Quality Street

I have often walked down this street before.….but usually in an early morning dash to the office or a late night shelp home, rarely am I inclined to slow down and appreciate the final stretch of my journey. The bars and cafés of Shoreditch are no secret, especially to the migratory drinking crowds that descend on Friday nights and leave at some secret hour before Monday morning, however Pitfield Street is often overlooked. Running behind the ever popular Hoxton Square and off the Old Street Mile this quiet unassuming street is home to an expanding range of shops and services, the latest being the wonderful Pitfield Café.

While there are no shortage of fired chicken outlets, halal pizza offerings and even one builders caff flogging Cottage Pie at 6am, Pitfield Café has managed to plug the gap for good food, nice surroundings and a decent cup of coffee. Stepping inside I discovered that this large space also trebles as life style and interiors store including a gallery / exhibition space, well it is Shoreditch after all.


The shop area is a delight to browse with the feel of a vintage curiosity shop combined with a modern touch making it easy to navigate through the various treasures. Pieces range from impulse buys of candles, flowers and china (to accompany the takeaway cake offerings) to more considered purchases such as upcycled furniture and even plush velvet neon coloured sofas. The space is a joint venture between interior designer Shaun Clarkson and textile designer Paul Brewster, while the professional thought process behind the area is evident the atmosphere remains relaxed and inviting. Visitors can browse at their leisure while soaking up the surroundings.

As my visit was the morning after the night before, (the night before being a particularly late Christmas party) my mind was firmly fixed on the food and something to take away the pain behind my eyes. The friendly (and seemingly all French) café staff helped me out to a toasted flatbread of roast chicken, spinach and pesto accompanied by a freshly squeezed orange juice and a strong cappuccino.

The café area includes a range of large tables for the creative types to spread out over and hold business type meetings, Mr. H and I chose a quiet two seated spot by the window to get comfy. He flicked through the mornings papers as I day dreamed out the window and watched the world go by. Thankfully I was obscured by daily display of homemade meringues, Portuguese custard tarts and croissants otherwise a few passersby would no doubt be put off by my morning face peeking out at them.

Just before leaving the pastry counter called to us. Offering a range of home made artisan goods it's hard to say no to we plumped for 2 sausage rolls to make do for lunch. We barely made it the few hundred yards home before giving into temptation, the smell alone was irresistible.

As well as sandwiches and baked goods, Pitfield café offers a range of salads, soups and hot foods. Open from breakfast to dinner and accepts cards, it's sure to become a regular local haunt for me.


Pitfield Café is situated at 31-35 Pitfield Street, Hoxton N1 6HB

Brownies Honour

As a recent discussion with a friend revealled, this is certainly not the season for calorie counting. With that in mind now is the time to make (and devour) these fudgey chocolate brownies, for a seasonal twist this batch is chocolate orange flavoured


Shopping List:

200g Dark Chocolate. Go for something with a slightly lower cocoa content than the super posh stuff otherwise the brownies can get a bit overpowering.
200g Dark Muscovado sugar.
175g butter plus some to grease the tin
3 eggs
140g plain flour
1 tsp good vanilla extract
1 orange - of you want to make these chocolate orange flavoured but they are just as good without.
1 tsp vinegar

Make it happen:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and grease a tin, I used a 23cm rectangle one but a smaller one would make fatter brownies.

Melt together the chocolate sugar and butter in a pan gently over a low heat. Stirring occasionally be careful to not let it overheat or burn. Once melted remove from the heat and allow to cool. A good 10mins should be enough, once it's suitably cool separate the eggs and beat the yolks. Add the egg yolks, flour and vanilla essence into the chocolate mixture. At this stage if you are making Chocolate orange flavoured brownies, add 1/2 the zest of 1 unwaxed orange.



In a separate bowl run a small amount of vinegar around the inside with kitchen roll then rinse and dry thoroughly. This is to ensure it's completely clean and grease free for the next stage then whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.



In a separate mixing bowl (at this stage I'd like to apologise to the dishwasher free reader) scoop roughly 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mix and beat quickly. This should loosen up the mix a bit. Next add the remaining egg whites and stir in using a metal spoon with a cutting and folding technique. Do this gently until just combined the mix will be mottled with the egg whites.



Pour into the greased tin and place in the middle of the oven. Bake for around 25mins or until just firm to the touch. Allow the brownies to cool in the tin. At this stage the brownies can be frozen for up to 1 month, I'm sure this is a good idea but I've never allowed baked goods to get that far before.



For the topping I gently melted white chocolate over a pan of water and then drizzled over the top in a zig zag movement and allowed to set in the fridge before cutting the brownies into squares. A cream cheese topping or plain icing sugar and cocoa powder sifted over the top would also work well.

Sugar and Spice

While I don't actually wish it could be Christmas everyday, I do at least wish it looked slightly more festive in the Hoxton Penthouse that is my home.

I'm usually quite proud that Mr H and I have managed to negotiate living in the worlds smallest square footage, it's a bit like real life tetris. However, come the festive season it's like the flat that Christmas forgot as a lack of space (and far too many breached fire regulations) permits us from having a tree or an obscene amount of tinsel. Bah Humbug!

Well, the one area I can at least feel truly involved in creating some Yuletide spirit is in the kitchen. Filling the air with the smell of this delicious gingerbread loaf is enough to make me pull on a ridiculous novelty jumper and neck snowballs like its an 80's office party. 

Shopping list:

225 g Plain flour
Pinch of Salt
2 tsp Ground Ginger
1 tsp Mixed Spice
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
50 g Soft Brown Sugar
100 g Margarine
175 g Black Treacle
50 g Golden Syrup
150 Milk
2 Eggs (beaten)

Make it happen:

Heat the oven to 150 Degrees and butter up a 18cm / 7" square cake tin

Sieve together all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and stir in the brown sugar until well combined (dark brown sugar can often have lumps in, to ensure an even texture I just crumbled up and large bits with my fingers)

In a pan, gently melt the margarine, treacle and syrup (to help the treacle and syrup slide of the spoon easier dip it in boiling water just before scooping into the treacle). Once melted gradually beat in the milk and allow the mixture to cool

Once cool, stir in the beaten eggs and mix well. When the wet ingredients are all combined stir into the flour mix. At this stage you can also add sultanas (around 50g) if you're after a more fruity kick.

Pour the mix into the tin and place on the middle shelf of the pre-heated oven. Cook for 1 1/4 hours peeking in on it occasionally, if the top is cracking move the oven shelf down slightly - but don't worry it all adds to the 'homemade charm'. 

The cake is now quite versatile and can be iced with a cream cheese (carrot cake style) topping, dusted with icing sugar or just eaten plain with a mug of tea or glug of sherry.

Eaten warm it's delicious or placed in an air tight tin (good excuse to empty that quality street one under the tree) will keep for over a week. 

Merry Christmas!

Red or Dead

Well it's been a little while, I'd almost quite forgotten about my little bloggersphere here, what better way to get myself restarted and back to blog then to dust off a draft from the warm hazy summer months. (Okay admittedly I'm quite lazy and given the chance to use up previous typing I'll take it)

Despite my best efforts to swerve 'Christmassy' food until at least late December I have already succumb to an array of mincemeat flavoured goodies and have developed a small dependency on Port and Stilton. Fearful that a lack of coloured foods may result in slight scurvy, I'm making these bad boys to sling alongside my Dickensian lunches. After all - red is the colour of the season!


Shopping List

6 Large Red Peppers, halved with seeds removed
3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
24 Cherry Tomato's, halved
1 x tin of anchovies, chopped
12 Large Basil Leaves
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Sugar




Make it happen

1. Cut the peppers in half, leave the stalks in but scrape out any seeds.
2. lie all peppers in the bottom of a large oven proof dish
3. Share the following ingredients between the pepper halves stuffing each inside:

 chopped garlic evenly
2 cheery tomatoes in each half
 chopped anchovies

6. tear one basil leaf into each pepper
7. add a pinch of sugar to each
8. Pour 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar to each pepper
9. Cover the peppers in olive oil , approx 1 tbsp to each half (a lot of this will reduce in the cooking process)

Place in the preheated oven and cook for 35-40mins until the peppers have softened and blackened around the edges. 

These are best served cold, ideally after 24 hours in the fridge which lets all the flavours develop. However they can be served hot with some tomato rice as an ideal starter.