Posts Tagged ‘Salad’
Sunday, February 5th, 2012
We are pretty much slap bang in the middle of Vacherin season, which runs from late September to early April. This creamy, smooth, slightly nutty and super runny cows milk cheese is an Alpine speciality traditionally sold in round wooden boxes, cinched with a piece of spruce bark.
Vacherin is great eaten at room temperature with some bread, but a killer way of serving it is baked. Particularly when it’s been snowing. It’s like a fondue without the hassle and the Abigail’s Party baggage, and is great lunch for two.
Pre-heat your over to 180 – 200c, then remove all the plastic wrapping from the cheese, but leave it in it’s box. Slice a fat clove of garlic, and then using a sharp knife, pierce the Vacherin’s rind and slide in the slices. Pour over around 50ml of white wine, and then put the cheese into the oven to bake until it’s golden brown and bubbling (15minutes or so).
Serve it with whatever you like, but I like a good mix of raw veg like raddishes and carrots, some hunks of good sourdough, a few boiled potatoes (pink fir are particularly good), a pear and a bit of salad.
Then just dunk in your vehicle of choice, and get cheesy.
Tags: Abigail's Party, Alpine, Baked, Carrots, Chese, Cows, Fondue, Garlic, Milk, Mont D'Or, Pear, pink Fir, Potatoes, Raddishes, Salad, Season, Sourdough, Vacherin, White Wine
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | 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
(more…)
Tags: Beetroot, Chilli, Goats Cheese, Honey, Olive Oil, Oregano, Rocket, Salad, Spinach, thyme, Watercress
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
As those of you who read Hand To Mouth regularly will know, I don’t really ‘do’ restaurant reviews. Blogging about the latest ‘hot’ places has never really been what this blog is about. But what I do like to do is big up my favourite places to eat, be they a small old school cafe or a successful enterprise like this Local Hero, The Anchor & Hope.
Around the Autumn of 2003, when The Anchor & Hope opened, I think it’s safe to say there was a wave of gastropub fatigue in London. A slew of Eagle imitators had sprung up, and quite a lot of them were falling pretty far off the mark. Then The Anchor & Hope opened and changed the game, and at the same time kind of became a blueprint for what I look for in a restaurant these days.
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Tags: Anchor & Hope, Beef Rump, Custard, Gastropub, London, Octopus, parkin, Rhubarb, Salad, Sharing, Sunday Lunch, Waterloo
Posted in Opinion, Reviews | 4 Comments »
Sunday, April 3rd, 2011
Mussels are back in season, and I can think of no better way to do them justice that with the classic French Marinière.
Not only is this recipe incredibly tasty, it’s as fast as hell; from chopping board to stuffing your face in 15 minutes flat as long as your mussels are clean. As an added bonus, mussels are pretty cheap, with a kilo coming in at around 5 or 6 pounds.
Lets do this.
Ingredients
1 kilo of mussels
1 stick celery, finely chopped
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
200ml good white wine
Nob of butter
Olive oil
(more…)
Tags: Bread, Broth, Celery, Dinner, Fishmonger, French, Garlic, Kohlrabi, Lunch, Moules Marinières, mussels, Onion, Recipe, Salad, Sea, White Wine
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | No Comments »
Sunday, January 30th, 2011
A big haggis = lots of leftovers, but what do you do with them?As we had ours with ‘neeps’, ‘tatties’, and cabbage we had all the makings of a bubble and squeak, and I thought I’d add some haggis into the mix and see what happened. Turns out it was a pretty good idea. Made into patties and fried in a little oil, they made a great dinner, but reckon they’d make a good breakfast too.
Ingredients
400g cooked haggis
150g cooked cabbage, shredded
150g potato, smashed
150g swede, smashed
1 onion
Salt and pepper
Eggs (optional)
(more…)
Tags: Bubble & Squeak, Cabbage, Fried, Fried Eggs, Haggis, Pattie, Potato, Salad, Swede
Posted in Breakfast, Dinner, Recipes | No Comments »
Saturday, October 9th, 2010
While we were in France recently, we had a couple of croques, both monsieur and madame, and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that there are few other things I’d rather have as a light lunch. I know you can’t really go wrong with whats essentially posh cheese on toast, but when you add an egg, something good becomes something special.
There are different shapes, sizes and methods, but the common ground is in the cheese which is usually either Emmental or Gruyère (a combination of the two might be rather good), and I prefer the sourdough bread version as opposed the the white processed one.
It’s not rocket science, but there are a couple of touches and flourishes to make your croque extra tasty, so lets crack on.
Ingredients (per serving)
1 large slice of good sourdough bread, sliced about half an inch thick
A handful of grated emmental cheese
2 slices of good quality smoked ham
Dijon mustard
1 egg
Salt & pepper to taste
(more…)
Tags: Bread, Croque Madame, Croque Monsieur, Dijon Mustard, Emmental, Fried Egg, gruyere, Ham, Salad
Posted in Lunch, Recipes, Snack, Travel | 1 Comment »
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
(more…)
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 »
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 »
