The Gannet

Superbowl science snacks

This weekend is Superbowl Weekend in the States, when most citizens (regardless of their interest in football) will gather around the television to (a) watch the Pittsburgh Steelers battle it out with the Arizona Cardinals, and (b) gorge themselves on beer, chicken wings, beer, burgers, beer, hot dogs, pizza, beer, nachos and more beer.  Typical Superbowl fare is high in fat, low in subtlety, and can be devoured using one hand (the other is reserved at all times for... yes, beer).   Wired magazine's Wired Science editors asked America's leading molecular gastronomists (British: Heston Blumenthal) to come up with their own take on Superbowl fare.   The resulting recipes including Pizza Pebbles, Puffed Sauerkraut, and Beer Ice Cream With Pretzel Crust, and read more like chemistry lessons than a cookery lesson, but the ingenuity and the accompanying photographs - are much admired by The Gannet.

Paused.

The Gannet has been on a long hiatus.  Don't worry, we haven't gone off our food!  We've just been temporarily derailed by life.  We'll be back on track, full-steam, in 2009.  Thanks for checking in!

Another lunch, another micro meal scoffed

Sainsbury's Italian: Meatballs with chargrilled pepper & tomato sauce

We've been reviewing a lot of ready meals this week - but it's the end of the month so we're not splashing out on restaurants and the like.  And we're busy - so busy that I didn't even bother to take today's lunch out of the plastic tray and put it on a plate before photographing it.  Shame on me.

So, another day, another 15 minutes spent shoveling down a ready meal - today's variety, to give it it's full name, is Sainsbury's Italian: Heat & stir : Meatballs with char-grilled pepper & tomato sauce.  What we've got is pork & beef meatballs - nicely spiced with black pepper and garlic, and some herbs.  Good and meaty too - no filler!!  The egg trotolle pasta is hearty and comes out nicely al dente if you follow the instructions correctly (3 minutes in the nuclear oven, 1 minute standing).  Remember when pasta ready meals were all about limp, sodden noodles?  The microwave scientists seems to have sussed that one out.  A few char-grilled red peppers, some crunchy green beans and a light tomato and red pepper sauce.  Overall, it hit all the right notes for me.  575 calories, but a lot of fat (20g, and 6.5g of it saturated!) - which shouldn't be a problem, if you aren't eating brownies for breakfast (like me).  It filled me up, and is great value at the price.  Sainbury's is currently running a "4 for 3" special on all ready meals, too.

370 grams, £2.79
Sainsbury's Online Groceries

New British Kitchen, indeed

As an American, I often mourn the fact that I can't tune into the Food Network every day.  They have such a wealth of great programmes, and WHYOHWHY don't they set up in the UK, or sell all their shows to someone?  Today, for instance, we could be enjoying Essence Of Emeril  (Emeril Lagasse, amazing Portugese-American chef, famous for his emphasis on Creole/Cajun, and for shouting "Pork fat rules!". A man welcome at my table, any time.) or Bobby Flay's Boy Meets Grill special on beer and bratwurst.  (Flay is the Don Corleone of BBQs and grilling), or Alton Brown's Good Eats episodes on puff and choux pastry, back to back!  (Alton mixes food and science in a charmingly hokey manner).  And that is just today.  A small portion of today.

Trust me, after 20+ years in London, I'm more European (or mockney) than American, and not prone to wailing about how everything is better in the USA.  Quite the opposite.  Most stuff is better here.  It's just cheaper in the States.  But, seriously, in terms of food television, the Brits have got to get their act together.  I love the food cum porn of Nigella Lawson or Nigel Slater, and the mate-y enthusiasm of Jamie Oliver or Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.  Masterchef (the proper one, not that cotton-wrapped cod-celebrity nonsense) is great entertainment.  A bit sick of Gordon Ramsey, though you have to admit he's good value.  Don't get me started on James Martin.  Occasionally, one of the networks (the BBC and C4 mainly) deliver a great programme, but too often they are relying on gimmicky ideas to compensate for the lack of on-screen charisma of the celebrity chefs and presenters.  We are entering the food television equivalent of the music business in the Seventies: an upper crust of elite, tired old hacks, trying to milk some juice out of the bloated excess that their careers have become.  It's about as exciting as Yes, In The Round.  Or more precisely, as exciting as a water-sodden loo roll. But... I digress.

The UKTV Food channel is co-owned by BBC Worldwide and Virgin Media Television, and most of the programming is comprised of shows dredged up from the BBC archives and hacked up by a 10 year old to allow for the insertion of copious advertising.

Sainsbury's Taste The Difference: Beef Stroganoff and Herby Rice

Supermarket ready meals have been the path of least resistance to people who are tired of the usual lunchtime sandwich fare so common in the UK. These meals, designed to be re-heated in a conventional or microwave oven, address a real need for people who are too busy to spend more than a few minutes preparing their lunch.

Overall, the meal made a good impression. Once cooked and served on a plate, the colours were nice and the dish had a pleasant aroma. The sauce was quite good, very rich, and tasted of it's ingredients: mushrooms, sour cream and a touch of brandy. The rice turned out quite fluffy, if under-seasoned, and the meat itself was very tender. The sauce contains both single cream and sour cream in differing proportions totaling one quarter of the sauce.  However, one real failing of this meal can be found by reading the percentages on its ingredients list: "Cooked Herb Rice (43%), Stroganoff Sauce (37%), Marinated Mey Selections Beef (20%)". For a dish in which beef plays the leading role, Sainsbury's has been quite stingy with the actual meat.

One should note that the rice requires the addition of water before heating. This is simple to do, but not usually required of ready meals, so one should pay close attention to the directions on the sleeve. I don't really see the richness of the sauce as a problem--it's what one would expect from something labeled "stroganoff" and ready meals have built-in portion control. Still, people conscious of their fat intake should note that this meal contains 20.9 grams of fat--8.2 of which are saturated. The entire meal weighs in at 450 grams.

The "Taste the Difference" line may be marketed at people who value flavour over price, but at £3.49 Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Beef Stroganoff and Herby Rice is an economical lunch option for almost anyone. The paltry portion of beef brings the final score down for me.

Gannet rating: 7/10

Sainsbury's Super Naturals: Piri piri marinated chicken & basmati rice

Sainsbury's range of Super Naturals (tm) are "bursting with tasty ingredients, no artificial additives".  I've tried the range recently in my never-ending quest for the perfect micro lunch.  I'm one of those folks who is really sick of the options for lunch near my office.  We even have a delightful sandwich wagon man who comes around -- the only problem being that while he's lovely, his sandwiches are dry versions of very dry, tired old things.   My company supplies a kitchen/canteen area fully stocked with stove/oven, microwave, and full-size fridge, but I rarely have the energy or time to prepare anything fresh.  Nor do I ever seem to be able to carve the extra time out of my evenings to pack something nice up for the following day.  So, my quest for micro meals is what I am left with.

Of course, I'm demanding.  I want something hot, quick, nutritious, non-calorific, and not full of E-numbers.

The Super Naturals (tm) range includes Chicken & Prawn Paella, Jerk Chicken with sweet potato and sweetcorn mash, Smoked Salmon Salad, Lemon & Basil Chicken, Mediterranean Vegetable Pasta, Gnocchi Roasted Vegetables, Chilli Ginger Salmon, Caribbean Prawn Curry, Beef In Red Wine, and Spaghetti and Meatballs, all at £2.99 for about 400 grams.  (They are on special 4 for 3 offer this week.)

So, Piri piri Chicken, or "Garlic, chilli & paprika marinated chicken with char-grilled red peppers, baby

The Blue Legume

I have long ago forgiven them for their silly pun of a name, and The Blue Legume is often the first thing that comes into my hungry mind on a Saturday or Sunday morning, particularly if a hangover is involved.  I'm a lucky soul, as it's only a short but beautiful stroll diagonally across Clissold Park to satisfy my Jones.

Catering heavily to vegetarians (and also vegans), the meat-eaters may be in the minority here, but I've never been with anyone who has lamented their lack of choice on the carnivore or pescatarian front.  My all-time favourite dish is the Eggs Benedict. Honestly - their Hollandaise sauce is the best I have ever tasted: light, fluffy, full of air and with a subtle but sublime tang. Perfectly poached eggs, and a generous slice of good-quality, medium thick ham combine to create the perfect dish.  I have as yet resisted the temptation to ask for double portion, but OH! how depressed do I get as I savour the last few bites?

My new remedy to the post-Benedict woe is to order the goats cheese salad as a second course.

A lovely piece of mild goat's cheese, grilled on top of a thick slice of toasted baguette, and served on a mixed leave salad with a simple walnut dressing.  And plenty of walnuts, too.  It requires the vigorous application of knife and fork to properly attack the cheese/bread combo, so is not for the faint-hearted, or those who wish to appear as delicate flowers around the table.  But the softly melted cheese, the crispy and hearty bread, and the delightful nut-laced leaves are a treasure worth the effort required.

The one endearing quality of the Legume is their apparently compulsive desire to dress every dish with a chive garnish -- as you can see from the photos above.  We briefly questioned the absence of chives in the chips (good but nothing to write home about), but quickly realised they were present in the aioli dip offered alongside.

I can recommend a short stumble next door to the Auld Shillelagh pub - a long and narrow Irish pub full of character and charming staff, and with an excellent pint of Guinness on tap.

The Blue Legume
101 Stoke Newington Church Street
London N16 0UD
T: 020 7923 1303
(no web site)

Gannet Rating:  8/10

PS: The origin of Eggs Benedict is well worth a read!  If you've had a great plate of EB somewhere, I'd love to hear about it!

Banner's Restaurant

Banners in Crouch End has long been a favourite place of The Gannet. We visit most often for a naughty lunch, as it's only a ten minute walk from the office.  On this occasion we were being particularly naughty as it was my birthday, so we had a long leisurely lunch.

The "downsides" of Banners, if they have them, are that it's very popular, so tends to be busy and noisy. It's particular popular with families with small children (whom they cater to with pots of crayons and paper, and a children's menu) so if shouty kids isn't your thing, you probably won't enjoy lunch here.  The atmosphere is laid back, the interior is modeled on a kind of rustic American restaurant vibe (lots of wood, old posters plastered to the walls, motorcycle and music memorabilia etc.  The service is friendly and informal, occasionally a bit hap-hazard, but I usually forgive them as the waitresses have all mostly been with the restaurant for years and they are all very warm and relaxed, even if you sometimes have to ask twice.

Food-wise, Banners has an extensive menu that is largely American (burgers, pancakes, soups and sandwiches), and Caribbean (fish, curries, rice & peas), with regular Asian and Mexican specials.  When banners veers off their set menu, they generally do so with varying degrees of success.  I once had a quesadilla there which was accompanied by home-made refried beans -- made with kidney beans.  It's those sort of very rustic, home-made "adaptations" of ethnic dishes on which they tend to stumble.  However, other times they get it just right.

Luckily for my birthday they got it just right with the special Blackened Cajun Salmon.  Often restaurants tend to over-spice "blackened" dishes - my feeling is that you don't need half an inch of spice coating to achieve the blackened effect, and too much dry spice tends to overpower the flavour of the meat or fish.  Banners served up a huge portion of salmon fillet, perfectly spiced and not overcooked either, and covered with a savory Cajun gravy.  The fish was accompanied by a hefty portion of delicious rice & peas (black beans) and a tasty salad.  Being The Gannet, we also had to have a side portion of fried plantain.

One of The Gannet's companions chose an all-day breakfast - what Banners call Hash Browns, two big deep fried potato cakes, fried eggs and bacon, plus maple syrup to drizzle over it should you wish (The Gannet wishes).  A side of extra sausages was naturally in order.  The other chose the jerk chicken burger, served with potato wedges and salad.  Silly boy didn't order any extra sides and felt underfed as a result. (Warning: this is not a problem at Banners, small portions that is!  Unless you're a true gannet, like us!)  Being in a celebratory mood, we rounded off the meal with Affogato Martinis.  I can't believe I didn't see these on the menu before.  Two of my favourite things in life are espresso martinis, and affogato di gelato (ice cream with hot espresso poured over it).  And yes -- this wonderful drink combines all three!  Vodka, kahlua and hot coffee are blended and presented in a martini glass, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Delicious.  I nearly ordered a second, it was so good.

Banners is one of those tried and trusted places that Crouch Enders love so much.  It is starting to get a little frayed around the edges (and hasn't been redecorated since they opened over 10 years ago), and it's not always perfect, but it is a place I will visit again and again, because what they do well, they do so much better than most restaurants in the area.  I have never left there feeling like it wasn't money well spent.

Banners Restaurant
21 Park Road
Crouch End
London, N8 9TE
020 8348 2930
(no web site)

Gannet Rating:  7/10

Chop'd

New chain offers a green & healthy option for lunch.

Chop'd is a relatively new fast food chain, with five branches in London.  They are, apparently, "on a mercy mission to bring delicious food into real working lives".  They serve breakfasts (porridge, yogurt, muesli and fresh juices), soups, and salads.  Everything, they say, is freshly assembled each morning in-store. Chop'd offers a choice of pre-assembled salads - tuna nicoise, jerk chicken, superfoods (edamame beans, avocado, beetroot, carrot, broccolis, spinach, seeds and sprouts), parma ham & mozzarella, smoked mackerel, and the particularly frightening (to me, at least) powerfoods (broccoli, green beans, carrot spaghetti, beetroot spaghetti, more seeds).

The more exciting option, however, is the "create your own salad" challenge, where for £5 you can choose a base (leaves, pasta, rice noodles, couscous, potato or any combination thereof) plus 3 "house" ingredients (vegetables and fruit, plus the scary beetroot or carrot spaghettis), add 1 "deli" ingredient (cheeses, fish, meat, avocado or pine kernels), 1 "garnish" (fresh herbs and seeds) and a dressing (they offer 14 choices, from the naughty blue cheese to the low fat miso or no fat thai dressing).  You can add extra ingredients for 25p to £1.

Chop'd get green points for offering you an extra house ingredient if you leave without a carrier bag for your salad, and also for offering free water if you bring your own bottle (not sure if they just fill it up at the tap though as we didn't have a bottle with us).  Also the bins they provide in store allow customers to sort the waste for later recycling.

The staff were all friendly enough on arrival, though when it came to serving us one staffer came to the counter and asked if we needed help, and then turned around and admonished a co-worker for ignoring us, walked off and made the co-worker serve us!  Said co-worker looked a bit sour about that.  Apart from this they were all charming enough.

I went for leaves (which considered of iceberg, cos and/or romaine, which was just started to get a tired edge to it -- surprising considering it was 11am), chickpeas, carrots, fresh peppers (I forgot to claim my free fourth ingredient, and they didn't offer!), chicken plus avocado (an extra £1), fresh basil, and sesame soy dressing.  We sat in to eat.  The portions were certainly generous, all of the ingredients bar the leaves were very fresh, and the dressing very tasty.  I'd say good value in general, though I was not happy to have paid an extra quid for some seriously under-ripe avocado.  I did manage to spend £8 with my extras (which also included a brownie and sparkling mineral water).  The brownie was good and moist and chewy, but nothing particularly special.

Seating at this branch was limited inside, but includes plenty of extra tables outside on the station concourse.

I think a few improvements could be made but will definitely visit Chop'd again if I'm in their neighbourhood.

I visited the St Pancras branch at about 11am today. 

Chop'd
Unit 34, St Pancras International
Pancras Rd, London, NW1 2QL
020 7837 1603

The Islington Burrito Wars

   
  Originally uploaded by Jonathan Fuchs

There is a burrito war waging on Upper Street in Islington.  It seems that after years of being forced to endure oppressive Tex-Mex "restaurants", several London entrepreneurs  have woken up to the business opportunity I have been fantasing about since I moved to London 20 years ago: the taco stand.  (Okay, they are actually burrito stands, but taco stand has more resonance.)

First there was Beach Burrito on Berwick Street in Soho.  They really hit the right notes : Californian-style mega burritos stuffed with carne asada, chicken, pork, etc.  Then they closed down.

Now we have two entries on Upper Street:

Mucho Mas: I think their ingredients had been sitting in the warmers a bit too long, (they did not look particuarly appetizing) and I choked at paying 75p for a spoonful of guac.  Their hot sauce was incendiary, so be warned if you don't like them SUPER hot.  Only Corona was offered on the beer front.  Staff were neither friendly or surly.

Tortilla: More choices (white rice vs spanish rice, pinto vs black beans, etc) and a more reasonable 50p for guac.  Their medium sauce was bland and their hot sauce wasn't (hot). Three or four beers (Negra Modelo, Dos Equis and Corona, plus maybe one other) and margaritas on offer.  Staff were more open and friendly.  Seemed to be populated entirely by American customers.

Neither burrito was particularly flavourful.  For me they tick all the boxes on ingredients but they just don't have any oomph.   If I go back, it will be to Tortilla because of the wider choice when building your burrito, and better beers.

Both are good for a quick fix but I'd still prefer to make my burritos at home where I know they will have some FLAVOUR.

Meanwhile, here's a nice photo of a burrito bar in the Mission in San Francisco, the place that I first acquired my habit.