Meringue with Blueberry Compote

Not much beats the simplicity of a meringue. If done right it can be truly delightful. If gone wrong though, ooff, do not eat. My mother makes them for christmas sometimes. Two massive meringues with strawberry and cream sandwhiched inbetween and smothered ontop. It has even been requested by family members.

Now, this is not such an outstanding piece, but it is tasty nonetheless. Beware though, don't attempt if you're in a hurry as it takes time and patience. It has some secrets to it so read along.

To patiently make this, you will need: 
300 g Caster Sugar
5 egg whites at room temp
lemon slice

100g blueberrys (can be frozen or not)
1-2 tblsp of caster sugar
squeeze of lemon juice

tip - you don't want any grease or oil to come into contact with the egg whites, so make sure you don't touch the egg whites (if shell falls in scoop it out with a metal spoon) and that is also what the lemon is for.

Let's bake!
1. preheat oven to 200ºC (if you want to caramelise the sugar, add it in for about 8 minutes)
2. rub the lemon slice around your bowl & whisk and then add the egg whites
3. begin whisking & when slightly foamy slowly add in the sugar at a higher speed.
4. whisk until the mixture holds a slight shape - test it by holding it upside down, it should't fall!
5. if you want to add in flavourings (nuts), this is the time! then line them with a spoon on baking paper
6. turn the oven settings to as low as possible and bang them it.

There we are! this could take 6 hours so don't wait around. Also leave the compote for when they are done. To make the compote simply add all ingredients in a pan and simmer for a few minutes until it resembles a jam of sorts.

tip - more of a fact really. What is happening is that the meringue is getting.. dehydrated. Which is why it takes so long to make and can't actually be rushed.

Once they are done leave to cool for a bit and then add the compote (from a distance if you want to do it Jamie Oliver style). They should be nice and crunchy outside and quite soft and smooth inside.

Recipe referenced from the Guardian

Food Corner

Yes yes, another Brixton post. and yes, of course it's about food. Now I know I've been a bad blogger and missing in action lately, blogging only once a week - which is dog year in the online world. I've just been so engulfed in work and Game of Thrones that my time just disappeared.

by the way, just finished season 1 of Game of Thrones so no one dare tell me what happens! How did I only start watching it now! I had not lived I tell ya.

ANYWAYS. Food Corner is a new project that helps develop the local businesses during the week whilst also allowing Brixtoners new options for a delicious lunch. So now not only is there the Brixton Road Community Market on Fridays and Saturdays, but also the Food Corner from Monday to Fridays (lucky Brixon folk!)

All the traders were chosen for their creativity, flavour, quality, and social responsibility. So how could I possibly not go when invited to the launch?!  

 Sara graciously agreed to come along - she is the whole reason I discovered Brixton as when she lived there I was ALWAYS at hers (now we live together elsewhere) - and we met up with the lovely Camilla who is the marketing coordinator for the market. She welcomed us and set us free to discover. Word of advice, walk along and sniff out all options before deciding, as they ALL look amazing!

Ahh Bunny Chow. I've told y'all about a bunny chow I've had before here, and no, it is not made from bunnys. It is a delicious artisan loaf filled with your desires - you can choose from chicken, mutton, beef, and veggies covered in a lip smacking sauce. legendary.

If you're in the mood for some Vietnamese, Hanoi Kitchen does delicious summer and spring rolls as well as hot pots of vermincelli noodles. I absolutely love vietnamese food, it takes me right back when I went there to visit my brother. I consider that the time in which I mastered the art of chopsticks.

You can barely ever go wrong with pizza. Especially if said pizza is inspired by naples and made in a wood fired oven. Did I also mention that it is made from a 24hour sourdough recipe and only uses the freshest of ingredients?? Get to Woodbox Pizza asap.

If you're more of a meat eater then Bare Bone Cue is your calling. Your pulled pork calling. It's so easy for pulled pork to go wrong, but this one is super tasty! You choose your sauce and they stuff a bun with your fillings. Bliss.

Sauce-wise I went for the orange pop - a barbecue sauce with an orange twist. If it's intense heat you want, then go for No Name XXX. If you're not sure they provide bread pieces so you can taste before you fully commit to one sauce.

 Last but not least is Pangea. They mix street flavours from all over the world (hence the name) and it is absolutely-one-hundred-percent amazing. Not only do the flavours come through but the two lads who werk it are lovely. Definite win!

So here is the final product. Salmon over all that delicious salad with chili, spices, sauces, and everything nice. It's colourful, healthy, and wholesome and you leave feeling satisfied without your belly exploding.

Look how happy Sara is with it!

 I would also say to check out the rest of the market if you're there Friday or Saturday. If I hadn't ventured down I would never have run into this baby! They also have a nice seating area and a tent for local talent to play their music. So sit back, eat some food, and enjoy the streets of Brixton.

Sara and I had an amazing day together, spending some long due quality time. Of course we headed to the ritzy and met up with some peeps later, which was just the cherry on top of the cake!

Brixton Village 101

So if you have yet to wander into Brixton village you are definitely missing out. Seriously. It is full of small cafés, restaurants, and shops, and it honestly never gets old or boring. Since I am such a kind human being I decided to take you around with me on a little tour. So take a seat, make some popcorn, and enjoy the ride!

The village has two staple pizza joints - the Agile Rabit (pictured above) and Franco Manca. Both are home to delicious thin crust pizzas. Head to the Agile Rabit for a pizza snack and some live music and to Franco Manca for an authentic Neapolitan sourdough pizza. Both are a winner. If you want a burger, then it is to Honest Burgers you must go - I've raved about them here before!

The market is home to some simple yet simply delicious food, most of which are family owned and community oriented. Head to Senzala for some truly amazing filled crepes, they even have gluten free - as most places there do! It's part of the Brick Box which is an community oriented arts organisation. For more of that locally produced freshness, head to Cornercopia, which also serves english beers and wines.

Ahh French & Grace. I love their wraps with hummus and lamb merguez sausage. If you do feel more of a meat eater there is also Bukowski, which serves charcoal grilled meats or Wishbone for their chicken.

How cool is Fish, Wings & Tings!

Now if you're desire is for something more foreign, head to Mama Lan (pictured below) for their beijing street food, or possibly to KaoSarn for their expert thai (the pad thai there is to die for) and alfresco dining, or even to Okan for the japanese style pancakes! Or possibly Elephant and their delicious Pakistani street food? Or Seven for their spanish tapas and amazing cocktails? You're spoilt for choices, really.

Don't think that it's all about meals here though! You can easily just drag a few friends and sit down for a nice tea or coffee, with a delicious slice of bread to make all your sorrows go away. Head to Wildcaper for their delicious assortments of breads and sandwhichs. Just look at them bellow! how could anyone say no?

Now, the Burnt Toast Café holds a special place in my heart. Sara and I went there once for breakfast on my birthday, going all out and having anything that could fit into our bellies. Varieties of delicious toasted break (you toast it on the table) smothered in nutella or topped with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. We were spoilt the whole morning. good times.

Now another place that also holds dear in my heart - Federation Coffee has been home to so many of my ramblings and decisions (I even have a loyalty card!). It was in the very table below that Sara, Mariana and I attempted to plan our whole summer traveling across Europe. The coffee is top notch and it is perfect to people watch.

I know that with this post it seems ALL brixton village has to offer is food. Nope. Walking around there are such lovely shops. Furniture, art, vintage clothes, small boutiques. You can wonder around and always find something that will definitely catch your eye. Surely did mine.

so beautiful!

and hey, if nothing does catch your eye, you can always bring home some giant snails. and yes, they're alive.

It was impossible to include every.single.place so I would suggest heading down there and checking them out for yourself! the hardest part is to decide which place you want to eat, because you just know everything tastes amazing. and oh god, don't even get me started on all the different kind of cakes around. Good luck!

Mango Coconut Rice

This is such a simple dish, and yet it's colours and flavours are so delicious that it doesn't really seem so. I would suggest racking this up and taking it to a bbq to have alongside some grilled chicken whilst basking in the sun and drinking some beer. Utter bliss. It's got mango to give you fiber, chili to help your metabolism, red peppers for your veggie intake, and coconut for some good fats. Dig in!

Recipe inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi's Mango Rice Salad.

So creamy and delicious. I actually ate a bowl of just this rice. Sure, it could've done with some actual meat on the side. But hey, I was hungry and impatient. So, here is how to make just this rice - then you can convince someone else to conjure up the grilled charcoal chicken.

So, as the ingredients above indicate, to make this rice you will need
1 tin of coconut milk
basmati or jasmin rice (1 tin of coconut milk's worth)
1 large mango, cut into squares
1 chili, deseeded and finely chopped
bunch of basil, roughly chopped (except for 4 leaves to leave whole plus some for decor)
bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
bunch of mint, roughly chopped
2 red peppers, chopped
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
grated zest of 1 lemon, plus some juice to taste
about 90g salted peanuts

serves about 8-10 people as a side!

just look at those colours!

Now let's get cooking (good lookin!)

1. Boil your kettle and add 1 tin of coconut milk, 1 tin of the rice, and 1 tin of the boiling water, and about 4 whole basil leaves and let cook for about 20 minutes
2. Once the rice is cooked, turn off the heat and add in remaining ingredients - except for the mango - and give it a good stir.
3. Once you've tasted and decided the seasoning is good (maybe you want more lemon juice or to add some salt, who knows) then add in the mango and stir it in with care so it doesn't disintegrate.
4. Transfer to a glass container and decorate with the last few basil leaves. Voilà! Ready to be eaten.

Honest Burgers - True Blood Style

Now, if you live in London and have a slight (strong) burger fetish, then it is virtually impossible that you haven't been to or heard of Honest Burgers. They do amazing ginger pig pattys and serve all burgers with a side of the most delicious rosemary chips. So, when I heard they had a special inspired by the HBO show True Blood, there was no way I was going to miss this. Without any further ado,I give you - the Louisiana Special.

They have two locations, one in Brixton and one in Soho. I have now been to both and my favourite would be brixton. We got to sit 'outside' (still inside Brixton Village) and since there was a 20-minute wait, we could just wander around until they called us to let us know we had a table. And you know me, I could wander around Brixton Village for hours on end.

Unfortunately I've been outta touch with True Blood, but I did used to watch it - and should probably get back into now. I have a horrible habit of not keeping up with series. It's already on its 6th season, so it started along with the whole blood sucker craze of Twilight, Vampire diaries, etc.. and was one of the only ones NOT focusing on tweens. It had blood, supernatural, murder, sex.  Combine that into a burger and what do you get? that beauty below right there.

I enjoyed every single bite of that burger. I would take a bite, close my eyes for a few seconds - I do that sometimes when something taste awesome - and savour it. I would then proceed to eat some of their ah-mazing chips and then slowly take another bite. Every.single.bite was incredible and a feast in my mouth. I was ready to go back again the next day, but unfortunately going to work got in the way. shame. I sound like a crazy person, but if you try this burger, you'll understand.

A must drink when in Brixton!

Anyways. After devouring our burgers, Matt and I headed up to Highbury & Islington to meet up with Alex and Sara. Since the weather was nice it called for Strawberry beer in a beer garden with my schwuli (a name my girl friends and I call each other caring-ly). Perfect end to a sunny day and beginning to a fun night!

The Louisiana Special is on until the 10th of June, so get your bellies ready and run there, because trust me when I say, this is not one to be missed. I've already sent Nicole and Sandra there to enjoy their burgers and they had no regrets. GO!

(True Blood promo image not taken by me, obvs.)

Duck & Waffle

I've been wanting to go to Duck & Waffle for a while. A restaurant up  in the clouds (well, almost) that is open 24-hours and has a penchant for combining sweet and savoury? Definitely my kind of thing. Matt had made a surprise reservation (which I recommend - both the surprise and the reservation bit) so I was delighted when I found out. After meeting up for some pre-drinks (aka a bottle of wine), we headed on to the Heron tower and excitedly got into the glass lift. It whisks you up so quickly you barely register London under your feet!

We got a table by the window with an astonishing view of London. I had never been up that high expect for when in a airplane! I don't know if it was the altitude, but it took me ages to decide what I wanted to go for, especially when it came to choosing cocktails. In the end I went for the gin & tonic since it came with petals and yuzu (think sorbet) on top. Matt went for the Whiskey sour. Such a classy bunch.

 Now, deciding a starter was also quite the trick - they didn't have the pig ears or the oysters. Oh well. No harm though, simply meant I'd have to go back. Problem solved. The scollops we did end up sharing were great for me, but didn't do it for Matt. They come on a slab of salt, so you can control how much you want (I gave it a good rub) and for me the apple just gave it a lovely crunch and twist.

Onto the pollock meatballs with lobster cream and parmesan. I thought they were very tasty and had a lovely texture to them, and both the cream and the parmesan just accentuated it without being too much or completely overpowering the dish. It was a very good dish, but not the pièce de resistance.

I have to be honest though, when the meatballs ended I even ate the cream that was still left in the pot. Absolutely no guilt in that, it was indeed delicious.

Now, you can't go somewhere and not have the dish it is named after, that would be foodie restaurant blasphemy. So, without further ado, I give you - the duck & waffle itself.

Crispy duck over a waffle and a fried duck egg on top. With a small jug of mustard maple syrup for you to pour at will (and boy did I pour). This exceeded my expectations. I thought all the flavours just worked so beautifully together, the egg and duck were cooked perfectly. I enjoyed every single bite and it never got boring. When I do go back, you can bet I will be having this again, I don't care. I might just  have to try and recreate this at home.

Now, for the next part, I must warn you - it is not for the faint hearted. If you decide to proceed, I ask you to brace yourself, for you are in for a treat. Sweet haters, need not apply or go any further. I bid you farewell here. For those who find dessert a blessed ritual and a life essential, I give you... the dark chocolate brownie with peanut butter and brownie ice creams, peanut crunch, and a caramel top.

This was SO delicious, I could say it was the icing on top of the cake, but I won't because it is so delicious it does not deserve to be compared to any other sweet. I mean, just LOOK at it! It just all.. worked. It simply worked.

I must say, eating all this delicious food, drinking wine and cocktails, all at an increased height, and all combined with the fact I had just handed in my last project for University ever made me feel like the queen of fuckin everything!

I had just got my finget caught in the door. Still felt fabulous though!

If you're about, definitely go there. If you're not about, get your bum here asap and go there. and if you're going, let me know and I'll tag along!