Time seems to be flying by. We’re already into the sixth month of the year, where does it all go? Time to look back at my favourites from the world of food for May.
Food festivals – Lots to choose from this month. May might not have welcomed in much decent weather, but it did throw its arms open to the beloved food festival. Regular readers will know that I love nothing more than a weekend of hunting and gathering at a food festival, and this month we’ve been spoilt for choice with The Notts County Show, the Park Market and the Ilkeston food fair but my favourite was The Great Food and Drink Festival at Nottingham Castle. Iconic building, beautiful surroundings, fabulous food and Prosecco along with demos by some great chefs including Sunday Brunches Simon Rimmer and local Chefs Des Sweeney, Craig Float, Jordan Cox and Johnny Pusztai. The same organisers are holding another festival in August at Newstead Abbey. Another fabulous location and the event looks set to be better than ever. Catch our review of the castle event here, along with details of how to get tickets for the next event.
http://www.nottinghamlive.co.uk/live/food-the-great-food-drink-festival-nottingham-castle-may-23rd-25th-2015/
Chef – Speaking of Johnny Pusztai, I’m making him this months top chef. Not only is Johnny an award winning butcher and talented chef but also a genuinely nice guy and bloomin hard worker. We’ve caught up with Johnny at many of the local food festivals but he also travels far and wide with his stand as well as demo-ing and also running the recent Porktion (pork auction) in aid of Macmillan at the Great Food and Drink Festival.
Johnny’s passion for the highest quality food and traditional methods for its preparation is a legacy from his Hungarian roots. His father, Dezso Pusztai, arrived in this country in 1956, a refugee from the Hungarian uprising. Settling in Sherwood, he was amazed by the choice of meat, fruit and vegetables available here and soon built a small smoke house to cure and smoke his own bacons and gammons from which to make Hungarian salami’s. The family would gather round the table to savour these while discussing the day’s events – a tradition which Johnny continues to uphold with his own family nowadays. His philosophy is that the kitchen is firmly at the heart of the home (and not the TV!) and that is where family and friends gather to talk and enjoy delicious food together. Dezso returned to Hungary shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain but sadly died a few years later, leaving his farm there to his son, where the family visit regularly to see relatives and help out.
It is clear that Johnny sees the preparation and cooking of meat as something of an art form; with twenty-five varieties of sausage on offer alone. We’ve heard that Johnny will soon be teaming up with another of our local favourites Flipside Brewery for his steak and ale pies and sausages.
For more information visit:http://www.johnnypusztai.com/
Recipe – May saw the annual 1940s knees up at Brewhouse Yard to mark 70th anniversary of VE day. Inspired by this we ran a feature on rationing and also held an experiment to see if we could cook a three course meal using ingrediants from only 1940s rationing. Look out for the full feature on the site soon but heres a taster. The main course was Woolton Pie, created by a chef at the London Savoy during World War II, the dish was designed to be filling while predominantly using vegetables from the garden (which were obviously un-rationed). This traditional wartime recipe could be bland by today’s standards so plenty of seasoning is needed. For the full recipe, see the link here: http://www.food.com/recipe/woolton-pie-463606?photo=294526
Restaurant –The Norfolk Mead, Coltishall, Norfolk – With the summer approaching (well maybe) our thoughts turn to distant shores, well Norfolk in this instance and messing about on the river – The Norfolk Broads to be precise. We were lucky enough to visit the Norfolk Mead recently.
The Hotel prides itself on your dining experience. Executive Chef, Anna Duttson and her experienced team design the menus around locally sourced, quality ingredients from the finest farms and markets in Norfolk to ensure you enjoy your meal with them. They are open for dinner every evening of the week and also offer traditional Sunday lunches in the intimate yet lively restaurant.
Owners Anna and James both come from a catering background and first met when they were both working for McLaren on the Formula 1 circuit ten years ago, travelling the World and catering for the culinary needs of the McLaren drivers, mechanics and support team. They always dreamed of owning their own hotel and venue and the Norfolk Mead is the realisation of that dream. Their expertise is catering for private and corporate business and they have built up an enviable reputation with clients around the UK and overseas.
The Hotel is set in over an acre of lovingly kept private grounds with an expansive front lawn and gardens that circle the hotel and extend right to the banks of the River Bure.
Ingredient. This month I’m going for the humble oat. The nutritious little oat has numerous uses in foods; most commonly, they are rolled or crushed into oatmeal, or ground into fine oat flour. Oatmeal is chiefly eaten as porridge, but can also be used in a variety of baked goods, such as oatcakes and oatmeal biscuits. My tip is to add a few oats when you make a crumble to give your topping an extra crunchy and , well crumbly consistency. Oats are also an ingredient in many cold cereals, in particular muesli and granola. There are some fabulous recipes for soaked overnight oats out there at the moment too. Oats are generally considered “healthy”, the established property of their cholesterol-lowering effects has led to acceptance of oats as a health food.
Kitchen product – I found this cute but trendy Stump teapot in Whittards for £25. I went for glossy white but this beauty comes in a variety of colours and comes complete with an extra-fine 0.3 mm stainless-steel tea infuser and permanently attached hinged lid for easy use. The extra-fine infuser enables you to steep fine loose-leaf teas such as Rooibos tea to large whole-leaf teas like Oolong tea. It is also ideal for use of tea bags. The stackable design allows you to save storage spaces especially for food-service market such as tea rooms, café, bars and restaurants.
https://www.whittard.co.uk/tableware/product-type/tableware-teapots/porcelain-teapots/white-stump-teapot.htm
Cheat -Cake bath bomb. I have a love hate relationship with this cute little bath bomb. It looks great and smells amazing, however, put it in your bath and the water looks like you’re bathing in a dirty pond, yes it leaves your skin moisturised but it almost looks and feels like you’ve been smeared with lard (which reminds me of a massage I had in Gambia once, but thats another story for another time) and don’t even think about using the same water to wash your hair. A relaxing bath will also be followed by reaching for the Mr Muscle to clean the bath tub afterwards so proceed (and get out the bath with) with caution.
Producers -I’ve heard loads of good things about Phat Donut “Nottingham’s first independent Doughnut Delivery Company.” Wade Smith and Megan Scaddan are the latest local producers to take the Nottingham food scene by storm. I admire the fact that this lovely young couple are really trying to make a go of their new business and we’ve bought from them at the Park Market, the Great Food & Drink Festival and the Ilkeston food fair recently so I know they are definitely putting in the time and effort to be a success, and of course their donuts are delicious.
For more information you can find them on Facebook or Twitter
https://www.facebook.com/ThePhatDoughnutco
So there you have it. What will be on my list for June? I don’t know yet but I’m sure it’ll come round in no time.
By Tanya Raybould
