I’M BACK (and not just from Paris).

Sorry for the lack of posts over the past week or so…. But there is good news. Things are on the up as I have, finally, found a job! It’s at a firm based in Huddersfield and all seems well so far. Everyone’s been really friendly and the systems used are the same, or at least similar, to those used in my last job, so hopefully I’ll settle in quite easily.

I have quite enjoyed my time off and I’ve done well at keeping myself busy, but it’s great being back at work. At last, I am contributing to the household again! So woo woo for work, for only being on the dole for a month and for staying sane throughout redundancy. Welcome back my suit wearing, arse kicking, employed self. You have been missed.

A welcome back to my physical self is also appropriate as I have just returned from a long weekend in Pareeeee (Paris).  The most romantic city in the world?  Mmmm, not so sure, but then I did go with a friend, not the husband! One thing I can say is that Paris is excellent for the gourmet foodie. I’ve never really been one for French food, but having said that I’d never really tried it, unless you count Café Rouge that is! 

After just one hour flight I felt a million miles away from the manky sausage breakfast sandwich I’d had at the airport.  On arrival our fantastic hosts (relatives of my friend, who I shall call Y & E) served us a luxurious lunch of foie gras pate, fresh bread, white wine and fresh éclairs. Needless to say, it was all very good and it was a sure sign of things to come!

Chez Grenouille

Our first foodie outing was to Chez Grenouille (frog). It’s a cute little restaurant serving up traditional French food. On sitting and perusing the menu, I was delighted to hear the translation of some of the dishes. We’re talking offal and unusual cuts and those of you who have been following this blog will know that is right up my street!

We spotted a St Emilion on the wine list and it being my friend’s favourite wine, and one I certainly would never turn down, we went for it. Delicious. However the wine was not the star of the show; that prize was reserved for the food.

Starters

I went for carpaccio de rognons blancs au basilic et copeaux de parmesan which was a carpaccio (thin slices) of testicals (either lamb or veal). It, unsurprisingly (and thankfully), was loads tastier than it sounded. The slices were mostly white, with the odd pinkish fleck. On its own, a slice was a bit offaly, but still pleasant. With the garnish, which included spring onions, it was delicious.  

Balls!

Another diner had presse de mamelles au jambon cru, or a terrine of pressed nipples and ham. Delightful yeah?  Actually, it was! I had a little and it was as tasty as any other terrine I have tried and the fact it was made out of pressed nipples made it the most exciting terrine I have tried!

Nipples!

Others had brouillade d'oeufs a la truffe noire, or scrambled eggs with truffles. Oh my! This is heavenly; very rich and very creamy. Mmmmmmm! I kind of wished I had gone with this, but how could I ever pass up on sliced balls?!

Mains

For main I had tete de veau avec cervelle ravigote, or calf’s head with brains. The brain was deliciously creamy, the head meat succulent and tasty. The only down side was the amount of fat in the dish; the head meat was surrounded by a decent layer of fat, but that was easily removed.  

Head & Brains

I was in heaven, I was actually in heaven!

David Downie

You may have noticed that I have banged on about David Downie a bit on this blog. Food Wine Rome is simply the best foodie guide book I have ever come across and David's Cooking the Roman Way allows me to replicate some fantastic Roman dishes at home. So, after making contact with David via his blog, I was honoured to have the chance to meet with him, and his wife Alison Harris (a photographer who also does the photography for David's books) in Paris. We met for coffee and chatted about food (what else?) and life in general. David has a real passion for proper food cooked properly; traditionally. Fancy, farcical food isn’t his cup of tea… take a look at his recent article here on this point. 

It was a surreal experience meeting David and his wife, who were both friendly and chatty. I even managed to pass on some foodie info as he had not heard of Chez Grenouille before. I only hope that, if he does go, he enjoys it as much as I did!

A Typical Parisian Dinner Party

On the Sunday night Y &E threw a dinner party and we were treated to a more homely gastronomic affair. The day was spent in preparation for the evening with the purchase of ingredients from various specialist shops across Paris. Food shopping is always a pleasure for me and shopping in Paris was very pleasurable; especially the Cheese shop which stocked cheese from all over France and even had some good old British Stilton too.

Friends arrived at about 8 and we sipped champagne in the lounge where nibbles of olives and nuts were served. Starters of breads and homemade guacamole were also served in the lounge as I sat and tried to recall phrases from my GCSE French class. Bearing in mind that I studied French about 15 years ago, there were not many French phrases to recall. Anyhoo, the language of food is one I know well and the guacamole was good with a nice amount of heat. 

Dinner was to be served in the dinning room and we all took our places at the table. Rack of lamb coated with a pistachio and rosemary pesto type sauce and wrapped in bacon was the main event. Given that lamb is one of my favourite meats and it was cooked perfectly (nice and pink, but not oozing blood) I was happy. 

However, the highlight of the meal, for me, had to be the cheese board. As it came to the table we were immediately engulfed in the stench of stinky, sweaty cheese! There were about 5 on there including a yummy runny goats’ cheese, brie stuffed with truffles (!) and a very, very smelly one. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget the stench! It was great to try so many different varieties; all were very different and enjoyable in their own way. Of course, the French eat their cheese before dessert, not after (each to their own I suppose!) and although I had gorged myself on the smelly stuff, I did have some room for a slice of chestnut cake.

I guess Parisian dinner parties are not that different to those we have in the UK… lots of chatting, lots of laughter, lots of food and lots of wine. You can’t go wrong really, can you?

La Fourmi

The next day we took a trip to Sacre Coeur. Well, I say that, but we actually decided to admire it from afar and then go and drink some wine! La Fourmi was in my Time Out guide and looked as though it was worth a punt. It’s a bar serving informal meals and what I call a studenty bar. Think young and arty. My friend had croque madame or monsieur (I can't remember which), I had steak tartar. It was deconstructed so chopped capers, gherkins, onion, parsley and a raw egg surrounded the mound of raw steak mince, ready for me to mix. I love steak tartar and had only had it once before (at the Witchery, Edinburgh) so it was on my ‘To Do’ list for Paris. It was as expected – delicious!

Steak Tartar

Les Diables au Thyme

That evening was Les Diables au Thyme. Another nice little place, more polished than Chez Grenouille but still serving interesting food. Quite helpfully they had a menu in English as well as French and more than a few dishes caught my eye. Of course, I couldn’t have them all so I chose Os à moelle, tartine de queue de bœuf or Marrow bone & toast with oxtail. It looked fabulous, but I was immediately concerned as to how I was supposed to eat it! Thankfully E showed me how to use the blunt end of the knife to push the goodness out. It was nice, but very fatty… good with bread.  The oxtail on the toast was tender and tasty after, presumably, being stewed away for hours.

There was also Raviolis farcis de petits gris et de ricotta, a l'huile de noisette, or Ravioli with small grey snail and ricotta with hazelnut oil on the menu. My friend really enjoyed this one and was pleased to have the opportunity to try well cooked snails!

For main I had Cochon de lait cuit de la tête aux pieds, compotte de dattes or braised suckling pig with stewed dates. I think the pig is a rather marvellous animal, for eating at least! We seem to be able to eat just about everything on the pig, from its curly tail to its trotters and from its crispy ears to its snout. In fact the French name of this dish declares that it is the suckling pig cooked from head to foot and I’m not entirely sure, but I think I was served a section from around the spine. I had an extremely ample piece of meat, on the bone along with some stewed dates and some mashed sweet potato. I'm not too sure what the pineapple was doing there as it seemed an unnecessary garnish and a bit too 80's for me, however, the meat was tender and moist and I was glad when it was suggested that I eat with my hands when the cutlery wasn’t up to the job any longer.

Others had Suprême de pintade truffé au foie gras, fricassée de salsifis et de poire au bouillon de poivre cubébe or Filleted guinea fowl, truffled foie grad, fricassee of salsify and pear with a pepper broth.....

....and Tarte Tatin aux endives, quenelle de fromage de brousse which was essentially an endive tarte tatin.

After gnawing away at my main, I didn’t have room for dessert. In any case, I’m not much of a dessert fan.  However E ordered a cheese board and knowing my love of cheese, he was eager to share that with me…. And how can I pass up the offer of cheese? So, once again I enjoyed some stinky cheeses.

Overall it was a rather foodie trip and one I’m sure I will repeat with the husband.  

So, what's the strangest thing you have eaten?  Nipples, balls, snails?  Have you been to Paris?  Any foodie tips to pass on?

When will I, will I be famous?! New Blog

When I first started this blog, it was purely a hobby, a project, something to keep me occupied. I love food and I also like to write so a food blog made perfect sense to me.

Well, a few weeks ago I got in touch with Exposed Magazine and they liked my blog, so much so that they wanted me to write one for them. Wow. I can't begin to tell you how chuffed that made me feel! I really enjoy writing this blog, but to know that people enjoy reading it is pretty cool!

So here it is........ Clare's Foodie Blog

It's gonna be purely about Sheffield food; restaurants, produce, recipes etc. My first post is about a trip to the Sheffield Farmers Market where I got to meet a few producers and chat about their food. I'll be keeping this one up too to cover non-Sheffield stuff and also to complement some of the Exposed blog posts. I hope you enjoy!

Poll results and The Street Food Chef

Firstly, I’d like to say thanks to all who voted in my recent poll. It’s great to have some reader involvement and I really do appreciate your input. I welcome comments on my posts and if any of you have any requests for items you want covering, it would be great to hear from you.

In the meantime, I have the results of the most recent poll and I am quite surprised by the result. The majority of you, in fact 41% of you, voted for Mexican. I personally thought you would have had me struggling with bits of rice and seaweed to make sushi, but no, you’ve been kind and it’s gonna be Mexican.

Mexican seems to be getting more and more popular, at least it seems that way in Sheffield. Obviously we’re far behind the Americans who have developed their own take on the cuisine; TexMex. You may have already seen my review for Amigos Mexican Kitchen which is a relatively new Mexican venture in Sheffield, and now we have a new addition.  The Street Food Chef has opened its own Mexican Burrito Bar on Pinstone Street. You’ve probably seen these guys before as they have attended many events in Sheffield with a food store selling their Mexican wares. Now they have a permanent set-up and they are quite handily located between the Moor and the Peace Gardens. It’s only been open a week or so but I’ve had my eye on it as soon as I heard it was coming. 

Well, today I needed to pop into town and as it was approaching lunch time I suggested that we nip out to check out the Street Food Chef to Gav. This suggestion was, unsurprisingly, well received!

The set up is quite simple. This is strictly street food and there are no stools to perch on, nor are there tables to eat from. They specialise in burritos, wrapped or ‘naked’, but also sell tacos and empanadas. The naked burritos are essentially the contents of a burrito served on a tray rather than wrapped up in a tortilla. The tacos are small soft tortillas, laden with their fillings and served open. Neither of these were for me. We were walking and eating and I wanted something I could grab in my hand; I didn't want to have to use a fork.

I chose the rice, cheese and beans empanada and Gavin had the shredded pork burrito with picante salsa. Service was quick as the empanadas are already made up, ready for toasting and the burrito fillings are pre-cooked and kept warm. The burrito was rolled up on the counter in front of us; as everything is open; there is no hiding place for this Street Food Chef! 

I had my empanada served with sour cream which meant that it came on a tray, otherwise it would be handed over to me wrapped up in foil, just as Gav’s burrito was. There was habanero sauce too and we were encouraged to try it. It is very hot; only a dollop or two is required, but it’s a tasty hot! I had a bite of Gav’s burrito and I was impressed. The pork is cooked with cumin seeds and cider vinegar and although I only had a small bite I could certainly tell that cumin was used. And, as I love cumin this really worked for me. Gav wasn't complaining either. His choice of picante salsa and the odd splash of habanero sauce left his lips tingling a little so if you are nervous of heat, skip the habanero and choose the pico de gallo salsa instead of the picante.

My empanada was suitably satisfying. It wasn't packed with as much flavour as the burrito, but it was packed with cheese and the tortilla was toasted nicely. I added some of the habanero sauce to the sour cream which made a great tasty dip. Maybe next time I’ll try the pork, rice, beans and jalapenos empanada.

Amigos Meican Kitchen it is not and this is still my favourite for Mexican, but the Street Food Chef isn’t trying to be another Amigos. It is purely street food at a good price and it makes a great quick lunch or snack. Quite often I have been in town and been stumped as to where to go for a quick, well priced lunch and I usually end up with a pasty from Greggs, but now I’ll be coming here for a £2 empanada. 

In the meantime I’m gonna look at ideas for my own Mexican feast. I’ll probably do a mix of the traditional and TexMex to ensure all angles are covered.

Have you tried The Street Food Chef yet?  Will you happily walk and munch, or do you prefer to sit and eat?

Sushi Express, Sheffield

Well, well, well, Sheffield has a new Japanese/sushi restaurant; Sushi Express. That’s five Japanese/sushi restaurants in Sheffield now, if you count Yo Sushi that is.  Not bad going eh? Certainly not if Sushi Express is a sign of things to come. It’s located on the corner of Milton Street and Fitzwilliam Street, on the ground floor of a development of flats and it’s a welcome arrival to the city centre. Prior to Sushi Express moving in, the only other sushi place we had in the centre was Sakushi.

On entering we were greeted by about 2/3 smiley waitresses. One took us past the small area displaying various Japanese foodie goodies (which are for sale), past the open kitchens and through to the dining area. The décor is mainly dominated by the huge floor to ceiling windows that wrap around three of the four sides to the premises.  Everything is clean and tidy, as expected from a new restaurant. There’s black flooring, pristine white walls, smart black tables and bright white chairs. Sounds bland and it probably would be if it wasn’t for the windows which allow for some ever changing wall art.

It was quiet when we entered at about 1.30pm and there was just one other table occupied, but the music helped create some atmosphere and it was set at the right level - it didn't intrude on our conversations. Tables were set up with chopsticks (and we were both glad to find that they were made of wood rather than plastic – easier to eat with), napkins, a bottle of soy sauce, some salt and a tub of some rather intriguing chilli powder (which contained sesame seeds and orange peel as well as chilli).

We first perused the wine list. Wow. There’s a lot of choice here, especially if you like Japanese drinks. Just wanting something straight forward I ordered a large house white (bargain at £3.65) and he, Gav, had an apple juice. We headed straight for the lunch section of the menu as they have a fantastic lunch time deal for £4.90. You can have char sui noodles, a selection of sushi, katsu curry (chicken or pork), house special cold noodle (an oddly unappealing sounding dish of chicken, ham, egg, cucumber and ‘sponge’ served with cold noodles garnished with Japanese ginger), salmon salad or assorted skewer don. Each comes with a choice of either miso soup or a side salad. 

We both go for pork katsu curry, with miso soup. We also order some sashimi; scallop and salmon. Because we didn’t specify an order in which we wanted everything, it all turned up at once. Not a problem. We started with the curry as the sashimi wasn’t going to go cold!

Every time I have katsu curry, it’s completely different to the last and this one was the hottest I have ever had. It was as hot as an Indian curry, which is no bad thing. It was still quite fruity and had the usual chunks of potato and carrots in there. The portion of pork wasn’t huge, but this is lunch at £4.90, so it was fine. The coating was crispy, but it wasn’t as light as I have had it in the past. Its appearance suggested that it had been re-heated, but I’m not sure as the meat was still moist and tasty. There was ample sticky rice served which was good as I find it very moreish.  

Pork Katsu

The miso soup was as good as any other I have had and there are no complaints to be had, bar the fact that it was served with a spoon. It was served in drinking cups, but with a spoon and I do wonder whether these were provided because we’re not Japanese. 

To be honest the curry and the miso soup were more than enough to fill our bellies and we didn’t really need to order the sashimi, but I had wanted to see if this place was gonna be any good as a sushi restaurant, not just for a cheap lunch. 

As is often the case, the sashimi was nicely presented. The scallops came with the nice addition of some roe which added to the prettiness of the presentation, if not so much to the taste (I think it was flying fish roe as each egg was tiny - I like my roe fat and juicy!). We did have to ask for wasabi though and the soy sauce was surprisingly watery which was bizarre, but the sashimi was good. Both scallops and salmon were fresh and clean tasting, an absolute must for sashimi. The salmon was good, with ample lines of fat running through each slice. I really do enjoy salmon sashimi and easily prefer to eat salmon this way, rather than having it cooked. The scallops were too bland for Gavin, but sashimi is about the texture as well as the taste and these scallops were soft and creamy so I happily finished them off. It was at this point that I wished I had specified an order for the food to come in; I think the spiciness of the curry had killed off a few of Gav’s taste buds!

As we ate the place got busier and busier. It seems that Sushi Express is no secret to us Sheffielders as it was quite busy when we left at about 2.30pm on a Wednesday afternoon. This is good to know and I hope the restaurant can keep it up.

The bill came in at about £25 which was as expected given that we had splashed out a bit on the sashimi. Overall I was very happy and I’m pretty sure we shall return for an evening meal as well as the odd bargainous lunch. The service was attentive and friendly, the place was spotless (including the toilets), the food was good, the prices were right and the place had atmosphere. It’s likely that Wasabisabi will remain number one for me, but it seems that, as this place is a 5 minute walk from my flat, I have found my local sushi joint.  Hurrah!

Have you been searching for a decent sushi place in town?  Have you tried this one yet?  See another approving review here on the Girl Who Ate the World blog.

A Postponed Valentine's Day Dinner

Some time last week, my husband (the darling) texted me from work to say that he had agreed to work Monday night. I replied and asked him whether he knew that said Monday night was Valentine’s night. He texted back with "I do now".  Great. So, this year Valentine’s day was postponed and as he had totally scuppered my plans (which involved cooking a three course meal from my recently acquired Milestone recipe book) I asked him to cook.

He was happy to oblige as he does enjoy a bit of cooking, he just doesn't get much chance to do any these days. So last night was our Valentine's night. I didn’t have to lift a finger.  He picked what to cook, went shopping for the ingredients, prepared everything himself and kept me nicely topped up on wine. Bliss.

I should tell you about the wine as I have discovered an easily quaffable vino at Aldi. It’s an Italian Soave. Nothing fancy, but easy going and cheap at £3.29 a bottle. I first bought some for cooking with, and was surprised to find that I enjoyed it in the glass as well as on the plate. Worth a go, especially for a mid-week meal.  

Onto the food.

Starter was Lesley Waters’ Goats’ cheese and sun-blushed tomato salad which is taken from the BBC website. This, essentially, is chargrilled goats’ cheese served on a bed of herbs with sun-dried tomatoes and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.  I say chargrilled, but it was more like warmed on the chargrill pan.

Gav understands my love of goat's cheese and he know that I have a favourite (Rigottes de Condrieu Goats' Cheese) so he served this up with the salad. Now this cheese is very strong and smelly. Unfortunately it was too strong for the dish and the basil and coriander flavours were completely lost. Only the sun-dried tomatoes held their own. He was disappointed; I didn’t care. We are talking about my favourite goat's cheese here and little is going to upset me when that’s on my plate. However, if you do replicate this dish, I’d advise getting a standard goats’ cheese so that the full flavours of the dish do come through.

Main course was James Martin’s Roasted Sea Bass with chorizo, red onion and cherry tomatoes.  This dish is as described with the addition of garlic, thyme and black olives.

Roasted Sea bass with chorizo, red onion and cherry tomatoes

Looking at the recipe now, I’m quite shocked that James Martin, as a Yorkshire man, suggests that one sea bass is sufficient to serve 4 people! Either that was a typo or James has a supply of some supper huge fish! Thankfully Gav was not fooled and he doubled everything in the recipe, bar the chorizo, so we had a fish each and ample roasted veg. This lovely, light dish was surprisingly filling and we didn’t touch the bread served with it, even though the starter had been light also. The fish was really moist and Gav had stuffed it with lemon thyme which worked well and probably is a better alternative to normal thyme when cooking fish. The onions were juicy and sweet and reminded me how good red onions actually are (part of my costs saving plan is to replace all red onions with white wherever I can). The olives were out of a jar so their saltiness added to the dish and the chorizo was appreciated (when isn't it?), but for the pescetarians amongst us, this can easily be omitted. I would also say that this dish would work with any white fish, including fillets, not just whole fish. Indeed, sea bass is not cheap and whole rainbow trout would be a perfect alternative.

Dessert was ready made. “Tut tut”, you may think, but no, give him a break. He did alright and it was one of my favourites; Lemon Tart. A good meal, but was it worth the wait? Yeah, delaying Valentine’s worked out quite well as I was able to celebrate a friend’s birthday on the 14^th, so all was well.

What did you do for Valentine’s?  Go out, stay in?  More importantly, do you have any tips re Aldi wines to share?!

P.s. If you haven't voted in my recent poll yet, there's still time!   Please do let me know which cuisine is your favourite.

New Poll!

Poll Number 2

Well I've done Italian and I've done loads of British dishes.... what would you like to see me do next? Vote Japanese if you would like to learn about sushi and sashimi. Go Mexican for some chilli-fired delights. Vote Chinese for some noodle-tastic dishes. Or vote Indian for a spectacular full on Indian feast.

I love them all, but which is your favourite?

VOTE NOW!!!!!!