Pomelo & Thai Rub

Pomelo spilling off supermarket shelves in HK. Reminds me of nice afternoon snack served when working in Bangkok circa 1997. As can be expected, ticks all the flavor boxes: sour, spicy, salty, sweet.

pomelo

dried chili

salt

sugar

1. break pomelo up into bite size pieces
2. mix salt and sugar together in equal amounts, plus chili to taste
3. dip pomelo in mixture and snack away

Pineapple, Lychee & Perrier

A great drink, preferably in a big pitcher pool side.

3 parts juiced pineapple

1 part commercial lychee juice (or nectar from can of lychees)

1 part Perrier

ice cubes

1. pour everything into a pitcher filled a third of the way with ice
2. garnish with a lychee & sip with a straw

Sydney Observations

Various watering holes to try next time in Sydney, as noted in the FT.

• The Commons (Darlinghurst): live jazz
• Duke (Surry Hills): waitresses in aprons
• Eau de Vie (Darlinghurst): lots of black leather
• Love Tilly Devine (Darlinghurst): nice wine list
• Low 302 (Surry Hills): bartender's bar
• Sticky Bar (Surry Hills): negronis on hand
• 13B (Darlinghurst): drinks made with care

Tagliatelle al Ragu

There are as many ragu recipes as there are nonas. But this one from Rowley Leigh is interesting in that he suggests sauteing the vegetables separately. He is also adamant about not compacting the meat after it has been put through the mincer. As a result, "the meat does not cake into lumps that have to be broken down during the cooking process". Frying the pancetta until a bit crisp is also unusual, as is the omission of wine I believe. The milk is fairly standard, making the sauce especially smooth. To date, I've not seen many ragus with garlic and especially thyme, so I wonder if this is Mr. Leigh's idea?

250 gr unsmoked pancetta

750 gr lean beef

750 gr belly pork

2 onions

2 large carrots

4 celery stalks

2 cloves garlic

300 gr tomato passata

70 gr tomato puree

400 gr tinned and peeled plum tomatoes

3 bay leaves

a few sprigs of thyme

nutmeg

1 liter milk

1. cut the meat into long strips, mince the pancetta first on the medium blade of the mincer and put to one side; mix the remaining meat and pass that through the machine (if you have one, otherwise chop away)
2. heat a heavy saucepan with a tblsp of EVOO and add the pancetta; let it sweat for 10 minutes until the fat renders out and the meat is fried to a nice friable texture; add the rest of the minced meat and stir well with a wooden spoon; continue to cook on high heat for 20 minutes, stirring regularly; continue cooking on lower heat for another 20 minutes stirring occasionally
3. while the meat cooks, peel and cut the vegetables into a fine dice; in another pan stew them together in two tblsp EVOO until very soft; add all three types of tomato with a dessertspoon of sugar and then add the herbs, a good grating of nutmeg, a tsp of salt and plenty of ground pepper; simmer for a few minutes and then add to the meat after it has been cooking for 40 minutes
4. bring the mix to a gentle simmer and then pour in the milk; stir well and simmer for another two hours on a very gentle heat, stirring now and then; make sure the sauce does not catch on the bottom of the pan
5. drop the tagliatelle in a large pot of salted water; when cooked, lift out with thongs into a saucepan; add ragu to taste (not too much!); add a bit of pasta cooking water and gently fold the sauce through the pasta
6. serve on some heated plates, with freshly grated parmesan all around

Wine & Peach Quencher

This summer's thirst quencher. A crisp and cold bottle of Italian white wine poured over some quartered sweet peaches. Looks lovely in a glass pitcher.

sweet peaches, pitted and quartered

cold white wine, preferably minerally

1. put peaches in fridge for a couple hours
2. put wine in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes
3. put peaches in a pitcher, and fill to top with wine

Grilled Pineapple & Chile

Although one not need tamper with a delicious and sweet pineapple, this idea is a nice departure from the usual. Here you have the traditional combo of pineapple and coconut, interlaced with a bit of sweet and spicy chilli syrup. From Rowley Leigh.

2 red chillies

50 gr light brown caster sugar

1 vanilla pod

1/2 cinnamon stick

4 star anis

10 cloves

1 pineapple

coconut ice cream

400 ml tinned coconut milk

400 ml milk

8 egg yolks

150 gr brown caster sugar

200 ml double cream

1. make coconut ice cream by combining milks and bringing to a simmer; whisk eggs and sugar, then pour the almost boiling milk into the the mixture whisking constantly; pour mixture back into saucepan and return to a gentle heat, stirring with a wooden spatula until custard thickens; pour into clean bowl, allow to cool completely; whisk cream until it forms soft peaks, fold into the coconut custard, then into the ice cream maker according to the manufacture's instructions.
2. de-seed and slice the chile thinly; combine with the sugar and 300 ml of water in a small saucepan and add the vanilla, taking care to split the pod in half and scrape the seeds into the water; bring to a simmer and cook on very gentle heat for 15 minutes; leave to cool
3. cut pineapple across the base and below the stalk; standing on its base, cut down through the center of the pineapple, cleaving it in two; cut again lengthways producing four equal long segments; first slice skin away then the stalks; then cut each segment into four long slices
4. heat a cast iron ridge griddle and grill the pineapple slices; turning them so that they get a criss-cross pattern; shouldn't take more than 5-6 minutes
5. arrange in overlapping slices in a dish and then macerate with the chile syrup
6. to serve gently warm the pineapple in a moderate oven; arrange a few slices with a small a scoop of coconut ice cream

Hemingway Daiquiri

As served at the Connaught, I've lifted this from an FT article on prohibition cocktails. This serves one. Apparently daiquiris were first made using Barcardi rum

45 ml Bacardi rum

5 ml maraschino liquer

35 ml grapefruit juice

10 ml lime juice

1/4 tsp caster sugar

1. fill a shaker with ice, add the ingredients and fine-strain into a martini or champagne coupe glass
2. garnish with a wedge of lime