Category Archives: foodie

A Postcard from Harrods: The Food Hall

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Jo | 1 Comment

Stuart and I recently had a weekend in London. There will be more to follow from this trip soon but for now, please enjoy some pictures that I took in the fabulous Harrod’s Food Hall. (I would live there if I could!)

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Posted in bread, cakes, cupcakes, fish, food, foodie, Harrods, London, visit

Tagged A Postcard From, bread, cakes, cupcakes, fish, Food Hall, Harrods, London, visit

Cookbook Review: Simpsons – The Cookbook by Andreas Antona

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Jo | 2 Comments

I have wanted to visit Simpson’s Restaurant in Birmingham for a very long time and have not made it there yet. It is high up on my list of restaurants I really want to go to. It climbed even higher on my list when I received a review copy of their second cookbook, which is to be published on 20th June 2011.

The book simply called ‘Simpsons the cookbook’ is written by Andreas Antona, chef and owner of Simpson’s with Luke Tipping and Adam Bennett, two of his sous chefs. They have chosen their favourite and most popular dishes and set them out in a simple format, aimed at amateur chefs and passionate foodies.

On first receiving the book, I was very impressed with the photography. It shows the restaurant at work and also it is one of the only cookbooks that I know of, that has a photograph of every dish in the book. You can see the time and effort that has gone into making the book on every single page.

Starters include ceps on toast with summer truffle; and risotto of goat’s cheese, piquillo pepper and rocket. Main courses are dishes from poulet Basquaise to favourites such as cote du boeuf, Yorkshire pudding and roast new season carrots. Delicious desserts range from great retro efforts such as black forest in a glass and chocolate baked Alaska to the more simple but equally impressive white chocolate truffles with rum and vanilla; perfect as petits fours with coffee. Some of the dishes in the book seem very easy and straight forward to make (see my version of a dish below), however some of the dishes just seemed a tad too advanced for me. I love the look of the Black Forest in a Glass but it is the kind of thing that would take me (a reasonably competent cook) all day to make.

As ever, whenever I review a cookbook, I always make a dish from it. I decided to make Tagliatelle with Black Mushrooms. However, I could not find any black mushrooms in my local supermarket so I made it with Portabello mushrooms instead. The recipe also called for fresh pasta and although I can make fresh pasta (see here) I decided against it as I made it as an after work treat and with baby brain and general tiredness going on, making pasta was a step too far for me. I did use fresh free range egg Tagliatelle from the supermarket instead. I also got slightly confused between two mushroom dishes in the book. One the Ceps on Toast called for Black Summer Truffle and I thought the tagliatelle dish needed it instead so I ordered a truffle from Mister Truffle to make the dish. Therefore, my version has extra truffle on it. Here finally is my version of Andreas Antona’s classic dish.

Tagliatelle with Portabello Mushrooms and Black Summer Truffle

Ingredients

100g tagilatelle per person, cooked according to the packet instructions
2 shallots, peeled and chopped finely
4-6 small portabello mushrooms, peeled and chopped finely
Small knob of butter
Bunch of parsley, finely chopped
Parmesan, grated (optional)
Salt ad pepper, to taste
5g of Black Summer Truffle, grated very finely (optional)

Method

In a frying pan, add the butter and fry until melted. Add in the shallots and mushrooms and fry gently until cooked.
Add in the cooked pasta and parsley. Stir gently to combine.
Pour the pasta and mushrooms into a warm serving dish. Grate truffle and parmesan over the top, if using and then enjoy!

Overall, I am very impressed with the Simpson’s cookbook. It contains simple Michelin starred recipes but it also contains recipes that give you something to aim for and challenge you. It is not an everyday cookbook but it is one you want to look at everyday.

You can preorder Simpson’s The Cookbook here

WIN a LIMITED EDITION copy of the new Simpsons Restaurant Michelin Cook Book: Download some FREE Recipes to win: http://tinyurl.com/67s7qso

Many thanks to Syamala for sending me the book to review

Happy Cooking!

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Posted in Andreas Antona, Birmingham, cookbook, cooking, Eat The Midlands, food, foodie, Gourmet Life, local, Michelin Star, Midlands, Midlands Food, Recipe, regional, Restaurant, Review, seasonal, West Midlands

Tagged Andreas Antona, Birmingham, cookbook, cooking, Eat The Midlands, food, foodie, gourmet life, local, Midlands, Midlands Food, Recipe, Restaurant, Review, Simpson's Restaurant, West Midlands

Prepped Cookbook Launch

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Jo | 1 Comment

A little while ago, I was lucky enough to be asked to do some recipe testing for a new cookbook that was coming out, called ‘Prepped‘. I tested the Eccles cakes recipe for Vanessa Kimbell, the author of the book. At the end of May, ‘Prepped!: Gorgeous Food without the Slog – a Multi-tasking Masterpiece for Time-short Foodies’ was released and I went to the official launch of the book at The Black Bottom Club in Northampton last week.

Vanessa is a fellow member of the Midlands Food Bloggers and I was joined at the launch by Julia of A Wannabe Foodie, who I met just recently at the MFB Meet Up in Burton Upon Trent. We were also joined by Ruth of The Pink Whisk, Helen of Jessie’s Crazy Kitchen and Lea of Off The Eaten Track amongst many others. All of whom had tested recipes for the book. We were warmly greeted by Elderflower Fizz and Elderflower water and lots of cake made by the Preperati (recipe testers) especially for the event.

Giles of How To Books, Vanessa’s publisher then gave a speech on how Vanessa had managed to get the published with them. It was mostly to do with cakes apparently! Vanessa then gave a speech herself thanking everyone for helping with the book.

The rest of the afternoon sped by with lots of talk of cake, cooking and blogging. I had an absolute amazing time. It was great to meet Vanessa eventually after many emails and phone calls and it was lovely to meet my fellow bloggers too. I cannot wait for ‘Prepped 2′ to be launched so we can have another party!

Many thanks to Amy of Lush Mummy for the fabulous black Diamond Dress that I wore to the launch. (See pictures above) It is an amazing dress and I got lots of lovely compliments about it. For the first time since finding out I was pregnant, I actually felt and looked good. It is much appreciated. Thank you

Happy Cooking!

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Posted in cakes, cooking, Eccles Cakes, food, foodie, happy cooking, local, Lush Mummy, Midlands, Midlands Food Bloggers, Midlands Group, pregnant, Prepped, regional, Thank you, Vanessa Kimbell

Tagged cakes, cookbook, cookbook launch, cooking, Eccles Cakes, happy cooking, How To Books, Lush Mummy, Midlands, Midlands Food Bloggers, pregnant, Prepped, Recipe testing, The Pink Whisk, Vanessa Kimbell

Midlands Food Bloggers Meet Up June 2011

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Jo | 3 Comments

Photo by Owen Sims

On Saturday, the Midlands Food Bloggers had their third meet up at 99 Station Street and Staffordshire Fine Foods in Burton Upon Trent. Louise of Comida Y Vida and I arrived at 99 Station Street and met fellow MFB members, Gavin of To Bizzy 2 Bake, Julia of A Wannabe Foodie, Jules of The Butcher, The Baker, Georgina of Culinary Travels, Becky of Girl Interrupted Eating and James and Kate of Eat The Midlands. It was lovely to meet in person everyone who we had been talking to on Twitter for so long. We sat down and got ready to taste the fantastic local and seasonal food prepared for us by the wonderful chef Dan and his team.

For my starter, I had Asparagus Soup. It was delicious and very filling. I loved it. For my main, I had Baked Salmon with Coriander Veloute and we all shared the seasonal vegetables around the table. I love salmon and I have never thought of serving it with coriander. It was yummy!

For pudding, I had the Chocolate Brownie with homemade ice cream and chocolate sauce. It was delicious. After lunch (which was a bargain price of £10.95 each), we had a chat with the head chef Dan and owner Susan and we learnt more about the restaurant ethos for only having local, British food and making everything on site.

Photo by Owen Sims

After our fantastic meal, we moved to the HQ and home of 99 Station Street and Staffordshire Fine Foods owners, Ross and Susan Broadman, just outside of Burton Upon Trent. Our first test when we arrived was to tell the difference between two lots of peanuts. One was salted and the other was smoked. I have never thought of smoking a peanut before. It was yummy. Next we put some salmon in the smoker and left a chorizo simmering on the stove in chicken stock and went for a foraging walk in the local woods.

After our walk, we returned and tried two different types of smoked salmon, one had been cured and the other had not. The one that was not cured did not taste very good. However, the salmon that cured was delicious and I am not very keen on smoked salmon. We next tried cured, smoked and roasted venison loin. It was lovely. Yet another new experience as I have never thought about doing that with venison. We tried pigeon breast next that had been cured and smoked. I love pigeon breast, however in some places that you get it, it can be very overpowering and horrible. This was not. It was mild and delicious. It was so good, I may develop a craving for it. Finally, Ross made a soup with the chorizo that had been simmered in chicken stock for 3 hours. He cut up the chorizo for us to taste and turned the stock into a soup with our foraged nettles and wild garlic. It was delicious. We each got a chorizo to take home and I am planning on doing something similar with mine so watch this space…

I would like to thank Ross, Susan, Dan and all the team at 99 Station Street and Staffordshire Fine Foods. It was a fantastic day. You can see what Ross and Susan thought about being descended on by a load of bloggers, here. I would to thank all my fellow MFB members for attending, it was great to meet you all and I cannot wait to do it again soon. Thanks to Louise for organising it and all your help with MFB so far. It is much appreciated.

Happy Cooking!

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Posted in 99 Station Street, Comida Y Vida, Eat The Midlands, food, foodie, happy cooking, local, Midlands, Midlands Food, Midlands Food Bloggers, Midlands Group, regional, Restaurant, Review, Staffordshire Fine Foods, Thank you

Tagged 99 Station Street, Burton Upon Trent, Comida Y Vida, Eat The Midlands, Foraging, Meet Up, Midlands, Midlands Food, Midlands Food Bloggers, Staffordshire Fine Foods

Jo Cooks: Sainsbury’s Feed a Family of Four for £50

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Jo | 7 Comments

JavaScript required to play Jo Cooks Sainsburys Sausage, Tomato and Cannelini Bean Pot with Mash.

I was recently contacted by Damola from Sainsbury’s asking if I would like to take part in their Feed a Family of Four for £50 campaign. This campaign is to encourage people to plan their meals and do their food shopping at a reasonable cost. I do not normally plan my meals but with a baby on the way and the extra costs that it brings, I thought I should give it a go.

In addition to sending me a week’s worth of shopping to do this week’s meal plan, they also sent me a Sony Bloggie HD Camera to record myself cooking one of the dish’s from the plan. The results of which are above and have been submitted to Sainsbury’s to possibly appear on their website or on one of their TV adverts shown during Britain’s Got Talent this week.

I decided to cook Sausage, Tomato & Cannellini Pot with mash for the video. I served it with a few extra vegetables and made it for my Mom Elaine, my Stepdad Bernie and Stuart. All of them are featured in the video above.

Overall, I was quite impressed with Sainsbury’s home delivery and the quality of their produce. The vegetables (those that were not frozen) were excellent quality and very fresh. The sausages used to make the dish were frozen and did not have much flavour too them, but they were perfectly usable. Most of the products used were from their basics range but they seemed quite good quality. The meat looked good too. I am not entirely sure if I had just served the dish above with mash above that it would be enough for four people. I think a bit of extra vegetables makes it go a bit further and I would hate to think of anyone not having enough food to eat in my house. One complain though is that they sent me 3 loaves of wholemeal meal, all with a use by date of 31st May. My shopping was delivered on Saturday. Unless the bread was frozen, it would never last a family of four for seven days.

I think I would quite happily use Sainsbury’s home delivery again and although I do like the principles of their meal plan, I am not sure if as a foodie it gives enough choice for me. I know I am very lucky not to have such a tight budget for food but if I did, I think the Sainsbury’s meal plan with a few minor adjustments would work for me

Many thanks to Damola and Hayley from Sainsbury’s for sending me the shopping and the camera for free. It is much appreciated

Thanks to my Mom, Stepdad and Stuart for being featured in the video and additional thanks to Stuart for filming it.

Happy Cooking!

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Posted in cooking, Feed a Family of Four for £50, food, foodie, happy cooking, Recipe, Sainsbury's, Thank you, Video Post

Tagged cooking, Feed a Family of Four for £50, food, foodie, Recipe, Sainsburys, Video Post

A Night At The Wild Garlic Part 3: The Apartment

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Jo | 2 Comments

After a wonderful meal at The Wild Garlic, it was time to retire to fabulous apartment on the second floor above the restaurant. The apartment design was inspired by Angie Lewin and is decorated in 50′s/60′s style to compliment her artwork in the apartment. The apartment is a not an hotel room or holiday cottage, its a retreat. The fantastic staff of The Wild Garlic will leave you alone as much as you like. You have your own key and can come and go as you please. I loved it as you are right in the heart of the village and you get a real idea of what is going on, in the restaurant and the village. One small negative is that it is on the main road so you can get a bit of road noise at night. This did not bother me however, if you are looking for a country hideout away from noise, this may not be the ideal place.

When you arrive you find, bread, milk, butter, apple juice, tea and coffee things and even a bottle of wine in the kitchen. Inspired by the local produce in the apartment and in the local fruit and vegetable shop (see post here for more information) , I made myself mushrooms on toast for breakfast before I left and here is my recipe for it:

Mushrooms on Toast

Ingredients (Serves 1 hungry person!)

1 slice of thick local bread, toasted
1 field mushroom and 1 chestnut mushroom, peeled and chopped with stalk removed
1 banana shallot, peeled and finely chopped
1 large knob of local butter, for frying
1 small bunch or parsley, finely chopped
Rocket leaves, to serve with it, if desired

Method

Melt some butter in frying pan, add in the shallots and fry until softened slightly
Then add in the mushrooms and fry until cooked through. Add in the parsley at the last minute and serve on top of hot toasted bread.
Put some rocket leaves on the side if you like and enjoy!

I would to thank Mat and all team at The Wild Garlic for a an amazing stay. I will be back again soon.

Happy Cooking!

PS: Midlands Food Bloggers Members and Supporters can now get a Gourmet Life card for three months FREE! If you would like more information, please see the post here

PPS: Sorry for the delay between posts. If you would like to know why there was a delay, please see post on Jo’s Nursery here

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Posted in Recipe, cooking, food, Review, Restaurant, BBC, bread, local, Thank you, Gourmet Life, Midlands, regional, Masterchef, celebrity masterchef, foodie, Midlands Food Bloggers, happy cooking, Mat Follas, Masterchef Experience, Midlands Food, Dorset, Beaminster

Tagged Recipe, Restaurant, Review, cooking, local, food, Midlands, gourmet life, masterchef, celebrity masterchef, foodie, Midlands Food Bloggers, Mat Follas, Dorset, Beaminster, Produce

A Night At The Wild Garlic Part 2: The Meal

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Jo | 5 Comments

After going shopping for supplies for the restaurant that afternoon, I was really looking forward to my meal at The Wild Garlic. Before service started, I was given a tour of the kitchen and met all of the team. The restaurant is quite informal in its layout with polished wooden tables and chalkboards listing daily specials and drinks on. Mat has also put a black peppermint plant on each table which adds to the rustic vibe and makes the place smell nice too.

As I knew the food at the restaurant was going to be great anyway, I asked Mat to surprise me for my meal, taking into account that I could not eat certain things due to being pregnant. To nibble on before the meal began, I had some bread from a local bakery with olive oil, balsamic and spicy nuts. For my starter, I had Goats Cheese Pannacotta, with Beetroot, Apple Crisp, Poached and Powdered Rhubarb. I am not a great fan of beetroot but it was the perfect compliment to the creamy goats cheese pannacotta. The powdered rhubarb was a revelation too. It tasted like cumin or something. The flavour was so rich and earthy. Mat enjoys using science in his cooking, but believes that the science should happen in the kitchen and not on people’s plate and I think this dish is a perfect example of that.

The Amuse Bouche was Spring Vegetable and Wild Garlic Veloute. It was light but creamy at the same time. Very yummy! For my main, I had Rose Rose Veal Fillet with Almond Butter and Potato Fondant. The veal was amazing. It was perfectly cooked and the almond butter complimented it beautifully. Also on the plate, were raw vegetables and pickles which added an extra dimension to the dish.

For pudding, I had the dessert platter which consisted of five individual desserts: Lime Tart topped with Meringue, Ginger Cake and Custard, Chocolate Brownie, Citrus Crème Brulee and licorice ice cream. To be honest, the entire platter was amazing. I cannot single any dessert out as they were all excellent. My favourite though was the licorice ice cream, as I have loved licorice since I was a child but have never had it in ice cream form. I could eat by the bucket load and I may develop a pregnancy craving for it, just so that I can have more!!!!!!

I finished the evening off with a decaff coffee and a chat with Mat and his staff. I would to thank Mat and his team for a fantastic meal in the restaurant. I think it is one of the best meals I have ever had. Please check back soon and I will tell you about my stay in the apartment above the restaurant.

*If you want to hear my about my pregnancy experiences of the trip to Dorset, please read the post on Jo’s Nursery here*

Midlands Food Bloggers

As some of you may know already, I am the founding member of the Midlands Food Bloggers and I am pleased to announce that with the help of Louise of Comida Y Vida, we now have a community blog. We are also having a meet up on Saturday 4th June in Burton Upon Trent. If you would like to find out more, do a guest post on the new blog or attend the meet up please visit the new blog for more information or email midsfoodbloggers@hotmail.co.uk

Happy Cooking!

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Posted in cooking, food, Twitter, Review, Restaurant, BBC, local, Thank you, West Midlands, seasonal, Midlands, regional, Masterchef, celebrity masterchef, foodie, Midlands Food Bloggers, happy cooking, Mat Follas, Masterchef Experience, Midlands Food, The Wild Garlic

Tagged Restaurant, Review, seasonal, cooking, local, food, Twitter, Midlands, bbc, masterchef, foodie, Midlands Food Bloggers, happy cooking, BBC Good Food Show, Mat Follas, The Wild Garlic, Dorset, Beaminster

A Night at The Wild Garlic Part 1: Local Food Sourcing

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Jo | 6 Comments

Last week, I went on a gastronomic tour of Dorset. Dorset is place I have wanted to visit for a while, as it has always looked so lovely on the River Cottage TV Series and after I heard, 2009 Masterchef winner Mat Follas was opening his restaurant in Beaminster, called The Wild Garlic I knew I definitely had to go!

This is the first of three posts about my experiences at The Wild Garlic. I had such a good time and I want to tell you all about it. If I did one post, it would be very long so I have broken it up into three bite – sized chunks for you. After this, there will be a post about my meal at the restaurant and my stay in the apartment above the restaurant. Finally, my series on Dorset will conclude on a visit to the River Cottage Canteen in Axminster.

I arrived at The Wild Garlic during a busy holiday weekday lunch service. I was greeted warmly by Mat and all his staff and shown to the apartment upstairs. More on this in another post. I put my stuff in the room and wandered back downstairs. Mat invites to go on a walk to get some supplies for the restaurant. This turns out to be a very short walk as we get the supplies from both the butchers and the fruit and vegetable shop across the square.

Our first stop was Nick Tett Family Butchers. From here, Mat purchased lamb loins, skirt steak, goats cheese and a few other bits and pieces. Everything in the butchers had local, free range or organic attached to it or in some cases all three. This is the kind of butchers shop that I would like to have over the road from me.

Our second and final stop was Fruit and Two Veg, a little bit further down the road pass the butchers. In the shop was a vast collection of local fruit and vegetables including asparagus, strawberries, spinach, rocket and mushrooms. I was in heaven. Mat and his sous chef brought lots of things for the restaurant from here, so many that I lost track but I know I ate a few of them in my meal that evening.I would love to have this shop around the corner from me.

Before, I even had my meal at the restaurant I was very impressed. As sometimes, restaurants say things are local but how local is local? In Mat’s case, local means over the road, which is the best kind of local. Don’t you agree?

I will be back soon with another post telling you about my fantastic meal at The Wild Garlic.

Happy Cooking!

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Posted in food, BBC, local, Thank you, regional, Masterchef, celebrity masterchef, foodie, happy cooking, Mat Follas, The Wild Garlic, Dorset, Beaminster, Axminster, Canteen, Nick Tett, Fruit and Two Veg

Tagged local, bbc, masterchef, celebrity masterchef, Mat Follas, The Wild Garlic, Dorset, Beaminster, Axminster, River Cottage, Canteen, Nick Tett, Fruit and Two Veg, Produce

A Bun In The Oven!

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Jo | 10 Comments

Some of you may have noticed that my posts have been slightly irregular of late, and that I haven’t been on Twitter or Facebook as much recently. Well I have a very good reason for my tardiness. I am 12 weeks pregnant today with my first child. Over the last few weeks, I have been suffering with tiredness and morning sickness (its actually all day sickness but they don’t tell you that!) so blogging has not been my number 1 priority recently. I do hope you will all forgive me. I am nearing the end of the first trimester so I am hoping my regular blogging schedule will resume shortly, especially since I have lots of exciting things coming up soon.

To keep this blog to food only, I have decided to set up another blog for my pregnancy adventures. Its called Jo’s Nursery. Therefore, if you are interested in finding out more about what I am experiencing at the moment, then please pop over and say hello. However, if you are not interested, don’t worry, this blog will be staying the same. There may be some cross over but I will try to limit it. You can follow my new adventure on Twitter @Jos_Nursery and Facebook too. I hope to see some of you there.

I will be back soon with another foodie post. Thanks for understanding.

Happy Cooking!

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Posted in Facebook, foodie, happy cooking, Jo's Nursery, new, pregnant, Thank you, Twitter

Tagged 12 weeks, bun in the oven, Jo's Nursery, pregnant, Thank you

Jo Cooks: Go Green Week Cookery Demonstration

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Jo | 3 Comments

This is the second in my occasional series of video posts of me cooking in my kitchen. However, this time I am not in my kitchen. I am cooking in the food technology room at the University of Worcester. This was a special event for Go Green Week, a student action week to raise awareness of climate change. I told you about my then impending cookery demonstration here. I made:

Local Vegetable Curry and Naan Bread
Roman style Vegetable Pizzas
Caramel Apple Meringues

The vegetables were kindly donated by Paul from Worcester Produce. The demonstration was filmed and edited by the wonderful Martin Duke. Thanks to both of you for your help. It is much apperciated You can download a PDF with my recipes on here: Cookery Demo Recipes Please note, you will need Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat to read and download the file. I really enjoyed doing the demonstration and I hope the people who attended enjoyed it too. I hope you enjoy watching the video. Please let me know what you think. Below is a small selection of photos from the event.