Mud Pie

Recipes are a very personal thing. There are probably thousands of different recipes out there for each commonly known dish and millions more of dishes that are improvised each day. But we tend to stick to one recipe for each dish that we cook - either because it is a family recipe, because it is simple or even because it was the first recipe for it that we found and it works fine, so why change it?! I am like that with many things. There are many Greek dishes where I will only cook them the way my Nona and Mum always have - no questions asked! I love them as they are and feel that another recipe just wouldn't be good enough.

Other dishes though are great to experiment with. I find this mostly with desserts. Different scone recipes provide a variety of fluffiness, richness or flatness for example! This mud pie recipe provided something different to what I had previously cooked or eaten in terms of 'mud pies'. It's not cooked in the oven and has marshmallows instead of sugar. Mmmm... interesting.

I came across this recipe when my mum told me she had eaten it at a friends of hers in Greece. When I asked her friend, she then told me she found it in a British food magazine (Good Food Magazine). So the recipe kind of did a bit of a circle around countries, but I got it in the end. That's the funny thing with recipes: good ones find their way to a larger crowd... It is easy, quick and good. Very rich and fairly sweet, it is a general crowd-pleaser - note that there is no BLW next to the recipe header! :)

for the base

200g digestive biscuits

75g butter

for the topping

200g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids

100ml strong coffee, cooled

600ml double cream

4 tbsp milk

200g marshmallows

glaze

180g milk chocolate

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup creme fraiche

Put the biscuits in a strong plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Gently melt the butter in a pan, add the crushed biscuits and mix together. Tip the mixture into a 25cm flan dish and press down well. Set aside to cool, then chill while you make the topping. Break the chocolate into chunks and place them in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Allow the chocolate to melt. Then stir in the coffee.

 

In a separate bowl, whip the cream to soft peaks, taking care not to over-whip. Put the milk in a pan and add the marshmallows. Stir continuously over a very low heat until they have melted into the milk, making a wonderful gooey mixture. Remove from the heat and stir in the melted chocolate, a tablespoon at a time, mixing well. Beat in the cream, using a balloon whisk to remove any lumps. Pour the mixture onto the biscuit base and leave for about 2 hours to set.

 

For the glaze: melt the milk chocolate and the sugar in a bain marie. When melted, add the cream and stir until smooth. Pour over the pie. 

Refrigerate the pie for at least 6-8 hours.

 

 

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Chips (BLW)

I am finding introducing missy to solids a very exciting time. I get to see her exploring new textures and flavours and I also get to eat healthier too. No added sugar, no salt (or at least not until I add some later on my plate...oups!). I bought some sweet potato the other day and was wondering what I could do with it, that would not involve steaming or boiling it for her. I thought chips sounded interesting - in the oven of course, as a healthier option.

She really did enjoy eating them and I have to say that so did I. They tasted almost like a cinnamon fritter or something. They could easily be served as a snack, side dish or even a desert. I didn't try it this time around, but I think that they would also work well with a honey and lemon syrup and some walnuts (obviously avoid giving babies honey until they have reached 12 months). That's me thinking out loud... :)

Serves 4 (as a side dish or snack) plus a baby

4 sweet potatoes
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbs oil (I used grape seed oil, as it is less flavoured than olive oil, but any oil will do)

Cut up the potatoes into centimetre thick chips. Toss them in a baking tray with the cinnamon and oil and put in a preheated oven at 170 (fan oven). Cook for 20-30 minutes, until cooked through and fairly crisp (they do not go super crispy, like potato chips). Enjoy warm or at room temperature and watch your little one devour them with gusto!

Salmon 'Keftedes' with Guacamole (BLW)

I generally tend to think about food a lot! I had lost this skill a little, while pregnant and definitely for the first month or so after having my daughter, but now its back with a vengeance! I love to plan my meals. In the morning when I wake up I think of my lunch (and breakfast too on the weekends!). During the day I start focusing more on dinner and then proceed to plan meals for a few weeks ahead! By night time I am dreaming of whole menus that could nicely fit around the meals I have already planned.

Now there is an extra person to plain meals for too. In fairness we are trying to have the same meals, but for the first few weeks I want to make her transition to solid food exciting, but easy... Not too many strong flavours and definitely have to be easy textures. It is fun to try and come up with ways I can introduce her to as many things as I can think about. This time it was fish and specifically salmon. I was thinking what the best way would be for her to be able to pick the fish up and feed herself. I thought 'keftedes' (meaning food 'balls' in Greek) would be a good way of trying fish along with some potato. The guacamole was just a little extra to use up the avocados I had, but I think it worked really well together.

Serves 2 (plus a mini person)
250g fillet of salmon (skinned and boned)
2 large potatoes (boiled or baked)
1 egg
1 tsp of finely chopped coriander
ground pepper
2 tbs of flour
2 tbs of olive oil

2 avocados
squeeze of lime

for the garlic Mayonnaise
two tbs of ready mayonnaise
1/4 finely chopped chili
1/2 finely chopped garlic
pepper

Mash the flesh of the cooked potatoes. In the meantime cook the salmon with a few springs of coriander (I steamed it in the Microwave for 3 minutes on full power). Flake the fish into the potato (make sure there are no bones) and add the egg. Mix together and add the chopped coriander and some ground pepper. Roll the mixture into small balls and lightly cover in flour. Fry on a medium heat in olive oil on all sides, till lightly golden and cooked through (around 7 minutes). For the guacamole, mash the two avocados and squeeze some lime into them. For the adults add the chili, garlic and pepper to the mayonnaise and serve with the keftedes and avocado.

Make sure that the keftedes are not too hot when you serve to baby. I cut hers in half before serving to make sure - though I think this made it harder for her to eat them, as she squished them in her very strong hands! Overall she seems to have enjoyed the flavours and I think almost half a keftes was actually swallowed!

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce (BLW)

The last few weeks have had some ups and downs. Looking back, the ups out-weighed the downs, but it didn't always seem so at the time. One of the ups has been the introduction of solid foods to our little daughter. We decided we would proceed with BLW (Baby Led Weaning), an idea that basically allows the baby to self-feed what the rest of the family is eating (with no salt). So no purees, no extra cooking, just some very messy fun!

Missy has now tried a few things, including: roast chicken (both Greek style at home and Jewish style at her great-grandma's), pear, banana, broccoli, bread, raspberry (very sour face!), porridge and of course this pasta dish. 

So, many of my recipes will now be suitable for adults, children and babies (over 6 months). I will be adding the initials BLW after every recipe that is suitable for babies, as well as the rest of the family. The idea is, that baby gets exposed to a wide variety of flavours and textures, the rest of the family can eat a little healthier (no or less salt) and you get to enjoy family meals at the table all together. In some cases the baby version might be a little simpler than the family one for the first few months, but you can add more interesting ingredients half way through or at the end of cooking the meal.

I hope this doesn't put off people with no children from using my recipes, I promise the only difference in preparation will be the salt content.

Serves 2 (plus a mini person)

250g of pasta
300g of fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
small bunch of basil
150g of good mozzarella
pepper
olive oil

Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy based pan. Add the chopped garlic and fry off gently for a minute or so. Add the fresh tomatoes (I like to skin them, before I chop them - leaving them in boiling water for a couple of minutes makes peeling them very easy) to the pan and allow to cook down on a gentle heat for 20-30 minutes. Once the sauce has bound, reserve some of the sauce and put aside for baby. In the meantime, boil some pasta. Add the torn basil and some pepper to the sauce. Add the pasta to the sauce (reserve a little of the pasta for baby and mix with the plain tomato sauce). Tear the mozzarella into the pasta and sauce and mix. Serve immediately while warm and the mozzarella has started to melt into the pasta.

Family version

Baby version on her tray

Roasted Red Peppers with Anchovies

I think I must have come across as fairly weird during University. I never spent any money on alcohol, despite going out just as much as everyone else (at least in my first year). I was the 'tap water' girl. Yes, I was a little weird. But I did it for two reasons: One, I am not that big a drinker anyway and two, I wanted to save money. I much preferred saving lots each week and going out for a nice meal every now and then.

Once I was at Oxford Brookes I met a few similarly minded people. We studied away through the never ending deadlines of Architectural Studies, survived our all-nighters and then... No, we wouldn't go out on the lash. We would gather at someones house and cook a nice big meal! I remember one of the meals included a crab souffle starter and a raspberry souffle dessert (which took ages to cook, due to our fantastic student oven). Another meal introduced me to a version of this recipe: roasted red peppers with anchovies. Thank you D, it was delicious and so simple!

Serves 4 as a starter

4 peppers, halved (preferably red)
8 anchovy fillets
8 small tomatoes, halved
oregano
black pepper
olive oil
goats cheese, feta or similar cheese (optional)

Preheat the oven to 170 (fan oven). In the meantime, put the halved peppers in an oven-proof dish. Place an anchovy fillet in each half and top with two tomato halves. Sprinkle with oregano and black pepper (no salt, as the anchovies are very salty). Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes, or until peppers are soft-ish. Take out of the oven and crumble a little cheese over the peppers. Return to the oven for another 5 minutes, then enjoy with some bread to mop up the salty juices.

The Melange - SE15

Chocolate is a big part of our lives. Always has been and I suspect it always will be! We all start with our favourite childhood chocolate and then slowly move on to more refined versions, as our palettes slowly learn to deal with the rich and bitter flavour of dark chocolate. For me the best mass produced, milk chocolate from my childhood was ION with almonds. I can still eat whole bars of it - it is seriously creamy, a rich milk chocolate with whole almonds.

By the age of 16 I started enjoying the flavour of dark chocolate more and more and by the time I was at University, I used to consume a whole bar of dark chocolate every night with my housemate. We found the Sainsbury's own 70% was pretty good and to our budgetary needs as students! Then there was that trip to Brussels with my husband a good 6 years ago. We decided to go to every chocolate shop we could find and get 4-5 chocolates from each. We then tasted them each evening and decided which shop was the best, so that we could return and get 500g worth of the stuff to bring back to the UK (excluding the kilo of Leonidas gianduja pralines...). Pierre Marcolini was the winner all three times we went to Brussels in the last few years. That was my first exposure to Earl Grey chocolate, amongst other great flavours, and it was fantastic!

In the UK my favourite chocolate shop is Artisan du Chocolat. They offer great products (salted caramels, pearls etc) and the quality is always great and consistent and the price is not ridiculous! Melt and William Curley are also great at times, but only as a very special treat - they can be a little on the pricey side.

Then there is The Melange. This chocolate shop does not offer the same variety as many of the other top chocolateries in London, but it does offer great quality chocolate with some very interesting flavour combinations. The service is very friendly and knowledgeable and the environment is vintage and very relaxed.

We tried most of the chocolate bars they have on offer in the shop. Every time I tried one I decided that that one was my favourite. The cocoa flavour is deep and the added ingredients come through discretely. This time we bought some truffles for home, as well as a slice of their chocolate cake.

The cake was as rich as any good chocolate cake should be. There was very little sweetness, but it was soft and light in texture, the richness only coming from the depth of chocolate flavour. The truffles were also good, though not as 'truffly' as expected. We tried a coffee truffle and a whisky truffle. Both had good flavour of both the chocolate and the flavouring, but the texture was a little too hard on the outside. Still, very enjoyable and for £6.50 for 12, not a bad price.

The Melange on Bellenden Road in Peckham is a very good option for those looking for something a little bit different and special for reasonable prices.

Warm Salmon Salad

Once again, this post has taken 2 whole days to actually get posted! Anyway, when I was cooking last night I was wondering how people decide what they want to eat/cook each night. I usually work on a 'using up ingredients' basis or on a 'cravings' basis. Both are fairly successful though the former does often involve a lot of negotiating in my mind as I decide what to make... I find that some ingredients lend themselves better to generating a whole menu than others. Fresh herbs, for example, are great to have around (but I am talking fresh! There are very few herbs that actually work well in their dried versions). They really can make a difference when coming up with and cooking a dish.

Basil, in my mind, is great for helping out pasta based dishes. Coriander goes great with most things involving chilli. Parsley, well parsley goes pretty much with anything! It is great with meat, or veg, or even fish. Mint is a herb utilised more for desert in the UK it seems, but in Greece it is often used in savoury dishes. Cheese pies and spinach pies with a bit of mint are lifted to another level.

My favourite of all herbs, though, is dill. I don't know why... I just find it so refreshing and, well, I can't quite describe it, but I love it! Admittedly it doesn't go with too many things, but what it does go with, it turns it into something special. My favourite salad is just thinly chopped cos lettuce with a dill vinaigrette. Delicious. In any case, I had some dill left from the Gigandes, so I decided to use it up with some salmon. Salmon REALLY goes with dill. I thought something light might be nice, so instead of salmon with a creamy dill sauce, I would go for a warm salmon salad with a dill and mustard vinaigrette. It is more of a starter size, but you can adjust the ingredients to suit a main.

Serves 2 (as a starter)

250g salmon fillet - boned and skinned
300g of fresh broad beans, podded and skinned (gives around 100g of actual beans)
300g of baby potatoes
big handful of dill, chopped
1 tsp of mustard
2 tbs of olive oil
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper

Preheat a fan oven at 160 degrees. Put the salmon fillet in some greaseproof paper, drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap the paper tightly and put in an oven-proof dish and bake for 10 minutes. In the meantime boil the potatoes and the broad beans in salted water (the broad beans should be fairly al dente and should only need around 2 minutes cooking if they are fresh). Mix the mustard, olive oil, balsamic and salt and pepper to make a vinaigrette - I often use an old jar and just shake all together to amalgamate. Once mixed add the chopped dill to the vinaigrette. The salmon should come out very slightly 'pink' in the middle. Flake the fish and mix with the potatoes, broad beans and the vinaigrette. I enjoyed it as a side to a delicious sausage roll that Di from Jacks made. (Pork and fish is another great combination, but I ll go into that another day). Enjoy! x

My Chilli Beef

Comfort food is a very important part of my life. I think everyone needs comfort food some times, whether its because of the weather, or a bad day at work, or just a need for a little lift and a soft 'snuggle' from warm, meltingly good food. I have to say that during my pregnancy I didn't have too big a need for comfort foods - in the first four months I felt too sick to eat and in the last two months I didn't have any space left for food!

For me the best comfort food involves a decent amount of carbs, should be warm and have some 'sloppyness' to it. Fish pie, chocolate fondant and chilli beef come to mind. The chilli beef provides a good amount of heat from the chilli, velvety-ness from the rice and the beans and substance from the beef. Obviously I highly recommend you get decent beef from the butcher - it really does make a difference!

I am not sure how 'original' this recipe is. In fact it is not really a strict recipe at all; it being aimed for days of need of comfort the recipe is always adjusted to my mood on the day. I like it with a kick, but not too spicy and I love to add a load of beans and red peppers for texture. The usual suspects involve chilli (obviously!), cumin, cinnamon, anchovies or Worcester sauce and Tabasco. I then play around with quantities. So please feel free to play around with this one according to your cravings.

Serves 4

500g of minced beef (you can use chopped braising steak as well)
500g passata
2 onions
2 red peppers
1 chilli chopped
1-3 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp Worcester sauce or 2 fillets of anchovy
1 tsp of cinnamon (optional)
1 bay leaf
2 cans of kidney beans, drained
a few drops of Tabasco (optional)
beef stock cube or fresh (optional)
salt
pepper
olive oil


Chop the onions and add to a pan to fry off. Add the chopped chilli and anchovies (if using Worcester sauce, add it when you add the other spices). Once softened, add the mince meat and allow to fry off (the secret is to have on a fairly high heat, make sure to separate the mince into small bits, keep stirring and allow to cook down till most of the liquid from the meat has evaporated). Add all the spices and the passata, turn the heat down and allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes. When you put the rice on, add the chopped peppers and the beans to the beef and allow to cook for around 20 - or as long as the rice takes to cook. Finally season with Tabasco, salt and pepper and serve with the boiled rice and some sour cream or Greek yoghurt.

Gigandes Bean Stew

If someone asks what you are having for dinner and you reply 'beans' they will usually feel very underwhelmed and maybe even a little sorry for you. Beans have taken on a bad reputation and I am not sure why! All children love baked beans on toast, right? So why do people go off them when they grow older? Maybe it is because they are a bit of a hassle to prepare (soak etc), or maybe they are too simple, or maybe it is because of their minor 'side-effects'! All I know is that I truly believe beans are a humble ingredient that lend themselves to some fantastic dishes including cassoulet, chilli beef and above all gigandes!

Gigandes is one of my favourite Greek dishes. I used to get so excited when Nona had prepared them for our Sunday lunch and most other things would get ignored for the day, as I would load my plate with gigandes and a healthy helping of feta. Of course you need to have plenty of bread available to mop up the lovely juices!

Gigandes is a specific type of bean, as well as the dish. They are a large white bean, similar to butter beans and can be found in some Greek shops and delis. I also found them in Selfridges once! They are traditionally eaten warm or at room temperature as a side dish or second main dish. As with all traditional recipes, there are a number of different variations out there, obviously I think this is the best one - it is the family recipe, after all!

Serves 4

500g of gigandes beans or butter beans (dried)
3 medium carrots, cut in chunks
2 medium onions halved
500g chopped tomatoes or passata
120ml of olive oil
1-2 tablespoons of fresh dill, chopped
salt
pepper


Soak the beans overnight in a pan, covering with 3 or 4 times their volume of water. Bring the beans to the boil in the soaking water and simmer for 10 minutes, then drain the beans. Add fresh hot water, cover by a couple of centimetres and bring back to the boil. Add the carrots, onions, olive oil, dill and the salt and pepper. Simmer gently for 1 hour, then add the tomatoes and continue to simmer for a further 1-2 hours, until the beans are tender. Add more liquid if necessary. Once the beans are soft, remove the carrots, onions and a few beans and blitz them. Return them to the dish to thicken the sauce. Finally, some recipes recommend you finish the dish off in the oven (180 fan oven) for 15 minutes, to get a bit of a 'crust' on top.

Don't forget the feta and the bread!

Serve warm or cold, with some bread and some feta.

The 30 minute window

As I am writing this, I am holding my breath that missy naps for her full 30 minutes. At the moment, anything less is expected, anything more is a miracle! Apparently this is fairly normal behaviour for a 5 month old, but it somehow doesn't make me feel any better! I love my daughter to bits and she is great in every way - except for sleeping! She used to be! Which is why I am finding it so difficult to deal with now... I think she is too eager to discover the world - the whole world in one day!

It took me 30 minutes to get her to sleep now (sometimes it takes an hour and a half!). And all that to get 30 minutes free time out of it! I thought babies could sleep anywhere, anytime! Oh well, I don't want to be one of those mothers that always complains, though it is hard to seem upbeat, when you have spent two hours in the early hours of the morning trying to convince the little one that it is still nighttime! OK, I will stop moaning now!

The main reason why I started writing this post - other than to share my pain with the world - is to explain why so many of the recipes I post take around 30 minutes to prepare and cook (though not to eat too!). That is often all I have when I put her to bed at night before she wakes again. So I need to have the food all ready to go and then be able to eat it in the next 30 minute stint! Genius!

Honestly, I do love cooking more intricate meals and I love trying new recipes, but at the moment I just don't seem to have time! It is also a slight problem when you are trying to cook quietly! A few months ago - I think it was for the Banana Bread Recipe - I tried to use the mixer quietly! It worked for the creaming of the butter, but not the rest of it! Silly, I know!

I do try and cook more exciting things on the weekends, but the weekends also end up being used to explore markets , restaurants, cafes and shops, so it all becomes very complicated! The reason why I seem so apologetic, is because I was hoping to be able to post something every couple of days, but that estimate was optimistic! I hope you can forgive me, if you are looking for frequent inspiration, but please feel free to look at past recipes! I will do my best to do more cooking, or at least take a picture of my curry take-away, when I can't be bothered to cook at all!

Have a great weekend, with plenty of food! x

Spaghetti Puttanesca

I have managed to accumulate a few recipes over the last few days - plenty of cooking and not enough blogging... Spaghetti Puttanesca was Sunday dinner. I do love this recipe - despite Nigella almost ruining it for me, by calling it 'Slut Spaghetti' on her latest show! I mean, some of her recipes are great, especially her New York cheesecake, but she can go a little over the top. 

In any case, Nigella aside, this is a great recipe to convert someone on to anchovies. I say this from experience: my husband didn't go anywhere near me if I ever had anchovies in the past - and yes it was not just an excuse to avoid me! - but this recipe completely got him on-board! The anchovies completely dissolve into the sauce and they just leave a delicious savoury and salty flavour. It is also - like most of the stuff I cook at the moment - an under 30 minute recipe!

Serves 2

250g spaghetti

3 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped

4-5 fillets of salted anchovies

250ml of tomato passata

3 tablespoons of olives, pitted (best if you buy good quality olives, that you pit yourself)

3 heaped teaspoons of capers

1 hand-full of chopped parsley

pepper

olive oil

Pour a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the anchovies and the garlic and let them cook down for a few minutes. The anchovies should start to dissolve (keep an eye on the heat, as they tend to explode out of the pan!). Once the anchovies have become more like a paste, add the passata and lower the heat. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes or so. Put the pasta to boil. In the meantime, chop the pitted olives and the capers and add them to the sauce. Grind some black pepper into the sauce (no salt is needed, because of the anchovies). Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and cook for a further minute or two. Finally add the parsley, stir and serve immediately. Buon Appetito!

Dinner at Gauthier

I have been trying to write this post for the last couple of days, but things do not always go to plan - just like Saturday evening did not quite go to plan. Missy decided to take ages to fall asleep, so she was still awake by the time we left. This made me feel a little stressed (no reflection on her granny, just my own controlling issues!). I tried to calm myself in the cab fairly successfully, until the driver decided to take us via Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly! On a Saturday night! Sat navs are great, but they do get in the way of people thinking logically some times! To add to it all, we had, once again, forgotten that it was Pride London and we were heading to a restaurant in Soho! We did the same for a past anniversary when we went to Arbutus in Soho, but we somehow managed to forget AGAIN! Long story short: we were late!

In any case, we arrived at the entrance of Gauthier amongst the very loud music and bright fashion and rang the doorbell. We were shown to our table, on the first floor of the townhouse it is housed in and sat by the window, under candlelight and rave music! It was quite surreal, but fun! I was still trying to relax from knowing my little one was still probably wide awake and from the London traffic. Not the best start to a meal out, I have to say.

Alexis Gauthier is known for his simple, but exciting dishes. His menus always read great and from our previous experience in Gauthier in October 2010 my expectations were sky high! We were brought our glasses of Champagne and our menus - though they were superfluous. We knew we were going to order the tasting menu. We had already seen it online and were very excited about it! I took the camera out, so that I wouldn't forget to take pictures. Unfortunately, by the last dessert I had lost concentration and so there is no picture of that. The pictures are not great, as I don't like to use flash in a restaurant, but you get the gist of it. Apologies!

The meal started with some canapes. Oregano and Parmesan crostini with caramelised onion and mustard chantilly, potato fondant with octopus and tomato jelly with salmon roe. The crostini were the perfect little snack - crunchy, full of savoury flavour and with a hint of sweetness from the chantilly and the onions. The potato fondant was good, but not too exciting. The textures were all too soft and no flavour really came through. The jelly with fish roe was also fine: an initial strong hit of fish, followed by the more refined flavour of the roe and the tomato.

Then arrived the butter - both salted and unsalted - and the bread. I remembered from the last time we had come, back in October, that there was a fantastic selection of bread. How exciting! I asked for the walnut and the bacon bread, while my husband had the french baguette and the olive bread. There was also cheese and garlic or tomato. I had to make sure I left space for the food though... All the bread I sampled was great, but the winners were the walnut and the french baguette - fluffy, crunchy and a perfect accompaniment for the salted butter. The olive and the bacon were also great, but more 'caky' in texture.

The first course was the Foie Gras Royale, with fondant broad beans and a cherry and port granite. I usually like Foie Gras, but I never love it. This was love! It was just amazing. There was a deep layer of perfectly smooth Foie Gras, covered with the perfect amount of broad beans - almost one per spoonful -, a parmesan foam and the cherry and port granite, which cut through the richness perfectly. It really was a perfect start to a meal!

Then followed the Langoustines and Light Spices with a red pepper Marmalade. As a nice surprise there was also a scallop on the plate. The langoustine was the best I have ever had - it was sweet, salty and soft. I would say that scallops are one of my favourite food and even though this one was delicious and cooked perfectly, I made sure my last mouthful was of the langoustine. The red pepper matched it really well and it all tasted very summery.

The 3rd course was the Summer Truffle Risotto. It was very good, but not as good as the Autumn Truffle Risotto we had had in October - probably a reflection of the fact that Autumn truffle often has more flavour, but also possibly because it was a little too al dente this time.

It was the turn of the fish course: Wild Seabass and Tiny Squid with Artichoke and Confit Tomatoes and a Black Ink and Lemon Dressing. The seabass came with the crispy skin served on the side. It looked delicious on the plate, but I have to say that it disappointed in flavour. The seabass was almost too strong for all the other flavours on the plate and it left the palette wanting something more.

We were both looking forward to the meat course of Crispy and Soft Piglet with Thin Leeks and Red Plums and a Piglet Jus. Unfortunately the crispy element of the dish wasn't quite crispy enough, the plum sauce was a little too tart and the pork was a little overpowering for my liking. I usually love simple, but this seemed a little too simple and the small faults came through.

After that I thought I wouldn't be able to eat another thing, but it was time for the cheese course. A selection of unpasteurised cheeses. We were given a camembert, a blue and a sheep's cheese covered in ash along with some oatcakes and a port jelly and quince marmalade. The cheeses were lovely, especially the camembert, but the star of the plate was the port jelly, which went fantastically with all the cheese.

Finally, dessert time! The first dessert was the Warm Soft Cherry and Dark Chocolate with a Cherry and Red Wine Jelly. The cherry elements were fantastic. Deep flavours of sweet and slightly sour cherry contrasting the dark and bitter chocolate. The chocolate came as a mini fondant and little chocolate ganache drops. My only complaint would be that the fondant was cooked through. I am not sure if it was meant that way or not, but judging from the size of it, it would be pretty hard to get it runny in the middle.

The final course was the White Peach Souffle with a Peach and Champagne sorbet. I really enjoyed this! It tasted of summer on a plate. The souffle was nice and light, with a peach compote hidden at the bottom of the dish, and the sorbet was fresh and delicious, with a good kick of alcohol.

By this stage it was past eleven o'clock and I was getting anxious to get back home, so we asked for the petit fours to go. They were very obliging and we got two beautiful little boxes with 4 different petit fours to eat at home: a jelly, a truffle, a marshmallow and coconut macaroon. All very nice, but sadly no piccies...

I have to say, that had I written this in October, I would have urged anyone to go to Gauthier immediately, but this time I wasn't as impressed. Maybe it was because I was already stressed before the meal started, maybe it was because it was a dinner and my stomach's capacity is impaired in the evening or maybe it was that it is harder to get 8 perfect courses as opposed to the 4 perfect courses we had in October. Would I go back? Probably. But not any time soon and it would have to be for lunch.

Gauthier, Soho, 21 Romilly Street

The Dogfather - North Cross Road Market SE22

Yesterday was a good food day! We had booked dinner at Gauthier for our anniversary (post will follow shortly!) and were extremely excited about it! We strategically had a fairly late breakfast of lovely pastries and coffee (hot chocolate for me), which we hoped would last us till our evening booking. We have very often, in the past, ended up eating lunch too close to the evening meal and not wanting to miss out, order a minimum of a three course meal and end up feeling too full to breathe by the end of the evening! My eyes have always been hungrier than my stomach, but I am making an effort to improve my stomach's capacity...

By lunchtime, yesterday, we were both feeling fairly hungry. There was no way we could make it through to the evening without starving - we needed a bite of something. So off we went for a walk - a good excuse to get another nap out of a baby that never volunteers to sleep. We are very lucky to be so close to North Cross Market and the cafes and curry houses of Lordship Lane. We thought that it was better to have a plan than walk around aimlessly, looking for inspiration and so we settled on hot dogs from the Dogfather on North Cross. We have tried them before and they were great, so this time we would share one, so as not to get tooooo full before our awaiting tasting menu (yes, we had decided on the tasting menu, even before setting foot in Gauthier!). 


So off we went to the Dogfather, Missy soundly asleep in the pram, we sat at the table and chairs Cooper has laid out by his stall and ordered a hot dog to share. It was quite hard to pick only one of the number of options he offers (as you can see in the menu in the photo), but thought we would go for a classic: double cheese and grilled onions. Jalapenos were also recommended as a little extra with a kick to go on top and it was a welcome suggestion. There is always a bit of a wait as he lovingly prepares each order with precision and care. Five minutes later the hot dog was put in front of us, only to disappear within a minute. OK two minutes. I love my husband, but when it comes to sharing delicious things, it becomes a bit of a competition! Darwin's evolutionary theory of survival of the fittest! I think it is safe to say we will be going back for more, and next time we will order one each - at least!

Similarly to paella or burgers, hot dogs are very often much better in principle than in reality (though we have now found two great places for burgers, but not one for paella as of yet). But this hot dog exceeded expectations; he uses beef hot dogs (to me, an essential part of it being a 'proper' hot dog), adds two different types of cheese (melted cheese and cheddar slices), adds freshly cooked onions and lets it all cook in the bun for a bit on the griddle. Finally a few sprinkles of jalapenos added a little heat and my generous squirt of mustard and ketchup just brought the whole thing to a harmonious symphony of flavours. Yum!  The other hot dogs he has on offer also look and sound great and I am greatly looking forward to trying each and every one of them. 

Cooper said that he is planning to expand a little more this year and get to a few more markets and areas during the week. I just hope he stays in East Dulwich on Saturdays!