Win a trip to Buenos Aires with Cau {Cau - Reading, Berkshire {review}}

Cau restaurants are giving away a trip to their homeland Buenos Aires and all you need to do to enter is to visit one of their many locations order any Hero dish on the menu, upload a picture with their special Insta-frame and hash-tag #BuenosHeros!

Cau opened up in Reading a few years back and I have to honestly say it's one of the best places in town to get a good steak! Therefore when they invited me in to try out some of their dishes from their menu marked with a "hero" stamp there was no way I could say no!

Best place to always start a meal is with a starter! My friend and I tried the Shrimp Chicharron, which is crispy fried shrimp in an aji amarillo sauce which is a sort of spicy cheese sauce. It was delicious and if you are a seafood lover like my friend and I definitely give it a go!!

The other starter we tried were the Empanadas (I still don't think I pronounce them right) one filled with Spanish chorizo & cream cheese and the other with Spinach, ricotta & date there were two other choices Spicy beef and Spicy creamed corn & Taleggio cheese. I have to say for the ones we tried they were good and I can with all confidence say to try the chorizo one it was so good!

Then of course came the main attraction - Beef! My friend went with Tapa De Cuadril one of their signature dishes cut from the top of the rump and served thinly slice and ash grilled, this apparently is how it melts in your mouth.

Unable to decide I asked the waitress for help and eventually with a little guidance I went with The ULTIMATE Steak Sandwich. And boy am I glad I did! This sandwich has everything you could ever want! Three types of beef - flash grilled tapa de caudril, salt beef, and BBQ brisket served in a toasted ciabatta with crispy onions, dill pickles (my favorite part next to the beef) with a spicy mayo and melty Monterey Jack cheese!

Not being able to leave with out a dessert I tried the Dulce Volcano. It is basically an old-fashioned chocolate volcano except it's not chocolate it's more of a caramel flavor and it's served with an amaretto cream which paired perfectly with it. (see my video on instagram)

The only thing not stamped with a "hero" sign was the Choco Blondie. If you don't know what a blondie is I am not sure why you are reading my blog, however if you don't it's basically a brownie made with white chocolate. They are generally super rich, but this one had just the right amount of sweetness and balanced with a peanut butter frosting how could you go wrong!

Everything we tried was stamped with "hero" and it was all so good I wish I was eating it right now! However there was so much more on the menu to try out!

Follow these steps to enter:

1. Take a selfie with their Insta-Frame (above)

2. Upload to Instagram using #BUENOSHEROES

3. Tag who you'd like to take along

4. Enter as many times as you want by ordering a hero dish when dining!! 

They will also be giving away weekly prizes - Find out more on how to win and the T&C's on their website for more information! 

The Oracle, Bridge Street,

Reading,

RG1 2AQ

If you have never been to Cau before now is the time to visit and try the amazing dishes - as an added bonus you can enter their Buenos Heroes competition!

*I was invited to Cau in Reading to try the Hero menu and to help promote the competition. I was not compensated in any other way - all opinions are my own please see my contact/policy page above for more information. 

Sweet Potato & Sweet Smoked Paprika Bread

This summer has been pretty disappointing. We had some glorious weather early on and that was about it. With the cooler weather lately I have already been thinking of fall/autumn flavors. Dinner has already started changing from chicken salads and sandwiches to creamy delicious macaroni and cheese and cottage pies! If dinner is already changing why not my baking!

With bread being the star of The Great British Bake Off this week, plus I just received a new bread book, and I had a whole bag of strong white flour in my cupboard I thought I’d make a loaf of bread! With fall/autumn like weather I decided to go with a sweet potato and paprika flavored bread.

You know how when decorating a room you either have plain walls with decorative accessories or you have fun wall paper and plan accessories. That’s how bread is. You either have plain bread with flavor packed toppings or flavor packed bread with butter or for dipping in soup. If done tastefully you can decorate a room with wallpaper and colorful accessories and that goes for bread too. If you know how to pair it just right you get yummy fillings/toppings to go with your flavor packed bread.

Well, after that load of ramble here is how I made this loaf of Sweet Potato and Paprika bread. The recipe comes from Simply Good Bread: Delicious home-baked recipes for everyone by Peter Sidwell. Somewhat adapted as my method varied from his direct instructions. The title says it all the recipes all seem pretty simple and easy for everyone. There are even instructions for those who are using a bread maker.

Sweet Potato & Sweet Smoked Paprika bread

200g sweet potatoes, baked/soft
500g strong white bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fast action yeast (about 1/2 of a 7g sachet)
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
300ml water
1 tablespoon smoked sweet paprika

Start by baking the potato(s) and mashing them. Set aside.
Mix the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a measuring jug measure the water before adding the yeast, sugar, and paprika - stir to combine.
Make a well in the centre of the flour/salt and pour the liquid mixture in the middle. Add the mashed potatoes before using a spatula gently bring the dry and liquid ingredients together before using your hands to start to work the dough. Once it starts to come away from the bowl tip out on to a well floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes. The dough is sticky so keep floured and have a dough scraper near by.
Once kneaded place back in the bowl and leave to rise until doubled in size should take 30-40 minutes in a warm place.
When it’s ready gently tip it out and knock it back or gently knead for about a minute. Then place in a 1kg or 2lb loaf tin, grease if it’s not non-stick. Leave to double in size while you pre-heat the oven to 200C.
Bake in the heated oven for 40 minutes until golden brown on top. Gently tip the loaf out and knock on the bottom, if it sounds hallow then it’s ready. If not cook for 5-10 more minutes.
Slice and enjoy!

notes: I hope break week on The Great British Bake Off encourages you to give bread a go! If you do you should enter it into Jen’s Food and Utterly Scrummly’s Bread Challenge - Bready Steady Go! I did!

To see a few other books I recently added to my bookshelf beside's Mr. Sidwell's check out my last post here!