Archive for October, 2009
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
As mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve recently got into baking bread. As well as being really satisfying, being able to make your own opens up all sorts of other avenues to filling your belly. Making pizza is just one of them.
This recipe makes one large rectangular pizza with a thin, crispy, tasty base, that is a million miles away from the flabby crud that the likes of Planet Pizza churn out. I would recommend that you make a bigger batch of the dough and freeze half of it to use at a later date. Just double the quantity of the mix (below), and once risen, wrap half in cling film and pop in the freezer.
For the tomato sauce, you can pretty much use the same sort of thing that you’d usually put on pasta. I use a simple sauce made from a tin of tomatoes, garlic, herbs and seasoning. If I can be bothered, I’ll blend it so it’s smooth like passata, but you don’t have to. A bit of tomato texture isn’t a deal breaker.
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Tags: Anchovy, Basil, Chilli, Courgette, Dough, Flour, Parma Ham, Pizza, Red Onion, Semolina, Tomato Sauce
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | 2 Comments »
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
I sometimes get a bit bored with breakfast. Cerial during the week and a fry-up at the weekend, or whatever’s in the fridge and is easy to make and quick to eat. It seems like a bit of a shame seeing as it’s ‘the most important meal of the day’.
If you fancy something different try this avocado on toast. My missus introduced me to it, and now I love it too. No rocket science. It’s really quick and easy, and is also pretty healthy.
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Tags: Avocado, Breakfast, Olive Oli, Salt, Toast, Tobasco
Posted in Breakfast, Opinion, Recipes | 5 Comments »
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Hand To Mouth is back from New York. As usual I ate well in the city that never sleeps, but I also came back with a nasty dose of the flu which has had me on my back for the last three days. Not sure if it was the swine variety or not, but that’s irrelevant, as this post is ALL about the beef.
Going to Peter Luger’s pretty much as soon as I get off the plane in in NY has become a bit of a tradition. The routine goes. Land in NY. Head to Williamburgh. Dump bags at my mate Matt’s place. Head to Luger’s with him. Eat large quantities of meat. Drink a couple of beers. Sleep. Come round smiling the next day.
Peter Luger has been rated New York’s number one steakhouse for twenty four years in a row. For a town that prides itself on good food, that’s a serious accolade. They have two outlets, one in Williamburgh and one in Long Island, but it’s no chain; it’s an institution. (more…)
Tags: Bacon, Brooklyn, New York, Peter Luger, Porterhouse, Salad, Steak, steak sauce
Posted in Opinion, Reviews, Travel | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
Hand To Mouth is off to New York for a few days for a mate’s wedding. I feel a bit like I live in the States at the moment. Maybe they’ll give me a green card. See you on the other side.
Tags: Eat Me, New York, Travel, Wedding
Posted in Travel | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
Winter is drawing in. It’s getting dark, cold and a bit grim out there. This hearty stew is a bit of a staple round my way at this time of year. I’ll cook up a big batch at the weekend, eat some of it and then freeze the rest. The dominant taste and spice comes from paprika that’s both added to the stew, and is in the chorizo. It’s a winner and has more flavour than William Drayton Jnr.
Ingredients
6 cooking chorizo
500g pork belly
4 cloves of garlic
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Tags: Beans, Chorizo, Pork Belly, Sherry, Spanish, Spicy, Stew
Posted in Dinner, Recipes | 2 Comments »
Monday, October 5th, 2009
Think it’s probably time that I shut up about food related adventures from our US road trip, but before I do, I HAD to give a heads up on Chicago’s number one sausage emporium, Hot Doug’s.
Now, Chicago is a town that loves it’s hot dogs, and for the peeps of the windy city, this place is the stuff of legend. Everyone seems to have a Hot Doug’s related story, and if you’ve not been, you feel a bit left out.
To cut a long story short, there’s a guy called Doug who makes the most amazing speciality hot dogs that come in a bewildering and surprising array of flavours. And when I say bewildering, I mean it. Pork, duck, lamb, beef, weisswurst, bratwurst, veal, rattlesnake, vegetarian…I could go on. Doug’s place is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so if you’re an un-escorted newbie, you can pretty much forget about finding it (we were lucky enough to have a couple of willing guides). But, despite the location, the place is RAMMED every day. It’s open between 11am and 4pm, and there’s a queue pretty much from opening to closing. (more…)
Tags: Apple, Buns, Chicago, Duck, Fois Gras, Hot Dogs, Hot Doug's, Merguez, Sausage, Veal
Posted in Opinion, Reviews, Travel | No Comments »
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
Photo by Buzz100Ca
If you’re going on a road trip down the pacific coast through the Big Sur, there’s one place that everyone tells you to go, and that’s Nepenthe. In his 1962 book ‘Big Sur’, Jack Kerouac, describes the restaurant thus, “From the baths we go to Nepenthe which is a beautiful cliff top restaurant with a vast outdoor patio, with excellent food, excellent waiters and management, good drinks, chess tables, chairs and tables to just sit in the sun an look at the grand cost…” (more…)
Tags: Ambrosia, Big Sur, Burger, Jack Kerouac, Nepenthe, Pacific Coast, View
Posted in Opinion, Recipes, Reviews, Travel | No Comments »
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
As mentioned in the last post, I’ve just returned from a holiday in the States. From a food perspective, one of the things that I noticed about a lot of the stuff we tasted in California was the Mexican influence. Plenty of lime, avocado, coriander, chilli and corn. Fresh, tasty flavours.
We also ate quite a bit of of straight up Mexican food. Great Burritos in the Mission in San Francisco, Huevos Rancheros for breakfast, torta Mexicanas in LA, but the pick of the bunch was a a tiny little place called La Super-Rica in Santa Barbra.
Reputedly Julia Child’s favourite Mexican restaurant and tucked away in the Mexican area of town, La Super-Rica is basically a little shack with a tent attached to the back. Always busy, the tiny kitchen knocks out fantastic traditional Mexican street food. There are daily specials, firm favourites and apparently the best horchata you’ll taste outside of Mexico. (more…)
Tags: Cantina, Chorizo, Food, Guacamole, La Super-Rica, mexican, Santa Barbara, Taco, Tamale
Posted in Opinion, Reviews, Travel | No Comments »
