This was followed by a sweet cured salmon fillet, served just warm on a bed of English asparagus (cooked to perfection), green beans, rocket and a saffron and orange sauce with orange segments. It was perfect for the weather, with spring colours, good flavours, not too heavy and enjoying my nosh whilst watching both the chef and the waiter chatting away to the locals and catching up on the Brixvill gossip was very enjoyable. In fact, I pretty much ignored my paper and just sat back to enjoy everything going on around me. Which I suppose is the point of a relaxing lunch in your local market.
Label: belgium, London, restaurant, seafood
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much with this one. The recipe caught my eye because it had a short ingredient list, didn’t require any grocery shopping, and made a fairly small yield (I wasn’t in the mood to bake 6 dozen cookies). It’s simply ground almonds mixed into a chocolate meringue.
The original recipe calls for making very small cookies, then sandwiching them together with chocolate. I decided to make my cookies a little bigger, using a tablespoon of dough rather than a teaspoon, and adding another few minutes to the bake time.
I was definitely surprised when I tasted these – they were really, really good. The outsides were crispy, and the insides were moist and fudgy. Even though there’s not much fat in recipe, the cookies tasted very rich and decadent from the cocoa powder. In fact, I thought making cookie sandwiches would be overkill, so instead I just drizzled some melted chocolate over the top.
I will definitely be making these again, probably sooner rather than later.
If I have to sit through the election TV debate tonight, I want a good hunk of sweet cake to indulge in to keep my bulls**t detector levels alert and my mood levels chipper.
This recipe is filched from Mark Hix's version in the Independent, although I've made a few changes... It uses olive oil rather than butter, which is not only healthier, but adds a lightness and slight nuttiness that suits the lemon flavour really well. Plus I couldn't find any butter in the fridge...
My version used the following ingredients:
300g brown muscovado sugar
3 eggs
300g self-raising flour
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
120ml extra-virgin olive oil
100ml milk
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 5. Beat the sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy, which might not happen with the brown sugar, but as long as it's well amalgamated and smooth as a mixture, it's fine - use a food mixer if you prefer. Add the juice and zest of the orange and the lemon zest and then stir in the olive oil and milk, slowly, bit by bit. Gently fold in the flour and transfer to a lightly greased (you can use olive oil if you wish) round tin about 20-24 cms in diameter (you can use a square or a loaf tin of similar size). I used a Kugelhopf dish...
Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown, use a skewer to test if it's cooked all the way through.
I glazed my cake with a lemon glaze, using a random mix of icing sugar, lemon juice, milk and lemon zest. I made a thick paste with the icing sugar and lemon juice, then added a dash of milk and the zest at the end. Dust with icing sugar too if you're a sucker for icing like me.
This is a nifty little tomato compote that can be whipped up with minimal effort and packs a punch for any roast fish dish.
a box of small cherry tomatoes, pick the best you can it will make all the difference.
bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped roughly
two huge cloves of garlic, chopped
tablespoon of capers
half a tin of anchovy fillets in olive oil, chopped
the olive oil from the anchovy tin
two or three small dried red chillies, depending on your tastes
sea salt
dribble of balsamic vinegar
slice the tomatoes in two and put in an oven-proof dish. Coat in the olive oil, add extra oil if you feel it needs it. Add all the other ingredients and stir the whole thing up. Pop in a hot over, gas mark 5, for about 40 minutes until the whole concoction has roasted to a bubbling tomatoey paste. Serve with roast fish and lemon wedges. Yumbles!
Label: fish, Italian, mediterranean, sauce
