WHITSTABLE // WINDY CORNER STORES

My second visit to Whitstable and there was a couple of places I was desperate to visit. One of which was  Windy Corner Stores. Based a little bit away from the town centre it's well worth the short walk.

As a community cafe it is both kid and dog friendly. Which was perfect considering on this visit we were their with our friends Holly and Elliot and their new born, Rosalie. At only six weeks old she was absolutely adorable and remarkably 'chilled' out. 

As it was a Bank Holiday Weekend, Whitstable was fit to burst! So we decided it best to head over Sunday morning just as Windy Stores had opened to make sure we could get a table and settle down for a relaxing breakfast.

They opened at 8am and we managed to get over there for 8.40am. There was the odd person bobbing in for a paper and takeaway coffee but other than that, we seemed to be the first to arrive. I noticed a couple of tables had been booked for breakfast, which in retrospect was something we could've done rather than just getting there really early. However by the sounds of Rosalie's routine early mornings it didn't seem to matter.

We ordered a large pot of tea and a couple of coffees, grabbed a couple of papers and set up camp (They have Newspapers on sale and to be read if sitting in). Breakfast was served from 9am which gave me plenty of time to decide on what to have. After originally planning to have a small light breakfast, I ended up succumbing to a full veggie brekkie!

As you can see from the photos the serve up an impressive start to the day! Elliot and Ben both went for the Classic Full Monty which included 3 sausages, rasher of bacon, creamed mushrooms, beans, grilled tomatoes, wilted spinach, fried egg and toast. The veggie had also the creamed mushrooms, beans, grilled tomatoes, wilted spinach, fried egg and toast with also broccoli frittata.

Holly went for more 'Windy Eggs' with poached eggs on toast. These eggs were poached to perfection!

Great food, great coffee and a wonderful atmosphere! Highly recommend it but try and get there before rush hour as it does get very hectic when it's packed. The menus do change depending on the season, here's what was on the board that morning...

Windy stores also make fabulous wholesome food for lunch platters & I believe they can do picnic hampers too! They include things like a meze of salads and dips and a main meat or veg dish. Delicious cakes, the best brownies.... was so tempted but was just to early to get one! Such a shame....

WIFI is available if food and drinks bought.  They also do private evening dinner parties, which you can see photos on their facebook page. But best of all they do "Bring a dish for us to fill - windy lazy meals" Where you can take your own large caserole dish and leave it with them and pick it up for of tasty food that you can bake that evening. Such a superb idea. I just wish they were based in South East London!!

Birthday Pasty

 So as you've probably gathered I like baking and making cakes. It also turns out that eating sweet stuff is a past-time loved by mainly females. So as it was a male colleagues birthday at work I decided to take the initiative ;) and make a savoury Birthday thing to put candles in.....

I chose Mini Pasties!! (I say mini, but still the size of your hand)
I found the recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage Every Day. The pastry is really delicious and so quick and easy to make. I use the same recipe for my sausage rolls.

For the rough puff pastry
250g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
550g plain flour
A good pinch of salt
240-300ml iced water

METHOD (2 variations..)

How to make leftover stew pasties (use my Spiced Beef Stew Recipe here)

1. For the filling, drain off any excess juices from the stew so that the meat and veg are just lightly coated in gravy. Take any large chunks of meat or veg and chop them up roughly before stirring back together. Taste the stew and make sure it's seasoned to your liking. Leave to cool completely.
2. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface to about 3mm thick. Using a plate or a cake tin as a template, cut out four 20cm circles; you may have to gather up the trimmings and re-roll them to get your fourth circle.
3. Spoon the stew on to one half of each circle. Brush the pastry edges with water, fold the other half of the pastry over the filling to form a half-moon shape and crimp well to seal.
4. Place the pasties on a lightly oiled baking sheet and brush the tops with beaten egg. Bake in an oven preheated to 190°C/Gas Mark 5 for about 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. Eat warm or cold.

Squash and Lentil Pasties

Main Ingredients:

• Brown lentils
• Butternut squash
• Shortcrust pastry
• Onions, carrots and celery
• Mustard, white wine and balsamic vinegar

First one onion, one carrot and one celery stick were fried in olive oil, then simmered in white wine. Then the (rather unappetizing-looking) brown tinned lentils were added along with bay, thyme and half a pint of vegetable stock and simmered for 10 mins. I then hacked away at the squash until we had some nice cube-shaped chunks, which were chucked in and cooked for a further 20 minutes.

The resulting mixture was rather watery, so I set about it with a potato masher to help the vegetables soak up some of the juices. Finally, two teaspoons of English mustard and the same of Balsamic vinegar were added to give it a kick.

Anyway they flew off the plate, the meat ones especially!!

Edamame Avocado Dip with Spicy Wasabe

Dip 2 - Delicious, healthy and bright green!

Well it always good to add some extra colour to the table ;). This dip is amazing and what with the added kick from the wasabe it gives it that extra punch. Some may say it's the extra 'fifth' taste. Have you heard about this? I can't remember if wasabe is part of the group that has the Umami the fifth taste after bitter, salty, sour and sweet. Seriously this isn't one of my random stories, they're now selling tubes of this magic stuff in the supermarket. They say that it makes anything you putt it in taste better and tastier and generally amazing! However I have heard that there is one draw back...it's supposedly bright red, thus will make any food you put it in varying shades of pink/red.
Here have a read if you don't believe me: Telegraph has an article on it.

Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent back to the dip....

Ingredients
1 cup fresh or frozen shelled edamame beans
2 avocados, peeled and pitted
1 teaspoon wasabe
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger (I cheated & used puree ginger)
1 clove minced fresh garlic (I cheated & used puree garlic)
1/4 cup water
juice of 2 fresh limes (about 3 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
cracked black pepper
2 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

1. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Do a seasoning check, and add more salt, pepper, lime juice, or wasabe as needed (I like to kick it up to a tablespoon to really bring on the heat).

I have to say this is a really REALLY tasty dip. It's not guacamole, it's similar but not guacamole. Should really think of a shorter name for it.... How about WAE dip?? It's not very catchy though is it...
any ideas let me know!

Pureed ginger and garlic in the fridge is a GENIUS move! ;)

Also I have a new obsession with Warburtons Square(ish) wraps they're so versatile and work great with my dips. You chop them up into triangle and heat them up under the grill with a bit of oil and chopped herbs or spread some of tasty green dip on top with some tomato salsa and roll it up. Yum!

 Right think that's enough babbling for this post.... 

Hope you enjoy your dip as much as I did!

Creamy Hummus

Summertime means sunny, hot days consisting of light eating and by no means eating roast dinners!! Unless a point is to be made. Anyway, I believe hummus is a great thing to have at the ready. Both meat and vegetarian friendly, it's healthy-ish and even more so when eaten with crudities or baked sweet potato wedges!

I have to admit the first time I tried hummus, the first mouthful I wasn't that impressed... I actually thought it was the blandest, 'health-food' thing I'd ever tried, and that I wouldn't be eating again... Well I got that wrong! I did try and make it a few years back, with disastrous consequences - honestly it was disgusting. But not one to be defeated I thought I'd give it another go. Have to say the results were good, however please note - this recipe makes a LOT! I now have three pots of the above, two of which are now in the freezer to be used once i get through the first pot!

This recipe gives you the creamiest, silky smooth hummus ever! A couple of pointers though, firstly, when adding the tahini, add a little at a time and keep tasting the hummus as you do it. It might be a case that you don't want to add the whole amount (I found it somehow took away some of the flavor of the chick peas and ended up adding a little more salt & onion marmalade).

Oh and secondly, I've recently broke my food processor !?! Trust me - don't try wizz up lots of ice cubes , just use a rolling pin and a bag. Anyway I ended up investing in one of those hand wizzer jobs from the supermarket. I made a point of buying the cheapest - about £7, and it's BRILLIANT. Less washing up, quick and easy and didn't break the bank. Ha, I'm such a geek to get so excited about a bloody £7 blender... hmm but hey if it wasn't for the £7 wizzer people wouldn't be eating hummus! ha ha !!

Finally you'll see it's measured using 'cups', it's an American measuring method. I've ended up following so many recipes I got myself a set of cups. If you're looking for a set try Here .

INGREDIENTS


    •    2 cups dried chickpeas
    •    2 tbsp baking soda for soaking + ½ tsp for cooking
    •    ½ cup tahini
    •    juice from 1 squeezed lemon
    •    2 garlic cloves
    •    ½ tsp salt
    •    1 teaspoon cumin
    •    ½ – 1 cup water, depending on desired texture
    •    2 tablespoons sticky onion marmalade

INSTRUCTIONS

• Soak chickpeas in clean water with 2 tablespoons of baking soda overnight.
• Drain, rinse and soak again in tap water for a few more hours. The grains should absorb most of the water and almost double their volume.
• Rinse the chickpeas well and put them in a large pot. Cover with water, add ½ tsp baking soda and NO salt. Cook until the grains are very tender, around 45 minutes to an hour. Regularly skim the surface during cooking process to remove foam and loose peels floating - this process can be quite therapeutic. Just make sure you get the majority of skins out as this will ensure for a smooth texture.
• When cooked, drain the chickpeas and transfer to food processor or use a hand-wizzer. Process into a thick puree. Allow to cool for a little while before you continue.
• Add the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt and cumin, then start the food processor. Add water, a little bit at a time, until you get the desired texture. Make it a little bit thinner than the actual desired texture, as it tends to firm up after a little while (especially if you don’t eat it right away and refrigerate it).

Cook-athon Part 1 - Sausage Rolls

So as it turns out I didn't end up cooking anything for Sonja's arrival instead a lot of chocolate, Nutella and wine was consumed!!
This weekend I have hit the kitchen like i have never before :D So far I've made :

*Sausage rolls using Mr Willows sausages and this time made my own 'rough' puff pastry - it roughly follows the same recipe i used for the 'picnic for a king' post back in Feb.
*Millionaire's shortbread - we've started a syndicate at work, which isn't going very well as we keep forgetting to buy the lottery tickets!? Hopefully this will suffice.
*Pizza Dough - a great thing to have a the freezer for a quick fab pizza!
*Lemon Drizzle - turns out Kim at work has been wanting me to bring one of these into the office for ages - so this one's for you kim! :)

As I've made quite a few things I'm gonna have to put them over a couple of posts. To start of we'll start with the Mr Willows Sausage Rolls.

Rough Puff Pastry:
300g Plain / rice flour
A pinch of salt
150g chilled butter cut into cubes.

For the filling:
25g Butter
1 large red onion
1 tbsp brown sugar
6 large Mr Willows Pork & tomato sausages
a handful of brown bread crumbs
Seasoning

Method:
To make the pastry, mix the flour with the salt, then add the cubed butter and rub together until evenly mixed. Add just enough iced water (8-10 tablespoons) to bring the mixture together into a fairly firm dough.
Shape the dough into a rectangle with your hands and, on a well floured surface, roll it out in one direction, away from you, so you end up with a rectangle about 1cm thick. Fold the far third towards you, then fold the nearest third over that (rather like folding business letter), so that you now have a rectangle made up of 3 equal layers (see photos). Give the pastry a quarter-turn, then repeat the rolling, folding and turning process 5 more times. Wrap the pastry in cling film and rest it in the fridge for about 30 minures, up to an hour.

Whilst the pastry is chilling you can start on the filling. Also pre-heat oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.

Take the onion and cut into quarters then slice very finely. Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the onion and sugar. Cook slowly for around half an hour until they've turned caramel-ly and golden. Pop on a plate and allow to cool. In another bowl put the handful of breadcrumbs (slice of bread whizzed up) and then slice the sausage down the center and pop the meat out into the bowl. Add the cooled onions & seasoning, then squigg together.

On a floured work surface, roll the pastry out into a big rectangle as thick as a pound coin and cut it length ways into two long, even rectangles. Roll the mixture into sausage shapes with your hands and lay along the center of each rectangle.

Mix the egg and milk and brush the pastry with the mixture, then fold one side of the pastry over, wrapping the filling inside. Press down with your fingers or the edge of a spoon to seal the join.

Cut the long rolls into the sizes you want and space them out on a baking tray. Brush with the rest of the egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until puffed, golden and cooked through.

Cook-athon Part 2 - Millionaire Shortbread

As I'm yet to become a millionaire or be whisked away by a millionaire, Millionaire shortbread seemed to be the only option!
This was the traditional treat until it was transformed into the choc bar known as TWIX. Oh and before i continue don't get any clever ideas of trying the toffee before it's cooled!! It's like ruddy lava and stay hot for ages - thus I now have burnt fingers, that'll teach me...

Recipe

Shortbread:
125g Butter (salted is better)
50g caster sugar
175g plain / rice flour

Topping:
125g butter
100g sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
200g condensed milk - usually sold in tins of 397g, so roughly use half a tin.
200g milk chocolate

Grease a & line a 20.5cm x 40.5cm baking tray (or one roughly rectangle and a bit deep :) Preheat oven to 150oc/300oF/gas 2.

Rub all the ingredients for the shortbread together as if you were making crumble, but keep going until it starts to form a very stiff, crumbly dough. Don't add any liquid!!

When the dough forms press it evenly into the baking tray using your fingers (rustic look!) - as it cooks it tends to level out. Bake the shortbread for 20minutes then set aside and allow to cool.

Heat the butter and sugar in a saucepan. When the sugar has dissolved add the syrup and the condensed milk. bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly. it will thicken and go a toffee colour. As soon as this happens spread it over the shortbread and allow it to cool.

Now melt the chocolate with 4 tbsp of water, either in a bain Marie (bowl over a pan of hot water) or in a microwave. As soon as you can, pour it over the toffee and biscuit and even it out with a knife. The reason for adding the water to the choc is so that it makes it easier to pour & also prevents it from going brittle (next time may use less water, as it quite nice for it to be a bit brittle).

Allow it to chill / cool for at least an hour, then cut it into whatever shapes sizes you desire. Once made it will keep in the fridge for up to a week. So by next sat you may have won the lottery and be paying me to make some of this shortbread!! lol!!

Posh Salcombe Sausage Sarnie!

I have felt so bad that i haven't done a blog since the start of May that I'm writing this one whilst on holiday.

I'm currently residing in what I'd like to think is a secret haven, home from home - Salcombe. I've been coming here with my family nearly every year since the age of 4 and my father came here as a child with his family too. That's three generations that can't tear themselves away from this special place.
So I'm here with my Parents - Vicki & Paul, my sister & her husband, Lou & John, and my old man, Pete (who i'm sure you've heard about in previous posts) There are the introductions, now you know who's who.

Lou & John are both trained chefs, who have since moved professions. They still have a lot of  knowledge that I'm hoping to absorb :D. So yesterday, our second day in paradise, Lou decided to make a picnic to take over to East Portlemouth beach, via ferry boat.

Lou's Posh Picinic Menu:
crudities with tuna cream cheese and chive dip
followed by
posh sausage sarnies
deli pork pie
fresh baguette and camembert

The main star of the picnic were these 'posh sausage sarnies' they were serioiusly AMAZING!! Here is how Weeze (my nickname for  lou) created them:

6 proper pork sausages from Plant's butchers (back home-they make good sausages)
2 medium ciabatta loaves (fresh from salcombe bakery that morninag - AMAZINGLY SOFT)
Baby leaf Spinach
Caramelized onions:
2 sliced onions
1 tbsp oil - 20mins golden
50ml red wine vinegar
50ml red wine
1 heaped tbsp sugar - reduce till pretty much no liquid left.
Tomato Relish:
half diced onion
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 Can plum tomatoes
1 tbsp tomarto puree
4 chopped anchovies
1 red chopped chilli
1 tbsp sugar
fresh thyme
seasoning

METHOD:
Sausages, caramelized onion & relish can be cooked a day ahead, keep covered in the fridge. Assemble the sandwich the morning of the picnic, wrap in cling film or foil. cut into slices at the picnic (helps if you have an cool bread-pen-knife like Jonboy!)

 

The most impressive pen/bread-knife I've ever seen!

Cook sausages under grill for the amount needed, turning half way through. Cool then halve lengthways.

To make the caramelized onion, heat the oil in a pan and then add your sliced onion - Cook uber slowly on a low heat, this keeps them sweet.
After around 20mins or until golden add the vinegar, wine and sugar and bring to  a boil / simmer and reduce till there's pretty much no liquid left. So it's nice and sticky :O) Allow to cool.
The tomato relish start by sweating off the diced onion until transparent. Add crushed garlic and the tin of toms & tomato puree. Stir. Add the chopped chilli and anchovies & sugar. Then simmer on a lowish heat for 30-40 minutes. Once thickened/reduced add chopped thyme and a bit of pepper to taste.
The Asembly!
Split the bread lengthways, spread the top with relish and the base with caramlized onion. On top of the onion add the sausage halves and spinach, press the bread top on firmly. Wrap the sandwich in clingfilm or foil.
At the picnic, cut each sarnie into  four slices.
ENJOY!!!

Pete having a quick game of bat 'n ball with his invisible friend... lol!