Weekend Carnivore

These days, two topics dominate both media coverage and personal conversations. Seriously, have any of us gone one full day in the past year without hearing anything about either the budget crisis or what is called the obesity crisis? Well, here is a recipe that, in its own way, addresses both issues.

If you want to save money on your food budget, one the best ways to do so is to make the most of your ingredients. A great deal of what most people normally throw in the trash could actually go towards making meals.

For example, instead of throwing away your carrot and onion peels, keep them in the freezer until you have filled up a freezer bag. Then use all those trimming to make a vegetable stock. Not only have you made the most of something you have already bought but you save yourself having to pay for store bought stock or stock cubes.

When, I was in the States, I discovered broccoli slaw. I guess this is something that became popular after I left the States to move to the UK because I hadn’t even heard of it until recently. Basically, it is just like coleslaw but instead of cabbage the main ingredient is shredded broccoli. It turned out to be really very tasty. Also, depending on the dressing you use for the broccoli slaw recipe it can be very healthy. Broccoli is, after all, a super food.

Upon my return to the UK, I decided to try to figure out how to make my own broccoli slaw recipe since it isn’t available in British supermarkets. When I investigated what went into making a broccoli slaw I found out that the broccoli used is actually the broccoli stem. How great is that? Something which the vast majority of us just chop off and throw away can be used to make something so tasty and healthy. You simply use a vegetable peeler to take off the top layer of the broccoli stem and then you are ready to make your broccoli slaw recipe.

So, in one full swoop you can take on both the budget and obesity crisis by making this tasty low fat and healthy broccoli slaw recipe. I cut the vegetables chunky because that way I can have it has a side dish when I want but I can also have it as a lunch salad all on its own if I desire. Plus, I am usually too lazy to pull out the food processor to shred them.

Chunky broccoli slaw with apricots

chunky broccoli slaw recipe

Ingredients:

45 grams broccoli stem
85 grams carrots
70 grams green cabbage
55 grams law fat mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1 tablespoon skim milk
25 grams dried apricots

Directions:

1. Peel the carrots and broccoli stalk and then cut them into matchstick sized pieces.
2. Use a knife to shred the cabbage and put into a large bowl with the carrots and broccoli.
3. In another bowl, mix together the mayo, mustard, onion flakes and milk until well combined.
4. Fold the vegetable mixture into the mayo mixture until all of the vegetables are covered in the dressing.
5. Slice the dried apricots into thin slices and fold into the slaw mixture.
6. Chill in the fridge for an hour or so and then serve.

Makes 2 to 4 servings

Have I mentioned before how much I love mushrooms? Well, I really love mushrooms! Whenever somebody tries to go a ‘getting to know you’ thing where they ask what your last meal would be, I always answer “I don’t know but there would be mushrooms”.

Truthfully, I haven’t met a variety of mushroom that I haven’t enjoyed. However, I may have to hide my face in foodie circles when I say that I think the good old fashion variety of mushrooms such as button mushrooms, flat mushrooms and chestnut mushrooms are the favourite. Sure, I will happily enjoy wild mushrooms or portobello mushrooms but I really think the ‘boring’ variety of mushrooms are the best for my tastebuds. Once more, they are far easier on the budget.

I think from this point forward, I am going to make a point of showing the vast array of wonderfully tasty thing that can be done with the traditional mushroom varieties. To begin this championing of classic mushrooms, I thought I would start with showing there is more that can be done with large mushrooms other than doing them in the pan as part of a fry up.

Stuffed mushroom recipes always sound daunting as a concept. I worry that they are going to be too fiddly to be worth the effort. However, that really doesn’t have to be the case at all. These chive and ricotta stuffed mushrooms are pretty darn simple to throw together and they cook fast enough to fill a sudden mushroom craving.

Really, any herbs you have around could go into this mixture. Even a slight change up of the herbs can actually make it a whole new dish. So, experimenting to find your favorite combination is very much encouraged. You will also notice, that I used dried herbs in the recipe. Fresh herbs are fantastic but I feel that the foodie world can get a bit too snobbish about using dried herbs. Most home cooks rely on dried herbs and I think anything that gets people cooking should be encouraged. Plus, the taste good when used properly. So, why not use them?

This chive and ricotta stuffed mushroom recipe works great as a light lunch. They would be at home at an evening meal too either as a starter or alongside a hearty salad for a vegetarian main course. I have made the recipe for two mushrooms. Even though I have said that is two servings, my mushroom related greed would most likely result in me eating both. Don’t worry if you need to make for larger numbers because the stuffed mushroom recipe is very easily scaled up.

Chive and ricotta stuffed mushrooms

chive and ricotta stuffed mushroom recipe

Ingredients:

2 large flat mushrooms
1 teaspoon olive oil
65 grams ricotta cheese
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon parmesan cheese, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (gas mark 6, 200c).
2. Take the stems out of the mushrooms. Reserve these because they can be chopped up and used in things like omelettes.
3. Brush the outsides of the mushroom with the olive oil and then placed on a lined baking tray.
4. In a bowl, mix together the ricotta, garlic, chives, parsley, onion and half a teaspoon of the parmesan.
5. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Divide the mixture between the two mushroom caps, filing each with as mush as you can.
7. Sprinkle the tops with the remaining parmesan.
8. Put into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese has started to go golden.
9. Serve.

Makes: 2 mushrooms

Hang on to your seat – this is going to be a long update! I haven’t posted for a little while because I have been travelling but I have returned to London and am somewhat back to normal now.

Last weekend, I celebrated my return to London by attending the Masterchef Live event which was held at Olympia. I had been to this event before but in previous years it had been called The Good Food Show after the BBC Good Food magazine. In those times, it was all very much about Ready Steady Cook but since, I guess, Masterchef is the popular cooking program of the moment they have re-branded. I can’t blame them because I do enjoy watching Masterchef and it was clear that many other people did too since the place was packed from the moment the doors opened on Saturday!

Masterchef Cook Off

We started off our day at Masterchef Live by attending a live Masterchef cook off. That really turned out to be a lot of fun! It was hosted by wine expert Olly Smith. Olly Smith will be a familiar face to anybody that watches either Saturday Kitchen on the BBC or Market Kitchen on the Good Food channel. He came off as a very likeable guy and got the audience pumped up. No small task for if being first thing on a Saturday morning.

Olly Smith at Masterchef Live

Once Olly Smith had us all warmed up, it was onto the real stars of Masterchef. Both of the judges, Gregg Wallace and John Torode came on stage carrying their Masterchef Live bags full of food. Obviously, these were going to be the ingredients available to the two chefs cooking in the Masterchef cook off. That bit did feel a tad bit Ready Steady Cook but I suppose there wasn’t much better of a way for them to bring out the ingredients.

Gregg Wallace hosting Masterchef cook off

John Torode at Masterchef Live

I can’t fully recall all of the items they had in the bags but they did include brioche, lentils, chocolate, cod and pancetta. In addition, the two competing chefs could use a variety of things such as eggs, milk and herbs and spices available in the larder (again very Ready Steady Cook in feel). The next mystery was who would be the two chefs competing in the Masterchef cook off.

I am pretty sure the pattern of contestants in our showing was replicated in the other Masterchef cook offs throughout the event. One of the contestants was from Celebrity Masterchef and the other was a past winner of the normal Masterchef series. We had the interesting pairing of Wendi Peters from Celebrity Masterchef and 2008 Masterchef winner James Nathan.

They had a few moments to contemplate the ingredients before starting to cook. Certainly, they went in totally opposite directions. James Nathan went for a cod and lentil dish with capers and peppers in the mix somewhere.

James Nathan cooking at Masterchef Live

Wendi Peters was much more vegetarian friendly by going for using the brioche to make a chocolate caramel French toast. Yummy! Given that Gregg Wallace is infamous for having a sweet tooth, that sounded like a winner. Judging by the reaction from the audience when she announced her intentions, it was a crowd pleaser too!

She certainly provided the comedy of the event by using a plastic bowl to form a double boiler for melting her chocolate. It wouldn’t take too much imagination to think that using plastic over heat would melt the bowl but she went with it until John Torode stepped in with his health and safety hat and took it off the heat.

Wendi Peters cooking at Masterchef Live

After they had used every bit of their allotted 30 minutes to cook their dishes, it was time for the all important Masterchef judging from Gregg Wallace and John Torode.

They tucked into the dish from James Nathan first and gave it very positive reviews. As James Nathan is now working at one of Rick Stein’s seafood restaurants in Cornwall, it is probably not all too much of a shock that he would have produced a good tasting fish dish.

John Torode and Gregg Wallace tasting a dish from James Nathan

They also oohed and aahed over the seriously lush looking sweet offering from Wendi Peters. Even John Torode, who usually says he doesn’t like sweet things, was very enthusiastic about it. I know, that I would have loved the chance to sample that dish. It was piled high with sticky gooey chocolate and caramel and then topped with whipped cream. Total yum and vegetarian. So, of course it would have gotten my vote.

I couldn’t get a very good photo of the dish that Wendi Peters cooked because of my location in the audience. However, I decided to share this photo of Gregg Wallace directly after he tasted it to demonstrate how much he enjoyed it. Not only can you see Wendi Peters looking a bit taken back by his reaction but you can even see a little smudge of the chocolate still on the corner of his mouth. That, is total enjoyment of a dish.

Gregg Wallace tasting Wendi Peter's pudding

Gregg and John then went into their huddle to whisper and debate who would be the winner of the Masterchef cook off. Despite the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the French toast, they awarded the win to James Nathan. Not really all that shocking since he was the actual Masterchef winner but still a lot of fun to watch it play out.

Wendi Peters and James Nathan wait for results of Masterchef cook off

Invention Test

From there, the next stop on our Masterchef Live adventure was to a viewing of the live Invention Test round. Anybody that has ever watched Masterchef on the BBC knows the invention test is really the best part of the show. A bunch of contestants show up and are presented with a bunch of ingredients and they have to quickly make something out of them. The ones that make something that please John and Gregg stay and the others are gone for good.

One of the main features of Masterchef Live was that visitors to the event could pay to take part in a mass live invention test. It was pretty costly to take part – something like £60 – but you could be in the audience and watch for a few pounds. So, we went for the audience option. Judging by the fear on the eyes of the contestants as they came out to compete, I think we made the right choice! Plus, their main ingredient was chicken which wasn’t amazingly vegetarian friendly, once again. It was still fun to watch though.

Masterchef invention test at Masterchef Live

Gregg Wallace and John Torode were back to judge the invention test and the whole event was hosted by, former Celebrity Masterchef contestant, Andi Peters.

Masterchef Live invention test hosted by Andi Peters

The invention test contestants were also provided with two Masterchef alumni as advisers. In our round, they were Wendi Peters (again) and 2009 Masterchef Winner Mat Follas. We were excited by that because all of us had been big champions of Mat Follas during his season on Masterchef and were really happy to see him win. If you have never checked out the food blog that Mat Follas does be sure to check it out now – The Wild Garlic Blog. I would love a chance to eat at his restaurant on one of my Weekend Carnivore days.

Mat Follas as Masterchef Live

Whilst the bewildered invention test contestants cooked away, Wendi Peters, Mat Follas and John and Gregg made their way around the different stations tasting and advising as they went. There was a really nice spirit of good nature to the whole event.

Gregg Wallace & Matt Follas helping invention test cooks

Without question, another highlight was the inclusion of the Bounty Ladies (now the Plenty Ladies since the name change) Brenda and Audrey. The pair were so much fun throughout the event. The reception they got shows just how many people advertising reaches!

Bounty Ladies - Brenda and Audrey

The Food

The real star of Masterchef Live was the food. The whole venue was packed full of different food suppliers and nearly all of them were offering tastings. A real treasure trove for any foodie! Whilst there certainly were a lot of meat products to taste (lots of different types of sausages) there was still a fantastic selection for anybody following a vegetarian diet.

That was particularly the case if you love cheese because you really couldn’t move without somebody offering you a stick with some fantastic (usually) British cheese stuck on the end. Most were cheddar varieties but the one that got the vote of my tastebuds was this buffalo mozzarella from Laverstoke Park Farm

buffalo mozzarella at Masterchef Live

Apart from cheese, it was very apparent that different types of oil is very much on trend with foodies. All over the Masterchef Live venue, there were different types of olive oils to sample. For me though, the oil stand that was not just the best oil on offer, but also possibly the best product I sampled at the whole show was the avocado oil from Olivado Natural Nutrition

avocado oil on sale at Masterchef Live

I had never actually had avocado oil before but it was so good and I had heard about its health benefits. So, I for sure had to buy a couple bottles – one of their extra virgin avocado oil and one of their truly wonderful avocado zest oil which has a great lemony to it.

Plus, the people at the stand were so nice and friendly. They also threw in a bottle of macadamia nut oil with the bundle. So, watch this space for a ton of new recipes coming up from me using both avocado and macadamia nut oil. Seriously though, watch out because I have a hunch that avocado oil is about to become a real ‘it’ food.

friendly women selling avocado oil

Another of my favourite stalls was that of The Garlic Farm. I had seen them at a previous event and they have been stuck in my head since. They are, as their name would suggest, masters of all things garlic. Never a bad thing for me since I love garlic! Their stand was overflowing with huge stacks of garlic. Some of that was smoked garlic which smelled so stunningly good that I bought a bulb. Now, I just have to figure out how to use it. Any suggestions?

The Garlic Farm stand at Masterchef Live

A product of their’s which I have really enjoyed in the past was a banana and garlic chutney (I *know* but it really works!) called Cheeky Monkey. I was really sad that it wasn’t on sale at their Masterchef Live stand but they did have its spicy cousin called Raging Ape. I am not at all one for very hot and spicy things but I was so in love with the idea of taking home some Cheeky Monkey that I bought one of the Raging Ape. It turned out to be seriously good too and was fantastic used as a condiment on a cheese sandwich I made after the event. Really, don’t hesitate if you get the chance try this stuff. I would never have thought of garlic with banana but it really works.

On the subject of things that sound like they shouldn’t work but do, we move to the booze section of the show. There were so many free samples of booze that it would be very possible to get drunk on them alone. At a previous event, I had tried a Welsh toffee vodka called Toffoc. I am not a drinker but with just one sip I bought a bottle. The problem is, that none of my friends will try it because they have trouble imagining it tastes good.

So, I was thrilled to see that Toffoc had a tasting stand at this year’s Masterchef Live too. I insisted my friends try it and they enjoyed it. Finally, I was proven right! I bet my bottle isn’t safe this New Year’s Eve now! If you like toffee try it! We did try another toffee vodka at the show but it wasn’t as nice. So, try Toffoc first. Plus, there is always the novelty of having Welsh vodka.

Toffee vodka tasting stand

Not everything ‘different’ actually worked for me though. After having seen a lot of foodie press lately about black garlic, I was keen to try it at their tasting stand. Now, as I have said, I am a huge garlic fan. However, I am sorry to say there was nothing resembling garlic about the taste of this at all. The texture was gummy and almost similar to that of a date. The taste wasn’t all that dissimilar to a date either but a very burnt one. I am afraid this is one foodie trend I will not be following.

black garlic stand at Masterchef Live

That was our day at Masterchef Live and it really was a fantastic day out. We ate so many new things and got slightly tipsy on free booze samples. Mix that in with a bit of John and Gregg and what more could a London foodie ask for on a Saturday afternoon?

Even if you are a creative cook, breakfast can often be a bit samey. It can just be hard to find the motivation to deviate from the tried and tested when you are still waking up. Every once in a while though, I get in the mood to try something different.

Yesterday morning was one of those days and since my mother had given me a copy of the latest Hungry Girl cookbook I decided to use that to find inspiration.

Her pina colada parfait stood out for being healthy but yet something totally different than I would normally have for breakfast. I especially liked that it was full of fruit but yet looked more like a dessert than a breakfast and therefore feeling naughty but actually being healthy.

I stuck largely to the original Hungry Girl recipe but I did make one fairly big submission that I think made a whole lot of difference to the recipe. Her recipe uses Fibre 1 cereal to bring the crunch factor to the breakfast parfait. However, we don’t have that cereal in the UK and whilst I am currently visiting the States, I do want to be able to replicate recipes back home.

So, instead of going for the cereal, I toasted up some slivered almonds and used them. It worked perfectly well. The toasted nature of the almonds made the coconut yoghurt take on a toasted coconut taste which really enriched the tropical feel.

Pina colada breakfast parfait

pina colada breakfast recipe

Ingredients:
340 grams fat-free vanilla yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
2/3 cup banana, chopped
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, from a can, well drained
4 tablespoons flaked almonds, freshly toasted

Directions:

1. Put the yoghurt into a bowl and stir the coconut extract into it. Set aside.
2. Divide 1/3 of the yoghurt between two parfait sized glasses.
3. Put half the the pineapple, then banana on top of the yoghurt and then sprinkle with half of the toasted almonds.
4. Top that layer with another third of the yoghurt, the rest of the fruit, the final third of the yoghurt and finally top with the remaining toasted almonds.
5. Serve.

Serves: 2

I am on day two of a trip to the States. My mother has had knee surgery and my sister is too pregnant to be on recovery duty. So, I have come over from London to look after my mom in the early stages of her recovery. I thought while I was over here, I would share some of my Stateside vegetarian food discoveries with you all. Which, of course, will mean that all of you that follow Weekend Carnivore from the States will be going ‘duh, I know all about that!’ but hopefully you hang in there with the rest of us through our discoveries.

A number of months back, Jonathan Ross twittered about being on vacation in California. For a few days straight he would mention that him and his wife were going nuts on these ice cream cupcakes they had discovered.

Now, what about an ice cream cupcake doesn’t sound like a must try? Even if it is simply to have tried something that obscenely decadent. I would go so far as to say they would be the Las Vegas of cupcakes. More flash than you really need but yet you can’t help to buy into it when you are there.

ice cream cupcakes

The ice cream cupcakes were from the American ice cream chain Cold Stone Creamery (who really should make a play for the UK market because they would do well, I think) and I knew there was one near my parent’s house. So, I just couldn’t help but to try them out. I mean, it would be rude not to, right?

You can’t buy just one of the ice cream cupcakes. Instead, you have to buy them in a six pack which all but assures you won’t be able to have just the one naughty treat. Luckily for me, I am staying with my parents and I could share them out. The ice cream cupcake six pack includes three different varieties – sweet cream, red velvet cake batter delux and double chocolate devotion.

They all looked so good but I just couldn’t pass up the chance for red velvet anything let alone a red velvet ice cream cupcake. So, as much as it pained me to skip the other varieties I had to make the red velvet my vice for the night.

red velvet ice cream cupcake

The red velvet ice cream cupcake is so insanely indulgent that I almost feel dirty describing it. It starts off with a bright pink frosting topped with sprinkles. Bellow that there is a fluffy mound of white ice cream that tastes like red velvet cake frosting. The creamy kind rather than the cream cheese variety that some people insist on putting on red velvet cake. Then, there is a layer of actual red velvet cake that sits in the outlandishly decadent hard chocolate that sits where a paper cupcake wrapper would normally be.

The only real problem, other than the obvious complete diet violation, is that they actually taste every bit as good as they sound. Which, leaves me with the question of just how long I can hold out trying one of the three remaining ice cream cupcakes that are left in the freezer!