SHEPHERD MARKET SWEET TART

When I was asked to do canapes for a hen party the first thing I thought was will I have to make “rude” canapes? Tasteful yet distasteful? But I was relieved to find that this was more of a sophisticated hen, not the hanging out of a stretch hummer screaming through Leicester Square, wearing tutus and little else, brandishing blow-up phallic objects type hen. Dodged an awkward bullet there. 

This hen party was a surprise for the bride to be, so instead of laying out the food on simple plates to be handed round I wanted to make a feast for the eyes as well as the mouth. 

I don’t want to stereotype women…..but, on the whole you can’t go wrong with cupcakes and flowers can you? So I wanted to incorporate flowers into my menu as well as just the display, so went to a fantastic site called First Leaf and bought myself a punnet of edible primroses and violas to top my strawberry and ginger cheesecake cupcakes, which I featured in an earlier blog. 

Then I made little chocolate pots using ginger Green and Black’s chocolate to give them a little heat. Topped with a raspberry to take the edge off the sweetness and a little gold leaf.

For my savoury canapes I made crostini with honey and thyme-roasted figs and fresh goat’s cheese. A beautiful combination of flavours. I also made mini chorizo, fennel seed and herb frittatas topped with a pea, parmesan and mint puree. Finally, I made mackerel pate on beetroot rostis. A nice little selection: one fish, one meat and one vegetarian - something for everyone.  

After plating up, I scattered the table with petals and placed roses and anemones between the cakes and plates. I finished as the girls started to arrive. Scarpered before the squealing ensued and the champagne started flowing. Hen parties don’t have to be trashy, they can be pretty and sophisticated, although I didn’t witness the rest of the evening. I’ve never been to a hen do, but the advice I can give is never book a stripper. I made my friend cry on her birthday when I booked her a slightly over-enthusiastic stripper in a gorilla suit…………I’ll leave you with that. It was uncomfortable. For everyone. 

Been a bit rusty of late, but I’m full of the joys of January. My New Year’s resolutions are written down in my sparkly new diary and I’m ticking them off one by one. A big resolution of mine is to start my own little business on the side. This is the business of Canapes. Those bite sized delights that everyone looks forward to at an event, or some dread…that awkward moment when talking to a client and you have to decide to ‘nibble’ or ‘whole in one’. In both situations you could end up with a prawn hanging off your chin or a chive sticking out of your teeth, with everyone nervously grimicing and wondering if you’ve realised you have a dollop of hollandiase on the end of your nose.

After doing a little research I realised how much fun they can be and the amount of creativity you can squeeze in to these tiny morsels. So I took on my first Soiree and came up with four fool proof canapes to get you started.

Smoked salmon on rye with a lemon and horseradish creme fraiche

Smoked salmon - always a winner. I thinly sliced pumpernickle rye bread, folded a generous amount of salmon on top. I then mixed creme fraiche with horseradish (plenty of it), lemon rind, lemon juice and lots of black pepper. Dolloped a spoonful on each and topped the canape off with a caper and a few dill leaves. This is a delicate, elegant looking canape with some great punchy flavours.

Smoked mackerel pate on beetroot rosti

Another fish canape which is incredibly easy to do is smoked mackerel on a beetroot rosti. Again, mixing firey horseradish with smoked mackerel and cream cheese in a blender with lots of black pepper, lemon juice and parsley. There are plenty of rosti recipes to try but, I liked the thought of the earthy beetroot contrasting with the zesty smokiness of the pate.

Sticky majool dates with lemon infused feta and walnuts or chorizo

This canape is so simple, but combines a great combination of flavours. It’s sweet, tangy and nutty. Start with the feta cheese. Mix in a bowl with lemon rind and the juice of half a lemon and a large pinch of black pepper. Leave in the fridge to infuse.

Cut the dates in half. Fill one side of each date half with the feta and place a walnut in the other side. Top with mint to add freshness. The other option is to replace the walnut with a piece of chorizo, tightly rolled up. The paprika brings a smokiness to the flavour.

and finally

Manchego, membrillo, parma ham and marinated olive, topped with fresh fig

This is a wonderful canape and it looks great on the plate. Slice even cubes of manchego cheese. Slide onto a cocktail stick, top with membrillo. You can either go for the jam or jelly. Tightly role a piece of parma ham. Put this on the stick followed by the olive and then the fresh fig. It’s so easy. They line up like soldiers on a plate.

So there are my four canape suggestions. Make these and you’ll be ever so popular at your next party. My next job is an exciting one. The brief is Alice in Wonderland and I think I’m going to have a lot of fun with it.

Gone are the days of the dated canape. The partially cooked mushroom vol-au-vent, containing a non-descript pale sauce next to the shrivilled chipolatas. Canapes can be fun to look at, inviting to eat and packed full of flavour.

To the canape! As long as there are weddings, hen do’s, work do’s, the “look how nice my new pad is” do’s, there will be canapes and I intend to make the most of them. 

 I can’t believe a year has gone by since I entered The Times Royal Wedding Bake off! Once again the Times has challenged us bakers to create a cake. This time to celebrate our Queen’s sixty years on the throne. The Diamond Jubilee bake-off. 

London and people all around the UK are gearing up for a big weekend, with street parties, concerts, royal boat processions and all sorts of festivities. There is bunting hanging from every street corner; the union jack plastered in every shop window; Even the Ritz has put up a banner “Congratulations your Majesty”. It’s hard not to get swept up in all the excitement. 

As soon as I heard about the competition I was determined to make a cake fit for the Queen. The idea came to me straight away. I wanted to create a cake that resembled the crown, but not in a tacky way. I wanted it to be fun yet sophisticated and for some reason I became obsessed with the idea of making jelly. I mean jelly isn’t the sloppy accompaniment to ice-cream at children’s parties that it used to be.  Bompass and Parr for example, have reminded us how fun and versatile and even grown up it can be. http://www.jellymongers.co.uk/ 

This was my entry.

A Victoria sponge, adopted by Queen Victoria and used as a suitable base for our pudding, references her past as the longest-standing Queen in our monarchy. Made from delicate vanilla sponge filled with cream and fresh strawberries.

The trifle, filled with strawberries and raspberries momentarily suspended in an elegant champagne and elderflower jelly. Trifle is truly a quintessentially English pudding — both humble and sumptuous, it is the perfect tip of  the crown. First featured in Tomas Dawsin’s ‘The Huswifes Jewel’ centuries ago, the trifle lays testament to British culture, and is the perfect colourful centerpiece. 

Topped with golden spun sugar and jewelled with british berries, toasted almonds, gold leaf and sugar diamonds, the cake is punctuated with bunting referencing the dates of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign to date — a cake fit for a queen.

I like to think that a cake should be an event in itself, fun to make, and fun to look at — the two contingent parts are perfect for the whole family to get involved in making. Pop it in a cool box and you’ll be the jewel of any street party!

And it was fun to make, apart from my minor tantrum when I first took it out of the fridge, I hadn’t even begun decorating and decided I didn’t like it. Almost slapped the jelly off the top with my wooden spoon like a child….Thankfully I didn’t because I am proud to say I came runner up again! 

The finished cake!

For the recipe just click on this link: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/food/recipes/article3431309.ece

I love sushi, absolutely love the stuff. I often spend a few bob on it.  Even if my finances are in dire straights, I always find a penny or two for a salmon supreme from Itsu. I really need to branch out and try some other flavours, but I can be a bit of a creature of habit sometimes. Hattie, my housemate, and I have been saying for months that we were going to have a sushi night and attempt to make it but never got round to it. Until it came to a rainy day in March and we had nothing planned, the obvious thing to do, of course: make sushi! We trotted down to the Japan centre and picked up our ingredients. 

I’ve always been a bit dubious about making my own sushi, worrying about how fresh the salmon is in the supermarket. Until a friend of mine confirmed it doesn’t kill you, after she got back from a night out and raided the fridge. The only thing she could find was a raw fillet of salmon. Yep, you guessed it, she ate it as nature intended. Of course she was fine! The society we live in today has made us terrified to eat anything unless we are told its acceptable or safe.  I think we need to let our hair down and eat a raw salmon fillet at four in the morning if that is what one desires! Buuuuut after saying that and being a right hypocrite, I went to the Japan Centre for my kit, just to be on the safe side. Plus it’s an amazing place to wonder around.

  We went for salmon, tuna and crab sticks. Sliced into perfect pieces of sashimi in front of us by the experts. We picked up sticky rice, sheets of seaweed, sesame seeds and pickled ginger. After swinging by the supermarket on our way home for avocado (a must for sushi), peppers, cucumber and chives we were set. 

I have to admit, we had a little help when making this. Help from a brilliant gadget called the Sushezi. A Christmas gift Hattie once received and thought she’d never use. It’s come straight out of the 1990’s and would look right at home on one of those videos you see in Debenhams with demonstrations of how to use a Bobbleoff (best way to get rid of those darn bobbles on your knitwear if you didn’t already know), or how to cut your carrots into roses with a handy gadget. You may scoff at it, but I love it. 

To make your sticky rice, pour into boiling water and let it boil away for two to three minutes stirring occasionally to stop it from sticking. Then turn the heat down and let it simmer for around 15 minutes. Take it off the heat and let it cool. The Sushezi is a cylinder shape which splits in half. Fill each side with sticky rice, the finely chopped vegetables and the fish of your choice. Close it and it compresses the sushi into the perfect roll. Push it out onto the seaweed sheet, roll it carefully and cut it into pieces with a sharp knife. With every perfect roll we literally squeeled with excitement, we couldn’t believe how perfectly they came out. 

To do the real thing, of course, you spread the rice over the sheet which is laid onto a rolling mat. Make a neat line of ingredients and expertly roll it. I will attempt it one day, but with the Sushezi just sitting in the cupboard… Anyway, these were the results, not bad. We ate the lot, and it tasted like the real thing, dipped in soy sauce with a thin slice of pickled ginger. Who needs Itsu when you’ve got a Sushezi.

I fully recommend it, so much fun and extremely satisfying to make.  

Salmon, yellow pepper, avocado and chive

Tuna, avocado, cucumber and chive

Crabsticks, avocado and chive

 I have just came back from a weekend in Paris with my boyfriend and I’m ashamed to say we were one of those typically English couples who intentionally speak really loudly in English when the waitress comes to take your order as we were both terrified to even attempt to speak the language. I am thoroughly ashamed of myself, after getting a B in GCSE French I can’t remember a word of it.

Paris is one of my favourite cities, beautiful architecture, a thriving cafe culture, fantastic art galleries and more escargot than you can shake a stick at. Perfect place for a weekend break. Before we left I was in a real panic searching on my Timeout Paris app for good places to eat, looking at the editor’s picks and realising this Monsieur has ridiculously expensive taste. I was just resigned to the fact we’d probably be dining on Croque Monsieur and frites every night, but I was wrong.

Our first night, after an afternoon of walking around the epic Pompidou Centre, we were starving. We wandered around Notre Dame and finally settled on a little Bistro. Every restaurant seemed to have identical menus and nothing stood out apart from the fact the French seem to have a fascination with Oeuf Mayonaisse as  a starter. Most of the places looked tired and the waiters stood in the doorways in their dicky bows and waistcoats felt a little dated. We sat down to a steak with peppercorn sauce with the scent of oeuf mayo wafting over from the next table, it came out of the kitchen almost as soon as we’d ordered it giving an impression that they’d made it a million times before. It was a limp, thin steak with a sauce that left a bitter taste in your mouth. Non! I was determined that we were going to eat well on our holiday.

On our second night things were looking up. We discovered the delights of Bastille, it was like the East London of Paris. Boulangeries selling amazing bread, delis, boucheries, young, fashionable people  littered the bars, drinking wine, with a cigarette in hand. I was excited, not because I think smoking is cool, but they did look pretty chouett. I wanted to be among them, and not feel like a tourist. We found the perfect place to do this. Cafe de L’industrie ,16 rue Saint-Sabin

A huge place with an eclectic range of art hanging from the walls. It was a classic Parisian restaurant, but dragged into the 20th century, unlike a lot of the other Bistros around clinging onto their Toulouse Lautrec prints, whose posters I admit I bought in armfuls on my previous trips to Paris as a youth. The food was at a reasonable price and was delicious.We started with Escargo, which were buttery and garlicky and surprisingly tender. For the main, Onglet de Boeuf which consisted of a beautifully cooked rare piece of beef, topped with sauteed onions with a very generous serving of dauphinoise potatoes.

 I would recommend this place to anyone I think it represents french cuisine at its modern yet, authentic best.  For an after dinner treat we hotfooted it down to the Eiffel Tower a little woozy on the fantastic dry white wine we’d been enjoying all night, and stood right underneath it to watch the light show, an essential part of a Parisian holiday.

I’m breezing over our lunches as we mostly ate on the go, picking up baguettes. One tip, do not buy a baguette from the Eiffel tower. The 500 steps can make you delirious and very hungry, but don’t make the mistake of purchasing one as the ham tastes like corned beef and the baguette was so hard you could use it as a door stop. Just saying, but there are a lot of treats you can pick up on your way around Paris

On our last night we saved up our pennies for a place that we’d spotted on our first night whilst strolling down the ile de la cite. Le Reminet is a tiny place, but it’s hard to miss the many recommendations stuck all over the door way. We pressed our faces up against the window and realised this was a fancy establishment, and after looking at the menu we moved on tutting at the prices, yet longing to sit beneath the antique chandeliers eating by candlelight with the rest of them. So on our last night we  put our glad rags on and went down there and were delighted to be told that we’d get a table. The waiters were charming, placing a complimentary shot glass of soup in front of us to start the meal. I had slow cooked lamb, with haricot beans, green beans and carrots with a snail butter. The dish was wonderfully rich and full of flavour. Chris had chicken stuffed with mushrooms and parsnip puree. The chicken looked a little on the pink side, which as typical British diners we flagged up immediately with the waiter who assured us that this was the way it was meant to look as it had been poached.

For desert we shared a chocolate fondant, with mango puree and a pistachio cream. Perfect, sweet way to end our meal.

If you’re going to Paris, I highly recommend both of these restaurants. Classic French cooking with a modern twist and both hold on to the romance that makes Paris the city that people visit again and again.

Meat Liquor is the genious creation of Meatwagon owners, chef Yiannis Papoutsis and Scott Collins, whose burgers have risen from a burger van to a pop up in New Cross (MeatEasy), to a restaurant in Marylebone. Set in the backstreets of Oxford St, dodgy place to be during the sales with bargain-crazed women stomping the pavements, but Meat Liquor is a world away and well worth a butcher’s. 

I got a message from a friend one evening saying ‘We have to go to Meat Licker for dinner” which disgusted me slightly, an image of people sitting, literally licking pieces of meat at the forefront of my mind, until she corrected herself. I surprisingly hadn’t heard of it but by the time we arrived it was pretty obvious that everyone else had. We stood in the queue with great anticipation, smelling the wafts of cooking meat and deep-fried delights. I’m not queuer, if that’s even a word, I hate it, so the 25 minute wait was not to my liking but by the time we got to the door I enjoyed being the smug one who was next in line to get a table. 

The site previously belonged to a quiet Italian Restaurant, I can imagine their faithful customers would have been disgruntled to find that their quiet Friday night table in the corner with their usual vongole and glass of Chianti had been replaced by paint-splattered walls, rock music and a plethora of meat-based dishes.

We were seated by a lovely waitress who catered to our every need, persuading us to buy the cocktails by pointing out that we were “on a gals’ night out, go oooooooon”, I felt brainwashed into buying one but I’m happy I did. They arrived in jam jars, topped with fruit and tasted amazing, on a par with Bourne and Hollingsworth. They were accompanied by deep-fried pickles with a blue cheese sauce which she’d also somehow bamboozled us into to buying, they were actually really good. The vinegary  pickles dipped in a rich blue cheese sauce was a brilliant combination, they put Byron’s soggy deep fried courgettes to shame.

The menu was a delight in itself. The red wine described as “A cracking wine for just necking and giving you red teeth” no frills here…The food: crispy onion rings, deep fried pickles, mountains of fries (the thin kind, which in my opinion is the best kind). Then there’s the burgers. 100% juicy chuck steak, chargrilled on the outside and pink on the inside piled high with tomatoes, onions, pickles and melting cheese all encased in a sweet bap. Just talking about them is making me hungry which has driven me to impatiently shell pistachios which happen to be the only thing to hand as I write.

All I can say is don’t go if you’re afraid to get your hands dirty, there aren’t even plates here, the food is served on a tray wrapped in paper. The only thing to protect you from the meat juices trickling down your face and arms is the rolls of kitchen paper placed on the tables. I looked up from my burger to sip on my Meantime larger to see a group of suited men with their sleeves rolled up gleefully laughing at our attempts to eat like ladies. In the end I gave up, I was past the point of manners and just enjoyed every mouthful, smiling at them through mouthfuls of meat. That showed them, or probably just put them off their own food. I wasn’t going to opt for the aptly named ‘Rabbit Food’ salad just through sheer vanity. 

The bill came to just under £20 a head which was fine by me. I’m already planning my next trip and if you’re looking for more burger revelations have a look at http://www.burgerac.com/ the self named burger detective on the hunt for the best burger in town.

http://www.meatliquor.com/

74 Welbeck Street, W1G 0BA

Octopus that is. Baby octopus to be precise.

A friend offered us a free bag of baby octopus and I took it willingly, never one to pass up free food, plus I’ve never cooked the stuff so thought I’d try something new. I popped out to the supermarket and bought my ingredients. I pulled the bag out of the freezer and as soon as I saw them looking up at me, (they had no eyes but they were definitely looking at me) and saw their tangled tendrils I had a small panic attack. I couldn’t touch them. Anything with eight legs puts the fear of God into me. I even hid behind my boyfriend’s shoulder yesterday at the wildlife photographer of the year exhibition because I spotted a picture of a spider. A picture! Pathetic. 

So I mentally slapped myself round the face and told myself to man up, took a knife and cut the octopus up, gladly passing the job onto my housemate as soon as she walked through the door claiming that if I touched them they were going to come alive and wrap themselves around my hand in revenge. 

Baby Octopus marinated in olive oil, smoked paprika and lemon with chorizo, tomato and herb couscous. With baked aubergines with feta and a garlic and parsley dressing.   

This recipe is ace if you’re trying to impress, it looks great, smells great and it’s the kind of thing you’d eat on holiday so automatically puts a smile on anyone’s face.

Ingredients

Baby octopus, 2 tsp smoked paprika, clove of garlic, 2 tbsp olive oil, half a lemon, salt and pepper to taste

Cous cous: Cherry tomatos, handful of mint and basil, a few slices of chorizo

Aubergines: Half an augbergine per person, 3tbsp olive oil, half a packet of feta, handful of parsley and a clove of garlic

Firstly the cous cous. Pour boiling water into a bowl covering the cous cous until light and fluffy. Make the marinade by roughly chopping a glarlic clove, mix with the smoked paprika, lemon juice and olive oil and pour over the octopus.

Chop the chorizo roughly and throw into a pan to crisp up, halve the tomatos and put them in the pan to soften with the chorizo. Pour this mixture into the cous cous along with the chopped up basil and mint and mix it up adding salt and pepper. That’s now ready. Cover it to keep warm.

Place the aubergines under the grill and turn them every five minutes. Once they are soft, peel off the skin and cut in two. Mix up the olive oil, chopped garlic clove and plenty of parsley in a jam jar and shake it up. This is to pour over the aubergine once the octopus is cooked. But be warned the garlic is raw so the parsley is a must to lighten the punch. Wrap the aubergines in foil to keep warm.

Get your pan nice and hot and throw in the marinated octopus. It’ll curl up and crisp in the pan. You only need to cook it for a couple of minutes otherwise it’ll turn rubbery. Once cooked plate up! Pour the dressing and crumble the feta over the aubergine, pile up to cous cous and put the octupus on top and serve with a salad. It looks ever so fancy but is so so easy.

Two brothers, a three wheeler Piaggio Ape van and a passion for pizza. This is a recipe for a pizza pilgrimage.  A brilliant new street food venture, to sell thin crust pizzas (Franco Manca style), cooked in a custom made oven out of the back of a three wheeler “peasant” van. Brilliant, only I wish I’d come up with it first. 

 Dorset born brothers James and Thom Elliot are no strangers to the food industry, from a young age their parents having always managed pubs. One of which I used to work in as a timid teen after leaving school, these pubs served fantastic food made with the best produce. So they are taking their knowledge and using it to their advantage, by packing in their hectic London lifestyles and travelling to the southern most part of the Italian mainland, Salerno, to collect their van and drive it 2000 miles across Italy, with a maximum speed of 40mph! That’s dedication.

During this epic drive they are hoping to immerse themselves in the Italian lifestyle, meeting local people and eating local food, developing their menu and researching the best Italian produce they can get their hands on. Best form of research I can think of doing. In my opinion Italian food is up there in my top five, actually I’ll even raise it to top three. To say I’m jealous would be a massive understatement.

James is the real ‘foodie’ of the two and has worked as a chef from the age of sixteen, he then came to London and left it behind but I’m glad to say he’s rediscovered his passion for food and is making the most of it. Thom the elder brother has been working in marketing but has also decided to give up the rat race and team up with James for this big adventure. I take my hat off to them. It’s a big risk but I definitely think its one worth taking. Their story has picked up media interest and through out their trip they’ll have a camera crew by their side, recording their every experience. The programme will be out in the new year and its going to be a gooden. Both boys have a brilliant sense of humour along with loads of enthusiasm, but it will be interesting to see after 2000 miles cramped in a small van, bellies full of pasta how they get on. I love my siblings I really do, I know for a fact we wouldn’t be speaking after the first mile.

Street food is a huge business within other countries around the world and street food markets are popping up left right and centre. Freshly sourced produce, made there right in front of you is the best kind. The street food culture is slowly emerging in the UK with markets around London so they’ve picked the right time to get involved.

James contacted me and asked me to blog on their trip, which is exactly what I’m going to do and I’m very excited to see their trip evolve. Find out about their experiences, their menu ideas, what amazing cheeses they’ve come across along the way not to mention meats, tomatoes and all the other essentials for a good pizza. Once back in the UK they’ll be selling their thin pizzas at festivals, weddings, parties, generally anywhere that will have them. I’ll have them please, permanently installed in my kitchen for my pizza needs, thank you kindly. 

I have officially have the worlds slowest and most temperamental  laptop which freezes every time I try to write a blog which is really helpful and is why I’ve been so slow with this, so apologies to the boys as they’ve already been there a week. But I promise to catch up!! I promise!  They will be updating me along the way, and in turn I will be updating my blog so watch out for the next instalment.

http://www.facebook.com/pizzapilgrims

http://twitter.com/pizzapilgrims

Everyone loves a slice of cake, or ‘just a slitherette’ as my mother would say. It’s always the right time for cake. With your flat white in the morning, after lunch, at tea time or, if you’re Nigella Lawson, at midnight fully made up in nothing but a black silk kimono, eating it with a cheeky wink to camera.

Cake has stood the test of time and it’s not going anywhere. With the rise of the Hummingbird Bakery, cakes and cupcakes are the avant garde thing to offer up at a baby shower, barmitzva, hen do and they’ll be gone before you can say jimminy cricket. Feeling frisky? You can even go to Cox and Cookies and pick up a boobie cake, yes boobie. Or for the ladies a white chocolate mould of a buff male torso atop your banoffee pie cupcake. Lush. A girl at my work once recieved a box of Hummingbird cupcakes from a secret admirer. She didn’t even know who he was but wanted to marry him instantly. I think I did too.

I’m currently working at Tom’s Deli in Notting Hill. As you enter the shop you are greeted by a glittering array of cakes. From brownies with white chocolate and raspberries to lemon, olive oil and rosemary cake (a personal favourite), earl grey cupcakes to a Curly Wurly inspired cake.

I can’t take the credit for this cake, as the recipe was invented by an entrepreneurial cake genius! He claimed he was the first to come up with the idea so indulged him in his cake dream and made it. He said it was the best cake he’d ever tasted. To be honest I think he was just trying to be nice, but I was still happy.

Chocolate, peanut butter and banana cake, topped with caramalised peanuts

I found this American recipe on line and it was pretty easy to follow

Ingredients
12oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (or use chips)
1/2 cup plain peanut butter (preferably natural, unsweetened)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas—the riper and syrupy-er, the better)
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9” or 8” square baking pan and line with a long strip of parchment paper that covers the bottom and overhangs on both sides (this will help you pull the cake out once it’s ready.) Set aside.

Combine the chopped chocolate (or chips, if using), peanut butter, and olive oil in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until the chocolate and peanut butter is melted and evenly combined.  Pour into a large bowl and let cool for 2 minutes.

Easy caramalised peanuts

To make the caramalised peanuts put 140g of peanuts, 100g of sugar and 45ml of water in a pan on a medium heat. Keep stirring until you get a sandy consistensy. Turn in down and continue stirring until it turns a caramel brown, remove from the heat before it starts to smoke, place on a baking sheet to set and sprinkle on the cakes.

One of my pet hates has to be when you’ve ordered a side salad at a restaurant to lighten up your meal and you receive a desert bowl full of incognito lettuce, a few unripe tomatoes, red onion rings and NO dressing. I just don’t get it, a dash of olive oil and some seasoning would surfice. I mean don’t get me wrong its not in my top ten pet hates, my life is more fulfilling than that, but it just grinds my gears you know? I think the worse I’ve had was recently in a fish restaurant they bought me a salad containing the above ingredients, but it’s crowning glory was a lump of coleslaw, and not even the good kind.

Salad is one of those things I actually crave sometimes, may sound strange I know, but there’s something so satisfying about fresh, crunchy lettuce that I can’t get enough of. There is always a bag of it in my fridge whether it be rocket, watercress, lambs lettuce, baby gem or just plain spinach. It’s an essential. During these summer months is when salad gets its chance to really shine, it steps up as a main course and the possibilities are endless. Hot, cold, pulses, cheeses, meats but the thing that ties it all together is the dressing or vinaigrette depending on how european you’re feeling. One of the best known dressings has to be Caesar dressing. I’ve only ever eaten it out of sachets or bottles (i’m ashamed to admit). White and gloopy with a flavour you can’t really put your finger on. I think it has a bit of a reputation for being a dated choice, but served with chicken, bacon, croutons, avocado, and gem lettuce leaves it’s a beauty. Cos or Romaine lettuce is essential for a caesar salad to get the right sweet, crispy combination with the glossy salty dressing. Once you’ve made it yourself you’ll never go back. Trust me.

 I took my recipe from a great book I got for my birthday this year called Supper Club by Kerstin Rodgers. I contains all the secrets, tips and recipes you need to know to create your own supper club.

Ingredients

Chicken breast

Smoked bacon, pancetta or lardons are just as good

Gem lettuce

Avocado

Chiabatta (for the croutons)

Olive Oil

Dressing

1x Egg

1x garlic clove

1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

1x Anchovy fillet

100-125ml Ground Nut Oil

Juice of half a lemon

60g grated Parmesan cheese

Freshly ground  black pepper

Firstly put a little oil into a pan and put your bacon in until crispy remove and place on a piece of kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil . Cut up your ciabatta into 1cm squares and throw them into the bacon fat to crisp up season with pepper and toss them about to make sure they are covered in oil, add a little more if you think it’s nesseccary. Once they are golden take them out of the pan add them the bacon on the kitchen towel.  

Cut the chicken into pieces, its your choice how big they are. Season the chicken and add it too the pan on a medium heat, Cook for around 3 minutes on each side to ensure its cooked. While the chicken is cooking, make the dressing.

To make the dressing, boil the egg in a saucepan on water for 1 minute, before cracking it into a bowl - you will use both the uncooked white and the yolk. Add the Dijon mustard and chopped garlic and whisk until smooth. Chop up the anchovy fillet into small pieces and add to the dressing. Then slowly whisk in the ground nut oil. Add the lemon juice and half of the parmesan. Season with black pepper, and no salt as the cheese and anchovy provide enough saltiness. Thats it. 

 Peel off the leaves from your gem lettuce (or cos or romaine) and toss and coat in the dressing. Pile the lettuce into bowl and add the chicken, bacon, croutons and avocado. Finally sprinkle the remaining parmesan on the top. I recommend a cold glass of dry white wine. Goes down a treat. 

I had a little chicken and dressing left over the next day and made a caesar sandwich. So good. Sorry Paul Newman, your dressings will be no longer required. Not that I ever used them. Paul Newman and sauces? Why? The adoration I had for him after watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid soon evaporated when I saw his face on the BBQ sauce bottle.

Make the most of the last of this non existent summer and make yourself a caesar salad to eat in the sunshine. When you taste it you’ll be glad you made the effort.

So on Tuesday night I learnt four things. Bees are fascinating, in the UK they are in rapid decline, oil seed rape honey is delicious and I look pretty darn amazing in a bee keeping onesie. Who knew!?

On Tuesday evening on the deck of the National Theatre, I attended the The Magners ‘Bee Aid’ Campaign. This is a campaign driven by Magners Cider, who have teamed up with the British Beekeepers Association and the Federation of Irish Beekeepers Associations to help save 1.5 million bees in the UK and Ireland this summer.

Why have Magners chosen this campaign? Well Magners know the importance of the honey bee, after all it’s the bees that pollinate the apples in the Magners orchards which are blended to give Magners its unique taste. I must say I do like a refreshing Magners on a sunny afternoon poured over lots of ice as much as the next person, so without the honey bees we wouldn’t be able to partake in this delightful pastime, and we can’t be having that!

This is the second event that I’ve attended this year to draw attention to the decline of the honey bee so something needs to be done and this Magners campaign is a great way to highlight this issue. They are offering a fantastic opportunity for twenty five lucky Magners Facebook fans to become fully fledged urban beekeepers, by providing them with equipment and training. They will be awarded with an Urban Beekeeping Scholarship from the BBKA and FIBKA and at the end of it will have all the skills and equipment to create an urban hive and look after a bee colony of their own!

The evening started off with an enlightening talk by Tim Lovett from the BBKA, who stepped in for John Corbett (who unfortunately couldn’t come). John is the head beekeeper in Clonmel, the home of Magners Cider, and has been beekeeping for over 50 years and looks after 27 hives at the Magners orchard. He has first hand experience in the decline of honey bees as he used to have over 54 hives, so he has lost 22! He is now trying to build them up again and highlight the issue. Its a shame he couldn’t be there.

To be honest, my knowledge of bees was limited before this and apart from honey the only thing I thought of when it came to bees was the memory of ’My Girl’ when little Macaulay Culkin gets chased by that swarm of them……..I’m welling up at the thought of it. So yes, very naive. They are in fact fascinating, clever, and play an important part in the production of food. Here are some interesting facts about honey bees. Each colony has a queen bee who lays up to 2,000 eggs a day in spring and summer. All of the worker bees are female and they have many different duties such as guarding the entrance, making wax comb, keeping the hive clean, evaporating excess moisture to make honey, protecting the nest cells and just making sure queen bee is happy by feeding and cleaning her. I think in my next life I’d quite like to be a queen bee. Flying bees visit flowers to gather food in spring and summer and the nectar collected by a single bee during its life makes less than a teaspoon of honey!

The male drone bees don’t do any work in the hive, nor do they make honey. Their sole purpose is to mate with the queen - it’s a hard life.

I was offered a bee keeping outfit as soon as I walked in the door; I wasn’t too excited about putting it on at first, but once I’d awkwardly climbed into it I wondered why I’d never worn one before. It was very bee-coming. Eurgh, sorry.

If you’re wondering whats wrong with my right hand, I got the last pair of gloves, two left gloves, not that I was worried by that point what I looked like.

While I wandered around the room sipping my cider, I spotted a table with honey pots on it and a pile of spoons, this meant only one thing - free tasting - and I’m one who will never pass up free food. Standing at this table was Paul Longan, another Bee Keeper from Clonmel, who was eager to tell me all about the different types of honey, where they came form and the variety of flavours that were on offer, depending where the bees collected their pollen. They were delicious. I could have spoken to him all night, as he spoke about the honey with such passion, you could really tell that he loved his job.

Cluain Meala means honey pasture in Irish and is also the name of the famous orchards in Clonmel where the Magners is made. The apple blossoms are staggered so the bees can help make amazing tasting honey all summer long. The bees pollinate from different areas, such as Slievenamon Mountain translated as the “Mountain of the Women”. The different honeys had distinctive flavours. One was made from bees who had collected pollen from oil seed rape which gave it a really interesting flavour. The Slievenamon, Anneerville and Tipperary honeys had a slight smokey flavour. They would be perfect drizzled on baked figs, drunk with hot water and lemon or just simply (personally my favourite way of eating honey) on warm toast with lots of butter.

Now it was time to actually see bee keeping in action. I zipped up my suit, tucked my trousers into my socks, donned my left handed rubber gloves and made my way out onto the balcony where the hives were and watched while the Barnaby the professional beekeeper smoked the hive first of all and then removed the bees pointing out the beautiful honeycomb and talked about life within the hive.

Apparently London has over 2,500 bee hives. I had no idea. If you want to get involved and be one of them and be in with a chance of winning the BeeKeeping scholarship visit http://facebook.com/magnerscider where there is an entry form to tell them why you think you have what it takes to become an urban beekeeper. If like me you want to help but don’t think you’re responsible enough to keep your own bees there are other ways you can get involved. Firstly ‘like’ the Magners facebook page on the address above, easy! Also there is a new iPhone app created by Magners that will soon be coming out. It’s called the Android Bee Beard app and its free! You can have your own bee beard like Eamon the fictional Clonmel beekeeper from the Magners TV advert. It’s an easy way to support this campaign and I really think its a campaign worth supporting. So get on it!

And here are the results, I think I suit a beard, I went for the Old Clonmel. No messing about with fancy facial ’dos’ like the goatie.

I have recently fallen in love with Brixton and more so Brixton Market. As much as I love Borough Market, Brixton is a more authentic experience. People go there as a necessity, its a way of life there. It’s a market where you can get pretty much anything you need from food to music, to tailoring to most importantly Disney towels, oh and not forgetting the mobile phone cover stall, I get all my fly covers from there.

It boasts one of Europes biggest collections of Afro-Caribbean foods and produce, with a selection of fruit and vegetables that I have never even seen before. This gets me excited as I love to discover new ingredients to cook with. The meat and fish is also in abundance at very cheap prices. I bought a giant bag of king prawns the other day for around £1.50, amazing! It’s a great place to stock up on groceries and you leave feeling smug that you’ve only spent £20 and you’ve come away with enough to feed yourself for a good week or two.

My favourite part has to be the indoor market, full of delis and cafes, its almost impossible to choose somewhere to eat. There are delis with a wide range of salads and cakes and pastries, serving up delicious coffee and you can leave with a loaf of sour dough bread under your arm. Wild Caper is my favourite. Of course there is the well known Rosie’s cafe (author of Spooning with Rosie) where you can snack on mackerel on toast or scrambled eggs. Just outside the market on Coldharbour Lane is The Duck Egg Cafe where you can get an amazing breakfast to cure any hangover. 

The ultimate place to eat in Brixton market has to be Franco Manca in my opinion. I’ve walked past it many times not even attempting to get a table for the queue trailing down the street, but last Sunday I stumbled out of the rain, frozen through and it was one of the only places open with no queue to be seen. We couldn’t believe our luck so we sat straight down and greedily eyed the menu.

The staff are very friendly and are on hand to suggest the best selection of pizzas to suit you. We ordered a selection so we could try a bit of everything. We had to wait no time at all before they were put in front of us and we literally didn’t make a sound until we’d stuffed every morsel into our mouths. Best pizza I’ve eaten by far.

The beauty of a Franco Manco pizza is the slow rising sour dough base, baked in a wood burning brick oven. It gives the pizza a lovely soft thin crust with a slightly smoky flavour. With ham supplied from Gloucester Old Spot, sweet tomatoes from a group of producers in Salerno, award winning somerset cheeses along with other delicious toppings their pizzas are the real deal. Uncomplicated, unstuffed, not a garlic dipper in sight. It’s ’proper’ pizza, the way it should be.

Caramelized onions, spinach and Gorgonzola

Gloucester Old Spot ham, mozzarella, buffalo ricotta, and wild mushrooms

Tomato, garlic, oregano, olives, capers, anchovies and mozzarella

Along with a side salad (to tell myself I was being healthy) and a delicious glass of cloudy apple juice, we were three very content girls. A real treat and astonishingly cheap! What a delight.

Here’s a little bit of inspiration for date night cooking. Who out there thinks chicken wrapped in streaky bacon and stuffed with Boursin cheese is a ‘posh’ thing to cook for a date? Yes, I admit it was one of the first things I learnt to cook but, for a date? Really? If you’re hoping for a kiss then Boursin, as delicious as it is, on your breath is like the antithesis of sexy. So I’ve come up with a more exciting, fail-safe recipe and, because I’m a nice person, I’ve also added a cocktail recipe AND dessert to make sure get your girl. Of course this isn’t only aimed at boys, so girls listen up too. I’m not trying to be patronising with this post as I know most people can be inventive cooks, but this is for those who would like a little bit of a helping hand when under pressure to impress.

Note to all the boys out there: the good way to start a date is with a cocktail. Every girl loves a cocktail, and I promise you she will be impressed. This is my take on a Disaronno Sour. It’s a cocktail with a bit of sweet and sour: heady amaretto with a good squeeze of lemon juice to cut through the sweetness, topped up with ginger ale and ice, not forgetting the fancy lemon rind and stem ginger garnish - a great way to start off the evening.

Disaronno Sour

Generous shot of Disaronno

Juice of half a lemon

Top with Ginger Ale.

Ice

Ginger & Syrup Cheesecake

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gingerandsyrupcheese_86366

You actually need to start with the dessert: you should do it the night before, as it will need to set. Above is the link to the James Martin recipe and method for ginger cheesecake, but my suggestion would be to mix cream cheese with some marscapone. This cheesecake is so easy to make and tastes delicious. I used old champagne glasses, but you can also put them in ramekins. (Its worth holding on to Gu pudding pots as they make useful ramekins).

Chicken breast stuffed with chorizo, thyme, parsley, lemon, garlic (tiny bit) and cream cheese, wrapped in parma ham, with trimmed asparagus and herby new potatoes.

This is something you can prepare earlier on in the day so you can appear cool as a cucumber and super organised. This is a more exciting version of the classic date meal.

Ingredients

Chicken breast x2

Half a chorizo sausage

4 Slices of parma ham

Thyme

Parsley

Lemon

Garlic

New Potatoes

Asparagus

Method

Oven 200C

Start by crushing two garlic cloves and place them in a little oil (to flavour). Chop the chorizo into small pieces and lightly fry them to heighten the flavour and release all of the spicy oils until they crisp up. Remove from the heat.

Chop up a handful of thyme and parsley, zest the lemon and mix the ingredients with the cream cheese, adding good bit of seasoning (not too much salt as the parma ham will make up for this). Make a pocket in one side of the chicken breast by cutting a line through the meat (but not all the way through!). First stuff in the chorizo pieces, followed by the cream cheese filling. Place two pieces of the parma ham under the chicken fillet and wrap them around the chicken. Don’t worry about any holes, these will release a bit of the filling whilst the chicken cooks and will help create a sauce.

Place the stuffed fillets on to individual sheets of foil with a little of the chorizo oil (drained from the pan) underneath to stop it sticking. Top with a little extra thyme and wrap the foil around it in a loose parcel, leaving space in the top. Put these parcels into the oven on a baking tray for 30 minutes.

While the chicken is in the oven prepare the asparagus by breaking off the tough ends and trimming the bottoms with a peeler.

Cook for thirty minutes. Ten minutes before the chicken comes out, put the new potatoes on to boil and place the asparagus in a colander ready to steam. After thirty minutes, pull the chicken out of the oven and open the foil parcel and then return to the oven to allow the parma ham to crisp. Put the asparagus on to steam for around three minutes; you want them to be tender but still have a slight crunch. Drain the new potatoes once they are cooked, and chop up the remaining herbs and throw them in with the potatoes with a dash of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Give it a good toss.

Remove the chicken from the oven and plate up!

And now for the dessert. Saunter over to the fridge casually, popping on a bit of Barry White on your way, and pull out these heavenly cheesecakes (rose in your mouth is optional). By this point, she will be eating out of your hand……. 

                                                 A guest blog from my sister

Rome: eternal city, and one of my favourite places in the world. Full of bustling piazzas, twisting back streets, extraordinary ancient landmarks and architecture and, of course, countless restaurants serving wonderful Italian food. So when I told my sis I was going to Rome for a few days, I promised to throw in a guest food blog.

 I’ve visited the city a couple of times before, but this is the first time I have been there in May. At this time of year the weather is perfect - warm but, like the best English Midsummer Day, tempered by a cool breeze; the roses are in full bloom and the heady smell of jasmine fills the air.  And, of course, it’s a great time to taste some fantastic seasonal produce.

 Rome isn’t necessarily the first city you think of when it comes to gastronomic greatness (the local penchant for offal leaves something to be desired) but Romans, like the rest of their countrymen, know the meaning of good food.

The selection of food on sale in the markets is fascinating to an outsider, with an embarrassment of riches on show. I visited just a couple during my long weekend - one the local San Giovanni di Dio market in Monteverde, up on a hill above Trastevere, and the other in the more touristy Campo dei Fiori in the Centro Storico. In both, stalls were piled high with fruit and veg of every possible description:  mountains of carciofini (artichokes), some exotic looking and rather expensive wine-red and white-striped tardivo - a type of radicchio, bags of pasta in every shape and size and, in Campo dei Fiori, a weird and wonderful collection of what looked like gourds, though I didn’t have a chance to find out as I avoided being cornered by the stallholder…

As on previous visits, there are certain dishes I like to enjoy when in Rome. In no particular order, these include: courgette, or zucchini, flowers stuffed with mozzarella or ricotta; gelato (many varieties); great coffee (although, I’m afraid, it’s a watered down americano rather than espresso for me); arancini (originating in Sicily, these little fried rice balls are flavoured with a meat or vegetable sauce) and last, but by no means least, my favourite - a classic Roman dish: Bucatini all’Amatriciana.

For me, with my very savoury tooth, this pasta dish - with its combination of salty pork, sweet, thick tomato sauce clinging to the pasta and its chilli heat - is heavenly. Over the years I have often been ridiculed by my family for always throwing bacon and tomato into every pasta sauce, so it comes as no great surprise to my sister that this is the dish I choose to blog about.

 The Amatriciana sauce is a speciality of the Lazio region, in which Rome is situated, particularly the town of Amatrice, after which it is named. It is a simple combination of flavours and uses guanciale - air-dried pork cheeks, a speciality of the region. The pork cheeks are cured in salt and then air-dried for a few months, giving them a stronger flavour and a more delicate texture than other types of bacon. It is also traditionally used in Carbonara. In Amatriciana, it is combined with a little polpa di pomodoro and spiced with some chilli peppers. Traditionally, it is served with bucatini (a thick spaghetti-like pasta which, like macaroni, has a hollow centre) and a sprinkling of pecorino cheese.

I had my best Amatriciana (a committed fan, I tried it in several places) in a trattoria nestled in a back street behind the Coliseum, where I stopped for lunch after a walk down from the Aventine Hill.  Accompanied by a glass of earthy red wine, it made the perfect lunch and fortified me for the next few hours of walking through the city.

 Here is a British twist on the recipe: ‘Penne alla Matriciana’ (different spelling) from The River Café Cookbook by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers. Do use Bucatini if you can get it, but penne or spagetti is a good alternative.  Guanciale may not be easy to come by, although you may be able to get something akin to guanciale from your butcher. Alternatively as in the River Cafe recipe, you can use pancetta.

Penne alla Matriciana  

Serves 6 

250g pancetta cut into matchsticks
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 dried chillies crumbled
2 red onions peeled and finely chopped
150ml red wine
1 x 800g tin peeled plum tomatoes drained if very liquid
2 tablespoons rosemary
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
250g penne or spaghetti
100g Pecorino or parmesan freshly grated
A handful of fresh oregano

Place the pancetta, oil and chillies in a large saucepan and heat and fry until the pancetta becomes crisp. Then add the onions and rosemary and continue to fry until the onions have become translucent and soft.

Add the red wine. It will reduce almost immediately; then add the tomatoes and season with the oregano and pepper.

Bring to the boil and then lower the heat and simmer for at least 45 minutes until thick and almost dry. It’s key to give the sauce enough time to reduce so that it becomes thick and intense. Check for seasoning.

Cook the penne in a generous amount of boiling salted water then drain thoroughly.
Add to the sauce and serve with parmesan or, if you can, pecorino.

Despite my love of savoury food, I must leave a little space for those with a taste for sweeter things. On this visit to Rome, I was taken to a couple of excellent gelaterias (apparently you can find some of the best ice cream in the world in Rome) - one, Giolitti, is the oldest of Rome’s gelaterias and the other the lesser known - but, in my opinion, eminently superior - Gelateria del Teatro, off the aptly named Via dei Coronari.  Not only was this gelateria as picturesque as they come, tucked into a charming side street decorated with potted geraniums and wrought iron tables and chairs, but it also had the most unusual and mouth-watering selection of ice cream I’ve ever seen. No Bacio-flavoured ice creams here; instead you’ll find flavours such as Sage & Wild Raspberry, Lavender & White Peach, White Chocolate & Basil and Amalfi Lemon. I plumped for an unusual combination of Ricotta, Fig & Almond and Cannolo Siciliano (a twist on the classic Sicilian delicacy of fried pastry dough cylinders - not unlike brandy snaps - filled with sweetened creamed ricotta and flavoured, in this case, with lemon). Both were exquisite; not a word I use lightly. It may not be the most affordable gelato you’ll ever buy, but it’s worth it - I can’t recommend it enough. If Audrey Hepburn’s character had tasted one of these in Roman Holiday, she probably would have shacked up with Gregory Peck and stayed put.

Easter heralds the start of a new season. Spring. The time of year when we shrug off our winter coats, and start the countdown to summer. It can’t come quick enough! Although I have alrerady been slapping on the factor 50 in the last couple of amazing weeks of weather we’ve been having. Due to these uncharacteristicly warm days my family spent the majority of Easter, catching the rays in the garden, eating every meal outdoors and the natural thing to do was have a BBQ washed down by jugs of fruity pimms. Perfect.

When you think of easter day, you think of overindulging on melting chocolate eggs, but the star of the show has to be the spring lamb. We picked ours up from John Clark Butchers, which we are lucky enough to have in our village. He never fails to deliver with his fantastic meat.

The lamb was smothered in a marinade of rosmary, thyme, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice, with sweet onions placed underneith to create a rich gravy from the meats juices. After cooking it in the aga it was then finished off on the BBQ to give it a wonderful smokey flavour and obviously give my dad an excuse to do the ’manly’ job of poking the coals a bit and mumbling something about how the grass could do with a good cut, not letting anyone touch the BBQ. “It’s a mans job”. Yes Dad, yes it is.

To accompany the lamb we had fennel, red peppers and aubergine, well seasoned and drizzled in oil, cooked on the BBQ.

We also had asparagus, grilled until tender on the BBQ then tossed in wilted wild garlic leaves that we had picked from the woods just that morning, topped with curd cheese.

Not forgetting the homemade mint sauce, redcurrent jelly and new potatoes tossed in chives and butter. Essentials with lamb.

After this we all sat groaning, undoing the top button on our trousers, not very ladylike but when you’re with family who cares! Comfort comes first. We claimed that we couldn’t eat another thing until five minutes later when my mum bought out her Cox’s creamy apple tart. Phwoah, it’s a winner. There’s always room for pudding.

Home made sweet short crust pastry base. Sautee Cox’s apple slices in lemon juice, sugar and butter. Remove the apple pieces and place in the pastry case. Add the juice and zest of an orange to the juices and bubble them up. Remove from the heat and add cream, return to a low heat until thickened and pour over the apples. Top with a sprinkling of demerera sugar and serve at room temperature.

LEFTOVERS

The next day my sister and I were given the task of making something for lunch with the left overs from our lamb feast the day before. And this is what we made. Just a light lunch that could probably feed fifty people. We got a bit carried away.

We minced the cold lamb and made it into kofta’s, mixed with herbs and spices and fried in oil. We used the leftover fennel, peppers, new potatoes etc in a large salad topped with garlic and rosemary croutons. As well as a few other things we made a yoghurt and coriader dip topped with pomegranate seeds.

We warmed pitta bread and stuffed them full of all of these delights. Left overs don’t have to be boring you just need to have a bit of imagination.

The Royal Wedding is upon us! In every sense of the word. You can’t open a newspaper or magazine or even put on the television without being bombarded by images of the Royal Couple. Obviously I want to see pictures of Kate Middleton having a bad hair day on a Royal visit to St Andrews (who wouldn’t?), but when I see it in every newspaper from every angle. You get my point. But I think, deep down, everyone is secretly a sucker for romance, so congratulations to the happy couple.

 If you can’t beat them, join them I say. I found the perfect way to join in and entered The Times Royal Bake-Off. After my near triumph in the bake-off at work I decided to take it up a notch. This is the brief:

“Your cake or bake needs to have a royal theme – whether it’s shaped like a crown, decorated with bunting or topped with Wills and Kate figurines. It can be as simple or fancy as you like but needs to look good on on the street party table.”

The Royal family are well-known advocates of seasonal British produce, so I decided to go down that route, rather than stick with a simple Victoria sponge or fruit cake. My ingredient of choice was Rhubarb. As a child I used to hate it, especially when my mother tried to cunningly hide it in a fool. I would hold it in my mouth and refuse to swallow it, sometimes up to an hour in protest. My tastes and behaviour have now matured and I love the stuff.

My cake is a twist on the very British marriage of Rhubarb and Custard. The cake consists of a rhubarb and ginger sponge, marbled through with custard and topped and filled with a blend of whipped cream and vanilla custard. 

It is just the right combination of sweetness and sharpness with a hint of spice from the ginger. 

 Now for the presentation. To elevate the traditional Rhubarb and Custard to regal status I dressed the cake in a selection of royal-themed ribbons, gold, Windsor blue and a Union Jack (sophisticated but demure like our Kate). The topping is crowned with a coronet of bridal petals and of course a sprinkling of gold leaf, not to mention a nod to romance with a ginger-poached rhubarb heart. This isn’t just any cake, it’s a ‘Royal’ cake, so there were no expenses spared. I found a great website called Uncle Roy’s Comestible Concoctions. Its got a whole selection of things on there that you can’t necessarily buy in the supermarket. I found these jars of edible petals, they had a huge range, it was impossible to choose, they were simply called ‘Eat Me’. http://www.uncleroys.co.uk/

Not forgetting the vital Royal Wedding themed plate. I had to venture into the unknown world of souvenir shops. Not an experience I want to repeat. It was like a shrine to Kate and Will, staring at you where ever you went. Then I found it, a little plate perfect to place my champagne glass on as my recommendation would be to serve the cake with a sparkling elderflower and Prosecco cocktail. I hurried to the counter and mumbled something about it being for my grandmother and made my escape!

Sponge
 
800g Rhubarb
500g Butter (Softened)
300g Custard
1 tsp Baking Powder
500g Self raising flour
8 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Ext
500g Golden Caster sugar
2 pieces of stem ginger, sliced
 
Topping/Filling
 
300ml Double Cream (Whipped)
250ml Vanilla custard/ Creme Anglaise
 
Edible petals
Edible gold leaf
 
Poached rhubarb heart
 
200ml Water
75g Caster Sugar
Piece of stem ginger
1tbsp Stem ginger syrup
 
METHOD
 
Oven 200C. Rinse the rhubarb, trim the ends and cut into finger sized pieces. Put in a shallow dish and sprinkle over 50g of caster sugar and toss together. Top with foil and roast for 15 minutes, after this time take off the foil and roast for a further 5 minutes until the juices are syrupy. Take out of the oven and leave to cool.

For the topping and filling, whip the double cream and then spoon in the vanilla custard (a spoon at a time to create the right consistency).
 
For the poached rhubarb heart, put the water, sugar, stem ginger and syrup into a shallow pan. Simmer, stirring, for 10 minutes until syrupy. Reduce the heat to low and add the rhubarb. Place the lid onto the pan and leave to poach for 5 minutes.

Decorate
 

I am very proud of my creation, so proud that I didn’t just take pictures of it on the kitchen table, I went all out with a photo shoot in Green Park. Just to set the scene for a Royal Celebration.

What better way to celebrate the Royal Wedding than with the best of British seasonal produce?

All my efforts were rewarded. I was runner up! Not bad as there was some tough competition. Someone even made a Westminster Abbey cake. Skills.

But for me the most important thing is I get to see my pictures and recipe in the newspaper!  Look out for it as it comes out on 28th April. More than excited!

Oh and to Kate and Will; I hope your marriage is as long and happy as the rightfully royal rhubarb and custard……….

As a guest blogger for Izzie’s lovely site I am going to introduce  a dip. This sounds like a cop-out, but I am passionate on the subject matter.

As a child, our Friday nights were usually spent at one of our neighbours’ houses and quite often at our Mexican/American friend Denise’s.

When some of the other kids were understandably dubious, I would be in the garden with my friends wolfing down blue tacos or mole ‘chocolate’ chicken before an evening of rollerblading!

SALSA

For anyone who has ever bought Doritos Dipping Salsa - hang your head in shame. That sugary gloop with the incognito vegetables and countless E numbers should be banned. My heart always sinks when someone brings round a ‘dip selection’ to a party. 1) The party will probably be rubbish, 2) I could have made my own for half the price and 3) having been to Mexico, I believe that we Gringos have a thing or two to learn about party food.

This is how you make a great Salsa:

INGREDIENTS

(I usually stick on some Gypsy Kings to get me in the mood)

1 Huge bunch of Coriander, stalks off

1 Tin of tomatoes (any) although the equivalent weight of fresh tomatoes with the fleshy part removed is even nicer.

2 Spring onions

1 Small red onion

Red Chillies (as much or as little as you like, the more the better in my opinion)

1 Large lemon or 2 limes squeezed

BIG pinch of Rock Salt

A few large shakes of Crystal Louisiana Hot Sauce (very hard to find, non-essential!)

Put the onions into the magi mix first of all and blend. Then add the tinned tomatoes along with the other ingredients and blend some more, until you are left with a mostly dark green, rich red sauce with flecks of coriander leaves coming through. Make sure you have no pips in the lemon/lime juice as once you blend the salsa it’ll be left with a horrid bitter taste.

Remember it is not just a dip! It tastes great on fish (instead of a salsa verde) or add a few tablespoons to avocadeos to make the best flavouring for guacamole. This salsa needs to be seasoned to taste, I just keep adding until it tastes right.

Salsa just means sauce, so there are countless variations, but this is the one that we used to eat and it is possibly my favourite combination of flavours that take me straight back to those lovely summer evenings.

She is responsible for bringing garlic, courgettes and olive oil to name a few into british homes in the 1950’s. What more can I say. Elizabeth David is a gastronomical deity.
 
You may be thinking, calm down, thats a bit much, or even “who the hell is Elizabeth David” (shame on you for not knowing) but in a post-war Britain, ground down by dull and rationed food, Elizabeth David bought the joys of Mediterranean cooking to our shores. In her books such as ‘Italian Food’ and ‘Mediterranean Food’  she celebrated rural and regional recipes from all over the Mediterranean in her own unique writing style, which is characterised by her descriptions and historical references. She wasn’t afraid to be completely honest and sometimes scathing in her books, if she didn’t like something she wouldn’t hold back! She hated poor quality food, so in those post war years she had alot to complain about and as a girl who likes a good moan if my food isn’t up to scratch, I feel like saying “Yeah Liz, you tell em” (in my head of course).

I recently came across this quote. So wise, our Liz

“A world devoid of tomato soup, tomato sauce, tomato ketchup and tomato paste is hard to visualize. Could the tin and processed food industries have got where they have without the benefit of the tomato compounds which colour, flavour, thicken and conceal so many deficiencies? How did the Italians eat spaghetti before the advent of the tomato? Was there such a thing as tomato-less Neapolitan pizza?” An Omlette and a glass of Wine, 1984.

In her honour, and drawing inspiration from where I live (it’s all in the name), I made ‘Spagetti Alla Puttanesca’…

There are varying myths behind Puttanesca sauce, but the story I like to believe (as it sounds quite exotic) is that the recipe was credited to Italian prostitutes back in the day, who when not occupied with ‘comforting their clients’, they would whip up a quick meal using staple ingredients they found in the pantry, as they were not allowed to pick up fresh produce from the market place. Supposedly the heady and robust aroma of this sauce wafting into the streets would entice more clients to their doors. What a great image, men being led by their noses to a brothel!

Spagetti Alla Puttanesca (Rick Stein’s Recipe)

Ingredients

• 450g/1lb small cherry, plum or vine-ripened tomatoes
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 sprig of rosemary, leaves finely chopped
• 4 sage leaves, shredded thinly
• a good pinch of dried chilli flakes, or 1 red finger chilli, seeded and finely chopped
• 55g/2oz salted capers, excess salt rubbed off
• 110g/4oz small black olives, pitted
• 2 x 50g/2oz cans of anchovy fillets in oil, drained and chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped oregano
• 450g/1lb dried bucatini or spaghetti
• 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring 3.4 litre/6 pint water and 2 tbsp salt to the boil for the pasta.

For the sauce, squeeze the tomatoes into the sink to get rid of most of the juice, then cut each one in half. I actually found that this made the sauce too dry, so later added a glug of red wine, so I would advice that you don’t go too mad when squeezing out the juice. (Be sure to wear an apron, it’s messy work!).

Heat the oil in a pan with the garlic, rosemary and sage and cook gently for about 1 minute without browning.

Add the chilli, tomatoes, capers, olives, anchovies, oregano and some black pepper and leave to simmer gently for 10 minutes. Anchovies can be an aquired taste but don’t worry about the amount in this recipe as they melt down and give the sauce a rich flavour.

Meanwhile, add the pasta to the pan of boiling water and cook for about 7 minutes or until al dente.

Drain and tip it into a large warmed serving bowl. Pour over the sauce, add the chopped parsley and toss together well. Serve straight away, with plenty of red wine.

                       Gorgeous breakfasts for a gorgeous birthday girl!

It was my lovely housemate, Hattie’s birthday this weekend and I just couldn’t let it pass with out a special ‘Birthday Breakfast’; actually two…and only Hattie would put on a sequin jacket over her pajamas to eat it. She likes sequins ALOT. I probably should have made sequin porridge, then she would have been in heaven. Next year perhaps…

I love birthdays! I think I get more excited about others peoples birthdays than my own! I like to treat my friends when I can and a birthday is a perfect opportunity.

Breakfast Number one:

On Saturday morning we feasted on thick blueberry pancakes drizzled in honey with fresh fruit and bacon, and croissants, which obviously were a completely necessary addition, just in case the rest wasn’t enough!

For the pancakes all you need is 200g Flour, 1 egg, tbsp sugar, tsp baking powder, 300ml milk and a punnet of blueberries. Whisk the flour, egg, sugar, baking powder and milk together until it is combined and then stir in the blueberries.

Melt a knob of butter in a saucepan (not too much,as you don’t want greasy pancakes), place a table spoon of batter in the pan and wait for bubbles to rise in the batter before you flip it. Grill some bacon, pancetta if it’s available, and slice up some fruit. I don’t know what it is about bacon and sweet pancakes but they just work, with the slight saltiness counteracting the sweetness.

Breakfast number two:

For Hattie’s actual birthday, I thought I’d be too hungover to sort out a ‘fancy’ breakfast, but I woke up and the sun was shining so I ignored the banging in my head and ventured out to the supermarket. I decided on Eggs Royale. Probably the most complicated breakfast I could have chosen, but for some reason it seemed like a good idea. I picked up some flowers, and a hideous ‘Birthday Girl’ pink rosette (that every girl longs to wear on her birthday) and went home to get cooking.

Eggs Royale, is a deliciously indulgent twist on Eggs Benedict. One of the richest but most perfect ways to start the day. Instead of smoked salmon I went for smoked rainbow trout, as I don’t think it is celebrated in the same way as salmon and it really should be.

Ingredients

Muffins

Smoked Trout

2 Large egg yolks

110g Butter

1 Tbsp Lemon juice

1 Tbsp White wine vinegar

Begin by placing the egg yolks in a small bowl and season them with a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk them thoroughly for a minute. After that, heat the lemon juice and white wine vinegar in a small saucepan until the mixture starts to bubble and simmer. Pour the hot liquid on to the egg yolks in a slow, steady stream whilst whisking the mixture.

Now, using the same saucepan, melt the butter over a gentle heat, being very careful not to let it brown. When the butter is foaming, pour in the butter into the mixture in a thin, slow, steady trickle whilst you whisk; the slower you add it the better. (If it helps you to use a jug instead of pouring from the saucepan, warm a jug with boiling water, discard the boiling water and then pour the butter mixture into that first.) When all the butter has been incorporated, give the sauce one more quick burst and you should end up with a lovely, smooth, thick, buttery sauce.

Toast and butter your muffins and then layer the trout on top. Poach your egg in boiling water with a dash of vinegar (which helps the egg keep it’s form). Put your poached egg on top of the trout and spoon on the sauce. Season with pepper and chives and you’re done!

If only it was her birthday every weekend, we’d be very fat, but very happy!

 Focaccia is a classic Italian bread, instantly recongisable by it’s puckered surface. It is a flat, oven-baked bread with a rich oily consistency and its multiple wells, filled with olive oil, rock salt and rosemany, give it an indulgent flavour and heady aroma, making the plain loaf pale by comparison. It is a perfect accompaniment to cured meats, olives and salad: perfect for a summer’s day.

This old Italian classic is related to the pizza, but not considered to be the same in Italy. It can be topped with a number of things like meats, herbs and cheeses, which sounds alot like pizza to me, but I wouldn’t want to argue with an Italian. They know their food.

  I love the thought of whipping out a fresh batch of bread at a dinner party and (my middle aged alter ego) smugly saying ‘This? Oh I made it myself…no really, I did. Oh it was nothing’ and watching their impressed faces. Reading that back I can’t get over how cool I sound. Wow.

 Making bread from scratch has always terrified me, more so the fear of failure. After all the effort of kneeding and proving (ok that doesn’t take much effort), if it doesn’t turn out right then, what a disappointment! Nevertheless, I faced my fears and made some foccacia. It’s an easy one to break yourself in with, if you’re a breadmaking novice like me. No one will notice if it looks slightly wrong as it’s meant to look ‘rustic’. 

I found a simple recipe and thought I’d stick with that rather than be over ambitious and set myself up for a fall. This recipe has limited ingredients and is surprisingly simple to make.

FOCACCIA WITH GARLIC AND ROSEMARY (Waitrose Recipe)

 INGREDIENTS

200g Strong White Bread Flour

7g Dried Active Yeast

50ml Exta Virgin Olive Oil (extra for drizzling)

Handful of Rosemary

Rock Salt

2 Cloves of Garlic

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Put the flour and a pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl. Blend the yeast with 100ml warm water, mixing together until smooth, then add to the flour. Mix in 50ml olive oil to produce a soft dough.

Remove the dough from the bowl and knead for 10 minutes until smooth. Shape into a smooth ball and place in a clean bowl; cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Lightly flour the work surface and rolling pin, then roll the dough into a disc about 1cm thick. Place on a well-oiled baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm, draught-free place to rise for 15-30 minutes or until puffed up.

 Press your fingertips into the dough to create dimples. Scatter with sprigs of rosemary, slices of garlic and the sea salt. Bake for 20–25 minutes until risen and golden. Remove from the oven and drizzle with a little extra olive oil.

Serve it with a bowl of balsamic vinegar in olive oil.

Mine came out a little flat. Not bad for a first attempt!

….is what Marie Antoinette apparently said when the peasants had no bread, she simply said “let them eat brioche”. She wasn’t called “The Great Princess” for nothing.

So eat cake we shall. At work anyway because our office are currently having a bake off. Two of us compete in the office every week to win best baker! It’s all fun and games, there isn’t even a prize at the end, but I have become worryingly competitive and I HAVE to win. Just to maintain my pride. I even bought special cupcake cases from eBay……….I need to sort my priorities out. But they are lovely and in the words of the wise Charlie Sheen, it’s all about the ‘Winning’.

The competition is marked on presentation, taste, texture and originality. Now that’s alot to think about. After pouring through my books I went back to my old fave, The Hummingbird Bakery cook book. Every cake that I’ve made from this book always comes out a treat. I don’t know what it is about their recipes, the sponge has always come out light as air, with the indulgent toppings and sweet surprises in the centre, they’re perfect for any occasion. One of my favourite Hummingbird recipes is the Marshmallow Cupcake, people love them, but I wanted more texture and colour so went for the Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcake, with my own little twist.

The cupcake consists of a layer of fresh strawberries, I mixed mine with a little strawberry jam, just to up the sweetness. The strawberries are covered by a light vanilla sponge, a layer of stem ginger cookie cheesecake base bound with stem ginger syrup, and topped with a cream cheese frosting. To garnish, a couple of slices of fresh strawberry and a last sprinkle of biscuit. All in all I think I successfully filled the brief with these. But its all in the tasting!

Hummingbird Bakery, Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes (with a twist)

Ingredients:

2x Punnets of Strawberries (base and garnish)

1 Tbsp Bonne Maman Strawberry Jam

1 Egg

140g Caster Sugar

120g Plain Flour

40g Unsalted Butter (room temperature)

125ml Whole Milk

1/4 Tsp Vanilla Ext

1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

Pinch of salt

Biscuit layer:

Pack of stem ginger cookies, Stem ginger syrup, 40g unsalted butter

Icing

300g Icing sugar, 50g unsalted butter (room temperature), 125g Cream cheese

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Chop up twelve strawberries into small pieces and mix them in a bowl with a tablespoon of strawberry jam. This just gives them extra sweetness and heightens the colour. Place the cupcake holders into the tray and evenly distribute the strawberry pieces. To make the cake mixture, put the flour, salt, baking power, butter and sugar in a bowl and whisk until it has a consistency of fine breadcrumbs. Add the milk and vanilla extract, and whisk until all the ingredients are combined. Finally add the egg and whisk for a few minutes. Spoon the batter into the cases, they each need to be filled three quarters of the way up, and place into the oven for 20 minutes.

To make the biscuit layer, blend a packet of stem ginger cookies - don’t blend them into a dust, but you want nice small crumbs. Melt a knob of unsalted butter in a saucepan and add a good couple of handfuls of the biscuits. Mix this into the melted butter and add two teaspoons of stem ginger syrup. This should help to bind the mixture and give an extra kick of ginger.

After 20 minutes take the cupcakes out of the oven and place them on a cooling rack. For the icing, put the butter in a bowl with the icing sugar and whisk it together. You will now be engulfed in a cloud of icing sugar, so I worked out a trick - put a cloth over the bowl as you’re whisking. Once the butter has broken down add the cream cheese. Whisk this all together until it’s combined, but not for too long as it can become runny.

Press the biscuit mixture onto the top of each cake and then top with the icing. I added a little bit of red food colouring to half of the icing mixture so some of the cupcakes would have pink tops, and the others white. Then slice up some strawberries and top each with two slices and a sprinkle of the blended biscuit mixture.

TADA!

I am now going to bombard you with all the pictures I took of my cakes. Enjoy.

The results are in. It was a draw! My oponent made a pretty spectacular caramel and peanut cake, so I’m happy with that result!

I fancied a nice bit of meat for my supper last night. Oh wow, just realised how that sounded. Oh you know what I mean! and as I was perusing the supermarket aisles there it was, the master of all meats - steak. Steak is always one of those things that I usually only order at a restaurant, rather than cooking it myself, but I always forget how affordable it can be from the supermarket. I went for the sirloin steak. Good beef should be deep red in colour and sirloin has a good layer of fat running around the edge which is essential, as it melts when heated, basting the meat and giving it a fantastic flavour. Sirloin also has that melt in the mouth consistency that makes a good steak. Have I sold it to you?

I didn’t want to do the usual steak and chips so I went for a hot steak salad with honey glazed and spiced squash and a garlic and chili salsa verde. A vegetarian’s nightmare perhaps, but a meat eater’s ultimate meal.

Hot steak salad with honey and spice glazed squash, Salsa Verde and tzatziki.

Ingredients:

Sirloin Steak

Butternut Squash

(Squash seasoning): Honey, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, dried chili, salt and pepper, 4 garlic cloves, olive oil

Salsa Verde: Basil, parsley, 1/4 fresh red chili (de-seeded), juice of half a lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper, garlic

Tzatziki: Greek yogurt, cucumber, juice of half a lemon, salt and pepper, olive oil

Salad leaves

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. While this is heating up, prepare the squash. Cut it into large chunks, leaving on the skin and seeds. When roasted the seeds are delicious and crunchy with an nutty flavour, which gives a great contrast to the soft and sweet squash. Using a pestle and mortar, crush the coriander seeds, fennel seeds, dried chili flakes and salt and pepper. Once this is all ground down sprinkle it over the squash with a good drizzle of olive oil. Squeeze a little honey to glaze. Give it a mix and then nestle the garlic cloves under the squash so they don’t get bunt and it’s ready for the oven.

I’ve gone for a simple salsa verde, but you can add capers, anchovies, different types of herbs depending on the strength of flavour you’re going for. I wanted mine to be quite mild so to preserve the flavour of the steak. It’s a great accompaniment to any grilled or roasted meat or fish.

To make this version, just chuck the basil, parsley, chili, olive oil and lemon juice into the blender. Add seasoning to taste. Its so important to taste your food as you’re making it.

Take the squash out of the oven and leave it to cool slightly. Remove the garlic cloves which by now should be lovely and soft within their skins. Squeeze out the garlic into the salsa verde and give it one last blend. I prefer to put in the roasted garlic because in its raw state, garlic can overpower a dish. The Tzatziki couldn’t be easier, just grate half a cucumber, and mix with the greek yoghurt, lemon juice, olive oil and salt and lots of pepper.

Now for the steak. Heat your griddle or frying pan to a high heat. Rub each side of the steak with olive oil and season. For a medium rare steak, I cooked it on each side for two minutes.  Leave to rest for three minutes, this allows all of the lovely juices that have been drawn to the surface to relax back into the meat.

Steak, done!

There’s nothing like your own mother’s cooking, and when it comes to mine, this couldn’t be truer. I love to get out of the Big Smoke for the weekend, and make that journey home on a Friday night, knowing a delicious meal awaits me along with the open arms of my mother…yes, I know ‘how sickening’, but you can’t beat it. Not forgetting these two faces waiting for me at the front door!

This weekend my two sisters and I took a train home and were transported away from the stresses and strains of London life. We chugged our way down to the the beautiful Dorset countryside for a bit of home cooking and TLC, which was just what the doctor ordered…

 On Saturday night we had a feast (I literally mean FEAST) to celebrate my sister’s Birthday and in true family style we ate until we could eat no more.

We enjoyed a meal of Moroccan lamb meatballs, with a warm yogurt and swiss chard sauce, topped with pomegranate seeds and coriander.YUM. This was then followed by a carrot, ginger and honey cake.

Here’s the recipe, by the very popular Yotam Ottolenghi: LAMB MEATBALLS WITH WARM YOGURT AND SWISS CHARD SAUCE

Ingredients
(Serves six)
1kg lamb mince
200g fresh breadcrumbs
70g pine nuts
4tsp ground allspice
1tsp ground cinnamon
2tsp ground coriander
1/2tsp dried mint
4 garlic cloves, crushed
100ml olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
160g Swiss chard, white bits discarded and green leaves shredded roughly
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced
300ml chicken stock
40ml lemon juice
500g Greek yogurt
1tbs cornflour, mixed to a paste with 2tsp water
1 free-range egg
150g pomegranate seeds (about one pomegranate)
20g fresh coriander, roughly chopped
Salt and black pepper

Method
In a large mixing bowl mix together the lamb, breadcrumbs, pine nuts, 1tsp of the allspice, the cinnamon, coriander, dried mint, half the garlic, 2tsp of salt and some black pepper.

Once all these ingredients are combined, shape into meatballs weighing roughly 50g each. The mixture will make about 24 meatballs.

Heat 2tbs of the olive oil in a medium saucepan and add the onion and remaining garlic. Fry over a gentle heat for 8-10 minutes until soft but not coloured.

Add the chilli and Swiss chard and cook for 4-5 minutes so that the chard is cooked and wilted. Stir in the remaining allspice along with the chicken stock and lemon juice. Bring to the boil and then remove from the heat.

Put together in a large bowl the yogurt, cornflour paste, egg and 150ml of water and whisk well to form a smooth sauce. Gradually spoon the hot chard mixture into the yogurt, stirring well in between each addition, until the two mixtures are combined. Season with 2tsp of salt and plenty of black pepper and set aside.

Pour the remaining oil into a large, high-sided sauté pan and fry the meatballs in two batches on high heat for 2-3 minutes, until lightly brown all over. Remove to a plate and wipe the pan clean.

Pour in the yogurt sauce and bring to a gentle simmer. Make sure it barely bubbles and that you only stir clockwise to avoid curdling.

Return the meatballs to the pan; they should be just covered with sauce. Cook for 18-20 minutes on a very low simmer until the meatballs are cooked the whole way through.

Divide the meatballs and yogurt sauce between four plates and top with pomegranate seeds and a sprinkling of chopped coriander.

We ate ours with pasta, but it could work just as well with cous cous or rice.

I don’t care what people say, I think Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals cookbook is a triumph. I love his style of cooking, it’s so uncomplicated. Fair enough, some of his recipes might take longer, but who cares! Who only ever has a 30 minute slot to cook in anyway? Ok, rant over. Basically I love him, alright!

I recently watched the episode where he made little portuguese custard tarts, topped with an orange caramel sauce. I wanted to see if they really were that simple to create, plus I couldn’t wait to try them!

Portuguese custard tarts were created more than 200 years ago, originating in Lisbon. They evolved from ‘pastel del nata’, a traditional custard pastry that consists of custard with a ‘creme brulee’ like consistency, caramelised in a puff pastry case. Jamie’s recipe is a twist on this; it’s a quick, simple version, packed full of flavour.

You need to put the oven onto 200c and dust a surface with plain flour, ready for the pastry. Roll it out and sprinkle with ground cinnamon. Don’t be shy - give it a good coating. Roll the pastry like a swiss roll, keeping it quite tight. Once rolled, cut it into twelve pieces, each around 2cm wide.

Place the pastry pieces into a cupcake tray and press each one down using your thumb to mould, pressing it around the sides. Put these into the oven on the top shelf for eight minutes until they are golden.

While the pastry is doing its thing in the oven, prepare the custard mix. Mix together 125g of creme fraiche, 1tbsp of golden caster sugar, 1tsp vanilla extract, the zest of an orange and one egg. Take the pastry cases out of the oven and use a teaspoon to press down the puffed up centres to make room for the custard. Fill each case with the mixture and place back into the oven for another eight minutes.

The caramel sauce is very quick and easy. Put four tablespoons of golden caster sugar into a pan with the juice of an orange and put on a high heat. This will bubble away until it becomes a golden brown caramel. Just make sure you keep stirring it and keep an eye on it. Once the tarts are out of the oven they should have a nice wobble. Pour the caramel on each tart and leave to set.

PHWOAH!

Ingredients

5 tbsp Golden Caster Sugar

125g Creme fraiche

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Puff pastry

Orange

Ground Cinnamon

Plain Flour (for dusting) 

Borough Market: one of my favourite places in London. I could wander around it for hours on end, picking up tasters, discovering new foods, and just taking in all the smells and wonders it has to offer. As I have a limited amount of time to write today, I won’t go into too much detail because I can talk about it another day, but I just wanted to showcase my latest creation! I was in Borough on Saturday and came across a large basket of samphire and couldn’t resist buying a bag of it. Along with some fresh herbs and salmon, I had good idea of what I wanted to cook.

Samphire is called the asparagus of the sea; it has a distinctively crisp and salty taste so with fish, it’s a match made in heaven. You can cook it with any fish but I was thinking about colour and presentation, so wanted to go with salmon. With it’s pink flesh, the salmon works a treat with the emerald green samphire.

To start I mixed the basil, parsley, chopped garlic and a slice of lemon. This was then packed in between the two fish fillets. Seasoning is very important so don’t forget the and pepper (the salt will come from the Parma ham)! The stuffed fish is then placed on two pieces of Parma ham slightly overlapped. Wrap the fish in the ham and fix it in place with a cocktail stick. The fish is now prepared.

To make the sauce melt about 100g of butter (on a medium heat) and then add a sliced clove of garlic. Just as the butter is turning to a nutty brown colour, add the juice of half a lemon. Season with pepper and then add a handful of rinsed capers and parsley. Leave this on a low heat while the fish is cooking. To add another dimension in texture and to fill out the dish I decided to add some courgette ribbons. I use a peeler to create the ribbons and just cook them in a little oil with salt and pepper before mixing them in with the samphire.

To cook the fish, heat up a small amount of oil in a separate pan (you don’t need much as the fish will cook in the fat from the parma ham). When the pan is hot place the wrapped fillet in and press it down slightly. Leave for four minutes, until the ham is dark and crisp, and turn over. Cook for another four minutes and then turn off the heat and put a lid on the pan so the fish can continue cooking with in the heat of the pan.

Finally the samphire! All you need to do is steam it for a couple of minutes until tender and then toss it in a little butter. Slice the salmon parcel in half and you should have a nice layered effect with the ham, fish and herbs. Place this on top of the samphire and spoon on the sauce.

It tasted pretty good, even if I do say so myself!

Ingredients

Two small salmon fillets

Courgette

Samphire

Parma Ham

Handful of basil and parsley

Lemon

Garlic

Butter

capers (rinsed)

Salt and Pepper

The view from my desk at work has to be one of the best in London, the sunsets are amazing. Last night’s was particularly spectacular, I spent the last hour of work just staring at it, being the professional that I am…

It was the most glorious day in London yesterday and I really felt like spring was coming, so naturally I started getting excited about summer. I know its a little premature, but I can still look forward to the days in the park, picnics with friends, sitting for hours in pub gardens and most importantly, holidays! I love to cook when I’m on holiday and for some reason everything just seems to taste better when you’re sitting in the sunshine. I went to Malta last summer and have great memories of cooking fish on the BBQ, putting together big salads and eating them with the local Maltese bread, just delicious. So last night I decided to put together butter bean and pea shoot salad, with a tuna steak and feta. So fresh and healthy so you can eat as much as you want!

To start you need to heat up some oil and put a sliced clove of garlic in, just to infuse the oil. You then need to remove the garlic before it darkens as othersise it will become bitter. Allow the oil to cool. Once cool, rub the infused oil onto the fish with some pepper and place in a hot pan. I like my tuna rare, so I just sear it on each side and remove it from the pan to rest.

While the tuna is resting, put the pea shoots, butter beans, basil and parsley in a bowl and pour a glug of good extra virgin olive oil over it with some lemon juice. Crumble in the feta and add some seasoning. Toss it all together with your hands  to infuse all of the flavours. Slice the tuna steak (it should be nice and pink in the middle) and you’re done! You can either mix it up or layer the tuna on top with some extra feta, but however you do it, it will still be delicious! Most importantly have a nice glass of cold dry white wine to wash it down. Summer is here…..almost!

Ingredients

Tuna Steak

Olive Oil

Pea shoots

Butter Beans

Baby Plum Tomatoes

Handful of Basil and Flat Leaf Parsley

Clove of Garlic

Feta cheese

Salt and Pepper

Lemon

After a late Saturday night, my perfect way spend a Sunday is eating the world and his wife. I can literally graze all day. So yesterday, that’s exactly what I did.

I went to this great place with my family called The Alice House and had the perfect meal to cure any hangover. I’m still thinking about it now!

The Alice House is a new addition to Queens Park and has a sister restaurant in West Hampstead. With their option of brunch until 4pm or their small, but well formed menu ranging from Lemon Sole to a leek and Stilton tart they are definitely onto a good thing, attracting families, young couples and groups of friends. It’s not hard to see why it’s a popular choice.

  The first thing that strikes you as you walk in are the light bulbs which hang from every inch of the ceiling, giving off a warm glow, reminiscent of an installation by media artist Jim Campbell. With the exposed brick walls, scrubbed pine tables and fresh bread and cheeses laid out as you walk through the door, the place has a homely yet almost industrial and urban feel to it. I saw steak on the menu and was sold, in fact my whole family were and we had to order the same thing in case we got food envy, and no one likes that! It came on a wooden board which was a nice touch giving it a rustic feel. My steak was rare, and it was so tender I hardly even had to chew it. It was marinated in thyme and garlic which came through subtly at the end of every mouthful so as not to overpower the meat. It was accompanied by a roasted tomato, lambs lettuce and a horseradish cream, which was a bit mild for my taste (but I was in food heaven so couldn’t complain), not to mention the chunky chips!

Obviously no one turned down the pudding menu. Strangely when we all eat out together and my Dad asks, if anyone wants pudding he automatically looks at me…

I ordered a chocolate brownie with ice cream, and I think it had to be the best I’ve tasted. So rich and soft in the middle, with a hint of hazelnut and a scoop of vanilla ice cream to cut through the sweetness, I easily got through my half. Heaven.

All in all it was a perfect place to spend a lazy Sunday. Good food, decent prices and a great atmosphere, what more could I ask for?

…than last nights delights. Canard

Duck, it always gets a mixed reception and is not cooked that often at home. Alot of people associate it to Chinese take aways, where in the shredded form it can be quite greasy. I think people are scared of it, not knowing how to cook it. It really is so simple and so delicious. I promise it’s worth it. It has such a beautiful flavour, stronger and more gamey than chicken and has a higher fat content, but I always find it makes things taste better personally. I am one of those “disgusting” people who loves the fat from lamb chops and will always eat mine and anyone else’s, usually the fussy people who push it to the side. They don’t know what they’re missing!!

Duck is a very rich meat, so I decided to put it with some lovely, crisp, green vegetables and a lime, soy and ginger sauce. The acidity from the lime cuts through the richness of the duck to balance the dish nicely with a lovely bit of heat from the ginger and a nice hit of chilli.

To start you need a wok for the veg and a pan for the duck. Firstly put the pan on a high heat with a small bit of oil in it, make sure it’s really hot. Score the duck fat being careful not to cut into the meat. Put the duck in the pan, skin side down. Turn down the heat and leave for 8-10 minutes until the fat is nice and crispy and has started to melt into the pan.

Whilst this is cooking, heat up the wok, but make sure it’s on a low heat. Grate the ginger and crush the garlic along with some coriander seeds. Put these into the wok and sweat with the onions. When softened, add the greens, but keep at a low heat, you don’t want sloppy discoloured, veg you want them to be a vibrant green with a lovely crunch.

After the duck is done on one side, pour out the excess fat and turn it over. Leave to cook for another five minutes and then take out to rest for five minutes. It should feel firm but hopefully not too firm because you don’t want it over cooked.

While the duck is resting, put a dash of soy sauce and fish sauce into the vegetables with a squeeze of lime juice and then stir through the fragrant coriander.

Slice the duck, it should be lovely and pink with a crispy skin. Place the vegetables in a bowl and layer the duck on top. Delicious!

Ingredients

Duck Breast

Olive Oil

Bok Choy

Sprouting Broccoli

Mange Tout

1x Red Onion

Knob of Ginger - Grated

2x Galic Gloves

Red Chilli - Half

Handful Coriander Seeds

1x Lime

Black pepper

Coriander Leaves

Soy Sauce and Fish Sauce

I’ve been living in London for two years now, and my current home is above a gallery in Shepherd Market. It’s a pretty wonderful place to be. Surrounded by restaurants, I can’t escape from the smells and sounds of food being cooked from all over the world, and I wouldn’t want to. I open my window to the smoky aromas of meat being grilled below in the Lebanese restaurants. If that doesn’t make you want to cook I don’t know what would…
 
My lovely housemate Hattie has to put up with me thinking about food 24 hours a day; I’m always thinking about my next meal. She even has a word association game she likes to play where she’ll give me an object and I’ll have to relate it somehow back to food, and she’s always surprised and a bit worried about the speed in which I answer! One of my favourite parts of the week has to be our ridiculously indulgent Saturday morning breakfasts; however hungover or tired I’m feeling, I always manage to pop on the grill and cook enough food to feed a whole family.
 
I have always loved food, cooking and eating (obviously) from a young age. My mother is an exceptional cook and I learnt all I know from her. I have so much still to learn and I’m always asking her for advice. So last night, whilst sipping Lapsang out of my favourite mug and eating a spoonful of Nutella (something I like to do to satisfy my cravings for sugar of an evening) I decided to do it, to finally start the blog I’ve been going on about for so long. I’m going to record my meals, my attempts of baking and trying out new foods and techniques – not to mention getting out of the kitchen to explore the markets and all the delights that London has to offer. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I will!