From dim sum to sea bass to a lot of prawns

Panang

I had an amazing week last week of eating out and enjoying some really good grub. Although it did start with Pizza Hut it then went onto some good home cooking by my parents from a mixed grill to amazing Roast Pork with either better crackling and a good curry.

I had the week off with Tom and we then went to Chichester for two days.

Dim Sum

On the Tuesday night we went to St Pancras which has a row of restaurants to choose from. We went for the Lemongrass Thai Restaurant (http://www.lemongrasssussex.co.uk/thai/) which was packed, which we thought was a good sign.

I went for Kanom Jeep (Dim Sum) for starters (£5.25) which are steamed dumplings with water chesnuts, minced chicken and prawns. They were a light start to the meal and we really tasty. I then had Gaeng Panang, with beef (£7.95). I love this curry. It is a mild, coconuty curry but is full of flavour. Tom went for a Thai seabass dish, which also looked really good.

Prawny

The next day we went out for lunch in a cute cafe called Tudor Rose restaurant and tea rooms in Arundel. I had a prawn sandwich (my favourite kind). It's a nice cafe, which was again full, served on chintzy china and cute decor.
In the evening we went back to St Pancras and this time to Masala Gate (http://www.masalagate.co.uk/) which is an Indian restaurant. I went for Chicken and Lamb Shaslik with Garlic Naan. The place was full and the service was good. We really enjoyed it. Tom had Dohari, which is chicken Tikka cooked with minced meat, herbs and spices. I would definitely recommend this Indian if ever you are in Chichester.

The following day we were back in High Wycombe.

But on the Friday I went to The White Hart in Beaconsfield with Lara (http://www.vintageinn.co.uk/thewhitehartbeaconsfieldoldtown/). I had heard lots about this pub but I had never been. It was so busy and had a really friendly, welcoming atmosphere and nice decor.
There was an offer on for Fish Friday, which was two courses with a glass of wine for £15. It was really good food and nice wine.
I went for the prawn cocktail for starters which was served in a large glass. The prawns were fresh and tasty and a good classic. Lara went for mushroom focaccia, which looked good although she was worried about tinned mushrooms! I don't think they were though.

Sea bass main

For the main course I had whole sea bass, with peppers and tomatoes and herb crusted potatos. It was delicious. The sea bass was perfectly cooked and left me satisfied. Lara went for the Tuna burger, which looked a bit hefty, but still good.

Prawn cocktail

The next day Daiz and Matt came to visit and we went to Noodle Nation in High Wycombe (http://www.noodlenation.com/restaurants/high-wycombe). I love this place. It is cheap, quick and tasty. I went for the Kung Po chicken with egg fried rice, while Matt went for a bit of duck yellow bean and Daiz for Thai Green Curry.

The next day for lunch we tried to go to The Crown in Penn but it was fully booked and when the Royal Standard at Knotty Green failed we went to the Mayflower at Hazlemere. (http://www.themayflower-hazlemere.co.uk/) It was the Sunday roast menu (£7.95). D and I had chicken, which was really good as it was a good hunk of chicken perfectly cooked with crispy, tasty skin, served with parships, creamed leeks, roast potatoes and Yorkshires. Matt had a bit of food envy as he went for pork, but still all good. Although a few more vegetables would have been welcome.

This week I will be eating at home I think! 

Rosti on top of a pie- I prefer mash

BESIDES nearly grating my fingers away this is relatively easy to make. I am more of a Cottage Pie fan myself and this didn’t change my opinion too much. I followed the recipe to the T, although I did make a foolish mistake.

It says to cut the potato and swede into chunks. Make sure they are big chunks as you later have to grate each chunk. It was hard work for me as the swede was all too small!

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1897692/swede-and-potato-rstitopped-shepherds-pie

The rosti is quite unusual for the top of a pie. I think I prefer creamy mash but it makes a change and a change is as good as a rest as they say...

It also has quite a bit of your five a day in so good for hitting that target. I did manage to keep my finger nails in tact too.

Stodgy pasta dish to warm me up...

IT’s basically a lasagne. But it is a bit different and really good stodgy food to warm you up on a cold evening. This dish makes me very happy.

It’s another Good Food magazine recipe. My new housemate has a pile of the magazines and I am enjoying trying some of the recipes.

Here’s a link http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1363652/beef-cannelloni

Before it went in the oven

I more or less followed the recipe, except I halved the meat filling section. I meant to halve the topping but I forgot, but it seems to fine to make the whole of this. I probably used 450ml of milk and 100g of soft cheese. I also used mozzarella on the top instead of parmesan.

I also doubled up the cannelloni tubes so there are two layers and this seemed to work ok. I served it with salad. It’s really filling so a bit portion is not needed. As usual it is a bit tricky and time consuming stuffing the cannelloni tubes but it is worth it. Enjoy!  

Cheap mid week dinner....

THIS is a good recipe but not amazing. It is cheap and easy to make but I wouldn’t rush to make it again. It is another Good Food recipe:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1897691/chicken-and-chorizo-traybake

I used dried thyme instead of rosemary. I didn’t have as much chorizo, which I think you should have as I felt something was lacking. The chicken skin was really crispy though, which was really nice. It doesn’t taste quite so good when warmed up in the microwave though!

The potato was also not very well cooked- oops. So I would cut it quite thin. Otherwise a good mid week meal.

If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake....

NATIONAL Baking Week starts tomorrow  so what are you going to bake? Try this banana bread which I cooked this week from the BBC Good Food magazine. The recipe is by Great British Bake Off judge, Paul Hollywood, who apparently some people think is fit!

It’s really easy to cook and I had all the ingredients in my cupboard. I used marg instead of butter and I didn’t put walnuts in. I also chopped up some chocolate instead of using chocolate chips. Everything else was the same.

The chocolate adds a new twist to banana bread and makes it that little bit more naughty.

Get your pinnies on!

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1916658/banana-walnut-and-chocolate-chip-loaf

A night at the oldest freehouse in Britain!!

I had an amazing weekend of eating, throwing all my healthy eating from last week out of the window! It started with a late-night Chinese on Friday, and then on Saturday I went to meet Jenni for lunch. We met at the Elephant and Castle tube station, and walked down to Borough to Joe's Kitchen in Marshalsea Road. It was packed and has an amazing breakfast menu. I went for the poached egg on English muffins with bacon and hollandaise sauce, which was £9.25. And I had orange juice and lemonade (£2.95), which was really nice.
Jenni went for the poached eggs, bubble and squeak with bacon, with hollandaise sauce. (£7.75).
Then in the evening went to The Royal Standard of England in Knotty Green which is supposed to the oldest freehouse in England. It's an amazing pub and one I would definitely recommend. I went there with Tom and his family. I had the mussels for starters, which were ok but they weren't creamy enought for me, although there was lots of them! I then had fish pie, which was really good followed by Eton Mess. Overall a really good pub meal.
Then to top it all off Tom and I went to O'Neill's the next day and I had the All Day Irish Breakfast (£6.95). It was actually really nice! Better than I expected. The sausages were really tasty as was the white pudding, which I love.
I went to bed with a very full tummy on Sunday night. All good food.