Don't Eat The Pigeons Near Trafalgar Square

From time to time I do evaluations of foodie trips I have taken or food related events I have attended. This time I am actually going to review and compare my recent dining experience in two very different cities; London and Paris. This is a trip my husband and I have been planning for quite sometime. I planned the trip around dining at a family run place, a mid level establishment and a gourmet restaurant considered one of the top ten restaurants in the city. To no ones surprise, I am sure, Paris wins hands down. Now to the quirky title of this particular blog. Since I am not a seafood eater, when my husband and I dine out, I usually eat a chicken dish. To my dismay, at both a pub and a top 10 restaurant in London, the closest I could come was pigeon. In both cases, it was served rare. It was awful. At the gourmet top ten restaurant ,it literally made me sick. Five Fields in Chelsea was where I had my second pigeon, and although the service was impeccable and the salad and desert was fine, I could not recommend spending $400 for the experience. The pub pigeon was actually some what better than the gourmet place. Of, course, our Hotel being right off of Trafalgar Square, we both joked about how few pigeons there were and whether the remaining ones were to be some ones dinner that night. In the next few blogs, I will talk about some of our other dining experiences.

Tea and Scones, Isn't it Loverly ?

My latest passion is tea and scones at local(and not so local) tea rooms. My friend Phyllis introduced me to Tea on the Tiber in Ellicott City and I have savored the Thursday afternoon tea at Black Market Bistro with my sister in law, Karen a couple of weeks ago. She is taking me to a great tea room at the Omni William Penn in Pittsburgh at the end of the month. I am practicing for the formal tea at the Savoy Hotel in London in the fall. I have gotten my tea from the Republic of Tea for the last decade, so I feel educated from that viewpoint. But I asked myself could I make scones to go with my tea at home?

Here is the recipe I found that made it simple:

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour                                  
1/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
8 tablespoons butter frozen
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
In a medium bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder and soda
Grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture on the large wholes of a box grater
using your hands to work the butter into the mixture until it resembles a coarse meal
In a small bowl, mix sour cream and egg until smooth
using a fork mix the egg and sour cream mixture into the flour/butter mixture
Mix the dough until it comes together into a ball(do not add additional liquid)
Place ball of dough onto a floured surface and form it into a circle about 8 inches in diameter
Cut dough into eight triangles (high school geometry comes into play here )Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about 2 inches apart
Bake until golden brown about 15 minutes

You can dress these up by adding in lemon zest, raisins, dates or other dried fruits to the batter before the egg and sour cream

Chicken Breasts Dijonaise

Sometimes, I find a recipe that is so easy and so yummy, I have to share. Normally Dijon mustard and bacon are not associated with chicken dishes. This recipe does just that and is terrific!

Ingredients:

3 slices of fully cooked bacon, microwaved for 30 seconds and set aside
3 tablespoons olive oil separated
4 boneless chicken breasts, trimmed and pounded to a 1/4 inch thickness
3 shallots, chopped
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup chicken stock
1tablespoon brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in oven safe pan until hot but not smoking
Saute previously trimmed chicken breasts for 1 minute each side until brown
Place chicken in oven and set timer for 15 minutes
While the chicken is baking, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in skillet
When oil is hot, add shallots, and cook for 1 minute. Then add mustard and vinegar
Add stock and brown sugar an cook for 3 minutes, add salt and pepper to taste
Remove chicken from oven when timer is expired, place on platter
Pour sauce over chicken and crumble the bacon and spread over the chicken and sauce
Serve

Let it Snow-Soup's on

As with millions of others on the east coast, my husband and I were snowed in for 5 days. What goes better with snow than soup and homemade bread? I have posted several of my favorites over the years, but I decided to go back to my 1965 edition of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child to resurrect my favorite French Onion Soup. With several simple changes, it became a great lunch served with my husband's simple but delicious Honey Wheat bread. The recipes for both follow.

Ingredients:

5 cups of thinly sliced yellow onions
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar(this makes the onions brown nicely)
3 tablespoons of flour
2 quarts boiling beef stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
                                              

Preparation:

Cook the onions in the butter and oil in your large saucepan for 15 minutes until onions are soft.
Stir in the salt and sugar and cook for about 30 minutes more or until onions are a golden brown in color
Sprinkle in flour and stir over heat for 3 minutes
While onions are cooking, bring your beef stock to a boil in another saucepan
Add the boiling liquid to the onions ,add the wine, and simmer for about another hour.
Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
Ladle soup into bowls and top with cheese. Enjoy.

I have left out the cognac,bread slices and beef drippings to coincide with more modern nutritional guidelines.

A Spectacular New Years Eve

This year Buzz and I did something different for New Year's Eve. We cooked at home. Both of us are tired of spending $100's of dollars for mediocre food. So we cooked for ourselves. The results are below.

French Brioche

Boeuf Bourguignon from Julia Child

Honig Stagecoach 2001



I love my new(to me)Kitchen Aid

Our Menu

Boeuf Bourguignon with buttered noodles
Romaine salad with dates and gorgonzola
French Brioche
Home made peppermint ice cream
Honig Stagecoach cabernet 2001


 

Peppermint ice cream

Wine and Food Festival in Savannah Georgia

From time to time I like to write about a culinary advent that I have attended. The Savannah Food and Wine Festival was held from November 9 through November 15, 2015.I enjoyed it tremendously. We attended the Reserve Wine tasting on November 12th where wines from all over America and some Italian wines were featured. We met the nicest ladies on a girls getaway and they allowed us to join them at their table. A shout out to April, Donna, Dolores, and Michele. In no time we learned each others stories over wine and food. My favorite dish will surprise you. It was pizza. Not just any pizza, but The Big Green Egg pizza made with artichoke and feta cheese. The Big Green Egg is a covered grill equipped with a  ceramic interior. Everyone went back for seconds and thirds. On the 13th I attended a cooking class given at the 700 Kitchen Cooking School given by Nathalie Dupree. She was on the original Food Network Show and at 75 years, she is a stitch. See her picture below.

She made Southern Ratatouille, Asparagus salad and Okra griddle cakes. When she told us that we need to measure the onion we use in the ratatouille, she said "onions are like men, they are never the right size " LOL.

Friday nights event was a big disappointment. It was billed as an artisanal but there were no tables. Consequently, we spent the night balancing food and drink, and were unable to engage in conversation with the chefs displaying their wares. This was at the Landings Club about a 40 minute drive from Savannah. A long drive from downtown Savannah and it was not worth the trip. This was the third annual Festival for Savannah. I suggest they drop this event from their repitoire. I think it was a poor venue for a great chef like Tory McPhail  of Commander's Palace.

Saturday's Taste of Savannah at the Georgia State Railroad Museum may have made up for the prior nights artisanal dinner. It was a blast. Our good friends with their Big Green Egg was back and still popular.We also tasted some great Champagnes and ate some great food. I really loved the Grown in Georgia section of the event. There were hot jellies and jams, seasoned pecans, and artisanal salts and a great number of other food crafts available. Unfortunately, when we came home,TSA would not let us on the plane with the habanero jelly. We had to check the bag. Oh well, all in all, I would go back again. Savannah is a delightful city to visit.

Going in a New Direction

To all  my loyal followers,

     You have noticed that I  have not been posting new recipes on my blog. I have been traveling around with my cookbook talking to working moms. I have found that cookbook or not, they are not willing to add making a home cooked dinner to their hectic schedules. I have also found that stay at home moms do cook for their families but they don't go to a cookbook. They go to Pinterest or some other on line site to get the recipe of the day. While I was doing this, I also started teaching underserved /at risk middle school students cooking once a week under a program called Excel Beyond the Bell. I really love doing it and will be doing it again this year. I have also learned that there is a profession called youth development practitioner. These professionals work with kids between 10 and 20 years old. I have gone back to college to get my certificate in this profession. Hopefully, that will be in spring 2016. From this experience, I hope to write another cookbook directed at teaching kids to cook. Perhaps starting at this age and grabbing their attention, they will grow up to be working parents who cook for their families. In the meantime, I have started posting recipes on Pinterest .Look for recipes there if you would like. Thank you all for your support.

Gabbie