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Art Journal

Leonardo da Vinci | Painter at the Court of Milan

This is a nothing to do with my food blog, but hey, it’s what I do ;0)

Have there ever been such hotly contested tickets as those for the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition, currently showing at the National Gallery in London? From 7:00 am the queues around the National Gallery begin to form, as those without a prized ticket scavenge for the 500 timed-entry tickets released at 10:00 am each morning. Tickets have been sold and bought on Ebay, and the more enterprising of us have paid entrepreneurial young American men to queue on our behalf!

Leonardo worked in Milan between 1482 and 1499, and this exhibition includes almost every surviving picture painted during this time. Among them are a few stellar paintings which have never been hung together before, including the two versions of The Virgin of the Rocks painted some twenty years apart. The premise of the show is to bring together, for the first time, the genus of work created by Leonardo whilst based at the court of Duke Lodovico Sforza.

This is also this is the first opportunity for art-lovers to see the recently re-discovered Salvator Mundi, one of only fifteen authenticated extant Leonardo da Vinci paintings.

Of particular interest to modern secular tastes, the portraits of the Lady with the Ermine, and the Belle Ferronnière are essential viewing. Much has been written about the Lady with the Ermine: it is believed to be the portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, Ludoviko’s mistress, and painted in 1488–90. In placing the oversized ermine into the hands of Cecelia, Leonardo is making a number of puns; the Greek name for Ermine is Galay, a play on her name; and Ludoviko Sforza had been granted the Order of the Ermine by the King of Naples, and was known by the nickname, ’l’Ermellino’. Cecelia was sixteen at the time of the painting, and the Ermine emphasizes her youth and innocence. Leonardo wrote of Ermine as a symbol of purity and honour. Inversely, some readings put the ermine in her hands as a reference to her impending pregnancy with Ludoviko’s son.

By contrast La Belle Ferronnière is a much more enigmatic and idealised portrait. The sitter has not been identified conclusively, but may be Ludoviko’s wife, Beatrice d’Este or Lucrezia de Cribellis’, a mistress who bore Ludoviko two sons.
The painting’s current title was given to it during the 17th century and is thought to refer to the mistress of Francis I of France, who was married to a ferron (feronnier is the French word for an ironmonger). With paintings of this age, it is inevitable that some become associated with a number of different people.
In the exhibition the paintings are hung on adjacent walls, which creates the effect of the Belle Ferronnière gazing at the Lady with the Ermine, who in turn looks beyond the audience to a third point in the room. Cecilia engages with some unknown viewer, eyes turned slightly to the right as though in conversation. Her expression is open, as though listening with intent.
By contrast, the Belle Ferronnière is separated from us by the parapet, as though on a sculptural plinth.  She is more distant, less attainable than the open Cecilia. The shape of her head shows a greater nod to the ideals of geometry and her clothing is richer than Cecilia’s, suggesting a woman of higher nobility.  This is a rare opportunity for us to compare both portrait styles.
Other notable inclusions in the exhibition are the two versions of the Virgin of the Rocks. Given the scale of both paintings, they have been hung some distance apart. The painting to the left as you enter is the Louvre copy, and the first version of the subject, commissioned by the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. On the opposite wall, the newly renovated National Gallery copy includes a number of Leonardo’s re-workings of the original theme.
The gesturing messenger of the first painting is here an angel, and the supplicant John the Baptist has gained his familiar attributes. The Virgin Mary is much more idealized than in the first version, da Vinci having had two decades in which to develop his style. The subjects are also crowned with their nimbi, at a time when artistic depictions of halos were diminishing. The confraternity may have requested da Vinci to emphasise their divinity in this version, particularly with reference to Mary’s birth without original sin. It is possible to sit on the benches between the paintings and play ‘spot the artistic difference’.
Visitors should also make time to see the unfinished St Jerome, the Maddonna Lia, the Madonna Litta and the cartoon of the Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist (also known as the Burlington House Cartoon).   On show is also the Giampietrino reproduction of The Last Supper, done to a similar scale.
Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan – exhibiting until the 5th of February 2012
Trafalgar Square
London WC2N 5DN

Azelia's Kitchen

Dan Lepard’s Wholemeal Soda Bread

I’m a massive sourdough girl – I feed my sourdough starter every day and have been known to take it with me if it’s looking a little unwell – it really is like having a (fifth) child!

Now some people appreciate the complexity of my sourdough, on twitter there are a core few who I’ll talk particulars with (the Breadmakers) – but almost universally the bread people ask me about is sodabread.  Yes.  Irish sodabread.

Bizarrely, despite having Irish and Scottish family, I’ve never made my own… This Christmas the question came up three times… I’d made sundried tomato rolls, black olive rolls, and cumin bread – wasn’t that enough?  No, everyone wanted sodabread…  When @JohntheCabby asked me too, I knew something would have to be done.

First of all there was the question over which recipe to use.  A quick trawl of the BBC web site revealed Richard Corrigan’s recipe, which I was about to make, but Azelia felt quite strongly that the balance of ingredients was incorrect.  So, to the books then…  I dragged out all my main cookery books… Now I know Lorraine Pascal has a recipe, and I’m pretty sure Rachel Allen and Nigel Slater will have one too, but I chose to stick in the main part to the bread books.

The List                           The ‘No Recipe’ Pile            The Contenders

My choices were made much easier by the fact that only two main breadmakers seemed to have sodabread recipes (which I think reflects my own experience – the sourdough makers don’t tend to make sodabread!).  Emerging from the pile were Dan Lepard and Paul Hollywood.  We conferred on twitter and I decided to go with Dan’s more full-bodied recipe, in Baking with Passion (Baker & Spice)

Ingredients:
300ml buttermilk or thin plain low fat bio yoghurt
1 Tbsp black treacle
220g self-raising white flour
220g plain wholemeal flour
1 Tbsp wheat germ
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Maldon salt, finely ground
plain flour for dusting

Method:

Put the dried ingredients together into a bowl and mix together to ensure they are evenly distributed and that there are no lumps.

Warm together the treacle and the buttermilk mixture, and pop into a well in the dry ingredients.  Bring together with your hands (or with a scraper).

In the first instance my mixture was a little too sticky, and as this isn’t a kneading dough, I popped in another small handful of wholemeal flour.

This time I brought together the dough lightly, and shaped it into a round.

Like a sourdough baker, I tried to slash the loaf with my lame – but of course there’s nothing to release, it’s an unproved loaf…

So, trying again with a bread knife, and cutting down to about 1/3 of the loaf… Now I’ve not put any steam in the oven, and this is cooked on a baking tray, not a stone.

These are my results and Dan’s pic from the book.  It seems I need a deeper cut into the loaf before baking, but the crumb is dense and chewy – the treacle does add an incredible almost umami’ness to the loaf – it works really well with the buttermilk and bicarb flavour.

The Breadmakers

Richard Bertinet : Richard is a French break maker living and working in Bath.  He runs a very successful cookery school, and has several books.  Richard’s site   … on twitter

Azelia : Azelia writes a blog called Azelia’s Kitchen.  Whilst she writes about lots of different food themes, this year particularly has seen the rise of Azelia the bread maker.  Lots of experimentation with different flours etc, and visits to other bread makers.  Azelia’s Blog   … on twitter

Luc Martin : Luc lives in the Netherlands, but is not Dutch :0)  He writes about restaurants, food, recipes.  Luc’s Blog  … on twitter

 Do buy a copy of Dan’s book :0)

Baking

Toffee Fudge Muffins

Okay, forget that New Year’s promise of dieting for a moment, and have a toffee fudge muffin on me :0)  The little fudge chunks at the bottom of the muffins turn that bottom bit into a pseudo treacle sponge – delicious!

Ingredients:
255g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
110g cinnamon sugar
100g bag of baking mini fudge chunks
1 egg
240 ml milk
90ml vegetable oil (or melted butter)

Method:

Place all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly to ensure they are free of lumps etc.  Then pop in the fudge chunks, and coat in the dry ingredients.

Thoroughly mix together the egg, milk and vegetable oil.  Pour into the dry ingredients, and barely mix – the idea is not to work the dough in any way, but to ‘just combine’ everything together.  Spoon into muffin wrapper – if using the kind I show here, do make sure you pop them into a holed baking tin to ensure they stay together!

Bake for 20-25 mins at 190-200oC.  I tested mine with a cake skewer, and left them to rest for 5 minutes in the ‘holey’ tin, to let them ‘settle’ a little before popping them onto a cooling tray.

Baking

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Bloomin’ cheek… Pointed the toffee muffins out to the Hubby, who remarked rather pointedly that he only eats lemon poppy seed muffins.  Then he popped off for a quick run… Well.  The 10yo and I weren’t going to stand for that, so we found a recipe, and made some while he was out!!!

I’ve adapted a recipe from The English Kitchen blog, which had a really lovely lemon zest crunch on the top, which I thought would work well.  By now I’m obviously in a hurry, so my modifications are more about timing than anything else…

Ingredients:
Grated zest of 5 medium lemons
220g vanilla caster sugar (1 cup)
335g of self raising flour (2 1/4 cup)
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
80ml of fresh lemon juice (1/3 cup)
250ml of milk (1 cup)
60g of vegetable oil (1/3 cup)
2 large free range eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 180oC.  Pop six large cafe-style muffin cases into a ‘holey’ tin (otherwise they will unfurl!)

Rub together the lemon zest and the sugar, and then set aside 3 tablespoons for later.  Sift the flour into the remainder and stir in the poppy seeds.

Putting lemon juice into milk has the effect of turning it into buttermilk.  I’m assuming you could substitute buttermilk here if you wished…  So, whisk together the lemon juice, milk, beaten eggs and vegetable oil. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the liquid all at once.  

The trick with muffins is to avoid overworking the batter, so only stir enough to combine.  Spoon it into the prepared muffin cups, dividing it equally.  (And here that Lorraine Pascal trick of using one of those old-fashioned icecream scoops really will help, especially if you have a 10yo as your pâtissier.  Sprinkle the tops of each with the reserved lemon sugar.
Bake for 30 minutes.  I tested mine with a cake tester, but the rules about a clean skewer apply too.  I left mine in the pan to ‘settle’ for a few minutes too, before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Et voila! Laissez mon mari manger son gâteau! (Let my husband eat his cake!!)

Camembert

Truffled Camembert with Crudités…

Another quick and yummy supper to share – crudités with a baked truffled camembert! Amazing what I rediscover unused in my fridge after Christmas!  Bake the camembert in the oven, then shave a few slices of white truffle over the cheese, and drizzle with some good olive oil – absolutely scummy!


Journal

The Soufflé Project

Recently the lovely Tony Fleming, Head Chef at No.1 Aldwych, entered a dessert into the Best British Dish – a blackberry soufflé with a blackberry and elderflower granita.

I adore soufflés – I usually order it if I see one on the menu – and find it a very good way of comparing chefs.  Technique is rarely the issue, but even in Michelin starred restaurants you find the most extraordinary combination of ingredients.  As a result, some soufflés are simply tasteless and mediocre, some are rather nasty, and some absolutely sing.

After the show Tony and I had a rolling conversation conversation about soufflés and compared notes.  Tony worked with  Marco Pierre White, and I confessed that MPW’s Raspberry Soufflé was one of my top two soufflé recipes, both to make at home, and to eat at the restaurant (in this case Mirabelle).

My other favourite is Pierre Koffmann’s Pistachio Soufflé, which is just the most delicious thing imaginable.  They’re both quite different – one is light and delicate, the other is heavily scented and packs a real flavour punch…  We discussed the various merits of soufflé recipes, and which chef favoured which combination – Tony has his Blackberry Soufflé on the menu,  Le Gavroche has  Passion Fruit, The Waterside Inn, a Rhubarb one, Tom Kitchin has a Gingerbread Soufflé,  Andre Garrett has Banana, and Alan Murchison has a Dutch Mistress goats cheese soufflé…  So many Michelin starred restaurants, so many soufflés!

And so my Soufflé Project was born!  I’m going to work my way through all the best soufflé recipes I can find, photograph them, rate the recipes, and the results.  Where possible, I will also eat the same dish in the relevant restaurant to see how the home versions compare…

I hope we can get to my favourite soufflé recipes.  There will be complicated soufflés, simple ones, iced ones, hot ones, perhaps even savoury ones… Enough to offer a soufflé recipe at all levels.  I hope you’ll be able to try some of these for yourselves…

Let the soufflé making begin…

Alan Murchison

L’Ortolan’s Hot Dutch Mistress Soufflés

Twitter is a marvellous way for chefs, artisanal foodmakers, critics, and food bloggers to chat. Conversations are often random, and can run off in any direction, like quicksilver!

One of my favourites tweeters is the lovely Sarah from Brockhall Farm. Sarah has a herd of pure Saanen goats, and gorgeously white creatures they are… Using their free-range milk, Sarah makes a number of goats cheeses – the most prized of which is her Dutch Mistress. This is a full-flavoured, rindwashed Gouda style cheese – dense, rewarding and buttery with a lightly piquant finish from the rind – it’s normally aged for 8-16 weeks.

Amonst Sarah’s clients is Alan Murchison, owner of the 10in8 Group… If you read this blog you’ll know I’m a great admirer of Alan’s food, and particularly his book, which I reviewed here…

Such is the randomness of twitter that one night Sarah was discussing yorkshire puddings, and we were commenting on the fact that her puds must be so magnificent because she uses her goat’s milk. Sarah joked that her enormous pud wanted to be a Dutch Mistress Soufflé, and Elliott, the Head Chef at L’Ortolan sent us a quick picture of their Dutch Mistress soufflé.

Now, I couldn’t let the soufflé project continue without including a goats cheese entry, so many thanks to Alan for allowing me to post it here. Thanks also to Elliott for not only being kind enough to write it up for me, but for actually taking pictures for us as he was preparing the dish!  And let’s face it, none of this is going to be possible without Sarah and her goats!

As this is a restaurant recipe, it does make 12!

Ingredients:
50g butter

50g flour
250ml milk
200g Dutch Mistress
50g gruyer or cheddar
1tbsp Dijon mustard
5 egg whites


Preparation:
Line 12 ramakins with soft butter, refridgerate and line again so you have a double layer of butter. Lightly dust with grated parmesan cheese and set aside.  Set the oven to 180 degrees.

In a pan, melt the butter and add the flour, cook out for a few minutes.  Slowly add the milk and cook out for a further 10mins.

While the mix is still hot, mix in the cheese and beat until smooth, keeping the mix warm so it melts, then mix in the mustard. Cool the base to room temperature.

Quarter fill a roasting tray (big enough to fit your ramekins) with boiling water.

Whisk the egg whites until they form a stiff peak, or you are confident you can turn the bowl upside down over your head without getting messy.

Take a quarter of the whisked whites and beat into the souffle base to loosen the mix, then gently fold half the remaining whites in so the mix becomes lighter, followed by the rest.

Spoon into the lined moulds 3/4 of the way to the top, place in the roasting tray and in the oven for 15 minutes.

If made properly… they should almost double in size. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the moulds.

De-mould the souffles when they have cooled. When you are ready to serve, reheat them by placing them back through the oven (sat on greaseproof paper so they don’t stick to the tray ) for 6 minutes or until hot all the way through.

Serve with poached figs, caramalised walnuts and dressed salad leaves.

You can either try the souffle at L’Ortolan, or you can visit Sarah on her stand at the Ludlow Food Market.  Either way I hope you’ll try this recipe and let us know how you get on.

Chocolate

Michel Roux’s Chocolate Soufflé [also for Thermomix]

Chocolate souffle – the ultimate hit of chocolate, but without the guilty stodge… You can almost convince yourself that this doesn’t count…  This is the joy of soufflés, they satisfy without making you feel as though you’ve eaten a whole tart…  Would be delicious served with pistachio ice-cream…

Ingredients
40g softened butter, to grease dishes
40g caster sugar, to coat dishes
50g cocoa powder, sifted
240g plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces
10 medium egg whites (this is the equivalent of 330g of egg white)
40g caster sugar

For the pastry cream:
350ml milk
80g caster sugar
4 medium egg yolks
30g plain flour

To finish:
icing sugar, to dust

 

Method:

  • Butter four individual 10cm soufflé dishes and coat the insides with the sugar.
  • To make the pastry cream, put the milk and two-thirds of the sugar in a small pan, and bring slowly to the boil. Whisk the egg yolks and remaining sugar in a bowl to a ribbon consistency, then incorporate the flour. Pour the hot milk on to the yolks, stirring continuously with a whisk. Return to the pan and whisk over a low heat for 1 minute, then pour into a bowl, cover with cling-film, and cool slightly.
  • Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6 and put a baking sheet inside to heat.  Measure 280g of the pastry cream and delicately mix in the cocoa power and the chopped chocolate using a whisk.  (Keep the rest of the pastry cream for another use.)
  • Beat the egg whites to a thick foam, then add the 40g sugar and continue to beat until the form soft peaks. Fold one-third into the pastry cream using a whisk, then delicately fold in the rest with a large spoon; the mixture will be fairly loose.
  • Divide the mixture between the soufflé dishes, to come level with the rim. Stand on the hot baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes. Serve the soufflés as soon as they come out of the oven on warm plates, dusting with a little icing sugar.

Thermomix Version:
  • Butter four individual 10cm soufflé dishes and coat the insides with the sugar.
  • Chop your chocolate in the Thermo bowl and set aside.
  • Put all the pastry cream ingredients into the bowl and cook for 7 minutes at 90C, speed 4. Give it a quick whizz at the end to ensure it’s smooth, then pour into a bowl and cover with cling film until it’s cool.  This stops a skin from forming.  You can also leave the Thermo on stir mode, until you’re ready to use it.
  • Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6 and put a baking sheet inside to heat.  Measure 280g of the pastry cream and delicately mix in the cocoa power and the chopped chocolate using a whisk.  (Keep the rest of the pastry cream for another use.)
  • Put the egg whites into a clean Thermomix bowl, and beat the egg whites to a thick foam on Speed 4 / 6 minutes before adding the sugar.  Whisk for a further 3 minutes until the sugar is fully dissolved. Fold one-third into the pastry cream using a whisk, then delicately fold in the rest with a large spoon; the mixture will be fairly loose.
  • Divide the mixture between the soufflé dishes, to come level with the rim. Stand on the hot baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes. (I think this should be closer to 13 minutes, but that might be the size of my soufflé dishes!)
  • Serve the soufflés as soon as they come out of the oven on warm plates, dusting with a little icing sugar.

Soufflé Tips:

  • One of the key factors in achieving a perfect soufflé is to ensure that all of the ingredients are at the same temperature.  If you’ve chilled the creme patisserie, bring it back to room temperature before you make the soufflés
  • I now double line my soufflé dishes – let’s face it – it takes no more time and gives a more consistent result.  You could use caster sugar on the first layer, and grated chocolate on the second, if you’re prefer.  I’ve found the sugar layer is best as the first layer as the granules allow the soufflé to elevate evenly.  Chill the dishes in-between lining them
  • When filling your dishes, fill roughly half way first, and rap the dishes down onto a board to ensure that the mixture is evenly distributed over the base of the dish – this ensures an even rise… Air pockets can throw the soufflé off track and make it shoot out in strange directions
  • Always, always, smooth the top of your soufflé with a palette knife to ensure a flat surface.  Then take your thumb and run it around the inside edge of the soufflé dish – this frees the mixture and allows it to soar!

 

Pierre Koffmann

Pierre Koffmann’s Pistachio Soufflé

05f69-p5057646

Ingredients
500ml milk
½ vanilla pod
120g egg yolks
100g caster sugar
50g plain flour
40g pistachio paste
25g butter, softened
25g dark chocolate, grated
4 egg whites (let’s say 120g)
1 tbsp caster sugar
Icing sugar, to serve

Preparation:

Boil together the milk and vanilla pod. Whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar, until the mixture slightly thickens and turns light in colour. Sieve the flour and add into the mixture, whisk until smooth. Add half the milk, whisk until there are no lumps. Sieve through a fine strainer, remove the vanilla pod and return the mixture back to the pan and add the remaining milk.

Using a whisk, stir the mixture. When it comes to the boil, reduce temperature to a simmer. Continue to stir and cook out for 8-10 minutes and mix in the pistachio paste.

Pour the pastry cream onto a shallow tray, wrap with cling film and cool rapidly.

Generously butter 4 individual soufflé dishes. Put the grated chocolate inside and rotate the moulds so that the chocolate completely covers the inside, sticking to the softened butter. Beat the egg whites until firm, add the tablespoon of caster sugar and whisk until stiff. Add a small quantity of the whites to the pistachio mix to soften it, then fold in the rest of the egg whites and pour into the soufflé dishes.

Bake in a hot oven 240°C/ 475°F/ gas mark 9 for 15 minutes or until well risen.

To serve, dust the top with icing sugar and serve with ice cream of your choice.

Serves 4

Mango

Michel Roux’s Vanilla and Mango Soufflés with Passion Fruit Coulis

Ingredients
40g softened butter, to grease dishes
40g caster sugar, to coat dishes
8 medium egg whites
80g caster sugar
1 very ripe mango, about 400g, peeled, stoned and finely diced


For the pastry cream:
350ml milk
70g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
7 medium egg yolks
50g plain flour

For the passion fruit coulis:
30g caster sugar
juice of two oranges
2 passion fruit, halved

Preparation:
Butter 4 individual 10cm soufflé dishes and coat the insides with the sugar.  To make the coulis, boil the sugar and orange juice until reduced by one third, pour into a bowl and let cool.  Scrape the passion fruit seeds into the cold syrup and set aside.

For the pastry cream, put the milk and 40g sugar in a small pan, scrape in the seeds from the vanilla pods and bring slowly to the boil.  Whisk the egg yolks and remaining sugar in a bowl to a ribbon consistency, then incorporate the flour.  Pour the hot milk on to the yolks, stirring continuously with a whisk.  Return to the pan and whisk over a low heat for 1 minute, then pour into a bowl, cover with cling-film, and cool slighty.

Preheat the over to 200oC/Gas 6 and put a baking sheet inside to heart.  Beat the egg whites to a thick foam, then add the 80g sugar and continue to beat until the form soft peaks.  Fold one-third into the pastry cream using a whisk, then delicately fold in the rest with a large spoon, scattering in the mango as you go.

Divide the mixture between the soufflé dishes, to come level with the rim.  Stand on the hot baking sheet and cook for 8 minutes.  Serve the soufflés as soon as they come out of the oven on warm plates, with the coulis in a sauceboat.  Invite guests to make a small well in the middle of their soufflés with a little spoon, and pour in a little of the coulis.

Serves 4