jamesclay, Author at Time for a coffee

August 15, 2015

It was supposed to be a macchiato…

So what do you think that was?

That is a small espresso cup by the way.

It was supposed to be an espresso macchiato.

From my understanding, an espresso macchiato, is simply a shot of espresso with some foamed milk. This was a single shot of espresso with a dollup of hot milk!

I have had a decent espresso macchiato from the Pumpkin Cafe chain at railway stations before, so was unimpressed with this effort. I was going to complain, but ran out of time as I was heading for a train.

Now checking the wikipedia, I can see that globally there is a fair amount of varation in how people interpret the macchiato, in some cases it appears to be more like a flat white than a small espresso based coffee.

Next time, I will be more explicit about what I want when I order.

August 13, 2015

Time for a new pan

I do quite like cooking paella, and though I’ve not talked about it for a while on the blog, it has made regular appearances on the dining table. One thing I have been thinking about for a while was buying a paella pan to cook it in. I have been using a regular frying pan, but the idea behind using a special paella pan, was to ensure a more authentic dish. This would be achieved by having a broader pan, the resulting paella would be shallower than using the regular frying pan. It would also ensure that I didn’t need to stir the paella, which I have been told now is something you don’t do with paella. So when I was out shopping in Bristol recently I treated myself to a new 40cm paella pan.

For my most recent paella and using the new pan for the first time, I took some diced onion, pepper, mushrooms and courgette. In addition I also threw in some diced chorizo to the pan. After heating a splash of olive oil in the pan, I fried the vegetables and chorizo until they were soft.

I use a variety of methods when adding flavour, from making my own seasoning mix using saffron and paprika, to using shop bought seasoning mixes or pastes. For this paella I used the Marks & Spencer’s paella paste, this contains saffron, but also gives the paella a rich fruity flavour. The paste was added to the pan and mixed with the cooked vegetables.

I then added the paella rice. It makes sense to use the right kind of rice when cooking paella, to ensure you get the right texture. This was coated with the rest of the ingredients and then I added some white wine, before adding the stock to cover all the ingredients.

This was then left to cook over a simmering heat for 30-40 minutes, and I didn’t stir. Though after 25 minutes I did add a little more stock to the pan.

In separate pans I cooked the chorizo and the squid. The chorizo I used was the cooking chorizo, sliced into 4-5mm slices. This was cooked off in a medium pan with a little olive oil. They certainly sweat oil out and this combined with the paprika can stain, so be careful. For this paella I used regular squid, this was scored with a sharp knife before been cooked just before serving in a hot frying pan.

The dish was then constructed, the cooked squid and chorizo was placed on top with chunks of lemon, then served.

Delicious, and went down well.

July 29, 2015

Piada’ing to nostalgia

One memory of my trips to Italy in the 1990s was of the different kinds of sandwiches that were sold in bars and cafes. These weren’t the pianinis (or wraps)_ that you find all over the place here, but usually some kind of flat bread filled with mozzarella, salami or prosciutto and fresh salad leaves. What triggered this trip down memory lane was finding these Italian flatbreads in my local supermarket, so in a fit of nostalgia, I bought some.

These are thicker than the sandwich wraps that you find, the ones made by Mission for example. They are certainly not as thick as naan or pitta breads.

I followed the instructions and heated mine up in a dry frying pan, before adding some Milano salami, mixed lettuce leaves, sliced tomato and cucumber. The entire bread is then folded in half and served.

The bread is nice with a nice taste of olive oil, soft and warm and a nice contrast to the crunch and freshness of the salad.

I do think that they were slightly expensive at £1.75 for four, so might consider making my own.

July 28, 2015

Snow and Burgers

Down in the Mendips (near to Churchill) is the Mendip Snowsport Centre. Here you can ski and snowboard. For the younger ones they can go tobogganing, and as the centre runs tobogganing parties, I sometimes find myself in the Alpine Lounge with an hour to kill. I usually take advantage of their free wifi with a coffee and catch up with stuff. Recently I was there for a late afternoon, so decided to peruse the menu and have something to eat. It’s quite a limited menu, burgers, paninis, and breakfast items. The menu uses a range of local produce, sourced from Mendip farms, Somerset suppliers and local breweries, all of which is clearly signposted on the menu.

I chose the 1/4 pound burger made with Lye Cross Farm beef, with local mature Cheddar cheese and red onion marmalade (from Rose Farm in Wedmore, served in a fresh toasted bun baked by Pullins family bakery in Yatton. Accompanied by a half pint enamel mug of rock salt seasoned fries and slaw, made from vegetables from Chew Valley Farm. I also ordered some extra onion rings.

It arrived on a wooden board, complete with a mug of chips! For those who campaign for real plates with food, they would be very disappointed with the presentation. Personally, though I prefer plates, I don’t mind it that much when they are “missing”.

The burger was nicely cooked, very fresh and full of flavour. The cheese and red onion marmalade added to the easting experience. The chips were nice and hot, crispy on the outside with a soft fluffy middle and tasting of potato. The roll was a slight disappointment, not quite the brioche style posh rolls you often get with your up market burgers, and neither a plastic white roll you would get from a burger van. The slaw was nice and fresh and very crunchy. It was nice to have a bottle of Butcombe Ale with the burger too.

Overall this was a nice burger with some tasty accompaniments. At £7.50 it is not a lot more than you would pay at Burger King on the motorway services (I believe) but this burger was much better value for money and certainly much tastier, as well as having a fair idea of what it was made from. You don’t need to ski or snowboard to go to the Alpine Lounge and with free wifi, it’s quite a nice place to stop for lunch or for a snack.

July 22, 2015

A tiny corner of Kurdish tastiness

A tiny corner of Kurdish joy

If you are in Bristol looking for lunch, there are lots of chains of restaurants and coffee shops, across the city centre, however those looking for something different, tasty, individual and good value, need to look no further than St Nicholas Market. Within the narrow passages you can find all manner of foods and tasty treats. The range of smells, flavours and colours as you walk between the crowded stalls both stimulates and inspires, as well as making your mouth water. The choice is almost overwhelming, you can choose Caribbean, Moorish, Italian, Vegetarian, Vegan, Modern, BBQ, so much choice you often have no idea where to start. The place is usually packed and there are long queues for virtually all the stands, so I am sure they move quite quickly. Oh on Thursdays the choice gets even more difficult, as there are loads of new food stalls in the weekly food market.

One stall which seems to have a permanently long queue at lunchtimes is Matina right by the magnificent Georgian entrance to St Nicholas market on the High Street. Matina is a Kurdish takeaway selling delicious wraps and boxes. Keeping it simple you choose a freshly made Kurdish wrap (more like a naan bread than a wrap) or a box with rice (or cous cous). This is then filled with fresh salads, humus, sauces and topped with a choice of grilled marinated chicken, lamb kofta or hallumi and vegetables.

The bread is made in front of you to order in hot oven. They take fresh balls of dough, flatten them out into a circle on a mould, before sticking it to the side of their hot oven. These are then, once cooked, taken out and covered in your choice of salads, sauces, humus and chilli, before the addition of the main filling. Wrapped for you and ready to eat, though sometimes too hot too handle with the freshly cooked bread.

The bread is amazing, this is down to the freshness, you have warm bread, that is still a little doughy as you bite into it, and unlike a wrap, quite happily soaks up the juices from the salad and meat.

I went with the marinated chicken, which had been freshly cooked, so was hot, crisp on the outside, moist inside and full of middle eastern flavours. The salads are fresh, seasoned and full of taste. It was a joy to eat. The combination of textures, flavours and colour, makes this an incredible tasty lunchtime treat, and you understand why there is always a large queue. These are also very good value, all under £5.

June 15, 2015

Whole Chicken Barbecued

Cooking a whole chicken on a barbecue is not a simple process, you can have undercooked on the inside and burnt and charred on the outside. I used this process to cook a whole chicken.

The first thing I did was prepare the chicken by spatchcocking and then marinated with lemon juice, lime juice, garlic, parsley and some olive oil.

Though you can cook a spatchcocked chicken directly on the barbecue, it can be quite challenging to ensure that the chicken is properly cooked, through, without burning or overcooking the outside. Part of the issue is that it is difficult to control the temperature of the barbecue unlike a normal grill. The key process is to recreate some aspects of a “normal” oven as opposed to the usual way of using a barbecue as a grill.

After the coals have reached cooking temperature, move them to the sides of the barbecue, so that when the spatchcocked chicken is placed on the grill, it is not over direct heat.

The chicken I placed it “inside” down with the skin side on top. The chicken was then covered, I used a wok lid, but this is where a kettle barbecue comes into its own.

The end result was a properly cooked chicken, which was moist and succulent and full of flavour.

April 14, 2015

Birthday Bash with Benny (and Frankie)

I went out for a meal with the family, at Frankie and Benny’s to celebrate my birthday. I had thought about cooking a meal, or even going further afield, however as it was a school night we decided to go somewhere local.

As it was my birthday, I “joined” the F&B Birthday Club, which means that my meal was free, if another main course is purchased. Now I did think what that actually meant was that I had to buy one meal, and get one free, with the cheapest one being free. What it actually meant was that the meal that I chose would be the free one. So looking over the menu I decided on the rib eye steak.

Our succulent 8oz* 28 day aged rib eye steak is best cooked medium, served with a roasted tomato, flat mushrooms, onion rings and a fresh watercress garnish. Choose from house fries, salad or a jacket.

I felt slightly cheeky as this was the second most expensive item on the menu, only the Mixed Grill was more expensive, but I like a nice rib eye steak. I was secondly cheeky asking for half and half, fries and salad. When asked how I liked my steak, I said medium-rare.

The restaurant was quite busy, so the food took a little while to arrive, as I cut into my steak I was disappointed to find that it had been cooked well-done, as a result it was slightly tough and lacked flavour. Not too happy about that I called over a member of the waiting staff. I showed her the cut steak, and she was excellent about it, she said she would get a fresh steak for me.

As that was cooking, she came over and explained that another customer had complained that her steak was underdone, they believed there had been a slight mix-up in the kitchen.

My new steak arrived, a complete fresh dish. with new fries and new salad. This time the steak was done to my taste, it was tender and tasty and a nice chargrilled flavour. The fries were crispy, with a nice crunch. The salad was simple, it came already dressed and was fresh and tasty. Overall I was pleased with the dish.

As for everything else, the food was great and enjoyed by all. When the bill came, not only was my meal free, but they had also paid for my drink due to the kitchen mix-up, nice little extra piece of good service.

March 9, 2015

Olive Focaccia

This was the first time I have made Focaccia.

Taking 500gram strong white bread flour, I added a pack of quick acting years. I then added two spoons of olive oil and 350ml of water.

This was mixed into a dough which I then kneaded for ten minutes. I placed this in an bowl, greased with olive oil, this was covered in cling film and I placed it in a warm place for forty minutes.

After letting it rise I put it into a rectangular floured tin, pushed it into a square shape, and then poked it with holes, placed some olives in the bread, some slivers of garlic and a light scatter of dried Italian herbs. I would have liked to use some fresh rosemary, chopped, however I didn’t have any. If you want extra saltiness (or don’t use the olives) you can add some sea salt.

The bread was then left to prove for another thirty minutes. After that I brushed it with some olive oil and it was then baked in a hot oven 220ºC for twenty minutes or until browned.

Serve and tear apart on the table.

February 3, 2015

Grilled Halloumi

This is a quick and easy addition to any salad or as a starter.

Halloumi s a Cypriot semi-hard, unripened brined cheese made from a mixture of goat’s and sheep’s milk. I slice the cheese into 5mm slices and these are then placed under a hot grill, cooked on both sides until browned.

For speed though I have been taking a large frying pan, using some a little olive oil and then frying the slices until browned on each side. You need to take care, as it can be easy to overcook the slices.

January 15, 2015

Homemade Quiche

Quiche

I haven’t made quiche for a while now, but over the weekend decided to throw one together.

I made some shortcrust pastry and baked it blind in the oven in a flan tin. Everytime I do that I always think I should be using some baking beans, but I don’t have any, so I lined the top of the pastry with baking parchment and used another pan on top to keep the pastry flat. One tip I picked up from the television was to fold the pastry over the edge of the flan tin and once cooked this is carved off, and creates a level pie base.

I filled the base first with some fresh spinach and the cooked onions, peppers, mushrooms and pancetta. I then added some grated mature cheddar cheese. There are lots of choices when it comes to quiche fillings,

I placed the flan in the oven and then filled it, covering the rest of the filling with an egg and milk mixture.

The quiche is then baked in the oven until the egg has set and the top of the quiche has started to brown.

Delicious warm, it can also be served cold with salad.