food, reviews and of course coffee
Having been woken up early I am about to start some of the preparations for our Christmas Dinner.
Last night I peeled the potatoes and the parsnips.
I now want to make some stuffing for the chicken we are having.
Alongside the chicken I have a boned and stuffed duck and a saddle of venison.
Pretty much on top of things.
I was recently up in London and stayed at the Ambassadors Hotel in Bloomsbury. Staying with friends we had the Christmas dinner at the Number Twelve attached restaurant. I started off with the Chestnut Pasta and had the Ribeye steak for my mains.
For my desert I had the cheese.
Well don’t get me wrong it was a very nice cheese, but as that it? Three small (half) slices of Stilton.
Hmmm.
Well my plan for a Christmas Four Bird Roast was scuppered this year. I had intended to order one from Marks and Spencers which consisted of Turkey, Goose, Duck, Chicken.
However when I went to order it was apparent that many others had had the same idea and it had sold out! I am guessing that a) a lot of people were like me and liked the concept b) the Marks and Spencers version was good value for money at £100. There was no way you could even do it yourself for £100. Waitrose’s version was £120 and only consisted of a three bird roast.
So instead…
We’re going to have (separately) chicken, duck and venison.
Today I had a very nice (small) lamb roast. It was a neck fillet joint, quite small, but once cooked very tender and very tasty.
I cooked it simply, placed it on a bed of rosemary and splashed a little olive oil on the roast.
Cooked for about 50 minutes, as it was only a 500g joint.
I served it with roast potatoes and vegetables.
Cadbury Dairy Milk Apricot Crumble Crunch is one of two variations that Cadbury have released, the other being Cranberry and Granola.
I had high expectations as it did sound rather tasty, alas I was disappointed. There was chewy and crunchy texture in there, but very little flavour, could I taste apricot, no I could not.
There didn’t seem to be too much to it, I think I would prefer Fruit and Nut myself.
I was recently up in London and stayed at the Ambassadors Hotel in Bloomsbury. Staying with friends we had the Christmas dinner at the Number Twelve attached restaurant. I started off with the Chestnut Pasta and had the Ribeye steak for my mains.
The home made chestnut pasta was served with seasonal wild mushrooms and a white butter sauce. I did enjoy this dish, the pasta was cooked well and nice selection of mushrooms.
For my mains I had ribeye of 28 day Donald Russell beef, served with celeriac, braised red onion, wild mushrooms and roast potatoes.
The steak was not the best I’ve had, slightly tough and was certainly not full of flavour compared to others I have eaten. The celeriac was nice as was the onions and mushrooms.
Overall I did enjoy both the started and the main course.
I was recently lucky enough to go to dinner at the Alba Ristorante in London with some friends., not just once, but enjoyed it enough the first time to go for a second meal. Unlike a lot of Italian restaurants I have been too, the menu here was not full of pasta and pizza, on the contrary it was very different and as a result much more interesting and refreshing.
One of the dishes that a friend ate was the Platessa con Salsa Bianca
He said it was excellent and beautifully cooked.
I do enjoy duck and a simple roasted duck breast is a relatively quick and easy dish to make.
Having taken out the two duck breasts from the fridge, using a fork, prick the skin side of the duck breast.
Duck can be quite fatty and as a result if you simply roast the duck breast it will be too fatty and greasy. So heat a frying pan, but don’t add any oil. Place the duck breasts in the pan skin side down.
Frying the duck breast in this way renders the fat out from the duck and as a result you get nice crispy skin and little fat or greasiness.
The breasts will also shrink slightly as they cook. There is technique that you can use to stop the meat curling up, but I can’t remember what it is! Something about cutting away something. If you know post a comment and let me know.
Once the skin is nice and brown, place the duck breasts skin side up in a roasting pan. Roast in the oven for about ten to twenty minutes (depending on how you like your duck).
Serve with your favourite accompaniments.
In an attempt to restore public confidence in Irish pork following the recent discovery of dioxin contamination, the Irish government (according to the BBC) have announced how they will do this.
The Republic of Ireland’s agriculture minister has announced how supplies of Irish pork are to be restored.
Brendan Smith said special labelling will confirm pork as having had no association with contaminated feed.
Of course the reality is that consumer confidence has been shattered and generally it takes more than a special label to reassure the majority of consumers.
Northern Ireland’s Health Minister has also attempted to reassure consumers.
It is safe to consume pork, beef and milk despite a scare over contaminated feed, Northern Ireland’s health minister had said.
It’s interesting to read the following BBC article in which it says:
The news broke on a Saturday afternoon in Dublin, but amazing as it may seem, while pork was being cleared off the shelves there in a matter of hours, it would be a full 24 hours before Northern Ireland consumers were being advised on what to do.
Of course it wasn’t just Northern Ireland consumers, in the rest of the United Kingdom.
So are you going to buy Irish pork and sausages now?
I was recently up in London and stayed at the Ambassadors Hotel in Bloomsbury. I generally dislike having breakfast in hotels, as more often than not they are overpriced and though have extensive choice are not really value for money. For example a month or two back I stayed at the Thistle Barbican Hotel and breakfast (though included in my room rate) would have cost you £15.95. For that you would have to queue up unless you got up really early. Having sat down in the Thistle, if you were lucky, the waiting staff would bring you some coffee and toast. Then it was self-service for the cooked breakfast, which was not very inspiring.
So I was well pleased with breakfast at the Ambassadors Hotel in Bloomsbury. It was about the same price as the Thistle, but unlike that place, at the Ambassadors they served you your cooked breakfast at the table, and what an excellent cooked breakfast it was.
Beautifully served, it consisted of an excellent meaty sausage, some very nice grilled bacon, a small bowl of baked beans, grilled (and skinned) tomato, mushroom, bubble and squeak, black pudding and egg. You had a choice of eggs (chicken or duck) and cooked to your liking, I had a poached duck’s egg. It was also garnished with lettuce, not sure about the lettuce.
There was quite a choice of other cooked items as well, such as boiled eggs and kippers.
Along with the cooked breakfast, there was also a (self-service) selection of toast, bread products such as croissant and panettone, fruit, yoghurt, juice, cold meats, cheese and smoked fish.
Overall I was well impressed and would recommend the breakfast, though still not sure about the lettuce.