~Little Italy Espresso Bar~....

Cafe Review:
Little Italy Espresso Bar
Haddenham, Nr Thame. Buckinghamshire, HP17 8EJ, UK

               My Bike club – VC10, use this pretty little cafe frequently, starting or finishing rides here.

 The unlikely place for such a cosmopolitan ‘Espresso Bar’ is next to the forge in a small village, Haddenham, a maze of narrow alleys, thatched cottages and an impressive village green with a well populated duck pond.

Home-made cakes and brownies support your coffee break, where Own-label coffee is not too dark, not too strong and not too roasted and available for purchase as ground or beans, so you can make it at home.

Lunch of interesting salads, toasted goodies and the ever present, ever dry, ever horrible Panini are available, on white or brown, as are some nice sandwiches.

                     I’d like to see more wheat-free things, but that’s perhaps just a personal choice.

 Decking at the rear of the premises allows a sheltered area to grab any winter sun, and, perhaps equally important, the neighbours, with, apparently, one notable exception, are as friendly and welcoming as the staff. I’m of the opinion that independently-owned is almost always better, and Little Italy is one of Britain’s best examples.

Parking is also fairly acceptable for such a small village, with the cafe having an agreement with the local Indian Restaurant (opposite) to use some spaces otherwise not in use during daytime.
Try a ride over Chiltern scarps and through wooded beech lanes, or over exposed hilltops such as Winchendon, or perhaps something quiet and flat across the Aylesbury vale. Access to the area can also be had by train, with a local station at Thame and Haddenham Parkway.

                                          Little Italy has a gorgeous set up...very Scandenavian

*Huge Thanks to our Guest Reviewer Dave Johnson!


http://www.littleitalyespressobar.com/


http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/39664321723/?notif_t=group_added_to_group

http://www.vc10.org.uk/vc10/

~Cycling Cafe's Diva

"Uniting a Community; one Cyclist at a time"

"RIDE HAPPY"

This Blog and its content is copyright of Cycle Cafe - ©CycleCafe 2011 . All rights reserved


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© Cycle Cafe 2011
 a Copia Red Corp

Clementine Cake

This is a fun little Cake to make....

Ingredients

• 
• 
• 

• 4-5 clementines (about 375g total weight)
• 6 eggs
• 225g sugar
• 250g ground almonds
• 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

Method

Serves: 8-10

Put the clementines in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 2 hours. Drain and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove the pips. Dump the clementines - skins, pith, fruit and all - and give a quick blitz in a food processor (or by hand, of course). Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190ºC. Butter and line a 21cm Springform tin.

The only food procesor I had while in England was our Coffee Grinder...so I improvised...

                              Creaming the butter with the Clemintines got a tad messy

Actually, it all got a wee bit out of hand lol

You can then add all the other ingredients to the food processor and mix. Or, you can beat the eggs by hand adding the sugar, almonds and baking powder, mixing well, then finally adding the pulped oranges.

Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for an hour, when a skewer will come out clean; you'll probably have to cover with foil or greaseproof after about 40 minutes to stop the top burning.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool, on a rack, but in the tin.

When the cake's cold, you can take it out of the tin.

This is a lovely Cake and a definete change from traditional Cakes.
However it is a very wet, moist, dense cake. It tastes better the next day and should be kept refrigerated. I didn't ice this cake but a Cream Cheese Frosting with some citrus zest would be nice. Enjoy!

This cake can be made with an equal weight of oranges, and with lemons, in which case I increase the sugar to 250g and slightly anglicise it, too, by adding a glaze made of icing sugar mixed to a paste with lemon juice and a little water.

Cycling Cafe's Diva

"Uniting a Community; one Cyclist at a time"

This Blog and its content is copyright of Cycle Cafe - ©CycleCafe 2011 . All rights reserved "Ride Happy"~C.C.

<p><a href="http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/protect/p11_web_design_copyright" title="Web design copyright">Web design copyright</a> fact sheet from UK

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/clementine-cake-2559

Rabbit Stew

     Before anyone gives me the "Hairy Eyeball" for this post, or any Vegan Activist feels inclined to give me a lecture, let me just say first of all that I am sure that the rabbit had a good life and to be fair the Rabbit was Vegan!....and yes I do realize this is not CAKE! As Cyclist/Athletes I am sure you agree that eating well is a high priority and how often do we grab for high carb empty calorie food; right? So, I started thinking that I would develop a few recipes that are great eats...and really good for you as well...look for more tasty recipes to follow like Granola Bars, Fabulous filling Salads and more!

 While I was in England I had a wonderful opportunity to expand&explore my culinary skills. One of the lovely dishes I decided to make was way out of my comfort zone, but I decided to give it a go any way,

 'Rabbit Stew', a very European Dish, and one personally that I had never tried. This wasn't my first time making a Stew, but it was my first time making it with rabbit and being that I had never tried rabbit before I was apprehensive, but venturing forth...onward! The rabbit had been passed up in the freezer by any, and every other meat that I could find, and it was the only thing left; so here went nothing. I sourced out a recipe online. Found one that seemed easy enough to follow; good ole BBC>>>>http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/old_fashioned_rabbit_74225 and carried on. As they say "Keep Calm and make Rabbit Stew" well they don't really say that, but there you go....and here is how it went....

Ingredients:

3 tbsp plain flour ( I used spelt flour )
2 tsp dried thyme, or 2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves ( I used rosemary)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
15g/½oz butter ( I didn't use any butter)
2-3 tbsp sunflower oil ( I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil..always do!)
1 large farmed rabbit or 2 young wild rabbits, jointed into 8 pieces
6 rashers rindless smoked streaky bacon, cut into 2cm/¾in squares (I didn't use any)
2 onions, chopped
500ml/17fl oz dry cider ( I replaced this with Guinness...thought it went better with the rabbit)
300ml/10fl oz chicken or vegetable stock ( I made my own Veg. Stock)
2 bay leaves ( I didn't use any)
350g/12oz chantenay carrots, peeled
 ( I used carrots...I'm not sure what kind they were, but they were orange )
150g/5oz frozen peas ( I skipped the peas and used potatoes instead)
*I am not sure what it is about the English but they are awfully fond of their 'Peas' they add them to every dish it seems....I say live on the wild side....change it up a bit.

Oh and I also added a garlic clove and a dollop of honey too! 
So basically I changed the whole recipe lol




Preparation method:

1. Place the flour, thyme and a good pinch of salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper in a large freezer bag. Put the rabbit portions into the bag, a few at a time, and shake well until evenly coated in the seasoned flour. Transfer to a plate

                                     <I put my flour and seasonings into a bowl and tossed the Rabbit in the mixture.>


2.Melt the butter with one tablespoon of the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the rabbit, a few pieces at a time, until golden-brown all over. Put all the front and rear leg portions into a flameproof casserole dish.

3.Transfer the saddle pieces to a plate, cover loosely and set aside (these will need less cooking time, so can be added later on). Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2 


4.Add a little more oil to the pan and cook the bacon until the fat is browned and beginning to crisp. Add the bacon to the casserole dish.Add a dash more oil to the frying pan and fry the onion for 5-7 minutes, or until lightly browned and beginning to soften. Add the onions to the casserole, sprinkle with any flour remaining in the freezer bag and stir until well combined.

                                                            <Once the Rabbit was golden I added the honey...>

                                                                     <Then I added the Guinness...clearly.>

                                                                                  <..and the rosemary>



5.Pour half of the cider into the frying pan and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to lift any sediment from the bottom. Simmer for a few seconds then pour into the casserole. Add the rest of the cider and the stock. Stir the bay leaves into the casserole, cover with a lid and cook in the centre of the oven for 45 minutes.


6.Remove the casserole from the oven, add the reserved saddle pieces and carrots, turn all the rabbit portions, ensuring that as much of the meat is covered by liquid as possible. (Not all the meat will be covered.) Return to the oven for a further hour.

7.Take the casserole out of the oven after one hour and check the rabbit – the meat should be starting to fall off the bone when the rabbit is ready. Poke the leg portions and the saddle pieces with a knife and if it doesn’t slide in easily, return the casserole to the oven. Check again for tenderness and turn the rabbit portions every 30 minutes or so


8.When the rabbit is tender, skim off any fat that may have risen to the top of the casserole with a large spoon. Carefully transfer the casserole to the hob. Bring to a fast simmer and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the liquid reduces to a slightly thickened, gravy-like consistency. Stir in the frozen peas and simmer  for a further three minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve..

                                
I do have to say.....I did a really great job of this!....and being that it was my first time eating rabbit...Not Bad, if I do say so myself!

                                            "Happy Easter Everyone!"~C.C.

~Cycling Cafe's Diva

"Uniting a Community; one Cyclist at a time"

This Blog and its content is copyright of Cycle Cafe - ©CycleCafe 2011 . All rights reserved "Ride Happy"~C.C.

<p><a href="http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/protect/p11_web_design_copyright" title="Web design copyright">Web design copyright</a> fact sheet from UK

http://www.hub-uk.com/tallyrecip02/recipe0069.htm


http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/old_fashioned_rabbit_74225
another lovely recipe by bbc.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/rabbitandpearlbarley_89209..