french & grace we heart you

I’d been looking forward to going to French & Grace for the past month. After reading about Rosie French & Ellie Grace in a December issue of ES magazine I became a regalur visitor of their food blog. These two women are incredibly inspiring. Both previously worked full time in publishing and PR. Their food blog led them to running a supper club and then setting up their tiny restaurant, French & Grace, last October with the support of the Prince’s Trust.

The restaurant can be found in the second half of Brixton Village Market, a short walk from the tube station. Two of us shared the legendary butter bean and rosemary hummus topped with spiced ground lamb, pomegranate and parsley and the spicy lamb mergueze sausage wrap. I would have happily licked the plates clean.

Following on from that we selected a dessert from the specials board – orange blossom cake with cream cheese frosting.

With the Agile Rabbit directly opposite playing live music on Thursday and Friday evenings, the atmosphere was incredible. I’m already planning to go back next week and test their February menu.

dan lepard’s rose pink macaroons

A friend and I are thinking about running a food stall at one of London’s weekend markets. Neither of us have experience in professional catering but we’re both huge foodies and like a bit of a challenge! We had our first trial session last week and tested three new recipes. I’ve decided to post the sweet treat first as I’ve been leaning towards savoury the last few days. Change is good.

This recipe comes from Dan Lepard and was featured in a December 2011 issue of The Guardian (I nearly always find an amazing new recipe in their weekend colour supplements). Like cupcakes, macaroons seem to be a bit of a trend in London at the moment. Last October a friend bought me a ticket to the Experimental Food Society’s Exhibition at The Truman Brewery. There they had a hand painted tree covering an entire wall bearing macaroons in all sorts of colours. It was a beautiful display and certainly caught lots of people’s attention.  The Great British Bake off also did a series where home bakers were challenged to make these light baked confections. A work colleague raved about it, consequently I had macaroons on the brain for several days and by coincidence I stumbled across Lepard’s old-style macaroon recipe.

With very few ingredients these are incredibly easy to make. It’s unfortunate that the centres don’t remain a vibrant beetroot colour ( as you can see from the photo above it’s pretty spectacular) but in many ways I prefer that because you get two very beautiful tones; a rose pink shell with a peach centre. My photo below doesn’t do them any justice because the lighting was wrong on my iphone but nevertheless these were a delight to make and hopefully next time round we can try and experiment with other natural food colourings avoiding using any E numbers.

strawberries in a risotto?

I’m on a roll now with risotto….unintentionally. I had planned on cooking an oyster dish this weekend which I had spotted in Ruth Reichl’s book Comfort Me with Apples. ( If you haven’t read anything yet by Reichl I would recommend heading over to Amazon now and start with Tender at the Bone). I have never eaten oysters before, neither has my other half, and this particular recipe was for Curried Oysters with Cucumber Sauce and Salmon Roe. A bizarre combination I initially thought but it sounded so tempting I decided it was the perfect meal to end the perfect weekend.

Sadly nowhere in Crouch End was selling oysters last Sunday evening so we had no choice but to hold off on the fish and save for another weekend. Instead we would give my second dinner option ago – Griddled Radicchio and Strawberry risotto by Maria Ella which was featured in The Guardian Weekend’s July 16 2011 issue. This recipe is beautiful both in taste and appearance.

Photos from a recent trip to Milan soon to be posted….

beetroot on a plate

I’m on a roll with beetroot at the moment. This week I’ve used it in both a sweet and savoury dish. Both have been successful and inspire me to cook more with this richly coloured vegetable.

I love making risotto. A simple easy to follow Jamie Oliver recipe got me hooked a couple of years ago. I’ve stuck by it and served many for family and friends, occasionally adding bacon or mushrooms depending on what ingredients I have available in the fridge. I then tried out Antony Worrall Thompson’s risotto of greens, garlic, anchovies and capers. I didn’t think it could possibly work but my boyfriend insisted and I’m so glad we made it. Not your traditional risotto but I love the combination of anchovies and capers.

Most recently I have had my eye on James Ramsden’s youtube video for Beetroot risotto which I finally got round to making last night. Earlier this week I was making rose macaroons with a friend ( post shortly to follow) and had plenty of raw beetroot left over so what better way to finish it up then grate it and throw into the pan with wine and arborio rice. The colour was electric and the smells intoxicating. I did alter the recipe by using cider instead of wine and adding other ingredients so here is a slightly edited version.

Beetroot Risotto (Serves 4)

• 1 large white onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
• 300g arborio rice
• 1 glass white wine or cider
• 1.5 litres vegetable or chicken stock
• 2 large raw beetroots, peeled and grated
• 60g Grana Padano, grated plus extra for serving
• 1 tablespoon butter
• large handful of parsley, roughly chopped
• optional capers and anchovies to serve

1. Heat olive oil in a large pan and add the onions. Turn the heat down a little and let the onions sweat.  Season well with salt and pepper then turn the heat up again and add the arborio rice. Stir for a minute until the rice goes slightly translucent.
2. Add the glass of wine or cider to the pan and let the rice absorb all the liquid. Turn the heat down and add a large ladle of the stock aswell as the grated beetroot.
3. Continue to stir regularly and as the rice absorbs the liquid add another ladle. Continue doing this for approximately 15-20 minutes. The risotto should be cooked but still have a little bite.
4. Now stir in your parmesan, parsley and butter. Remove from the heat and put a lid over the pan. Leave the pan to sit for 2 minutes.
5. Serve with a sprinkle of extra parsley and a teaspoon of capers and anchovies

a great start to the new year

This recipe was recently given to me by my boyfriend’s mum. This Delia Smith dessert is the one that followed on from the delicious Beetroot, Coconut & Lime soup evening which I mentioned in a previous post. On the journey back to London from Cardiff, apples were on my mind. Apple crumble is definitely in my top 5 favourite desserts list. This recipe has a great balance of apple and crumble yet at the same time it feels like a cake with it’s spongy topping. These thoughts remained in my head for the next 24 hours and finally I gave in.

My new year’s day started at 10:30 preparing this dish whilst my other half slowly stirred knowing he had to be up and ready to leave the flat at 11:30 for his new year’s swim. For the last 3 years, 3 Cardiffians have made it a tradition to swim in the Hampstead Heath male pond come rain or shine. The water was marginally warmer than 2011 and fortunately there was no ice which may have been a bit more bearable for them. Two of us happily sat on the side watching from a distance whilst our other halves braved the cold water.

When we returned home 8 of us celebrated 2012 with a gigaantic english breakfast, a good hearty meal to follow on from what the lads just put their bodies through. As we munched on bacon sandwiches and scrambled eggs I slid the preprepared almond crumble mix into the oven looking forward to devouring it in the evening with a generous dollop of “homemade” whipped cream. There is something very satisfying about whipping cream with a fork. It can take a while but there is a small sense of achievement at the end and you feel like you owe it to yourself to finish the whole bowl in one sitting.

Delia Smith’s Apple crumble cake recipe (serves 6)

• 450g cooking apples, peeled, cored & sliced
• 50g butter, room temperature
• 110g caster sugar
• 60g soft dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 110g ground almonds
• Whipped cream or ice cream optional for serving

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C / 350 F / Gas mark 4
2. Butter an oven proof dish approx 1 1/2 pint (850ml) capacity
3. Put the apples in a saucepan with the soft brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of water. Simmer the apples gently for 5-10 minutes until soft. Set aside.
4. In a mixing bowl cream together the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy.
5. Beat the eggs in to the mixture one at a time then lightly fold in the almonds.
6. Pour the apples into the oven proof fish and then spread the almond sugar mixture over the top.
7. Place the dish on the middle shelf of your oven and bake for approx 1 hour until the top is a rich golden brown.
8. Serve warm ( or cold) with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream. This dish can keep in the fridge up to 3-4 days and can stan re-heating well.

26 January 2012

Note: I recently made this recipe with half pears half apples because I had fruit to use up. The pears were equally as good if not better having two different fruits complimented by the sugary almond topping.

something went wrong

Last week I tried out Heidi Swanson’s Green Lentil Soup with Curried Brown Butter. I knew I had most of the ingredients in my cupboard aside from paneer for topping. On the way home I stopped off at one of the local supermarkets hoping to find this Indian cheese.I was out of luck. There was a great selection of greek cheeses but in the end I settled for an Indian cottage cheese hoping it might work.

The recipe was very easy to follow with few ingredients. The challenge was trying to puree and get it perfectly smooth using my hand blender. The soup was far more lumpy than the beautifully photographed one on 101cookbooks. I decided to also add some raisins to the soup making it a little sweeter so in the end I probably had a very different dish to what I set out to make, especially with cottage cheese on top. One thing I did notice was it tasted much better heated it up the next day but as you can see from the picture above it is nowhere near as appealing as the green lentil soup on Heidi’s website.

l’antipasta, battersea

My family have been going to L’Antipasta for the past 15 years. It is a local favourite serving great Italian dishes at very affordable prices. Food is half price on Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Booking is advisable .

We had a family reunion last weekend and had friends over from Bahrain. I reserved a table for 12 and we were seated in the back room of the restaurant. This space has a lovely glass roof letting in plenty of light and huge flower baskets hang from wooden panels above. Each week their flower displays change and there is always something exotic and visually pleasing.

The Specials board changes daily and always includes seasonal ingredients. My boyfriend and I decided to share a starter of Polenta alla triestina (polenta with wild mushrooms in a dolcelatte sauce). The dish was creamy, rich, delicious, and plenty big enough to share between two leaving space for mains. My sister had the Bruschetta Tricolori. Again the portion was huge and we happily helped her finish it. Large chunks of tomato, buffalo mozarella and avocado were piled on top of the roasted bread rubbed with garlic and olive oil.

Mains followed and I went for my usual; Pasta Fagioli – a hearty bean and pasta soup in a flavoursome tomato soup. I always drench it in parmesan and freshly ground black pepper. Unfortunately the photo doesn’t do it justice so I have only included my boyfriend’s main which was Lasagne. Rich with colour and flavour this is one of the best dishes on their A La Carte Menu.

Time Out gives this Italian kitchen 3 stars but I think it deserves 4. Having eaten there on so many occasions whether it’s a birthday or a lazy afternoon I have never been let down. Every meal has been memorable from the moment you walk through the door greeted by the incredibly welcoming staff who serve you mouth watering dishes and a great selection of wines ( I’m still learning about wine and this time tested the house white- light and fruity- which went perfectly with our meal).

sugar and spice and all things nice

Every year when I’m home for Christmas my nephew and I bake together. He likes to mix and lick the bowl, especially if it is a shortbread recipe. I tend to be bossy and like to make sure everything is in order when I’m in the kitchen, I hope that I’m a little more lenient with him as he is six years old.

This year we made a german biscuit called Lebkuchen. I had torn a recipe out of the Telegraph colour supplement Stella magazine which sounded great then stupidly left it at home before heading back to my parents’. In the end we used a recipe off the BBC Good Food website which is very easy to follow. My dad complained they were too soft, I thought they were a little on the crunchy side so who knows. I stuck to the instructions and the timings so hopefully we got a relatively accurate result. If I made them again I would add a bit more pepper so it’s more fiery.

I made one change with the icing. I didn’t use a beaten egg. Instead I used freshly squeezed lemon juice. My nephew then beautifully stuck on jelly tots for a touch of colour at the end.

another treat made with beets

I recently tried this recipe at my boyfriend’s house over the Christmas holidays. To celebrate his sister’s birthday, his mum cooked a four course meal. Each dish was vegetarian and incredible ( dessert to follow next week). This beetroot soup recipe I love and can’t wait to make myself when I’m next home. I think it can be found in Prue Leith’s Vegetarian Bible but I’ve also found it today on the Organic Collective website. If you’re a beetroot addict like myself this recipe will definitely go down well. The lime gives the soup a great kick. Incredibly creamy, it almost feels like you are eating a smooth curry which sounds a little odd but somehow it works.

Beetroot, Coconut & Lime Soup

• 30g unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 stalks of lemon grass, trimmed & sliced
• 800g cooked beetroot
• 290ml vegetable stock
• 400ml can of coconut milk
• juice of 1 lime
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

To garnish

• 4 tablespoons creme fraiche
• grated zest of 1 lime

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and when foaming, add the onion and lemon grass and fry over a low heat until softened.
2. Peel and trim the beetroot. Cut into large chunks. Put into the pan with the vegetable stock. Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Puree the soup in a food processor or blender with the coconut milk.
4. Pour the soup into the rinsed-out pan, add the lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Reheat and serve in soup bowls, each topped with a spoonful of creme fraiche and a little lime zest.

heidi swanson’s simple farro & bean stew

Heidi Swanson’s 101 cookbooks site is a regular source of inspiration when I am in the kitchen. On New Year’s day, after a huge english breakfast of bacon, eggs, avocado, tomatoes and toast, it was decided that dinner needed to be healthy and spinach was going to be involved in some shape or form.

My boyfriend and I plowed through Jamie Oliver and Delia Smith cook books hunting for something easy to cook. This was a challenge to start because we were still full from breakfast. Trying to think about preparing another meal shouldn’t really have been on the cards but with only an hour to go before the supermarkets closed we had little choice. Nothing leapt out at us from either books. My immediate thought was Heidi will come to the rescue and so we stumbled across this delicious farro and bean stew. We altered the measurements as only two of us would be feasting and also changed some of the ingredients. This recipe is simple, easy to follow and the perfect hearty dish for a winter’s day. We tried it with parmesan and harissa paste one evening as a topping followed by bacon and harissa paste the next.