Theo Randall on Saturday Kitchen 5th November 2011

We’re delighted to say that London’s Theo Randall will be on BBC1’s popular cookery show Saturday Kitchen this weekend.  Theo was ex-Head Chef of The River Cafe and now has opened up a restaurant in the Intercontinental Hotel near Park Lane.  Theo is on Great British Chefs website & his recipes will be coming to our Feastive app soon. 

While running the kitchen at The River Cafe, he saw it acquire its Michelin star; his new venture has been praised in similar terms to that gastronomic institution. As Randall says, ‘good food is one of life’s simple pleasures’.

Simplicity is key in his style, but the broad variety of tastes and techniques in Italy leads him to blend and marry some elements in dazzling fashion. As with all great chefs, his dishes are led by the sheer quality of the ingredients used.  But creativity comes into play with the pairing of smoked eel with yellow and red beets, or the addition of pancetta and slow-cooked peas to wood-roasted pigeon on bruschetta.

Saturday Kitchen is watched by 2.7 million people all over Britain. Theo will be joined by the host of the show,  James Martin, along with top chef Bryn Williams. The show will also include classic moments from the TV shows of Rick Stein and Keith Floyd, while wine expert Susie Barrie matches wine to all the studio dishes.

We hope you’ll all be watching on Saturday when the show starts at 10am.  We wish Theo the best of luck in the omelette challenge, and hopefully all the pasta tossing will come in handy when when he’s competing against Bryn.

`La Petite Mort` - Review of Halloween Banquet at Petersham Nurseries Cafe

Ever wonder what might happen if a beautiful eaterie, in stunning grounds, invited you to dinner with some talented actors and musicians to provide lots of tricks & treats for Halloween?  Gemma from Great British Chefs went along to The Petersham Nurseries’ La Petite Mort to taste the spooky atmosphere & the lovely food cooked by Michelin starred Skye Gyngell (one of only six female Michelin starred chefs in the UK).

It was a very special night out - what a beautiful place and what a spooky show they had on! All sorts of characters were about Petersham House, each telling you their tale on the death of the three daughters: the grave digger, the father, the nurse, the maid, the pastor. The rooms of the house were darkly and beautifully propped and the overall atmosphere was obscure and frankly, quite terrifying. The drizzle didn’t detract from it one bit.

We assisted the funeral of the daughter and were then invited inside the house, to see the bathroom where she slit her wrists. We saw the ghosts of the other sisters, one of which hung herself and we learned the reason behind all their deaths was the black magic practiced by their father. In the meantime, we had a sip of comforting, hot soup.

 

Then we all sat down to break bread for the deceased. The greenhouse where we were seated was full of carved pumpkins, chandeliers and happy people enjoying themselves.

They gave us some Welsh Rarebit for canapé, followed by  Chicken and Mushroom pie (with adorable little skulls on the pastry) with a sweet potato salad and the most amazing broccoli and potato mix (how it was so delicious I don’t understand. Broccoli. Potato. Nothing else). For dessert we were treated to rice pudding with blooooody compote. 

At the end of the meal, we were invited to take part on an invocation of the ghosts of the three daughters. One person from the public was chosen to be “sacrificed” (glad it wasn’t me)! Just when we thought that was the end of the night, the music kicked off at the other end of the gardens so we danced and we ate some apples covered in chocolate.

Thanks Gemma - The whole event sounded amazing & lets hope that The Petersham Nurseries Cafe also run the event again next year.  We imagine it would also make a wonderful idea for Day of the Dead celebrations.

Blog post by Gemma Marti O’Toole for Great British Chefs

Food Festivals this weekend October 28th- October 30th 2011

I’m sure a lot of you will be busy with different celebrations this weekend such as Diwali and Halloween parties. For those who aren’t, we have a few food festivals for you to attend.

James Sommerin - Great British Chefs.

The first ever Newport Food Festival is on 29th October and promises to set the standard for many more to follow.  There will be cookery lessons for children and a workshop teaching them how to look after their garden vegetables.  There will be a host of chefs throughout the day demonstrating their culinary skills. Look out for James Sommerin (from our App), I’m sure he will be cooking up something spectacular for you all!

Another festival in Wales is the Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival which runs from October 29th to 30th. There will be food demonstrations teaching you about Persian, Welsh and Vegetarian cuisine.  There will also be a huge market, displaying the best in local produce from around the area.  Children can join in with all the fun, as there is a designated activity area where they can participate in food inspired activities.

For all you meat lovers out there, we have a treat for you.  The Festival Of Cured Meats is at The Southbank (London) on from October 28th to 30th.  You’ll be able to sample some of the finest Artisan meat from around Europe.  Keeping with the Artisan theme, there will also be Artisan ‘Street Food’ market, where you will be able to try hot and cold meat and bread.

Run out of ideas for the last day of half term? Then take the kids to Love Food Festival: Halloween in Bristol, on October 30th. They’ll be able to plant garlic to scare off the Vampires, make Toffee Apples, and carve scary faces into Pumpkins and lots more Halloween inspired activities. For the adults, there’s a food market, street food stalls displaying worldly cuisines, mulled wine and you can even bring a picnic with you to enjoy the afternoon entertainment.

Please let us know if you visit any of these festivals & events, we would love to see some pictures (which are best uploaded onto our Great British Chefs Flickr Group). Also we’re sure to have missed some special food festivals taking place in Great Britain this weekend (not weekly food markets, there are hundreds of those every week), so please let us know in the comments. Enjoy!

Blog post by Monique from Great British Chefs

Angela Hartnett’s “A Taste of Home” offers an ample taste of good veg, too

We asked vegetarian Great British Chefs’ guest blogger Monica Shaw to review Michelin starred chef, Angela Hartnett’s cookery book “A Taste of Home” (Ebury Press, 2011).  It’s not a vegetarian cookbook, but we figured if it had 200 recipes in it, surely some would be “OK for veggies”. How did Monica fare? 

Photography by Monica Shaw

A Taste of Home’s subtitle, “200 Quick and Easy Recipes” belies what this book is all about: beautiful, simple, honest food, cooked well, with quality British ingredients, many of which turn out to be vegetables. Swiss chard, artichokes, broad beans, peas, beetroot, squash… the index reads like an encyclopedia of the best of British produce, and the recipes she creates with them are inviting in their straightforwardness. And, well, they just sound good.

Pear, chicory and blue cheese salad. Fusilli with sprouting broccoli, chilli and garlic. Polenta with poached egg and mushrooms. Onion tart with rocket and cheddar. But the pictures, oh the pictures: that’s what really makes you want to put on your apron. Good photography is paramount to a cookbook, and one look at Angela’s braised fennel makes you think two things: one, “I want that” and two, “I could make that.”

Of course, the proof is in the pudding, or the salad in the vegetarian’s case. I made Angela’s puy lentils, spinach and goats’ curd salad, lightly dressed with her “classic” vinaigrette, fragrant with the scent of chopped tarragon. I loved this: beautiful, filling, and much-needed proof that a salad can be so much more satisfying than a pile of lettuce.

As I said, this is not a vegetarian cookbook, so alongside courgette and carrot fritters, you’ll also find roast pork with spinach and spring onions,  sweet potato and chorizo salad,  and grilled salmon with pak choi and ginger.

But here the book is another vegetable win, by demonstrating dishes and techniques that make meat less of a main event, and more of a faithful compliment to gorgeous vegetables. Might eating more veg be more appealing and inspiring if served alongside a beautifully prepared piece of meat or fish?

As a vegetarian, I can’t say. But I do know that I’m far more likely to braise a fennel bulb or roast some squash if I’m given a clear, simple recipe with readily available ingredients and drool-worthy photos that demand I make the dish. In that way, “A Taste of Home” might be one of the best non-vegetarian vegetarian cookbooks to come out this year.

Blog post for Great British Chefs by Monica Shaw

Congratulations to The Sunday Times Food List Winners

The winners of The Sunday Times Food List, based on food quality alone and chosen by 8,000 diners-out from across the UK were announced earlier this week. The Ledbury, headed by Australian Chef Brett Graham, was voted number one restaurant. Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Great Milton, Oxfordshire (run by Head Chef - Gary Jones pictured above - he’s one of the chefs who recently joined Great British Chefs website) came second in the Food List. Last year’s winner, Gidleigh Park, was third. Le Gavroche in London’s Mayfair came fourth and in fifth place was The Waterside Inn, Bray, Berks 

The  Ledbury’s staff famously fought off looters and protected customers during this summer’s riots and Brett Graham said he is delighted with the result: “It’s a huge honour to top the List, especially as it comes from such a broad base of customers. This is a testament to everyone in the extremely talented and energetic young team here at The Ledbury. It’s my privilege to come in each day and orchestrate the proceedings, but the accolade belongs to them all. I feel so lucky to be part of such a dedicated and hard working group.” 

Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley won the Coeur de Cognac Award for Best Dessert, and Heston Blumenthal’s Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental received the Rémy Martin V.S.O.P Best Newcomer Award. 

Marcus kindly shared is award winning Custard Tart recipe for our Facebook fans and visitors of Great British Chefs website.

Of coming 2nd Raymond Blanc said “There is nothing like being No 1.

Yet, finishing 2nd best is a fantastic achievement in itself, and I am hugely proud of everyone at Le Manoir. We always strive to do our best, and have been consistently in the top ten restaurants in the country: this does not happen by chance, so by finishing second also gives us something to work towards to next year.

My vision at Le Manoir is to create a ‘modern classic’ which shows in all of its facets. Training is at the heart of all we do here as we continue to grow, nurture and develop.

First, of course, I must congratulate Gary Jones, my Executive Head Chef, and Head Chef Carl Newbury, his second in command; and my compatriot Benoit Blin, our Chef Patissier. But congratulations are due to the whole brigade who are working so hard and with such enthusiasm.”

Karen Robinson, Editor of The Sunday Times Food List, said: “We’re delighted for Brett and everyone at The Ledbury. The Food List is the ultimate taste test. And although the restaurants on it are not cheap, the point is that it’s not about a clique of food critics or anonymous restaurant inspectors telling us to go and spend this money. 

“The List represents the views of the food-loving public, who know the value of good food and, even in these austere times, are still prepared to recognise exceptional quality and pay for the very best.“ 

It was interesting to note the following from this year’s List: 

• Half of the top 100 restaurants are outside London (last year it was only 40%) 
• The number of Asian eateries in the list has fallen by half 
• There are 31 new entries on the list 

The List is compiled for The Sunday Times by Harden’s. Look out for this weeks’ The Sunday Times which will publish the top 100 restaurants in Britain in full (30 October).

To compile the list more than 80,000 restaurant reports were submitted by 8,000 people. Which restaurants would make your top five? We are discussing this on Facebook.

Lunch at Nuno Mendes’ Corner Room

How can a ‘no phone, no email, no bookings, just walk-ins’ policy work for a fine dining restaurant?  Great British Chefs guest blogger Chris Osburn, walked into Nuno Mendes’ Corner Room to find out.

All Photography by Chris Osburn

The Corner Room is Michelin starred chef Nuno Mendes’ second restaurant. Following the runaway success of his Loft Project supper club and his wow factor tasting menu restaurant Viajante, this latest months old endeavour offers refined bistro dining in an elegant setting. And with a newly launched two course lunch special for £15 that’s deliciously good value for money, now is as brilliant a time to go as ever.

Tucked away within a first floor corner of Bethnal Green’s Town Hall Hotel and designed to reflect a Parisian bistro with dark wood floors, a vintage spiral staircase (which leads to nowhere) and an impressive back wall installation of suspended lights, The Corner Room is an intimate little space perfect for a low-key lunch. 

During my midday/midweek visit, the sunshine was streaming through the windows in a most salubrious way, my dining companions and I virtually had the place to ourselves and service was downright kind in addition to being especially speedy. However, as ideal as all that added up to be, take it all away and I’d still have plenty to rave about. The food was gorgeous.

A starter course of squid with romesco, leeks and chorizo crumbs (£7) was a deconstructed wonder of flavours while a main of Iberico pork and Portuguese bread pudding (£14) yielded one of the tastiest and tenderest pieces of meat I’ve had this year. Given the starter was regularly priced at seven quid and the pork main already at £14, going with the two courses for £15 special was a no brainer. It was also the cheapest fine dine I’ve had in a very long time … and a lunch I very much hope to repeat ASAP. 

A glass of Reserve de Gassac 2010 (£5) as suggested by our server suitably accompanied the dishes – particularly the pork – as if designed specifically to be matched with my lunch. With still a bit of room for dessert (there’s always room for dessert, right), I was more than pleased with my selection of apple with hazelnut and panna cotta ice cream (£5). Palate cleansing and polite but nevertheless yummy.

If you’re looking for a quiet spot for a soft spoken lunch or you’re hoping to impress a client with restaurant for those ‘in the know’, this is as good as gets in London. But be warned, this beauty of a bistro has a refreshingly strict ‘no phone, no email, no bookings, just walk-ins’ policy.

The Corner Room is located at Town Hall Hotel & Apartments, Patriot Square, Bethnal Green, E2 9NF.

Do you think “fine dining” restaurants with a no bookings, just walk in policy are a good idea? Have you ever experienced anything like this before? Should more restaurants do this?  We’re discussing this over on Facebook.

Blog post for Great British Chefs by Chris Osburn

Alfred Prasad’s Slow Cooked Hyderabadi Lamb Shank

Photography by David Griffen for Great British Chefs - Alfred Prasad

We’re delighted to showcase a wonderful slow cooked lamb recipe that would make a perfect dish for Diwali celebrations or indeed at any time when you want to seduce your guests with the enhanced flavours of authentic Indian cookery.

Alfred is one of the new chefs on our website and is head chef of the Michelin starred Tamarind in central London.  His lamb shank curry celebrates food from the Nizams of Hyderabad - their food is an amazing mix of Arabic, Turkish, Moghul and regional Indian cuisine.

The festival of Diwali - the five day Indian Festival of Lights - celebrates the triumph of good over evil, knowledge over ignorance and light over darkness.  It’s the Sikh, Hindu & Jain equivalent of Christmas.

Alfred said “In India Diwali was the most eagerly anticipated festivals for our friends.  In London we invite a bunch of friends over.  The house is lit with oil lamps made from clay and we have a lovely meal.”

We’re delighted to share Alfred’s recipe for the slow cooked lamb shanks:

Hyderabadi Shanks

Slow-cooked lamb shanks with browned onions, ginger, garlic, yoghurt and ground spices

Ingredients: (Serves 4)
4 Lamb (leg) Shanks
4 tablespoons Vegetable oil
4 sticks of Cinnamon
4 pods of Cardamom
6 Cloves
3 medium Onions, sliced
3 tablespoons Ginger & garlic paste
1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
1 teaspoon Chilli powder
2 teaspoons Cumin powder
2 tablespoons Coriander powder
4 tablespoons Yoghurt
3 ripe Tomatoes, chopped
½ teaspoon Garam masala powder
½ bunch Coriander leaves
Salt

Method: Wash the lamb shanks and leave to drain.

Peel onions and slice fine, wash the tomatoes, chop fine and keep aside.

Heat oil in a large saucepan; add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and sauté for half a minute; add sliced onions and sauté over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.

Add the lamb shanks and cook over high heat for five minutes, stirring constantly.

Add ginger & garlic paste, stir well for a couple of minutes and add the turmeric, chilli, cumin and coriander powders and salt, sauté for a further five minutes. Add yoghurt and sauté for a further 5 minutes over high heat.

Add the chopped tomato, stir and allow to simmer for 5 minutes or until the oil separates from the masala.

Add enough hot water to cover the shanks and bring to a boil, cover with a lid, simmer and cook until the lamb is done (approximately 1 hour). Remove from the flame, remove the shanks using a pair of tongs and strain the cooking liquid.

Cook the strained liquid for a further 10 minutes or until reduced to the desired consistency and check seasoning.

To finish, add the cooked shanks back into the sauce, cover and simmer for a further 15 minutes, sprinkle garam masala powder (optional) and chopped, washed coriander leaves and serve hot.

We hope you will try this gorgeous recipe, and don’t forget to let us know how it turned out.  What’s the Indian dish that you like to make the most?

Cakes, Scones, Breads, Tarts, Pies, Baps, Turnovers, Pasties, Pastries, Macaroons, Flapjacks, Buns

It’s the week when the nation celebrates the art (or perhaps science) of baking with National Baking Week.  Great British Chefs Guest blogger Matthew Fort wonders why we are so obsessed with baking in Britain.

Milk Chocolate Flapjacks with Hazelnuts by Josh Eggleton

What’s it to be then? Bath Seed Cake or Dundee Cake? Yorkshire Parkin or Welsh Bara Brith? Chelsea Bun or Devonshire Split? Kentish Huffkin or Grasmere Ginger Bread? Something restrained and refined or something sweet and squelchy? Something soft and soothing or something crisp and spicy?

Yes, it’s National Baking Week, time to mix and stir and pop in the oven and fill your kitchen with the heady perfumes of cakes and biscuits, scones and tarts.

Baking has had a renaissance in Britain over the last few years. Bakeries have become fashion icons. Cupcakes have invaded the higher reaches of society. Columns on baking colonise even the most respectable of newspapers, and baking competitions have become a staple of television schedules.

And why not? Baking has always been central to the British eating experience. We have a national sweet tooth, a taste for that divine combination of flour and fat and sugar and elbow grease, for anything that will carry a reasonable load of icing and jam with just a clump of cream to help it along. We’re the nation that gave the world tea as a meal, for heaven’s sake (Think of tea as a kind of afternoon tapas).

I remember talking to the finest baker I ever knew, the late and deeply lamented Winnie Swarbrick. I was complementing on her skills as I peered out across a sea of Eccles cakes, Goosnagh Cakes, ginger cobs, a scone loaf as light as thistledown and a sponge cake of etherial airiness with a thick layer of whipped cream bursting out of its middle on her kitchen table. “How often do you bake?” I asked her. “Twice or three times a week”, she said. “But my mother”, she said, “now she really was baker. She baked every day”.

Every day may seem a but much these days, for even the most fanatical home baker. But there’s no reason not to celebrate now. Think of that great panoply of British baked masterpieces - cakes, scones, breads, tarts, pies, baps, turnovers, pasties, pastries, macaroons, flapjacks, buns, made with finest British butter, flour and sugar and cream. Think of the comfort, cheer and pleasure you can give just by baking someone something. And if you’re stuck for a bit of inspiration, just look around the Great British Chefs App

Blog post for Great British Chefs by Matthew Fort

How often do you bake each week? Are you baking more because of shows like the BBC’s The Great British Bake Off? Join the discussion on Facebook we’d love to hear your thoughts.

Galton Blackiston on Saturday Kitchen 15th October 2011

One of the news chefs on Great British Chefs website, Galton Blackiston,  will be on the BBC’s hugely popular Saturday Kitchen on 15th October from 10am

Galton must be one of very few Michelin-starred chefs who started out selling homemade cakes on a market stall.  We imagine he’ll be very interested in National Baking Week next week.

Galton cut his teeth in the catering world by working with the legendary John Tovey at his world-renowned Windermere hotel, Miller Howe. Here the TV chef served no-choice homely feasts to guests.

This went on to be a major influence as Blackiston has a similar arrangement at Morston Hall, his intimate country house hotel on the Norfolk coast. Blackiston has run Morston Hall for nearly two decades, and in addition to that star from Michelin,·it holds 3 AA rosettes and 5/10 in the Good Food Guide.

We wish Galton best of luck in The Omelette Challenge on the show today and also welcome him to our site, where his homely food is sure to be a great inspiration to our visitors.  Find our more about Galton on our site

Milk Chocolate & Hazelnut Flapjacks from Josh Eggleton

With our celebration of Chocolate Week, we uploaded a picture onto Foodspotting of Josh Eggleton’s wonderful flapjacks from his Michelin starred pub The Pony & Trap.  You got very excited about them on Facebook and demanded the recipe faster than we can actually get it onto our site at Great British Chefs (we have BIG changes approaching on how you can access our chefs’ recipes and we are nearly there!)

However, Josh is an avid blogger and reads our Facebook page too, so he was kind enough to send in the recipe for us to share with you all.  It’s super easy and quick to make.

For 60 portions

Oven Temperature: 180 C

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

455g Butter

455g Brown Sugar

680g Oats

142.5ml Golden Syrup

125g Chopped Hazelnuts

250g Milk Chocolate

Method:

-Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a bowl.

-Add the oats, chocolate and hazelnuts and mix well

-Put into tins and cook, chill, slice, serve

Thanks Josh for responding to our Facebook fans and sending this in so quickly. 

We hope you will all try the recipe and let us know how it turned out.  

Tom Kerridge’s Hand & Flowers becomes first 2 Star Michelin Pub in Great Britain

Tom Kerridge who is one of the brand new chefs on Great British Chefs website, is Head Chef at the Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Bucks and has just been named the first two-Michelin-starred pub in the country.

Tom first won a Michelin star in 2003 at Adlards in Norwich but left the restaurant after 18 months to launch the Hand & Flowers together with his wife, Beth, in February 2005. The pub picked up a Michelin star in 2006 and has since opened four guest rooms on site.

Kerridge’s happy marriage of robust cuisine and convivial pub atmosphere has become something of a model among the new breed of Michelin-hopeful gastropubs, something that will no doubt intensify following the second star.

Tom is absolutely over the moon with the result. “It’s amazing,” he said to Caterer and Hotelkeeper. “The fact that we’re a pub with two stars is just incredible.

“The fact that Michelin is awarding two stars to a pub means they are embracing British culture - it’s the same as a two-star tapas bar in Spain. My cooking may be French but we use British ingredients, we are a British pub and serve ales and we have fish and chips on the menu at lunchtime – the only two-Michelin-starred fish and chips in the world!”

Kerridge added “It has been a journey, a slow process and we have progressively improved. I am so proud of my staff. All of them bar me and my pastry chef are under 30 so this is a really amazing achievement.”

We’d like to extend our congratulations to Tom and his hard working team who have worked for seven years to elevate comfort & pub food to new heights.

Discover recipes from The Hand and Flowers such as, Slow-cooked Duck with Duck Fat Chips and Gravy, on his page on Great British Chefs website.

Marcello Tully to join new Great British Chefs Site

Because Scotland had such a raw deal with the Indian Summer this weekend and also because we’re loving chocolate so much, here’s another sneak peek of one of the new chefs coming to the upcoming new Great British Chefs website

Brazillian born chef Marcello Tully from Kinloch Lodge on the beautiful island of Skye will be joining the talented chefs on our site. After training with Albert Roux and working at Le Gavroche, the reigning monarch of Scottish home cookery, Lady Claire Macdonald, then chose him to head the kitchen at Kinloch Lodge. The restaurant has since won three AA rosettes and a Michelin star.

The Sunday Times’ Allan Brown said that Marcello’s ‘homemade chocolate ice-cream deserved to be ushered in with blaring trumpets’.

We’re really looking forward to sharing Marcello’s dishes which we think are some of the most exquisitely refined Scottish-influenced food on the planet!