Lamb shank- the food of love?

The lamb shank

FOR Valentine’s Day Tom took me to The Old Queen’s Head in Penn. I was really looking forward to this as although I had drunk there before (Tom and I went on our first date here!) I had never eaten there. It was busy but not too packed and I was relieved to see it wasn’t bursting at the seams with over amorous couples. I also like the fact that they didn’t have a set menu for Valentine’s, although they did have specials.

I didn’t fancy a starter so we went straight to the mains. I went for Slow-cooked lamb shoulder with roast garlic mash, purple sprouting broccoli and roasting juices (£15.50). I loved the way they presented it. They had shred the lamb off the bone and mixed it with carrot and put it in a cylinder shape. The meat was tender and so good and went really well with the garlicky, yet not overpowering mash, and the jus. Tom had Pan-roast sea bream fillet with dauphine potatoes, confit tomato, lemon butter sauce and saffron oil (£15.75). It was really well presented and Tom said the fish was really well cooked.

The desserts weren’t quite as great as the mains. I had Banoffee pot with Chantilly cream (£5.50), which had a strange flavour! The biscuit base wasn’t crunchy enough and then there was a puree of banana, topped with toffee and cream. It was nice but not great. Tom had the Millionaire shortbread with coffee ice cream (£6.75), which looked pretty standard to me with a chunk of shortbread- with a very hard chocolate topping. Tom wasn’t blown away by this.

Overall though it has a great atmosphere with friendly staff and the mains were both winners. The company was of course the best thing.

The Great British Sticky Toffee Pudding

Also for my mum’s birthday I made a Sticky Toffee Pudding from a Great British Puddings book I have. I love this recipe and it always goes down really well, although the profiteroles took the limelight a bit. It is quite a dense pudding with a gooey toffee sauce.

The recipe is as follows:

Sauce

225g dark muscovado sugar

100g butter

150ml double cream

Tablespoon of lemon juice

Pudding:

175g stoned dates, roughly chopped

75g butter, softened

100g caster sugar

Finely grated zest of one lemon

2 large eggs

175g self raising flour, sifted

Half a tsp bicarbonate soda

To make the sauce put all the ingredients in a saucepan and stir until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.

Soak the dates in boiling water. Then cream the butter and sugar together. Add the lemon zest and then add the eggs one at a time. Add the dates, once they have cooled, with the water. Then fold in the flour and bicarbonate of soda. Grease a two pint pudding basin and then pour half the sauce mixture into the bottom then add the pudding mixture on top. Put a piece of greaseproof paper across the top with a pleat in and then foil, with another pleat and tie string around the bowl to secure the paper and foil on. Put the pudding in a saucepan with water filled to half way up and simmer for three hours.

To serve tip out of the basin. Re-heat the sauce and put in a jug for people to help themselves. Serve with icecream or cream.

The task of profiteroles

FOR my mum’s birthday I attempted to make profiteroles as she loves cream! I found them pretty tricky to make and although they didn’t look great at the end, and I burnt the bottoms- they tasted good and went down well.


The recipe is by James Martin and you will find it here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolateprofiterole_86196

I followed it besides I didn’t put orange zest in as that is not in the cook book’s recipe. I also spread the chocolate on the top of each as I think this works better.

I would say 25-30 minutes is a bit too long to cook- keep a really good eye on them or they will burn. I cut the bottoms off. Also I didn’t use a piping bag, which would have helped a lot. Good luck.

Always love a bargain- it's back to Ask!

I went to Ask again last Thursday lunch time- this time in Hereford- and it delighted me again. It was the two courses for £10 o2 voucher again, which I just love. It’s such good value.


I went for the calamari for starters which was brilliant. It was the perfect texture and was lightly crisped with a delicious garlic sauce. Dad also went for this and my mum went for the prawns which I had last time, which looked just as good.

For main I decided not to go for pizza or pasta but had the Chicken Milanese, with chips and broccoli and a mushroom sauce. The chicken was coated in breadcrumbs and went well with the strong mushroom sauce. It wasn’t amazing- I think I will stick to pasta or pizza next time.

Dad went for the Carbonara, which he loved and said tasted so much better cooked fresh and mum went for the seafood ravioli, which again went down a treat.

Whilst this offer is still going on I think I will keep going back to Ask.

The Hairy Dieters Old Fashioned Chicken and Vegetable Stew

Another good one from the Hairy Dieters cook book. This is sure to warm you up on a cold evening and is really nutritious and tasty. You cut all the fat off the chicken legs so it is pretty good for you too, especially with all the veggies. You will need:

3 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp dried thyme
4 chicken leg quarters
2 tbsp sunflower oil
4 rashers of smoked back bacon, cut into 1cm wide strips
2 medium onions, chopped
2 celery sticks, thinly sliced
150g chestnut mushrooms, quartered
500ml bottle of dry cider
300ml chicken stock, made with 1 chicken stock cube
2 bay leaves
400g Chanteney or other small fat carrots, trimmed and peeled
2 slender leeks, trimmed and cut into 2cm slices
sea salt
ground pepper

Writing out the ingredients I realised I completely ignored most of it! I didn't us bacon and I used shallots instead of the onions. I also just used the stock cube, instead of making a stock! And I used less carrots. The rest is the same.

First of all take the skin off the chicken. Trim off any fat and cut the leg in half so you have eight chicken joints. Then put the flour and thyme in a freezer bag and shake the chicken in the bag. Fry in a non stick pan in the oil until brown and add to a stock pot. Prehat the oven to 180c/ Fan 160c and Gas Mark 4.
Put the bacon, onions and celery in the pan used for browning the chicken and fry for 4-5 minutes until lightly browned. Add the mushrooms- cook for 2 minutes and then tip everything into the pot with the chicken. Sprinkle in any remaining flour.
Then put half the cider in a frying pan and simmer. Put all the cider in the pot with the stock, then stir in the carrots and bay leaves and bring to a simmer on the hob. Then put in the oven, covered with a lid.
Cook for 50 minutes to one hour then add the leeks and cook for 30 minutes. I also added sweetcorn ten minutes from the end. I served with sugar snap peas. Super wholesome.

The best steak and great potatoes for chips

I bought a Schwartz peppercorn sauce to go with an amazing steak from my uncle’s butchers (http://www.hjedwards.co.uk/home.aspx) These steaks are such good quality and sooooo good. The sauce was really good for a packet. I also made home made chips, and for these I would recommend Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Vivaldi potatoes. Cut them in half and then into four and drizzle in olive oil with salt and pepper. Cook for 30 mins on a high heat and you are left with crispy, tasty chips.  I also bought the Carbonara Schwartz sauce and I wouldn’t recommend this- it is much better home made. But the Old Spot Pig bacon from Neil Powell’s is the most amazing bacon I have tasted.

The best thing to see on a dull Saturday- cakes!

FOR an amazing selection of cakes and all things nice then head to Graveney and Meadow in Tooting Broadway. Just a short walk from the tube station this cafe/ bar/ bakery oozes charm. Although slightly dingy- I think the low lighting is perhaps meant to create a relaxed atmosphere- it has a beautiful selection of cake from carrot to loads of different flavoured meringue to chocolate. I was spoilt for choice but went for the Red Velvet Cake. It was moist, chocolatey and really good although I would have liked a bit more topping.

Beforehand I had their breakfast which was well cooked with great ingredients. I also had a non-alcoholic Bloody Mary called a Bloody Shame (great name), which blew my socks off. A great place to go- go here if you are in Tooting instead of the coffee chains.