tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40973546865939755022024-03-13T06:54:09.742-07:00The Princess and the RecipeA high maintenance girl's guide to cooking and eating out!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-59633394437829113742010-03-02T14:27:00.000-08:002010-03-02T14:27:15.075-08:00The EndYes folks, this is the last post on the Princess and the Recipe. After two years, I just don't have the time any more, and have decided to focus on other projects.
I've come a long way since I first started the blog. It all started when I was living in Hong Kong and, with a miniscule kitchen and more restaurants than you could shake a stick at, I was eating out more than ever before. I Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-49780718283802324532010-01-10T10:07:00.000-08:002010-01-10T10:07:11.421-08:00Ginger & honey fudge
Yes, I know. It's January. We all should be dieting, exercising or being otherwise virtuous to purge ourselves of our Christmas sins. But when the weather's this cold and wintry, all I want to do is curl up with some sickly-sweet carbs, and this soft and luscious fudge ticks my boxes. If you're on a diet, cut them small and share them with your friends!
Ginger & Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-7692561291742353662009-12-08T13:12:00.000-08:002009-12-08T13:12:22.695-08:00Sprout & pomegranate pilaff
I am not a sprout lover. Over-boiled, cabbagey, dull little bullets are really not my thing, but a bag of them turned up in my vegetable box this week and I was determined to make something tasty with them.
The internet yielded some interesting recipes, all claiming to convert sprout-haters to sprout-o-philes in the blink of an eye. Heidi Swanson's recipe involved both Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-58208191311067804662009-12-03T07:58:00.000-08:002009-12-03T07:58:40.596-08:00How to make the perfect meringue
What makes a perfect meringue? In my view, it's a light crispy shell leading to a chewy, teeth-sticking interior. If it can look pretty too, then that's a bonus. Meringues are great for pavlovas, or just to ladle fruit over, and are the perfect way to use up any left over egg whites that you might have hanging around after making custard or mayonnaise from the yolks.
MeringuesUnknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-50987879017847735942009-12-02T08:00:00.000-08:002009-12-02T08:00:05.460-08:00Cooking live at the Good Food Show
The view from the stage
I trekked up to Birmingham for the Good Food Show last week, and spent the morning navigating the hungry hordes before having a delicious three course VIP lunch with the Miele crowd. After a quick meet and greet with the Hairy Bikers, we were whisked off for a cookery experience with Mark Lloyd, head chef at The Cleave Inn. What Miele had neglected Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-91451901688356644522009-12-01T11:33:00.000-08:002009-12-01T12:28:32.589-08:00Hot Boozy Chocolate - domestic sluttery guest post
I am a huge Domestic Sluttery fan, so when they asked me for a guest post I couldn't resist. Especially as it gave me the chance to develop (or should I say devour) a deliciously boozy hot choco-cocktail!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-88346252942601143952009-11-18T14:12:00.000-08:002009-11-18T14:12:48.110-08:00Blaggers Banquet - prep talk
The blogosphere has been buzzing with Blaggers' Banquet talk lately. In case you missed it, last Sunday 50 food and wine bloggers took over Hawksmoor restaurant in London in a huge charity blogging event. We blagged and blagged til our slippery tongues could blag no more. All the ingredients for the dinner, the wine, the goodie bags and a fantastic selection of auction prizes Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-86402908166803811962009-11-14T08:48:00.000-08:002009-11-14T08:49:24.321-08:00The Westerly, Reigate
The Westerly is a bit of a local favourite. With a bib gourmand under its belt since 2008, it is a modern British bistro run by husband and wife team Jon and Cynthia Coomb.
Praise has been heaped on the Westerly since it opened in 2007, with even Jay Rayner and Simon Majumdar trekking down from London to review it.
Jay described it as “stunning” while Simon pronounced it “almost flawless”.&Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-32305107469195391482009-11-08T11:26:00.000-08:002009-11-08T12:07:42.865-08:00Blaggers' Banquet!
On November 15th, London's Food & Drink Bloggers will be taking over Hawksmoor, the revered steakhouse in Liverpool St, for the Blaggers’ Banquet. The Blaggers’ Banquet will be an exciting 5 course dinner with matched drinks, created entirely by the bloggers, and using only food and drink that we have blagged. All proceeds will go to Action Against Hunger.
Bloggers will be the cooks Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-46054412873260978592009-11-05T04:57:00.000-08:002009-11-05T04:59:31.100-08:00Fernandez & Leluu
Underground restaurants are definitely the latest big thing, although the trend actually hit British shores over 9 months ago when the mysterious MsMarmiteLover started her supper club in Kilburn. The scene seems to have really captured the media's imagination recently. Whether it be incompetent restauranteurs making a meal of it in their own homes or in front of Raymond Blanc, duff amateur Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-81658271325669501622009-11-04T04:43:00.000-08:002009-11-04T04:43:54.424-08:00Gourmet San
Gourmet San is the stuff of foodie legend. World class szechuan cuisine? Check. Gritty East London location? Check. Huge portions? Check. Rock bottom prices? Check.
After a disappointing time at Polpo, it was a relief to find that budget food in London can be tasty and great value. Gourmet San is clean and simple, with service swift and as friendly as could be expected with little Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-16468458199456499682009-11-02T08:00:00.000-08:002009-11-02T08:00:05.935-08:00Gordon Ramsay's World Kitchen
Gordon Ramsay's latest book, launched to coincide with the new series of The F Word, is a whistlestop tour of ten of the world's cuisines. The book starts in France (of course) and ends in the USA, via the Middle East, Thailand, China, India, Spain, Italy, Greece and Britain.
It would be easy to dismiss this as the latest output from the GR marketing machine, 10 cuisines in 100 recipes Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-41052905922935408962009-10-28T05:51:00.000-07:002009-10-28T05:51:22.880-07:00Cupcake decorating at Bea's of Bloomsbury
What makes a great cupcake? Pink glitter and spangles or great-tasting all-natural ingredients? If you ask Bea, she'd say the latter. Bea's of Bloomsbury is built around the principle of taste over looks, although the cupcakes (just one of the many delicious treats Bea sells in her coffee & cake place near Chancery Lane) look pretty good to me.
Last Thursday I tried a cupcake decorating Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-31467882976571588122009-10-20T08:30:00.000-07:002009-10-20T08:30:00.054-07:00London Restaurant Festival - Gourmet OdysseyAfter the recent excesses of London Restaurant Festival, the blogosphere has been buzzing with reviews of Koffman’s pop-up restaurant on the roof at Selfridges. However, your faithful correspondent here at Princess Towers decided to investigate the Gourmet Odyssey instead (or rather, couldn't get a table at Koffman's).
The Odyssey consisted of a huge blow-out Michelin starred lunch, with Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-5505637555813247582009-10-18T12:17:00.000-07:002009-10-18T12:17:46.572-07:00Plum jam with star anise & cinnamon
It's autumn, and with leaves falling from the trees and the nights drawing in I felt compelled to spend a few hours over the stove, stirring something sweet and comforting. Jam is pretty easy to make - in this case you just take equal quantities of plums and sugar, and optionally jazz it up with some spices.
I used about 10 plums and filled two 500g Le Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-18816723092947190182009-10-17T08:10:00.000-07:002009-10-22T00:37:37.230-07:00Polpo, Soho - a bit of a no-noThe occasion: the award ceremony to distribute prizes from a disastrous food quiz way back in February; the attendees: Helen of Food Stories, Chris of Cheese and Biscuits, Su Lin of Tamarind & Thyme and yours truly; the venue: Polpo, the latest hot "Venetian tapas" restaurant opening in Soho.
While Venice isn't exactly known for its food, our expectations of Polpo were high after its Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-10592630983549452752009-10-11T13:10:00.000-07:002009-10-18T13:49:23.806-07:00Farewell Floyd!
When James of Back to the Chopping Board and Julia of A Taste of Cherry Pie came up with the idea of a blogging event to honour Keith Floyd, I had to join in.
Keith was an eccentric character who really put the fun into food, and my earliest memories of TV cookery were of him and his frequent "quick slurps" of wine whilst whipping up something homely and delicious.
I decided Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-54219007841771566612009-10-03T06:51:00.000-07:002009-10-03T06:52:19.520-07:00Breakfast at Hunstrete House, nr Bath
After a hearty lunch at the Hind's Head in Bray, we continued our drive down the M4. Well, he drove and I slept - I was full of grouse and treacle tart after all.
Our destination for the weekend was Hunstrete House Hotel, a beautiful country pile with a 2 rosette restaurant, hidden away south-west of Bath.
No dinner here for us, as we were off to a wedding for the evening, but I Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-1414183160169864722009-09-28T13:22:00.000-07:002009-09-28T13:56:37.416-07:00The Hind's HeadWe had a long and dull drive down the M4 to Bristol on Saturday, and what better way to break the journey than by stopping for lunch in Bray?The Hind's Head is a pub. Heston Blumenthal's pub to be precise. An expensive pub, but still just a pub. It is charming and quaint, with beams and smiley waitresses and awkward family gatherings and Japanese tourists and screaming babies. We were seated Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-19422118468598401422009-09-20T12:22:00.000-07:002009-10-18T13:50:23.276-07:00Come Dine with MieleRemember the Miele steam oven, which I raved about back in March after trying it out at their test centre in Oxfordshire? Well, it's now sitting proudly in my kitchen and helping me turn out dish after dish of perfect rice and veges.
In order to test the oven to the max, Miele asked me to host a dinner party. A sort of steamy Come Dine With Me, without the snippy comments and £1000 prize money. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-31269651941939637802009-09-10T13:34:00.000-07:002009-09-10T13:57:05.996-07:00Julie & Julia & Boeuf BourguignonI was lucky enough to be invited to a pre-screening of Julie & Julia last week, along with heaps of other food bloggers. I really enjoyed the film, it's a combination of the book-from-a-blog "Julie and Julia" and Julia Child's autobiography "My Life in France". While Julie is a bit of a whingey, self-obsessed loser who doesn't deserve her angelic husband, the story of Julia and her lifelong Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-41005100935488441552009-08-19T08:19:00.000-07:002009-08-19T08:30:48.846-07:00Peppers with feta & pestoThis is a super-easy vegetarian dish that could work as a starter or as a main if you served it with a heap of brown rice or cous cous. It's healthy and tasty too, I love the combination of sweet pepper, salty feta and tangy pesto.Peppers with feta & pesto - serves 4 as a starterIngredients2 red peppers, halved and de-seeded1 block of feta cheese, cubed4 tbsps pestoInstructions1) Preheat theUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-30188848210127812042009-07-01T09:06:00.000-07:002009-07-01T09:23:40.893-07:00How to spatchcock a chickenI've always been a bit scared of spatchcocking, there's something rather violent about the way the word sounds. It makes me think of kneecapping, or knuckledusting. This Saturday though, I steeled my nerves and set about my chicken with new abandon. And I was relieved to find it wasn't even that difficult.To spatchcock, if you're not familiar with the term, is to remove the backbone of the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-180031942772842622009-06-21T10:06:00.000-07:002009-08-19T08:31:19.604-07:00Tomato & goat's cheese canapesThey may look fiddly, but once you get going these tomato and goat's cheese canapes are pretty simple. I used an icing gun to fill the tomato shells, but you could use a traditional piping bag or just wodge it in with a teaspoon/finger if you're not fussy.Tomato & goat's cheese canapes(adapted from In the Mood for Food by Jo Pratt - a fantastic book)Ingredients30 cherry tomatoes (go for largeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4097354686593975502.post-15525267008218719832009-06-03T01:24:00.000-07:002009-06-05T13:12:33.559-07:00Whiskied Butter-Bunny BobotieBefore anyone starts complaining, this is most definitely NOT a traditional bobotie! Bobotie is a traditional South African dish, a bit like a curried moussaka with a wobbly custard topping. I took my inspiration from the version in Galton Blackiston's new book Summertime.For my version I used chunks of rabbit rather than minced lamb, apricot jam instead of quince jelly and whiskey instead of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0