Eden Bakery

We visited The Eden Project last wednesday (it was the last day of the Annual Ticket and we couldn’t waste that!)

The Bakery was the newly opened restaurant, and was truly amazing – We could see all the dishes being prepared in the morning, and it was good to see proper chopping by the proper chef, trays of Pizza, Bruschetta, Fritatta & Carrot; Celeriac and herb soup were all prepared that morning, for that lunchtime.

The restaurant change it’s self was a result of a flood in the early part of the year, and everyone seemed to have pulled out all the stops to get it ready for the summer season (Not functioning at all when we visited in April). The vibe is very laid back, with communal benches and long tables, cups on hooks above – very light and airy with a Californian feeling. We found something for all of us and thoroughly enjoyed lunch with a view of the Mediterranean Biome.

Great Scones too.....Massive -  with help yourself jam & cream!



What a lovely Jam, and all in a Pickle

What a fabulous day I had on Saturday at Tresillian House at the Summer Preserving Workshop with Pam "the jam" Corbin and Liz "the pickle" Neville.

I watched with pure pleasure, for over 4 hours (albeit 3 fabulous food breaks), whilst these 2 absolute joys enthused, nattered, stirred, boiled and informed us lucky 25 of many recipes and generously shared their vast experience.

The course was well planned, we all recieved pamphlets of the recipes, but the full "Jam Packed" recipe book by Pam was available to buy at a special price. Pam 'the Jam' Corbin kindly signed and personalised my book.
Truely inspired - we even were provided with discount voucher for the on line supplier of jam paraphenalia www.jamjarshop.com

Having a special view of the walled garden, with gardener John - an authority on lunar planting, was a real pleasure

Loads more information to follow....soon!

Burgers! Burgers! Burgers!

I seem to be making or experiencing plenty of burgers...both home made and restaurant.

Personally I think the raw materials and the seasoning are important – but the bun does have a bearing on the enjoyment overall.

We went to Blas Burgerworks on Wednesday (after a flood at Pizza Express) and I had a fabulous burger with bacon and avocado.  Very succulent texture, great fresh salad and a good bread bun – but I personally felt the burger was slightly underseasoned (no probs – there’s salt to add - completely remedying this) and the guacamole did squish out just a bit too much (lots of licked fingers required).

The Haloumi stack  -Grilled halloumi, wilted spinach, field mushroom, roast sweet peppers & caper aioli  was well recommended, as was the Bacon Cheese burger – using Cornish Blue or Davidstow Cheddar, and dry cure smoked bacon.   Chips weren’t chunky (as I remembered from last time) but very very hot and tasty.

Meanwhile, a few days before, I helped Bella make 4^th July burgers for a BBQ in Academy Place, for a very very select party.

Bella’s 4^th July Burgers

What you need...

500g Minced beef (less than 12% fat)
1 small onion, chopped very finely
Salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten well
1 slice bread, made into breadcrumbs

For sealing..

1 x 15ml sp sunflower oil



To serve..

Quality Bun, sliced tomatoes, sliced gerkins, lettuce, tomato ketchup, mayonnaise, chillis, cucumber, rashers of streaky bacon, sliced cheese....the list is endless

How to...

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.  Combine until well mixed.
Form into 6 patties, forming and shaping with hands.
Start the cooking process off by quickly sealing the burgers in a frying pan, both sides.
This helps to keep them from breaking up on the BBQ (or they could be finished off in the oven  -
180 C/350 F/Gas 5)

 Place in lightly toasted bun and add whatever you wish

Asparagus wrapped in prosciutto for the Barbie

Gorgeous food and friends in St Ives. We are celebrating being on holiday again!

How to....

Take 25 or so baby asparagus spears, wrap bundles of 3-4 tightly with prosciutto, protecting heads if desired.
 
These should be placed on a lit, white hot BBQ for 5-6 minutes, they just need to warm through and lightly cook the prosciutto, the asparagus will remain crunchy.
However the BBQ imparts a savoury smokiness to these little bundles of freshness.

Great with hollandaise, or a mayonnaise or yogurt based dip

R&D

This interesting article regarding R&D ( a report by CIAA) provoked the ongoing notion about the importance of maintaining an R&D programme throughout a economic downturn.

The link here shows the topline headline Pleasure

The focus needs to meet the requirements of the customer - Pleasure and health are odd bedfellows - but there are aways opportunities for product engineering, focus on quality or ironing out those niggling production hiccups which occur pre and post launch.

Rocky Road Recipe - full and uncensored!

                                                                               

I seem to have become famous for chocolate based traybakes..........I wonder why?!    

Anyway - here is the recipe for Rocky Road, Timmins style - nothing left out - no secrets!

400g Milk Chocolate
6 digestive biscuits
10 chocolate fingers (they were left over - you can add any biscuit really...!)
100g Maltesers
50g mini marshallows
to decorate: coloured sprinkles and edible glitter

Melt the chocolate gently, either in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
Break the biscuits into small pieces ( size of a 10p piece)
To the melted chocolate, add the broken biscuits; Maltesers and marshmallows and stir well to ensure everything is covered in the chocolate.
Pour mixture into a lightly buttered foil or buttered baking tray ( 15mm x 30mm or equivalent - it doesn't matter if it's too big the mixture is stiff enough to stop in the tray)
Spread the mixture out so it's 1-1.5cm thick, try not to have any big holes.
Allow to set before cutting into squares. Yummy.

Food festivals

word of mouth is slightly delayed ( I've been busy!) , but is a great summary of all major food festivals this summer.