Hasselback Potatoes

Potatoes, in all its shapes and forms, are one of my favourite vegetables ever. They’re so versatile and can be used as the perfect staple to almost every meal (except maybe a dessert dish, but who knows eh…). Of course, I am no stranger to trying to cook potatoes in a million and one ways, but I can definitely say that Hasselback Potatoes are my new favourite way! 

They were super simple to cook and honestly, I made them because my best friend loves potatoes almost more than I do (which I really didn’t think was possible!) and I needed the perfect accompaniment to my veggie lasagna. 

Ingredients: 

• Potatoes (I used a mix of baby and new potatoes)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• 30g butter
• A tbsp dried oregano (optional)
• A tbsp harissa spices (optional)
• Salt, to taste 
• Handful of coriander 

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Place a potato on a wooden spoon and slice, leaving a bit at each end – the edges of the spoon will ensure the potato doesn’t slice through completely. Repeat for all potatoes. 
3. In a baking dish/tray, add the oil and butter and place in the oven for a few minutes to melt. 
4. Remove from the oven, add the sliced potatoes and toss to coat well with oil-butter mixture. 
5. Add the remaining ingredients, toss and coat well.
6. Place in the oven for 45-55 minutes or until edges are crispy and the inner potato is soft. 

I’ve been dying to make these for so long but it’s looked so difficult that I’ve been terrified to make it – BUT I’M SO GLAD I’VE FINALLY MADE IT. It tastes amazing and was a lot faster to make than I anticipated, and I hope you’ll all enjoy it as much as I do! 

Mini Frittata

So as you’ve all probably established by now through my incessant Instagram posts, brunch and/or breakfast – depends on the day – is a HUGE deal for me right now. Like I actually LOVE waking up an hour or so earlier in the mornings just to put together a cute setting for everyone else in the house to wake up to because it just puts everyone in good spirits when there is good food! Top tip for you all: food is the way to most people’s hearts, especially when it’s handmade. Anyway, I digress, the point of this post is to share a recipe for my go-to item when hosting any finger food style affair, mini frittatas. I’m not going to lie to you guys, I’ve been calling it egg muffins the entire time and the name has only come from my dear friend and fellow blogger, Thuy – she’s an adorable thing, check out her blog for all things aesthetically pleasing.

These frittatas can have ANYTHING in them. Trust me. I have experimented with a million different things and it has been a success every time. The recipe I will share with you guys makes about 12 portions and if you want more, just double the ingredients up.

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• A handful of baby leaf spinach
• 1/4 of a red pepper, finely diced
• 1/4 of a green pepper, finely diced
• Feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 tsp salt
• A pinch of pepper
• 8 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• Butter (to grease the pan)

Method:

1. Using butter or cooking oil spray, grease a muffin pan well and keep aside for later. Preheat the oven at 180°C.
2. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well ensuring they are all evenly distributed and coated.
3. Pour a ladle-full into each muffin pan hole until you have filled all 12 – or however many it is you are choosing to do.
4. Place the pan in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
5. Once golden brown at the top, get out of the oven. They should pop straight out of their holes with the help of a spoon around the edges.
6. These can be served both hot or at room temperature – the flavour remains.

Do you see what I mean by a dead easy recipe? You can change up all the ingredients or throw in spices or whatever the heck it is you want to complement your taste buds! These mini frittatas always go down a treat and the family always look forward to it, and I hope they can be just as amazing for you!

Masala Chai Nashta

Okay so I need you all to know that this post has been in my drafts since the 31st January 2017. I started writing it and then got so distracted so much by who even knows what that I completely disregarded it and left it for what is now its third month. But, I am here now. And that is all that matters.

Chai Nashta is an absolutely ADORABLE place. Well, when I say adorable, I don’t mean by interior standards of other places I usually call adorable. I mean more in the sense that it’s a family-run business and the women kick ass in the kitchen and dish up all the good food in their super cute ‘Chai Nashta’ t-shirts while the men just wait on us – amazing, I know, this is my true aesthetic. In terms of the decor, it’s pretty simple and straightforward with nothing terribly fancy or gaudy to go with the cultural theme they promote – it’s simple and effective, but could definitely look cuter.

In terms of the food. Guys. I just, words fall short. The food was SO GOOD. Though the menu boasts a wide range of all-day breakfast options (all of which are halal!), the best friend and I opted for the classic ‘Desi Nashta’ priced at a humble £7.95. For this price, these are the things you get:

• Masala egg – scrambled or an omelette
• Side 1 – masala beans or fried masala potatoes
• Side 2 – lamb or chicken keema
• Bread – 2 rotis or 1 paratha or 5 puris
• Drink – masala tea or masala coffee

Served on a thali (a metal platter), everything just looks so cute and handmade – which it is, obviously. Though the portion size looks colossal at first, it is actually a very doable amount of food to eat. The both of us chose to try the masala omelette, masala beans, lamb keema, 5 puris, and a masala tea. Sans the drink, I absolutely loved everything. Though I had to pace myself, I definitely went out of my way to eat everything. Coming back to the masala tea, I’m honestly not a big fan of masala tea so for me, it was just okay, but the best friend loved it. Apparently the flavours were well infused and had the right balance of tea and masala.

The service was extremely friendly and not at all in your faces like other places I may have spoken about before. It’s all a case of maintaining a physical distance enough to just give a quick thumbs up or a head nod to indicate all is well. The food also comes out piping hot. There’s a short wait of about 15 minutes between the time you order and the time you receive your food, but that was nothing considering how fresh everything tasted and looked.

This is definitely a place I intend to be visiting again, especially with the rest of the family. This is right up their street. I’ll put the map thingymajig down below so you can all check it out too. Let me know what you think – especially if you try something different on the menu from myself!

Fairy Toast

If you follow me on my Instagram account, you’ll know that I’ve been promising to upload something on this blog for a while now but have just not got around to it. I’m not going to lie and say “oh I have assignments due” or “life is super busy at the moment” because neither is true and I have just been very lazy. Anyway, this is my attempt to step out of my absolute laziness and utilise this spring break for something that isn’t pretending to be swamped by the looming deadlines of final assignments of the year.

So folks, (again if you follow my Instagram account, you will have seen me allude to this often) I have been trying my hand at a variety of brunch recipes in a bid to one day host my own pot-luck style brunch club and therefore have come up with one of my favourite and easiest things to make on the planet, and that is what I’ve coined fairy toast! The recipe I’ll share will probably serve 3-4 people as an accompaniment to another item, but served as a main brunch food, it’ll feed 2.

Look how cute it can look with just some daily summer fruits!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 slices of bread (I prefer to use seeded because of the extra bite)
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tbsp natural yoghurt (toppings – add flavoured instead if you’d like!)
• 1 tbsp honey (toppings)
• An assortment of fruits (toppings)
• Icing sugar (toppings)

Method:

1. Combine the eggs and the honey in a wide bowl.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium-low heat.
3. Using a fork, dip the bread in the egg|honey mixture, coating both sides well.
4. Place the bread on the pan for 2 minutes and turn over, ensuring both sides are golden brown before removing.
5. Repeat this for both slices of bread.
6. Cut the slices diagonally across the middle – you should have 4 slices.
7. Serve with toppings of honey, natural yoghurt, an assortment of fruits, and a sprinkle of icing sugar.

This recipe is honestly the easiest thing I’ve made in the mornings and has started to slowly make its way into my weekend breakfast routines. The ability to play with the toppings means that you can have this as a staple item all year round and just change up the fruits depending on the season!