Liquorice, Chocolate, Orange

A trio of sure-fire flavour pals. Ah, yes… that liquorice element is going to be questioned by a few of you, I’m guessing. The contentious ice cream has a light touch and is closer to cool liquorice caramel so I’m leaving it there and asking you to try the full combination at least once. Oh, there are a few nuts included which only EpiPen® carriers can leave out.

This dessert came about when we invited two pairs of good friends on separate evenings this week. The various elements had been floating around in my head since last October when I was given the sumptuous 'Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons' book as a gift. In it are details of Gary Jones' Magnum liquorice ice cream recipe. The book has perhaps the slightly more accessible version... along with countless other delights.

The orange jelly is taken from this recipe. You just know it will deliver when you see that it's from the kitchen of David Everitt-Matthias.

Tuiles were a variation of Scott Barnard's in this MasterChef offering which I made and discussed in a previous post. Sprinkle roasted and chopped hazelnuts over the sieved tuile mixture before putting in the oven.

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First version

Chocolate in my first effort was the same as that which is used to coat Gary Jones' 'Magnum' petits fours. As you see, the finish is not as great as might be hoped for. Start with flavour combinations and refine presentation later. That's my cop out advice here! In my defence, I did forget to include the loosening addition of a spoonful of cocoa butter or grapeseed oil. The second version relied on the chocolate crumble from Scott Barnard's dessert. 

Both offerings were completed with segmented orange pieces. I dipped them in a butter caramel for the final one. I reduced orange juice to dab over the plate and other orange elements came from jars of this February's marmalades. The peel was dried in a low oven until lightly candied and my Seville Orange marmalade was heated enough to provide a tangy gel. This worked really well to offset sweetness elsewhere.

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Plating practice before last-minute ice cream placement (which was a definite improvement on those paper strips!)

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Ice cream and tuiles in place... Second version

All photos were taken before guests arrived. I am finally getting sufficiently organised to avoid the cardinal sin of neglecting invited friends.

You can play around with the proportions and presentation here. But hang on to the three flavours of the title. They work so well together. After serving this I was a little concerned to see one of our friends with his head bowed and eyes closed. On asking after his well-being he simply said, "I'm sorry... but this is so, so good."

That was good enough for me.

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Tomato Risotto, Summer Vegetables

After recently delighting in this dish at the restaurant home of its creator I just had to take a shot at reproducing some of its loveliness. Our tomatoes were ripe and ready and all but one of the other vegetables to be used were available for picking from the garden.

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Tomatoes from our garden

The first task is to make the essence. Using the recipe's weight of fruit, I extracted at least 100ml more than suggested so I had plenty for the risotto and enough for tomato jelly, sorbet and granita. If they pass muster you might see them here soon. If you do see too much red 'bleed' into your extract you might try passing the liquid only through a double muslin again.

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Tomato essence well on the way

Here is the selection of vegetables ready for addition to the risotto and for final dressing. Those home frozen peas are almost back to room temperature!

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Home grown... all except for the fennel

It was now time to trust our chef's instructions and, for my first time at least, intrepidly abandon the usual twenty-five minutes constant stirring. In the end the 'single bubble' simmer worked a treat and it was rewarding to have come close to reproducing the special course we had enjoyed so much from Le Manoir's kitchen.

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Creamy, dressed with extra vegetables and ready for eating

Our initial experience of this recipe was a small portion, perfectly cooked and presented. My version for dinner at home was larger and full of all the right flavours but could not quite match the indulgence of that first pleasure.

If you are not familiar with the disarming, intelligent and infectiously enthusiastic Monsieur Blanc I urge you to make his acquaintance. He has more joie de vivre than many people find in a lifetime. There is plenty of that on show in this episode of 'Kitchen Secrets'. Flip to around 5min 45seconds for Raymond’s explanation of his tomato essence and risotto dish.

Uploaded by Chef and knife on 2018-12-03.

Most of the tomato recipes from that programme, including the risotto, are here. They vary from those in the 'Kitchen Secrets' book but in any case the risotto must rely on whatever is seasonal, ripe and to hand... be prepared to adapt but, above all, don't compromise on the quality of your tomatoes.

A few more photos are here for you.

Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons - Luxe

Bear with me. You won't find too many words here... "What a refreshing change," I hear you cry!

This is an interim post while I collect my thoughts and prepare to do some sort of justice to our recent visit to Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons.

Please explore the pictures below as well as the linked images. They go some way to representing the attention to detail and luxury of our experience.

"Aproche, aproche"... the welcome

Walnut

Marble

Red skin

Lapis Lazuli

Leather

Silk

Carpet

Green skin

Enamel

Opal

Lait

Peacock butterfly

Lace

I'm not a religious person but I do recognise and wonder at drama and innovation... both to be found in abundance at Le Manoir. Which gives me a lovely excuse to share a glorious creation from six hundred years ago at the same time.

Seraphim

That will do for now. As far as I can tell, we didn't encounter any fallen angels... but heavenly beings were certainly at work in Great Milton.

I will tell you more about their works when I have found the right words.

#101TTDBNT: Number 5

101 TTDBNT: Number 5 - Grow Tomatoes

Here's the beauty of #101TTDBNT Number 5... you really don't need to actually do this one until a Thursday in 2017.

Since it's a bit late in the gardener's tomato planting calendar now this is intended as a bit of inspiration for what to do when next season comes round.

We have no greenhouse except for a four shelf plastic 'sentry-box' affair and have grown our crops from seed or with bought plants for almost ten years now. No allotment - just an eight by ten metre back garden which has about a third devoted to raised beds and borders for cultivation. We put in a few flowers for the first time this year... just for some extra colour after four decades of marriage!

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Our 2016 tomatoes were all grown along a west facing fence - ten plants in ten rough clay drainage cylinders which were at the bottom of the garden when we moved in forty years ago. They make things easier for dedicated watering and feeding and the roots have plenty of chance to establish before they reach the earth below. I'll have to exert a little more control next year. Growth was so rampant that it was difficult to keep up with the pinching out and nipping off to keep things from going 'Triffid'. Sweet peas, fennel, French beans and runner beans completed the jungle on view here.

Here are the varieties we grew this year. That one 'Big Boy' is the first to ripen on the vine. Experience suggests we might have to pick subsequent fruits for ripening indoors before attack from all sorts of things, including baby snails and slugs which rasp out little holes. 

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From top left, clockwise:

Supersweet (cherry), Moneymaker, Golden Sunrise, Black Cherry, Sun Baby (yellow cherry), Big Boy, Tumbling Tom Yellow (cherry), Roma (plum)

Tomato sauces have already been made and green tomato chutney beckons, made following my favourite recipe.

With such lovely ingredients inspiration is never far away but after a visit to Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons my most pressing task is to reveal the essence of tomato and use it for what must be one of the more simple but most exquisite dishes I have enjoyed for some time. If you or I make Summer Vegetable Risotto to just half the standard which was served to me last week we will be transported to a version of heaven which is not described in any religious writings. Those online recipes give you enough information to work through but Monsieur Blanc's 'Kitchen Secrets' offers deeper understanding of the methods and the way to achieve perfection. I already have the book and that risotto recipe is on page 183... Woo Hoo!

None of the recipe books or online offerings show the refined presentation which came from Le Manoir's kitchen but the flavours alone are the essential and wonderful starting point for this one.

First things first, though. Mrs Cheoff has already made her rather stupendous tomato soup from a batch of our plum tomatoes. A hint of smoked bacon and a lot of basil. It's not the only reason I love her for all eternity... but it does add another layer to the cement which binds us together - tomato yumtious!

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Of course you might find splendid people who can supply you with fine tomatoes but please consider finding space for at least a couple of plants of your own. If things go well and you discover even mildly green fingers the delights of the tomato are yours for the picking.

All because you did something before that Thursday in 2017.