Rossopomodoro

With the recommendations of both a Neapolitan and a Sardinian, a group of us girls from work headed to Rossopomodoro near Covent Garden for dinner a couple Friday nights ago. This Italian chain has received quite a slating from the blogging world but it seems it’s all their dishes, apart from their pizzas, that disappoint. So, sticking with the pizzas must be the thing to do.

I bullied poor Mirna into sharing both a red pizza and a white one with me; unsurprisingly, the latter is made without tomato sauce but this can be added if you miss it. It was a long wait for the pizzas but I think it was worth it (and hey, the place was packed and we were a large group).

Our pizza rosso was La Verace (£10.20) with tomato sauce, DOP buffalo mozzarella, DOP extra virgin olive oil from Sorrento and fresh basil. I’m sure it’s difficult to find a more carbon-unfriendly pizza with all its ingredients flown in from Italy but you know what? I didn’t care as it was delicious with its great tomato base and dollops of fresh melty mozzarella. The base was both thin in the middle and thick (in a puffy way) out towards the edges and had a good chew and flavour. Excellent.

For our pizza bianco, I chose the Carmelo (£9.30) with Provola cheese, Neapolitan sausage, friarielli (Neapolitan wild turnip tops) and fresh basil. (Ah, those turnip tops! We had the same amount on our pizza as there was on that plate at Polpo.) I loved that combination of bitter greens with savoury meat and the herbal bite of basil. What would have made it better would have been some sweet tomato… I missed it! I need to get used to white pizzas, I think.

Even though we were all pretty stuffed (and the two of us were doubly so as we controlled pre-dinner hunger pangs with a char siu bun snack), I split a Mandorlotto (£5) – Almond flavoured ice cream with Nutella, whipped cream and chocolate brittle – with another colleague. Our waiter confirmed that all their gelati were made with buffalo milk – is this the norm in Italy? If you don’t like the flavour of bitter almonds, you won’t like this. I thought the gelato was alright though a bit icy and there was no sign of chocolate brittle unless they meant cocoa powder. But Nutella with ice cream – why haven’t I thought of this before?! What a fabulous combo that I will definitely recreate at home. Still, just an ok dessert from Rossopomodoro. I’m definitely going back but it’ll be just for those pizzas.

Rossopomodoro
50-52 Monmouth St
London WC2H 9EP

There are two other branches: one on Fulham Road and the other in Notting Hill.

I’m heading off out of the country soon and so I’ll be away from the blog for a while. New posts in about a fortnight!

 

Panellets

Just as I was coming out of the bathroom this morning, our buzzer went off and Blai picked up the answerphone. Postman. Was it for us? (We have to check this as most postmen we encounter just press our button by default regardless of who the package is for.) But it really was for us – Mr and Mrs. Blai went down to get it as I continued getting ready for work.

Blai returned to our flat with a medium sized package that neither of us were expecting. And from Spain! Oooh, what could it be? He commenced opening it, unwrapping layer upon layer of paper. By the time I was ready to leave for work, Blai had finally torn off the last of the wrapping.

Bonet! This name caused our hearts to flutter excitedly – this patisserie near to Blai’s parents’ place in Barcelona produces some delicious pastries and I love to see what they come up with when I’m there. There are lots of different Catalan pastries, many of which are associated with a certain time of the year. And for this time of the year (All Saints falls on the first of November), panellets rule. Blai’s parents had sent us a package of these gorgeously nutty sweets.

Each of these walnut sized pastries is made with marzipan and potato. The most traditional are rolled in whole pinenuts or chopped almonds. We had plenty of these as well as other variations such as those dusted with sugar and topped with jam or chestnut paste and those flavoured with coconut or orange peel. They are just as delicious as they sound, with a lovely tender texture and a not too sweet almond flavour.

For the two of us who have to work this weekend, these treats are much needed. Moltes gràcies!

 

Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Garlic and Rosemary

It’s not often that I cook a large cut of meat; I find it quite intimidating. Likewise, it’s not often that I follow a recipe to the letter but I did both a couple weekends ago. This recipe had been sitting in the back of my mind for ages, ever since I watched it on Jamie at Home: slow roasted lamb shoulder and it looked foolproof. It turned out fabulously – the lamb falling off the bone at the slightest tug and the meat so soft it needed little chewing. The mint and caper sauce was tart and brilliant alongside; I expected the mint to be a bit too harsh but it had mellowed in the heat. Really, you’ve got to cook this as it’s almost effortless and the results are excellent. And don’t throw away the roasted garlic – beautifully gooey!

I even went so far as to make the mashed root vegetables and cavolo nero on the side. Both turned out well but I’ll probably switch up the sides next time.

Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Garlic and Rosemary
adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe.
serves 4.

1.5 kg lamb shoulder on the bone (original recipe says 2kg but the change in weight didn’t affect cooking)
large handful of rosemary
1 large head of garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to the maximum temperature it can go. Trim the lamb shoulder of any excess fat and slash any remaining fat all over.

Break the garlic into cloves and leave them unpeeled. Put half of the garlic cloves and half of the rosemary sprigs into the bottom of your roasting tray. Place the lamb on top, season it well with salt and pepper and drizzle olive oil on top. Scatter the rest of the garlic and rosemary on top. Cover the roasting tray with two layers of aluminium foil, making sure to seal it well.

Put the roasting tray into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 170C. Roast for 4 hours.

Hot Caper and Mint Sauce

1 tbsp flour
500mL hot vegetable or chicken stock
3 tbsps drained capers (in brine)
a small bunch of fresh mint
2 tbsps red wine vinegar

Roughly chop together the capers and mint. Set aside.

When the lamb is ready, put the lamb shoulder (along with the rosemary and garlic) on a serving platter and keep warm. There will be liquid at the bottom of the tray – transfer this to a bowl and return a tablespoon or two of the fat to the roasting tray. Place the roasting tray on a hob at medium heat. Add the flour and stir through well. Then add the juices from the lamb (skim off the remaining fat) and the stock. Boil for about 5 minutes. Add in the capers, mint and vinegar and simmer for another minute before serving with the lamb.

 

Vanilla Marshmallows

I came across this post by One Hungry Chef midweek and his recipe for homemade marshmallows looked so easy that I got a sudden need to make them. I was reminded of the light, fluffy guimauve from Pierre Marcolini and hoped to recreate that exact texture and flavour. I liked that his recipe also didn’t include egg whites or corn syrup, the first being an ingredient I think doesn’t belong in marshmallows and the second being one that’s hard to find here in the UK. Never one to leave things alone, I modified the recipe to lie somewhere between One Hungry Chef’s and Sugar Plum’s.

And the tweaked recipe turned out well! The most important thing to have is a candy thermometer as it’s imperative that your sugar syrup gets to the correct temperature. An electric hand mixer or a stand mixer is also useful as it’ll save your poor arm from a long stint at whisking. The texture that resulted from the recipe below was spot on – just perfectly light and the marshmallow just melts in your mouth, a far cry from the uniform cylindrical puffs you get in a bag. I’m keen to try making other flavours too – mint or rose or orange flower immediately come to mind.

Vanilla Marshmallows
makes about 50 (of course, this depends on what size you make them).

400 g sugar
2 tbsps powdered gelatin
300 mL water
a large pinch of salt
2-1/2 tsps vanilla extract
powdered/icing sugar
cornstarch/corn powder

Prepare your marshmallow container – a 20-23cm square pan is good. I just used a baking dish of approximately that size. Mix together equal volumes of icing sugar and cornstarch. Lightly oil your pan and then dust the bottom and sides with this sugar/cornstarch mixture.

In a large heatproof bowl (mine’s Pyrex), pour in 150 mL of the water and then scatter over the powdered gelatin. Set aside.

In a small heavy based pot, pour in the other 150 mL of water and all the sugar. Set over medium heat and whisk together occasionally until the sugar has all melted. Bring the mixture up to 115 Celsius. (This took longer than I expected!) Take off the heat. Pour the syrup over the gelatin in the bowl and stir together well. Add the salt and the vanilla and continue stirring, allowing it to cool a bit.

With a hand mixer (of course, if you have a stand mixer, use it!), beat the syrup at medium/high speed (I switched back and forth between the two) for 12 minutes. After this time, the mixture will have doubled in size, thickened, and be opaque. Pour into the prepared pan, smoothing the top down if needed. Dust the top with more of the sugar/cornstarch mixture and cover with a sheet of greaseproof paper. Set aside at room temperature for at least 4 hours (or even overnight). Proceed to lick the beaters and the bowl!

When the marshmallow is set, turn it out onto a chopping board and cut it up into squares. I found kitchen scissors to be the best for the job; you could even use cookie cutters to make shapes. Dust all the cut edges with more of the icing sugar and cornstach mix. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a couple weeks.

All you North American’s out there are probably wondering if these marshmallows make good s’mores! If you’re curious, these are graham crackers sandwiching a bit of chocolate bar and a hot toasted marshmallow. Graham crackers aren’t easy to find in the UK but you might be able to happen upon a Filipino brand I’ve seen at an Asian supermarkets. I used a chocolate covered stem ginger biscuit as my base and topped it with a toasted marshmallow (stuck it on a skewer and held it over a gas burner).

Only as you can see, the marshmallow didn’t get toasty enough as its delicateness causes it to melt before browning; the toasted flavour is spot on though. I think a small blowtorch is in order!

Or try floating these babies on top of some rich, dark hot chocolate – look at these posts by One Hungry Chef and foodie hunter for inspiration!

 

Polpo

At about 7pm last Thursday, I was sitting down at a table at Polpo, the latest must-try place on the Twittersphere, excitedly reading through the placemat menu under my nose. The place was buzzing and lots of people were being turned away at the door. Everything sounded so good and as I was dining with three other very keen food lovers, I knew we’d get a chance to order a good sampling of what was on offer. However, at about 8:30pm, we left unhappy and still hungry. Here’s what happened in between.

While waiting for the others to arrive, a couple of us ordered nonalcoholic cocktails, exclaiming at the good value prices of only £3 each! Only when we came, we found the prices to be the exact opposite – not such good value at all. Actually, they were quite expensive for what’s essentially a combination of fruit juice and sparkling water, all served in tiny kindergarten water tumblers.

When the others did arrive, we started ticking off our choices on the menu; bizarrely, some items were listed in Italian while others were not – very strange and there didn’t seem to be any logic to it. Anyway, a crostini or two each along with some arancini, those lovely deep fried risotto balls, to start. Then a pizzetta bianca, as we’d heard good things about it. Two meat dishes. Four seafood dishes. Two vegetables. We’d order desserts later.

Our nibbly things arrived first. The pizzetta bianca was a thin 6 inch round of dough topped with cheese, onions and oregano. It was tasty but nothing spectacular. My Spratti in saor crostini was well priced and tasty enough but I was having difficulty seeing what I was eating again. The light was so low (so “romantic” others might say) that one eating companion asked how the cabbage was on my crostini. Only it wasn’t cabbage but onion. It’s not that I’m complaining about the darkness because I was unable to take proper photos but when it’s so dark that I cannot actually see what’s on my plate – does the restaurant have something to hide? In case you’re wondering what spratti in saor is, it seems to be fried sprats marinated in a tangy escabeche-like sauce. At least, that’s what my taste buds told me; it was too dark to confirm this visually. As for the arancini? Biting in one was like taking a mouthful of plain white rice. There was no salt added whatsoever and the little bit of inoffensive cheese in the middle added little to its flavour. I found myself reaching for the salt shaker.

A good while after these nibbly things, our other dishes arrived and yeah, they were a lot smaller than we’d expected them to be and we probably wouldn’t have minded if the cooking impressed. The Cuttlefish in its ink, gremolata was really delicious – excellent tender cuttlefish in a briny rich sauce. But Slow roast duck, green peppercorns, black olives, tomatoes was bland – chunks of soft duck in a tomato sauce and I couldn’t detect any green peppercorns. Mussels and clams came in a large mound but we quickly realised that a lot of it was mainly shell. I counted maybe two or three minuscule clams and half of the remaining mussels were closed and inedible. The Pork belly, radicchio, hazelnuts had good flavours throughout but it just didn’t make you sit up and take notice. The Octopus salad had the opposite problem of the arancini, being oversalted. Fennel, bobby beans, cobnuts turned out to be exactly that – thinly shaved raw fennel with blanched bobby beans, all scattered with roughly chopped cobnuts. A lovely salad that really showcases the quality of the ingredients….well, it would have been if I hadn’t been distracted by the small handful of fennel and all of three beans. The Fritto misto we ordered never turned up at all, as I only recalled this morning.

The biggest kicker of the evening though was the Turnip tops, chilli, garlic which came in the most ridiculously sized portion – that’s it in the photo below! I’m torn between calling it mean or just pathetic. And here’s the real blow: on the menu, it’s listed for £5.80. To be fair, on our final receipt, it became £4.80 but a fiver is still too much for what we received.

After all these dishes, we still had large spaces in our stomachs to fill. I believe we could have honestly ordered all that again twice over but we were tired of their food (and frightened of doubling our bill) and even gave up the idea of trying their desserts. Along with service and two of their cheapest bottles of wine, the total came to £100 for the four of us.

After reading so many good reviews and experiencing so much of the online hype about Polpo, to say I was disappointed is a bit of an understatement. The cooking in the kitchen really needs to be reviewed as well as the prices versus portion size issue. Nothing to complain about the service though – everyone was professional and pleasant and the room itself has a good vibe and is pleasing (and would be more so if the lights were turned up a bit).

Polpo
41 Beak Street
London W1F 9SB

I had to add this on as an addendum to the post – we took our still hungry bodies over to Bodeans on Poland Street and feasted on a second dinner of baby back ribs and Buffalo wings!