Sat Bains Restaurant and Rooms

Third post of the day and I'm on a roll.  Just have to report on a STUPENDOUS gastronomic experience I had in Nottingham last week to celebrate one year of being engaged (and I suppose to celebrate not being able to afford a wedding).  

For any serious foodies out there Restaurant Sat Bains http://www.restaurantsatbains.com/ turned out to be one of the best places we have eaten at in this country.  We opted for the ten course tasting menu (with the wine pairing...if you going to do something might as well do it properly) three hours later we emerged from the dining room, happier, possibly heavier and definitely a little drunk.  

For us the menu started and ended on a high.  The delicious Scallop dish; pan seared scallop with a perfectly cooked oblong of squash and a chorizo 'jam', was perfected with a cumin puree (at least I think that is what it was).  The Blueberries dish, the one I was least looking forward to, was the only dish that we both rated as 10/10.  All the desserts were magnificent in my opinion and if you love food it is the perfect night away.  We stayed in the rooms at the restaurant all decorated to a high spec (our room included a jacuzzi bath and lounge area) and it is so lovely after eating and drinking so much that you only have to travel a few yards back to your room.  

My dinner last night, and my lunch today :-)

I have been making these tray bakes for the last few weeks and they are a really quick and easy dinner.  This was the first time I used chicken as I usually make it with salmon (both work well).  I was inspired by Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals for this one (I'm not ashamed).  Roasting the tomatoes in the dish is inspired as it makes a beautiful sweet sauce (in the tray I have chicken, asparagus, tomatoes, lemon, half a chilli, grated garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil). The pesto is basil, parsley, garlic, anchovies, capers, parmesan, lemon and olive oil all blitzed up.  It would have been better if I had a handful of toasted pine nuts...next time maybe.

 With the leftover pesto from last night I griddled some aubergine slices and layered them in a small baking tin with the pesto and some parmesan .  After this picture was taken I put the tray in the grill for 5 minutes, when it came out it looked far to good for me to even think about taking a picture of it and I just ate it from the tin.

Back with a vengeance

Hey nobody but me.....

After a month during which I have cooked lots and blogged none I am back, hoping that soon enough someone may find a tiny bit of culinary inspiration from me.  This month I have spent a lot of time cooking recipes from Jane Grigson's English food.  So much so that it has earned pride of place in my cubby hole kitchen.

Strange as it may sound the Cucumber Ragout was a particular success.  So much so that I feel compelled to put down the recipe:

2 cucumbers sliced (unpeeled)
2 medium onions sliced
unsalted butter
8 tbsp chicken stock
3 tbsp dry white wine
salt, pepper, mace
2 rounded tsp flour


To start melt some butter in two pans and brown the onions in one and the cucumber in the other, you don't need to cook them through at this stage just give them some colour.  Drain the vegetables and then put them in a saucepan with the stock, wine and seasoning.  Cover the saucepan tightly and simmer until vegetables are cooked (about 10mins).  Mash together the flour with some butter and then slowly add the mush to thicken the sauce.  Thats it, all done (except for the multitude of pans to wash up but get someone else to do that).  Serve with grilled chicken or pork...YUM!