Putting The Pumpkin In Pumpkin Pie...Canadian Style

In 2006-7 I lived, studied and worked in Toronto, Canada and loved it. I studied Comparative American Studies and Spanish at university and this involved an exchange study year of which I chose to go to Toronto. I ate my way around all the classic North American foodstuffs that would be unavailable or just plain expensive back over in Blighty. I ate raw cookie dough from a tube, poured milk from a bag (a trend that is only recently catching on here!) and most memorably ate an entire 9 inch pumpkin pie to myself  in one sitting on Canadian Thanksgiving. Canadian, much like American, Thanksgiving was a celebration to thank God for a good harvest - kind of like the Harvest Festival you may have been involved with at school. For Canadian's the date of Thanksgiving always falls on the second monday of October. The American Thanksgiving occurs in November and places more emphasis on the pilgrim's first successful autumn harvest in America. The origins of eating pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving came with the Loyalists (those who remained in favour of UK rule before and after the American Revolution), along with other traditions, when they left the Thirteen Colonies for Canada.

The pumpkin is native to the New World and can in fact be traced back 9000 years to Mexico. Natives used the pumpkin as food long before the European settlers arrived by cutting strips of pumpkin flesh for drying and roasting. The Colonists learned the many uses of pumpkin from the natives and adapted it to their own palate. The first pumpkin "pie" was not a pie as we know it but instead the flesh of a pumpkin was scraped out and the shell was filled with milk and spices before being cooked for several hours over hot ashes.

It has to be said that pumpkin pie is not for everyone. It is definately one of those love-it-hate-it foods and unless you know what to expect then you may not like it! I happen to love it and when I discovered cans of pureed pumpkin were availale in the UK I got straight on the case for making pumpkin pie. I made two pies and took one into work and fed one to unsuspecting housemates, the reaction was mixed. Like I said, you either love it or hate it.

If you are curious then you could try the recipe that I used below, this makes 2 pies.

Ingredients
- 1 can pumpkin puree (I used Paula's but you can get Libby's, available for £1.20 in Waitrose!)
- 1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 170g Carnation evaporated milk
- 175g sugar
- 2 x 9inch pie crusts (available in Sainsbury and Tesco)
- 2 x beaten eggs

1. Pre-heat your oven to GM5
2. In a bowl empty the contents of the can of puree and add the rest of the ingredients - excluding the pie crust of course! I like to think I'm a proud member of the chuck-it-all-in-and-see school of thought...

3. Mix this well and pour into the pie crusts

4. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to GM3 and bake for a further 25-30 mins

5. Allow to cool and then refridgerate until cold

Pumpkin pie is delicious with a scoop of vanilla icecream and is best eaten cold! Enjoy and let me know how yours goes!

The Poaching of the Lambs...

I saw a really great Gordon Ramsay recipe for poached lamb on a fellow foodie's blog! Poached lamb, I thought to myself, genius! I've poached chicken breast before and it comes out very juicy and tender, but I've never poached any other kind of meat. So off I trotted to sainsbury to buy the ingredients! To my delight I found Welsh lamb rump steaks! Sainsbury is now starting to stock more welsh lamb produce and its not too pricey either! I refuse to eat the vile meat that the english try to pass off as lamb, disgusting. Anyhoo a pack of two steaks costs approximately £5.50, it's not the cheapest but it is good quality meat - and it's welsh so I don't mind paying. I also bought lamb stock cubes (did you know you can get ANY flavoured stock cube now, I saw ham stock cubes, HAM!) and some fresh herbs, bay leaves and thyme for the lamb and basil and mint for my veggie accompaniment. For the veggies I chose courgette, spring onions and a tin of butterbeans. It would all be served on a bed of couscous. YUM. I couldn't wait to start cooking!

The best thing about this dish is it takes under 20 minutes to do the whole thing, from prepping to plating! Quick but amazingly flavoursome food - the best combination! So upon my return from the supermarket I made up the lamb stock and placed the washed rump steaks in a pan (always wash your meat). I covered them with the stock and added a few springs of thyme and 2 bay leaves and a good pinch of salt. I let this come to the boil while I finely chopped the basil and mint and sliced the courgette. By this point the lamb mix was bubbling away and I could see the steaks had turned a juicy grey colour on the outside. I turned down the heat and allowed the lamb to simmer for approximately 8 minutes - you can leave it longer depending on how you like your meat cooked. This was going to be a medium rare so leave it a few more minutes if you like it well-done. While the lamb was simmering I poured vegetable stock over the couscous and let it cook. Meanwhile I added butter and oil to a pan and chucked in the courgette, spring onions and the beans. I cooked this for about 2 minutes before adding the basil and mint. The whole mix looked delicious, especially since it was coated in a glossy golden shine from the butter and oil. I took the lamb out of the stock and let it rest while I added the veggies to the couscous, seasoned it and plated up.

I also quickly made a sauce from the left-over lamb stock and some cornflour and just whisked it up over a low heat and drizzled over the top of the steak. I didnt want anything too fancy because I wanted the flavour of the meat itself to be able to be tasted more than a frilly sauce.

The lamb was fantastic. It was cooked perfectly! The meat was so tender and it was a brilliant blush pink inside. One thing I would change is I would add the basil and mint to the couscous to cook into it instead of adding it to the veggies for a more intense herby flavour. Just means I'll have to make it again now to try it that way...shame...

So if you fancy giving poached lamb a go then here are the ingredients (obiously quantities will vary depending on how many you are cooking for so I've just put the quantities that I used and this will make enough for 2 portions)

- 2 Welsh lamb rump steaks
- Lamb stock cubes
- fresh herbs - thyme, basil, mint
- 2 bay leaves
- can of butterbeans
- 1 courgette, sliced
- 2 spring onions, sliced
- 175g couscous
- vegetable stock cubes
- salt and pepper
- knob of butter
- splash of oil

Good luck and let me know what you think! Happy poaching!

Mamma's Pizza, Bella!

Home for the weekend and looking forward to having some home-cooked food. After 3 and a half long and cold hours aboard the megabus I needed something that only my mum could make. Mum's food. On the menu tonight was Mum's new styled pizza which was delicious, filling, warming and healthy! Only mother's can achieve that combination. To make the pizza she bought a pizza base mix from the local supermarket and cooked the bases in the morning. Nearer dinner time she chopped garlic and onion and a selection of veggies and stir-fried them together. She then topped her ready-cooked pizza bases with her latest secret weapon (not so secret now though!), Jamie Oliver's Spicy Olive, Garlic and Tomato Pasta Sauce! This sauce is perfect for a pizza topping - it even says so on the jar! the saltiness from the olives and capers compliments the sweetness of the tomatoes and the light heat of the chilli and at £1.97 a jar you can't go wrong! The garlicy veggies are spread on top of the pizza bases and she added a topping of sliced pepperami and crispy bacon. Finally a good sprinkling of cheddar over each pizza completes her preparation. The pizzas are cooked for approximately 20 minutes in the oven at GM6. Yum! The bases are really good and cooked properly throughout, no soggy bits in the middle like in some pizzerias. The pizzas are delicious and I'm looking forward to them on my next visit. Thanks mum :)

If you would like to try my mum's healthy pizza recipe, here are the ingredients:

- Pizza base mix (she used Tesco's)
- Jamie Oliver's Spicy Olive, Garlic and Tomato Pasta Sauce
- Selection of veggies (she used mushrooms, peas and peppers)
- Chopped onion
- Chopped garlic
- Oil for stir-frying the veggies
- Pepperami
- Cooked bacon, sliced
- Grated cheese

Bella!

And for dessert...

A Taste of Buenos Aires in Hackney!

It was about time for a steak dinner. The last time I'd had a decent steak dinner it had been at Le Relaise de Venise in Marylebone several months earlier where they only serve Steak Frites, but it's bloody good steak frites! It was steak time again and off to Buen Ayre we headed. The restaurant is located in the very trendy area of Hackney in Broadway Market and this is reflected in its decor. The exterior just as casually put together as the interior. Chunky wooden tables and chairs fill a small but warm and lively room, the centre piece being a fiery barbeque grill and its keeper. The menu is extensive and embodies all that is tasty about argentinien cuisine. Argentina being famed for it's beef and red wine meant that my expectations and hopes for this place were going to be sky high. The chef, John Patrick Rattagan hails from Buenos Aires and has brought the celebrated argentinian pastime of "asado", or barbeque, to London. A lot was resting on this.

I love the contrast in this restaurant, the delightfully unfancy decorations with a minimalist supply of artwork for sale across the walls totally differs from the numerous and extravagant meaty options available. Sandwiches and light snacks are available for approximately £4-9 each but why fill up on that when you can eat STEAK! The platos principales include all known pieces of cow available to mankind that can be placed on a grill. From sirloin to fillet, from rib-eye to rump and from flank to a variety of sausages, all served with a accompanying sauce and garnish. Meals for sharing (minimum 2 persons) are also available and prove popular probably due to the novelty of having a mini grill brought to the table ladden with steaks, sausages, black pudding and provolone cheese.

We nibbled on fresh ciabatta bread and luxurious stilton butter while perusing the extensive menu. I opted for the fillet steak, rare. I love rare meat and I tend not to have sauce as I prefer to be able to taste the meat and the different flavours and textures that comes with different cuts. The fillet steak arrived and it was beautiful. It was at least 2 inches thick and placed in the middle of my plate, after-all it was the focal point of the meal. A small garnish of salad and roasted peppers to the side of it. Chips were also ordered to share and I kept my portion for dipping into the left-over juices after I'd finished the steak. I cut into it and it was perfectly rare, just how I liked it. However other's were not as impressed with the cooking of their steaks as mediums had arrived medium rare and well-dones had arrived medium. I was just lucky I guess. The meat was soft and sliced like butter and I enjoyed every bite. There was infact no need for the garnish as for me the dish was all about the steak. The sauce was a light garlic and herb oil which I tried and decided I didn't need.

The meal wasn't cheap but it was good value, especially for what we had which included bread and stilton butter, wine, chips and steaks. It was approximately £30 a head. The service was good and considering the large size of our group, it was quick! The staff are very attentive and will explain all cuts of meats to you if you get stuck. I also found them very accommodation as they let me barge into their grilling area for photos.

The Search For Pancakes In The Not-So-American American Diner...

I had a craving for pancakes. Pancakes with maple syrup. Pancakes with salty bacon. Pancakes with sweet blueberries. Whatever they were, I wanted them. Only having pancakes would sort this craving out...obviously. The kind of pancakes I would be expecting would have to live up to the same standards of those had across the pond in the United States. American Pancakes...the Beyoncé of pancakes...The research was done, the venue was chosen and off we set. The venue of choice was Jack's in Lavender Hill, Clapham Junction. This is the sister restaurant to the original Jack's Cafe at Queens Park. The cuisine ticked all the boxes of Americana with stereotypically perfect words such as 'bottomless coffee' and 'peanut butter' splattered all over the menu. I had high expectations.

To be honest I must have walked past this place a gazillion times and just never noticed it. But saying that I'm not that observant when it comes to places I don't visit on a daily basis, to the point where I'd probably miss the pink elephant in the room - ven if it smacked me in the face with it's trunk. Anyhoo, the exterior is deceptive as it doesn't look all that big from the outside. However, step inside and the odd T shape is quite endearing. The long narrow passage passed the kitchen and till area is casually styled with chalk boards listing the daily specials. The chrome coffee pots and chequer board floor tiles give it that 50's diner edge as does the white wooden divider almost replicating the 'white picket fence' of the classic American Dream.

What confuses me though is the eating area.This place would have been so visually pure had it have had comfy booths. Sounds weird but that's what I associate with American eateries and that's what I wanted. However, I faced rather bland, cold, hard european mahogany tables and chairs. Each table with it's own bottle of brown sauce - not ketchup - as would also be expected. The second let-down was the music. I could hear the faint lyrics of Take That's 'Never Forget', shortly followed by 'It Only Takes A Minute Girl', when I realised this was probably the Take That album...Again it wasn't what I had expected. What would have been better would have been some sort of mix-tape of American music such as a bit of Elvis or a bit of country etc. The third let-down was the staff. Not that the staff were rude or unattentive because they weren't, in fact they were great and kept my bottomless coffee cup constantly full. However, upon being handed the menu and hearing "Vat vud zu likkkkkke to dvink?" in a thick eastern european accent ruined the whole atmosphere for me.

The menu is brilliant. It includes the All-Day Breakfasts which can be both British and American style and all come with the infamous bottomless cups of tea or coffee. They also have a DIY option if you're fussy. The sandwiches include big and bold American ingredients such as swiss cheese and turkey or beef and all come with crisps and pickle. Despite the fact that I was there for one thing and one thing only I couldn't resist ordering something that had caught my eye...'The Yankee Doodle Dandy', an all day breakfast comprising of 2 American pancakes, 2 french toast, 2 pieces of bacon, a sausage, 2 eggs (cooked to any preference) and served with organic maple syrup. Heaven. I chose an accompanying bottomless cup of coffee and felt like quite the New Yorker...until I heard 'A Million Love Songs' in the background.

My hefty brunch arrived speedily, a little too speedily for my liking. As it turned out my suspicions at the hasty completion of my brunch were confirmed by the fact that I had packaged pancakes on my plates. Packaged Pancakes! Not impressed. The American Dream was over, it had died a slow and drawn out death in Jack's. The french toast, bacon and sausage had all clearly been made beforehand and warmed up judging by the hardness of each item. The only freshly made object on my plate was the scrambled egg. I hope. Sorrow. I felt conned. So I did what any disappointed person would do in that situation, I picked up the maple syrup and poured it all over the plate. Then I ate. Maple syrup has ketchup-like properties in that it can make anything, ANYTHING, taste good.

The bill was settled and off we went. All my hopes of having light and fluffy American pancakes with sweet blueberries and salty bacon were over. Jack's is a pleasant place but it will let you down if you enter it with high expectations of typical American cuisine. Leave those expectations at the door. It masquerades itself as a diner but sadly a number of factors let it down and it resembles more of cleaned up greasy spoon than the American eatery it is trying to portray.

The Search for pancakes continues...