Saturday night this week found me trying to find the perfect topping to a burger. It's a search that I am more than happy to undertake, you should understand, as I love burgers. Not crap, fast-food burgers, although there is occasionally time made for a Whopper. But McDonald's taste far too sweet these days. They may not advertise to kids as much any more, but they certainly cater solely to their tastes.
So my perfect burger is not a mass-produced one. It's made at home from minced beef. Good mince is the key, and it's not always possible to get ahold of. The stuff I used this weekend wasn't that great, but this was really just a battle of the toppings.
On, or rather in, one hand was a burger topped with grilled portabello mushroom, Swiss cheese, ketchup (such a satisfying word) and American mustard. In the other hand, and straight out of left field, was a burger topped with horseradish and sliced beetroot.
The thinking behind the mushroom and cheese burger was memories of the Mushroom Double Swiss which Burger King used to offer. And it really wasn't bad. But the title of best burger topping belonged to beetroot and horseradish.
Beef and horseradish work great as a Sunday roast, and I thought they would pair really well in a burger. But I wanted another dimension, and thought that the sweetish earthiness of beetroot would work well. And it did. The overall taste was a meaty, sweet and sour taste. But with really pronounced tastes.
The taste of all the ingredients seemed to turn up the taste of the others. Beef and horseradish brought out the sweetness of the beetroot. That in turn contrasted nicely with the savoury beef and the heat of the horseradish. Great British ingredients teaming up to make a great British burger.
I never imagined my perfect burger would be one without cheese or relish. I have always thought a bit of lettuce and onion or tomato was vital. Which just isn't the case. At least for me it isn't. But I will keep checking on that.
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Friday, 14 October 2011
Use a sprat - and leave it at that
It's sprat season. Not that it receives much attention. These little oily fish can't really compete with the glamour of the game season. But what they lack in glamour they make up for in taste, and versatility.
It was the missus who spotted them for sale in Asda, at 45p a pack. There was about 20 of them in the 225g pack, which is a reasonable portion when split between two.
Traditional recipes keep things simple and don't involve much more than frying them and serving them with brown bread and butter - wedge of lemon optional. But we fancied something with a bit more kick, specifically a kick of chilli.
We could have gone Indian, oily fish seems to work really well with curry flavours. Or Moroccan, with a rub of ras el-hanout. But we went instead for Chinese.
The chilli kick was delivered by the best chilli sauce I have ever tasted, made by the missus with bird's eye chillies, rice wine vinegar, sugar, lime juice and dried chillies. Shop bought stuff pales in comparison. It was sharper than it was sweet, and perfectly hot.
This worked really well with the little sprats, which were simply dusted in flour and fried.
We had some noodles hanging around at the back of the cupboard so just chopped up some onion, garlic, ginger and peppers and put that together with a bit of soy and some more lime.
I honestly don't think we could have had a better meal for about 40p a portion. It was such a good way of getting some oily fish into our diet, which we're not very good at, and one that didn't break the bank. It was also a very satisfying dish for the determined carnivore, as sprats must be the biggest fish you can eat whole. Like whitebait for grown-ups. Don't waste them on catching a mackerel.
It was the missus who spotted them for sale in Asda, at 45p a pack. There was about 20 of them in the 225g pack, which is a reasonable portion when split between two.
Traditional recipes keep things simple and don't involve much more than frying them and serving them with brown bread and butter - wedge of lemon optional. But we fancied something with a bit more kick, specifically a kick of chilli.
We could have gone Indian, oily fish seems to work really well with curry flavours. Or Moroccan, with a rub of ras el-hanout. But we went instead for Chinese.
The chilli kick was delivered by the best chilli sauce I have ever tasted, made by the missus with bird's eye chillies, rice wine vinegar, sugar, lime juice and dried chillies. Shop bought stuff pales in comparison. It was sharper than it was sweet, and perfectly hot.
This worked really well with the little sprats, which were simply dusted in flour and fried.
We had some noodles hanging around at the back of the cupboard so just chopped up some onion, garlic, ginger and peppers and put that together with a bit of soy and some more lime.
I honestly don't think we could have had a better meal for about 40p a portion. It was such a good way of getting some oily fish into our diet, which we're not very good at, and one that didn't break the bank. It was also a very satisfying dish for the determined carnivore, as sprats must be the biggest fish you can eat whole. Like whitebait for grown-ups. Don't waste them on catching a mackerel.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Maxi's Rotisserie
I passed through Leeds today on the way to a kind of job interview in Tadcaster. I was cutting it fine but left myself just enough time to visit Maxi's Rotisserie, famed for its cheap eastern eats. And rightly so. You get loads!
If the hallmark of a good Asian restaurant is the presence of 'locals' (Chinese people) then Maxi's is good. I was the only white face in there, in the middle of Leeds. For a fiver I got more food than I could eat, which happens very, very rarely. In fact, I can't remember it happening. I reckon I got a whole pork loin's worth of char sui, nice char sui, on a substantial bed of rice with a little garnish of steamed cabbage. I also went for a bit of the chilli sauce which was...intimidating.
The 'locals' were scoffing down the three meat special, which may have been a better bet cos that amount of char sui almost became monotonous. Almost. And I like char sui a lot.
It's not something you'd take a picture of, but I'd choose Maxi's over any chain fast food every time. A meal deal in Burger King/McDonalds/KFC/Subway is getting on for £5 these days, if not more. Why have that when you can have your choice of chicken, duck, roast belly pork or char sui or a combination thereof? It's a no-brainer.
If the hallmark of a good Asian restaurant is the presence of 'locals' (Chinese people) then Maxi's is good. I was the only white face in there, in the middle of Leeds. For a fiver I got more food than I could eat, which happens very, very rarely. In fact, I can't remember it happening. I reckon I got a whole pork loin's worth of char sui, nice char sui, on a substantial bed of rice with a little garnish of steamed cabbage. I also went for a bit of the chilli sauce which was...intimidating.
The 'locals' were scoffing down the three meat special, which may have been a better bet cos that amount of char sui almost became monotonous. Almost. And I like char sui a lot.
It's not something you'd take a picture of, but I'd choose Maxi's over any chain fast food every time. A meal deal in Burger King/McDonalds/KFC/Subway is getting on for £5 these days, if not more. Why have that when you can have your choice of chicken, duck, roast belly pork or char sui or a combination thereof? It's a no-brainer.
Monday, 3 October 2011
Risotto with crab and roast butternut squash
Last week the missus made a cracking soup of roast butternut squash. It was simple to make, just roast a squash, some shallots, garlic and chilli then blend it all together. I haven't tasted many better soups to be honest. So it was a surprise that we had some left over. But we did, and I had my mind set on using it in a risotto with some crab.
Risotto is a favourite dish of mine, and there's already recipes on this blog for others - risotto with braised celery and prawn and broad bean risotto.
The basics are nearly always the same. Soften some finely chopped onion or shallot in some butter or oil, butter gives a creamier taste to the final dish. Then add your risotto rice and stir it around to get it coated in the melted butter. Stir until you see the edges of the rice turn slightly see-through.
At this point you can add a glass of dry white wine or vermouth, but if you don't have any just start with adding the stock. Ideally use a stock which matches the main flavour of what your cooking - fish, meat or veg.
Stir the risotto a lot when you add the first few ladles of stock, as this will make sure the starch releases which makes the risotto creamy.
Towards the end of cooking this particular risotto I added the leftover butternut squash soup, adding a little at a time so that the risotto didn't cool down too much. That done, I then added the back end of a block of grana padano, some creme fraiche and two small tins of dressed crab. I used the dressed crab as it's made with the tastier brown crab meat. I find white crab meat can be a bit 'fine' for a dish like this and the taste just gets lost.
Using the dressed crab is this instance meant that the crab taste was prominent in the final risotto. And it worked really well with the squash. Definitely one of the tastiest combinations for risotto in my opinion.
Risotto is a favourite dish of mine, and there's already recipes on this blog for others - risotto with braised celery and prawn and broad bean risotto.
The basics are nearly always the same. Soften some finely chopped onion or shallot in some butter or oil, butter gives a creamier taste to the final dish. Then add your risotto rice and stir it around to get it coated in the melted butter. Stir until you see the edges of the rice turn slightly see-through.
At this point you can add a glass of dry white wine or vermouth, but if you don't have any just start with adding the stock. Ideally use a stock which matches the main flavour of what your cooking - fish, meat or veg.
Stir the risotto a lot when you add the first few ladles of stock, as this will make sure the starch releases which makes the risotto creamy.
Towards the end of cooking this particular risotto I added the leftover butternut squash soup, adding a little at a time so that the risotto didn't cool down too much. That done, I then added the back end of a block of grana padano, some creme fraiche and two small tins of dressed crab. I used the dressed crab as it's made with the tastier brown crab meat. I find white crab meat can be a bit 'fine' for a dish like this and the taste just gets lost.
Using the dressed crab is this instance meant that the crab taste was prominent in the final risotto. And it worked really well with the squash. Definitely one of the tastiest combinations for risotto in my opinion.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Pancho's Burritos
Today we returned to the Arndale Market in Manchester with one aim in mind, to have a burrito from Pancho's Burritos.
When we were last in the market I'd bought some habanero salsa from Pancho's which was excellent. And very hot. The quality of the salsa made me and the missus think that we would be daft not to eat there the next time we went to Manchester.
There's plenty of choice, including chili con carne and pork stew, but it was the burritos which drew us in. A fresh tortilla is softened over heat, then topped with rice, refried beans (actually tasty refried beans), chili salsa, lettuce and sour cream and a choice of meat. I went for beef with extra chipotle chili in adobo sauce, the missus went for pork with extra guacamole.
They were both excellent, the pork was a kind of pulled pork from a slowly-stewed shoulder. The beef was finely chopped rather than minced, and equally as good as the pork. All the separate components were tasty and really complemented each other. The superb chipotle in adobo fired things up nicely and the refried beans and rice helped cool things down when the heat threatened to get too intense. I was left with lovely smokey, meaty taste which lingered and lingered.
This cosmopolitan little food court is definitely my favourite place to eat in Manchester. You simply can't beat the value, quality and choice.
When we were last in the market I'd bought some habanero salsa from Pancho's which was excellent. And very hot. The quality of the salsa made me and the missus think that we would be daft not to eat there the next time we went to Manchester.
There's plenty of choice, including chili con carne and pork stew, but it was the burritos which drew us in. A fresh tortilla is softened over heat, then topped with rice, refried beans (actually tasty refried beans), chili salsa, lettuce and sour cream and a choice of meat. I went for beef with extra chipotle chili in adobo sauce, the missus went for pork with extra guacamole.
They were both excellent, the pork was a kind of pulled pork from a slowly-stewed shoulder. The beef was finely chopped rather than minced, and equally as good as the pork. All the separate components were tasty and really complemented each other. The superb chipotle in adobo fired things up nicely and the refried beans and rice helped cool things down when the heat threatened to get too intense. I was left with lovely smokey, meaty taste which lingered and lingered.
This cosmopolitan little food court is definitely my favourite place to eat in Manchester. You simply can't beat the value, quality and choice.
Saturday, 24 September 2011
The Thank You list
Have you ever been in the middle of eating your tea and stopped to think how many people you would have to thank for the food on your plate?
How many people would you end up with? There might be farmers and growers, pickers, sorters, packers, drivers, pilots, more drivers, warehouse staff, more drivers, shelf stackers and the checkout lady. Not to mention the buyers, sales & marketing, finance and HR departments of the supermarkets.
It might be fair to say, then, that the shorter the list, the better the food.
Judging by the steak I've just eaten I'd say that's a fair bet. The thank you list for my steak? Farmer, butcher. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I even said a little thank you to the cow. The list doesn't get a lot shorter than that, not for meat anyway. And steaks don't get much better.
The great thing about buying steak, or any meat for that matter, from a butcher is that you can get exactly what you want. I wanted a big sirloin with a decent amount of fat on it. And that's what I got. A thick slab of deep red meat with a good edge of creamy white fat.
I covered this in freshly ground black pepper and laid it in a hot pan which had a crushed clove of garlic frying in it. I rubbed the garlic of the cooked side when I turned the meat to impart a nice garlic flavour which I think really complements beef. After cooking for around 8 minutes I laid it on the chopping to rest for a few minutes before I ate it.
It tasted every bit as good as I hoped it would, which made me consider who I needed to say thank you to. So thank you, Maskill's of Hebden Bridge, farmers and butchers. And thank you, cow.
How many people would you end up with? There might be farmers and growers, pickers, sorters, packers, drivers, pilots, more drivers, warehouse staff, more drivers, shelf stackers and the checkout lady. Not to mention the buyers, sales & marketing, finance and HR departments of the supermarkets.
It might be fair to say, then, that the shorter the list, the better the food.
Judging by the steak I've just eaten I'd say that's a fair bet. The thank you list for my steak? Farmer, butcher. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I even said a little thank you to the cow. The list doesn't get a lot shorter than that, not for meat anyway. And steaks don't get much better.
The great thing about buying steak, or any meat for that matter, from a butcher is that you can get exactly what you want. I wanted a big sirloin with a decent amount of fat on it. And that's what I got. A thick slab of deep red meat with a good edge of creamy white fat.
I covered this in freshly ground black pepper and laid it in a hot pan which had a crushed clove of garlic frying in it. I rubbed the garlic of the cooked side when I turned the meat to impart a nice garlic flavour which I think really complements beef. After cooking for around 8 minutes I laid it on the chopping to rest for a few minutes before I ate it.
It tasted every bit as good as I hoped it would, which made me consider who I needed to say thank you to. So thank you, Maskill's of Hebden Bridge, farmers and butchers. And thank you, cow.
Monday, 19 September 2011
Halifax Food and Drink Festival
Well, I say festival, but farce might be closer to the mark. It wasn't very good.
It's hard to believe that the Halifax Food and Drink Festival has been going for 5 years. In that time I would have thought that the organisers would have learnt how to promote it. I live in Hebden Bridge, about 7 miles from Halifax, but I only heard about it when I saw a poster in Manchester Victoria train station. I saw nothing about it in Hebden Bridge, nothing in Todmorden, and nothing in Halifax, come to think of it.
Promotion that bad almost guarantees low attendance. And starting the festival on a Friday wasn't a good idea, aren't most people at work on a Friday?
To call it a festival was just downright misleading. There was nothing at all like a festival about it. It was like paying to get into a market, and I've been to better markets. Apparently Friday and Saturday had been so quiet that some of the stallholders didn't return on the Sunday. There was only 7 or 8 there on the Sunday, which was very disappointing.
Making matters worse was a painfully embarrasing cooking demonstration from Anthony Worral-Thompson. He thought we was somewhere near Darlington! He'd heard that Darlington was in 'the North', and obviously assumed that as he was in 'the North' he must be near there. Oh dear. He then took an hour to cook steak and chips and drank red wine from a bowl. I guess he'd had a few before he even got on the stage.
If Calderdale Council decide to continue with the festival they would do well to do a bit of market research beforehand to find out what people want from a food festival, and whether they want one at all. Assuming people do, then it would be worth asking them what they want, and maybe looking at other more successful festivals which take place around the area. Getting local restaurants on board would seem like a good idea as well - I'm sure they need all the help they can get at the minute.
It's hard to believe that the Halifax Food and Drink Festival has been going for 5 years. In that time I would have thought that the organisers would have learnt how to promote it. I live in Hebden Bridge, about 7 miles from Halifax, but I only heard about it when I saw a poster in Manchester Victoria train station. I saw nothing about it in Hebden Bridge, nothing in Todmorden, and nothing in Halifax, come to think of it.
Promotion that bad almost guarantees low attendance. And starting the festival on a Friday wasn't a good idea, aren't most people at work on a Friday?
To call it a festival was just downright misleading. There was nothing at all like a festival about it. It was like paying to get into a market, and I've been to better markets. Apparently Friday and Saturday had been so quiet that some of the stallholders didn't return on the Sunday. There was only 7 or 8 there on the Sunday, which was very disappointing.
Making matters worse was a painfully embarrasing cooking demonstration from Anthony Worral-Thompson. He thought we was somewhere near Darlington! He'd heard that Darlington was in 'the North', and obviously assumed that as he was in 'the North' he must be near there. Oh dear. He then took an hour to cook steak and chips and drank red wine from a bowl. I guess he'd had a few before he even got on the stage.
If Calderdale Council decide to continue with the festival they would do well to do a bit of market research beforehand to find out what people want from a food festival, and whether they want one at all. Assuming people do, then it would be worth asking them what they want, and maybe looking at other more successful festivals which take place around the area. Getting local restaurants on board would seem like a good idea as well - I'm sure they need all the help they can get at the minute.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)