mitzireddy

My holiday with Luscious Lynn and Lovely Linda in London is soon coming to an end and I will be heading home to Gauteng next week in time for Spring – and, yes, I did lose my vision of healthy eating very quickly on my arrival and here are some of the reasons why:

More goodies that LL and LL wanted me to try.

An award winning artisan Welsh cheese called Gorwydd Caerphilly from Boroughs Market – I absolutely love this cheese – could have done with more.

Mexican food from a trendy restaurant, Wahaca, in Covent Gardens, with good looking waiters and a very busy tequila bar and delicious food some of which was a new experience for me.

Chicken Guajillo Tostadas – chunks of marinated chicken, guacamole and a smoky guajillo ( chillies) oil – (a tostadas is 2 crisp tortillas piled high with a cold salad.)

Marinated chicken with Lancashire cheese and fresh tomato salad Taquitos – (taquitos is two corn torillas wrapped around a filling and deep fried and served with crema.)

Grilled British steak with cheese and chipotle sauce salsa in Tacos(soft corn tortillas) – my first taste of chipotle – I read a post by one of our fellow bloggers some months ago who uses only chipotle sauce in his cooking and gets his supply of the sauce with great difficulty.

Chipotle chicken filling Quesadillas (large toasted tortilla)

Happy vibes before heading to see the musical, Betty Blue Eyes, at the Novello Theatre.

Patisserie Valerie in Covent Gardens

Shopping malls are a way of life in Gauteng and on my previous visits I found the absence of malls made shopping in London very tedious –one has to walk distances before finding the relevant stores. London now has Westfield shopping centre, in West London, which is Europe’s largest urban shopping mall and is about two years old. It has all the high end stores, movie house where most of the premieres are now held and eating houses galore – it spacious and has an inviting ambience.

We went to a restaurant there called GBK which is a burger franchise– loved the layout of their menu and their food was delicious, meaty with no grease. We then went to see a movie, The In Betweeners, based on a very popular local series.

Wellington burger (mushrooms and horseradish sauce)

To get back to my fruit crumble – September in the UK is the berry season and a fruit crumble is regarded as one of Britain’s top 100 dishes and this classic pudding can be adapted throughout the year to whatever fruit is in season.

FRUIT CRUMBLE

FILLING

1 kg apples, cored, peeled and quartered.

25gr butter

100gr castor sugar

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

250gr mixed berries

TOPPING

100g plain flour, sifted

100g plain whole meal flour

150gr butter

50g flaked almonds

75 gr demerara sugar

Grease a 1.5 litre ovenproof dish with butter.

Pre heat the oven to 200 C.

First make the filling.

Melt the butter in a pan.

Add the apples, castor sugar and lemon zest.

Cook for about 10 minutes until the apples are soft.

Add the berries.

Mix well.

Place the mixture into the ovenproof dish.

For the topping – place the flours in a bowl.

Then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Stir in the almonds and sugar.

Then scatter over the filling.

Bake for approx. 20 – 25 minutes, until golden and crunch.

Serve with plenty of custard.( I used cream ).