Blog - All That I'm Eating

Review: Honest Box

February 13, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 7 Comments

I like the word ‘Snackorium’ and it’s one that the guys from Honest Foods have coined to describe the goodies that are sent to you in one of their boxes. Priced at £9.99, a box of British snacky bits are sent through your letterbox each month. As letterboxes go mine is actually quite small and I was so pleased that the box fitted neatly through; no hassle of having to pick it up from anywhere it was waiting for me when I got home. Who would have thought I can give sensible practical advice?

The box I was sent contained: Sweet and Salt Popcorn, Simply Golden Berries, Chilli and Lime Cashews, Peanuts and Roasted Corn, Scottish Shortbread, Piece (sic) and Love Chocolate, Morning Kick Tea and a Flaxseed bar.
I was surprised at how many things fit inside the box; more and more things kept appearing. I have so far tried the popcorn (I love sweet and salt together so really liked this), the chocolate (one with salt and caramel and one with dried sour cherries, both really nice) and the Scottish shortbread (I would say the best ‘ready-made’ shortbread I’ve ever had). I can’t wait to try the rest of it. read more

A Belgian Croque

February 9, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 21 Comments

When I was in Bruges last year there were a few foods that cropped up on almost all of the menus: moules, frites, waffles and croques. There was one café which we went to more than once because their croques (monsieur, madame and various takes on these) were so good. It was something like €8 for one croque and salad but €10 for two croques and salad; a no brainer really. One of the croques they served was full of ham, cheese and tomato then served with a gargantuan amount of bolognaise on the top. Very handy when you want to be full for an afternoon of taking in the culture, or more accurately, beer tasting. Apparently.

ingredients

You will need (per croque):

2 slices thick white bread
2 slices Emmental cheese
2 slices smoked ham (not wafer thin)
A few slices tomato
Cream cheese with herbs

method

Preheat a grill and toast the bread. Spread a nice thick layer of cream cheese on one slice.

Put the Emmental on the other slice.

Top the cream cheese with the ham then the tomatoes and place both slices under the grill.

Keep the toast under the grill until the tomatoes are hot and the cheese has melted and started to bubble.

Stick the slices together, cut up and serve.

If you have a sandwich toaster you can of course use that but sadly I don’t have one of these handy contraptions. A Corby trouser press would work equally well. read more

No 5 Bridge Street at Winchester

February 6, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 6 Comments

I love a trip to Winchester; I always forget how big and yet small it is. That sounds a bit weird but I always forget about the other smaller roads that come off the main street that house some great independent shops and restaurants. We walked past No 5 Bridge Street on our way in and I thought it looked nice and suave, we went back around lunchtime to check out the menu and it all sounded great. The kind of food I wish I could be bothered to cook at home and here it all was, ready to eat. Lots of local produce on offer it was hard to know what to order. You have to check out the below menu because it looks and sounds great. Nibbly bits, light meals, mains and grills all full of potential. I really liked the layout and decor in the restaurant; I wish I’d got a picture but there were too many people around as it was absolutely rammed. When a restaurant is full of people it’s normally a good sign. The other thing I really liked was that you could reserve a table, but, if they were all booked there were plenty of tables in the bar areas. The staff were all very nice, if not a little rushed, and we sat down to peruse the offerings. Sadly for us, and our wallets, potential was all there was. The presentation of the below bread with dukkah, olives and rapeseed oil was lovely. The experience of eating it, not so much. If you’re serving bread with thick crusts, I think the crusts have to be crusty rather than chewy. I also think the bread should be a little bit warmed. This bread was dry and chewy. The dukkah was very nice as were the olives. The falafel smelled fantastic and it looked good. Unfortunately the chickpeas were either not soaked or cooked for long enough or were too chunky because the flavour was quite raw and a bit unpleasant. The hummus was excellent.

I have a bit of an issue with barbecue sauce; I only like some of them. I love pulled pork and the sound of ‘pulled pork burger, toasted brioche bun, ranch dressed slaw, our BBQ sauce and skinny fries’ sounded right up my street. They were only too happy for me to have the sauce on the side which I know is a bit of an unusual ask. The portion size of the meal was actually quite small, maybe I’m greedy, but the other meal ordered (more on that in a minute) also seemed quite small. Maybe they just have really big plates.
The pork in my bun was actually a bit cold and the bottom of my bun really soggy. It seemed like all the pork in the kitchen is ready to go with barbecue sauce already on it (which makes sense) and when my request came in they washed it under a tap and didn’t dry it very well. The whole thing just got soggier and soggier as I ate it. I did like their barbecue sauce (I know I’m picky) so ended up putting some of it on the bun after all! Ranch dressing is one of my favourites but the ranch dressed slaw didn’t have much taste at all; even the vegetables. All in all, for something that sounded punchy and interesting it was actually a little disappointing. Maybe part of it was my fault but I think all the components of the meal should be equally as good as each other and taking just one away shouldn’t make that much of a difference.
The other meal at the table was ‘Chestnut flour suet pudding, wild mushroom stuffed, truffle mash and mushroom gravy’. You can never really make a suet pudding look good but as they go, this one looked pretty appetising. The suet pastry was overly sweet and very dry, the sweetness could have worked really well with the earthy mushrooms but it was just a bit too much. The pudding was absolutely full of mushrooms so they weren’t at all skimping on the stuffing but somehow they lacked a real depth of flavour. The mash was ok and the gravy was ultimately there to act as a lubricant because it didn’t taste of much either. We left disappointed which is not the feeling you want after a meal. read more

Malted Chocolate Biscuits

February 3, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 23 Comments

This recipe comes from a book which is very special to me; it is called Chocolate and was written by Jacqueline Bellefontaine. In case you didn’t know I never really used to like food. I loved cooking and seeing other people enjoy my efforts (whether out of politeness or genuinely) but I would never try anything different. When it came to baking that was a different matter and I would eat and bake anything. One birthday, I guess I was maybe 12 or 13, my Granny gave me this book and I just didn’t know what to make first. I’ve never had a bad recipe from it, the brownies are to die for and it’s my go to book when I need to bake. These malted chocolate biscuits are just brilliant and so simple to make.

ingredients

This recipe is on page 122 of the book.
You will need (I made 8 slices):

100g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp malted chocolate drink (I used just malted i.e. Horlicks)
225g malted milk biscuits
75g milk chocolate (you can also use dark)
25g icing sugar
2 tbsp milk

Method

Grease and line a cake tin; mine was an 18cm loose bottomed one.

Put the butter, golden syrup and malted drink into a saucepan and heat gently until the mixture is well combined. I find when the butter melts at first it looks a bit separated but keep stirring and it will come together and be thick and glossy.

Bash up the malted milk biscuits until you have crumbs then mix these into the butter mixture.

Press the mixture down well in the cake tin. read more

Cheat’s one pot Paella

January 29, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 21 Comments

I didn’t realise how much rice I had been eating until I thought about the last time I ate pasta or potatoes and I can’t remember when that was. I like rice as a plain side to something, a herb encrusted rice salad or as a risotto. This quick and easy rice dish (or a cheat paella) is not a paella by any means but it’s a great dish to knock up after a hectic day with a nice bit of chorizo for a mid-week Spanish pick me up. Get out your flamenco. read more

Review: Tea from Taiwan

January 25, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 6 Comments

As you may know I am quite a fan of tea. Indeed I keep myself hydrated mostly from either tea or gin. I like all teas: green, white, black, floral, flavoured but I draw the line at lapsang souchong. That smoky tea is just not for me. I have reviewed some of Teavivre’s teas before and this selection of tea is from Taiwan; something I have never tried before so I was interested to see what they were like.

There were five teas to try (I almost didn’t have enough appropriate chinaware) and below are the notes I made about what I thought they tasted like. In case you are wondering the little piles of stuff next to each cup are what the tea leaves look like before they are made into tea.

Ali Shan Oolong Tea – grassy and acidic flavour with lovely long tea leaves, this one was really fresh.
High Mountain Oolong Tea – clean and fresh flavour with a slight sweetness, I liked the little curly leaves.
Dong Ding Oolong Tea (moderately roasted) – toast and chocolate flavour, again with nice long leaves.
Qing Xiang Dong Ding Oolong Tea – floral, citrus and liquorice flavours with long leaves, this one was my favourite.
Osmanthus Oolong Tea – pomegranate and fruity taste and slightly toasty. read more

Exhale. And type.

January 21, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 20 Comments

Today (in fact yesterday) really is the first day of the rest of my life. Plenty of people say it; particularly on the first day of the year but for me my whole life is about to change. I am entering the world of self employment.
I have had a variety of jobs in my time; big companies, little companies and some somewhere in between. I have worked hard and not-so-hard but I have always tried to enjoy what I do. Recently I have come to realise that doing something I want to do and look forward to doing is what is most important to me.
Writing my app has taken me a long time but I have really liked doing it; I have just handed over all the artwork and am working on the recipes to finish them as soon as I can. I have been blogging for almost 4 years and I still look forward to creating, cooking, writing and catching up on what everyone else has been up to.
And so, I am finishing work on my first app with the hope that it will also soon be a book. I am also starting my own PR and marketing business (follow me on Twitter for the latest information about that side of things).
I am really excited about working with some great local food companies and I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without the support of my family, better half and friends. I have a simple but achievable dream: to buy myself a table, chair and parasol so that when the weather is fine I can work outside.
So long to the world of pensions, paid holiday and sickness, security and general sensibleness but good riddance to the commuting, monotony, corporate nonsense words and politics. I find people who work for themselves are some of the happiest people I know.
I am scared and excited in equal measure and I can’t wait to see where this new road takes me. I am fairly certain that I will be working harder than I ever have in my life but I think it’s far better to be working hard for something you’re passionate about than merely being present somewhere you’d rather not be.
Here’s to 2014. read more

Review: Easy Indian Cookbook by Manju Malhi

January 16, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 17 Comments

Spices in food have always made me curious. I like all spices, those that I’ve tried anyway, and a little bit of fresh or dried chilli is always welcome when spices are around. When I’ve attempted making a spiced dish before it’s always lead to interesting results. The ras-el-hanout I add to lamb is great, the fajitas are good but I am normally disappointed if I try to make a curry. The flavour never seems deep enough; too much of one thing and not enough of something else. Manju Malhi asked me to review her Easy Indian Cookbook published by Duncun Baird, so I thought I’d have one last attempt and try out her recipe for Murgh Makhani.

ingredients

The below recipe is from Manju’s book with a few of my own tweaks.
For Murgh Makhani for two you will need:

50g peeled plum tomatoes
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp. natural yoghurt
1 tbsp. double cream
Black pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1 small dried chilli, ground
Pinch ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. rapeseed oil
250g chicken breast pieces
1 onion, finely chopped
Salt
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
Knob of butter
Pinch garam masala

The below recipe for flatbreads is from Jamie Oliver and it makes fantastic cheat’s naan breads!

For 6 cheat’s naan breads you will need:

250g self raising flour plus extra for dusting
A pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp. baking powder
250g natural yoghurt

Blend the tomatoes until smooth and put to one side. Put the chicken into a bowl and add the garlic, yoghurt, cream, a nice helping of black pepper, paprika, chilli, cinnamon and 1 tbsp. of the oil and mix everything together really well. Refrigerate this for at least 30 minutes but ideally overnight. Put a large frying pan on a medium heat and add the remaining oil. Fry the onions until golden brown then add the salt and dried fenugreek and fry for a few more minutes. Add the tomatoes to the onions and keep cooking until thickened. Add a small knob of butter to the pan then add the chicken and all the marinade, reduce the heat to low and simmer for around 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Add the garam masala and serve with rice and the easy naans. To make the cheat’s naan breads mix together all the ingredients in a bowl until well combined. You might need to add a little extra flour if the mixture is looking a little wet. Put some extra flour onto the worktop and divide the mixture into six. Get a frying pan on a high heat. Roll out the dough so it’s quite thin and then dry fry the breads until they puff up a little, turn them over and cook until each one is cooked through and has some nice brown patches all over. It takes less than two minutes per flatbread.

I can safely say, hand down, that this is the best curry I’ve ever made. The level of spice and chilli was perfect for me and I loved the creamy taste even though the actual quantity of cream and butter was very small. Guilt free! I think next time I would double the quantity of the sauce for the same amount of chicken. I really like this book, the pictures are clean and simple and the recipes easy to follow. The recipes are certainly a step up from other ‘easy’ recipes (which are only easy because they require you to open a jar of paste) but you’re not cooking and preparing for hours either. There’s a good balance between meat, fish and vegetable curries too. I will definitely be cooking from this book again; the only problem being which recipe to choose!
Thank you to Manju for the book and for permission to print one of her lovely recipes. read more

Luxury Leek and Potato Soup with Homemade Soda Bread

January 9, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 18 Comments

When I was younger I didn’t much care for vegetables. The one exception to this was my regular request for ‘Mummy’s Vegetable Soup’. I had tried soup in tins, in restaurants or at other people’s houses but nothing else came close. I think the thing that fascinated me about it was that no matter what amount or combination of vegetables went in (never potato) it would always come out somewhere between green and orange and it would be just right. No stock, no cream, no cheese it was just vegetables and water. It was my Mum’s way of clearing out the fridge, feeding me vegetables (willingly!) and it was even better after a snowball fight.

Ingredients

You will need (for two big bowls of soup):
1 medium onion, sliced	£ 0.10
2 large leeks	£ 0.90
Large knob of butter	£ 0.15
2 large potatoes (around 500g)	£ 0.50
100ml double cream	£ 0.40
850ml vegetable stock	£ 0.10
Small handful chives	£ 0.25
Salt and pepper	£ 0.02

For the soda bread:
300g spelt flour	£ 0.66
10g baking powder	£ 0.06
5g salt	£ 0.01
230ml buttermilk	£ 0.75

Total	£ 3.90

method

Wash the leeks and then slice them thinly. Heat the butter in a saucepan on a low to medium heat and fry the onion and leeks for around 15 minutes until softened but not brown. Peel and dice the potato then add this to the leeks and put the lid on the pan. Leave the potatoes to soften for around 10 minutes.

Add the stock to the pan and bring to the boil. Boil with the lid on until the potatoes are tender then add the cream and some salt and pepper. Let the soup cool down before blending the soup until smooth. Return to the pan to warm through and then chop up the chives and use them to top the soup. read more

Review: Barber’s 1833 Cheddar and Twice Baked Cheddar Soufflés

January 6, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 23 Comments

Who doesn’t like a bit of cheese? Over the last couple of years I think Cheddar has been getting a bit of a bad name. Indeed ‘cheddar’ can be used to describe any cheese where the cheddaring process had been used to make it; hence, a piece of chewy, nasty, plastic cheese can be called Cheddar along with lovely, crumbly, exemplary artisan Cheddars.
Barber’s kindly invited me to the BBC Good Food Show last year in Birmingham and I really enjoyed it. I had a good old chat to Barber’s about their cheese; they use their own starter cultures to make their cheese and I was amazed at the difference each culture can make to the end flavour of the cheese. Some will give it an earthy, Marmite flavour and others will give a slight sweetness. In order to enjoy their cheese Barber’s gave me all the ingredients and a recipe to make a delicious twice baked cheese soufflé.

ingredients

You will need (for 6 soufflés):

225ml milk
1 bay leaf
1 shallot, finely chopped
6 black peppercorns
40g butter, plus extra for greasing
40g plain flour
125g Barber’s 1833 Vintage Cheddar, plus extra for sprinkling
3 large eggs, separated
1 tbsp. chopped chives
Salt and pepper
150ml double cream

method

Preheat an oven to 180C and butter six individual ramekins.

Put the milk, shallot, bay leaf and peppercorns in a saucepan and bring to the boil then strain into a jug. I always enjoy doing this as it smells so good.

Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the flour and cook for a few minutes. Gradually whisk in the milk then simmer for a few more minutes. Remove from the heat and add the cheese before adding the egg yolks, chives and a little salt and pepper.

Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks then fold these into the cheese mixture. Divide between the buttered ramekins. read more

Review: Honest Box

A Belgian Croque

ingredients

method

No 5 Bridge Street at Winchester

Malted Chocolate Biscuits

ingredients

Method

Cheat’s one pot Paella

Review: Tea from Taiwan

Exhale. And type.

Review: Easy Indian Cookbook by Manju Malhi

ingredients

Luxury Leek and Potato Soup with Homemade Soda Bread

Ingredients

method

Review: Barber’s 1833 Cheddar and Twice Baked Cheddar Soufflés

ingredients

method

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