Perfect accompaniment for Sunday dinner

Sunday dinner used to be a big tradition in my family growing up. We'd set the table in the dining room with tablecloth, candles and the nice china, and my mom would whip up a great dinner, complete with dessert. Best table manners were expected, and I apparently was always the first one sent from the table for not behaving. (No surprise there!)

I don't always make a special Sunday dinner for me and Mr A, but lately the turn of the weather from summer towards autumn has given me a hankering for a few hours spent at the stove on a Sunday afternoon. Recently I cooked a roast chicken dinner, and a request from Mr A for yorkshire puddings sent me scouring the internet when I couldn't find my trusty recipe written on a scrap of paper.

Lo and behold, I ended up making yorkies that were far superior to anything I had previously baked! Thank you, BBC. I heart you forever for this, and Saturday Kitchen.

Best Yorkshire Puddings

from BBC Good Food

Ingredients:

40g plain flour

4 eggs

200ml milk

sunflower oil , for pudding tins

Heat oven to 230C/fan 210C/gas 8. Drizzle a little oil evenly into 2 x 4-hole Yorkshire pudding tins or a 12-hole non-stick muffin tin and place in the oven to heat up.

Mix flour and eggs until smooth. Gradually add the milk and whisk until all flour is incorporated (no lumps). Season with salt and pepper. Remove the hot pan from the oven. Carefully and evenly pour the batter into the moulds. Put tins back in oven and bake 20-25 mins (don't open oven door) until puffed up and golden brown. Serve immediately with loads of gravy. Can be cooled & frozen for up to 1 month.

Guy's

I love Guy's. It's one of my favourite restaurants in Glasgow. Why? The chef/owner, Guy Cowan has been there every time I've eaten there over the past few years. He's either in the kitchen or hanging out checking on the place. He walks around the dining room and asks you how your meal was. The food is always good, so usually he gets a "Mmmmhmmm!" as I greedily scarf my meal. It's small and romantic, but suitable for celebrations too. As I said to Mr A yesterday, it reminds me a little of somewhere you'd go to in New Orleans- decor wise, food wise, and friendly wise.

Mr A ordered the spicy tuna sushi roll (£9.95) for his starter- it easily could have served us both- it was a massive 10 large pieces. The amazingly fresh, sashimi-grade tuna was nestled next to and a pickled vegetable which I wasn't able to identify, other than it was home pickled and yummy. I had the smoked salmon plate (£10.25) silky slices of salmon from Aberdeen served with capers, fresh lemon, and a couple pieces of wholegrain baguette. Both were so yummy and large we could have shared one easily.

For our mains Mr A had one of the three special raviolis available- spinach and ricotta in a cream sauce (£12.50). Oooh decadent. I opted for the spaghetti with porcini sauce (£12)- being in a mushroomy kind of mood. The spaghetti was perfectly al dente and was such a pleasure to bite into- it had reached pasta nirvana. Mr A's raviolis were delicious as well, but he seemed to prefer mine! I was reminded of a comment from an acquaintance from Naples, who managed one of the better italian restaurants in town. I asked him once where his favourite place was for pasta and he said, "Guys."

Even though we were pretty stuffed by the time we scoffed the lot, I demanded dessert. The famous fruit crumble had been enjoyed by me a couple of times before, but maybe I got a bad piece this time, because it was lacking a lot of the fruit that had made it so special in the past. It was mostly apple and pear- not much pineapple, peach or cranberry- still yummy but not the tropical sensation I remembered. Mr A had the sticky toffee pudding which is practically the national dessert of Britain- and it was properly sticky and served with plenty of toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream.

Guy's is a fab place for a special meal- whether you're celebrating a special occasion or 'just because'. As we left Guy nodded to us from his small group in the bar, for once I could say properly, "Thanks, it was lovely... see you again."

Guy's Restaurant and Bar

24 Candleriggs

Merchant City

Glasgow

G1 1TD

Bircher Muesli Recipe

Ok first recipe post folks! This has become my healthy, easy, go to breakfast lately. It has heart healthy oats to fill you up and keep you going until late in the morning, calcium and good bacteria for your gut from the yogurt, at least two of your recommended 5 a day, and some protein, fibre and good minerals from the nuts. Make it the night before to let the oats absorb all the juice and flavour, makes your morning routine even easier too! The great thing about this recipe is you can adapt it to your heart's desire- add cinnamon, vanilla, use whatever fruit you have on hand or is in season. I've used bags of frozen berries will real success- the fruit melts overnight & infuses the mixture with the juice! Yummy.

Bircher Muesli

Makes approx 4 servings

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup plain, non-fat (can use fat free if you want) yogurt

1 large apple, grated

1-2C (to taste) fresh fruit, chopped if necessary. I've used fresh or frozen berries, chopped pears and apples, dried apricots all with success!

One handful nuts (almonds or pecans are good but feel free to experiment) chopped

A drizzle of honey, to taste

Mix ingredients in a large bowl or Tupperware, leave overnight. You can add a few tablespoons of orange juice or apple juice in the morning if it looks too dry.

Divide into bowls, drizzle with more yogurt or honey if desired to serve. I've eaten it over three or four days with no ill effects.

Would love to hear your feedback or adaptations with this recipe! Hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

Lucky 7 Canteen

Scraping the bottom of the pocketbook, Mr A and I opted to try Lucky 7 Canteen for lunch on a recent Saturday. Destined to be a haven to broke students, Lucky 7 offers lunch entrees for £4 and dinner entrees for £7. Somebody from work told me ages ago they tried it and it was "really good."

The tagline for Lucky 7 really should be, "what do you expect for £4?". A sandwich from Pret costs about as much as a lunch entree here, but the difference is you'll actually enjoy your sandwich.

The lunch menu is small (fair enough) and featured some good veggie and vegan options. Not surprisingly most dishes are budget home cooking meals: casseroles, fish and chips, a burger. The decor of the place is I think trying to match the home cooking menu: an affectation for peeling, multi layered wallpapers done in muted antique-y, tea stained colours. It's like dining in a place that's being renovated as you eat.

Mr A opted for a special (£9) of the day, a dish of curried lentils and chorizo. I went for the wild mushroom risotto (£4) off the veggie menu, which to me was the more creative of the two. The lentil dish was described as a "sort of dahl" to us by our waiter, he recommended a side of potatoes to round it out.

My entree was sized normally, I thought this was a refreshing change from the mega sized portions you get in some places. Mr A being a big eater was alarmed, but as his special entree was dinner sized, there was a plentiful amount of lentils in his bowl. What wasn't plentiful at all was any concept of seasoning; where was the curry? How much chorizo was actually in there, a cm sized piece? 'Cause it was totally lacking in any chorizo flavour. How about some good ol salt and pepper? My risotto was similarly disappointing: wet, bland and lacking in any depth of flavour promised by the billing of wild mushrooms.

I don't think a return visit to Lucky 7 is in the cards for these diners. I'm sure the students whose self catering options are pot noodles and tinned spaghetti on toast will keep coming back for the cheap deals, we'll leave them to it.

Lucky 7 Canteen
166 Bath Street
Glasgow

Jamie's Italian

When it was announced in the Herald that Jamie Oliver was opening a mid-scale italian in the renovated GPO building, I admit I experienced a frisson of pukka tucker excitement. I freely admit I own two Jamie Oliver cookbooks and have made and enjoyed loads of his simple Italian inspired recipes; I also watch him on telly. Yet, Jamie's is a chain restaurant with his name and concept design- Oliver isn't in the kitchen (he's too busy revamping school dinners in Appalachia or making tangines onsite in Morocco). Unfortunately.

I'm not alone in my enjoyment of Oliverness, the public have been lining up out the door since Jamie's opened- they only take bookings for large parties, so if you want in, you'll wait for it. Mr A and I waited a couple of months for the buzz to wear off and then chanced our luck first thing after work on a Friday night. A 40 minute wait in the bar was agreeable, the £10 rounds for two drinks each was not. (£10 for a bottle of beer and a vodka and soda?! And this was the house vodka, not a Stoli.) According to the menu, drinks start at £2.95 and mixers start at £1.35.

The wine list is more reasonable, and offers some house wine at good prices. We had a bottle of the Pinot Grigio for about £19 which was fresh, crisp and easy drinking.

For a starter, we both ordered an antipasi selection- this was actually a pretty good value at £6.95 each and tasty as well. It's served rather kichily on an elevated wooden plank balanced on two tins. We sampled both the meat antipasti and the veggie one. Both were good quality and offered a nice tasty sampling of flavours. The cheese in particular was very yummy; mozzarella was melt in the mouth soft and rich.

Jamie's boasts on their menu that they make all their own fresh pasta, so I opted for the bucattini carbonara and Mr A had the pappardelle and meatballs. We were both disappointed by the pasta dishes- I felt they majorly lacked seasoning. My carbonara was made with cream, a pet peave. Once you've had traditional carbonara made simply with eggs, bacon and Parmesan (thanks Stefania!) you won't want any tinkering with that simple and perfect formula. I am a fan of al dente pasta but my bucattini went beyond what would be considered al dente in the UK and more into the uncooked category- I'm sure this was a mistake from the kitchen and not on purpose. Didn't the chef test it first?

Though the starter was decent (and that would be in this case more about the quality of the restaurant's suppliers and less to do with any actual cooking) failing on the main course knocks the overall rating down by a few stars.

All in all, if I were going out for an Italian meal, I can name three great Italians in the area (Italian Kitchen, Osteria Piero, Mediterraneo) I would go to before opting for another stab at Jamie's. A straw poll to several acquaintances who have tried Jamie's indicates they also left feeling like they had a mediocre meal. However, with the celebrity cache I am sure the line will be out the door for many months to come.

Jamie's Italian
1 George Square
Glasgow
G1 1HL

Thai Siam

Reeling from the effects of an expensive holiday to the US, but hoping for a savory and delicious lunch, Mr A and I made our way to Thai Siam on a recent overcast Saturday. Remembering our prior unsuccessful attempts to lunch there on a weekend, we timed our visit between their lunch hours of 12-2:30 and were rewarded for our planning. Thai Siam offers an incredibly budget friendly lunch menu: £7.90 for two courses and £8.90 for three courses. (Their full menu is also available.)

We were greeted by the lovely, friendly waitstaff and seated with a complimentary basket of prawn crackers which we happily munched while perusing the menu. Some set lunch menus offer a limited choice, or the selections offered pale in comparison to their regular menu but Thai Siam's lunch menu dazzles with choice. The only discernible difference I was able to find were smaller main course sizes, but this was actually a welcome change for me; I was able to eat every luscious drop of my main course after scarfing down my starter.

We chose the Som Tum Thai and Tord Mun Plah to start. The Som Tum Thai was the standout of the two- a crispy and fragrant salad made from thinly sliced vegetables- cabbage, carrot and green beans were detected- all mixed up like a slaw and served in a fantastic sauce of diced chilies, fish sauce, lime juice, minced peanuts. It was spicy, crunchy and a seemingly healthy choice so I was delighted. Mr A's Tord Mun Plah- or cod fishcakes had a delicious lemongrass and ginger flavouring but I wasn't thrilled with the spongy texture of the fishcake.

Pad Kee Moh Gai (stir fried spicy noodles, veg and chicken) and Pad Ga-Prao Tao-Hoo (spicy red curry- I opted for pork but chicken or beef can also be added as protein) were our main courses. The spicy red curry was the phenominal- the curry sauce was redolent with spices and tempered with naughty coconut milk- I scooped every last drop out of the dish over my jasmine rice. The spicy noodles were also delicious but may have made more of an impression if the noodles were left long instead of chopped into bite sized portions. Mr A was at first wondering where the noodles were! Both dishes had ample fresh veggies and meat in them.

Feeling pleasantly full but not stuffed, we declined dessert and happily paid our bill which came to just under £20 with our large bottle of sparkling water. The calibre of food and service was easily worth more. We will be back for lunch again!

Thai Siam
1191 Argyle Street
Glasgow G3 8TQ

Osteria Piero

Special pasta with pesto, green beans and diced potato

Walking down West Regent Street, we spotted a line up of blackboards propped against the wall of a ground level restaurant. One read in bold letters, 2010 Scottish Restaurant

Awards winner: Best Italian Restaurant. Popping in for an impulsive lunch Mr A and I received a warm welcome by the Italian staff, even with no booking. My coat was whisked away and once seated an amuse bouche of toasted bread with a garlicky tomato dipping sauce and a small dish of olives appeared. The specials were charmingly handwritten and the combination of Italian and cursive made it a challenge to decipher!

We chose a bottle of Inozlia Sicilia (£16) – if you have deeper pockets there was a wide variety of impressive sounding wines to try with prices to match. This white wine was excellent- crisp and refreshing, perfectly balanced- just the thing for a Saturday afternoon lunchtime tipple.

Our server skillfully added on a bottle of sparkling water and enticed us to order a starter, by the simple technique of reviewing the special starters until we agreed on the Bresola. Foccacia was also suggested and ordered along with our mains and our menus were taken away with me admiring our server’s selling skills.

Osteria Piero looks to excel as a salumeria as well as a café/restaurant- there was a mouth watering array of platters of cured meats, cheeses and vegetables which are demanding a return. If the Bresola was any indication I am eagerly awaiting that trip! The cured topside of beef was arranged in overlapping circles on the plate, topped with roccola (rocket) and shaved aged parmesan, drizzled all over with EVOO and aged balsamic. It paired beautifully with the crisp foccacia, which was brushed with EVOO and scattered with snipped rosemary and sea salt.

For mains we both sampled pasta dishes. Mr A had a pasta special in a pesto sauce with green beans and diced potato. This was outstanding, the pasta enrobed by the spring like pesto, the potatoes meltingly tender and the green beans fresh and crisp. I ordered the spagettini con pomodorini- tiny spaghetti tossed in a sauce of EVOO, garlic, and cherry tomatoes, with the tiniest hint of chili (a touch more would have pleased my palate, but then again I am heavy handed with spice!) The sauce was delicate, simple, and good. Of the two, the special was the winner, and that plate was cleared within minutes.

Too full to do more than look longingly at the dessert menu, we asked for the bill. The total bill was 50, not unreasonable for two starters, two mains and wine. We walked out with happy bellies and taste buds, and look forward to a return visit to sample more Italian delights.

Osteria Piero
111 West Regent Street
Glasgow
G2 2RU