The Best Burger

I went for lunch in the new Byron in Islington.  I had never before heard of Byron or of its burgers, I therefore had no idea that they are a small London based chain.  This information would probably had put me off had I heard it before we ate.  Anyway, we arrived and were greeted with water in frosted glass, beers in frosted glasses, some really bloody good red wine and a simple menu.  

I ordered a medium rare cheese burger (with american cheese) and Byron sauce on the side.  We also had onion rings and fries.  Lets start with the fries.  It’s not hard to get fries wrong, keep them small, keep them crispy and keep them salty.  They were exactly all of these things.  The onion rings were made with an amazingly crunchy batter which didn’t get soggy for the entire meal and it seemed that each ring of onion was carefully picked and considered, they too were a triumph.  

The burger however. Was so perfect I am still dreaming about.  The patty not too thick, when I bit into it it was cooked to perfection, bit you could tell it wasn’t straight off the grill because the blood wasn’t going everywhere.  The bun wasn’t too sweet and was the perfect consistency.  The lettuce, the processed cheese, everything you could tell had been thought over and given the attention it so deserved.  Nothing was over complicated or fussy just really really good.

I want to go back very soon.

For when you are feeling fat.

Naturally after the last post I was feeling pretty guilty about my food intake, especially after a week in France eating pretty much only cheese prior to that.  So while Barny prepared the oven for his pizza I made this:

Steam or quickly boil, mange tout, tender stem broccoli and green beans.  Warm oil in pan add a crushed garlic clove.  Add fresh chopped tomatoes, grilled red peppers (from jar), salt, pepper, sugar and basil.  Then my new favorite friend, harissa paste,  but if not, some dried chilles.  I had some very stale french bread from which I torn a little off and popped on the plate.  I then crumbled feta into the sauce, quickly put the sauce over the bread, with the green vegetables on top and a little more feta.

And it wasn’t all that bad.

Highbury Fields BBQ

There is little more satisfying than having a day off, going to your favorite food shops and spending money on fine cheese, meats, veg and wine with the intention of slowly grazing all day on it.  This is how we spent our day off when the weather was good last week.

We started with cheeses, marinated anchovies, bread and homous.  Then a friend turned up with a pretty awesome celeriac salad and a chicory and orange salad.  There were artichokes, grilled peppers, pate and Burgundy.  

Then it was about 5pm and we lit the Barbeque on which we obviously has some excellent chipolates, halloumi (no bbq complete with out) and corn cob.   The absolute stars of the day however were the british asparagus, which we rubbed with butter salt and pepper and put on until warmed through and a beautiful steak from my favorite butchers, Godfreys.  It saw a couple of minutes each side and we left it to rest while the blood started to bead on the top.  One of the most perfect food days ever.

Chicken Tagine

Easy as pie.  Although, pies aren’t actually that easy, especially if you’re planning on making your own pastry.  So easy as stew, which is technically what I did here.

This was really quite quick and very enjoyable.  Great I think if you have people round last minute.

I rolled the chicken legs and thighs in some of the spices and browned them in the pan a couple at a time. The in the same pan, fry onion until softened then add garlic, ginger, paprika, cumin, tumeric and cinnamon.  Then add stock, some fruit (dates here), rinsed kalamata olives, Harissa paste, honey, preserved lemons if you can, bring to the boil and add the chicken again. Simmer for about and hour, maybe a bit longer.  Then at the end I bunged a l load of herbs in it and served with couscous.

I love the fragrant spices with the meat and the sweetness the sauce takes on from the fruit.  I can’t imagine that this isn’t really healthy either which is a bonus.

Braised Squid

I ate a St John Bread & Wine a few months ago and possibly the best dish I had there was the wine braised cuttlefish.  I could get any cuttlefish so I bought some squid.  Which I marinated with garlic, lemon rind and oil over night, probably unnecessary but I did it regardless.  Then I fried off some chorizo and lots of sweet red onions.  When they had softened I added garlic, dried chilli, two anchovy fillets, paprika, lemon zest and juice, seasoned well with salt pepper and some sugar. Then threw in about half a bottle of red wine.  I put it in the oven for about three hours on a really low heat.  Added at the last minute capers and lots of parsley.  The fish was cooked perfectly but I wasn’t entirely happy with the consistency of the sauce, which was still pretty watery.  Next time I’ll probably leave the lid off and/or dice some potatoes.  I really want the sauce to be quite sticky and dark.  It was really tasty however and great with some crusty toasted bread.  

I also served it with some stuffed aubergines.  I halved, removed the flesh and boiled these in water for about half and hour.  then stuffed then layered them in a gratin dish on top of a spicy tomato sauce.  Filled them with fried onions, the flesh, garlic, spinach and feta.  Then topped with bread crumbs and parmesan.

Rib Eye with Rainbow Chard

I have been craving bloody red meat for about two weeks.  I must be low in Iron or something.  Anyway with a big steak, you don’t need potatoes, just something green and delicious.  I sauteed the rainbow chard stalks and half an onion for a few minutes while the meat was resting.  Then added a little chopped garlic, grated lemon rind, a little lemon juice, the Chard leafs, seasoned and cooked for 2 more minutes.

Eggs Benedict

I’d actually never made hollandaise sauce before believe it or not.  The eggs we bought for this had unbelievably dark and orange yolks which explains the colour of the sauce.

I have to say, I was worried this wasn’t working until I seasoned it and everything fell into place.  It was a massive treat.

Tortilla

Pre boiled the potatoes this time to create a layered gratin effect.  Layered with sauteed onion and chorizo and baked in a cake tin.

Not enough egg. Work in progress.

Pizza

Boys like pizza and when there is more than one (boy) staying at our house, I tend to make them.  Maybe its the scale of it, a large pizza doesn’t look like it will run out and this makes them (the boys) feel safe.  

I also really like to serve pizza as a starter when there are lots of people round for dinner. Assuming the dough has already been sorted the morning before.

Toppings: 

Chorizo and Courgette

Artichoke, Parma ham & Capers

Quick Pasta Supper

No time or inclination to leave the house and try to throw together anything more complicated than this.  Its rapid prep is one of the reasons why people love pasta in this country.  This took 15 minutes from opening my front door to sitting down at the table.  Italian cooking is to me, ingrained in my cooking knowledge.  The first type of food I cooked, like many I'm sure, was pasta sauces.  Its such a good way of understanding seasoning and getting different flavours into food.  I think once you’ve had a pop at a few dishes, you can just mix and match ingredients as you deem appropriate.

For this one I raided the fridge and larder (don’t have a larder, wish I did).  We had egg, parmesan, courgette, spinach, shallots, a jar of artichokes and a glug of white wine to be equally shared between me and the frying pan.

As the pasta was cooking I gently fried the shallots and courgette.  The pasta is nearly done, I added the artichoke and the glass of wine to the frying pan and seasoned as the alcohol cooked off.  I added the spinach, drained the pasta and added to the frying pan and took off the heat.  Then I added the grated parmesan and the beaten egg and tossed to make a creamy sauce (if I had cream, there would have been a splash).