food, reviews and of course coffee
I really enjoyed this beer. A smooth Scottish beer with hints of toffee, vanilla and oak. Personally it tasted of beer to me! It’s quite a strong beer with a different distinctive flavour (perhaps that’s where the toffee and vanilla come in to it).
They use oak barrels in the brewing process which adds some different flavours to your usual beers.
As I said I enjoyed it and would buy it again.
The Fat Duck is still at the top. The BBC reports:
Television chef Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant in Berkshire has topped the 2010 Good Food Guide, despite a health scare earlier this year.
The restaurant scored a perfect 10 for the second year, beating Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant Chelsea.
Blumenthal is known for his use of experiments and chemistry to create his dishes.
His tasting menu always sounds interesting, not sure if I want to spend £130 on a meal, even though I expect it is worth it.
Take some fresh herbs and mince finely. I used flat leaf parsley, rosemary, sage and basil (basically what I had available).
Add to a bowl of chicken thighs and drumsticks, add olive oil and back pepper. Though you can use a spoon, generally your hands work better, mix the chicken in the oil and herb mix until all the chicken is coated. Leave for at least ten minutes, thirty is better.
Roast on a bed of root vegetables for about 30-40 minutes.
I served the chicken with roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli.
Needed a quick supper tonight, so cooked some really nice linguine pasta. Once it was cooked I tossed it in olive oil and added a couple of teaspoons of pesto. Tossed again and served with some freshly grated parmesan.
Simple, quick, yet delicious.
The other day I made some Chorizo Frito al Vino and I used some Chorizo that I had bought from Morrisons. It had cost £1.99.
I was therefore surprised to see in Sainsburys when I wanted to buy a very similar Chorizo sausage that they were charging £2.99. It was even more expensive from the deli counter where it was £3.49.
I don’t know it if it will be a better Chorizo sausage, but if it is similar then a 50% markup is terrible.
Still missing the (fresh) cooking chorizo from Tesco.
One of the things I do like looking at for this blog is the stats and particularly the referrals, most of which come from Google searches.
This one caught my eye recently:
can sirloin beef be used for beef wellington
This blog comes up quite high in the search rankings (number five at the time of writing) and a recipe I posted back in August 2008 does use sirloin steak for beef wellington.
Here is the recipe.
This is my version of the classic Beef Wellington.
I used sirloin steak, which I cooked in a pan until it was cooked medium rare. You can of course cook the steak how you prefer it. Ensure it is cooked to a point before you would call it perfect, as it will cook more in the oven.
I then cut the steak into portions, about two inches square.
The steak was then spread with a mixture of chopped mushrooms and mustard. I used French whole grain mustard.
Using some puff pastry (and I will admit I do buy ready made puff pastry as I have no idea on how to make it).
I cut out some circles, about four inches in diameter. Placed one circle on the baking tray, added the steak. Using beaten egg and a pastry brush I brushed egg around the edges of the circle and placed a second circle of puff pastry on top. This top puff pastry circle was then brushed with beaten egg.
The parcels were then baked in an oven for about ten to fifteen minutes until golden brown.
Cooked my own tapas, with variety of dishes.
Pan fried squid and prawns: Simple slice the squid into rings and fry on a hot pan with a splash of olive oil. The prawn, I butterflied and again just cooked in a hot pan.
Patatas Bravas – Fried potato, topped with a spicy tomato sauce. I made the tomato sauce myself, onions, tinned tomatoes, a hint of chilli and a splash of balsamic vinegar. The potatoes, I cheated and used frozen fried potatoes baked in the oven.
Chorizo Frito al Vino: Remember to buy 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 and then serve.
Rosemary flavoured roasted chicken breast: Simple roast a chicken breast on a bed of rosemary with a splash of olive oil.
Overall some delicious dishes.
Photo source.
I do like carrots and I like organic carrots even better, as they have a much fuller flavour than “standard” carrots.
In a recent report however as reported by the BBC and commisioned by the Food Standards Agency it was found that:
Organic food is no healthier than ordinary food, a large independent review has concluded.
There is little difference in nutritional value and no evidence of any extra health benefits from eating organic produce, UK researchers found.
Things change, back in October 2007 I read that:
Organic produce is better for you than ordinary food, a major European Union-funded study says.
The £12m four-year project, led by Newcastle University, found a general trend showing organic food contained more antioxidants and less fatty acids.
That survey said organic food, well organic produce, could be better for you than non-organic produce.
So who is right?
When I started buying organic, and about 90% of what I buy is organic, the data and research seemed to indicate that there was no real difference between organic and non-organic produce.
I justified it to myself that possibly it was good for me, but in reality the main reason for buying organic was the flavour, and I still stand by that.
I buy organic for the flavour and so should you.
So would you pay £11,750 for a bottle of whisky?
Some one did.
A single bottle of whisky has sold for £11,750 at auction in Glasgow.
The 50-year-old Macallan, a bottling of three casks distilled between 1926 and 1928, sold to a private collector in California at McTear’s auctioneers.
It is the most expensive bottle sold this year and the most expensive 50-year-old bottle of Macallan ever sold.
Dragon Fruit, had you heard of it? I hadn’t.
Looks weird.
Then you cut it, and it’s even more surprising.
So what is it like?
The texture is a cross between melon and kiwi fruit.
So what does it taste like?
Not much, probably got a dud or an unripe version.
Will I get it again?
No.