Fabulous Food Finds Blog

Tasting Theatre Sessions at Good Food Show on sale now!

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 14:05:09 GMT

�� New Tasting Sessions Now on Sale! ��

Join me in the Fabulous Food Finds Tasting Theatre (Hall 20) at the Good Food Show Winter, where we’ll be diving into four delicious new sessions every day of the show 27 - 30 November. Each one is just £6 – and includes tastings, stories and expert tips from the makers, lots of foodie knowledge and chat and plenty of inspiration to take home too.

☕ Artisan Coffee Tasting with a Treat

Start your day with a caffeine kick and something sweet.

�� 10.30 – 11.00

�� Meet the Makers: New Artisan Finds

Discover the next big names in British food.

�� 12.30 – 13.00

��️ Game-Changing Spices, Seasonings & Condiments

Shake, stir and sprinkle your way to next-level flavour.

�� 14.00 – 14.30

�� Sweet Treats & Indulgent Bites

End the day on a high note with artisan chocolates, fudge, bakes and more.

�� 15.00 – 15.30

Festive and Mystery Tastings have now sold out, tasting tickets are limited and selling fast – grab yours now before they’re gone!

https://goodfoodshowwinter.seetickets.com/workshops/good-food-show-winter-fff-workshops

Found! Shortbread Taster Boxes

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 09:29:55 GMT

The Sawley Kitchen Shortbread Taster Box – The Perfect Delicious Gift?

If you’re on the hunt for a thoughtful gift, and know that food gifts are the best of all the gifts, let me point you towards something really special - the Shortbread Taster Box from The Sawley Kitchen .

Beautifully packaged and brimming with handmade biscuits, this artisan shortbread selection is baked in small batches in the UK. Inside, you’ll find a range of flavours – from classic butter shortbread to more indulgent and exciting combinations like Rhubarb and Custard, Sticky Toffee Pudding and Cherry Bakewell - all made with proper ingredients and plenty of care.

At £18.95 plus postage, it’s fantastic value for what you get and makes a lovely gift for birthdays, thank yous (I'm thinking Teacher Gifts!) or just a surprise treat (It also makes an excellent treat for yourself, no judgement here.) You can choose the type of sleeve for the occasion and include a gift message too!

The taster box is a great way to discover The Sawley Kitchen’s signature bakes... and trust me, they really do melt in the mouth.

Order the Shortbread Taster Box from The Sawley Kitchen

Nudie 'Nude' Snacks - Katsu Cauliflower Crisps

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Fri, 05 May 2023 10:23:20 GMT

Looking for an interesting new snack? Or to get more vegetables in your diet? So many seem to be ultra processed, so I like the look and taste of the 'nude' snack range from Nudie Snacks.

Nudie Snacks

I came across this range at the Farm Shop and Deli Show last week; a trade show in Birmingham. I went straight in to try the Katsu Cauliflower Crisps and they were gorgeous; crispy, flavourful and actually tasted like cauliflower, in a good way!

They also do Lentil curls, roasted chickpeas, broad beans and corn and coconut chips too. They came up with the Nudie name because their snacks are all as pure and unadulterated as possible.

Find the Katsu Cauliflower Crisps here on Amazon.

Fab Non Alcoholic Pimms Alternative

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Fri, 05 May 2023 10:11:40 GMT

If you aren't drinking alcohol for whatever reason, then finally you don't have to miss out on a nice refreshing glass of Pimms! Perfect timing for Bank Holiday celebrations, Anon Drinks have made a gorgeous spirit alternative and ready to drink can too!

I was sent their range of drinks to try and I dived straight into their ready to drink English Garden, a gorgeous sparkling fruit flavoured drink with hints of strawberry, mint and cucumber.

It’s based around the flavours of Pimms; refreshing, fruity and delicious. They also have no-alcohol Spirit alternatives; No Groni, Spiced Cane, English Garden (to be mixed) and Bittersweet Aperitif (Aperol alternative). Great to have something that feels special, has some flavour and fun so you don’t feel like you’re missing out on the booze.

Amazon fans can purchase their English Garden Spirit with Prime here.

Botree's Incredibly Tomatoey Sun Dried Tomato Powder

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 12:24:59 GMT

Want to know one of my favourite superstar ingredients in my kitchen for adding extra flavour to so many things? It's this Botree Farm Sun Dried Tomato Powder. ⁠

The special Sun Dried Tomato Powder is made with a unique variety of tomatoes in Turkey; herbal, sweet, tangy and full of umami deliciousness. ⁠
⁠
Super convenient in powder form and great if you're cutting down on fat too.⁠
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Use it in pasta sauces, salads, cocktails, rubs and stews - anywhere you want a boost of savoury tomato flavour.⁠
⁠
I put this in the Spring Fabulous Food Finds Tasting Box and it was most definitely one of the stars of the box.
⁠

Festive Tasting Box Blog

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 12:26:51 GMT

I'm absolutely LOVING deciding what to put in the next Tasting Box, the Festive Edition! Here's a little preview of what'll be in this gorgeous box of fabulous food and drink...

Usually the items in the Tasting Box are a complete surprise, but I'm changing things up with the Festive Box for those people that like to know what they're getting.

The box will be filled with around 15 Festive or Wintery food and drink products chosen by me, Katy Truss to delight food lovers across the UK.

What's inside the Festive Tasting Box?

Here are four of the items going in the box that I just know you're going to love!

Cranberry, Redcurrant and Clementine Sauce from Puckett's Pickles to go with your Turkey or Goose.
Mulling Spice Kit from Spice Kitchen to create your own Mulled Wine, Cider or Apple Juice.
Boozy, Buttery Mincemeat from The Preservation Society to bake the most incredible mince pies!
The sweetest, most exceptional Royal Cinnamon from Botree Farm for the warming spicy taste of Christmas or the most amazing cinnamon buns.

I'll try to keep the rest of the products as a surprise... I've bought lots of them and am so excited for the Guided Tasting where subscribers will open their boxes together and meet some of the producers too!

How to purchase a Festive Tasting Box

If you're keen to get your hands on one of these Festive Tasting Boxes you have a few options:

Subscribe to the quarterly Tasting Boxes and your first box will be the Festive Box posted out on the 6th December. It's £39.95 every 3 months and includes P&P.
Buy a one-off box for you for £39.95 and it'll be posted on the 6th December.
Why not buy a Festive Tasting Box as a gift for the Foodie in your life? It's £41.95 including P&P and a special card with a hand written note. It will be posted on the 6th December, unless you request a later postage date.

Need to know more about the Festive Tasting Box or Subscriptions?

Fabulous Food Finds is owned, managed and operated by Katy Truss, if you have any questions the best way to get in touch is via email katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk . She'll be more than happy to answer any questions!

Ghee, Glorious Ghee

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 11:02:27 GMT

Have you tried ghee? I love it; you get the gorgeous butteriness of erm, butter, but it can cook at a very high temperature without burning and it doesn't have to be kept chilled either. You can use it to spread, fry, bake and more in place of butter or oil.

It starts with the best quality butter, then is gently heated to remove any water and milk solids, so brings an ultra buttery, caramelised flavour. It has loads of gut and immune system benefits (read all about it on the Ghee Appetit website ) and is popular in Keto diets too.

Vidushi at Ghee Appetit knows everything there is to know about ghee and makes the most amazing range of pure and infused ghee. Flavours include Roasted Garlic (so versatile in the kitchen!), Cinnamon (great to make bulletproof coffee) and the indulgent, luxurious Morel Pate Ghee made with Morels hand-picked after lightning strikes in the Himalayan Mountains (amazing, right?!).

It's all made with organic milk from Grass-Fed British Cow's milk and is an incredibly versatile product of the highest quality. They've just booked in to feature at the BBC Good Food Show Winter in the Food Champions area, where you can taste the range and learn more from Vidushi about how awesome Ghee is.

Will we see you there?

Semi-Fresh Herbs by Seggiano

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 12:43:41 GMT

Semi Fresh Herbs just might be a game changer in your kitchen. All the vivid, bold flavour and aroma of fresh herbs with the convenience of a long shelf life and tidy little jar...

Hands up if you struggle to keep your potted herbs alive this time of year (or at all?!). Dried herbs have their place in the kitchen but you really can’t replace that powerful, bright flavour and aroma you get from fresh herbs. In comes Seggiano’s Semi Fresh herb range, which solves this problem in the kitchen.

This impressive innovation takes single estate (near the Amalfi Coast of Italy), organic fresh herbs harvested at the perfect time and partially cures them in olive oil and rock salt. The result is a vivid, aromatic flavour with the convenience of a long shelf life. Perfect to add fresh herb flavour at the end of cooking to soups, stews, sauces, bolognese or anywhere you’d usually use fresh herbs.

Click here to find out more and buy direct from Seggiano or look out for them in your local independent farm shop or deli.

Autumnal Food Finds

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 12:40:36 GMT

I found some gorgeous products for the last Tasting Box, and here's a closer look at a few Autumnal favourites from the box...

Air Dried Ham from The Greek Farmer is divine; delicate slices of wine-bathed free-range Blythburgh Pork. It's oak-smoked and cured in salt and spices for a creamy, peppery flavour.

The Chili Maven’s gorgeous Salsa Macha is an incredibly versatile ingredient to add warmth, nuttiness and addictive chilli flavour, without it being blow your socks off hot. It’s made in Mexico with dried chilli, nuts, seeds and garlic; a condiment and ingredient to drizzle, dip, marinade and more!

Danish Pastry Tea from Hoogly is the closest you’ll get to cosy in a mug; cocoa, cinnamon and subtle pastry flavours in a warming Rooibos tea, just add a soft blanket and you’re away.

The brand new Qqinger from Kyon Drinks is a perfectly balanced ginger lemonade; sweetened with elderflower and lifted with lime. The ginger brings a gentle warmth and antioxidant benefits too. All natural and low in sugar too. For ginger lovers, try the Ppinger for a more fiery hit!

All these fantastic products featured in the last Fabulous Food Finds Tasting Box (see below!), if you like the idea of a box of goodies like these landing on your doorstep, why not subscribe today ?

Tasting Theatre at the BBC Good Food Show - Coffee, Spices and Seasonings and Cheese Tastings

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 13:04:40 GMT

Did you see the Fabulous Food Finds Tasting Theatre at the BBC Good Food Show Summer? Here's a quick run through some of the fabulous producers and products that featured on the stage; Coffee, Cheese and Spices and Seasonings are up first...

The Fabulous Food Finds Tasting Theatre had it's first outing at the BBC Good Food Show Summer and I think it's safe to say it was a sell out success! Here is a quick run through of the fabulous food and drink producers and products that featured in the Coffee, Cheese and Spice and Seasoning Sessions.

Coffee Tasting with Adams and Russell Coffee Roasters

It was amazing to have the brilliant Andreas Constantinou from Adams and Russell Coffee Roasters to guide us through three of their fantastic coffees at the show. We learnt lots about how to brew coffee at home and how the country of origin has an impact on the flavour of the coffee. Here are the details of the coffees that we tasted:

FAIRTRADE NICARAGUA WOMEN’S CO-OPERATIVE

About: This Fairtrade coffee is grown and produced exclusively by women in the region

of Jinotega, Nicaragua. Upon meeting certain quality standards, they receive a premium.

This assists the women in obtaining legal title to their land and permitting a better quality

of life for them, their families and in turn- the community as a whole.

We think the taste of this coffee is as special as the women behind it. What’s also incredibly

special is that it achieved an SCA score of 83.

Expect: Dark chocolate, caramel, dry roasted peanuts

Country: Nicaragua

Region: Jinotega

Process: Washed

Elevation: 1200M

FAROS ESPRESSO (3 Star Great Taste Award 2021)

About: Exclusively blended by our SCA registered barista- Andreas, Faros is a love

letter to his Greek heritage. He’s taken our Award Winning Single Plantation coffees from

Rwanda, Brazil and Ethiopia and created a blend that’s complex, smooth and crisp. This

blend is unique and a coffee worth paying attnetion to.

It speaks not only to the Adams + Russell brand, but the important people behind it.

Expect: Strawberry, Chocolate, Vanilla

Process: Semi-washed / Washed

INDONESIA JAVA

About: The secret to this amazing Indonesian coffee is the rich, volcanic soil in which it’s

grown. At an elevation of 1400M on the side of the Ijen volcano complex; the nutrient-

dense soil, heavy shading and stable, cool temperatures create an optimal coffee growing

environment that allows the coffee cherry to ripen slowly and develop complex flavours.

Expect: Tobacco, Dark cocoa, Earthy

Country: Indonesia

Region: Java

Process: Washed

Elevation: 1400M

Head to www.adamsandrussell.co.uk to purchase or find out more.

Spices and Seasonings with BoTree Farm

Peter from Botree Farm took us on a worldwide tasting tour of single origin herbs and spices. Here's what we tasted:

Oregano Bud
Salted Pepper Berries
Herbs de Kampot
Cumin
Black Urfa Chilli
Cured Sumac
Sun-dried Tomato Powder
Royal Cinnamon

Find out more about these incredible herbs and spices and purchase here: https://botreefarm.co.uk/

Cheese Tasting with Heritage Cheese Co

The lovely Marianne from Heritage Cheese Co led us on a tasting of three fabulous cheeses:

- Quicke's Extra Mature Cheddar with its unique horseradish tang

- Corra Linn - From the iconic Errington Family Farm, it is a hard ewes' milk cheese made with unpasteurised milk and traditional lambs rennet

- Morangie Brie made by Highland Fine Cheeses in the Vale of Tranquility

Head to https://www.heritagecheese.uk/shop to purchase or find out more.

Summer Tasting Box

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 13:56:39 GMT

Want to know what was in the Summer Tasting Box?

Discover what's in the Summer edition of the Fabulous Food Finds Tasting Box below...

What was in the Summer Tasting Box?

Hoogly Tea - Sparkling White

An unusual use of white tea combined with fresh fruity flavours

…

Trotters Independent Condiments - Moustada

A gorgeous recreation of this Italian speciality; fig, prunes and apricot with mustard seeds. Great with cheese and charcuterie

…

Botree Farm - Turkish Silk Chilli Flakes

Smoky, honey and tomato flavours with a warm heat and sweet, salty and fruity notes

…

Abol Coffee Company - Ethiopian Coffee Bag

Organic, Fair Trade Arabica Beans from Family Farms in Sidamo - notes of lemon and juicy stone fruits

…

Womersley - Raspberry Fruit Vinegar

An incredibly fruity vinegar; use to dress salads, with prosecco or to make sorbet (recipe included)

Carderelli’s Cakery - Snickers Brownie

Brownie, Nougat, Salted Caramel topped with milk chocolate and more.

…

The Bold Bean Co - Organic Chick Peas

The finest organic chickpeas for the ultimate hummus or use to take your favourite recipes to the next level.

…

Soffles Pitta Chips

Oven roasted crisp and crunchy pitta chips.

…

The Chocolatier - Salted Caramel Truffles

Luscious smooth caramel encased in cocoa dusted dark chocolate.

…

Nuisance Drinks - Wild Bramble & Rosemary Soda

A gloriously grown up sparkling mixer made with juicy blackberries, rosemary and bay - perfect with Gin!

…

Ross and Ross - BBQ Salt

Garlic, Charcoal and Smoked Sea Salt to add a gorgeous charred BBQ flavour to meats and vegetables.

…

Cheeky P’s - Kickin’ Curry and Punchin’ Chilli & Lime Crunchy Chickpeas

Another way to eat chickpeas as a fun, crunchy snack.

…

Hayne’s Gourmet - Candied Red Jalapeños

These are 3 gold star award winning sweet and HOT candied Jalapeños - use on burgers or pizzas.

Like the look of the Summer Tasting Box? Why not subscribe to the quarterly boxes so you'll get the next one sent out on the 6th September?

Beautiful Beans!

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Tue, 31 May 2022 10:44:31 GMT

The Bold Bean Co's Organic Chickpeas were a revelation for many of my Tasting Box subscribers who got them in the recent Summer edition of the Box. Full of flavour, fibre, protein and nutrients, they are versatile and delicious.

We had a couple of skeptics when it came to the giant jar of Bold Bean Co Organic Chickpeas included in the recent Tasting Box - could chickpeas really vary that much between the cheap supermarket tins and this jar? The unanimous answer was YES!

Just like a juicy ripe tomato from the sunny climes of Southern Italy, these heirloom (ancient variety) of organic chickpeas is grown in the perfect climate to cultivate the perfect bean. They are then slowly cooked in batches for the very best flavour and to retain nutrients (rather than the intense heating the canning process uses). This results in the ultimate chickpea for you to eat straight from the jar or in your favourite recipes.

The lovely team at Bold Bean Co have let me share this fantastic recipe for a Coronation Chickpea sandwich by Popham's Bakery that's made with their fabulous chickpeas. Just perfect for the upcoming Jubilee celebrations!

Coronation Chickpea Sandwich

Everyone loves a coronation chicken - very nostalgic, VERY BRITISH + more sustainable as you can sub the chicken for Queen Chickpeas. SORTED - just in time for the Jubilee weekend!

Serves 4 Cook time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 jar of Bold Bean Co Queen Chickpeas

(or 660g of cooked beans)

5tbsp mayonnaise

2tsp mild curry powder, to taste

1/2tsp ground cinnamon

2tbsp mango chutney

2tbsp sultanas, or to taste

1 loaf of fresh, quality bread

½ head of crunchy iceberg lettuce

A handful of chopped coriander leaves (optional)

Directions

1.Mix together the mayo, curry powder, cinnamon, mango chutney and sultanas and season with black pepper.

2.Drain the chickpeas of their stock, but do not rinse (you want to keep the bean stock flavour!). Reserve the bean stock.

3.Add the chickpeas to the mayo mixture and stir to coat. Stir in 2 tbsp of bean stock to loosen if needed, then season.

4.Assemble: slice your bread and spoon the coronation chickpea filling onto one slice. Top with crunchy lettuce leaves and another slice of bread. Cut in halves and serve.

Buy 6 jars of Butter Beans and Queen Chickpeas with free delivery for £30 on Amazon here .

Let me know if you try this recipe or are converted to Chickpeas by The Bold Bean Co!

Dishoom Bacon Naan Roll

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 12:43:29 GMT

Behold the Dishoom Bacon Naan; a thing of beauty and deliciousness easy to recreate at home!

Meet the Dishoom Bacon Naan (double, of course!). It’s a glorious naan bread filled with Ramsay of Scotland crispy streaky bacon, cream cheese, tomato-chilli jam and fresh coriander. It is just the best combination of freshly cooked soft yet crisp Naan bread + salty, smoky, savoury bacon + cool, creamy cream cheese, tangy, spicy chilli jam and fresh, floral coriander to perk things up.

If you don’t live near a Dishoom branch you can buy an at home meal kit (£18 to serve 2) delivered to your door. It comes with a ball of Naan dough to recreate that fresh bread experience at home.

If you want to recreate your own at home with your own ingredients, you’ll need to assemble the following:

- Naan bread - if you’ve got the skills/ time to make your own, do it!
- Streaky bacon (buy the Ayrshire Smoked from Ramsay of Scotland for the real deal!)
- Cream cheese
- Tomato-chilli jam ( The Tea Lady makes a great one that’ll work perfectly here)
- Fresh coriander

Here's some images of the gorgeous Kings Cross Dishoom branch below, such a beautiful space.

Have you tried the Dishoom bacon Naan? Or tried making your own version at home?

ROVI by Ottolenghi

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 12:33:22 GMT

My sister is a huge Ottolenghi fan, so we heading to the fabulous Rovi Restaurant in Fitzrovia for her birthday last week. It was an incredible meal with so many gorgeous dishes, exciting ingredients and SO MUCH flavour!

I chose two small plates rather than one main meal to maximise tasting opportunities! The Burrata, rhubarb (I love rhubarb) and tempura lemon was not only stunning but tasted amazing too. Who knew this combo would work?!

My second small plate was the Black Garlic Lamb Ribs which were EVERYTHING I wanted them to be and more! Sweet, tart, savoury, meaty and topped with chilli, onion, herbs and pistachio. I really was reluctant to share any of this dish, but I'm nice, so I let my siblings have a little taste! I'll be trying to recreate at home using this Ottolenghi recipe .

My sister, Abbie went for the chewy burnt carrots with lentils and chilli and chose the parsnip and pecorino croquettes with pickled walnuts for us to share to start too. Both of these were so full of flavour and so many amazing ingredients working together to make such incredibly tasty dishes.

We shared T he Dusty Knuckle sourdough (so happy they’re smashing it after supporting them at the start through the B BC Good Food Show Bursary Awards).

Harry (my little brother over from Florida!) went for the Saddleback pork chop with kohlrabi and apple kimchi; the meat was melt in the mouth tender and so full of flavour.

We couldn’t resist the trying the Einkorn pitta with tahini (one of Ottolenghi's star ingredients) which was glorious.

Lovely surprise end to the meal with happy Happy Birthday miso fudge with vanilla salt for Abbie.

I tried the PIÑA Y PIÑA to drink which was a gorgeous blend of ROVI coal-roasted pineapple, Ocho blanco tequila, citrus, tajin, agave and ginger. This drink inspired a new way to serve my margaritas at home; with Tajin; a Mexican lime, chilli and salt mix which was super zingy and was a bargain via Amazon Prime at only £3.52 * delivered! Have you tried it?!

*Price correct at time of writing, link is an affiliate link so I may earn a few pennies for referring you.

Have you been to Rovi before? What did you think? Has this post inspired you to go, or try to recreate any of the dishes at home? Let me know in the comments or email me katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk, I'd love to know!

Tasting Box... On Sale Now!

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 14:50:24 GMT

I've been talking about launching the Fabulous Food Finds Tasting Box for months... maybe years! Finally it's here!

I've been trying to think of ways to share my food finds with food-lovers, and finally I think I've cracked it! Every 3 months, I'll be carefully working out a selection of my favourite finds from outstanding food and drink producers. This might include a single origin spice, chocolates from an award winning chocolatier, a gorgeous chutney to go with your favourite cheese, coffee from an artisan roaster or something completely new to market.

Here's a run down of how the box works and what you get...

A box filled with 6-10 fabulous food and drink products hand-picked, carefully packed and posted to your door (postage included)

Tasting Notes, Product Information and Recipe and Serving Ideas

Live video call with guided tasting by artisan food and drink specialist Katy Truss, recording available to those who miss the live call

Meet the makers of some of the products on the live video call; discover their story, learn about how they make their product and how to taste and use their product too

Access to the Fabulous Food Finds Tasting Club on Facebook

All for £39.95 with postage included! The first box is dispatched in March with a limited amount on sale, so if you're keen to get your hands on one of the first boxes, buy yours here today!

Each box will have a surprise selection of food and drink products, below is an example box, showing the kind of products you might find in the box.

Fabulous Christmas Foodie Gift Guide

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 11:57:56 GMT

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for a foodie, and what better than to receive a gift that feeds a food lover’s hunger for new kitchen kit, new ingredients, new ideas and recipes to cook with and well, let’s be honest, something fabulous to eat!

Below is Katy’s round up of gifts for all sorts of different foodies in your life, from those that are just beginning their journey to those discerning gourmets who seem to already have everything.

For Cheese Lovers

The Slate Cheese Club Subscription is a cheese lover's dream! Every month you get three big wedges of the cheesemonger's choice along with artisan crackers and tasting notes too. It's £99 for a 3 month subscription, so they'll be munching their way into Spring with the best British Cheeses delivered to their door.

Something for the Foodie with Everything

If they already have all the gadgets and kitchen kit then a Sous Chef gift voucher or Cook Book Set would be my go to option. Do they love Chinese food? There's a cook book set for that which includes a fantastic Fuchsia Dunlop cook book and an incredible line-up of hard to find ingredients to get started. Ottolenghi lover? There's a set for that too! There are lots of others available too, depending on which cuisine they'd like to explore. If you can't decide then a gift voucher for Sous Chef would be any food lover's dream! No time? Go for the E-Gift Voucher which you can buy and send on the big day!

Sharpen Cooking skills With a New Knife

A good knife can really elevate a cook's kitchen credibility and ability and the very best knives I know are from family run company Kin Knives based in Woodbridge Suffolk. Famous Chefs across the country use these incredible Japanese knives and you may have heard James Martin joke about how 'kin sharp they are. Prices range between £50 and £850 for single knives so they aren't cheap but make a great investment. If you need help choosing, give Harriet a call for advice. You can also find gorgeous handmade chopping boards made by Harriet's husband Zak Hayward-Reeve, which would compliment one of these high quality knives perfectly.

For Booze Lovers

I brought a bottle of Vestal Black Cherry Vodk a back from the BBC Good Food Show and my partner Jamie has totally fallen in love with it! So this could make a great gift for a vodka fan, adult stocking filler or make a great addition to your Christmas tipple offering. Try it straight out of the freezer as an after dinner shot with a grating of dark chocolate (think black forest gateaux) or in an espresso martini for a similar flavour profile. Yum!

PS - I've included an Amazon Affiliate link to this product, which will mean Amazon will pay me a small commission for including a link. Thanks if you do follow the link!

Spice up their Life

The highest quality, single source spices really can take someone's cooking to the all important 'next-level'. Botree Farm have an A-Z of incredible spices, herbs and seasonings and gifting a foodie a selection of these would really make for a happy Christmas! At the BBC Good Food Show we hosted a tasting session together where we tasting their Oregano Buds, Cured Sumac, Buffalo Ginger, Royal Cinnamon, Black Urfa Chilli, Hand Harvested Wild Mountain Cumin and more - they really are fantastic and you can taste the difference. Their Kampot pepper is like the Champagne of pepper and their salted pepper berries really are something else! Below I've pictured the build your own spice set, which would mean you could choose their favourite spices. But there are collections available if you don't know which to choose.

Personal Shopping Guide?

Would you like some help finding something for the food lover in your life? As a special offer for Christmas 2021 if you sign up to my newsletter and follow me on Instagram or Facebook and I'll give you my full attention to give you some ideas for a foodie you need to buy for. Just drop me an Instagram or Facebook DM or email me katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk . I'd like to share what I've suggested on my Insta/ FB stories but you can stay anonymous if you like!

My Shopping List and a Discount Code for the BBC Good Food Show

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 13:14:58 GMT

The BBC Good Food Show Winter is back next week to celebrate its 30th year; full of amazing food and drink producers, chefs, demonstrations, workshops and more.

If you’d like to join us at the Show, which opens on Wednesday 25th November; you can buy tickets now using our discount code FAB15 right up until the last day of the show on Sunday 28th November.

Are you coming to the show? Let me know in the comments!

My shopping list for the BBC Good Food Show 2021 includes:

Coffee from Adams and Russell Coffee Roasters
Blueberry Ice Wine from Blue Aurora
Salted pepper berries from BoTree Farm
Gorgeous nut-free and vegan granola from Cheeky Nibble
Brand new Brownie Snaps from Yummy Yank
Crisps from Two Farmers
Seaside Honey from Black Bee Honey
Cheeses from Heritage Cheese Co

Right, I better go and clear some space in my boot for all these goodies as I know there will be a lot more than on this list! What are you looking forward to most about the show this year?

If you aren't coming this year, plan it in for 2022, it's the place to be to find fabulous food and drink!

October News - A Chocolate Challenge, Flower & White Giveaway and Whispers of Christmas…

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 12:29:14 GMT

As the nights draw in and Autumn really takes hold I’m fully embracing comfort meals, cosy hot chocolate and Halloween themed treats. I know Christmas is still far away but as a parent of young kids I have to admit to having text Santa already to check they are still on the nice list, it works a treat! We’ve made our must make plans at this stage for Christmas too, read on to find out what they are! Oh, and don’t miss the delicious giveaway over on my Instagram page!

An Irresistible Chocolatey Challenge

Chocolate that’s hard to get hold of you say? I’ll take that challenge! When I heard about The Chocolate Smiths and how hard it was to actually buy their products I couldn’t help but feel the urge to give it a go! Based in North Shields in Northumbria, this fun chocolate business hand make chocolate bars in limited editions and at the moment, they ALWAYS sell out. They collaborate with some fantastic bakeries like Blondie’s Kitchen where they’ve included a cinnamon roll cookie and caramel in their chocolate bar (I couldn’t resist this one!). My kids loved Cinder Toffee, Popping Candy & Marshmallow in White Chocolate the best and I loved the Cinnamon Caramel Apple Pie. It’s all about the fun flavours with these guys, rather than bean to bar or single origins, but there’s certainly room for both in my world!

Have you come across The Chocolate Smiths yet? What’s your favourite flavour? If not, let me know your favourite chocolate maker!

Flower and White Goodie Bag Giveaway!

Fancy winning this box of meringue based goodies from Flower and White? I’m running a giveaway over on my instagram page to win a selection box full of Flower and White treats. All you have to do is tag a friend for each entry and make sure you’re following me ( @fabulousfoodfinds ) and Flower and White. All the instructions are on the post so head on over to Insta to be in it to win it!

If you've missed the deadline for the Flower and White giveaway you can use my discount code FAB15 to get 15% off purchases from Flower and White until the 31st October 2021!

Find out more about Flower and White

Planning for Christmas yet?

Have you started planning for Christmas yet? I know it seems early but there are a few jobs that my family and I start to think about and tick off now, this year especially with all the doom talk of empty shelves at Christmas time this year.

Who’s making the Christmas pudding and which recipe are we using?
What meat will we be having? It’s usually just a case of choosing between Goose and Turkey but we want to order early this year, probably from Morton’s Farm, a local Turkey farmer here in Norfolk that deliver nationwide if you’re keen.
Who’s hosting? (Me!)

If you’re hosting this year have you made the all important decision of your Christmas meal centrepiece? If you want to get yours ordered why not take a look at Morton’s Family Farm , if you’re local to Norfolk you can pick up from the Farm.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I really appreciate it. If you have any feedback or things you’d like me to feature on this blog please do let me know by emailing katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk .

I’ll tell you all about my Tasting Theatre at the BBC Good Food Show in the next edition - tickets have almost sold out if you’re keen to attend so you can find out more here .

All the best,

Katy

The Suffield Arms

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 10:19:16 GMT

The Suffield Arms is the much anticipated new pub from the owner and team behind The Gunton Arms in North Norfolk. The attention to detail is impeccable, incredible art at every turn and oh the food and drink is truly exceptional!

There's a traditional pub atmosphere as you enter The Suffield Arms (complete with pool table and probably locals propping up the bar), then you go through to a gorgeous, airy and light restaurant area with a huge tapas bar with open kitchen behind. Upstairs is an opulent, dark and cosy cocktail lounge (follow the neon sign to beer, porn and girls!) which opens out to a rooftop terrace.

Everything you need to know about The Suffield Arms

The main focus is tapas, where they've obviously sourced the best ingredients they can and have employed a Spanish head chef for authenticity
They do not take bookings (other than for parties over 6) so it's a great place to just turn up for food and drinks, my advice would be to get their when they open at 12pm or earlier that you would like to eat in case there is a wait
The Suffield Arms is located opposite the train station in Gunton, so the perfect place to get the train instead of driving and have a few drinks
It's child-friendly (except for some of the rather graphic/ sexual art! haha) - we took our kids (5 & 6) and the reasonably priced children's menu was just perfect for them with tomato pasta, pizza or cheese croquette options
There's an amazing cocktail bar upstairs where I can imagine being able to lose all sense of time and responsibilities!
If you love it, you must try the Gunton Arms if you haven't already been
The interior is amazing, the owner is an art dealer (Ivor Braka) so like the Gunton Arms there is probably millions of pounds worth of art on the walls (that black square full of flies on the wall below is a Damien Hirst!)

Let me know if you need to know anything else about this fabulous new pub in North Norfolk!

If you haven't visited their sister pub The Gunton Arms yet, take a look at my blog post from 2013 (I have been so many times since and it just gets better!) and I would highly recommend visiting if you're in North Norfolk.

I'd love to know what you think of The Suffield Arms - did you love it as much as I did?

If you like this content, why not stay up to date with my posts by signing up to my mailing list here? Or follow me over on Instagram for more North Norfolk food and drink recommendations, fabulous food and drink finds and general foodie inspiration.

Food Shows and Festivals 2021

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 13:44:10 GMT

Did you know that Fabulous Food Finds works in partnership with the BBC Good Food Shows, Hampton Court Palace Food Festival, Artisan Fair and Festive Fayre along with the new Artisan Collective Fairs?

I've been helping to organise these events since 2007 when I first started working on the BBC Good Food Show. I began working freelance for them in 2013 when I moved back to Norfolk to be nearer family, buy a house and start my own little family.

Mainly, I help to find outstanding food and drink producers to attend the events - support them in taking the first step into exhibiting at these prestigious, high profile food festivals and shows. This year we will be launching the Fabulous Food Finds Tasting Theatre at the BBC Good Food Show Winter, so keep a lookout for tickets to that if you're keen to discover some of our fabulous producers, learn and taste their produce too.

If you are, or know of a fabulous producer, brand or start-up that more people need to know about, send them my way so I can help work out if the events are right for them.

Find out more here or email katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk to talk through the options.

The Fire Wok

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 09:54:40 GMT

The Fire Wok - a Tale of Online Shopping Fails

I have an embarrassing habit of failing at online shopping. I have a growing collection of things that just weren’t quite what I was expecting or that I completely failed to look at the measurements and are completely unusable!

The curtains that came with our house didn’t quite meet in the middle so were not fit for purpose and I didn’t like the colour either. So I browsed and browsed curtains, got to the point that I just couldn’t wait any longer to order them, and excitedly ordered a bargain velvety pair from IKEA in a gorgeous dark blue. Then the 3 month wait to get them delivered (I ordered them in the first lockdown) was long and painful but I’d made the decision and was EXCITED for them to arrive. So they arrive and I put them up… and guess what?! I had another bloody pair of curtains that didn’t meet in the middle. 2 months later another pair of the same curtains arrive and I now have a slightly odd but live-with-able collection of 4 curtains on my curtain rail. Squint and you can’t see the gaps!

So anyway, back to the fire pit. We’d been looking at fire pits for weeks. Low stock, high prices, excessive waits for delivery, not quite the right look… etc etc and I got a bit tired of it. So I got an email from Olive and Sage (great place for quirky garden things!) saying pre-order now! Special price of just £43 for a fire pit! So I thought, how can you go wrong for £43, especially when most of them I'd seen are £100 plus! So I ordered it and ticked 'buy fire pit' off my to do list.

I've had the builders in, repairing render and painting the house. They were here when the fire pit arrived and I excitedly accepted the parcel from the delivery driver... the box was quite small, a wave of doubt washed over me. I told the builders what I'd bought and took it out of the box. You've bought a wok they teased! And yes, it seems I did indeed buy a fire wok for the garden.

It's literally just a little bigger than a wok, placed upon a smaller upturned wok as a stand. It did come with a poker though... Now, if you're looking for a small fire pit just to make a little fire on your patio, balcony or garden, then it's perfect! It did the job on Father’s Day with a little camp fire on the patio to toast marshmallows and make s'mores, what more could you need? Well, quite a big list of things according to my partner Jamie! Higher sides, more stability, more room for logs... the list goes on.

Do you have any online shopping fails? I'd love to hear them!

Fabulous Food Finds Newsletter Launch

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 12:54:57 GMT

We've done it! The very first Fabulous Food Finds newsletter has gone out and I'm already busy deciding what to put into the next one! This one features a new find; The Crumpetorium along with Summery strawberries and elderflower foraging...

If you aren't subscribed to our mailing list yet, get yourself signed up here . I promise to fill it with foodie inspiration and keep it short and sweet too. If you have any finds you'd like to share, replying to the newsletter is the best way to tell me all about it. I'd love to hear about your latest finds!

Many thanks for reading,

Katy

Bundles - Fabulous Frozen Bao Buns and Dumplings, delivered Nationwide

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 11:25:42 GMT

We've found a fabulous new producer of Bao Buns and Dumplings and are so excited to share them with you! They are sold frozen and deliver nationwide, so available to all and ready when you are!

Prepare for bundles of bao bun based joy from Bundles ; a brand new UK based producer of fabulous bao buns and dumplings! They use top quality, local ingredients and make their buns and dumplings by hand.

Available for nationwide delivery, these super fresh, expertly crafted and delicious buns arrive frozen and are kept in the freezer for freshness and convenience. You can steam individual buns in the microwave in just 40 seconds! But if there are more of you, or you’re greedy and want a bunfest then you’ll want to use a steamer to heat more buns at the same time.

We bought most of the range to try; black pepper pork, beef rendang and our favourite, the char siu chicken; a soft sweet bun filled with sticky BBQ chicken. The prawn, pork and kimchi dumplings were fab too, perfect with sweet soy sauce for dipping.

Dessert is catered for too with their gorgeous dessert buns; white chocolate and matcha and salted egg yolk custard.

If you love bao buns, dumplings or just trying something new then they've gorgeous buns will be right up your street! I absolutely love the packaging too, so colourful and fun!

Find them at https://www.bun-dles.co.uk/

Oldhall Farm Raw Butter | Fabulous Food Find

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 16:57:37 GMT

I LOVE butter. I love it so much I can eat it like cheese, especially when it’s as good as this Oldhall Farm raw cultured butter.

By coincidence I was just asked the question; what’s your favourite thing to put on toast... my answer of course is butter. Butter spread so thick onto cooled toast (I make a toast tent so it doesn’t get sweaty!) that you leave teeth marks.

Anyway, back to this Oldhall Farm butter - how bloody cool is that wrapper? Wouldn’t it make a fab wallpaper or wrapping paper? Apparently the salted version is blue - I need to see and taste this! I also really love salt. So I’ve sprinkled some Maldon Sea Salt onto it to properly live the dream.

It is a raw (unpasteurised) cultured butter, which means the milk isn’t heat treated; leaving bacteria that can be great for the gut. The flavour is so fresh and creamy and it has the most fantastic yellow colour to it (I’m sitting here now eating it like cheese straight from the block ��).

Next the ethics - Oldhall Farm look after their cows so well. Their dairy cows are allowed to have their calves with them out in the fields; known as Cow with Calf Dairying - a much happier, more humane way of diary farming. It makes fab milk too because the cows are motivated to make it for their babies that are still with them. The Jersey cows (or goddesses to which they are so lovingly referred) get to ‘dine on lush herby grass and home produced forage’. How idyllic is that?

I absolutely love this butter and if you appreciate all those things I’ve listed above I’m sure you will too.

Another fab find from Hodson and Co in Aylsham - thanks Charlie!

Testing Dalgona Coffee

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 12:30:37 GMT

In the first few weeks of lockdown I read an Instagram post that exclaimed 'who are you if you haven't tried making a Dalgona Coffee?!' I had not even heard of it, let alone made one! So I sought to rectify this as soon as possible, and as it's just made with a few ingredients it was easy enough to whip up in a flash.

This super sweet, whipped coffee is simply made with instant coffee (or you could use espresso shots instead), sugar and a little water. You whip in a mixer or with an hand whisk until thick and glossy and then float onto milk.

I used this simple recipe from Liberty Mendez at BBC Good Food https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/dalgona-coffee .

So, how does it taste? Super sweet and super strong. It's a proper kick of caffeine and sugar and to be honest I got the shakes after drinking it! Haha! Have I made another one since I made the first back in April? Honestly? No. I probably won't make it again either! It was just too sweet for me, but I don't take sugar in my coffee so perhaps that's why. The way the coffee and sugar whipped almost into a frosting was interesting though, so perhaps some grown up cupcakes could be topped with a smidge of this to perk up a coffee morning.

Do I think you should give it a go? Yes! Why not? Especially if you enjoy a sweet coffee!

Made for Drink | Fabulous Food Find

katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk (Katy Truss) — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 13:32:49 GMT

Made for Drink; the poshest snacks for your favourite drinks.

If you're into snacking and meat then these are the dream! These are posh snacks made to go perfectly with a drink, so you may find them in your local if you're lucky; they started their life in Heston Blumenthal's The Crown in Berkshire.

Here's more about the line up:

Chorizo Thins: crispy, crunchy slithers of delicious, authentic chorizo.

Mangalitza Salami Chips: rounds of roasted Hungarian salami, crispy, crunchy and full of umami flavour.

Duck Fritons: think duck scratchings, but better! Made with free range Creedy Carver ducks, cured in Dorset Sea Salt then they render and confit them and then roast until crisp.

The range is designed to go really well with drink; like a red Rioja to go with the chorizo thins, an IPA or cider to go with the Duck Fritons and a pilsner or glass of cold white Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to go with the Hungarian Salami. Way more classy than a bowl of peanuts, right? You'll find more drink and snack pairings on their website, if you're keen to find the perfect snack for your favourite drink.

If you want to buy these fantastic snacks, you can buy online from Made for Drinks's website by clicking here or buy from Amazon here .

Tempus British Charcuterie

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 13:01:34 GMT

Tempus Charcuterie were one of my favourite finds of the year! Read on to discover why this British Charcuterie by Dhruv Baker and Tom Whitaker is so incredible...

Tempus Foods, by ex Masterchef finalists Dhruv Baker & Tom Whitaker, produce the most incredible charcuterie. They believe that ’old is amazing’ and only use ex-breeding sows and ex-dairy cattle as it creates unrivalled flavour and texture in the meat. They’ve also worked out the optimum weight of animal they need to make the finest products so work closely with farmers to source their meat. This attention to detail means you can be assured of buying some of best charcuterie in the world.

The range includes an Achari Spiced Salami, King Peter Ham, Spiced Loin and Spiced and Smoked Coppa. If you get a chance to try or buy this amazing produce, do it! The depth of flavour is really outstanding.

While judging for the Great Taste Awards, I was told by a buyer for a prestigious food hall that Tempus Foods was the most exciting thing in they’d stocked lately. It made me desperate to try it and I had the chance at the BBC Good Food Show.

The range was showcased by Heritage Cheese at the B BC Good Food Show Winter, which is where Dhruv is pictured here. It was one of my finds of the show and I made sure to tell everyone I could about it! I loved every moment tasting the range and it gave me so much pleasure sharing the experience with other food lovers.

Christmas Shopping at the BBC Good Food Show

Wed, 27 Nov 2019 14:18:17 GMT

The BBC Good Food Show Winter is the perfect place to get things ticked off your Christmas shopping list. Whether it's food for the festive period, gifts for food lovers or something to treat yourself to, there's so much fabulous food and drink at the show.

The Food Champions area, which we manage, is the destination within the show to find outstanding, independent producers. I'll be doing most of my shopping here, so thought I'd share my list with you!

Smoked salmon from The Pished Fish - it's thick-sliced like sashimi for a buttery mouthfeel and is infused with alcohol and other botanicals to create something extraordinary.
Honey - I'll be picking up a Festive Honey from Black Bee Honey , from bees foraging on Ivy which has an unusual icy mouth feel, along with a Gingerbread spiced honey from The Edinburgh Honey Co .
Chocolates from Lauden look and taste amazing, so I'll be purchasing some selection boxes as gifts for friends.
One of the best gifts for foodies to buy at the show is seasoning from BoTree farm ; the salted pepper berries are exciting bursts of peppery flavour and heat. One of their grinders is on my Christmas wish list!
I'll get a pack of Lakeland Mues artisan toasted muesli for some special, but healthy, breakfasts over the festive period.
For all my cheese needs I'll see Enrico at Heritage Cheese who has a collection of the most amazing artisan cheeses. They won Slow Food UK's cheesemonger of the year award and really do have the BEST cheeses.
Urban Herbs have an awesome new voucher system to buy someone a living herb garden, they can choose the month they receive it and the herbs they'd like in it. Andy is so passionate about his herbs so I can't wait for him to tell me more about it and I may have to buy one of their brilliant chilli lovers gift boxes too.
New producers at the show this year include Dough it Yourself pizza bases (including gluten free), Pure Punjab i spice pastes and kits, Screaming Chimp chilli sauces and Two Farmers with their delicious crisps in compostable packaging.

I can't wait to be there looking after all these fabulous producers. I'll share my finds after the show too!

Toy Kitchen Review for BBC Good Food

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 14:07:02 GMT

Over the Summer Katy Truss took on a review project for BBC Good Food, which was to find the very best Toy Kitchens available to buy. Here we look at how she got on!

Over the Summer I (Katy Truss) took on writing a review feature for BBC Good Food to find the best toy kitchens. As a child, my favourite toy ever was my A La Carte Kitchen, I would spend hours with play food, shaping fruitella sweets into food shapes or sneaking yorkshire puddings and slices of meat from my parents' restaurant kitchens. I thought it would be brilliant fun letting the kids test them out and to see how far play kitchens had come since the eighties!

As the flat packed kitchens started arriving I knew I had to rope in some help... I am so grateful to my Dad, Jamie, Steve and John for helping get them assembled! I could never have done it myself. If you end up buying a play kitchen, remember some of them take hours to assembled with skilled flat pack furniture builders!

Lottie and Alfie (my kids) had great fun with the kitchens, but I needed more mini testers and thoughts from other parents, so invited some of their friends round for a play session with the kitchens. I bought in some mini pancakes, syrup, mini marshmallows and fruit for them to chop up at their kitchens; they had a great time! Chicken nuggets and chips for the play date win!

If you're keen to find out which were the best play kitchens we found, take a read of the review over at bbcgoodfood.com here . There's a handy buyers guide at the end, so if you don't like the look of those featured, the guide will help you decide on the right one for you.

Highlights of working at the BBC Good Food Show

Wed, 28 Nov 2018 13:01:14 GMT

This will be the 12th BBC Good Food Show Winter that we've worked on and it opens tomorrow at the NEC, Birmingham.

This week the almighty BBC Good Food Show Winter takes place at the NEC Birmingham. This will be the 12th Winter Show that @katytruss has worked on and it’s still so exciting to be part of it!

Highlights over the years include:

• Live interviews with celebrity chefs like Paul Hollywood (pictured above with a heavily pregnant Katy!), Mary Berry, the late, great Antonio Carluccio, The Hairy Bikers and Marcus Bean.

• Managing 10 years of the Producers Bursary Awards, where free stands have been awarded to lots of outstanding, small Artisan food and drink producers. Don’t miss this year’s winners: @thepishedfish @wonderfoodfromthedeep @happybutterghee @weddellandturner @russianpies & @mousesfavourite . Special thanks to @barney_desmazery of BBC Good Food who is a great support and always helps judge and supports our winners.

• Launching and managing the fabulous BBC Good Food Champions area full of the finest independent speciality food and drink producers! (There’s over 50 this year!). We love helping to ensure they have a fab show!

• Sharing our show highlights and Fabulous Food Finds with VIP guests, bloggers and chefs.

• Working alongside the brilliant Laura Biggs and the awesome @bbcgoodfoodshow team who put on incredible shows throughout the year.

• Oh and we have to include the time @katytruss was prank called by Johnny Vaughn and the capital FM team in the build up to her first ever BBC GF show... confessed her love for rhubarb and had her 15 minutes of rhubarb loving radio fame!

Here’s to a brilliant BBC Good Food Show Winter! Will we see you there?!

Sea Buckthorn Berry Jelly

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 22:42:14 GMT

Don't know what to do with those gorgeous orange berries found along the UK coastlines? Here's the lowdown of my experience making sea buckthorn berry jelly a few years ago...

The cliff tops of Cromer and Sheringham are jewelled with sea buckthorn berries at the moment. My sister and I had been talking about foraging for the gorgeous orange berries for years and never got round to it, so a few years ago we set some time aside to pick some and made some delicious sea buckthorn berry jelly.

Before I tell you how we made the jelly, you must come for a virtual walk up the cliffs with us…

We’ll walk up from Cromer town with the view of the pier behind us, stop to watch the crab boats coming in for a little while and although there are sea buckthorn bushes here, we know there are bushes heavily laden with berries further up the cliff.

We’ll walk right up to the top of the cliff through the spiky gorse bushes, sit on a bench for a few minutes to catch our breath and admire the view before we start our forage…

Now, we’ve found our bushes and the picking begins!

We’d heard about the thorns of the sea buckthorn bushes but luckily they seemed to just be soft floppy thorns so picking wasn’t easy but not painful other than the odd acidic squirt in the eye. We took gardening gloves with us and found a good system of one of us holding the bag while the other ‘milked’ the branches of berries. Some berries burst, but we collected the juice in our bag too. Next time we’ll take hand wipes and kitchen roll to wipe our sticky hands and faces.

Back at home, we sorted through the berries to get rid of bugs and leaves. At this point the berries didn’t smell that great – a bit like sickly, sour wine. We mixed with 0.5 times the amount of water to weight of berries (eg. 1kg berries to 500ml water).

We gently brought the berries to the boil and simmered away for around 20 minutes.

We strained the berries through a sieve.

We also strained through a muslin cloth as there seemed to be some residue that had come off the skins of the berries. Stirring and encouraging the juice through the muslin quickened the process!

Squeezing the juice through the muslin.

We measured the strained juice and added 1.5 times the amount of sugar (eg 500ml juice to 750gm sugar). Then boiled vigorously for about 10 minutes then reduced heat to a rolling boil, stirring every so often to avoid the jelly catching on the bottom of the pan.

We put a plate in the freezer to chill and after a few minutes of further boiling spooned a small amount on the plate to check the set. After just a couple of minutes more it cooled to a well set jelly so we removed from the heat. We then skimmed off the scummy bits on top which left a beautifully clear jelly, then carefully funnelled into freshly sterilised jars.

Et voila! From 500ml of sea buckthorn juice (I froze 400ml to save for a special sorbet) we created these three beautiful jars of sea buckthorn berry jelly. It has a really unusual citrus, slightly tropical tastes and reminded me of fruit salad sweets, or those red lollies you get at Little Chef at the end of your meal with a slight sherbetty tang.

Now if all this seems like a bit too much hassle, or you don't live near any sea buckthorn berry bushes you can just buy the juice. I've found a Scottish company selling it: The Scottish Fruit Company but have also found a few options to buy on amazon... Erbology offers a 250ml bottle for 7.99 and a 35 gram powder for 5.99 . I like the look of the Stockholm Organic 500ml bottle for £15.90 which should give you enough to make a good few jars of jelly!

Would love to hear how you get on if you give the recipe a go!

Guest post for BBC Good Food Show

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 13:12:53 GMT

Discover some Fabulous Food Finds…

We're delighted to have written a guest post for the BBC Good Food Show website , writing about some of the fabulous producers at the BBC Good Food Show Summer...

- - - BBC Good Food Show Blog - - -

This week our blog post comes courtesy of our go-to artisan food specialist at Fabulous Food Finds . We work with Katy to help discover small, independent food and drink producers that we’re sure you’ll love.

We’ve been busy searching, approving and curating the very best selection of artisan and speciality producers for you at the upcoming Summer Show. The BBC Good Food Champions area is full of unique finds - you’ll discover something new, delicious and maybe even unusual to share with your friends, family and fellow food lovers.

Here are Katy’s tips on the must-visit stands to head to at the BBC Good Food Show Summer, opening next Thursday, 14 June…

We get so excited when start-ups and new producers exhibit at the Show and hope you’ll love them too. Sweetmeat Inc , who recently relocated to Birmingham, make an irresistible range of fudge. The Nut Kitchen blend the highest quality Sicilian nuts from their farm to create a fantastic variety of nut butters. Big Bowse , another Birmingham local, lovingly hand make their delicious and nutritious hot sauces; a great addition to a Summer BBQ. If you love a nice cuppa as much as a good gin, you'll love Noveltea with their boozy earl grey tea with gin or Moroccan mint tea with rum!

Regular Show goers will be pleased to see old favourites The Cornish Cheese Company with their deliciously creamy and mild blue cheese; Casa De L’Oli return with their range of infused olive oils and gorgeous olive wood gifts too. A stop at the Condessa Welsh Liqueurs stand to see the lovely Sally and Matt with their heart-warming banter and liqueurs will complete your visit to the Show, we love their new look bottles too.

Every year we award small, deserving, and most of all outstanding, producers with a bursary to attend the Show through the Producers Bursary Awards. This year Single Variety Co wowed the judges with their incredible range of preserves and jams, all made with just a single fruit variety. If you can get your hands on a jar of the Alphonso Mango preserve you must, it’s incredible. Macneil’s Smokehouse creates a range of delicious smoked fish and meats. Last year their smoked mackerel was included in the Great Taste Awards’ 50 Best Foods; what an accolade!

Spice seekers will love the convenience of Holy Lama Spice Drops which come in handy little bottles to replace your everyday herbs and spices, and it's also great for summer cocktails too. Spice Kitchen will have their ever-popular spice tins wrapped in gorgeous silk saris, and BoTree will be bringing a seasoning renaissance to the shows with their Cambodian salt and peppers. Chilli fans will love Mr Vikki’s range of chilli sauces, jams and curry - take the opportunity to taste the range, if you dare?!

We can’t wait to do our shopping at the Show! Join us from 14 - 17 June in Birmingham, find out more here .

Find out more about Fabulous Food Finds and the founder Katy Truss by following on Instagram or Twitter , and visit the Producer Profile pages on the website to discover more fabulous food and drink producers.

Planning for a fabulous 2018

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 12:18:29 GMT

Is it too late to wish you a Happy New Year?!

It's still January, so I'm going to go ahead and wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope your year has got off to a fabulous start... it can be a difficult time of year for many people; business can feel slow post Christmas and January is a long, cold and often tough month but it's also a time for a clean slate, new beginnings and making exciting plans for the year ahead.

It's nearly February and signs of spring are slowly appearing; longer days, daffodils & tulips in the vase, bulbs and buds shooting up and out and the depressing dry and diet Januarys on their way out. Here at Fabulous Food Finds HQ I've been busy working on plans for the year ahead. My biggest focus being the BBC Good Food Shows where the BBC Good Food Champions areas continue to feature and I'll be once again project managing the Producers Bursary Awards . The portfolio now includes the exciting BBC Good Food's FEAST events at the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace and BBC Good Food Shows in Birmingham and Scotland. Shows and dates have been revised for 2018 so make sure you add these to your calendar:

BBC Good Food Show Summer - Birmingham NEC, 14th - 17th June
BBC Good Food's FEAST - Hampton Court Palace, 25th - 27th August
BBC Good Food's FEAST - Tower of London, 7th - 9th September
BBC Good Food Show Scotland - Glasgow SECC, 19th - 21st October
BBC Good Food Show Winter - Birmingham NEC, 29th Nov - 2nd Dec
BBC Good Food's Festive FEAST - Hampton Court Palace, 7th - 9th Dec

The last few weeks have been all about sorting client bookings for the year ahead and I'm delighted that the floor plans are filling up nicely with a great mix of independent and speciality producers.

If you'd like any information about these events or would like to discuss booking a stand please do get in touch with me on Katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk.

I'm slowly updating my website but have plans to add lots more content soon so please do keep me updated with new and old products, new branding, competitions, news etc. I'm also planning on upping my game on twitter and instagram so again, please do share and connect with me on these channels - my main focuses are quality, independent, artisan and speciality food and drink along with other fabulous foodie things! Below are some of my recent posts...

February includes the joint birthday party for my Lottie's 3rd Birthday and Alfie's 2nd Birthday, so as you can imagine I'm continuing to juggle work and life with my hands full. Of course I wouldn't have it any other way...

All the best for the year ahead!

Katy

Producers Bursary Award Winners 2015/2016

Fri, 13 Nov 2015 12:53:00 GMT

After a lovely few months off with my new daughter Lottie I’m slowly getting back into the wonderful world of food… I have to admit, my culinary escapades have been few and far between! However, over the past few months I’ve been preparing for the BBC Good Food Shows that are currently taking place in […]

I’ve discovered some amazing small producers while managing the BBC Good Food Show Producers Bursary Awards this year – take a peek at pictures from the tasting day and see all the 2015/2016 winners below:

BBC Good Food Show Scotland, Glasgow SECC 6 – 8 November 2015

BBC Good Food Show London, Kensington Olympia, 13 – 15 November 2015

BBC Good Food Show Winter, Birmingham NEC, 26 – 29 November 2015

BBC Good Food Show Spring, Harrogate HIC, 8 – 10 April 2016

BBC Good Food Show Summer, Birmingham NEC, 16 – 19 June 2016

I hope you’ll be able to visit these fabulous producers at one of the BBC Good Food Shows!

Latest news from Fabulous Food Finds HQ

Wed, 29 Apr 2015 16:17:00 GMT

On Valentines Day this year a new member of the Fabulous Food Finds family was born… little Lottie! Here she is in her favourite strawberry hat, she’s a food lover in the making! I can’t wait for her to start eating real food so we can share my fabulous food finds! Although I’m taking […]

On Valentines Day this year a new member of the Fabulous Food Finds family was born… little Lottie! Here she is in her favourite strawberry hat, she’s a food lover in the making!

I can’t wait for her to start eating real food so we can share my fabulous food finds!

Although I’m taking a little break, I thought I’d better update you on the latest projects from Fabulous Food Finds:

BBC Good Food Shows – I continue to source the very best food and drink producers for the prestigious shows. With 9 years of food exhibition experience, I help to bring small artisan producers to the BBC Good Food Shows with expert advice, special subsidised areas and free opportunities to exhibit too. Find more details about the subsidised BBC Good Food Champions scheme here and the Producers Bursary Awards Scheme here . If you’d like to see how I can help with the shows, or help you book a stand, drop me an email on katy@fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk.

Writing – I recently wrote an article for Olive Magazine, ‘Small is Good’. It featured five fantastic producers – Stellacello, Alsop and Walker, The Grim Reaper, Bocaddon Farm Veal and Peters Yard. Take a look at the April issue if you’d like to see it and I’ll be writing more as time allows.

Speaking – I’m appearing at the Enterprise Nation Food Exchange to give tips and advice on how to get press and promotional coverage and get your brand noticed. I’ll try to summarise my tips and advice in writing and share. Email me if you’d be interested in this!

Celebrity Interviewing – At the last BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham I also took on the role of celebrity interviewer! This included The Hairy Bikers, Mary Berry, John Torode and Paul Hollywood – here I am interviewing Paul below…

Keep an eye on twitter for my latest food finds and I’ll be updating this website as soon as time allows!

All the best,

Katy

Eurovision Feast!

Sat, 10 May 2014 12:24:00 GMT

Whether you’re a fan of the Eurovision Song Contest or not, it brings with it an unrivalled opportunity for a themed feast! Back in 2013 my sister hosted a spectacular Eurovision party where a ‘traditional’ dish or drink was consumed during every Country’s song – in real time! It was a fantastic, chaotic night full of delicious food and lots to drink too.

Now there were highs and lows of this feast and it was meant to feed a crowd, there are some authentic dishes, some not so... as you'll see! I have updated in 2023 with a few more details but to be honest the night was hazy, drunken but FUN!

Here's some inspiration for hosting your own Eurovision Party! Warning - some of the pictures get rather dodgy... what can you expect after a drink with every song?!

German Bratwursts and Mustard - served with a German Pilsner

Belgian Chips and Mayo - with Cherry Belgian Beer

Buttered Estonian Rye Bread with Vana Talinn

Spanish Patatas Bravas and Chorizo with Sangria

Blueberries from Finland with Lakka Liqueur (made with couldberries)

Lithuanian Beetroot Soup with Samane

Italian Pizza with Limoncello

Greek Dips and Pitta Bread with Ouzo (ouch!)

Chicken Kievs inspired by Ukraine with Ukrainian vodka

Romanian Doughnuts with Sour Cherry Visinata

Russian Potato Salad with Russian vodka

Irish Spiced Mutton Shoulder with Guinness

Slovakian Kebabs with Borovicka

Do let me know if you create your own Eurovision Feast, would love to see the results!

Katy x

Crab & Lobster Festival

Sat, 22 Mar 2014 10:29:00 GMT

Soon after I moved back to North Norfolk I joined the committee of the local Crab and Lobster Festival. I’ve been busy working with the team of passionate volunteers to bring this year’s festival together and it’s going to be fabulous! Here’s a run through of what to expect from the food and fun-filled Cromer and […]

Soon after I moved back to North Norfolk I joined the committee of the local Crab and Lobster Festival . I’ve been busy working with the team of passionate volunteers to bring this year’s festival together and it’s going to be fabulous!

Here’s a run through of what to expect from the food and fun-filled Cromer and Sheringham Crab and Lobster Festival 2014 !

You’ll find crab, lobsters and other seafood available on sale in and around the festival and the handy festival leaflet will point you in the direction of the towns’ fish shops too.

Crabs & Lobsters at Joyful Wests

Get up close and personal (if you like!) with locally caught crabs and lobsters, with experts on hand to answer all your ‘pinching’ questions.

Meet the Stars!

Giant Lobster!

Crab sandwiches, lovingly made by local heroes Hilary Cox and Noel Grant, are on sale throughout the festival weekend.

Crab Sandwiches

Cromer and Sheringham have a long history of fishing; don’t miss your chance to meet some of the local fishing heroes as they demonstrate their trade. If you get up early enough you’ll also catch the fishing boats going in and out of both towns – it’s a beautiful sight to see!

Fishing Heritage

Norfolk is well-known for its fabulous producers and you can meet a great selection of them at the festival…

Pick up delicious local butter, double cream, buttermilk and cream cheeses from local dairy Nortons Dairy and create the ultimate crab and lobster dishes at home.

Local Butter

Local Cream & Buttermilk

Award winning chutney, jam and preserves from Jubberwacky:

Jubberwacky

Delicious range of rapeseed oils from Yare Valley Oils . Their chilli oil would go perfectly with crab linguine!

Norfolk Rapeseed

Refresh yourself with some local apple juice:

Norfolk Apple Juice

What’s the best thing to drink with crab? Local microbrewery Poppyland Brewery suggest it’s their Crab Saison!

What to drink with Crab

Crab Saison

For those with a sweet tooth, crab and lobster cookies from Waverley Cake Shop should satisfy your craving!

Crab & Lobster Cookies

There will also be lots of local crafts and gifts like this beautiful driftwood art:

You’ll find exciting and educational cooking demonstrations from local chefs to national food heroes, fish filleting and of course crab dressing demonstrations too on the cookery theatre.

Cooking Demonstrations

So, if that hasn’t tempted you to come up to the festival, I don’t know what will. If you do come, you might want to get ‘dressed’ for the occasion like this guy!

Dressed Lobster

The festival runs from the 16th – 18th May, so get it in your diary and check the website for details. New this year: The festival are honoured to be sponsored by The East of England Co-Op ! On Saturday night the team from The Grove are cooking up a giant crab and lobster paella on Evington Lawns and of course there’ll be a bar too!

I’ll be at the festival all weekend so please do let me know if you’re coming – tweet me @katytruss !

Fabulous Cookie Recipe – White & Dark Chocolate Chip, Pistachio & Sea Salt

Fri, 21 Feb 2014 17:23:00 GMT

I made the most delicious cookies ever last week, so really have to share with you! I tend to bake on the spur of the moment, which in turn means I look for recipes that suit the ingredients I have in the cupboard.

Dark & White Chocolate Chip, Pistachio and Sea Salt Cookies

I found this Millie’s Cookies style recipe on the community recipe database on BBC Good Food’s website and it seemed to fit. I added 100 grams of white chocolate chips, about 100 grams of dark chocolate chunks and a handful of pistachios. Oh, and an extra sprinkle of sea salt too. The better the ingredients, the better it will taste so don’t hold back on the quality chocolate.

Cookie Close Up

I made them in my standing mixer and cooked them for about 10 minutes, anything under and I think they’d be too undercooked for my liking. I had some dough left over so wrapped in cling film in a sausage shape and froze the mixture. After letting soften for 10 minutes I sliced with a sharp knife and I think the resulting ‘cooked from frozen’ cookies may have been better than the original batch!

Frozen Cookie Slice

They were the perfect soft, chewy but crisp on the outside texture, full of sweet, bitter creamy chocolate and salty, crunchy pistachios. A fabulously delicious cookie! Make them this weekend – you wont regret it!!

Mincemeat Cupcakes with Clementine Icing

Wed, 11 Dec 2013 20:18:00 GMT

I had a brainwave while thinking of something easy and Christmassy to bake last week – why not flavour a basic sponge batter with mincemeat? My sister and I made our own mincemeat on stir it up Sunday and I always have loads left over so thought it would be a great way of adding a taste of Christmas! The cakes were a lovely alternative to mince pies, light and moist with a deliciously subtle Christmassy flavour. The zingy clementine icing added a really nice refreshing tang to them too.

Christmas Cupcakes

When I’m pressed for time I use my Magimix food processor to make cakes – it’s so easy. Just put all the ingredients in and whizz it up for about 10 seconds! The basic recipe I use is from memory and I think it originally came from the Magimix recipe book, and then I’ve added some festive tweaks!

Ingredients for about 24 Fairy Cakes:

For the Icing

Method:

Add all cake ingredients to the food processor. Whizz for 7 seconds. Scrape down sides to ensure everything is included then whizz for another 3 seconds to blend. Fill bun cases 2/3rd full and bake on 170C for 15-20 minutes until cooked. Mix icing sugar with clementine juice until smooth and drizzle over top of cakes. Enjoy!

Easy Tasty Magic – Fab Foodie Gift from Harvey Nics

Wed, 04 Dec 2013 16:55:00 GMT

As you know, I’m always on the hunt for fabulous foodie things, and this Easy Tasty Magic set of 16 ‘magical ingredients’ truly could be the ultimate gift for a foodie. I was delighted to try out one of Harvey Nichols fantastic Christmas gifts aimed at food lovers and I’m convinced that after it captivated […]

The parcel arrived with beautiful packaging…

Beautiful Package

Inside the simple box made me eager to see what was inside this box of magical ingredients…

Easy Tasty Magic

Easy Tasty Magic, by Laura Santini, presents this Alchemical Larder. The box tells me it contains 16 magical ingredients and some notions for potions and that it is suitable for all levels of kitchen wizardry. Getting ready to open the box led my mind to flashback to 8 years old when I carefully opened my Paul Daniels box of Magic tricks… what would I try first?!

Little Pots of Magic

A magical menu takes you through all the pots, with ideas for use, history and tasting notes too. I’m slightly fearful of the devil’s penis chillies, intrigued by furikake, drooling at the sound of the grains of paradise and above all inspired to get in the kitchen and start experimenting with everything!

Pots of Joy

Magical Menu

I’m looking forward to getting some time to start playing with all the spices and ingredients – I’ve already had a few cheeky sprinkles of Salt of the Earth which is beautiful, tasty and fragrant.

Salt of the Earth

At £29.95 I think this is a great value gift that will give hours, even years, of delight in the kitchen for foodies. Harvey Nichols have a great range of unique, luxurious and fabulous gifts in their food and wine department and an amazing range of Christmas hampers too.

*Please note that I was invited to review the Easy Tasty Magic set on behalf of Harvey Nichols, which I was delighted to do. No payment was accepted for writing this review and all views and enthusiasm are my own.

Morston Hall

Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:18:00 GMT

Galton Blackiston is a bit of a local hero up here in North Norfolk and it’s his fabulous Michelin starred restaurant Morston Hall which brought him his rightful fame. Galton is a regular at the BBC Good Food Shows so we’ve often spoken about North Norfolk and how I really should visit the hall. I’ve heard such wonderful things from all that have been so was delighted when my sister booked an afternoon tea there for my birthday earlier this year.

Morston Hall

Morston is a seaside village on the North Norfolk coast, well-known for the seal trips that set sail from the quay, a great pub called The Anchor and Morston Hall. Morston Hall is the only Michelin starred restaurant in the area and has a fantastic reputation for its luxury, use of seasonal and local ingredients and the highest quality food, drink and service.

Sadly Galton wasn’t there to say hello, but we were sent his best regards and were delighted to be offered some rather lovely birthday champagne! There was a great selection of teas, I went for the darjeeling which was perfect for the sunny afternoon.

Tea and Champagne

A beautiful tiered cake stand arrived with our afternoon tea.

Morston Hall Afternoon Tea

Crustless finger sandwiches made with soft, delicious bread, were filled with smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese and egg mayonnaise.

Morston Hall Afternoon Tea Sandwiches

We then moved on to the rich fruit cake, followed by pretty summer meringues topped with a refreshingly fruity cream and fresh blueberry.

Fruit cake & Summer meringues

Perfect scones were accompanied with salted butter, clotted cream and fantastic Morston Hall made strawberry jam.

Home made scones, clotted cream & jam

We were then brought little cheesecakes in jars which had popping candy to create a fun, unexpected mouth feel alongside the creamy, buttery biscuit crumble of the cheesecake. Bite size coffee macaroons were light, chewy and full of coffee flavour.

Popping candy cheese cakes and coffee macarons

To finish we all loved this beautiful passion fruit tart, with perfectly crisp pastry, which was a refreshing way to end the meal.

Passion Fruit Tart

After tea we took a tour of the hall and gardens from our charming waiter.

Morston Hall Interior

Morston Hall Dining

Morston Hall Gardens

We were delighted with the whole experience at Morston Hall – the quality of service and food was outstanding and it’s really made me want to eat a lunch or dinner there. If you do visit, there is a handy Coast Hopper bus which services the North Norfolk coast which I’d highly recommend so no-one has to drive. If fine dining isn’t your thing, Galton has recently opened a fantastic fish and chip shop in Cromer too – keep a look out for a future post on that!

Let me know if you’ve eaten at Morston Hall – what was your experience like?

Golden Coffee Birthday Cake

Thu, 07 Nov 2013 15:26:00 GMT

It’s easy making cakes for girls (or I should probably say women) – you can decorate them with pretty pink things and flowers… but a cake for a man takes some thinking. I got it slightly wrong in April by using typical boy colours to ice a cake – it turned out snot green with […]

So for my brother-in-law John I decided on his favourite coffee cake, and to jazz it up I sprayed it with edible gold lustre. I must say I think it turned out very well. Despite my boyfriend telling me I’d regret cutting the cake into four layers I successfully and evenly split my sponges (I’m glad he didn’t get a chance to say ‘I told you so!’.

Golden Coffee Cake

Due to a nut allergy I stuck to a nice strong coffee cake without the walnuts or chocolate, using Mary Berry’s recipe I created this deliciously light coffee cake. I tend to use a blend of stork and butter in my sponges as find it creates a lighter sponge. To create the gold effect I sprayed the whole cake with Dr Oetker gold shimmer spray , which was £3.99 at Morrison’s. I’m sure it will come in handy at Christmas too!

And just to prove I got the layers right…

Coffee Cake Layers

Brompton Cookery School

Wed, 06 Nov 2013 15:03:00 GMT

Earlier this year I went to visit the lovely Marcus Bean’ s new cookery school and B&B – Brompton Cookery School and Bed and Breakfast . It is a beautiful farm conversion nestled into the stunning Shropshire countryside, with bed and breakfast accommodation, state of the art cookery school, kitchen gardens and incredible views across the surrounding National Trust estate. Of course, all this made so much better by Marcus Bean and his beautiful family at the helm.

The launch party was a great way to get a taste of the cookery school, along with delicious canapés and bubbles too! Marcus and one of his chefs, David Parker, talked us through the canapés and did a series of mini food demos throughout the evening.

The school has room for up to 16 students, with 4 large well equipped workstations to work from with a chef demonstration area up at the front. Courses and experiences vary with full and half days, couples, family and children focused cookery, demo and dine evenings, one on one tuition and guest chefs regularly appearing – so there should be something for all ages, experience and budgets!

Robert Swift , who runs the bread courses at the cookery school, was there with an incredible selection of breads to sample and happily to take home too!

Aprons hang ready and waiting for their students…

We were treated to a grand tour of the beautiful Brompton House, which provides bed and breakfast accommodation. With stunning bedrooms, furnished and decorated to an exceptional standard, overlooking the gorgeous countryside, a beautiful lounge and breakfast room for guests and the warm welcome from Marcus and his family, this is a perfect place to stay, whether you are taking a course or not.

If you’re a fan of Marcus Bean and the Brompton Cookery School, you’ll find him at the upcoming BBC Good Food Shows in 2013!

An American Feast with Tom Kerridge’s Crispy Chicken

Fri, 11 Oct 2013 07:43:00 GMT

So a pair of pumpkins inspired this American feast. They inspired me to cook, so once I’d decided on the pumpkin pie, an American feast seemed like the logical conclusion. I invited over friends and started looking through my cook books and magazines for recipe inspiration. First stop was Tom Kerridge’s new book Proper Food…

Tom Kerridge’s Proper Pub Food

His series is on BBC2 at the moment (Monday nights, 8.30pm) and I’ve loved all the episodes so far – especially the look of his chicken in a basket. Element one of American feast confirmed – Tom Kerridge’s Crispy Fried Chicken . The chicken pieces are supposed to be brined a day in advance but I didn’t have a day, so skipped that step. Straight into the buttermilk they went. And after as long as possible (about 4 hours) out they came…

Buttermilked Chicken

Then in they went into a not so secret blend of herbs and spices…

Coating the Chicken

The recipe called for shallow frying, but my deep fryer doesn’t get a lot of action, so I crisped them up in there; in batches for 5/6 minutes a time.

Frying the Chicken

The crisped up chicken laid in wait, ready to be finished off in the oven ready for when my guests arrived.

Fried Chicken!

Gorgeous golden crispy chicken, piled high, American stylee!

Pile of Fried Chicken

I wanted something reasonably cheap to go with the chicken, so picked up some boneless pork shoulder in two joints. I used a mixture of these pulled pork rub recipes ; the resulting sugar and spice mix was rubbed onto the pork then left to wait for a few hours. It then cooked long and slow in a casserole dish, lid on in the oven, for 3.5 hours until it was literally pulling apart.

I made some of BBC Good Food’s BBQ sauce , which is supposed to go on ribs, but is so easy to make and delicious it’s become my go to BBQ sauce recipe – and a clear winner with my boyfriend! I poured some sauce over the pulled pork, and the rest in a little jug. I served this with a selection of soft rolls and home-made coleslaw, and put some classic American tunes on too.

American Feast!

Digging in!

What would your ultimate American Feast include?

Meeting the BBC Good Food Show Scotland Blogging Community

Wed, 09 Oct 2013 18:55:00 GMT

Last week I had the pleasure of hosting a lunch with the BBC Good Food Show Scotland Blogging Community in Glasgow. We dined at the beautiful Two Fat Ladies at the Buttery and chatted over a delicious meal with a few glasses of wine too! The blogging community was created to provide some fabulous bloggers […]

Two Fat Ladies at the Buttery

The blogging community was created to provide some fabulous bloggers with pre show news, back stage access at the show and exciting foodie things throughout the year to keep their followers and fans of the show entertained and updated with show related news and updates. Take a look here for details of the BBC Good Food Show Blogging Community and be sure to follow their blogs too!

Now, back to the lunch!

The Two Fat Ladies are well known in Glasgow; The Buttery being one of five fantastic restaurants. The interior is luxuriously traditional, with beautiful touches of tartan, dark wood creating a relaxed, but special, atmosphere. The service we received couldn’t have been better, we were very well looked after.

Proud Pheasant

We ate from the set lunch menu which gave us four options for each course. I started with mackerel with a caper dressing and potato salad. The fish was cooked perfectly and as you can see the dish was presented beautifully.

Mackerel Starter

I decided on the pork cutlet for the main, with (if I remember rightly) an apple and potato mash. The pork was so juicy, with just the right amount of crispy fat left round the edge.

Pork Cutlet Main Course

After seeing choux buns on The Great British Bake Off earlier that week, I couldn’t resist them for dessert. Served with a milk chocolate mocha sauce and fresh fruit it was the perfect dessert to end the meal.

Choux Bun Dessert

We followed the meal with tea or coffee and petits fours. Of course I went for tea and was delighted to find a Norfolk Broads tea spoon on my saucer! The pretty vintage cups and saucers are a delight to look at and drink out of.

Norfolk Broads Tea Spoon

My only regret from the day was that I didn’t get to try enough of the petits fours… that’s not because I had greedy lunch friends but because I had to leave promptly to catch my flight back to England!

Petit Fours

It was great to meet five of Scotland’s best bloggers, who were Alfred of Alfred’s Foodography , Stuart of Cakeyboi fame, Sharon from House of Herby , Emma from Food and Drink Glasgow and Michelle from Ananyah .

The BBC Good Food Show Blogging Community and Me

I loved The Two Sisters at the Buttery so much we’ve decided to hold our staff get together there while we’re at the BBC Good Food Show Scotland next week – can’t wait!

Hope to see some of you at the show, drop me a tweet @katytruss to let me know you’re there!

Making Sea Buckthorn Berry Jelly

Mon, 07 Oct 2013 17:06:00 GMT

The cliff tops of Cromer are jewelled with sea buckthorn berries at the moment. My sister and I have been talking about foraging for some for years and never got round to it, so today we set some time aside to pick some and made some delicious sea buckthorn berry jelly.

Sea Buckthorn Berries

Before I tell you how we made the jelly, you must come for a virtual walk up the cliffs with us…

We’ll walk up from the town with the view of the pier behind us, stop to watch the crab boats coming in for a little while and although there are sea buckthorn bushes here I know there are more bushes laden with berries further up the cliff.

Sea Buckthorn Bush, Blackberries & Cromer Pier

We’ll walk right up to the top of the cliff through the spiky gorse bushes, sit on a bench for a few minutes to catch our breath and admire the view before we start our forage…

View from Cromer Cliff Tops

Now, we’ve found our bushes and the picking begins!

Sea Buckthorn Bush

Sea Buckthorn Berries

We gently brought the berries to the boil and simmered away for around 20 minutes.

Boiling Berries

We strained the berries through a sieve.

Straining Berries

We decided to strain through a muslin cloth too as there seemed to be some residue that had come off the skins of the berries. Stirring and encouraging the juice through the muslin quickened the process!

Straining Sea Buckthorn Juice

Squeezing Juice Through Muslin

Pure Sea Buckthorn Juice

Boiling Sea Buckthorn Berries & Sugar

I put a plate in the freezer to chill and after a few minutes of further boiling spooned a small amount on the plate to check the set. After just a couple of minutes more it cooled to a well set jelly so we removed from the heat. We then skimmed off the scummy bits on top which left a beautifully clear jelly, then carefully funnelled into freshly sterilised jars.

Et voila! From 500ml of sea buckthorn juice (I froze 400ml to save for a special sorbet) we created these three beautiful jars of sea buckthorn berry jelly. Describing the taste is quite difficult but it is citrusy, slightly tropical and tastes somewhat like fruit salad sweets, or those red lollies you get at Little Chef at the end of your meal with a slight sherbetty tang.

Let me know if you try this recipe and how you get on over on Instagram or by emailing me , I'd love to know what you think or if it's been helpful?

Sea Buckthorn Jelly

My my, my American style pumpkin pie…

Sun, 06 Oct 2013 12:50:00 GMT

It started with a pair of pumpkins. My boyfriend arrived home with the suggestion of a carving challenge, but I fancied a cooking challenge! If you think about it, there aren’t many obvious things to make with a pumpkin, other than soup or pumpkin pie. I searched online and through cook books for inspiration but […]

It started with a pair of pumpkins. My boyfriend arrived home with the suggestion of a carving challenge, but I fancied a cooking challenge!

Pair of Pumpkins

If you think about it, there aren’t many obvious things to make with a pumpkin, other than soup or pumpkin pie. I searched online and through cook books for inspiration but decided since I hadn’t ever made pumpkin pie that I’d give it a go.

The Victim

I searched through various pumpkin pie recipes and loosely based it on Felicity Cloake’s Pumpkin Pie Recipe . I added bourbon instead of rum, allspice instead of ground cloves (I couldn’t be bothered to grind up my whole cloves!) and also made my pastry really easily in my Magimix.

I started by roasting the pumpkin, which was different to the BBC Good Food Pumpkin Pie Recipe which calls for boiling. After roasting, the pumpkin is peeled, whizzed up to a puree then strained over a sieve to remove the liquid (there was loads!).

Roasting Pumpkin

I hadn’t made pastry myself for years so thought it would be nice to give it a go. I overfilled the pastry a little and had excess too, so filled my little pumpkin coloured Le Crueset pots and made a couple of baby pies too.

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie & Mini Pie

Sadly, I didn’t quite cook the pastry enough on the blind bake, so created myself a bit of a soggy bottom! The pie was delicious though, and was the perfect end to a delicious American Feast! It wasn’t too sweet, had a lovely autumnal feel to it and a perfect amount of spice. Despite the soggy bottom, the pastry was deliciously crisp round the edges.

Pumpkin Pie Slice

Look out for my next post which will include Tom Kerridge’s amazing fried chicken, the star of the feast! What will you be making with pumpkin this Autumn? Let me know if you have any recipe ideas!

BBC Good Food Show Bursary Award Winners 2013/14

Tue, 17 Sep 2013 15:08:00 GMT

I’m delighted to announce the winners of the BBC Good Food Show Bursary Scheme for this year. After months of accepting applications, carefully reading through, sorting through hundreds of samples and finally tasting them all at the BBC Good Food kitchens we’ve selected the deserving winners and here they are! You can find out more […]

You can find out more about why they were chosen by browsing through the Food Find Directory too.

BBC Good Food Show Scotland – Glasgow, 18 – 20 October, SECC

BBC Good Food Show London – Olympia, 15 – 17 November

BBC Good Food Show Winter , 27 Nov – 2 December, NEC

BBC Good Food Show Summer , 11 – 15 June 2014, NEC

Don’t forget to visit them at the shows and show your support by buying from these outstanding British producers!

Macarons & More – Tim Kinnaird’s Beautiful Shop

Sat, 07 Sep 2013 16:23:00 GMT

You might remember the brilliant Tim Kinnaird from MasterChef a few years back? The one with Tim, Alex and Dhruv Baker in the final three and Dhruv ended up winning? Well, after the show, Tim went on to develop his own patisserie business, Macarons & More and recently realised his dream by opening his very own shop, by the same name, in the Royal Arcade, right in the centre of the fine city of Norwich.

In addition to the fabulous selection of macarons you will find the ‘more’ which certainly exceeds expectations! You’ll find flavoured marshmallows, meringues, pastries, bread, amazing brownies, hot chocolate, nut brittle and lots more! You can also buy a fantastic coffee or tea to drink in or take away to compliment your sweet goods.

I dare you to resist the gold and silver brownies…

Artisan bread comes from a brilliant local baker.

The shop displays and windows are beautiful, inspirational and made to make your mouth water!

My selection of macarons were the perfect chewy texture, full of flavour and gorgeous to look at. After much deliberation I went for peanut butter and jam which is a classic combination but utterly perfect in a macaron, salted caramel which was buttery, creamy and slightly salty and cappuccino which had a great coffee kick to it.

If you can’t get yourself to Norwich, you can buy online or find Tim’s Macarons & More at the BBC Good Food Show Winter 2013, handily overlooking the MasterChef theatre!

Real Black Pudding from the Fruit Pig Company

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 18:19:00 GMT

I love black pudding, so when I heard about a local producer winning a rather special award from the French for his fresh blood black pudding, I couldn’t help but find out more. What is Matt Cockin’s The Fruit Pig Company doing so well to win a coveted award from the French? I asked if I could […]

Matt Cockin sources his pigs from local farms and small holdings that he knows and trusts. I was lucky enough to visit one of the small holdings which is located just outside Wisbech (on the borders of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire) and had a great time with the pigs and getting out in the fresh air!

Now, these pictures are pretty cute, so please do bear in mind that these lovely pigs live a great life and the reality is that they wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the demand of us meat-loving humans wanting to eat them. It’s also important to understand and appreciate that meat was once a live animal and we should all try to buy the best standard of meat we can afford, or perhaps cut down rather than buying lots of cheap, unethically reared meat.

The farm (or I should probably say small holding) owner loves his pigs, and you can tell that they live happy and fulfilling lives.

Matt really knows his pigs but has chosen to stick to what he does best with the butchery and charcuterie making – all the better for us I say!

Matt warned me that his unit probably wouldn’t live up to my expectations of a traditional wooden shack or cottage out in the country – instead I found a functional, spotlessly clean unit in a business park, which ticks all the boxes for what Matt needs to make his delicious black pudding, sausages and other meaty goods.

Most black pudding producers in the UK use dried blood to make their black puddings. It is rare to find a producer using fresh blood, which takes a lot more effort to do. Marc Frederic , a well respected British Charcutier, is an advocate of using fresh blood in black pudding. In fact, when Matt was experimenting with recipes he asked Marc for his opinion – Marc wouldn’t even taste a dried blood version!

So now it gets a little gruesome… but what did you expect from a post about blood pudding?! Matt has to be super quick to collect the blood from his slaughtered pigs – if he’s too late, the blood starts to coagulate and clot, like our own blood would. As soon as possible he must add the oats, so has a great system for doing this (no secrets given away here!) but he does have to get up ridiculously early to do it! It makes him realise why so many producers take the easy option and use dried blood!

By the time I reached the unit, the oats and blood had already been mixed, but the colour was still shockingly vibrant.

So, aside from the obviously good fresh blood, what were Matt’s secrets to the success of his award-winning black pudding? Unfortunately somethings have to be kept exactly that – secrets! Matt mixed his added ingredients before I arrived so I couldn’t tell what was in there – clever man! I did take a good snoop at all the ingredients on his shelves though…

Oatmeal is a key ingredient in their black puddings – as with all blood puddings there needs to be a binding agent, which is usually some kind of grain like barley or rice but in England oats are usually used.

Fat is also added to the black pudding, which Matt melts down to give an even consistency to the pudding.

The mixture is stuffed into black skins and then placed in a water oven to cook through. I didn’t know, but black pudding is actually cooked when you buy it, so all it needs is a warm through, and for me a little bit of crispness!

The Fruit Pig Company’s black pudding has a flavour and texture that is definitely worth the extra effort that Matt puts in. It almost has a creaminess to it, which adds to the rich, meaty flavour and crumbly texture.

Every year in the old French market town Morgagne-au-Perche, over 600 black puddings from across the globe are judged by the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Black Pudding. The festival runs over 3 days with the aim of uncovering the very best black puddings in the world. Matt did England proud by bringing back a silver medal – congratulations!

The Fruit Pig Company don’t only do black pudding… they also have a delicious range of flavoured sausages, bacon, meat joints and other charcuterie items too. I asked whether he was doing anything about the pulled pork trend – of course! Matt opened up an upright smoker and lo and behold shelves full of pork joints smoking ready to be sent out to chefs for pulled pork!

I think it’s important to support producers that make this kind of effort with their produce – The Fruit Pig Company work hard to produce a quality product and deserve our attention and custom.

If you are keen to find out more about black pudding, and the festival organised by the Knights of the Black Pudding, listen to the brilliant Radio 4 Food Programme on the subject.

If you’d like to see more pictures from my farm visit – take a look at my Flickr page .

Cromer Crabs and Homemade Rapeseed Oil Mayonnaise

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:26:00 GMT

Last month I took a big life step and moved back from London to my home town of Cromer, North Norfolk. It’s something I’ve always thought about doing, so when my boyfriend Jamie got offered a job at the largest (maybe only) employer in his industry in Norwich, we decided to go for it! Luckily I’m still able to do work for the BBC Good Food Shows , but it does now mean I have time to develop my own business and build on my knowledge and expertise… it’s all still under development but keep an eye on www.fabulousfoodfinds.co.uk !

If you didn’t know, Cromer is well-known for its crabs. They are brown crabs, smaller and sweeter than those found on the south coast and are renowned for their delicate flavour. You may have heard about the ‘Keep it Cromer’ campaign last year, when Youngs Seafood were threatening to close down the Cromer Crab Company’s factory and move the processing plant to Humberside. Despite support from local hero Stephen Fry, the Keep it Cromer campaign failed… making over 230 people jobless, and losing the town’s biggest private employer. The Cromer crab industry has quickly returned to the cottage industry it once was, stripping the likes of Waitrose’s shelves of the delicious Cromer crabs, as they are unable to supply large multiples on a national scale. So in short, your best chance of eating a Cromer crab is now by visiting Cromer and the surrounding area. It’s rather beautiful round here!

Anyway, back to the crab sandwiches and mayo! Now that I live so close to my family, I invited my sister and Grandparents over for lunch during my self prescribed hour lunch break. With the weather being so cold, the crabs have been hiding under the mud at the bottom of the sea… apparently they don’t come out until the water temperature hits 7 degrees, so thankfully this warmer weather means the local fisherman have been catching. Davies’ Fish Shop on Garden Street had a good range of sizes, so I bought a ready dressed one for each of us at £3.50 each (they range between £2.50 and £5 for dressed crabs).

I decided to make my own mayonnaise to go with the ready dressed crabs and took the advice of Felicity Cloake who suggests how to make the perfect mayonnaise on the Guardian Word of Mouth blog. The only thing I did differently to her recipe was use only rapeseed oil (from Norfolk of course!) which was from Yare Valley Rapeseed Oil and gave it an almost nutty flavour, and gorgeous yellow colour.

My mayonnaise sadly split, so on the advice of my dad (Geoff the Chef) I cracked a fresh egg yolk into a new bowl, whisked it up and gradually added the split mixture. It blended perfectly. I also added a crushed clove of garlic which was more than enough for a strong garlic flavour.

Since I’d spent far too long hand whisking the mayonnaise, I decided we would have DIY crab sandwiches and set the table up with salad, crusty rolls, butter, dressed crabs and my homemade mayonnaise.

I must say, it was a splendid lunch and my Grandparents and sister loved it. The mayonnaise went so well with the crab, and I am rather partial to a slightly over cooked crusty white roll too… with lots of butter. Here’s to the first crab of many more to come!

Food Find of the Week – Nova Scotia Steak Pie

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:17:00 GMT

What better way to celebrate St George’s Day with a classic English pie made by a dedicated Yorkshire farm? Nova Scotia Farm are the ultimate producers – not only do they rear their own meat for their pies and ready meals, but they also produce 90% of the feed for their animals too! Traditional short-crust individual pies, suet crust pies and a range of ready meals are made with the highest quality, well hung Yorkshire beef and are truly delicious.

Nova Scotia Farm can be found in the heart of Yorkshire, where happy families of cattle graze on grass sweetened by naturally filtered water which drains down from the Vale of York. Their natural surroundings and traditional husbandry means the herd is close to organic, just without all the paperwork! Back in 2001 the company were one of the first to start selling their beef nationally online, and from there they started making the pies. As demand increased, Mark and Sally the farmers, focussed more and more on pies and meals as customers looked for more convenient products, that still had the quality they were known for. As the company has grown, they now also use beef from other ‘similarly minded cattle producers’ to keep up with demand. How refreshing it is to find a convenient ‘ready meal’ that is made by a truly passionate artisan, that you can really trust!

If you buy online you can choose either baked or unbaked pies – I went for frozen unbaked pies as I wasn’t sure when I was going to be able to eat them. They arrive in an ice packed box, complete with ‘dishes to dine for’ cooler bag, which I think you get free with your pies if you buy them at a show or festival.

Concise cooking instructions are provided, along with advice to accommodate different types of oven and baking tips if the pie didn’t come out quite right first time.

45 minutes of baking from frozen… what do they say about a watched kettle?! The smells coming from the oven were making my mouth water!

The result was a deliciously golden, steak filled pie with a really tasty, meaty gravy. You can see the hefty chunks of meat in the picture below, which are cooked to a melt in the mouth tenderness, along with the perfect amount of gravy. The pastry is the ideal thickness and crispness, expertly balanced to let the highest quality beef take the limelight. Mark and Sally have collected some rather impressive (and entertaining) testimonials on their website, so you don’t have to take my word for how wonderful they are.

Nova Scotia Farm Produce online

Purnell’s Bistro and Ginger’s Bar

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:31:00 GMT

Any discerning food lover will have heard of Glynn Purnell, Birmingham’s celebrated food hero and chef owner of Michelin starred and multi-award winning restaurant Purnell’s. I’ve always wanted to dine there, but haven’t yet had the chance, so I was delighted that the first BBC Good Food Show bloggers lunch was to be held at […]

Any discerning food lover will have heard of Glynn Purnell , Birmingham’s celebrated food hero and chef owner of Michelin starred and multi-award winning restaurant Purnell’s . I’ve always wanted to dine there, but haven’t yet had the chance, so I was delighted that the first BBC Good Food Show bloggers lunch was to be held at Purnell’s little sister restaurant Purnell’s Bistro which is also the home of Ginger’s Bar .

We were treated to a cocktail masterclass with the undivided attention of a rather charming bar man. He led us through 6 different cocktails, giving us tips, techniques, unique flavour ideas and some flashy flairing too!

This one was rather intriguing – the Lamb Provencal… made with lamb fat infused rum, cranberry and rosemary – almost like fruity, cold gravy but much nicer than it sounds!

We took our cocktails with us to our table where three courses of specially selected dishes were served.

I love butter, so was delighted to see they had their own delicious ‘home-whipped’ butter to be served with home-baked bread.

I started with the butternut squash veloute and ravioli which was packed with flavour, rich and creamy.

Our lovely bar man then supplied us with another refreshing cocktail to cleanse our palettes before the next course.

I couldn’t resist the slow braised beef with shallots and creamed spinach, it was as tasty and flavourful as it looks here.

Desserts included a seasonal crumble with ice cream or chocolate torte with red currant sorbet and caramelised hazelnuts.

We were very well looked after and it is clear that customer service is very important. Prices are great value and although advertised as a ‘bistro’ it certainly felt special and would be perfect for a celebration or special occasion. The bistro gives Glynn fans a taste of his expert cooking, while offering honest (read hefty) portions, a more relaxed dining experience and prices that wont break the bank.

I loved it, but do still want to visit Purnell’s… I’ll start saving now! Have you been to either restaurant? If so, what did you think?

The Michel and Monica Experience

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 07:49:00 GMT

Imagine being able to cook up close and personal with your favourite celebrity chef… well, I got to live the dream at Cactus Kitchens where I had a day cookery course with none other than Michel Roux Junior and Monica Galetti! It was truly an experience I will be telling the grand children about and […]

Cactus Kitchens are based in Clapham, just of the high street. The recently renovated building is stunning and the kitchen has been designed to the highest quality specification. We were told Michel Roux helped with the design so it’s not surprising! The kitchen is actually above the Saturday Kitchen television studio, so as you go in you can see where James Martin et al spend their Saturday mornings!

There are 12 workstations and the demonstration area, where everyone sits very close to watch the chef cook the dish, giving you tips and the opportunity to ask lots of questions too. As it’s so relaxed and informal, if you want to get up to see something up close you just hop off your stool and take a peek.

Our first course was a celeriac and crayfish gratin, almost like a quiche filling but in a little ramekin dish instead. The basic recipe is eggs, cream, fish, spices and vegetables (celery and celeriac) but it got me thinking about all the different things you can put into this dish. It is also served at room temperature, and can be refrigerated first, so it makes the perfect dinner party starter!

The main was a fish stew with chorizo – another great dinner party dish as you can prepare the stew in advance (ingredients as seen below plus flour, white wine, stock and spices). Once you are ready to serve, you place the fish into the pan, turn off the heat and let it cook through the residual heat.

We used sustainable, budget friendly pollack, then sprinkled it with saffron.

The final dish not only looks impressive but tastes delicious too!

Dessert was this beautiful rhubarb upside down cake. I loved making it so much that I made it for my family the following weekend!

Made with perfectly pink forced rhubarb which is in season now.

I hate washing up, so one of the nicest things about the course is the luxury of people clearing up after you!

The whole day had been perfectly planned out with wines chosen by the Saturday Kitchen experts to go with our lunch and dishes that we had cooked. I only wished I wasn’t driving so I could have had more… and more of the delicious champagne we were served too!!

The Many Faces of Monica Galetti

Monica always gets caught out on MasterChef: The Professionals as her facial expressions give her away as she watches people cook. We got a taste of this on the course as she cooked in front of us and answered our questions… Add in your own captions here!

I love this picture, it really shows Monica’s warm, friendly side. This really shone through on the course as she talked about her young daughter and home life, showing a side you would never get to see on the TV!

At the end, after eating the fruits of our learning and labour, we had the chance to sit and chat with Michel and Monica. They were more than happy to sign your apron (a great souvenir from the day!) or cook books and have pictures taken too!

There are a range of chefs you can choose from for the courses (FYI they aren’t cheap) and as you can see from my coverage here, you really get quality time with the chefs and are in the most luxurious surroundings. The ability level required for the course wasn’t particularly high, although if you were a really good cook you could still get a lot from the tips and support from both the celebrity chefs and the brilliant gentleman (oh gosh I’ve forgotten his name!) who heads up the kitchens there, who really knows his stuff. There are enough people there to help if you get stuck, and to make you drinks when you want them too. Oh, and you get a lunch (with wine) with the chefs and get to take any leftovers home to impress your loved ones! As you can tell, I had a really good time!

Take a look at the Cactus Kitchens Website for more details on the courses, and let me know if you have been or are planning to go on one!

Food Find of the Week – Well Seasoned Spring Pesto

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 19:38:00 GMT

This food find was delivered to my desk and there is no doubt that this is the tastiest thing I’ve eaten in ages! Well Seasoned won a bursary to attend the BBC Good Food Show London last year and I’m so glad to have found them, and that they sent me their latest delicious Spring […]

From a brilliant blog based on seasonal food and cooking Well Seasoned was born – versatile pestos/dips that change with the seasons. The new Spring flavours are stunning – wild garlic, basil and mint which was gorgeous in colour and packed full of flavour and roasted spring onion and parsley which was rich and again had an incredible flavour. Both pestos tasted so fresh and not only could you identify the different ingredients by looking at it, but you could taste all the ingredients too – cobnuts, rapeseed oil, cheese and the seasonal additions.

In keeping with the ethos of seasonal and British, Well Seasoned use Kentish cobnuts, extra virgin rapeseed oil and Old Winchester cheese in all of their pestos. The ingredients change with the seasons so back in the Winter (yes I know it seems like we are still there with the bitter cold at the moment!) their flavours were roasted parsnip and thyme and caramelised shallot and rosemary. Take a look at their website to see the other flavours, and be sure to check out their summer flavours when they launch. You can buy from Partridges in London or a box of 6 online for £19.50 + £3.50 postage (don’t worry they freeze really well).

I ate mine at my desk for lunch two days running… on Ryvita thins, with bread, stirred into plain pasta and on its own too! So worthy of being my food find of the week!

The Gunton Arms

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 10:04:00 GMT

The Gunton Arms is a relatively new addition to the North Norfolk pub scene, having opened in late 2011. I remember when the previously named Elderton Lodge was closed down for refurbishment and the rumours that flew around about what would replace it (a Londoner, an art dealer, someone to do with Mark Hix – I was excited!). I visited last Christmas and had an amazing meal with lots of wine so we booked early for a lunch with friends the weekend after Christmas. I hadn’t realised, but the pub actually won the Michelin guide’s pub of the year for 2012 – excellent news for them, not so great for us having to plan ahead to book a table!

The owner is an art dealer, and this is certainly reflected in the interior decorations. I’ve heard that there has been some local controversy over some of the art but I think it adds to the character of the pub, and the experience too. A trip to the ladies toilets will either leave you in the privacy of hyacinths or horses and a bare-chested, and rather overweight lady – choose your cubicle wisely! If you are an art lover, you will find a vast range of original pieces including work from Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst.

Starters were difficult to choose from, with a great selection. My sister went for their Loch Duart home smoked salmon, which was presented beautifully. It had a perfect texture – soft in the mouth, but still firm and dry. The smoke was strong and unique but didn’t overpower the flavour of the salmon.

I went for the duck egg with lobster and seashore vegetables, which I loved. When I visited before I had a similar dish but with brown shrimp rather than the lobster, either way, the duck egg yolk acts like a rich, creamy sauce to lubricate the dish and for me was the ultimate seasonal starter.

Smoked Gressingham duck with walnut and blackcurrant looked great and was very much enjoyed.

Ham hock terrine was served in a generous portion with home-made piccalilli.

The roast beef was by far the best roast dinner I’d eaten in 2012 – made even better by the intensely rich roast garlic bread sauce (Delia’s bread sauce will never be the same again) which accompanied the chicken but was happily served with the beef too. My boyfriend made the mistake of being lured in by the crispy belly pork with chorizo and chickpea stew on the specials board, and spent the entire meal voicing his dismay at his poor menu choice and accompanying food envy. The beef was cooked just as I wanted, tender and full of flavour, the yorkshire was crispy while retaining a bit of stodge at the bottom, roast potatoes just right, parsnips caramelised to perfection and vegetables lightly buttered and supplied in abundance. Oh and a jug of excellent extra gravy too!

We couldn’t resist dessert. The sticky toffee pudding looked like a work of art and delivered everything you want from this classic dessert, along with a light, milky ice cream to contrast against the sticky, treacley richness.

My choice, the Amedei chocolate mousse, was HUGE but great – it was rich while not too bitter, creamy yet still fresh and was the perfect way of showcasing the quality of Tuscan Amedei chocolate.

My sister went for the buttermilk pudding with Somerset cherries in eau de vie. The cherries on their own blow your socks off (there were a couple of cherry casualties), but when eaten with the milky pudding they worked in perfect harmony with each other to make a fruity, boozy and creamy pudding.

The interior of The Gunton Arms is welcoming, like a home away from home (perhaps without some of the more outrageous art and stuffed animals) and luxuriously furnished with an eclectic mix of solid wood, leather, animal heads and the aforementioned art. We ate in the ‘grill room’ where a huge fire-place is used to not only warm the room, but also to cook some of the meat based dishes on the menu.

The view from the lodge is incredibly beautiful, with deer scattered across the surrounding fields. The perfect place to take a long walk in wellies, followed by a well deserved indulgent meal. They have 8 bedrooms, which I’m sure are beautifully decorated, so would be a great place to stay too.

The meal wasn’t cheap, at around £40 per head for a 3 course lunch with a couple of drinks each and tip, but with the quality of food and drink, the luxurious and beautiful surroundings and superb service, we were left feeling full, happy and looking forward to returning. They also have a well priced bar menu, with enticing items like red deer dogs and venison sausage rolls – so will definitely be back when next in Norfolk to try some of the bar snacks too!

Have you been to The Gunton Arms ? If so what did you think? If not, does this post make you want to visit?

Fortnum and Mason’s Knickerbocker Glory

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 18:15:00 GMT

A visit to Fortnum and Mason is an essential pre-Christmas activity for me. I love the gorgeous Christmas windows, the impressively ornate architecture, the luxury and the unrivalled quality of products and service. I met up with my best friend on Tuesday to do a spot of shopping and to treat ourselves to a special dinner before we went our separate ways for Christmas.

Before I tell you more about my food find of the week, their fabulous Knickerbocker Glory, let me show you some of the Christmassy displays in the shop – I forgot to take pictures of the windows!

I booked a table in the Fountain restaurant, which is on the ground floor of the store. It is beautifully decorated and the service makes you feel very special!

I really like the ‘Savouries’ section of the menu, which is basically a brunch menu with things like smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, omelette Arnold Bennett and even lobster Benedict, which you can have at any time of day. Isn’t it the height of luxury when you can have brunch for dinner?!

I went for the pan-fried halibut, with tempura cod cheek served with caponata and a creamy sauce. It was delicious, and was even better with their ‘like chip shop chips but more posh’ chips and bread basket.

And so to the Knickerbocker Glory, which apparently they have been serving since 1955! I’m not surprised it’s still on the menu – it was impressive and soooooo good. With fresh strawberries in sauce at the bottom, layered with the best strawberry ice-cream I’ve ever tasted, fresh vanilla flavoured whipped cream, more strawberry sauce and finally topped with Italian meringue which has been gently toasted on top.

It wasn’t cheap at £12 but it’s definitely a sharing sized portion! I know it’s not particularly Christmassy but it is the perfect refresher to a posh shopping trip round Fortnum and Mason! Let me know if you have tried before, or if I’ve inspire you to give it a go!

Salone del Gusto 2012

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 21:29:00 GMT

The Salone del Gusto is an incredible gathering of food and people; organised by ‘ Slow Food ‘, it runs on the principles of a good, clean and fair approach to food. Back in October, my MD and I took a flying visit to Turin to experience Salone del Gusto and see if there is anything we could learn from the event and of course do a spot of shopping and eating too!

We were led from massive meat displays to towers of cheese, from interactive workshops to lecture theatres, street food to circus food – we totally immersed ourselves in the world of Slow Food and the food of the world.

The Street Food area was extremely popular and after a review of everything on offer we decided to share a fritto misto, which was incredible!

There are huge halls dedicated to the different regions of Italy, and from large companies to small artisans you could taste your way around the Country, trying and buying some of the most amazing, exciting and delicious produce available. Below is a quick walk around the highlights of the regions:

Chillis galore…

Lots of nduja (soft, spicy salami) in the Calabria regional area…

You could even buy nduja warmers!

Wall of ham…

Pasta growing on trees…

In the centre of these nests of hay lay delicious cheeses…

I was intrigued by a crowd around one stand and was pleased to find them selling arancini balls – this one was filled with beef ragu and mozzarella and was packed full of flavour.

Beautiful jars of peppers…

Pasta making lessons…

A caper tree and lots of caper products…

Rather special giant onions…

We then went on to visit the world food area, where representatives, and their produce were showcasing their wares.

Pit fermented cabbages from Germany…

Beautifully branded spanish canned fish…

Biscuit heaven (we stopped here for a coffee and a biscuit)…

Happy lady from Thailand proudly showing off her rice…

Snails and snail caviar from Vienna…

We had to try the snail caviar, which were like little bursting pearls of saltiness.

Black honey bread from Vienna…

We were there to experience everything we could, so when we heard about a Michelin starred dinner, in a big top with circus entertainment we made a beeline to get ourselves tickets. We were delighted that after waiting in the rain there were tickets left to the event, and at only 22 euros thought we were on to a winner! Sadly for me, two of the courses had a strong goats cheese as their main ingredient – I’m not one to be too fussy, but with two pungent anchovies laying on top of a goaty risotto I was gutted not to be able to eat it. I really don’t like goats cheese.

Dessert was very exciting, and based around vegetables sweetened with what we concluded must have been sugar beet. It was pretty and deliciously absorbing and as we ate tension mounted as one of the circus acts climbed higher and higher on her trapeze… the result was rather shocking and to keep it brief we didn’t get a chance to finish our dessert and decided not to mix circus and food at our shows!!

I hope you have enjoyed this whirlwind tour of the Salone del Gusto – take a look at my Flikr page if you would like to see more images. Have you ever been to Salone Del Gusto? How do you think it compares to UK Food Festivals?

BBC Good Food Show London – back and better than ever!

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 07:00:00 GMT

The BBC Good Food Show London was back in the Capital last weekend, and although hard work, was a truly awesome Show! Thanks to all that visited, exhibited and worked to make the show brilliant and better than ever before! In this post I’m giving a few sneaky pre show pictures, a few of my shopping highlights and a run through of the areas that I look after at the shows – where you will find all the lovely, speciality artisan producers!

So to begin… the show in choux! Brand new company Choux London impressed us with this gorgeously edible homage to the BBC Good Food Show, along with their fabulous filled choux buns. My favourites were salted caramel and peanut butter flavours.

I often wonder if visitors know how much work goes into putting our shows together… not just the year building up to the show (we’re already working on the 2013 show!) but in the days before the show opens. Below are a few sneaky pre show insights which might surprise you!

Thursday 1130 – MasterChef Demonstration Pod half way to being built.

Thursday 1300 – Getting our (well, show manager Paul Patterson!) hands dirty cleaning a stand roof! As you can see lots of stands still just empty shells at this stage.

Thursday 1730 – meeting with Custom Creams for a liquid nitrogen powered ice cream making demonstration!

I love show opening – we usually have one of our celebrities open the show by cutting ribbon with giant scissors. Below is James Martin on the Saturday, don’t his white trousers make our pink carpet look bright?!

It’s great to see thousands of food lovers all under one roof, and I must admit, Olympia is definitely my favourite venue in terms of how beautiful the structure is. When the sun goes down there are some amazing colours coming in through that huge domed window!

Here is a bit more about the areas of the show that I look after and am very proud of!

The Producers’ Village

This is our collection of nearly 100 small artisan producers, which we have scoured the country to find – from charcuterie to choux, truffles to turkey, fish to fudge there should have been something to please most foodies! The smell of aromatic coffee wafts from the Jaccs Gourmet Coffee stand, where you could find all sorts of beans and flavours of coffee. Mortons Turkeys came all the way from North Norfolk (very near my home town!) and were sampling their delicately smoked duck and taking orders for Christmas turkeys at the show – I’m planning to visit the farm when I’m back home for Christmas!

I always make sure I buy some Calabrian (Italian region) delicacies from De Calabria before the end of the show. Giuseppe is a real character, “an arteest” as he would put it, and is a wonderful addition to the show – he brings the most deliciously vibrant green olive oils, wild honey and herbs, n’duja, chilli products, sun-dried tomatoes, cheeses, salamis, even chick peas (I bet you didn’t know they grew like this?!)!

Joe and Sephs

I shouldn’t have favourites, but Karantania Deli had to be one of the most attractive stands at the show – a tree decorated with chocolate salami twinkled away between piles of irresistible pastries, breads and cakes and bottles of bubbly, chocolate liqueur and other Slovenian delights. I love it when producers make an effort with their stands like this!

I sometimes come across oyster virgins trying their first at the Shows… love ’em or hate ’em literally thousands get shucked and knocked back at the shows!

David here, from Real Organic Foods , created his company through a passion for food and by noticing a gap in the market for organic foods that actually tasted good. Definitely worth a try!

I was sure to take advantage of the bargain olive oil from Candiasoil – beautiful bottles and delicious single estate oils from Crete, the perfect stocking filler for a foodie!

New to the show this year was The Pelagonia Range – Macedonian mezze products like pumpkin jam, roasted peppers and other delicious dips.

Bursary Winners

Our bursary award winners did us proud and every one of them loved using the show as a springboard to put their products in front of thousands of influential food lovers. We had amazing African sauces from Bim’s Kitchen, savoury seaweed seasonings from Mara Seaweed, delicious drinks from Norfolk Cordials, seasonal pestos from Well Seasoned, hand made and indulgent marshmallows from Patchett’s Confectionery and authentic Indian fresh chutney from the Maha Partnership. Take a look at how they got to the show here .

Good Food Champions!

A brand new addition to the show this year, my way of highlighting some of the most outstanding producers at the shows. This year at London, visitors will have been able to try 2 of the top 50 best foods which were from The Exquisite Range and Momo Cha Fine Teas . I was delighted that Gelupo were there, the gelato sister of famous Italian restaurant Bocca di Lupo – I tried their fresh mint choc chip and dark chocolate sorbets, which were incredible! Pistachio Rose brought their beautiful range of Indian inspired baked goods. Olive Branch sold their olive oils and intriguing olive oil jam, while next door the Artisan Smokehouse presented their range of smoked fish, meat, cheeses, oils, herbs and spices! Joanna from Edible Ornamentals , another one of our Good Food Champions, giving an interview for the BBC You Tube team:

Now, there are so many other things I could write about here… but I could go on forever! Look out for my highlights of the BBC Good Food Show Winter, which opens at the NEC next week on the 28th November, or perhaps I will see you there?!

The Dessert Deli Cookbook – Food Find of the Week

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:01:00 GMT

My latest food find, which I know really isn’t a food, is Laura Amos’s eagerly anticipated debut recipe book – The Dessert Deli Cook Book. Finally it is on sale and fans of her desserts will now be able to recreate her delicious delights at home. I’m rather excited about being mentioned in the credits – […]

From her signature chocolate mousse with honeycomb to her fabulous flapjacks there is a great selection of desserts, cakes, treats and a special Christmas section too! Laura gives great tips on ingredients, equipment and tweaking recipes to make them your own. I love the photography which helps to guide on how your finished recipe should look and watch out, it will certainly make your mouth water!

You can either buy directly from Laura at one of her markets (follow her on twitter to find our where she is), get a signed copy from the publishers , find in good book shops, or get a bargain price online from Amazon! I will be certainly be buying a few of these for Christmas presents this year.

Have you got your hands on The Dessert Deli Cook Book yet? If so, have you tried any of the recipes? I can’t wait to get baking!

BBC Good Food Show Scotland 2012 – My Highlights

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 07:21:00 GMT

Last weekend I was up in Glasgow for the BBC Good Food Show Scotland. I think most will agree it was one of the best shows yet with a great celebrity chef line up, including the lovely Hairy Bikers, and an even better selection of speciality, artisan and passionate producers from across Scotland, the British […]

Last weekend I was up in Glasgow for the BBC Good Food Show Scotland . I think most will agree it was one of the best shows yet with a great celebrity chef line up, including the lovely Hairy Bikers, and an even better selection of speciality, artisan and passionate producers from across Scotland, the British Isles and the world!

It’s our London show next week (9th -11th at Olympia) so I’m super busy getting ready for that… but here is a quick run down of my highlights in pictures. Just click on the post title if you can’t see the images!

The show started with a bang as Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry opened the show – after the ribbon was cut thousands of food lovers burst into the show to start their fabulous food experience! It’s a great sight to see, and always gives me goosebumps as the show officially comes to life.

Borders Biscuits were asking visitors to decide whether their new Christmas spiced biscuit should be put into mainstream production. We put our deciding token into the ‘Oh Goodness they’re yummy’ box!

The lovely Kate from Gower Cottage dishing out her amazing brownies…

Whole Foods Market Glasgow were sampling and selling sourdough loaves, giant meringues and Prosecco!

Have you tried Boozeberries liqueurs? Fresh berries inside gorgeous Irish artisan fruit liqueurs… I’m going to be buying some at the London Show for adding something special to sparkling wine at Christmas.

A quick break for delicious fresh cream filled meringues and scones from the Dancing Goat!

Cookie Dough

Mr Puddledub Buffalo giving out advice on how to cook his fresh buffalo meat.

A quick stop backstage led me to bump into the Hairy Bikers – Si and Dave look great after their dieting and I must say Si looked like a rock star with his skinny jeans!

What is your Christmas meat of choice? A Taste of Galloway were sampling their succulent goose, which is a lovely luxurious way to celebrate at Christmas.

The Champagne Bar was a welcome addition to the show…

We paid a visit to have a well deserved glass of champagne at the end of the day on Saturday – cheers!

We even had a shark!

Only a lucky few of us get to go up and work at our Scotland Show – so the team back in Teddington were delighted that we brought back a range of flavours from the wonderful Ochil Fudge Pantry !

I think my highest highlight was walking Mary Berry around the Producers’ Village before the show opened, she was so enthusiastic and interested in the producers and produce!

And now its on to the next one – London is next week, and then our flagship show at the NEC is on the 28th Nov – 2nd Dec. See you there?!

Producers Bursary Awards – The Winners!

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:15:00 GMT

I’m so excited to announce the winners of the Producers Bursary Awards! They have been through a rigorous application process and will soon be appearing at at BBC Good Food Show near you! And the winners are… BBC Good Food Show Scotland, SECC, Glasgow, 19 – 21 Oct Gusto – handmade dressings, marinades, sauces, spice […]

I’m so excited to announce the winners of the Producers Bursary Awards! They have been through a rigorous application process and will soon be appearing at at BBC Good Food Show near you!

And the winners are…

BBC Good Food Show Scotland, SECC, Glasgow, 19 – 21 Oct

Gusto – handmade dressings, marinades, sauces, spice blends, oils and infused vinegars made in Edinburgh less than 1 year old.

Twitter- @gusto_info

Website- www.gusto-catering.com

Mo’s Cookie Dough – all natural fresh cookie dough ready to slice and cook – made in Glasgow, less than 1 year old.

Website- www.moscookiedough.co.uk

The Chilli Chutney Company/ Muckrach Lodge Hotel – all natural restaurant quality sauces and condiments. Based in Grantown on Spey and only just launching as retail brand.

Website- www.muckrach.com

The Ochil Fudge Company – hand made fudge, Scottish tablet, macaroon and honeycomb made in Alva, Clackmannanshire just over 1 year old.

Twitter- @ochilfudge

Website- www.ochilfudgepantry.co.uk

BBC Good Food Show London. Olympia, 09 – 11 Nov

Bim’s Kitchen Ltd – African sauces and condiments using ingredients such as Baobab fruit, alligator pepper and melon seeds, along with fresh local produce. Made in Palmers Green, 1 ½ years old.

Twitter – @bimskitchen

Website- www.bimskitchen.com

Maha Partnership Ltd – fresh chutneys made to authentic Pakistan and Indian recipes, based in Slough and 8 months old.

Twitter- @mahachutney

Website- www.mahapartnership.com

Norfolk Cordial – all natural, locally sourced fruit based cordials and juices, based in Matlaske, North Norfolk and 1 ½ years old.

Twitter- @norfolkcordial

Website- www.norfolkcordial.com

Patchett’s Confectionery Ltd – all natural, handmade marshmallows, salted caramels and honeycomb – made in Islington and 1 ½ years old.

Twitter- @patchettssweets

Website- www.patchettsconfectionery.co.uk

The Celtic Sea-spice Co – seasonings made from hand-harvested natural seaweeds, produced in Edinburgh under 1 year old.

Twitter- @seaspicegirls

Website- www.seaspice.co.uk

Well Seasoned Ltd – British seasonal pestos made from UK grown produce that change with the seasons, made in Park Royal, London and less than one year old.

Twitter – @seasonalfood

Website – www.wellseasoned.co.uk

BBC Good Food Show Winter – NEC, Birmingham, 28 Nov – 2 Dec.

Bendylegs – granola made with local, all natural Welsh ingredients in Swansea, Wales – 2 years old.

Twitter- @bendylegsjo

Website- www.lovebendylegs.co.uk

CNWD – smoked meat and fish along with pates and terrines produced using traditional production methods and from local, natural ingredients. Produced in Llanelli, Wales and 1 year old.

Twitter- @cnwdfood

Website- www.cnwd.co.uk

Forage Fine Foods – uses seasonal, foraged ingredients to make products such as herb and spice mixes, preserves, jellies, syrups and cakes. 20 months old, based in Walterstone, Herefordshire.

Twitter- @foragefinefoods

Website www.foragefinefoods.co.uk

Meadowsweet Flowers – crystallised fresh edible flowers, along with chocolates topped with crystallised flowers – based in South Molton, Devon and 2 years old.

Twitter- @meadowsweet01

Website- www.meadowsweetflowers.co.uk

Pig & Co – Sausages, bacon and hams made from free range, rare breed pigs – based in Goostrey, Cheshire and 6 months old.

Twitter- @pigandco

Website- www.pigandco.com

Shropshire Chocolates by Toot Sweets – handmade chocolates made using local Shropshire ingredients. Made in Shrewsbury making her own chocolates for the past 3 years.

Twitter- @tootsweetsshrew & @shropshirechocs

Website- www.tootsweetsconfectionery.wordpress.com

BBC Good Food Show Summer – NEC, Birmingham, 12 ^th – 16 ^th June 2013.

Ooomeringues – handmade meringues in allsorts of shapes, colours, flavours and sizes. Made in Newtown, Powys, Wales and 6 months old.

Twitter- @ooomeringues

Website- www.ooomeringues.co.uk

Pepper and Stew Ltd – traditional handmade, all natural African cooking sauces made in Northolt, London 1 ½ years old.

Twitter- @pepperandstew

Website- www.pepperandstew.co.uk

Saison! – seasoning salts, peppers and sugars made in Dorchester, Dorset 6 months old.

Twitter- @saisonforcooks

Website- www.saison.co.uk

Slamseys Drinks Ltd – fruit liqueurs and gins made from fruit picked from her farm and hedgerows – made in Braintree, Essex and 6 months old.

Twitter- @slamseysdrinks

Website- www.slamseysdrinks.co.uk

I do hope you love them as much as we did and show your support by visiting them at the BBC Good Food Shows !

Food Find of the Week – Homewood Ewes Milk Cheeses

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 10:45:00 GMT

Another cheesy food find! I went to the brilliant Abergavenny Food Festival last week and amongst all the wonderful producers, I found Homewood Cheeses . I was initially attracted to the feta style pickled ewes cheese, as I’ve been longing for a Greek salad since my holiday to Santorini back in August. So bought that, along with some halloumi, and had a taste of all of their other delicious cheeses.

Homewood Cheeses specialise in unpasteurised, artisan ewes milk cheeses, which they make in Somerset. Along with the feta style cheese they also make a fresh curd/ cream cheese, ricotta, halloumi and their signature semi-hard cheese, Old Demdike. I’m not a goats cheese fan ( read why here ), so found the Old Demdike a little too ‘farmy’ for me, but I loved the ‘feta style’ and halloumi cheeses. They were also selling cheesecake slices, made from their own curd cheese – they looked delicious.

I made my Greek salad with the slab of pickled ewes cheese placed on top of chopped Isle of Wight tomatoes, cucumber and red onion then drizzled on extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled on wild Calabrian oregano.

Take a look at their website or follow them on twitter @HomewoodCheeses to find out more and where you can buy from them.

If you like this food find, why not follow me on instagram or sign up to my newsletter to get more regular updates. You might also like our quarterly tasting box too!

Producers Bursary Awards 2012

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:18:00 GMT

One of the highlights of my year is the Producers Bursary Award scheme that we run at the BBC Good Food Shows . It’s basically our way of rewarding small, fledgling, outstanding producers with a free opportunity to showcase their products at one of the BBC Good Food Shows. I manage the scheme from taking applications, coordinating the judging at the Good Food Magazine Kitchen, with their team of experts and ultimately deciding which companies will win the coveted award.

We held the tasting day yesterday (Wednesday) and I’m hoping to have all the decisions made by the beginning of next week! See below for a sneaky peek at the Good Food Kitchens, the samples all laid out and being tasted and a few snaps of the judges deliberating, cogitating and digesting…

Making a mess of the gorgeous Good Food Kitchen.

Preparing the samples.

Some like it hot! We had some super hot chilli sauces to try, I wimped out quite early on!

Spices and seasonings were an interesting category.

Drinks included cider, ginger soft drinks, fruity tea and hot chocolate.

The confectionery category was definitely my favourite!

The lovely Sarah Cook, deputy food editor, and Cassie Best, assistant food editor for Good Food Magazine gave their expert opinion on the taste and quality of the products.

Holly Brooke-Smith, editorial assistant, and Myles Williamson, cookery assistant for Good Food Magazine also gave their feedback on product taste and quality and anything that needed cooking was put in Myles’ expert hands!

Rebecca Reeves, one of our Good Food Show directors, is a regular judge for the Bursary Awards – she knows what our visitors wants and knows good food!

We also had Good Food editor Gillian Carter, and food editor Barney Desmazery put in an appearance, and Laura Biggs, MD of BBC Haymarket Exhibitions too. Along with some great support from show manager Paul Patterson we had a brilliantly fun day tasting, debating and getting rather full!

Stay tuned here on my blog for details of the winners, and of course, come and see them at the BBC Good Food Shows!

Food Find of the Week – Jumi’s Belper Knolle

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 19:51:00 GMT

Jumi make some of the most intriguing, innovative and delicious cheeses I’ve ever come across… so, my food find of the week is their incredible Belper Knolle. At first sight you may mistake it for a large truffle, but no, this is a very special little artisan cheese coated in pepper and dried as it […]

It is packed full of flavour and can be grated/shaved to add a powerful hit of cheesy, garlicky, salty, peppery goodness to pasta, risotto, salads or even steak (or as you so desire!).

It’s not a cheap find at around £8.50 per ball, but it’s so unusual and delicious it’s definitely worth seeking out. It also lasts well in the fridge for some time (if you can resist that long!).

Jumi don’t just make the Belper Knolle, in fact they have a great range of artisan, swiss cheeses from cow and goat milk, fruit bread to go with cheese and delicious truffle (Swiss) honey. Their cheeses are like works of art, and the flavour and quality are incredible – the sign of truly artisan products.

It is a family business based in the valley of the emmental. They use milk from local farmers and are so traditional that they still have to wake up at 3.30 every morning to start up their production!

This sunny cheese, called Apres Soleil, is aged in a cave where the sun shines through into the cave at certain times of the day… so pretty and has a slightly sweet, pineapple flavour to it.

The addition of hemp gives this naughty looking cheese a nutty crunch…

Need I say more? Get yourself down to Borough Market or Partridges Market and go buy some!

PS. They will hopefully also be appearing at the BBC Good Food Shows in London and Birmingham 2012!

Savouring Santorini

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:19:00 GMT

I hadn’t always wanted to go to Santorini, but after stumbling across it on a last minute holiday search, seeing the pictures and reading all about it, my heart was set. Even though it meant lowering our standards in terms of the accommodation (bad reviews and no air conditioning) in order to be able to […]

He soon got over it, and we had an AMAZING time – it truly must be one of the most beautiful places in the world (I haven’t been that many places to compare though)… we fell in love with the scenery, people and the food! Yammas to Santorini!

Oia… where the streets are paved with gold (well marble, but doesn’t it look like gold on this picture?!)… It’s definitely the most beautiful man made part of the island. People in the know where white, the buildings are white and built into the cliffs… a truly stunning and magical place. It’s also an expensive place, so before we went we decided not to eat there, just watch the sunset and go back to good value Perissa where we were staying. Its a popular place, and lots (and lots) of people want to watch the ‘magical’ sunset… we didn’t like being squished up against everyone else so as soon as we saw the perfect seat looking out onto the sunset we decided that we could afford to have a meal. 125 Euros later (compare to 30/40 euros for same in Perissa) we had watched an amazing sunset and had an average meal. Great experience though, and I would recommend anyone to visit.

We took our sunset seats while the sun was still high…

Ancient Akrotiri is over 3,500 years old, a city evacuated before Santorini suffered the most spectacular of volcanic eruptions, with ash from the explosion found so far away as California and those in the UK able to hear its blast. Lava flowed through the streets of the impressively advanced metropolis, preserving its streets, houses, even it’s drainage systems. Taking a tour of the climate controlled archeological site is awe inspiring, and apparently they have only uncovered a very small part of the buried city.

After our tour of ancient Akrotiri, we walked down to the seafront, where we found a lovely row of fish tavernas – perfect timing as we were hungry for lunch. We picked the one furthest along the coastline, where the seating area jutted out into the sea and octopus legs were strung up to dry in the sun.

We couldn’t work out if the octopus was on the menu so went for a few safer different dishes to share. We started with calamari which was so fresh, crispy and tender.

Tomato balls, or fritters, are a santorini speciality. You may have heard of Santorini cherry tomatoes which are awaiting PDO status… I’ve had ‘Santini’ tomatoes from M&S which I think have been grown to mimic the sweet, full flavoured Santorini cherry tomatoes. We tried a few different versions of these delicious tomato balls, and armed with a few tips from our hotel owner Sandy, I’m going to have a go at making my own. Watch out for a future post when I have time!

The old lady serving us brought us out this little aubergine based dish, as a free little extra. We made lots of effort to speak greek so I think we was thanking us with food – we were happy to accept, it was delicious!

We had quite a few greek salads over the week, this one particularly generous with feta. We also had a few Santorini salads which use the native cherry tomatoes, their special sweet cucumbers and caper leaves, another local speciality.

While on the subject of local specialities, we also tried Santorini’s fava beans, which do have official PDO status. They are served like hummus, but have the texture of dahl – we tried two versions which were both delicious.

The food in Santorini was delicious, great value and inspiring… but the scenery, buildings and views were incredible. Here are a few of my favourite pictures, if you want to see more take a look at my flikr page .

Have you been to Santorini? If not, does this post make you want to go?

Food Find of the Week – Iberico Blood Chorizo

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 20:01:00 GMT

After a boozy afternoon at the AEO Excellence Awards on Friday, where I was delighted to be part of the team that contributed to the BBC Good Food Show Summer to make it win best consumer show 2011, I stopped off at The Real Food Market for some dinner. That’s me rather smug with the award […]

Anyway, enough showing off, back to the food! After a couple of bites of my boyfriend’s delicious Jacobs Ladder burger it was time to find my own dinner… I went for one of Black Acorn ‘s flame grilled Iberico chorizo rolls, with grilled red peppers, rocket and chilli sauce which was really delicious, especially with a large glass of their special recipe sangria!

I was intrigued by their Iberico blood chorizo so bought one (£5) to take home and try. It is made from acorn fed black Iberian pig meat mixed with some of its fat and blood, which is then minced and flavoured with pimentao paste, garlic, wine, vinegar, salt and spices. I had planned to eat with scrambled eggs, but didn’t have the eggs so ended eating dry fried on its own as a pre dinner snack. I like the richness that is similar to black pudding but the added texture, saltiness and spice that comes from a chorizo style sausage really made it unique and delicious. Next time I would probably try with scallops or prawns, perhaps on the BBQ.

You can buy Black Acorn’s range of Black Iberican pig charcuterie from their website , or if you are in London why not try one of their chorizo rolls and a sangria down at the Real Food Market on the South Bank?

Food Finds of Weeks Gone By…

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 21:15:00 GMT

So, I started the Food Find of the Week thing to force me to post on a weekly basis – but due to various distractions I’ve let it slip, and owe about 6 food finds to catch up! Ooops! So, following the BBC Good Food Show Summer just a couple of weeks ago, and a […]

Tan Rosie

I was really excited to meet Lee Sylvester of Tan Rosie Foods fame at the BBC Good Food Show Summer, who produce a range of Caribbean specialities and run a really popular, Birmingham based supper club. The sauces were great, but I particularly liked her fiery chilli fudge, which not only had a nice heat to it, but you could really taste the chilli flavour too. The ginger, vanilla and chocolate and chilli fudges were also really good and worth a try.

Pelagonia Range

A delicious and unusual range of Macedonian meze items including roasted peppers, pumpkin jam and Aivar, a gorgeous aubergine and pepper dip. They come in really attractive jars and are very well priced around the £3.50 mark. They have limited stockists around the country but will also be on show to sample and buy from at the London BBC Good Food Show in November.

Peter’s Yard

Many people will have heard of this brand by now, but I have to feature them here as I was totally inspired by a talk by one of the co-founders, Wendy, at the recent Foodie Bugle Lectures . The artisan crisp breads are made to a traditional Swedish recipe here in the UK and are not only really good for you, but delicious too! The original bakery is up in Edinburgh, and is on top of my must visit list!

Lahloo Tea

Another speaker at the Foodie Bugle Lectures , Kate Gover, who I have met before but never realised her faultless passion and drive for tea and her own growing business Lahloo Tea . I particularly liked the tasting notes on the tea tins, of the few I saw two mentioned baked apples with brown sugar and butter, and one talked of madeira cakes – great to be able to pull out flavour notes from the tea that you can relate to. She has recently opened a tea pantry in Bristol, which is also on my must visit list, and is planning on opening more outlets across the country in the future, definitely one to watch!

Demijohn

Angus Ferguson is a BBC Good Food Show regular, but he never stops impressing me with his passion, enthusiasm and simply outstanding liqueurs. This year his new flavour was Morello Cherry Brandy, which was really delicious but I always fall back to his Rhubarb Vodka, which was particularly tart this year. At the end of the show Angus was busy finding picnic fayre to satisfy the participants of his upcoming annual elderflower picking pilgrimage – lucky pickers!

Hardiesmill

I took home a couple of souvenirs from the Royal Highland Show, Edinburgh, last week – some Hardiesmill Aberdeen Angus popeseye steaks and a beef haggis. The steaks were really, really tender and you could really taste the difference of grass-fed animals in the fat too. The highlight was the haggis, which didn’t seem as fatty as the lamb based version, and had a lovely delicate flavour and firm texture. You can buy fresh beef products and charcuterie from their website .

So I think that brings me up to date with my fabulous food finds, but I must find the time to write up more highlights from the BBC Good Food Show Summer, my judging of the Great Taste Awards, my visit to the Royal Highland Show and the wonderful Foodie Bugle Lectures too! Its been a busy few weeks!

Brockley Market – My Highlights

Mon, 28 May 2012 08:00:00 GMT

I recently took a trip down to the much talked about Brockley Market and was really impressed! Created by a local photographer (Toby Allen) with a passion for food, dedication to succeed and the ability to spot an opportunity to create a new market to benefit his local community. I had a lovely time there, great producers, great street food and space to either sit or stand around and eat. Here is a quick run down of my highlights.

Amazing looking stand and food from Mike and Ollie , must try on my next visit.

Gorgeous cakes (sorry I was so taken away with their prettiness that I forgot the company name!*).

*I have now been thankfully informed that they are by Browns of Brockley.

Sourdough doughnuts and almond tarts from London Particular. I got the last jam doughnut, it was incredible!

Lovely to see such a great range of potatoes – I don’t think I had heard of any of them!

Hand carved traditional ham and big boys from Moons Green .

Even vegetarian food from The Honest Carrot looks amazing!

Hard to believe this delicious cake, from Sugargrain , is gluten and wheat free – love a bit of salted caramel!

Awesome burger from Mother Flipper UK – best bit was the candied bacon!

A little bit of condiment art to finish off – I would definitely get this framed for my wall!!!

Shiny, happy people eating and enjoying themselves at this great market.

Nearest Station = St Johns (10 mins out of London Bridge)

When = Everyday Saturday 10am – 2pm

What to buy = go hungry and have breakfast, brunch and lunch! Take a bag and a cool bag too if its hot as there is loads to take home – fresh meat and fish, cakes, eggs, fruit and veg, flowers, charcuterie, cheese, scotch eggs , etc, etc.

Food Find of the Week – Quince Juice

Sun, 27 May 2012 15:18:00 GMT

My latest food find is perfect for Summer cocktails – quince juice from Norfolk producer Drove Orchards. I was very happy to find it in my sister’s fridge and just had to try it. I drank it with Vestal Vodka‘s Amber elderberry flower liqueur, with a little soda and lots of ice, a delicious cocktail to […]

My latest food find is perfect for Summer cocktails – quince juice from Norfolk producer Drove Orchards . I was very happy to find it in my sister’s fridge and just had to try it. I drank it with Vestal Vodka ‘s Amber elderberry flower liqueur, with a little soda and lots of ice, a delicious cocktail to drink in the sun.

I’m not sure where my sister got it from, but I believe it’s widely available across Norfolk delis and in their farm shop near Hunstanton (definitely visiting next time I’m back in Norfolk!). Their website says they are hoping to start selling their range of juices online soon, but give a number to call and order if you can’t wait that long!

It’s so good that the Great Taste Awards judges awarded it two gold stars last year, here’s what they said about it:

Aalto Restaurant, inspired by Marcus Wareing @ Hotel La Tour, Birmingham

Sat, 19 May 2012 11:39:00 GMT

With Birmingham being crowned as the Food Capital of Britain by Olive Magazine, I was embarrassed to realise that the range of food I had experienced in Birmingham spread little further than the NEC outlets and buffet at the on site hotel! I was invited up to visit a brand new independent city centre hotel, whose restaurant had been inspired by the brilliant Marcus Wareing, so I happily accepted and had a lovely lunch at Aalto restaurant at Hotel La Tour .

Finally it was time to take to our seats, leading me to wonder/ worry about who I might be seated with… to my delight I was seated up at the chefs table along with some local journalists and the lovely Managing Director Jane. It meant I had a view right into the kitchen and an army of friendly staff to talk me through the dishes and keep my wine glasses filled (I was glad I took the train!!).

The menu gave us a taster of what the restaurant has to offer – head chef Alex Penhaligon and his team have worked closely with Marcus Wareing and local producers to deliver a great value, top quality seasonal menu.

We started with leek soup with a Jersey royal foam – served in a shot glass I found it hard to resist swooping my finger round the glass for last of the delicious soup clinging to the glass (I did resist by the way).

We were then given a little cocktail as a palette cleanser between courses. It was strong with a gingery citrus hit.

Next came salty bacon olives balanced with fresh peas and broad beans – I’m pretty sure the ‘olives’ were from Trealy Farm, a brilliant local charcuterie producer.

For the main course came tweed kettle salmon with a fennel on the side and a herb and nutmeg crust. Not only was it beautiful on the plate but delicious too.

The highlight of the meal was the dessert, a Jaffa cake pudding, which was served with the chocolate sauce separately. Marcus Wareing a two Michelin starred chef came and poured the sauce over my pudding himself! I blushed, but thanked him very much. I think chocolate and orange are perfect together so loved the pudding.

After the lovely dinner, we had a chance to talk to Marcus, and Alex the head chef. I was impressed by Alex’s passion and enthusiasm and had a great chat about local producers, I’m going to keep in touch and recommend some of my favourites. Marcus was charming and told me how his relationship with the hotel works – Alex and his team trained and experimented in Marcus’ own kitchens and are welcome their any time. He works closely with them on their menus, to help inspire and develop ideas. This way of working helps to deliver Michelin starred quality but with affordable prices – something we are all looking for these days.

I’m so glad I got to experience a bit of the Birmingham food scene, but it has made me hungry to try more of it. Whats your favourite Birmingham eaterie? I’d love to know so I can start planning my next trip!

Food Find of the Week #5 – Egg Boss Scotch Eggs

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:23:00 GMT

This week’s first food find of the week is the fabulous Egg Boss who makes his own scotch eggs along with a brilliant brown sauce. I’ve been following the egg boss AKA Sean Lawson on twitter for a while and finally met him at Brockley Market last week. I went for a Holy F**k egg, […]

The photos below have been provided by Egg Boss – I was so taken by the eggs that my camera skills went to pot!

The scotch eggs can either be taken away or served sliced in half with a sprinkling of salt, pepper, celery salt and black salt (I think that’s what it was anyway!) along with a dollop of the Egg Boss’ own brown sauce, which had the perfect tang to lift the richness of the egg.

The egg flavours change on a weekly basis, and you can find him at Brockley Market every Saturday – check his twitter account @egg_boss for updates on where else you can find him. He is definitely worth hunting down!!

I took an extra ‘Holy F**k’ egg and a black pudding egg home for my boyfriend – he ate them in the bath (after a long day playing American football) and loved them!!

Dingley Dell Flying Visit at The Victoria

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:49:00 GMT

Down on the Dingley Dell farm live some of the luckiest pigs around… they are destined to fly into the hands of some of the most magical chefs in the land! On Wednesday night I had one of the best food experiences of my life – the Dingley Dell Flying Visit at The Victoria. Dingley […]

Dingley Dell supply some of the best chefs, and restaurants, in the country with amazing pork from Suffolk. Mark Hayward’s exciting concept of Flying Feasts brings some of these award-winning, pioneering chefs together, to cook up the most delicious piggy based feasts and to celebrate the glory of the Dingley Dell pig. Not only do you get a wonderful tasting menu, but a complete food experience taking the pig from farm to your fork. I watched a butchery demonstration, video footage of the happy pigs on the farm, a live video stream directly into the kitchen to watch my food being prepared and then a talk on the dishes from the chefs themselves!

And now for the amazing menu…

Paul Foster – Tuddenham Mill , Suffolk

Mark Poynton – Alimentum , Cambridge

Pork rillette, braised jowl, acorn praline, pineapple and chickweed

Madeline Bonvini-Hamel and Ross Pike – The British Larder , Suffolk

Crispy pig’s head, ham hock scotch egg, salsify & cauliflower & shallot piccalilli, nasturtium leaves

One more, so you can see how good the scotch egg looks!!

Paul Merrett – The Victoria , London

Asian Dingley Dell Pork: 12 hour belly vindaloo with coconut sambal, jungle style cheeks with soured mango noodles, dim sum with blood orange and fennel

William Curley – Patissier Chocolatier, Richmond

Amedei dark chocolate entremet centred with a smoked bacon caramel served with apricot compote & lemon thyme ice-cream

The tasting menu was absolutely delicious. Highlights for me were the jungle cheeks with mango noodles, crispy pigs head and the salty bacon with the dessert. I loved meeting Mark Hayward, the proud farmer of Dingley Dell pork and all the amazing chefs listed above. Mark and I are putting our heads together to see if we can bring the Flying Feasts to one of the BBC Good Food Shows which would be incredible! Stay tuned!

Food Find of the Week #4

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:36:00 GMT

I’ve been very naughty and missed a week of documenting my food finds… so next week I will deliver double helpings! This week’s food find is from The Sea-Spice Co who have created a range of super healthy seasonings made purely from naturally harvested, Celtic seaweed. Fiona Houston and Xa Milne, also known as the […]

I’ve been very naughty and missed a week of documenting my food finds… so next week I will deliver double helpings!

This week’s food find is from The Sea-Spice Co who have created a range of super healthy seasonings made purely from naturally harvested, Celtic seaweed. Fiona Houston and Xa Milne, also known as the sea spice girls, have established themselves as experts in seaweed foraging through their own book ‘Seaweed and Eat It: A Family Foraging and Cooking Adventure’, magazine columns and radio and TV appearances. Earlier this year they launched their range of sea~sons, and seem to be going from strength to strength!

I must admit to only having tasting the seasonings with bread and oil, and haven’t had a chance to try in a recipe yet. I’m really keen to try the pepper dulse, which is known as the truffle of the sea, sprinkled on top of seared scallops. The range also includes sea lettuce, which is bright green and looks a bit like parsley to be used as a garnish or towards the end of cooking. The dulse is a deep purple colour, and the tasting notes suggest a hint of smoked bacon and that it is strong and robust enough to pair with meat and game, almost like an anchovy equivalent. Shony flakes are a blend of seaweeds to be used as a table condiment and to add colour and flavour in cooking. Finally, Celtic Kombu provides an umami boost to dishes and can be used as a stock. I can’t wait to get experimenting!

Find out more by following @seaspicegirls on twitter, or if you fancy trying some, you can buy from the range at their online shop . Their website also gives some great recipes and suggestions for use, along with the story behind the company and some of their recent success stories.

I will update once I’ve had time to use some in a recipe, but for now I will keep dipping my finger into the pouches when I need a savoury kick!

Wiveton Hall Café – North Norfolk

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 17:30:00 GMT

Along the beautiful North Norfolk coast is an unassuming fruit farm alongside a grand hall, farm shop and café, the Wiveton Hall Cafe . Delia Smith recently said it’s the best eaterie in the world , but more importantly my friend Ben Pert is one of the head chefs and my dad has just joined his kitchen team as a sous chef! I took advantage of my Easter weekend with family back in Norfolk and had a wonderful lunch at this uncomplicated, beautiful cafe on Easter Sunday.

The lunch only menu changes daily, depending on what’s available locally and from the farm itself. The bright, chalkboard menu offers lighter lunches, starters and main meals – use the very friendly and knowledgable waiting staff to guide you depending on how hungry you are. Expect big, robust portions, the highest quality produce and lots of flavour. Here are some of our favourite dishes…

Potted smoked salmon, homegrown beetroot salad and spelt toast – rich, creamy and smokey.

I went for the Weybourne crab bisque, which came in a huge bowl with crusty spelt bread and butter. It was delicious but was too much for me to manage as a starter, perfect for a light lunch though.

My boyfriend, Jamie, proclaimed that his dish was the best roast lunch he had ever had. Local lamb with roast potatoes and homegrown roots, cauliflower cheese and purple sprouting broccoli. I was allowed one taste, and it was amazing!

Baked local cod served with butter beans, aioli and purple sprouting broccoli was really, really good – I think the picture speaks for itself.

I went for the local lobster salad with herb mayonaise – light, fresh and perfect to eat by the seaside!

Two desserts really stood out – the sticky toffee pudding and the panna cotta with poached rhubarb and shorbread.

I have to give credit to the chefs at this point! With head chefs James Fitzpatrick (left) and Ben Pert (second from right) and my dad/ Geoff Truss, one of the sous chefs (second left), they have a great team – with the kitchen open and visible from the cafe, and a great reputation to live up to, they are under pressure to perform! It sounds like a great place to work, especially with all the amazing homegrown and local produce at their fingertips.

We were considering taking some of their homemade cakes away with us, but remembered our Easter eggs waiting at home for us, so managed to restrain ourselves! They looked great though, and I can’t wait to go back over the summer for afternoon tea and cake! They also do tapas evenings over the Summer, so thats on my must do list too.

The table decorations were gorgeous, resident Emma Bridgewater crockery beautiful and views absolutely stunning.

It was a shame the weather was a bit off, as the seating area outside is perfect for a sunny afternoon.

Take a look at their website for more information about the hall, farm, shop and café. Have you been to Wiveton Hall? What do you think of the place? If not, I hope I have inspired you to visit?

Food Find of the Week #3

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 16:40:00 GMT

I had trouble trying to decide on a food find for this week, as there were so many things I have found! The others will have to wait, but the Food Find of the Week is the Chipotle Paste from Chillis Galore. I found it at the Aylsham Farmers Market (North Norfolk) this morning and just […]

I had trouble trying to decide on a food find for this week, as there were so many things I have found! The others will have to wait, but the Food Find of the Week is the Chipotle Paste from Chillis Galore . I found it at the Aylsham Farmers Market (North Norfolk) this morning and just had to buy some. I keep seeing it in recipes and would much rather use an artisan version than one from the supermarket shelves.

I’m not sure how I’m going to use it yet, but the smell as you open the jar is incredible – smokey, spicy and mouth watering…

I couldn’t resist their Chipotle Smoked Chilli Jelly and the Chilli and Onion Sticky Relish too – both will be great for BBQs over the summer (if it lasts that long!!). Great thing is that even if you aren’t a Norfolk local you can buy from their website . Let me know if you have tried before or if you decide to give it a go!

Food Find of the Week – Findlater’s Fine Foods

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 08:20:00 GMT

I was in my local Waitrose on Saturday, looking for lunch, and spotted Findlater’s Fine Foods‘ Chicken Liver pate on their shelves. Having featured at the BBC Good Food Show Scotland and at the NEC in the past I was already familiar with their delicious range, but I’d just only ever had little tasters! So […]

I was in my local Waitrose on Saturday, looking for lunch, and spotted Findlater’s Fine Foods ‘ Chicken Liver pate on their shelves. Having featured at the BBC Good Food Show Scotland and at the NEC in the past I was already familiar with their delicious range, but I’d just only ever had little tasters! So I bought a pot, along with a crusty baguette and hurried home to devour it.

It was so good that I had to make it my Food Find of the Week!

The chicken liver pate, with brandy and port, is delicious, so creamy, rich, smooth and full of flavour, without being too ‘livery’. With salty butter and crusty bread, it is the perfect picnic piece!

Find out more about the history Findlater’s Fine Food on their website , and be prepared for your mouth to water over the rest of their range – venison pate with pancetta and whisky, roast salmon pate with cracked black pepper, lemon and lime or even a meat free avocado and cashew nut pate with mango and chilli.

Well deserving of my Food Find of the Week, and great to find some quality Scottish produce south of the border! Let me know if you have tried it, and what you think of it.

Food Find of the Week

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 08:30:00 GMT

I’m really excited about my Food Find of the Week – it gives me a chance to share my passion for new producers, products, people and places and also makes me even more motivated to search harder and wider.

This week’s food find is Cannon and Cannon , a pair of young brothers from North Norfolk (Sean and Joe Cannon) with a serious passion for meat. They specialise in artisan British charcuterie, so are a one stop shop to buy the very best produce from passionate artisans leading the way in hand crafted cured meats. From Cornwall to Scotland, Wales to Kent, the brothers have scoured the country to find the very finest they can. By selling produce from superb producers such as Forest Pig, Moons Green, Trealy Farm and Great Glen Game (among others) and always being on the look out for the next new thing in charcuterie you really can be assured of buying the highest quality and most pioneering produce possible.

I’ve only met one of the brothers, Sean, who really knows his stuff about charcuterie. They have a stall in the Green Market area at Borough Market , Thursday – Saturday where you can learn more about, taste and buy from their range. I ended up taking home a veal, thyme and lemon salami from Trealy Farm and a rather special hazelnut and champagne salami from Forest Pig . I can’t wait to go back for my next meaty fix!

Check back here next Wednesday for my next Food Find of the Week, or why not pop your email address in the box over there on the right, and you will get emailed as soon as I write a post!

Introducing my Food Find of the Week

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:30:00 GMT

I have decided to introduce a new element to this blog, a weekly post dedicated to my ‘Food Find of the Week’. I regularly meet wonderful producers, retailers and food lovers, and find new products, books, cool shops and places to eat and drink – it seems a shame not to share my favourites here […]

I speak to a mix of well established, popular producers that you may already know and people who may just be in the development stages of their business – I love asking questions about why they came to do what they do, why their products are so great and whether there is anything new in the pipeline.

Look out for my ‘Food Find of the Week’ on Wednesday!

Oh, and just in case you thought any differently, please be assured that I will only write about things I genuinely love/ like/ am excited about on this blog.

Higgledy Piggledy Kitchen Envy

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:25:00 GMT

My kitchen is too small for all my things, it just about does the job, but it really is bursting at the seams! I can’t wait to have a huge kitchen, where there is room to swing something more sizeable than a mouse! I’m sure my collection of kitchen kit would expand rapidly, like the […]

My best friend Lucy’s mum has the most wonderful kitchen… it is all higgledy piggledy and full of gorgeous things, all centred round a warming AGA. I love that things that have been collected over the years, passed down through the generations, things that have stories behind them.

Below are a few pictures taken in Mrs Warwick’s beautiful kitchen…

Is this the kind of kitchen you love? Or are you more modern or minimalist? I can’t wait until I’m proud enough of my own kitchen to write a post on it!

The Cheese and Wine Company

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 18:45:00 GMT

A few years ago I met my colleague’s dad Steve Parker at one of the BBC Good Food Shows and we excitedly talked in-depth about his dream to open a cheese and wine shop that would host tastings too. 18 months ago Steve opened The Cheese and Wine Company in Hampton, and I am embarrassed to say that it has taken me this long to pay him a visit (sorry Steve!). I was really impressed with the place, firstly as a brilliant fine food shop but even more with the way he has created a destination for foodies to come to taste, buy, eat, learn and share their passion.

The shop is a cheese/ wine/ food lover’s dream – a wall of wine, an open fridge with a diverse range of cheeses, fresh bread, a selection of speciality and artisan produce and an enormous table in the room next door to host meals and tasting events. One thing that Steve made clear was that they didn’t just sell cheese and wine, but the stories behind the produce and experiences too – The Cheese and Wine Company is about tasting, learning and sharing and having fun whilst doing so.

Steve and his team really know their stuff about cheese – the fridge is divided into different types of cheese, from the recognisable to the unusual. As a result of Steve encouraging tasting in his shop, customers are able to try things they wouldn’t normally dare to, and this exploration can lead to finding some great new cheeses that you wouldn’t ever normally buy. I’m sure we are all guilty of choosing cheeses we know we are going to like!

With wines to suit most budgets and tastes, and helpful advice on what and how to choose the best wines, it’s a perfect place to buy wine whether you know your stuff or don’t have much of a clue.

website

Jacobs Ladder Burger – London’s Best?

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:00:00 GMT

I’ve seen Jacobs Ladder at a few markets but never had one of their burgers. After a chat with Philip Lowery, director of the Real Food Festivals and Markets , I was desperate to try one. He claimed they were possibly the best burgers in London, and a claim like that meant I had to try one! I was possibly the coldest I have ever been after a day wandering around Borough Market and the Real Food Market, but decided to wait for my burger loving boyfriend to buy one!

Lets start with the bread, a key component of a good burger. I was delighted to find the sesame topped buns were from St Johns, not having ever tried any of their baked goods (yes, I have heard about the custard doughnuts!). I was super impressed by the trademark pig stamped onto the paper wrapping the buns as my excitement about trying the burger increased.

The cheese was scooped straight out of the truckle onto the burger…

Rocket and ketchup? Heinz of course…

And it was ready (our mouths were watering at this point!).

It certainly lived up to expectations – soft, charred bun, fresh, peppery rocket, creamy, buttery cheese and a really meaty burger.

We liked them so much that we bought the raw ingredients so we could recreate them at home for friends. I must say, they were nicer at home as we could make them nice and rare – and it wasn’t -3 degrees!

Have you tried a Jacobs Ladder Burger? Are they a contender for best burger in London?

Making Marmalade

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:44:00 GMT

I had the intention of making marmalade this Seville season, but hadn’t got round to making time to do it – so when I came across a handy supermarket fixture selling both Seville oranges and preserving sugar I mindlessly added the ingredients to my basket. My holiday got nearer and nearer as the oranges sat there in the kitchen… I was running out of time before they would start to spoil. The day before my trip to Chamonix was supposed to be used for last-minute packing, exchanging pounds to euros and getting an early night ready for our 2am start… to my family’s despair, I thought it a good idea to add marmalade making to our schedule.

I squeezed the oranges over a sieve to ensure no pips got through as I added the juice to the water. This made for an easy way to collect the pips and extra pith needed to add separately to the saucepan.

I had a few handy muslin bags designed for mulled wine spices in my cupboard so used one of these instead of a sheet of muslin and string.

I found the shredding of the oranges particularly tiresome and even ended up with a blister on my finger from all the chopping! I kept looking over at my Magimix wondering if there was a shredding attachment but in my haste just kept chopping by hand. According to Delia the shreds are supposed to be ‘thinnish’. My shreds were rather misshapen – some thin, some thick, some chunks, some shreds and it worried me. Once boiled down you couldn’t really notice the different sizes though, so no need to worry about uniform shreds.

By now it was nearly dinner time, and the holiday packing still wasn’t complete. The fruit must be simmered for two hours or so, so I distracted the family while I waited for the shreds to soften… once done we could go out for dinner.

After the two hours of simmering it should be time to add the sugar. At this point I took a two-hour pub break and returned to the simmered fruit later, full of scampi and warm with wine. I added the sugar at this stage (around 300g of granulated sugar was replaced with icing sugar as I found myself short) and stirred. After 15 minutes of fast boiling it wasn’t crinkling on my chilled saucer so I continued to boil for a further 10 minutes, and then a further 5 to get to what seemed to be a ‘set’.

I carefully decanted into jars with a jug (annoyingly, the special silicone funnel I bought didn’t fit the jar openings).

Ta daaaaa… my lovely jars of marmalade, ready with minutes to spare before bed time.

I am writing this post after the holiday and must say that homemade marmalade on buttered toast, with tea, was the perfect welcome home after a very tiring, but fun, week away in the snow. If you haven’t made your own marmalade before, it is very rewarding and tastes so much better than the shop bought kind… just make sure you give yourself a good 4-5 hours or so to make it properly!

Celebrating at Michael Caine’s Abode, Chester

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:49:00 GMT

In order to celebrate my sister’s graduation, in Chester, we booked a table at Michael Caine’s restaurant Abode. I’ve always liked the look of Michael’s cooking and was confident that it would be a great place to visit. We had set our hearts on the tasting menu and didn’t even get swayed by the special MasterChef menu. It was a special occasion, so we started with champagne cocktails in the bar and spent a bit more on wine to match the tasting menu.

We began by sitting in the bar with a celebratory cocktail, with a huge picture of the beautiful Debbie Harry looking over us. Cheers and congratulations to my sister Abbie who graduated with a degree in Government Studies!

The glasses were set at the table, ready for our wines to match every course.

The bread was amazing – brought to the table warm and crusty with salty, creamy butter.

Jerusalem Artichoke and Truffle Soup – this was brought to the table in a small cup, a few squares of artichoke and a little truffle arranged inside.

Along came our waiter with a steaming jug of liquid – poured carefully into our little cups. It was so deliciously creamy, rich and truffley good that we all looked around at each other grinning. If the soup was this good, how amazing would the other courses be?!

Then came the gorgeous braised halibut served with squash and cumin puree, pickled baby onions and a yoghurt and pumpkin seed cracker. This was probably my favourite dish, with so many different tastes and textures.

The main course was a duo of Lake District farmers pork – a seared loin and a braised shoulder. Both were cooked perfectly and the celeriac puree, red cabbage and apple complimented it perfectly.

The cheese course which was a sliver of Garstang Blue with pear and perry chutney and toasted hazelnut bread on the side. Just the right amount of an amazing cheese.

The next course lightened things up a little – a fromage frais mousse with blueberry jelly and lemon granite. A sprinkle of popping candy really made the dish special, we all loved it!

Hot chocolate fondant with pistachio ice cream was next, again an amazing dish… Problem was that at this point I had been keeping up with the boys and had drunk all the wine that had come with each course. Things had started to get a little fuzzy!

My sister’s boyfriend has a rather severe nut allergy and I cannot praise the way Abode’s staff dealt with this any more highly. At every point where there was either nut or chocolate in a dish, they prepared and brought out separately, his very own alternative. In his 37 years of living with the inconvenience, he has never felt more at ease, or more cared for in a restaurant. My memory from here rather hazy, I have no idea what this dessert was, but it looked very pretty!

We then had coffees and teas accompanied by petits fours – home-made fudge, marshmallows and raisin cakes. My sister tried the cake first and her reaction made me so excited to try it that in my haste I dropped it in my tea (absolutely nothing to do with my slight drunkenness). It was still delicious!

John had his very own special nut free cake brought out in its own little basket. He loved it!

We concluded it was one of the best meals we had all had… and then I fell asleep in the taxi and got carried to bed!

Baking at River Cottage HQ

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:24:00 GMT

One of my 30th Birthday gifts (from my lovely sister) was a baking day at the River Cottage. We stayed in Axminster for the weekend, had a wonderful meal at the River Cottage Canteen, and made the most of being by the seaside by including a fossil hunting expedition. The baking day was full on, […]

One of my 30th Birthday gifts (from my lovely sister) was a baking day at the River Cottage . We stayed in Axminster for the weekend, had a wonderful meal at the River Cottage Canteen , and made the most of being by the seaside by including a fossil hunting expedition. The baking day was full on, with a great mix of learning, watching, making, socialising and lots of eating!

We were dropped off by the boys in the Park Farm car park (they went off to see boy things at the tank museum) and were thankful for our accidental tardiness, as we only had a short wait in the cold for the the tractor taxi ride down to the farm.

We were welcomed by a wonderful cosy fire in the cottage kitchen, along with hot drinks and a slice of gorgeous walnut tart.

We met our tutor for the day, who was the brilliant Aidan Chapman from the Phoenix Bakery in Weymouth. He was supported by a team of river cottage chefs, some of them I recognised from the tv programme!

There was the perfect mix of interaction, watching and making. We started with the basics of bread making – covering ingredients, techniques, tips and confidence building. After watching Aidan mix and knead his dough, we all (about 20 in all) took to our work stations and had a go at our own walnut and raisin loaf.

Our mid morning snack consisted of freshly made flat-breads with a delicious roasted pumpkin dip, olive oil and dukkha. It was perfect for us all to have a go at cooking the flat-breads and then tearing, sharing and dunking the hot bread into the dips.

Lunch number one was DIY pizzas – we shaped our own dough, and then topped with our choice of tomato or garlic sauce, roast onions, kale, mushroom, cottage made chorizo and salami, amazing confit chicken and of course some mature cheddar to top it all off.

Aiden manned the wood fired oven, our pizzas cooking in about 40 seconds the oven was so hot!

My sister and I treated ourselves to a glass of wine and enjoyed our pizzas in the cold winter sunshine, admiring the beautiful views. We took the opportunity to have a good nosey around the cottage and its gardens. Some highlights in pictures below…

Later in the day we all made our own panetones to take home. We could choose to add sour cherries, cranberries, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, raisins, citrus zest (I think that was it!) so I put a big handful of everything in!!

Unfortunately I failed to get a picture of the final result – to be honest my carefully arranged pecans sunk to the bottom and it came out a little lop-sided so no great loss! We also made some very easy almond and marmalade cookies, which were lovely.

It was then time for lunch number two – the main event in the Cottage! This was slow roasted pork shoulder, with a 5 vegetable boulangere type dish and braised red cabbage… followed by sour dough pancakes with apple and clotted cream – delicious! We had another glass of cold white wine too.

We were then warm, full and a little weary from the days activities… we heading back over to the workshop to pick up our things. Our beautiful loaves were waiting for us, and we took our biscuits, panetone and a big chunk of sourdough too. We were also given a River Cottage Bread handbook to take home for reference.

The day left me yearning to make my own bread, every single day. I learnt that you could make a batch of dough and keep half of it in the fridge to bake another day, that it’s not necessary to weigh out all your ingredients and that you really need to put energy into your baking to breathe life into your bread. Education like this makes you appreciate the time and effort dedicated by artisan bakers into their produce and puts you off the cheap, pappy, soulless white bread you find in the supermarkets. I must admit, I haven’t baked yet since the course, but it WILL happen soon!

Pigging out at The Pigs

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:58:00 GMT

Yesterday, my Dad treated my boyfriend and I to lunch at The Pigs in Edgefield, Norfolk. We all loved it and concluded that it could possibly be the perfect pub. I love the cook book library out the back, being able to see into the kitchen (and when looking into the kitchen I could see them making their own bread) and mostly because you can bring in your home-grown/ caught/ shot produce and exchange it for beer and food credits! We had the full works – starting with ‘iffits’ (Norfolk tapas), hearty mains, warming desserts all washed down with local beer and ice-cold white wine.

We shared four ‘iffits’ between the four of us. From the front (of the picture below) we had corned beef hash with brown sauce onion jam, lemon, thyme and garlic chicken wings with roasted garlic dip, honey, Colman’s mustard and marmalade glazed pork ribs and dirty beef dripping, sea salt and toast. Really impressive, really fun and all of it was really good tasting.

I couldn’t resist the ‘Pig Pieces’ on the specials board which was served per person. We ordered for one, with the iffits, for us all to give it a try. I’m so glad we did – we got crispy bits of pig ears, pork belly chunks, haselet fritter, crackling and apple sauce, gorgeous sausages and potted ham topped with a gherkin. For £4.95 this would make a perfect porky lunch, especially with a side order of bread.

I was a little bit jealous of my Dad’s smoked haddock and egg puff pastry pie. I loved the way it was served in the tin with a big pile of bright green savoy cabbage on the top. I didn’t get an opportunity to taste it, so it must have been good!!

Our desserts were also great – I tried to go for a lighter choice with a Norfolk Biffin (baked stuffed apple) but my planned failed with the addition of ice cream, and the fact that I ended up trying everyone else’s anyway!

The whisky and marmalade bread and butter pudding was really good – with a really crispy, buttery crust and served with proper, thick custard.

Tapioca was made with double cream and served with Adnam’s sloe gin stewed prunes.

Headed up by Tim Abbott, with influences from Richard Hughes ( Lavender House , Brundall) and Iain Wilson ( Byfords , Holt), we were certainly in good company. They have a local food and drink sourcing policy, so I was happy to be supporting Norfolk producers and retailers. I love the way they are so proud of this and identify their suppliers on their menus.

The service was excellent, toilets immaculate and we had a sneaky peek at one of their rooms (the one with the 8ft bed!) which was gorgeous. Definitely worth a visit or a stay while in North Norfolk, just don’t forget your [insert your produce of choice here] to barter for your beer with!

BBC Good Food Show – The Lovely Bits and My Highlights

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:21:00 GMT

There was so much going on at the BBC Good Food Show Winter this year that I’m pretty certain I missed a lot of it! With 13 theatres at the show, featuring the Great British Bake Off, Saturday Kitchen and MasterChef and the very best line up of chefs possible, there was just too many places to be at the same time! So what was I doing if I wasn’t watching the chefs?! Well, I was in my element in the Producers’ Village – tasting, talking, learning and loving every minute of it! This blog gives a little some of my personal highlights from the show.

‘Pizza Time!’ I loved getting this text message from Tim Croft from Paddy’s Hooked on Fish – he had a deal with Amy and Chris from The Northern Dough Co (delicious frozen pizza dough) on the stand opposite… he provided the Queenie scallops, and they provided the dough, tomato sauce and cheese. Scallop pizza. I’m so glad he shared. Amazing with black pepper and a squeeze of lemon!

I always stop and consider my audience before pronouncing the word chorizo. Obviously its a spanish product, so perhaps you should pronounce as the Spanish do, which is chor-ith-o. I feel a bit of a twit saying it like that, so I usually go with chor-itz-o or chor-ise-o. I came across Ana, from Flavours of Spain , (who knows more about chorizo than anyone I know) teaching one of our visitors how to pronounce it the Spanish way. This photo catches it perfectly, don’t you think?!

I didn’t get round to eating any, but don’t these oysters from Rossmore look great!?

I almost bought this Moorlands Cheesemaker’s cheese making kit for my sister, but after asking a few strategic questions to find out if it would be a hit, we concluded that it would all be a little too smelly for her. If my flat wasn’t the size of an average person’s lounge then I would have bought one for myself.

Judy Goodman and her family rear wonderful geese – just look at the lovely way they are presented in the picture below. Goodman’s Geese are Jamie Oliver’s favourites and I can certainly vouch for them after having one at the centre of my Christmas table for the past few years. If you haven’t tried goose then its a must – so much more luxurious than turkey.

I was very excited to taste the World Cheese Awards World Champion (we hosted the World Cheese Awards and the results were announced on the Wednesday of the show) which was a 10 month Ossau Iraty made by farmhouse producer Fromagerie Agour. I was also delighted that the Cornish Cheese Company came second overall (they were supreme champions last year). I’ve got some in my fridge to take home for the Christmas cheese board.

The World Cheese Awards judging is a spectacular occasion – over 2,500 cheeses all laid out to be judged by the ‘who’s who’ of the cheese world. Favouring Blur over Oasis back in the day, meant that seeing Alex James (from Blur) and his floppy hair perusing over the cheeses did make me go a little weak at the knees!

I was delighted with the all round success of Simon Diss at the show – host of the Magimix Theatre. It was his first time presenting at the BBC Good Food Show and we all agreed that he was brilliant! Look out for him at future shows and follow him on twitter (@simondiss). His estate up in Cumbria also rears delicious Geese and Turkeys for Christmas, has an award winning farm shop and sounds rather idyllic – The Cowran Estate .

Now, this is a little bit embarrassing, but I featured on some of our show graphics this year at the Winter Show. It was a welcome to the Producers’ Village message (my area of the show) with a few of my highlights on it. Rather embarrassing when I had to walk past, but I’m still pretty proud of it (and so is my Dad)!

Anyway, I could go on and on, but thats enough for now… I would love to find out what I missed though – what were your highlights?

Christmas Excitement…

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 09:28:00 GMT

Now that the shows are over (yes, I’ve been slack and still need to publish my highlights from MasterChef LIVE and BBC Good Food Show – sorry) I can’t help but be excited about Christmas! Its been such a busy couple of months at work that I have neglected my blog… but I will have so […]

So, I have 45 minutes to write this, get dressed and get over to my friend (and colleague) Emily’s house to start our preparations for our Christmas Day in London! We are attempting to make Heston’s Meat Fruit as a starter, which I feel is rather ambitious but Emily thinks we can do it. I will take lots of pictures and report back! We then have one of Judy Goodman’s Geese for the main, with ALL the trimmings, followed by some kind of Pavlova. As you can probably tell, we still have some planning to do, and all the shopping – wish us luck!!

I bought the goose at the BBC Good Food Show and he has been patiently waiting in the freezer for us to devour today – while he roasts we will be drinking mulled wine and ice skating at Hampton Court Palace – I’m so excited!

Pick Your Own, Pumpkins and Poppies

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:45:00 GMT

So this year, my ‘grow my own’ dream hasn’t exactly delivered, and so to pick my own I had to turn. My boyfriend and I produced little more than a handful of clove sized garlic bulbs, a few scraggy herbs and a dozen or so of the tiniest potatoes I’ve ever seen. So a few weekends ago we headed off to a local farm shop where we knew we could get that little bit closer to the good life by picking our own.

It was the last weekend of the year for pick your own and families were out in full force to find the perfect pumpkin for Halloween. There were a few things still available in addition to the pumpkins – sweetcorn, beetroot, spinach and to my surprise strawberries!

Some wasted cobs left naked on the ground…

A poppy surprised us in the middle of the corn field, which now reminds me of the amazing sight which was looking down from the gallery of Olympia, at the thousands of silent and still chefs, workers and crowds at MasterChef Live at the weekend. It was a truly moving, goose bump inducing sight.

A few strawberries still left ripe for the picking…

We left the pick your own area of the farm (Garson’s Farm in Esher) with 5 corn on the cobs which were rather over priced considering we had to do the picking ourselves! It was fun though, and got us out into the fresh air for a little while. We then heading for the farm shop where I spent as long as I could get away with looking all the wonderful produce! Jamie gets bored very quickly in such places so I have to scan the shelves wide-eyed to try to absorb all the jars, packets, boxes and tubs of goodness.

I really liked these bottles of french fizzy pop from La Mortaucienne, which are one of my Grandparents’ favourites, come in beautiful bottles and are available online from Natoora .

The other thing that caught my eye were these jars… unfortunately I didn’t stop long enough to pick up on the brand and a half-hearted google search for ‘Just So…’ didn’t bring up any results. They look great though!

The trip to the farm shop ended up rather costly (we couldn’t resist buying a picnic of meats, cheeses and olives), so I think we needed to put a little more effort into growing our own in 2012 – watch this space!

BBC Good Food Show Scotland – Highlights

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:10:00 GMT

I am recovering today from a particularly brilliant BBC Good Food Show Scotland – I worked hard and played hard and hope that anyone that either visited, demonstrated or exhibited had as good a time as I did! From kippers to karaoke this blog is going to cover my personal highlights – please do add […]

website

We don’t do stand awards… but if we did my winner would be Crabbies , it was magical!

Although I don’t like whisky, I think one of the most innovative products we have at all our shows is the Whisky Tasting Company ‘s tasting sets – perfect if you want to try whisky but not buy full bottles of each (especially the expensive ones!).

Trotter’s Independent Condiments

The Commonwealth Orchard

Just Slate

The Truckle Cheese Company

Afternoon Tea at The Langham

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:45:00 GMT

Afternoon tea is a wonderful thing, if you haven’t been for a proper afternoon tea then I would highly recommend it. Prices range from £15 – £45 depending on where you go, but a great website to find one to suit your budget is www.afternoontea.co.uk . I have been to a few different places, including the Ritz, but the very best I found was at The Langham . Although expensive, it was a delightful experience, and the food was amazing.

My friend Emily and I went a couple of years ago and shared two different afternoon teas, on the gratefully received recommendation from our waiter. One was the Wonderland afternoon tea at £35, one was the special Bijoux tea at £45 – by ordering one of each we got the benefit of trying everything! The prices have gone up a little now – but you can still get the two different menus .

The tea menu was detailed and vast, but we didn’t need it – our tea sommelier made some wonderful recommendations.

To begin we had sandwiches, but you could hardly class the ones on the Bijoux menu as sandwiches – they were exquisite! The picture below hardly does them justice. The roast beef one had a smear of fois gras beneath the rare beef and a square of fruity jelly on top. What really impressed us was that we were offered more sandwiches once we had finished the first round – we happily accepted another round from both menus!

We were then asked if we were ready for the scones – which were brought out from the kitchen warm, wrapped in a napkin to hold their heat. There were two flavours, one chocolate and orange, one with champagne soaked raisins, and were probably the lightest, most delicious scones I’ve ever eaten. Naturally, they were served with butter, jam and clotted cream.

We then moved on to the pastries and cakes, which were as delicious as they were beautiful. The pictures below speak for themselves.

We were then brought a cupcake each, again utterly beautiful with perfect taste and texture. The only problem was we were far too full to eat it all!

Although one of the most expensive afternoon teas out there, it was definitely worth it. We spent 3 relaxed hours there enjoying the wonderful atmosphere, food and drink and service. If you time it right it will replace lunch and dinner – so really offers great value.

Fresh Pretzels and a Walk in the Park

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:13:00 GMT

I got up very early this morning to go and take pictures of the beautiful hazy sunshine coming up over Bushy Park (near Hampton Court). It dawned on me that in my world 8am on a Saturday was early, but in reality, this seemed to be a normal waking time – there were about 50 […]

After a little walk in the park my boyfriend and I drove into Kingston, where we were to get breakfast, a few bits from the market and then straight home, before it got too busy. I remembered an interesting stall on the market a few weeks back and suggested pretzels for breakfast. Why Knot?

Knot freshly prepare and bake a range of savoury and sweet pretzels and serve them alongside very good coffee and home-made fresh fruit ice pops. Savoury flavours include dill and Maldon sea salt, Kentish cheddar and bacon or simply topped with salt, pepper or seeds. They are also served with dips such as salsa or cream cheese. We went for a selection of 3 sweet ones, trying the cinnamon, roasted hazelnut and my favourite vanilla and chilli, which had just the right kick of warming spice. With a fresh lemonade for him and a cup of tea for me we walked down to the river and made the swans jealous with our delicious soft, warm pretzels.

I was a little bit naughty and while we were waiting (only 3 minutes to bake them fresh), I asked if I could go and have a look out the back, and take a few pictures. It smelt amazing!

I was too busy eating to take any pictures of our own pretzels but I would highly recommend them. The pretzel dough was soft and light, dusted with just enough sugar and spice. If you are heading into Kingston, I would also recommend a visit to Jimmy’s Meats, a small butcher stall offering great quality meat and service to match, and there are a number of fruit and vegetable stalls offering good value too. I’ve been invited back to try the new flavours they are developing which I will be sure to update you all with.

For those interested in my Bushy Park trip, I have included a few photos below.

Time for (Heston’s) Dinner

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 21:45:00 GMT

Dinner is Heston’s London restaurant, hosted in the rather grand Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge. It is “inspired by historic British gastronomy”, headed up by Ashley Palmer Watts and was one of the best dining experiences I have ever had (and probably the most expensive!).

My boyfriend and I were joined by my friend and colleague Emily and her husband Michael, who were the perfect people to share such an amazing food experience with. So, on to the best bit – what we ate…

I had to have the meat fruit to start. I had heard about it, seen it on the telly and concluded it was my idea of heaven. I love meat. I love fruit. And I love the two together. When it arrived we were amazed at its likeness to a mandarin orange, even close up it was hard to tell that it wasn’t a real piece of fruit.

It was almost too pretty to eat (almost). Excitedly, I cut into the ‘mandarin peel’ to reveal an amazingly smooth chicken liver parfait. It went perfectly with the light, citrus jelly that surrounded it and I really didn’t want it to end.

I was so distracted by the amazing Meat Fruit that I failed to take any pictures of the other starters and can’t even remember what they had! Apologies!

We were all surprised by our waiter with a fish course after the starter, compliments of the chef. This was Hay Smoked Mackerel, served with a lemon salad, gentlemen’s relish and olive oil. Not something I would normally choose, but totally gorgeous, tasting even better being free and a lovely surprise for my boyfriend’s birthday.

The boys shared the Wing Rib of Irish Angus, served with Mushroom Ketchup and chips. I was very jealous, but managed to sneak a little taste. Emily ordered the Black Foot Pork Chop with Robert Sauce, and loved it, probably the most expensive pork chop she will ever eat though!

I went for the Powdered Duck, which sounded far more exciting than it was. It certainly was good though, served with smoked fennel and potato puree. We also ordered extra buttered carrots with caraway and pointy cabbage with onion.

Now for the desserts, which, thinking back were probably the most impressive part of the meal. I had to go for the signature dessert, the Tipsy Cake, served with spit roast pineapple. It was almost like a refined, custardy brioche with cooked pineapple on the side. Really good, but I think my expectations were a little too high to be totally wowed by it.

The Brown Bread Ice Cream was, as warned, not sweet as one might expect. Served with salted butter caramel malted yeast syrup, it was savoury with a little hint of sugary, malty sweetness. Very unusual but still very delicious.

The sophisticated Chocolate Bar with passionfruit jam and ginger ice cream was perfect. Rich dark chocolate, complemented by the sharp passionfruit and warming ginger ice cream.

The Baked Lemon Suet Pudding, with lemon caramel and jersey cream was utterly beautiful, and actually resulted in a loud gasp from Emily as it was broken into – an oozing lemony caramel filling came spilling out. It was as delicious as it was to look at.

To finish came a dainty little cup of earl grey and white chocolate ganache with a caraway biscuit on the side. Although ridiculously full, it was just the perfect amount to finish off the meal. A nice touch was the Happy Birthday message written on my boyfriend’s plate.

We had a wonderful afternoon at Dinner, our expectations were exceeded in terms of the food, service and overall experience. I would certainly recommend it, but I’ve heard its rather hard to get a table these days – I’m glad I thought ahead and booked early for a change!

The Italian Butcher – Cooking at La Cucina Caldesi

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:35:00 GMT

Back in August I visited La Cucina Caldesi to try Giancarlo Caldesi’s Italian Butcher Cookery Course. I was promised meat, meat and more meat and it sounded great! I hadn’t ever been to a cookery lesson or course before, so I was really excited and unsure what to expect from the day. I arrived early at […]

I arrived early at their Marylebone cookery school, and was greeted with coffee and biscotti by the very friendly, and very Italian, cookery assistants. Giancarlo then appeared, unfortunately with a limp after falling from a ladder, with a cheeky smile on his face despite his obvious discomfort. He is one of the most enthusiastic, charming and funny men I have ever met and it was a pleasure to watch him teach and share his passion for food.

So, we were to both watch and participate in preparing the following meaty feast:

Veal saltimbocca

Devilled poussin

Rabbit sofrito (a seasonal surprise)

Rolled lamb with pecorino and mint

Slow-roasted pork belly with fennel seeds

Steak tagliata with rocket, parmesan and balsamic dressing

Calf’s liver with butter and sage

Served with…

Oven-baked potatoes and red onions with pancetta

sautéed broccoli with chilli and garlic

Green beans in tomato sauce

Giancarlo began by preparing the pork belly, simply covering in salt and fennel seeds. This was then slowly cooked in the oven, within another baking tray of water to keep the meat nicely moist. He then showed us how to bone a leg of lamb, leaving a cavity to stuff with chopped pecorino and fresh mint.

He then showed us how to joint a skinned rabbit – his top tip was to never buy a rabbit without its head due to its similarity, once skinned and headless, to a cat. Disturbing but useful advice! He added the joints to finely chopped onion and carrots, browned them off and then added white wine and stock.

At this point, as you can imagine, the kitchen smelt amazing. We all then took to our own stations, with our very own little poussins to bone. Giancarlo took us through the boning process, step by step, helping those that needed it (including me).

Into our floppy, boneless poussins we stuffed garlic cloves, rosemary and chilli, shaped them into little cushions and nestled them all into one baking tray together. Giancarlo drizzled with olive oil, seasoned and put them into the oven.

We each then made our own veal saltimbocca, bashing the veal with mallets into super thin steaks, and then topping with sage leaves and parma ham, covering with cling film and then bashing out again to flatten the meat together. After dipping in seasoned flour and frying, the veal was ready to serve.

All the dishes were set out on a long table for us all to help ourselves. It was a wonderful meat feast, washed down with an ice-cold glass of white wine.

It was a lovely chance to get to know the other students, talk about what we had learnt and of course devour the delicious food.

After lunch we turned our attention to a huge rib of beef that Giancarlo cut down into both sirloin and fillet steaks. He offered some great advice about choosing steaks and what to ask for from your butcher.

He then took a whole calf’s liver (much, much bigger than I thought it would be) and showed us how it must be prepared. It is very time-consuming, and made me realise that I had probably not enjoyed it before as a result of it not being properly prepared.

He cooked the steaks rare, sliced and placed on top of rocket with shaved parmesan and balsamic vinegar.

I was very interested in the way the calf’s liver was cooked and, as I have never enjoyed the flavour before, took notes:

Season and flour the liver and shake off excess. Heat oil and garlic in a frying pan and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add liver to the pan and cook for 40 seconds on each side, quickly remove from the pan. Add butter and sage leaves and remove from heat once melted. Plate up and pour butter over the liver.

After the huge lunch I hardly had room for the steak and liver but both were so delicious. I will be certainly be using some of the recipes I came away with, especially the liver, stuffed lamb and pork belly. I would definitely recommend the Italian Butcher course for anyone that loves their meat. You don’t have to be a good cook and is a great way to learn and pick up general cooking tips too – it’s a really fun day and Giancarlo is a great teacher, chef and host.

Ludlow Food Festival 2011

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:44:00 GMT

The Ludlow Food Festival is probably one of the most successful regional food festivals in the UK. The organiser’s strict policy to ensure all exhibitors are from the Ludlow Marches area means you are sure to find genuine local produce and meet passionate artisans from the area. As suggested in my previous post, the passion […]

The BBC Good Food Show (where I work) has a partnership with the Festival which means we welcome Ludlow and its producers to our show, and in turn they kindly provide us with a chance to take a stand at the festival. We use the opportunity to meet new and loyal visitors and get to know the local producers and foodies better too.

I’m going to take you on a quick tour of my favourite food finds and some of the excellent entertainment on offer at the festival.

The most beautiful looking goat’s cheese I have ever seen from Brock Hall Farm Dairy .

Bacheldre Watermill and their range of stone ground flours, artisan bread mixes and freshly baked loaves of wholemeal bread.

Ludlow was the place I first met The Handmade Scotch Egg Company , and I’ve enjoyed their eggs ever since. My current favourite is the double trouble – free range pork with garlic and tarragon encasing a pickled shallot, a refreshing change from the usual egg.

A pretty, tempting jar of Shropshire Granola .

Lunching on a druid tractor wheel pie from Orchard Pigs – really delicious firm, meaty filling with perfect pastry.

A rainbow of chutney and jams from Heather’s Harvest .

Marcus Bean

La Becasse

Hibiscus

Ludlow – Around the Town During the Festival

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:46:00 GMT

Ludlow is a beautiful little foodie town on the Welsh borders in Shropshire. Just looking round the town makes you realise why the Ludlow Food Festival is so successful – there is obviously a lot of passion and commitment both from producers and the townsfolk that buy it. There are butchers, bakers and probably candlestick […]

One of my favourites is Price and Sons , a craft bakery headed up by the very talented Peter Cook. They always come up with a new bread for the Food Festival’s popular bread trail, I particularly like their pear and perry sourdough loaf.

There are a few great looking butchers in Ludlow, including D.W.Wall & Son, with impressive meat displays and game strung up outside. On the Saturday of the festival each of the butchers present their festival sausage for the Sausage Trail – they have queues of people lining up to taste their offering, each of them hoping that their’s will be crowned the best sausage in show.

The regular Saturday market was great to look round, with a mixture of food, crafts and usual market goodies. I fell in love with Megg, a little chicken door stop – isn’t she cute?!

I chuckled at this flock of confused looking ducks for sale on the market.

I found a great shop and gallery called Black Bough in the town centre, where I bought a beautiful vintage jug. They have a website which is worth a look, or pop in if you are in Ludlow.

This was my fourth visit to the Ludlow Food Festival and I still haven’t managed to get organised to plan ahead and book at one of the amazing restaurants there. Again this year I ended up alongside the unsuspecting festival goers that find themselves looking for a place to eat after the festival has died down. Obviously I don’t expect to get a table in one of the Michelin starred restaurants last-minute, but I don’t expect to be turned away by all the other establishments in the town and made to feel silly for even imagining they had room to cater for me. The first night we ended up in The Rose and Crown, which actually serves really good, home-made pub grub. The second night we ended up with fish and chips back in our B&B – even the curry houses didn’t have room for us!

So, my tip for Ludlow Food Festival visitors, and one I will remember for myself next year, is to plan ahead, research and book yourselves tables at the local restaurants, or even go self catering and cook up a feast with all the wonderful produce from the show!

Spoilt Rotten

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:23:00 GMT

I’ve been spoilt rotten so far, and it’s not even my birthday yet! I turn 30 this Sunday which is rather scary. I’m sure I must have lost a couple of years somewhere… My first surprise was this beautiful birthday cake made by the lovely Laura at The Dessert Deli. It was chocolate, Cointreau and raspberry […]

I’ve been spoilt rotten so far, and it’s not even my birthday yet! I turn 30 this Sunday which is rather scary. I’m sure I must have lost a couple of years somewhere…

My first surprise was this beautiful birthday cake made by the lovely Laura at The Dessert Deli. It was chocolate, Cointreau and raspberry and was absolutely delicious.

I couldn’t manage it all so shared with the BBC Good Food Show and MasterChef Live teams here in the office – they loved it!

I celebrated my birthday with my family in Norfolk a week early, to take advantage of the bank holiday weekend. First stop was one of my favourite restaurants, The Constantia Cottage, in East Runton, North Norfolk. It is run by a lovely Greek family and I have been there for most of my family’s landmark birthdays over the years… my Grandma’s 60th, my Dad’s 50th, Sister’s 21st etc, etc. I also remember going there when I was just 8 (I ordered the lobster with garlic butter then too!) It would have been wrong not to go there for my 30th!

We had a huge BBQ on the Sunday with ribs, lamb koftas, burgers, sausages, chicken tikka and cake. Lots of cake! My mum is a brilliant cake maker and made me such a lovely, stunning cake. It was a vanilla sponge with butter cream and strawberry jam filling, American frosting on top and rose petals to decorate.

Yesterday, the BBC Good Food Show’s newest recruit, Charlie Farr, made me some gorgeous chocolate orange cupcakes! The recipe is in the Primrose Bakery cook book and was really, really good – don’t they look pretty…

I wonder if there will be more cake on my actual birthday on Sunday… not sure my waistline can take it! Thanks to everyone that has spoilt me on my 30th x

Retro Campers and a White Horse

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:35:00 GMT

Last week I made my annual trip back home to North Norfolk for the Cromer Carnival . For a whole week the town celebrates with a parade full of fancy floats, a beer tent, a fancy dress ball, karaoke, bingo, awesome fireworks, street food and we even get a visit from the Red Arrows! Cromer gets pretty busy for the week but it’s definitely worth a visit – my favourite part is sitting in the sunken gardens on the cliff top with cider and hog roast, waiting for the parade to arrive. After the parade we walk up along the cliff top (picture below) to the carnival field, where the beer tent and band awaits!

One of the highlights of the Carnival is the Classic and Custom Car Show, so we wandered around and kept ourselves fed and watered with freshly made lemonade and hot sugary donuts. My favourites of the show were the campers – I couldn’t help but daydream of parking up near a beach, fishing (or watching someone else) and then cooking the catch while watching the sunset in the comfort of your own camper.

I would love to own a VW Campervan, my new style VW Beetle is the closest step I’ve taken though! My friends from North Norfolk have a company restoring and selling them and will be doing rentals next year too – what a lovely way to explore the Coast than in a retro camper. The picture below was one of theirs.

We found a pristine Bedford Dormobile – what an amazing looking little camper!

The little kitchen was immaculate – perfect size for me (I’m only just over 5ft tall!).

The other highlight of my week in Norfolk was a drive along the coast from West Runton to Brancaster Staithe, where the highly recommended White Horse looks out across sandy beaches and marshland. The interior is light and airy and decorated with driftwood and coastal art. The service was excellent and our food faultless – pleasingly, the price was reasonable too.

My sister went for The Ploughmans, which included a locally smoked ham muffin, Norfolk Dapple (smoked cheese), home made pickle and a kilner jar full of potted pork.

Making the most of being beside the seaside, I couldn’t resist The Seafood Platter – locally (Letzer’s) smoked salmon, Brancaster oyster with Aspall’s Cyder shallot vinegar, pickled local cockles, Cromer crab pate and shell-on prawns. It was delicious and I thought a bargain at only £9.95, with bread being served to the table too. We also shared some salty, buttery samphire.

The dessert menu was particularly challenging to choose from so my sister and I shared the ‘Assiette of White Horse Desserts’ or ‘a little bit of everything’. There was a tarte au citron served with cloudy lemonade, a chocolate and mint layered mousse, mango and pistachio tart, steamed cherry pudding, Hawaiian punch (with sorbet and meringues) and a wonderfully refreshing fruit salad with toasted coconut. Perfect way to avoid menu envy!

Another lovely time back in North Norfolk – I’m actually going back this weekend too, to celebrate my 30th Birthday, eeeek!!

Scotch Eggs for a Special Picnic – My Recipe

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 10:10:00 GMT

My best friend’s fiance is currently on tour in Afghanistan, and while back for a couple of weeks for much needed R&R, one of his requests was for a big picnic, with his family and close friends. The venue was The Long Walk in Windsor, and the theme was typical traditional picnic fayre. I found out there would be a ham, Melton Mowbray pork pie, salmon terrine and game pie so my contribution had to be the all time picnic favourite – Scotch Eggs! In this blog I will share my low effort, maximum taste recipe to make golden, crispy black pudding scotched quails eggs.

Sourcing the Ingredients

Scotch eggs can be rather filling, so I thought quails eggs would be the perfect size for this picnic. Luckily my lovely local butcher had one packet of Hampshire quails eggs left, I couldn’t resist some duck eggs either… and then my rather annoying tendency to over provide kicked in and I picked up some chicken eggs too. Now for the meat. They had 1 kg of their sausage meat, which is mildly seasoned and really tasty. I also requested a chunk of black pudding and was offered the choice of Scottish or Irish, I went for Scottish (Captain Jackson is in a Scottish regiment and thought he would appreciate it). I also didn’t think the sausage meat would go far enough for my range of eggs, so bought some of their ‘Katherine of Tarragon’ sausages too (it’s a Hampton Court butcher).

The Recipe

Breadcrumbs – Approx 2 handfuls

Sausage Meat – 500 gm

Black Pudding – 100 gm

1 Beaten egg

12 Quails Eggs (room temperature)

Vegetable Oil for deep-frying

Method

1. Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and gently lower the quails eggs into the water. Boil for 2 – 2 1/2 minutes and quickly remove from heat and plunge into cold water. I tend to let the cold tap run into the saucepan for a few minutes to help cool the eggs down.

2. In a food processor place your piece of black pudding and pulse to break up black pudding.

3. Add sausage meat to food processor and blend until black pudding is easily distributed throughout the sausage meat. It should become a deep, almost purple colour.

4. Place your bread crumbs into a shallow, wide bowl.

5. Place your beaten egg into another similarly shallow, wide bowl.

6. Carefully peel the quails eggs, ensuring that all shell is cleared from the egg.

7. Your sausage meat and black pudding mixture needs to be shared among the 12 eggs – depending on how good your eye is on determining size you can either estimate or weigh out the balls into 50 gm portions.

8. On your hand, flatten out the ball of sausage into a long oval shape, place your egg in the centre and gently wrap the meat around the egg. Try to avoid any air pockets between the egg and meat, seal up any holes and to make the ball as round as possible.

9. Dip the meat ball into the egg, drain off excess and roll into the bread crumbs. Repeat once for a crisp, substantial coating.

10. Deep fry the scotch eggs for approx 5/6 minutes at 160°, drain and soak up excess oil with kitchen paper.

11. Eat as soon as possible – there is nothing better than a hot scotch egg!

Variations

There are so many different ways of making your own Scotch Eggs – I tried the tarragon sausage meat (just squeeze the meat out of the skins) with chicken eggs, which was really tasty and I managed to time the eggs to a perfect soft yolk. I also encased the duck eggs in the remainder of the sausage meat, keeping it plain to be able to taste the richness of the duck egg. Unfortunately I didn’t get to taste but I was told they were delicious!

Making Scotch Eggs – In Pictures

I’m afraid my hands were too messy at this stage to take any pictures!

The Scotch eggs went down a treat at the picnic – although I wish I’d taken the eggs off the boil just a few seconds earlier for a softer yolk!

My best friend Lucy’s mum, Mrs Warwick, was also at the picnic and made dessert… the most amazing chocolate chunk cookies and beautiful could like meringues with a perfect chewy centre.

Please do let me know if you try my recipe!

Nottingham – Concrete Lace, Scotch Eggs and a Marvellous Deli

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:52:00 GMT

I spent 3 fun-filled years at university in Nottingham and last weekend went back for a visit. I wish I could say that I went back to visit all my favourite foodie haunts but to be honest my budget and interest in food was rather different then to how it is now. So, I left […]

First stop – The Kean’s Head. The lure of their scotch egg, as recommended by @simonhjohnson, was too strong to resist. The pub itself wasn’t particularly impressive, although if I liked beer then I would have been in my element – there were many to choose from!

It was definitely worth the visit for the scotch egg. Served with brown sauce it was perfectly formed, with a bold yellow soft yolk nestled into perfectly seasoned sausage meat. I particularly liked the unusual addition of finely chopped gherkin, which cut through the richness of the egg.

While waiting for our appetite to return we had a look around the shops. I found a lovely little vintage shop called Kitsch – I was really tempted by this rather cool butter dish, but managed to resist.

We stumbled across Delilah Deli which is quite possibly the most wonderful food shop I have ever been in. I couldn’t help but wish I could fill my car and get the hell back to London! The shelves were full of goods from many of my favourite producers, alongside the new, unusual and unknown.

Time for afternoon tea! My friend recommended The Walk Cafe , which was hidden away in the most unlikely place but was definitely worth hunting it down.

It was full of mismatched vintage china and pretty waitresses with red lipstick and fascinators.

They had a wide variety of teas served by the pot – I went for a second flush darjeeling.

The cake offering was vast and irresistible, we shared an apricot meringue and a white chocolate and cherry tart.

I’m easily impressed by simple touches like the chocolate W stencilled onto a cappuccino.

We had a look around the new Nottingham Contemporary art gallery, which is located in the historic Lace Market area of the City. I loved the concrete lace effect on the exterior.

My visit wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem – apparently the oldest pub in the land! I think we may have only visited once during our student days – sadly the Wetherspoons was just so cheap!

We were lucky with the weather and drank cider underneath a huge fig tree in the sun.

I certainly saw a different side of Nottingham to my old uni days of Iceland deals and baked beans! It makes me wonder whether it is me or Nottingham that has changed the most over the years.

The Bath House – Happy Memories in Cromer

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 18:41:00 GMT

Just like at the end of the Titanic, when the movie flashes back to the golden good times of the glorious ship, my mind often flashes back to the days when my Grandparents owned a wonderful pub and B&B on the seafront in Cromer, Norfolk. Just like the way Rose’s memory takes us along the decks of the ship with the friendly faces of the staff greeting her, I think back to the bar, kitchen, halls and bedrooms of The Bath House, along with the various bar staff, waiters and waitresses and of course my Grandparent’s welcoming faces.

Their free house pub was on Cromer’s sunny promenade, so in the summer they would have lots of tables outside so people could sit, drink and eat overlooking the beach, pier and out to the North Sea. My Grandad Bert was proud of his range of beer and ale and was the perfect landlord welcoming tourists and locals alike with a jolly attitude. They welcomed children over 14 in the bar, but any younger would need to stay outside – those local fisherman propped up at the bar were a rowdy bunch! My Grandma was the chief in the kitchen and they served up proper hand-made pub grub, along with local specialities based around the famous Cromer Crab! Some of the most popular dishes were Mariner’s Fish Bake, Scampi and Chips, Steak and Guinness Pie (with Grandma’s delicious wholemeal pastry lid), Beef Lasagne, Cromer Crab Salad and my favourite was the Turkey Curry. The baker they used made the most amazing French bread – I can still remember the taste of it thickly spread with salty butter and mango chutney!

Until I was 11 I lived in Essex, and every Summer my sister and I would have a week-long holiday at The Bath House, staying in one of the lovely rooms complete with tea making facilities (such a novelty at that age!). We would go down to breakfast like any other guest every morning. A pot of tea for two and a rack of white toast – my Grandma would use Mighty White bread for the toast as she thought it gave it an extra crunch. There would be little silver bowls of triangular sliced butter and one of marmalade, along with individual portions of other jams and honey. A little table was laid out with jugs of orange, grapefruit and apple juice alongside a small selection of cereal and milk. A mistake would be to fill up too much on this – the full breakfast was amazing! Sausages from the local butcher, crispy bacon, eggs how you like them, fried bread (I would spread mine with ketchup), black pudding if you wanted it, mushrooms and tomatoes. If you didn’t want this you could have any type of egg cooked to your liking or local kippers.

My Grandparents, Bert and Barbara Wheston owned the pub from 1982 – 1995, and left due to the ill-health of my Grandad Bert. He soon recovered after selling up, and I often think they regret leaving when they did – I know I wish they had kept it long enough for me to take over! They have so many stories of lock-ins, celebrity guests and lovely guests. I truly believe that it added a huge amount to the town of Cromer as a tourist destination. It was taken over by brothers in 1995, and their big ideas for change and improvement, which really weren’t needed, left them struggling and unable to make the pub work as a business. In 1998 it was bought by a couple with apparent grand plans to turn it into an upmarket, boutique B&B, serving meals around the £35 per head mark. This never materialised, and the property is now used as a private house. I’m not sure whether the council has ever authorised this and it upsets me every time I see it – almost like looking at images of the sunken titanic (but obviously on a much smaller scale!!).

Perhaps my new project should be to bring back The Bath House Hotel to its former glory! If anyone has any stories, memories or ideas to bring back The Bath House please get in touch!

Producer Highlights – BBC Good Food at Westfield

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:04:00 GMT

We had a lovely selection of producers at BBC Good Food at Westfield London – visitors could choose from cheese, chocolate, fine wine, curry sauce, apple crisps, rapeseed oil, sausages, cakes, chutney, olives… I could go on. Instead I will take you on a brief tour of the producers in pictures! The stands – ready […]

The stands – ready and waiting for the shopping centre to open.

Chiffon cakes with mixed berries from On Cafe .

An amazing array of macaron flavours, also from On Cafe.

The Cassis was my favourite – I love the detail on this.

The Truckle Cheese Company’s waxy truckles of vintage cheddar (my Grandad’s favourite cheddar) and jars of award winning onion marmalade. They also had their famous chocolate cheese which sold out pretty quickly!

Perry Court Farm make all natural, slowly air dried apple crisps from all different varieties of apples (and pears) from his family’s orchards in Kent.

We are looking at another Westfield London ‘pop up’ in the future so keep an eye out for updates. Please get in touch if you would like contact details for any of these producers – they will be delighted to hear from you!

BBC Good Food at Westfield – Backstage and After Hours

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:36:00 GMT

Over the weekend we took The BBC Good Food Show on tour to the luxurious Westfield London Shopping centre – bringing a selection of our favourite producers, the very best talent and a little taster of the magic we create with our shows. This post will take you back stage to see what goes on […]

Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi were a very entertaining double act – the audience would have never known the Katie was struggling to get the oven to work!

Sometimes, if I time it right, I get to taste some of the dishes back stage. The one below by the Caldesi duo was really delicious and so simple too – I don’t think I’ve tasted courgettes with so much flavour! I’m definitely going to test the recipe and will share if it goes well!

We had one of our most rebellious chefs we have ever had to work with at Westfield – he threw ingredients around everywhere, made a huge mess and would run off stage if he got distracted… Luckily we could forgive him, as he is super cute!

Little Archie joined his Dad, Nick Coffer, on stage to demonstrate recipes from Nick’s book My Daddy Cooks. It was a really popular session with little Archie cooking along with his Dad! The book is full of brilliant, child friendly mid week meals.

It can be really stressful backstage, but there is a lighter side too – Nikki Morgan always adds a flash of fun to the shows! The backstage team have a huge job and the audience at the front often don’t even realise they are out the back working hard to support the chefs out at the front!

Although just a mini version of what we do at our big shows, there is still a lot of equipment and ingredients needed to pull it off.

Meeting the wonderful Giancarlo Caldesi was one of the highlights of the weekend for me, so we made time for a picture.

I also took the opportunity to snap Giancarlo and Jackie Kearney, one of this year’s MasterChef finalists.

I hope you have enjoyed this sneaky behind the scenes post – more about the producers in the next one!

Jamie Oliver’s Big Feastival – Best Bits

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 20:31:00 GMT

Although the restaurants at Jamie Oliver’s Big Feastival were awesome, I realised while writing this second post that what I liked most about it were the other bits! A mini farmers market, Mussel Men, giant fruit on forks, the WI, sparkly brownies, music, crumpets and strumpets! My first stop was the little farmers market area. […]

We checked out the Mussel Men…

What an awesome idea for street food! Pots of Mussels, Moules Frites, Oysters or Seafood Chowder all served by ‘musselly men’!

So I really like the quirky look of the giant strawberry, and the giant apple, on the end of giant forks… but really, does anyone actually eat strawberries or apples with forks?! Anyone? (I’m showing my pedantic side now, sorry.)

We found the Giant Robot lounge too late on in the day, not realising that our gold wristbands gained us entry into what I think was the VIP area of the show. We stopped for a quick glass of Cava, did some people watching then went off to explore some more.

Within the über cool Women’s Institute tent was Stacie Stewart’s Beehive Bakery . Unfortunately Stacie wasn’t there but her brownies looked awesome – rich chocolate, pecan nut, gluten-free, snickers and…

…Sparkly Smartie Glitter Brownies!

Then I find Gizzy Erskine (looking beautiful) giving top tips for healthy eating… Eek! Better give the rest of the brownies to the boyfriend.

I then saw one of the best things at the festival – Strumpets with Crumpets !

Unfortunately I couldn’t eat another thing, but I thought this ‘crumpet bar’ looked brilliant! Check out the delicious crumpet toppings on the menu below – I would have gone for the Westcombe Cheddar with Chorizo, followed by the Cream Tea Crumpet, followed by Plum Jam and Creme Fraiche… I could go on. My mouth is watering just thinking about them!

What a Big Feastival! It was a really lovely day out so thank you Mr Oliver and your team for putting on a great event!

Jamie Oliver’s Big Feastival – My Pick of the Restaurants

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 20:34:00 GMT

I was delighted to have the chance to visit Jamie Oliver’s Big Feastival down on Clapham Common on Saturday. I took my best friend and we had a wonderful day in the sun, filled with amazing food, bubbly drinks and great entertainment and music. There is so much to report from the Big Feastival that […]

There is so much to report from the Big Feastival that I’m splitting the day into two posts, starting first with the restaurants. We made the most of the opportunity to try both the local, and the well-known restaurants by sampling our way through their taster plates…

Popcorn Shrimp by Redhook was cooked to order, so was hot, crispy, juicy and full of flavour. I took an extra one home for my boyfriend to try as it was so good!

I’m a sucker for duck, especially with a fruity accompaniment. So four o nine ‘s Pomegranate Roasted Duck Breast with Apricot and Mint Jam had to be tried – the duck was perfectly cooked and left me wanting to try more from the Clapham based restaurant.

I was excited to see Atul Kochhar standing at his pop up restaurant so couldn’t resist being served by the man himself. I’m not convinced that the Chicken Tikka Pie will make customers want to visit Benares but it was certainly very good pastry, nicely spiced chicken tikka, smooth mashed potato and deliciously spiced berry chutney on top.

The noisy (and friendly) staff at Trinity restaurant lured me into trying one of their Hot Scotched Clarence Court Eggs, served with a tangy cider mayonnaise. It was certainly worth it! I am desperate to try Adam Byatt’s tasting menu, I’ve heard great things.

Cinnamon Kitchen provided the dessert (well, one of them anyway!) with their Mango Mousse with Mango Mint Salad. It didn’t quite have the mango kick that I was hoping for but was delicious all the same and the sesame snap style shard added a really nice crunch.

The Pit Smoke Barbecue Pulled Pork and Slaw from Barbecoa brought back smokey memories of America and was so tender and good that I forgot to take a picture!

Lots more to say about the Big Feastival but will leave it for another post. Anyone else go to the event? If so, what was your favourite restaurant dish?

Pop up BBC Good Food Show at Westfield London!

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 07:52:00 GMT

Over the last couple of weeks the team have been busy getting things ready for our first ever pop up event at Westfield London. We have brought together some of the very best MasterChef and BBC Good Food Show talent for our Cookery Theatre and have gathered a selection of the most popular producers and retailers too.So, on the […]

We also have a lovely line up of producers and retailers, so bring your shopping bags and stock up on your favourites. Keep a look out for chocolate cheese from the Truckle Cheese Company , healthy Kentish apple crisps from Perry Court Farm and any cupcake lovers/bakers out there will love the range of accessories from Holly Cupcakes .

So, if you haven’t been to one of our shows before this is the perfect time as its completely free! I will be there most of the weekend so come down and say hello if you can – Friday 8th – Sunday 10th July.

All over for another year – BBC Good Food Show Summer 2011 Highlights

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:09:00 GMT

Wow, I can’t believe the show is over for another year! Time seems to be going so quickly at the moment. I have a well needed day off today so am taking the opportunity to run through some of my personal highlights of the show. I hope you enjoy them, and if you visited I […]

The thing I loved most about this show was that everyone seemed so happy! This year we made all our aisles bigger, added in more seating and made sure there were more people around to help if needed. It really helped, and even on Saturday, when we had nearly 30,000 visitors at the show (I still can’t believe this!) it was still a pleasure to be there. The producers at the show all made friends with each other early on and there was a brilliant community feel to the show.

Some of my favourite bits…

Joe Delucci’s Ice Cream not only has really delicious ice cream but the company owners are rather fun and very generous with their ice cream! They mixed their crème brûlée and cherry ice creams for me to create a new cherry custard flavour, which was delicious. I then walked past the Holly Cupcakes stand and was offered some cola Fizz Wizz (popping candy), tipped the sachet into the ice cream and voila – Fizzy Cherry Cola Ice Cream! Yum!

It was the first time The Handmade Oatcake Company had been to one of our NEC shows and they had a brilliant time. I loved the effort they put into their stand – especially these beautiful oatcake canapes, and the various flavours of oatcake are very tasty.

Everyday I had a good look at the Polish pottery on the Polkadot Lane stand, there was some really unusual and beautiful pieces – even yorkshire pudding trays made out of pottery! Unfortunately I ran out of time to buy anything so am going to plan in a visit to their shop in Hebden Bridge as soon as I have the time.

I’ve been trying to convince the The Handmade Scotch Egg Company to come to our Summer Show for years and finally they came this year – naturally I was right about them being perfect for the show and they were one of the most popular stands, selling out by 2pm everyday! (Sorry to those that missed out – you can buy online through their website). They have over 40 flavours and my favourite this year was the ploughmans – can’t go wrong with free range pork, cheese and chutney! See Neil below having a well deserved pint in the afternoon – cheers!

The celebrity chefs loved Charlie Bedlam’s Cotswold Gold rapeseed oil and used it on the Summer Kitchen Theatre – this may have played a part in Charlie having to franticly cut up more bread so customers could sample his last few bottles of rapeseed oil!

Tim Kinnaird, finalist from last year’s MasterChef series, proudly presented his Macarons and More … His macarons are divine and the ‘more’ included thick hot chocolate and mexican spiced nut brittle – I couldn’t help but have a few samples!

I wish I had remembered to buy some jars and bottles from The Jam Jar Shop , who have the most amazing selection of jars, bottles and ‘jamming’ equipment. The British Tomato Growers always provide me with a mound of tomatoes at the end of the show so it would have worked out wonderfully if I had bought some bottles for the ketchup I plan to make with them!

The show this year was an all round success – visitors happy, producers happy, organisers happy – a sell out show both for many producers and for us organisers too! Can’t wait for the next one!

Right, thats it for now – I hope you have enjoyed some of the highlights, and please do add your own for me, I’d love to hear them.

The Perfect Hamburger? Five Guys Give it a Go

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:27:00 GMT

I asked my little brother, who lives in Florida, where the best place to get burgers from was – he immediately replied with Five Guys . I hadn’t ever heard of them, and he hadn’t got round to trying them, so it was an eating experience that we had to put on our holiday to do list. I checked the website and was happy to see that there was an outlet up at the Florida Mall, so lunch was planned for our big shopping trip!

I want to love burgers. I think the thing that stops me is a book that I read when I was young – The Perfect Hamburger, by Alexander McCall Smith, and ever since then burgers have not met my high expectations for deliciousness. This is how the book begins…

“Joe liked Hamburgers. He liked hamburgers that were crisp and delicious and that had one ring of onion on the top and one on the bottom. He liked hamburgers that had just a touch of ketchup and that were big enough to sink your teeth into, even if you finished up with a stream of juice running down to the end of your chin.”

Doesn’t it make burgers sound like the most amazing things in the world?! Well it did for me, and the rest of the book only builds on this. So this book, along with the hype from friends, family and pretty much everyone else, has raised my expectations to a level that no burger has ever been able to meet. Despite this, I had pretty high hopes for Five Guys.

Lets start with the fries…

Five guys fry their fries in peanut oil – they were crisp, tasty and delicious and there were loads of them – they even added an extra scoop as they bagged them up. I really liked the fact that they know which farm the potatoes are from, and tell you about it!

I watched intently as they put the burgers together.

I went for my burger with virtually all the toppings…

Two patties of juicy beef, gooey cheese, onions, mushrooms, ketchup, slightly toasted sesame bun… it was good. Really good. Due to my choice of toppings it became a little moist and messy but this didn’t take away from the meaty tasty goodness of the Five Guys burger. I did like it, a lot, but can’t say I loved it. I would also say that Britain’s own Byron and Meatwagon burgers are better than this – and the Americans are supposed to be the experts!

Definitely worth a try if you visit the states and there is one nearby, although I’m sure that with their current rate of growth and popularity it shouldn’t be long until they try to conquer our little island!

If anyone can recommend any burgers that may satisfy my desire to taste the perfect hamburger then please drop me a comment!

Gator Bites!

Tue, 24 May 2011 19:43:00 GMT

On the very last day of our Florida holiday, before packing up and leaving for the airport, we distracted ourselves with a visit to Gatorland which, as one might guess, is dedicated to Florida’s famous alligators. Its one of the smaller attractions in Kissimmee and is well priced too at around $15 for a ticket (compare that to $90 to see Mickey Mouse!). I like that the real Florida shines through here – a little rough around the edges, faded neon colours, red necked gator wrestlers and authentic(ish) Floridian cuisine.

After an entertaining gator wrestling show we decided it was lunch time…

How could I not have the gator nuggets?! They were actually pretty tasty, a bit like fishy chicken… with a spicy bread crumb coating.

I was attracted to the advert for ‘A Complete Florida Experience’, which apparently is achieved by eating boiled peanuts. We asked for them at the counter and were asked if we would like to try them first, assuming this as a warning that they may not be to everyone’s tastes, I accepted samples of both the regular and Cajun flavours. They came out in their shells, rather hot and wet, and tasted a little like salty kidney beans. To me they were worth tasting, but since there were so many things to be eaten, I decided against a whole portion and thanked them very much for the sample.

Before we left we took a good look around the gift shop. I didn’t think I would get through customs with a real alligator head, so settled on a chocolate alligator instead…

Florida Food Part One – Breakfasts

Mon, 23 May 2011 21:35:00 GMT

Our first meal in Florida was had at Caddy’s on the Beach, a five-minute stroll up the beach from our house, which was a great start to the holiday. I had Applewood smoked bacon, poached eggs, fresh farmers market tomatoes, rye toast and lots of freshly squeezed iced orange juice. My boyfriend’s eggs Benedict looked […]

Our first meal in Florida was had at Caddy’s on the Beach , a five-minute stroll up the beach from our house, which was a great start to the holiday. I had Applewood smoked bacon, poached eggs, fresh farmers market tomatoes, rye toast and lots of freshly squeezed iced orange juice. My boyfriend’s eggs Benedict looked particularly good, and I was seriously envious of my brother’s Son of a Beach Burrito!

IHOP (International House of Pancakes) is a great value place to have a breakfast in Florida, and somewhere that holds memories that make me laugh out loud. Years ago a group of us were there and my sister ordered ‘Country Steak’ from the menu – I warned that if I were her I wouldn’t choose it, but she went ahead anyway. The rest of us tucked into our delicious pancakes while Abbie poked at what looked like Campbell’s condensed mushroom soup spread on top of a greyish, thin breaded steak. To me, gross at anytime, let alone for breakfast!

We all chose well this time with pancakes, bacon and butter topped with our choice of old-fashioned, maple pecan, blueberry or strawberry syrup and jugs and jugs of coffee.

We saved up the rest of our eating capacity for lunches and dinners, buying in fresh fruit (watermelon and pineapple was my favourite), cereal, eggs and toast for our breakfasts… except for when we had leftovers to warm up from dinner the night before!

Easter Treats

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:22:00 GMT

Easter is a great opportunity to eat, drink and be merry – I have been back in North Norfolk (West Runton to be precise) staying with my sister and have certainly made the most of it this year. So, while I sip on a cup of tea and nibble on the ear of my chocolate […]

My sister had been warned by her local council that she needed to clear her allotment and start using it, which is fair enough due to there being such a high demand for allotments these days. She has been focusing on fitting her new kitchen, so the allotment has taken a back seat over the past year. So Good Friday was spent turning her allotment from this:

To this wonderful, tidy allotment ready for planting fruit and vegetables for the year ahead:

Its a lovely place to be, with the sun so warm and view out over the North Sea. Obviously there were a few hot cross buns here and there and scampi and chips as a treat for lunch over in our local pub garden. I love the feeling of being really hungry after exhausting work – the food always seems to taste better too.

On Saturday my boyfriend and brother and law went fly fishing for trout. The lake was nearby to a lovely farm shop ( Groveland ) so I picked up some lovely meat from their butchery for a BBQ and spent a small fortune on bits and pieces from the farm shop too. The catch of the day was a 2.5 lb rainbow trout, which we put on the BBQ stuffed with lemon and onions.

While waiting for the boys to return my sister and I had some wonderful Norfolk asparagus, bought fresh from the farm shop, which we dry fried, sprinkled with sea salt and dipped into melted butter.

I rewarded the boys with some aptly named ‘Sunshiny Beer’ from the Norfolk Square Brewery, which was refreshing after their long day in the sun. I don’t like beer so much, so didn’t try it, but my boyfriend thought it tasted very malty, sweet with a slight hint of honey.

On Easter Sunday we invited over my Grandparents for a roast which we had planned to eat outside in the sun. Unfortunately the cruel North Sea decided to cast its cold foggy shadow over West Runton so we were forced inside, but it was lovely all the same. We had a huge roast chicken that my sister had bought recently at the Aylsham farmers market, with fresh vegetables, roast potatoes, cranberry sauce and some seriously good gravy.

I was on dessert duty and had been inspired by Raymond Blanc and his kitchen secrets to make meringues, so I made a huge Pavlova, some lime and lemon curd with the leftover yolks, whipped up some cream and then topped it with fresh raspberries. I must say it did impress and really tasted delicious.

The research and preparations…

I adapted a lemon curd recipe from an american website , as it was the first I saw that used the yolks of the eggs only. I had a mixture of lemons and limes so replaced some of the lemon zest and juice with limes. It was easy to make and really tart and creamy.

I used R aymond Blanc’s recipe for the Pavlova, which I think worked really well.

This last bit didn’t last too long!

Turkish Style BBQ

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 16:27:00 GMT

I had been to this kitchen before, and have wondered at the amount of gadgets, the shiny equipment, the mountains of spices and exotic ingredients and rows of the sharpest and most stunning knife collections I have ever seen. The only thing that’s been missing is the person to which this kitchen belongs. Yesterday I met my friend Deniz’s dad, who LOVES his kitchen, food, cooking and his homeland – Turkey.

We were there for a Sunday night BBQ after my boyfriend and Deniz had finished a long afternoon of American Football playing and coaching. I had been to Deniz’s family home before for BBQs but this time it was different – his awesome Dad was there. I think we were both as excited as each other about meeting each other, both having our passionate attitudes towards food having been discussed at length when the other not there. This BBQ and Kamil’s passion met all expectations!

Now, for the details of this amazing Turkish BBQ… lets start with the BBQ itself – a huge fire pit with grills that slide apart to enable you to tend to the coals, big enough for a feast and complimented by all the BBQ tools you could possibly need.

We started with some halloumi that had been sprinkled with a little chilli, quickly crisped up on each side on the BBQ just long enough not to lose them to the blazing charcoals below. Salty and squeaky with a decent chilli kick.

The meat was the main event – burgers, three types of sausages, lamb kebabs all presented beautifully with a sprinkling of oregano. A delicious accompaniment seen in the background was thinly sliced red onions dressed with sumac and topped with chopped parsley, perfect with all of the meat, particularly the kebabs.

Check out the ‘swords’ used for the kebabs – I must get myself some!

With all this meat we also had sweetcorn rubbed with lemon and a chilli, paprika and salt mix after cooking – a really nice way to add a bit of flavour to corn on the cob.

I impressed by being able to compete with the boys and had a generous spoonful of Kamil’s homemade chilli sauce, it was great with the burgers.

A little too late came the most delicious rice I have tasted. I forgot to get the recipe but it had little pieces of vermicelli, chickpeas, split lentils, butter and chicken stock – such a shame I had already filled up on all that meat!

The other thing that I love about this Turkish home is the quantity of food they are able to keep in the house – they have a large family and always cook big meals from scratch. With only two us in my little flat there is no need for so much, I think that means I need to plan for a big family or start inviting people over more!

MasterChef Live Challenge

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Sometimes it’s not so great working for the BBC Good Food Shows and MasterChef Live – it means I can’t enter the MasterChef Live Challenge!! It’s a chance for members of the public to cook their signature dish live on stage for John Torode and Gregg Wallace, at the BBC Good Food Show Summer in June. It’s a great opportunity to […]

Sometimes it’s not so great working for the BBC Good Food Shows and MasterChef Live – it means I can’t enter the MasterChef Live Challenge!!

It’s a chance for members of the public to cook their signature dish live on stage for John Torode and Gregg Wallace, at the BBC Good Food Show Summer in June.

It’s a great opportunity to really show off your cooking skills and potentially get your talent noticed… it doesn’t cost anything to enter so why not give it a go (or put one of your talented friends or family members forward) – click here to go to the application form.

John Torode said “This is your chance to be judged like all the MasterChef elite from the series but LIVE. This is no time for a risotto or crumble but your opportunity to truly impress us with your culinary creations.”

Gregg Wallace added: “If you’re thinking about cooking an omelette you can go home now!”

I certainly wouldn’t consider an omelette (I’m not very good at them!) and risotto is almost as bad as trying a chocolate fondant on MasterChef. It’s a real talking point in the office… I’m not sure what my signature dish would be – what would you cook for the challenge?!

Pup-cakes and Paw-fitterols

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:10:00 GMT

The world has officially gone barking mad. Of course its nice when people can spoil their pets, but the new dog deli in Harrods seems a little ridiculous. I was amazed as I took a touristy tour of Harrods Pet Kingdom, and surprised to find that some of the doggy treats actually made me feel […]

There was a beautiful display of, at first glance, what looked like delicious cakes, pastries, cupcakes and chocolates but as you look closer, you realise that they are for dogs! I couldn’t believe there were people out there firstly wanting this kind of stuff, and secondly, being able to afford to spend £4 on a mock profiterole for an animal!!

Pup-cakes – will you choose liver or chicken and herbs?!

So the next thing that amazed me was this stack of paw-fitterols…

I have no idea what they are made of and really wonder what they taste like – meaty?! So with all these treats to indulge, how does the Harrods dog manage to keep their weight down? Well they head to the doggy gym to hit the treadmill!! In case your wondering, thats Beethoven (doggy film) playing on the TV…

Well, they do say you can buy anything in Harrods!

Spring Forward

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 13:12:00 GMT

Finally, the clocks have gone forward and it seems that Summer really is just around the corner. This winter has seemed to last an age and has been particularly harsh in many senses of the word, especially the bitterly cold weather. Summer for me means taking advantage of any opportunities to mix fresh air and […]

A few family birthdays fall over the Summer months and my mum always impresses with her fabulous cakes. The one below is particularly summery, with fresh strawberries and raspberries and crystalized violets too.

I have already started as I mean to go on, and had a rather chilly BBQ a few weeks ago. It was the first one my boyfriend and I have had in our new house, where we have a lovely little patio area. We have a wonderful fish monger who is just a couple of doors along from us. He smelt the charcoal from our BBQ and shouted over the fence that he would get something for us… A few minutes later he returned with a bag with two thick swordfish steaks marinating in olive oil and herbs and passed them over our wall. Lucky us!

I love picnics and take advantage of any opportunities to have them. One of my favourites was last year where the highlight of a trip down to Dorset was a spot of fly fishing, accompanied of course, by a picnic. It was a gloriously sunny day and we drank lovely wine and elderflower presse which we kept in the lake to keep cool.

Ice Cream is my favourite foodstuff over the Summer – the best I’ve ever tasted is from Scoop , who have branches in Soho and Covent Garden. Last week I had a meeting in Covent Garden, so treated myself to two scoops of Scoop! I chose two flavours – Menta ( with peppermint from Pancalieri, Piedmont) and Noccoila ( with Tonda Gentile hazelnuts from Piedmont) and I think I was treated to quite a generous serving!

If you visit the Covent Garden parlour I would recommend taking a short walk to Neals Yard, which is one of my favourite places in London. It is so pretty and Neals Yard Dairy is just round the corner so you can buy great artisan cheese at the same time!

A Week of Exciting Discoveries

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:22:00 GMT

The past week or so has been particularly busy with social events and food shows and this has led me to encounter quite a few new and exciting things. I have eaten mulberries for the first time (courtesy of my graze box), enjoyed a cocktail in a tea cup, nibbled on a savoury macaron, been wowed by some freeze dried fruits, savoured chocolate cheese and have been persuaded to sport a moustache! Random, educational and enlightening!

1. Mulberries

I have a graze box delivered every Friday, which for those that don’t know about is an awesome little box of nibbles posted to arrive on your desk on your preferred date. The concept sprung from the genius minds of the Love Film team, and I am lucky enough to know one of the founders who keeps me updated with new products and developments… that reminds me, I must arrange a trip to visit the HQ! (to my disappointment, I have been warned not to expect a magical Willy Wonka style factory where the workers skip around picking fruit and nuts to put into the boxes). In this weeks box one of the snack packs was a mix of mulberries and raisins. Initially, I was a little disturbed by their likeness to grub worms, and was a little cautious taking my first bite. They have an unusual dry texture and to be honest, didn’t really think they had a huge amount of flavour. Apparently there are special giant mulberries that have a sticky toffee like flavour and are really delicious, so I will hold my final judgement on mulberries until I try these.

2. Cocktail in a Tea Cup

I took a trip to Kenilworth at the weekend for some planning for my best friends wedding. Her family and I went out for cocktails at the aptly named The Kenilworth , which I had heard great things about. The atmosphere was perfect, waiter charming and the menu a pleasure to read. I like a gin based cocktail and am usually attracted to anything with elderflower in it, so I decided on an English Garden. I was delighted when it was served to me in a tea cup, and the cocktail was really delicious too. If you would like to try this, you should be able to read the ingredients below – the Manzana Verde Liqueur is apple flavour and the other ingredients should be easy to find. Just make sure you drink it in a tea cup for the full experience!

3. Savoury Macarons

I couldn’t resist stopping by the Cheese and Wine Festival on the Southbank at the weekend, which was full of amazing producers. One of the MasterChef Live stall holders, Loretta of Cafe On , was there selling her stunning macarons and I was intrigued to see she had introduced a savoury selection where freshly sliced cheese was sandwiched between the macarons. She offered her suggestions and obviously avoiding the goats cheese, I went for fennel, black pepper and brie and then tomato, spinach and cheddar. I really liked them, as I’m a big fan of sweet and savoury together, but I would like to see if its possible to use less sugar in the macarons, so that the contrast between savoury and sweet isn’t quite so opposing.

4. Freeze Dried Tropical Fruit

There were hundreds of brand new products on show at one of the UKs biggest trade shows, IFE , and although I usually stick to the regional and speciality area of the show I had heard a rumour that there was some pretty exciting stuff going on in some of the other halls too. Freeze dried lychees and mandarin oranges were on my radar and they did not disappoint. I find it hard to comprehend how after the freeze drying process, the fruit is still left with such a powerful, fruity burst that then melts in your mouth. They also had freeze dried vinegars and pomegranate molasses which were very interesting. I can see a new wave of Hestonesque chefs on the horizon waiting to get their hands on these exciting new ingredients, and can’t wait to try them in some dishes!

5. Chocolate Cheese

Thats right, chocolate cheese! One lady claimed that the cheese was like marmite – you either love it or hate it. I had to hold my tongue as I totally disagreed – the chocolate seems to make the cheese sweeter, smoother and creamier and really the chocolate worked to tone down the ‘tang’ of the mature cheddar it was combined with. After a few samples the cheese really grew on me and I could taste the chocolate more and more. I’m not exactly sure where its place is, and can’t see myself including it on a cheese board anytime soon, but it is definitely worth a try. I also like the fact that the company, who already produce an excellent mature cheddar, is innovating and pushing the boundaries of standard cheese production. ‘Revelation’ is made by Richard of the Truckle Cheese Company , a regular favourite at the BBC Good Food Shows .

6. Moustache Wearing

Olives Et Al , a brand with great values and superb packaging, have launched a funky new brand of ‘occasional’ snacks called Captain Tiptoes . Their excellent range of snacks includes Chilli Harissa Nuts, Wasabi Fire Balls and Fire Cracker Chilli Puffs (my favourite) and the front man for the brand is the moustache wearing ‘captain tiptoes’. Whether is was the heat of the chilli or the charming encouragement from the Olives Et Al team, my colleague Emily and I were persuaded to sport moustaches for a photo (another first). If you are so inclined (or want to buy some snacks) you can ‘tache yourself’ here .

Katy in (Cake) Wonderland

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 07:41:00 GMT

A visit to the Squires Kitchen Cake Decorating, Chocolate and Sugarcraft Exhibition is becoming a bit of an annual outing for my colleague Emily, her mum and I. We go to look at the beautiful cakes that have been lovingly entered into competitions, add to our collection of sugarcraft kit (mine is currently a little […]

There are truly some of the most amazing cakes I have ever seen. There were a number of competitions at the event including a novelty ‘Alice in Wonderland’ theme, cupcakes for an engagement party and lots of wedding and anniversary cakes. Below are some of my favourite cakes and effects from the day…

Alice in Wonderland Cakes

Cupcakes for an Engagement Party

We bought a few bits, were sad to have missed the raffle and looked at lots of amazing cakes but the best bit for me is the drama and tension that is obvious amongst the competition entrants. Last year we actually overheard one woman confronting a judge, unable to comprehend how she could have not won a prize – it took her 3 weeks to make that cake!! For those interested the cake was really stunning, but she had chosen to use very fine green wire for flower stems instead of using sugar or something edible, and so was marked down heavily.

This year we thought we had missed out until we reached the car park. The car next to us was being loaded with what must have been a losing cake. The husband was desperately trying to console his visibly upset wife, exploring the reasons why she may not have won… while we sat quietly in the car next to them with the windows down. So naughty of us I know. We had to leave when I got an uncontrollable fit of the giggles! Moral of the story is – don’t be a sore loser!

The Sweet Life (La Dolce Vita)

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:15:00 GMT

I spent the day on Friday visiting La Dolce Vita, a show with an aim of bringing a taste of Italian lifestyle to London. I had a great time meeting Italian producers and sampling a mouth-watering array of cured meats, cheeses, olive oil and other regional specialities. The Italians really do know how to present their […]

The Italians really do know how to present their products, I think it’s down to them being so passionate, and so proud of what they do. A stall selling a variety goods, but mostly pasta, piled flour and filled it with fresh eggs to demonstrate the simplicity of the ingredients and encourage engagement too – the stand was certainly one of the busiest in the show.

A giant salami stole my attention, firstly by its size, and then by the colourful pieces of green pistachios and white fat that were studded through it. I had a sample of this monstrous 80KG Mortadella and combined with the romantic scene that was created in my mind by the charming Italian producer (a slice of this, some of that and a glass of red wine) and I was sold. Unfortunately, although tasty, I couldn’t help but liken it to Spam – which ruined the romance somewhat!

I could smell the truffles before I could see them, and although a bargain at just £5 for a small white truffle I still resisted – if I had the money I could have spent a fortune! The bowl below reminded me of the walnuts we used to collect from my Gran’s garden when I was little.

One stall specialised in Italian chilli products, like the novelty chilli sauce pictured below, chilli jams and N’duja . This was what really drew me in, I tried a little smeared on a piece of bread which was really hot but delicious. It is a Calabrian speciality and the variety here was made with organic Calabrian hand reared black pig meat, 30% peperoncino chilli and salt – it looks like a salami but is soft like a spreadable paste inside. The brand was Nero de Calabria, and Bread Tree sell it over here in the UK.

After the all the meat and chilli I needed some refreshment and was pleased to see that Oddono’s was there selling their ice creams and sorbet. I love pistachio ice cream but really needed something more fruity so decided on Alphonso Mango and Strawberry sorbet.

I didn’t get a chance to ask what this was, but loved the pig shaped meat product below!

I even managed a little celeb chef spotting and watched a demonstration from Theo Randall…

The day did leave me wanting to taste more of ‘La Dolce Vita’, so I think I may start researching holidays in Italy for next year! Please do let me know if you have any recommendations.

Jenny Wren’s Happy Hens

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 12:19:00 GMT

It seems that every time I go back to Suffolk to visit my mum (Jane Wren), that she has a new addition to her little chicken family. She started a couple of years ago in order to make the very best cakes she could to win the cookery class in the local flower show*, and now she gets up to 8 eggs a day! She supplies her neighbours for a small fee and customises the egg box with a hand written note to say ‘From Jenny Wrens Happy Hens’.

She has a lovely selection of chickens, and they really are like her little children. For those that are interested I have included her inventory (or should I say brood?!) below, otherwise you can just skip to the pictures!

4 Smooth and 1 Frizzled Polish Bantams (2 were sent all the way from Wales as eggs!)

3 Golden Black Polish Bantams

3 Light Sussex Bantams

3 Barred Wyandots

1 Buff Pekin Bantam

I can understand why my mum was so keen to get her own eggs for her cakes, the chickens deliver the most golden, yellow yolks I’ve ever seen! The eggs add a ‘midas touch’ to everything that they are added and you really can taste the difference both on their own and as an ingredient.

A light, fatless sponge…

Cheese scones ready to be baked…

Pancakes too, which I made using Doves Farm wheat free flour (which worked surprisingly well) and Crush Foods rapeseed oil…

Unfortunately eggs from ‘Jenny Wrens Happy Hens’ aren’t available to most, but it is definitely worth trying to find someone in your local area that rears their own chickens – or even consider getting your own if you have enough space. I certainly would if I had more than just a little patio!

*Preparation for this baking competition is stressful business, but mum continues to win year after year!

Magazines and Blue Cheese

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:39:00 GMT

I love the first week of the month in the office, when we get an abundance of food magazines delivered! I love the bright and colourful covers that front the spring issues, and the fresher, lighter recipes that can be found within them.

In front of me I have BBC Olive, BBC Good Food, Delicious and Great British Food and don’t they look pretty!

I look through for new producers, recipes, ideas and to find out about new restaurants too. I’ve already found a couple of recipes I want to try, especially the Gluten Free Lemon and Orange Cake made with mashed potato and the Chicken and Chorizo Jambalaya, both from BBC Good Food . There is also a lovely looking Sticky Lime Roast Chicken recipe from Barney Desmazery which sounds like a great way to jazz up a simple roast chicken.

I also really like it when I see some of my favourite BBC Good Food Show producers featured in the magazines. Clare Hargreaves, the BBC Good Food seasonal and local expert, has given The Cornish Cheese Company a great write-up.

I was watching as Philip Stansfield* was awarded ‘World Champion’ in the World Cheese Awards at the BBC Good Food Show 2010 – it almost brought tears to my eyes to see him so emotional! It was also quite funny to see him celebrating in the bar later that night – there were certainly quite a few bottles of Champagne being drunk!

I would also highly recommend the cheese, but would have done before the award too. It is a really creamy blue cheese with a delicate flavour. They have a stand at the BBC Good Food Show Summer if your planning to visit… lets hope they don’t run out of cheese first though!

*Interesting Fact – Philip used to play for Sale Rugby Club before his dairy farming days.

Raiding the Norfolk Farmers Markets

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 15:08:00 GMT

I am back in North Norfolk this weekend, which is where I grew up and regularly go back to visit family. My sister had planned a visit to her local farmers market in Aylsham, where she buys most of her meat for the month ahead and various other bits too. Obviously I tagged along, and […]

We were all glad we made the effort as the North Creake market has really grown and improved since the last time we went about 5 years ago. I met some great new producers such as Crush Foods (rapeseed oil, pesto and dressings), Fielding Cottage (goats cheese) and Mr Kew’s Pies.

We bought a little more than we should but got some great stuff. So, back to London I will be taking racks of both mutton and lamb, some stewing mutton, some rare breed smoked bacon, smoked chipolatas, rapeseed oil and dressing, rosewater (from one of the great little shops in Creake Abbey), some posh pork scratchings and a little yellow soap duck. The picture below shows our haul – my sister’s prize buy was a giant (6kg!!) chicken that she will be roasting tomorrow with friends.

Tim Kinnaird was looking very happy (as always) and had a tempting stall full of macarons, marshmallows, brownies and delicate little cakes too. We couldn’t help but buy some salted caramel and violet and blackcurrant flavoured macarons which were delicious. I also discovered that Tim is thinking about selling his cakes at the BBC Good Food Show Summer which would be awesome!

I was delighted to find that Bray’s Cottage ‘s famous ‘Crackle’ hadn’t yet sold out and that I had a chance to try all the posh pork scratching flavours too – Fennel and Juniper, Lemon and Pepper and Smoked Paprika and Rosemary. Really naughty but REALLY nice. The guys in the BBC Good Food Show office will be pleased on Monday with my souvenirs!

Let me know if you would like to know more about either the Aylsham or Creake Abbey Farmers Markets, or any of the produce or producers mentioned here.

On Broadway

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 08:23:00 GMT

I took a trip out to the dirty east end of London at the weekend to explore Broadway Market, which has a brilliantly eclectic mix of shops, cafes and market stalls. I refer to this side of town fondly as the ‘dirty east end’, as it is so far from the conventional and clean streets […]

I was delighted to find the ‘DIY’ smoked salmon producer that I had read about in a recent article in the Observer Food Monthly magazine. I will go into more detail in another post (because it was truly AMAZING) but the picture below was such a great souvenir from the market visit that I had to include it here.

Lunch was a delicious mushroom sandwich from Spore Boys , which is made using a mix of fresh mushrooms fried in garlic and salted butter then topped with fresh parsley, olive oil and pecorino cheese all sandwiched between fresh sourdough bread. You can also buy all sorts of mushrooms from this stall which are displayed beautifully!

The Polish Deli had a lovely looking stand with all sorts of polish charcuterie, hot pastries and some very interesting mushroom lard!

Italian artisan meats and Cheeses…

There were even ducks to feed to complete the day out…

Of course there is much more to see than I have listed here. Definitely worth a visit, but for a glimpse of what the market has to offer take a look at their website .

Mastermind?

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 11:23:00 GMT

Every few months our company organises a get together to find out how the rest of the Haymarket group are doing and have a bit of fun. So on Tuesday the Fashion, Farming, Motorsport and Food teams were put up against each other in a Mastermind style challenge complete with the ominous music, tough questions […]

As a dedicated foodie I was nominated to represent the food team, and nervous as I was, I was proud and happy to represent our team. A free night out was at stake so the pressure really was on!

I was gutted not to win for the team, and ashamed that I didn’t know that Gary Rhodes once presented MasterChef or that Raymond Blanc now has a restaurant in Teddington (just down the road from our offices so I must visit!!). However, I did win a Big Fat Duck Cookbook which looks incredible and is ridiculously heavy!

Your Favourite Producers

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:25:00 GMT

A big part of my job is to find the best food and drink producers from around the country (and the World!). I have done a pretty good job so far, but I know there are still hundreds (maybe thousands!) out there that I haven’t encountered yet. Thats where you come in. I’m sure that […]

Thats where you come in.

I’m sure that by reading this blog that you are probably interested in food, eating and hopefully producers too. If there are any that you think I should know about, then please go to the Producers Page and fill in the handy little form with as many details as you can.

Many thanks!

Katy x

A Splash of Food Colouring

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:04:00 GMT

It is a miserable grey, wet day here in Teddington. To brighten things up I thought I would post a few of my most colourful foodie pictures that I’ve taken recently. Boxing Day Birthday Cake My mum’s boyfriend has a birthday on boxing day, so she always tries to make a non Christmassy, light and refreshing birthday cake. […]

It is a miserable grey, wet day here in Teddington. To brighten things up I thought I would post a few of my most colourful foodie pictures that I’ve taken recently.

Boxing Day Birthday Cake

My mum’s boyfriend has a birthday on boxing day, so she always tries to make a non Christmassy, light and refreshing birthday cake. The cake below is layers of fatless sponge, freshly whipped cream, homemade strawberry jam and fresh strawberries layered throughout and on the top.

Italian Sweeties

I was lucky enough to visit the Salone De Gusto in Turin last October, It was an amazing experience that I will certainly eventually write about. The bright and colourful packaging drew me in, and although I didn’t actually try any I thought they looked amazing.

Macaron Practice

My colleague, and good friend, Emily Phillips has asked me to help make her wedding favours for her wedding in September. We are aiming for 3 beautiful, bright macarons in a box for each guest. Our first practice, just a few weeks ago, went really well and the macarons laid out on their trays ready for baking looked so pretty!

I hope you enjoy the spash of colour to brighten up such a dull afternoon.

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