My Chilli Jalapeno plant

I have absolutely no luck when it comes to growing things. Every time someone gives me a plant or I buy one thinking "that would brighten up my place". Once I get it home I try and look after it, but no matter how much I try they always die within a few weeks. So I made a decision to never buy a plant again, because I'm just not destined to grow plants or herbs or anything really.  So you can imagine my horror when on my birthday I was given a chilli jalapeno plant from my best friends 3 year old daughter, who I had been told had grown the seedling HERSELF!!

There was no way I could let this plant die, I had to give it a chance, if only for Sana's sake (the 3yr old gardener). That's the least I can do. How would I be able to face a 3 year old and tell her that the beautiful gift she gave me lasted only a few days. So operation 'chilli jalapeno plant' came in to force.

The first thing I did in order to give this plant a fair chance in life was to re-pot the thing. I already had a big pot which had soil in it taking up space in my store cupboard. This had been given to me (on my request) by my sister-in-law two years ago when I had the foolish idea of wanting to grow herbs. (I still do, but just accepted my lack of green fingers and never did). So I re-potted the seedling and placed it on my very sunny window sill.

Nafisa, (Sana's mother), advised me to give it 3 sips of water a day. I watered it everyday, but because the pot was bigger then what I had received it in, I gave it more than three sips. More like three quarters of a cup. Then I received some advice that actually chilli plants are used to quite hot arid conditions so maybe I shouldn't water it as much. So now I only ever water it when all the water from the drip tray has disappeared.

Now when I was in Rome some magic happened, because when I returned after four days of gloriousness, the plant had grown. A LOT. I felt like Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk I was amazed, I mean seriously taken back. I couldn't believe that something had grown, and better still, keeps on growing. I measure it every day, its now standing at 23cm. I love my chilli plant, even though there are no chilli's growing on it at the moment, I still love my chilli plant. I don't know what I'll do when I see my first chilli growing on it. I think I might drive all the way to West London and show Sana. I never realised how much joy you can get from making something grow. So thank you Sana.

World Cup Nachos

If you're as disappointed in England's performance as I am, then hopefully these world cup nachos will cheer you up! The American Vegetarian introduced me to the joy of homemade nachos. Its perfect 'in front of the tv' food, and goes down well with a nice cold beer.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

Two ripe avocados

1 red onion; diced

2 ripe tomatoes

Half the juice of a lime
1/2 tsp chilli powder

1 can of chopped tomatoes

Handful of fresh coriander; chopped

Splash of lemon juice

1 can of re fried beans

1 bag of lightly salted tortilla chips (Must be lightly salted for nachos. Any other flavour will ruin it.)
Good handful of jalapeno peppers (I use the ones you get in bottles. Drain from bottle and chopped)
Some grated cheese of your choice (cheddar, red leicester)

Lettuce; chopped

salt & pepper to taste

Method

Take the first five ingredients and make the guacamole. Here's how; Cut the avocado in half and with a spoon scoop out the flesh and place in a bowl. Mush it up with a fork until it gets quite smooth. Cut the tomatoes in quarters and de-seed them. Then dice the flesh of the tomato and add to the bowl, along with half of the chopped red onion, the juice of half a lime, chilli powder and salt to taste. Mix until all ingredients are mixed well. Now make the salsa. Open the can of tomatoes and transfer to a bowl. Add the rest of the chopped red onion, fresh coriander, salt and pepper to taste and a splash of lemon juice. Stir and set aside.

Heat the re fried beans according to the cans instructions. Now on a plate place as many tortilla chips as you want. On top of this put some of the heated re fried beans, then scatter some jalapeno peppers, add some guacamole and some salsa, and then sprinkle on some cheese. Now stick the plate in the microwave or place under a grill, until the cheese has melted. Once this is done, add some lettuce and more guacamole and salsa. Nachos done! Oh and don't be afraid to pile it high!

Enjoy whilst sitting in front of the TV with a cold beer! Come on England!!!

I *heart* Rome part 2

Dining in Rome is a relaxed affair. You arrive, and ten minutes later a waiter gives you bread and a menu. Twenty minutes after that the waiter takes your order. Thankfully the wine usually arrives promptly after you've ordered it. They then give you a good thirty minutes to drink the wine and finish the bread off before giving you your starter. By this time you're starving and a bit tipsy, so finish the starter off in record time. Which is unfortunate as you now have another twenty five minutes to wait until you get your main course.

Dinner in Rome can take a good three hours, but this is no complaint when you are sitting outside on a cobbled street, watching Rome go by.

This is certainly the case when we went to the best vegetarian restaurant this side of the Colosseum;  Il Marguetta. Situated in between the Spanish Steps and Piazza del popolo, in a nice local upmarket area of Rome away from the touristy side of things and off an off street. I read about this place before going to Rome, and a friend who had been to Rome recently said that "its a must". Both my friend and the articles I read, said that it has an all 'you can eat' buffet. So I went there expecting a buffet style eatery. What I got was a very nice swanky restaurant, with a menu to match. What a delight to come to a lovely upmarket restaurant that serves vegetarian food only.

The menu was a very well thought out imaginative mix with no shortage of options. They have an extensive a la carte menu as well as five set menus that range from Gourmet (60 euros) to Light (29 euros) to vegan (32 euros). The a la carte had delights like saffron, courgette flower and courgette risotto, to seitan lemon escalope with lemon dressed kale. After studying the menu for a while the American Vegetarian and I opted for the Spinach salad with strawberries and a balsamic dressing, to share, and as our main I opted for the Aubergine platter and the American Vegetarian had Breaded seitan with golden potatoes and a sweet and sour sauce. When the friendly and polite waiter took our order, he asked if we were sharing and we said yes. As each order arrived, he placed the plate with the food, on one side and the spare plate on the other. And as each dish arrived one by one, after we had finished the dish we were eating, he alternated who got the dish with food and who got the spare plate. This was just fantastic. The food was so good, inventive and most importantly tasty that we both got to enjoy it all.

What amazed and delighted us both was the care that had gone into the presentation of the food as well. I don't think either of us expected what we were served. When our salad arrived we were presented with a beautiful plate of spinach leaves  with a mound of mini strawberries upon them. It was fresh and mouthwatering. The balsamic dressing had a lovely zingy-ness. All in all it was one of the best salads I've had in a long time.

Next was the aubergine platter. I love aubergine, its one of my favourite vegetables and this dish did not disappoint. As you can see, it came made four ways. In the glass bowl the aubergine was roasted and then mashed up with a soft texture, but with some lumps of aubergine. The breaded ball at the top of the photo was lightly fried, warm and soft and just melted in your mouth. If I had to pick a favourite from this selection it would be the one in the middle. It was like soft cheese, but with a slightly smokey flavour to it, and it had a rough creamy consistency. It was absolutely divine. The final piece of magic on the plate reminded me of eggplant parmesan, a warm cheesy aubergine fest. I could have ordered this whole plate again and again.

Then came the breaded seitan with golden potatoes and a sweet and sour sauce. The sauce was very familiar, in fact quite like tomato ketchup, but I love tomato ketchup, so va bene! Now I've only ever had seitan in New York, and so it was a lovely surprise seeing it on the menu. This dish was great as well. Seitan is a protein with a 'meaty' texture. The potatoes were cooked to perfection, and after the soft aubergine platter it was nice to have a dish you can get your teeth into.

After this amazing dinner, it would have been rude of us not to have dessert. Unfortunately I haven't got any good pictures of dessert because by the time dessert arrived it was dark and I was unable to get a good picture of the food without using the flash, and then it had too much glare on it.  As for dessert,  you are just going to have to imagine what the triple layer chocolate looked like. It tasted; ooohhhhh, aaaaahhhh, mmmmmm! I highly recommend anyone, vegetarian or not to visit this restaurant when in Rome.

Il Margutta have a day time all you can eat brunch: 12.30 -3.30pm. Restaurant in the evening: 7.30 - 11.30pm.

I *heart* Rome part 1

This past weekend the American Vegetarian and I went to Rome. What an amazing city. The history that surrounds Rome is mind blowing, and the food...aahhh, the food is delicioso.

So where to begin my food journey with Roma. Well on the first night, after we walked to the Trevi Fountain, and sat amongst the throng of other tourists who had the same idea as we did, we then walked towards the Spanish Steps and along Via Mario dei Fiori (a very nice area of Rome, swanky shops, little boutiques and most importantly nice restaurants) where we found, recommended to us by our guide book , Al 34. The reviews were good, and so we sat outside and ordered a carafe of wine. I don't know why, but pouring yourself wine from a carafe than a bottle seems so much more sophisticated. To eat, the American Vegetarian had a Mozzarella salad, with sun dried tomatoes, sweetcorn, rocket, and other delights that you can see from the picture. I had seafood risotto, which I have to say did not take me to another level. It was ok, but I've had better risotto from an Italian man in Notting Hill!

The following day, we ventured to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. OMG WOW!!! The history contained here just blew me away. I seriously recommend seeing these historic sights before you die. Back to the food, for lunch we found a wonderful local pizza place called Il Forna (the oven). The pizza was lined up and sold by weight. They had a really good selection of vegetariano pizza, so we had one with courgette flowers, cherry tomatoes, and mozzarella, a sliced potato and rosemary, and a classic pomodoro mozzarella (margaritas). You just sit by the counter and eat, while you watch them make more pizza in front of your very eyes. I'm so glad we found this local eatery, as there's nothing better then good pizza. As well as pizza, it had a vast selection of other vegetarian dishes. This place was so good that we returned there on our last day in Rome.

That same evening we lucked out again with food, and found a very good, family run restaurant just off Piazza Novano called Terra di Siena. The menu had a simple yet inviting options, we both opted for Linguine Pesto and a lettuce, gorgonzola and apple salad. It was mouthwatering. Freshly made and just so heavenly. The salad, pictured, was particularly tasty. The creaminess of the gorgonzola and the crunchiness of the apple contrasted well against each other.

I have to say every meal we had in Rome was fabuloso. Our next meal consisted of flavours I would not normally put together, but most probably will now. The salad we had was; goats cheese covered in sesame seeds, with grapefruit and beansprouts. I thought this was magical, it came with a slightly spicy tomato salsa as well. You really did have a taste sensation in your mouth; the creamy goats cheese, with the bitterness of the grapefruit, combined with crunch of the beansprouts, and the slightly spicy salsa. Wow, my mouth was literally going crazy. So many flavours, and they all worked well together. For the main I had ricotta filled tortellini with a yoghurt and mint sauce. Never had this mix before and it was very appetizing. It was a warm dish, and the yoghurt and mint came as a sauce on top of the tortellini. The mint gave the dish a lovely freshness, which was tasteful against the creamy ricotta.

The vegetarian options were not difficult to find in Rome, and each restaurant we went to did have a nice selection of dishes. Unlike some other places we've visited, Rome had fantatstic food, wherever we ate, and no difficulty in finding good vegetarian options. Buon appetito.

Afternoon Tea

One of many things this country does do well, when it comes to food, is afternoon tea.

Carrying on from my previous post, even though I think diners in America are better than an American diner in the UK, I have to admit no-one does afternoon tea quite like the British.

I had my first experience of afternoon tea last year, funnily enough on my birthday. The American vegetarian and I decided to go to the New Forest and get away from London. We love our bike rides, and so on my birthday we hired two bikes and rode through the beautiful countryside in the New Forest. After petting the ponies, and watching the deer and wild horses we stumbled across a very fine hotel. It was a glorious sunny day, and we sat outside in the garden, where a wedding was occurring. We lucked out and had the pleasure of listening to a string quartet that was actually for the wedding party.

Afternoon tea was on the menu, and we ordered tea for two! When it arrived we saw two of everything; two mini chocolate eclairs, two mini cherry tarts, two mini gorgeous scrumptious sweet delights and scones with clotted cream. I was in mini cake heaven. Eating the cakes and sipping tasteful tea on a sunny day in the New Forest was amazing. I have a habit of eating fast, I don't know why, but I think it has something to do with making sure I get the food down me before I get full. I'm sure this isn't a good thing, but anyway on this particular day my eating habit didn't change and before I knew it I had eaten two tiers worth of mini cakes and the scone with jam and experiencing a sugar rush like never before.

The bike ride back was very speedy indeed. Afternoon tea is a wonderful thing!

An American Diner Versus A Diner in America

I love big brunchy type breakfasts..well who doesn't? So seeing as it was my birthday on Monday the American Vegetarian treated me to an American style breakfast at The Diner (at my request). Now The Diner prides itself by serving "Classic American Dining", which is why I wanted to go there. Looking at the menu, I have to say my mouth was watering, and it reminded me of my days spent in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I used to always get breakfast at this fantastic diner called Daisy's Diner. I would sit at the counter with my Harry Potter book and order two eggs (my way), side of home fries and coffee. Being in America the cup was obviously bottomless, so was re-filled regularly; and all for $5. I was in breakfast heaven. 

So treating me to an American breakfast is a sure way to make me happy. Having studied the menu, for at least a week (or two) beforehand I knew the menu looked good and most importantly I knew exactly what I wanted. Eggs Benedict with home fries.

When we got there I was slightly disappointed that they didn't have any outdoor seating especially as we were experiencing tropical heat in London, but anyways, we sat near the open window so it wasn't too bad. The Diner is decked out like you would expect; booth type seating arrangements, with an assortment of condiments at your disposal. I saw that they had root beer on the menu, which immediately put a big smile on the American Vegetarians face,  now I can't stand root bear, to me it tastes like medicine, but the American Vegetarian loves it, so we wanted to order that. "Sorry, we've run out, we can't even order any from stock" came the reply from the slightly 'over eager to take our order' waitress. So we had some fresh OJ instead. Now the home fries were stated as being "spicy" home fries, I thought that this was unusual, as home fries that I've had in the states are just not spicy, but hey I ordered them anyway. Now the American Vegetarian ordered a Belgian waffle and home fries. We wanted some fresh fruit to go on top of the waffle, as that's quite usual too, but they said that they didn't have any fresh fruit!!! What? No fresh fruit anywhere in the building??? Not even a banana? an apple? or a grape? "No sorry, we've got some blueberries". "Fantastic, we'll have some blueberries" I said, "They are in syrup though...from a tin". "Oh well, we'll just have the waffle. Au natural then".

And so the food came, my Eggs Benedict was nice, but I've had better hollandaise sauce at other places, and the spicy home fries, were not spicy at all. They were just seasoned with rosemary. So that made the home fries even more bizarre. In the beginning I wanted just your everyday American style home fries, then after seeing the menu I got used to the idea that they were going to be spicy, and once they arrived I ended up with seasoned potatoes with onions!!

The Belgian waffle was just too sweet and too small to be classical American, and the fact they didn't have any fresh fruit...well what American diner doesn't have fresh fruit?

So all in all it wasn't the ideal American breakfast I had fantasied about in my head. The menu looks much better then the product they serve. If you want to eat at an American diner, than I whole heartedly suggest you buy an airplane ticket to the states and go to any diner you want. The food will be big, filling and will leave you with a slightly comatose smile on your face.

The picture above on the top is my breakfast from The Diner and the picture on the bottom and below is taken from a fantastic diner called The Broken Egg Bistro in Virginia Beach. The servings are big, the fruit fresh, and you get what you ask for...satisfaction.

Dips and Salsa or nothing for a whole week and then 3 come along at once!!!

What's a barbecue without dips and salsa? We all need something to dip into, some more than others, and these three dips are easy, quick and simple to make. You can then add these dips onto your burger, or just use them as a dip with crisps, chips, or chopped carrots and celery etc.

Auro (Roasted Aubergine dip)

Ingredients

2 Aubergines
2-3 tbsp of natural yoghurt
3/4 tsp of freshly ground cumin powder
1/2 tsp of chilli powder
3/4 tsp of salt
A good handful of fresh coriander; chopped
Some oil

Method

Preheat oven to 200 Celsius
Pierce the aubergine and brush some oil on to them. Then roast them in the oven for approximately 40 minutes, turning them halfway. Once they are done (the skin will look slightly wrinkly and burned and you should be able to pierce a knife through the aubergine very easily), cut the top off and place in a bowl and chop and mash the aubergines up with a knife and fork. Then add the yoghurt, spices, salt and coriander. Mix well, taste, adjust seasoning and serve.

Cucumber Raitu (Cucumber yoghurt dip)

1 cucumber
2-3 cups of natural yoghurt
1/2 tsp freshly ground cumin powder
Mint (optional)
Fresh coriander (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Coarsely grate the cucumber then squeeze the water out of it. Cucumber retains a lot of water, so you really have to do this step, so the dip doesn't become too watery. After you have grated the cucumber, get a handful of the stuff, and squeeze until no more water comes out. Repeat until you've done the whole cucumber.

Then in a bowl, mix all the ingredients together, and garnish with fresh coriander.

Tomato Salsa

Ingredients

1 can of chopped tomatoes
Handful of fresh coriander; chopped
1/2 onion; chopped
Juice of half a lemon

Red chilli flakes or ground black pepper (you don't need both as they both give the dish heat)

Salt for seasoning

Method

Combine all the above ingredients together, and serve immediately.

Hope you like recipe number 7, 8 & 9 in my quest to give you 21 brilliant vegetarian barbecue recipes.