Newsletters

iLoveMyGrub.com Newsletter (Issue 11 - June 2008)

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:24:40 +0000

Welcome to the June newsletter from iLoveMyGrub.com. This month we take a look at some stunning tableware to get you in the mood for al fresco eating. We also have a handful of recipes from inspirational chef Skye Gyngell of Petersham Nurseries. Skye has created a clutch of dishes that pair brilliantly with sherry, so whether it’s a dry Manzanilla you love, or a lusciously sweet drop of Pedro Ximinez, there’s something for you to get your taste buds around. We’re also offering readers the chance to win an outdoor drinkware set, from French online shop Oignon Rouge. The company is run by two Francophiles who have lived in the South of France for years, and have put together a hand picked range of products from design companies and French craftsmen. Bon appétit!

iLoveMyGrub.com xxx

Features

Deck out your table

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.

Reviews

As ever we bring you the best food, drink, restaurants and recipe books that we’ve come across at iLoveMyGrub this month:

Restaurant of the month: The Ragged Cot, Cirencester

This long-standing coaching inn has recently re-opened under the ownership of Ian Rayner and Miles Johnson. Having launched The King's Arms, in Litton, in February of 2008, the duo are aiming for similar success with The Ragged Cot, snuggled away in the heart of the Cotswolds. This Cirencester establishment is also dog friendly, and hounds of all shapes and sizes are welcome in the bar, restaurant and its rooms. Heading up the kitchen is Kevin Chandler, a head chef with stints at Petrus and Maze under his belt and a love of a meaty menu.

Product of the month: Fruit soups

The people at the New Covent Garden Food Co. have earned themselves a reputation for creating soup flavours here, there and everywhere. “Oh, it’s Christmas, let’s do a Christmas soup! Oh it’s Easter, let’s do something for that! Oh it’s the second Tuesday of the month – let’s release a new soup!” Let’s face it, they’re brimming with soup ideas and their latest offering confirms it: fruit soups. Fruit soups, which can be guzzled, hot and steaming on a cold shiver of a day, or chilled on a scorcher.

Recipe book of the month: Rebel Cook

This is a great book to bestow on a fledgling cook who is keen to extend their repertoire in the kitchen. With its easy tone and accessible recipes, Simon Rimmer has managed to keep the reader’s interest with inventive creations, but an approachable feel.

Recipes

Roquefort & fennel stacks with sherry syrup

This dish from Skye Gyngell works brilliantly accompanied by a glass of a Palo Cortado, Cream or Moscatel sherry.

White peach & sherry ice cream

Skye Gyngell’s luxurious ice cream recipe is perfect with a glass of rich, velvety, chilled Pedro Ximenez sherry.

Competition

iLoveMyGrub.com has teamed up with Oignon Rouge to giveaway an outdoor drink ware set to one lucky reader. The drinks set, made by a local French supplier includes 4 large wine glasses, 4 tumblers, a large pitcher plus 2 bowls for nibbles, all in green acrylic. Oignon Rouge is a French online shop, which sources tableware and accessories for a whole range of occasions inside or out, from le brunch, l’apéro or a soirée to a picnic ‘à la campagne’. 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.

This competition has now closed.

Closing date 25th July 2008

Last month’s winners:
UNION Coffee Roastmatster’s selection: Audrey Tebbs (Boston)

iLoveMyGrub.com Newsletter (Issue 9 - April 2008)

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 10:33:04 +0000

Welcome to the April newsletter from iLoveMyGrub.com. This month we round up the best of the restaurants, food and recipe books that we’ve been sampling including the 100% block of cacao created from bean to bar by William Harcourt-Cooze. You many have seen him grating huge quantities of chocolate into savoury and sweet dishes in Channel 4’s recent series: Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory. We’ve also been forking our way through the tasting menu at the newly opened Launceston Place and have teamed up with UNION, Hand-Roasted coffee artisans, to offer one lucky reader two packs of coffee, every month for one whole year. Get the cafetiere out…

iLoveMyGrub.com xxx

Reviews

As ever we bring you the best food, drink, restaurants and recipe books that we’ve come across at iLoveMyGrub this month:

Restaurant of the month: Launceston Place, Kensington

Launceston Place has a sense of understated occasion about it. The decorative tones are coolly muted, but achingly stylish and we felt decidedly spoilt for the duration of our meal. Staff are of the old-school approach to fine dining: impressively knowledgeable, professional and charming. Match that with a contemporary approach in the kitchen to cooking traditional classics and you have a restaurant that will garner attention from miles around.

Product of the month: Venezuelan Black

This cylindrical block of 100% cacao is for a certain kind of chocolate addict. If you love your Cadbury’s dairy milk, this may well not be the bar for you, as there isn’t a sprinkling of added sugar to be found. If you like cocoa nibs and you often head for the bar with the highest cocoa content around, then you will probably be itching to try this offering from Willie Harcourt-Cooze.

Recipe book of the month: The Jewish Princess Cookbook

This book brings out the cake-making goddess in you. Even if you’ve never lined a baking tin, you’ll want to by the time you’ve flicked through a few of the recipes. Georgie Tarn and Tracey Fine babble their way through this recipe book with plenty of girl talk. Their quibbles and observations on shopping, eating and well, more eating occasionally grate, but if you find this happens, just skip straight to the recipes which are for the most part, simple, straightforward and most importantly, a pleasure to devour.

Recipes

Baked polenta with vine tomatoes, mozzarella & rocket

This recipe makes a great starter or main course depending on how hungry you are and how many mouths you have to feed. Layering everything on top of the crisp polenta gives this dish an effortless look.

Polenta and plum syrup cake

This polenta and plum syrup cake makes a wonderful edition to the perfect Sunday tea.

Competition

iLoveMyGrub.com has teamed up with UNION, Hand-Roasted, the London-based artisan coffee company, to offer one lucky reader the chance to become a coffee connoisseur with the ultimate coffee gift: The UNION Hand-Roasted Roastmaster’s Selection. Whether you’re a coffee novice or budding expert, the UNION Roastmaster’s Selection provides a twelve-month tasting tour of some of the world’s finest single estate coffees delivered directly to your door, ground or whole bean as you wish.

Each month, the winner will enjoy two packs of specially selected coffee, as chosen by UNION’s Roastmaster Steven Macatonia, along with comprehensive notes on the selected coffee, building together to form an indispensable guide across the course of the year. Presented in an elegant folder, the monthly guides contain tasting notes, serving tips and stories from the coffee farms.

UNION Hand-Roasted works directly with coffee farmers around the world to identify and source a collection of hand-crafted blends and exclusive single estate Arabica coffees. It has a mission to source the highest quality coffee and rewards farmers with premium prices, enabling them to make ongoing improvements to their land and provide for their workers and families. Union is committed to working hand-in-hand with the farmers it works with, by investing in programmes which improve coffee quality, the local environment and life in producer communities: including health, childcare and education facilities. For more information, visit http://www.unionroasted.com to browse the whole collection.

This competition has now closed - winners will be announced in the following newsletter.

Closing date 11th May 2008

Last month’s winners:
Paul A Young chocolate tasting: Suzanne Heyd, Susannah Cartwright, Alison Lee, Poppy Wilkinson.

iLoveMyGrub.com Newsletter (Issue 8 - March 2008)

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:39:01 +0000

Happy Easter from iLoveMyGrub.com! If you’re still racking your brains for pressies at Easter, we’ve got some great ideas to get you started with our Easter foodie guide. Praline quails eggs and chocolate tea are just some of the things we’ve been sampling. If you’re thinking about what to rustle up in the kitchen during Easter, try out this month’s dessert recipes. Hot cross bun and apricot butter pudding anyone? As if that isn’t enough in the way of sweet-toothed inspiration, we’re giving away four chocolate tastings at Paul A Young’s award winning chocolate shop in London. Good luck & Happy Easter!

iLoveMyGrub.com xxx

Features

Easter foodie buys

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

Reviews

As ever we bring you the best food, drink, restaurants and recipe books that we’ve come across at iLoveMyGrub this month:

Bar of the month: Champagne Bar, St. Pancras, London

With all of its 96-metre wow factor, the Champagne Bar at St Pancras is a great place to meet for drinks, but there’s a decidedly transient feel to it. It’s a precursor to something else, just like the building that hosts it. Whether that’s a night on the town, dinner for two, or a trip to Paris, you could do little better than to slide into a booth beforehand and sip on a glass of decent fizz, before you travel onto your next destination.

Product of the month: Fru lemon cakes

Frü lemon cakes are perfect for serving up with after dinner coffee and give your taste buds a real zing on the lemon front. They’re also satisfyingly moist, so if your baking efforts often result in a cake as dried out as the Sahara, then cheating a little with Frü’s cheeky mini lemon cakes could be a better move all round. Yum.

Recipe book of the month: The Abel & Cole Cookbook

Having made regular appearances on people’s doorsteps with their much-loved fruit and veg boxes, Abel & Cole have released a recipe book to celebrate the produce they deliver around the country. Keith Abel lovingly imparts his favourite recipes, collected from the farmers and producers that he’s worked with over the past 18 years.

Recipes

Lemongrass, ginger & coconut cake

This light and lovely cake is perfect for celebrations. Once it’s baked, warm diluted Bottlegreen Lemongrass & Ginger cordial is spooned over to give it a delectable finish.

Hot cross bun and apricot butter pudding

The sweet and spicy buns in this recipe, combine brilliantly with the apricots and make for a great Easter alternative to traditional bread and butter pudding.

Bramley apples in red wine

Keep the last of the winter cold out with this baked apple recipe from Fruisana. This warming pudding can be served hot with custard, or cold with cream or ice cream…depending on how cold you are.

Competition

iLoveMyGrub.com has four chocolate tastings to giveaway at Paul A Young’s in London. Paul A Young is one of the UK’s foremost chocolatiers and patissiers, and was awarded ‘Best New Chocolate Shop’ in the Academy of Chocolate Awards. The four winners will be able to join Paul at his Islington chocolaterie on his sought after chocolate tasting workshop to discover fine chocolate, from single origin, vintage chocolate and rare varieties. There will also be the opportunity to taste some of Paul's award winning creations. For more information on Paul A Young and his chocolates, visit: http://www.paulayoung.co.uk/.

This competition has now closed - winners will be announced in the following newsletter.

Last month’s winners:
Ginger Pig master class: Jane Willis (Fleet).

iLoveMyGrub Newsletter (February 2008)

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:41:07 +0000

For bacon lovers out there, February is a time to celebrate. Bacon Connoisseurs Week is running from the 16th– 23rd February and to mark it, we’ve got a handful of great recipes from Love Pork that will have your drooling attractively over your plate. If you’re a Marmite fan, you may want to get unreasonably excited at the news of a limited edition Champagne Marmite, available just in time for Valentine’s Day. As ever, we also have a great competition prize up for grabs: the wonderful people at The Ginger Pig butchers are giving away an evening master class to one lucky reader, so you’ll learn how to prepare cuts of meat, sample a cookery demonstration and take your cuts home with you to cook up something lovely. Bacon sandwich anyone?

iLoveMyGrub.com

Features

Bistro cookery classes at The Bertinet Kitchen

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.

Reviews

As ever we bring you the best food, drink, restaurants and recipe books that we’ve come across at iLoveMyGrub this month:

Restaurant of the month: The French Table, Surrey

As pricing goes, The French Table is very reasonable when you consider the kind of food you’ll be receiving. The cooking here is of a seriously high standard, and judging by the bustling custom, dud dishes don’t feature at this upmarket Surbiton eatery. Do not come to The French Table if you’re on one of those diets that prohibit a sweet course, as you’ll leave the restaurant having eaten superbly, but failed completely, to resist the temptation of one hell of a dessert list.

Product of the month: Champagne Marmite

As if there’s not enough of a divide between the lovers and haters of this yeast extract, Marmite have added another dimension to their traditional recipe. Champagne Marmite has hit the shelves just in time for loved-up Marmite fans to nip down to the supermarket, purchase a jar and smear it all over…well, toast or something.

Recipe book of the month: Pork & Sons

Stéphane Reynaud pays homage to the pig in this extensive recipe book. Born into a family of butchers and the owner of restaurant Villa 9 Trois, (specialising in pork, just outside of Paris), Reynaud’s love of sow and boar was instilled at birth. Reynaud talks the reader through the slaughtering process, pig producers and of course recipes, all decorated with stellar photography and well-crafted illustrations (of many a pig).

Recipes

Bacon & goats cheese tarts

This gorgeous recipe from Love Pork is perfect for a special breakfast and great served up as a large starter or light main course.

Bacon, carrot, butterbean & coriander soup

This winter warmer soup from Love Pork is a great way to enjoy your streaky bacon.

Ultimate bacon brunch with pancakes and maple syrup

This fabulously indulgent brunch recipe from Love Pork will have you drooling over that ever-tempting combination of bacon and maple syrup.

Competition

iLoveMyGrub.com is offering readers the chance to win an evening master class at The Ginger Pig butchers in Marylebone, London. Butchers Perry and Borut have 45 years experience between them at The Ginger Pig, which prides itself on raising the best animals, in the happiest of circumstances, on the finest stretch of the Yorkshire Moors. Perry and Borut are well versed in all aspects of cutting meat and the aging process. The evening course will cover basic butcher's skills, the origin and uses of different cuts of meat, buying tips and a cookery demonstration along with drinks to sample. The farmers and butchers at The Ginger Pig know their meat. The farms that rear the meat you see at The Ginger Pig butchers, refuse to use bought in and bagged artificial feeds, and insist upon traceability with all of their stock. For more information on The Ginger Pig, visit: http://www.thegingerpig.co.uk/.

This competition has now closed - winners will be announced in the following newsletter.

Last month’s winners:
Whole Earth baked beans: Robert Daines (Eastbourne)
Runners up: Samantha Slater (Wiltshire), Tara Collins (Surrey), Ben Bennett (Wood Falls), Celine Gordine-Wright (Surrey), Jon Gillies (Surrey), Nicola Laycock (East Molesey), Ruth Turner (Surbiton), Frank Coll (Chessington), Emma Jennings (Ingham), Rozalyn Allen (Southampton).

iLoveMyGrub newsletter, January 2008

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:59:50 +0000

With a fresh new year ahead, there’s plenty to be thinking about when it comes to food. January often gives way to detoxing and penny pinching after the Christmas splurge, but with Farmhouse Breakfast Week running from 20th – 26th January, it would be a crime to cut out the first meal of day. We talk to Hugo Woolley, author of books Breakfast and Brunch, about how to enjoy the most important meal of the day. We also take a look at some health-boosting teas and detoxing mocktails. As if that wasn’t enough, we have a year’s supply of Whole Earth baked beans to give away to one lucky reader. Pass the tin opener…

Features

Hugo Woolley talks breakfast

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. Read on for more information:

Rejuvenating teas

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. Read on to find out more:

Reviews

As ever we bring you the best food, drink, restaurants and recipe books that we’ve come across at iLoveMyGrub this month:

Restaurant of the month: Green & Red Bar and Cantina

There's no mistaking that Green & Red is first, a drinking hole, and second, a restaurant. While everyone there was munching on food of some persuasion, it seemed peripheral to the exciting events happening at the bar: the shaking, swirling, clinking excitement of a bar man who knows his drink. I don't mind this. In fact, more than anything, I think it takes all the pretentious, worry-some focus off the food, so, like a proper cantina, it can just be something enjoyed between friends.

Product of the month: Hillfarm Rapeseed Oil

If you’re on the lookout for alternative cooking oil, Hillfarm’s Rapeseed Oil is a great change to the ubiquitous likes of olive oil. Nothing wrong with olive oil of course, but if you’re after a different taste, this rapeseed oil lends a certain nuttiness to your culinary efforts, somewhere in between the flavours of sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

Recipe book of the month: Breakfast

The first meal of the day has always been something of an obsession for Hugo Woolley. A man quite defiantly in favour of the supposition that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Hugo has put together a collection of some old favourites, modern flourishes and quite simply, quirky concoctions. With over 30 years of experience in the catering trade, including a stint running El Vino on Fleet Street, and another stint training up Bunny Girls in silver service, Hugo has quite possibly seen it all when it comes to breakfast.

Mocktails

Pomegranate breakfast smoothie

Start your day with this delicious breakfast smoothie, made with Pomegranate juice. Pomegranate juice is packed with antioxidants and vitamins, and blended with banana, blueberries, oats and seeds, it makes a great tasting breakfast drink. Potassium-rich banana will boost energy, while blueberries are a source of vitamin C. Oats are high in fibre and seeds are full of vitamin E, providing slow release energy to see you through the day.

Sunraysia Agen Provocateur

This mocktail has great cleansing benefits and is rich in antioxidants to help restore your body’s natural balance. Created by renowned sommelier Quentin Sadler, using Sunraysia prune juice, it’s aptly named after the famous Agen region in Bordeaux where Sunraysia’s prunes are harvested. The Agen Provocateur is smooth to taste with a rich prune flavour and a slight citrus kick.

Competition
iLoveMyGrub.com is offering readers the chance to win a year’s supply of baked beans, courtesy of Whole Earth Foods. One lucky winner will receive 104 cans (2 for each week of the year), over the course of 2008. The beans will be dispatched in two or three batches throughout the year. There are also 10 runners’ up goody bags to be won, full of Whole Earth food products such as Maya Honey, Double Chocolate Cookies and Tomato Ketchup.

This competition has now closed - winners will be announced in the following newsletter.

Last month’s winner:
Sacla’ hamper winner: Belinda Oatway (Bristol)
Sacla’ recipe book winners: Jennifer Coll (Surrey), Anne Clarke (Kent)