Baked Eggs with Chorizo & Gruyere

Last weekend we had a mini Christmas day at the flat. We watched the Muppet Christmas Carol, ate chocolate orange and exchanged our presents. To start the day I made us these delicious baked eggs, they're really simple and utterly delicious, perfect for a special brunch.

Serves 2 people for brunch, or 4 for breakfast
80g chorizo, skinned & cut into 1cm chunks
Half a red onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 eggs
50g Gruyere, grated
Plenty of seasoning & buttered toast to serve

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and pop a baking sheet in to warm up
2. Dry fry the chorizo and onion over a medium heat, the sausage will release plenty of delicious oil so there's really no need to add any extra. You want the onion to soften and the chorizo to crisp up, this should take around 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic a few minutes before the onion is cooked
3. Separate the mixture into 4 ramekin dishes, crack an egg over the top and season. Top with the Gruyere then place the ramekins onto the pre-heated baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 12 minutes for soft egg yolks and 15 minutes for hard

Christmas Day!

I spent Christmas day at home with my family in lovely Essex (they filmed the TOWIE Christmas special in the castle in my village, probably not something to boast about). I live in a small flat in Hackney, so I love coming home to the calm of the countryside and a fully stocked fridge.

We had eleven people to stay this year which meant Christmas eve was spent in the kitchen with my sister and madre prepping for the feast. Even though peeling dozens of brussel sprouts isn't the most exciting job, this is one of my favourite parts of Christmas.

The big day itself was mostly spent eating and drinking - starting with scrambled eggs, bacon, smoked salmon and homemade soda bread. Next we began to work our way through a tin of Quality Street, every year we're convinced we can finish them all but even with eleven of us we didn't manage it. Then onto a traditional turkey roast, probably my favourite meal of the year. I know it's not a very inspired choice and to be honest I don't really like turkey that much, but the festivities that surround the meal make it a winner for me. After dinner we had the obligatory Christmas pudding (yuck), my sister and I also made white chocolate panna cotta & a chocolate cake. Dessert was followed by cheese and plenty of port. This year we had 12 cheeses, so the fridge now smells like a damp cellar - lovely!

I hope you all had very merry Christmas's; I'd love to hear about what you got up to and most importantly what you ate! Here are a few snapshots from the Butler family Christmas (sorry about the picture quality, I forgot my camera so had to make do with my phone):

Macroons from Laduree

Instead of an advent calendar Chris bought me some Macaroons from Laduree. They're both beautiful and delicious, so much better than supermarket chocolate!

Thai Red Curry with Chicken & Butternut Squash

I know it's lazy but when I get home from work I can never be bothered to make my own curry paste. In place of the real deal, I tend to use a good quality paste and spruce it up with some extras, you'll hardly notice the difference. To save the pennies, I only used two chicken breasts and bulked the recipe out with butternut squash. It's still super tasty, just cheaper and healthier! 

Serves 4
2 free range chicken breasts, cut into large chunks
Butternut squash, deseeded and cut into 2cm chunks
White onion, chopped
Red pepper, chopped
3 garlic cloves, grated
2cm piece of ginger, grated
Mixed pack of mange tout & mini sweetcorn
400ml can reduced fat coconut milk
100g jar red curry paste (ideally Bart's)
Juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp fish sauce
Rice to serve

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Put the butternut squash chunks into a roasting tin, drizzle with oil and pop in the oven for 45 minutes
2. Meanwhile, heat a large pan with a tablespoon of oil on a medium heat. Add the chopped onion and red pepper to the pan, gently fry for 10 minutes. Next add the mange tout, sweetcorn, garlic and ginger, allow to soften for a few minutes
3. Now add the Thai curry paste, reduced fat coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice and chicken. Bring to a light simmer and cook for 20 minutes, allowing the chicken to poach in the sauce. Add the roasted butternut squash for the final 5 minutes, serve with jasmine rice

Lamb & Harissa Meatballs with Spaghetti

On Monday night I made these spicy meatballs, I served them with spaghetti but they'd also be lovely with cous cous and a dollop of yoghurt. Using ready made harissa paste is a quick and easy way of adding lots of flavour without spending hours over the stove. It works perfectly with lamb and adds a nice kick to the sauce, without being too spicy.

Serves 4
500g lean lamb mince
4 tbsp harissa paste
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
500ml creamed tomatoes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp tomato paste
Small bag baby leaf spinach

1. With your hands, mix together the lamb mince and 2 tbsp of harissa paste. Shape the lamb into 16 meatballs. 
2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a heavy based pan and cook the meatballs in batches, until browned all over. Remove from the pan and add the onion and garlic. Fry on a medium heat for 10-15 minutes until soft.
3. Add the creamed tomatoes, tomato paste, spices, a further 2 tablespoons of harissa paste and season well. 
4. Add the meatballs back into the sauce and gently simmer for 30 minutes, until the meatballs have cooked through and the sauce has thickened. Fold the spinach in for the last 5 minutes, so it wilts. Serve with spaghetti and pecorino!

The Blue Legume - Islington

Last night I went to the Blue Legume with Fran and Linz. After the success of their Stoke Newington restaurant, they have opened a new branch in Islington and I was keen to try it out. The restaurant itself is beautifully done up, with exposed brick walls, chunky wooden tables and candles galore. It has a lovely cosy feel, the entrance is papered with flyer's for local goings on and the staff are friendly. During the day they serve the usual breakfast fodder and also some delicious looking cakes.

Cute individual casserole dish

The menu ranges from risotto to burgers to mezze so there's something for everyone. I ordered a chicken, apple and cider casserole which unfortunately turned out to be quite bland. The cider sauce was too thin, it could really have done with some wholegrain mustard and a dollop of creme fraiche to liven it up. They also decided to add huge lumps of swede, which tasted too earthy for the dish. The casserole and mash were served separately, with no plate to dish them onto so I end up dipping my mash in the casserole which wasn't the easiest way to eat it. Whilst presentation wise it looked nice enough, it was impractical to eat and the casserole itself wasn't flavoursome enough.

Chicken, apple and cider casserole

Casserole & mash

Linz ordered stuffed aubergine with goat's cheese, it was overcooked so the cheese had turned into a hard block and it was too oily. Fran's garlic prawns weren't much better, they were also very oily and weren't 'garlicy' enough. She also complained about the portion size (after being told by the manager the portions were huge); six prawns and some bread does not a meal make! There were plenty of dishes on the menu which sounded appetising, so maybe we simply made bad choices, but we weren't impressed with what we ate.

PRAWNS!

Stuffed aubergine with goat's cheese

Overall the food was not as good as I'd hoped, which is a shame as the setting is so lovely. On the plus side the service was fine, the menu is reasonably priced and the dessert counter looks excellent, but unfortunately that doesn't make up for the quality of the food. Finally, they served my food on a doily, someone needs to tell them it's not the 80's anymore.

Prawns with garlic toast