Aidan Brooks: Trainee Chef: Happy Christmas, Hanukkah, Winterval, Eid...

Sunday, 24 December 2006

Happy Christmas, Hanukkah, Winterval, Eid...

Whatever your thing at this festive time, have a very joyous one! Below are a couple of cards from me to everyone. I'm afraid that I couldn't convert them to embeddable flash format and they are executable (.exe) files, so your browser will probably warn you not to open them, or may force you to download them first. But I promise you that they are safe and I think you'll enjoy them.

See you after the holidays. Trig

3 comments:

The TriniGourmet said...: awww thanks for the link Aidan :D I hope you have a lovely holiday weekend :D I'll be a regular in '07 :D; 12/24/2006 04:05:00 am
Trig said...: Have a great Xmas.

By an amazing coincidence my dad met a Trinidadan guy down the road today who he'd never met before and who runs a local art gallery and used to be a book publisher. And guess what - the guy used to live in San Fernando and knew about the Naparima book, that it was out of print, etc.

Isn't it a small world.
Cheers, Trig.; 12/24/2006 10:26:00 pm
Elise said...: Merry Christmas to you and yours Aidan. Here's to another year of great food and cooking!
Cheers, Elise; 12/26/2006 07:11:00 am

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Welcome

I'm Aidan "Trig" Brooks, a 22-yr-old from Hackney in London's East End. I left Westminster Kingsway College with a Professional Chef Diploma in summer

2007 and moved to Spain, where I trained in Barcelona at Carles Abellan's Comerç 24 (which won its first Michelin star) and Martín Beresategui's Lasarte (which won its second Michelin star) and was chef de partie and later Pastry Chef to Paco Morales at the amazing hotel restaurant Ferrero in the Valèncian mountains. This Spring I returned to London as part of the team of celebrated Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes, opening East End restaurant Viajante. I'm still working with food, but taking a break from fine dining. Passionately pursuing my life-long ambition to become a top-class chef and, one day, a world-famous restaurateur.

Independence and code of ethics

What's in season in the UK?

Here is this week's UK seasonal food item, courtesy of eat the seasons. This week's seasonal food item is monkfish. This resident of the deep is often described as the ugliest fish in the oceans, though from looking at the beautiful picture below it's hard to see why. Actually, monkfish isn't a fish, but a generic name given to fish from several different genus. The most common is the anglerfish, but the generic term can also refer to angel sharks and sea monks. Whichever variety we are talking about, they should be considered a special treat as all are listed as being unsustainably fished at present. Monkfish has a firm but succulent texture and a slightly sweet flavour and is often compared with seafoods such as lobster and scallops, with which it pairs well to make some luxurious dishes. Monkfish has long featured in Iberian regional dishes, but was almost unknown in the UK until recent years. It now appears on many restaurant menus and is highly sought after by fishing vessels in the waters around SW. England, W. Ireland and W. Scotland. Monkfish is low in calories and a good source of protein. It contains useful amounts of vitamin B3 (aids proper functioning of the metabolic system), potassium (controls the balance of fluids) and selenium (an antioxidant that also helps the immune system). The flesh is sufficiently strong to stand its own against otherwise dominant flavours such as the chorizo, saffron and pimentón typically used with it in Spanish dishes.