My week in pictures

Posted in Adventures, Girl About Town by ameliaflorencesimmons

I don’t usually do these kind of posts as I think they’re a bit of a cop out, but things have been absolutely crazy the past week and a half. After coming back from holiday, things went into hyperdrive and I went from being a freelancer to working full time in a London entertainment PR agency. I’m enjoying every minute of it. It’s one of those jobs where you can’t wait to get started in the mornings, and I couldn’t be happier about working there.

But awesome job aside, I’ve barely had a minute to sit down and blog. So to fill the gap, here’s a selection of pictures of what I’ve been up to (spoiler alert: mostly eating). To sum up, I did the following: went to an open air screening at London Zoo (more on that soon), ate, went to a hen do, rehearsed for a musical in a gun room, accidentally attended an ‘Ibiza Pizza Party’ in a tiny village pub in Surrey, drank cocktails with pipettes in, wore an oversized cricket jumper, and ate some more. Not pictures are the pheasant impressions I did with friends at the end of the night. Don’t ask.

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20Apr2013

Recipe: pears poached in red wine

Posted in Food, Recipes by ameliaflorencesimmons

Because you’ve been very good, I’m going to give you one of my favourite easy dessert recipes. I mean, you could do this blindfolded (don’t). It’s ridiculously easy, but hugely satisfying, and a completely fuss-free option for finishing off a supper with friends. While it’s perhaps a little Autumnal, so is the weather. Cool, richly flavoured pear, hot spiced sugar syrup, and the chill of a vanilla-flecked ice cream make this a real crowd-pleaser.

This particular recipe is for 4 people, but it’s easy to adapt the quantities accordingly.

Pears poached in red wine

4 firm pears, peeled and with stalks in tact
500ml red wine
1 vanilla pod, split
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
125g caster sugar
2 tbsp honey
Peel and juice of 1 orange

1. Put all of the ingredients apart from the pears into a saucepan and head until the sugar dissolves.

2. Slice the bottoms off the pears to make sure they stand upright, and place in the saucepan. If you like it, then you should put a lid on it. For 25-30 minutes to be precise, allowing it to simmer.

3. Turn the heat off and let the pears sit in the liquid for at least two hours to fully infuse them with the liquid.

4. When you’re ready to serve, simply plate up the pears, then bring the remaining syrup to a boil. Pour it over the pears and serve with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. If you’re going commercial, it HAS to be Green & Black’s, which is the very best store bought vanilla ice cream I’ve ever had.

Happy cooking! Coming up soon, a veggie bangers and mash recipe, burger chat, and Ben Ainslie’s boat.

3Apr2013

Adam & Albert

Posted in Adventures, Girl About Town, London, Music by ameliaflorencesimmons

I’m currently writing this post from a wonderfully sunny St Ives in Cornwall, but before I go on to boast about the glorious weather, I’m going to rewind to last week, and a cold and faintly snowy London.

Last Thursday, India and I headed up to South Ken to see the event we’d been anticipating for months on end: Foals at the Albert Hall. We last saw them in the grubby, chilly, small Concorde 2 in Brighton, and were fascinated as to how they’d translate to such a different venue. If you’ve never seen the band live, I urge you to get tickets for whatever you can lay your hands on. Foals are phenomenal live, and I say that without the slightest bit of exaggeration.

After a rather pleasing support slot from Efterklang, the laser lighting kicked in, the smoke machine pumped up to full volume, and the band made their way on stage. Most of the set came from their new album, Holy Fire, interspersed with crowd-pleasers such as Total Life Forever and Spanish Sahara. When Foals play, something almost transcendental happens to the audience. I looked around the crowd, seeing people transported by the music, these huge guitar riffs and echoing vocals punching the walls of the Albert Hall.

After about half an hour, India and I grew frustrated at being in a seated area, and our attempts at chair dancing weren’t really cutting it, so we clambered down to the front of the tiered section in a haze of dance-driven urgency. We spent the rest of the gig waving about like idiots, watching the mosh pit from on high, and feeling the waves of sound on our faces. Due to our (over)enthusiasm, we got pulled aside at the end of the gig to give a short interview about Foals for the Albert Hall. After hoarsely repeating the word ‘epic’ several times, we were on our way to Soho.

In Soho, we picked up Frankie, who took us to a new discovery: The Soho Social Club. I almost don’t want to talk about it, because it was so ace that I don’t want anyone else to know it’s there, but what the heck. It’s essentially one room on the corner of a dark, tucked away Soho street, and contains a few small tables and one long banqueting table. The walls are stacked with books and framed black and white photos with a heavy S&M emphasis. The cocktail menu is brief but carefully curated, and the staff charming.

When we got there, Frankie was greeted heartily by an old dear in a fur hat and large earrings who perched, regally, at the very end of the long table. ‘Oh hello love’, she said, ‘it’s been ages since I saw you, hasn’t it?’ They chattered away for a little while, before Frankie turned to us and said she’d never seen the woman before in her life…But I’ve overlooked the very best part of TSSC: the dogs. Yes, dogs. Four squiggly balls of fluff scattered around the room, enjoying the attention of the delighted customers, and I took quite a shine to a sweet French bulldog called Modesty.

From there, we dashed to The Diner for stacked burgers, baskets of fries and Cherry Cokes before crossing the river to the BFI, just in time for my beloved Adam Buxton and the start of BUG. If you’ve never been, BUG is a bi-monthly (last time I checked) showcase for new and interesting music videos, which Adam hosts. Not only is it a fantastic way of discovering new bands, but Adam also reads out YouTube comments on the videos, and gives his own commentary, which is hugely entertaining.

Bit of a skim through Thursday, but I’ll be back soon with posts about Cornwall, and showing off about the sunshine. Ta ra for now.

14Feb2013

Bellowhead & Oxford in the snow

Posted in Adventures, Gems, Girl About Town, Music, Nigella Lawson by ameliaflorencesimmons

Some places in the world have a particular draw, and you find yourself instantly feeling at home as your feet touch the tarmac. There’s something about Oxford that wraps me up and makes me feel…right. I got on the Oxford tube at Victoria and bagged myself a spectacular seat at the front of the bus, mainly because there were only about two other people on the thing. It was a bit like having a giant red double decker taxi to myself. After a dozy journey listening to Joni Mitchell (a huge gap in my musical knowledge that I’ve decided to remedy).

I arrived at 2pm to find a slate-skied Oxford, chilly and snowy. I’d intended to have a wander and find some new places, but it was just too cold. After some determined trudging, I decided to cut my losses and parked myself in Turl Street Kitchen for most of the afternoon. A cup of black vanilla tea and a sublime vanilla cupcake later, I was feeling much more human – the James Brown on the Turl Street playlist helped too. Around 5, I met my friend Lucy and headed to The Big Bang in the Castle Quarter for ginormous plates of bangers and mash, water in teapots and a very deadpan waiter. I mentioned before I was into British food at the moment, and I’d strongly recommend this place for any veggies looking for a decent savoury meal. For once, I felt like just as much thought had gone into the veggie options than on the meat, and I opted for one stilton & walnut and one vine tomato & basil sausage on grain mustard mash with red wine gravy. I followed it with an apple crumble, which was a bit on the ‘smooshy’ side and needed a little crisping up. But for the savoury part, it couldn’t be faulted.

After supper and some lethal Cotswolds cider, we practically had to stagger up to the New Theatre for Bellowhead. I first started listening to Bellowhead when they played Latitude in 2011, and I’ve been a firm fan ever since. Some bands sound identical to their recordings when playing live, and then there are other bands who bring something phenomenal to their live shows. I like feeling that the performers are creating something that only this particular audience will see, something that can’t be recaptured even with YouTube. Bellowhead do this, as do Foals, who I’m seeing (again!) next month.

I’m not going to go into too much detail and review the performance or their new album, Broadside, as there are many more eloquent reviews out there. All I’ll say is, give them a go even if you don’t think you like folk. It’s an outrageously brilliant, stomping, barnstorming album full of intriguing instruments and catchy melodies. For the live show, the band ran at it with full energy, jumping up and down while playing, hopping around, battling with each other. It was a frenetic show but unforgettable. Not an especially coherent post from me today as I’m pretty exhausted, and very aware of needing an early night prior to London Fashion Week tomorrow and St Andrews over the weekend…until then x

7Feb2013

Burgers

Posted in Baking, Food by ameliaflorencesimmons

Can I be presumptuous enough to give you a little advice, dear reader? Good. Thanks. It’s this: never look up restaurant menus when you’re feeling hungry. Wednesday lunchtime, I found myself browsing restaurants for my trip to Oxford next week, and gawking open-mouthed at the menus.

I’m often inclined towards Thai or Japanese when I eat out, mainly because I can’t replicate it that easily at home, but recently I’ve been enjoying a bit of a ‘hearty’ food revival, as you can see from this post. I was interested to learn that a Byron burger bar had popped up in Oxford, and started perusing that menu and also that of bangers and mash based restaurant The Big Bang. I hear it’s a real sausage fest in there.

Both had something in common – a menu based around just one dish. I’ve never visited a Byron but have been meaning to for ages, and couldn’t wait to see what they had as a veggie option. I eagerly scrolled down to find….a portobello mushroom. Listen, mates. That’s not a burger. I was hugely disappointed, especially as The Big Bang menu featured proper veggie sausages such as basil and vine tomato, stilton and walnut, or wild mushroom and garlic. I was so keen to try the whole Byron experience, complete with two types of fries, banana splits to follow, and macaroni cheese listed as a SIDE order, but….a mushroom just isn’t going to cut it.

So with a bad craving for burgers that I knew Byron wouldn’t be able to satisfy, I decided to create my own veggie burger experience, with homemade buns, crispy courgette fries, and a classic iceberg wedge salad. I decided also to add a portobello mushroom as I had some nice ones through with my Riverfood delivery box, but as an accompaniment to the proper burger, not INSTEAD of it!

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Proper veggie burger

For this, I fancied a slightly Mexican taste so went in with lime, kidney beans, cheese, Tabasco and cumin. You can easily adapt any spices or leave out the lime if you don’t fancy it.

1 400g can kidney beans
1 small red onion, finely chopped
75g cheddar, grated
75g breadcrumbs (I actually used half breadcrumbs, half crackers for a more savoury taste)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 dash mushroom ketchup (makes it super savoury, omit if you don’t have it)
2 shakes Tabasco
Juice of one lime
Pinch cumin
Pinch dried coriander
Flour for dusting
Oil for frying
Optional: use a beaten egg if the mixture isn’t binding

1. Drain and rinse kidney beans, then mash them with a special mashy implement (technical term), or failing that, with a fork
2. Add everything else. Mix together, don’t be afraid to get your hands into it
3. Flour your hands and shape the burgers into 4-6 patties
4. Fry in hot oil for 5 minutes on each side

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Burger bun

250ml warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
130g plain white flour
260g bread flour
1 tbsp honey (or sugar if you prefer)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp yeast

1. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl and make a well
2. Add warm water, oil and honey, and mix together
3. Knead until pliable then divide into eight
4. Roll to shape into balls, and place on baking parchment
5. Leave to rise for at least an hour
6. Heat oven at 180 degrees C, and bake rolls for 15-18 minutes before cooling on wire rack

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Courgette fries

I’m a total novice at courgette fries so I’m in no way qualified to give you my own version, so go here for a far superior recipe. I served mine with tzatziki.

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Stacking it

Your options are pretty much limitless with this, but I went for avocado to offset the Mexican flavours of the burger, chilli jam, a grilled portobello mushroom, sliced tomato and melted cheese, with shredded iceberg lettuce on the side.

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3Feb2013

Big Bad Brunch

Posted in Baking by ameliaflorencesimmons

Some days, I go to sleep thinking wistfully about what I’m going to eat for breakfast the next morning. There’s something so comforting and wonderful about sitting at the breakfast table surrounded by dishes filled to the brim with roasted, fried, sauteed food.

This week has been, in short, heavy on stress and light on sleep. Add a couple of nights out in a row and I was in desperate need of something unhealthy to munch on. I spotted a recipe for cornbread, avocado and crispy bacon in the Waitrose magazine and decided that was one for me – the only slight problem being my vegetarianism. I’ve never eaten bacon, but I wanted something crisp, salty and smoky to offset the pillow-like cornbread and cool avocado.

I remembered hearing that aubergine could be turned into vegetarian ‘bacon’, so set out to create my own recipe. Obviously I’ve got no idea how this compares to real bacon, but give it a try and see how it stands alone. It’s smoky, sweet, savoury and very crisp, so ticked all my boxes! I’ll just add here that up until today, I’ve always hated aubergine, but now I’m finally getting the hype…

Recipe for the aubergine bacon is mine, and the recipe for the cornbread is from Miles Kirby, head chef at Caravan (where incidentally, I’m going tomorrow!)

Cornbread French toast with avocado & aubergine bacon
Serves 2

Aubergine Bacon

10g smoked sea salt
2 tsp sundried tomato paste
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp mustard powder
1 small aubergine, sliced

1. Slice aubergine thinly and set it aside between two sheets of kitchen towel to remove extra moisture
2. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl, and set oven to 200 degrees C
3. Rub them on back and front of aubergine slices and place on parchment paper on a tin, setting aside for 30 minutes to absorb flavours
4. Pop them in the oven and roast for 15 minutes on each side
5. Remove from oven and drain extra oil with kitchen towel, also scraping most of the topping off
6. Return to the oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until crispy

Cornbread French Toast

400ml whole milk
3 eggs
60g unsalted butter, melted
200g sweetcorn
4 spring onions, chopped
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp salt
160g polenta
65g strong flour

French Toast
1 egg
50ml double cream
10g unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C if you haven’t already done so for the bacon & line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment
2. Mix milk, eggs, butter, sweetcorn and spring onions in a large bowl
3. Sift all the remaining dry ingredients, and combine with the wet without over-mixing, and pour into the tin
4. Bake for at least 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean, and then leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack
5. Combine egg and 50ml double cream, and melt 10g unsalted butter in a frying pan
6. Cut two thick slices of cornbread and dip in the egg and cream mixture
7. Fry in the pan for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until brown

Assembly

1 avocado , diced
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
25g rocket (optional)

1. Combine lemon juice and olive oil in a bowl, then add avocado and leave it to combine for a few minutes
2. Place slice of French toasted cornbread in the middle of a plate, then spoon on the avocado and pile on some rocket
3. Top with the ‘bacon’, then spoon some of the remaining olive oil and lemon mixture around the plate

Et voila! Enjoy! x