Happy 2012! I am still alive!

Apologies, apologies, apologies! I have been awfull with blogging this month, I know! I was in Greece for the first week of January, then moved house two days later - nightmare. It all went smooth, until BT got involved and it took them more than a week to connect our phone line. That meant that along with the internet provider it took a total of 2 weeks to get connected. What BT needed to do was just leave the existing number of the property and transfer it over to our names. What they did was transfer our old house number to the new one, followed by disconnecting both numbers, followed by taking 3 more days to reconnect the original number. Rant over and I now accept 50% of the blame for being so bad in 2012.

On a slightly cheerier note, I am determined to be better and put up new recipes, reviews and ideas for happy food times! Another happy note is that I now have a ONE year old daughter! Time does fly and even though 2011 has been a difficult year, it has also been a great one to get to know my little one!

I will no longer be adding the BLW (Baby Lead Weaning) initials at the end of recipes. I am now basically doing all home cooking with no or minimal salt, so that my daughter can eat everything we eat too. Most of the recipes are still 'big family' friendly though, so not to worry!

I hope 2012 has started well for everyone. I look forward to giving you some food for thought and food for your belly too!

Hungry Mama x

Candied Orange Slices in Chocolate

Happy Christmas everyone! I hope you had a lovely time with your family, with plenty of delicious food and quality time! Our Christmas was definitely different this year. It was our first Christmas with our daughter! This year we decided that, for various reasons, we wouldn't really do presents for each other - for the little one only, of course! We decided we would MAKE presents! This way it is more personal and, yes, much cheaper! So what is fairly Christmassy and yet delicious and easy to make? Chocolate? Flavoured, maybe? With oranges? hmmm. How about some candied oranges dipped in chocolate? Genius!

Makes between 70-90 (depending on thickness of slices)

5 oranges (good quality)
2 cups of water
31/2 cups of granulated sugar (we used demerara and it worked fine too)
150g of good quality dark chocolate (not too bitter, as you need a bit of sweetness to counteract the bitter orange)

Cut the oranges in half (we found cutting across the navel worked better). Then take each half and place it on its flat side down. Cut slices lengthwise - along the direction of the orange segments (use a very sharp knife so you don't squeeze all the juice out). The thickness of the slices should be between 2-4 mm.Discard the ends that don't have any orange in them.Continue until all oranges are sliced.

Add the water and the sugar to a pan and bring to the boil, making sure you stir to dilute the sugar. Add the orange slices and lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Leave them to simmer for an hour, stirring carefully every now and then, to make sure all slices are in the syrup.

Remove the slices after an hour and lay on greaseproof paper, making sure they are separated and don't stick to each other. You can use the syrup for another dish if you like, or discard. Leave the oranges slices to dry out for 24hours, or place them in the oven on a very low temperature (30 degrees) for a few hours to help them dry out faster.

Once dried (they are still a little sticky and not hard, but there is no liquid running off them), melt the chocolate in a bowl over some simmering water. Dip each orange slice half way in the chocolate and lay on another piece of greaseproof paper to harden - this takes about 2-3 hours in a cool kitchen. Now they are ready to eat or package for your loved ones. Keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Chickpea Soup with Chorizo

It has been a busy few weeks again. We are moving house soon and organising packing, moving and everything becomes quite hard with a baby. In fact, everything becomes harder with a baby. But I assume it gets easier again, eventually. In some ways at least! I must say, though, however much people 'warn' you before you have a child about how different your life will be, I don't think you can really comprehend it all until it actually happens!

Something that has been very affected by having a child is cooking. I no longer have hours available to cook. So all my recipes at the moment seem to be fairly quick and easy things. Still, I think there is a demand for quick and easy recipes (and cheap in some occasions). So chickpeas it is, again!

I do like them as an ingredient, they are filling, flavoursome and go with a load of different things. And they are cheap, especially in this economic climate and all!

Serves 2 plus a little extra

2 tins of chickpeas
1 onion, chopped
2 tomatoes (skinned - put in boiling water for 30seconds and peel)
300-500ml of water or vegetable stock
handfull of chopped parsley
100g of chorizo, chopped
Salt and pepper

Fry off the chopped onion. Once softened, add the chickpeas and the chopped tomatoes. Add 300ml of water or vegetable stock. Cover and simmer over a low heat for 15-20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once softened, blitz it to a soup (add more liquid if you want it less thick). In the meantime fry off the chorizo pieces. Serve in bowls and top with the chopped parsley and the the fried chorizo. Drizzle with the chorizo oil.

Part-time Jobs for Mums...Please!

I am sat here, with my bowl of yoghurt and blueberries (I got jealous of Missy's breakfast), feeling a little disappointed and angry. Time for a mini rant, I think... I am only now having my breakfast, despite the fact that I have been up since 7.30, because I turned my computer on pretty much the moment Missy left for the childminder, trying to find a job.

Looking for jobs, is a job in its self. It is stressful, time consuming and very frustrating. Looking for a part-time job, as a new mum is pretty much impossible; I should know, I have been doing it for almost two months now. Well, it seems to be impossible in my area of work; Architecture and Urban Design. Please let me know if I am wrong and I will happily accept it (if you do so, please tell me the company you are thinking of, so that I can apply!). And before you think or say it, yes I am looking in other areas of work as well. Admin, Marketing, Business Development etc. There seem to be no part time jobs for professionals!

The only luck I have had, has been through applying for full time positions. On the few interviews I have managed to get, the moment my '4 day a week' issue crops up I am out of the run again. I attended an interesting group interview last week. There were 25 of us in the run for 2 marketing positions. After the process, 7 of us were shortlisted for the next stage of interviews. I was extremely proud to be one of those 7! What recognition! After the next interview I was told that I did not make it to the next (yes there was another stage) stage of interviews. I was extremely upset. I knew I could do this job and after asking for feedback, the only reason I was given was that I would only be able to do the 4 days. I can appreciate that this can put people off - a working week is 5 days, hence if you can't work the 5 days, you can't do the job, right?

But how many people actually work the full 5 days. You check your emails a few too many times, your lunchbreak runs over by 10 minutes every now and then, someone wrote something on twitter that you have to check, you started some on-line shopping and get a little engrossed by it for, well, 30 minutes or so. What I am trying to say - and what I tried to explain to them - is that I am working the 4 days, so that I can focus 100% on the job for those days, and spend the rest of the time with my daughter and doing all the other things I feel need to be done, without any resentment either way.

I am not sure if I am convincing you now, either and I would really appreciate some feedback on this. I feel completely stuck in this situation, where I know there are so many jobs out there I am perfectly capable of doing, but the fact that I want to dedicate an extra day to my family seems to be a stumbling block. I guess I am mainly writing this, so that I can vent, feel a little better and hopefully convince one or two of you that flexibility in the workplace is an extremely important issue that we, as a society, are still behind on. If a better work-life balance were offered by the employer, then the employee would be much more open to committing to their job wholeheartedly.

Now can I have a job? Please? OK, I 'll go back to my blueberries then...

Kinda Beef Giouvetsi (BLW)

I get very excited when I find Greek ingredients in the UK, so I usually buy them, even if I don't really feel like eating them. This is the case with things like Caprice, the chocolate cigar waffers- which if you haven't tried, by the way, you really should! -, halva and kritharaki (a small rice-shaped pasta, also known as orzo in Italy). In fact it was orzo that I saw when I was shopping online about a year ago and got so excited that I bought it. A year later, it was still in my cupboard and still in date, so I decided it deserved using up.

I absolutely love Giouvetsi (the Greek meat dish that traditionally uses kritharaki). I love it, but for some reason eat it rarely. At home we only cooked once or twice a year. It is mostly done with lamb, and that meant I often wouldn't eat it, as I wasn't a keen meat eater in my teenage years. What I really love about Giouvetsi is the way the kritharaki pasta absorbs all the cooking sauces from the meat and gets a slightly sticky and rich quality to it.

As I mentioned, Giouvetsi is traditionally done with lamb, but people also use chicken, beef or pork for it. It is also normally cooked as a roast and then the kritharaki are added close to the end. This is NOT a traditional Greek Giouvetsi. It is my version of Giouvetsi, mostly because those were the ingredients I was working with on the day. Basically it is a slow cooked beef cheek, which I then bake with the kritharaki at the end. Like an alternative pasta with meat sauce. For the beef cheek I followed my recipe of Ox Cheek Ragu. 

Serves 4 plus baby/ toddler

600 g ox cheek (2 cheeks approx)
1 large onion, finely chopped
200 ml of water OR red wine OR stock (depending on how rich you want the sauce) - I used wine this time
350 ml tomato passata
1 bay leaf
1 stick of cinnamon
salt - optional if doing Baby Led Weaning
pepper
400g kritharaki
handful of finely chopped parsley

Cut the ox cheek in 3cm cubes and add to an oven proof casserole dish along with the chopped onion. Pour over the 200ml of water/wine/stock, add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, salt and pepper and put in a low temperature oven (150 degrees) for one hour. After that take out of the oven, add the tomato passata and return to the oven for a further hour and a half to two hours. Finally remove from the oven, take the pieces of meat out of the sauce and shred (they should be so tender that they fall apart).

Once shredded, return to the dish, along with 400g of kritharaki or orzo. Add a glass of water and mix everything together. Return to the oven with the lid on (or with foil on top) and cook for 45 minutes, stirring it every now and then to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom. If it looks thick, add more liquid to it.

Once cooked, add the chopped parsley and serve with some grated Parmesan or Kefalotyri.

Salmon Teriyaki

I love Japanese food. It has a comforting effect on me, yet is light to eat. But, like many Asian cuisines, I find it a little intimidating to cook at home. I don't know the raw ingredients as well and don't feel too sure about how to treat them. I mean, I have made sushi rolls at home on many occasions - often vegetarian ones, when I couldn't get good enough fish. It was a monthly treat during my times in Oxford, with my sushi-obsessed housemate.

Last week I decided to brave a very well-known Japanese dish: teriyaki. I discovered another great fishmonger locally and thought I would give their salmon a test, by marinating it in the teriyaki sauce and cooking it medium. Easy, healthy, delicious dinner. I served it with edamame beans (ready peeled frozen ones).

Serves 2

2 fillets of salmon (around 250g each)

For the teriyaki sauce:
1/2 cup of mirin (all major supermarket and Asian supermarkets should have it)
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp of sugar

Put all the ingredients for the sauce in a pan, mix well and bring to the boil. Once boiling reduce the heat and allow to reduce slightly. Turn off after a few minutes and leave to cool.

Once cooled place in a dish with the salmon and leave to marinade (ideally for at least 1-2 hours). Once marinaded, put a frying pan over medium heat. Add the salmon fillets with the marinading juices and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side (longer if you do not like your fish medium). Turn the heat down if the mixture is bubbling too much or put the heat up if the mixture is not bubbling at all. You should have a slightly thickened sauce at the end. Serve the salmon with some boiled edamame beans and pour the rest of the sauce on top. Enjoy!

Smoked Salmon Bagel

This post relates to my Jewish background; I first remember having a smoked salmon bagel in the synagogue kitchen with my Grandma. I absolutely loved it! Smoked salmon was a treat anyway, but with a load of cream cheese in a bagel it was a delight. I often go for a smoked salmon bagel when I feel I need a little comfort and these days I seem to need plenty! It does definitely help - at least temporarily. The assembly of the ingredients is pretty therapeutic itself and then you get to have the first bite... This dish is really best enjoyed slowly.

Serves 1

1 bagel, halved
80g smoked salmon
a good spread of Philadelphia
squeeze of lemon
pepper
rocket

Put the bagel halves in the toaster or under the grill. Once slightly coloured, remove and spread with a very generous amount of Philadelphia. Top with smoked salmon. Squeeze some lemon over the salmon and grind some pepper. Serve with rocket - either in the bagel or on the side. Enjoy!

Pollock with Tomato and Basil

I have been very busy these days. It was meant to be my relaxing time (while Missy is settling at her childminder before I went back to work), but as things turn out, I am once again looking for a job! I must say that looking for a job part-time in my area of work is very difficult. It is also fairly difficult to do so with a little pickle tugging at my trousers in the afternoons. I can't refuse her my company and attention, she is too cute!

Anyway, I have been cooking a little more, but haven't been posting - AGAIN! She likes to eat fish. Actually she likes most things - I am so lucky - but she loves fish! So I went and bought a 150g fillet of fish for her. I thought it might be optimistic, but i gave it a go. Why not? I could eat the rest, right? Wrong! There was pretty much none left! How can she eat so much?! I am not complaining, I just purely don't understand the physics of it. Where does the food go?

Serves 2 plus very hungry baby/toddler

600g Pollock or white firm fish
1-2 tomatoes
handfull basil leaves
olive oil
squeeze of lemon
pepper

Lay the fish on a piece of foil. Chop the tomatoes and lay them across the top of the fish. Top with the basil leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and squeeze of lemon. Grind a generous amount of pepper.

Seal the foil, by folding the edges together - into a small package. Place on a tray and put in a preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until fish is cooked through, but not overcooked!

Greek Yoghurt Breakfast BLW

Being Greek and all, I obviously grew up with, and love Greek yoghurt. It is creamy and thick and not as sour as many other types of yoghurt. You can use it in meals, on the side of meals, as a snack or as a desert. It is proving to be a great option for Missy as well, as it is sweet enough for her to enjoy, without any added sugar or weird ingredients.

So the other day I decided to make a breakfast for the whole family to enjoy. I use the term 'make' very loosely, as it was basically putting ingredients in a bowl together. Still, it tastes good, its healthy and it is so very easy. The idea came from one of my favourite (and some of my Uni firends' favourite) deserts that my mum often used to make for dinner parties. She called it 'Yoghurt and Honey' and it was pretty much it: Greek yoghurt, whisked cream and honey mixed together, then topped with walnuts. This is the breakfast equivalent.

Serves 2 plus baby

500g Greek Yoghurt (Total, if you want to buy a Greek product, but the UK supermarket ones are pretty good and much cheaper)
2-3 tbs of clear honey (preferably thyme honey, as its is less strong in flavour)
1 banana, finely sliced
2 tbs walnuts, coarsely chopped

Serve the yoghurt into 3 bowls (2 normal servings and a small serving for baby). Top with slices of banana over each bowl. Drizzle the honey over the bowls, but if baby in under the age of one don't add any honey to their portion. Sprinkle with the chopped walnuts (I didn't add any walnuts to hers, as she didn't have teeth at the time - does now!). Enjoy.

Creamy Sausage Penne

Yes, I know. I have been awful with posting this past month. I have to say, though, my excuse is fairly legitimate; I have been job hunting and trying to settle Missy into childcare. Both of them hard work, especially with a munchkin that is going through a bit of separation anxiety - poor thing!

I have been pretty active in the kitchen - I even made some more bread - and I have even been taking some pictures. I just haven't had any time to type or upload anything. Hopefully I ll get a bit better again soon! We have had some pretty nice meals too - including a lovely cauliflower puree with pan fried scallops. Yum! This recipe is a little easier on the wallet, however. You can buy any good quality pork sausage for this, just make sure that the flavourings in the sausage actually work with pasta and cream! I just bought some simple Gloucester Old Spot sausages.

Serves 2

250g penne
2-3 good quality pork sausages
1 onion
dried chili flakes or 1 whole fresh chili, chopped
half a glass of white wine
1 tsp of tomato paste
150ml double cream
a few leaves of fresh basil
olive oil
pepper
Grated Parmesan

Chop the onion into thin slivers and fry off lightly in a little olive oil. Once softened put the heat up and add the sausage meat - removed from the skin. Break up the sausage meat in the pan and brown it off. In the meantime, boil the pasta. Once the meat has browned add the chili and the white wine. Once the wine has reduced by half, add the tomato paste. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then add the cream. Cook until the pasta is ready. Finally add the torn basil leaves, a good grind of pepper and the pasta. Stir and serve with a little grated Parmesan.

Smoked Trout Salad with Horseradish Dressing

I haven't posted for ages and I do apologise! I don't really have an excuse, other than the fact that I seem to be cooking lots of the same at the moment (weather is very confusing too!), so I don't have much new to write about. I could have had something great to write about last week; I went to the Hand and Flowers with my husband for dinner. 3 days after it was awarded its 2nd Michelin Star! But I forgot my camera and I didn't feel it would be fair of me to write about something that I couldn't show you images of. All I will say is that the food was amazing and we will be going again very soon, I hope!

In any case, this salad is really tasty, filling and fresh. I first made it 5 years ago and have adjusted it over time. It is no Hand and Flowers food, but its tasty and probably cheaper!

Serves 2

2 fillets of hot smoked trout
1 ripe avocado
150g of salad leaves
1 tbs of flaked almonds

for the  dressing

juice of 1/2 orange, freshly squeezed
pinch of salt
pepper
1 tsp of creamed horseradish
1 tbs of olive oil

Place the salad into each plate and flake the fillet of trout over the leaves (check for any bones at this point). Cut up the avocado in cubes and add to the salad and sprinkle the almonds on top. For the dressing whisk the orange juice, salt, pepper, horseradish and olive oil until combined (check for seasoning and heat and add more horseradish if you like). Drizzle the dressing over the salad and enjoy.

Bread (BLW)

Bread is such a great thing to have in the house, especially if you have a baby (and if you are Greek!). But I always feel guilty offering her shop-bought bread, as it has salt in it. I know it doesn't seem like much, but a little salt here and there, adds up. So when I was making pizza the other day, I decided I would double the quantity of dough and make some plain bread as well as the pizza. Home made, salt-free bread sounds like a nice thing to offer your little one, right? Guilt-free toast for my baby! I also managed to find some salt and sugar-free peanut butter in a local shop, so what a perfect afternoon snack would a peanut butter sandwich make?

Here is the recipe - exactly the same as the pizza base. I will be trying it with added things, like seeds or nuts and will update it if it works! But for plain white bread, it does work. 

280g of strong plain white flour
2 tsp of easy-blend yeast
250ml of warm water
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt (if NOT doing BLW)

Sift the flour and yeast into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the water and olive oil into the well and mix together into a soft dough. Tip it out into a lightly floured surface and knead for at least 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Return to a clean bowl (dust the bowl lightly with flour before adding the dough, so that the dough doesn't stick), cover with clingfilm or a damp towel and leave in a warm place for approximately 1 hour or until more than doubled in size.
After it has doubled in size turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knock out the air and knead again briefly. Place in a lightly floured loaf tin, make a slit across the top of the dough and bake at 200 fan oven for 25-30 minutes, till risen. Remove from the tin as soon as it comes out of the oven and tap under the loaf - it should sound hollow. Allow to cool on a rack.

Pizza (BLW)

I have been watching the Great British Bake Off on TV for the last few weeks quite obsessively. And I have to say that baking has always scared me a little, but this show makes it seem even harder! It's strange, because I have made profiteroles in the past (yes, from scratch!) and I have baked many cakes, but I guess this show highlights all that can go wrong too. And the judges are very harsh!

So when making pizza came to mind the other day, the thought of making the salt-free dough from scratch was quite intimidating. In any case, I persevered. What is the worst that can happen? I waste a little flour and water, right? I followed the recipe for the dough, with a few breaks to attend to a crying baby - currently going through a little separation anxiety or something... It worked! Obviously, the toppings were made up as I went, but the base turned out beautifully! I was/ am so proud!

Serves 2 (hungry) people, plus a mini one

for the base:

280g of strong plain white flour
2 tsp of easy-blend yeast
250ml of warm water
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt (if NOT doing BLW)

for the topping

6-8 anchovy fillets
1 red onion
1/2 red pepper
1/2 grated courgette
8 cherry tomatoes
4 tbs of passata
100g of grated mozzarella (or buffalo mozzarella if you feel extravagant)

For the dough base, sift the flour and yeast into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the water and olive oil into the well and mix together into a soft dough. Tip it out into a lightly floured surface and knead for at least 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Return to a clean bowl (dust the bowl lightly with flour before adding the dough, so that the dough doesn't stick), cover with clingfilm or a damp towel and leave in a warm place for approximately 1 hour or until more than doubled in size.

After it has doubled in size turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knock out the air and knead again briefly. Roll it out roughly and lift it into a large oiled baking sheet. Stretch it out carefully with your fingers to reach the edges of the sheet. Add the passata and spread it our thinly. Add any topping of your liking - the toppings above are just guidance. For babies, I would leave out the anchovies, as they are very salty. Sprinkle with cheese and place in a preheated fan oven at 200. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the base is crisp.

The satisfaction of eaten a home-made pizza is great, The fact that it tastes so good is a fantastic bonus...

mini pizza, for my mini girl

Roganic

It was my birthday last week and as always we 'buy' each other meals or food instead of presents! I feel so lucky that my husband loves food just as much as I do! He booked Roganic for lunch for the two of us. I hadn't really had time to look at their menu in much detail before we went, so I didn't really know what to expect. All I knew about it, was that they often use quite 'strange' ingredients that I wouldn't really have heard of or eaten before.

Once again, it was a bit of an ordeal leaving Missy - more because I was late getting ready, than anything else... We got there 40 minutes later and I felt calmer the moment I walked into the small, yet light, dining space. The tables are well-spaced and the ambiance relaxed. The staff are very friendly and made us feel comfortable instantly.

And once again, we looked at the menu for no reason at all; we knew we were going to go for the 10 courses! It was my birthday after all! My husband went for the matching wines too - all from the Leth winery in Austria.

The first hint of brilliance arrived in the form of a canape: Squid ink crisp with aioli smear, cucumber foam and linseeds (or at least we think they were linseeds, but I was washing my hands when the canape arrived, so I missed the description!). It was amazing. Light and refreshing, yet full of flavour.

Then the bread arrived. Or should I say breads! There was chestnut flatbread, Irish soda, potato and buttermilk, and Pumpernickel. All delicious, rich in flavour and fluffy in texture. The Irish soda was almost like a cake! All served with whipped salted butter.

1st course: Heirloom tomato, poached lambs tongue and dill custard. It was amazing! One of the nicest things I have ever eaten, and I don't even like lamb that much! The dill custard was pure genius, rich in texture, but so light in flavour! The whole dish was very velvety, with a crisp texture coming from the dehydrated tomatoes.

 

2nd course: Braddock White, puff ball mushroom, barley flakes and marjoram. The Braddock White is a type of duck egg. A deliciously creamy, slow-cooked duck egg, with mushrooms and crispiness and a marjoram oil drizzled on top. Very good indeed!

3rd course: Cured and smoked River Tweed trout, Watts farm peppers and crab apple. This course was genius! It arrived at the table in a glass cloche filled with smoke (no picture I'm afraid!) I think this was a contender for my favourite course and was one of those things that I will never forget eating. It sounds simple, but the texture and flavour of the trout was fantastic and it worked so well with the roasted red and yellow peppers and the apple puree. Dreamy stuff!

4th course: Pig and smoked eel, black mustard, sea purslane and pickled corn. This course had us split in terms of its success. My husband loved it, I thought it was fine, but not great. I found something on the plate left a slight bitterness on the palette - possibly the black mustard? The pig and eel croquettes were delicious, though and the sea purslane was a lovely salty and crunchy addition.

5th course: Grilled langoustine, purple sprouting, elder and loganberry oil. This was another great course. The langoustine was cooked perfectly and it had a great barbecued flavour. The loganberry was a pleasant surprise and it complimented the langoustine so well. Perfect middle course to get us back on track for the rest of the meal!

6th course: Royal kidneys cooked in chicken fat, snow peas, goat's curd and clam juice. Royal kidneys are potatoes, for those who didn't know - I was one of those! The whole dish was also finished off with crispy chicken skin. It was all very delicious and extremely rich. My husband enjoyed it more than me - I found it a little too rich and strong in flavour.

7th course: Skate belly, young beet root, caramelised cauliflower, King scallop. This was definitely the second contender for best course. The fish was perfectly cooked, almost nutty from the butter it was cooked in. The beet root worked really well with it and the caramelised cauliflower puree was out of this world. It was sweet and creamy and delicious and I could have eaten tonnes of it! This was a perfectly balanced dish and I wish there was a device that could allow me to 'save' those flavours.

8th course: Cumbrian rose veal cooked in buttermilk, cobnuts, mead and wild cabbage puree. The final contender for the best course! The veal was cooked to perfection, tender as anything and so moist! Yet again this dish achieved the perfect balance of richness with freshness - all the ingredients working together in unison to create something great. I 'll let the picture speak for itself!

Cheese course: We decided to share a little cheese too, as we obviously hadn't had enough food already! The cheese, all British (goats cheese with ash, Wigmore, a Gouda-esque cheese, a blue cheese and a whisky rind washed cheese) was served with oatcakes and raisin and nut bread, a apple and celery chutney and pears stuffed with pickled walnut.

9th course: Bilberries, dried caramel, natural yoghurt and iced lemon thyme. This dessert does not read great on paper. It sounds a little strange and, well, not quite dessert-like. But it was lovely. It had good sweetness, acidity from the yoghurt and freshness from the iced lemon thyme. Very refreshing - a great first dessert!

10th course: White chocolate sorbet with rapeseed, plums and meadowsweet. This WAS a dessert. The chocolate sorbet was fantastic - so smooth and creamy. The plums were soft and sweet and it was all served with a rapeseed cake crumb.Yum yum!

The meal was finished off with a bayleaf milkshake, a jammy dodger and a raspberry and vanilla cream sponge. What a treat! I must say I wasn't a great fan of the milkshake - but I always find bayleaf a little strong in flavour. And, boy, did this milkshake taste of bayleaf! The jammy dodger and the sponge were both great though. What a lovely way to end the perfect meal!

On the way home we were discussing the meal - the ambiance, the service, the food etc - and decided that this actually was the best tasting menu and one of the best meals we have ever had! And I don't mean to brag, but we have eaten in some good places! I would highly recommend it to anyone!

Roganic
19, Blandford St, London, W1U 3DH

Warm Chickpea and Tuna Salad (BLW)

Sometimes it is difficult to constantly create fun and interesting things to eat every day, both for yourself and for the little ones. I often have an inspirational idea and by the time I have loaded the buggy and headed out to get the ingredients, I have forgotten what that was, so its all back to square one again... I am sure babies and children don't mind a little repetition with their food, as long as it tastes good and its not the same Every day!

Anyway, this time I managed to give her something new again, and it is also a great option for two reasons; 1) It is extremely easy and cheap to make and 2) babies can practice their pincer grasp! So all in all, cheap, fun and entertaining! What else do you want from a lunch?

Serves 1 plus baby

1 tin of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
1 tin of tuna
1/2 lemon
1 tbs of chopped parsley
pepper
1 tbs olive oil

Add the chickpeas to a pan with a splash of water and warm gently for 10 minutes (to help soften them a little more). Add the tuna and stir through. Take off the heat and add the juice of 1/2 lemon (or to your taste), a grind of pepper, the chopped parsley and the olive oil. Stir well and serve once cool enough for baby.

Warm Butternut Squash Salad with Yoghurt Dressing (BLW)

I love places, where not only the food is good, but they also give me inspiration to cook things at home. Don't get me wrong, one of my favourite things on earth is going to a fancy restaurant, where I get pampered and served dishes that I could never even dream of attempting in my own kitchen. But sometimes, a simple cafe is perfect to order some food and get some ideas about your weekend meal. This recipe was created after visiting one of these places: Ottolenghi. I went to Ottolenghi in Islington many, many years ago and started cooking variations of this recipe just as many years ago. I seem to remember it was a grilled aubergine salad with yoghurt dressing that inspired me in the first place.

Yoghurt in savoury dishes is commonly used in Greece (tzatziki is one obvious example). It works really well with warm, spicy dishes, and gives a beautiful, rich and slightly cooling aspect to the dish. I 'm not sure if it is because I am Greek or not, but Greek yoghurt is so yummy! Much prefer it to other yoghurts! Anyway, I am done promoting Greek food yet again! Here is the recipe - which is not Greek! :)

Serves 2 and baby

2 butternut squashes
2 red peppers
150 g mange tout
2 hand fulls fresh baby spinach
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp paprika


for the dressing


200g Greek yoghurt
2 cloves of garlic in their skins
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs finely chopped parsley


Turn the fan oven on at 180 degrees. Skin the butternut squashes and cut them in approximately 1.5 inch chunks. Cut the peppers into long slices. Place is a baking tray and drizzle with the olive oil and the paprika. Add the garlic cloves in their skins to the tray and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the squash has softened. In the meantime, boil the mange tout until they are al dente (leave a few to boil for longer for baby). After 20 minutes in the oven, remove the garlic cloves from the tray (return the tray to the oven, if the squash needs more cooking). Peel the garlic cloves and chop them finely, then add them to the yoghurt, along with the extra virgin olive oil and the chopped parsley. Mix well.


To assemble the salad, lay a hand full of spinach in each bowl, then top with the mange tout and the roasted squash and peppers. Top with some (or plenty) of the dressing and serve. For baby you can offer whatever vegetables you feel comfortable with (I offered squash, peppers and mange tout with no dressing, as she still finds yoghurt a little sour!). Enjoy. x

Pasta with Pesto (BLW)

When I was growing up in the 90's I fell 'victim' to a variety of fads; platform shoes, bright coloured trousers and the Macarena... I do not appreciate the 90's very much because of all this! Had I been older and wiser, I would have known better, but I was young and gullible. In fact the 90's, as a decade, didn't produce much to boast about really, other than the fact that, for some reason, Pesto became quite widely known and used. For that we can thank the 90's!

Pesto in its original, fresh form is a thing of beauty! It has great flavour, texture, colour and is extremely versatile. You can have it plain with some pasta, for a healthy, easy meal. You can add it to fish or meat, add it to a salad or a vegetable side dish. It is definitely a handy thing to have in the fridge. But it has to be homemade - the jarred versions are just not good enough, often leaving a slightly bitter taste in the mouth.

It is such an easy thing to prepare and is really worth making in big batches and keeping in the fridge (you can top the jar with some oil, to protect the pesto and it lasts for ages). This recipe makes enough for a pasta meal for 2 plus baby and some leftovers to be used to flavour another dish (meat, fish or veg).

For the pesto

40g of fresh basil (remove the big stalks)
80-100ml of good quality olive oil
2 tbs of pine nuts (you can lightly toast them in a pan, but I don't)
squeeze of lemon
pepper
2 tbs of grated Parmesan

Put the basil in a food processor and add half the olive oil. Blend together, until it is paste-like. Add one tablespoon of pine nuts and some more oil and blend again. Add more oil if you feel like it needs it (the mixture shouldn't be too thick and the oil helps make it creamier). At this stage add a squeeze of lemon and the pepper and blend again. Set a little bit aside for the baby, then add the remaining pine nuts and the Parmesan and blend for a few seconds, so that the pine nuts retain their crunch.

At this stage you add it to some boiled pasta (around 250g dried pasta for 2 people), along with some of the water the pasta was boiling in (a few tbs). Serve immediately with a little more grated Parmesan. Buon Appetito! x

BLW on her tray. Do not be fooled by the 3 bits of pasta (plus one in each fist). She can go through loads, if she is hungry!)

Nona's Cephalonian Meat Pie - Kefalonitiki Kreatopita tis Nonas

Pies are a big deal in many countries of the world. Before we went travelling, I had no idea how much pride Aussies and Kiwis took in their pies. They were sold everywhere and, to be honest, that was our main sustenance for our 10 days on South Island. Similarly the British are pretty big on their pies too. Beef and ale pie served with mash, mushy peas and gravy - oh, so good!

Kefalonia is also one of those places that prides itself for its pies (and it is a Cephalonian thing, not an overall Greek thing). Yes, you can find Spanakopita (spinach pie) and Tiropita (cheese pie) throughout Greece, but things like Salt Cod Pie, Artichoke Pie and most importantly Cephalonian Meat Pie (hence the name), are unique to Kefalonia. I love these pies. But I have to prepare non-Greeks to the fact that they are nothing like a British pie. There is no gravy involved. In fact, what keeps the filling together is the rice. Rice is a very common ingredient in Greek pies.

This Cephalonian Meat Pie is my Nona's mother's recipe and it is a meal in its own right; it has rice, meat, herbs, spices and flavourings and is surrounded in pastry. You can have a side dish with it, if you like, but you will be full! It is almost a challenge to eat it really - you know you are getting full, but it is too good to stop eating... and you know how much effort whoever made it put into it too, therefore you HAVE to finish it!

This dish really is a treat. We usually only get to eat it 2-3 times a year at home. But when we do, we savour it! This summer, I can't take credit in making it myself... My mother made it for Missy's Christening dinner. Yes, it is a fiddly dish to make, but first of all it tastes delicious and secondly, it can feed an army, so at least you wont have to cook again for a while!

Serves 8 to 10 Greeks

For the filling:

500g pork (shoulder or other braising cut)
500g lamb or beef (any braising cut)
150g feta, crumbled
80g of parmesan, grated
1 onion, chopped
120g long grain rice
200ml beef or lamb stock
5 tbs olive oil
2-3 tbs lemon juice
3 eggs
3 garlic cloves
10 prunes, pitted and chopped
100ml passata
1 tbs mint
1 tbs dill
1 tbs parsley
1/4 tsp cinnamon
salt
pepper

For the pastry:

500g plain flour
1 egg
150ml olive oil
200ml milk
salt

To make the pastry, blend the oil evenly with the flour and a pinch of salt, then mix in the egg. Gradually add enough milk, till the pastry can be handled without being too sticky. Knead the pastry. You can use the pastry immediately or refrigerate before use.

Sweat the onions in the olive oil and set aside. Cut the meat into large chunks and brown them in the oil (brown a few pieces at a time, so as not to 'boil' the chunks if there are too many in the pan). Add the onions back in with the meat, cover with the stock and add a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Cover the pot and gently stew for 1 hour.

Remove the meat from the stock and cut into cubes. Reserve the stock.

Grease the pie dish (a dish of around 2 litres capacity and 5 cm high) and line with 2/3 of the pastry. Mix all of the ingredients together except the stock and add further seasoning to taste.  Add the mixture to the pie dish then add around 150ml of the stock on top.  Lift the filling gently to ensure that the stock is evenly distributed. The stock should just cover the filling - if there is not enough stock, top up with white wine or water. Seal the top of the pie dish with the remaining pastry and bake for 1 hour (or until the pastry is golden) at 160 degrees in a fan oven.

Cephalonian Meat Balls - Polpettes (BLW)

I was looking through my older posts and I realised I don't actually have many recipes from Kefalonia other than the Avga me Ntomata really... So I thought I should rectify this and cook something Cephalonian. This recipe is a really good introduction to the traditional flavours and cooking from the island. It has cinnamon, tomato and garlic flavours, and has a very homely, comfort-food feel about it. Perfect for a rainy Sunday at home.

It is a fairly easy recipe to follow, though its not my usual quick meal. But it is definitely worth the extra time, if you have it spare. I grew up on these meatballs and this recipe is fool-proof in accomplishing the fluffy texture of the meatballs with the rich flavour of the sauce. It is usually served with long grain rice and some grated hard cheese. We decided to cook it without any salt, so that Missy could actually share the exact same meal with us. I was really surprised to find that it didn't seem to really miss the salt. It seems that the rest of the spices and herbs season the meat enough, so it does not taste bland in any way. Obviously, if you want to add salt, I am sure it will only help make it taste even better.

Dinner for the whole family

Serves 3-4 (and a very hungry little person)

For the meatballs:
500g beef mince
1 grated onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1-2 tsp of chopped fresh mint
2 medium eggs
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 teacup of soft white bread crumbs, soaked in water then squeezed (use fresh bread, as opposed to stale bread for this recipe)
2-3 tbs flour for coating the meatballs
salt (optional if BLW)
pepper

For the tomato sauce
75ml olive oil
400g of passata
1 cinnamon stick
salt (optional if BLW)
pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp butter

Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs together and knead well. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Shape the mince into balls and flatten slightly on the top and bottom (about the size of a large egg). Flour them lightly and fry them for 3-4 minutes on each side in the olive oil. Set aside on a plate.

In a separate pan put the oil, passata, cinnamon stick and seasoning and bring to the boil. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add the lightly fried meatballs. Gently simmer in the pan for about 45 minutes, adding a little water if required and checking the meatballs don't stick to the pan. About 15-20 minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the sugar and the butter to the sauce and stir gently.. Serve with boiled rice or mash and a little grated cheese.

My portion

Missy's portion, which she ate with her hands. We are still finding bits of rice all over the house...

Luardos - Whitecross Street Market

When you write about food all the time, you can often repeat yourself. A lot... I do apologise if any of you are starting to notice this, only a few months after my first post! So here goes the repetition: I love burritos! Since I stopped work and can't have them weekly any more, I dream about them weekly instead.

So I thought I would pay my husband a visit at work for lunch last Friday and we ventured to Whitecross Street Market. I had never been before and I was completely overwhelmed and excited by the variety and number of stalls there, but most of all, by the smells. I could smell bbq'ed meats, Thai curry, Indian curry and all sorts of other delicious things. But I had to focus. I was there for one reason and one reason only: Burritos from Luardos. I had read about this place in a few blogs and magazines and I wanted to check it out and compare it to my favourite burrito in London - Daddy Donkey.

When we arrived at the stall the queue was one of the longest on the street. 'Good start', I thought. If there are so many people willing to wait in the heat and waste their precious lunch break time, it must be good. We eventually got to the front of the queue and I started getting excited. I saw the menu; nice and simple. There were just four options - chicken, pork, steak or veggie. I ordered a chicken with extra guacamole for myself and a steak with guacamole for my husband.

Chicken burrito

Steak Burrito

I quickly took a few pictures of the 'construction' of the burrito and we rushed to a nearby park to consume the goods. We both bit into our respective burritos and a long satisfied 'mmmm' came out of our mouths. It was rather good. The steak was extremely tender and deliciously spiced. The chicken was also really tender though not as flavoursome. All together it was a very good burrito, but not as good as others I have had in London. It was a little lacking in overall flavour and tasted a little 'watered down'. It wasn't as rich as I would have liked. Having said that, the guacamole was fantastic and the burritos are cheaper than most other places I have been to in the UK.

What was left of the meal...

I will definitely be going back to Whitecross Street Market, but although I will return to Luardos, I will probably try a couple of other stalls first.

Luardos 
Pitch 39, Whitecross Street Market, EC1Y 8JL