The Christmas Menu is coming from Pizza Express

Pizza Express has been in the UK since 1965 when they opened their first restaurant on Wardour Street in Central London.  Since then they are gone from strength to strength becoming a familiar sight on most High Streets with over 430 restaurants.

I was invited to a special event to taste their Autumn and Christmas menu items.  What a fun surprise to arrive at the chosen venue near Liverpool Street Station and see a lovely Christmas tree all ready for the festivities.

Staff walked around with each item whilst others refilled our glasses (There will be Bollinger on the menu this festive season) and we tasted our way through so many delicious new starters, main courses and desserts (I could only manage to taste two of the desserts I was so full!)

There is a range of gluten free pizzas with lovely toppings including aubergines, pancetta and eggs.  These make sure that diners with a gluten intolerance are catered for and don’t need to feel left out.  There are vegetarian options as well.

The Calzone, the Carbonara pizza was a big hit, pancetta and an egg in the middle, tuna with prawns in a spicy sauce and a shredded duck were the evening favourites with everyone talking about these the most.

Carbonara Pizza

My favourites were the Melanzane starter (baked aubergine with a lovely tomato sauce and topped with melting mozzarella cheese),

the Calzone pizza filled with spinach, ham, basil, pepperoni and lovely tastes)

– Calzone is a pizza that is filled with loads of goodies and folded in half – calzone meaning pocket in Italian so you have something to carry your pizza to work in your pocket, very much like our traditional Cornish pasty.

The puddings were truly scrumptious, a honeycomb cake, chocolate mousse torte, Christmas pudding cheese cake, seasonal chocolate rolls and a sweet dough ball.  What to choose?

 

 

We were given our goodie bag in a Christmas stocking as we left, I didn’t feel conspicuous on the train home with my furry Christmas stocking!!

Many thanks to Pizza Express for inviting me. I did not receive payment to attend and as usual all opinions and photographs are my own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Weekend Kitchen Helper!

Le Petit Chef have produced a knife and peeler just perfect for those little hands and fingers looking to get involved with you in the kitchen.

I was sent the three piece set to encourage my grandchildren have a go helping me in the kitchen.  The knife is a nice size and easy for little hands to keep hold of.

They are most suitable for 5-10 year olds. They are very intent on children learning the correct positioning and handling of kitchen tools and safety, teaching them with the finger guard how to cut without cutting themselves.

The tools are robst and teach good knife skills.

My granddaughter used the set sent to me to cut up the ingredients for us to make a courgette soup from some of the allotment courgettes.

She picked it up really quickly, using the finger guard like a pro!

We made the courgettes into soup, with Lizzie peeling the rest of the vegetables with the peeler included in the three piece kit. 

Once the vegetables were prepared, seasoned and cooked I blitzed it into soup with the stick blender I had been sent from Stellar. A 750Watt brushed stainless steel stick blender with an easy to use, illuminated display.

This stick blender is quite lightweight and easily comes apart for cleaning. There is a very smooth lock/unlock feature with just a twist.

It has variable speeds - I only used it on slow and WOW what power. I think I am too afraid to see what happens when I push the 'Turbo' button!! The Turbo button gives you all the extra power you need when you need it.

 

The result was a lovely, creamy courgette soup for Mr R to have for lunch at work this week!

Many thanks to Le Petit Chef and Stellar for sending me their products to review.  I was not paid to review the items and as always all opinions, comments and photos are my own.

 

Blossom Hill Sun Kissed and Summery - A White and A Red

When the summer is as fantastic as we are currently having the main meal becomes BBQ washed down by a fresh and summery wine or beer.

Blossom Hill have released a summery and fruity white and red wine that fits the summer criteria perfectly.  The red is more like a rose with a deeper colour and benefits from being served cold.

I made beer can chicken last weekend and served it with potatoes, BBQ courgettes and accompanied by a lovely chilled red Blossom Hill and a chilled white Blossom Hill too.

You can drink them straight or make up some summery cocktails like adding elderflower cordial and soda water to the Blossom Hill Sun Kissed white wine.

This wine is in the major supermarkets now.

Thanks to Blossom Hill for the new Summer Kissed Wines to try. I was not paid to write this review (or drink the wine!) and as usual all opinions and photos are my own.

Courgette (Zucchini) Relish

This time of the year one might find ones self with a glut of courgettes and our allotment is no different.  I have been using courgettes in loads of different ways the last 2-3 weeks but when you get too many to cope with this recipe is perfect. 

I have so far made two batches (each batch yielding 16 jars).  It takes a bit of time to prep everything but the actual making is fast and simple.

Ingredients:
10 cups coarsly chopped courgettes
3 green peppers
2 red peppers
3 large onions
3 stalks of celery
1-3 chilli peppers depending on taste
5 Tablespoons salt
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 Tablespoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 Tablespoon celery seeds
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cornflour (cornstarch)

Into a large bowl add the chopped

courgettes, red peppers, green peppers, celery and onions.  Sprinkle with the salt and mix well.

Let the vegetables stand over night.
Drain the vegetables then rinse thoroughly with cold water.
Drain and rinse again.

Place in a large pan (preserving pan is perfect).
Stir in the vinegar, sugar, nutmeg, mustard seeds, tumeric, celery seeds, pepper, chilli and cornflour.

Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Ladle into hot, sterilized jars. Seal with jam pot covers and allow to cool

This is the perfect relish to serve with burgers, sausages and BBQ chicken.

Because it is a relish and not a chutney you can eat it right away but it does improve with age.  Refrigerate after opening.

As usual all photos and opinions are my own.

 

 

 

 

 

Blackberry Cobbler - or any other fruit you have!

A typical dessert in America is called a cobbler and usually has a fruit in it. Most of the time you will come across peach or apple cobblers.

As usual I have rather a lot of blackberries from my allotment and you guessed it - blackberry cobbler!

Microwave 1/2 cup of butter and keep aside.

In a large bowl add 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of Self raising flour.

Whisk into the flour/sugar 1 cup of milk and 1tsp vanilla bean paste.

Add the melted butter.

Pour into a well greased shallow baking dish.

Sprinkle over 2 cups blackberries and then 1/4 cup of sugar on the top.

Bake in the middle of the oven - 350oF/180oC.

Cool slightly then serve with ice cream or thick double cream!!!

You can add chopped peaches or apple slices instead of the blackberries.

All opinions and photos are as usually mine!

 

 

 

 

How to spice things up with Tabasco this summer

I was invited to attend an event put together by Tabasco and which was held at The Cookery School (at Little Portland Street) in London.

We were assembled ready to prepare a meal using the fab range of Tabasco sauces, Mild Jalapeno, Original, Smokey Chipotle and Fiery Habanero – one pepper sauce would be featured in each dish, even the dessert!

On arrival we were given a lovely cold glass of wine and some spicy mixed nuts to nibble on. The nuts were still warm, salty and with just the right amount of spicyness.

I made these at home and they are incredibly easy, effective for nibbling outside on a Summer evening with a cold beer or glass of wine.

We went on to make Grilled Spatchcooked chicken - Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce style
Herb grilled catch of the day - Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce, with Salsa Rossa -Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce
Vegetable Kebabs - Tabasco Pepper Sauce
Tangy Bar-B-Que Sauce - Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce
Oven roasted Sweet Potatoe Chips - Tabasco Pepper Sauce

And finally ... Chilli chocolate strawberries - these really surprised me.  They were made using the hottest Tabasco Habanero Pepper Sauce sauce which I thought would be far too hot for me.  Surprised because they were really smooth with just a bit of warmth showing through. The Hananero might be the hottest of the range but it also has a lot of fruitiness in it which brings out the fruitiness of the strawberries under the cloak of the velvetty chocolate!

All of the recipes were made under the watchful eye of Gary (a Tabasco sauce) and the staff at The Cooker School whilst we worked in teams.

When all the cooking was done, and surprisingly all at the same time, we sat down to eat what we had created.

As usual Tabasco Pepper Sauce was the star of the event and just intensified my addiction.

I was not paid to attend this event although I am appreciative of the generous goodie bag!  As usual all opinions and photos are my own.

Many thanks to Tabasco and The Cookery School for a lovely, relaxed evening cooking and eating what is now one of my favourite ingredients.  As usual all opinions and photographs are my own.

 

Adult Ice Cream time!

Watching the grandchildren with their home made smoothie ice lollies and fruit juice ice treats got me thinking - what about the adults?

I came up with a cunning plan after I bought a nice lolly mould reduced in the supermarket! 

Which liqueurs or spirits would work well in a nice lolly ?

At a recent food blogger conference we were served copious amounts of Patron Tequila and in our goodie bags to take home was a miniature bottle of Patron Cafe Tequilla.

Here is my first attempt at adult lollies.

Ingredients:-

35ml Patron Cafe Tequilla

125gm melted dark chocolate 

2Tbsp finely chopped walnuts or pecan nuts (these cab either mix through before freezing or use to coat the outside before serving!)

1Tsp chocolate or coffee essence

300ml double cream

Method:-

Melt the chocolate in the microwave stirring every 20 seconds until almost melted then stir until smooth and melted

Add the chocolate to 300 ml double cream

Add the coffee essence and cafe tequila until the consistency is creamy
(you can either add the chopped nuts now or wait and coat the outside of the lolly before serving)

Pour or pipe the mixture into ice lolly moulds and freeze overnight.

Take out of the freezer about 5 minutes before eating so that the lolly will easily slide out of the mould.

Rich and creamy, coffee & chocolate tequila ice lolly

Cheers!!

Enjoy responsibly!!!
 

I did not receive any payment to write this post and as usual all opinions and photographs are my own.