Mother's Day Lunch

The mother was visiting for the weekend and in addition to taking her out for the evening on the Saturday to our current favourite steakhouse Gaucho in Hampstead (where the food and service was amazing as always), I decided to cook on the Sunday before she headed back to Brum.

I turned to Jamie's 30 Minute Meals and choose tray baked chicken (it's not baked but fried and then grilled for speed) with squashed potatoes and creamed spinach. It also recommends making a strawberry slushie but thought I would leave that out.

I knew it would be a bit of challenge to get done in 30 minutes based on what other people had said but I was going to give it my best shot. I did it in 40 minutes with a little help from Mat but due to quite thick chicken it took another 10 to cook through.

Mom was impressed with the results, as was I. The chicken stayed really juicy as the streaky bacon stopped it drying out, the vine tomatoes were really sweet and went well with the crispy potatoes and rich, irony creamed spinach. I would make it again but maybe bake the chicken instead of grilling as it would be easier to control the timings even if it did take a little longer overall. It would have been very tricky to make a slushie too as there would not have been room our tiny kitchen because in the panic of doing everything you do make a mess!

Tray baked chicken with squashed potatoes and creamed spinach

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the potatoes

• 700g small red potatoes or new potatoes

• few sprigs of fresh rosemary

• 2 fresh bay leaves

• 6 garlic cloves

For the spinach

• bunch of spring onions

• 2 garlic cloves

• few fresh thyme tips

• 1 whole nutmeg for grating

• large knob of butter

• 400g prewashed baby spinach

• 100ml single cream

• 25g Parmesan cheese

For the chicken

• dried oregano (I used dried basil as I could not get hold of any oregano)

• sweet paprika

• knob of butter

• 4 x 180g skinless chicken breast

• 1 lemon

• 300g cherry tomatoes on the vine

• 4 rashers of smokey streaky bacon

• couple sprigs of fresh rosemary

Method:

• Wash the potatoes and halve lengthways (leave whole if using new potatoes) and add to boiling water in a saucepan with a pinch of salt. Put the lid on a boil hard for 2 - 14 minutes.

• Trim and finely slice the spring onions. Add to a large shallow pan with a splash of olive oil. Crush in 3 cloves of unpeeled garlic and add a swig of boiled water. Pick the leaves from a few sprigs of thyme, finely grate 1/4 nutmeg and add the butter. Cook for 3 minutes stirring occasionally.

• Heat oil in a frying pan so it gets very hot. On a large piece of greaseproof paper, sprinkle over a good pinch of salt, pepper, oregano and paprika, then drizzle over some olive oil. Lay the chicken breast on the greaseproof and roll them in the flavour.

• Add a knob of butter to the hot pan and then the chicken, fry for 4-5 minutes until cooked on both sides.

• Put the spinach in the pan with the spring onions and leave to wilt. You may need to do it in batches. keep stirring s it does not burn.

• In a roasting tray, quarter the lemon and put in the vine tomatoes. Tip in the chicken breasts and any juices from the pan. Use tongs to arrange everything nicely, lay the bacon on top of the breasts. Put the frying pan on a medium heat, add the sprigs of rosemary to the pan and move them around to get the coated in juices. Pop them into the tray, then put the tray under the grill for at least 14 minutes.

• Check the potatoes are cooked, drain and let them steam dry. Add some olive oil, rosemary leaves and bay leaves to the empty frying pan. Put the potatoes on top of the herbs in a flat layer, drizzle over some olive oil and salt. Crush in 6 cloves of unpeeled garlic and turn the heat high. Get a flat lid from a smaller pan and press down on the potatoes so they burst and sqaush. Leave to colour, then toss after 3 minutes and squash again.

• Remember to stir the spinach, pour in the cream. Turn the heat low and finely grate in the parmesan and stir well.

• Keep checking, squashing and turning the potatoes so they are golden all over.

• When the chicken is done take out from under the grill (check the chicken is coked through). Take straight to the table with the pans of spinach and potatoes - I transferred both to warm bowls and we tucked in.

Out, about & eating

Having a week and half off from work with no holiday away planned is a bit of a rare occurance and felt like a luxury. The main aim was to relax and get away from the (of late) stressed work mentality, this revolved around food of course with some touristy trips planned in. We tried to eat out once a day and cook some new thing too, some of which deemed whole posts such as Meat Liquor, The Luxe and the curry we made from The Spicery.

Here is a snap shot of the some of the other places we ate along the way...

I went to my auntie's house who lives just outside Manchester in a pretty village called Lymm, where they cooked up an amazing leg of lamb roast with all the trimmings. I rarely choose lamb but love it and the moral of the story is to buy good quality meat and cook slowly.

When we came back to London, I finally convinced the boyfriend to try YO! Sushi as they have an offer on a Monday. All the plates are one price so it doesn't suddenly get expensive, usually you keep taking the small plates off the convey belt and they mount up pretty quick. We had quite a few meat dishes but we will be returning again. This is great for me as I love sushi.

Image from http://www.yosushi.com

We got up early on a couple of days and headed out for breakfast/brunch. We went for a walk around the London Bridge area and stumbled on a pub that has long been recommended by a friend called The Garrison where we tucked into a full fry up.

This set us up for a wander around Borough Market and to brave the queue for Monmouth Coffee. A great and tiny coffee shop at the edge of the market which always has a huge queue snaking around the corner, the coffee is well worth the wait. You can also stock up on your coffee fix for at home too, you choose the beans and they freshly ground them there and then.

We even managed to squeeze in a few pancakes for shrove Tuesday.

We popped to one of our favourite local restaurants in West Hampstead to check out their weekday lunch deal which we normally miss out on due to being at work. The Wet Fish Cafe offers a lunch special and drink for a bargain £6. On the day we went it was two fried eggs with chorizo and spinach with a small dressed salad, really simple but just what I needed after a morning swim.

Towards the end of the week the sun came out which meant lots of stopping off in sunny beer gardens and we discovered some lovely pubs along the way such as the Freemasons Arms in Hampstead.

We also went to The Stag for Sunday lunch in Hampstead, which I have reviewed before but this is the first time we have sat inside (usually we head for the beer garden in summer) but we still had our usual whole chicken to share.

Phew, I think that is everything from the week. Next week is back to work and maybe a diet!

Meat Liquor

Another addition to the no reservation restaurant scene that is becoming popular in London at the moment is Meat Liquor. It started in a van travelling around events whilst gaining a reputation for epic meat patties, the van was stolen so a temporary pop up restaurant appeared in a South London pub before they found a permanent home behind Debenhams on Oxford Street.

Yianni Papoutsis is the brains behind all this meat, serving up big greasy burgers inspired by those found in New York, this cool space below a car park has walls adorned with illustrations by equally cool design collective I love dust. It is a bit dark and grubby looking with exposed light bulbs, no plates or napkins and drinks served in jam jars.

We went for a late lunch so there was no wait for a table and the place was half full, this did not diminish the atmosphere due to the loud rockabilly sound track in the background and the lovely staff. We stuck to the Meantime lager when I visited which cut through the grease of the double pattie (100% beef) cheese burger adorned with red onion, ketchup and mustard served on a tray with grease proof paper on. I haven't had a burger like this in ages and makes the likes of GBK seem bland and dry, this was in another league - melt in your mouth, with a flavour you can only get with real unadultured meat.

We also went for some skinny fries and fried pickles with a blue cheese dip, the burger was more than enough but I am glad I tried both of these too and would have again. This is a real treat for any meat lover but I couldn't go very often as it felt so unhealthy... but everything in moderation, right?

The Luxe, Spitalfields

As we have a week off and chosen to chill out in London we are trying to do some cultural visits and touristy things in areas where coincide with places we would like to eat. The eating so far has been the main attraction.

We decided to go have a little wander around the east end and Brick Lane way so we started off with breakfast at The Luxe to get our strength up. John Torode's latest venture has been open for a while now and has a similar set up to his most famous restaurant Smiths of Smithfield with different food offerings on each floor.

We just went to the ground floor where they serve breakfast and brunch and had great coffee in proper mugs. There menu is what you expect with fry up's, english muffins and some things I did not such as waffles.

We kept it simple I went for the scrambled eggs, slamon and bagel and the boyfriend went for the full fry which included the usuals plus black pudding, bubble and squeak and the most perfectly poached egg I have seen in a while. It all tasted great but I was pleasantly surprised by the large portions which set us up for the day ahead.

The Spicery

The Spicery are an online company that create freshly blended spice kits which come with all the spices and extras you need to make which meal you choose. It also comes with a shopping list for the fresh ingredients needed and a recipe so you can create your own spicy dish at home.

I got the boyfriend four different curry kits so he could create tasty and authentic curries at home without too much effort. We started with trying the thai massaman beef curry kit, it included a huge amount of dried spices as well as lemongrass, dried chilli, cardamon pods, galangal and lime leaves.

It still required a little effort, we created of paste with shallots, garlic and ginger and added it to the beef, coconut milk, water and fish sauce and let it simmer for an hour before adding fried potatoes and peanuts. We served it with rice, naan and some of homemade mango chutney.

It was delicious, using the fresh spices and blending a paste really make a different compared to store brought sauces and even some of the run of the mill curry house take aways. It did have a kick but it was the kind of heat which still lets you taste the flavour and builds gently. I can't wait to try the other three kits over the next few weeks.

The Spicery also creates kits from around the world including Peri Peri Chicken, Mexican Chilli and Moroccan Tagine to name a few. To make cooking with fresh spices really easy they do a monthly spice box which contains different spices for different recipes and it is delivered to your door - a very clever way to encourage the boyfriend to get cooking.

Sweets for my sweets...

...sugar for my honey - the title of the first single I ever purchased on cassette by C J Lewis (and I hope does not reflect my current music taste). It is the song which springs to mind whenever I make a pudding for the boyfriend.

To complete the Indian feast on Sunday I decided to make something sweet but which still had a subtle kick to compliment the spicy mains. I choose to make a triple chocolate chilli brownie with raspberry swirl ice cream. I first tried it a few months ago at my Aunties, she saw the recipe on an ITV programme and then on their website.

It is the perfect brownie recipe as they are soft in the middle but crumbly on the outside, full of bitter sweet chocolate but balanced with the chunks of sweeter white and milk chocolate and all under cut with the soft warmth of the chilli. These are great with the ice cream making it feel like a proper pudding and also as a tasty afternoon treat with a cup of tea on their own.

Triple chocolate chilli brownie

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 125g butter

• 200g light soft brown sugar

• 125g 70% dark chocolate

• 3 eggs

• 50g plain flour

• 35g cocoa powder

• 1/4 tsp baking powder

• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

• 75g milk chocolate, chopped

• 75g white chocolate, chopped

For the raspberry swirl ice cream:

• 20g unsalted butter

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 star anise

• 3 tbsp sugar

• 250g fresh raspberries

• 1 tub of good quality ice cream - softened slightly

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.

2. Line a Swiss roll tin with baking paper. Place the butter, sugar and dark chocolate in a saucepan and melt over a low heat.

3. Once melted, beat in the eggs then stir in the flour, cocoa and baking powder. Mix well then stir in the chili and chocolate chunks.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before cutting into squares.

For the ice-cream:

5. Melt the butter in a saucepan.. Add the cinnamon and star anise and cook for a minute before adding in the sugar.

6. Once the sugar has melted add the raspberries and stir well.

7. Allow the raspberries to break down and cook for five minutes. When the sauce has become thick and syrupy set to one side to cool.

8. When the raspberries are cooled remove the star anise and place the ice cream in a bowl. Fold through the raspberry sauce. Place back in the freezer to set again.

9. Serve the brownies with the spiced raspberry swirl ice cream and enjoy...

Mat's Indian Feast

After making quite a lot of mango chutney I needed to complete the full on Indian feast for the boyfriend's pre-valentines dinner and started with preparing the dough for the poppy seed naan bread. To be honest everything was pretty simple but just required lots of different spices and ingredients so took a while to prepare. I also whipped up some onion bhaji's to start and a chicken and spinach curry (sometimes known as a Sagwala) for the main.

I needed to leave the dough to rise for a while, so got on with the onion bhaji mix. I would chop the onions a little finer and in half again next time as I think this would help them stay in little balls when it comes to frying them.

I got to use my new food processor attachment on my hand blender too to create a spinach puree and a separate tomato, garlic and ginger paste to go in the curry. I think there is room for improvement but the extra effort of frying your own spices and using very fresh ingredients made for it being a hundred times better than anything in a jar and was just as good as meals from our favourite curry house too! All the recipes came from BBC Good Food Website and have just tweaked them below where necessary.

Naan bread

Makes 4

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 250g/9oz plain flour

• 2 tsp sugar

• ½ tsp salt

• ½ tsp baking powder

• 110-130ml/3½-4½fl oz milk

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing

For the topping:

• nigella seeds, poppy seeds or sesame seeds, or chopped garlic and fresh coriander

• 1 tbsp butter, melted, to serve

Method:

For the dough, sift the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into a bowl. In another bowl, mix together the milk and oil.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the liquid mixture. Slowly mix together the dough by working from the centre and incorporating the flour from the edges of the 'well', to make a smooth, soft dough. Knead well for 8-10 minutes, adding a little flour if the dough is too sticky.





Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea-towel and leave in a warm place for 10-15 minutes. Form the dough into five balls.

Preheat the grill to medium and place a heavy baking sheet on the upper shelf of the grill to heat.

Roll the dough balls out quite thinly, ideally in a teardrop shape, but really this is just aesthetic. Sprinkle over your chosen topping and press into the surface of the dough. Place the naans onto the hot baking sheet and grill for just 1-2 minutes, or until lightly browned. Brush with butter and serve hot.

Onion Bhaji

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 3 free-range eggs

• 3 onions, sliced (approx 2mm wide slices and chopped in to 2-3cm in length)

• 140g plain flour

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra if required

Method:

Beat the eggs in a bowl.

Add the onion rings and mix well.

Add the flour, ground coriander and cumin seeds and stir well to combine.

Heat the oil in a deep-sided frying pan over a medium heat. When hot add a table spoonful of the bhaji mixture - I shaped them in to balls (as best as I could due to the dough being sticky) and slightly flattened them and fry for 1 - 2 mins, until golden-brown.

Turn the bhaji over and fry for a further 1 minute, until crisp and golden-brown all over. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

Repeat with the remaining bhaji mixture, replenishing the oil in the pan if it runs low and allowing it to heat up again after a new addition.

Chicken with spinach

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 450g/1lb 2oz spinach leaves, washed

• 6 tbsp vegetable oil

• 3 black cardamom pods

• 2 bay leaves

• 5cm/2in piece cinnamon

• 3-4 green chillies, pricked with a knife

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 2cm/¾in piece ginger, peeled and chopped

• 11 garlic cloves, peeled, left whole

• 3 large tomatoes, cut into quarters

• 500g breast chicken, cubed (the recipe recommends whole chicken jointed, skin removed)

• 2 tsp ground coriander

• 1½ tsp garam masala

• salt, to taste

• 4 tbsp plain yoghurt, stirred

• freshly ground black pepper

• basmati rice, cooked according to packet instructions, to serve

Method:

In a food processor, blend the spinach to a purée using one or two tablespoons of water to loosen the mixture. Set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the cardamom pods, bay leaves and cinnamon and fry for 20-30 seconds.

Add the green chillies and onion and continue to fry for 4-5 minutes, or until caramelised.

Meanwhile, blend the ginger, garlic and tomatoes to a smooth paste in the food processor.

When the onions have caramelised, add the paste, chicken pieces and remaining spices to the pan and stir well to combine. Season, to taste, with salt and simmer for 12-15 minutes, stirring regularly.

Add the yoghurt, stir well and continue to simmer the mixture until the sauce has thickened and almost dried out.

Stir in the spinach purée and continue to simmer for 10-12 minutes, or until the chicken has cooked through. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then serve with rice.