Tag Archives: Sausages

Caravan

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31st October 2013

Have you been to Caravan in Exmouth Market? I am sometimes laughed at for loving brunch too much, but this place backs me up.

It’s about a fifteen minute walk from King’s Cross station – I met K there one Saturday morning before she jumped on a train to Yorkshire. If you’re craving proper breakfast food but want a refreshing upgrade on the standard fry up, Caravan is the spot.

Start, as lots of good mornings do, with a Bloody Mary…

Bloody Mary

Caravan

I had a fresh carrot, apple and ginger juice and it was scrumdiddlyumptious. I often think that fruit juices in London restaurants are a rip off – you get a small portion of something that doesn’t taste special for a big price. I was very pleasantly surprised by the juice here. A generous glass, and really delicious.

Apple Carrot Ginger Juice

Caravan Outside

Caravan Sign

Food arrived quickly – for me a countryside feel, carbier (can I use that as a word?!) twist on Eggs Benedict.

Ham hock hash, poached eggs, peas and honey mustard hollandaise.

Ham Hock Hash

K had avocado on toasted sourdough, with olive oil and chilli flakes…

Avocado on Sourdough

And she ordered some extra bacon to pop on top (fantastic shout).

Avocado and Bacon

Poached Eggs

Egg and Peas

Great eggs, and the potato hash was exactly what I wanted it to be.

Oh, did I mention we also had a side of sausages? Why not. I love it when a restaurant has a good selection of side orders – it lets you get more creative.

Sausages

All rounded off with one of the prettiest coffees I’ve had in ages.

Latte

Next time I go to Caravan I’ll be trying the coconut bread with fresh strawberries and lemon curd cream cheese. Doesn’t that sound amazing?

Happy Halloween everybody! If you want a giggle, check out these sexy food themed costume ideas…

Triple Pig

23rd July 2013

Down in Dorset a couple of weeks ago, I visited a very nice pub called The Stapleton Arms with O and his family.

We started with strawberry mojitos…

mojito

while snacking on fantastic pork pies…

3.1

and home-made pork scratchings… (which came in little bags tied up with string).

4.1

They brought us an amuse-bouche of asparagus soup in tiny teacups.

5.1

O had a very photogenic burger –

6.1

F had fish and chips (which looked beautiful as well).

And I… had sausages. Don’t get me wrong, they were great. But I suddenly realised I’d had three helpings of pig.

Or as O’s sister described it – Triple Pig. Dangerous.

8.1

I’d recommend the pub, the food is really good and the mojitos were excellent. It’s tucked away in the countryside, so look it up if you happen to be passing nearby.

The BBQ

9th May 2013

The first Barbecue of the year. There’s something magical about it, especially on a summery bank holiday weekend.

I went home to Buckinghamshire and while I cannot claim to be responsible for all of the beautiful food we had (thanks family!), I can share it with you.

Get things kicked off with Pimms – lots of strawberries, apple, cucumber and mint.

My ultimate favourite (which I intend to blog about separately) comes next. Hot crab dip is great to snack on while you prepare the rest of the food and get the barbie heated up. Salty tortilla chips and cucumber sticks are perfect for dipping.

The choices for the grill were – monkfish, chicken, sausages and steak. So we sloshed together a marinade for the monkfish. It’s made of olive oil, lime juice, coriander, and fresh chilli.

The fish then gets popped into the marinade and left to soak up all the lovely flavours before cooking.

Apply butter and garlic generously to some large Portobello mushrooms, which can be cooked up on the BBQ as well!

There are always lots of pretty flowers dotted around the kitchen at home – I liked these tulips especially.

Chop up tomatoes and spring onions to make a simple salad.

Here’s another salad – leaves, peppers and feta cheese.

Buy some ready to bake garlic bread from a supermarket, and serve it up when the meat and fish is sizzling on the grill.

Now, I’m told by a barbeque expert I know (that’s you Daddy!), that perfect results are all about the timing. Everything being cooked on the grill needs to be added in the right order to ensure it’s all ready at the same time. For example, sausages take a lot longer to cook than fish.

Luckily, the responsibility for this task was not in my hands, but the hands of the expert. And look how well it all turned out! We just had to carve and dig in…

Gorgeous fillet of beef, rare in the middle…

And the chicken, and sausages, and of course the mushrooms.

By the time we’d finished eating the sun was setting.

We gave ourselves a little break and then it was pudding.

The colours of the berries matched the sky outside.

My very clever mother had made this amazing chocolate cheesecake!

All in all, a delicious evening.

Final thought for the day:

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