A little bit about chilli and cornbread

To commemorate America's Independence Day, I made (what I think is) an American meal.

The chilli recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver's video. For my own I made it not spicy, but you can make it as spicy as you like with different Mexican chilli beans and adding chopped chilli. I found a pack of roasted spicy chicken thighs, so I broke it up into pieces and used it in this recipe.

It serves 2 for those of you who, like me this week, are cooking meals just for themselves.

One pot chilli

Olive oil, for frying

1 small carrot

1 celery stick

1/3 red onion

1/2 capsicum (I used a mixture of red, yellow/ orange)

Roasted chicken, broken up into pieces

1/2 can tomatoes

1/2 can chickpeas

1/2 can Mexican chilli beans

Spices: cumin, coriander, smoked capsicum

Salt and pepper

1. Chop vegetables into small cubes.

2. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pot.

3. Add chopped veges and fry until oil is absorbed.

4. Add chicken and continue frying.

5. Pour in canned tomatoes, chickpeas, chilli beans (add half a cup of water if necessary).

6. Stir and season with spices and salt and pepper.

7. Simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occassionally.

I've experimented and served this three delicious ways; 

1. with brown rice,

2. on a toasted bun spread with cream cheese,

3. with cornbread, recipe below.

I have to say the cream cheese toasted bun with chilli is surprisingly delicious and is my favorite way of eating this chilli.

Cornbread

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 Tbsp baking powder

1 1/2 Tbsp raw sugar
1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/8 cup (30 ml) vegetable oil, I used rice bran oil

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
2. Add egg, milk and oil and whisk together until there are no lumps.
3. Grease an overproof dish with butter.
4. Bake at 180C for 15 minutes. The cornbread should have risen with little cracks on the top.

Serve with chilli, soup or eat by itself with a little butter.



And to conclude,

I am actually making a trip to LA this November with my family. Let me know of any must-dos there!

Signed,

Elisa

A little bit about Longroom, Ponsonby

Eva and her Parkie invited me out to dinner :)

When I was about to cross the road, I saw the cute couple holding hands, beaming and waving at me. Sooo cute. Seriously cute

The last time I met up with them (and the first time) we were triple dating at Ancestral in chch, and then again at Kiwiyo in Mission Bay, but that time one half of them was missing, so it was an almost-quadruple date :P

Last night we were on Ponsonby Rd, talking about men's t-shirts and who gets excited about Skype dates when Eva spotted a potential restaurant that served steak and delicious sounding food

Longroom had an 'after-work drinks and catch-up over dinner' vibe. It has a courtyard for outdoor dining, a bar and a private room too, apparently.

A waiter carrying an eftpos machine on his tray seated the three of us at a tall table inside.

After a mouth-watering read of the menu and deciphering the foreign words description, we decided on our entrees and meals...

Chilli salt squid with adjud chilli sauce $11

I just looked up what adjud is. It's a city in Romania!
The squid was nice and crispy, not spicy and the sauce partied with my tastebuds

Lime marinated beef with red onion relish on a soft shell taco $6

Entree #2: again, very tasty.

When our mains came out, we were like :O whoa... Impressive.

Beer braised lamb shanks with pecorino mash, balsamic shallots and marjoram jus gras $26

(jus gras = juice from the roast)
Pecorino is a type of hard cheese made from sheep's milk.
I'm not exaggerating, probably the best mashed potatoes I've had. It was smooth, creamy and the buttery-cheese taste was what made it so good.

Aged angus sirloin, sauce foyot with wilted greens and chips $23.50

What sauce did you get? It's so delicious!
Ah the second one?
:P

The foyot sauce. Was amazing.

There was a selection of sauces to go with the steak; peppercorn jus, sauce foyot, cafe de paris butter, horseradish cream... Eva made the right choice.

Foyot sauce is (I looked this up too) like hollandaise sauce but with herbs instead of lemon juice and added meat glaze. The result is flavour on flavour. It was so delicious.

Chicken schnitzel with nut slaw and capsicum chutney $23

The crispy and tender chicken schnitzel came on a bed of cashew nut coleslaw and served with sweet and tangy capsicum chutney.

Upon tasting our dishes, Eva kept saying, so good. It's so good. Sooo good...

Fantastic food, fantastic company. jt has great friends :)

Longroom
114 Ponsonby Rd
http://www.longroom.co.nz/
Tuesday- Sunday 11am-til late

Would I come here again? Yup. It's a great place to go with some friends

Next time try the... Goat cheese stuffed meatballs entree with tomato ragu & a baked baguette,
Trio of mushroom risotto with truffled creme fraiche,
and the dessert menu if I have room for chocolate fondant, sticky date pudding or mandarin creme brulee... ;)


And to conclude,

I went to the beach today...

The sun and the tide was out. Double tan lines, yesss

Signed,
Elisa

A little bit about Mexico

Racket Bar

We went to Mexico. A well-decorated Mexican restaurant bar with waitresses in vibrant flower headpieces (Roro I think you would be jelly). The littlest J invited her friends along; who were all pretty, nice and stylishly dressed ;)
Started with drinks in Britomart in a bar called Racket. Enter through the little alleyway next to A&M and the wide half-door to an intimate and dimly-lit room.

I saw the bartender spin a wine bottle on one finger. Fascinated.

We did what we do best; talk about clothes, boys, shared gossip, like... Iris got a boyfriend, Ames-BABE and how Lot punched a boy in the face (WOOOO!!!).

At Mexico, we ordered starters and mains. I liked how they use their paper menus as placemats... solves the problem of forgetting what your ordered. A lot of it was in Spanish ; crema catalana (which I just googled, is creme brulee), patatas de maiz (corn chips), queso fresco (cheese).
Mexico's corn chips were addicting ; crunchy and lightly salted. Irv got the black bean and bacon dip with tortillas, which was also really yum.

Red salsa with house corn chips

As for the mains; the chicken quesadillas were really good until I tried the mushroom ones, which were better, THEN (read this Lauren, jt and Calci) I tried LAMB quesadilla, and it was DELICIOUS.
The mint flavour was not too strong and the almond red mojo dip was the perfect companion. And the lamb tasted like beef.

Chicken quesadillas with kidney beans, cheese and dip

Considering how busy it was, the food came quickly although it was a little out of sync ; the starters and mains came at the same time, but it wasn't a problem.

We all felt very full and satisfied afterwards :)

Mexico had a great ambience and a sophisticated air, being a restaurant bar in downtown Auckland. It's not too loud inside, which allowed conversations during your meal.
Judging by the crowd, it seems like a really popular place.

I admired the bright and colorful decor, there was so much to look at!

Will I come here again?
Yes. It's a great dinner place to go to with friends, the food is delicious and good prices too, especially for downtown Auckland.

Next time,
I will sit in a different part of the restaurant and admire the different decor there :P Make a reservation! It was surprisingly packed for a Tuesday night.

Order the corn chips, lamb quesadillas. I am going to try the soft tacos and the crema catalana dessert next time . Join me?? :D


And to conclude... I miss you all.
'Miss Ram, can I use a computer?'
'Did you put your name down?'
'No. I forg-'
'Then no.'
'But I didn't-'
'No. Go back to Miss E. You senior girls should know you have to put your name down before prep.'

Signed,
Elisa