Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to attend an extremely exciting preview event hosted by Citroën, in association with Masterchef 2011 winner Tim Anderson, in aid of food charity FareShare. I know that a lot of you have been looking forward to hearing about what I got up to, so read on for all the details and how YOU can get involved.

‘Delicious by DS5’ by Citroën Press Day

Citroën DS5

Bear with me, because I’m no car expert. That said, my family car has always been a Citroën, so I’ve grown up with them, and I’ve got a big soft spot for the brand. The DS5 is the latest incarnation of the car, and the first hybrid car that Citroën have produced. I was taken out for a spin in one when I arrived in Dulwich Village, and absolutely loved it. It was extremely comfortable to sit in, and the features were absolutely incredible.

If you have unfulfilled dreams of being a pilot, please get this car. On the roof are heaps of buttons that Citroën refer to as the cockpit. It’s keyless, has built-in Sat Nav, and each seat has a separate sunroof. So if you’re some sort of sun-hating vampire, but your boyfriend is an Australian surfer, you can both be happy. The driver’s seat has an in-built massager, and the front seats are heated. That’s probably as far as my not remotely expert opinion extends to cars, so I’m going to opt for the girly route and say: it looked really lovely and was amazing to sit in. Don’t think Top Gear will be offering me that guest-hosting slot too soon…

Tim Anderson

I’ve been watching Masterchef since the first series, and I always have my favourites. This series, it was Andrew – the man ‘with the face of a child who has just eaten a cloud’. Years ago, it was Emily, a young girl who created an English garden on a plate. And in 2011, it was Tim Anderson, the enjoyably zany American chap with excellent glasses, and an innovative approach to food. Citroën joined forces with Tim as they thought he’d be the perfect partner for ‘Delicious by DS5’, and he has worked to create a menu for a pop up restaurant which will be open from the 16^th to the 19^th of May, near Liverpool Street.

A crew of bloggers and writers descended on Dulwich, to ‘help’ Tim prepare two of the courses from the menu, which is five courses and based around the five senses. The concept behind the menu was to create something innovative, extraordinary and delicious. We were lucky to get the chance to cook with Tim, who is not only a highly skilled chef, but passionate about what he does. He got us all preparing separate elements of the pudding, which was called ‘Aromas of Syrah’, and was pretty phenomenal. Chocolate ganache, grape jelly, a fragrant foam, all topped off by a swirl of smoke.

A few of us brewed infusions, others created a masterful chocolate ganache, and some poor souls peeled grapes. The infusions I worked on had lapsang souchang, coffee, tobacco, liquorice bark, and peppercorns in. The smell was absolutely phenomenal, and I was intrigued to see tobacco being used. Quite frankly, readers, I lost track of what went into the pud. There were so many different processes all going on at one time, it was nearly impossible to keep up! Tim used a top notch futuristic blender to prepare grape jelly, and set about creating a foam, and a delicately flavoured cream. Then the really intriguing part started. Tim produced a strange implement with ‘The Smoking Gun’ emblazoned on the side. We all watched, transfixed, as he poured wood chip into the top, and lit it. A haze of smoke began to sputter out, carrying the rich tinge of bonfires, Cornish cottages with smoking chimneys, and childhood campfires with it. The smoke was directed into the little glass pudding pots, before they were sealed with a lid that was ironed on.

Once we’d all gasped at and revelled in the extraordinary pudding, Tim then moved on to the main course. I’m a life-long veggie, so I don’t have any kind of reference point for the dish he made, but it smelt delicious. Is it weird that I’m vegetarian but I’m not put off by the smell/look of meat? Meh. Anyway, he accompanied it with some extremely creamy mash with blue cheese, and Romanesco in cashew butter. When I describe it, it sounds quite pedestrian, which isn’t remotely doing it justice. I got to eat mushroom arancini for my savoury course, and it was absolutely heavenly. A world away from the gloopy, solid balls (sorry) you find in Italian restaurants. These were so savoury, packed with blue cheese, mushroom and rice, and packed a big punch of umami.

The pudding was out of this world. I highly recommend that everybody peels back the lid of a jar to be hit by a fragrant, smoky smell, before diving into a rich chocolate ganache. Before we started the puddings, a chap came over with a kettle and said something like ‘sorry, I forgot to water these earlier’, gesturing to a large vase of red roses and eucaplytus in the middle of the table. He poured the kettle into the vase, and we realised he was using one of the red wine infusions from earlier. If you’ve never had a cloud of red wine combined with dry ice engulfing you at the dinner table, then I suggest you remedy that instantly. After lunch, I had that feeling of being at peace with the world that I only get from eating extremely good food, or when I’ve had a rather heady cocktail.

FareShare

FareShare are an extraordinary charity who tackle food poverty by tackling food wastage. They take food that supermarkets would have paid to have taken away to landfill (all the food is within sell-by dates and nothing is wrong with it) and give it to over 35,000 people in need across the UK on a daily basis. Food can be used for a variety of different purposes: feeding the homeless, teaching people to cook from scratch and being used in crèches. Their motto is ‘No Good Food Should Be Wasted’. Find out more about them at www.fareshare.org.uk. All the money raised from the pop-up restaurant will be going towards them. Instead of paying a set price for the menu, you just donate to the charity as you see fit.  

So what can you do to get involved? Well, on Monday 23^rd April, you can apply for tickets for the Delicious by DS5 pop-up restaurant, and you can experience Tim’s glorious five course menu for yourself. As there are only around 500 places going, tickets will be allocated by ballot. Judging on the quality of the food that I tried, it’d be silly not to apply! Just follow this link, and good luck! http://www.facebook.com/CitroenUK/app_398919960132937

You can find out more about the Citroen DS5 on their website: www.ds5.citroen.co.uk