Leon...

I've really fallen for the Leon brand with their healthy cookbooks and quirky restaurants. Their 'healthy fast food' is a great concept and their restaurants are popping up all over the place. I first went to one on the Strand about a year ago and have only just got round to going again. The problem with all of these delicious restaurant chains (I'm also a huge fan of Yo Sushi, Wahaca, Wagamama, Pizza Express etc) is finding the time to visit them! We have to choose carefully when we go out (most are in London) as to which one to eat in. So anyway, last night my boyfriend, my parents and I went to Leon in Brent Cross. It's only been open for a couple of months and looks really lovely with twinkly lights and a chandelier. Unfortunately, we'd looked at the menu online and wanted the dinner 'grazing dishes' available after 6pm but Brent Cross doesn't serve these. So instead we ordered some flatbread and houmous to start (very good) then 5 lunch hot dishes between the 4 of us, they all come in a box with rice and dressed 'slaw which wasn't ideal as we then had to split the dishes and share out all the rice. I think the concept of the grazing dishes would be better, just ordering a good selection of the meat/veg dishes so you can try the all and getting the rice and salads separately. But anyway, the food was really delicious even if it was all mixed onto one plate. We had a Pork Jambalaya (probably my favourite) -  mexican slow cooked tomatoey cajun spiced pork, Grilled chicken with garlic and aioli, chilli chicken - grilled chicken with chilli sauce on the side, sweet potato falafel and the Leon Gobi a coconut based cauliflower curry - all with so many yummy flavours. And it was a definite winner for me serving brown rice and giving free water (in retro jugs with slices of lemon). 
You're probably wondering why, in a blog filled with sweet baking and puddings, that I haven't mentioned any pudding. And that's because like the grazing dishes, they didn't serve puddings with ice cream or anything. On the counter they have brownies or pecan pies but we wanted something proper after our mostly virtuous meal so came home for it instead.
So Leon is a great healthy place to go for breakfast (yes even their breakfasts are healthy and look delicious), lunch or dinner, just try to pick a branch that serves the grazing dishes and puddings in the evenings. Also, an added bonus is that if you sign up to their 'Leon love club', you get 40% off! So all of our food came to £26. 


The boxed chicken aioli, rice and slaw. 

 Our plate with a bit of each lunchtime dish.


















P.S I've only tried one thing out of the Leon cookbook so far (pancakes) but as I go through and try the rest out, I'll be blogging them :)

Leon Pancakes

As I mentioned previously, I got the new Leon cookbook for Christmas and the 'Saturday Pancakes' recipe jumped straight out for a good way to start the New Year. They're quick and easy to make and with the buckwheat flour, feel quite nutritious. The protein from the eggs will help keep you full. If you don't have buckwheat flour then you could use regular wholemeal plain flour. There are also many ways to top them. 

Ingredients - 

3 eggs

125g buckwheat flour

1 large teaspoon honey

big pinch of baking powder

140ml milk

sea salt

1. Separate the eggs. Place the yolks in a bowl and add the buckwheat flour

2. Add the honey, baking powder and a pinch of salt and mix thoroughly. Slowly add the milk to make a smooth batter. - you could do this the night before.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to firm peaks and fold gently into the yolk mixture.

4. Heat a non-stick pan, gently drop in spoonfuls of the mixture and cook for 2-3mins on each side.

Then stack them up and serve with anything you like, fruit, syrup, yoghurt etc. I did mine with strawberries, maple syrup and natural yoghurt. But I'd also like to stew some apples with cinnamon and a few walnuts, or blueberries, or chocolate chips and raisins or banana etc. I guess if you're feeling American then you could use bacon and maple syrup!