Events » Kavey Eats

Festivals, shows and other events.

Curry For Change – Find Your Feet

09 May 2013 3 Responses »

May 092013

Curry for Change is a fundraising and awareness campaign by charity Find Your Feet.

Find Your Feet is a small organisation currently working in the most remote areas of India, Nepal, Malawi and Zimbabwe. They help poor rural families improve their agricultural practices so they can grow enough food; support them in finding their voice so they are better able to speak up for themselves when it comes to defending their rights, dealing with injustice and corruption and claiming any meagre grants or benefits that might be available; and help them to create income streams which allow them to find their feet.

The Curry for Change campaign aims to raise awareness of the charity’s projects in India, through a celebration of Indian cuisine and by doing so, hopes to raise £10,000 towards it’s projects in all four countries.

The Indian project office is based in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, which is where my mum grew up and where most of her family still live. She had the great fortune to be born into a family that lived in comfort, ate well and could afford to educate all their children to university level and give them the best start in life.

But many in the state don’t share that good luck and live lives of hardship, poor health, grinding poverty, prejudice and injustice.

Find Your Feet, through their Curry For Change campaign, are asking you to help them improve the lives and prospects of communities that are isolated, marginalised and struggling to survive

There are two prongs to the campaign:

Dine Out

A number of Indian restaurants (including charity patron Atul Kochhar’s restaurants) have committed to asking diners throughout the month of June to add donations to their bills. Visit any of the partner restaurants any time in June, enjoy a wonderful meal and contribute to Curry For Change at the same time.

Other restaurants on the list for 2013 Atul Kochhar’s Benares and Indian Essence, Vivek Singh’s Cinnamon Club, Cinnamon Kitchen and Cinnamon Soho, Cyrus Todiwala’s Cafe Spice as well as Roti Chai and Regency Club. Hopefully, that list will be even bigger by the time June 1st rolls around.

Cook a Curry

Find Your Feet is calling on you to organise your own Curry for Change event to raise funds for their many projects.

Bring your family and friends together, ask them to buy tickets or donate during the evening and see how much you can raise.

It’s much easier than you think to cook a fabulous Indian feast at home and share with it family and friends.

When you register online, you’ll receive a bag of Indian spices, some great recipes from Atul Kochhar and Anjali Pathak, invitations and thank you notes for your guests, and a donation form and envelopes to collect contributions. And everyone who hosts a Curry for Change event will be entered into a prize draw for a personal cookery class with Anjali Pathak.

Mum and I will also be putting together some menu suggestions for you. In the meantime, you can find a wide range of delicious Indian recipes at mum’s site, Mamta’s Kitchen.

You have until November 30th to take part, so plenty of time to plan, invite, host and return the donations.

I’m posting today to give you a heads up and encourage you to get involved, either by visiting one of the partner restaurants during June, or hosting a fundraising curry night between June and November. Thanks for reading!

Chocolate Ecstasy Tours in London

15 Apr 2013 2 Responses »

Apr 152013

My friend Jenn is the founder of Chocolate Ecstasy Tours, a company dedicated to helping people enjoy great chocolate.

She (and a team of dedicated guides) run chocolate-themed walking tours in Mayfair and Chelsea during which they lead the (small) group between a number of carefully picked specialists. During the tour, you learn more about how chocolate is made, the different types available and how to taste chocolate properly. At each shop you are treated to some specialities ranging from hot chocolate to frozen yoghurt, filled chocolates, plain bars and even macarons.

Jenn has also negotiated discounts in many of the shops, so you can buy your favourites for a little less.

A nice extra touch is that as a history enthusiast, Jenn is able to share many fascinating stories about the history of London, as you walk from place to place.

My ticket was a very thoughtful birthday gift and I must say, these tours are a fantastic gift idea for those who enjoy chocolate, especially those who are hard to buy for as they have all the socks, vases, books, games, jumpers, posh chutney they need!

Thanks to Jenn for a wonderful day!

The Foundry, Camden

20 Mar 2013 3 Responses »

Mar 202013

Camden High Street, the stretch between Camden and Mornington Crescent stations, suffers a dearth of decent places to eat.

Back in the late ‘90s – early ‘00s, I worked in the beautiful “Black Cat Cigarette Building” opposite Mornington Crescent station, more formally known as Greater London House. It was once a cigarette factory owned by Carreras and the two sleek bronze statues of black cats that flanked the entrance reflected the logo of their main brand, Craven A. The cats had disappeared by the time I started working there, but were re-possessed and returned to their original spots in a huge refurbishment that took place while I was there. That’s when they restored the pretty Art Deco paint colours too.

When looking for somewhere decent to eat out, my colleagues and I rotated between El Parador (still going strong), Café Delancey (long since closed), Pizza Punani (yes really, and no it didn’t last long), two rather excellent local sandwich caffs (both gone too) and a couple of pubs (which don’t even have the same names anymore). There were a few places that were so bad we avoided them altogether, even when we sometimes grew a little bored of the ones that were good enough.

I haven’t been back much since I left in 2002 and when I have it’s mostly been to El Parador, which is still a lovely tapas restaurant, run by the same team as it was back then.

Recently, I received an invitation to visit The Forge & Foundry in Camden. Strictly speaking, these are two distinct entities – The Forge being a music and performance venue and The Foundry being a restaurant and bar. As soon as I saw the address, I knew they were in the location of my old favourite, Café Delancey and was keen to see what had become of the place.

The Forge is a not-for-profit organisation opened in 2009 by musicians Adam and Charlotte Caird. They were keen to create an intimate venue specially designed with natural acoustics for live music. It hosts small concerts and other performances and is also available to book for rehearsals, recordings and other art-based activities.

Also in the same property is The Foundry, a restaurant and bar that is connected to the performance space by a an airy glazed courtyard. The courtyard boasts a beautiful living wall of plants, the first inside a UK restaurant. I think it would be a lovely space to book for a private function, as there’s plenty of light and space, and it would be perfect if you had a band or musical act booked to play for your guests.

The first time we visited was a special blogger event during which we learned about The Foundry’s Espresso Martini, made with coffee roasted by their neighbour, Camden Coffee Shop. A couple of weeks later, Pete and I went back to see the venue at its best – for dinner followed by the Friday night gig.

On Friday nights, you can either book a regular ticket to enjoy the performance, or one of the handful of dining tables that are set up within the performance space. Tickets for the performance cost £11 (in advance, online). A three course dinner during the performance is £25 and you need to book that via phone.

When we organised our visit, those tables were already taken, so we enjoyed our meal in The Foundry’s dining area. They have a £10 Lunch and Pre Concert menu available from 12-3 pm and 5-7 pm but we ordered from the à la carte menu.

It was refreshing to be able to choose from an appealing list of cocktails, all priced very reasonably at around £7.50-8. There were also several wines available by the glass, at very reasonable prices, and of course by the bottle.

Cocktails were served in enormous jam jars, jumping on a tired bandwagon trend, but they were very good and generous too. I loved the balance of flavours in the Cherry Drop cocktail of the month and Pete’s Virgin Apple Mojito was similarly very well judged. (The espresso martinis we had on our previous visit were also excellent).

Pete’s Burrata with Parma ham, cherry tomatoes, mixed leaves and a balsamic reduction (£9.50) was decent. The burrata was creamy with a rich lactic flavour and the other elements were as you’d expect. It was a touch pricy given that it’s a pretty pedestrian set of ingredients, but enjoyable.

I went for one of the “Gourmet ploughman’s platters”, all of which are served with homemade bread, pickles, onion marmalade, apple, grapes and salad. My Seafood platter (£9.50) came with a generous serving of hot smoked trout, smoked mackerel pate and smoked salmon, all of which were very tasty. However, whilst I must point out how very good the homemade onion marmalade is, I felt it and the pickled gherkins and fruit were far better suited to the Cheese & Meat and British Cheeses platters, and didn’t really work very well with the fish. Instead, for the Seafood platter, I’d rather have a good homemade mayonnaise or aioli, and some much lighter pickles such as soused cucumbers.

The platters also come in a larger size and make lovely shared nibbles if you’re just planning to pop in for drinks and music.

Pete’s Duck breast with orange cream, cocoa powder and plantain chips (£15) was mixed. He’d really enjoyed the same dish on our previous visit, when the quality and cooking of the duck was perfect. This time, while it was still cooked pleasantly pink the breast hadn’t been properly butchered and had a tough tendon running through every piece and the fat was chewy rather than crisp, as previously. The orange sauce was tasty, with a nice balance between sweet and sharp. The plantain crisps were as strange as the first time though – sandwiched together with an intensely sweet banana cream, they were much more of a dessert pastry than a savoury side.

My Fillet of beef with foie gras, crostini and madeira sauce (£19.50) was also mixed, though I thought the steak itself was excellent for the price. My beef was correctly cooked, tender and full of flavour. The foie gras on top was decent, though should have been warmer. The sauce was tasty, though again, not hot enough when served, resulting in an almost solid gelatinous texture. The crostini underneath was so butter-soaked it was actually sickly and I couldn’t eat it. And this from someone who often smears an outrageously thick layer of butter onto bread or fruit cake!

Overall I enjoyed the dish, but it needs a few tweaks to shine.

My side of french fries were anaemic and needed longer in the fryer. The green beans were better.

Pete chose Homemade ice cream or sorbet (£6), and opted for three scoops of sorbet – lemon, orange and pear. These were very good, with a noticeably smoother texture than many we’ve been served elsewhere and rich, intense and fruity flavours.

I was pretty full but so glad I let manager Samuele tempt me with the Tocino del Cielo (£6), described as an “authentic Spanish crème caramel served with vanilla cream”. The cubes of rich crème caramel were so good, definitely the dish of the day for me. Rich, sweet, and – like the sorbet – incredibly smooth; and they looked so pretty with the gold leaf on top. The vanilla cream was not too sweet, which worked well against the cloying crème caramel. The blitzed caramelised sugar looked pretty, but as it had been left on the slate for too long before serving, it had solidified and become a bit chewy.

This dessert also made me realise why the Spanish like their coffee so dark and strong – the bitterness is needed to cut through all that sugar, but the match is very good. This was a superb finish.

Service was patchy though I wouldn’t describe it as poor. Manager Samuele was excellent, both in knowledge and enthusiasm about the food and drinks menus and in anticipating diners’ needs. The rest of the staff were certainly friendly, but we found them lacking in training and not at all attentive, even when the restaurant was virtually empty during the earlier part of the evening. Smiles made up for some of that, but service did let the experience down somewhat.

After our meal, we moved into The Forge for the performance. It was fully booked and there was a great buzz to the space.

As Pete was feeling ill, we weren’t able to stay for the whole of Ayanna Witter-Johnson’s performance but we saw enough to appreciate the beauty of her voice and her unique style. Some of her material we enjoyed more, and some less, but appreciated being able to see her perform live in such a small and well-designed space.

Within a short walk of both Mornington Crescent and Camden tube stations, The Forge and The Foundry are really easy for us to get to, so I’m planning to keep an eye on the Events list. A few cocktails, a shared platter or two, some fine music and that crème caramel would make for a fine evening!

Kavey Eats was a guest of The Forge and The Foundry.

Eating In The Dark

12 Nov 2012 1 Response »

Nov 122012

When The Living Room launched their new menu recently, rather than holding a run-of-the-mill event, they invited a small group of us to a Blind Supper Party, where we tried bite-sized portions of several dishes on their menu, blindfolded, and then answered questions about them, pub quiz style.

It was a fun thing to do, and surprisingly difficult – even when you recognise flavours, it’s not easy working out just what the ingredients are. On some questions I did pretty well, in others, I was completely hopeless. I did kick myself when, on a number of occasions, I thought, oh it’s x or y, wrote down x and it turned out to be y. Doh!

Eating blindfolded is strange! You find yourself using your fingers like a mole’s whiskers, questing through the dark to identify the shape and location of the food, before carefully transferring it to your mouth. I opted for a bib, knowing my clumsiness even when sighted!

That one’s slightly obscene, isn’t it?

Amongst the dishes we tried, there were some winners and some losers. I really liked the butternut squash, Dolcelatté, walnut and honey tart, the Moroccan spiced lamb, the coconut and passion fruit crème brulée, and the “Basil Grande” – an Eton-mess like dessert made from Grand Marnier, strawberries, meringue, cream and basil. I wasn’t blown away by the Toulouse sausage, the pork burger or the Glamorgan sausage and I actively disliked the sickly sweet and slightly grainy raspberry cheesecake.

I also thought the quality of the cheese board particularly underwhelming. When trying to identify the cheeses, I put some blue cheese in my mouth and immediately thought “that’s either a cheap Stilton or a Fourme d’Ambert”; it had an odd bitterness that really good Stiltons just don’t have but which I’ve often detected in this French blue. I gave the benefit of the doubt and chose the latter, but sadly, it proved to be the cheap Stilton I’d initially thought of. The hard cheese we started with was lacking in age; my choices were between a young Gruyere or a Manchego, again I chose the wrong one, though I don’t think it was a great example of this fine Spanish cheese. Even the Brie was distinctly average.

Although the food was hit and miss, it was broadly acceptable with some definite highlights. However, the venue was so incredibly noisy that, especially later in the evening, we really struggled to hear ourselves speak. Music was loud, as was the volume of all the other diners, no doubt shouting like us to be heard. When I eat out, a big part of the evening is to chat to my dining companions, and on that basis, I simply can’t recommend this venue, fun though our evening was.

Kavey Eats attended The Living Room Blind Supper Party as a guest of The Living Room. All images courtesy of Katherine Sparkes.

Tutored Tastings and Food Talks at Abergavenny Food Festival

07 Nov 2012 4 Responses »

Nov 072012

Abergavenny Food Festival is not just about visiting all the fantastic food and drinks stands spread out across the several market areas, though that’s a huge pleasure. A big part of the experience is attending some of the wide range of masterclasses, tutored tastings and food talks on offer during the weekend.

This year, I attended a number of tastings and talks, and wanted to share a little of the experience with you here.

Forage Ahead for Christmas by Trine Hahnemann and Liz Knight

The key message from both Trine and Liz was to make use of the bounty around you for your Christmas gifts and your Christmas table. Some of the recipes they talked us through, and which we tasted, were from Trine’s new book, Scandinavian Christmas. Others were recipes that Liz makes and sells under her Forage Fine Foods brand, one of my favourite finds at last year’s festival.

One new idea for me was in the use of elderberries: whilst I’m familiar with the use of both elderflowers and ripe elderberries, I had never come across the use of unripe green berries pickled and preserved much like capers. This is common in Scandinavia, and a great one to try next year.

When it came to making use of rosehips, the fiddle of removing seeds and the itch-inducing hairs means it’s better to look for the larger ones, like the ones they had brought along to show us. The very next day, my friend Martine and I were quite excited to spot a bush covered in enormous rosehips in a nearby Abergavenny car park.

We talked about pickling blackberries, making rose syrup from petals and preserving cherries.

One of my favourites was a lingonberry preserve. Said Trine, “I made this myself, I really hope you can tell the difference from Ikea!”. Don’t worry, Trine, we could!

Veggiestan by Sally Butcher

Having interacted with Sally on twitter for months, or maybe even years, I was keen to attend her Veggiestan talk and tasting. Sally and her husband Jamshid, also present for the talk, run well-loved London deli Perseopolis, specialising in Persian food and Sally is also the author of the Persia in Peckham cookbook.

For the purpose of sharing her favourite vegetarian ingredients and recipes, Sally presented a range of dishes from the fictitious land of Veggiestan, a way of covering the non-meat cookery of a region stretching from Turkey across the Middle East to Pakistan.

Some of the dishes we really liked, others left us nonplussed but all were interesting and we enjoyed Sally’s passionate presentation.

A Taste of Humble by Nature by Kate Humble and Friends

After Kate Humble and husband Ludo bought a farm in Monmouthshire, they wanted to find a way not only to make a living from it but also to share with others what Kate had learned about rural skills and animal husbandry through some of her recent television series.

They turned to the experts, and now offer courses in food and cookery, rural crafts and working with animals.

For this talk and tasting, Kate introduced us to her charcutier Graham Waddington, Katherine Marland who runs the cookery school and Liz Knight, who teaches foraging and related cooking classes.

We had plenty of fine food to taste, from confit pig’s cheek to crabapple, bramley and fennel jelly to Japanese braised pork belly. It was an interesting session, as each of the three friends shared a number of tips with the audience.

Making Fine Chocolates Marc Demarquette

Marc Demarquette is one of my favourite UK chocolatiers, not only because his chocolates are fantastic but also because he’s a lovely man. His commitment to supporting British producers, and small independent suppliers is something he takes very seriously, not like many brands who simply use such a stance as a marketing tool.

In this session, we first did a tasting of 4 different chocolates, whilst Marc reminded us that “it’s very important to know the provenance of the product”. He will not buy cocoa from the ivory coast of ghana but instead invests a lot of time in seeking out ethical cocoa. Those we tried were a 65% Papua New Guinea, Marc’s dark house blend of cocoa from Madagascar, Ecuador and Dominican republic, a milk chocolate from Vietnam and an 80% dark from Uganda.

After the tasting, Marc walked and talked us through how to make his caramel chocolate ganache. Delicious!

I also attended Memories of Gascony in which Pierre Koffmann talked to Matthew Fort about his life and experiences in the food industry. I’ll be writing about this talk as part of a book review of Pierre’s book of the same name.

With thanks to Abergavenny Food Festival for press pass and event tickets.

Purple Pershore Plum & Port Jelly

08 Oct 2012 2 Responses »

Oct 082012

The Pershore Plum Festival celebrates plum growing in and around the Worcestershire town of Pershore. Many varieties are grown in local orchards, including Victoria, Monarch, Greengage and many more but, of course, the varieties that are most celebrated during the festival are those named for the town, Pershore Purple, Pershore Yellow Egg and Pershore Emblem (also known as Evesham Red). Of these, the Pershore Purple seems to be most prevalent.

Held during August bank holiday weekend, the festival sees this pretty market town celebrate plums with an expansive food and drinks market, music and family entertainment, craft exhibitions and even a large vintage and classic cars show held in abbey park. Local shops deck their windows out in purple, competing for the prize of best display of the year.

I bought my plums from the absolutely charming Ellenden Farm Shop near Harvington. Smaller than other farm shops we visited over the weekend, this one was nonetheless our favourite, firstly because it had a really appealing range of produce and secondly because of the genuinely warm and helpful welcome.

My Pershore Purples went into a simple plum jelly, with the addition of port for extra flavour.

The purple skins and yellow flesh combined to make a beautiful deep maroon pulp which I strained to 500 ml of juice. Putting the juice aside, I also pressed an additional 182 grams of thicker pulp from before discarding the remaining stones, skin and fibre. I made the jelly in two batches, one with the strained juice, which results in a clearer jelly, and a second smaller batch with the pulp, which makes a thicker and cloudier but just as tasty offering.

I used the same recipe as my previous plum jelly, made from yellow plums from our allotment, it was the colour of sunshine in a jar. It’s the recipe my mum’s been making since I was a kid and is simple and delicious.

Plum & Port Jelly Recipe

Ingredients
Plums
Sugar
Water
Ruby port

Note: You won’t know how much sugar you need until you’ve cooked the plums down and strained the juices. For each litre of juice, you’ll need a kilo of sugar.

Note: You can omit the port if you prefer to make a plain plum jelly.

Note: I’ve provided information about the weights and volumes produced from this batch of plums below the recipe.

Method

Halve the plums. I find this quick and easy to do by drawing a sharp knife right around each plum and then twisting both halves in opposite directions; the halves come apart easily.

Place halved plums into a large pan, leaving the skins on and stones in.
Add just enough water to cover most of the plums. (It’s better to be frugal with water and add more during the cooking down process – add too much and your resulting juice will be too thin).

Cook down the plums until they disintegrate completely. Add more water only if the mixture is looking dry and might catch.
Transfer the cooked pulp into a muslin straining bag or cloth. Either tie closed and hang over a pan or place into a colander inside a pan, so that the juices can easily run down. I left mine to strain overnight, with a clean towel loosely covering everything.

To avoid cloudy jelly, resist the urge to squeeze the pulp to extract extra liquid.
Set the strained juice aside.

If you are feeling thrifty, as I was, squeeze more juice from the pulp, and process this separately, as it will produce a thicker, cloudier jelly than the naturally strained juice.

Discard the pulp (on your compost heap or into your green bin).
At this stage, if you think your juice may be too watered down, boil to reduce volume.
Measure the juice and put into a large pan, with caster sugar. Use a kilo of sugar per litre of juice, adjusting for your volume of juice.

Plums are naturally high in pectin, so I used regular sugar, but if you use this recipe for other fruits with lower pectin, add powdered or liquid pectin now, or use jam sugar, which has pectin added.
Boil the juice and sugar hard. I use a jam thermometer to make sure I reach 104 °C (219 °F).

When the jelly has reached temperature, do a pectin check to test that it’s ready to set. I usually just hold the spoon up and see how the jelly drips off it, or draw a line in the jelly coating the back of the spoon).
If the jelly is ready, turn off the heat and stir in the port.
Pour your hot jelly into hot sterilised jars. I sterilise my jars in the oven (and boil the lids at the same time, draining them onto a clean tea towel). Pouring the jelly into the jars while it and they are still hot minimises the risk of the glass cracking from a sudden and extreme change in temperature.
(Actually, I ask Pete to do the pouring as holding large jugs of very hot liquid scares me!)

I started out with 1.2 kilos of plums from which I strained 500 ml of juice and squeezed an additional 180 grams of thicker, cloudier juice.

To the 500 ml of juice, I added 500 grams of sugar and about 2 tablespoons of port. This produced three 200 gram jars of dark but clear jelly.

To the 180 grams of thicker juice, I added 180 grams of sugar and a tablespoon of port. This made just over one jar of a thicker jelly, more like fruit cheese. We poured the excess into a small bowl to be eaten over the next few days.

Abergavenny Food Festival 2012

04 Oct 2012 1 Response »

Oct 042012

Last year was my first year at Abergavenny Food Festival and I loved it! I had a great time this year too!

Hundreds of food and drink producers spread out in several different areas around the town centre, a packed agenda of talks, tutored tastings and masterclasses to attend and a lot of eating and shopping opportunities!

Two things stand out about Abergavenny compared to other food festivals and, especially, the big food shows.

The quality of the food and drinks on offer is excellent. Some shows seem to accept any retailer as long as they’ll pay for a space. Abergavenny invites producers to submit an application, and then invite them to participate only if they feel the quality is excellent. The aim is to showcase local and regional Welsh products first and then products from rest of the UK. And another criteria is to achieve a good mix of categories so there’s a wide range of different items for visitors to discover.

This must surely be the friendliest food show in the UK? I’ve made many friends in the industry over the last few years, and all tell me the same thing – they go to Abergavenny first and foremost because it’s such a joyful weekend. Fellow exhibitors are friendly; customers are enthusiastic, knowledgeable and keen to learn more; they enjoy touring the festival too. That happiness on the part of the exhibitors is very evident to visitors too: it’s great to be able to visit stalls and be met by a smile, helpful explanations and courteous service. Even visitors, complete strangers, often get chatting.

This year, I attended a number of talks, tastings and masterclasses, which I’ll be writing about soon.

In the meantime, here are some photos of some of the exhibitors and products I enjoyed this year. (Click to view a larger sized image).

Pictured: Black Mountains Smokery, Forage Fine Foods, Forest Pig Charcuterie, Halen Mon Anglesey Sea Salt, Homewood Cheeses, Hook & Son Raw Organic Milk, La Cave a Fromage, Lahloo Tea, Peppers by Post, Riverford Organic, Simply Welsh Cakes, Taste Of Persia, The Dorset Blueberry Company, The Garlic Farm, The Tracklements Company, Trealy Farm Charcuterie, Womersley Fruit & Herb Vinegars

With thanks to Abergavenny Food Festival for press pass and event tickets.

The Inaugural Cake & Bake Show

03 Oct 2012 3 Responses »

Oct 032012

Last month I attended the very first Cake & Bake Show, held in Earl’s Court Brompton Hall over a September weekend.

Thanks in large part to The Great British Bake Off, there’s a renewed interest in baking throughout the UK, and indeed both Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood were the star names at the show. Alongside them were many other celebrities of the baking world including Tom Herbert, Richard Bertinet, Paul A Young, Peggy Porschen and many GBBO contestants, past and present.

Tickets sold out weeks before the show and the show was expanded too, taking on extra space and putting on extra talks and classes. Visitors browsed and shopped from a large number of stalls selling equipment and (mostly) sweet treats and attended talks, demonstrations and classes.

It wasn’t all plain sailing, however, and I’m sure the feedback already received will be put to good use improving next year’s show.

The vast majority of exhibitors were in the cake decorating and sugar craft category, with very few selling items of interest to those of us who love baking (bread and sweet treats) but aren’t into decorating. And there weren’t as many stalls selling cakes and bread to buy and take home as I had expected.

Crowds were enormous and, at busy times of the day, it was virtually impossible to approach many of the stalls without waiting several minutes to creep gradually closer to each one.

Queues for toilets and on-site refreshments were enormous and slow moving, and I heard that supplies ran out too. These services are both provided by the venue rather than the show organisers, but need to be taken into account when planning for next year.

Classroom events, for which visitors purchased additional tickets, were held in open theatres, and there were discontented rumblings from those who paid money for a bench seat within the roped area, only to realise that other show visitors were able to afford just as good, if not better views, from outside the ropes.

All that said, it was a pleasure to see how strong the interest is in a show on cakes and baking, and I’m hopeful that next year’s event will be bigger and better, with much more attention paid to the baking side of the equation.

Kavey Eats attended the The Cake & Bake Show as a guest of the organisers.

Dingley Dell’s Flying Visit to the Leather Bottle in Earlsfield

28 Sep 2012 2 Responses »

Sep 282012

Pork from happy pigs tastes better. It really does!

That was certainly the case for the feast of Dingley Dell pork served up at the Leather Bottle, during one of their Flying Visits.

The pub’s huge garden was decked out in bunting, with rows of picnic tables laid out ready for eager pork eaters to take their seats. We were in one of the chalet huts towards one side of the garden, from where we could look out over the main dining area. The BBQ and kitchen were set up near the top of the garden.

We watched a butchery demonstration from a very charming and experienced butcher, who deftly broke down a side of pig. There were short introductory talks by Dingley Dell’s Mark Hayward, who told us about his farm, his pigs and his pork. We enjoyed live entertainment from Suffolk band The Broadside Boys during the evening.

Here are some images from the event, followed by the menu.

The garden chalet tables

Setting up tables ready for happy feasters

Dingley Dell’s Mark Hayward

Butchery demonstration

The whole hog board

Pig cheeks, jelly and peas

Mark’s whole spitted hog

18 hr cooked pulled pork

St Louis pork ribs

The team behind the feast

Whole Hog Board: potted brawn, crispy pigs ears, black pudding trotter fritters and mini hot dogs served with gooseberry chutney and purple basil jam – cooked by Stephen Bushnell and Chris Knights of Youngs Pubs.

Apple smoked pig cheeks with mead jelly and pea puree – cooked by Paul Sowden of The Elk Bar in Fulham.

The three mains, to come next, were served with a selection of sides including fantastic sweet potato fries, a root coleslaw and a green salad with heritage tomatoes.

Whole spitted hog, brined with Aspall’s apple juice and cider, then rubbed, marinated, mopped and sauced – cooked by Mark Poynton from Alimentum.

18 hr cooked pulled pork shoulder cooked with herbs and infused with hickory – cooked by Mark Poynton from Alimentum.

St Louis pork ribs cherry smoked with a BBQ and black treacle glaze served with individual terracotta pot bread – cooked by 3 times British BBQ champion and 5 times World finalist Andy Annat.

There was also a pork inspired dessert from Stephen and Chris, which I missed as I had a long journey home.

Meantime and Aspall’s provided drinks matches for each course, though I can’t comment on these as I stuck to soft drinks.

My favourites were the mini hot dogs, black pudding trotter fritters and potted brawn from the whole hog board, and the pork ribs and the sweet potato fries from the mains. I also liked the smoked pig cheeks with mead jelly and pea puree better than most on our table, though I agreed with others that serving it in a half pint mug made it impossible to eat easily, resulting in a first few mouthfuls of (unnecessarily copious) leaves, then the pea puree and finally the cheeks and jelly. I did like the combination of cheeks, jelly and peas but would rather have been given them on a regular plate.

This feast was priced at just £25 per person, and given that it included matching drinks throughout, I think that’s a terrific deal. I also really liked the pub itself, though we spent little time inside. For those living locally, I’d imagine it’s a lovely place for drinks or dinner.

Many thanks to the Leather Bottle and Saffron Powell (from We Love Food) for additional images.

Kavey Eats attended Dingley Dell’s Flying Visit as a guest.

Tesco’s Real Food Afternoon Tea Baking & Recipe Challenge

23 Sep 2012 3 Responses »

Sep 232012

I loved the day I spent learning to cook Italian at Food at 52.

So I didn’t hesitate to accept an invitation from Tesco to an evening of baking sweet afternoon tea treats there.

The special class was organised as an introduction to the Tesco Real Food Baking Challenge, which invites home bakers to submit their favourite recipes for the chance to win a bread machine. (Personally, I think you can make great bread easily and quickly without a machine, and it’s usually much nicer, but your mileage may vary).

It was a pleasure to return to this quirky and welcoming school and to say hello again to owners John and Emily, class assistant Jacqui and that crazy suit of armour in the upstairs living room!

The nine invited bloggers were split into two groups, each group making three recipes together, which we then shared around the huge table afterwards.

Our group made scones, mini bakewell tarts and a Victoria sponge. All were simple, straightforward and so much more delicious than shop-bought. Novice home cooks are often scared of baking but even with recent price rises, ingredients aren’t that expensive and it doesn’t take much practice to gain skills and confidence.