Khao Soi with Chicken

I've never eaten out to have Thai food but lately I've been curious to try and attempt some Thai cuisine. It all looks so fresh and healthy as nothing is fried, nor do they use high fat content ingredients.

This recipe is a Thai chicken noodle soup and the fragrance and taste are just exquisite!

This is so quick to rustle up, hardly any prep required and the visual effect of the dish is simply stunning....whoever you cook this for will be impressed.

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 400ml coconut milk
• 500g skinless chicken breast, cut into bit sized pieces
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1tsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)
• 4 nests dried egg noodles

To garnish:

• chopped red cabbage
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• Sriracha sauce
• fresh coriander leaves
• 1 lime, cut into quarters

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over a high heat. Add the curry paste and stir-fry for a few seconds. Pour in the coconut milk and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the red oil rises to the surface. Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes or until cooked through.

Add the fish sauce, dark soy sauce and palm/brown sugar, bring the mix to the boil, then turn off the heat. Taste it - it should be slightly salty but balanced.

Cook the egg noodles until tender, according to the instructions on the packet, then drain and divide among serving bowls.

Ladle the curry on top of the noddles, then garnish with the cabbage, shallots, sriracha sauce and coriander. Serve with the lime wedges for squeezing. 

Tip: this is best made fresh, but will keep for up to 2 days in the fridge. To make it advance, use boneless chicken thighs - they will stay more tender than breasts.

Thai Fish Cakes

I've been on somewhat of I health kick lately, mainly because I've put on a little weight since I started writing my blog and wanted to get back into shape. The other reason is I have a few holidays coming up so want to look my best in my bikini!

I have decided to cut down on my meat intake and eat more fish and veggie meals.

What I love about these fish cakes is the flavour and smell is so amazingly fresh, you'll honestly want to eat them as soon as you can!

These are easy to make and I recommend you have everything chopped/greated before you start to make your life easy.

I served mine with some jasmine rice and sweet chilli sauce but a salad would work well also.

Ingredients:

• 500g cod fillets, finely chopped
• 1 lemongrass stick, outer layers discarded and finely chopped
• 3.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• handful fresh coriander, finely chopped
• finsely grated zest of 1 lime
• 1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 egg white
• 3 tbsp groundnut oil

In a food processor, whizz the fish, lemon grass, ginger and garlic to a paste. Put into a bowl and mix in the coriander, lime zest, red pepper and chilli, flour, soy sauce and egg white.

Heat the oil in a saucepan on a medium-high heat. Once the saucepan is hot, cook batches of the fish cakes for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Serve the fish cakes with rice or salad.

Bon appétit!

Cheese Straws

There's something nostalgic about cheese straws for me. They conjure up memories of my Grandma, she was an amazing cook and baked some pretty epic cakes etc. She would make the most mouth wateringly moreish cheese straws and I couldn't get enough of them!

I tend to only make these at Christmas time, don't ask me why, I don't know! Maybe it's because it's one of the only times my entire family are together at the same time and it's my way of having my Grandma with us.

These are so cheesy and moreish and once you have one, you'll end up eating half your weight in them!

You can make whatever shapes you want with these, I tend to just keep them straight cut. If I'm feeling artistic then I'll twist them.

Ingredients:

• 375g plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 225g butter
• 200g mature cheddar
• pinch of English mustard powder
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 2 egg yolks

Sift the flour and salt in a bowl. Using your fingertips, rub in the butter until all the lumps are gone and the texture is like fine breadcrumbs. Add the cheese, mustard powder, cayenne pepper and the egg yolks. Add 4-5 tbsp of cold water and mix well to form a dough.

Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Line several baking sheets with baking paper. Roll out the dough, roughly half a cm thick and cut into strips. Carefully transfer to the baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown, then leave to cool on a cooling rack before serving. 

The Ultimate Macaroni Cheese

I'm obsessed with pasta dishes, especially those containing cheese and the more the better! I'm almost certain I was a mouse in a past life as I have been known to eat my weight in cheese on certain days!

This version contains FIVE different kinds of cheese plus crispy pancetta, this is seriously what dreams are made of, talk about a party in my mouth!

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 300g macaroni pasta 
• 250ml double cream
• 100g Red Leicester cheese, grated 
• 100g strong cheddar cheese, grated
• 100g Gorgonzola, cut into small chunks 
• 1/4 freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 mozzarella balls, drained and cut into 1cm cubes
• 3 egg yolks
• 150g pancetta, fried until crispy 
• 100g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper 

Preheat the oven to 2320C/450F/gas mark 7.

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan with plenty of boiling salted water until al dente. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and place back in the saucepan away from the heat.

Pour in the cream along with the Red Leicester, Cheddar, and Gorgonzola cheese. Return the saucepan to a low heat and use a wooden spoon to mix everything together for 1 minute.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the nutmeg, the mozzarella, the egg yolks, the pancetta and half the Parmesan cheese. Season with a little salt, plenty of black pepper and stir everything together for a good 30 seconds.

Tip the mixture into a shallow-sided oven proof dish, sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese on top and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until it is bubbling and blistering on top.

Serve immediately with salad or some veg....bon appétit!

Straight out of the oven & ready to serve!

Borough Market

I've been to Borough Market once before, a few years ago and wanted to go back again. Mainly because I'm greedy and wanted to stuff my face with all of the amazing food samples you get and to buy lots of goodies and gauge on my purchases, but also, so I could show you all just how amazing this food market is that we have in London.

It's very accessible, the closest station is London Bridge and it is literally a two minute walk to the market. You can also drive, there is a car park with £10 parking all day which is a 3 minute walk from the market.

There are so many different types of cheese, cured meats, breads, cakes, fruit, vegetables, fish, meats, jams....the list goes on!

Caught reading the history of a cheese!

Some of the amazing cheeses

It's such a great day out looking at all the beautiful stalls, taking photos, trying out new foods and buying what you love. You have street food also so can have lunch on the go or find a nice quiet spot to sit down, especially if the weather is beautiful like we were lucky enough to have.

Indian Street Food

                 

                  Soul Food Stall

Raclette

I had my lunch from Soul Food, I had the most amazing beef and salad wrap and it was just so fresh and flavoursome.

Dogs are also welcome, although if you have a small dog then I would suggest carrying them as it is very crowded!

Stuck on date ideas?? Take her/him to Borough Market! It will be a different but fun date and you can really get talking and get to know each other whilst eating some delicious foods and sweet temptations.

I highly recommend arriving early (it's open 8am-5pm) as certain stalls are very popular and famous for certain delicacies! The Bread Ahead stall is one to get to early, their doughnuts are extremely popular with flavours you cannot find in the supermarkets. I found this out the hard way!! We arrived and the chocolate ones were all gone so I got the hazelnut one which was utterly AHHHH-MAAAHHHH-ZIIIIIIIING!!!!  They had also sold out of the salted caramel with butterscotch which was upsetting but is an excuse to go back! I decided to carry on looking around before buying more doughnuts, only to go back later and find they were completely sold out! I could have cried!!!

Bread Ahead Doughnuts

Focaccia

Bakery

There is also a stand that sells jams and jellies from Grenada...I cannot recommend this enough!! Their pepper jelly is to die for!!! It's so sweet and moorish and goes with just about everything! You can have it on it's own on toast/bagels or with chicken, fish etc.

Beautiful fruit & veg

oils, pestos & fois gras

La Grenade Stall

We also bought some jerk seasoning paste, traditional and with honey. I cannot wait to use this and serve with some salad for a nice, healthy meal.

I also bought some more cheese, cakes (couldn't go back empty handed with nothing for my brother!), fresh juices and a rack of lamb for my dinner (look for my herb rusted lamb post which is already up!).

Amazing cheese

Italian Sanwiches

Piadina Sandwiches

You'll be spoilt for choice, your kitchen will be stocked with new food, your belly will be happy but your wallet will be lighter...it isn't cheap but it's worth it and you know that everything is made fresh, they're things you can't buy on the high street and it's such a fun day out.

Let me know of any other food markets you know and love, I'd love to try other ones out!

Seller giving samples

Giant Cookies

Chocolate

Triple Layered Chocolate Cake

So, I really wasn't exaggerating when I claimed to be a major chocoholic! What I love about this cake is that it is part sponge and part mousse! It's rich without being far too indulgent, the sponge base is moist and almost brownie like, the milk chocolate mousse is rich and creamy, the white chocolate mousse is sweet, light and fluffy...it's a joy to eat and is beautiful to look at!

I have adapted a Mary Berry recipe quite a lot for this recipe and added the white chocolate layer. I have used milk chocolate instead of dark, to make it less rich and I'm very pleased with the end result.

I used a 20inch spring form cake tin, lined with grease proof paper and ensured there was a high neck for the cake has 3 layers so will be higher than the cake tin.


Ingredients:

• 25g cocoa powder
• 3tbsp boiling water
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g self raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 100g unsalted butter
• 2 eggs

For the milk chocolate mousse:

• 300g Green & Blacks milk chocolate
• 450ml double cream

For the white chocolate mousse:

• 200g white chcolate
• 6 eggs whites
• 2tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 180C/160F/gas mark 4. 

Put the cocoa powder into a large bowl and pour the boiling water onto the cocoa powder and mix to make a paste. Add the sugar, flour, baking powder, butter and eggs, and beat until smooth.

Spoon into the prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

To make the milk chocolate mousse, place the chocolate in a bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water, stirring until melted and smooth. Take care not to let the chocolate get too hot. Set aside to cool a little.

Whip the cream until just forming soft peaks, fold into the melted chocolate until smooth and not streaky. Spoon over the cold cake, still in it;s tin, and level the top with a palette knife. Put in the fridge to set for a few hours.

To make the white chocolate mousse, place the chocolate in a bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water, until melted and smooth. Add the 2tbsp of milk and mix well. 

Whisk the egg whites until the form stiff peaks and then gently fold into the white chocolate mixture. Spoon over the milk chocolate mousse, level the top with a palette knife, cover with clingfilm then put in the fridge to set overnight. 

Voila, your cake is ready to eat!