Prawn Saganaki

In some parts of Greece I understand this dish is called youvetsi – after the name of the dish it is cooked in, but to me it will always be Prawn Saganaki, as it was when I first tried it in gorgeous Corfu.

A lovely Greek lady, Angelliki, gave me the basics for this recipe when I enjoyed it at her hotel taverna back in 2008, when I was working as a holiday rep and would hungrily demolish many a meal prepared by this lovely lady. She was an inspiration in many ways – as well as working many hours with her husband Costas at the hotel they only managed, not owned, she prepared the majority of the food that was served there, and had two beautiful young children who she was always running around after too. They were a very generous couple always trying to feed me up and happily, were open to sharing the odd recipe too. A tiny couple of tweaks, to accommodate what is readily and affordably available in sunny Essex and here is the recipe below.

If you can get hold of them the sauce is much improved my having large shell-on prawns, and these also make for an impressive looking dish too, but for an affordable mid-week meal, ordinary prawns are just fine. I serve with a side salad and some simple fresh bread and it makes for a delicious taste of the Med, especially comforting now the colder nights are drawing in.

Here’s how:

200g fresh, raw prawns

Tin of chopped tomatoes

1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp fresh oregano

1 tbsp fresh parsley

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp fresh lemon thyme

150g feta cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsps dry white wine (Retsina for traditionally Greek saganaki)

Firstly you need to make a good tomato sauce as the basis. I do this in an oven-proof skillet above the hob so you can continue the cooking all in the one pan. The depth to which you prepare the sauce depends on how much time you have – obviously if you want a rich sauce, cook for longer, but if time is short, then a quick sauce is more than sufficient – especially mid-week.

To prepare your sauce add the olive oil to the pan and place over a low-mid heat. Dice the onion as finely as possible and crush the garlic and add both to the pan. Once softened (after 5-10 minutes),  add the wine and cook off – this will take another 5 minutes or so on a medium heat.

Next add the chopped tomatoes. Again you can of course use fresh tomatoes for this dish as and when they are available. Add a pinch of salt and black pepper here and the teaspoon of brown sugar and stir through. Add half of the chopped parsley and oregano and all of the lemon thyme to the sauce and cook over the hob for thirty minutes – or longer if you have the time.

In the meantime, chop the feta in cubes – I prefer this to crumbling the cheese as in the finished dish you are left with lovely gooey, delicious feta.

Taste the sauce and if you feel it needs it add further salt and/or pepper. Remove the lemon thyme stalks as they are unpleasant to bite into and will have imparted their flavour into the sauce now

Arrange the feta around the dish and sprinkle the rest of the parsley and most of the remaining oregano and place into a pre-heated oven at 180-200 degrees for fifteen minutes.

Remove the dish and add the prawns, scattering around as evenly as possible.

Return to the oven for a further five minutes, checking that all of the prawns have turned pink to show they are cooked through, and remove, ready to serve. Prawns take very little cooking so remove from the oven as soon as they have all turned pink to avoid being left with rubbery, overcooked prawns which are not tasty! Instead you should have delicious, succulent and juicy just-cooked prawns – lovely. Scatter over the remaining oregano before serving – enjoy!

The Gallivant Hotel, Rye

I was a guest at The Gallivant recently as part of a preview for Wild Boar Week, which is in full swing now. Whilst I have already shared some thoughts on this in my previous post, here is a recommendation for a truly wonderful seaside hotel in glorious East Sussex.

The Gallivant is described as ‘shabby chic’, and whilst it certainly fits that criteria; it is more on the chic side. The décor throughout is full of neutral creams and beiges, with stylish flashes of blue and nautical touches here and there, which seems very fitting as the hotel is within stumbling distance of Camber Sands stretch of golden sandy beach.

I enjoyed a double room, and given that prices for a B&B here start at a reasonable £115, I was impressed at the level of comfort and luxury in the large room. I walked into an already warm, well lit room – which was very welcome as it was a cold, blustery, wet October evening. There was a large double bed, a small living area with a little sofa, table and chair as well as tea making facilities.

A large TV stood on a unit with a DVD player, several books and magazines about the area and some reading material – including a Harry Potter book – I was happy as that would be my reading matter to fall asleep to later.

A smart and immaculately clean bathroom finished the room, and after a quick freshen up I joined the rest of our party for a meal at The Beach Bistro, the restaurant headed up by Trevor Hambley which is part of The Gallivant’s exquisite charm. This was a bespoke meal in honour or Wild Boar Week and you can read about this here: Wild Boar Week and The Gallivant Hotel, Rye.

I had a very comfortable night’s sleep in the room – the bed was divine, and on retiring to the room and in the morning before breakfast, the small touches which elevate The Gallivant to such a high standard of seaside hotel were made apparent. The Gallivant bathrobe and beach bag are handy little touches, along with The White Company toiletries that adorn the bathroom. But something which I thought was fantastic was the traditional tea caddy in the living area. With a proper teapot, a couple of mugs and a caddy full of different teas and coffees I was spoilt for choice in the morning and the final, personal flourish of The Gallivant which I thought was just great was the homemade biscuits left for the guest in a little jar. It’s such a personal little touch but it’s these little things that make The Gallivant a home away from home – it was a shame to leave that day.

Breakfast at The Gallivant is a laid back affair – with a self-service selection of cereals, toast, homemade preserves, homemade bread and pastries, fruits and yoghurts along with a range of juice. The cooked selection was wide and varied, and I was sad to still be full from the evening before, so I opted for a simple breakfast of toast with homemade strawberry jam – very satisfying. If you were in the mood for something heartier than myself; you can indulge in a full Enlglish breakfast, eggs in a multitudes of ways, sandwiches, porridge and even French toast – all served in The Beach Bistro.

We enjoyed a woodland walk as part of the Wild Boar Week festivities that morning and on our return, ahead of checking out of The Gallivant we had a final lunch, prepared for us by lovely Trevor Hambley at The Beach Bistro and what a gorgeous lunch it was. We had requested something light after our hearty wild boar meal from the night before and Trevor certainly delivered.

As with the night before our meal arrived picture perfect on beautifully unusual crockery - just another of the little touches that make The Gallivant such a delight.

We had pan-fried fillets of gurnard with potatoes, sea purslane (a kind of sea vegetable) and an extraordinary orange and saffron hollandaise sauce. It was fresh, fragrant and magnificent. The fish was light and flaky – cooked to absolute perfection and the accompaniments expertly chosen. Another great meal.

We shared a final pear tarte tatin as we had all enjoyed it so much the night before – and if you do choose to visit, this is a must order. The picture alone speaks for itself I think.

One of the great things about The Gallivant and The Beach Bistro is that 80% of the seasonal menu is sourced from local fisherman, farmers and artisan producers throughout East Sussex – and with the sea a stone’s throw away and the Romney Salt Marshes just next door, where the lamb in particular is revered it is a true foodie haven.

I had a great overnight stay at The Gallivant and would have no qualms returning or recommending this gorgeous beachside retreat to others and I have to say it’s not just a summertime hotel either. With glorious Rye only a ten-fifteen minute drive away, I think it would make an idyllic Christmas shopping break. We had some time in Rye before heading home on Saturday afternoon and it is such a glorious little English town, it’s hard not to fall in love with it. With olde world tea shops a-plenty, quirky little gift shops and cookware shops with unusual items within, it is a lovely place to while away a few hours.

From London St Pancras you can travel to Rye for only £11 return on Southeastern trains, changing at Ashford and picking up the Southern Trains line to Rye which takes 90 minutes in total. There is also ample parking space available if you live, like me only an hour and a half or so away from The Gallivant.

To make a booking or find out more about The Gallivant check out the website: www.thegallivanthotel.com. 

Wild Boar Week and The Gallivant Hotel, Rye

We are slap bang in the middle of Wild Boar Week, a celebration of wild boar in beautiful Rye, East Sussex.

Starting this weekend on Saturday 26^th October until this Sunday 3^rd November – Wild Boar Week has a number of exciting events, woodland tours and culinary deliciousness taking place across the area and recently I was lucky enough to be invited to enjoy a preview of such activities.

I travelled from London St Pancras station via Southeastern changing at Ashford and taking the Southern Railways route on to Rye. These tickets were kindly, complimentary, however can be purchased for a very reasonable £11 return – taking only 90 minutes.

Our home for the next 24 hours was to be The Gallivant – a stylish, shabby-chic hotel by the glorious Camber Sands beach – a place that, for me and I’m sure many Londoners, has fond memories of childhood days spent on this long, golden beach.

The Gallivant is an elegant beachside retreat – decked out in whites and blues and with rooms so comfortable, you immediately feel you are welcomed into a home away from home. You can read more about my stay here on Thursday 31^st October, when a second post will be live.

Back to Wild Boar Week; after settling into my double room, I joined the three other guests, our lovely host Diana, and a gentleman who was to give us a comprehensive introduction to wild boars, Mike Peplar and his charming wife, Tracy for a bespoke wild boar dinner that is available throughout this week at The Beach Bistro, the on-site restaurant.

Mike and Tracy Peplar moved to the area a few years back and have become so enchanted by the local woodland, living off of the land, foraging that they have bought several acres of the area and you can read about their adventures at Peplars in Rye.

We enjoyed a wild boar themed menu devised especially by The Beach Bistro’s head chef, Trevor Hambley.

Our starter included gorgeous whole local scallops, cooked through to succulent perfection with just a touch of caramelisation on the outside, to make them a little bite from heaven. Coupled with a crisp sliver of bacon, a concoction of Kentish apple puree and some greenery and then completed with the wild boar component; a risotto cake filled with rich, meaty boar-flavoured rice. The risotto had been shaped into rounds, covered in breadcrumbs and deep fried and all dressed with a tiny bit of balsamic glaze – all to die for and a put together beautifully to make a very pretty plate.

For the main course it was a real meaty treat and once again a very attractively plated dish. Generously thick slices of perfectly tender, pink-centred wild boar, meaty and gamey without the earthiness of meat such as venison were fantastic, a revelation. The piece de la resistance though, had to be a very British classic – a suet pudding filled with slowly braised, beautifully soft and melt-in-the-middle boar leg meat in a rich and unctuous gravy. Suet puddings are such a comforting food, and this absolutely transformed me to childhood in an envelope of warm fuzzy happiness. This simple dish was completed with a side of seasonal vegetables – it was all that was needed against such wonderful cooking.

Our dessert was a shared affair and a glorious one at that. A gorgeous pear tarte tatin was the centre piece of this board of confection and was absolutely gorgeous coupled with the homemade vanilla ice cream. Brandy snaps filled with a pistachio mousse and dipped in pistachio shards were not only innovative, but delicious too – I’ll be trying to re-create these at home. Cinnamon donuts too, were an unexpectedly divine addition to the selection of sweet treats and iced berries with a warm hot white chocolate sauce poured over them were another example of the simple yet impressive and effective style of cooking that prevails at The Beach Bistro. A triumph.

Following a hearty breakfast at The Gallivant, Mike Peplar led our group on an enjoyable woodland tour of a few hours. Mike showed us wild boar tracks, and other evidence of their presence within the woods – such as the random huge holes that they dig around the woods, which can make them unpopular with local farmers!

As well as talking us through some interesting facts about wild boars, Mike was able to identify the different types of tree, flowers and the like as well as a shared interest amongst our group – mushrooms. We saw some exquisite looking fungi, some of which almost looked magical and it has certainly picqued my interest on the matter.

You can find out more about Wild Boar Week and any events taking place here: http://wildboar.org.uk/

On Thursday 31^st October I will posting a further review, detailing more about my stay at The Gallivant and The Beach Bistro, but in the meantime you can read more about them here:

www.thegallivanthotel.com

www.thebeachbistro.com

For timetables and station information or to purchase tickets online, visit www.southeasternrailway.co.uk and/or www.southernrailways.com

A London Lunch No: 11: Poppies Fish & Chips

There is frankly no greater British food than fish and chips.

Now I’m a great believer in the fact this tends to be much more enjoyable when the sea is in sight, sound and smell; however there are a few absolute gems in the centre of London and Poppies is one of them.

The Spitalfields outlet is decked out in 1940’s and 50’s attire including the uniforms of the staff and the music played - this quirkiness only adds to its’ charm.

I actually visited here on Sunday evening with three girlfriends and enjoyed a fantastic supper, but Poppies is certainly open for lunch time deliciousness too, and it’s definitely worth considering.

I have to recommend the classic cod and chips which is generously portioned, even the ‘regular’ one is plenty for a hungry lunchtime meal. The chips are fresh and fluffy on the inside but crisp and gorgeous on the outside. The cod is fresh, flakey and cooked to perfection with a contrasting crunchy batter on the outside. Simply served with a wedge of lemon and a pot of tartare sauce – this kind of lunch proves that no bells or whistles are required to satisfy a hungry soul.

The regular cod and chips is priced reasonably at £10.90 and with a welcome alcohol license and a very good bottle of Moscato on offer – I would say Poppies is the perfect Friday lunchtime pit stop for city workers, and weekend haunt for anybody in the area.

Feed Four for £5 - Spaghetti with Prawns

This a quick, satisfying and incredibly cheap dinner for four that is packed full of flavour and can be thrown together in less than half an hour and you will find the majority of the ingredients in your stock cupboard at all times – you’ll just need to pick up the prawns.

I’ve worked out this meal costs roughly £1.11 per person – in my home, it makes a decent sized dinner for two and then two lunchbox fillers that will be much more welcome than a sandwich. 

Bulk it up with some fresh salad or some garlic bread. I make my own garlic bread by rubbing slices of a fresh loaf or French stick with fresh garlic on both side adding a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to each and then adding to a hot griddle pan for a couple of minutes on each side, till nicely charred.

This makes the perfect mid-week meal – especially towards the end of the month when purses might be lean but appetites are still demanding. This is the first post for the Feed Four for £5 series of posts. If you have any recipes that Feed Four for £5 please do Tweet them to me @Bistro_Becs and use the hashtag #feed4for5er

Here’s how:

500g packet of dried spaghetti

200g fresh, raw prawns

Half a tin of chopped tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp dried chilli flakes

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley or 2bsp dried

Pinch of salt and black pepper

Firstly add the olive oil to a pan and place on a low heat. Slice the garlic finely and add to the pan to soften with the chilli flakes. This will create a pan full of flavour before adding anything else to it.

Get your pasta cooking with a generous pinch of salt according to the packet and in the meantime chop up your parsley ready to scatter through the pasta. I have some growing on my windowsill, but dried is fine for this dish too as buying fresh herbs on a regular basis can prove to be quite costly at £1 for only 100g that will go off fairly quickly.

Add the tomatoes to the pan and stir through with a wooden spoon. Add some seasoning to your taste and when the pasta only has a few minutes remaining, throw the prawns into the sauce, ensuring each is close to the pan so they cook through evenly. Prawns only take 2-3 minutes to cook and they are very easy to judge as once they become pink they are ready.

Before draining the cooked pasta add 2 tbsp of the cooking water to the prawns and again, stir through. Once the pasta is drained add to the pan with the prawns and the sauce and stir through gently to ensure all the pasta is coated nicely.

Finally stir through most of the parsley and then serve adding a touch more parsley over the top for a pretty garnish and enjoy!

Sheesh, Chigwell

Sheesh is a family run restaurant that sits in the rather splendid building that was once home to Ye Olde King’s Head pub in the centre of Chigwell, Essex. I’ve visited several times and have never had a bad meal here, and what’s more, the atmosphere is always electric - filled with a buzz that is hard to achieve in local restaurants outside of the centre of London.

Primarily, a Turkish theme runs throughout the menu, with some other Mediterranean influences - this is basically a ‘posh kebab house’ as my Dad would call it with a few bells and whistles. As I’ve said, the location and venue is in itself fantastic - as well as a vast dining area, there is also an outside terrace that is heaving in the sunshine and the bar upstairs is lively and they have regular performers on to keep the crowds in after their meals too.

I visited Sheesh a few weeks back on a Friday night with three of my girlfriends, Steph, Jade and Jemma for a meal followed by drinks and dancing in the bar.

We started with some appetisers to share – firstly the ‘Karisik Meze’, a selection of homemade dips including taramasalata, hummous, tzatziki, a tomato and onion dip and two aubergine based dips, one smoky, garlicy baba ghanoush-style dip and one oily tomato based dip. All were great but particular mention must be made for the tarama and the aubergine/tomato dip – delicious.

Clearly the four of us wouldn’t be content with just dips being the greedy sorts we are. To complement our dips we also ordered some fried halloumi cheese, gorgeously salty with that almost crust of flavour on the outside and a nearly-gooey interior as well as a plate of ‘sigara boregi’. A plate full of filo pastry cylinders filled with cheese and spinach –calorific but exceptionally tasty. With a satisfying crunch as you bite in, but filled with the most moreish soft and tempting centre.

Jade and Jemma each chose a dish from the ‘specials’ menu, veering away from the traditional dishes. Jade opted for the ‘Kleftico’, different from the Greek version that I know, this was a lamb shank cooked slowly in a tomato and vegetable sauce with the potatoes cooked in the sauce. Not being a fan of lamb, this is something I wouldn’t normally try but the aroma of it was incredibly appetising and so I tried a small little mouthful and was pleasantly surprised. The meat was so tender from the long, slow cooking process and was filled with flavour. Jade certainly enjoyed.

Jemma chose the ‘Kremali Tavuk’, a special of chicken breast served in a creamy red and green pepper and mushroom sauce. The chicken was succulent and moist and the cream sauce was to die for – delicious with some of the pita dipped in. A portion of asparagus made up the rest of Jemma’s meal and it really is worthy of mention alone. It came drizzled in a garlic and herb butter that is simply to-die-for and is then scattered with sea salt which gives that added, flavourful crunch – sensational.

Steph and I both ordered from the huge charcoal grill situated at the end of the main section of the restaurant. We wasn’t sitting in that area on this particular evening, but if you are making an evening of it at Sheesh, try to request a table in this area as it is fabulous to watch the kitchen staff at work – but be warned if you are heading out elsewhere after your meal, you may find yourself coated in eau de kebab.

I chose the ‘Tavuk Sis’ or chicken shish kebab which was exceptional as always. The chicken was juicy and beautifully spiced with just a hint of chilli. Served with a colourful salad of sliced onion, carrots, red cabbage, green leaves and a chopped tomato and cucumber combo as well as a whole, raw chilli the kebab was sitting aboard a flat-bread. Several sauces come alongside anything cooked on the charcoal grill – all of varying heat - Steph and I were both keen on the extra hot which packed a serious punch. A great dish.

Steph embarked on a Woman vs Food mission and chose the ‘Karisek Grille’ – the mixed grill, a selection of all of the meats cooked over the grill. Now all four of us love our food, but we were impressed by Steph as she managed to eat all of the meat on the grill (with a little help from us having the odd nibble).

She had no complaints whatsoever and as well as the same flatbread and salad that came with mine, Steph’s meal consisted of the chicken shish that I had, lamb shish, a lamb chop, a marinated chicken wing, a lamb kofta, and a minced chicken meatball. All were pleasing, but Steph’s particular favourites were actually the chicken and lamb shish that Sheesh do so, so well.

We had an impressive three bottles of the Moko Black New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc at the table too and after paying the bill, around £180 including service, we headed up to the bar to enjoy the live singer. A lovely soulful singer who belted out some absolute old school tunes, veering between Motown and modern songs, it wasn’t long before the combination of great atmosphere and a round of Aperol Spritz and Champagne cocktails had the four of us up dancing, and we were not alone.

Service was good throughout the evening and we really did have a fabulous time. My only slight gripe would be the fact you can only have the table for a certain amount of time, and when our two-hour slot was up the waiters were hovering around us quite blatantly, which as we were only heading upstairs was a tad irritating.

I would certainly recommend Sheesh for a good night out in Essex – great food, drinks and atmosphere are provided so the only thing you need is good company like I had on this particular evening.

A Vegetarian Afternoon Tea, Hix at Selfridges

My friend Larni and I are going to New York in a mere five weeks for six days of fabulousness and we have been doing a lot of shopping to prepare for our Big Apple wardrobe, a lot! A recent West End retail jaunt on a Sunday was completed by taking in a pre-arranged vegetarian afternoon tea at Hix Restaurant & Champagne Bar at Selfridges.

We planned our shopping trip to finish up in Selfridges and then relax over tea and cake  and as I’m not a vegetarian, I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy a selection of savouries minus the meat, but I needn’t have worried as it was all very appetising.

We each got our own stand filled with treats and at the price of £21.50 per person, it  represented really good value for money. There was a good selection of teas to choose from, although Larni and I are not the most sophisticated when it comes to our tea and just opted for an ordinary breakfast blend. I was a little disappointed that we were presented with chipped tea pots that I felt should have been replaced, but this was the only down point we noticed at Hix.

The savouries included finger sandwiches with a duck-egg mayonnaise, Larni really enjoyed these but I bypassed as I don’t enjoy eggs unless they are baked into a cake. We also each had a naughty but nice mini cheese toastie which was lovely and it was nice to have a little hot savoury alongside the other cold options.

The other two savouries included a tomato crostini topped with a sliver of hard cheese – not the most creative, but certainly tasty. And finally, my favourite - a little sourdough toast topped with delicious homemade guacamole – wonderful.

Onto the sweets,  the most exciting part of the tea – five portions of utter deliciousness. Firstly we each had half of a plain and a fruit scone topped with the obligatory clotted cream and some strawberry jam. The scones were cooked perfectly with the perfect balance of sweet and savoury and were offset beautifully with the accompaniments, they were, for me a very welcome introduction into the sweet coma I was about to enter.

We had been advised to eat one of the treats quickly – this was basically the equivalent of a fancy Tunnocks Teacake  but with a twist. It had a biscuit base, was filled with a glorious pistachio ice cream and then encased with delicious dark chocolate and then finished with some sweetened pistachio shards. Unusual but divine and great to have something I’ve never encountered when having afternoon tea elsewhere before.

We had a mini lemon meringue pie too which was equally impressive. The pies were tiny little pastry confections filled with a rather fluid citrus centre, only a couple of bites to eat, but the kind of bites where you really savour the flavour. The meringue topping was OK as a contrast in texture but was a little bland.

The final confection was the finale for both Larni and myself, and what a showstopper. A rather perfectly portioned wedge of rich chocolate cake, that was moist, unctuous and almost gooey in texture, with a gorgeous flavour of chocolate and topped with a silky chocolate ganache. This is the type of cake that usually I would have a dollop of cream with, but you just didn’t need it, it was pure poetry on a plate – perfection.

Service was perfectly polite at Hix and we were seated with a view down onto the ground floor of Selfridges which was great for people watching and there’s nothing better than enjoying an indulgent afternoon tea at your own, slow pace whilst watching the world frantically go by.