Surprising Food Combinations

This week (10-14 October 2011) is both British Curry Week anc Chocolate Week 2011. Yesterday was also Mental Health Day. Busy!

Chocolate. Curry. Chocolate AND curry? Much to my US Twitter friend @Malooka65 I found that a restaurant in Glasgow, Scotland (her husband's hometown) serves King Prawn and Chocolate Curry. He'll be making that himself, then.

I also found this: http://www.monicabhide.com/2011/05/chocolate-chicken-curry.html

While I have to say that the combination doesn't particularly appeal, I am going to make it. I would have already but I lacked cocoa powder. I've got some cherry hot chocolate, but I think I need to make the recipe 'properly' before I experiment. I went to a wedding a few years ago where we had chocolate tasting at the reception. The happy couple had bought lots of posh choc from places like Hotel du Chocolat, smashed them up, put them on plates, labelled them and handed them round. Fennel chocolate, chilli chocolate, cardomom chocolate etc. It was a great icebreaker (as well as being dessert). I should say at this point that I had managed to get myself sitting next to a gorgeous eligible bachelor at this point, asked him for a date at the end of the evening and went out with him for 18 months! And I don't have a sweet tooth...

Another dish/sauce/seasoning I have never tried is Mexican mole (pronounced moley) which often, but not always, as far as I can tell, involves chocolate. If it works in one spicy cuisine, why not in another?

Anyway, I have long been a fan of 'strange' combinations. I can't remember whether it began in Israel or Turkey, but some American hippy who'd lived in Hawaii introduced me to watermelon and salt. The best way to eat it is with seasalty hands sitting in the sea. It gives just enough saltiness to bring out the flavour.

Strawberries and pepper is a well-known classic that I hadn't tried until recently. The next combination came to me in Fortnum & Mason. Mum and I had some Royal Academy/Fortnum exhibition/meal deal through the Sunday Times. Ridiculously cheap. About £15. Daft. For 'pudding' I had the cheese plate. The Stilton was presented with stem ginger. It was a revelation and I doff my Baker Boy to whomsoever discovered that taste sensation! It may work with other cheeses too. I know that apricot is often paired with both white Stilton and goats cheese. The latter makes perfect sense in Greek and Turkish cuisine.

My favourite food comes from the Middle East and North Africa. Fruit is often included in savoury/main dishes. I like this. Prunes, plums, apricots, figs and raisins are wonderful additions, I find. Many people feel that fruit (except tomatoes) has no place other than in dessert. I disagree because I'm not great at eating sweet food, so to include it in a savoury dish means that I get towards my five a day.

I like this site: http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/recipes The menu on the right of the homepage 'What Food Needs Using Up?' is great for ideas on how to not waste that cauli you bought with every good intention but languishes in the fridge days later. And the rest. A single householder, like me, may well waste far too much money on food that goes off, unless he or she buys microwave meals each day. Supermarkets are still not geared towards the single householder and it's all too easy to overbuy unless you have a) a will of iron, b) a menu plan or c) shop in butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers. Which we should do more.

That was off topic, but something I may come back to. My final combination came about because I had some lamb and peaches that needed eating. 'Lamb peaches recipe' I Googled. I can't remember how I cooked the lamb, but I did make a salad with skinned peaches, cherry tomatoes, fresh mint, chilli pepper, spring onion diced small and a little olive oil and lemon juice. Brush the peach with lemon juice so it doesn't go brown.

If you have any combinations to share, please do. I'd be fascinated to read them. Even if they involve my food nemesiis (sp?) prawns and gammon.

See you on the other side.