Gary Andrews

England be darned. After four straight days of non-stop football, combined with an uneasy feeling that despite my prediction of a win Algeria would provide difficult opponents, it was time to indulge a different passion: food. Months ago I’d been offered a VIP ticket to the Taste of London food festival and nothing – not even England v Algeria – was going to stop my inner foodie running riot.

I suspect I may be one of the few people on Twitter lavishing praise on what I experienced that Friday evening.

And, yes, because I like blogging about food – and have been cooking a lot recently as well (prawn massala curry and a delicious moussaka have been particular highlights) – all I really want to do is make a few notes on tonight’s food.

Sadly, because I’m an idiot, I forgot my camera. So no pictures.

Easily the best thing sampled was Mennula’s handmade egg maccheroni with braised shoulder of Scottish lamb, pecorino and summer truffle. I can still taste it now and, despite being stuffed, could happily wolf down another plate.

Perhaps it’s because Italy is still a recent memory in my mind, but this was sensational. The pasta was as good as I’ve had anywhere and the lamb was so tender it melted into the maccheroni and onto my tongue, while the truffle just rounded everything off. What’s more, this was a simple dish with bold flavours that I could imagine tucking into at a decent trattoria. Delicious.

Following close behind was The Modern Pantry’s garlic snails with chorizo mash. Frankly, it would have taken some extremely hard work for me to dislike this dish. The snails were perfectly cooked and the garlic sauce slowly seeped into the meaty mash. A complete winner, and one I might try to do myself at some point.

If you’re talking desserts, then the torta al cioccolato con crema di mascarpone from Theo Randall was the kind of gooey chocolate heaven that makes sharing seem like a chore. We were practically snatching the pot from each other to lick out every last drop. And I’m not generally a dessert man.

Predictably Gaucho’s Argentinian black angus sirlon with humitas chimichurri was exactly what you’d expect from a Gaucho’s steak. Tender, grilled to perfection and bursting with meaty goodness. The chimchurri was a nice addition, with a crisp, fresh corn taste that nicely offset the heavier meat. Definitely one of the best steaks I’ve had over the last year.

The Cinnamon Club’s spice crushed bream with masala mash and tomato lemon sauce was the first dish we tried and set the evening up nicely. The flavours were light and playful, while the mash tingled in the mouth and complemented the fish perfectly. It was a delicious concoction, albeit one that would get outshone as the evening went on.

I enjoyed Awana’s Malaysian slow-cooked beef curry with coconut milk a lot, and there was a nice delicateness to the dish (plus it was easily the largest portion of the evening). But given other offerings on show, it trailed down into ‘quite nice’ on the list of dishes tried. A good quality curry, for sure, and no doubt a decent meal but it didn’t have the same spark as, say The Cinnamon Club’s dish. Not that it was in any way bad. I’d have happily polished it off in the restaurant with no complaints.

Bringing up the end of savoury dishes was the pan-roasted scallop with sardine pie and cauliflower puree from The Grill at The Dorchester. It wasn’t that this dish was bad, but I probably expected a little more given the restaurant’s reputation. There was nothing wrong with the perfectly done scallop nor the pie. Both were nice. But they didn’t quite sit together as a dish and I’ve had many more interesting meals involving scallops than this one.

Finally, the biggest disappointment was Asia de Cuba’s Mexican doughnuts with butterscotch sauce and mojito sorbet. Perhaps the cold rain didn’t help the rather nice sorbet aspect, but the whole dish was a bit nothing. The butterscotch barely made an appearance while the doughnuts were… doughnuts. Nice street food, I suppose, the kind of thing you’d buy on a whim from a trader on the South Bank. Given everything else we’d eaten, it just didn’t do anything for me, which is why we made a bee-line for Theo Randall’s for a second dessert.

Sadly, stomachs and funds running low meant there was no chance to try L’Anima’s rabbit Siciliana, a delicious sounding Stargezer monkfish green pea aubergine and corn curry from Busaba Eathai, and Colony’s half shell grilled scallops with chilli, garlic and yuzu butter.

I’m now heading to bed a happy man and, in what’s possibly an omen, my Sky Plus box decided not to work meaning I can’t watch England’s draw with Algeria. Clearly the food gods have decided there’s no point in spoiling my night.

written by Gary \\ tags: Taste of London food festival

What, all five of you who read this might be entitled to ask, have I been getting up to while not blogging. The answer largely involves eating. More of that to possibly follow, but one of those nights of eating involved something I’ve never tried before: cooking a three course meal. For six people. On my own. The terror!

Actually, the evening went rather well and, as it’s Christmas, I thought I’d share what I cooked on here. There should have been photos, but I’ve left my USB cable at home. Anyway, I was so busy getting the main ready, I forgot to take pictures of it.

Starter: Spicy parsnip soup

The perfect dish for a cold winter’s evening. The garam masala gives it a nice warm flavour without overpowering the vegetable, and can be served to this who don’t like their food too spicy.

You will need:

1 decent size onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed or chopped

A small knob or pinch or ginger

1 tablespoon garam masala

5-6 parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped

Olive oil

Butter

1 litre stock – chicken or vegetable is fine

1/2 litre of milk

Put a decent glug of olive oil and a knob of butter into a large saucepan and let the butter melt. Throw in the onion, garlic, ginger and garam masala and lightly fry until lightly brown and covered in the buttery, spicy mixture. Then add the parsnip (be careful not to cut the chunks too big) and make sure this is also covered in the mixture (about a couple of minutes).

Pour in the milk and the stock and a dash of salt and pepper (if you want to be fancy you can add coriander at this point) to season. Bring to the boil, then cover and let it simmer for around half an hour. Check if the parsnips are cooked through by sliding a knife in them.

Liquidise your mixture and return to the heat, and season to your taste. If you want to make it extra special, cut a few slices of crusty bread, top with Mexicana cheese and grill for a couple of minutes, then put in bread and cheese into the soup once you’ve served it up.

Main course: Slow cooked beef in Guinness with mustard and gruyere mash

A brilliantly easy dish to prepare that makes about 10 minutes to put together and can be left while you go off for a walk. Or, in my case, down the pub to watch football before coming back to make the mash. Yes, it’s that easy you can do it after a couple of pints. You’ll probably need to get the silverside from your local butcher. It won’t be cheap but it WILL taste amazing.

You will need:

1.5kg Silverside of beef

150g bacon lardons

2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced

2 medium / small onions, peeled and chopped

You can add your own vegetables at this stage as well. I used a leek in this, but sprouts, kale, or any other veg that takes your fancy would work equally as well.

1 can of Guinness

Worcester Sauce

Thyme or coriander, chopped

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Tie up your beef (you can get your butcher to do this) and season the surface. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 1 (140 C I think). Get a large oveproof casserole dish, turn the heat up on the hob, throw in a dash of olive oil and brown the meat all over for a couple of minutes. Take the meat out of the dish and put to one side.

Put the lardons in the dish and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the carrots and onion (and other veg) and gently cook for a few minutes until the onion is turning soft and brown. Put the beef back in the dish and give it a good move around in there.

Add the Guinness and a dash of Worcester Sauce and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and put it into the oven for a couple of hours minimum. Take the lid off and leave the dish in for another hour, minimum. Make sure you check and turn the meat occasionally to ensure it browns all over.

When you take the meat out, you can use the Guinness and juices to make a tasty gravy. Remember to cut the string off and to give the meat time to settle, then get carving.

But first, you’ll need to make the mash and for that you will need:

6-12 potatoes, depending on size of potatoes and hunger of guests

Lots of butter

Milk

Salt and pepper

English wholegrain mustard

Gruyere cheese (other cheese works as well. I just happened to have Gruyere to hand.

Peel and cut your potatoes. Put in a saucepan, cover with water (add a dash of salt), bring to the boil, turn down the heat, cover with a lid and let it simmer for around 20 minutes. Check if the potatoes are cooked by sliding a knife into them. If it easily goes all the way through, you’re ready to get mashing.

Before you take your potatoes off the heat, grate your Gruyere or snap bits off so you’ve got lots of small chunks. Get your mashing implement and mash your potato down. Return to the heat and add a small dash of milk and lots of butter, as you want to get your mash nice and buttery (I tend to use James Martin’s advice and put in as much butter as you think you need, then a little bit more). Thrown in the cheese and 1-2 tablespoons of mustard plus the salt and pepper to season and keep mashing until you you’ve got a lovely creamy cheesy mustardy mash. Serve at one with the beef, vegetables and anything else you want (peas, etc).

Pudding: Zuppa Inglese

Possibly one of the easiest puddings in the world to make! You can prepare this the night before and worry about the main course the next day. If you can’t find vanilla custard, you can always use normal custard and throw in a dash of vanilla flavouring. For the brandy, the only stuff I had to hand was peach brandy, which worked well. You could also use Tia Maria (or both) and the cognac isn’t essential – really the nearest to what you have to hand works pretty well.

For the layers, if you want it really chocolatey, ignore the instruction to put some of the custard to one side and melt the chocolate into all of it. The coloured layers are purely for aesthetic reasons.

You will need:

1 litre pre-made vanilla custard

1 round sponge cake

1 cup of espresso (or good quality coffee)

150g (or one and a half slabs) of Green & Black’s dark chocolate

1 teaspoon brandy or Tia Maria

1 teaspoon Cognac (optional)

Cocoa powder

Put aside around 1/4 to 1/3 of the custard. Heat the rest in a saucepan and melt in most of the chocolate. Take off the heat once everything’s melted into a dark chocolate custard. Meanwhile, in a cup, mix together the espresso, brandy or Tia Maria and cognac.

Get a reasonable size bowl and spoon half the remaining vanilla custard in. You’ll then need to cut up the sponge cake and cover the custard with a layer of sponge. Brush the sponge with the alcoholic espresso mixture to ensure it remains moist. Repeat the layering but with the chocolate mixture. You should go chocolate custard, sponge, moisten. The last layer should be the remaining vanilla custard.

Put the trifle into the fridge and leave to cool overnight Just before serving, grate the remaining chocolate. Dust with cocoa powder and sprinkle with the grated chocolate.

So, that’s it. Three easy, non-too-time-consuming and delicious courses. You’ve got plenty of time between each t make your house look amazing. Or watch football.

And a word of warning: it’s impossible to have just one helping of the trifle.

Enjoy!

written by Gary \\ tags: beef recipe, Italian trifle, parsnip soup, recipes, silverside in Guinness, Zuppa Inglese

Or rather, just food.

S managed to get a few picture of the amazing dishes at Pearl before I gobbled them down. We didn’t get any pictures of the interior. We were too busy eating.

This was the duck breast with watermelon feta, peanuts and satay sauce. The flavour combinations were perfect and the watermelon refreshed the palate while letting the duck do its work on the tastebuds.

The duck was a nice warm up for the best course – roast monkfish with caramelised chicken wings, artichoke gnocchi, girolles  and baby artichokes. I may have already got to work on this by the time the picture was taken.

It may not look much, but boy did it pack a flavour punch. The chicken wing was a playful addition and added even more depth to the monkfish, not that any was needed. If I could only ever eat one dish in my life again, this would be a serious contender.

The lamb course was largely demolished before we thought to take a photo. And the hazlenut chocolate parfait certainly didn’t hang around long enough for the thought of a photo to even enter our minds. Both of these courses melted into the mouth and produced satisfied groans of pleasure.

I’m drooling just thinking of them now. Good job I’m not hungry, otherwise I’d be raiding the pantry instead of writing this.

written by Gary \\ tags: chocolate parfait, monkfish, Pearl restaurant

Another day, another year older. Despite my protestations, I’m actually less bothered about turning 28 than I am turning 29. At least 28 is the peak age for a top-class football. Once you reach 29, where can you go from there? 30? Whatever.

And despite other protestations that I really don’t like doing anything special, this is the third birthday in a row that’s turned pretty memorable. This year was in no small part due to the fact my lovely girlfriend whisked me off to Jun Tanaka’s Pearl for the tasting menu.

Oh. My. God. That’s all you can say, really. This may well rank as one of the best birthday experiences ever.

It came as a complete surprise. I’d just been told to turn up in Central London looking reasonably smart and that was it. I’d no idea about the sensual treats on offer.

The tasting menu wasn’t just about food. Every course came with a specially selected beer to complement the flavours.This is A Good Thing and can only be encouraged. I know a little about wines. I know a lot more about ales, and these were good ales.

Innis and Gunn I’d heard of, and had been keen to try for a while. The deep, malty toffee flavour was a perfect accompaniment to the lamb. The rest were equally delicious. The Spanish Alhambra Reserve that accompanied the monkfish stood out as a wonderfully rich-yet-balanced beer.

From start to finish the whole thing was magnificent. The pea, feta and mint foam palate cleanser to start through to the chocolate parfait, which lasted all of about 2 minutes, if that.

Inbetween came scallops, duck and watermelon, amazing monkfish, lamb so tender it melted in your mouth and a plum soup. Plus canapes.

I would attempt detailed description, but the different beers take their toll. Suffice to say, everything – from the perfectly cooked monkfish to the beer cocktails to finish – was unbelievable. I’ve eaten at decent restaurants. Nothing quite comes close to what I experienced at Pearl.

I would also provide pictures, but none of the courses hung around on our plates for detailed snaps. Especially not the chocolate parfait.

The only downside… I could easily get a taste for this kind of thing. One day, Fat Duck, I will have donated enough of my body to medical science to be able to afford your tasting menu. By that time, you may just have a table free.

[Although I seem to be making a habit of good food on my birthday. Two years ago, we wound up at The Cricket Inn at Beesands, which served up some of the most delicious, freshest seafood dishes I've ever tasted. Last year I was eating paella in Barcelona. To make up for the awfulness of turning 29 next year, perhaps I should insist on El Bulli and nothing less]

written by Gary

If, in the future, we’re all going to be sat at our desks blogging, Tweeting, Flickring and whatnot, for the rest of eternity, we’ll probably need e-numbers to get through it.

Whether or not that was one of the reasons behind Skittles taking their home page all social media-like, we’ll never know. But they are one of the more high profile brands to experiment with the various tools online. Whether it’s worked or not is another matter.

To recap: anybody logging into their Twitter last Monday would have probably found a slew of tweets with the hashtag #skittles. These were then fed into the Skittles home page which was updating all mentions of the sweet on Twitter.

After a while people started cottoning onto this and includes tweets about paedophiles and the like to watch them get onto the home page. Social media types are a nice bunch, but we do have a somewhat borderline/evil sense of humour.

Regardless, Skittles were THE trend on Twitter that day, even if it’s difficult to say if this takeover was a good or a bad thing. In the short-term, it definitely worked. The brand was being talked about and I’d imagine there’s a high chance consumption of the rather icky sweet went up among users of the mircoblogging tool.

But there’s still one nagging question here – just what exactly were they hoping to achieve?

Yes, it was a bold move. Yes it was reasonably innovative for such a mainstream brand. Yes, it got them talked about for a short period of time. But, to be blunt, what for? And what now?

Currently their homepage brings up their Wikipedia entry. Which is nice but, um, what precisely are we meant to do with it? Sure, it’s more informative than a garish flash page, but if I wanted to find out about Skittles on Wikipedia I’d, well, go to Wikipedia.

At Econsultancy, Patricio Robles is similarly nonplussed:

“What exactly did Skittles reinforce by turning its homepage into a Twitterstream? That’s the $64,000 question the people in charge of the Skittles brand should be asking themselves because the truth is that buzz doesn’t build, reinvigorate or reinvent brands.

A coherent message does.

I think that’s something marketers need to keep in mind when they experiment with the ever-growing world of social media. If brands see social media as little more than a cheap tool for getting some short-term attention, they might as well stay home. Branding is a long-term game.”

And that is really the problem a lot of brands or companies have with the internet in a nutshell. Most media people have probably been in at least one meeting where somebody asks “Can we get this on the internet / blogs / Twitter?”

Even if it’s the kind of thing that fits well with any given social media site, the ‘what now’ question remains. Skittles have got some great short-term publicity and have shown a lot more social media savvy than a lot of other brands, but now that they’ve got Skittles out there in social media, what do they intend to do with it?

This may well be part of a slow strategy to get Skittles out there bit by bit. If it’s just doing it for the sake of, well, doing it then they’ve got their buzz and then, a few months down the line, everybody will have forgotten about it.

Building a social media presence, be it for your own work, a brand, a personality, a TV show, or whatever isn’t just a case of putting it out into the internet and leaving it.

Sometimes this does work, admitedly, but this usually means you’ve got a simple little thing that users love and start doing their own thing with.

But more often than not, the brand is thrown out in a great blaze of glory and is then sadly neglected when it’s this second step on continual engagement that can yield the greatest benefit in the long run.

And on a slight tangential note, if you want an excellent guide on how to pitch your brand across Twitter, Kai Turner’s post on Mashable is one of the best possible pieces you can read.

written by Gary Andrews \\ tags: brands, skittles, social media

The days may be drawing in, and the temperature’s dropping, but rather than planning on hibernating for a few months, I really look forward to autumn. Why? Easy. It’s probably my favourite season for cooking.

Autumn (and winter, but winter’s not as pretty. And doesn’t have my birthday in it) is a great excuse to start making comfort food for those cold, darkening nights. It’s a great excuse to get working in the kitchen for an evening, getting a bunch of friends would and warm yourself up with good food and conversation.

Soups are the obvious point to start. Nothing’s better than a hearty broth with some crusty bread after a long day at work. Tomato and butterbean is one of my favourites, while it’s nice and simple to whip some salsify and shallots into a quick soup. Chick pea, spinach and pasta soup with a dash of nutmeg is a filling concoction that acts like a food comfort blanket.

But by far and away my favourite is the squash family. Pumpkins, butternut squashes and vegetable spaghetti all make excellent, flavoursome soups that act as a real warmer. Soups take so little effort as well and you generally only need your chosen veg, onions, stock and whatever herbs or spices you’re throwing into the mix.

But the squash family isn’t just soup-er – they make a great side dish, or full meal for vegetarians. I particularly like halving them, scooping out the seeds and sticking a garlic clove in the hole, brushing with olive oil, throw a bit of rosemary on top, then leave to roast for a bit. Take out when soft, mash together with a bit of butter, salt, and pepper, scoop back into the skins, coat with honey and a drop of gooseberry oil and putting back in to bake for another half an hour. Meat eaters can add bacon or lamb to the stuffing. Whatever, the result is comforting and exceedingly filling.

In fact, roasting squash is so simple, it’s hard to go wrong. Even a roast squash lasagne takes minimum of effort for maximum taste. I know hardened carnivores who’ve kept coming back for the squash version as opposed to a meat lasagne.

You can even take that classic spring/summer dish – the risotto – and make it much more comforting by swopping your mushrooms and peas for roast pumpkin.

For meat eaters, now’s the time to truly indulge in those bold and brassy stews and roasts for a cold weekend. Don’t forgot the essential autumn/winter veg accompaniment – the mash. Make your potatoes as buttery as you like, or simply swop for the delicious taste of mashed swede (with plenty of pepper). And no Sunday roast is complete without a few browned parsnips sitting alongside.

Be sure to make room for dessert though, and autumn isn’t just about veg. It’s a time when fruit gets a lot more serious. Apples, in particular, are brilliant at this time of year and there’s nothing more comforting than the sight of a warm apple cobbler coming out of the oven. If you’re lucky enough to have any rhubarb still left over from the end of the summer, stick it together with the apples in a crumble.

Apple pie is always a safe bet, or alternatively you could stew them with some sugar and sultanas. And while we’re on apples, although we’re not talking puddings here, try using cider instead of white wine in some dishes. Bollocks to the summery commercial ciders – what you want now is a proper country scrumpy.

Poached pears with figs are another treat, while if you get the chance to head to the countryside, make sure you take a bag and fill it with blackberries. These are one of my favourite fruits and it’s hard to resist not to eat them before you get home to stick into a crumble, or blend and pour over icecream. And, frankly, there’s nothing more autumnal than a good bramble jelly.

I’ve already stepped up my efforts in the kitchen over the past couple of weeks and, as the winds turn colder, I’ll be more inclined to spend some some reacquainting myself with some old cooking favourites.

I genuinely couldn’t care what the weather’s doing outside. If it’s cold and wet, I’ll cook. If we get some glorious autumn sunshine at the weekends, I’ll put in something that can slowly bake while I head out and kick through the leaves.

October, November – it’s good to have you back.

written by Gary Andrews \\ tags: autumn, cooking, roast squash, seasonal food, yum

And I’ve got a whole of host posts in my draft folder to prove it.

But then:

1. I got very busy with work.

2. I’ve been feeling a bit run down and not great.

3. I finally had the root canal done. This morning. Thank God for neurofen.

4. Tonight was provisionally pencilled in to do household chores, relaxing and blogging. But then a friend of mine mentioned her new flat didn’t have a working cooker.

If there’s one piece of pain I truly feel after spending three months with a barely functioning Baby Belling, it’s being without cooking space.

Which meant tonight turned into an lovely impromptu dinner party, where the star of the show were Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Guinness and Walnut Dark Chocolate Brownies.

God, I can sill taste them now.

For main course were peppers stuffed with courgette and lemon and coriander couscous, which are ridiculously simple to make. Chop off the top of your pepper and core. Brush down your peppers with olive oil and coriander and stick them in a pre-heated 200 Celcius oven for about ten minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a small bit of water (I’m not great with measurements or terms. Some, a bit and lots are about as far as I go) in a saucepan throw in just over 100g of couscous, with a bit of butter and chopped coriander.  Squeeze in juice from a lemon and a dash of olive oil, stir, cover and let it simmer until the cous cous has absorbed the fluid.

Dice a small amount of courgette and chop a couple of medium size garlic cloves. Take your peppers out of the oven and spoon in the couscous. When the pepper is half full, put a layer of courgette and garlic across and spoon more couscous on top.

Put back in the oven for another 7-10 minutes (or until the betters start turning seriously black at the edges). Take out and serve with salad.

Now you can see why I’ve not managed to write anything coherent tonight.

written by Gary Andrews \\ tags: chocolate brownies, recipies, root canal, stuffed peppers