Month: January 2011

Spaghetti with lemony garlicky tiger prawns

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Several years ago the TV-programme Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was quite popular. It was not one of my favourite programmes, but sometimes I ended up watching it anyway. Already then I enjoyed the food clips the best, and this recipe is actually partly from there. The prawns were called lemony garlicky shrimps and were made in a similar way to these, but I think grated parmesan was included as well, and they were cooked in the oven and used as a snack. I have made these several times as a canapé or starter, but thought that pairing them with pasta would be nice. And it was! 

The prawns are marinated in lemon juice, olive oil and garlic and taste a lot and absolutely delicious. The breadcrumbs give the dish a bit of crunch, and makes it a bit more interesting, where as the sauce is there mainly to complement the dish and enhance the prawns instead of stealing their glory.

Spaghetti with lemony garlicky prawns, serves 2

200g raw peeled tiger prawns

1 lemon, the juice

3 garlic cloves, pressed

2 tbsp olive oil

100 ml breadcrumbs

250 g spaghetti

100 ml single cream

100 ml passata

1 tbsp Heinz chilli sauce

1 tsp persillade

white pepper, salt

olive oil

Mix lemon juice, oil and garlic in a bowl. Add the prawns and leave to mariante for about 10 mins. (If longer, cover and store in fridge.) Cook the pasta according to the instructions. Turn the prawns in the breadcrumbs and fry on medium heat until crispy and golden. Mix cream, passata, chilli sauce in a sauce pan and bring to the boil. Season with persillade, salt and pepper after taste. Save some of the pasta water, drain the pasta and mix with the sauce, oilve oil and if needed some of the pasta water. Plate the spaghetti and sprinkle over some persillade and place the prawns on top. Enjoy with a salad and a crisp white wine. 

Delia’s fried halloumi with lime vinaigrette

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The first time I ate this halloumi dish was when Christophers mother Eileen served it to us, and I liked it so much I asked for the recipe. It is a Delia recipe and even though it is very simple it has lots of flavours. The cheese is crisp on the outside and a little bit creamy on the inside, the vinaigrette is quite tangy, so if you are sensitive, just use a bit less of the vinegar. You don’t really taste the mustard much, but it takes the dressing to a whole other level.

I excluded the capers (simply because I don’t like them) and interpreted well-seasoned flour freely and used salt, pepper and paprika.

Try this, it is quickly made and very yummy!

Delia’s fried halloumi with lime vinaigrette, serves 4

1 halloumi cheese

olive oil

seasoned flour with paprika, salt and white pepper

Vinaigrette:

1 lime, zest and juice

(1 heaped tbsp capers)

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed

1 heaped tsp grain mustard

1 tbsp chopped coriander

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and black pepper

Pat the halloumi dry and cut into 8 slices. Mix the ingredients for the dressing. This can be made ahead but add the coriander just before serving. Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Turn the cheese slices in the seasoned flour and add to the pan. Fry for about a minute on each side. Serve immediately with a few tablespoons of the vinaigrette and some nice bread.

 

TGIF

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Yay, finally Friday!

Christopher is working late tonight, so when I get home after work I aim to clean the flat (has meant to do it all week), having groceries delivered and sit down with a nice glass of red. When Christopher comes home we’re having nice rare steaks with homemade bearnaise sauce and potato wedges. That is typical Friday food for us. The most important thing is of course the quality of the meat, and we’ve learned that there are no short-cuts. Good quality meat costs a bit more, but it is so worth it when you tuck into the rare juicy steak. You find the recipe for the sauce here.

Everyday restaurants in London

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I often get the question ‘Which restaurants do you recommend in London?’ and as much as I like to recommend the gourmet places I save up to go to, it is quite good to focus on the everyday eats as well. London is a jungle when it comes to restaurants, and there are so many tourist traps with bad food, that can ruin your day, so I’d like to name a few cheaper restaurants (many are chain restaurants that you find all over town) that I recommend, and a few that needs to be avoided in my opinion. 🙂

If you want to grab a sandwich I recommend Pret or Eat, where most office staff buy there lunch. I am not a big fan of the triangle sandwich, but here at least everything is fresh. I prefer Paul or Patisserie Valerie, where they have decent European bread, quiches and delicious-looking cakes.

If you want something more substantial than I sandwich I recommend:

Carluccio’s – Proper Italian pasta, only slow service sometimes. 

Pizza Express – Probably the most popular pizza chain in London. Nice pizzas and I like their doughballs with garlic butter. Service is usually alright. 

Strada – Even better pizzas than Pizza Express, and the pasta is also a bit better, but if you want pasta go to Carluccio’s. Nicer ambiance than Pizza express but slightly mroe expensive. Slow service sometimes.

Nando’s – Piri piri marinated chicken is the only thing on the menu (nearly) with lots of different sides. You order and pay at the bar and get the food brought to your table. Quite greasy but they have a nice sweet potato mash. Good value for money.

Las Iguanas – Mexican chain who serve both good cocktails and nice food. Not the cheapest eat, but good.

Wagamama – Nice rice and noodles dishes. You sit at communal tables with benches. Nice and fresh.  

Gourmet Burger Kitchen – Burgers from New Zeeland. Their garlic mayo and BBQ sauce are great and their burgers certainly does the trick when hangover.

Feng Sushi – A sushi chain with decent sushi. Haven’t tried any of the other chains though, there might be a better one.

Tobiko – Small sushi place in Covent Garden who serve really nice and fresh sushi. Only downside is the size of the maki rolls – they’re huge and makes them a bit tricky to eat. But it is too good to bother about that.

China Town – Lots of restaurants from choose from. Most serve great food to a cheap prize.

Ping Pong – Dim Sum chain which is quite nice. Of course not as good as dim sum in China Town, but still nice. Usually quite a queue, so come early.

Jamie’s Italian – Nice for a weekday supper. Rustic and great charkuteries. Lacks a little finesse.

Avoid:

Wahaca – mexican street food restaurant in Covent Garden that is quite popluar. But I can’t understand why. Everything tastes the same and not good at all.

Fire & Stone – pizza plca in Covent Garden that again is popular for reasons I don’t understand. They have odd combinations of toppings which could have worked if the pizza base was any good, but it isn’t. Bad service.

Garfunkel’s – a real tourist trap around Oxford St/Piccadilly. Bad food and not good value for money. 

Angus Steakhouse – another tourist trap you will pass by lots of times. Not very cheap and not very good steak.

Smörgåstårta (sandwich cake)

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I guess for non-Swedish people, this dish seems a bit bizarre. It is a cake made with bread and savoury fillings, and in my opinion really yummy.

It is quite old school but seems to have a revival at the moment. But this is something my grandparents when they were old, would buy from the bakery and serve at a daytime birthday party so they wouldn’t have to cook themselves. Followed by a creamy cake you certainly feel full afterwards, but it is nice at the same time. It is also popular for graduations and funerals or other gatherings.

I like mine moist but not too gooey, and with only small bits in the filling. Some put peas or corn to fill it out but I don’t like that.

This cake is a meat version containing ham and brussels paté, but a fish-seafood version is equally popular with prawns, tinned tuna and smoked salmon.

Since this was my first Smörgåstårta ever that I made myself, it is of course not perfect. If I made it again, I would place filling 1 on top and filling 3 at the bottom, and try to decorate it nicer. But for a first attempt I am more than pleased, and most important of all – it was really tasty!



Smörgåstårta (sandwich cake), serves 4

12 slices white bread, edges removed (4 slices in 3 layers)

Filling #1:

100 ml creme fraiche

50 ml mayonnaise

5 cm thinly sliced cucumber

2 sliced baby leeks

3 slices chopped smoked ham

Filling #2:

200 g mascarpone

4-5 sunblush tomatoes, finely chopped

finely chopped basil

1/2 chopped red onion

Filling #3:

150 g cream cheese

lbrussels paté after taste

5 finely chopped cornichons

Filling #4 (around the cake): same as filling #1 but without the ham

Decorations on top:

2 slices nice smoked ham

tomato wedges

cucumber slices

small pickled onions

cornichons

Rick Stein’s tarte tatin

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As you may have noticed we really like Rick Stein. Both the rabbit recipe and this tarte tatin is from his fabulous cookbook A French Odyssey. Although Stein has his own series on BBC and have written several cookbooks he seems to be less mainstream than say Jamie and Nigella. It could be because his food is a tad bit more traditional and classier, but his recipes are not difficult to cook and the instructions are clear and easy to follow.

We have made this tarte tatin with nectarines once as well, and turned out amazing too, but a bit juicier. Try this, please. It is to die for.

Rick Stein’s tarte tatin, serves 6

250 g puff pastry

75 g softened butter

175 g caster sugar

750 g (about 5) firm dessert apples such as Cox’s

Vanilla ice cream or creme fraiche to serve

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut out a 26-cm disc, slightly larger than the top of a 20-cm tarte tatin dish. Transfer to a baking sheet and chill for at least 20 mins.

Spread the butter over the base of the tarte tatin dish and sprinkle over the sugar in a thick even layer.

Peel, core and halve the apples, and tightly pack them, rounded-side down on top of the sugar, gently shaking the the dish now and then, until the sugar and butter have incorporated with the apple juices to produce a rich sauce and the apples are just tender. At first the caramel will be pale and liquid but as you keep on cooking the juices will evaporate and the caramel will become darker and thicker. Take care not to burn.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Lift the pastry on top pf the apples and tuck the edges down inside the dish and bake for 25 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 5 mins. Run a knife round the edge of the tart and invert it onto a round serving plate. Serve and enjoy.

 

Cloudberry parfait with cognac

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I am nearly done talking about that dinner a week and a bit ago. This is the 4th course out of 5, so nearly there…

This was the pre-dessert, and unlike a sorbet this isn’t much of a palate cleanser, because it is quite heavy and rich, but it is not too sweet so I think it works quite well as a little pre-dessert.

Cloudberry is a Nordic berry and I have brought the jam back with me from Sweden. The berries look like large orange raspberries and have a distinct taste. I have previously paired the jam with deep-fried camembert.

Cloudberry parfait with cognac, about 2 litres

5 egg yolks

60 g caster sugar

600 ml double cream

2-3 cl cognac

75 g cloudberry jam

I completely forgot to have lemons at hand but a squirt of lemon takes away the ‘fatty’ taste, so do use it.

Beat the yolks with the sugar in a bain-marie until the sugar has melted and the mixture is fluffy and glossy. Remove from heat and keep whisking until the mixture has cooled down.

Beat the cream and fold into the egg mixture. Add cloudberry jam, cognac and perhaps some lemon juice. Pour the mixture into a container and freeze for a couple of hours.

Rick Stein’s pan-fried rabbit with tarragon sauce

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Back to our dinner last Saturday… Christopher cooked the main course and it was a Rick Stein recipe for pan-fried rabbit in tarragon sauce. Delicious!

Even though I grew up in the countryside and have seen both headless chickens and freshly killed game, I didn’t particular like the look of a dead, skinned rabbit, so I won’t show you any photos of that. Christopher bought a whole rabbit at the butchers and then cut it into pieces the way it was described in the recipe. The head and the legs were roasted in the oven to then make the base for a lovely stock, that was the main ingredient with the sauce, and the meat were cut into smaller pieces and pan-fried.

We had Hasselback potatoes with sesame seeds, wilted spinach and baked parsnips with the mat and sauce and it worked very well together.

The rabbit weighed about 1,5 kilos and that was just about enough for the six of us because we had so many other courses, but I would recommend that sized rabbit for four people.

Pan-fried rabbit with tarragon sauce, serves 4

1 x 1.5 kg rabbit

150 g carrots, coarsely chopped

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

150 ml dry white wine

500 ml chicken stock

10 g sprig of tarragon

Bouquet garni made from 1 celery stick, 2 bay leaves and some parsley stalks

20 g clarified butter

15 g chilled butter, cut into small pieces

salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 230C. To joint the rabbit, first remove the head, and then cut off the back legs from either side of the tail. Cut off the tail, and then the front legs. Trim away the bony ends of each leg, and the belly flap and ribcage from the body, then cut the remaining saddle across into 4 evenly sized pieces.

Put the trimmings from the rabbit into a lightly oiled roasting tin and roast for 25 minutes. Sprinkle over the carrot, onion and garlic and roast for a further 15 minutes. Then remove the tin from the oven and place over a medium-high heat. Add the white wine and bring to the boil, rubbing the base of the tin with a wooden spoon to release all the caramelized juices. Simmer for a couple of a minutes, then transfer to a everything to a saucepan and add the chicken stock. Strip the leaves from the sprigs of tarragon, coarsely chop and set aside. Add the stalks to the pan with the bouquet garni, bring to the boil, then reduce to a very gentle simmer and cook for 1 1/4 hours (covered). Strain through a sieve into a clean pan, bring back to the boil and boil rapidly until reduced by about half. Set aside.

Season the pieces of rabbit with salt and pepper. Heat the clarified butter in a large frying pan, add the rabbit and fry for 5 minutes until the pieces are evenly browned all over. Cover, lower the heat and continue to fry gently for a further 20 minutes until cooked through.

Lift the rabbit onto a large warmed serving platter, cover and keep warm. Pour away any excess fat from the pan, add the rabbit stock and boil until reduced to a well-flavoured sauce. Whisk in the chilled butter, a few pieces at a time, together with the tarragon leaves and some salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the sauce back over the rabbit and serve.

 

Brunch at Dishoom

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I am finally feeling like myself today. Back to normal! I managed to eat a proper dinner last night and today I ventured out of the flat for the first time since Tuesday. It wasn’t for long, but it did me good with some fresh (?) air and to see my friends for brunch for a couple of hours. Jenny was kind enough to meet me already at the tube and we went in to central London together, where we meet the other six girls for brunch at Dishoom.

I have mentioned this place earlier, it is a Bombay Café in Covent Garden / Leicester Square.

It was nice to try different brunch dishes than the regular fry-up or Eggs Benedict, and it was fresh and done well.

We had booked a table for noon, and they serve breakfast until 1pm, but they also start serving lunch from noon, so we could have whatever we wanted on both menus. I hadn’t had any breakfast and since my stomach has been bad this week I wanted something safe and tried the bacon naan roll with chilli jam and a glass of chai. It wasn’t really a roll, more a naan folded in half filled with the jam, smoked bacon and coriander and cut in half.

Most of the others chose the full Bombay which was a plate with fried tomatoes, mushrooms, a slice of toast, bacon and an omelette with vegetables in. Even though it was plenty of food and looked really nice, I was happy with my choice as the bacon naan was really good, but also I prefer my omelette creamy and runny and this one was dry. 🙂 One of the girls tried the sausage naan roll and it was filled to the brim with sausage. Two of the girls also shared a side of calamari. That would have been to early for me but I know since my last visit that they are really nice.

Compared to the Friday evening in December when I was here last, when it was buzzing and fully booked, the ground floor was only half-full at this time of day today. But it is January, every restaurants least busy month of the year. The service was a bit slower this Saturday but there were more of us, and we hat lots to chat about so it didn’t matter.

This brunch set us back about £10 each including service charge, which is great for a breakfast.

An unwanted break

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To me it feels like an eternity, but it is not long I have been away from the blog. I didn’t feel well already at the weekend, but it was on Tuesday that I started to feel really under the weather. I don’t even know which bacterias got to me, if it was the flu or a stomach bug or most likely a cross between them. But I do know how awful it is to have fever dreams; how disgusting it is to sweat the fever out and how off you can feel. It has been a really long time since I was this ill, and that was a nice reminder.

But to blog about food, I just haven’t been able to do it when all I can consume is small sips of water, flat Coke and diluted juice. When Christopher has been cooking he has to close all the doors between the kitchen and the bedroom, because the smell of food made me feel even worse. I haven’t been in the mood to read other food blogs, which normally gives me great pleasure.

The worst seems to be over, and I hope I am back to my normal self tomorrow. I will try and eat and gather strength, and will come back with recipes when this whole food business seems fun again. It won’t be long.