The Mango Egg

Last week I went to a street party 'The Art of being British' in Jermyn Street. This street runs behind Fortnum and Mason's and is parallel to Piccadilly.

There are some interesting shops and restaurants there and several of them were taking part.

There was a cookery demonstration by Andrew Turner the chef from the Wilton. I arrived towards the end as he was plating up.

The plate was decorated with some mango puree, next a slice of fried brioche then a small egg. I thought it might be a quail's egg or had it been had by the lesser spotted mango bird? They were available to buy so I placed my order and watched as the chef prepared the next batch.

These eggs had not been laid by any bird and I was intrigued to see how it it was made. The idea was originally hatched up in Spain by Ferran Adria at El Bulli the home of molecular gastronomy and the process of spherifiaction.

This 'egg' had the texture of a poached egg complete with runny yolk. If I hadn't known already what it was made of I think the flavour would have contradicted the appearance and texture, however it made a lovely dessert. Both the yolk and the white were firm on the outside. The brioche was spiced and the egg topped with popping candy.

The recipe and the process of spherifiaction are to be found here

There were also complementary canapes from the Ritz. The ones in the photo below are like mini ice cream cornets though not sweet and topped with a swirl of smoked salmon pate

They also had a dance band and some smartly dressed dance partners available for a twirl.
Have a look on you tube here

Roast Tomatoes with Aubergine, Mushrooms and Potato

The tomatoes are topped with chopped parsley, thyme, basil and garlic, a slice of halloumi cheese and a Kalamata olive. The herbs were fresh from the garden and most of the other ingredients came from the local Turkish shop recommended by my friend Emine.

The vegetables were drizzled with olive oil and roasted at 400F for one hour.

Delicious!

Baba Ganoush with Flat Bread

Baba ganoush with flat bread and salad

I have been meaning to make this for some time. I first read about it online, I like the name as well as liking aubergines. It is a middle Eastern dip made with aubergines. My version is based on Joanna's recipe on thepassionatecook and Nigel Slaters's version. Both of them emphasised cooking till the skin is blackened to get the smoky flavour.

No problems with the smoke alarm as I chargrilled the two aubergines ( eggplants) on the barbecue in the garden. When cool I removed the skins and chopped the flesh, this was mixed with 2 tsp tahini, 2 cloves of chopped garlic and a couple of squeezes of lemon juice and was left in the fridge overnight for the flavours to blend.

The flat bread started out as a batch of dough made in the bread maker. I gave the dough a quick knead then rolled out pieces till about 1/2 cm thick. One I topped with linseed another with caraway seed, the others left plain. These were placed on an oiled baking dish and left in a warm place for 1/2 hour then baked at 400F till ready.

The one below was cooked in a non stick frying pan and came out more golden.

The salad was tomato, cucumber, onion, garlic and flat leaved parsley. The baba ganoush was garnished with mint and flat leaved parsley.

Overall a good combination of flavours although I would have prefered the baba ganoush a bit less smoky than it turned out.