food, reviews and of course coffee
I have been enjoying Illy coffee in my espresso machine. It is still probably my favourite coffee.
When I use to visit Italy a lot I would always try and ensure that the coffee I drank when out and about was Illy.
Even today when looking for coffee, if I see an Illy sign, I make a beeline for that cafe over any other.
Recently at Wagamamas I had the seafood ramen. It is ramen noodles in a vegetable soup topped with grilled smooth dory, prawn, squid, kamaboko, wakame and seasonal greens. garnished with menma and spring onions.
Very nice it was too.
I got a couple of cookery books for Christmas, one of them was Gordon Ramsay’s World Kitchen
What do you fancy for dinner tonight? Italian? Chinese? French? With so many varieties of cuisine on offer in our globally-growing lives, Gordon Ramsay has put together an amazing book featuring his favourite recipes from around the world. Each chapter features a different country’s dishes that we love to eat, and would love to learn more about. Gordon delves into Middle Eastern, American, Thai, Chinese, Indian, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, and even our own British. There are recipes for starters, mains and desserts. In addition, he explains certain techniques to go along with each type of cuisine. For example, he shows how to make Pasta, which is then transported into his recipe for Spinach, Ricotta and Pinenut Ravioli, and Curry Paste which is used for a Fragrant Green Curry with Beef. Also, each chapter begins with information on one of the best ingredients each cuisine has to offer, and five ways in which to enjoy it, like his Spanish-inspired five ways with piquillo peppers. Once again Gordon Ramsay provides an innovative range of recipes to be cooked every day, and no matter what you are in the mood for, this book has it covered. With stunning photography by Chris Terry, this is a fresh, modern addition to the ever-popular F-Word collection.
I was surprised by how “traditional” many of the recipes were, but then again maybe I eat too much world cuisine already? Nice recipes, great photographs.
I mentioned before how impressed I was with the new crisps (potato chips) from Burts with no added salt, but unlike other unsalted crsisps they have flavours; plain, ketchup and vinegar.
They are really nice crisps and if you are trying to keep your salt intake down a nice choice if you like crisps.
However…
I have decided that though I like plain and vinegar, I am not such a fan of the ketchup flavour.
Think in future I will go for the unsalted only crisps.
Ever since I visited Greece back in the beginning of the “noughties” I have been a fan “proper” calamari. As a result when I visit restaurants I like to order the calamari, however my often then not I get disappointed.
I recently visited Carluccio’s and ordered the calamari.
Alas it wasn’t fresh! As a result it was rubbery and nothing like when a restaurant uses fresh squid to make calamari.
Well the Four Bird Roast was a great success.
Three and half hours in the oven and resting for forty minutes did the trick. Beautifully moist and very tasty.
Not sure if I would get it again, there was too much turkey in comparison to the other meats stuffed in there, but still very nice to have a mix of meats. Stuffings were nice as well.
You don’t always have to use expensive cuts of meat to make a wonderful meal, sometimes the cheapest cuts cooked really slowly can have fantastic flavour and texture.
Turn on your oven to its highest temperature.
I chopped some root vegetable, onion and carrot, added some mushrooms and potatoes and placed it in a roasting pan.
I placed the belly pork on the root vegetables and seasoned it. I then placed this in the really hot oven, turning the temperature right down to 160. I then left the pork to roast for about two hours. This may not seem long, but it wasn’t a huge piece of pork like a leg joint.
As it cooked I did add some wine and water now and again to the bottom of the roasting pan, so it didn’t dry out.
The result was a fantastic moist, tender wonderfully flavoured piece of pork. Which I sliced and served with vegetables.
Overall very tasty and a well received on the table.
As the big day approaches, I am starting to make the final preparations for the festive meal.
We are going to have the four bird roast from Marks and Spencers with Parmentier Potatoes and a spread of vegetables.
Hopefully it should all go to plan.
So which is better value, you tell me?
Buy one get free or half price?
Sainsburys have tins of Roses for £10, buy one get one free.
Whilst Tesco are doing the same tins of Roses for half price, £5.
So which is better value?
Production of Arctic Roll, the retro ice cream dessert, was halted in 1997, but in 2008, Birds Eye chose to revive the brand because the recession is fuelling a demand for comfort food.
Business Correspondent Ian Reeve went to the north Yorkshire factory that is making nine million of them a year.
Watch the video.