16 March, 2008 - 15:03
A full English tastes so much better when someone else cooks it and there’s no washing up. Which is why mart and I always go to Cafe Motu on Trafalgar Street when we need the works on a Saturday morning. Best proper fry up in town.
On a wet weekend that calls for hibernation, I love cooking up a Farmhouse breakfast. It’s full of lovely earthy flavours from the mushrooms and herbs, with enough stodge to make a warm, substantial brunch.
The trick to this is to not let the egg cook too much. Keeping the egg oozing and soft makes for a much tastier, interesting dish.
Serves 2
- 2 small-medium potatoes
- Olive oil
- 5 rashers back bacon, cut into lardons
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 200g chestnut mushrooms
- Pinch of dried thyme
- 3 eggs, beaten
1. Peel the potatoes and cut into ping pong ball size pieces. Boil for 8 mins or til cooked through but still holding their shape. Drain and allow to steam dry while you get on with everything else.
2. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan and get really hot. Add the bacon and fry for a few minutes. Add the sage and continue frying til well coloured. Remove to a plate.
3. Quarter the mushrooms, leaving small ones whole, and add to the frying pan. Toss to coat in the bacon juices - the mushrooms will soak up all the flavours left behind from the bacon. After a couple of minutes, add the thyme and season. When softened and golden, remove to the plate with the bacon.
4. Add a little more oil to the pan and get smoking hot. Place the potatoes in the pan and turn gently so to not break them up. Colour well all over and season. After a few minutes, add the bacon and mushrooms back into the pan and toss everything together to distribute the flavours and warm through.
5. Make a space in the middle of the pan and add the eggs. Stir for 30 seconds to start cooking, then fold the eggs through all the contents of the pan. The eggs need to cook til set but not rubbery.
6. Serve with Tommy K and a cup of builder’s tea. Ahhh.
Filed under: recipes — minkoir @ 3:03 pm
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09 March, 2008 - 22:05
Here is a list of things Martin has eaten today, as I believe this needs documenting:
- tea
- a banana
- beer
- gutbuster roast beef with all the trimmings
- beer
- cherry & chocolate ice cream
- coffee
- beer
- 2 sausage rolls
- tea
- 2 chocolate digestive biscuits
- beef hula hoops
- cream crackers
- corned beef sandwich
What a legend.
Filed under: festival — minkoir @ 10:05 pm
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09 March, 2008 - 20:33
With our bellies brimming with Sunday roast from the Atlas Lounge, we waddled down Norfolk square to the beach for a brisk (read: windswept) walk along the seafront from Hove into Brighton. I had mentioned over dinner that if we were too full for pud at Atlas, we could wander into town and visit the ice cream parlour instead. We decided to do both. What?
Scoop & Crumb opened a few months ago and today was the first time I’d visited. The two-storey building is very fresh and funky inside; bright whites accented by lime green, fuschia pink and soft mint (it looks nicer than I make it sound, promise).
The ice cream flavours range from fresh orange & chocolate brownie to plum crumble and everything in between. You order by the scoop, or there is a Sundae menu. If you’re dining in, you order and pay at the counter and your food & drinks are brought to you (upstairs is spacious).
Mart and his ma opted for one scoop each of cherry & dark chocolate, whilst Roger had scoops of strawberry cheesecake and I had one of white chocolate & raspberry swirl and one of dime bar crunch. We all opted for that you’re-asking-for-toothache combination of ice cream with hot drinks, and everything came to less than a fiver a head.
The ice cream was perfectly creamy, rich and fresh tasting. The spoon glided through and there were no grains of ice crystals on the tongue. White chocolate in ice cream is sometimes a waste, as the subtle flavour tends to hibernate in the cold, but the chocolate shavings melted in the mouth to reveal their flavour, disguised in the snow-white ice cream. The sharp raspberry swirl was a lovely tang to complement. Not so sure on the dime bar crunch, however. A little lacking in noticeable flavour. For the best Dime Bar pudding, Ikea do an incredible torte.
Scoop & Crumb also sell open topped Scandinavian-style sandwiches, and there is a distinct north-European feel about the place. You can purchase some of the ice cream flavours in tubs to take home. Located a stones throw from the beach, this place is going to be heaving by summer (it opened at the start of winter 2007) and give some competition to the excellent Pump Room ice cream hut.
After Sunday dinner and two puddings each, we realised we had been eating for three hours. Martin announced he was hungry when we got home, so cooked a round of sausage rolls. I don’t feel the need to eat til Wednesday at least.
Scoop & Crumb
5 East Street
Brighton
BN1 1HP
Filed under: brighton, dinner out, restaurant — minkoir @ 8:33 pm
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09 March, 2008 - 20:32
This year, Martin’s birthday celebrations have stretched over four days, culminating in a feat of gastronomical endurance across Brighton and Hove.
We began our epic foodie encounter at Atlas Lounge on Western Road for Sunday lunch. I like Atlas. The furniture is great hunks of wood jumbled together with irregular chairs, benches and low-slung leather sofas. Brightly coloured lanterns hang from the ceiling. The theme is Moroccan, but with the unfortunate addition of some gloomy-looking art taking up more wall space than it deserves. There are sets of backgammon and chess floating around the place though, to distract you from the hideous wall hangings.
Sunday lunch (£8.50) - a choice of Sussex beef or South Downs lamb - with all the trimmings. As Mart and his parents ordered beef, I opted for the lamb out of curiosity. “I can have some of yours okay?” I don’t really know if I asked Martin that or just told him, bless him. Anyway, service is friendly and efficient at Atlas, and despite a packed-out restaurant, our plates arrived in good time.
I don’t eat lamb much at pubs, mostly because in my experience, they tend to make a hash of it. Atlas served up possibly the best roast lamb I’ve ever had. It was falling apart, beautifully tender and still a little pink without oozing blood (not that I mind blood, but I don’t want to put off you funny folk that do). I forgot to ask what cut of lamb it was, but it was very meaty with only a few flabby bits of fat pushed to one side of my plate by the end.
The gravy was dark and rich, red wine or port I think, and really worked well to bolster the lamb. Potatoes seemed to be more sauteed than roasted, and the homemade Yorkshire pud was good and crisp. Boiled carrots and green beans were topped with garlic butter, and there was some red cabbage too.
I tried some of Martin’s beef, but it had horseradish on it, so that was all I could taste. He had some of my lamb and said mine was better.
The portions were generous, particularly the meat. But there’s always room for pudding after Sunday roast, isn’t there? Martin threw the towel in, but the rest of us opted for apple pie (£2.50) x 2 and a date & butterscotch pudding (£4.50) for me.
The apple pie was steeped in fruit with a decent crust and served with cream. The butterscotch pud arrived as 2 towering chunks of dark sponge surrounded by pools of custard and butterscotch sauce. Martin remarked mine tasted far lighter than it looked. It was moist, sweet and delicious. Followed by a Bailey’s latte, I was done.
Sunday roast with pudding and a couple of beers came to around £15 a head. Excellent value for locally-sourced ingredients and good quality grub.
Atlas Lounge
111 Western Road
Brighton-Hove Border
BN1 2AA
Filed under: brighton, dinner out, restaurant — minkoir @ 8:32 pm
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27 February, 2008 - 19:50
It seemed a grave injustice to the world to only make enough brownies for mart and I to eat. So I made enough for us to share at our respective workplaces for 2 days. Responses ranged from “Mm, mmm, mmmm!” to “Damn, that bitch can cook” (thanks, tom!)
The recipe is from Jamie Oliver’s Cook With Jamie, which is a fantastic book for 7/10-good-effort cooks like me who want to start learning how to make things proper cheffy, like.
Makes 12 brownies
- 250g unsalted butter
- 200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken up
- 100g chopped nuts (I used hazelnuts)
- 80g cocoa powder
- 65g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 350g caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
Preheat the oven to 180C / Fan 160 C / Gas 4
Line a 8″ square baking tin with greaseproof paper
1. Melt the butter and chocolate gradually in a heatproof bowl sat over a pan of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Stir in the nuts.
2. In a separate bowl, sift the cocoa powder, plain flour and baking powder, then stir in the caster sugar. Add this to the chocolate and nut mixture and stir well.
3. Beat the eggs together, then stir into your chocolate mixture until you have a silky consistency.
4. Spoon the brownie mixture into your prepared tin and bake for about 25 minutes. The worst thing you can do to a brownie is over-cook it, so don’t bother jabbing it with a skewer to see if it’s cooked, as it will still be sticky and gooey inside. It needs to have a bit of spring-back when you poke it, that’s all.
5. Leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes, then turn out by lifting the paper. This brownie recipe makes for VERY dense brownies, so get an extra pair of hands to lift it out or it will break apart.
6. Super nice served warm with whipped cream and a cuppa. Heaven!
Filed under: recipes — minkoir @ 7:50 pm
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23 February, 2008 - 19:53
Hot dang this is tasty. So tasty, in fact, that I couldn’t resist demolishing my dinner before taking a photo of it. Whoops.
Mart is very much a pepper man, so the peppercorns were ground to make it a pepper-festival of a sauce. I found my tongue ended up rather numb after eating it, though, so I’d recommend leaving most of the peppercorns whole to make them easier to dodge. All the flavour with less of a tongue-burning sensation.
Serves 2
- 4 tbsp brandy
- 2 tsp black peppercorns, whole, ground or part-ground
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- A pinch of beef stock cube dissolved in 100ml hot water
- 2 tbsp double cream
1. After frying your steak, remove to a plate to rest. Turn the heat right up and pour the brandy into the pan. Stand back, it will make a big WHOOOSH sound and bubble like mad. Chuck in the pepppercorns and stir with a wooden spoon, scraping up all the gooey beef bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
2. Add the mustard and beef stock and stir through to combine. Allow to bubble and reduce til thick, about 1-2 minutes.
3. Stir in the cream and continue simmering until the sauce is the consistency you desire.
4. After serving the steak, pour any juices from the resting plate into the sauce.
Filed under: recipes — minkoir @ 7:53 pm
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23 February, 2008 - 18:15
Fillet steak is essential for this, anything else would end up too tough by the quick cooking. Keep an eye out for decent beef reduced when it’s near its sell-by date. Tail-end is fine, since you’ll be chopping it up anyway.
Serves 2
- 2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
- 200g fillet steak
- 200g chestnut mushrooms, sliced thickly
- Pinch of dried thyme (optional)
- 1 small onion, chopped finely
- 2 tsp paprika
- 3 tbsp sour cream
- Squeeze of fresh lemon
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- Salt & pepper
1. Slice the steak into fat finger strips about 1 inch thick. This ensures the inside stays pink after cooking.
2. Get a non-stick frying pan really hot with 1 tbsp of oil and add the beef, colouring all over really well. This needs to take no longer than 1-2 minutes, or the beef will cook too much. When coloured, remove to a plate and season.
3. Add a little more oil if the pan is completely dry and add the mushrooms. Toast in the pan for 2-3 mins then add the dried thyme if using and a pinch of salt. Cook for another minute or two until the mushrooms are nicely coloured and soaked up any beef flavours left in the pan. Remove from pan to join the beef.
4. Heat the remaining oil in the pan and add the onion. Sweat for a couple of minutes until starting to soften, then add the paprika and stir through. Cook for 5 minutes until the onion is soft and juicy.
5. Tip the beef and mushrooms into the pan and stir to distribute everything evenly. Add the sour cream and stir through. Allow to bubble for one minute then add the lemon juice and chopped parsley.
6. Serve with rice, skinny chips or fresh crusty bread.
Filed under: recipes — minkoir @ 6:15 pm
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21 February, 2008 - 19:09
I picked up a gorgeous little cake-for-two from the Real Patisserie for our valentines’ dinner. Vanilla cream-filled profiterole swans on a chocolate/vanilla mousse/sponge/raspberry cake, with some sort of gelatinous topping etched with hearts.
I also bought a jar of the limited edition Marmite - with a hint of Champagne - for breakfast. The Champers seems to be more in the smell than the taste, but won’t convert any Marmite haters (scum!) out there.
The Real Patisserie
25 Western Road
Hove
Filed under: shopping — minkoir @ 7:09 pm
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20 February, 2008 - 22:25
What is it with cooked bananas? When I make regular bananaloaf, the chunks of ‘nana turn lilac. In this pud, the edges go fuchsia pink! Perhaps it’s just my bananas…
I picked up this month’s Olive magazine and just had to make this cake for pudding. Think bananaloaf with extra syrupy sinfulness. Super nice served warm with ice cream.
- 100g sultanas
- 50ml rum
- 4 large or 6 small bananas
- 6 tbsp golden syrup
- 75g unsalted butter, softened
- 100g caster sugar
-
1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 175g self-raising flour
- 60g pecans, roughly chopped
Preheat oven to gas 3 / 160C / fan 140C
Line the base and grease a 23cm x 13cm loaf tin
1. Soak the sultanas in the rum while you prepare the cake mix.
2. Take a couple bananas and cut them in half down the length. Cut into sections that fit the width of your loaf tin. Line the base of the tin with your bananas so they fit snug, and pour over the golden syrup.
3. Cream the butter and sugar with a hand blender/food processor. Add the egg, remaining bananas (mush them up a bit first if using a hand mixer) and vanilla. You will have a pretty runny batter at this point.
4. Stir in the sultanas (and any dregs of rum) and the pecans. Fold in the flour with a metal spoon.
5. Once all the ingredients are combined, spoon over the bananas in your loaf tin. Take care not to move the bananas on the base!
6. Bake for 45 mins - 1hr. A knife should come out clean to show it’s cooked, but sort-of-clean is just fine in my book.
7. Leave in the tin for 10 mins after removing from the oven, then turn out.
Filed under: recipes — minkoir @ 10:25 pm
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20 February, 2008 - 20:50
I love making pizza on Saturday. I can muck about with doughs and sauces in the afternoon, then bring it all together for tea.
I’ve tried all sorts of pizza base recipes; different flour, yeast, water/oil ratio; and the dough always ends up really hard work. So I tried a packet of pizza base mix, and it was surprisingly good stuff. Excellent elasticity and tasted good too. Sainsbury’s Pizza Base Mix, 59p (!!) for 2 packets.
This tomato sauce recipe makes enough for at least 2 pizzas, and freezes well. It needs to be cool before spreading on the base, or your pizza will end up soggy.
One pizza feeds 4 people with salad, or 2 hungry hippos for pizza alone.
Tomato sauce for pizza
- Olive oil
- Half an onion, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, bashed
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 200ml red wine (optional, not necessary!)
- Pinch of caster sugar
- Salt & pepper
1. Sweat the onion gently for a few minutes til soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and continue cooking for another minute until you get that garlicky waft.
2. Add the tomato puree to the pan and cook for a minute. Everything will turn pink. Stir in the oregano, then tomatoes and wine. Turn up the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every now and then so it doesn’t catch on the bottom. You want to drive off as much liquid as you can. Season with a little salt, lots of pepper and a pinch of sugar. You’re looking for the consistency of thick pasta sauce.
3. Allow to cool a little, then chuck into a food processor and blitz til smooth. Have a taste and check for seasoning.
Sauce: done! While that’s cooling, get on with the pizza base. The packet mix only needs 10 minutes to rise.
Base: done! Now to assemble. My personal favourite is the classic Margarita, with the addition of fresh tomato slices or chewy sunblush tomatoes.
Filed under: recipes, shopping — minkoir @ 8:50 pm
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