Rosemary Scented Superfood Lunch Bowl

It's been quite a while since I last thought of writing down some interesting things I've been cooking. During that time I've had some awesome realisations about how much diet can affect how we feel and function on a day-to-day basis. As a small child I was made so severely ill by eating "normally" that I was hospitalised, and my issues with the modern diet have continued since then. I'm both coeliac and lactose intolerant, which makes most people quiver in terror of a life lived eating rice cakes, but what I've learned over the last year is that it actually opens up a whole exciting world of delicious food. I've always loved cooking, and eating, and if you don't rely on processed staples such a sliced white bread and pasta you can experiment with so many interesting ingredients and think more creatively than spaghetti bolognese (not to say that isn't delicious!).

I'm a big fan of whole foods that boost your nutrient levels through the roof and as a result have become obsessed with quinoa. It's pretty chilly outside at the moment so I thought I would share one of my favourite colourful lunches to make at home. It is delicious warm but can also be kept in the fridge and taken into work the next day. It is also pretty cheap to make if you are on a budget. You can mix and match with the veggies, sometimes I like to throw some aubergine in there too.

Serves Two

For the Quinoa

 - 1/2 cup Quinoa (uncooked)

- 1 cup Water

- Fresh juice of 1/2 lemon

-Pinch salt

1 tbsp dried Rosemary

For the Roasted Veggies

- 2 sweet potatoes cut into small chunks

- 1 courgette chopped into quarter rounds

- 1 red onion cut into broad slices

- 1 fennel bulb rough chopped

- 1 red pepper cut into slices

- 1 tbsp dried Oregano

- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika

- pinch chilli flakes (optional)

- good glug of olive oil

Garnishes

- 1 avocado

- 2 spring onions

-1 tbsp pumpkin seeds

- 1 tbsp dried cranberryies

- sprig fresh mint roughly chopped

- Crumbled Feta (optional if you want to go vegan)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 Celcius (or equivalent, AGA put in the top right). Put all your chopped vegetables in a baking tray, sprinkle over the herbs and spices, season with salt and pepper then glug a good drizzle of olive oil over the top. Mix all this together with a spoon or your hands, just make sure it is all covered.

2. Roast the vegetables in the hot oven for about 40 minutes, every 10 minutes give the tray a shake to ensure even cooking.

3. When your vegetables have been cooking for 20 minutes get a good pan and cover your 1/2 cup of quinoa with double the amount of water. It doesn't matter what measuring device you use, the 2:1 ratio gets it nice and fluffy for me. Sprinkle in the salt, squeeze in the lemon juice and mix in the rosemary (this gives it a lovely scent when cooking). 

4. Bring the Quinoa pan to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes, then  turn off the heat and cover with a lid for another 5-10 minutes. Toss it with a fork to check if all the water has been absorbed and to seperate the grains. 

5. Once the quinoa and vegetables are cooked (check the sweet potato is soft) toss them together in a large bowl. The oil from the vegetables will act as a dressing. Roughly chop your garnishes and scatter over the top with some fresh mint and you are good to go!

How to get an instant sugar high

For no real reason at all, aside from this being a colleague's favourite, we devoured this cake in record time yesterday in the office.

Caramel and Macadamia Nut Cheesecake

For some reason the picture on my blackberry gives the cake an interesting green tinge, no idea why. I have to admit that I've never made a cheesecake before and for a first experience it makes an awesome cake. The recipe is unsurprisingly Ottolenghi, so the argument for buying the book is getting stronger if you haven't got it already. I have it on authority that they no longer sell this cake regularly in the Kensington branch. One piece of advice is that starting to make it at 9.30pm, after knitting class of course, on a work night is an error. You need a few hours of time to do this. As part of the recipe you have to make 2 different types of caramel, one to coat the nuts, and another to make the sauce. Doing this in the morning before work is not to be recommended. 

If, like me, you are gluten free this is a brilliant treat to make because making it a gf recipe doesn't sacrifice anything that makes this cake special. Main tip is GO TO WAITROSE, IT IS AMAZING, they have fantastic (and cheap) gf stem ginger biscuits that work perfectly for the base and give it a little twist from the original recipe.

Nobody will notice that they are fun-free. I would put a little more butter than they recommend to bind it though. Also, while I'm recommending calories, don't ruin the by putting low fat cream cheese in, it is a cake, covered in sugar - you've already gone past the point of no return.

Whilst this recipe has about a kilo less sugar in than the amazing Brooklyn Blackout cake (making it healthy?) I succeeded in getting a massive sugar high that lasted me the entire afternoon... from one slice. Lord knows how my colleague coped after eating at least 1/3 of the whole thing.  I eventually came crashing down at around 8pm so luckily in time for a glass of wine.

I'm a frayed knot

So I've been trying a few new things of late, stepping away from cooking large amounts of food that I then leave in the fridge and ultimately throw out. In an attempt to achieve pure Nigella-ness (without the impressive weight gain) I took to obsessive baking for a few weeks, which could be considered as somewhat bizarre for someone who can't actually eat cake, but it may have made me marginally more popular in the office. After having been bowled over by my friend Allie's chocolate torte on an evening of homage to Ottolenghi I decided I should pay more attention to this cookbook and try a few things out. Definitely the best recipe I've done so far is for their carrot and walnut cake, which I made for Easter:

 

The temptation to share the recipe is great but that would be plagiarism and also I highly recommend it as a cookbook, certainly worth buying, you can still get it on amazon. However, I think the crowning glory of my attempt to fatten up my colleagues has to be the epic birthday cake consisting of 3 layers of beautifully moist chocolate cake with chocolate custard icing - Brooklyn Blackout Cake. If a recipe has over 500g of sugar in it, there is little that can go wrong.

This is a variation on a hummingbird recipe that I found in this blog.

So having suitably fattened everyone I know I have also been trying to improve some of my other craft skills, the main one being knitting. I know that this automatically makes you think that I'm a granny, that goes without saying; however, knitting is appearing to be pretty cool again (if it ever was before). London now has some real gems of shops where you can get fantastic yarns and chat to lovely helpful people who won't just direct you to make poor quality scarves. Two of my favourites are Loop in Camden Passage in Islington, and Sharp Works in Herne Hill.

 So having dipped my toe into this world of knitting and reading patterns that I haven't quite understood, I decided to take one of the classes on offer at Loop, the first of which I went to last night. The set up is absolutely lovely here, I arrived just before it started at 6.30pm and went into their pretty basement workroom, where I joined the other 7 participants of the class. I was certainly the youngest but not by much at all and everyone was really friendly. I drank at least 3 cups of tea to muster the courage to knit in front of people who evidently hadn't just tried to vaguely get things to look right, but even the real keen beans didn't seem to judge. Meghan, the teacher, is young, friendly and outgoing, and her enthusiasm was really catching. If you are looking to learn the basics of knitting or improve your skills set to start making more complicated items I would definitely recommend booking in.

To show off some handiwork, here is a hat I made the Scot to keep her warm in this really weird weather we're having:

Tapas related puns?

Yes, that is what I just typed into google, then I realised that plagiarising other people's dodgy humour is a new low. However, tapas seems to have been a bit of a theme of late in my dining experiences and, having failed to go near an oven for a few weeks, I thought I would wax lyrical about two incredible new tapas places I have been to recently.

To put it in context I would love to be some kind of tapas connisseur, but aside from one trip to Madrid, where I mainly ate a lot of ham and cheese at a place I thought was hilarious by virtue of being called the Ham Museum, I have not truly experienced the best of what Spain has to offer. In Oxford we were lucky to have a brilliant little place on the Cowley Road called Kazbar, which did some pretty tasty dishes, but we also had La Tasca, which takes tapas to a low it didn't know it could reach. I won't even hyperlink it for fear that someone gets tempted to go there.

Living in Brixton I've got used to everyone suddenly talking about how cool the place is and how amazing the culinary scene is in Brixton Village, and they are not wrong, these boutique pop-up style restaurants are fab, but I've often felt that Brixton was missing something grown-up. So, when the Scot sent round a link about a new smart tapas place with reasonably priced wine that had opened up on Acre Lane it sounded pretty interesting. Waking up hungover on Saturday I was furious to find out that she had already been the night before, without me. So I insisted we went. We sat at the bar for 3 hours and gradually made our way through the menu. This is certainly a place for grown up tapas, there are some incredible flavour combinations. In particular there was a fantastic dish of slow cooked pork with a small dollop of lemon sorbet, it was absolutely divine. Plus points also go to their presentation.

I have to say that Boqueria is well worth a visit to South London, even if you are not a native. If you don't believe me read the reviews, everybody loves it. It isn't a cheap eat but you soon forget that after some of their brilliant sangria.

Having felt very Spanish after Saturday lunch I was thrilled when one of our clients suggested an early dinner at the latest offering from Jose Pizarro, formerly of Brindisa. By this stage, having had one decent tapas recently, I had convinced myself I was an expert and was probably now officially Spanish. So we arrived promptly at 6.15, you won't get a seat without queueing after this point, and ordered a few glasses of sherry for the 3 of us. They have a comprehensive sherry list, but as I know nothing about sherry at all I just agreed with our client and had what he suggested while nodding in a manner I hoped looked knowledgable. My colleague remained unconvinced but I felt that it prepared me perfectly for the food ahead. This place has a different feel to the cool white interior of Boqueria, you get a sense of a bustling eatery where you come in for a quick drink, a chat and somthing delicious to eat. And boy did we eat, the food was fantastic with slivers of delicious ham, chorizo cooked so it burst out of it's skin but wasn't crispy and succulent prawns with garlic and chilli. You can't talk about Jose without a mention of the croquetas which are incredibly light and after the initial crunch just melt in the mouth. They alone are worth popping down to Bermondsey Street for.

I'm not normally a pudding person but I did venture into the world of Catalan cream on this trip and it was beautifully light underneath the sugary crust. Holly did have a complaint about her chocolate pot, it was quite large and a bit oily, it would have been impossible to finish. However, aside from that everything was brilliant.

La Tasca, never shall I be fooled by your deals again.

A warming winter salad... ish

I've been trying not to think too much about delicious food for the last few months in a failed effort to eat heathily (which can sometimes mean boringly) for January. In some ways it worked and I survived the majority of the month on low fat porridge and salad. Yep, that does sound fairly depressing. Having sunk into a state of near hibernation, apart form daring myself to go for a run around Brockwell Park in the evening, cursing the health gods that say running in the freezing cold is good for you. However, this was not without a good reason. I was building up to the highlight of the year... the skiing holiday.

If you don't ski you probably imagine that it can't be too tiring, I mean the skis do all the work taking you down hill don't they? An error I have made before when I have not sufficiently prepared my body for the onslaught of aches and pains that come with throwing yourself down a mountain non stop for a week. However, this is all made ok by the fact that I had convinced myself that skiing burns 10,000 calories an hour and therefore, after all the starvation of the previous weeks, I could eat absolutely anything and huge quantities of it. This is a dangerous philosophy to have when you are staying in a catered chalet in an area which is famous for serving vast quantities of melted cheese.

We were staying in a brilliant chalet in Morzine that I would recommend to anyone - Brown Bear Lodge - although whatever happens don't stay in room 5, it is quite noisy. The chalet staff were incredible and the food they produced every night was delicious. I can't vouch for their afternoon cakes myself (being gluten free) but the speed at which they disappeared would suggest they were highly edible. I was also pleasantly surprised that the wine was actually drinkable. I remember being shown the selection a friend of mine served when she was a chalet girl in Val d'Isere, J.P. Chenet was actually the highlight. I sipped with fear on the first night but they had actually spent some time and money on getting something decent. Hurrah! Although nothing out skiing quenches the thirst quite like a bowl of vin chaud (that is right I have no time for glasses any more).

Usually when up a mountain the quality of food at the restaurants is pretty dreadful and you survive on a diet of chips. I'm not going to claim that there weren't a few shockers in the area, there most certainly were. However, I was introduced to possibly the best burger place in the world. I've been strictly instructed not to tell people about it in case they go there... it is very small, and we'll be wanting a table next year. I had the most incredible beef burger, medium rare and filled with delicious herbs, topped with melted raclette and giron (a local beef ham sort of thing). It was amazing. Although this had nothing on the gargantuan double burger that one of the group decided to eat. I was thoroughly impressed when he cleared his plate.

So upon return from this week of sheer gluttony I started to feel like I was actually craving vegetables and something that wasn't 80% cholesterol. So last night I ventured into the world of salad again, however I was not going to go down the overly leafy route as it was minus 3 outside and I needed to thaw. Nothing says winter salad like something you serve out of a giant pan with a serving spoon and spatula rather than salad servers.

Winter Salad:

Ingredients (for 4 people)

• 1 medium bag of baby leaves - watercress, rocket, spinach, lambs lettuce
• 8 stems of tenderstem broccoli
• 16 asparagus tips
• 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
• 2 sweet red peppers
• 1 courgette
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 1 pack of haloumi cheese
• 1 red chilli
• walnut oil
• balsamic vineagar

1. Preheat the oven to 200degC, Roughly chop the peppers, tomatoes and cougettes, place in a rosting tin, drizzle with oil and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. Cook the broccoli and asparagus in boiling water for 4 minutes. Strain and immediately run under very cold water for 1 minute.
3. Peel the eggs and cut into quarters, mix with the leaves and the roasted vegetables in a large bowl or pan (whatever you want to serve it in).
4. Preheat a grill or griddle pan, cut the haloumi into slices and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until it goes brown and crisp on the outside. Add to the salad.
5. Thinly slice the chilli. Heat up a frying pan with a little oil and toss the chilli, asparagus and broccoli together for 2 minutes. Add to the salad.
6. Mix up a good glug of the walnut oil with a decent drizzle of balsamic vineager, shake together in an old jam jar and pour over the salad. Toss it all together with some salt and pepper then serve.

You can put some fried chorizo on the side, seared steak or duck breast if you want. It also keeps for the next day if you want to take it into work.

On that note it is definitely time for lunch.

Hurrah! Tartare

I'm definitely not a vegetarian, I don't know whether you've noticed. I categorically think that if you order the vegetarian option in a restaurant you are mad. An aubergine is an excellent accompaniment but is not a main course. This is not to say I dislike vegetables and fruit, I love them, but keep mine on the side please.

So as I spent the last half hour at work not thinking enough about what I needed to do tomorrow and mainly thinking about dinner, I think that is fairly standard, I was faced with a conundrum, I wanted salad and something fresh but I knew that leaves alone wouldn't cut it.

I debated fish but I knew the brilliant fiishmonger in Brixton Village was closed and M&S Brixton never has anything aside from haddock. I thought about being lazy and just adding some fried chorizo or bacon to the salad but thought that was far too lazy for my one meal at home from Monday - Friday. Then I remembered a conversation I had with the madly wonderful Cuban-German next to me at work about the menu at The Ivy earlier in the day and the idea of Steak Tartare jumped into my head.

Now I know people are squeamish about eating totally raw meat, I get it, some people are odd and like their meat well done (waste of money, doesn't taste of anything). However, I order my steak raaaaare and I love the flavour of beef, therefore for something fun and tasty for the evening steak tartare could very well hit the spot.

Steak Tartare always sounds a bit fancy, at least I think so, but it is actually super easy to make, it all depends on how you like it to taste. Therefore get all your bits and bobs ready and just mix until it tastes as you like it.

Steak Tartare
For 1

1 fillet steak (don't scrimp here) very very finely chopped into 1/2cm squares
1 spring onion very finely chopped
Olive Oil, drizzle
1 egg yolk
2 cornichons chopped
1/2 tsp capers, chopped
Salt and Pepper
Tabasco
Worcestershire Sauce

1. Take the steak out of the packet and allow to stand at room temp for 10 mins.
2. Put the steak, olive oil, pinch of salt and 2 turns of pepper in a bowl and mix together.
3. Add the other ingredients bit by bit to taste, add more salt and pepper if needed, at the last moment add the egg yolk and mix together. Press into a circle and place on the plate.

Serve with simple salad and dressing, thin french fries if you want a heavier meal.

Hurrah! Tartare!

(I did say it was easy)

Bruxelles - Ooh Moules

One of my loveliest and tiniest friends has recently (and cruelly) abandoned me to move to Brussels for 6 months as part of her life as a hot-shot lawyer. At least apparently she is a lawyer, I haven't seen her doing anything particularly lawyery or wear a wig, apparently solicitors don't do that, I'm not sure they are real lawyers. Despite being unsure of her career the pangs became too strong and I had to go and visit her, she is too adorable not to miss after 2 months.

So I started my journey by running away from work early on a Friday and made my way to St Pancras station. I felt rather glamourous for some reason (I'm not entirely sure why) so decided to treat myself and have lunch at the St Pancras Grand Oyster Bar. It was fab, they had a brilliant deal for 6 rock oysters and a glass of Muscadet for £15. I am in no way rich but i LOVE oysters and I LOVE white wine (they don't even have to be together) so having a combo of the 2 for a reasonable sum was brill. Here is a rather gloomy blackberry pic of my oysters, it by no means does them justice.

I know many people are a bit squeamish about oysters, they do look a bit like someone has picked their nose and put it in a shell, but they are wonderful. I just couldnt' love them more. Many people are religious about how they have them, squeeze of lemon/ shallot vineagar/ tabasco/ all 3 together, but I like a bit of mix and match personally. I adore shallot vineagar, even more so when it comes in a huge and unglamourous bucket at the oyster stall in Borough Market, but I'm also partial to a wee squeeze of lemon and drop of tabasco - as long as I get my slippery friends I'm happy.

So I hopped on the eurostar, had a snooze and woke up in Brussels. After arriving a the lil'one's rather lovely apartment (grrrr lawyers) we ordered in some sushi, not very Belgian I admit but it was actually the best sushi I've ever had delivered, I definitely recommend it for people who want sushi in Brussels - Sushi Shop, Ave Louise, Ixelles.

We woke up to a gloriously sunny morning and obv being in Brussels a priority was to find some moules frites pronto, preferably at some restaurant that was perfectly tacky and "traditional". So off we plodded into the centre-ville, via a very good icecream stand with delicious salted caramel icecream. I absolutely love Medieval History, having studied it for 4 years, so was in history junkie heaven seeing the merchant guild buildings in the Grande Place, but we were on a mission so I knew not to push my luck and ask to go to the Museum of Brussels. So off we went to the fab Chez Leon, 18 Rue de Bouchers, for some Belgian fare. Unlike the two freaks I have for friends I did not have a salad but went for the hearty moules, frites and beer menu - all for a very reasonable 13Euro.

What is most interesting about the moules in this instance was that the sauce was not your typical French white wine, cream and garlic but with celery and onion - the real Belgian way. I have to say I quite liked it! If you want to try this at home you just need to do the following:

Ingredients for 4 people include:
2 kilos of Zealand mussels
2 onions
2 branches of celery
butter, water, salt and pepper
Instructions :
- Thoroughly wash and brush the mussels.
- Chop onions and celery into small cubes.
- Take a casserole dish or stewing pot.
- Put butter and vegetables in the pot and cook for 3 minutes. Add water.
- Bring to the boil and keep boiling on a high flame.
- Throw in the mussels, put the lid on. Allow to cook for 7 minutes exactly.
- Season to taste. Eat with frites or fresh bread



However, Belgium is much more than a moules production line my friends, much much more. For there are sweets to be had. First stop - nougat. Salted caramel flavour of course:

Then onto Pierre Marcolini, the chocolateur du jour. I have to admit that I am not a chocoholic, I leave that to my sister and father, but I do enjoy the taste of brilliant blended and crafted chocolate and Pierre Marcolini's wafer thin treats did just that. They also come in pretty boxes that make you feel smart, that always helps. Another attraction of his choccies was that they were some of the only ones in Brussels not to be shaped like Manneken Pis., phew! I returned to London with a tray of his Saveurs du Monde - Epices. Each tiny square was flavoured perfectly with different spices. The Scot says that Cardamon were her fave, and I could agree with her but the saffron was truly delicious. Either way I was happy.

 So with my appetite sated I ended my Belgian weekend very content. Next time I definitely want to go to Bruges and go beer tasting - not that I particularly love beer but if there is anywhere to try to, it is Bruges.

Come back to London soon please Popsicle!... and bring some samouri sauce with you.