Oh Ceviche!

Forgive me father it's been ages (2011!) since my last blog. But an experience at a restaurant we're looking after compelled me to write today - exercising my self imposed exile.

We've been looking after the PR for Ceviche for the last six months and I've eaten there maybe six times now. Last week I actually got a craving for it...For anyone who doesn't know about Ceviche it's a fantastic Peruvian restaurant in Frith Street Soho, London that anyone who has yet to visit and loves there food should make sure they visit. Not only is the food completely unlike anything you'll have in London except maybe the odd dish here and there - think the Yellowtail sashimi with the jalepeno pepper at Nobu off the tip of my head. But wait...It's not just raw fish it's all kinds of things: Quinoa salad with avocado, the chicken or cheese tequenos (like soft and mildly spicy spring rolls), the cancha - like huge un-popped edible popcorn kernals - awesome snack before the real food arrives. Then there's the beef heart on skewers with something called panca chilli anticuchera sauce - which is like a less viscous mayo/hollandaise sauce - and don't be put off by the word heart, I'm a bit squeamish when it comes to animal organs, but you really wouldn't know - it's sliced and presented so beautifully and tastes incredible.

No-one's going to believe this is for real as we do the PR for them but honestly I've not been this enthused about food and a restaurant since I can remember! The mac n cheese is out of this world - I always want to order another portion but know it's too greedy - when my mum used to make it really good it reminds me of this. Then there's the Don Ceviche which reminds me of the Nobu Yellowtail dish I mentioned earlier but this is miles better - not only cheaper but more fish and more flavour. I could honestly eat Don Ceviche every single day - it actually makes me feel a happier person! The last dish you have to try (there are loads of others but these are my own personal favourites) is the beef - Lomo Saltado a sliced, flame-cooked filet of beef with red pepper and onion that melts in the mouth and served with chips! Anyway...The fact I'm about 40 miles away from Ceviche right now is making me very sad as I want it to be next door so the only way I could deal with my pang was to write about it!

Almost forgot - if you've never had a Pisco (peruvian spirit) Sour (it's like the best margherita you've ever had) try one at Ceviche - there's no way you'll stop at one! Also for non-alcoholic choice - I always get at lunch - get the Superchaco: Guava, Maca, ginger, lemongrass cordial, sparkling water and lime. I always feel a bit crap after sweet drinks but this leaves me feeling great no matter how many I've had!

The reason I think I like it so much is that the food is healthy, delicious and satisfying and that's such a rare combo in this day and age. PLease try it if you haven't already. I'll stake my reputation, what's left of it on it!


Check out Martin making Beef Saltado on Saturday Kitchen last weekend here
and here is the recipe for Don Ceviche here

Buttered Croutons

It's been a while...

We're going to have soup and I'm trying to keep my ingredients as natural as possible, so I've I decided to kill two birds with one stone by finishing up some bread that was a few days off it's best while creating a healthy addition to my winter soup. Here it is:

Buttered Croutons

what you'll need:

Past its best bread (although fresh will do)
olive oil
Garlic - finely chopped (optional)
lurpak butter
herbes de provence
freshly ground black pepper
wok
baking tray
Silver foil
kitchen roll
container to store croutons in


- Start by cutting up the bread into cubes - as big or small as you want them for your soup
- preheat the oven to 220 degrees C and put all the cubes on the foil on a baking tray and put in the oven for 10 mins to dry out
- check on them after 5minutes - the croutons should be dry and the softness should have gone. This may happen before 10 mins so keep checking them. You're looking for them to be soft and chewy in the middle when you finish the whole dish (wok etc) so make sure they're dray but not baked to a crisp for this part
- put a generous lug or two of olive oil in a wok and add two generous lumps of butter - two big knife scrapings should do it (the olive oil prevents the butter from catching as butter on it's own burns easily)
- heat the wok until it's sizzling (medium to high heat)
- add the dry croutons from the baking tray and toss them quickly so as much of the oil/butter covers every part of the croutons
- Turn the croutons over quickly and constantly. Once the croutons start to brown nicely add the finely chopped garlic, herebes de provence and some ground black pepper
- make sure all the croutons get nicely browned before removing (you may find you burn a couple - but this just means you lose a few to get a nicely browned majority.
- transfer the croutons back to the baking tray to cool off (this is essential before you put in the container as if they're still warm the steam in the container will make them go soft and you want them nice n crispy!)

Add to any soup - I like Veggie or a nice Butternut Squash soup in the winter - if you're feeling really unhealthy add some emmental cheese gratings.

Enjoy!

Wine, Food and Great Boozers

Man it's been a long time since I posted.

Enjoying a great drop of red wine tonight courtesy of M&S - Marques de Alarcon - £5.99 but worth every drop. Awesomely smooth and going down too nicely. Don't share - keep this one to yourself!

Went to Soho hotel this week for lunch and thought the calamari fritti was average but the cobb salad was really good - didn't need the starter really, main was huge.

Also disappointed the calamari in Pizza Express has been discontinued although it was always a bit limp. If they could do it crispier I'd be all up for petitioning its return!

Cheapest pint in central London is still The Chandos pub on the southern most corner of St Martin's Lane.

Nirvana Exhibition was fun and a pint in the Big Chill (opposite) on Dray Walk E.London (nest to Rough Trade East) was great - looks like a good place to stop in on a Thursday or Friday night.

Music to cook by this week - Def the new Fink album especially 'Yesterday Was Hard On All Of Us' and 'Perfect Darkness' - needs to be a mellow dish though - it's got that Sunday feeling. Fink's tour starts Friday 23rd Sept in Brighton - catch him in London on Oct 5th at Union Chapel. http://soundcloud.com/dawbellpr/fink-yesterday-was-hard-on can't wait!

Bruschetta: Pizza Express style

For years I searched for the perfect bruschetta recipe. This is properly delicious and not a million miles off the Pizza Express one.

Vine ripe tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Red onion
Salt n pepper
Pesto
Garlic cloves
Wide French loaf
Olive oil

chop and deseed the toms and cut into small pieces and put into a bowl
add the extra virgin olive oil so they literally soak into the toms – add salt n pepper
finely chop half a red onion and add to the mixture
leave for 30 mins to soak up the flavour
cut up as many slices of bread as you want from the french loaf
place them all on a baking tray
brush olive oil lightly onto one side and place into a hot oven
when bread is starting to brown nicely take out and rub a garlic clove lightly on the toasted side
then spread some pesto lightly on the same side
dollup the tomato mixture on top with a fork so as not to get too much extra virgin olive oil on the bread
then you're ready to serve!

Music to cook to...

@hypem http://t.co/ZRdy8NO

Music to cook to...

@hypem http://t.co/oSrnVuU

Seared Salmon Salad...Mmm

I haven't posted up any recipes recently. Been too consumed with my day job which seems to be a 24 hours these days!

So here's an easy and healthy one that I tweaked a bit, taken from my fave chef Rick Stein:

Delicious seared salmon salad...
(serves two)

YOU NEED:

2x skinless salmon fillets
light olive oil
salt and ground black pepper
salad leaves - I prefer watercress and spinach leaves
short thin french bread stick
1x medium red pepper
1x large salad/spring onion branch
frying pan - pref a skillet

dressing:
(choice of)

lemon juice - a whole lemon cut in two halves

or 1/2 a small tub of no fat creme fraiche, half a teaspoonful of wholegrain mustard and two pinches of dill mixed together.


start by making the croutons:

cut small slices (1cm width approx - less if you can) of the french bread up and lay maybe 14 down on a baking tray. preheat the oven to 210C while you start brushing olive oil onto each side of every slice of bread. Then ground a little pepper over the whole try before sticking in the oven for about 11 minutes or until crispy brown.

for the salad:

take a couple of salmon fillets without the skin and place them face up on a chopping board.
next run a knife along the middle of the fillet making two thinner slices of the fillet - so you're pointing the knife away from your body and cutting either from left to right or right to left depending what hand you use.
do this again with the other fillet.
this gives you four fairly thin slices of salmon that should shallow fry very quickly
pour some olive oil into an egg cup and use a brush to coat both side of each fillet with a thin layer before seasoning both sides with salt and pepper.
heat up the skillet pan to quite a high heat with no oil in it (the fillets have enough on them already to sear the salmon)
put the fillets into the pan and fry them for about 2 minutes each side or until they've seared to your liking
remove them and let them cool down
lay out the salad leaves in a shallow bowl and finely chop the salad onion right up the green part until you have no more fresh onion left to chop and then distribute evenly over each of the bowls of salad leaves.
then tear small chunks of the cooled salmon (up to you if you want it hot or cold though) over the salad.
chop your red pepper up into thin edible slices or chunks and distribute over each of the salad bowls before tossing the whole lot to make them look more presentable.
finally add your croutons for a little crunch.

wait to add the dressing at the last minute as it will make it soggy otherwise:

with the lemon halves: put one half on the edge of each bowl and serve so the person eating it can squeeze as mucj or as little as they want to. makes for a healthy fresh zest to the salad

with the creme fraiche dressing: I like to just put a healthy dollop on the edge of the bowl but you may just want to serve it in a separate dish for people to dress over the top of their salad.

Delicious, healthy and perfect for a saturday lunch at home or a warm summer evening meal out in the garden with some fresh chilled sauvignon blanc.

Belogging

Been enjoying my regular Seth Godin daily newsletters again recently and found this great TED talk he did in Feb 2009: check it here

I like these guys too: Brand Gym

Just been reading a great book called 'Waking The Tiger: Hidden Trauma' by Peter Levine, which is about research into identifying and overcoming trauma - looking at the 'freeze response' which is something that occurs alongside the fight or flight mechanism we get when we are confronted with an extreme experience. It's a third type of response that regularly occurs amongst people in alarming situations but rarely talked about. Fascinating and insightful read: check it out here

get hassled and cool smoke rings

funny website that reminds you roughly when you need to do stuff:
click here

Weird but well cool science stuff: click here

Tweetdeck...wow

Now I realise i'm preaching to the converted here on this one but Tweetdeck has revolutionised my use of twitter and Facebook.

The key with it is that it flashes up an bulletin window every minute or so. It's much more immediate as it constantly throws updates at you which for breaking news is great.

Also because I've got my Linkdin and Facebook columns up on the same page I can see instantly what my friends, people I'm following are doing and jump in and comment or tweet when and where i want to. You can also have a column that shows all the tweets where you're mentioned which is very handy for replying to people quickly. Everything is done from the Tweetdeck itself too, so it doesn't take you to the twitter site to RT or reply to tweets. If you haven't tried it I'd highly recommend having a look.

long time no see...some cool websites

Sorry for the massive lack of communication from TTMUGM, but I've been crazy with setting up a new business that (touch wood) is going fantastically. We're also only a few weeks away from my little boy's first birthday. Busy, busy, busy. Anyway I'm making a new resolution to update my blog as much as possible.

So here's something to kick off my return. Some cool websites I've come across recently.

www.peopleperhour.com which is basically Ebay for jobseekers - looks like a cool way to make some cash on the side and maybe even a good way to find specific skills for specific jobs.

www.erento.co.uk - got a penchant for expenses items but don't have the cash to buy em? how about renting that designer handbag for a week or driving that super car for a weekend. I'm trying to work out a way of justifying spending a thousand quid on a ferrari for 48 hours to my wife...

www.musicmagpie.co.uk website that will offer you a price for your unwanted cds, dvds and games - just enter in the bar codes or the items and they'll send you a check and a free postage bag for the goods.

www.bettermoneyadvice.co.uk great site if you're as obsessed/paranoid with getting your finances in order constantly, as I am.

finally Seth Godin's latest book suggestion list: http://www.squidoo.com/morebooksforlinchpins his succinct daily email bulletins make great reading if you're running a business or just want to have an edge on everyone else in the constantly moving modern world of business.

linking up your stuff

just loving my new macbook pro and the speed in which i can enjoy some awesome websites.

i've just linked my twitter and lastfm to hypemachine - everything's linking up and some don't like it: long live the aggregators - you can't stop progress - just means newspapers have to come up with more interesting ways of keeping readers coming back for more. better consumer interface for starters, more interactivity and then give users a way of choosing the way their version of the website is laid out so they can see what they want straight off. cutting through the glut, that's what the next frontier in digital is all about. how are we going to be able to process all this new info that we actually want to ingest? that's the next challenge.

still loving you'll never be bored ever again...

I'm loving neon hitch btw - unsigned apparently:

NEWS TUFF

i've neglected my blog for a while so here's a few quick things:

check out www.stumbleupon.com it's a wicked way of discovering ace new sites - you can tick boxes to refine the sort of sites it randomly takes you too. brilliant idea.

there's a wicked simple games website called www.physicsgames.net - properly addictive - check out demolition city and the circular blot series.

my other half discovered the recipe for NOBU's black cod totally by accident - it's pretty much bang on. i'll post the recipe up here soon.

been listening to the new Detroit Social Club demos recently and that album sounds like it's gonna be massive. I'm biased obviously but this lot get inside your soul man.

I'm loving golf again but can't get out enough to play - check out urban golf in soho for some digital screen virtual golf - it's quite pricey but really good.

that's all folks - best i could do at 3am on a thursday!

best documentaries of all time

I'm definitely getting old - i decided to seek out the best Docs of all time today and found a few sites with some good recommendations:



http://calacanis.com/2009/01/01/best-documentaries-of-all-time/#comment-3470

http://kottke.org/08/07/top-25-documentaries

some free docs viewable online here:
http://www.bodocus.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Documentary-Films-Ever-Made/lm/VXJD2OS3NFRT

http://www.filmarcade.net/2009/02/best-documentaries-of-2008-as-witnessed.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-ten-best-documentaries-568947.html

If you haven't seen IOUSA yet then you absolutely have to. it's pretty scary stuff. also the online doc i mention on my blog below is pretty cool. please post some of your own faves on here if you get time. thanks.

ever wondered how you can change your windows startup music?

awesome recipe for Potato Dauphinoise that I've bastardised from two friends...Well yummy

Potato Dauphinoise:
(use same recipe for macaroni cheese)

2 measures of Single cream
1 measure of Double cream
Half an onion
2 cloves of garlic
Clump of thyme
Macaroni (if making mac n cheese)
Extra mature cheddar (v important for strong cheesy taste)
Mozzarella – pref grated
Fresh parmesan
Waxy potatoes (or ones that retain water)
Breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper
Bay leaf

Slice the potatoes about the thickness of a £1 coin then parboil for about 14 mins. Remove and pat dry.
Put single and double cream mix into pan with a whole half an onion, thyme, 2 whole cloves of garlic, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to gentle boil then strain the mixture into another pan.
add grated mature cheddar now and stir into sauce – or you can grate the cheese over the layers as you lay potatoes (see below)
*pour thin layer of sauce into baking dish then one layer of potatoes, keep doing this until just below the top of the dish (over filling will cause it to overflow in the oven) – add bits of mozzarella as you go along for extra stringy texture – also salt and pepper along the way
finish with a layer of sauce and add breadcrumbs and parmesan for crunchy top layer. Put in oven for just under an hour at 200C.

*for macaroni – you will have to pre-boil it before adding to the baking dish – the baking time will be much shorter – 15 mins max just to brown the top layer.

Proper nice. Thanks to Katie & Gui and Matt White for that recipe.

Ted.com

For anyone who hasn't logged on to Ted.com before check this out. A chance to see some of the greatest orators talking about some of the most fascinating subjects:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/themes/top_10_tedtalks.html

Great Rick Stein recipe for Spaghetti Cabonara!

awesome! for anyone who needs an easy but delicious pasta dish...you can also borrow the main ideas behind this to make your own version using other ingredients.

for wacky wine lovers

This guy is nuts and has a manic personality not too dissimilar to Daniel Bedingfield but he knows his wine and this video podcast is pretty interesting. Good if you want some easy insights into enjoying and knowing more about wine
http://tv.winelibrary.com/

This one's thanks to my buddy Adam Weiss - the History of PR in the US: 1 of 6 parts