Yummy breakfast - chessy egg cups!

So I got the idea for this from Annie's Eats, which I saw on a friends post on Facebook. I couldn't wait to make them, they looked so good and is my favorite combination - cheese and eggs! I particularly like that it makes cute little portions.

I made a slight change to make it vegetarian - instead of bacon I used sundried tomato.  I used the dried type, rather than the one in oil, as the oil would probably have made it too wet.

Cheesy egg cups

Serves 2

4 eggs

Shredded cheese

1 sundried tomato, finely chopped

2 slices of oval bread

1. Preheat the oven to 200

2. Grease a 4 hole muffin tin with butter.  

3. Cut each slice of the bread and place each half into each muffin hole of the tin.

4. Sprinkle a bit shredded cheese and sundried tomato in the center of each slice of bread.

5. Break one egg per muffin hole and carefully place on top of the bread and cheese. This is surprisingly tricky so be careful!

6. Bake until the eggs are cooked through - approx 10 mins.

7. Lift the egg cups out and serve - 2 per person

Mac and cheese - comfort food at it's best!

America is home of comfort food.  Everything about typical American food is comforting, filling and perfect for when you need a great big food hug.  Philly cheese steaks are dreamy with a side of curly fries.  Sausage gravy - the world's best hangover cure.  Jambalaya and gumbo warms the soul.  Clam chowder on a cold winter day is necessary.  But my absolute favorite has to be mac and cheese.

There are so many different variations of mac and cheese.  There are the packet ones - Kraft and Velveeta (I always have at least one pack of each at home, specially brought over from the US).   The side options from places like Boston Market (how I miss Boston Market!) and KFC.  Or the gourmet ones that you get at Thanksgiving, made with 4 or 5 different cheeses and often with added ingredients like bacon and/or onion to make it extra special (heart attack on a plate!)

My personal favorite is mac and cheese as a main course (when it is served as a side, I end up eating too much and feeling ill) made with Velveeta and filled with loads of other ingredients.  Every single English person I have ever introduced this to was initially a bit horrified by the bright yellow cheese (as you can see from the picture below!), but after tasting it, understood how very good it is.  It cures any hangover, warms a cold day and is easy and quick to make - comfort food at it's very best!

Ingredients
1 x pack Velveeta (any shape pasta / any cheese flavour)
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
3-4 frankfurters, chopped
Frozen chopped spinach
Mushrooms, chopped
Chillies, to taste, finely chopped (optional)

1.  Cook the pasta as instructed.  Set aside
2.  In a pan put a bit of oil and lightly fry the onions until they are translucent
3.  Add the frankfurters and mushrooms and fry for another 10 mins or so.  Add the chillies and spinach (if it is frozen, cook until it is fully cooked through)
4.  Add the cheese sauce and pasta and stir

That's it - serve warm in a big bowl and enjoy (and if there is any leftover, it is good cold as a snack!)

Brussels - La Tortue du Sablon

I apologise for my lack of recent posts.  I have been oh so busy what with summer, friends visiting, trips abroad, festivals and carnivals.  But now that we've had our last bank holiday, the weather is getting cooler and summer turns to autumn, I will have a lot more time to post regularly!

I thought for this one that I'd do a review of a restaurant in Brussels.  Before going, I had read that while there is not a whole lot to do in Brussels, the food is one of the best in Europe.  So when our hosts asked what type of food we wanted for lunch, the immediate answer was the typical Brussels meal - moules frites!

We decided on La Tortue du Sablon, which translates to the turtle of the Sablon - one of the most prestigious and attractive areas in Brussels.  It is a beautiful little restaurant specialising in seafood.  On arrival we were offered a glass of champagne with a hint of lavender - don't mind if I do!  For food there was a choice of menus - the set menu of the day, a couple of other set menus or the a la carte.  Two had the set menu, one had a specially made vegetarian set menu and I had the moules frites.

The set menu consisted of a starter of fois gras rolled in crushed hazel nuts and a main course of half a lobster served on a salad of greens and beans.  The vegetarian menu began with vegetable tempura, served with wasabi cream, followed by raclette covered with truffles.  The moules came in a white wine, garlic and cream sauce, with a side of french fries (of course!)

All of the food was well cooked and a real delight.  I have to say that with food like this, because I really like quite aromatic food, I can find it quite bland.  This meal though was well balanced and delivered on everything.  Overall though, the best part about the visit was the service.  When we explained that was had a vegetarian, the chef came out from the back to explain what he could make to ensure that the customer was happy and the waiter was extremely friendly and attentive, without it feeling like we were being constantly watched.  A very pleasant meal!

Rice and kimchi at Bibimbap

Bibimbap - what a name!! It was almost worth going there just for that. It was actually our second choice on this Thursday evening, but the wait for Polpetto was just too long and we were too hungry. This place had been recommended just that week by a foodie friend, so I was keen to try it anyway!

As the name suggests, the food is of Korean origin. Korean food seems to be getting more and more popular now adays. Suprising really as it is all quite spicy and very flavourful - possibly unappealing to those with a more delicate pallette.  But I guess it's just like Thai and Vietnamese food, which have both grown significantly in popularity over the years.

We began with a shared starter of vegetarian dumplings and kimchi, which were both totally delicious. We then followed that up with a bi bim bap.  Bi bim bap refers to a dish of rice with various toppings served in a hot, heavy stone bowl. There are quite a few vegetarian choices on the menu - from a selection of mushrooms, healthy vegetables, tofu or kimchi - a spicy pickled cabbage. Meat eaters can choose from chicken, spicy pork, seafood or beef - cooked or raw, which cooks in the hot bowl. You also have the option of having it exta meaty and/or with a fried or raw egg on top. I went for the spicy pork while my companion tried the tofu. Hot sauce and miso paste arrive on the side and are a great addition.

I was impressed, the meal was really good - filling and tasty without being overwhelming and the hot bowl is great as it keeps you food warm for the duration of the meal. Perfect for eating and chatting!  Overall this is a nice quick place for a decent and inexpensive meal - for two courses and a glass of wine, you can expect to pay just over £15 per head.

Afternoon tea at the Connaught

My mother has always wanted to go for tea.  The Ritz or something like that.  Although I'm not really into sweet foods, I was also interested so offered to take her for her birthday this year.  Ideally I wanted to go to the Langham or the Goring, but as expected both were fully booked For months.  So after a bit of research I settled on the Connaught - which was a great choice!  The hotel is conveniently located in Mayfair and while the tea room is relatively small, off the entrance of the hotel, the windows are large making the room very bright and airy.

The feast began with a choice of tea - I went for Earl Grey while my mother chose Jasmine - and a selection of sandwiches and pastries.  The pastries included chocolate and caramel mousse, which was was the best, a strawberry tart, was also good, and the raspberry and pistachio one was interesting - a good interesting - to name a few.  The savory sandwich selection included foie gras in brioche, which was divine, and a mini smoked salmon sandwich.

That was followed by a selection of scones and jam.  The selection of jams was huge - we went for the safe choice with the raspberry and exotic with pineapple.  The scones were lovely - we had requested only the plain ones and they were really light and airy.  Finally came the cake and by this time I was very full.  I had to have a mouthful of each - the berry cake was not to my taste, very perfumed and overly sweet.  The chocolate cake on the other hand had a lovely deep, dark, lingering chocolate taste.  I was done with sweet food by then though, so a bite was more than enough.

I was most impressed with the service.  Not only was it impeccable, but they also gave us a lovely surprise!  In the comment section when making the online reservation, I had noted that we were celebrating my mother's birthday.  Halfway through the tea they brought over her very own chocolate and caramel mousse pastry on a plate with happy birthday written across it in chocolate.  Happy birthday mother!

Wright Brothers take 2!

So for our second visit to Wright Brothers, we went for mine and my mother's birthday.  She had said she wanted seafood, so this was the obvious choice.  We were going to meet somewhere for a drink first, but being a Friday night and raining cats and dogs, we ended up all meeting in the bar of the restaurant.  The restaurant was very accomodating and offered to seat us whenever we wanted (even though it was an hour until us reservation).  We had a quick drink and headed down to enjoy our fish feast.

When I had previously come to the resaurant, we had opted to not have a fruit de mer plate.  Mistake.  So this time it was the first thing we ordered.  You have a number of options to choose from.  We went for a selection that included fin de clare oysters, langustines, prawns, brown shrimp, crab and mussles.  The selection was amazing.  The oysters were perfectly sized and unbelievbly fresh.  The prawns were amazing, I've never had so much taste in something so small. And the crab was a real winner with everyone.

We also ordered a selection cooked food.  Rather than each having a plate, we shared everything (so we could taste everything).  The mulles marines came in a lovely sauce, delicious with the bread.  The cod with chorizo and butter beans was perfectly cooked and delicious.  But the total winner of the evening?  Fried oysters!  Hot, creamy, smooth and tasty.  I could have eaten them all night!

So once again, Wright Brothers have impressed.  And to finish?  Well, a cheese plate of Neil's Yard cheeses of course!

One pot lentil chicken!

Apologies for the lack of posts.  It has been a busy few weeks, what with festivals, flu, work and Ibiza.  I'm now back, needing a bit of rest and relaxation.  And what a better way to do it with good food...

So during the week, I like to try and take food with me for lunch to work a few times a week.  It's mainly because deciding what to eat (and we have LOADS of choice around our new office) can be super time consuming, especially since I'm so picky.  I'm also trying to be healthy and I have a feeling the lovely wraps from Doughmasters or the massive portion of chicken chili fried rice from the Japanese Canteen is not exactly low in fat.

So I've come up with this lovely, filling and relatively healthy one pot chicken meal with lentils!  It's easy to cook, so great for making on a Sunday evening, and tastes even better after a day in the fridge.  You can add as many different types of vegetables to it, whatever you have in your fridge/freezer.  I like it both served hot or cold with a handful of baby spinach leaves.

One pot chicken

Serves 4-5

6 skinless and boneless chicken thighs
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp dried thyme
sprinkle of paprika
sprinkle of white pepper
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs olive oil
1 bay leaf
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
chillies (optional)
 150 ml red wine

6 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped

fresh or frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, spinach, broccoli, courgette, aubergine etc, chopped into rough cubes)

1 can chickpeas

3 handfuls of brown rice

3 handfuls of puy lentils

500 ml chicken stock

1.  Marinate the chicken thighs in the olive oil, soy sauce, spices, chillies, garlic and onion.  Leave in the fridge for at least an hour, but overnight if you have time.

2.  In a very hot pot, brown the chicken thighs then remove.

3.  Deglaze the pot with the red wine.  Add the remaining marinate plus the onions, garlic and sundried tomatoes.  Simmer for a few minutes

4.  Add the rice, lentils, chicken and stock to the pot and bring to a rolling boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 45 mins or until the lentils and rice are almost tender.  If the mixture becomes too dry, add a bit of water and stir.

5.  Add the chickpeas and any vegetables.  Cover and simmer for another 5 mins or until the vegetables are tender.

6.  Serve hot or cold with a handful of salad and chopped tomatoes and sprinkled with sliced fresh coriander.