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I seldom blog about the roasts that we have – primarily because bacon is in charge of all the English-esque food in our kitchen. From all meats, lamb is his weak point, oftentimes he overcooked it, it’s drowning in oil or the meat is too tough. Sometimes it’s a combination of all three. This has got to be the first time that he’s made a lamb that I would eat again – and so he insisted that he makes an appearance on the blog

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Just the trimmings
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For trimmings, we had panfried Cavolo Nero, carrot/swede/peppers mash, roasted parsnips & potatoes. Cavolo Nero is an italian black cabbage – we treated this like savoy cabbage but it is miles tastier. I am a huge fan of weird veggies, and jumped at the chance when I saw it at Waitrose. It is a member of the brasicca family, and a quick online search confirmed my initial thought that it should be treated like kale. As for the peppers, we added that on just because we had extra – and the sweet crunch was divine in the overall sweet mash. Mm Mm good!

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Roast Vegetables
4 halved parsnips
4 quartered potatoes

Parboil potatoes in boiling water for 10 minutes. Coat thouroughly with coarse sea salt and duck fat (or vegetable oil) and roast in 200c for 30 minutes. This works just as well with carrots, celery & onions

Cavolo nero
200g finely shredded leaves
2 finely minced shallot
3 finely minced cloves of garlic
season to taste
knob of butter & drizzle of olive oil

Sautee shallots & garlic in butter. When hot, add finely shredded leaves, and cook until tender

Mash
1/2 swede, cubed
2 carrots, cubed
1/2 pepper
1 knob butter
2 tbs milk

Boil swede and carrots together until tender, and add diced peppers for the final 2 minutes. Sieve, and then mash with salt, pepper, butter & milk.

Lamb
2-3 chops per person
coarse sea salt
couple of sprigs of rosemary

This is the last to go in the oven after the potatoes are nearly done. Trim lamb of most fat. Rub lamb rack with seasalt and rosemary, sprinkling extra on top for a crispy texture. Roast for 5-10 minutes in a 220C. Rest for 5 minutes before cutting into chops

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I’m pleased that bacon had at last conquered lamb – because frankly it’s too expensive to screw up! We served this with a bottle of sparkling Chandon pinot shiraz that we purchased from the vineyards of Yarra Valley in Australia. What we didn’t realise was this vineyard is owned by the famous fizz-maker, Moet & Chandon. Yummy. This bottle of delicious bubbly has a strong overtone of blackcurrant with a hint of cherry was tempered by just the right amount of fizz. It is perfect with lamb, and probably good as well with beef or game. You may laugh at sparkling red wine, but its absolutely delicious, definately better than some of the nameless champagne that I’ve had before.

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Complete with brightly coloured bags resembling children’s luggage , I was swept off to a couple of days in London last week for a secret recognition event organized at work. It was touching to be picked as one of the ‘recognized’ members of staff after a short six-month at this company…and it’s always nice getting time off from work!

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The Houses of Parliament & Big Ben looks fab at night
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We went up on the London Eye with a champagne reception – and it was beautiful in the night. I’ve been up the London eye a few times already but never at night, and certainly never with a full champagne reception. The only issue I had with that was that we were made to wait 15 minutes in -ve weather conditions – completely decked out in evening finery = not very warm! The food was ok, but the champagne was most definately a nice touch and the view was amazing thanks to the clear skies.

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When dinner came around, I thought there would be no suprises anymore..expecting a regular three-course dinner with maybe a band or something. Boy, was I going to be shocked. We pulled up (in a old Routemaster no less) to a restaurant in the middle of nowhere – and even from the name, I knew it was going to be an adventure. Dans le Noir? looked like a posh bar from the outside completele with a dimly lit reception area. However, there is where all the similarities to a bar end. There was a bank of lockers on the left as we stepped in, where we were instructed to lock our coats, watches, phones, cameras – everything basically including lipstick.

Guessed what it was yet?

Yup – we’re dining in the dark! Dans le Noir? is a culinary experience – diners eat in pitch black darkness served by blind servers. Three courses complete with wine and drinks, this was the most surreal experience ever. Some people in the party were creeped out by the idea and chose to sit out on this experience…you can dine upstairs in the lit bar if you should choose to, but that really defies the purpose doesn’t it?

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Obviously I was not able to snap and pictures in the dark (I couldn’t even see my hand right in front of my face. Starters we had a lovely rocket salad with a balsamic dressing and two cheese tartlets which were only ok (feels store bought). Some of us thought we only had one cheese tartelets – either dropped by our visually imparied servers or pushed out of the plate by the visually impaired diners – more likely the latter.

For mains, we had a choice of meat, fish or vegetarian – and that was all the information we got. I had the fish, which was frankly dissapointing. I recognized the texture of shark (one of my favourite fish but also one that I try not to eat at all – love sharks!), totally did not get the red mullet and the scallop was a massive dissapointment. Scallops are one of my all time favourite shellfish, however, mine was so badly cooked it felt like chewing through a piece of fat. It did not taste of the sea at all, and the texture seemed like a piece of boiled fat. Totally put me off scallops. Desserts was some honey-ginger poached pear and melon (we found out after) ; but the soggy texture completely put me off and I just could not eat it.

What I did not expect was that when you are unable to see, you tend to use your fingers a lot more than utensils. I ended up eating all three courses with my fingers – yup, even salad. We had to pour our own wine and water, and to ensure that it does not spill over, stick a finger in the glass. Was my senses sharpened? Not really – I could not smell any better; but the whole night seemed to be extremely loud to me with babbling people everywhere. I found myself squinting alot, even though I can’t actually see anything – we all did, and I eventually just closed my eyes to relax. I found myself questioning the textures that I feel on my tounge, on my fingers, the lack of flavours, a general non-enjoyment of the meal. Food is served tepid, probably expecting you to eat wiht your fingers – and that did not help with the lack of flavour in the food.

It was interesting and definately pushed the boundaries, but it is not something that I would be looking to do again anytime soon. I would recommend everyone to try this experience once in the life.

If you’re thinking of going – make sure everyone in your party WASHES THEIR HANDS FIRST!! They are open daily for lunch (booked parties of 16 and above only) and does two seatings per night. You will be seated in a communal table next to other parties, giving a different meaning to ‘can you pass the bread please’. And by the way, bread is passed on without butter, butter knife or plate – just in a communal basket. Jay Rayner has a good review here.

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Dans le Noir?
30-31 Clerkenwell Green
Clerkenwell, City of London EC1R 0DU,
United Kingdom