14/12/2015 – Jamie’s Italian, Kingston
https://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/restaurants/kingston/
Lizi: Pumpkin ravioli
By coincidence, I was at Jamie’s in Angel last week for our Christmas party where the company hired our the whole restaurant. The food was great and just kept coming with lots of little taster plates so you could try a lot of different things. One of those were these pumpkin ravioli and I decided I’d go for the full version tonight. I love the combination of flavours with the rosemary, the amaretti breadcrumbs and the hint of English mustard. I also love how the ravioli are rolled into little sweet-wrapper shapes! My only criticism would be that I wasn’t bowled over by the rest of the presentation – especially the haphazard pumpkin pieces – and I was just a bit pumpkin-ed out by the end which is a shame given the other flavours that are there to presumably balance the dish…
Mark: Venetian fish stew
Lizi recommended this dish after having a smallish portion at her Christmas party. The stew had a variety of fish and shellfish in a beautiful sauce, cooked with fregola (a small ball-shaped pasta similar in size to giant cous cous) to give the meal some substance. The dish was very tasty and went perfectly with a cold winter night. Would definitely recommend for any others heading to Jamie’s.
15/12/2015: Curry udon – own recipe
This is a super simple winter staple of ours which is udon noodles in a curry soup made using Japanese curry blocks. You just heat up some onions and carrot, add plenty of water to form the base of the soup then stir in some Japanese curry blocks. Cook the noodles separately, drain and add to the sauce to serve. Deliciously warming and comforting!
16/12/2015: Icelandic hot dogs – own recipe
This dish is a throwback to our holiday in Iceland this time last year. One of the most famous and most loved places to eat in Reykjavic is Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, a small hot dog van in a car park just a short walk from the centre. The name translates to “best hot dogs in town” and they do not disappoint – in fact they’d be the best hot dogs in a lot of towns…maybe all the towns! You can have whichever toppings you want really, but most people order “eina með öllu” or “one with everything” which includes remoulade, mustard, ketchup, raw onions, and fried crispy onions. I couldn’t wait to try and replicate it and I think I did pretty well with my homemade remoulade and mustard/ketchup sauce. We didn’t totally nail the crispy onions but they *were* onions and they *were* crispy so…they met the brief! Loved this and will definitely make again for a bit of a twist on a classic.
17/12/2015: Mince and dumplings – Hairy Bikers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mince_and_dumplings_47431
I love this mince and dumplings recipe and I’ve been using it for a few years now when we need something warm and comforting. It’s another dish that we’ve been waiting until winter to make and we wanted to make sure it was part of our 365 so we’re having it before we head off to see family at Christmas.
18/12/2015: Sumatran lamb curry – Mama Eti’s
Mark’s friend was over this even and it was our last evening at home before heading off for Christmas so we used another Mama Eti’s sauce jar that we bought from Kitchen Table Projects when they had their pop-up at Old Street. This time is was a Sumatran lamb curry paste which was delicious as expected. I highly recommend these sauces as the ones we’ve tried have been delicious.
A Year in Dinners 