A load of crêpe

Pancakes have to be the easiest way to make an ordinary weekend morning feel special. I've been making them for years, having been a founding member of the now world-famous* crêpe club at the tender age of 13. 

* The phrase 'world famous' is used loosely here - the other founding members (my school BFFs) now live in Dubai and Columbia, where they are most certainly making good pancakes and boring new friends with tales of old ones.

A heady mix of caffeine and hysteria fuelled our sessions which happened at least once a week, when we would fall off our chairs laughing and play Boggle as though it were a National sport. These times have left me with a life-long attachment to pancakes and a fail safe way of making them without any measuring instruments too. As you know, that's my kind of cooking.  

For the pancakes:

Some flour

Some eggs

Some milk

Some butter

...ok, don't panic all will become clear. The trick to making perfect pancakes is to allow your mixture to flex according to how fresh your eggs are (therefore how much flour they'll take). I use roughly one egg per person. Crack these into a large mixing bowl and whisk by hand. Gradually pour flour into your eggs, whisking as you go until you have a consistent, thick paste. This is how to ensure you end up with a lump free mixture and the right amount of egginess to hold your pancake shape when you toss it. Once your paste is lump free, start adding the milk gradually, ensuring that each splash is properly taken by the paste before adding the next. If you're making american pancakes, stop adding the milk sooner than if you're making crêpes. A proper crêpe mixture should be pretty liquid. 

Once you've finished mixing, heat some butter in a shallow frying pan. I mix butter with sunflower oil to keep it healthy. You have to wait until your pan is pretty hot to pour your first ladle of mixture in - the first one is always the hardest to get right. Once your mixture has cooked through and comes away easily from the pan, you can toss or flip it depending on how adventurous you're feeling. 

Voila!

Over the years, I've had phases of what I like best with my pancakes. On indulgent days I cook blueberries into the pancakes until they burst indigo polkadots into the batter as it sets. These beauties are best served with crisped streaky bacon and maple syrup but come with a serious food coma warning. 

More recently, I've been enjoying fruit salad and creme fraiche, as I did last weekend. This is no ordinary fruit salad, it is in fact one of my mother's finest inventions, which I think she came up with as an adaptation of an Ottolenghi - you can't say I don't give you accurate foodie provenance.

For the fruit salad:

A mixture of your favourite fruit. We chose grapefruit, banana, kiwi, strawberries and baby green grapes. 

The salad dressing is the interesting bit:

1 tsp honey

1/2 lemon juice

Glug of white wine (reisling is the best)

Crushed pistachios

2 drops of rose essence

Cut your fruit into salad chunks and mix. Then make your dressing by whisking up the ingredients in a small cup. Pour over the salad and serve. 

Magnifique.

To serve, add a little sugar and your creme fraiche, fold in half and mange... 

Mmmm. Perfect for brunch, or as a desert.

Crepes crêpes pancakes flo and elle fruit salad brunch breakfast weekend recipe Crepes crêpes pancakes flo and elle fruit salad brunch breakfast weekend recipe Crepes crêpes pancakes flo and elle fruit salad brunch breakfast weekend recipe Crepes crêpes pancakes flo and elle fruit salad brunch breakfast weekend recipe Crepes crêpes pancakes flo and elle fruit salad brunch breakfast weekend recipe Crepes crêpes pancakes flo and elle fruit salad brunch breakfast weekend recipe v Crepes crêpes pancakes flo and elle fruit salad brunch breakfast weekend recipe Crepes crêpes pancakes flo and elle fruit salad brunch breakfast weekend recipe Crepes crêpes pancakes flo and elle fruit salad brunch breakfast weekend recipe Crepes crêpes pancakes flo and elle fruit salad brunch breakfast weekend recipe Crepes crêpes pancakes flo and elle fruit salad brunch breakfast weekend recipe

Elle's review: Lardo, Hackney

Lardo is the latest happening Hackney kitchen serving beautifully conceived of Italian food at good prices out of an impossibly small kitchen. I seriously have no idea how this lot do it. Much like The Hackney Bureau, the kitchen is a few hobs set back behind the bar, but whereas the Hackney Bureau only ever serves a small handful of dishes, Lardo produces a fast-changing-yet-extensive menu from about a 1m x 3m space.

Located just off Mare Street near the Hackney Picture house, the venue is a short walking distance away from Broadway Market - I'd recommend The Market Cafe for some draught prosecco aperitifs, though you won't want to miss out on the brilliant pre-dinner cocktail selection available at Lardo itself. 

The entire area seats approximately 50 people, including bar stools right up against the steaming hot kitchen. Lights are low and ceilings are high, providing just the right balanced ambience. I'd come here both on a date or with a group of friends for a natter over dinner. We went down on Friday night, having called in the morning and only just scraping a 9pm reservation. 

Comlimentary Focaccia was a lovely touch

To start before our starters we each had an Albi - a more sophisticated and less fizzy take on the ever popular Aperol Spritz - the Albi is concocted from peach puree, aperol,  Reisling, lemon juice. It's the perfect appetite enhancer as it's not too sweet and served over ice so you're not killing your hunger with sugar and fizz. We had ours with some big, juicy green olives to offset the sharpness. Delicious, and will give you enough time to ponder the menu. 

We took our waitress's advice and had the fennel pollen infused salami and the brown shrimp, fennel and grapefruit salad to start. The salami was one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth, utterly delicious and totally unusual. My own cooking style involves mixing meats with unexpected flavours so it's rare that I come across something that I haven't tried at all before. This was one of those times and will be the thing that makes me return to Lardo sooner than I probably should. 

For our main courses, we shared the beef brisket with polenta and salsa verde. This was served in a bowl, sitting in piping hot consommé. It was slow cooked, melted in your mouth and offset in richness by the fresh salsa verde sitting on top - the most elegant of comfort foods. Initially the kitchen forgot to adorn our dish with salsa verde at all, which we felt was really taking the brisket but we forgave them because it meant we could throw a bad pun into a good evening. 

This was followed by a chilli and mussel pizza. We were slightly disappointed to be served a pizza with no tomato or cheese (neither of which were specified on the menu). This is our only real Lardo gripe so we'll let them get away with it, especially as the green beans and softened onions were cooked to perfection and we ended up nicely full but not groaning on our way home. 

Here's their full dinner menu, though it changes regularly and I've heard they have a great brunch and lunch offering too... 

I'll be posting more Mare Street favourites soon. For now, head Lardowards but make sure you book in advance here. 

Lardo review Hackney Flo and Elle Fennel Pollen Infused Salami Mare Street Where to eat date Mare Street Lardo review Hackney Flo and Elle Fennel Pollen Infused Salami Mare Street Where to eat date Mare Street Lardo review Hackney Flo and Elle Fennel Pollen Infused Salami Mare Street Where to eat date Mare Street Lardo review Hackney Flo and Elle Fennel Pollen Infused Salami Mare Street Where to eat date Mare Street Lardo review Hackney Flo and Elle Fennel Pollen Infused Salami Mare Street Where to eat date Mare Street Lardo review Hackney Flo and Elle Fennel Pollen Infused Salami Mare Street Where to eat date Mare Street Lardo review Hackney Flo and Elle Fennel Pollen Infused Salami Mare Street Where to eat date Mare Street

Flo's Perfect Sunday: Brunch and Bronzes

I wanted to treat a special someone to a perfect day out in London to celebrate their birthday. Having looked through many glowing reviews I decided on the Bronze exhibition at the RA – a beautifully curated, theatrically lit exhibition of bronze sculptures from many centuries before Christ right up to twentieth and twenty first century masterpieces like Picasso’s monkey (see below). 

This Monkey’s face was made from one of Picasso’s son’s toy cars…

It is full of wonderful things and it takes a good two hours to do it any justice. It really must have been good since I didn’t even notice my rather painful stilettos.

To fuel our cultural enlightenment and to start the day in style, I booked a couple of seats at the bar of Le Caprice  – a rather old school establishment, just by the side of the Ritz and 3 minutes walk away from the RA. 

Le Caprice does traditional and slightly more exotic dishes (the sashimi looked pretty good) to perfection – eggs Benedict, Arlington, Florentine, steak tartare, steak, burger and fries, and so on. Each one is not overcomplicated, with the odd twist here and there, but spot on each time. The service is also the best around – we got free birthday truffles, and an explanation of the cooking techniques whenever we were interested.

The Venetian Spritz was moorishly delicious and refreshing. To Make your own, pour 40ml Aperol, 100ml good quality Prosecco, 20ml soda over ice and add a wide swirl of orange peel and a green olive.

The brunch menu is also pretty reasonable, and you get a yummy bread basket with the most scrumptious muffin in it. I spent around £54 on both of us and got an eggs Arlington with delicious, celery salted, elegantly spherical hash browns, a burger with chips, two Venetian spritzers, free truffles, an espresso, and a dessert wine. 

Elle and I are the masters of Hollandaise sauce and this one is almost as good as ours! 

I would really recommend the bar since its more fun. Go around 12.30, just before it gets busy, so you get extra special attention for the first half hour.

Their weekend brunch is now served Saturday 11.30-4pm and Sundays 11.30-5pm. Menu here. In the week, they also have generous set menu deals.

Bronze is running from 15 September - 9 December 2012
Adults £14 

RA friends go free

Exhibition review, exhibition London, exhibition London September 2012, exhibition London October 2012, Exhibition London November 2012, Exhibtion London December 2012, things to do in London September 2012, things to do in London October 2012, things to do in London November 2012, things to do in London December 2012, Bronzes Royal Academy, Bronzes Royal Academy Review, Bronzes, Bronzes Royal Academy, Bronzes Royal Academy Review, Bronzes, Bronzes Royal Academy, Bronzes Royal Academy Review, Bronzes, Picasso Monkey car, Nice things to do in London, where to go in London, where to eat in London, where to drink inLondon, off the beaten track in London, off the beaten path in london, Le caprice London, le caprice green park, le caprice review, le caprice brunch, , Le caprice London, le caprice green park, le caprice review, le caprice brunch, where to eat near the royal academy, restuarants near the royal academy, restaurant near green park, London advice, London travel advice, London markets, nice day out in london, where to visit in London, unusual parts of London, non touristy parts of London, Areas decoded, areas decoded London, London unpacked, lazy day, lazy day in London, unexplored area, unexplored area London, Nice things to do in London, where to go in London, where to eat in London, where to drink in London, off the beaten track in London, off the beaten path in london, London advice, London travel advice, London pubs, london cafes, pretty areas in London, Parliament hill, Hampstead heath, nice day out in london, where to visit in London, unusual parts of London, non touristy parts of London, elleandflo, elle and flo, elle and flo sisters, elleandflo blog, elle and flo blog, elleandflo.blogspot.co.uk, elleandflo.blogspot.com, elleandflo, elle and flo, elle and flo sisters, elleandflo blog, elle and flo blog, elleandflo.blogspot.co.uk, elleandflo.blogspot.com, flo and elle, flo and elle blog, floandelle blog, flo and elle blogspot, floandelle.blogspot.com, floandelle.blogspot.co.uk flo and elle sisters, sisters blog, flo and elle, flo and elle blog, floandelle blog, flo and elle blogspot, 

Flo's Poached Egg and Asparagus Salad

After watching 'How to Cook like Heston' on catch up, whilst trying to get to sleep, I woke up with a poached egg craving, unsurprisingly... His method is pretty easy, though you have to keep an eye on the thermometer and keep turning the heat on or off to keep it at 80 degrees (see method below). I was so impressed with my first attempt (these really are better tasting and looking than usual) that I decided to build a recipe around it for a friend who was coming round for lunch.

Ingredients (serves 3)

3 fresh medium eggs -NOT kept in the fridge
12 asparagus

3 pieces of pancetta/thin bacon

3 big handfuls of nice, delicate leaf salad (washed and dried)

9 cherry tomatoes

1 clove garlic

Olive oil for cooking

1/4 lemon

2 small slices of sour dough bread, crusts cut off

Dressing:

50ml extra virgin olive oil

30 basil leaves

1 clove garlic

2 pinches of salt

¼ tsp black pepper

Parmesan / grana padana to serve

Equipment: whizzer/hand blender, one of those big spoons with lots of holes in them (see pic), pan, grill.

Put grill on high heat. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Blanch your asparagus in the boiling water for 2 minutes. Take out and drain. Cut your tomatoes in half.

In a bowl mix up the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of oil, a crushed garlic clove and a pinch of salt. Place asparagus and tomatoes on tin foil in a baking dish and drizzle with the oil/lemon, garlicky mix. Place the bacon on the foil too. Grill for around 2 minutes – watching carefully so they don’t burn. 

Take out and turn the asparagus over to do the other side for 2 minutes more (you want them to brown nicely). When done, take out and put aside.

Now, for the dressing: Place basil and garlic in a whizzer, whiz up, then slowly add the oil, salt and pepper. Put aside.

Rub the bread in olive oil and place on tin foil on a baking dish. Grill until crispy (watching carefully) then turn over and do the other side. This should take around 2 minutes each side (maybe less if your grill is really really hot).

Take the bread out of the oven and cool until cool enough to handle. Cut it up into croutons (1.5cm by 1.5cm). Turn off the grill, wrap the croutons in foil and place in the oven to dry out.

Egg time: Start heating the water for Heston’s poached eggs and follow his instructions here.

Heston's trick

mmm...

Meanwhile, assemble stage one of the salad: place a handful of salad on each place, place 4 asparagus across in a woven shape (see below).

Take the croutons out of the oven and artfully sprinkle over the plate. 

Now you should have finished cooking Heston-style eggs: If not, wait till they are done then carefully take out of the water and drain as Heston instructs. Place the egg on top of the salad. Grind some pepper and shave some parmesan on to it. Last of all, lightly spoon the basil mix around each salad.

Tadaaa….

Best eaten in a sunny garden!

Flo poached egg, perfect poached egg, how to poach an egg, precise poached egg, hestons poached egg, poached egg salad, poached egg asparagus, poached egg salad recipe, poached egg asparagus recipe, egg, asparagus, bacon, pancetta, tomatoes, salad, poached egg asparagus salad, Flo poached egg, perfect poached egg, how to poach an egg, precise poached egg, hestons poached egg, poached egg salad, poached egg asparagus, poached egg salad recipe, poached egg asparagus recipe, egg, asparagus, bacon, pancetta, tomatoes, salad, poached egg asparagus salad, flo and elle recipe, elleandflo, elle and flo, elle and flo sisters, elleandflo blog, elle and flo blog, elleandflo.blogspot.co.uk, elleandflo.blogspot.com, elleandflo, elle and flo, elle and flo sisters, elleandflo blog, elle and flo blog, elleandflo.blogspot.co.uk, elleandflo.blogspot.com, flo and elle, flo and elle blog, floandelle blog, flo and elle blogspot, floandelle.blogspot.com, floandelle.blogspot.co.uk flo and elle sisters, sisters blog, flo and elle, flo and elle blog, floandelle blog, flo and elle blogspot, recipe blog, food blog, best food blog, London food blog, recipe blog, food blog, best food blog, London food blog