On the 3rd of June I held my first clandestine dinner in Paris. Never to be one to do just a ’simple’ dinner party I had make it more of a culinary event and decided upon doing something fun with the 80s and French food. The 80s are not one of the decades to be known for it’s culinary delights which I discovered after hunting down some beautifully food styled (the more food or props they could fit in one photo the better) 80s recipe books.

The menu kicked off with a Tom Cruise inspired shaken cocktails (red berries, limonchello and gin) which fit perfectly with the summer evening and was accompanied by some 80s coloured savoury macaron (cream cheese & wasabi and green olive tapenade – Pierre Hermé started his macaron experimenting in the 80s).
First course was edible pacman with pâté powerballs and confit cherries. I had wasted considerable amount of time playing pacman in the name of research. Second course was twisted bacon and a two toned tartiflette, a kind of deconstructed version with the use of sweet potatoes and some peppery roquette to balance the Reblochon. Tartiflette was created in the 80s by the Reblochon producers to promote their cheese.

Homage to 80s power dressing and those big shoulder pads: main course of Power puff pastry shoulder pad with a boeuf printanier (slow cooked spring beef stew).
A cold war soup: communism watermelon gazpacho and cucumber capitalism sorbet was served as a palate cleanser. And to finish off a 80s Paris Brest (the 8 was filled with a praline pastry cream and the 0 with a salted butter caramel cream).
The first 4 dishes were accompanied by red wines recommended by my great local caviste who matches all my wines for me as I’m hopeless. He also recommended a lovely caramel/light Irish whisky to go with the dessert.

Special thanks to myprivatedinner for providing the apartment, Jay-P for an awesome 80s music mix, my lovely culinary assistant Bernadette, Sten Pittet for taking some pictures for me and my lovely guests for coming!

Tags: 80s, clandestine, foodie, fun, myprivatedinner.com, Paris, theme

Ask first © 2010 R Khooks. Rachel Khoo. All rights reserved.

What do you do with a bag of very ripe/almost rotting pears? Throw them away, no. Put them on the compost heap, no. Make a pear & vanilla caramel spread of course! I recently discovered a bag of pears when I came back from my trip downunder. I was quite impressed they lasted that long considering I was away for a bit. Trying to reduce the amount of food wastage whenever possible (hence my fridge being full of little tupperware containers of leftovers or me constantly giving away food). I am on a constant search of making the most of the ingredients.

Left: Stewed pear and vanilla juice with sugar. Right: Pear caramel cooking. Ask first © 2010 R Khooks, Rachel Khoo. All rights reserved.

This recipe is similar to the Belgian “Sirop de liège” a gooey syrup made from pear and apple juice. The apples and pears are stewed for so long to create a dark almost molasses kind of syrup which is spread on toast or even used in savoury dishes. My version is slightly less time consuming and therefore lighter in colour. If you want a darker colour, stew the pears for longer, so they “caramelise” (slightly burn) before extracting the juice.

The bread in the shot is a slice of homemade sourdough made by a friend of mine who gave me a crash course in sourdough today. I have now got my own “live” sourdough, so I’ll be giving sourdough bread a go myself soon. Fingers crossed and mine will be as good.

Ask first © 2010 R Khooks, Rachel Khoo. All rights reserved.

1,5kg pears
200g sugar
50ml water
1 vanilla pod, cut in half
pinch of salt

Cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the vanilla grains add to a large pot with the pod, pears chopped into large pieces and water. Cook on a low heat for 1 hour with the cover on. Stir occasionally. Once the pears have become soft and pulpy, take off the heat.

Pass the mixture through a jam bag or very fine nylon sieve. Be careful not to push the mixture too hard if the sieve is not very fine as otherwise you will get a fruit puree in the juice mixture.

Return the extracted juice to a large pan with the sugar and salt. Simmer on a low heat for 30 minutes or until the juice has become a sticky syrup. It will thicken and set once cold, so do not overcook.

Pour into a sterilised jar* and close tightly. This will keep unopened for at least 6 months. Keep in a cool and dark cupboard. Once opened store in the fridge.

*To sterilise jars, wash in soapy water, rinse well and then place open in a cool oven at 130°c for 15-20 minutes.

Tags: easy recipes, sirop de liège, waste

On the 6th October 2009 a Pie Party was circled on my social calender. I headed down to La Cocotte to show everyone how to make them. Lemon meringue, Banoffee, Apple & Cheddar and Pumpkin pie, plus a delicious pie crust were head lining the event. Recipes were all easy as pie

Special thanks to Djoukaze for the photos.

If you are on a picture and you want it to be removed, please send me an email.

Tags: American pies, Pies

Off with the chef whites, on with the fake eye lashes, kitten heels and my 1950s outfit. Chef Khoo no longer it was Miss Khoo who took over the Chacha in Paris for the tastiest event in town.

Monday, the 13th July 2009 I created a 3 course dinner and a Kennedy cocktail to tantalize the Parisian tastebuds. Topped off with a cupcake pimping session and some swinging sixties & fifties sounds spun by DJ Sylvania.

If you are on a picture and you want it to be removed, please send me an email.

Photography: Juan Diosdado.

Tags: 1950s, chacha, cupcake, Kennedy

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.

If you are on a picture and you want it to be removed, please send me an email.

Pictures are taken by Kang Leong from Londoneater.com.

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