Food and drink « Penny Golightly

Seasonal foods in April

April 2nd, 2010 by Penny Golightly

I love seasonal foods: they’re fresher, they’re tastier and they’re usually cheaper too. Here’s what’s good at the market (or in the back garden or allotment) in April:

Fruit: early strawberries, rhubarb, last apples and pears from store. Imported Alphonso mangoes towards the end of the month.

Vegetables: asian greens, cabbage (green), chervil, chicory, chives, cucumbers, early asparagus, early Jersey Royal potatoes, lettuce and other salad leaves, morel mushrooms, nettles, purple sprouting broccoli, radishes, sea kale, sorrel, spring greens, spring onions, watercress, wild garlic.

Fish and shellfish: brown crab, brown shrimp, cockles, john dory, langoustine, lobster, red mullet, pollack, prawns, native oysters, sea bass, sea trout, wild salmon.

Meat, poultry and game: Spring lamb, Welsh lamb.

Cheeses: early British fresh-flavoured goats cheese, ewe’s milk cheeses.

Can’t wait for the first Jersey Royals. I’m also looking forward to buying a crate of mangoes and having them for breakfast, for dessert (try them sliced into a rice pudding with a couple of green cardamom pods), in salads, in smoothies and just maybe in a cocktail or two with some lime and coconut. Mmmmm.

What are you going to cook?

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Tags: April fruit and vegetables, April seasonal food, British seasonal food, Penny Golighghtly recipes, Penny Golightly goes shopping, seasonal food, seasonal foods for April, seasonal foods in April, seasonal fruit and veg
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I heart Love Food Hate Waste

March 22nd, 2010 by Penny Golightly

I met some of the lovely people from the Love Food Hate Waste campaign last week, and thought I should give them a quick mention on the blog.

If you want to be a bon viveur on a budget, I suspect that eating well is probably important to you. I’m a big fan of writing varied and delicious menus, planning a balanced diet, shopping within a budget, buying seasonal foods, planning ahead, using things up before they go off, and deliberately making extra food on one day to save time later (either for the freezer or for planned lefovers). I hate needlessly throwing food away as it’s money down the drain that could have been better spent on something else. Like gin, lipstick, silk stockings or other necessities and essentials.

In the UK we throw away an estimated 8.3 million tonnes of food per year. While some of this is made up of inedible vegetable peelings, banana skins and bones, the majority of it is foodstuffs that were once edible – therefore most of this is wasted food. We waste food for two main reasons: firstly because we have cooked or prepared too much of it, and secondly because we’ve allowed food to go off before it could be used. Love Food Hate Waste believe that the average household wastes over £50 per month in this way. That’s a lot of gin and lipstick, my friends.

So in addition to the usual Golightly tips, you might like to treat yourself to a little trip over to their website as well. They have some excellent recipes for using up leftovers and some really handy tips for portion control and food storage. Plus the first UK-resident person to write ‘no freezer-burn here’ in the comments box below will bag themselves a mini collection of LFHW recipe cards and a pasta portion measurer.

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Tags: eat before use by date, preventing food waste, using up leftovers
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Seasonal foods in March

March 1st, 2010 by Penny Golightly

Seasonal food in March is pretty strange – there isn’t a lot of it, for a start. Much of March is traditionally known as the ‘hungry gap’, where stored foods are running out, most overwintering veggies are past their best, and the first Spring crops won’t be ready for a few more weeks.

Things are improving in the UK as growers extend growing seasons with polytunnels, coldframes and greenhouses, and try out new varieties of plants. Keep an eye out for any of the fresh homegrown foods you can get hold of, including:

Fruit: early/forced rhubarb, apples and pears from store.

Vegetables: asian greens, cabbage (green), chicory, endive, kale, leeks, nettle tops, parsley, parsnips, purple sprouting broccoli, sea kale, sorrel, spring greens, spring onions, swedes, wild garlic, winter varieties of lettuce.

Fish and shellfish: bass, brown crab, clams, cockles, pollack, young mackerel, mussels, rock oysters, sardines, scallops, sea trout, wild salmon.

Meat, poultry and game: not the top season for any meats in particular.

Cheeses: Cotherstone, Stilton. Comté, Roquefort.

I think I’ll be cooking up some bashed neeps (swedes) and wilted curly kale to serve with burgers or sausages, some noodle soup with Asian greens and shellfish, and some sprouting broccoli baked with eggs and garlic.

What are you going to cook? Do you have any favourite recipes?

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Tags: British garden kitchen, British seasonal food, cheap fruit and veg, in season in March, March fruit and vegetables, UK food in season, UK seasonal food, vegetables in season
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Afternoon Tea At The Wolseley

February 24th, 2010 by Penny Golightly

If payday’s a long way off but you still want to eat out somewhere with a touch of glamour, how about afternoon tea?

When I want to eat beautiful food in sophisticated surroundings, but the finances don’t quite stretch to a fancy lunch or dinner, I head for a deluxe tearoom. The Wolseley cafe-restaurant on Piccadilly is a particular favourite of mine and is ideal for meeting friends, treating relatives, spotting celebrities or impressing a date.

The building was originally designed as a luxury car showroom in the 1920s, and has been beautifully converted into a European-style grand cafe with most of the original Art Deco features still intact, including the marble floors, huge windows and high ceilings. It’s light years away from your local greasy spoon, and serves breakfasts, lunches, and evening meals as well as gorgeous afternoon teas.

The place is very popular, so it’s advisable to book ahead unless you don’t mind waiting for a while in the busy bar by the door. The staff are efficient and friendly rather than stuffy, and they will seat you as soon as they can.

The menu covers bistro fare, Eastern European comfort foods, seafood, and, best of all, high teas and Viennoiserie. Given the quality and ambience it’s reasonably priced. On my last visit the waiter allowed me to split one afternoon tea between two people, which meant that we had a plate of finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, a choice of teas, and a small selection of pastries to share. It was more than enough for both of us, and our taste of the good life came in at below £10 per person. Worth every penny.

Tea at the Wolseley is held daily 3.30pm – 6.30pm, apart from Saturdays (3.30pm – 5.30pm).

The Wolseley, 160 Piccadilly, London W1J 9EB. Telephone: 020 7499 6996

This article by Penny Golightly originally appeared on the lastminute.com blog.

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Tags: afternoon tea, art deco, cream tea, eating out for less, English tea, fine foods, Penny Golightly for Lastminute.com, Piccadilly, tea room, The Wolseley
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Seasonal foods in February

February 22nd, 2010 by Penny Golightly

Here’s the shortish list of UK foods that are in season during February, plus a few special imports. As ever, if there’s a glut of anything then you should be able to haggle a bit and buy it cheaper at the market. Failing that, it might turn up in the supermarkets’ special offers sections.

So, without further ado, here’s what’s best (and mostly local) in February. I’ll be picking up my wicker shopping basket and wandering out to purchase some of the following…

Fruit: apples from store, early forced rhubarb.

Vegetables: Asian greens, cabbage (white and green), celeriac, chicory, endive, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, leeks, parsnips, salsify and scorzonera, spring onions, the last sprouts and sprout tops, swedes, turnips.

Fish and shellfish: brown crab, clams, cockles, cod, dab, hake, halibut, lemon sole and other flat fish (plaice, sole), mackerel, mussels, rock oyster, scallops, wild salmon.

Meat, poultry and game: hare.

Cheeses: Blue Cheshire, Cotherstone, Farmhouse Cheddar, Stilton, Blue Wensleydale. Bleu des Causses, Brie de Meaux, Tomme Arlesienne.

This week’s menu at Bistro Golightly will probably include chilli crab cakes with stir-fried greens, a leek and blue cheese bake, and some kind of casserole with kale on the side.

What are you going to cook?

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Tags: British seasonal food, cheap ingredients in February, in season in February, seasonal fruit and veg, UK seasonal ingredients
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Awash with champagne deals…

February 21st, 2010 by Penny Golightly

Lots of deals on champagne and sparkling wines at the moment. For example, Adsa are discounting Moet & Chandon in-store, and Tesco are offering new customers £15 off a £50 spend.

There’s also a good deal on at Oddbins, according to this week’s poster:

It’s a slow time for champagne sales after Christmas, New Year and Valentine’s day have gone by, so it’s not surprising that there are some great offers around this week. It stores well, so you can stock up on the good stuff while it’s on offer and hide it away until you need it.

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Tags: cheap champagne deals, discounts on champagne, sparkling wines for less
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Storecupboard baked risotto recipe

February 1st, 2010 by Penny Golightly

This baked risotto is flavoured with peas, mint and lemon, and it’s easy to throw together with common storecupboard ingredients for a quick and cheap Monday night dinner.

If you use a pan with a lid that can safely be transferred from the hob to the inside of the oven it saves on waste and washing up. Never a bad thing in my book.

Ingredients (serves 2)

A little olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
150g risotto rice (Carnaroli is by far the best for this)
1 heaped teaspoon dried mint
Small pinch dried basil (optional)
350ml hot vegetable stock
150g frozen peas
Zest and juice of half a lemon
50g Grana Padano cheese, finely grated

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C or Gas 6. For fan ovens, reduce heat to 180C.

2. Gently cook the onion in the oil on a medium to low heat for a few minutes until it softens and becomes translucent, adding a sprinkle of black pepper during cooking.

3. Sprinkle on the dried mint, and basil if using.

4. Add the hot vegetable stock, stirring well, and as soon as it starts to bubble put the lid on the pan and transfer the risotto to the hot oven.

5. After 15 minutes, quickly stir the frozen peas into the risotto before replacing the lid and putting the risotto back into the oven for another 3-4 minutes.

6. After the peas have cooked, gently stir in the lemon juice and zest and 30g of cheese.

7. Serve sprinkled with the remaining cheese and some more black pepper.

If you want to make this more luxurious, you can use petit pois or fresh peas, use fresh herbs instead of dried (add at the end of cooking), omit 100ml of stock and replace it with white wine, or replace the Grana Padano with lots of fresh Parmesan.

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