Recipe: Sam Stern's Chickpea & Spinach Curry

Some months ago He complained that I always made unhealthy food so I searched through my pile of cookery books and came across a recipe that is now a firm favourite no matter who I cook it for.

The book in question was Sam Stern's Cooking Up A Storm which I bought many years ago while living with an ex boyfriend. I rather optimistically hoped it might encourage him to cook for me.... turns out I was wrong. Anyway, I really love this cookery book-Stern's writing style is really informal and easy to follow. At the time of publishing his first book I think he was about 15 (co written with his mother). I've tried a few of his recipes and they've generally been great.

Back to the curry....I'm a carnivore, I love my steak bloody and rare so choosing to eat a vegetarian dish is rare for me; nevertheless I gave it a go. I followed the recipe roughly (200ml of coconut cream...it only comes in cartons of 250ml so guesstimate the right amount)....the only thing I changed was the curry paste as I'm not fussed by korma and decided to use masala paste to give it a richer flavour.

Since first test I've made this about 6 or 7 times-He regularly requests it and I've also now doubled the batch twice making enough for about 10-12 people (thank heavens for the massive pan we bought from M&S a couple of months ago). I also switch the curry paste occasionally without negatively affecting the taste. The one negative thing I will say is that the recipe tells you to cook it under a lid for an hour, but I'd say half an hour with a lid and half an hour without to thicken it up!

The joy of this dish is that it is gluten free AND vegetarian so it's great fussy eaters. I had a friend round recently who claimed to not like curry, particularly vegetable curry....he went back for seconds!

Tonight I made a double batch for 6 of us (including my coeliac friend) and there is still about half left (for both our lunches tomorrow and for the two of my flatmates who are back late). I also made coeliac friend a novelty, gluten free birthday cake-last year she had the really crude cake, so this year she wanted another body part!!

 

Anyway, in conclusion, Sam Stern's recipe is absolutely amazing and I recommend trying it!

Making Cakes at Home

(Her)
I love making cakes - I always have done - when I broke my arm at about the age of 13, within a week I was insisting I'd be able to make a cake with my arm in a sling - unfortunately my parents took that to mean I was also able to start helping out with the household chores again, but that was the price I paid.

In recent years I have become more enthusiastic in my cake making - now I'm not up to the standard of my friend Mandy, who creates professional cakes under the guise of Scrummy Crumbs Cakes - her cakes are phenomenal, but I think I've had some success with my own mediocre creations, so I will post a few pictures of them here. Be warned, there are a couple of explicit ones!

This is a vanilla victoria sponge with white chocolate icing and flake on top, as well as some decorated cupcakes on a stand - very simple and 'normal' for me.

Last year, however, I decided to create something a little bit special for His 29th birthday, so using a photo of his car, I tried to make a cake version:

On seeing the cake I'd make for him, my flat mate decided he needed 'boobs' for his birthday cake so 3 months later the next cake was made:

Which led to another friend deciding to make things fair she needed a penis (I apologise at this point for the crudeness of my cake and would like to add that the most disgusting bit was added by him and not me)

For the next birthday I wanted to make something that suited the person it was being made for and so I made a film themed cake for Ali:

Then a train for another friend (who was playing a train driver in an am dram production)

For Christmas I was given a "giant cupcake" mould so inevitably the next friend who had a birthday got this:

Then this week, it was our new flatmate's birthday - she requested Johnny Depp in his pirate outfit, which was a bit beyond my ability, so here's what I came up with:

Finally, here is a selection of other baking I've done - sorry for boring you all and I hope it's been vaguely interesting!

Hummingbird Bakery - Kensington

(Her)
Today we went on a trip to the V&A then to the Science Museum, in between we stopped off for a coffee in Starbucks & a cake from the (in)famous Hummingbird Bakery.

Before I review the cakes from the Hummingbird, can I just say that if you have any interest in computers or codebreaking the Alan Turing exhibition at the Science Museum is well worth a visit - both of us were fascinated by the history and life of Turing - in particular I was amazed to learn that only 60 years ago homosexuality was considered to be a crime and was 'treated' with estrogen to suppress sexual urges. Considering all the debate about 'gay marriage' in the news lately, it amazes me how far we've come in the last few decades and hope that we can continue to make progress in tolerance of each other!

Anyway, we've both heard great things about the Hummingbird Bakery and, as an amateur baker, I was particularly interested in their cupcakes. We walked into the tiny cafe and were greeted with an array of stunning cakes and treats ranging from cheesecake slices to brownies amongst a variety of elegantly decorated, but quite pricey cakes- a whole red velvet large cake was £32, and individual cakes ranged from about £2.30 to £4. He immediately went for the daily special which was a 'chocolate chip cookie' cake and eventually I asked the waitress which was the best choice between red velvet and black bottom cupcake - her answer was that the red velvet was the best seller, but the black bottom was the staff favourite, so my decision was made.

The Black Bottom Cupcake - the cake itself was very rich and thick, with a delicious cream cheese icing. We had decided to share half of each cake and by about halfway through I was done anyway - it was really tasty, but just too sweet for me. Unfortunately, it was just as I took my last bite I got a mouthful of the 'cheesecake' in the middle, which was enjoyed enthusiastically by him.

The Chocolate Cookie Cupcake - this cake was much less thick than the black bottom, in fact, it tasted much like a bog standard chocolate victoria sponge to me - the icing on top was rich and creamy, but didn't stand out as being anything amazing and the cookies sprinkled on top could just as easily have been left off without affecting the taste. There wasn't anything wrong with this cake, it's just that there also wasn't anything particularly right about it either.

So the Black Bottom won the cake-off, but considering we'd spent over £5 on two cakes, neither of us felt like winners and He immediately decided he much preferred the cakes I make at home - tbh I felt the same way because although the BB was rich and tasty, a normal person wouldn't be able to eat a whole one, let alone several, whereas when I make a couple of dozen cakes at home, the two boys I live with have nearly finished them off by the next morning.

One interesting point that He couldn't resist pointing out, was that ALL of the staff in the bakery were so thin as to be almost insignificant, which was amazing considering the decadence they were surrounded by, however our waitress just laughed it off and claimed that she must 'walk off' all the cakes she eats.

The Turk's Head, Twickenham

(Her)
This evening we went out for dinner in the Turk's Head, Twickenham. The pub is a big, old open pub - it has lots of rugby tickets glued to the ceiling, presumably to signify that it's a rugby pub, and it has several screens which were, when we arrived, showing the football. Overall the atmosphere was nice and friendly, if a little 'sporty' with all the big screens

Having looked at the menu in advance we ordered a sharing platter of nachos with chilli beef and then I got a pint of scampi and chips, while he went for the special steak and ale pie. It should also be noted that the bar had a large selection of ales and wines to choose from (I went for a merlot that was ok, but nothing special and was quite pricey at £6 a large glass)

When the starter arrived we felt like we were off to a good start - the plate of nachos was HUGE and it looks as though a bucket of salsa, sour cream and guacamole had been poured over the top. The salsa tasted like it had come out of the bottle, but the chilli beef was simply delicious and the whole dish just worked. That said, it was just ridiculously large and there was no way that it was a starter for two people - I had to call it quits after a while to save room for my main course!

Now I love scampi, I'm not going to lie - I know it's a cop out option when you can't decide, but it always tastes good and tartare sauce is a great accompaniment...usually. Here's where things went wrong.....let's be clear, I used to be a really fussy eater and I've trained myself out of most of it, but I just can't stand raw onions, especially red onions, so a homemade tartare sauce that seemed to consist entirely of red onion wasn't really for me....not the end of the world, I can cope, but annoying nevertheless. The chips were thick cut, the ones on the top of the dish were a bit doughy and undercooked, but the ones on the bottom were really crispy and fatty - TBH they weren't that great and with no tartare sauce and no ketchup on the table I ended up leaving most of them. Unfortunately the fatty, greasy texture continued with the scampi and for the first time in my life I left most of them too.

Sadly, being intrinsically British I didn't have the balls to complain and instead smiled politely and paid the bill at the end....

So for me the Turk's Head wasn't an ideal meal - I'll let him describe his pie and mash

An Introduction From Her

A little about me - I am 29, I work as a teacher, I live with 3 friends, not with Him and I love to cook. Let's be clear, I don't always have a lot of success, but I enjoy myself nevertheless! I started off baking cakes and now seem to cook whenever I have a chance (which isn't nearly so often as I would like). I once cooked a 3 course meal for 8 people which included a vegan and a coeliac, which meant a lot of separate meals- although my crowning glory was 18 months ago when I made a cake in the shape of his Porsche for His 29th birthday!

He and I have been together for over 2 years and have discovered that we both have a passion for food. We often cook for each other and love to find new meals to make - although I seem to have a high success rate for particularly unhealthy meals :/

We also go out for dinner roughly once a week - either together or separately, and we always have an opinion about the food we eat. I think we can be a bit snobby, but we just like 'good' food - recently we visited my sister who was very excited about visiting the local Harvester for dinner as the food there was so good and it was a special dinner.....now I'll eat in a Harvester if I have to and the food isn't terrible, but I certainly wouldn't go there as a special treat - it amazes me that to some people places like the Harvester are a luxury, whereas to me they would be slumming it.....the conclusion I drew from this is that somehow I have become rather snooty in my eating habits, or rather I have come to expect a certain quality to my meals. Perhaps this has come from living in London for nearly 5 years, or perhaps it's come from discovering the wonderful food that can be made at home and having a high expectations of food made elsewhere? Who knows! Anyway, in this blog I will attempt to review some of the places we eat out, some of the recipes we try at home AND occasionally the hotels we stay at on the rare occasions I get out of London.