Help! Any Lithuanians out there...?

So, I'm taking part in Eating Eurovision. The premise is that 25 food bloggers pick a country each (from a hat, I hasten to add) and off we go, in search of food experiences.

I picked Lithuania.

Here's my plea for help - do you know any good Lithuanian restaurants? A secret (or not so) Lithuanian community? A good bar where Lithuanians hang out? I have to go tonight so speedy answers are much appreciated!

20 Minute Tomato Sauce

Sometimes, it's nice to get back to basics. Sure, there are great brands out there that make canned tomato sauce - and, when in a crunch, they sure come in handy - but when you have a little time, it's really a nice thing to try and make at home. Really, making tomato sauce is a pretty easy endeavor. This is the recipe I've adapted from many others I've tried, and it seems to do the trick!

And really... this tomato sauce only takes 20-25 minutes tops to make. I always make a big batch when I take the time to make it - like this week, for example. I made a hearty batch of tomato sauce yesterday, froze half of it, and am using the other half for different weekly meals. Spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballs is always a great classic, as is any combination involving tomato sauce and pizza - but you can also use it to top simple grilled chicken breast or as a sauce to poach fish by adding a little chicken stock.

If I've learned anything from attending culinary school is that cooking is all about building layers of flavor. This is exactly what makes tomato sauce so delicious: you've got the obvious strong tomato flavor, subtle sweetness coming from the carrots, and depth in flavor coming from the herbs and aromatics. There's nothing like it!

Homemade Tomato Sauce
1 can of San Marzano tomatoes
1/2 onion
1 small carrot
1 small celery stalk
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of sugar
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Finely dice the onion, carrot, celery and 2 cloves of garlic. Try to keep them all the same size so that they cook evenly. In a stockpot on medium heat, add a good drizzle of olive oil and add the onion. Saute for 2 minutes, and add the carrots and celery. Add the dried oregano and bay leaves and saute for another 2-3 minutes.

Crush the canned tomatoes and add the tomatoes and liquid to the stockpot. Generously season with salt and pepper and add the last garlic clove, peeled and coarsely chopped. Add the tomato paste and sugar and stir. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Remove the bay leaves and discard.

Using a immersion blender, blend the tomato sauce until the sauce is well pureed. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Sushi Hiro

This weekend was the Real Food Festival at Earl's Court. Since we were schlepping it out west, we figured we could ride the Picadilly line a little further and finally visit Sushi Hiro, which I've heard so much about.

Situated in Ealing Common, it is a bit of a trek. I hardly go out west at all, so I was happy to note that it is opposite the tube station, giving you no chance to get lost (much). I'd heard the decor isn't much to look at, but seeing as my favourite sushi place, Ten Ten Tei in Brewer Street isn't either, this could only be a good thing.

From the outside, Sushi Hiro looks a bit lifeless. Frosted white glass makes it look closed. When we walked in, we were immediately greeted with the smell of very fresh fish - a bit like the seaside, and not at all fishy. Tables line the walls, simply decorated with chopsticks, a napkin and soy with saucers, as well as some stools at a sushi bar.

The menu is a tick box affair, with a plastic laminate guide with pictures. It's a really short menu with no hot dishes except miso soup - sushi and sashimi was the order of the day. I tend to suffer from great indecision, so it was good to see the deluxe set had a nice long list of fish it included; belly tuna, surf cram (sic!), salmon, sweet shrimp, scallop, mackerel, roe, eel, and... er... I forget the rest. We also ordered some pickled gourd and pickled radish maki to accompany, with a beer to wash it all down with.

When the sushi arrived, I was relieved to see it didn't resemble the rather depressing platter offered at Tomoe, which was also called the Deluxe Nigiri Set and at the same price. Visually, it was stunning. The fish was of excellent quality and the rice was freshly cooked and still a little warm. The fish to rice ratio was perfect, and a great selection of fish - not just the standard salmon and tuna. Easily the best sushi I've had in London. The pickled vegetable maki was also good, although we did comment that it could have been a little more pickled. We are pickle fiends though and knowing Japanese pickles are usually a lot sweeter, I think it's pretty inconsequential.

I definitely want to go back and go for a big blow-out as I was watching the budget this day. It was great value; the excellent platter, the maki and a beer each for came to £65 for the three of us, with some complimentary edamame and green tea thrown in. The rather long journey was worth it. Watch out for the funny opening hours though.

Sushi Hiro

1 Station Parade,

Uxbridge Road,

Ealing, W5 3LD

Tel: 020 8896 3175

Lunch served 11am-1.30pm, dinner served 4.30-9pm Tue-Sun

Goats Cheese, Pea & Chicory Pasta

For fear of alienating (and turning the stomachs of) any vegetarian audience I might have, I thought it best to blog this pasta dish I made. After many meaty meals I craved something light, fresh, and healthy. All slapped on top of pasta. That's healthy, right?

Chicory is an ingredient I never liked as a child. It looks pretty, all tightly folded up around itself, but it is a little bitter which is a touch off-putting for children. However, I love bitter food now and so chicory has made an appearance many a time on my table.

Cooking it makes it a touch sweeter, especially if you griddle it. In this case, I just sliced it and lightly fried it. It worked really well with the goats cheese (blue cheese would also be great) and the sweetness of the peas balanced it nicely. A bit of pancetta wouldn't have gone amiss...

Goats Cheese, Pea & Chicory Pasta

Serves 1

100gr spaghetti
1 spring onion
A handful of frozen peas
1 small head of chicory
3 sundried tomatoes in oil
A wodge of goats cheese (or blue cheese)
2 tbsp double cream
2 cloves garlic
A few basil leaves

Place the pasta on to cook. Place the peas in a bowl and add boiling water. Mince the garlic and fry in a little oil until softened. Add the sliced whites of the spring onion. Roughly chop the chicory, and add to the pan. Stir-fry for a few minutes, then add the sun dried tomatoes chopped roughly. Turn to a low heat and stir in the cheese and the cream. Drain the peas and add to the sauce. Take off the heat and put the lid on. When the pasta has cooked, drain it thoroughly and then add to the saucepan, tossing it well. Garnish with the basil, the sliced greens of the spring onion and plenty of black pepper.

Zucchini Chocolate Muffins

Yes, this might seem odd, but chocolate and zucchini muffins are delicious! Having just finished a series of recipes featuring zucchini, I had to include these slightly unusual sweet treats. The muffins don't overwhelmingly taste like zucchini, but zucchini does adds a lovely texture to the muffins and keeps them incredibly moist... and who could say no to a little added dose of vegetable in the day?

I really like coming up with different recipes around one ingredient. Not only does it show the wonderful range of produce like zucchini, but it also allows you to play with what's in your fridge. Do you ever buy a basket of zucchini, tomatoes or lemons to use for a specific recipe and then aren't sure what to do with the rest? Well, that used to happen to me a lot, which is why I like to plan a couple recipes around a same ingredient to spice things up a little and make sure not to waste food.

Zucchini Chocolate Muffins(makes 12-14 muffins)
1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
7-8 ounces of zucchini (about 2 small zucchinis)
6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3/4cup of canola oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup of sugar

Preheat your oven to 350F.
In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
Grate the zucchini and reserve.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, and reserve.
In a separate bowl, whisk the oil, eggs, vanilla extract and sugar. Once incorporated, whisk in the flour mixture in small batches. Add the grated zucchini, and chocolate and mix.

Line a muffin pan with liners and add a big ice cream scoop of muffin batter into each muffin cup. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.
Leave to cool on a cooling rack before serving. Enjoy!

Barbequed Shoulder of Lamb

It's not ofen that I cook a great big hunk of meat on the barbeque. I'm usually too taken by the idea of burgers, sausages, ribs and kebabs to want to devote a whole barbeque to just one plateful. However, this weekend I had the opportunity to have two barbeques. The first was at a friend's house, whereby we filled the sausages / kebabs / ribs quota, and the second was the perfect opportunity.

I was feeling rather glum on bank holiday Monday. The grey skies and blustering wind did nothing to help my mood so this was the perfect slap-it-on-and-leave-it kind of technique. With the aide of a friend who expertly built up a pyramid of briquettes (and by that I mean applying the lighting gel liberally), we soon had some nicely whitened coals to be cooking this whole shoulder of lamb over.




As lamb is quite a fatty cut of meat, it's important to babysit it for the first part of the recipe. The dripping fat causes the flames to flare up and if you're not careful you could have a rather more charred piece of meat than you'd like. This method of cooking the lamb imparts a wonderfully smoky flavour to the meat. Next time I'd like to try it with wood chippings, but the coal worked well too. It does take a while to prepare, but once it's done you will be well rewarded for your efforts - lightly spiced, tende meat with a deep smokiness.


Barbequed Shoulder of Lamb

Serves 5 generously

1 whole shoulder of lamb (ours was 1.6kg)

6 cloves of garlic

4 anchovy fillets

A few sprigs of thyme

1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika

1 aubergine, sliced and oiled

1 kettle barbeque

Plenty of coal

Lighting fluid

Build up plenty of coal in the base of the barbeque, applying lighting gel as you go along. You'll need a lot, as it'll be going for a good three hours or more. Trim the shoulder of any excess fat and cut slits into the flesh. Stuff with garlic, chopped anchovy and thyme. Rub with the paprika.

Light the bbq and then the coals are white, place the shoulder carefully on the heat. Carefully lay the slices of aubergine around it so that they grill, and turn overafter about 10 minutes. Remove and set aside. If the coals flare up move the meat around so you don't get any burning. We had some proper flames but it didn't get burnt much, but do keep an eye on it. When you've got a nice colour on the lamb and the coals have cooled down a bit, put the lid on the barbeque with the vent open and cook for 3 hours. Turn the meat over every hour or so.

To serve, rest the meat for 20 mins and carve into chunks. I served it with some tzatziki, shredded little gem lettuce and sliced red onion all rolled up in a flatbread.

Zucchini Bread

There's just something special about zucchini bread isn't there? It's savory but also sweet, and pretty hard to beat when it's just out of the oven. This recipe was given to me by one of my editors, and her recipe surely didn't disappoint! It's really easy to make and you'll have deliciously moist bread to snack on all week.

My weekend was filled with food adventures. From fried calamari at the farmer's market, to outdoor grilled pizza and olive oil vanilla cupcakes.. ending with zucchini bread. What more can one ask for?

Zucchini Bread (for 2 small loafs of bread)

1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of white sugar
1 cup of canola oil
3 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
3 cups of grated zucchini
3 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp of cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350F.

In big mixing bowl, add the sugars, oil, eggs, vanilla and zucchini. Mix. Add in the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon and whisk until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

Grease two small loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Leave to cool on a cooling rack for a couple minutes, and serve. Enjoy!