Just one Cornetto...

I'm so disappointed that I missed out on Tyrrells Chips political potato chip flavours for the General Election.

Amazingly, rhubarb and waffle flavour wasn't on the list but a competition between Cameron’s Crunchies (Eton Mess), Gordon’s Gourmet (Scotch egg and brown sauce) and Clegg’s Cocktail (hummous and roasted veg) would probably NOT have resulted in a coalition government!


This week's Food of the Week is Ice Cream

so being topical, I'll guess appropriate favourite flavours for the aforesaid three musketeers

Gordon would go for golden butterscotch flavour (if he doesn't sell it off cheap first!)
Dave probably wouldn't get any as Mrs C will scoff his true blueberry scoops during a pregnant craving
Nick Clegg will struggle to choose between Gordon's and David's and then add in some Seville Orange sorbet (to keep his Mrs C happy) with Dave's true blueberry 

Who first had the idea to make ice cream?

According to the ice cream website, the Chinese got in there first again somewhere between 618 and 950 A.D.  It didn't get to Europe until 1503 where it was seen as a chemist's party trick (eat your heart out Heston!) and didn't get used as a sweet delicacy until 1660 when it hit Naples, Florence and Paris. Us Brits were close behind with it being first recorded at a Royal Feast in 1671. And the Americans were last, not tasting the stuff until 1800!
So the Italians started singing ice cream songs early on and travelled in their gondolas to Northern Europe where there was a lot of ice to be had. Huge ice house pits were built to store Norwegian ice near Kings Cross and you can still see them at The London Canal Museum. And at some point, the Cornetto was born.

Where can I find good ice cream?

Tricky. My favourite ice cream in the world is Chocolate Extra Noir and Pistachio from GROM based in Turin and I've never found anything to match it.

Closer to home, good places to go include Marine Ices - a legend in ice cream parlours that has been at its current location in Chalk Farm since 1947; Amorino on Old Compton Street is pretty good too but the coolest (!) is Freggo on Swallow Street (just off Regent Street, Piccadilly end) an Argentinian style late night gelateria where you can make yourself sick on very sweet dulce de leche ice creams or malbec and red fruit sorbets in a very swish environment

On the move, look out for Jude's ice cream with great flavours and the Choc Star van that travels the country laden with frozen treats.

Restaurant of the Week

Bincho Yakitori on Old Compton Street, Soho
http://www.bincho.co.uk/

Despite feeling I was in an episode of Tenko as I walked through yet another pair of Japanese curtains, Bincho is a very cool, modern and simple Japanese eatery. Bincho is a Japanese word for the finest charcoal to be used on a barbecue - apt given that it specialises in grilled skewers! It's a great place to pick lots of small sharing dishes ranging from the seven samurai of 7 types of mini kebab through to more substantial offers of tofu (I was forced to try it by a veggie friend and grudgingly admit that it was actually very nice!), all accompanied by a great range of sake. And perfectly located in central Soho! What more could you want?
Nearest tube is Leicester Square - expect to pay £20 per head although the pre theatre menu is a steal at just £10

Election Fever and a lot of Rhubarb

It just so happens that our General Election hits at the same time as this very British plant comes into season.

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb. Am I referring to the fruit or to the quality of the debates between our three potential leaders?

Would a stick of rhubarb be better at running the country than any of the three key candidates?

Would a stick of rhubarb keep its mouth shut when the microphone is still on?

Answers on a polling card.

So this week's Food of the Week is rhubarb!

There seems to be very few interesting facts about rhubarb. It doesn't make your pee smell in the same way as asparagus, it's very bitter and its leaves are poisonous. It has been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years and used to command prices several times those of opium or saffron in medieval times as it was so expensive to transport. It also grows wild along the banks of the river Volga in Russia.

In the UK the first rhubarb of the year is harvested by candlelight in dark sheds dotted around the noted "Rhubarb Triangle" of Wakefield, Leeds and Morley
All a bit dull really when rhubarb has a really distinctive flavour that deserves a much more interesting heritage. I love the fact it's as seasonal as daffodils and creme eggs and that we can't air freight it from Kenya. I also love the fact that it's very adaptable and goes with so many other flavours so well, from almonds to ginger to oily fish.

Where can I find good British rhubarb?

Like most fruit and veg, you can get British rhubarb everywhere. For really good stuff, (as ever) the biodynamic stall at Borough is a good bet and you'll get weird and wonderful shapes too

What can I do with rhubarb?

My favourite recipe for rhubarb is Giorgio Locatelli's rhubarb and amaretto tart - a great mix of flavours although most people wouldn't appreciate having to prepare the rhubarb a day in advance.

Otherwise, stew the rhubarb with a fair amount of sugar and concentrate it so it's not too liquid. Once it's cooled down you can stir it into natural yogurt (with some amaretti crumbled on top) or even use the strained liquid to make your own rhubarb cordial. The mushed rhubarb can be used to stuff oily fish like mackerel or even as a sauce for cod.
Restaurant of the Week

One to splash out in this week... (or just go for a drink at the bar!)

Hix, Soho, London

Mark Hix is a quasi celebrity chef who continues to champion British produce. Go to his restaurant in Soho and you'll find everything from the cocktail list in the bar right through to the menu in the slightly noisy but celebrity studded restaurant based on seasonal British food.

Lovely bar and great food although a little bit pricey - if you don't find rhubarb somewhere on the menu I'll eat my polling card!
Nearest tube is Piccadilly - expect to pay £60 per head

Muskets and Spears

It's my birthday! Well it was on Saturday actually and I spent it climbing up two beacons in Brecon without a cloud in the sky - a rare experience. I also had a conversation with someone who does Civil War re-enactments and had just bought a new musket. Always wondered who does those things.

So this week's Food of the Week ISN'T cheese!!!

The weather has finally warmed up and everything green is sprouting which means that the first of the English asparagus is now appearing in the shops n.b. make sure you buy British and not the inferior Spanish or Peruvian options!

So this week's Food of the Week IS asparagus!!!

Supposedly the highlight of the foodie calendar, the asparagus season usually lasts from St Georges Day through to midsummer but I've given you a week's notice to start preparing. In England, we eat the green asparagus but in continental Europe (particularly France, Germany and Netherlands) they eat the thicker white asparagus (n.b. ours is nicer). They eat it with tons of hollandaise sauce, pancakes, hard boiled eggs and ham. For those countries, sales of hollandaise sauce go crazy for two months - just because of the asparagus season or 'Spargelgala' .

Back in Blighty, we treat our asparagus spears like precious jewels and tend to eat them with parma ham or with butter and parmesan. Maybe even in a risotto with fresh summer peas as they come into season.

However you eat your asparagus, two things are certain.

1) it's very good for you as it's low in calories and has lots of vitamins
2) it's a diuretic and within 15-30 minutes of consumption, it makes your pee smell. Now some people say that this only affects some of the population BUT I HAVE CHECKED with Wikipedia and apparently this phenomenon affects EVERYONE but only 22% of the population have the ability to smell the  'odorous compounds'. Now you know!

Where can I find good British asparagus?

The home of British asparagus is in the Vale of Evesham. That's just round the corner from Broadway in the Cotswolds. The asparagus festival kicks off on 23 April with lots of events in May and June. You can be involved in everything from an asparagus auction to an asparagus run to a trip on an asparabus. You can even have your fortune predicted by an asparagancer and I expect there will be plenty of Morris Dancing too

See http://www.britishasparagusfestival.org/ for more details and if you need a good B&B then go to my big sister's place just down the road at http://www.oldstationhousebroadway.co.uk/

n.b. If you want to get asparagus in London, I suggest you visit the biodynamic stall at Borough and Maltby Street markets where you'll find excellent produce that hasn't seen a chemical but has been cultivated in harmony with the cycle of the moon and natural fertilisers.

And to go with your asparagus, get delicious parma ham from the affable and informative Philip in Borough and now Covent Garden market on a Saturday, and excellent parmesan from Alison in the Jubilee Market section of Borough

Restaurant of the Week

One place you are always guaranteed good seasonal British produce and who will definitely have loads of asparagus is...

The Anchor & Hope, The Cut, Waterloo

The Anchor & Hope is a sister pub to The Eagle in Farringdon and Great Queen Street in Covent Garden, all of which are great places to go.

The Anchor & Hope is different from the others as it isn't a beautiful pub from the outside. When you enter, you find two sections; the drinking area and the eating area. You can't book so to get a table in the eating area, you have to run in at 6pm and put your name down on the list with all the other pre theatre eaters. Alternatively, you can put your name down for around 7.30/8pm when the theatre crowd all disappear off but whatever you do, expect to wait a little bit. It's worth it as the food is very fresh, reasonably priced and very well prepared in a casual and unpretentious environment

You can also eat in the bar area if you can find a space. They also have lots of good wines in carafes which means you can have a bit of good white wine to start followed by a bit of good red wine without having a bottle of each. Very clever.

Anchor & Hope is very close to Waterloo tube/station and will probably set you back around £35 per head

 

le vrai Grand Fromage!

After an interesting week pondering whether or not it is OK to recommend unpasteurised cheese to pregnant women (as apparently someone has proved that it's safe to do so) I've decided to gloss over the point completely and focus on ...

this week's Food of the Week which is cheese - again!

For some time now, I've been frequenting Mons French cheese stall at Borough Market. I never go there with a specific cheese in mind but just ask what's good, and every time they come up trumps. If you like your cheese mouldy, smelly and oozing in perfect ripeness, Mons is the place for you!

So what's the difference?

Whether it's cow's milk, ewe's milk or goat's milk cheese, the Mons team always know what's in season and if it's not quite right, they won't sell it. I've had Vacherin Mont d'Or to Langres (also known as brain cheese) right through to chestnut leaf wrapped goats cheeses and a multitude of blue cheeses. Every one of them has been delicious and as a result, I don't have any pictures of Mons packaging - just the latest chunk of very mouldy goats cheese!

Mons is actually a specialist family run cheese shop in France that is famous for supplying top hotels and restaurants worldwide.  The Mons family are also experts in the cheese ageing process so they know what they're doing

Where can I find Mons?

Borough market is held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at London Bridge. The Mons stall is located in the Jubilee market (the new section of Borough)

http://www.mons-fromages.com/

Restaurant of the Week

Livebait, The Cut, Waterloo

Lots of people ask me where they can find a good fish restaurant in London. I always suggest Livebait as it's one of the most consistently good fish restaurants I know. I particularly like the Waterloo branch as it's easy to get to and it always reminds me of a Victorian toilet with all the tiles inside, apart from it's much cleaner but the tiles make it very cool

I also think it's one of the few fish restaurants which gives decent value for money whether you are looking for sea bream, prawns, cod or sea bass. Here you can get everything!

http://www.livebaitrestaurants.co.uk/

Livebait can be found in Waterloo, Covent Garden, Liverpool and Manchester (yes really!) and will probably set you back around £30-40 per head

Le Grand Fromage

Week 12 - sorry no post last week as I was a bit busy


This week's Food of the Week is more of a Food Shop of the Week!

La Fromagerie on Moxon Street, off Marylebone High Street, is [to everyone's great surprise] a cheese shop. But it also sells beautiful charcuterie, chocolates, cakes, wines, butters and just about every 'nice' food thing under the sun. You can even have lunch or parties there
So what's the difference?

Unlike a standard deli, it sells a few really good things and there is practically no deli clutter of gimmicky things that no one really wants hanging around. It's all about quality. It also has a tasting cafe where you can choose examples of the foods that are on sale in the shop.
Be prepared for one very strange thing though! The cheese area is kept closed by a sliding glass door and you're asked to make an orderly queue (I wonder if a Brit is responsible for this novel idea) to take your turn inside the inner sanctum.

Where can I find La Fromagerie?

Moxon Street just off Marylebone High St. Helpfully it's next door to Ginger Pig butchers and round the corner from the very nice Sunday farmers market (10am-2pm) so there's plenty of other things to see



Restaurant of the Week

The Providores, Marylebone High Street (a short walk from Baker St or Bond St tubes)
http://www.theprovidores.co.uk/
So whilst you're in the area, go and visit The Providores. It's one of the few restaurants that made fusion work and produces great twists on Pacific Rim food so it's really quite different from other restaurants. My favourite is the downstairs tapa room which is all about casual dining on benches or little tables. I've never made it to Sunday brunch here but have been told that it's excellent and well worth a short queue.

Upstairs is more about fine dining with white tablecloths - great if you're looking to impress someone!

The genius behind Providores is Peter Gordon, a very nice New Zealander who produced the most amazing canapes at a young chef event I attended a long time ago. I was fortunate to be talking to a larger than life chef who had a great knack for attracting the canapes over to our end of the room and it goes down as one of my best food experiences!!!

If you're in the area, just find a reason to pop in and you will be sure to have a great meal and you won't break the bank as it's about £20-40 per head

n.b. one of the founding members of The Providores, Anna Hansen, has gone on to open The Modern Pantry in Farringdon where you will find more fusion style cuisine..

Sweet Talking Mexican Mum

Week 10

If you haven't already checked out http://www.ted.com/, make sure you do it asap. It's a one stop shop for excellent 15 minute lectures from industry leaders in 'T'echnology, 'E'ntertainment and 'D'esign (i.e. just about everything)

Why do I mention it now? TED has recently granted Jamie Oliver $100,000 to enable his wish for everyone to '...help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.'

I don't agree with everything Jamie says or does but I do respect the fact that he stands up and makes things happen. And it's worth 18 minutes of your time to listen to his empassioned speech about the perils of our current eating habits.

On a lighter note, don't forget it's Mother's Day on Sunday!!!

If you're looking for a small gift that Mum will definitely like, try this week's Food of the Week!

Burnt Sugar Fudge

So this is definitely one to be eaten in moderation. I don't have an enormous sweet tooth but when I tried their crumbly stem ginger fudge I promptly consumed 50g in approximately 60 seconds (and yes that is my last piece in the photo!). The non-uniform chunks of fudge are just the perfect combination of crumbly and solid and there's been no scrimping on the stem ginger which is great for ginger fans or anyone with a cold!

If you don't like ginger, there's always crumbly chocolate fudge, crumbly fudge with sea salt and the original crumbly fudge to try.

So what's the difference?

They've just got the texture and the flavours perfectly balanced. It's exactly how fudge should be.



Unfortunately it doesn't have any particular nutritional benefits (apart from there being no artificial things in it) but is probably very good for anyone planning to run a marathon or climb a mountain (this beats Kendal Mint Cake hands down!)

Best Way to Serve

After dinner, with coffee

Where can I buy Burnt Sugar fudge and what's it going to do to my bank balance?

Price: around £2 for 105g

Burnt Sugar Fudge is available from Waitrose, Whole Foods, Borough Market, Oxfam (it uses Fair Trade sugar) and delis and farmshops across the country

Restaurant of the Week

Wahaca

This week's choice is Wahaca; a restaurant that's all about Mexican Market Food.

Wahaca chef and co-founder is Thomasina Miers, a previous winner of Masterchef who spent a year in Mexico investigating their market food. What we get in return for that year of research is a series of Mexican inspired dishes that are sourced as ethically and locally as possible. Insodoing, you'll find ingredients ranging from Devon chillies to British field mushrooms to MSC* certified herrings from off the Hastings coast

So finally we have a decent Mexican in London which makes the most of our own local ingredients!

*MSC = Marine Stewardship Council who work with partners to encourage sustainable fishing practices

www.wahaca.co.uk

Why is it good?

1) Great locations - just off Charing Cross, Westfield, Canary Wharf

2) The food is great with really fresh flavours - you can choose from lots of small plates to share to bigger more substantial ones. And the margaritas are pretty good too

3) It's quick, good value for money with excellent service in a buzzy yet comfortable environment (particularly at Westfield)

n.b. you can't reserve tables so be prepared to wait a little, particularly at the Charing Cross branch

Is Life Ever Fair?

Week 9

Finally, it's stopped raining and the world is a beautiful place.

Or is it? We're now in the middle of Fairtrade fortnight (22 Feb - 7 March) - a topic that is so important yet so often misunderstood.

Fairtrade has become the generic word for produce that 'gives back' to the producer. Or should that just be 'fairly traded'? Other certifications include Rainforest Alliance which is perceived to be about saving the rainforest (take another look at what they do!) and organic apparently means no chemicals added. So what's biodynamic? What's Soil Association? What's Red Tractor? What's Freedom Food vs Free Range?

We've all come to look at different seals as 'safe' badges without really understanding what they mean. Are they all good for the producer? Maybe. Are they all sustainable? No. Is one better than the other? Depends.

Is it better to have a Fairtrade biscuit made in Malawi than a flapjack from a small producer in Kent?
Is it better to pay a fixed premium for a product that is in little demand or to encourage farmers to diversify?

Are organic green beans from Kenya better than non-organic green beans from the farm down the road?

Ultimately, it's about knowing where your food comes from and understanding what all these certifications really mean - and no one is making it particularly easy. Exploitation isn't the answer. Neither is shipping products thousands of miles when you can get better from round the corner. And ultimately, if it's not commercially sustainable, then there's no point at all. Food for thought...

So, on a slightly different note this week's Food of the Week is...

Meat!

It's taken me a lifetime to work it out but finally I've realised that
a) good meat usually comes from a [good] butcher

b) it's better to buy hunks of meat rather than specific cuts because it's much cheaper and less likely to have been interfered with.

Ginger Pig is my favourite butcher of the moment. It's not just about pork (although that's where it all started) and you will find all meats from traditional breeds as well as charcuterie products in their shop. It's always busy so there's a big turnover of meat which assures me of its freshness (vs other butchers who have little on show and get things out the freezer). Ginger Pig's meat is tender and full of flavour and everyone notices the difference when they eat it.

So what's the difference?

Ginger Pig refuses to feed their livestock bought in artificial foods containing unnecessary proteins. Instead they grow their own barley, wheat, oats etc which is fed to the animals. Because everything is natural, the animals grow slower and are slaughtered between one and three months later than those reared on industrial farms.

Overall, Ginger Pig oversees every element of the rearing process from planting the seeds for the fodder, through to breeding, feeding, slaughtering and butchering right through to selling the product in their shops, and apparently no one else does that in the UK.

Best Way to Serve

Depends on what you're eating! Their butterfly lamb chops are beautiful, as is their beef fillet (great for a carpaccio) and their ham (pinker than any other ham I've seen!)

Where can I buy them and what's it going to do to my bank balance?

Price: tbc according to what you purchase

Ginger Pig has shops at Marylebone, Hackney, Waterloo (at Greensmiths), Borough Market and Pickering in North Yorkshire

www.thegingerpig.co.uk

Restaurant of the Week

Sacred Cafe

This week's choice is Sacred Cafe, with branches on Ganton Street and Kingly Court (near Carnaby Street), Westfield and Torrington Street.

It's actually more of a bar than a restaurant but the reasons for including it are as follows:

Why is it good?

It's possibly the best place for a decent cup of tea in London that won't cost the earth! Apparently it's Antipodean style.

As well as fresh brewed ice teas and the usual chai lattes, Sacred Cafe has a range of long leaf loose teas as this is a teabag free zone. All served in a 'so chintzy it's cool' teapot!