Features

Christmas buys for the larder

Admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:19:59 +0000

If you’re on the lookout for a few luxury items to stock up on over the festive period, this little lot should get you started. Don't shop for them on an empty stomach though, as the little mini mince pies will all be gone by the time you get home! Happy Christmas foodies.

Luxury Jaffa Cake Pudding
If you’re looking for some Christmas alternatives, this Jaffa Cake pud from Farmhouse Fare puts a different twist on festive desserts. With its light vanilla sponge covered in a smooth, rich velvet chocolate sauce and a hidden layer of tangy orange jam underneath, its definitely not your average Christmas pud. Based in Lancashire, Farmhouse Fare has won many awards for its hand made puddings, including Gold at the Great Taste Awards this year (2008). Puddings worth getting your spoon ready for.

bottlegreen’s Spiced Berry Cordial
This spiced bottle of luscious cordial can be drunk cold with the help of a little water, but really comes into its own as a hot drink. In fact, an inch of this cordial in the bottom of a glass, topped up with boiling water is as good as non-alcoholic mulled wine gets. It’s also a great hot drink if you’ve got a troublesome sore throat and its comforting hint of Christmas is just an added bonus.

Fudges Butter Stollen
The first thing you’re likely to notice about this luxury stollen from Fudges is it’s size. It’s pretty huge, and has been lovingly stuffed with almonds, mixed peel, nutmeg and lemon zest. It’s the perfect thing to have on the go, in the run up to Christmas when friends drop in. It’s also large enough to make the odd slice that you’ve helped yourself to, fairly un-detectable to the average eye, which is always a bonus.

Pedro Ximenez
This rich sherry is wonderfully redolent of Christmas with its caramel and sultana notes. Serve slightly chilled in a large wine glass, or pour over ice cream…or straight into your mouth (when the in laws aren’t watching). If you do open this bottle whilst you’re in company, be prepared to share it around. Despite its seriously sweet taste, even people who claim not to posses a sweet tooth, seem to love it.

Highgrove Goose Fat
This is the stuff of Gods as far as roast potatoes are concerned. Using to goose fat to crisp up your potatoes is an favourite trick, but there are plenty of other ways to utilise this lovely stuff. Instead of opening the jar, just for its use over Christmas and then forgetting about the rest of it, it’s worth using Highgrove goose fat for risottos, stews, omelettes, stuffings and for roasting vegetables, poultry and game. Roast potatoes love goose fat certainly, but there are plenty of other dishes you can conjure up as of Boxing Day, that respond just as well to a bit of luxury.

Fudges Mini Mince Pies
These luxury little mince pies tease your mouth with a taste of Christmas. A scoop full of mincemeat is tucked inside a pastry crust that tastes moreishly like shortbread. The great thing about mini mince pies is that you can probably equate four of them to their standard cousins, which means eating a whole plateful isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds. Suitable for vegetarians, but not suitable for throwing at reindeer.

Heston Blumenthal makes things sherry simple

helenka — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:42:12 +0000

Heston Blumenthal is known for experimenting in his kitchen, with a handful of science thrown into the mixing bowl for good measure. Here he talks to iLoveMyGrub’s editor, Helenka Bednar, about how 9 months of research into sherry has inspired a clutch of accessible and simple recipes.

When it comes to his kitchen, Blumenthal is more often associated with complex scientific techniques rather than taking a simple approach. But it seems that after nine months of researching sherry, Blumenthal’s findings have inspired a streak of simplicity in his methodology. The chef, who earned his third Michelin star back in 2004 at The Fat Duck, has been studying the make-up of sherry this year, on a hunch that there might be a particular reason why it’s such a successful wine to match with food.

Considering Blumenthal has a penchant for using liquid nitrogen in his kitchen, the collection of recipes he has put together is surprisingly simple. He attributes this accessible recipe style to the audience they’re aimed at. “They’re not Fat Duck dishes, they’re not Hinds Head dishes,” he says of the recipes. “They’re dishes that are designed to be cooked at home - all of them. If you say 'well how is this done?', I’m not going to say well you need a freeze dryer and a vacuum desiccater!”

Blumenthal’s fascination with sherry first came about when he noticed how well it worked with particular foods. He found that the flavour of foods that were rich in umami (one of the five basic flavours we taste), such as Parmesan and Shiitake mushrooms, were greatly enhanced when they were paired with certain sherries. “If something works and its works so well, there’s got to be a reason – there has to be,” says Blumenthal.

For nine months now, Blumenthal has been researching this fortified wine with the Institute of Sherry and Reading University, with a view to finding out more about it. “I had this hunch that there might be umami in sherry, but it was just a hunch,” he explains. “To my disappointment there was no umami found in various styles of sherry. But not one to give up, we continued the research, and what’s come out in the last few months, is a group of compounds called DKP’s, which are responsible for enhancing the taste of umami-rich foods. It’s amazing how many things we do in the kitchen intuitively, and science just really acts mainly to support why we do this and to give reason to it.”

For fans of Blumenthal who are ready to shake a Bunsen burner and some liquid nitrogen at a handful of ingredients - well, this isn’t your moment. These new recipes from the perfection-seeking chef are refreshingly straightforward. He’s keen to emphasise that the scientific lengths he goes to, in his research and his cooking are tools that he works with, rather than the main focus of what ends up on the plate. “From my point of view, its still really intuitive and I use the science to support the intuition.” Blumenthal’s main aim with these sherry-inspired recipes is to get people drinking and using sherry a whole lot more. “On the one hand you can stick to the favourite tipples, which are the cream and sweet ones,” says Blumenthal. “But it really comes into its own when it’s paired with food, and the sherry and food become one.”

He’s also quick to point out that all the ingredients used in this new collection of recipes, are available from the supermarket (with the exception of the sodium citrate he uses in his Gruyere fondue recipe, which is readily available from pharmacies). What these recipes really demonstrate is the way in which sherry really helps to bring out certain flavours of the food we eat. Blumenthal was particularly struck by some of the results of his food and sherry matching experimentations over the last year. “There’s a compound that gives cloves their characteristic,” he explains. “It’s also in sage and some of these other types of herbs. We thought, okay, well let’s try a bit of ground clove with a fino – it was fantastic. It’s almost as if the ground clove acted as a trigger for some of the notes in the sherry that you don’t pick up on its own.”

Another revelation for Blumenthal was matching peaches with sherry. “It was the way that the sherry made the peach get bigger, and the peach softened the acidic notes of the sherry as well”, he marvels. "Again it’s an example of how we do things intuitively - it’s quite traditional to use peach kernels in a ham cure, so it’s backing up what we’ve done for years, but it’s also throwing light on new possibilities. The key thing about this is that it’s a work in progress,” he says of his recent research. “This is a whole new exploration of pairings with sherry.”

To try out Heston Blumenthal’s experimentations with sherry and food in your own kitchen, try out his recipes below:

Gruyere fondue with fino sherry and clove

Crab salad with paprika and toasted country bread

Mackerel rillettes

Quails egg scotch eggs

Dining Diwali-style at Moti Mahal

helenka — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 08:21:54 +0000

In celebration of Diwali this year, head chef Anirudh Arora has created a unique set menu for diners at Moti Mahal. This specially crafted menu for the traditional Indian ‘Festival of Lights’ draws on Arora’s modern take on Indian cuisine combined with his use of traditional flavours.

Ordinarily, the food consumed around Diwali tends to be vegetarian, but the set menu offers a mix of vegetarian and meatier options for London’s demanding palette. We tried the menu ahead of Diwali to see what was in store for diners, and got ever so slightly wowed by what appeared in front of us. First things first – this is not your average curry house. Moti Mahal is a stylish affair – all plush leather seating and contemporary chandeliers. Northern and Southern Indian cooking styles influence Arora’s cooking, and his presentation is beautifully modern.

The first highlight of the menu came in the shape of the mushroom cappuccino that appeared before our starter. It’s flavour was intensely warming and earthy and it had such a deep mushroom flavour that it was hard to believe that it had been made solely with little button mushrooms. Our starters of chicken supreme and tandoori stuffed potatoes weren’t a bad follow up. The skewered chicken pieces were lightly spiced with plenty of flavour and were well matched with a sweet scoop of cranberry raita alongside. The stuffed potatoes were good, but almost upstaged by the sweet tasting pan-fried pea and cumin cakes.

If you venture down to Moti Mahal between the 24th and 28th October, you’ll have three main dishes to choose from as part of the set Diwali menu. We opted for the sea bream with baked Devon crab and bean cakes topped with a quail’s egg, and the spinach and paneer parcel. The sea bream made me wish I knew how to a) cook fish properly – retaining its juiciness but crisping the skin ever so slightly, and b) how to spice a dish delicately enough to avoid overpowering the meal, but enough to lure your palette back for more. Arora had both down to a fine art here, and although the quail’s egg and crab cakes were good, the sea bream stole the show.

Our desserts were a mix of east meets west, with the choice between warm chocolate cake with whisky ice cream, and honey & rose petal Kulfi. The chocolate cake was good, but stood in the shadows after a mouthful of whisky ice cream, which fast-forwarded my taste buds straight to Christmas. And the kulfi was a strikingly beautiful dish. Okay so you’re not supposed to just look at your food, but this plate made you want to (at least until you’d tried it, and then the ‘just looking’ bit became harder). The spiralling tower of kulfi stood alongside some caramelised fruits and rose petals, which were amazing to taste with their sweetened intensity. A few cups of chai tea later, and a feeble attempt at some petit fours, left us feeling spoiled and very, very satisfied.

For the duration of Diwali, Moti Mahal will be decorated with traditional Diya lamps, which are considered a symbol of prosperity. These traditional lantern lights also demonstrate the theme throughout Diwali, of good presiding over evil. Arora has been featuring a Diwali menu at Moti Mahal for the last three years. “It’s very modern,” he says of the set menu. “It’s not traditionally what you would find in India! We have to work with traditionality and at the same time, grow with time. Our food is modern, our flavours are traditional.”

Although his cooking has been predominantly influenced by a North Indian style, the coastal flavours of Goa regularly appear in his fish dishes, retaining the traditional seafood rich menu of Southern India. Arora’s modern style of Indian cooking gladly leaves you feeling just full, without a tinge of bloating. The food at Moti Mahal is healthy too – there are no dishes swimming under pools of oil, just particularly well-executed dishes that will quite possibly turn you into a returning customer. “We try to cook healthy food that people can eat every day. I have customers that come here three times a week. If they come three times a week, I cannot serve them heavy food – they have to have a reason to come back. The food has to be close to what they would eat every day.”

Arora laughs when he explains that he also uses two different types of chilli, depending on what the customer is looking for on the menu. “I use either Montania chillies, which come from India or I use snub nose chillies, from Spain. You have to look at who you’re cooking for. I tend not to use too much of the Indian Chilli, even in something like the wild boar curry that we do. It’s made with Goan spices and a lot of chilli in it. If use traditional Goan chillies, then it would be very spicy! So what we do is use Kashmiri chilli – there’s a lot of flavour to it, but the heat is not there.”

Arora explains that whilst some people will order the Diwali menu out of curiosity, knowing little about it, the majority of people come into the restaurant during the festival, to celebrate Diwali. “People come in, and obviously people from South Asia know about Diwali. Those who know about Diwali will generally prefer a vegetarian menu, which is fine as we have a lot of vegetarian dishes on our a la carte menu too. In India, Diwali is the biggest festival. It’s like going down to Oxford Street, the week before Christmas. The sales in shops around that time increase around five fold. People buy a lot of things because it’s said to be very auspicious if you buy anything expensive close to Diwali.”

Whether you’re celebrating the Festival of Lights, or just curious about the menu, Moti Mahal’s modern Diwali menu is quite a find at £25.00 (excluding service). This set menu is available for five evenings only from the 24th – 28th October 2008, with vegetarian and non-vegetarian options to choose from. (Prepare your palette to be wowed).

Moti Mahal: 45 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5AA. Tel: 020 7240 9329.

Top 10 eco - friendly uses for coffee grounds

helenka — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:43:04 +0000

When you've finished your coffee don't throw away the grounds without first trying some of Cafédirect’s eco-friendly uses below. The UK’s largest Fairtrade hot drinks company certainly know its stuff, with 8 Gold Great Taste Awards under its belt in 2008. Make sure whenever you drink a freshly brewed cup of coffee at home, you put the coffee grounds to good use, instead of relegating them to the bin.

1. Eco beauty
Use coffee grounds as a natural exfoliant on the skin. Pat on skin, massage over skin, and then rinse.

2. Eco haircare
Coffee makes a great hair rinse! If you have dark hair, use leftover coffee as a final hair rinse to add super shine.

3. Outdoor gardening
Used coffee grounds are said to repel snails and slugs as well as adding nutrients to the soil. Old coffee grounds are excellent to add to your composting pile. Not only do they increase the acidity of your soil, but they also act as a natural fertiliser.

4. Indoor gardening
Add some old grounds to your houseplants. Most of them will love this boost of acidity.

5. Keep the local moggies at bay
Keep cats from using your garden as a litter tray by spreading used coffee grounds and orange peels throughout your flowerbeds.

6. Deodorise the eco-friendly way
Place a bowl of used coffee grounds in the freezer to remove unwanted odours.

7. Neutralise nasty niffs
Rub coffee grounds on your hands to get rid of smells from chopping or cutting up pungent foods.

8. Now you see it...now you don't
Remove small scratches on furniture with wet coffee grounds.

9. Fairtrade fungi
Grow mushrooms on old coffee grounds.

10. Pest control the natural way
Ants apparently hate coffee and won't cross a line of coffee grounds.

For more information of Cafédirect’s products, visit: http://www.cafedirect.co.uk/

Chocolate Ecstasy Tours

helenka — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:28:32 +0000

iLoveMyGrub speaks to Jennifer Earle, founder of Chocolate Ecstasy Tours, about spending a fortune at Pierre Marcolini and organising a full day chocolate tour, just in time for Chocolate Week 2008. Jennifer’s Chocolate Ecstasy Tours are ideal for chocolate addicts looking for a decent fix of boutique chocolate shops and some fabulous tastings.

What's in your chocolate tin at the moment?
I have several containers with chocolate stashes! I have to say though, the really expensive stuff doesn't last long. Nor do truffles (and you shouldn't keep them anyway as they taste better fresh). I have quite a few half bars of Rococo, some Valrhona Jivara Lait, half a kilo of Valrhona for cooking, a couple of squares of Michel Cluizel and Pralus. I also have some Green & Blacks and Lindt, which I mostly use for cooking, but I eat Lindt 70% too (when I run out of the other stuff!). I like the Green & Blacks Almond bar and the butterscotch ones for eating (again, when I run out of the better chocolate or I'm out and about and not near a proper chocolatier). I have half a block of Venzuelan Black too which I use for making hot chocolate. Ooh, and some chocolate covered coffee beans from Sir Hans Sloane - I have to go slowly with those because I don't drink coffee really – chocolate gets me wired enough.

What would be your ultimate chocolate buy?
A tempering machine? I haven't bought one though and don't plan to. It would be fun to play at making my own chocolate though! For eating, I love fresh chocolates from any high quality chocolatier. I also love bars of Amedei Chocolate and I love Valrhona Manjari and the pink Michel Cluizel bar (I only ever remember them by their colours!).

What's the most expensive cocoa purchase you've ever made?
I spent about £80 at Pierre Marcolini in Brussels this year. He is (in my opinion) the finest artisan chocolatier in Brussels. I should mention that some of that was on gifts!

Was it worth it?
The people I gave them to seemed to enjoy them and I loved what I kept for myself!

Are people really getting more discerning about the chocolate they eat?
Absolutely. You can see by the way that the confectionary giants have leapt on the band wagon of high cocoa, organic, Fairtrade, single origin etc, that there's a recognition of consumers getting more aware. Currently though a lot of people see a high cocoa percentage or an organic label and assume it's great chocolate. High cocoa percentage is definitely part of the picture but the quality of cocoa (cacao) beans used, and how they are treated, is so important in determining flavour and quality of the finished product.

What's your bugbear when it comes to chocolate?
I used to be a little hung up about "real" chocolate versus the vegetable fat crammed confectionary that people call chocolate. I still don't really want to eat the latter but if it makes people happy then that's great. I think the main thing that bothers me is that some people have an attitude of "I shouldn't eat chocolate". It makes me sad. You should eat it if you enjoy it! In moderation, yes, but never abstain if you love it!

What’s your favourite chocolate shop?
I couldn't possibly choose! And not just because I risk offending any I didn't choose! I have huge respect for so many chocolatiers and return to all of them to see what they have that's new or to try old favourites.

What was the last chocolate-based recipe you cooked up?
I went to The Wolseley on Saturday night and the oven was broken, so the Jonas' Chocolate Toasted Sandwich was off the menu - so I decided to try and make my own on Sunday. I bought brioche from Harrods and put it in the toasted sandwich maker wedged with shavings of Valrhona chocolate in the centre.

Was it any good?
Yummy. I tried a few variations (banana, goji berries) but plain was the best. Though I'm sure condensed milk would be interesting if I had had some!

Is it possible to convert a milk chocolate addict into a dark chocolate junkie?
I had a hot chocolate at Fortnum and Mason's last night and was having a ‘When Harry Met Sally’ moment, and then started discussing this with the woman behind the bar who told me that before she worked there, she never touched dark chocolate. She thought she didn't like it - now she has no interest in milk chocolate at all after having the dark chocolate they serve in the parlour.

Tell us what's going on with your Chocolate Ecstasy Tours at the moment.
I'm organising the full day tour, which is fun! It's a special one-off event on the Saturday of London Chocolate Week (Oct 15th-21st 2008). We go to the chocolate shops we can't reach on foot on the other tours and spend longer in each shop, meeting and speaking with the chocolatiers as well (obviously sampling lots and buying lots at a discount too!). I have plans for a third regular tour as well, but I have to reign myself in and focus on doing more marketing and keeping up with my accounts and things! I do love all the aspects of the business but it's easy to get swayed by creating new offerings. I'm sure I will need more guides soon though!

For more information on Chocolate Ecstasy Tours, visit:

Chocolate Ecstasy Tours
London's Ultimate Chocolate Indulgence
http://www.ChocolateEcstasyTours.com

Food budgeting through the credit crunch

Admin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:17:22 +0000

Food prices are accelerating at their fastest rate since records began, fuelling a rise in the average family’s shopping bill of £750 a year. It’s never been so timely to start looking at ways to cut your food bills, as household spending continues to increase. The organisers of British Food Fortnight, which takes place from the 20th September - 5th October 2008, have put together some tips on eating good quality British food during the credit crunch, and making savings while you’re at it.

“Now more than ever people want the best value for money - but value is not just about price, it is also about quality,” says Alexia Robinson, organiser of British Food Fortnight. “Good food is one of the great pleasures of life and shouldn’t be something we deprive ourselves of in these harsh economic times. After all, food is more than merely fuel for our bodies because what we eat affects our health and mood. So shop smart and seek out the best food you can afford - not just the cheapest!”

1. Eat seasonal produce
When food is in season there is usually an abundance of supply and therefore seasonal produce is often on special offer. During September for instance, look for broccoli, courgettes, sweetcorn, plums and blackberries. Look for Buy One Get One Free and money off offers on seasonal produce in your local shops.

2. Cook from scratch
Buy raw meat and fresh fruit and vegetables rather than expensive ready-made meals. Adapt your recipes to what is on special offer - in some instances it may be a case of substituting one type of meat for another, for example chicken for pork or lamb for beef.

3. Buy cheaper cuts of meat
Some cuts of meat are less ‘fashionable’ and therefore cheaper than others. This does not mean that the meat is of a lesser quality. We tend to equate eating quality with tenderness and succulence so it is important to use the correct cooking method for that cut of meat. Tougher cuts benefit from longer, slower cooking whereas tender cuts can be cooked quickly at a higher temperature.

4. Make the most of things
Buy joints or full carcasses of meat and use all of it imaginatively. Buy a whole chicken rather than chicken breasts, or a leg of lamb rather than lamb chops, and use the bones to make stock for soups and the leftover meat for sandwiches, curries and stews. Historically a family would have a roast joint for lunch on a Sunday, cold meat on the Monday (the day traditionally set aside for household chores) and the leftover meat would be used to make a dish such as shepherd’s or cottage pie on the Tuesday.

5. Quality pays
Don’t shy away from paying a few pennies more for quality. Nine times out of ten you will be buying a product that is more economical in the long run. For example, good quality bacon and chicken shrink less when cooked, as less water will have been added to the meat. Spending the same amount of money on a small piece of flavoursome cheese as you would on a large, blander piece of cheese, means that you will need less of it to satisfy your taste buds.

6. Buy nutrient-rich foods
Buy foods with high nutritional content to get more for your buck. Did you know that potatoes are the largest single source of vitamin C in the UK diet? They also contain potassium, magnesium, zinc and copper - minerals essential for life - and there is more iron in a serving of new potatoes than in a portion of steamed spinach or a pint of Guinness. So pad out your meals with British potatoes, rather than pasta or rice.

7. Shop imaginatively
Break out of the routine of your normal weekly shop to explore different shops that carry different special offers. Buy locally - building a relationship with the shopkeeper, butcher or grocer means you are more likely to be kept up to date with what is good value when you visit.

8. Read the label
Look at the label as well as the price. With so many price offers in shops at the moment it is easy to ignore the rest of the information on the label. It’s worth looking. Many British food products are part of assurance schemes that specify the standards to which they are produced. Sourcing products that are part of these schemes is the best way of buying quality produce that is fully traceable to the producer.

9. Shop locally
Get the most from your local supermarket. Most supermarkets have a comprehensive stock of British food but there is a huge discrepancy between what is stocked in different stores. See the ‘Want to buy British’ pages of the British Food Fortnight website for information about British food available in your local supermarket and don’t be afraid to ask the manager of your local store to consider stocking new ranges.

10. Pick your own
What is better or healthier than being able to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables that you have selected and picked yourself? Most ‘Pick your own’ farms are competitively priced in comparison with local supermarkets during the height of each crop’s season.

11. Grow your own
Eating food you have grown yourself, even if it is just a lettuce, is immensely satisfying. Potatoes, herbs and carrots are easy to grow and you don’t need much space to do so.

12. Forage for your food
British Food Fortnight is the ideal time for blackberry picking. Also look out for juniper berries, which are particularly good with game, and elderberries, which are lovely added whole to apple pies. Britain is a green and pleasant land so even in towns and cities there are plenty of spots away from roads where you can forage.

British Food Fortnight is the national celebration of the diverse and delicious food that Britain produces. For more information on buying British food, seasonality and money saving tips, visit: http://www.britishfoodfortnight.co.uk.

Top tips on cooking steak

Admin — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:44:48 +0000

If you love a big hunk of steak on your plate, but don’t know quite how to prepare it, use these key tips from Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).

Scotch beef is produced by farmers with generations of livestock production expertise, which they combine with high welfare considerations and the most modern techniques of animal husbandry. The farmers’ cattle graze amidst a clean and un-polluted environment, ranging from coastal pastures to the high, grassy slopes of mountains and their river valleys. Scotch beef is also policed by a fully integrated assurance programme, which guarantees high quality and welfare standards, and is fully traceable from pasture to plate.

1. Always ask the butcher where the beef you are buying is from. All good butchers will be able to give you comprehensive details on the type of breed, the farm, the producer and the environment in which the cattle have been reared. Alternatively look for assurance schemes or marks such as PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) on packaging as these guarantee quality.

2. Marbling is key to flavour – small streaks of fat will ensure that your steak is succulent and juicy.

3. Although meat colour varies, try and look for meat that is plum red. A shadow of grey around the outside of your meat is a mark of ageing.

4. Remove your steak from the fridge ten minutes prior to cooking.

5. Always pat the steak dry with kitchen towel before placing it in a very hot pan.

6. If you wish to use salt and pepper, only do so one minute before you start cooking.

7. Unless you are cooking a very lean cut, do not use any grease or oil in the pan as it will taint the taste of your meat. The fat present in steak should be sufficient.

8. After you have cooked your steak, add a little butter to the pan and deglaze. This is one of the simplest but most delicious ways of enjoying a genuinely fine steak.

For more information, visit: http://www.scotchbeefandlamb.com.

Know your sherry

Admin — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:55:29 +0000

You might associate this tipple with your Gran’s drinks cabinet, but sherry is experiencing a definite revival. With plenty of varieties of this versatile wine available, it’s not just about Harveys Bristol Cream anymore. Find out what’s to be had and how to drink it.

Fino
This type of sherry stands at the drier end of the scale, so if you’re fond of dry white wine, give this a go. Serve up fino in a wine glass with ice as a refreshing aperitif, or sip along with a meal as you would a wine. Once you’ve opened a bottle of fino, store it in the fridge and consume within three weeks.

Manzanilla
Still quite a dry sherry with a salty edge to it, manzanilla makes a great partner for oily fish such as sardines and anchovies. Treat it in the same way as you would a fino when it comes to serving and storing.

Amontillado
This amber coloured sherry is produced from ageing fino, and tastes dry but nutty. Serve slightly chilled and consume within two to three months unless it’s an older, finer wine. Try Harveys Club Classic, Domecq’s ancient Amontillado 51-1A (VORS) and Gonzalez Byass’ Del Duque (VORS).

Oloroso
This is a medium-bodied sherry with a smooth texture and is naturally dry, although it comes available in sweeter styles. Try pairing a glass of oloroso with some almonds or a bowlful of sour cherries. Brands worth trying are: Lustau’s Almacenista Pata de Gallina and Domecq’s Sibarita (VORS).

Palo Cortado
This sherry is usually a blend of oloroso and amontillado, and has a lovely nutty aroma. Rich, round and smooth on the tongue, palo cortado goes brilliantly with a bowlful of toasted hazelnuts. Try Hidalgo’s Jerez Cortado served at room temperature.

Cream sherry
This is where Harvey’s Bristol Cream features and you could do far worse than try this cream sherry served up on ice with a slice of orange. It’s a great drink for hot summer days and tastes completely different to the English serving method, which often results in warm sherry squeezed into the confines of a schooner.

Moscatel
A sweet sherry, made from sun-dried grapes and mahogany in colour. This wine, (also referred to as Muscat) has a smooth, sweet texture and should be served at room temperature. Try serving this caramel tasting sherry with raspberries for pudding.

Pedro Ximenez
The sweetest wine in the world, Pedro Ximenez is lusciousness in a glass. Made from pressing sun-dried grapes, this rich, viscous sherry is perfect for rounding off a meal, and works well with a cheese board. You can also try pouring it over vanilla ice cream for a decadent dessert.

Giorgio Locatelli creates L’Aperitivo trend

Admin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:27:20 +0000

Its long been a well-known fact that Italian taste and style go hand in hand. Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli has teamed up with Peroni Nastro Azzurro, to bring ‘L’Aperitivo di Peroni’ - the latest eating trend from Milan - to the UK.

L’Aperitivo is an authentic Italian tradition dating back to the 1700’s that combines delicious light bites, served up tapas –style, with refreshing light alcoholic drinks. Both are served during the early evening hours of the week as a relaxing prelude to dinner. When l’aperitivo first became a trend, it was customary for drinks to be served with complimentary small bowls of snacks such as olives and nuts.

Today l’aperitivo is recognised as a stylish and elaborate affair, particularly in Milan, which is said to be the home of this eating trend. Many bars now compete to host the best ‘L’Aperitivo time’ to attract the Milanese after work crowd.

Giorgio Locatelli says: “L’Aperitivo is part of the culinary history of Italy and has helped to mould my philosophy on food and Italian cookery. Italians are known around the world for their sociability, effortless style and natural effervescence which makes the marriage of l’Aperitivo and Peroni work so well. Winding down after work over an array of delicate tasting dishes and a refreshing Peroni is the essence of the tradition born out of the style capital of the world. No one does it quite like the Italians”.

L’Aperitivo di Peroni will be available in a selection of bars and restaurants across the UK, so look out for this stylish trend when you’re next quaffing your evening refreshment.

If you fancy rustling up some of your l’aperitivo at home, try the recipes from Giorgio Locatelli and Peroni below. The l’aperitivo trend creates a more relaxed way to eat, and provides a great way to sample a varied clutch of dishes, grazing style.

Try out these three great recipes for starters:

. Acciughe e Pepperoni

. Cozze e Fregola

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Drink up summer style

Admin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:25:01 +0000

Refreshment is the key to a baking hot summer’s day, and what better way to seek it out, with this little lot. If you fancy adding an adult hit of alcohol, there’s plenty of fun to be had with mixing up a cocktail or too, but these soft drinks are good enough to be guzzled down on their own. Just fill up a pitcher with ice, slice up a handful of lemons and limes and add your favourite cordial or tonic.

Fever Tree
Now available in larger 500ml bottle sizes, this all-natural range of mixers is a favourite with mixologists. Fever Tree is already famous for its single serve glass bottles of premium mixer drinks – made with no artificial sweeteners, colourings, flavours or preservatives and made using all material ingredients. The company’s Premium Tonic Water, Naturally Light Tonic Water, Ginger Ale, and Clear Lemonade are all now available in the new 500ml size, so you can stock up aplenty. For more information, visit: http://www.fever-tree.com.

Belvoir Fruit Farm cordials
These cordials conjure up childhood memories of picnics, fruit cages and guzzling something refreshing on a hot, hot day. Quintessentially English, Belvoir’s range of cordials includes the likes of Raspberry & Rose, Gooseberry & Mint, Blood Orange & Mandarin, Elderflower and Ginger. A glassful of Belvoir’s cordials will ease you gently into a sense of summer, even if the weather is still refusing to serve up constant sunshine. To read iLoveMyGrub’s full review, visit: http://www.ilovemygrub.com/products/2008/belvoir-fruit-farms-cordials.ht...

bottlegreen
Handcrafted in the heart of the Cotswolds, the bottlegreen range has been created with a clutch of natural ingredients, blended together to leave a distinctive impression on the palate. The delicate flavours of the company’s range of cordials and pressés also work brilliantly when paired with spirits, juices and champagne for a cocktail with something a little different. For more information, visit: http://www.bottle-green.co.uk.

Duchy Originals
Now you can quaff a glass of Duchy Originals cordial whilst you stuff your face with some of their moreish biscuits. The company’s cordial range, which includes ginger and elderflower is perfect for adding some grown up zing to soft drink options. For more information, visit: http://www.duchyoriginals.com.

Firefly Tonics
Set up by two school friends, Firefly Tonics is a range of all-natural soft drinks with 2.5g of unique herbal extracts in every bottle and no added sugar. They are great as a natural hangover pick-me-up, but taste great without a hangover too! Serve up their ‘De-tox’ drink boasting lemon, lime, ginger, sarsparilla and angelica, with a scoop of crushed ice, and a slice of ginger. For more information, visit: http://www.fireflytonics.com/

Watergull Orchards
If you love your apple juice, this is the company to go for. Watergull Orchards produce over 20 varieties of English apple juice made from apples, which have been grown in Cambridgeshire in their own orchards. You’ll be truly spoilt for choice. For more information, visit: http://www.watergullorchards.co.uk.

Deck your table out

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:01:51 +0000

For days when the sun is beating down, there’s nothing better than some al fresco dining. We pick out some of our favourite things to lay the table with outside. There’s no need to resort to paper plates and throw away cups when there are some beautiful, long-lasting tableware pieces to be had.

Oignon Rouge
The ‘Tout Simple’ range from Oignon Rouge is made up of hand-crafted pottery made by artisans in Provence. The pistachio green oil dipper set, complete with a bowl for your olives and a wooden olive scoop, make for a stunning table centrepiece. Oignon Rouge is run by two Francophiles who have lived in the South of France for years. They have put together a hand picked range of products from design companies and French craftsmen. Some products are hand-made by French artisans, some are exclusive to Oignon Rouge and all are hand picked. For more information, visit http://www.onionrouge.co.uk/ to browse the whole collection.

Le Creuset
The company best known for its cast iron kitchenware has expanded its range to include a range of colours and accessory products. We love their oval serving dish in almond, perfect for presenting crisp, fresh salads. Priced at £28.00, available from Le Creuset: http://www.lecreuset.co.uk.

Boutique Provencal
For some French vintage chic, Boutique Provencal is great for adding a retro feel. Their wooden ‘Bistrot des Amis’ napkin holder is part of a range of retro designs from Natives - a family run business based just outside Aix en Provence. Priced at £16.00, available from:
http://www.boutiqueprovencale.co.uk

tranSglass
Tord Boontje & Emma Woffenden's tranSglass collection is now a permanent exhibit at New York's Museum of Modern Art. Meanwhile, their carafes made from recycled glass are making it onto many a tabletop. Each carafe sports a sleek design and is ideal for serving water at the table or cooling refreshments. Priced at £39.00 per carafe, available from Plain Gorgeous: http://www.plaingorgeous.co.uk.

Tradecraft
The UK’s leading fair trade organisation has a great range of home ware buys. Help to fight poverty through trade with their ethically conscious products. We’re fond of their stripy runner set in bright pink, orange and aqua. Priced at £18.00, available from: http://www.traidcraftshop.co.uk.

Umbra
The suitably named Louise Tripod wine glasses from Umbra’s U+ range will catch the attention of anyone clasping one. The company’s modern take on design is unfussy but individual and will add a little kookiness to your table. Priced at £82.50 for a set of four, available from: http://www.amaroni.com/.

Kitchen Craft
When the champagne gets flowing on a hot summer’s day, Kitchen Craft’s handy unbreakable champagne flutes are the ideal way to serve up fizz. Eye-catchingly bright, they can be used countless times outside without the worry of chips or breakages. Priced at £17.99 (for a set of six), available from: http://www.drinkstuff.com.

Easter foodie buys

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:15:41 +0000

If you’re looking for something a little special at Easter, we have plenty of ideas for indulgent buys, from chocolate loose leaf tea to praline quails eggs.

Hand designed eggs
Paul A Young’s Easter collection of chocolate eggs have been inspired by his love of colour and glamour, with each egg covered in free hand designs. His Easter range includes dark chocolate gold Easter bunnies (£8.95), and half eggs filled with Paul’s award winning hand made chocolates (£25.00). Paul’s innovatively designed Easter range has taken inspiration from the Paris catwalks of this year’s fashion week. His range also includes glamorous offerings such as small eggs with chocolate pearls, and Swarovski crystal eggs. Available from: http://www.paulayoung.co.uk/

Chocolate tea
If you love chocolate so much that not even a tea break can feature without it, Newby Teas of London have come up with this creamy blend of Ceylon, with hints of rich mocha chocolate. Left to infuse, this loose-leaf tea imparts a caramel flavour, with an added chocolaty hit in the shape of white chocolate chips, which melt in the brew. Available in 100g loose-leaf caddies priced at £4.95, 100g loose leaf cartons priced at £3.60 and 25 tea bags in a carton, priced at £2.90 from selected delicatessens.

Easter cake
For a taste of traditional Italian Easter cake, Carluccios’ Colomba Tradizionale is typically light and moreish, flecked with candied peels and topped with sugar icing and crunchy almonds. Wonderful with coffee, or eaten slice by slice on its own. Priced at £14.95, available from: http://www.carluccios.com.

Hampers
Daylesford Organic have come up with a beautiful and very reasonably priced Easter hamper. Stuffed with hot-cross buns (made to a traditional recipe), Simnel cake, organic chocolate ‘hen’s’ eggs and a bottle of organic champagne, it contains everything you need for Good Friday. Priced at £49.95, available from: http://www.daylesfordorganic.com.

Praline quails eggs
These gorgeous little chocolate eggs from Rococo look so realistic, that one visitor to their shop on King's Road asked if these eggs were better boiled or fried! The delicate French hazelnut pralines with a fine sugar shell are best enjoyed as is: unadulterated in their purely praline form. Priced at £5.95, available from: http://www.rococochocolates.com.

Sugar coated chocolate eggs
For something that looks as sweet as it tastes, this box full of sugar coated chocolate eggs are an eye-catching buy. In pastel shades of pink, yellow and green these eggs make a perfect present for sweet-toothed friends. Priced at £9.95, available from: http://www.carluccios.com.

Speckled eggs
Fortnum & Mason’s jar of milk chocolate eggs come in delicately speckled pastel shells. A great present, and ideal for a mini egg Easter egg hunt around the house. Enjoy straight out of the jar, or use to decorate Easter cakes, biscuits and baked treats. Priced at £9.50, available from: http://www.fortnumandmason.com.

Ginger Easter egg
Prestat, one of London’s oldest chocolate houses and purveyor of fine chocolates and truffles to Her Majesty The Queen, has created a ginger Easter egg. Perfect for ginger junkies, this luxuriously dark chocolate egg has been filled with succulent pieces of crystallised ginger, enrobed in even more dark chocolate. Well worth cracking the egg open for. Priced at £22.00, available from Prestat: http://www.prestat.co.uk/, and larger Waitrose stores.

The Bertinet Kitchen's bistro cookery course

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:04:29 +0000

The classic bistro cookery course at The Bertinet Kitchen takes you through some dinner party favourites that you can turn out again and again. iLoveMyGrub’s editor rolls up her sleeves and gets to grips with a hot stove, a sharp knife and a pan full of mussels.

Richard Bertinet’s cookery school lies on St Andrews Terrace - a pretty stretch in the centre of Bath. Although it’s seconds from the bustling shops and boutiques of the city centre, The Bertinet Kitchen exudes an air of calm. Not necessarily the atmosphere you would expect to find at a cookery school, but as I’m ushered upstairs, freed of my coat and offered a cup of tea, you get the sense that this cookery school operates like clockwork.

There are thirteen of us for the day’s cookery class, which is being taken by Richard Bertinet himself, founder of The Bertinet Kitchen. We all linger around for a few minutes, exchanging stories of the commute to Bath and downplaying our culinary prowess. As we sip the last of our tea, Richard Bertinet strides into the kitchen to introduce himself and talk us through the day. “Relax and enjoy yourself,” he says, his French accent marking the words. He advises us that we will “cook simply”, but most of all he urges us all to get into the spirit of things and quickly divides us up into three groups, branding the last group bearing a few latecomers, the ‘naughty’ group.

Before we get to chop anything, Richard slips a damp tea cloth under his chopping board to demonstrate how to stop it slipping, and lectures us sternly to carry our knives lengthways across the chopping board, with no deadly knife tips looming out over the edge. Our task for the day will be to prepare a three-course meal of mussels in white wine sauce, followed by lamb shank and rounded off with a French apple tart. It all sounds far too complex for any of us to manage single-handed, but with Richard and his team around, there’s definitely less chance of the pan burning dry.

We work backwards, preparing the apple tart first, followed by the lamb shank and lastly the mussels. The apple tart is surprisingly simple to create. No added sugar or butter is used, just puff pastry, a little milk to glaze and apples of course. We set about peeling the apples (harder than it looks), and Richard demonstrates how to layer the fine slivers of fruit onto the pastry, with the finished result looking anything but amateur. Out tarts go into the oven, and Richard sets about demonstrating the other seemingly easy task of chopping an onion. We’re shown how to slice the onion in half, peel it, and chop it so that dozens of minute diced pieces fall about the chopping board, pretty and precise, leaving the troublesome base of the onion in tact and away from our eyes. A few of us still sniff our way through onion chopping, joking and encouraging each other through our tears.

What strikes you about the classes at The Bertinet Kitchen is the atmosphere: no one rushes around with pans burning or voices yelling. Instead there’s a warm, friendly attitude from staff and attendees, which makes the day a pleasure without any fretting or snobbery to go with it. Richard’s sense of humour provides a constant stream of amusement throughout the class, and he grins widely whenever someone attempts to return an insult, revelling in his role as the disparaging Gallic chef.

We continue to chop, sear and simmer our way through the lamb shank, which bubbles away smelling wonderfully fragrant as we start to prepare our starter. With our onions chopped and white wine ready, we all descend to the worktop at the front of the class to sort and scrub the mussels. We discard the ones that won’t budge open as “they’re dead or dying, and no good for eating,” says Richard. On his request for some finely chopped parsley, I shuffle through the group and present my attempt. An eyebrow raises itself. “Didn’t I ask for finely chopped?” he asks, with mild amusement. “It’s rustic,” offers someone. “Couldn’t you use a Magimix?” asks someone else. He shoots them a withering look.

Once everything is in the pan, Richard takes a handle in each hand and shows us how to mix everything through. Using a Gallic shrug of the shoulders, he coaxes the sauce from the bottom of the pan to the top, coating the plump mussels in a simple but mouth-watering mix of white wine, shallots, garlic and lots of good Brittany butter.

We slip the apple tarts out of the oven and admire their golden-brown finish, and the gorgeous smell of just-baked puff pastry. They’re left to cool on the worktop, whilst we sit around the table, which has been simply dressed with white napkins, bottles of wine and baskets of bread that Richard’s staff has been baking in a cool, calm and collected fashion all morning.

Enjoyment and learning about food come first at The Bertinet Kitchen. When we sit down to eat, Richard visibly squirms as he talks about his dislike of pretentious food. “Why would I want to eat foam?!” he says, shuddering at the thought of the dishes on offer at some restaurants. Good, uncomplicated dishes are favoured at The Bertinet Kitchen and as we sit around the table, it becomes clear that we’re all converts in the making.

As we break off pieces of the moreish focaccia that Richard and his team have baked, and dunk it into our bowlfuls of mussels, he asks us what we think of the dish. We nod and grunt in between slurps that we’d choose this over posh foam any day of the week. For some reason it’s hard to believe that a few simple ingredients can make a dish taste so good, but as the lamb shank and apple tart are devoured by our group, it proves Richard’s point.

Before we leave, a copy of the day’s recipes are pressed into our hands and we’re sent off to re-create the dishes at home. Since the bistro class at The Bertinet Kitchen, the apple tart has been rustled up on several occasions, (admittedly some more successful than others), whilst the mussels and lamb shank have become just what was predicted – dinner party favourites that you love cooking, again and again.

The Bertinet Kitchen: 12 St Andrew's Terrace, Bath.
There are plenty of courses to choose from at The Bertinet Kitchen, from pasta-making to croissant and viennoiserie master classes. For more information, visit: http://www.thebertinetkitchen.com/

Rejuvenating teas

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:01:02 +0000

If you’ve been overdoing things recently and fancy a little serenity in your life, these rejuvenating teas will help to cleanse your palette, calm your digestive system and give your body a well-deserved boost of antioxidants.

The Tea Spot
The people at The Tea Spot specialise in loose teas from around the world. They stock Rooibos, Aromatic Teas, Estate Teas, Black Tea Blends and Green Tea. They frequently feature “guest teas”, such as White Angel - a white tea, Pai Mu Tan blended with rich cinnamon, fresh Sencha green tea, lemon peels, almond slices, lemon grass, orange blossoms, and red rose petals. The company regularly hosts tea tastings around the UK and is hell bent on spreading the love of tea. We’ll drink to that.
Available to purchase from: http://www.theteaspot.co.uk

Kenzai
If you’ve been planning to shirk your morning cup of caffeine, but don’t have the time to faff around with loose green tea, Kenzai might have the solution. Their organic green and white teas come ready prepared in handy little bottles, so you could quite easily get sipping on the go if you haven’t got round to making a brew in the morning. The teas contain no chemicals, additives or preservatives and are 100 times richer in antioxidants than vitamin C. Brewed from organic tea leaves, rather than from extract, these teas are a great way to detox. A small amount of organic agave syrup has been added to the green tea for touch of sweetness. If you’re new to any tea besides English breakfast, you might find the white tea a little subtle on the taste buds as it has a very delicate flavour, so start with the green tea, which has a good depth to it. Available to purchase at Planet Organic, Wholefoods, Fresh and Wild, Luscious Organic, The Organic Grocer.

Mariage Frères
This teahouse was established in Paris in 1854 and proudly stands as the city’s oldest tea importer today. There are now three Marriage Frères shops in Paris, all of which welcome you with warm blasts of scented teas from all over the globe. Hundreds and hundreds of teas are available to purchase from this teahouse, whose shop gives way to a traditional teahouse, serving up loose teas with ceremony and passion. If you find there’s too much choice on offer, try iLoveMyGrub’s tea tip: Thé sur le Nil.
Available to purchase from: http://www.mariagefreres.com

Rooibos Tea
Naturally caffeine-free and low in tannins, Rooibos tea is incredibly hydrating. It’s also high in antioxidants and flavonoids, and contains nine trace minerals. You can sip on Rooibos tea served up with a slice of lemon or a spoonful of honey. Alternatively for a thirst-quenching drink on hot days, sweeten Rooibos with sugar and honey and serve with ice cubes and a dash of lemon juice. For die-hard traditionalists, you can breathe a sigh of relief as it’s also quite acceptable to quaff your cup of Rooibos with milk. Rooibos is available to purchase as teabags & loose leaf from Dragonfly, Eleven O’Clock, Redbush, Tetley, Tick Tock and Twinings.

Ping Pong’s flowering teas
If you’ve ever eaten at one of Ping Pong’s restaurants, you may have ordered yourself one of their flowering teas. Before you place these dried tealeaf balls into hot water, they look fairly unassuming in appearance. But on immersing each dried tea ball in hot water, the hand-sewn tealeaves unfurl into a stunning bloom from which a beautiful flower emerges. Aside from looking quite stunning, they also boast the antioxidant benefits associated with green tea. There are three flavours to choose from: Flowering Jasmine Arch, Flowering Red Amaranth and Flowering Osmanthnus. Brilliantly, you can now buy Ping Pong’s flowering teas at their restaurants, or online at: http://www.pingpongdimsum.com.

Leaf
Leaf offers hand packed, 100% natural, high quality tea and herbals in quite beautiful packaging. This company manages to win on both fronts when it comes to style and substance. Only the tastiest and most health potent leaves and ingredients are used to bring you a more superior tasting brew. The company has a wide range of teas on offer, including Black tea scented with rose petals (pretty as well as flavoursome), flower teas and green tea balls (a mix of hand rolled leaves, buds and flowers).
Available to purchase from: http://www.leafshop.co.uk

Yogi Tea
Yogi Tea, the spiced tea specialists have four green tea blends to help revitalise and invigorate you: Green Energy, Green Balance, Green Jasmine and Green Guardian. Each blend contains organically grown tea from the best estates of India, China and Sri Lanka. The green teas have been blended with beneficial herbs to create a delicate, pleasant flavour and a naturally sweet fragrance. Available to purchase from local health food stores, Holland & Barrett, Whole Foods Market, Fresh & Wild and from www.teaworld.co.uk.

Love Food, Hate Waste

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:06:50 +0000

Christmas is a time when we enjoy indulging in treats and normally cater for bigger numbers, which can add to the issue of food waste – last Christmas we threw away 23,000 tonnes of food. Research undertaken earlier this year by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme), showed that for every three bags of shopping we bring home, we effectively put one straight in the bin. WRAP has launched its Love Food, Hate Waste campaign, aimed at reducing the amount of food we end up throwing away on a regular basis. Use WRAP’s tips below on how to avoid wasting food at Christmas.

Christmas Revival Tips

Heat small amounts of leftover mincemeat in a pan and spoon over ice-cream for an alternative Christmas pudding.

Keep the onion left over from making bread sauce. Chop it and mix into the stuffing for the bird.

If you love Christmas pudding, it is fantastic the next day, sliced and fried in a little butter until crispy on both sides and served with brandy butter or vanilla ice cream. Just don’t think about the calories until January…

Chestnuts are highly perishable because of their low fat content. To keep them fresh enough to use for a week or so, put them in a plastic bag in the salad drawer of the fridge. Freeze those you don’t wish to eat over Christmas.

Stir a handful of chopped nuts and dried fruits into leftover mincemeat, and then use to fill cored apples or halved, cored pears. Dot with butter; add a splash of fruit juice and bake until tender.

Pile leftover smoked salmon onto toasted bagels spread with cream cheese and sprinkle with lemon juice and black pepper.

If you have got leftover yoghurt, stir sugar, cinnamon and ground saffron into it and serve as a light dessert after spicy foods such as curries.

If you have over whipped the cream when making Christmas trifle, rescue it by adding a little un-whipped cream or milk and a pinch of sugar.

Freezer Tips

Whip any leftover cream before you freeze it to stop it from becoming grainy when it’s thawed.

If you’re freezing a delicate pudding like a roulade, put it on the lid of a large Tupperware box as a base and place the bottom of the box over the top. This will make it much easier to transfer the pudding to a serving dish.

Keep frozen and dried chestnuts in the freezer ready to chop coarsely into stir fries and stuffing’s. Dried chestnuts keep better in the freezer than in the cupboard.

Make mince pies in early December and freeze uncooked in patty tins until solid. Then pack in boxes. Bake a few at a time when needed.

To freeze a whole cake - wrap a cake in a double layer of cling film and foil – it’ll keep for up to one month.

To freeze sliced up cake – put greaseproof paper between each slice, this allows you to remove a few slices at a time rather than thaw the whole cake.

Making stuffing on Christmas Eve is always a fiddle, and your guests will never know if it’s been made in advance and frozen. Take the stuffing out of the freezer on Christmas Eve and thaw in the fridge.

You can freeze leftover bread sauce, as long it has not been frozen before.

Fridge Tips

Prepare Christmas veg, such as carrots and sprouts, on Christmas Eve and store them in plastic bags in the fridge to save time the next day.

Par-cooking the vegetables may sound weird, but don’t worry – top restaurants have been doing it for years. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the sprouts and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and plunge into cold water for 10 minutes. Drain and put in a bowl, cover and chill for up to 1 day. To serve, bring a pan of water to the boil and plunge the parboiled vegetables in for 2 minutes or until piping hot. Drain, season and toss in a little butter or add olive oil and herbs just before serving.

If you are cooking for lots of people and need to keep the food cool and safe in your small kitchen. Save the fridge for highly perishable foods and use an unheated garage, balcony or even an animal-free area of the garden for drinks, eggs, root vegetables and hard cabbage. Use cool boxes and ice packs kept ready in the freezer.

Love Food, Hate Waste
The Love Food Hate Waste website has a selection of timesaving recipes, which can be created from leftovers. It also has an interactive portion calculator, showing you recommended portion sizes for certain numbers of children and adults.For more information, visit: http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Pearls of cocktail wisdom

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:45:53 +0000

Mixologist, Gustavo Bertolucci serves up a luxurious selection of cocktails at London’s Pearl Bar. With a flair for flavour combinations, his cocktails are laced with passion and serious amounts of style. iLoveMyGrub talks to the man who knows his drink.

When I take my seat at the Pearl Bar, Gustavo Bertolucci is creating a killer cocktail: The Aphrodite. Its ingredients include fresh raspberries, muddled and then shaken with Belvedere vodka, fresh pineapple juice, a touch of elderflower cordial and a sprinkle of pearl dust. With over one million hand-strung pearls adorning Pearl’s restaurant and bar space, it’s only fitting that the theme extends to the cocktail menu. It’s one of Pearl’s best sellers and offers itself up to London’s discerning drinkers, slinking around in the stylish confines of a martini glass.

As I sip and nod with approval, Gustavo starts talking through the rest of the cocktail menu. “We did a twist on a wasabi martini,” he says as he points out the ‘Wasabi Boost’ on the list (sake, Belvedere vodka, Midori and fresh lemon juice shaken with wasabi). “We added some lemon juice and some melon liqueur to give it a different finish.” Pearl’s cocktail list is extensive and varied to boot. “You know why?” asks Gustavo. “We’ve always had vodkas, gins, and different vermouths, but now there are more quality spirits available, and a bigger range.” And Gustavo is quite happy to play with a bigger range – it’s what he does well.

We sniff and sip our way through different liqueurs, from tequila through to Cachaça, tasting the difference between the sometimes searing acidity of cheaper brands, and the smoother, more established notes of the top end labels. So, with all this choice on offer, where does a mixologist get his inspiration from when it comes to creating a cocktail menu? “You need to read, to know what’s on the market and of course taste what’s out there,” says Gustavo. “Tasting is really important. With cocktails there is a main rule: you need to find a balance. The balance can be quite difficult sometimes, especially when you use vodkas as they’re high in alcohol content, but a neutral spirit – so you just taste alcohol basically. It’s not oaked or aged, or smooth, so this is where quality comes in. With cocktails, generally you have a strong spirit that serves as the heart of the cocktail and a weak part, made up with a juice or a mixer. Then you have the sweet or sour slant – perhaps sugar or lemon for instance. Finally you have something to put it all together in the form of a liqueur.”

There are also plenty of current trends that impact on a mixologist’s creations. “Fruit purees are amazing,” says Gustavo. “You have their full flavour, so you don’t need to use a lot.” Mango, raspberry, strawberry and peach all wind their way into Gustavo’s creations and add a fruity burst to the cocktail list at Pearl. He was also responsible for the introduction of the Nicotini Cocktail, devised for all those smokers still reeling from the arrival of the smoking ban, and he was recently awarded third place at the 2007 Global Angostura Cocktail competition. Sake also features regularly on Pearl’s cocktail list as with many other UK bars at present. “At the Bar Show this year, one third of the show was sake or Japanese spirits,” says Gustavo. “At the moment, it’s about vermouths and herb liqueurs. Drinks come in and out, just like fashion.”

Pearl itself is a decadently stylish affair, with pearls strung everywhere, decorating the bar and restaurant with their creamy shimmer. The Pink Pearl is the bar’s signature cocktail – made with Remy Martin VSOP, elderflower and spiced berry cordials, brown sugar and topped with pink Champagne - it’s the epitome of luxury drinking.

“Mixology is quite a complicated thing, “ says Gustavo. “You need to keep up to date on a daily basis.” Seasonality plays a big part on the restaurant menu at Pearl, and the same goes for the bar. “Everything’s always changing,” points out Gustavo who frequently updates the cocktail list to reflect what’s happening seasonally. “Pomegranate was a big success this year,” he recalls. As for winter, the man in the know has yet to decide on his big ingredient of the season, but as a bouquet of deep purple orchids are delivered to the bar for him to play with, you have a feeling that whatever Gustavo settles on, it will leave your mouth feeling decadently fabulous.

To make Pearl’s signature ‘Pink Pearl’ cocktail, read Gustavo’s recipe:
http://www.ilovemygrub.com/recipes/2007/pink-pearl-champagne-cocktail.ht...

Top turkey tips

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:53:34 +0000

If you’re getting a little nervous at the prospect of cooking the festive turkey this Christmas, the experts at British Turkey have come up with some tried-and-tested tips and some life-saving tricks. No need to panic – just follow the guide below and you’ll have time left over to sip that well deserved glass of wine.

British Turkey’s top tips

The secret to turkey perfection is all in the timing. If you have a frozen bird, you’ll need to work out when to start thawing – this can take longer than you think so check the defrosting calculator on http://www.britishturkey.co.uk for the exact time.

Calculate the cooking time in advance too, so it goes in the oven early enough. Rigorous research by British turkey has found this method the best:

1. Preheat oven to 190C/375 F/Gas Mark 5.

2. Weigh the bird after stuffing. If the bird is under 4kg allow 20 minutes per kg + 70 minutes at the end. If the bird is over 4kg allow 20 minutes per kg + 90 minutes at the end. Or use the roasting calculator on http://www.britishturkey.co.uk.

For best results bring the turkey to room temperature before cooking and smear with butter and a layer of streaky bacon to keep the breast moist. Cover loosely with foil but remove the foil for the last 40 minutes to allow the skin to brown.

Always check the turkey is cooked by inserting a skewer into the thickest part of the leg. The juices should run clear. If they look pinkish, pop it back in to the oven for a little longer.

Once cooked, leave the turkey to rest for 30 minutes, which will make it easier to carve. Use this time to turn up the oven to crisp the potatoes, cook the vegetables and make the gravy with the turkey juices.

A full Christmas countdown, step-by-step carving guide and lots of troubleshooting advice are available on http://www.britishturkey.co.uk. You can also call the British Turkey Information Service for answers to your queries on: 0800 783 9994. Lines are open weekdays 9am-5pm, including Christmas Eve.

To make your Christmas turkey extra special try this fruity recipe from celebrity chef Phil Vickery:

Saffron turkey with cranberry stuffing
http://www.ilovemygrub.com/recipes/2007/saffron-turkey-wild-rice-cranber...

Game To Eat

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:04:19 +0000

Game has suffered misguided press for a number of years, often being sidelined in favour of regular staples such as beef and chicken. Partridge, pheasant and venison often make it onto the odd restaurant menu, but they’re not meats that have a regular platform on our supermarket shelves.

If you’re in any confusion as to what actually counts as game, let us fill you in. The British countryside offers up a broad range: pigeon, hare, venison, duck, pheasant, partridge, woodcock, rabbit, goose and grouse all fall under the category of game. Despite the fact that there’s plenty of this dark, flavoursome meat on offer, fans often only get to satisfy their taste for it at a clutch of restaurants.

Game To Eat, is campaigning to raise awareness and increase people’s appreciation of game. Their website, listed below, is packed full of information on game, advice from celebrity chefs and recipes – simple and sophisticated. So if you thought that game was just for those stylish dinner party moments, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by their recipes, which feature the likes of barbequed venison steaks and pot roast partridge. The website is also full of information on where to eat and buy game, complete with a list of suppliers in your area.

Game To Eat has also commissioned “Game for Gourmets”, a recipe book packed with ideas from four of the UK’s top gastro pub chefs. Mark Gough (The Tollemache Arms, Buckminster, Leics), David Lem (Houghton’s at The Pear Tree, Woodhouse Eves, Leics), Sean Hope (The Olive Branch, Clipsham, Lincs) and Neil Dowson (The Lawns, Holt, Norfolk) have selected over 50 popular game dishes and seasonal puddings from their menus, and demonstrate how to prepare them quickly and easily at home.

Besides offering plenty of alternative flavour to chicken, beef and pork, game also scores points on the health front. Low in cholesterol and high in protein, it makes for a great main ingredient in hearty stews and winter pies, as well as stepping things up a little for a sophisticated dinner party.

For more information on game, visit: http://www.gametoeat.co.uk/

Read iLoveMyGrub’s review of Game for Gourmets:
http://www.ilovemygrub.com/book-reviews/2007/game-gourmets.html

Hugo Woolley talks breakfast

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:35:02 +0000

Some people shirk the first meal of the day, certain that anything that travels the length of their oesophagus before noon will render them sick. For Hugo Woolley, breakfast is one of those unquestionable certainties – tasting better than death and taxes, for sure, but a definite morning must. Bloody Marys, Granola and fruit compote are all on the menu at Woodlands Country House, which Hugo runs with his wife Pippa. But these are just a run-up to the morning mainstay of a full Cornish fry-up, complete with Hogs Pudden. With two books under his belt, entitled “Breakfast” and “Brunch” respectively, the first meal of the day is always on this man’s agenda.

“You can forget about lunch, you can forget about supper – you can forget every meal but breakfast. Breakfast I think, is the most important meal of the day”, says Hugo Woolley as we sit down in the reception room of the Woodland Country House Hotel. Hugo and his wife Pippa have just finished cooking up the first meal of the day for their guests, as they do every morning. More often than not, they also cook for locals, and tourists who haven’t booked a room, but pay Woodlands a visit when they’re hankering after a decent bit of breakfast.

Hugo’s love of a good morning meal led him to write a recipe book on the subject. “Breakfast” is filled with recipes: traditional dishes, international offerings and a handful of pretty odd concoctions are included in the book, which is woven together by Hugo’s passion for good food, and his sense of humour. “It’s not a bog standard recipe book, because I can’t bear bog standard recipe books where there’s no preamble”, says Hugo. Aside from the preamble in “Breakfast”, the recipes themselves ensure that the book is anything but bog standard. Old favourites such as Eggs Benedict, and porridge get a look in, but they sit alongside the lesser known likes of Koulibiac, Coddled eggs and the Savoy Hotel’s “Corpse Reviver”.

So what’s the strangest thing Hugo has ever eaten? “I’ve had quite a lot of breakfasts that I don’t think are strange, but…there are things like fried worms, which is what we used to have when we were children.” Fried worms, which features in Hugo’s second book “Brunch”, is essentially pork crackling cut into strips – not something you’d find sitting on many tables in the morning nowadays. “In the olden days, bacon always used to come with the rind on”, recalls Hugo. “Nowadays, people don’t like rind, so they chop it off.”

Getting people to enthuse about breakfast in its many forms is one of Hugo’s greatest aims, especially when it comes to younger generations. “That’s the thing about “Breakfast”,” he says.” I’d love to inspire the youth – it’s the youth that I like to think are cooking breakfast. It’s nice to get the youth to cook more, and to understand good food.”

Good food has a global reach in ‘Breakfast’. “There are lots of marvellous things that come from America,” says Hugo when asked where inspiration for the book came from. “They have a whole group of breakfasts called ‘casseroles’,” he says. “It’s like bread and butter pudding, but it can be savoury or sweet.” There are also creations featured in ‘Brunch’ that have been inspired on Hugo’s very own doorstep. Eggs Sebastian came about when a guest named Benedict requested a dish to match the name of his brother, Sebastian. Instead of politely confirming that there was no such dish, Hugo answered, “Well I shall design one!” Eggs Sebastian was subsequently created in the form of a quails egg, seared scallop and black pudding, balanced on a scallop shell and topped with Sauce Cordelloise. “This is one of the poshest brunches,” says Hugo in ‘Brunch’. “It is not a very big brunch, it’s but a mouthful, so can be eaten by people with a tiny morning appetite.”

Breakfast at Woodlands Country Park Hotel caters perfectly well for those with a small morning appetite, but it specialises in serving up breakfast for those who love to savour it. Fresh fruit, cereals, home made fruit compote, muesli and toast are the precursor to the heartier second half of the menu. Once guests have woken their stomachs up with a few sips of tea and a light bite, it’s onto choosing from the likes of a full Cornish fry up, Cornish oak smoked kippers, or perhaps the milk poached haddock.

Hugo’s background has always been rooted in the catering trade, with much of his time spent in London. His stint in the big smoke included running Fleet Street’s well-known journalists’ haunt El Vino, not to mention training Hugh Hefner’s bunny girls how to do the bunny dip. He’d also set up his own sandwich shop in the city, and had started up a successful sausage company, supplying Harrods, Fortnum & Masons and Selfridges, when misfortune struck and a car accident left him in hospital for six months. With convalescence a priority, Hugo and Pippa moved to Cornwall’s warmer climes and have been serving up breakfast to their guests at Woodlands for the last five years. You get the impression that nothing much stops Hugo Woolley – especially if there’s a promise of breakfast. He talks briefly about the decision to relocate to Cornwall, but is soon back on the subject of his favourite morning meal.

For Hugo, appetite is not a problem in the morning - choosing what to have for breakfast is the difficulty. “Breakfast for me, has got to have an egg”, he says. It’s got to have delicious bacon. I love a full English or Cornish breakfast with lots of different combinations. I love eggy bread - possibly eggy bread might be my favourite”, he muses. “That’s been my favourite since time began. It’s got to be made with a bit of cream, and you can make it savoury or sweet, but I much prefer it savoury. I quite like building it up into a sandwich with bacon and hogs pudden!”

It’s while Hugo muses over his definitive favourite, that he happens upon the concept of a breakfast time tasting menu for Woodlands Country House. “A tasting menu….hmmm”, he mumbles to himself. “Blinis, egg mimosa with saviar…ooh I could do a little porridge brulee!” he exclaims. And that’s it; he’s off – hatching his next plan for the first meal of the day.

Hugo’s top five breakfast tips

1. “Use the best produce – you can’t compromise. You’ve got to have the best sausages, the best bacon and the freshest of eggs.”

2.“With fried bread, if you fry it in really hot clean oil, you literally fry the surface. It turns it brown and gives you the taste, but you haven’t soaked it in oil so it won’t saturate your veins. If it’s greasy, it’s just going to make an unpleasant breakfast.”

3.“Don’t overcook anything, otherwise you’ll end up with dry eggs and bacon that taste like cardboard.”

4.“Eat fish for breakfast as well as meat – it’s very good for you.”

5.“Last but not least, the most important thing is to eat breakfast. You can forget about lunch, you can forget about supper – you can forget every meal but breakfast!”

Address book

Brunch & Breakfast
For more information, or to purchase Hugo Woolley’s ‘Brunch’ and ‘Breakfast’ books, visit: http://www.breakfastbook.co.uk & http://www.brunchbook.com.

Woodlands Country House Hotel
For more information on Woodlands Country House Hotel, visit:
http://www.woodlands-padstow.co.uk
Woodlands Country House Hotel: Treator, Padstow, Cornwall, PL28 8RU.

Flights to Padstow
iLoveMyGrub.com travelled with Air Southwest to Padstow. Year round flights from London Gatwick to Newquay from £35 (including taxes and charges) with Air Southwest.

You can also fly to Newquay all year round with Air Southwest from:
Manchester and Leeds Bradford (from £38)
Dublin (from £30)
Bristol (from £27)
Cork* (from £27) *Service runs from Spring to Autumn.

Use the low-fare finder, check flights times and book online at www.airsouthwest.com or call 0870 2418202.

Car hire
Europcar has 130 rental stations throughout the UK and a wide range of vehicles from superminis to people carriers To make a reservation please visit: http://www.europcar.co.uk or contact the 24/7 sales and reservations centre on: 0870 607 5000.

Top ten things to do during Chocolate Week

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:23:50 +0000

If you're a chocolate addict through and through, browse through this little lot of chocolate-coated events, all laid on as part of Chocolate Week and take your pick:

The opening of the Chocolate Hotel
The Chocolate Hotel, the first hotel of its kind in the World, opens in Bournemouth. With indulgent, exclusively designed rooms, a chocolate fountain to greet guests on arrival, chocolate cocktails in the bar, chocolate tastings, chocolate workshops and of course, lots of fantastic chocolate to eat.
5 Durley Road, Bournemouth, BH2 5JQ. tel: 01202 556857
www.thechocolatehotel.co.uk £90 - £150 per night

Waitrose events
Sampling and offers at various Waitrose stores Divine, Rococo & Valrhona will be conducting tastings at selected branches throughout the week and there will be offers on Lindt, Prestat, Rococo, Valrhona and New Tree.

Divine launch their book at Borders
Divine have launched their very own recipe book, 'Divine Heavenly Chocolate Recipes with a Heart'. This sumptuously illustrated hardback book is an unashamedly gorgeous celebration of Divine. The book is written by leading food writer and chocolate expert Linda Collister and to celebrate the launch Divine are sampling their chocolate at selected Borders book stores around the UK.

Sampling at Wholefoods
Wholefoods is the most exciting foodie event to happen to Kensington recently and we’re delighted that they’re embracing chocolate week with samples throughout the week. Depending on when you visit you can enjoy delights from Divine, Melt, Green & Black’s, Domori, Honeyrose Bakery, Pralus, Montezuma, Valrhona, Sobores Aztecas, Winon’a Organic, East of Boston Desert Sauces, The Chocolate Alchemist and Alpro Chocolate Milk.
The Wholefoods Market, Barkers Building, Kensington High Street, W8 5SE

Chocolate and cheese tasting at Paul A Young with TV chef Lotte Duncan
You might not think that chocolate and cheese go together but they do! We’ve tasted chocolate and cheese with the dynamic Mr Young before and the effect it has on your taste buds is really surprising – this is an excellent event, which will be a great experience for any foodie out there. Paul is also opening his second shop, in the Royal Exchange in the city in time for chocolate week.
Chocolate and cheese tasting, 18th October, 6.30pm-9pm. £65
33 Camden Passage, Islingon, N1 8EA. Tel: 020 7424 5750 www.paulayoung.co.uk e: info@payoung.net

Chocolate factory tour around L’artisan du Chocolat’s new studio
This is a one off open visit to the production facility in Ashford to tour the site including seeing the equipment l’artisan use to make their own chocolate from ground cocoa beans. Booking required at info@artisanduchocolat.com. Time: 10 AM sharp to 12AM Not open to visitors from the chocolate trade.
The Long Barrow, Orbital Park, Ashford, Kent, TN24 0GA

Goody bags at Rococo
Probably London’s most famous chocolate shop, Rococo in the King’s Road and Marylebone High Street are very generously giving away goody bags filled with chocolate delights with every purchase. There will also be a chocolate tasting on the hour every hour so pop in to learn about the nation’s favourite food stuff and try their delicious samples.
321 King’s Road, SW3 5EP. Tel: 020 7 352 5857 www.rococochocolates.com
45 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5HG. Tel: 020 7935 7780

Mark Hix’s cider apple brandy chocolate at Melt
Working with the renowned chef Mark Hix, chef director of Caprice Holdings, which includes The Ivy, Melt are also celebrating Apple Day with Hix's Cider Apple Brandy chocolate. Made with apples from the from the Temperley orchards, this delicious chocolate is not to be missed. No booking , free tastings ! 11 am - 4pm at Melt.
59 Ledbury Road, Notting Hill, London. W11 2AA.
Tel: 020 7727 5030 www.meltchocolates.com

Sir Hans Sloane Chocolates
Master Chocolatier Bill McCarrick, world class Chocolatier, started his chocolate company, The Sir Hans Sloane Chocolate and Champagne House earlier this year. Bill’s is the first chocolate studio in the UK to have its own in-house chocolate conching machine and he’s holding tasting events on the Monday, Thursday and Friday of Chocolate Week at 6pm-8pm. £40
Sir Hans Sloane, Tadecity, Unit 6, Avro Way, Brooklands, Surrey, KT13 0XO
Tel: 01932 356008 to book. www.sirhanssloane.com

Damian Allsop at Danesfield House
Trained in the kitchens of Gordon Ramsay and Giorgio Locatelli, followed by 5 years in a 2 Michelin-starred restaurant in Spain, acclaimed chocolatier and pastry chef Damian Allsop has launched a range of sensational chocolates that step outside the traditional styles. Damian has developed all his own recipes to enable him to omit the use of cream in his ganaches and is hosting a tasting event at the luxurious country house Danesfield House in Marlow.
Wednesday 17th October 11am-1pm. £35
Danesfield House, Henley Road, Marlow-on-Thames, Bucks, SL7 2EY
Tel: 01628 891010