Food Journalism

March 28, 2014

On blogging and being featured in Woman and Home

This post is definitely a coffee break read! It’s been a challenging few weeks, although on the whole, March has been a month full of excitement in terms of family life, as well as more opportunities for recipe work, setting new goals and even an exciting print feature in Woman and Home! Sometimes, particularly when things pick up pace, it’s good to sit back, take stock and to really examine your journey to see how far you’ve come. It can be all too easy to assume that the end-result of something has been quick or effortless, when, in fact, a great deal of hard work has gone on behind the scenes. Sometimes, when I’m writing up a blog post in the haste of everyday life, I forget that as a reader, you might be new to my blog and that you might know nothing about me at all. Other times, as I catch up with comments and social media, I am reminded that blogging has brought me many new friends and that I’m surrounded by lots of fellow creative souls who have supported me right from the start. My goal, always, is to come across as the sort of person who constantly seeks to better herself – whatever I put ‘out there’ or on my blog – I hope it is the best that it can be. I enjoy innovation and experimentation and I’m a sucker for courses (I’m taking three online courses at the moment!) Perhaps sometimes I don’t share all of my hopes, dreams and wishes through my blog, but I do constantly try and share things that I hope you find interesting, inspiring, creative or helpful.

I started writing this blog in November 2010 – originally called Fabulicious Food! It was winter and I had given up a career in criminal law to become a stay-at-home mum. I spent much of my time doing baby-related activities; there wasn’t a group or class we didn’t try. I had the support of a wonderful antenatal group (still my closest ‘early years’ allies seven years on) and I volunteered for my local branch of a parenting charity, which slowly brought back some of my confidence and skills, which had long been buried under a pile of never-ending washing. Motherhood presented me with a steep learning curve and became a lesson in both letting go and of adjusting – to a new life dedicated not to my career, but to my family. Soon, our second baby came along and just at the point of considering a return to legal work, the prospect of redundancy and a move to a new work location followed. After much deliberation, I closed the chapter on law and began to look for a more flexible and creative way of staying at home, supported by my family who were keen to help me stay out of the courtroom!

At first, there were lots of people who really didn’t get what blogging was all about. Everyone assumed I would run out of things to say, or that my enthusiasm would run out. There didn’t seem to be a purpose for blogging, other than having a place to spill out various elements of your life for all the world to read and comment upon. I always knew that I wanted a clear focus and direction and to maintain an air of professionalism; I was keen to develop my writing style alongside sharing my love of cooking and creating. Having grown up in a food-loving family, the topic of food had always been close to my heart, but I had no real idea where I was going with it all in terms of starting a blog. In some ways, the best way of starting something new is to venture into the unknown. In other ways, it’s a more risky process to start something from scratch with no guidance. I signed up to a distance-learning course in Food Journalism, which confirmed that starting a blog was a good thing to do, as well as teaching me all about creating a brand, writing strong copy and finding new and modern ways of engaging with an audience. I moved my writing platform from Blogger to Word Press, eventually going self-hosted for greater control and I slowly learnt more and more about food and blogging, writing and taking photographs.

During the last three years, I’ve taken additional courses, such as an evening course in food styling and have attended numerous blog conferences, such as IFBC in Seattle, always with the aim of growing and learning. More recently, I’ve given talks and lectures on blogging and on getting published in magazines. I became a member of The Guild of Food Writers and I’m currently writing my first E book. The reason I continue to blog is because blogging is fun, immediate and fast-paced. Creating recipes is always thrilling and challenging, taking photographs of food has become a bit of an obsession, but the hours and hours of time spent dedicated to my blog and my recipe work have proved themselves to be worthwhile. I suppose if I were to look back to the start of my journey in 2010, I have come a long way and I’m living a life that I have created through blogging. My recipes and writing are now good enough to be published on sites away from my own blog and I’m lucky enough to get paid to do all the things that I love doing – cooking, writing and taking pictures. During this last year, I also left the name ‘Fabulicious Food!’ behind and created a business called Ren Behan Food, changing my blog name, too, to reflect a fresh chapter and a new period of self-employment.

As we await the arrival of our third baby in June, more changes are on the way, but somehow, I feel happy knowing that I have a place to come to and be creative for a while, when time allows. Hopefully, more opportunities will follow, too.

I’m just in the nick of time to share one final bit of news – my story is featured in the print edition of Woman and Home Magazine – the April 2014 edition, but very soon to be replaced by the May edition, so hurry if you want to buy a copy! It was a huge privilege to be contacted by features writer Nathalie Whittle, who approached me to take part in a feature on women who blog for “Fun, Fame & Fortune,” alongside fashion blogger Josephine Lalwan and travel blogger Heather Cowper. All three of us had experienced new adventures through blogging and were excited to share our stories. Twenty four weeks into my third pregnancy, I can tell you that the very last thing I expected to happen was to be whisked away to a shoot house, to be pampered, made up and styled for a feature, but nevertheless, this was an experience that will stay with me for a long time to come! Thank you for all the hugely positive comments so far on this piece – I hope you find a quick moment to grab a cuppa and have a flick through!

Although unintended, this post has been a chance to indulge, though I also hope that it reflects on how far we can go if we push ourselves and work hard. I’ve had the opportunity of working with some truly talented people who have helped turned my vision of a creative home on the web into a reality – from the early days of Fabulicious Food! and a blogsite created by Barney Thom, to badges, headers, site design and more by Violet Posy, Sharnee, Jo at Callia Web, friend and fellow blogger Regula Ysewijn aka Miss Foodwise. Most recently, I’ve worked with an amazingly talented lady called Shay Bocks, whose Foodie theme is taking the world by storm! It has been an incredible journey so far, I continue to learn something new every day and I am hugely grateful to all of my readers – old and new.

It’s time to put the kettle on again. Don’t forget to pop over to JamieOliver.com to read my latest post on Cooking for Mum this Mother’s Day.

I’ll also be back a little later with a new recipe for the weekend, too.

One final note, I have recently realised that my newsletter sign up form hasn’t been working very effectively – so there is a new box to add your address to for email updates on the right hand sidebar or along my footer. If you have already subscribed, it should let you know now, rather than duplicating.

Have a great weekend!

All links within this post are editorially given.

October 4, 2013

IFBC Seattle 2013 – Entrepreneurial Journalism with Mark Briggs – Post Three

It’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty of attending Foodista’s IFBC in Seattle – what did I actually learn and was it worth going?! I’ve already introduced my personal reasons for attending a blog conference all the way over in Seattle and have mentioned some of my first impressions on arrival, including the conference opening and inspirational keynote by Dorie Greenspan. During the rest of the conference, we attended either big group sessions, such as an Amazon.com Grocery live food blogging session (think speed dating but with food products!) or we could chose from a selection of break-out sessions, split into Technology, Writing or Tech or we ate!

I was hoping to wrap up the conference in three posts, but I can see there might be a few more on the way…!

Today, I’ve decided to re-cap one of the sessions I enjoyed the most on the first day of the conference, introducing the concept of Entrepreneurial Journalism, because I think there were some really useful nuggets of advice to be shared and I felt this session was perfectly pitched.

Writing: Entrepreneurial Journalism: Building Your Food Blog Business by Mark Briggs.

This writing session was hosted by Mark Briggs, the Director of Digital Media at KING Broadcasting, author of Entrepreneurial Journalism: How to Build What’s Next for News (UK link, non-affiliate) and co-creator of a new app called Fork. I had already read Mark’s book on my Kindle during the flight to Seattle (in between watching The Great Gatsby!) and I was so pleased I did, since it meant I was already familiar with some of the concepts that Mark mentioned during his session. The main themes were creativity, readership, audience and community and the challenges of knowing – “What is your value?”

First of all, Mark pointed out (and he wasn’t the only one to do so during the conference) that as food bloggers, we seriously undervalue ourselves. We need to be more confident in what we’re asking for and that we should push ourselves to blog with more definition and purpose.

Mark referred to a couple of quotes from Simon Sinek’s TED talk on How Great Leaders Inspire Action, throwing out some of the following questions –

What’s your purpose?
What’s your cause?
What’s your belief?
Why should anyone care?

People don’t buy what you do – it’s why you do it.

From the very start of the session, we were already being challenged to think about ‘why’ we blog and to think about the people who read our content. If you blog, ask yourself:

Why are you hoping that your readers become part of your community?

Based upon the idea that ‘Creativity is the new literacy’ by Chase Jarvis, Mark also advised us to work on our creativity and to constantly challenge ourselves to think about how we can be more creative.

Creativity is not something that will just happen – we need to work on it, daily.

This was a really interesting concept to me, because the reason I started my blog almost three years ago was to have a creative outlet. Having spent lots of time writing, featuring brands, taking millions of photographs, cooking and building an audience – in many ways, I have achieved what I set out to achieve; I do see my blog as my creative outlet, but it became clearer during this session that I need to become even more creative if I want to build upon what I already have.

Another thing that stayed with me was Mark’s advice to:

Be different. Not better.

Build Your Blog into a Business

Mark highlighted that there are many ways of making money from a blog and that it is possible to turn a blog into a business; for example, you could partner with ad networks or host directly sold ads, be sponsored or become a brand ambassador, set up affiliate links, write sponsored posts, seek out freelance commissions, teach cookery courses, charge for event appearances, create a product or write a cook book, to name a few ways. However, the real key is to create quality content whatever you do:

The better quality, the more influence you have and the better your business prospects.

My understanding was that when you do this, you shift from ‘hobby blogging’ into ‘entrepreneurial journalism’ and then as Mark said: “It’s business time!”

You’re not bloggers. You’re media companies.

If you do find yourself in this situation, then it’s time to re-define yourself – think about setting up as a sole proprietor or in the UK, a sole trader – if you haven’t done so already. Being a blogger is now a completely new business model.

Whatever the situation, you should always have a goal or a vision in mind. Define your mission, evaluate it regularly, ask yourself whether you are heading in the right direction and measure your progress. Here are two questions to keep in mind: “What’s my story?” and “What does my audience think?”

The world is a very malleable place. If you know what you want, and go for it with maximum energy and drive and passion, the world will often reconfigure itself around you much more quickly and easily than you would think – Marc Andreesson

Most bloggers also have the same issues – time. Time management is essential and Mark advised us to: “Make clear choices about what you spend your time on.”

Another angle to Mark’s strategy for food bloggers was to look for people within our own networks, maybe partners or collaborators, who we can work with creatively and “to leverage the cool/smart people in your life.” Perhaps think about making something or creating content that people want, quoting the Holstee Manifesto –

Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them, so go out and start creating.

And the last bit of advice from Mark? Ask yourself some more questions:

What is the opportunity?
Where is the niche?
Where can a community be formed?

If you’re interested in reading some more of Mark’s ideas, he writes a great blog called Journalism 2.0. Mark’s conference post re-caps some of our Tweets, too and there is also a link to the presentation – Is it a Blog? Or a Business? here.

Bored of writing product reviews? Mark suggested watching ‘Review Wednesdays’ on Daily Grace on You Tube for her take on things!

Want to get noticed? Create some content for You Tube which has more than one billion monthly users.

Final tip – the use of mobile devices to read blog is mushrooming. Make sure your site is mobile responsive or create a mobile version using a site such as Duda Mobile, which will even let you create a logo to use on your home screen.

With thanks to Foodista and Zephyr Adventures for organising the conference. This trip was self-funded and all posts are completely free of any payment, commercial sponsorship or existing brand relationships.

This is post #3 of 3 – attendees were asked to write 3 posts as part of the$95 ticket deal – but there’s still more to come from me!

Post One – Food Blogging Stateside

Post Two – Arrival, Opening and Keynote by Dorie Greenspan

What’s your view on the new landscape in media created by blogging? Do you welcome ‘entrepreneurial journalism’ or should bloggers stick to hobby blogging?

October 1, 2013

IFBC Seattle 2013 – Arrival, Opening and Keynote by Dorie Greenspan – Post Two

This is my second post on attending IFBC the International Food Blogger Conference in Seattle last weekend. I’ve already introduced the event and why I traveled all the way to the West coast of America from London to attend a blogging conference! I hope that in this post, you’ll get to read a little bit more about my experience of attending a US conference and what I learnt.

The conference agenda was very tightly packed and since I was battling with an 8-hour time change I found it quite a challenge keeping up with it all. I didn’t make the Thursday evening excursion to Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Woodinville (I hadn’t booked onto it assuming I’d be too tired) or the exclusive documentary preview of GMO OMG! as my plane was delayed by over four hours, meaning that I arrived in Seattle very late on Thursday evening.

The folks at the W Hotel, Seattle – the official conference host hotel – were very accommodating and I found the staff to be welcoming and helpful (isn’t everybody in America?!) I was super-impressed with my conference rate room – a Spectacular room with a view of downtown Seattle and the Space Needle in the distance. I ordered room service – a much-deserved vodka cocktail and slow-braised beef cheeks with mushrooms and saffron papardelle. Given that this was hotel room food (at 11pm) this meal is up there on the list as one of the best dishes I ate (and there were a lot!) I’ll definitely be keeping a look out for some beef cheeks to slow-cook during the winter months. I also enjoyed tuning into my favourite Seattle-based show, Frasier and was very tempted to order Sleepless in Seattle on pay-per-view…When you’re used to being a busy mother-of-two, a couple of hours to yourself is worth the trip alone!

On Friday morning, the conference officially opened with Gluten Free Carnitas and Tofu Sofrito Bowls provided by one of the conference sponsors Chipotle Mexican Grill. Mexican food is still really big in the US and the Chipotle Mexican Grill aim to serve ‘Food with Integrity’ – sustainably raised food, sourcing organic and local produce where possible – also a huge topic at the moment in America. Our lunch bowls were filled with cilantro-lime rice, pinto or beans, braised pork carnitas and tofu sofrito, along with guacamole, cheese and red-wine vinegar pickled onions. One of the things I noticed pre-conference was the fact that food allergies and intolerance are taken very seriously in America. We were even given the option of specifying ‘Paleo’ as a requirement – catch up, Europe!

Lunchtime was also my first opportunity to meet some bloggers and to try and put a few names to faces. With over 320 attendees, this was no easy task! The very first person I met was a very sweet lady named Meagan Davenport, a local writer and photographer. We also chatted to a cook and author named Roger Scouton, before heading into the Great Room for the Keynote.

Gluten Free Carnitas & Tofu Sofritas Bowls @ChipotleTweets

Keynote – Dorie Greenspan

Excitement filled the conference room as we awaited Dorie Greenspan – our keynote speaker. Dorie has written ten cookery books, which have included authoring Baking with Julia (with Julia Child!) and Desserts by Pierre Hermé. She has won a whole host of awards during her career as a food writer, including awards by the James Beard Foundation and the IACP – the International Association of Culinary Professionals. She was also named in the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. If you are a blogger who has taken part in or read about Tuesdays with Dorie or French Fridays with Dorie, then you may also already be familiar with the work and recipes of this formidable woman. Pretty much every single person in the room, including the men, wanted to be Dorie! It was an incredible privilege to be able to hear her speak.

Dorie framed her keynote around blogging and building a community, speaking of her transition from traditional media (or ‘old media’ as she affectionately named it) to new media. Throughout her career, Dorie has worked in professional kitchens as well as a Television producer, authored ten cook books in print and has worked as a freelance writer. She currently lives between Paris, New York and Connecticut and recently launched a sophisticated cookie business with her son, whilst maintaining a strong presence across social media with a blog and an active Twitter following. She shared some of the following nuggets of advice:

I’m lucky because I work hard. I’m fortunate because I always say yes. I did things because I thought they would be interesting or I’d learn something. I’ve never done something specifically to make money. I didn’t look for money because I was doing things that were interesting to me….Concentrate on the work. It’s the only thing that’s important.

Dorie also spoke about the importance of building a community, believing that writers have never had as much power as they have now. She also spoke affectionately of Julia Child and shared anecdotes;

Working with Julia Child was the greatest experience of my life. She called writing cook books ‘cookbookery!’

Dorie also mentioned the movie Julie and Julia, pointing out that before Julia Powell and her blog, cooking through a book was an unknown phenomenon. Contextually, Dorie said that blogging “gave a new definition to instant gratification,” adding:

As bloggers, we have the chance to speak from our hearts. In the old days, everything was mediated. We used to have to send the Editor our clips, now we have our blogs. It’s the most exciting time that I can think of to be involved with food.

Dorie’s advice was to work as hard as we can to create a community, pointing to Tuesdays with Dorie and French Fridays with Dorie, as examples of how a simple blog-based idea generated a whole new community of people who were interested in cooking and baking. The idea for the two events was unplanned and happened organically, they are less about the author Dorie herself, and more about the community of people cooking from her books, in the process, fueling cook book sales and adding to Dorie’s profile. Dorie loves the fact that so many people cook from her books, sharing her recipes and interacting with one another, as well as with her.

Dorie_Greenspan — Photo courtesy of IFBC/Foodista Website

As a keynote speaker, Dorie came across as being incredibly warm, funny, articulate and modest. She answered all our questions willingly and at ease, setting the tone of the whole conference as a friendly and supportive environment of like-minded food writers. Despite all of her accolades and successes, Dorie sees herself not as someone above learning, but as someone who is always open to acquiring information and knowledge and of taking on new challenges. Above all, Dorie’s best advice was to:

Do what you’re most proud of and always say yes!

There is so much more I want to write about, including more conference highlights and sessions as well as all the food I discovered in Seattle! Stay tuned for more.

This is post #2 of 3 – attendees were asked to write 3 posts as part of the$95 ticket deal.

#IFBC Post 1 – Food Blogging Stateside

You can also view my Seattle Food Album on Facebook –

Post by Fabulicious Food.

Are you a fan of Dorie Greenspan and her cook books?

September 25, 2013

IFBC Seattle 2013 – Food Blogging Stateside – Post One

Seattle and I have been friends for a very long time. Both the city itself and the luscious, green areas surrounding it, stretching out to the Olympic Mountains in the Pacific North West, hold a special place in my heart. Almost twenty years ago, my sister made a small city named Sequim, within Washington State, her home. Since then, I’ve flown into Seattle-Tacoma Airport many times, extending the journey downtown into Seattle, right by the iconic Pike Place Market, picking up the Washington State ferry across to Bainbridge Island and beyond. My first visit was as an adventure-seeking sixteen year-old, in the summer before I started Sixth Form College. I was instantly captivated by American life, there was so much space and everything seemed bigger and better. My sister and I made the most of every second we had together, knowing that the physical distance between us had become so great. I looked forward to going back again two years later before starting University. Almost ten years on from that first trip, I happened to sit next to a tall British man on the plane from London to Seattle, who would later become my husband. Fast-forward another ten years to the weekend just gone, and I find myself sitting on the place once more, but this time, as a food writer and blogger, with a ticket to attend a food, writing and technology conference called IFBC 2013 the International Food Blogger Conference. Whilst it’s probably fair to say that most bloggers wouldn’t make a 4,800-mile pilgrimage to a blogging conference, I had lots of reasons for wanting to make it there, including the chance to see my family. It was an opportunity that I simply couldn’t miss and it turned out to be one of the most valuable weekends of my food writing career so far, and the most memorable in terms of family-firsts!

IFBC was founded in Seattle in 2009, by a Seattle-based company called Foodista. It was hailed as a pioneering gathering of food bloggers and was the first of its kind in America; at a time when food bloggers were beginning to raise their game and were eager to find ways to make their food writing hobby into a career. In 2010, Zephyr Adventures joined in as conference organisers and in the following years, the conference moved around a little, to New Orleans, Santa Monica and Portland in 2012.

This year, ifbc was back with a bang in its hometown of Seattle, presented once again by Foodista and organised by Zephyr Adventures. With over 320 food blogging and writing attendees as a captive audience, the conference attracts some huge global brands, which this year included Amazon.com and Urbanspoon, alongside regional supporters such as Alaska Seafood and Pastry Smart, and international players such as Bordeaux Wines and Scottish-based LoSalt, amongst many others. I’ll be weaving in some stories about the brands and sponsors that I met at the conference in future posts.

It’s interesting to look back at the conference agenda in 2009, and to see that the sessions focused on blog etiquette, how to handle freebies, digital photography, food writing for publications, drafting book proposals, food styling and SEO. Whilst the themes were very similar five-years on, I got the sense that food blogging has become even more hard-core, with many hobby bloggers now settled well into bona-fida careers as food writers, cookbook authors and photographers.

On the flip-side, I also met some people from within the food profession, in many guises, including chefs, food authors and photographers, who had more recently taken up food blogging as an extension to an already successful career. The keynote speaker Dorie Greenspan (an amazing food writer who worked with Julia Child!) was a perfect example of this; her work began in traditional publishing, which she affectionately referred to as ‘old media’, but she now has an incredibly strong online media presence, making the transition into ‘new media’ with a blog, an active Twitter following and so on. Dorie’s strongest message focused on working hard and building a community, turning to the example of community groups, such as Tuesdays with Dorie and French Fridays with Dorie that have taken on a life of their own; fuelling her cookbook sales and on-going international success. Food Photographer for the New York Times, Andrew Scrivani, also very much works in the world of new media, defining himself as 80% business man, 20% artist, with an online presence and a blog functioning as an extension of his photography and a promotional tool. Again, there’s much more to come on learning from Dorie and Andrew in upcoming posts – they were both wonderful speakers and extremely generous with their advice.

The IFBC13 agenda was very tightly packed, and this year, the conference came complete with its very own smartphone ‘App’ designed by 47 Degrees, offering the schedule, speakers, sponsors and even social media tweets from in one handy portable package. Personally, I loved the ifbc App and referred to it many times during my stay at the conference host hotel, the very swanky and modern W Hotel in downtown Seattle.

Agenda highlights included a pre-conference excursion to Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery, an exclusive documentary pre-view, exhibition-sized food and gourmet fairs, including a Taste of Seattle dedicated entirely to conference attendees, a gift suit, highly-acclaimed speakers and many other break-out sessions focusing on Technology, Writing and Tech.

Some of the bloggers I met were taking part the conference for the fourth or fifth time, others, including myself, were ifbc first timers! There was also a very friendly (closed) Facebook group set up in advance of the conference so that people could start to introduce themselves, make connections as well as share blog posts and make plans for the weekend. After the conference the group was opened up and became ifbc Attendees & Alumni. The conference itself must have been pretty overwhelming, since I had a huge list of people from the Facebook group that I really wanted to meet, but never actually found. Other people were perhaps better at recognising avatars than I was, or possibly simply had a more water-tight blogger recognition plan! I did, however, meet some really wonderful people; my American food blogging counterparts, who all made me personally, feel incredibly welcome. “Oh, you’re the girl from London!” most exclaimed – as if to suggest that somehow I was a little bit crazy…!

Together, we ate, drank, chatted, networked, live-blogged, scribbled-down notes, Tweeted #ifbc or #IFBC13, took obsessive amounts of photographs. Above all, we learnt, we shared and we had so much fun.

I have lots more to write about so stay tuned for more of my Seattle-based adventures.

IFBC, Foodista, Zephyr logos and App screenshot taken from conference website.

This is post #1 of 3 – attendees were asked to write 3 posts as part of the$95 ticket deal.

You can find post #2 of 3 here – Arrival, Opening and Keynote by Dorie Greenspan

June 5, 2013

A postcard from Italy

I’m back from a truly memorable family holiday with husband and children to Italy, visiting the relatively undisturbed, food-filled region of Emiglia Romagna, offering an abundance of local produce, stunning panoramic mountain landscapes, quaint local villages and nearby striking Adriatic coastline. We were also able to take in some of Veneto, flying into Venice for an overnight visit, before driving down towards Bologna and Bagno di Romagna. We were utterly captivated by the charm of Venice with its Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge and famous Rialto Market, along with tranquil gondola rides and the views of the Palazzo Ducale from the balcony of St Mark’s Basilica.

After Venice, we spent the majority of the week in the pretty spa town of Bagno di Romagna, about three kilometers from where my gorgeous sister and her family live. After making ourselves at home in a 17th century apartment called ‘Casa Biozzi’ we continued to explore the region. This was a wonderful base from which to strike out across the border into Tuscany and to re-visit Florence. We also spent the day exploring the capital of Emilia Romagna, Bologna, where I was simply enthralled by the backstreets, shops and food markets beyond any comparable measure – lots more on Bologna to come. We also managed to track down the sleepy town of Forlimpopoli, the birthplace of Pellegrino Artusi, author of famous Italian cookbook “La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiare bene” where we found Casa Artusi housing a delectable restaurant, a library with 4,500 cookery books as well as a renowned cookery school. And of course, we were blown away by the array of local delicacies, such as spring ‘prugnoli‘ mushrooms, porcini fritti, red wine from the region and lots of unbeatable home cooked, Italian food and hospitality. The children were very happy too and in their element eating spaghetti pomodoro, tagliatelli al ragu, pizza and gelato every day!

It’s hard to pick a highlight; the whole week was full of fun; famiglia and laughter.

As you can imagine, I have enough memories now for at least a thousand blog posts and I’m very sad to be back at home. I’ve no doubt that my Italian adventures will inspire my writing and cooking for many months to come.

I’ve hit the ground running with a post over on Jamie Oliver.com on Vegetarian Pizza Ideas. You can read some of my other featured pieces, currently to a vegetarian theme here.

The @JamieOliverCom team are also new to Twitter, so pop over and say ‘hi’ with a tweet.

In the meantime, thank you so much to everyone who entered Simple and in Season this month for its second birthday! I was blown away by the number of entries and promise to round up very soon. The June blog event will be open shortly, too.

Hope you enjoyed your half term or late spring break, if you had one. Let me know what you did.

Note: This was a family holiday, all expenses and experiences were our own.

January 25, 2013

Lussmanns Fish and Grill St Albans

St Albans is fast becoming a city known for good food, as evidenced by the annual St Albans Food Festival, which will soon be in its sixth year, along with three independent restaurant listings in the 2013 edition of The Good Food Guide. Although there are a growing number of ‘award-winning’ restaurants in St Albans, flying the flag for sustainability and ethics is Lussmanns Fish and Grill, located at the foot of our Cathedral and Abbey of St Albans. Eager to find out what really matters to diners and, crucially, what makes them keep coming back, I sat down with local restaurateur, Andrei Lussmann, to find out some of the secrets to his success. Along the way, we sampled some of the most popular dishes on the Lussmanns’ menu whilst I found out a little more about Andrei and his solid restaurant ethics.

There can be no doubt that there has been a sudden flurry of interest in the market town of St Albans. We’ve started to see a regeneration of sorts, with plenty of new restaurants taking up residence, working hard to keep diners interested and talking. Of course, popularity swiftly attracts investment from chains, with Jamie’s Italian and Brasserie Blanc being just two of our most recent additions, involving costly and challenging restoration projects in both cases. With competition so high, how do you compete and how to you stay relevant and attractive to a customer? Is it about the name, and the money behind it, or is it about what you stand for?

Andrei Lussmann has been a Hertfordshire-based restaurateur since 2004. With a background in the hospitality industry and having moved to St Albans from London, he is the owner of two independent sites, Lussmanns Fish and Grill Restaurants in St Albans and Hertford. His restaurants have won him a string of awards, which no doubt help in some way to fend off the allure of the rapidly rising rate of other restaurant chains on his doorstep.

Part of Andrei’s success is the ability to very clearly pinpoint what diners can expect when they visit. As set out on his easy to navigate and up-to-date website, “We are the locals’ fish & grill restaurant, championing the best welfare-driven British producers and suppliers, and dedicated to looking after all the family.”

Indeed, Andrei’s commitment to ethically sourced food recently led him to receive the coveted Three Star Sustainability Champion status from The Sustainable Restaurant Association, reflecting a ‘clear commitment to consistent improvement of sustainability’ and a ‘highly commendable’ waste management plan.

He also has a strong and dedicated self-imposed mandate – to promote the British pound with the additional aim of keeping that pound as local as he can. To him, this means sourcing British-based products from small producers, where possible, using the produce available on his doorstep, if they meet his standards. This very often involves meticulous sourcing methods and visits, to farms and suppliers in the locality. Localism, to Andrei, means keeping to within a particular region rather than within specific radius. So, for example, he selects his chicken from Ware, on the Hertfordshire/Essex border, because he believes he can’t get better welfare. He once tracked down a very local supplier of pork on a large estate, but in his view the welfare wasn’t as high as he could find over in Sussex, still “a regional player”. As far as organic food is concerned, Andrei’s view is that whilst sourcing organic food is important, it is possibly not as relevant as “being able to demonstrate localism or high welfare”.

It is his attention to detail when sourcing produce for his menus that led Lussmanns Fish and Grill to win the Independent Restaurant category of the RSPCA Good Business Awards in 2012, for the second year running. Andrei is keen to state, on his menu, exactly where his food comes from – an enviable and unique selling point. A quick, taste-bud tickling glance reveals a Cotswold Wild Boar Chorizo, Sussex Free Range Saddleback Pork (delicious, I can confirm, as was the Wild Rabbit Linguine) and a selection of house desserts, with the occasional ‘guest pud’ from The Pudding Stop. Menus are always being updated with the seasons.

When it comes to sourcing seafood, Andrei takes his responsibility as a restaurateur equally seriously. In season, the Norfolk coast provided Andrei with, “the best mussels he’s ever had!” On the menu currently, you’ll find Wild Black Bream, Line-Caught Pollock and South Coast Devilled Sprats, cleverly taking the hard work of keeping on top of sustainability issues away from the diner, whilst supporting a wider and significant cause. You can feel good about eating here; that’s the key.

But do awards for sustainability, greenness and ethical sourcing translate into customers, or does it take more than that to stand out in a crowd and keep those tables turning?

Andrei is realistic and he fully accepts that there’s “no point in being a passionate advocate with values if you won’t be here to fly the flag in a week’s time” and that “a quiet narrative of what you stand for is everything, without being on a political tirade”. According to Andrei, it is all about “refined marketing”. For him, “the story is important when done in a sympathetic way”. It has taken him a long time to feel confident about having strong values as a restaurateur without “being on a political march”.

Another critical asset is Andrei’s desire to improve, which never ceases. Competition, he says, only “sharpens the pencil. We become better”. Narrowing the gap between chains and independents is important too, which is why Andrei offers a quarterly changing set menu (two courses for £10.95, three courses for £13.95) alongside his a la carte and specials menu. Menu options for his junior customers include high-welfare, free-range chicken schnitzel and English artisan ice-creams for dessert, so he’s raising the bar and educating the taste buds of his youngest diners, too.

Andrei always has a strong local presence and is keen to get on board and support local events, keeping on top of food trends as well as local demand. This year, at The St Albans Food Festival, alongside cookery demos, he offered a Lussmanns ‘pop-up’ on the high street, complete with hay bales and the same standard of slick and attentive service as indoors. Lussmanns Fish and Grill also beat off stiff competition for the title of Best Local Restaurant for a second time at the St Albans Food & Drink Awards, as well as receiving its fourth listing in The Good Food Guide.

Andrei doesn’t stop there either. He offers outside event catering and themed dinner evenings. For example, in March, Lussmanns will be hosting a series of ‘Film Dinners’ to support the first St Albans Film Festival whilst continuing to highlight issues of importance, with guests from The Blue Marine Foundation, The RSPCA and The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) – two birds, one stone.

As well as all this, he’s turning his attention to supporting British micro-breweries by increasing his British beer list by 100%. In an article for the Herts Ad by Roger Protz, Andrei explained how he’d like diners to “treat Britain’s national drink with as much respect as wine”. Sourcing good quality, local beer also holds the respect of the SRA “since craft brewers buy malting barley and hops from home-grown suppliers and avoid the cheap substitutes such as rice and corn used in mass-marketed brands”.

So it seems there is plenty to keep busy with. By standing up for what he believes in, Andrei continues to demonstrate that he is a strong pillar of our local St Albans community. He is a force to be reckoned with, leading the way in our foodie revolution, placing St Albans firmly on the map.

The chains do what they do, affordable food in a generic environment, but our independent eateries are shouting much louder and there are many reasons for customers to keep coming back. In this particular case, the Lussmann’s name, with its growing collection of accolades and endorsements, stands for much better quality than a celebrity name over the door with little to support the hype.

Follow @AndreiLussmann on Twitter, and @Lussmanns

Website: Lussmans Fish & Grill Restaurants

St Albans Branch

Waxhouse Gate (off High St)
St Albans
Hertfordshire
AL3 4EW

T: 01727 851 941

I was a guest of Lussmanns on this occasion, there was no expectation of any review or write-up. Opinions my own.

More St Albans Features –

The St Albans Food and Drink Festival Finale & Highlights

The St Albans Cookbook Club

Eat St Albans – Ren’s Page

Seasonal in St Albans, my blog for Herts Life

What makes a restaurant worth going back to, in your view?

January 12, 2013

Do your children eat a good breakfast?

I watched a short news clip this week, about a new trial taking place in Blackpool, England, offering primary pupils a free school breakfast. Blackpool is not the first place to test such a scheme, in Wales, over 75% of children now enjoy a free breakfast at school after a similar scheme was implemented in 2004 by the Welsh government. This year, the Welsh government is pledging £12.7 million to the Free Breakfast Initiative. These articles really got me thinking about the breakfast we have in our house. Even if we are extremely pushed for time, I always make sure the children sit down to eat some porridge or Weetabix with whole milk and some fruit. At weekends, we’re more likely to have boiled eggs or something a bit more substantial. But that’s certainly not the case across the country.

The Primary School Free Breakfast Initiative in Wales was prompted by the fact that Wales has the highest rate of child poverty than any country in the UK. This surprised me and I was encouraged to read that we are seeing the scheme pilot in other poorer areas, too, such as Blackpool and in some parts of London. As a child of the North, I like to read about good things happening close to home, and it seems to me that Breakfast Clubs are a small, but positive step towards helping to improve children’s health as well as their concentration.

Often, children skip breakfast before school because time is tight in the morning. A study by the Kellog’s charitable trust also revealed that, “parents are leaving children to fend for themselves in the morning. This is because some parents simply don’t have the time or inclination to prepare breakfast, let alone supervise their children or encourage them to eat it.”

The Free Breakfast Initiative in Blackpool revealed that some children arrive at school having eaten no breakfast at all, or having had “last night’s KFC for breakfast or a packet of custard creams.” Of course, there are infinitely higher rates of child poverty and malnutrition around other parts of the world, but it still shocks me to think that many children in the UK have no idea what a good breakfast is. They either arrive at school hungry, with poor concentration or are hyperactive as a result of eating sugary cereals or packets of biscuits.

Schools taking part in the Free Breakfast Initiative Scheme offer fresh fruit, milk, yoghurt and cereal. Some children enjoy bagels or toast and there is evidence to suggest that the scheme promotes better productivity in pupils, which, in some cases meant that there was “an average of two months more progress by pupils at key stages 1 and 2.” Children taking part in free breakfast scheme were also less fussy about what they ate at home.

Sadly, the current financial climate means that we likely won’t see this scheme expanding to any significant degree. However, there are a number of charities and trusts working to ensure that there is a greater understanding of healthy eating, beginning with breakfast, such as Magic Breakfast and Fare Share, which focuses on waste, too. Kellog’s also have a Breakfast Club Funding program called ‘Help Give a Child a Healthy Breakfast,” which is worth investigating if your child’s school has an existing program and would like a grant.

Here are some healthy breakfast ideas to explore –

Honey Nut Toasted Oats with Ribena Berry Sauce

Healthy Hot Chocolate Breakfast Smoothies

Tomato and Parmesan Scramble

Netmums Breakfast Ideas for Kids

Fuss Free Flavour’s Breakfast Club archives

The Better Breakfast Campaign

Do your children eat a good breakfast?

December 7, 2012

Spot a familiar face in delicious. magazine January 2013

All I want for Christmas is…a copy of delicious. January 2013! I know it’s not particularly humble or ladylike to shout from the rooftops about personal achievements, but I am so proud to share this with you. If you flick through a copy of the latest edition of delicious. out now – it is the January 2013 edition with a sublime red velvet cake on the cover – you may well spot a familiar face or two inside. I was asked by the very talented Persian food writer and supper club host, Sabrina Ghayour, if I’d like to take part in a feature and bring with me a Polish recipe. The idea for the party was that we’d each bring an individual dish, inspired by our heritage, to share. The result was an afternoon filled with great merriment, friends and cheer!

It’s time to party like its 2013!

It was such a brilliant experience to be able to take part in such a fun-filled shoot, with the delicious. magazine team, including food editor Lizzie Kamenetzky, as well as the hugely talented photograher Dan Jones. I was able to see first-hand how a feature comes together, from making the food, to styling it, photographing it and yes, eating it! It must have been like herding cats, as those of us who took part in the shoot were highly excitable particularly as we were being served some of the most wonderful cocktails by Michael Stringer from Hire the Barman.

Added to the champagne and dark chocolate and espresso martinis we were able to dip into a wonderful selection of food, as part of a menu described by Editor Karen Barns as, ‘ flamboyantly eclectic.’ Dishes and recipes within the feature include Prawn and water chestnut dumplings from China made by Ning Ma, Parsnip, celeriac, pea and potato samosas from India made by Asma Khan, an Artichoke, jamón and pine nut salad from Spain made by Chuse Valero, Stuffed chicory from Italy made by Emanuele Barrosso, Spiced lamb with chickpeas, orange zest and black garlic from Iran made by Sabrina and my very own Potato pancakes from Poland.

Dessert really was the pièce de résistance, as brilliant French baker Bruno Breillet had contributed his Salted caramel and cream cheese apple parcels. Let me tell you, they must definitely feature on your New Year’s Eve pudding list!

Aside from our very lovely feature, the January 2013 edition is packed full of recipes I can’t wait to try. To begin with, I’l be trying some of Trine Hahnemann’s Scandinavian treats. On the page before our feature you will find Diana Henry’s Beetroot-cured gavadlax. Having already made that for my sister’s 50th birthday party, I can assure you, it’s a real showstopper. The Frosted red velvet layer cake on the cover and on page 74 is a festive must-try, too.

I was really delighted to have been part of this feature. Delicious. magazine had previously featured my mum’s Polish Pierogi with Blueberries and Whipped Cream over the summer. Watch this space for more Polish food related news to come.

I do hope you pick up a copy, if you are not already a subscriber. If not, add a subscription to your Christmas list, pronto!

With many thanks to Sabrina Ghayour, Dan Jones and to the delicious. magazine team for putting together such a fun feature.

So, who is coming to the party next time, and what are you bringing?!

June 23, 2012

The Brilliance in Blogging Awards at Britmums Live!

I wanted to say a very special thank you to everyone who nominated me and voted for Fabulicious Food! in the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging Awards (BiBs) which took place last night at The Brewery in London. The competiton was extremely high and as each category was announced and the winners stepped forward, I felt more and more nervous in anticipation of being mentioned as a finalist in the Outstanding category. Ahead of me came so many brilliant bloggers writing about a whole host of hot topics. I didn’t win, but it was a great experience and a very enjoyable evening.

Katy Hill, a proud mum-of-two and a television presenter, did a sterling job of presenting the awards. She was funny, down-to-earth and somehow managed to keep order expertly in a room filled with over-excited, chatty mums and dads.

As a food blogger, I often feel very small and never more so than in a room full of parents blogging about much more serious and thought-provoking topics – than cakes and suppers. Raising children with special needs, promoting campaigns for starving children in third world nations, coping with bullying at school. Parent bloggers also constantly battle against the wider social and political issues that parents have to deal with, often in the face of comments from respected individuals, such as Cherie Blair who this week came down a bit harshly on stay-at-home mothers, or those who throw mud at mothers who chose to return to work instead. I genuinely think that you just can’t win, no matter what you do. In my case, ditching my legal career to ‘stay-at-home’ and raise my children as well as blogging about food (also criticized on Twitter this week by well-known food journalists) me feel tiny and pretty useless this week, so attending the BiBs Awards and being a finalist was a great boost.

I was especially happy for Sarah Trivuncic at Maison Cupcake who proudly flew the flag for food bloggers, winning the Britmums ‘Tasty’ Award. Sarah is also a ‘stay-at-home mum’ who has just had her first cookery book published (I’ll be writing about it very soon!) and as one of the very first blogs I read and commented on, has been a huge inspiration to me. I know that she inspires many, many others and the judges of her category were extremely complimentary of her achievements. Well done, Sarah! May your skills and achievements grow from strength to strength. I wonder whether Cherie Blair reads Sarah’s food blog? Oh no wait, she has a cook, and a nanny, doesn’t she? Silly me.

Though I didn’t win, I was nevertheless pretty proud that Fabulicious Food! made it into the Outstanding category, too. A fantastic writer called Ben Wakeling won the Outstanding accolade, with his extremely amusing and compelling blog called Goodbye Pert Breasts – check it out, he made me really chuckle as I read and became hooked on every post.

In other categories, my local St Albans blogging friend Lisa Pearson won the ‘Inspire’ category with her blog The Mummy Whisperer. There was practically a St Albans blogger in every category and I was so pleased that Lisa brought home the trophy for the town!

After the awards, I also went to dinner with four bloggers who completely blew me out of the water, Steph, Jenny, Renata and Hayley. They each blog about raising children with special needs or have particular health issues and reading any of their posts pretty much reduces me to tears every time. In particular, a post from Hayley at Downsside Up called Living Life to the Full, about her daughter Natty, really made me cry this morning. Thank you ladies for letting me join you for dinner and for sharing your stories.

So, after an inspiring and entertaining night, all that is left to say is again, is a huge thank you. To every single one of my readers who voted for me and supported me on the night via text, Facebook and Twitter. To Michelle at Britmums for her organisational emails leading up the event and to Susanna Scott and Jennifer Howze, the founders of Britmums, too. And of course, to my husband and my family and friends who continue to support my food-obsessions, ramblings about food, who find camera cards full of food photographs and who offer technical support and advice, but who are extremely well fed and watered!

The awards ceremony was part of an overall weekend conference called Britmums Live which you can find more about by reading the Britmums blog.

Oh, and parent bloggers made The Guardian this morning, too in an article called ‘Stop insulting, start listening to mums who blog.’ Perceptions are definitely moving and changing.

Did you attend Britmums Live or the Awards? What was your experience or overall impression?

June 20, 2012

Review: Eat Your Veg by Arthur Potts Dawson

Move over Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, here comes Arthur Potts Dawson with his take on all things veg! New from the Octopus Publishing Group is Eat Your Veg, a cookery book packed full of ideas on how to bring more vegetables to your table – putting veg at the centre of your plate.

Arthur Potts Dawson loves his veg and after 25 years of cooking as a professional chef, he certainly knows his turnips from his tomatoes. The key is to using what’s in season, “It’ll taste better and it’ll cost you less,” says Arthur.

Designed to get you thinking outside of your veg box, this is a great book for anyone who is keen to experiment with flavours in the kitchen. Arthur’s aim is to present simple recipes that make the most out of the particular veg in question; a bold and bright beetroot soup (cover picture), flavourful broths, gratins and new ideas on serving veg, such as Arther’s Pan-fried french bean bundles with sesame seeds or his striking Radish salad with pomegranate and cannellini beans, below. This would be just as good packed into a lunch box for work as it would be scaled-up for guests.

There are no rules or regulations about how or where to buy your veg, the focus is on variety and on introducing more veg to your daily life. Arthur offers his advice on skills too, such as roasting, mashing and pickling and there are basic recipes for stocks, sauces, dressings and veggie-friendly accompaniments. There is some mention of meat and fish in the book, so this is not a vegetarian cookery book, although all the recipes, can of course, be adapted to suit.

I particularly liked the organisation of Eat Your Veg – there are five main chapters –

Roots and Tubers (featuring beetroot, carrot, sweet potato, celeriac, salsify etc)
Bulbs and Stems (featuring including garlic, onions, fennel, kohlrabi, asparagus etc)
Leaves and Flowers (featuring lettuce, rocket, sorrel, broccoli, artichoke etc)
Fruits and Fungi (featuring avocado, peppers, sweetcorn, aubergine and mushroom etc)
Beans and Pods (featuring lentils, broad and borlotti beans, peas, french beans and okra etc)

Also included are ‘Skills’ as mentioned, and ‘Feasts’ with recipes for a Mediterranean spread, Tex-Mex Grill and a sumptuous vegetarian Curry feast -with dishes passed on from an elderly Bengali chef.

The recipes themselves, are in the most part, fresh and quick to make. We love the Waste not asparagus soup, made from leftover asparagus stalks and the Sweetcorn and coriander pikelets (little sweetcorn fritters, below). There are plenty of simple salads, too, including a Heritage tomato salad with marjoram (one of my favourite herbs) and a Potato and cucumber salad made with Japanese vinegar, olive oil and sunflower seeds for a twist – perfect for barbecue season!

There are also some tasty dips and snacks, the Smashed broad beans with Pecorino and Baked tomato, garlic and red pepper crostini jumped out. Arthur’s Italian-inspired recipe for Penne with Garlic, Rosemary and Mascarpone is impressive and tasty, as are the Creamed Girolles with Grilled Polenta.

A few of the recipes are a tiny bit sophisticated for a domestic kitchen – I am not sure I would have the time to prepare twelve globe artichokes or that I would very regularly make my own ravioli, but it is nice to have some more challenging recipes included.

If you are cooking for very small children, some of the recipes might be a bit ambitious, although you could try making the pikelets, as we did, or the Cheesy peas on toast or even the Baked borlotti beans on toast with garlic and fresh tomatoes to tempt your troops.

All in all, Eat Your Veg appeals to my taste-buds because I already love cooking with seasonal produce and because it encourages me to be a little more adventurous than usual. It is a tiny bit cheffy, but then again, you do benefit from the fact that Arthur has great skills and knowledge that he is keen to pass on.

With many thanks to Octopus Press and Authur Potts-Dawson for my signed review copy. Eat Your Veg is priced at £25.00 Photographs by Liz and Max Haarala Hamilton.

You can follow Aurthur Potts Dawson (@ArthurPottsD) and Octopus Books (@Octopus_Books) on Twitter.

Which books caught your attention over the spring?

Look out for plenty more mentions of fun summer cook books on Fabulicious Food!

June 18, 2012

A Foraging Walk and Banquet with ‘The Foragers at The Verulam Arms’ St Albans

Nettle soup with wild garlic-infused olive oil, sweet onion tart topped with foraged herbs, blue cheese cheesecake with wild poppy seed biscuits. The kind of food you would perhaps expect to find on the menu of a Michelin-starred restaurant – not at your local pub. As a foodie with a great love of all things local, I was intruiged when I saw the menu at one of my locals, The Verulam Arms. I was even more excited when I found out that the owners, George and Gerald (also known as The Foragers) were about to kick-off a series of guided foraging walks on a local estate. The foraging was to be followed by a ‘wild food’ banquet back at the pub. So, I quickly put my name down to attend a course, flung on my wellies and joined in with a bit of hunting and gathering. And yes, that is a deep fried squirrel’s leg on my plate. Foraging is all about taking a walk on the wild side!

The art of foraging is definitely in my blood; my Polish grandmother always told us that nettle soup and wild mushrooms helped her and her three children to survive the war. Having been sent to work on a labour camp located deep within in a forest a long way from home, just about the only food available was the wild food they could forage and cook with very limited means.

Foraging as a means of survival can be traced back to our ancestors over 80,000 years ago. As a pursuit, foraging slowly became less and less common as food became more readily available and was supplied for us. But foraging is coming back with a bang. Our interest in self-sufficiency and a desire to re-connect with nature is growing. It isn’t just a case of finding wild food either; culinary techniques particularly suited to wild food, such as salting, smoking, pickling and curing are also re-emerging. The folks at The Verulam Arms with their menus, walks and talks, are therefore both trend-setting and inspirational on a local level, in a completely laid-back and non-pretentious way.

The aim of The Foragers at The Verulam Arms is to provide good food, as well as motivate, educate and pool local knowledge and skills. The owners, Gerald (a highly-skilled forager with a passion for fishing and artisan baking) and George (an ex-city worker who now promotes his own love of foraging to the wider world) renovated the abandoned Verulam Arms together with a common goal. With help from locals, they gave the pub a fresh lease of life, exposing wooden floors and period features, decorating it with painted silhouette’s of hunters and gatherers and bringing grandad’s fishing bag and Auntie Evie’s bureau into the mix. As well as offering a foraged menu predominantly created now by the very young, but super-talented head chef Tommy, the guided foraging walks are a relatively new angle. They bring together local people with other local hunters and even urban gatherers to share locally foraged food. The guided walks are led by Kevan, a foraging and bush-craft expert Kevan from Woodland Ways, who brings a whole new level of expertise to the table.

The thing about foraging is that you absolutely have to be sure that what you are gathering and eating is safe and that is has been correctly identified. Getting it wrong can cause significant ailments, with some wild plants and berries being poisonous, toxic and even deadly. I myself admit to being completely clueless when it comes to identifying wild food (and this blog post is in no way meant to be a guide!) Hence, why anybody in my position should only ever go with an experienced professional or guided group.

I was slightly nervous in advance of the walk as I was attending alone and knew no one. It was a pretty miserable day weather-wise, but the foragers soon put me at ease and off we ventured as a group. I was astounded, to say the least, at exactly how much edible food we were shown how to identify during our walk. The path took the route of a simple woodland walk; away from the road, yet still visible as a group and able to find everything within easy reach. A whole new world of food was opened up to me, almost like putting on a pair of spectacles bringing edible wild plants, including stinging nettles, chickweed and dandelions into sharper focus, as well as finding wayside kitchen herbs, wild berries and nuts from in and around the hedgerows.

In most cases, you need the permission of the landowner to forage on private land. However, path edges can be legally foraged and flowers, leaves, fruits and fungi can also be foraged from verges and country roads. Guided walks are about the best way to ensure that what you are eating is safe and that you won’t get into any trouble for doing it.

So, after a busy afternoon finding, smelling and tasting hedge garlic, nettles (only pick the tops and not when they have started to flower), goose-grass, pig-nut, elder, three-cornered garlic and leeks, wood sorrel and chickweed, we had built up quite an appetite for a woodland feast.

Back at The Verulam Arms, we were presented with a banquet consisting of some superb treats:

Nettle Soup and Homemade Bread
Homemade Cheeses (Brie and Cheddar)
Sweet Onion and Goat’s Cheese Tart Tatin with Foraged Herbs
Southern Fried Squirrel’s Legs (actually delicious!)
Fisherman’s Pie and Sorrel Mash
Rabbit and Foraged Herb Masala (amazing!)
Game Sausage Rolls and Home Cured Meats

The banquet was delicious and all of the food had either been hunted or gathered locally. It was beautifully presented, too, with foraged herbs and flowers. The herbs had all been freshly foraged by hand, the fish caught by Gerald, the cheese impressively hand-made from locally produced milk. The Foragers also cure their own meats including wood pigeon chorizo and pigeon as well as venison and juniper salami.

For a pub in St Albans, I thought the menu and food was quite spectacular. House wines are carefully selected, George and Gerald are about to start brewing ‘wild beer’ and tipples of sloe gin all added to the experience. Even if you are not taking part in a foraging walk, the atmosphere at the pub is friendly and welcoming; just as it should be.

The dinner menu at The Verulam Arms is equally inspired. For first-time visitors, the Chicken Liver Pâté coated with wild butter sauce would be an excellent choice. A new wood-fired oven offering pizzas and slow-cooked joints at weekends surely presents a much-needed alternative to the below-par Sunday carvery and over-priced and over-packed chain eateries.

I would highly recommend joining in with a walk with The Foragers at The Verulam Arms and I hope that pub becomes a destination restaurant for visitors, as well as a place for like-minded foodies to meet. Since going on the walk, I have found wild garlic, used dandilions as a chocolate cake decoration and have started to find elderflowers, as well as learning more about nettles. I am looking forward to picking some wild fruit over the summer and have enjoyed asking my own mother about her adventures in foraging as a child and finding out more about her love of wild forest mushrooms.

You can find out more by subscribing to the We Foragers Mailing List and by finding Verulam Foragers on Facebook or @We Foragers on Twitter. Upcoming events are all listed via a link in the “Hunt and Gather with Us” section of The Foragers website leading to We Got Tickets. The next walk is on 27th June 2012 and you can book the foraging walk and banquet together or just the walk or the banquet. Prices start from £20 to take part in a banquet and discussion, £25 for the walk on it own or £40 for the walk and banquet. There are dates and tickets all the way throughout the summer.

Come to think of it, this would have made a great Father’s Day present, so if you are local and forgot the old man, quickly buy him a voucher!

If you are ever in St Albans, go and try it for yourselves. It won’t be a secret for long!

With many thanks to George, Gerald and Tommy at The Verulam Arms and Kevan at Woodland Ways for a very inspiring and educational afternoon! I paid to attend the introductory evening but was unable to attend. However, I was able to transfer my ticket to attend the first foraging walk.

What’s your view on foraging? Are you keen to venture out into the wild? Would you have eaten the squirrel?!

January 6, 2012

Restaurant Review: Pizza East Portobello and Discovering Burrata!

My visit to Pizza East Portobello was quite memorable for two reasons. Firstly, it was the first place in which I ate burrata, a fresh Italian cheese made from mozarella and cream made in a tiny village in Puglia. The Independent described it as “Britain’s new big cheese. Ultra-soft, creamy burrata is replacing mozzarella as the grande formaggio on all the best menus.” If you try it once, you’ll know why. It was the best food discovery for me in 2011 and I can’t wait to try it again, particularly during asparagus season as it is said to be the perfect match. I’ve since only eaten it once more locally, with a ripe tomato and basil salad, at a restaurant called The Akeman in Tring. My mission this year is to find more of it!

The stunning interior of Pizza East Portobello was designed by Martin Brudnizki, who also designs many of the Jamie’s Italian chains. Since Jamie is opening one in St Albans very soon, I am as hopeful about the decor as I am about the potential arrival of the burrata.

The second reason this trip was memorable was that I happened to be sitting next to American chef Anthony Bourdain whilst at Pizza East. If dining there is good enough for him…

Pizza East Portobello is the latest Soho House Group restaurant to hit West London and, yet again, is bang on the money. As the group has proved already with its East London counterpart, affordable food made with good quality ingredients offered in fashionable surroundings is a winning combination.

A bold blue and white striped balcony now beckons visitors from its corner location on Portobello and Golborne Road, once occupied by The Fat Badger. Pizza East Portobello captures the modest charm of a traditional Italian American pizzeria, whilst offering the trendy crowd of Portobello some eye-candy in the way of reclaimed mismatched café chairs and distressed wooden and marble tables.

A beautiful dark wooden ‘deli’ bar is adorned with vintage weighing scales, salami hanging on hooks and a gelato counter to the side.

Tall windows across two floors of seating allow the light to flood in from every angle, particularly at breakfast-time, as the day is started with house-made sourdough bread, duck-eggs and good strong Italian coffee. By lunchtime the ‘All Day’ menu kicks in and doesn’t really stop until late in the evening. Throughout the day, deli produce, in the form of cured meats and cheeses, is available to take away.

White tiled walls and an exposed white metal ceiling ensure that even at night, as pretty tea lights sit in empty conserve jars and the warmth of the open wood-fired pizza oven glows, the packed atmosphere is cosy yet unconfined. On the tables, red wine is served in tumblers and rustic chunky cutlery sits on chequered napkins, which match the striking black-and-white chequered marble floor.

There is a very quick turnaround at the deli bar and open pizza counter as locals stop in to take a pew and share antipasti. The Bone Marrow Bruschetta (£5) and Chargrilled Squid with Salsa Verde (£6) are big hits, as are wooden counter boards with deli produce (choose any 3 for £12). Peroni is on constant tap, served in tall, chilled glasses. The wine list (almost exclusively Italian) offers a fantastic regional selection.

Whatever takes your fancy on the menu, make sure it includes burrata – a fresh, creamy mozzarella cheese sourced from a village in Puglia barely able to keep up with demand. By the end of a busy week it may not even be available. Pizzas (between £7 and £11) are hand-stretched and slow- proved; the Burrata, Tomatoes, Olives and Thyme Pizza is the number one choice though other wood oven specialities, such as the Crispy Pork Belly (£13) also compete for attention. Salads and sides follow the seasons and change almost monthly. If you have room, the Salted Caramel and Chocolate Tart (£4) already has something of a cult following.

Pizza East Portobello is proving to be very popular from the outset, carrying the Soho House Group badge of quality as well as offering its own unique edginess. Attention to design detail and good service prompt the feeling that Pizza East Portobello has always existed. Pizza East do not offer a reservation system, but the quick turnaround at the deli bar and two floors of seating mean that you should have no problem being served.

This review was first published in Flavour Magazine, London in 2011. With many thanks to Flavour Magazine and the Soho House Group.

Image credits – Soho House Group. The cost of the meal was covered by the Soho House Group.

January 2, 2012

Restaurant Review: Dean Street Townhouse, Soho

Loving food as I do, one of the activities I enjoy the most is eating out. Unfortunately, having two children under five as well ever increasing expenses, dining out is a luxury rather than a weekly occurrence. However, I was lucky enough to be asked to review some of the restaurants in the Soho House Group for Flavour Magazine, London and guess what? I was there like a rocket! My first mission was dining at the very trendy Dean Street Townhouse, where comfort food as well as seasonality was very high on the agenda. I’d go back again in a heartbeat, particularly for the hand-made scotch eggs and the twice-baked smoked haddock soufflé.

A short walk into Soho and the Dean Street Townhouse greets you with its classical Georgian style. The Townhouse’s exterior is clean and beautifully imposing, with large sash windows. Even on a Tuesday evening the popularity of this non-members Soho House Group hotel, bar and dining room is obvious, with a line of people being turned away at the door. It is a hot spot for visitors, unashamedly fashionable both in décor and destination.

Once inside, the main floor is classic American dining room meets French bistro. The long bar complete with low hanging lamps and tall bar stools dominates the edge of the dining room. Striking red-leather benches and booths contrast with immaculate linen-covered tables, polished silver and dark mahogany chairs. The area plays host to the local in-crowd, sinking beer from traditional dimpled pint glasses or sipping classic cocktails and champagne. At the front of the dining room are roomier tables with velvet-covered lounge chairs depicting quintessentially vintage British members’ club chic.

The dining room is low lit and the atmosphere buzzing and lively with waiters providing a slick and attentive service. The Townhouse menu is given its particular edge by the influence of Cornish-raised experienced Head Chef Stephen Tonkin, who has enjoyed stints at The Ivy and Le Caprice. A protégé of Brian Turner, his food is classically British with a huge emphasis on seasonal food.

Comfort food and childhood nostalgia is high on the agenda, with macaroni cheese, roast chicken and puddings such as jam roly poly and lemon meringue more than holding their own on the menu. Handmade fish fingers and delightful Scotch eggs provide a popular snack for the 4pm crowd.

The menu changes fortnightly to showcase more modern seasonal ingredients. Standout starters are the ever-popular, delicate yet decadent twice-baked smoked haddock soufflé (£8.75). We couldn’t miss the much-talked-about mince and potatoes (£11.50), presented as a bowl of mince with a side of boiled potatoes, each mouthful is packed solid with flavour and ends with an almost sweet note. This sort of dish is a perfect example of Steven Tonkin’s confidence in simplicity and exactly what keeps people coming back.

Whether you’re lucky enough to get a table or a seat at the bar, Dean Street Townhouse guarantees high quality food in stylish surroundings.

This review was first published in Flavour Magazine, London in April 2011. With many thanks to Flavour Magazine and the Soho House Group.

Image credits – Soho House Group. The cost of the meal was covered by the Soho House Group.

December 27, 2011

Favourite Cookbooks of 2011: The Italian Cookery Course by Katie Caldesi

One of the culinary highlights of 2011 for me was taking a pasta class with Katie Caldesi in her home in Buckinghamshire. The voucher for the course was a birthday present from my husband, earning him lots of brownie points! I learnt how to make fresh pasta for the first time and was introduced to some wonderful Italian cookery, including the classics as well as some new recipes for me. Katie also wrote one of the books I have turned to the most this year, particularly when cooking meals for my family, called The Italian Cookery Course, published by Kyle Cathie.

When I first flicked through a copy of ‘The Italian Cookery Course’ by Katie Caldesi I was truly enthralled. It is a beautiful cookbook filled with techniques, masterclasses, ingredients and traditional Italian recipes, collated by Katie during her travels across the twenty regions of Italy. What separates this book from other Italian cookery books is the vast scope and selection of recipes and advice offered, giving the reader a real insight into the diversity of Italian cooking. Every detail of Italian cooking is examined and it will certainly inspire you not only to want to cook Italian food, but more importantly, how to cook it like an Italian.

Born in an English seaside town, Katie was first introduced to Italian food by Tuscan-born husband Giancarlo some twelve yeas ago. They now run two restaurants and a cookery school together, but this book, her first solo project, has earned Katie the title of “honorary Italian” from her proud husband. In his forward, he compares Katie to “a taxi driver who does “the knowledge” in order to understand how to get from street to street”. Learning not only from Giancarlo and their chefs, but also first-hand from the homes of many Italian Mammas and their families, Katie shows that it is possible to unlock the secrets of good Italian cooking and how to incorporate them into everyday life.

Pane con Sarde - Sicilian panini with anchovies, mozzarella, tomatoes and basil.

Pane con Sarde – Sicilian panini with anchovies, mozzarella, tomatoes and basil.

Seasonality plays an important role in authentic Italian cookery; Italians will always select the freshest ingredients available but the true essence of Italian cooking begins with a love of food. Despite fierce regional competition over recipes and specialities, one thing is undisputed across the whole of Italy – the most important thing in life is sitting down with friends and family to celebrate and enjoy whatever may be on offer.

Written with the courses of an Italian meal in mind, the book begins with an introduction to the Wines of Italy, moving on to Bread, Pizza and Savoury Pastries, followed by Antipasti, Soup and Stocks and a thorough look at Pasta, Rice and Polenta. Fish, Meat, Poultry and Game are all given individual attention with the Italian love of fresh vegetables highlighted in a chapter dedicated to Vegetables and Salad.

The final three chapters are also filled to the brim with regional specialities, homing in on ‘Dolci’ (desserts) and an exploration of Italian cheese. The book draws to a close with home made preserves, where seasonal produce is captured at its best – everything from apricots to figs and tomatoes to artichokes being bound in liqueurs or syrups to extend our enjoyment across the seasons.

Each chapter opens with a thorough introduction of what is to follow. For example, in ‘Pane’, the significance of bread in daily Italian life is explained, with examples of traditional styles, baking notes, useful tips on equipment and the different types of flours and grains used in Italian baking. A ‘masterclass’ follows, incorporating many types of bread from ‘Pane Semplice’ (Quick White Bread) to differently shaped and flavoured breads, such as ‘Pane Con Sarde’ (Sicilian Panini with Anchovies, Mozarella, Tomatoes and Basil), pizza, and ending with ‘Torta fritta’ (hot fried dough squares from Parma).

There are simple starting points throughout the book (advice on choosing tomatoes, how to clean an artichoke, selecting a good Italian cheese) and even a beginner could easily impress with a selection of authentic Italian ‘Antipasti’ from every region in Italy. Italian cold meat cuts, known as ‘Salumi‘, are explained in full with a useful pictorial guide. Follow Katie’s tips on buying olives and throw in a good bottle of Italian wine and you will be well on your way to creating a wonderful meal.

More complex challenges are also on offer, such as making homemade pasta coloured with spinach or beetroot, to filleting fish, preparing seafood, de-boning a chicken or jointing a rabbit. All the stages of cooking are explained along with advice on how to build flavours, for example by making a ‘Soffritto’, the ‘holy trinity’ of vegetables for soups, stews and stocks – also crucial to a good risotto. Zuppa di orzo e frutti di mare (Barley Soup with Seafood) stands out for me (photographed below).

Ravioli di barbabietola e radicchio - Beetroot and radicchio ravioli, with speck bacon and red onion and a butter, sage and pinenut sauce.

Ravioli di barbabietola e radicchio – Beetroot and radicchio ravioli, with speck bacon and red onion and a butter, sage and pinenut sauce.

Only four out of Italy’s twenty regions do not have a coastline, making fishing a popular Italian pursuit. ‘Spiedini di Pesce e Gamberoni con Arance e Alloro’ (Salmon, Prawn and Tuna Kebabs with Orange and Bay Leaves) is a typical Southern Italian recipe, making the most of this abundance.

Zuppa di orzo e frutti di mare - Barley and seafood stew.

Zuppa di orzo e frutti di mare – Barley and seafood stew.

Meat courses are also regionally inspired. Your masterclass in ‘Carne’ will tell you that pork is “the king of the table” in Tuscany, goat features more in the south of Italy, with sausages, deeply flavoured casseroles and game such as venison, wild boar or hare more common in the north.

Vegetables and salads offer great seasonal inspiration with many Italians growing their own. Key herbs are highlighted alongside vegetarian recipes, such as Baked Red Peppers with Four-Cheese Soufflé, and tips on recognising mushrooms and finding truffles.

Desserts are as varied as the regions from which they are taken, with ‘la passeggiata’ (dressing up after dinner and taking a stroll, often to the local ‘gelateria’ or ice-cream shop) being an important part of Italian family life. I look forward to trying the ‘Torta Caprese’ (Chocolate and Almond Cake from Salerno) and ‘Torta Contadina’ (Franca’s Pear Cake which can be varied to include seasonal fruits). The ‘Sfinci’ (Cinnamon Doughnuts) and Camicia da Notte (Nutella pizza) are also begging to be made.

Torta contadina - Franca's pear cake.

Torta contadina – Franca’s pear cake.

With glimpses of Italian family life, a real focus on seasonal food, artisan producers and stunning scenery beautifully captured by photographer Lisa Linder this would book is a really important addition to any kitchen bookshelf. It certainly inspired me to want to visit Italy again. Although a book to dip into, the ‘masterclasses’ break down some of the more complex processes and mean that you can have a go at creating a wonderful Italian feast.

Standing up strongly on its own, this book is also a great accompaniment to any of Katie’s cookery classes. It is a book of which the author must be very proud – accomplished and reflecting true authenticity.

“The Italian Cookery Course” by Katie Caldesi, published by Kyle Cathie. All photography Copyright Lisa Linder (www.lisalinder.com)

For more information on cookery courses with Katie or Giancarlo Caldesi see www.caldesi.com

This review was first published on The Foodie Bugle

December 20, 2011

Château de Chanteloup, Saintes and Cognac School – Day Two

Yesterday, I wrote about Day One of the Martell Pure Gourmet adventure, in Cognac, France. Our bright and breezy second morning began with a visit to a traditional French market, in the nearby town of Saintes.

Jamie, myself, Brad and Helene at Saintes

The trip was really to enable us to appreciate just how rich and diverse the local produce is and by all accounts, this was a small market compared to other days. Even before we reached the main part of the market, we could see the lady at her magazine stall selling a few cèpes that she’d probably found on her way to the market herself. Oh, how I wish we could find these at my local market!

We also stopped at the Fromagerie Moreau, where the market stall owner was pleased to answer any questions we had about the vast array of local cheeses on offer and some from further afield. I did notice that many of them were marked AOC or AOP, the certification granted to certain agricultural products, including wines, cognac, of course, cheese and even butters within designated geographical areas. The French are particularly proud of provenance, which, for me, was a wonderful thing to see and to appreciate, as we see it more and more in Britain.

I can also never quite believe how small our world really is. I had ‘tweeted’ my whereabouts and my friend and fellow blogger Karen from Lavender and Lovage exclaimed that Saintes was in fact her local market town. This was so strange as I had only met Karen a couple of weeks earlier when she had popped over to visit me in my local market town whilst on a visit to England. I had mentioned how lovely it would be to one day visit Karen’s part of the world! What are the chances of ending up in a tiny, rural part of South West France and being that close to someone you know? Anyway, I was very grateful that I was able to leave the rest of group for a short time to meet Karen and her husband for a quick French café au lait, whilst the others went to visit another local producer of fruit and vegetables.

Karen, Lavender and Lovage

I just about made it back (after a particularly interesting taxi ride where my A-Level French failed me) for a spectacularly fresh seafood lunch at the Château. There really was a remarkable display of local seafood on offer, fresh oysters, which we had seen earlier on at the market, salmon, langoustines, fresh crab, all accompanied with, yes, you guessed it, Martell cognac. Of all the individual pairings so far, I absolutely loved cognac with seafood. If you think about it, a very simple Marie Rose cocktail sauce at home can be elevated to something else with a splash of cognac, so it really would be a beautiful idea to serve a small glass of cognac with any seafood starter over the festive period.

Seafood lunch – photograph Anne-Laure Jacquart

After lunch, we were divided into two smaller groups. We started with a welcome into the kitchens of Château de Chanteloup, where the hard work of the Pure Gourmet adventure really happens. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the House of Martell have a resident team of chefs, led by Eric Danger and Christophe Pienkowski, who work together to create some remarkable dishes and cognac pairings for Martell guests from all over the world. We were shown how to make a dessert of crêpes with lemon, fresh berries and an orange suzette sauce, paired with VSOP cognac. The second team made madeleines with honey which were paired with Martell XO. I’ll be trying the recipes at home and will hopefully be able to share them with you soon.

Crêpes with Menton Lemon, Orange Butter Sauce and Red Berries

We also went back to the Martell Distillery for a ‘vertical’ tasting session with Jeremy Oakes, or Cognac School, as I preferred to call it. We began with a younger Martell cognac, Noblige, which was created by Martell in reference to the saying “Noblesse Oblige”, referring to the responsibilities carried by the aristocracy. This was a very special cognac, myself and Jamie both took a bottle home with us, although it is rarely available on mainland Europe. If you do see it, try it, you won’t be disappointed. Next, Martell’s signature Cordon Bleu, which had tried earlier on with the seafood lunch. This is the cognac of choice when it comes to important matters, for example, it was enjoyed at the signing of the Armastice, it was also offered by Air France on Concorde and on the Orient Express as well as being featured in films. There is a light mocha coffee flavour, which is why it matched particularly well with the “grand cru” coffee bean sauce during the Pure Gourmet meal. The third cognac was an XO or Extra Old which was more earthy, with hints of candied peel, hazelnuts and walnuts. It has a superb after-taste and really lingers. This is under the Christmas tree for my husband! We moved onto a second tasting of the very exclusive Chanteloup Perspective that we had tasted the evening before at the Château on the night of its launch in Asia. Next, we tasted the very special Martell Creation Grand and as we did so, we were almost at the very top of the range. This definitely had a stronger fruitiness, with maybe even hints of marmalade or dark berries and spicy notes. Quite frankly, the fact that I remember any of this detail is remarkable!

Vertical tasting of the Martell range – a very studious Fabulicious Food!

– both photographs by Anne-Laure Jacquart

The really special treat was waiting for us right at the end. We were taken into the Paradise, or Jean Martell’s Cellar to taste L’Or de Jean Martell, which is a blend of several hundred eaux-de-vie, some of which have been hidden in the Martell cellars for over a century. Martell have some of the oldest stock of cognac in the business, the oldest dating back to 1802. They describe L’Or de Jean Martell as “the culmination of Martell’s 300 year quest for perfection.” So, if you should ever win the lottery, you will know what to buy youself.

After a much needed rest back at the Château, we prepared ourselves for dinner which was a premier of Asian-inspired recipes. Highlights included a Shellfish Stock with a Celery and Royal Crab Ravioli. We discovered that adding a tablespoon of cognac into the soup once served really complimented this dish. We also had homard, or Lobster with a Mango Vinaigrette and Young Salad Leaves followed by Beef Tenderloin with Exotic Peppers, Eggplant and Tempura. Dessert was the ultimate supreme moment and it was, for me, the very best cognac match of all, a Velouté au Chocolat (Fleur de Cao), with a Yuzu Ganache and Crystallized Oranges. This was a silky, smooth chocolate dessert, with a layer of yuzu. Yuzu being a very aromatic Asian citrus fruit, which as I discovered, goes very well with chocolate and cognac.

We spent the rest of the evening chatting in the lounge (with perhaps a spot of singing) along with a couple of glasses of champagne. How was I still standing?! To finish off our stay, we were presented with our very own engraved bottle of Chanteloup Perspective as well as a madeleine tin and group photograph. Christmas really had arrived early!

Helene admiring her own bottle of Martell Chanteloup Perspective – photograoh by Anne-Laure Jacquart

As I sat on the train back to Paris and then onto London very early the next morning, I felt as though I had left my parallel universe and my Château life far behind, but what an adventure it had been. There had been so much to take in and to enjoy, to discover, to learn, to taste.

Part of me is hopeful that Château de Chanteloup will open its doors to more people one day, to enable them to experience this Pure Gourmet adventure for themselves. You can visit the Martell distilleries, as we did, which is really worth a trip in itself, though a stay at the Château remains by the invitation of Martell.

I very much look forward to continuing to watch Martell interacting with their consumers, the ultimate keepers of their fate, without letting go of the very unique elements of tradition, prestige and luxury that Martell, as the oldest cognac house in the world, so firmly holds. Profile raising within this new age of social media is challenging, but I think that Martell have made an excellent start so far. As we were the first group of bloggers ever to be invited to Château de Chanteloup, it was a great privilege for me, as a British food blogger, to be part of this chapter of Martell’s history.

With thanks to Katja Graisse and the team from Balistik*Art in Paris for the invitation, the House of Martell and the Martell team, including Tiffany and Bérengère, for their hospitality. Return travel, food and accommodation were covered by Martell, along with a madeleine tin and gift bottle of Chanteloup Perspective as a memento. We were also joined by photographer Anne-Laure Jacquart. Credit is given to Anne-Laure underneath any of her photographs used in this post. All other photography my own. The decision to write about the adventure was my own.

The House of Martell, Château de Chanteloup, Cognac – photograph Anne-Laure Jacquart

You can find links to many of the Pure Gourmet recipes through Martell’s facebook page too.

December 19, 2011

Welcome to Château de Chanteloup, the House of Martell – Day One

There’s a cosy stew on my stove and a cup of tea beside me as I write, but just for one moment, I am daydreaming (again) about my French escape to Château de Chanteloup, the House of Martell. Although it was only a couple of weeks ago, already it feels like a lifetime ago. Obviously, normal life for me does not involve sitting around sipping cognac and eating gourmet food in a Château. But there is something about the French and the French way of life that I have always found fascinating. I have many wonderful memories from extended summer holidays in France throughout my early twenties and the food was always a highlight. So, when, as a food blogger, I was invited to take part in the Martell ‘Pure Gourmet’ experience, to learn how to match cognac with food in the region of Cognac, France, I jumped at the chance and onto a first class Eurostar, quite literally.

My food writing and blogging have always been my ultimate personal indulgence and in many ways, a virtual escape. Food captures my imagination and takes me to places beyond my domestic life. Diving into foreign worlds through beautifully written cookery books has always induced the same effect too. The idea of a gastronomic adventure accompanied by a sip or two of cognac could not have appealed to me more and with a few adjustments to home life (with thanks to my wonderful husband) I found myself, without children, sitting on a train to Paris.

For the rest of the group, apart from myself and cognac-expert, Max, the adventure had begun early on Sunday evening in Paris, at a welcome dinner. I was not able to make the dinner, but did arrive at my Paris hotel in good time to have a quick ‘gin tonic’ and to meet the group in the morning. We took the train to the French town of Angoulême and then onto Château de Chanteloup. Having met Jamie Schler from Life’s A Feast very briefly at the hotel, the train ride was a lovely opportunity for me to get to know some of the rest of the group. I chatted to writer and journalist Douglas Blyde and made friends with Qing Lin and Brad Lau from Lady Iron Chef , who had travelled all the way from Singapore to take part in the adventure. Jamie, Helene Le Blanc and David Lebovitz chatted away in the compartment next to us, with all of them having lived in France at some point or for some time, they had plenty in common already. I think it was such a shock for me to be without my children, in some form or another, that I almost had to remember who I was in my own right, and that was actually quite hard. But I was excited, and ready to relax, and to be looked after.

The super-lovely Jamie from Life’s A Feast – Photo Anne-Laure Jacquart

Martell is the oldest of the major cognac houses, founded originally by Jean Martell in 1715, who came from Jersey in the Channel Islands. Jean Martell’s father had been an import merchant and by the age of 21, Jean Martell had set up his own business, exporting and importing a range of products, including eau-de-vie (a colourless liquid that is produced by fermenting grapes) wool, tea, coffee and spices. By 1721, Jean-Martell was already exporting over 200,000 litres of cognac in casks to England and tradition which continues now globally, under the Martell name. Jean Martell’s two sons, and later, his grandson, Theodore Martell continued the family tradition. After the French Revolution, Martell became the official suppliers to Napoleon Bonaparte and following the Second World War Martell supplied Winston Churchill. So, we were certainly in good drinking company as we arrived at Château de Chanteloup, a 16^th Century home and country retreat first acquired by Theodore Martell 1838.

The grounds of Château de Chanteloup – Photo by Anne-Laure Jaquart

The Château remained within the Martell family and in 1930, the then owner, Maurice Firino-Martell re-built the Château in to a Norman style, as a gift to his wife Elisabeth, who was missing her native Normandy. It now belongs to the Martell group and it is used as an exclusive guest house by Martell. Fast-forward to 2011, and Château de Chanteloup was ready to receive its first group of ‘bloggeurs,’ complaining about our inability to access ‘Château Wifi’ from which to send our tweets!

Qing Lin at The House of Martell

Our arrival was greeted with a coffee break (not cognac break, although our hosts did offer!) before heading into the town of Cognac for lunch at Le Bistro de Claude. There are actually very few restaurants in Cognac, so should you ever find yourself there, I was assured that this one is the best one to dine in.

The town of Cognac

This was really my first reunion with what I would call proper French food, not counting the Alain Roux-designed Eurostar meal (though it was very nice) or the pain au chocolat I had at breakfast. I chose Crème de Potimarron au Fois Gras, a seasonal pumpkin soup with fois gras which is very typical of the area, followed by Dos de Cabillaud aux Epices, a beautifully spiced piece of cod. It is worth noting that fish and seafood in South West France is particularly good as the Atlantic coast is not so far away. To finish the meal, I had a homemade Tiramisu with fresh raspberries and my first taste of Martell Cognac. The meal was a wonderful introduction to the gastronomy of the Cognac area and we were certainly ready for the next chapter of our adventure.

Douglas Blyde taking it all in his stride

Our next stop was the Martell Distillery where were introduced to the Martell-making process. We were given a very thorough explanation of how Martell carefully selects very specific crus from within the Cognac region or AOC and in particular from the four main crus, including the crus of Grand Champagne and Petite Champagne, Fins Bois and the Borderies, with the dominant grape variety being Ugni Blanc. Martell also uses a strict double-distillation method and aging process, specifically using clear wines with no lees, or sediment, producing a purer and lighter liquid eau-de-vie. The eau-de-vie is aged by Martell in fine-grain oak casks, giving it its beautiful amber colouring (Beware: cheap imitations use caramel colouring to produce the same colour!) The eau-de-vie stored in these fine-grain oak casks takes on a more delicate aroma as time goes on as the tannins within slower grown or finer oak are much subtler than the intense tannins of coarse-grain oak casks. As the eau-de-vie ages, it develops its character and the age of the cask (new, medium-old and very old) will determine that process, along with the quality of the wood, the air and time. So, we’re talking good liqueur here. None of this cheap, generic off-licence stuff!

The minimum ageing for cognac required by the area is two years, although Martell often age their cognacs for a great while longer, sometimes several decades. Once a cellar master has determined that a cognac has reached it peak, it is decanted into demi-johns where it awaits blending. Several hundred eaux-de-vie might be used in one blend, for example, the famous signature Martell Cordon Bleu (which we sampled plenty amount of) contains around one hundred and twenty eaux-de-vie.

As well as visiting the Martell Distillery we were also shown the vineyards. The roses you see at the foot of the vines are placed there strategically rather than to make them look pretty. Any diseases will kill the roses first enabling the vines to be saved. We also visited the cooperage to be shown the fascinating process of how the oak casks are made. Much of the process is still artisanal with many parts of the casks being made by hand. One of the highlights of the tour was being presented with our own little oak plaques with our names on it, so now I have my very own ‘Fabulicious Food was ‘ere’ sign to keep! We also went to Jean Martell’s original house and were shown the original cellars and learnt more about how the particular selection of grapes by Martell and a little about the soil and climate of the region. I was a bit cold at this point and a little information saturated, but it nothing that a spot of cognac didn’t resolve.

Our cognac-spiked tours culminated with our arrival back at the Château. Later that evening we were treated to a very special ‘premier’ tasting of a brand new blend of Martell cognac that was simultaneously launched that evening in Shanghai, by Jeremy Oakes, Brand Development Manager for Martell. After 24 years of working for Martell, there isn’t a great deal that Jeremy doesn’t know about Martell and we were very privileged that he was able to share so much of his expertise with us. We were also the very first group to stand on the stone-built belvedere viewing point at the wrought-iron gates leading to the new cellars within Chanteloup which will house some of the oldest and rarest eaux-de-vie owned by Martell, which only a handful of cellar masters will have access too. Again, we were very lucky to be given a taste of Martell Chanteloup Perspective, as well as a sneak peak within the cellars.

Back inside the Château we were greeted by cognac cocktails – younger varieties, such as a VS or VSOP, are better for cocktail-making, my favourite pairing (before dinner) was cognac with ginger ale and a cube of ice. I’ll certainly be serving that to my guests over the Christmas period. We were also introduced to resident Martell chefs Eric Danger and Christophe Pienkowski. Despite his name, Christophe assured me he spoke no Polish, which is a shame, as my Polish is better than my French and it would have been quite nice to chat to him a bit more!

The Martell ‘Pure Gourmet’ Dinner

Dinner on our first evening at the Château was really quite remarkable – four courses each paired with a different blend of Martell cognac, forming the main concept of the Pure Gourmet adventure. The idea is to suggest cognac as an accompaniment to food, rather than simply as an aperitif or a more usually, an after-dinner drink – a bit like matching wine to food, but with a little more clout!

The Pure Gourmet menu was inspired not only by local and seasonal produce, but specifically by the terroirs and by the very particular characteristics of the accompanying cognacs. This appealed to me on so many levels; of course, I love showcasing seasonal produce but this was done in an exceptional way, without being in the slightest bit fussy or complicated. The ingredients in each of the courses were very basic, though the flavours were thought out with great precision. Since Martell begin with choosing the very best grapes for the cognac they produce, it follows that only the very best local ingredients should be chosen to match the food.

To match our cocktails, we had a canapé of Fois Gras of Vendée Duck, with Gingerbread and Belchard Apple Chips. At the main dining table, to start, we had a Charentes Farmhouse Cream Arborio Risotto with Cèpe Mushrooms, also locally sourced and served with Martell VSOP. For our main course, we had Milk Calf and Roasted “Grand Cru” Coffee Bean Sauce, served with Martell Cordon Bleu. To finish, we had a dessert made from a local cheese called La Jonchée de Fourras, with Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream, served with Martell XO. I absolutely loved the risotto, the local farmhouse cream was just poured over the top of the risotto at the end so that you could scoop up a little rice, a little of the cèpes and a little cream on each forkful. The coffee bean sauce served with the veal was also delicious, the flavours standing up so well to the cognac on the side. The dessert, as you can see from the photo below, with light and delicate and exquisitely presented.

La Jonchée de Fourras, with Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream – Photo Anne-Laure Jacquart

Drinking cognac alongside a meal is particularly popular on the Asian continent, hence why the next evening’s meal was to be a premier of Asian recipes, but not before a foray to a local food market in the local town on Saintes, even more cognac tasting and cooking with the chefs in the Château’s kitchen…

Martell Chef Christophe Pienkowski – more to come soon!

With thanks to Katja Graisse and the team from Balistik*Art in Paris for the invitation, the House of Martell and the Martell team, including Tiffany and Bérengère, for their hospitality. Return travel, food and accommodation were covered by Martell, along with a madeleine tin and gift bottle of Chanteloup Perspective as a memento. We were also joined by photographer Anne-Laure Jacquart. Credit is given to Anne-Laure underneath any of her photographs used in this post. All other photography my own. The decision to write about the adventure was my own.

Photo Anne-Laure Jacquart

October 7, 2011

An Evening at Hertfordshire Wine School

This weekend marks the finale of the St Albans Food and Drink festival and as part of the celebrations, I attended my first wine class at Hertfordshire Wine School. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for myself and two other St Albans-based food bloggers, Clare Rudd of The Vegetarian Experience and Heidi Roberts of Heidi Roberts Kitchen Talk, to catch up and enjoy an evening of fine Argentinian and Chilean wine.

My mostly uneducated wine palate has, over the last few months, been quietly picking up tips from the wine guests of Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen on which I am lucky enough to have a weekly slot. The show involves two hours of lunchtime food chat, hosted by BBC Radio Presenter and Video Blogger Nick Coffer along with three guests; a chef/professional cook, a homecook and a wine expert.

As the months have passed, I’ve found myself tuning more and more into what the wine expert has to say, particularly when it comes to pairing wine with food and knowing how to do so confidently. Don’t get me wrong, I am a million miles away from becomming Jilly Goolden (Food and Wine, Britain’s Best dish) but what I am learning is that a little knowledge when it comes to wine can stretch a long way.

I met David Rough, who runs the Hertfordshire Wine School, through one of the shows and was really pleased to hear that there are plenty of wine courses that I can take locally to broaden my wine repertoire. David’s courses are based in both St Albans and Harpenden and are a great opportunity for beginners to learn a little bit more about wine and for experts to improve on their knowledge and taste. You can chose to take a one-off evening class, as we did, or book onto a course which is either four or eight weeks long, taking you on a virtual-tour of the wine world. On the evening we attended, I’d say there were around 20 eager students.

So, what did we learn in one evening? Well, we started off with an introduction to the main wine producing regions of Argentina and Chile and with some useful facts and figures. Argentina is actually the world’s 5^th largest wine producer, with the quality of wine being produced getting better and better each year.

According to David –

“Chile is one of the newest wine countries to export to this country and is improving in leaps and bounds in wine quality. It has a wide variety of climates from the cool, maritime Casablanca Valley perfect for making delicious, crisp, Sauvignon Blancs to the warmer interior for ripe reds from Cabernet and Merlot. It also has its own grape variety, originating in Bordeaux called Carmenère.

Argentina, on the other side of the Andes mountain range, has an entirely different climate, much hotter and arid and also has its own grape varieties in the shape of Malbec and the wonderful aromatic Torrontes. All are incredibly consistent and excellent value for money. We will taste a complete range of these great wines.”

Having tried a white Viognier before, it is certainly one that I now remember to look out for. However, my tasting notes tell me that I rated the Nostros Gran Reserva Merlot from the Casablanca Valley in Chile (2008) the highest of all the wines I tasted over the course of the evening. This surprised me, as I am more of a white wine drinker. The term ‘Gran Reserva’ is a good one to look out for, it generally means a higher alcohol content and a better flavour. This one had a super smooth taste and a strong aroma of blackcurrants. Actually, it reminded me of drinking Ribena! The one we tried was from a local wine shop and came in at £8.41, so not entirely unreasonable for a really nice bottle of red, maybe for a special occasion.

If you really want to push the boat out, you could try an Argentinian Malbec. We tasted one called Bodega Alessandro Speri Prodigo from Mendoza, Argentina, which was excellent, though priced at £16.00 which is a little beyond what I would pay for a bottle. I wrote down that it had “good length”, meaning that you can still taste it after you’ve swallowed it. Wine speak for good wine.

Here’s a little summary of all of the wines we tasted (in ISO approved glasses)

Faldeos Nevados, Torrontes, Salta, Argentina (2010) – White – £6.95 – aromas of elderflower, peach, blossom and honey. I gave this one 8/10.

Cono Sur, Gewurztraminer, Central Valley, Chile (2010) – White – £6.90 – aromas of lychees. Quite acidic, would match well with spicy food. I gave this one 6/10 (I could really smell lychees!)

Bodega Tempus Alba ‘Rosado de Malbec’ Mendoza, Argentina (2008) – Rosé – £13.00 – aromas of wild strawberries. Though this wine is arosé it is quite robust and would be good for red wine drinkers. I gave it 7/10.

Nostros Gran Reserva Merlot, Casablanca Valley, Chile (2008) – Red – £8.41 – as mentioned, aromas of blackcurrant, red berries, plums, even jam! I awared this full marks – 10/10.

Bodega Alessandro Speri Prodigo, Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina (2006) – Red – £16.00 – pricey but excellent quality. A great food match would be steak. I also gave this 10/10. This would have been my top wine but for the slightly high price, but if you’ve got the cash, go for this one!

Lascar, Carmenère, Central Valley, Chile (2010) – Red – £4.95 – a young wine with high acidity. Ruby red in colour, aromas of cloves and damsons. I scored this one 8/10.

Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo Valley, Chile (2008) – Red – £7.49 – again, aromas of blackcurrant and cassis, fruit, would pair well with red meat or hard cheese. This once scored 9/10, also very good.

Las Moras Late Harvest Viognier, San Juan, Argentina (2009) – White – £8.95 for 50cl, a dessert wine, excellent with Saint Agur cheese, aromas of peaches and apricots. If dessert wine is your thing, this one was nice, very sweet, scoring 7 /10.

All in all, Clare, Heidi and I had a very enjoyable evening. I will definitely be paying more attention to Argentinian and Chilean wines in the future, particularly the white Viognier grape and the red Argentinan Malbec. I left thinking to myself that I really ought to drink more wine…or good wine more often!

Thank you to David Rough of Hertfordshire Wine School for organising the evening and for being so informative and knowledgeable on the subject of Chilean and Argentinian wines.

For more information on course costs visit – Hertfordshire Wine School

What are your top wine tips or top wines? Have you come across any great food and wine blogs? If so, I’d really love to know.

August 15, 2011

A Few Highlights from Food Blogger Connect 2011

This weekend I attended Food Blogger Connect, which is Europe’s first and biggest food blogging conference held in London.

I had no idea what to expect, since it was the first event of this kind that I’ve attended as a food blogger. All I did know was that as soon as I saw the event advertised I booked my ticket and put the event firmly in my diary to go!

The programme for the weekend was impressive from the start and as the event drew nearer, more and more big names of the foodie world were lined up to speak or hold workshops and the buzz started to grow within the food blogging community – globally!

Two things I definitely didn’t expect was to win a refund on my ticket just a couple of days before, courtesy of one of the event’s main sponsors Olives from Spain. Thank you so much for my pass! Olives from Spain were really generous, giving away four weekend passes on Twitter and further supplying us all with mountains of delicious Spanish olives throughout the weekend. I think we were all, almost constantly, nibbling. I have a couple of recipes to share too, from Olives from Spain, and will be posting about them a little more in the coming days.

(Yummy brunch and Olives from Spain demo!)

Secondly, I didn’t expect to meet so many food bloggers from all over the world – I had assumed that mainly UK food bloggers would attend, yet many had travelled from Europe, including Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary, as well as even further afield from the United Arab Emirates.

Twitter was totally hijacked by the #FBC11 hash-tag as we tweeted our way through the best-bits of the programme and even tweeted eachother in the same room to try and put names to faces!

(Gretchen, Sally, Zita and Guilia)

One of the main guest speakers even came all the way from Florida. Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen shared all her tips on how she successfully turned her food blog into a business. She now speaks internationally all about her work as a blogger, recipe writer, TV food presenter, weekly columnist and cookery book author (with two children and only working three hours a day!)

Other international speakers connected with us over Skype and it was hugely exciting, for me in particular, to have the opportunity of meeting some of our home-grown experts and journalists, such as Fiona Beckett of The Guardian. Journalist and Broadcaster Tim Hayward of Fire and Knives and Alex Mead of Food and Travel Magazine also gave talks on the Friday evening, which I was sad to have to miss.

We also watched a recipe demonstration by chef and food writer Anjum Anand, who made a really delicious carpaccio of courgette, from her forthcoming book on vegetarian Indian cookery. ‘Up-and-coming’ chef Caroline Mili Artiss also partnered up with sponsors Cuisinart and Olives from Spain to show us how to make her version of a spicy black olive tapende.

(Anjum Anand and Caroline Mili Artiss)

The whole weekend was extremely varied in content and there were many highlights. It’s almost too hard to pick my favourite bits as all of it was hugely relevant, informative and memorable…but I’ll try!

My Pick of the Best Bits

I was really taken by Fiona Beckett’s workshop on Writing Style. It was perhaps particularly relevant for me, as Fiona told us that she had a mid-life career change from politics, becoming a journalist and food writer by taking a Post-Graduate Diploma in Journalism. Fiona started out her career in food writing by getting a position on a features desk and after this, started to freelance. She stumbled into blogging more recently, as a published cookery book author and as a regular food feature writer for British print publications. She now writes no less than four separate food blogs each highlighting a different foodie interest!

Fiona is a real champion of new talent, having collaborated with Signe Johansen and James Ramsden in their ‘student days’ of food writing, believing also that “Blogging has brought fresh voices to the food world and are a breath of fresh air.” Fiona also talked about the differences between blogging and writing for print media, which she has followed-up with a post about on ‘How to Blog like a Journalist’ on her own blog Food and Wine Finds which is well worth a read…

Other essential points made by Fiona included having to be more thorough in your research as a journalist, being more critical and impartial, the importance of observing what is going on, finding your voice as a writer (and how this can be different in a blog post to the voice you have in a print piece) as well as advising us to step back from our blogs sometimes to really think about how to add value to a post. What is it that our readers really want to know?

(Answers in the comments box, please!)

Fiona also spoke about how to craft a feature from a blog post, how to find an interesting angle on a particular topic and how to really grab your audience in a piece. She went on to talk about good recipe writing, or “Delia’s Law” as she calls it, as well as giving tips on writing restaurant reviews, book reviews and how to build up contacts as a journalist. All in all, I thought that Fiona’s advice was down-to-earth, generous and perfectly timed for my own recent adventures in food writing!

Almost in complete contrast to Fiona’s advice on traditional avenues and methods of food writing, were three separate workshops presented by Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen who talked in depth about how to turn your blog into a business and specifically, how to build traffic, community and how to monetize your on-line blogging journey. Her own real-life examples of how she turned a simple food blog into one of America’s leading business-blog sites was nothing short of staggering and yet in a strange way, believable and inspiring all at the same time.

I’m quite sure that we all came away from Jaden’s presentations feeling as though we could drive millions of visitors to our sites, bring in revenue from affiliate programmes and advertising and once we’ve expanded our social media platforms, visibility and brand even land our very own book deals! How realistic this is remains to be seen, although on the plus side, Jaden believes that British/European bloggers are about three years behind America so we have plenty of time to watch and learn.

One of Jaden’s essential pieces of advice to all bloggers is to hire a graphic designer and get a professional logo. I’d say her second most valuable point for us all was to work out our own personal value and worth and really think about the opportunities that come our way, including what we write about and how it helps us, rather than how many bloggers all-to-often help to promote big-name companies for very little or even for free.

We also listened intently to Nando Cuca from Cuca Brazuca who was in his own personal element having an audience of women captivated by his advice on SEO! He also talked about generating traffic by adding plenty of keywords, tags and categories and later on hosted a workshop on the future of blogging. In Nando’s experience, video blogging is relatively straightforward and adds value to your content adding the extra dimension of auditory stimulation. Nando was extremely entertaining as well as knowledgeable, encouraging us all, I’m sure, to give it a go! Look out for plenty more ‘You Tube’ channels being added to the food blogging world!

I think another personal highlight for me was taking part in a food photography workshop by Béatrice Peltre of La Tartine Gourmande, which, apart from anything else, was a unique opportunity to watch a truly creative professional at work. I am hoping to write a separate piece on this workshop for The Foodie Bugle because it really was remarkable and was certainly one of the most enjoyable parts of the whole weekend for me. I now have an expensive ‘wish-list’ of camera equipment to buy and so may well need to put some of Jaden’s advice into practice!

(Béatrice Peltre)

Above and beyond all of this was having the opportunity of meeting so many other like-minded and equally ‘passionate’ food bloggers (a word we were told not to use as often as we all do!) The community atmosphere was so strong, with everyone eager to make friends with each other and share their own individual experiences of food blogging. In a world where so many of us now increasingly interact socially over the web without ever meeting face-to-face Food Blogger Connect provided the perfect home for us all to finally meet to nibble, natter and network in the real world.

It was such a pleasure to meet all my fellow foodies and already, I await next year’s conference (already set for 22nd-24th June 2012) with eager anticipation.

(Christina, Judith, myself and Helen)

The Bountiful Plate
Mostly About Chocolate
Fuss Free Flavours

Thank you so much to Bethany Kehdy of Dirty Kitchen Secrets (the founder of Food Blogger Connect) and to Joslin Souza for putting together such a remarkable weekend for us all at The Hempel Hotel and to all of the brand partners.

(Bethany, Mayssam, Nando, Joslin and Caroline)

Olives from Spain anyone..?!

June 25, 2011

Review: ‘The Free Range Cook’ by Annabel Langbein

A short while ago I had the really exciting opportunity of interviewing one of New Zealand’s best loved food writers, Annabel Langbein, for an online magazine called The Foodie Bugle. Annabel was visiting the UK having just published a new cookbook and launched TV series called The Free Range Cook.

I have been so enthralled with this book since receiving it that I wanted to share a few words about it with you here too.

Although, as you are probably starting to guess, I am slightly obsessed with cookbooks, for me, it feels like ‘The Free Range Cook’ most sums up the kind of food I love to cook but also gives me great scope to challenge myself to further improve my skills and my approach to cooking.

Two things really stuck with me following my interview with Annabel. The first is that she has a family mantra which is to “eat food, not barcodes,” which seems pretty simple yet sensible to me. Annabel tries to ensure that family week-day cooking is quick and easy and need take no more than fifteen minutes of your time. She also tries hard to make sure her family sit down together to eat and during evening meals they light a candle to make it almost like a ritual.

The second thing was her philosophy “the closer you get to the source, the better your food is likely to taste.” Again, this is something that I am really starting to learn how to embrace, perhaps even more so as a result of becoming a food blogger. The quality of the food that you select is so important, but even so, good food needn’t be expensive.

Chapters in the book are organised in a really organic and natural style; From the Oven, From the Garden, From the Farm, From Lake and Sea, From the Larder and From the Orchard and are beautifully shot against a backdrop of some of New Zealand’s most amazing landscapes. There are also sidebars beside some of the recipes with clever ‘Fridge Fixing’ suggestions, where some parts of the recipe may be made in advance or stored or used to combine something else. For example, roasting and adding a bulb of garlic quickly turns Mayonnaise into Roasted Garlic Aioli and you could roast an extra bulb and store it in oil in the fridge for later use in dressings, sauces and risotto. Recipes cover many different aspects of cooking such as baking, cooking outdoors, cooking with home grown produce (including tips for creating a vegetable garden), preserving, making jams, dips, sauces and marinades as well as putting together meals and menu plans for simple entertaining.

Annabel’s focus, really, is to make the best of everything that nature has to offer. She promises that anyone can make her ‘Busy People’s Bread,’ a one-mix dough which rises in the oven with no requirement to knead. She encourages you to try planting even a small window box of fresh herbs or visit a farm or farmers’ market for the freshest seasonal produce you can find.

Recipes are simple, down-to-earth and inspiring. A few that immediately caught my attention were the Slow Roasted Tomatoes with Fresh Cheese and Pitta Breads, Goat Cheese and Spinach Soufflés and Crispy Pork Belly.

Annabel’s style of cooking seems easy to adopt and she has a really relaxed, laid-back approach to her instruction. I am also especially excited to make the Strawberry Cloud Cake (how good does this look?!) and will post separately next week to tell you how I got on.

Thank you to Octopus Publishing for my review copy of this lovely book

June 24, 2011

Review: ‘Food is Fun’ Kids Cookbook by Anorak Magazine

If you have kids, you may be familiar with Anorak Magazine – the happy magazine for kids which is available both in the UK and now in the US. A little while ago (actually quite a while ago, I got a little snowed-under) I was sent a copy of the new cookbook published by Anorak Press called ‘Food is Fun – Foodie Fun for Kids’ which takes a really ‘fun’ look at food with the aim of trying to get kids excited about ingredients and to encourage them to help out in the kitchen.

‘Food is Fun’ is written and put together in much the same style as Anorak Magazine. It is full of activities and food facts for children, for example, a message from Professor Clever Cloggs encourages kids to “Eat something different every day” and “Make your meals colourful” whilst Larry Lemon shares a recipe for ‘Zingy Lemonade’ and Olaf Orange tells you how to make a ‘Deliciously Fluffy Orange Cake’ using just a few ingredients and with simple steps. There are also plenty of other recipes for kids to try (under supervision).

The book also introduces kids to vegetables in a fun way – Greedy Greg talks about white food – Cauliflower, Garlic, Turnip and Jerusalem Artichoke with a question at the end “Can you think of any other white food?” as well as orange food – Saffron, Carrot, Starfruit, Sweet Potato and green food – Artichoke, Asparagus, Mint, Cucumber. I like the fact that less obvious vegetables are highlighted throughout the book in a way that really gets kids thinking.

My overall impression of ‘Food is Fun’ is that it is informative and educational as well as being fun to read and look at. There are magazine-style activities, such as a word search, a dot to dot game leading into a lentil salad and recipes to try. My favourite recipe is the “Super Easy Cake a Monkey Could Make” – for the title alone!

I would say the book is most suited for the seven + age group and would make a great gift, although my four year old enjoyed looking at the pictures and tried some of the activities and in my view, it’s never too early to start getting kids interested in food!

‘Food is Fun’ is available for £15 through the Anorak Magazine Shop shop with free postage and package in the UK. Anorak Magazine also has a Facebook Page and the team can be followed on Twitter

If you have kids who like to draw, check out Anorak’s competition for kids to draw a ‘happy cover’ for the magazine’s 5th anniversary edition – Happy Cover Competition

‘Food is Fun’ is made by Cathy Olmedillas and Rob Lowe at The Anorak Press.

Thank You to Cathy for sending me a review copy.

June 2, 2011

Interview: Vanessa Kimbell tells us how to be ‘Prepped!’

There can be no doubt that Vanessa Kimbell is an inspirational woman. Over a year ago, Vanessa gave up her successful career to pursue her dream of writing a cookery book – called Prepped! She came up with a new and exciting concept and landed a publishing deal with Spring Hill who jumped at the chance of giving this new author the opportunity to share her ideas through a recipe book. At the same time, Vanessa started a blog, called Writing a Cookery Book to document her journey charting the highs and lows of the process of writing her first book. Her blog gave those of us who followed it the opportunity to become part of the process, both through reading Vanessa’s posts and in some cases, through recipe testing. As a very new blogger, I was one of the lucky few to be part of ‘Team Prepped!’ testing Vanessa’s recipes for her ready-made Vanilla Pancake Mix and her Chocolate, Vanilla & Black Pepper Cupcakes.

It has been a privilege to be a (tiny part) of Vanessa’s creative journey and to watch the anticipation levels grow in the lead up to the launch of Vanessa’s book. Just a few days before the official publication date, I met Vanessa for the first time in her home to talk to her personally about what really inspired her to write Prepped! and to find out where Vanessa’s journey will take her next.

Vanessa, what was the inspiration for Prepped! – the actual moment that you decided to write a cookery book?

The actual moment, believe it or not, was when I was visiting a hypnotherapist. I had read that you could be hypnotised into losing weight. I was talking about the fact that I was food obsessed and that I woke up thinking about what I was going to cook, that I owned about 400 recipe books, that I think about ingredients everyday, that I listen to the radio and watch the television about food and I suddenly realised that I was somewhat obsessed with food.

I wanted to stop thinking about food because I thought if I stopped thinking about it then I might actually lose some weight. Then, I thought, you know what, I don’t want to stop thinking about food, I need to do something with it. It’s a passion, rather than anything else.

There were also a few incidents that had happened in the lead up to that moment. One of them was that a particular girlfriend would almost look at me and shake her head in disbelief at the fact that I would be able to whip something up out of absolutely nothing on a moment’s notice or that I could turn up to a party with a cake that was already decorated even though I had only been given two hours notice to come. Things that I would take as standard practices, she had no idea about.

So, I went to the book shop and there was nothing that answered her questions – how to do two things at once in the kitchen. A lot of people may have been doing it for a lot of years but nobody, as far as I’m aware, had tackled that particular way of cooking. It’s not what you cook its how you put it together and how you manage the process in a timely fashion.

Does it take a certain amount of confidence as a cook to be able to do that?

I think because I’ve been cooking for many years, some twenty-two years in fact, it is instinctive for me but what I observed was that it is not instinctive for all cooks and in order to make somebody do something you have to give instructions. The difficulty was translating the physical way of cooking two or three things at once into a way that people could follow it.

It took me about a month to work out how I did it myself and the only way I could describe it to someone was that I link my cooking together, like a chain. It’s not even one chain, one recipe could link to ten other things. For example, an elderflower syrup could make nine other recipes, in fact, more than that because you could substitute or swap it all the way through for perhaps a rhubarb syrup or a lemon syrup, so you can do twenty different things with one base recipe. You could make a cocktail with it, a sorbet with it, you can add it into ice cream, you can add it to a savoury dish.

Prepped! is about thinking: what can I make at the same time? How can I make two things out of one recipe? This book tackles that really nicely.

Do you think that ‘linked cooking’ is something that people can learn how to do from your book?

Oh totally, just on a very basic level if you are making custard you could make double the recipe – one half you’d use on your crumble and the other half you use as an ice-cream. And the point is that as soon as people start looking at it they are going to realise they will be doing the same amount of shopping, the same amount of cooking and the same amount of clearing up.

What have you found to be the highlights of the process of writing?

There have been so many. Meeting like-minded fantastically, amazing people who have got their own stories and their own recipes. That, to me, has been huge. Yes, as a mum, you meet other mums but through this I’ve actually met people who are like me. To be able to chat about food with other people is a joy.

Another highlight has been broadcasting through the BBC, which also brings me into contact with people. And I suppose getting to meet people like Nigel Slater, Dan Lepard, Rick Stein, Sophie Grigson and Jason Atherton. People who are really seriously amazing foodies who have been supportive and who have been kind and didn’t laugh.

In a nutshell, who is your book for?

My book is for people who are time-short foodies, people who love cooking already or who perhaps don’t cook as much as they want to because they don’t think they have enough time.

In essence, the way that I cook is multi-tasking so you end up with delicious food but with a more concise and streamlined way of cooking in the kitchen. Although I have been quite instructional and I haven’t made too many assumptions about anybody’s ability. At the same time I haven’t made people who already cook utterly bored with what they are reading.

Do you think your book will encourage the average busy cook become more adventurous?

What I’m hoping for is not that people will become more adventurous because I think that people are naturally inclined to be adventurous and that’s the fashion at the moment. What I’m hoping for is that instead of people slogging away and missing all the fun they can take advantage of any opportunity that comes their way so that things can be ready to go.

Prepped! is real because I really am a mum, I really have three children, I really cook in my kitchen and I really have to do all my own washing up. The joy of having had all these recipes tested by my team of recipe testers, ‘the preparati’ (as they called themselves) to me is the most important thing because they are all real people. We’re not all about sitting in the test kitchens of celebrity chefs who don’t even have to do their own washing up.

Having got to where you are today would you do it all again?

Yes I would and yes I will. There is a second book that will follow. But I will do things differently. I will go to bed before one o’clock. Past that time I don’t think my work was as good as it should have been. I would take longer than a year to do it. In all honesty, I had no sleep for a year. In a way it has been worse than having a baby because it has been all-encompassing.

Also, with the first book I had a huge learning curve. At the beginning I would write recipes and I would cook instinctively and not measure things. I also had some serious learning to do with photography. Though now there is a template. The first forty recipes I wrote I had to go back and re-write because they were too long for the format they were put in and that was really hard work. It was almost as hard as writing and developing them in the first place.

Is the food in Prepped! genuinely the sort of food that you cook for your kids and your family?

Yes, it is exactly what I cook and how I manage to be this ‘domestic diva’ or ‘kitchen genie’ or whatever I was described as! I have put every trick I know in the book, not only from the point of view of being a trained chef but also as a working mum.

I believe I have put everything in the pages of Prepped! that will allow a person to tackle their food in the same way.

Prepped! – Gorgeous Food without the Slog – a Multi-tasking Masterpiece for Time-short Foodies is published by Spring Hill (RRP £20.00) Available at Waterstones and Amazon (currently at £10.60)

Thank You to Vanessa Kimbell for cooking me a lovely lunch and for allowing me to interview you with two kids in tow and for my signed copy of your book!

Giveaway now closed – winner Sally at My Custard Pie
Thank you to everyone for entering!

May 9, 2011

Meeting Marco Pierre White – A Knorr Masterclass

Last week I was invited to attend an event hosted by Knorr to launch their new ‘Best of British’ campaign. Now I don’t usually get that excited about stock cubes, as such, but add in an invitation to Marco Pierre White’s restaurant ‘Marco’ at Chelsea Football Ground and throw in the man himself and the excitement levels are building! Aside from having the most complicated lead-up to attending an event in the world (on my side) when I did finally get there, I had a great time and most importantly, came away with plenty of tips to share.

If truth be told, I was probably a little bit apprehensive before the event. After all, Marco Pierre White has something of a fierce reputation; ejecting diners who make rude requests from his restaurants and putting celebrities through their paces on Hell’s Kitchen. But there is no doubt he is a culinary legend; one of the very first celebrity chefs and certainly one of Britain’s finest. Having been born and bred in Yorkshire, he began his training in Harrogate before moving to London to train under Michel and Albert Roux at Le Gavroche and then under Pierre Koffman and Raymond Blanc before branching off on his own and very quickly rising to the top. By the time he was 33, he had been awarded three Michelin stars; the youngest chef ever to have done so.

The kitchen is most certainly Marco’s domain and aside from being in possession of a very sharp Japanese knife (he only uses one, a sashimi knife) and theatrically clattering a few plates around, he was actually very warm and keen to share snippets of his knowledge and ‘philosophies’ with us. When asked about what influenced him, he told us that he believes we are all influenced, in some way, by the food of our childhood. He joked that it took him years to admit that he loved salad cream and that, in that actual fact, he used Knorr stock cubes long before Knorr approached him to endorse the brand. He was also asked about his thoughts on ‘sustainable fishing’ and replied that, in his opinion, throwing under-sized fish back into the sea demonstrated “all the logic of a madhouse” (my favourite quote of the day). We also quizzed him about the provenance of his produce and he replied to all our questions in a very friendly manner. I think, perhaps, Marco has mellowed.

So, apart from getting to meet Marco, what did we learn? Well, the focus of the day, was, obviously, Knorr Stock Cubes. Marco was quick to point out that they are a very versatile kitchen ingredient and that he always has them to hand. He uses them in his own cooking, not simply to create stocks, but as seasoning and to help ‘build’ flavours (a very cheffy term). There really is no great secret when it comes to cooking great tasting food, though, as Marco says, a stock cube will help you along, as will some good quality ingredients. Marco is also keen on ‘thinking outside the box’ when it comes to cooking. So, for example, rather than just making up a stock cube with boiling water, Marco mixes them with other liquids – pure apple juice when making Pork with Cider, with prune juice when making Beef in Guinness. (If you are cooking for kids and are worried about the salt levels Knorr has a range of Reduced Salt Stock Cubes available which are worth keeping an eye out for.)

Aside from this, Marco has also developed a technique for making a quick paste to use as seasoning, which was the main technique he focused on using during the masterclass. By simply mashing a stock cube with some good olive oil and a few herbs of your choice and then rubbing this paste onto meat or fish, you can make a plain steak, or even a piece of chicken or tuna, taste really good. No other seasoning is required.

For the steak seasoning, Marco made a paste using a chicken stock cube, some olive oil and finely chopped rosemary, which was rubbed into a rib-eye (Marco’s favourite cut) before being cooked in a very hot griddle pan. Seasoning with a stock cube rather than with just salt means that the flavours seep in rather than bringing the water out.

Marco’s tops tips for cooking a good steak –

Use the best meat you can afford and chose a good cut, rib eye or sirloin is good
Use any herbs you fancy in any quantity, rosemary or thyme is good for steak, chop them finely and add them to your stock cube and olive oil paste
Rub your paste into your steak and leave it to marinate for as long as you have (longer if using for a barbeque)
Make sure your pan is really, really hot. Use a griddle pan if you can, heat it dry (with no oil) until it starts smoking. If your griddle pan is not hot your steak will stick
Rub a tiny bit of extra olive oil into your steak before cooking – don’t add any oil to the pan
Sear well on both sides and leave to rest in the pan, rather than on a plate, before serving

The Knorr seasoned steak did indeed take very good and the paste was easy to make so this is definitely a technique I’ll be using at home. There is a video on the Knorr wesbite which shows you how to do it –Marco’s Steak Challenge

Marco then showed us how to make a delicious fresh tuna steak, again using a Knorr chicken stock cube to make a paste. This was served with a caper, olive and fresh tomato sauce. It was good to know that a chicken stock cube paste works really well with tuna, so there’s no need to buy or use a fish stock cube if you don’t have any to hand.

Here’s the recipe for Marco’s Grilled Tuna Steaks ‘a la Nicoise’

Finally, after jointing two chickens in seemingly just a few minutes with his super sharp sashimi knife, Marco seasoned chicken breasts, this time by rubbing in a paste made of a chicken stock cube, olive oil, then adding lemon zest and thyme. His top tip here is to place the chicken breasts, with their skin on, into a cold pan, rather than a hot pan. This allows the fat on the skin to render down slowly and become really tasty and crisp, rather than putting them directly into a hot pan which will make the skin rubbery. This technique also works for duck breasts. He added the thyme stalks into the pan too, cooked them skin side down for around six minutes and then placed them in a hot oven to finish cooking.

Masterclass concluded, Marco took our orders for lunch (steak, chicken or tuna – I had the chicken as it tasted so good) and we were treated to a few lovely glasses of wine at our tables as well as having an opportunity to chat with Marco and the other guests. One of the sides served with our meal was really worth a special mention – a lovely carpaccio salad of beetroot, goat’s cheese and walnut, drizzled with olive oil – which, along with new potatoes, made the perfect accompaniment to our ‘well seasoned’ lunch!

Look out for more recipes from the Knorr ‘Best of British’ campaign to come featuring plenty of seasonal British produce as well as some classic British recipes. Knorr will also be kindly sending me some seasonal vegetable boxes and more recipes to try at home which I will be sharing with you over the next few months.

With many thanks to the team at Golin Harris – Jen, Neil and Alistair and to Knorr for the invitation to the event.

January 23, 2011

Radio Show Write-Up

I am very pleased to report that yesterday’s stint on Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen at BBC Three Counties Radio was a great success! It was a truly exciting experience for me, quite unlike anything I have ever done before. It was such fun to meet the host Nick Coffer from My Daddy Cooks as well as television presenter, food writer and cookery book author Lotte Duncan.

We spent two hours eating, drinking and chatting our way through the show. The food, which included Lotte’s Macaroni Cheese (her mum’s recipe) along with her Nutty Tart to follow, as well as my own Polish meatballs and “Szarotka” Polish apple cake (my mum’s recipe) was washed down perfectly with Neil Irvine’s selection of wines from No.2 Pound Street.

We fought over the crispy bits from Lotte’s scrumptious Macaroni cheese which was laced with Worcestershire sauce, whole grain mustard and bound in a Gruyere and cheddar sauce. Lotte’s Nutty Tart, made with pecans and almonds nestled in thick maple and golden syrup on a crisp pastry base was gooey, sweet but perfectly crunchy on top. Nick described it as being “smooth with nutty textures” as Lotte explained that the inspiration behind it was a cross between a traditional British treacle tart and an American pecan tart, suitable for any dinner party or gathering. Both recipes are from her new book, Lotte’s Country Kitchen.

My own offerings seemed to also go down very well (huge sigh of relief!) The Polish meatballs were described by Nick as being “really, really tasty” and Lotte as being “unctuous, moist and flavoursome.” The apple cake was also enjoyed by everyone, all the flavours came through; almond, vanilla, cinnamon, against tart Bramleys on a crumbly shortcrust-style cake base and topping. All our plates were wiped clean leaving very little to take home…a sure sign of great food enjoyed by all.

It was also really interesting to see how a real live radio station works. It’s been a dream of mine ever since being a huge fan of Frasier! As we joined Nick in his studio, we sat poised, headphones in place, microphones ready to pick up every sound. It was a bit nerve-wracking but Nick was the perfect host, chatting away about our dishes which ran alongside the theme of food from our childhood.

With his new producer Nadine, Nick expertly manned the decks, reading out Tweets and text messages from callers and playing a few songs we had each chosen. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly that the two hours passed by super quickly. I could easily have done it all over again as soon as it had finished!

The show is available on BBC iPlayer for a week, after which it will be replaced by next week’s show. There is also a fact sheet which you can download from the BBC Three Counties Website with all the yummy recipes on it.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Nick Coffer for very kindly inviting me on his show as his “home cook” guest as well as to Nadine and everyone at BBC Three Counties for making us all feel so welcome.

Tomorrow, I will be writing up my Polish apple cake recipe for my blog, along with step-by-step photos for a Monday afternoon teatime treat!

November 18, 2010

An Audience With Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir Aux Quatre Saisons

A cold blustery night in November. The log fire burned brightly from inside a solid stone fireplace decorated with tea lights. Ruinart champagne flowed generously. As we awaited the arrival of our host for the evening, Chef-Patron of the two-starred Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons, there was anticipation and a sense that we were guests who had gathered to toast a newly married couple. But there was no grand entrance, instead Raymond slipped in quietly alone and mingled. Every sentence embellished with his passion for food and his desire to educate and communicate. Our evening with Raymond was a Christmas present and we had waited a long time for it to arrive!

The wood-panelled private dining room seated no more than fifty with an intimate and inviting feeling. The tables were cleanly laid with freshly polished silver, deep shades of purple thistles and gleaming candelabras clutching warm flames. An extra place was set at each table, in some cultures a custom for the uninvited guest, but tonight for Raymond who would take each of his courses seated amongst his “friends.”

Raymond set his own scene for the evening; “I do not give speeches, I ramble.” A little self-critical perhaps since his stories were well-told, animated, warm and humorous. As Raymond jumped like a grasshopper from one story to the next, we sipped a mellow French 2008 Permiere Cru Grésigny from Bourgone. Raymond delved into rich descriptions of his childhood, his influences, his Maman, Grand Mère, restoring Le Manoir and the challenges he has faced. Despite a few “senior moments” as one brave staff-member joked, Raymond clearly had his audience engrossed.

Having warmed us up a little, we were served with a quail egg, spinach, Parmesan and truffle ravioli in a poultry jus and meuniere butter – a brown butter sauce with lemon. We moved onto a terrine of winter game, Madeira jelly, pickled beetroot salad and a hazelnut vinaigrette. This dish demonstrated an attentive eye for detail and the importance of presenting a clean plate balanced with flavours as well as textures.

More stories ensued; Raymond’s pursuit of his passion, his exile from France after a maddened encounter with a tempestuous chef, his escape to England and his introduction to British cuisine – “square fish, cardboard chips and a plastic tomato” on board the ferry. In extreme contrast, we were served a fish course of Confit de Cabillaud; lightly salted wild line-caught cod, Jabugo ham, toasted garlic and soubise sauce – a delicately flavoured shallot sauce. “Ask most three-Michelin starred chefs where their Dover Sole comes from and they will tell you Dover!” quipped Raymond, before coming to join our table for the conscientiously sourced Cornish cod.

As Raymond was seated on of our fellow guests asked Raymond how many evenings such as this one he hosted a year. He replied: “Very few.” We were a privileged bunch indeed! As we ate the delectable fish course, Raymond shared with us his memories of a visit to Le Manoir by the Queen Mother, who impressed him by insisting on meeting and speaking to all two hundred staff members individually. A truly humble woman, in his opinion, which was only strengthened by the fact that she sang La Marseillaise word-perfectly.

We moved effortlessly onto the most substantial course of the evening, Shropshire venison, braised chesnuts, a bitter-sweet sauce aigre doux. The meat was deep pink and tender, the accompaniments were wintry and warm, one or two deep-red cranberries adding a touch of colour and tang. The dish was paired perfectly with a 2005 St Julien Chateau Moulin Riche from Bordeaux, complimenting the hearty yet subtle tones of the rare roasted loin and a mellow celeriac puree.

As the evening gathered pace, guests began to relax more and the atmosphere became livelier. Sweetness followed in the form of a syrupy dessert wine, Charles Hours Jurançon Uroulat 2009 alongside a kaffir lime leaf and coconut tapioca with a passion fruit and banana sorbet. I will erase from my memory the fact that one guest announced in an inspired move that the dessert reminded him of “frog spawn.” It was cold, yes, but brilliantly balanced. Seedless passion fruit carried pearls of tapioca infused with the kaffir lime. The small shot-glass of flavour succeeded in taking me away, if only for a brief moment, from the coldness of Britain to a more exotic location, leaving me wanting more.

The six courses concluded with a very satisfying seasonal pear Almondine, topped with a caramel croustillant and ginger sauce, adorned with a crisp thin slice of pear and a touch of gold leaf. Coffee and beautifully made individual Chocolats du Manoir along with a few slugs of home-brewed Cassis finished off the evening respectably.

An explosion of flavours, interjected by an array of colourful stories, accented with great praise and admiration of the British and of his love for his second-home county of Oxford. Raymond clearly values his staff members and his gratitude for their faithful application of the Raymond Blanc “ideal” was evident.

There is plenty more to come from this gutsy, self-taught, Frenchman, who craves knowledge, adores fishing (though time barely permits him to indulge his hobbies) and whose passion for good food is infectious and certainly inspirational. A 2,000-tree orchard restoring rare species of apples, quince and pear to Britain, a valley of mushrooms resembling Machu Pichu and more television work.

As the evening drew to a close, Raymond took questions from his audience, my question relating to his thoughts on the blanket ban on mushroom picking in Epping Forest. This led to a very animated answer gaving us an insight into his passion for foraging, Raymond having collected mushrooms that morning on a local farm.

Raymond also introduced his Executive Chef, Gary Jones and his team, who really had delivered a faultless meal. He went on to good-heartedly sign a few books, my own copy of his memoir “A Taste of my Life” now carrying the inscription: “To Renatka, Hope this little book will make you smile like tonight!” And smile indeed I did, all the way home.

Getting up close and personal with Raymond!

An Audience with Raymond Blanc was perhaps the most perfect present for a Fabulicious foodie!

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