2011 Round Up

I'm a little late to this but it is still early January so it is ok!
2011 was the year that Mr. Giraffe went Veggie. It seemed daunting at first but we've learnt lots along the way and we have so many more meals in our repetoire. We also started getting a veg box from Walden Local Food which made us try lots of different kinds of veg!

Here are some of my favourite things I've made this year...

Mushroom Ragu
Rich, warming and nearly meaty. Takes much much less time to make than a normal ragu and it is very satisfying. And if you are wondering about the 'parmesan' - Sainsburys basics italian hard cheese is veggie and tastes the same as parmesan!

Rhubarb Custard Cake with Lemon Glaze.
This was something of a cake revolution for me, the sponge tastes just like custard, it really does.
And the rhubarb goes together very naturally. mmm. I can't wait for forced rhubarb to come into season next month.

Macarons (not macaroons, thank you)

I made macarons! And took some awful pictures of them! I still haven't got them perfect yet, they aren't as pretty as the ones you'll find made professionally, but they have always tasted good which is important.

Cucumber Pickles

I learnt to like cucumbers. These cucumber pickles are so easy to make and go with everything.

Asparagus, Broad Bean and Feta Pesto Dip

Possibly the longest title for something I've made before. A delicious dip / sauce which is so summery it makes me depressed writing about it in January. We dipped bread into it, smeared on toasted ciabatta, tossed it with pasta and ate it from the bowl with a spoon. 

Oreo Fudge Brownies

Wow. Heart attack inducing baking, so many people have blogged about these and no wonder, they are the King of brownies. 

Along with all the cooking we've also done some pretty good eating out this year. Our best meal is a toss up between the Hinds Head at Bray and The British Larder in Suffolk. I do think about going back to the British Larder more often, and lots of other food bloggers have gone because of me - so I think they win.

All that has made me very hungry now, off to dive in to the remainder of the Christmas chocolate.

Happy 2012 everyone!

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Lime Tree Court Restaurant, Saffron Walden

Just a quick blog post to let you know about a lovely Italian restaurant that has just opened up in Saffron Walden. I'm really pleased because it is hard to find Italian food not dominated by chain restaurants.
They serve pizza, pasta, mains and salads, and importantly puddings.
We stopped by for the very good value lunch menu, £6.95 for a large range of dishes. I had a grilled aubergine & ricotta (the ricotta tasted house made too) pizza and Mr. a panini which was basically a cross between a wrap and a calzone. Both cooked in a pizza oven.
Yum!

We will be going back again very soon!

http://www.lime-tree-court.co.uk/

Update, January 2013: I walked past recently and it turns out this restaurant is now closed, it is now an Indian restaurant. Such a shame as those pizzas were brilliant.

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Vegetarian Pho

First of all, Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

 I've never had Pho before, but I've read lots about it and it seems to be one of those dishes which is amazing and also comes with strict rules about what should be in it. I'd never come across Vegetarian Pho before until I saw it on Miss Igs' blog recently.

Whilst I don't believe detox works, after all the indulgences of Christmas and New Year this is perfect to cut through all the roast dinners, cheese boards and tins of chocolate consumed in such a small amount of time.

This recipe appeals to my organised / neat freak nature as you assemble all the ingredients in to little bowls ready to put together when the broth is done. Some chopped coriander, sliced spring onions, diced chillies, steamed pak choi and thin strips of fried smoked tofu. You can make all this up before serving or lay them out on the table and let everyone garnish as they eat.

Click here for the full recipe on Miss Igs' blog (and lots of other lovely recipes from a fellow Cambridge food blogger).
As mentioned I had shallow fried smoked sesame tofu (lovely, full of flavour) and some steamed pak choi with my Pho. I've got lots of broth leftover too, which I am going to stash in the freezer for a day when I am struck down with a rotten cold.

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Christmas Feast at Dishoom, London

Earlier this month I was very lucky to win the competition on Kavey Eats for a Christmas Feast for 2 at Dishoom (named from the comedy 'dishoom' punching noise you so often get in Bollywood fight scenes). I've seen lots of tweets about how great Dishoom is, and I have spent time drooling (and reminiscing) over the menu on their website. So I was really excited to win the prize, plus I never win anything!

The menu is a mixture of Christmassy items (turkey, mince pies, warm spiced pimms) and classic Indian dishes (bhel puri, roti and naan, dhal and chai). Everything was beautifully spiced, just the right amount of heat and lots of aromatic spices, and authentic too but with a little twist.

We started off with a Winter Pimms for me and a Mango and Fennel Lassi for Mr. Giraffe. The pimms was like Christmas in a glass - lightly spiced with a dash of calvados and apple juice. The fennel with the mango lassi was surprisingly excellent, not overpowering at all, it worked just right.

First up we were served a selection of chutneys to go with our meal. Tamarind chutney, a cooling yoghurt and mint raita and a very hot house made chilli chutney.

Next up, bhel puri. This is one of my favourite things to eat in the world ever, everyone should have this at least once in my life - either made by my Mum or at Dishoom - I get the pleasure of being able to try both! Bhel is a mixture of puffed rice, spiced chickpeas, onion, lots of coriander and tamarind chutney. Sometimes with potato as well. At Dishoom the bhel had roasted crunchy chickpeas (a nice alternative to the normal kind) and pomegranate seeds which gave a lovely sweet flavour and extra crunch. I wanted to lick the bowl clean but we were in a public place, so I didn't.

The mains all came at once so at this point we definitely felt like we were feasting! The centrepiece was the 'flaming turkey raan'. A whole turkey leg slow roasted with spices and then shredded, served with crispy crushed Bombay potatoes and charred chilli green beans. Everyone should cook turkey like this.
We also had a lovely vegetable biryani and an amazing deeply savoury and excellently spiced black dhal. . We were also given a selection of roti and naan, all house made, I could see the man at the other side of the restaurant shaping and cooking them fresh to order.

All the food is perfectly spiced, nothing is just pure heat, it is spiced too - quite a different thing and hard to achieve well.

Pudding was some chilli mince pies, lovely crumbly pastry with rich mincemeat and flecks of red chilli, served with spiced custard, yummy! We also had a passionfruit 'gola ice' which was lovely shards of fruity ice, perfect to cool off after the mains.

We finished up with chai, naturally. I had a Baileys chai which does an amazing job of warming you right through. Mr. Giraffe had an ordinary chai which was pretty authentic, and lovely.

We'll definitely be coming back to Dishoom for their normal menu. The bhel puri and the house dhal are worth going back for alone.  The Christmas menu is served until the 24th December, so hurry!

Thanks so much for having us Dishoom, we had a great time trying your menu out!

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Beetroot & Goats Cheese Tart

What is the difference between a savoury tart and a quiche? Something I am sure you will all ponder over for many hours...

This is a terribly simple recipe which not only looks impressive (purple food always does) but tastes brilliant too. If you cheat and buy pastry (I'm not telling anyone) then it is even easier.

I have discovered some wonderful goats cheese recently, from the excellently named Wobbly Bottom Farm, they do a range of goats and cow cheeses made from goats and cows on their own farm. My favourites are the soft flavoured goats cheeses, rolled in all manner of lovely things such as piri piri seasoning, black pepper or herbs. Yummy!
For my readers in Cambridge, they sometimes appear at local markets but the cheese is also stocked at the Cambridge Farmers Market outlet on the corner of Lensfield Road/Regent Street.

Beetroot & Goats Cheese Tart
makes one 28cm round tart

First of all either make your pastry, or roll out a sheet of bought shortcrust pastry. Oil or butter your tin, mine was non stick anyway but I have pastry paranoia so I greased it anyway. And then line your tart tin with your pastry. Leave about 1.5 inches overhanging, line with tin foil and fill with dry beans or rice. Blind bake for 15 minutes at gas mark 5 / 180c.

Whilst the pastry blind bakes make your filling.
For the filling you'll need:

3 small beetroots - peeled and grated
3 medium eggs
about 50g of parmesan, finely grated
50ml of milk
1 teaspoon of creamed horseradish
small handful of chopped parsley
seasoning
About 75g of soft crumbly goats cheese

Whisk your eggs in a bowl and then mix in your milk. Then add in the rest of the ingredients except the goats cheese and stir to combine.
Remove the pastry from the oven when it is light golden brown and nearly cooked all over (keep the oven on), remove the beans/rice and the foil. Whilst it is still fairly warm trim the excess pastry from the edge of the tin. Leave to cool slightly for 5 minutes before adding your filling in, hot pastry and cold eggs don't mix too well! Scatter the crumbled goats cheese over the top of the tart, or slice into rounds and place on top.

Return to the oven for 15- 20 minutes until the mixture has a slight wobble in the centre, but is cooked everywhere else. Cool for as long as you can bear before eating it!

P.S. I am sorry for the Instagrammed photos, normal properly taken photos will return some day, probably when the light levels are better.

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Spiced Chickpeas with Peppers

This is a dish based on a lovely chickpea salad I had for lunch, and inspired by it and the desire to make it better it became a very nice weeknight dinner. I used dry chickpeas, soaked overnight and whilst I was at work, soft fried peppers, lots of homegrown chilli, garlic and spices. I siimmered for a while and then topped with feta cheese and piled onto warm flatbreads.

I used dry chickpeas here because they do taste nicer, I find they are less floury, but you can substitute canned. I didn't make the flatbreads, but instead use the new Warburtons square wraps, they are based on the idea of tortilla wraps but are thicker and less like chewing on plastic than the normal 'mexican' style ones you find in supermarkets. I'm going to use these for square tacos soon!

Spiced Chickpeas with Peppers

100g of dry chickpeas, soaked overnight and boiled for 10-20 minutes til tender
Or 1 can of chickpeas.

2 bell peppers sliced into thin strips
1 teaspoon of honey
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar

1 large clove of garlic
1 large green chilli (red chilli if you like it hot!)
1 heaped teaspoon of ground cumin
1 heaped teaspoon of ground coriander
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
Squirt of tomato ketchup
Salt and pepper

Boil your chickpeas whilst you do the peppers, if you are using dried chickpeas.
Cut your peppers into thin strips and fry on a high heat for a few minutes with some seasoning. Add in a little honey and the red wine vinegar and then pop the lid on and reduce the heat. This will soften the peppers. Simmer gently for 10-15minutes.

Fry the garlic and chilli in olive oil for a minute or so, then drain your chickpeas (either after boiling or from your can) and throw them in. Add in the spices, tomato ketchup (yes it seems a bit strange but it gives the dish a sauce and tomato-ey flavour) and season. Stir in your softened peppers. Simmer for 5 minutes to let everything flavour the chickpeas and peppers, add a splash of water in it if looks a bit dry.

Pile into bowls and serve with some oven warmed flatbreads and feta cheese on top.
A sprinkle of chopped coriander wouldn't hurt either.

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Cooking from the River Cottage Veg Book

Never before have I made so many recipes from a recipe book before. I think I am like a lot of people, I buy cookbooks promising to try all the recipes, I look at the pretty pictures, feel my stomach grumble, make one or two and then resign it to the shelf. Google is a lot quicker if I need to find a recipe in a hurry so my books get neglected.

I've loved the recipes from this book, and we've been watching the TV programmes too. Mr. Giraffe became a vegetarian nearly a year ago so I'm really glad to find a book full of many recipes that are inventive and veggie.

Our favourite by far is the broad bean and pea bruschetta - we use frozen peas when there are no broad beans in season - topped with crumbly goats cheese or feta. A small portion makes for a lovely side to a plate of pasta too.

We've also made the polenta chips, the mushroom stoup (make lots of this, it tastes better the next day), beetroot soup, aubergine parmigiana (Sainsburys basics 'italian hard cheese' is veggie and also tastes pretty good) and the beetroot tarte tatin.

Next on the list is the rest of the book - but more specifically the cauliflower pakoras, chickpea ketchup curry (for a day when we are feeling lazy!) and the beetroot and chocolate ice cream.

I cannot recommend this book enough, whether you are veggie or not, it is huge so you'll find something you'll like. And I agree with Hugh that we all need to eat less meat, not no meat but a lot less than we eat now.

I've also forgiven Hugh for cutting his hair, this book has made up for him having run of the mill short hair.

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