Author: jamesclay

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Steak and Mushrooms

Last night I cooked a very nice (and quick) meal.

I took some sirloin steak, I actually prefer ribeye but sometimes you have to have what is available and not what you want or prefer.

I heated the frying pan without oil, the steaks were oiled though and then placed in the hot pan.

In a separate pan I fried some pancetta and onions, once they were nearly cooked, I remove them, turned the heat up and added the mushrooms so they fried rather than steamed.

Once the steaks were cooked I removed them from the pan, and put them on a warm plate to rest (really important to let steaks rest for a few minutes before serving they will be a lot more tender).

I then added the onions, pancetta and mushrooms to the steak pan and a couple of large spoonfuls of creme frache.

Then in a pan of rolling boiling water I put some gnocchi.

In two minutes the sauce was ready, the gnocchi was ready, so serve.

Delicious.

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Surely middle class people know how to eat proper?

Pupils at a school in Brighton are being taught how to use cutlery properly according to a report on the BBC.

Pupils are being taught which cutlery to use and whether to remove their jackets at dinner at an independent school in Brighton.

Brighton College introduced the classes in etiquette after a survey of company directors said graduates displayed impoliteness and poor table manners.

And this is an independent school…

Surely middle class people know how to eat proper?

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Explains a lot…

BBC reports that one in three of us is always on a diet…

One in three adults in the UK is now on a permanent diet, a survey suggests. 

We need to stop as a society focusing on body image and focus much more on changing lifestyles so that we have a healthy balanced diet and there is no need to “diet” as such.

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Coffee Primo

Stopped at the services and actually had quite good service at the Coffee Primo stand, normally I always seem to ge the surly assistant who seems to really not want to work there (sometimes not surprising but I am the customer and more importantly a human being).

Today I got a fellow person who was bright cheerful and happy to serve me my Americano.

It wasn’t bad, I have had (much) better, and I have had a lot worse, but it tasted fine and did the job.

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The Future’s Orange

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has some great orange recipes.

Oranges, clementines and satsumas really come into their own at this time of year, so it would be foolish not to put them to good use.

Check them out on the Guardian website.

Oranges


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Redbush Tea

Redbush TeaI am currently enjoying a cup of Redbush Tea, which isn’t really tea at all.

It is made from a plant only grown near Capetown in South Africa. Redbush tea tastes a little bit like normal tea, but with a slightly earthy, naturally sweeter taste.

I drink it with milk, but you can drink it without.

It’s a refreshing change from normal tea.

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Ban on junk food ads introduced

The BBC reports

A ban on adverts for junk food during television programmes aimed at children under 16 has come into force.

Will the ban have any effect?

There will still be the big roadside places with all the colourful signs.

Junk food places will still be the only choice available in many shopping mall food halls.

For me healthy eating starts in the home and that means families working together to change their eating habits.

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Bargain

Well I got a bit of a bargain yesterday from the deli counter at Sainsburys.

They had some cooked mini Turkey joints (around 500g) reduced from £9.99 to 99p, a nine pound saving. It wasn’t as though the use by date was yesterday either, bought yesterday on the 29th December, to be used by the 1st January.

It was cheaper than buying a couple of slices of the cooked turkey (which is why I was at the deli counter in the first place).

It wasn’t the best or most tasty turkey, but it works well in sandwiches. Of course we didn’t have turkey at Christmas, so we didn’t have lots left over like those poor people who buy and cook those HUGE turkeys!

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Christmas Dinner

The dinner I cooked this Christmas was very nice and went down well.

We had stuffed haunch of venison which was lovely and tender and full of flavour.

Served with potatoes roasted in goose fat, roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes. Along with stuffings, carrots, beans, and other trimmings.

Delicious.

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Book Choice – Saturday Kitchen

This week’s book choice is Saturday Kitchen Cookbook.

“Saturday Kitchen” is a popular magazine-format show broadcast live on BBC1 for 35 weeks of the year. Combining a regular band of chefs and celebrities, as well as archive material and interactive features, it achieves a perfect balance of lively on-screen atmosphere with practical content. Hosted by James Martin, the programme has a down-to-earth approach with attention to modern food trends that appeals to not-too-serious cooks. The new “Saturday Kitchen Cookbook” will move forward with the successful growth of the brand, providing a fantastic opportunity to tap into a bit of everything. With over 100 inspirational recipes from the show, it will bring together new ideas from some of the nation’s favourite chefs, cutting-edge recipes from fresh talent, a variety of different cuisine from all around the world and a wealth of tips on current food topics.

Saturday Kitchen Cookbook

I do quite enjoy Saturday Kitchen, and some of the recipes from the series are quite good or at least inspiring.

This is a nice book with great recipes and lots of lovely photographs. Buy it from Amazon..