I've Moved

In a fit of frustration with the limited formatting powers of blogger, I searched for a new, more free, more customizeable creative space and found one.

Please check out my lovely new site which I stayed up til 7am building, absorbed like a child who has just discovered Harry Potter (the books, obviously.)

http://elliefood.wix.com/roundmeal

LOVE X

Apple Pie Oats with Maple Peanut Sauce

3 heaped tbsp oats

1 cup liquid (half water, half milk)

1/2 an apple, diced

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp mixed spice/nutmeg

splash of vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp peanut butter

for topping: walnuts and a pinch of coarse sea salt

Soak the oats overnight in the spices to achieve maximum creaminess and flavour, but if you don't have time it doesn't make too much difference. Start the pan on the lowest heat, and when it starts to get hot, add the diced apple and vanilla extract along with any other add-ins you may have e.g flaxseed, raisins etc. Let the porridge bubble away slowly for around 15 minutes, stirring to ensure it doesn't stick to the pan. At the last moment, heat the grill to a medium temperature and mix the peanut butter and maple syrup in a mug. If the peanut butter is quite stiff the sauce can be made runnier by a quick 10 seconds in the microwave. Grill the pan of porridge or empty into an oven-safe bowl to make the top crispy and stodgy, drizzling with the peanut sauce for the final 2 minutes. Remove, sprinkle with walnuts and salt and eat when cool enough to enjoy.

Alternatively, add all ingredients bar sauce to an oven-safe dish and bake for about 20 minutes on 200° for a more authentic apple pie texture.

Five Pounds Five Days

I've decided to challenge myself to 'live below the line' surviving on five pounds for five days. I'll be donating the money I save on food towards a charity helping to prevent hunger and starvation across the world.

I and many others in this country regularly eat at the height of luxury, with varied and exciting ingredients in every meal. I want to strip back and pare down to the survival basics as I believe that I deserve no better than anyone else in this world - everyone deserves food and by cutting back on my own budget, I can help to feed others too. 

I say stripping back, but as a food lover and blogger I have already managed to design a five day menu of delicious foods for the grand total of £4.74. That's a whole 26p unnacounted for - perhaps I'll treat myself in the reduced section. As well as helping charity, this project proves how easy it is to save money on food whilst eating well, which is perfect for students and anyone struggling with the cost of living. 

It would be easy to buy a block of cheese, a tin of beans and a sack of potatoes, but I feel that my menu is more exciting, more healthy and generally more satisfying. While designing this it made me realise how much I actually spend on food, which is not even a lot comparatively, but I now realise how unneccessary it is to have every mouthful at the taste of perfection. When stripped back, food is fuel and its primary function is to feed. I'm happy to be able to do that with the added bonus of the taste. So please enjoy my menu and use it either for money saving reasons or for your own five day challenge!

(Please note these prices are portion-based, e.g 75p for 500g of oats at 5x 30g portion)

Shopping List:

Oats                                                  0.12
Sweet Potato                                      0.35
Chana Dal                                         0.45
Wholemeal Pittas                               0.32
Eggs                                                 0.50   
Tinned Mushrooms                             0.39
Red Onion                                         0.34
Cabbage                                           0.49
Tinned Mackerel                                0.59
Tinned Tomatoes                               0.39
Bananas                                           0.60
Herbs & Spices                                  0.20



MONDAY                                                                      TUESDAY
Porridge                                                                          Porridge
Baked Sweet Potato & Cabbage                                       Dal & Pitta
Dal                                                                                 3 Egg Omelette with Mushroom & Red Onion

WEDNESDAY                                                               THURSDAY
Porridge                                                                           Porridge
Scrambled Egg Pitta                                                         Sweet Potato in Tomato Sauce with Pitta
Cabbage & Sweet Potato Wedges                                       Mackerel Dal & Boiled Egg

FRIDAY
Porridge
Omelette
Baked Egg & Red Onion Shakshuka

There you have it, it's possible! A nutritionally balanced five day meal plan for under a pound a day. I challenge you to try it, and donate the money you save to a good cause! I know a lot of people spend at least five pounds a day just on lunch, and here exemplifies the reasons not to. I've set a target of  £220, which is probably the cost of two families weekly shops, please help to stop hunger across the world by donating, whether you scrimp on your shopping list or have the money spare, no one deserves to starve.

https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/fivepoundsfivedays

The time I tried Crack

I know everyone says you shouldn't do it.

I know how it affects your brain, your body and your health.

I know it's addictive, I know it's bad.

But it's so, so good.

Having had my first hit from the side of a van at a festival back in 2013, I was instantly hooked and suffered severe withdrawal symptoms, trying to supplement my addiction with the placebo of Sainsbury's own caramel and peanut soft scoop.

It wasn't the same.

I tried everything: squeezy caramel sauce and dollops of melted peanut butter, vanilla ice cream sprinkled with sea salt and drenched with sugar. My housemate found dirty spoons and used wrappers in my handbag, and I knew it was time to stop.

I went cold turkey for a while, six months went by and I couldn't even look at a jar of skippy. I was ready to accept that my search for that rosy-pink truck with its supply of unbeatable quality would never again be on the market. Never again would I reach that high.

Life was okay, I ate chocolate fudge brownies and gorged myself on jam doughnuts whilst watching the mundane world go by. In an attempt to feed my adrenaline craving, I turned to the vice of piercing and tattoos, which by fate or fortune led me to Affleck's Palace, home of all things alternative. Amongst the webs of gothic jewellery, salvaged 80s footwear, pothead paraphernalia and offensive t-shirts I stumbled to find the dream-like sight of Ginger's Comfort Emporium. Was this real? Was I hallucinating? Plush velvet booths in deep crimson, an Alice-Through-The-Looking-Glass chessboard floor, and a towering chalkboard listing the reams of flavour combinations of which my heart had eyes to see only one.

I'm talking of course about Chorlton Crack, Ginger's Comfort Emporium's intoxicating combination of salted caramel and peanut butter in an ice cream. It's available in Elvis-style dosage between brioche toast and smothered with jam, Ginger now even cooks up with a brownie for the hard-hitters, but I personally like it pure.

Now there's a steady supply, I'm back on the wagon and my habit is under control. Why get clean when I can afford not to?

Chorlton Crack, 500ml, £7.50

Pick up: 52 Church Street, Manchester M4 1PW

http://www.gingerscomfortemporium.com/

Five Minute Chilli Peanut Hummus

1 can chickpeas, not drained
2-3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsps olive oil

Empty the chickpeas plus their juices into a microwaveable bowl, along with the peeled cloves of garlic and set the timer to 5 minutes. While this is going, plug in your food processor and assemble the other ingredients. Add hot mixture to machine along with everything bar the olive oil. Whiz one tablespoon of oil into the processor until it reaches your preferred consistency. I like mine smooth but not liquid. 

Spoon into a sealable tupperware and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of oil and a pinch of paprika. Experiment with other add-ins such as lemon, cumin, or tahini instead of peanut butter. This is a super-easy, super-quick recipe which is great to have on hand if you have a can of chickpeas in the cupboard. It's cheap and versatile and great smeared on a multi-grain sandwich with leftover roast sweet potato and kale, or as a twist on a classic snack served with carrot sticks.

Sonnet 167

'In poetry, the volta or turn, is a rhetorical shift or dramatic change in thought and/or emotion.'

Volta, Didsbury seems an appropriate place to visit as my deadlines have come to an end with the last hand in of an essay on Shakespearean tragedy - this is the turning point at which I experience a dramatic change in thought or emotion. It could be a sense of freedom and release, or a descent into a maddening search for life purpose. There was a lot resting on this visit.

We began in celebration with wine,

The bottle name escapes my memory;

A certain assurance that it was fine.

With a side of dough from Trove Bakery,

We opted for the tapas style menu:

The chorizo, lamb, shrimp and beetroot dip,

Showcased talent as a small plate venue.

First dish soft and flavoursome, worth the trip;

Though the shawarma I did not savour,

What redeemed this dish from spoiling the mood,

Was the wide accompaniment of flavour,

Exploding from the vibrant ray of food.

So please, my experience let alter,

Your new urgency to visit Volta.

Volta Eaterie & Bar,

167 Burton Rd,

M20 2LN
http://www.voltafoodanddrink.co.uk/

Review: Urban Cookhouse

Accompanying fellow food writer Hester Lonergan on her route to Uni, we passed by the beginnings of the now open and operating Urban Cookhouse. Intrigued by the artsy logo and stylish purple lettering, we made reservations for an early lunch accompanied by cocktails.

Hester arrived slightly before me and made the first move with a nibble of popcorn, though I had to ask what flavour it claimed to be as it tasted of nothing. Unperturbed by this bland appetiser, we moved to decide on our samples of the real food.

The menu at Cookhouse is refreshingly different, a fusion of cuisines are presented to make a beautiful, intriguing and innovative collection of dishes. Too excited to choose one thing, and too scared of not having room to try it all, we opted for a tapas-style collection of starters in place of a main meal each. Our choices in agreement, we went for the crispy whitebait in lemongrass aioli, tempura cod cheeks, scallops and black pudding, harissa duck breast and the mushroom parfait on rye.

Everything was presented beautifully, and delivered in ample time as we sipped our celebratory - it’s Easter- cocktails. Mine the Florasion Invasion, a cool and fresh balance of gin, chartreuse and bitters finished with a sprig of rosemary. After discovering the infusion of this herb into cocktails on my 21^st at the Chester Grosvenor, there was no doubt about my preference for this glass. In exchange for the tempting signature Negroni, my companion opted for the Mezcal Mess Gal, a fitting swap due to its content of sweet vermouth, mezcal and Campari. This came with the option of pickled worms, clearly an option for the thrill seeking adrenaline junkies, which evidently I must not be (or maybe I just don’t want to eat a worm). Hester took the challenge and experienced the thrill of the slimy worm popping in her mouth while I happily twiddled my sprig of rosemary. We both agreed on the taste of the drinks: not too sweet, not too potent, a perfect mix of flavour.

Unsure where to start with our stunning array of food, we continued in Spanish style by having a little of everything on one plate. The whitebait was piled generously on a wooden board and delivered the perfect crunch when dipped in the aioli, though I personally prefer this to be a little more garlicky. The cod cheeks manifested yet another generous serving, with five little battered fish pieces on a bed of Asian slaw. This was one of my favourites; the chilli and lime jam an interesting change from what would commonly be sweet and sour sauce. As a disliker of black pudding, I relied on my companion’s judgement to approve that the scallop dish was excellent and cooked to perfection, ‘like velvet’. We agreed that the harissa duck tasted like steak – albeit very good steak, it was a way of duck that I have not had before and am used to associations of sweet Asian flavours rather than the earthy chilli-pepper taste of harissa. The mushroom parfait was delicious, essentially mushroom pate delivered in a small (but more than sufficient) clip top jar with pear chutney and soft grilled rye bread.

Our 2^nd round of cocktails was slightly disappointing: we ordered the first two from the signature menu, which was essentially prosecco with cordial - there wasn’t much distinction between the tarragon & pear and the elderflower & lime. I’d rather drink it straight up and classic in a flute than fuss with the sweeteners. However, our final round more than made up for this marginal flaw, with espresso martinis that were dark, deep, earthy and delicious. The perfect light dessert.

The staff were eager and responsive to our cocktail-induced enthusiasm for asking questions, and offered an informed response to all of our queries, as well as being consistent with the timing of each course. There were a lot more things on the menu that I’d definitely come back and try, with a variation suitable for any time and any company. Though definitely placed in the expensive bracket, Urban Cookhouse is honestly priced and the cost is reflected in their stunning presentation, attention to detail and fluently attentive service. 

54 Princess St,

Manchester,

M1 6HS

http://urbancookhouse.co.uk/