Raspberry Cheesecake Perfection

This is one of a few blogs about my time working on an island with a group of people as enthusiastic about food as I am.  It was also a time when the workload for the day job was about to significantly increase, so we were all in procrastination mode.  This meant that we were all extra happy to spend a lot of time in the kitchens, preparing food, enjoying what other people had made, plus generally chilling and having some good chats.  There was also an element of raising the stakes, thus "the kettle's on, come over for tea and scones" became "the kettle's on and I've made cheesecake" then naturally progressed to several full-on dinner parties.  Good times.

Returning the focus to the cheesecake, this was made by The Panorama, and I will post the recipe as soon as I have it because the foodlove deserves to be shared.  The picture doesn't really do it justice.  It is a baked cheescake with a biscuit crust.   

I was on my way to the shops to buy ingredients for supper when The Panorama leant out of his kitchen window and asked me if I wanted tea and cheesecake. 2 hours and 3 slices of cheesecake later, it was apparent that I wasn't going to need any supper.  Normally I can only manage one slice of cheesecake but in this case I was aware that a cheesecake this good may never come my way again.  I'm salivating at the memory.  This cheesecake meets the criteria for a perfect 10/10.

Common pitfalls for cheesecakes are: cloyingly sickly, not sweet enough, too rich, too bland, too much vanilla essence and too dry.  The Panorama had deftly navigated his way amongst these and avoided them all.  The filling was rich and sweet with enough sharpness from the cheese to keep it balanced.  It was moist and there was enough grainy texture to stop it from being gooey.  The rapsberries complemented the creaminess well, by adding a slight bitterness from the seeds as well as fruity acidity.  It was definitely a chesecake with raspberries in, rather than becoming fully raspberry flavoured, and it was all the better for it.  The next challenege will be getting the recipe and seeing if I can replicate The Panorama's result.

Teatime

Culturally and genetically I am conditioned to believe that there are very few situations that can't be improved by a cuppa. 

When it comes to black tea I often like it strong with a little milk.  This is something that can be achieved in a mug with PG tips.  For a bit more attention to detail, a single variety teabag can be used, or even tea leaves.  I had tried this once with Assam leaves and found that the tea which resulted had a fuller taste than tea made with an Assam teabag of the same brand (Twinings, for anyone who wants to try this.)  I didn't do a blind tasting, however, so it could just be that I wanted the leaf tea to taste better.

I had forgotten the ways of leaf tea until I spent the past month living on an island with The Teaboy and The Panorama, who are very serious about tea. They use loose leaf tea, and had several varieties of leaves with which they make different blends.

Their English Breakfast blend was 2 parts Assam: 1 part Kenyan: 1 part Ceylon.  It ticked the box of being strong, but managed to retain flavours from the individual components.  The 'best cup' was particularly good.

My 'best cup' of tea is when a teapot is being used, you have drunk half your cup of tea, and then top up your cup from the teapot.  You might think the same effect can be achieved by starting off with less milk in the first cup of tea but for some reason it doesn't seem to work like that.

Also of note from the afternoon teas with The Teaboy and Panorama were the generous provision of biscuits.  Hobnobs with their English Breakfast blend was especially tasty.  I also managed to consume an indecent amount (Teaboy, I apologise) of Lotus caramelised biscuits.  This was partly because I was trying to see if they go as well with tea as they do with coffee- they don't- but also because they are so tasty!

Teaboy's Scones

Another day, another cup of tea at The Teaboy's.

This time the biscuits were usurped by The Teaboy's homemade scones.  He usually uses bicarbonate of soda in his scones, but had not brought any to the island.  What he did have was an egg.  So a trial was made of egg scones.

This experiment had a very happy ending. The scones rose well and were consumed the second they came out of the oven by The Fiesta, The Teaboy, The Panorama, and myself  The egg added a richness and lightness to the scones.

Fantasy spot for post-hiking supper? It's a Shoe Inn

I'm not sure how much, if at all, the name of this establishment is intended to be a pun, but it was definitely exactly what we were looking for.

Last weekend The Whisky Fiend, The Modeller and I took on the South Downs Way between Winchfield and Petersfield.  We camped near Exton, and the owner of the farm where we camped recommended The Shoe Inn for food, and even gave us a lift there.  We were footsore and hot and  appreciated this kindness.

The Shoe Inn is the brilliant kind of pub where you'd feel equally comfortable whether you were in walking boots or dressed more smartly.  It has a beer garden leading down to a river which is where we sat.

A quick glance at the menu was enough to convince me that given our location South Downs Lamb was the only option.  I had a burger made with lamb and feta, which came between two mini flatbreads with rocket, tomato and aioli.  The mix between local and meditteranean/middle eastern influences had flair without being pretentious, mainly because it really did work.  The feta, rocket and aioli enhanced the flavour and sweetness of the lamb, and the flatbread was tasty and also functional in mopping up the  juices that came from the burger (a good one to eat outside as it eliminates the worries of making a mess!) It came with skinny fries and a salsa which were much needed after the day's exertion but totally overshadowed by the burger. 

The Whisky Fiend had a beef and 6X pie with roasted vegetables which was claimed to be excellent- I cheekily sampled it and can happily confirm this.  The Modeller had belly of pork which looked like it had the perfect meat:fat ratio.

We ordered a bottle of Malbec which I admit I can't remember much about except that the expected red fruit and slightly earthy flavours worked well with all of our food selections.  By the time we had explored some more wine and beer, and finished with whisky (what did we expect with The Whisky Fiend on board?) we were prepared for the walk home.  While walking back we saw fireworks being set off, and I also saw a shooting star, the first I have seen in the UK.

I'd love to tell you we navigated back by the stars, but you'd be amazed at what iPhones can do.  A photo of the lamb burger will be posted once The Whisky Fiend has emailled it to me.

Rump

The cow outline in the branding and naming this place 'Rump' is 1 part tacky and 4 parts fun-  I love how explicit it is about the fact that you'll be chowing down on a bovine backside.  It's definitely not for the squeamish, but neither is a steak cooked very much to the blue end of rare.

Lots of places err on the side of overcooking steak, so that rare becomes medium rare and so on.  This was not a problem at Rump, and my steak was mostly underdone for an order of rare.  Happily the quality of the steak was such that I still enjoyed the blue parts of my steak. The Diver's steak was  a more uniform thickness than mine, so ended up perfectly rare throughout; I had a touch of food envy over this.

One drawback of ordering rare steaks is the fact that the steak doesn't stay warm for long if served on cold plates, as it was at Rump.  We went on a sweltering summer evening which meant that this wasn't a problem, but it definitely would be on a colder day when I'd want my steak to be warm.  

The flexibility of the menu is perfect, allowing you to select a steak by cut and weight, but without including so many options that you get a reading-induced headache from trying to decide what to have. 

The steaks were served with salt and ground pepper dishes on the side. I'm a big fan of a light dusting of both on steak and this means that everyone can achieve their perfect seasoning.  The steaks did come with a green chopped harb sprinkled over them which I am 90% sure was basil (the steak itself was dazzling my tastebuds so I was quite distracted) and although not a combination I'd have thought up myself, worked very well.  It also tied in nicely with one of the side dishes we ordered, tomato onion and basil salad.

Other non-food observations about Rump? The wine and cocktail lists looked good though I'd hate to say more having not actually sampled them.  There was an information leaflet on our table about wine tasting nights held there which I liked- it shows enthusiasm on the part of the management and a keeness to share this with others (and yes, a good way to promote yourself and get diners to part with more cash, but from a buisness point of view I applaud this.)  The set-up inside was rustic industrialism: the tables in the bar area were made of irregular planks of wood that were cross sections through a tree trunk, complete with bark, and the chairs were luxury bar stools in cream.  The walls were successfully made to feel like they had been geometrically chiselled out of a rockface somewhere, rather than being part of a building on Putney High Street.

I liked Rump.  The steak itself was nudging 9/10 but it's getting 8/10 for not quite cooking my steak to my specification and the cold plates.

Dream Team Combinations

Just a very quick post about two amazing food combinations I've stumbled across in the last 24hrs:

1. Goats Cheese + Mango Cutney. 

Cheddar cheese and mango chutney is a well-acknowledged good pairing (which I can say with extra certainty after a mindnight snack of these guys with The Fiesta on sunday) so I decided to branch out.  I took mild goats cheese- creamy. slightly sour, slightly salty, chilled from the fridge, and put it on granary toast with the warmly spiced Geeta's Mango Chutney.  I recommend it.

2. Mushy Peas + Chili Flakes

Last night The Panorama hosted a home-made fish and chip party- which will be a post in itself- but equally as impressive as the fish and chips were the mushy peas.  The Panorama had been concerned that the mushy peas weren't spicy enough, so he added some dried chili flakes.  This worked very well, both alone, with the sweetness of the peas and the heat of the pepper, but also with the battered fish as the chili cut through some of the mouth-coating richness from the oil without overwhelming the delicate flavour of the fish.

The Teaboy was as enthusiastic as me about the chili peas, and we fought over eating the last scraps from the saucepan!

String Bean Thoren

The Fiesta has cooked this many times, sometimes to accompany her famous curries (example shown), more often to appease the demands of hungry housemates who quite frankly think it is awesome.

Aromatic, subtly spicy, and fresh, the Thoren is a great example of Keralan cuisine.  I am reliably informed of this by The Fiesta herself, who is allegedly half-indian.

Green beans, cooked to a perfect bite, are always a favourite of mine, and combining this with crunchy mustard seeds and soft coconut works wonders.  The recipe is below; my only suggestion would be to use stock instead of water, omitting the salt.

• 1.5 tbsp sunflower oil
• 0.5 tsp black mustard seeds
• 0.75 tsp chopped ginger
• 1 tbsp chopped green chillies
• 4 tbsp chopped onion
• 1 cup string beans, chopped into lengths of about 2cm
• 0.25 tsp turmeric powder
• 0.75 tsp salt
• 5 tbsp water
• 10 curry leaves
• 0.25 cups grated coconut

1. Fry mustard seeds in sunflower oil until crackling
2. Add ginger, chillies and onion, continue to fry for about 3 minutes
3. Add string beans, turmeric powder, and salt, fry for about 1 minute
4. Add water
5. Cover pan and cook for 3 minutes until the water has evaporated
6. Add curry leaves and coconut, heat through and serve.