More bread for dinner

I should eat wheat-free at night. Like every other woman on this planet. At least according to Marie-Claire, Red, Elle, Cosmo and whatever else they are called. A wheat-free evening is the key to a speck-free life.
But there is the wheat-free dilemma: I think Scott could do with a bit more speck on his body and I could do with a little less. Carbs and wheat for him and no carbs for me. What to cook for dinner then?
Meat/fish with salad or veggie stir fry for me. So I try to feed Scott with extra rice or a pasta dish. But let's face it: Scott's having his 4th pasta dish this week - and it's only Friday: not much of a variety.
So why not a healthy burger for a change.

Turkey burger on rosemary bread with corn-on-the-cob
: 2 slices of rosemary bread
: 1.5 turkey escallops
: 1 fried egg
: cheddar
: butter
: ketchup
: pickled peppers or peppadews
: 1 cooked corn-on-the-cob

Lazy Sunday food

Q: How can a plate start off as seen in Picture 1 and end up looking like in picture 2?
A: Get yourself an English boyfriend.
As long as it isn't drenched in (preferrably tasteless tomato) sauce it ain't good. Or as Scott would say: it's bland.


My recipe for Prosciutto filled tortellini with artichoke, spinach and smoked cheddar, for 2
: 250g prosciutto filled tortellini
: 3-4 artichoke hearts in oil, thinly sliced
: 150g spinach, cut or torn in smaller pieces
: zest and juice of 1 lemon
: 75g mature smoked cheddar

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the pack, drain, but leave some of the cooking water in the pot. Put pasta back into the pot, put on a gentle heat, add spinach and artichoke hearts. Add zest and juice of half a lemon and grate over some mature smoked cheddar.

Scott's recipe
as above plus
: 150ml sieved tomatoes
Warm up the tomatoes in a pot, do not add any olive oil, garlic, spices, pepper or salt. Pour over Romana's Prosciutto filled tortellini with artichoke, spinach and smoked cheddar.

Never judge a book by its cover...

... or a restaurant by its interior. English Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsey, who travels the continents to slag of aspiring chefs and malfunctioning restaurants on national TV, wouldn't be able to suppress his trademark "f**cking hell* when walking into The Drawing Room. This time, my holy grail of London's restaurant scene, toptable.co.uk, let me down big time. But it's partly down to my own superficiality of judging most/all things in life by their design.

Not that The Drawing Room looked super-trendy or Conran-stylish, but it looked interesting enough to book a table.
Half-decent pub food, that's the best I could say about this place. Or as Gordon Ramsey would say: when you serve f**cking pub food, charge for f**cking pub food. And serve it in a f**cking pub.
I have hardly ever left a restaurant being so stuffed. The portions could feed a whole family. And I mean one portion for all! The sea bass was monstrous, the pineapple that came with it tasteless, and although the crab meat salad was made of actual crab meat rather than surimi: one couldn't have cared less, it didn't have much taste anyways.

The fried goat's cheese was a nice idea for a 21st century take on of an 80ies classic. But again far too much, and just not 21st century enough.
So guys, go back to catering college, throw out the posh interior and give the local community what they really want: a cosy pub, decent food and ok prices.

The mother of all chocolate cakes

Ok, I borrowed the recipe from another blog... so what ;-) I have been searching for the perfect chocolate pud now for years. I have tried two Nigella recipes... not bad, but they couldn't live up to my expectations either and were not even nearly as good and chocolaty as the chocolate tarte recipe a former French housemate once gave me. His chocolate tarte was almost perfect, but again, just not gooey enough.
Who would have thought that another French would finally come up with the perfect chocolate cake (usually the English turn out to be unbeatable when it comes to gooeyness): Ein grosses Dankeschoen an die Chocolate & Zucchini Lady! Check out her recipe for the melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cake.

My version is very similar, just that I didn't have 200g of dark choc in my cupboard when the emergency of baking a cake arose. But 100g of 85% dark choc and a good quality dark truffle bar worked just as well.

Afternoon Tea at Yauatcha

Yauatcha is one of my favourite afternoon hang-outs in London. Ok, so the service is appalling. But the cocktails are great, although dubbed "cough medicine" by one of my friends. The food is delicious and the cakes are from heaven. Like our Blue Tea Cake we had last time. I still wouldn't think that the blue powder on the cake actually was 100% tea without added colouring, but who knows...
The cake was a perfect blend of rich tea cream and fruity blackberry jelly with a hint of sponge at the bottom.

I simply love to recreate food I eat at restaurants at home. It's one of life's challenges I aim to master.

But not much chance for the Blue Tea Cake to be produced in my kitchen though, too much work! And too much hassle and I would guess money to get hold of blue tea.

I discovered one dessert in the restaurant's cake display though which I will definitely put on the menu next time I have friends round: Matcha panna cotta topped with cranberry compote.

Birthday at Beauberry

Thank internet for toptable. Posh nosh at (sort of) dumping prices. www.toptable.co.uk comprises an almost endless list of exclusive London eateries that let us sample there exquisite creations for 'n Appel und 'n Ei. You can eat your way round London without forking out too much and if you are lucky you discover a real gem. Like Beauberry House.
Situated in the picturesque village of Dulwich it must be one of London's best kept secrets. Impressive from the outside, stylish from the inside. And food (and charming waiters) to die for!
We went there for Scott's 30st. The offer: 3 course dinner with a complimentary glass of wine for 17.50 pounds.
The set menu was great, but while browsing through the a la carte we discovered one dish we simply had to order as a wee extra: scallops on cauliflower puree with vanilla foam, topped with crispy bacon. Lecker!
The set menu and the free glass of wine were more than decent. In fact, the dessert was outstandingly yummy: panna cotta with coconut granite and banana tarte tartin.