food, reviews and of course coffee
So you thought your 6% proof beer was strong, well what about 41% proof beer?
BBC News reports on the world’s strongest beer.
A controversial Scottish brewery has said it has reclaimed the title of the world’s strongest beer from German rivals – with Sink the Bismarck at 41%.
At £40 per bottle I think I won’t be trying it out…
I have been enjoying cans of Aranciata Sanpellegrino; that’s fizzy orange to you and me. I much prefer it over Orangina and certainly it is much nicer than Tango!
I first had Sanpellegrino in Italy, since then I have had it in many Italian restaurants. This is the first time I have seen it in my local supermarket.
Very nice, and not too sweet or strongly flavoured.
Though I like to make my own puddings, now and again I will purchase a ready made pudding from one of the big supermarkets.
This Kentish Bramley Apple Crumble from Waitrose sounded very nice.
However…
And isn’t it always a however…
It wasn’t that good in my opinion. Well what did I expect.
It was okay. The crumble was nice and buttery and not too sweet (one of the issues I have with lots of ready made deserts). However the apple was in my opinion not cooked enough, it was crunchy and not soft. Now this may have been intentional, but personally I prefer my apple crumble with soft apples.
Would I buy it again?
No!
This is my simple and quick way of cooking a wonderful French peasant style dish of chicken, pork, sausage and lentils.
Place some chicken thighs and drumsticks in a roasting pan, add some chunks of pork belly. You could use a jointed chicken if you wanted. Drizzle with olive oil and place in a hot oven and roast for about 25-30 minutes.
Cook some large pork sausages in the oven, as these take less time, put them in a little later.
In a large pan, soften some pancetta, diced onions and peppers. Once soft, add a knob of butter and some flour, stir well. Now add herbs, wine and stock. Cook for about ten minutes.
In a hot frying pan, cook some chopped mushrooms.
Prepare the dish.
Take the cooked liquid, add the roast chicken and pork. Slice the sauages and add them and the mushrooms to the pan. I used tinned Puy Lentils, but you could use cooked lentils or a tin of another kind. Mix well and heat through.
Serve with crusty bread.
Cooked and had some chicken olives from Waitrose. These are boneless chicken thighs stuffed with a pork, apple, walnut and sultana stuffing.
Already prepared, all you need to do is cook them in the oven for about thirty minutes.
They were quite nice, but think I prefer the bacon-wrapped chicken legs stuffed with pork and pistachio that I have made before.
Interesting video from BBC News on Mumbai’s amazing culture of outdoor eating.
Had another one of those dishes from Marks and Spencers’ The Cook Menu range: Atlantic Lemon Sole fillets with Shallot and Tarragon butter and Cherry tomatoes.
A simple dish, pan fry the fish for a few minutes with the tomatoes and then add the butter. Serve.
I served mine with some fresh pasta and steamed vegetables.
It was simple to cook and importantly very quick. Yes this is a dish you could throw together yourself from raw ingredients, but unless you have all the ingredients can result in either an expensive dish or one missing that vital piece of the jigsaw.
I am not a fan of precooked cook chill products you bung in the microwave, however this range from Marks and Spencers (and other supermarkets like Waitrose and Tesco are now doing them too) are quick and easy, but also give you ideas and inspirsation for when you do have the time. They are also just the ingredients and are raw products that need cooking.
Cooked and enjoyed Marks and Spencers’ Pork Medallions with a cider and shallot sauce last night
I normally prefer to cook my own sauces than use shop ones, but this Marks and Spencers isn’t too bad.
Whatever you fancy for dinner and whatever the occasion, M&S’s NEW The Cook Menu has something to offer. You’ll find a variety of exciting dishes, inspired by flavours from around the world, which all use the very best ingredients: fresh vegetables, sustainable fish and quality cuts of meat from M&S-approved farms. The preparation work has been done for you, so you can concentrate on the enjoyment of cooking and add an individual touch.
So what do you get?
Well you get some pork fillet sliced and a sachet of sauce, not enough sauce really, more would have been nice.
So you pan fry the pork and then remove from the pan and heat through the sauce.
I served mine with some fresh pasta and steamed vegetables.
It wasn’t that bad actually, quite good really.
Yes you could do this all yourself, however I didn’t have a huge amount of time, and nor did I have the ingredients for the sauce and that’s the real time and money saver with these.
Would I buy it again, yes I would.
I saw recently at a supermarket a Shwartz Spice Blend in a small metal container (not the usual Schwarts glass jars) a Coriander, Ginger and Mango Spice Blend. I thought that looks interesting, so I bought it.
Taking some fresh chicken breast, I diced it and then in a bowl added some sunflower oil (a more neutral flavour than olive oil) and mixed in some of the spice blend with the chicken.
I then put the chicken on skewers and grilled them.
Very nice.
I do like this dish which is simply the spicy Spanish sausage, sautéed in red wine.
I have started using Tesco’s Cooking Chorizo which is not as hard (or as chewy) as the traditional dried chorizo which you can buy from most supermarkets.
Just a note you are buying the whole sausage and not the thinly salami style sliced version.
My method is to cut the chorizo into slices about quarter of an inch thick. Fry in a large frying pan until sealed on both sides and just starting to go a little crispy. At this point I add the red wine (Spanish red wine is best, but I am sure you can use any good red wine).
Cook the chorizo for a few more minutes.
Serve as part of a tapas or with salad. The red wine with the chorizo makes a wonderfully spicy sauce which you can dunk warm soft bread into.