Objective Foodie

This was popularised in Spain by Casa Julián (see Matías Gorrotxategi's video making them) to accompany their famous steak. The peppers are quickly sautéed in olive oil and then left to braise/caramelise in the preserving liquid they come with. José Andrés has another video/recipe, following a slightly different procedure too.

Reverse-sear ribeye, candied pimientos del piquillo and a modern-style Bordeaux.

An early dinner today inspired by Joan Roca, perfect for summer. Smoked duck breast with caramelized apricots, baby onions and lavender.

Peach and tomato salad, mackerel katsu and a fresh Provençal rosé.

It was good. It's great to see Canadian wines appear more often in wine lists. Very difficult to guess blind though, most of us thought it was a fresher style of Syrah from Australia. I hope you enjoyed your visit!

Lunch by Pol Roger at the Cherwell Boathouse in Oxford. Heritage tomato salad with parma ham and croutons Rack of lamb, fine beans, caramelised onion purée and confit potatoes (similar to those from QCH) Poached Peaches, peach sorbet, pistachio and sponge And all the wines served blind as per the tradition in out wine club. The Ridge, the Climens and the Alión were outstanding.

Oops! Sorry for the late reply! Yes, the chicken was done sous vide, primarily to ensure that the filling was properly sealed off by the meat. Then, dried and seared for a minute on high heat. Hehe, it was a special occasion so we opened a bottle of Werlitsch Ex Vero II from 2006, a blend of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc from Styria. His wines age incredibly well.

Second attempt for our chicken with vin jaune and morels. For this one we filled the chicken thigh with sautéed morels. It really hits the spot.

Steamed white asparagus with orange sabayon and a sprinkle of Shichimi Togarashi.

Here is our recipe for a lentil stew that we often make. The vegetarian version is as good as the original. As any stew, it improves with time in the fridge. Lentils Yields 6 servings 1 large onions 1 large carrots 2 medium tomatoes 1 red pepper 500g of green lentils 1.5 litres of water (for better results: beef stock) 1.5 tbsp of Spanish paprika 2 bay leaves 1 tbsp of salt 1 head of garlic chopped in half Pepper 75g pancetta 50g of beef bone marrow (optional) 100g of smoked chorizo (Asturian) Method 1. Rinse the vegetable, peel onions and carrots. 2. Cut 10% of veg, chop into 1cm thick pieces and set aside. 3. Sauté the 90% left (whole, without chopping) in a pressure cooker with some olive oil until some browning is achieved. 4. Put 1 tbsp of oil on a tray, add chopped vegetables, lardons and bone marrow. - Roast at 220C with convection until some charring can be seen on the vegetables. - Mix if needed while roasting - Half way through the cooking process, add chopped chorizo (1cm thick slices) 5. Add water and spices. 6. Once it boils, add lentils. 7. Close the pressure cooker and cook under max pressure for 10min 8. Turn off hob. Let cool down and release the pressure 9. Remove boiled vegetables from the cooker, blend them and return resulting purée to the cooker 10. Add half of the roasted veg/pancetta into the mix 11. Mix and adjust salt. 12. Plate and use rest of roasted veg and pancetta to decorate as a topping. Vegetarian version Replace meat by: * 1 tbsp of miso paste * Double the amount of veg. Change method with: * Roast all veg before cooking lentils. Then add 50% of them to the pot and cook with the lentils. Reserve the other half and chop into dices. * Add in and mix the chopped veg once the lentils are cooked. * Correct seasoning at the end. It might need more since there is no cured meat.

The Wines of Germany by Anne Krebiehl MW is very good if you are into Riesling or Spätburgunder (a very affordable way to drink Old World Pinot). I find that GG (Grosses Gewächs) wines by the VDP producers are extraordinary good value and highly underrated.

Hehe! It was a real treat after months in lockdown in the UK. Glad to see that you could enjoy a day out in NYC! And that Bründlmayer is delicious

Cassoulet from St John in London and a bold oaky garnacha.

We used a recipe from Georges Blanc, here's him making them on video. Apparently it was his grandmother's invention. The recipe is in French though

It's delicious! We used some roast chicken leftovers, so very fast to make.