St Martins Cafe // Leicester

When I go and stay with my sister at Uni our only plans are to find cafes and eat as much food as we can in  the 48 hours we have together. So far we have been very productive and ate a tray of Dad's Classic Flapjack between us, enough chocolate to make anyone ill and froyo to compensate for the binge the night before. Obviously that isn't everything but it is all I can confess to and still have dignity afterwards.

 

During the Saturday we enjoyed walks around Leicester city centre with my little companion Buddy the dog (he will appear often over the next few months!). Eve recommended a wonderful café called St. Martins and it filled my café needs for the rest of the day. The menu had lots of options for vegetarians, all of which homemade.

 

I ordered the cauliflower koftas with homemade hummus, a Mexican relish and rocket salad, trust me this dish did not disappoint. I was weary of the hummus but dipping the koftas in it was something else then you get the spicy tang of the relish accompanied by the fresh, peppery rocket made it melt in your mouth! This lunch was well needed after the long morning of shopping with the refreshing orange and passion fruit tea.

Overall I will be back at St. Martins café!

 

Seaside Sorbet

X

"Norwegian Gold"

After a short summer of cafe searching and food finding I have to admit that my favourite stops along the way is, sadly, not that local but in the very beautiful country of Norway. I stayed in a small cottage in the western fjords and found some very lovely people and places. One of these was  our sweet landlady who left us a Norwegian delicacy; "Norwegian golden" berry which is found in the mountains of Norway and I have to confess is a little strange but extremely tasty. When she left us 200g of odd tasting berries, I, being a baker, seized that moment and took the chance bake with the amazing backdrop of mountains and fjords. On one of our walks we found them ourselves and ate them fresh and they tasted even better!

The recipe I chose was very simple but when you are using a tea cup as a pastry cutter you have to live with what you get. I used an easy sweet pastry recipe and concocted a jam/syrup from the "Norwegian golden" berries, which in a way is only a fancy jam tart but made with a very unusual and rare fruit. For this recipe I had left over pastry so used jams and marmalade to reduce waste, which is always a bonus, and made more to eat! 

 

Ingredients~ 

Pastry

110g Plain Flour

55g Butter

40g Sugar

1 Small Egg

Filling

200g "Norwegian Gold" (or raspberries will work fine.)

200ml Water

Jams of your choice

Method~

1. Rub the butter into the flour until breadcrumbs.

2. Now stir in the sugar, it doesn't have to be perfect. 

3. Add the egg and stir in/ need well. 

4. Put the water and berries into a pan on a medium heat and leave to boil stirring occasionally.

5. Roll out the dough to 0.5mm thick and cut into circles large enough to place in the baking trays make sure you keep your eyes on the berries.

6. Once your mixture is done leave to cool for 5 minutes then spoon into the pastry and fill any remaining cases with jams of your choice. Place in the oven to cook for 8-15 minutes depending on your oven.

7. When they are done, leave to cool on the side as the jam will be piping hot and will scold, you so be patient. Trust me it's worth it!

8. Eat all of them in one go and enjoy!!!

I will never forget baking with such an amazing backdrop!

OliveeKid xx

New Name, New Perspective

After spending a while away from blogging, I have decided I want to spice things up a bit *crowd cheers*. Personally I have been finding recipe after recipe boring and lately going to various cafes and trying new things has been an unhealthy habit. This gave me the idea of café  reviews, posts on my adventures and opinions on food issues.

 

New blog vows:

 

Be active (as you may tell I haven't been the best of bloggers!) 

Take better photos and,

To be more interesting on my blog!

SeasideSorbet 🍧

Vegan Roasted Tomato and Basil Tart

Last weekend I had my first Sunday off from work in a long time so I seized the moment to bake as much as I possibly could in one afternoon! As it was a sunday and usually in our house we have a Sunday roast but this week I took charge and did something a little different in the form of a roasted tomato and basil tart. This meal did not take long at all and I highly recommend serving it with new potatoes, maple roasted vegetables and balsamic vinegar dressing salad.

 

 

Ingredients~

 

2-3 Vine tomatoes sliced

250g Cherry tomatoes sliced in half

3 Garlic cloves minced and put to one side

5-6 Tbsps Olive oil

2-3 Tbsps Tomato puree

A small basil plant

A plain dough recipe

 

Method~

 

1. Put the oven on to 160'C. Mix the minced garlic with the olive oil. Place the sliced tomatoes on a baking tray and using a cooking brush, brush the garlic oil over the tomatoes leaving a little in the bottom for later. Bake in the oven for 10-20 minutes (I say this so you can check it frequently, it may take longer so just take care.)

 

2. With your tart tin, or pie, grease it and line it with the dough. With tomato puree and the rest of the olive oil make a sauce and with the brush, brush it across the base and the sides as all the tomatoes may not get all the way up resulting in it being a little to plain and dry. 

 

3. Place the basil leaves over the base and then layer the tomatoes on  top and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Once done show this as a centre piece and enjoy the show! 

OliveeKid xx

 

Lemon Meringue Crown Cupcakes

For family members birthdays I always do the desserts and for this family members birthday I decided to do something I have never done before and that is marshmallow type of meringue in a crown pattern on top of a lemon cupcake. Heaven I know. As I was following this recipe I was quite confused on the second bake of the cupcake for their meringue but trust me they are like little bits of clouds!

 

 

 

Ingredients~

 

For the Cupcakes

 

150g Unsalted Butter

150g caster sugar

1 tsp Vanilla extract

2 medium Eggs

175g Plain flour

1 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

 

For the Crown

 

2 medium Egg whites

1 tsp Lemon juice

70g Icing sugar

150-200g Lemon curd (well enough to fill the middle of your crown)

 

 

Method~

 

1. Preheat the oven to 180'C fan and line a 12-hole muffin tin with liners.

 

2. In a bowl beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.

 

3. Stir the eggs into the butter mixture, then mix in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda until well blended.

 

4. Spoon this mixture into the paper cases, then bake in the oven for 19-23 minutes or until golden brown.

 

5. Once the cupcakes are out of the oven increase the temperature to 200'C, and slice the tops of the cupcakes off so you have a flat surface to pipe on.

 

6. For the meringue crown whisk together the egg whites with the lemon juice until peaks start to form. Gradually whisk in the icing sugar until stiff and shiny.

 

7. Spoon the meringue topping into a piping bag, now pipe small rounds in a circle on top of the cupcake, pulling away the piping bag each time to create peaks.

 

8. Now bake the piped meringue tops in the oven for 3-6 minutes until it starts to brown. Once browned remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

 

9. Once the cupcake is cool spoon the lemon curd into the centre of the cupcakes to finish.

Now enjoy and eat 4, screw the diet!!

 

 

OliveeKid xx