Yeo Valley Visit - Blogger Day

I was recently lucky enough to be invited by Yeo Valley Yoghurt to visit their gardens and farm in Somerset for the day.  That's a long way to go for a day so I thought I could take the train.  To get the train and be in Somerset for 10:00 am I would have to leave St Albans station about 06:30 am and change up to three times in London.  Liking my sleep as I do that plan didn't exactly appeal (up at 06:00 for Barbados but for yoghurt - perhaps not).  Mr R has a cousin who lives in Somerset and as it turns out only about 20 minutes from the Yeo Valley farm which presented an ideal opportunity to drive down the night before, stay over and have a good visit with family.

Boy do you get a lot of more house in Somerset than you do in St Albans!

Mr R's cousin in her beautiful kitchen

I left the house about 09:20 and a quick trip straight up Cheddar Gorge (!!) I arrived at Yeo Valley Farm and was greeted warmly with coffee and handmade cookies.

Gilded garden knomes make a unique frame!

As soon as everyone had arrived we got a quick talk about Yeo Valley and an outline of the day before we went off with the head gardener for an extensive tour of the gardens and grounds.  The scenery was majestic with lovely verdant green fields everywhere we looked. 

The view from the visitor refreshment centre

We even met 'the girls' who make the lovely milk that is made into the lush yogurts and rice puddings and all their other creamy products.

When we got back from the grounds tour there was a yoghurt tasting session by Ben (in charge of marketing and more - as this is a small family business everyone does their job and whatever else needs to be done!) giving us the chance to sample all the flavours of yoghurt including Raspberry and Passion Fruit, rhubarb, Blueberry, Lemon Curd and loads more and small pots of greek yoghurt with honey and rice puddings. 

Ben showed us how to taste the yoghurt hygienically

Then we were let loose to try all the flavours and varieties

Chef Jamie showed us some great recipes featuring yogurt, cream, milk etc like a homemade ricotta cheese that is simple to make and ultra useful in tarts and more.  We watched as trout fillets were tea smoked in a homemade smoker and sourdough bread was made. 

As soon as the cookery demonstration was over we sat down to a sumptuous lunch of tomato salad, mixed greens (all from the property) tea smoked lake trout, ricotta and spinach tart, sourdough bread,

and for dessert a simple yoghurt based cheesecake - absolutely yummm.

Easy cheesecakes in jars perfect for a pic-nic

A further talk about the kitchen garden,

including the perfect compost

followed by a cup of tea and then it was time to wend our way home.  I would have liked to spend a couple more days there but instead started the long 3 hour drive home.  The plus point being the very generous goodie bag we were given filled with all flavours of yoghurts.

A sample of the yoghurt we were given to take home

I look forward to visiting Yeo Valley Yoghurts again soon!

Vitamix - the machine of the future from the past!

Recently I was invited to an information evening for bloggers at the PR agency Publicasity, in London, who look after the company Vitamix. It was lovely to see other food bloggers again and to meet new ones. I was excited to see this product, having heard about it via their web site and watched a short video presentation. The feature that most caught my eye from the video was the ease at which once could make ice cream effortlessly and quickly but more of that in a bit!

Chef Bev introducing us to the amazing Vitamix Total Nutrition Centre

We were greeted by members of Vitamix who had come over from Ohio in America to introduce us to the Vitamix Total Nutrition Centre. Chef Bev took us through a series of recipes whilst ably assisted by her colleague Jenn.

The picturesque valley of Olmsted Falls, Ohio is where the founder, William G "Papa" Barnard set up the company in 1921.  Several versions later and we have the Vitamix Total Nutrition Centre (TNC). This machine replaces several of the kitchen gadgets and performs up to 50 tasks with the most amazing speed and efficiency whilst the blades can spin up to 240 m.p.h. A very impressive feature is the 7 year guarantee that covers both the Total Nutrition Centre and the Vitamix Professional Series 500.

This machine is the ultimate kitchen appliance that can blend, mix, knead, chop, make smoothies, creamy salad dressings, hot soup and even ice cream. We were treated to some great demonstrations such as a cocktail called 'Shagalicious' as we got there and finishing later with a fruity 'Margareta'! Glad I wasn't driving!

Shagalicious cocktail on arrival!

Fruity Margarita cocktail

In between Bev showed us how to produce firm favourites in minutes like a roasted red pepper hoummous, hot chocolate fondue (which started to thicken when cooling so could also become a lovely cold treat). 

Chef Bev demonstrating how to make houmus

Ice cream is the simplest thing.  You don't need to keep a large container in the freezer waiting till you want to make ice cream or heat any milk or creamy ingredients.  You just freeze your fruit such as strawberries or even slices of banana, add to the container of the TNC and presto it becomes a quick and creamy ice cream!  I am looking forward to lots of that in the coming months.

The invitation to the event stated that two lucky attendees would win a Vitamix Total Nutrition Centre to take home!  This was quite an exciting prospect as these retail in John Lewis, Harrods and other good retailers at approximately £450.00!!

We put our business cards into a large glass bowl and Chef Bev picked the first winner's name.  'Heidi Roberts' -  ooh ooh that's me I said extremely shocked, especially since Mr R had said "Hope you win one of the machines" as he left for work that morning.

The machine was delivered to my house the following week. How beautiful it looks taking pride of place in my kitchen.

I am still slightly in awe of this machine but have tried a few things already. Saturday morning smoothies in less than 30 seconds - great!

Getting ready for Saturday Smoothies

30 seconds later!

I tried ice cream and it kind of worked - not as thick ice cream as I was expecting but I will try again next weekend.  I froze blueberries, raspberries and strawberries to make a mixed fruit ice cream with double cream.  At the BBC GoodFood Show last weekend Vitamix had a stand selling the machines so I got to have a quick chat with the guys demonstrating coming away with a bit more of an idea.

Next soup - yes from ice cream to soup! Very versatile machine and coming up after the soup is a red pepper houmus.

I am only getting started exploring this new piece of equipment! I am sure I will be reporting back to you again.

BBQ Wednesday

At a recent blogger event I learned how to make a simple, punchy Salsa Verde. Since I had some fresh basil to use I decided to make some Salsa Verde for dinner.  That was the easy decision but what to have with it took a bit more thought!

I took some chicken breasts out of the freezer and also some chipolata sausages (Mr R always has to have sausages when he cooks on his BBQ).  For Mr R's birthday in April he decided to use some of his birthday money to upgrade his gas BBQ. I must say the food seems to cook more evenly and is less prone to burning and charring on the new one.

Anyway I marinated the chicken breasts in some olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and a couple of teaspoons of My Secret Kitchen Secret Spices with Wild Garlic. (The smell of garlic was mouthwatering).

For the vegetable I sliced a couple of courgettes into three thick slices and marinated in them in a little bit of lemon infused olive oil and salt and pepper. Usually I cut the courgettes into chunks for the grill but leaving them in slices meant they cooked a bit quicker  and went softer and sweeter. Add some boiled new potatoes with butter and dinner was prepared and ready to cook.

Mr R was almost finished cooking on his BBQ when his dad came to visit with my birthday present for the following day.  This was indeed a very nice surprise but it meant that dinner was late and not at it's best so I didn't take a final photo!

The dinner did taste good and most importantly of all was quick and simple to get ready in advance, leaving only the actual cooking to be done.

Simple Sunday Supper

After watching the Jubilee celebrations quite a lot of the day and a quick trip to the local pub I wanted to do an easy supper for Mr R and myself.

Quick check in the fridge and I took out ready rolled puff pastry, a package of parma ham, mozarella cheese, fresh pesto and My Secret Kitchen Tapenade with Smoked Garlic and from the cupboard a jar with one red pepper and 1/2 a jar of artichokes in oil (which I drained)

I laid the pastry on a flat Pampered Chef rectangular baking stone and scored the edges with a knife about an inch from the edge all round (this lets the edges rise up and gives a nice border).

First I smeared the base with the tapenade then sprinkled the rest of the ingredients in the following order:-
pesto, chopped pepper, artickoke, slices of parma ham and torn pieces of mozarella.

Topped the piece with fresh basil leaves rougly torn,

then into a hot oven (200oC) for about 15-18 minutes.  Serve with a crisp green salad and enjoy!

Black Glass Touch Range - Russell Hobbs

I have been very lucky being associated with Russell Hobbs products and have been sent some great things to try and to write about.

Recently I received their new Black Glass Touch range of kettle and toaster and I must say their timing couldn't have been better.

Last year our toaster broke and I had taken great care chosing it so now that it was broken and I wanted to replace it,  I found out that the model was no longer available.  Being rather spoilt I wasn't going to have a toaster if it wasn't the one I really wanted and managed to convince Mr R to use the grill instead.  I am not really a great fan of toast so it was not entirely a hardship for me to use the grill now and again!!

Following on this theme our kettle started to leak after years of service making my much loved cup of coffee at all hours of the day!  Funny enough it was a really old Russell Hobbs that had been passed down to me about 6 years ago so it was ready to retire anyway.

I couldn't have been more pleased to be sent the new Black Glass Touch range toaster and kettle from Russell Hobbs through their PR agency Cirkle  to use and let you all know how we got on.

For starters the outside is sleek and shiny (hence the name Black Glass Touch) easily operated by buttons on the front which are lit up in blue circles once you touch the panel to activate. There are several different temperatures to choose from.  The rationale is that you need rapidly boiling water for tea but if you use boiling water for coffee you risk spoiling the oils present in the drink and ending up with a bitter tasting brew.  In this instance you simply select a lower temperature on the display panel.  The lights flash and when they stop flashing the appliance has reached the selected temperature. The lights go out and the appliance goes to sleep if it is not used after a reasonable period of time.

I would mention, however, that the sensor which opens the lid when you press the button on the top is not very sensitive.  Sometimes I give up and release the lid with my finger but aside from that we have been very pleased with the new addition to the kitchen!
Mr R squeeled with delight when he saw the Black Glass Touch toaster (to me it was simply an appliance to make bread hot!).

Again you have the sleek lines and shiny exterior and loads more blue lights which flash as the time is decreasing until the toast is ready and when it is done.  There is enough room for two slices of bread or three crumpets and the area is quite wide so you can use quite thick bread.  Mr R found the next thickness of bead after 'thick' which was called 'doorstop' and was in his own little toastie world! There is really not a lot else one can say about kettles and toasters - they make things hot!

Which means I am off to attack the ironing pile now.  Did I mention my new Russell and Hobbs iron? No, well come back another time to hear all about that!!

Luigi's Oil

I recently had the pleasure to meet a lovely lady who lives in Enfield, North London and whose family makes olive oil.  (www.oliodiluigi.co.uk) Sounds an unlikely combination but it is perfectly logical really.


Salvina Mendola's family come from Sicily a small island belonging to Italy.  Her family own an olive grove and produce a cold pressed olive oil.  Salvina and her brother have recently taken over the marketing of the oil and have started bringing it to the UK in huge drums and bottling it here to keep the costs to the consumer down.

Salvina and her brother spend most of their time in the UK with an uncle and other family members looking after the olives and then in November they take their holiday and head back to Sicily to help with the harvest and olive oil production.  Then it's all hands on the deck and Salvina and they other women take up residence in the kitchen and make food for the workers, who by the way have voracious appetites when working in the groves!

The product range is currently small but Salvina has ideas for expanding into soaps and scrubs made from the oil and more. Currently you can get the cold pressed sicilia extra virgin oil (this has a lovely, clean taste and the smell takes you to a field overlooking an olive grove with the warm sun on your head and shoulders and a cool breeze flowing through your hair) and an oil infused with Chilli (this bottle has a slight red tinge and lots of shimmering chilli flakes floating around almost like flecks of gold)

Salvina gave me a bottle of each of the oils to try at home and she would love to attend some local markets and events to promote her product. They are simply labelled and pleasantly packaged.

She will post the oil or if you live within a reasonable distance from North London she will even deliver it personally.  It's an idea to get together with friends and split the postage.

I wouldn't waste this oil in cooking but pour it onto a fresh salad, roasted peppers, sliced mozarella or a baked aubergine and transport yourself back to a little island in southern Italy.

Food You Can't Say No To - Book Review

Its' always exciting to get a copy of a new book and ever more so before the official publication date so I jumped at the offer from Quadrille Books (www.quadrille.co.uk) to have a look at this new work out by Tamasin Day-Lewis.  Tamasin writes for people who love food and want to get the best out of their time in the kitchen with simple, inviting and yet incredibly tasty recipes.  She has written several cook books since her first publicaton in 2007 and regularly writes for magazines such as Vogue, Sainsbury's Magazine and Stella (the magazine included with The Telegraph newspaper)

Tamasin has also appeared in two television series and it was one of these that I first became aware of her.  I liked her easy presenting (looking great and comfortable in jeans and casual shirt) and having such an easy style.  Her language style is eloquent and flowing but not gratuitous.  I have spent hours deciding which recipe to try first and enjoying hearing Tamasin as I read it.  I felt as if she was talking directly to me and was quite disappointed when she didn't hand me a plate of what she had just cooked!!

I have spent loads of time trying to decide which recipe to make for this review but there were so many great sounding recipes such as Smoked Mackerel Pate with Capers, Red Onion and Anchovies (page 36), Salmon and Scallop Chowder (page 48) or Pear and Blueberry Tatin (page 131) but something that tickled my fancy was the recipe for Orange Marmalade Vodka (page 107)!

I made some Seville Orange Marmalade with Chilli last year to include in my Christmas Food Hampers for family so I thought it would be fun to use this to make the vodka.  the recipe is really simple:-

"Put two thirds of a jar of good quality tawny marmalade (such as Oxford) in a sterilised kilner jar with 1 litre vodka.  Seal and leave in a cool place for 2 weeks, turning it every so often.  Strain and decant into little bottles for your friends, or simply your own delectation - with or without the pudding." (this makes reference to the accompanying recipe of Steamed Orange Sponge with Seville Orange Marmalade)

I think this vodka will taste excellent with tonic water and ice or that Italian fizzy orange (Orangina).

Food You Can't Say No To - Tamasin Day-Lewis
Publisher: Quadrille, 2012
Hardback: £20.00
Disclaimer: I reviewed this book because I adore getting new cook books, reading them and cooking recipes from them.  Except for a copy of the book I received no payment from the publisher for doing so.