food, reviews and of course coffee
Wonderfully amusing article in the Guardian on bringing home the bacon.
With sales of gourmet rashers on the rise, it seems Britons can’t get enough bacon. Tim Hayward is no exception but, tired of shelling out a small fortune on the stuff, he decided to follow in his grandmother’s footsteps and cure his own …
This is an excellent choice as a vegetarian main course, or as an accompaniment.
Take some portobello mushrooms (these are the big flat ones) remove the stalk. Add some olive oil and butter. Cover the mushrooms with breadcrumbs, fresh herbs and parmesan. You could if you wanted add garlic as well.
Bake in the oven for about twenty minutes until the topping is golden brown.
Serve.
So there I was saying how much I didn’t enjoy Young’s Scampi when I read on the BBC today about how ludricously Young’s catch their langoustine (scampi) off the shores of Scotland, ship them to Thailand for peeling, ship them to Grimsby for breading before moving them by lorry down to me here in the south-west.
It sounds mad: shipping UK-caught langoustine thousands of miles to be processed, then back again to be turned into breaded scampi and put on sale.
Now I feel even worse…
Well you walk around the supermarket this Christmas, do not under any circumstances be tempted by the Christmas prepared goodies you see on the shelves. You will find that you are much better off, cooking nice recipes yourself, as often these (so-called) goodies are just full of sugar or have even less of the nice stuff in it then the label or name suggests.
The Guardian sent three foodie experts to test out the goodies from leading supermarkets.
This year, you don’t even need to peel a potato for Christmas dinner. From gourmet seafood starters to exotically stuffed turkeys and hand-decorated cakes, you can buy all your celebration food ready made from the supermarket. But do these time-saving dishes taste any good? Our three expert foodies tested ranges from the five leading chains.
One thing for example, is roast potatoes cooked in duck fat, well you would think that was roast potatoes cooked in duck fat wouldn’t you. Well they aren’t they are roast potatoes cooked with 2% duck fat and a lot of rape seed oil!
Cook your own (organic) potatoes, get some duck or goose fat and use that, don’t buy the prepared veg, cook your own!
With just over a week to go to the big day, remember that it’s about now you should be putting your sprouts on to cook for the big day. They do take about a week, though three days might be okay.
Picture source.
Okay so I succumbed to the advertising outside my local supermarket and I went and purchased a bag of Young’s Premium Scampi.
These frozen scampi take seventeen minutes in the oven and are typical scampi to be honest, nothing special and nothing really to write home about (or a blog entry, oops).
I don’t know maybe, my expectations were too high, but I was thinking they would be extra special, but they didn’t really hit the spot, reminded me more of the scampi I would get from the local chippy.
Not going to go on my shopping list again.
Over the last couple of days I have been enjoying having some lamb steaks.
I have been cooking them very simply with some rosemary and a splash of olive oil.
My book choice this week (well my first book choice of the blog) is:
Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life
This book is very close to my heart. It’s about no-nonsense, simple cooking with great flavours all year round. When I began writing it, I didn’t really know what recipes I would come up with, but something began to inspire me very quickly…my vegetable patch! I came to realise last year that it’s not always about looking out at the wider world for inspiration. Being at home, feeling relaxed and open, can also offer this. I love to spend time at home in the village where I grew up, working with the boss, Mother Nature, in my garden and seeing all my beautiful veggies coming out of the ground. Inside, you’ll find over 100 new recipes, plus some basic planting information and tips if you fancy having a go at getting your hands dirty as well!
I like sweet potato and though I know a lot of people mash them, I much prefer to roast them.
My preference is simple to cut into slices and roast in the oven with a splash of olive oil. They then have a natural sweetness which really adds to a meal.
Sometimes simple is best.
Tonight I cooked some pork balls to go with the chinese meal I was cooking.
I created a simple batter, of self-raising flour and some beer. Mixed to a consistency which would coat a spoon, not too thick and not too thin.
Cut your pork into cubes about 1cm thick, tall and wide.
Hot oil and a few cubes at a time until golden brown.
They should be crisp and more importantly retain their crispness.
