I was working in Bristol and for lunch I headed out to the Temple Quay Market. I wasn’t sure what I was in the mood for, so looked around. I really liked the idea of Big Nath’s BBQ, however they had (basically) sold out. This was both disappointing and reassuring, in that I didn’t get my food, but it must be good if it had sold out!
I looked around, and did think about getting some fried fish from the Kingfin stall, but in the end I went to She Sells Sushi.
Having not really enjoyed the hirata bun on my last visit, this time in my bento box I went with the beef donburi and some Takoyaki in octopus and duck varieties.
The beef teriyaki donburi was delicious.
This is tasty tender beef rib on a bed of sushi rice and served with pickle and spring onions.
The Takoyaki were very nice too. Beautifully presented with sauces drizzled over them and garnished with herbs and bento flakes.
Over the weekend we had a couple of barbecues. It is one of my favourite ways of cooking. Even a little rain wasn’t enough to put me off.
On Saturday we had burgers, seasoned chicken and lamb ribs. Sunday we had a similar spread, with beef kebabs, lemon chicken and more lamb ribs.
For the lemon chicken, I marinaded some chicken thighs in lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic oil and some Schwartz Chicken Seasoning. This is then cooked on the barbecue.
I find that you have to be careful to ensure that the chicken is fully cooked, so I use an old wok lid on top, to cover the chicken, to “roast” the chicken as it is grilled. I really like the crispy chicken skin that you get on the barbecue.
For the seasoned chicken I followed a similar process, but used a new chicken seasoning (from Morrisons) which had turmeric, so the chicken was quite yellow. It was delicious.
The lamb ribs were from Waitrose and I seasoned them with salt, pepper and rosemary before placing them on the barbecue.
I did think that they might need longer cooking, but they were tasty and tender.
The burgers and kebabs were from Aldi and were quite good.
Hoping the weather continues to improve so we can have more barbecues.
I do quite like tacos, I have noticed that some places I had frequented before, had stopped selling them. So on a recent visit to the Leather Lane street food market I found a stall selling tacos. Initially I wasn’t sure and looked around a few other stalls, but in the end I headed back.
I went with the beef tacos. They had an interesting preparation method. The tortillas were placed on a hot plancha, the cheese was added and then the beef. They were then served in a box and garnished.
They looked really nice; the different colour tacos were fun. The beef was delicious, and I really enjoyed eating them. Something I would order again.
For me it was a bit of a no brainer when I visited the Finzels Reach Market and I saw SheSellsSushi had their stall. As I joined the quite lengthy queue, I looked at the menu. They had a Japanese panko chicken curry, their beef donburi, hirata buns, sushi and Takoyaki.
I did think about the curry, but decided I would go with my usual favourite, the Bento box with the beef donburi and a hirata bun.
There was a bit of a queue, but in the end I got served my box of beef and a bao bun.
The hirata bun contained a piece of panko crumbed Katsu chicken breast in a charcoal bao bun served with house salad and sriracha mayo.
I have to say I was a little disappointed. I found the chicken rather dry and lacking flavour. Compared to the tempura chicken hirata bun, the Finzel Flapper I’ve had in the past, this new version of the hirata bun was nowhere near as nice. I think if I order again I will go for the Takoyaki instead. It has also put me off trying the Japanese curry as it looked like that dish was based on the same panko chicken katsu. Having said all that it was so much better than the bao bun from Ah-Ma’s.
The beef teriyaki donburi was delicious as always.
Tasty tender beef rib on a bed of sushi rice and served with pickle and spring onions.
I was staying over at the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing. Having arrived Sunday evening, I went to the bar to get something to eat. Sunday at the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing means that it is Sunday roast day.
I went with the dry-aged sirloin of Owton’s beef. On the plate was two slices of roast beef, roasted parsnip and carrot, roast potatoes, pan fried greens, cauliflower cheese, a huge Yorkshire pudding and served with red wine gravy.
This was probably one the best carvery meals I have ever had from a pub.
The dry-aged sirloin beef was excellent, it was full of flavour and really tender, melt in the mouth tender. I really enjoyed the vegetables too.
I think if I was going to make one criticism, was the temperature was inconsistent across the food, I think part of the issue was dishing up on a cold plate. However the food was delicious and the service was excellent.
This is not an authentic recipe for chilli con carne, but a dish I cook that has lots of flavour, is spicy, contains, beef, tomatoes, beans and chilli.
This dish serves 4-5
500g steak mince the 5% fat kind. You can use cheaper mince, but I find I often need to drain the excess fat after cooking off the mince.
Tin of tomatoes. We did for a while use cheap tins of tomatoes, but found that they lacked flavour so generally now use a quality brand. I use a blender to break down the tomatoes into a passata style base. If I had a carton or bottle of passata in the cupboard I may just use that instead of the tin.
Tin of kidney beans. For this dish I find the budget range fine.
Tomato puree. Like the tin of tomatoes, I have found budget brands of tomato puree okay for some dishes, but this I want that real hit of tomato, so got for a better quality version.
Two onions, diced. Sometimes I use brown onions, other times I use red onions, depends what’s in the fridge.
Red pepper, diced.
One carrot, diced. This is about “hiding” some more veg in the chilli, as well as adding texture and a little sweetness.
Cajun spicing (optional)
Chilli powder
Garlic powder, though you could use fresh.
A beef stock cube
A splash of Balsamic vinegar.
To cook the chilli I do the following steps.
Heat a large pot (or pan) and then add a little sunflower oil.
Cook off the mince in the pan, ensuring that it is evenly cooked through. If you have used a mince with 10% or higher fat content then drain off the excess fat.
Add the onions, pepper and carrot and stir into the mince.
Cook for five minutes, stirring every so often.
Add the Cajun spicing, chilli powder and garlic powder, stir into the mince. I generally use half a teaspoon of each. If you like your chilli spicier then add more Cajun spicing, if you like it hotter than add more chilli.
I might try using fresh chilli in a future version, this I would chop (and deseed) and add with the onions and pepper.
Cook for another minute.
Stir in the tomatoes and tomato puree. Sprinkle in the beef stock cube and the splash of Balsamic vinegar.
Stir, put on a lid and cook on a low heat for thirty minutes.
Add the tin of kidney beans and cook for five more minutes.
Serve.
I serve it either with rice or tortilla chips. Sometimes I use the chilli to fill soft (gluten free) corn tortillas, which I cover with cheese and then bake in the oven.
I like to record what we had for Christmas lunch, so next time I can improve on what we had.
This time we ordered from M&S and had three roasts.
For the third year running we had a Three-Bird Roast.This year was turkey, stuffed with chicken, duck and (gluten free) pork, orange and panettone stuffing).
This was rather good, not enough duck, but still very good. I felt I cooked it well and leaving it to rest meant it was easy to carve and the slices stayed together.
I also cooked a Dry-Aged Rib of Beef. This I sealed in a hot frying pan before moving to the oven. After cooking I let it rest and carved. The beef was beautifully tender, though not as much flavour as I thought it was going to have.
The final of our trio of roasts was the Stuffed Pair of Partridges. These were smaller than I thought they would be, almost quail sized. I think I overcooked these, so they were a little dry.
We had a range of stuffing and trimmings. Though I forgot to cook the Yorkshire Puddings.
Overall I was pleased with the meal (I was catering for ten) though I was disappointed with my roast potatoes. I think I didn’t par-boil them for long enough, and the oven was a little too crowded as well. Something to think about for next year.
We now have a tradition of having our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. We’ve done this for ten years now. We do this for a few reasons. On Christmas Day itself, the children are often too excited to sit down for a long meal, so don’t eat or enjoy the meal or the occasion. It also usually means I spend a fair few hours in the kitchen, which means I miss them opening and playing with their presents. I also find it quite demanding to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible, whilst creating a wonderful dining experience.
Having the meal on Christmas Eve means that we can both spend a bit more time preparing the meal (less stressful in itself) and enjoy eating the meal (as do the children). As a result for them it helps pass the time on one of the more exciting days of the year as they anticipate the arrival of a sleigh full of presents being pulled by eight tiny reindeer!
As to what we eat on Christmas day itself, well we have lots of lovely leftovers, cheeses, pickles, hot bread, etc…. quick and easy to prepare and delicious.
Back in July I was working in London and out for lunch, I headed off to the Leather Lane street food market, where there are plentyof choices of places to eat.
On Leather Lane is Mugen, a Japanese restaurant.
Contemporary Japanese restaurant with a sushi bar and traditional minimalist decor.
During the market they put up a food stall outside their restaurant and they had a good looking menu.
I went with the Beef Bavette BBQ Combo. This was a substantial lunch with a base of rice, stir fried, vegetables, egg, pumpkinkatsu and pickled ginger. On top is sliced baguette steak finishing off with a sauce.
I have to say, that though I enjoyed the food, it wasn’t as amazing as I thought it would be. The steak lacked seasoning and the pumpkinkatsu lacked flavour. Overall I was a little disappointed.
As part of my job I will often attend events and conferences. Sometimes these will be in hotels and other times they are in dedicated conference centres. I usually have lunch, which usually defaults to some kind of buffet lunch. For some events and conferences I stay over and that means having dinner. Over the years I have had some very disappointing meals, I remember one conference dinner in Sheffield Town Hall which was really quite awful. It comprised an over-cooked chicken breast wrapped in a rasher of bacon, served with soggy tasteless vegetables. Other times I have had some outstanding food.
In September I was attending an “away day” at the Ashorne Hill Conference Centre near to Leamington Spa.
It was a lunchtime to lunchtime event, so there was dinner in the evening.
What I did like was that we could choose from a menu and so we didn’t all need to have the same food.
For my start I chose the crispy chilli beef.
Well this was disappointing as it wasn’t crispy chilli beef, well not like other times I have eaten crispy chilli beef. It was rather chewy and the sauce didn’t really work and certainly could have had more chilli.
For my main I went with the chicken, something I wouldn’t usually choose, but it was served on a bed of wild mushrooms.
The chicken was tender, moist and full of flavour.
For dessert I went with cheese and biscuits.
This was a nice selection of cheese, nice chutney and a selection of biscuits and bread.
Overall it was a meal I enjoyed, but certainly not one of the best conference dinners I have had.
On visits to the Leather Lane market well before the Covid lockdown I had seen the Argentalia market stall a few times, but had not bought lunch there, though I did quite fancy the concept.
So on a recent visit a couple of months back, I had the opportunity to try out the stall. I went with the Argentalia Barbeque Box, which comes with Asado (ribs), Vacio (flap meat), Chorizo (sausage), Morcilla (black pudding), Pollo (chicken), Pork with chimichurri and variety of salads or fries.
This had the potential to be outstanding box of food, but alas it wasn’t meant to be.
The salad was flat and insipid.
The fries were okay, but nothing special.
So what of the main attraction, the barbecued meat?
I think if the meat had actually been barbecued then this would have made the dish so much better than it was. The problem with the meat was that it was quite tough and chewy. It was almost braised, steamed rather than grilled.
I am not even sure I got everything on the list.
Overall I was looking forward to a great box of barbecued meats, what I got was frankly rather disappointing.
