In 1971 Hard Rock Cafe opened its first location in London in a former Rolls Royce showroom. A char-broiled burger cost 50 pence (about 80 cents). Londoners were fascinated by the noisy American music and the all American burgers. Fast forward forty years and Hard Rock is global and I’m just learning that this all American legend had its start across the pond. 

To kick off a year of anniversary celebrations, Hard Rock has rolled out a bevy of new menu options boasting kicked up flavors and dialed back calories. To introduce the new foods in the house, Hard Rock Atlanta threw a Media Dinner for those of us (supposedly) in the know.

The food was very good. It was carefully and creatively presented. The servers (one has been there 15 years!!) and the bartenders were pros. Lovelies Dina, Jennifer and Elise treated us like stars (thank you so much ladies).The Chef came out before each course to give a quick summary and answer questions. 

Now, if a smiling, charming, personable Chef equals excellent food we were definitely dining on superb. Chef Anna is a college educated attorney from Argentina with Italian parents and a passion for what she does. It shows. She was a delight to listen to and I am convinced the force of her lovely personality made the food taste better. 

(This brings to mind a scene in Like Water for Chocolate when Tita discovers that her emotions---love or sadness--- could affect her food and the people eating it)

Okay, on to what we ate....some highlights:

Bruschetta---

Chopped Roma tomatoes, basil, shaved Parmesan on ciabatta. Light, fresh tasting and a perfect bite.

Smoked Salmon crostini---

Lovely slices of silky orange salmon with a tiny bit of dill. Bring me the whole fish next time and I'll sit in the corner and be happy.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps---

Lots of finely sliced raw veg with minced chicken, garlic, and ginger all wrapped in a crispy lettuce leaf. Peanut dipping sauce. The dipping sauce was definitely the star with this one.

This next one gave me a laugh which was actually a laugh at me. It's called the Anti-Cobb salad and I wrote Aunty Cobb until someone saw my notes. I'd like to call it Aunty Cobb but that won't tell you what this is. A lightened version of the traditional Cobb with grilled chicken, fresh grapefruit, fresh apple, sliced strawberries, mango, avocado, dried cranberries and a lighter than air dressing. Anti-Cobb, Aunty Cobb...call it whatever you will but do make sure you order it.

The Legendary Angus Burger---

A burger cooked slightly pink, a slice of rosy red tomato, gooey melted cheese topped with a fat crispy onion ring set inside a warm soft roll. The all American burger at its very delicious best. I am pleased and relieved that Hard Rock's legendary burger is still a very good burger indeed and has only been gilded by the addition of that lovely crunchy ring of deep fried onion . My only complaint? I wanted more of those  rings. One will just not do.

Finale---Desserts.

Sweets are usually not my favorite. I'm a carbo loader (pass the bread and butter!) and will usually pass on dessert. Not this time. A white plate was put in front of me. On it, four tiny glasses sporting four tiny spoons, each glass filled with not too sweet versions of chocolate mousse, strawberry cheesecake, creme brule and chocolate peanut butter topped with chopped fresh peanuts. Accompanying the tiny glasses was one tall martini glass holding fresh berries, fresh mint and a dollop of fresh whipped cream. My favorite? The creme brule. I just enjoyed the idea of creme brule with a perfectly caramelized crust presented in a glass. But I also liked the strawberry cheesecake and the fruit and the mousse.....

Hard Rock.....ya don't look a day over thirty! Thanks for a great time!

A note:

Hard Rock Cafe is committed to a wide variety of philanthropic causes and charities around the world. As they celebrate their 40th year they will be launching new initiatives and events. For information on their charities and upcoming events,  please email Atlanta Hard Rock Cafe at atlanta_sales@hardrock.com.

Auntie Florence's Soup

Auntie Florence died a year ago this June at the age of 98. She was the last of my older relatives and my Mother’s sister.  With a jolt I realized there was no generation ahead of me anymore. I was overwhelmed with a sudden urge to retouch all the lovely things she had given me and make sure all were safe and accounted for.
Here follows, a bit of her lovely:
 

Auntie Florence’s wonderful Mushroom and Barley Soup:

• 4 cups of cold water
• 1 beef bouillon cube (I use Knorr’s)
• 1 cup of barley (use real barley & rinse it well, checking for stones & grit)
• 1 large tomato, chopped with skin and seeds
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 1 stalk celery with leaves, cut in 1/4′s
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and cut in 2″ pieces
• 2 pints of mushrooms (1 crimini & 1 button) sliced
• 2 TBS ketchup
• S&P and garlic powder to taste (easy with the salt until the bouillon cube is dissolved)

Add everything to a heavy duty soup pot. Bring it to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, partially covered, for at least one hour or until the barley is tender. Add more cold water if needed. This soup should be fairly thick.

I've Had a Craving....

.....for Thai chicken in peanut sauce. It hit me earlier this week and won't go away....I've made it twice in the last five days. So rich and creamy and sort of spicy with crunchy peanuts on top.  It cooks up quickly and is nicely warming with the cool weather we're having. Here's my version.

Thai Chicken in Peanut Sauce
(Gai Pad Nam Tua)

  serves 4

• 1# skinless boneless chicken breasts (2 large breasts) cut into strips approx. 1/2" X 3"

• 3 green onions, with the green part, thinly sliced (put aside one for garnish)
•  1 TBS curry powder
• 1 TBS finely minced garlic
• 1 TBS finely minced ginger
• 1 1/2" X 3" strip of lemon peel  (use a vegetable peeler) cut into 1/3's

• 1 tsp Chili paste
• Peanut oil
• 1 17 oz can coconut milk
• 2 TBS peanut butter
• 2 TBS roasted peanuts crushed                
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 2 TBS brown sugar
• Optional: 1 cup fresh spinach, cut into chiffonade (pile the leaves, roll them like a cigar and slice).

Method:

• In a porcelain or glass bowl, mix together green onions, garlic, ginger, lemon peel, curry powder and chili paste. Add chicken and toss to coat. Set aside for 20 minutes. 

• Heat wok or saute pan to medium high. Add peanut oil (just enough to coat the bottom of the pan), chicken mixture. Stir fry 3 minutes or until chicken loses pink color.

• Add coconut milk, peanut butter, fish sauce and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, turn heat down to low and gently simmer for 3 minutes or until sauce begins to thicken and chicken is cooked through.

• If using spinach, add and simmer until spinach is just wilted, about 1 minute

•  Serve over jasmine rice. Garnish with chopped peanuts and reserved green onions.

Serendipity and My Friend Bill

Every once and a while you stumble across a perfect day. Not because it was planned or had anything in it that said spectacular but one that simply evolved. One that involved a couple of bottles of wine, some great conversation and a few found ingredients for a meal. Shaken together with a friend who you adore and voila! Perfection, nirvana, happiness.

Try this: an omelet made with organic eggs paired with arugula salad dressed with sherry wine vinaigrette, garden herbs and lovely organic tomatoes. Warm a small loaf of home made bread and set with sweet farm butter. Serve on your porch with the fan set on lazy. Drink, yak and eat.

It's The Bacon and Nothing But(tie)

Years ago, a friend and I found ourselves cold and hungry on a windy English beach. There was little there but a weatherworn hotel and an ugly old food truck that had just pulled up. Ugly, old or not, the smells from that truck said ‘food’ and we followed our noses and everyone else and queued up to order.

As we waited our turn, we noticed that there was only one kind of sandwich available and it came with a mug of strong hot tea. Beggars are not choosers and we took what the truck offered. We settled on a nearby rock and tucked into our bacon butties and sipped our English tea.

I thought about this yesterday as I watched CNN’s Anderson Cooper (broadcasting from London) take a tentative bite out of his first bacon buttie. His twisted face told a disapproving story and I was shocked (really!) that he didn’t like what he was tasting.

Now we know the English are not as a rule well known for their cuisine. But there are some things that they do really, really well and one of them is the bacon sandwich that they call a buttie.

Close your eyes. Picture a warm soft roll that’s been lightly buttered. Stuff that roll with a pile of not too crispy, not too chewy, thick cut bacon. Take a bite. Take another. No tomato, no lettuce. Just a pile of bacon, a little butter and bread to transport it to your mouth. Now that is a whole lot of Yum.

The Bacon Buttie

(makes 2 large sandwiches)

1 pound of smoked, thick cut bacon (called streaky by the English)

2 soft rolls

Softened sweet butter

Optional condiments: ketchup or steak sauce

Lay the bacon out on a low sided, silpat or foil lined baking pan

Put the pan into a cold oven.

Set the oven to 400°

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the bacon is barely crispy.

Drain bacon on paper towels.

Lightly butter the rolls and pile on the bacon.

Eat.

Royal Icing

Okay, I will admit it; I cannot wait to see William and Catherine get married. I adore all the pageantry, the excitement, the clothing, the jewels. Against my nature and all adult reason, I will force my eyes open way too early so I do not miss a thing.

On April 29^th, every public move made by the Happy Couple and Britain’s Royals will be televised, re-shown, You Tubed and commentated to death. I will, I am certain, thoroughly enjoy the spectacle along with multi millions of others.

But what we will not see much of, or perhaps even learn about, is the food those fabulous folk will enjoy. There has been some chatter about the wedding cake---booze soaked fruit cake laden with white butter cream and “Sweet William” flowers---and the groom’s cake---filled with broken cookie pieces (biscuits to the British), nuts, chocolate and sweetened condensed milk. The Groom's cake recipe is said to be a Windsor family favorite and requires no baking; you just glob everything together, pour it into a pan and chill.

Now I also understand that these confections are being prepared by two of Britain’s finest patisseries so the cakes themselves should be quite upscale and quite lovely to look at. Piping on the wedding cake is said to be done in the style of Joseph Lambert---fine garlands and latticework done in royal icing over fondant. Let us just hope they are just as delicious to eat as they are certain to look.  

Of course, I am aware that I will never know for sure as I have not been royally invited and therefore will not be able to taste aforementioned cakes and in turn pass along my judgment.

So all of this leads me to fantasize as to what a royal wedding costing millions of dollars (or pounds, excuse me) has in the way of food. Will proper English staff in brass-buttoned morning coats pass shiny silver trays laden with caviar and foie? Will they dine on exotic game birds like pheasant or partridge or quail, or lovely pink lamb or oysters and cod?  Sip magnums of rare Champagne and exotic teas? 


Or is too much being spent on clothing, pomp and restoring the Abbey to leave any budget for food. Will they instead have a wedding breakfast of tiny cucumber sandwiches, kedgeree and eggs?

There is a recent survey of top American Chefs suggesting that the menu include lobster with truffles (Alex Guarnaschelli---I’d go for that!) fish and chips (Marcus Samuelson---a little messy I’d say) and banana pudding (Paula Dean---that figures!) However, I doubt any celebrity Chef from the former colonies will ever be asked to cook on such a very British day.

 

 

So what will they eat for the post wedding breakfast or the gala that night? Like the rest of the world, I---and you---will just have to stay tuned.

 

 In Honor of William and Catherine

QUEEN ALEXANDRA'S SANDWICHES

 (Adapted from a recipe from The 2 Fat Ladies, 1998)

8 ounces poached chicken, minced

Mayonnaise to bind

Salt

Black pepper, freshly ground

Tabasco to taste

20 slices Pepperidge farm white bread

10 thin slices of rare roast beef

Watercress 

       For the mustard butter:

12 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons of grainy mustard

Method:

For the mustard butter, beat all the ingredients together to a smooth paste.

For the Sandwich:

Mix the chicken and mayonnaise with a fork, season with salt, pepper and Tabasco. Spread half the slices of bread with the mustard butter. Lay slices of rare roast beef over the mustard butter and spread with the chicken mixture. Add sprigs of watercress. Top with the remaining slices of bread to make sandwiches, trim the crusts and cut into dainty squares or triangles. 

Serve on a shiny silver platter festooned with silk ribbon.

About the Radish

My friend and I have been looking for radishes. We thought, with the weather getting warmer and Spring firmly in place, that they would be in good supply. After all, early spring is for the radish.

But for days none of the supermarkets had radishes. Especially those little beauties with the lovely greens still attached. The kind I ate in France years ago with fleur de sel, warm bread and sweet farmer's butter. We did find some that looked like it once was a radish, all withered, old and over grown and a few others garbed in plastic. Not good.

So we wondered, my friend and I, with all the demand for locally grown and seasonal foods, why our super markets did not pay closer attention and stock produce by season?  Why do we still find tasteless tomatoes in December and strawberries priced like caviar when no one in the Northern hemisphere could possibly be growing summer fruit?

No answer here......just wondering.

But.....when you do find those lovely radishes with their lovely greens attached, do this:

• Undo the bundle of radishes, being careful to keep the greens
• Wash them well under cold, running water and cut off any discolored greens
• Trim off the root end, do not pat the radishes dry
• Lay the radishes out in a glass or porcelain container, fill with ice water, cover loosely and soak over night

Presentation

Pour about 1" of sea salt or fleur de sel into a wide shallow bowl
Drain the radishes and lightly pat them dry
Lay the radishes over the salt, allowing the greens to hang over the edge of the bowl
Place the bowl on a larger platter
Diagonally slice a baguette and spread each slice with sweet butter (use the best bread and best--sweet, unsalted--butter you can find, it will make a world of difference)
Fan the buttered bread around the bowl of radishes and serve

Encourage your guests to take bites of salted radish and buttered bread together. This is a delicious treat to enjoy on soft spring evenings with a glass of Viognier or Shiraz.