Italy

Two weeks, two bikes, two regions, one mountain and countless calories; I'm going to tell you a little story called how to eat your way round (some of) Italy and not put on a pound.

From the burger we greedily gobbled on the first night, to the huge plates of spaghetti we scoffed on the last, two weeks on the Adriatic coast proved to be quite the lesson in wanton gluttony. I could write verses about the tomatoes, pages about the bread, and an entire book on the olives but instead I shall narrate this rather marvellously greedy journey through the medium of photography. Enjoy.

Pleased to Meat You

Am feeling very sorry for myself this week. No money means no meals out and an empty fridge. Were it not for my apocalypse store of puy lentils, chicken stock and a selection of spices, I would be tres miserable. With nothing but soup in sight, thank god for the memory of last week's meal at Goodman to get me through...

Despite what my current eating habits will have you believe, I am resolutely a meat girl and Goodman is the meat place. Which is why I finally got around to going, after at least a year of people telling me to. I dined in the company of my editor who also happens to be a ‘let’s get two things and share’ kind of gal. Lucky, as I had already decided what we were having long before we entered Goodman's welcoming doors.

Goodman Burger with Truffle Chips

Being a huge Meateasy fan, (when the pop up came to New Cross earlier in the year, I took it upon myself to become their most regular customer) this burger had some pretty incredible memories to erase. Taste wise it was probably on par, but, as my editor said, it was a "neater version”and I liked it less. The messy chaos of eating a Meateasy burger, greased ketchup running down my arms and chin, proved too strongly embedded in my mind.

The chips though, were ridiculous. Crunchy, salty chunks of deliciousness; indecently flecked with truffle oil. I would love to test these side by side with the ones at Heston’s Dinner. It would be the ultimate chip competition and, I suspect, a rather close call.

Bone in Rib-Eye

Medium rare, charred on the outside, this cow had been treated like royalty from the field to my gob. I can only describe the experience of eating these ruby slices as, well, a party in my mouth. I'm glad I was not sitting at the table with me because I imagine I looked like the woman in the Halls Soothers advert.

The wine was great but a bit pricey (though I do usually buy bottles based on it being labelled '3 for a Tenner'), the staff lovely, the restaurant buzzing and most importantly, they know how to cook their meat. I have spent most of my adult life being extremely careful with my limited income. Now I’m going to spend it on eating steak at Goodman.

Particularly Good

There is something appealing about food being served on something other than a plate. Call it nostalgia, call it novelty value but we all know fish and chips tastes better directly from the paper. I once ate in a restaurant in Sydney where they served all manner of fried goods in baskets made from twisted newspaper. I was beside myself.

This brings us rather neatly to The London Particular, a charming café in the ever-eclectic New Cross which just happens to be my home. I have been meaning to go since it opened almost a year ago and, last weekend, I finally got around to popping in. The tiny space is bright and airy, much like the staff (who happily let us sample the cakes before we settled on a slice of spectacular pear and ginger loaf)

So far, so good but a café is a café. This was my opinion until two things happened. One, our tea and slices of cake were presented to us on vintage tiles (adorable). The second being that all dishes from the menu are served in a bowl, from home made quiches to beans and toast (to dunk, obviously). Call me crazy, but the simplicity of dishing up breakfast, lunch and dinner in a single curved vessel made me want to weep with joy.

Weird obsession with alternatives to the plate aside, this is a gem of a place. And, if the thought of tea served on a tile or beans in a bowl caused a similar spasm of elation, then go immediately.

The London Particular

399 New Cross Road

London SE14 6LA

020 8692 6149

An Impromptu Feast

Last Friday and an intimate dinner for four; including me, my house mates (two old queens whom I love dearly) and our friend Jen. Being a food geek and follower of Delia from a young age, I had prepped on Thursday and my carefully planned menu was good to go. Or would have been...

Bloody housemates. Whilst I was prepping, they were busy drinking free gin and doubling our four to eight. Cool as a courgette, I did a mental recalculation of the food, a calculation of my bank balance plus what we had in the freezer and a slightly mismatched, but delicious dinner party was born. Hurrah!

(terribly murky images to be blamed on excessive wine consumption plus only having an iPhone camera at my disposal)

Stuffed Peppers with Beef and Rosemary

A hybrid of a Nigel Slater recipe featured the last Observer Food Monthly which, due to Asda only doing mixed peppers, my obsession with thyme and our friend Elauen not eating pork, I followed only vaguely. Here’s what I did (not that I am suggesting mine to be better than Nigel’s, which would clearly be absurd).

Large Red Onion

Two Cloves of Garlic

500g Minced Beef

50g Breadcrumbs

6 Mixed Peppers

3 Sprigs of Rosemary, finely chopped

3 Sprigs of Thyme

3 Tomatoes

Good Squeeze of Tomato Puree

Pinch of Sugar

Salt

Pepper

Parmesan

Preheat Oven 200 degrees.

Cook onion over low heat in olive oil til soft. Add rosemary, thyme, garlic and season, cook for a few minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and cook until broken down, then add sugar and tomato puree.

Meanwhile halve and deseed peppers then simmer in boiling water for about 8 minutes of until starting to soften. Drain and put skin side down on baking tray.

Add beef and breadcrumbs to tomato mixture, give it a good stir and take off the heat. Fill peppers with mixture and top with grated parmesan. Cook in oven for around 30 minutes.

Roasted Sweet Potato, Red Onion and Feta Salad with Cous Cous

This started off as a salad, but extra guests meant bulking out with carbs was necessary. The ‘Moonblush Tomatoes' are from Nigella and her Nigella Express; basically turn up oven as high as it goes, quarter tomatoes, coat in oil and season well, turn oven off, put tomatoes on baking tray with a few sprigs of thyme and leave overnight. In the morning you will have something akin to a sundried tomato, which can be thrown into most salads and taste brilliant. Thanks Nigella!

Large Sweet Potato

2 Red Onions

Four Cloves of Garlic

Four Dried Chillis

One Chilli, finely chopped

8 ‘Moonblush’ Tomatoes

Bag of Baby Spinach

Juice of One Lemon

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

250g Cous Cous

200g Feta

Parsley

Preheat Oven to 240 degrees

Chop sweet potato into large chunks, quarter red onion (leave skin on), smash garlic cloves and dried chillis. Mix together in a bowl with generous glug of olive oil and season. Transfer to baking tray and cook until potato is soft and the onion is starting to blacken at the edges (around 40 minutes).

Meanwhile, prepare cous cous (aka follow the pack instructions)

Prepare dressing by mixing lemon, olive oil, fresh chilli, salt and pepper.

Combine sweet potato, onion (discard skin and chop roughly), cous cous and two thirds of the dressing in a large bowl until everything is nicely coated.

On a large plate layer spinach leaves, then cous cous, then tomatoes, finishing with chopped parsley and the rest of the dressing.

Turkey Stuffed with Thyme and Cream Cheese Wrapped in Bacon

Again, this is a variant on a recipe shamelessly stolen from another chef (I like to think they all taught me how to cook in lieu of a domestic mother), this time Gordon Ramsey who uses chicken, parma ham, ricotta and sage. However, I had to think on my feet and use what was lingering in the fridge/freezer/cupboard and these weren’t bad either.

4 Turkey Steaks

8 Rashers of Streaky Bacon

5 Sprigs of Thyme

4 Cloves of Garlic

Pack of Cream Cheese

Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 190 degrees

Mix cream cheese, salt, pepper, crushed garlic and thyme in a bowl, set aside. Smash turkey steaks until thin with rolling pin then fill centre with a generous tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture, fold in half and then wrap in bacon. Repeat.

Brown turkey parcels in a hot frying pan, around five minutes on each side. Finish in oven (15-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the steaks)

Slice before serving so everyone can share.

To my main dishes, I added new potatoes which were par boiled, coated in a garlic and herb butter (handful of basil, handful of parsley, 3 cloves of garlic and 300g butter) and then roasted in a hot oven for 15 minutes, and lots of crusty bread (which I didn’t make, girl's got to have time to sip her wine).

Being a Friday night and everyone coming after work at random, people gathered in the kitchen drinking whilst I cooked. This was a blessing, by the time we ate (at about 9.30pm) everyone was merry, starving and extremely complimentary. A success.

Ariana II

I had heard of Kilburn (though couldn’t have told you what line it was on) but being a New Cross girl, there has to be a pretty good reason to make me travel that far across London. This turned out to be an Afghan place on Kilburn High Road. So on Monday night, having heard great things, I ventured north; and am delighted to report it was worth the hike.

Amongst the ubiquitous mix of pound shops, asian supermarkets and dodgy kebab joints, I found a spiffing pub, The Black Lion (huge, old, beautifully ornate interior, bags of character and good cider too) and mid way down, Ariana II.

The décor was simple with a few wall hung rugs, plain dark wood tables and a nice atmosphere despite being a third full (it was Monday night). Our waitress was lovely, cheerfully opening our BYO wine (no corkage charge) and, more importantly, the smells coming from the kitchen sent my constantly hungry state into overdrive.

On a Time Out recommendation (being a food geek, I find it hard to visit a restaurant before swotting up first) we ordered the Aushak to start, as well as some Spinach Samosa and Naan, served with a brilliant chilli and mint dip.

Aushak £4.95

These were incredible; the lightest dumplings filled with sauted leeks and topped with ground meat and tangy yoghurt. The delicately spiced beef had melted into a sauce that was not hot, but deliciously rich; the dumplings were like a very thin, very fresh ravioli.

Spinach Samosa £1.95

Tasty. I'm not the best judge in this case as I'll eat anything if it's been deep fried, but they were the right kind of crispness and the filling of spinach, cheese (I forgot to ask the waitress but was salty like feta) and garlic made for a satisfyingly light bite. Good addition to the rich Aushak.

And so to the mains...

Mantu £5.95

Not dissimilar to the Aushak, these were minced lamb filled pastry dumplings, topped with chick peas and served, again, with yoghurt. They were even better; the soft steamed pastry, giving way to ridiculously moist lamb, tied together by the tomato-y chickpeas, the yoghurt cutting thorough the richness.

Kabuli Palow £7.95

Jesus H Christ. Without this the meal would have been excellent but, wow, did this take it to another level. Previously I had been a big fan of the Lamb Biryani at Dishoom, but this made that look like a few chunks of tired old mutton...

Perfectly cooked rice dotted with carrot, raisins, almonds and pistachios topped *swoon* an entire lamb shank. The meat was so good I was close to tears.

The bill came to £22 for two. A pittance for probably one of the best dinners I’ve had this year. We were stuffed, slightly pissed on BYO wine and continued to talk about how delicious and unusual our meal was on the long journey home. So get thee to Kilburn, I am seriously considering moving there...

Ariana II

241 Kilburn High Road

NW6 7JN

0203 490 6709