Sure a bag of salad, some dressing, some protein is easy – but I can’t eat that way every night, especially as this is what often passes for lunch. So my compromise the other night was a warm salad – warm as in ‘not cooled off yet’ really. I put 3 cups of quinoa and 6 cups of water in the rice cooker while I was thinking about what I might do and by the time it was finished, I had a plan….

I divided the quinoa into two bowls (since there was so much!) and gave both a toss with extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. (Key cooking tip - things like grains, beans, legumes, potatoes etc. absorb flavours much better when they are warm.) Into each bowl went a generous handful of chopped sundried tomatoes and a drizzle of the oil they were soaking in.

I added to the first bowl shredded courgette that had been sautéed in olive oil and garlic, steamed french beans (chopped into thirds), some chopped fresh green onion and a handful of chopped toasted hazelnuts. I used two medium sized courgettes – courgette is always a favourite vegetable for us. This was an excellent accompaniment to some very thin pan fried turkey breast steaks (seasoned with Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning for a bit of kick) and dash of moisture from a quick deglaze of the pan with some white wine. Even better (almost) was having this for lunch the next with a big dollop of soy yoghurt and a bit of extra oil and vinegar.

The contents of the second bowl went into the freezer. A week later it turned into a very similar meal – without the courgettes this time. This time I took turkey breast chunks and sautéed them with onion, garlic and olive oil, tossed them with the defrosted (and warm from the microwave) quinoa with some chopped green onion, more hazelnuts and a dollop of soy yoghurt. And again, there was enough left for a yummy lunch with some additional yoghurt and handful of sunflower seeds.

Classic gems: Stirred Eggs

I discovered the recipe below this weekend when flipping through an old paperback cookbook 'How to Cook and Eat in Chinese' by Buwei Yang Chao. The first edition was released in 1945 and the last edition in 1963 (although my copy was printed in 1972). As it turns out, this is really something of a classic. It is a Chinese woman's (who learned to cook while at medical school in Japan no less) attempt to make Chinese cuisine understandable to an American audience and offers explanatory sections about materials, utensils and preparation as well as recipes and menus. To underscore the classic quality, the preface to this book was written by Pearl S. Buck - within which she 'nominates' the author for a Nobel Peace Prize for the contribution this book has made to peace, friendship and understanding. Indeed, a quick Google search will tell you that Dr. Chao was first to use the description 'stir-frying' to describe the cooking method known in Chinese as ch'ao.

It is a charming cookbook for its simplicity and its recipes as well as its 'of another time' quality (the use of several tablespoons of lard in almost every recipe might be an example of this). The recipe below is more of a description and is credited to the author's husband, identified only as R.Y.C., noting that this is the only thing he can cook well. I've shortened it slightly as it is rather long - but it is hard to edit as the whole thing is so utterly charming:

'Obtain:
6 average-sized fresh eggs (for this is the maximum number of eggs I have cooked at one time)
3g of cooking salt (or, as an alternative, 4 g of table salt)' [blogger's note - the only reference I can find that indicates that there might be a difference between these two types of salt says that cooking salt is a curing salt used for curing meats - unless I've gotten this wrong I wouldn't actually recommend that you season your eggs with it!)]
'50cc fresh lard, which will approximately equal the conent of 4 level tablespoonfuls
1 plant of Chinese ts'ung (substitute with scallion if ts'ung is unobtainable) about 30cm long by 7 mm in average diameter. (This ingredient is optional)' [bloggers note - scallions are what Americans call green onions or spring onions]

'Either shell or unshell the eggs by knocking one against another in any order. Be sure to have a bowl to catch the contents. With a pair of chopsticks, strike the same with a quick vigorous motion known as 'beating the eggs'. This motion should, however, be made repeatedly and not just once. Automatic machines, aptly named as 'egg-beaters' have been invented for this purpose'....

The author inserts a footnote about breaking the eggs at the bottom of the page: 'Since, when two eggs collide, only one of them will break, it will be necessary to use a seventh egg with which to break the sixth. If, as it may very well happen, the seventh egg breaks first instead of the sixth, an expedient will be simply to use the seventh one and put away the sixth. An alternate procedure is to delay your numbering system and define that egg as the sixth egg which breaks after the fifth egg.' ....

'The next phase of the operation is the most critical for the successful stir-frying of eggs. When the bottom part of the mixture becomes a puffed-up soft mass on contact with the heat, the uppoer part will remain quite liquid. Preferably using a thin flat piece of metal attached to a handle, the operator should push the mixture to one side so as to allow the uncooked portion to flow onto the hot fat on the now exposed portion of the bottom. (Sometimes this may be facilitated by slightly tipping the pan.) Quickly repeat this until 90 percent of the liquid has come in contact wiht the hot fat and becomes puffed. Then, still using the flat piece of metal, make the entire content of the pan revolve through 180 degrees about a horizontal axis. This delicate operation is know as 'turing it over', which in the hands of a beginner may easily become a flop. It can be done neatly and without waste only after repeated practice with different sets of eggs.

If the turning over has been successfully carried out, wait for 5 seconds, which is about the time it takes to count from 1 to 12., then transfer the contents to the bowl or platter, when the dish is said to be done.

To test whether the cooking has been done properly, observe the person served. If he utters a voiced bilabial nasal consonant with a slow falling intonation, it is good. If he utters the syllable yum in a reduplicated form, it is very good.' [blogger's note: R.Y C. was acutally a prominent linguist at the time so his identification of a voiced bilabial consonant is less odd than it may seem at first glance.]

I was so delighted by this that I thought it was worth sharing....any errors or misrepresentations are strictly my own.

Curry Wishes and Pakora Dreams.....

One of the best things about living in the City Centre of Glasgow is that we are surrounded by drinking, dining and shopping choices. We have been a bit extra lazy (or busy?) lately though and have been indulging more than usual in takeaway meals - and happily we are spoiled for choice. Our local favourite has to be the Balti Club on Woodlands Road, in the shadow of the Sainsbury's petrol station. At first glance, it's just your average neighborhood takeaway shop - but it is without a doubt a great choice for good, fast, fresh food. The staff are so nice and helpful and have been able to answer all my allergy questions. I've also never had anything from there that hasn't been excellent. OK - it's still takeaway food so to be consumed in moderation ideally - but what a great treat for those nights when you just don't have time/energy/inclination/etc. to cook.

We vacillate between the set meal deal for 2 for around £14 - and more food than we can manage in one meal - or a pizza (for him) and a kebab (for her). Don't judge me for the kebab - I get a chicken tikka kebab (chunks of marinated, chargrilled ckicken) served with sauce and salad and no bread (sticking with the gluten free theme). No mystery meat slices for me - just fresh, tasty chicken served with a most excellent chili sauce. The meal deal is a real winner too although hardly revolutionary in a curry-soaked city such as our own - a serving of pakora to split, plus poppadums and onions, plus rice and naan, plus two main course curries. Our favourites are the bhoona and the achari - I particularly love the achari as it has just the right amount of tasty pickley bits and just the right amount of chili goodness.

I would be missing something important as well if I didn't wax lyrical just a bit about the pakora. The batter is crispy and not too thick or bready and the assortment of pakora to choose from is fantastic. You get your 'regular' chicken, mushroom, vegetable type pakora - although the latter is notably more fluffy (this is a good thing) than crispy - as well as an array of unusual choices such as spinach and jalapeno, spinach and brie, caluiflower and cheese, etc. You can also order (with 24 hours notice) a party pack of 50 or 100 pieces (for £10 or £18 respectively) which seems like a great idea for entertaining!

More favourite cookbooks...

Since we are on the topic, I thought I'd mention what is probably my favourite Chinese cookbook. I say probably as these things can be a bit fluid - I've got more than a few cookbooks lying around and so tend to shift loyalties a bit as cookbooks move into and out of favour. A sign that it's a real gem though is that I always come back to it.

That's what happened this weekend when faced with a pork loin that I had defrosted but had no solid plans for. I re-discovered 'The Breath of a Wok', a book I have turned to time and again for simple but interesting Chinese dishes. The book focuses on 'wok hay', which is a cantonese expression and, if I understand it correctly, is the secret something that a well-seasoned, well-used and well-loved wok can impart to a dish. There are lots of instructions and anecdotes along the way - indeed the first 50-odd pages of the book detail the selection, seasoning and care of a 'proper' wok in great detail before turning to a large section on stir-frying and a section on other cooking techniques at which a wok can excel such as steaming, smoking, braising, etc.

Each chapter starts with an introduction of several pages and each recipe has an introductory paragraph. These are always my favourite cookbooks as I love these stories about food and family - especially when they come from a culture that is not my own. I love the photos as well - they reflect cooking techniques, completed dishes, family members and famous guests such as author Amy Tan.

So what did I make on Sunday? Stir fried pork with scallions (green onions on this side of the Atlantic) - super simple, no unusual ingredients (assuming you have the basics of Chinese cooking in your pantry such as soy sauce, sesame oil and either rice wine or an adequate substitute - I use dry fino sherry) and perfect. The only change I made is to toss in a bit of extra chicken stock and corn flour to increase the amount of sauce - but, as I've been told by my other half, Sunday is a day for gravy!

P.S. I've gone the 'proper' wok route before and there are many rewards to be had for the love and care invested in a good wok - however, I tend to use either a Le Cresuet cast iron wok or a non-stick'wok-style' pan and am perfectly happy with the results - at least until I can replace the ceramic hob in the kitchen we inherited in a our current flat!