Restaurant Review - The Anthologist, Gresham Street, London

Restaurant name: The Anthologist
Location: Gresham Street, London
Description: Bar/restaurant that is part of the same chain as the Folly, which I have reviewed previously. It has a modern design with quirky touches and a lot of space for the city centre.
Reason for visit: Lunch with work colleagues

Lobster po'boy

I ate: Lobster po'boy - described as a sandwich that originated in New Orleans in the 1920s, served in a long roll.
My companions ate: blue cheese beefburger, crispy duck and noodle salad. The menu has intriguing and unusual dishes like pea, broad bean and dandelion risotto, and Maryland buttermilk chicken burger, along with the usual suspects.
The food was: My lobster po'boy was £19.95 for a little bit of lobster and a lot of lettuce in a long white roll - the roll was toasted, but not that big. I was expecting a crusty roll or something substantial but it was a lot smaller and really not very filling. I'd recommend getting a side of fries with this. It's really not worth the price and I was very disappointed.

duck and noodle salad

The atmosphere/service was: Service wasn't great - we hadn't booked , but were shown to a table right in front of the door and my colleague asked if we could sit somewhere further inside and the greeter was quite curt with us but did show us to another table. The waitress who served us was friendly and efficient.
Price range/value for money: The duck and noodles were reasonably priced and you got a big bowlful, but I can't get over the small size and high price of my lobster sandwich.
Would I recommend it? For drinks in the evening maybe; for lunch I guess it's OK but don't order the lobster roll.

Restaurant Review - Kolpapa, Covent Garden

Restaurant name: Kolpapa
Location: Covent Garden, London
Description: Café bar and restaurant that offers fusion food with a New Zealand twist
Reason for visit: Meeting up with former work colleagues for drinks and dinner.

I ate: I had already eaten before joining my friends so ordered a dessert while they ate main courses. I had a peanut butter parfait, with chocolate mousse and crumble topping and salted caramel sauce.
My companions ate: Two chose the West Country beef burger and I think one had the quinoa, tomato and pomegranate salad. There is also kangaroo on the menu.

The food was: My dessert was delicious and very rich. The burgers were declared excellent.
The atmosphere/service was: The place was still busy even late into the evening; it's located near several theatres so has a steady stream of people at different times. Service was fine overall though the waitress forgot one side order of fries and my friend waited so long for the waitress to return that he had eaten half his burger by then and decided not to bother mentioning it.

Price range/value for money: Expensive - my dessert was really not that big and cost £8.50. The burgers were more reasonable at £9.90 though fries are an extra £3.95.
Would I recommend it? The menu is a little ecletic for my taste; it is good if you are with a group as everyone will find something they want (and vegetarians seem well catered for) but it's fairly expensive and not somewhere I would make a point of returning to.

Pissaladiere - Food 'n' Flix: A Good Year

This month's Food 'n' Flix challenge is hosted by Tina at Squirrel Head Manor and she has chosen the Russell Crowe film "A Good Year".  It's based on a book by Peter Mayle, who also wrote "A Year in Provence" and this story is also set in the same region. It's the story of Max, an investment banker and fairly unpleasant character, who inherits his uncle's house and vineyard in Provence. Going back there to sort out the details, and intending to sell the property, Max remembers the childhood summers he spent there, and meets a charming French woman, Fanny, played by Marion Cotillard. Their first meeting - where Max's careless driving knocks Fanny off her bike - makes her behave very coldly to him for some time (there is a very funny scene where Max falls into an empty swimming pool and Fanny helps him get out by filling it with water). But she eventually warms to him and unsurprisingly they fall in love. At the same time Max decides to keep the house and make a go of the vineyard, but a spanner is thrown into the works when his uncle's illegitimate daughter arrives, with her own claim on the estate. Of course, it all ends happily - you will just have to watch the film!

I decided to cook something from Provence in honour of this film. Pissaladière is a Provencal tart made using puff pastry and topped with slow cooked onions, olives, anchovies and herbs. I'm not really keen on anchovies so I decided to use anchovy paste in the recipe. I also don't really like olives either, but I did include them for authenticity!

It's pretty easy to make - first chop an onion and sweat it in a knob of butter and add 2 tbsp. brown sugar.

I used anchovy puree instead of anchovies; I rolled out a piece of puff pastry and thinly spread the puree on top. When the onions are softened, add 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar or 1/2 tbsp. balsamic glaze.

Spread the onion mixture on the puff pastry and top with some sliced olives.

Bake in the oven until the puff pastry is risen and golden. I love the sweetness that comes from the sugar and balsamic glaze.

I'm sending this to Food 'n' Flix as my recreation of a Provencale meal.

Meal Planning 2013 - week 44

I haven't had much time to plan this week's meals as we have been decorating the spare room which has taken up almost every evening- and I do my food shopping on Saturdays so I had to quickly plan some meals in between painting the walls. I did put on a pound last week which is annoying as I was trying to lose weight before going on holiday next week!

Monday
Breakfast boiled egg - at the moment it looks like I will be working from home, the high winds means all my trains are cancelled!
Lunch leftover pasta bake
Dinner Steak and potato wedges


Tuesday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch out for lunch with some colleagues
Dinner leftover chicken en croute for me, chicken kiev for the OH

Wednesday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch sandwich
Dinner sausage tikka masala - it's a Slimming World chicken tikka masala recipe but I don't want to have chicken three days in a row, but there aren't many other things my boyfriend will eat. I will have a vegetable curry.

Thursday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch sandwich
Dinner chicken in honey mustard sauce with mashed potato (that I was going to cook last week but didn't)


Friday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch sandwich
Dinner burger and chips, possibly with mozzarella sticks if time

Saturday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch Slimming World Welsh rarebit (from Autumn Flavours booklet)
Dinner TBA - I am going to Clandestine Cake Club in the afternoon and we might be going to the local fireworks event after that. I am away after today so don't want any leftovers or fresh food that needs using up so I might suggest we have a takeaway.

Sunday
I'm heading off in the morning for a week in Baltimore at my company's head office.

Pastitsio - Greek pasta bake

 

 

The theme for this month's global cooking challenge, hosted by Chris at Cooking Around the World, is Greece. I'd already made these prawn enchiladas with feta cheese, which is a rather tenuous link to Greece perhaps, so I wanted to see if I could think of something else. Then I remembered a dish that I've made before, but not for a long time; it's easy to make and good for this time of year. Pastitsio, or Pasticcio, is a Greek pasta bake that has a layer of minced beef, a bechamel sauce and pasta on top.

 I found a recipe online and adapted it to suit ingredients I had and also gave it a healthier spin by using fat free Greek yoghurt instead of cheese in the sauce.

 

Serves 4

You need:

Fry Light

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

500g beef mince

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 beef stock cube

400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp. dried oregano

400g pasta - macaroni or penne

50g ricotta cheese

200ml fat free Greek yogurt

50ml milk

50g grated parmesan

grated cheese to sprinkle on top (optional)

 

First fry the onion and the mince in the Fry Light until browned. Meanwhile cook the pasta in a pan of boiling salted water and preheat the oven to 180C.



 

Add the garlic, cinnamon, stock cube, tin of tomatoes and oregano to the beef and simmer until the sauce has thickened.

In a small bowl, mix the ricotta, parmesan and Greek yogurt then carefully stir in the milk.

Drain the cooked pasta and stir in the cheese sauce.

Transfer the mince to a large ovenproof casserole dish.

Spoon the pasta on top and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cheese has melted.

Serve with green vegetables - this makes a great lunch or dinner.

I'm sending this to Chris at Cooking Around the World for his Greek challenge this month.

Baked Prawn Enchiladas with Feta Cheese

 

 

This dish is a real fusion of cultures but is absolutely delicious. I've had chicken enchiladas before but not prawn; I got the idea from this recipe on The Girl Who Ate Everything; I recommend checking out her blog. I adapted it as you will see.

 

To serve 1 or 2 - 1 enchilada is fine per person if you have it with vegetables or salad, otherwise you might want two.

You need:

2 flour tortillas

Fry Light or oil to fry

1/4 red pepper, finely chopped

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

200-250g cooked and peeled prawns (a 175g pack is fine too)

1 heaped tsp Old Bay seasoning from Baltimore - or if understandably you can't get this, I would recommend 1/4 tsp chilli powder, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp celery salt and 1/4 tsp ginger.

handful of fresh coriander, chopped

squeeze of lime juice

 

for the sauce:

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp plain flour

200ml fish stock

150g feta cheese, crumbled

50ml double cream or milk

 

Preheat the oven to 180C. Finely chop the red pepper and onion and crush the garlic. Spray a small frying pan with Fry Light and fry the vegetables until softened.

8 (6-inch) flour tortillas

Shrimp Mixture:

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced finely

1/2 cup white onion, diced finely

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined and chopped into 1 inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

Sauce:

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup salsa verde

1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 cup sour cream

Read more at http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2013/05/creamy-shrimp-enchiladas-and-dinner-and-a-movie-with-the-dating-divas.html#Zy31CxIG0dJfSHEq.99

8 (6-inch) flour tortillas

Shrimp Mixture:

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced finely

1/2 cup white onion, diced finely

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined and chopped into 1 inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

Sauce:

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup salsa verde

1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 cup sour cream

Read more at http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2013/05/creamy-shrimp-enchiladas-and-dinner-and-a-movie-with-the-dating-divas.html#Zy31CxIG0dJfSHEq.99

8 (6-inch) flour tortillas

Shrimp Mixture:

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced finely

1/2 cup white onion, diced finely

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined and chopped into 1 inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

Sauce:

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup salsa verde

1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 cup sour cream

Read more at http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2013/05/creamy-shrimp-enchiladas-and-dinner-and-a-movie-with-the-dating-divas.html#Zy31CxIG0dJfSHEq.99

8 (6-inch) flour tortillas

Shrimp Mixture:

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced finely

1/2 cup white onion, diced finely

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined and chopped into 1 inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

Sauce:

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup salsa verde

1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 cup sour cream

Read more at http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2013/05/creamy-shrimp-enchiladas-and-dinner-and-a-movie-with-the-dating-divas.html#Zy31CxIG0dJfSHEq.99

 

8 (6-inch) flour tortillas

Shrimp Mixture:

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced finely

1/2 cup white onion, diced finely

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined and chopped into 1 inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

Sauce:

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup salsa verde

1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 cup sour cream

Read more at http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2013/05/creamy-shrimp-enchiladas-and-dinner-and-a-movie-with-the-dating-divas.html#Zy31CxIG0dJfSHEq.99

Add the prawns - if they are already cooked, they only need to be heated through - and the seasoning. A colleague bought me this Old Bay seasoning from Baltimore, as it's where our company's head office is located. I'm going there myself in a couple of weeks which I'm really looking forward to.

Make the sauce - heat the butter in a small pan until melted and stir in the flour to make a roux. Gradually stir in the stock until you have a smooth sauce. Add the crumbled feta cheese and heat until the cheese has melted and the sauce has thickened. Finally stir in the double cream or milk.

 

 Distribute the prawn mixture over the two flour tortillas.

Place the tortillas in a baking tin - I used a small tin but if you are making more tortillas you should be able to fit them into a large roasting tin. Pour the cheese sauce over the top and bake for 15-20 minutes.

They are ready when the cheese starts to brown.

I served these with broccoli; I think any green veg or salad would work. They were absolutely delicious and something I will definitely make again.

As I used feta cheese in this recipe - even though enchiladas are Mexican - I am sharing this with Chris at Cooking Around the World as his global blogging challenge is visiting Greece this month. I hope he excuses the fusion of other cuisines in this dish!

Restaurant Review - Bea's of Bloomsbury

Restaurant name: Bea of Bloomsbury
Location: St. Paul's, London
Description: Tea shop and cafe nestled into the side of the One New Change shopping centre. There is a takeaway counter downstairs and a seating area upstairs.
Reason for visit: Lunch with a former work colleague who works nearby.

I ate: Roast chicken with some sort of potato salad in a herby dressing. Actually a really good option if you are Food Optimizing on Slimming World! Followed by cheesecake, which is not quite so Slimming World-friendly.
My companion ate: Cous cous salad with broccoli - he was on a pre-wedding diet!
The food was: Nice but fairly safe - my chicken was quite plain. They don't have a huge amount of choices at lunchtime but there are different types of meal on offer - sandwiches, salads, pasta, soup - but only a couple of flavours of each. The cakes are to die for though - Bea's is the inventor of the townie, a cross between a tart and a brownie! They also do afternoon tea here, which I would like to try.
The atmosphere/service was: Friendly staff, who brought our food up to our table when we found seats upstairs.

Price range/value for money: Actually not that cheap, I can't remember how much I paid for my meal but I was a bit surprised, I guess chicken and potatoes are quite substantial though and we were in the middle of London (and a pretty expensive shopping centre). On the other hand, it's worth noting that there are free jugs of tap water and glasses in an easy location to help yourself to if you don't want to buy a drink.
Would I recommend it? Yes, it's a nice place, the cakes are great and I'd like to try the afternoon tea.

Coca-Cola Cupcakes

While I was doing an online shop on a cake decorating website I came across a pot of Coca-Cola flavoured sugar and added it to my basket. I had seen recipes for Coca-Cola cake before so thought this would taste nice on top. I've tried a Nigella recipe for a Coca-Cola cake before but this time used one from United Cakes of America, which I adapted slightly.

You need:

2 cups plain flour

3 tbsp. cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup Coca-Cola

1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 sticks butter

2 cups caster sugar

2 eggs

butter and icing sugar to make buttercream

To decorate, cola-flavoured sugar crystals



Cream the butter and the sugar

Add the eggs, flour and salt and mix well

I decided to use Coke Zero, which seemed to work fine in this recipe.

Add the Coca-Cola and milk and mix well

The mixture will be quite runny; carefully pour into cupcake cases

Cook for around 12 minutes at 180C until a skewer comes out clean

I decided to make plain buttercream then add the cola-flavoured sugar on top, so I creamed butter and sugar, spread buttercream on top of the cupcakes and dipped each one in the cola sugar.

The cola sugar made the cakes look grey which was a bit strange, but they tasted good - the cake definitely had a Coke flavour though it was quite subtle, and the cola sugar on top was like eating fizzy cola bottles!

I'm sending this to Alphabakes, the challenge I co-host with Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker as the letter this month is C. I wonder if anyone else will use Coca-Cola as their ingredient?

Chocolate Pumpkin Halloween Cake

Happy Halloween! How are you celebrating this year?

I decided to make a Halloween-themed cake and knew from the start I wanted to make a two-tier cake and decorate it with spooky shapes. There was also only one flavour I wanted to use for the cake- pumpkin! I decided to pair the pumpkin with chocolate and the result was very tasty.

You need:

For the base cake:

225g can of Libby's pumpkin pie filling, or pumpkin flesh stewed and sweetened a little

150g butter

225g brown sugar

3 eggs

225g self-raising flour

35g cocoa powder

juice of half an orange (optional)

This actually makes one layer; if you have a lot of people to feed and want a big cake, I would recommend doubling the above quantity (but then baking the cake in two tins).

For the top cake:

225g pumpkin pie filling, or pumpkin flesh stewed and sweetened a little

150g butter

225g brown sugar

3 eggs

225g self-raising flour

100g Dr. Oetker chocolate chunks or similar chocolate chips

For the buttercream:

About 250g butter

500g icing sugar, sieved

50g cocoa powder

However I always find I need to adjust the quantities depending on how soft my butter is. 

To decorate (optional - you can use whatever you like):

2x 250g packs Renshaw Regalice Amethyst sugar paste

500g white or orange sugar paste, plus orange food colour gel (I used Wilton's) if you are using white

50g Renshaw Regalice black sugar paste

sugar glue

 Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 7 inch and a 9 inch loose-bottomed cake tin (I used Dr. Oetker's Cake Release).

For the first cake, cream the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl.

Add half a tin of pumpkin pie filling, or your stewed and mashed pumpkin.

The mixture takes on a distinct orange colour - but the taste really isn't that strong if you are worried!

Add the eggs. There are supposed to be three eggs - but I got my first ever double yolk! The yolks in that egg were a lot smaller so I figured the total amount probably equated to three. This is a good opportunity for me to remind you to break eggs into a cup or small bowl first, and then transfer them one at a time to your main mixing bowl - particularly if you are trying to separate eggs and only need the white, as if you go wrong, you only need to throw away the egg and not your entire cake mixture!

The next stage is to fold in the flour.

I decided to flavour this half of the cake with orange and chocolate, so I squeezed half an orange and added the juice. I also added cocoa powder and spooned the cake mixture into the larger tin.

I repeated the same process for the second cake, using the other half of the tin of pumpkin, but without the orange juice or the cocoa powder. Dr. Oetker sent me this bag of chocolate chunks so I added the entire 100g to the cake mixture.

The chunks are bigger than regular chocolate chips and hold up really well when the cake is cooked. Here is the mixture before the second cake went into the oven. Spoon into the smaller tin and bake both cakes for 25-30 minutes, testing with a skewer. If you are doubling the recipe for the bottom cake, I recommend baking that in two tins.

The first cake - the chocolate and pumpkin cake - is ready and cooling.

I made some chocolate buttercream and spread it on top of the cake. You need the top to be quite smooth as you are going to cover it with fondant.

I then used Wilton orange gel to colour some white fondant and rolled it out on a large silicon mat I bought recently from Ikea. That made it very easy to turn the mat upside down and put the fondant on top of the cake without it breaking. I can see from this photo that I didn't mix in the orange particularly well, as the streaks were on the other side that was on the mat so I couldn't see them. They did end up being covered up by decorations though.

I also placed the cake on a black cake board to fit the Halloween theme. Use a knife to trim off the excess around the cake and smooth the cake over the top.

The smaller cake was quite deep as I used the same amount of mixture, so I sliced it through the middle. Here you can see the pumpkin has given the cake a slight orange colour and you can also see the chocolate chunks.

I filled the cake with chocolate buttercream and spread more over the top.

I wanted this cake to be purple as I thought the colour would go nicely with orange and was suitable for Halloween. Colouring fondant yourself is harder with a darker colour so I decided to buy some Renshaw Regalice sugarpaste in amethyst, which worked really well. I covered the cake, trimmed the edges and sat it on top of the larger cake.

I saw these Dairy Milk Pebbles in the supermarket and when I came to decorate the cake I remembered they were in the cupboard. They are similar to mini eggs in that they are bite-sized pieces of chocolate in a crisp candy shell, but they are flat pebbles and come in purple, yellow and grey. Perfect for Halloween!

I used them as decorations where the two cakes joined, as I think it can look quite untidy unless you have a ribbon or some other kind of decoration (or unless your fondant skills are perfect!). They were just the right size and the colours worked really well - and the chocolate is an added bonus when you cut a slice of cake.

You can decorate the cake however you like. I had some small Halloween cookie cutters from the Wilton brand that I bought in America a couple of years ago, so I used these to cut skulls, bats, pumpkins and ghosts out of fondant, using the leftover white and orange fondant and also a packet of black fondant. I also fashioned some pumpkins by making a ball and pressing it down slightly, and using a knife to mark around the sides. The green stem on top is a little piece of leftover green fondant I had from another project. I also wanted something large to go on top so made a skull out of white fondant. It's quite easy just to press into shape with your fingers and use a knife to mark the teeth.

 

I placed the different shapes around the sides of the cake and stuck them on with sugar glue, though you could also use leftover buttercream or even water.

I used two of the grey pebbles (though they look brown in this photo) for eye holes in the skull and sat the skull and pumpkins on top of the cake.

Here's my chocolate pumpkin Halloween cake in all its gory glory! The cake tasted very nice and was popular at work as I made it for a charity bake sale.

The Dot Com Gift Shop sent me these products from their Halloween range to review. There is a set of paper plates, paper napkins and paper cups all with a trendy black and white skull print. I love the design and the items are good quality; if you are having a Halloween party check out the other items on the website.

 Regular readers of my blog will know that I like to share my bakes with other bloggers, and monthly topical challenges hosted by other blogs. So first I am sharing this with Let's Cook With Pumpkin, hosted by Simply Sensational Food.

We Should Cocoa is the brainchild of Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog and she asks us to bake with chocolate and one other ingredient every month; this month the challenge is hosted by JibberJabber who has chosen vegetables. I hope they don't mind that my pumpkin came out of a tin!

Finally the theme for this month's Calendar Cakes, hosted by Laura of Laura Loves Cakes and Rachel of Dollybakes, is Halloween so I am sending in this cake.