Morning noon and night by Julie Clark and Marc Weir, Phantom House Books, 2010
Floriditas is a Wellington institution and one of my favourite restaurants. There are so many things to love about this restaurant.
For many years I have been making two Floriditas favourites at home, both of which are listed on their website. These are the only cheese scones you’ll ever need. If I don’t have rocket on hand I use parsley. The chard risotto is one of my kitchen staples. if you have not already made either of these, I recommend you do so. You will not be disappointed.
The book was given to me by a friend who bought it for herself and who, on realising that although she loved eating at the restaurant would never actually cook the recipes, gave it to me. I put it on the shelf and there it stayed. I once made brown sugar pavlova p111 for a friend visiting from the UK but pavlova isn’t my strength. My mother was such a master of the pavlova that I never really tried and now my sister is the pavlova queen in our family. Scones and risotto are more my thing. I never attempted anything else. I thought it was time to give the book a test drive. It is helpfully organised by season, and I went through the winter recipes.
We started on p78 with cauliflower, radicchio, pancetta and Parmesan fettucine. We made pasta and settled on pappardelle because I thought the width was more robust with the cauliflower. Cut the cauliflower into small florets, blanch for a couple of minutes and refresh. Sauté the pancetta and once it begins to crisp and render some of the fat, add the cauliflower until they begin to colour. Turn down the heat and add the garlic, cooking for 30 seconds. Then add the cooked pasta with a little olive oil and season. Toss through chopped parsley and Parmesan with a little extra cheese when serving. The recipe didn’t say what to do with the radicchio, so I shredded a handful of leaves and added them after the garlic and before the pasta. I also added some chilli flakes with the cauliflower. This was delicious.
The pork loin chops on p 79 looked and tasted wonderful but I‘m not sure I understood the recipe and the texture of the crumbs on the pork wasn’t quite right. For four chops roast and grind 3 tsp fennel and 2 tsp cumin seeds. Mix these with salt and pepper and season the chops, then cover and refrigerate for up to 12 hours. This is why, if I am using a recipe, I read it the night before. There is nothing worse than getting ready to cook dinner at 6pm and learning the first step in the recipe reads marinate overnight. Even worse is discovering you should have started preparation three days ago!
When you’re ready to cook, dip the pork in milk then breadcrumbs, either fresh or panko. This is where we went wrong. The recipe said to put the chops in a heated roasting dish, cover tightly with foil and bake in the oven at 180° for an hour, turning once. The crumbs were soggy. It was a great idea, but I’d do it differently next time.
The recipe suggested serving with an apple and celeriac slaw, but I didn’t have celeriac and I did have Brussels sprouts, so I made I the warm Brussels sprouts, lemon and caper slaw on p 85.
Heat a tbsp of olive oil and fry 2 tsp capers for a minute. I used Olivo chilli-infused oil because, as you will have realised, I love chilli with everything. Add thinly sliced sprouts and sauté about three minutes. You want to retain their texture. Add a pinch of lemon zest, black pepper and toss with the juice of a lemon mixed with 2 tbsp olive oil. The recipe also listed ½ tsp grain in the ingredients, but this was never mentioned in the method. I couldn’t work out what it might be. As I write this I wonder if it was grainy mustard? That might work.
I made herbed puy lentils on p73, which were nice but you don’t really need a recipe. Cook lentils in stock and passata with a soffritto, a bay leaf and some chopped rosemary. Add chopped chilli or do as I do and add chilli flakes with the soffritto. I added radicchio at the end. I probably wouldn’t include tomatoes again as they are quite rich and tomatoey and can drown the lentils. I added feta cheese because I like it.
On omelette night I made the melted leek, thyme and Gruyere frittata on p84. The method for melting the leeks is a winner. Finely chop a washed leek. Very gently melt 50g butter and a tsp fresh thyme leaves in a saucepan and add the leeks. Cook, covered, very gently for five minutes. Add ½ cup of white wine and continue cooking covered until the wine has disappeared. This will take about 20 minutes and your leeks will be deliciously sweet and unctuous. Season and add more fresh thyme leaves. Mix the eggs with grated cheese and salt and pepper. I find three eggs is sufficient for two people. Now the recipe says to heat the leeks in the pan you are using to make the frittata but I usually put my cooked filling in with the eggs and then tip everything into the frittata pan. This seems to prevent the egg sticking and I never use a non-stick pan. Cook until set. I usually finish in the oven but I put the lid on which also worked. This frittata was perfect. And this is now my go-to method for cooking leeks. I served this as suggested with bitter leaves dressed with sherry vinegar and olive oil.
Chicken with savoy cabbage and roasted fennel seeds on p87 was also wonderful but I didn’t have savoy cabbage and I did have sprouts. They worked. I used chicken breast. Start by making a paste with roasted ground fennel seeds, salt and pepper and a tbsp olive oil. Rub the paste over the chicken and leave to marinate. Overnight would probably be good. Cook the chicken in a pan with a little oil then remove. In the same pan cook the thinly sliced cabbage or, in my case, sprouts for a few minutes until soft but not soggy. Add finely chopped garlic, a tsp roasted whole fennel seeds and black pepper and cook about a minute or less. Serve the chicken on top of the sprouts and dress with any pan juices.
My take on this book is that the ideas and the mix of flavours is inspired. It lives up to the reputation of the restaurant. The cooking instructions sometimes left me flummoxed. You won’t find that with the scones or risotto. Make them soon or even better eat them at Floriditas.
Around the Table 