Cleaning the oven

I spent two hours today ferociously cleaning the oven and it's put me in a foul mood.

Simple After Work Suppers Part 3 - Chicken and Asparagus Pasta

Another simple dish for asparagus season.

2 Chicken Breasts sliced into strips
2 Large handfuls of Asparagus Spears
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
25g plain flour
25g butter
400ml milk
100ml double cream
100g grated parmesan
100g grated cheddar (medium strength)
1 tablespoon Boursin cheese
200g penne pasta
Chopped parsley
1 teaspoon oregano

This might look like a ridiculously long list of ingredients but it’s really simple.

Firstly chopped the garlic and add to a wok with the sliced chicken breasts in some oil and stir fry. Wash the asparagus spears, chop the ends off and toss into the wok and allow to cook together slowly, stirring occasionally until the chicken is cooked through and the asparagus is tender but still retaining some of its crunch.

Put the pasta on to boil.

Meanwhile melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and whisk in the milk and simmer till it thickens slightly, add the Boursin, cheddar and half the parmesan to the mixture and the parsley and oregano, allow to melt together and lastly add the double cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Once the pasta has cooked, drain it and mix in the chicken and asparagus and stir in the sauce.

The Yellow River Cafe - Upper Street Islington

I've read countless reviews of the Yellow River chain on various websites. Most of them have negative things to say; poor service, cold food, dishes arriving separately with long waits in between, overpriced etc etc. To be honest I disagree. In fairness I've never been to any of the other Yellow Rivers, there are branches in Guildford, Reading and such like places (can't possibly step outside of Zone two, might get a nosebleed) and as far as I'm aware the Islington branch is the only one in London. I've been going for years now and have never been anything less than thoroughly satisfied.

Their Lamb Massaman curry is fantastic, the meat has been cooked in the sauce and all the flavours melt together, the lamb has always been so tender. Makes the poor attempts by the more famous independent Thai restaurants (that is the stuff of a whole different post) look amateur. Last night I went for the crispy chilli beef with chinese greens in oyster sauce and plain rice. Their prawn crackers are a harder spicier version of the more common variety and are addictive, be warned. Service is always spot on, I am never left waiting longer than I should be, everything arrives promptly and is at the right temparature, I have never experienced any of the previous reviewers causes for complaint. Hell, I even like the little fortune cookies that they give you with your bill, cheesy as they are. The only slight criticism I would make is the dodgy giant smiling dayglow photos of the proprieter Mr Ken Hom on the walls all seem a bit chairman Mao for me.

When in Islington go visit, it's worth it. www.yellowrivercafes.co.uk

Al Fresco

The White Hart in Stoke Newington has the most fantastic beer garden out the back. Sitting in a walled greenspace under the trees you almost forget you're nearly in central London, you can't hear or, more to the point, smell the traffic. Friday was a nice evening so we sat out, still it's none to warm and maybe I was a bit over enthusiastic, it's still April after all. See my photo, we were the only ones there! Come July it'll be standing room only.

Simple After Work Suppers Part 2 - Cajun Chicken

Another simple dish for tired weekday folk. Serves Two.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of oil
2 chicken breasts
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed
2 can sweetcorn, drained
2 sticks celery copped
Handful of spring onions chopped
2 Garlic cloves finely chopped
2 tablespoons plain floor

2 tablespoons Cajun spice mix
Half a cup of rice

Mix flour and Cajun mix together and coat chicken breast thoroughly in the mixture. Pre-heat oven to Gas mark 5 and cook chicken for 20-25 mins

Meanwhile wash the rice and boil for 10 – 15 mins.
Cook chopped garlic and celery together in a frying pan with the oil until softened, add the corn and kidney beans and heat through for 3 mins. Add the chopped spring onion and stir fry for a further two mins.

Add bean and corn mix to cooked rice and fork through. Serve with cooked chicken.

I like to serve this with a portion of yellow pepper sauce for dipping. But anything nice and fiery will do!

Simple After Work Suppers Part 1 - Chinese Chicken

A simple unsophisticated after work recipe for two.










Ingredients

2 Chicken Breasts
4 Tablespoons of plain flour
2 Tablespoons of Chinese 5 spice
1 Teaspoon of white pepper
1 Tablespoon of light soy sauce
2 cloves of garlic
1 small onion sliced
2 handfuls of bean sprouts
1 finely chopped red chilli (optional)

Mix together the flour, salt, pepper and chinese five spice. Chop up your chicken breast into strips and thoroughly coat the chicken in the mixture.

Heat three tablespoons of groundnut oil in a wok and gently fry the onions and garlic until softened. For extra fire add one chopped red chilli.

Add the chicken and soy sauce and stir fry until chicken is cooked through. Add the bean sprouts and stir fry for a further two minutes.

Serve with steamed plan rice.

Patisserie Valerie, Old Crompton Street

Patisserie Valerie in Old Crompton Street in Soho is a favourite of mine and well worth a visit even if it’s just to stand outside and stare at the cakes in the window, they truly are individual mini works of art. Every piece of glazed fruit, icing and chocolate looks as if it has been measured and moulded in place to perfection. Me and Mr Gorb went along today post shopping for a coffee. Strangely for all the French-ness and long standing reputation of the place the coffee isn’t actually all that good, but never mind, it’s all about the cakes. We had a strawberry and cream sponge topped with chopped almonds. Very nice indeed. The café has two floors and a small retail section near the front door where individual liquor choccies can be bought by weight, great stuff for presents and the like. There are Valeries springing up all over London, the newest being in Bishopsgate in The City. Check out http://www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk/ and eat choccies.

The Islington Tap, Thebreton Street

I hate poor service in a bar, it’s all so avoidable and needless really. The Islington Tap is a fairly run of the mill Islington local. It’s on Theberton Street, off the main drag that is Upper Street with its endless run of Slug and Lettuce, Pitcher and Piano stylee pubs. Upper Street on a Saturday night in full swing is only for those of a strong constitution, it’s usually all a bit much for me. However, the Islington Tap is usually a little less out-on-the-lash than this and not so busy. Not being so busy should in theory mean less of a wait at the bar, not so unfortunately. I got ignored by two bar staff for over fifteen minutes last night and have resolved never to go back. For God’s sake it’s not rocket science to serve people in order or interpret the fact that me standing with twenty notes in my hand at the bar means I want a drink now is it?

Urban Cafe, Edgware Road

I work in Victoria but the project I’m currently working on is based over in Marylebone/Edgware Road area. I am only just starting to get to know the area properly and still get lost a lot. I’m a surveyor so most of my work involves traipsing from property to property measuring kitchens, placating tenants and worrying about immersion tanks, condensing boilers and how to meet the government’s precious cubic capacity targets based on what they consider the mythical ideal of a “decent home”. Fascinating isn’t it?

Anyway, all this wandering about means certain biological necessities like eating, drinking and going to the toilet, get a bit more difficult. I am lucky enough to have found myself a second office, it’s called the Urban located in the Edgware Road and is a Turkish greasy spoon. A Turkish greasy spoon, living in Hackney as I do, is something I appreciate and feel on safe ground with. In fact in Hackney there is no such thing anymore as a non-Turkish greasy spoon. All the Iranian fare on offer on the Edgware Road leaves me a bit confused. I’m sure you can’t just walk in and ask for a coffee and a bacon sandwich and then use the loo, now can you?

The folk in the Urban are extremely nice and I now have my own seat and don’t even have to order my coffee, it appears as if by magic. I am allowed to make noisy phone calls about condensing boilers and immersion tanks without anyone getting annoyed. They also make nice cheese and ham toasties.

Everyone who works in the construction industry has a second office, the Urban on the Edgware Road is mine.

Il Bacio - Blackstock Road, Highbury

Il Bacio, the strangely Pizza Express-like Italian restaurant on Blackstock Road, is actually part of a mini chain. Il Bacio the first is on Stoke Newington Church Street with a smaller Il Bacio Express further down the road. I’ve been to the Church Street branch only once a few years ago and I wasn’t that impressed preferring Booths just up the road.

I used to live near Arsenal Stadium and remember Blackstock Road quite fondly, I feel quite sad that the club have chosen to move the stadium, albeit only a few hundred yards down the road. Anyway me and Mr Gorb have long been intending to go and visit this new Il Bacio and last weeks champions league successful semi final made me want to spent some time round Highbury before it changes beyond all recognition.

So off we went. Now when I say it looks like Pizza Express I really mean it does look like Pizza Express, from the full height windows so all outside can stare in, the wooden Phillipe Stark style chairs and marble effect table tops to the little white vases with the carnations and the open plan for-all-to-see kitchen and food prep area. Strangely though, it has a huge plasma screen. Last night this was showing MTV Hits but one assumes it’s really for the matches which seems a bit of a victory for the prawn sandwich brigade to be watching your match over a calzone and ensalata mista rather than a pint in The Gunners.

Wine wise it has the biggest wine list I’ve ever seen. There are separate sections for Sardinia red and whites, roses, sparkling and for ordinary Italian red white and rose etc etc. More wine options than food, proper order thought I. We went for a Sicilian dry white more out of we-once-went-to-Sicily-on-holiday-sentimentality rather than any great knowledge base.

The food is reportedly Sardinian but not having been to Sardinia I’m really none the wiser. We had the house starter which is Sardinian bread with cold meats, olives and mushrooms. Service was on the slow side but not worth winging about. Sardinian bread, when it eventually arrived, turned out to be a poppadom. Don’t let that put you off though it actually works very well with the olive oil and the topping, I’ve decided I’m a fan. For mains Mr Gorb went sensibly for a tagletelli with bacon and mushroom sauce which he rated as fair to good. I stupidly and over ambitiously went for a pizza pleased as I was to see my favourite parmesan, rocket and parma ham combo on the menu. What turned up was enormous, an entire 15 inches of thin crust pizza. I cheated and didn’t eat the crusts but managed to eat the rest. I also had an ensalata mista which wasn’t as fresh as it could have been.

All in all the whole lot starter, mains, wine and salad came to £38 which isn’t bad for your dinner under a plasma screen in a glass box.

For Starters

I have never had a blog before, this is entirely a new venture. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up. This is about food: the buying and selling of, preparing of, and eating of all types of food in and around London. It's not meant to be serious, or aimed at any high minded gastronomic ideals, it's just a bit of fun.