Birthday Meal Out - Pub Food

Day 9

Due to it being my birthday yesterday I was unable to update my blog, so tonight I will be telling you what food we ate last night and to make up for missing writing my blog yesterday, I will be publishing 2 recipes tomorrow. The dish that appealed to me the most was the double chicken burger that my sister had.  The burger came with a choice of two extras and a sauce for the inside. The meal burger was £7.99 which was great value for money considering the size of the whole meal.

 

As you can see the meal was very large but at the same time very tasty, it also came with a portion of chips, 3 onion rings, coleslaw and ketchup. My sister said the meal was a great hearty meal that was packed with flavour, well cooked and very filling. I would definitely recommend going to the 'Brown Hair' it is located in Penwortham, it is a brand new pub and is beautifully decorated and the staff were all very welcoming! Even though we went on a Tuesday night it was vey busy and people were waiting to get there food!

 

I am sorry about the late uploading, but this restaurant definitely a great birthday meal.

Please leave a comment below if you have eaten anything similar and if you would like to see more pub and restaurant reviews.  

Risotto

Day 7

For this risotto you will need;

1. four handfuls of risotto rice
2. 1 and a half pints of vegetable stock
3. 2 leeks (finely chopped)
4. 10 asparagus
5. smoked chorizo
6. prawns
7. peas
8. chive and garlic Philadelphia - 1 and a half table spoons

fry the 2 chopped leeks in oil until soft and slightly brown, then add in the rice and keep stirring it. then add in a ladle full of stock a little bit at a time, half way through adding the stock add in the asparagus and peas! then stir gently until the asparagus has softened, then add the chorizo and prawns! stir on a low heat until the rice is cooked through and then add the Philadelphia and blend in until it is all creamy, then serve!! its so easy and yummy

 this was my favourite thing I have made and eaten so far on my blog and I hope you enjoy it if you get a chance to try it out!

Chocolate Oreo Cake

Day 6

I made this cake for when we were having family around tonight but instead of a boring chocolate cake I thought I would give it a little bit of a creative and fun twist, using my favourite biscuits 'Oreos'. To start of this recipe you need to make a simple a cake mixture, for that you will need;

Cake Batter:

1. 4 large eggs
2. 8oz sugar
3. 8oz self raising flour
4. 8oz unsalted butter
5. 3-4 table spoons of good quality cocoa powder
6. 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

step one - blend together the sugar, the butter and the vanilla essence in a large bowl on a high speed with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.

step two - in a different bowl crack all four eggs and whisk together, then add a little bit to the butter and sugar mixture in stages and keep mixing in all together so it doesn't curdle.

step three - in another bowl mix the cocoa powder and self raising flour together and then add it all into the other mixture and fold it in slowly, making sure there are no lumps and bumps in the mixture.

step four - when it is all mixed together pour the cake batter into two well greased tins, make sure there is an even amount in each tin, then place it in to the oven on a 180 degrees oven for 20 minutes.

step five - check the cake is cooked through by stabbing it with a knife, if there is no mixture on it, it is cooked properly but if there is raw mixture on the end put it back in the oven and keep checking it.

step six - when the cake is cooked well, turn it out on to a cooling rack and then let it cool for about 20-30 minutes.

Decoration:

To make the butter cream you will need;

1. 5oz of icing sugar
2. 2 well heaped tablespoons of unsalted butter
3. 8 finely crushed Oreo's
4. 10 normal Oreo's

step one - blend all these ingredients together until you are happy with the mixture, you can always keep adding more of the 3 ingredients if you are no satisfied with the butter cream.

step two - when the cake is properly cooled apply the butter cream on top of one of the sponges then sandwich them together. then spread the butter cream all over the cake so that you can't see the sponge.

step three- put the normal Oreos on top of the cake standing up and around the sides of the iced cake, this gives the cake that something extra that appeals to the eye.

Finished Product

Langs Resturant Review

Day 5

Last night I went out for a birthday meal and that is why I didn't get the chance to upload a blog last night, so I am sorry that this is late but I will also uploading another blog tonight! The restaurant I went to last night was amazing, it was called 'Langs of Longton' and it is located in Walmer Bridge. Even though it was quite expensive the food was divine and well worth the money, also the atmosphere was very elegant and everybody in the restaurant seemed comfortable in there surroundings and happy with the food.

For starter I had crayfish and chorizo risotto with a pea foam and it was delicious, it wasn't to creamy and none of the flavours were to over powering! It tasted as good as it looked and was definitely to my taste, on top of the risotto was a parmesan  cheese crisp which contrasted well with the smooth risotto. Then for main I had a stuffed chicken breast with sun dried tomato, basil and mozzarella wrapped in Parma ham with chive mash and a cherry tomato sauce. It was honestly one of the tastiest meals I have had in a long time and all the flavour combinations were beautiful, I loved it and If I go back to that restaurant again I'm sure I will have that chicken breast.

for desert me and my sister shared the assiette of deserts, you get 4 miniature deserts and each one is full of flavour and very yummy in there own individual way. On our assiette we had a coconut crushed ice, a chocolate and orange mouse, banana fritters with a caramel sauce and a chocolate brownie with a white chocolate drizzle. I loved all of them apart from the ice but that's because I am not a big fan of coconut, but it would have been very refreshing for at the end of the desert as the others were rather sweet. But the assiette was a great way to finish the meal as it was creative and delicious at the same time!

 

Red pepper and Lime Thai green curry

Day 4

This is a family favourite meal that will tickle your taste buds, it's a very quick Friday night dinner with different spices and flavours coming at you all at once. The main two flavours of this dish are lime and red pepper, as they clash very well and give the dish a bit of colour.

For this recipe you will need:

1. 1 large onion
2. 1 large red pepper
3. A tin of sweet corn
4. 10 - 15 mushrooms
5. 4 chicken breasts (chopped)
6. 1 tin of coconut milk
7. 4 - 5 teaspoons of thai green curry paste
8. 1 cup of Balsmati rice
9. Seasoning and chilli flakes

To start this dish you chop the onion up in to dices an then fry it in a hot deep pan, while your onions are cooking on a low heat pour some water into another deep pan up until it is half full, put it on a high heat and then boil it. When your onions are cooking add in your chopped chicken breast and turn the heat up I medium!

If your water is boiled add the rice into it then add some salt into it as this helps to make your rice a bit more tasty and sticky. Then when your chicken is cooked through you should start you add your chopped mushrooms and peppers! Then season with the salt, pepper and chilli flakes and stir.

To get the most juice possible from your lime, roll it back and forth on a hard surface with the palm of you hand until it starts to feel more soft! Then chop it in half and squeeze it over your hand to stop any pips getting in the sauce. Then add in your sliced red peppers to the pan, when they are all cooked through nicely add in your paste add stir in nicely. When that has mixed in well add in your coconut milk bit by bit until it has got to the consistency you like.

Leave your sauce to simmer on a low heat, then check your rise it cooked through when it is cooked drain it though a strainer until it is nice and fluffy. Then when everything is cooked plate up!!

I hope you all like this recipe, please comment below if you try to make this and if you enjoyed it.

A day out Special - Nando's

Day 3

So today I was treated to a delicious Nando's lunch and if any of you have ever been to Nando's you will know that is the tastiest place to have eat! I decided today that I would tell you about my meal and how I would recommend any of you to go to Nando's!! Today I had humous with spicy peri drizzle and pita bread (shared between all our family) and then a medium heat chicken burger with peri peri chips!

The service was great and we only waited about 2 minutes for our starter to come and we were still eating it when our mains came! Even though the service was still very quick the food was amazing quality, I'd been to Nando's many times before this and I've never been disappointed with any aspects of it! The food, service and staff are all very welcoming.

Please leave a comment below if you have ever been to Nando's and if your experience were as good as mine are.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Day 2

This is one of those simple bakes that takes about ten minutes and never fails to please everyone.
It is also one that I have been baking since I was a child and now know the recipe off by heart.
This cookie is so moist inside that it could class as a brownie but the outside is so crisp that it could class as the best cookie in the world, but to achieve this you have to make them right.

For this recipe you will need:

1. icing sugar - 3 tbsp (FOR DECORATION)
2. plain flour - 230 grams = 8 1/4 oz
3. unsweetened cocoa powder - 40 grams = 2 oz
4. salt - 1/4 tsp
5. butter - 115 grams = 4 oz (at room temperature)
6. cast sugar or soft brown depending on which one you prefer - 250 grams = 8 3/4 oz
7. 2 large eggs
8. vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon

When I first tried this recipe, I followed the instructions step by step and it worked fine but then today when I was in such a rush I threw it all in to a large mixing bowl, put my electric blender on high and pressed on and it worked just as well.

When the mixture has blended into a large bowl of thick chocolate goodness, take small sections (around the same size of the middle of your palm) and roll into smooth balls, then put the icing sugar in a bowl and roll your chocolate bowl into the dry icing sugar and then put on to a baking tray.

Preheat your oven to about 180 degrees and then place your chocolate balls into the oven for about 12-15 minutes. When they are cooked leave them to cool for about 5-10 minutes, as they are more tasty when they are still slightly warm. serve with an ice cold glass of milk and I can assure you everybody will be asking for seconds.

Finished product:

I hope you all enjoy!!
Leave comments below if you have tried this recipe and if they turned out well!

Yule Log Decoration

Day 1

A quick and easy, but yet tasty dish that I think starts of the new year is 'Yule Log', because it is January the 1st and I know a lot of you will be recovering from new years eve parties, this dish is going to be very simple. Not having a lot of time to make anything from scratch today was a big shame as there was a recipe a had been wanting to try out for a yule log.

So today is more of an equipment and decoration blog, as it has just been Christmas I got quite a few nice pieces of baking equipment, below will be photos of the equipment I used and the recipe on how to make the perfect butter cream to decorate you log with.

I got this brand new piping bag for Christmas and this is the first time I have had chance to use it and it did give the yule log a nice finish but was probably a lot of difficult to use and pipe with, as if you were running low on butter cream you have to take of 3 different layers of lids to add more in. Another thing I noticed was it was very hard to get out, and you had to add a lot of pressure which isn't exactly what you need when you are trying to get a smooth finish.

 

I was very happy opening this lovely set of 7 bowls and other little things on Christmas day, theses come in so much handy when you need to cook several things at once. In this set you get, a large bowl, a smaller bowl, a big and small sieve 3 measuring cups. they were great in this dish because of weighing out your simple ingredients and making sure you get nice silky butter cream.

 

 

This was the yule log before I decorated it, I admit it was cheating to buy it premade but everyone knows that not a lot of people have time to make it from scratch so I thought this would be easier.

my next step was to decorate to make the butter cream you will need

1.  3-4 big tablespoons of butter (non salted) I would advise getting stork.
2.  then 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder (add more I you think it needs it)
3.  finally 8 very large tables spoons of icing sugar.

If the icing sugar is not crumbly just add more butter - you can't got wrong with more butter!!

 

 

That was my finished product

when you are icing just go in neat straight lines, then when you get to the ends start in the middle and go round in a spiral until all the sponge is covered up.

for decoration sift some icing sugar gently over until it looks like nice snow and then you can add something on top like I did with my toad stools, I thought it added an extra bit of colour!