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A wedding in the Highlands

August 25, 2012

I left Glasgow with a full belly and the familiar excitement I get when heading to an unfamiliar countryside, especially one that has the reputation of the Highlands. My friends’ wedding was the perfect excuse to get a taste of the breathtaking scenery the area is known for, all to the sound of the melodic bagpipes…

Rolling hills, herds of sheep, and picturesque lochs make for a pretty stunning bus ride though I was itching to get my hiking boots on and just take off! It’ll have to be for another time as walking the West Highland Way, which we could see part of, is definitely on my to-do list. We made a short stop to admire from afar Castle Stalker, a private ‘residence’ in an idyllic setting.

We stopped at the original Loch Fyne Oyster Bar in Cairndow for dinner and to follow on my recent Scottish culinary discovery, it ended up being another firework for my gustatory senses. Originally an oyster farm, it later added mussel farming and smokehouses and offers one of the best tasting seafood this side of the country. The location on the shore of Loch Fyne also adds to the charm, lush green hills and misty air surrounding it all.

The oysters were as big as my fist and the meatiest I’ve ever had, nothing to do with our East Coast species. As I’m a huge fan of oysters, this was a very pleasant and surprising revelation.

The height of my Scottish culinary tour though has to be the smoked salmon: hand cured and smoked in-house over oak chips from retired whisky casks, my sample of three of the house specialties (Bradan Rost, Bradan Orach, Kinglas Fillet) and their gravlax puts to shame any vacuum-packed smoked anything I’ve had to date. The freshness and intense smokiness required nothing else other than a few drops of fresh lemon juice to send me in salmon heaven…

Then came wedding day on the shore of Loch Lomond where we all gathered to celebrate the union of our friends Gabe and Kate.

The international crowd came from as far as California, New York, and Brazil though the Scottish side was undoubtedly stealing the show with their elegant attire and bright kilts.

The bride and groom were of course dashing and the beautiful ceremony went without a hitch or a drop of Scottish rain.

The Cruin was the venue for the special event and early dinner reception where we ate, drank and cheered the newlyweds with splendid views of Loch Lomond.

The rest of the evening was spent on a boat, touring the loch at sunset and dancing to upbeat tunes until midnight.

‘Meal a naidheachd’ to my dear friends and thank you for introducing me to a beautiful and very tasty side of the country!

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Glasgow, Scotland

August 19, 2012

On my way to a wedding in the Scottish Highlands this summer, I briefly stopped in Glasgow to get a glimpse of its famed architecture and of course a few bites of the best food the city has to offer.

Armed with a walking map pointing to the main architectural works from Mackintosh and others, I wandered around the city center, staring at gorgeous Victorian and Edwardian buildings all afternoon.

George Square, heart of the city, is dominated by the Glasgow City Chambers

A few Art Nouveau buildings stand out in pure Glasgow style

Elegant Exchange Place holds the Art Deco front and interiors of Rogano’s Oyster Bar (11 Exchange Place), an institution since 1935. The restaurant was decorated after the ‘Queen Mary’ liner in pure Art Deco style and is a quintessential Glasgow experience. The unique 1930s ambiance, friendly vibe, and traditional seafood menu close to all the main tourists sites and shops makes it a must visit.

Of course, Rogano is famous for its oysters as well which I indulged in accompanied by a glass of rosé Champagne. The bar is the place to savour them and in no time you’ll be chatting up with the locals and getting a few more tips on what to see and do.

To the east of the city center stands Glasgow Cathedral, an austerily magnificent Gothic building. The only medieval cathedral on the Scottish mainland to have survived the Protestant Reformation of 1560 intact, it is the finest building surviving in Scotland from the 13th century and well worth a peak inside.

On a hill behind the cathedral you’ll also find the Necropolis, or Glasgow’s City of the Dead. It is one of the very finest and most impressive 19th-century cemeteries in Britain and was inspired by the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. It offers great views across the city and makes for a very pleasant walk through its winding paths. Many of the monuments and mausolea have been designed by the best architects and sculptors of that time so it is like walking in an outdoor museum – loved it!

All that walking has built up my appetite so I headed West to have dinner at one of the city’s hottest restaurants – seafood specialist Crabshakk (1114 Argyle Street). The chic, urban sea-themed restaurant is all clean lines, wood, chrome and glass, making you feel like you’re on board of a very special vessel. The place is super small and you can either sit at the bar like I did or at one of the tiny tables which have been crammed into the tiny shopfront space. The vibe is relaxed and lively at the same time, and everyone is here to enjoy the fresh Scottish produce which is some of the tastiest I’ve had.

The menu showcases Scottish fish and shellfish, simply prepared, unfussily presented and bursting with flavors. Crab cakes, a house specialty, were generously stuffed with white crabmeat spiked with chilli and parsley and infused with lemon. Simple presentation yet it packed a punch and I can easily say these were the best crab cakes I’ve ever had, just unbelievably good.

The daily specials are apparently always a treat, and almost never repeated twice. I ordered the Roast baby squid with confit duck and chanterelle. It came out sizzling in the pan juices, the squid taking on the taste of the duck fat…it was insane. I wish I’ve had a piece of bread to soak up whatever remained in the pan after I cleaned it all up, every drop was heavenly. A good glass of Chablis and an affogato to finish the meal, I can honestly say this was one of the most enjoyable meals I’ve had of late, and definitely the finest Scottish seafood to be had around. Well worth a detour if you ask me!

My second day in Glasgow started with a traditional Scottish porridge in the lovely setting of the Willow Tea Rooms (217 Sauchiehall Street) which were a few blocks from my hotel, the Citizen M. Another famous work from Mackintosh, they are the most famous of the many Glasgow tearooms since their opening in 1903, even though they’ve been sold to a department store since then and are now accessed through the storefront of a jewellery shop. They make for a lovely tea break, admiring the bright and feminine decor made famous over a century ago.

Then it was off to the West End, Glasgow’s bohemian district filled with cafes, bars, boutiques, upmarket hotels as well as beautiful residential areas. You can’t miss the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum by Kelvingrove Park. It houses one of Europe’s great civic art collections, many paintings from the Glasgow Boys as well as a few other key pieces such as the iconic Salvador Dali painting Christ of St John of the Cross.

Once you’ve seen enough (and you can spend a lot of time inside the museum!), head to nearby Gibson street for lunch at Stravaigin (28 Gibson Street), a long-time West End favourite and the only restaurant in Glasgow to have finally caught the attention of the Michelin men, having been awarded with a Bib Gourmand in 2012. The warmly lit pub is so inviting, I ended up enjoying a 3 course meal at a very leisurely pace, book in one hand and a generous glass of red wine in the other…

“Think Global, Eat Local” is what Stravaigin is all about so the menu reads like a creative and ethnic take on Scottish cuisine to great effect. They’re especially known for their award-winning haggis so I had to have it, served of course with mashed neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes). It was simply wonderful: earthy, moist with a little kick of spice. That was a good start.

My second course was Haloumi, harrissa and roast vegetable flatbread with labneh, watercress and toasted pinenuts, a nod to the global ethos the restaurant is known for. It was pretty good though completely overshadowed by the amazing haggis I just had!

For dessert, an excellent Salted peanut, caramel and chocolate tart with amaretto ice cream and honeycomb. Just with a name like this, you know this was the bomb!

A few blocks away you’ll find the University of Glasgow, the grandest Victorian Gothic building in Glasgow. It is worth walking round or through the buildings to stand on the south-facing terrace below the tower. From here there is a splendid view south over the city to the other side of the Clyde river.

A short walk to the West leads to popular Byres Road, the commercial artery of the West End which is lined with cafes and shops. If you follow it to the end (it is not that long), you’ll arrive straight in front of the Botanic Gardens. It’s worth taking a quick stroll especially to admire the Kibble Palace, an enchanting bubble of iron and glass. It is one of the great conservatories of the 19th century.

To kill a bit of time before dinner (since my plans are always only limited to food!), walking out of the Botanic Gardens you can go and explore a few of the residential neighborhoods which have lovely terraces and examples of fine architecture.

Dinner and my last meal in Glasgow before heading in the highlands had to be at the Ubiquitous Chip (12 Ashton Lane) or ‘The Chip’ as it is known here.The most famous fine-dining establishment in the city, it’s been serving some of the best Scottish produce with a French flair in an open plan courtyard, with lush greenery entwined around pillars for a very unique setting. If you’re feeling a bit more casual like I did, you can also dine in the brasserie upstairs in the same room with a more relaxed vibe and menu, but no less delicious!

I started with a daily special – warm salad of shiitake mushroom, parsley, blue cheese and pickeld chanterelles.

You can’t come to Scotland without a taste of their Inverurie beef so I followed my salad with a Slow cooked ox cheek with pancetta potato cake and rosemary pesto – meltingly succulent.

No place for dessert this time but looking back at the past two days, I can honestly say I never imagined Glasgow would be the culinary destination it turned out to be. Every single meal was memorable and worth repeating which I don’t recall saying too often when living just south of here in London. The city is clearly on a mission to keep Scottish food and Scottish producers firmly on the culinary map and they’re doing an amazing job at it. Hope my friends in London will take a hint and travel north sometime soon…

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Dessert Recipes

Speculoos Gelato

August 14, 2012

With the extremely hot summer we’re having, my ice cream addiction is in high gear, going from afternoon cooler to meal substitute when it reaches the 90s! I’ve gone through the range of usual flavors and was feeling slightly bored when my eyes caught a box of Speculoos in the aisle at Whole Foods… mmm. It’s been a long time since I had the pleasure of indulging in these traditional Belgian spice cookies, some of my favorites. At first I grabbed a box thinking how good they would be with vanilla ice cream, perhaps even making mini ice cream sandwiches (meal spoiler alert!)…and then it suddenly came to me, a vision in light brown color of a unique ice cream sold by a dessert truck in the streets of New York. Of course, I was going to make Speculoos ice cream!

If you’ve never had a Speculoos, you’re in for a treat. Known as Belgium’s national cookie, they are thin, crunchy, of a light brown to caramel color and usually spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom and white pepper. Originally created for children to celebrate Saint Nicholas day, you can now find them year-round on Delta flights (Biscoff cookies), at restaurants and bars with your coffee, and in the form of a controversial spread, a rich nutella-like addictive substance.

Most Speculoos ice cream recipes call for the spread but since I had the cookies already I searched for one that only required them, and 4 other basic ingredients. Speculoos have such a strong, spicy flavor that you really don’t need anything else to complement them. So glad I found a recipe for gelato too, which as opposed to ice cream has less fat and therefore allows the flavors to come out more intense.

The result is a thick gelato with a rich caramel flavor, a very creamy texture, and to me a bit of a Christmassy taste to it too which in August is just grand. It’s one of the simplest gelato recipes I came across and it is major bang for your bucks. In this heat it’s much better to make this in the comfort of your home than hunting down the Waffle and Dinges truck in New York!

Speculoos Gelato

Adapted from Food and Travel Magazine

Active time: 20 minutes

Total time: 3 hours

Makes 4 servings

500ml whole milk

165ml whipping cream

110g Speculoos cookies + extra to serve

160g sugar

1 egg white

Put the milk and cream in a small saucepan and heat gently until it reaches boiling point. Pour into a heat-resistant bowl and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Blitz the cookies to a fine crumb in a food processor.

Use an electric hand whisk to beat together the sugar and egg white in a large mixing bowl until it forms soft peaks when the beaters are lifted out of the mixture. Stir in the cookie crumbs.

Remove the chill milk mixture from the fridge, pour it into the sugar-and-egg mixture and whisk for a further 20 seconds. Pour the mixture into an ice-cream maker and churn-freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Serve topped with a sprinkle of cookie crumbs.

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Main course Recipes

Prawn Curry

August 11, 2012

While it may be fast and easy to throw a quick curry together these days with ready-made paste and coconut milk, there is something about the aroma and health benefits of using only fresh ingredients that’ll make it a much more complex and balanced dish. This recipe caught my eye as it was calling for a fresh coconut instead of the usual canned milk and I have to admit, I had to this day never opened a coconut by myself before!

This was intriguing and appetizing enough to make me look for one in the ethnic food section of the grocery store and do a bit of research on the proper (and safe) way to get the fresh white meat. All you need is a towel, and hammer, a nail and a sturdy knife and you’re good to go – just follow the steps outlined below and you’ll be in coconut heaven!

It adds a bit to the prep time but the delicate flavors of the fresh coconut is such a perfect complement to the prawns you’ll be glad you didn’t reach for the can. Needless to say, skipping the calorific coconut milk and using yogurt instead makes it also a very diet friendly curry. Serve over steamed rice as I’ve done here or with Indian flatbread.

Prawn Curry

Adapted from Cooking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America

Active time: 45 minutes

Total time: 60 minutes

Makes 4 servings

1 coconut

¼ cup clarified butter (ghee) or vegetable oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 tablespoons grated ginger

2 small jalapeños, seeded and minced

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

3 bay leaves

2 lb large shrimps, peeled and deveined

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups steamed white rice

*cornstarch slurry: 2 teaspoons cornstarch blended with 2 teaspoons cold water (optional)

Place the coconut on a flat, level surface. Using a hammer and nail, pierce the ‘eyes’ (dark spots) at one extremity of the coconut and pour the coconut water into a bowl (line the bowl with a coffee filter if you intend to drink or use the water).

Wrap the coconut in a towel, then pound with the hammer until the coconut splits in several pieces. Unwrap, insert a sturdy knife between the hairy brown shell and coconut meat , and carefully twist to release the meat from the shell (my shell got separated easily when I split the coconut so you may not have to do this). Peel off the remaining thin brown skin with a vegetable peeler. Chop or grate ½ cup of the white nut meat and reserve the leftover coconut meat for another use, like snacking!

Heat the clarified butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until golden brown, 6-8 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the coconut, ginger, jalapeños, turmeric, cardamom, cumin, cayenne, cloves, and bay leaves to the pan and sauté until very hot, about 3 minutes.

Add the shrimps, broth, yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and cooked onion and simmer until the shrimps turn pink and are opaque throughout and the dish is very aromatic, about 5 minutes.

If needed, add just enough of the cornstarch slurry while stirring to thicken the sauce slightly. Remove and discard the bay leaves.

Serve the curry with steamed rice.

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London Restaurants

Bob Bob Ricard, London

August 6, 2012

The quickest way these days of transporting yourself to the glam and flamboyant 1930s is to step through the gilded doors of Bob Bob Ricard in Soho, London. Much have been written about this luxury ‘diner’ since it opened in late 2008, some good and some bad, though one thing that everyone agrees on is how much fun it is to eat in this quirky and slightly mad decor.

The all-booth dining room is decked out like a fancy railway carriage from a bygone era with dark blue leather, marble columns, gold trimmings, and staff wearing pastel waistcoats as uniforms. It’s classy, a little over the top, and touches like a ‘Press for Champagne’ button at each booth makes it a dining experience you should share with friends when you feel like splurging a little.

The menu offers high-end classics you’d expect to find in all fancy restaurants, plus a focus on Russian comfort food worth indulging in (if you’re here to celebrate, caviar with blinis and vodka is a sure bet). Great in most part, the food didn’t hit the spot every time and with a lot of the mains above the £20 mark, you’d expect a little more. Still, the menu is diverse enough that there are plenty of reasonably priced options for you to take a group of friends out for an exuberant meal without breaking the bank. Going to Bob Bob Ricard is a thrill you won’t regret, and if you do have the means to splurge, they supposedly carry the best value fine wine and champagne list in the country.

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