Tickets are on sale now for the Blaggers’ Banquet in pairs for £150 and one table of 5 for £375. 5 pairs of tickets will be auctioned starting from £75.

The Banquet meu details will be revealed on the night, expect 5 lovely courses with drinks and lots of fun.

Buy your tickets here: http://bit.ly/19WuSA

Well, the blaggers’ banquet is all systems go and we’re blagging like k-razy. We’ve had an amazing and very supportive response from producers, restaurants, chefs, wineries, breweries… it’s been really inspiring. Everyone’s really pulled together and gotten things done. Wonderful.

We had our first meeting at the new Draft House on Northcote Rd, who donated the whole bar for the evening which was wonderful. This helped galvanise everyone and get things moving bringing us nicely to where we are now. We had a great evening drinking Murphy’s of Cork on draught and blackberry whiskey with some fantastic bar food – I’ll be back for sure.

We’ve have some fantastic donations since, both for the meal and for the night itself. We’re not going to spoil it by revealing anything for the meal or everything from the auction, but here’s a taster of some of auction items. The auction will run partially on the night and for a month after the banquet online, so, even if you’re not in London or not at Hawksmoor on the night, you can participate.

Autographed cookbooks from Fergus Henderson at St John’s – these are definitely unique and I expect a battle for them!

A year’s supply of Chilango vouchers (£2,400 value).

A Mexican cookery class from Thomasina Miers: author, intrepid tv chef, winner of Masterchef, and of Wahaca in London. The course is being run exclusively for the Blaggers’ Banquet auction. It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn authentic Mexican Cuisine in London.

A Kitchenaid worth £369 for all you passionate cooks.

A cookery lesson at La Cucina Caldesi followed by lunch + a signed copy of Katie Celdesi’s new book.

White Christmas Tea collection from the fabulous Rare Tea Company including 2 lovely white teas and a teapot and tea cocktails at Hix Soho with the Tea Lady.

Tasting menus from L’Anima, Racine, Maze, Theo Randall, Tom Aikens & Launceston Place.

1 hour cooking lesson in the Konstam kitchen, a seasonal dish from start to finish.

A lovely Gordon’s Choice Hamper from Selfridge’s worth £130.

There’s lots more, all of which we will write about soon. Thanks to all of the blaggers who are doing *sterling* work and to all those who donated. We really appreciate it all of the support, as do Action Against Hunger.

So, we still need more auction items and items for goodie bags, indeed we need the bags themselves! Drop me an email at niamheen@gmail.com if you have something you would like to donate. We would love to hear from you.

The Bisol Jeio Prosecco Food & Wine Matching Competition has closed, and we’ve had some wonderful and interesting recipes submitted as matches for Bisol Jeio Prosecco. I had lots of visitors to the stall over the last few weeks who sampled the prosecco and described the range of flavours they experienced. They then went home and put a lot of thought into how that would work well with food. It’s been an education for me to observe and it’s been so lovely to meet everyone and chat about food & wine, two of my favourite topics.

There’s been some really inspiring recipes, and the competition even inspired Kathy of Bemused Bouche to start blogging. What a compliment! Our original plan, was to choose 5 finalists and give them passes for The Wine Show on in London this weekend. We didn’t bank on the interminable Royal Mail strike, so we’ve had to review as we were not able to post the passes out to the winners. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing, the quality of the entries is so high, it’s good to have more time to choose the finalists. We’ll be in touch this week with details of the new arrangements.

For now, here’s those lovely recipes for your perusal. Which ones do you think would be the best match?

Pork Belly Tortellini with Prosecco Poached Pears, Pecorino and a Sage Brown Butter from Neil at The War On Cookbooks. “The cheese and the brown butter give the perfect kind of nutty vibes with the pear complimenting the fruitiness. The addition of the prosecco itself into the menu doesn’t harm the combination either but the effect is a subtle undercurrent.”

Carnitas with a spiced apple and lime salsa from Carla at Can Be Bribed With Food. “I know my likes and dislikes and tend to go for fairly generic matches, so this is the perfect occasion to test myself. After much thinking and trying I have decided that the Jeio would go quite nicely with this dish.

Chicken steamed in Sake with Bok Choi and a Soy Dressing, first blog post from Kathy at Bemused Bouche. “My first thoughts were either something involving fruit, maybe using figs or incorporating the membrello I have left over from last years quince season or where the main component has a salty flavour, seafood or pork perhaps. And then I thought about a soy dressing, giving the salty element and a definite attempt at a non-italian match.” Welcome to the blogosphere and well done!

Pork Chop with prosecco and tarragon cream sauce, goats cheese and olive crushed potatoes, parsnip puree from Dan at Essex Eating. “I’m pleased to report, it did appear to work, very well in fact – the prosecco didn’t grate alarmingly against the dishes ingredients, in fact they seemed to compliment each other nicely….I like to put it down to my bulging analytical brain and amazing palette, stressing categorically that it’s absolutely not more luck, than judgement.”

Danny at Food Urchin matched Warm Winter Salad with Pheasant, Pear, Pomegranate and Walnut. Dedicated to the cause he did this at 9am. “There are many reasons for drinking sparkling wine at 9 o’clock this morning son. Mostly poor ones but I’m going to stick by them. I’ve left things to the last minute you see. I need daylight for optimum photographising conditions and I have to test out this recipe that I’ve been formulating in my head for the past two weeks, by tomorrow. Deadlines, son.”

Rebecca from Fresh-Lee submitted Salmon-Mango Ceviche Snack. “As soon as I had a taste of the Bisol, the amazing fusion food of Miami Beach came to the front of my mind, and I thought I’d try some variations on a Mexican ceviche – fish ‘cooked’ in citrus juices.”

Claire from The Hungriest Hippo submitted Smoked Garlic Risotto with King Scallops and Prosecco. “I loved the idea of having a glass of chilled, sparkling Prosecco to sip along with a sumptuous treat of a supper dish – and once this seed of thought was planted, I could not get the idea of a rich, creamy risotto out of my mind, delicate in flavour and accompanied by a trio of the freshest king scallops, simply panfried.”

Ailbhe of Simply Splendiferous made sea trout fillets with a fresh rocket, spinach and watercress salad and a tartare based sauce. “After much to-ing and fro-ing I’ve settled on the combination of sea trout fillets with a fresh rocket, spinach and watercress salad and a tartare based sauce.”

Linda, of With Knife & Fork, matched her autumnal sort of salad, “a little bit of googling and reading and a few thought came to mind…..pears…well they go well in salads with blue cheese and often walnuts. Pears and peaches…sometimes served with air-dried hams. A sweetish fruit and salty theme was emerging. I’d also got a hankering for something autumnal, earthy…”.

Pete submitted a recipe for seed cake with a bit of a chilli kick. He kindly brought some down for me to try and it was delicious, I loved the chilli in there. It’s a nice match too.

Mia, of the Urban Foodie, submitted Chilli Crab Spaghetti, “a delicious store cupboard favourite for when the fridge is bare”.

Emma, blogger behind The Little Welsh Eats the Big World, and avid twitterer, submitted Oriental Duck Risotto.

Denise, of The Wine Sleuth, loves Bisol with strawberries, and matched it with her childhood favourite Strawberry Shortcake.

Spaghetti a la Putanesca from Dino at The Epicurean. “The perfect match with Bisol Jelo Prosecco before during and after – eating the dish that is :-)”.

Pork with apple & walnut with a spinach & salsify gratin from Martin at What I Would Rather Eat Today.

Jeanne, from Cooksister, submitted a lovely seasonal Blackberry and Prosciutto salad. “all the crunchy goodness of a green salad, the silken saltiness of the Prosciutto, offest nicely by the sweetness of the rich, ripe berries. “

And finally, Biggest Jim submitted a Goat’s Cheese Souffle. “Not having cooked a soufflé and being in one of my particularly ambitious cooking moods, I thought I’d try a Goat’s Cheese Souffle combination with Prosecco.”

So, that’s it folks! Very impressive submissions, it makes our job quite difficult. Thanks so much to all who entered. I’ll be back soon with a shortlist of finalists.

It’s time to reveal the details surrounding the Action Against Hunger Bloggers’ Fundraiser. On November 15^th, we will be taking over Hawksmoor, the revered steakhouse in Liverpool St, for the blaggers’ banquet. This will be an exciting dinner created entirely by bloggers and using only food that they have blagged and that they themselves will cook and serve.

There will also be a blaggers’ auction, where we will be auctioning exciting items we’ve blagged. This auction will be two fold, a portion of it on the night, and the rest in the weeks following. Further details relating to the auction will be announced as they become available.

We’ve got just over three weeks to pull all of this off but we do love a challenge. All proceeds go to Action Against Hunger too, a great cause (more on them here).

PRODUCERS: Want to donate some produce? Food, drink, items for the auction? It might be a good way to get your products seen by thousands of blog followers and sampled by the lucky few who get tickets for the banquet. Please get in touch – email blaggersbanquet@gmail.com. We want to hear from you.

BLOGGERS: We’ve had a lot of blogger volunteers, but we could always do with more! We will need people in the kitchen, people front of house and blaggers. If you are interested in getting involvedven’t been in touch already, please email me at blaggersbanquet@gmail.com. Those that have been in touch, I’ll be emailing asap.

AUCTION: We need lots of stuff for auction. Whatever you’ve got. Equipment, food, wine, trips, posh dinners. Whatever you’ve got, seriously! There will be an auction on the night and an online auction. Email blaggersbanquet@gmail.com.

Thanks to Amy who designed our fab logo for free in her own time, and at extremely short notice. Much appreciated!

You’ve just 12 hours to get your entries in for the Bisol Jeio Prosecco and Food Matching competition. 5 finalists win tickets for the Wine Show this weekend, and the winner who will be announced at a cook off shortly after at Bibendum Wine HQ, will get to dine at the chefs table at Trinity. Giles Coren has proclaimed it “the perfect restaurant”.

We’ve had some great entries but you’ve still got a chance. Submit themn by leaving a comment on the oiginal competition post with the link, or by emailing me the recipe.

Look forward to seeing them! :)

Me: “I can’t meet you tonight, I am off to ham school”

Friend: “Ham School?!”

Me: “Yes, ham school! I can’t wait, it’s at Brindisa in Borough Market. You know how much I love that shop.”

Friend: “I’m jealous! Ham school was always my favourite class in school too ;)”

This style of intrepid food exploring I sometimes find myself engaged in confuses and perplexes my friends. They find it highly amusing that I am so engaged with the world of food. But even the most cynical, were somewhat startled by the concept of ham school, and more tellingly they wanted to go.

What was ham school? I was invited by Brindisa to participate in their first ham class, where they would educate me about four different hams, their different origins, both porcine and geographical, the different diets, and complex disparages in flavour and quality that these produce. We were also going to be taught how to slice ham from the leg of an iberico pig, and we would get to take the ham home. Finally there would be manzanilla.

A perfect evening. Perfect in all ways but one, timing. It was on a Thursday, market day, where I am usually busy up till 9pm in Covent Garden tidying away the stall. However, I couldn’t refuse, so I advised that I may be late but that I would get there as early as I could.

I’ve long been a fan of Brindisa. When I lived in Ireland, a few years ago now, I was looking for Judion beans, those enormous Spanish butter beans, and discovered that they stocked them there. I made it my business to go there on my next trip to London, and prompty fell in love. With their chorizo, of course.

After I moved to London, I became an extremely regular visitor, particularly to their Exmouth Market shop, which was near where I worked for a number of years. They did a marvellous chickpea and chorizo stew which I have tried to emulate at home and which I had from their shop at least weekly, along with their delicious and wholesome salads, sandwiches which put most sandwiches to shame, and of course the delicious Spanish cheeses. Sometimes I would treat myself to a bottle of their delicious Albarino, usually an indicator of a bad day at work, a visiting friend, or a trip to Ireland. I worked in publishing you see, and therefore was far from rich. Sadly that shop has since closed, but there is still the shop in Borough Market. Unfortunately, rules dictate that hot food cannot be served in the shop, so there’s no stew, but there are plenty of treats to buy to bring home and indulge in. Then there is also the ham. I was about to learn a lot about that.

The shop is located under one of the railway bridges, with big gates looking on to the market on one side and the street on the other. We were gathered around a large rustic kitchen table, with a plate of ham and sherry in front of us, looking at a large map of Spain. Zac Fingal-Rock Innes, the master carver, and Alberto Ambler, the Assistant Manager, guided us through the map, telling us in fascinating detail, where the differences in taste, and sometimes quality originate for each ham. We learned about the different breeds, and each one we discussed we then tasted and described. It was fascinating, like a wine tasting, but with ham. The class was informal and passionate, the loved their subject area and it was infectious. I found myself wanting to learn more. And to eat more.

The hams were delicious. We tried four, the final (and most expensive of course) was my favourite, and at £15 per 100g, it will be a treat, and a much appreciated one. Joselito Gran Reserva Bellota from Guijuelo, Salamanca, an Ibérico pig and therefore acorn fed, cured for 3-4 years. I could talk forever about these hams, and the pigs but I see I am already approaching 700 words, so I’ll get on with it. Just this one bit, the more expensive the ham, it seems the fussier the pig. These pigs will travel huge distances to eat the right acorn. Brilliant! I love that attention to detail, and the fussiness. I respect them for that.

The hams were by now tasted  and notes taken, had some delicious manzanilla. It was time to learn how to carve the ham. I was looking forward to this, I’ve always wanted to be shown how to do it. I took my place by the ham and proceeded to cut under the guidance of Zac. It didn’t seem too bad at all. In fact, it seemed fine. I was no expert, but I was finding it relatively straightforward, how could this be? Zac asked if I had done it before as I seemed like a natural, which I definitely had not. I mentioned in jest that I had done anatomy (and therefore human dissection) in my university years, which it turns out Zac had too. So, maybe that was it? My knife skills (ack! forgive me) translated from the lab to the kitchen.

Ham sliced and packaged up, it was time to go home with a little bag of ham treats, including some fat to render and have with potatoes or similar. I had a great time and would highly recommend it. Thanks to Celia for arranging the invite and to the lovely people at Brinidisa for arranging such a wonderful evening. Lovely people, lots of knowledge, and lots of tasty ham. The classes will be running from November for £65. Given the quality of the hams, the knowledge of the staff and the uniqueness of the experience, it’s a great value evening.

Brindisa at Borough Market
The Floral Hall
Stoney Street
Borough Market
London SE1 9AF

Tel & Fax: 020 7407 1036
Email: shop@brindisa.com

Another weekend, another food market! This weekend I will be at Wish You Were Here in the Newburgh Quarter, off Carnaby St in Soho. There will live music, lots of food and frivolity and there is lots of sunshine forecast. So, come on down from 12.30 to 6pm on Sunday. I’ll be serving up home salted beef bagels, organic Irish smoked salmon w/ cream cheese and cucumber pickle bagels, black bean chilli (v) and spiced pumpkin soup (v). Should be lots of fun!

I’ve  become a regular at Covent Garden Real Food Market now, every Thursday, without fail. Up early, making and baking. Bread, roasts, chorizo and pork rolls, tarts and now also soups. It’s a very long day. Starting at 5.30 am and finishing, without a break at 9pm, it’s usually approaching 10pm when I drag my weary bones home, shattered.

I’m always fine until I know it’s over. That’s the way I work. I can run on adrenaline until I know I can stop and then, knowing iot’s over, I relax, and slowly start to fall apart, needing my bed or at least a glass of wine pre bed fairly urgently. When I get very tired having pushed myself to extremes, which I tend to do alot, I get restless and itchy. It’s not nice for anyone seeing this restless, itchy lump on the sofa cradling a glass of red wine and usually wrapped in a bright red woolly blanket.

But I do it. For the love of food, and  I do enjoy the market.

How to make it even more of a challenge? There must be a way. How about starting a new job (which is great!), which has a Wednesday evening meeting that finishes late. Oh, I know, more! What about doing the market 4 days in a row, solo, all the cooking and the serving, and the transporting, setting up and packing? That doesn’t sound like enough. What about, after the first day of market, pushing the boat out, and going out with some fellow bloggers to try some of the London Restaurant Festival menus? Good company, food & wine, perhaps a cocktail and at Rules? A late night before getting up to bake again? I can do it, can’t I?

Well, friends that is academic, as sadly I just do. The meeting was interesting and fun, and made for an very intense Thursday morning prep experience. I had a brilliant time with Sig, Dan and Mathilde, doing a mini incomplete restaurant crawl to try the menus at various places in the area. We failed to make the dessert, through a combination of a delay with the main course and frenetic, wine fuelled chatter which distracted us from the project at hand. Lots of fun. We finished the evening with a vesper martini at Rules, which was fantastic and like a trip back in time. It’s a cosy, elegant space and feels very indulgent and very right.

A success, no? But what about Friday morning? Can I just say ARGH! I was tired, hungover, disorganised, but more than these three things combined I was determined. I managed to get everything done and made it to market with a new addition to the menu – soup. Now, I love soup, always have. I make it a lot, especially in Winter. I love traditional soups but also more interesting creative ones. Over the three days to follow I served three types: Spiced Pumpkin, Tomato, Lentil & Chickpea and Black Bean Chilli, soups for £3 and chilli for £3.50. All vegetarian, and all went down very well, much to my delight. I’ll have soup every day at market now. I also served organic Irish smoked salmon bagels with cream cheese and cucmber pickle which also went down very well.

Friday was one of those days were everything went wrong. I burned myself, the table collapsed, spilled some prosecco, the weather turned, we had lots of rain and it was generally a bit of a disaster. I refused to let it bother me as I can’t control it now, can I? Can I? No, I can’t, more’s the pity. So I was ill prepared for the scorcher on Saturday and the very busy day presented to me.

Saturday was just great. Brilliant atmosphere, lots of hungry people, lots of thirsty people. It was vibrant and interesting and fun. We should have a Saturday food market at Covent Garden Market every week. Honestly, it was excellent. Lots of people asked if we would be there every Saturday and were disappointed when I said no. Covent Garden, can we please have a Saturday market?

I added another new menu item over the weekend. Overnight roast shoulder of lamb with smoky aubergine relish. That, with the soups, is now my favourite item on the stall. The lamb even trumped the pork and sold out first, and considering how popular the pork is, that is saying something.

So, that was it. Four days in a row, new job, big night out, recovery. I did it and I was very proud of myself indeed. Back to market tomorrow with more slow roast shoulder of lamb, and slow roast shoulder of pork and soup. There’ll be other things too, there are plans afoot. I’ll try, try, try to get a menu up in the morning but I’ve another late night at work tonight, and I’m only human, even if I may be in denial a bit about that ;)

It’s nice to be in the know for once. I seem to miss all announcements of secret gigs from artists I love, moan that I can never catch some in particular, and feel like I am sometimes viewing it all from the sidelines. Bring on twitter and the democratisation of information and watch that dissipate. Follow the people into the same things as you, and hey presto, you find out stuff!

When the Selfridge’s popup restaurant details were leaked on Bloomberg, and subsequently spread through twitter like a fast burning flame, I, with others, clamoured for a table, chosing Monday lunchtime, thinking it would surely be the day least in demand. Originally the restaurant was only to open from the 8th to the 16th of October (it’s now extended to the end of October and is fully booked). I was successful and have been anticipating it since, reading other reviews, following the tweets, and waiting my turn.

Monday 12th came around quickly. I’d had an intense previous 4 days. The Covent Garden Real Food Market was running all weekend, and that meant 4 days of 5am starts to bake bread and cook soups etc., followed by long days on my feet working hard, and more cooking when I got home every evening. Insert slep where you can and try to retain a sense of humour.

The morning of my lunch reservation I had a 6.45am meeting, and another subsequently, and immeidately prior to lunch. I ached everywhere but I refused to let tiredness and soreness ruin the day. I managed to snatch 15 minutes prior to lunch, and had an indulgent small glass of Marlborough Pinot Noir in The Wonder Bar at Selfridge’s  while waiting for my friend to arrive.

EEEEEEK!

Pierre Koffman is previously of seminal restaurant La Tante Claire, a three michelin starred restaurant in London which closed its doors in 2002. In 2002 I was relatively fresh off the boat in London, and skint, desperately seeking work in an city that was saturated with graduates and at that time, lacking in work. It just wasn’t an option.

Inspired by his Gascon grandmother, I was intrigued as to how this homely influence would reflect in his cooking which is of a three michelin starred standard. I’d heard a lot about his cooking, particularly his signature dish of trotter. I, like most others visiting, excited.

We were told to seek out a lift by the Chanel counter with a security guard by it and progress to the roof. Now I am not one of those girls that knows the intricacies of the layout of the perfume and make up counters in Selfridge’s and it won’t come as any surprise that I went to the wrong one. You see there are two. Now I know the food, kitchen and shoe sections very well, but the perfume and make up, not really. Last time I went to one there last year they asked me if I had ever worn make up before and that patronising attitude combined with the feeling of being in a shop window just does my head in.

I digress. We found the lift and were welcomed by a very friendly girl with the list of all people allowed into the lift that day. While we waited she had to explain to some very annoyed people why they couldn’t get the lift or go to the restaurant, she has to do it many times every day and has my sympathies. We arrived on the roof, the first thing we saw was the gents which was unfortunate, but then proceeded through a lovely white curtained hallway, past an excellent ghost chair to the reception. Very friendly and not remotely pretentious, they took our coats and bags and we proceeded to our table.

Now, the restaurant is a popup, and therefore temporary. Housed in a marquee on the roof of Selfridge’s, it was intensely bright and white with a lovely wedgewood blue wall at the end and lovely fixtures and fittings including suspended bowler hats down one side, some of which doubled up as light fittings. The chandliers made from antlers were familiar from a recent trip to The Bull and Last. It was all vert stylish. It was warm, very warm, and had a slight hum. I felt as though I were in one of those fanastical enormous balloons in the sky.

We perused the menu, it was all very apealing. Guest chef for our sitting was Eric Chavot. He had a starter and a main but we were both keen to try Koffman’s so we passed. The starter menu particularly was difficult to chose from. The main course was a bit easier, I felt as though I really should get the trotter, it’s the signature dish after all and might be a little challenging, but what if it’s too much so? I decided to take a risk and go for it, ordering a fricassee of wild mushrooms with snails and bone marrow for starters and pig’s trotter stuffed with veal sweetbreads and morel mushrooms. My friend ordered pan fried foie gras with a potato gallette and sauternes jus followed by royale de lievre with red cabbage.

Unfortunately, I had another meeting to attend after lunch so we had to go easy on the wine. This was a shame as food of this standard deserves fantastic wine and lots of it, however, I had to behave. We ordered some Valpolicella which was perfectly delicious, relatively full bodied but good for the afternoon.

We started with an amuse bouche of salted code which was delicate and flavoursome and definitely got my palette going. The starters arrived and were presented beautifully. Mine rested atop some roasted bone, and was scattered with mushrooms, bone marrow and snails. The snails particularly were cooked beautifully and were melt in the mouth tender but had an earthiness that was beautiful with the mushrooms. The bone marrow added an extra layer of umami and luxury, I couldn’t resist mopping up the juices with some bread. The foie gras was intensely rich, butter and extremely tender, there was some lovely bright green appley mousse served with it which cut right through it. Finished, we caught our breath, and I anxiously awaited the trotter.

The main courses arrived swiftly. The hare (lievre) looked fantastic but my focus was on the very visual trotter which had arrived. Brown and bold, it looked succulent, unctous and tender. I nervously put my knife in a took a peak at the delights within. I cut a morsel, the knife easily slicing through the tender skin and took a bite. I’d read that it was rich and intense but for me this was delicate and elegant with warming homely flavours. Savoury but depsite the contents not overwhelmingly meaty, it was creamy and ambrosial. The hare went down well, although personally, I find the tartness of hare meat a bit much for my palette. I could however apreciate the artistry at work here.

And breathe. By now the room was hot, over the top hot and I could feel my face was burning, but thankfully the sun was starting to set and the room was starting to cool down. The hum and the vibration by now was comforting, and we perused the dessert menu. I decided on the Gascon Apple Tart and my friend the Chocolate Mousse. The tart was intesnely sweet and caramelised, which would have been too much, but the accompanying vanilla cream calmed the otherwise full flavours, and provided a delicious counterpoint. The chocolate mousse was light and delicious, much lighter than I would have anticipated and very chocolatey as you would expect. This was followed by coffees and petits fours, although the peitits fours came as more of an afterthought. They were delicious but at this stage I was extremely full. I did really like the mini choux pastry and the truffles were divine. It was all lovely really.

Overall impressions? A lovely, worthwhile experience. Not perfect, the service was patchy at points, but this was compensated by the lack of pretence and overall air of friendliness and openness that was exuded. The food was elegant and flavouromse, rich but not overwhelming and perfectly executed. The space was pretty and bright and very unusual. I am only sorry that I can’t go again. Can I please?

Overnight slow roast hand of pork and lamb shoulder

A quick one from me this morning as I am in the midst of my cooking! Covent Garden Real Food Market is open all weekend as part of the London Restaurant Festival from  12 – 7pm. Today I have overnight slow roast hand of pork and shoulder of lamb with homemade bread. THe lamb will be served with a smoky aubergine relish and the pork with spiced apple in home made bread. I also have organic Irish smoked salmon with cucumber pickle and cream cheese on toasted pickles. And as it’s October i’s time for soup. Today I have spiced roast pumpkin.

I’ve got to go back to the kitchen. Time’s running out! I do love it though. Everything except the sleep deprivation that is.

Regular readers will know that I’ve been having lots of fun at Covent Garden Real Food Market. Serving up food from my kitchen and matching it to wines, chiefly Bisol Jeio Prosecco, one of my favourite sparkling wines. When Denise & I decided to do the stall, we really wanted to do something fun and sociable. We wanted a great wine, with some fizz and energy. Something that would match the food, and provide a fun experience for our customers. We’d sampled Bisol at a tasting and so we bought some from Bibendum to serve at the stall.

The world of food & wine matching is quite new to me. Before I would choose my wine and choose the food, not quite independently but nearly. I would always pair red wines with red meats, white wines with fish, but the intricacies of matching I just didn’t understand. It’s not a complicated and tedious process, learning bottle by bottle and glass by glass, it’s a thoroughly pleasant and indulgent affair. We like those kind of lessons! I am still learning and I am really enjoying it.

Initially the Bisol Jeio Prosecco was for the first week, but it proved so popular, we brought it back. Our first match was Bisol Jeio white prosecco with smoked salmon and cucumber pickle on Irish brown soda bread. A lovely match! I felt encouraged and progressed to match the Bisol Jeio Rose with slow roast pork. At home, I’ve matched the Bisol Jeio Prosecco to my prawn curry, risotto and love it with other fruity and/or fish dishes. They’re just my limited attempts.

Bisol are not just about prosecco, they also love food, boasting a fantastic restaurant, Ristorante Certosina on the island Certosa in Venice. They liked that we were matching the prosecco with non Italian foods and thought that it might be fun to explore this further by expanding the concept with a competition.

So here it is. It’s simple, submit your recipe with a photo that you think would be a good prosecco match. Post it on your blog with a link back to this post, and the trackback will appear in the comments. Not a blogger? Please submit via the Contact Me page, you entry would be most welcome! All entries must be submitted by Wednesday 21st October, just over 2 weeks.

5 finalists will meet to prepare their dishes and the best match will win a gorgeous meal for two with me and a representative from Bisol at the chefs table in bloggers favourite Trinity, London. Giles Coren has proclaimed it “the perfect restaurant”. All 5 finalists will receive a pair of tickets for the wine show in London 22 – 28 October.

Just one problem, you’ve not tried Bisol? Come down to my stall at the Covent Garden Real Food Market this Friday 9th October and sample a glass on the house from 6pm. We want this to be fun and interesting, bringing the experience from the browser to the real world.

So, if you think you can handle my table manners, submit your recipe. Simple or complex, they will be judged on how well they match, not on the intricacy involved. It’s a fun competition with a great prize. So, what are you waiting for?! Send me your recipes :)

More info on Bisol Jeio Prosecco here [PDF].

I can’t quite believe I’ve just typed Week 7 at the market, have I really been there 7 weeks? And I am but one day away from week 8. For something that happened organically and was quite unplanned save for the first week, it’s become quite a feature in this life of mine. Less major dramas and stress, there’s a routine in place at last, although I will continue to vary the produce to keep it interesting for me and for you.

There was one minor stress last week relating to transport to the market, namely it didn’t arrive, so apologies to anyone that got down there early to discover that I wasn’t there. I felt very bad about that. Onwards and upwards, I’ll ensure that doesn’t happen this week. I normally leave with enough buffer time to handle traffic etc. but if the cab doesn’t turn up, well, there’s nothing I can do about that. What’s that you say? Learn to drive? Buy a car? All in good time, all in good time.

The pork loin was popular as always and we were down to our last sandwich by 3pm. The bread sold out earlier than this and we had to top up with some lovely bread from fellow stall holders The Flour Station (they’re excellent – do check them out). There were a couple of new things this weektoo, two tarts. A potato, bacon and camembert tart and caramelised onion and goats cheese tartlets. The onions were caramelised in butter for over an hour and were rich and delicious. I struggled not to eat them all, a dual challenge last week as I struggled to avoid the crispy crackling which tempts me every week and, now also, the caramelised onions.

The crackling brought with it some bother last week. It is very crisp and tempting, glistening and winking at passers by from the stall, and several people requested some, some for free, and others tried to buy. There is never enough crackling, and every sandwich must have some, so I had to refuse, prompting one bizarre response from one girl who expected me to give it to her for free, stating quite crankily that I must be psychically very voluptuous. Eh?! As always though, most people were lovely. One couple had the sandwich then came back for some tart and prosecco, and then some more prosecco. My kind of people!

My bread at the stall has attracted much comment, and the recipe has been requested several times. Having made it several times, and feeling fairly confident in it, it’s time to share it. To recap, a blaa is a traditional bread made almost exclusively in Waterford, the county in Ireland where I grew up. I’ve been told that it’s also made in Newfoundland, as many people from Waterford emigrated there during the famine in the mid 19th century and brought the recipe with them. It’s light and soft and quite fluffy, I don’t know why it’s not more widely known. Sadly, I don’t know any bakers in Waterford, but I found a recipe on wikipedia of all places, and tweaked that a little so that I could use dried yeast. I followed it to the letter the first few times and also used fresh yeast. The dried yeast works perfectly fine and is easier to source so this is what I use now.

A word about yeast, it’s a living thing and it is possible to kill it, so ensure that the water is only lukewarm. Lukewarm to wake it up and start it reproducing, hot water will kill it, and kill your bread. Sugar feeds it and gets it going. Most recipes don’t call for sugar but this one does, and gives it a nice subtle sweetness as well as really livening the yeast.

The recipe takes some time but is worth it. Do ensure that that you knead the dough thoroughly, for 10 minutes or so. Also ensure that you sift the flour and introduce air this way. These steps are both key to producing a light bread.

Enjoy, hope you like it. Makes 8 blaas.

Ingredients

500g extra strong white flour, plus extra for dredging
10g salt
10g butter
10g active dried yeast
10g sugar
275g water, lukewarm

Method

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar into water. Ensure that the water is warm, not cold or hot. Leave for 10 minutes. It should get nice and frothy, indicating that the yeast is alive and well.
2. Sieve dry ingredients, introducing air.
3. Rub butter and dry mixture together.
4. Add wet to dry ingredients, mix until combined. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. It will go from rough to a little shiny
5. Proof for 45 mins in a bowl covered in clingfilm in a warm part of your kitchen. Remove from the bowl and knock back, pushing the air out the dough. Rest for 15mins. (The short rest times gives the gluten time to relax, making shaping easier).
6. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.
7. Rest for 5mins, covered.
8. Roll out to an round shape and place the balls side by side in a square baking dish (that has some flour on) to proof. Dredge with flour again .
9. Final proofing for 50mins. Nearly there! Dredge with a little extra flour.
10. Bake for 15-20mins at 210c.

The Hawksmoor Burger

The Hawksmoor Burger. Everyone loves it. Often touted as the best burger in London by the food bloggerati, I had to try it. Fast forward to a Friday lunchtime and a decadent solo lunch.

Not everyone loves solo lunches, but I do. Every now and then, there’s nothing nicer than being very nice to yourself, allowing yourself some quiet time. You, a nice meal and a glass of nice wine in nice surroundings. Enter a book that’s grabbed your attention, and for me, that’s a perfect couple of hours. Of course, I also love more gregarious ones, they’re the most fun of all, but life’s about balance and contrast and to appreciate one you need the other.

Hawksmoor at lunchtime on Fridays is busy. Very busy. Lots of people, lots of chat, lots of steak on the tables and lots of people drinking wine. I like it. I seat myself at the bar and on the barman’s recommendation (I told him I would be ordering the burger and would like a red wine with body but also some fruit), ordered a glass of Main Divide Pinot Noir, 2007 from Pegasus Bay in New Zealand. I love NZ Pinot Noirs, and yet this one takes me by surprise, it’s really fruity yet has lots of structure. It feels like a delicious and naughty interlude while I wait for my burger. It’s only 1pm after all.

The Hawksmoor burger is at the high end of the London burger market at £15, but then Hawksmoor is no ordinary steakhouse. They carefully source their product, after much research settling on the Ginger Pig Longhorn cattle. They serve, in their words, dictionary- thick steaks from North Yorkshire dry aged for at least 35 days. Their philosophy is simple, they source high quality steak and do very little to it, simply searing it on a blisteringly hot charcoal grill, and delivering it with a gorgeous char ready to be devoured. I loved it when I was there last time and the burger now awaited me.

It was time – the burger arrived. I put down my wine glass and my book and surveyed this delicious looking creature. Delivered with triple cooked chips, pioneered by Heston Blumenthal and now replicated elsewhere, the burger glistens from beneath a seeded brioche, smelling intensely meaty and covered with a thin coating of Ogleshield Cheese from Somerset with a little salad. Just a little.

Burgers are to be eaten with your hands, and even though this is a big one, this is what I did. It’s a burger! Eat it the way it should be eaten. The flavour was so rich and gorgeous, full of umami. I felt like, in the best possible way, I was licking a roasting tray having slow roasted some meat over night. It was gorgeous, intense, moist and fatty. People complain about fat, but that’s where the flavour is, a good burger needs it. The chips were good, but I really didn’t care about them now, I wanted only the burger. The wine was a lovely accompaniment, I was only sad that I could only have one glass. It is lunchtime and I must have some standards. Occasionally.

Why is the burger so special? Like most deceptively simple things, it’s the attention to detail that delivers something that stands out. Consisting of of 100% Longhorn, it includes old fashioned cuts like Clod and Sticking and small nuggets of bone marrow. Ah bone marrow, now I understand the intensity.

So, hats off to Hawksmoor for delivering the finest burger that I have tasted in London. I look forward to trying it again, with a delicious glass of that lovely Pinot Noir.

Good morning! No time for photos I am afraid, but there is a menu – I believe that’s called progress! Two vegetarian options today, so come on down vegetarians, we’re not all about the swine. We’ve a leaner cut of pork today, the more decadent and luxurious loin, I thought I would treat you. Great meat again from Yorkshire.

I best get my skates on! See you soon.

Eat Like a Girl @ Covent Garden Real Food Market Menu

- Thursday 24th September 2009 12-7pm-

Roast loin of pork sandwiches w/ spiced apple relish in homemade bread £4.50

Potato & Bacon Tart £3/slice

Beetroot, Tomato & Goat’s Cheese Tartlets £3 (v)

Caramelised Onion & Goat’s Cheese Tartlets £3 (v)

Pork & Chorizo Sausage Rolls in homemade butter shortcrust pastry£3

*********

Bisol Jeio Prosecco £3.50

Bisol Jeio Rosé Prosecco £3.50

Pear & Elderflower Bellini w/ Bisol Jeio Prosecco £4

(v) = vegetarian

Raspberry, mint & ricotta tartlets w/ honey

A friend recently asked if I would consider running a cookery course for his wife’s birthday. She loves food, but doesn’t like to cook so much, and likes the kind of food that I make. I was very flattered but, I’ve not formally done anything like this before so was a little reticent to begin.

When I was in university, a flatmate used to follow me around the kitchen with a notebook and pen following my culinary movements. It used to drive me crazy, but we’re still friends :) I worried for this reason, that, perhaps I haven’t the right temperament. A  birthday present is a very big deal after all. I agreed, but insisted that no finances would change hands. I had been asked to do this before but hadn’t explored it due to time constraints. I thought it was worth a try. If it worked well, I’d consider doing it again, and if it didn’t, we’d hopefully at the very least have a nice meal and some good wines.

Once we agreed on a date, I relaxed, and didn’t worry too much. I thought we should definitely have some pork in the mix, some shellfish and a quick dessert. At first I thought that prawn curry might work, but then after some discussion we agreed on pork belly. At this stage I could make it in my sleep so wasn’t too worried. We settled on scallops for starters. Dessert was another issue as they really aren’t my forte, primarily because I rarely have them and am more inspired by savoury things, however, I did make one blackberry tart with mint, ricotta and honey recently, and loved it. So, that was it, we were all set.

The days building up to it were phenomenally busy, things always seem to happen this way! On the morning, I was struggling to complete an online task that had been deferred for longer than was healthy, and by the time it came to go to Borough Market, I hadn’t had time for lunch and was a little frazzled. Not the ideal start. I was really keen that the evening should be a worthwhile birthday treat and that they would not regret it.

We met at 3pm and wandered around Borough with our shopping list. We hit our first hurdle, I should have asked if she liked blackberries. She wasn’t a big fan so we switched to raspberries. We sped around the market, knocking off most items from our list: hand dived scallops, pancetta, chorizo, pork belly, salad stuff, herbs, ricotta, and the birthday girl had spotted some samphire and was keen to try it so we threw it in. Time to dash home, picking up lentils on the way, and get started.

The best evenings start with a glass of prosecco, in my humble opinion, so we indulged. In hindsight, this may not have been terribly clever, but it was a birthday celebration. We started with the spice rub for the pork belly (recipe here), preheated the oven, prepared the pork as I always do, some boiling water on the skin to start the crackling, pat dry, and rub in the spice rub. Placing it in the oven dish with some carrots and garlic as a vegetable trivet, it was good to roast.

We started it at 230 degrees celsius for half an hour. While this was happening we switched our attention to the homemade sweet shortcrust pastry, which when complete, we stuck in the fridge to chill  for an hour or so. For 6 small tarts sift 225g plain white flour, add 2 tbsp sugar and 110g very cold butter cut into cubes, and with your fingertips blend until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. At  this stage, add one egg blended with the same amount of water, a little at a time until the pastry pulls together but is not too wet. It’s best to use a knife for this stage.

At this stage the timings were looking good, the half hour for the pork was just coming to an end, and it was time to open the door, review the impressive crackling and turn the heat down to 170 degrees, for 45 minutes with a glass of cider.

Just one problem – where was the impressive crackling?! This was one piece of unenthusiastic meat. I’ve never had this problem before, in fact I am extremely proud of my crackling, and there’s photographic evidence to prove its existence. How disappointing, but I knew we could rectify by sticking it under the grill after it had finished roasting for a couple of minutes at a high heat. I started to get anxious though, and continued to drink wine with the birthday girl. I must remember to remove the wine from the equation (on my part) next time.

Moutabal on toast

At this point we veered off course, although I don’t regret that. I had an aubergine and we started discussing moutabal, so we decided a quick snack would not go astray. This went down very well, as long as you don’t taste the aubergine skin before peeling it off. I was reliably informed that it tastes of cigarettes! I started to feel better, with that stubborn uncrackly pork skin glaring out the little glass door and taunting me from my oven.

Skillet bacon jam with heritage tomatoes on toast

Another brain wave – you’ve got to try my bacon jam that I bought from the US! It’s GREAT! Did I mention the wine? It is great, and we really enjoyed it on toast with some bright yellow heirloom tomatoes. We were now two unplanned appetisers in. Not too shabby, also not too clever, people were getting full. Normal people don’t eat as much as greedy me.

Scallops with samphire & pancetta

We persevered, now having a glass of champagne and prepared the scallops, removing the veins but leaving the roe. We had rinsed the samphire in several changes of water to reduce the saltiness somewhat and fried some diced pancetta and garlic before adding the drained samphire. At this stage, we started to chargrill the scallops for a couple of minutes on each side, taking care not to overcook them, as they are best still spongy and tender in the center. We gobbled these up, served in the shell with a squeeze of lemon and with a glass of lovely birthday champagne. This, for me, was the star dish of the meal.

It was time to turn our attention to the pastry once more, rolling thinly (perhaps a mm thick), and lining buttered tartlet trays (we used 4 inches across) with a layer. We blind baked these for 10 mins, covering each one in greaseproof paper and a layer of rice. I’d usually use dried beans here but had run out. We added the lentils and some cider and water to the pork (a glass of water and a glass of cider), and let this cook for another 45 minutes. We mixed the ricotta with the raspberries, and some mint, sweetening with honey. This was a nice mix but the raspberries are a lot more bitter than the very ripe blackberries I had tried, and in my enthusiasm I added too much mint. It was a little too fresh but nothing a little honey couldn’t help with. And we continued with some delicious red wine.

The pork was done, hurrah! I tortured that crackling, no friend of mine, with a couple of minutes iunder the grill and watched with glee as it blistered. Having rested for 10 minutes we served it on top of a bed of lentils with a rather tart salad on the side.

Almost there! All that was left to do was to fill the pre-baked pastry shells with the ricotta mixture, and bake for a further 5 minutes. Served with a drizzle of honey, we were finished.

Time to relax, and review. Imperfect at a first attempt, but really enjoyable. I’d do it again, with more planning, less wine, and perhaps less lengthy dishes. Prawn curry might have been a better option after all. But, that’s what this was, a trial, and a lovely evening with friends. I just hope the birthday girl enjoyed it, I certainly did.

At last, a week where everything went smoothIy, I was beginning to lose hope. I was most pleased with my produce for last weeks market. Overnight slow roast shoulder of pork was delectably tender with a gorgeous crispy crackling. I upped the spicing on the apple relish slightly, and enjoyed the extra kick nestling in the unctous pork. I made many blaas, those fluffy Waterford bread rolls, I’m definitely getting that recipe down now.

Slow Roast Pork Shoulder & Blaas

Blaas

With regard to the rest, the sausage rolls were the most perfect yet, looking uniform and less like distant reformed relatives. The beetroot tartlets ( recipe here) revealed themselves, almost by accident, pretty pink and juicy with a light goat’s cheese blanket. The new addition on the wine front  – Bisol Rose – went down a treat.

Chorizo & Pork Rolls

Beetroot, tomato, goat's cheese & mint tartlets

All perfect so far. Unfortunately, the market was quiet last week. It’s impossible to predict how these things will go. It’s almost safe to say that my level of organisation or otherwise serves as a good barometer for the busyness of the market or not. When I am organised, it’s quiet, when I am disorganised, we sell out early and there’s nothing left. Go figure. Regardless, overall the day worked well, and I was happy at the end of it.

How long more can it continue? Good question! It seems the options are I ramp it up and do another market on other days buffering my diminished income, and making it a realistic prospect, or I retire quietly and gracefully while the going is good, and get back to work. I am really not sure which way it will go right now, but I’ll be at the market once more this week, menu details tbc.

Bisol Rose Prosecco

I’ve learned to say no to anything on Wednesday evenings which may distract me from the all important task of preparing for the food stall at Covent Garden on Thursdays. I stick resolutely to this (almost!), but, last Wednesday was different. I was invited to the launch of Fight Hunger. Eat Out (an Action Against Hunger Campaign) at Konstam (my favourite lunch haunt last year). Restaurants Against Hunger was founded in 1998 – an international movement of restaurant owners, chefs and food writers supporting Action Against Hunger and its goal to end child hunger. I am very interested in this charity, they do great work and I was keen to know more. The sweetener was the fact that one of my favourite singers – Beth Orton – also a supporter of the cause, would be playing a set. How could I not go?

The evening started nicely with some fantastic and interesting canapes by Chef patron and Action Against Hunger ambassador Oliver Rowe with Bob & Roberta Smith. These included eggs with carrots replacing the yolks, and fantastic very thin pizzas, which, sadly I have no photo of. It was lovely to see a few familiar faces, and to meet a twitter buddy that I had never met in the flesh before. Supporter of the campaign, Fergus Henderson of St John, was in attendance. I was too shy to say hi, although he was extremely busy, everyone wanted to talk to him.

On to the meat and two veg of the evening, the campaign itself. An inspiring campaign, they were very careful to stress that their goal is extremely challenging, but are aiming to do what they can in a difficult area where few NGO’s fear to tread. Action Against Hunger works in over 40 countries to carry out innovative, lifesaving programmes in nutrition, food security, water and sanitation, health and advocacy. Every year, 6,000 aid workers help over 4 million people worldwide.

Growing up in Ireland, we were ever aware of the problem of hunger in this world. Education was predominantly by the religious orders, and many of these teachers had spent time in the third world, so there was always a keen awareness of these issues. At home, if we left food on our plates, we were scolded for this, when so many children in this world had none. We raised money for third world charities in school campaigns, collected in Christmas campaigns for third world charities, delivering proceeds to the convent after. We even knitted vests for children with few clothes of their own when we were 9 years old. I really hope my baby lemon knitted baby vest I made was of use to someone! We did many sponsored 48 hour fasts, collected money over the lenten period for the third world that would normally have been spent on sweets, and every morning a money box in the shape of the globe would travel the school and we were all encouraged to add something ever day, even if it was just a penny.

Now, I was no saint. This kind of behaviour was entirely normal. Charity in Ireland is very strong and something that is widely encouraged and participated in. In recent years I’ve been lacking, preoccupied with my own concerns as many of us urban dwellers tend to be. So, this seemed like a good opportunity to participate.

I was impressed and inspired by what I had heard of the Fight Hunger, Eat Out campaign, and following on from a couple of conversations on the night, have started to arrange a blogger fundraiser to (hopefully) coincide with the campaign, and support their great work in some way and help get the word out.

Bloggers based in London, if you would like to get involved in our fundraising event, we will need a lot of participants and volunteers. I’ve had a fantastic response already which has been wonderful but we need more. If you are keen in getting involved please get in touch, and I will email you with details once they are confirmed.

Every now and then I make something on a whim, expecting it to be nice, and I am pleasantly surprised when it tastes even better and becomes an instant favourite. Enter beetroot, tomato & goat’s cheese tartlets with mint.

Last week at the market I was really stretched for time and sadly had no opportunity to make a vegetarian option. This was noted by a number of people, and I felt dreadful as some had come down especially for the tarts that I had made before, so I promised to make it up to them and did this week with tartlets.

I don’t have a precise recipe as I was making them in bulk and on the hoof, however, they’re really straightforward. I used little tartlet cases but you could use a bigger tart tin. Line the greased/buttered tart base with homemade butter shortcrust pastry, it really is far superior to shop bought, and is very quick too. I had a fear of it for a long time after my Home Economics teacher, horrified at my efforts, yelled: it’s pastry you’re making, not leather! I also have very warm hands. However, when making it, I do my best not to touch it, using very cold butter and binding the pastry with a knife, putting it straight in the fridge to chill, and then rolling in as much of a hands off way that I can manage. It seems to work well.

Start building the tart with a layer of mascarpone, just enough to cover, and spread some shredded mint sparingly. Layer boiled or roasted, peeled and sliced beetroot, for tartlets about 3/4 slices with 2 slices of tomato wedged between. For a bigger tart arrange beetroot and tomato slices overlapping so that the mascarpone is covered. Add some goats cheese, I used a soft goat’s cheese from Somerset, but chevre or similar would work well too. Don’t cover it, just enough to taste. Finish with a light and fine grating of parmesan. Bake for 10-15 mins at 200 deg celsius until the pastry is browned.

Reading this it could do with a step by step picture guide, I’ll do one soon, maybe for next week’s market. Hopefully you get the picture (boom, boom!). It really is very easy, and really delicious. The sweetness of the beetroot and tomato, the tart goat’s cheese, the freshness of the mint, and the creamy mascarpone nestled in the butter shortcrust base is a real delight. It’s on the favourites list now, and I’ll be making it for veggie friends when they visit.

Here’s the pastry recipe. A note on the eggs: they’re not essential but give it a lovely richness. Use the best you can afford, I love the pretty blue Old Cotswold Legbars or Burford Browns. At the very least free range, if you can.

Homemade Butter Shortcrust Pastry Recipe

(enough for two large tarts or many little ones – this is the amount that uses exactly one packet of butter)

Ingredients:

250g chilled butter

500g plain flour

2 beaten eggs, and the equivalent amount of cold water

Method:

Sift the flour. Add the butter in cubes and mix with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs.

Add the water and eggs a little at a time, blending in with a knife until it starts to take shape. Don’t let it get too wet, it’s fine if it’s a little crumbly (wet pastry, like a wet gizmo, makes a gremlin ;). Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Roll on a floured surface to your desired thickness, taking care not to overwork it.

And, that’s it! Not so scary, eh?

Guilty Pleasures: Part Deux. This time it's serious!

It’s always fun to be a little naughty, let the hair down, do something different. It doesn’t come much better that indulging in your guilty pleasures. Things you know you shouldn’t have, because they’re not good for you, they’re horribly processed or they’re frowned upon (although that doesn’t bother me, frankly). So, following on from our first Guilty Pleasures Dinner Party, I hosted Part Deux last night. The premise is that all attendess bring a guilty pleasure, some food and others wine/beer. What could go wrong?

Unfortunately, what I was most guilty of was being under prepared. I have a stupidly long to do list of things that need to be achieved by the end of this week, and I only started getting organised 10 minutes before the front door bell rang, and my first guest, Helen of Food Stories arrived. I had intended to go to the shop to buy wine glasses, as my flatmate had lovely ones that I used, but she has just moved out and I am left with those tiny wretched ones which reek of the eighties amongst other things. Perhaps perfect for Guilty Pleasures, except I hate them. Unfortunately, I had no time and it was raining so heavily, I was also lacking in motivation with regard to actually leaving the house. So that put me in a bit of a position at the very last minute for I didn’t have the materials for my own Guilty Pleasures. I improvised and everything seemed fine.

Except it wasn’t. That essential appliance, the fridge, decided it no longer wanted to be cold, favouring a temperature more suited to a summers day. I tried everything I could, given I had no knowledge at all, and in desperation called the miele customer service line. Little did I know I was about to enter an alternate dimension where I could be given no info on how to fix this, without my landlords precise details, for there are data protection issues when it comes to giving out information on fridges. Eh?! It’s just a fridge, not a nuclear missile!

Helen & I poked and prodded, but no joy. So we did what we could and eventually it righted itself, sadly not quickly enough to chill the lovely Bisol Jeio Prosecco. So, we moved the Bisol portion to the end of the evening, which actually worked rather well.

Along came the other guests. Chris had with him many guilty pleasures, cheese strings, pepperami, lots of beer. We were off!

First up, was a toast to the late Keith Floyd. Dan of Bibendum said that Floyd had said the best wines for him were those from the South of France and cheap, so Dan brought along a bottle of Domaine de Montplo, Chrysalide 2005, a fine red, I think Floyd would have been happy with our choice.

I was making little chorizo pizzas with homemade dough. As I hadn’t left the house, cheese was lacking so I improvised and used mascarpone and a light covering of parmesan. After fridgegate, I hadn’t the strength to worry or do anything about it, so I just got on with it. I put the spiced pork belly in the oven to roast and Lizzie started on her spam pancake, for she is a lover of spam.

Helen prepared her boiled eggs with anchovy soldiers, saving her piece de resistance, David Lebovitz’s candied bacon ice cream until last. Now, that was fantastic! I am actually going to buy an ice cream maker just to make this stuff. Creamy with crisp pieces of bacon and bacon on top, as David himself says, bacon and eggs, what’s not to love? I have to agree.

Dan brought his superb and extremely hot sleazy cheesey chilli nachos. Lots of fun, having lots of chillis AND Dave’s insanity sauce. Dan was organised and brough his chilli already made. Added to this, we sampled some truffle popcorn. Yes, really! Reactions to this were mixed but I really liked it, and look forward to having it again. It’s very naughty and seems wrong, but tastes oh-so-right.

Denise and Dan brought lots of wine, less guilty than surprising and some delicious. There were some gems in there and I’ll be seeking them out. I expect some info on these from Denise & Dan soon on their blogs.

All the best parties have a gatecrasher and we had one too. A tiny snail crawled in the open window and sat watching from his vantage point. I didn’t even see him, hooray for Dan who gently put him outside, although we think we may have cracked his shell, he was really tiny.

So, another fun night and another culinary adventure. Guilty Pleasures Parties are my new preferred mode of entertainment! Do have one. It’s recession proof raucous fun.

The culinary landscape has been robbed of one of it’s brightest stars. Keith Floyd died yesterday. At the tender age of 65, Keith Floyd died after a heart attack, having previously suffered a stroke and bowel cancer.

I’ve always had an interest in cookery, and Floyd was one of my earliest inspirations. There was no pretence, just passion, knowledge and a natural skill. Gregarious and hilarious, he was brilliantly entertaining. He changed the course of TV cookery and made it an informal and accessible place. He travelled the world seeking out local gorgeous food. And the wine, well, he loved the vin rouge.

I’ve been seeking a particular clip to show you, unfortunately I have been unable to find it. In an episode from his series “Floyd on Britain & Ireland”, he visited Cork, a county I am particularly fond of, it’s where my mother is from and where I holidayed as a child and spent my University years, and some years following.

Now, Cork has a bit of a reputation. They have a sing-song accent, full of drama and song and Corconians declare Cork the real capital of Ireland much to the chargrin of Dubliners. It’s the biggest county, lush, and green and it’s no surprise that Floyd moved there for a bit, for they have a lot in common with their mutual gregarious natures. In the series, he paid a visit to Skibbereen, a small town in rural Cork and cooked with a local lady. It was fantastic, and hilariously subtitled, for the benefit of people unable to cope with the variance in pitch and the speed with which speech is delivered in this part of Ireland.

A particularly personal memory for me is, many years ago, having returned to Ireland after a stretch of travel finishing in Naples and experiencing real Neapolitan pizza and great Italian food, a friend gave me a copy of Floyd on Italy, which I still have. I adored it and read it voraciously, and it’s thanks to Floyd that I made my first homemade pizza. His passion for real people eating real local food was wonderful.

His tv career was quite accidental, and started with a phone in radio show, which led to brief tv appearances, and eventually 19 tv series. Not a buinessman, he was to declare bankruptcy and sell up a number of times. In his life, he owned several restaurants and wrote 25 books, his first was published before his tv career and his final one, his autobiography, is about to be published.

Somewhat coincidentally, Channel 4 last night screened a documentary, Keith on Keith, where Keith Allen decamped to Avignon, in search of Floyd and interviewed him. I was quite shocked when he appeared on camera, he looked very old, much older than his years. Nonetheless, his zest for life was still there, bubbling under the skin. I was surprised to hear that despite appearances, Floyd’s background was not wealthy, and he had grown up foraging out of necessity, getting up early to pick mushrooms before school. This was to serve him very well in his career. Sadly, I only caught half of the show, but intend to view it on 4OD, where it will be available for a further 29 days.

RIP Floyd. We’ll miss you and I will be raising a glass of vin rouge in your honour this evening.

Floyd’s Official Site

Obituary on The Guardian

A tribute to Keith Floyd from Jay Rayner on the Guardian (word of mouth blog)

Beef with Oysters and Guiness recipe – Floyd on Britain & Ireland – BBC

How to make a pizza – Floyd Cooks – BBC