Puy lentil salad

Another great recipe from our cook book to keep you busy over the bank holiday weekend, perfect for a bank holiday Sunday BBQ (weather permitting).  Enjoy!

PUY LENTIL SALAD

WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES

Yes, yes, we know, lentil salad may seem a bit clichéd, but this

is so tangy and moreish we couldn’t possibly think of leaving

it out. It’s great either warm or cold and, if you don’t mind a

bit of dairy, works brilliantly with goats’ cheese too. You can

substitute anything you like for the vegetables here – just

try to stick to veggies that will hold their shape when mixed

together with the lentils.

 

SERVES 6 –8 AS A STARTER

200g (7oz) Puy lentils

1 red onion, very finely diced

80ml (3fl oz) olive oil

80ml (3fl oz) balsamic vinegar

1 red chilli, trimmed and chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons tomato purée

1 tablespoon fennel seeds, toasted and lightly crushed

1 bunch of flat leaf parsley leaves

75g (3oz) baby spinach leaves, red chard leaves or bull’s blood leaves

salt

For the roasted vegetables

olive oil

300g (10oz) pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2cm (1-inch) thick wedges

1/2 fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into 1cm (1/2-inch) thick wedges

150g (5oz) cherry tomatoes

1 courgette, cut into 1cm (1/2-inch) thick wedges

2 red or yellow peppers, cored, deseeded and cut into 1-cm-(1/2-inch) thick wedges

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/Gas Mark 6.

Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil and add the lentils. Lower

the heat and simmer for 15–20 minutes until tender. Drain and put

in a large salad bowl.

Put the onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, chilli, garlic, sugar, tomato

purée and crushed fennel seeds in a small saucepan. Bring to a

simmer and cook gently, stirring frequently, for 4–5 minutes until

the sugar has dissolved. Spoon the warm dressing over the lentils

and leave to cool.

For the roasted vegetables, drizzle a little oil on to the base of a

roasting tin. Add the pumpkin or squash pieces, season with salt and

mix together thoroughly. Roast for 10 minutes. Toss the fennel and

whole tomatoes in a little oil, add to the tin and roast for another

10 minutes. Finally, toss the courgettes and peppers in a little oil, add

to the tin and roast for a further 10 minutes. By now the vegetables

should all be tender and cooked through. Set aside to cool slightly.

Roughly chop the parsley and add to the salad bowl along with the

salad leaves and roasted vegetables.

Mix everything together well and serve.

National vegetarian week - mango summer rolls

What a better way to kick start National vegetarian week than to share some of our recipes from our amazing new cook book.  We will be posting another two recipes during the week to keep you inspired with fresh recipe ideas during vegetarian week #NVW15.

With the weather heating up and summer just around the corner, our mango summer rolls are the perfect start for the week

 

Mango Summer Rolls With spicy peanut sauce

Summer rolls have proved to be a very popular addition to

our menu. Gluten-free, vegan and very light, they make a

great snack on a hot day. They are really simple to make but

you may have to go to an Asian supermarket to find the rice

paper sheets.

SERVES 4 –6

90g (3oz) vermicelli rice noodles

100g (3oz) bean sprouts

1 large red chilli, trimmed and diced

grated rind of 2 limes

12 x 22cm (9 inch) rice paper wrappers

1/2 cucumber, deseeded and cut into

5mm (1/4 inch) thick batons

1 small ripe mango, peeled and cut

into 5mm (1/4 inch) thick batons

handful of mint, leaves picked

handful of fresh coriander,

leaves picked

1 medium beetroot, coarsely grated

1 large carrot, coarsely grated

For the Spicy Peanut Sauce

200g (7oz) crunchy peanut butter

200ml (7fl oz) water

1 red chilli, trimmed and finely diced

juice of 2 limes

1 tablespoon dark muscovado sugar

4 garlic cloves, very finely chopped

1.5-cm (3/4 inch) piece of fresh root

ginger, peeled and very finely

chopped

 METHOD
1. Cook or soak the rice noodles in boiling water according to the packet instructions, then drain well and leave to cool. Once cool, tip into a bowl with the bean sprouts, chilli and grated lime rind and mix together well.
2. Wet a rice paper wrapper by dipping it in a bowl of water for 15–20 seconds until it starts to soften and become pliable, then place it on a clean work surface. Arrange a few batons of cucumber and mango across the center of the wrapper, leaving a gap of 4–5cm (11/2–2 inches) either side for folding.
3. Add a few mint and coriander leaves, then a small handful of the noodle mix and grated vegetables.
4. Bring the bottom and top edges of the wrapper tightly up over the filling then fold the sides in over it. Continue to roll up tightly and place on a plate. Repeat this process with the remaining rolls and filling ingredients.
5. To make the spicy peanut sauce, put all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together until smooth. Serve with the rolls.

mildreds the cook book - competition

The wait is almost over, we have recently received a hard copy of our cook book and it is now ready for pre order from various websites including Octopus books, amazon, and waterstones. We hope the book will be well received by all and becomes a top seller !

 

With the cook book launch just over a week away we are giving away 5 copies of our cook book via a twitter competition today!!.  simply follow us on twitter and Re-tweet our competition details when they are posted to be in the chance to win your very own copy of our cook book!

The cook book includes various mildreds classic dishes, a variety of gluten free and vegan recipes, as well as a menu planning section bringing together vegan and gluten free menu planning ideas.

We would like to thank former mildreds team member Kirsti-Lee Poulter for her beautiful work on all the illustrations featured throughout the book.

Below is a sneek peek of our cook book, we hope you enjoy!

 

cook book photo shoot

With our Cooking sessions finished here at the restaurant and our recipes written and sent off to the publishers for editing, we move onto the next and very exciting stage of getting our cookbook finalised.

Annie Rigg

props

The photo shoot was spread out over two weeks and was a great experience to be a part of, so much work goes into this process of the book and we would like to thank

Photographer Jonathan Gregson for his stunning photography work and home economist Annie Rigg for testing out our recipes and presenting the food ready for photography.

 

  

The selection of props used during the photo shoot seemed endless, they were carefully selected for each dish and really brought the food into another dimension we hadn’t seen before, a big thanks to prop stylist and art director Tabitha Hawkins.

Below are a few photos from our photo shoot.

puy lentil salad

Sri Lankan curry

Sunday sessions

mee-goreng

Aubergine escalope

Big changes and new additions are en route for us here at Mildreds and were very excited for what’s to come down the line, for now here’s some information on what we’ve been up to so far.

Our Head Chef Daniel Acevedo and Head Pastry Chef Sarah Wasserman have been gathering each Sunday in the restaurant to devise new recipes for the Mildreds cookbook, modifying old classics and potential new ones! Due to the volume of new recipes we aim to have a mixture of wheat and gluten free recipes as well as some much-loved veggie dishes that we have tried in the past but haven’t seen on the menu yet, so all keep your eyes peeled for some new and exciting additions to our menu selection.

Stuffed baby pumpkin

Gazpacho

The Sunday sessions have involved testing and trying new and old Mildred’s classics to see what works best and see which dishes make the final cut for the Cookbook. What’s most important is fitting them in amongst our varied international cuisine and how it can remain balanced while still offering a good mix of gluten free and vegan options.

A few new additions to our menu include our new green juice that consists of all organic ingredients: kale, cucumber, fresh lemon juice and apples, its certain to clear up all the hazy Monday morning heads and a perfect accompaniment to all dishes on the menu.  We also have added a roast pear salad with blue cheese mousse, hazlenuts and polenta biscuits, we have re vamped our Asian stir-fry to include baby corn and mixed peppers and now comes with a shiitake mushroom sauce.

Latka with mango sauce

We hope you like our selection of photos from our Sunday sessions, more updates to come soon.

Summer catch up

We’ve been busy here at  45 Lexington street making changes to our food and drinks menu along with many other upcoming additions that will have to remain ‘hush hush’ for now...

As you may have seen through our many social media platforms we’ve made some tasty new accompaniments to our menu, all bang in season and as bright as the summer sunshine. The first being the primavera salad, a light and very green salad consisting of cracked broad beans, grilled asparagus, pea, mange tout, mint and feta with a honey and lemon salad.

primavera salad

summer rolls

This is the perfect time of year for English Asparagus and the primavera salad does a good job of highlighting what spring is all about.   The second addition to the menu is our summer rolls, a lengthy process of rolling out rice pancakes and filling them up with fresh mango and  a variety of vegetables with a spicy chilli and peanut sauce on the side.

In keeping with the world cup theme of Brazil at the moment we’ve added a signature cocktail to our already extensive repertoire, the Caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail. Made from a few humble ingredients, Cachaca (sugar cane liquor) Lime and sugar, a perfect summer cooler.

 

Finally our most proud achievement is gaining the Tripadvisor certificate of Excellence for 2014! This prestigious award is based on the high quality and quantity of reviews we’ve earned. There has been consistently good and constructive feedback from all of your lovely selfs which makes awards like this so special, so thank you all and keep posted for future updates.

Mildreds Cookbook

We are pleased to be working with Octopus Publishing on our very own cook book.  Due to be released in the summer of 2015 the cook book will feature between 80-100 internationally inspired vegetarian recipes, including some of our classic menu items, starters, mains and desserts.  There will also be various wheat free, gluten free, and vegan recipes, we have lots of recipes to try and test and will keep you updated with posts and photos from our test sessions in the kitchen.

Give us your thoughts on which recipes you would like to see in the Mildreds Cookbook.