The Owl and The Pussycat – Byron Bay

The Owl and the Pussycat is a great bar in Byron, they have big windows all around so you can shelter from the sun but still be outside, they do lots of food but we went for tapas and wine one evening.

I can’t lie, I mostly wanted to go here because of the neon signs.

These chilli and cumin spiced almonds were great.

My favourite bites were the herb and feta arancini, I really want to try to make some of these. I know I say this a lot.

These are little goats cheese and heirloom tomato tarts. Teeny tiny food makes me happy.

More seafood popcorn, they love it over there I had it so many times, this was served with lemon and pepper aioli.

We also ate whitebait, zucchini (courgette) and mint fritters and they were served with cucumber relish and black olive salsa.

Another recommendation for you… The Owl and The Pussycat - Byron Bay

Treehouse – Byron Bay

Another day, another Byron Bay gem.

This is the way we walked to the treehouse…

It’s actually quicker than walking through town a whole lot prettier.

The restaurant looks quite big but the actual inside isn’t huge they just have lots of beautiful outside space under the shade of parasols and trees.

The treehouse is famous for pizza, and even thought that’s what we went for and my Husband is obsessed we didn’t manage one. The breakfasts are also supposed to be great.

Like I have already mentioned we ate very well in Australia, so this we really wanted a light dinner. We ordered some dips to snack on, but the sourdough bread was so delicious we ended up eating quite a lot of it.

We also shared this amazing goats cheese salad with butternut squash and lots of pine nuts, very much like one I eat a lot at home. And then we were done!

But do go to Treehouse if you visit the Bay… and have a pizza for me. And definitely walk along the beach.

***Have just been informed that at the moment it is closed due to a fire, bad news! Hopefully by the time you visit they’ll be open again, I wish them luck***

St Elmo – Byron Bay

After leaving Brisbane we took a bus down to Byron Bay, after a quick 2 hour pain-free journey we arrived in the cutest town. I had never been here before but my husband has and I gather it has changed from a sleepy hippy backpackers beach spot into what it is today, a town that has that undercurrent but is full of swish bars, restaurants and chi chi boutiques.

Needless to say I loved it.

We arrived late in the afternoon starving and walked out to find dinner, stumbling across St Elmo I wish we had saved it for a night when we weren’t exhausted because we literally ate one course and left.

It’s a really cute open place, serving tapas as well as their a la carte and had a great wine list and a lot of glamorous girls were drinking delicious looking cocktails.

I had an amazing lamb dish, it was served so pink I had to send it back but the waiter dealt with this so well, and was so great at recommending a delicious glass of Australian wine.

My husbands steak was served with these amazing French inspired rustic potatoes with olives and rosemary. I of course had to steal one or two.

St Elmo - I later found out that Sarah Wilson, one of my favourite Australian bloggers lives near here and this is a spot she also recommends for a special dinner, and mentions the staff know their stuff. They really do. You should definitely put this on your list if you visit Byron Bay.

Warm Prosciutto and Blue Cheese Salad and BBQ Ideas

I have been all about the recommendations lately, and not giving much out about what I have been cooking… mostly because I haven’t.

In between decorating, enjoying the little bursts of sunshine and generally being quite busy I haven’t been cooking properly lately. There have been lots of Waitrose/M&S trips to buy food I don’t have to do anything with.

I need this break I think. It hard to get anything done in an evening if you plan on cooking properly and I am a girl who likes her early nights.

But anyway this is a little something I made for my girlfriends a couple of weeks ago and have been meaning to make again and make prettier and better so I could share it with you.

I have made it again, yesterday, after a few glasses of wine in the sunshine it’s the only thing I could think of, but it definitely wasn’t prettier so here you are. I am sharing with you anyway with a photograph from my phone. I hope that’s okay… it really is a good salad and another ‘boy-friendly’ salad, I had proof last night.

As this is a salad I am not giving you quantities you can make it for 1 or many, teeny or huge.

You need;
Rocket and spinach
Tomatoes
Mushrooms
Red onions
Potatoes
Blue Cheese
Prosciutto

So first I caramelised the onions, do take your time with this do it slowly and take at least 30 minutes, you might want to do this first. About 15 minutes in a sprinkled sugar on them and then stirred that in. Fry on a low heat with a little oil and stir and watch.

At the same time I put all the tomatoes on a baking tray with some olive oil and seat salt and black pepper again on a low temperature and left them in there while I cooked everything else. I used the best cherry tomatoes I could get my hands on but you can use any kind you like.

This was also the first time this year I tasted Jersey Royals, damn they are lovely. ut again you could use any potato you want, I simply boiled them because of all the other tasty (naughty) ingredients in this dish but you could also fry them up with the prosciutto. That would be good…

So those are the bits you need to cook, fry your prosciutto last then you just need to chuck your salad into the bowl, add those hot bits then the crumbled blue cheese (I used Gorgonzola this time and have also tried it with a Stilton) and lastly the Prosciutto.

And yes I did serve it with a huge lump of garlic bread. What?

*Since it is BBQ weather (finally) in Bristol here are some more sunshine worthy recipes for you to try this weekend.

Salads;
Apple and hazelnut salad
Strawberry and halloumi salad
Blueberry and goats cheese salad
Sweet Potato, pomegranate and halloumi salad
Asparagus and mozzarella salad
The perfect Caesar salad
Grilled peach salad
Griddled potato salad

Dips;
Guacamole
Hummous
Salsa

Bread;
Soft white rolls

BBQ;
Beef burgers
Bean burgers
Red chilli fish patties
Lamb Kofta

Or use my Portugal post for inspiration, all we did was BBQ and eat the pool…

Eating in Portugal

or this for a simple quick supper that lets you stay outside for longer

Pan-fried salmon and avocado salsa

Montpelier Basement

Yet another visit to Montpelier Basement run by Elly and Dan

I should really keep this to myself as I have already told you to go here but I thought it would be good to start the week in the UK before I blog through my Australia reccomendations.

I just love the space, with the fire and the mixed up tables of people, it’s a fun evening, always.

We started with crispy chicken skin with tarragon mayonnaise. My husband came with me this time and since he’s not massively into the idea of sitting with randoms I think this is what swayed it (after eating it in Thailand)

It’s not something I was into, even though it was tasty I cannot get down with the texture. Husband loved it though.

Our beautiful candle lit table. I love the cutlery.

We then had a little Wye Valley Asparagus Soup.

The thought of a six course meal might not appeal but Dan and Elly get each portion exactly right, lots of dishes that are slightly smaller than you would think meaning by the end you are indeed stuffed but you can still move. Just.

Then Hake with English tomato salad. This salad was so tasty, I really should ask what they did. One of the stand out bits for me.

This is where I went a little wrong, Elly had tweeted a photograph of a cheese tart she had made that day, and I had gushed about how amazing it looked… she shared the recipe (Simon Hopkinson recipe from this book)

Then she gave me some. It was seriously good but I didn’t account for this in my tummy. But so so good. I have to make this.

Then the main, my favourite kind of meal, Braised Salt Marsh lamb with peas, pea shoots, mash potato and rosemary.

The lamb was amazing, braised until it melted in your mouth, amazingly smooth mashed potato and peas. Peas are my thing. I eat bowls of them on their own with black pepper so this dish made me very happy.

I would say simple and comforting but Dan mentioned how much of a pain the lamb was so not simple to cook maybe!

Then the ice. The ice is always my favourite. Sounds crazy but it’s true. This time it was rhubarb and Gin, it was almost like an alcoholic sorbet. Amazing. I wish the guys would open an ice shop. Near my house.

I ate mine, then finished my husbands (his was a bigger portion, I protested, he shared) and then Elly brought me some more. She is good, she knows how to keep a girl happy, more gin…

So I know I have said that the tomato salad and ice were my favourite, and then I love the main but the dessert was insane. I think I almost am surprised when I like something so light and simple but never when eating meat or chocolate that’s the only way I can explain why I loved those two parts so much. It doesn’t mean I would pick them over this badboy…

Chocolate pudding with creme fraiche and salted caramel crumbs.

Crumbs indeed.

Salted caramel has me obsessed right now, creme fraiche with chocolate is so amazing and the pudding was like a chocolate volcano.

The outer shell was so thin, most of the inside was gooey chocolate amazingness.

Like chocolate lava. Not an original analogy but it works.

Then the rarebit, which is Montpelier Basements signature ending. Amazing as always, and my husbands favourite bit (rarebit is a huge favourite and he never gets to eat it) I need to try and make him something similar. Although I doubt it would ever match up I must try.

Crap. Now I want rarebit for lunch.

So go, I know there is a basement this month but you may have left it too late to book…

 You can book by joining the mailing list, email montpelierbsmt @ gmail and follow them on twitter here