and just tuck in
Situated in the leafy neighbourhood of Hornsey on a Sunday morning Alexandra Palace places host to a farmers market. Open from 10am to 3pm, full of tasty delights for foodies and non foodies alike. Whether you are looking for a nice cut of Welsh lamb or just out for a tasty snack, there is plenty to see.
I often use the ready-made pastry if I’m trying to make a pie quickly, but home-made pastry is by far more yummy.
If you want to make your own pastry follow this recipe, make sure you have cold hands (something I never have so have to have about a hundred windows open while I’m cooking) and put on an apron.
These quantities are perfect for pie making, so just reduce or increase the amounts depending on what you are baking. If you want the pastry to be more buttery, just add a little more butter.
I hosted a dinner party on St Patrick’s Day with the hope that everyone would bring Irish inspired food or at least food that was green. I was the only one that followed that theme! However we did have lots of yummy food and a jolly good time. Here are a selection of the dishes we ate that night.
I wanted to make a traditional Irish dish to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. I looked up several different recipes on the internet for the best way to cook with bacon and cabbage, and the general consensus was boil all the ingredients and then put on a plate. So I thought I would see what I could do. I decided to use smoked bacon as this would give it a slightly different flavour to the traditional dish.
I visited the Bills in Covent Garden with a close friend. I have been to the branch in Reading and in Brighton before but have never had my camera with me. I really like the style of the restaurant, how their produce lines the walls, the relaxed cafe atmosphere, and delicious food.
Little bit late I know, but how many people give up the ingredients in pancakes these days? Mostly its things like chocolate or whatever it is you have been trying to cut down on since you made your new years resolution but have failed miserably.
Basic Pancake batter
4oz plain flour
2oz butter
2 Eggs
10 fl oz milk
Pinch of salt
1. Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it.
3. Then begin whisking the eggs -incorporating any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl as you do so.
4. Next gradually add small quantities of the milk and water mixture, still whisking (don’t worry about any lumps as they will eventually disappear as you whisk).
5. Melt the 50g/2oz of butter in a pan. Spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk it in, then pour the rest into a bowl and use it to lubricate the pan, using a wodge of kitchen paper to smear it round before you make each pancake.
So these are some of the pancakes I made to celebrate me not giving up anything for Lent.
Bacon, mushroom, tomato and cheese pancake, finished off with 5 minutes under the grill to melt the cheese.
Fresh blueberries, sugar and sour cream, yum yum yum!
Family roast.
Head chef Hannah, sous chefs Naomi/Alicia.
As it should be on a Sunday afternoon we all got together and cooked a traditional English roast. Lovely roast chicken covered in strips of bacon, delicious roast parsnips, potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and broccoli. And of course home-made gravy. It was truly amazing even if I do say so myself and I wish I had the time/inclination to make a roast every week.
This is a similar recipe to a previous post- the Goats cheese and tomato tart. However this one is using sweet potato instead of regular potatoes. I’ve had a little bit of a thing lately for sweet potato- literally eating it all the time. Its great though as it counts as one of your 5 a day as well as being a carb.
So this recipe can be adapted to have any topping you like- for me that’s whatever is in my fridge and needs eating up. The tomato is a must though- provides a bit of moisture, and the cheese is to me essential just because I can’t live without cheese.
Abandon Spoon! 