Tuna and Mushroom Spaghetti

Her turn to cook today and a quick, but tasty dinner is what she makes, which is some kind of Tuna and Mushroom stirred into Spaghetti with peas, creme fraiche and dried chilli flakes. About 3 quarters of the way through cooking, I hear cursing from the kitchen and and warning not to come in as asthetically the dish doesn't measure up to her standards. Indeed a peek over her shoulder reveals a mess of spaghetti, tinned tuna flakes and crème fraiche - but once on the tongue it tastes just fine.

Tuna and mushroom spaghetti

Pea and Prawn Risotto

Risotto. Usually it's something that I associate with the cooler parts of the year, perhaps a mushroom risotto in autumn, but the sweetness of vegetable and sweetness of shellfish in Pea and Prawn Risotto does seem to suit a balmy summer evening with a glass of Rosé. Lovely.

Pea and prawn risotto

St. John Bread & Wine, London

The menu

Often when I'm in London on a weekday for work I like to meet up with my sister or another capital based friend and take on one of the Big Smoke's restaurants. My sister, never a slouch when it comes to fashion, as per her blog, or choosing a restaurant takes me to St. John Bread & Wine, a restaurant serving British dishes opposite trendy Spitalfields Market.
We arrive at 6.45pm into a dining room that is as sparsely decorated as it is sparsely populated at this time, with the kitchen and bakery behind a tall bar at the rear of the room. The menu is not in the traditional style of starters, mains and desserts, but rather the single A4 sheet has a list of dishes that are rather like British tapas, which my Sis and I share.
The first dish to arrive was Globe Artichoke, Hen's Egg & Cress. The egg is hard boiled with just a smidge of liquid yolk at it's centre and the artichoke came as a cold, stiff cream which actually worked really well the cress, egg and crispy breadcrumbs.

Globe artichoke, hen's egg & cress

Next came Sweetbreads, Peas and Bacon. The sweetbreads being not as crispy as I usually like it and the peas were a tad al dente for my taste, but the resulting sauce on the plate was superb, excellent for soaking up with our bread.

Sweetbreads, peas & bacon

Next was Potted Hare followed in quick succession by one of the specials: Rabbit, Carrot and Pig's Trotter. The hare came cold and was in effect a rough pate and was well complemented by a surprisingly tangy pickled chicory. I expected, as special that the rabbit would be better than it was, although it was tender, it was also underseasoned.

Rabbit, carrot & trotter

Potted hare

After these 4 simply presented dishes, some olives (adequate), some bread (decent) and a glass of wine each, we are both quite full so decide to share a dessert of Honey Mousse and Prunes. The mousse was surprisingly light and was a delicate counterpoint to the heavier, juicy prunes.

Honey mousse & prunes

By the time we finish, the restaurant was packed and the lack of soft furnishings in the place are very much apparent as the room is now quite loud. Overall, we spent £30 each and though the food was decent it was not as good as the hype I had heard about the place. Good, very good even, worth a visit, but not worth the hype.

Chicken Biryani

I am reminded today why I try not to do any shopping above the necessary on a Saturday as to get half a dozen items from the supermarket costs me half an hour. Arriving home a little annoyed my bare knuckles smarting a little from the biting wind, I put together a simple Chicken Biryani to warm from the inside out; quite a change from most days this week, how fickle the mood of an English Spring. Despite a childhood hatred of peas, I respect them in this context where they provide pockets of sweet relief against the spicy hotness of the chicken and rice.

Chicken biryani

 

Lemon and Chilli Spaghetti

A simple Italian theme today with Lemon and Chilli Spaghetti. Spaghetti tossed in an dressing of lemon zest and juice, olive oil, grated Parmesan cheese, freshly chopped chilli, salt and pepper. A scatter of steamed sugarsnap peas lie on top.
Whilst pottering around the kitchen I come across an unopened bottle of Guinness which gets me thinking about St Patrick's Day this coming Saturday...

Lemon and chilli spaghetti with sugarsnap peas

 

Not-enough-rice Risotto

The intention here was to whip up a Prawn and Pea Risotto, but compared to when I made it last time, I don't have enough rice, just the bottom of the packet and no fresh parsley for garnishing. It still tastes good despite the proportions being wrong. There is one upside to today's dinner in that I use a slightly different technique for slicing the leeks, instead of rounds I cut them in half longitudinally before slicing finely. The result is that the leeks meld better into the mixture even though it's a Not-enough-rice Risotto.

Not-enough-rice risotto

 

Grilled Pork Chop and Sugarsnap Peas

Further porky themes for today's dinner with a Grilled Pork Chop and Sugarsnap Peas. I briefly marinade the chop in mustard and maple syrup (disappointing classicists everywhere for I have no honey); a few minutes later and it's on the grill until the fat pops and blackens under the heat. Application of light pressure to half a lemon yields a few drops of juice splashing onto the meat. I perch the chop on some wilted spinach with a dash of soy sauce and slide some blanched sugarsnap peas onto the side of the plate.
I find that pork always takes well to sweet flavours, but it's the salty zing of soy sauce with a hint of lemon that really makes the dish here.

Grilled pork chop and sugarsnap peas

 

Smoked Salmon & Pea Frittata

A beautifully bright day today, only a couple of degrees of Springtime was a nice quip I heard earlier, which sums up nicely the nature of it so with that in mind, a dish for Spring is Smoked Salmon and Pea Frittata.

Cooking the frittata, the eggs are starting to set

Some sliced new potatoes, are added to beaten eggs with peas, celery, chives before adding strips of smoked salmon. It's all going very well, the eggs are starting to set and very soon it is time to flip. The 'proper' way to do this is put a dinner plate over the pan, before quickly inverting the plate and pan, then sliding the almost set frittata back into the pan so the bottom cooks. I feel quite pleased with myself having done this and it's only some time later that I find some uncooked egg mix on the other side of my kitchen which must have flown out in the flipping process.
As for the dish itself, I find more punchy flavours like chorizo suit it better, though this is still edible. Also such things are better cold, so maybe it will improve with an evening in the fridge...

Smoked salmon & pea frittata

The Boathouse, Cambridge

I'm not sure which was the dinner today, the Beef & Ruddles Ale Pie I had in The Boathouse, Cambridge after work or the three pints of filling Guinness. The food is typical of a corporate Greene King pub in that it is mass produced but serviceable, the peas and the potato mash barely veil the former, but the pie itself I find quite pleasing as it has pastry all around it containing the beef and gravy. Establishments which advertise a pie, only for it to come out as a pastry lid covering the contents in an individual ceramic bowl with no pastry lining it, I find particularly annoying. That is clearing not a pie!

Prawn and Pea Risotto

Seems like a while since I've had any fish so I take inspiration from Italy and make a Prawn and Pea Risotto. There aren't too many dishes involving fish that can be described as a winter warmers; for me our water-dwelling friends are usually best in summer dishes (grilled with salsa, fried with a salad, etc), but this is a rare example of a warming fish dish. Perhaps fish curry and seafood pie are the others? Though having said that, this risotto is more reminiscent of Spring with the sweetness of the peas hinting of warmer days to come.

Prawn and pea risotto

Oven bags

Keeping things simple today with Chicken drumsticks, boiled Exquisa potatoes with steamed Sugarsnap peas. I cook the chicken in the oven using one of those oven bag and seasoning kits, which I guess effectively steams the chicken in it’s own juices and keeps it moist, which it does, though the seasoning tastes a bit artificial. Nonetheless, the chicken is complemented well by the nutty potatoes and crisp, sweet peas. There is quite a bit of juice in the bag after so I use a little for gravy.

It is only recently that I have seen these oven bags in the shops and guessing that they are a fairly new technological development, decided to try one. The bag is a very thin, transparent plastic material and shows no sign of melting like traditional plastic when the heat of the oven is applied. My thoughts turn to those undoubtedly brilliant materials scientists who created this fantastic product with ideas for a myriad of cool applications, only for some bright spark in marketing to create an oven bag.

Chicken, potatoes and peas