Cooking The Books

Masa Quesadillas with Mushroom and Roasted Chili

I love quesadillas.  A few jalapenos, a bit of red onion, some coriander and a handful of cheese melted between a couple of tortillas is a near instantly gratifying meal.  Up until I read this I didn't realise people made them any other way but the thought of fresh masa with the same fillings sounded great.  I've also just recently stocked up on masa harina so it was obviously meant to be.  My tortilla press was like a pasta machine, bought with the best intentions the gadget got used once and then stuck in the back of cupboard, making for the most expensive pasta/corn tortillas in the history of the world.  Here was a perfect opportunity to get it out again though. 

I tend to use cheddar for quesadillas as it is always in the fridge but I turned to mozzarella for these as it is far closer to the stretchy oaxaca cheese they'd use in Mexico.  The last thing you want is a load of liquid in your quesadilla so this is a rare time I'd use the harder dry blocks of mozzarella over those stored in bags of liquid.  These quesadillas obviously take a lot longer to prepare than sticking some cheese in a wheat tortilla but I'll certainly do it again, even if the preparation time means they definitely won't replace my current versions.  The resultant quesadillas have a lovely flavour from the masa harina and the fresh dough aspect creates a softer, slightly breadier texture that feels altogether more homemade.

Masa Quesadillas with Mushroom and Roasted Chili Recipe

Makes 6 quesadillas

Masa

135gr masa harina

160gr hot water

1/2ts salt

Filling

125gr mozzarella

12 mushrooms

1 clove garlic

3 green chillies

A Salsa Fresca

2 ripe tomatoes

1 small red onion

1/2 small pack/12.5gr coriander

Juice of 1/2 a lime

Salt

Method

Masa

For the masa mix the salt and masa harina together then add the water.  Knead for a few minutes until smooth then wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest for an hour.

Salsa

For the salsa dice the onion and tomato and finely chop the coriander.  Mix together, squeeze on the lime juice and season to taste.

Filling

Roast the green chilies either under the grill or directly in the flame of your gas hob until black all over then put in a bowl and cover it with clingfilm, this will help loosen the skins.  After a few minutes you should be able to remove the skins easily.  Take off the stem, remove the seeds and shred.

Slice the mushrooms then fry in a little oil with the garlic until cooked.

The Quesadillas

Take a sixth of the dough and flatten, between two sheets of plastic (I split a ziplock bag), in the tortilla press.  Fill with a sixth of the cheese, mushrooms and roasted chili.  Fold over and dry fry for 2-4 minutes a side until cooked.  By using a small frying pan with the quesadilla pushed against one side you can create the nice rounded edge.

Serve with the salsa and other other condiments you like - I'm thinking the usual sour cream, chili sauce or guacamole.

Toulouse Sausage with Potato Salad

I remember watching Rick Stein's French Odyssey years ago and he visited Toulouse, home of the fine sausage.  For some reason I'd always thought of it as being something heavily seasoned, something that would linger on the breath, but he spoke of a lightly cured sausage with nothing more than pepper seasoning it in some instances, other makers adding a splash of wine or some nutmeg.  The more I read about the classic sausages of the world the more I find that are just the same, a couple of simple seasonings that let the pork shine through. 

Back to Rick Stein not too long after the series I ended up in Padstein, being treated to a culinary feast of a weekend by my girlfriend, the finest 30th birthday present a food-obsessed man could dream of: a day on his seafood cooking course, meals in his seafood restaurant and his bistro not to mention breakfasts in his cafe (and sleeping in his B&B above - obviously) and a little RS fish and chips too.  When the menu at the bistro displayed the 'Toulouse Sausage with Tomato, Red Onion and Caper Salad' I'd seen on the aforementioned show I had to order it, my mind drifting back to the huge coil of sausage he'd lopped a few inches off and placed on the sweet and tangy salad.  The dainty three slices of tomato with a few thin slices of sausage scattered on top couldn't have been further from the hearty meal I'd seen on TV in quantity but - for the three mouthfuls I got - the flavour was very good.

As you may have noticed I've dragged the sausage maker out the cupboard recently and so decided to get some Toulouse made.  They're a sausage I've made before and the home made (and real ones) are nothing like the supermarket attempts, simple and meaty with a bacon taste coming from the addition of cure or some bacon along with the pork.  This contrasts starkly with the overly complex smoked bacon, garlic, red wine and rosemary I've seen in some of our stores which also suffer from the addition of filler. Not a bad thing per se but the Toulouse, like most its continental cousins, is filler free and firm.

Whilst I enjoyed Rick Stein's recipe the tomatoes over here are bad enough at the best of times, let alone in October.  As the nights draw in and the temperature drops do you really want something so light too?  Personally I like to start moving towards some heartier dishes and this sausage and potato salad fits the bill nicely, the sharpness of the vinegar dressing acting as a foil to the fattiness of the sausages. 

Obviously this would work with any sausage, but I think a firm continental one is better for slicing than the softer rusk containing English bangers, standing up better to the bite of the waxy potato.

Toulouse Sausage and Potato Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

280gr Toulouse - or other firm - sausage, 3-4 sausages

450gr new potatoes, I used Anya

2 TB extra virgin olive oil

1 TB cider vinegar

1/2 ts sugar

1/2 small red onion

Small handful flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method

Simmer the potatoes till done and chop into 3cm pieces.

Whilst these are cooking simmer the sausages for 10 minutes until cooked through (this sets the shape nicely) then brush with oil and brown under the grill.  Chop into 3cm bits.

Make the dressing from the oil, vinegar and sugar, seasoning with S&P.

Whilst everything is warm toss the potato, sausage, onion, parsley and dressing together.

Serve.

Toulouse Sausages

1.1kg pork shoulder, 25%-30% fat

1TB sugar

1TB salt

1ts black peppercrons, ground

1gr cure #1

50ml of white wine

Method

Mince the pork once through the biggest plate.

Mix the seasonings into the white wine then distibute through the meat.

Stuff, twisting into slightly larger than British banger links then leave in the fridge overnight to dry and allow the cure to do its thing.

Alternatively you can leave the sausage in one large ring and cut off sections as needed.

To cook either fry, grill, poach or poach and grill, as above.

Learning to Smoke

There are so many food preparation skills that are being lost to time, people used to bake all their own bread, for example, and I heard recently – although this may be an urban myth – that Yorkshire pudding batter didn’t always come frozen in little tins.  Whilst there is a welcome move back towards real bread and home prepared foods there are some things that are still not widely practiced at all. 

In rural areas one doesn't have to go too far back in time before you find families raising pigs and then slaughtering them before winter rather than struggling to feed them through this time.  The meat was eaten then or processed and preserved through a myriad of procedures, passed down from generation to generation, so it could be kept and consumed over the cold months.  Salting was a common process and this was extended to the use of nitrates which cured the meat more succesfully and with less salt, better removing chances of botulism with the added bonus of improved flavour and colour.  Offcuts were minced, seasoned and stuck inside intestines, eaten either fresh or dried.  Smoking was another method used, the product of poor combustion clinging to the meat, its convenient anti-bacterial properties as appealing as the wonderful aroma and taste.  Nowadays many butchers don't know these skills, let alone the public, with bacon coming mass produced and pumped full of water, sausages filled with a textureless pink paste and hams "smoked" with a paint brush and a pot of liquid smoke.

Over the years I've taught myself to make sausages and have learnt a few different cured products, turning out bacon and salt-beef.  The results are always infinitely better than your average supermarket product and normally give the artisan products a good run for their money too, completely outside of the satisfaction of a job done yourself.  Mainly due to London living though I've never got around to adding smoking to my repetoire.  I've read about it a reasonable amount, and thought about building a smoker at my dad's house on many an occasion, but it has never quite materialised so when the chance came to review a smoking course for Ooh.com I jumped at the opportunity.

The course was run in Milton Keynes which, as well as being convenient for me as it's where I grew up, is a short drive up the M1 from London.  The day I attended we had 5 students who I found were all very much into their food (I guess you would be if you attended a smoking course) which made for some really interesting chats during the various breaks.  With 5 attendees the course was in Turan the smoking tutor's house but there is also a local hall available for larger groups. The cost of the course was £75 for the day, which ran from 10am to about 4.15pm for us.  Lunch was provided in the form of a couple of tasty home-made soups and there's more than enough smoked food from the course to eat too - we definitely didn't go hungry.

On the course we covered all aspects of smoking running from the preparation of food (brining and so on) through various home build cold smokers, health & safety (he is a fireman after all), hot smoking, the all important smoke generation, which woods to use and so on.  It was an information packed day with lots to take in, luckily we were provided with all the material we'd learnt along with Turan's cold smoker plans if we wanted to make one at home.  This was a hands on course where we got the cold smokers fired up, smoking eggs, cheese and some sides of salmon over the course of the day, along with using an ingenious hot smoker design to turn out some delectable hot smoked trout. 

Turan is very passionate about smoking and this passion came through in the course, along with the broad knowledge he has on the subject.  It was hard to not come away wanting to give it a try yourself and I've already knocked up plans of my own for a little smoker, utlising what I picked up on the day.  I'd really recommend this course for anyone with an interest in learning some skills that we shouldn't let get lost to the ravages of time. You'll come out of the day knowing lots more than when you started (even if you've read up on the subject like I have) and also realising that it's not that tricky, or expensive, to start turning out fantastic smoked products at home.

I reviewed this course for Ooh.com and the course details can be found here.

City Caphe

A while ago a lady contacted me about banh mi, saying how she was starting a new Vietnamese food venture in the city and how my banh mi post from Hanoi had inspired her to recreate the pointed ended baguettes of that region when they did.  I was more than intrigued so soon as I'd heard it had opened - not from her I should add, but from London Eating - I hopped on the tube and made the rather-long-for-lunch journey from Mayfair to Bank. 

Upon entering I was struck by the decor.  They've tried to recreate the feel of Vietnam here and, outside of the lack of 35 degree heat and uncomfortable humidity, they have succeeded.  I love the sun bleached colonial yellow walls, the handwritten food related Vietnamese messages around the tables and the inclusion of a real life banh mi hawker cart, imported from Vietnam and stuck at the end of the counter, is the kind of attention to detail I like.

On this trip I was mortified to find they didn't have banh mi yet due to a lack of baguettes, my mortification was short-lived though when I turned to the old faithful beef pho, which was a respectable example of this dish.  The stock - made themselves - had good flavour, a strong beef aroma and nice aromatics. One of my favourite things about it was the cut of beef which came complete with a little grizzle and fat, maybe not to everyone's taste but I wouldn't want it any other way as it provided variety of texture and flavour and reminded me of Vietnam. I was pleased to find the accompanying sliced red chilies had a bit of heat, which isn't always the case. 

My dining companion's rice with char-grilled pork was described as having lots of flavour, a bit of chew but nice and moist. A free salad comes with the main dishes which is basically some pickles, cucumber, coriander and some animal - mine pork and prawn, my friend's chicken - which makes a nice side to the meal. One criticism would be the pickles were a little flat, the vinegar not coming through as much as I would have liked.  We shared some summer rolls too which had a good balance of herbs, noodles and prawns, the dip that came with them was an interesting peanut affair that I'd not had before.

Along with the salad all customers were given a free cafe sua da, a cold Vietnamese coffee topped with condensed milk - I'm assuming as an introduction with the hope of repeat trade.  Julie has since said they also add fresh milk, to improve the taste for the Western palate, but I was instantly transported to a Hanoi street corner by the chicory overtones of the bean, which is bought from Ca Phe VN on Broadway market.  If you've never had one of these before I'd definitely recommend giving it a try.

After my first visit I got in touch with the owner Julie to let her know I'd been, saying I would introduce myself next time, and she invited me back the next day to taste their pre-production banh mi.  I could hardly turn down that offer so after work I made my way back across town to see if their dedication to finding the right baguette had paid off.  The bread, which is by far the most important thing in a banh mi, was light and fluffy on the inside with a thin, crisp crust - just as it should be.  Julie said they'd spoke to a number of Vietnamese bakeries, in Vietnam and abroad, before settling on the recipe which ended up being pure wheat flour, which was in line with other bakeries they'd spoke to.  A lot has been said about the importance of rice flour in banh mi but here it's definitely not missed.

I ate all the fillings and favourites where the classic (rolled belly, pate and Vietnamese luncheon meat) and chargrilled pork, the five spice in that setting the banh mi off a treat.  Chicken was chicken, beef fragrant with lemongrass and the vegetarian fried tofu with oyster mushrooms surprisingly meaty.  Whilst eating I got to meet the family behind it, who were all lovely, and regale them with my tales of eating in Vietnam on my travels.  Well sated I left promising I would return for the production item. 

I was worried that the location was a bit out the way but having returned now they're fully in operation that doesn't seem a problem, there is no shortage of customers.  I needed to try the banh mi proper so ordered the classic (I just can't turn down all those different porcine delights) to see how it compared to my tasters.  As before the bread was light and crispy and the fillings crunchy and flavoursome, being a glutton for heat a little squirt of the provided chili sauce takes them another step up.  Trying to work my way through the menu a bit the banh mi was joined by some fried spring rolls, nice and meaty with a gorgeously pungent nuoc cham (fish sauce and vinegar based dip).

Having now been twice I'm happy to say City Caphe is definitely doing things to my taste and it won't be long before I hop on the bike again for a Mayfair to Bank lunch time banh mi.  A welcome addition to London's burgeoning banh mi scene.

City Caphe, 17 Ironmonger Lane, EC2V 8EY

Mercimek Corbasi - Turkish Lentil Soup

As I sat mildly hungover on a fantastic cold smoking course on Saturday (more about that to come) the topic of Turkish breakfasts came up and this soup was mentioned.  I love soup for breakfast, especially when hungover as I think a bowlful of piping hot, salty liquid is just what my dehydrated body needs.  This one is perfect for such occasions, the silky smooth liquid especially soothing when you're feeling tender.  I knew that the following day my hangover would be more than mild so I decided straight away that I would be knocking some of this up and was already going through the kitchen inventory in my head to work out if I needed anything extra for it.  I didn't. 

In the Turkish restaurants of Dalston it comes with Turkish bread, olives and pickled vegetables but even without these, just with a slice of any old bread, it's a lovely start to the day, hungover or not.  Don't think you can only eat it at breakfast though, it's served all day and makes a great light lunch or start to a larger meal.  It's very quick and easy too, taking no more than half an hour and using a handful of ingredients

Mercimek Corbasi - Turkish Lentil Soup

Makes 3-4 bowls

1 cup of red lentils, washed and picked over (not that I've ever found a stone)

1 litre of chicken stock (use veg stock if you want a vegetarian soup)

1 small onion

1 clove of garlic

A pinch of cumin seeds

To Serve

Chili flakes, lemon wedges, bread, Turkish pickled veg and olives

Method

Chop the onion reasonably small and then soften in olive oil along with the roughly chopped garlic and the cumin.

Add the red lentils and the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

Blitz with a stick blender till smooth and serve. 

A squeeze of lemon counters the sweetness of the soup well and a pinch of chili flakes adds warmth, which is always welcome.