SUNDAY BRUNCH IN BARNSBURY

I must admit today's post is a cop-out. It's a restaurant review.

I actually don't think I've cooked since my new course started in July. I can, however, not only recite to you every single dreary legal form you will ever encounter in your whole entire life, but I can also tell you what is on the top right corner of its fifteenth page and whether it is still legible through your tears (I kid, I kid).

It's been a dire few months but I've still managed to eat well, with great people. This is one of the occasions where I ate well but with awful people. Nightmare.

In pretty Barnsbury is a charming restaurant called Sunday. It is quite possibly the best brunch spot in the world.



Do not be put off by the enormous and daunting queue around the corner, it is 5,000% worth the wait. It's been blogged about left right and centre (the Independent, Vogue, etc.) and is an instagrammer's dream.

The dishes are attractive, enormous and exquisite. The staff are friendly and super speedy. It's just lovely.

Anyway enough talking. You'll have to wait long enough once you get outside.
Let's ogle some v instagrammable pictures of food.

These are the crispy courgette fritters with great hunks of halloumi, a generous portion of avocado, a poached egg, yogurt and dukkah (£11)...

This dish is the pulled pork waffle benedict, yuzu hollandaise and avocado (£12).

This is my personal fave even though I dessspise sweetcorn - you've got your chubby, fluffy corn fritters, great chunks of kiln-smoked salmon, half an avocado chopped in a v. aesthetically pleasing manner, a slice of tomato and a generous wallop of crème fraiche (£11.50)

A half portion of the fluffiest, yummiest buttermilk pancakes with berry compote, crispy bacon, maple syrpup and crunchy honeycomb butter to share cause what is brunch without pudding amiright!!?!? (£6)

And here are some old pics from the gazillion times I have frequented this delightful spot...

Eggs Benedict with ham hock... I've ordered these once and never again. They're usually my go-to at brunchtime and don't get me wrong they were dellllicious at Sunday but I think it's an amazing sign when each and every other brunch option is more exciting than this classic. GO SUNDAY!

This is the insane Brioche French toast, vanilla crème fraîche, banana and salted caramel (£10)
Pic speaks for itself.

More pancakes for good measure...

And this is another time I ate the corn fritters and really went for it on the saturation front.

There is also an extensive drinks menu and alcohol is served from 10.30am - haaaallo Aperol Spritz and Bloody Marys (.... sorry if my spelling is a little skewiff #omg #cuffme #drinkinglegend)

PS. My favourite thing to do when I'm at a restaurant, and something I encourage everyone to do if you aren't already, is to search the restaurant on Instagram, click on 'Places' and select the restaurant. That way you can stalk everyone else's pictures of their meals and choose one that will compliment your own feed and rake in the likes. But I'm warning you not to do this for Sunday on an empty stomach cause the hanger will be uncontrollable. 

This picture is just to prove that I have friends.

Sunday

169 Hemingford Road, Islington, London

Closed Mondays, 8.30 - 6pm Tuesday to Friday, 9 - 6pm Saturday and Sunday

Easy Peasy Lemon Gratey Springtime Pasta

Today I woke up and thought SPRING IS HERE. So, very unlike me I pulled on some sweats (and when I say sweats obv remained v glam in my pink leopard print sports top and pastel juicy shorts duh), rummaged under the stairs and found a leaf blower. I feel like this is the British version of a machine gun. Never have I felt more like a power-wielding absolute legend. I didn't manage to take a self-timer but trust me - I. looked. sick. Honestly, this could be the highlight of my 2016 so far.

But leaf-blowing / vacuuming ain't easy work. I'd say I worked off at least 3.5 nobbly bobbly's worth of cals, which is ideal, because I had two for breakfast. So in honour of (me deciding it's officially) springtime and my extreme morning manual labour, I found a way to make eating cheesy pasta feel fresh, light and perfect for ringing in this sweet springtide. 

It's also really easy and rather speedy. 

1. Boil some water

2. Slice half an onion into long thin strips

3. Melt a lil nub of Lurpak garlic butter (omg heaven cannot stop eating) in a pan

3. Add the onion slices and sweat 'em down till they are soft and caramelised

(Please note I said I found a way of making cheesy pasta feel fresh and light.) 

5. Put the pasta in the pan and cook away

6. Slice some tomatoes, ribbon (I am aware this is not a verb, hater) a courgette using a spiraliser (or a peeler if you are not an instagram fad follower) and chop up a handful of parsley

7.  When the onions are all scrumptious and caramelised...

8. ...Add some hunks of feta and cook on a low heat till it melts (that feta melts is possibly most certainly the best thing I have ever discovered)

9. Grate in the rind of a lemon

10. When the pasta is ready, drain it, reserving a little of the pasta water

11. Put the pasta back into the pan with the reserved water and add the melted feta-onion, parsley, tomatoes and courgette ribbons

12. Plate it up and grate on some parmesan 

13. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper 

13. Eat it in a garden that you have just hoovered apart from that one stinking stubborn leaf on the table that is making me so angry right now I can't even put it into words

You can totally sprinkle on some chilli flakes if you're feeling adventurous and maybe even a lil lemon juice while you're at it. But I couldn't be sacked and I enjoyed it anyway.

Also I have very much made up the ingredient quantities so taste as you go or you may end up with something entirely tasteless. Apologies :) 

SERVES (ME SO PROBABLY) 2 PEOPLE

INREDIENTES

• half a white onion
• a little chunk of garlic butter
• 200g tagliatelle
• a handful and a half of tomatoes
• 1 courgette
• a handful of parsley
• 100g feta
• 1 lemon, rind
• a grating of parmesan
• a pinch of salt and pepper

Oriental Salmon with Cucumber Ribbons, Grated Carrot, Every Herb in the World and Avocado on Rice

Before you read about my tantalising tangy teriyaki salmon recipe I'd be super grateful if you could have a wee watch of Match4Lara's video and like the Facebook page. In December 2015 Lara was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia and now needs a stem cell transplant to save her life. Her Chinese-Thai/Italian heritage makes it extremely hard to find a stem cell donor as matching types are an inherited trait. Only 3% of donors on the public stem cell registries are of mixed race. You will probably have seen the campaign on the national and international news and all over Facebook! We can continue to help by sharing her story but most importantly, by joining a national bone marrow registry. Click here to see how you can sign up.

Thank you beautiful friends x

~~~

I've moved back home. The great thing about this is that all my meals are free, beyond delicious and cooked for me. The bad thing is I'm getting fat. Like pre-university two tonne tessie fat. My mum's cooking is better than anyone's in the world but we tend to eat towards midnight, are not illiberal with the butter/oil/cheese/naughtymeats/carbs and I have never been one to say no to seconds.

So, while she's away I've stolen my dad's card and have put us all on a mum-detox.

1. Pre-heat the oven

    I don't actually know how hot it should be because my oven is 25 years old and only has one 

    setting 

    Jamie Oliver says 200°c, 400°F, gas 6 

2. Place your salmon fillets skin-side down in foil on a baking tray and drizzle each with soy and

    teriyaki

3. Wrap the foil up tight and place the fillets in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes

4. Put the rice on to cook 

5. Grate your carrot and ribbon your cucumber

    I use the ribbon setting on my spiralizer. If you don't have one (pleb) you can use a vegetable 

    peeler to shave thin slices

6. Squeeze on the juice of a lime, lots and lots of soy and teriyaki, a few drops of mirin and fish sauce

7. Slice your spring onions all the way up the greens and roughly chop the coriander and mint

8. Mix in half of each and a handful of beansprouts

9. Drain the rice, rinse it with boiling water to get rid of the starch and lay it all out on a plate like so
   (absolutely stunning AMIRIGHT)

10. Layer on the veg and pour on the sauce so it seeps into the rice (YUMMO)

11. Place on the salmon fillets and drizzle over any juices

12. Cut up your avocado... better than I did

13. Use the remaining coriander, mint and spring onions to sprinkle over the top (/cover the
      monstrosity you have just created)

And serve (to your sister who is taking the detox seriously and is actually doing exercise. Hate.)

Don't mind my half eaten salmon... I forgot to snap a pic.

And there we have it. Simple to make. Leaves you feeling like a new person. Great for upping your inner glow, energy levels and bowel movements (hehe hope no-one read that but it's true).

SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

Salmon

• 4 salmon fillets
• a drizzle of soy sauce
• a drizzle of teriyaki sauce

Vegetable medley

• 200g jasmine rice
• 5 carrots, grated
• 1 cucumber, ribboned
• 1 lime
• lots of soy sauce (probs like a quarter cup, mebe a third)
• lots of teriyaki (same same)
• a couple of drizzles of mirin (hehe v scientific)
• 5 dashes of fish sauce
• a handful of beansprouts
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 1 avocado

Garlic-oily parmesan-ladden basil-strewn antipasto pasta

HAPPY 2016 MY LITTLE SPRINKLETTES (all superstars have names for their fans, obv)

I'm sure you're all hitting the gym and eating healthily. Good for you. I'm certainly not. If you are, please do not continue reading this post. This recipe (/ list of ingredients you must chop and put in a bowl) is an India Lyons special and is simple, extremely moreish and utterly divine. One for the more gluttonous among us. A large bowl of garlicy oil covered vegetables, nutty parmesan, fresh basil and oodles of pasta.

I know I told you to stop reading if you are all "new year-new me" but I know you won't have because you are a total sprinklette and so, for you special people, I have used courgetti. It has nothing on pasta but this sauce is beyond scrumptious and could be paired with disgusting food like sweetcorn or cannellini beans and you'd still lick your bowl and want more.

1. If you are not afraid of gluten, start cooking your delectable spaghetti

2. Drain and chop your green olives

3. Chop all your anitpasto vegetables, conserving their oily goodness in your bowl

2. Chop the fresh tomatoes in quarters, chop half the basil and crush the garlic cloves into the veg

3. Season with salt, pepper and chilli flakes and stir everything up

4. Drain the pasta or prepare the courgetti (do a little courgetti willy dance) and stir through the vegetables

5. Plonk some basil leaves on the top, serve up and shave on copious amounts of parmesan

Happy eating,
B

SERVES 5

INGREDIENTS

• 280g jar, mixed mushroom antipasto
• 280g jar, sundried tomatoes
• 280g jar, chargrilled peppers antipasto
• 350g jar, green olives
• 28g bag, fresh basil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• a courgette each, or spaghetti 
• a dash of salt, pepper and chilli flakes
• a hefty sprinkling of parmesan
• a handful of fresh baby plum tomatoes