Eat, blog and be merry (From Halesowen News)

Eat, blog and be merry

7:00am Saturday 4th July 2009

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Cult US food blogger Pim Techamuanvivit has released her first book, The Foodie Handbook. We find out how she started her blog, which attracts half a million hits per month, and which restaurant and recipes she loves the most.

At the end of a long day working in California's Silicon Valley, Pim Techamuanvivit would have only one thought on her mind. Dinner.

Luckily, the Bangkok-born food-lover had both the means, and time, to go out and savour some of the finest cuisine in the world.

While sampling gastronomic delights in her home town, San Francisco, and "travelling quite a bit for work", the petite exec began blogging about food.

And when her website began getting more than a million hits a month, she happily gave up her corporate career and turned to food writing full-time.

"I was lucky that when I started my blog, not a lot of other people were blogging about food and it was about the same time people started looking up food online," she says.

"I've always been a foodie and when I was travelling (for work), I started going out to eat to stop me from being bored to death."

Writing about everything from her love of local cheese shop Cowgirl Creamery, now a mini food empire in San Francisco, to top restaurant elBulli in Spain, the popularity of the blog she started in 2001 grew fast.

According to Pim, the fine dining community has changed a lot. Michelin-starred restaurants are no longer patronised by elite gourmands in their twilight years. Young people from all walks of life are interested in food - and what's written about it.

Her own love of food has clearly infiltrated every area of her life.

Humbly referring to her partner as a "chef", it turns out that Pim's boyfriend is David Kinch, chef at two-starred Michelin restaurant Manresa in Santa Cruz.

Pim's blogs have now been turned into a book - which not only tells you where and what to eat, but how to transform yourself into a classy eater.

"People often email me saying they going to eat in Michelin-starred restaurant for the first time and they don't know what to wear, how to order food and that they're all nervous."

Pim's goal is to make people feel comfortable with the idea that food is supposed to be fun.

Pim's five ways to become a foodie :: Plan ahead. It never hurts to learn something about a restaurant before you go. Read about the chef and his or her style of cooking. Google is your friend!

:: Cultivate your relationships. If you plan to go back to that restaurant again, make sure it is your name on the reservation book. Great restaurants keep meticulous records of their patrons. You can almost guarantee a better, warmer reception with each return.

:: Make friends with the restaurant staff. People say that a great restaurant meal is a conspiracy between the diner, waiter and chef. And you don't want them plotting against you!

:: Don't be bashful. Ask questions, don't be shy. Showing that you're curious will always work better than pretending to be a know-it-all.

:: When all else fails, let out your inner empress. Sometimes, despite our best intentions, we still encounter insufferable restaurant staff. Remember that this is your show, and you are the star, so act like one. Order something, then change your mind, and perhaps again. But remember to do it all with impeccable manners.

Enjoy some of Pim's favourite recipes at home.

:: Warm apricots with honey and saffron This will win you praise at your next dinner party. Especially when you tell your guests that the recipe idea came from the wizard of modern Spanish cuisine, Ferran Adrià, whose restaurant, elBulli, is the toughest reservation to get in the world.

Combining flavours so diverse and unexpected as apricot and saffron is Ferran's signature. Here, the warm apricots - even the bland ones from early in the season - take on a deeper flavour, accentuated by the fragrant honey. The saffron adds a savoury restraint to the dish, keeping it safely away from cloying sweetness. Ingenious.

(Serves 4-6) 450g apricots 1 vanilla bean pod 4 tablespoons honey (the darkest you can find) A small pinch of saffron Vanilla ice cream, to serve Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Cut the apricots in half, following the indentation on the skin and cutting around the pit. Discard the pits and arrange the apricot halves, skin-side down, in a baking dish large enough to contain all the apricots in one layer.

Cut the vanilla pod lengthways with a knife. Using the tip of the knife, dull-side down, scrape the pod from one end to the other to remove the tiny black seeds. Dip the tip of your finger on the vanilla seeds and smear a little bit on the cut side of each apricot. Drizzle the honey over the apricot halves. Pick up the saffron strands, crumbling them between your fingers a bit to break them into smaller strands. Sprinkle them over the apricot halves, making sure you spread the saffron evenly. When in doubt, use a little less. Saffron is quite heady and might overpower the other flavours in the dish if too much is used.

Place the baking dish in the preheated oven and bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before serving. These baked apricots will taste best when warm - not piping hot. Serve by themselves or with vanilla ice cream.

:: Simple bread and onion soup This soup contains three main ingredients: bread, onion and milk. When you taste it, you might not believe the extraordinarily complex and creamy soup these three simple ingredients produce. The key is to coax each ingredient to express its primal quality.

The onion is cooked slowly until it is reduced to its core onion-ness. The bread - preferably from a delicious country loaf - is toasted to add yet another dimension of flavour. The milk and bread combine to create a silky smooth texture, adding richness to the already flavourful soup.

(Serves 4) 70g stale bread, cut into 2.5cm/1 inch cubes 750ml milk 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil 350g thinly sliced onions 250ml water 1/2 - 1 tablespoon salt Black pepper, to taste Dollop of creme fraiche and a sprinkling of finely chopped chives, to garnish Toast the bread cubes until brown on all sides or simply toss them in a pan over a moderate heat. When the bread cubes are well browned, transfer them to a medium-sized bowl and pour in the milk. Set aside to soak while you cook the onions.

Melt the butter or olive oil in a large frying pan over a moderate to low heat. Add the onion slices and stir occasionally for about 20-30 minutes. The goal is to caramelise the onions but not burn them. If the pan gets too hot and the onions begin to burn quickly, sprinkle a bit of water over them, lower the heat, and continue to cook until they are well caramelised.

When the onions are done, add them, with the milk and bread, to a medium saucepan. (If you plan to use an immersion blender to blend the soup later, make sure you use a large saucepan so the content does not spill over when blending.) Add the water, half a tablespoon of salt, two turns of the peppermill and cook over a medium heat until boiling. Lower the heat to simmer and let it cook for 3-5 minutes, until the bread cubes are completely soft.

Blend the content until smooth, with an immersion blender directly in the pan, or transfer the content into a regular stand blender. (If using the regular stand blender, once the soup is smooth pour it back into the pan.) Check the seasonings and add more salt or pepper as needed. If you find the soup on the sweet side from the caramelised onions, add a bit more salt to correct it.

Serve the soup in a bowl or a cute coffee mug. Just before serving, drop in a dollop of crème fraîche and sprinkle over finely chopped chives.

:: Prune and root vegetable stew This elegant vegetable recipe is a simplified version of a dish my partner David Kinch serves at Manresa and makes a perfect accompaniment for roast meat.

(Serves 4-6) 50g pitted prunes 1 cup strong, brewed black tea 40g unsalted butter 150g baby carrots, quartered lengthwise 150g black radishes or turnips, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces 1 cup chicken stock or vegetable stock 1 tbsp soy sauce 150g fingerling potatoes 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped 150g Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and cut into 1cm wedges 1 bay leaf 1 sprig of fresh thyme 2 sprigs of fresh parsley Juice of 1/4 lemon Salt and black pepper In a small saucepan, cover the prunes with the tea and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat, cover and let stand until the prunes are plump, about 1 hour. Drain the prunes and discard the tea. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas Mark 6.

In a medium saucepan, cover the radishes, or turnips (if using) with the chicken stock and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Simmer over a moderate heat for about 10 minutes or until the radishes are tender. Drain them, but reserve the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a frying pan. Add the carrots and season with salt and pepper. Cook over a medium heat, stirring for about 2 minutes. Add enough water to cover the carrots by 2.5cm/1 inch and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat for about 7 minutes or until tender and then drain.

In a large, enamelled cast-iron casserole, melt the remaining tablespoon of butter. Add the potatoes and cook over moderate heat for about 8 minutes, stirring, until they are tender and golden. Add the onion and cook for about 4 minutes or until softened. Stir in the garlic and cook for about 1 minute or until fragrant.

Add the prunes, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, the radishes with their cooking liquid and the herbs and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and the liquid is slightly reduced. Remove from the oven, finish with lemon juice and serve.

:: Lychee and orange loy gaew Loy gaew is a very common way of serving fresh tropical fruits as a dessert course in Thailand, and the name literally means floating crystals, referring to the crushed ice floating in clear syrup in this recipe. Just about any fruit could be cut up and added to this slightly salty syrup. This version is my adaptation of an old recipe called Som Chun, which originally calls for tart, fresh lychees and a few other things that may not be easy to find.

You should prepare the loy gaew before you cook your meal, in order to give the mixture a little bit of macerating time in the fridge before serving.

(Serves 8) For the syrup: 750g sugar 950ml cups water 12cm piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced 1-2 teaspoons salt For the Loy Gaew: 20g tightly-packed shredded coconut 6 medium-sized oranges 2 x 575g tins lychees, drained Handful of fresh mint Crushed ice, to serve Make the syrup by mixing the sugar, water, ginger slices and salt in a medium-sized pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for 20 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by almost half. Set aside to cool.

Place a frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the coconut and toss it around until the flakes turn golden brown. Make sure you stir or toss the coconut frequently or it will burn before it browns evenly. When it has finished browning, spread the coconut flakes out on a plate to cool. Set aside.

Peel and segment the oranges and place them in a large bowl. Add the lychees and set aside. When the syrup is completely cool, remove the ginger slices with a slotted spoon and discard. Then pour the syrup into the bowl with the oranges and lychees. Throw in the handful of fresh mint, cover the bowl with clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill.

Serve as a dessert soup with plenty of crushed ice. Sprinkle the toasted coconut flakes over each serving at the very last minute.

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