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Archive for the ‘Kid Friendly’ Category
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 by urban foodie
 Gastropub, the word can sometimes fill me with fear. The worst are cash-ins with no love of food, middle range is full to the brim with either pretentious overpriced offerings or clearly overstreched establishments who are jack of all master of none types. Occasionally though you happen upon a pub that cares about its food, drink and ambiance and performs excellently in each.
The Cricket Inn, Totley, South Yorkshire (just outside Sheffield) is one, a lovely little gem on the outskirts of Sheffield.
We we seated at a table by the fire, very welcome on this damp fresh spring evening, and had a short agonising time over starters (always my favourites) until we realised we could have a bit of everything to share. Local mini sausages, real pork scratchings, fish goujons, whitebait, spare ribs, home made bread and dips with chips arrived on a wooden board and in little aluminium pails - gorgeously presented and a real delight to eat, all washed down with excellent red wine (the ladies) and well kept ales (the gents).
Main courses also didn’t disappoint with bold flavours, pies, cheese topped fish, and big portions - so large in fact I couldn’t finish mine (unheard of, I assure you).
No room for pudding I’m afraid but they looked to be carrying on the great strong cooking coming out of the kitchen, if the treacle tart that wafted past me was anything to go by.
All in all a real delight, so if you ever find yourselves on the outskirts of Sheffield in need of some good grub…
4.5/5
The Cricket Inn
Totley, South Yorkshire
S17 3AZ
0114-236 5256
Tags: sheffield pub, sheffield restaurant
Posted in Kid Friendly, Not London Eating | No Comments »
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 by urban foodie
 Last week I found myself with a glut of browning bananas - not sure how it happened as usually the bananas run out just before the veg box day, but this time there were just tons.
Rather than see them waste away I decided to make a banana loaf, a classic hearty cake that is perfect for a teatime treat. As it also lasts for ages you can enjoy the treat well into the working week.
As always with classic recipes I turned to Delia and the Good Housekeeping (a vintage gem, ours has hilarious photos of endless beige food, mostly in aspic, but is a great reference). Delia had a lovely easy version with bananas and walnuts. It really is a doddle, just assemble and bake. I didn’t have a loaf tin but the £1 shop down the road had packets of aluminium take out trays that were just perfect for the job (12cmx20cm at top).
Now I’m no baker but you’ve got to admit that is a pretty fine loaf, and it tasted as good as it looked. Not too sweet with a rich nuttiness and fruity banana flavour cut through by the citrus zest.
Ingredients
From Delia’s Complete Cookery
75g very soft butter/margarine
1 teaspoon baking powder
110g caster suger
1 large egg
225g plain flour
4 ripe medium bananas
1 orange
1 lemon
50g walnuts
1 Preheat oven to 180 C, Grease loaf tin, roughly chop walnuts, beat egg and zest lemon and orange
2 Put butter, sugar and egg into a large mixing bowl
3 Sift in flour and baking powder
4 Mix well (it will look a bit dry but don’t worry the bananas will sort that out)
5 Mash bananas with a fork and add to mixture with lemon and orange zests and walnuts
6 Mix well and pour into tin
7 Bake on middle shelf for 50-55 mins (it’s ready when it looks golden and springs back when pressed)
8 Cool in tin for 10 mins before turning out onto cooling rack (use a knife to loosen the edges) - store in kitchen roll in a cake tin for up to 4 days (maybe longer, it was finished by then in my house). Serve with a nice cup of tea
Tags: banana, banana bread, banana walnut loaf, walnut
Posted in Kid Friendly, Recipes | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 by urban foodie
 Trying to fit in your weekly portion of oily fish can sometimes be a bit of a strech for the imagination. For some reason I never cook salmon, don’t know why, it seems to have dropped off my radar. Maybe I should think about a salmon recipe next… But this is a delicious and easy recipe that uses smoked haddock or mackerel.
Traditionally it is a breakfast recipe, great for Saturday lunch/brunch, but I also like it for a weekday supper. A tasty dish that makes you feel like a Victorian!
When I want to make a traditional recipe I always turn to the master Delia and this is an adaptation of one of hers.
Ingredients
150ml rice (measure in a measuring jug)
300ml water/poaching liquid
450g smoked haddock/smoked mackerel
70g butter
1 onion
3/4 teaspoon hot curry powder
2 eggs
3 tablespoons fresh parsley
100g peas
1/2 lemon
S&P
1 Put the room temperature eggs into just boiling water and simmer for 1 minute, take off heat and cover, put to one side to finish cooking
2 If using smoked haddock poach for about 7 mins in about a pint of water - if using smoked mackerel skip this step
3 Chop onion and fry gently for 5 mins in 2/3 of the butter, add curry powder, fry for half a minute
4 Add rice and stir, add the water/cooking liquid, stir once and cover, simmer very gently for 15 minutes.
5 After 10 minutes add peas
6 Flake fish, chop eggs and parsley and add to pan with a squeeze of lemon and the last knob of butter. I like it piping hot but it can also be eaten warm.
Tags: curry, easy supper, Eggs, oily fish, Quick Supper, rice
Posted in Kid Friendly, Recipes | 1 Comment »
Friday, February 6th, 2009 by urban foodie
 Despite being and avid cook I had never made a risotto. I have eaten many but never made one, that’s Mr UF’s domain, he is risotto king. However, the other night circumstances left me with a craving for roast squash and feta risotto and no Mr UF until much too late to start cooking. So, I rolled up my sleeves and, armed with various wise risotto words (good and hot stock, lots of stiring), threw myself into the task…
The result was rather fantastic, sweet roasted squash matched by the creamy rice and foiled by the sharpness of the feta, with a little kick of chili and freshness from the parsley and lemon. It’s a really easy dish to make, you just need patience and a bit of care - there was, however, far too much time at the stove stirring for my liking so I may not make one again in a hurry, but then I have Mr UF to do that for me.
If you haven’t a willing partner to stir your arborio then I’d recommend you try it yourself, the result is really tasty - oh and cheap and veggie too.
Ingredients
200g arborio rice (about a mean mugful)
100g Feta (2/3 of one of the packaged blocks)
100ml white wine
Handful of parsley
1 onion
1 small squash
500ml chicken/veg stock
1/2 lemon
chili flakes
Olive oil, S&P
1 Heat the oven to 160 C and prepare the squash - take out seeds and skin too if necessary, I prefer all except butternut without. Cut them into bigish chunks, 2 inches across, sprinkle with a little oil, a pinch of chili flakes, S&P and arrange on a baking tray. Bake for 40 mins until browning nicely at the edges
2 Pick and chop the parsley, crumble/chop up the feta into small chunks
3 After the squash has been cooking for 20 mins, put the stock on to warm and chop the onion as finely as you can and fry gently in a little olive oil in a large pan.
4 When the onions are translucent (5-7 mins) add the rice and stir for 30 seconds
5 Add the wine and reduce right down
6 Add in the hot stock a ladle at a time, stirring constantly until the liquid is absorbed. The rice is cooked when it tastes right, about 20 mins in but start checking at 12mins
7 Take off the heat and add in the roasted squash, chopped feta, parsley and squeeze over the lemon juice - mix gently but firmly and serve in a deep bowl with a glass of fresh white
Tags: Chili, feta, pumpkin, risotto, squash
Posted in Kid Friendly, Recipes | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 26th, 2009 by urban foodie
 Mr UF made a very tasty roast chicken on Sunday, sage and lemon, simple and delicious.
As usual we didn’t finish all of it (even a small chicken is to much for two, even when the two are such hearty eaters as us!). This means that a chicken on Sunday is really a wonderfully giving dish, the carcass is whistling away in the stock pot as I write with a couple of bay leaves, an onion and some whole peppercorns for stock, that just leaves the leftover chicken meat…
If you are more numerous in your house I’d always get a slightly bigger chicken than you need to ensure leftovers, highly economical and full of flavour.
Usually the leftover chicken meat would go in a risotto but this time I have knocked up a very easy pasta sauce using one of it’s favourite friends, the mushroom.
Ingredients
250g mushrooms (about 6 large white mushrooms or equivalent fancy ones)
100g leftover chicken (a decent couple of handfuls)
100ml creme fraiche (or cream if that’s your preference, but I love the sourside)
100ml white wine
250g penne
1 teaspoon thyme (dried is fine)
olive oil
S&P
Serves 2
1 Put on the pasta to boil
2 Chop the mushrooms and saute in a little olive oil
3 Once they are cooked, after about 3 minutes, sprinkle in the thyme, add the white wine and reduce by about half
4 Stir in the shredded chicken and heat through (you could also use diced fresh, in which case start with the chicken and then add the mushrooms etc once it is done)
5 Drain the pasta and add the mushroom and chicken mixture to it, stir in the creme fraiche/cream and serve immediately with either a green salad or a bit of baguette if you are after a real carb rush
Tags: Chicken, easy supper, leftover chicken, mushroom, pasta, penne, Quick Supper
Posted in Kid Friendly, Recipes | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 by urban foodie
 This is a throw it together dish that turned out even better than expected - the sweet leeks and bacon are complimented by the slight sharpness of the creme fraiche. Keep the tagliatelle al dente to maintain interesting textures, oh and the peas keep everything tasting fresh.
Quick and easy, dinner in about 30 minutes.
Ingredients
1 leek
1/2 packet bacon (4 rashers)
2/3 tablespoons creme fraiche
big handful of peas (frozen are fine)
5/6 tagliatelle nests
Serves 2
1 Chop and wash the leeks and sautee gently in a pan with olive oil and a little butter. Turn the heat right down and cook, covered, very gently for 25 minutes, stirring every few minutes. You should only be able to hear the whisper of a sizzle
2 After 10-15 minutes slice the bacon widthways into thin strips and add to leek pan, don’t put the lid back on, do turn the heat up a bit
3 After 20 minutes, cook the pasta in fiercy boiling water for 5 or so minutes
4 Put peas in pasta pan for last 2 minutes
5 Drain pasta & peas and mix all ingredients in pan, dolloping in creme fraiche. Serve with a crisp side salad
Tags: bacon, easy supper, Quick Supper, tagliatelle
Posted in Kid Friendly, Recipes | 3 Comments »
Monday, January 12th, 2009 by urban foodie
 This is a gorgeously easy, frugal and tasty supper that is perfect for January when energy levels and bank accounts are at their lowest ebb. It’s from that master of unpretentious real food, Nigel Slater, from his fabulous book Appetite.
Just potato, bacon and stock with a generous hand of sage to bring a delightful herby savour. It takes just a few minutes to put together and uses only half a packet of bacon/pancetta, so you can keep the rest for another supper later in the week - like Baked Eggs with Kale or Bacon Cabbage and Potato.
Ingredients
From Appetite, by Nigel Slater (as ever I have tweaked to my taste, but that’s the beauty of the Slater recipes they are made for adapting to the meal you cook them for).
Waxy potatoes - 14 smallish ones
Olive Oil
Butter
Bacon or pancetta
Good chicken stock (fresh or a quality bouillon - I used the stock from my Christmas cider and mustard baked ham)
4 sage leaves
1 leek - optional
Feeds 2/3
1 Heat the oven to 180 C, slice the potatoes into £1 coin thick slices, slice the bacon and leeks too
2 Fry the potatoes until just golden
3 Butter a shallow baking dish or roasting tin and layer the potatoes, bacon, sage and leek (if using) into the dish, add just enough stock to reach to top layer, dot with butter and pop in the hot oven
4 Forget about it and go and have a nice sit down, after about an hour it is ready, serve with bread for mopping up the abundant sauces
Tags: bacon, easy supper, potato, sage
Posted in Kid Friendly, Recipes | No Comments »
Sunday, January 11th, 2009 by urban foodie
 Baked Eggs with Kale
Sometimes, when the temperature is icy and night so early, you need a bit of comfort food.
I had a strong, strong craving for baked eggs, that still creamy white with an unctuous yolk. Normally I’d just defrost a bit of spinach, add a pinch of nutmeg and S&P, make a hole and put in an egg, sprinkling some cheese and maybe a dash of tabasco before putting it in the oven for 15 minutes. Somehow this seems ok for a solo lunch but not nearly enough for a supper with Mr UrbanFoodie. Funny how you’ll cook yourself something you’d never offer to another…
I found this recipe in the Guardian, good old Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall comes up trumps again, the man is a natural foodie, so in love with food its infectious. It’s basically a cheesy white sauce with kale to surround the eggs, I added some left over chorizo and a leek that was on its last legs, so it is easily customisable to taste/what’s going a little curly in the fridge.
Serve with bread to mop up with and prepare for some serious sofa time, you’ll be so warmly blanketed.
Ingredients
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe, I have only tweaked it a little…
1 small onion
2 bay leaves
nutmeg
350ml milk
30g butter
30g flour
Big bunch kale (at least half a collander full)
125g cheddar / mix of cheese
4 very fresh eggs
1 Peel and cut onion in half, add with bay leaves and nutmeg to milk in a pan, bring to boil, cover and take off heat to infuse for 20 mins
2 Grate cheese, put oven on to 180 C
3 Melt butter and add flour, cook the roux for a few mins until it looks like wet sand, add in the (strained) milk bit by bit - don’t worry if it lumps just stir them in, they will go
4 When white sauce is undulating (making thick waves with your wooden spoon) add 3/4 of the cheese remove from heat and cover with clingfilm to stop a skin forming, set aside
5 Wash and chop kale, you can either steam for 3-4 minutes or sautee, covered for 2-3 minutes. I did the latter as I already had the leek and chorizo sauteeing in a pan
6 Mix the kale into the cheese sauce and pour into an ovenproof dish, make 4 holes for the eggs. This can be a bit like working with wet sand so do them one by one if you need to
7 Add eggs, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and pop in oven for 15-20 mins. Start checking eggs at 10 mins, the dish is done when they are
Tags: comfort food, Eggs, kale
Posted in Kid Friendly, Recipes | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 by urban foodie
 No one does festive cookies like the Americans.
Inspired to bake biscuits as small but meaningful gifts, I looked at a lot of recipes on the internet and I found cookie recipe after cookie recipe that the authors had baked with their moms. Recipes ingrained in family tradition. I can’t think of a better tradition to cultivate than spending time in the kitchen making treats, chatting whilst mixing and infusing the house with gorgeous smells. Sweetness without saccharine or sap, what Christmas should really be all about.
This recipe for snowflake biscuits (or snowflake cookies) from Gina DePalma at Serious Eats sounded delicious and had a rather moving side story so I decided to give it a go.
In fact I made these 3 weeks ago but sickness and festivities have stalled me writing about it, so save them for next Christmas or for when you feel the need for deep rich chocolate bites - birthday, dinner party gift… (they are really very good with coffee and a liqueur).
I have adapted her recipe very slightly to my taste - mainly more rum - and seen a few variations on the snowflake theme about so I think these are fairly flexible little biscuits, just use the basic ingredients and I reckon you can tinker a bit with the rest.
Ingredients
110g whole, shelled, unsalted pistachios
120g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
75g unsalted butter
50g cocoa powder
200g granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons golden rum (leave out if these are going to the kids)
Grated zest of 1/2 a large orange
200-300g icing sugar for rolling
1 Coarsely chop the pistachios and set aside. In a medium bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt together.
2 Put cocoa powder in the bowl of your mixer, melt butter and mix on medium speed, then add sugar, egg, scarpe down sides and add vanilla extract, rum and orange zest. Next add the flour, pistachios and beat for 30 seconds to stengthen dough. (if you don’t have a mixer you can do this by hand, just takes a bit of elbow grease)
4 Wrap dough in clingfilm and chill for 4-18 hours.
5 Take dough out of fridge and whilst the oven is pre-heating to 165 C, cover two baking sheets with baking paper and put the icing sugar in a bowl.
6 Break off little pieces of dough, roll into small balls (10p piece/ large marble size) and double dip into sugar. line up on sheets with at least a biscuit space between them.
7 Bake for 8-10 mins
8 Allow to to cool for a minute on the sheets and then transfer to racks to cool, don’t forget to taste a couple just to be sure they are gorgeous - they’ll keep in an airtight box for about a week. Give in a small ballotin boxes tied up with a ribbon, or serve after dinner with liqueur coffees.
Tags: Add new tag, biscuits, chocolate, edible presents
Posted in Kid Friendly, Recipes | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 5th, 2009 by urban foodie
 Well it’s the end of the festive season, nothing left in the bank account, a little added to the waistband, and - if you’re anything like me - a slightly random selection of odds and ends in the fridge.
Yesterday I unearthed a slightly overripe avocado, a couple of slices of curling parma ham and hunger for something vitamin and veg rich but not too heavy to ease into the (relative) austerity of January.
So I squashed the avocado in a bowl, added a chopped tomato, a dollop of creme fraiche, a turn of salt and lots of pepper and spread the lot over the parma ham on a nice bit of brown toast.
Not so much a recipe as a bit of inspiration to use up those bits and pieces in the fridge, you’ll have a tasty lunch and an easy conscience.
Hope you all had fabulous new year’s eve - here’s to a cracking 2009!
PS Well done to all those who donated to Menu for Hope, they raised over $60,000.
Tags: avocado, easy lunch
Posted in Kid Friendly, Recipes | No Comments »
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