The Real Food Festival 2013

Yay! Food! Festival! Sunshine! All is right with the world. Okay, perhaps sunshine was a bit optimistic (the one day I go out without my coat) - we did get battered by hailstones at one point... But the food part definitely lived up to expectations. 

"Taking over the whole Southbank Centre site in the heart of London, along the river Thames and around the Royal Festival Hall, the Real Food Festivals showcases some of the finest small producers in the country plus the best street food vendors on the scene, top chefs, live animals and music!" - The Real Food Festival.

So I wanted to share some of our lovely day with you...

We began with a demonstration by Omar Allibhoy (of Tapas Revolution fame), where he cooked six tapas dishes. He did Chorizo braised in Cider (which we promptly had for dinner that evening), Spanish Omelette, Gazpacho, Pan Con Tomate, Marinated Spanish Olives, Gambas (prawns) a la Plancha and Mussels. We picked up some really good tips from him and he has a book coming out in August! Yay! I shall add it to my Amazon wish list. At the end there was a tasting session but it was more of an aggressive free-for-all scrum of people grabbing for tasty morsels. I think I was elbowed in the boob several times. 

Then we explored...

Now we had a good idea of what was at the festival, it was time to start eating. Rob went straight for Barbecoa's pulled pork (£5). Apparently Terry Wogan also enjoyed one of these yesterday... Disappointingly, Rob found it overpoweringly sweet and said that it didn't have the texture of something that had been properly smoked and roasted dry for many hours (as a good pulled pork should). It felt more like it had been stewed in a slow cooker for a day. 

I opted for tapas from Donostia Social Club's food van - An Iberico Pig Cheek with Celeriac Puree (£5).

It was very, very nice. Plus the guys in the van are super friendly. The celeriac managed to deliver both a bitter and sweet accompaniment to the melt in the mouth meat. The sauce was rich and it was a treat to mop it up with a soft, fresh slice of bread. They had plenty of other things that I would have loved to have tried and as they visit Kingston quite often, I feel I will be making a return visit very soon. 

Rob, being the growing boy that he is, decided on a second course. A Black Pudding and Apple Sausage Roll from Little Jack Horner.

I had a conversation with a fellow foodie recently as to the underrated value of a good sausage roll. When treated with love, good ingredients and care, it is a noble and delicious food. Something that Little Jack Horner are definitely doing right. It was impossible to choose just one - I was temped by the Pork and Smoked Chilli.

Time for pudding. I'd spotted Crumbs and Doilies from a mile off. Their selection of cupcakes were to die for. Both full size and miniature - what could be cuter than a mini cupcake! Having trouble deciding, I went for the Popcorn Cupcake - a rum butter sponge with salted caramel icing and laced with crispy popcorn topping. A speciality for sure. It was so tasty. I was tempted to go back for a box but knew that my stomach wouldn't thank me for it. Rob went for a brownie from Outsider Tart. It took him more than a few hours to eat it.

It was a really nice day and I have to be honest - I am not at all hungry this morning. I had my fill. We enjoyed a nice post lunch walk in the sun in Richmond - our home. I just wanted to share with you how beautiful it is. Having serious Richmond love right now...

Think we're off out again in the sun today so I shall bid you adieu! Got a few tasty recipes lined up so stayed tuned for those fellow foodies!

A Belated Happy New Year

Hi everyone!

I'm extremely sorry for my absence over the Christmas and New Year period. I was so busy cooking and then sleeping from having eaten too much that I haven't had time to write anything coherent. Now we're head first into January and the ground outside is covered in an unfamiliar white powder, I can share all that we did over the festive period.

I brought out my mince pie recipe again and tried my hand at a non-fruit Christmas cake for the office. It was based on lebkuchen spices and decorated in the manner of a traditional Christmas cake. I used Paula Deen's recipe from the Food Network, which you can find HERE. With a little additional whisky in the batter.

We also went to Taste of Christmas at the Excel center. What an incredible experience. We were lucky enough to pick up the tickets with our Tesco clubcard points and traveled via the cable car from North Greenwich. This was great fun on it's own and gave us a beautiful view of the surrounding areas. Taste of Christmas did not disappoint on the freebies - we tried everything from cheese to rum to chutneys to my personal favourite - Sipsmith's Damson Vodka. Delicious. There were plenty of places to buy food from. We sampled dishes from Cinnamon Kitchen, LIMA, Jamie Oliver's Fabulous Feasts, The Bowler, Yalla Yalla (an old favourite) and Union Jack's Hot Dogs.

My favourites were LIMA's delicate and flavourful Ceviche and the hearty delicious meatballs provided by The Bowler (which have since acted as inspiration for a catering menu that I have recently designed). 

There were plenty of chefs giving talks and running demonstrations and we were lucky enough to catch The Fabulous Baker Brothers showing us how to make Bacon Porridge and a quick Soda Bread. They tried (in vain) to get the crowd to sing a carol or two with them, but it seemed that the event go-ers weren't as charismatic and exciting as these two.

Another highlight were these tempting Salted Caramel Choux Buns for £1 each, provided by Choux. One wasn't enough but when we returned later for more, they had sold out and I'm not surprised.Next time I'm thinking about a party, I may be giving these guys a ring. 

This Christmas was also a time of experimenting and trying things outside of my comfort zone. So I tried profiteroles from scratch by following a classic Prue Leith recipe. Choux pastry has always been something that I'd been afraid of and I genuinely had no reason to be. I would pick choux over shortcrust any time! For my birthday we had a French themed evening where I cooked a big Bouef Bourguignon (one of my favourite meals) and had a buffet of wine, cheese and oysters. I had a go at shucking an oyster last summer but this time I had half a dozen to get through - somehow not as fun as I remember. They were delicious as always.

If you're a fan of the GBBO (Great British Bake Off), you make have seen them attempt the Austrian chocolate cake, Sachertorte, in the technical challenge. With my incredible new Christmas present, I decided to have a go myself. If I was going to fail, I might as well fail in style. Having never actually eaten proper Sachertorte, I had to trust Rob to tell me that it tasted something like the original should. As chocolate cake went, it wasn't my favourite but the apricot jam and the ganache topping added a nice new dimension.

Rob and I ended up cooking Christmas dinner where we had chicken with all the usual trimmings. A tip for next year is add pancetta to your sprouts! Delicious. We repeated our well rehearsed roast routine on New Year's Day with a gorgeous Rib of Beef. I can't take credit for the meat as that was handled by the master of meat that is Robert White.

Finally I want to share my new toy with you:

You can be jealous now.