#tom aikens

[guy60660]

Men's Health UK | Tom Aikens

[lilastronautsworld]

By Tom Aikens

[circescookery]

WATERCRESS RISOTTO

Courtesy of Tom Aikens of Tom’s Kitchen via The London Cookbook

SERVES 4 AS A STARTER, 2 AS A MAIN COURSE

INGREDIENTS

3 cups watercress leaves

1 cup spinach leaves

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1/4 cup olive oil

4 large shallots, finely diced

3 sprigs thyme

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 1/4 cups Carnaroli or Arborio rice

1 cup white wine

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan

1/2 cup crème fraîche 

1 lemon, halved

Place your food processor or blender blade into the freezer until cold, about 15 minutes. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the watercress and spinach and cook for just 2 minutes, drain immediately, pressing down on the greens to squeeze all the liquid out. 

Combine the watercress and spinach in the food processor or blender and puree until smooth (this may be stored and kept frozen for several days, make sure to bring it to room temperature before using it, though). 

Bring the stock to a gentle simmer in a saucepan and keep warm over low heat. In another large skillet or saucepan, over medium heat, combine the oil, shallots, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf. Sauté for 2 minutes, until the shallots are tender. 

Add the rice and cook, stirring to coat the grains in the oil, for 2 minutes. Add half of the wine and cook until it has been absorbed, stirring all the while. Add the remaining wine, followed by the stock, one ladleful at a time, until the stock has been absorbed and the rice is just shy of being tender. 

When cooked, the rice should have a bite but no crunch. It usually takes half an hour to cook risotto, but taste repeatedly to check. Before serving, discard the bay leaf and thyme and season as needed. Stir in the watercress puree followed by the parmesan and crème fraîche. Adjust the seasoning and squeeze lemon juice over the top. Serve immediately in warmed bowls. 

[foodgloriousfood2020]

Tom Aikens recipes

[ascihaber]

Tom's Kıtchen “İSTANBUL’A ÖZEL” Lezzetlerle Menüsünü Yeniledi.

Tom’s Kıtchen “İSTANBUL’A ÖZEL” Lezzetlerle Menüsünü Yeniledi.

İngiliz şef Tom Aikens’ın restoranı Tom’s Kitchen İstanbul, yeni sezona çok özel lezzetlerle giriyor. Mevsimsel ve lokal ürünlerle hazırlanan birbirinden güzel yemeklerin bulunduğu yeni menünün en büyük sürprizi ise “İstanbul’a Özel” lezzetlerin misafirlere sunulması.

İstanbul Zorlu Center’da lezzet severlere birbirinden güzel yemekler sunan Tom’s Kitchen İstanbul, sonbaharı yepyeni bir menü ile…

View On WordPress

[fungryandfabulous]

The Pawn under Tom Aikens

I last tasted Tom Aikens' food when I went to his restaurant in Chelsea in London maybe three years ago, and while I thought it was enjoyable enough at the time, nothing really sticks out in my memory about that meal. Regardless, I was still quite excited to try The Pawn under his culinary direction. I actually went twice, once for lunch, and once for dinner, so this review is a conglomeration of the two experiences.

The first time I went for lunch was maybe only one week after the restaurant re-opened, and I went with a friend for a casual relaxed lunch. As it was a Friday, we decided to be naughty and rather than order from the set lunch menu, go for the a la carte instead.

We ordered a charcuterie platter to start, which is whimsically presented, with the ornamental plating taking up rather quite a lot of the room on the small table. The actual cured meats and pork rillettes on the platter was not very memorable. We also ordered the fish pie to share; as well as a truffle mac and cheese. I haven’t had a really good fish pie in Hong Kong ever since Bentley’s closed down in Soho. Even the one at The Chinnery is only so-so, being a bit too stodgy for me. Unfortunately, this version also disappoints, through its blandness in flavour. The menu lists both cider and parsley crust as ingredients, but I honestly couldn’t taste either. The mac and cheese with truffle was decent enough, though I prefer the one at Sevva.

Last night, when I returned for dinner with a different friend, we tried some different dishes. By far the most successful dish of the night, which I really loved, were the razor clams (above). These are placed on a bed of pebbles with some smoke coming out of it, but Noma-esque pretension aside, it was really a very delicious dish. The razor clams are pretty much raw, but sliced so that it is easy to eat rather than chewy. It is served in the shell with mitsuba (a sort of Japanese parsley); black garlic and pickled white radish. I can’t begin to tell you how well the combination worked, and how much I wish I didn’t have to share my dish.

My friend’s starter was much less to my liking, to say the least. It was juniper-marinated venison, served with smoked beetroot and beetroot snow (very prettily plated, hence the cover photo). The venison is served in tiny cubes and with my first mouthful, I tasted neither juniper nor venison. All I could taste was smoke. I mixed some of the other elements of the dish, mainly different types of beetroot (in a meringue; sliced beetroot) but it didn’t really change things. The dish still tastes primarily of smoke. “I hate this,” I told my friend. He replies, “Well, I don’t hate it. It’s not terrible. But no, I would not order this again”, which I take to be a more diplomatic version of what I said.

For mains, we ordered the beef short ribs (below), designed for sharing. And then, because we are fat pigs and it’s nearly Christmas, we also ordered the duck bolognese pie.

The best part of the beef short ribs is the bone marrow, which was sadly far too small. The short ribs themselves are disappointing as they are stringy and tough, rather than fatty and juicy. It came with a tiny amount of jus, but not nearly enough as it was still very bland. It was a good thing when we asked for an extra helping, as the jus itself is actually very good. I liked the two large halves of bruleed red onions on the side, as well as the deep-fried julienne of shallots on top, but even that wasn’t really enough to save the problem, which is the dry meat.

Our duck pie (below) was more successful: a crusty layer of Gruyere followed by mash potatoes covers the duck bolognese. It is a hearty dish, and I like how there is a distinct taste of citrus, similar to the flavour profile of a duck a l’orange, which prevents the dish from being too heavy.

Finally, for dessert, we order the sticky toffee pudding with date ice cream (below). This is pretty flawless. The sticky toffee is not too sweet, and the date ice cream is also quite light, which complements it well.

Overall, I would say that my opinion of The Pawn remains unchanged: a nice place, great for drinks, but still not going to come to mind immediately as a dining destination, as only the razor clams and sticky toffee pudding approached anything that was more than just average.

Lunch for two, without wine or dessert, came to about HK$800.

Dinner for two, with about two glasses of wine each and one shared dessert, came to HK$1,900.

[bartonwillis-blog]

On top of the former, I will also be helping re-open The Pawn in Wan Chai, Hong Kong for Tom Aikens at the end of this month for a week, before shipping some of my cooking equipment back home from Copenhagen. Always a good excuse to travel, isn't it? Exciting.

[davidpied]

4 award-winning chefs, 1 night only at L’Autre Pied– Slow Foods UK

What you may not know is that Slow Food UK’s Forgotten Foods is part of the International Ark of Taste network, which counts more than 1500 products from over 60 countries. Slow Food UK has saved an amazing 79 Forgotten Foods, many of which are often at risk of extinction.

During 1-8 June, Slow Food Week 2014 took place and saw the introduction of seven new Forgotten Foods personally nominated by chefs from the Slow Food Chef Alliance.

On Monday 2 June, L'Autre Pied were the hosts for a special dinner with 4 shining stars; Andy McFadden, Francesco Mazzei, Tom Van Zeller and Tom Aikens taking charge of the kitchen together- what a line up!

It was so refreshing to see how they all worked together, it wasn’t about each one of them as individuals but instead they pitched in to make the evening the wonderful success it was for the diners. The event didn’t go without its hiccups though – Adam Simmonds was meant to be taking part in the event and on the Saturday night (the event was on Monday!) he pulled out last minute.  A slight panic later and Andy and Tom Aikens decided to come together for the final course – a dessert that summed up the evening – wonderful!  

“Amazing night of culinary delights at @LAutrePied with @Andy_McFadden @tomaikens for @slowfooduk We will see you next year (if not before)! – Tim Sheed

“@LAutrePied @Andy_McFadden thank you for last night! Great food! Great chefs!” – Joesph ONeill

It was a very proud moment for all and a huge testament to Andy that these chefs would take the time out to join forces with him in the kitchen for this event.

Take a look at some photos from the event taken by Simon Harvey