Restaurant Review: The Drapers Arms, Barnsbury, London

Restaurant name: The Drapers Arms

Location: Barnsbury Street, Islington, London

Description: Gastropub with a nice garden tucked away in a residential part of Islington, opened by the son of Evening Standard restaurant critic Fay Maschler

Reason for visit: Pre-theatre snack and drinks with a friend. It was in the right area not too far from the theatre.

We ate: As we didn't have much time we decided to share a charcuterie platter and some fish balls which came with mayonnaise.

The food was: The fish balls were particularly nice.

The atmosphere/service was: We sat outside in the garden and as I arrived first, I sat on a large picnic table. Two people came in and asked if they could sit there too (there were no empty tables left) so I said yes, and they promptly started smoking. A few minutes later they were joined with four of their friends, also smoking and braying with laughter in that Made In Chelsea way. When my friend arrived she had to squeeze on the bench next to me and we tried to ignore them. Which is in no way the fault of the pub but it did slightly spoil my enjoyment of the evening!

Price range/value for money: I'm not sure as my friend paid, but looking at the menu online it's not cheap - but then, this is a gastropub in Islington.

Would I recommend it? Yes, it seemed a nice place, it's just a shame people are allowed to smoke in the pub garden.

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Meal Planning Monday Week 24

Monday

Breakfast yogurt, muesli and fruit


Lunch chicken, mango and feta salad


Dinner pasta as I was home late, my boyfriend had a pizza



Tuesday

Breakfast poached eggs and smoked salmon


Lunch carrot, couscous and orange salad from SW 100 extra easy days p.87, with sliced ham


Dinner Slimming World fakeaway battererd fish for me, chicken kiev and chips for him




Wednesday

Breakfast cereal or yogurt


Lunch sandwich


Dinner Chicken fajitas/enchiladas




Thursday

Breakfast poached eggs and smoked salmon


Lunch carrot, couscous and orange salad from SW 100 extra easy days p.87, with sliced ham


Dinner sausage and mash




Friday

Breakfast yogurt


Lunch sandwich


Dinner Slimming World fakeaway Big Mac in a Bowl for me, burger and chips for him



Saturday

Breakfast yogurt


Lunch hot dogs


Dinner Slimming World spiced chicken (like southern fried chicken) from fakeaway book with homemade potato wedges




Sunday

Breakfast cereal


Lunch savoury pancakes


Dinner baked herby cod with watercress and roast cubed potatoes from SW 100 extra east days p82 (chicken for the other half)

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Alphabakes - June 2014

Welcome to our second run-through of the alphabet with Alphabakes, which started with A in April, moved to E in May - and now for the third letter we're staying in the first part of the alphabet. The letters are chosen at random so that's a bit of a coincidence - this month the letter we are baking with is

D

Remember, you can either make a recipe beginning with D, or use an ingredient (preferably one of the main ones) beginning with D.

If you're stuck for ideas, you could have a look at the round-up for the last time we had D, back in January 2013! I quite fancy having a go at doughnuts myself....

If you haven't participated before, here's all the information you need:

1. Post your recipe on your blog and link it to The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes , stating the relevant month's host. If you do not have a blog, email us a picture and a brief description of your entry which we will include in the round-up at the end of the month.



2. You can use your own recipe or someone else's recipe. The recipe can be sweet, savoury or a mixture! Anything goes as long as the random letter is predominantly featured in the recipe as one of the main ingredients or flavours or in the name of the bake itself (i .e . not as a garnish , or using 'flour' for the letter F!) You can also republish old posts/recipes but you must include the information for this challenge as stated in these rules.



3. Add the logo to your post and add 'alphabakes' as a label to your post.



4. Email your entries to alphabakes@gmail.com by midnight (GMT) 25th of the month. Please include:

• Your name (that you want included in the round up or we will use the name of your blog)


• Your blog post URL


• Recipe title


• Photo of recipe (to be included in the round up)

5. You can submit as many entries as you like.



6. You do not have to participate every month to join in.



7. You may submit your entry to other challenges as long as it complies with their rules.



8. If you use twitter, please use the tag #alphabakes and mention @bakingaddict and @Caroline_Makes. We will retweet all those that we see.



9. Have fun! :)

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Heart-Shaped Cake Balls

I described in a previous post how I made my own Rolo chocolates from a mould provided by the Dot Com Gift Shop. They also sent me a heart-shaped mould and some heart-shaped petit four cases to review.



I decided not to make chocolates this time however and instead make cake pops. Usually these are on sticks but they taste so delicious I don't see why you couldn't just make them as bite-sized nibbles and enjoy them that way. I had made a chocolate cake that was part of the same project, which you will be able to read about shortly, and had to trim the cake a bit. So I had some leftover cake trimmings which I crumbled up into a bowl.

I mixed it with some chocolate buttercream to make a dough.

Simply press the mixture into the moulds and place in the fridge for a little while to firm up.

As the mould is silicon it is completely flexible, making it very easy to turn the shapes out. You could also dip them in melted chocolate to coat them.

The Dot Com Gift Shop also sent me these mini heart-shaped petit four cases, which are just the right size to use with the mould.

Simply place the cake shapes or your chocolates into the cases to serve.

Disclaimer: I was sent these products free of charge by the Dot Com Gift Shop. I was not asked to write a positive review and all opinions are my own.

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Homemade Rolo Chocolates

The Dot Com Gift Shop sent me these two chocolate moulds to review. If you haven't been to their website before, I urge you to check it out. The Dot Com Gift shop has a range of items for the home and garden ranging from cake stands and chocolate moulds to lunch boxes to candles and cushions. I've bought several things from the site before both for myself and as gifts, and last summer was invited to preview their Christmas range.



It took me a little while to get around to using the moulds as I had a particular project in mind, which you will hear more about later. I found the moulds so easy to use and I love the way they are packaged (above) - I think these would make a really nice gift.



I decided to use the round moulds to make homemade Rolos. I melted some chocolate and poured a little into each mould so it just covered the bottom, and used the back of a spoon to spread it around the sides. Don't make the layer on the bottom too thin as you want it to hold, but you need to leave yourself plenty of space inside the mould for the filling. Place the mould in the fridge for the chocolate to set.

I used a tin of Carnation Caramel for the filling; it is thick and not too runny and perfect for making these. You need about half a teaspoon or even a little less in each mould.

Melt some more chocolate and allow it to cool so it is still runny but not too hot. Pour into the chocolate moulds until they are filled and place again in the fridge to set.

When set, turn out of the mould. The mould is silicon so you can easily bend it to push the chocolates out.

When you bite into one, the caramel inside is still runny. These are perfect and remind me a lot of Rolo chocolates. They would make a lovely gift; I used them on top of a cake!

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Restaurant Review: Burger And Shake

Restaurant name: Burger & Shake

Location: Marchmont Street, London - between Russell Square and Euston

Description: Diner style with casual tables in booths and tiles on the walls with and a varied but meat-heavy and not particularly diet-friendly menu ranging from jalapeno burgers to buffalo wings to chilli dogs and pulled pork sandwiches. Oh, and there's a salad. The restaurant is quite small, nestled among boutiques and cafes on London's trendy Marchmont Street.

Reason for visit: Dinner with a friend who lives near here; she recently moved so we wanted to try somewhere new and local.

I ate: pulled pork burger, £8.50. I love pulled pork but have never tried it in a burger before so couldn't resist.

My companions ate: Cheeseburger, £7.50, and vegetarian burger, £7.75, which consists of a large portobellow mushroom, halloumi cheese (though she is vegan so skipped this), plus lettuce, tomato, cucumber, coriander oil and mayo (again not for the vegans). The only other vegetarian dishes on the menu are side orders- mac and cheese, jalapeno peppers, fries and coleslaw, all of which together would make a meal, but other than the fries none of them are suitable for vegans.

The food was: My burger was excellent, from the brioche bun to the shredded pork in BBQ sauce - the taste complemented the juicy burger perfectly. My friends enjoyed their meals too. None of us ordered the milkshakes though, which given the name I imagine is a speciality here.

The atmosphere/service was: There was a nice level of bustle which comes from being a relatively small restaurant with people coming and going - it's not the sort of place you linger after a meal, and we were going on to the cinema afterwards - so it is the perfect place to grab dinner first. The waitress was friendly and we didn't have to wait long for our food.

Price range/value for money: Good; while the fries cost extra, there are two sizes - £1.95 for small and £2.95 for large, so for an extra two quid you can't really complain, and the burgers are large and very filling. A standard burger is £6.50 which is pretty good for a burger bar like this in central London.

Would I recommend it? Yes, it was a nice place- my first visit and it would be nice to see a couple more of these open in other parts of London. I definitely recommend the pulled pork burger which you don't see on menus very often.

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Adobong Pusit at Baboy, Squid and Pork Adobo

Adobong Pusit at Baboy, Squid and Pork Adobo. I first tasted this adobo squid and pork combination at a specialty restaurant at Resorts World in Manila right across NAI Terminal 3 and Nichols. Sine then, I just could not forget about it, it is a fusion of taste of my two favorite adobo, Adobong Baboy and Adobong Pusit. Cooking Adobong Pusit at Baboy, Squid and Pork Adobo is a bit tricky, cooking time of squid and pork are mile apart. Squid when overcooked tend to become rubbery and in contrast when undercooked the fishiness of a raw squid remains. To get away with a rubbery squid, it has to be slow cooked for a long time, but this cooking method makes the squids meat to be on the dry side and size reduced significantly.

To compensate for the different cooking times the squid was added at the final stages of cooking. It is also advice to use a larger size squid or the cut are larger, the squid shrinks significantly during cooking.

Here is the recipe of my version of Adobong Pusit at Baboy, Squid and Pork Adobo.





Ingredients:



1/2 kilo medium size squid

1/2 kilo pork belly cut into large cubes

1 head garlic, peeled, crushed

1/2-3/4 cup vinegar

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 tsp. peppercorns

3-5 pieces bay leaf

1 stalk lemongrass, trimmed, crushed

salt

cooking oil

Cooking procedure:



To clean the squid, partially pull out the head and the innards will come out with it. Remove and discard the ink sack and entrails. Remove the membrane from the body and wash out entrails. Final wash squid and drain. Keep aside. Put in pork first in a sauce pan, pour in 1/2 cup of water. Add in the lemongrass, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaf bring to a boil and simmer at medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes add more water if required. Add in the chicken and continue to simmer for 5 to 10 minutes or until almost all the liquid has evaporated and has turn to an oily sauce. Correct saltines if required. Serve with a lot of rice.





See other adobo recipes:



Adobong Ilocano, Chicken Adobo

Adobong Atay at Balunbalunan ng Manok sa Pinya

Adobong Puti

Adobong Manok sa Gata

Adobong Isaw, Adobong Bituka

Adobong Baboy sa Asin

Adobong Baboy sa Gata, Pork Adobo in Coconut Milk

Adobong Baka

Adobong Kambing

Adobong Puti, No Soy Sauce Adobo

Beef Spareribs Adobo with Oyster Sauce

Batangas Adobong Dilaw

Batangas Adobo

Bohol Adobo?

Chicken Adobo, Food Safari Chef Ricky Ocampo's Recipe

Humba, Adobong Bisaya

Pork Adobo sa Pinakurat

Pork and Chicken Adobo

Pork Adobo with Pineapple

Pork Adobo with Chunky Chicken Liver Sauce

Pork Humba with Pineapple

Duck Breast Adobo, Adobong Pato

Lamb Adobo

Special Adobo

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