Archive for February, 2011

February 19, 2011

Le Mercury

I went to Le Mercury last week with fellow food lover Diane Elston. We walked along Upper Street trying to decide what to have for lunch. There is so much choice, but we passed Le Mercury and just couldn’t resist. We had been here together before and absolutely loved it, and we knew exactly what we wanted off the menu before we had even sat down.

Diane Eating Mussels, Naomi Winters
Two of my favourite foods in this whole world are mussels, and duck- both of which they serve here and taste delicious. Me and Diane often find that we like to order the same food- and we can’t share dishes, we both suffer from food jealousy, so on the whole order exactly the same dinner.

So to start we had Moules Mariniere- mussels in white wine sauce, cream, shallots, garlic, lemon and parsley. Tasted amazing.
For main we had Magret de Canard- roasted breast of Barbary duck on garlic mash, savoy cabbage & red wine jus, everything about this dish was good. There are no words, you have to try it for yourself.
We were both bursting by the time we had finished and couldn’t sample any of the deserts although we were rather tempted, we opted for a cup of tea while watching the world go by.

One of the best things about this place is the price. All starters apart from the specials are £3.95, and all the mains are £7.95- which makes it incredibly affordable. We were able to pay £15 each for a 2 course meal with drinks and tip- and it was high quality. It’s not like a posh restaurant you don’t feel uncomfortable using your fingers to eat the mussels, and they do put a lot of table in- but not so much so that it compromises the whole experience.

Mussels, Naomi Winters

Duck, Naomi Winters

Le Mercury
140A Upper Street
London
N1 1QY
Telephone: 020 7354 4088
Visit their website
Le Mercury on Urbanspoon

February 13, 2011

Valentines Cupcakes Part 2

Valentines, Naomi Winters

This recipe is exactly the same as the other one, except with fruit instead of chocolate and coconut. Its a very basic sponge mix but it works so well. This was my first attempt at using a piping bag- I’ve recently bought one but never used it so this was a new experience for me. I think it worked quite well, although I did make a lot of mess getting the icing into the bag!

Blueberry and Cherry Cupcakes.

For the Cake:
125g/ 4oz caster sugar
125g/ 4oz self raising flour
125g/ 4oz unsalted butter
2 free range eggs
Vanilla Essence
Blueberries
Cherries

For the icing:
500g/ 1lb 1 1/4oz icing sugar
160g/ 5 1/4oz butter
Vanilla Essence
50ml/ 1 3/4oz milk
pink food colouring
Ingredients, Naomi Winters

1. Beat together the butter and sugar until creamy.
2. Beat in the eggs.
3. Gradually fold in the flour, vanilla essence, fruit (you can substitute with raspberries, strawberries etc).
4. Divide into the cake cases.
5. Bake at 180C/350F/Gas 4 in a pre-heated over for approx 20 mins.
6. Take out and leave to cool.
7. Cream the icing sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla essence and food colouring. Gradually whisk in enough milk to form a smooth paste.
8. Spoon the icing into a piping bag and pipe the icing over the cake.

Valentines, Naomi Winters

Valentines, Naomi Winters

Valentines, Naomi Winters

February 13, 2011

Valentines Cupcakes Part 1

love hearts, Naomi Winters

To celebrate the season of love I decided to get my bake on and make some very pink cakes. Not that I need an excuse to use pink icing. I made two different types of cake and in this post I will tell you about the first.

Chocolate chip and Coconut Love heart cakes.

For the Cake:
125g/ 4oz caster sugar
125g/ 4oz self-raising flour
125g/ 4oz unsalted butter
2 free range eggs
Vanilla Essence
Chocolate Chips
Desiccated coconut

For the icing:
500g/ 1lb 1 1/4oz icing sugar
160g/ 5 1/4oz butter
Vanilla Essence
50ml/ 1 3/4oz milk
pink food colouring
Love hearts
love hearts, Naomi Winters

1. Beat together the butter and sugar until creamy.
2. Beat in the eggs.
3. Gradually fold in the flour, vanilla essence, chocolate chips and coconut.
4. Divide into the cake cases.
5. Bake at 180C/350F/Gas 4 in a pre-heated over for approx 20 mins.
6. Take out and leave to cool.
7. Cream the icing sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla essence and food colouring. Gradually whisk in enough milk to form a smooth paste.
8. Spoon the icing into a piping bag and pipe the icing over the cake. Decorate with Love hearts.

love hearts, Naomi Winters

love hearts, Naomi Winters

Love Hearts, Naomi Winters

Love Hearts, Naomi Winters

Love Hearts, Naomi Winters

February 8, 2011

Borough Market

Borough Market in London Bridge is by far my favourite food market in London. Although possibly not on a weekend as that is when it seems to be everyone else favourite too.
From olives to cheese, to freshly squeezed apple juice, it has so much delicious food on offer. Most stalls have tasters too, and if your actually planning to buy they will let you have a taste of most of the range to decide which you like best.
These photos were actually taken a few months ago, but I felt it was still relavant.

Borough Market by Naomi Winters

Borough Market by Naomi Winters

Borough Market by Naomi Winters

February 7, 2011

Snowboarding

Over the Christmas holidays I ate a lot of food. This of course is a given for most people at this time of year. However I was particularly spoilt this year. I went on holiday to Corcheval snowboarding with my family and stayed in a Chalet where I was cooked for everyday. The food was in my opinion amazing. Every evening we had a selection a canapés before sitting down to a 3 course meal followed by cheese. Needless to say I didn’t lose any weight while I was away!
Below are a couple of photographs I took with the Hipstomatic App on my Iphone as I didn’t take my DSLR with me. The two meals are scallops, and duck, with a chocolate tart to end. These photographs really do not do it justice.


February 3, 2011

Fire And Stone

Fire & Stone

Christmas Pizza- A little bit late I know, but still.

Just before Christmas a group of us who contribute to the Young and Poor had our Christmas dinner at Fire and Stone. For those of you who don’t know the restaurant it specialises in very odd pizzas. For example, curry on pizza. Their standard pizza menu is divided up into continents, and the toppings are what you would expect to eat in that continent.

Thier Christmas special pizza had Turkey, gravy, roast potatoes, stuffing, cranberry and brie toppings. Even to those who that didn’t sound nice to- we were all intrigued!

So we booked a table for the restuarant in Sptialfields market, bought our own crackers, and sat down for some festive fun.

As is always the way with this group their was lots of giggling and laughing about silly things. We had a selection of their starters including calamari and crispy wonton king prawns which were very nice.

The pizza was so much better than I imagined it to be. It just worked. I was a little bit aprehensive about what the combination would taste like, but also quite excited as I love Christmas dinner, and I love pizza. And it didn’t dissapoint.

The gravy was spread like you would normally spread tomato puree on the base, and then thin slices of turkey layered up like cheese or pepperoni. The cranberry sauce and brie complimented it really well and made sure that it didnt taste too dry.

Sadly this pizza is only a Christmas special, but if you like the sound of these combinations it is definately worth a visit.

Fire & Stone

Fire & Stone
Fire & Stone on Urbanspoon