Food & Drink...

Quite a nice chilled weekend just gone. Played our penultimate game of the cricket season on Saturday and I seem to have hit my peak right at the end of the proceedings, hopefully I can carry the form into next year but alas saving relegation was never possible.

Sunday was the highlight of the weekend as we went over to the Wokingham food & drink festival. They had plenty going on there for people of all ages, activities for the kids, various stall selling homemade and/or local produce and a bar serving up local ales which reminds me I must pop over to Bingham's Brewery to pick up some of the wonderful beer they had on show.

The main reason we went was to catch the cookery demo by Tony and Sally Cole from LSQ2. A great job they did too cooking up my two favourite dishes off the menu. I'm going to be trying out my own variation of the Pork Belly and Scotch Quails Eggs myself this evening so I'll get the recipe for these up sometime this week.

It would have been so easy just to lay around all day yesterday as I had the inevitable aches from cricket and with just 8 weeks to go until our new arrival Carley wasn't exactly full of beans either but we did manage to muster the energy for a walk down to Waitrose to pick up a spot of lunch and also for a meander around in search of the evenings meal.

We went for confit duck in the end as it's such a comfort food especially when served up with celeriac mash, peas and a red wine jus. Of course I cheated with the confit and just bought the canned variety which is perfectly fine although not as good as doing the whole process yourself. I blogged about how to do this a while back so a quick search will find you the method, it really is the best way to eat duck.



A can containing two portions of confit duck at Waitrose comes in at a hefty £9.99 but if you bear in mind the amount of duck fat you get to keep for those perfect roast potatoes or crunchy chips then personally I think it's money well spend.





Another reason we're glad we went to the food & drink festival was because of the amazing gadget we came across. It's called the "Wean Machine" and it's a rather brilliant little invention for feeding small sprogs when you are on the go.




There is a lot more information about the product on their website but here's the demo video with the inventor who was at the festival on Sunday.

Getting excited about baby products must mean we're close :-)


As for my own cookery demos I'm delighted to have been asked to participate as a cook and presenter at the food4familes Reading town meal on the 1st October being held in Forbury Gardens.

There will be three other former Reading, Steady, Cook participants taking part along with myself which is just brilliant and there will be other demos from the irrepressible Paul Clerehugh as well as some from the students at Reading College so as you can tell it's going to be a feast of all things local.

It's not all about the cookery demos either because there will be plenty of other things going on for people of all ages and if you fancy getting involved yourself then pop along to their website and you can find all the contact info you need right there as well as info on the event itself.

So until I'm back with a wonderful Pork Belly recipe for y'all that's it, you're all up to date...............Toodlepip xx

Laptop back.....

After an incredible amount of laziness I finally have my laptop back.....yippeee.

Friday was my only source of blogspiration from the weekend. I knew from the moment I left work that it was going to get a bit out of hand due to it being a birthday and leaving celebration for my friend who had been visiting for a few weeks but was now back off to his bar in Thailand.

Earlier in the day I'd noticed a 25% discount offer on Twitter for one of my favourite Reading restaurants LSQ2 and thought there really could be no better way to start out than to have a tummy full of delicious grub so a table for two was booked for 7:30pm.

With me was a friend who is not normally known for his adventure with food so I was interested to know what he thought of the place. The menu at LSQ2 is one of fusion so for him some of the combinations may have seemed a bit exotic or perhaps even a little obscure.

I started with the Romsey Free Range Duck Egg (£8.95). This is served up with some white asparagus, air dried ham and some wonderful little wild mushrooms. The egg was cooked perfectly with a touch of crispiness around the edges and the texture those mushrooms gave was like little explosions going off in the mouth. I especially liked the enokitake mushrooms, well that's what I think they were!

My friend opted for a starter version of the Hot Scotch Egg (£3.50) which came cut in half to reveal the runny yolk and juicy Meon Valley pork casing. It looked vibrant on the plate as most dishes here do and I think the orange pumpkin ketchup in contrast to the white plate and golden yolk colour gave it a really nice first impression which he said carried on through the eating of the dish.

We'd (read I'd) decided that best for drinks would be a bottle of white wine and as they'd run out of the Sauvignon Blanc that I usually have we instead chose the Saam Chenin Blanc, 2010, South Africa (£21.00) which had lots of fruit and nice aromatics but was still fairly light to drink and certainly complimented my starter.

For main course I fancied something fishy so I went for the Roasted Cornish Monkfish (£14.50). The Monkfish comes wrapped in panchetta which keeps it as moist as you could hope for and it's served inside a very light Yorkshire pudding. The cider, chorizo and caper sauce was quite rich but very tasty and packed with flavour.

All classic combinations but my only gripe would be with the Yorkshire pudding. It was so incredibly light which made me question why it was actually there. Sure it looked nice and did give a slight bit of crunch but I couldn't help but think that a piece of fried bread underneath the monkfish (Steak Rossini style) might have been a bit better because it would have made the fish more of the centrepiece rather that the Yorkshire pud..............was a fantastic piece of delicate cooking though, take nothing away from that.

My fellow diner went for the Isle of Wight Lamb Two Ways (14.95) again I think he thought he was playing it safe and was surprised when the dish actually came out because again it looked very vibrant and was well presented. Judging by the "mmmm's" and "ooooh's" I'm guessing it was tasty too. He did have to ask me what the ravioli was, I'm sure he was expecting something you'd get out of a tin and not a 10cm disc sized parcel :-)

We couldn't hang around for dessert as there was some serious drinking to do elsewhere but it was pretty much a perfect start to the evening. It was the first time my friend had been to the restaurant and I'm absolutely certain he'll go again.

Not that my last experience was all that bad but I did mark it down on the finer points to give it a very good 6 out of 10. This time however I'd happily give it and extra 2 points to make it a very good 8 out of 10........high marks indeed for me and I'm looking forward to the restaurant that can give me my first ever 9 out of 10.

Like I say the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. In hindsight it probably wasn't a great idea to go out on Friday because my right leg was very sore after bashing it during a cricket match. I'm currently having to wear flip flops to work because shoes and socks are a no go. I think I twisted my ankle, bashed my calf and my shin all at the same time.....





Oh well, sport hurts and effort is required.

Going to start experimenting with the starter for my July menu this evening so I'll let you know how that goes..

Toodlepip xxx

Cleaning up.....

A pretty good weekend really. Drinks on Friday evening were nice although I got squiffy quite quickly on white wine which made it pretty difficult to properly review LSQ2 so I'll save that for another day when I can make a fair comment rather than a slightly blurry one.

I'm not sure why it happens, sometimes I can drink for Britain and not get too wobbly then sometimes I have 3 glasses of vino and I'm all over the place.

Saturday morning was a struggle but Carley had the urge to get up and spring clean so I tried my best to help by doing a bit of hoovering but that to and fro motion just made me feel even worse so I thought it'd be best to get out of the way and head to Twyford beer festival.

The festival itself is not a major affair, certainly nothing along the lines of the Reading beer festival but Ian who organises it all puts it such a big effort to get it running and all the volunteers who help out over the 2 days earn a great deal of money for the Orchid male cancer charity so a big well done to each and every one of them.

I could only manage to stay for half of ale because the hair of the dog just wasn't working and the band that were playing were not helping at all....they were terrible. I thought that maybe my hungover state amplified their awfulness and perhaps I was being a tad harsh but no.......they really were terrible. I wanted to stay to see my buddies band "The Skangsters" perform, they really are excellent but alas I needed some sofa time before the 7pm table booking at the Haweli in Twyford.

I really wanted to go in there to enquire about a restaurant premises in the village that has recently been vacated. I know that the guys at the Haweli own it so I was after getting my interest know however I was informed that it already has plans to be a Mexican restaurant which is a shame because I think that "The Twyford Brasserie" would be a bit of a village sensation.

I know people have their own opinions about Indian restaurants, everybody has their favourites and they vociferously build them up as the best while condemning all others to the curry house pit of hell. Well I'm not one of those although I do love my local Indian not just for it's food but also for it's warm welcome which makes going there a real treat.

They know me. I'm Mr Ben and I like my curries hot, they know that. I also like to drink red wine with my curries and they know this too. Their food might not be as gastronomically diverse as The Royal Tandoori in Reading which is another of my favourites but the reception and hospitality I get at my local is what makes them special. the fact that they are consistently voted in the UK's top 100 Indian restaurants is a bonus too.

Before heading out to the beer festival I did promise Carley that I'd bring her back some lunch and while wandering around Waitrose I thought that just a sandwich was not enough and she deserved much more than that. The sun had gotten itself out for a brief spell so I went all Mediterranean. OK fair enough it might have been a tad too much for two people !!!!





Roasted peppers, chargrilled vegetables, a chorizo tortilla, pitta bread, spinach falafel and piri piri hoummas........yum yum!

The remainder of the evening, until around 3am, was spent glued to the TV's watching the coverage from the Le Mans 24hr race and playing Gran Turismo 5 on the Playstation. Yes we do have two TV's in our front room......not for long though Carley I promise :-)

Incidently I'm amazed at how Alan McNish and Mike Rockenfeller survived these two crashes. Such a testament to the safety aspect of these extreme race cars that other than some bruising the only injury suffered was a cut to the Rockenfeller's arm. I'm dumbfounded that they both walked away.......especially the 2nd one, there is literally nothing left of the car but a burning shell. For the full devastating impact check it out around 7:40.








Sunday started of miserably as the weather was awful and I knew it'd mean that my cricket match would be called off. In the end that proved to be quite handy because I had work to do which due to my work computer crashing mean't that I had to come into the office rather than work remotely.

So instead of whacking cricket balls around I was spending my Sunday morning with Harry Potter and Optimus Prime. I do love my job but I wish the studios wouldn't leave such hectic schedules for getting all the film elements together. With both Harry Potter 7 part 2 and Transformers 3 due to be released I'm thinking it might be a busy week ahead.

I only had to complete the processor intensive bits at work rather then the rest I could finish remotely so come 1pm I was ready to head back down to the beer festival this time getting to sample many more delightful ales, ciders........and awful bands.

More top sport followed this with the England U21 v Spain U21 footy match. A good 1-1 result for England who would have been expected to lose against such a strong Spanish side but they managed to get a goal right near the end then even pressed on and could have nicked it. Not a great match but a good result and I'm backing Daniel Sturridge to shine in the coming games.

Sporting highlight has to be Jenson Button's amazing win at the Canadian GP. Taking 6 pit stops and being in last place at one stage to then come through the field and win is something I've never seen before and never likely to see again in my life time. A truly awe inspiring victory.

Unfortunately I didn't get the time to perfect my Mackerel & gooseberry dish but given that the weather looks as miserable as it did yesterday I'm thinking that nets tonight are looking unlikely so perhaps I'll get the time to do it this evening.

Toodlepip xx

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

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

Not Paris but Reading.......

Did I spend a delightful day with Paris Hilton yesterday? Obviously no but I did spend lunchtime at the wonderful Reading Hilton over on Kennet Island dining at the same table as the Mayor of Reading amongst others.

I always expect quality at Hilton Hotels and this new addition to the global chain doesn't disappoint. The entrance is a big spacious area nicely decorated with the reception to the left and the lounge bar and restaurant to the right. It has a grand hotel feel to it but at the same time it's quite understated and businesslike.

While there I got to meet the hotel manager who was delightful (a far cry from the manager I encountered at the Hilton Watford all those years back when I was a 14 year old pot washer) and I was also sat next to the director of the Hilton in the community foundation. We had a great chat about all the things they do for the many charities they support and it was really nice to know that a big company like Hilton hotels are so active and enthusiastic to be involved in such things.

So anyway onto the event and the food......

The event was a charity gala lunch to firstly of course to raise money but also to launch the two food festivals that are happening in Reading town centre over these next four days. The Oracle shopping centre (who themselves have a charity foundation) are hosting the Fresh Food Festival which opened today on the Riverside and continues tomorrow with cooking demonstrations from celebrity chefs James Martin and Lesley Waters as well as many other things which you can catch up on here.

The 2nd food festival is Eat Reading Live and for those who are reading this blog for the first time I'm personally much more involved in this one and you can catch up on what I've written about it so far by backtracking through my recent blogs.

For the meal itself we were treated to a 5 courses cooked by some of the towns top restaurants and the standard was impeccable considering there were around 160 diners to cater for and this must have taken the chefs well out of their comfort zones.

Starter was from Myalacarte and chef Loic Gaultier had prepared a Spring salad with house dressing. It was a very basic dish but beautifully presented and so fresh to taste. It perfectly balanced french style with wonderful English produce and that's what Myalacarte as a restaurant is all about. My mouth is watering just thinking about it now !!! Stand out dish of the day for me on a very impressive menu.

Next came a fish course from L'ortolan. Although executive chef Alan Murchison wasn't there himself he'd sent along sous chef Nick Chappell to fill in and he did a wonderful job. The Salt Cod Brandade with pickled fennel was a great combination of flavour, texture and style again representing this Michelin starred restaurants ethos perfectly.

Tony Cole from LSQ2 was up next with their Roasted pork belly, scotch quails egg and their very own XO sauce. It was always going to be difficult serving up a dish like this to 160 people because of the precise cooking needed for each component. Even if you were in your own kitchen let alone one being occupied by 4 other chefs and their respective teams this would be a challenge however to LSQ2's credit Tony and the team did very well. The use of King prawns in the scotch egg was inspired!

Next up was a selection of dishes from Tutu Melaku and her Ethiopian table. On the plate was a tender chicken leg with a rich tomato spiced sauce, an (intentionally) slightly sour pancake with spinach and garlic then also a small pot of spicy lentils. These lentils were absolutely to die for! I could easily eat these everyday for my lunch. This was real family dinner table cooking and a wonderful use of spices and ingredients. Tutu must have been terrified at the thought of cooking for 160 people but she did an amazing job, truly amazing.

To finish the Hilton Reading's own executive chef Martyn Watkins had prepared a trio of Reading strawberries and when they say Reading strawberries they mean it because each one used in the dessert was hand-picked locally just the day before. The dish comprised of a strawberry sorbet topped with basil sugar, a strawberry tart with the most delicate and buttery base and an individual cheesecake using Huntley & Palmer biscuits for the base.

Overall a very impressive meal showcasing perfectly what Reading has to offer in the way of dining and produce.

Myalacarte & L'Ortolan delivered the exceptionally high quality that you'd expect for a restaurant voted in the top 50 of a recent national poll and one with a coveted Michelin star respectively showing that Reading can provide exquisite fine dining.

The Hilton showed that it can cater for large functions and corporate events in terms of fantastic facilities, great management and an extremely good kitchen.

LSQ2 represented the restaurants we have in town that offer extremely good brasserie style food from a range of world cuisines at affordable prices and of course Tutu and her Ethiopian table represented both family and culture through her wonderful food.

Lets forget about the football and stand up and say a big YAY for Reading's food. It's only going to get better too and that is something we can all be proud of :-)

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

A bit of a tasty evening ahead....

More foodie exploits ahead tonight when I'll be attending a taster evening at LSQ2 for the launch of their new menu. I'm really glad I managed to get a table because the whole event sold out within around 90 minutes of it being announced.

I've eluded to the website and Facebook page on the blog before but I'm still impressed by their design and the photography in both. The same company are going to be looking after my sites.

The menu itself is so varied and it all sounds wonderful so I'm going to have a struggle choosing what to have !! Best get there early I reckon, especially as there is a Champagne reception.

Following that I'll be heading over the The Forbury Hotel where my buddy is having catch up drinks. He's been away for 5 months working in Indonesia and I picked him up from Heathrow this morning. I'm informed that 10 bottles of Dom Perignon have been pre-ordered and are all expected to be consumed.........booking tomorrow off work really was a good idea.

Following on from my write up about the West Indian Womens Circle yesterday I'm going to keep working back through my schedule and put down a few words about The Warwick Thai Bar & Restaurant.

I believe that the bar used to be operated by Greene King as a friend of mine was the tenant there for a while but since then it's changed hands an is now being run by Spirit House.

Their website states - "Just in case you were wondering, a Spirit House is a Thai home for any previous Spirit occupants of your building. So as not to anger the dispossessed beings, suitable accommodation is thus provided, allowing a harmonious living arrangement for all."

The Thai influences are seen in the decor and of course in the food. I've not actually eaten in the Warwick but I have indulged myself plenty of times at their other establishment The Moderation in Caversham. In fact the only time I have been in the Warwick since Spirit House took over was to take part in the first round of Reading, steady, cook 2010.

The Lyndhurst Arms just on the edge of Reading town centre completes Spirit House's pub triple making them a big name in the Reading independent pub circuit. I certainly remember my first ever experience of The Moderation which was during my very first trip to Caversham when I was considering moving down from Watford. I had a room viewing just around the corner and I was a little early so I popped into the pub for a pint.

There we're guys in there with tattoos on top of tattoos. Well at least they looked like guys. I was wearing far too little leather and felt just a little bit to hygienic to really fit in so supped up quick and decided it was probably best to wait outside the house.

I also remember going in there once before heading into Reading festival. I ordered a pint of Guinness and I noticed that the glass actually had a hole in the bottom of it, not sure how that happened, maybe it hit a pointy object but anyway I pointed it out to the person (again not sure of actually sex) behind the bar to which the reply was "Well you better drink it a bit bloody faster then ain't ya"

Aaaah those were the days.........Anyway now it's completely different. The decor is stunning, the outside area is nice and cosy and the food is way above average in standard and very reasonably priced. You can have two courses and a drink for £10 on Monday night over at the Mod anyway.

As it happens the day before the RSC 1st round at The Warwick I was speaking to Andy (Part owner of Spirit House) at The Moderation and I was delighted to hear him say that they always try, whenever possible, to source their produce locally from local producers and I was even more delighted to see that they stocked wine from Twyford's Stanlake Vinyard. I live just down the road from the Stanlake Park Wine Estate and they really do make a good drop of English wine which can quiet easily compete with some of Europe's best.

So that's it for today. I'll be back tomorrow with not only a stinking Champagne hangover but a review of the evening at LSQ2 and some words about Vintage Roots Organic Wine Merchants......toodlepip xx

Still Building....

OK the webpage is still being built but at least it's getting there and I do want it to look good so it'll be worth the wait.

I've been given my timetable for Eat Reading Live and I'm pretty much going to be involved from 11am right through to the close of each day.

Saturday 4th is opening day and first to open on the Market place stage will be the one and only Gennaro Contaldo.

Gennaro has links to Reading through his involvement in the Jamie's Italian chain of restaurants. I've been loving his latest TV show Two Greedy Italians with Antonio Carluccio and I simply cannot wait to meet him.

I probably won't be able to catch all of his demonstration though as I'll be heading up to the Town Hall square stage for 11:30 to introduce the first demonstration on that stage from Tampopo.

(I'll give a full list of the demonstrations and times for both stages for both days at the end of the blog.)

Up next on the stage at 12:30 will be Strada followed at 13:20 by organic wine merchants Vintage Roots.

My next action is not until 16:00 when I go back down to the Market Place stage to introduce and judge the semi-finals of Reading, Steady, Cook 2011. Luckily for me that means I do not miss the demonstration by the amazing Daniel Galmiche.

I didn't really get to enjoy his demo last year because I was so nervous about my own semi-final so it'll be brilliant to be able to see this Michelin starred chef in action.

That'll be the end of day one so I'm guessing a few relaxing glasses of vino will be in order ready for the next day.

Sunday 5th at 11:00 I'll be kicking off the Town Hall Square stage introducing an as yet unnamed food demo which is followed at 12:30 by The Warwick which is a pub that specialises in Thai cuisine. They also run The Moderation in Caversham and The Lyndhurst just on the edge of the town centre.

Then............at 13:30 it's my own demo :-) very much looking forward to it too.

Finishing off the Town Hall Square for this year is the West Indian Women's circle. I have a soft spot for West Indian food although I don't really know too much about it other than the Goat curry we used to have at the Watford Antilles club functions that we used to go to with my mum and her buddy Ricky. Introducing the ladies to the stage will be a real treat and I cannot wait to see what they cook up.

At 16:30 I'll be hot footing it over to the Market Place stage to introduce and judge the final of this years Reading, steady, cook and I'll be doing this alongside Reading's very own food hero Paul Clerehugh.


Paul is the owner of both London Street Brasserie in Reading itself and also The Crooked Billet Gastropub in Stoke Row. It's going to be quite surreal sharing the stage with the person who was judging me last year and the person who gave me such high praise backstage after the final. It was those comments that really made me decide that I wanted to take my cooking to another level so if I use the word "inspiration" to describe him then it's fully justified.

That wraps up the Eat Reading Live festival for 2011 but I'm expecting some more events to spring up out of it as the year goes on so hopefully I can play a part in that too.

As promised here is the full schedule for the Eat Reading Live stages -

Saturday 4th

Market Place -

11:00 - 11:39 - Gennaro Contaldo
12:00 - 12:30 - Pepe Sale
13:00 - 13:30 - LSQ2
14:15 - 14:45 - Cilantro
15:15 - 16:00 - Daniel Galmiche
16:30 - 18:30 - Reading, steady, cook! Semi-finals

Town Hall Square -

11:30 - 12:00 - Tampopo
12:30 - 13:00 - Strada
13:30 - 14:00 - Vintage Roots
14:30 - 15:00 - CEBEP young chef 2011
16:00 - 16:30 - Déjá Vu

Sunday 5th June

Market Place -

11:00 - 11:30 - Las Iguanas
12:00 - 12:30 - Malmaison Brasserie
13:00 - 13:20 - Mya Lacarte
14:15 - 14:45 - River Spice
15:15 - 16:15 - Paul Clerehugh
16:30 - 17:30 - Reading, steady, cook! Final

Town Hall Square -

11:30 - 12:00 - TBC
12:30 - 13:00 - Warwick Thai bar & restaurant
13:30 - 14:00 - Ben Zagorski (That's me just incase you we're unsure)
14:30 - 15:00 - West Indian Women's Circle

Many things.......

I've actually got quite a bit to blog about today but stick with it because you absolutely have to try the recipe at the end.....that is unless you have a shellfish allergy :-/

First and foremost thank you to the team at Pepe Sale in Reading for being so welcoming and hospitable in hosting yesterday evenings 2nd round heat of Reading, steady, cook! I was rather pleasantly surprised by the restaurant having never been there before.

It has a really authentic, family run and genuine Italian feel to the place which of course comes from owner Toni Sale, his family and the kitchen team who produce some wonderful and classic Sardinian cuisine.

Oh look and here's Toni himself......





The music bread was to die for. (knocks Jamie's out of the park......shhhh don't tell him I said that) Just couldn't stop munching away on it and the black olives were like sunshine in your mouth :-)

Congratulations to Rick on winning the heat and progressing to the semi finals. His pan roasted poussin with spring vegetables was superbly sourced, excellently cooked and very well presented.





Commiserations to Marc who lost out narrowly with his fusion styled lobster with pappardelle but it was a very tricky decision as was entirely expected at this stage of the competition and ultimately somebody had to go through.





Marc is extremely passionate about food and has been a great and enthusiastic supporter of the competition attending many of the heats so hopefully he'll be back in some form or another. Well done buddy :-)

As Guy Douglas (BID Manager for ReadingUK CIC) commented it really was a brilliant advert for the Reading community all showcased through food. We had Rick's use of local ingredients, Marc's multi cultural culinery background and Pepe Salé's family business all rolled into recipes and restaurants, it's really what this whole competition is all about so well done to everyone involved.

From one fabulous Reading, steady, cook venue to another and I was amazed at seeing the new website and facebook page for LSQ2. Having recently been vote the best restaurant in Reading by the Pride of Reading awards perhaps I shouldn't have been so taken aback. Very sleek design and fantastic photography. I'm absolutely sure the food matches up but I shall let you know soon because I'll be reviewing it at some point soon......watch this space. In the meantime pop along to their website and see for yourself.

Here's a little piccie of yours truly announcing the winner of the heat that LSQ2 hosted....





I've also been asked to do another interview for Helen Wright's local lunch show on the community based Reading4u radio station. This will happen on the 17th of May. It's an internet based station so you can listen live from that link on the day. The date also corresponds with another heat of the Reading, steady cook competition being held at La Tasca in the town centre so great synergy there.

It's also been confirmed that I will be doing a cooking demonstration on the Eat Reading Live festival in July. I understand it'll be right before the professional chef cooking final.............no pressure then!

I was thinking that I might cook the wonderful prawn balls that I am about to give you the recipe for but who knows? I tend to mostly act upon inspiration for these kind of events so I'll choose closer to the time.

I'm just going to do the prawn ball recipe and not the dipping sauce because you can choose your own for that. We had them with some chilli oil which was fantastic but I'm sure there are plenty of others you can experiment with.

To feed two people what you're going to need is two or three handfuls of peeled and de-veined prawns. You can choose which ever variation you like but they must be uncooked. When I created this dish I used previously frozen and uncooked tiger prawns but you don't need to limit yourself just to these because ultimately they are going to be blitzed up with other ingredients.

Dipping Prawn Balls

Serves two and it's a bit fiddly so get everything prepared in advance and perhaps search Google for a video on how to form quenelles if you don't already know !!!

Ingredients -

For the filling

3 x Handfuls of raw, shelled and de-veined prawns.
1 x Fresh red chilli, stalk removed, seeds in....man/woman up.
1 x Handful of fresh coriander.
1 x Clove of garlic, peeled.
1 tsp x Thai fish sauce.
Half tsp x Paprika.
Half tsp x Garam Masala.
800ml x Rapeseed oil for deep frying. (I love using rapeseed oil as it's virtually flavourless but you can use other sunflower or vegetable oil if you like)

For the coating (and into separate bowls)

1 x Crust ends of sliced bread blended into crumbs.
2 x Eggs, whisked.
100g x Plain flour (maybe more if needed)

1. Put all the filling ingredients into a blender. Before pulsing decide if you'd like a smooth filling or something with a little more texture, it's entirely up to you but of course you can't go back if you whizz it up too much so pulse accordingly. You may also need to add a bit more moisture by way of a few drops of water if you find the blender doesn't quite grab the contents but use sparingly as these will be deep fried and water + hot oil is never a good mix.

2. Once blended empty the mixture into a bowl and let it rest in the fridge for about 10 mins to firm up a little, this will help with forming the filling balls as they will be quite delicate even after chilling making coating them a bit sticky and tricky.

3. Ideally you want the finished prawn balls to be about the size of a golf ball. That makes them just a little too big to eat in one mouthful but not so big that they take far too long to cook so using a dessert spoon scoop up enough filling you think will be enough to create a ball just smaller than the desired golf ball size. Using another dessert spoon pass the mixture between both to form a quenelle.

4. Drop the quenelle of filling into the bowl of flour and using a clean spoon roll it around very gently until it is completely covered in a dusting of the flour. At this stage you can delicately pick it up with your fingers and form it into more of a ball shape.

5. Lightly drop the floured ball into the egg bowl and again using another clean spoon gently cover the entire ball in a coating of egg. Once covered lift the ball out and again gently drop it gently into the bowl of breadcrumbs and roll around until completely coated. (I'm instructing you to drop the ball into each separate bowl because you want to keep the rolling spoons as free from the other coating ingredients as possible)

6. Take the breadcrumbed ball and again drop it into the egg bowl, roll it around and breadcrumb for a second time. This is often referred to as double dipping, it creates a bigger barrier between the filling and the hot oil so that it doesn't seep into the ball and make the contents greasy. It also makes the coating that little bit crunchier.

7. Set the fully coated prawn ball aside while you repeat the process until all the filling has been used up.

8. Heat the oil up to 375F/190C this needs to be quite accurate because any higher and the coating will cook to quickly and the filling will be undercooked any lower and the oil will seep through the coating before it has time to seal up making the filling greasy.

9. Deep fry the coated prawn ball in small batches until they are golden brown setting aside to drain on kitchen paper when done.

10. Put all the finished prawn balls in one big bowl, serve with dipping sauces of your choice and share with your friend, partner or whoever else as a nice and jolly evening repast.

If you are worried about the filling being undercooked perhaps if you are an expectant mother or just don't like the thought of eating a undercooked prawn then you can always preheat an oven to around 280F/140C and after deep frying leave them in the oven for about 10 mins before serving.

Ideally they should be served warmed through as the filling will be moist and juicy however they could also be served cold as a picnic alternative to mini scotch eggs.

That's it for this epic post so ..... toodlepip xxx