Restaurant Review - The Vineyard, Islington, London

Restaurant name: The Vineyard
Location: Islington, London
Description: Pub with large outdoor space at the top end of Upper Street - a refreshing change from some of the try-hard trendy bars in the area
Reason for visit: Lunch after taking a cake pops course at the Make Lounge
I ate: Old School Fish Finger Sandwich, £6.25 and Mango Sherbet, £3.25 - a "mocktail" of mango puree with sparkling soda water.
The food was: Simple but really good - nice thick doorstep sandwiches with homemade fish fingers.
The service/atmosphere was: Friendly service, and I was quite happy sitting by myself eating lunch
Price range/value for money: Not bad, there were smaller dishes such as this one at lower prices and then main courses at the sort of price you would expect
Would I recommend it? Yes- I've also been here for drinks in the evening and it's a nice pub, with a relaxed atmosphere.

Crispy pork medallions

I'm always trying to find ways to make pork more interesting- I don't like it as much as any other meat but it's inexpensive and I do like to vary what I eat. I came across this recipe for crispy pork medallions, which you could also use with a pork chop or pork steak.

To serve two, you need:

2 pork chops or 4 pork medallions (as they are quite small)

2 tbsp Dijon honey mustard

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

oil or Fry Light for frying

Preheat oven to 180C. Mix the breadcrumbs and herbs in a bowl and season.

You can use any mustard for this recipe - wholegrain would also work well - but I really love this Dijon mustard with honey.

Spread mustard over one side of the pork medallions

Coat with the breadcrumb mixture and repeat on the other side. Place on a baking tray lined with tin foil and cook for 15-20 minutes depending on the size and thickness of the pork.

Serve when the pork is cooked through and the breadcrumbs are crispy.

I'm sending this to Cooking with Herbs, hosted by Karen of Lavender and Lovage.

 

Jerk Fish

I went through a phase recently of cooking a lot of recipes from the Giraffe cook book and I was intrigued by the recipe for jerk fish with lime and garlic jerk butter, as I've come across jerk chicken before but not jerk fish. I decided to try out the recipe, but I didn't make the butter or the coconut rice that the book suggests serving it with.

To serve one, you need:
1 spring onion
1/4 red pepper, chopped
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tbsp malt vinegar


Chop the spring onion and pepper and combine in a bowl

Add the herbs and spices and season

Finally add the brown sugar and vinegar and mix well

Take a piece of white fish - I used monkfish

Marinade the fish in the sauce for an hour

You can grill, oven cook or fry the fish, whatever you prefer

I served it with some new potatoes and vegetables -it was a nice zesty change, and would also go well with rice.

Ginger Peach Crisp

I had some peaches that were going a bit soft and decided to use them up in a dessert. I thought peach would go well with ginger - which is the ingredient for this month's Feel Good Food Challenge, and begins with G which is ideal for Alphabakes! I decided to see what ideas Google could suggest using both peaches and ginger, and found this recipe for a ginger peach crisp - which turned out to be a lot like a crumble, and very nice!

To make enough for three, or two hungry people, you need:

1/2 cup plain flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 tbsp chilled butter, diced

2 tbsp sliced almonds

4 peaches, sliced

1 tbsp sweetener

2 tsp cornflour

3/4 tsp fresh ginger, grated - or a squeeze from a tube of ginger puree

Preheat the oven to 180C. First make the crumble topping, by rubbing the butter into the flour until you have a breadcrumb-like consistency. Then mix in both the granulated and the brown sugar and stir in the almonds.

Slice peaches and place in the bottom of an overproof dish. Sprinkle over the sweetener and the ginger.

Spoon the crumble topping over the top.

 Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

I love crumble - and the ginger and peach made this a nice change from the apple crumble I would normally make. It's lovely served with cream or ice cream, or if you don't have either, even just a splash of milk.

I'm sending this to Feel Good Food. hosted by Victoria of A Kick at the Pantry Door.

I'm also sending this to Alphabakes, managed this month by my co-host Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker, as our letter this month is G.

I'm also entering this in the No Waste Food Challenge, which encourages us to use up leftovers - the peaches were getting soft and needed using up, and the flaked almonds came from an open packet in my cupboard that has been there for quite a while! The challenge is hosted this month by Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary on behalf of Kate from Turquoise Lemons.

Meal Planning 2013 - Week 34

This is the first week my boyfriend and I are living together which is exciting! I won't bother planning his breakfasts and lunches, as the reason I do this is because I'm following Slimming World, and my boyfriend can eat whatever he wants. Also, his packed lunches for work tend to be pretty similar most days! I lost a pound and a half at Slimming World on Saturday, which I was really pleased about, but I'm not sure it will last - as the first thing I made for my boyfriend was an Oreo cheesecake!

Monday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch Out to lunch with work colleagues
Dinner Wagyu beef burgers - I had planned this for Saturday but in the end my boyfriend decided not to move in until the Sunday.

Tuesday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch sandwich
Dinner My boyfriend is out with friends so I'll have a vegetarian pasta dish he won't like - Slimming World macaroni and broccoli bake.


Wednesday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch  sandwich
Dinner I'm out with work colleagues so I'll send my boyfriend to his mum's! I'll have the rest of my leftover macaroni and broccoli bake before I go out

Thursday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch sandwich or baked potato
Dinner Spaghetti and meatballs. Slimming World chocolate mousse for the other half; lime and mango mousse for me

Friday
Breakfast cereal
Lunch leftover spaghetti
Dinner out for dinner and cinema? Or chicken kiev and mashed potato

Saturday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch hotdogs
Dinner gammon steaks with berrichonne potatoes - from Potato Cookbook p131; fresh orange curd pudding - James Martin Desserts p.60

Sunday
Breakfast cereal
Lunch Pub lunch after llama trekking!
Dinner Homemade pizza

Restaurant Review: Shake Shack, Covent Garden

Restaurant name: Shake Shack
Location: Covent Garden, London
Description: U.S. burger joint that has opened its first UK location in Covent Garden. It originated as a hot dog cart in New York and is known for its frozen custard desserts known as "concretes". Located inside Covent Garden piazza, the restaurant is actually the size of a very small shop with a takeaway counter inside. The seating is outside; you take a buzzer and it lets you know when your food is ready. Perhaps because it's new, it's extremely busy at the moment - we got there at 5.45 and didn't queue, but got the last table; by 6pm there was a long queue outside.

Reason for visit: I'd recently been to Five Guys, a U.S. burger joint that just opened its first UK location in Covent Garden... and while fans would say the two are completely different, I wanted to try them out to compare. We were going to the theatre nearby and needed a quick dinner so this was the perfect opportunity. Also, in How I Met Your Mother, Lily gives one reason for not wanting to leave New York as "a Shake Shack finally opened on our block!". If it's good enough for Lily, it's good enough for me.
I ate: Cheeseburger, Cheese Fries, Union Shack Concrete: chocolate custard, chocolate brownie from St. John bakery, fudge sauce, chocolate chunks from Paul A. Young, sea salt.
My companion ate: Double cheese and bacon burger, fries, chocolate milkshake

The food was: Delicious, but then I do like a good burger. Well cooked, the bun held together well, and the cheese sauce on the fries was so good I didn't want to share. The "concrete" was interesting - it looked and tasted like ice cream rather than custard. The brownie and chocolate chunks in it were very nice, but the whole thing melted before I got to eat it (it wasn't even a very hot day), prompting my boyfriend to say it tasted just like his chocolate milkshake.
The atmosphere/service was: I wouldn't say this place has much atmosphere as it's just basically a takeaway counter, but sitting outside amid the buzz of Covent Garden is nice. Service was friendly - as mentioned above, you take a buzzer and collect your own order, but someone clearing tables spotted we had forgotten to get a spoon for the concrete and fetched us one. In fact she got us two, as she guessed we were going to share.

Price range/value for money: The meal cost £30, which seems like a lot when you are carrying a plastic takeaway tray - but you shouldn't compare this to McDonald's. If the food was brought to the table on a plate, like in Byron, paying £30 for it would seem perfectly normal. The food is definitely worth the money.
Would I recommend it? Yes, to try once as the food is really tasty - but the long queues and no guarantee of a table would put me off going again, unless I was passing and saw it wasn't too busy.

Peri Peri Chicken Burger with Spicy Potato Wedges - and the proper way to chop an onion

I made this for dinner with my boyfriend one evening based on a recipe from the Giraffe recipe book. I marinaded the chicken in a homemade peri peri sauce which I served in a bun with spicy potato wedges.

For the peri peri sauce you need:

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp paprika

2 tbsp olive oil

But first things first - slice some potatoes into wedges and place on foil in a large roasting tin so they have enough room to sit side by side.

Sprinkle with paprika and cook in the oven at 180C for about an hour, turning once or twice.

Now make the peri peri sauce. I learnt the proper way - or at least, the fastest way - to chop an onion when I took a burger-making class at the Atelier des Chefs. Cut the onion in half then place it on your chopping board cut-side down. Using a small sharp paring knife, finely slice through the onion lengthways, stopping just before the top, so the slices are still attached and sort of fan out.

 Then slice through across the other direction and you will have a finely diced onion. Handy tip!

The easiest way to crush garlic is to use the flat of a large knife. Place the knife on top of the garlic clove and bash down on the knife a couple of times to flatten the garlic.

Then use the very tip of the knife in a scratching motion to finely shred the crushed garlic.

Place all the ingredients for the peri peri marinade in a bowl and mix.

Place the chicken in the marinade and coat.

Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes with the marinade poured over the top.

The potato wedges should be done...

I decided to serve my spicy chicken in a bread roll with the potato wedges - it tasted really good. If you have time you can leave the chicken in the marinade overnight.

Tea and cakes greeting card

Here's a cute birthday card for anyone who likes tea and cakes. I took a cream square card blank and a piece of 6x6 backing paper that was printed with strips of different patterns (all on the one piece of paper). I cut two strips and stuck them on the top and bottom of the card. The cake stand and flowers are from a set of cardboard stickers, I wish I could remember where I got them from as I really like them!

Roast Chicken Stuffed with Garlic Mashed Potato

I saw this recipe for roast chicken stuffed with garlic mashed potato in the Mail on Sunday's You Magazine a long time ago, and it has resided in my box of magazine cuttings ever since - mainly because I love roast chicken cooked the traditional way, and doing anything else to it seemed sacrilege! But I finally decided to make this and was pleased with the outcome - though next time I will probably go back to roasting my chicken plain and simple.

Peel and boil potatoes, then mash them.

Mix in some creme fraiche and crushed garlic

Stuff the mashed potato inside the cavity of the chicken

Roast in the oven - calculate the cooking time based on the weight of the bird and the mashed potato together

When the chicken is cooked, carve and allow the mashed potato to be exposed - then scoop out with a spoon. This was very tasty but I missed my roast potatoes!

Sex on the Beach Cupcakes

I was wondering what to make for Calendar Cakes, as the theme this month is "Summer lovin'". The suggestions include summer holiday memories, and I was wondering how I could bake a cake relating to Butlins, where I spent many a childhood holiday.... funnily enough I see that the Beaver Club has now changed its name to the rather more politically correct Club Red (as the entertainers are called the Redcoats).

But while we're on the subject of smut, the other thing that summer means to me is sex on the beach - not literally (I imagine the sand would get everywhere!) but the cocktail. It's a pretty girly drink with a very sweet taste, made with vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice and grenadine, and usually served with a little umbrella. I have had many of these at beach bars on various Greek islands... so I wanted to turn the flavours into a cake. I have to admit though that I did my usual thing of not having the right ingredients... I decided on the spur of the moment to make these for a small gathering I was going to the next day, so I had to make do with what I had in the cupboard! I only had one egg in the house as well so halved the quantity of ingredients I would usually use and made six small cupcakes out of it.

Sex on the Beach cupcakes

an original recipe by Caroline Makes

This recipe makes 6 small cupcakes so feel free to double it.

1 egg

50g butter, softened

50g caster sugar

50g self-raising flour

2 tbsp vodka

2 tbsp orange juice or 1 tbsp neat orange squash

1 tbsp grenadine

50g butter, softened 

100g icing sugar

1 tbsp peach schnapps or peach liqueur

cocktail umbrellas, Dr. Oetker neon sugar and coloured fondant to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180C. Cream the butter and the sugar then add the egg and fold in the flour.

Add the cocktail flavours- I saved the peach for the icing, and used vodka, grenadine, and orange squash as I didn't have any juice.

Add to the cake batter and mix - it will turn pale pink from the grenadine.

In keeping with the cocktail theme I decided to use these leopard print cupcake cases, which I got from Tesco. It wasn't that long ago that you had to go to a specialist online retailer to find patterned cake cases so I'm really pleased now that Tesco does them. They also have a shoe design one that I used for my birthday party last year, that cost me rather more from an online retailer!
Fill the cake cases with the batter.

Bake for about 15 minutes

Cream the butter and icing sugar to make buttercream and add the peach schnapps or liqueur. If the mixture is too runny, add some more icing sugar. You don't need this to be thick enough to pipe swirls but it does need to stay on the cupcake.

I was sent this Dr. Oetker neon sugar a little while ago. It has four separate compartments, each with its own lid, with blue, yellow, pink and green. I like the container as it makes it very easy to use one colour at a time. If you were sprinkling this over cakes it would go a long way, but if you are completely covering a cupcake, as I have done below, you will get about three out of each colour sugar (so 12 from this tub in total).

I had the idea of making my cupcakes look like a beach - this is why I spread the buttercream evenly. I used the yellow neon sugar on half of each cupcake, to represent sand, and blue neon sugar on the other half to represent the ocean.

I had some cocktail umbrellas in the drawer, and I also made a pair of flip flops from blue fondant and used an edible gem to decorate them.

I also used the blue fondant to make a shark's fin!

The cupcake at the back has a pair of goggles and a snorkel

 I bought this mini cupcake stand from the Dot Com Gift Shop; I absolutely love it. It was only £3.95 and is just the right size to display one cupcake; it has a really cute pattern and mini cakes hanging off the sides.

 Top-down view of one of the cakes on the mini cake stand

All packaged up and ready to go! My verdict: the cakes were really light and springy, and tasted good though I wouldn't have been able to pick out the sex on the beach flavours if I didn't already know - maybe I need to add more vodka next time! The neon sugar worked really well - as well as being easy to use, it held its colour and didn't sink in or bleed into the buttercream despite having been made the night before. Eating the neon sugar also gives a satisfying crunch that worked well as it was supposed to represent sand!

I'm sending this to Calendar Cakes, hosted by Laura of Laura Loves Cakes and Rachel of DollyBakes. I think a sex on the beach cake fits very literally with the theme of summer lovin'!

The theme for this month's Baking with Spirit, hosted by Janine at Cake of the Week, is an alcoholic ingredient that represents summer. Peach schnapps or liqueur itself, as well as the sex on the beach cocktail, says summer to me!

I've also just realised this cake contains grenadine, and the letter that my Alphabakes co-host Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker has chosen for the challenge this month is G.