Dining dangerously at Westfield, Stratford

Steve and I visited the new Westfield at Stratford after our stay at Lifehouse Spa. It was a completely spontaneous decision as our train home from Essex stopped at Stratford and we thought we could stay in the new Premier Inn hotel beside the shopping centre and do a bit of shopping.

We'd been to a Westfield shopping centre in San Francisco and the food there was amazing so we were hoping for more of the same thing over in the UK. We'd arrived shortly before dinner time and as it was the opening week everywhere was completely packed so there were long queues for all the restaurants like TGI Fridays, Wagamamas, Las Iguanas and Giraffe. So we decided to go to the fast food part where there was loads of choice - literally food from around the World.

We found a great Thai place called Rosa's. I had the Black Pepper Beef noodles and it was fantastic. The meat was incredibly soft and tender and there was just enough pepper to give this dish a nice kick.

Steve had a Beef Massaman curry which he liked but it was too sweet for me. We also had the Chicken Satay which was nice but a bit cold because it had been sitting on the counter for a little while. The kitchen cooked everything fresh and they couldn't really keep up with the orders.

We'd just started our meal when the smoke/fire alarm went off and an announcement kept repeating that we should evacuate the area, but I didn't want to leave our food! So we stayed put as none of the staff was telling anyone to leave. I couldn't see any smoke or smell any fire so I thought it was just one of the kitchens having a bit of an issue with a burnt pan. It did make me realise it takes quite a bad situation for me to abandon my dinner! Eventually the alarm stopped and everyone went back to their food, but then it kept going off again as the reset system was messed up so the smoke screens kept coming down and going up again into the ceiling. It certainly made dining rather interesting!

For lunch the next day we went to Tortilla Mexican Grill for burritos. Steve had his with steak and I had mine with braised pork which was so tasty and tender. You can get it filled with all different fillings and I chose mexican rice, onions, peppers, cheese, sour cream, lettuce and some hot sauce from the bottle as I didn't fancy any of the runny salsas on offer (definitely get the hot sauce - Steve didn't see it so didn't ask for it and regretted it!). As you can see they really pack a lot in there and this was the best burrito I've ever had (OK I haven't had many, but the last one I had was at the Ferry Building in San Francisco and it was awful!). We had medium burritos and they were definitely big enough for lunch.

Unfortunately neither of these places are at the Westfield in Shepherd's Bush which is closer to where we live. Sigh. But they have other branches dotted around London so they are definitely places we would visit again.

Oh yeah, the shopping at Westfield isn't too shabby either - got myself some new trainers, a snuggly hoody and a new tee!

Anniversary Dinner at Roast

Yesterday Steve and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary of the day we met. I took him to Roast in Borough Market for dinner as I'd bought a voucher from Toptable for £20 which entitled me to £40 of food. I might sound like a bit of a cheapskate using a voucher for our special dinner, but Roast isn't a cheap place to eat so I think it's justified!

I ordered the Slow roast Wicks Manor pork belly with mashed potatoes and Bramley apple sauce which is on the main menu as I'd read good reviews of it online by other diners.

Whilst Steve ordered Roast rib of Welsh Black beef with Yorkshire pudding, horseradish and Colman’s English mustard which is from the Daily Special menu. Of course, main courses don't come with any vegetables, so we ordered carrots and creamed leeks, which disappointingly lacked any creaminess.

Steve's main came with roast potatoes which he declared as being "the best roast potatoes" he's ever eaten. Normally he only has one roast potato when his Mum cooks Sunday dinner, but he ate all of these apart from one which he very kindly let me try as I am a massive potato lover!

We did enjoy our main courses, but I wouldn't say the food was incredible. The crackling on my pork wasn't crispy so I had a tough time cutting through it, even after I requested steak knives to replace the poor excuse of a knife they provided us with (definitely a faux pas of the waiting staff).

Apart from the bitter herb stuffed inside my pork, I thought it all tasted rather bland and I hate to say it, but I reached for the salt and pepper grinders more than once.

I needed a long break after my main course before ordering dessert as the portions were generous. I ordered the Pear, raspberry and almond crumble with custard. Again I was a bit disappointed as the crumble wasn't particularly crunchy and the fruit wasn't cooked enough for my liking. I actually prefer my own crumble recipe! Also, the custard was too runny, so instead of adding a delicious comfort blanket to my crumble it drowned it in a watery crème Anglaise mess.

 

Steve ordered the Chocolate banoffee pudding with Devonshire clotted cream, which he thought was going to be a chocolately version of a banoffee pie, but it was in fact more like a chocolate fondant with just a hint of banana.

Overall we had a nice meal but I don't think I'd visit Roast again for lunch or dinner. One reason is the price and another is the menu is rather limited and not that many things appealed to me (to be honest the price of certain things does make them a lot less appealing!).

I was worried that the service was going to be appalling as so many online reviews had complained about this, but our waiters were absolutely fine and I didn't mind paying the 12.5% service charge whacked on top of my bill.

Michelin Star Cookery Experience

Yesterday I attended the Michelin Star Cookery Experience at The Kitchen in Parsons Green.

 

My review for the Delicious. Magazine website has now been published!

 

We were given the option to bring the food we’d prepared home and I thought Steve would like to try the Stuffed Sea Bass and Tarte Tatin that I’d made. So when I got home I just popped the fish straight in the oven, as it was packaged in an ovenproof container.

 

 

The fish was stuffed with red onion, tomato and herbs, then topped with slices of lemon. After 20 minutes in the oven it was perfectly cooked. They suggested serving the fish with brown rice and luckily I had some leftover in the fridge so I cooked it with some mushrooms, peppers, peas and home-grown chives.

 

The sun was still out, so we ate our dinner in the breeze house. The fish was delicious and a perfect Summer dish. I told Steve it should be completely bone free as we had to remove the backbone, but there were still a few stray bones! He was still impressed though and declared he now liked sea bass.

 

 

We’d also put our Tarte Tatins in an ovenproof container. I popped this in the oven as soon as the fish came out and reduced the temperature. It took a bit longer than the time suggested for the pastry to become golden brown. I think the temperature gauge on our gas oven lies.

 

 

 

But when it eventually was ready, it looked delicious. We had to leave it to rest for about 5 minutes, to allow the apples to absorb the caramel. When I did turn it out onto a plate, a lot of the caramel was still stuck in the cooking container and had set. So Steve popped it in the microwave to melt and then drizzled it over the apples.

 

We ate it with vanilla ice cream and it was very nice, except Steve thought the caramel tasted a little bitter (I thought it was perfect) and we both thought the apples were a bit tart (they were Granny Smiths). The pastry was perfectly cooked though.

 

 

 

Overall, it was a lovely meal and I learned a lot in the cookery class.

Work experience at Delicious Magazine Website

 

Last week I had the pleasure of working on the Delicious Magazine website. I got to upload recipes from past issues of the magazine and this involved obtaining copy from InDesign files, re-sizing images using Photoshop and then uploading recipes using their bespoke CMS (content management system). I’d already spent a couple of weeks working on the new Tesco Real Food website so I had some idea of how to use CMS, but the Delicious one was fully working and much easier to use.

 

I really enjoyed writing the standfirsts (line of text after the headline that gives more information about the article)for the recipes as it allowed some creativity, but I had to keep in mind to use certain key words that would be picked up in search engines. I got praised for my standfirsts so I was really chuffed!

 

I got to work very closely with Debra the web editor and she showed me how the website worked and introduced me to Google analytics, which I will look into using for my own blog.

It was an absolutely brilliant experience and the people were so lovely I wish I could have stayed longer! But I have been given the opportunity to attend some cookery classes in the future in return for reviewing them, so I’m really looking forward to that.

 

I was also given the April issue of the magazine and there are loads of great recipes that I want to try. French macaroons/macarons (the kind made with almonds and not coconut) are the new cupcakes, so I’m going to give them a go very soon as I have loads of egg whites stashed in my freezer.

 

When I was uploading the recipes onto the website I had to classify recipes according to whether they were low calorie, low fat etc. for the metadata:

• low calorie = less than 400 calories
• low fat = less than 10g
• low carbs = less than 10g
• low salt = less than 0.5g

It made me more aware of what is considered healthy and since Steve is on a bit of a health kick at the moment, I will be trying out all the healthy recipes from the magazine – so watch this space!

BBC Good Food Show/MasterChef Live London 2009

 

First of all, I apologise for the bad quality of the photos. I only took my old Sony compact camera and I had to zoom-in quite a lot, so a lot of the photos are blurry.

Anyway, Steve and I enjoyed the show on Friday and we got to taste a lot of nice food by just wandering around the various stalls and picking up taster samples. We ate so many things that we didn’t even buy any lunch!

 

The venue was Olympia and I think it’s a good venue for the show, as it’s quite big so there is plenty of space for all the stalls, demo areas and people.

 

As we first walked in, we picked up a free Show Guide which detailed when and where all the demonstrations would be taking place. It also had a map so you could easily see where all the food stalls were. The guide is also chock full of recipes!

 

The first demo we saw was at one of the small Hot Tips Pods, as we were just in time to catch Theo Randall and his ‘Pasta For Beginners’ demo.

Theo cracking his eggs for the pasta.

 

I saw Theo making his pasta on Saturday Kitchen Live a few weeks ago, but I was still interested to see him make it again. He uses a lot of eggs in his fresh pasta, to give it a much better flavour and the colour was amazing.

Theo whizzes up the eggs, Italian ‘00’ flour and semolina flour in a food processor.

 

He made the pasta dough in the food processor, so it was very quick and easy (apart from the equipment not being set up for him when he arrived!). Then he said you should let it rest, but he carried on with the demo to show us how to roll the dough out using a pasta machine.

Theo starts rolling out the pasta.

 

He said the best brand of pasta machine to buy was Imperia and you can get a decent machine for about £35.

The pasta is all rolled out and ready to use.

 

Theo said you shouldn’t fold the pasta when you keep rolling it, otherwise it will crack and all fall apart when you cook it.

Theo makes ravioli.

 

He made a filling of spinach and ricotta to make ravioli. He simply placed balls of the mixture onto the pasta sheets, then folded it over to encase the mixture, making sure to press down to squeeze out any air bubbles.

 

Unfortunately he didn’t have the facilities to cook the ravioli so that we could try it. But he said it was easy to cook in boiling water for a few minutes and then fry in a pan with some butter and sage.

 

It was a short demo, but I was inspired to learn more and afterwards I queued up to speak to him (I had to wait for all the giggling teenage girls to finish having their photo taken with him and get his autograph) to ask if you could freeze the ravioli and/or the pasta dough. He said you can freeze the ravioli and it’s best to make sure they’re all separated on a tray when you freeze them and also when you come to defrost them. He said the pasta dough can also be frozen. I also asked him about resting the dough in the fridge and whether it should be covered. He said it should be well covered to stop it drying out. I thought his demo was excellent and I would love to have a go at making my own fresh pasta now! Theo was also a top bloke and very nice to chat to.

 

Next we stumbled into the Japanese area, where you could buy a bowl of freshly cooked Udon Noodles, buy Japanese ingredients and sample sake.

 

There were also Sushi making demonstrations and this is Takanori Kurokawa from Nobu, showing us how to mould the sushi rice into the correct shape. He did it incredibly quickly, so it was amazing to watch. Apparently if you’re too heavy-handed with the rice and squash it too much in your hands, then it will be too compressed and difficult to eat. That’s why it takes so many years for them to train to perfect moulding the rice.

 

He topped the rice with salmon and wasabi (which they were promoting) and also avocado and an onion dressing. Steve and I got to try the salmon sushi and it was amazing as the texture of the rice was so soft and melt-in-the-mouth. We weren’t too keen on the wasabi though! Unfortunately we scoffed the sushi before I remembered to take a photo!

 

We then walked through the ‘Restaurant Experience’ area where you can buy dishes from some top gourmet restaurants. You had to purchase Dining Currency from one of the booths and then go and order your food. The menu and decorations from the Blue Elephant caught our eyes, but we weren’t that hungry from all the taster samples we’d eaten. The other restaurants were: Roast To Go, Cafe Spice Namaste, Launceston Place, Skylon, Boxwood Cafe, Urban Caprice, Theo Randall at The InterContinental, Min Jiang and also The MasterChef Restaurant (featuring dishes by past winners).

 

Beautiful, intricately decorated fruit.

We then found the ‘Cookery Experience’ section just as the Cook-Off between Nadia Sawalha and Thomasina Miers was about to begin.

I didn’t think we’d be able to see this part of the show because we’d only bought a standard ticket and I thought this stage area would only be visible to those who had paid an extra £6. But the extra money only gets you a seat in front of the stage, so it’s really not worth it as we got a pretty good view just standing outside the sectioned off area.

Anyway, our favourite wine expert Olly Smith was hosting the event and got the crowd suitably warmed up with his “I’m the lovechild of Draco Malfoy and Pat Butcher!” gag.

 

Then on comes John Torode and Gregg Wallace. I’m personally not a big fan of them and they put me off watching MasterChef. But I wanted to see what Nadia and Tommi were going to cook. Nadia went down the savoury route and knocked together a fried egg dish similar to Huevos rancheros, whilst Tommi did flat puff pastry discs with raspberries and custard. The judges weren’t that impressed with either dish, but they had to choose a winner and it was Tommi.

 

The Cook-Off wasn’t all that exciting really and it wasn’t very well organised as the cooks didn’t have all the equipment they needed, so Olly Smith and James Martin had to run around looking for things like tin openers!

 

So James Martin was kept busy before doing a book signing at The Book People stall, where I picked up a copy of The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook for only £4 (RRP. £16.99!). I was disappointed to read lots of bad reviews about this book on Amazon when I got home, as people have complained about the recipes not being tested properly and therefore the quantities and timings are completely useless. But some people have raved about the book, so I have been messaging them and asking which recipes have actually worked. I guess it will be a good challenge trying to use this book!

There were also lots of other cookery books on sale (Ching, Rick Stein, James Martin) and also some gardening books, all at very cheap prices.

 

We caught the end of James’ cooking demonstration as he was doing spun sugar. The housewives’ favourite got a big cheer and this picture of him shown at the end cracked me up:

UPSTAIRS:

Upstairs was called the ‘Producers Village’ and there were lots of stalls selling their fine food and drink. We bought some excellent fudge from Yum Yum Tree Fudge as it was so soft and the flavours were really good. We got Mint, Lemon Bon Bon, Cappuccino and White Chocolate.

 

I did consider buying some green tea from Choi Time as it was very nice, but when I asked if they could do a discount on 2 packs of tea costing £14 each and they offered me the deal of £30, I walked away as they obviously had no clue on how to add up! Their product is good, but they need to make it clearer as to the quantity you’re actually buying in each packet.

 

One other stall that impressed us was Lauden Chocolate, as the designs were absolutely amazing. Unfortunately the only sample we got to taste was the Champagne flavoured ones and neither me or Steve like Champagne! They contained real Marc de Champagne, so the flavour was very strong and intense. These were very well made chocolates and this was reflected in the high price tag. They would make a brilliant gift for someone who likes posh chocs, but everyone we know just likes Cadburys!

 

There were also more cooking demos and here is Nadia pounding the hell out of some meat.

Overall the show was quite good. The stalls were very generous with all their taster samples, so we didn’t go hungry. If I’d had more cash to splash then I probably would have bought a lot more things (take cash with you as the cash machines in Olympia charge you and not all the stalls take cards).

 

I really enjoyed the cooking demos but the whole MasterChef thing was a waste of time in my opinion. I’m glad we only bought standard tickets as there was enough for us to see without the upgrade.

 

So the question is: would I go again?

 

Yes, if I could get free tickets! Apart from watching and meeting the chefs, there isn’t that much that is new if you’ve ever visited shows like Spirit of Christmas or the Ideal Home Show, as the stalls are generally the same. But it was a good day out and I might go again in a couple of years time.

Epsom Farmers Market: Corn on the cob, Rabbit and Parmesan Cheese

Today Steve and I went to the Farmers Market in Epsom as I love going to food markets. The market is on the 1st Sunday of every month. It’s quite a small market, with maybe around 20 stalls. The majority of stalls sell meat and you can pick up the more unusual cuts and types of meat that supermarkets don’t have. For example, we bought a whole rabbit for £5, which I’m excited about cooking as I’ve never tried it before. I’m going to make Stifado (Greek stew) as Steve’s sister bought us a seasoning pack on her last holiday to Halkidiki.

There were other stalls selling cheese, fruit and vegetables, bread and cakes, honey, eggs and olives. Most of the stalls had taster samples, so we tried some South African sausages (which were nice) and some bacon (which was not so nice!).

I bought some hard Italian type cheese which is like Parmesan, so hopefully that will be nice as it cost £3.50 for 200g. I’ve just checked the name of the cheese and it’s called Twineham Grange Farmers’ Hand and it’s made by Bookhams Fine Food in Sussex. It was mentioned on the Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain when they visited East Sussex. On the show the makers said they’re not allowed to call it Parmesan, so they called it Farmers’ Hand because if you say it quickly it sounds like Parmesan! But they’re rebranding it now to “Not Just A Pasta Cheese” to encourage people to eat it in various ways. Apparently it’s sweeter and more palatable than real Parmesan, but I will be first trying it in a Spaghetti Carbonara, so we shall see!
Update on the cheese – I’ve tried it in a risotto, cauliflower cheese and dauphinois potatoes and it’s just as good as real Parmesan!

Anyway, I bought a bag of carrots for £1, 3 leeks for £1 and 4 corn on the cobs for £1.

I didn’t get to pick my own corn, so I ended up getting a mixed bag of different shapes and sizes. Two of them weren’t fully grown and the biggest one had deformed looking kernels. There was only one that looked ‘supermarket worthy’, but would it taste any better than the ugly ones?


Well I have to say that they all tasted pretty much the same. They were nice and sweet, probably due to being picked recently. It was quite satisfying removing the husks and silks just before cooking. I placed them in a pan and covered with cold water (I didn’t add salt as this makes the corn tough). I brought the water to the boil, then boiled them for 5 minutes, until it was easy to remove a kernel from the end. Then simply smother with butter and a good grinding of black pepper and enjoy!

The Farmers Market in Epsom is on the First Sunday of every month. Opening hours: Sun 9am-1.30pm

Meeting Ken Hom!

Yesterday I went to a Press Event that Steve’s sister couldn’t attend as she’s on holiday. It was a really cool event as Ken Hom was there doing a cooking demonstration and we all got to taste the food he made, which was amazing! He made 2 dishes: Turkey & Red Pepper, and Prawns & Peas, and he prepared everything himself and even washed up the wok! He wanted to prove that you really can prepare and cook tasty, healthy meals very quickly – he did these 2 dishes in 20 minutes!

He was promoting his new Nutriwok Kit, which includes a non-stick wok, a healthy eating recipe book and DVD. The PR girls from Publicasity were absolutely lovely and really looked after me as they gave me the opportunity to meet Ken Hom and get my recipe book signed! The recipe book looks really good and easy to follow, so I shall be using it quite a lot I think!

I got to see lots of cool new kitchen products/gadgets made by Cole & Mason, Zyliss and Culinaire. I also got a goody bag with a Cole & Mason Salt & Pepper Set (they are definitely the best you can buy!), a Culinare One Touch Power Grater, and a set of Seafood Picks and a Pizza Cutter (very useful for my homemade pizza!) made by Zyliss.

So I’ve got a few things to test out and I’ll let you know if they’re any good or not!

Food of San Francisco

Here's a compilation of some of the great food Steve and I got to eat during our 3 month stay in San Francisco...

The Cheesecake Factory @ Macy's, Union Square:

LUNCH: Chocolate Oreo Mudslide Cheesecake and Dutch Apple Caramel Cheesecake, washed down with iced cafe mochas. Trust me, this is more than enough just for lunch!

 

DINNER: Grilled Skirt Steak, which came with the most delicious Mashed Potatoes and Sweetcorn Succotash (I have blogged my interpretation).

 

Chevys on Van Ness Avenue:

This is Steve’s Steak Fajita Burrito which I called Fajito Burrita by mistake, as I'd had more than a sip of alcohol so I was on the verge of being tipsy and then I got the major giggles! Not very authentic food but it sheltered us on a rainy day and was good for beer and free warm corn chips.

Dreyers Ice Cream @ Pier 39 Fisherman’s Wharf:

A chocolate waffle cone with a scoop of Dulce De Leche ice cream and a scoop of Double Fudge Brownie ice cream. Luckily we only got one cone to share as it was massive!

Crab House @ Pier 39 Fisherman’s Wharf:

Anti-vampire food: 3 lbs of Killer Dungeness Crabs in garlic sauce and garlic fries. One of our most expensive meals out, but really worth it as the food was really delicious and because these crabs are huge you get huge chunks of meat, even inside the legs.

Frjtz on Hayes Street:

Frjtz is a good place for a cheap and filling meal as it serves Belgian fries, crepes and sandwiches. We ordered 2 large fries ($10 each) and with that you get to choose 2 dips each, so Steve picked the Thai Chili Ketchup and the Red Pepper Mayo and I picked the Chipotle Remoulade (Chipotle is dried Jalepenos and remoulade is like mayo) and Ponzu Ketchup (I had no idea what Ponzu is but it sounded good!).

Mel’s Drive-In on Van Ness Avenue:

Cheesy place that does excellent milkshakes and pies. The milkshakes were really thick and they give you the can they make it in, which has the remainder that they can't fit into the glass so you really get your money's worth.

Popcorn @ City Hall Farmers Market:

The market is on every Wed and Sun and basically you can buy all sorts of fruit and vegetables, seafood, nuts and dried fruit, honey and eggs for extremely cheap prices. But definitely go there for the freshly made popcorn, it’s the best we’ve ever eaten!

Belly Dogs in Golden Gate Park:

I’d never really been a huge fan of hotdogs, but that is until we discovered Belly Dogs! I played safe and opted for an All Beef and Steve took a gamble on the Louisiana Hot Link, which was damn hot! Golden Gate Park was one of my favourite places in San Francisco and these hot dogs are part of the reason why!

Pizza from ‘Milan Pizza’ on Geary Street:

This place was just around the corner from our hotel and we wished we’d discovered it sooner. We ordered the $23.99 Super Deal from here twice as the food is so good at an amazing price. For that price you get a large 16" pizza, 10 buffalo wings and a 2-liter soda. This pizza was so amazing that we made a special effort to order it from a payphone when we moved from our hotel to an apartment further away from the pizza place.

Noodles @ ‘On The Bridge’ restaurant in Japantown

On The Bridge is a teeny L-shaped restaurant and appropriately named because it is on a bridge walkway between two Japantown shopping centres. This was a cool place with 3 TV's on with different Miyazaki films playing: Princess Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirited Away. We ordered Yaki Udon which was delicious, even though the seaweed on top looks like a huge spider!

Heinz Baked Beans:

After a few weeks living in San Francisco we were craving a taste from home so I decided to cook Bangers and Mash, as we bought some amazing Italian sausages from Safeway, but we knew it wouldn’t be the same without Heinz Baked Beans. So we found a shop that sells imported British food you say tomato and bought some beans and a bottle of Heinz Salad Cream. They also sell chocolate bars, Ribena, Aunt Bessies Yorkshire puddings and custard but it's pretty expensive in there. The beans were nearly $2 for a can but they were really worth it!

Sainsbury’s Christmas Press Show

Today Steve and I went to 3 Press Shows in London, but the only one that is worth writing about is the Sainsbury's one - mainly because of all the fantastic food we got to sample!

The organisers had made a big effort with an "Enchanted Forest" theme - lots of different trees arranged indoors with bark underfoot so you really felt far removed from an office block building in the middle of London. We were assured many times that the trees would be recycled and turned into mulch.

 

As we entered the forest and took the first corner we were greeted by 2 women who offered us an Ecclefechan Tart. We must have looked quite bemused as she assured us she wasn't swearing but offering us a traditional Scottish tart which is a combination of treacle tart and mince pie - absolutely delicious! We were told they were a traditional recipe from Ecclefechan in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland and are now available all year round in Sainsbury's stores.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we followed the forest path to a great display of trees adorned with Christmas decorations and little buckets of various chocolates and sweets. We were told to help ourselves so we sampled some lovely decadent chocolates with lovely creamy fillings and I grabbed a few other goodies to take home.

 

Next we came to a long table heaving with food. Sainsbury's was really pushing the Regional Food message, so almost everything we sampled came with a spiel about its source and the supplier. Thus I was encouraged to try some brie and a cheese made from sheep's milk which I was initially dubious about but pleasantly surprised by.

 

After leaving the "Enchanted Forest" we entered more tasting rooms and tried some delicious Slow Cooked Beef and Norfolk Ale crisps and some slow cooked Drury Lane ham,  inspired and named after the first Sainsbury's store.

 

It was lucky we hadn't eaten lunch before the Show as we were getting pretty full from all these culinary delights! The only section we were hesitant about was the Food and Wine matching, as we're not fans of champagne and wine. However, we soldiered on as the food they had on offer looked too enticing.

 

 

 

 

There were four foods with matched drinks to try and it was set out like a "four-course" meal.

 

To start we had some lovely cake called Pandoro, a soft, rich Christmas bread from Turin, Italy. Thus it is very similar to Panettone, but a lot lighter and sweeter and without the fruit - in fact it reminds me a lot of brioche. This was matched with Champagne, which I'm not a lover of but I tried it anyway and it was OK.

 

Next was some goat's cheese which we skipped, but we did try the Parma ham which had been aged for 24 months which is double the usual length of time, thus it melted in the mouth and was full of flavour. The penultimate "course" was a very tasty Chestnut Stuffing Parcel, served with a red wine which wasn't as obnoxious to my taste buds as I usually find with red wine.

 

Finally to finish was excellent quality vanilla ice cream with 12-year-old dry Oloroso Sherry simply drizzled on top. It surprised us both how nice this combination was, as we expected the sherry to have a strong alcoholic taste, but instead it tasted like sticky-toffee pudding and all its sweet prune-like glory. This is a very easy way to impress dinner guests and the sherry was £6.99 a bottle which seemed very reasonable as a little goes a long way.

 

I have to say that with all these new ingredients and strange combinations my taste buds have never been so tantalised. I'm pleased that I did try things which I thought I wouldn't like, such as the Red cabbage with Port and Blueberries. It was like a chutney and would make a fantastic accompaniment to meats like Turkey or Ham. Another thing I didn't think I would like was the Beetroot Gratin and this was made before our very eyes in the Demo Kitchen. This was served with 21-day aged beef which was cooked to absolute perfection, slightly pink and oh-so-juicy - absolutely heavenly!

 

As Christmas is party time there was lots of ready-made finger food being showcased, such as Mini Burgers in a sesame seed bun, Mini Pollock Fish Fingers Sarnies and Mini Sicilian Lemon cheesecakes which were especially decadent.

 

We had an interesting chat with the Innovations Manager about food trends and changes due to the credit crunch and also due to society's changing attitudes. I was pleased to hear that they're going to be introducing Sumac to their stores as I had looked for it a few weeks ago to no avail. They had an interesting way of using it: sprinkled on top of apricots - I thought the aromatic spice complimented the sweetness of the apricot but Steve wasn't a fan. A quirky new product they're introducing is Cashew Nuts Marinated in Soy and Honey which you can squeeze lime juice over for a nice aperitif.

 

So we left the Show feeling very happy with our stomachs full and our minds buzzing with inspiration and new ideas - or maybe I was just a little tipsy from the few sips of wine I'd had!