Restaurant to try: San Miguel

It was a beautifully hot sunny weekend and I was due to meet a few of my old school friends in London for a long catch-up lunch. As usual, I put myself in charge of hunting down restaurant options and ended up with San Miguel in Greenwich.

The restaurant is only a short walk from Greenwich station, which suited us all just fine. Well sort of, as it's a bit far out from central London! We hoped that it would have an outdoor seating area but unfortunately it doesn't - and also seemed to have a distinct lack of air-con too, yikes! We were seated at the back of the restaurant near the kitchen which probably didn't help matters.

After fanning ourselves with the menus, we eventually placed our orders. Warning - some dishes take half an hour to prepare. So if some diners on your table are umming and ahing about what to get, and you want paella, order it first whilst they're still deciding!

Obviously, being a tapas menu, there is lots to choose from. Me and Nate went for 3 hot tapas dishes each so that we could share them between us...

Pulpo a la Gallega
Steamed Octopus with Sea Salt, Olive Oil and Paprika

Champinones al Mario
Deep Fried Mushrooms stuffed with Cheese

Vieiras de la Casa
Grilled Scallops wrapped in Bacon, served with Wine and Garlic Jus

Pimiento Relleno
Red Pepper stuffed with Rice and Vegetables

Bocartes
Deep Fried Whitebait with Garlic Mayonnaise

Chorizo a la Plancha
Grilled and Brandy Flamed Spanish Sausage

Pawan and Tanzeem went for the veggie paella...

Paella Vegetariana
Spanish Style Rice with Mixed Vegetables

and Hafeez chose the salmon...

Salmon with Sliced Mushrooms, Onion and Herbs

It's such a great way to sample different dishes without worrying too much if you don't like it. Luckily though, it was all delicious so nothing was left over :-) The sausages were a little oily but nice and smoky. The octopus was surprisingly soft and probably my favourite dish of the lot. Mm, I'd recommend everything we tried actually, and would go back again to try a whole new set of dishes, based on how tasty these ones were! Just remember to order dessert though if you go on a really hot day like we did! Hot day + hot tapas - air con = slightly sticky dining.

Other restaurants I've tried that you might like to read about. Continue reading this post..

Say NO to Chinese Takeaway: Try Fresh Veggie Ho Fun Noodles instead!

Here's a great noodle dish which would make a fresh alternative to a greasy Chinese takeaway:

I've not had a Chinese takeaway for over a year now as I've been majorly put off them since the the last time I had one. I can't even stand the smell of them, yeuch, it just smells of grease! The tupperware boxes come in handy though.

And also, why would you fork out a fiver every time for a boxful of sloppy salty MSGs, when you could make something like this?

Fresh Veggie Ho Fun Noodles

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:

2 portions of ho fun noodles
1 large carrot, chopped into matchsticks
1 spring onion, chopped
50g green beans, halved
50g straw mushrooms, halved
1 tbsp grated ginger
3 tbsp soy sauce
Juice and zest of half an orange
1 tbsp honey
Some cornflour
Veggie oil
Some sesame seeds
Fresh coriander

1) Boil the noodles until al dente. Drain in cold water and leave to cool.
2) Mix the soy sauce, orange juice and zest, honey and cornflour in a bowl.
3) Heat oil in a wok and fry the ginger for a few seconds.
4) Add the rest of the veg and stirfry for a few minutes.
5) Add in the noodles and orange sauce, tossing until everything is nice and hot.
6) You can stir in a bit of fresh coriander at this point if you like.
7) Dish up and scatter sesame seeds and fresh coriander over the top.

Woah, you're done - much quicker than a takeaway, eh? The straw mushrooms taste much better whole, because of the wonderful hot juice that pops out into your mouth when you eat them. I just halved them for aesthetics because otherwise they would have just looked like giant stones amongst the delicate noodles!

If you liked this, you might want to try making these other takeaway alternatives too. Continue reading this post..

I'm Bringing Pastry Back...

YEAH!

Ok, so this particular pie is not exactly going to win any food porn awards but I've got to start from somewhere, right? And that is what the Friday Pie-Day challenge is going to be about...

Every week I'm going to feast upon a delicious-looking pie, to up my pie intake and ability to create beautiful pies to eat forever more.

For the times where my pie-baking is successful, I will share the recipe. This week, er, I don't think I should - I'm sure you'll agree judging by the photo above! It was actually still a yummy concoction of leeks, chickpeas, spring onions and tarragaon - but I haven't got the gist of how to layer up filo pastry correctly yet, so have no idea how much you should actually use.

So there will be meat pies, veggie pies, dessert pies, mini pies, huge pies and generally lots of pie dancing around the kitchen. Of course, there may be the odd occasion where I might go and enjoy a pie baked by somebody else in a restaurant. But yes, it shall be Friday Pie-Day every week for the rest of my Hungry Jenny life.

Care to join me?
Continue reading this post..

Hungry Jenny Faux Pas: Use Your Loaf

Or not, in my case.

I rarely go down the route of doing any proper baking. So that means no cakes, no biscuits (though I'm proud of my shortbread lovehearts!), no bread and basically anything flour-based. So I really don't know what possessed me to try baking, of all things, an asparagus loaf...

Hm, I guess some might say it looks ok but hold on, look inside...

It did taste alright actually, just ever-so-slightly gooey in parts - either I had one too many eggs in, or I took it out the oven too early. It'd been in there for about 50 minutes so I figured it should have been ready by then, and judging by the crusty golden top, I thought it was done!

Obviously not. Well, I bit into a slice timidly, getting that uncertain feeling where you're not sure if you actually like it or not. It's got asparagus, sundried tomatoes and feta cheese in it. The flavours were all there, albeit in a questionably soggy fashion. Perhaps I was meant to dry the asparagus a bit after boiling them instead of just dropping them straight into the mixture.

My unsuspecting housemate Beth wandered into the kitchen and I made her try a bit. Well, I cut her a piece, then she cut it in half to make it smaller. Promising start. I could sense her confusion as she ate it.

"Has it got egg in it?"

Hm, definitely one too many eggs then...

Oh well, perhaps it will turn out better next time. Or maybe I just won't try this recipe again!
Continue reading this post..

Be daring: make a salad!

Now come on, who loves a good salad?

Anyone...?

Right, I'd be the first to admit that I always thought salads were boring, that it was just rabbit food. I still can't shake off the habit of avoiding them on the menu though but am working on that by making more salads at home.

I think what made me most fearful of them is that they wouldn't fill me up. How can anyone be satisfied with a mountain of lettuce? Of course, there is more to a salad than just leaves. During my Veggie Jenny stint, my mind was opened up to how simple it is to find a really satisfying recipe just by throwing together certain ingredients.

Go on...try a couple!

Aubergine and Chickpea Salad (above)

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:

1 medium aubergine, sliced
400g can chickpeas
1 small red onion
Fresh coriander

Dressing
Juice of half a lemon
Some olive oil
1 tsp honey
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin

1) Brush the aubergine slices with oil and grill on both sides.
2) Make a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, paprika and cumin.
3) Toss together the chickpeas, red onion and coriander.
4) Arrange the aubergine onto plate, sit the chickpeas etc on top and drizzle the dressing over.


Roasted Carrot and Butterbean Salad

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:

4 small carrots, sliced in half lengthways
400g can of butterbeans, drained
Large handful of spinach, ripped
1 spring onion, chopped
Small handful of diced feta cheese
Some olive oil
Some mint
Some thyme

1) Boil, then roast the carrots at 200 degrees C.
2) Layer spinach, butterbeans, then feta on plate.
3) Sit carrots across the top, sprinkle over mint and spring onions.

(Ok, so you may feel a bit like a rabbit eating the carrot one, but at least you'll look a bit classier!)

Other Hungry Jenny healthy food thoughts you might be interested in Continue reading this post..

Golden Ticket to Gourmet Society Land

Holy mother of biscuits, look what I got today!

Watch out people, I've got one year to take full advantage of this...

I stumbled across The Gourmet Society on the net the other day and cannot believe I'd never heard of it before. It's basically a club for diners in the UK who can get 2 for 1 meals at over 2,000 restaurants. Woah.

Now I'm still giddy with excitement, but cannot see how this ingenius idea will fail to keep snapping up more interest. There's a membership fee of course of about £40, but once you've eaten out a few times, you will have already saved the amount of the fee and will then be saving every time you use your card. You can always have a hunt around online to see if you can find discounts on membership before signing up too.

It's funny actually because I got this as a gift from my boyfriend (thanks again Matt!) so effectively I got this fabulous new discount card for free :-) But of course, the givers of this wonderful gift can easily be thanked by inviting them to dine out with you and share the wonders of food...
Continue reading this post..

Note to Self: Always Choose Cheesecake

That's right, like a crazy person, I failed to spot the best-looking dessert on the menu and got this instead...

I had just finished eating a particularly large burger so I thought a bit of fresh fruit would do nicely. Well, not not really, as it turned out. It was ok but slightly on the mushy side with a strange pot of greek yoghurt and honey which did not agree with me. Combine that with someone sitting across from you enjoying every bite of a gorgeous-looking cheesecake and you realise you've made a mistake.

It's something that I really need to remember because it's not the first time I've done this, it would seem...

To be fair, this fruit salad was much fresher and tastier than the one I had at the weekend, but I experienced the same enviable feeling watching my friend indulge in this tasty looking morsel:

Cheesecake, cheesecake, ALWAYS choose cheesecake...
Continue reading this post..

Burger with everything please

Here you go, The Works...

Meat: beefburger and bacon
Dairy: Monteray Jack cheese
Fruit and veg: Pineapple, lettuce, beetroot, beef tomato, onion
Grains: Sour dough sesame seed bun
Fats/Oils: um, it's a burger?

Yeh, I know it doesn't quite look the picture of health but it was mighty tasty, I can tell you that!
Continue reading this post..

Quick and Easy Salmon Recipes for Lunch

Salmon is one of my favourite foods lately. It's so light and easy to cook, and of course, very good for you too. It has your good fats, your protein, and doesn't stink out your kitchen as much as other fish might do :-)

A perfect ingredient to have for a quick but satisfying lunch, so here are some of my favourite salmon recipes for you to try. The quick 'get-the-gist-of-it' recipes are here but click through the links if you need more details...

Grilled Salmon with Mint Salad (above)

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:

2 salmon fillets
Large handful of spinach
Half a courgette, sliced
Avocado, cubed
4 cherry tomatoes, halved
Fresh/dried mint
Drizzle of olive oil
Juice of half a lemon

1) Mix together the lemon juice, olive oil and dried mint leaves in a bowl.
2) Brush some over the salmon and stick under the grill until cooked through.
3) Sit on a salad of avocado, courgette, spinach, cherry toms and mint, drizzling over the rest of the dressing.


Salmon Rice Salad with Eggs and Butterbeans

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:

Salmon fillet
40g basmati rice
10g wild rice
400g can of butterbeans
Fresh coriander and parsley
Some pumpkin seeds
Some sunflower seeds

A dollop of houmous

Or to make your own:
Handful of chickpeas
Juice of half a lemon
Bit of water
Bit of olive oil
Garlic clove or two
Bit of salt
(Yes I pretty much make it to taste!)

1) Slowly boil all the rice and simmer for 15 minutes.
2) In a separate pan, slowly boil the salmon until cooked through.
3) In yet another pan, boil the eggs, then simmer for about 8 minutes. Drain and sit them in cold water.
4) Meanwhile, blend together your houmous if making your own.
5) Gently slice the cooked salmon into flakes and cut the eggs into quarters.
6) Drain your rice, and mix in the salmon, butterbeans, herbs, seeds and houmous, sitting the eggs on top.


Salmon and Cous-cous Salad

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:

Salmon fillet
Few tomatoes, quartered
100g couscous
150g veg stock
Handful of spinach
Few mushrooms, sliced
Half a cucumber, sliced
Juice of half a lemon

1) Grill or poach the salmon, then flake into pieces.
2) Meanwhile, add the hot stock to the couscous and cover with a plate for 5 minutes
3) Toss the rest of your ingredients together.
4) Add in the salmon flakes and couscous.


Parmesan-Crumbed Salmon

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:

2 salmon fillets
20g parmesan
30g breadcrumbs
Bit of lime juice
Bit of olive oil
Dried parsley

1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2) Blend all ingredients except for the salmon into breadcrumb texture.
3) Cover the salmon with this, then stick in the oven until cooked through with a nice crispy coating.
4) Serve with salad of your choice.

Salmon Boigers

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:

2 salmon fillets
Handful of fresh coriander
Some groundnut oil
Some honey
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tsp soy sauce

Couple of radishes, sliced
A few mushrooms, sliced
Small handul of spinach
(well you can make any salad you want really, this is just what I happened to have at the time!)
2 seeded rolls

1) Blend the salmon with lime juice, ginger, soy sauce, honey and groundnut oil.
2) Shape into burgers and fry!
3) Serve with the rolls on a salad of mushrooms, spinach and radishes.

Ummm, are you fished out yet?

Other Hungry Jenny healthy food thoughts you might be interested in Continue reading this post..

Keener on Quinoa

One thing I wanted to do this year was to try and find some good recipes for pre- and post-exercise, mainly for my aikido training. So far, my efforts have led to er, two recipes, my first aikido sandwich.

After a few half-baked attempts to look up training recipes on the net, I decided to take a step back and just try another version of the pre-training dish I made the first time round:

Hm, so is this lard and fish eggs?

Well of course not! The focal point for me of this dish is the quinoa, something I'd never even heard of until recently. It's a type of grain with very high protein content, so a perfect ingredient for pre-training. I think I overboiled it last time because it just tasted like bubbles and it just didn't feel like I was eating anything!

This time though, I read the instructions properly and simmered it slowly - but I should warn you that quinoa looks really creepy when you lift the lid to see it bubbling about.

Thankfully though, it turned out soft and fluffy and surprisingly delicious! I had this before yesterday's class and did feel more energetic and able to bounce up from breakfalls faster than usual...but I guess I can't really know for sure if it's cos of what I ate, or some other reason. I need to keep this experiment going and find more recipes to eat before and after exercise...

Spinach and Feta Quinoa Lunch

Print-friendly recipe

For 2:

100g quinoa
500ml water
Some spinach
Half a courgette
1 spring onion
Some feta cheese
Some olive oil
2 tsp cumin

1) Rinse the quinoa, then add the 500ml of water.
2) Bring to the boil, then simmer with a lid on for about 15 minutes.
3) Meanwhile, rip up the spinach, cube up the feta cheese, courgette and spring onion.
4) Add a bit of olive oil and cumin.
5) Mix in the quinoa.
6) Eat, then you'll be set for exercise!

Other Hungry Jenny healthy food thoughts you might be interested in Continue reading this post..

A Series of Sinful Events: Wrath

It's been a long time coming but yesterday I recently experienced a bout of something that really grates me - bad customer service.

Now, working with customers may not be the best job for some but I find it an inexcusable reason to be rude or ignorant to them. Whenever it happens, it bugs me, but when it happens in a restaurant, it REALLY makes me ANGRY!

If you work in a restaurant and want to avoid my *angry face* you should take note NOT to do the following...

Ignore diners that have just entered the restaurant who are waiting to be seen to.

Act annoyed when diners take their time choosing from the menu.

Not return for ages to take your order after you've asked for a 'few more minutes'.

No eye contact whilst taking an order or payment.

Clatter crockery and cutlery onto the table infront of you.

Chat loudly to other staff members whilst serving.

Rush past diners constantly who are trying to catch their attention.

Act annoyed when asked to return a dish that is incorrect for any reason.

Clear the rest of the plates off the table when someone is still eating.

Hover over a diner's table when they've nearly finished to rush them.

Include service charge without making this clear on the menu or website.

And finally, hold your hand out whilst waiting to receive payment.

Now I'm sure I'm not that fussy a diner and that some of you must be with me on this...!

Read the rest of the Series of Sinful Events
Continue reading this post..

BOGOF The Slug

It's been a while since I've taken advantage of all those credit-crunch busting vouchers out there. Sometimes, it gets to a point where you wonder whether prices alone secretly dictate where you eat. At the moment, I'd say it affects my choice about 70% of the time. Does that make me feel sad and a little bit cheap? Yes, but I tell myself that it'll save me extra pounds to splash out on more extravagant places when I'm feeling less strapped for cash.

Went to The Slug and Lettuce for a late lunch today. To be honest, I've eaten there a few times and it's been a bit hit and miss, but with a voucher in tow and an extra-hungry stomach, I don't think I would have minded if it was a miss this time...

Luckily, it was a hit! I had a simple fish pie, which was served with ciabatta bread and green beans. Without going off to pie-land like I usually do when I think about pies, the wonderful thing I love about pies is how they stay hot inside as you eat it, right until the very end. Well, the better pies do anyway, like this one did.

Fish Pie

Chicken and bacon boiger

British steak and mushrooom pie

You can get a 2 for 1 voucher here to use from Monday 8th - Friday 12th June and Sunday 14th June. Anything from the Slug Favourites list (which includes stuff like the PIES, sausages and mash and goat's cheese lasagne), grill or burger sections can be chosen. The most expensive out of all of them is only about £12 too! I'm a cheap date, me.
Continue reading this post..

Um-bongo-um-bongo-they-do-it-in-the-congo...

Over the last week, I've had this running through my head all week....

I LOVE this advert! It was only recently though that I realise I've been singing it wrong, as I thought that they were saying they do it in the congo.

Ah, that makes more sense!

During a home ed class in high school, we had to make a fruit salad (yes, we were really being put to the test that day). After the teacher went round to taste them all, she commented that mine was rather tastier than the rest. Why? Because I poured in a carton of congolicious Um Bongo instead of boring old orange juice of course!

Um-Bongo-Um-Bongo-they-drink-it-in-the-congo...

Now you'll have this in your head for a week!
Continue reading this post..

Happy Doughnut Day!

Mmm...doughnuts.

Continue reading this post..

Is that a mouldy pear in my salad?

Er...

I think I need to work on the presentation of my food a bit more...

One of the issues with taking photos of my food is trying to make it look delicious for you hungry people. I'm not sure how well I'm achieving that at the moment. I get a little haphazard with my chopping sometimes, forgetting about how it might affect the end result.

Other times, I regret mixing everything together in one pan, just before dishing up, which I often do because I like to get the rest of the washing up done, whilst keeping the food hot. Yes I can get a bit neurotic like that. But this of course leads to me dumping said dish onto plate, leaving little room for beautifulness.

I didn't think this one looked that bad actually til I uploaded the photo onto the computer.

It's an aubergine by the way...

You'd eat it, right?
Continue reading this post..