Apple & Beetroot

The obsession with vegetable cakes continues... recently we had some gorgeous golden beetroot and Local Greens recommended trying these apple and beetroot muffins. The golden veg has a delicious sweet flavour and, alongside the apple, goes incredibly well with the spices. As with the courgette and parsnip cakes, the beetroot keeps the cake moist. The recipe is very simple so whether you can a golden beet or the more conventional red one, give it a go!

Dinner Time

Since moving out again and no longer having my wonderful mother to cook for me when I get home from work, it's been down to us to feed ourselves (poor souls!) I actually love to cook in the evening to wind down and I guess I see it as another form of creativity, and the ultimate benefit is you get to eat it at the end! The dishes I choose to make don't take an age to cook, cause I'm often starving by the time I get home. Give them a go! So, from top (click for recipe source):

Salmon with quinoa 

I exchanged the courgette, chili and broad beans for mange tout and cabbage that we already had

Sausage meatballs with pasta

a Nigella recipe I have done before and will undoubtedly do again

Stuffed peppers

for 'Meat Free Monday' last week I stuffed two peppers each with quinoa, aubergine, peppers, peas and feta

Suckling pig on the most delicious sauce, not cooked by me but enjoyed by myself and my brother at Brixton Cornercopia, my favourite place of the moment!

Cow and Chicken

Without knowing it, Dan took me to one of the most current eateries in London for my belated birthday treat, Tramshed. This evening it's at the top of TimeOut London's Most Popular list. Before we even got inside, I was enticed by the farmers market-like stall out the front and when we walked in the Damien Hirst cow and chicken commands your attention high up in this vast open hall. 

We went for the kilo steak to share (we love steak and also weren't keen on the idea of a cooked chicken with feet still attached hanging in front of us). At first the both of us were worried it was a case of eyes bigger than tum, but we ploughed through the delicious meat with side of onion rings, minted greens and fries. As for dessert, I had Credit Crunch ice cream which was honeycomb and hot chocolate sauce goodness - absolutely delicious!

Tramshed is definitely worth a visit, I like the novelty of a massive shareable steak and loved the ice cream! I wonder how the chicken tastes...?

A Dollop

A dollop. What a wonderful word! And a dollop of chutney, even better! I came across across Rubies in the Rubble in Stylist magazine this week and immediately knew I had to find out more. The chutneys are made from the left over, unwanted ingredients from our country's vast (and inefficient) food distribution network; the founder Jenny talks about it more here. The concept behind the jars is great and get's us thinking about where are food comes from and what happens to the produce that isn't bought. Now to buy a jar...

Passionfruit & Chocolate

My favourite thing to do is wake up on a Saturday morning and watch Saturday Kitchen Live. You could say it's a bit of an obsession but I find I want to try and make (and then eat) everything they make. Afterwards was Nigel Slater, who I also love. I have tried his fig and blackberry pies before, but nothing else so I thought these chocolate cookies could not be ignored. The recipe is so simple and leaves the cookies deliciously gooey inside. We also had some bananas going brown again this week so I used them to make banana cupcakes with mixed spice and topped with passionfruit icing - yum! Everything I do at the moment appears to be food related, but I have gone for a swim two days in a row so I reckon that cancels out the naughtiness!

Back to Baking

I've been MIA for the last (what!!) 6 weeks!! No excuses, well apart from I had my final ever portfolio deadline for MArch, so I'm back on it. I miss rambling on here and making record of what I get up to. Also I am currently in the making of a website of my work - so watch this space.

Since finishing I have got back into cooking and baking. Dan bought lots of fruit to keep healthy over deadline time, but some of the bananas were left over so nothing is more perfect than to make them into banana cake. I took this Nigella recipe and added rough chunks of dark chocolate. It went down a treat, far too quickly.

Today I decided to try and bake a loaf of bread, of the tiger variety. It was a basic white loaf recipe with a cornflour and milk mix spread on top before baking to create the crackling. I think the oven must have been too hot (the one here at uni is a bit temperamental and you can't see in!) and so left any longer, the crust would have got crustier but the insides needed more time. Maybe I didn't knead the dough properly in the first place? Help?

A more successful dish was the paella I cooked for the girls on Tuesday evening, this time a Jamie recipe. It went down an absolute treat and I will definitely make it again, it was so easy! Here and here are a few more of my culinary experiments. 

Giant Robot

Last night before I headed back up north, we decided to grab a bite to eat and had our mind on meatballs at Meatballs at the Quality Chop House. On the train I googled it to check it was open on a Monday only to find it had moved to Westfield and the Chop House had been taken over! The menu all looked very nice but we had our mind on meatballs! Instead we tried Giant Robot on Clerkenwell Road, which had meatballs on the menu. The interior is really cool, just like Workshop along the road, and the food was delicious. We had meatballs and mash with sautéed green beans and chocolate fudge brownie to finish. With a hop, skip and a jump I was back on the train to Manchester, with a satisfied stomach - will happily go to Giant Robot again.

Images by Jonathan Perugia via Giant Robot

Guerilla Gardener

This evening we watched a truly interesting but humbling documentary about children suffering in poverty in the US. When we complain about stress of work and deadlines, we have to remember there are millions of people abroad and at home who have it far worse off. But then I see a guy like this who is acting on these issues and just growing food anywhere and everywhere. It's like what they do in Todmorden; Pam Warhurst came to talk in Manchester a few weeks back, and she's one aspiring lady! No excuses, when I'm done with this degree, I'm doing, not just talking!

For Me

Father Christmas was very kind to me this year. With money I was given I bought a lovely new pair of tan Chelsea boots and D gave me what I was planning to save up for myself - a Le Creuset casserole pot! We christened it on Saturday evening with this cassoulet by the Hairy Bikers and it went down a treat.

More Burger

Dan and I were determined to have some lobster for lunch today. Burger and Lobster has a newer place in Farringdon, which is where we were, so perfect! ....well no! It was closed. After a walk and a tube journey we got to Soho, the location of another B&L we haven't yet tried. Same problem: closed! Resigned to the fact we would not be eating lobster for lunch (who are we anyway?!?) Time Out was consulted and we found ourselves near Honest Burgers.

I was happy to find they had chicken and D was happy to have the traditional beef burger, even more so to discover the chips were coated in rosemary salt! They serve local London ale and I always love a place that presents lemonade in jam jars. They were good, simple, honest burgers and I say go and have a try yourself.

We also had a coffee in the Workshop Coffee Co. in Farringdon. Very good, and the tap water comes in a milk bottle (so easily pleased!!)

Images from Honest Burgers

Ghoulish Grub

When it comes to baked good, or any food for that matter, my friends step up! On Wednesday we had a Hallowe'en party and all dressed up as characters from Cluedo - I was Reverend Green. There was so much food, from creep cupcakes, to scary sausage fingers, pumpkin pie, edible eyeballs to name just a slither of the spread. 

Whatcha Cookin'?

We got some cooking and baking done over the last week. Fish cakes and hot tomato salsa, recipes by Jamie Oliver, came out a treat and again I made the focaccia bread based on The Great British Bake Off. The jambalaya was another Jamie recipe and was delicious, even more so for lunch the next day. I also made a macaroni salad by 101 cookbooks.

Burger or Lobster

It does exactly what it says on the tin. Burger or lobster? Definitely lobster! D and I went to eat at the original Burger & Lobster on Clarges Street back in the winter. We arrived at 7.30 knowing we'd have to wait... "an hour and a half?!?!"... we walked away. Take two was a few weeks ago and we went even more prepared that we'd be going for some pre-dinner drinks around the corner. This time around: "we'll call you in an hour and a half... to two and a half hours" WHAT?! Ah well, we waited it out, and two hours later it was our time.

Every one of the three choices on the menu - burger, grilled lobster or lobster roll - is £20 including fries and salad. We both went for the grilled lobster, and it was great. I'd never had lobster before, but I enjoyed working for my food! It was well-worth the wait and since we've only been recommending Burger & Lobster, which has a new restaurant on Dean Street. In fact Brother D went not long after us, and was seated straight away!!

Fine Food

Since we finished this semester, there has been more time to do the things I really love: cooking, drawing and crocheting. The weather has been absolutely beautiful so we've been able to entertain; last week we had a(n iced) tea party, so I made a pineapple chilli cake and roasted pepper focaccia. Recently I have been bookmarking lots of food blogs, and these are some of my favourites:

The Forest Feast - beautiful house and illustrations
The Wednesday Chef
Smitten Kitchen
Island Menu
Manger

Images from The Forest Feast

In Pictures

Quinoa, chicken and veg . Sandbar workspace . Card collage . Monoprinting . Double chocolate cupcakes . Family lunch . Flowers in a book . Sunday morning in London . My workspace

Meat Balls

Walking around Farringdon in the sun yesterday, we walked past Meatballs. I've noticed it before but we had a proper look through the window and found an old fashioned working class restaurant in the Quality Chop House. The menu looks delicious and very reasonably priced, so we're planning to visit very soon. In nearby Exmouth Market there is also Santore, an Italian pizza place where you can share metre long pizzas with 4 toppings!

Images from Meatballs

Out & About

I'm back home, back down south and, boy, does it feel good. No rest for the wicked, however. It's time to write my dissertation. Over the last week I have visited a couple of schemes that I am using as case studies: FARM:shop in Dalston, East London and Incredible Edible Todmorden in West Yorkshire. They're two completely different takes on solving today's food issues and both are definitely worth a visit. 

Top: Salad leaves at FARM:shop 

Bottom: Rhubarb in Tod

Australia Day

Lamington's by me. Anzacs by Leah. Vegemite and beetroot cob. Curried egg on bread. Our Australia day feast!