Restaurant review - Yo Sushi

Restaurant name: Yo Sushi
Location: Southbank, London
Description: Sushi bar chain where the dishes are carried round on a conveyor belt and you pick up the ones you want. There's also a menu of hot food you can order from.
Reason for visit: I had tickets to see a concert at the Southbank but my boyfriend was ill at the last minute and couldn't come. I couldn't find anyone else to take the spare ticket so decided to go by myself. I wanted to get dinner somewhere nearby and had never been to Yo Sushi before; I love sushi but my boyfriend won't eat it so I thought in his absence it was a great opportunity to try eating here.
I ate: I took one dish from the conveyor belt of salmon sushi, but realised that the dishes aren't labelled and rely on you recognising it. To be fair there are pictures on the menu but the conveyor belt moves too fast for that to really help. It probably wouldn't matter if I wasn't so fussy - but while it's easy to identify salmon nigiri, I saw several noodle dishes go past where I couldn't actually tell what was in them. I also fancied some hot food so decided to order from the menu. As well as the salmon nigiri (salmon on rice) I had chicken yakisoba (noodles in a spicy sauce with chicken); chicken katsu (chicken fried in Japanese breadcrumbs); crab onigiri katsu (balls of crab meat with chilli, coated in breadcrumbs) and for dessert chocolate mochi (soft Japanese rice cake balls filled with chocolate ganache).

The food was: Really tasty. The crab onigiri was particularly good and the chocolate mochi was interesting - the balls had a strange squidgy texture and I wasn't sure about rice and chocolate but they were delicious.
The atmosphere/service was: Good; I was sitting by myself at the conveyor belt which I think works quite well. There are some tables for groups but if you want to eat by yourself  you can sit at the conveyor belt without feeling like you stick out as a lone diner. There's a bell you press for service (eg to order the hot food); the waiter was also good about explaining how it all worked as I hadn't been here before - for instance that the dishes on the conveyor belt have different price points and are marked with a different colour sticker.
Price range/value for money: I always find with things like this (eg tapas) where you are ordering small dishes that I never know how much to order and probably spend more than I need to. The dishes range in price from about £2 (for miso soup) to around £5, so it's possible to have a relatively cheap meal or to push the boat out. I think I spent about £15 which wasn't bad at all and I was really happy with what I ate.
Would I recommend it: Yes, definitely - the food is good, the concept is fun and if you don't just grab dishes from the conveyor belt willy-nilly, it's not too expensive.

Fresh Homemade Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce (using KitchenAid pasta attachment)

My boyfriend bought me a KitchenAid last year (in pink! I was over the moon) and this year (as per my suggestion) bought me the pasta attachment for it. I just used it for the first time and was almost bouncing round the kitchen with delight. It rolls the pasta so thin! Then it slices it into spaghetti strands! Which is kind of obvious but when you see it happening for the first time it's really cool. The KitchenAid does all the hard work for you and turns out perfectly and it's actually really fun to watch it all happen. I can see lots of pasta in our future.

First you need to make your pasta dough. I didn't realise there was a recipe leaflet included with the KitchenAid spaghetti attachment so I searched for a recipe online. I used this recipe from All Recipes, though I have since seen other recipes that use different quantities of the ingredients. Also, I was a bit worried that I couldn't get hold of 00 flour, which is usually used in making pasta; it's on my list for my next big shop but in the meantime I had to use plain. But the recipe I used didn't specify 00 flour anyway so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

To serve 6 - the recipe serves 8 but I'm not so sure - you need:
450g strong plain flour
pinch of salt
4 eggs
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil


Make a well in the flour, add the salt and mix in the eggs and oil. I decided to do this in my KitchenAid, though I started off using the dough hook (pictured) then found it was easier with the normal mixing blade.

When you have a ball of dough you need to knead it for about ten minutes (or as long as you can bear!). It ought to look rather smoother than this.

Here's the KitchenAid spaghetti attachment, it comes with three metal attachments - one to roll the pasta, one to make spaghetti and one to make fettucine.

It was easy to set up - simply unscrew the small round disc on the front of the KitchenAid and screw in the pasta attachment. Then when you turn the KitchenAid on, the rollers on the attachment start moving, and you can vary the speed as you would with the normal mixer.

Break the ball of dough into three pieces and flatten one piece. Put the rollers on their widest setting (1) then feed the dough through - it will be rolled out and get longer and flatter.

Change the setting to 2 and repeat - the dough will get longer and flatter

And one last time on setting 3

Here are the pieces of pasta - I had to cut each strip in half as I didn't have enough room on the worktop.

Change the KitchenAid attachment to the spaghetti cutter and feed each piece of pasta through. In a matter of seconds you'll have spaghetti!

I ended up with a large bowlful of pasta - probably enough for 6 people

You can dry the pasta to use later, in which case you need to separate the strands and hang them apparently, or you can cook it right away. As I wasn't sure how long this would take I made the pasta about an hour and a half before dinner, and made the mistake of leaving it in the bowl, so the strands did clump together quite a bit.

Still, it was great to be eating fresh pasta that I had made myself - though I would like to use 00 flour if I can get hold of it next time.

I also received the KitchenAid Recipe Collection for my birthday last year, from my boyfriend's brother and his wife as they knew I was getting the KitchenAid. It has several recipes with pasta and I used the classic bolognese sauce recipe from the book though I adapted it to leave out the chopped carrot and celery, as I knew my boyfriend wouldn't eat it.

You need:
1 tbsp olive oil
half an onion, finely chopped
minced beef for two people -I freeze two or three portions when I buy a pack so can't give an exact quantity
1 clove garlic
400g tin of tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup dry white wine or water
1/2 cup milk

Chop the onion and crush the garlic and fry over a medium heat

Add the mince and fry until browned

Add the white wine and milk and cook for about 10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated

Add the tin of tomatoes and simmer over a low heat for about half an hour and season to taste.

I was so excited telling my boyfriend about the spaghetti attachment and serving the pasta I had made that I forgot to take a picture of the finished dish! You can probably imagine what spaghetti bolognese looks like though :-) 

This is only the second time I've ever made fresh pasta; the first time was several years ago at a corporate entertainment cookery class where I had a lot of help, so I was really pleased with this and am already looking forward to making it again.

I'm sending this to Pasta Please, a monthly blogging challenge guest hosted this month by Briciole on behalf of Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes, as their challenge this month is to make your own fresh pasta.

I'm also sending this to Chris at Cooking Around The World for his monthly geographical challenge; this month he has chosen Italy. What's more Italian than spaghetti bolognese?

Wrapped Gifts Birthday Card

Here's a birthday card I made for a male friend which is simple but I think looks nice. I used three stickers from the same pack of wrapped gifts in different sizes, and another sticker saying 'happy birthday to you'. I used a square card blank and put a strip of polka dot backing paper along the bottom and the top. So there you go, if you want an idea for an easy-to-make card!

Chocolate chip cookies (that just happen to be vegan)

A few months ago I was going to see my friend A, and I wanted to bake something simple that I could take with me. A is vegan and so I found a recipe on the internet for vegan cookies - the idea being, these are great tasting cookies that just happen to be vegan. I got the recipe from Instructables and adapted it slightly to add extra cocoa powder.

You need:

2 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips - I chopped a bar of dark chocolate into small chunks

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil or vegan margarine

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup dairy-free milk eg soya, almond

Here's the chocolate I used - as I mentioned before, plain chocolate is often vegan

I chopped it into chunks and mixed the dry ingredients and chocolate in a bowl

Adding the cocoa powder

I used vegan margarine rather than oil; I creamed it in and added the milk then mixed everything together to make a chunky mixture 

Stir well so you have a thick mixture

Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a lined baking sheet

Bake at 180C for about 10-15 mins until the cookies are firm but still a little soft, they will continue to firm up as they cool and you still want them to be chewy on the inside.

These tasted really nice and were very quick and simple to make.

I'm sending this to Tea Time Treats, hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked,  as their theme this month is biscuits and cookies. These aren't the fanciest cookies I've ever made but it's a nice recipe, whether you are cooking for vegans or not, so I wanted to share it.

Paneer Curry

I first had paneer when I was in India and loved it. I was pleased when I found you can buy it in supermarkets in the UK though it doesn't seem to taste quite the same. Still, it makes a nice change from a meat curry.

Here's an adaptation of a simple recipe for a curry sauce that I got from All Recipes; it's called Shahi paneer.

To serve 2, you need:
200g paneer
1 red onion, finely chopped
10g root ginger or 1 tsp ground ginger
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
100ml double cream
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp sugar
salt to taste
2 tsp oil

Finely chop the onion

Fry with the garlic and ginger

Add the garam masala and tin of tomatoes. Bring to the boil then simmer for about 20 mins until the sauce has thickened. Add the sugar and season.

The sauce is ready once it has thickened and reduced

Cube the paneer

Add the cream to the sauce and stir in and turn the heat down to low

Gently fold in the paneer

Here's the curry ready to be served

Serve with rice and enjoy!

I'm sending this to Cooking Around the World, where the host Chris chooses a different country each month and welcomes all sorts of recipes; this month it's India.

Meal Planning 2013 - Week 20

I put on another pound this week, the second week in a row - I know why though as I was out almost every day last week and quite a lot of unhealthy food - and a few more glasses of wine than usual! This week I'm going to go back to tracking what I eat as I haven't done that for a couple of weeks.

Monday
Breakfast Cereal
Lunch Batchelors pasta with cheese and broccoli sauce (which I can make at work, and is syn-free) with ham (also free)
Dinner Choir rehearsal so will have a late snack when I get home - I ought to plan what I'm going to eat but I've run out of most of the things I would usually eat.


Tuesday
Breakfast Yogurt
Lunch Ham sandwich
Dinner With my boyfriend - Giraffe's Peri Peri chicken with potato wedges followed by Belgian waffles


Wednesday
Breakfast Cereal
Lunch Leftover potato wedges with salmon and hollandaise sauce
Dinner Going to the youth club where I volunteer in the evening so won't be home until late, I'll try to make sure I have a healthy snack I can eat when I get in or take a sandwich with me.


Thursday
Breakfast Yogurt
Lunch Tuna sandwich
Dinner With my boyfriend - beef tacos like this


Friday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch tuna sandwich
Dinner Pasta - need something quick as I'm making a birthday cake tonight


Saturday
Breakfast Yogurt
Lunch I have to leave around lunchtime to get a train to see my sister for her birthday so will take a packed lunch for the train
Dinner Out with my sister and her friends


Sunday
Breakfast/Lunch Not sure as I will still be at my sister's though I will also do some exercise as I'm planning to take her dogs for a walk
Dinner Roast lamb chop with roast potatoes and mint sauce

Russian Shashlik Kebabs

You may already have noticed that my birthday party had a Russian theme this year... I made a vodka and lime cake shaped like a Russian doll, some chocolate vegan cupcakes decorated with Russian doll wafers, and some sugar cookies (which also happened to be vegan) which I decorated to look like Russian dolls.

I also wanted to make some savoury food as we were going out in the evening to the local greyhound stadium (I thought we'd do something a bit different!). It needed to be something that wouldn't take too long to prepare, since I had to do all the baking as well, and also be easy to make vegetarian and meat options - oh, and ideally be finger-food as I barely had enough room for everyone to sit down! I also wanted to tie the food into the Russian theme of the party so had a look online and found all sorts of  'interesting' Russian foods I could cook... then was very pleased to discover this recipe for Shashlik kebabs, which are apparently Russian.

It's a simple recipe that essentially involves marinading chunks of lamb in a mixture of onion, garlic, shallots, parsley, cayenne pepper and pomegranate juice. I'm not entirely sure to what extent this is Russian, or why, but it sounded nice and fit my requirements, so I decided to make it, and thread the lamb chunks onto skewers with mini potatoes and vegetables as well.

I decided to make some garlic mushrooms by marinading mini button mushrooms in a mixture of garlic puree and melted butter, though I used dairy-free margarine so these were suitable for vegans.

I then followed the recipe and mixed onion, garlic, parsley and pomegranate juice

Marinading cubes of lamb in the mixture

I threaded the lamb onto kebabs along with mini onions, red, green and orange peppers, the garlic mushrooms and mini baby new potatoes which I had pre-roasted. Rather than grill the kebabs I oven-cooked them as it meant I didn't have to worry so much about keeping an eye on them. They were pretty tasty and it was good to be able to combine different items for meat eaters, vegans, and people who are just generally a bit fussy!