Ham Hock Terrine

The difference between dishes I would cook at home, and those I would cook at the restaurant are twofold; firstly, the effort involved in sourcing the best ingredients (we currently use lightly smoked and cured Ham Hocks bought from local smoker, Capreolus Fine Foods); secondly, the preparation time; to make a Ham Hock Terrine takes 2 days. It's a worthwhile endeavour but as a home cook you've got to be organised to do it. This recipe is ideal if you start mid-week for a weekend dinner party, for example.

Ham Hock is a cheaper cut of meat and it's well worth sourcing a good quality joint from an independent butcher.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Ham Hock

1 onion

2 carrots

2 sticks celery

½ bunch Parsley

2 Gerkins

30 Capers

Small handful Hazelnuts

Method:

• Place the Ham Hock in a large pan and add water until it is just covered, then add the roughly chopped onion, carrot and celery. Cover the pan and simmer for 3 hours
• Take off the heat and leave it to chill
• Remove the Ham Hock and set the pan of liquor aside. Pick the meat off and chop into small pieces, place in a bowl
• Strain the liquor and return it to the heat on a rolling boil until it has reduced by 1/3, set aside
• Chop the parsley, gerkins, capers and hazelnuts and mix with the meat
• Spoon the mixture into a mould and press down gently. Add some of the liquor, then place in the fridge to set overnight

Presentation:

To serve, use a nice apple based chutney or homemade piccalilli (I'll do recipes for these soon)

Chocolate and Rosemary Mousse

Chocolate & Rosemary mousse

This is a simple recipe, using cream, allows us to infuse all sorts of flavours into the mousse, not just rosemary. Other alternatives could be ginger, citrus (use the zest and a little of the juice), basil, chilli etc.

We use this mousse as part of a trio of chocolates in the restaurant, along with a chocolate citrus sorbet and a white chocolate strawberry truffle ganache. Rosemary works well with the dark chocolate because, as with lamb dishes, the rosemary cuts through the richness that dark chocolate can bring. This recipe is all about the chocolate, so use a good quality dark choc; for an extra few pennies it’s worth investing in some Green & Blacks 72%

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 Eggs
200ml/7fl oz double cream
100g 72%(or higher) dark chocolate broken into small pieces
tbsp chopped rosemary

Method:

• Heat the cream and chopped rosemary in a saucepan untill the cream is just too hot to touch ... don’t boil it !
• Leave the cream to cool and infuse with the rosemary flavour, then place in fridge after 20min of cooling
• When chilled, strain out the rosemary pieces and whip the double cream until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed
• Separate the eggs and whip the whites till hard peaks form when the whisk is removed
• Warm the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, take off the heat as soon as melted and combine with the yolks (take care not to heat too much, or the chocolate will grain or the yolks will cook) ... I know I’m making it sound difficult, but it’s easier than it sounds
• While the chocolate mixture is still melted fold in the cream until well combined, then carefully fold in the whipped whites
• Pour into serving dishes and chill for two hours or more. This will leave you with a strong but light dark chocolate and rosemary mousse ... delicious !

Full circle, back to New Orleans and some great food this time !

My last night on the road was back in a Motel 6, an original design version, which gave me the chance to see the difference between a bog standard and newly designed room, which I had been mostly staying in for most of the trip. This room had the bare essentials, and although the clean lines and jazzy colours were missing it was still an OK place to stay and ticked all the boxes after a long ride.

The staff though were fantastic. When I asked where it is I should eat that night, not only did they come up with a load of suggestions, they were also enthusiastic about their local food, and had gone to the trouble to try to get in contact with a local wise woman who foraged and used herbs from the landscape to come see me. It didn’t work out as I had to get back on the road early the next morning, but I appreciated the effort they had gone to.

Supper - a mile down the road – an unbelievable $10 later, but almost worth it just to chat to Daniel the taxi driver. I thought he was as mad as a rattlesnake, but had some great stories to tell. He had spent time in the army and was from a family of racehorse breeders, as well as being a bit of an expert in Tai Kwan Do, well he said so anyway – and with all those tattoos and general demeanor I certainly wasn’t going to argue.

The restaurant was empty but did have a key difference – it served vegetables! The meal was a bit topsy turvy with alligator tail starter being served ¾ way through the main course, but all was excused as the soup – a seafood bisque was absolutely stunning. One of the best dishes I’ve had since being in America. Truly stunning mix of depth, spice, fresh seafood and seasoning. I loved it.

A Po-boy in New Orleans ... basically a huge filled french bread sandwich

Leaving Alexandria a bit sad as it was the last leg of the road trip I was still looking forward to getting back to the wonderfully colourful New Orleans. This time I was determined to do it right. No more messing around in tourist restaurants that were serving half hearted slop. I was up for the real deal. Half a dozen oysters and a margarita later the friendly bar man I had plonked myself in front of had recommended half a dozen places with Bayona right at the top. Reservation made, job done.

It was as good as I had hoped. And I certainly had high hopes for this restaurant that has been rated in the top 50 in the world. Cocktail was delicious, service friendly, quirky and prompt. Food all fantastic, flavoursome with a Cajun kick to it all. Just what I had been waiting for. I didn’t take any pictures though as it seemed inappropriate in such a reserved setting. It’s all going to just have to stay in my memory – all I can say is that if you’re in the area then go. I would.  

I think I’ve written enough about New Orleans from when I first stayed there at the beginning of the trip. I did end up on Frenchman street after dinner for a quick drink to catch the end of a jazz session which was authentic and uplifting. But early to bed for me as I was off to the Big Apple the next day. A great end to a brilliant road trip that I will never forget. You’ll just have to watch this space to see which food inspirations make it back home to my café opening later this year.

Telegraph review

Was so delighted to get a great review from the Telegraph ... one of the best I've seen ... will address the limeness of my tart for next week !

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/restaurants/7720948/Dorset-restaurant-guide-The-Wild-Garlic-in-Dorset.html

Dorset restaurant guide: The Wild Garlic in Dorset

Jasper Gerard is delighted by The Wild Garlic restaurant in Dorset.

 

By Jasper Gerard in Dorset
Published: 4:00PM BST 14 May 2010

The Wild Garlic: Simple, stunning and seasonal Photo: CHRISTOPHER JONES

Dusk is the time to descend on Puckden Wood. I walk to its heart, open my arms then breathe in lungful after lungful. The flowers of May cover the ground as extravagantly as had the falls of January's snow, and every year this great explosion of ransoms leaves me spellbound. My children are normally about as keen on walking as Pauline Prescott is after a fresh blow-dry but come May even they will down their Wiis and race to the woods. April's sweet sweep of bluebells had seemed beauty itself, until summer's white shroud. Early evening is when deer break cover and in their flight they trample the delicate flowers that could so easily be lily of the valley, and this fills the wood with a powerful aroma of garlic.
I realise that brand-wise, garlic has work to do. The marketing men would consider its pong a definite negative. Its image is down there with Ratners and New Labour while even the prettiest lips parted to reveal garlic breath will send most us recoiling faster than from a Greek bearing gilts.
But in the woods I can't get close enough to wild garlic. You would kiss this with gusto. If it weren't for its unsexy reputation Jennifer Aniston would have declared it a scent and bottled it as "Amorous: the Aroma" or "Whiff of the Wild – For Women".
So I'm delighted to see garlic being rehabilitated. A restaurant has been opened called Wild Garlic, and it's sensational. The chef is Mat Follas, the IT geek now reigning as Masterchef. And serendipitously his inspiration is Denmark's Noma, just declared the best restaurant in the world. Follas had a stint at Noma while filming Masterchef and impressed its chef, Rene Redzepi, as he did viewers. As I await a table there – Copenhagen's tourist board claims 100,000 people around the globe are in the queue – I'm intrigued to see how its ethos might work in Britain.
Noma goes way beyond the usual "local produce" mantra, avoiding even olive oil. When I interviewed Redzepi recently he spoke of sending his chefs foraging, garnering extraordinary ingredients: cloudberrys, wild beach roses, musk ox. He talks with near-religious solemnity about venturing out with "cold fingers" to pick "the first shoots of spring".
True, many British restaurants now decorate dishes with "foraged leaves" but these sometimes add about as much flavour as the cellophane packaging to a sandwich. Follas claims to employ three foragers. I'm not sure wild garlic is the greatest challenge to the forager's craft seeing as you can smell it several fields away but the name does symbolise Noma's attempt to re-connect with nature. If Heston Blumenthal is exploring the future, Noma is pioneering the past.
Beaminster is a small town with a big appetite. On a soaking midweek evening two food vans do a bustling trade while inside the simple, rustic restaurant every table has been snared. As soon as chefs acquire even the stringiest reputation they often desert to shoot some dire cookery show, but within minutes of us sitting before our rough-hewn table Follas enters the dining room. He is bearing a giant brill of proportions almost as generous as his own. Our eyes had wandered elsewhere on the brief but tempting menu but who could resist that brill? Redzepi also brings food to table, declaring there is nothing like facing customers out front to raise his game out back. Follas is rugby-tackled by another customer rhapsodising: "That's the best pigeon I've ever tasted".
I order a starter of spelt and nettle risotto with confit rabbit, and I'm tempted to do bunny hops of joy. Spelt grain makes this sturdier than conventional risotto, while pine nuts add crunchiness and nettle pesto round the edge lends intrigue. Like all Follas dishes it's perfectly seasoned, but it's the strong flavour of rabbit that wows. Faultless.
Diana tries crab pâté with cucumber and pickled dill, stunningly presented with nasturtiums and resting on chicory leaves which somehow escape bitterness and are instead young and juicy.
Unusually an amuse bouche arrives after the first course by which time our mouths are already laughing merrily. And rather than some frothy nonsense this is proper grub: smoked venison, so tender I long for it all over again.
And so to brill, arriving not so much on a plate as a giant flying saucer. There are no tricks, just consummate cooking of fine fresh fish, lifted powerfully by lemon and caper butter. Fillet of beef with – another seasonal touch – asparagus is another simple perfectly cooked winner, the only twist coming in wonderfully smoked mash.
Puddings don't win quite so many garlands. A lime tart has good texture on thin short-crust pastry and is well caramelised, but where's the lime? It tastes more like thick baked custard. Hot chocolate is better, with cream poured into the gooey middle lightening the richness.
But these are quibbles as trifling as a foraged Jack-by-the-hedge. If the burghers of every country town could enjoy a restaurant like the beaming folk of Beaminster's, we Britons would be happier bunnies.
Best of all there is nothing poncey about this place. A note on the menu states: "If you have had great service please leave a tip; if you haven't, don't." Just so.
Now when I amble over to Puckden Wood I will still be thinking of aromas – but they will be calling me back to Beaminster.

• The Wild Garlic Restaurant, 4 The Square Beaminster, Dorset (01308 861 446)

• Dinner for two: £84.50

• 9/10

BBQ and smokehouses

After a breakfast of Mexican influenced cinnamon beignets stuffed with an apple sauce I was back on the road, heading to, well, I wasn’t really sure where. I knew I wanted to get lost in Texas lake country and pointed the bike in the direction of nowhere hoping for the best. Actually, I had seen that there may be the possibility of renting a cabin next to Lake Buchanan for a night, so envisaged a night spent catching up on the blog next to a moonlit lake with a beer in my hand. Long story short, it seems that in America you either stay in a mass motel and hotel center where everything is within spitting distance of each other, or…you go into the middle of nowhere and find a load of holiday homes, but nowhere to rent for the night. Lots of hotels yes, but going back to the basics in a cabin,  no. It may seem lame, but I did end up in a hotel for the night overlooking the lake I had been driving around the last hour looking for said cabin. The hotel was a 5* Marriot resort, with a pool and a spa, which I shamelessly enjoyed to the full.

 

Dinner was brilliant - black and blue Texas waygu sirloin perfectly cooked, Argentinean medoc and al dente asparagus resulted in me enjoying every bite. I almost didn’t want to find such a stunning meal in an international chain hotel, but really can’t find fault with the main course. The pudding came to the rescue of my preconceptions….inside-out strawberries. What do you think they are? No? Haven’t got a clue? Don’t worry, explanation follows.... Strawberries stuffed with cheesecake filling, coated with a rice crispy batter and then deep fried to perfection. They had the taste of three things I like - strawberries, cheesecake and doughnuts. But no, really, trust me on this one, no! But with an exceptional steak like that I can excuse the chef anything....almost.

Heading for Dallas the next day I was happy travelling along the roads, listening to the radio as loud as it could go. There was a bit of a side wind which kept things interesting, but hey, that’s all part of biking. 

Seeing the countryside change from scrub land with ranches dotted around through to lush trees was interesting, but most striking, driving through a hot country you really do get to smell water before you see it. Such a metallic smell that you recognise before you have even got within sight of it, its a smell that's saved many a smart biker who learns to slow down at the smell before hitting a wet patch on the road, but on this day it was so marked that it couldn't be missed, the route was long and I spent most of the day on the road, but did stop off at a smoke house in the middle of Marlborough country.

What an amazing little place this was. The owners are a married couple who have been working together cooking and smoking their meat since year dot. Mrs Smoke House rules at the stove, shoving and slicing huge slabs of meat around the place, and Mr Smoke House busies himself around her, helping his wife with whatever he can get for her, as well as serving the 6 odd tables in the place. The smells are amazing, oh, and I met the local policewoman coming out of the place, so again, a definite good sign.

Their meat was the most amazing melt in the mouth, flavoursome sumptuousness you could think of. Ribs in homemade BBQ sauce (so much more complicated in its spicing than we tend to get at home) and beef that fell apart as soon as my taste buds got to it. Seriously good. Am drooling still thinking back on it. There are some things that no chef should mess with. And this is one of them….if only I could get the recipe off them …. I can see a lot of time will be spent coming up with my own version … a few hours later, full and chilled out from my drive I arrive in Dallas dusty and dirty.

The Motel 6 I arrived at was just fab. A great pool and stunning room with individual balconies. They arn’t all as great as this one, it is near their head office, but if there was ever a flagship motel to stay in this was it. Sipping a beer, looking over the pool I was pleased with my trip so far. The ribs at the BBQ place recommended to me that night were great, as was the pulled pork sandwich. It seems Dallas has got a load of fab restaurants, but one serving a good homemade BBQ sauce is celebrated above all others. Justified too.

The next day saw me doing a monster ride. Over 300 miles with strong side winds so hot I thought I was in a hairdryer. Stopping every half hour or so for refuelling on the water that I’d lost, Alexandria seemed a long way away. Travelling over such a long distance in one day the changes in landscape were striking from rocky brush, to fulsome pine trees and then back to more bare grassland with the odd copice spattered around. Arriving in Alexandria I had crossed over back into Louisiana and alligator country. The change is almost immediate with different foods, road rules and architecture immediately apparent, the language changes too to the creole sing song accent and words and the Texan hats disappear. So long Cowboy country, hello Cajun.