Reds Barbecue

I'm a southern girl and I believe anything past Birmingham is the North. So you can imagine my surprise when my mother informed me that she was moving to Leeds. Would it not be closer for them to travel to France? My mother has lived on the south coast for nearly all of her life, so this was to be a big change and a chance to experience a whole new area with new culture and new traditions... and pie barms. 

This was 18 months ago, so as you can imagine, I have visit Leeds now a couple of times and the city itself is a very vibrant and exciting place, with one of the best shopping areas I have ever come across. There are also plenty of culinary treats to try (Shears Yard and Friends of Ham are highlights), so on this particular visit, Rob and I tried out Red's Barbecue. 

As London barbecue fangirls, we were reticent about the North's take on our favourite food. But Red's didn't disappoint. The whole style behind Red's as a concept is very exciting - using barbecue as a 'religious' experience and quoting from 'The Good Book' was something I've never seen before and gave it a different edge.

I started with the Bourbon Cask Smoked Manhattan made with Wild Turkey Rye (recommended for bourbon lovers!) and chilli chocolate bitters smoked in bourbon soaked oak. This was a fantastic start to our meal. My cocktail was brought in a decanter, filled with smoke and poured out in front of me. I wasn't expecting this level of theatre from a casual barbecue restaurant, so the pleasant surprise put me in a fantastic mood. The drink itself was delicious, sweet and smoky.

To eat, I went for the Jacob's Ladder Beef Rib - my personal favourite, accompanied by Sweet Potato fries. The beef is smothered in their Unholy Barbecue Sauce, which was 'divine'. The meat fell off the bone and had an incredible depth of flavour. The fries were crispy, sweet and salty and were the perfect tools to try out the varied range of sauces on offer!

Unfortunately we were too full for dessert, but I will definitely be returning to Red's on my next trip to the city centre. A must try!

Best Eats of Glasgow

Back in July, Rob and I managed to get a couple of days away together. Keen on exploring a cultural and foodie centre, we opted for Glasgow. With such limited time and so many culinary hot spots to explore, we were ruthless in picking restaurants. Below are the few that made the cut.

The Dhabba 

In North India, roadside diners are commonly known as Dhabbas - This indian restaurant in Glasgow replicates that cuisine with finese and true expertise! Recommended by The Guardian as one of the Top 10 Curry Houses in the UK. 

We ate Shuruvaati Thal - a starter platter of king prawn, lamb, chicken and vegetarian bites. Followed by Masala Machli - Juicy monkfish in a sauce of caramelised onions, tomatoes and peppers, Bhuna Gosht with lamb that was 'melt in the mouth' tender, and we garnished our curries with garlic naans the size of my head - an incredible depth of flavour, and a lovely smokey finish.

Cafe Gandolfi

Once part of an old cheese market, this rustic cafe is the perfect spot for a Scottish breakfast.

Deagh Bhiadh, Deagh Bheannachd - Well fed, well blessed. The Gaelic proverb displayed on the wall of the Cafe Gandolfi is the owner's aspiration for everybody who eats there. We started our day with Freshly Squeezed Pink Grapefruit Juice, cheek pursing sharpness and sweetness balanced perfectly. Rob took on the Full Scottish Breakfast - Stornoway black pudding, bacon, beef sausage, cherry tomatoes, potato scone, field mushrooms and scrambled eggs... and toast of course! Whilst I opted for the slightly more modest Eggs Hebridean with Stornoway black pudding. By far the best black pudding I have ever had accompanied by silk eggs and a rich hollandaise, it was enough for a post breakfast nap. 

Bread Meats Bread

We happened to be staying around the corner from Bread Meats Bread and saw it by chance. It peaked our interested immediately - clever restaurant name, good styling, burgers?! So we gave it a try. As you know we're both big fans of American style food, so we hoped it would fill the beef shaped hole in our lives. We ate a Fullhouse Burger - Brioche Bun, American Cheese, Smoked Brisket, Gravy, Tobacco Onions, Pickles and Sauce, as well as the Chicago Goumet Dog with mustard, tomatoes, onion and pickle relish. We then shared a Classic Poutine. If you have never tried the Canadian masterpiece that is Poutine - you are wasting your life, go out and get some NOW. The classic poutine is Chips with Cheese Curds and Gravy. It's not chips, cheese and gravy. It's different, honest. You'll fall in love or your money back (Georgie guarentee*) *No money will be refunded.

Riverhill Cafe

For our last morning in Glasgow, we searched for a great cup of coffee. It had been two days and I needed caffiene - I'm a Londoner! Riverhill ticked all of the boxes. I was finally granted a delicious flat white - smooth, rich and creamy. Rob opted for a Black Pudding Sausage roll, which was beautifully rustic and had a great texture and flavour. Continuing my Canadian theme - we were in Glasgow after all... I tried a Nanaimo Bar. This particular nanaimo was vegan and extremely filling. A traditional nanaimo has a wafer-like base with a custard layer and chocolate topping, but this was a healthy coconut version, made with dates and cocao instead of chocolate. Guilt free cakes at their best!

I Love Doughnuts But...

I have been a little absent from my blog of late, but I haven't been any less obsessed with food. I have begun to make one change however, and that is a promise to myself and my body that I will try my very best to eat cleanly and heathily wherever possible - as well as cutting my meat intake by half.

So I still love doughnuts, but I've just been eating a little less of them and have been getting interested in healthy alternatives to my favourite sugary snacks. The clean eating promise comes from my want and need to nuture my body as there is nothing more important than looking after ourselves. There is a definite awareness that comes with clean eating, and in taking up this challenge, it has really highlighted for me how little I think about what I'm putting into my body - things that would before seem like a normal snack or a drink are things that I no longer want to consume.

This new lifestyle started after I watched the BBC2 Horizon documentary series - 'Should I Eat Meat?', and I was shocked by the effect that meat production is having on the planet. One third of the world's land is used for arable farming, just so we can feed the animals that we eat. Our current meat intake in the UK averages at 220g of meat per day and in order for meat production to be sustainable in our current environment, we need to half that intake. This is a change I thought I could easily make - it would save me money and improve my health. It's been a month or so now and I have definitely decreased my meat intake - some days I don't eat meat or dairy at all. It's made me realise that I don't really miss them.

However being a big foodie and with food being a part of my career as well as my personal passion, I wanted to give myself the freedom to eat animal products if and when I wanted to, as long as I was adhering to my reduction rule. As I cut down on my intake, I started to cook more vegan meals - ones that were piled high with the most delicious vegetables, eating dried fruit for snacks, drinking cold pressed juices and getting really obsessed with avocados. My eating was becoming cleaner, so why not make that a permanent change in my life?

I have also been spending a lot of time on Instagram (you can find my account here: http://instagram.com/skye2612 ), where I post a lot of pictures without writing blog posts to go alongside them. In exploring this, I have found a lot of other accounts that are passionate about clean eating and alternatives to what we are so used to eating. 

Although I still love eating out and am thoroughly obsessed with Crosstown Doughnuts, you will notice a change in some of the things I am cooking and writing about. I hope to share my finds with you - particularly if I find any new good and healthy snacks, as well as my usual food porn.

To Market.

With the abundance of America style diners opening up in Central London and the return of my sorely missed other half from his feature film shoot in Dunstable, we decided that it was time to go and indulge ourselves. With meat. And cheese.

You may remember Valentine’s Day 2012 fondly, as that night Rob and I explored the newly opened Meat Liquor (Fangtasia crossed with a butcher) and enjoyed some dirty US cuisine at its best.  Instead of revising as we have already done many times, we decided to check out another of Yianni Papoutsis’ creations – Meat Market in Covent Garden.  

With a rather secluded entrance off Tavistock Street, you head up the stairs to a small, rough and ready diner style set up overlooking Covent Garden’s Jubilee Market Hall. We arrived at about 7pm and managed to squeeze ourselves onto a newly empty table. There’s no table service here and you collect your food when you hear your name called. Like it’s sister, Meat Liquor, Meat Market has great style. It’s a toned down, simple version but its personality is still shining through.

Even with its small menu, it was hard to choose what to have. We both opted for the Maple Bourbon Shake (£6), which was the most incredible drink I have ever had. There was nowhere near enough of this to keep me satisfied. Rob even toyed with picking up another for the road. To eat, Rob chose the old faithful ‘Dead Hippy’ burger – just as good as usual, whilst I went for a Chilli Dog. The hot-dog itself was the star of the show – well flavoured with a good meaty texture, and stood out against the large amount of toppings that it was fighting against. The bun was soft and light and the chilli, cheese and jalapeños topped the dish off nicely.

We were in and out in about half an hour. As we left, I felt sated and exhilarated. I can only imagine that this is what it must feel like to visit a top of the range escort. 

Lancashire Hot Pot

The lack of warm weather (is it June already?), is really starting to get to me. When the sun does come out, it's generally accompanied by a bitter wind and my summer clothes are still safely packed up in the top of my wardrobe. Although Lancashire Hot Pot is the perfect meal for cold, winter nights, I think this year's "summer" allows us to extend the cosy menu for a little bit longer.

Lancashire Hot Pot is both one of mine and Rob's favourite dishes. It is the easiest dinner to cook and tastes fantastic. We've both explored different recipes for this classic and between us have come up with our ideal version. With about 10 minutes of prep, plus an hour and a half in the oven. You can put your feet up and turn the TV on whilst you wait for the oven to work its magic.

Lancashire Hot Pot

Serves 2

Ingredients

400g Lamb Neck Fillet

1 Large White Onion

2 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme

1 Large Baking Potato

250ml Lamb Stock (preferably homemade)

Salt and Pepper

20g Butter

Method

Preheat your oven (non fan) to 180C.

Chop your lamb neck into generous chunks and season with salt and pepper. 

Finely slice your white onion.

Mix the lamb and the onion together and put into a deep casserole dish.

Place your fresh thyme on the top of the mixture.

Using a mandoline (or your awesome knife skills), slice your potato width ways as thinly as possible.

Make up your stock and pour over the filling until it just reaches the top of the lamb. It's best to err on the side of caution with the stock as you don't want your pot to be too watery. Don't worry if you have some left over. We used a homemade lamb stock (made up from lamb carcass, carrots, onions, butter and herbs), but a stock cube or stock pot would also be fine.

Lay your potatoes on the top. Slightly overlap them so you're covering the entire dish.

Sprinkle some black pepper over the top and dot bits of butter onto the potatoes.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes. If the top is becoming too crispy, cover it with a lid or tin foil.

Smokehouse Rock

Here's a little back story for you:

 

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, I was a vegetarian for a year. It started due to my unhealthy weight obsession and the purchase of the book 'Skinny Bitch'. A NY Times bestseller, this book's blurb reads "A no-nonsense tough love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous'. Being at a vulnerable age in my personal development, I absorbed it's horror stories about anything other than completely organic vegetables. I immediately stopped eating meat - it's main victim. Before this I could have told anyone that my favourite food was beef (I especially loved steak), so it was a shock to the system but I was completely dedicated to my cause. At the time, I was goaded that I would never do it, that I loved meat too much, that I would fail. Word of advice: Never challenge me. If something is made into a competition, I become a very different, serious person. And thus, Vegetarian Georgie was born. Now I look back on this part of my life with disbelief. 

This Sunday, Rob and I went for dinner at the Soho branch of Bodean's - a barbecue smoke house that boasts the best ribs this side of the Atlantic. We'd been itching to try them out since our move last summer, but hadn't found the time or the money. 

The Soho branch is set into two floors - the top floor is a bar/deli with communal tables, a fridge full of take home products and (at our time of arrival) ESPN on their screens. People sit around drinking beer, eating barbeque and laughing. It is a good atmosphere. The lower floor is the restaurant, where we ventured down to. Sunday was a horrible windy and wet day and so the warmth and cosyness of the Bodean's restaurant floor was exactly what we needed. The first thing I was impressed by here (despite the rain shelter it was providing) was their playlist. It was an eclectic mix of everything I love: Rainbow, Metallic, Simple Minds... I don't believe I've been to restaurant before that played this sort of music and over the course of the evening, it was impossible not to be biased towards the other aspects of the place, purely based on their playlist choices. 

Bodean's cocktail menu was a treat in itself, a mix of classic and innovative at reasonable prices. Alongside this, I could choose from a huge variety of soft drinks, wines or even a root beer float (I was extremely tempted). We both settled for Pepsi, which was ultimately shown to be a good choice after our food had arrived. We opted for a Nachos Supreme to start us off, which we dug into with pleasure. They got the salsa/guacamole/sour cream/cheese balance down to a T. The menu at Bodean's is a menagerie of US classics. They've got all bases covered. Burgers, Hotdogs, Ribs, Meatloaf, Shrimp, Deli Sandwiches, Burritos, Enchiladas, Mac and Cheese and Steaks. We, of course, wanted a bit of everything and ordered the Meat Platter for two - "A selection of our finest meats from the smoke pit served with fries and coleslaw". On ordered, we inquired as to what was included with the platter... our server told us "all the meats". Everything I've ever wanted to hear.

A true test of a restaurant is whether or not they can do good fries. Bodean's thankfully passed this test. I breathed a sigh of relief. And so to the meat platter... Short and Long Pork Ribs, Pulled Pork, BBQ Chicken, Burnt Ends and Beef Rib. It was like I was tasting every episode of Man V. Food at once. It was on tucking into this that I reflected on my prior vegetarianism. What was I thinking? 

This meal was the closest thing I have ever had to a religious experience. The meat... the sauce... the creamy and crunchy coleslaw that cuts through the richness of the meat perfectly... It was heavenly. When the bill arrived, it was the first time in a very long time where I didn't die inside on reading the figure. I was happy to pay for this food and I will happily return to Bodean's whenever I can.  

Everyone need's to put down whatever they are doing and run to Bodean's. NOW.