Hungarian Goulash with Caraway Seed Dumplings

Yet again, we made another of my mum's excellent recipes for Sunday night dinner. Whilst a casserole isn't what I'd normally chose to eat in July, considering the ridiculous weather we've had over the weekend, I welcomed this warming casserole. Dumplings are the ultimate in comfort food, and the caraway seeds add a delicious perfumey flavour. This recipe is originally from an 80's Good Housekeeping casserole book, but as they say, you can't improve on a classic, so I don't think it needs updating.

The dumplings are a bit of a faff to make, but well worth it. The dough is very sticky so you'll probably end up with half of it stuck to your hands, remember they expand as they steam so they only need to be the size of a golf ball when they go in the oven. Whilst 4 tbsp of paprika sounds like an awful lot, it isn't at all overwhelming. 

Serves 4-6
800g pork leg, diced
4 onions, sliced
4 carrots, sliced
100g button mushrooms, cut into quarters
3 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp plain flour
500ml beef stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
4 tbsp white wine

For the dumplings:
225g self raising flour
125g butter
5 tbsp cold water
2 tsp caraway seeds
150ml sour cream

1. Heat a tbsp of oil in a casserole dish and brown the meat in batches. Remove the meat from the pan and add the onion, carrot, mushrooms and garlic, add a little extra oil if necessary. Cook for 10-15 minutes until soft
2. Add the paprika and flour to the vegetables and mix thoroughly. Allow to cook for a further 3 minutes
3. Add the white wine and allow to cook off. Next add the beef stock and season, bring to a simmer and put in the oven on 130 degrees for 2 hours
4. In the meantime, make the dumplings. In a large bowl, rub together the butter and flour until it is thoroughly mixed together. Add the water, caraway seeds and sour cream and kneed with your hands until you have a smooth dough. Make the mixture into 16 small dumplings
5. After 2 hours in the oven, take the goulash out and pop the dumplings on top. Add an extra sprinkling of caraway seeds and put back in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until they have swollen to twice the size. Serve with cabbage or greens of your choice 

Meat & LOTS of veg:

Chris' handiwork with the dumplings:

 Dumplings ready to steam:

 Delicious plump dumplings:

Served with cabbage:

Leek & Pancetta Risotto

I always get a sense of satisfaction when I'm able to make dinner entirely from ingredients I already have lurking in the back of my fridge, especially when they're as tasty as this risotto! I already had the leeks and creme fraiche from the salmon with creamy greens and I always make sure I have stock, rice and Parmesan, so I only had to buy the pancetta. I'm a recent convert to risotto, as whenever I've had it in a restaurant it's been greasy and stodgy, so it's nice to make it at home and be reminded of how delicious and comforting a creamy bowl of risotto can be.

Serves 2
150g arborio rice
2 small leeks, sliced
1 courgette, diced
Small pack pancetta
1 tbsp creme fraiche
100ml white wine
500ml chicken stock
25g Parmesan

1. Fry the courgette and leeks in a little oil, until soft. Add the pancetta and turn up the heat a little, until it is cooked through and crisp
2. Stir in the rice and gently fry until the edges go clear. Add the wine and turn up the heat, let it simmer until the liquid has been absorbed by the rice
3. In the meantime, make up 500ml of hot stock. Gradually add a ladleful at a time, waiting until it has been absorbed before adding any more
4. Once the rice has plumped out and is almost ready, add the creme fraiche and Parmesan. Turn the heat right down and put a lid on the risotto and leave to steam for 3 minutes. Season and serve!

Adding the stock:

 Rice cooking away:

Tasty-licious!

Ping Pong - Goodge St

A few weeks ago I went for dinner with Anna and Kat; we went to Ping Pong which is a restaurant specialising in dim sum. They have a huge menu containing a massive range of dumplings, buns, rice, vegetables and fried or baked dishes; prices range from around £3-6 per plate. It's a similar concept to tapas or mezze, so you order several dishes to share and it's best to go in a small group so you get a chance to try more. As well as food they serve cocktails; the vanilla, lemon & vodka is lovely and refreshing!

Prawn & spinach rolls

Pork puffs

The prawn toasts were great, they were generous with the topping and the toasts were light and crispy. The pork puffs topped with sesame seeds were my favourite; the honey roasted pork inside was melt in your mouth tender and the pastry golden and crunchy. I also loved the squid ink dumplings with king prawns and garlic, I must warn you that they are super garlicky, so maybe not a great choice if you're on a date. We also ordered a sticky vegetable rice, it was nice enough but seriously over priced at almost £4 for a tiny portion. The food tasted as though it had been freshly cooked, rather than sitting around under a lamp for half the day. They also managed to retain the flavour of everything, as so often I find dim sum all ends up with the same vaguely prawny taste.

Prawn toast

Fluffy pork bun

My main criticism would be that despite eating and spending quite a lot I never feel that full after dim sum, maybe because mentally lots of little dishes don't necessarily equal a full meal. Whilst you get lots of little bites of tasty food, there isn't much substance to them so you can easily spend £15 on food and not have an awful lot to show for it. On Sundays they do an all you can eat menu for £18, whilst the base price is pretty high, if you're hungry I'm sure it's easy to make the most of it and gives you the opportunity to try dishes you wouldn't normally choose.

Squid ink parcels with prawns

LOTS of dim sum

The Jolly Butchers - Stoke Newington

On Saturday we went to the Jolly Butchers for a late lunch and a few pints in the sunshine. We both ordered the burger, which was absolutely delicious; I'd go as far as to say it's the best burger I've had in London. The lightly toasted, seeded bun was topped with burger sauce, salad, cheese, pancetta and of course a delicious beef burger. I loved the addition of burger sauce, as it's sadly lacking from most gourmet burgers and to my mind is the key ingredient in a delicious burger. The meat was well seasoned and they made the effort to ask how you'd like it cooked (we opted for medium, rare mince does not appeal to me unlike a bloody steak). It was served with chips and a side salad, which was a much appreciated addition as I like to have something green on my plate to help ease my conscience when stuffing my face with red meat. The chips were fried in duck fat, which made for some deliciously crispy chips. According to Chris they were too much like roast potatoes, I do agree that they could probably do with being a little smaller, but they were great.

Compared to the rubbish you so often get served in a pub, it was a welcome surprise to have such a great meal. The only complaint I had was that there was only one very small slice of gherkin, which along with burger sauce is my favourite burger ingredient, but that's hardly a biggie. At £10.50, they're not cheap, but I'm happy to pay a premium if it's worth it and in this case it certainly is. Be warned that it's an absolute beast of a burger, so two people could happily share one. The rest of the menu didn't particularly appeal to me; seeing as they do pub grub so well, it would be nice to see some more British classics on there. Saying that, after eyeing up the food on the table next to ours, the sausage platter with an array of mustard's does look seriously tasty.

The Jolly Butchers has only been open for a year or so, after being converted from the rather less salubrious Bar Stokey's. In this short time it's gathered a loyal following; without fail it's full every night and at the weekends the hoards spill out onto the High Street. As advertised on the website, they serve 7 ales and 3 ciders at any one time which I'm sure appeals to those lusting for a 'real' pub in London. Despite the crazy wallpaper, the interior feels more summery than that of the Three Crowns and the tables outside are a definite bonus (if you get there early enough to nab one that is). It's always nice to see local businesses flourishing and this place is clearly very popular with the locals, but the prices for both drinks & food are at the top end of what I'm able to pay. However, as it's always so busy, there isn't much of an incentive for them to reduce their prices. As long as they keep up the quality of their produce and service, I'm sure people (including me) will keep going!

Salmon with Creamy Spring Greens

Last night I made a delicious fish recipe from Good Food. It took less than 30 minutes to have a tasty meal on the table and other than a dollop of creme fraiche, it was reasonably healthy. Fish is something I always say I need to eat more of, so it's great to have a new recipe in my repertoir.

I added some spinach and used sugar snap peas rather than broad beans, but other than that I kept to the recipe. I served it with minted new potatoes, which tasted amazing crushed into the creamy sauce. It's a perfect meal for a warm summers evening, yum!

Spring greens:

Salmon cooking:

Topped with chives:

Minted new potatoes: