Polenta.

This week I had lunch at The Gladstone, Brighton. Only one vegan option but a tasty one at that! Veggie sausages (the vegetable kind, not the fake meat kind) with polenta mash and an average vegetarian gravy. This was my first taste of polenta and I was impressed, the texture made for a more interesting mash and the seasoning was spot on.

I stumbled upon this recipe on - by now you know it's my favourite food blog - Chocolate-Covered Katie (She does savoury food too, who knew?!) and decided I should give polenta a shot in my cooking.

I changed the recipe to be one big pie rather than single serve and bought ready made polenta from Sainsbury's - way less aesthetically pleasing! I also used a tin of mixed beans in chilli sauce rather than pinto beans. I cooked up a few matchstick fries which added a nice crunchy texture on the plate. Overall though, I don't think the polenta added anything to the dish, perhaps I did something wrong (sliced and laid on the pie, how wrong can that be?) but the chilli filling was great and would perhaps have worked well with rice or nachos. If anybody has any polenta related stories, success or otherwise, I'd love to hear. Or if you want to tell me how much you love my blog or that it's super boring you can do so now - ANONYMOUSLY! The comment box is working yipee.

Warning: Moving to a new kitchen (and house) next weekend so my next post could be early - or, more likely - late.

(Tr)eating out!

This weeks excitement comes in the form of two wonderful restaurant visits. The first, Terre A Terre, is somewhere I've wanted to visit for ages but never have (it's pretty expensive with posh gourmet food) and the second was SAF (Simply Authentic Food).

At Terre A Terre I was treated to this feast by my friend Lindsay, It's a mini version of each dish on the menu and really was fantastic. They were happy to alter the dish for me and gave us a great explanation of each bite (which I promptly forgot!) There was also a heavenly carafe of wine which I've been dreaming about ever since. Without wanting to sound cheesy it really was an explosion  - wait I googled a better word - eruption of flavours!

Whilst in London visiting friends on Friday we paid a visit to the Kensington Restaurant, SAF, which is located upstairs of the (unsurprisingly disappointing) Whole Foods Market - Basically a reeeeally expensive market for people who are too good for Waitrose. The restaurant is open plan within a canteen-like area which gave it a relaxed feel despite it being obviously posh. I had the:
Kerabu Rice Paper Roll
Rice paper wrap with baked marinated organic Saf brand tofu, Chinese cabbage, sprouted mung beans, mange tout, spring onions and bean sprouts with a miso sambal sauce

 I always strive to order things I haven't had before and this was no exception, the tastes and textures were exciting although overall I would have appreciated something a little starchy on the plate. Kind of ignorant to go to a restaurant with health and wellbeing at its core and then expect something naughty though! My friends had mushroom risotto made with bulgar wheat and Ratatuille Farinata so perhaps this is just another case of food envy on my part! I'd really recommend a visit, or at least check out the menu!

Another big treat this weekend was my second ever Thai green curry made with love by my friend Hetti (and 2 lowly peeler/choppers!) She even recreated the heart rice from last week, mega cute! 

Original Thai curry

Thai curry a la Hetti - Pretty perfect!

Everything's a teeny bit rushed today sorry! Starting my new job tomorrow!