Independent Food Producers and Shops Delivering Food During Covid19 in the UK
A regularly updated lists of farms, fishmongers, vegetable producers, online food shops, bakers, tea and coffee providers and booze producers who are all doing home delivery during the Covid-19 crisis. Support independents and ease the burden on the supermarkets.
Crown Prince Squash, Ginger and Coriander Soup (and TEN other favourite soup recipes for you!)
A simple recipe for Crown Prince Squash, Ginger and Coriander Soup with you. It is so bright and full flavoured. As much as coconut milk loves this squash, I dare say as much as I do, I only add it on the top allowing the squash to shine in the soup.
Squid Stuffed with Beef & Chorizo - perfect for the BBQ or cook it in the oven
Land and Sea, Surf and Turf. I love to make one great thing and then do lots of things with it, the beef and chorizo filling for the squid is a perfect example for this. It is super flexible and adaptable. It makes a great kebab, an excellent burger, it can be a meatball.
Ottawa is the kind of city that I love to visit. With so much going on every day, it bustles and there is lots to do. Ottawa embraces the extreme seasons, with festivals and events all year round. I knew that it was Canada’s capital city and the seat of the Canadian government. What I didn’t know is just how fun and friendly it is, and how diverse the population is.
Ottawa is a perfect size for a short visit. Big enough to have lots going on and small enough to make it easy to hop from place to place. The diverse population means there are many interesting restaurants. I had one of the best bowls of Vietnamese pho that I have ever had (and I have had many!), wonderful Middle Eastern food, vibrant modern Canadian, afternoon tea in a beautiful ornate historic hotel, dinner at a famous Ottawa cookery school and restaurant and of course, I went back to their central food market downtown.
My first bite in Ottawa on this trip was in Jackson. A gorgeous bright room fitting of its location with glorious high ceilings and enormous hanging ceiling lamps. It is named for the gallery’s extensive collection of works by Canadian Group of Seven member A.Y. Jackson (which you can view for free and which I did after my meal – you must!). Continue reading
All aboard for the Sparks Street PoutineFest in Ottawa! An annual event celebrating the unofficial and super popular national Canadian dish, poutine. Not just a celebration of that most wonderful trifecta of fries, gravy and squeaky cheese curds, Sparks Street PoutineFest reaches beyond the plate. It is a superb reflection of Ottawa’s rich immigrant history and diverse food culture and all things Ottawa and Canada in terms of craft drinks and music.
Originally from Quebec, poutine has been embraced coast to coast. We can even get it here in London! Indeed, I have served my Irish take on it here. I have had lobster poutine on the east coast, complete with a gorgeous lobster gravy and poutine with slow-cooked ox cheek ragu in place of gravy on the west coast. I have been to Quebec and Montreal and had many poutines there, including, of course, the original. Sparks Street PoutineFest was about to blow my mind.
DO Cava and Cava Discovery Week sponsored this post.
I know you don’t need to have an excuse to have a Bubbly Brunch but when you have crisp fluffy smoked salmon waffles beside your gorgeous glass of aged cava, I don’t see how you can resist.
Cava is an excellent wine choice. As with champagne, it is made in the traditional method and it is fermented and aged in bottle leading to some excellent wines.
Cava has a DO (denomination of origin) which means that it can only be made in specific areas, although 95% of cava is made in Penedès in Catalonia. Cava is made primarily with indigenous Spanish grapes, Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel·lo. Other grapes like chardonnay are also added at times.
Cava can be white or rosé and as part of the traditional method cava has two fermentations, the second being in bottle where it can also be aged. Reserva, Gran Reserva and Cava de Paraje wines are all aged high quality cava wines which you can enjoy in some terrific Spanish tapas bars and restaurants across the UK this week.
This is the second of two sponsored summer recipes that I developed with Parma Ham. Don’t miss the first one: Bream Ceviche with Parma Ham and Nectarines.
We have already spoken in depth about the meaty joy that is Parma Ham. Brief recap! Parma Ham is one of those products where you are gifted instant flavour, the work all being done by the producer before it hits your plate. It is preservative free, being just Pork + Air + Salt + Time and lessons learned from history and generations of prior producers. Parma Ham plays well with others and gifts instant depth of flavour to many things. It makes a lovely crisp jacket when you wrap other things in it, whether that is a bundle of green beans or asparagus, a lovely piece of fish or in this case pork belly.
My pork belly obsession is well documented. It is a perfect roast, yes, especially when you roast it slow. It is brilliantly flexible beyond this though. I have taken to cooking smaller amounts of pork belly quicker with excellent results. This Parma Ham wrapped pork belly is a perfect example and it is so good. The ham keeps all the pork belly juices inside as it cooks, and gives it an extra deeply savoury layer. 
On the side, as much as I love the humble spud and a slick plate of mash, I go for beans here. Beans also make great mash and they are especially nice for summer or Autumn. I like to use a plump butter bean (or better yet, Greek gigantes beans). Not only do they make a delicious mash, they make an instant one too. Protein rich with a hint of garlic and savouriness of rosemary. Those roasting juices from the pork belly wrapped with Parma Ham are sublime and elevate everything.
You can of course use a favourite chilli oil or one that you have at home. I provide a recipe for a simple one here flavoured with garlic and chilli. Play around, make a peppercorn oil, add herbs as it cools down (not at the beginning or they will burn). Homemade oils bring brilliant flavour. If you don’t want chilli make a simple herb oil by blending a flavourful herb (like oregano or basil) with some oil, allowing it to infuse and then pass it through a coffee filter or similar and you are good to go.
Ingredients
Instructions
Well I am excited and nervous in equal amounts. My second book BACON is going to print in September to be delivered in plenty of time for Christmas. For you early birds there is an early bird offer that runs only until Monday (Order HERE now!),
If you want a copy, you need to act now. This will be a limited edition release and there is only going to be one small print run this year limited to 1000 books. I will be stuffing the envelopes myself – and of course, signing every copy! – and with 800 already sold that pretty much sorts my November! My priority is to deliver the book to my wonderful original backers, and also to print additional copies for readers who may have missed that opportunity or joined the fold since then.
With the exception of a handful of recipes that were in my Sunday Bacon Club and Bacon Masterclasses, these are all spanking NEW! None of the recipes exist elsewhere and if you love bacon you must have it. If you love to eat generally. Bacon is the focus but not always dominant. Sometimes it is!
Hello! I’m Niamh (Knee-uv! It’s Irish).
You are very welcome here. Eat Like a Girl has been my place to scribble online since 2007. That’s 14 years of recipes and over 1000 posts to explore.
Eat Like a Girl? It’s simple, we love to eat too. Anything else you’ve heard about women and only eating salad? It’s noise and misogyny.
But, we really love an excellent salad too. Shouldn’t everyone?!
Get your copy of Bacon the Cookbook at baconthecookbook.com
