Wednesday 30 September 2009

Mini Empanadas

Empanadas are a staple in South America. Distant cousins of the Cornish pasty they’re quite stodgy and come in with an array of fillings, commonly including beef, vegetables, cheese and always a bit of spice. These are miniature versions made with filo pastry which are much lighter and great with drinks or as part of a tapas type meal.

Prawn Empanadas

1 small onion
1 green chilli
2 cloves garlic
400g raw king prawns
few drops green tabasco
salt, pepper, paprika
½ tsp tomato puree
Juice of ½ a lime
handful fresh coriander
2 packs filo pastry

Makes about 36

Very finely chop the onion, garlic and chilli. Heat some sunflower oil in a heavy frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and sweat for two minutes, add the garlic and chilli and continue to cook until softened but not coloured.

Either finely chop the raw prawns by hand or whiz in a food processor until almost minced. Add to the onion mixture and cook over a low heat until completely opaque. Season with tabasco, salt and pepper and perhaps a little paprika to taste. Stir in roughly chopped coriander, tomato puree and lime juice. Allow to cool completely and then discard liquid. (Assembly instrutions below)




Spicy Beef Empanadas

1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 red pepper
400g minced beef
1 beef stock cube
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp tomato puree
salt, pepper, smoked paprika
fresh coriander
100g grated cheddar/emmenthal

2 packs of filo pastry

Makes about 36

Very finely chop the onion, garlic and pepper. Heat some sunflower oil in a heavy frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and sweat for two minutes, then add the garlic and red pepper and continue to cook until softened but not coloured.

Add the minced beef and stir continually, breaking it up completely. Crumble in the stock cube and add the chilli powder, tomato puree, salt, pepper and paprika. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes over a low heat. Check for seasoning and let the mixture cool completely. Stir in the cheese.

Vegetable Empanadas

1 red onion
1 red chilli

2 cloves garlic

2 red peppers

300g sweet potato
200g courgette

1 veg stock cube

salt, pepper,

smoked paprika

fresh coriander and parsley

100g grated cheddar/emmenthal

2 packs of filo pastryMakes about 36Very finely chop the onion, garlic, chilli, pepper and courgette. Cut the sweet potato into 1/2cm dice. Heat some sunflower oil in a heavy frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and sweat for two minutes, then add all of the remaining vegetables and cook for another two minutes. Crumble in the stock cube and add the chilli powder, tomato puree, salt, pepper and paprika. Add about 200ml of water, bring to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes over a low heat until the sweet potato is tender. Check for seasoning and let the mixture cool completely. Stir in the cheese.

Putting them together

To make the empanadas take two sheets of filo pastry. Lay on top of one another brush with oil. Cut into four horizontal strips. Place a small teaspoon of the prawn or beef mixture at on end of each strip and fold at right angles into a triangle, keep folding over until you reach the end of the pastry strip. Brush with oil.

Repeat until you have used all the filling. Either cook immediately for 9 minutes at 200°C or freeze and cook from frozen at the same temperature for about 14 minutes until golden.

Salmon with Gremolata



Salmon Fillets with Gremolata


Gremolata takes a few minutes to throw together and is delicious with fish. The traditional Italian version doesn't include anchovies and is often served with their rich veal stew, Ossobucco alla Milanese. This recipe is a quick way to cook salmon but the mixture works well with all types of mullet and sea bass. Just make some slashes into the skin, stuff with the gremolata and bake.


3 cloves garlic
3 anchovies
1 lemon
big handful parsley
few springs mint
olive oil
4 salmon fillets
salt & pepper

Grate the lemon rind onto a chopping board. Peel the garlic, place it onto the board with the lemon rind, parsley, anchovy, mint and a tsp or two of olive oil. Chop it all together very finely with a large knife. Keep going until you can't see any chunks of garlic. Put the salmon fillets in an oven tray, grind over some salt and pepper and spread a quarter of the gremolata on top of each fillet. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon around the fillets and if you've got it a slug of white wine. Cover with foil and bake at 200 for 12 minutes.

Thursday 24 September 2009

Breakfast at The Botanist




On the north corner of Sloane Square, the stylish Botanist brasserie apes its elegant setting in the safe way one would expect of its Chelsea location. The venue has been lent its theme by the legacy of Sir Hans Sloane; prints of flora and fauna from his collections are decorously woven into the dressing of the rooms, creating a calm and fresh interior.

Floor to ceiling windows flood light into the spacious entrance and make the most of the dramatic metallic bar made complete by oversized vases, tall stools and diners draping themselves on its edge. Wandering through to the dining room we sit down on pale leather banquettes next to another magnificent expanse of glass and ponder the eclectic breakfast list which features sauteed cepes, Parma ham, pancakes and porridge.

Considering there are only one or two other groups and several unoccupied waitresses it takes an extraordinarily long time to order our drinks; perhaps the serenity of the location has taken too strong a hold. But when the loose leaf Lapsang does arrive in its charming pastel ceramic pot it is delicious and the cappuccino is well, a cappuccino – warm, frothy, caffeinated, not particularly memorable – standard in a city where every other shop front conceals an Italian coffee machine.

Sir Hans Sloane was responsible for bringing cocoa to our shores and discovered that with milk and sugar this strange exotic bean was almost palatable. We should of course have tried the decadent Botanist Hot Chocolate, created in his honour, but I wasn’t convinced that poached eggs and a Rococo chocolate stirrer would make such a perfect pair.


The scrambled eggs which arrived atop smoked salmon and English muffins told the same story as the coffee, they were remarkable in nothing bar the small portion. And my poached eggs were undercooked, watery and tasted more of vinegar than anything else. This is not in any way bad food, if you were in less impressive surroundings perhaps it would taste better, perhaps not, but the over all sense is that the cuisine plays second fiddle to the atmosphere.

Just as Sir Hans Sloane’s legacy was arguably the result of lucrative investments and fortuitous circumstances rather than inspired intellect or hunger for discovery so the Botanist’s success seems to be based on design and setting rather than innovative or interesting culinary mastery. The team behind it just doesn’t think outside the box, or in this case the very famous Square.



The Botanist
No 7 Sloane Square
London SW1W 8EE
020 7730 0077
http://www.thebotanistonsloanesquare.com/


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