This is what happens if you leave me in the cookbook section of Waterstones... I spent a lovely half hour going through all the Spanish recipe books and used a number of recipes to invent my own Spanish 'stew'. It's pretty cold out at the moment and I fancied some comfort food. I have to say, without blowing my own trumpet (I would if I could ho ho!), this was one of the best meals I've ever eaten in my own home. It was bloody lovely. Please try it, you won't be disappointed. I'm now off to e-mail the recipe to El Bulli...
You'll need (for 2 people):
500g shin of beef, cubed
2 x tablespoons of flour
2 x cooking chorizo sausages (we used one spicy and one mild from a deli), sliced into 1cm slices
1 x onion, finely diced
1 x carrot, finely diced
1 x stick of celery, finely diced
3 x garlic cloves, kept whole with skin on
2 x bay leaves
100ml sherry
Enough good red wine to cover (we used just over half a bottle of Merlot)
4 x potatoes, halved
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fresh parsley to serve
- Preheat oven to 160c/300f/Gas 3 - can you get 2.5??
- Put your flour in a bowl and season well with salt and pepper.
- Put your cubed beef in the flour to coat
- Get your oil as hot as possible and fry off your beef - make sure you pat off any excess flour. Just fry the beef enough to brown then remove onto a plate
- In the same oil (you may need a little more), gently sweat off your onion, carrots, celery, garlic and bay leaves for about a minute
- Throw in your sausage and gently cook off until the veg has softened. The oil from the sausage should seep out and give everything a lovely orangey colour.
- Stir in your beef
- Pour in the sherry and reduce by half
- Pour in enough wine to just cover everything
- Bring to boil and then cover with a lid and put in oven. Cook for 90 minutes
- After 90 minutes, put in your potatoes. You may need a little bit of water or more wine to cover. Cook for another 90 minutes
- Chop your parsley and throw in at the last minute. Serve in bowls and eat with crusty bread (which we forgot!) and a good bottle of Rioja
It's not all posh nosh in my house. Tonight I made the ultimate comfort food. It's bloody cold out and it called for a rib-tickling dinner.
We had recently been to Blofield to look at barbeques at Norwich Camping. On the same site is a wonderful farm shop. I never walk or drive past a farm shop so I had to go investigate. Inside is a wonderful butchery, a fantastic selection of local veg and a massive variety of cheeses. On the butchery, they were selling sausage pin wheels - sausage meat rolled with puff pastry. They are one of my favourite things.
Tonight we had the sausage pin wheels, caramelised onions, cheesey mash and baked beans. With a log fire. THAT's comfort food.
30/1/12 - Farmer Browns (http://farmerbrowns.co.uk/)
I was really looking forward to this. We had been to the tapas night before - late last year - and it was excellent. We also had our Christmas meal here in early December with friends, which was pretty good too.
I love what Farmer Browns is doing. Using as much of our fantastic Norfolk produce as possible and keeping it very seasonal. In my opinion, it is the restaurant that Norwich has been crying out for. We are incredibly lucky in this county to be blessed with excellent meat, vegetable and fish and not enough restaurants in the city celebrate it. My only 'complaint', if you can call it that, from our first visit was that the portions were too big for two people. There's so much great stuff on the menu, we wanted to try it all but got too full too quickly.
This time we took reinforcements - our neighbours. They hadn't been before, and as I'd told them how good it was, they were equally excited. My colleague had gone the previous week and had informed me what was on the menu so I was pretty prepared for what we were about to eat.
For those of you that don't know, the Norfolk Tapas night is every Monday and is £10.95 for all you can eat. You just keep ordering whatever you like until you fall into a food coma or they run out - whichever comes first. The menu is split into 3 parts - the land (meaty things), the sea (fishy things) and the garden (veggie things). You can order them in whatever combo you like and as much of each one as you like. Don't bother ordering the whitebait if I'm there. I'll have eaten it all.
Everything was excellent - apart from one thing. It's very minor though so I won't dwell on it too much. The service was very good. Friendly and efficient. I love the atmosphere and decor - apart from the pictures on the wall but I won't go into that. The food was absolutely fantastic. We gorged on a tableful of goodies. We started with the spicy things: a Thai fish curry, spicy chilli beef, spicy prawn fishcakes and some curried whitebait. Everything was very well cooked and tasty but the beef was incredible. However, we also ordered a classic prawn cocktail, which to be honest, didn't belong on the menu. Very bland. But that was the only low point.
We then hit the meaty and veggie things. The chef's grandma's shepherds pie, the bangers 'n' mash and the game stew were hearty and delicious. The spicy potatoes (a play on potatas bravas) were superb, I loved the devilled kidneys and they got my vote as best dish. The others don't like kidneys so I got to eat them all. We also ordered another serving of whitebait as I couldn't leave them alone. There was a pea risotto and some tempura vegetables on the table I believe but I didn't pay them much attention, as I was too busy eating the whitebait and devilled kidneys.
Overall, a very good meal and lovely evening. £80 for a table of 4 including 2 bottles of red and 2 glasses of rose is fantastic value. We left full, happy and still debating what was the best dish. I'm already looking forward to my monthly visit in February.
I keep getting asked what my favourite restaurants are in Norwich or to recommend somewhere to go eat. Threrefore I thought I'd put together a Top 10. Here goes...
10. Cafe 33 - I don't often go out for breakfast but if I do I come here. Their eggs benedict are amazing. Fantastic cakes, paninis and coffee too
9. Sugar Hut - fantastic food, really friendly service and a wonderful set meal deal.
8. Baan Phraya - fantastic atmosphere and a chance to try some Thai dishes you won't have heard of
7. Bar Tapas - great food, great atmosphere. Also does churros and hot chocolate!
6. Moorish Falafel Bar - Fresh, fast, friendly. Bloody amazing
5. Captain America's - the best burgers in town, bar none. The same booths and seats as when it opened in the 70's. The only place that will ask you how you want your burger cooked.
4. Farmer Brown's - Loving the way they are using as much local produce as possible. The 'all you can eat Norfolk Tapas' is superb. Changes with the seasons
3. Baby Buddha - Superb Chinese food, always busy. The pork belly is out of this world
2. Shiki Sushi Restaurant - try the 'All you can eat' sushi night on a Monday or Tuesday or just go for a Bento Box any day/night of the week - fantastic.
And current number 1 is....
1. Spice Paradise - Fantastic food, great service and great value for money
I have been trying to try a different recipe every week since the New Year and have been doing pretty well. Last night we had a Mexican menu and I tried making squid with tomatoes and olives. It was pretty amazing - although a little hot - so thought I would share it.
You'll need (serves 4):
3 tubes of fresh squid - cut into rings
2 x tins of tomatoes
Half a red pepper - chopped
Half a yellow pepper - chopped
Half a green pepper - chopped
1 x onion - chopped
3 x garlic cloves - finely chopped
1-2 x chillies - finely chopped
1 x tsp dried oregano
1 x tsp dried thyme
A pinch of all spice
A pinch of cinnamon
A pinch of sugar
Large tbs of capers
20-25 pimento stuffed olives
Fresh coriander and parsley to finish
1. Sweat your onions and peppers in a heavy pan.
2. Once they are soft, throw in your garlic and chilli and gently cook them
3. Put in your spices and stir in
4. Pour in your tomatoes and bring boil
5. Put in your hebs and stir in - allow to cook with a lid on for 1-2 hours
6. When ready to serve, throw in your olives, capers and fresh herbs
7. Get a frying pan and some vegetable oil as hot as possible and fry off your squid quickly.
8. Remove to a plate and season. Pour the squid (and any juices) into the sauce at the very last second.
Serve with rice
20/1/12 - Bam Bams (www.mybambam.co/)
Our neighbours asked if we wanted to go with them to this relatively new restaurant. Having been to their 'sister' restaurant, Farmer Browns, which is excellent incidentally, I was really quite excited about going. According to the website it promises 'to flawlessly fuse a pan Asian dining experience with a late night boutique bar'. Having looked at the example menu, and liking almost everything I saw, I was looking forward to the experience.
So much annoyed me about Bam Bams, I don't know where to start. As mentioned, the reason I stopped my last website is because I got fed up of going to places that weren't as good as I could cook at home. I'm pretty sure, given the same ingredients I could have done a pretty similar or even better job. But let's not start with the food. Let's go back to the beginning. The entrance. The entrance is bloody confusing for first-timers. You walk in to be met by 2 sets of steps - one going up and one going down. No signs and nobody to greet you. We eventually realised that up was for the bar. We were actually greeted by a BOUNCER, or I guess a doorman as he would prefer to be called, who politely explained how everything worked. Our table was booked at 9 and we were slightly late. The bar, which consisted of a large room with a DJ booth in one corner, a selection of tables and chairs and, in one corner, a massive table and 3 what I could probably call thrones - castoffs from it's other sister place, Beluga? What really annoyed me is that the barman had his back to me. He didn't even notice us arrive. I could quite easily have crept up on him and shouted 'boo!' before he noticed me. Mark and I both ordered Asahi beers to be told "These are probably the last 2 in the barrel", which was slightly disconcerting. Also, his was poured into a proper Asahi glass and mine was poured into a normal pint glass. Now, I know I'm being picky, but if they want to be a cool, trendy bar, they should firstly have enough beer to serve people and also put drinks into the correct glasses - or at least in the same glasses.
Now, onto the food. When we were finally greeted and seated we were taken downstairs. It's probably due to my expectations but I was really disappointed by the decor. Because of the cool website and the trendy bar upstairs, I was expecting an equally trendy and cool theme downstairs - leather seats, booths, dim lighting, cool stuff. Nope, it's just like a pub restaurant or maybe a cafe. Not a cool or trendy thing in site. However, there were some delicious prawn crackers on the table. Unfortunately, that was about as good as it got.
The menu was completely different to the one on the website. That's fine, I shouldn't have looked. This happens a lot. I set my heart on something I see online all the time and when I get to the actual restaurant it's never there. Even the actual menu annoyed me! Ok, one dish annoyed me. I'll get to that in a bit.
For starter I had the chilli squid with mango salsa and puree and sesame seaweed. Tasty but I didn't really taste the chilli on the squid. Also, the mango salsa could have done with some heat too. Overall, a little disappointing. However, everybody else was pleased with theirs - my wife had the '5spice pork belly, spring onion salad, oyster'. It wasn't an oyster which was slightly frutrating. It was a typo, it meant oyster sauce. My wife hates oysters, I love them. Was quite looking forward to that. Our friends each gave me a bite of their sweet chilli beef and lamb kofta. Nice, tasty - but where's the fusion? It seems to be Asian OR European, not a fuse of the two.
Main course was where I started to get a bit tetchy. I read 'noodle dish for you, simple or complicated, mild or hot, vegetable, fish or meat, our chef will craft it to your liking' and thought it sounded really quirky, fun and interesting. What does 'complicated' mean I wondered. Just a play on words according to our waitress, nothing really complicated about them. Hmmm, not so interesting now. I pressed ahead anyway and asked for complicated and spicy and was really quite intrigued by what I was going to get. Unfortunately, the message between myself and the chef must have got slightly blurred and he must have thought I asked for ordinary and bland. The noodles had no sauce, not much taste and they certainly weren't spicy. The prawns, however, were cooked beautifully - succulent and juicy and well seasoned. However, I didn't come out for just that.
I must say, for balance, that our friends really enjoyed their food and said they would come back. My wife enjoyed parts of hers too. Maybe I was being too picky or set my sights too high or perhaps even expected the wrong thing.
Service was pretty poor. Nobody asked how our food was until we'd actually finished which I found slightly unprofessional. Overall, it was slightly nervous and clumsy. I'm not having a go at the waitress herself, she was sweet and friendly - she just needs better training. I also noticed there was no uniform - not even matching t-shirts - so it took me a while to notice who was a waitress and who was just going to the toilet.
Overall, I found the whole experience rather 'cold'. Not in temperature but in atmosphere. The whole place doesn't seem to have a heart, soul or identity. I also don't really know what it's trying to be. There's no continuity between the bar and the restaurant. They look and feel like two completely different buildings. The menu doesn't reflect their vision and I feel that they're promising something they don't deliver.
Would I go again? Yes, possibly. At gunpoint and you're paying.
13/1/12 - Spice Paradise (www.spiceparadise.co.uk)
Ok, I may have to apologise in advance. This review may be slightly biased as Spice Paradise is probably one of, if not my absolute, favourite restaurants in Norwich. The food is always excellent and, mainly because I have been going so long, the service is exemplory.
A bit of background - Spice Paradise specialises in Southern Indian food. You will still find Northern dishes like Dhansak and Madras but please please please avoid them here. If you don't know what you're ordering (like us the first time we went!) order the Feast menu and you'll get a bit of everything.
It didn't let us down this time. Since we've been going with a (fish-eating) vegetarian friend, we now go almost all vegetarian because the veggie food here is wonderful. The breads (and we've tried them all) are absolutely amazing too. I always go for chipati because I like to eat with my hands - I like to think I'm being 'more Indian' this way - but others will have a chilli bread, or a malabar paratha (that goes amazingly with the Nadan lamb curry). Yes, there's naan but you should really try something new when you come here.
We had our 'usual' selection. A table busting combo of masala dosa (a kind of crepe filled with mild potato curry), Allepy Prawn masala (a saucy, spicy curry made with small prawns), Baigan Bhartha (smoked and mashed spicy aubergines) chana masala (chickpeas in a spicy tomato sauce, cabbage thoran (shredded cabbage with coconut, cumin and chillies), Chicken malabar (mildly spicy pieces of chicken in a creamy sauce), Nadan lamb curry (a saucy, spicy curry flavoured with coconut), pilau rice and lots of different breads. Yes - for 4 of us. We don't do dessert.
I really suggest you give it a visit if you haven't already. You won't like the look of it. The menu is plastic, with pictures on! I HATE that with restaurants. It's really brightly lit. I hate that too. The tables are partitioned off by flimsy portable 'walls'. Ridiculous! If I can forgive it for all this because of the amazing food, then you can too.
