Learning All About Activated Charcoal Flour

Words & Photography by Caroline Ghera and Luiz Hara

Name: Flour Power Masterclass at Pizzicotto 

Where: 267, Kensington High Street, W8 6NA, www.pizzicotto.co.uk

Cost: Flour Power Masterclass costs £50 per person, and will run from 28th June 2016 from 18:30 for 1½ hours.

About: The Flour Power Masterclass at Pizzocotto is a fun introduction to the more unusual types of flour including activated charcoal, chestnut and buckwheat flour, used to prepare a range of dishes and pizze, which participants will cook and eat at the end of the class. This feature describes a Flour Power Masterclass I attended recently and the dishes we prepared.

Pizzicotto is the second restaurant by the Chiavarini family who have run the popular Il Portico only a few doors away for 50 years on Kensington High Street. Like its sister restaurant, Pizzicotto is a relaxed neighbourhood restaurant drawing on the family heritage of Emilia Romagna and a small network of regional Slow Food and artisanal producers who supply the restaurant exclusively.

For the first half of our class we were introduced to the basics of pizza making by Pizzicotto's head pizzaiolo, Andrea. We learned that the wood-burning oven’s domed shape helped to evenly distribute the heat (425C), while the mixture of beech and larger burning logs adds a touch of moisture into the oven preventing the pizza from becoming too dry.

We were shown how to stretch the soft dough (made with a mix of semolina, rice and corn flours) into pizze, topping them with tomato and mozzarella for a Margherita pizza. The white dough had been proved for a staggering 72 hours (it is usually 24 hours in a good pizza restaurant). The result was an extremely light base, with a blistered crust and an airy texture when cut.

Using the same white dough, we later also savoured the Spacca Napoli Pizza, topped with anchovies, mozzarella, olives and capers, which was deliciously salty and with a hint of chilli and garlic.

A variation on a theme was the introduction of creamed asparagus to the plain white dough, to create a green, slightly softer textured pizza base. Topped with tomatoes, rocket and mozzarella, this was my favourite pizza dough, the delicate but distinctive flavour of asparagus adding a delicious touch to the faintly green crust.

Our last dough used activated charcoal flour, a striking black powder which had been added to the blended white dough and left to prove for 48 hours. Pizzicotto is championing the use of vegetable charcoal, an extremely porous ingredient which has the ability to draw toxins from the body in a process named adsorption. Being insoluble, activated charcoal is then eliminated from the body, flushing those toxins away. Activated charcoal is supposed to aid digestion, lower cholesterol, improve skin and has even been claimed to be a cure for hangover, though that has not as yet been scientifically proven. Its main medicinal use is to prevent the absorption of medicines taken in accidental overdoses, from the stomach and intestines into the blood stream.

Our charcoal pizzas were topped with mozzarella, spicy sausage, rocket and tomatoes. Despite their dark coloured bases, the addition of charcoal was not noticeable in taste. Having been proved for 48 hours, the dough had a finer texture but was extremely light, definitely worth trying for its potential health benefits without any compromise on taste. 

The second half of our Flour Masterclass was taught by Pizzicotto's head chef, Marianna Giglio, and focused on pasta. Starting off with 00 flour, an Italian stone ground flour where the bran and germ are extracted after milling to produce a finer, whiter flour, which is also richer in nutrients than its English counterpart.

The dough was rolled into a thin sheet and cut into irregular shaped ribbons (known in Italian as maltagliati). The handmade pasta was later served with a delicious beef ragu, a simple but wonderful dish due to the sheer high quality of ingredients and the freshness of the handmade pasta. This was my favourite dish of the evening.

We moved on to use chestnut flour, an expensive autumnal speciality from Piedmont. We kneaded the chestnut flour with a touch of 00 flour, Parmesan and ricotta to make gnocchi.

The gnocchi were served with butternut squash, mushrooms, Parmesan and a reduced red wine jus. This was a hearty autumnal dish, and while I enjoyed the delicate flavour of the chestnut flour gnocci, I felt they were rather overwhelmed by the squash and mushrooms, and would be better appreciated on their own with a little butter and Parmesan.

The practical side of the masterclass ended with the use of gluten-free buckwheat flour to produce a dough that was again rolled into a thin sheet and cut into triangles. The pasta had a distinctive texture and was served with a delectable mixture of spring vegetables. This was a good option on the menu for gluten-free diners.

After the masterclass, we finally sat down to enjoy our creations. Our evening came to an end with a dessert pizza with a Nutella-stuffed crust, topped with custard cream, more Nutella, thin ribbons of green apple, grapes and raspberries.

Likes: I enjoyed learning how to cook with new flours at Pizzicotto, particularly the striking activated charcoal flour, the mixture of flours used in their white dough, and the 72 hour proofing.

Dislikes: While I thoroughly enjoyed the class, I wish the black charcoal flour pizza as well as the other dishes we learned were available on the restaurant menu. Unfortunately these are only available for participants in the flour masterclass.

Verdict: This is a great opportunity to learn about different Italian flours, and to increase the repertoire of ingredients in your Italian cooking. Recommended.

London Restaurant Review - The Terrace

Words & Photography by Felicity Spector

Holland Street, W8, is one of those roads where everything is just so: a branch of Ottolenghi. A rather smart gallery. A cobbled, winding pathway leading to a small mews, strewn with climbing roses. And now, a new neighbourhood restaurant; itself so bijou and beautifully turned out it could have come straight from the pages of Vogue Living.

The Terrace on Holland Street has been transformed by Leith’s graduate Sara Adams – the cooking talent behind the highly regarded Kensington Square Kitchen – and her husband Chris Hodgkinson, a former chartered surveyor who has clearly had a big hand in the stylish refurb.

Image courtesy of The Terrace

The kitchen is run by head chef James Kelly, who is aiming to put together a small but seasonal menu of “British inspired” dishes – it will change frequently, although customer demand seems to mean there will always be a place for a properly done steak and chips.

There are just 20 covers at The Terrace, although if there is any warm weather there’ll be double that, thanks to a rather lovely outside terrace. Chris told me there had been one outside lunch service so far, on the single day the sun managed to drag the temperatures to more springlike levels.

But on the night we visited, on the invitation of The Terrace team, it was definitely a night for sitting indoors. Everything was very comfortable, the decor a tasteful dove grey, and as I arrived, slightly late, my niece was happily enjoying a glass of sauvignon blanc. “This place is lovely!”

As we looked over the menu a waiter arrived with some slices of warm treacle soda bread, with some deliciously creamy butter: one of the best breads I’ve had for ages. A very good start indeed.

The starters all looked so tempting I decided to have two instead of a main: asparagus with an eggs mimosa style topping, followed by seared mackerel fillet with a smoked mackerel bonbon (and who could resist one of those?) with a little beetroot and blood orange salad.

My niece went for the crab on toast, with a twist of apple and fennel salad, and then sea bass with asparagus and crushed potato, mainly because she liked the sound of the blood orange hollandaise it came with.

I loved the asparagus: cooked just right, with a scattering of chopped roasted hazelnuts on top of the finely diced egg, to add a bit of texture. The crab on toast was just right, generous without being too rich.

When my mackerel arrived I wished I had taken up the waiter’s offer to upsize it to a main course portion. It was really well balanced, with a sharp tangle of beetroot and orange to cut through the oily fish, and as for the bonbon, soft, fluffy in a crunchy crumb – if only all fishcakes were as well made.

My niece made short work of the sea bass and especially loved the much-anticipated blood orange hollandaise, resolving to try making it herself at home.

I couldn’t resist a chocolate fondant for pudding, which came with a ginger creme anglaise and some honeycomb, although I prefer my chocolate pure and simple, so I asked for the fondant on its own.

There is that moment, when a fondant arrives, when you wonder if this is one of the ones which works: will there be that essential ooze when you cut into it? This one certainly didn’t disappoint: the centre spilled out onto the plate in a reassuringly liquid pool, the chocolate was dark and rich. My niece, who fancies herself a bit of a cocktail maven, asked for an Old Fashioned instead of dessert, which kept her happy.

The team take great care sourcing the best produce, much of it from local suppliers – and as much attention goes into the wine list, which they promise will be updated regularly.

All evening, we were surrounded by a sort of contented hum: the other customers, many of them locals, seemed more than happy with their new neighbourhood gaff. Service was friendly and relaxed, and prices seem reasonable for the area.

I normally only head for High Street Ken to hang out at the big Whole Foods Market down the road. Now there’s a new place worth crossing town for.


THE TERRACE
33C Holland Street
London, W8 4LX
T. +44 20 7937 9252
info@theterraceonhollandstreet.co.uk

London Restaurant Review - Min Jiang at the Royal Garden Hotel

Exquisite Chinese cuisine with eye-popping views

Words and Photography by Simeen Kadi

The popularity of hotel restaurants have waxed and waned over the last half century and a decade ago most of us locals wouldn't be seen dead in a hotel restaurant (OK, Claridges, the Met and the American Bar at the Savoy are exceptions) for fear of being taken for a hapless tourist. Today, some of the capitals most starry hotels also house some of our most lauded eateries. I must say that I still feel a little uncomfortable walking into a London hotel for a meal. Somehow they seem to be outside national boundaries, occupying some rarified no man's land, like first class lounges at airports or very exclusive shopping malls – fraternised by the international uber-elite. So, it was with a little reservation that I visited Min Jiang, a rooftop restaurant in the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington.

The restaurant does have the overdressed look of a 5 star hotel with Chinese art and 'Mingness' embellishing the sleek neutral tones. But then there is the view. Looking East there is all of West and Central London laid out, right down to the Shard, twinkling in the clear night sky when I was there.

And then there is the food! But first, we tried some of their cocktails. The Golden Dragon
was a gently eastern mix of Vodka, Triple Sec, lime and mango juices while the more robust Chilli Caipirinha combined aged rum with lime and sugar with the oriental addition of chilli.

To go with the drinks we enjoyed a selection of dim sum which were exquisite – the finest dumpling casings stuffed to plumpness with delicate prawns, scallops, crab and water chestnuts. These were beautifully crafted dumplings and not your run-of-the-mill Chinatown product.

And then, as I go weak at the knees at the very prospect of Hong Kong soft shell crab, I did the right thing and gave into temptation – I was not disappointed. Bi Feng Tang with Garlic and Chilli, to give it its proper name, was crisp and zingy with crispy garlic and Sichuan pepper, one of those memorable experiences which stays with you.

Min Jiang's culinary heart is in southern China and features the cuisines of Sichuan province alongside Cantonese dishes. While the food is not unbearably spicy as some Sichuan dishes can be, there is an unmistakable intensity and flavour that comes from the use of Sichuan pepper and chilli. Dried Sichuan chillies featured in many of the dishes we tried and were aromatic and heady, rather than eye-wateringly painful on the palate. Named after the Min river which flows through the abundant Sichuan province, Min Jiang may have tempered their dishes slightly for Western palates but they still do this venerable cuisine proud.

The main event, however, was still to come. At Min Jiang the Beijing Duck is roasted in a wood-fired oven and is, by their own claim, legendary. Prepared by an army of chefs from Beijing, each duck takes 48 hours to craft as it is stuffed with apples and dried in order to ensure a crispy skin. The birds are an unique breed raised only by one elderly couple in the Irish county of Monaghan (they turn their feathers and down into pillows and jackets, in case you are interested).

The Beijing Duck ritual occupies no fewer than three chefs as whisper-thin pancakes are prepared alongside fine shreds of cucumber and leek. Here, we also get another trio of accompaniments of a delicate garlic paste and strips of lightly pickled carrots and radish alongside a rich Hoisin sauce. If you are so inclined, you can ask your waiter to roll your pancake for you as every waiter has undergone intensive training in how to deliver the perfect Beijing Duck pancake using nothing more than a pair of chopsticks. The staff here are very knowledgeable and even gave me a mini lesson in Chinese dining etiquette.

We watched our duck being expertly carved by a chef who began by stripping off the crispy fat from the neck which was served to us in little dishes along with some sugar. This is a long-held tradition in Beijing where figure-conscious women deluded themselves that dipping the fat in sugar made it taste less oleaginous and therefore less fattening – go figure. I loved the crispiness of the skin but am not fully convinced of the sugar dip.

If you order the Wood Fired Beijing Duck, you get the remainder of the meat served in other dishes to follow the pancake rolls. We opted for diced duck on lettuce leaves and fried rice with duck which were both great ways to use up the parts of the fowl which couldn't be carved into slices. We also enjoyed other main course dishes from the menu, a stand out of which was the black cod and the beef in pepper sauce. The Alaskan Black Cod was marinated in Sha Cha sauce – a commonly used Chinese stir-fry sauce made from garlic, onions, dried shrimps and soy sauce - and roasted to perfection. The rib eye of beef was succulent with a wallop of peppery flavour.

Details: Min Jiang is on the rooftop of Royal Garden Hotel on High Street Kensington http://www.minjiang.co.uk

Expect to pay around £50 per head with a glass of wine
The Wood Fired Beijing Duck is £58 for a whole duck and £32 for half