Gobble gobble....

Good morning one and all.

Encouraging figures for blog visits yesterday considering I've been a bad boy and not updated for a while. It's always humbling to see that people have not only read the article rather than just skipped over but also seem to have encouraged others too do so as well :-)

So yesterday I told of how I managed to feed five people their expected dosage of yuletide gobbler for very little cost in comparison to a whole cooked turkey. Going on from this it's not just turkey that you can employ this method on as it'll work with any bird or in fact any lean meat will benefit from using this combination of frugality and low temperature cooking.

When you buy fresh meat you pay for it according to it's weight so unless you particularly need or want the bones to either make a stock or if you want to cook a joint of meat on the bone for extra flavour as you would perhaps a lamb shank of rib of beef then why pay for their weight?

Another thing to consider, especially when buying white meat is the flavour that you want to achieve. For me there is no point in just roasting a chicken breast in a hot oven with no extra seasoning because it'll just be flavourless. The harder working muscles of any animal are always the most flavoursome but this comes at a price because it also means that they have more muscle formation which in turn makes them tougher in texture.

Just think of your own body. Unless you are Dolly Parton on treadmill or some meathead in a vest top then your own breast meat isn't really doing much on a day to day basis, it's not working hard enough to have all those blood cells pushing through an engorging the muscles fibres. Your legs however are used much more often and those constantly expanding and contracting muscle fibres need to be supplied with lots of fuel to keep going.

The same applies to animals.

With these factors in mind in went and got myself a pre-boned thigh joint of turkey from Waitrose for just £10. This joint in particular came already stuffed and rolled ready for slinging straight in the oven which is fair enough but I only wanted the meat off this joint so the string was quickly snipped off, the stuffing binned and the skin taken off. I'm absolutely sure you could get a the same joint minus the pre-faffing from any proper butcher and I'd encourage you to do so.

(I didn't keep the stuffing because I was making my own but there is no reason why it could be used in this dish too instead of binning it)

From looking at this naked flesh you can quite clearly notice it's deeper colour, it's almost brown. Amongst the more fibrous meat however there are little nuggets of whole lean muscle that you want to separate from the rest so what you need to do is get yourself a sharp knife and just butcher away at the joint until you have got all the good chunky tender meat to one side. You should be able to get a 3 or 4 good quality mini medallions of meat out of a turkey thigh.

The rest of the meat does not get wasted in fact it forms a very important part of the final dish but first you need to go through it again and remove and of the larger pieces of sinue and bigger pieces of fat. Keeping a little bit of the fat in there doesn't do any harm though as it'll dissipate though the meat when it's cooking keeping it nice and moist.

When this process is complete take half the trimmed meat (not the mini medallions, leave these alone for the time being) and pulse it in a blender with a bit of seasoning a few times until it's minced and remove to a mixing bowl. Then take the remaining trimmed meat and this time blend right down until it's almost a paste. You can add some double cream too whilst blending. This will help loosen it up a bit and add a level of richness to the end flavour. Once done empty the turkey paste into the same bowl as the minced turkey.

Now you can cut the mini medallions into smaller pieces, maybe strips and again add these into the mixing bowl. What you now have is the complete joint in three different forms which will give three distinct textures when finished so add some seasoning and a few finely chopped fresh herbs (I used sage and thyme) and give the whole lot a good mixing with a spoon.

The next thing to do is to form a stuffed turkey sausage or "Ballatine" to give it it's proper culinary term....I think....well that's what I'm calling it anyway :-)

The three components to this are firstly the sausage skin and for this I used Parma ham, you could also use smoked bacon which has been flattened out between two sheet of cling film and rolled over with a rolling pin....a bottle of wine makes a good rolling pin substitute if you don't have one to hand.

The second component is the stuffing. Now I made my own beforehand with a good quality sausage meat, chestnut mushrooms, chestnuts, red onion, pine nuts, breadcrumbs and chopped dates but you can use whatever you like.

Component three is of course the turkey mixture itself.

Forming the ballantine is not as tricky as you might think. Lay flat a piece of Clingfilm onto a worktop from back to front. Next leaving a couple of inches on each side lay (lengthways) the parma ham or bacon down onto it so that they overlap and form a sheet. Depending on how thick you want your finished ballantine you may want to add a second layer further down in case it doesn't fully wrap. It's much better to do this if you are unsure and it won't hurt at all if you have too much whereas it'll be a disaster if you have too little.

Now take the turkey mixture and empty it onto Parma ham. Spread it out into an even layer starting at the top and working your way down, you want to leave a good inch at the sides and perhaps two at the bottom, this will be important later when forming the ballantine.

Finally on top of the turkey spread a layer of the stuffing, this doesn't need to be to thick, the main purpose of the stuffing is to keep the turkey moist as it cooks and to add further flavour.

To form the ballantine lift the top edge of the Clingfilm and move it towards you and keep doing so until the mixture starts to roll into itself. Let the parma ham peel off the Clingfilm as it slowly encases the filling to form a big sausage shape.

At this stage you could just fold in the edges and cook in the oven at about 170/180C for about an hour but I prefer to do mine a little differently. Cooking it now would mean that some of the juices would flow out of the ballantine while it's in the oven losing moisture so ideally you want to keep all of those juices locked in at to do this is quite easy.

Take another piece of Clingfilm about 8 inches longer than the length of the ballantine and lay it on the same worktop this time placed from left to right. In the centre of this place the ballantine so that it is parallel to the Clingfilm the bring the top and bottom edge of the Clingfilm over the ballantine forming as tight a fit as you can. Finally take the excess on each side then lift and spin so that the spinning action closes off the sides an compresses the sausage into a much firmer rounded shape getting as much air out as you can.

Tie up the ends so the shape holds. At this stage I would vacuum pack mine give it a completely air tight seal then I'd cook it on my water bath and 67.5 C for around 7 hours but I realise that I'm probably the only person reading this who has such apparatus. Fear not though because you can do it another way.........

One wrapping in Clingfilm will most likely not be enough using this other method so you may want to wrap it a few more times. A little bit of water getting in won't hurt but it's best to be a sealed as possible.

When you are happy that the wrapping is good then place the ballantine in a high sided oven dish and fill the dish with water until it is about 3/4 of the way up the ballantine. Place this (Bain Marie) in the oven at around 140/150C for a good 3 or 4 hours keeping an eye on the water level from time to time and topping up if necessary.

Whether you use the water bath or bain marie method it'll be necessary to colour the finished ballantine before serving, to do this remove the Clingfilm/vacuum wrapping from the ballantine while heating some butter and oil in a frying pan until hot then simply roll the whole sausage in the pan until you have the colour you desire.

Leave it to rest for 15/20 minutes before carving into rounds.

It really does sound harder than it actually is. This is such a good way to make a very substantial and tasty meal using fresh ingredients at low cost.

The cooking method too can be employed on a multitude of different meats and even fish. Monkfish in parma ham is an outrageously good combination and cooking it this way (although adjusting the cooking times to suit) locks in all those delicious flavours.

Pot Kiln 40th......

I'm going to start this blog as I should by wishing my good buddy Martin a very happy 40th birthday.

I'm very fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my life but Martin and his amazing wife Ellie are two of the best friends anybody could wish for. Ever since I moved away from my hometown of Watford I've felt a little distanced from my family and for some people I can imagine that being extremely hard however I was lucky enough to make the acquaintance of these guys and since that first meeting they have become by family away from home.

Martin and I share many passions and traits with food and music being top. He has an infectious and friendly personality which endears him to almost all he meets. He's never backward at coming forward and will not hesitate to make conversation with anybody he meets and that's not born out of extreme confidence it's purely because he's a genuinely nice bloke.

He's my pal, my confidante, my rock and my brother so glasses up to one of the people who make this world a great place to live in :-)

To celebrate the date Ellie had arranged for the 4 of us to take a trip to one of my absolute favourite restaurants in the world and a truly mean that. I would go as far as to say that if I could choose one place where I had to eat for the rest of my life it would be at the Pot Kiln in Yattendon just outside of Newbury. Forget all those places I've eaten and adored on my travels because this place is Britain on a plate.

Opened in 2005 it quickly became one of the best country pubs in the UK where it remains today. The pub is owned and run by Mike and Katie Robinson and their dog Sassy. Mike is best known for his TV appearances and shows such as the Heaven's Kitchen series as well as two others set entirely at the Pot Kiln. He also tours the country giving food demonstrations and educating the public on the wonders and advantages or eating off the land and all things wild and local.

I have been lucky enough to meet him when he judged the final of RSC 2010.....made the wrong choice obviously but no grudges :-) and recently a couple of his recipes accompanied and article I'd written for the Reading Post which quite honestly blew me away.

The pub itself couldn't look more quintessentially English if it tried. Set way out in the countryside surrounded by farming and woodland it's the ideal location for Mike to source the restaurant staple which is game. Everything that is not shot by Mike himself or grown in the gardens at the pub is sourced from local producers or suppliers, they passionately follow this ethos right down to the beer they have on tap, they even have a real ale made for them exclusively by the west Berkshire brewery called "Brick Kiln Ale".

Upon entering the pub you find yourself in a tiny public bar with very original decor and fittings. There you might find a few locals or perhaps some ramblers with their dogs all decked out in either work clobber or wax jackets. The former might have a foaming tankard of ale whereas the latter might have a glass of one of the pubs wonderfully sourced wines.

Walking through to the restaurant area you instantly notice it's mish mash of furniture and it's this that gives it a tremendously rustic yet formal charm. Rarely will you find a matching chair on a table for four but the renovated light wood table will be dressed as neatly as any top city centre eatery. The walls are brightly painted and lightly adorned with pictures as well as other hunting paraphernalia, the odd Deers head or fishing rod here and there but nothing scary enough to put you off your dinner.

The menu is ever changing as you'd expect with a kitchen that is reliant on what is available that morning or season. Everything is fresh, Mike's knowledge of game is not bettered by anybody in the business and this ensures and that all the meats are hung and prepared as perfectly as they can possibly be.

To start I went for a dish named "Tongue and Cheek" which unsurprisingly is made up of thinly sliced Ox tongue and served alongside a few crispy coated nuggets of slow braised Pig's cheek. Accompanying these was a a Kohlrabi remoulade, a couple of hard boiled quails eggs and some bite size pieces of pickled shallot (£7.50)

The meats were perfect and the remoulade added further richness to the dish. The pickled shallots added just the right amount of acidity giving excellent balance. I'd have preferred the quails eggs to be soft boiled as I think a dab of the velvety yolk would have been great with the golden crusted pig's cheeks but other than that tiny aspect I could not fault it at all. It looked as beautiful as it tasted too.

Martin chose the same starter as myself. Ellie chose the Berkshire pigeon breast with salt baked artichokes, pickled mushrooms & walnuts with pumpkin crisps (£7.95) and Carley opted for the potted confit or wild rabbit and fois gras with quince jelly and soda bread (£7.95).

All the starters looked amazing and judging by the "oohs" the "aahs" and the "wows" they tasted great too, many a time I looked up to see Ellie staring at a piece of pigeon with wonderment then saying something like "I can't believe how good this tastes".

For main I chose the braised feather blade of Hereford beef with bone marrow, roasted shallots and beetroot (£18.95).

Feather blade along with brisket are two of the cheapest cuts of beef you can get but both when cooked well are vastly superior in flavour and texture than all the other more fashionable cuts. The piece I had on my plate was about four inches in diameter and about two inches thick yet it could carve it with the side of a fork and it tasted ten times better than any fillet I have ever had.

I cannot fault this dish at all. If I'd been served this at a double Michelin starred restaurant for three times the price I'd still have been happy, it was beef perfection.

Carley had a wonderfully crafted dish of Pheasant Kiev (£15.95). Unfortunately I've completely forgotten what Ellie had but rest assured both courses got the same reception as the starters.

Perhaps the most poignant part of the evening came when Martin was eating his Pavé & stalkers pie of Lockinge fallow deer with purple sprouting broccoli and pan juices (£17.50)

As I mentioned before Martin shares the same passion for food as I do. He understands the effort, work and knowledge that goes into producing great food and the sourcing of ingredients that separates places like the Pot Kiln from others. His Pavé of deer was cooked to perfection but the Stalkers pie actually bought a tear to his eye because it was that good.......When was the last time something on your dinner plate actually made you emotional?

I think this sums up the Pot Kiln perfectly. It's a food lovers paradise, it's everything local, British and wild rolled into one. The crossover between fine dining and wholesome and hearty is never more perfectly personified than here.

We finished up our meal sharing a complete cheeseboard between us. We had all ten of the British cheeses on offer (£30.00) from the superb Stilton rivalling Barkham Blue (I think it's better than Stilton but keep that to yourselves) to the legendary Stinking Bishop.

For drinks during the meal we had a bottle of Spanish Garnache (£23.00) which was very easy drinking and a nice way start. This was followed by a Chilean Pinot Noir (£28.00) which had a bit more body, more fruit and a really wonderful deep cherry red colour. With the cheeses we all had a glass of port(£5.50), I'm not a huge fan of port as I find it a bit too sweet but I had no problem polishing it off.

All in all it was perfect. I've been here a few times now and I've never left disappointed. I can absolutely guarantee that Martin & Ellie will return and I don't just recommend that you go there too I actually demand that you do.

Toodlepip xxx

Demo approaches.....

After a minor setback yesterday evening my preparation of my take on meat and two veg for the Reading Town meal demo can get back on track today.

I've already had a run through of the dishes and I now have a clear image in mind of how it all should proceed, the only thing I'm really concerned about is getting the crackling right on the Pork......or not if the case maybe.

Because it takes such a long time to cook I had to purchase a rather large pork belly joint from my local butchers (Jennings in Hurst) so that I could prepare half for the actual demo and half for further practice and variations on how to get that crunchy crackling.

My idea so far has been to separate it into two joints, rub the skin side of each with sea salt the rest skin side down on a bed of salt for 24 hours to draw out any excess moisture. This is done and I think it's been a success, the skin feels more rigid and it's changed to a more pale colour.

The problem then was that I went to vacuum pack them and realised I'd run out of plastic vacuum seal bags! What followed was a manic drive to Waitrose to pick up all kinds of things I thought might do the job but none could. Thankfully an internet search pointed me to the Lakeland store in Reading where they stock a different brand to my normal supplier but I assume they are all much of a muchness. I'm glad I gave myself that extra day to prepare.

The added bonus of using my local butcher was not only the fantastic piece of locally reared pork that I purchased but I also bagged the rib bones. I had the butcher cut these out and from them I've made a terrific stock which will be perfect for making the rich Calvados sauce that'll accompany the meat and two veg.

The veg for the dish will be a simple savoy cabbage and bacon mix with an equally simple celeriac mash/purée. I took a trip up to Waltham Place farm shop on Tuesday to see what I could grab from there to use in the demo and I came out with some of their own back bacon and a couple of tremendously well packed cabbages.

The bacon is very nice indeed, of course I got far more than I needed because it's absolutely necessary to try it in a bacon sarnie before using it in a dish as elaborate as meat and two veg :-)

It's not organic bacon as it does contain sodium nitrate, this is very clearly stated on the packaging so it gives me confidence that they are trying to be transparant in all they do. As a small farm slaughtering maybe a pig a month I'm guessing this is necessary for preservation purposes. Having said that when I cooked it there was none of that white gunk you get streaming out of cheap supermarket bacon and the meat was firm and not at all likely to rip apart like some type of wafer thin processed ham. I really need to look into bacon production some more to get a proper understanding of the processes they use.

Best of all when I enquired as to whether they had any savoy cabbages the guy there jumped to his toes and exclaimed that this years crop were the best he'd ever had and ordered me to wait while one of is farm hands ran off into the fields to cut a couple fresh off the land, I'm really looking forward to using these, I think the could make the dish!

The real highlight of the demo preparation has to be concerning the dessert. I'm going for an incredibly simple dish of poached pears with raspberry sauce. It was the addition of a raspberry leaf tea bag into the poaching liquid that has proved to be a winner and I think with it's simplicity, it's taste and it's presentation I'm onto a real winner.

Overall I think I've hit the brief right on the head here. I'm cooking a classic family staple of meat and two veg using very affordable ingredients that have either been sourced within a 5 mile radius of where I live or are from the independent producers whom themselves are taking part in the event.

It's all kicking off in Forbury gardens from midday on Saturday (1st Oct) and you can get all the information from here

My demo is first up at 12:15 then I'll be followed by this years RSC finalist Rick Wyatt who'll be cooking up something that he's paid absolutely nothing for, his approach to food and cooking is really quite inspirational and it's well worth listening to his thoughts on foraging for food and using game.

After Rick it'll be Paul Clerehugh, owner of London Street Brasserie and the Crooked Billet in Stoke Row. He was voted Reading's first "Food Hero" and his work providing his local school with meals way before it was a twinkle in Mr Oliver's eye is just one of the reasons why this was awarded.

There is just so much going on for everybody to enjoy and the first 1000 people get a two course meal absolutely free which is being cooked up by the students at Reading catering college.

It might all sound a bit Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and it really is. It's all about what we can all do to help ourselves and of course it's mostly about the town of Reading and it's wonderful people.

Books I want....

It's slow days like this that draw my attention elsewhere and today it's been mostly drawn to Amazon and the cookery book section. I can't honestly remember the last book I purchased that wasn't about food. I think it was a rather crazy book called "Tomas" by James Palumbo who was the founder of the London superclub Ministry of Sound.

Brilliant book by the way, nothing to do with the dance music scene at all, it's a properly twisted fantasy about a psychotic murderer....strange really isn't the word but compelling reading nevertheless.



The first book I want was the reason I went to Amazon in the first place and it's "The French Brasserie Cookbook" by Daniel Galmiche whom I've had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times albeit very briefly. He's been along to the Eat Reading Live festival and demo'd for both of the years it's been running and he was recently back on the TV as a guest on Saturday Kitchen.

As executive chef at The Vineyard in Stockcross near Newbury he's taken classic French food and given it a contemporary twist using British ingredients, he's a massive fan of our coastal seafood and he has a real passion for supporting local producers and local events. All round top fella really and I just cannot do without his new book.

The next three books are linked to one of, if not "the" most famous and mostly decorated restaurants of all time El Bulli. The restaurant in Catalonia was opened way back in 1964 with legendary chef Ferran Adriá taking full reins in 1987 until it's "alleged" closure this year. It's whole future is pretty much shrouded in mystery and I don't think anybody other than Ferran Adriá truly knows what will happen. At the moment it is the El Bulli foundation but apparently it'll open as a restaurant once again in 2014.

The restaurant was mega exclusive in it's time, the entire final season was sold out in one day, that's 8000 covers to fill from 2 million requests....yep approximately 2 million people tried to book!!!

Not that it made an money mind you, it ran at a loss every year since 2000 with the most of it's funding coming from books, merchandise and public appearances by Mr Adriá himself. Hardly surprising for a restaurant that only used the absolute finest of ingredients and had the best part of 40 chefs in the kitchen at any one time serving up 30+ course meals at £174.00 a pop which I consider an absolute bargain.

The first of these two books "A Day at El Bulli" gives you an insight on how a day there actually worked and takes you into the mindset of not just Ferran Adriá himself but his whole team.

Next up is "The Family Meal" by Ferran Adriá. It's his latest offering and the title tells you what it's content will be about but other than that I'm not really sure as it's still a month away from release. Currently the only things I have relating to El Bulli in my house are a couple of bottles of flavoured oils bearing Adriá's moniker that I got from Wokingham food and drink festival a couple of weeks ago. I think perhaps having these books and those oils I might get about as close to the real El Bulli as I'm ever likely too.

















The final book of this trilogy is not from Adriá himself but from one of the young chefs working behind the scenes. "The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season at El Bulli" by Lisa Abend comes from the perspective of one of those 40+ kitchen chefs who graduate through the El Bulli academy.

I'm fascinated to know just how these guys and girls train in order to provide perfection day after day and just how much they can take from the experience and apply elsewhere. There must be some that are just completely broken by it's regime but others must thrive under the weight of expectation.

Apparently it only contains one recipe and that is there purely to highlight the work and thought that goes into each individual dish produced at El Bulli.



My final book choice is not exactly a new book but it's by one of my favourite modern day food writers Matthew Fort. "Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons: Travels in Sicily on a Vespa" was publish in 2009 and I vaguely remember watching another cooks program on TV when they actually bumped into Matthew on his Vespa when filming. At the time I thought to myself that I must look out for whatever book it was he was researching and today I found it.

I remember saying to somebody that although I love my Dad dearly and with all my heart if I ever had to choose somebody else to fill those shoes without hesitation it'd be Matthew Fort.......with Prue Leith as a step-mother :-)

Toodlepip xx

More than just mash......

I was hoping to bring you all some jolly news about my July menu starter attempts last night but I forgot to pick up some Parma ham on the way home so those plans were scuppered.

But fear not for another success was born......

There's something very comforting and very nurturing about British food. When I think of traditional British dishes the first things that spring to mind are big family meals, one pot wonders that form the centrepiece to the dining table. I envisage Mum or Dad being responsible for portioning it out or perhaps everybody in turn getting a chance to tuck in for themselves.

British cuisine is very much maligned throughout the world but that is completely unjust because we have just as much regional variation in our traditional dishes as Spain, France or Italy. One of our hearty stews is a match for any variation of Estofados, Cassoulet or Osso Bucco (Does that count a stew?)

We may have only the Fat Duck still in the worlds top 10 restaurants but that matches the Italians and the French too have only Le Chateaubriand in Paris up there and had that not have jumped two places from last year those Gallic Gastronauts wouldn't be represented at all.


To me there is nothing more comforting than a portion of Shepherds or Cottage Pie and it's the latter that I whipped up last night. Just to clear any confusion a Shepherds Pie uses Lamb and a Cottage Pie uses Beef and as long as either is topped off with some mashed potato then the rest of the filling is up to you.

It was the topping yesterday that made my one so special. Instead of using the traditional boiled potato mash I made up a healthy portion of potato mousseline, well I say healthy but perhaps that should be "generous" as there really is nothing healthy about using nearly a full block of butter and around 200ml of double cream in anything......but this is comfort food.

Potato mouselline is really easy to make, the ingredients and quantities are also really simple to remember. The real difference from this type of mashed potato versus the standard is that instead of boiling the potatoes you bake them and then scoop out the insides once completed. This really gives a great potato flavour because rather than all that potatoey goodness dissipating in the boiling water it gets concentrated inside the skin giving it an almost nutty taste.

For 1kg of baking potato flesh (King Edwards or something else floury) you need 200g of unsalted butter, 200ml of slightly whipped double cream, 4 egg yolkes and some grated Nutmeg plus seasoning to taste.

Very simple numbers to remember and then divide or multiply dependent on how much you need.

Method is simple too........

1. Tip the potato flesh into a saucepan and give it a good mash (Larousse instructs you to pass it through a fine sieve first or you could use a potato ricer but I like the odd lump in mine)

2. Put the saucepan over a lowish heat and add in all of the butter giving it a stir until it all melted and fully combined with the potato.

3. Slowly add in the egg yolks stirring all the time so that they don't form big lumps of scrambled egg.

4. Remove from the heat and then fold in the cream again until it's fully combined.

5. Add the grated nutmeg and seasoning to your taste and then it's ready to pipe on top of your filling.

6. Heat the oven to around 190/210C and cook it until the top has a nice golden crust. Perhaps stick some grated cheese on top......

Potato mouselline can replace standard mashed potato in any dish, try it and think about how else it can be used...............

Toodlepip xx

Ooooh my legs...

So another action packed weekend has drawn to a close. Lots of fun was had but today I'm shattered, absolutely pooped. However I am looking forward to the week ahead, not that I have much on.

Saturday the girls and myself packed up a yummy picnic and headed into Henley to soak up a bit of regatta atmosphere. We stay right out the way of the main event because it just gets too busy and it's darn expensive too.

It's a great place to people watch. Of course you get your Hooray henrys and your Ra Ra Rachels but the best ones are the common folks who dress up in their best Primani and actually look the part until they open their mouths.

We sat by a boat which had some girls quaffing champers on the bow and their lads at the stern drinking cans of lager. The girls we're laughing with extra energy and the guys we're probably just talking about bricklaying or football.

At one point the girls all stood up to sing Happy Birthday to one of the guys and it was at that point you realised that it probably wasn't their boat! This rendition had no "H" in happy and birthday was spelt with an "F"..............

"Appy burfday to you, appy burfday day to you, appy burfday dear Daaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrreeeeenn, appy burfday to yooooooooouuuu"

Another lady (I'm being polite) disembarked from the boat with the jazz band, immediately lit a cigarette then proceeded to stand with loads young kids at a kiosk and then ordered a hot dog, still puffing away. Really classy.

Still we had a good time and Emily got to work on her cricket bowling which I have to say is coming on well, she's getting her arm straight and showing signs of good accuracy....which is quite amazing seeing as it's me giving the tuition.

Saturday afternoon and evening was a musical affair. Firstly a quick warm up and a few beers at my buddies house followed by DJ'ing at Bar Mango in Reading. It was great fun being out in the garden with like minded people. I think we all did well musically and created a really nice party atmosphere which was almost like it used to be.

I'm not sure how or when I got home, I think it was about 6am via a little after party at a friends house (sorry neighbours). Getting in at that time isn't unusual for me but then playing cricket for the whole day after doing so is normally not my idea of fun.

For some reason I thought the game was starting at around 2pm but I upon arrival at 12:30pm I soon realised that I was wrong....by 2 hours. Worse still was that I was informed that my chat to the journalist during the week had made it to the paper and lets just say the teachers at the club gave me some stick for it.

I stand by the comments I made although I'm pretty sure they changed a few words and I'm definitely not 36 years old. I won't go into to much detail on the article but it was concerning the teachers strike and as someone who pays quite a lot of tax I think I'm entitled to an opinion on how the public sector workers behave.

My friend wrote an excellent blog on the situation here and it echoes my thoughts exactly. I'd much rather people read this than what was in the paper as I do feel a little empathy (but not a great deal) for some of the strikers which doesn't really come across in the newspaper article.

Anyway they'll get over it :-) I do enjoy the banter though.

Once cricket was finished I went straight home to the sofa and some good old fashioned sleepy TV. First off it was the Goodwood festival of speed coverage on Sky which gave me a few nod off moments then Top Gear which is just so boring and predictable one can't help but feel sleepy. Coast followed that and I absolutely love that program but it always sends me to sleep, I find myself having to catch up on all the bits I've missed on the iPlayer.

I didn't actually get off the sofa until 1am. I blame Robson Green and his extreme fishing for that one.

I had a craving for a hot and spicy lamb curry yesterday but my laziness mean't I had to settle for cold pizza. It even had Pineapple on it !!! Pineapple on pizzas is just so wrong, I feel dirty for eating it! Best satisfy the curry craving tonight although I'm going make it myself rather that get one from uncle Raj.

Toodlepip xx.....

Freddie rocks up......

I'm still a bit dumbfounded about yesterdays antics. Did I really spend a whole day knocking about on a cricket field with my ultimate sporting hero?

Was the weather so nice that I'm current sat here trying not to change any facial expressions due to the pinkness of my sun scorched head?

Also just how big are world class international (ex) cricketers?

The answer to the first two questions is "Yes" and the the third is "Huuuuuuuuuuuuuge"





Freddie was down at Sonning CC quite out of the blue to film a documentary for the BBC on the effects of weather on sport. He was a really nice guy and had no quarms about signing autographs for the kids when they came over once school had finished.





Having dropped him in the deep early on I was singled out for catching practise, pretty unsuccessfully I might add. My hands today are aching.....that lad can get some height on those cricket balls I tell you !!!





Ultimately though "safe hands" Zagorski proved too good for the young upstart and he had to make the lonely walk back to the pavilion (or maybe it was just the end of filming that segment.....you decide)





All in all a really good and wholly unexpected experience. We only knew about the shoot the day before. I'm guessing they keep the schedule tight so that there isn't enough time to get the word around and have hundreds of people turn up making background noise and harrasing the celebrities.

We were told that our club was chosen for the film shoot because of recommendations from other clubs for our reputation as a hospitable and picturesque venue. Personally I think it was all down to the hanging baskets and flowerbeds :-)





Back to normality today and a busy day ahead it is too. I have a few technical bits I need to tidy up at work then at 2:30pm I have to head off to the Royal Berks Hospital to have a small operation on my hand......nothing to do with Freddie and the dropped catches I might add although the local anaesthetic might be a welcome relief.

After that I have my very good buddy Razer coming over for dinner. I take Razer's opinion on food very seriously, he's a bit of an aficionado so I'm keen to make a excellent spread. The menu is -

Starter - Hot smoked mackerel pate with pickled fennel and gooseberry purée.
Main - Rack of Lamb with summer vegetables and a minted Lamb broth.
Dessert - Crème Caramel with tempered dark chocolate.

I've tweaked the starter even more from my previous efforts this time using hot smoked mackerel rather than fresh and added some horseradish. I've combined a bit more spice and seasoning with the pickled fennel and I've retained more sourness in the gooseberry purée rather than have it too sweet.

I've never tried the main course before, it's something that just popped into my head and I think it's really going to work well.

The dessert again is something I've not really tried. I did have a trial run a couple of days ago and since then I've given it a bit more of a tweak especially with a bit more vanilla in the custard and less caramel. I've never tried to temper chocolate but I think a small sliver of bitterness will be a nice contrast to the sweetness of the caramel.

As a menu it's really rather a good one to use for a dinner party because the starter and dessert can be done a day or two in advance and the only really cooking on the day is for the main course which really shouldn't be difficult at all. It's seasonal, has lots of good flavours and is well balanced.

I'll let y'all know how it goes....toodlepip xxx

It's a worker....

Following on from yesterday and my gooseberry themed recipe creation I think I can say although it wasn't a resounding gastronomic success I was hoping for but it was certainly on the right track.

First off I was slightly disappointed with Waitrose in Twyford not having any fresh mackerel at all so I had to buy frozen (sustainably sourced of course) and even though the Waitrose in Caversham did have two fresh mackerel left one of them looked like it had been gutted by some crazed knife wielding maniac.

Unfortunately too from a photographic perspective a couple of the down-lights in our kitchen are blown, combined with the fact that I only have a iPhone for a camera the pictures I did take are not really worth posting up so you'll have to take my word for it that the dishes looked good.

I'll start with the dessert as it was an absolute success. The gooseberry fool was very simple to make too. I just created a syrup out of some gooseberries and mixed that with a chantilly cream whisked to soft peaks before topping it off with some chopped roasted almonds.

To make the gooseberry syrup I just put a layer of washed, topped and tailed berries into a small saucepan and just covering them with water I simmered until the fruit had broken down into a pulp. I then added a small glug of white wine vinegar and around 4 tablespoons of caster sugar, a little extra water and gave a it a good mix.

You don't want the mixture to be stiff at this stage otherwise it'll set when cooled rather than keeping a syrup like consistancy. Also I like to keep all the lumpy bits in for texture but you could strain through a sieve if you liked before setting aside to cool down.

Chantilly cream is just double cream, caster sugar and vanilla whisked together. I do this by taste so I can't really give you exact measurements but again if you do make it add the vanilla and sugar a bit at a time until you have the flavour you want then whisk the whole lot to a soft peak stage.

(You can use vanilla pods but I have a really brilliant little bottle of vanilla extract which I use, it's quite expensive but lasts much longer and even have the black seedy specks in it.)

To serve I put a layer of the cooled syrup into the bottom of two glass ramekins then folded the remainder of the syrup into the whisked and chilled cream so it gave a kind of marble effect. After spooning equal amounts of the cream into each ramekin I topped with chopped almonds and left in the fridge until it was time to serve.

This can be repeated for virtually any fruit and need not be restricted to just gooseberrys. Apple and rhubarb work well too.

The Mackerel dish was a triumph in a sense because the flavours really did compliment each other. Rather than just have a plain fennel salad I decided that I'd try to pickle the shaved fennel in a gooseberry vinegrette, worked excellently with the oily mackerel!

To make the gooseberry vinegrette I just whisked up olive oil with white wine vinegar along with some seasoning, as per a normal vinegrette, then I added some skinned fresh gooseberry which I'd cut into a small dice. To that I then added my shaved fennel which once stirred and covered I set aside to begin the pickling process.

This really is quite a sharp pickle so I added a bit of sugar water to balance the flavour a bit more. You still want it fairly sharp though so it cuts through the fish so don't over do it.

The gooseberry and mint jelly didn't really work at all although it had a very nice flavour and I think that if combined with vodka it'd make one hell of a good jelly shot! The coldness of the jelly was just too fresh especially as the fish was warm.

Yesterday I griddled the mackerel fillets and rested them on a bed of salad which I'd dressed with the fennel and gooseberry, although it looked and tasted very nice it was a bit muddled and quite difficult to eat.

All I kept thinking while I was having it was that it would work so much better if I'd made a terrine or pâté out of the mackerel, perhaps with a little horseradish then served that up as a starter with some of the pickled fennel and a gooseberry and mint jam rather than a jelly. The salad need not be there at all and you could just serve it with some nice crisp bread.

I'll try this over the weekend if I get time then report back.

Onto the weekend plans and tonight I shall be meeting with a few friends at the Ivory Lounge on Reading's riverside to celebrate the birthday of one of my wonderful friends. We'll be there until around 9pm then we'll be heading a few doors down for dinner at LSQ2.

So far I have a free day on Saturday and if it stays that way I'll retry the mackerel dish as described above and then maybe head up to watch a bit of cricket at Sonning providing the weather looks OK, maybe town in the evening but most probably not as I'm down to play cricket on Sunday again providing the weather holds off enough to get a resonable game in.

Toodlepip xxx

Gooseberries.......

I've been thinking about these little green orbs of fruitiness since yesterday evening when LSQ2 posed a question on Facebook asking what their followers think they should do with the big batch they've just picked. My mind started ticking right away.

Instantly I though of a classic gooseberry fool. Who can resist the swirled green, slightly sour gooseberry purée mixed up with a vanilla sweetened and chilled chantilly cream perhaps topped with some chopped toasted almonds? I'm not even a big dessert fan but that sounds devine !!

However............

Having ditched my recipe making plans yesterday for an evening of sport and beer at my cricket club followed by a curry from my buddies at the Haweli. I've been enlightened by the thought that gooseberries may very well be a perfect accompaniment for these little beauties...






Mackerel.






All fish like Mackerel need a bit of acidity to cut through their natural oiliness and I think that a couple of nicely cook mackerel fillets over a fennel salad could be brought to life with some lovely gooseberry flavour.

I was first thinking of just a basic gooseberry dressing but then I started imagining how it would feel to eat and how it could be made a little more complex in texture and taste.

You'd get a bit of crunch from the fennel salad but maybe adding some croutons would add another texture level. The dressing would add flavour but why stop there? I'm thinking that adding a bit of fresh mint to the dressing would really lift it all in terms of taste so now it's become a gooseberry and mint dressing....better still a gooseberry and mint jelly !!!!! Even betterrerrerrrerer both a dressing and a jelly !!!

Oh this is sounding good....I'm even going to give cricket practise a miss to make it. Actually I'm going to make both. Massive gooseberry off this evening :-)

Toodlepip xx

We thawt about it........

OH Please excuse the terrible pun in the posts title.....It'll make sense in a bit.

We decided after much discussion that we would withdraw our interest in the house we viewed on Monday. Good sense prevailed because we asked ourselves do we really need to move? Are we in anyway unhappy with where we are? Can we really afford it?

All answers were "No"

Fair enough we don't really have room to swing a cat in our Victorian terrace (however tempting it is) and the extra elbow room would have been nice. Having an extra room for the newbie would also have been a bonus but ultimately, as it usually does, it all comes down to finances. I'm sure we could have it and get by but there might be times when funds get a little tight which can bring tension into the household and it's just not worth risking our current harmonious lifestyle especially when we've got little "name to be announced soon" on the way.

So with that I shall move onto the foodie bit and an interesting article that I came across from the New York Times after following a link on Twitter from Fiona Beckett AKA @food_writer.

The article is written by a true legend of the culinary world Harold McGee. This guy has almost single handedly revolutionised the way the worlds top chefs think about cooking and is an inspiration to people like Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adrià.

The topic covers the benighted ideas behind the thawing out of frozen meat. For those a little bit concerned about which are the safest and quickest ways of doing this the article (follow this link) is a very good read.

I have mentioned it before but I will do so again because if you are reading this and are serious about food in anyway then you really need to get yourselves a copy of this book.....in fact both of these books -
















I'm now thinking about food and what to make for this evenings supper. I'm feeling the urge to come up with a new recipe. I'm thinking seasonally of course but also thinking something that will fit in with the dietary requirements of my beautifully radiant and expectant other half.........so ERM.....lots of thinking.

Stay tuned for tomorrows exciting episode ...... toodlepip xx

Offer....

So I've put a tentative offer in on the house we viewed yesterday evening. We really do like it and it'll be great for our growing family as it's got lots of garden space and it's well fenced. Looks a bit bigger on the outside than it feels inside but it does have 3 bedrooms, two loos and a nice kitchen with perhaps the most important thing for me.................a 6 ring gas range :-)




If we get it then it'll mean tightening those purse strings or getting another job to give us a bit of a comfort zone but what needs to be done will be done and it's not as if I'm exactly lacking in opportunities and ideas at the moment.

So following on from yesterday when I mentioned that after their wonderful demo on Saturday I thought I've give the Strada riverside restaurant a try.



I first went to Strada a few years back, just after I'd returned from my 6 month stint working away in Rome. Whilst living in Rome I was treated to some of the most wonderful Italian cuisine but I was also very much aware of the absolute dross that you can get there too......Yes! Believe it or not some restaurants in Italy are dire too.

The hotel I stayed in for 5 months of my stay is on Via Cavour. This road leads directly from the central Termini station right down to where the Forum meets the Colloseum. It's a tourists thoroughfare and it's lined with very mediocre restaurants with very mediocre food and not so mediocre prices. The exception to this being my hotel the Massimo D'Azeglio which has a superb restaurant and is indeed where I ate the most. I actually did a full review on the hotel for Tripadvisor which I'll paste to the end of this blog.

Anyway back to the review..........

It's these mediocre restaurants that the vast majority of non fussy eaters will go to. They are easy access, no need to dip off into the small side roads to find a hidden gem, after all a pizza is just a pizza innit Eh? And who can resist the temptation of a reheated Spag Bol and half a litre of the house white after a day of walking around the cobbled streets of Rome?

During my initial days these were just the places I was eating and those images I had in my head from reading Elizabeth David's book Italian Food we're just shattered. Where were these wonderful dishes that were passionately created using only the freshest produce available? Well after a while I worked out that they were just around the corner down those small side roads and certainly not along these tourist filled routes.

This kind of fayre was exactly what I was expecting that first time I went to Strada as it's big company with restaurants all over the UK but I was very pleasantly surprised. The first two things that stuck out for me on the menu then were the listings of Spaghetti, aglio, olio é peperoncino & Salati di Parmigiano e Rucola.

I'd never seen the first dish on any UK menu before and although I'd seen the Rocket & Parmesan salad it had never been shaved Parmesan, just grated which no doubt mean't it wasn't authentic Parmigiano-Reggiano at all, it probably wasn't even Grand Padano but more likely that horrid pre-grated stuff you get in shakers that smells of sweaty feet.

I went in, had a marvellous meal, the proper 4 courses as one must at a minimum in Italy. I definitely started with Carpaccio di manzo and followed that with the Spaghetti but it was such a long time ago that I cannot remember the meat course, I certainly had a side of salati di Parmigiano e Rucola and the dessert I forget too.....as I often do. It was washed done with a light white wine, probably a Frascati but again it was a long time ago.

So from that low expectancy I was more than pleasantly pleased and continued to use the restaurant for a while. I'm not sure why I stopped going, it certainly wasn't because of any bad experience.

When Jamie's Italian opened just a few yards away I thought that it might prove to be too much competition for Strada but a packed restaurant and having to wait for a table for two on a Saturday evening showed me that if anything it's made their business better.

The food hasn't changed in style or quality either, it's just as good now as I remember it from my first visit. Again I started with the Carpaccio di manzo this time followed up with their fish of the day and rather than dessert I finished off with a large shot of Frangelico. Having been munching away all day at Eat Reading Live I really couldn't stretch to the full 4 courses.

Head chef Tom was unfazed when I commented after his demo that I'd be going there after the days festivities and that I'd be reviewing it. He said he had full confidence in his staff both in the kitchen and front of house and that in no way did he think it was at all necessary for them to be extra vigilant as they are that way anyway.

Such good belief comes from good management and good staff. I think it's safe to say that Strada in Reading has this in abundance and it shines through in their food and in the service.

At the end of the day Strada is what you would consider a high street restaurant. It's never going to win any Michelin stars and it doesn't pretend that it's ever going too. What it does offer is an authentic taste of Italy, cooked well, served well and at a price everybody can afford at least once in a while.

Does it provide competition for it's bigger named rival just a few steps away? Yes it most certainly does. Is it better? At the moment I'd say definitely. Will it stay that way? It will until the rival starts getting itself back on track and with these two competing with each other then the real winners are going to be the people of Reading.

Tooodlepip xxx (unless you want to read my Roman hotel review below)

---------------

OK and for my Massimo D'Azeglio hotel report from 2005 -

I'm just coming to an end of what will be a 5 month stay at this Hotel, working in Rome.

I've read through some of the reviews and some I find quite unfair, OK the rooms adjacent to the surrounding roads can be noisy and sometimes you do feel like Michael Flatterly is doing a river dance in the room above but this hotel is over 120 years old, built long before buses and coaches rumbled up and down via Cavour and when wooden flooring was all the rage.

They have tried as best they can to eliminate noise but I feel that if they did anymore then the beauty and character of the hotel would diminish.

Rooms can be small but as I overheard one American tour guide explain to her party "Each room is different, some big some small".

The best advice I can offer would be to try and get a room on the top floor on the innerside of the building but if noise isn't a problem then I'd go for a room alongside via Cavour, lots of things happen along this road such and it's nice to people watch out of the MASSIVE windows.

Firstly I must say that I think the Hotel is a bit understaffed but having said that the staff that they have are wonderful, friendly and extremely hard working, the latter being something very rare in Rome as anybody who has spent enough time here will know only too well !!!!

The bar is very nicely decorated and well stocked. Giuliano & Angellino are a couple of cheeky chappies who'll look after you at the bar, they are very friendly, always willing to chat.

During the Summer months residents are encouraged to go over the road to the sister hotel "The Meditterano" and make use of their 10th floor roof garden, it's the highest panoramic viewing point in the whole of Rome and simply a beautiful place to relax and have drinks in the evening.

The food in the Restaurant is some of, if not the best I have had in Rome (certainly in the area) as is the (silver) service. They have an a la Carte menu as well as a daily menu, and they use the freshed and best ingredients. It's maybe a little bit more pricier than some of the surrounding eateries it is certainly excellent value for money. Plenty of class.

Yes the Breakfast is basic but that is the same for any other Hotel that I have spent time in during my stay in Rome, also when the Hotel is full the staff in the breakfast rooms seem to be rushed off their feet and you may need to wait a while why a table is cleared for you, not too much a hardship I think.

The location is brilliant, right by Termini Station and all sights are very easily to get to. The area however is a bit grotty, like most of Rome there is Graffiti all over the place and not even good Graffiti, if there is such a thing, for a city so rich in art and culture you'd expect a bit to rub off on the vandals.

Should I ever return to Rome on business or pleasure would I stay here? Absolutely, without question.

Feel free to email me if you require anymore information, I can point you in the right direction for some nice restaurants, wine bars and pubs.

Last piece of advice for anybody travelling to Rome - Only get in a Taxi that has the red "Commue di Roma" sticker on the outside, these are governed Taxi's, the name of the driver and the number of the taxi should be on a small plaque on the inside of the passenger doors, you should also find some information in the taxi detailing the payment structure, once inside the GIR (Roman Ring Road) the tariff should always be on option 1, let the driver know that you are aware of this and save yourself plenty of Euros.
Stayed February 2005, travelled on business

Win Win.....

Loads to catch up on since my last post. We've got 20 week scan results plus other congratulations. Also there's the Eat Reading Live festival write up and Reading, steady, cook 2011! finals summary then some rather fantastic news regarding my own culinary journey.

So we found out on Friday that we'd be having a little girl in about 20 weeks time. We did try all the tips and tricks for a boy but I think all of Emily's wishing had been listened too by the baby fairies. Would have been nice to have one of each and an heir to the family name but to be honest I really don't care a jot about that because it's just such a wonderful feeling being an expectant father for the first time.





Emily came with us to the scan and afterwards she was just so excited and overcome with joy she could hardly speak, in fact she was mostly just saying "I'm so happy". She going to be a brilliant big sister. We have a name in mind but we're keeping it to ourselves just for the time being until we've actually got used to it cause it'll seem a bit strange for other people to be referring to her by her name until that point.

So onto Eat Reading Live and what a fantastic event it was. It has almost trebled in size from last year and it all ran very smoothly thanks to a big effort from Abby, Guy and all the team from Reading UK CIC.

There was great support from the very best of Readings restaurants and producers notably LSQ2 who had a stall did a demo and also helped us out by coming up to help judge our 2nd semi-final of Reading, Steady, Cook. There were others too that also had stalls and performed demos - River Spice, Malmaison, Warwick Thai Bar...I'm sure they are more but it escapes me for now.

Eat Reading despite it's name is not all about food and there was also some drinking involved, thankfully at the times when I was presenting. Vintage Roots were first up and they did a really good demo on food and wine matching. I've known for while now that organic wine is no longer something up and coming, it's really up there now with non-organic wines in terms of flavour and Sam from Vintage roots bought along some real crackers to accompany some of the dishes that had been provided by restaurants from the town.

Sahara cocktail bar also came along to show us what they can do. Rik was excellent at explaining the real complexity and skill that goes into creating a proper cocktail. Too often you go into these new bars and they have a vast cocktail menu but in comparison they are like the fast food of cocktails whereas Sahara is like L'ortolan or Myalacarte. It was really interesting to hear the history behind the cocktails and the ingredients and Rik showed during the demo just how educated and passionate you need to be in the art of Mixology in order to reach those levels.

Back to the food and even before the festival opened I got a chance meeting with the opening chef Gennaro Contaldo who is just such a wonderful man. When I knew he was going to be opening the festival I though to myself that I'd get a copy of his new book and ask him to sign it for my mum so about 30 mins before the show started I popped into Waterstones to get a copy but they had none in stock. Not deterred I thought I'd just walk down to Jamie's Italian and pick one up from there, I had an idea that they wouldn't be open but seeing as I wasn't going there to eat I figured they wouldn't mind selling me a book.



Anyway off I went with a couple of buddies over to the restaurant and as we approached I noticed a little bald head through the window and sure enough it was Gennaro getting the last final bits for his demo. Well they let us in and I got the book but what was great was that Gennaro come over to us and introduced himself then stopped for a chat telling us all about the shooting of Two Greedy Italians and making jokes etc etc of course he signed the book "To Mamma - Big Love Gennaro"

Due to my presenting commitments I didn't get the chance to see most of the demos on the market square stage however I was eager to see the one from Daniel Galmiche firstly because I missed his one last year as I was too busy preparing for my semi-final and secondly because he's just a fantastic chef. He cooked a Monkfish tail with mussel ragout which just looked and smelt amazing, I didn't get a chance to eat any of it unfortunately, maybe I'll just have to go to his restaurant.......

My MC'ing duties were somewhat delayed on day one as the chef from Tampopo was unfortunately held up in his train travel as some delightful scallywags had decided to pilfer signalling cables from around the Twyford area. I've heard really good things about these guys (Tampopo...not the scallywags) so I was a bit disappointed not to get a taste but I'll go there soon.

So With their demo moved to later in the day my first introduction was to Strada who are an italian restaurant situated on the riverside and who provide excellent competition for their rivals just a few yards away.

Their Head Chef Tom treated us to a pasta dish with Italian sausage and brocolli and also to a wonderful lamb dish with roasted new potatoes. Absolutely brillinat demo and superb food. I actually went there afterwards for a meal and I will review that probably tomorrow.

The next food demo was not until the following day when we had Nich (phonetic spelling) from the Warwick Thai Bar come up and cook a stir fried prawn dish for us. It was so nicely flavoured and so well cooked, it took hardly any time at all before it had all been munched up by the baying crowd. They even gave me a free Tiffin holder after I asked where they got theirs from.

I was up next cooking a herbed rack of lamb with lentils and wild rice and while that was cooking away I also whipped up a quick spaghetti dish because I wanted to show just how quick and easy some things are. It was just spaghetti with olive oil, chilli and garlic, a true Italian classic but using very cheap but tasty ingredients. The recipes are ones I've already added to the blog so you can back track and find them alternatively just leave a message at the end of this post and I'll get it off to you.





Apparently I'm a natural on stage !!...Who have thought that? Certainly not my drama teacher at school.

Just before my demo I introduced a couple of tutors from Reading catering college who have just had a new block built and were set up around the corner offering prospectus' to the future cooks and chef of Reading. Some of the students had come along to help out during the day and a wonderful job they did too.

I think perhaps the most fun demo came from the West Indian women's circle. Judy came up on stage to some Caribbean music all brightly dressed and bubbly. She then showed up how to make deep fried fish balls which she served up with some salad and hot pepper sauce. After a bit of a nervy start we we're soon whining our bootys on stage and people were crowding around to taste the food that just kept on coming.

Of course the main reason I was involved in the festival was as a judge for Reading, Steady, Cook! and Saturday's semi-final proved to be as tight as we'd always expected them to be. As the weather was really sunny and warm so there we plenty of people about to watch them too which just adds more pressure to the already nervous amateur cooks.

Ultimately after some seriously hard judging and having to get help in making the decisions it was Farid Singh and Rick Wyatt who made it through to the final. Martin and Marc who both missed out made it very hard especially where Martin's Chicken casserole with chocolate was concerned. Such a wonderfully thought out dish and I think it was the longest deliberation Hilary (my co-judge and deputy editor of the Reading Post) had to make during the whole competition.

Come the final though and it's all about cooking on the day and with the ever exuberant Paul Clerehugh on stage that was going to be fun for me however the added pressure of having a top chef watching your every move just piles on the nerves for the guys cooking.




(Paul, Rick, Myself and Farid)


Farid outcooked Rick on the day and I was personally pleased that he'd taken himself a little further out of his comfort zone by cooking a fillet of fish which is something he'd only tried that very morning and he did it very well. He'd also created a rice dish and a spiced cabbage vegetable dish to go with it so he was very productive.

It's really difficult to make a decision on finals day because the other judges had not been around to see or taste any of the contestants previous food. I have to say that even though Rick lost on the day I felt he was the better cook throughout the competition. He is very knowledgeable about his food and excellent at sourcing local and seasonal ingredients and that was a fact that was considered during the judging and very nearly got it for Rick.

Next year I think the competition will be even bigger and better. We're constantly thinking of ways in which we can improve the format so that it's more entertaining for the people coming to see, for the venues that host and most importantly so that we get the absolute best out of the cooks wanting to make it to finals weekend. I'm already excited about next years competition.

So onto my news and I'm delighted to have been asked if I would like to start writing about food for Hilary. As I mentioned before Hilary was my regular co-judge for this years competition and she is also deputy editor for the Reading Post as well as another good food magazine so maybe soon I can officially call myself a food writer. Who'd have thought that? Certainly not any of my English teachers at school!!

I've also had a tentative enquiry about putting on a monthly food theatre evening with a top local restaurant so watch this space :-)

Now I really must dash so toodlepip xx

Early riser.....

Blimey I had a pretty awful nights sleep. Not sure if that was to do with my excitement about todays Eat Reading lunch or because of the curry I had from the Haweli in Twyford........twas a rather hot one !!!

Anyway it's left me a bit tired and I'm sure it's going to be a long day so the coffee machine is on and I'm keeping myself busy.

Only two more days to go until we find out whether our little Bumpski will be a girl or a boy. Carley is feeling lots of movements so whatever it is I think we'll have a little disco dancer on our hands.

I've decided that I'm going to take the rest of the day off work after the lunch and get myself into town as I really need a new pair of jeans. I go through them like crazy !! I blame the fact that my car is so low that it puts extra strain on the jeans getting in and out.

Back to Eat Reading Live and the first restaurant Tampopo whom I'll be introducing to the Town Hall stage at 11:30 on Saturday 5th.

Tampopo is a small chain of six restaurants dotted around the country. They have three in Manchester, one in Leeds and Bristol respectively and of course one in Reading on the Riverside at the Oracle.

They specialise in asian cuisine and the main focus is on the authentic style street food that you find all over this vast area. Tampopo actually means "Dandelion" in Japanese. I the cult classic film of the same name a lady goes off in search of the perfect bowl of noodles so it's a very fitting name.

At Tampopo you find dishes from Korea, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam which makes me wonder just how many people work in their kitchen! It must either be huge or they have some very well travelled cooks. Imagine travelling round all those places trying all the food to then come home and form a menu....now that sounds like fun.

It's situated towards the London Street end of the Riverside complex so it's quite separate from Wagamamas which would be it's main business rival in town. Both offer very good value for money and there is most definitely a place for both in town. This is going to be a great way to kick off the Town Hall stage given it's street food nature so I'm reckoning that there might a be a few bits getting passed around to the audience.

So signing off for now and I'll be back tomorrow with a review of the gala lunch and other little bits and bobs....toodlepip xxx

Winning draw......

Well what a day it was on the cricket field yesterday. Not down at Cardiff with that boring international cricket I mean over at Reading Blue Coat school where we (Sonning 3rds) took on the might of Mortimer West End. It was an overcast day which mean't that there was a lot of movement with the ball but we still managed to score an impressive 256 off our 45 overs.........my contribution......5 not out.

That has boosted my seasons average right up now to .....................erm........5

Mortimer batted through their 45 overs with just one wicket to spare. They could only score 165 because our bowling and fielding was superb so under the league rules that means we had a winning draw which gave us 15 points but we also got bonus points for restricting their total to less than 75% of ours and we got 9 wickets. So in the end we got 24 points which is very good for us. Cricket is certainly a confusing game even at the best of times.

Of course next weekend I shall be unavailable because of my commitments to Eat Reading Live and I'll pick up there with a little write up about the people I'll be introducing on the Town Hall Stage at 13:30 on Saturday 4th June.

Vintage Roots are an organic wine merchants based in Hook. They are a home delivery service and although their speciality is in wine they also sell beers, spirits and champagnes, all of which are organic. Just looking at their website I can see that they stock at least 700 wines and you can even search for vegetarian, vegan and biodynamic variations.

I'm quite a big fan of organic wines, especially organic reds because they contain very little or no sulphates and it's those sulphates that contribute greatly to the red wine headache the following day. Try it and see for yourself........by the way drink responsibly, always use a big glass with a large base so you don't spill any!

I'm really interested to see what they are going to demo but at the same time I'm a bit scared because I could be parting with a few quid too.

Plans for today are to finish this blog, catch up with Two Greedy Italians on the iPlayer, complete a few missions on Assassins Creed Brotherhood then I'll pop up to the cricket club to watch the Sunday 2nds and have a few beers.

So so so looking forward to meeting Gennaro on Saturday !! Mum if you are reading we'll try and get another signed book for you.

Tomorrow of course is a national holiday in the UK and it's also the championship play off final at Wembley between Reading and Swansea. Should Reading win then the town will be buzzing and with that in mind we're having a little party at The Penta Hotel. They'll have a big screen (and when I say big I mean mahoooooosive) showing the game itself then afterwards I'll be reuniting with the rest of the original House Party DJ team and turning up the tunes to have a good old fashioned party. All are welcome.....except if you're a k**bhead. We don't like them at our parties :-)

There will be some old Reading players coming along so if your a fan and couldn't get to Wembley then this surely has to be the next best thing.

Had an idea for a breakfast today that turned out brilliantly and once perfected I shall add some photos and a recipe but for now that's it and I bid you adieu.......toodlepip xx

LSQ2 review......

Right off I'll say that it was a collective 6 out of 10 but even though that's a middle of the road score I stress that it was only in the finer details that the marks were lost.

From the start there was a warm welcome and the staff throughout the evening were impeccable. The restaurant was full but there was no stressing and nothing was too much for them.

We were greeted with Kir Royale cocktails (Fruit cocktail substitute for Carley) and with our meal we had the La Serre Sauvignon Blanc which was a very nice drop. It's light with a bit of citrus and at £17.95 a bottle it is very nicely priced too.

Upon being seated we were given a pre-started which consisted of some well prepared nibbles with flavours and textures that got your taste buds going. There was some refreshing dressed Melon, a couple of wonderfully light puff pastry sticks and some cheesey treats so plenty going on in the mouth and on the plate and that's really the way the rest of the menu goes.

I can only really comment on my meal although we did all (4 of us) choose differently and we did all have a bit of each others. I won't review each dish that came to the table in full detail apart from my own because that would be unfair but I will add small notes for praise and suggested tweaks to dishes by the people that had them.

One thing we all agreed on was that the cooking of each individual component was pretty much spot on and could not be faulted.....unless being extremely picky.

Starters -

Wild Local Rabbit and Meon Valley Pork Faggot with braised leeks and spicy butternut broth

First impression is very good, very pleasing and vibrant colour. The faggot is well sized which given the richness of the meat is good, anything bigger would fill you up too much. I loved the braised leeks they added a slight sweetness to the dish which rounded it off nicely.

The butternut broth which gave the dish such a nice appearance was slightly lacking in spice and could have done with a pinch more. However the other downside was that the bowl it was served in which was quite deep so it mean't you had to kind of dig the faggot out and with the faggot being wrapped in caul this just made it very difficult to actually eat.

It does seem like a petty criticism but I think that if this was served in a bowl in which you could actually get a knife into then it'd be a real winner.

Ostrich Carpaccio - Diner felt there was too much wasabi mayonnaise used on the presentation, could have done with less on the plate and then a separate dish containing extra for the eater to choose to add if they wish. Only criticism to an otherwise lovely dish.

Potted Duo of Fresh and Smoked Salmon - Very nice simple and fresh tasting dish, good smokey flavour that lingered nicely on the palate.

Cornish Scallops and Black Pudding Fondant - Strong flavour in the black pudding and fondant which the diner really enjoyed. Scallops perhaps a little on the small side.

Mains -

Pan Fried North Sea Cod with star anise braised oxtail and oyster mushrooms

The oxtail and mushrooms had a really strong and rich flavour which cod can hold up too although I thought it was maybe a bit too sweet. It had a madeira like flavour which masked any aniseed hint which I was expecting from the star anise.

The cod was presented skin side down which being laid over the oxtail made it look untidy, maybe this was because the skin was a little over crisp (shall we say). For me the fish was a little overcooked too but I do like mine barely cooked, almost opaque so maybe a harsh criticism.

I chose this dish because I thought it'd be a good light option after such a rich starter but in the end I couldn't finish it as it was rather heavy. A nice dish but not a strong one.

Isle of Wight Lamb Two Ways - No complaints regarding the Lamb however in the diners opinion the Asian sauce really didn't work.

Venison Wellington - Huge portion and cooked rare which it needs to be. Left me wishing I'd have chosen it.

Wagyu Beef Burger - The biggest criticism here was that the burger sat atop the salad with in turn was atop the brioche base. The problem with this was that the brioche soaked up all the moisture and became very soggy. Big plus though was the chips. The diner having been to Heston's Hinds Head pub only a week or so ago said LSQ2's were better :-)


Desserts -


Petit Fours -

I'm not a bit fan of desserts. I normally only go for either cheese or a liqueur but as I was still feeling pretty full after my two rich courses I thought better of going for the cheese and thought I'd give the petit fours a go. They are only priced at £2.00 so I was expecting something small.

I was pretty pleased when they came to the table. Four individual bigger than bite size home made delights served on a long dish with some raspberry sauce drizzled over. I had a bit of each before passing the rest around and I felt that it was a lovely end to the meal. The effort that must have gone into creating them is worth more than the 50p a pop they charge for them.

Toblerone cocktail dessert - Diner was in heaven with this.

Rhubarb and Champagne Trifle - Perhaps a little too sweet but it all went pretty quickly!

Cheese Board - Good selection of cheese served up with the usual crackers and grapes. Also had some kind of fruit jelly accompaniment that the diner had trouble working out what it was. I thought it was peachy in flavour with maybe a hint of cinnamon, whatever it was I liked it.


The overall impression of the new menu was that it was perhaps a bit confused. It's very extensive which makes for very difficult ordering which is no bad thing. Each dish has very different fusion elements and whether they all worked or not is down to the individual person. I'd certainly recommend more tasting sessions to really find out what works, what doesn't and if there should be any tweaks. There is obviously a great deal of talent in that kitchen.

LSQ2 will be demonstrating on the Market Place stage at 1pm on Saturday 4th at Eat Reading Live. Check out and like their Facebook page to keep updated with their ongoing offers and future tasting sessions

I'll save my blog about Vintage Roots organic wines until tomorrow as I'm getting distracted by the cricket now......toodlepip xx

Nothing big today....

Blog is moving to my own domain so no big post from me today. It's being designed so it's just a holding page for the time being.

Hat Club went well at the weekend and I have a recording so share. It's firstly going up on www.itsonlyamixtape.co.uk then I'll send it out to whoever wants a copy.

Just 3 weeks to go until we find out if our little Bumpski is going to be a boy or a girl and I think we're now settled on names for either, first names anyway.

Looking forward to the taster evening at LSQ2 this Thursday and I know I have other things planned but I really cannot think of them at the moment.....which is rather annoying.

Pretty much settled on cooking Lamb & Lentils at the food demo so I'm sure Carley won't mind having it a few times between now and then so I can perfect it.

Anyway work to do so must dash...toodlepip xxx

New direction......

So yesterday I was all excited about getting my first product review posted on my website but I was not to know that I was just one large cappuccino away from a completely different path.

This will now just form one part of a much larger site being built and maintained by a professional company. It'll be a site focussed on myself and on my cooking with subsections for product reviews, recipes, blog, photos, videos and cookery advice and there will also now be booking information for private catering and public demonstrations.

All very positive stuff and cost wise it's no more than I'd already set aside for my own basic site and although I will be submitting content it'll mostly be run for me and therefore a massive step in my quest for outsourcing aspects of my life.

I already feel like a weight has been lifted because even though I'm really happy that I've taught myself how to get a site running the fact that I'll be having a professional company who already have some huge worldwide brands as clients is much more reassuring.

I have a few things coming up that will get some local media coverage so it's probably the right time to make use of the publicity before the opportunity passes. I have nothing to lose and all to gain..............I like that scenario :-)

However that's enough of that.

I finally got my hands on some Ox cheeks yesterday. I saw them on the menus of virtually all the restaurants I went to in Melbourne and I've wanted to experiment with them ever since.

They look quite tough as I'd expected so I've decided to give soak them in a light brine (Water, salt, sugar and some pink peppercorns) before cooking in the water bath for 12 hours. The brining helps to breakdown the muscle fibres and helps the meat retain more moisture which in turn results in a nice juicy and soft texture. It works really well with lean meats cut too which are more susceptible overcooking and drying out. There is plenty of advice on how to do this out there on the internet so give it a go.

Well I really must finish up as work is crazy today......it's going to be a looooooooong day.....toodlepip xx