Enjoyed reading this article from the BBC News Magazine on American food.
Forget greasy burgers, a growing enthusiasm for good local food in the US is getting the nation salivating, says Simon Schama.
Interesting read.
Char-Grilled Feather Steak Florentine
The other week I was at the Solent Hotel & Spa in Fareham. From the outside it was a modern looking hotel just off the motorway. Inside it was well decorated and though they had gone for an “older” look, it did appear to work, and didn’t look tacky as sometimes it does when hotels do this.
The staff in the hotel were professional and friendly and their primary goal appeared to be making sure that my stay was perfect.
Rather than go to the restaurant I went to the bar instead to eat. From the menu, I chose the Char-Grilled Feather Steak Florentine. It is called ‘feather’ due to the unique markings of the meat, it is also known as the ‘butchers or onglet steak’. The steak was served with a spicy tomato sauce and fries.
I wasn’t expecting the dish to look like this though when it arrived!
The steak arrived pre-sliced on a wooden board rather than a plate. The steak was excellent and well flavoured. I also enjoyed the dressing and salad leaves. The spicy tomato sauce was okay, but I didn’t like it that much, nothing wrong with it, more it wasn’t to my taste. The fries were crisp and had flavour.
Overall a delicious steak and a delightful eating experience.
Oh dear, gone downhill somewhat…
Back in February 2008 I wrote a glowing review of the National Trust Heelis Cafe in Swindon next door to the shopping outlet.
Compared to the food offerings in the shopping outlet, if you are out Swindon way, pop over to the National Trust cafe and enjoy a delicious meal in peaceful and pleasant environment.
We visited the cafe again today and was, well let’s just say the quality has done downhill somewhat in some areas.
There were no childrens’ boxes available at the time of ordering, so rather than wait we ordered the children two sausage baps. The sausages were slightly overdone (probably under the hot lamp for too long) and the baps, well one was toasted and slightly burnt, the other wasn’t even toasted! Why? No idea.
My other half went with the Fidget Pie, well it was a pasty, that came with salad and roast potatoes, no not sure of that combination myself to he honest, it’s not as though we were given a choice. The salad was fine, but the pasty was a little short on filling so consisted mainly of pastry.
I went for a traditional roast beef dinner. At £7.50 I expected to get an excellent home cooked roast beef dinner… well I didn’t.
Yes the potatoes were home roasted, and were roasted and not deep-fried as is often the case in some restaurants, pubs and cafes. The carrots were fine, but the brocolli was limp, having spent too much time under a heat lamp. The beef was a real disappointment, wafer thin slices of cooked beef that had been re-heated in gravy. This is something that cheap catering does, and not something I expected from the Heelis Cafe. The Yorkshire Pudding looked and tasted like it was heated up in the microwave and to be honest I did wonder if the meal was from the day before (as we did order early at midday) and had just been microwaved. I was expecting a proper carvery and proper slices of roast beef, not the equivalent of a £3.99 meal from a supermarket cafe.
Overall having spent nearly £30 at the cafe I was very very disappointed.
Maybe I should have complained, but it’s not as though anything was wrong, it was just that the quality was nowhere near what I have had in the past from the cafe. I am guessing that they have a new chef. They appeared to also have stock problems, as they had no salmon and no flan either; remember they only have a few things on the menu.
As a result I will probably not visit again, or if I do I would check the menu more carefully before ordering.
I did cook pasta
After not eating pizza, I did cook pasta.
Hot pan, add a drizzle of olive oil. Add onions, mushroom, peppers, aubergine, courgette and cook until softened.
Add a tin of chopped tomatoes.
Add some sliced cooked green beans.
Simmer.
In another large pan of boiling water, add the pasta and cook until al dente. I don’t add salt and I certainly don’t add oil.
Once pasta is cooked, toss with the sauce.
Serve with freshly grated parmesan.
Wot no Pizza
I do expect cafes and restaurants to sell out, but doesn’t mean I am not disappointed when they do.
Was at the Cafe @ Bristol today in @Bristol in Bristol.
I ordered the pizza and salad and was told (and this was at 11.45am) that they had run out…
Initially couldn’t believe it, but then it is Easter Sunday and they probably ran out yesterday or the day before… though the menu says homemade pizza, surely they could have more some more! Maybe it wasn’t homemade pizza in the sense they made it, but a company makes them… wouldn’t be homemade then would it!
So what did I have instead?
Nothing.
Should have gone to Pizza Express instead…
…but then I read this yesterday and decided that it probably wasn’t such a good alternative.
Going to cook pasta at home instead.
Cherry Tart
So there I was in Druckers buying a coffee and decided to have something sweet to go with it. I did think about a chocolate eclair (or even a coffee eclair) but in the end decided to try the cherry tart.
It was a bit like a Bakewell Tart in the sense that the filling that the cherries had been placed (or stuck) was a frangipan, an almond filling.
It was okay, but nothing to shout home about, and certainly wouldn’t be on my list the next time I go to Druckers. Basically it lacked flavour, the cherries did not taste very much of cherries and the almond filling had a hint of almond, but was quite bland.
Next time, I’ll go for the chocolate eclair.
Strong Beer
So you thought your 6% proof beer was strong, well what about 41% proof beer?
BBC News reports on the world’s strongest beer.
A controversial Scottish brewery has said it has reclaimed the title of the world’s strongest beer from German rivals – with Sink the Bismarck at 41%.
At £40 per bottle I think I won’t be trying it out…
Sanpellegrino
I have been enjoying cans of Aranciata Sanpellegrino; that’s fizzy orange to you and me. I much prefer it over Orangina and certainly it is much nicer than Tango!
I first had Sanpellegrino in Italy, since then I have had it in many Italian restaurants. This is the first time I have seen it in my local supermarket.
Very nice, and not too sweet or strongly flavoured.
Kentish Bramley Apple Crumble
Though I like to make my own puddings, now and again I will purchase a ready made pudding from one of the big supermarkets.
This Kentish Bramley Apple Crumble from Waitrose sounded very nice.
However…
And isn’t it always a however…
It wasn’t that good in my opinion. Well what did I expect.
It was okay. The crumble was nice and buttery and not too sweet (one of the issues I have with lots of ready made deserts). However the apple was in my opinion not cooked enough, it was crunchy and not soft. Now this may have been intentional, but personally I prefer my apple crumble with soft apples.
Would I buy it again?
No!
Chicken with Lentils
This is my simple and quick way of cooking a wonderful French peasant style dish of chicken, pork, sausage and lentils.
Place some chicken thighs and drumsticks in a roasting pan, add some chunks of pork belly. You could use a jointed chicken if you wanted. Drizzle with olive oil and place in a hot oven and roast for about 25-30 minutes.
Cook some large pork sausages in the oven, as these take less time, put them in a little later.
In a large pan, soften some pancetta, diced onions and peppers. Once soft, add a knob of butter and some flour, stir well. Now add herbs, wine and stock. Cook for about ten minutes.
In a hot frying pan, cook some chopped mushrooms.
Prepare the dish.
Take the cooked liquid, add the roast chicken and pork. Slice the sauages and add them and the mushrooms to the pan. I used tinned Puy Lentils, but you could use cooked lentils or a tin of another kind. Mix well and heat through.
Serve with crusty bread.