Paramount - The Birds Eye View

If you are in London and want a cool drink with a stunning view then I thoroughly recommend that you head to Centrepoint on the junction of New Oxford St & Tottenham Court Road. Here on the 33rd floor you will find Paramount bar with its stunning 360 degree viewing gallery. www.paramount.uk.net/

There is no charge for the bar but you do need to book which is easily done on line. When you get there the prices in the table service only bars are no more than you would expect to pay in London.

Our party of four visited at 6pm on a busy pre Olympics hot Saturday, the bar was very quiet and there were plenty of opportunities to admire the view from all aspects.

Here is what is waiting for you on your visit.

Mexican At Home

The first mexican restaurant I went to was Cafe des Amies in Canterbury for fajitas www.cafedez.com/ it is still very popular today.  We have also enjoyed great mexican food in the USA Southern States particularly in Scottsdale Arizona.

At home the Old El Paso range does us pretty well with a few additions www.oldelpaso.co.uk

Here are my tacos this really is a meal that takes just 10 minutes to prepare.

I do like to make the guacamole (although the one above was bought) mash a ripe avocado with a fork and squeeze over the juice of half a lime, add 1/4 finely chopped red onion, 1 chopped red chilli, and a finely chopped tomato (skinned) add salt and pepper and mix well.

Healthy Prawn and Chorizo

Creating delicious dishes that are low in carbohydrates is something I like to experiment with. This way I find that I can indulge in my favourite pastime (everything about food) without gaining too much weight.  This prawn and chorizo dish was really very good

Serves 1

1 bag of defrosted raw king prawns
Small piece of chorizo, 1 red onion, 1/2 red pepper & 1 clove of garlic all finely chopped
Splash of chicken stock and white wine
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
Pinch of saffron
Black pepper
2 tbs frozen peas
cooked rice or cauliflower cooked and mashed (this works best if just cooked and still slightly firm)

Fry the onion & pepper until soft
Add the garlic & chorizo fry for 1 minute
Add the paprika & saffron
Moisten with the wine and stock
Add the king prawns & peas cook until prawns are pink stirring occasionally
Stir in the mashed cauliflower or rice
Stir gently until pipeing hot
Finish with finely grated parmesan and chopped chives

Korker Sausages

Korker are just the very best sausages www.korker-sausages.co.uk/ The company is based in Rolvenden Kent and was founded by Jim Hoad in 1959. Jim is still an advisor today. Top quality ingredients and consistency is the Korker technique.

You can get a range of sausages cocktail, chipolata, thick, extra large, sausagemeat and sausage rolls in a variety of sizes. Delivery is to locations in Kent and East Sussex details are on the web site.

Locally for me both Perry Court and Chilham Farm Shops stock a good selection.

I could describe some tasty recipes but I think really the picture below shows what most people want to see

Chilli Jam or nahm prik pao

Last summer when there was sun, my tomato crop prospered and many found their way to the freezer. They were frozen whole and yesterday I defrosted a kilo by simply pouring over a kettle of boiling water, after two minutes I added cold water and the skins were removed very easily.

So I made chilli jam or nahm prik pao in Thailand. This is an excellent addition to Thai cooking often used as a base for stir fry.  If you want the really authentic recipe try this outstanding book which on page 341 says "Chilli Jam - This rich nutty relish is often used as a dressing for Thai salads. It is normally diluted with a little coconut cream and the seasoning adjusted before use"

My recipe was a little more simple based on a recipe by Sarah Raven www.sarahraven.com a Sussex gardener, writer and TV presenter.

Blitz 250g tomatoes with 2 garlic cloves 4 large red chillies and a piece of root ginger in a food processor. Pour into a heavy based saucepan. Add 300g golden caster sugar, 2 tbs fish sauce and 100ml red wine vinegar.

Dice a further 250g on tomatoes and add to the pan. Simmer for 30 -40 minutes storing from time to time until the mixture is slightly darker and thicker.

Store in warm sterilised jars which will keep for three months in the fridge.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a chilli plant from Sainsburys it cost £3.50 and here it is. It does make you question whether growing from seed is really worth the effort.

The Mighty Pie

For our Jubilee Party at Godmersham Church I made a rather large pork pie. It was tasty but some messing around with the recipe by me made it a little dense in texture.

Yesterday I had another attempt following Marcus Wareing's method exactly and it has worked very well. You can find the recipe here www.bbcgoodfood.com

This time I made three smaller pies

This is a very straightforward recipe, if you have a copy of Olive magazine from May this year there is also a step by step picture guide. It is many years since I last made hot - water crust pastry and had forgotten how easy it is to work with.

I thought you would also like to see the original mighty pie at its Jubilee picnic

and here are a couple of the party itself

The Courgette Glut

Not long now until plenty of courgettes appear on the scene, they do seem to be some thing of a "love or hate" vegetable.

Here is my recipe for courgettes with sausage meat stuffing. I realise a number of you will be saying "waste of a good sausage" particularly as I am using the delicious Korker www.korker-sausages.co.uk/
which I will write all about another time.

Heat the oven to 190 degrees
Skin 2 sausages and mix in 1/2 a chopped red onion, chopped herbs (I used garlic chives, sage and parsley) season
Halve 2 medium sized courgettes and remove enough of the flesh fill each half with sausage meat
Put the 2 halves back together and place in an oven proof casserole
If there is any remaining filling scatter it over the courgettes and a an additional courgette cut into chunks
Cover with 300ml of chicken stock
Bake in the oven for about 3/4 hour until the courgettes are tender
Serve with frozen peas

This recipe is even better with marrow as the flesh remains slightly firmer. A marrow will take about 1 1/2 hours.

The Room Manchester

I really enjoyed dinner at The Room in King Street Manchester. Our party of eight went there a couple of weeks ago.  The web site accurately describes the brasserie atmosphere as a mix of antique and retro and the food as classic dishes with a contemporary twist.

www.roomrestaurants.com/

This gothic style Victorian building was opened by Gladstone in 1871 as The Reform club with political significance as it was from the balcony that a young Winston Churchill addressed jubilant crowds in 1907.

Inside the restaurant the ceilings are high, the mood of the place is relaxed and the staff friendly and attentive.

The menu has plenty of interesting options, in fact for a greedy person like me it was pretty difficult to choose. To start I wavered between the Scotch Egg - rare breed pork, home made black pudding, crispy hens egg and Coronation Chicken which I settled on.

This was billed as Reg Johnsons chicken (there were other dishes on the menu from this Lancashire source www.jandsgoosnargh.co.uk) curried pea puree, mango, poppadoms and pickle. It was beautifully presented, and very tasty.

For main course I chose the Surf and Turf - Grange Farm Pork, scallops and tandoori spice and very good it was too

Raspberry Surprise

About a year ago I bought some raspberry canes from Pomona Fruits www.pomonafruits.co.uk/
This is the first year that the summer fruiting variety Glen Ample have produced fruit.

Last weekend the berries were showing the first signs of colour, this morning they were ruby red, plump and juicy. They weighed in at 600 grams.

More strangely the autumn type Joan J also have a few berries ready. Last year these produced fruit in abundance between late August and November. As you can see there will be plenty more to follow.

The first crop were put to very good use in a Swiss Roll with Raspberries and Marscapone from a recipe by Lorraine Pascale (she uses strawberries). Light sponge flavoured with vanilla, fruit sweetened  and soaked in a little marsala, rolled and dusted with caster sugar. Served with cream of course.