Heston Blumenthal’s High Class Ketchup aka Tomato Compote

Visiting the market after reading Heston Blumenthal’s In Search of Total Perfection is always a reckless idea. Yes it usually results in delicious meals but more often than not, it also ends up burning a big hole in the  pocket.

I went to the Turkish market in Kreuzberg just to look around and pick up some tomatoes for a compote and ended up with 3 days worth of food; plus enough tomatoes for a bathtub full of compote.

Heston Blumenthal’s Tomato Compote is an complex process of layering, mixing and creating the perfect flavour; but while I greatly admire him, and wanted to replicate the intricate details he’d so lovingly researched and planned; I just didn’t have the patience. So below is his recipe and method followed by my shortcut.

Heston Blumenthal’s Tomato Compote:

- 1.1kg vine-ripened tomatoes, 3 lg cloves garlic crushed, 1 large onion finely diced, 200ml extra virgin olive oil

- Seasoning: 1tsp salt, 4-5 drops Tabasco, 4-5 drops Fish sauce, 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 heaped tbsp ketchup, 30ml sherry vinegar

- Spices: 1 heaped tsp coriander seeds, 1 star anise, 3 cloves, 1 bouquet garni (7 sprigs fresh thyme and 1 fresh bay leaf)

Preparation:

Blanche tomatoes then cool them in iced water. De-skin and cut in half. Scoop out seeds and membrane and roughly chop, then tip them into a sieve over a bowl. Sprinkle over the salt and leave for 20 minutes to extract their juice. Discard seeds and membrane, reserve the juice. Roughly chop flesh and set aside.

Meanwhile fry onions and garlic in olive oil over a low heat. Cook for 10 -15 mins until soft but not coloured. Crush coriander and put into muslin bag with other spices, add to softened onions and garlic.

Take juice from the seeds and membrane and add to onions and garlic along with tomato flesh.

Add the seasoning and bouquet garni and cook over low heat for 2 hours. To add a roasted note to compote, add the remaining oil and turn up heat to high. Fry compote for 15-20 mins, stirring constantly to make sure it doesn’t burn. Pour off any oil not absorbed by compote.

Denise’s Imperfect Preparation:

- I didn’t bother blanching the tomatoes beforehand, nor removing the seeds and membrane.

- I threw in all the spices without a bag and fried them with the onions and garlic to bring out the flavours a little more.

- At the end of 2 hours I removed the herbs, star anise and cloves and roughly blended the sauce before frying.

It may not have been perfect but it was fabulous all the same. Tangy, savoury and rich.

I used the compote for a baked cannelloni which I have to admit was a cop-out of making Blumenthal’s Spaghetti Bolognaise.

- First lovingly carmelise onions with bacon (all the better to soak up some bacon fat) until soft, golden and sweet.

Or till they look like this...

- Then mix with a tub of Mascarpone cheese (market was out of Ricotta) and stuff mixture into pasta shells

- Next layer a good amount of compote below and above the cannelloni in an oven-proof dish (just remember the pasta needs enough liquid to cook)

- Finish off with a generous grating of Parmesan on the top

- Bung into a 180 degree C oven for 35-40 mins

I also stuffed some of them with spinach and gorgonzola - but it really clashed with the compote so I don't recommend it.

Since it was a bathtub full of compote, I had more than enough leftover. Blumenthal also suggested that it make a nice salad dressing, so I had some for lunch the next day with an early arugula salad and a gratinated parmesan, bacon, onion toasty (leftover bacon mascarpone stuffing from night before) .

Blumenthal’s methods may be too tedious for the everyday home cook, but by gosh when you finally get your act together to do it (no matter how imperfect), you’ll be very much rewarded!

Berlin Bites: Candied Apple from the Turkish Market

I *heart* candied apples.

Picked this one from the Turkish Market in Kruezberg. It’s one of my favourite fresh markets here. Lots of good, cheap fruits and vegetables, cheese and even fresh pasta.

Gotta love it!

Location: Maybachufer, Kreuzberg
Open: Tue & Fri, 11:00-18:30

Breakfast Club: Orange Coffee

I like waking up early on the weekends because it always feels like I have the whole day ahead of me, and also because it’s a real nice feeling to know you can turn over and snooze for a couple hours more without anyone bothering you. Last Saturday was different, I woke at 7 o’clock and couldn’t get back to sleep because I started thinking about breakfast and got too hungry to go back to bed.

Weekend breakfast in Berlin is a big affair. Fruhstuck (breakfast) buffets are so popular one usually has to book 1 week in advance (at least) to get a seat in a decent place. Honigmond in Mitte is a good place to go. The spread is not very wide but they have a nice selection of antipasti, cold cuts and sweets, and the food is very well prepared – my favourites are the sausages and eggs, fresh croissants with deep ruby coloured berry jam, the citrone yoghurt and vanilla quark – and very reasonable at 8.50 euro per head. But I wasn’t in the mood to stuff my face today, so we settled for a quiet breakfast at Orange Coffee in Samariterviertel, off Frankfurter Allee.

This small café is as unassuming as the neighbourhood it’s in, but the really good food and the incredibly value-for-money prices make it a great place for a casual breakfast.

Food-wise, the weekend Fruhstuck Orient platter was a real winner. It came with different sorts of cheeses, salami and sausage, olives, a stuffed sweet pepper and vine leaf, homemade dips and a wonderful rose compote – plus 2 brotchen, salad and a token piece of fruit (which isn’t much but by the time you’re done with the rest of the food, is all the fruit you’ll be able to get down anyway). It was large enough for 2 people to share and was only 5.30 euro! It also came with the most delicious couscous I’ve ever had. Flavoured with intensely savoury sun-dried tomato and crisp, sharp spring onions – I was hooked after the first bite.

Besides half Mr T’s breakfast, I also had a very tasty Gouda and Salami toasted sandwich with a hefty portion of salad (3 euro), a decadently chocolatey muffin (1.20 euro) and a large freshly squeezed orange juice (2.50 euro).  Needless to say it was almost as bad as stuffing my face at a buffet.

I wouldn’t travel across Berlin to eat here, but if you live around the neighbourhood, it’s a must-visit. The café is bright and cheery, has a few al fresco seats in the sun and free WIFI. They also serve simple soups, salads and pastas for lunch (none of which are above 6 euros). I didn’t get to try the pasta, but if the breakfast was anything to go by, I’d think it should be pretty good too.

Orange.Coffee

Voigtstr. 35 (just off Frankfurter Allee, near between Warshauer and Mollendorf Strasse)

10247 Berlin, Germany

030 54785394

Directions: Closest Ubahn station is Samariter Strasse

 

 

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Honigmond Restaurant

Tieckstraße 12 (just off Chausee and Invaliden Strasse, near Oranienburger Tor)

10115 Berlin, Germany

030 284455-0

honigmond-berlin.de‎

Berlin Diary: Fancy-pants Chocolates

Everything is fancy on Friedrichstrasse, the high-end shopping street that runs through Berlin’s Mitte district. But while I can’t afford anything from Versace’s Spring collection, I can at least treat myself to something sweet at the chocolatiers Fassbender & Rausch.

Standing in one corner of the Gendarmenmarkt, next to the Hilton Hotel, the 2 storey ‘Schokoladen hause und café’ (does this really require a translation?) is like a German version of Charlie’s Chocolate Factory. If you’re keen on chocolates, you’ll love this. More than 200 sqm of pralines, truffles, bars and sculptures (yes, I said sculptures), in all shapes and sizes, fill the shelves and counters till there’s barely enough space for anyone to walk.

A chocolate replica of the war-damaged Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (memorial church).

The Brandenburg Gate. Wouldn't it be fun to give it a gerat big lick? The thought crossed my mind a few times before I had to force myself to walk away.

And now that Easter is almost here…

EGGS!

Prettily decorated in hues of pink, blue and yellow, hundreds of chocolate eggs and rabbits beckon to be grabbed off the shelf and crammed into the mouth.

In order to avoid embarrassing myself this way, I hurried up to the café for a more civilized sort of indulgence – afternoon tea of ‘heisse schokolade und kuchen’ (hot chocolate and cake). This is something I highly recommend – especially if you’ve just been walking around Friedrichstrasse and the Gendarmenmarkt on a chilly day.

See what I mean by more civilised than trying to lick the chocolate Brandenburg Gate downstairs?

Of the drinking chocolates, there are 3 different intensities of kakao to choose from: 43%, 70% and 80%. The 43% is a milk chocolate version, whereas the 70% and 80% kakaos are made from dark chocolate and are more full bodied and robust than the 43%.

You can then select what you want to have your hot chocolate with: cream or milk; chilli, red pepper, orange or ginger; and for those who like a tipple – rum. You can also have some other fancy concoctions that include ice-cream and such.

The 43% with rum and it was a perfect balance of chocolate and spirit. The 70% kakao was a bit too strong for me, but I bought a tin of it home anyway. I think it'd be perfect with a lot of whipped cream and a scattering of brandied cherries.

 

Berlin Bites: Alexanderplatz

Join the adventures of the travelling food as it takes it the sights of Berlin.

First stop:  the Weldzeituhr (World Time clock) in Alexander Platz. It’s super retro, a remainder from East Berlin’s GDR times – kinda reminds me of Singapore in the 70s. The doner kebap sandwich is from nearby Hackescher Markt. It wasn’t a good one, but it kept me occupied when I almost fell asleep looking athe the old time relic…err piece. Too bad it didn’t have an alarm.

Berlin Diary: Doner Kebap in Kreuzberg

Sunny spring days make me want to take a big picnic to the nearest park.

The recent earthquake in New Zealand and now Japan (and the sad loss and disruption of so many lives) made me think about my own; and how instead of embracing it the fullest, I sometimes whine and bitch too much. So since the sun’s been on his best behaviour recently, I decided to embrace the day and spend an afternoon in Kreuzberg’s Victoria Park. (Sans picnic basket because there’s a really delicious Doner Kebap stand on the way there.)

The park is a small green dot of tranquillity amidst of the hustle bustle of Kreuzberg. Actually it’s so small you can hardly call it a park, but there are two big reasons to go there.

One is the view. The park is on a small hill, from the peak, you get the most amazing view of the city (that you don’t have to pay for), in particular of Grossbeeren Strasse, the street that radiates from the park. Grossbeeren means ‘big berry’ in German – isn’t that a cute name for a street!

On a clear day, you can see the TV tower at Alexander Platz about 6km away.

 

At its highest point sits a large iron monument to a Prussian King (Frederick William III) – it’s a nice place to have a quiet chat with friends or just to sit and reflect as you take in the view. Bring a small picnic, some coffee and cake and your camera.

The monument to Frederick III

The short climb to the top is a bit steep, so it’s not a good idea to take your bike, but the walk up gives it gives you plenty of time to appreciate the pretty little man-made waterfall that flows down from the monument to a small pool at the foot of the hill.

The second reason is Mustafa’s Gemuse Kebap, one of the better doner kebaps I’ve tasted so far.

Apparently many people feel the same way because there is always a long line in front of the stand which sits just outside the entrance of the Mehringdam Ubahn station.

This is a truly delicious tasting doner kebap…sluuuurp!

A big hunk of chicken turns and roasts on the spit. Paper thin strips are rapidly sliced off and stuffed into pockets of warmly toasted flat bread. The juices of the kebap collect in pool at the bottom. Mmm…what I wouldn’t give to spoon some of that over my doner! At the front is a long glass counter filled with all kinds of salads: ruby red cabbage, peridot green iceberg lettuce, glistening gems of cucumber and tomato seasoned with parsley and other herbs.

All these wonderful vegetables are stuffed onto the meat and topped with a yoghurt dressing and a sprinkling of cottage cheese.

Gemuse means ‘vegetable’ in German and Mustafa’s actually specialises in vegetarian doners. So instead of having the meat, you can have a generous helping of roasted vegetables – sweet carmelised nuggets of zucchini, eggplant, carrots, onions and potatoes

If you’re like me (greedy) you can have both meat AND roast vegies.

I’ve heard that the kebap has overtaken the currywurst as the most popular fast food here. You can make the comparison for yourself at Curry 36 (just next door), one of the more ‘famous’ currywurst imbisses here (imbis means ‘snack’ in German).

There is also has a long line of people (including many tourists) who come here just to try the currywurst. Their home-made ‘curry ketchup’ sauce really very good and they roast the wursts (sausage) to crispy-skinned perfection. I wouldn’t go especially to eat it, but if you’re already there and the queue isn’t too long, it’s worth a try.

These are just two of the attractions of Kruezberg. There are lots of other interesting things to explore in the neighbourhood, with its busy restaurants and bars and the crazy mix of artistic and Turkish influences (including the amazing Turkish Market on Maybachufer), but those are posts for another day…

To get to Victoria Park: the closest Ubahn station is Mehringdam (U6, U7).

Exit on the Yorckstrasse side, pick up a currywurst or doner, walk down Mehringdam past the Yorckstrasse/Gneisenaustrasse cross street until Kreuzbergstrasse. Make a right on Kreuzbergstrasse and walk down until park entrance on Grossbeerenstrasse.

Breakfast Club: Smoked Trout Open-faced Sandwich

Sunday brunch is a big thing in Berlin. Normal restaurants, cafes (and even some bars – very bad idea)  turn into all day fruhstuck (breakfast) buffets serving up endless platters of cold-cuts, salads, bread, fruits, crepes, desserts, and hot-plates of pasta and eggs.

Having been to a few of these, I’ve become weary and wary of the same old, run  of the mill, bad food, hungry crowds and tight, squishy cafes trying to squeeze more diners than the space will hold. I’ve heard there are some nice ones around (which I will write about when I find) but for now, I’m inclined to think breakfasts at home are so much nicer…especially when you have someone to make them for you…and it’s the only place where you’re guaranteed a seat by a sunny window!

 

Pigout on Cold-cuts, Cheese, the everlasting bottle of Nutella and something new to try - Smoked trout

Pink flaked trout on rye. A thin spread of horseradish and strips of pickled carrot complete the sandwich.

 

The sweet that Mr T cannot do without

 

Think I’m going to start a series of Breakfast club posts and would like to invite anyone else with delicious contributions to send them along, and I’ll post them as part of the series

The Big Bird of Burgers

I’ve been having burger cravings again and I think the feeling won’t go away until I go back to The Bird.

(Andrew: since I can’t have a De Burg burger, I need some consolation…but this post is lovingly dedicated to u and your delicious burgers in Singapore!)

4 calorific burgers just dying to be eaten! My fellow diners were getting frustrated with my picture taking...

It’s ironic that a restaurant serving great hunks of red meat should be called The Bird, but that’s the way they are at this joint – a bit tongue in cheek and a lot of fun. You get the feeling that the people who work there don’t take themselves too seriously. What they do take seriously is their meat. Whether it’s being tenderly sliced into steaks, lovingly ground and shaped into patties, or lusciously sizzling on the grill, you can be sure that someone is always watching it to make sure it turns out alright.

To be fair, the burgers can be hit or miss affairs (especially during the dinner rush, 7-9 pm, and weekends) but when done properly…they are mouthfuls of pure, unadulterated beefy bliss. Everything is prepared just so to provide you with the ultimate burger experience.

Da Birdhouse Burger - 2 patties and my favourite - fried onions!

The patty is a whopping 250gm of pure ground beef. Done to medium, it’s juicy and pink inside, with a wonderful, smoky char on the outside.  The bun is a muffin that’s toasted on the grill so that it absorbs the fat and juices of the grilling meat. The fries are hand-cut and home-made – none of that frozen rubbish you’d get at so many places these days.

...and YES...I realise that pictures of greasy, cheesy, meaty, artery-clogging burgers may scare off some people...but not a true burger lover.

On the side: onion, tomato and pickle. They don’t put it on the burger or you’d never be able to fit it in your mouth.

Mushroom and Swiss...quite yummy

The best time to go to The Bird, to avoid your dinner becoming a ‘miss’ affair, is either before or after the dinner rush. The last time I was there at 8 on a Saturday night, they grilled my bacon cheeseburger so bad, all I got was some strips of charcoal in my burger. Instead, I’d suggest the early evening, round 6 when they open (5 at the bar if it’s sunny) or after 9.30 for a late dinner; or perhaps Sunday evening, after an afternoon of ‘treasure hunting’ at the Mauer Park Flomarkt (flea market), which is just next door. Sit at the bar, order a few one-for-one Angry Hour beers (as opposed to Happy Hour, 6-8 pm); challenge your friends to who can eat the most Napalm wings without fainting from the pain; enjoy your burger; then leave as the crowd starts to roll in.

The freakin Napalm wings. Hot enough to blast a hole in your tongue

Besides the burgers, I’d also recommend the cheesecake, if you still have room.  For the more health conscious, the steak and Ceasar salad looked good enough to tempt me away from my burger. Don’t bother with the chicken wings – the last few times I ordered them, they looked like they came off some pigeons instead, and at 4 euros for half a dozen it’s really not worth it (the Napalm wings are 1.50 euro during Angry Hour and good for a challenge).

The Bird

Am Falkplatz 5
Prenzlauerberg 10435 (Between Gleim Str and Gaudy Str)
Tel: 0305 105 3283, Email: thebirdreservations@gmail.com

Directions: S Bahn or U Bahn Schonehauser Allee, walk down Schonehauser Allee, and turn down either Gleim Str or Gaudy Str

*Reservations highly recommended.  They can be booked up to a week in advance.

Berlin Diary: Lunch Quickies I

It’s all about value-for-money lunches these days. Thankfully Berlin is a mecca  for good, cheap food.

Dolce Pizza near Rathaus Schoneberg is a great favourite for hungry, cold people. It’s not fancy – just a brick-walled dining area with tables and benches, and a counter where you can choose ready made pizza slices or make your own pizza to order – but the pizza is very good. I always get the specialty meter-long pizza which can be divided into 3 portions with different toppings.

Before everyone thinks I'm getting greedier, this giant pizza is always shared with one or 2 other people

The pizza is very, very good – oops did I already say that?

Fresh vegetables, spicy salami and cured ham generously top a thin, chewy crust. Each on hand-made by some young dudes with thick gold chains and gelled-up hair who answer to names like Francesco.

My favourite toppings are:

Spicy Salami and mushrooms

Parma ham with rucola and parmesano

Brinjal and spring onion

And there’s always a little bit left over for a small dinner or the next day’s breakfast

The mark of a good pizza is that it's just as good when it's cold

Dolce Pizza Inh. Massimiliano Franzini Pizzeria
Belziger Straße 73
10823 Berlin, Germany
Tel: 030 43205611
There 4-5 Dolce Pizza’s in the the Schoneberg/ Charlottenberg and Kruezberg areas.
Check their website for more details

dolce-pizza.de‎

Nigel’s Sweet n Sticky Chicken Wings

I miss fried chicken wings. In Singapore, they are a pub grub staple, something to snack on when you need a break from the booze. In Berlin, not only is it hard to find chicken wings on the menu – you’d be hard pressed to find any sort of pub grub in most bars. It seems to be more common to step out of the bar for a Doner Kebap or a Currywurst.

While I have nothing against a good Doner or Wurst, I would give up my beer in a heartbeat for a basket of Ice Cold Beer’s chicken wings and mini burgers, which, as any one of their patrons will tell you,  is worth giving up even your mother’s beer for. So when I found a recipe for sweet n sticky wings in The Kitchen Diaries, I knew I had to try them. They are roasted, not fried, but they work great for people like me who want to avoid the hassle of deep frying.

The wings came out goldeny brown, crispy in some places and sticky in others. A defining moment for finger lickin good.

Here’s the recipe adapted from Nigel Slater. It’s really ideal for a quick snack or bbq.

12 chicken wings

2 big tablespoons of grain mustard

1 big tablespoon of honey

Juice of 1 lemon

3 large garlic cloves – crushed

Pinch of orange zest or grated ginger (optional)

Combine all the ingredients and coat the wings. Marinate for 2-8 hours.

Remove wings from marinade and lay out in a roasting pan, make sure that the large smooth area of skin is facing upwards. I like to stuff the garlic cloves underneath each piece. Then it’s into a 220C degree oven for 30 mins. In between, baste them and turn them over twice. They should be golden and cooked by this time. If you don’t like the skin crispy, you can take them out at this stage and they should look something like this.

However, if you want cruchy bits of chicken skin – which is how I prefer it – take them out after 25 mins, turn them over once more and put them under a 250C degree grill for 5 mins until some of the marinade carmelises and crisps.