Food & London

Last week, I went to my favorite place in the whole wide world: London. There isn't a thing you cannot love about London: the people, the shops, the fashion, the transport and of course the food.
When I was an au pair (now already 3 years ago), I learned to love the English food the hard way. I gained 15 kilo's within the first 3 months (that is 33lbs) and when I hit the 75 kilo mark I thought: na-ah. NA-effing-Ah. So I tried to find a way to still eat the delicious English food and lose weight.

But back to the point. I was hoping I would be able to write something about my bread baking workshop at Recipease, but sadly it was cancelled due to staff.. whatever that means.
Luckily I did go to my favorite pub The Shakespeare to, again, have their delicious fish and chips with peas, had lunch at Fifteen, ate a delicious wrap at Camden and had one of the best mango ice creams I've had in a while near Portobello Road.

So in case you ever go to London, visit al these places if you can and ignore your diet for just one week. You will not feel guilty, I promise.

First I will persuade you to go to Camden. Not just because of the great atmosphere that you will find there, not because of the cheap books or amazing vintage fashion, but because of the food stalls outside. Every time I go to camden I try to eat something from a different stall meaning it's a dish from a different culture every time (Turkish, African, South American or just plain English). This time I had a delicious lamb wrap with lettuce, grilled peppers and a blue cheese-mayonaise dressing and Hanne (my dearest travel companion) also had a wrap with spinach, f
eta and chicken. It was delicious, so definitely check that out when you go to London.

The other thing that you will have to do is go to The Shakespeare. It is right next to Victoria station ,which you will most likely pass at one point, so check it out. Even if it is just for a drink or a sandwich. But I promise you that they have AMAZING fish and chips (second best I had in England, the best was in Brighton). But they also have other things and change the menu every now and then. Hanne had an enormous burger which I think was called The Big Ben Burger. It was sooo good.

And while you're there, make a reservation at Fifteen. Lunch isn't that expensive and you won't be hungry for the next couple of hours (Hanne and I just had soup for dinner that evening).
I had freshly baked bread with butter and a smoked salmon with creme fraiche and something I cant remember and Hanne had squash soup which was delicious (she was kind enough to let me taste it) and as a main she had broccoli with polenta and a green kind of mash (we couldn't figure out what it was, but Hanne assured me that it tasted very good). The menu at Fifteen does change everyday so don't focus too much on the menu you see online while making a reservation. Just go.. eat and enjoy!

The last thing I will blog about today is the ice cream I had at Gelato Mio near portobello road market. I had never noticed it before, but I was craving for something sweet when I saw this ice cream shop. It is really expensive (I think 2,90 for one scoop) but it was super super super super nice. The ice cream was so soft and full of flavor. As the dutch say: Alsof er een engeltje over mn tong piest. I don't know the English expression, but if I translate it it says: Like an angel is peeing on your tongue.. Now it sounds weird. Just trust me, it was delicious.

To conclude this blog, I just hope that all of you will one day visit London and try to visit at least one of the places. You will not regret it. But there are loads of other places in London where you can get really nice food, so go find your own favorite pubs or ice cream shops:)
But do go to Camden, always.

Pimp my Dish! Spicy Mexican Chicken Wraps with Jeroen

This will be the first "Pimp my Dish" blog, in Pimp my Dish I will invite a friend of mine to help me cook one of their favorite dishes but in a slightly different way than they're used to. My first "guest" was Jeroen and his favorite dish was fajitas. I went online to find out what exactly the difference was between fajitas, wraps, tacos, enchiladas and a whole lot more.
Just to make it easy for everyone, I'm just going to name this dish Spicy Mexican Chicken Wraps.

This recipe is for two very hungry students, or three not so hungry students.

• 400 gr chicken breast
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1/2 yellow pepper
• 1 red onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 red chili
• lettuce
• greek yogurt
• fresh or dried mint leaves
• 1 spring onion
• small can of tomato puree
• 3 small tomatoes
• water
• cayenne pepper
• salt
• black pepper
• 25ml tequila (they sell minis at most of the check outs at liquor stores)

For the tortillas (if you want to make them yourselves).

• 300 gr flour
• 175ml tepid water
• 2 spoons olive oil
• 2 ts baking powder
• pinch of salt

slice 3 cloves of the garlic and the red chili. Mix this with the tequila, some salt, pepper and the cayenne pepper. This will be the marinade for the chicken. So if you have the time, do this de night/day before so the chicken can really absorb the flavor. But it's perfectly fine if you make it 30 minutes before dinner. Chop the chicken in small pieces, put it in the marinade and put this in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Now mix the flour, tepid water, olive oil, baking powder and salt and knead this for at least 5 minutes. Leave this in a warm spot for 30 minutes (cover it with a tea towel or something like that).

Preheat the oven to 170C/335F

Now is the perfect time to slice the lettuce, 3/4 of the red onion, red and yellow peper and the spring onion. You will eat this raw on your wrap, so put this is in cute bowls on the table. You can also make the greek yogurt with mint now: simply chop the mint very small or crumble it with your hands if you have dried leaves and mix it through the yogurt. This yogurt will give your wrap a hint of freshness (which you will need, because the wraps are very spicy).

After half an hour, slice the remaining 1/4 of the red onion and chop the last garlic clove, put some olive oil in a hot pan and fry these babies. Then add the chicken, while waiting for the chicken to be cooked, dice the tomatoes. When the chicken is no longer raw, add the tomatoes, tomato puree and some extra water so you have a nice sauce (if you want, you can add a stock cube but I think the chicken has enough flavor because of the marinade). Leave this on a low heat to simmer.

Now you're going to make your own tortillas. Try to divide the dough so you can make 6 to 8 tortilla's. Try to make them as flat as possible with a rolling pin.

Then take a large frying pan and make sure the pan is really hot (don't use any oil or butter and try not to burn yourself like I did).
Simply fry the tortilla on both sides for maybe a minute and then put it in the oven so that they will stay nice and warm. When you're done, bring everything to the table and enjoy your home cooked wraps!

enjoy!