News
A Raclette Discovery
Carrie
Perfect Scrambled Egg with Spanish Panceta
First up it is our Spanish Panceta, put to great use with scrambled egg, chives and ciabatta by Leah. Video work by Chrisoula. It was great brunch material.
Simon
Chocolate from Childhood
Anyway, after a long discussion about what is the best way to eat a chocolate bar i.e. chilled, room temperature, carpaccio (what????) straight from the fridge and it has to snap, I managed to put together the three most popular bars ; Twix, Maltesers and Kit Kat. I have to say that I am very pleased with this list as each one of them can easily put a big smile on my face any day of the week and any time of the day!!
Of course, the discussion didn’t stop there, we then moved on to biscuits and ice cream flavours. So, I did a small survey around the office and the most popular involved buttery shortbreads and chocolate hobnobs and for ice-cream flavours honeycomb, raspberry ripple and mint – choc chip were clear winners.
What is your favourite chocolate bar, biscuit and ice-cream flavour?
I hope you have a lovely weekend full of delicious indulgences!!
Chrisoula
Out and about in Italy
First up are the ladies who hand apply fat to the ends of the Parma Ham legs before they go in to the next stage of maturation. Their skill is pretty amazing to watch and vital for protection of the meat in the months that follow.
I took this picture of an old windmill on the lagoon at Orbetello in Tuscany. They are characteristic of the area. The lagoon is famous for its fish and I ate an oven-baked fish dish with potatoes there that evening. Those amongst you with eagle-eyes may have spotted the egret perching on the windmill base, also there for the fish!
These olive trees, on a hillside above the same lagoon, grow in amongst the ruins of a huge Roman temple. Which is rather nice. We were filming when we visited this site and spent a while spotting the trees with the most gnarled and twisted trunks. These trees are harvested for olive oil production rather than the table (eating) olives we sell. A tradition even older than the Roman ruins around us.
Making the most of the day’s last light for filming. Looking out to sea and towards Monte Argentario.
Anyway, back to the desk job…
Simon
Fruit Out Of Context
It was my sister’s birthday on Sunday so we had a dinner party with friends and family to celebrate. Mother was chef and I had responsibility of the cheese board. I took my responsibility very seriously, as one should, and bought a plethora of (what I thought were) exciting cheeses.
After a delicious dinner, cheese time came about. The Cheddar and Red Leicester were piled onto crackers and enjoyed in abundance, and then I started observing the cheese eating habits of my co diners. Any cheese with fruit remained untouched. I managed to convince a close friend to try a slither of Wensleydale with Cranberries. She loved it (as expected) which prompted a “What’s your favourite fruit out of context?” conversation.
I’m a big fan of ‘fruit out of context’. Fruit in cheese. Fan. Raisins in curry. Fan. Chicken with prunes. Fan. Parma ham and melon. Fan. Bacon and banana baguette. Fan.
So I have embarked on a quest – to broaden my fruit out of context knowledge and find new and exciting ways to combine fruit with savoury. I’d very much welcome any top tips. This weekend I am trying a kiwi glazed camembert and a pork and gooseberry pie. I’ll let you know how I get on.
In the mean time, I’ll be snacking on cheese and pineapple to see me through!
Let us know what your fruit recipe suggestions by leaving them as comments below or adding them to our Facebook wall (click here).
Carrie
