I'm back! 2 new recipes and a restaurant review

Hi all, sorry for the delay, my week off work was filled with car hunting then swiftly followed by illness. I'm happy to say I have lots to report back on!

This picture pleases me

Josh and I ventured over to Birmingham recently to visit friends and I finally got to Handmade Burger Co. As you will tell from the following pics, this was not a diet day



The restaurant was clean and had a good atmosphere, I like the fact that the tables were distanced far enough apart so that I wasn't on anyone's lap. The staff were friendly and weren't all over us at the table so that we could enjoy our food.

Me and Josh opted for the following:

• Beef Burger stuffed with Wensleydale and Cranberries (£7.95)
• Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger (£7.85)
• 2 portions of chips (£2.95 each)
•  Blue Cheese Mayo (3 Dips for £1.95)
• Garlic Mayo
• BBQ Dip
• Side of Guacamole (95p)

The dinner was really great overall and there were lots of positives. The highlight for me and Josh was the Blue Cheese Mayo! Massive chunks of blue cheese were balanced perfectly with the mayo! Josh had the Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger and he said that next time he would just have bacon burger and order extra of the blue cheese mayo as he felt the flavours were better. I loved the quality of the meat, it wasn't too greasy and was well cooked but still (yes i'm going to say it) moist. The burgers were also a good size and this is proved by the skewer that holds them together.

The chips came in a good size bowl and were nice and fluffy. 6 of us on the table had a portion each and the only thing that made me sad was the inconsistent size of the chip portions. I feel that when going onto the same table that should be important. Especially as me and Josh are both known for getting food envy! 

My wensleydale and cranberry burger was great, good amounts of each filling crammed inside the meaty goodness. I think when I order it next time I may do so without the salad. I found that the onion overpowered the cheese and cranberry together. As I cut my burger in half I managed to get the flavour in the second half.

Mmmmm

This is one small thing that I found that i didnt enjoy was the plates. As they were curved at the edge when I cut my extra larger burger in half i lost some of the filling :( 

Although I am a fan of table service, on reflection I feel that the set up of going to the till yourself and re-filling your drinks adds to the rustic and homemade feel of the restaurant.

You'd think after our massive indulgence we would have left it there but oh no...

me and my friend rich indulging!

Seano with Choc brownie

Me and josh had individual sundaes - lemon meringue and strawberry cheesecake. Sean and Rich opted for Sharing sundae. I dare say that all 4 of us could have gone for it!

The Handmade Burger Co is great for meeting up with friends and having good home made rustic food. If you can eat go for the holy trinity - burger, chips and dip, you're sure to be a happy diner!

The Flag speaks true -  I was stuffed!

The recipe section

This week(ish) I tried out 2 new dishes. As ever one was far more successful than the other. Probably my fault, you can decide!

The winner. Josh has said that this is his favourite new recipe of mine

Spicy African Chicken Stew 

The recipe is above. I found this easy to make and really flavoursome, a great depth of flavour. I subbed the chopped tomatoes for pasata as ever, so this turned out more like a curry than a stew. I didn't have any complaints though from Josh or from guinea pig Goose. I didnt use the drumsticks as I am not a fan of bone chicken. We also halved the quantity as there was only 2 of us!

When you mix the peanut butter and chicken stock together don't be put of by the consistency when you are first mixing it - keep going and it comes together into a smooth paste.

 Get your spices together!! Love this bit as i get excited by the flavour combination and the gorge smells!

Some of the cooking bits:

Adding the spices to the onion and stirring in! My excitement was not premature as the scents mixed beautifully together - a sensation if you will!

Swirly colours mixing the peanut butter mixture to the onions and  the spices

To this you add the chicken (or turkey in our case) and cook for 30 minutes.

In the recipe it says to add the sweet potato after this initial 30 minutes of simmering with the peppers. However, after doing this I would recommend putting them in at the same time as the chicken as I ended up cooking the mixture longer than the advised 1 hour 5 minutes to soften the potatoes further.

The finished product! I served this with basmati rice. As I am a carb fiend I always always over do the potato/rice mix. For this reason I would suggest something lighter like a pitta for the sauce and miss out the rice!

This recipe scored a fabulous 9/10. As I said before the stew turned out more like a curry, which is a happy coincidence as I dislike the word stew.Well worth the hour cooking time and the 15 minutes prep time! 



The ' needs more work recipe'

So I felt a bit excited about this cooking malarky and decided to branch out the new recipe test to the girls as well as myself and josh! As we have a resident veggie (Loz) I went for a black bean chilli.


This was also a BBC Good Food Recipe but for some reason couldn't find it online so here's the recipe:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 large red onion    1 large white onion for me as i'm allergic
• 2 large red chillis, chopped
• 3 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp hot chilli powder
• 1 tbsp of tomato puree
• 2 x 400g cans of black beans
• 400g of kidney beans, drained
• 2 x 400g of chopped tomatoes   400g of passata for me
• 250 ml of veg stock

Now thanks to the wisdom of my local tesco (other supermarkets are available :P) There were no black beans!!! I had to go for kidney beans, chick peas and mixed beans (used for tacos)

Chopped onion garlic and chillis

Yummy spice mix - such a nice vibrant colour and rich fragrance

1: warm oil in your wok and once hot add the garlic, onion, chopped chillis and salt and simmer for 5/6 minutes
2: add the cumin, cinnamon, paprika and chilli powder along with the tomato puree. Stir well and cook the spices for a few minutes

Should look something like this

3:Add the beans, tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30/40 minutes and season to taste.

Serve! Simple no?

As I mentioned above the mixture of beans i used and the passata instead of chopped tomatoes overtook the blend of spices a little. After 20 minutes of simmering I topped up the cumin and cinnamon and allowed to simmer for another 20 minutes. Fortunately this addition made the mixture less tomato-y and added some depth in the flavour. I think I may have expected too much from the recipe and was let down as I felt this was just a posh chilli rather than something a little different. It was however, easy to cook and can see the appeal when catering for bigger numbers or short for time. We served it with rice, pitta, tear and share garlic bread and guacamole. With this there was enough for 6 of us to be full!

This was Josh's least favourite so far and he gave it 6/10. The girls rated it 7 upwards. As I was disappointed I did only give it a 7.

If you have a go let me know what you think!

I'll be back soon with more recipes.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry.

H x

My year in Cornwall. Part 1, the south

Ahhh life in Cornwall...

So, for those of you that don't know, my boyfriend's parents recently bought a chalet come caravan near Penzance, Cornwall. To be more specific its right here...

Praa sands is a beautiful little village near a gorgeous beach on the south coast of Cornwall  This has meant that this year I have had 2 holidays in the area. As you can imagine this has meant that I have had some amazing food and want to share it all with you.

Cornwall Food and Drink Festival at Trereife House

This country house is beautiful and is around 10 minutes from the centre of Penzance. They have events on all year round and is well worth a visit. The car parks are placed in the surrounding fields so if its a wetish day DO NOT opt for gladiator sandals like me! The car parks are also a walk away from the main house on a road with potholes prone to puddles. Note again DO NOT wear gladiator sandals if its a wet day.

My love of curry continues...

Whilst there we found this little gem- Ruby Junes Curry Sauces - This stall impressed me so much. Freshly made Bhajis both onion and butternut squash! I bought 1 of each and ever since wish I bought more. So much flavour in both with a good kick of chilli which didn't over power and it was obvious love and care was put into them. If you ever see this grab me some and let me know ASAP.

 I also got one of their Tikka Masala sauces. Although this flavour wouldn't be my first choice, after one taste I was hooked. Fragrant, Spicy and moreish it was an instant hit. Despite the fact I was on holiday I wanted to cook it! I even went to Tesco in Penzance to get the milk. From my last post you'll know that adding excesses of milk-like substances is not my favourite thing in the world. The sauces all come as a thickish paste and June recommends 1/4 pint of milk in her sauces

Have a look at her sauces here - Yummy Curry!

No need for bland food...

Another stall that got our purchase was Nature Kitchen. My friends say that it is easy to sell things to me and they could be right, especially when samples are involved! We were welcomed to the stall by the waft of a delicious mix of smells. 

We tried a few samples including Lemon Pepper and Ras-el-hanout which were lovely but the highlight for us was the Thai Lemon Fish Spice  as shown below.

The great thing about these spices is that they are so versatile - you can add them to roast potatoes  your roasting joint or the fish that the title so suggests. When you smell this intoxicating blend you are instantly met by the lemon quickly followed by the warmth of cumin and mint.

Nature Kitchen have been so kind as to put their suggestions on their website which is worth a look - Sprinkle me, use me!

As with the curry sauces you can order online. As the mixes are so fragrant you don't need to use much to achieve a great flavour - a little pot goes a long way!

Restaurants...

This restaurant was something we stumbled upon after our trip to the Tate at St Ives - they offer an A la Carte Menu but between 6pm - 7pm there is an express menu that you can sample. Prices are two courses £15.50, three courses £17.95. Most people see the express menus and think uber small. Trust me the portions kept me and Josh truly happy so don't worry!

When you walk into the restaurant you are first hit by the art work that is emblazoned on the walls. I later found out that this is all work by local artists. Now I'm no art critic but the variety in the work on display really added to the atmosphere and gave it something extra. 

My mother and some of my friends (Magrath and maybe Alex) would have been put off by the plastic chairs but the menu was enough to deter me from even caring.

When we first visited in June at 6pm on a weeknight you were not surrounded by people. However, the friendly waiting on staff made the place seem friendly and warm.

I started by having a prosecco with elder flower syrup and what a taste sensation this was. This was quickly followed up by home made breads (still warm!!!) and real butter with a teeny tiny pile of salt. I was sold already.

• To Start I had Mussels steamed with chorizo, white wine and coriander. Predictably I asked for more bread! Probably should have resisted as the bowl was so big and brimming with tasty Mussels

For Main I had Cider baked belly pork with crackling, pickled apples, celeriac dauphinoise and seasonal greens. Belly Pork is my absolute favourite meat and this was cooked to perfection. Flavourful and moist (yes i said it) and totally melt in the mouth. Complimented excellently by the dauphinoise and the apples. I even devoured the crackling. The portion size wasn't as big as the stater but the quality, presentation and flavours meant it did its job - left you wanting more. I'm big on restaurant etiquette but i totally wanted to wipe the plate with my finger!

I was that full by pudding I shared. We had Homemade ice creams and biscuits . If you have never had Cornish ice cream you are missing out! So thick and creamy and the flavours were amazing - the caramel honeycomb was def my fave! It was accompanied by Vanilla and a Whiskey Ice cream and the biscuits were divine. Great way to finish off a meal

Just to give you and idea of how good it was, we went back twice in a week and took some friends that had joined us. I can see why they have these recommendations:

The Fish and Chip Saga

Now I don't know about you but fish and chips and are synonymous with Cornwall. Me and Josh first went down in June for the Queens Jubilee and had a hankering for the lovely yet fattening seaside treat. 

At 7.45pm we left Praa Sands and drove to Porthleven which takes about 10 minutes. We found a parking spot the walked down to a chip shop only to find they were shutting up! So we trundled round Porthleven to find not one single chip shop was open past 8pm. We got back in the car and spent about half and hour driving to Penzance passing 5 or more chip shops all shut.

Lesson learned. In June, past 8pm you have to go to Penzance. We found 1 little saviour down a back street called Captains Fish Bar.

(62 Daniel Place, Penzance, TR18 4DU 01736 330333) that is open till 9pm!

We had a couple of fish a large chips and some mushy peas for the mister.

If my memory serves me correctly it came to about £10 for the lot. Once again

they were not shy on the portion size.  Batter was light and the fish was cooked

in front of you.

This Fish Bar had the option to take away or eat in and offered cute little gifts in the window! 

Out of season holiday-ers. You are welcome. ‎

Eat, Drink and Be Merry

H x