Sister Sledge: Getting down to the Beet(root)

On the 12th December we're holding the very first Sisters Burn event... Sister Sledge: A Christmas Fete. Here's the flyer:



Hannah and I have already made Christmas puddings, and are in the process of creating jars of delightfully festive goods for sale on the day. I'd made some red onion marmalade but to be honest, it wasn't up to much (I'd used a recipe with butter. Don't). So simplicity, I have found, is most certainly the key. The recipe for this beetroot chutney called for basically chucking everything in the pan and leaving it. Having consulted Nigella she seems to agree. So far, so good.

Here's the recipe:

Beetroot Chutney
(makes 3x350ml jars)

500g cooked beetroot (got from Jaimie’s Dad’s garden), chopped into largish rough chunks
2 red onions sliced
1 white onion siced
200g granulated sugar
150ml red wine vinegar
100ml apple balsamic vinegar
50g sultanas
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp fresh ginger grated
Salt & pepper

Put all the ingredients into a pan with a lid. Put over a medium heat with the lid on, stirring every 5 or 10 minutes (to prevent it sticking to the bottom). Leave on the heat for 40 minutes, to make sure the onions are sticky and fully cooked through, the acidity is gone from the vinegar and the sugar is totally dissolved. Allow to cool.

Sterilize your jars and transfer the cooled mixture. The chutney should be left for 4 weeks to mature and will go well with cold meat, and I think smoked trout.

And here are the jars:

ABC, easy as 123

We're about to embark on a culinary adventure, me and my very own Georgina aim to eat our way alphabetically around fair London town. Starting with A next Friday night. Inspired by a friend of Georgie's attempts to eat here way through the world map of the capital's restaurants, we're planning to meet twice a month which, if my maths are correct, mean that this project should take about a year.

First stop, Antonio's in Islington. We'll then review each of the alphabetical restaurants and might even decide which one is the best 'alphabetically chosen' restaurant in the capital. Who knows. Or perhaps we could start spelling our names... go to The Luxe, then The Albion, then Umu... you get the idea.

The Great British Cheese Festival

This weekend my friend George and I ventured off to the Welsh capital (town) Cardiff for the Great British Cheese Fesitval. Held in the grounds of the beautiful Cardiff castle it was a celebration of all things fromage, and British.

Was an amazing weekend and we took part in some of the tasting classes, namely The Science of the Ploughmans, Elegant Subtle and Nutty and Singing the Blues. We meet some lovely people who kindly let me take their photographs. The cheese was amazing, the weather was amazing, all in all it was pretty amazing.

Here are some of the polaroid from that weekend.



This lovely couple had packed in the London rat race and now make an amazing blue. And are happy as larry as you can see.



'I guess that's why the call it the blueeessss'



This delightful man had created an award winning goats cheese, similar to Pecorino. He also took us through the Elegant, Subtle and Nutty tasting class.



I fell off the Atkins wagon, but it was for homemade honeycomb ice cream.



Some mad Welsh birds.



Elegant, Subtle and Nutty. An exploration of the sheer variety of goats cheese. An education indeed.



The Science of the Ploughmans.



The AMAZING man that took us through The Science of the Ploughmans. It's all very technical. Note the blackboard!



Pints of Pimms. Thanks for a lovely weekend George.

More info about all British cheese related maters here.

After such a long time...

I hope to reinvigorate my foray into Meat & Cheese. The title of this blog has never been more apt as currently I am on the dreaded Atkins diet. Both Jaimie and I are on the way to sexy slim-dom, and have been consuming more than our fair shall of the above mentioned ingredients.



Its a bit of a shame though. As nice as meat and cheese are, man should not live by it alone. I've found it really hard to find decent low-carb recipies on the internet which got me to thinking that it would be great to keep all of my low-carb recipes in one place, and to share them with people.

We have had a few relative culinary triumphs whilst we've been on this seemingly ridiculous weight loss quest. And here is one that I particularly enjoyed. We served this dish with a garlic and lemon roasted chicked (and a few new potatoes and mint for the non-Atkins dinner guests)

This dish was inspired by Jaimie chatting really passionately about a dish his Dad made once. We couldn't find the recipe anywhere so I improvised. I think the cabbage cut this way into wedges makes it really attractive and somehow, more like a meal in itself.

Moro-inspired Spanish cabbage


(serves 4 as a side dish, 2 as a main)

1 pointed spring cabbage
1 lemon - juice of
1 tbsp capers
1/2 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to season

Cut the cabbage from the base to the pointed tip into quaters.
Blanche these quarters for a few minutes in salted boiling water until the tougher base of the cabbage is softened. Remove from the water and drain off the excess liquid from the cabbage quarters.

Turn the hob to a medium heat. Heat the oil in a wide frying pan and add the cabbage quarters. Squeeze the juice of one half of the lemon and add the capers and paprika. Leave to braise for a minute or two and then turn the quarters over. Squeeze in the remaining lemon juice.

To serve, place the quarters side by side on a large white plate and pour over the capers and juices from them pan. Season to taste.

Apparently....

That's right, officially an award-winner. At Wieden + Kennedy anyway.
Mine were deemed the best muffins bought in for our agency breakfast.
Apple Crumble all the way. Recipe to follow.

Ottolenghi Sunday Lunch

Millie invited us round for a Sunday roast. The food was amazing. Recipies from the new Ottolenghi cookbook, we had honey and corriander glazed leg of lamb with some amazing butter bean and aubergine salads, accompanied by some pumpkin and parsnip mash. All the food was absolutely delicious. Thanks very much Millie.





Sophie, true to form, provided the apéritif of berry puree topped up with vintage cava.


Jaimie and I bought dessert. We got far too overexcited about forced rhubarb being in season, so made a lovely rhubarb and custard tart.


And on the way home, it started to snow.

Some Foodie Photography

I got me a new camera for Christmas. Digital SLR; very fancy. So here are some of my culinary photographic experiments from that most devoted foodie time of year: Christmas.

Not directly food related but...

I made Jaimie an apron for Christmas.

See:

Bill's

Over Christmas we went to the lovely Bill's in Lewes, East Sussex. I'd heard a lot about this place, and it lived up to it. Jaimie had come into some money so treated us to a lovely brunch. He went for their version of the 'full english', where as I went for grilled field mushrooms, smoked chedder and walnuts on toast. Each was adorned with a huge bunch of fresh herbs - basil, parlsey, lovely.



The service was brilliant, attentive and speedy; and the atmosphere buzzing but relaxed. The produce on the shelves around was an amazing backdrop to what was a fantastic meal.



Me - I got a brand spanking new digital SLR camera for Christmas. So, no more dodgy camera phone picture. This should look a whole lot better.