It all started with Mango Chutney...

My boyfriend is a massive fan of curry and all the condiments with which it comes... but if he had to choose, mango chutney would be 'the one'.

As a pre-valentines day treat I thought I would go all out and cook a full on Indian feast and make as many things from scratch as possible. This had to start with the chutney so the night before I chopped and sliced four huge mango's and covered in salt and left overnight.

I was really surprised by how easy it all was and as this was my first attempt at any kind of chutney I was really impressed with the results. I packaged it up in Kilner jars and added a homemade label and presented it at the beginning of the feast.

The recipe below is from the BBC food website, it says it makes 500ml but mine made twice that amount (to the delight of the boyfriend).

Mango chutney

Makes 2 x 250ml/9oz jars (but I ended up with double)

Ingredients:

• 4 large mangoes, peeled, stoned and sliced

• salt

• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

• 450g/1lb caster sugar

• 2 baking apples, peeled, cored and chopped

• 1 tbsp English Mustard powder

• 1 tbsp grated fresh root ginger

• 600ml/1 pint white wine vinegar

• 1 tbsp cayenne pepper

Method:

Put the mango slices in a large bowl and sprinkle with salt. Leave overnight. In the morning, drain off the juice and rinse the fruit.

Put the garlic, sugar, apples, mustard, ginger, vinegar and cayenne pepper in a pan and, over a low heat, dissolve the sugar.

Bring to the boil and add the mangoes. Simmer for 30 minutes until the chutney is thick and syrupy (I left mine for nearly an hour as it was still a bit watery after only 30 minutes). Spoon into sterilised jars and seal.

Creamy Courgette Lasagne

Having the girls round for dinner is always a great excuse to try something new (but under the conditions its easy so I'm not stuck in the kitchen and missing wine drinking and a good gossip) plus one is a vegetarian and I love veggie dishes.

So I went for a recipe found on BBC Good Food, a quick and easy Creamy Courgette Lasagne - the only thing which was a bit of a faff was grating/making ribbons/chopping six courgettes but from then on really simple.

Creamy Courgette Lasagne

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 9 dried lasagne sheets

• 1 tbsp sunflower oil

• 1 onion , finely chopped

• 700g courgettes (about 6), coarsely grated

• 2 garlic cloves , crushed

• 250g tub ricotta

• 50g cheddar

• 350g jar tomato sauce for pasta

• Garlic bread and salad to serve

Method:

1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Put a pan of water on to boil, then cook the lasagne sheets for about 5 mins until softened, but not cooked through. Rinse in cold water, then drizzle with a little oil to stop them sticking together.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan, then fry the onion. After 3 mins, add the courgettes and garlic and continue to fry until the courgette has softened and turned bright green. Stir in 2/3 of both the ricotta and the cheddar, then season to taste. Heat the tomato sauce in the microwave for 2 mins on High until hot.

3. In a large baking dish, layer up the lasagne, starting with half the courgette mix, then pasta, then tomato sauce. Repeat, top with blobs of the remaining ricotta, then scatter with the rest of the cheddar. Bake on the top shelf for about 10 mins until the pasta is tender and the cheese is golden.

Cheesy Scones

I have always loved the cheese scones that my nan made but had not had them in years... until my auntie purchased Mary Berry's 100 cakes and bakes recipe book. In it she found a recipe for a cheese scone round which I then adapted to make individual scones and replaced some ingredients by what I had in the cupboards, plus added finely grated parmesan for the top under the chedder to add more depth of flavour.

What amazed me about the recipe was it uses hardly any butter but I guess that is because the fat comes from the cheese as they bake.

Cheese Scones

Makes 6-8

Ingredients:

• 225g self-raising flour

• 1/2 level tsp salt

• 1/2 level tsp mustard powder (I used 1 level tsp of wholegrain mustard)

• 1/4 level tsp cayenne pepper ((I used 1/4 level tsp of smoked paprika)

• 1 level tsp baking powder

• 25g of butter

• 150g grated mature Cheddar

• 30g finely grated parmasen

• 1 large egg

• a little milk

Ingredients:

1. Preheat the oven 220°C / Fan 200°C / Gas 7. Lightly grease a baking tray.

2. Measure the flour, salt, mustard powder (if using), cayenne pepper (or paprika) and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub in with your finger tips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in 100g of the grated Cheddar.

3. Break the egg in a measuring jug then make up to 150ml with milk. Beat together and stir the egg and milk mixture (if using wholegrain mustard add here) in to the dry ingredients to make a soft but not sticky dough.

4. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead lightly. Roll out until 1.5cm deep, use round cutters to cut out as many scones as you can and place on the baking tray.

5. Take the remaining dough, gather together and roll out, repeat the above until all the dough is gone.

6. Brush the tops with milk and scatter over the grated parmesan, then sprinkle with the remaining Cheddar.

7. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch. Slide on to a wire rack to cool slightly but best eaten warm and as soon as possible, cut in half and spread with cheesy butter (see below).

Cheesy Butter:

Take 50g of softened butter and mix together with 50g grated mature Cheddar.

Meatballs at the Quality Chop House

The Quality Chop House is a restaurant just around the corner from work but I have never ventured in before. They recently introduced the 'Meatballs' concept to the place - basically it keeps all the look and feel of the old place (which is grade 2 listed) but now they serve... yeap you guessed it, meatballs!

Meatballs have the addition of a new logo retro looking logo on the canopy but other than that the place looks the same. Inside it does look great with black and white tiling, wooden oak booths (with seat slightly too narrow to sit comfortably), old fashioned light fittings, frosted windows and wood panelling. It was designed by Sir Roland Plumbe in the 1870's, offering the working classes hearty grub.

They have a great selection of meatballs which can be served with different 'underneath's' such as mashed potato, risotto and spaghetti. I went for two beef and ricotta in tomato sauce and two pork and rosemary with parmesan cream sauce on mash potato with a side of creamed spinach. Both types of meatballs were delicious and huge so I would stick to just three next time and maybe not mix them but I wanted to try them all! Unusual they do veggie meatballs and the growing in popularity sliders.

The drinks are pretty great too, I went for the homemade still limeade which really cut through the meatiness of the main meal. I also tried a banana milkshake which was so moorish my friend demolished it in about a minute.

It was well alright

Firstly apologises for the really bad pun in the title of this post but I do not indulge in that kind of thing very often (well at least not on the blog, but in life thats another matter) and couldn't resist.

I popped out to lunch with a couple of girls at work who I often go out with for w(h)ine and dine to a restaurant called The Well in Clerkenwell.

I have been a few times before and the food is always great, the service lovely and drinks fast flowing and with the offer we got through toptable a bargain too. The food and service was spot on as usual.

I went for a kilo of mussels for my main and they were huge, everyone had longed finished their food and I was still going! They were beautifully cooked in a classic white wine, shallot and garlic sauce which I soaked up with hand cut chips.

My veggie friend went for the tart of artichoke, kale and sheep's cheese and the other decided on the salmon and haddock fishcake with spinach and a poached egg.

We were all stuffed so decided to share a pudding between us and if we had been hungry we would have fought over it as it was so good. Sammy's banoffee pie was a little piece of heaven in an otherwise pretty average day - yum. As always I look forward to our next w(h)ine and dine.

St John, Smithfield

I have longed wanted to visit St John and it very nearly made my list of places to visit this year. It was one of the restaurant to reintroduce nose to tail eating (before offal became a regular on menus up and down the country) back in 1994. It is just round the corner from work so me and a friend popped there for lunch, I have walked past lots of times but when I walked in I did not expect the place to feel so light and airy.

They have converted an old smoke house and put in skylights, a bar and little cafe in the main area and then the dining room, where we went is elevated from this by a few steps and feels cosier. The walls are all white and the furniture simple, it instantly feels honest but like you are going to get some great food too.

I wanted to make sure I tried things I had not before and nearly went for the snails in bacon but changed my mind at the last minute and started with roasted bone marrow and parsley salad. On my plate were four pieces of bone marrow, you scoop out the marrow and spread on the toasted bread, sprinkle in salt and top with the parsley, capers and fine shallots. The marrow was delicious and the parsley cut through the fat and stopped it feeling overly rich.

I also struggled to choose a main dish as I wanted to try everything! I decided to go for the hare saddle as I have never tried it before, this has quite a gamey flavour as you can imagine but it was cooked really well so was soft with a slight crisping on the outside, this came with well seasoned beetroot and we shared some sprout tops.

I would like to go back and check out the bar area for lunch and maybe try a cake as they looked yummy too. A little on the pricey side but if felt like a real treat, the food was fresh and great quality and most importantly cooked well, as you can tell by how clean my plate was.

Spuntino, finally

I have been wanting to visit Spuntino's for a while and so put it on my New Year resolution list of places to try out and I have managed to tick it off and so glad I have. The reason it has took so long is due to the no reservation policy which means every time we have we have tried to go, the queue has been long and us hungry so we have not waited.

We timed our visit as a late lunch after a Saturday afternoon shopping trip. The outside is very unassuming and it is easy to walk past amongst the sleazy part of Soho but once inside you are transported somewhere completely different. It has a beautiful wood pannelled ceiling, moziac tiles and a zinc bar top but it is completely the opposite of how this might sound, its really grungy with bare bulbs and unfinished walls and I loved it - with a rock a billy sound track playing and only a short queue we knew we were in for a treat.

We only waited 20 minutes and then got a cosy spot up the corner of the bar, basically the majority of the seating is around the bar, only about 20 seats and then there is a 7 seater table in a little alcove towards the back of the place. We already knew what we was gong to order as we had been eyeing up everyone else's food whilst we waiting.

We went for a slider each (basically a mini burger), a salad, some pasta and fries to share, the menu is a little Italian, a little New York so nothing is quite as expected. The sliders were amazing and my one of pulled pork and pickled apple is one of the best things I have eaten in ages. I had to save a mouthful until the end as I wanted it to be the last thing I tasted. The boyfriend went for the beef and bone marrow with cheese and tiny gherkins, a classic combination but the meat was (again) some of the best we have tasted in a while.

We opted for some really skinny fries which were more like crisps as the potato was very fine and had loads crispy skin on and a salad to make us feel slightly healthy apart from the generous amount of gorgonzola with pear and walnuts.

The last to arrive was the mac n cheese served in a rustic metal saucepan that kept the food hotter than the sun for a while. This had a good amount of mustard stirred through to give the simple pasta dish a bit of kick. It might not sound like a lot of food for two but we were stuffed - I was disappointed though as I really fancied a dessert, they sounded a bit unusual but I just couldn't eat another bite.

I would love to go back as its definitely worth the wait!