Category Archives: Online

Eat right now: sugar snap peas

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Published on Yahoo Lifestyle UK & Ireland on 26th August 2013:

Sugar snap peas always have that hint of summer about them even when the sun is no longer shining. It’s that juicy snap, heard when you break a pod in half with the littlest of efforts.

The peas inside are tiny, almost non-existent. But then it is all about the outer shells. Thick and lusciously green, they are packed with that flavoursome new season pea taste with just a touch more sweetness than you’d expect.

They’re great raw in salads but I like to blanch them ever so briefly just to bring out their vibrant hue. And here in this recipe, they’re cooked so gently and tossed through a dressing that it’s almost like a salad. Only it’s served warm.

Sugar snap pears are only around from June to about September so quick, snap them up before they’re all gone.

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Festival Sud de France: bringing Setois joie de vivre to London

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Published on Yahoo Lifestyle UK & Ireland on 22nd August 2013:

When we think of the South of France, we immediately picture the shimmering blue of the Côte d’Azur. Its perfect coastline and gastronomic offerings are certainly hard to forget.

But while the French Riviera throws up some tasty treats, don’t forget to look west towards the Étang de Thau. There, protruding on the coast, is the commune of Sète, a place that’s nourished by the Étang (lagoon) on one side and the Mediterranean sea on the other.

What Sète has to offer

In Sète, life is slow. There are plenty of Parisiens who move to the area in search of a certain joie de vivre – sunny days by the beach combined with good food and great wines.

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Is beer best for fine dining?

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Published on Yahoo Lifestyle UK & Ireland on 15th August 2013:

There’s been a movement on the fine dining scene, a new trend if you will, where beer is the new wine.

Well ok, beer and wine are completely different beverages but that’s a story for another time.

It is, however, true that beer has made a quiet invasion onto some of the UK’s most prestigious menus. In fact, Bloomberg has this week reported that microbreweries within the M25 has increased by 13 fold and attributed this to, in part at least, the wave of Michelin-starred restaurants adding beers to their menu.

And the phenomenon isn’t just happening with Asian cuisines where beer has always been king or in gourmet burger joints, but rather, the most wine-centric of fine dining restaurants – the French.

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Gastronomic Ghent: a rising star for food

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Published on Yahoo Lifestyle UK & Ireland on 9th August 2013:

The ancient town of Ghent was once one of the most powerful places in northern Europe. Often thought of as a city, they say that it might even have been bigger than London. Today, the gateway town is much smaller though it remains important as the capital of the East Flanders province of Belgium.

On the food front, it’s surely becoming one of the shining stars of the international food scene. There may not be as many Michelin stars as nearby Bruges but it’s definitely seeing a revival. The recent sell-out event, The Gelinaz, spearheaded by a group of young chefs calling themselves the Flemish Foodies, was certainly testament to this new wave of gastronomic aspiration.

Still, food in Ghent remains heavily Flemish with many modern restaurants reinterpreting the most traditional of dishes. And there are still plenty of Ghentian specialities to be found.

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Five inexplicable food trends

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Published on Yahoo Lifestyle UK & Ireland on 1st August 2013:

In the world of food, there are some pretty bizarre crazes.

We’re certainly not the most adventurous lot here in the UK but even we’ve had our share of sniffable asparagus, breast milk ice cream and, most recently, edible insects trying to make it on to our dinner tables.

Some of these food trends are avant garde, others are ahead of their time but often they are just plain silly.

When it comes to food trends though, it’s some of the most mainstream ideas that I find truly unfathomable. Will someone please explain to me why these trends are so big?

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