Culinary Causerie - October 2011
Gower is full of culinary surprises. From the classic to the contemporary, the rustic to the traditional, a dedicated gourmand can find an agreeable watering-hole at every turn.
We had a sensational meal at the Welcome to Town, a pub of some antiquity in Llanrhidian. Chef Ian Bennett appears to be a culinary sorcerer, conjuring wonderful delicacies out of his cauldron
Bennett’s classic French menu featured Vichyssoise, glamourised with shaved truffles and a gorgeous gloopy oyster floating in the soup. Crab and lobster romped lavishly around the starter menu while a main course of traditional August grouse served up with bread sauce, game chips (and the obligatory pellet of grapeshot for a touch of verisimilitude) made a visual and gustatory impact of some substance.
Gower bon viveur Mark Mead was responsible for introducing us to this culinary paradise and he gets full marks for being a diner of discernment.
This gastronomic excellence does not come cheap…be prepared for an a la carte lunchtime bill of about £50 per head excluding wine. I hear on the grapevine that opening hours can be a little erratic so booking in advance is essential.
Weird and Wonderful
A bouquet of unusual vegetables
The exotic vegetables on the shelves of the Indian (actually Muslim) and oriental shops in Swansea have often intrigued us and we were please to have some of the mystique cleared up by a true-blue Indian visitor who offered to show us how to cook the mogo /cassava tuber, the bitter-as-sin karela and the spiny skinned Turi gourd.
These vegetables are reputed to have therapeutic properties—the karela is regarded as an antioxidant and detoxing agent; it is claimed to be useful in the treatment of diabetes. The turi, also known as the ridge gourd is low in calories and carbohydrates and the carbohydrate –rich cassava is packed with natural sugars. Look out - it is believed to assist in fertility especially to produce twins
Recipes
Karela
With a potato peeler, remove the knobbly outer layer and slice into 1cm slices.
Soak in lemon juice and salt for about half an hour to remove the bitterness.
Rinse under running cold water and squeeze out the liquid.
Fry a small diced onion in a little oil until just tender but not coloured. Add the Karela slices and cook for about 15 minutes. Add a sliced tomato, teaspoon each of turmeric, ground cumin, garam masala, brown sugar and a little red chilli powder.
Continue to cook until the Karela is tender.
Cassava
Boil the tuber for about half an hour until tender when a knife is inserted.
Remove the outer skin and slice into 2cm rounds.
Deep fry as you would potato. Serve with salt and pepper.
Turi
Peel and cut in half lengthwise and then into 5cm chunks.
Put a little oil into a frying pan and fry a teaspoon each of mustard seed, cumin seed, turmeric, garam masala and cumin. Add the Turi and cook until tender. Decorate with coriander and tomato to serve.