Restaurant review: The Bull

Restaurant name: The Bull
Cuisine: British pub food
Location: Sonning, UK
Date: July 2014
Occasion: Birthday dinner

I am fully aware that, now we are in mid-September, writing a review about a meal at the end of July is a little daft.  It has been on my list of things to do for a while, but other commitments (mostly work-related) have kept me away from my blog.  However, as will become apparent from the below, I think this entry needs to be posted - firstly to remind myself to think twice before going back here, and secondly in case the restaurant owners ever read this.  The review below, as will become clear, is a mixed one - in summary, great food but poor service.  In the spirit of generosity, I'll start with the positives....

The occasion was my birthday, and we had spent a lovely day on the River - motoring the short distance from the marina in Caversham (virtually opposite the entrance to the Kennet Canal which passes through Reading) down to the lock at Sonning.  The day had been lovely - although some clouds, mostly bright sun and a gentle breeze.  We moored alongside the tow path just upstream from the lock, and after a relaxing drink in the evening sun we walked the short distance through the churchyard to the pub.

The building itself is everything you would expect in a traditional country pub - with the added bonus of several "boutique bedrooms" (as described on their website, at http://bullinnsonning.co.uk/).  The food is also everything you would expect from a traditional country pub, which is nevertheless punching above its weight - home-made pub food but with a fine dining / gastro-pub twist, as well as a good selection of real ales and decent wines.

We arrived slightly late, but were nevertheless seated comfortably at one of their larger tables to one side of the pub and immediately handed menus, which were extensive and also included an impressive specials menu.  Unfortunately, because of the time between the meal and this write-up (not to mention the bottle of Champagne on the boat beforehand), my memory is a little hazy on what we had as a starter.  I'm certain that I had the pan-fried chicken livers (one of the specials), and my friend (who is vegetarian) had something involving mushrooms and asparagus.  I think, but can't be sure, my father had the crab and crayfish cocktail, and I have no idea what my mother chose - unfortunately we didn't take any photos of the starters.  Nevertheless, I do remember that we were all happy with the food - my chicken livers, in particular, were extremely well done - meltingly soft, and extremely rich in both flavour and texture.  Possibly a larger portion than would normally be required, but nevertheless excellent.

Onto the main courses.  My father chose the seared chilli beef and pork, which arrived on an enormous platter still sizzling and smelling wonderfully aromatic of chilli, coriander and onion.  It was served with rice, and he said it was extremely good - nicely spicy, but perfectly balanced by the sweet onions and peppers.
In contrast to his meat mountain, my mother went for fish, which was a fillet of sea trout served on a bed of quinoa (which caused much amusement, as my friend and I repeatedly explained to her that it is pronounced 'keen-wa' and not 'kwin-o-a').  This, again, was very well cooked - soft, flaky and almost translucent fish, covered in a herby breadcrumb topping.

My friend, having asked about vegetarian options, ended up with a slight mishmash (in my mind) of mushroom ravioli in a tomato sauce, served alongside Mediterranean roasted vegetables.  It wasn't the prettiest of dishes, and was again enormous, however she said it tasted really good, with the generous amount of Parmesan melting nicely into the rich tomato.
Lastly, I went for the fish special, which was a whole baked Mediterranean gilt-head bream served with new potatoes.  This was excellent, cooked perfectly in a rich buttery sauce.  It was, perhaps, rather boney, but that's exactly what you would expect from a whole fish.  We were all too full for puddings (which, as it turned out, was fortunate), so we just finished with a couple of coffees and digestifs.  All in all, a really good meal.

However...

As I said above, this review is mixed.  Although the meal was excellent, the evening was somewhat marred by the truly appalling service we received.  I will admit that we arrived slightly late (roughly 15 minutes), and they were maybe upset by the fact that upon arrival we presented a voucher for 20% off food - although quite why they would be put out by this is a mystery, given that the pub themselves sent me the voucher a week earlier in celebration of my birthday.  Either way, none of the above excuses the hour we had to wait in between ordering and receiving our starters.  There was also a long delay before we were given a wine list, and another before actually receiving the wine.  The place was busy, but not overly so - so either they were understaffed, or just not particularly bothered.

Worse was to follow.  As I said, we were all too full for puddings, but this was lucky as we were never actually even offered a desert menu.  We asked for the coffees and digestifs, which never arrived.  Eventually, my mother went to the bar (which was staffed by one barman, and surrounded by just a couple of customers) to ask.  She is not a whisky drinker, so I had prepped her on what to ask for and given a few likely examples of what they might have.  Clearly, however, the barman had no idea what she meant, and after another long delay came over to our table for me to explain.

As she left the bar, he was also overheard sarcastically asking one of the other customers "who calls it a single malt whisky?"  Now... Firstly, gossiping to one customer about another (when they are in earshot) is highly unprofessional and downright rude.  Secondly, to answer his question: most of the English-speaking world.  A single malt whisky is what we commonly refer to as a whisky made from one particular grain, in contrast to a blended whisky which, as the name would suggest, is blended from several grains.  It commonly refers to an enormous variety of whiskies from Scotland (although other countries do produce several excellent varieties), and is often referred to as Scotch (particularly by Americans!).  Hundreds of single malt Scotch whisky varieties exist from every corner of Scotland, but sadly very few make it down south - the usual suspects found in most good pubs around here include Glenmorangie, Glenfiddich, Talisker, etc.  I would expect most barmen to know this fairly elementary fact.

Eventually, our drinks arrived and we were able to finish our meal.  Not before, however, we had to ask someone to clear away our plates - something I have never ever had to do before.  To our extreme surprise, we were told "No"!  Eventually, and grudgingly, our plates were taken away, but never before have any of us received that kind of treatment.

So, as I said above, in summary: good food but very poor service.  Unfortunately, although the food is all-important, the service and atmosphere makes the evening.  We will all think very hard before returning.  In the unlikely event that anyone from The Bull reads this, if they think I have been unfair then please do not hesitate to contact me.  If you would like our (fairly significant) custom again, that might be appreciated.

Restaurant review: The Swan

Restaurant name: The Swan
Cuisine: British pub food
Location: Pangbourne, UK
Date: June 2014
Occasion: Lunch out

The 1st of June - summer is officially upon us.  The weather gods were obviously aware of this, as we awoke to a mostly clear blue sky and bright sun - interspersed by small fluffy white clouds, but clearly going to be a nice day.  In the absence of any beach, what better way to enjoy the sun than to find a country pub on the river, and spend a lazy Sunday afternoon eating and drinking?

Fortunately, along this stretch of the Thames there are numerous small towns and villages, all with pleasant eating holes, so choosing between country pubs was more of a problem then finding one.  Which, of course, caused the age old dilemma: try somewhere new, or return to a favourite?  Eventually, we settled on the latter, and drove roughly 20 minutes along the River to the small town of Pangbourne in West Berkshire. Among the various pubs here is The Swan - an old, 17th-century building overlooking the river, just opposite the lock and with the sound of the weir clearly audible.  Inside are all the things one might expect in a traditional country pub - wooden beams low enough to cause serious head trauma to anyone over 5 ft that wasn't paying attention, log fires, wooden tables and comfy sofas and armchairs.

On this occasion, however, we chose to sit outside on their extensive patio - a large area covered in old paving slabs holding an array of wooden tables, about as close to the River as it's possible to be whilst staying dry.  When we arrived, at around midday, there were 2 medium-size motorboats moored alongside the patio, and many tables were already taken.  Despite the busyness, however, they were offering a full table service and so menus were promptly handed to us once seated.

The menu was impressive - 2 or 3 sharing options (such as a British meat board), then a choice of approximately 7 starters and 10 main courses.  Since my time in India, I have become more receptive to vegetarian options in restaurants - here, like many places, disappointingly there wasn't a huge amount of choice for non-meat eaters.  Perhaps 1 or 2 starters and the same for mains.

However, on this occasion that was not an issue.  After the usual amount of time savouring the menu, sipping wine and imagining what lay ahead, we decided to share a starter, opting for the Rare British beef served on a bed of watercress with Parmesan shavings (beef carpaccio by any other name).  It was served with beetroot-flavoured balsamic vinegar and truffle oil - and this, for me, proved to be a major sticking point.  To be fair, it was clearly mentioned on the menu, and had I been choosing for myself I would have steered well clear - but the dish is a favourite of my companion, so I braved it for her.

Now… Truffles, and therefore truffle oil, are a bit of a bete noire for me.  I am fully aware how highly prized, revered and eye-wateringly expensive they are, throughout the majority of Europe and elsewhere.  I am fully aware how renowned truffle hunters can take on celebrity status, and how many towns and villages throughout France (and no doubt elsewhere) hold highly anticipated truffle festivals and dinners.  They are an incredibly respected commodity, seen by restaurant critics and foodies worldwide as the ultimate luxury and treat.  The problem for me is that, despite knowing I should worship them, being brutally honest I really don't like them one little bit.  There are very, very few things that I really don't like - truffles are one of them.  A year ago I bought a small bottle of truffle oil (a cheaper way than actually buying a truffle itself) in an attempt to acquire the taste, but I failed miserably.  The smell makes me feel physically nauseous, and the taste is worse - generally, I'm a big fan of earthy, meaty flavours, but really not these.

Anyway, back to lunch.  Because of the above, the starter was not my favourite ever starter.  I hold no blame to the restaurant for this - it was very clearly marked, and for someone without the above issue it was undoubtedly a very nice and well presented starter.  Small slices of perfectly rare beef surrounded a small bed of watercress, delicately covered in shards of Parmesan.  Surrounding the plate were little circles of sauce - the balsamic next to the truffle oil.  Every bite I had that avoided truffle oil was delicious - the meat was meltingly tender, balanced well by the salty Parmesan and peppery watercress.  Unfortunately, however, it was difficult to avoid the truffle oil, but I struggled through.

There was a small bit of excitement during our starter, when we noticed that my wine glass (containing a rather good Sicilian white) was inadvertently acting like a magnifying glass in the heat and causing the wooden table to ever so slightly catch fire.  This was clearly a sign to keep moving the glass, necessitating faster drinking.

The main courses then arrived.  My companion went for the Caesar salad, containing West Country free-range chicken, a poached egg, croutons and of course shredded lettuce.  It was also meant to be served with anchovies, but she asked not to have these - interestingly, so did 2 other tables surrounding us.  Should the chef take the hint?  The salad, she said, was very good - although, being honest, is there much to go wrong in a Caesar salad?  The important thing here is always the dressing, and she said that was very good.  The only criticism was with the chicken, which was clearly comprised of some of the less good cuts and therefore contained a fair amount of skin and gristle.  But on the whole, not a bad job.

I continued my tour of traditional fish and chips, which on this occasion was line-caught cod covered in a beer batter (made from IPA Gold) served with the usual chips, mushy peas and tartar sauce.  The fish, although well cooked (nicely soft and flakey on the inside), wasn't the best I have ever had.  The batter was crisp, but the whole thing was rather oily and would have benefited from being better drained.  The chips were twice-cooked, and therefore nicely crisp on the outside whilst fluffy within, and the peas were as expected.  The most noticeable thing, however, was the size - it's normal to expect a traditional fish and chips to be large, but when alive this beastie would have made Moby Dick swim away in terror.  It was described as line-caught - I wonder what size line?

We were too full, and by this time too hot and a little sunburnt, for deserts, so we just had an espresso each to finish.  All in all, not a bad meal at all.  Would certainly come back, but next time might well avoid the giant monsters lurking in the deep - of either fungal or aquatic variety.

Restaurant review: The Crown

Restaurant name: The Crown
Cuisine: British village pub food
Location: Bray, UK
Date: March 2014
Occasion: Lunch out

For reasons that are still a little unclear to me, the small village of Bray in rural Berkshire is favoured by the celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal.  His first restaurant there, opened in 1995, is The Fat Duck - a 3-Michelin starred restaurant, internationally renowned as being one of the best in the world.  I was lucky enough to go there for my 30th birthday, and it was truly amazing - more theatre than dining, and an incredibly memorable experience.

However, Heston also owns 2 other restaurants in Bray: one is The Hinds Head, a gastropub located in a 15th-century former tavern, and the other is The Crown, a traditional British village pub in what used to be a 16th-century inn.

I make no apology for being a fan of Heston Blumenthal, and have avidly followed his programs, bought all his books and have tried to recreate (with varying degrees of success) many of his recipes.  So, an obvious mission was to visit all of his restaurants.  Given that Bray is not far from me, one sunny (and remarkably warm) Sunday lunchtime we decided to go.

To my surprise, booking a table was no issue.  This was in stark contrast to The Fat Duck which, no doubt partly because of Heston's celebrity status, required booking months in advance.  For The Crown, however, a couple of days beforehand was perfectly adequate.

We caught the train to Maidenhead, and then had a very pleasant 30 minute walk to the village of Bray.  We found the pub which, as described, was indeed a traditional old English pub just on the outskirts of the village.  As I said, it was remarkably warm and sunny considering it was March, easily warm enough to sit outside, so we did - sitting in a small, partly covered rear garden, with roughly 4 tables and quaint little flowers everywhere.

We ordered a glass of wine each - a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc for my friend and a French Viognier for me - and settled down to enjoy the menu.  This was as you might expect in a gastropub - impressive, nicely but not overly extensive (roughly 6-7 starter choices, and 7-8 mains), but well described and all sounding very nice.  The waiters were polite and attentive, but not overly friendly - not like some other restaurants I have recently visited, where the waiters have been eager to talk, recommend dishes, etc.

We decided to share a starter, and went for the potted mackerel paté - partly because it is a popular starter for us at another favourite restaurant of ours, so thought it would be interesting to compare.  I have to say, without wishing to sound disloyal to our favourite place, the paté at The Crown was far superior.  Nicely moist, and mixed perfectly with chives - served with crusty char-grilled bread and cornichons.  Excellent.

For a main course, my friend went for the chicken - from memory, I think it was a roasted chicken breast and a confit chicken leg, served with traditional vegetables and a truly amazing jus.  I decided to go even more traditional, and try the place's Fish and Chips - served with crushed peas and home-made tartar sauce. Somebody once said you can tell a place's quality by its simplest and most traditional dishes, so this seemed the perfect choice.  I have had an awful lot of fish and chips in the past, and I have to say that this was by far the best I have ever had.  It was served on a wooden plate, with the fish perfectly soft and encased by a delicate and nicely salty batter, accompanied by a half lemon wrapped in muslin.  The peas were just slightly crushed - certainly not mushy - and the chips were perfectly crisp on the outside while fluffy on the inside. The tartar sauce was creamy, going excellently with the fish.  Really, really good.

Although it would have been nice to have tried a desert - and they certainly all looked very appealing, including Earl Grey Panacotta or Bread and Butter Pudding with White Chocolate and Vanilla - on this occasion we were both too full.  Instead, we had an espresso each, which in any case came with a tiny mouthful of amazing fudge.

So, in summary, a thoroughly excellent lunch.  Would be interesting to go back in the evening, to explore inside in more depth and to see how much busier it can get.  However, before that, the 3rd Heston restaurant in Bray awaits…

Restaurant review: The Hand & Flowers

Restaurant name: The Hand & Flowers
Cuisine: 2 Michelin starred pub food
Location: Marlow, UK
Date: December 2013
Occasion: Friend's birthday

Having heard about this place several times from various cooking TV programmes, including Masterchef and of course Tom Kerridge's own programme, I was intrigued by the idea.  The only Michelin starred pub in the country, boasting high quality and award-winning food, but in a pub environment as opposed to the usual fine dining restaurant experience.  I should say that when it comes to fine dining, I am far from an expert - this was only my second experience of eating somewhere with a Michelin star (I was lucky enough to have lunch at Heston Blumenthal's 'The Fat Duck' 2 years ago, which was mind blowing).  So the concept of Michelin starred pub food was fascinating to me, and my friend's (significant) birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Partly another reason for going was that, and I don't think she'll mind me saying this, my friend is perhaps not quite as adventurous when it comes to food as me.  This is by no means an insult, or a bad thing.  She has, and always will have, my complete respect, because she will always try something - if she then doesn't like it, that's absolutely fair enough.  I have very little patience for people where the conversation goes something like "I don't like such and such - I've never tried it, but I know I don't like it".  She is not like that.  That being said, the last thing I wanted was to take her somewhere weird, that would try to make her eat things like lamb's lung or ox's heart.  So The Hand & Flowers seemed like a good choice.

The first issue was getting a table.  Thanks to its reputation and, more likely, Tom Kerridge's TV appearances (which is perhaps cynical but probably true) the place is booked up several months ahead, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights.  We chose to go on a weekday, and I arranged this a month in advance, but even then times for tables were limited.  Eventually I got a table for 9:30 PM, which is later than we would normally want but the best I could do.

Having been told there was a bar separate to the restaurant, we arrived slightly early and enjoyed a quiet drink (from memory a Réserve de Gassac 2012) in a kind of "waiting area".  The decor was very much as in a country pub - wooden beams, comfy sofas, homely Christmas tree in the corner.  The place was busy, but not crowded.  At our allotted time, we were invited through to the restaurant area, which again was a nice balance between country pub and smarter restaurant - wooden tables and sofa-type seating, but at the same time clearly quite trendy, modern and stylish (not a plastic glass in sight).

Our meal began with an amuse bouche - a French term meaning literally "to amuse the mouth", normally consisting of something bite-sized that comes before the starter.  Surprisingly, this one however turned out to be a little portion of whitebait, wrapped in newspaper and accompanied by freshly baked bread.  The whitebait were superb - very lightly deep-fried and with the merest hint of flour coating (not, like many I have had before, covered in thick batter).  Despite a couple of protests along the lines of "I'm eating it's brains!", I think my companion enjoyed them.  As always, the temptation to eat the lovely bread (and therefore risk filling up) was too great, so we did.

Our starters then arrived.  My companion went for the Glazed omelette of smoked haddock and Parmesan, whereas I had the Parfait of duck and foie gras with orange chutney and toasted brioche.  The omelette came very neatly in its own tiny frying pan, and was extremely rich and covered in a thick cheesy sauce.  My parfait was somewhat smaller and lighter, but no less rich - the sweetness of the brioche went extremely well with the velvety foie gras and slightly tart chutney.

For a main course, my companion went for the Slow cooked duck breast and I chose my all-time favourite, South Coast sea bass.  I appreciate this was perhaps slightly unadventurous, given that I eat sea bass fairly regularly, however it is a favourite.  The duck was extremely tender and (to my relief) not too rare for my friend - it came with savoy cabbage and chunky chips cooked in duck fat, both of which looked excellent. My sea bass came with a variety of sauces, covering the place in the standard cheffy way, as well as a very nice mille-feuille of mushrooms and other vegetables.  All extremely good.

Although my companion is particularly fond of puddings, by this time we were both quite full (no doubt partly thanks to the bread) so we gave them a miss on this occasion.  Plus it was getting quite late by this time, and we were both worried about turning into pumpkins.  So I finished with a coffee, and a tea for my friend, and I tried one of the place's blended malt whiskies - the amusingly titled Peat Monster.

So, all in all, a success.  I would certainly go back there, as it was a great combination of unpretentious cooking but still done extremely well.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I sincerely hope my friend did as well.

Recipe: Moussaka

Thought it was about time I added a few of my own recipes to this food blog, in addition to the restaurant reviews and to document some of my favourite creations.

This recipe was originally taken from Rick Stein's book "Food Heroes", but I have fiddled with it and adapted it enough to now consider it my own.  So initial credit should go to him, although (if I say so myself) I think my version is better.

Please note that in the list below, more often than not I don't provide amounts or weights.  I'm very much a "by feel" cook - apart from when it comes to baking, of course, when amounts have to be precise - so if following this recipe, a little intuition is needed.

Moussaka

I have been making this dish for many years, but only in the last few have perfected it.  Although it's a Greek dish, and indeed I have had the real thing a couple of times in Greece to great success, many of the ingredients below are not Greek.  I don't think it matters.  The following recipe makes easily enough for 4 people, probably 6.

For the ragu:
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 aubergine - sliced lengthwise into 5-6 slices.  Alternatively, 2 courgettes - likewise sliced
500 g mince (preferably lamb, but beef will do as well)
1 onion - finely chopped
Garlic (lots, at least 3-4 cloves) - finely chopped
Tin of chopped tomatoes
Oregano (preferably fresh, but dried will do)
Cinnamon stick
Red wine (roughly half a glass)
Salt and black pepper, to taste

For the sauce:
Butter
Plain flour
Milk
Double cream
Cheese - a soft creamy cheese (e.g. Brie or Camembert), a soft blue cheese (e.g. Gorgonzola or Bleu d'Auvergne), and a grated cheese (preferably Parmesan, but Cheddar will do)
Black pepper
Mustard powder

1) Lightly salt the aubergine (or courgettes) and leave to sit for roughly 10 minutes, then rinse

2) Heat a generous amount of the oil in a large frying pan, and fry the sliced aubergine (or courgettes) until lightly brown.  Transfer to an oven dish

3) In the same frying pan (with more oil added if needs be), fry the onion and garlic until softened.  If using dried oregano, add a generous amount (at least 2 teaspoons) at this stage.

4) Add the mince (broken up) and cinnamon stick, and fry until the mince is brown

5) Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, the wine, and the fresh oregano if using.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a gentle boil, then simmer for at least 30-40 minutes.  If it starts to dry out, add more wine or water.  The consistency at the end should be much thicker and reduced compared to the beginning, but not dry

6) Meanwhile, make the sauce.  Make a roux with the butter and flour (roughly 2 tablespoons of flour).  Cook for a minute, then slowly add the milk, whisking all the time.  Continue adding milk until the sauce is thick, then switch to cream (roughly a tablespoon).  Once the sauce has thinned slightly (though not runny), add the soft cheese and the blue cheese, as well a large pinch of mustard powder and generous black pepper.  Stir until fully melted

7) Once the ragu is ready, remove the cinnamon stick and pour over the sliced aubergine (or courgettes).  Smooth it down.  Pour over the sauce so that everything is covered, and shake the oven dish gently to smooth.  Cover with a generous layer of grated Parmesan, then bake in a preheated oven (at 180°C) for roughly 30-40 minutes

8) Serve with a selection of green vegetables and potatoes, done to your liking.

Weekends in France and Italy

Hello again foodies.

Having recently had two gastronomic weekends in Paris and Bologna, I thought it would be interesting to document some of the excellent food experienced in both.  For more details on the actual trips, see my personal blog - http://cjrwilliams.blogspot.co.uk/.

A quick word of apology.  I fully realise that a food blog is made much more interesting if filled with photos of the nice food in question.  I am, however, a bit of a beginner, and we are notoriously bad at remembering to photograph our dishes.  You will therefore just have to imagine what follows…

Paris weekend, October 2013
As I said in my other blog, this weekend was in aid of my friend's 25th birthday.  As I said to her at the time, big birthdays get less frequent from now on so each one ought to be celebrated well.

The food on the Eurostar, despite travelling First Class, was not particularly memorable - understandably, it is all cold, but was nevertheless fairly interesting.  We were given a small dish of grilled chicken on cous-cous, accompanied by a small quiche.  Not bad, and the wine was surprisingly good as well.

The main treat, however, was that evening, when we had dinner at Le Moulin de la Galette - one of the oldest places in Montmatre, which used to be one of the original windmills.  I had heard about it after reading numerous reviews of numerous places in the area, and that seemed to be the most positive.  We started with the Fois Gras for me and the home-made French Onion Soup for my companion, both of which were excellent.  For a main course, I had the lightly poached salmon - which I thought was amazing, but might not be for everyone as it was rare to the extreme.  I like my salmon rare, but this was almost flapping around on the plate.  My companion went for her favourite of Steak Frites, which again was superb - and was again properly rare despite asking for A Point, as only the French can do.  I would imagine that if she had asked for Bleu, it would have still been mooing.  We were too full for deserts on this occasion, but it was an excellent meal - I think we accompanied it with a bottle of Chablis, but can't quite remember!

As I said in my other blog, probably the lowest point of the weekend was breakfast at the hotel.  It was a very comfortable room, but fairly basic and we never expected much for breakfast.  We did, however, expect more than a couple of pieces of stale baguette and only a couple of stale croissants - there wasn't even any jam.  Worst of all, and surprising for France (let alone Paris), the coffee was cold and really not very nice.  Never mind…

I won't say much about the rest of the food that weekend, as although it was nice it wasn't particularly memorable.  Lunch on the Sunday was in a little cafe overlooking Le Louvre, and I had a fairly standard galette - nothing to write home about.  The meal on the Eurostar on the way home was again good, but nothing special.

So, overall, the evening meal on the Saturday was the gastronomic highlight!

Bologna weekend, November 2013
As explained in my other blog, this long weekend was a belated birthday present to me from my parents, for a weekend with them and my friend to Bologna, Italy.  We have some family friends living there, and although I have been before, I was 3 at the time so don't remember the experience and certainly wasn't as much of a foodie as now.

The first gastronomic experience of the weekend, which was not a particularly good one, was on the plane.  We didn't expect much for a two-hour flight, but the BLT wrap was a little disappointing.  Particularly as we learnt that those in Business Class were given something hot for lunch!  The wine, however, wasn't bad - and to be honest, given my nerves by this point (because of the flying), anything alcoholic would have been welcomed.

The proper gastronomy, however, began nicely once we had landed in Bologna.  For the first evening, our Italian friends cooked for us at their home and, unsurprisingly, it was a wonderful traditional Italian meal.  We began with a paté or mousse made from mortadella, which is a Bolognese sausage or cured ham, served on biscuits.  We then moved onto the pasta course, which was my first experience of proper Bolognese tortellini.  As I (now) understand it, there is a clear distinction between tortellini and tortelloni, although both are from the Emilia region and in particular Bologna - tortellini are small ring-shaped pasta (resembling to my mind a napkin ring) often stuffed with meat such as mortadella or prosciutto and served in a broth, whereas tortelloni are similar in shape but larger and more usually stuffed with ricotta and/or spinach.  We had the former, and it was superb.  We then moved onto the meat course, which was some sort of poultry - although our Italian friends speak superb English, the exact word for what we were given was lost.  We think, after much discussion, it was a capon - certainly smaller than a chicken, but not Guinea fowl or grouse.  Whatever it was, it was amazing, served simply with spinach.  Finally, the meal was rounded off with some truly excellent Italian ice cream from their local deli - something which I had heard about a lot, and it was indeed very good.  So an excellent meal, and we returned to our hotel thoroughly stuffed.

The next day, after a long morning seeing the sights, we were taken to another favourite deli for a so-called "free" lunch.  As I said in my other blog, everything we were given to eat was indeed free - and they were certainly not stingy - but then you felt obliged to buy stuff afterwards, which we of course did.  We were given a selection of meats, mostly pork, in little toasted bread rolls.  This was followed by a selection of cheeses, some sheep and some cow, again in little bread rolls.  We were also able to taste a selection of Parma hams which, for reasons we could never ascertain, were far superior to anything we can get at home.  Personally, I don't like Parma ham at home, as it is often very chewy.  This stuff, however, wasn't at all and was amazing.  It was all washed down by some of their local lightly sparkling wine, which again was very good.  So a very good lunch…

That night, after more wandering of the city, our Italian friends had arranged a winetasting for us at a local restaurant, followed by a meal.  The winetasting was very interesting, and we tried two of the local wines - a likely sparkling white, and a rich full-bodied red.  The restaurant owner was clearly very keen to tell us all about them, but unfortunately he spoke no English so our friends were translating all the way through - some things may have been lost in translation!  The meal afterwards, however, was not lost on us - I had a superb dish of tagliatelle with deer and my friend had the pappardelle with wild mushrooms.  I believe my mother had the same as me, and my father couldn't resist the tagliatelle Bolognese (which I thought didn't exist in Bologna, under that name at least, but clearly does).  All were excellent.

The following day was mostly spent wandering the city again, but we had an excellent lunch in a delightful little place down a side alley in the city centre.  My friend went for the tortellini again, and I tried the home-made lasagna - which, perhaps unsurprisingly, was better than anything we get at home.

So, all in all, a very two good weekends for The Peripatetic Foodie…

Recipes: Birthday Baking

Just thought I would write a few words on some recent baking ventures, all of which (I'm pleased, and relieved, to say) were successful and I think went down well with everyone.

The occasion was my mother's birthday, so the first item on the list was of course a birthday cake.  Given that chocolate is her favourite flavour of cake, not to mention mine, that was the obvious choice.  For previous birthdays, I had already done an enormous Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (more commonly known as Black Forest Gateau) and a Chocolate and Vanilla Tiger Cake (involving the piping of 2 different coloured mixtures to create a striped effect), so thought I would go a little simpler this year.  After a bit of searching, I eventually decided to go for the Celebration Chocolate Cake by Mary Berry (available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/celebration_chocolate_18175).  This is essentially a fairly basic chocolate sandwich, but using a combination of sunflower oil and milk instead of butter and therefore producing a fairly liquid mixture which rises a lot in the oven thanks to self-raising flour, baking powder AND bicarb.  It is then topped and filled with a white chocolate, cream and cream cheese icing.

However, I adapted the recipe ever so slightly.  Instead of putting the icing in between the layers, I instead used the more classic combination of raspberry jam and whipped cream.  Plus, instead of leaving the topping flat, I decorated with extra raspberries.  Without wishing to cast any doubt on Mary Berry, who is in my mind without fault when it comes to baking, I personally think my version was better.  The icing, being made entirely of chocolate, cream and cream cheese, is extremely rich, and I think everyone agreed the jam and plain whipped cream in the middle was a nice contrast.  The cake rose well, and was really very light - so a complete success.

The next item on the list was our desert for that evening, for which I had decided to do Floating Islands (more commonly known, in France at least, as Iles Flottantes).  Again it was one of Mary Berry's recipes (available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/floating_islands_with_03517) but on this occasion I combined it with another recipe from Raymond Blanc (at http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/ilesflottantefaconma_93228) in that, rather than spinning the caramel into sugary balls, to save time I just dribbled the caramel over at the end.  I had already practised this a week earlier, and I'm pleased to say it was again a big success.  The meringues were light and fluffy, and the creme anglaise thickened perfectly with no (or at least minimal) risk of scrambled eggs.  The hot caramel obviously cooled as soon as it touched the chilled desert, becoming hard and creating a nice texture difference to the soft and creamy meringues.

The last item was the main course, chosen to be a Salmon en Croute and courtesy of Gordon Ramsay (available at http://www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/salmon-en-croute).  This was essentially a large side of salmon, covered in a stuffing made from butter, mustard, basil and dill, and then wrapped in short-crust pastry and baked.  However, I again deviated slightly from the recipe, in that Ramsay advises to cut the salmon in half and then make a sandwich from the 2 pieces with the stuffing in between.  You therefore end up with a layer of the herbs in between the fish.  I decided against this, however, given that our salmon was already quite large in the vertical so sandwiching 2 pieces together would have made a very tall pie.  Instead, I simply covered the fish with the stuffing and then wrapped in pastry.  Unfortunately I don't have a photo of this, but it was really quite impressive and tasted fantastic.

So, all in all, a very good birthday meal - which I think was well received.  Full menu as follows:

Teatime: Celebration Chocolate Cake

Starter: Sweet and sour prawns, with chorizo and chilli
Main: Salmon en Croute, with steamed vegetables and new potatoes
Desert: Iles Flottantes