Posts Tagged ‘Olive Oil’
Saturday, September 24th, 2011
Every now and again, you get a really good feeling about a restaurant just by walking past it. In our first week in San Francisco, we walked past The Swan Oyster Depot on our way home after a boozy night out. Even through our alcoholic haze we could tell we were going to like it. It had this really lovely old-school feel to it, so the next day we decided to give it a go. As you can probably conclude from this post, we weren’t disappointed, and we’ve been back a few times since.
But before we get down to the nitty gritty, a short history lesson. The Swan has been around since around 1912, and by the look of the place not much has changed since. The original oyster bar was bought out by a guy called Sal Sancimino and his three cousins (Al, Pat and Frank LaRocca) in 1946, and in turn their kids took it over in the ’70’s, and it not surprisingly has a really friendly, authentic family feel to it.
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Tags: Albacore, Chowder, Clam, Olive Oil, Salmon, San Francisco, Sashimi, Sauvignon Blanc, Scollops, Shellfish, Smoked Salmon, Swan Oyster Depot, Tuna
Posted in Lunch, Reviews, Travel | No Comments »
Monday, April 11th, 2011
We’ve had quite a nice burst of sun in London over the past few days, which got me thinking about salads. But seeing as we’re not quite out of the woods temperature wise yet, this is greenery with guts.
The beetroot is warm and sweet with a bit of a spicy kick, and goes really well with the tangy, creamy goats cheese. If you wanted to, you could also throw in a few crushed walnuts, but I didn’t have any to hand, so I didn’t.
Y’all ready?
Ingredients (serves 2)
500g beetroot
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 teaspoon, fresh oregano, chopped
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
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Tags: Beetroot, Chilli, Goats Cheese, Honey, Olive Oil, Oregano, Rocket, Salad, Spinach, thyme, Watercress
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
Pretty much anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a mild addiction to Pakistani food, and in particular the tandoori lamb chop. I’d more than happily spend an evening at Mirch Masala in Tooting, or Tayyabs, but my favourite place to get a fix is Lahore in Whitechapel (long overdue a ‘Local Hero’ post). The chops may be a bit smaller, but my god they taste good. Spicy, deeply flavoured and smokey. Yep, my mouth is watering and it’s only 9am.
But enough about my issues. This recipe is my attempt to re-create Lahore’s greatness at home. Funnily enough, I don’t have a tandoor in my kitchen so I use a griddle pan to get the charring and smokey flavour, and whilst this recipe doesn’t quite live up to East London’s finest, it’s not half bad. If you don’t have a griddle pan, you could grill them on both sides.
I use lamb cutlets as opposed to thicker chops, and serve them with a coriander and mint raita.
Ingredients
8 lamb cutlets
(for the marinade)
2 large cloves of garlic
1 thumb sized piece of ginger
2 green chillies, seeds removed
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Tags: Bread, Chillies, Cinnamon, Coriander, Cumin, Cutlets, Garlic, Ginger, Griddle, Lamb Chops, Marinate, Mint, Naaan, Olive Oil, Pita, Tandoori, Turmeric, Yoghurt
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
There’s definitely something very satisfying about making stuff at home that you usually shell out for in a shop. For me, making home made pesto is one of those things.
Sure it involves more effort, and its probably not that much cheaper than buying a jar, but you’ll defo have a sense of pride once you’ve tasted your own creation.
You can use a pestle and mortar to make it, but I use a food processor, which makes the whole thing and whole lot easier.
Ingredients
4 or 5 big handfuls of fresh basil leaves (about 100g)
50g pine nuts
40g freshly grated parmesan
175ml olive oil
1 large clove of garlic
Squeeze of lemon juice
Large pinch of salt
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Tags: Basil, Lemon juice, Olive Oil, parmesan, Pasta, Pesto, Pine Nuts, Salt
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | 2 Comments »
Saturday, September 11th, 2010
As man cannot live on smoothies alone, we’ve been cooking up some detox friendly solids too. This recipe is a bit of a remix of a Nigel Slater feta and lentil salad recipe, and it’s really delicious. You won’t even notice that it’s actually pretty good for you.
Our detox is now over, but we eat this pretty regularly regardless. It’s good served hot, but can be eaten warm or even cold the day after.
Ingredients (serves 2-3)
200g green lentils
200g feta cheese
2 red onions, sliced
1 red pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Small handful of fresh oregano
1 heaped teaspoon of maras biberi or dried chilli flakes
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt a pepper to taste
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Tags: Bake, Chilli, Dijon Mustard, Feta, Green Lentils, Lemon juice, Lentil, Olive Oil, Oregano, Red Onion, Red Pepper, Salad
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
They’ve been repeating the Jamie Does… series on More 4 recently, and aside from the shocking title sequence, I think it’s a pretty enjoyable show. I like the idea of zeroing in on a region’s cuisine as opposed to skimming the surface of a whole country, something that the late great Kieth Floyd did so well.
One of the dishes that got my mouth watering the most was the tomato risotto he cooked in Venice. There was just something beautifully simple about the risotto and the tomatoes cooked in olive oil that made me want to give it a go. I’m sure there’s an accompanying book for the series, but I haven’t bought it, so this recipe is a approximation of what I saw of the idiot box. It worked for me, so should do for you too.
Ingredients (serves 2)
For the risotto
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
100g arborio rice
100 ml white wine
1 litre vegetable stock
Handful of grated Parmesan (about 25g)
Olive oil
Unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
For the tomatoes
15-20 mini plum / cherry tomatoes, halved
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
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Tags: Basil, Butter, Celery, Jamie Does..., Jamie Oliver, Kieth Floyd, Olive Oil, Onion, parmesan, Risotto, stock, Tomato
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Whilst my Mac is being re-habilitated I don’t have access to my holiday pics, so I’ll have to come back to the stuff I rustled up in France at a later date. But my camera is still working, and I’ve bought my schizo old mac back from the dead, so I can do a bit of posting in the meantime.
This recipe is my take on the tapas classic Gambas al Ajillo, and It’s pretty simple and quick too. Buy the biggest, fattest prawns you can afford. Serves two as a main course.
Ingredients
8 King prawns / Tiger prawns
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 dried or fresh red chilli, chopped
20g unsalted butter
35ml extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 large lemon
Salt to taste
Handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
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Tags: Butter, Chilli, Garlic, King Prawns, Lemon, Olive Oil, Parsley, Salt, Sourdough, Tapas, Tiger Prawns
Posted in Lunch, Recipes | 2 Comments »
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
It’s been hot, hot, hot in London town this week, and the warm weather has got me thinking about summer food. Aside maybe from a decent burger on a barbie, for me it’s the Mediterraneans that totally nail ‘al fresco’ eating. Grilled meats, crunchy veg and fresh zingy flavours.
These lamb wraps have all that and more. The taste of the spicy, charred, marinated meat and the tzatziki work really well together, and the wraps mean that the dish is still pretty light. We don’t have a garden, so our griddle pan has to do.
Ingredients (makes 3 large wraps)
For the lamb
400g lamb leg steaks
Handful of fresh oregano leaves, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
Juice of one lemon
50ml extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
For the tzatziki
200g 0% fat Greek yoghurt
1/4 cucumber, sliced and diced
Handful of mint leaves, chopped
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Tags: Chilli, Cucumber, Garlic, Lamb, Lemon, Mint, Olive Oil, Onion, Oregano, Paprika, Salad, Tzatziki, Wraps, Yoghurt
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | 3 Comments »
