Category: Rankings

Ultimate 2019: The eating, cooking, and food experiences that made my year

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It’s been the year of the plant-based, Netflix’s Street Food sensation and the cancelling of Deliveroo for all eternity (at least on my part). But on a more personal level, it’s been a year of progression and big changes, and many of those can be linked to this very blog here.

I’ve managed to break down 12 months of memories, breakthroughs and generally excellent food into 20 highlights, so without further ado, here are the dishes and food experiences that have made my year.

1. Making fresh pasta

Thanks to inspiration from Gino D’Campo’s Gino’s Pasta, I ended up buying an inexpensive pasta machine from Amazon, not really expecting very impressive results. Admittedly, I have only used it twice, but the two dishes I managed to whip up have automatically made it worth the money.

I first tried Gino’s Ham and Ricotta Stuffed Pasta with Chorizo. It’s surprising how easy the pasta sheets are to make – literally just flour and egg, mixed together into your dough and then fed into the machine, ready to be flattened into usable sheets.

One of the first things I’ve noticed on both occasions is that once you boil the pasta, it becomes very slimy – I don’t know whether this is a tell-tale sign of it being fresh, and therefore a satisfying texture, or just an indication that I haven’t quite perfected it yet. Either way this dish was very tasty, and simple; the most difficult part probably trying to seal the little parcels without them flipping back open to reveal the filling inside.

My second pasta attempt (also Gino) was his spinach and ricotta cannelloni, so a slightly different venture to the parcels. In one sense this is even more straightforward, as the pasta sheets don’t need to be cut into shapes, just rolled up, but I’m still unsure as to how the rolling up and sealing of the cannelloni works, and so, although it didn’t affect the flavour, I ended up with about 38585 excess rolls on each pasta tube. Still delicious though with a simple passata tomato sauce.

2. Loaded Fries

How many times do I have to mention it? Potatoes are my least favourite carb. However, add a ton of mouth-watering toppings to a big tray of fries, and I’m sold. Loaded fries are becoming an increasingly extravagant dish, and so should probably only be indulged in once in a while, but I definitely have two highlights within this category.

The first were the beetroot fries from Seasoned, at Hatch in Manchester. Slightly less heavy on the toppings, these were incredibly striking what with the beetroot salt and creamy, beetrooty feta sauce. The flavour absolutely lived up to the appearance.

Secondly, and possibly the most unhealthy thing I’ve ever eaten was the New Yorker bucket from The Bucket List in Cromer, or Norwich where I tried them. The toppings seemed to be endless, from mozzarella balls, to bacon, to aioli to fried Brie (I think?) and plenty more, but these really were the definition of loaded fries. Interesting that neither of these highlights actually came from London – maybe the fry guys down here have a thing or two to learn.

3. My Mum’s Cooking

Very cringey but can’t be avoided. All I want to do when I go home is eat monkfish paella not paella risotto not risotto and slow cooked pork with everything on the side. No more needs to be said, I’ll just leave the photos here…

4. Annie’s Burger Shack

There’s not a huge amount on the food scene that Nottingham (my hometown) is known for, but one that cannot be missed, and that I only just tried for the first time earlier this year is Annie’s Burger Shack. The menu is incredible. It’s not the burger patties, or the buns that are mindblowing, but instead the incredible combinations of toppings and fillings that make these way more than your standard burger. I’m still desperate to try the Roast Dinner Burger featuring an actual Yorkshire pudding in/on the burger (and literally every single other one on the menu), but for the time being I’ll leave you with The Johnny Vegas Burger, that I devoured on my first visit: crispy bacon, toffee apple butter, black pudding, chilli jam an a mini Guinness jelly doughnut on a stick on top. It’s mad, but that’s the point.

5. Chalida Invite

I don’t really get many invites due to my Instagram engagement being so low, although this isn’t an issue as I’m always happy to pay for food I really want to try. Having said that, being invited to new Thai restaurant Chalida in Chinatown, Leicester Square was an amazing night this year. My friend and I indulged in the biggest thai feast, and the food was wonderful. My highlights of the meal included the Beef Massaman Curry and the Chilli Aubergine. It’s definitely worth a visit.

6. Baking!

It’s not that I’ve never baked before, it’s just that this year, I suddenly realised how much joy it brought me, and has consistently acted as a kind of therapy. When I’m in the kitchen I literally think of nothing else other than when it need to turn down the heat, or what seasoning I’m going to add. I still have kitchen disasters, but this year I’ve impressed myself with some of the outcomes of my baking. Here are a few favourites:

7. Italian pasta, and watching the svogline at work

The tortellini I had in Bologna (the best place in the world to try it) was sensational. One of the nicest things I’ve ever tasted, and as well as tasting it, I got to watch the experts at work. During the city food tour I went on, we went to watch the svogline (ladies who make the pasta), and it was incredible how quickly and precisely they worked, especially when making such tiny parcels. Obviously we got to sample their work afterwards with a glass of wine, and I didn’t mind that too much either.

8. Meeting Nadiya

If you didn’t already know that I met Nadiya Hussain (most wonderful bake off winner in the history of the world, soon to be MBE, and all-round inspirational powerhouse of a woman), then you’ve been hiding under a rock. Yes I embarrassed myself by getting all snotty and cringey and sobby, but hearing her speak about her life experiences live, in person, was really fantastic, and she is as beautiful as she is articulate and kind.

9. Maturing Taste Buds

Surprisingly I used to be an incredibly fussy eater when I was younger – I didn’t like the most standard things, like pasta, or Yorkshire puddings, or even cheesecake and doughnuts (I semi wish that were still the case lol). Over time, I’ve learned that actually I do like most of these things, and this year in particular I’ve been really open-minded in terms of still trying foods and flavours that I mentally perceive to be ‘not to my taste’. One of the most significant food groups is nuts. I’ve always hated the woody, dull flavours but now I’ll gladly throw them into my cooking and baking. I’ll put peanut butter in my curries, almonds in my porridge and even chuck some hazelnuts in with my broccoli! Raw tomatoes are also becoming slightly more palatable to me, so maybe 2020’s challenge will have to be cucumbers (vom, or maybe not).

10. Forman and Field

I love seeing where the food I eat comes from – admittedly some of those places would probably shock, and maybe even disgust me, but in this case, visiting Forman and Field’s smoked salmon factory was fantastic. From the enthusiasm and passion of those behind the family-run business, to the quality of the food they produce and serve, it was a wonderful day, and really interesting to see the whole process, from the salmon arriving into the factory, whole, to it leaving in neat little packages.

11. My First Roast Dinner Cooking Experience

On one of those lovely bank holidays earlier this year, my flatmates and I decided to attempt a roast dinner. About time seeing as I’ve never actually tried to cook one before. We were able to sit outside on our lovely patio in the sun with a bottle of wine, and thankfully the food turned out equally as well. The roast chicken was tasty and perfectly-cooked, the Yorkshires were slightly cake-like but still delicious, and accompanied by roast potatoes, parsnips, veg, gravy and stuffing, it really was a very satisfying feast, particularly as we’d cooked it all up ourselves.

12. Reading About Food

Not only do I love eating, cooking and writing about food, but I also appreciate reading about it and learning from that too. I currently have a huge list of food-related books on Amazon that I want to try and get through this year, some of which I stumbled across myself, some were recommended by Felicity Cloake at her Food Writing Guardian Masterclass, and others I took note of in the bookshop at KERB Seven Dials Food Hall. Speaking of Felicity Cloake, her book ‘One More Croissant for the Road’, about her combined cycling/food-sampling tour of France was one of my favourites. I wish there was more decent food-travel writing out there. I also enjoyed reading more scientifically about food and nutrition, although this can be quite dodgy ground as there are always people willing to use ‘scientific evidence’ to make bullshit scaremongering claims. Despite that, I really enjoyed ‘Is Butter a Carb?’, which approaches the nutrition side of things in a very matter-of-fact way without preaching about lifestyle choices.

13. Toffee Popcorn Pie – A Pie Party

You should know by now how much I love A Pie Party, and cannot wait for Claire’s new range in the New Year, but this special has honestly never left my mind. An absolute flavour/textural highlight on the food front this year.

14. Energy Balls

Thanks to Emma Hollingsworths, I discovered these super simple, easy to make, and incredibly tasty vegan snack balls. There are so many different variations I want to try, and so one of my New Year’s challenges will be to adapt a few recipes for these of my own. A perfect lunchbox snack.

15. Max’s Sandwich Shop

The first sandwich I tried from Max’s was life changing. The Ham, Eggs and Chips Sandwich (below) is the best sandwich I’ve ever had, but it’s not only been devouring his sandwiches from the shop that I’ve loved. I also bought his recipe book, giving you all the recipes for his best-loved sandwiches and fillings plus plenty more. The reviews for this on Amazon are hilarious and just go to show how many morons there are in the world, but I can tell you the focaccia recipe is fantastically foolproof. In case you needed further proof that this book is worth buying for any sandwich fiends, here’s my attempt at his Spaniard Sandwich, with everything made from scratch (to the left).

16. Ainsley

Before this year, when I thought of Ainsley Harriott, all that appeared in my mind were images of him in Ready Steady Cook that was constantly on when I got home from primary school when I was little. Now, however, I’m not listening to him in the background whilst playing with Bratz dolls, I’m following his amazing recipes and whipping up some wonderful meals. Ainsley’s Caribbean Kitchen is one of my favourite recipe books ever, and below are a few of the meals I’ve made so far.

17. Plant-based

My one week a month of veganism is going really well, and I plan on keeping it up forever. Rachel Ama has been a huge help on this journey with her interesting, original recipes, including the French toast and oyster mushroom jerk tacos below. In terms of eating out, my vegan highlights are the Cheezeburger burrito from Club Mexicana, the Seitan wings from Temple of Seitan, and the Philly Cheezesteak Sandwich from Jake’s Vegan Steaks.

18. Paella

One of the most exciting and successful meals that I made this year. I’ve always loved paella since I was very young, despite as I mentioned before the fact that I was very fussy. For some reason I didn’t like normal rice, but I did claim to like ‘yellow rice’ (saffron-infused paella rice). I wish I’d had more seafood in this paella but it still tasted beautiful. Look out for round 2 in 2020, which will be accompanied by my recipe for it.

19. Gadgets

I invested in some fantastic kitchen gadgets this year. From a new non-stick frying pan, to a slow cooker and egg wash brush, I’m acquiring quite a collection. The poached egg pockets I got from my Brunch Fest goody bag worked really well, and so if you struggle to contain your poached eggs to a presentable form, these pouches are perfect for a rounder, cleaner finish. I’ve also already used the multipurpose food processor that I got for Christmas, and it’s been amazing for the pastes I make from herbs, spices and veg to enhance the flavour of my dishes.

20. ¡Comemos!

Had to save this one until last of course. It’s been a year of ups and downs, but this blog has given me real focus. I’m proud of the work I’ve produced, and hope that there are at least a few decent reads on here. ¡Comemos! really is in its infancy right now, and so I’m looking forward to seeing what new material I have to work with in the New Year, and where I can take my love of food writing.

I hope your year has been equally as fruitful, and that 2020 is another year of progression, and growth.

Here’s to the little things that make us happy, and the dedicated work required to reap such rewards.

Happy New Year,

¡Comemos!

xo

Ultimate Recipes

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Hello. I currently feel like a big bag of poo and can barely motivate myself to write, but if I continue to lie here watching Netflix all afternoon/evening hoping my illness will disappear I am going to go mad. If the poo reference hasn’t put you off, please continue to read.

This is the second post in my ‘ultimate’ series, bringing you my top recommendations. This time things are a little bit different – we’re not talking dining out, but rather cooking at home.

Home cooking can be daunting – potentially time-consuming, requiring a load of obscure ingredients, and with a risk that it might not go to plan at all. But don’t let that put you off! It can also be massively rewarding, and I’m giving you a head start in providing a solid set of recipes that have worked a treat for me, leaving you with delicious and creative meals to dish up to your friends and family.

Just a little note on the ‘Effort Level’ section. This is based more so on how long it takes to make and many elements and/or techniques are involved. Just because something is high in effort, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s difficult to make, only that you might need a bit more patience!

We’ll start with my favourite breakfast and brunch recipes…

7. Cauliflower Hash and Eggs

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in ‘Time to Eat’

Effort level: Medium

Dietary info: Vegetarian (contains eggs)

This one was a big surprise for me. I find it quite difficult to make something cauliflower-based that I enjoy, but this grated cauliflower hash was actually so tasty, what with all the flavour from the chilli and chives. The fried egg isn’t supposed to leak like this but overall I think my attempt looks pretty impressive, so if you want something filling and can be bothered to go wild with a grater then defo have a go at this.

6. Granola

Recipe by: Rachel Ama in ‘Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats’

Effort level: Easy

Dietary info: Vegan (contains nuts)

You might find yourself thinking, ‘why would I make granola when I can just buy it?’ But personally I found it really satisfying knowing exactly what had gone into it. You can customise with any additional dried fruits etc, and I also enjoyed junking it up a bit by adding the vegan cookie dough from Doughnut Time’s Ice Ice Bae Bae doughnut in there too.

5. Cheese, Chorizo and Spring Onion Pancakes

Recipe by: Ottolenghi @ https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/cheese-chorizo-and-spring-onion-pancakes

Effort Level: Easy

Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs, dairy

Sometimes I’m in the mood for a savoury pancake more so than sweet. This one was more like the size of a crepe but with the density of an american pancake and so one was plenty enough for lunch. Again, you can customise the toppings, so along with the chorizo and spring onion, I had some manchego that needed using up so I dropped that into the batter as it was cooking so that it melted into the pancake. Only downside then is that when you flip the pancake the melted cheese sort of sticks to the bottom of the pan. But it still worked and most of it stayed within the pancake.

4. Sweet Potato Cakes with Poached Eggs

Recipe by Kyle Boyce (London Grind), available from BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Vegetarian (contains eggs)

Like with the Cauliflower Hash, this one is slightly more effort just because of all the gratey-gratey but it is worth those extra few minutes of prep time. The result ends up being a crunchy delight, topped with a (hopefully) gooey-yolked poached egg. Bursting with flavour.

3. Sausage and Egg Bap with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Recipe by: BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains pork, eggs

One of my absolute favourites. I actually attempted to make the white baps as well but I won’t necessary include that in my analysis of the recipe as they were way too stodgy and hard, but following the recipe and using shop-bought rolls would work perfectly. The sausage patty was delicious, my fried egg perched beautifully on top, and the spicy tomato sauce brought everything together. This is very easy to make, I’ve just given it a medium effort level due to the different aspects that you have to work on separately. You could go wild and add bacon too for the Full English experience.

2. Cinnamon French Toast Drizzled in Chocolate

Recipe by: Rachel Ama in Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats

Effort Level: Easy/Medium

Dietary Info: VEGAN!!

Vegan French toast is the most exciting discovery I have made recently. I won’t spend too long talking about this one as I mentioned it in my last post (Meat Me Halfway: Week 2). You do not need eggs at all to create the mixture to coat your bread, and this one was really delicious, although I fucked up the chocolate a bit and it wasn’t supposed to be quite so runny.

1.Semolina Halva with Cheat’s Paratha

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains ghee, nuts

This is my ultimate breakfast/brunch recipe. Well, not my recipe sadly, but my favourite recipe to follow. I had no idea what this even was when I got this recipe book but thought I’d be a bit adventurous and try it out anyway. I perhaps wasn’t as open-minded back then because I wasn’t massively optimistic about liking it. But let me tell you, this is beautiful. The buttery, orange flavour with the crunch of the nuts and slight sweetness from the dried fruit; not to mention the ‘parathas’, which in this case are literally just balls of puff pastry rolled and flat and dry-fried. They end up warm and slightly spongy, and then you can pile the semolina on top, or even indulge in them taco-style if you’re an animal like me.

Next up let’s have a look at lunch and dinner. I split up the categories in this way because I couldn’t decide what exactly constitutes lunch, and what would be classed more as dinner, so this seemed more logical.

15. Butternut Pasta Soup

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain, in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: High

Dietary Info: Vegan

I never used to be a fan of soup, not really classing it as a proper meal but I’ve made some really tasty ones in the past year or so. I’m always in two minds about these kinds of ‘pasta’ soups. I’ve tried a few and for me personally I don’t think the orzo or whatever pasta shape it is enhances the dish in anyway – I either want pasta or soup, not an odd combination of the two. But whether you add the orzo or not, this is a delicious soup, managing to be super creamy without the addition of cream itself. The chipotle flakes add a warming kick, making it perfect for these long winter nights.

14. Canneloni Filled with Spinach and Ricotta

Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta

Effort Level: High

Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy

Making your own pasta is a bit of a ballache but it is really rewarding, knowing you’ve made every element of the dish yourself. It’s not actually difficult, mainly just mixing your egg and flour to make the dough but then obviously it does require a pasta machine to create the sheets (they’re not particularly expensive). The béchamel with the passata, and ricotta filling makes this stuffed pasta dish super indulgent but the flavours go way beyond tomato and cheese.

13. Blender Beetroot

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time To Eat

Effort Level: Low

Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy

This is honestly one of the quickest and easiest things to make, requiring so few ingredients. Once the beetroot has been blended, your sauce is sorted. When added to the pasta, everything turns a beautiful deep purply pink. Top that off with feta and dill and you’re good to go.

12. Bhel Puri Salad

Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG

Effort Level: Low

Dietary Info: Vegan

Salads are generally dead. So uninspiring, leaf upon leaf of bland rabbit-food textures. HOWEVER, just look at this one. I was shocked. This salad is so delicious, and yes that’s partly because instead of leaves there are poppadoms and Bombay Mix but it’s still mostly comprised of radish, tomato and onion so is still pretty healthy. I loved the crunch, it was incredibly refreshing and so vibrant with all the colours.

11. One Tray Peanut Chicken

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time To Eat

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains nuts, meat

One that worked a treat for my packed lunches at work, just as tasty cold. The combination of the peanut butter with the thai green curry paste is delicious, and the broccoli, gnocchi and chicken make a really interesting combination. It’s not difficult to make as you can just chuck everything in a baking dish together but it does require a fair few ingredients.

10. Amazing Tomato Curry

Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts

I made this just last night, using a load of cherry tomatoes rather than larger whole tomatoes as recommended. This is super creamy, and one of my favourite things is the interesting addition of mango chutney to the actual curry towards the end of its cooking time. This adds a lovely sweetness that is normally reserved for dipping. Serve with rice (or as I did, Nadiya Hussain’s Masala Eggy Bread).

9. Shell Pasta with Prawns and Saffron

Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains shellfish, dairy

A deliciously creamy-below-the-surface béchamel pasta, with a crispy top after being grilled before serving. Always slightly more effort to make a béchamel sauce rather than using a tinned tomato sauce or jarred pesto, but worth it ultimately, and the fact that this is pretty quick to make overall compensates for this tiny bit of effort.

8. Rigatoni with Soft Cheese and Pecorino Sardo

Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta

Effort Level: Easy AF

Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy

Another Gino one right here, and one that I avoided making for ages because there was no photo in the book (anyone else also tend to neglect these recipes??) but when I eventually got round to it, it tasted beautiful despite being so so simple. Again, it’s super creamy, but without having to make a béchamel – this one is just butter, cream cheese and milk. Ironically I don’t have a photo of my finished thing either, probably because it looked so uninspiring with no colourful elements to brighten it up, but trust me when I say the flavour was surprisingly good.

7. Samosa Pie

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: High

Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs

When this recipe actually worked out for me I was over the moon. Anything that involved me making my own pastry from scratch, I was sure would be a complete disaster but just look at it! The hot water pastry was actually very simple to make, and the samosa filling tasted so authentic. 100% recommend this recipe if you’ve got a load of people to impress!

6. Green Spinach and Lemon Risotto with Crispy Prosciutto

Recipe by: Rosie Birkett via BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains pork, dairy

Risotto is slightly more time-consuming to make, constantly topping up the stock until the rice is plumped up and creamy, but this recipe is worth it. The blended spinach gives it a beautiful colour and the crispy prosciutto on top adds some variation texture-wise.

5. Stuffed Curried Aubergines

Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts

Aubergines can be dry and tasteless if you don’t cook them well, but add a delicious curry paste with a whole load of spices, sandwich it inside the aubergine and roast, and you end up with a soft, creamy, dreamy vegetable. I paired this curry with Rachel Ama’s coconut rice rather than plain boiled.

4. Prawn and Salmon Burgers with Spicy Mayo

Recipe by: Elena Silcock via BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Contains shellfish, eggs

The first time I had a salmon burger was at an amazing restaurant in Lisbon, and for some reason, I remember wondering how on earth they made them, as if making a burger out of fish would be the most complex thing in the world. It’s actually not. This burger has so much flavour, the spicy mayo is a beautiful addition, and providing you’re not attempting the buns yourself, is actually pretty straightforward to make.

3. Roast Leg of Lamb with Basil and Mint Pesto

Recipe by: James Martin via BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: meaty meat meat meat (also contains nuts)

Cooking whole joints of meat can be quite daunting. I’ve only started trying it recently, and I have had a couple of disasters. But this lamb turned out beautifully – tender and almost creamy, and the pesto sauce is something different to traditional roast lamb with just a blob of mint sauce on the side. You’ll have to excuse the odd combination of sides on the plate below – I wouldn’t serve this odd combo up to anyone else but I was just trying a few recipes at the same time. I froze the leftover lamb and had it in a few other meals later down the line, including Greek Lamb with Orzo, and a Harissa Lamb Pie and the meat was still delicious in both.

2. Beef Burgers with Bacon Jam

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: All the meat, plus eggs

Another burger recipe here, and one that I adored. I used blue cheese instead of whatever cheese was in the recipe but other than that I think I followed it pretty accurately. I’ve come to love the idea of a fried egg to top a burger, and the bacon jam was also super tasty, despite my scepticism reading the instruction to add coffee powder…

1.Meatloaf Roll

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs

So this is it. One of my absolute favourite lunch/dinner recipes. I’ve made this a couple of times now and anyone who’s tried it has really enjoyed it. It is slightly more effort what with all the elements you have to combine, but at least there’s no expectation for you to make your own puff pastry. Fuck that. Also, any marmite haters should ignore the fact that diluted marmite coats the pastry in between the crust and the sausage meat centre, because I don’t like marmite, but actually the very tiny amount adds a deliciously subtle sweetness when you bite into it. The eggs lined up in the centre make for a super satisfying sight when you cut through the roll. Such an interesting meal, and one that won’t disappoint on flavours.

Exciting section coming up. This one is all about the desserts (dancing lady emoji). So there are actually only 3 in this section, and they are all Nadiya recipes, in case you hadn’t already noticed how much I love her.

3.Gingerbread Melt in the Middles

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains dairy

In third place, we have these little gingerbread cookie cups filled with a melted chocolate centre. This is another recipe that didn’t come with a picture, and when I started trying it I don’t think I’d actually read the recipe through beforehand so didn’t really have any idea what I was making. These turned out such a treat though. Cooked through, the biscuit cup is buttery and delicious and then cutting into it, the melted chocolate centre oozes out. I served this with Nadiya’s Cardamom Ice Cream that she makes alongside her Banana Tarte Tatin (a recipe that actually failed for me lol).

2. Burnt Almond Butter Fudge

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Contains dairy and nuts

I’d never realised fudge was this straightforward to make. It is slightly disconcerting when you realise as you’re making it that it’s pretty much pure sugar, but the flavour is stunning. This one had the most incredible smooth, creamy texture. I’m never a fan of the kind of fudge you have to sort of scrape bits off with your teeth rather than being able to bite straight into it (reminds me particularly of shitty cinema pick & mix fudge…). The almond flavour was lovely, and it’s given me the confidence to try making my own flavour variations of fudge using this recipe as the base.

1.Choco Lime Roulade

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: Contains dairy, eggs

This is my favourite dessert recipe. Often my favourite recipes end up being unexpected ones, or basically the ones that I think are going to be a disaster, and actually turn out to be pretty impressive. I 100% assumed this sponge would break up as soon as I rolled it, but it didn’t at all. I found the chocolate/lime flavour combination really interesting and unusual and I would definitely serve this up to guests again!

We’re nearing the end and it’s my final section – snacks and sides. Either dishes that you could eat alone when you’re peckish mid-afternoon, or that you could combine with the above recipes.

4. Banana Honey and Hazelnut Smoothie

Recipe by: BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Low

Dietary Info: Contains nuts, dairy

In fourth place is actually a drink/smoothie, but one that is a great breakfast addition. The honey stops the banana flavour from being overwhelming and the little chopped hazelnuts on top add a lovely little crunch. You could always use soy milk as I did to make it dairy-free.

3. Chunky Halloumi Chips

Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites

Effort Level: Low/Medium

Dietary Info: Contains dairy, eggs

Who doesn’t love halloumi. Especially halloumi that’s fried. These squeaky cheese chips are delicious, with the saltiness of the halloumi and the added chilli and za’atar for a spike of flavour. If you want to be particularly indulgent, wrap these in prosciutto before frying.

2. Naan Bread

Recipe by: Miriam Nice via BBC Good Food

Effort Level: Medium

Dietary Info: Contains dairy

Another recipe where the result shocked me. I couldn’t believe how perfect this naan was. From the teardrop shape, to the soft, spongy texture, to the pronounced flavour from the Nigella seeds. Despite learning in India that this kind of naan we’re used to having here doesn’t actually exist there (no teardrop shape, more just like a big, circular, flat and less spongy flatbread), this still was incredibly satisfying to produce and looked shop-bought in a good way. Dipping this into my soups and curries was heavenly. Also freezes well.

1.PBJ Balls

Recipe by: Mrs Hollingsworth at https://mrshollingsworths.com/2019/06/23/pb-j-balls/

Effort Level: Medium/High

Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts

So I already raved about these in my last vegan blog so I don’t want to repeat myself other than saying these were insanely delicious. You don’t have to make the chia jam yourself if that’s too much effort, using shop bought is fine. Head to the website in the link above for a huge number of other variations of these little energy balls, all of which I want to get round to trying at some point!

And there’s my full round-up of the best recipes I’ve tried in the past year or so. The above have all produced fantastic results for me so I definitely recommend trying some of them out. I think the majority of them can be found online, although it’s always worth investing in a few solid recipe books if you’re looking for inspiration.

If you end up trying any of these, I’d love to see the results, so tag me on Instagram @foodtravelsldn so I can check them out!

And…

¡Cocinamos!

(Google it hun xo)

Ultimate Street Food

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The ‘Rankings’ heading has been floating around on my blog ever since I started it a few months ago, but until now hasn’t actually featured any writing.

The idea of ‘Rankings’ is that I group together my favourite dishes in a range of categories, ie, ultimate cake, ultimate chicken burgers etc etc.

Obviously it takes me a while to have tried enough of any one kind of dish to establish a solid top 10 or so, hence why it has remained blank for all this time.

But now I’m ready with my first in the ‘Ultimate’ series, and it’s my absolute favourite category – Street Food. Now what I mean by street food in this context is anything I’ve had literally in the street, at a food market/food truck, or even a food hall where the trader wouldn’t necessarily be considered a restaurant, but more like a small pop-up style eatery (think London’s Seven Dials/Market Halls etc).

This list is in no particular order – it’s hard enough whittling it down to a top 10 (or 15 in this case) let alone then having to decide which ranks as the absolute best of them all.

You’ll find their Instagram handle in brackets – do check out their amazing social media content to see more of what they do best!

So enough of the rambling, here are my favourite street food eats…

The Athenian (@theathenianuk)

Location: Boxpark Shoreditch

Cuisine: Greek

Dish: Lamb Gyro with Halloumi Fries

I’ve tried a few Greek places in and around London and The Athenian has to be my favourite. Their Gyros (finally worked out it’s pronounced ‘yeeros’) are second to none, and are absolutely packed with all the essentials i.e. meat (lamb in my case), chips, halloumi and salad. The pitta wrap was super soft and the halloumi fries on the side were delicious with a creamy, slightly sweet salad cream style sauce. An absolute winner.

Kottu Lanka (@kottulanka)

Location: Victoria Park Market

Cuisine: Sri Lankan

Dish: Mutton Curry

This was one of the first street food dishes I tried after moving to London and I was blown away. Rarely for me, I hadn’t had a look to see what traders would be at the market and so hadn’t decided in advance what I wanted to try. I think it was the idea of Sri Lankan food that intrigued me in the end – I’m always interested in trying new cuisines that I don’t know much about. I had their mutton curry and it’s difficult to put into words how much I loved it (to be honest if I had ranked these in order starting with the best, this may just be Number 1). The photo really doesn’t do it justice, but the meat was incredibly tender, the sauce on top was beautiful, and I loved the fact that there wasn’t a heavy curry sauce; the flavour just came from the spices and the way everything had reduced down and infused with the meat.

A Pie Party (@apieparty)

Location: Victoria Park Market/Greenwich Market/Canopy Market

Cuisine: Desserts

Dish: Toffee Popcorn Pie

I won’t say too much on this one as my last blog post was entirely dedicated to this amazing business, but as a reminder, my highlight is 100% the Toffee Popcorn Pie with its indulgent blondie-style base and sticky, sweet popcorn topping. A Pie Party is unique on this list, as an original and exciting dessert street food stall. The menu is regularly switched up, meaning there’s always something new to try, and you won’t see any pies like this elsewhere in London (or the country for that matter!).

The Mac Factory (@themacfactorylondon)

Location: Camden Market

Cuisine: Mac and Cheese

Dish: Pesto Mac and Cheese

Okay, so ‘Mac and Cheese’ is not typically considered a ‘cuisine’ in itself (lol) but the heading ‘cuisine’ sounds better than ‘type of food’ etc, so we’ll stick with that. The Mac Factory’s mac and cheese is my favourite that I’ve had so far and I’ve tried quite a few. They have lots of exciting combinations and toppings, making it quite difficult to choose but I went for the Pesto Mac and Cheese in the end. It was so creamy with salty pesto, and mozzarella balls to top it off. It’s as appealing visually as it is flavoursome.

Rice Brother (@ricebrotherlondon)

Location: Spitalfields Market

Cuisine: Chinese/Asian Fusion

Dish: Char Siu Rice Roll

I’d been on the hunt for sushi burritos for a while, and was struggling to find a mainstream option within London’s food markets. This isn’t technically a sushi burrito, as the recipes and ingredients are Chinese-inspired rather than Japanese, but it’s a similar concept, using sticky rice and nori (I think?) to fill out the roll and hold everything together. The Char Siu Roll had so much flavour – the meat was delicious and with the gelatinous rice, worked as a really filling, but not overly-heavy lunch, not to mention they’re super colourful.

2 Lads Kitchen (@2ladskitchen)

Location: KERB King’s Cross (and various other locations)

Cuisine: Afghan

Dish: Chicken Flatbread Wrap

Much like my experience at Kottu Lanka, it was the idea of Afghan cuisine that drew me in, having no idea what that really meant. As I approached the stall, the smell of the grilled meat wafting towards me was incredible. My first bite of the wrap consisted of literally just the flatbread, but even that in itself had so much flavour. After that, it was absolutely packed with chicken, a small amount of relish and lots of hot, spicy sauce (although you don’t have to have it so hot!).

OINK (@oinklondon)

Location: Various (I went to City Point)

Cuisine: Pork Burgers

Dish: Notorious P.I.G and Pepper Pig

Notorious P.I.G

THE best burgers I’ve ever had. Genuinely. You know when you eat something so good, all you can do is close your eyes and savour that deliciousness, hoping that it’ll never end. The Notorious P.I.G consisted of bourbon glazed bacon, a pork patty, bacon chilli jam, mozzarella, bbq sauce and apple slaw. Dreamy. And the Pepper Pig, Sriracha streaky bacon, pork patty, Monterrey Jack cheese, jalapeño salsa and avocado mayo. I loved that these two burgers were very different, as I sometimes find with street food burger stalls that they have a few different burgers that look and taste pretty similar. Can’t recommend these guys enough – life-changing food.

The Bucket List (@chipbuckets)

Location: Various/Cromer (I ordered via Deliveroo in Norwich)

Cuisine: Loaded Chips

Dish: The New Yorker

One of my rare experiences of street food outside of London, this ironically became the complete opposite of street food when I ordered it via Deliveroo to my hotel room in Norwich. I didn’t have time to eat out properly when getting ready for an evening out, so basically went by how interesting the pictures and descriptions looked on Deliveroo (which I now am no longer using due to them being useless when my account got hacked and orders were placed using my money. They failed to delete my account on 3 occasions to prevent access and I’m still waiting for my refund but more on that fun story another time!!!).

This was the unhealthiest thing I’ve ever eaten and admittedly I did feel gross after, but it was so incredible that it was worth it. The New Yorker is a bucket of chips (very decent ones at that, with a crispy, crunchy exterior) topped with umm, everything. Chicken nuggets, gooey, fried Brie, cheese fondue, bacon, bbq sauce and aioli (garlic mayo). If you haven’t had a heart attack just reading that then, congratulations. I’m still salivating.

Bill or Beak (@billorbeak)

Location: Camden Market

Cuisine: Chicken Burgers

Dish: American Fried Chicken Burger

Still my favourite chicken burger that I’ve had in London, they do both grilled and fried options, in case you want something a tad ‘healthier’ lol… but when would I ever choose grilled over fried?? It looks a little squashed because I refused to eat it until I’d taken it on a 45 minute journey home but this didn’t affect the taste and it looked wonderful when I first got it. The chicken fillet was huge and with a super crunchy fried batter. It was very simple, with American style cheese, lettuce and crunchy pickles, but in this case simpler was better. Really impressed, and great service from these guys.

Truffle (@trufflelondon)

Location: Seven Dials Market

Cuisine: Truffle???

Dish: Beef Shin Croquettes

I did have a couple of lovely burgers from Truffle, but what really blew my mind were the Beef Shin Croquettes. These were insanely delicious, with shredded, stringy beef with a crunchy exterior. I don’t actually know what the dipping sauce was but it was beaaautiful. These were heavenly. And I don’t think I have anything else to add.

Hanok BBQ (@hanokbbq)

Location: Victoria Park Market

Cuisine: Korean BBQ

Dish: Korean Chicken and Beef BBQ Bowl

This was an unexpected one. Hanok BBQ had never really been on my ‘desperate to try’ list, but after seeing a few amazing looking photos I decided to give them a try. Everything about this dish exceeded my expectations. I absolutely love sticky rice and so anything sitting on a bed of it gets off to a great start. I decided to indulge in the best of both worlds with chicken and beef, and the meats were sticky, smoky and super flavoursome. The kimchi on the side added that burst of flavour, unique to Korean food, and the side sauce (why do I literally never know what the side sauce actually is???) was AMAZING. It was probably some kind of sriracha mayo, it had that kind of feel/flavour to it, but who knows?

Breadahead (@breadaheadbakery)

Location: Borough Market

Cuisine: Doughnuts

Dish: Salted Caramel Honeycomb Doughnut

I’m labelling this as street food based on the fact that I got it from a stall, in the street, at Borough Market. Breadahead’s doughnuts all have a very uniform look, and their signature trading point is the way they really focus on the actual bake of the doughnut. Their dough is not heavy and is super soft. The fillings are generous and the salted caramel was delicious. The only thing I would say was that the honeycomb genuinely nearly broke my teeth so I couldn’t eat it, but the actual doughnut itself was beautiful.

Motherflipper (@motherflipperuk)

Location: Victoria Park Market

Cuisine: Burgers

Dish: Breakfast Muffin

I think I’d been scarred for life by the Mcdonalds breakfast muffins, which despite all the hype, I thought were kind of gross, but the Motherflipper one looked so good I was willing to try it. I was really pleasantly surprised – delicious sausage patty, oozing cheese, slightly crispy bacon and the perfect fried egg with a gooey yolk. Definitely worth the calories.

Seasoned: Street Food (@seasonedstreetfood)

Location: Hatch, Manchester

Cuisine: Various

Dish: Beetroot and Feta Fries

Fries are never my favourite side. I often leave them out in favour of more exciting options such as croquettes, mac and cheese, things like that. But these fries just sounded incredible. I really love beetroot and so the idea of beetroot flavour fries was really intriguing. The portion was huge and even I couldn’t finish them, but the beetroot dust was delicious, they looked incredibly striking, and the feta sauce on top added a creaminess that enhanced the flavours and textures.

Tarricrii (@tarricrii)

Location: The Market @ University of Manchester (open to anyone – when I visited they were located at Hatch in Manchester)

Cuisine: Arancini

Dish: Butter and Ham Arancino

The best arancino I’ve ever had. You can see how cheesy the centre was, and the rice cooked through beautifully. Massively creamy with a thin, crunchy outer shell, not to mention the size of it! This is really huge and would be a good side to share between two (unless you’re me and you eat it all to yourself).

WILDCARD

I’m going to finish with a Wildcard option, which will be a regular feature of my ‘Rankings’ post. This will be something that doesn’t necessarily fit in with the other options for whatever reason, but absolutely still deserves a mention.

Sai Woo

Location: Jalan Aloor, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ciusine: Malaysian/Chinese

Dish: Singapore Vermicelli Noodles

My top 15 have all been within the UK, but the irony is that the majority of the street food we see in this country, is inspired by cuisines from elsewhere in the world. A highlight on my trip to Malaysia was eating the fantastic food on Jalan Aloor, a street full of amazing freshly-made street food. This is also another kind of cheat, as actually this place was more like a restaurant, with the food cooked inside and brought out to you. But I’m going to treat it as street food, as the street itself is full of small stalls cooking dishes before your very eyes, and the restaurants are not restaurants in the typical sense. We ate here 3 times in a row, each time the food was absolutely beautiful, but my favourite of the dishes was this Singapore noodle dish, which I often have when eating Chinese at home. Deliciously spiced with the addition of pork, egg and veg, this street, and restaurant in particular are definitely one to watch if you ever venture to this wonderful country.

So, my round-up is complete. No doubt that week by week I’ll be frustrated at all the amazing new street food I’ve eaten but that I can’t add to the list, all for it being too late, but who knows, I may do an updated version in a year or so’s time! Definitely check out these recommendations, even if you’re not someone who would typically try this eating-in-the-street street food malarkey. Casual dining is becoming huge so stay tuned for a further post in a few months focusing a bit more on some of London’s most popular food markets and halls, rather than the individual dishes.

In the meantime, hop on a bus/tube/bike and…

¡Comemos!

xo