For the past 3 years or so Gavin and I have spent Christmas alone in Sheffield. We would go out for lunch, get sozzled, stumble home and watch trashy Christmas TV. This year we couldn't really justify such extravagance and we decided to do dinner at home. Gavin worked Christmas Eve until 9pm and is at work now, so we weren't really up for travelling anywhere for Christmas, as one of us would have had to stay sober, which is not really an option!
We invited my parents and my brother on the proviso that they wouldn't require the traditional Christmas dinner. I had long since decided that we were having steak and chips; thankfully my family were happy with that option.
Our day started with smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and a toasted bagel, all washed down with Bucks Fizz, one tradition I will always stick to! As for dinner, I wanted an easy day of it so the starter needed to be one that I could prepare ahead. Given my latest discovery of oven-dried tomatoes I went for Messy Mezze, just on a larger scale! All was prepared well in advance so I just needed to plate it all up when everyone arrived.
Steak and chips was pretty straight forward too. I chopped potatoes into chips and par-boiled them for 5 minutes, drained coated in oil and seasoned and roasted at 180C or so for about 30-40 minutes. I'm not too sure of the timings as I just checked them every 5 minutes and when I thought they were nearly there, I started the steaks.
These steaks were from Coppice House Farm and they were enormous, so I heated up 2 frying pans as well as my char-grill pan Even then I only managed to cook 4 at once. Mum likes hers medium, so I cooked hers for 4 minutes each side, everyone else's for 2 minutes each side. It all got pretty smoky in there!
After a decent break we then had dessert; mince pies, clotted cream and ice cream. This was Gav's course and he'd made the ice cream himself. It was delicious and very good for a first attempt. Mince pies were shop bought, mainly because we didn't have time to make our own and also because they worked out cheaper that way!
Then there was the cheese course. This is my favourite course of any meal! I served up some Rigottes de Condrieu Goats' Cheese and Brie de Meaux, (both of which are made from unpasteurised milk and from the Tesco Finest Range), some Long Clawson Mature Blue Stilton and some Wensleydale with cranberries. I don't normally go for cheese with fruit in it, but I thought the cranberries were fitting for Christmas. I prefer the smellier cheeses and both the goat's cheese and brie had been ponging my fridge out for a week or so. Thankfully I had managed to restrain myself from scoffing the lot until the big day. I also served up my chicken liver pate, crackers and left overs from the starter.
All in all it was a pretty stress free day and as we had long breaks between courses it took us about 4-5 hours to finish. I also managed to pick up a few foodie gifts. I'd asked Gavin to get me Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson as it's packed full of recipes using odd bits of meat, such as Cold Lamb's Brain on Toast & Crispy Pig's Tails. It's a really nice, solid hard backed book. I'm not too sure how many of the recipes I'll be able to give a go (I haven't seen pig's tails for sale!), but I will try some for the sake of the blog if nothing else. My parents got me The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit which is something I've been after for a while, but hadn't mentioned to anyone, so I was well chuffed to unwrap it! It's basically a book of flavour combinations. You look up the main ingredient and it will tell you what flavours will go with it. My brother did well too; cheese, wine and fudge. Can't really go wrong can you?
Did anyone else go for something non-traditional for Christmas this year? Whatever you did have, I'm sure you will have all stuffed yourself silly, which is one tradition we could never do without!
Sunday 26 December 2010
Wednesday 22 December 2010
Chicken Liver Pate
Christmas in my mum's house means tubs of chicken liver pate. We all love it and my brother will easily scoff a whole bowl full when he comes in pissed. My mum actually had to start hiding some so that he didn't eat every last scrap in such drunken stupors.
This year Christmas is at mine and I couldn't let the troops down could I? I don't have my mum's recipe, which seems a bit long winded and involves bacon and double cooking, so I adapted this Angela Griffin recipe.
Ingredients:
400g chicken livers, washed, trimmed and chopped
250g salted butter
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely sliced
1tbsp whiskey, as I didn't have brandy
1tsp mustard powder
You may note that I have used less liver and more butter. This is purely because the livers are sold in 400g packs and the butter in 250g packs. I also didn't bother with the decorative bay leaves and cranberries.
Right, so take more or less half of the butter and melt it in a frying pan, over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry very gently. Just soften the onion, don't colour it. Then add the garlic and the livers and cook them through. I gather that a lot of restaurants have been serving pink livers and making customers ill! Remember people, the livers may look like something that should be served rare, but they still come from a chicken and so need cooking through. There, that little speech will please my mother! She has been banging on about rare chicken livers for months, full of fear that I'm going to give both Gav and I a serious case of Salmonella.
Anyway, once the livers are done, add the whiskey and the mustard powder. Season with pepper; no need for salt as there is enough in the butter. Then throw the livers etc into a food processor and add half of the remaining butter (about 60g). Blend until smooth. Once done, pack the pate into tubs/bowls/ramekins or whatever else you are serving it in. Take the remaining bit of butter (about 60g), melt it and skim off the froth. Pour this on top of the pate to form a protective layer.
Keep in the fridge and hide from drunken brothers! I've made 5 ramekins of pate which will see us up to Christmas Day and through the magical day itself, but no further than that. Due to the stupidly high butter content the pate is incredibly moreish and great on hot toast (even at breakfast).
It's a really easy recipe and good way to use livers. Considering how much pate is to buy in the shops, it's economical too. Chicken livers have become 'trendier' over the years, but thankfully they are still cheap in the supermarket. A quid will get you about 400g of them from Sainsbury's, no doubt they are cheaper at the market.
Next time I'll play with the flavouring. Maybe some mushrooms, maybe some Stilton....? What do you think? Any ideas?
This year Christmas is at mine and I couldn't let the troops down could I? I don't have my mum's recipe, which seems a bit long winded and involves bacon and double cooking, so I adapted this Angela Griffin recipe.
Ingredients:
400g chicken livers, washed, trimmed and chopped
250g salted butter
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely sliced
1tbsp whiskey, as I didn't have brandy
1tsp mustard powder
You may note that I have used less liver and more butter. This is purely because the livers are sold in 400g packs and the butter in 250g packs. I also didn't bother with the decorative bay leaves and cranberries.
Right, so take more or less half of the butter and melt it in a frying pan, over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry very gently. Just soften the onion, don't colour it. Then add the garlic and the livers and cook them through. I gather that a lot of restaurants have been serving pink livers and making customers ill! Remember people, the livers may look like something that should be served rare, but they still come from a chicken and so need cooking through. There, that little speech will please my mother! She has been banging on about rare chicken livers for months, full of fear that I'm going to give both Gav and I a serious case of Salmonella.
Anyway, once the livers are done, add the whiskey and the mustard powder. Season with pepper; no need for salt as there is enough in the butter. Then throw the livers etc into a food processor and add half of the remaining butter (about 60g). Blend until smooth. Once done, pack the pate into tubs/bowls/ramekins or whatever else you are serving it in. Take the remaining bit of butter (about 60g), melt it and skim off the froth. Pour this on top of the pate to form a protective layer.
Keep in the fridge and hide from drunken brothers! I've made 5 ramekins of pate which will see us up to Christmas Day and through the magical day itself, but no further than that. Due to the stupidly high butter content the pate is incredibly moreish and great on hot toast (even at breakfast).
It's a really easy recipe and good way to use livers. Considering how much pate is to buy in the shops, it's economical too. Chicken livers have become 'trendier' over the years, but thankfully they are still cheap in the supermarket. A quid will get you about 400g of them from Sainsbury's, no doubt they are cheaper at the market.
Next time I'll play with the flavouring. Maybe some mushrooms, maybe some Stilton....? What do you think? Any ideas?
Tuesday 21 December 2010
Oh to be a lady who lunches! Strada and Platillos
Lunching is one of the more affordable luxuries that no lady should be without. Don't worry though, we sometimes let the boys join in. After all, even they have to agree that there is not much nicer than whiling the hours away over a lunchtime meal into the early afternoon. It's all very naughty; especially when wine is involved (and with me it generally does make an appearance).
In the run up to Christmas, the social calender gets pretty full doesn't it? It's a time where you don't particularly need a real reason to meet up with friends. Many are going away for Christmas and want to say goodbye before they go; other friends are staying at home, but there is still a need to see them before the big day. And in the run up to this rather busy, pre-Christmas week Gav and I decided to treat ourselves to one of these lunchtime extravagances. The joy of the Tesco Clubcard deal vouchers allows us to do this more regularly than we would otherwise be able to. There are a few chain restaurants who accept these vouchers, but our favourite is Strada. In fact Strada is our favourite chain restaurant and although I wouldn't go here and pay cash (on principle more than anything else), I am more than happy to use the vouchers here.
Our local Strada is about 5 minutes walk away from the flat (oh the joys of city living) and at half past two on a COLD Saturday afternoon, it's suitably quiet! Not dead, but quiet. We sit and peruse the menu, which doesn't take too long as it doesn't change that regularly and we do visit quite often. The starters are pretty dull at the moment. The exciting sounding Carpaccio di Manzo is as far away from that invited by Giuseppe Cipriani as it possibly could be and a serious let down. Nothing else on there particularly inspires; although the antipasto misto is always worth a go. This time, we order from the specials menu, well I say specials, they probably change weekly, definitely not daily! We order a selection of small dishes; ciabatta with goat's cheese, bread sticks wrapped with Parmesan, rocket and some ham, some salame and some ciabatta with roasted peppers and anchovies. There was more than enough and everything was fine. I was pretty impressed by the slab of goat's cheese served as it was pretty substantial given the £2 price tag.
On to the main, I had, as always, the bistecca di Manzo, which is basically a char-grilled rib-eye steak. Gav had the sea-bass from the specials menu. We also shared some broccoli with chili butter. I like my steak medium rare, but as many restaurants have a tendency to overcook steaks, I always ask for it rare. It generally works out for me, as it did on this occasion. The steak was nicely seasoned, nice and red and perfectly tasty. It was a good size, for me and Gav had scoffed down his sea bass before I was half way through (I am a slow eater). Gav's sea bass was also a decent sized dish, with basil mash, olives and tomatoes. The sea bass had a crispy skin but the fish was still nice and delicate.
All this, washed down with a bottle of Primitivo, was an ample touch of luxury which, thanks to the Clubcard vouchers, did not leave us out of pocket. Don't get me wrong, you will not get a gastronomical experience here and as there isn't any veal or lamb on the menu, its Italian roots must be questionable, but you will get a reasonably good meal and, for me, it's the best that any of the chains are offering.
In the run up to Christmas, the social calender gets pretty full doesn't it? It's a time where you don't particularly need a real reason to meet up with friends. Many are going away for Christmas and want to say goodbye before they go; other friends are staying at home, but there is still a need to see them before the big day. And in the run up to this rather busy, pre-Christmas week Gav and I decided to treat ourselves to one of these lunchtime extravagances. The joy of the Tesco Clubcard deal vouchers allows us to do this more regularly than we would otherwise be able to. There are a few chain restaurants who accept these vouchers, but our favourite is Strada. In fact Strada is our favourite chain restaurant and although I wouldn't go here and pay cash (on principle more than anything else), I am more than happy to use the vouchers here.
Our local Strada is about 5 minutes walk away from the flat (oh the joys of city living) and at half past two on a COLD Saturday afternoon, it's suitably quiet! Not dead, but quiet. We sit and peruse the menu, which doesn't take too long as it doesn't change that regularly and we do visit quite often. The starters are pretty dull at the moment. The exciting sounding Carpaccio di Manzo is as far away from that invited by Giuseppe Cipriani as it possibly could be and a serious let down. Nothing else on there particularly inspires; although the antipasto misto is always worth a go. This time, we order from the specials menu, well I say specials, they probably change weekly, definitely not daily! We order a selection of small dishes; ciabatta with goat's cheese, bread sticks wrapped with Parmesan, rocket and some ham, some salame and some ciabatta with roasted peppers and anchovies. There was more than enough and everything was fine. I was pretty impressed by the slab of goat's cheese served as it was pretty substantial given the £2 price tag.
On to the main, I had, as always, the bistecca di Manzo, which is basically a char-grilled rib-eye steak. Gav had the sea-bass from the specials menu. We also shared some broccoli with chili butter. I like my steak medium rare, but as many restaurants have a tendency to overcook steaks, I always ask for it rare. It generally works out for me, as it did on this occasion. The steak was nicely seasoned, nice and red and perfectly tasty. It was a good size, for me and Gav had scoffed down his sea bass before I was half way through (I am a slow eater). Gav's sea bass was also a decent sized dish, with basil mash, olives and tomatoes. The sea bass had a crispy skin but the fish was still nice and delicate.
All this, washed down with a bottle of Primitivo, was an ample touch of luxury which, thanks to the Clubcard vouchers, did not leave us out of pocket. Don't get me wrong, you will not get a gastronomical experience here and as there isn't any veal or lamb on the menu, its Italian roots must be questionable, but you will get a reasonably good meal and, for me, it's the best that any of the chains are offering.
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Now. a long-time favourite restaurant for me is Platillos. It's tapas/mezze/antipasto type food taking inspiration from all over the world including Italy, Morocco, Turkey, Spain and Greece. There is a bar on the ground floor which is a bar in its own right and one I often frequent on an evening out and the restaurant is on the first floor. The decor is mainly dark wood and brick work, with funky furniture and lots of greens and oranges. The atmosphere, whether eating in the restaurant, or drinking in the bar, is relaxed and informal. It has been my favourite place to be for some time now and one I would always rely on for taking friends or family. However, we had taken a break from eating there after experiencing a couple of average (rather than good) meals.
Meeting some friends from work, I suggested we eat here, mainly because the lunch menu is quite reasonable and also because I have been missing their calamari, which is easily the best in Sheffield.
The restaurant was quiet, but busier than the bar downstairs, but I suppose that on a cold Monday afternoon in December, that's to be expected. Once seated, in true extravagant, but controlled, lunchtime style, we share a bottle of house white which, between three, is enough to relax with, but not enough to render us useless for rest of the afternoon.
My friends chose burgers, I chose a selection of taps/mezze, or Platillos (little plates). As is typical with this kind of food, some of mine arrives before the burgers, but this is ok. We each pick at the delightfully light calamari (which is perfectly cooked and not in the slightest overdone) and wait for everything else to arrive. Admittedly the food was not the highlight of the visit as I was catching up with friends before Christmas, and although the calamari reinforced my faith in this place, the Melanzane could have been better. It was made with Emmental cheese rather than Parmesan and the dish did suffer from the lack of cheese flavour in there. However, the bulgar-wheat salad and the Moroccan spiced sweet potatoes were fine, so I was satisfied overall.
With friendly and efficient service and a relaxed atmosphere, this place will still remain a favourite and perhaps one that Gav and I will frequent a bit more regularly again.
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But what about you guys? Where do you like to go for your lunchtime treats? Do you have any recommendations? Any hidden gems that you care to share?!
Friday 17 December 2010
Fudge Packing
Apologies for the rather tasteless title, but it is, technically, what I have been doing this afternoon. With extra time on my hands I decided to make some of our Christmas gifts this year. I considered making truffles, but they don't keep that long. I even considered these 'gifts in a jar' where you layer up the ingredients for, say a cake or come cookies, and attach a label with the recipe on, but they do seem a little lazy and if you're giving a 'cake' then as you can't put eggs in the jar, you can't even give all ingredients required!
In the end I settled on fudge. I had made fudge once, many years ago, as a teenager, but couldn't remember how. So I searched for a few recipes on the net. Many involved heating the mixture up to precisely 115C which I didn't really fancy messing about with. For a start, I don't have a sugar thermometer. Then I came across this Nigella recipe. It looked simple, so much so I wasn't sure it would work, but then I convinced myself that the only reason you need to heat the ingredients up to a specific temperature in other recipes is because you need to dissolve the sugar properly. In the Nigella recipe there is no sugar to dissolve.
I ditched the pistachios though; I wanted something a bit more Christmassy so I went with glace cherries and sultanas instead. Of course there are many other flavours that would work and you could experiment with a few combinations to find your favourites.
Ingredients:
350g dark chocolate (two thirds of the chocolate I used was 85% cocoa and one third was 70%)
1 x 397g can of condensed milk
30g salted butter
100g glace cherries
50g sultanas
I broke up the chocolate and melted it down with the condensed milk and butter, stirring regularly to ensure everything was mixed in properly. Once everything was kinda of gloopy, I stirred in the glace cherries and the sultanas. I then spread the mixture out onto a baking sheet lined with kitchen foil, smoothing the top with a wet knife, and left it to set in the fridge.
My god. It was so simple to make! The most difficult part was wrapping up bundles of pieces of fudge to transform them into gifts. I cut the fudge up and put 10 pieces onto a sheet of cellophane, with a sheet of tissue paper on the outside and tied them up with ribbon. I managed to get about 100 pieces, admittedly they are on the slim side as I used a bigger tray than Nigella, but I was able to make 9 gifts with left overs for Gav to scoff.
Arts and crafts aren't exactly my thing, but I think they look alright considering!
The fudge itself is pretty unattractive but it's tasty and really rich with the chocolate.
I think next time, I'll try some ginger, maybe some orange peel and I'll certainly make the slices a bit thicker!
In the end I settled on fudge. I had made fudge once, many years ago, as a teenager, but couldn't remember how. So I searched for a few recipes on the net. Many involved heating the mixture up to precisely 115C which I didn't really fancy messing about with. For a start, I don't have a sugar thermometer. Then I came across this Nigella recipe. It looked simple, so much so I wasn't sure it would work, but then I convinced myself that the only reason you need to heat the ingredients up to a specific temperature in other recipes is because you need to dissolve the sugar properly. In the Nigella recipe there is no sugar to dissolve.
I ditched the pistachios though; I wanted something a bit more Christmassy so I went with glace cherries and sultanas instead. Of course there are many other flavours that would work and you could experiment with a few combinations to find your favourites.
Ingredients:
350g dark chocolate (two thirds of the chocolate I used was 85% cocoa and one third was 70%)
1 x 397g can of condensed milk
30g salted butter
100g glace cherries
50g sultanas
I broke up the chocolate and melted it down with the condensed milk and butter, stirring regularly to ensure everything was mixed in properly. Once everything was kinda of gloopy, I stirred in the glace cherries and the sultanas. I then spread the mixture out onto a baking sheet lined with kitchen foil, smoothing the top with a wet knife, and left it to set in the fridge.
My god. It was so simple to make! The most difficult part was wrapping up bundles of pieces of fudge to transform them into gifts. I cut the fudge up and put 10 pieces onto a sheet of cellophane, with a sheet of tissue paper on the outside and tied them up with ribbon. I managed to get about 100 pieces, admittedly they are on the slim side as I used a bigger tray than Nigella, but I was able to make 9 gifts with left overs for Gav to scoff.
Arts and crafts aren't exactly my thing, but I think they look alright considering!
The fudge itself is pretty unattractive but it's tasty and really rich with the chocolate.
I think next time, I'll try some ginger, maybe some orange peel and I'll certainly make the slices a bit thicker!
Wednesday 15 December 2010
Messy Mezze
One of my favourite ways to eat is to pick at food. Cheese and biscuits, tapas, antipasti and mezze all please me immensely. I can eat as much, or as little, as I want and if I don't like something it doesn't even land on my plate. It can be as complicated, or as simple as you like; there could just be 2 or 3 items to pick from or many more.
Cooking for friends last night, I decided to serve up a mezze type affair as a starter. We had the char-grilled aubergine slices and the roasted peppers previously used here along with the oven-dried tomatoes from here. I served them all up on plate with some olives thrown in along with some houmus and slices of pitta breads to dip.
This time I added some roughly chopped up garlic and some sprigs of thyme when roasting the peppers. Those who have been reading this will know that I'd made the tomatoes a few days earlier and they had been sat in their own juices and gallons of olive oil in the fridge since then. I'd also stuck some chunks of garlic and chopped up thyme in for extra flavour.
I think the tomatoes were the highlight-as good as any other I have tried. Given that I had used some pretty cheap, bland tasting tomatoes I was surprised how strong their flavour was after drying them. They were worth the 28 hours prep! The peppers were nice and sweet, even the green ones (which I don't normally bother with) were really tasty and the aubergines were slightly smoky from the char-grill and great for mopping up the juices from the peppers and tomatoes.
I was really pleased with how everything turned out and it will be our Christmas Day starter.
Cooking for friends last night, I decided to serve up a mezze type affair as a starter. We had the char-grilled aubergine slices and the roasted peppers previously used here along with the oven-dried tomatoes from here. I served them all up on plate with some olives thrown in along with some houmus and slices of pitta breads to dip.
This time I added some roughly chopped up garlic and some sprigs of thyme when roasting the peppers. Those who have been reading this will know that I'd made the tomatoes a few days earlier and they had been sat in their own juices and gallons of olive oil in the fridge since then. I'd also stuck some chunks of garlic and chopped up thyme in for extra flavour.
I think the tomatoes were the highlight-as good as any other I have tried. Given that I had used some pretty cheap, bland tasting tomatoes I was surprised how strong their flavour was after drying them. They were worth the 28 hours prep! The peppers were nice and sweet, even the green ones (which I don't normally bother with) were really tasty and the aubergines were slightly smoky from the char-grill and great for mopping up the juices from the peppers and tomatoes.
I was really pleased with how everything turned out and it will be our Christmas Day starter.
Monday 13 December 2010
The Wick at Both Ends
Given the present situation, it is hardly surprising that we are not eating out as often as we used to. In fact, over the past 6 weeks, I think I have 'eaten out' in a couple of Wetherspoon pubs and a dodgy curry house in Leicester. That's it. No extravagant Blumenthal-esque menus, no 'oh what the hell' bottles of champagne (rather, no bottles of Prosecco), no giving in to the temptation of calamari at Platillos and no take-aways.
I do miss being able to do these things, but I have really enjoyed having the opportunity to cook more. Eating out is definitely more of a treat now and it's certainly a rarity at the moment, which is also quite nice as it means that I am more careful about where we go, making sure we get good value for money. It also makes the whole experience a bit more special.
So what made today so special? What made this day a 'treat day'. Well, quite shamefully, nothing, other than hunger and the marvelous offer that The Wick at Both Ends have on at the moment.
Doing the food shop this morning with the husband (as he's working nights today) starvation really set in, obviously not literally (don't worry - things are not that bad), but being surrounded by food around lunch time just made by stomach growl. Said starvation was only fuelled by driving home along Abbeydale Road/London Road where some of our favourite restaurants lie.
It was my fault. I planted the hunger seed in Gav's brain and I sealed the deal with the 2-4-1 offer on all mains at The Wick at Both Ends. Decision made we threw the shopping into the cupboards/fridge/freezer, completely ignoring my plan to always wash fruit and veg before putting it away (did I really think that plan was going to last long anyway?), and set out to the Wick at Both Ends.
I love this place. It has been a number of different bars over the year. When I moved to Sheffield, it was an Irish pub - Scruffy Murphys I think. Then, as West Street developed and new bars started popping up everywhere, Scruffy Murphys was no more and it evolved into Muse Bar, then Dogma and now The Wick. I have frequented 149-151 West Street since the Muse Bar days which introduced eclectic furniture and decor, fantastic cocktails and easy going, chilled out (non-pop) music to the place. To be honest with you, I don't think too much has changed from Muse. Sure, there have been re-furbs and the furniture has changed, but the feel of the place has remained. It's just got a nice vibe and it's somewhere that I would quite happily sit for an hour or so listening to the music and reading the free newspapers and magazines that are floating around whilst waiting for friends. Yes, some of my friends can quite easily be up to an hour late, and hunting out suitable waiting rooms is an absolute must!
Saying all this, the Wick have made a huge improvement to the place - the provision of FOOD. This is something I had always questioned about the earlier bars. I knew the place had a kitchen and I could never understand why they didn't tap into the food side of things. Not that it really matters now, as, at last, the Wick has seen the light.
The guys who run it also run the Harley which is just up the road from the Wick. The Harley is ok, but quite a bit more 'studenty' and the Wick has a more mature and.... er...... 'sophisticated' vibe! I hear that a former chef of the Wig & Pen has recently joined the Wick, and brought a new menu with him and as I always enjoyed the W&P, and I am sad to see it go, I was looking forward to seeing what changes he would bring to the Wick.
So we entered. We ordered two pints of Staropramen (my second favourite lager), took a seat and perused the menu. There's sandwiches and light bites, about 4 burgers and then about 6 mains. So, not a huge menu, but considering it does change quite often, there probably is enough on there. 2-4-1 isn't on all the dishes, (and it's only on until 5pm and will cease entirely on 16th December), but you can choose from fish and chips, burgers and venison hot pot amongst others. Unfortunately the pie and rib-eye steak were not on offer which was a shame as I love pie and the last rib-eye I had eaten here had been bloody lovely, but in the end I went with the venison hot pot. Gav went with the beef burger, with extra bacon. We paid £7.50, for both dishes.
My hot pot was better than expected. It could have looked more appetising as the carrots and potato top layers did look a bit sorry for themselves. Lurking under this layer there was plenty of gamey venison which was still slightly pink, so it was nice and tender. There was also an acceptable amount of fat which added nicely to the flavour without making the dish fatty. It also came with curly kale cooked in butter (mmmmmmmmm!) and some slices of ciabatta which were more than ample for mopping up the rich juices from the hot pot. Truly an enjoyable dish.
Gavin didn't have quite so much luck. His burger was described as being served with a red onion marmalade (or something along those lines) and that was missing. He can cope with this. He is a grown man and he can let such things go, but the soggy thrice cooked chips were disappointing. We've had chips here before and they have been nigh on excellent, so anything short of that excellence is disappointing. Did he complain? Of course not. He said he would have done had he been paying full price but I'm not so sure. I have known Gav a very long time and I think I have seen him complain in a restaurant 2/3 times in total. Anyway, the burger was as good as any other burger he'd had and that's pretty good going as he's had a few burgers in his time! It certainly looked good; it was big enough, so not lost in its flat bread type bun and it came with a fresh salad, i.e. not a manky bit of 'garnish'. He was, therefore, happy. As was I.
Service is good here There are a few friendly characters about and the bar staff welcome you and immediately make you feel comfortable. I could have quite happily sat there all day, moving onto wine, followed by martinis with another meal thrown in at some point for tea. I could still be there now, if I had my way.
Unfortunately, I don't have it my way and so plates and pint pots empty, we vacated and after a good feed and a bit of alcohol, Gav was ready for his afternoon, pre-night-shift, doze whilst I pretended to do work. The joys of reality!
It's great and we will return. Many times.
I do miss being able to do these things, but I have really enjoyed having the opportunity to cook more. Eating out is definitely more of a treat now and it's certainly a rarity at the moment, which is also quite nice as it means that I am more careful about where we go, making sure we get good value for money. It also makes the whole experience a bit more special.
So what made today so special? What made this day a 'treat day'. Well, quite shamefully, nothing, other than hunger and the marvelous offer that The Wick at Both Ends have on at the moment.
Doing the food shop this morning with the husband (as he's working nights today) starvation really set in, obviously not literally (don't worry - things are not that bad), but being surrounded by food around lunch time just made by stomach growl. Said starvation was only fuelled by driving home along Abbeydale Road/London Road where some of our favourite restaurants lie.
It was my fault. I planted the hunger seed in Gav's brain and I sealed the deal with the 2-4-1 offer on all mains at The Wick at Both Ends. Decision made we threw the shopping into the cupboards/fridge/freezer, completely ignoring my plan to always wash fruit and veg before putting it away (did I really think that plan was going to last long anyway?), and set out to the Wick at Both Ends.
I love this place. It has been a number of different bars over the year. When I moved to Sheffield, it was an Irish pub - Scruffy Murphys I think. Then, as West Street developed and new bars started popping up everywhere, Scruffy Murphys was no more and it evolved into Muse Bar, then Dogma and now The Wick. I have frequented 149-151 West Street since the Muse Bar days which introduced eclectic furniture and decor, fantastic cocktails and easy going, chilled out (non-pop) music to the place. To be honest with you, I don't think too much has changed from Muse. Sure, there have been re-furbs and the furniture has changed, but the feel of the place has remained. It's just got a nice vibe and it's somewhere that I would quite happily sit for an hour or so listening to the music and reading the free newspapers and magazines that are floating around whilst waiting for friends. Yes, some of my friends can quite easily be up to an hour late, and hunting out suitable waiting rooms is an absolute must!
Saying all this, the Wick have made a huge improvement to the place - the provision of FOOD. This is something I had always questioned about the earlier bars. I knew the place had a kitchen and I could never understand why they didn't tap into the food side of things. Not that it really matters now, as, at last, the Wick has seen the light.
The guys who run it also run the Harley which is just up the road from the Wick. The Harley is ok, but quite a bit more 'studenty' and the Wick has a more mature and.... er...... 'sophisticated' vibe! I hear that a former chef of the Wig & Pen has recently joined the Wick, and brought a new menu with him and as I always enjoyed the W&P, and I am sad to see it go, I was looking forward to seeing what changes he would bring to the Wick.
So we entered. We ordered two pints of Staropramen (my second favourite lager), took a seat and perused the menu. There's sandwiches and light bites, about 4 burgers and then about 6 mains. So, not a huge menu, but considering it does change quite often, there probably is enough on there. 2-4-1 isn't on all the dishes, (and it's only on until 5pm and will cease entirely on 16th December), but you can choose from fish and chips, burgers and venison hot pot amongst others. Unfortunately the pie and rib-eye steak were not on offer which was a shame as I love pie and the last rib-eye I had eaten here had been bloody lovely, but in the end I went with the venison hot pot. Gav went with the beef burger, with extra bacon. We paid £7.50, for both dishes.
My hot pot was better than expected. It could have looked more appetising as the carrots and potato top layers did look a bit sorry for themselves. Lurking under this layer there was plenty of gamey venison which was still slightly pink, so it was nice and tender. There was also an acceptable amount of fat which added nicely to the flavour without making the dish fatty. It also came with curly kale cooked in butter (mmmmmmmmm!) and some slices of ciabatta which were more than ample for mopping up the rich juices from the hot pot. Truly an enjoyable dish.
Gavin didn't have quite so much luck. His burger was described as being served with a red onion marmalade (or something along those lines) and that was missing. He can cope with this. He is a grown man and he can let such things go, but the soggy thrice cooked chips were disappointing. We've had chips here before and they have been nigh on excellent, so anything short of that excellence is disappointing. Did he complain? Of course not. He said he would have done had he been paying full price but I'm not so sure. I have known Gav a very long time and I think I have seen him complain in a restaurant 2/3 times in total. Anyway, the burger was as good as any other burger he'd had and that's pretty good going as he's had a few burgers in his time! It certainly looked good; it was big enough, so not lost in its flat bread type bun and it came with a fresh salad, i.e. not a manky bit of 'garnish'. He was, therefore, happy. As was I.
Service is good here There are a few friendly characters about and the bar staff welcome you and immediately make you feel comfortable. I could have quite happily sat there all day, moving onto wine, followed by martinis with another meal thrown in at some point for tea. I could still be there now, if I had my way.
Unfortunately, I don't have it my way and so plates and pint pots empty, we vacated and after a good feed and a bit of alcohol, Gav was ready for his afternoon, pre-night-shift, doze whilst I pretended to do work. The joys of reality!
It's great and we will return. Many times.
Friday 10 December 2010
Not so sunny 'oven-dried' tomatoes
There's not much finer than a platter of antipasti made up with cold Italian meats, roasted peppers, artichokes, char-grilled aubergines, olives, sun dried tomatoes and, of course, a large glass of red. However, although most people I know would also love this, there isn't that much effort involved, is there? Just open a few jars and packets, spread the contents out on a platter and serve. No real WOW factor there. So my mission is to get to make some of these classics from scratch. Char-grilled aubergines and roasted peppers have been done. Next on the list is sun-dried tomatoes.
Now, it's winter. It's bitterly cold, windy, snowy and icy. The sun creeps out from the comfort of the clouds for approximately 6 hours a day. And even then it's still +5C at the most. Not that our summers are much to shout about. On the med, we are not, and therefore homemade sun-dried tomatoes are a no-no. However, oven-dried tomatoes are a yes-yes. And this is great news.
I based my method on a recipe from a magazine. I can't remember which magazine or even when I'd read it. But essentially I got some tomatoes, quartered them, tossed them in olive oil, chopped fresh sage, dried basil (the recipe called for fresh thyme, but I didn't have that fresh or dried), chopped garlic (3 cloves) and salt & pepper. I then placed them in a glass roasting dish and left in the oven at 50C for about 28 hours. Seriously. 28 hours. I do hope they are worth it!
So once they were done, or rather once I needed the oven for something other than some wrinkling tomatoes, I let them cool, placed in a jar and covered with olive oil. I need to get some more garlic and stick that in too. Maybe I'll stick in some chili and bay leaves too. I'm not serving them until next week, so I will have a think. I did try a couple as they were cooking and they were pretty good. No doubt the time spent in the jar infusing with all the garlic and herbs will help them along further.
They look alright if nothing else!
As for how they taste, I'll let you know next week!
Now, it's winter. It's bitterly cold, windy, snowy and icy. The sun creeps out from the comfort of the clouds for approximately 6 hours a day. And even then it's still +5C at the most. Not that our summers are much to shout about. On the med, we are not, and therefore homemade sun-dried tomatoes are a no-no. However, oven-dried tomatoes are a yes-yes. And this is great news.
I based my method on a recipe from a magazine. I can't remember which magazine or even when I'd read it. But essentially I got some tomatoes, quartered them, tossed them in olive oil, chopped fresh sage, dried basil (the recipe called for fresh thyme, but I didn't have that fresh or dried), chopped garlic (3 cloves) and salt & pepper. I then placed them in a glass roasting dish and left in the oven at 50C for about 28 hours. Seriously. 28 hours. I do hope they are worth it!
So once they were done, or rather once I needed the oven for something other than some wrinkling tomatoes, I let them cool, placed in a jar and covered with olive oil. I need to get some more garlic and stick that in too. Maybe I'll stick in some chili and bay leaves too. I'm not serving them until next week, so I will have a think. I did try a couple as they were cooking and they were pretty good. No doubt the time spent in the jar infusing with all the garlic and herbs will help them along further.
They look alright if nothing else!
As for how they taste, I'll let you know next week!
Thursday 9 December 2010
Seeking Stability: The Trusty Veggie Lasagne
Well, life goes on doesn't it? Not much to report here. The snow really messed up the city for a while. Lots of people didn't go to work, some stores didn't open in town and we didn't have post for a week. A WHOLE WEEK!
According to the Metcheck White Christmas Snow-o-Meter, there's a 30% chance of a white Christmas in South Yorkshire. Mmmm... I hope not as the family are coming to ours this year! Talking of Christmas, the run up is a bit strange this year; no colleagues moaning about their expeditions to Meadowhell, no tinsel round the computer monitor and no naff Christmas party to attend. Hopefully putting the decorations up at home this weekend will help the mood; although I've already decided that I'm sending out the absolute minimum of Christmas cards out and I've also reigned in the amount we're spending on presents. Ooooo. Bah Humbug.
It doesn't help that my life is still pretty much up in the air. I have some voluntary work lined up and I will be starting that tomorrow, but that's pretty much it! This bleedin' recession does not help and I'm starting to get a bit scared. However, scared Clare = motivated Clare so I could do with a few scary thoughts right now.
In the meantime, I'll carry on with the fantastic distraction that is......... Food! I've not had too many adventures with food over the past week; mainly because I was away for the weekend and also because I am starting to repeat my past triumphs. However we had company the other night and that encouraged me to try something new. Not wanting to scare my friend I went with something pretty standard and non-offensive; the trusty veggie lasagne. Believe it or not, though, this was something new for me. I had never made a cheese sauce, never mind about a lasagne! Crazy!
Well what recipe should be used for a first attempt? Delia, of course and here is the recipe. It's probably not particularly authentic, but then I have never had lasagne in Italy so I don't really know what an authentic lasagne would be like. Presumably it would include meat for a start!
I did adapt the recipe slightly and here is what I did;
Ingredients
about 9 sheets lasagne (the kind that needs no pre-cooking)
For the filling: 1 large aubergine - diced, 2 medium courgettes - sliced, 450 g tomatoes, 1 red and one green pepper - diced, 1 large onion - diced, 2 fat cloves garlic - finely diced, Olive oil, 50 g pitted green olives - sliced, 125 g Mozzarella - grated, salt and pepper
For the sauce: 35 g plain flour, 40 g butter, 1 pint milk, 1 bay leaf, sprinkling of ground nutmeg, 9 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan, salt and pepper
For the topping: 2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
Delia starts by salting the aubergine and the courgettes. I didn't. I have never done this, and never will. Life is far too short. So I just put the oven on to 240 C and then put the aubergine, courgette, peppers, onion and garlic into a big roasting dish, drizzled with olive oil, seasoned and roasted for about 20 minutes. I then put the tomatoes in the dish, whole, and roasted for a further 20 minutes, until the veg started to brown. I then mashed up the tomatoes, which were still whole, but soft, and stirred them into the rest of the veg. Then went in the olives and I turned the oven down to 180 C.
In the meantime, I made the cheese sauce. I added the milk, butter and flour to a pan with the nutmeg and bay leaf. I brought everything to the boil, whilst whisking (pretty much constantly), then turned the heat right down and let the sauce cook for a couple of minutes. At this stage it was quite a thick sauce. I then took it off the heat and stirred in the Parmesan and seasoned the sauce.
Using a 9cm by 9cm dish I made a layer with a quarter of the cheese sauce in the bottom, then a layer of a third of the veg, a third of the mozzarella (also at this stage I did sneak in a bit of extra grated Parmesan too!), a layer of lasagne and repeated and just made sure that I had a cheese sauce as a topping. Then I sprinkled the 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan on top and baked it in the oven for about half an hour. I served with a watercress, spinach and rocket leaf salad.
It worked and for a first lasagne attempt, I think it was pretty damn good! It wasn't at all sloppy, thanks to the pre-roasting of the veg and it was nice and cheesy, which, for me, is a must! Everyone enjoyed and I have a spare portion in the freezer.... for now!
According to the Metcheck White Christmas Snow-o-Meter, there's a 30% chance of a white Christmas in South Yorkshire. Mmmm... I hope not as the family are coming to ours this year! Talking of Christmas, the run up is a bit strange this year; no colleagues moaning about their expeditions to Meadowhell, no tinsel round the computer monitor and no naff Christmas party to attend. Hopefully putting the decorations up at home this weekend will help the mood; although I've already decided that I'm sending out the absolute minimum of Christmas cards out and I've also reigned in the amount we're spending on presents. Ooooo. Bah Humbug.
It doesn't help that my life is still pretty much up in the air. I have some voluntary work lined up and I will be starting that tomorrow, but that's pretty much it! This bleedin' recession does not help and I'm starting to get a bit scared. However, scared Clare = motivated Clare so I could do with a few scary thoughts right now.
In the meantime, I'll carry on with the fantastic distraction that is......... Food! I've not had too many adventures with food over the past week; mainly because I was away for the weekend and also because I am starting to repeat my past triumphs. However we had company the other night and that encouraged me to try something new. Not wanting to scare my friend I went with something pretty standard and non-offensive; the trusty veggie lasagne. Believe it or not, though, this was something new for me. I had never made a cheese sauce, never mind about a lasagne! Crazy!
Well what recipe should be used for a first attempt? Delia, of course and here is the recipe. It's probably not particularly authentic, but then I have never had lasagne in Italy so I don't really know what an authentic lasagne would be like. Presumably it would include meat for a start!
I did adapt the recipe slightly and here is what I did;
Ingredients
about 9 sheets lasagne (the kind that needs no pre-cooking)
For the filling: 1 large aubergine - diced, 2 medium courgettes - sliced, 450 g tomatoes, 1 red and one green pepper - diced, 1 large onion - diced, 2 fat cloves garlic - finely diced, Olive oil, 50 g pitted green olives - sliced, 125 g Mozzarella - grated, salt and pepper
For the sauce: 35 g plain flour, 40 g butter, 1 pint milk, 1 bay leaf, sprinkling of ground nutmeg, 9 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan, salt and pepper
For the topping: 2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
Delia starts by salting the aubergine and the courgettes. I didn't. I have never done this, and never will. Life is far too short. So I just put the oven on to 240 C and then put the aubergine, courgette, peppers, onion and garlic into a big roasting dish, drizzled with olive oil, seasoned and roasted for about 20 minutes. I then put the tomatoes in the dish, whole, and roasted for a further 20 minutes, until the veg started to brown. I then mashed up the tomatoes, which were still whole, but soft, and stirred them into the rest of the veg. Then went in the olives and I turned the oven down to 180 C.
In the meantime, I made the cheese sauce. I added the milk, butter and flour to a pan with the nutmeg and bay leaf. I brought everything to the boil, whilst whisking (pretty much constantly), then turned the heat right down and let the sauce cook for a couple of minutes. At this stage it was quite a thick sauce. I then took it off the heat and stirred in the Parmesan and seasoned the sauce.
Using a 9cm by 9cm dish I made a layer with a quarter of the cheese sauce in the bottom, then a layer of a third of the veg, a third of the mozzarella (also at this stage I did sneak in a bit of extra grated Parmesan too!), a layer of lasagne and repeated and just made sure that I had a cheese sauce as a topping. Then I sprinkled the 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan on top and baked it in the oven for about half an hour. I served with a watercress, spinach and rocket leaf salad.
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| half demolished! |
Wednesday 1 December 2010
A Hearty Meal; in more ways than one (like you hadn't guessed)!
Chicken hearts - attempt number 2
Not giving up on cooking something so fantastically cheap, I wanted to give chicken hearts another go This time I casseroled them slowly for about an hour and a half and they were better. They were more tender and tastier. As I said before, they taste of dark chicken meat, although through casseroling them a slight offaly taste did come through a bit more. I really enjoyed it and it was certainly a heart warming meal; just what was needed in this weather.
Ingredients;
One onion - finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
1 tsp of dried chili flakes
500g of chicken hearts, washed, with valves removed and sliced in half
1 tin tomatoes
100 mls chicken stock
1 tbs tomato puree
olive oil
I just gently fried the onions in a casserole dish using olive oil. Then I added the garlic and chili flakes and fried for a couple of minutes, still on a low heat. Next I added the chicken hearts and browned them before adding the stock, tomatoes and tomato puree. I then seasoned the dish, brought it to the boil, and put it in the oven at 140C until Gavin came home after driving in the snow (about one and a half to two hours).
Served with swede and carrot mash (peel carrots and swede and boil for 20 mins, drain, season, add a tsp nutmeg and a small glug of olive oil and mash) and some savoy cabbage.
We had enormous portions! The sauce was rich with a bit of the chili heat coming through, but it didn't overpower the hearts which was nice. Do it. 98p for a pound of fresh meat; how can you not at least give it a go?!
Not giving up on cooking something so fantastically cheap, I wanted to give chicken hearts another go This time I casseroled them slowly for about an hour and a half and they were better. They were more tender and tastier. As I said before, they taste of dark chicken meat, although through casseroling them a slight offaly taste did come through a bit more. I really enjoyed it and it was certainly a heart warming meal; just what was needed in this weather.
Ingredients;
One onion - finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
1 tsp of dried chili flakes
500g of chicken hearts, washed, with valves removed and sliced in half
1 tin tomatoes
100 mls chicken stock
1 tbs tomato puree
olive oil
I just gently fried the onions in a casserole dish using olive oil. Then I added the garlic and chili flakes and fried for a couple of minutes, still on a low heat. Next I added the chicken hearts and browned them before adding the stock, tomatoes and tomato puree. I then seasoned the dish, brought it to the boil, and put it in the oven at 140C until Gavin came home after driving in the snow (about one and a half to two hours).
Served with swede and carrot mash (peel carrots and swede and boil for 20 mins, drain, season, add a tsp nutmeg and a small glug of olive oil and mash) and some savoy cabbage.
We had enormous portions! The sauce was rich with a bit of the chili heat coming through, but it didn't overpower the hearts which was nice. Do it. 98p for a pound of fresh meat; how can you not at least give it a go?!
Winter Wonderland
The snow is HERE! And according to the BBC it is set to be here for at least a couple more days. Normally I hate the stuff... trudging to work, stomping through the snow and risking life and limb on the ice has never been my idea of fun. But right now, I'm finding it quite enchanting. There is so much of the god damn stuff you can only admit defeat, turn the heating up full and drink tea. Even Gavin was defeated in his attempt to get to work this morning, which is definitely a sign of how bad things are. Normally he & his little Aygo will fight their way through. Unfortunately that does mean he's at home all day... just when I was planning to spend the day doing uni work.
Not being able to see the 'outside' from where we are in our flats (as we face internally onto a courtyard), I was curious to see just how bad it was out there. So I did risk life and limb for some photos. Thankfully some kind soul had donated a park of Karrimor walking trainer type things which kept me upright and my toes toasty.
Back at home I spotted a blue tit pecking at the bird feeder. An everyday sight for many, but not for us city dwellers. Saying that I have now seen three different types of birds at this feeder so hopefully more will come, bit by bit.
Not being able to see the 'outside' from where we are in our flats (as we face internally onto a courtyard), I was curious to see just how bad it was out there. So I did risk life and limb for some photos. Thankfully some kind soul had donated a park of Karrimor walking trainer type things which kept me upright and my toes toasty.
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| The view from our ground floor flat onto the courtyard |
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| Almost snowed in! Snow in front of our patio door. |
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| Courtyard |
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| Neighbour's bike |
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| Rockingham Street, our street. |
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| Rockingham Street |
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| West Street |
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| West Street |
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| Rockingham Lane, the lane behind our flats. |
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| Leopold Square |
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| Leopold Square |
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| Leopold Square |
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| Fargate |
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| Fargate |
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| City Hall |
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| Division Street |
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| Division Street |
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| Division Street |
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| Devonshire Green |
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| Devonshire Green |
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| Skanky pigeons - fighting over a chip |
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| Division Street |
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