There were no sausages on this menu which explored the East/West divide in Germany. Fellow foodie Caroline Hobkinson and I got cooking in her amazing Berlin kitchen. Dishing up two different menus (one East, one West). Each representing their relevant culinary history. Guests on arrival were assigned their sides for the nights. They bartered, they smuggled and some sneekily stole from the opposite side to get a taster of the forbidden food.

Tags: berlin, food design, the wall, underground

On Saturday 26th September 2009 it was off to the School of life in London where I conducted some taste experiments and cocktail & a canapé workshop as part of the Voyage of Epicuriosity holiday.

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Many thanks to the school of life for the photos.

Tags: the school of life

After doing what the French do so well and taking a long holiday (well a long blog holiday). It’s the back to school/work or as the French call it the ‘rentrée‘ (transl. return) which means I’ve been doing some serious cookstorming, testing out recipes for new classes, dinners and culinary events.

After doing some pie research yesterday (thanks for the tweets) I decided to get down to some pie action.  A while ago I had read an uk food trend report that said pies are hot stuff with brands like Pieminster and Delisanté making stylish hip pies for Selfridges, Waitrose and other big retailers. Pies have always been a staple dish in the English diet and even more so in the American’s with songs,  films and places like this. The French are yet to catch on (they prefer their tartes) although I know one place in Paris which makes a mean fruit pie (I sometimes make some there too)

I hit the market in the morning. My favourite fruit & veg guy (he’s got great produce and is also cute) was back from holiday which I was super happy about. He had a lovely pumpkin which I just had to have a piece of, along with some super sweet tiny mirabelle plums which by the time I got home had all somehow disappeared. Way too easy to pop into your mouth!

After baking 4 different cakes for my birthday on Friday I definetly needed to balance things out with something savoury. So a sweet pumpkin pie (if you’ve got a good recipe, send it my way!) was not gonna happen. Plus I’m not a big fan of sweet pumpkin pie.

I like roasting pumpkin and eating hot with olive oil or cold tossed with some baby spinach, pine nuts and a tahini dressing or in a curry. So I decided to roast some potatoes and pumpkin with some curry spices and popping that into a pie. It reminded me a little of the curry puffs my mum used to make. MMMMMmmmmmmm yum!

Spiced Pumpkin Potato Pie

4 small pies

700g diced pumpkin
300g diced potatoes
4 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp ground paprika
2 tbsp ground curry powder (I used a rendang spice mix which has ground lemongrass)
3 pinches of salt
Sesame seeds for garnish
1 egg for eggwash

Preheat the oven 180°c/350°f. Mix together the spices, salt and oil with the potatoes and pumpkin. Put into a roasting tray. Roast for 30-40minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Leave to cool slightly.

Shortcrust pastry

170g flour
100g butter (very cold, cut into cubes)
1 tsp salt
1 egg

For the shortcrust pastry:
1. Sablage
Mix flour and salt add cubed butters. Rub flour mixture and butter together to create a breadcrumb texture. Make sure to work quickly. Add egg. Mix slightly.

2. Frasage
Turn out mixture onto clean surface (preferably a cool marble surface). Using the palm of your hand. Push a small amount of the mixture about 20cm along the surface of the table. Do this with all the dough. Repeat once or twice until the mixture has come together.

Chill dough for 30mins. Preheat oven 180°c/350°f.

Roll out to knife edge thickness and line already greased and floured tins. Use a round cookie cutter to cut out the dough for the tins. Prick the base and then fill with potato and pumpkin. Eggwash the edge of the pastry and cut a second (smaller round) for the top. Make sure to make a small hole in the top for the steam. Eggwash the top and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top and bottom of pie is golden brown. Eat warm or cold.

Tags: autumn, bob's kitchen, pie, pumpkin, rich shortcrust pastry, trend, vegetarian

No, I’m not referring to the band 3T from the nineties, although it would be quite fitting with the whole MJ saga going on. More to do with the fact the number 3 has been cropping up quite a lot recently.

I’m on the last leg of big events before the summer break with my debut on the Paris scene this Monday at the Chacha. After getting back from London with a great mash up dinner behind me and the 500 biscuits for the school of life event aswell. I was ready for a break, not a third event. Unfortunately that was not going to be an option. Recipes had to be tested and tasted for the dinner. A dj, photographer and assistants had to be found. PR and marketing malarky to do. Plus I’ve been running around all the vintage stores and markets looking for the perfect Jackie outfits for the three Kennedy hostesses.

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Dust off your blonde wig, your Jackie 0 sunglasses or your ‘too cool for school’ J.F.K. sixties suit. Miss Khoo is taking over the Chacha for the tastiest event in town.
For Monday 13th July Rachel Khoo has created a 3 course dinner and a Kennedy cocktail to tantalize your tastebuds. Top that all off with a cupcake pimping session and some swinging sixties & fifties sounds spun by DJ Sylvania. The whole of Paris will be there and who knows maybe the Kennedy’s might pop by.

40€ Cocktail + 3 course dinner (starter + main + dessert/cupcake session)

RSVP chacha@chachaclub.fr

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Enlevez vos lunettes de soleil Jackie O et vos costumes JFK années 60. Rachel Khoo va envahir le ChaCha pour la soirée le plus KHOOl de Paris.

Lundi 13 juillet, Mademoiselle Khoo va nous partager ses recettes chic et délicieuses lors d’un dîner – entrée, plat, dessert – et un “Kennedy cocktail” pour réveiller vos papilles. Tout ça avant un “cupcake pimping session” ou vous pouvez décorez vos propres cupcakes, le tout accompagné des sons des années 50 et 60 par DJ Sylvania.

Le tout Paris sera là, et, qui sait, même les Kennedys eux-même vont peut-être y faire un petit tour nous joindre.

40€ Cocktail + dîner [entrée, plat, dessert/ cupcakes]

RSVP  chacha@chachaclub.fr – réservation obligatoire

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Tuesday night I invited the lovely ladies who will be assisting me on Monday night for a dress rehearsal. I found myself styling clothes, hats and hair instead of food.  For dinner I rustled up this tart which just involved me seeing what I had in my fridge.  I was loosely inspired by what I had read in the Guardian at the weekend. And it so happened that the filling used three types of vegetables: carrots, beetroots and red onions. I managed to get these amazing red onions which were a cross between a large spring onion and a red one which were perfect for this tart.

I will let those of you who are coming this Monday be the judge whether I should stick to my day job up or whether I might have a new career as a fashion stylist

3T Tarte (three tones tarte)

10 carrots, peeled and roughly sliced into sticks
3 beetroots (raw not the cooked ones), peeled and chopped roughly
3 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped into wedges or 6 red onions type spring onion
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
Olive oil
salt & pepper
Handful of fresh parsley

1 packet of good quality puff pastry (yes, I do cheat. Can’t be a slave to your kitchen all the time)

Preheat the oven to 180°c. Mix together all the vegetables and garlic in a roasting tray. Season and drizzle generously with olive oil. Roast until tender (about 40minutes). Roll out the puff pastry and line the tart. Tip all the vegetables into the tart and bake for a further 30 minutes or until the puff pastry is puffed up. To serve drizzle with a little more olive oil and garnish with parsley. You could also crumble some feta or goat’s cheese on top to.

Tags: chacha, Kennedy, roasted vegetable, simple, summer, vegetarian

On Wednesday 24th June 2009 I took over the Loft for another mouth-watering mash up. For the 5 course dinner I concocted a menu inspired by all things delicious in the garden.

T. Baas created a luscious table with his green garden illustrations and Jay-P accompanied the dinner with some toothsome tunes.

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Pictures are taken by Kang Leong from Londoneater.com.

Tags: jay-p, the Loft, thomas baas, underground