food, reviews and of course coffee
Last week I made Toffee Nut Slices using this recipe. In the same copy of BBC Good Food Magazine and using the same base was a recipe for Lemon Bars.
These are simple to make and really tasty and lemony. Someone who ate mine described it a bit like eating lemon meringue pie.
I was in a hurry the other day, and while the rest of the family was having salmon, I fancied lamb. So I pan fried a neck fillet of lamb and…
Well it wasn’t bad. A little underdone for my liking, however what really ruined it for me (and you don’t see this in the photograph) was the sauce I made to go with it!
I think I should have added some greek spices and used a yoghurt dressing.
Next time…
The first time I went to Caffe Gusto at the Mall I was impressed with the quality of the food and friendly staff, but less impressed with the speed of service.
So when I was in the mood for some lunch and was passing the Mall I was slightly hesitant about going to Caffe Gusto as I was in a bit of a hurry. However I knew I wouldn’t be going to Café Rouge anytime soon.
At Caffe Gusto, it’s a bit like a pub, in that you order your food at the counter, give a table number and then wait for your food.
I ordered the Shish Kebab in Pitta Bread with an Americano.
The coffee was good and I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the food arrived, and all nice freshly cooked.
The lamb was reasonably tender, nicely cooked and well flavoured. The fries were really nice and the salad was fresh.
Overall I had an excellent meal and was pleased with what I had. I would go again.
I do like calamari, these from Bottelino’s was okay, certainly not the best I have ever had, but also not the worse. Would be nice if they were a little more authentic.
Though do compare this portion with this one.
Looks different. For me that’s a positive thing, means that this is not processed system cooking.
Sometimes speed and ease is what is needed in the kitchen. I do use tinned pulses and beans a fair bit in my cooking. Though I know I can buy dried, soak and cook them myself, I do find that using tinned is quick and easy. It also allows for last minute changes to recipes or what I am going to cook for dinner.
One problem I do have is that sometimes a regular sized tin of pulses or beans is too big. So I was pleased to find these small tins at my local Waitrose of Cannellini and Borlotti Beans.
What is also nice about these is that the beans are not in brine, so less salty.
So how did I make the salad?
Well it was literally thrown together very quickly. I cooked off the pancetta in a frying pan and then mixed it with the drained beans and sweetcorn. I then dressed the salad with olive oil, white wine vinegar and freshly ground black pepper.
I made some toffee nut slices that were really tasty, so tasty that I forgot to take a photograph.
However all is not lost as you can see a picture on the recipe that I used. I did alter the recipe slightly in that I added fruit and nuts from a fruit and nut mix. My “slices” were also much thicker than the ones in the picture.
First time I had ever used Carnation Caramel and thought it wasn’t that bad and quite easy to use.
Another nice memory of summer…
Update: videos were removed from YouTube.
I have tried to cook Parmentier Potatoes myself, but I can’t quite get the taste and texture that I find with the version from Marks and Spencers.
It’s probably some kind of additive they use compared the fresh ingredients I use!
Or salt!
There is something very tasty and somewhat healthy about a freshly cooked vegetable stir fry.
It’s also so simple to do too.
Prepare the vegetables using whatever you have in the fridge. Fry in a wok or as I do in a large frying pan.
You can add sauce if you want, sometimes all I use is a little chinese five spice. I also sometimes add cashew nuts for added crunch.
Great on it’s own, but also nice with some spicy pork.
I am not a great fan of Spaghetti Bolognaise but other members of my family like it.
So when we were at Bottelino’s recently they ordered a dish of it.
They really enjoyed it and would order it again. I always think there is a little too much pasta sauce and not enough pasta.