Tag: Foodblog

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Blog Breakfast

The Sweetest Feeling

During the recent period of national mourning, I spent a few days in Essex visiting relatives. I made a point of stopping off at Tiptree, home of the famous jams and marmalades produced by Wilkin and Sons since 1885. I learned that their range of preserves has been supplied to the Crown under Royal Warrant since 1911, and is enjoyed in over 70 countries all around the world. I wonder if you have heard of it where you live?

On the same site as the factory where the jam is made, you can tour a museum display explaining how the company has grown over the years from its Victorian origins. There is also a shop selling the full range of preserves, including some varieties I was unaware of, such as Little Scarlet (a type of strawberry).

On display is a selection of spicy sauces and chutneys to choose from. We brought some chilli jam as a gift for our son. It’s a great place to treat yourself, and friends and family. Hey, we deserve it!

I opted for a jar of Old Times English Orange Marmalade to take home, which (as you can see) I shall be enjoying over many breakfasts ahead. It has a very delicate balance between bitter and sweet.

However, my highlight, and undoubtedly a favourite part of the visit for many devotees, is (not totally surprisingly) the Tea Room. Here you can place your order and, while waiting at a table for your own delights to arrive, be entertained by the succession of delicious cakes and carefully trimmed sandwiches making their way to the tables around you, beautifully presented on old-fashioned 3 tier china cake stands.

I opted for afternoon tea, with a toasted teacake and a choice of preserve, washed down with a pot of tea. My chosen preserve was a miniature jar of dark morello cherry jam, which was delicious. You can see it in my main photo, along with the fittingly sweet message on the underside of the lid, which says simply:

From Tiptree With Love

Categories
Mains Recipes

Chilli Mushroom with Lime & Sea Salt Buttered Veg

A roasted filled portobello mushroom makes a great vegetarian dinner. It holds its shape and texture when cooked and releases its juices when you cut into it with a knife. In this dish it is combined with summer veg served with melting slivers of butter infused with lime, sea salt and chilli flakes.

Servings

This will make one serving, so multiply up by however many mouths you are feeding (I’ll say more about this below!)

Timings

20 mins to make the vegetable chilli filling, then 20 mins in the oven to roast.

You Will Need

  • 1 stick celery
  • half an onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • half a red, green or yellow pepper
  • a little vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon of plain flour
  • half a 440g tin of kidney beans
  • 300g vegetable stock
  • 60g red lentils
  • 1 portobello mushroom
  • seasonal veg (e.g. green beans, carrots) for one, boiled or steamed
  • 40g butter, softened
  • zest and juice of half a lime
  • a few twists of sea salt
  • a few chilli flakes

Method

  1. Put the chilli powder and cumin seeds in some oil, until sizzling.
  2. Finely chop the onion, celery, carrot and pepper and shallow fry until softened.
  3. Take off the heat and sprinkle the flour over. Turn the veg over until it is coated in the flour.
  4. Add the stock and bring to the boil. When boiling, add the lentils and kidney beans. Put on the lid of the pan and simmer for 10 – 15 mins until the lentils have softened.
  5. Remove the lid and let the mix reduce through evaporation, until you have a soft, thick consistency.
  6. Remove the stalk from the centre of the mushroom, chop and set aside. Brush the mushroom all over with oil.
  7. Fill the mushroom with the chilli mix, topping it with pieces of the stalk, gently pressed down into the mix. Place on a metal tray and roast in the oven at 180C for 20 mins.
  8. While the mushroom is roasting, chop and boil or steam the seasonal veg.
  9. In a small bowl, mix the butter, lime zest and juice, sea salt and chilli flakes. Place in the fridge until serving.
  10. Serve up the roasted mushroom with the veg on the side. Slice off a few slivers of the butter and let melt over the veg.

Customise it!

Lots of scope for going off piste here, while sticking to the fundamentals of a roasted portobello mushroom, a chilli filling and seasoned butter for the veg. Swap in other types of lentil or pulse, and use some drops of tomato passata if you wish along with the stock. Choose whichever veg you prefer to serve on the side, and prepare it as you like it. Garlic goes well in both the chilli mix, and especially in the butter.

I’ve given the measurements to make one portion here. However, I would quite often make a larger pot of the vegetable chilli and serve some of it on other occasions, in a different way (e.g. with rice) or freeze some of it for a later date. Similarly, the seasoned butter is great with other foods, such as sweetcorn and fish, so I sometimes make a larger batch of that as well.

In other words, don’t be afraid to gross up the amounts. Stick to the instructions above and you’ll have a nice meal for one. Go larger and who knows – you may have enough to feed a Seven Nation Army. Cue the White Stripes!

Categories
Blog

Tea at the Palace

In 2014 I received an invitation from HM The Queen to attend a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.

It was really exciting travelling up to London on the train, and making our way to the Palace. Usually all one gets to see is the famous view from the Mall, on the outside of those imposing railings. How excited we were to be invited through the gates, walk across the courtyard and enter the Palace, making our way through to the vast terrace that overlooks the rear gardens.

The gardens were huge – more like a public park, with paths and beautifully mature planted borders winding off in all directions. While there were many people there for the Garden Party, it was still possible to find yourself alone in a remote corner, and easy to forget that we were actually in the heart of one of the world’s busiest and noisiest capital cities.

A highlight for me was the afternoon tea. I have posted photos of both the menu, and my plate with selections from the finger buffet. You will see from these that I was enjoying the daintily trimmed sandwiches – cucumber, mint and black pepper, and also free range egg mayonnaise with cress. There is also a coronation chicken wrap with spinach and peppers.

The cakes were superb – my plate loaded with Dundee cake, strawberry and cream battenburg, and a chocolate and praline croustillant that bears an edible Royal Crown motif. My choice of drink is an iced coffee.

The members of the Royal Family in attendance were HM The Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Duchess of Cambridge (now the Princess of Wales).

I was one of many invitees drawn from public services and the charity sector. An invitation to afternoon tea at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party was the Queen’s way of thanking us for our contribution, day in and day out, to supporting Britain’s local communities. It was a really nice gesture that was warmly received by all of us.

Following the sad events of this week, as a mark of respect I will be taking a short break from posting during the period of national mourning, after which normal service will be resumed.

Categories
Mains Recipes

Turkey, Feta and Courgette Burgers

I’m pleased to announce that we have another guest post on A Different Kitchen! It is by my sister Pamela, an experienced and talented cook whose meals I have enjoyed on numerous occasions. 

Hi. My featured meal is Turkey, Feta and Courgette Burgers. I have used this recipe many times. It’s healthy, tasty, easy and uses up some of the mint in our garden (you can see some of our mint bush in the photo). It is also useful if you have an abundant courgette (or zucchini) harvest, which some of you may be experiencing at this time of year.

Servings

Depending on your preferred size of burger, the recipe makes as many or as few burgers as you like!

Timings

10 mins prep, and 10 mins to grill.

You Will Need

  • 500g turkey breast mince
  • 1 large courgette, spiralised or cut into tiny cubes (I use a Kenwood mini chopper)
  • 100g feta crumbled
  • 2 crushed garlic cloves
  • half teaspoon chilli flakes
  • small bunch of mint, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon sumac powder
  • zest of an unwaxed lemon
  • 1 large egg beaten

Method

  1. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl with your hand and shape into burgers.
  2. Place these on a baking tray lined with tin foil and cover with cling film.
  3. Put these in the fridge to firm – the smell is amazing.
  4. At this stage you can also freeze the burgers – or some of them – for another day.
  5. Put the tray under a hot grill and cook the burgers for 8-10 minutes, gently turning, until golden brown. 
  6. Enjoy with a fresh salad. No burger baps required!

Well done Pam and thanks for sharing this delicious looking recipe.

The author of a guest post gets to choose a favourite track of theirs for adding to the ADK Playlist. Pam’s choice is Happy by Pharrell Williams. She saw him performing the song live and says it was brilliant!

Categories
Blog

Lost in the Supermarket

Cooking from recipes prepared by our top chefs can sometimes involve tracking down rather obscure ingredients. Even if we have a vague awareness of the product, we may never have tasted or tried to buy it before. Items that fall into this list for me have included porcini mushrooms, Szechuan pepper, rose harissa and kashmiri chillis.

Searching out products that are unfamiliar can be a challenge. I am fortunate to have a large Sainsbury’s and a cavernous two tier Tesco’s virtually on my doorstep, but can I find these ingredients there?

The usual story begins with checking out where I thought they would be, but without success. My visit then descends into a kind of aimless cruising of the trolley up and down the aisles in the hope of inspiration, or at least that something associated with the item will catch my eye. In a place this size, I’m thinking, surely it must be here, somewhere?

How long to carry on with this pursuit can be a tough call – depending on your viewpoint, it demonstrates either a laudable spirit of not wanting to be defeated, or a petulant state of blind obstinacy.

Of course, I could ask an assistant. However, I never want a member of staff to feel that I expect them to have an encyclopedic knowledge of where everything is displayed, in a store the size of an aircraft hangar. Eggs, bread, cereals – fair enough, but something that even I have never heard of outside of a Jamie Oliver book? Forget it.

My go-to now for specialist ingredients is Waitrose. I learned this after a fruitless search for tahini in the larger stores. On arrival at a smaller branch of Waitrose, a very helpful assistant escorted me to the correct aisle and shelf, pointing out that they had not just one, but three different types. Good old Waitrose.

Although we have a great range of food shops in the UK, we should always remember that they are not all the same – each carefuly targets their own market niche, and as cooks/consumers we should be prepared to use this to our advantage.

After one of these experiences recently, I was playing The Clash’s great London Calling album in the ADK kitchen, and this track Lost in the Supermarket came on. It made me chuckle and I thought I would share it here. To be fair, I am pretty certain that Joe Strummer and Mick Jones didn’t intend this song to be about walking round Waitrose looking for tahini. Then again, you never know.

Categories
Recipes Sides Starters

Chunky Guacamole

Here is another recipe that is ideal for outdoor summer eating. This avocado dish goes well as a starter with a barbecue, or side with a salad eaten al fresco, particularly if accompanied by an ice cold bottle of Mexican beer. It is based on a recipe for guacamole by those motorcycling masterchefs, those culinary cruisers, those grooming gastronomes (Ed: that’s enough alliteration, thank you) the Hairy Bikers.

Servings

This will make enough as a starter, or side, for 4.

Timings

10 mins to prepare, no cooking involved.

You Will Need

  • one mild chilli pepper, seeds removed
  • bunch of coriander leaves
  • two medium sized tomatoes
  • half a red onion
  • juice of half a lime, plus slice to garnish
  • 2 – 3 fresh avocados

Method

  1. Put the ingredients in a food processor with blade fitted, and blitz until well blended, but still with chunks of veg visible.
  2. Er, that’s it. Scrape into a bowl and serve.

Customise it!

Serve with tortilla chips or with veg crudites, like carrot and celery sticks. The idea of leaving it a little chunky is so that you can pick up some identifiable pieces of the veg, coated in the creamy green sauce. It’s important not to over pulse it in the food processor to the extent that you lose the chunks and it takes on the consistency of baby food!

Enjoy this while the sun is shining on us – it won’t last forever. ‘Avo’ nice day!

Categories
Mains Recipes

BBQ-Baked Fish

Our weather this weekend was just ridiculous – 30+ degrees C every day – so cooking out of doors was definitely on the agenda.

Fish baked on the barbecue is an idea I first came across in a recipe book by legendary outdoor chef, Keith Floyd. For me, this was a different way to cook fish and I have done this several times since.

Servings

This is a meal for two.

Timings

5 mins prep, 15 mins to cook.

You Will Need

  • Tin foil
  • 2 fillets of fish
  • handful of spring onions
  • juice of half a lemon
  • drizzle of olive oil
  • cherry tomatoes on the vine
  • sprinkling of herbes de provence

Method

  1. Start by tearing off a large sheet of foil, and brush it lightly with oil.
  2. Place a couple of fish fillets in the middle (I used cod loins, but other fish will do just as well)
  3. Give the fish a topping. This can change depending on what’s in season and what you have to hand. I had a good crop of spring onions from the garden, so chopped these over the fish, adding the juice of half a lemon, a drizzle of olive oil, and a few twists of black pepper.
  4. Then gather up the sides of the foil to form a parcel, crimping the edges together in a pasty-type shape.
  5. Place the parcel on the griddle plate of the barbecue and close the lid. Leave it for about 10 – 15 mins.
  6. We have a glut of cherry tomatoes in the garden at the moment, with all this hot weather, so I snipped off a vine and cooked this also on the griddle, alongside the fish parcel. I brushed the vine and tomatoes in olive oil and gave them a sprinkling of herbes de provence. They look great on the plate and provide a rich, squishy sauce to complement the fish.
  7. Take care when opening the fish parcel as there will be a sudden escape of heat. The flesh of the fish should be in flakes, and some parts of the underside will be lightly charred (see the photo above, taken as the parcel was opened). This is a really nice part of the dish, as it gives it a taste and texture you will not normally get when cooking fish in a more conventional way, like in an oven or a pan. Don’t overdo it though, or the fish will burn!

Customise it

There’s lots of scope for playing around with the topping – parsley goes well if you have it, and also a few capers.

My BBQ-baked fish and tomatoes was served with a few new potatoes and lightly steamed summer green veg, washed down with a glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc – dining al fresco, of course!

As for the musical accompaniment to this post, the last time I blogged about a barbecue meal I opted for The Doors’ Light My Fire. This great track by The Prodigy was in close contention, so here it is in its own right, now added to the ADK Playlist. It’s the song every barbecue chef should be humming as they warm up their grill, and guaranteed to get the party going:

I’m a Firestarter!

Hey, hey hey!


Categories
Blog Snacks

End of the Party

While sampling the foodie delights of the West Midlands, during my stay here for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, I’ve had the great fortune to come across the Merry Mouse. Who, you say?

The Merry Mouse is a Deli Van that visits the markets around the region. It’s particular speciality is local cheeses – often produced by small farms. You can’t fail to notice the distinctive livery.

Aided by helpful descriptions of the cheeses, and the knowledgable seller, I decided to put together my own Merry Mouse Cheeseboard.

First up was Cheddar Hop – a wedge of tasty, mature cheddar that had been rolled in toasted hops. This gives it a spiced and smoky flavour, with best bitter notes.

Accompanying this was a piece of Colston Bassett Stilton. The description given by the MM was that this was simply the best Stilton you can get. I’m not inclined to disagree with that assessment.

Finally, we had a slice of Cote Hill Blue, a soft and unpasteurised creamy blue brie-style cheese, made on a small farm in Osgodby, Lincolnshire.

Served up with some oatcakes and red grapes, and with the closing ceremony of the Games on TV, it made quite the occasion.

It’s been a thoroughly enjoyable 11 days at Birmingham 2022. The elite sports have been great to watch, and the Festival Sites, other cultural activities and local food and drinks, a joy to experience. All in all, it’s demonstrated the rich diversity of the West Midlands. The Games have shown once again the power of sport to bring people together and overcome barriers – something we were all in need of after the last couple of years of enforced separation and restrictions.

During the Ceremony, the Commonwealth Games baton was handed on to Regional Victoria, in Australia, who will host the next event in 2026. I will be visiting Victoria this winter and am looking forward to discovering more of the local food and culture there (including the local cheeses). However, more of this in a few months’ time

For now, it seems apt to close an amazing 11 days with this track from one of Birmingham’s own – The Beat.



Categories
Blog

Warwick Food Market

For the next week and a bit I am based in the West Midlands with tickets for a number of events at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. In between enjoying the great sport I am sampling the various foodie delights of the region – starting today with the Saturday Market in the old town of Warwick.

The Market was full of stalls from local producers selling fruit and veg, craft beer, coffee, cakes, cheese and much, much more. You can see a few of these from the photos.

We are self-catering in our motorhome while here, and managed to do our shop for the next few days. This includes a salmon and broccoli quiche and a slice of local cheddar coated in roasted hops – one of my favourite cheeses. Some more of these purchases will feature in future posts.

One of the best things about today’s Market was the big screen showing live action from the Games. So with shopping done, we could sit in a deckchair and watch the marathon live from Birmingham 2022.

Local markets are always interesting to explore, and a great way to get yourself some fresh tasty food while supporting local producers.