Slow Food

Last week, I was very please to attend a Slow Food Liverpool meeting, hosted in The Munro. For those of you that are new to Slow Food, I count myself as one of these, its an international movement to promote better ways to eat. They’re a not for profit organisation, encouraging healthy eating, through education and community invovlment.

The liverpool branch has been slightly dormant in the past, but are now making a resurgent charge, this meeting was more a statement of intent with plans being put in place for future events. If you like the sound of Slow Food and want to know more check out their website. This is a great movement I hope to be more involved in the futuer and I also hope fellow Liverpool food lovers would show simlar interest.

Two ends of the culinary spectrum, dinning out in London

As a food blogger firmly encamped in the great city of Liverpool, I observe the culinary comings and goings of London with interest, they are a foresight of what might be making its way to North West sometime in the future. I do find my observations tinged with envy, ok tinged isn’t strong enough, the green-eyed monster seems to be clawing at my soul as a read about the latest round of openings and food bloggers favourite haunts. The food scene in London is arguable one of the best in the world, and a trip to our nations capital always involves me making meticulous plans of where to eat.

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The Leaf Tea Shop Burger

I seem to spend a large amount of my time in leaf, I’m often in there drinking tea, drinking beer or eating cake, or sometimes all three. It’s the welcoming atmosphere, nice drinks and good food combined with free wifi that make it such a great place to waste some time. I’ve written about it several times, and in effort not to be a bore, banging on about the same places again and again, I’ll keep this short. Leaf does a pretty decent burger.

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The Shipping Forecast Burger

This is a quick one from me today, it’s all about The Shipping Forecast, the Ale House, eatery and gig venue. I’m not a regular, at least not in the past, but this is something I wish to rectify. Anyway being encouraged by the knowledgable @MissCay, I’ve been a few times and really liked it, my last visit included a really rather good burger. Burgers are something I really loves, probably my favourite  quick food, I wrote quite sometime ago about the best burger in Liverpool, which is something I now have to rectify. This burger is, for me, the best this fine city has to offer.

The bread was suitably soft and easy to bite into, the salad was fresh and crisp and most importantly the beef pattie  had some great charred flavour combined with rich beef. This was a really good burger, to be very picky, I  like my burgers to be a bit pinker in the middle, but apart from that it was very good. If you want a good burger in Liverpool, The Shipping Forecast is the place for you.

The Best Meal You’ll Never Eat

Last night I had the best plate of food I’ve eaten in a long long time. It was something I’d made myself, which is stretching the truth slightly, it was something I reheated myself, it was a plate of 2 minute noodles. You know the sort, they come in a rectangular block, which you bung in some boiling water for a minute or two, usually with some powdered seasoning for flavour. This wasn’t the sort of two-minute noodles you find in your local supermarket, but some rummaging around a good Asian food store should be enough to get your hand on some. So should you rush out to buy some? Will this be finest plate of noodles you’ve ever had? Are all those TV chefs wrong about processed food? Can they really be that good? No, no, no and no, don’t waste your money or time or effort, you wont understand. This is the best meal you’ll never eat. Continue reading

Leaf Tea Shop – Free wifi and Falafel.

When you need to write, there is nothing better than a cup of tea, something to nibble on and a wifi connection, all of which are available at home. However, it’s never as much fun at home, this morning I decided that Leaf Tea Shop was my destination of choice, and wandered in prepared for a dose of hard writing.

At this point it’s important to mention that I consider myself extremely cool, and if you’re wondering does spending your free time baking and watching Dr Who make you cool? Yes, yes it does. Most of my friends consider me a slight geek who desperately requires a hair cut, but they are wrong, I’m very cool and fit in perfectly at Leaf. This independent Bold Street hang out is a great little place that I’ve become thoroughly enamoured with. You can tell how cool it is not only by the fact I go there, but also due to the large number of Apple products people are playing with wile leaching free wifi.

Besides the cool factor, Leaf offers a wide selection of very nice tea and coffee and good food, recently I had a lovely breakfast there. Today, I chose a nice pot of Ceylon tea, with a free refill, and a plate of falafel with tzatziki. This falafel came out very hot fresh from the fryer, made with chickpeas and (I think) red lentils it was soft on the inside with a nice crunch outside. The delicate spicing and gentle heat combined with the light and cool tzatziki to make a lovely little plate to nibble on. The falafel was £3, a bargain, normally this would have been a great little snack, but this was a substantial portion that made this more of a light lunch.

Good food, good value and free wifi, well done Leaf.

The Hub Alehouse and Kitchen Liverpool

The hub alehouse and kitchen occupies the bottom floor of the Casartelli building, a location I always thought was underused. Thus, when it opened I was pleased to see it being put to better use; I was also happy to seen an independent venue open, rather than some monotonous chain restaurant. The Hub markets itself as a cross between the vibrant city centre bar and gastro pub, it offers a good selection of drinks including a choice of local real ales. The food is described as ‘locally sourced’ and ‘best quality’, cure-all phrases used by almost every restaurant, regardless of quality of the dishes served up. So although the website and menu appear inviting and interesting, the proof is in the eating.

I popped in for a quick lunch last week, which was actually my second visit. I had been several months ago and found the food acceptable, a few technical errors and slow service, however no restaurant can open without a few teething problems. Having had some time to iron out these issues I was hoping for a more encouraging second visit, I wasn’t disappointed. The Hub has a good twitter presence @thehubliverpool, and often posts its daily dishes, it was one of these dishes that I chose. The grilled salmon fillet with peppers in a paprika sauce (£8.95) and, the often lorded up on twitter, Hubslaw (£1.95), made for a very pleasant meal.  The salmon was excellently cooked; soft, flaky, well seasoned and slightly  translucent in the centre the peppers were soft and full of flavour if a touch over seasoned for my taste. The Hubslaw was a very well made fresh coleslaw, that was, most importantly, really crunchy, no limp day old carrots or cabbage in this fresh and vibrant bowl. I may even have picked up a hint of fresh mint in the background.

The service was friendly, helpful and relaxed, although the salmon did take quite a while to be served. However, I would rather a kitchen took its time and cooked the fish properly, rather than rushing out an imperfect dish.  The one real issue I had was the box of condiments, on each table a box contains ketchup, mustard, vinegar, oil and salt and pepper, I can’t speak for all of them but mine was really dirty. The box was full of crumbs and the bottles were greasy and covered in smears, all in real need of a good wipe down and a little off-putting.

I had a good meal at the Hub and would certainly return, the menu offers good gastro pub style food with added elements like stone bakes pizzas. Of most interest to me was the light bites section, which offering 3, 5 or 8 dishes at a fixed price, presenting the possibility of a British style tapas meal.  All this means a great choice of good food in nice surroundings with good service, not a bad combination if you ask me.

The Arrogance of Pasta and the Joys of Polenta

Look at it preening itself, tossed in some tempting sauce, drizzled with olive oil or sprinkled with parmesan. This precocious food goes with anything, meat, fish, ham, seafood, vegetables, oil, butter, cream, tomatoes, you name it and Pasta’s been with it. It doesn’t even have the dignity to stick to one simple shape, linguine, pappardelle, penne, casarecce and orecchiette are just a few, we haven’t even got onto the stuffed varieties like tortellini or ravioli. Everywhere you go from the finest Michelin stared establishments to cheapest chain restaurants, you’ll find it sitting on the menu flirting with us with its Italian sounding names. And I must confess, I love it. At its best it is the most beautiful and tasty simple rustic food or a complex and delicate dish deserving of high praise. However to call it the quintessential Italian food, the dish that defines national identity, may be doing a disservice to another Italian staple, Polenta.

Polenta is course ground corn meal, cooked in boiling water in a similar way to porridge or risotto. Not long ago, in certain Italian regions, polenta was the staple food and pasta was a little thought of dish. Cooked in giant copper pots over the fire, the slow ritual of continually stirring for 40 mins or so, was almost as important as eating the finished product. It is a dish that anyone with a vague interest in Italian food should try, with the simple addition of butter and parmesan, its a match to anything its flashy little brother can offer. Indeed, as many pasta cooks forget, its simplicity that makes the greatest Italian food. So put the spaghetti down, grab yourself a saucepan and large wooden spoon and try something a bit different.

Polenta can be served in two ways, firstly cooked and served immediately on a large , it will be thick and soft and moorish, real comfort food especially on a cold winters day. Polenta can not be cooked and left standing around, so only cook it when you are ready for it, if you want it this way. Secondly, it can be cooked much in advance poured into a deep try and chilled in the fridge, it will produce a block almost like a heavy set jelly. This can be sliced and recooked, on a griddle pan or fried in olive oil, and makes a nice accompaniment with roast meats. For this recipe I want the soft straight from the pan version.

Italian Pork Stew with Polenta and Courgette Fries

This soft stew and polenta, works well with the crispy courgettes which can be served on the side or on top. This is great comfort food, warm and heavy and full of flavour, having the sausages stewed and not fried gives them a very different feel to how you may normally have them. For the polenta, its available in most supermarkets or delis, I use normal polenta that will take at least 30mins to cook, however quick cook polenta is available that only takes a few minutes. Its up to you which you use, one of my favourite cook books deems it an acceptable but inferior product, thus I stick to the normal kind. I get mine from my local eastern food store, you’ll also find it in most supermarkets and delis. This recipe should serve 4 people.

For the stew.

  • 500g plain pork sausages (You don’t need to do to a fancy italian deli for these just good quality sausages from you butcher or supermarket)
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 Sticks of celery
  • One large carrot
  • Tblspoon of tomato puree
  • 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 2 glasses of good red wine
  • 100ml of water
  • 1 Sprig of thyme
  • 1 Sprig of Rosemary
  • Salt and pepper

For the Courgetts

  • 3 medium courgettes cut into small strips
  • 4 teaspoons of salt
  • 100g plain flour
  • 5 tablespoons of olive oil

For the Polenta

  • 255g of polenta
  • 3 pints of water
  • Salt
  • 50g butter
  • Grated parmesan

Method For Stew

  • Dice the onion, carrots and celery, fry gently in olive oil in a deep sauce pan until the onion is golden.
  • Add the tomato puree, tomatoes, water and wine and bring back to a simmer.
  • Cut the sausages into small chunks and add to stew, there is no need to fry them.
  • Add the thyme, rosemary and cover on a very gentle simmer, leave this for at least one hour. Although its doesn’t matter how long it simmers for, thus you can make it well in advance and leave it sitting on your stove, but a minimum of one hour is essential.
  • Half an hour before its served remove the lid and reduce to desired consistency, I like it quite thick, then season with salt and pepper.

Method For courgettes.

  • Cover the sliced courgettes with the salt and place in a colander over a bowl, do this about 1 hour before you need them, as the salt will need time to draw out the water.
  • After, at least 30 mins, place courgette on kitchen towel and pat dry.
  • Put courgette sticks into flour and make sure they are all well covered.

Method For the Polenta

  • Bring water to high boil in saucepan and add a light pinch of salt.
  • With one hand continually stir with the other gently sprinkle polenta into water (I like to pour it from a jug).
  • Keep the water boiling, you have to continually stir until its done, which will take 30 to 40 minutes for normal polenta or 5 or 6 for quick cook. While stirring make sure your spoon is scraping the bottom of the pan to stop it sticking.
  • The polenta is done when it has a very thick porridge like consistency and will start to come away from the edge of the pan. Remove from the heat and add the butter and parmesan and stir in. This can sit covered in a pan for no more than ten mintues, but enough time to fry the courgettes.
  • Finish the courgettes, by frying them in hot oil, which should at least 5mm deep in pan.

To serve

Pour out the polenta onto a large plate or board and allow it to spread out slightly. Spoon the stew on top of polenta, and place courgettes on top of stew (if you like). Sever dish in centre of the table, its a great sharing dish, allow everyone to dig in a help themselves.