Gail’s Artisan Bakery gets into the spirit of Christmas with a selection of spicy fruit loaves and some classic cakes and cookies.
Glacé àla Moutarde: Are You Taking the Pistou?
Hot on the heels of his ‘straight from the freezer’ biscuit dough comes Heston Blumenthal’s new ice-cream for Waitrose. We’re probably all familiar with Heston’s jiggery pokery that gave us classics like bacon and egg ice-cream, but how do his haute creations translate to the mass market? The answer is rather emphatically, they don’t.
Potli, Indian restaurant London
The absolute star of Potli’s show is the starter Chicken 65, tender poultry in a pungent ginger and pepper batter, like an excellent and healthy KFC. We couldn’t get enough. We also had tawa machi – tilapia fish steaks marinated in ginger, garlic and mustard which were good but we’d have liked more mustard.
Are you man enough to take on the Hot Headz?
The ladydeez sensibly wanted nothing to do with our taste test and retreated instead to a safe distance while we chaps bragged about our capacity to withstand any amount of scoville scorching and made vulgar jokes about lavatory paper. This was going to be a pushover.
Bringing home the Denhay Bacon
No one today seems to think bacon ‘tastes like it used to’, although no one quite knows when exactly that time was or even what it tasted like then. Personally I recall 60’s and 70’s bacon as always having that yucky white dot of bone in it, an addition that my young foodie self would complain vociferously about to any adult within earshot.
Rosalind’s Kitchen, London
A nice little place with a nice little taste, Rosalind’s Kitchen is just off the main drag in London’s Little Portland Street. It’s a take out cafe using seasonal ingredients sourced from specialist suppliers with meat and poultry from Sheepdrove Organic Farm and all dairy, eggs, root vegetables and flour is organic.
Easy Christmas canapés with recipes from Leiths and Asda
Asda and Leiths collaborating? Yes, surprising. But no more surprising than Waitrose coming out with an Essentials range. Both are trying to appeal to people at opposite ends of their food spend spectrum. Don’t scoff cynically; make these recipes and scoff with smugness. They are ridiculously easy but impressively delicious.
Asda’s Extra Special Christmas range 2011
Those nice people at Asda sent us a few samples to try from their Extra Special range. Here’s what our taster Joanna Biddolph thought of the treats in their goody bag:
Christmas Wines
If you’re all set for food this Xmas but a bit unsure about the wines, Alan Kingsbury has got into the booze early and recommends trying some different grape varieties in order to bring a bit of novelty and cheer to your table this year
Krug Happiness Exhibition at Royal Academy of Art
Krug has been crafting happiness since 1843 and so has asked celebrity patrons of arts and luminaries to ‘create their own version of happiness.