A Leggera up?

Walking past Pizza Express this morning, I saw one of their advertisement boards broadcasting their new ‘lighter’ range, Leggera. Pizzas at 500 cals a pop, it proclaims.

I’m actually not generally a fan of Pizza Express, and the husband definitely isn’t. (“Portion sizes too small,” he grumbles.) But this new development makes me willing to give it another shot.

Upon a bit of investigation on their website, I realise that the main chunk of calories has been lost by removing a chunk of the pizza itself! “The hole at the centre of each Legerra pizza is filled with a tasty salad of baby spinach, rocket and tomatoes, finished with a drizzle of our light dressing,” they say.

Well no wonder they’re lower cal. Not that it puts me off, mind, I like a good salad.

Here are the Leggera pizzas, all 500 calories, and I’ll spare you Pizza Express’ flowery Prose…

Margherita
Mozzarella, tomatoes marinated in olive oil, garlic, oregano, basil

Vitabella
Mozzarella, asparagus, chargrilled vegetables, red and yellow peppers, oregano

Gustosa
Cotto ham, mozzarella, Portobello mushroom, yellow peppers, thyme

To me, the Gustosa sounds the best. I’d go for vitabella but anytime outside of April/May/June I’d be wary of the asparagus…

The Leggera range also offers two starters – an insalata verde, which has green beans, peas, mint and baby spinach with dressing and grana padano for only 60 cals, and an crostini pomodoro, which has, you guessed it, tomatoes and bread, for 170. To me the former one sounds more enticing.

And should you want dessert, they have a frozen vanilla yogurt with strawberries, some coulis and a chocolate straw for 180 cals.

If you want to compare these to the rest of the Pizza Express range, they have all of the calorie counts [pdf] on their website.

So what do you think? Will you give it a go? I’m thinking maybe just once, but I’ll have to convince Pete first…

eating out all week long

This past week was just one of those where every night's a busy one. Tuesday, there was an awards ceremony at work, so dinner consisted of wine and canapes (hard to complain, I know). Thursday was quiz night at work, so pub food and beer filled the belly. Friday, an impromptu celebration took us to Green and Red, an absolutely amazing Mexican restaurant that I'll tell you about tomorrow. Saturday, a friend's 40th at Bar Andalucia in Fitzrovia meant delightful tapas (stuffed peppers, artichokes, manchego cheese) and a very-filling paella. Not to mention the falafel at 3am after a night on the red wine (but let's not mention that again...) So perhaps not the healthiest week, but it's a realistic week. Not everything can be planned for.

For the week ahead, I'm looking forward to nights IN. St. Patrick's Day at home, rather than at the pub. And easy-to-cook dishes as well. Lately I've been coming home from work and just felt too tired, so for this week I've planned some less time consuming recipes. So check back in during the week if you get a chance...

rainy night dinners out 6/27

Are you picking up a motif here?

Drip, drip, drip. It shouldn't be this cold and wet at the end of June. But it is, and it's depressing. And I just didn't feel like cooking tonight. Something about the constant deluge of rain made me want to run for shelter and have dinner served to me.

Unfortunately, the nearest shelter was Ask, the chainy Italian. The food wasn't bad (MUCH better than Pizza Express), but the staff at the Warren Street Ask were abrupt and sometimes rude. One couple were even so put off they left before ordering.

Despite that, we ate well. I had the insalate - baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, mushroom, avocado, parmesan and croutons. Definitely a good healthy option at a place like this.

I must confess, my main course was not quite so healthy - quattro formaggi pizza. But I do love it - it's a guilty pleasure. Five years ago on a trip to Rome, I had the quattro formaggi so many times I lost count. Ask's version wasn't quite as enticing, but nonetheless the mixture of salty gorgonzola with creamy mascarpone, a crumbly taleggio and the classic grana padano was enough for me. I did pour glugs of chilli oil on top for an added zing.

All in all, not worth the money. Better chain Italians - Prezzo and Zizzi. Zizzi is my favourite - their crayfish, mascarpone and lemon oil pizza is divine.

friday night on the southbank

On Friday evening, the London weather finally calmed down after a tumultuous, rainy week and the sun shone through the clouds. Rather than head home (lean mince defrosting in the fridge for burgers), we headed out for a stroll along the Southbank. Starting at Waterloo, passing the NFT, the Antony Gormley figures topping the Hayward Gallery, Waterloo Bridge and almost any other building the sight, we kept walking. Tate Modern, Globe Theatre, peppered with tantalising restaurants in between.

By the time we reached London Bridge, our mouths watering, a righthand glance as we prepared to pass Southwark Cathedral reminded us of a restaurant at Borough Market we had always wanted to try: Fish! Restaurant.

Serving, presumably, Billingsgate's finest, Fish! offers all seafood dishes, though at the bottom corner it reassures staunch carnivores and strict vegetarians that it offers one steak, one chicken and one vegetarian option.

Starters were rustic but inviting: a dressed crab with rustic bread and salad and warm octopus and borlotti bean salad. The more mundane fishcakes also listed.

Mains offered a good mix - fish and chips, swordfish club, dressed lobster. But most impressive was the long list of fresh fish available, either grilled or steamed, with a choice of sauces. Lemon sole, monkfish, sardines, John Dory, skate, salmon - there were only a few that weren't available that day.

Side dishes included mixed salad, mash, mushy peas - all reassuringly English, according to the menu.

Unfortunately, when it came to order, the warm octopus and borlotti bean salad was sold out. And when I tried to order skate, the server had to check whether they were out, which bode well for the taste and popularity of the dishes. Pete ordered the swordfish club with chunky chips.

Although it took nearly 40 minutes to arrive(!), the meals were excellent. The skate, grilled to a soft perfection, slid easily off of the scales onto my fork. Served a soft vegetable bed of sauteed fennel, celery, onion and carrot and a salsa verde (though I didn't end up using any of the sauce), this meal made an excellent, yet decadent healthy option. It was washed down with Fish!'s house white and we headed back to London Bridge to walk the rest of the way back to Hackney as the sun set around 9 pm.

calories: approximately 550
half of a bottle of white wine - 250 calories
125 g grilled skate - 100 calories
fennel, carrots, celery, onion and olive oil - 180 calories