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Ruth

Ruth

Thursday, 13 August 2015 10:24

You Cheddar believe it. The Cheese Postie.

Bang on the toast trend, we are excited about this new company called The Cheese Postie. For a £3.99 a week subscription, a DIY savoury or sweet toasted cheese sandwich will drop through your letterbox.  The ready to assemble ingredients will include quality artisan bread (including gluten free) the filling and a toasting bag.

Sunday, 26 July 2015 10:18

#TheGreatGustoPlateChallenge

Here is something creative and arty to entertain the children eating at The One Bull, Bury St Edmunds, The Cadogan at Ingham or The Crown at Hartest between 24th July and 31st August. Let their imagination and creativity run wild to turn a plate image into an amazing picture.There are two categories – 5’s & under and 6’s & over.There are prizes too with a £50 voucher for the winner of each category at each pub. (one entry per visit).The winning entries will be displayed at each pub. Look out for the pictures being tweeted under the hashtag #TheGreatGustoChallenge. My favourites so far... The Crown Hartest above and this lovely One Bull.

 

Wednesday, 22 July 2015 10:12

Steve Robson is our Summer Dish of the Day

Steve Robson is from Middlesborough (where incidentally, Johny Cakes lived for a while a long time ago) but has settled in sunny Suffolk and is Head Chef at The Cookhouse restaurant at Suffolk Food Hall. Ipswich. Here is his recipe for Chocolate Fondant.

Wednesday, 22 July 2015 10:07

A couple o' three at The Cookhouse

Yis' day on my visit to The Cookhouse at The Suffolk Food Hall for lunch, I had the chance to chat to owner Oliver Paul, who jointly runs the business with his cousin Robert. This is diversification on a hooge scale, with former cattle rearing units and silage clamps converted into a massive food hall, garden centre and cookhouse.  There are commercial food production units complete with ice cream parlour and a large play area for kids with beautiful views across to the River Orwell. This is the kind of place you can wander for hours, with one area leading you into the next and something new round every corner. The provenance of this food doesn't get much better. Keeping it on the family farms with milk-fed pork, game, carrots, potatoes and onions coming from Broxtead while the Freston farm provides the Red Poll beef. The butcher in the food hall even sends the chicken carcasses to Steve Robson, the head chef (and our new Dish of the Day) to make stock. Nothing is wasted.

I ate a starter of lemon and herb hummus with flatbread and olives, chosen from the Summer Set Menu (2 courses £15.50/3courses £19.00 and hooly good value). Then I chose the Deben mussels which are from local supplier Simpers of Suffolk. Last time I tried their mussels I thought they were on the small size, but these were plump and succulent, although a bit hard going served with two thick doorsteps of bread and chips. There isn't a commercial deep fat fryer? They must be soft in the hid, I thought, but these homemade chips were great. I'm a fan of bite size desserts because you can pretend that you are aren't eating so much, so I pretended that I wasn't eating very much and chose 'A couple o' three'. A properly made mini apple and elderflower turnover, a slice of summer puddin' and - best on the plate - raspberry and balsamic sorbet. A roight old Suffolk feast.

 

 

 

Friday, 17 July 2015 10:01

SuffolkFoodie AGM

Today suffolkfoodie decided it was time for an AGM - we haven't had one for a few years - so we're off to various places to eat, drink and investigate the general state of foodie affairs. We'll be visiting the new transport cafe on the A14 looking for Johny Cakes' all time favourite dish liver - any kind - and bacon, and trying some organic food in Fornham. Then we'll go somewhere for lunch.

Friday, 17 July 2015 09:58

Norfolk Tomatoes

I couldn't resist these Nar Valley grown tomatoes from Swaffham High Street greengrocers. All shapes and colours with a kilo for £4.

Toast is getting big and very posh. It's moved across from San Francisco and been spotted at the London based Brickhouse Bakery who have been creating limited edition flavours. If you want to look like Gwyneth Paltrow, then eat Avocado Toast. Gwyneth has a recipe for vegan avocado toast in her recipe book, 'It's All Good' - she compares it to 'a favourite pair of jeans'. Here at SuffolkFoodie, we don't look like Gwyneth but are bang on trend; we're eating Hot Cromer Crab on Toast.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

 1 dressed Cromer crab
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons readymade English mustard
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons finely grated Cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped chervil
juice of 1/2 of a lemon and a teaspoon of the finely grated rind
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a little oil, for greasing

4 slices of thickly cut bread  (sourdough is perfect)

 

Preheat the oven to 180C / gas 4 and lightly oil a baking tray.

In a bowl mix together the crabmeat, mayonnaise, mustard, half the chopped herbs, lemon rind and lemon juice, and season well.

Preheat the grill, or heat a griddle pan, and lightly toast the bread on one side only. Arrange on the prepared baking tray, toasted side down, then generously spread each slice with the crab mixture and sprinkle with a little of each cheese. Put into the preheated oven for about 8 minutes, until the cheese melts and turns golden brown. Take out of the oven, sprinkle with the remaining chopped herbs. Serve with the salad leaves, tossed with the dressing, and a wedge of lemon.

Thursday, 21 May 2015 17:03

Petta Fiesta 2015

PettaFiesta will be holding another weekend of music, film and fun for all ages on the weekend of 11th and 12th July. It's a ticket only event so visit the PettaFiesta website to book. Saturday night features a communal supper cooked on the campfire by us - the suffolkfoodie team - an outdoor screening of Carousel, a not-too-horror movie, a late night cheesy disco and karaoke - keeping you entertained well into the night. Bring a tent and wake up in the morning to the glorious dawn chorus and a Sunday spent strolling the pretty garden. The Little House of Cooking will be making brunch and afternoon tea for sale on Sunday.

Friday, 19 June 2015 08:21

Jam first or cream?

Is there a better way to spend a lazy afternoon than sitting and enjoying a Luxury Afternoon Tea, overlooking Neptune Marina and from the comfort of the chic Salthouse Harbour Hotel? Myself and a carefully selected afternoon tea aficionado arrived to a warm welcome from Hollie. The champers arrived first - Dom Ruinart (from the oldest Champagne house in France) We chose English Breakfast from the selection of 10 loose-leaf teas and tucked straight into a good home made sausage roll; egg mayonnaise sandwiches that were well seasoned and freshly cut, cheese scones filled with cream cheese and tomatoes were the big boys on the block and an open smoked salmon sandwich was colourful and delicately topped with a frond of fresh dill. Up a layer on the vibrant bue and rather wobbly cake stand to the sweet section. Favourites here were the mini chocolate éclairs, light, bursting with fresh cream and drizzled with chocolate. Macarons were a delicate yellow and filled with a zingy lemon curd. A fruit tartlet not mentioned on the menu was colourful with sliced strawberries, raspberry and kiwi fruit on a crème patissiere. Oh the calories! Deep breath, a little rest, the teapot topped up.

The next round included the soft creamy cupcake - we were divided on opinion, I said a little boring, companion said light and deliciously vanilla flavoured. There was flapjack and a chocoholics delight of rich, dark chocolate mousse on a crunchy biscuit base. We still had the scones to go! Whilst having a breather we discussed whether the clotted cream or the jam should go on first. These were excellent freshly baked scones, served warm, soft crumb in the middle and crisp crust. We cut them in half and tried it the Cornish way - jam on top - and then the Devon way - cream on top. Either way the afternoon tea was excellent.

Thursday, 14 May 2015 17:56

Food Revolution Day

Food Revolution Day. Jamie Oliver the rapper ...take a look

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