Hugh Fearnley-Wittingshall’s article in the Observer had me all steamed up the other week. An ice age having passed since I last made a savoury steamed pudding and the extended winter chill providing exactly the right context, it was a touch frustrating to not fancy Hugh’s suggestions. But with an imminent delivery from the Blackface [...]
Archive for the ‘slow food’ Category
on the game – a steamy tale
Posted in Winter, game, recipes, slow food, tagged Blackface Meat Co., game cookery, game pudding, savoury pudding, steamed game pudding recipe, suet on March 2, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Bloody Taroccos
Posted in Winter, shopping, slow food, spring, tagged fruit, orange, shopping, Waitrose on March 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Treat time at Waitrose: Tarocco “blush” oranges are on the shelves again, it’s Blood Orange season! Much as I disapprove in theory, I do understand blood oranges’ rebranding to something a little less daunting; I remember as a child when presented with a carefully peeled and segmented Blood Orange I used to wonder if it [...]
duck and cover
Posted in Autumn/Fall, Winter, ingredients, slow food, tagged cooking fat, duck, duck fat, preserves, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding on September 18, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Following the laziest roast crispy duck in history my duck fat jar runneth over … almost. So it should see us through the coming winter unless we take it into our heads to make confit and, considering the mess involved, I rather hope we don’t. Duck fat is by far the best medium for roasting potatoes or greasing Yorkshire [...]
I gotta ricotta
Posted in Summer, artisan bread, herbs, ingredients, recipes, slow food, tagged buttermilk, food, homemade cheese, ricotta on July 19, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I don’t know about you, but I adore la cucina casalinga – Italian regional home cooking – so simple, so hearty, so life-affirming; but dependent as it is on the quality of ingredients, my heart used to sink whenever a recipe called for fresh ricotta. There’s no such thing for sale in my home town, no [...]
fregola sarda, seafood, bottarga
Posted in Summer, ingredients, recipes, shopping, slow food, tagged bottarga, food, fregola sarda, pollack, seafood on July 18, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Last time I visited Fortnum & Mason I picked up a packet of fregola sarda. Interesting stuff, fregola: it’s pasta, but of Sardinian origin and in appearance it’s couscous on steroids, reminiscent of pollen grains at a billion magnification. Also, unlike any pasta I can think of, fregola nuggets are toasted, which not only explains the colour variations, but also adds [...]
saving our bacon
Posted in food politics, ingredients, shopping, slow food, tagged bacon, British bacon, Danish bacon, dry-cure bacon, food campaign, food chain, food news, MRSA, save our bacon, slow food, SOB, Waitrose, wet cure bacon on June 3, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Another confirmation of the wisdom of a locavore lifestyle arrives with the news in The Independent that MRSA may have entered the food chain in Europe. If that doesn’t get us buying British bacon I don’t know what will, as if I wasn’t sufficiently peeved with my fellow consumers over porky products. This might be [...]
Buna shimeji funghi sott’olio
Posted in recipes, shopping, slow food, tagged antipasti, Brown Beech, Buna shimeji, mushrooms, olive oil, umami on May 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
No, that’s not a random collection of vowels and consonants: while meandering along the vegetable aisle in Waitrose I spied these exotic Buna shimeji, also known as Brown Beech mushrooms, at a delightfully exotic discount. Nothing boosts my culinary confidence like finding a food bargain, and with the summery weather in mind I fancied trying them [...]
olive oil dough latest
Posted in artisan bread, olive oil dough, slow food, tagged artisan bread, artisan bread in 5 minutes a day, boule loaf, olive oil dough on May 19, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Just sharing my latest effort – a boule made with olive oil dough, cornflour wash and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I’m starting to get the hang of the all-important “slash” technique. Note those wonderful gluten strands, result of a slow rise: you won’t get this from a bread machine.
oak smoked flour
Posted in artisan bread, ingredients, shopping, slow food, tagged artisan bread, food, great food products, ingredients, oak-smoked flour, organic, shopping, smoked foods, Waitrose, wholemeal bread on May 16, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Yes, you read that right – oak smoked flour from Bacheldre Watermill - and with that great packaging, how could I resist? Actually it’s oak smoked stoneground strong malted blend flour and as I don’t share the English predilection for malty bits in my bread I thought my first loaf rather ho-hum. The smokiness was enjoyable [...]
olive oil dough recipe
Posted in artisan bread, olive oil dough, recipes, slow food, tagged artisan bread, artisan bread in 5 minutes a day, flat bread, focaccia, fougasse, olive oil, olive oil dough, pizza base, pizza dough on May 13, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Mr T reminded me that it’s all very well going on about my fabulous dough discovery but there’s not much point unless I eventually share the secret, so – in good time for summer - here’s a wonderful recipe for: Olive Oil Dough (my respectful adaptation of a recipe in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day [...]
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