Good enough to eat

I like biscuits and I like lounging, so cushions modelled on my favourite tea dunking treats are my idea of heaven. Available from bouf.com.

A La Cruz

As a pay day treat we decided to try somewhere different and headed up to A La Cruz on Exmouth Market, Clerkenwell for the lunch set menu. The restaurant specialises in Argentina steak is owned by the guy who set up Buen Ayre where I took Mat for his birthday a couple of months back, you can see the post here.

It was a very reasonable two courses for £12, so I went for the mushrooms in a parmesan and breadcrumb crust, delicious and quite a large portion. This was followed by humongous piece of rare rump steak with creamed spinach, also delicious with some extra chips on the side which were really crispy.

The place is lovely, and is a little bit more chic than its rustic older brother Buen Ayre but it was a shame it was so quiet for a lunchtime, we did the best to make our own atmosphere but a few more diners would have really lifted the place.

Great Homemade Fajita Mix....

This is a great recipe and blows the shop bought stuff out of the water. The cornstarch (cornflour) makes the seasoning coat the chicken giving you more of a spice hit! It's from the Busy Cooks section on About.com

• 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2-1/2 tsp. crushed chicken bouillon cube
• 1-1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp. cumin

Just grab all your ingredients, mix and then coat your meat.

My Last (Very Green) Supper at Harlinger Street

After four and half years living in South London with my friends Zoe and Claire, it is time to move north of the river and live with the boyfriend. In an effort to clear my freezer and cupboards before the move at the weekend I thought I would get creative with whatever is left and make a dinner for the three of us, it just so happened that everything ended up green!

We started with a cocktail, it is based a Brazilian Caipirinha and put into practice what I learnt at the Shake It Cocktail lesson last weekend. I named it the Rumpirinha and tastes like cola cubes, and is what Emily has taken to calling this drink.

The Rumpirinha

Ingredients:

• 30ml Morgan Spiced Rum

• Half a lime, cubed

• 3 tsps caster sugar

• Ice, lots of it!

Method:

• In a cocktail shaker, muddle the lime and sugar together

• Add the ice and rum

• Pop on the shakers lid and shake well

• When the shaker becomes frosted it should be done.

• Pour into a old fashioned glass (we didn't have any so used martini glasses)

It started with homemade pea and mint soup as I had loads of frozen peas! Really simple to do and very tasty.

Pea and Mint Soup - Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 400g frozen peas

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 1 celery stalk, chopped

• 50g butter

• 1.5 litres vegetable stock

• few sprigs of mint

• salt and pepper

Method:

• Fry the celery and onion until soft

• Add the stock and seasoning, simmer for 20 minutes

• Add the peas and mint, bring back to the boil and simmer for 6-7 minutes

• Blend well, add more seasoning if you think necessary

This was followed by a pesto bake with chicken, cashews and green vegetables, served with a green side salad and garlic bread.

Pesto chicken bake with cashew - Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 450g pasta (I used penne)

• 100ml double cream

• 1 jar of pesto

• 2-3 courgettes, chopped into disks

• 10 balls of frozen spinach, cooked (you could use a bag of fresh)

• 50g cashews

• Packet of ready salted crisps, crushed

• 250g cheese, grated

Method:

• Preheat your oven Gas Mark 5.

• Boil your pasta until al dente.

• While you wait for the pasta, pan fry the chicken until sealed, then add the courgettes and cook through until the chicken is cooked.

• Add the cooked pasta, chicken and courgettes to a large baking dish, add the cream, pesto, cashews and spinach, mix together throughly.

• Top with the crisps (they had a crunchy layer) and then the cheese.

• Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

• Serve with a side salad and garlic bread.

We were then throughly stuffed so skipped the ice cream sandwiches and just ate the cookies and a mint thins with a nice cup of tea on the sofa - A perfect last night in together!

Little Miss Sunshine

Sometimes we're all guilty of not looking after ourselves proper, grabbing food that nourishes the hunger pangs but does little for your soul.

My Sister has just given birth to a beautiful baby boy, Nate, who is more demanding than Lady Gaga on a world tour, which leaves little time for her to think about herself. Ever free minute is taken up with feeding, changing or power napping ready for the next round of feeding, changing...

I'd just returned home from a city break with a massive head cold and was feeling less than rosy, so once I was back on my feet I decided it was time to fight back with some seriously wholesome food, and within a day or two Sue's Splendid Superfood Soiree was created.

My Sister, my Mum and me sat down and enjoyed a little relaxed lunch (even Nate did his part and slept throughout) while boosting our vitamin stocks, recharging our energy levels and generally putting a spring back in our step.

The day's menu was based around fresh, tasty ingredients and each dish had an accompanying info card to explain it's superfood status.

 

Thanks to a inspiration from A Sweet Pea Chef for the non-alcoholic cocktail recipe and BBC Food for salad inspiration, oh and Jade (via Nigella) for the cake inspiration.

It was a super-success even if I do say so myself :-)

Greengages - What are they?

I have never eaten Greengages before (or even heard of them!) but they tasted delicious. The texture is similar to plums and even though they look like they might be sour due to the bright green skins, they are actually sweet and juicy. I will definitely be trying more unusual fruit and veg I spot in the supermarket from now on!

Another Sunny Sunday at The Stag

This is by far one of the best places to go for Sunday lunch when it is sunny in London. I have blogged about this place before but we had to go back and try the roast chicken to share.

We sat in the beer garden of The Stag last Sunday and tucked in to the whole roast chicken, two massive Yorkshires, roast potatoes, veg and bread sauce. We were not disappointed!

Still not enough gravy but that seems like a London pub problem generally, maybe I need to start a 'Unlimited Gravy with Sunday Roasts' campaign!

Come Dine with Me - Part one

To celebrate her boyfriend's birthday, my housemate Zoe Corsellis organised a Come Dine With Me style dinner party for all us housemates and partners. She was to cook a full three courses from scratch and we were to score at the end of the meal.

So on a random Wednesday nearest the birthday boy's actual day we got all glam-ed up and prepared for a dinner party à la Corsellis. Knowing Zoe well (we have lived together for four years) I know two things...

1. She does not really cook (one winter being a little bit skint she seemed to live on super noodles!)

2. She likes a drink or three!

I was not disappointed when we were served Dirty Martini's in huge glasses to begin with in the garden!

Dirty Martini

1. Swirl a dash of vermouth around the glass and pour away.

2. Combine 50ml of very cold vodka (preferably straight from the freezer) with a dash of brine from the olive jar and add a couple of stuffed olives.

The drinks were basically pure vodka with a tasty but alcohol infused snack at the end, I could drink it whilst very cold as it is quite tasteless but it got harder to drink as it warmed up, it beat me but I did try!

We all took our place at the table next to our cocktail inspired place names - Zoe Colada, Mikee Tai, Clairetini, Benllini, Mojado and my favourite Mathatten.

For our first course each couple were served a platter of six bruschetta, all were grilled to perfection - four with the classic mozzarella, basil and tomato with a drizzle of olive oil and the other with a unusual homemade chunky pistachio and coriander pesto - heaven!

Zoe's Pistachio and Coriander Pesto

Ingredients

• 50g Shelled Pistachios

• A big handful of coriander

• 1tsp chilli powder

• 1-2 garlic cloves

• 100ml olive oil

Method

1. Pop the pistachios in a blender and whizz until in to small chunks.

2. Add everything else!

3. A note on the olive oil, use less if you want it quite chunky dip or topping or more for a pasta sauce.

We then went to our main course and to be honest no dinner party is complete without a mini disaster and this is the course that two choose to happen. Zoe had prepared everyone an individual beef wellington with our initial on the top in pastry, packed with a steak chunks, homemade mushroom stuffing, mustard and pate. Whilst cooking through the filling burst free from its pastry casing but it was still edible so it was served up with some new potatoes, this is when disaster number two struck - the veg preparation had been forgotten!

None of this mattered as even though it was now beef wellington mess, it was delicious! The mushroom stuffing and pate added depth of flavour and the pastry was perfect if not intact! The potatoes were a triumph as they were perfectly seasoned using Maldon Salt, it is naughty but my new favourite seasoning. Everyone cleared thier plates so it must have been good as we guzzled some delicious white wines.

Then on to the duo of desserts, this is where I helped out by making the very popular Triple Ginger Cheesecake I made a couple of weeks before. Zoe also made a proper cake for the birthday candles but it had a really unusual combination - Parsnip and Maple Syrup Sandwich Cake - both were delicious and complimented each other perfectly as they both had a warm spice flavour running through, with the cheesecake being creamy and the cake spongy and soft. The parsnip cake is a little like a carrot cake but lighter and more fluffy, the recipe was from BBC good food and can be found here.

After this huge amount of food we retired (quite tipsy) to the living room for a comfy seat and some coffee. In our drunken states we totally forgot to score each other but I would give Zoe an 8.5 for the amazing amount of effort that went into the preparation, the pesto in particular was a highlight and her amazing hostess with mostess attitude!

As we are now looking to go our separate ways, I am looking forward to these dinner parties becoming a regular thing just as an excuse to see each other!