Review: The Real Food Festival 2011, London

But sometimes, I need some real food.

Readers of our blog may have noticed that we enjoy attending food and drink events. There are several reasons why.  Firstly, there are extraordinary foods which are struggling to attract attention, which you will not find in your local supermarket. Secondly, we are firm believers in buying local produce to support local businesses and economies. Thirdly, we love how these events can stimulate your mind as well as your taste buds.  To add to all of that, there are obvious perks of meeting new people, trying new foods and learning a fact or three through cooking demonstrations.

The main downside tends to be the crowds or if the event falls into the commercial trap. The Real Food Festival was all of the pros with none of the cons.

We began our afternoon at 12:30pm by visiting “My Daddy Cooks” father and son duo Nick and Archie Coffer, who were demonstrating their Mexican lasagne and salmon and cream cheese pasta dish. Endearing Archie charmed the audience with his own take on the recipes; ripped tortilla with chocolate and salmon and cream cheese, also with chocolate.

After the demonstration, we ambulated through the aisles grazing and nibbling our way around. We stoped at various workshops one of which was a talk on parmesan and wine from the Douro region in Portugal. Christina Pickard resident wine-expert on the Good Food channel’s “Market Kitchen” was the presenter. Her engaging style and interesting subject matter had the audience enthralled. There was a light hearted competition at the end to win cheese and a recipe book.  It was probably unfair of us to have entered given we are wine and food bloggers, but all is fair in food and freebies! We stopped answering the questions eventually and allowed others to have a go.

We have to say there were some amazing independent Food producers.  Favourites, which caught are eyes were as follows:

The Cornish Crisp Company for crunchy, non-greasy crisps packed with authentic flavours. The spicy chili would be perfect laden with humus. We were also pleased that the company donate to local charities with every packet bought. Yet another reason why it was an obvious winner. 

Naturally, we visited the Bordeaux wine stall and tasted a charming Pomerol 2007 and fruity Merlot 2009. There was no pressure to buy, but an opportunity to enjoy and learn.

Not only do Original Beans produce high quality, premium chocolate, but the founder Philip Kauffman is dedicated and passionate about conservation. We can not wait to get cooking with our chocolate or indulge in a cheeky intensely rich slab or two. A 70g bar is about £4.50, so it is not cheap, but the quality more than compensates.

Street food is en vogue at the moment, and we felt Zayti is on to a winning formula with their middle east meets west sweet and savoury delights. We tried a melt in the mouth Turkish chocolate brownie, which was exquisite. Rich dark chocolate melted into the fruity Turkish delight. We wish them every success, as we will need to have a second helping of the brownie in the future.

Arancini Brothers brought fabulous, crispy coated risotto balls of fun to the festival. They were just about the best “snacks” we have tasted for a while. Move over falafel and enter stage right risotto balls served in a wrap and lathered with home made chili salsa and garlic mayonnaise.

Other than gin, which is a favourite in the Wennie household, St Germain (elderflower liqueur) is hugely popular. If you do not have a bottle for your summer barbecue Champagne aperitif cocktails, you must get one. Delicious. Refreshing. Inspiring.

Out of all the food events we have attended, this was rather good fun and we returned home with sore shoulders from carrying our spoils. We would have probably appreciated the opportunity to sit down and enjoy a glass of wine from an independent English wine company; perhaps from a sparkling wine bar. Most of the wine stalls were standing only and it would have been good to take a load off for half an hour to soak in the atmosphere.  We want to say not to go next year in order to protect one of the downsides we mention above, but then we just won’t be fulfilling our blog’s aim. If you did not make it this year, pencil in this weather-proof food event for next year. Fantastic fun!

Recipe for dogs: Liver Cake

This is a song about liver, very high in protein, very good for ya

Today was our little Yorkshire Terrier, Logie's birthday.  He is eight years old.  He is the most precious loved animal in our world, as well as the face of Wennie's Affairs.  Every year Keith bakes our special dog friendly liver cake recipe for him and every year he loves it.  Your four legged friend will also love it and and you will have your pooch eating out of your hand, literally.  We used it to house train Logie as well, and whilst his splendid behaviour is not just on account of the liver cake, we like to think that it helped.  Be aware though, whilst preparing it it will not smell great as it's liver.  You can use any type of liver, although we recommend ox or pork liver.

Christmas is a particularly menacing time of the year for pets unfortunately.  However, our canine friendly cake is an excellent treat for our special friends.  Human foods filled with indigestible fats and salts will never be good for our furry mates.  Also bear in mind the perils of chocolate, grapes, raisins and onions.  All of which are a no, no always, not just at Christmas.

Happy Birthday Logie.  We love you my Boy.

Ingredients:

• 400g Wholegrain flour, sifted
• 2 heaped tsps Baking powder
• 450g Liver chopped, any kind but we used pigs
• 3 Eggs
• 150ml Milk
• A pinch of salt
• 4 Cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C or gas mark 5.
2. Add the liver, eggs,milk and olive oil into a large mixing bowl.
3. Use a hand blender until the mixture resembles a thick paste.
4. Add the flour and baking powder and mix into a dough.
5. Add a little milk until you get consistency where the dough drops off the spoon.
6. Pour into a greased baking tray and spread evenly.
7. Bake for 35 minutes
8. Allow to cool before allowing your pet a nibble.

Recipe: Christmas Scones, rum cream and jam

Happy golden days scone by

We had an idea a couple of weeks ago to create a Christmas scone.  The scone would have all the Christmas goodness you may expect; ginger, cinnamon and raisins.  Then we would add a dab of mincemeat in the centre and seal.  We would serve with a good dollop of rum cream and an amazing Christmas homemade jam from my mother's neighbour. 

As it turns out, it worked!  Here is our English Christmas Scone.

Ingredients:

• For the Christmas Scone
• 15g Unsalted butter, softened
• 25g Brown sugar
• 1 Egg yolk
• 2 Level tsps Ground ginger, sifted
• 1 Level tsps Ground cinnamon, sifted
• 1/4 tsp Ground clove
• 120ml Butter Milk
• 2 tbsp Créme fraiche
• 1 tbsp Treacle
• A small jar of mincemeat
• 175g Self-raising flour, sifted
• 1/4 tsp Baking powder, sifted

For the Rum Cream:

• 100ml whipping cream
• 1 tbsp of rum
• 1 tbsp of caster sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C / 400 F, Gas Mark 5.
2. Beat butter, sugar and egg with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
3. Heat buttermilk and treacle until warm.
4. Add the dry ingredients and wet ingredients to the egg mix. Knead into a soft, smooth dough. Add extra flour if needed.
5. Press dough out to 1cm thickness, using a 5cm pastry cutter.
6. Place half the cut shapes on a greased tray.
7. Add a teaspoon of mincemeat on each.
8. Place the other half on top "gluing" with a dab of milk.
9. Glaze with milk and then place in the oven.
10. Bake for 20 minutes.

For the Whipped Cream

1. Whip the cream, using a hand whisk
2. Add the sugar and rum
3. Whisk for further 10 seconds

Serve immediately with the cream and jam.  Enjoy with tea or a glass of port. 

We find regular scones quite heavy, but these are much lighter and not so rich.  You can buy Christmas jams from Harrods, Whittards and Lewis & Copper.

Related Posts

• Recipe: Decadent Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding
• Cocktail Recipe: 3 Kings - Trio of Royale (Champagne) Christmas Cocktails
• Recipe: Parmesan Shortbread Canapes With a Selection of Cheese Toppings

Review: I Love Curry by Anjum Anand

People of the world, spice up your life

Ever since I was a child I was fascinated by cook books. I could spend hours flicking through recipe books salivating over pages of blancmanges, vol au vents and varieties of en croutes (it was the '80s folks give me break). What is more I still do.  Yet when we were faced with reviewing Anjum Anand's lates recipe book “I Love Curry”, it raised an interesting question, what makes a recipe book good? With these factors in mind, we wanted to know if Anjum's book was good.

We decided that a recipe book can not be all things to all men. It has to fulfil a pre-defined criteria.  Then one has to ask, did she achieve her goal?

prawn mild curry with cashew nuts

Background of the chef
Anjum Anand or the “Nigella of Indian cuisine in Britain” (who came up with that?), is completely in tune with our healthy cooking ethos.  Brought up in London, she has also lived in Europe and worked in the US. Her passion is creating healthy, delicious and stylish Indian dishes in the home.  She has also had a noteworthy stint on TV.

Does Anjum own a restaurant?
No

Is the Book Themed?
The format of the book is in keeping with a classic cook book; canapé style starter, vegetarian, meat and fish curries in the main courses section and a number of accompaniments.

Tarka DahlWho is it for?
The book is for above average Indian curry lover cooks, who would like to create restaurant quality food in their home.  Interestingly, whilst Anjum's meals are healthy, there is no compromise on taste whatsoever, at least not in the five dishes we trialed.  Interestingly enough, Keith and I ate at Indali Lounge about a month ago and our friends were horrified that we were eating at a “healthy” Indian restaurant.  However, we do not understand that sentiment.  Food should be judged on flavour, aroma, presentation and texture, not on fat content. 

Bengali yoghurt fish

Uniqueness of the book
There are Indian cook books for the health conscious on the market, however none of them are as stylish or colourful, both aesthetically and in terms of content, as Anjum's. You can sense that there are no compromises in her recipes either in delivering a balanced meal or in authenticity.  We would have no issues in serving her recipes at a dinner party.

Aromatic rice pilafOur Experience
Keith has experimented with five dishes; Begali yoghurt fish, tarka  Dahl, aromatic rice pilaf, prawn mild curry with cashew nuts and lastly instant naan bread.  We have to say the fish, dahl and pilaf was absolutely fantastic.  I even told Keith it was the best curry he had ever made, which quite possibly insulted him, but it was so good it just slipped out.  Sorry Babes, I do love you.  The prawn curry was equally good in terms of flavour, but we had a bit of a fail as we used cocktail prawns which were not meaty enough.  It was still outstanding.  We had another second minor fail, as Keith forgot to add milk and yoghurt to the instant naan bread, which resulted in it turning into a bit of a Frisbee.  I still scoffed it down none the less.  

Instant Nann bread

On Sunday, when we were deciding which dishes to cook, there was a moment where we were literally flicking past every page as the recipes either seemed too involved or the spices seemed to inaccessible.  However, we chose the Bengali fish randomly and Keith went to our local supermarket and sourced all the ingredients fairly easily.  Despite, there being a “secrets to Indian Cooking” couple of pages and a spices 101, we would recommend this book for people who are comfortable with Indian cooking.  That said, panic not.  Anjum has graciously already published a book for the novice, Indian Food Made Easy.  Thumbs up.  It means you can still put this on your Christmas list, but add the other one as well.

Price of the book
Amazon £7.99

True to the authors ethos?
Definitely.

Related Posts:

• Review: Indali Lounge, Baker St. …the guilt free curry house?
• 10 essential for cooking an Indian curry at home

All a foodie wants for Christmas

All I want for Christmas is food…

…and drink.  Not fussed which.

We have not done any of of Christmas shopping as of yet as we have been so involved with work and our Christmas Party last week.  We started to compile our list of Christmas treats, some of which we have and some of which we want (hint, hint).  We thought we would share them with you.

1. Le Creuset 24cm cast iron Casserole

We have pots galore in the Wennie household! However, we have had our eyes on the Le Creuset 24cm cast iron pot for quite sometime.  The dish is heavy duty, durable and a fancy way of serving of tasty stews, casseroles and other oven dishes.  That said Keith has made his way through two porcelain pots whilst making his no knead bread. Enter stage left Le Creueset pot.

Richmond Cookshop £88.99 (Free Delivery)

2. Breathable glasses

Keith's late uncle and aunt own a vineyard in the Saint-Emilion region (like you do).  They unfortunately could not attend our wedding as it was the grape harvest (of course it was).  However, when Keith and I got engaged his Uncle and Aunt gave us two enormous, breathable Bordeaux glasses. We decant our wine, but these superb glasses ensure we maximise the potential of every drop of wine drunk in the Wennie household.  Not only are the glasses impressive looking, but they provide a practical purpose.

3. A food experience

For Keith's birthday I bought him (and myself, how cheeky am I?) a food gift experience.  There are so many experiences, courses and events to get involved with and not enough free days.  We like Buy a Gift and Tastours.

Buyagift

Tastours

4.  Gourmet Food hamper

The food hamper's reputation was destroyed in the 1980s when all you could expect to find in your hamper was some cheap fizz pretending to be a champagne (with giant bubbles), shortcake, which if you were lucky were Walkers and a Christmas pudding which you were expected to boil yourself.  Thankfully we have moved on leaps and bounds in the hamper department in the last thirty years.  Lewis & Cooper allow you to create your own hampers from scratch.  We love the fact that you can veto what is chosen for the hamper and not get stuck with the weird jellied sweets destined to send you into a diabetic coma. Thanks t'internet.

Lewis & Cooper

5.  Wine club, copious choice of wine

Wine clubs provide you with an opportunity to expand your palate and experiment with non-supermarket wines.  They also can provide you with an opportunity to receive a discount from buying in “bulk”.

Sunday Times Wine Club

6.  Barware set, a la Tom Cruise in Cocktail

In our barware set we have all the accessories; Cocktail shaker, bar tool set, shot measurer, ice bucket, serving tray.  Our definition of a cocktail is not juice with a shot of spirit.  We love a well made cocktail and buying the kit is the first step in being able to produce an expertly made cocktail.

Amazon have a great range of barware from £15 

7.  Offensively massive pepper mill

Finding just the right offensively large pepper mill has been the bane of our lives for about ten years.  Part of the problem was when it was on our minds and we would walk into a shop to buy it, find the label on the shelf and there would be nothing there.  There is obviously a shortage of offensively large pepper mills and very high demand (hint, hint peppermill producers).

Richmond cookware have a 40cm pepper mill with a 25 year guarantee.  

8.  An Apron fit for youself

We love our aprons in the Wennie household.  An apron obviously performs a practical purpose in protecting your clothes, but is also an opportunity to stamp your own personality not just on your food, but visibly in your chef attire .  Check out Zazzle's range where I bought Keith's “Les Paul” and “You can never have too many guitars” aprons.

Zazzle http://www.zazzle.co.uk/custom/aprons

9. Fancy schmancy Cheese board kit

When we moved in to our (soon to be beautiful) Edwardian home !8 moths ago, my university friends bought us a wonderful quirky cooking board which we use as our cheese board.  We love cheese, all our friends love cheese, the dog loves cheese.  Therefore, it is essential for cheese to be show cased as it deserves.  The below website has an excellent range of unusual cheese utensils. We constantly have nightmares in our household, but it is so worth it.

http://www.culinaryconcepts.co.uk/category.asp?CtgID=18270

10. Magazine Subscription

There are a multitude of foodie magazines available to buy.  I honestly believe I could look at food and read about it all the time.  Therefore, why not ensure that you are receiving all the food news, tips and recipes straight through your letter box every month.

We love Olive (the BBC food magazine)

Recipe: Memories of Verona - Gorgonzola and Walnut Pasta

It's a hard nut life for us

Six years ago, Keith and I were in Verona celebrating our 6 month anniversary of being married.  On the second night we stumbled upon a tiny restaurant where for forty six euros Keith and I enjoyed a feast worthy for a king, which include three courses, a prosecco aperitif, coffees and a shot of grappa (which we are not really fans of but the waiter was really friendly so it was hard to say no).  The most memorable part of the meal was the pasta which Keith has re-created tonight.  The gorgonzola cheese works perfectly with the walnuts which give the dish a lovely texture. Keith's Italian friend Tony came around for dinner this evening so the pressure was on to make something that could pass off as authentic cooking from his motherland. Thankfully, our guest was not disappointed and described the dish as heavenly.

Ingredients

• 200g pasta
• 100g Gorgonzola cheese cut into cubes
• 80g pancetta or bacon
• 100g Mushrooms, coarsley chopped
• 2 tbsp Créme fraiche
• 40g walnuts smashed or blitzed into small pieces
• 1 small ciabatta roll, blitzed into crumbs
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• chopped parsley

Method

1. Put the pasta on to boil
2. Whilst the pasta is boiling, cook the pancetta in a frying pan or skillet on a medium to high heat (no oil required)
3. Add the mushrooms to the meat after about 2 to 3 minutes, reduce the heat and cook for a further 3 minutes.
4. Remove the pancetta and mushrooms from the pan into a suitable container and set to one side.
5. Heat the pan with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and then add the garlic.
6. Add the bread crumbs after about 20 seconds and mix well with the garlic. Reduce the heat so you don't burn the bread or the garlic and cook toast until golden brown.
7. Drain the pasta but keep a few table spoons of the water. Return the pasta and water to the pan.
8. Stir in the cheese, walnuts and creme fraiche followed by the bacon and mushrooms and stir well.

Serve in a pasta bowl and top with the toasted crumbs and chopped parsley.

Related posts

• Recipe: Smoky and fiery salami pasta
• Chicken Stuffed with Pesto Wrapped in Prosciutto served on a bed of tagliatelle

The Day of Reckoning: Party Check List

When it’s time to party, we will party hard

It’s the big day and hopefully you will be feeling a bit nervous. We think this is necessary as adrenalin helps you to perform better. Try to remain calm though. The preparation for the party should be as much fun as the party itself. It’s all downhill from here and you should revel in seeing your hard work coming together. The below list (maybe all of our lists), might seem over the top, but then when we commit to something, we do not believe in doing things by halves. We have assumed that there would be two of you working on the list. Lastly accept help where you can get it, an extra pair of hands is a precious gift.

-10 hours

List out your guest into “definites” and “maybes”, so you have a final handle on your numbers List out all the food you intend to serve and check that you have everything Compile a list of what you still need to buy Clear the kitchen surfaces Clear out the dishwasher

-9 hours

Visit the supermarket for final bits and pieces and those items that you needed to buy fresh

-8 hours

Make ice Put away refrigerated foods Start preparing your food. Allow no more than four hours in the kitchen. There are several reasons why: Whilst entertaining is largely about the food, staging is equally important You need some contingency time in case something goes wrong Being too ambitious in the kitchen will set your nerves on fire

-7 hours

Set up your drinks station. You need to keep the booze rolling, so drinks and glasses should be accessible. Ensure you have enough wine, champagne, highball glasses. If you have not used your glasses in a while, check that they are still clean. Chill champagne, white wine and beers.

-6 hours

Check on your ice. Dust and vacuum your everyday rooms Plump up pillows Tweak your decorations Lay out coasters

-5 hours

Prepare lunch Just before you eat, put your dishwasher on quick wash. This is so that your utensils can get cleaned whilst you are temporarily out of action having lunch. Eat lunch

-4 hours

Check on your ice. Put laundry away. There is no good reason to show guests your underwear (unless it’s 3am and the party is still rocking) Place nibbles in bowls and leave in your entertaining area. Cover if necessary

-3 hours

Queue the music Decant your red wine to allow it to breathe Lay the table Tidy up the front of your house. Wash any pets you have also

-2 hours

Check on your ice. Shower, and get dolled up

-1 hour

Change the hand towels, pedestal and bath mat in the bathroom. Do not leave your bath towels in the bathroom. Put out extra toilet roll Check the toilet for anything that may scare your guests Change tea towels and dish sponge in the kitchen Take all rubbish outside Uncover your nibbles Place refrigerated foods (smoked salmon, appetisers, pates) on serving plates, leave in the fridge

0 hours

You've made it! Pour yourself a tipple and enjoy the evening.

Related posts

• Recipe: Jamaican Inspired Spicy Lamb and Sweet Potato Patties (Empanadas)
• Ready, Steady…: Party Day -2 Countdown Check List
• Mitigating Party Disasters: Day -3 Countdown Check List!