balconies and blues...

Not too sure what just happened. We moved to Zurich and somehow didn't blog for three months. Whoops. Things have been busy and crazy but exciting and wonderful. For now, here's just a little peek at some delicious jambalaya. The weather is hot and we're pretending to be in New Orleans while sitting on the balcony listening to blues...

It's been a long time...

Oops, somehow managed to not blog for a couple of months... what can I say, things have been crazy busy. But, seeing as we've just moved to a new country and all... thought maybe it would be time to jump-start the old Team Inglis. So, you might already know... Freddy and I arrived in Zurich yesterday. Fell fast asleep for the entire afternoon in the hotel then woke up and ate MacDonalds and cake in front of British television... we needed to start the transition slowly.

Today we moved into our new temporary flat. It's incredibly nice, super modern, and in a very good location. Couldn't ask for anything better really. The sun was shining this afternoon so we took a little walk along the river and did a tour of Zurich's trams... there was a protest going on and so it was slightly confusing figuring out how to get to the city centre. Freddy is doing an excellent job of navigating though... especially considering all I do is tug on his shirt whining variations of, 'where are we? are we there yet? where are we going?....' Delightful as ever.

Anyway, Zurich is beautiful and we are both happy. Planning to hit up Ikea tomorrow... pretend like we are in Sweden and eat lots of hotdogs and buy some candles. Til later.

p.s. we also managed to survive our first grocery shopping trip without any dramatic arguments about which butter to buy... and even managed to arrive just as all the cakes were being marked down 50%. Good to know. xx

Jambalaya and Apple Crumble

Ok so its true I can't really cook at the moment with my hand but have been wanting to post these recipes for a while. Jambalaya is a new favourite as we often have the ingredients for this at home and apple crumble is a super quick and easy dessert.

Jambalaya

Ingredients:

the holy trinity: green bell pepper, onion, a couple sticks of celery (you know its going to be good when the first three ingredients are called the 'holy trinity')

one chicken breast

chorizo

prawns

salt and pepper

cayenne pepper

olive oil

bay leaves

thyme

a few cloves of garlic

1 fresh chili

1/2 a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

700ml chicken stock

300g rice

Directions:

Slice up the chicken breast and chuck in a large saucepan and brown for a few mins with olive oil, a spoon full of the tinned tomatoes, and chorizo sliced (in chunks). Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Add the bell pepper, onion, garlic, and celery (all finely sliced). Add the rest of the seasonings (bay leaves, chilies, etc...). Fry the mix for about ten mins, till veg is nice and soft. Add the rest of the tomatoes and the chicken stock and bring to boil. Then pop in the rice and cook for 20-30 mins till rice is done. Five mins before the dish is done add the prawns (fresh or frozen is fine). I admit it doesnt look like much, but tastastic.

Apple Crumble

Ingredients:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup oats

1/8 cup sugar

40g butter

400g apples

1/4 cup brown sugar (to sweeten the apples)

1 tbsp water

cinnamon

nutmeg

cloves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Peel, core, and cut apples into chunks. Put apples in a saucepan with brown sugar, water, and spices. Heat until they soften slightly. Mix the oats, flour, butter, and sugar together with your fingers. Place the apples in an oven proof dish and cover with the crumble. Place in oven for about 20 mins. Delish with icecream!

Oxford snow day...

It came down in the bucket loads today. Oxford was deserted for a Saturday and absolutely beautiful.

Graduation day...

On Wednesday I graduated from the London School of Economics. Was lovely to have my parents over from Egypt to celebrate with Freddy and I. We drove in from Oxford then hung around Covent Garden and Knightsbridge. So thankful to be finished and not to have any more essays to write.

because sick boys need ice cream...

As you might already know Freddy has been unwell this week after having surgery on his thumb. This was just the thing to help him get better.

Ingredients: 1 banana, 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream, pink sprinkles, hot fudge, whipped cream.

Directions: cut banana length wise, fill with ice cream, top with whipped cream, sprinkles, and hot fudge.

Blueberry Pancakes

We have been making these pancakes for the last couple of weekends. Jenny has had Saturdays off and its a great way to start the day!

Ingredients:

3 large eggs

1 cup plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

140ml milk

a pinch of salt and sugar

a splash of vanilla essence

some blueberries

Directions:

Separate the egg yolks and egg whites. Add the yolks to the rest of the ingredients above and beat into a batter (except the salt, sugar, and blueberries). Whisk the egg whites with the salt and sugar until they form stiff peaks. Then fold the whites back into the batter. Add a dollop of the batter to a warm frying pan. Once it starts frying add the blueberries to the uncooked side. Then flip over. Fry for a bit and then your done. MmmmMmmmMmmm.

enjoy!

gobble gobble...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Autumn is here...

Hyde Park, London.

saturday morning...

Mmm.... my coffee from Saturday morning. Brought over by Freddy who doused it in every available topping.

Tomato soup for stephanie

I know, I know. Im on a bit of a food blogging binge at the moment. But we are making some pretty tasty treats and have a few new regular recipes that we make all the time, so am trying to get them up on the blog.

Made some tomato soup the other day... it was good.

Ingredients: (serves four)

Soup

1kg ripe cherry tomatoes (but I reckon any kind of toms are good)

4 large tomatoes

1 fresh red chili

4 cloves of garlic

1 ciabatta loaf

2 small red onions

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

a small bunch of fresh basil

a few dollops of creme fraiche

olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions:

Turn on oven to 220 celsius. Get our tomatoes and quarter the big ones. Stick on a roasting tray with the peeled and crushed cloves of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Chop up chili and add. Toss everything around and put on top shelf of oven for 12-15 mins.

Peel and roughly chop the onions and put into a hot saucepan and some olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Leave to soften, stirring occasionally. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and leave to reduce down. Once the tomatoes are roasted and are slightly blackened on top add them to the saucepan. Give them a good mix around and leave for a few minutes to bubble away. Get your blender ready. Pour the mix into the blender (in batches if blender is not big enough to take it all at once) and add the basil. Give it a good old blend around and once finished pour back in the pan (to keep warm). Add some creme fraiche or sour cream when serving.

We also made some homemade croutons using ciabatta, which we tore up and sprinkled with salt and olive oil and popped in the oven for 10-15 mins.

Guacamole platter

We had a guacamole platter with this meal. Made us feel pretty super healthy.

Ingredients:

Tomato

1-2 fresh chilies

a handful of coriander

2 ripe avocados

2 limes

bulb of fennel

1 carrot

cucumber

breadsticks

Directions:

Destone and peel avocado. Either chuck in food processor with chilies, tomatoes, and coriander or chop finely. Then squeeze the limes over the mixture. Chop up the rest of the ingredients to use as things you can dip into the guac. MmmMmmMmm (the fennel was surprisingly good)

Taste 7/10

Price 5/10

Difficulty 3/10

I made some dinner, it was good

So Jamie has a new book. I know Jenny and I are such suckers for his recipes. I'm not saying that we like all his stuff, but he does some pretty tasty stuff going on. And his palate is pretty similar to ours. So here is: Chicken Skewers with satay sauce and fiery noodle salad.

Ingredients: feeds 4

Satay

bunch of coriander

1 fresh red chilli

1/2 a clove of garlic

3 heaped tablespoons good-quality crunchy peanut butter

soy sauce

thumb sized piece of ginger

2 limes

Chicken

4 breasts

runny honey

Noodles

250g dried medium egg noodles (1 nest per person)

100g unsalted cashews

1/2 a medium-sized red onion

1 fresh red chilli

a small bunch of fresh coriander

1-2 tbsp soy sauce

1 lime

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp runny honey

Garnishes

2 gem lettuces

coriander

soy sauce

limes

Directions:

So technically this should take 30 mins, but realistically more like 45. Stick some skewers in water. For the satay chop up a small bunch of coriander, garlic, 3 tbsp peanut butter and a glug of soy sauce. Peel and chop the ginger and add. Grate the zest of both limes and add the juice of one. Throw into a food processor or chop finely. Your call. Chopping by hand is obviously more work and takes longer. Also add a splash of water. Use half of this to marinade the chicken and the other half as tasty dip with the meal.

Chop up the chicken and stick them on the skewers. Toss with satay sauce. Drizzle with olive oil and stick in oven. Put on the top shelf and use the grill function (so only heat from above). 8-10 minutes on each side (or until cooked through). When you flip them over drizzle over with honey.

Put the noodles in a large bowl, cover with boiling water and a plate, then leave to soak for 6 minutes. Put a medium frying pan on a low heat. Bash the cashew nuts with a rolling pin or a pestle. Add to the warm pan and leave to toast. Peel the red onion half and add small bunch of coriander either to a food processor or chop finely. Put in a serving bowl with some soy sauce and olive oil and the juice of 1 lime and the fish sauce and sesame oil. Taste the sauce and season to taste. Drain and add the noodles. Toss everything together. And serve with chicken and lettuce. Sprinkle over with the toasted cashews (add some honey at the end of the toasting process for extra goodness).

Price: 4/10

Taste: 9/10

Difficulty: 4/10

simple pleasures...

peanut butter and sliced bananas on warm baguette.

amateur barber shop in the kitchen

Freddy's hair before and after. I took scissors to his head a few weeks ago...

locked outside

Back at the beginning of October, on Freddy's birthday, we tried to spend the afternoon at the Ashmolean. It turns out the museum is closed on Mondays so instead of going in we ate sushi and sandwiches outside in the sunshine.