Gaslight & S's Birthday Operation FI3

[*Updated 7:50 am, 16 May 2011]

Twice baked goat cheese souffle with ratatouille

S had a big birthday about a month ago. Since I am such an abusive slave driver (you know, always throwing recipes at her and making her cook, etc), and it was a milestone birthday, I knew that the usual dinner party and cake just wouldn't do. Being slightly neurotic, I began planning about two months before her birthday. 'Operation FI3' (can anyone who wasn't involved guess what that stands for?) came together with the help of a few 'agents' and a lot of secretive emailing. 

Butternut salad, arugula, pumpkin seeds, feta

On D-day, I was surprised at how (almost) seamlessly the plan was executed. Basically, we planned something akin to the 'Amazing Race', except that she wasn't racing against anyone. She was given clues and tasks that she had to successfully complete in order to get her next clue and progress to the next destination. S actually solved some tasks more quickly that we had anticipated, but she finished the entire mission more or less on schedule. Thanks P for playing paparazzi!

Steak frites with sauce borderlaise

J started it off by surprising her with the rules and her first task at 11:00 am. She had to decipher five clues to figure out which five items she had to bring on the mission as 'toll payment', e.g. "An _____ a day keeps the doctor away". After that, she had to solve another clue to figure out where I was waiting for her (at the basketball courts). There, she had to make either five free throw shots or one three point shot. Then she had to find the next agent, who made her play a taiko drill by stamping her feet - the video of them doing this is brilliant and a definite keepsake. Following that, she was supposed to recall missing lines from at least one of two Malay 'pantuns' (poems) that another agent had prepared - poems that we all learnt as kids. She failed at this - the penalty for failure to complete a task was a tequila shot per offence, to be paid at her party that night. Her last task was to find a spot to photograph the hospital so that the entire building would be in the shot. This had to be done to P's satisfaction - P's an excellent photographer and was following S throughout her mission to photograph the action. Finally, she had to use the first letters of the five items she had collected at the beginning of the mission and five other letters we had given her for completing each task to work out what the final destination was - Gaslight. 

Gnocchi with fume, lardons and fungi (spicy bacon and mushroom)

So, at about 1:00 pm, everyone showed up at Gaslight for a much needed feed. I had dined there once before and thought that the simple, decent food and comfortable, casual, aesthetically pleasing ambience would be perfect for an occasion like this. It's quite new and of course, as with anything new, had a few teething issues, but for me, the overall experience of dining there twice was positive. 

Fettuccini with fungi

I have a lot of photos of what everyone else ordered, but obviously can only really comment on what I tasted:

Fettuccini with fungi: I had this the first time I had dinner there. Initially I thought that the pasta was a little bland. But as I ate, I realised that the mushrooms were so well seasoned that you just had to make sure you had a mixture of mushroom and pasta with each bite to get the nice, subtle, earthy flavours of the mushrooms. Simple, rustic and quite tasty.

Gnocchi with fume, lardons and fungi: Had a tiny bite of this from B's plate. Thought the bacon was a little tough.

Fettuccini Marinara

*Fettuccini Marinara (southern littleneck clam in a rich chive cream): I didn't taste this, but thought it was really odd that their 'marinara' was a white cream sauce. People often think that 'marina' means seafood (I did too when I was a kid) but marina sauce is actually a specific style of tomato based sauce. This is the first time I've seen a cream based 'Marina' sauce in a restaurant and I don't know if it's just a misnomer, or intentional.

Pan-fried fresh fish, caper butter, wet polenta with feta and spinach

Pan-fried fresh fish, caper butter, wet polenta with feta and spinach: The fish was tasty, albeit a little over-seasoned. I really didn't like the wet polenta - it's just not my thing and had a strange texture. Otherwise, OK.

Chocolate croissant pudding

Chocolate croissant pudding: I think this really should have been served warm, instead of stone cold. It would have been pretty nice if it was warmed. I liked the crispiness of the top crust, and the thick layers of chocolate running through it, but bottom half was too stodgy and cold. Disappointing.

Chocolate mousse pots with white chocolate mascarpone: Absolutely delicious. Thick and luxurious with little surprising chunks of chocolate (or honeycomb?) throughout the pot. Wanted to order it again at S's birthday lunch, but they had run out. The mousse was rich and sweet enough on it's own without requiring the additional white chocolate mascarpone. 

I am keen to re-visit Gaslight to try more of their pasta and French dishes. Their prices are reasonable and as a whole, it looks promising. When they iron out whatever needs to be addressed and hit their stride, I think it could be a favourite Dunedin haunt.

Gaslight Cafe

73 St Andrew Street

Dunedin 9016

Bakeries

Critic Issue 26 – Food Column 

Madeleines, Almond Croissant and Pain Au Chocolat

Nestled in Roslyn Village is a bakery that has built quite a reputation just from word of mouth, particularly through the locals. The regulars know that you have to get in early because the popular items can sell out before 8am, and then you would have to wait another week to satiate your cravings – it is open for business only once a week. By 7:30am, there is usually a small crowd at Highgate Bridge (300 Highgate, Roslyn Village), which is better known as The Friday Shop/Bakery, waiting to get their hands on the fruit tarts, croissants, pain au chocolates, meat pies, quiches, etc that line the shelves and tables of this otherwise sparse, no-frills shop. 

I was after the pain au chocolates, madeleines and of course, the croissants. I had heard from more than one source that The Friday Shop’s croissants are the unquestionably the best in town. They did not disappoint – the pastries were light and flaky, and smelt heavenly, as freshly baked, butter-laden pastries often do. The almond croissant was filled from end to end with rich, melt-in-your-mouth, sweet, almond butter and encrusted with almond slices, so from the very first bite, you experience the intermingling of the different textures and flavours from the sliced almonds, the pastry and the filling. In comparison, the pain au chocolate is not much to look at, but the winning contrast between the faintly salty, flaky pastry and the sweet, smooth strips of chocolate within, makes it my favourite item. At first glance, it looks as though there isn’t enough chocolate filling, but I think that, unlike the more common chocolate drenched pastries found elsewhere, they have intentionally restrained themselves with the chocolate in order to maintain the fine complementary balance between the two, where neither the pastry nor the chocolate is the dominant flavour. The distinctly, but not overwhelmingly, orange flavoured, springy madeleines are also very good. There were so many other things to scrutinise and contemplate trying but with the pressure of the crowd of people waiting in line behind me, I got what I was familiar with and got out quickly. There’s always next Friday… 

Mince Pie

The Bakers Dozen (43 Mailer Street, Mornington) is another, more accessible, bakery that I go to for pies and chocolate lamingtons. That’s not all they have, of course, but I believe they’re known for their pies. Like The Friday Shop, you will probably miss out if you get there late, but here, ‘late’ is more like 2-3pm in the afternoon, not 8am. I always get the chicken curry and the mince pies. Their delicious pies are always hot and fresh, with nice, light-ish, flaky pastries and, tasty fillings with real, lean meat. You won’t be going back to supermarket pies once you’ve had one of these. [Edit: Also previously posted about the chicken curry pie here.]

Croque Monsieur

Critic Issue 23 - Food Column

As a continuation of last week’s French theme and Meryl-Streep-movie mania, I went hunting for this recipe after watching ‘It’s Complicated’. The Croque Monsieur, which loosely translates as ‘crispy’ or ‘crunchy’ mister, is basically a fancy toasted ham and cheese sandwich. Not being cheese-crazy, I wasn’t sure that I would like it, but it turned out to be unexpectedly tasty (at least on our first attempt). The first time we made it, the Croque Monsieur was delicious, albeit somewhat rustic looking because we couldn’t cut the ciabatta into nice, even slices. It was nice and crunchy around the edges, but soft and cheesy in the middle, giving it an interesting, somewhat unusual texture. Just looking at the recipe initially, I was concerned that combination of the white sauce and cheese would be overwhelming. But, the mustard gave the sandwich the critical piquancy required to cut the richness of the white sauce and cheese, and so the flavours were actually very well balanced. On our second attempt, we tried to use normal, thick cut pre-sliced bread, and it turned out too dense and soggy because the bread wasn’t dry enough. If that wasn't bad enough, we must have played around with the amounts a little because the flavours were milder, so it wasn't as tasty. Of course, the second attempt was when we decided to make double the amount we had the first time. Ugh, not pleasant. Moral of the story, get the good stuff and remember to taste as you cook!

Croque Monsieur

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

1 1/2 cups milk

A pinch each of salt, freshly ground pepper, nutmeg, or more to taste

6 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups grated)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (packed)

8 slices of French or Italian loaf bread

12 ounces ham, sliced

Dijon mustard

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Make the béchamel (white) sauce. Melt butter in a small saucepan on medium/low heat until it just starts to bubble. Add the flour and cook, stirring until smooth, about 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk, whisking continuously, cooking until thick. Remove from heat. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir in the Parmesan and 1/4 cup of the grated Gruyère. Set aside.
3. Lay out the bread slices on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven, a few minutes each side, until lightly toasted. For extra flavour you can spread some butter on the bread slices before you toast them if you want. (Alternatively, you can assemble the sandwiches as follows in step four and grill them on a skillet, finishing them in the broiler with the béchamel sauce.)
4. Lightly brush half of the toasted slices with mustard. Add the ham slices and about 1 cup of the remaining Gruyère cheese. Top with the other toasted bread slices.
5. Spoon on the béchamel sauce to the tops of the sandwiches. Sprinkle with the remaining Gruyère cheese. Place on a broiling pan. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, then turn on the broiler and broil for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, until the cheese topping is bubbly and lightly browned.

Sole Meunière

This post is for J.I., a very kind reader who, upon reading about my obsession with some of the food in the movie Julie and Julia in Critic (pg 33, or here), sent me his copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Thanks J.I.! Even though we still haven't tried anything from the definitive, preeminent cookbook (Boeuf Bourguignon is first on the list!), Sole Meunière should suffice as a tribute, temporarily. This was apparently the 'life changing' dish that Julia Child had in Paris that ignited her love for French food and cooking. And I can see why.

The Sole Meunière was wonderfully zesty and acidic and had a lovely, smooth, very subtle buttery flavour. It was not in the least bit sickeningly rich or greasy, as one might reasonably expect in dish with this amount of butter. The edges of the sole were nice and crispy and each bite of delicate, tangy sauce coated sole flesh melted in my mouth with an immediate rush of clean, slightly tart but still rich, full, flavours. Bliss! It's one of those dishes that does not immediately 'knock your socks off', but tastes better and better with each mouthful. Towards the end, in butter induced euphoria, I almost believed that it was the best fish that I had ever tasted. I can't wait to make this again. 

We, naughtily, did not use Julia Child's Brown Butter recipe because we couldn't be bothered clarifying the butter, so we used this recipe instead. Below is my simplified version, of an already very simple recipe:

Sole Meunière

Ingredients:

4 sole filets (6 - 8 ounces)

4 tablespoons butter (apprx 56g)

1/4 cup of dry white wine (Sauvignon Blanc)

juice from half of one lemon

flour to dust fish (1/4 cup)

1 teaspoon fresh minced parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat a large saute pan on a high setting, while the pan is heating season the flour with salt and pepper. 
2. Dust the sole with the seasoned flour. 
3. Add two tablespoons (28g) of butter to the saute pan and melt until slightly bubbly.
4. Add the sole filets to the saute pan making sure you do not over crowd the pan, or they won't brown. 
5. Fry each side until golden, then remove from pan.
6. Add the remaining butter and continue to cook until the butter begins to turn brown slightly. 
7. Once the butter begins to turn brown quickly add the white wine, lemon juice and parsley (you may premix the white wine, lemon juice and parsley so that it is ready when the butter browns).
8. Pour the butter sauce over the sole and serve.

Gordon Ramsay's Crepes Suzette

So we were eating paella and watching two French restaurants face off on F Word. When the dessert course came up, Gordon demonstrated how to make Crepes Suzette. I think, before the 30 second clip was even over, S was already on her laptop asking Google for the recipe. And, as soon as the show ended, S hopped off the couch and announced that we were making Crepes Suzette, "NOW"! I did not protest.

I, always her humble assistant, was put in charge of segmenting the oranges - which seemed daunting to begin with but was actually incredibly easy. When the job was completed, the segments looked as though they were quite professionally done, even if I do say so myself. After everything was put together, we decided to go one step further and got the blow torch out. We thought it would be a good idea to dust the oranges with sugar and caramelise (is that the right term?) them with the torch - hence the burnt bits in the pictures. It didn't really turn out exactly the way we wanted it to (think thin crème brûlée shell, S suspects that we should have used caster rather than icing sugar), but there were still tiny bits of caramelised sugar and it still tasted great.

Wonderfully soft, light crepes scattered with lovely juicy, citrusy sweet, sauce soaked orange segments, with faintly crisp edges. Absolutely mouth watering-ly, delicious.