Dish of the Week - Kedgeree

Kedgeree is simply delicious and yet is so often forgotten about as a tasty, versatile dish that can be served for brunch, lunch or dinner. Not too heavy but rich in flavour - this is the perfect meal for a spring evening washed down with a glass of white wine.

Serves 4

400g smoked haddock
1 mug and a quarter of basmati or long grain rice (i don't do it by grams! Just use a standard mug)
300 ml milk
3 bay leaves
4 eggs
1 large onion
3 spring onions
2 cloves of garlic
peas (as many as you want)
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp curry powder
coriander
parsley
lemon

1. To start, heat some oil in a small non-stick pan. Once hot add in the rice and a bay leaf and stir to fully coat it in the oil. Next add the same amount of water as rice and bring to the boil. Once it has reached boiling point turn down to the lowest heat. Put a lid on and leave for about 15 minutes. DO NOT STIR!! Try the rice on the top and if that is cooked it is done. If unsure, carefully check if there is any water left in the bottom, if not rice should be cooked, if there is it needs to be left until all water is gone. 

2. Put the milk and remaining bay leaves in a frying pan and add the haddock, skin side up. Leave over a low heat for about 10 minutes until the fish breaks apart easily. Remove it from the milk and remove the skin. Flake the fish into pieces and set aside.

3. Boil the eggs so that they are hard boiled. Incase you don't have your own method, click here for Delia's. She knows what she's talking about.

4. Finely chop the spanish onion and 2 spring onions and in the pan you used to poach the fish add oil and fry them. Next cut the garlic and add that. Be careful to have it on a low enough heat with enough oil so it doesn't burn the garlic. 

5. Once softened add the turmeric, curry powder, peas, coriander and parsley (chopped).  Add the fish and rice and stir it all together so it is a vibrant yellow colour.

6. Quarter the eggs and place on top. Chop and add the final spring onion (optional if you don't like raw spring onion!) and finally sprinkle a bit more coriander liberally over the top.

7. Serve with lemon and enjoy!

What I Want This Week

A selection of a few things I've got my eye on this week!

Scotch and Soda, Summer Dress £124.95

The colour yellow and a few stripes just sing summer to me. This Amsterdam based brand have some lovely bits for summer - well worth a look!

River Island, Enamel Heart Studs, £2

Pastels are all the rage and these are such a bargain and so cute that there's really no excuse not to get some!

ASOS, Hoxton Heeled Sandals £42

I've had my eye on these sandals for a while now - I thought the open toe shoe trend might have died down but it looks like they'll be around for summer. This ASOS pair are great - classic and perfect for a budget. 

Burberry, Lip Velvet in Bright Poppy, £22.50

I love the colour of this lipstick and although I'm no expert when it comes to beauty products I believe it's well worth investing when it comes to a fabulous lipstick.

Chocolate Easter Cake

Easter, obviously, requires chocolate cake. I opted for Mary Berry’s Chocolate Fudge Cake and instead of the ganache she uses, I made a chocolate butter icing. I put all the mixture into a 20cm cake tin and cut the cake in half once it had cooled instead of faffing with two tins. It was very quick and easy to make and, like any good chocolate cake, can be made for all occasions. It definitely seems to please so if you’re a baking novice, this is worth a try!

Ingredients

50 g (2 oz) sifted cocoa powder
6 tablespoons boiling water
3 large eggs
50 ml (2 fl oz) milk
175 g (6 oz) self-raising flour
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder
100 g (4 oz) softened butter
275 g (10 oz) caster sugar

Chocolate butter icing

50g good-quality dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)

100g unsalted butter, softened

200g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

milk

To Decorate

Mini Eggs

Edible pearls

Yellow Sprinkles

Method

1 Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4. Grease a 20 cm (8 in) cake tin then line the base with baking parchment.

2 Blend the cocoa and boiling water in a large bowl then add the remaining cake ingredients and beat until the mixture has become a smooth, thickish batter. Divide the cake mix equally between the prepared tins and level the surface.

3 Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 25–30 minutes or until well risen and the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed with a finger. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack. Then cut carefully in half so you have two layers to sandwich together with butter icing.

4 For the butter icing melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. (Do not allow the base of the bowl to touch the surface of the water.) Allow to cool. Beat the butter in a bowl until soft, then gradually beat in the icing sugar. Add the vanilla extract and beat again. Fold in the melted chocolate until completely incorporated (add a few drops of milk if the mixture is a little stiff).

5 Use half the butter icing to fill the cake and sandwich the layers together. Then use the remaining icing to cover the cake - top and sides. Finish by decorating how you wish, I have used mini eggs, yellow sprinkles and edible pearls.

Cake recipe is from Mary Berry's Baking Bible by Mary Berry, published by BBC Books, £25. Butter icing recipe from BBC Food.

Dish of the Week - Nigella's Slut's Spaghetti (Pasta Puttanesca)

Image from grubdaily.com

For a quick, tasty and cheap mid-week supper look no further than Nigella's Slut's Spaghetti. This dish is packed with flavour and so easy to make - it's just what you want from a mid-week dinner. I didn't change anything with this recipe but I don't advise you use any more anchovies than suggested otherwise it gets pretty salty. Also I would use linguine or tagliatelle - no reason to be limited to spaghetti! Any anchovy haters out there - I promise it doesn't taste like anchovy! I hate them but I adore this dish.

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 8 anchovies (drained and finely chopped)

• 2 cloves garlic (peeled and finely sliced, crushed or grated

• ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes (or 30ml pickled red jalapeno chilli peppers, drained, sliced and diced)

• 500 grams spaghetti

• 1 x 400 grams can chopped tomatoes

• 150 grams (drained weight) pitted black olives (chopped a bit)

• 2 tablespoons small capers (rinsed and drained)

• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (to serve - optional)

• salt (to taste)

• pepper (to taste)

1. Put water for pasta on to boil, though you don’t need to get started on the sauce until it is pretty well boiling.
2. Pour the oil into a wide, shallowish frying pan, casserole or wok, and put on a medium heat.
3. Add the finely chopped anchovies and cook for about 3 minutes, pressing and pushing with a wooden spoon, until the anchovies have almost “melted”, then add the garlic and chilli flakes (or sliced then diced jalapeños) and cook, stirring for another minute.
4. This is probably the stage at which you will want to be salting the boiling pasta water and adding the spaghetti to cook according to packet instructions.
5. Going back to the sauce, add the tomatoes, olives and capers and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every now and again, by which time it will have thicken slightly. Taste for seasoning.
6. Just before the pasta is ready, remove about an espresso cupful of cooking water, and reserve it. When the pasta is cooked as desired, drain and add the spaghetti to the sauce in your wok or pan, adding a little reserved pasta water, if needed, to help amalgamate the sauce. Scatter with chopped parsley, if there's some to hand, and serve in slatternly style, preferably with an untipped cigarette clamped between crimson-painted lips. 

Recipe from Nigella's website

Stripe up your life!

The sun is shining but it's not yet hot enough to go sleeveless (unless you are very brave, in which case I applaud you). The Breton Stripe top was made for weather like this and should be a staple in every woman's wardrobe. These classic tops will make your outfit effortlessly chic with minimum effort. Go on! Everyone loves a bit of Breton.

Joules, Striped Jersey Top £19.95

The Original Breton Shirt Company, Le Breton Rouge £29.95

H&M, Long-sleeved T-Shirt £12.99

MiH Jeans @ ASOS, The Breton Top £38

Jigsaw, Retro Stripe Amelie Top £35

H&M, Striped Top £12.99

And if you do fancy going sleeveless try this gorgeous little number from Topshop!

Topshop, Bonded Stripe Shell Top £40

La Plaza - The Best Tapas In London?

Calamares

I love Spanish food and living in Spain for a year only fuelled my passion more. I’ve had difficulty finding really decent tapas in the UK, I hate hate hate La Tasca – completely unauthentic tapas and tiny portions with a large price tag (for what you get!) and other more pretentious venues seem to offer little of those homely, hearty dishes that really opitimise the Spanish cuisine. For some reason people seem to rave about Barrafina in Soho, London – I don’t get it. I’m not claiming to be an expert but I think it has tried to turn tapas into a fancy dining experience in order to charge extortionate prices. Also, since when was Tortilla Española that runny?! What’s that about?

Now, dear readers, I’m going to offer you a piece of my London Tapas Bar wisdom – La Plaza, Portobello Road is the best Spanish food I’ve come across in the UK and is affortable! It is the most unassuming and unspectacular restaurant in terms of the venue but it is so típico with people sitting at the bar with a ración and the TV on in the background. I’ve never been in there when there’s not a crowd of Spaniards chatting away – and that’s a good sign if ever there was one isn’t it?

Pulpo A La Gallega (above)
Patatas Bravas (below)

Last week I decided to go again, for research purposes of course! The trouble I face now is limiting my order; it’s all so good! If you’re a vegetarian it probably isn’t the best place – but then tapas in general are very meat and seafood based so you probably already know that. They have vegetarian offerings but not an extensive menu. We had 6 dishes between 4 people, they were all finished but we couldn’t have eaten anymore.

We went for the classics like Patatas Bravas, which are soft and delicious with a spicy pepper sauce – ask for them with ‘dos salsas’ and they’ll come with Alioli too (my favourite). The Calamares were crisp, not rubbery and very, very tasty. There’s always that fear with Calamares that they’re going to arrive chewy, oily and soft – that is not how they should be.

Pork is a Spanish staple and we had the pork marinated in paprika (forgive me, I can’t remember the name) and served with potatoes. Very succulent, juicy and completely moreish. They serve two pork dishes, one with potatoes and one without – so if you feel slightly overloaded with carbs you can opt for the other one.

Pork

Pulpo a la Gallega (octopus) I find is a love or hate thing. Generally it’s the texture people can’t get on with. I can’t pretend that this one is so wonderful that you will definitely love it but if you’re going to try it then make sure it’s at La Plaza. A dish from Galicia in Northern Spain, Pulpo a la Gallega is octopus seasoned with paprika and salt and served on potatoes. Delicious when done right. Our dining companions weren’t too keen but if you don’t mind the texture of octopus then you’ll probably quite enjoy it.

A plate of Chicken wings and some Tortilla later we were finished and washed it all down with a bottle of red and a huge glass of Tinto de Verano (red wine with Fanta Lemon or Lemonade). This is a simple affair and if you’re looking for fine dining this isn’t the place for you but if you want good, authentic Spanish cooking with lively atmosphere and friendly staff then give it a go – you won’t be disappointed.

La Plaza, 74 Tavistock Rd, London W11 1AN

What I want this week - Interiors

So although this is strictly a Food and Fashion blog I'm going to take a leap into the world of interiors, interiors comes under the umbrella of style doesn't it? Well that's what i'm sticking to anyway because I love buying bits to make a house a home and thought i'd share with you my finds this week. Here's a round-up of a few lovely little affordable pieces (and one big, not so affordable one that I couldn't resist) that are perfect for Spring. 

Point Duchesse Pitcher, Anthropologie, £38

PiP Lovebirds Dinner Plate, John Lewis, £11

Cotton Love Tub, Oliver Bonas, £565

Flowerpatch Measuring Spoons, Anthropologie, £18

Straight Mugs (various designs), Susie Watson Designs, £16 each

Girasol Jugs, Loaf.com, £45

Flame Leaf Bowl, Anthropologie, £16

Astrid Chevron Photo Frame, Oliver Bonas, £16