I had one day of holiday left, and decided to take it last Friday, since R had that whole of that week off. As a break from painting the radiators and pruning the enormous rose in our garden we decided to go out for brunch. I have wanted to eat at the Botanist for ages, since their menu looks really appetising, although I have heard mixed reports. At 10.30 am on a random Friday it was very quiet in there, with only a few coffee drinkers and ourselves. This meant we got great service, but it wasn’t too attentive, and so we still felt we could have a conversation without being interrupted all the time.
I went for the buckwheat crepe with bacon and eggs, which I was really looking forward to. Although breakfast dishes are OK with no toast or the like, they are definitely missing something, and so I liked having an alternative. What arrived was a beautifully thin crepe with two fried eggs and heaps of crispy bacon. The whole thing worked well together, with the egg yolks providing the necessary moisture and the bacon some much needed texture.
R went for the eggs benedict, as is his standard. He seemed please with it, and the eggs looked perfectly poached. I didn’t get to try it though, unfortunately. I had a fresh mint tea, which seemed bottomless, and R had coffee. We also shared a freshly squeezed orange juice, which was lovely.
All in all a very nice spot to spend an hour or so of a morning. It wasn’t the cheapest breakfast ever, but I think it was worth it as a treat. Now I want to go back and try their lunch menu!
Wednesday 28 October 2009
Monday 26 October 2009
Frozen Yoghurt
I needed a quick treat at lunchtime last week, after a fairly hellish morning in the office, but didn’t want to resort to the clichéd chocolate bar. I recently read about the rise of the frozen yogurt bar in London in Time Out, and decided to check out the closest one to my office. After a quick bit of research that turned out to be Yog, on Charlotte Street, so off I set.
There seems to be a theme with these frozen yogurt places, from my limited experience anyway. The only other one I know is Snog, in South Kensington, but I have only ever walked past. Both have single syllable names (remarkably similar ones too). They also have similar décor, predominantly white with flashes of bright colours. The menu is straightforward at Yog, small or large frozen yogurt in either natural or dark chocolate flavours, with a selection of toppings laid out in the counter.
I went for a plain dark chocolate. It was good, but both the yogurt and the chocolate are quite strong flavours, and I felt that they competed with each other more than complemented. It definitely fitted the bill as a light treat though (a regular chocolate one had 119 calories), and I think I will be returning.
The next day I was walking through Covent Garden at lunchtime and remembered about Yu-Foria, which is another frozen yogurt shop, downstairs in the market building. They also have a stall on Thursdays at the Covent Garden market. I though that it might be interesting to compare and contrast the two, so I popped in.
They had a similar offering to Yog, although there seemed to be more tempting unhealthy toppings, such as marshmallows and bits of fudge. They offer natural, chocolate and a special flavour, although no where did I see it advertised what the special actually was, which seems a bit strange. It was slightly more expensive here, although I suppose they can get away with it in the heart of tourist-land.
In the interests of comparing like with like I went for a plain chocolate. This version was much creamier than that at Yog, and the chocolate was much less strong. This meant that it ended up not tasting of much really. I like my chocolate really dark, so the Yog one was my preference.
To be honest I think I went down the wrong track with these frozen yogurts, and I should have gone for a plain yogurt with a topping. Perhaps my next post will be a taste test of those!
There seems to be a theme with these frozen yogurt places, from my limited experience anyway. The only other one I know is Snog, in South Kensington, but I have only ever walked past. Both have single syllable names (remarkably similar ones too). They also have similar décor, predominantly white with flashes of bright colours. The menu is straightforward at Yog, small or large frozen yogurt in either natural or dark chocolate flavours, with a selection of toppings laid out in the counter.
I went for a plain dark chocolate. It was good, but both the yogurt and the chocolate are quite strong flavours, and I felt that they competed with each other more than complemented. It definitely fitted the bill as a light treat though (a regular chocolate one had 119 calories), and I think I will be returning.
The next day I was walking through Covent Garden at lunchtime and remembered about Yu-Foria, which is another frozen yogurt shop, downstairs in the market building. They also have a stall on Thursdays at the Covent Garden market. I though that it might be interesting to compare and contrast the two, so I popped in.
They had a similar offering to Yog, although there seemed to be more tempting unhealthy toppings, such as marshmallows and bits of fudge. They offer natural, chocolate and a special flavour, although no where did I see it advertised what the special actually was, which seems a bit strange. It was slightly more expensive here, although I suppose they can get away with it in the heart of tourist-land.
In the interests of comparing like with like I went for a plain chocolate. This version was much creamier than that at Yog, and the chocolate was much less strong. This meant that it ended up not tasting of much really. I like my chocolate really dark, so the Yog one was my preference.
To be honest I think I went down the wrong track with these frozen yogurts, and I should have gone for a plain yogurt with a topping. Perhaps my next post will be a taste test of those!
Wednesday 21 October 2009
Bill Granger's Banana Butterscotch Pudding
Although this is Bill Granger’s recipe, I actually saw it for the first time on a Rachel Allen show, which was then immediately followed by Bill Granger making it on his own show! It went in the memory bank for a suitable occasion, but has waited a few months since it definitely seemed like a winter pudding. We went down to my parents for the weekend, and my mother had bananas to use up, so its time had come.
This is definitely comfort food, to be eaten on wet or chilly days with lots of cream. The surprising thing is how banana-ry it is, given that there is only one banana in it. It is also terrifying to make, as the pudding part is incredibly wet, and then you pour the syrup into it. It looks like there is absolutely no way that it will turn into something edible, and I was even turning alternates over in my mind in case we needed an emergency substitute. There was no need to worry though, as the 40 minutes in the oven turned it into a soft, light sponge, made gooey with the butterscotch sauce. There certainly wasn’t any left over, although the recipe says it serves four and we found it easily went round six.
This is definitely comfort food, to be eaten on wet or chilly days with lots of cream. The surprising thing is how banana-ry it is, given that there is only one banana in it. It is also terrifying to make, as the pudding part is incredibly wet, and then you pour the syrup into it. It looks like there is absolutely no way that it will turn into something edible, and I was even turning alternates over in my mind in case we needed an emergency substitute. There was no need to worry though, as the 40 minutes in the oven turned it into a soft, light sponge, made gooey with the butterscotch sauce. There certainly wasn’t any left over, although the recipe says it serves four and we found it easily went round six.
Tuesday 13 October 2009
Chocolate Sorbet
This week is National Chocolate Week, so it seemed to be the prefect time to post this recipe.
I can’t say firmly enough how much you have to make this sorbet, if you are at all a chocolate fan. It is chocolate in its purest form, unadulterated by cream or any other additional flavours. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be good with some orange in it, but first time round it needs to be made straight up.
I was really dubious about making chocolate sorbet. I mean, it sounds like a poor relation of chocolate ice cream. However, I had read a couple of people raving about it, and it does have a lot of chocolate in it, so I thought it couldn’t be too bad. It is also gluten and dairy-free, which is an added bonus. I don’t even have an ice-cream maker, and still believe it is more than worth the effort. I can't remember where I wrote the recipe down from, so apologies for not giving the credit.
Chocolate Sorbet
555 ml water
200g caster sugar
75g cocoa powder (yes really!)
Pinch salt
170g dark chocolate
½ tsp vanilla extract
Whisk 375 ml of water with the sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Bring to the boil, whisking frequently. Boil, while whisking, for 45 seconds.
Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted, then add the remaining water and vanilla. Leave to cool. Then either use an ice-cream machine according to the instructions, or put in a freezer-proof container and freeze. Every hour or so remove from the freezer and whisk, to ensure there are no crystals. This needs to be done three or four times.
It freezes very solid, so make sure you remove it from the freezer twenty minutes or so before you want to serve it. This was particularly good with orange shortbread biscuits.
I can’t say firmly enough how much you have to make this sorbet, if you are at all a chocolate fan. It is chocolate in its purest form, unadulterated by cream or any other additional flavours. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be good with some orange in it, but first time round it needs to be made straight up.
I was really dubious about making chocolate sorbet. I mean, it sounds like a poor relation of chocolate ice cream. However, I had read a couple of people raving about it, and it does have a lot of chocolate in it, so I thought it couldn’t be too bad. It is also gluten and dairy-free, which is an added bonus. I don’t even have an ice-cream maker, and still believe it is more than worth the effort. I can't remember where I wrote the recipe down from, so apologies for not giving the credit.
Chocolate Sorbet
555 ml water
200g caster sugar
75g cocoa powder (yes really!)
Pinch salt
170g dark chocolate
½ tsp vanilla extract
Whisk 375 ml of water with the sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Bring to the boil, whisking frequently. Boil, while whisking, for 45 seconds.
Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted, then add the remaining water and vanilla. Leave to cool. Then either use an ice-cream machine according to the instructions, or put in a freezer-proof container and freeze. Every hour or so remove from the freezer and whisk, to ensure there are no crystals. This needs to be done three or four times.
It freezes very solid, so make sure you remove it from the freezer twenty minutes or so before you want to serve it. This was particularly good with orange shortbread biscuits.
Thursday 8 October 2009
Stuffed Peppers
These were a bit of an experiment, as I had managed to buy a packet of peppers when there was already one hiding in the fridge, and so we had an overload. There was also some leftover bolognese, so instead of freezing it I decided to use it to stuff the peppers. It needed a bit of padding out, so some rice seemed to fit the bill.
Stuffed Peppers
1 pepper per person
Bolognese sauce (I had slightly less than two portions)
Cooked rice for two
Grated cheese (something strong like parmesan is good)
Cut the tops off the peppers and pull out the seeds and white bits. This is as easy to do with your hands as anything.
Mix the rice and bolognese together, and stuff into the peppers. My sauce was quite dry, so I added some extra water. Put into an ovenproof dish, top with the cheese and bake in the oven at 160C for about 25 minutes, until the cheese is melted and everything else is cooked through and hot. We had this with some steamed bok choi, but it doesn't necessarily need an additional vegetable.
It was a little bit bland, and the pepper overpowered everything else, so I think next time I would spice up the filling a bit, maybe with some chilli and cumin. Good comfort food on a miserable evening though.
Stuffed Peppers
1 pepper per person
Bolognese sauce (I had slightly less than two portions)
Cooked rice for two
Grated cheese (something strong like parmesan is good)
Cut the tops off the peppers and pull out the seeds and white bits. This is as easy to do with your hands as anything.
Mix the rice and bolognese together, and stuff into the peppers. My sauce was quite dry, so I added some extra water. Put into an ovenproof dish, top with the cheese and bake in the oven at 160C for about 25 minutes, until the cheese is melted and everything else is cooked through and hot. We had this with some steamed bok choi, but it doesn't necessarily need an additional vegetable.
It was a little bit bland, and the pepper overpowered everything else, so I think next time I would spice up the filling a bit, maybe with some chilli and cumin. Good comfort food on a miserable evening though.
Friday 2 October 2009
Drawing Room Tea Cake
Why is it that as soon as the dietician said that I couldn’t eat wheat all I wanted to do was bake stuff? And I have this real urge to learn to make bread properly. I even started looking up courses on the internet, until I realised it wasn’t really feasible! (For the record, one of the courses at the Lighthouse Bakery would be my choice).
The bread will have to wait and see if I can go back to eating wheat, as I don’t feel confident enough with regular bread-making to start experimenting, particularly as it must be difficult as all the gluten-free bread I have come across so far is not worth eating!
Cakes and cookies/biscuits are another matter however, particularly since I have discovered Doves gluten-free flour. I just use this in place of regular flour, adding a bit of extra baking powder if the recipe demands it, and some xantham gum. So far everything has worked out pretty well, and people can’t tell they are gluten-free if they don’t know.
One of the best things has been this cake. It has been on my must-cook list for about a million years, but I couldn’t find the required ‘vine fruit mix’, and since I didn’t know what it was I wasn’t sure what to replace it with. It turns out just to be a mix of raisins, although they are particularly good raisins. The recipe is from an old Waitrose recipe card, where it goes under the name of Lady Grey tea cake, and the vine fruits are from there, but any raisins or sultanas could be substituted. As cake goes this is pretty low fat too. It doesn’t have too much sugar, and there is no butter or oil in it at all.
The flavour of the tea really shone through, as did the lemon, and soaking the fruit made the whole cake really moist. R even said I could make this again – the highest praise!
The bread will have to wait and see if I can go back to eating wheat, as I don’t feel confident enough with regular bread-making to start experimenting, particularly as it must be difficult as all the gluten-free bread I have come across so far is not worth eating!
Cakes and cookies/biscuits are another matter however, particularly since I have discovered Doves gluten-free flour. I just use this in place of regular flour, adding a bit of extra baking powder if the recipe demands it, and some xantham gum. So far everything has worked out pretty well, and people can’t tell they are gluten-free if they don’t know.
One of the best things has been this cake. It has been on my must-cook list for about a million years, but I couldn’t find the required ‘vine fruit mix’, and since I didn’t know what it was I wasn’t sure what to replace it with. It turns out just to be a mix of raisins, although they are particularly good raisins. The recipe is from an old Waitrose recipe card, where it goes under the name of Lady Grey tea cake, and the vine fruits are from there, but any raisins or sultanas could be substituted. As cake goes this is pretty low fat too. It doesn’t have too much sugar, and there is no butter or oil in it at all.
The flavour of the tea really shone through, as did the lemon, and soaking the fruit made the whole cake really moist. R even said I could make this again – the highest praise!
Drawing Room Tea Cake
2 tea bags (I used Whittards drawing room tea, which has bergamot in it)
125g caster sugar
300g vine fruit mix (any combination of raisins or sultanas would do)
2 medium eggs
225 plain flour (Doves gluten-free)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp xantham gum (only if you are using gluten-free flour)
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Pour 300ml of boiling water over the tea bags, in a bowl. After about three minutes remove the tea bags and put the vine fruit mix in. Stir well, and then leave to soak for 4-12 hours (trying not to eat them all as you walk past).
Then just add all of the other ingredients to the fruit and water, stir well, and pour into a lined 1lb loaf tin. Bake at 180C for about an hour, or until a skewer comes out clean. I found it needed another 15 minutes or so.
Serve sliced, with tea (or eat standing up in the kitchen because you can't resist!). It made the house smell heavenly too.
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