Month: May 2023

German Paintings at the National Gallery London

Posted on by gochugaru girl

View of Trafalgar Square from the entrance of the National Gallery

 

I don’t usually write about Art, although I enjoy visiting galleries and exhibitions. There is no category for it in the blog so the post is simply under the heading of Travel or in this case, My London.

Late on Sunday night I had an idea for a jaunt to town on the Bank Holiday, the third one this May. We are headed to Berlin next week and I know very little about German art, save for Hans Holbein’s magnificent The Ambassadors in the National Gallery. I sat through three school trips with the children but the details were now hazy. I only remembered that you have to look at the painting sideways to make sense of the flattened skull in the foreground.

 

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger

 

It turned out to be a really valuable visit and I made a note to read up more on the lives and works of German painters. Below are some of the paintings in the National Gallery. There are other German painters featured on their website and also in their book (see below). For an overview on German Art here is the relevant page on Wikipedia. A shorter article with a personal list of the top 12 most famous German artists is here.

 

Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan by Hans Holbein the Younger

 

Portraits of Johann the Steadfast and Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous by Lucas Cranach the Elder

 

The Trinity and Mystic Pietà by Hans Baldung Grien

 

Saint Jerome by Albrecht Dürer

 

Christ taking leave of his Mother by Albrecht Altdorfer

 

The National Gallery has several food outlets and the gift shop is full of lovely and useful items

 

For some background reading I would recommend Strange Beauty: German Paintings at the National Gallery by Caroline Bugler, published by Yale University Press, ISBN 978-1857095708. The writing is uncomplicated and it’s easy to finish reading it in one sitting.

 

After the visit to the National Gallery we wandered north to Chinatown and had some noodles for lunch followed by a matcha soft scoop ice cream at Tsujiri

 

If I had not eaten the ice cream I might have considered a Black Forest donut from Donutelier. One of my cousins recently sent me a photo of her rather large slice of Black Forest Cake. I might return later in the week to get that donut. Or some donuts….no point stopping at one.

 

 

The next post will be a short introduction to Berlin. We have a busy family and community life and Mr Gochugaru still works full time in the City, so I am slightly concerned with the lack of preparation for this trip. I have resigned myself to eat, drink, sleep and see what we can manage, and to make a return trip if we miss too much of what is essential in Germany’s capital.

 

 

 

Pavilion Road in Chelsea

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

Sometimes the sky is blue and it is a happy day. Sometimes the sky is blue and you discover an ice cream shop and a happy day turns into a marvellous day.

This morning I had cause to travel to Sloane Square. Leaving Peter Jones by the back door, which I had not planned to do, I stumbled into Pavilion Road. It is a little treasure in this area, as the pavements are wide and car-free. Interesting shops line both sides of the road and my one thought was that I must return with some friends and family in tow.

Then I found an ice cream shop. As this was before my lunch, I skipped dessert and headed straight back here afterwards.

 

Ice Cream from Ice Cream Union

 

I remember my first visit to the original branch of Ottolenghi in Notting Hill 20 years ago, and I am still a big fan of their shops and of course, their cookbooks. By coincidence, as I was walking home from the tube station, I spotted Mr Ottolenghi who is often in my area doing the school run.

 

 

Food shops include a cheesemonger, coffee roaster, small supermarket and greengrocer. Add to this a butcher and baker. All we need now is a candlestick maker!

 

Over dinner this evening I tried to work out how best to justify eating a doughnut and ice cream in one sitting. Mr Gochugaru said that we could walk here from home, and that it would take 90 minutes. Junior 2 said I would have to walk home as well. I am working on it.

 

 

Other addresses in the area:

I highly recommend David Mellor Kitchen Shop, 4 Sloane Square SW1W 4EE.

Pickett, 149 Sloane Street SW1X 9BZ, carries a wide selection of lined leather gloves, essential for the British cold weather.

You will find all manner of luxury shops up and down the streets here. King’s Road is good for general shopping. Harrods is just up the road. I am asking myself why I don’t come down here more often.

 

Sunday Lunch at The Pig at Combe

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

I have lived for nearly 40 years in England. In that time I have seen restaurants come and go, chefs rise and fall, hotels open and shut. I admire the tenacity and hard work of the chefs, restaurateurs and hoteliers who have survived trends and recessions, and of course the recent pandemic.

In that time also, I have not only improved my cooking skills but have been consolidating ideas of what and how I really like to eat. I like to eat food that can either be scaled up to feed the masses, or smaller portions which can be shared. I like communal dining because this is the way we ate when I was growing up in Malaysia.

Last weekend we visited my parents-in-law in Devon and as always, we have Sunday lunch out. This is so we don’t have to spend part of our 30 hours together preparing a labour intensive roast lunch.

We mostly go to The Jack In The Green, home to our favourite braised red cabbage (recipe at the end of this post). This weekend we went to The Pig at Combe because there were more vegetarian dishes for Junior 2, who had come along with us. It was also conveniently near Otter Garden Centre.

A Sunday roast lunch is the perfect opportunity to share a joint of meat and plenty of vegetables around the dining table. It is not always possible to do this in a restaurant but the idea is there, that this is a meal to be shared en famille. At The Pig we ordered our own main courses and then shared some starters and desserts. We dipped the lovely bread in a herb-infused oil and smoked salt.

 

Isle of Wight Tomatoes, Garden Sorrel, Crispy Capers and Basil Vinaigrette

 

‘Newhouse Farm’ Asparagus, ‘Buffalicious’ Mozzarella and Toasted Seeds

 

Chargrilled Garden Oyster Mushrooms with Broad Bean Leaf and Hazelnuts

 

Roast Pork with Yorkshire Pudding, Roast Potatoes and Vegetables…and the crunchiest pork crackling ever

 

Junior 2 had a Nut Wellington (Beef Wellington is beef encased in puff pastry)

 

Chocolate Mousse with Gorse Ice Cream (if you come across a patch of gorse, it smells like a Pina Colada)

 

A selection of ice creams which were not sweet at all, but also not very flavourful. I think you can’t always have everything!

 

My parents-in-law also had Fillet of Hake with Butterbeans, Bacon and Fish Cream, and Lemon Curd Tart with Strawberries. They belong to a generation who never take photos of what they eat, so I did not dare to reach over and take photos of those dishes.

Like most British restaurants there is a discretionary service charge (anything from 10% to 15% of the total food and drink bill) which I think is the most sensible way to reward service. I find it quite stressful with the American way where adding a sum for service is left up to you but don’t you dare give anything less than 20%. Why not simply take the hassle out and include it in the bill?

At the end of the meal we agreed that we would all quite happily dine there again.

The Pig has a link to one of my favourite hotels from the past i.e. Hotel Du Vin. We had stayed at the first HdV in Winchester, in January 1997, where their Head Chef was a very young James Martin. The owners were Robin Hutson and Gerard Basset. HdV was sold to Marylebone Warwick Balfour in 2004, then after expansion the chain was sold on 10 years later. I recently re-visited HdV in Winchester which brought back some nice memories. I am not sure if the other branches of HdV are any good.

Mr Basett sadly passed away in 2019. Mr Hutson is chairman Home Grown Hotels, owners of The Pig Hotels until they were sold a year ago (to the same group which bought HdV from MWB).

All this is my way of saying that we should enjoy what we have for the moment, because that moment passes by in an instant. Sometimes when a hotel chain expands, standards are maintained. Sometimes they are not, and we are left looking for something that no longer exists. Through all this I hope that by sharing meals together as a family we will still be happy wherever it is we dine.

 

 

Address:

The Pig at Combe, Gittisham, Honiton EX14 3AD. Telephone 01404 540400. Other Pig Hotels here.

 

Books:

The Pig: Tales and Recipes from the Kitchen Garden and Beyond by Robin Hutson, published by Mitchell Beazley, ISBN 978-1784725570

The Pig: 500 Miles of Food, Friends and Local Legends by Robin Hutson, published by Home Grown Hotels, ISBN 978-1399907422

 

Date, Carrot and Coconut Bundt

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

To be honest I am not sure how to photograph another Bundt, as all cakes made in the same Bundt pan will end up looking like each other. I was about to skip this post but then I brought this cake to a church meeting where it was very well received: one person asked for the recipe and another asked for a cake baking lesson. So I decided to include it here. There is only the one photo as I left the cake for the host and her family to finish later.

This cake is very fast to make, and the most important thing to stress is that you should weigh out and prepare all the ingredients before starting. I used a 6 Cup Anniversary Bundt Pan but the cake can also be made in a 2 pound / 900 g loaf tin, which was how I made it originally at the start of the pandemic. I have lowered the sugar and raised the fibre content in this update. The carrots were grated in my Thermomix Cutter.

 

 

For the Cake:

3 large eggs

125 g golden caster sugar or light brown soft sugar

115 g sunflower oil

100 g spelt or wholemeal flour

50 g plain white flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of fine sea salt

100 g Medjool dates, cut into small pieces

50 g desiccated coconut

265 g carrots, finely grated

grated zest of one orange (optional)

10 g each softened butter and plain flour to line the Bundt pan

 

How to Make:

Preheat the oven to 170°C/ 150°C fan.

Brush the softened butter evenly over the entire inside of the pan, taking care to fill every corner. Sift over the flour, moving the pan around to coat evenly. Remove the excess flour by turning the pan upside down and giving it a tap (do this over a sink).

Sift the flours, baking powder and salt together into a large bowl. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy. Whisk in the oil slowly.

Add the flour mixture and, using a silicon spatula, gently fold into the whisked egg mixture.

Add in the dates, coconut and carrots. Grate in the zest of an orange if using. Gently fold everything together until well mixed.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan.

Level the surface and tap the pan on a folded dishcloth to settle any bubbles.

Bake in the oven for 45 – 50 minutes or until the cake bounces back when touched. A metal skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.

Leave the cake to cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

The cake will slice into eight thin and eight thicker pieces – perfect for a sharing with friends, and perfect for picnics.

 

Carrot Cake Number Three

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

It has been an eventful weekend, and you can read about the coronation of King Charles III everywhere, and possibly forevermore. Our family has so enjoyed the extra day’s holiday, which we spent mostly doing more Spring cleaning.

Taking inspiration from Britain’s monarchy and its attempts to refresh its image, I have been refreshing my cake recipes by making them in Bundt pans. I used to write ‘bundt’ in previous posts but since reading that ‘Bundt’ is a trademarked word, I am using Bundt from now on.

I need to admit that I have quite a number of Bundt pans. The one I have been using a lot recently is the 6 Cup Anniversary Bundt Pan (gold edition). This is because its volume roughly equates to the volume of the 2 pound loaf tins I always baked cakes in. Like a loaf cake, the appeal of this Bundt pan is that its formed lines are a good guide for cutting even slices. At one stage when I was bulk baking for church and community events, I had six loaf tins. These Bundt pans are so crazy expensive here in the UK (but worth it) that I only have one of each type of pan. For now.

 

It is easy to slice from this cake following the lines of its shape…the dilemma is whether to eat a thin slice or a thicker slice

 

When reviewing the carrot cake recipe on which this Bundt is based, I realised that I don’t often keep wholemeal self-raising flour. Today I used a combination of spelt and plain white flours, with baking powder as the raising agent. I used sultanas instead of raisins, and one other thought I had was that the grated zest of an orange would be a nice addition to the batter.

Everything should be weighed and prepared beforehand. The carrots were grated in a few seconds using my Thermomix Cutter (grate fine). For fine grating, I have found that large carrots grate better than small carrots, which tend to come out more watery. You can of course grate the carrots by hand or in a food processor.

 

 

 

For the Cake:

3 large eggs

125 g golden caster sugar or light brown soft sugar

115 g sunflower oil

100 g spelt or wholemeal flour

50 g plain white flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of fine sea salt

75 g sultanas

75 g desiccated coconut

265 g finely grated carrots

10 g each softened butter and plain flour to line the Bundt pan

 

How to Make:

Preheat the oven to 170°C/ 150°C fan.

Brush the softened butter evenly over the entire inside of the pan, taking care to fill every corner. Sift over the flour, moving the pan around to coat evenly. Remove the excess flour by turning the pan upside down and giving it a tap (do this over a sink).

Sift the flours, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together into a large bowl. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy. Whisk in the oil slowly.

Add the flour mixture and, using a silicon spatula, gently fold into the whisked egg mixture.

Add in the raisins, coconut and carrots. Gently fold everything together until well mixed.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan.

Level the surface and tap the pan on a folded dishcloth to settle any bubbles. You can see in the photo above the little holes that form in the cake if you forget to do this.

Bake in the oven for 45 – 50 minutes or until the cake bounces back when touched. A metal skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.

Leave the cake to cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

The cake will slice into eight thin and eight thicker pieces – perfect for a sharing with friends, and perfect for picnics.

 

 

My next cake refresh would be the Date, Carrot and Coconut Cake, as I need to get through a box of Medjool dates. Originally planned for Sticky Toffee Pudding, a sharp warning from the doctor to reduce my sugar intake has resulted in the said dates (and sad dates) being literally left on the shelf. However, I hope to make a gluten-free version of the STP when we visit my in-laws next weekend. They can enjoy it, and I will just have a spoonful after dinner.

 

 

Coronation Chicken Salad

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

From the Old Testament of the Bible, in Judges chapter 21 verse 25:
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

 

Why do we have kings and queens? What purpose do they serve in a modern world? When we read accounts of royalty in history, we understand that one of the king’s role was to protect his kingdom where there were no geographically defined borders. This was mainly done by raising and leading an army to defend land and people. Ultimately if need be, a king had to to sacrifice his life in order to save those who serve him.

That’s the kind of king I should like if I were to swear allegiance.

In the Bible, one of the functions of the king was to lead God’s people in God’s moral and spiritual ways. There were good kings and there were bad kings. Sometimes things went well and sometimes things did not go so well. Then there was a period when there was no king, and without a leader directing the people as to God’s way, everyone was a law unto himself.

It is not difficult to imagine what life was like at this time. All we need to do is to read the daily news to see God’s original commandments still being broken: murder, adultery, theft, false witness, envy. The Bible makes it clear that all this stems from putting ourselves first instead of seeking God’s will and direction.

This is not a political essay, and my background is in Law and not in Theology. But I often think about how difficult it is to be a leader when you do not have any moral compass or grounding. So my prayer every morning is that God helps me make good and wise decisions when I am faced with a dilemma or predicament.

In my world, baking cakes or cooking do not often cause dilemmas or predicaments. However, I could not make progress on what to cook this Coronation Weekend. No one in the family wanted to eat Coronation Chicken. None of us were born when the late Queen Elizabeth had her coronation. In my recollection, this is a salad made up of cooked chicken, raisins, curried mayonnaise and topped with toasted flaked almonds. I think we ate it at our own wedding (and I think my dad enjoyed it very much).

I like all things chicken so decided to make my own version of Coronation Chicken. This is a large raw salad topped with a small amount of chicken bound in a light dressing and chopped toasted nuts. It does not resemble the original, but then King Charles does not resemble his beloved mother in many ways. I hope his reign will be memorable, as much as I hope my chicken salad will be too.

 

Some of the salad and dressing ingredients

 

For the Salad:

Use any amount of torn salad leaves, shredded or sliced crunchy vegetables, apple, grapes and fresh herbs. Below are suggestions. Wash and dry the vegetables and fruits and make a salad as you normally do.

Salad leaves could be little gem, rocket, iceberg lettuce, butter lettuce.

Crunchy vegetables could be small radishes, celery, sweet peppers, cucumber, red cabbage, green cabbage, carrots.

Fruits could be apples and grapes. Nothing sour (see note at the end of the post). Maybe some pear but only if it is crunchy, like Nashi pear.

Herbs could be rocket, flat-leaf parley, mint.

Nuts could be pecans, cashews, walnuts. For something extra I would use smoked and salted almonds.

 

For the Chicken:

This is the important part that brings the dish together and gives it the Coronation element. I used 120 g of cooked and cubed chicken breast for two people, but please use more if you need to provide a more substantial salad.

For 120 g of cooked and cubed chicken breast, the dressing is 1 tablespoon mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon mango chutney, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon lime juice, 1 teaspoon wholegrain or Dijon mustard, few turns of freshly ground pepper and grated zest of 1 lime.

 

Assembling the Salad: start with the salad leaves, add the shredded crunchy vegetables, top with the dressed chicken and chopped nuts

 

I had a little chuckle to myself when thinking up this recipe. I thought that I should like this salad to be like the ideal monarch. That is to say, not bitter (this is why I avoided chicory, radicchio) and not sour (hence only a little lime juice and no sour fruits). A little feistiness (rocket, radish), mainly home-grown (our local carrots, red or green cabbage, apple, celery, mint, parsley), with some global influences (grapes from South Africa, French mustard, Spanish olive oil, Japanese mayonnaise). A little nuttiness is totally ok. Overall I wanted something fresh and easy going, not heavy or overbearing.