Beefeater, Big Chains And The Big Con.

                                        Celebrating at the pub on a perfect summers day

These past couple of weeks have seen me doing a lot of celebrating, the summer is always good cause to celebrate here in England! After many months of inclement weather we come out of the woodwork to sit in pub gardens with friends and family, hopefully to enjoy good company, a few drinks and a nice pub meal.

Unfortunately pub grub aint what it used to be! Many pubs across England are now owned by big breweries and have lost their individuality and traditional values ie serving a decent meal.

The tell tale sign of a pub serving bad food is an over abundance of dishes on the menu. These dishes will range from lasagnes and cottage pies to 'authentic' curries and they are all only a microwave ping away. The microwave has become an economical tool for chain pubs and restaurants, used to cut costs by dispensing with the skills of a trained chef and fresh ingredients the standards of cooking are collapsing and we are accepting industrially produced ready meals.

Alas we only have ourselves to blame, we are swept along by the obesigenic flow, we want quantity over quality, we want more food for less money, an opportunity to over indulge and get fat (only to then spend a fortune on weight loss products) and the big chains are cashing in on our greed.

Take Whitbread the UK's largest 'hospitality' company, they own the Beefeater pubs and restaurants, Costa Coffee (otherwise known as costa lotta) 'Premier' Inn and so on and so on. It all sounds so grand and indeed the chief executives who dine in Michelin star restaurants are raking it in!

The latest gimmick in Beefeater pubs and restaurants is bottomless chips, order your meal and you will receive a few chips in a bowl, however, don't despair because you can order more chips.......for free! Unfortunately due to lack of staff, interest or care, it is unlikely you will see your waiter again until you have finished your meal by which time you won't want anymore chips.

Here in Hampshire we are lucky to have some quaint little country pubs, I took my family who were visiting from London to a pub in the heart of a village near my home. All was well until we received our menus, lo and behold an absolute abundance of dishes, when I asked the waitress (who didn't look a day over sixteen) if we could have a traditional ploughman's lunch she looked at me as if I'd asked for a roasted rhinoceros. I ended up ordering plaice, an innocuous enough dish you might think, but try eating plaice that has been microwaved from frozen, don't get me wrong I've never eaten a damp flannel but this came pretty close.

To my dismay when I looked through many reviews of the pubs I have visited recently there seems to be a general complacency. The main criteria seems to be (surprise surprise) cheapness and promptness. 'Not the best I've ever tasted but good for the money' reads one, 'Plenty of choice and very fast service' quotes another,  HELLO what is wrong with these people! The very opposite is true in Spain, slow service but without the attendant disregard for quality, pride in the home cooked, simplistic food made with fresh ingredients, and always service with a smile.

               Eating in a Spanish chain restaurant where all the tapas is freshly prepared

When a large group of us went to our local Beefeater last week (see top photo) our celebrations went from bad to worse. We were drinking prosecco but there weren't enough ice buckets (even though we had booked in advance and asked for prosecco on ice) then the prosecco ran out after we'd only had four bottles. Pimms was off the menu because there were no pitchers! Those ordering food were told to wait as the restaurant was busy (we were sitting outside) and the bottomless chip debacle was beyond words, needless to say the chips were handed over very begrudgingly and on the strict condition only two extra portions were allowed per person, rather confusingly the 'bottomless' chips were conditional chips.

But that's us British, we settle for bad service and substandard food as long as we think we're getting something for nothing or it's cheap, cheap, cheap! We will pay over two pounds for a Costa coffee but begrudge buying free range eggs. Meanwhile the executives of Whitbread and the likes, who wouldn't be seen dead eating in one of their own establishments, are laughing all the way to the bank!

Lastly, we visited a quintessential little country pub beside a stream for Sunday lunch. We ordered the traditional Sunday roast which when it arrived was typical big brewery fayre, sliced meat in gravy that had come straight out of a vacuum pack, tasteless frozen potatoes and frozen peas, all microwaved by the plate, yet the pub was full to brimming with customers who were eating these tasteless, industrially produced dinners.

I don't know if or when we in this country will ever restore any value in what we are prepared to accept regarding the food we are eating, be it at home or in pubs and restaurants. All the while we consider the notion that more food on our plates for less money is the principle of standard by which we judge. I urge you to think about this next time you eat in a pub and I'll leave you with a last Beefeater pub review: 'The garlic breaded mushrooms were a bit greasy and soggy, I think they'd been microwaved, but it was a very generous portion.'

'You cannot trust people who have such bad cuisine. It (Great Britain) is the country with the worst food after Finland.'
- Jacques Chirac.

Love Donna xxxxxxxx

Dying From Diabetes

 

                                                     Fresh fish from Jacarilla

The headlines in national newspapers this week have been screaming out at us 'one in 7 hospital patients are diabetic!' That's a staggering statistic!

Diabetes is strongly linked to lifestyle factors such as being overweight, too little exercise and an unhealthy diet. 3.8m Britons have diabetes, 100 amputations a week are carried out on patients with diabetes and 24,000 diabetics die early each year.

The processed food diet of the Western world has contributed greatly to the type 2 diabetes epidemic. The rate of type 2 diabetes has increased since processed foods flooded our food supply yet many of us are complacent about this illness assuming it is an irritant that can be fixed with tablets!

Studies have shown  that Mediterranean's are some of the healthiest people. A Mediterranean diet is rich in fish, vegetables and fruit and has been advocated by the medical profession, particularly in terms of reducing the risk of diabetes.

The Spaniards adore fish and don't shy away from it as we do here in Britain. Hake, sea bass, salmon and cod are cooked in a variety of ways: with salsa verde, which is made with parsley and peas, or cooked with Seville oranges, lemons, garlic and olive oil, Poached fish served with Mediterranean vegetables, hard boiled eggs and a large dollop of aioli is very popular, it's all a far cry from our misguided, fried to a crisp piece of cod and chips.

In Spain food is often cooked 'a la plancha' this refers to a method of searing food over a very hot metal plate, this method of cooking is similar to barbecuing, however, unlike us Brit's who cook sausages and burgers, the Spanish cook lots of fish and seafood which is far healthier and very tasty! With the barbecue season rapidly approaching it's a good opportunity to start thinking about alternatives to processed burgers and sausages. Fish is easier and quicker to cook and really has the wow factor.

Squid is a divisive ingredient, as a former vegetarian I certainly didn't like the look of the raw squid (above) when faced with it in a Spanish restaurant. If like me you're squeamish, ask your fishmonger to clean and prepare the squid, I assure you if cooked respectfully it's utterly delicious!

Calamari

Recipe
1lb calamari, cleaned and cut into 1 inch rounds and tentacles (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper
1 lemon wedge per person

Heat oil in a pan (cast iron if possible, you want it searingly hot!)
Sear calamari for 2 minutes per side
Serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper and a wedge of lemon

King prawns

Recipe
8 king prawns
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large lemon
Sea salt

Heat oil in pan, as with calamari, searingly hot
Wash prawns and dry with paper towels
Place prawns in pan, sprinkle with salt, squeeze half of lemon directly on prawns, cook for 2 minutes
Turn prawns over and repeat process, prawns will turn pink and the shells golden
Serve immediately with a wedge of lemon

I had baked trout for lunch at a restaurant which was wrapped in bacon and served with baked potatoes, for trout recipe see post: 'fresh fish Friday'

Cod

Recipe
1 thick slice of fish per person (you can use hake, sea bass, haddock, or turbot
Plain flour
Salt and pepper
Butter
Olive oil

Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a pan
Season the flour and coat fish
Place fish in hot pan, cook for 3 minutes, add butter
Turn fish over and baste with foaming butter until the surface becomes slightly crusty
Serve immediately with a wedge of lemon

'The abundance of cheap food with low nutritional value in the western diet has wreaked havoc on our health;  in America, one third of children and two thirds of adults are overweight or obese and are at risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease'
-Ellen Gustafson

Eat well!
Love Donna xxxx

Cooking For Friends

                                                        Clarrie and I being bubbled

As I have said on several occasions, I have had a lot of support from many of my friends regarding this blog. Quite frankly I am thrilled that so many of my friends read and participate (in various ways) even if it's just that they've read a post.

My friend Clarrie reads my posts regularly and both she and her partner Jas have tried a few recipes of mine, both are good home cooks........

                                                      A Jas speciality: Shepherds pie

I tend to think about my audience when cooking a dish, of course I can only imagine who half of you are, but my audience seems quite consistent so I'm guessing my everyday food is appealing to you all. Unfortunately, Clarrie and tomato based dishes don't mix well (I won't go into the finer details) but that made me question whether many other people have an intolerance. Having done a little research it transpires the main difference between an allergy and an intolerance to tomatoes is that an allergy will cause symptoms outside the digestive tract.

Either way, if you can't tolerate tomatoes that does narrow things down quite a bit and I've become rather fixated on finding recipes which exclude tomatoes. By recipes I mean mostly of the one pot variety: chilli, stews and ragu are commonly tomato based, so I've been looking for alternative ingredients.

I came across a recipe in my slow cooker cookbook called beefy onion supper, the cookbook is 'dedicated with gratitude and respect to all cooks who bring families to the table for home cooked meals.' It contains very simple recipes written on no more than one page per recipe, in black and white, with no photos included. There are no suggestions as to what to serve the beefy onion supper with, as it happened it made for a very good ragu which I served with pasta.......and guess what.......no tomatoes!

Beefy onion supper

Recipe
500g organic diced beef
1 onion
1 can French onion soup
2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms
300g stock

In a slow cooker, place beef pieces and top with mushrooms and onion

Pour soup and stock over ingredients
Cover and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours

I cooked my pasta, drained it and added to my slow cooker for the last 15 minutes of cooking time so that it became sticky and delicious

I grated extra mature cheese on top.......utterly delicious

'There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.'
-Jane Austen

Hope you like this Clarrie.........and everyone else!
Love Donna xxxxxxxxx

Food Prostitution, The Organic Debate

              Physalis: closely related to the tomato, can be eaten raw and used in salads

There is a lot of speculation regarding organic food, some naysayers regard it as a ploy to charge higher prices as there is no proven evidence that it is healthier.

Personally I don't need scientific evidence to convince me that toxic farming is less healthy than organic, I think it's bleedin' obvious. Food which is produced using environmentally and animal friendly farming methods means animals enjoy the highest welfare standards, organic farms are a haven for wildlife and provide homes for bees, birds and butterflies, in fact, plant, insect and bird life is up to 50% greater on organic farms!

The problem is that the increased demand for cheap food has created an explosion in industrial globalisation, people want quantity over quality, unnaturally pristine fruits and vegetables, super sized chickens as big as Sylvester Stallone, blow the circumstances or the consequences! We're the BOGOF (buy one get one free) society, the 'eat all you can' buffet or carvery customers. We want excess and we have become desensitised to cruelty, suffering or destruction of animals, wildlife and the environment, these are no longer gifts we offer our children for their future, they have been forsaken for big macs and chicken nuggets.

We know that there are substantially higher levels of antioxidants (and more importantly) lower levels of pesticides in organic crops than in conventionally grown produce, at least that much has been proven. Evidence also suggests there is a link between environmental toxins and autism and this evidence keeps growing stronger. Studies have concluded that pregnant women who have been exposed to pesticides are at increased risk of having a child with autism. This begs the question of how safe it can be for pregnant women and young children to ingest food which has been chemically treated?

The subject of organic produce remains speculative, I would rather pay a little bit more and eat a little bit less because in spite of having to be economical I'm certainly never going to starve and I feel I have a responsibility towards the bigger picture.

Most major supermarkets also stock a wide choice of canned organic products such as fruits, vegetables and pulses, in this next recipe I used canned organic pineapple which wasn't a lot more expensive compared with the conventional pineapple.

Tropical salad

Recipe
1 small organic, free range chicken, roasted
1 crisp lettuce
1 can organic pineapple, cut into chunks
A handful of physalis
1 clove garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Organic mayonnaise
A handful of mixed nuts
1 free range egg per person
Cayenne pepper, optional

In a dry frying pan toast nuts for 5 minutes, set aside to cool

Blend garlic and oil, place lettuce leaves in a bowl and drizzle with oil

Add pineapple and physalis

Add slices of roast chicken

Dress with mayonnaise, scatter toasted nuts over salad and season with salt and either cayenne or black pepper

Top with a softly boiled egg

This salad is delicious served with good quality buttered bread or with buttered potatoes and even though I used organic products it was a very economical meal.

'Me and the folks who buy my food are like the Indians - we just want to opt out. That's all the Indians ever wanted - to keep their tepees, to give their kids herbs instead of patent medicines. They didn't care about Custer or Washington, D.C; just leave us alone. But the western mind can't bear an opt out option. We're going to have to re fight the Battle of the Little Big Horn to preserve the right to opt out, or your grandchildren and mine will have no choice but to eat amalgamated, irradiated, genetically prostituted, barcoded, adulterated fecal spam from the centralised processing conglomerate.'
- Michael Pollan

Love Donna xxxxxxx

Sophie Thompson Celebrity Masterchef 2014

                                        Barbecue lunch at Sinah Warren holiday camp

We have had a good week weather wise here in the south of England whoo hoo, I mean literally several days of uninterrupted sunshine, (although we did have a mad thunder storm on Thursday night.) I spent another glorious day at Sinah Warren holiday camp with my friend Linda (see post - The great British holiday camp) and as well as the beautiful surroundings and the lovely cool water of the pool, we had a fantastic live singer and lunchtime barbecue.

                                                                Live entertainment

                                                                Hotdogs anyone?

                                                               Taking a dip

This week also saw the semi final and final of celebrity masterchef which I have been following avidly. The semi final was hilarious and had me crying with laughter, Wayne Sleep, love him, managed to produce the worst meal the critic's had ever tasted yet he minced about in the kitchen seemingly oblivious, pulling the funniest of faces to the cameras. Obviously he went leaving Jodie Kidd, Sophie Thompson and Charley Boorman fighting it out in the final. For my money there was a very clear winner and that was Sophie, of course I was slightly biased because I love her quirky personality and her strange laugh, throughout the series she exuded loveliness and I want her as my friend.

Hurrah hurrah Sophie Thompson was the winner. On being handed the trophy (a large M) she said 'It's awesome, honestly, it's mad. It's M for mad.. the whole thing's been mad!'

Both John Torrode and Gregg Wallace conceded that Sophie's food was original and individual just like her and that her creations were like little stories on a plate. I loved that her food wasn't fancy pants food that you might find in a Michelin star restaurant, but that it was very imaginative and creative as if Sophie had no fear of food, she even commented that displaying her trophy in her kitchen might see her hoisted by her own petard next time she serves up something a bit naff 'which I will' she said.

I love to experiment in the kitchen and my dishes tend to be quite spontaneous, like Sophie I have no fear of food and I'll settle for a few naff dishes in the name of experimentation. Yesterday, as is typical in my house, Bert arrived home with several members of his football team who all wanted a quick bite. I decided to rustle up some hotdogs with some grilled vegetables and creamed sweetcorn. A quick Google search came up with some quite convoluted recipes for creamed sweetcorn, melted butter, cream, sugar all cooked in a pan with sweetcorn which then had to be blended....... I decided to try blending sweetcorn with ice cream (cream and sugar) and by jove it worked! I baked a camembert cheese which when cooked (in 10 minutes) became a lovely fondue, I mixed this with some grilled veg and topped my sausages with the mixture. A quick, easy, economical meal which satisfied half a football team, that can't be bad.

Creamed sweetcorn

Recipe
1 tin sweetcorn or 1 large cup of frozen sweetcorn
1 tablespoon of vanilla ice cream

Simply blend the sweetcorn and ice cream to a smooth consistency
Warm through in a pan and season to taste

Grilled vegetables

Slice onions, halve cherry tomatoes and use garlic cloves, skin intact
Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and grill

Camembert with garlic

Recipe
1 whole camembert
3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced wafer thin
Olive oil

Make several slits in the cheese and slide garlic slices in, drizzle with olive oil
Repackage cheese into box and bake in a moderate oven for 10 minutes
Remove from oven and carefully pour into bowl
You can stir the grilled vegetables through the cheese before topping your sausages

The cheesy mix is also delicious served on toast.

'I read recipes the same way I read science fiction. I get to the end and say to myself well, that's not going to happen.'
- Rita Rudner

Love Donna xxxx

Britain's Biggest Contribution To Gastronomy

I love a good sandwich, extra mature Cheddar with crunchy, tangy pickle on crusty bread or egg mayonnaise with lots of peppery cress, warm fish fingers which melt the butter inside the sandwich, seasoned with salt and pepper and a splodge of tartar sauce, and lets not forget the chip butty, there aren't too many things that taste better than the mixture of hot chips, melted butter and nice fresh white bread.

The sandwich is considered to be the namesake of John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. The story goes that he asked for meat to be served between two slices of bread, to avoid interrupting a gambling game.

The easiest quick lunch option is a sandwich and here in Britain we eat a staggering 3.25bn bought sandwiches each year making it a £6.5bn industry.

I have a visceral suspicion of pre packed food and have heard horror stories regarding the production of commercially made sandwiches: poor handling and sanitary conditions, cross contamination due to lack of hygiene stanards, not to mention dodgy ingredients. Many factory produced sandwiches contain high levels of salt and lots of other nasties like saturated fat. Invariably, once opened, the commercial sandwich will give off a nasty odour, regardless of its contents, and the texture will be soggy, from the damp bread to the limp lettuce!

Ironically the wall street journal has described the sandwich as Britain's biggest contribution to gastronomy! As with a lot of food we eat, we have expediently accepted standards that are lower than is desirable for the sake of convenience.

This next recipe delivers one of the most delicious sandwiches I have ever eaten and despite its fat-laden reputation, brie is less fat-rich than Cheddar and has good levels of calcium, the soft rind is also rich in vitamin B1 so don't throw it away!

Brie and cucumber toasted sandwich

Recipe
Per person
2 slices of bread, either wholemeal or thick white bread
Cucumber, thinly sliced
Brie, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan, add cucumber slices, season and cook until browned at the edges

Lay slices of brie on bread and top with cucumber

Place sandwich back in pan and dry fry for 2-3 minutes on each side

Serve immediately

The combination of sautéed, caramelised cucumber, oozy cheese and crispy bread is delicious! I'm keen to know about other novel ideas for sandwiches so please send me your comments, I also have a Donna's pink kitchen Facebook page where you can send me your comments and photos.

'You don't need a pack of wild horses to learn how to make a sandwich.'
-Phil Mcgraw

Love Donna xxxxx

Nigel Slater Simple Suppers

We British tend to be circumspect in making a connection between food and the inner person, however, Marcel Proust used food as a spring to memory writing 'Taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring...remain poised a long time...and bear...in the tiny and almost impossible drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection.'

Food is emotive and many cooks and food writers are passionate because of the memories and emotions evoked by certain dishes, all memories are not created equal, however, many of us have fond memories pertaining to our pasts through taste and smell.

Nigel Slater is an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster, he wrote a moving and award winning autobiography 'Toast' focused on his love of food. Unlike many of our happy food memories from childhood, Slater wrote that he used food to compete with his stepmother for his father's attention. From his often unhappy childhood and adolescence, Slater continued to love food, his TV programmes such as simple suppers were filmed within his beautiful kitchen and kitchen garden. Slater starred alongside Adam Henson in 'Nigel and Adam's farm kitchen' a project which involved Adam - the farmer and Nigel - the chef, joining forces to sow, grow, rear and cook Britain's favourite foods, from a working farm in the cotswolds, as they tried to get people back in touch with where our food comes from.

One of Nigel's simple supper recipes was a slow cooked pork shoulder covered in squished blackberries from his garden, it's stayed in my memory even though it possibly dates back to 2009 when the series began. Having treated us to a free range piece of pork I suddenly pulled Nigel's recipe out of the deep recesses of my mind, unfortunately I didn't have any blackberries, an absolute prerequisite if you're making blackberry pork! I did however have a couple of jars of cranberry sauce and decided to take my chances, the resulting dish was delicious, the pork was moist and tender due to the marinade.

Cranberry pork

Recipe
8lb free range boneless pork shoulder, rind on and scored
12 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons paprika
100ml vegetable oil
2 jars cranberry sauce

In a food processor blend garlic, oil, cranberry sauce and paprika until smooth
Rub pork with marinade and refrigerate for 12-24 hours

Preheat oven to 150c/gas 2
Cover pork with a foil tent and place in oven for 5 hours
Remove foil and increase temperature 180c/gas 4 cook for 1 hour
Remove from oven and allow meat to rest for 15 minutes before slicing

As with Nigel's blackberry pork mine had a a hard crust on the outside with all the soft meat contained within.

' Food has been my career, my hobby, and, it must be said, my escape.'
-Nigel Slater

Lots of love Donna xxxxxx

Miraculous Healing Properties Of Garlic

                                                     Skordalia - Greek garlic sauce

You will know by now that I'm always open to suggestions regarding recipes or stories for this blog, in fact I'm flattered by the response I get and owe many of my posts to ideas and input suggested by friends and readers. I've been invited to various eateries and into people's homes, I've received photographs and cookery books and a lot of support so thank you all!

My neighbour in Spain has featured in several of my posts (pink kitchen and two mad cows.) Each time I return to Spain we have our 'blog evenings' whereby he will always create a meal that hopefully I won't have heard of before. On this last visit Tony was all prepared to surprise me with a Greek dish called Skordalia, time passed so quickly that we didn't get the opportunity and so I felt I had to research and make the recipe myself.

This recipe varies from region to region, essentially it is a thick puree - sauce - dip or spread not dissimilar from Spanish alliol. It can be made with either pureed potatoes or soaked stale bread, combined with crushed garlic and olive oil to make an emulsion which would traditionally be served with batter fried or poached fish, fried or boiled vegetables or with bread.

When Tony explained the recipe to me he spoke about the method of soaking the garlic in vinegar, in all the various recipes I found online I didn't come across one where the garlic was pre soaked, in some recipes there is no vinegar at all, in some recipes lemon juice is combined slowly with the olive oil. In various regions in Greece, chopped walnuts or almonds are pureed along with the potatoes.

The Mediterranean diet has included garlic for thousands of years, with over 300 powerful substances resulting from crushing raw garlic, this miraculous herbal bulb provides tremendous health benefits. Yet we have a squeamish relationship with garlic in the UK, ignoring it's medicinal qualities in fear that we might have garlic breath. Ironically the worst breath is that of someone who lives on a processed diet, I'd prefer the smell of a herb any day over the smell of 'beef and cheese' as bad breath is comically described in the film Elf, (although that's a very polite description.)

This is such a simple dish and so versatile, ideal for barbecues and parties, dishes can be placed on the table beside crusty bread and crudités, I promise you it will go down a storm.

Skordalia

Recipe
2lb potatoes with thin skins, I used organic, chopped
5 cloves garlic
2-3 cups olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper

Soak peeled garlic in vinegar for at least 30 minutes
Boil potatoes until tender, drain
In a food processor blend garlic and oil

Add garlicky oil gradually to potatoes and mash

At the last stage you might want to use an electric mixer to get a really smooth emulsion

Season to taste

'You can never have enough garlic. With enough garlic, you can eat the New York Times.'
- Morley Safer

Love Donna xxxxxxxx