Mexicano!

The chimichanga

Ok... So just how is it April already? Nearly May. I can't believe how fast time is going. Hence why the blog updates have been a bit slack. But I'm here now... That's the main thing right. And I'm here with a little recommendation in Monmouth (recently voted in the top four places to live. Moco's Mexican Restaurant in Church Street to be exact. I went there with three home pals and it was good. Ok, it's not the most stylish or extravagent Mexican but it's simple, well priced and huge portions. We ordered nachos for starters until I remembered I had given up crisps for Lent. Jemma proceeded to tell me they were the best Nachos she had ever had- thanks Jem. I had garlic mushrooms, which were simply garlic mushrooms cooked in garlic butter. They were tasty and the staff did them very quickly. I then had the beef chimichanga for main. I must confess I was a bit disappointed it was mince and not strips of beef but it was tasty nonetheless and served with guacamole and sour cream. There were two packed parcels. I only managed one and ate the other a few days later and it tasted great. The others had burritos and chilli. It was just under £20 a head got a starter, main and two bottles of house wine, which I think is reasonable. It's worth a visit.

The Pantry in Hazlemere

I HAD quite possibly one of the best sandwiches I have ever tried at The Pantry in Hazlemere. It has been opened for about a year and I have kept meaning to go, so when my friend, Rachel came to stay we headed up there.

It's got a really nice feel to it, with young, helpful staff and nice wooden tables and bright colours. There was a lovely display of cakes but I stuck to the sandwich selection.

I had the beef, caramelised onion, aoili sandwich served in focaccia bread. The beef was lovely- perfectly cooked, soft and tender- none of this processed rubbish. And the combination of the sweet caramelised onions and not over powering aoili worked wonderfully together. The bread was also fresh and well done. All for £5.95 and beautifully presented on a wooden board.

Rachel went for the smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel (£4.95), which was also excellently done.

The next day we went to the Cedar Coffee Shop in Marlow and again it was brilliant. I had the chicken, bacon and avocado brown baguette. It was presented so beautifully- so much care and attention had gone into the presentation. And to top it off it tasted great with fresh ingredients. The Chai Latte was also really good- sweeter than usual and better than the chains. This cost about £8, which was reasonable. Rach went for the home made soup, which was also lovely, and served with a home made baguette.

I would thoroughly recommend both.

Lovely puds!

I DO enjoy cooking a nice pudding or two. As I get older I get even more of a sweet tooth and I always hanker after something sweet after dinner. So when a family event comes along it is a great excuse to get cooking. In this case it was my mum's birthday.
I decided to cook a coconut meringue roulade and lemon curd cream and raspberries, a Victoria sponge and as there would be little kids I went for a chocolate and cola cake too.
It ended up being a strawberry and lemon roulade as the raspberries were sold out- but it was easy to make and for once my meringue worked. Think the trick is to do it very quickly.
The roulade is from Bake by Rachel Allen.

Tia with the three egg Victoria sponge

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
225g caster sugar
50g desiccated coconut
For the filling:
100 to 150ml of double cream, lightly whipped
150ml lemon or lime curd
250 to 300g fresh or frozen raspberries
To decorate:
Icing sugar, for dusting
Fresh raspberries
Fresh mint leaves

23 x 33cm Swiss roll tin

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, 350F, gas mark 4. Line the in with foil. Brush lightly with vegetable oil.
2. Place in the egg whites in a spotlessly clean bowl and whisk with an electric beater until soft peaks form.
3. Add the sugar in stages and whisk at full speed for about four to five minutes until stiff peaks form. Using a large metal spoon fold in the cocounut.
4. Smooth into the tin with a palette knife and bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until faintly browned and firm to the touch.
5. Allow the meringue to cool for a few minutes, then turn out onto a sheet of foil, deftly turning it upside down on the sheet and gently removing the foil base. Allow to cool completely.
6. For the filling stir the cream and curd together.Adjust to taste.
7. Spread it on the meringue evenly and leave the long edge nearest to you free of cream for 4cm. Cover the cream with fruit.
8. Holding the foil closest to you roll up the roulade away from you and leave it in the foil until ready to serve.
9. When ready unwrap and push it gently onto a plate.
10. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with strawberries and mint leaves, if you want.

The cherry and chocolate cake was from James Martin Desserts book. Interestingly the link below is slightly different to the book. The book had 50ml less of cola in the cake and 75ml less of milk. The topping also had 40g less of butter. I can really see that these added extras will improve the cake as it was a tad dry. The gooey sauce really finished it off.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolatecolacake_7614

A great evening supper: salmon and black bean tacos

THIS is a quick and easy weekday supper, which is also healthy. It's also a great way to use salmon and something slightly different. I love the salty goodness of tacos so this is a pefect combination for me. It's from the February edition of Olive magazine, which does a really varied and accessible selection of recipes.

Ingredients:

2 skinless fillets of salmon

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp of chipotle paste- I bought mine from Tesco

small 200g tin of black beans. Rinsed and drained. I bought these from Tesco- they are in the world food section.

A handful of chopped coriander leaves
6 chopped cherry tomatoes

1 lime, half juiced, half in wedges

4 taco shells.

Put the salmon in a heatproof dish. Mix the chipotle and 1tsp of cumin, season and rub all over the salmon. Grill for five minutes until cooked through. ( I cooked mine for a little longer).

Toss the beans with the coriander, cherry tomatoes, lime juiece and the rest of the cumin. Season, then spoon into the tacos with chunks of the salmon. Serve with wedges of lime to squeeze over.

Jamie's chicken and leek pie

WITH all this miserable weather we have been having I wanted some comfort food, so I turned to Jamie Oliver's book, Jamie's Dinners. It's got a great selection of recipes and I loved the Chicken Tikka recipe I made from it before.

The ingredients list is pretty simple. I definitely need a sharper knife for boning and skinning the chicken thighs, but I got there in the end. The recipes is pretty easy to follow.
Unfortunately I don't think I reduced the sauce enough and as a result there was too much in the dish and it boiled over slightly. I also burnt the top of the pie, so keep an eye on the time. It was easy to flake the top off though, and the result was a homely, tasty, nutritious pie. I also love the added extra of sausage meat balls.

Serves 4
Here's the recipe:
Olive oil
2 knobs of butter
1kg of chicken thighs, cut into pieces (boned and skinned)
2 medium leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced into 1cm pieces
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 sticks of celery, finely sliced
A small handful of thyme, finely sliced (I used dried here)
2 tablespoons of flour
1 wineglass of white wine
285ml milk
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
225g good quality pork sausages
1 X 500g pack of all butter puff pastry

1 egg

Preheat the oven to gas mark 7. Take a large casserole pot and add a lug of live oil and your butter. Add the chicken, leeks, celery, carrots and thyme and cook slowly on the hob for 15 minutes. Turn the heat right up and add the flour and keep stirring for a couple of minutes before adding the wine, a wineglass of water and the milk. Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper, then cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer very slowly on the hob for 30 to 40 minutes until the chicken is tender.

Stir it every so often so it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan. The sauce should be loose but quite thick. If it's a little too liquid, just continue to simmer it with the lid off until it thickens slightly. (At this point you could let it cool and keep it in the fridge for a couple of days if you want to- it can also be easten as stew).

Pour the chicken mixture into an appropriately sized pie dish. Squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins, roll it into little balls, brown them in a little oil and sprinkle over the stew. Roll out your pastry to about 0.5cm thikcness. Egg-wash the rim of the dish and drape over the pastry, using a knife to trim the edge of the dish. Egg-wash the top of the pastry to make it go golden while cooking, then pinch it to crimp round the edges (there's not need to do this, but I like to as my mum always does it and it makes it look pretty).

I use the back of a knife to lightly criss-cross the top- this allows the pastry to go crisp and flaky. Cook the pie in the centre of the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes, until golden on top.

Yummy American style burgers

I HAVE been big into burgers lately and think I need to lay off the beef. But I did enjoy a particularly tasty one at Ed’s Diner in Wandsworth. They are a chain and a number across the country for you to try.
It is as you would expect from the word, diner- very American with shiny metal services and red seats. The staff were super friendly and helpful and it was busy for a Saturday lunch time.
I had The Original burger, with lettuce, tomato, onion, dill pickle, mayo and mild American mustard with fries and coleslaw for a healthy £10.20. The burger was the perfect thickness- not too thin or too fat with a nice grilled taste. I loved all the bits with it too, which was delicious.
There are also cheese burgers, chicken burgers, hot dogs and veggie options.
It’s a great place to stop during shopping although it did make me feel a bit sleepy afterwards. No doubt about it though they are good burgers.

Great Thai Food in Hereford

FOR those of you who love Thai food I would highly recommend the Thai Gallery restaurant in Broad Street in Hereford. It’s always busy, the service is efficient and friendly and the food is fresh and tasty. It’s reasonable too.
I went with two pals on a busy Saturday night. We opted to share a starter platter meant for two, between three of us. It was a good amount actually.
There was delicious chicken satay- the peanut sauce was not too thick and had that lovely creamy taste. The Khoong Noong Sarong- king prawns wrapped in pastry deep fried and served with a plum sauce- were moreish bites which looked like spring rolls.
I preferred the Popia- Thai mini spring rolls with pork, vermicelli and veg. I loved the texture of the pork inside the crispy shell.
The See Klong Moo Yang- roasted spare ribs in a special Thai honey sauce.- were delicious with enough meat on the bone which was very tender.
My favourite was the Tod Mun Pla- Thai fish cakes with Thai herbs, red curry paste and sweet chilli sauce and cucumber relish. They were so flavoursome and didn’t taste too fishy- the emphasis was on the herbs and red curry paste.
For the mains I went for the Thai Green Curry, which was pretty spicy! The veg was fresh and the beef was tender. It was a great curry. We also had Red Thai and a fresh healthy stir fry of prawns in oyster sauce.
With a bottle of prosecco between us and prawn crackers, it was £25, including a tip, which I think it is really reasonable for the quality of the food. I would thoroughly recommend.