RAINBOW PASTA SALAD

How gorgeous was the weather this weekend? - we have been loving it in our household and have already had 3 barbecues - I love just a cheeseburger or a steak smothered in blue cheese with a green salad. Most of the time we are extremely unadventurous when it comes to barbecuing as Pascal prefers to keep it nice and simple, and as long as there is melted cheese involved, I am a happy bunny! 

On Sunday we decided to push the boat out and have a pasta salad rather than the green variety (much to Arabella's delight). The problem was we only made this decision at the supermarket so had to improvise as to what to put in it - I never don't follow a recipe so this was quite the experiment.

Pascal believes less is more and probably would have put in half the ingredients - I believe more is better so it was full of goodies!!

This is what I did for my pasta salad however feel free to add your own alterations:

Ingredients for 6 portions as a side / 4 portions as a main:

500g fusilli pasta (or whatever shape you prefer)
A yellow pepper, sliced
4-5 tablespoons of olive oil (this depends on your taste - Pascal just free poured - thankfully we weren't counting calories)!
Half a 240g jar of sun dried tomatoes, sliced
Half a 110g jar of black olives
An avocado, cut up into bite size chunks (quite a messy process)
4 pepperamis, sliced
3 continental onions, sliced
150g Gruyere cheese (you could add feta or goat's cheese instead), chopped into bite size pieces
Salt & pepper

The whole process of this pasta salad is super easy. Firstly boil the kettle and cook the pasta in salted boiling water according to the packet instructions.

While this is cooking, slice / cut all the ingredients. I would do the avocado last so it doesn't turn brown.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it. It is important to then stir in the oil so the pasta does not stick together. As I mentioned Pascal was very generous with the olive oil - it tasted delicious but you could add slightly less. 

Once the pasta has cooled, add all the ingredients and mix together. Finally season to taste and then tuck on in!

It was absolutely delicious - all the flavours worked so well together and each bite had a different taste, plus it is so pretty and colourful. I especially loved the combination of the sun dried tomatoes, spring onions and pepperamis in it! Like with lots of pastas, the salad tasted even better the next day, and the day after that (I finally gobbled up the remains for lunch today)! The avocado obviously discolours but it still tasted yum!!

I would definitely do this again - I think the olive oil works a lot better than mayonnaise as it is less rich and creamy and with regards to the ingredients you can add whatever you want - I would love to hear any of your suggestions - I think pasta salad is going to become a barbecue staple this year!

CHEESE, PEA & MINT OMELETTE

To top off my day yesterday, I scoffed a whole load of chocolate….lindt, galaxy, a malteser bunny, white chocolate buttons. I still felt sick this morning…..why can't I understand what moderation means?!!!

Anyway today is a new day and so I started off with a 5 mile run…it was not easy as I haven't run for a couple of weeks but it certainly blew the cobwebs out. I must force myself to do it once a week…

After yesterday I also needed a healthy lunch and so decided to cook an omelette - filling and protein, plus quick, easy and stress free - just what I needed!

Ingredients for 2 people:

100g frozen peas or petit pois
Drizzle of olive oil
4 eggs (medium or large), beaten
100g hard smoked cheese (I actually just used cheddar as it was all I had in the fridge, it tastes great but the smoked cheese is probably a bit better)
A handful of chopped mint
50g of grated Parmesan cheese

Boil the kettle and grate the cheese, beat the eggs and cut the mint.

Pour boiling water over the peas to cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes and then drain.

Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Then wipe the pan round carefully with some kitchen paper to coat the pan. Pour the beaten eggs into the pan.

When it starts bubbling on the top, after a couple of minutes, sprinkle the smoked (or cheddar) cheese  and mint down the centre and then add the peas and Parmesan.

Finally flip over to make a half moon, press down gently and cook for 1 more minute. 

Serve and enjoy.

You can serve it with salad or even fries but I had it as it is and it was perfect - I love the peas, cheese and mint together - so fresh. Plus this recipe is super easy and quick and doesn't make too much mess. I do have this regularly although Arabella prefers simple ham and cheese (she has a thing against mint). 

I definitely think omelettes are underrated - it is something I will always treat myself too at a hotel breakfast and absolutely adore. As long as you don't go over board on the cheese (like I normally do) they are very healthy….actually I think I might pretend to be at a hotel this weekend and make one for breakfast - ham, onion, mushroom and cheese - YUM!

SOPHIE'S STEAKHOUSE, FULHAM ROAD

Some days it is better to never get out of bed, don't you agree? For me today was one of those days. I woke up exhausted - I couldn't switch off last night as I knew I was meeting my ex husband today. Arabella used this morning to try and win an award at being slower than a snail. I then had to meet the dreaded ex which was a total waste of time as always and made my mood even worse. I couldn't even come home and hide from the world as we were having our broken boiler replaced so had no water for the entire day. Yoga slightly improved my disposition but not much - so I knew there was only one thing to do - eat!!!

Pascal didn't want to travel too far and he ended up suggesting Sophie's Steakhouse. I used to live very nearby and frequented the restaurant a lot although they raised their prices which put me off. When Arabella was a baby / toddler it was a great place to come as they are very child friendly and relaxed but I drew the line at paying £15.95 for a salad. Thankfully today I was in no mood for a salad!

We arrived and had a lovely table close to the window and immediately ordered a cucumber and mint martini….drinking that with their complimentary plate of salami definitely started taking the edge off. There are several different martini choices that all sound delicious, unfortunately I was limited to just the one as I was on mummy duty this afternoon.

The menu is smaller that it used to be but still very good (menu) - a few starters such as prawn cocktail, calamari and terrines, and then mains such as different types of steak (obviously), chicken, fish and chips, salads, sandwiches and plenty of sides. They also always do specials, a roast on a Sunday and a very good brunch.

For once we didn't have starters and went straight on to a selection of mains and gosh it was good. I had the roasted chicken sandwich with vine ripened tomatoes, baby spinach, crispy bacon, melted Montgomery and mayonnaise.

It is something I have had before and I am very pleased I had it again. It is basically a club sandwich without extra bread. Delicious and I did not regret not having my usual burger. 

Pascal had the burger - The Black Angus Burger - cross rib, minced in house, carpaccio style with chilli, onion, garlic & capers, grilled your way on a brioche bun, with optional emmental cheese and crispy bacon. He asked for it blue which apparently takes longer than well done (go figure) but the end result was apparently worth it. He said it was exceptional and one of the best burgers he'd ever had!

It was too "uncooked" for me to taste but it certainly looked good.

We didn't hold back on sides. Pascal's burger came with some very good fries. I obviously ordered mac and cheese with bacon. It was a risk as I never rated their mac and cheese before, but they have improved their recipe as it was absolutely brilliant - it didn't even need seasoning and I was gutted I had to share it with Pascal - I could have had the lot!

Finally we decided to add some green - Pascal's favourite an iceberg wedge with bacon and blue cheese. Pascal loved it, I prefer the one at the Big Easy as it has chunks of blue cheese in it, but it was still good.

After the feast, the smile was definitely restored to my face! I was once again impressed by Sophie's. My old favourite is now my new favourite….much to Arabella's delight - she loves the salami and the children's menu and the fact they have colours, papers and games such as snakes and ladders.

Some of the items are expensive, but I guess the restaurant serves good quality ingredients, it is in a great position on "the beach" area of the Fulham rd, it has a fun bar, great waiting staff and a cool atmosphere….you pay for what you get and after my experience today, I would say it is worth it.

There is a sister restaurant in Covent Garden on Wellington Street and they also do a take out menu. I look forward to my next trip to Sophie's.

Sophie's Steakhouse

311-313 Fulham Road,
London
SW10 9QH
Tel: 020 7352 0088
Email: fulhamroad@sophiessteakhouse.com

CLUB GASCON, THE CITY

Pascal is finally back from France and to celebrate we went to supper with our gorgeous friends Jacci and Tony. Tony chose the restaurant Club Gascon - he had wanted to take Pascal there for ages - it was very adventurous for us as it is the other side of London in between the Barbican and Smithfield Market. According to the website, the restaurant specialises in imaginative cuisine from the South West of France and the chef Pascal (not my one) is from Toulouse.

I had obviously checked out the menu online and looked at the photos on food spotting and was excited - everything looked so pretty! The menu was different (menu) - it is split into 5 different sections: La Route du Sel, Le Potager, Le Canard, L'Oceane and Les Paturages. This allows diners to enjoy as many different flavours as they wish. There is also a tasting menu.

The menu is small and smart with plenty of waiting staff however the service was a bit of a let down. Considering the restaurant has had a Michelin star since 2002, I was expecting more. The food however was delicious (mostly).

We had an amuse bouche of beetroot soup, a truffled scallop and some crisp puffs. A bit of a bizarre combination - the crisps and scallop were good, although the scallop was the size of a smartie but I was not a fan of the beetroot plus the colour was off putting - a bit too Harry Potter. It was nicely presented, just not my cup of tea.

I had the 'Ambre Tulip "Quinoto" with Truffled Pumpkin Pulp. This was amazing - so fresh and flavoursome, I could have had this for main as well. I can't describe how mouth wateringly good this was.

I did have severe food envy of Jacci and Pascal's 'Truffle Terrine & Macaroon'. This was the best terrine I have ever had, and whilst it sounds strange the truffle macaroon worked perfectly. It was INCREDIBLE!

Tony had the 'Rose Carpaccio, Mulled Wine & Crispy Gingerbread' which he said was delicious and certainly looked pretty. I need to up my standards on presentation with my cooking as this looked incredible!

We were all very happy with our starters. Mains were also very good, although I did regret my choice, I  would have preferred the truffle terrine!

I went for the 'Grilled Squid & Octopus, Bordelaise & Samphire' - another delicious dish, the fish was very fresh and tasty, but it was not exceptional and I have no idea still what that big purple thing was on my plate!

Pascal had the 'Salt Marsh Lamb, Salsify, Heliantis & Nori' - like me he said it was very good but not memorable and not as high a standard as his starter.

Jacci had the 'Glazed Black Cod, Sweet Artichokes, Verjuice and Crunchy Grapes'.

Tony had the Charolais Beef Variation, Caviar, Ox Sauce.

Both were very good and well presented.

For pudding Jacci and I decided to be piglets and have cheese. We were offered a small mint sorbet which was very cute and refreshing but I was still in a savoury mood!

The restaurant did not have a cheese trolley and instead just prepared you a plate of cheese. This was brilliant. A varied selection of cheese, chutney, biscuits and bread and each section complimenting each other. This ended the meal on a definite high!

Club Gascon offers excellent food in an elegant setting, the starters were some of the best we have had in a very long time and if I went back I think I would just order a selection of starters and then cheese! The main courses were also good but not as exceptional. 

I would definitely recommend the restaurant if you were in the area for a quiet civilised lunch or supper although I wouldn't race back there as I think there are some other great places in the city I would like to try (if I make the effort to go over there - lazy bones here doesn't want to travel 45 minutes)!!

Club Gascon

57 West Smithfield,

London

EC1A 9DS

Tel: 020 7600 6144

Fax: 020 7796 0601

SMOKED SALMON, CREME FRAICHE & DILL PASTA

Arabella loves pasta with smoked salmon but Pascal hates it so this was the perfect recipe to make whilst he was away. I wasn't very keen on having pasta as I always think carbs are "bad" and I am trying to be "good" at the moment, however I was very pleasantly surprised to see that this was only 300 calories a portion…..and for once I didn't need to add cheese.

I found this recipe in the Saturday Times magazine at my friend Nicci's house, last weekend - I think she thought I was a bit of a nutcase as I was photographing the recipe pages but it was definitely worth it and there will be more to come!

Ingredients for 2 people:

150g fresh pasta (I used tagliatelle but whatever you prefer)
100g smoked salmon (trimmings are fine)
2 tbsp creme fraiche (I used half fat)
Salt and black pepper
A few sprigs of dill

Boil the kettle for the pasta / boil the water in a pan. If you have fresh pasta it will only take 3-4 minutes however if you use dried it will take longer, maybe 11 minutes. If that is the case you will need to start cooking that first and go onto the next stage after about 5 minutes. 

If you don't have trimmings, snip the smoked salmon into small strips and put them in a small saucepan with the creme fraiche and plenty of black pepper.

Set the pan on the lowest possible heat and warm the ingredients so the creme fraiche melts and the salmon turns pale pink. You don't want it to boil and if it does just turn the heat off.

While this is cooking start the fresh pasta in salted boiling water.

When the pasta is ready remove half a ladle of cooking water (40ml) and add it to the small pan with the sauce.

Drain the pasta into a colander, tip it into a large serving bowl and pour the sauce over the top and then mix well. 

Using scissors snip the dill straight into the pasta and voila. Serve immediately.

What a simple but delicious meal. Very easy to cook and very yummy to eat. I will definitely be making this again. When discussing it with Pascal he said he would eat this but exchange the smoked salmon for tuna so we will definitely try that. Another alternative would be to add frozen peas or sweetcorn to the sauce before you add the pepper. Plus it would go nicely with a green salad as is not the biggest portion (probably why it is so low in calories)! Lots of play around with….a great way to cook pasta. 

CHEESY CHICKEN WITH LEEKS & SWEET POTATOES

I still had some sweet potatoes left over from when I cooked my pesto, lamb & sweet potato salad but had no idea how to cook them. Whilst I like sweet potato when I eat it, the thought of it isn't very appealing. I searched the internet and found lots of soup recipes which I am not interested in and nearly ended up cooking the lamb salad again!! Then I found this recipe which I did like the sound of…cheese, chicken, leeks - yum! 

It is an easy recipe to cook however I slipped into old bad habits of not reading the recipe properly. I was also rushing as we were late back from ballet and we still didn't have any heating so wanted to get Arabella and I wrapped up in bed asap. so I made several errors - doh! Thankfully it didn't matter as the recipe worked out very well despite my stress - and in the end this warmed me up!

Ingredients for 2 people:

20g butter or reduced fat spread for cooking
15g plain flour
150ml milk
200g mature half fat Cheddar cheese
125g lean cooked chicken breast, diced (I bought raw by mistake)
1 tbsp thyme
3 leeks, washed and chopped
250g sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced (I half chopped and half sliced)

Preheat the oven to 190 C / 375 F / gas mark 5.

Boil the kettle / water and add the sweet potatoes into a saucepan of salted boiling water for 8-10 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, melt 10g butter in a saucepan, then pour in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring continuously.

Gradually stir in the milk, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 1-2 minutes until thickened and smooth. I didn't read this properly and poured all the milk in one go - after an initial panic that I had ruined the whole recipe, it thankfully was ok and didn't matter. Error number 1!

Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in about 130g (two-thirds) of the cheese and the chicken. However this is where I made my second serious error! I had raw chicken not cooked - doh!!! It didn't matter though and I rescued the recipe. So if you have bought cooked chicken just stir it in now, otherwise...

If you have bought raw chicken breast, you can cook it now. Melt the 10g of butter in a frying pan and cook the chicken for a couple of minutes. If they are in bite size pieces they will cook quicker. Then throw in the leeks and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Around now the sweet potatoes are ready and so take them off the heat and drain them. It doesn't matter if everything is ready at different times as you are going to bake it anyway. 

Once the leeks and chicken are cooked (always check the chicken is completely cooked through), stir in with with cheese, milk & flour mixture.

Spoon the chicken mixture into an ovenproof dish and arrange the potato slices on top. My final error - I just chopped half of them, rather than sliced and so it didn't look as pretty as it should. Doh!

Sprinkle over the remaining cheese and the thyme, then bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. For an extra crispy top, place under a hot grill for a couple of minutes before serving. I think it is important to do this, as you know me, I am all about the cheese!!

It wasn't my prettiest looking dish and as I had mentioned I did make several mistakes but I am very happy to report that this was absolutely delicious. The chicken, cheese and leek mixture is just incredible, made even more so by the cheesy sweet potatoes. Arabella enjoyed it too. This is a perfect midweek supper - I would recommend it and definitely cook it again. You could serve it with some green vegetables but I don't think it needs it, it was perfect on its own.