It's official! London's favourite meal is a Roast Dinner!!

Tesco recently surveyed 2000 UK parents and a roast dinner came out as the number one family meal in London and the South East.

I couldn't agree more. Britons are passionate about their food but many are frightened to experiment at home, leaving that for eating out.

Although we sit glued to the TV watching Nigella, Greg & John, Nigel and many others we still go for a traditional roast chicken, roast potatoes and gravy!

Tesco have launched their new campaign 'Love Every Mouthful', about making and eating fantastic food and celebrating and sharing food with friends and family, and asked me to try out an alternate recipe for a weekday roast chicken. They sent me all the ingredients to make a Glazed Roast Chicken and serve with Charlotte potatoes and tenderstem broccoli.
 

It was really easy to first make a sticky glaze out of clear honey, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and rice wine.

Simply brush half the glaze on the chicken and pop it into the over for 50 minutes. Pour over the rest of the sticky glaze and cook for another 30 minutes

and at this time pop the potatoes into the oven with olive oil and lemon slices. Alough the recipe said to pop the potatoes into the oven I would personally par boil them next time. They did take longer than the 30 minutes to cook and could have been softer.
 

I served the meal with the tenderstem broccoli and courgettes which came from my allotment this afternoon!
 

Mr R was very happy to come home on a Monday night to roast chicken!
 

 

For the recipe and over 7,000 others click here!

Thank you Tesco for all the ingredients to make this delicious meal.

Matching Food with Wines from Touraine in the Loire Valley

Tuesday 16th July 2013 was the second birthday of my blog and who wouldn't love a birthday party. The components would include a dozen or so people, delicious food and perfect wines to match.

When I was invited to an evening of food and wine pairing by Touraine, Vins De Loire on that day I thought what a perfect blog birthday party! The event was well organised featuring Fiona Beckett, food and wine journalist and columnist for the Guardian. She is particularly interested in food and wine pairing.

A simple statement to keep in mind is that what grows together goes together, e.g. Muscadet & oysters!  Loire wines are fresh and aromatic, great for sipping in the summer and for drinking with food.

The old rule of red wine with meat and white wine with fish is now passee and you drink wines that you like factoring time and occassion into your choice.

To start the party Fiona talked to us about wines from the Loire region in France and the sort of foods and flavours that they went with and that complimented them. Then the party began!

We had a feast of food and matching wine, one after the other;

To start we had crostini topped with goats cheese and broad beans. To match this
Tesco Finest, Les Chaumes, Touraine Sauvignon, 2012, white a fresh citrusy taste going really well with cheese &
Lionel Gosseaume, Les Marcottes, Touraine, 2012, red, light and fruighty beajolais which can be served chilled in the summer for a refreshing change.

Then Vitenamese prawn and rice noodle salad with
* Thierry Delaunay, Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, 2012, white retailing at £8.99 and available from Majestic Wines. 2012 was a great vintage year. This has an elderflower tone.
Morrisson's, Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, 2011, white at a price of £6.99, fresh and zingy, 2011 was a good but standard year,

The 'party' continued with Sole goujons and chips with
Calvet, Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, 2012, white from Tesco and £8.99
Domaine Guenault, Famille Bougrier, Touraine Sauvignon, 2011, white from The Wine Society and only £6.95

Each time we had a plate of food we discussed the two wine choices that were served with them.  There were the usual spitoons on the tables but I prefer to sip and swallow.  I don't waste - I don't spit!

A lovely rare seared tuna with a sesame crust was next (one of my favourite fish) and served with
Domaine Pre Baron, Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, 2012, white from Majestic Wines, summery and lightly elderflowery.

Domaine Gul Allion, Les Quatgre Pierres, Touraine, 2010, red - a Cabernet Franc grape and from The Oxford Wine Company. This is wild fruit and very intense raisin. Great with chicken and lamb.


Our final tasting plate was Smoked Venison (I don't usually eat venison preferring not to consume Bambi's relatives! And with this we had two great examples and the second red which was my favourite!
Domaine Gul Allion, Les Quatre Pierres, Touraine, 2010, red available as above
* Henry Marionnet, Vinifera, Touraine, 2010 red again available from The Wine Society. When this wine came into contact with the venison there was a spice explosion in your mouth!

The final dish was a Surprise Dish which was served with Domaine Pagtes, Sparkling Rose, NV - such a nice freshness with a subtle taste of white flowers, apples and honey.

The best blog birthday dessert - a buffet table of wonderful things like whipped cream, fresh raspberries and strawberries, shortbread biscuits, mini merangues, peaches, sauces and so much more and we helped ourselves and created our perfect pudding to go with the sparkling rose.  Pudding heaven!

 

Then we were challenged with two bottles of wine to take home (a blog birthday present perhaps?) and create something to eat that goes really well with one of the wines.

I was lucky that the two bottles I received (see *) were my favourites of the evening!

As it happened I had 500g of uncooked prawns in the freezer (yummmm) so I got everything ready to make a lemon and prawn risotto to serve with my Thierry Delaunay, Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, 2012, white.

This wine comes from the Loire region in France and is made of the grape variety Sauvignon Blanc. It generally goes with crab, risotto, grilled prawns, fish and chips, BBQ fish like sardines and mackerel and loads of different street foods.

It is very crisp and lemony and a background flavour of a hint of tropical fruit.  I love a crisp, dry white wine and this one hit all the notes and rang all the bells!

My other bottle of wine, Henry Marionnet, Vinifera, Touraine, 2010, red. This is a medium to full-bodied wine and is made from the grape variety, Malbec and Cot, lighter than an Argentinian Malbec, ready to drink young or for laying down.

Generally this wine goes with roast, grilled or barbequed meat and I am planning on serving it with a veal roast.

I learned a lot about the wines of the Loire area in France which has always been one of my favourite anyway.  Thanks to Touraine, Vins de Loire for a great evening and amazing 2nd blog birthday party!

Keeping Kitchen Costs Down - Dinner for £0.45

Tonight I was very proud to be serving a tasty, nutritious, satisfying meal to Mr R but which cost the total sum of £0.45!  How did I do that?

Well, we had sausages, jacket potatoes, yellow courgettes and rainbow chard.

 

The sausages were turkey sausages and were a gift from a visit yesterday to Kelly Bronze Turkey Farm in Essex.

 

 

The courgettes were sauteed in a small amount of butter, salt and pepper and came from our allotment - free!

 

The Rainbow Chard was pan fried in a bit of olive oil and a tablespoon of sundried tomato paste with a little white wine.  The chard was grown on the allotment so free and the tomato paste an item in the goodie bag from last month's Food Blogger Connect conference.

The cost of this meal can be attributed to the bag of four baking potatoes I bought at the supermarket, originally priced £1.89 but reduced to - you guessed it - £0.45!

And for pudding we had Rachel's organic, low fat Mango yoghurt which was also sent to me for review. This is a creamy pot full of yoghurt with pieces of mango and low fat.

 

Thanks to Kelly Bronze Turkeys and Rachel's Yoghurt for their part in tonight's dinner.

Stellar brings you lightweight cast iron cookware

Although I am primarily a writer of food and drink it is occasionally necessary to receive and review the equipment that helps me cook the food.

I was sent a 24cm saute pan by Stellar to try in my kitchen and put it through it's paces.  I have a problem lifting with my left wrist but love cast iron cookware however recently have had difficulty lifting .

Very light and easy to lift but made of cast iron! It is easy to clean with an enameled coated interior and works on all hob types. you can even use it in the oven up to 190o and of course clean it in the dishwasher however as I don't have one I clean it in the sink and it is really easy to clean.

It has a flat base to distribute the heat and has a vented glass lid so you can keep track of what you are cooking even with the lid on.

I used this pan to saute chicken pieces for a chicken casserole

Bacon, onion and garlic for a pasta sauce

I used this pan for several recipes to try it out and each time was very happy with it. It really did clean easily which is always a bonus.

Thanks very much to Stellar for sending me this saute pan to try. I will use it for many meals to come!

 



Restaurant and Book Review - Tapas Revolution

I had a real treat last week. I was invited to a Spanish restaurant in Wesfield Shopping Centre in West London to celebrate Omar Allibhoy's first book, Tapas Revolution, with a selection of tapas and all the dishes we tried are included in the book.

 

Omar Allibhoy is a very talented Spanish chef whose mission is to bring the mysteries of Spanish cooking into your home and encourage you to cook these delicious and tasty treats for your family and friends.  Omar's book includes easy to follow recipes with hints and tips to make using more local ingredients if you cannot locate the authentic Spanish.

It is very hard to get a photo in focus of Omar because this dedicated 29 year old never stands still.  He and his team were constantly on the go serving us freshly prepared morsels.  Each plateful garnered sighs and mmmmm's as we struggled to pick our favourite.

My favourite was and always is the Calamares fritos - deep fried squid. Crispy and tender with loads of taste. I could eat a huge plateful of this, served simply with a home made ailoi and slice of lemon.  Omar includes three recipes for the ailoi, two traditional and one of his own (which we sampled).
 

The delicate tapas that we were served included the following:

Boquerones - marinated anchovies and Tortilla Espanol - I didn't have time to photograph these two, they just flew off the plates.

Jamon Iberico - a rich, nutty flavoured jamon (ham) made from pigs that were allowed to roam freely and feast on acorns and herbs.

Pimentos De Padron - fried padron peppers. These little green jems are a game of Russian Roulette but with peppers instead of a gun.  Every now and then you get one that will blow your head off.  Guess what? The second one I had did just that. Eyes watered, nose cleared and my mouth felt like it was swollen!  Didn't last long though and normality returned so I could appreciate the next offerings.

Pulpoa la Gallega - steamed octopus with potato and pimenton.

Pinchos Morunes con Mojo Picon - marinated beef skewers and a spicy dipping sauce.

 

 

Papas Arrugadas con Nojos - wrinkled potatoes with mojo (a dip with corriander).

Pollo en Pepiturla - moorish chicken with almonds.

Croquetas de Jamon - deep fried Iberico jamon croquettes. Omar states these are the best ever outside of Spain!

Time for something sweet:

Crema Catalan - a sweet milky pudding with a touch of nutmeg.

Chouros with hot chocolate dip.

At the end of the evening I got Omar to sign my copy of his forthcoming book.  I was sent this from the publishers for early review.  The book - Tapas Revolution - will be published on 15th August, 2013 at rrp £20.00.

A party For Your Feet With Skribbies

 

Although I am primarily a food blogger, from time to time I have experiences with the grandchildren that are worthy of report!

I was invited to an event in Central London in the sweltering heat at a pop-up shop where we attended a Skribbies party. I took my daughter and two grandsons and the 4 year old had a ball!
 

There was colouring, face and body painting and most importantly the best trainers I have ever seen!

Boy G was given a pair to try then and there but also he could take them home with him.

 

Imagine permission to colour on your new white trainers! Skribbies are trainers you colour on (with special pens) and wipe off ready to decorate again!  Each pair comes with 6 pens, a wristband to wipe off the colour and stickers.

 

The best part from my perspective is that they are also good looking and they must be comfortable because Boy G won't take them off!!

Boy G was 'made up' when he got to meet one of his characters from cbeebies - Sid! Boy G wanted to know how Sid got out of the telly to come to the event!

 

I was also given a pair to take home for my 5 year old granddaughter to have when she comes to stay with me in a couple of weeks!

Have a look at their website and you will see they all come in white with either pink, navy blue or neon black trim. 

At £35.95 they are a special treat but worth the smiles every time!!
 

For more info have a look at my daughter's blog too. You can also find Skribbies on Twitter and Facebook.

Thanks Skribbies for a great pair of trainers!