The Little Lasagna Blog

Behold my new favourite recipe & food blog: The Pasta The Meat The Cheese The Sauce. This here blog was very recently created by the youngest member of the incredibly talented Lasagna family. Yes this is a real family who actually hold the last name "Lasagna" - from their name alone you should be able to tell that they are incredible gifted when it comes to making good food. If you don't believe me, you can try out some of these blog recipes OR visit their family restaurant, Terrazza on Harbord Street. All I can say is: Buon Appetito! xo

The Summer Menu

1. The incredible charcuterie plate at Delux on Ossington. I highly recommend you go try it.

2. this is the drink you get when you pre-drink at a bartender's house. A fresh summer cocktail and a cute cat, perfect.

3. what I tell myself every day.

Treats To Make You Smile

His & Hers

Food in Florence

The Joy of Cooking

And then smashing. We've all been there. I usually have a tantrum, but perhaps next time I will try "snapping" in a different sort of way, a la Rachel Bee Porter. Smart woman. Mmmm food as art, love it.

The Joy of Cooking by Rachel Bee Porter, images via Daily Dream Decor

Picnic in Firenze

Lunch: lasagna, grilled eggplant, spinach and little onion bulbs - packed for me by a lovely Italian man at a cafe near Piazza San Marco, and consumed by me in the Giardino du Boboli. Just perfect!

Sunday Roast At The Roebuck

Last Sunday was a very long and very stressful moving day. Poor Nina from Paris had to endure the whole things with us! Its a part of her trip to London she'll probably never forget, but would like to I'm sure!

Anyway, once we finally got ourselves to Chiswick and could relax, we treated ourselves to three fantastic roast chicken dinners, lots of wine and even dessert! Best of all the weather was amazing and we got to sit in their lovely back garden in the sunshine.

If you're in the area, I recommend popping by, for more info click HERE xo

London Goes Local

Dedicated Joli Lapin readers will be familiar with my previous posts about my obsession with Urban Farming and my increasing-frustration with high-mileage produce at the supermarkets. While on my way back from a lovely weekend on the Isle of Wight this afternoon, I pulled out my crumpled copy of last week's ES Magazine from my purse and slowly went through every article over the two-hour train ride #forgottopackabook #iphonedied

To my great delight, I came across their fantastic article on London's new localism movement - charting 'the decline of food miles and the rise of the back-garden entrepreneur.' I strongly recommend checking out the article straight away by clicking HERE, if you too are pro-local whether you are LDN-based or not! For those who do happen to be based in London, see their list of great locals below, and for those who aren't - well, don't you think it's about time you found out who your locals are?

ES Magazine's LOCALIST HOT LIST:

Ronnie's Quails and Chickens
86 Montpelier Gardens, E6 (07516 824 785; ronniesquails.co.uk)
Ronnie's eggs are available for collection or can be ordered via post. Chinese quail eggs, £4.50 for a dozen (plus £2 p&p).

Sipsmith Independent Spirits
The Distillery, 27 Nasmyth Street, W6 (020 8741 2034; sipsmith.com)
Sipsmith's Fairfax Hall and Sam Galsworthy create artisanal spirits including vodka and gin in their Hammersmith distillery, using Prudence, a handmade copper still. Sipsmith barley vodka, £14.84 for 35cl (half bottle).

The Giggly Pig
132 Petersfield Avenue, Harold Hill, Romford, Essex (01708 343 896;
gigglypig.co.uk)
Delicious sausages from ex-con Tracy Mackness's saddleback pigs, £3 for 6 sausages.

Hansen & Lydersen Ltd
3-5 Shelford Place, N16 (07411 693 712; hansen-lydersen.com)
Ole-Martin Hansen's smokehouse in Stoke Newington uses Scottish salmon, which arrives early in the morning and is salted, cured and smoked using a blend of juniper and beech wood. Queen Maud Royal Fillet, £40 for 650g.

Hubbub
(020 7354 5511; hubbub.co.uk)
Set up by former barrister Marisa Leaf, Hubbub delivers fresh food directly from independent local shops, including La Fromagerie and Christchurch Fish Co-operative, to most of North London.

Spence Bakery
161 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 (020 7249 4927; thespence.co.uk)
This North London bakery supplies locals with delicious homemade scones, bread and sweet delights. Try the barley rye, £2.60, and frangipane fruit tarts, £18.

E5 bakehouse
Arch 402, Mentmore Terrace, E8 (07548 300 244; e5bakehouse.com)
Since opening in July 2009, this bakery has been supplying the East End with freshly baked sourdoughs, £3.20.Michel Roux Jr is a fan.

Pure London Honey
(07956 367 544)
Orlando Clarke uses non-chemical methods to provide delicious honey from both his King's Cross and Peckham hives. Available at Petersham Nurseries and many independent shops across the city, including the East Dulwich Deli.

The Hive Honey Shop
93 Northcote Road, SW11 (020 7924 6233; thehivehoney shop.co.uk)
Established in 1992, this is run by James Hamill who has beehives in Wandsworth. English wildflower honey, £6.95.

The Kernel Brewery
98 Druid Street, SE1 (07757 552 636; thekernelbrewery.com)
Founded by Evin O'Riordain in 2009, this brewery opens every Saturday selling Kernel's homebrew beer, which is also available in Selfridges, Borough Market and restaurants including Hawksmoor. Try the new coffee IPA, £2.50 for 330ml.

Growing Communities
The Old Fire Station, 61 Leswin Road, N16 (020 7502 7588; growingcommunities.org)

A community-led organisation supplying locally sourced organic vegetable boxes from £6 per week.

Lunch With Jackson

Photos from my lunch with Jackson at our favourite Italian restaurant in Germany! Once again I can't remember the name - we plan on going again tomorrow so I'll try and remember to grab a card. Delicious as always, today we split a beet and rocket salad to start, then Jackson had their salmon lasagna and I had the gnocchi - mm mmm mmm! For dessert we shared the panna cotta which came with a black licorice syrup, mint leaves and blue berries along with two espressos - just perfect!

Breakfast Snaps

Mmmm Joli hearts yummy & beautiful breakfasts!

Que Pasa?

Oh Em Gee this veggie quesadilla with onion-cranberry salsa looks SO good I'm literally drooling at my desk. Can someone please whip this up for me now and deliver in time for my late afternoon snack? I'll love you forever...

Here's the recipe:

quesadillas with onion-cranberry salsa

Yield: 6 servings

Total Time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

Onion-Cranberry Salsa
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1 Tbs. sugar
3 Tbs. fresh lime juice (1 lime)
2 Tbs. orange juice
1 to 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
2 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 cup canned whole berry cranberry sauce

1 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into long strips
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup peeled winter squash (cut in 3/4-inch cubes), such as acorn or kabocha
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
4 flour tortillas
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Make salsa: In medium bowl, mix onion, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let stand 15 minutes. Add remaining salsa ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until using.

In medium skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add bell pepper, corn, squash and salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until squash is almost tender, about 7 minutes. Stir in cumin and chili powder. Cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

To assemble quesadillas, lightly coat large skillet with cooking spray. Place 1 tortilla in pan and heat about 30 seconds each side. Spread about one-third warm vegetable mixture over half the tortilla. Sprinkle with some cheese. Fold tortilla in half to enclose filling. Cook quesadilla until cheese is melted, about 1 minute each side. Slide quesadilla onto cutting board and cut into wedges. Repeat process to make remaining quesadillas. Serve with salsa on the side.

Recipe and image via Love & Olive Oil.

Thai Curry Soup For The Soul

Joli is sick! High temperature, massive headache that won't go away and a chest cold - what a great welcome back to London, not. Anyway, while paying for an assortment of cough and flu medicine at Boots earlier, I noticed that the shelves by the cash desks were filled with medicine instead of the usual candies, chewing gums, lip balms and hand creams etc. Even though it's sunny and quite warm out, I guess it is still flu season. Since I'm clearly not the only one at home suffering right now, I thought I'd share my Thai Curry Soup recipe. Easy to make, delicious and filling - I'm quite certain it is slowly curing me.

Thai Curry Soup For The Soul

Ingredients:

1 large onion

2-3 carrots

4-6 pieces of chicken (breast and drumsticks, small in size)

3-4 celery stalks

6 mushrooms

1 small can of corn niblets

1 can coconut milk

1 large tablespoon green curry paste

2 chicken stock cubes

water

dried basil

chili flakes

fresh ground pepper

egg noodles

1. Chop the carrots and onions, then add to a large heated pot with a bit of olive oil. Sautee for a couple of minutes before adding the chicken. Flip the chicken every couple of minutes to brown for about six minutes, fill the pot with water until the chicken is covered and approximately half full. Add chicken stock cubes and bring to a boil.

2. In the meantime, chop the celery and mushroom - add once water starts boiling. Add coconut milk and corn niblets, reduce soup to simmer and stir. Add green curry paste and seasoning, stir and continue to let simmer.

3. Bring a separate pot of water to boil and add your desired amount of egg noodles. Once cooked, drain and add to the soup. Check that the chicken is fully cooked before serving, if it is then put it all into a big bowl and enjoy!

Munchies at Mrs Marengo's

My BFF Rachel made a one-day pit stop in London on her way back to Montreal from her lovely week-long trip in Paris. J'adore that she came to visit, even if it was for just one day! We walked all over London town and (window) shopped til we almost dropped. Wearing heels on our day out together was a bad idea, to rest our sore soles, we stopped into Mrs. Marengo's in Soho for coffee and cake at tea time - it was delicious! Rachel had a fruity nut cake, which to Joli appeared far too healthy for a tea time choice, so opted for the lemon and pistachio slice - yum yum! Be sure to stop by when you're next in the neighborhood, click HERE for more info.

Blueberries & Bacon

Mmmmmm this what I want to eat for brunch tomorrow more than anything in the world!! For any ambitious weekend cooks out there, you can get the full recipe from Girlichef by clicking HERE! x

A Monday Roast

A nice roast doesn't always have to be reserved for the weekend. On most nights, I find that all of my time is taken up in the kitchen - cutting, chopping, preparing and cooking - from the moment I step through the door, until I sit down to eat. On Monday, I decided I wanted to make something comforting and delicious but that could essentially just be shoved into the oven while I tidied my room (which had recently been hit by the London Fashion Week clothing tornado) - So I made Lemon Roast Chicken with Spiced Roast Potatoes, Roasted Garlic Carrots and Steamed Asparagus. It was delicious. Here's how to make your own:

Step 1: Heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Step 2: Arrange chicken breasts and legs in an oven dish, drizzle with olive oil and the juice of two lemons. Cut the lemons into quarters and arrange in dish, then season with a pinch of salt, fresh ground pepper and some herbs (rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, etc.).

Step 3: Dice two large potatoes. Place in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil then add fresh ground pepper and a mix of chilli peppers, cumin, cinnamon, coriander and turmeric powders. I never measure these out properly - just do it by eye and smell. If you are unsure, put in 1/2 a teaspoon of each and then add more as you see fit. Toss until evenly covered and spread onto a baking tray.

Step 4: Cut carrots and garlic. Arrange both on a baking tray, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, toss lightly and add freshly ground pepper.

Step 5: Shove everything into the oven. Walk away for approx 20 mins. Return to toss and check that nothing is on fire. If okay, leave for another 20 minutes. Please note, that if you prefer a crunchier carrot, put your carrots in half way through cooking the chicken.

Step 6: About 5 minutes before dinner in the oven is done, add a bit of water to a heated pan and add the asparagus. Cover with a lid and leave for 3-5 minutes.

If the juices of the chicken run clear when you cut through and you can easily push a fork through the potatoes - it's ready to go! Serve up with a side salad and enjoy. x

Food Art

Playing with food is fun.

Images via Google Images

Fashion Treats

My delicious dessert at The ELLE Style Awards last night - yum!!

416 Snack Bar

"Hey Look! Snacks + Booze!"

Hallelujah! The bar of my dreams is finally open, and it's been opened by one of my friends! Snacks and booze from 5pm-2am on the daily? I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be moving into that joint this summer! TO darling, Adrian Ravinsky, opened up 416 Snack Bar this week, situated just north of Queen on Bathurst, with business partner David Stewart. Three years ago, Adrian aka "Age" launched 416 Snack Bar - the blog - which documented is quest to find culinary perfection. After working at top TO restaurants including Ferro, Brassaii, Buca and Gilead, I'm so happy to hear that Adrian has opened up his own snack spot - set to become one of the city's faves in no time, no doubt. Good luck boys! Can't wait to come by and try it out. For those of you in the city now, well, whatcha waiting for!? Click HERE for more info.

A Lebanese Lunch In London

A couple of days ago mum and I met up for lunch and I took her to Comptoir Libanais, just behind Selfridges. My boss introduced me to this wonderful little cafe for the first time just before the holidays - the food was good and the interior was beyond cute, clearly Joli loved! Mum also gave it her seal of approval on Tuesday afternoon - I highly recommend the grilled chicken wrap with salad, mint tea and baklava to finish - delish! They have a few different locations around London, check out which is nearest you by clicking HERE.

The Edible Selby Part 1

The Edible Selby - a new coloumn in T Magazine - Joli's dream come true!!

Click HERE to view all images from the first installment.