food, reviews and of course coffee
Have not had them for a while, but today decided to cook some lamb chops.
I roasted then in the oven with some rosemary and a splash of olive oil.
Very nice they were too.
One of the problems I have with lamb is how much they spit in the oven, more so than other meats I cook in a similar manner like pork, beef or chicken.
Means I have to clean the oven more.
Do you eat chocolate to make yourself feel better?
Maybe not the best idea!
People who regularly eat chocolate are more depressive, experts have found.Research in Archives of Internal Medicine shows those who eat at least a bar every week are more glum than those who only eat chocolate now and again.
Read more.
Picture source.
One of the problems with roasting duck breasts and duck is the amount of fat that comes off it. This is a good thing in one way, but can spoil the roasting process.
You can of course roast the duck breasts on a rack of some kind, so that the fat collects in the bottom of the pan but the duck is kept above it.
The process I use combines pan frying and roasting.
I score the skin of the duck breast and heat a frying pan on a high heat.
Do not add any oil to the pan and place the duck breasts in the pan skin side down.
Once the skin is crisp, transfer the duck breasts to a heated roasting tray and place in the oven and cook until the duck is cooked to your liking.
Some prefer their duck rare, I personally like it a little more done myself.
I have always had a passion for pistachio ice cream. I use to have it as a kid in France and loved it.
It was always a challenge to find it back in the UK even over the last few years it’s not something you see. I have it now and again in (proper) Italian restaurants and even Druckers has a nice version.
So when I was in Sainsburys the other day looking for Carte d’Or Lavazza Latte Macchiato ice cream I saw they were stocking Antonio Federici’s Pistachio ice cream.
This looked very nice. Yes it was expensive and was quite a small tub in comparison to the other “luxury” ice creams in the freezer, but I like pistachio ice cream and this was pistachio ice cream.
I took it home and rather than try it straight away I put it in the freezer for a special occasion.
I followed the instructions to the letter on the day I decided to have some.
The result?
Was it heaven?
Ah….
No…
I so did not like it, I so did not like it so much that I not only threw the tub away, I also didn’t even finish the bowl I had scooped for myself.
So what was wrong, I hear you ask?
Well it certainly did taste of pistachio, it really did taste of pistachio, very nutty, very nutty indeed. It was quite a non-sweet taste, almost savoury-like. I think that was the issue for me, it was too much like pistachios and not enough like pistachio ice cream.
Don’t get me wrong, I like pistachio nuts, but this ice cream didn’t do it for me.
Enjoyed reading this article from the BBC News Magazine on American food.
Forget greasy burgers, a growing enthusiasm for good local food in the US is getting the nation salivating, says Simon Schama.
Interesting read.
The other week I was at the Solent Hotel & Spa in Fareham. From the outside it was a modern looking hotel just off the motorway. Inside it was well decorated and though they had gone for an “older” look, it did appear to work, and didn’t look tacky as sometimes it does when hotels do this.
The staff in the hotel were professional and friendly and their primary goal appeared to be making sure that my stay was perfect.
Rather than go to the restaurant I went to the bar instead to eat. From the menu, I chose the Char-Grilled Feather Steak Florentine. It is called ‘feather’ due to the unique markings of the meat, it is also known as the ‘butchers or onglet steak’. The steak was served with a spicy tomato sauce and fries.
I wasn’t expecting the dish to look like this though when it arrived!
The steak arrived pre-sliced on a wooden board rather than a plate. The steak was excellent and well flavoured. I also enjoyed the dressing and salad leaves. The spicy tomato sauce was okay, but I didn’t like it that much, nothing wrong with it, more it wasn’t to my taste. The fries were crisp and had flavour.
Overall a delicious steak and a delightful eating experience.
Back in February 2008 I wrote a glowing review of the National Trust Heelis Cafe in Swindon next door to the shopping outlet.
Compared to the food offerings in the shopping outlet, if you are out Swindon way, pop over to the National Trust cafe and enjoy a delicious meal in peaceful and pleasant environment.
We visited the cafe again today and was, well let’s just say the quality has done downhill somewhat in some areas.
There were no childrens’ boxes available at the time of ordering, so rather than wait we ordered the children two sausage baps. The sausages were slightly overdone (probably under the hot lamp for too long) and the baps, well one was toasted and slightly burnt, the other wasn’t even toasted! Why? No idea.
My other half went with the Fidget Pie, well it was a pasty, that came with salad and roast potatoes, no not sure of that combination myself to he honest, it’s not as though we were given a choice. The salad was fine, but the pasty was a little short on filling so consisted mainly of pastry.
I went for a traditional roast beef dinner. At £7.50 I expected to get an excellent home cooked roast beef dinner… well I didn’t.
Yes the potatoes were home roasted, and were roasted and not deep-fried as is often the case in some restaurants, pubs and cafes. The carrots were fine, but the brocolli was limp, having spent too much time under a heat lamp. The beef was a real disappointment, wafer thin slices of cooked beef that had been re-heated in gravy. This is something that cheap catering does, and not something I expected from the Heelis Cafe. The Yorkshire Pudding looked and tasted like it was heated up in the microwave and to be honest I did wonder if the meal was from the day before (as we did order early at midday) and had just been microwaved. I was expecting a proper carvery and proper slices of roast beef, not the equivalent of a £3.99 meal from a supermarket cafe.
Overall having spent nearly £30 at the cafe I was very very disappointed.
Maybe I should have complained, but it’s not as though anything was wrong, it was just that the quality was nowhere near what I have had in the past from the cafe. I am guessing that they have a new chef. They appeared to also have stock problems, as they had no salmon and no flan either; remember they only have a few things on the menu.
As a result I will probably not visit again, or if I do I would check the menu more carefully before ordering.
After not eating pizza, I did cook pasta.
Hot pan, add a drizzle of olive oil. Add onions, mushroom, peppers, aubergine, courgette and cook until softened.
Add a tin of chopped tomatoes.
Add some sliced cooked green beans.
Simmer.
In another large pan of boiling water, add the pasta and cook until al dente. I don’t add salt and I certainly don’t add oil.
Once pasta is cooked, toss with the sauce.
Serve with freshly grated parmesan.
I do expect cafes and restaurants to sell out, but doesn’t mean I am not disappointed when they do.
Was at the Cafe @ Bristol today in @Bristol in Bristol.
I ordered the pizza and salad and was told (and this was at 11.45am) that they had run out…
Initially couldn’t believe it, but then it is Easter Sunday and they probably ran out yesterday or the day before… though the menu says homemade pizza, surely they could have more some more! Maybe it wasn’t homemade pizza in the sense they made it, but a company makes them… wouldn’t be homemade then would it!
So what did I have instead?
Nothing.
Should have gone to Pizza Express instead…
…but then I read this yesterday and decided that it probably wasn’t such a good alternative.
Going to cook pasta at home instead.
So there I was in Druckers buying a coffee and decided to have something sweet to go with it. I did think about a chocolate eclair (or even a coffee eclair) but in the end decided to try the cherry tart.
It was a bit like a Bakewell Tart in the sense that the filling that the cherries had been placed (or stuck) was a frangipan, an almond filling.
It was okay, but nothing to shout home about, and certainly wouldn’t be on my list the next time I go to Druckers. Basically it lacked flavour, the cherries did not taste very much of cherries and the almond filling had a hint of almond, but was quite bland.
Next time, I’ll go for the chocolate eclair.