All posts tagged: lamb

Review of The Fable, Farringdon

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I’d only ever been to one of the Drake & Morgan restaurants/bars before, The Happenstance, in St Pauls. I loved the style and décor of the place, and as well as the food being really tasty, the cocktails were excellent! So I was excited to try out the new Spring/Summer menu at The Fable, located between Chancery Lane and Farringdon. The bar downstairs was pretty busy with large groups of people, but I was led upstairs to a much quieter restaurant area with its own bar. I was also really pleased to see that the tables were arranged a decent amount of space apart – I’ve got a real bugbear at the moment with being crammed into a small space, and the people next to you hearing everything you’re saying! My friend Kelly joined me, and within minutes the cocktails and conversation were flowing. We started with a Passion Fruit Mojito, with Duppy Share Rum (one of my new favourites), passion fruit, mint, lime, sugar and bitters. The manager (who was an absolute gem!) also brought …

Lunch at Dip & Flip, Tooting

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When Tim and I saw that there was a Dip & Flip opening near us in Tooting, I was seriously excited! I’d been to similar restaurants during previous work trips to America and the concept is amazing – burgers and sandwiches dipped in gravy! There’s a full description of the difference between a ‘dip’, a ‘flip’ and a ‘dip and flip’ on their website here. Dip & Flip roast carefully sourced beef bones to a rich golden brown and then simmer them with organic vegetables and herbs. Roasting juices from the bottom of the pan are added to the broth along with a few other ‘little beefy secrets’. The restaurant is already located in Battersea and Wimbledon, and the new branch opened this weekend in Tooting, so we had to be one of the first to try it out! The restaurant is fairly casual and laid back in design, with cute wooden ‘school-style’ chairs and American-style art on the walls, with waiter service (all of the staff were really friendly and the place definitely had an opening weekend …

Open Farm Sunday at High Farndale

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Last weekend, I went up to visit my mum in North Yorkshire. This is where I was born and grew up, until we moved to Cyprus when I was 12. My dad sadly passed away very unexpectedly in 2013 and while life in Cyprus was wonderful, it was a good time for my mum to return to the UK, which she did in February this year. And I’m so glad she’s back! We get on brilliantly (we speak every day on the phone!) and now I can just pop up on the train for the weekend. Hubby was away in New York (alright for some, eh?) so I thought it was the perfect time to spend some quality time with my Ma! And it just so happened to coincide with something called ‘Open Farm Sunday’ which I saw being talked about on Twitter. Open Farm Sunday does pretty much what it says on the tin – on one day of the year, across the UK, selected farms open up their doors (or gates, perhaps, in …

Pétanque Players Assemble! Dinner at Angelus Restaurant

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Dubbed the new ‘hipster sport’, Pétanque is becoming increasingly popular in the UK. I used to play it on holiday as a child and surprisingly (unlike most sports!) I was fairly good at it. I even beat Tim once, but of course, he’ll never admit to that ;). For those of you who don’t know, Pétanque is a form of boules where the goal is to throw metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (literally “piglet”) or jack, while standing inside a starting circle with both feet on the ground. This June (5th-7th), The Londonaise are hosting an International Pétanque festival at Barnard Park in Islington. And to celebrate, French restaurant Angelus is introducing a unique boules inspired main dish into their set menu, which I was lucky enough to preview this week. Angelus restaurant was formerly a pub and covert meeting place for political figures such as Winston Churchill, tucked away in a beautiful mews alongside Hyde Park, a couple of minutes walk from Lancaster Gate station. Upon …

Proper Pork Chops from High Farndale, North Yorkshire

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“Now THAT’S a pork chop!” was Tim’s first comment when I opened up the parcel from High Farndale. I had come across them on Twitter and they had been kind enough to send us some pork to try out at home. The farm is in North Yorkshire (Kirkbymoorside), very close to where I grew up as a child, and is run by Peter Mawson and Nicola Frost. They produce pork, lamb and hogget (lambs are aged 0 to 12 months, hogget are 13 to 24 months and mutton is two years and older. Some refer to Hogget as ‘yearling lamb’ or ‘shearling’). Their British Saddleback pigs are a native rare breed and they’re tough, sleeping outside in nests they build, often ignoring the accommodation provided by the farm. As such, the pork has a layer of fat that will keep your meat moist during cooking. High Farndale sell their meat online in large quantities: Pork Quarter pig (15kg): a cut of the leg, a cut of the shoulder, a cut of the belly, eight chops and sausages. …

Easter Cooking: Lamb & Tomato Curry

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One of the recipes we cooked with our roast lamb over Easter was a lamb and tomato curry. Curries are often Tim’s job, as he always does well with them and gets the spice level just right. I tend to get a bit overzealous with the chilli, although I love making them. As you can tell by the cooking photo, he’s a much messier chef than me. But it’s ok – he calls it ‘rustic’ 😉 He got the recipe from Food.com, but always tends to add his own twist. This is the original recipe: INGREDIENTS SERVINGS 4-6 1⁄4 cup olive oil 2lbs boneless lamb shoulder (in our case, we used lamb leg), trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1 inch cubes 1⁄4 cup butter 2 tablespoons cumin seeds 4 garlic cloves, minced 2 inches fresh ginger, minced 2 medium onions, chopped 2 tablespoons ground coriander 2 tablespoons ground cumin 1 teaspoon turmeric 1⁄2-1 teaspoon cayenne 10 whole cloves 3 inches cinnamon sticks 1cup plain yoghurt 6 medium tomatoes, peeled and each cut into six pieces or 1 1⁄2 …

Easter Cooking: Lamb Moussaka

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Moussaka was always one of mine and my Mum’s favourite dishes when we were in Cyprus, but it’s admittedly a bit of a hassle to make. Some of the local restaurants we went to used to ask you to order it in advance, so they could get it ready, as they would only serve fresh food. I don’t mind making it myself when I have the time, so I thought that I’d try giving it a go over Easter using both lamb mince and leftover lamb from our roast on Good Friday. I’ve used bits and bobs from different recipes over the years, but this is what I tend to stick to: Ingredients 2 aubergines cut into 1cm/½in slices 3 fairly large potatoes, cut into 1cm/½in slices 500g lamb mince 500g sliced lamb pieces (as mentioned earlier, taken from our previous roast leg of lamb) 1 onion finely chopped 2 garlic cloves crushed 1 tsp fresh oregano  1 tsp fresh mint, chopped 1 tsp ground cumin 2 tsp ground cinnamon (I sometimes increase this, as I love the …