Wednesday 25 April 2012

Foodie-Movie Merchandise and Non-Sunday Roasts

Apart from food my other great passion is film. Me and Emma often combine the two, either I make something or we have a cheeky take-away and stick a film on. There's nothing better. When these two things - food and the movies - combine, sometimes the result is unexpected, ridiculous, brilliant or all three. Some of my favourite films are the Star Wars trilogy (the originals, the less said about the most recent ones the better) and there are some great Star Wars related food items out there. One of the best I've seen is the Lightsaber chopsticks. What better to go with your sushi than a fight against the Dark Lord?



Even Darth Vader had a birthday. Why not make him a cake in his own image? He'd like that.

And these cupcakes are fantastic.


There's loads more, not just for Star Wars either, but loads of others. May the forks be with you.

A Sunday roast is a perfect meal. You get a bit of everything on your plate and rarely disappointed with what you eat. I think I read somewhere recently that it's the only meal of the week where families actually all sit together and eat around a table, and even that's dying out now. I don't think we should restrict ourselves to a roast on a Sunday though. The roast chicken I had on Monday evening really hit the spot. So why not have a roast no matter what day of the week it is? Also, those leftovers are always good.



You'll remember I recently started my second new job within a couple of weeks, this one being inside of the kitchen preparing the food, not just serving it. It's going well so far and I'm enjoying it a lot. Hard work, early mornings and late finishes but you won't hear me complaining, my career is just beginning!

Thanks for reading.

Ben

Thursday 19 April 2012

Spaghetti and Meatballs

This will be my first post containing a recipe. I say recipe but to be honest I don't tend to follow them. I don't say that to be pretentious and I'm not trying to be interesting or 'whacky'. It's just not how I cook. I like to see what I've got available to me in the fridge and cupboards and see what happens. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but however it turns out I learn from it, that's for sure. On the rare occasions I bake, of course I follow a recipe, baking is a science and something which, although getting better, I have always seemed to struggle at. Therefore, my 'recipe' and probably the others that follow, will not contain specific measurements, instructions or timings. Just a guideline for certain things to point you in the right direction. I believe a lot of cooking is done by eye, touch, feeling and most of all, tasting. Sometimes you just know when it's ready.

The meatballs I made before I was very kindly summoned to eat out the other night were kept in the fridge. The aroma from the pesto in the meatballs took over the fridge and opening the door was like being transported to Italy. Actually, spending twenty four hours in the fridge would have only helped to intensify the flavour. The meatballs were very simple to make. Just beef mince, mixed together with a pinch of salt, cracked black pepper, dried mixed herbs, two teaspoons of green pesto and an egg to bind everything together. Just shape the meatballs in your hands to the size you fancy. 500 grams of mince made twelve meatballs for me, but the beauty of making these kind of things yourself is you can make them as big or small as you like and they only took about ten minutes to cook. As they were browning nicely I cooked the spaghetti. I love to make my own pasta but it can be a time consuming process so shop bought did the job this time. When the meatballs were nearly done I made a very simple tomato ragu in the same frying pan with some passata, mixed herbs and a pinch of salt and pepper and that was it! After mixing it all up and leaving it on a low heat for a minute while I drained the pasta the sauce and meatballs were ready. If the whole meal was authentically Italian I would have shaved a couple of curls of parmesan on top but some classic mature British cheddar had to do. I have to say, the meatballs were really good and the pesto made for a fresh, nutty flavour. It's not something I'd done before but will definitely do it again. But let's face it, pesto makes everything better doesn't it? It's a simple, quick, tasty meal anyone can make, just give it a go.


Tuesday 17 April 2012

Surprise Japanese Treat!

So there I was, ready to start cooking the homemade beef and pesto meatballs I had spent literally minutes slaving over earlier when I got a phone call from my fiance, Emma. 'Meet me when I finish work, we'll go eat somewhere'. Fine I say, not particularly happy, I was looking forward to those meatballs and I was in my pyjamas, relaxed after doing nothing on my day off. I meet her and find out we are going to Miso, Stoke's only Japanese restaurant. Whenever Miso is mentioned I feel instanly better, it's like a shot of happiness straight to the stomach. It is probably the only place in Stoke you are absolutley guaranteed to have perfect, fresh, tasty, reasonably priced food every single time. On top of that you are always made to feel welcome and valued as a customer in the small but intimate surroundings. Stoke is not the kind of place you'd expect to find a Japanese restaurant, especially one with such quality, but my friends and I go regularly, in fact we worked out via the loyalty card scheme Miso provides that we have been fifteen times in the last fifteen months and, incredibly, it only gets better with each visit. Emma had her usual, the prawn katsu roll followed by the roast duck bento box and I had the soft shell crab tempura and then the chicken katsu curry bento, all as delicious as ever. 





I mentioned in my last post that my job situation may be changing. I'm pleased to say it has. On Monday I had a trial shift at a national pub chain, this job though is actually in the kitchen, preparing food instead of serving it. It's ahead of schedule and not something I thought I'd get this early in my road to becoming a chef. I do realise it's not fine dining and it's certainly not Michelin starred stuff but what it definitely is is a start, one further step up the ladder and what I feel will be an invaluable learning experience. I enjoyed the trial, I was pretty much thrown it at the deep end but coped admirably I think and I start next week, I'll keep you updated. I may have only been waiting on staff for a week and I enjoyed that but I knew that it would have got to me after a while, being that close to a kitchen but so far away at the same time. We'll see how the new job goes but I'm excited about it.

Thanks again for reading!

Ben

Thursday 12 April 2012

Stoke Street Food - Wouldn't That Be Nice?

Street food is starting to become all the rage. In the UK anyway. In Asia and Africa especially, street food has been the norm for a long, long time and in other parts of Europe and the Americas too. But only in the last few years has it started to become popular here in Blighty. The problem is that only in the big cities such as London, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham for example, are food stalls being set up in the streets. Now, I live in Stoke. Not the culinary capital of the world. Although we have the outstanding and misunderstood Staffordshire oatcake, there's not much else to get excited about. The one oatcake van in Hanley is the closest thing we have to street food. In fact, apart from one or two places there's not many great places to eat here. McDonald's is considered a treat, if you've got a bit more cash there's Burger King and if you're feeling really fancy there's at least six Subways to choose from. It would be great to have just one outstanding street food stall. Quality burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs, jerk chicken with rice and peas, anything to shake up the locals here would be welcome. There is another van in the middle of Hanley but I don't fancy a salmonella burger, thank you very much. In fact, maybe I should just do it myself. 'Ben's Burger Van' has quite a ring to it don't you think? The classic hamburger, cheeseburger and maybe more exotic fare like lamb and mint burger, chilli burger, venison, ostrich, wild boar, the Christmas burger (turkey, stuffing and cranberry), the possibilities are endless. Maybe one day it will happen...

So I started my new job a couple of days ago. It's gone well so far. Hard work, especially when the only thing I've been used to the rest of my working life has been sitting in front of a computer for eight hours a day. My feet hurt and it's tiring but I'm enjoying it. Having said that, there may be another job on the horizon so I'll just have to let you know how that goes....

Thanks for reading!

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Day One - The Journey Begins

Hello! My name is Ben and welcome to my blog. Thanks for reading and hopefully you'll be back again. This blog will be mostly about food as cooking is my passion and today is the very beginning of a journey (I do realise that's a massive cliche) that has the ultimate destination of becoming a professional chef. In September 2012 I start a professional cookery course and this, my first foray in the blogosphere, will look to document my journey up to that and beyond. It will also include recipes, ideas, thoughts, reviews, what foodie related things me and my friends have been up to, just about anything to do with food and the social aspect that I believe goes hand in hand along with it. I will try to blog as often as possible and let you know what I've been up to. I really hope you enjoy what I have to share and stay with me on my journey!
 
Today I start a new job. It may not seem important to some, or even like it's something noteworthy. However, it is to me. I'm 26, nearly 27 years old and it's taken me this long to realise what I wanted to do with my life. I want to cook, make food for people and for them to enjoy it. For me, there's no better feeling than someone telling me that they enjoyed food that I cooked for them. For nearly ten years I've worked in offices, call centres, even collected debt and not once did I feel satisfied. It finally got to a point where I needed to change. I need to do something I enjoy, something that excites me and something that I can be proud of. I am well aware that I cannot just go and jump into a head chefs job so I am starting at the bottom. 

Today will be my first shift as a waiter and I can't wait. It may not be glamorous or sexy but it's the first step on the ladder. A ladder that will eventually lead to me becoming a professional chef. It means I can get an insight, however small at first, on how a professional kitchen works and what it takes to succeed in that environment. I will report back with my first impressions!

Just before I finish my first post, I must make you aware of my friend's blog, The Cake Hunter. Sophie makes the best cupcakes I've ever tasted, she is also a must follow on Twitter.

Again, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed and I'll be back soon!

Ben.