Month: January 2009

Golden Glory

Another beer from Hall and Woodhouse: Golden Glory. The label talks of a peach and melon aroma, which is very much the first smell to arise from the beer. It’s neither too bitter or two sweet in taste and is – perhaps unsurprisingly – a crisp and golden colour....

Seafood flan

I used my metal flan dish with the detachable base.  I made my usual short-crust pastry with 4 oz flour, a spoon of bran, and goose fat and sunflower margarine as shortening.  I scattered chopped onions on it, then added mussels, squid and king prawns.  I put Italian herbs,...

Baked salmon

I took a salmon fillet and placed into a pre-heated oven (190C) on foil on a baking tray. It had about 15 minutes-or-so. On the hob, I dry-fried red onions, garlic, and mushrooms until soft and beginning to brown. Into this went half a vegetable stock cube and cous...

Two nice madsen pizzas

Having learned that the extra effort is not justified by any difference in results, I bought prepared pizza bases to put my own toppings on.  First was the tomato paste.  I didn’t have any intended for the task, but I did have a jar of ragu, so I spread...

Blueberry juice

I have recently become quite a fan of blueberry juice. It’s very refreshing served fridge-cold and full of the right stuff – vitamins galore! It strangely isn’t blue, but rather more red than you’d expect. I should imagine it goes well with a varied fruit salad, but I drank...

Ploughman’s slate

It was at B-Bar and called a ploughman’s slate because it came on a slate.  The term “ploughman’s lunch” was first mentioned in 1837 in John Lockhart’s “Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott,” but its modern use derives from the English Country Cheese Council’s marketing started in...

Cambridge Cotto

I was at a private party at Cotto in East Road, Cambridge.  The food was stunning, and the wines excellent.  There was a Michelin star chef behind this, and I will report back when I’ve been there for dinner.  Meanwhile, what excellent food for a party… By the way, the...

Smoked salmon and caviar with champagne

Not quite, though it was quite a good starter course.  I served the smoked salmon on finger-sized pieces of wholemeal toast, and with lemon juice and black pepper.  The caviar was Onuga, the best non-sturgeon one I’ve found, and basically made out of smoked herring.  It was served on...

Manchego

I bought some Manchego to have in ploughman’s lunches.  It’s a sheep’s milk cheese which has to be from La Mancha in Spain.  It’s quite a firm cheese aged for a minimum of 2 months (fresco), 3-6 months (curado), and up to a full year (Viejo).  It has the...

Outside cider

I bought some of Sainsbury’s Strong Dry Cider, which clocks in at 5.3%, quite reasonable for the price. It comes in a three litre bottle, which is quite inconvenient for most fridges, it being quite wide. However, given that I haven’t a freezer and therefore didn’t have any ice...