BARBECOA, ST PAUL'S

Barbecoa is a Jamie Oliver restaurant in the city with phenomenal views of St Paul's. On the website it describes itself as a "cathedral to fire and food" - personally I would describe it as a steakhouse, and a good one at that. I went yesterday with my lovely friend Katie and despite the grey, miserable cold weather, just sitting in the restaurant brings a smile to your face as you look out over one of London's most iconic buildings. Arabella and I had climbed to the top of St Paul's during the summer which was one scary experience!!!

Obviously I had been online looking at the menu beforehand and I had also checked out the 101 posts of food on foodspotting - clearly a popular venue.

I wanted to be adventurous with my eating and order the short rib or the smoked ribs three ways but as there was a burger on the menu, I had to try that!

Katie and I started off by sharing the crispy calamari - it was on a bed of something but I am not sure what!! According to the menu it was guacamole with chipotle hot sauce however it wasn't spicy at all (thank goodness). It was delicious though, the calamari tasted perfect, I could have eaten a lot more!

Katie is a very inspiring runner - I always see her runs on Facebook and they put me to shame as she can easily do a 10km whilst I am struggling with half of that. As she'd had a good run that morning she decided to eat the fillet steak with béarnaise sauce. It also came with bone marrow which she declined.

I obviously went for the burger which was 8oz Wagu beef with truffled short rib, porcini mushrooms, onions and cheddar cheese. It was impressive just to look at!

Even though my mouth isn't exactly small, there was no way I could get that in, so I had to cut it up. It was delicious, especially the porcini mushrooms, they were so flavoursome. I enjoyed the rib part about couldn't taste the truffle. The burger itself literally melted in your mouth, my only complaint was that there wasn't enough cheese but that seems to be a problem for me in lots of places. I really enjoyed it though and ate every last morsel. Surprisingly they would only cook the burger medium, I thought this extremely strange for a restaurant which specialises in meat….and I would be interested to know why. Unfortunately I was too busy stuffing my face to ask!

Katie and I also shared some fries which tasted like roast potatoes as they were cooked in beef dripping and were deliciously crispy.

All in all, a great lunch - fabulous company, mesmerising views and divine food. My only gripe would be the prices - £26 for a burger - pretty steep - but then I guess you are paying for the view, plus the service was extremely attentive and hospitable. Would I go back, yes I would and to be honest, despite the price I would probably have the burger all over again, although maybe with extra cheese this time!!

The restaurant also has a private dining room and does butchery classes.

Barbecoa

20 New Change Passage,
London
EC4M 9AG
Tel: 020 3005 8555

BRASSERIE GUSTAVE, CHELSEA

Pascal, being French, loves proper French food…..and I, being a piglet, l love it too. Therefore we decided to give Brasserie Gustave in Chelsea a try on Saturday night - I follow their instagram page which always posts delicious photos of food.

Obviously I had checked out the menu beforehand and it was filled with traditional french dishes.

We started with some super soft bread and butter while we decided what to eat.

I was really torn over what to order for starter as I wanted both the snails and the coarse game terrine. In the end we decided to order 6 snails to share and a starter each - I had the terrine and Pascal chose the bone marrow.

The garlic and parsley buttered snails were served with crunchy croutons and tiny pieces of tomatoes and a pastry snail. I have always been a massive fan of snails, even as a young child and like nothing more than mopping up ever drop of sauce with bread. 

Unfortunately the snails were really disappointing - too much parsley and not enough seasoning or garlic. I think it is the first time ever I didn't lick the bowl clean.

I also ordered the coarse game terrine with toasted sourdough, green salad and gherkins. This was OK - nothing special, as before it also lacked seasoning. Plus the gherkins were tiny slithers in the salad, it could have done with more.

Pascal ordered the roasted bone marrow with parsley and gherkin salad and a red wine sauce. Unfortunately this did not live up to his expectations either, I tried a bit and found it incredibly fatty….although I have to say bone marrow is not my cup of tea!

For mains I was torn between the veal escalope "Diane" or the mussels. As I am still carrying some holiday weight from half term, I chose the moules marineres with fries.

The mussels themselves were quite bland and tasteless however the white wine sauce was absolutely delicious - I ate it like a soup and devoured the lot! The fries were also very good.

Pascal order the venison with almond potatoes, honey parsnips and red cabbage. This had the wow factor of being finished off on front of us on a little cooking trolley (I am sure the French have a much better word for it)! Unfortunately once again he was not impressed as the venison was slightly overcooked, plus he was starting to feel unwell as the bone marrow had been so rich. He didn't even finish his plate which is something I rarely see!!

As a side he ordered flat garlic mushrooms which were in fact delicious.

We decided against cheese and instead just ordered the bill - both feeling rather disappointed as we had had such high hopes. The restaurant hasn't been open that long (since June 2014), so maybe it is still having teething problems with the food - who knows - the chef has great qualifications. 

One thing I do know is that we won't rush back which is a shame as the service was exceptional - so friendly and attentive. It has the makings of being somewhere special, it just isn't there yet. Although it is worth pointing out that the restaurant has a gorgeous lower ground bar which looks super cosy, perfect for these cold, winter nights.

Brasserie Gustave

4 Sydney Street,

London

SW3 6PP

Tel: 020 7352 1712

Email: info@brasserive-gustave.com

 

SLOW COOKED PULLED PORK

I have cooked Pulled Pork before but it was more barbecue style and not in the slow cooker. After the success of the Slow Cooked Shoulder of Lamb last week, we thought we should use the slow cooker to cook some pulled pork again. I found this recipe on the Internet and chose it because it didn't require too many ingredients and is very very easy. It does take quite a while as you have to marinate it for at least 12 hours, I did this over night, and then you need to cook it for 8-10 hours. As you will see below I made a bit of an error in my cooking and did not read the recipe properly (old habits die hard) so follow the instructions more than the pictures! 

I cooked a smaller pork shoulder as it was just Pascal and I, but here is the full recipe.

Ingredients for 8 baps:

1.35kg boneless pork shoulder
Around 750ml water or as needed
Around 2 litres of white wine vinegar or as needed
4 tbsp salt
1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground mustard / mustard powder
1 tbsp chilli powder (we left this out as we hate spice)
110g dark brown soft sugar (I just used any brown sugar)

To serve:

Cheese slices
Coleslaw
Soft white baps

Place the pork shoulder into the bowl of the slow cooker. Pour enough water and white wine vinegar into the slow cooker to cover the pork completely - you want more vinegar than water, at least a third more (you don't need to be completely accurate).

Add the salt to the water. Then put the bowl in the fridge to allow the pork to marinate for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours. We did this over night.

When the pork is marinated, drain enough of the liquid from the bowl until about 1.25cm of pork is left exposed (I so did not read this recipe properly and by mistake drained far too much away and just left 1.25cm at the bottom - whoops - so ignore my picture - I blame it on being half asleep as I did this early this morning)! Add the onion to the remaining liquid.

Season the exposed surface of the pork with a tablespoon of cumin.

Then a tablespoon of mustard powder.

Then the chilli if you are using it. Finally add the 110g of brown sugar.

Place the bowl in the slow cooker and cook on high for 8-10 hours until the pork is tender and falls apart easily.

When the pork is ready, shred the meat and remove and discard any excess fat (you can see from my picture of the pork the bowl had far too little liquid in!).

Finally serve in soft white maps with cheese and coleslaw.

Yum! Despite the mistakes I made, this was delicious. The pork was slightly dry where it hadn't been covered in liquid, but we did not really notice it too much due the the delicious coleslaw and cheese! I really do love pulled pork and cooking it in the slow cooker makes it so so tender. I have already picked out my next slow cooker recipe - I am on a roll - so watch this space!!

SLOW COOKED ROSEMARY AND GARLIC SHOULDER OF LAMB

I am sure in past posts I have mentioned my love of Greece and especially Greek food, although Pascal is the exact opposite regarding the food and so it has been knocked off our holiday destination list…I guess I overdid it by dragging him there 3 summers in a row. Therefore I was dicing with danger when I suggested cooking a Greek lamb dish in the slow cooker which I had messed up completely when I tried to use it a few weeks ago (raw lamb anyone?)!!

This time I made sure I read all the instructions 3 times before attempting to do anything - luckily this slow cooking recipe was much more successful than my pressure cooking!!

Ingredients for 4 people:

3 garlic cloves
2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
Salt and Pepper
750g boneless lamb shoulder
500g potatoes, peeled and cut into 5mm slices (roughly)
1 small onion, chopped (we had shallots in the cupboard so used those instead)
300ml hot lamb stock

To serve:
Feta or halloumi cheese (or both)
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Hummus
Flat breads or wraps or pitas

Cut one of the garlic cloves in half and rub it round the slow cooker basin, then chop it finely along with one of the other garlic cloves and slice the onion (shallots in this case).

Mix all the dry herbs, rosemary and a crushed garlic clove together in a bowl and then rub over the lamb and season well.

Line the slow cooker basin with the potato slices, making a few layers.

Place the lamb on top of the potatoes and surround with the chopped onion/shallots and garlic.

Pour over the hot lamb stock.

Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 6-8 hours until the lamb is easy to pull apart (we did 7 hours).

Once it is ready slice the lamb.

Put the potatoes in a bowl.

Finally serve in a wrap - I had hummus, feta, tomatoes, lamb and cucumber with potatoes on the side - yum!!

This was an incredible meal!! The slow cooker has got the big thumbs up and we devoured everything. Even though I only like potatoes covered in melted cheese, these were exceptional and Pascal pronounced it the best Greek food he has ever had!! It was so easy too - great for any type of meal, I think we will will be doing this for our next dinner party and next weekend we will try slow cooked pulled pork. 

I thank my friend Sally very much for buying me this fabulous cooking contraption!!

PARMESAN & BROCCOLI PASTA WITH MAPLE-CURED BACON

My daughter Arabella and I are both supermarket recipe card fanatics - every time we go shopping we come home with numerous cards which go into my recipe folder never to be seen again!! So I decided this weekend, it was time to "organise" them and I was very pleasantly surprised by how many good meal ideas we have collected. Here is a very old one from Waitrose which we had Saturday night with our gorgeous friend Ceri and it was delicious.

Ingredients for 4 people:

500g dried pasta

2 x 200g packs purple sprouting broccoli spears or tenderstem broccoli

2 tsp olive oil

250g pack of smoked back bacon with maple syrup, chopped (this was from Waitrose)

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

150ml dry white wine

100g freshly grated Parmesan

As a cheese addict I also added grated cheese!

Start off by trimming the thick ends from the broccoli and roughly cutting the stems into 1cm lengths, leaving the florets whole.

Cook the pasta according to the pack instructions in salted boiling water. Ours took 10 minutes.

After around 6 minutes, throw in the broccoli as well.

At the same time heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the bacon for 4-5 minutes until crispy and then add the garlic for a further minute.

Pour in the wine and let it bubble, scraping up any bits from the base of the pan, until the wine is reduced by half.

Drain the pasta and broccoli but keep a couple of tablespoons of pasta water in the saucepan. Then mix all the ingredients together and add about 80% of the Parmesan. This is where I also added grated cheese too!!

Finally serve with some freshly ground black pepper and the remaining cheese.

This was absolutely delicious - the broccoli, bacon and cheese all go so well together - Arabella adored it so I would say it is kid friendly and healthy too. Arabella would eat pasta every night if she could so it's great to have it with greens in too! It was all very quick and simple as well - a perfect recipe!