The Darina Allen Column - The New and the Trusty - Celebrating Good Things

Darina Allen always keeps a close eye on food trends and new restaurants here and abroad, many of which involve her own past students. A recent visit to London was no exception - and, back down to basics at home, she’s sharing some of her favourite soup recipes too, to keep us all cheerful through cold late winter and early spring weather. 

The London food scene is 'insane' at present. Despite the challenging climate over there as well as here in Ireland for the restaurant industry, new places continue to open, the choice is mesmerising, and the standards seem to continue to rise and rise.

I spent a couple of days whizzing around London recently and didn't miss a meal slot. The raison d'etre for the trip was to attend a lunch to celebrate 10 years of Portland on Great Portland Street, co-owned by a past student, Daniel Morgenthau. The original chef, Merlin Le Bron Johnson of the famed Osip in Bruton (Somerset) came back for the day to cook up a super delicious lunch for a group of invited guests and friends of this 'farm to table' restaurant which has been a big success.

We were treated to the most delicious lunch - six 'Nibbles' to start, each one more irresistible than the next. The main course was a game pithivier of layers of wild duck and guinea fowl encased in puff pastry crust with a more-ish green pepper gravy and a salad of winter leaves including my favourite speckled Castelfranco and several types of radicchio. Pudding was Portland Trifle made with the first of the new season's forced rhubarb directly from the growers in the famous Yorkshire triangle and sprinkled with frosted pistachios.  

Can you imagine that I went for dinner after that to another restaurant you need to know about - Mountain located at 16-18 Beak Street. Welsh chef Tomos Parry and his team cook up delicious simple dishes with superb ingredients. I loved having a table near the open kitchen where I could watch the chefs cooking over fire in the wood burning oven and conventionally, it's just like having a personal cooking class.

My non-foodie highlight was a trip to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity to see the Vincent van Gogh exhibition, I made sure to arrive early, I was third in the queue so managed to get close to the extraordinary paintings, so grateful and moving to see his 'Self Portrait', Starry Night over the Rhône, 'Irises', 'Sunflowers', 'The Poets Garden' in real life.

Lunch that day was at Canteen, located at 310 Portobello Road, which opened its doors in November last. They don't take bookings, but it was packed on a grey and drizzly Wednesday. The vibrant young team with no one looking a day over 25 were properly impressive, the menu was hopelessly tempting. Once again, the food was super fresh and super delicious a superb radicchio starter salad (two types), and a gutsy ribollita and a butterflied mackerel main course with agretti (monk's beard) and anchoïade - a delicious combination. Can't wait to get some Ballycotton summer mackerel to try that inspired dish.

Despite being totally full, I had to taste a quenelle of the lightest and most exquisite chocolate mousse I've ever tasted - you might have to make a detour to taste that too. And while I was there, I met five past students, two of whom, Beth O'Brien and George Williams, are planning to open a restaurant The Fat Badger upstairs over Canteen in a few weeks time, so watch that space too. Apparently, they're planning to do lots of pies and baked Alaska - a blast from the past, how cool does that sound?

RECIPES – two super soups this time, and that wonderful chcolate mousse from Canteen for you to try.

Chunky Winter Vegetable and Bean Soup with Spicy Sausage 
We make huge pots of this in the winter, I usually keep some in the freezer. Kabanossi is a thin sausage now widely available, it gives a gutsy slightly smoky flavour to the soup which although satisfying is by no means essential. Gubbeen chorizo would be a good substitute for the kabanossi sausage. There's lots of chopping involved here but the end result is so worth it, how about a 'chopping fest' with some of your family or children. Serves 8-9

Ingredients
225g rindless streaky bacon, cut into 5mm lardons
2 tbsp olive oil
225g onions, chopped
300g carrot, cut into 5mm dice
215g celery, chopped into 5mm dice
125g parsnips, chopped into 5mm dice
200g white part of 1 leek, 5mm slices thick approx.
1 Kabanossi sausage, cut into 3mm thin slices
400g tin of tomatoes
salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar
1.7 litres good homemade chicken stock,
225g haricot beans, cooked * see below
Garnish: 2 tbsp parsley, freshly chopped
extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Method
Prepare the vegetables. Put the olive oil in a saucepan, add the bacon* (see note at bottom of recipe) and sauté over a medium heat until it becomes crisp and golden, add the chopped onion, carrots and celery. Cover and sweat for five minutes, then add the parsnip and finely sliced leeks. Cover and sweat for a further 5 minutes. Slice the Kabanossi sausage thinly and add. Chop the tomatoes and add to the rest of the vegetables and the beans. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper and sugar, add the chicken stock. Allow to cook until all the vegetables are tender, 20 minutes approx. Taste and correct the seasoning. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, serve with lots of crusty bread.

Notes
* Soak the beans overnight in plenty of cold water. Next day, strain the beans and cover with fresh cold water, add a bouquet garni, carrot and onion, cover and simmer until the beans are soft but not mushy – anything from 30-60 minutes. Just before the end of cooking, add salt. Remove the bouquet garni and vegetables and discard.
* If the bacon is very salty, put into a small saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Strain and dry on kitchen paper.

Rory's Lentil and Kale Soup 
This is a nourishing combination of ingredients that makes a soup that is deeply satisfying to eat. I serve this soup with a very thick consistency in the Italian style. If you prefer the soup thinner, just add more stock to the lentils when cooking. A drizzle of the very best olive oil is the perfect finishing touch, and that last minute addition seems to elevate this really rustic soup to a much more sophisticated level. Serves 6 -8

Ingredients
250g green lentils
1 red chilli
1 bay leaf
3 cloves of unpeeled garlic
branch of thyme
1 onion halved
1.2 litres chicken stock
500g curly kale, weighed after the tough stalks have been removed
150ml cream
salt and freshly ground pepper

Method
Place the lentils, chilli, bay leaf, garlic, thyme, onion and 1 litre of chicken stock in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook very gently until the lentils are tender. Do not allow the lentils to become overcooked and mushy but at the same time they do need to be completely cooked all the way through. I add a good pinch of salt to the cooking lentils 5 minutes before they are cooked.
Remove the bay leaf, thyme and onion and discard. Peel the skin off the chilli and discard the skin. Split it in half lengthways and remove and discard the seeds. Chop the chilli flesh finely and add back into the lentils. Press the flesh out of the cooked garlic and discard the skins. Stir the soft garlic into the lentils. Taste and correct seasoning.
Bring 3 litres of water to a boil in a large saucepan and season well with salt. Add the kale leaves and cook uncovered until completely tender. Strain off all of the water and place the leaves in a food processor. Purée briefly, add the cream and continue to purée to a smooth consistency. Taste and correct seasoning making sure to add some freshly ground black pepper. Both elements of the soup can be put aside now for reheating later.
When ready to serve the soup, heat the lentils and kale in separate saucepans. When both mixtures are simmering, add the kale to the lentil saucepan and gently fold through. The soup can look streaky at this stage and that is the way Rory prefers to serve it. Add more boiling stock to thin to your preferred consistency. Ladle into hot soup bowls and drizzle each serving with new season extra virgin olive oil. Serve immediately

Canteen's Chocolate Mousse with Olive Oil and Sea Salt 
This was truly the lightest, silkiest and most delicious chocolate mousse I’ve ever eaten, thank you to Jessica Filbey at Canteen for sharing the recipe - but do go and taste the original! Serves 8-10

Ingredients
400g good quality dark chocolate (Callebaut 54%)
210g good quality extra virgin olive oil
230g egg yolks with 90g caster sugar
200g cream
360g egg whites with 60g caster sugar
pinch Maldon sea salt

Method
Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie and stir in the olive oil.
Whisk the egg yolks and 90g caster sugar until pale and very thick.
While this is happening, whisk the double cream by hand until very soft peaks form.
Carefully fold the whisked egg yolks into the chocolate and oil mixture in three increments, until incorporated.
Take two large spoons of the chocolate mixture and fold it into the whipped double cream. Set this aside.
Whisk the egg whites, 60g caster sugar and the salt, until firm peaks form. In thee increments, fold in the whipped egg whites to the chocolatey, egg yolk mixture until incorporated. Finally fold in the double cream. Pour into a large serving bowl and put in the fridge to set for a few hours.
Scoop and serve with a drizzle of your finest olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.

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