FOOD FIND: La Cure Gourmande

Having spent the past weekend at Disneyland Paris, I was as you can imagine, as excited as little child in a sweet shop. A sweet shop covered in sugar with lashings of golden syrup, treacle no doubt.

I wasn't however, as excited to be faced with the prospect of eating nothing but American food for the next few days. Don't get me wrong I love a good burger and fries, who doesn't, and if you say you don't, well then you're kidding yourselves. The thought of a weekend of burgers however did not fill me with such joy.

So my weekend drew to a close and myself my partner and his younger sister all packed our cases and headed back to Paris Orly Airport. It's an undeniable fact that airports are nothing but droll and mundane. I'd thought the same thought when landing at Orly only four days earlier. Oh how I was wrong, so wrong in fact when I discovered what can only be described as the best French sweet shop I have ever laid eyes / tantalised my tummy / stepped in (delete as which you feel most appropriate)

La Cure Gourmande is my latest recommendation for anyone making a trip to France in the coming weeks, or in fact near future. The sweets and pastries in this shop were something to behold. No euros would ever have been enough to settle my appetite but I settled on a delicious selection of Nougat.

Are you a Nougaaart or Nugget fan?

The individually wrapped squares of Nougat set me back 14 Euros. OK so I hasten to add this was a little extravagant of me but try as I might I simply couldn't resist. Apologies for the terrible quality of photograph of the box, which was, empty by itself exquisite. Unfortunately the photo doesn't portray the true beauty of the in season winter flavour, pistachio, citrus, rose and fig flavour squares, as it was taken in haste on my IPhone whilst settling down with a cup of tea to scoff a few squares with a cuppa but I'm sure you get the picture. I also happened to succumb to the delights of on the till purchases, and picked up a beautifully packaged cone of chocolate olives for my father as a tasty Christmas treat for 8 Euros.

If you haven't yet looked at the LCG website I urge you to, from one fellow foodie to the next, to give it a quick click now. Better still, in France? VISIT! You will not be disappointed

MADE IT: Bill Granger's Paella

When you watch Bill Granger cooking live, you can't help but fall for his Aussie charm and the fact he always presents himself as a lovely genuine bloke. My mum, the woman who probably (no I lie this is more a fact) owns a million recipes and hundreds of cookbooks, maintains if she met Bill, she'd really like to have him as her mate. And that's the sort of food his cooking easy. Easy food, shared with family and friends to be appreciated and enjoyed. What's not to like?

I was feeling adventurous this week and considering I'd never made one before, well not from complete scratch I decided to make Bill's Paella, from his Everyday Cookbook. Bill never fails to come up trumps with great achievable recipes. If you're going to give this book a go, I can guarantee that you will love Bill's Sticky Chicken with probably the best Asian salad I think I've ever made at home. Its beyond worth a make!!!

Anyway back to my fiesta feast of Paella. I adapted the recipe slightly, to meet the needs of mine and my boyfriend's shall we say, healthy appetites? I added a chicken breast and bought 100g of mussels from Tesco to add a little more protein and flavour. Hand on heart, thanks to Bill, I never thought Paella would be this easy.

Everything I need and a few little extras!

What a veritable feast! This dish pretty much has all my favourite things in it so it was bound to be a winner. I tend to only use Napolina tinned tomatoes. Ok, probably just me being a food snob, but regardless of cost they really do taste better. Only substitute here was having to used smoked paprika instead of sweet. Oh well.

Crisping the chorizo and adding some chicken

I defy anyone who when preparing chorizo can't help but to slip a few slices in your mouth. Bad me I know but the aroma of spicy pork sausage can sometimes prove hard to resist. I browned and crisped the chorizo in what seems like a lot of oil, but the rice base soon soaks it up, so no sleep lost there.

Simmer simmer!

Few mins passed and I seperated my crisp chorizo and chicken mix; it pained me to stop eating bits of sausage! Shallots and garlic were fried together for a few mins, before adding all my delightful spices, the arborio rice (coat in the oil and juices mmm!) and then the chopped tomato and stock. Cover and stir occasionally letting the rice soak up all those lovely goodies in the pan.

A few minutes later...

Give it a few minutes and the pan looked like this, and slightly more promising in the paella stakes. Perfect colour and taste not bad too! Fling in the cooked chicken, chorizo, prawns and mussels, along with some green beans and another ten minutes covered on the hob.

I sense a fiesta coming on!

I gave it the occasional stir to stop it catching on the bottom of the pan; generally on a whole keep your eye on your grub, in the blink of an eye that last bit of sauce or moisture from a dish can vanish, and this lot would be hard to get down your screech without a bit of help from a nice tomato based paprikary sauce.

Finito!

And there we have it! Not much too it but packed full of authentic Spanish flavour. The great thing about this dish, is you can change it to suit you. Don't like shellfish? Whip em out? Pescatarian? Chuck out the chicken and chorizo. Possibilities are endless but all in all a great weekday treat, all washed down  with a bottle of Dino Pinot Grigio; deeeeeeeeeeeeeelish

MADE IT: Pret a Manger Carrot Cake

I've got to think in my sheer moments of kindness I am actually quite a nice girlfriend. Having made Jamie Oliver's Sexy Swedish Buns from his latest book, and the outcome being well pretty flat and disasterous, I fobbed them off on my boyfriend to take into work. He works as a security guard in a nightclub and cinema complex, so many cold tiring nights and hey what hungry tired security worker wouldn't like some manky old bun to chew on at 3am?

The failed bun making at home turned into joy for my boyfriend's work mates, when I decided to pass off the flat bun explosions onto him to take into work (craftly sliced into soldiers....who would guess they evolved from disaster?) To my utter amazement, they loved them, god knows why, and have since gingerly requested more cakes from me every Friday, and with a compliment on my cooking I was swayed.

A request went in for carrot cake and I mooched about in my cookbooks, settling with Pret a Manger's Carrot Cake from Food on the Mood. Sadly from my little Amazon post to the left I can see it's pretty out of date this book and a massive $307!!! But let me assure you it was some good cake.

Hands held high I've never been the biggest fan of carrot cake. I've only ever had stodgey supermarket versions or was given it as one of my nan's very favourite cake stock ups from her kitchen, and something about it just didn't do it for me!

This cake was something else. As well as the obligatory carrot, this cake was packed with extras; coconut, pecans, pineapple, you name it and it was in there. God was this cake too good to be true?

Whisking the eggs until double volume

Various goodies for the mix!

Looking slightly sickly...

The un-iced baked cake

FOOD FRIVOLITY: Posh Pricks

I doubt these are the only Posh Pricks one can find in a garden centre.....