Spinach and ricotta cannelloni

Instead of giving a bunch of flowers or chocolates I tend to cook someone a meal as a thank you for anything they may have done for me. So this meal was thought up as a thank you to someone who had put up with me staying at their house and consuming a lot of their food! Therefore I made their favourite Italian meal that's it you guessed it cannelloni, I decided on the veggie option which is unlike me but it was their preference and a new endeavor for me as I've only ever made lasagne, carbonara and the classic spaghetti bolognese. I accompanied the meal with an Italian wine as when one is in Rome! so the tipple of choice was Inycon Sicilia Limited Edition Grillo grown in the vineyards of Sicily originally £9.99 but was on offer £4.99 BARGAIN! All ingredients and wine were purchased from Tesco and the total for a meal for three including wine was £13.98.

The ingredients to serve 3 are as follows:

For Bechamel sauce

75g butter

half a garlic clove, halved

2 tbsp of plain flour

300ml milk
a pinch of mixed spice
1/2 tbsp of grated parmesan

For the Napoli sauce
olive oil
1/4 of a carrot grated
a couple of stems of fresh flat leaf parsley
1/4 of a celery stick, chopped finely
250g/half a tin of chopped tomatoes
a handful of basil leaves
1 clove of garlic crushed

For the cannelloni and filling
250g of cooked spinach
150g ricotta
1/2 an egg beaten
1 tbsp of grated parmesan
10 cannelloni tubes

The recipe is fairly straight forward if you are familiar with making a bechamel sauce. Firstly preheat the oven to 190c . Heat the butter on a low heat then add the garlic.

 Add the flour to create a roux then slowly add the milk, stirring consistently to make sure there are no lumps lovely lady bumps (sorry had to do it). Once the sauce has thickened you want the consistency of custard, add the spice and parmesan and season to taste. Remove garlic if you wish, I'm a garlic whore so i'm fine with it in there.

 To make the napoli sauce, heat the olive oil in a saucepan, once hot add garlic being careful not to burn on too high a heat. Then add the celery, carrot and parsley and fry gently until a golden ish colour. Then add the tomatoes, stir in the basil and half a cup of water. Then simmer for 20 mins.

For the cannelloni filling, if using fresh spinach cook on a medium heat in a saucepan with a sprinkle of water untill it wilts and halves in size. Then mix together ricotta, egg and parmesan and season.

 Spoon the mixture into the cannelloni either using a piping bag if available, if not get messy and use a teaspoon as I did and push it down with the end of the spoon.

Place in a buttered dish either pyrex or baking. Spoon over the bechamel sauce, then the napoli. Cook for thirty minutes then remove and cover with parmesan shavings and cook for a further ten. Et voila!

I served mine with some tasty foccacia and a side salad with a lurvely glass of wine. Enjoy.

Whit whoo....... I love Rachel Khoo!

It's been a while coming for a new hottie to top the food scene but Rachel Khoo is definitely my favourite girl of the moment. Yes of course I had a little crush on Gizzi Erskine who ruffled my foodie feathers with her healthy yet tasty recipes on Cook yourself thin, but Rachel hit the spot with her full fat French food from the moment I laid eyes on the 'Little Paris Kitchen'.

Classing herself as a food creative, Khoo fuses together the creativeness of her art degree past with the skills she learnt from her days at Le Cordon Bleau and by god she produces the goods. In Rachel's 'Little Paris Kitchen' cookery book which is delicately adorned with cutesy food illustrations drawn by the Khoo herself, the book shows an array of classic French recipes with a modern twist, which is after all what she is all about.

The reason I decided to write a post like this was because often in the food world we are bombarded with male chefs such as Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay etc... and there is very little room left for women. Let alone a woman who has created so much excitement not only about french food, but the possibility for other women to enter into a very competitive market and offer something new and exciting involving food. Something which isn't about dieting or being overweight but the enjoyment of superb ingredients, great creative recipes and most importantly the art of cooking itself. This is why I love Rachel Khoo....... plus she rocks the red lipstick, fringe and clothes really well too..... well done Rachel well bloody done. 

Chaophraya

Voted number 8 in the top Manchester restaurants, this Thai restaurant was possibly the most beautiful restaurant I have been in, with it's lavish decor and open kitchen for all to see the sheer precision and pace the staff at Chaophraya work at. This restaurant was first brought to my attention by my roomate who came home and raved about the food and how lovely it was inside. Shortly after my birthday came about, and yes where to eat out was one of the first things on my mind! After searching for a new place to eat I googled the best places to eat in Manchester and this little beauty came in at number 8. I'm not going to lie most of the other options were rather out of my price limit so Chaophraya it was ( I still am unable to pronounce this word, so it makes it somewhat hard to explain when recommending to others, if anyone knows please let me know as I feel like a right uncultured foodie!). 

As we arrived they seated us upstairs right next to the kitchen which was fun to watch and I always find something comforting about the idea of being able to see your food being made. For starters my friend and I decided to share the tempura prawns, the reason for this being that all of the starters were in the 9 to 10 pound price range. This was at first off putting as I feel this is somewhat steep, however the main meals were also the same price range so it balanced out. The prawns arrived about 5 minutes after ordering which was good as I was starving at this point. Though the portion sizes weren't huge the quality was extremely good, on the plate were 2 large tiger prawns covered in batter which melted in your mouth and on the side an onion ring served with salad and sweet chili sauce. 

For my main I ordered the Massaman lamb curry which supposedly is what the Royal Thai family eat, yes I must have such a refined palette! My friend ordered the Panang beef curry and we decided to share the coconut rice between us, usually i'm not a massive fan of rice as I find it quite bland but after trying Thai coconut rice at Aumthong Thai restaurant in Brighton I have been converted.

Both meals were a good portion size and definitely left you pleasantly full. The Panang beef curry hit the correct balance of creamy and spicy, however the only let down was that the meat which there was plenty of was the consistency of doner kebab meat which brought down an otherwise lovely meal. 

My lamb curry was flawless, the lamb was full of flavour and nice and tender. Although the curry was spicier than I had apprehended it didn't take away from the overall taste of the curry, which also came with one potato and one carrot. This was somewhat random and to me didn't seem particularly Thai but it didn't by any means ruin the meal. The side serving of rice was delicious and just how I remembered creamy, sweet and a comforting consistency one which I would liken to the same satisfaction I get when eating a bowl of rice pudding. 

I would definitely recommend this restaurant to any foodie's out there as it is not just a meal out but a night inside what feels like a Thai palace. The atmosphere is lively and the decor is stunning a definite place to eat out in Manchester!

Barbakan

After being recommended to visit Barbakan by my dissertation tutor a fellow foodie (who swore by their bread). I decided to jump on a bus and have myself a little trip to Chorlton, which is a suburban area southwest of Manchester city centre. My quest however was not for the award winning delicious breads but for the two components essential to the french meal tartiflette, bacon lardons and reblochon cheese. 

Having researched Barbakan as a recently graduated student who loves food would do to pass the job searching hours! I came to realise that it was not just the never ending range of breads they offered but a whole emporium of other goodies such as spicy sausages, smoked hams, salamis, traditional pates, olives and continental cheeses. Unlike more conventional chain supermarket stores, Barbakan sold both of these items. Which after hours of internet searching for reblochon cheese was a relief as my only other options were Waitrose or Asda near enough two hours out of Manchester. The lardons were not so hard to find and to be fair normal bacon cut up would have sufficed, but I love food and when cooking try to get the best and most affordable option.

Upon arrival all of the staff were welcoming and attentive and I was soon served by a very friendly gentleman. As I have a tendency to butcher the French language what occurred after was a small lesson in French whereby I went bright red in trying to repeat after the man R-E-B-L-O-C-H-O-N! Anyhow this embarrassment was soon over and I asked him what bacon would be good for my tartiflette. Now the main reason I love smaller, independent food stores is that much like Paris itself the people who work there know what they are talking about and are passionate about the food they are selling. 

After recommending a pancetta which he preceded to cut into strips for me (also what is handy about a delicatessen or butchers) we finished our talk of food and he told me the total which came to £5.38. Being a student price matters and it really matters when you spend most your money on food, so I weighed up the price compared to what I would have paid in the supermarket. In Tescos they sell their Finest range of pancetta for £2.50 serving 2, the reblochon from Sainsbury's would have cost £3, altogether coming to £5.50. Now I know it's only 12p difference but the quality and amount of food you pay for really does out weigh the supermarkets equivalent. Now I can compare as I have purchased both supermarket and Barbakan products and the cheese is richer and tastier (I can account for this as it stank out the whole bus) and the bacon lardons were more intense in flavour and less fatty. 

All in all I would highly recommend Barbakan to any fellow foodies out there in the Manchester area as a great place to get good quality food at a reasonable price. I plan to go back soon to taste the bread delights and shall write a review of my tastings!