Chilled tomato consommé with liquorice & whelks

There are two things that I love about this dish. First the combination of tomato & liquorice and second whelks.

It is not to far of a stretch of the imagination because anise and tomato go well together, but liquorice makes it and you can do so much with this, a jelly, a spherification, etc. 
You don't even have to clarify it, it's up there people I love it.


Whelks these poor bastards have a bad reputation, people think they are rubbery, chewy, tasteless and those of you who believe that are wrong. 
They need respect, a little bit of love, there are steps and rules almost in how to cook whelks. And everyone has their own ritual for example cook them in sea water or brine them in salt and vinegar for an hour.

Me first I wash the whelks to get rid of all the sand and grit, put them on a tray shell down so you can see the flesh and the hard flat thing attached that I call the nail. (which is important in the cooking progress)
I sprinkle a good handful of table salt over them, this helps rid the grit inside the beast.

Now put them back in the fridge to cure them for an hour or so. During that time make the court bouillon. After rinsing whelks I cooked them for 10-15 minutes, or until the nail peels of easily. 


You remove them from the shell and only want to keep the meaty part. Slice thin, finish with olive oil and a dash of chardonnay vinegar. Enjoy! 


Here served with tarragon & dill, confit yellow and red tomatoes, blanched tomatoes, basil chlorophyl and chopped salted liquorice.

Photography by Carla Grassy

Smoke baked mackerel

This dish has taking me a while to find- it all started over wet turnips.

I found out from a chef I know that if you make a salt dough (flour, salt and water) wrap the 1/4 chunks of turnip and bake in a hot oven for 35-40 min the results are amazing. It was the best turnip I had ever tasted.

My mind went into overdrive I pretty much salt baked every root vegetable you could think of- beetroot came out great too. We tried fennel and other things and then I read in 'Ideas in food' that coffee and beetroot go well together so we started experimenting with flavours in the dough.

Until now I had only thought about vegetables, but I drifted into the thought of meat and fish- you know the whole polynesian style cooking, wrap it put it in a pit and bake it for hours and it comes out great. Could you do that with larger bits of meat?

Maybe people are doing that anyway and I am the last one to catch on.

Lets start small so mackerel came to mind, it is cheap and goes with lots of things. Smoked and peppered are my favourite, but I find when you hot smoke things you often get that strong smoke taste that can be just that little bit to harsh and maybe a bit dry.

So we smoked the flour, mixed it with hay ash, salt, pepper and water then wrapped the mackerel and baked it for 12 min. Served it at the table with horseradish and salsa verde and this is it.

 

 Photography by Carla Grassy

El Bulli does Tapas

Tickets is the new Tapas Bar from the man behind El Bulli Ferran Adria & his brother Albert. I was told about this place by one of my chefs Ori who lives in that area of Barcelona, long story short my amazing girlfriend got us in.

On the day

I didn't know what to expect from Tickets it's pretty new (been open for 2 weeks) so reviews were few. I love what I do and I love to read about how far chefs take it in their food and El Bulli has been at the four front of that for years- taking the whole Molecular gastronomy jazz to another level.

So I had that sick feeling like the one on a first date sick, even though it was with my girlfriend Carla, our little Angel Bonnie-Rose and me. Roll up there a little early to have a look around, the front was set out like an art gallery a hanging installation of different styles, maps, little bits about El Bulli. Had a peek in the window and seen the Big Tweezers and got a bit more excited about the food. 

Sit down

The restaurant itself was big ish 80 covers I think, we got to sit in the area to see all the chefs at work which was amazing and to top it off Ferran Adria was sitting the same area eating with some friends.

We had the olives which were the spherification of olive in olive oil- they were great, burst in your mouth heaven.

 

Next tuna belly painted with Iberian cured ham fat, I mean who doesn't love fat? It was clever the way the ham fat flavoured the belly. 

 

 Spiced tomato tartare with crunchy bread. The tartare was what you would think but it was the bread that was the winner here three types: first a flat like wafer, second crunchy air pillow and third (the best one) was a cross between crackling and a poppadom. Amazing.

 Raw oyster with its pearl and sea lettuce juice. Looked very good the little pearl was a spherification of oyster water with edible glitter with the clear juice, but the oyster was a tad big for me but still cool.

Raw clams with garlic- I really enjoyed them they were in the half shell and had a roast garlic consomme jelly on top. It could be the dish that I think of every time I smell garlic.

Liquid ravioli with payoyo cheese, it was a reverse spherification of this cheese, had a strong flavour but didn't linger for long. Had a little bread crisp on top for a crunch. Nice & cheesy.

Mollette with pickled pork & cheese was like the best McMuffin you have ever tasted. The muffin itself was light so when you pressed on it, it kind of deflated.

Peas with mint - this was in my top 5 of the meal. Simple but good. They were presented in this clear bag cut open at the table and mint removed. It looked like a hearty pea & ham soup but tasted fresh and sweet with a hint of mint and diced bacon through it. Loved it loved it loved it.

Tomatoes and strawberries in Mediterranean aroma with olive oil - another winner! What a combination. It was a slap sent from summer with a message did you miss me x.

Artichoke with crunchy cured ham's powder- arrived at the table in an artichoke shaped bowl when the lid was removed a big puff of smoke came out. Nice.

Rabbit with sparkling garlic mayonnaise. I was thinking all sorts about this one, like a fizzy mayonnaise?! But no. It was an airy mayonnaise using whipper. Still very nice.

Desserts

This is what we were both looking forward to. 

Orange iced drink with anisette- straight forward orange granita style in a frozen orange shell. Fresh, nice, bit of a let down for the price. I was imagining more of a frozen cocktail with more anise.

Liquorice dried meringue with white chocolate truffle and passion- mind blowing. There was a perfect dome of meringue which I am normally not a massive fan of, but this was light not to sweet, crunchy. Then you get into the center and there's a soft white chocolate truffle and out of nowhere this sour passion fruit bang hits you. Great 10/10. 

Hot chocolate fritters- another gem. I have no idea how they did this so perfect, but it was almost like beignet/ profiteroles deep fried but soft like a doughnut. They were packed full of this warm chocolate goo but there was no hole to inject the goo - I was stumped.

Ice cream for the little one, which arrived in an old fashioned ice cream trolley with a bell. 

And last but not least the almond and apricot sorbet warm cake. Like a chocolate fondant but without the chocolate, which I have tried to do before but got this raw taste which this one didn't have. Very nice. And the sorbet was intense, soft and moreish. Great way to finish.

This was one of the best meals I have had, no fuss, no potentiusness, no 'I am the best chef in the world', just a lot of fun. Go if you can.

I enjoyed how approachable the whole molecular ish / forward cooking was to everyone. Looking round the tables there was all kinds of people there- families, young, old, people on their own.

Sometimes as a chef you can get carried away with food and over complicate things. Too many elements I have done it before and probably will do it again, but I think that is how we move forward. Sometimes it just takes over.

 It was refreshing to see that things can be technically done but simply served, how amazing that one thing can be. I got a lot of inspiration from my lunch with the family and you can be sure to see that at our textures of green night. (On the 5th of April).

Photographs by Carla Grassy.