Fish and Chips in Bournemouth

I felt guilty about eating fish and chips on this occasion. No, not because of gaining calories. Pah! Calories swallories! But  because we purchased from a CHAIN fish and chip store, with a KFC like counter and a glitzy board above the deep fat fryers tempting us with meal deals! Admittedly the food was pretty good and I couldn’t feel too guilty about putting a family run shop out of business because there weren’t any in sight! Or perhaps chains like this are the reason there aren’t any in sight! I did feel disappointed. It would have been a proper British seaside experience if there had been a family run business, I mean did I really spend 2 hours on the train only to eat fish and chips from a chain!

Cest’ la vie!

Claire

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Below: Alice and Nikki on the beach eating bite-size cod and chips!

 

Kase Nudel

These dumplings orginate from my Mother’s home town of Klagenfurt in Southern Austria. They are simple to make, very healthy; yet deceptively delicious.

Serves 2-4 people

Each dumpling consists of a mixture of 250g quark, 100g cooked potatoes, mint, chervil, seasoning with melted butter and chives to serve.

The pasta recipe is made up of: 2 eggs, one tablespoon of oil, 200g plain flour, a teaspoon of salt, 4-6 tablespoons of water. 

- Combine the flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the centre. With a fork slowly bring together the two eggs and add the tablespoon of olive oil and 4-6 tablespoons of water. Now use your hands and knead until you have produced an elastic dough. I tend to use either more flour if the mixture is too wet or I use more water if the mixture is too dry. Wrap up in cling film or foil and leave to rest in the fridge.

- Now leave the cooked potatoes to cool and mash, mix with the 250g quark, chevil, mint and season – this will make up the Kase Nudel filling.

- Take the dough out from the fridge and cut it into small sections. The art to good pasta/dumplings is to make them as thin as possible. This isn’t completely true with Kase Nudel although I personally like the pasta to be rolled out as thinly as possible anyway. I won’t go into all the ins and outs of pasta making here as everyone has their different methods. If you want to learn more I used Jamie Oliver’s second book; he demonstrates it with photographs.

- Once you have a sheet of thinly rolled out pasta, put a spoonful of filling in the centre and fold over. As you can see from the photographs I have made them into semi circles.

Tip 1: I have recently started to use biscuit moulds to give my dumplings a pretty edge.

Tip 2: I tend to dap a bit of water on my finger and smooth it along the base of the pasta before folding over – this helps the pasta seal together better. Well I haven’t had one collapse on me yet!!

- Bring a big pan of water (with a sprinkling of salt in it) to the boil and add the dumplings. Leave them to cook for 3-6 minutes then serve on plates with melted butter and a sprinkling of chives over the top.

Delicious!

Claire

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Austrian Mushroom Gulash

These wonderful mushrooms used for the above dish can be bought at Borough Market. One company inparticular offers a broad selection of mushrooms throughout Autumn. Where is this stall? You can’t miss them, the rich oaky scent of their mushrooms will waft up through your nostrils as you walk by. Their earthy texture; remnants of the Hungarian forest make them a far cry from the painstakingly bland, purposeless button mushrooms! Erswamerel among many other varieties are fit for many a dish such as the Austrian Gulash recipe, (which will follow below) Risotto, hand made ravioli or garlic mushrooms in breadcrumbs.

Along with Red wine, I only begun to enjoy mushrooms a few years ago when I started to ease them into my spag bol. I wondered why on earth I’d not liked them earlier. I now believe that everything should be tried once. I’d always groan to my Australian friends when they shoved yet another slice of toast spread with Marmite and Vege-mite into their gobs. In fact – I’d never actually sampled it, I just thought it looked gruesome, so after trying some on toast I concluded that it really was as vile as I’d imagined! However the moral of the story is to at least try things! Our taste buds seem to alter at different stages of our life especially from adolesense into adulthood. I’m still hoping to become a coffee convert. I think my love of nearly all food is making me want to love Coffee too, as the smell of it is divine!

Ahem. Trailing off course there. Here is the recipe for the Austrian Mushroom Gulash.

Folded Omelette with sour cream, chives and mint

This is an incredibly simple dish to make. I did it one lunch time when I was in a rush to watch Neighbours!

Ingredients for one person

• Three eggs
• Two big tbs sour cream
• A reasonable amount of chopped chives and mint
•  Seasoning

Method

- Begin by cracking three eggs into a mixing bowl and gently whisk.

- Meanwhile heat a frying pan.

- Quickly pour the egg mixture into the pan

- Wait until it becomes firm before running a knife around the edges and the bottom of the omelette.

- Pour the two tbs of sour cream in the middle of the omelette only with half of the chopped mint and chives.

- Season.

- Fold the omelette and quickly transfer to a plate where you can scatter the remaining herbs over the top.

Inspiration

Cath Kidston’s designs are fresh, floral and give me that summery; lets bake pretty cupcakes feeling all year round! Here are a couple of patches of material from my massive bag and polka dotted table mat.

Garlic and Chive Butter

Ingredients

- 50g Butter

- A good handful of chives, a sprinkling of parsley

- The shell of one squeezed garlic clove

Method

• Firstly, take the desired about of butter from the fridge and leave to soften. This is so that the garlic and herbs mix into the butter well.
• Fold the butter around the garlic shell. This will infuse the butter with garlic without the butter containing any garlic fragments which can be difficult to digest.
• Next, add the finely chopped herbs and mix.
• Cover bowl with foil and leave in the fridge for an hour, depending on what you plan to serve butter with and how hard or soft you like it.
• Remove the garlic skin and serve.

Garlic and Chive butter can be served with a steak (leave in fridge and watch as the butter melts over the meat), with artichokes and with bread among many other dishes.

Artichokes

Artichokes are fabulous creations! A perfect starter for a dinner party dish!

Not only quick to cook but the only other accompliment is the easy to make garnish such as garlic herb butter or a french dressing.

Borough Market

Borough Market; it’s outer membrane layered with numerous office blocks typical of the Southwark area, but when one finds oneselve accidentally slip into one of its many side streets, lured by a trail of flower petals, organic leaves and the scent of fruitful wine one has to wonder whether they are on the yellow brick road being led towards Oz. A spectacular colourful square of people and stalls awaits the visitor – Hungarian mushrooms hand picked and placed into brown paper bags, artichokes with leaves as proud as a swan’s feathers, enthusiastic stallholders urging you to taste their Parmesan in favour of the stalls opposite.

Inauspicious warehouses converted into trendy wine bars and pubs, beer barrels and crates used as outdoor furniture, where inside you will find Belgian beer, vintage cider and Vanilla infused red wine on tap. A dainty teahouse fit for the Mad Hatter is decorated with glistening glass chandeliers, hanging teacups and sheets of fairy lights.

After hours you may be lucky enough to bump into a merry man from Slovakia who skips from person to person strumming his guitar as he sings a witty song designed per individual, afterwards folding his green hat from his head with a bow in the hope of a tip.

A few honey beers later, you may collect your bags together bursting with tomatoes and cheese you’ve yet to taste and find the market empty except perhaps for a road sweeper who may give you a knowing wink as you pass.