jamesclay, Author at Time for a coffee

September 4, 2008August 6, 2025

Risotto

In a large frying pan, place some olive oil and butter. Then add some finely chopped onion, red pepper, courgette and pancetta.

Soften the onions.

Bring up the heat.

Add the risotto rice and ensure that the rice is coated in the oil and butter.

Add a splash of white wine.

Now add some chicken stock.

Keep topping up with stock to ensure that the rice doesn’t dry out.

Once the rice is virtually cooked, add a large handful of grated parmesan, some chopped parsley and some freshly ground black pepper.

Serve, garnish with a few slices of lemon.

September 1, 2008September 8, 2020

Squid, nicely done

Squid

The Guardian has some really nice squid recipes on their website.

Preparing and cooking squid is easier than most fish. The only thing to remember is not to cook it for too long. If grilling, the pan must be extra-hot so the squid cooks in only a minute or two. Otherwise, it goes tough.

If you have read the blog, you will know that I am a fan of squid. There are three very nice recipes in the article.

August 31, 2008October 24, 2020

It’s hot!

I was watching Saturday Kitchen on the BBC and this bit of the show brought tears to my eyes.

Poor Andi!

August 30, 2008

Noisy popcorn to be banned!

The cinema is suppose to be one place which needs to be quiet so that everyone can enjoy the film.

You are asked to not chat, turn your mobile phone off.

And then….

So why do cinemas spoil it all by serving one of the noisest snacks around, popcorn?

Popcorn

Luckily, sense has come to some of then and they will ban popcorn!

According to a BBC report

It’s been a cinema staple for a century, but now popcorn is being banned by Britain’s biggest chain of arthouse screens.

Can’t wait until others follow suit, can’t stand popcorn, it’s not just the noise, but also the smell!

Photo source.

August 29, 2008September 5, 2020

One of the issues I have with a lot of department store restaurants (and visitor attraction restaurants) is that they cook the food in advance and then keep it warm for hours on end… Now that is possible with some dishes, but with others it just means dried out food.

One of the dishes that you can get at my local John Lewis is freshly cooked to order crepes. They make them as and when needed, rather than make them at 9am in the morning and keep them warm till 6pm in the evening!

We had crepes the last time we were there, one with chilli beef and one with mushroom stroganoff; both were served with salad.

The beef chilli was well cooked and nice and spicy. A little too hot for my tastes, but not excessively so.

Crepes

The mushroom stroganoff was really nice and went well with the crepes.

Crepe

The salad though was disappointing, I have had much better salads before at John Lewis, this was in the main lettuce with a tiny bit of red onion and pepper.

Overall for a department store restaurant they were really nice and probably one of the better items available. The fact you can buy wine and beer to go with the crepes makes the place even more attractive as a place to go out and get a quick bite to eat whilst shopping.

August 28, 2008

Chocolate bars to shrink!

BBC reports on how the credit crunch and rising food and fuel costs are having an impact the costs for snack firms.

Mars has become the latest snack firm to admit the credit crunch is eating into its business.

The Snickers bar and M&Ms maker said it would be raising the wholesale price of its goods to offset rising raw material, packaging and energy costs.

The news came days after fellow US firm Hershey raised its product prices.

Mars also said it would be cutting the size of some of its goods. In the UK, a number of firms have shrunk snack sizes to stave off price rises.

So we can expect our chocolate bars to get smaller.

August 26, 2008

Jamie Oliver has criticised the UK for its poor cuisine

BBC reports on an interview with Jamie Oliver where Jamie criticises the way in which people in the UK don’t like eating well, but prefer to drink too much…

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has criticised the UK for its alcohol culture and poor cuisine.

In an interview with Paris Match magazine, Oliver suggested people in the UK cared more about getting drunk than they did about eating well.

There is a significant minority in the UK who do eat well, like good food, go out of their way to purchase organic and local produce. Though I agree with Jamie there is a substantial majority who are quite happy cooking from frozen bags of prepared food. This same majority rarely eat together and are more likely to eat in front of the television then around the table.

So is Jamie Oliver correct in his view, or are me and him wrong?

August 21, 2008September 5, 2020

Tapas for a Tenner

I have been meaning for ages to visit La Tasca. I really like tapas and I really wanted to try their paella – more often then not I am very disappointed with the paella that is offered at other places.

So today I happened to be in Regent Street and popped into La Tasca for a (very) late lunch.

I decided to do the Tapas for a Tenner deal. This deal allows you to eat as many tapas as you want for just £10! The deal varies across the UK, but here it was available until 5pm, whilst in Bristol it is available from 5pm!

Tapas for a Tenner

I went for six dishes in the end.

Patatas Bravas – Fried potato, topped with a spicy tomato sauce.

A Spanish classic and a tapas favourite. The tomato sauce was spicy, but rather too salty for me. Whilst the potatoes were soft and not crispy, slightly oily. A bit of a disappointment for a dish which should be relatively simple to make. It felt like it had not been freshly cooked and left around for a while. For me tapas should be freshly cooked.

Paella de Pescado – Paella with squid, prawns and mussels, served with lemon.

This was a well flavoured dish, but again like the patatas bravas did not taste fresh, felt like it had been cooked a good hour earlier.

Calamares a la Andaluza – Deep-fried rings of squid, served with roasted garlic mayonnaise and lemon.

Now this is a dish which again is simplicity, but oh was so wrong. The rings were overcooked so were rubbery in texture. I got the feeling (and I may have been wrong) that these were not freshly prepared, but came from a packet or even the freezer. Good calamari should be cooked using fresh squid. Alas they covered the calamari in salt – if I wanted salt I would have asked for it.

Chorizo Frito al Vino – The spicy Spanish sausage, sautéed in red wine.

This in my opinion was perfect, great chorizo cooked in red wine, bursting with meaty flavours and with a great depth provided by the red wine. This one I would have had second helpings of.

Selección de Embutidos – A selection of cured Spanish meats.

Can you get this wrong, no, and La Tasca didn’t. Three slices each of three different kinds of cured Spanish meats.

Paella Valenciana – A Valencian-style paella, with mixed seafood and chicken.

A different paella to the first tapas, but a similar story.

Overall I kind of had what I expected. La Tasca is a chain (not a family run restaurant) and probably cooks to a system. I did enjoy the meal (despite the disappointing food) and the ambiance and the atmosphere was pleasant, and you have to remember this was a very busy Regent Street.

Will I go again, possibly if I was stuck and there was nothing else to choose from.

August 19, 2008