Spaghetti Bolognese - Italian Kitchen, Holborn

I've been browsing through some of my older stuff on Flickr and come across these from a meal I had ages ago at Italian Kitchen in Holborn. And in the spirit of keeping this post short and sweet, here they are :) It's about £10 for their lunch special with a soup or salad as a starter and a choice of pasta and sauce as a main.

My Spaghetti Bolognese was rich, hearty and filling. I couldn't really fault it ... yes, it was a little heavy but I wouldn't want to go an Italian restaurant and be served a ragù 'lite'. And the pasta was nicely al dente :)

Italian Kitchen
43 New Oxford St, London, WC1A 1BH

Happy Birthday to Me - Cakes from Konditor & Cook

I'm no fan of my own birthday. Really ... do I really need another reminder of how old I'm getting? :) I do, on the hand, enjoy other people's birthdays. Just as long as it's not my own ... However, there are a few out there who very sweetly refuse to to forget (thank you, you know who are:), hence the two slices of cake from Konditor & Cook. And very good cake they were too. Good enough to tempt two colleagues to share them with me one sunny afternoon in the park.

The Curly Whirly came in the form of chocolate sponge with a vanilla bean frosting. Nice, light with a slight tartness, which I think can be owed to the cream cheese in the frosting. The curly whirliness came from bits of pipped chocolate icing .. nothing greatly exciting. It was a good piece of cake. Solidly normal .... as a Victoria Sponge.

The Chocolate Raspberry Fudge Tart on the other hand ... was wholeheartedly chocolate down to it's soul. Rich, deep and broken only by a layer of raspberry puree sitting just above the pastry. The pastry, however, was a bit of a disspointment. It would have been delightful if they had used a buttery pastry crust or crushed chocolate biscuits (think cheesecake here) if we were going for the full chocolate whack. Instead it was lacklustre, boring and verging on tasting like stale pastry.

Konditor & Cook is certainly worth a try. I didn't manage to find that many reviews for them online but I have asked around and they do seem quite well known with five branches across London.

Gelato in the Park

What is sunny weather without ice-cream? In British terms this could really be at any time and not necessarily during summer either. During one of the odd spells of April sunshine, Stuart and I managed to drag ourselves to the park and discovered, to my delight, that the park cafe had started selling gelato.

I just had to have a scoop of bacio - chocolate and hazelnut. I adore hazelnuts! And I love chocolate too.

Ahh bacio is certainly a flavour made in heaven.

Stuart had a scoop of strawberry which came delightfully with large chunks of strawberries swirled throughout . Much to my irritation his was actually better than mine. Lighter on the tummy too considering we just had a huge feast at a newly found Portuguese cafe (more on that later). I did end up eating quite a bit of his and he was handed the remainder of mine :D One just has to learn to be very persuasive lol

Comfort Eating

It's been a long few weeks. Far too many hours at work, followed by a frighteningly high number of after work/weekend drinks ... too many. A diet of take-out salads, sandwiches and vodka tonics are all good and well but after a while all the body and soul wants is some good, old fashioned comfort food. Far too tired and to late to pull together an elaborately heart warming dish (I've been craving braised pork belly with preserved vegetable for far too long now ...) I made this quick mince and bean stew served with rice and a fried egg after work one day. Tried and tested flavours, there was no way it could go wrong.

I remember having a version of this whenever I went to stay with my paternal grandmother when I was a child. Unlike most grandmothers, my mama wasn't known for her cooking skills. She was a far more gregarious creature who preferred to stay out of the kitchen and had a fondness for mahjong (something of which I think both my sister and I have inherited). Mama did, however, live with her best friend who did all the cooking for her own rather large family. This dish is in fact a tribute (rip off?) to Ying Yee Por.

Mince and Bean Stew with Rice and Fried Egg

250g of mince (preferably pork but I used turkey this time as I couldn't find any pork mince at the supermarket)
Minced garlic (to your hearts content but I stuck to about 2 cloves or the equivalent - I was a bit lazy so I used garlic powder)
1 tin baked beans
Eggs (depending on how many people there are to feed and the size of their appetites)
Splash of soy sauce
White pepper
Steamed rice to serve

• Heat some oil in wok on medium-high heat until it steams lightly. Add the mince in and brown evenly.If there is too much liquid released from the meat, drain it off in a sieve. This ensures that the meat browns and doesn't steam and simmer in its own juices.
  
• When the meat is lightly browned, add the garlic. Fry until you can smell the lovely garlicky-ness. Make sure you don't burn the garlic though.
  
• Pour in the tin of beans and mix with the meat. Release the remaining bit of tomato sauce and beans from the bottom by swirling half a tins worth of water around the tin and pouring it all into the wok.
• Just as the meat and beans begin to bubble, lower the heat. Flavour the dish with a few splashes of soy sauce and a sprinkling of white pepper.
• Heat frying pan with a little oil. Break in an egg and spoon over the hot oil to help cook the top. It is ready to serve when the edges of the egg are crispy and the egg yoke still bright yellow and wobbly.
  
• Serve the meat and beans with steamed rice and the fried egg. I like my fried eggs served with white pepper and a few dashes of Maggie sauce (affectionately known as ti-ti-ti in our household, origins very likely long forgotten).
  

Homemade Burgers

It seems an age since I lasted posted anything but I guess it's the usual lot of excuses. So much to do and really so little time to get it all done. That, however, doesn't mean I haven't been hoovering up all the food that has been put in front of me ... plus a few photos as evidence too :)

First up, burgers we had for dinner a few weeks ago. I'm not a huge burger fan. I do like one now and then but as I had bought some nice beef mince and was a little too lazy to make meatballs, so burgers it was. And how proud I was when they turned out so nicely :) I made a huge batch with about 800 grams of mince so there's still plenty in the freezer for another meal and a half.

Burgers
800g mince beef - the better quality the meat, the better the burger tastes
2 large eggs, beaten
2 large handfuls of breadcrumbs (I had some leftover cheese flavoured crackers so I crushed those and added it to my breadcrumbs)
3tsp of garlic powder (certainly use fresh garlic should you have it but I was feeling particularly lazy)
2tsp dry English mustard powder
2tsp dried mint
2tsp dried basil
2tsp sumac (one of those odd things sitting in my cupboard)
2tsp za'atar (a dry Middle Eastern mix of sesame seeds, marjoram and thyme)
good dash of soy (I cannot live without!)
salt and pepper to taste

• Mix all the ingredients together well
• Shape the meat mixture into patties - be however generous (or stingy) as you wish :)
• Heat a griddle pan on medium until it smokes lightly
• Place the patties on the pan and cook on one side for about 5 minutes before turning over
• The cooking time will really depend on how thick your patties are and how you like your meat cooked. Mine were cooked right through and took about 10-12 minutes for both sides.

Guacamole
2 large, ripe avocados
handful of very ripe, sweet cherry tomatoes
handful of finely chopped coriander
juice of 1 lime
salt to taste

• Cut the avocados in half. Scoop out the flesh, as close to the skin as possible to get the lovely darker flesh out. Mash.
• Cut the tomatoes into small chunks. If your tomatoes are small enough, just halve them but keep in mind this is not a chunky guacamole.
  
• Add the cut tomatoes to the avocados, along with the coriander.
  
• Add the lime juice and salt to taste. Mix well and leave the mixture for a few minutes to let the flavours fuse.

Putting it all together:

• Put the cooked patties aside to rest. Leave the griddle pan on the heat.
  
• Cut the bread/bun of your choice in half. We had rosemary and potato rolls that day. Warm the bread on the griddle pan.
  
• Put a leaf or two of lettuce (I used butterhead lettuce) on the toasty bread, top with a burger patty and plenty of guacamole. Top with the other piece of bread and serve.
  

Banana and Chocolate Muffins

I should really be getting back to my holiday posts but I get lazier every day. As I plot the next holiday post, my baking tins have been given a good working out. The recent obsession has been bread pudding. It's one of the easiest things to make, brilliant for breakfast and the supermarket always has a constant supply of bread in the discounted section. The full bread pudding story will have to wait for another post I'm afraid, as last Sunday was all about banana and chocolate muffins.

I had some very ripe bananas that just had to be used and I wanted to make something with chocolate ( I ALWAYS want to make something with chocolate!) but couldn't find a recipe I fancied. So I modified a recipe I had used before - Gordon Ramsey's Toffee and Apple Muffins. Lo and behold! Right after I put in the first batch into the oven I realised I had missed out a vital ingredient - the milk. The batter did look a tad bit dry so I had added a touch more oil but darn it...... how could I have so silly? The muffins came out perfectly :) but if you do find your batter a little, add a touch of milk. Mine certainly didn't need it.

Banana and Chocolate Muffins
Makes 12

350g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
240g golden caster sugar
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
3 large eggs, beaten
130ml vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
150g dark chocolate chopped into small pieces

• Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and line two large 6-hole muffin tray* with paper cases. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and stir in the sugar. Make a well in the dry ingredients.
• Add the mashed bananas, eggs, oil, vanilla extract and chocolate in the middle of the well, and fold the mixture together with a large metal spoon, using as few strokes as possible. Don’t worry if the mixture is lumpy, the trick behind the lightest muffins is not to overwork the batter.
• Fill the paper cases with the mixture bake for 25-30 minutes or until the muffins are well risen and golden.

*If a smaller 12-hole muffin tray is used, check the muffins after about 20 minutes.

Crisps Galore

I'm not usually a huge crisp eater - very probably from the huge amount of guilt I pile on myself whenever I go near a packet - but I couldn't resist trying the new flavours that Walkers had just launched. Yes, I know... it's all part of a huge marketing ploy but damn it's tasty :)

The 6 new flavours was supposedly dreamt up by the ordinary citizen(you and me ... this marketing thing is off to a good start - Walkers didn't have to think up any new flavours themselves), shortlisted by industry experts including Heston Blumenthal (throw in a few famous names ... very clever..) and voted for by the consuming masses (after, of course, they had bought all 6 flavours to try). The prize? All 6 finalists received £10,000 but the eventual winner (the flavour that received the most votes via the Walkers website by 1 May 2009) will have their crisp flavour made permanent, receive £50,000 and 1% of all profits, estimated at £57,000 a year. No bad, not bad at all. But how did the flavours fare?

The first packet was brought home by Stuart who thought I might be interested in trying some Crispy Duck and Hoisin - maybe it's the Chinese thing going on there :) and maybe it's the fact I rarely buy/eat crisps. I was nicely surprised - smell wise, the hoisin sauce dominated. How would they have captured the whiff of crispy duck? Fried the spuds in duck fat maybe .... ohhh....now that I would love to try :) First taste, definitely hoisin sauce but a subtle flavour of roast duck comes through. Very nice indeed. Vote one to Crispy Duck and Hoisin.

Off to a good start I made sure Stuart and I got our hands on the other flavours in the next few days. But which flavour should be next? Cajun Squirrel won hands down. Seriously, what in the heck is squirrel supposed to taste like?? Nothing much apparently. The Cajun spices were nice but not brilliant. If I had to vote, I would yo-yo on this one.

Chili and Chocolate - how out of the world is that on a crisp? And weird it definitely was. With time to ponder over this, I definitely don't like it. It had none of the depth and warmth that exudes when chili and chocolate are combined; the Mexicans have a great thing going on there. The chili was minimal, practically non-existent, and the chocolate made it overly "aromatic". Great idea.... crap on crisps. Definitely no vote.

With a few days respite, it was back to crisp tasting and it was time for a Builder's Breakfast. Lovely smells of smokey bacon and fried eggs with a hint of baked beans greeted us as the packet was opened. A good start indeed but that's all you're going to get. Then again, isn't that enough? It's not a bad flavour ... not the best but not the worst either. Vote? Probably not.

Hmmmmm Fish and Chips....... how could they possibly get this? All they really needed to do was to capture the taste of oil, right? Wrong. The subtle flavour of battered fried fish and vinegar........ohhh this was getting good! I love crisps with a tang. My favourite Walker's crisps is after all Prawn Cocktail, followed closely by Tomato Ketchup. Good stuff this.

The lone packet of Onion Bhaji remained. I had read good reviews on this flavour and had decided to leave it to the last. And those reviewers weren't wrong. This was good. The best of the lot in fact. The spicing was good and the subtle flavour of onion came through nicely. Vote? Oh yes! This is the one to keep on the shelves.

It's been a good crisp-y few days. Now back to the vegetable soups and salad. Oh yes, and I did write this review, I didn't have to... no money exchanged hands, I have not been conned or am I being being threatened in any way. Oh those marketing people are good!

Berrylicious

I finally got down to making my own chocolate truffles :) It went down a treat with Stuart and everyone at work, which was lovely - but more on that in the next post. I found photos of this quick dessert I put together ages ago but forgot to post.

I had bought a little punnet of blueberries - I'm always hopeful that batch will turn out to be the batch of lovely blueberries I've been waiting years to buy. Alas, it was as dry and tasteless as the rest. So the little punnet had been sitting in the fridge getting drier but no less tasteless.

A need for dessert one evening found me pulling the berries out of the fridge, along with some raspberry swirl frozen yogurt and some digestive biscuits that had been sharing tin space with some Ethiopian coffee. The biscuits had taken on a lovely coffee flavour (I didn't do it on purpose ... just a very happy coincidence:), which I topped with some raspberry swirl frozen yogurt. A few of the blueberries were studded on top of the yogurt and the rest I whizzed up with some icing sugar for a blueberry coulis.

The result was really quite good. The coffee flavoured biscuits were surprisingly good and went well with the fresher tastes of be The blueberries definitely tasted better with the frozen yogurt and biscuits. And all it took was a little sugar and a touch of lemon juice to ensure that the coulis was pretty darn delicious.

When a Girl is in Need of Chocolate ...

A little break from all my holiday eating .... the posting of which has been taking longer than expected. I would blame it partly on pure laziness and partly on how busy I've been over the last few weeks. Photos have been accumulating but I thought I would jump to the present and slowly work my way through the rest at some point. But for now....

... Chocolate is on the agenda. I have been craving chocolate for weeks and so far nothing has been able to make it go away. I've managed to feed this little craving with bits of dark chocolate and multiple cups of mocha but for today's chocolate attack, I just had to go down to the little bakery/coffee shop right below my office. I've been eying their chocolate brownie for weeks and they had recently added chocolate truffles to their display case right by the window.... always tempting me, taunting me to go in. Today I did ... chocolate truffles have, after all, been on my mind all this week but to my shock and horror one little truffle ball cost £1 each! A bit much for for a tiny cafe on this side of Holborn but the my need for chocolate had me give in. I got a single truffle and a brownie (£2.80) - the man who was serving assured me I would be back on Monday to get more. Hmmmm... confident.

Verdict? The first thought to cross my mind after I bit into the truffle was .... "soybeans?". Nothing came of the soybean thought but I would definitely say the man was a little too confident. It was a nice chocolate truffle but not great. Would I go back for more? Perhaps... it did after all put me in a much better mood after eating it. And I have decided to pull out my recipe for truffles that I made years ago - more on that at a later date :) £1 is a little too steep for a weeny bit of chocolate for my liking.

The chocolate brownie was shared with Stuart who never says no to dessert. His first comment after taking a bite was, "A bit chocolate-y, isn't it?" and indeed it was. It's a true chocolate lovers brownie. The lack of sweetness was made up in the punch of the chocolate and topped off by a thick-ish layer of cocoa powder. Little bits of nuts gave it a slight texture in the fudginess - "dry fudginess" as I have termed it because to me fudge is soft and somewhat creamy. Again this just didn't blow me away because I really wanted it to. Ahhh well, at least my craving has been satisfied ... for today, at least :)

Meze and Shawarma - Al Amar, Kuala Lumpur

Much as I love whinging about Pavilion whenever we head there, I must admit it's not a bad shopping centre. Pavilion is as KL as Mid Valley and 1U are suburbia - and has some pretty decent shops and shopping is what we were there for. Shoe shopping to be precise ... because ... well, c'mon let's be honest... why would someone who lives in Dubai (Razan) come all the way to KL to shop?? :) Anyway, food wise - we decided on Al Amar on the top floor, though I'm not quite sure why we thought it would be a good idea to take Razan to a Lebanese restaurant - she did just arrive from Dubai two days earlier and must have Middle Eastern food oozing from every pore. Probably because Candice and I thought it would be amusing :) (Odd sense of humour we have)

Seated on their spacious balcony, which is so much nicer than their stiff and formal indoor seating area, we did started on our mini Lebanese feast with an assortment of meze dishes - served with these fresh-out-of-the-oven pita beards. I've never seen them puffed up like that before and was quite excited :)

Houmous - the classic chickpea staple dish whenever I have Arab food. This version was alright - not the best, not the worst.

Moutabal or baba ghanoush - roasted, peeled and mashed aubergine blended with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and lemon juice. It was slightly lumpier than some I've had (not that I mind lumpy food, mind you .... I have a great fondness for lumpy mash potato:) and it had that wonderful smokiness. Razan proclaimed it 'OK' but this was definitely one of my favourites of the meal.

For the obligatory vegetable dish, we had tabouleh. I love tabouleh - a salad of finely chopped flat leaf parsley, tomatoes, lemon juice and olive oil. This really should have bulgar wheat in this too but I don't recall seeing any. This serving was a little too tart and didn't have enough depth of flavour to it - quite disappointing.

We also got a portion of sambousek - I think that is what these little triangular pastries are called, it certainly matched the description when I looked it up online :) Filled with minced lamb, spinach, pine nuts and spices, they were served hot off the deep fryer. Not at all that greasy either. I believe Razan gave it a 7 but I wasn't personally too impressed. It missed a certain 'oomph'.

For the main we shared a mixed shawarma platter with skewers of grilled cubed lamb, chicken and minced lamb. Served with pungent garlic mayonnaise and a side salad of parsley, grilled onion and tomato. This was rather good - the garlic mayo was deliciously pungent and I wish there was more meat. However, the little side parsley salad was rather wilted and wasn't fit to be served but out it came anyway - minus points for that.

Al-Amar really isn't too bad - the food's alright, the large balcony at the end of the restaurant is a great place to chill - think sofas and good views over Bukit Bintang but expect to pay 'Pavilion prices'. It was almost dead when we were there with only one other table occupied - very likely from the Middle East as they kept staring at Razan, trying to place this member of their kin :)