taste2taste

September 18, 2016

Scrambled Eggs & Mushrooms – Tasty, Healthy Brunch

This week typifies our British obsession with weather. We had the hottest September day since 1911 at 34.5C (94F), sunshine, thunderstorms, lightening, a month’s rain in 24 hours, floods, hailstones, and by the end of the week back to more typical weather for Autumn. One of my favourite weekend brunch dishes is scrambled eggs and this recipe is easy, low carb & can be dairy-free too.

Ingredients

2 medium eggs, at room temperature
3 brown mushrooms, mini portobello work well
handful of rocket (arugula)
a few baby tomatoes
fresh chives, chopped
knob of butter & vegetable oil (for dairy free)
freshly ground sea salt & black pepper

Method

Clean the mushrooms, remove the stalk & trim around the cap (see picture)
Mushrooms ready to grill (broil)
Brush with a little vegetable oil & season with sea salt & black pepper
Grill (broil) under a medium heat for 3-4 minutes
Melt the butter or vegetable oil if dairy free in a small saucepan on a medium/low heat
Beat the eggs in a small bowl, season & add to the pan, stirring continuously
Add a few chopped chives keeping some aside
Cook the scrambled eggs for 3 minutes
Pile the eggs on top of mushrooms
Decorate with some chopped chives, tomatoes & rocket (arugula).

My tasty, healthy scrambled eggs filled mushrooms – a healthy, low carb & dairy free brunch.

September 11, 2016

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Celebrate with a Cocktail – My Passionfruit Caipirinha

There have been lots of celebrations recently with friends & family getting exam results, College & University places. I have been meaning to make some cocktails, having found a bottle of Cachaça at the back of my drinks cupboard. Cachaça is a Brazilian spirit made from fermenting sugar cane juice. Although fairly similar to light rum it is distilled to a lower alcohol strength, so is less refined and retains more of the aroma & flavour of sugar cane. If you don’t have Cachaça you can use a light rum or alternatively vodka, which is called a Caipiroska. I have also created an alcohol free version adding some fresh lychees. These cocktails are in honour of the amazing sporting achievements at #Rio2016Paralympics . The competitors will be on strict dietary regimes so will have to rely on friends & family to celebrate their performance with a cocktail.

Ingredients

Sugar Syrup

60g (2.1oz) sugar, I used golden demerara
30g (1 oz) cold water
Finely grated zest of a fresh lime (optional)
1 stick of fresh lemongrass (optional)

Cocktail

2 fresh lime each cut into eight pieces
2 fresh passion fruit, cut in half using seeds, pulp & juice
2 fresh lychees, peeled, stone removed & chopped (for Mocktail)
20ml (0.7 fl oz) sugar syrup
50 ml (1.7 fl oz) Cachaça ( or white rum or vodka)
freshly made ice cubes
1 stick of lemongrass, ends removed

To make the sugar syrup:

Infusing the sugar syrup

Put the sugar and water into a small saucepan
If using lemongrass remove the outer leaves, the ends and bash gently with the back of the knife to release the flavour, cut into two and add to the pan along with the lime zest
Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved
Cool & put into a glass container & store in the fridge

Passionfruit Caipirinha

To make the Caipirinha Cocktail:

Put the pieces from one lime into a glass & carefully press down with a wooden spoon to release the juice ( known as muddling)
Add the Cachaça, sugar syrup, pulp & seeds from 1 passionfruit & stir
Top up with ice & serve with a lime wedge & a lemongrass stick to stir (optional)

Passionfruit, Lime & Lychee Mocktail – Alcohol Free

To make the Mocktail:

As above but use the lychees instead of the Cachaça & sugar syrup

Celebrate a taste of Brazil!

August 25, 2016

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Our London Food & Drink Picks: Hackney Wick- Borough Market – Spitalfields

London has some great foodie hotspots with local businesses popping up all the time especially in East & South East London.

Crate Brewery bar & pizzeria

From established food markets to lesser known small artisan businesses food culture continues to change, grow & develop. With Simon over from New York visiting family it was a good opportunity to take taste2taste on a foodie tour & share some of our faves with you. In an earshot of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Hackney Wick is Crate Brewery, (cratebrewery.com).

Mine’s a cider

Located in a former sweet factory with a cool, industrial vibe, overlooking the Lee Navigation Canal, Crate specialise in craft beers & pizza. They feature a range of 9 Crate brews on tap, made on site & some specials . They also stock guest bottles of lager, IPA, pale, dark, wheat, lambic, saison & fruit varieties, wine and soft drinks including kombucha (fermented sparkling tea). There is a great choice of home made pizzas with interesting toppings including Middle Eastern lamb; & courgette, feta, red onion & gremolata as well as classics like Margarita & spicy salami. We decided to try the sage & truffle and Kashmiri dahl (picture at the top). Dahl on a pizza you may think sounds weird! It actually works brilliantly with the crispy thin base topped with dahl (Indian cooked lentils), spinach, chilli, mango chutney, yoghurt & coriander – a tasty balance of savoury, sweet & spice.

Beer with a view – did they win gold?

The sage & truffle featured grated potato, crispy sage leaves, parmesan & truffle oil – very savoury and the perfect accompaniment to some beer.

Roll out the barrel

We tried the special Passionfruit & Hibiscus Fruit Beer, pink, cloudy & flowery; Crate IPA (Cascade & Chinook hops 5.8%) , refreshingly hoppy with citrus notes and Sea salt Cider, tangy & appley with a gentle sparkle. Sitting outside with the canal boats, cyclists and some thirsty punters paddling up for a beer stop in their kayak. A great location for a leisurely lunch enjoying the Summer sun.

Howling Hops: 1- 10 decisions?

There are a few craft breweries in the area including Howling Hops -UK’s first Tank bar – serving beer direct from tank as opposed to cask or keg, with 10 varieties on offer (howlinghops.co.uk) On our way out we passed the brewery and suddenly a strong aroma of coffee wafted in our direction. We discovered The Roasting Shed (theroastingshed.com), micro coffee roasters started by Ricardo from Quindio, Columbia. He learnt all about growing & roasting coffee from family & friends back home. The business has grown in 3 years from garden shed to the current base in Queens Yard.

Roasting in action

We chatted with Neil, a qualified Barista trainer & roaster who honed his skills in Guatemala.

Marvelous macchiato

He expertly made us Macchiatos made from 100% freshly roasted Kenyan beans – a great balance of sweet, tongue tingling flavours with a hint of acidity – & welcome injection of caffeine after lunch.

We then headed for what is one of the most well known food markets in London – Borough Market. We visited on a day when there were only a limited number of stalls but still managed to taste a few samples of Swiss & French cheeses and fudge from Whirld (whirld.co.uk) from the classic rum & raisin to the more unusual liquorice. We then headed for Gelateria 3Bis (gelateria3bis.co.uk) recommended by my good friend Louise who had visited their 2 shops in Rimini, Italy. Their London shop is opposite the market in Park Street and they make small batches of Italian gelato, sorbet & frozen yoghurt on site . We tried the Eton Mess, marscapone & fig and pistachio flavours – sweet, creamy & smooth and very popular especially with the Mediterranean like weather. Our final destination was Old Spitalfields Market, where we meandered round the fashion, jewellery & accessories stalls before heading to Brick Lane.

Chocolate Heaven

As we took in the street art & atmosphere the restauranteurs were in friendly competition encouraging us to try their Indian food which we declined as we already had plans to visit Dark Sugars (darksugars.co.uk) one of my favourite chocolate shops. As we entered we experienced the rich aromas & the truffles, pearls & chocolates, beautifully displayed on polished wooden bowls. My particular favourites are the orange & cardamon & gin & lime truffles and they also carry a good range of vegan chocolates. They looked very tempting but we opted for a cool iced latte, sipping, people watching & chatting about our next food adventure.