The Condiment Queen

Creamy Chicken & Gruyere Casserole

We were lucky enough to have poached organic chicken for the chicken soup I had laboured over for CB but it was deemed insufficient so we quickly roasted some joints I had to round things out a bit. You could buy a whole roast chicken if you live in a civilised country that has nice rotisseries (like Australia or Italy) – failing that, this is the perfect leftover dish!

Creamy Chicken & Gruyere Casserole

1 cooked chicken – meat shredded

About 6 Desiree Potatoes – peeled & sliced about 5cm thick

½ cup of thick, double cream & the same of sour cream

125g of Gruyere, grated

Big dollop of mayonnaise (I wasn’t watching at this point so am unsure about the amount)

Another bigger dollop of

Dijon

mustard

1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped

Bunch of shallots (which are sometimes called green onions), chopped

First, par boil the potaoes until tender (but not mushy) – about 8 minutes.

In an ovenproof dish (I used a 23cm Le Creuset) layer half the potatoes on the bottom, followed by half of the chicken. Then put another layer of each on top – this should fill the casserole up to the sides. Sprinkle the shallots all over the top

Make the sauce by heating the creams, mayo, garlic & mustard over a lowish heat until smooth. Add half the cheese and stir in to thicken the sauce.

Pour the sauce carefully over the whole thing.

Cook in the oven for about half an hour, until golden & bubbling.
Let stand for about 10mins before serving with some greens (salad or veggies)

Serves 4 (plus some leftovers if people don't keep sampling it on their way past)

 My list of possible modifications

1) Add parsley to the topping and/or the sauce

2) Maybe some stock in place of some of the cream (just in case you’re trying not to turn into a heifer)

3) Gratinate the top a bit OR

4) Fry some bacon and use on the topping OR

5) Roast some fennel first and use in place of or as well as the middle chicken layer

 And there you go, the world didn’t end!

Haozhan

From the moment you step into the room at Haozhan you know that its going to be different to the usual Chinatown experience. Maybe its the walls with panels of backlit green perspex, maybe its the black wooden tables without table cloths but by the time you open your menu you know that they want you to see Chinese food a little differently here.

We ask our waiter to order for us - even though the menu isn't huge - because he's friendly and often overwhelmed by choice its easier to allow someone else to guide  you.

Starting with the best dish of the night, quail with a chilli crust - this was fried but still light, crispy and spicy but also  perfectly cooked - still moist and not even slightly dry.

Next up was our request, soft shell crab, with "curry" that was like rubble. The cornflour was crispy, but the garnishes pretty indistinct.

One of the standout features of the meal was the presentation every dish was framed with either beautiful unique bowls or delicate edible garnishes. For mains we had rib eye beef in a black bean sauce - this was succulent and salty, but with only onions joining it in its deep bowl a little heavy.

Black cod in XO sauce came on top of asparagus spears with a salted fish garnish was delicate and perfectly cooked but without any sauce for my rice. That this signature dish was once again deep fried meant we were slightly disappointed - and I recalled Jay Rayners review where he said that these guys are the gods of the deep fry, indeed.

Perhaps our only fault was to have not ordered specifically two dishes which I envied at the table next door -flash fried Chinese broccolli with garlic and tofu squares topped with scallops.

Although more expensive than the rest of Gerrard Street it is a huge step up in quality. It owes a lot to Alan Yau obviously but Haozhan is more egalitarian for that - a Hakkasaan for the masses.

I will be back, this time to select my own dishes (some of which will be these) to see if they are masters of forms of cooking other than the deep fat fryer.

Haozhan
  8 Gerrard Street, London W1
020 7434 3838

Tamarai

Another in the seemingly endless line of multipurpose restaurants, Tamarai is about to launch a new Winter menu. I was lucky enough to be invited along to taste some of the scrumptiousness that will be on offer before it gets released to the rest of the world.

It's an unusual proposition - pan-asian but without Japanese and with modern Indian. Typically, pan asian tends to be 'Japanese/Chinese/Thai' focussed. This is a strength and a key differentiator - no Salt & Pepper prawns here - instead we have enormous (as in the size of a childs fist) prawns in a sticky caramel sauce.

No spring rolls but lightly spiced tofu coated in a crisp breadcrumb and a hoisin dipping sauce - delicious and stealthily vegan. Fois Gras is not really my thing these days but coupled with minced beef in a wonton 'pot sticker' it was quite tasty (if a little bit unethical) and very rich. Like its other Pan-Asian companions you can order tasters from each section of the menu without having to regulate yourself to a 'starter/main/dessert' dichotomy. Dessert was quite nice - a fig sprinkled with sugar and given a little blow torch treatment and a flicker of gold leaf, kumquat cream were lovely but the main event -  a deep-fried, chocolate coated banana was a little too rich and oily for my taste.

The room is definitely more of a winter venue - black walls with moody red and blue lighting - it is a popular Christmas Party venue and the cocktail and wine list (which is selected by the Guardian's Tim Atkin) has some wonderfullight reds and flavourful whites that complement the excellent food.

Tamarai
167 Drury lane, covent           garden, london
02078319399