The Roadhouse Tex Mex Mania

Time to revive the American fast food days, with a Tex Mex twist! The Roadhouse near the Covent Garden market fits the occasion perfectly. It gives the whole authentic experience, with the American diner deco, food quality AND quantity a class above the TGIF chains! There were special Happy Hour deals with buy one get one free cocktails before 7pm too, combined with a half price offers on mains, definitely one good value place for excellent Tex Mex selections.

Starters was Nanchos Grande, and they do mean every bit of that phrase. Definitely an overload of melted cheese with crisp tortilla chips, served with a cheese fondue, sour cream, salsa and fresh guacamole!

P had Philly Steak Sandwich, a tender 8oz prime sirloin steak with caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, red & green peppers and topped off with melted cheese dipping gravy. Comes with a little salad garnish and some fries on the side too.

I on the other hand, was feeling more carnivorous that day. Given that I don't take beef pretty much limits the menu (majority is steak/burger variety) to chicken, pork or fish. And there's no way of having fish in an American diner (leave it to the French :P), so it's definitely Smokin' Ribs and Chicken: half rack of bbq ribs and a grilled breast of chicken basted with smoky bbq sauce, served with french fries and onion rings. I did try to minimize the guilt by swapping the fries and onion rings with mashed potatoes and some salad :P Looks pretty mighty to even finish both chunks of meat, but we both did a pretty good effort at it in the end. The nachos had probably taken more space that we thought, haha

A place that I'd highly recommend, especially for big groups of party, since its hard to find restaurants in London that actually fits big groups of people. Fun place for Hen/Stag Nights out too, I did spot a table or two of those whilst there. Cocktail selection is vast, encompassing most of the famous American ones like Cosmopolitan, Big Apple Martini and Texas Fizz.

On the way back I spotted these interesting scooters as well. Which would you prefer? A Spidey one or classic green Vespa? You know me, choice is always the latter :) Happy Easter to all of you!

Change

Variety? Spice? ... Whatever you choose to call it.

Such a vital thing in life, yet easily overlooked in the midst of the hustle and bustle of our daily routine. You go to work from Mon-Fri, have the same thing for lunch everyday, or even do the same thing after work everyday, without realizing it and always wonder why you seemed to have lost some sort of direction in life, what purpose are you doing these for, gloomy and feel lost on weekends?

Sounds familiar? I certainly hope not for most of you all out there. But it sure is easy to focus all your energy on something at inception, get immersed so fully in the bubble, and somehow forgot why you're doing it for. It's good to self reflect once in a while I suppose, to remind yourself the purpose and what you want to go for in life, looking at the bigger picture.

So if you've been wearing the same sort of shirt color, doing the same sport, meeting the same type of people etc... it REALLY pays to give it a try to do something different. Something out of your comfort zone, something random, something that inject some sort of fresh spirit in your life, new experiences, new people, visit new places ... Come on, you only live one life, make the freakin' most of it!

Keeping the spice in life (and food of course! :P) in key to keeping sanity. Since the theme is change this time, let's try something Western for a new twist, how about fish? Something quick to cook, but easy to destroy at the same time due to fragile nature. But please don't let that deter you, the result is pretty amazing since it's easy to prepare.

So all you need, is a bunch of closed cup mushroom, a bit of potatoes, fresh green beans (from local grocer hopefully!), big red tomatoes, and a cod fish fillet, some salt and pepper, that's pretty much it! Ah, and some aluminum foil of course, and a working oven :) My original intention is to pan fry the fish, but that'll be for next time, as this is a no frills introductory to seafood cooking. Start of slow and steady, yea?

So we'll bake/grill/roast the fish, I never really know the terms or the difference, that's besides the point. First, preheat the oven at 180C-200C for about 10 minutes. In the mean time, wash the mushrooms, green beans and tomatoes, set aside. For the potatoes, once washed, pat DRY with tissue or a clean cloth, this is important for good potato wedges! With a fork, poke the skins of the potatoes evenly before you chop them into nice wedge shapes. Put the potatoes in a baking tray and season with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Drizzle a bit of olive oil and mix to coat the potatoes evenly. I personally prefer to add a pinch of Italian herb seasoning as well (oregano/basil/rosemary), works well too if you fancy.

With that done, chop the ends of the green beans to make equal length strips. Tomatoes can be sliced into thick quarters as we're going to roast them with the fish too. I like my mushrooms huge and unsliced, personal preference, you can cut them if you wish. Finally, all you have to do is cut out a big piece of aluminum foil, place the fish (I used cod here, plaice, mackerel, haddock, salmon, rainbow trout etc is good too) skin side up, mushrooms and tomatoes together. Before you wrap them up tightly in a parcel, season with the usual salt and pepper again, and I added a bit of lemon infused olive oil n rub against it to the skin of the fish. So we are now all set once the foil is sealed properly.

Put the tray of potatoes and the foil containing the fish and vegetables in the oven simultaneously. It should take about 15-20 minutes before the potatoes are brown and crispy. I didn't forget about my french beans by the way :) I prefer to steam them separately for a reason. They would have been overcooking if placed with the fish, and probably soft, brown and lumpy, uninteresting color. Gently steam (it's criminal to boil vegetables!) them over a pot of boiling water for 5-7 minutes or till cooked but crunchy. It gives a nice finishing touch and color contrast for this healthy dish!

Bento Boxes?

Call me odd, but there's just something about food being presented in tiny proportion in many dishes that I really enjoy, not just because of the variety (having a bit of everything), but presented delicately in little boxes/plates & bowls that somehow enhances the dining experience.

In particular, Japanese bento boxes. Yes, it may seem uncool as it feels like your lunch box in the olden school days, but they do make it a point to have a good color balance as you see below from a Chicken Teriyaki set I had a while ago. And yet somehow, I only get this feeling when having a bento set. Not from Chinese dim sum, Spanish tapas, or even the French way of food presentation. That's because in all those, the norm is that you share the dishes or take it as starters. But for bentos, all the variety in front of you is ALL FOR YOURSELF.

Yup, maybe I'm a greedy monster, maybe not, I don't know. It's the only difference I can observe thus far. What do you think?

Going Italian

There's nothing more relaxing than listening to Moondance on a lazy weekend, cozily snuggled under the sheets, with a good book and a cuppa aromatic coffee ... :) (plus a lot of cooking!) What's your idea of a quiet, relaxed weekend?

This weekend was great, went out with a bunch of corridor mates to see the Tuthankhamun exhibition at the O2 Arena, interesting really as I never thought I'd be intrigued by the ancient history of Egypt. Would definitely like to visit there someday ...

Slow cooking has always been one of my favorite method of cooking as it involves minimal supervision and usually achieves maximum flavor! It's also very ideal for students/working young adults as a healthier/cheaper alternative of eating out. It's worth considering investing in one of these smart cookers with 3 heat adjustments!

I got mine earlier this year and so instead of doing my usual Chinese, I stumbled upon this Italian pork stew while flipping through one of the cookbooks in Borders with my usual latte :) The ingredient list is straightforward, with non of the complicated foreign-sounding spices that tends to discourage people to abandon the recipe altogether.

So here's the recipe list, if memory doesn't fail me:

Italian Pork Stew

Ingredients:

1 large onion, cut in wedges
2 bell peppers (orange and red ones), sliced in long matchsticks
300g-500g potatoes, cut into large chunks
1 can of tomato puree (400g)
1 litre of chicken stock (or use chicken stock cube for convenience)
Slabs of pork, about 800g-1 kg (shoulder/spare rib), do not cut into cubes
Salt and pepper, to taste
Thyme, 2 tsp
Olive oil, 2 tbsp
Pasta (optional)

Method

1. Heat oil in pan till hot and brown each side of the pork slabs quickly (not cooked). This should take about 1 minute each side of the pork. Remove the pork slabs once its slightly cooked on the outside.

2. In the remaining oil, stir fry the onions till soft and slightly translucent.


3. Add in the potato chunks in and continue swirling them around the pan occasionally for about 5 minutes

4. Then add the tomato puree with the chicken stock in to boil for about 10 minutes. Don't forget to and salt, pepper and thyme to taste too!

5. Finally, add the colorful pepper in the mixture and let it cook for about 1 minute. Then, bring transfer the whole mixture into a pre-heated (3 minutes or so) slow cooker, placing the pork slabs on top before covering it.

6. Set the heat to 'High' for about 3-4 hours or 'Medium' for about 6-7 hours and it's done! The beautiful aroma should linger about the whole household and perfect for a cold winter's dinner. Serves 6.

I served mine with some pasta too and the soup was amazing. The pork slabs don't need to be cut as it might turn mushy after slow cooking. It does that automatically after the long cooking hours, soft and tender, falling off the bone!

Brit's back!

I don't mean Britney, but British cuisine!

But first of all, before I embark into my foodie talks again, apologies for the long absence, life has been topsy turvy with the work madness, settling in a new place, and flying around the globe ... Yet, I haven't forgot the blog of course, and my love for food (despite New Year resolutions to lose weight, go to gym blah blah), so I'm starting to fire the first of my series of backdated posts!

And the topic of the day is British food. And why, I hear some of you all say, of ALL topics, huh? Seems like British cuisine had acquired some sort of negative connotations over the years, one being not really having an identity of its own, plain flavors, unimaginative, boring, etc? I beg to differ and please give me a chance to suss it out before you all ignore me, because I started out having the same stereotypical views too!

French cuisine is commonly used as an unfair comparison with English food but they are fundamentally different in principle. British dishes are on the whole simpler, in the ingredients and presentation sense, more down to earth and approachable (to recreate) to normal (non chef) people like us, I suppose.

No identity? Bangers and Mash, Fish and Chips, Sunday Roasts seem like foolproof dishes? They may seem plain but extracting their maximum potential is definitely no mean feat. It's probably easy to make average versions of these dishes that no one thought it could taste better, but the type of sausage/potatoes, the fish batter, and the gravy content and methods all matter in making these dishes taste just a notch higher.

Come to think about it, the pub culture in UK is actually unique and not found in any of her European counterpart. With the recent rise of British celebrity chefs and the nation's increased exposure to international cuisine, British food has been redeeming itself well with some good gastropubs mushrooming in the cities and regional towns. Not only that, more attention has been paid to this recent phenomenon with gastropub rankings like these appearing in newspapers and magazines.

I recently went to a good one in West London, near Baron's Court Tube Station, right next to the Queen's Tennis Club. There's nothing like having Sunday brunch in a good ol' fashion pub in England! The quirky oldies music, soccer channels on TV and the warm couch next to the fireplace ... The Curtains Up Pub definitely fits this rustic description where you can soak up all the culture and British atmosphere :) Interestingly, it also has a theatre within its premises, perfect for the pre theatre meals or after show drinks!

These are what we'd tried on a Sunday pilgrimage : a bit of everything :P I had the mixed platter consisting of good British sausages, roast potato wedges, Thai prawns and chicken goujons.

Beer battered fish and chips in various angles ... Fresh haddock and a beer infused crispy batter is all you need! Definitely one of my favorite pubs in London :)



The Curtains Up Pub
28A Comeragh Rd, London, London, W14 9HR