Thai salmon noodles

Despite what you might think I don't rely on chicken and bacon in all my dinners.

Fish is good too (I just wish it was a bit less expensive!). This recipe comes from BBC Good Food (again! well, what can I do? This website rocks!) I grew a bit tired of eating the same noodles with stir fry sauce over and over again and when I saw the salmon and sweet potato combination I knew I had to try it. I wasn't disappointed - the dish is incredibly fragrant, with the red Thai curry sauce complimenting the fish and potatoes and coriander adding freshness. 

To make enough for two you'll need:

1-2 salmon fillets, skin removed

1-2 tsp red Thai curry paste

4-5 spring onions

2-3 cloves of garlic

500 ml vegetable stock powder

250 ml milk

1 sweet potato

fine egg noodles

fresh coriander

black onion seeds, to garnish

Start by prepping your ingredients. Slice salmon fillet into 1'' cubes, mince garlic and chop spring onions.

Peel the sweet potato and cut into small cubes.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan (or a wok) and fry off the Thai curry paste. Add garlic and spring onions and keep frying.

Pop cubed sweet potatoes in the pan, add milk and stock and turn the heat down. Simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

While the sauce is simmering, boil a pot of salted water for noodles and throw them in. Most fine egg noodles only need 3 minutes.

While the noodles are cooking add salmon to the pan and gently stir it in. Cook for another 3 minutes - the salmon is very delicate and cooks quickly.

Drain the noodles, divide between two plates, then spoon the sauce over (it should be quite liquidy!). Sprinkle with coriander and black onion seeds. Eat!

Last week I made this dish with onion instead of spring onion and prawns instead of salmon - equally delicious - one dish two ways.

Holiday!

Morning everyone!

While you are reading this post I'm on my way to Boston, MA for my friends' wedding. 

I've never been to the great US of A before so I'm beyond excited! 

I have some posts scheduled, but I won't be able to reply to comments or post anything new, so bear with me until last week of September when I'll be back!

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Healthy breakfast smoothie

Hamburgers! The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast - well, not really, Jules, not really.
I guess it's safe to say that not all movie wisdom is to be applied in real life (see also 'Hey, let's see what's in this creepy cave no one has ever been to!' etc. etc.)

As someone who thinks about food all day long I find it nearly impossible to understand how anyone can NOT have breakfast. But I know one argument that's always used as an excuse: I don't have time.

Well, smoothie to the rescue! This particular breakfast smoothie is basically your meal in a glass. 

5 ingredients and about 5 minutes to make. And delicious. And healthy. Anything with oats in it is healthy. Even muffins, I suppose.

You'll need a smoothie maker, food processor or a hand held blender (personally, I find handheld blenders the best as the cleanup is super easy).

To make a smoothie for one you'll need: 

2 bananas
2 tbsp oats
3/4 cup milk/almond milk/soya milk (I used unsweetened soya milk)
a handful of mixed berries (I used frozen)
a small handful of fresh blueberries

Now it gets tough and difficult. Not.
Pop all the ingredients (apart from blueberries) into a tall jug (I use a measuring jug).

Blend and pour into a tall glass. Scatter blueberries on top. Slurp.

Done. Breakfast in 5 minutes, done and dusted. Now off you go and spend the time you saved making breakfast standing in front of your wardrobe wondering what to wear. Or is it just me?

Instagrub (and more)

 //cottage cheese + fruit and almonds + smoothie for breakfast //

 

 // chicken tacos for dinner //

 

// turkey meatballs, aduki beans and couscous - random dinner //

 // dots on a Friday //

// Thai sweet potato noodles - recipe next week! //

// colourful Japanese sweets //

// banana muffins with crunchy topping - recipe soon! //

Have a great Sunday everyone!

French style chicken

After the whole cake craziness it's time to go back to savoury dishes I think. Today's recipe uses my two trusty ingredients: chicken and bacon, but it's fresh and surprisingly light, thanks to the addition of gem lettuce, peas and creme fraiche. I found it on BBC Good Food (doesn't take a genius to figure out it's one of my favourite websites!) and it quickly became one of my to go to ways of eating chicken. I don't think I can vouch for this recipe's authenticity. The last time I was in France my experience of French cuisine came down to devouring baguettes all day long. Granted, they were super tasty and I sometimes dream about them.

All I know is, this French style chicken is tres tres bon mon cheries. So give it a try!

To make enough for two you'll need:

4-5 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, fat trimmed off
2-3 rashers of streaky unsmoked bacon, chopped into small pieces
4-5 spring onions
2 gem lettuces
2-3 tablespoons creme fraiche
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock
2 cloves of garlic, minced or finely chopped
2-3 handfuls of frozen peas
potatoes, to serve
olive oil
salt and pepper

Start off by frying bacon in the pan until crispy. Remove and set aside.

Use bacon fat and a tsp or so of olive oil to fry the chicken thighs. Place them in the pan on quite a high heat and step away. You'll be tempted to keep turning them (I always am), but remember, we want flavour so they need to brown nicely. Turn them after 4-5 minutes and brown the other side.

While the chicken is frying, chop spring onions and wash and halve the potatoes.

Add spring onions, garlic and bacon to the pan with the chicken and fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add enough stock to cover the chicken. Add pepper and salt to taste (I tend to skip the salt because bacon and stock are usually salty enough, so remember to taste as you go!)

At this stage, the longer you simmer the chicken the more tender it will be, I generally cook it until half the liquid evaporates. Turn the chicken every now and then so it cooks evenly. After about 15-20 minutes add peas and cook for a further 3-5 minutes.

Finally, add 2-3 tablespoons creme fraiche and roughly chopped gem lettuce.

Serve with boiled potatoes.

Bon appétit!

Ramblings

If it looks like I'm procrastinating and abandoning my blog, fear not. I've been busy sorting out a nightmare which is looking for a new flat. But we've done it and sealed the deal. I think we got a bit spoilt by living in a massive (by London standards) two bedroom place, so moving into a smallish 1 bed with next to no storage was bound to be a shock.

Ok, I'll admit it, I cried a little wondering where I'm going to put all my clothes, baking essentials (9 types of sugar and 4 types of flour anyone? 3 muffin tins?!), shoes (a sea of them) and all the things that we I amassed over the last three years of living here. Wiping tears from my eyes I suddenly realised that I'm silly. It's just stuff. Some of it is nice stuff, but still just STUFF. So I ruthlessly did what some fashion bloggers call wardrobe culling. I was like Julius Ceasar in the arena of tops, skirts, dresses, millions of scarves and more pairs of tights than a centepede could ever dream of wearing. Bin, keep, charity, bin, charity, keep, on and on it went and I ended up lugging three bags of clothes to a charity shop. I cried some more, cursing the London real estate market, Victorian builders who didn't think it necessary to include a walk in wardrobe in a 1 bed flat, landlords who charge extortionate money for what is basically a shoe cupboard. And then, two days later I realised I don't even remember which clothes ended up in a 'charity' pile. Surely this means I won't miss them? All of a sudden I felt better. 

At this stage, dear reader, you may ask (if you're not dozing off yet) why on earth would I be talking about clothes and wardrobe purging when this here is a food blog. Well, guess what? Kitchen cabinet culling is on the agenda. I never paid attention to lists of kitchen essentials listed in the beginning of most cookbooks, but I might start. And while I wish my kitchen looked like that:

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I accept that I will have to make do with what I've got, be resourceful, get rid of some baking tins (I think one muffin tin is quite sufficient, wouldn't you agree? After all, I'm not running a muffin factory! Yet. Maybe one day) and be organised! By the way, do you know this blog? Amazing stuff for all people obsessed with organising things.

So, while having a kitchen so huge that it requires a GPS to get around would be awesome, a small kitchen won't affect the way I cook. The lovely Rachel Khoo creates amazing dishes in a kitchen the size of a broom cupboard and so does Deb from Smitten Kitchen. By the way, is it true that most New York apartments have teeny tiny kitchens? Hats off to you, NY food bloggers!

Phew, it was nice to share! Let me know what your kitchen essentials are! I hope you enjoyed reading my ramblings, even though the initial bit had nothing to do with cooking!

I've got a recipe to be posted very soon, but for now I'll leave you with a picture of the street I'll be living on from October. Nice and leafy, no?

Now forgive me while I go and grab the last piece of that chocolate brownie cake. It's been a hard day and I still need to decide whether I want two frying pans or one and a wok ;)

Oh, and this is a pretty funny picture. Pigeons travel on the tube too!

Chocolate brownie cake

Lazy Sundays are the best: you can catch up on sleep, do a bit of reading and be a bit naughty and treat yourself (brie cheese and avocado for me, yum!). If you're craving something indulgent and very chocolatey this chocolate brownie cake is absolute perfection. You only need a few ingredients and you won't have to slave away in the kitchen.
Again, I used a recipe from my beloved bbcgoodfood - it seems they used a really small tin, because my cake turned out quite flat - still pretty delicious!

You'll need:

225 g dark chocolate, broken into smallish pieces
3 eggs
65 g plain flour
200 g caster sugar
175 g unsalted butter
50 g pecans, chopped


Grease and line a loose based round cake tin and preheat the oven to 180 C/160 C fan.
Place 175 g chocolate, butter and sugar in a pan and melt on a slow heat, stirring gently. Leave aside to cool.

Once the chocolate mix is cooled, separate the eggs. Add yolks and flour to the chocolate mix and stir gently. Add chopped pecans and the leftover chocolate (chopped into small bits).

Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks and  gently fold into the chocolate mixture.

Pour the mix into the tin, place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Dust with icing sugar and serve with creme fraiche or ice cream.

Enjoy!