jamesclay, Author at Time for a coffee

February 14, 2012

Trofie Pasta

It’s surprising how many different pasta shapes there are and how different they can “taste”. Some shapes work better with thick sauces, others with thinner style sauces.

Trofie pasta is quite a weird style for pasta, but I do enjoy eating it, and find it goes well with pesto.

This was a fresh Trofie pasta, a Pizza Express brand that only takes a few minutes to cook. I have bought dried Trofie before, but have been pleased with the Pizza Express fresh Trofie pasta.

I used a jar of pesto and added some toasted pine nuts. To toast pine nuts I use a heavy frying pan, add NO oil and heat on the hob. I then add the pine nuts until they are toasted, not too brown and be careful you don’t burn them.

I find pine nuts quite expensive, usually paying £2.50 for a small bag, but I really do like them in pasta with pesto. They also work well in salads.

Overall a quick and easy, but very tasty pasta dish.

February 12, 2012

Another one of those bargains…

So there I was in the Sainsburys when I noticed another one of those bargains.

99p each or three for £3.

Now this offer was on all the Sharwoods oriental range and virtually everything else was above £1, most in the £1.40 range.

The reason I think this is an issue is not if you buy one of the 99p items and two more, as you would “save” money, it’s when you buy four or five items and include the 99p item.

For example

Imagine buying three other items at £1.42 and the curry paste for 99p. The 99p item would be included within the three for £3 so you would be charged £4.42. If you bought the curry paste separately then you would then only be charged a total of £3.99.

If you bought three other items at £1.42 and then two lots of curry paste for 99p. The two lots of curry paste would be included within the three for £3, so you would be charged £5.84. If you bought the curry paste separately then you only be charged £4.98.

There is then a false incentive to buy six item, which will cost you £6.

So do I what did, buy just one item for £1.42 that you went into buy and that will save you a lot more money in the longer term. Special offers are really only special to the supermarket, they only save you money if you were going to buy the items anyhow. Buying them because they are on special doesn’t save you money, it costs you money!

February 5, 2012

Bishops Tipple

The Bishop’s Tipple has been a legend amongst ale drinkers ever since it was originally brewed to commemorate George Reindorp’s appointment as Bishop of Salisbury.

When I opened the fridge and saw this bottle of beer, my initial thoughts were, that looks nice, but looks a little heavy. I was expecting a dark strong beer that would take time to savour and enjoy.

I was however pleasantly surprised to find that this was a really nice ale with a golden hue and that was both refreshing and light to the palate. I really enjoyed it and hope to find another bottle in the fridge soon.

January 22, 2012

Blueberry Pancakes

We often have blueberries in the house, but eating them raw I have never been that impressed, much prefer blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.

I make pancakes for breakfast on a regular basis, both the traditional flat ones and the American style small ones. This time I decided that I would have a go at making some blueberry pancakes and see if this would change my mind about blueberries.

I took my usual pancake mix, in a bowl add:

A cup of self-raising flour
½ tsp of baking powder
½ tsp of vanilla extract
1 egg
A cup of milk
1 tbsp of caster sugar

This I whisked into a batter. I then added a handful of blueberries (50g).

Using my non-stick pancake frying pan, which as is getting older, I brushed it with some sunflower oil, after heating it up on the hob. I then poured in a spoonful of pancake mixture. You don’t want it too hot, otherwise the inside of the slightly thicker pancakes won’t be cooked.

I left the pancakes to cook until air bubbles started to appear on the top, then turn them over.

I obviously didn’t use enough blueberries as not all the pancakes by the time I cooked the batter had blueberries in them, this in the end wasn’t so bad as the little people in the house didn’t want blueberries in their pancakes.

I served mine with some maple syrup and if you wanted to you could have added some uncooked blueberries too.

I was really pleased with the results, really tasty and I will certainly be cooking them again. I may even now have a go at cooking blueberry muffins.

January 19, 2012

Merguez and Baguette Rouge at Café Rouge

Needing a quick lunch in Bristol, I popped into Café Rouge.

I have always preferred having a starter over a desert so I went with one of their Petits Plats, Merguez, spicy beef & lamb sausage with harissa mayonnaise.

I was a little surprised as I was expecting to get a whole sausage, not a sliced one. However I guess it was presented in this way, as the Petits Plats are designed to be shared.

I felt however that as the sausage was cooked (or possibly re-heated) sliced it lost a lot of what makes a decent merguez sausage. I’ve certainly had better at Café Rouge was a little disappointed. It should be noted that the flavour was good, but the cooking process and presentation let the dish down.

For my main course I went with the chargrilled rump steak baguette with Dijon mustard & oregano mayonnaise, French fries and a salad garnish.

I asked for the steak to be rare, and it was delivered medium! Apart from that the steak was okay, there was no depth of flavour, but I kind of expect that, this isn’t a steak house, it’s a chain! I think I would have preferred the Bavette I have had before.

The fries were crisp and were not overseasoned which is normally my experience, and the salad was fresh.

Overall I enjoyed my lunch and the service was excellent, which made for a nice change and I hope is the norm rather than the exception.

January 15, 2012

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

5oz plain flour
1oz unsweetened good-quality cocoa powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2¼oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
8oz castor sugar
2 large free-range eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
5½fl oz milk (the recipe actually calls for buttermilk, but I keep forgetting to buy it).

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a medium bowl and set aside.

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until smoothly blended – about two minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter.

Add the vanilla and beat for another minute. On a low speed, add half of the flour mixture, mixing to incorporate it, then mix in the milk. Mix in the remaining flour mixture just until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill the cupcake liners half full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops feel firm and a metal skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then remove the cupcakes from the pan onto the wire rack and leave to cool completely.

They can be topped with buttercream if so desired.

January 13, 2012

Anyone for breakfast

Seriously thinking I should get one of these for the office….

Only $49.99

Via bookofjoe

January 9, 2012

Tea Monkey

Okay this may surprise a few people, but when I was in Bath the other day I went to Tea Monkey and had a pot of tea.

I went for a pot of Darjeeling.

Darjeeling (Margarets Hope*) – From one of Darjeelings best known estates…a lovely muscatel flavour with delicious astringency

They used a glass pot and loose leaves, no tea bags in this place.

It was a lovely cup of tea and I really enjoyed drinking it. There is something very different about drinking proper tea (in the same way I guess about how I feel about drinking proper coffee). The tea was very refreshing and certainly perked me up for the rest of the day.

There is plenty of choice at Tea Monkey and, yes if you want one, you can get coffee, but I think the real reason to go to Tea Monkey is to try the tea. Next time I may be adventerous and try one of their flowering teas.

I also liked the fact that they serve toast, even when it isn’t breakfast! If you want toast for lunch, then you can have toast for lunch. You could also have crumpets or a teacake. As well as the toasted stuff they have a range of sandwiches and cakes too.

January 4, 2012

BBQ Chicken

Needing lunch and has I had just done a small shop, decided to go to the Sainsburys Cafe. They had a special offer on some of their meals reduced to £2.50 so I went with the BBQ Chicken, even though I think they should spell it barbecue rather than BBQ!

It consisted of half a “roast” chicken, BBQ sauce, in my serving a smattering of coleslaw and a choice of chips or seasoned wedges. It wasn’t bad, and certainly not bad value at £2.50. The chicken was well cooked, so the leg meat was quite moist and tender, but the breast meat felt a little dry. I did think that there was too much BBQ sauce and not enough coleslaw. The chips were crisp and fluffy on the inside. Overall for a supermarket cafe meal, not too bad, but certainly nothing to write home about.

January 1, 2012

Kabanos

When I do a roast dinner I usually roast vegetables alongside the main course. I have also been known to add sausages. I have also been known to add sliced cooking chorizo. The other day I decided to try kabanos. I have used them before in long slow cooked dishes, however I wasn’t sure how well they would roast.

They looked really good, however I don’t think it worked. They were a little too chewy and rather too salty. When I have used chorizo you usually get a nice crisp edge, but tender inside.