Chickpeas are clearly an obsession, also THE FUTURE

At the risk of definitively becoming The Chickpea Girl, and this blog becoming The Chickpea Blog – I’m starting a little project, chickpea recipes around the world.

I was chatting with my mother recently and she thought it would be a good idea to start a project on 100 chickpea recipes (because I’m always complaining on how I need a little more direction/structure with this/always eating chickpeas) and then I thought, why not try mixing it with the travel aspect of my blog? SO, I’m starting this feature next week – any ideas or recipes I should be checking out?

Also, I’m headed to Paris for 36 hours end of this month, WHERE CAN I FIND CHICKPEAS? Or any other suggestions on what to do in 36 hours (+ or – chickpea consumption) would be mucho appreciated.

cambridge pt1: the pint shop

So I’ve been awful again and have failed to do this once a week. I’ve been busy eating and documenting SO it’s okay, all in the name of research! Anyway, I’m back with many food stories to tell.

There’s no better time to be in Cambridge than now I think. Seriously guys, it’s great – hard on the wallet and the waistline, but never more exciting for the food oriented (or foodies if you will, but I hatehatehate that word, more on that another day.) I don’t even care about my dwindling overdraft or the fact that I needed to buy new jeans in a bigger size (that’s how self actualised I’ve become) because what matters is that my tummy is full of deliciousness….but I’m totally going for a run after I write this.

There are SO MANY things to talk about re: the Cambridge food revolution so will continue this little tangent over the next few weeks. Today I choose the Pint Shop. Mostly because I have some sweet pictures, I went there the other day and am dying for one of their sexy scotch eggs. No lie, they are sexy as hell.

Tell me this isn’t sexy.

The Pint Shop opened last November and never have we been so excited – when we covered it on Flavour it definitely stirred up some emotions and much excitement in the studio.

I’m there often enough, with some big love for the beautiful board of beers (seriously, BIG LOVE. It may be my most favourite blackboard, ever.) but I think what’s best is the service and knowledge of the staff –  everyone behind that bar knows what they’re on about (and enthusiastic about it!) and that’s just a rare gem. A friend and I went somewhere else and asked  about the beers and were met with a despondent shrug – which you know, whatever, that’s fine I guess, but if you’re gonna have a bar full of unique and interesting beers… dudes, know your shit yeah? They also have whiskeys and some excellent gin, one made especially by the Cambridge Gin Company. If that doesn’t say legit drinking establishment, I really don’t know what does.

Not only does this place have some sexy beers, it has sexy food. Those scotch eggs you see (and above, AND the featured image…why yes, in case there was any doubt, I DID love the scotch eggs) are pretty amazing. But this little bar of snackage is not all they have available. The Pint Shop is a proper restaurant too. Up the stairs you can get some serious cooking, but I have yet to actually go (because I’m a poor food blogger you see…also, quite happy with just some beer and a scotch egg, I’m cheap date.) However, I have heard nothing but good things – I sent my parents on their anniversary dinner there and they came back pretty content and with zero complaints. Which let me tell you, is as rare as a unicorn, they will always find a bone to pick if it’s a recommendation from me. One bad movie recommendation many moons ago has ruined my stamp of approval forever it seems. So head over to their site to see what they have on. Their motto after all is MEAT. BREAD. BEER. three of the most beautiful words in the English language. To top off all of this amazing food and beer situation, it’s a beautiful space – simple and rustic but not rustic in the undone “we forgot to sand this, but it’s okay it’s rustic” kind of way but the understated let’s not overdo this way. SO GO. Eat some food, drink some beers, tell me all about it. My goal is to try as many as I can, so I’ll probably see you in there.

& more chickpeas please

My obsession with chickpeas is truly endless. Will I ever tire of them? Probably not. They’re perfect.

Here’s a beautiful little salad from Green Kitchen Stories that I tweaked to my own liking, perfecto for a little lunch or dinner. I present to you the Chickpea Za’atar salad:

We mentioned Zatar in this episode of Flavour and I can’t get enough of it, seriously lifted the aubergine and made what really could have been a boring salad into something summery and exotic. I also have a deep love of aubergines (something I’ll come back to in the next few weeks – have been craving an eggplant parmiggiana sandwich for moons…I tried wording that with aubergine, I swear but this is the one time eggplant works better, I swear.) so trying it with a new spice was exciting and wonderful. Kind of like when you start dating again after being in a boring relationship and a whole new world is introduced.

So, you will need:

Two beautiful aubergines

Za’atar (the green) and Sumac (the red)

Roasted red peppers (yes, this time I used a jar mostly because I love the oil they use in this for a dressing BUT roasting them and using THOSE oils is wonderful too.)

Feta – or any other soft goats cheese, I just love the sharpness of feta and it’s my personal favourite cheese.

Prepped and ready chickpeas (this includes canned because they are as prepped and ready for 80p as you can get) however feel free to click the picture below to see how to do it from scratch.

Dice the aubergines and coat liberally in olive oil and the spices and then whack into the oven for about 40 minutes or until they look browned and beautiful.

Then of course, once that’s done it’s off to just whack it all into a bowl together, top off with the feta and some greenery, usually parsley, but I used spinach (because I had a craving) and happy days! The original recipe calls for tomatoes, but I didn’t have any so used the roasted red peppers HOWEVER I tried it the next day with both the peppers and some tomatoes and it was pretty sexy, so would also recommend that, but if you’re Gwyneth Paltrow and have decided tomatoes are bad for you (say WHAT?!) then this is just right.

Happy eating!

toast + avocado = beautiful

I’m trying super hard to be healthier but the trying is not in what to eat – I actually love healthy food, all the veggies and fruits and oats and all those things – LOVE THEM. However, it’s the NOT eating of things that I find really difficult. There are some brownies on the kitchen counter right now calling my name and it’s taking everything I’ve got not to eat them. SO, I’m going to talk about my favourite healthy lunches in an attempt to distract myself from chocolatey fudgey caramely goodness in the kitchen.

Avocado toast. My favourite things – bread and avocados, together as one. They are just so perfect, and together nothing short of awesome. Designer toasts seem to be a thing lately too, I’ve seen avocado toast in various cafes around town for upwards of £5 which is ridiculous (…although I am totally guilty of buying some, on several occasions because I love it that much) amongst other fancy toasts like banana, peanut butter and and honey or strawberry and nutella and other such nice toast related combinations. But the best is avocado, it’s great for lunch, dinner or a very large snack (seriously, it’s surprisingly filling.) It’s delicious, creamy AND it’s good for you filled with all sorts of healthy fats, fibre, vitamins and other such health related things.

Listen, I know it’s super easy to make toast and this isn’t really a recipe, but I thought I’d share one of my favourite things to eat. I love making mine from a big fat grande mange baguette (sometimes I make it, sometimes I don’t, I won’t lie this time it was bought from the bakery up the road, more on bread another day maybe) sprinkle a bit of olive oil on it and whack it on the pan to toast up. WAY better than the toaster, especially if this is for lunch or dinner.

What makes this really sing is adding some nice spices to it – my favourite is dukkah (pictured in pot) a middle eastern blend of spices and roasted chickpeas in this one but of course, like many things, there are plenty of variations. I imagine sumac would be super on this as well!

I’ve made this many ways, not just with tomato but always with avocado, in fact yesterday, I had just this but with tuna and roasted pepper and it was seriously sexy. So use your imagination, this is nothing more than some lunchtime suggestion and clearly is open to all sorts of combinations, I mean it’s toast after all, you can do anything with toast (isn’t that just great?! Toast is so good.) Happy eating homies!

Ch-ch-chickpeas

Today I decided to make some crispy chickpeas, a favourite snack AND it’s healthy (a rarity for me snack wise…or in general). They’re nice and versatile and you can flavour them any which way you damn well please, which is fun. They even beat crisps. Sometimes.

I’m boring (or classic?) though and just went with a chilli/garlic/salt combo. You can use the canned – it’s faster and less time consuming, but I prefer to have the dried ones just because I feel they taste a bit nicer and weirdly, I like the process of it.

Soak overnight

Rinse, boil for an hour and then (you can skip the first two with canned!) layout on the pan – put on chosen spices, olive oil and salt.

Whack it in the oven on 120 for about 45 mins until nice and browned (I like mine properly charred, but as with most things, it’s up to taste – the important thing is that they get CRUNCHY. AND SEXY. If you use the nice golden ones a guide that’s the ideal colour for optimum crunch, any less and it’ll be too soft.

Munch away homies!

In which I wax lyrical once more about Barcelona

I’m a little bit in love/obsessed with Barcelona. I keep going back and I keep needing to go back. Thankfully, I do have friends there making it way too easy to go back on a whim or maybe it’s simply the pull of the blue and orange tones of that beaut of a city that is just too much. Or maybe it’s the way of life? Beach, food, music and friends, how can anyone say no?

I will move there, soon enough I’ll go there for a weekend and just decide to stay – it’s not unheard of…

ANYWAYS.

I was naughty…I didn’t take as many pictures of food as I had intended. In fact, I only really took a picture of one of my meals…it was damn good too. I think for the most part it was a sudden onset of shyness in being in such local places, and also in large part to a deep impatience to eat what’s in front of me. You know…don’t let your food get cold and all…important stuff.

Since there are not many pictures of food, I’ll just have to describe it because guys, you need to go. And you need to eat.

DO IT.

EL MUNDIAL

El Mundial for proper tapas and Catalan feel – it was my favourite of the trip too, I had aubregine chips with honey and they were just heaven in my mouth, along with some grilled clams in a white wine sauce type thing where the juices were just so good and thank god for bread to soak up! It was just super, I ate there three times in a week. Also get the pimentos de padron – they are lovely and salty and wonderful – you can get this anywhere and even do them at home (we found some in Waitrose – from Spain and it’s a a favourite snack in Casa Reyes) but it’s worth ordering, along with some chipirones – crunchy squid bits. Don’t be intimidated by the tentacles. DO IT. Its a narrow place with a long bar and marble tables to the side and genuinely just looks old school, reminded me of the kind of places my family used to drag me to as a kid. Quite frankly the opening hours are seemingly sporadic, I walked by it daily (often a few times a day since my friend lives next door) and sometimes it was open, and sometimes it was not, but maybe it was me who was sporadically walking by.

Plaza Sant Agusti Vell, 1, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

MOSQUITO

Not spanish tapas BUT still a great place is Mosquito which does “exotic tapas” so dumplings and other delicious asian food like Pho and crispy friend duck amongst other things. The beautiful dumplings and amazing crispy duck breast with plum sauce were my favourite. So much so that I’m thinking about it right now and I actually physically miss it. If you do go, get the duck – it’s the 2nd option that’s 7.60 because they don’t specify it just says duck 1 and duck 2 (or if you get the catalan menu like my friend and I did and had to decipher what the hell was what -we learned that duck is Anec, so get the anec) Below is the menu in Catalan: feel free to just order the same, it was sexy.

Also get the coconut tapioca for dessert, it was grand. There’s a great array of craft beer as well which is so nice to see – craft beer revolution is world wide, HOORAY. There’s always a queue as well but it goes quickly and its vastly worth it. Seriously. GO.

Carrer dels Carders, 46, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

ESPAI MESCLADIS

Espai Mescladis is lovely for lunch – I had a great lentil soup and a chicken empanada and some artesian beer but what’s best is the actual space, it’s mostly inside a courtyard and good atmosphere – takes ages to order though so don’t go hungry. My lunch didn’t photograph well and I was pretty hungry, so again, apologies for lack of food pictures. However, the food is not the only attraction – it’s just such a lovely space worthy of just a glass of artesian cola or a coffee and a good book (I sat there for hours, but I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves).

Carrer dels Carders, 35, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

LA CANDELA
La Candela was also very lovely for a sit down dinner or lunch, I had a great white bean and tuna thing but their menu changes daily – they have a cute little narrow place but also some tables outside and the staff are pretty nice. I took my laptop there to work a few days and it became a firm favourite .
Placa de Sant Pere, 12, 08003 Barcelona, Spain

LA XANPANERIYA

I’ve already told you about this. But to reiterate.

GO THERE, EAT THINGS & DRINK CAVA.
Carrer de la Reina Cristina

A little photo diary from the rest of my trip…because Barcelona is beautiful and I can’t get enough of it.

Sneak peek: Barcelona

I’m a regular visitor to Barcelona as it’s pretty cheap/quick to get there from London AND I’ve got friends to visit there, which is as perfect an excuse to go again and again if there ever was one. Even though there are a great deal of other places to visit and people to see, Barca always feels fresh and new to me so never truly feel guilty for going there over anywhere else. It’s a brilliant city break with the ocean – I mean really, can it get more perfect? Food, ocean, city life. Trifecta of AWESOME.

I’m headed back in a few weeks time and will report back with a definitive guide of where to go and what to eat (the more I go, the more I learn, you see?) because this time I actually have the monies to eat out and have more time than usual. Here’s a sneaky peek with my ultimate Barcelona recommendation (seriously, if anyone mentions they are going, I immediately mention this little slice of heaven…sometimes I just mention it, just because).

The Xampaneria

This gem of a place was discovered on my first visit to Barcelona – the cava is cheap AND lovely. That little glass really gives potency to the phrase “small and mighty” because I have never not stumbled out of that place and that’s only after one or two, let alone half a bottle if you stay in there long enough. You can even buy by the bottle in the bar itself during the day time to drink it there or take it home!

You have two options, rosat or normal – the rosat is sweeter and lighter than the normal cava which is drier and tastes more of the grapes. We always get the rosat, but thats mainly because my friends have massive sweet tooths. The best part is that you have to order a tapa or a sandwich, so no eating on an empty stomach (wise) and it’s also delicious. There’s chorizo, cheese, croquettas (and we all know about my deep obsession with croquettas/croquettes), sandwiches with chorizo, morcilla and all sorts of other delicious meats. It’s a minuscule place, so get there early before you have to squeeze through crowds of people and elbow your way to the bar.

Back to buisness

Oh hi, my name is Ruth and I’m a neglectful blogger. But it’s a new year, and you know what? I WILL STOP THIS NEGLECTFUL NONSENSE.

To be perfectly fair, this has been mostly due to being rather busy/not travelling somewhere entirely new/laziness/not really cooking so much in the last couple of months. And if you pay attention, this is a food/travel blog and without the cooking, the eating and the traveling, then there’s not so much to write about then is there?

Except there is… I do eat out lot and I HAVE been to some places, just none of them new to me (but new to YOU, dear readers,  because I realise I actually have yet to write about some of my dear old haunts)

Anyways – this is just a quick hello to re-introduce myself back into the blogosphere and to give a little taster of what’s to come with a mini photo diary of the past 9 odd months or so (except if you follow me on Twitter, in which case you’ve already seen half of these…if not all)

Pictures are mine, all mine so don’t use without permission/accreditation por favor. 

Typich München

München, ist so cray! (there was a bus tour we went on, and honestly there was a song at the end and I am genuinely CONVINCED this is what it said – and it would be completely correct, München IS cray)

End of October (sadly, we missed Oktoberfest – but no matter, we had out own Oktoberfest, and for sure I will make it a point to come back!) and when we landed it was a beautiful sunny autumn day, quite nippy but nothing too serious, but by day two we were met by heavy, heavy snow and let me tell you, there is little in the world more beautiful than autumn leaves in all their colourful glory, blanketed in white.

So, if traveling to Germany late October, I would certainly suggest to first of all, be prepared weather wise (we got there and it was 14 degrees celsius and by day two it was snowing and -1) and also maybe going on a mini diet before hand. I never appreciated salad so much until three days in cream drenched, beer heavy, pretzel loving Munich, salad and sparkling water ( a hangover godsend) and maybe be prepared to look for places with vegetarian options well before hand. There was a veggie in our little party and he had a hard time getting food and ended up eating a lot of pretzels (which would be fine, because the pretzels are AMAZING, but for five days straight? Maybe not quite that amazing.)

I mean look at that plate. LOOK AT IT.

THERE IS SO MUCH CREAM…and it is a breaded veal meatball (or rather, breaded veal burger as it is not a ball at all) with tiny spätzle (tiny dumpling noodle things) delicious, but frankly between the cream and the beer, woah. Even I couldn’t eat it all.

Yes, the above is a GIANT POTATO DUMPLING AND IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. The sauce you ask? That there my lovlies is DARK ALE GRAVY with some pork belly and crispy bits of crackling. Hands down the very best meal I had while I was there, followed closely by a luscious chicken Ceasar salad, however that salad may have been elevated to new heights because of three full days of beer, pretzels and cream…

A definite highlight would be the Stadtmuseum which is filled with hours of fun, history and really creepy (and some wonderful) puppets. In hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have gone to the museum on the one day it was NOT snowing and below zero degrees, but it was raining.

Munich was brilliant, I had a wonderful couple of days and while mildly dehydrated due to gallons of beer (the only good reason to be mildly dehydrated) it was so wonderful. To actually go on a bus tour and see things we wouldn’t have seen from just walking was brilliant. Walking around half aimlessly is I usually see cities and feel apart of it, which of course we did, so much walking and I really feel as if Munich was home for a few days. So much in fact that I genuinely miss it and will certainly be back to explore some more. Maybe during the Christmas market time, or in the summer because frankly everywhere is wonderful in the summer. Just imagine, cold cold steins of beer, walking around with ice cream, going the the giant park we didn’t get to see and lots of that caesar salad I mentioned earlier. With more beer and ice cream, naturally. *(I’m lusting for summer in the midst of early winter and the first snow storm of 2013 here in the UK, as one does)

Beer, empty pretzel baskets, bicycles, pool, a lovely group of people and old stuff. Wonderful!

Typich München baby!

my favourite brownies

BROWNIES.

Once upon a time, in a kitchen far, far away I thought I couldn’t bake (an incident with some banana bread muffins gone terribly awry:  plastic-y on the outside and completely liquid on the inside, how this happened is beyond me). Nowadays, making these bad boys has become a deliciously bad habit. I’ve found that the best way is certainly to use melted chocolate rather than powdered cocoa. It also looks infinitely cooler in pictures.

Recipe courtesy one of my favourite food blogs, the wonderful Smitten Kitchen!(http://smittenkitchen.com/)

*mildly adapted to suit my need for dark chocolate and London location*

3 ounces (85 grams) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 stick (4 ounces or 113 grams) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing pan
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (6 1/8 ounces or 175 grams) sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla (sometimes I use one vanilla pod if I’m feeling fancy!)
1/4 teaspoon table salt or 1/2 teaspoon flaky salt (about 2 grams)
2/3 cup (83 grams) all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 176°C. Line an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, with the ends extending over opposite sides of pan. Repeat with second piece of parchment paper in opposite direction. Butter the parchment paper.

Melt the dark chocolate and butter together in a large bowl over a simmering pot of water until it is 90% melted; remove from heat and stir the mixture until it is smooth. Whisk in the sugar, then the eggs (one at a time) then vanilla. Add flour and salt together, stirring until just combined. Spread into prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

photo cred: Ciara Quilty-Harper (flatmates are excellent)