Eggs en Cocotte

Behold! This is the amazing egg en cocotte with light wild mushroom cream that was my starter when I visited L'atelier de Joel Rebuchon for lunch recently. The wild mushroom cream was simultaneously light and deep in flavour. Trying this has really got me thinking about the best way to cook eggs and I'm currently having a bit of a research session on different ways to cook eggs en cocotte.

Also known as shirred eggs, they are cooked in a style that means the albumen or egg white is firm and set whilst maintaining a runny yolk in the centre. This is achieved by baking the egg in the oven. The cocotte naming comes from the type of small casserole dish that they are normally cooked in. Looking through a few books, it seems there are many different classic ways to prepare this dish such as à la Parisienne (which adds ham, mushrooms and cream) and à la Forestière (with which you garnish the bottom of the cocotte diced fried bacon, mushroom purée and topped at the end with chopped parsley).

I'm going into the kitchen to experiment and hopefully I will return triumphant, ready to share with you my culinary treasure. Stay tuned!

P.S. How do you like to cook your eggs en cocotte? How to do you like your eggs in general? Let me know if you have any suggestions.


GastroTom

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Roast+Conch from Hotel Chocolat

I'm a fan of Hotel Chocolat, particularly their Rabot Estate branded products. I was therefore excited for them to open their newest shop on Monmouth Street which promises a new concept from their others. Roast+Conch at Seven Dials on the edge of Covent Garden is to produce small batches of chocolate from whole beans, shipped from their Rabot Estate in Saint Lucia. Whilst there is a more conventional retail space upstairs, all this chocolate alchemy goes on downstairs in a open-kitchen that doubles as a basement cafe.

It's also in this downstairs space that they serve something else new that I specifically braved the bitter cold to try. I'm talking about the other new concept in this shop which is for the cafe to offer hot drinks which usually use roasted coffee beans and substitute them with roasted cocoa beans. Alternatively, you can go for one shot of each. And by roasted cocoa, I don't mean, hot chocolate by any means. This is a completely different experience (although, the cafe do also offer their "liquid chocolate" if that's more your thing). 

I ventured down this winding, black metal staircase and arrived in the cafe which is semi-industrial looking cavern which evoked an immediate cosy feel, however the fact it was so cold outside may have added to this. Either way, it's a smart-looking space with a mix of whitewashed exposed brick and white painted rendered walls. Seating is a mix of individual table seating, three corners with large communal tables surrounded by banquettes and mini stools, as well as some bar seating around the edges. 

Behind the counter there are various, impressive-looking pieces of machinery used for working with chocolate including a winnower (which separates the cocoa shell from the nib), a bean breaker (cracks the shell and releases the nib) and the eponymous conch (stone grinds and refines the nibs into chocolate). 

I was only passing through and so just opted to sample a flat white (£2-50) made with their roasted cocoa beans. However, if you were feeling hungry, they also offer some interesting sounding chocolate-themed food with warm cocoa wraps which are filled with ingredients such as duck confit, coriander, roast cocoa and cherries. If you want something sweeter they also offer sweet cocoa wraps. The hazelnut chocolate spread and whipped cocoa cream filling sounded particularly appetising. 

The flat white was well made with good milk work. The drink had a great, deep and strong cocoa smell. The cocoa does not have the same level of bitterness that you get with coffee and the roast does not seem as rich with a good coffee. This meant that I found it lighter and a fruitier than coffee and is a great drink in it's own right that I would definitely recommend trying at least once. Personally, considering I'm yet to try their food and because, I may as well admit, I have somewhat of an insatiable chocolate craving, I will definitely be returning. 

GastroTom

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Advice for Laura Zilli- If You Can't Say Something Nice...

You may be aware of an article that appeared in the Daily Mail recently about a young lady who is apparently the UK's next big cookery programming star. With a headline shouting "Move Over Nigella!" (how predictable can you get?) Laura Zilli made her opening promotional bid to become the nation's new "queen of the kitchen" (or whatever other horrendous cliché you want to label her aspiration as).

Laura Zilli (copyright. Daily Mail)

Hmm, I hear you say, that name, Zilli, sounds familiar. Well, yes it does. She is in fact the daughter of Aldo Zilli. Already an established "celebrity chef." That's fine. Some people might say, she's only getting the exposure because of her father, but, in reality, a lot of us would use that to get places too if we could. As long as she's humble about the fact that her familial ties might be playing a part in the fact she's even had one scrap of attention from a book publisher and the press, I'll have no problem.

But somewhat predictably, she doesn't. Not one jot. And, it seems no respect for the women that have gone before her. Give the article a quick read here if you want and then (hopefully) come back here- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2092122/Move-Nigella-Model-Laura-Zilli-better-cook-teach-look-glam-kitchen-too.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

See what I mean? Miss Zilli is indeed a model. Good for her. Use what you have if you want to make money. I have no problem. I can't criticise someone who uses their natural looks for monetary gain any more than someone who uses their natural pleasant singing tone. That is to say, not at all. I wish her all the luck. I mean, even if she wants to be a "cookery star," that's fair enough. If someone is interested in publishing her book, that's good for her.

What I object to is someone who is completely unproved, except in the field of trying their best to get on TV (she featured as an "budding singer/songwriter" in short lived C4 reality series "Seven Days"), walking into the room with such a rotten attitude.

In a move that was almost certainly recommended by whoever does her PR (bravo, by the way, it got me talking about her) she says that her cooking is "far more refined" than that of Nigella Lawson and criticises her use of cream and butter, concluding "no one wants to be fat."

Not content with that she then turns her focus on Sophie Dahl. Perhaps an easier target you might think. I don't know. Sophie Dahl's move into the food realm began with writing which she already had considerable experience of, being a published author and writer for magazines. Some of her cookery may have been simple, but why can't someone get on TV and share the simple dishes that they love? She certainly didn't approach her television series within any sense that she was suddenly the heir to anyone's throne.

She says of Dahl that she had "no real background in food," as if having daddy occasionally show you how to whip up a dish or two in the family kitchen is enough for her to buy a saddle for the high-horse she's sat upon. She then says she "doesn't understand why she had her own cookery show" before bitchily adding that being a "former plus-sized model" shouldn't make you an "authority on food"

As for her own aspirations, Miss Zilli seems to put some ridiculous focus on teaching women how to cook whilst wearing their Jimmy Choos. How pathetic. How backwards. Is that all women should be expected to wear in the kitchen? Can she even comprehend that outside her little Notting Hill world that most women in the UK don't own a pair of said highly expensive designer heels? Does she think female chefs at the top of their game, such as Angela Hartnett or Hélène Darroze turn up for work in a pair of strappy stilettos?

What's most annoying is that Laura Zilli does not seem to have any genuine passion for food. There is nothing to suggest she has worked in a professional kitchen at any point, despite the fact her fathers owns restaurants. It is also clear that from her time on extremely unsuccessful reality show, "Seven Days," where for the purpose of that she was a "singer/songwriter," that she just wants to have fame (and probably the money that might come with it). Whether she is a singer or a food broadcaster/writer, she does not seem to mind. That's not someone who I want to watch on my TV screen. Give me Nigella any day.


GastroTom

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