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Goats Milk Praline Ice Cream Affogato – De’Longhi Challenge

15 May

This year has been crazily busy for me so far. I started a new job and joined a gym in January and have been training for a half marathon in October in preparation for the London Marathon next year. I’ve been keeping up with this blog a couple of times a week and Jack and I have also been busy looking for and buying furniture for a flat that we bought last year, which we should be moving into within the next couple of months.

As I’ve been so busy I seem to be leaving everything until the very last minute. Take this challenge, for example. Jack and I decided what recipe we were going to do a couple of weeks ago but I only had the chance to buy all of the ingredients to make the ice cream at 9pm last night – so you can imagine what kind of a night and morning I’ve had. Not complaining, though – I did get to eat the most delicious affogato for breakfast.

We used the Flavour Thesaurus by Nikki Segnit for inspiration. If you haven’t been out and bought a copy yet, I highly recommend you do. It is a must have in the kitchen if you want to be a little experimental with your food. I used it for my stint in Britain’s Best Dish and it got me to the semi-final.

This recipe is fantastic for anyone who is dairy intolerant and the best thing is that it tastes just like normal dairy ice cream. The hazlenut praline adds a welcome crunch and sweetness and the coffee, made by the fantastic and utterly beautiful De’Longhi Vintage Icona Bar Pump coffee machine, adds a caffeine punch that is oh so welcome at any time of day.

Ingredients

For the praline
100g golden caster sugar
100g whole hazlenuts

For the ice cream
2 pints of goat’s milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
4 Burford Brown egg yolks
4 oz golden caster sugar
3 tsp cornflour

Method

Ice cream – first make the custard
1. Heat the goat’s milk and the vanilla paste over a low heat until simmering. Do not boil.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks, cornflour and sugar together for a couple of minutes or so until sugar is almost dissolved.

3. When the milk starts to simmer, take it off the stove and pour it in with the egg and sugar mixture, and whisk continually. Return to the pan and stir over low heat with a wooden spoon until thickened.

Now for the praline

4. Heat the sugar and hazlenuts in a pan on a low heat and stir continuously until the sugar begins to caramelise and the nuts are coated. Once you reach this stage, pour out onto a greaseproof paper-covered baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt flakes and leave to cool. Once set, smash the praline into pieces with a rolling pin.

5. Once you have a custard, place in the fridge until completely cool. Prepare your ice cream machine, mix the custard and praline together and churn to your machines instructions.

And to finish

6. Scoop the ice cream into a glass. Prepare a shot of espresso and pour over the ice cream straight away.

7. Enjoy!

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Fire & Stone, Spitalfields

3 May

Whenever my friend Lucy and I meet for dinner, for some reason we always end up eating pizza. We used to frequent Pizza Express fresh out of university, 50% off voucher in left hand, pizza slice in right. But on Wednesday evening we tried somewhere a bit different.

Fire & Stone has been around for a few years. I visited a while back to enter a competition to create a pizza named after a European city – the winner got to go on holiday to the city. Mine wasn’t the winning pizza unfortunately so I didn’t get to jet off to Seville but I thought I’d head back to try a couple of new additions to the menu.

Fire & Stone Spitalfields was buzzing on a mid week evening with post workers enjoying pizzas inspired by and named after cities from around the world. The new pizzas we were there to try included the Canberra and Trinidad and Tobago. We were offered thin and crispy for £1.25 extra so we opted for the Canberra to come on that base, following the waitresses recommendation.

Fire & Stone pizzas are hand stretched, topped with parmesan and stone baked, something I hadn’t been too fond of before but my mind was changed on Wednesday. The Canberra was my favourite with a topping of roast chicken breast, garlic & rosemary potatoes, marinated mushrooms, mozzarella, sour cream, sweet chilli sauce and chives. The Trinidad and Tobago was topped with spicy pepperoni, fresh red and green chillies, jalapeno peppers, mozzarella and tomato salsa and despite enjoying it, I felt that it didn’t have the same depth of flavour – it was extremely spicy but we both had to peel off a fair few chillies so that we could actually taste everything else.

The pudding list landed in front of us as soon as we had wiped the last crust in chilli oil but neither of us could face it – the pizzas had well and truly won the battle.

Fire & Stone wins against Pizza Express any day, but I still have my reservations whether it can beat the Italian sour dough kings, Franco Manca and Santa Maria, that I love so much.

Fire & Stone
4 Horner Square
Old Spitalfields Market
London
E1 6EW

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Aperitivo at L’Anima

27 Apr

L’Anima has been on my radar for a few years, ever since Francesco Mazzei taught me how to make pizza at a bloggers event and it is one of those restaurants that despite being desperate to visit I have just never made it.

It’s no secret that Italian flavours are my favourite – fresh tomatoes, pillowy dough, creamy cheese, fresh cured meats. The list goes on.

Aperitivo is one of the latest crazes to sweep the London restaurant scene and L’Anima is now offering a range of aperitivi cocktails, which are served with one specially prepared small plate. We visited the bar a couple of weeks ago to try a few cocktails and dishes.

L’Anima is part restaurant, part bar and the large space is split in two by a large glass window – the long bar on the right and the restaurant on the left. I saw similarities to one of my favourite cafes, Princi in Soho, and shortly after I noticed it became apparent that Francesco and his team were consultants on the project.

Our first cocktails were aperol spritz and campari shekerato, which were accompanied by panzerotti, small crescent shaped tomato and mozzarella filled hot parcels. I then enjoyed the best negroni I have ever tasted – Portobello Road gin, cocchi rosso & campari mixed in a short glass with a huge cube of ice to ensure the drink stayed nice and cool the whole way through.

Throughout the remainder of our evening we were presented with a range of small but perfectly executed aperitivo dishes – veal meatballs and the most tender squid I have ever had the pleasure of tasting, served with a homemade chilli jam.

We topped our evening off with a lychee bellini and tour of the kitchen and private dining rooms. One dining room doubled as a wine cellar and featured a long table surrounded by cabinets with mostly Italian wines. The second room resembled a church – smooth cream coloured cool marble surrounded us with a long green marble table sat in the middle.

I walked out of L’Anima a happy lady. Excellent service, the best classic cocktails I have experienced in London and delicious authentic Italian snacks to boot. As we put our coats on the manager told me something that helped me sum up the L’Anima experience – the restaurant does not use fridges or freezers – all produce is freshly cooked that day. I’m already itching to return to L’Anima and I’m extremely excited about the L’Anima Cafe, which will open in August. Bring it on.

Aperitivo cocktails at L’Anima start at £5.

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Moreno at The Baglioni

25 Jan

I have often said that Italian is my favourite cuisine, although my experiences over four years that I have been writing this blog have shown me a whole range of exciting cuisines. The Eat the Olympics challenge that I started this time last year with my boyfriend also introduced me to foods from countries that I had never even heard of before. You can see how we got on here.

But despite all of the delicious new dishes that I have been subjected to, a good pasta dish can still win hands down. One of my favourite restaurants for pasta at the moment is Banca on North Audley Street. It is expensive so unfortunately for me can only be a treat but this high end Northern Italian produces a range of home made pasta dishes and the veal cannelloni tops one of my all time favourite pasta dishes.

I visited Moreno at The Baglioni Hotel a few days ago and was looking forward to my visit like a child waiting for their annual trip to Alton Towers. Moreno Cedroni runs three restaurants in Ancona – one of them the two Michelin-starred fish restaurant La Madonnina del Pescatore. So anticipation was high.

We drove through London on the first snowy evening of the year and snagged a parking space right outside the hotel. As we entered, a welcome wave of warmth hit our cold faces and we were shown through the hotel bar to the restaurant area where we were seated next to another couple who were just finishing up.

The first waiter of the evening arrived and provided us with the menu. A short explanation later and we were left to our own devices to choose our food. We settled on tempura scallops infused with cuttlefish black ink served with clam and courgette sauce and “The Ugly Duckling”: black poached egg, swordfish cooked at 35°, pizzaiola sauce and crispy salad to start, followed by a small portion of Tortellini filled with 24 month aged liquid parmesan, finely chopped raw beef, tomato sauce and balsamic jam and a mixed salad with almond sauce and Moreno’s mustard dressing for our second course, which was followed by warm sea bass carpaccio, lime mashed potatoes and rocket sauce and potato gnocchi with ragu bolognese and cacio e pepe sauce for main. But first up we were treated to a pre starter of rich, creamy and delicious Parmesan foam and a bread basket consisting of Carasau, white and brown baguettes and two squares of cherry tomato focaccia. The second waiter of the evening was over to provide us with a small dipping bowl of good quality olive oil and not so good quality balsamic vinegar. The vinegar was so potent that too much made my eyes water. I opted for no balsamic for the second pour so that I could savour the delicious olive oil.

The starters arrived and despite a lot of black on the plates, both dishes were presented well. I cut into my black poached egg and was left unsure as to why they had bothered to turn it black as it didn’t taste any different to a normal poached egg. Nevertheless it was cooked perfectly and the deep orange yolk poured out all over the plate. The swordfish was meaty and tender and the flavour lifted by the pizzaiola sauce. We ate half of our dishes and swapped plates. The tempura scallops were slightly less thrilling – the batter was gloriously light but slightly masked the tender flavour of the scallop. The whitebait gave the dish the extra crunch and the sauce was the extra element that was needed to bring all of the flavours together. We mopped up some of the remaining juices with bread from the basket before it was whipped away and replaced with a fresh one. We were unsure why as we had only really eaten the small squares of focaccia and a couple of the baguette slices. Still, we were glad that we had another piece of foccaccia each.

The third waiter took the empty plates away and a fourth waiter produced our salad and tortellini. Waiter number two explained that due to the fact that the filling of the tortellini was liquid, it is suggested that you place a whole piece in your mouth and chew. We took his advice and placed a whole piece in our mouths and chewed. We were delighted with the result – a warm and strong parmesan liquid burst out onto our tongue and lingered until the next bite. Neither of us detected the balsamic jam and preferred to eat the beef carpaccio on it’s own as the flavour was lost when eaten with the strong parmesan liquid. We devoured the dish and wished we had just a few more parcels to pop. The salad was a delight both on the eye and on the tastebuds. Shaved crunchy carrot and celery were surrounded by leaves and edible flours and coated with a moreish almond sauce and mustard dressing.

Just as the plates were taken away, so was the second bread basket and we were surprised to yet again see it replaced with a fresh one. At this point we couldn’t contemplate eating the extra bread as we were starting to feel full and knew that we had a lot of food to come. The mains arrived and I enjoyed the presentation of the sea bass carpaccio. Thin layers of sea bass arranged into a rectangle shape were surrounded by rocket sauce. A small scoop of lime mashed potato was placed in the centre of the plate and decorated with a sole rocket leaf. I took my first mouthful and was pleasantly surprised at the flavour combination. The dish was a delight, apart from one little element – the lime mash potato was lumpy. I was surprised because I didn’t expect a restaurant of this standard to serve lumpy mash potato. It wasn’t too much of an issue as the mash wasn’t the main element of the dish and the lime flavour made up for it. We swapped again half way through and I devoured the remainder of the gnocchi. It was soft, chewy and rich – everything that a good gnocchi should be. The accompanying ragu sauce was thick and extremely flavoursome.

The dishes were taken away and we were left pondering whether we could face dessert. We quickly decided that it would be a shame not to try one so ordered the “Castagnoli”: fried profiteroles filled with Chantilly cream served with chocolate and lime sauce and tangerine sorbet and the Italian cassata with pine nuts, candied fruit and raspberry sauce. But first, we were treated to a pre dessert cappucino mousse with lingue di gatto, cat’s tongue in English, named so because of the shape. Moreno likes to use mousse in his cooking. Firstly there was the Parmesan mousse pre starter, the liquid Parmesan is in mousse form before it hits boiling water and Jack had a dollop of the same Parmesan mousse on the gnocchi. Then there was the cappuccino mousse, which was thick and creamy but I thought it was a bit too rich as a pre dessert so I didn’t finish it.

I received three scoops of cassata, which were drizzled with a bright red raspberry sauce. The traditional Italian cassata is made with mascarpone but the Moreno style cassata is made with cream, which supposedly makes it lighter. I tucked in and the taste and textures were fantastic. The crunchy pine nut, the cream and the chewy fruit all matched perfectly. Jack’s dessert resembled three small doughnuts and was covered with a rich chantilly cream and extremely flavoursome scoop of tangerine sorbet.

As our plates were taken away, we thought it was over. But no. Waiter number five placed two clear pieces of plastic in front of us. On the plastic was a printed map of Italy split into regions. He brought a plate of chocolates and placed three down on the map.We had a hazlenut chocolate from Piemonte, a tomato and basil white chocolate from Campania and a pistachio from Sicilia. We thought that this was a lovely touch and I enjoyed the chocolate from Campania the most.

As if three desserts weren’t enough, one more treat was to come. Waiter number two landed at our table with two mini Moreno magnums. I was focussing on the thought of eating yet more dessert so completely missed the description of the ice cream flavour. But I took one bite and was delighted with the creamy interior and crispy dark chocolate exterior. I had to give the rest to Jack to polish off as I just couldn’t do it. We knew then that we had come to the end of the meal. Eight courses later and we were ready to roll back out into the cold January night.

The verdict? Moreno didn’t quite live up to my expectations. There were flashes of brilliance with the tortellini and gnocchi and but the lack of seasoning and lumpy mash on the warm sea bass carpaccio dish was surprising. The tortellini and gnocchi dishes stood out from the rest of the dishes that we had on the evening. Is that just because I am a huge fan of homemade pasta dishes, or is it because this is what the restaurant does best?

Moreno
Baglioni Hotel London
60 Hyde Park Gate
Kensington
London
SW7 5BB
+44 (0) 2073685700

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Fifteen Cornwall

11 Jan

What do you get when you put a group of 16 – 24 year old Cornish apprentice chefs that are in need of a second chance together in a kitchen? Fifteen Cornwall, of course.

Founded by the one and only Jamie Oliver, Fifteen Cornwall allows apprentice chefs to learn how to cook. And well.

Situated right on the beach at Watergate Bay, customers are treated to magnificent uninterrupted views of two miles of Cornish beach whilst enjoying lovingly prepared Italian style dishes using the finest Cornish seasonal ingredients.

We took advantage of the Tuscan themed three course set menu for £19.95 per person on our visit.

We ordered the roast crown prince squash and oregano soup with Vulscombe goat’s cheese (£7.25 if purchased separately) and the cotecchino sausage, lenticchie di castelluccio and the best salsa verde (£7.75 if purchased separately) to start, followed by Fifteen’s amazing seaside taglierini, Amalfi lemon and chilli pangrattato (£17.75 if purchased separately) and crispy fillet of Cornish grey mullet, herby charlotte potatoes, cime di rapa and lemon aioli (£17.95 if purchased separately) for main. For dessert we went for the Amalfi lemon and poppy seed cake with orange curd and gooey clotted cream (£6.40 if purchased separately) and wild flower honey panna cotta, poached pears and semolina biscuit (£6.40 if purchased separately).

The sausage dish arrived first and it was a good job that we had decided to share everything because it was completely demolished by the time the soup arrived. The delay was apparently owing to an error with the order printer in the kitchen. The sausage was mild and creamy with just a hint of nutmeg and the salsa verde had a garlicy punch, which matched the sausage and crunchy lentils perfectly. When the soup finally arrived, it was polished off within a matter of minutes. It looked beautiful, had a subtle hint of oregano and the dollop of fresh goats cheese that sat on top was irresistible.

Next to arrive were the mains, we were happy to find, at the same time. The Cornish gray mullet was soft and tender, the lemon aioli slightly gloopy but overall a pleasant dish. The same unfortunately cannot be said for the seaside taglierini – it was definitely not amazing as the menu had claimed. The pasta was dry and undercooked with practically no sauce, the fish dry and the accompanying croutons hard. We asked for a drizzle of chilli oil but were told that the chefs do not use chilli oil and we were not offered any alternative.

Having not been blown away by what would have been very expensive mains had we not opted for the three course offer; hopes for the desserts were not high. But they were quick to prove us wrong. The panna cotta was smooth, silky and creamy, although it wasn’t easy to detect the wild flower honey. The semolina biscuit resembled buttery shortbread and the poached pear slices were tender, sweet and subtly spiced. My mouth waters just thinking about the lemon and poppy seed cake with orange curd and clotted cream. Naughty, decadent, sweet and tart, the dense cake dotted with black and beautiful poppy seeds was a total winner.

As we exited the restaurant, we walked past the wide open plan kitchen and spotted a chef plating up a seaside taglierini dish, which looked to be a lot less dry than the dish that we received. It actually looked very good. Maybe we were just unlucky. Thankfully the desserts were enough to create a lasting memory. I will definitely go back if I’m around the area again but I think I’ll stick to the set menu as it provides great value for three courses.

The Fifteen Cornwall three course menu costs £19.95 per person. From 3rd – 10th February, customers can enjoy the Wild Cornwall menu.

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Pearled spelt risotto with butternut squash and spinach

8 Jan

December is a very decadent month for me. First of all, it’s my birthday, followed closely by various Christmas drinks, dinners and parties. And if that’s not enough, then there’s Christmas itself. Not to mention a boozy New Year. Throughout the month, all I kept thinking to myself was that come January I would be better to my body.

So here comes the healthier eating. The thing is, I do love healthy foods. A quinoa salad is one of my favourite lunch dishes and I adore pulses, brown rice and wholewheat pasta. I’m also a fan of pearled spelt, commonly known as faro. So one of my first healthy New Year recipes comes after I swapped the usual white risotto rice for Sharpham Park pearled spelt. The pearled spelt gave the dish a crunchy texture and nutty flavour, which I prefer. I also much prefer the fact that pearled spelt is more easily digestable than wheat and higher in nutrients.

Try it, not only will you taste buds love it, your body will too.

Pearled Spelt risotto with spinach and butternut squash

Ingredients – serves 4

200g pearled spelt
200g baby spinach, washed
1 large butternut squash, chopped into cubes
2 sprigs of rosemary
Glug of rapeseed oil for roasting
1 tbsp olive oil for frying
1 red onion , finely diced
6 garlic cloves, (2 crushed and 4 whole)
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
100ml white wine
1l hot vegetable stock
Handful grated parmesan to serve
Sea salt and black pepper for seasoning

Method

Pre heat the oven to 200C

1. Place the chopped butternut squash into a roasting tray and add the 4 garlic cloves and sprigs of rosemary. Drizzle with rapeseed oil and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast in the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until soft
2. About 10 minutes after you have placed the butternut squash in the oven, rinse the spelt thoroughly with cold water
3. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Cook the onion and red chilli for 2 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and cook for a further minute
4. Drain the spelt and fry for one minute before adding the wine. Simmer until almost all the liquid evaporates, stirring often
5. Gradually start adding the vegetable stock. Stir in the stock 1 cup at a time and simmer, stirring often, until all liquid is absorbed and the spelt is just tender, about 20 minutes in total
6. Add the spinach and stir until it has wilted
7. Season with salt and pepper. Serve and sprinkle with the parmesan shavings

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Home made spaghetti recipe

30 Nov

I love my KitchenAid. Not only does it whip up the best tasting cakes, it also helps me in my quest to making the best fresh spaghetti, thanks to the pasta attachment.

Last night I decided, for the second time, to try my hand at making fresh pasta. The first time hadn’t quite gone to plan and I ended up with slightly thicker tagliatelle than I wanted. Combined with too short a cooking time, it was a bit claggy and not overly pleasant.

The inspiration for this dish came from one of my favourite food magazines, Donna Hay. I first discovered the magazine on my travels around Australia and was disgruntled when I came home, thinking that I wouldn’t be able to find it over here. I was wrong. Selfridges sells it, albeit at a premium price. But it is imported from Australia and it’s totally worth every penny.

I love fresh, simple pasta so decided only to use my handy little tins of Nudo Extra Virgin basil oil, Nudo Extra Virgin Sicilian lemon oil, a lump of goats cheese and a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper. This dish is heaven. The pasta is easy to make and about ten times more satisfying than that cardboard you get from the supermarket.

Ingredients

400g 00 flour, plus extra for dusting
4 eggs (I used Clarence Court as the yolks make the dough a lovely orange colour)
Nob of bugger
Nudo Extra Virgin Basil oil
Nudo Extra Virgin Sicilian Lemon oil
Fresh ground pepper and sea salt
Goats cheese

Method

1. Place the flour in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the edds and use a fork to lightly whisk, bringing the flour into the centre until the dough begins to come together and all the flour has been combined. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes or until the dough is smooth. Wrap in cling film and set aside for 30 minutes to rest.

2. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Set the pasta machine to position 1 and pass dough portion through the machine. Repeat 5-6 times, folding the dough onto itself each time and adding extra flour if necessary.

3. Set the pasta machine to position 2 and pass the dough through once. Repeat on each setting until you reach position 5. Lay the sheets of pasta on trays lined with non-stick baking paper. Repeat with remaining pasta portions.

4. Add the pasta cutting rollers to the machine and pass the pasta sheets through, one at a time. You can either cook the pasta straight away or hang it for 30-60 minutes. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for 3-5 minutes or until al dente.

5. Stir through a good drizzle of both olive oils and a handful of goat’s cheese. Add a fresh grinding of black pepper and a pinch of sea salt and enjoy!

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Brixton Market

25 Nov

I still feel privileged to live in London, even after six years. But some weekends I find myself tearing my hair out thinking ‘what to do?!’ I often get the feeling that I’ve done it all and there’s literally nothing new to do. Of course I’m wrong – I should probably pay more attention to Time Out.

Last weekend though, I decided to head south to Brixton to have a look around the market and grab a bite to eat. The first obstacle was the tube – I forgot to check about the consistent weekend ‘upgrade’ works that are going on until the Olympics next year. It took a while to get there but a couple of tube changes and a replacement bus later, I arrived.

I have been to Brixton a couple of times before and not really liked it. Both visits were in the evening and I hadn’t exactly felt very safe on my walk down the backstreets towards Brixton Academy – don’t ask why I decided to walk down the backstreets. But after hearing so much about the regeneration of the market and reading about all of the cafes and restaurants popping up, I decided it was time for another visit, this time during the day.

Walking down a little alleyway towards the market, I passed shops selling Jamaican artifacts, plenty of odd looking fruit and vegetables and a hairdressers where the staff were shaking their booty along to the loud Afrobeats whilst working on the customers corn rows. Everything at Brixton market is colourful, happy and vibrant. And it is changing. Nestled in between the traditional units are a plethora of new cafes and restaurants, serving fantastic food at amazing prices. My first stop was Federation Coffee where I ordered a flat white and drank it whilst watching a sit in customer draw his surroundings. During my visit I clocked a few artists, carefully constructing images focusing on the cool crowd that now frequent the market on weekends.

After walking around various restaurants, I decided that pizza would be a great option to soak up the remainders of alcohol that I had the night before. I don’t know why I even considered going anywhere other than Franco Manca, one of my favourite pizzerias in London. Having never been to the Brixton ‘branch’ before, I went and queued for twenty minutes before being seated at a cosy table inside, with the huge gleaming white pizza oven in sight. We shared two pizzas – mozzarella, anchovy, capers and olives and chorizo and mozzarella. Both were perfect – the sourdough base soft, chewy and just the right amount of charcoal smothered over the base. London needs more pizza establishments like this. And at around £6 per pizza, it doesn’t even nearly break the bank.

For pudding, we wandered back through the market to Lab G, where I ordered a hazelnut and chocolate gelato. They had run out of their signature salted caramel flavour, which I was disappointed about but the hazelnut and chocolate was exquisite. I felt a bit silly walking down the street in mid November eating a cone of gelato and my hands didn’t thank me for it but it was the perfect way to end my foodie little tour.

Brixton market is a diverse hub of shops, restaurants and cafes and is run by a mix of creatives and old local residents. The website says it all – ‘Meat!, Nail art, Fresh fish (lots of this around!), DIY, Wigs (lots of these too) and a whole lot more. It’s a brilliant place to go to get away from the most popular and sometimes too touristy London weekend markets. I’ll hopefully be back there sooner rather than later – perhaps I’ll take a trip next time I want to buy a wig whilst chewing on jerk chicken and dancing to Aftrobeat.

The market arcades are open:

Monday – Wednesday from 8am – 6pm
Thursday – Saturday from 8am – 10pm
Sundays from 10am – 5pm

Franco Manca on Urbanspoon

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Pearl barley, cavolo nero, beetroot and Goats cheese risotto recipe

13 Oct

I love pearl barley. LOVE it. And if I didn’t love it enough because of how tasty and versatile it is, I love it even more because it is so cheap. It costs roughly 50p for a 500g bag.

I have had pearl barley dishes at some of my favourite London restaurants / cafes – Petersham Nurseries, Polpo and Meatballs to name a few, each dish different. Salads, stews, risottos, you name it. I have cooked it a fair few times myself too, most recently with lamb.

A few weeks ago I was staying with a friend in Stoke Newington and she introduced me to the best green grocers I have ever come across. Situated on Newington Green, the appropriately and simply titled Newington Green Fruit and Vegetetables sells a wide (and when I say wide, I mean wide) range of vegetables, exitoc fruits, herbs and condiments. And the best thing is the prices. I bought a huge bag of veg for a mere £8, something that would have cost double the price in my favourite supermarket!

In my bag of goodies was a bunch of cavolo nero and a couple of fresh beetroot so it was easy to decide what to do with them when I got them home. I also added a crumbling of fresh, tangy goats cheese. Delicious.

Pearl barley, roast beetroot, cavolo nero and goats cheese risotto

Ingredients (serves two)

• 400g pearl barley, rinsed and soaked for 1 hour
• 1 glass white wine
• 800ml vegetable stock
• 3 balls fresh beetroot
• 8 leaves cavolo nero, shredded
• Goat’s cheese to crumble
• salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
• extra virgin olive oil to drizzle
• 50g butter
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200degrees and wash the beetroot
2. Chop the beetroot into medium sized cubes. Place in a roasting dish and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and roast for 45 minutes, or until soft
3. Boil the vegetable stock and keep simmering while using
4. Add a glug of olive oil and the butter to a heavy bottomed pan. Season with salt and pepper and add the onions. Fry gently on a medium heat until translucent
5. Drain the pearl barley and add to the pan with the onions. Fry for two minutes, whilst stirring and then add the white wine and fry until the wine has almost all gone
6. Add a ladle of water and stir. When the stock has nearly been absorbed, add another ladle and repeat until you have one ladle of stock left
7. When the pearl barley is nearly ready (it will be soft with a slight crunch), add that last ladle of water along with the cavolo nero, place a lid on the top and steam for 3 minutes, or until the cavolo nero is wilted
8. Take the beetroot out of the oven and stir through the risotto. Season with salt and black pepper if needed and add a squeeze of lemon juice before serving

ENJOY!

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Bread Street Kitchen

3 Oct

Last week I was invited to try out Bread Street Kitchen, Gordon Ramsay’s newest venture. Now, that name might ring a few bells. Yes, he’s the one that shouts and swears a lot on the tele and you may have seen him on programmes such as Hell’s Kitchen. Yes, you all know who he is don’t you.

Already having some very fine establishments under his belt, although I have never visited myself, including Maze, Claridges, Petrus and Plane Food, Gordon has decided to go all East London on us. Earlier in the year I visited Pollen Street Social, Jason Atherton’s (ex Maze) first solo venture, which has a sociable fine dining theme. It was his breakaway from prim and proper fine dining and it allows diners to eat food of fine dining standard but in a more sociable environment. I went in the first week and it was fantastic. Although Gordon has gone a similar route with Bread Street Kitchen, the end result differs completely.

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I love the name Bread Street Kitchen, it conjures up thoughts of freshly baked bread, wood fire ovens and cosy dimly lit tables. What I saw on arrival was not entirely what I was expecting. Situated in One New Change, the building is modern on the outside but the inside design draws upon East London warehouse influences and is extraordinarily vast. I walked through the circular red velvet curtain (very New York) into the downstairs bar/restaurant and immediately became excited. Within three days of being open, the atmosphere was already buzzing with city workers having their obligatory after work cocktail and couples dining and sitting looking into each other’s eyes longingly over a freshly shaken cosmopolitan.

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I was offered a cocktail upon arrival and didn’t have a menu to hand so asked for something fruity and gin based to be prepared for me while I was whisked away on a tour.

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Designed by Russell Sage Studio, the design team raided old schools and hospitals to create a mismatched and extremely ‘of the moment’ decore. Reclaimed school chairs, lamps made from microscopes, mid century modern tables and chairs and a cloak room made of old cupboards to name but a few – I loved it.

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I arrived back at the table to find a delicious looking cocktail staring out at me with half a passion fruit floating on top. I licked my chops and got sipping. It turned out to be one of the highlights of my evening. I later learned that it was the ‘Bread Street Passion’, a mix of chilli infused tequila and cointreau with passion fruit, lime juice and passion fruit syrup. Not quite what I ordered but as they say, the best things are often the unexpected. I ordered a ‘Bread Street Martini’ to go with my meal, which was a mix of Grey Goose cinnamon infused vodka shaken with grapes, hazlenuts, apple and lime. It was sickly sweet in comparison and a bit too much to drink alongside the food but perhaps it would have worked better as an aperatif.

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So, the food. Most of us where slightly overwhelmed by the menu, which is separated into three sections – Raw Bar, Kitchen and Wood Stone and the dishes were extremely varied. After a while I settled on a starter and a main. The lemon and lime marinated tuna caught my eye at first but I ended up opting for the baked burrata, heritage tomato and onion tart. For main, I decided on the sucking pig, partly because I haven’t had it for a very long time and it’s not something I see on many menus anymore and partly because the whole sucking pig lying on the counter at the front of the restaurant had tempted me.

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I devoured my starter but couldn’t help thinking that £10.50 was ever so slightly expensive for a dainty slice of filo pastry topped with a few tomatoes and a dollop of burrata. However, the taste of it was delicious and the addition of lemon zest on top of the burrata was a real winner for me. I also had a taste of the crispy pigs head with lime chilly mayonnaise (£8.50) and while I enjoyed it, I felt that the batter drowned the rich pigs head a bit too much.

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Onto the mains and I was excited to see my sucking pig (£16) put down in front of me. It was just the right portion size with a dollop of spiced apple puree and a nice amount of thin but extremely delicious gravy. I couldn’t have wished for a better main. I also tried the poussin, chimchirri and burnt lemon (£15) and the grilled Aberdeen angus rib-eye and beef marrowbone (£29.50) and both were top class.

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Feeling slightly dazed and full after two courses and two pieces of freshly baked bread and butter (oops), I perused the dessert menu. Of course I had left space. There was no way that a Bread Street Kitchen dessert was going to escape my sugar loving grasp. I’m having a bit of a cheesecake ‘thing’ at the moment so I ordered the vanilla and gingerbread cheesecake with autumn berries (£8).

The cheese part of the cake was delicious, creamy and rich but I couldn’t help but feel ever so slightly disappointed that the gingerbread base wasn’t really a base at all. It could have been a bit thicker, rather than being a mere dusting. I also tasted the pineapple carpacchio, passion fruit and orange sorbet (£7). What is that I hear you ask? It is literally thinly sliced pineapple with a fantastic passion fruit dressing and delectable orange sorbet. Totally and utterly refreshing!

Gordon has gone for a concept that I love in a part of town that unfortunately I don’t frequent. Maybe this will now give me an excuse to trawl the streeta of London’s square mile from time to time then.

Food For Think was a guest at Bread Street Kitchen

Bread Street Kitchen
10 Bread Street
London
EC4M 9AB

Bread Street Kitchen on Urbanspoon

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