Breakfast on a Spoon, Cider, Prosecco, and Gate Crashing.

It’s been a full week since my last blog, and yes I know that’s a poor effort. In my own defence it has been a crazy week! I started at  a new company in Covent Garden, I attended a bar opening, went on a 2 hour hunt for the best fish and chips in Stratford, attended my first after work drinks, followed by gate crashing a 16years old girls epic house party, (I decided to meet my neighbours at 12am). Stu and I also went on an overnight trip to Birmingham to attend a cider festival, and on our way there we realised that I had the location wrong, and instead we found ourselves at an International Food Festival where we ate and drank the day away.

All in all, I have been 1 busy munchkin.

Not a bad last resort!

So, with so much going on, I have been a little lacking in the cooking department, but I promise NOT in the eating!  I have been spoilt for choice all week starting with Stu cooking me creamy garlic prawns for dinner one night. Another night, with a suggestion from one of Stu’s colleagues we went looking for the “best” fish and chips in Stratford, with what felt like hours of walking on an already empty stomach we finally located our destination @ 10pm. 


You know those places that scream “ DON’T EAT HERE” in flashing lights out the front? That’s what we encountered, so with sad smiles on our faces we turned around and decided to go to our trusty Westfield, where most places had already stopped serving and we stumbled upon a pizza shop. It was actually a blessing in disguise, as we had the special of  the day which was a truffle, salmon and capers pizza, made with truffle oil base, and a Mediterranean anchovies and tuna salad.

This week I also attended the opening of the Duke of Wellington in Notting Hill. Now, that's a cool venue it has recently been refurbished and I am really looking forward in going back and checking out all the different rooms!

As it was the opening night that had so much free food for the patrons to sample, so I manage to eat my through a delicious array of nibbles, including breakfast on a spoon (see picture)
(I think it was a mix of pancetta and bacon base with an egg fried on top) – AMAZING! 

I also sampled the Pork Lollipops – pork belly on sticks dipped in applesauce, cheesy potato croquettes, and crab meat and watercress served on crispy pork skin. (Also the free gin)

All the dishes were very delicious, the venue-looked great also with its eclectic mix of furnishing and funky art – Check it out, it’s a nice bar and the prosecco is cold J

So I tried to organise for us to do something special over the long weekend as we were suppose to go to the Bath, after a few FAIL! moments and some utterly useless brain activity on Saturday we decided to make the trip up to Birmingham for the weekend to attend a cider festival I found online...

Turned out I should have checked Google maps, the place was 1.5 hours from Birmingham. "Insert FAIL! x 5 for the weekend)

So we decided to make the most it, we went on our own cider festival and did a bit of a pub crawl starting at 11am, and ending when we had devoured too much food at the International Food Festival we stumbled along.  In saying that, turned out Birmingham to be a blessing in disguise.

Here we enjoyed homemade chocolate, chocolate cannoli, French garlic roasted potatoes and chicken in a garlic red sauce, masala chips, chorizo, poppadoms, and finally what I had been waiting a week for, English fish and chips served with mushy peas!

The festival was a great break from London and even though I can't read a map, we ended up having a really good time, we also purchased this really cool grater! I tried it out last night with the garlic :)

So, as I have been quiet on the #cassieskitchen front, I did cook dinner tonight, and it was an oil based sun dried tomato and pesto fettuccine.

You can see the final product here 

Singapore Crab-tastic in my belly #cassieskitchen

From talking about going to Billingsgate markets at 4am for the past month, Stu an I decided to make the trip when we woke up at 8am on Saturday, after a quick brush of the teeth, some doubt about our timing and a ribbon added to the hair (I thought It may have "looked" like I did my hair), we were on our way!  Unless you're not aware, the market shuts at 9:30am and most the stalls are already empty and cleaned by 9am.. we got there at 9:20am. 

With 4 stores open and what looked like a successful day for the fishmongers  (due to the immensely large styrofoam castle we walked through) we went on the hunt for some squid tubes, so we could get our Salt-N-Pepa on.  After some distraction of pretending to be a giant fish and spotting some baby shark, we were completely engrossed in our adventure we forgot what we went there for, and managed to buy a kilo of fresh prawns and 4 blue swimmer crabs! 
Distracted again once the seafood was in the fridge, It was time to assess the day and go out and play "shopping" at +Westfield and postpone the crab cooking till Sunday. 

I have never cooked any sort of shellfish before, so a quick google and an assessment  of my cupboard told me that I had found the correct recipe. A few minor adjustments, using what I had, I managed to whip up this delightful and delicious dish.

Way better than a Sunday roast :)


Check out my Pinterest for the final product shot and recipe! Or follow me on Instagram for step by step updates on my next culinary adventure!

 #cassieskitchen 

Night kids

“Jamie Oliver, eat your heart out!”

So anyone who knows me knows that I “follow”, and really enjoy anything to do with Jamie Oliver. I think he is inspiring in the way that he cooks, and socially he is really working to improve food awareness and reeducate people on the importance of eating healthy on an international scale. Add that to his smart and sexy venues that not only serve amazing food, but also include delicious cocktails you really do have a winning combination.

I am relatively new to cooking, there was a stage in my life (not that long ago) when I use to eat boiled eggs, smoked salmon and cereal every day. Sometimes when I wanted something “special” I would change it up and eat a hot spud with sour cream… I know tasty stuff!

So when the food craze started and  Masterchef, My Kitchen Rules, Jamie’s 15 minute meals and Kylie Kwong cooking programs where everywhere I looked on TV, I started to get really into trying out some of my own dishes. Once I got my head around “seasoning” I finally started cooking yummy food. Strangely enough I developed this habit of following it with a proud shout off “Jamie Oliver, eat your heart out!” There’s not much more I can say about this, other than, yes I made it up, no I don’t know what the literal translation is, BUT it’s something that should be understood as, “check this out Jamie Oliver, and see how good my food is!”

His efforts in challenging society by campaigning on key issues are widely recognized, especially with his work on obesity issues in schools, and apprenticeship programs for unemployed youths. Not only does he work with young people he also runs a 10 week course through Jamie’s Ministry of Food in Australia focused on teaching adults basic cooking skills, how to grocery shop, and provides them with the knowledge and confidence to take their skills from the program and use them at home. 

I feel these are fantastic programs, and what an opportunity for these people to be involved in! How many other chefs and international faces are putting their heart and soul into aiding and helping with these issues? I can’t think of anyone, other than the guy who did supersize me – and that was a different ball game.

Food for thought.

So, as this is my blog I would like to say thank you Jamie Oliver. You inspire me to cook healthy food everyday, you make me want to challenge myself to learn new skills, try new things in and out of the kitchen and share them via social media.

I made my second lasagna on the weekend. My mum hands down makes the best damn lasagna I have every tasted, till I made this one.

I made the sauces from scratch, I completed the meat sauce the night before,  so it had a richer flavour (see pinterest for ingredients). I then boiled down the spinach, created my béchamel sauce, then worked on my layers.

I do admit I did get confused, and with Stu aiding me with a quick Google of my friend Jamie, I realised 3 important things

1 – don’t put a lasagna strip on top

2  - add basil and tomatoes to the top with LOTS of cheese

3 – cook with foil for the first half hour then remove afterwards.

I didn’t follow an exact recipe, my style of cooking is a bit loose, I have a sort of “mix a bit of this and a bit of that” style, working off what my Mother and my Nonna taught me growing up.

I let it sit to cool, and then served it up later on to my friends for dinner on Saturday.

Spinach Lasagna = bloody lovely, naturally I declared once the verdicts where in (and their was no more left)  “Jamie Oliver eat your heart out”

Thanks for the tips JO.

Check out Food 4 Stu & I and CCAD88 for more recipes and pictures of delicious discoveries!

Mondayitis

It’s Monday again, and the Mondayitis is kicking in, nobody likes Monday’s even the Boomtown rats new that, that’s why they made a song about it.

In reality the people who have jobs hate it because they have to go back to the grind. Contrary to that the people without jobs hate it even more, as all their friends are at work, while they sulk around the house looking for something to do.

The life of the unemployed in my experience consists of impromptu mirror dancing with a hairbrush, complimented with over exaggerated dance moves (also called interpretive dance). Then you look at the clock again make a cup of tea, get the heart rate down and gaze out the window. Then you spend 40 minutes thinking about what you will cook for dinner  (that is several hours away) fun stuff hey?

I even seriously considered going to the bingo hall today. If I am in the same situation this time next week I’ll go, at least I will be sitting in a room with a bunch of people being “social” when really, no one is allowed to speak, as the concentration levels are beyond extreme! (Keep in mind, this is serious bingo you can win £500+)

Now that is enough of me being a soook. The perfect counteract for Mondayitis is the Easybeats, I got Friday on my mind.  This song puts everyone in a good mood!

This blog was suppose to be about my kick-ass lasagna that I made over the weekend, I guess with all my spare time I can tell you about that this afternoon. See a picture here for a glimpse 

Till later kids
Cass

Getting Amongst It

So, at the moment I am on the job hunt, my contract ended a few weeks back and I have been slowly working my way through online applications, talking with recruiters and generally getting "stuck" into it. To be honest though, it's rather soul destroying after what feels like a million applications, you start going a bit stir-crazy in the house.
So, I really have no reason to not be blogging other than being a bit lazy...

Last weekend was a real belter, I caught up with my friends Camille and Bec and we drank numerous bottles of Prosecco on the roof top just off London fields. Camille is a fantastic hostess, she cooked us up some delicious warm potato and spinach salad and topped it off with a majestic sunset. It was everything the unemployed needed. Fun, Friends, Food (and Prosecco)

Then on the Saturday, we had a laze about the house kind of day, Stu worked till 1pm so I made Cornish Pasties for lunch, and they were pretty delicious! I added some beef at the end, the picture didn't do it justice so I didn't upload it.
Stu came home to a very seedy girlfriend lying pathetically on the couch,  he surprised me with a bottle of Prosecco to perk me up... Amazingly it worked and we went to the bingo hall with our housemates, followed by the Casino where I played my high roller cards , in with a tenner and our with two hundred! WINNING!

Here are some pics from the weekend, I finally decided what to do with all my recipes... Pintrest is where it is at. Check me out for regular updates!
Food 4 Stu and I

Till next time kids when the adventure continues.
xx

27 days with no microwave, no oven and 3 working hot plates

Capsicum Stuff with Mushrooms and Fried Capsicum Ring.

In January we officially moved to London and house sat for Helen and Adrian while they went on holidays for a month. We had no jobs, the money was dwindling away quickly and it was time for us to snap out of holiday mode and find some jobs, and somewhere to live by the time they came back.

It was apparent very quickly, after eating out and ordering delicious food from market stalls across South East Asia every day for the past 3 months, that every meal we ate from now we had to cook at home and save our money.

So that is where my inspiration for cooking "most" nights came from. The best part about it was, we had no microwave,  no oven, and 3 hot plates. Add to that  I think in my life I had the reputation of  4 dishes and they where all Italian and had similar ingredients. The types of food and culinary delight and exotic flavours I had tasted was a different story. I didn't know how to recreate them. Plus I am a Cadorin, we don't follow instructions.. till it's broken or we have fkd it up..

Cooked this in a small pot with water. 

In our time there, I cooked a huge array of dishes, sadly I don't have pictures of all of them.
But I do have 2 of my favourites.

Stuffed Capsicum filled with mushrooms, herbs and spices lemon juice and all sorts of flavouring I found in the cupboard. I cooked this with 2 sauce pans closed over each other like a DIY oven to cook the capsicum, so it was almost grilled.

My other favourite, which I wish I had the picture of it cooking! We went to Tesco and got really excited as we found a Turkey roast for Sunday night dinner (marked on sale of course) We got home, and went sh!t, how the hell are we going to cook this? A little bit of creativity, I seared the sides in a frying pan, put some water with vegetable stock and mixed herbs and spices in  pot and cooked it with the lid on for  a few hours. It was pretty darn good in the end, the plating doesn't do it justice.