I am off university now for Christmas which is much valued. Even though I have lots to get done over this break I still get time to eat, cook and be a little more relaxed than usual. Also I get to write a lengthy blogpost hence if you read till the end you must have a lot of patience (a skill I am not well versed in). For that I thank you in advance!
My posts as of yet have no pattern and why should they anyway. I like writing as I go and don’t feel the need to compartmentalise it just yet.
So here it goes: two reviews & one recipe.
Reviews
Homeslice
http://www.homeslicepizza.co.uk/
Honestly you can’t beat the pizza here. It’s the best kind of pizza, a very very thin crust – the kind you have to fold up in all directions to be able to get it in your mouth. They are known for their huge pizzas for £20 or you can get a slice for £4 (but why would you just get a slice??). The toppings are also super interesting and change weekly.
So if you like a plain margherita then maybe don’t go.
This one was half aubergine & harissa and the other half mushroom and balsamic vinegar. Yes it looks massive and you may think oh no, I couldn’t eat that all. Well if you are like me and have a friend to accompany you who has a similar appetite then its pretty easy.
Roti King
http://rotiking.info/
This place is almost like a cult institution. Its in an unassuming underground basement next to Euston station but the queue outside it as soon as it opens is a clear indicator of its popularity.
There is good reason to go to it because not only is the food amazing, its so damn affordable! My fish and roti canai was only £6.50 and if you get it with daal its only £5.00, these kind of prices for a central London restaurant are unheard of.
The curries are soooo amazing and the roti canai so so so fluffly. It’s a canteen style environment with fast and happy go lucky service.
I have noticed that I have a thing for canteen style places (possibly because the food in these kind of places always has copious amounts of flavour & isn’t pretentious)
Recipe
Steak with Chimichuri
So I love steak but I won’t lie and say I have ever cooked it before. This was my first time actually and with only myself to review it, I’d say it was good.
I thought of making the whole peppercorn sauce thing but then Chimichuri came in my head and I couldn’t really let go of the idea.
Chimichuri
This originates from Argentina and is commonly served with beef/meats there. Considering Argentina is known worldwide as a meat loving country, I was pretty sure this was a good choice.
Bunch of Coriander (The original uses parsley but I had none so used coriander instead hey ho. Everyone who hates coriander go buy parsley instead.)
Smaller bunch ofMint leaves (because we had some BUT they aren't used in the Argentinian recipe)
½ tsp oregano
1 tsp crushed red chillies
5/6 green bullet chillies (this is quite a lot so adjust as you please)
3 cloves of garlic
salt to taste
A good glug of olive oil
½ lemon worth of juice
Put in a blender & blitz
Steak
Marinate with the following 15 minutes before cooking
Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Pepper
A little bit of the chimichuri
The cooking of the steak I guess is pretty personal. I like mine medium rare, so I’d say I cooked it for 15 minutes but as I said I am no expert on steak cooking.
Side
I roasted around 2 sweet potatoes and one potato in the oven at 180C for around 20 minutes with the same seasoning as the steak and tossed in a little bit of olive oil.
That’s it, serve the steak with copious amounts of sauce!
(these pictures are bad I know but I realised I wanted to share this once I ate all of it and only had these)
A thought (just one)
When I made my mum try the sauce, her first reaction was that it was much like a chutney we make to serve with kebab. I don’t know I just found it interesting that even where we would not necessarily think there is a link between these two very different cultures (Argentinian & Pakistani), food found one!
Mince Pies
Considering its December, here’s a mention to my favourite thing about this time.
I went for Afternoon Tea at Patisserie Valerie and couldn’t stop smiling because of the mince pies. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth but what I do have is a very very unhealthy affection for mince pies.
And that’s it. I will write another post before I start university again hopefully because I do love blabbing about food, a lot. People around me probably get sick of it, so its nice to give them a break and talk about it here.
Ciao Ciao
Shanzé x