Sunday 9 March 2014

Flipping Crackers!

Well, I appreciate Pancake Day is a little predictable to be blogging about but it'd be rude not to give it a little mention so here goes.....


How ironic in a week where sugar has been deemed the 8th Deadly Sin, there I was pouring golden syrup and chocolate spread onto my pancakes!! Oooops.....well anyway....they were delish!!! Dale used a traditional pancake recipe and substituted regular self raising flour for Dove's Farm Gluten Free 
self raising! I then cranked up the sugar levels by using Silver Spoon syrup and Cadbury's chocolate spread (no GF containing ingredients and no nuts contained woop woop! *although has a "May Contain" for nuts*) Well it's only one day a year right?!

After a year of claiming my prescription items my store cupboard looked a little like the shelves of Holland and Barrett's! I took a year off about 6 months ago and am stil only making a dent in my stash! Dale kindly helped put by rustling up a fab lasagne using Glutafin lasagne sheets


Dale often uses Dove's Farm GF plain flour for his cheese sauce but when he fancies a cheat (which would be all the time if I was in charge!!) he relies on Sainsbury's white sauce with cheese which is listed in the Coeliac UK Food Directory. I find GF pasta is generally quite good. Let's face it, by the time it's smothered in sauce you can't tell what it's like! These lasagne sheets need soaking first and can run the risk of going a little slimy but once cooked all is well!

At last.....I finally found some Newburn Bakehouse cracker thins! I opened my sweet chilli packet with eager anticipation only to find they all looked like this 



Oh dear, guess that's always the hazard with crackers but I was a little disappointed not to have a least one whole one! Anyway, the cracker jigsaw puzzle that lay before before was certainly packed with flavour! Wow, they have a kick! Not too much but definitely a growing warmth that builds up as you eat. I enjoyed my cracker pieces with my soup at work and then with pate (yes, I finally found some GF pate!!) over the weekend!


Not listed in the Coeliac UK Directory but all ingredients are ok! Lovely to have pate again and spread on these zingy crackers it was a perfect match! I'm just hoping in my second box of crackers (blue cheese flavour) I get at least one full cracker!

Last night I dragged a slightly reluctant Dale into La Polenteria http://www.lapolenteria.com in Soho. Let me explain....we were meant to be going to an all singing all dancing BBQ meat feast of a restaurant. Dale had starved himself all day in preparation for this gluttonous trip. However, on arrival we were told there would be a 1 hour 45 min wait which was a little excessive even by Dale's caveman standards! Therefore, you can appreciate his "joy" at my suggestion of visiting La Polenteria (as the name suggests...polenta specialists) located just a 5 min walk from meat eater paradise!

La Polenteria is a cafe style restaurant. Greeted by a small number of tables with candles flickering there is a cosy and intimate atmosphere. You can visit during the day for coffee and cake or even lunch or breakfast all with a polenta twist. They also have a small but perfectly formed dinner menu (vegan, veggie and meat options included). After checking the sauces were GF as well as the polenta I was good to go. I ordered Goulash


and Dale had wild boar. Didn't take a photos of Dale's as it looked pretty much the same! However, they did taste very different! Both were tasty and bursting with flavour! Mine had a little heat but just enough without taking the roof of your mouth! The polenta was creamy and slightly springy in texture....delicious and filling! Very impressed! Dale....well....Dale is still mourning the loss of BBQ ribs  and wings but do you know what.....he was impressed too! We would both recommend...if you're looking for a good GF restaurant with a little twist in Central London give it a go, you won't be disappointed! Also, the wall is covered with polenta facts aplenty so if your conversation runs dry you can also read the wall!!? Lol, sorry Dale! 

Enjoy the sunshine everyone and have a lovely week! X





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