Chef Wise

A simple one-pot dish that you can make in just a few moments and then sit in the garden and chill, perfect for the long summer nights when you get in from work. And you only need one pan, eat straight from the pan and no plates. Or does that make it juts me who does not like to wash up. You will need, 1tbsp oil 1 large onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, crushed 275ml/10floz chicken stock Salt and freshly ground black pepper 4 chicken breasts 1 x 400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes 2tsp ground cinnamon 1tsp ground ginger A handful of dried apricots A handful of prunes 2tbsp clear honey A bunch fresh coriander 200g dry easy cook couscous Plain yoghurt Get a large sauce pan or frying pan and star by frying of your onion, garlic and chicken breast in a little oil. Dice the chicken and opinions up as rustic as you want. Once the chicken has almost cooked and the opinions are nice and soft you can move to stage two. Season with salt and pep...

May 2012 Nick Nairn’s long awaited Aberdeen Cook School opened this month with the latest state-of-the-art kitchens from Kitchens International.    Located in a stunning listed building, formerly St Nicholas Kirk’s old church hall in the city centre, the Cook School has been a passionate desire of Nick’s for several years to cater for the demand for would-be cooks from the North East. Having already fitted out the original Nick Nairn Cook School in Stirlingshire, KI knew what makes a good cook school kitchen. Enhancing original features such as carved mouldings and a stained glass window, made for an interesting kitchen design but the final result is a stunning cook school in an inspirational environment. The design is half industrial and half domestic to work as a cookschool but give people the feeling they are still in a domestic environment. KI Designer Helen Taylor chose handleless frosty white Leicht cabinetr...

Now how typical this dish is compared to a lot of Greek recipes is one thing but it is a close interpretation of a dish that I had once. The thing that you have to remember is that you seem to get a lot of spice and herbs in Greek cooking so lots of flavour.   You will need 1 tbsp vegetable oil 1kg/2lb 4oz chunky diced lamb shoulder 1 onion 2 garlic cloves 2 bay leaves 4 anchovy fillets 400g/14 oz chopped tomatoes 1 tbsp ground cinnamon 500ml/17fl oz chicken stock 200g/7oz orzo pasta 1 tbsp sherry vinegar 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary 1 tbsp chopped oregano Now if you have such a thing as a slow cooker then this is perfect for a slow long cook. Otherwise a long slow cook in the oven on or the stove top will do. Start by heating the oil in a large casserole dish or sauce pan. Fry the lamb off until browned on all sides. Then add the onion and garlic, sliced into the ...

30 May 2012 Pepsi unveil interactive Facebook app enabling users to star alongside the Pepsi football athletes and DJ/producer Calvin Harris Pepsi have announced the launch of their latest digital addition to the 2012 ‘Kick in the Mix’ campaign, an innovative and sharable Facebook application, which sees the world of music and football collide in a truly tailor-made brand experience. Pepsi’s interactive app follows the journey of the user moving through a VIP party experience in which they meet, interact and hang out with the Pepsi football stars, Agüero, Wilshere, Drogba, Lampard, Torres, Arshavin, Podolski and five pre-selected Facebook friends along the way. The app seamlessly pulls the users’ personal profile pictures in to the narrative, featuring them throughout the video, making the experience unique for every Pepsi fan and making them the star of the campaign. The personalised functionality includes casting the user as a Remix DJ, whose exclusive VIP party experience comes ...

30 May 2012 Three Manchester based entrepreneurs have launched the UK's first niche specialist world beers store. Beginning as hobbyists and meeting through a shared love for enjoying the best craft and independent beers, the three company founders noticed a distinct lack of online retailers selling their favourite beers. After years of research, sampling and sourcing the best the world's independent and craft breweries had to offer the founders embarked on a journey to find a way to deliver these beers directly to the door of anyone in the UK. A short time later BeerandNow.co.uk was born which now offers a comprehensive and ever growing menu of the world's best beers at affordable prices.  The beers that we stock are almost impossible to find in a high street store, and are even hard to find in specialist bars.  We have searched high and low to secure the best distribution deals with the independent breweries to ensure that our prices are the lowest in the UK.  We'...

29 May 2012 The second Red Tractor labelling report reveals that retailers are using the Red Tractor logo on a greater proportion of their British products than last year – increasing from 66% to 70% this year.  Building on the success of last year’s inaugural report, Red Tractor Assurance has launched its latest labelling audit which analyses the use of the Red Tractor logo on British own-label products in Produce, Dairy, Meat and Bakery in UK retailers. The independent audit recognises best practice and identifies missed labelling opportunities by category within each retailer. Richard Cattell, Head of Marketing, Red Tractor Assurance said:  “Following the debate and thought stimulated by last year’s audit with UK retailers, I am delighted to report progress over the last 12 months. This year we found 70% of British products surveyed carried the Red Tractor logo, an improvement on 66% last year.”   The Red Tractor logo can now be found on around £12 billion wor...

May 2012   In a move to help pubs capitalise on what is set to be a great summer for sport, professional catering equipment suppliers, JM Posner has put together a fantastic starter package for pubs looking towards additional revenue streams to add to bottom line profit margins.   For just £485, publicans can get a countertop Herta Hotdog machine and four cases of Herta Hotdogs (168 sausages) which when sold for just £3 each will recoup the cost of the machine. This summers sporting spectacular is the ideal opportunity for pubs to cash in on increased footfall, through themed menu for the Olympics, a football themed promotion for the European Championships or additional bar snacks to cater for hungry customers not wanting to take their eyes off the on-screen action. The package provided by JM Posner provides all but the bun and sauce, allowing an establishment to start providing customers with something they will love in time for the summer. What’s more, further...

Another Greek influenced recipe for you today. Most of the Mediterranean countries have this tradition of pickling vegetables and I do not know why we do not do more of our own. Once you have done it once you will wounded why you have never done it before.   Ingredients 1kg/2¼lb aubergines a few celery leaves 1 bunch spring onions 120ml/4fl oz extra virgin olive oil 10g/½oz garlic 25ml/1fl oz lemon juice salt and pepper To get things started bring a large pan of water to the boil. Drop in the aubergines and let them boil them for about 10 minutes, until they feel soft when you prick them with a small knife. Make sure that there is plenty of room in the pan for them to move around and turn them as they need to be cooked evenly.    Remove them from the water and let them drain. The best way is to hang them from the washing line and let the water drip off.   Now in another small pan blanch the celery leaves and the spring onions for a few ...

If you like cheese scones then you will like this, a savoury snack that has a little more than just a cheese and onion to it. It is a just different and I think a welcome thing to fine in your lunch box if you fancy a change from the standard range of things that you normally get , so give it a go. You will need 1 tbsp olive oil 2 red onions 330g/11½oz plain flour 200g/7oz cold butter Salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 egg yolks 125g/4½oz pecorino cheese Now you need to dice your onions and fry them off so they are nice and soft , but do not let them get brown . Just sweat them off with the oil for about 15 minutes so they are nice and soft. Now line a backing tray with some greaseproof paper. Then get the   blend the flour and butter together so you get a fine breadcrumb finish, you can do this in a food processor if you like. Season with salt and pepper then add the egg yolks, cheese and cooked red onions. Then mix this together to make ...

25 May 2012 In gardens all around the UK this summer men will congregate around the grill marvelling over their sausages. What men don’t love talking about though is their health and yet each year there are 37,400 men diagnosed with a male specific cancer. Orchid, the male cancer charity, and celebrity chefs, the Fabulous Baker Brothers (Tom and Henry Herbert) are calling on men across the UK to fire up their BBQ’s and get their bangers out this June or anytime during the summer months to host their own ‘Big BBQ’ and raise awareness of male cancer. With plenty of occasions to get the great British Summer underway, such as National BBQ Week (May 28th – June 3rd 2012), the Diamond Jubilee bank holiday weekend (2nd June – 5th June 2012) and Father’s Day (Sunday 17th June),  Orchid’s ‘Big BBQ’ initiative aims to get men fired up about their health and encourage them to get together with family, friends and colleagues during June to be the BBQ King and raise much needed funds for Or...

25 May 2012 Justin Bieber, Peter Andre and Dale Winton have achieved ‘legendairy’ status by being voted the cheesiest celebs in a recent poll by Pilgrim’s Choice. Other stinkers include Tom ‘extra mature’ Jones, Alexandra Burke, troublesome duo ‘Ched-ward’ and TOWIE’s Mild Joey Essex. The celebs making it onto the cheeseboard: 1. Justin Brie-ber 2. Peter Andre 3. Dale Winton 4. Tom Jones 5. Joey Essex 6. Jedward 7. Alexandra Burke 8. Tom Cruise 9. Nicole Sherzinger 10. Katie Price But it seems cheese and glitz could now go hand-in-hand following a new culinary craze of pimping up the ‘grate’ British sandwich.  Spreading its way down the red carpet and injecting some serious glamour into our lunchtime; make way for the ‘Glamwich’! Pilgrim’s Choice research has shown one in five consumers are now adding fancy fillings to make their lunch more exciting  and taking lunch making to an alluring new level: • One third (32%) of all consumers use high-quality cheese to add glamour ...

25 May 2012 The famous Diamond Jubilee Queen Cake, which appeared with Holly and Phil on ITV This Morning, The Graham Norton Show and the Ideal Home Exhibition, has finally come to rest in its home town of Sydenham, London. It can be seen in our fabulous cake showroom. The news is that The Cake Store has since been invited to create an amazing display of cakes in Harrods Knightsbridge store window to commemorate The Queens Diamond Jubilee. We have also just launched a brand new, amazing website, with over 900 celebration cakes that can be personalised to suit any occasion. We have some wonderful ideas for street party cakes. Being a small business, with a very enthusiastic team, please help us by reviewing our new website and helping us let people know…..I’m afraid we can only afford to pay for generous write-ups in cake!

Here are two quick and easy things to make that you have a side dip or dish if you are doing a Greek night .    Tzatziki   For this you will need 350g/12oz Greek yoghurt 1 cucumber 2 tbsp lemon juice 2 cloves of garlic, grated finely dash of extra virgin olive oil Paprika   First peal and scoop out the seed from the cucumber then grate it into a cloth. Squeeze out all the excess liquid from the cucumber then put it in a bowl .    Now add to the cucumber, yoghurt, lemon juice and garlic and mix it all together. Then season with dash of olive oil and sprinkle with paprika.   Perfect for dipping things in.   Now   for the marinated feta cheese take 350g/12oz feta 120ml/4fl oz extra virgin olive oil The Zest of a unwaxed lemon 2 tsp freshly chopped oregano 1 tsp cracked black pepper This is eavn easyer , cut the feta into even squares and place in a bowl. Then pour over the olive oil , then the lem...

24 May 2012 Research by the Flour Advisory Bureau (FAB) reveals that one in six Brits are planning to organise, or help to organise, at least one more party than usual this summer.  The Love Your Loaf research also revealed that more than half of Brits prefer to do a buffet than a sit down meal when celebrating. Planning for the perfect buffet has now been made simple thanks to the free-to-download Love Your Loaf party planning toolkit launched on www.fabflour.co.uk today Toolkit author Catherine Borowski of top London event company Produce says, “The FAB research shows that the top three worries for Brits planning a party this year are the weather, the cost of hosting a party and how much preparation is involved. While we can’t do much about the weather, my FAB Love Your Loaf party planning toolkit will help make the preparation easier. The Love Your Loaf research reveals that nation’s top three menu choices for party buffets are sandwiches (68%), sausage r...

24 May 2012 This summer make the most of the additional bank holiday to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee by inviting friends and family round and firing-up the barbecue. The UK’s leading Oriental grocer, Wing Yip can help you spice-up your dishes to create a barbecue spread fit for a Queen! From creating marinades that sizzle on the barbecue to adding intense flavours to your accompanying salads, Wing Yip delivers an Oriental twist to your food that will impress your guests. Mr Wing Yip, founder and Chairman of the Oriental grocery empire, said: "Preparing food to be cooked on the barbecue couldn’t be easier – our sauces are perfect for marinating, glazing and dipping, and promise intense flavours from the Far East to liven-up meat, fish and vegetables.” Recipes are available from the Wing Yip recipe library at www.wingyipstore.co.uk  each one has easy to follow instructions and an ingredients listing. Wing Yip is the UK’s leading Chinese grocer, with stores in Birmingham...

24 May 2012 ‘Easy Jubilee: How to Create the Perfect Party’ is available on 24th May from all major online retailers 24th May 2012:  Cherry Menlove, has this week released her very first ebook: ‘Easy Jubilee: How to Create the Perfect Party’, a simple to use guide, which is available to download for £1.99 from Thursday, 24th May. With everything you need to make a memorable Jubilee celebration for friends and family, the eBook covers three key ingredients for hosting the perfect party - how to create and decorate delicious Jubilee-themed cupcakes, how to make gorgeous homemade deluxe bunting - perfect as a gift or to re-use time and time again, as well as games and activities to entertain children on the day. The eBook provides easy-to-follow steps and stunning photography for a little inspiration. Guaranteed to make organising your Jubilee celebrations both fun and memorable, ‘Easy Jubilee’ is one of its publisher, W&N an imprint of Orion’s, first eBooks to...

22 May 2012 Five Rivers Catering Group, the award winning event caterers in Punjabi cuisine, launched their first restaurant in Walsall which offers both dining and banqueting within its purpose built home. For this exciting new venture they chose Heterarchy to design of their dining area and bar as the company able to deliver on their mission statement with the interiors: "Compromise nothing; deliver everything" And Heterarchy have certainly delivered. Within the exposed brick shell of the building, which is in itself characterful, materials have been carefully chosen to create a sense of luxury whilst providing an intimate feel within what is quite a large space. As you enter the building, into a small lounge area, upholstered wall panels with bronze finish framing act as a backdrop for the free-standing curved bench seats, creating the look of fixed seating but with added flexibility. Attention to detail is everywhere, from the delicate crackled paint finish to the car...

22 May 2012 Caerphilly Town Centre will host its first Food Festival on 26th May, offering delicious smells, sizzling sounds at food stalls through the town, and a feast of entertainment for all ages, making a great family day out. Caerphilly town centre will be closed to traffic for the day as the bustling food market lines the streets with tantalising treats for the tongue available from a variety of stalls. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the skating tomato and the mad chefs! Foodies on a family day out will be in their element as cookery demonstrations accompany the festival, offering inside information on how produce is made and how to improve your own culinary skills. The Visit Caerphilly Centre will be host to the feature cookery programme, packed with chefs and producers presenting their creative cuisine. There will also be opportunity for audience participation! With German cake creation, cheese and butter making, cake decorating, cake pops, and chocolate tempering to...

22 May 2012 Hotel du Vin has announced the launch of a new lunch menu and a revised à la carte menu. The new lunch menu offers one, two or three courses, as well as a selection of salads, sandwiches and tartines, giving diners the flexibility to enjoy Hotel du Vin’s delicious cuisine even when time is short.  The new à la carte menu retains its great grill section with delicious dry aged steaks that have been matured for at least 28 days, but returns to the classics of French bistro dining in its choices for all courses. On the reverse of the à la carte menu Hotel du Vin's Wine and Spirit Director Ronan Sayburn has hand-picked a selection of eighty great wines for all palates and purses. This allows the diner to make a quicker wine choice if desired, but the full Hotel du Vin expansive wine list of 500 vintages is still available to choose from. The new dessert menu also helpfully suggests wine or digestif pairings. Signature dishes for the new menu are as follows: To start:...

22 May 2012 Summer is just around the corner ! Lunch on the terrace, drinks in the sunshine, delicious summery salads… If you’re looking for the perfect wine to fit the mood – try a delicious rosé from Bordeaux ! Figure it out… Bordeaux rosé is on the up! Nowadays, five times more rosé is made in Bordeaux than 20 years ago (61,000 hectolitres in 1990, compared with 250,000 hectolitres in 2011). 28 million bottles are produced and sales have risen by 9%. Bordeaux is now one of the top producers of AOC rosé. A little knowledge… Rosé wine isn’t just a blend of red and white ! Rosé is made from the juice of red- or black-skinned grapes, extracting just a little colour from the skins. In Bordeaux, there are two ways of making rosé : there are rosés from red/black grapes pressed specifically to make rosé wines, and rosés de saignée made from juice run off from a red wine tank before too much colour has been extracted from the skins (this has the side-effect of making ...

22 May 2012 British booze cruise predicted to make resurgence in 2012. The worsening crisis in the Eurozone will reignite interest in the cross Channel booze cruises as consumers take advantage of the weakening Euro and load up on bargains, according to new research from trade magazine Off Licence News (OLN). The combination of economic factors coupled with the UK’s Summer of events - Queen’s jubilee, European football championships and the 2012 games – will motivate consumers to travel to find the best value. Rosie Davenport, Editor at Off Licence News said, "The real savings come if you're buying in for a big gathering, so people planning Jubilee parties or summer weddings, will be particularly tempted." In 2010, large UK-based retailers including Sainsbury’s and Tesco closed their Calais warehouse stores as exchange rates made booze cruises less attractive and prices fell in UK supermarkets. But as the Euro continues to weaken against the pound, the trend could see...

22 May 2012 BRITISH ASPARAGUS AUCTION SET FOR RECORD BREAKING WORLDWIDE BIDS ASPARAGUS TO REACH £50 A ROUND THIS WEEKEND The world-famous asparagus auctions take place this weekend and international interest is focused on the sleepy Worcestershire village of Bretforton and the National Trust’s Fleece Inn where they are being held. This year’s appalling weather conditions has resulted in a scarcity of the vegetable – the British Asparagus Festival had to be cancelled earlier this month due to a lack of availability. This has led to a huge increase in interest in the asparagus auctions and the organisers are expecting record bids this year. As well as phone bids from as far afield as America, the village is gearing up for a much bigger influx of buyers than usual attending the auctions in person on 27th May. Vale of Evesham asparagus is renowned for being the tastiest in the world and is highly sought after this year. Colin Jelfs, auctioneer at the event the asparagus, explains: “In ...

22 May 2012 Sick and tired of giving the same old wine or spirit to friends and relatives for their birthday, anniversary, wedding, graduation or retirement celebration? Consider personalised wine and spirit gifts, and you’ll be dubbed the “fabulous gift-giver”. Leading personalised gifts site www.gonedigging.co.uk has oodles of wine gifts and spirits gifts up for grabs... Now, you can give, or rather create, a bottle of personalised wine, personalised champagne, personalised whisky – the list goes on – complete with their name plus a thoughtful message on the bottle label. Not only are these gifts appealing, but they’re a masterpiece to be kept and displayed for years to come. You can choose to have the bottle delivered on its own, in a premium silk-lined gift box, or even send an accompanying personalised card. Whether you’re raising your profile, saying thank you or celebrating a success, personalised bottles of wine and spirits make truly standout gifts, suitable for birthdays...

New Spanish oil offers premium quality at affordable price    If you only ever crack out the extra virgin olive oil to drizzle over the odd salad or dress a dinner party dish, you might be surprised to learn that people across the Mediterranean use extra virgin oil for all their everyday cooking needs – from marinades and casseroles to shallow frying, and everything else in between. And now British food lovers can also use extra virgin oil in their everyday cooking, thanks to the launch of Hojiblanca Extra Virgin Olive Oil – a   premium, single variety extra virgin oil coming soon to a Tesco store near you, offering great value for money compared to other extra virgin oils on the market. Unlike blended extra virgin olive oils, which are created from a mix of different olive varieties, new Hojiblanca Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Andalusia in Spain is created using only the eponymous olive variety Hojiblanca – meaning ‘white leaf’ – so that it has a smooth, dist...

23 May 2012 Advice on healthy living from five international health experts is now available in the home, office or car, through the Healthy Living Choices Audio Course website  Five full-length audio programmes are available as CDs or for immediate download, featuring top experts in diet, exercise, lifestyle, and nutrition for only $47. The audio courses feature five internationally-known writers, speakers and experts in their fields.  They are: Biochemist Dr James Carlson, who has helped thousands of people get rid of high cholesterol, hypertension, and Type 2 diabetes,  and author of ‘Genocide: How Your Doctor’s Dietary Ignorance Will Kill You.’ Cellular nutrition specialist Dr Darren Wayne , pioneer in the areas of cellular nutrition and holistic medicine, and  author of the popular books, ‘Organic Panic’ and ‘80 Health Myths Busted.’ Dr .Denise Lamothe, weight-loss analyst, eating disorder expert, and  author of the critically-acclaimed ‘The Taming of T...

23 May 2012 Non-Alcoholic Adult Drink with Sensorial Effects Launches 30th May ABOUT THE EVENT ZEO, a brand new non-alcoholic drink created specifically for adults and which delivers unique sensorial effects, will be launching later this year. ZEO will be celebrating its launch at County Hall this 30th May 2012 with the one and only Jonny Woo - our host for the evening - for a wonderfully unusual evening of exquisite mixology, perfect food and acts to match. A host of unique acts will dance, sing, strip and entertain their way through your evening including Bruce Airhead (the metamorphosis of a man and a six-foot balloon) and Count Fettucini (a well respected UK and International Burlesque act. Fettucini utilizes circus skills and comedy to add a truly unique twist to the Art of Burlesque Striptease) as well as Le Gateau Chocolat, Ursula Martinez and many more surprises! Please RSVP for this seated experience and discover the unique ZEO sensorial effects for yourself. It’s like not...