Something For The Weekend.

I am staying in on a Friday night...woah. It actually feels good, and Sainsburys was so quiet! Perfect time for me to share a favourite dish of mine. This never fails and everyone loves it. It's a dish that I created and is so easy to make but super tasty if I say so myself! Here are a collection of photos from the different times that I have made it.....recipe below pictures.

Lovely Lamb by Natali.

Either a shoulder, half a shoulder, a leg or a rolled shoulder of lovely lamb

tin of chopped tomatoes

tin of cherry tomatoes

baby tomatoes on the vine

kalamata olives

whole bulb of garlic

good quality chorizo

bunch of rosemary

generous amount of virgin olive oil

salad

crusty loaf of bread

The quantities are rough just depends on the size of your dish and the size of you lamb. Chop the chorizo and layer it on the base of a large oven proof dish, just layer the area where the lamb will sit. Lay the sprigs of rosemary on top of the chorizo and then put the cut of lamb on top of the layers. Rub malden salt on the top of the lamb. Tip the tins of tomatoes around the lamb evenly, scatter some olives and peeled garlic cloves and try to mix into the tomatoes. Place the vine tomatoes on either side of the lamb. Season really well and pour some olive oil around the mix. Pop into a preheated oven at about 150 for 3-4 hours or slower at a lower heat, if it looks like its getting dry then cover with some foil.

Serve with some leaves. Pull the bread apart and dunk into to the deliciously rich tomato sauce. Perfect recipe for a lazy weekend.

Needs a meaty song...Welcome to the jungle!!!

Dhru da man

Congratulations to Dhruv this years winner of Masterchef. I have been glued to this series although always watching catch up on BBC iplayer at the weekend with Tarek as I never seem to be at home when its on telly. I particularly love watching it with the man, we get so into it. I cried in every episode. My mum ruined the surprise for me but I still enjoyed watching the final. Dhruv was my favourite, I also think he is a bit of a pin up!

I used to have wild dreams of entering Masterchef but there is no way that I am ready yet...so for now they will stay dreams.

Loving the sunshine listening to Kate Bush.

Dan Can.

I temp at a digital music distribution company, The State 51 Conspiracy. We get bought lunch every day which was a real seller for me. At about 1pm I go to fetch the lunch, we tend to choose from the Thai van in the Truman Brewery (in front of the route master bus), Taz Firin a turkish restaurant on Bethnal Green Road, Harem another turkish on Brick Lane, Square Pie or when feeling healthy a soup from Franze & Evans an Italian deli on Redchurch Street although they NEVER give enough bread with their soup! We all eat around a big wooden table and although I only tend to understand 4% of the chats that the computer boys have occasionally my ears prick up as the chat turns to food. One day the chat turned to baking bread and I mentioned how I was wanting to make my own leaven. My boss Paul said he had a great book on baking by Dan Lepard and that I should get it. I said it was my Birthday coming up so I would ask for it. Anyway a few days later I came into work and the book was on my desk. Paul had got it for me for my Birthday!! Thank you Paul.

This is truly a great book. Dan works with Georgio Locatelli, Ottolenghi and lots of other wonderful chefs and restaurants. Paul says the Chelsea Buns recipe is great. I want to try the Almond Milk Loaf and the Buckwheat Pancakes. I haven't had a chance to make anything yet but will get round to it soon. My kitchen is so small for bread making so maybe i'll wait till I move....which is soon....

Ba Na Naaaa

I made a rather silly cake for Micke's Birthday.

Micke likes...

So from that I decided to make him a cake in the shape of a bunch of bananas with yellow icing and a REALLY blue sponge. I dreamt about this cake for a week and worked out that if i used a round cake tin i'd be able to cut a bunch from it. It was a case of suck it and see. This is what I ended up with and below is the rather scatty recipe!! It was nice although the icing was so sweet that it made my cheeks tingle. Cecilia and Kate made it with me.

Sponge.

20 cm Spring form tin.

225g/8oz butter or margarine, softened at room temperature

225g/8oz caster sugar4 medium eggs

225g/8oz self raising flour

milk, to loosen

Natural Organic blue food Dye.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

2. Grease and line 2 x 18cm/7in cake tins with baking paper. I never bother with the lining the side of my spring form but if yours is an old tin then may be best to give it that extra love.

3. Cream the butter and the sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy.

4. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time.

5. Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon, adding a little extra milk if necessary, to create a batter with a soft dropping consitency. Stir in the food dye till you get the desired colour.

6. Divide the mixture between the cake tins and gently spread out with a spatula.

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

8. Remove from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes, then remove from the tin and peel off the paper. Place onto a wire rack.

Icing. (very rough quantities)

My icing was a bit too runny so I have modified the ingredients here.

About 2 tubs of cream cheese

Half a bottle of fridge banana milkshake

6 ripe bananas

Lots of icing sugar

Yellow organic food dye

Chocolate icing for piping the banana

Blend all the ingredients together till you get the right consistency. If its too runny then add more icing sugar if its too stiff then add more banana milk.

Pop some icing in between the sandwiches, then cut your cake into bananas. Ice them and then position eh voila!

of course you should listen to Micke's amazing music whilst making this check it:

http://www.myspace.com/lindebergh

Cause i'm back on the blog...

Apologies for my lack of posting but all you lovely (2) readers (Mummy and Ciaran) will be pleased to hear that I am back...whoop.

Now its my Birthday on Sunday so I am a busy bee but by next week there will be posts and pictures up of my latest culinary adventures which include Chocolate making, Malteaser caking, my very lovely new bread book (thank you Paul), Valentines breakfast, Roast lamb, Bone marrow, Fennel, Pizza, Walnuts, Sweden and a few more bits and pieces.

I have been loving the soundtrack to the film Where the Wild Things are by Karen O and the Kids

check it!

Natella's Dense Chocolate & Almond Loaf

On a freezing cold Saturday afternoon I trekked across London to Clapham and Emily's beautiful home for Alex's baby shower.

I was late, very late but luckily I was armed with a yummy variation of Nigella's Dense Chocolate Loaf. I was supposed to be sticking to the original recipe (a big favourite of mine) but I had no bloody vanilla essence left. So I thought i'd go crazy and add almond essence instead. The result was magnificent even if I say so myself! Here is the recipe and some pictures from the day. Thanks to Emily for hosting and Nikki for all the games!

Natella's Dense Chocolate & Almond Loaf.

225g soft unsalted butter

375g dark muscovado sugar

2 lrg eggs, beaten

1tsp almond essence

100g best dark chocolate

200g plain flour

1 tbs bicarbonate of soda

250ml boiling water

23 x 13 x 7 cm loaf tin

Pre heat the oven to 190c.

Grease and line tin (very important)

Cream the butter and sugar. I did this by hand and therefore recommend an electric handheld whisk as I now have huge guns! It was hard work.

Add the beaten eggs and almond essence, beat well.

Fold in the melted chocolate. I melt the chocolate before I do anything so that by this stage it has slightly cooled.

Add the flour and water gradually do not over beat. You should be left with a smooth and fairly runny mix.

Pour the mixture into your lined tin. I find that this recipe makes too much mixture for the size of tin, it is important to only fill the tin to 3/4 full as this cake seriously rises. I used the left over mixture to make a couple of mini loafs to take to work.

Right back to the main loaf. Pop it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes then turn the heat down to 170C and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Wait for it to cool before turning it out.

I topped it with fresh strawberries and served it with double cream.

I listened to Joy Division on the journey to Clapham. SHE'S LOST CONTROL

The boy looked at Jonny.

Two weekends ago my friend John saved my life with a Lasagne. I was super hungover, the Breakfast Club couldn't even help me. This Lasagne was special. It was saucy, creamy filth! I asked John to email me the recipe and here is the unedited version for your pleasure. Warning....it will make you laugh, a lot. Thanks John.

John on the right .

Hiya Natali!

Ok - so you want to know how to make Jon's Lasagne?

Well it's based on a recipe from my Mum but I get a bit more involved with the naughty parts... The following quantities are approx and based on making a big one for 6-8 people.

Ingredients

1 kilo Minced Beef - the best you can buy

10 rashers of good quality Streaky Bacon

2 large Onions (1x red and 1x white)

2 large Red Peppers

4 fat Cloves of Garlic

2 tins of Chopped Tomatoes

1/2 tube of Tomato Puree

1 bottle of decent Red Wine

10 sheets of Egg Lasagne

1 Beef Stock Cube

Olive Oil

Steak Seasoning

Fresh Oregano

Salt and Pepper

Cheddar Cheese and Parmagianno

125g Butter

75g Plain Flour

2 Pints of Milk

3/4 Pint of Single Cream

Ground Nutmeg

Open the bottle of wine, pour yourself a glass, put on some good tunes and survey your ingredients. The lasagne will and should take a couple of hours out of your day, so enjoy it.

Chop the onions, garlic, bacon and peppers and pick the best leaves from the oregano. Get it all ready...

Take a nice big, deep pan and pour in a healthy amount of olive oil and heat it up on a low-medium heat.

Soften your finely chopped onions in the pan. Then add the finely chopped garlic - don't add it first or it'll burn.

To this lovely oniony mess add the bacon that you've cut up roughly with kitchen scissors and grind some black pepper in for the hell of it.

Add the red peppers and keep mixing it so nothing sticks to the bottom.

Have some more wine, feel like a chef, but remember that you need 3/4 of the bottle for the mix, so don't get too carried away. Also you shoudn't be drunk when your guests arrive. Bad look.

Now free up as much of the base of the pan as possible and feed your minced beef into the pan. Turn up the heat (if you can't stand it, you know where to go) and mix it all together making sure that the mince is browning. When you're happy that the mince has started to turn, then pour in some more olive oil, add both tins of chopped tomatoes and stir in half a tube of tomato puree.

Now you should have a nice meaty tomatoey mess. If it's bubbling, then the heat is currently too high, so turn it down a little for the next stage.

You'll have a beef stock cube dissolving in just under 200ml boiling water - this is stand by fluid in case you've drunk too much wine. Keep it to the side while you stir in, little by little, loads of red wine. Add plenty of the steak seasoning, plenty of black pepper, a little salt, throw in the oregano leaves, stir in some more wine, add some stock for the hell of it because you've made it after all and there's no point wasting it. Turn the heat up a bit and make it bubble and simmer. Add some more wine and don't worry too much if it looks full of liquid as much will reduce. So add some more wine and more steak seasoning and black pepper.

Oh my god you're a chef! Look at your bad self! Make sure you have good tunes on...

Now let this simmer for 20 mins with the lid ON. Then another 20 mins with the lid OFF. Stir occasionally to keep the bottom of the pan moving. You don't want to reduce too much of the liquid, so if it becomes too dry, make sure you're looking at some stock or some wine somewhere.

Now, what are you going to do for 40 minutes? Make the bechamel sauce - that's what! Now this is still a work in progress for me as I always think it's too thin and then it thickens without the need for more flour and I find that I've added too much flour and then too much butter. So here, obey the amounts. Oh - and make sure you have plenty of ground nutmeg. If you haven't, then you may as well go and buy a ready made lasagne from Tescos and serve that! Loser! Do it properly...

So - the bechamel sauce:

Chop the butter (half a solid pack of actual butter) into smaller segments and heat that up over a medium heat in a fairly large saucepan. Add most of the milk (yes it is a lot) and then the flour. Whisk this over the heat for about ten minutes and see what happens. Ultimately you need it to be quite thick, so if it's not happening, take it off the heat and let it sit for a moment then whisk it off the heat and see what happens. Once it has started to thicken, THEN add the cream and then keep stirring in plenty of ground nutmeg - more than you think - and also a generous amount of black pepper. Yum yum yum. More nutmeg - I'm serious.

Don't forget that the meaty sauce needs 20 mins with the lid off as well as on. Well done.

Soon you'll be ready to start building your lasagne. If the bechemal sauce is ready and nice and thick then take it off the heat and let it be until the meaty sauce is ready. In the meantime, start passing the sheets of lasagne through a bowl of hot water and place them on a teatowel, ready for the build. Bring out the huge lasagne dish that you have somewhere for occasions like this.

Now line the bottom of the dish with a healthy amount of meaty sauce; then a layer of bechamel sauce. Now trim the lasagne to fit the dish and make a nice firm layer over the sauce. Repeat the meaty sauce and bechamel sauce process and add another layer of lasagne sheets. Repeat once more and then on the last layer of lasagne sheets, just add all the rest of the bechamel sauce up to the lip of the dish. Top with the cheddar and parmegianno that you've grated and mixed.

Now find someone and show them because believe you me it looks AWESOME!

Then put the whole damn thing in a pre-heated oven at 160 for about 45 minutes.

Let it sit when you take it out. You can spend this time looking at it. Serve with salad, garlic bread, friends and the red wine that they've brought.

Enjoy!

Lots of love,

Jonathan

JOHN LOVES DIRE STRAITS- ROMEO AND JULIET

I WANT THIS

I know this is a food blog...but I want this jacket. SO MUCH

The Clash - White Riot Live (1978 Victoria Park London)

Rainy Tuesday

'We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath.' Forrest Gump.

I swear that today on my walk from Angel to Bricklane I experienced all those kinds of rain. What a perfect day to catch up on some blogs.

So here I am am...i've been busy, I hope you're ready

Playing Tom Tom Club

Linhs Birthday.

I wanted to try Nigella's Cherry and Almond cake and I had found the perfect time. It was Linh's birthday so I needed to make her a cake AND I had ground and flaked almonds left over from a Chicken Mughlai so it wouldn't be too pricey. The cake was great and was gobbled up by the guests within minutes.

Here is the recipe. Thanks Nigella!

Ingredients. 140g butter 170g caster sugar 170g self raising flour 60g ground almonds 110g glacé cherries 2 eggs a little milk Method. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, then beat in eggs, one at a time. Fold in flour, almonds and cherries (halved or quartered, as you prefer). Stir in a little milk if mixture seems dry. Bake in a loaf tin for 75 - 90 minutes at Gas 2 / 150ºC I sprinkled flaked almonds on top of mine. Happy Birthday Linh....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4SLSlSmW74

I heart Ottolenghi.

I treat myself to a cake from Ottolenghi, Islington almost every Sunday. I always get it to go and eat it at about 4pm, out of the white box, on the couch, normally in front of an episode of Life. I try to have a different cake each time. Last week was a lovely Rhubarb Treat today it is a Macadamia nut and Toffee Cheesecake (we got the last slice and it was a big one!)


Listen to this: The soundtrack to David Attenborough's 'Life on Earth'

T dogs.

My boyfriend, Tarek, is a master snack maker. Our weekends tend to include a bit/lot of boozing and LOTS of eating. Here are a couple of the best snacks he makes...

T dogs.

Frankfurter

Lompe (potato pancakes) can use a small tortilla instead

Sennep (sweet mustard)

Ketchup

Slice of Norwegian Jarlsberg cheese

Simmer the Frankfurters in water until cooked through, whilst they are cooking layer up the Lompe with a couple of slices of cheese and a generous helping of Sennep and a dash of ketchup. Then pop the frankfurter in the middle and roll it up in the Lompe. Done!

Pizza Bagels.

Bagels

Butter

Ketchup

Meltable Cheese

Dried Oregano

German Salami

Cut bagels in half and toast. Butter the toasted bagels, a thin layer of ketchup, slice of salami, layer with cheese, season and grill till the cheese has melted. Sprinkle with oregano and serve.

He also has a good hangover drink. Copella Apple Juice and Sparkling Water with lots of ice.

This morning he made T dogs to Pharcyde, Passing me by.