The Blue Strawberry, Hatfield Peverel: Review

Last Saturday, my partner decided to treat me to a meal out at the Blue Strawberry. What was the occasion? Nothing! Dining out for the sole reason of gluttony!

I've never had a bad meal at the Strawb' and this was no exception. My partner was a little disappointed with the menu, claiming that it was very fish-heavy. I'm notsure I concur- I suspect it was just an excuse for him to have his beloved belly pork! There was lamb as well as two types of steak, so what's his beef?

We were seated at 6.30pm. The place was quite empty. I attributed this to the financial downturn, but was pleased to see the place brimming by the time we left.

I started with a very 1970s starter- prawn and crab in a Marie Rose sauce, on an avocado fan! It sounds naff, but there's a good reason it still persists: it's a classic! The crab and prawns were sweet, the avocado perfectly ripe and creamy. The richness was cut through with an oak leaf salad and a citrus dressing. It was a well balanced dish. My partner offered for the pork and ham terrine. I think that terrines are very underrated. Whilst people are salivating over pates, the humble terrine, whose rough texture allows individual flavours to shine through, is ignored. Bah. This terrine was well seasoned, with fragrant apricots and herbs as dominant flavours. It was accompanied by a zingy and fresh pineapple chutney.

Predictably, my partner had the belly pork. I can see why. It is absolute perfection for the meat eater- crispy crackling with succulent, tender meat beneath. It was served with spring greens with pancetta, which had a lovely smokey flavour, as well as apple sauce and what looked like boulangere potatoes. The veg on the table was broccoli, mashed swede and courgettes in tomato sauce. There was even enough pork to smuggle some home for the cat!

I had moules mariniere with skinny chips. To my mind, there is something very beastly about eating chips, especially those skinny-fast-food-looking, whenone is in a decent restaurant. I managed to put my qualms to one side, and tackle the enormous portion of mussels presented to me. They were perfectly cook, in a different league to the small mussels served at Loch Fyne. They were plump, tender and perfectly cooked. the white wine, clream and garlic sauce was beautifully seasoned and very garlicky. Not that this was a problem, but it would have been nice to have had some bread.

After stuffing our faces, there was no room for pud. Well, maybe there was, but I didn't fancy driving home with that overstuffed feeling...

Pork mince and leek casserole recipe

I was feeling the need for a comforting casserole the other day. I also had some pork mince that needed using. I found this recipe:

Serves 4

1lb pork mince
1lb leeks, sliced
2lb potato sliced
1 onion sliced
Some mushrooms
bay leaf
Thyme
750ml Stock
Tomato puree
Butter

Line bottom of casserole pan with half the potatoes. Cover with sliced onion and mushrooms. Fry pork until brown. Add leeks and cook for 5 mins. Add 750ml stock, 1 bay leaf, squirt of tomato puree and a sprig of thyme. Cook for 10 mins. Check seasoning. Pour into the casserole. Cover with remaining potatoes. Brush potatoes with butter. Cook for 1 hour at 180C, removing lid for final 30mins.

The result was very comforting and filling. I dry-fried the mince which was quite lean, so the whole thing was pretty healthy. I shall do this again as it was very economical.

Leek and Potato Soup Recipe

After slating Good Food's waffle-laden recipes- here is my attempt to show them how it's done...

Serves 2

1tbs butter
2 medium leeks
1 big onion
1 big potato
Chicken or veg stock
Some milk/ cream
Salt and pepper

Chop veg. Cook veg with salt and pepper in butter with lid on for 10mins. Cover with stock. Cook for 20 mins. Blend. Add dash of milk/ splosh of cream to taste. Strain and check seasoning. Nomnomnom.

Simples.

Tomato soup recipe

I've been doing a bit of cooking recently, with varying degrees of success. The scones were a disaster; the flour was stale and the scones tasted of cupboard. They were bitter and disappointing but were eaten nonetheless, if you overlook the scone and treat them as a jam-and-clotted-cream-delivery system. Hehe.

Anyhow, my tomatoes are coming in fits and starts. The weather has been miserable so they are ripening slowly, but one hot day brings more ripe toms than is necessary! I've been making a couple of delicious tomato and goats cheese tarts, but my favourite is tomato soup.

I use the Good Food recipe. It is a ludicrous recipe. It is pretentiously long winded. I could condense the essay to 100 words. It's that kind of nonsense that puts people off cooking. It's slightly contraversial soup as it contains carrot and celery, but it's not a veg soup as the quantity of carrot and celery is dwarfed by the weight of tomatoes.

I tried this soup unstrained, vowing that there is no need to go through the torture of washing a sieve. It is nice served that way, but it is full of skins and pips. Sieving is worth the effort. It gives a silky, sweet soup. It is truly delicious and only to be attempted if you can get your mits on some top notch tomatoes. Don't bother with the supermarket tastless bullets.

Loch Fyne, Chelmsford: Review

I decided to go out to lunch the other day, by myself. Why? I like the peace and quiet, the chance to enjoy some food without having to deal with somebody's inane chit-chat.

I went to Loch Fyne as I love seafood and fish, have a partner is not a fan of the sea and I am not confident enough to cook my own fish. I do not trust the freshness of the fare on the fish counters at our supermarkets. We have some fish stalls at the market, but again, I'm not sure about them. I think the combination of fish of dubious freshness, combined with me not really knowing hoe to cook it is a recipe for illness.

Anyway, back to the meal. I took advantage of the '2 courses + glass of wine' offer. As I've said before, £11.50 isn't bad. I opted to start with the mussels with chilli and coriander. They arrived looking plump and perfectly cooked. There was a pleasant heat to the chilli, but was disappointed that there was not much of a fresh chilli and coriander flavour. The coriander and chilli were added at the beginning, so much of their aroma had been lost during the cooking process. It would have been better to sprinkle a little chilli and coriander just before the dish was served.

There was a really good choice on the lunch menu, 5 options for each course! For the main course I had whiting in parsley sauce on sauteed new potatoes. I remember the days when people were horrified that many fish fingers contained whiting rather than cod. If it doesn't say cod, it ain't cod! I'm not sure what their beef is with whiting, as it is perfectly nice. Ok, cod is meatier, has bigger flakes and doesn't have the slightly off-putting pink veiny bits, but cod is expensive and running out! We Brits need to wean ourselves off cod and look further afield.

Anyhow, the whiting was well seasoned and covered in a thick parsely sauce. Interestingly, the potatoes has been cooked in garlic butter. Whilst this was delicious, it did overpower the parsley somewhat. I'm surprised the garlic wasn't mentioned on the menu- there are a lot of people who detest garlic. Served with mixed veg, it was a very filling dish.

It's such a shame that there is hardly anyone in there, and places like Pizza Express are bursting at the seams!