Asparagus and Gruyere Tart

Hurray for asparagus season! Every year I try to make the most of when these beauties are in cheap, plentiful supply. Here's a quick little supper i made tonight that really does them justice.

Simply roll out a sheet of ready-made puff pastry (or make your own if you prefer). Spread on some dijon mustard- 1-2 tbsp depending on how much mustard you can handle. Grate over some gruyere cheese (I'd say a good handful). Top with trimmed asparagus spears and a bit more cheese for good measure, drizzle with a good olive oil, season liberally with salt and pepper, and bake in a hot oven for about 20 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden, and the cheese pleasingly melted.

This will serve two generously, one very genersouly indeed, or else I'm sure the other half will make a fine lunch tomorrow.

Birthday Gal

Yesterday this little beach babe turned 23...


...and unfortunately I had to work, but the girls gave me some wonderful presents and a card which made me a tad emotional.! Also, I'd managed to find time to open my other presents over a birthday breakfast with Wonderboy. Rather spookily (or just because I am predictable) my brother sent me the two cookbooks that were top of my Amazon wishlist:

(Blogger has flipped this photo for some annoying reason)

Really liking the look of Nigel Slater's 'Appetite'. I know it's lame but my plans for this evening involve a bath, some nice herbal tea, and an early night snuggling up in bed with Nigel. Surely as good a hangover cure as any?

Which leads nicely to last night, whereupon I discovered a new favourite cocktail at Sub13 -the 'Hedgerow Martini', a delicious combination of gin, blackberry liqeur, lemon juice and elderflower. Then we headed to La Perla, a new tapas bar in Bath, which is completely underground so has a very warm and intimate atmosphere.

So what about the food? Ahhmmazing. And I used to work in a tapas restaurant so I'm quite particular! My highlights were the perfectly crisp patatas bravas, the succulent king prawns cooked in garlic and white wine, the salty whitebait, and the brie and glazed chorizo on toast. Mouth-watering stuff! All served by charming waitresses, and within sight of the open kitchen so you can see your food being prepared.

Though perhaps the best part was that with five of us eating, and a few bottles of wine, the bill was only £95. Definitely be going here again!

Sweet Potato and Mixed Bean Enchiladas

OK I'm finally getting round to sharing these amaaazing enchiladas with you. It's only taken, oh, about 5 days. But hey, back off, they're totally worth the wait! And this week is National Vegetarian Week, so at least it's topical now.
I wish I could take the credit for the awesomness of these, but I actually got the recipe from Kevin over at Closet Cooking (click the link for the full original recipe and quantities)

You basically gently cook the onion and garlic in a frying pan. Then add the beans, spices, and some water and leave to simmer.

The only tweak I had to make here was leaving out the chipotle chillies, as I couldn't get hold of any. So instead I added 2tsp smoked paprika to replace that smoky flavour. I have to say, these were pretty spicy, but nothing that a good old dollop of creme fraiche didn't fix.

You'll also need to make some sweet potato mash. I did this just by microwaving two sweet potatoes for about 8 minutes, scooping out the flesh, then adding seasoning and fresh coriander.

Now assemble your enchiladas. Lay some of the spicy bean mixture onto a tortilla. Spread some of the mash on top, then roll it all up.

Place the four filled tortillas in a baking dish, and top with a simple tomato sauce and some grated cheddar.

(Kevin didn't use tomato sauce in his recipe, instead he served it with salsa. If you want to make a sauce like mine, gently fry one chopped garlic clove in some olive oil for one minute. Tip in one tin of chopped tomatoes, season, add a touch of balsamic vinegar for sweetness, and simmer for approx 10 minutes until thickened)

Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling. Serve with salad, creme fraiche and some homemade guacamole. This will serve 4...unless you're feeling really greedy. A friend and I actually got through 3 between us, but we were ridiculously full afterwards! Enchilada Excess.

Well Let's Dance

Entirely un-food-related, but just thought I'd explain why I am in no mood to cook today. Too much gin and dancing last night for a joint birthday celebration of me and this beautiful lady, my boss Emma.

There were lots more of us there, but the girls wouldn't thank me for showing you the photos!

Stay tuned for some epic enchiladas that I made on Friday, I'll tell you all about them when I am more able to focus! FYI the leftovers just about saved me today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f1uWMC7i9k

Sam's Kitchen (not mine,unfortunately)

Today I went for lunch at a new cafe in Bath that I've been dying to visit. I walk past most days, and it's pretty much always busy. Now seeing as it's only been open a couple of months, you know they must be doing something right. It seems word is spreading and I couldn't wait to have a nose in Sam's Kitchen for myself..

The concept itself makes a refreshing change to all the Starbucks-inspired cafes that seem to be popping up everywhere. The interior is rustic and charming, based around a large farmhouse-style pine table for communal use, plus a few extra tables, an inviting leather sofa, an equally welcoming bookcase, and various deli items for sale such as homemade jams and chutneys. Oh, and there's a piano. Of course!

When you enter, you are greeted by a tiered counter groaning under the weight of all manner of goodies. We arrived at 11 to the sight of pastries, brownies, florentines, meringues and even homemade lemonade. What's a girl to choose? We started proceedings with a light rosewater and toasted pinenut meringue, a peppermint tea for my friend and an espresso for myself.

The most impressive thing, for me, is that everything is made in the small kitchen behind the counter. So, whilst innocently sipping my espresso, the smells of what they were cooking for lunch kept temptingly wafting over to our table. The counter was changed, and the daily specials were unveiled..

I decided to go for a slice of Leek, Mustard and Westcombe Cheddar Tart, still warm from the oven. I had a choice of sides, and opted for a butternut squash, rocket and pumpkin seed salad. The salad was delicious, with a generous portion of roasted squash, and the tart had a wonderfully strong savoury flavour with the just the right mustardy kick.

As recommended by the very sweet waitress, I also had an apple, ginger and mint juice, made fresh to order.

Now really, that's a lovely looking lunch. I will definitely be hanging out in Sam's Kitchen again, and I'm sure it's going to very popular....although I hope not too popular, or I'll be struggling to find a table!

Porridge with Cinnamon Baked Peaches

This is not what breakfast in the middle of May should look like. However, today it's grey, cold and rainy outside. So all I wanted to do when I woke up this morning was bake something warm and spicy, make a pot of tea, and curl back up under a blanket with Wonderboy. So that's what we did!
Simply halve and stone some fresh peaches. Lay onto a baking tray cut side up. Sprinkle over approx 1/2tsp ground cinnamon, and dot each peach half with a bit of butter. Bake in an oven pre-heated to 200'C for 15-20 minutes.

We had ours with porridge, but they would also be great just with some natural yoghurt.
Now let's hope I can bring you some sunnier food for the rest of the week..

Green Vegetable and Pesto Fritatta

I've been a bad, bad blogger. I really do wish I had some exciting reason to give you for my neglect, but actually I've just had one of those weeks where my general attitude to things has been "meh". You know the kind.

Anyway let's lighten the mood. Check out this very spring-like fritatta (if you're lame like me, you'll enjoy saying "fritatta" aloud. Go on, you'll like it).

This pretty much came about as result of me wanting to use up the rather sad looking veg at the bottom of my fridge. It could just as appropriately be named "anything-goes fritatta". Anyway this combination included spring onion, mange tout, green pepper, spinach leaves and tinned artichoke hearts.

Roughly chop 1 small garlic clove. Heat some olive oil in a small frying pan. Add the onion, pepper, mange tout and garlic and gently soften for 3-4 minutes. Add the spinach and artichoke to the pan.

Beat together 3 eggs with a approx 100ml milk and some salt and pepper. Pour this mixture over the vegetables, then dot 1/2 tsp pesto all over the top. Sprinkle over some cheddar (or any hard cheese, really. Parmesan or hard goats cheese would also work well.)

Cook for 3-4 minutes until the edges are starting to set, then put under a hot grill for about 5 minutes more.

Serve scattered with fresh basil. Really this will serve two with some side dishes, or you can do as I did and eat it straight out of the pan.....

...with some wine. I told you, it's been one of those weeks. Don't judge me. x