Recipe Time: Cherry and Almond Brownies

Greatings, fellow guzzlers!

In this post, I'd like to bring you a lovely little take I have on brownies. Now, I must admit that my recipe is based on James Morton's excellent brownie recipe in How Baking Works. If you only buy one book this year, buy this one. His recipes and tips are superb and I have honestly never had a better brownie, having tried several recipes over the years.

I reckon his secret is the long, slow cooking time (I actually found he slightly underestimated the time they took to cook)and the use of caster sugar. I feel it is easy to obsesses about making the brownies the gooeyest, richest ever in the history of the entire universe and actually end up ruining the result. A bit like swinging an axe, just let the material do the work and the result is perfection. And so with the caster sugar. I find it's lighter taste than, say, muscovado, sweetens the mix as it should while allowing the luxurious intensity stem from the chocolate and cocoa powder.

Where my recipe differs from Morton's is in cooking time, tin size and, of course, flavourings.

Obviously, I'm adding almonds and cherries but I also add a teaspoon of vanilla essence. I find it adds another little flavour layer to brownies, the sort that causes you to laugh maniacally on the sofa while smearing cake all over your face. Cherries and almonds are a classic combination and their heady flavours and the chewy texture of dried cherries are perfect complements for chocolate.

As for tins, I favour a 9x9 inch brownie pan over an 8x8. The reason for this that all the 8x8s I have ever found are cheap and thin. Thicker tins disperse heat more evenly and, more importantly if you do a lot of baking, are far more resistant to warping. I have an 8x8 tin and, after comparatively few uses, the thin metal has already warped sufficiently that it is useless for producing finer cakes that need to be perfectly level.

Well, after that preamble let's get on with the recipe!

Ingredients (Makes 12)

• 250g Dark Chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
• 250g Salted Butter
• 300g Golden Caster Sugar
• 3 Eggs, plus 1 Egg Yolk
• 60g Plain Flour
• 60g Cocoa Powder
• 50g Whole Blanched Almonds
• 50g Dried Cherries
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

Method

Preheat and oven to 160°C (Gas Mark 3) or 140°C for a fan oven and prepare almonds by chopping them into large chunks. Line a 9x9 inch brownie pan/baking tin with baking parchment, doing this as neatly as possible to prevent unsightly dents in the sides of your brownies.

Beat the eggs in a bowl until combined and add to the sugar. Mix the two together gently until just combined and set aside. Beating hard will mix air into the mixture like a super incompetent meringue mix and prevent the brownies from achieving the full fudgey glory.

Break the chocolate into pieces, chop up the butter and throw together into a bowl. From this point, you can go very naturalistic and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or you can hurl it into a microwave like I do. If you chose the latter option, be very careful to keep taking the mixture out and stirring it to prevent the parts of the mixture which melt first from burning. Trust me, I've burned chocolate one in the microwave and it was disgusting.

I like to take the melty mix out of the microwave with a few little pieces of chocolate still floating around and use the heat of the mixture to finish the job. If you do this, it should not be so hot as to scramble the eggs in the next stage which is -

- gently pouring the chocolate and butter liquid into the eggy sugar. Whisk as you pour the mixture in to make sure the egg does not become cooked by the chocolate's heat but not so hard as to introduce lots of air.

Mix the flour, cocoa powder, almonds, cherries and vanilla essence together and add to the wet mix. Fold in with a metal spoon until you have just reached the point where no flour is visible. With flour in the mix, there is now the threat of developing gluten which will stiffen the brownie. So, once again, keep the mixing to a minimum.

Pour into the tin, level the surface and bake for about an hour until the mix no longer wobbles or makes crackling noises when taken out of the oven.

Allow to cool, cut into twelve and serve as and when you like.

Book Review - The Dumpling Sisters Cookbook by Amy and Julie Zhang

Greetings, fellow guzzlers!

So, I know that I have been absent for a few weeks, days, I don't know any more but I promise it was a temporary glitch. I now have a job, and a very exciting one at that, and am moving into a new and hopefully more stable period of my life which will allow me to blog to a regular pattern.

In other news, I am teaching myself HTML and CSS and you are reading the first blog post I'm punching out all by myself in code.

Anyway, this is all very well and self-congratulatory but I have business to attend to, the tasty business of reviewing The Dumpling Sisters Cookbook!

The Dumpling Sisters Cookbook is written by, surprise, surprise The Dumplings Sisters, or Amy and Julie Zhang to be precise.

The Zhang sisters are food bloggers and vloggers with a focus on the Chinese food of their roots. While growing up in New Zealand, their parents ran a food cart it is was here that they learned to cook. After completing formidably impress Oxbridge degrees, the sisters set up their blog and here we are today with their first book.

I'm a sucker for real Chinese food so I was very excited about this book, especially as only Gok Wan's Gok Cooks Chinese had so far provided me with what I was looking for.

Fortunately, this book does not disappoint! It is stuffed with recipes, ranging from classics like Sweet and Sour Pork (wookie bellows of delight)to less familiar treats such as pork stuffed aubergines and rainbow peppers.

There is even a section on Chinese baking which, coming from a tradition of believing the Chinese don't bake, was a revelation and one I am keen to pursue - sweet and salty walnut cookies, anyone?

Another really nice touch in the book is that it provides, as a side note, the option with many of the recipes to explore a more exotic side of Chinese cookery such as dried scallops or pickled mustard greens. The great thing about this approach is that you can explore using these ingredients if you can find them or, if like me you struggle to get your hands on even Shaoxing rice wine (100 brands of soy sauce but hardly any of this vital ingredient - why, supermarkets, why?!?!?), then you can omit them without any fear of degrading the recipe.

However, before floating off on a cloud of praise, I had serious recipe testing to do and so I picked out three recipes to try.

• Eggy Fried Rice
• Lacquered Honey Hoisin Pork Spare Ribs
• Spring Onion Pancakes

The Eggy Fried Rice (egg fried rice) was very nice indeed. The flavourings were unusual, inasmuch as they were very delicate and almost aromatic. Very little soy was used and the addition of fresh ginger root made the fried rice different than any I have tasted before

How the rice was cooked was also different than the method I was accustomed to. Previously, I would scramble all the egg before setting it aside to add back in once the rice was cooked. However, the Dumpling Sisters cook half the egg in this way but add the other half during the cooking of the rice. The great advantage of this method is that the rice becomes coated in eggy goodness and truly becomes egg fried rice.

Next, I tried the Lacquered Honey Hoisin Pork Spare Ribs with a little less success. There was nothing wrong with the method, it produced beautifully cooked ribs made with enormous love and attention. Nor was the sauce at fault directly. It was a lovely tasting sauce, sweet with just enough savoury to enhance the pork. For me, however, there simply was not enough of it. Half dribbled off the ribs and stuck to the pan and I was left wishing for a bit more flavour. Perhaps I missed the point and sticky ribs were really not the idea but I think in future I will double up on the quantity of sauce to create a true meaty nirvana!

Finally, I came to the Spring Onion Pancakes. I struggle to find words to describe these delights. Intensely savoury but not in a drying, salty way, the pancakes had a complex layer structure which fell apart on eating. They are an absolute perfect accompaniment to soup and were, for me, the star recipe I tried.

Turning away from the food, the presentation of the book is stunning. The recipes are well spaced out for easy reading and the vast majority of the recipes are accompany by beautiful photographs. All through the book are evocative, Chinese-style illustrations which look like these where made by a brush and the tone the Dumpling Sisters take in their prose is friendly and conversational.

The Dumpling Sisters Cookbook is a terrific guide to all that authentic Chinese food has to offer. The recipes often have quite a delicate flavour, on occasion maybe a shade too delicate, but this is still a great book well worth having in the collection.

Overall * * * * * - An extremely thorough examination of Chinese cooking from a pair of sisters who really know what they are talking about.

Presentation * * * * * - Absolutely stunning visual presentation combines with friendly prose to produce a delightful cookbook.

Quality of Information * * * * - Generally fantastic. The sisters take the trouble to explain what they are doing and or what ingredients they are using. However, it might be argued that one or two recipes could do with a little more flavour.

Range of Information * * * * * - Simply comprehensive. Everything from snacks to feasts, meat dishes to deserts is covered.

Price * * * * * - For £20, this is a well priced book.

Will I Take This Off The Shelf For Reference? - Yes.

---

I have been reviewing The Dumpling Sisters Cookbook by Amy and Julie Zhang, published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson (2015), ISBN-13: 978-0297609063

Restaurant Review - The Breakfast Club, Brighton

Hello there! Welcome to another week on The Hungry Seagull and this week I'm doing a restaurant review. Or is it a cafe review? In this case it is a very fine line for reasons which will become obvious once you start reading.

On the recommendation of a friend, I decided to visit The Breakfast Club in Brighton, one of several Breakfast Clubs dotted about London and Brighton.

I went with a guest reviewer, my YouTuber brother Charles, because he was staying with me and double the reviewers, double the review.

The Breakfast Club serves a variety of breakfast, brunch and general out-and-about food, from pancakes to burgers. The theme is undeniably American, specifically Californian, with plenty of smoothies and Mexican-inspired dishes such as nachos and burritos on the menu.

The decor is the same as the food, with the green ceiling and American diner-style furniture bringing to mind a Californian beach-side eatery. Although a little dark inside, bright lights ensure you can see what you are doing and the place feels relaxed and welcoming.

The staff were exceptionally pleasant. All smiled and could not do enough for us, including serving us water without even asking.

I ordered a cappuccino and the posh sausage sandwich with an added egg while Charles chose the breakfast burrito and the big breakfast smoothie.

Starting with the drinks, they were exceptional. I always treat a cappuccino as the bench mark of anywhere that claims to serve coffee, as the skill needed to heat and stretch that milk properly is a real test of the barista's abilities.

My cappuccino was smooth as silk with plenty of body. The beans were perhaps not outstanding, only very good, but then I was not in an artisan coffee shop so it feels churlish to complain.

Charles loved his smoothie. A giant glass of purple juice came to him with a light sprinkling of granola on top. A mix of strawberry, banana, oats, honey, yoghurt and milk, I tried it as well and agreed it was a fresh delight.

The food arrived a short time after that. My sausage sandwich was wonderful. Savoury sausage was bound to a rich, brioche bun by smoky cheese. A thin but punchy layer of sweet red onion chutney served as a perfect flavour counterpoint while the egg added a fresh note to finish the whole.

Charles loved his burrito but did not find it quite as satisfying as I found my sandwich. The burrito was mostly scrambled egg and chorizo accompanied by sides of salad, guacamole, red sauce and some sort of sour cream. So far, so good. However, for his taste, the scrambled eggs were a little too milky and he would have preferred the two chorizos to have been chopped up rather than left whole.

Yes. I said two. Which brings me onto one problem with The Breakfast Club - the portions are HUGE! Delicious as the food is, quality as the food is, there is perhaps simply too much of it. Charles ate his burrito on an empty stomach and, despite spending the rest of the day walking, could only stomach a light meal in the evening.

My meal was much lighter though, as I watched a pile of about five washing-up sponge sized pancakes topped with lashings of bacon whizz past me, I think it may have been the smallest dish on the menu. Even then, it did me quite well for breakfast and lunch.

The size of the portions is reflected in the price with the burrito costing £9 and my sandwich £7.

This is not overpriced. As I say, the food was excellent quality and one would never complain about paying for that in a restaurant. However, a light breakfast to set you up for the day The Breakfast Club is not. I would say that if you go along, treat yourself to a fantastic brunch and skip a meal because you will not need to eat again until the evening.

The Breakfast Club is a great place to eat, with fun decor, lovely staff and fabulous food. But beware the portions sizes, you do not want to go in there if you are after a continental, coffee-and-pastry-style cafe.

Overall * * * * * - Fantastic food served with a smile.

Food and Drink * * * * - Superlative tasting food and drink is slightly let down by the sheer quantity of it, too much for just breakfast.

Atmosphere * * * * * - With a really fun Californian vibe, you know you've found somewhere to relax and enjoy a good meal.

Service * * * * * - Extremely friendly and attentive, could not ask for more.

Price * * * * - For breakfast, the prices do seem quite high. The reason for this is the size of the portions so, while expensive, it is good value for money.

Would I Go Here Again? - Yes.

Recipe Time - Romano Pepper, Olive and Garlic Pasta

So, I've been cooking and I have a new recipe! Actually, it's the first recipe I ever developed but I wanted to get it just right before sharing it with you. Super-healthy and packed with flavour, it is also extremely quick to knock together and is an ideal midweek meal.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

200g Large-piece Pasta (such as penne, conchiglie or, my personal favourite, elicoidali)

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Cloves of Garlic

2 Sweet Romano Peppers

24 Kalamata Olives (don't ask me why, this number just works beautifully!)

2 tsp Dried Oregano

Salt and Black Pepper

Method:

Pour the pasta into a pan of boiling, salted water. While it is cooking, finely chop the garlic. Halve and core the peppers before cutting into thickish strips.

Spoon the oil into a frying pan, heat and, when the pasta is four minutes away from being cooked according to packet instructions, throw in the garlic. Cook for two minutes, then add the peppers. The idea is to make the peppers release their flavour without causing them to lose their bite.

As soon as the pasta is cooked, set aside a few tablespoons of the cooking water, toss the olives into the frying pan and drain the pasta. Again the idea is just to coax the olives into a deliciously warm, flavoursome state without destroying their structure.

Quickly return the pasta to the saucepan and throw in the contents of the frying pan, the set-aside cooking water, the oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Stir vigorously and serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Let me know in the comments what you think, I'd love to hear from you!

Recipe Time - Rose Water and Cardamom Shortbread Fingers

Happy weekend, food-lovers!

Today, I am going to be writing up another of my recipes, an aromatic, Persian-inspired take on that most delightful of biscuits, shortbread.

I have to admit, while R&Ding this recipe I had some trouble getting the spice balance right - my first effort was like being smacked in the face by a spice shop - but I promise I managed to get everything working in perfect harmony.

Just for reference, as rose waters can vary, I used Nielsen-Massey's rose water in this recipe.

Ingredients (Makes 12):

200g Butter

100g Caster Sugar (plus extra for sprinkling)

300g Plain Flour

5 Cardamom Pods

1tsp Rose Water

Method:

Split open the cardamom pods and remove the seeds. Either grind in a pestle and mortar or, if you don't have one, put in a plastic bag and pulverise with a rolling pin.

Soften the butter and put in a bowl with the sugar. Mix in but do not beat - the trick with shorthand is to do as little manual labour as possible to ensure a dense, crumbly biscuit. Beating at this point would introduce air bubbles into the mix which would expand in the oven.

Add the flour, rose water and cardamom and mix in, again using as little effort as possible so as not to develop the flour's gluten and produce a leathery texture. Personally, I think this is the moment to hurl the wooden spoon over your shoulder and rub the flour into the fat with your fingertips. Nothing matches the control and feel of your hands.

When the flour is no longer visible, press the dough into a ball. You can put the ball in the fridge for up to several days to improve its texture or do what I do and get on with things.

Line a 9 x 9 inch (23 x 23 cm) brownie/cake tin with baking parchment. Throw the ball into the tin use your hands to spread into a nice, even layer. Prick the surface all over with a fork but don't go through the dough.

Place in the fridge for at least 20 minutes but up to a day to allow the gluten to relax, increasingly crumbliness. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 160°C (Gas Mark 3) or 140°C for a fan oven.

When the oven is up to temperature and the dough has chilled, bake the shortbread for about 25 minutes, until just starting to show a little colour around the edges.

Sprinkle with caster sugar and leave to cool before cutting up into 12 fingers.

Recipe Time - Leek, Tomato and Taleggio Risotto

This week on The Hungry Seagull I bring you another delicious recipe created by my own fair hand  - leek, tomato and taleggio risotto.

Taleggio is a soft, intensely flavoured cheese, a bit like stilton crossed with camembert. Frequently, it is made from pasteurised milk, which is good news for us germ-freaks.

It is extremely versatile and I love it fresh from the packet, smeared on fluffy white bread, as much as I do melting it in hot dishes such as this risotto.

This recipe uses cherry tomatoes because their delightful sweetness contrasts really well with the tangy cheese and buttery leeks.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

4 Leeks

4 tablespoons Olive Oil

200g Risotto Rice

1 litre Vegetable Stock

400g Cherry Tomatoes

200g Taleggio Cheese

4 teaspoons Oregano

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Method:

Trim and wash the leeks. I also like to remove the outer leaf but that is a matter of personal preference, you may prefer to throw it all in!

Pour the olive oil into a large pan and heat. Slice the leeks into disks and, when the oil is good and hot, throw them in to the pot.

Cook the leeks over a medium heat, keeping them moving so they do not stick to the pan and burn. When they are soft, add the rice and, stirring all the time, continue to cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the first 250ml of the stock. Still stirring, cook until the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. It is important not to cook at too high a temperature or the stock will evaporate rather than soak into the rice. Aim for a rolling simmer rather than a raging boil.

Add another 250ml of stock. Throw in the tomatoes and return to stirring to prevent the rice sticking to the bottom of the pan. After a while, the tomatoes should be soft enough to crush. Press them against the side of the pan until they burst and release their sweet juices into the risotto.

When the stock has been absorbed by the rice, add another 250ml and keep doing this until the rice is cooked. If you run out of stock, add water until the rice is cooked. It should be soft but with just a little bite.

Once cooked, add the taleggio, roughly torn up, and the oregano. Add a few good twists of black pepper - however much you like, really - and stir until the cheese is melted and evenly mixed through the risotto.

Serve immediately, preferably with a glass of white wine.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and, if you do, please let me know in the comments below!

Cafe Review - Vanilla Pod

This week, I decided it was time I did another eatery review so I visited Brighton and Hove’s Vanilla Pod.

Located on the western end of Western Road, it is surprisingly easy to miss. No glass-fronted modern café, it is a white-painted building with speaks of an older, gentler age.

The inside is bright and airy. Decorated with duck-egg blue walls and spotlessly clean varnished wood flooring and furniture, the morning light streams into a space which feels cosily old-fashioned and stylishly modern.

Vanilla Pod describes itself as a café and tea room but this rather undersells the range of food it offers.

Alongside tea, coffee and cakes, it offers a wide variety of savoury options. Of course, there are the normal sandwiches but there is also a selection of sausage rolls and puff pastry turnovers.

Breakfast, as far as Vanilla Pod is concerned, is a style of food not a time of day. A mighty range of dishes, from porridge to full English (via pancakes and eggs benedict) is available all day.

The sweet selection is modern British. Sponge cakes, brownies and flapjacks adorn the counter in a variety of original and classic flavours.

To start, I ordered the chocolate and orange cake and a cappuccino.

The cake was full of flavour and exquisitely presented. A large portion came to me, elegantly standing on end with a side serving of berries and a spring of mint.

The proportion of icing to sponge was well managed and both parts contained chocolate and orange.

In a playful gesture, a piece of Terry’s Chocolate Orange crowned the cake but somehow the classic sweet was more than decoration and contributed to the overall experience.

The same can be said for the side serving of berries and mint. More than plate-dressing, they allowed for fun flavour experimentation with the sponge.

My only complaint was that the texture at the very bottom of the sponge was a little clumpy, like the edible version of a bean bag. I must stress only the very bottom was clumpy and the rest was beautifully soft and smooth.

The cappuccino was good but no more. The milk had been competently stretched but the beans were not the finest. They lacked complexity and depth of flavour but were very pleasant for all that.

Once more, the presentation was superb. My coffee arrived in a beautiful cup and was served with a little round of shortbread.

Later, I ordered a leek, potato and Stilton cheese turnover.

This was perfect. The pastry was crisp and golden and contained plenty of filling. And what filling!

Sweet, buttery leeks were expertly balanced with salty, earthy Stilton and fluffy potato prevented the mix from being overpoweringly strong. Pumpkin seeds pressed to the top added a twist of something special to lift the turnover from delicious to sensational.

The prices at Vanilla Pod veer towards expensive. My cake cost £3.95 and the coffee and turnover where £2.45 and £2.95 respectively. These prices are not outrageous but neither are they bargain of the month.

The extra cost is probably because everything is home-made and Vanilla Pod is a family-run business. Prices inevitably go up.

Still, the experience left me not minding paying a little extra as the décor, service and atmosphere were perfect.

The staff are friendly, everything is spotlessly clean and the ambiance is extremely relaxing. Because the windows, though large, do not take up the whole shop front, it is a cosy space in both summer and winter, victim to neither the searing sun nor howling gale.

Compared to the hustle and bustle of many cafés and tearooms, complete with barely comfortable furniture at a variety of stages on the way to shabby, Vanilla Pod is a paradise.

Vanilla Pod is a wonderful place to eat, drink and relax. A hidden gem with homely, yet skilfully flavoursome, sweet and savoury dishes, it is marginally let down by high prices and unremarkable coffee beans.

Overall * * * * - Great food served in a relaxing atmosphere.

Food and Drink * * * * - The food is divine, bursting with flavour and wonderfully presented, though the coffee is average.

Atmosphere * * * * * - Clean and relaxing, homely and welcoming, the atmosphere is fantastic.

Service * * * * * - Prompt and very friendly. Faultless.

Price * * * - Not cheap but not extortionate.

Would I Go Here Again? - Yes.

Book Review - Real Mexican Food by Felipe Fuentes Cruz and Ben Fordham

This week I'm kicking off the book review section of my blog. I'm starting with my latest acquisition, Real Mexican Food by Felipe Fuentes Cruz and Ben Fordham.

Unsurprisingly, it's a book about Mexican food. Cruz and Fordham run Benito's Hat, a chain of Mexican restaurants in London which aims to serve up authentic, modern Mexican food.

This approach translates to the book. It feels AMAZINGLY authentic. This due to more than the use of the occasional vegetable I've never heard of (chayote, since you ask). The book is littered with little boxes explaining various ingredients' relevance to Mexican cuisine and each recipe has a little story attached to it, shedding light either on the history of the dish or the life of Cruz, the head chef.

The recipes themselves feel authentic. They feel timeless and unfussy, enduring classics, while there's a certain rugged, rustic quality to them too. The soups are chunky and the refried beans are mashed, as opposed to blitzed with some modern gadget which would looked laughably anachronistic in a Zorro movie.

My attempt at scrambled eggs with chorizo

The book is beautifully presented. Achingly so. The cover is a riot of green, magenta and gold and every pages is a different colour. The photography is fabulous, setting the food off with a careful selection of side dishes and Mexican-style tableware.

It's a perfect size, a little smaller and squarer than most recipe books, meaning it sits beautifully in the hand.

My attempt at a chicken quesadilla

I would have to criticise the book on the number and complexity of its recipes. At under 150 pages and with plenty of photographs, it is hardly extensive. There is only one burrito and one quesadilla recipe and no recipes for red or green rice.

The recipes tend to be on the simple side. To call it bish-bash-bosh cooking would be unfair, particularly as Mexican food veers that way anyhow, but some of the dishes really did not require vast imagination to construct.

That said, they are still lovely and some of the spice mixes required skill to conceive.

My attempt at an oatmeal and cinnamon drink

To road test the book, I tried three recipes. I made scrambled eggs with chorizo, a chicken quesadilla and an oatmeal and cinnamon "drink" (this served very nicely as an evening meal!).

First, some caveats. I had to adapt all the recipes slightly to suit my specific purposes. I used taleggio for the eggs, because I was out of cheddar, used quorn instead of chicken for the quesadilla because I couldn't afford well-looked after chicken and used honey instead of agave syrup for the drink because I didn't want to shell out for a bottle of sweet stuff I was unlikely ever to use again. Oh, and I forgot to put garlic in my quesadilla's marinade.

However, if there is one thing the friendly style of the book's prose encourages it's a flexible attitude to ingredients so I don't feel too bad. Besides, quorn is awesome.

The recipes worked out great. Each one was full of flavour and deeply comforting. Nothing required a fire extinguisher to the mouth yet compromised nothing in terms of taste, especially the wonderful marinade for the chicken quorn.

Real Mexican Food is a lovely book. Authentic, attractive and friendly, it is a great guide to a fabulous world cuisine. However, the book could have done with more recipes to make it truly great.

Overall * * * * - A good introduction into Mexican cooking but not without a couple of flaws.

Presentation * * * * * - Absolutely fantastic photography, design and prose style.

Quality of Recipes * * * * - Delicious and comforting, the recipes work well in the kitchen and feel extremely authentic.

Range of Recipes * * * - The book covers most of the basics but is hardly a thorough and rigorous examination of Mexican food. Could have been longer and some of the recipes were really quite simple.

Price * * * * - At £18.99 RRP I don't feel cheated but neither to I feel like I found a bargain. A fair price.

Will I Take This Off The Shelf To Cook From? - Yes.

I have been reviewing Real Mexican Food by Felipe Fuentes Cruz and Ben Fordham, published by Ryland Peters & Small (2012), ISBN-13: 978-1849752589

New Product Review - Waitrose Hand-Crimped Melton Mowbray Pork Pie

This week I will be reviewing Waitrose's latest offering, a hand-crimped Melton Mowbray pork pie.

Melton Mowbray pork pies hail from the Leicestershire town they are named after and are one of the few British products to have achieved Protected Geographical Indication, meaning they cannot be made anywhere else.

What makes the pies unique is their use of uncured pork. The meat is chopped, not minced, and seasoned with salt and pepper. This mix is then packed into hot-water crust cases which are not held straight by hoops, giving them distinctively bowed sides, and any space left is filled with jelly.

I am afraid that, for this review, I served my pie with a tin of Heinz beans. I don't know if this makes me an awful person but, what can I say, I really like Heinz beans and love them with pork pie!

The pie itself a lovely thing to hold. Taking it out of the packet, it feels smooth, weighty and filled with meat. Let's take a look inside!

Yup, filled with meat. The outside was packed with jelly and so, despite the bowed edge, there was no air inside.

To taste, the pie was near perfect. The pastry was dense and chewy without being heavy or greasy and had a slightly sweet quality. This contrasted perfectly to the savoury meat inside.

The meat was well seasoned, neither was so salty one was left gasping for a glass of water nor so peppery as to mask the flavour of the pork. Yet it was strong enough to give adequate support on the palate and provide a satisfying mouthful.

Unfortunately, I failed to realise that the pie was not a serving and so ate the whole thing. Big mistake. Apart from a calorie and fat count I'm still trying not to think about, by the end of the experience I was completely stuffed. Please, for goodness sake, either share this pie with friends or do anything other than chowing down the whole lot. My goodness, how I am not enormous by now I shall never know!

Price wise, the pie is not bad. The pork is good quality and claims to have been farmed ethically which, of course, comes at a price. This comes on top of the fact that Melton Mowbrays, because of the way they are made, are always more expensive than ordinary pork pies. Therefore, £3.49 seems a fairly good price.

Waitrose's new pie is a triumph. At a fair price and with great flavour and texture, this is well worth picking up, especially for a picnic some sunny summer day.

Recipe Time - Apple and Raisin Crumble

This week, I would like to share with you a recipe in which I take great pride. My apple and raisin crumble. The trick to this baby is the use of two types of sugar. Demerara adds crunch and texture to the crumble topping while muscovado adds a light toffee note to the filling. Give my crumble a whirl and I promise you will be back for more!
Ingredients (Serves 4):

For the filling:

4 Large Bramley Apples

100g Raisins

2 teaspoons Cinnamon

50g Muscovado Sugar

For the topping:

150g Plain Flour

75g Demerara Sugar

75g Oats (I like to use jumbo porridge oats for texture)

75g Butter

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200°C (Gas Mark 6) or 180°C for a fan oven.

Mix the oats, flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut the butter into rough little chunks and add to the bowl. Now, I know many books will talk about mashing the ingredients together with a fork or something but, in my experience, there is nothing quite as good as using your hands. Yes, you will need a good scrub-up afterwards but it is worth it for a quick and flawlessly effective method. Plunge your hands into the mix and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until everything is combined and resembles breadcrumbs. Set this aside and prepare the filling.

Peel and core the apples. Halve them and cut them into thickish slices - you are making a crumble, not tarte fine aux pommes! Put these in a baking dish or tin and sprinkle over the raisins, cinnamon and sugar. Toss together and cover with the crumble topping.

Put in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, until the apples are soft and the topping has a little colour (though I never find it goes exactly golden brown). You can serve with custard, ice cream or cream but I think double cream is the tastiest option!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and, if you do, please let me know in the comments below!

New Product Review - Waitrose Cremeux du Jura

The Hungry Seagull flies into new territory this week. I shall be reviewing a new food product, something I hope will become a regular feature on my blog.

So, fromage lovers rejoice! Waitrose has released a new cheese. I picked this up in Waitrose's Brighton store, keen to try something new.

Cremeux du Jura is a soft cow's milk cheese with an edible rind, similar to camembert. It is presented in a wooden box surrounded by a spruce hoop (inedible!) and this particular brand is pasteurised so nobody need fret about nasties lurking inside.

To taste, the cheese has a fresh, creamy character. Most of the flavour is in the slightly chewy rind while the centre is smoother than yoghurt and twice as dense. Its strength develops the longer it is open, with little flavour on the first day growing to a noticeable tang on the second.

The taste is a level up from earthy, it is woody. It reminds me of the smell of damp shrubbery on a warm autumn's day. Yet it is a subtle taste. This is a cheese which needs to be enjoyed on its own rather than be hurled into risotto. Not that it would hurt a risotto - I'm sure it would add a delicious creaminess - but the subtle flavours would be overpowered even by leeks. Even by leeks.

I feel this cheese would work best either for lunch, with good bread, salty olives and sweet fruit, or on an after-dinner cheeseboard with crackers and grapes. In other words, occasions when the cheese is the star and its subtleties can be appreciated.

In terms of price, the cheese is fairly expensive. At just under £6 a pop, it is certainly not a lump of cheap cheddar. Although not as pricey as many of the offerings from specialist cheese shops, it is still not a casual purchase and is, perhaps, one best avoided by any but the connoisseur.

That said, for the connoisseur, or at least the committed cheese lover, Cremeux du Jura is a great quality, super-creamy delight with a distinctive woody tang and is well worth trying.

Pub Review - The Palmeira

Pubs can be great nowadays. Many offer hearty portions of  high quality food. To call it comfort food would be an insult but it certainly gives out a lot more hugs than straight-up restaurant fair.

I went out for lunch to The Palmeira, which sits on the intersection between Cromwell Road and Holland Road. The pub has just reopened after a major refurbishment and is all the better for it. Gone is the dated, faded maroon exterior which was all too suggestive of dreams drowned in a smeary glass of warm beer.

In its place is a modern, "old-fashioned" style pub. The interior is decorated with a mixture of white, soft grey and even softer brown-green. Wooden tables and benches are surrounded by comfortable wood or leather chairs and there is a beer garden outside. Everything is clean and it feels like the product of a great deal of effort.

The food on offer is modern English pub food. In other words, classics such as pie and mash and Welsh rarebit are given continental and American support with such delights as burgers and risotto.

There is a mighty range of draft beers on offer, from perennial favourites such as Fosters and Stella Artois to a variety of craft and local beers. A good selection of wines, along with tea and coffee for those feeling after-dinnerish, contributes to the pub's fresh, modern feel.

It being a Sunday, I took advantage of the Sunday roast and ordered the roast pork and with a sticky figgy sponge to follow. The range of roasts on offer was excellent, with chicken, pork, beef and a vegetarian option available.

The roast was a mixed experience. What was good was the pork and gravy. The meat tasted high quality and was well cooked. It was not dry and each flavor-filled mouthful was enhanced by a thin, herby gravy. The meat was complemented by a crispy stuffing ball seasoned with sage and three types of vegetables. All three, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, were simply but perfectly boiled so they had a little bite to them without being crunchy.

Problems came with the Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes. Neither were nasty but both could have been so much better. The pudding was flat and airless. It felt more like a Yorkshire pancake than a pudding and not in a good way.

The potatoes struggled as they were not crisp - even I do better! What had gone wrong was quite simple. Everyone says that when the potatoes are boiled, one should vigorously shake them before turning them into the roasting tin. Sadly, these potatoes were as smooth as a marble table and so lacked that intoxicating salty crunch which is the hallmark of good roasties.

Pudding was an unqualified delight. It described itself as a spiced fig, cranberry and sultana sponge topped with sticky run butterscotch sauce and served with custard. This set the bar very high. I expected a lot. Yet it delivered!

A large portion arrived, a good block of sponge drowning in custard. The sponge was dark and sweet and spicy. The odd, unsickening sweetness of the dried fruit in the sponge was the perfect counterpart for its topping of boozy, sugary sauce. The custard completed the dish. I'm pretty sure it was real creme anglaise, not the packet stuff which finds a welcome place in the home store cupboard but which inspires dismay on the restaurant plate. As such it was sweat and runny and blessed with a hint of vanilla which served as a light counterpoint to the intense sponge and sauce combination.

The atmosphere of the pub was nice. Allowing for the fact that it was a busy Sunday and the pub aims to please sports fans, that is. There were several large screens on the walls, broadcasting sports, however the sound was quite low and those there to dine could focus instead on the easy-listening music played in the background.

The pub had a clean, modern feel which carried through into the pub garden. That said, the garden was cursed by being north-facing, excluding the sun from most of the tables. Also, many customers took the opportunity to smoke here which impacted on the experience a little.

The service was not brilliant. The staff were very nice, polite and friendly, but there simply were not enough of them. Also, problems seem to plague communciations between front of house and the kitchen.

I waited about three quarters of an hour for my roast. Eventually, I asked the barman to find out what had happened, losing my table in the process. I then waited a good ten to fifteen minutes for my empty dish to be cleared away and then, after yet another long wait, I had to find out what had happened to my pudding.

I can't complain about the waiting staff through this. People were piling into the pub, ordering beer after beer, and the staff were clearly working like Trojans. They were always very quick to find out what had happened when I made inquiries and pleasant with it.

Still, the pub has not been reopened for long and hopefully these issues will be resolved in time.

All in all, I enjoyed my lunch at The Palmeira, though it was not a complete pleasure.

Overall * * * - A great deal of effort has gone into relaunching The Palmeira and pudding was delicious. However, improvements need to be made.

Food and Drink * * * - An average roast was made up for by a great pudding and drinks selection.

Atmosphere * * * * - Although The Palmeira struggles to decide whether it is a sports bar or gastropub, ultimately the clean and spacious interior and garden win through.

Service * * - The staff are really friendly but the interminable waits were awful, especially considering I went out for lunch, not dinner.

Price * * * * - Reasonably expensive with starters and desserts costing around £4-£5 and mains around £9-£12 but standard for the quality and ambition of the food on offer.

Would I Go Here Again? - Yes.

Cafe Review - Real Patisserie on Western Road

Anyone who knows me will tell you I love anything baked. From cake to cookies, buns to bread I go absolutely crazy for it. So, I took myself off down to Real Patisserie. Well, I say Real Patisserie but there are in fact four branches of the Brighton-based business. I went to my nearest, in Western Road, Hove.

Real Patisserie is not technically a cafe, it is primarily a patisserie and bakery. They sell an enormous selection of French pastries and bread, though the bread is brought in from one of the other Real Patisserie shops as the Western Road premises specilises in the pastries.

However, the shop does have limited cafe facilities. I ordered a chocolate religieuse and a cappuccino. The religieue was a fresh, uplifiting delight. It was made from two choux buns filled with light and smooth chocolate creme patissiere. The two buns were held together with cream and an intense chocolate sauce. Everything married perfectly and no element was remotely substandard. This was patisserie of the highest standard.

The coffee was good. So often, when ordering a cappuccino I'm served a bizarre concoction, a thin milky soup topped with a wig of bubbles. Fortunately, this was not the case here and the air was well amalgamated into milk. The beans themselves were good quality too, ground on the spot.

The service was most satisfactory. Although handling customers buying goods to take home, they nevertheless provided a friendly and effeicient service. The only problem I had was that I ordered a large coffee and received a small one. However, I was not charged for the large and I'm sure if I had complained my small coffee would have been replaced.

I was a little dissappointed in the serving materials. My coffee was served in a takeaway cup and I received my pastry on a polystyrene plate. The plastic knife and fork provided were almost useless and I would definately recommend taking your own metal tools in if you dine here.

Certainly, when compared to Patisserie Valerie over the road, the serving of the food is inferior in every way. The seats are hard jump seats compared to Valerie's squashy leather chairs and Valerie serves slightly superior coffee in china and provides metal cutlery.

Real Patisserie wins on price and range. I bought my pastry and coffee for £4.10 - the cost of one of Valerie's tarte au framboise. Also, while Valerie's cakes are heavenly, they are drawn from a reasonably limited range. Real Patisserie is groaning under the weight of the choice available. And, as an added bonus, Real Patisserie bakes its pastries on the premises so they are as fresh as can be.

All in all, my dining experience at Real Patisserie was fantastic. Although the facilities were a little below par, everything else was superb and the price is unbeatable considering the quality being served.

Overall * * * * - Great food but average facilites.

Food and Drink * * * * * - Simply sublime product.

Atmosphere * * * - The shop was buzzing but the seating was not the most comfortable and the disposable serving equipment was disappointing.

Service * * * * * - Really friendly.

Price * * * * * - Almost unbelievable, very cheap considering the quality of the product.

Would I Go Here Again? - Yes.