Prix Fixe and Lab in Soho

Apple and Vanilla margarita from Lab, Soho

Looking for somewhere to make a last minute group booking in Soho? Prix Fixe is sister restaurant to Pierre Victoire, whose cheap pre and post theatre menu Elle and I regularly enjoyed in Oxford. They serve up hearty French food with generous gentlemen-pleasing portions of chips so perfect for all parties.

Lab cocktail bar is also waiting right around the corner to serve you up an after dinner treat. 

If you are able to get to Prix Fixe by 7 they do a great set menu where you can get a starter and a main for £13.90 (and even less at lunchtime). We were too late for this but enjoyed one option on the set menu: 

Chargrilled Bavette steak with red wine and shallots bordelaise sauce and French fries (£4.00 supplement)

As well as: 

Fillet of Seabass with roasted medallion potatoes, braised octopus, sundried tomatoes and fennel gremolata £13.90 (my favourite)

Traditional duck confit with dauphinoise potatoes, wilted spinach, cherry jus and orange puree  £13.50 (also delicious)

Baked zucchini and dill pancakes with roast butternut squash, spinach, stilton and pinenuts, lentil and salsify sauce (very homely and great if you missed out on pancake day!)
















This followed on from us sharing a couple of sharing platters which we wolfed down before I remembered to get my camera out - sorry! If you go for a platter, the mezze board is more exciting than the meat board which consists of some nice, thick cut salami, but nothing you couldn't replicate at home. 

After dinner we strolled round the corner to Lab - a slightly gimmicky cocktail bar ('bitches' marking the ladies' loo and a pun-ridden menu) that you will forgive as soon as you drink one of their accomplished cocktails.

I chose the Soho Lady - a long raspberry-y cocktail that isn't too sweet because of Aperol, gin and lemon balancing it (would definitely get again). 

'Passion victim' left, 'Soho lady' right

The birthday girl had the 'passion victim' - a delicious blend of passion fruit, lime and home-made honey water on a tequila base (voted our favourite). 

The Aplple and Vanilla Margarita was perhaps the most visually impressive and as tasty as it looks (see cover shot!).

The best thing about this place is not only that the drinks are really, very good, but that they are only around £7 or £8 which is competitive for Soho. Will definitely be returning here soon... 

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Shooting Starberry Jelly

I have called this recipe shooting starberry jelly because in a moment of whimsy, I was playing around with raspberries and edible gold dust, enjoying the crocodile skin like effect when you gently smudge it over them... When I dropped these embellish fruit into my clear elderflower jelly, they left a little trail if gold dust, like a shooting star and kept quite a lot of their gilding.

I made it for my friend Theo's NYE party and the sparkling gold gave it a bit of New Year bling.

Here is the recipe that I used from Bompas and Parr with my added golden touch! It is super easy and delicious.

For 500ml mold
150 ml elderflower cordial
350ml water
5 leaves of gelatin
125g raspberries and blueberries (or your mix of choice)
Edible gold dust (available at big Waitrose and elsewhere)

First rinse your berries and allow them to dry.

Next, mix the elderflower cordial and water on a jug. Then cut up the gelatine and submerged completely with the elderflower mix in a pyrex /heatproof glass bowl and leave for 10 minutes.

Next place the bowl with the gelatin over a small pan of simmering water and allow the gelatin to dissolve completely.

Now pour the rest of the elderflower over it, stir, and pass the whole mix through a sieve back into the jug.

Now take a spoon of the gold dust, dip your finger in it and gently smudge it over your raspberries. The blueberries don't really need it.

Now you can begin filling the mold. The berries float to the top, so to have them running through, you have to do it in stages. First fill it 1/3 full and place some of the berries in it, place in the fridge to cool until quite set.

Meanwhile keep the remaining mix at room temperature and repeat the above stage until you have used all the berries and mix.

If by any chance your remaining mix should set in the room (this is unlikely but possible if its a very cold day) you can melt it again by transferring it to a heatproof bowl and placing over a pan of simmering water.

One of Theo's... still not sure why we were all in the bath... 

Christmas trees and festive treats

Guess what? Our Christmas tree is up!! 

If you're a North Londoner then you should head down to Kentish Town station as fast as your crumpled Ugg boots can carry you to grab yourself a good 'un. They've still got loads and they're far better value than I've seen in Garden Centres for a while, plus it seems more natural to be bartering on a street corner so you can go ahead and push your luck a little.

We did just that and had a lot of them shaken out so we could choose our lady Fir (she's a big girl). What she lacks in height, she makes up for in girth. She nestles in her little corner perfectly too.

Once we had bought our tree we picked up some red wine, ingredients for my new Christmas burgers and headed home to decorate and celebrate. The rest of Sunday was spent, dancing around the living room listening to Christmas tunes, decorating Fir, the room and ourselves.

St. Mark's Basilica, Venice: The discerning advent calendar of choice

I love using Christmas as an excuse to totally kitsch up our living room. I'm a massive Jeff Koons fan, so if I had it my way everything would look like Carnaby Street in December all year around. A little bit of Venetian glamour in the form of The St. Mark's Basilica advent calendar makes for a great Christmas table centrepiece surrounded by scented candles.

Red roses and glitter sprayed fircones on the window sill

Our new impeccably tasteful friends (can be bought in large Paperchases)

 After the excitement had died down and we'd hoovered away the pines and bits of smashed baubles that were strewn over the floor, the others settled back to watch Elf, whilst I made us Christmas burgers with 3 kinds of chips - it's not a festive meal without extra naughtiness afterall.

Christmas Burgers: Venison burgers with cranberry sauce, cinnamon-caremalised onions and cheese, served with sweet potato, courgette and maris piper fries.

Ingredients:

Venison burger patties (I make my own with venison mince, egg yolk and breadcrumbs but you can buy them in a surprisingly wide range of supermarkets these days too - lamb is a great substitute otherwise)

1 large white onion

1 large sweet potato

1 large maris piper

2 large courgettes

2 egg yolks

Plain flour 

Breadcrumbs

Olive oil

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Salad (as you like - for inside the burgers)

Cranberry sauce (for spreading on the patties)

Mature cheddar (enough for a slice each)

4 irish rolls

Recipe:

First off heat your oven to 200 degrees and put a deep roasting dish with 1mm in the bottom in to heat. Meanwhile cut  up your festively coloured chips. Your sweet potato and normal potatoes can be cut into skin on 1.5cm x 1.5cm beauties, but your courgettes will need a little more attention. Halve the courgettes in the middle, then cut these into thin strips - about 2-3mm in width. Take the potato and sweet potato cut chips and dust with flour and seasoning before placing them into the hot oil roasting dish. Check back on them after about 20 minutes and give them a shake to turn them. They should take about 1/2 hour it total and may need some of the oil dabbing away once they're done.

Cut up your onion into 1mm thick discs and place in a frying pan with a little olive oil, a drop of honey and your spices. Brown the onion slowly whilst you prepare your courgette. Separate the yolk from 2 eggs and place in a medium sized bowl, take another bowl of a similar size and pour a little flour and breadcrumbs into the bottom. Mix together with your hand. Now place all your courgette strips into the egg yolk and move them around until they're evenly covered. Once this is done, heat a large frying pan with a little oil on a high heat and one by one take a courgette strip, dip it in the breadcrumbs and place into the frying pan - you may need to do 2 batches, as each strip should be making contact with the pan until it's browned. Turn the strips as they brown on each side - this should take 3-4 minutes per side. Your onions should have browned up by now, at which point place to one side and cover to keep warm. 

Now it's burger time. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan and cook the burger patties, allowing 4-6 minutes per side depending on how well done you like them. It's safe to have venison rare, even though it's a game meat - I always do but as you like it. Whilst your patties are cooking, gently brown the tops of your halved burger buns. I actually do this by placing them on top of the toaster so they crisp up in strips and don't get stuck inside, but an oven grill is ideal too. Now chop some leuttice and cut slices of cheese. Once your burgers are a minute away from being done, place cheese slices over them so that they melt. 

I like to spread cranberry sauce and mustard on the lower bun, place the pattie ontop with the cheese, followed by the Christmassy onion, as it melts the cheese more. A nice spicy Rioja will go the best with this dish, as it brings out the cinnamon. Enjoy.

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Flo's afterthought: How to Host at Halloween

I know this is a little late but after the party I was too exhausted to post anything! I am not huge on Halloween but this year I decided to host a small gathering for the people I really missed since leaving university. I wanted something to look forward to in the bleak dark evenings following the changing of the clocks. The one problem was that I had very little time and practically no money... So here is how to throw a lazy, low key Halloween party.

Step 1: find someone else's party to go to after! I found Ping's Halloween party (free entry before 11pm) to go to so that I would only be hosting for a couple of hours before we could all head over and have a nice time out. I booked a ping pong table for an hour too. 

Step 2: invitations... even if its a low key thing, the formality of a proper invitation - this time emailed because I ran out of time - gets you in the mood. I designed the card below using Vivienne Westwood Wall Paper, Hirst's For The Love of God, a crown made from human bones from Kutna Hora near Prague (definitely worth a visit and certainly spooky) and inspiration from Holbein's 'The ambassadors.' It was fun having everyone guess the references. 

Invite, address removed! 

Step 3: do a BYOB party but provide the puddings. If you are catching up with lots of old friends, no one will mind bringing their own drink and its nice to be able to make something for them. My wonderful friend Pippa helped me and we made ghost meringues and Nigella's chocolate fudge cake adorned with chocolate bat wings. See recipes below:

Ghost Meringues, adapted from Ottolenghi

This method is from Ottolenghi and the decoration / shape is from me

Ingredients

600g caster sugar

300g free range egg whites

gold or silver balls

Icing bag (I use normal plastic food bags and snip off the edge

Card for making gravestones!

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C/Gas mark 6.

2. Spread sugar evenly on large oven tray lined with baking sheet. Place in the heated up oven for 8 minutes (you should start to see it dissolving at the edges)

3. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with an electric whisk on high speed for 1 min or so, so the whites really froth up.

4. Decant the hot sugar into a bowl and add slowly while whisking the whites.

5. Keep whisking on high speed for 10 minutes until it is completely cool. It should then be very silky and keep its shape.

6.  Turn the oven down to 110C. Line a baking tray, sticking the baking sheet down with a few dabs of meringue mix between it and the baking tray.

7. Pour the mix into your piping/plastic bag. Snip of the end. Pipe the meringues into Michelin man style swirls around 5-6cm in diameter. I do this by piping it in a spiral getting narrower towards the top. Carefully place the balls on them as eyes. 

8. Place in the preheated oven and leave for about 2 hours, check if they are done by lifting them from the tray and prodding them to see that the outside is completely firm but the centre still soft.

9. Remove from oven and leave to cool. They keep in a dry cool place for a good few days.

Finally, cut out gravestones and stick to your serving dish, as shown below. 

Nigella's Chocolate Fudge Cake with my chocolate bat wings 

Ingredients

For the cake

• 400 gram(s) plain flour
• 250 gram(s) golden castor sugar
• 100 gram(s) light muscovado sugar
• 50 gram(s) cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda
• ½ teaspoon(s) salt
• 3 medium eggs
• 142 ml sour cream
• 1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract
• 175 gram(s) unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
• 125 ml corn oil
• 300 ml water (chilled)

For the fudge icing

• 175 gram(s) dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
• 250 gram(s) unsalted butter (softened)
• 275 gram(s) icing sugar (sieved)
• 1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract

For the bat Wings

75g dark chocolate

Piping bag or plastic food bag

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
2. Butter and line the bottom of two 20cm sandwich tins.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt. In another bowl or wide-necked measuring jug whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended. Using a freestanding or handheld electric mixer, beat together the melted butter and corn oil until just blended (you'll need another large bowl for this if using the hand whisk; the freestanding mixer comes with its own bowl), then beat in the water. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix together on a slow speed. Add the egg mixture, and mix again until everything is blended and then pour into the prepared tins. And actually, you could easily do this manually; I just like my toys and find the KitchenAid a comforting presence in itself.
4. Bake the cakes for 50-55 minutes, or until a cake-tester comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes, and then turn the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.
5. To make the icing, melt the chocolate in the microwave - 2-3 minutes on medium should do it - or in a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and let cool slightly.
6. In another bowl beat the butter until it's soft and creamy (again, I use the KitchenAid here) and then add the sieved icing sugar and beat again until everything's light and fluffy. I know sieving is a pain, the one job in the kitchen I really hate, but you have to do it or the icing will be unsoothingly lumpy. Then gently add the vanilla and chocolate and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth.
7. Sandwich the middle of the cake with about a quarter of the icing, and then ice the top and sides too, spreading and smoothing with a rubber spatula.
8. For the Batwings, copy out the stencil below onto grease proof paper and wrap around a chopping board that will fit in the fridge. 

Carefully melt the chocolate in a bain marie and put aside until it cools enough so it is still liquid but not super runny. Put a paper clip around the end of a piping bag. Once the chocolate is cool enough, pour into the piping bag and snip of the end leaving a narrow hole. Pipe around the stencil. If the chocolate is too runny, pour into the rough shape and spread to the edges with a spoon. 

Chill in the fridge for 3 minutes or so, keeping the rest of the chocolate in the piping bag.

After 3 minutes, take out and it should have formed a hard surface. Go over the shape again to thicken. 

Chill in the fridge again

Finally, draw on the bones of the bat wing on the surface with the remaining chocolate and chill for at least 20 minutes. 

To decorate, stick the bat wings at different angles into the cake. 

Step 4: Decorations: I painted some animal bones and sculls, got some scary masks, and some pinned butterfly and spiders in frames out. For the pumpkins Pippa and I made a skull and a cat. I must say that Pippa's skull puts my attempt to shame! 

I dressed up as a dead queen!

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