Its been a while I know! November 1, 2012

Life got in the way of watching TV and writing for a while but now I’m back, hopefully for good.

I hope to post about once a week so please keep reading.

So, my post today isn’t actually about something on the TV. I thought I’d share some yummy recipes with you that I made for Halloween!

It was tradition in my family to get together and eat yummy seasonal food as well as playing party games and carving pumpkins on Halloween. The commercial, American stuff was pretty much ignored! It was a time for family and friends, to relax and enjoy the darker colder nights around the open fire in the lounge. I have great memories of this and the food is an important part of them.

Pumpkins are going to be the theme of today’s recipes, my parents didn’t believe in waste, so once the pumpkins were hollowed out and carved, as much as possible was used to cook yummy food.

My two favourite recipes are Spiced Pumpkin Soup and a sweet Pumpkin Pie. Mum also used to collect the seeds and toast the in the oven or a frying pan with a little salt as a tasty snack.

Spiced Pumpkin Soup 
(Serves 2)

A creamy, filling, lightly spiced soup to warm you up on a chilly autumnal day. Ideal for a tasty lunch. 

• 500g Cooked Mashed Pumpkin flesh.
• 1 medium onion
• 600ml Hot milk
• 50ml Double cream
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 1tsp gound coriander
• 1tsp ground cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste

• To Garnish: Double Cream, Fresh Coriander and Crusty Bread.

• Chop the onion as finely as you can and sweat it in a pan for 5 minutes until soft, mix in the cooked mashed pumpkin and heat together.
• Stir in the hot milk and stock cube and simmer for 5 minutes.

• Add the spices and seasoning, adjusting to taste.
• Blend the soup carefully with a hand blender (or in a food processor then return to the pan)
• Add the double cream and stir in.
• Cover with a lid and leave to simmer on a low heat, stirring occasionally.

• The soup should be of a reasonably thick consistency, but more milk (or water) can be added if it gets too thick.
• Serve hot with a swirl of extra cream, finely chopped coriander leaves and crusty bread for a filling lunch, or a smaller serving as a  starter.

If you try this let me know what you think! Its a great recipe that has been altered by both my Mum and me, and is versatile enough to be added to and adapted to suit everyone’s taste. Though as a tip, don’t use too much ginger as it is a strong flavour and tends to overpower the pumpkin.

Will post again soon!

 

One to watch…. April 21, 2012

My new recommendation is Great British Menu on the BBC.
I am really enjoying the new series and the brief the chefs have been set: An Olympic Feast!
If you enjoy seeing new technology used in cooking, innovative and imaginative ideas then this is the show for you. Lots of kitchen banter between the professional chefs and a series of heats, starting with regional competition, then battling it out to decide who gets to cook each course of a fantastic banquet for Olympic Athletes in the summer.
You can catch this show every weekday on BBC Two! Enjoy!

And I’m back! March 29, 2012

Sorry bout the absence of posts for a while….

The downside getting a new job where I work evenings and nights has severely taken away from my TV time but after catching up on MasterChef I can honestly say I was on the edge of my seat for the last 3 episodes. I especially enjoyed the Thailand episode. Can you imagine being thrown in at the deep end like that? Cooking food you can’t pronounce with ingredients you have never seen before! Crazy! I like Thai food but I don’t like it to be too hot and spicy so I would never have been able to cope with all that chilli! I enjoyed the pastry episode, pastries and desserts are really tricky to perfect but everyone loves. I mostly stick to cakes and crumbles as they are easy to make. I should really build up the courage to try something a bit more exciting one day!

The final 3 contestants were very close in ability and skill but I think Shalina deserved the win, out of the three of them I think she was the most consistent throughout the whole series. Best of luck to her and the rest of the participants, I hope they succeed in their new careers and have really enjoyed their time on the show! I have certainly enjoyed watching and look forward to the next series.

Hopefully I’ll be able to post a bit more regularly, especially since the new Hairy Bikers series “Bakation” has started…..but more of that to follow!

Oh, Masterchef! February 17, 2012

Oh Masterchef, you are so special!

Having caught up on the episodes I have missed due to work and illness (Yes, I finally have a job!) I can honestly say I’m sad that Afsaneh and Emma have left. Both had a few unfortunate rounds but personally I think that they didn’t deserve to go.

But saying that, I don’t think any of them should go, they are all awesome and deserve the chance to change their lives for the better.

As John and Greg said at the end of yesterday’s episode, the final six contestants are going to be really hard to narrow down to a winner. There is so much determination and talent behind each of them, as well as inspiration and creativeness.

I thought that the French, Italian and Spanish inspired episode was fascinating, having met several chefs  of varying nationalities (None being quite as amazing as those featured) I have seem the passion they have for the food of their homeland and how much they hate people ruining it! The three chefs featured were all perfect examples of this and all expected the highest standards. I really liked the tutorial each chef gave in the restaurant kitchen as it gave me some ideas for flavours and meals I’ve been wanting to try for ages but had no clue how to cook them, such as a proper Spanish tortilla. Mine always just come out as omelette! I also really want to try making my own pasta one day, but that is scary!

In this weeks episode, I liked the focus on British ingredients as I grew up eating locally sourced produce, both meat and vegetables. One big plus side of growing up in the countryside and by the sea was that good, fresh produce was easily available and reasonably priced. I really want more advice on how to cook sea food, especially shellfish as I don’t really know where to start or where to buy decent quality ingredients.  I felt a bit sorry for some of the contestants as their dishes were well thought out  and sounded amazing but unfortunately didn’t quite work.

The second aspect of the episode, the foraging foray in Cumbria was a great idea but a bit lack lustre, I have some knowledge of wild food sources and I felt that even within the time constraints of the show, their foraging could have been a bit more interesting than watching every eat grass with slightly bemused looks of their faces, then having to try and pretend to be convinced to camera. There are plenty more interesting things that would have been suitable and more informative to the audience.

Having them cook in the temporary kitchen in the barn was very rustic and “outdoorsy” but I felt really sorry for Aki who having changed her mind and made a total mess whilst trying to get her dessert done, ended up serving squidgy brownies because someone turned the oven down while she was using it! A bit harsh I think as was John being mean about her messy chefs whites. Isn’t that why you wear one, so you don’t get your actual clothes dirty?

Apart from that little rant, I’m really enjoying the competition, I look forward to next week with anticipation though dread elimination time!

A rather hectic and distracting bit of time. February 15, 2012

Sorry I haven’t posted for a while, life just got in the way. 

I’ve had a few drama’s in the last couple of weeks so with one thing and another I haven’t been able to watch my favourite shows and am in the process of catching up with everything via bbc.co.uk/iplayer  or www.4OD.com

I did however catch Hugh from River Cottage’s spin off: The 3 Hungry Boys which I really enjoyed. It wasn’t your average cooking show but it was very enjoyable and entertaining and they visited loads of places that I know well as I grew up in Cornwall.

The 4 episode series follows 3 guys who met at University and were inspired at the time by Hugh’s epic adventure across the country foraging and hunting for food.

Now, Tim, Thom and Trevor are all grown up, they decided to get in touch with Hugh and attempt to recreate his journey. With only Daisy, their converted electric 1980′s milk float, some basic rations and hunting and fishing kit they are challenged to get from River Cottage in Devon to Lands End with no money. (Oh and Daisy only goes 17 mph, has to be refuelled using green energy sources and can only travel 40 miles per charge)

I really enjoyed watching the 3 hungry boys barter, trade, hunt and work hard to gain food and to recharge Daisy proving that it can be done, but there will be some hungry days in the process.

Having grown up in the countryside and knowing a bit about wild foods, personally I thing there were plenty of opportunities for the boys to have foraged and hunted that they missed but they did really well considering they were not professionals and they only resorted to bin diving once. I honestly don’t think I could have eaten the snails so major brownie points to them.

I think a 2nd series is in the making so I’ll be keeping my eyes open for that.

I will try and get back to posting regularly but I now have a job (YAY)…working evening and nights mostly so I miss quite a few of my favourite food shows due to working or sleeping.

Wonderful Wednesday! February 1, 2012

Wednesday’s are now my favourite day of the week

Two hours of food TV makes a very happy TV Food Addict, with: How to Cook like Heston and The Fabulous Baker Brothers on Channel 4 from 8pm, and then Masterchef on BBC 1 at 9pm.

Firstly, Heston Blumenthal, a food scientist turned chef known for his crazy, scientific wonderful cooking methods teaches the public the tricks behind his miracles, most of them being quite easy (if not a bit time consuming) tips and methods for getting the best out of individual ingredients and for combining flavours to create spectacular dishes. Sometimes I think he is a bit unrealistic, how many people are going to order dry ice online (no matter how cheap it is) to make ice cream? How many people will go out and buy a blowtorch to make toast? But his tips for making cheese fondue today were really helpful as I’ve tried a few times and have always ended up with a slimy cheesy mess. His cheese on toast ice cream was a bit too much for me, but I will continue to watch for entertainment and to pick up some tips.

The Fabulous Baker Brothers is my new TV Food Crush, the charismatic and entertaining brothers Tom, (the baker) and Henry (chef/butcher) give an fresh look at classic recipes, teach how to make all kinds of bread, and often encourage the use cheap or alternative ingredients to cook delicious meals. In tonight’s episode they cooked home-made burgers (or sliders) and home made burger buns, which looked absolutely delicious along with a fantastic toad in the hole (I can never make my batter rise like that) Along with their weekly Pie Competition which sees the boys each bake a pie and get different groups of people to decide which is best, personally I would have gone for the fish pie, but I’m not surprised the  bunch of students went for the Shepards Pie, as it is more familiar, easier to make and fish is less popular among young people. I’m going to keep my eyes open for these two, they are fun, entertaining and are both very skilled.

Tonight’s Masterchef needs its own post, so take a look for your weekly fix!

If you missed the Channel 4 programmes, check out www.4OD.com

Miracle Worker! January 31, 2012

Personally I think Gordon Ramsay has the patience of a saint and is a genuinely nice guy

Who swears a lot and is very honest and doesn’t mind upsetting people if he gets his message across.

Despite his often negative press, I have a lot of respect for him and his attitude towards making sure customers get good food AND a good customer service and all round excellent experience. I’ve just watched an episode of  Kitchen Nightmare’s USA and I really cant grasp his patience with the owners of the restaurant ‘Hot Potato’. Three inexperienced owners and a young, untrained chef  who didn’t want to be a chef in the first place. I couldn’t believe they froze everything, even filled potato skins!!! Its crazy!

Seeing Gordon practically walk out and give up was quite a sight, but after some tears the restaurant owners persuaded him to come back and help (wouldn’t have been much of a show if he had walked though).

Oh and help he did, this episode was a real success story, he showed them what good food and good service looked like, got them using fresh food and refurbished the restaurant. He hired a chef for a month to continue training the chef, who now has much more confidence and wants to be a chef! He arranged for a local food critic who had previously slated them to come back and do another review, but I thought the best bit was he arranged 3 months of FREE potatoes!!!! Brilliant.

I like Gordon’s attitude to people, he wont help them unless they help themselves, its very important not to do everything for someone, they don’t appreciate it as much and they wont work so hard.

He always supports fresh, responsibly produced ingredients and good, honest food.

I’m looking forward to his next actual cooking show, I like his presenting style, serious but obviously passionate and able to have a laugh at the same time!

To watch the episode go to www.4oD.com and search Kitchen Nightmares USA.