Harissa and za'atar stuffed peppers with grilled halloumi

Harissa is a spicy chilli, tomato, garlic and pepper paste from Tunisia; whilst za'atar is a blend of herbs and spices from the Middle East. So, this dish combines the North African with the Middle Eastern, particularly as it further encompasses both preserved lemon and pomegranite molasses.


Once again, I was waiting for the food shop to arrive, so I was heavily reliant on my store cupboard. I knew I had some sweet orange, red and yellow peppers ripe for stuffing. So it was decided, this combo of fragrant herbs and hot spices, perfected by the salty halloumi that I was awaiting in the shop, would form dinner. I'm a very lucky girl to have such a fantastically stocked larder.


What you will need
2 red or yellow peppers
120g couscous
1 heaped tea spoon harissa paste
1 tea spoon of za'atar spice mix
1/4 of a preserved lemon
1 tea spoon pomegranite molasses
Fresh chives
1 packet of halloumi cheese
1 table spoon toasted flaked almonds


Firstly put a kettle on to boil. Place the couscous, harissa and pomegranite molasses into a bowl, seasoning well with salt and cover with boiling water. Set aside for the couscous to fluff and rise.


Meanwhile, slice the peppers in half lengthways, drizzle with some oil and place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees to soften for 20 minutes.


Next, finely chop the skin of the preserved lemon and add to the couscous with the za'atar and fresh chives and stir together.


Stuff the softened peppers with the couscous and bake for another 10-15 Minutes.

Served topped with the toasted almonds, aside grilled halloumi cheese (slice and place under the grill for 3 minutes either side) and a tomato garnish.

Courgette and parmesan bakes

I had survived the weekend (the sunshine and pink champagne helped), but was still reeling from this awful virus, and today, still not feeling 100%, I worked from home. As ever, I am fully prepared with a freezer full of dahl portions and some of last week's bean enchilada left overs for work lunches. But, as we choose not to have a microwave and as I was at home, I decided to cook myself a so-simple delicious souffle-esq courgette bake. The microwavable lunches would have to wait until I was back in the office.


What you will need
2 courgettes (c400g)
1 (heaped) table spoon of plain flour
2 eggs
1/2 an onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 tea spoon bicarbonite of soda
1 table spoon chopped chives
2 table spoons parmesan cheese
Fresh lemon thyme


Firstly, grate the courgettes. This is a good arm exercise and only takes 2-3 minutes. Next, salt and leave the courgettes to drain in a colander or sieve for 30-60 minutes. Continue to squeeze out as much of the water from the vegetable as you can, perhaps using a tea towl to squeeze out.


Next, return the courgettes to a bowl and add the flour and eggs, as well as salt and pepper. Mix together, then add the crushed garlic and finely chopped onions, bicarbonate of soda, chives and parmesan cheeese. Stir together well, adding the lemon thyme leaves.


Place the oven on to pre-heat at 200 degrees. When ready to cook, grease four good sized ramekins well and pour in the courgette mix.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the outside has crisped up and browned and the inside has set, but is light and fluffy.

Turn out and serve with a green salad for a starter or along with crusty bread for a light lunch.

Cantina del Ponte, Thameside, London

We were at the launch of the Designs of the year 2014 exhibition at the Design Museum Friday night. Gipsy Spread's interior design credentials means we are members. I therefore decided to tie our viewing of the show with dinner at the would-be glorious Italian Cantina del Ponte Thameside. The restaurant has some fantastic views overlooking the Thames and as it so happened, I had booked us in on the night of classic Opera. A full evening of culture vulturing then it was for us.


Ever the thrifty foodies, we (he) went for the set dinner menu which had more than one vegetarian option for both starters and mains. The mains however were a little uninspring. I do enjoy a Puttanesca (Nigellas "sluts spaghetti"), but I will often make this at home as it's a simple dish. The other main was a risotto and not one that was going to tempt me on this occassion.


So, I was the one who went off piste on this occassion. I ordered the tomato and olive bruschetta to begin, knowing full well the two courses Gipsy Spread was going to go for, would definitely include dessert.


The bruschetta was fine. It was not the best I've had, but was a good simple version of this dish with an olive taponade on one crostini and fresh tomatoes on the other. A tad more rocket might not have gone amiss either, as you will see from the photo below.

I followed this simple classic starter, with (a starter portion) of the spinach and ricotta ravioli. My meal was actually not dissimilar to the choices I made on the fixed price dinner menu at Carluccios recently. So, whilst my meal was nice enough, unfortunately, for me, the Carluccios meal was tastier and better value.

Gipsy Spread had a chicken dish with roasted potatoes, which again, he described as 'fine' and 'uninspiring'.

I think the best course of the evening was the classic tiramisu, which I usually can't leave an Italian restaurant without sampling. The portion size was generous and the dessert, rich and creamy, with overtones of coffee and undertones of amaretto. I would visit again, but mostly just for the dessert.

The opera however, did inject an element of fun into the evening's proceedings. The singer sang several choruses of 'nesun dorma' and 'I feel pretty' over the course of our meal, engaging the out-of-towners into a bit of napkin waving with her 'Coyote Ugly' style of bar/chair entertainment.

Overall, we had a good evening, in a lovely location, with some entertainment, but we weren't particularly taken with the food on this occasion.

Tomato and mozzarella stuffed parmesan crepes

I awoke feeling horrendous this morning. A flu virus has well and truly taken hold of me. I was off work and didn't fancy venturing, even to the corner shop to pick anything more for dinner. This was when I started rummaging around in my fridge and found the eggs with a best before 6th February label. Oh dear, I'd have to give these a good whiff, but with my olfactory senses partially not working, who knew what was going to happen. Luckily for me (I think), they are still good. There's something to be said for buying good quality organic eggs. So, with everything else I had at my disposal at home, which wasn't much, these stuffed crepes were born.

What you will need

For the crepes
110g plain flour
2 eggs
200ml milk
75ml water
20g grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tea spoon dried oregano
1/2 tea spoon mustard powder

For the filling
1 ball of mozarella
1 shallot
2 large tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tea spoon chilli flakes
1 table spoon toasted pine nuts
Fresh basil
1 table spoon olive oil


Firstly make the batter mix for the crepes. Place the flour, parmesan, mustard and herbs into a bowl. Make a well in the middle for the eggs and start bringing together with the flour mix by slowly adding the combined milk and water. Season with plenty of salt and pepper and leave the batter to stand for at least 20 minutes before cooking.

Meanwhile, make the filling for the crepes by chopping the tomatoes, the shallot, garlic and basil. Combine and add the olive oil, along with the salt and chilli flakes.


Chop up the mozarella, ready for stuffing inside the pancakes with the tomato salad.


When ready to cook, fry the crepe batter in some oil until cooked(about 60-90 seconds each side). The mix should make six good sized crepes.

Take each pancake and add a sixth of the mozzarella and tomato salad to one half and some of the toasted pine nuts. Fold the pancake and then place back in the frying pan to slightly warm through and melt the mozzarella. You can also roll all six up and bake in the oven for 10 minutes if you want to serve all at one.

Serve on a bed of rocket with a balsamic drizzle.

Of course, these pancakes could be filled with anything and the mozzarella and tomatoes can easily be replaced with spinach and feta for example.

L'Autre Pied, Marylebone

It was another Saturday, so another Michelin starred lunch was on the menu. This time it was going to be a French inspired European tasting menu which also promised vegetarian alternatives. Where did we embark this time you might wonder? Well, it was L’Autre Pied (the other foot?) for the seven (yes, count them – seven) course tasting menu.

We arrived in eager anticipation of a decadent display of delectation. We were not disappointed. The restaurant is small glass fronted venue with luxurious bespoke internal furnishings. We were seated very swiftly at our table and offered the wine list and told about the tasting menu we had booked in for; the menu on the website being a sample menu only. I had my own vegetarian tasting menu and Gipsy Spread had the meat version.

We were brought warm fresh bread, still brimming with yeasty goodness. I greedily devoured my beautiful black olive and parmesan roll before the show even began. This was alongside the sweet aroma-ed, dry and crisp fino sherry aperatif that Gipsy Spread had ordered for us.

The amouse bouche was billed as a surprise and we waited eagerly for the delivery of all the dishes for us to devour. We were not disappointed on the arrival of said amouse bouche which was a cucumber foam with black onion seeds and cucumber oil. It was delightfully light and refreshing and was artfully creative.

The next dish was the crisp radish and quinoa salad with herby jellied mousse, refreshing cucumber and celery. Again, this was dressed stunningly, as were all the dishes to follow.

It was after this dish that Gipsy Spread and I parted culinary ways. I had the baked beetroot with horseradish milk, balsamic, hazelnuts and herbs. Gipsy Spread had the mackeral with apple topioca, hazelnuts and miso. We both thoroughly delighted in the presentation of the dishes, the elegant flourishes and the robust flavours.

I then moved onto the celeriac linguine with black garlic, onion and herbs, whilst Gipsy Spread had the cod with purple sprouting broccoli, squid ink and pine nuts. I was astounded as to how they were able to create perfectly twistable linguine from a round celeriac - magic! The flavours were also rich and creamy and a wonder to behold.

Could the last course be followed with any better? Well, yes it could. It was the ras el hanout aubergine for me with spinach and onions which was  meaty and spicy,  whilst Gipsy spread had the perfectly cooked pork, with undeniably crispy crackling.

It was then time for the other surprise of the menu, which was the pre-dessert. Yes, we had two desserts! This was the punch-packing apple mousse and sorbet which helped cleanse our palates. In fact the sorbet was so creamy, it could have been mistaken for ice cream.

We followed the pre-dessert with the dessert, which was the coconut panna cota with toasted marshmallows, banana and passion fruit sorbet. This was another fabulous course bringing together a cocophany of textures and flavours to end the meal with.

There was a tasting menu wine pairing selection. Sadly on this occasion we did not opt for the five matched glasses of wine, but a carafe each of the white (for him) and the red (for me) which we planned to take our time savouring.


Gipsy Spread enthused that this was undoubtedly the best meal he has eaten in a long time. Almost sacrilegiously, he stated it was better than Benares, however, we only had the lunch menu there and not the tasting menu, so I don't think it is an appropriate comparison.


Regardless, the whole experience was truly joyous. The food was an extravaganza and the service impeccible. At £62 a head, this is also undeniably one of the best value Michellin starred tasting menus. It definitely comes highly recommended from me.

Tomato and camembert tart

Pastry is an excellent freezer staple for knocking up a quick and easy tart for dinner. I pulled out the short crust pastry for Friday's dinner as I also had a round of camembert and I resolved to pick up some fresh and juicy tomatoes from Borough market. It also gave me a reason to pull out the gruyere that has also been languishing in the freezer since France last year (as if we can't get it here?). Perhaps I'll then treat us to a fondue this week?


What you will need
I packet of ready rolled shortcrust pastry
Dijon mustard
2 large plum tomatoes
200g camembert
50g gruyere cheese
Lemon thyme


Firstly line a tart dish with the short crust pastry (there is no need to blind bake). Next, using a table spoon, thinly spread the mustard over the base of the pastry. Grate the gruyere and sprinkle over the mustard.


Slice the tomatoes and camembert and layer into the tart case in overlapping layers.

Season well with salt and pepper, sprinkling over the fresh lemon thyme.


Bake in the oven at 180-200 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Serve with a simple green salad in a balsamic dressing.

The Real Greek

The team and I are working our way around the local eateries of Borough and the Southbank. It was the turn of The Real Greek this month for their individual three tiered stand of delicious mezze. We arrived, hoping very much not to have a repeat of the fiasco from the Albion, where the junior chef had brought up the fish that was being salted for the following week, which was then battered and fried (twice) and sent back (twice!) by colleagues.


It was a Wednesday and I had booked a table, however, the restaurantis so large that we could have quite easily arrived and secured a table for six, quite a feat along the Southbank. The lunch menu at £8.95 seemed like fantastic value and everyone around the table opted for either the three part mezze or the individual kebab skewers with a variety of mezze sides.

 

We started with some olives to share which were marinated in chilli and brought a salty sourness to our palates. I began with the hummus and htipi which is a feta cheese, pepper and chilli dish. These I had with the flatbread rather than the crudites. They were both robust in flavour and fresh and tangy to begin my meal.

I was then torn between the tiropitakia which is a cheesy pastry dish and the falafel, but the falafel won over as it also came with the crisp, fresh and tangy tzatziki. The third part of my meal, whilst tempted by the chips, was the buttery herby new potatoes. The dishes were cooked perfectly and my falafel was full to the brim with herbs and spices to such a degree that the filling was green. They were crisp on the outside and fluffy and nutty on the inside.

I also took a gratuitous photo of one of the meat skewers and will perhaps go for the halloumi skewer next time, as I am sure to return for this great value lunch offer.

Cramond Falls Cafe, Edinburgh

So it was that feeling on Sunday morning. The one you get when it’s the last day of the holiday and you are waiting to board the train, plane or automobile to take you back to whence you came from. Of course, this sense is usually compounded by some haziness and a feeling that I can only describe as full of ‘whys’ (why did I mix my drinks?; why did I have whiskey?; why did I have that one last glass of wine?) from the celebrations/commiserations of the last eve of your jaunt. So, it was with this sentiment we all awoke in need of something, anything to help bolster the ensuing repatriation. This came in the form off eggs, salmon, bacon and breads (creatively described as "artisinal" by MacK the host husband), which all the girls except I partook in.

 

It was then whist we were out taking in the breezy, blustery, beach at Cramond Island that we stopped for some light refreshment for ‘the girls’ and some (not so) light lunch for me. We found our way to a bijous little glass fronted café which promised a real log fire. I was freezing the whole time I was in Edinburgh, but clearly the locals thought they were having a warm day as there was no fire; however the smell of the logs was still inviting and comforting. The Cafe consisted of a handful of indoor tables and some outdoors, which were amazingly, occupied!? The Scots clearly have a strong constitution.

 

My friends opted for teas, coffees and hot chocolates, some with brownies and scones (others chose to take these away) and I had the beautifully sweet, tangy and rich tomato and basil soup with a simple cheese and onion toasties. A soup and a sarnie is a classic British winter lunch and Cramond Falls Cafe delivered a strong combo contender for the crown of meals of this ilk

 

 

 

When relaying to my friends that the soup tasted familiar (it did, similar to a good one I have had elsewhere), my voice clearly carried as the waitress promptly piped up that it was home made on the premises. Excellent, as it should be! It was just what I needed after feeling the cold all morning.

This little tea shop is a wonderful hidden gem and sold various local produce of jams, jellies and sauces to take away as a treat. I was however fully satiated and left with a warm glow in my belly and the cold wind-induced headache calmed. If you are lucky enough to find yourself in this picturesque part of town this eclectic little café is very much worth a visit.

 

 

Viva Mexico, Edinburgh

So we began day two of the girls’ weekend in Edinburgh feeling surprisingly fresh (this was not going to be our experience the next morning) with a walk around the Royal Mile and the Grass Market, taking in the sites (Edinburgh castle), the smells (smoked oysters at the market) and the scenes (the sea from Arthurs Seat). After all this harry, we clearly needed some sustenance.

Being such a large group, with a husband and two children also in attendance we were sadly not able to go to the first choice lunch venue of Laila’s (which looked fab by the way) – mezze and small plates being a favourite of mine. We therefore ended up by default at Viva Mexico which stated on the chalkboard outside that large groups were welcome.

When entering the locale we were assaulted by the vibrant terracotta tints of the décor. We were seated downstairs where the fabulously festive Mexican bunting framed the room. The fixed price lunch menu seems to rule here as they had on offer a starter and a main for a not to be sniffed at £8.50. This included the soppa, senoras or nachos as a starter, followed by burritos, enchiladas, chimichangas or tiquitos with a choice of fillings (in fact two whole choices for vegetarians).

My choice of mains was the burrito (y’know because it was baked not fried) and as I was having a starter, I decided on the vegetable burrito instead of the more dense chickpea and potato. As there were no refried beans in my burrito, it had to be the sonora for my starter; a bowl of refried beans with crispy fried dippers. I have to admit, that whilst this was nice enough, I really do prefer my own refried beans which pack much more of a punch. This might just be my palate, but they needed more cumin, paprika, a bit of ground clove and more chilli heat. I felt similarly about the main course.

My friends opted for a range of the mains, with one going off piste by ordering from the a la carte menu (different friend) by way of the fajitas.

Unfortunately I did not take photos of everyone else’s lunch as I did not want to thrust my friends over the edge into ‘snippy’ by keeping them from their meals (and face the onslaught of questions about my picture taking!). We had all worked up quite an appetite. Regrettably, the Cookie Monster’s off piste choice was delivered last as it had been forgotten from the order completely, so she was ravenous by the time it arrived. The restaurant was, however family friendly as it also had a fantastic two course childrens menu at £5 and was able to accommodate Lady Ashton’s dislike of cheese by eliminating it from her plate.

All in all, it was a fun environment and I’m sure lively evenings do pursue, with the sangria flowing. The food though, for me was good, average really, however, at that price for lunch you really can’t argue with it. The service was friendly and efficient, but, I felt that some accommodation should have been made of the bill due to the fact they had completely forgotten one of the orders.