Saturday Breakfast- Playful Presentation

Sometimes it's fun to turn the mundane into something pointlessly playful and fun. Well, it is for me at least. Some might say it's a sign that I have too much time on my hands that I felt the need to present my smoked streaky bacon and mushroom sandwich in such a manner. But I say, what are Saturday mornings for, if they're not for enjoying having a little too much time to spare.

I guess this is quite a light breakfast (by weekend standards anyway) and that's because later I'll be heading out to Meat Liquor, an all-American style burger diner. No doubt you'll hear more about that soon.

GastroTom

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The Post-Christmas Chocolate Haul

I love it when the food gods offer you up a lovely treat in the most unexpected places. I came across a box of Charbonnel et Walker Violet Creams in the post-Christmas sales shopping in Leeds in, believe it or not, discount retailer, TK Maxx (I believe it is known as TJ Maxx in the States).

Charbonnel et Walker are the luxury British chocolatiers, founded in 1875 when the then Prince of Wales, Edward VII of England encouraged Mme. Charbonnel of the Boissier chocolate house in Paris to move to London and go into partnership with Mrs. Walker.

These chocolates are so delicious, with their lovely, firm fondant bursting with the perfumed flavour of English violet. Each is daintily decorated with a crystallised violet petal; perfect to round off a meal, maybe with coffee, but personally I'd rather just enjoy them all on their own.

Thanks to TK Maxx, I'm enjoying these on the cheap, but even at full price I'd recommend them.

And the good luck continues. After the mad flurry of activity that is Christmas, I seem to have emerged out of the other side in possession of a large box of Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles from the very same chocolate merchant.

These truffles have a elegant pink shell, dusted with icing sugar, that melts away to reveal a wonderfully rich milk chocolate, butter and Marc de Champagne truffle centre which is satisfyingly strong in the latter.

Both of these chocolates come, like all Charbonnel's products, beautifully packaged and so they are an ideal gift. I think most people would thank you more for a smaller box of these than an epic tray of some more mundane varieties.

All you have to decide is who is going to be the recipient of this first-class confectionary. May I suggest, yourself would be as good a choice as any.

Charbonnel et Walker- http://www.charbonnel.co.uk/

GastroTom

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Balik Salmon

I've got this lovely Balik Sjomga salmon fillet sitting in my fridge, waiting to be enjoyed. It's lightly smoked before being marinated with ginger, honey and orange.

I was lucky to try some of this in the Caviar House and Prunier Restaurant on Piccadilly, central London as part of a tasting plate and I'm even luckier to have more to try at home.

No doubt, more will follow...

Caviar House and Prunier- http://www.caviar-house.ch/united-kingdom/en/index__25_83-1

GastroTom

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The End of a Baguette

That old problem of opening the kitchen cupboard and discovering the pesky little end of a baguette. The bread is too good to just throw away but what can you quickly do to it that will make you a tasty light lunch?


How about toasted sourdough baguette with goat's curd and pea shoots, drizzled with Kalmata extra virgin olive oil?

Well, as simple as this solution might be, I just enjoyed it myself for lunch and I certainly wasn't left wanting.

Take the end of your baguette (or indeed a middle part if you're lucky to have more left) and slice in half. Place under the grill until lightly toasted.

Spread the goat's curd liberally onto the bread.

Season with sel de Guerande and black pepper.

Top the bread with a sprinkling of fresh pea shoots.

Finally drizzle with an extra virgin olive oil.

I was lucky that my end of baguette was more specifically a delicious white stick from the St. John Bakery who have their bakery just down the road from me on Druid Street, Bermondsey. I was similarly blessed that my goats curd was produced by Neal's Yard Creamery, an independent dairy producer based in Dorstone, Herefordshire.

I also used a PDO Kalmata Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Waitrose which was golden and peppery and added greatly to the overall balance of the dish. And my pea shoots, I was pleased to see, were grown in my home county of Yorkshire and tasted fresh and sweet. Perfect to cut through the goat's curd and bring a bit of balance and green vibrancy to the dish. I suppose some would say you should really remove the stems from the pea shoots but with this, I enjoyed the crunchy element that they brought and so left them as I found them.

Ready in five. Enjoy!

St. John Bakery- http://www.stjohnbakerycompany.com/
Neal's Yard Creamery- http://www.nealsyardcreamery.co.uk/index.html

GastroTom

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Christmas- a time for Fig Bonbons

Well, I say it was a time for Fig Bonbons, but in truth, I hardly mean that you couldn't move for them in the shops. However, in both Carluccio's (the chain of cafe/delis founded by Antonio Carluccio which needs little introduction) and Brindisa (Spanish food specialists), you could find two lovely variations on what you might call collectively a fig bonbon.

But don't be fooled, these are no bonbons like the lemon or strawberry chewy, marble-sized sweets dusted in sugary powder that you used to see sitting in big jars on shelves on the wall of the village post office. In fact, the term "bonbon" probably more generally describes something sweet, often enrobed in chocolate.

And enrobed in chocolate they are.

These are rabitos royale, what the Spanish call bombón de higo which you've probably realised translates to fig bonbons.

These delightful little sweeties are composed of three separate layers almost like an mini-globe with a thin, brittle milk chocolate coating that breaks away to reveal a juicy yet crunchy (thanks to the seeds) Mediterranean dried fig which bursts under minimal pressure to reveal a rich chocolate truffle and brandy filling has somehow found its way to the centre.

They are delicious and a triumph of the "la higuera" company which created the recipe for the rabito royale in 1989. The company is still family owned by the children of the original creators, Senador Valero and Felipa Nieva.

Exhibit B are Fichi Ricoperti from Carluccio's which was part of their Christmas offering for 2011. Unfortunately, at the time of this post, all of these delicious Calabrian delicacies have been hastily consumed and I'm only able to give you an idea of the traditional style packaging that they came in. Not exactly the visual impact I would ideally want to make but hopefully conveys just how irresistible they were.

This time, the figs are stuffed with walnuts from Sorrento and orange peel from Reggio Calabria before being drizzled in the finest dark Belgian chocolate. The quality of the figs really shone through on these also, it being clear that producers Roberto Aloisio and family have gone to great lengths to ensure you only get the very best Italian fichi.


After all, for everything that these talented producers do to them, these bonbons are all about the figs.

For a recipe for a simple rum fig bonbons, click here- http://gastrotom.blogspot.com/2012/01/recipe-chocolate-fig-bonbons.html

Carluccios- http://www.carluccios.com/
Brindisa- http://www.brindisa.com/
http://bombondehigo.com/en/index.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/8936590/Pastries-from-Calabria-to-Carluccios.html#disqus_thread

Gastro Tom

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My First Post

This is something that I just have to get over and done with; the dreaded first post.

I was thinking to myself, what should my first post be? Should it be a warm welcome to who will hopefully become loyal readers?

Well, it's a nice thought, but even the most loyal aren't going to be reading before it's even started.

So should it be some kind of grand mission statement? My manifesto. My raison de bloguer, if you like.

Well, I'm not entirely sure I have such a thing. I guess I'm here to share my experiences in the world of food and wine. It's a pretty humble mission but I suppose a mission nonetheless.

But I think really, that all I need do, is introduce myself. It's only good manners after all.

My name is Tom, I'm the tender age of 21 and I live in this wonderful city that is London. I'm certain you will learn much more during the passage of time. And besides, I have to leave a sense of mystery, if only to make myself seem infinitely more intriguing and exciting than I probably am.

Anyway, enough of the self-deprecation, let the blogging begin.

GastroTom