Hampton Court Food Festival

A sunny day, an endless sight of stalls, smells choking the air of so many different kinds of delightful food, today was set to be a brilliant day. 11:00 it opened, and the crowd poured into the Foodies Festival.

The first thing that caught our eyes, well my eyes was... Jimmy's Iced Coffee!

Now I know everyone who is reading is going to be thinking iced tea. YEP! Iced Coffee. What??? But yes, there is such a thing, and yes again, it does have caffeine in it, which is just why this appealed to me! It was absolutely, mind-blowingly, cold, icy (surprisingly), refreshing, and overall... nice! So we bought one. Look out for it in Waitrose in big 1 litre cartons! For more, visit: Jimmy's Iced Coffee Website or visit their page on Facebook: Facebook - Jimmy's Iced Coffee

Moving on, the next thing that caught our attention was some Indian brilliance, some say it is a squashed triangular prism, but all we now is that it's the legendary samosa! Also people say they are like edible tea bags! These samosa's were AMAZING, they were crunchy and crispy on the outside, and soft and scrumptious on the inside!

We visited the plant section (My Mums idea), and I found some peculiar plants...

Banana Mint?

Chocolate Mint?

Apple Mint?

You can just see the Moroccan mint aswell!

How many different mints are there?!?

Before lunch we managed to do a once in a lifetime thing...

What Happened: Well, before lunch we attended a session where we were supposed to find out who has the most taste buds, so, we used some cotton wool and some special dye, and painted our tongues blue. Then the the instructor or whatever you want to call her, forgot the the whole point of the activity and forgot to tell us how we could tell how many taste buds we had, and for the rest of the session she was wondering why we had blue tongues. Overall it was a complete waste of time!

After that disappointing half hour, we had lunch, which was something truly magical, it was... burger and chips! Just JOKING!! We had Paella! It was amazing, fantabulous and just, very edible and traditional Spanish! We agreed that we would have the seafood and the chicken paella and would have half of each. But after tasting the Seafood Paella, I wanted nothing else except the Seafood Paella, so, I said I didn't like the chicken and so my mum was forced to eat the chicken, and so I scoffed my Seafood Paella in triumph! 

After my Spanish lunch, I set off to find 2 weird and wonderful foods:

These Munchy Seeds were really tasty, and they are really good for you.

 For more, visit: Munchy Seeds Website or visit their page on Facebook: Facebook - Munchy Seeds.

Fruit Crisps are surprisingly nice and come in loads of different fruit flavours! 

For more, visit: Nim's Fruit Crisps Website.

I will now show you photos of what other stalls there are:

RAW Health.
For more, visit: RAW Health Website or visit their page on Facebook: Facebook - RAW Health

Cupcake stand.

Pots and pans etc.

Fiona Sciolti Botanical Chocolates. 
For more, visit: Fiona Sciolti Botanical Chocolates Website or visit their page on Facebook: Facebook - Fiona Sciolti Botanical Chocolate.

 Panjaban curry sauces.
For more, visit: Panjaban Curry Sauces Website or visit their page on Facebook: Facebook - Panjaban 
Curry Sauces.

Mobile Massage.

Fresh Ice Tea.

Roast Hog.
For more, visit: Roast Hog Website.

Cooking Books.

Jams and Chutneys.


AND LOADS MORE!

Now for 2 weird PICS:

MASSIVE Yakult!

A Cow? On a Stand?

This was a great day out, RECOMMEND IT! There was so many tasters, and so much to watch, listen and do.

Thank you for READING THIS POST! 

Pasta Maker

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, I have got, a, PASTA MAKER!!

Woo Hoo. Never in the field of human pasta making, was so much owed, to Harrison, for making the best pasta with his new pasta machine on that beautiful Thursday night... 

Made from my own hands, eaten by me, my brother mum and dad, and enjoyed by me, my brother and my mum and dad, and from this day on, I will be known as, the crrrrrrazy pasta maker.

Wonky Summer Pasta

Get into the Summer Spirit with Jamie Oliver's WONKY SUMMER PASTA!

Serves 4

Ingredients for the PASTA:

2 Egg yolks

125g of Parmesan cheese, plus a little extra for serving

The zest and juice of 2 lemons

A small bunch of fresh Basil

500g of fresh lasagne sheets

Ingredients for the Salad:

8 rashers of Pancetta

1 clove of Garlic

1 tablespoon of fennel seeds

1 x 100g bag of prewashed rocket and/or watercress

A small bunch of fresh mint and fresh tarragon

A large handful of red, green or mixed Grapes

1/2 a Lemon

2 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar

NOTE FOR THE SALAD YOU CAN MAKE IT UP!

Method:

Step 1 - PASTA 1

Turn the oven on to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Fill a large saucepan with hot water, put it on a high heat and cover with a lid. Either put the finer grater attachment into the food processor or, get your grater out ( believe me it is hard work ) for the Parmesan. 

Step 2 - PASTA 2

Carefully separate the 2 eggs and put the yolks into a big serving bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of extra virgin oil and a good pinch of salt & pepper to the bowl of egg yolks.Grate the Parmesan in the processor and tip it into the bowl of egg yolks with the lemon zest and juice. Reserve some of the small basil leaves, then split the rest of the bunch into 2 halves. Pound one half in a pestle and mortar until you have a green paste, and roughly chop the other half. Add both to the bowl.

Stir until everything is mixed together, then season with salt and pepper.

 

Step 3 - SALAD 1

Put the Pancetta into an empty frying pan on a medium heat and add a squashed, unpeeled clove of garlic. Once the rashers are golden, turn them over and add the table spoon of fennel seeds. Meanwhile, empty the bag of salad leaves on to a serving platter or into a large bowl. Quickly tear in some mint and tarragon leaves , and add a large handful of whole or halved grapes. When the pancetta is nice and crispy, take the pan off the heat. Toss the salad together and put on a platter with the crispy pancetta and fennel seeds on top.

Step 4 - SALAD 2

Make the dressing. Pour 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar into a small jug or jam jar. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon, then take to the table with the salad so you can dress it right before tucking in.

Step 5 - PASTA 3

Stack the lasagne sheets on a chopping board and slice into fairly thin strips. 

Add to boiling water with some salt. Stir, and then put the lid on, a little askew, and boil for 1 minute and 30 seconds.

The pasta has to be eaten as soon as its ready, so drain, and toss the pasta and sauce together, adding a little of the pasta water if its too thick.  Taste and season and serve! To make this dish really come together get  some Garlic Bread!

Get into the SUMMER SPIRIT!

Austria - Here I Come, what culinary delights are waiting for me?

Not sure I'll do much blogging this week as I'm in St. Anton skiing (if I find any snow!)
But I'll make sure I keep an eye out for some interesting dishes if my ski instructor takes us to a mountain restaurant, and will post as soon as I can!

Le Manoir End

The Le Manoir Experience is a deep one, an amazing one and a fun one. I highly recommend to the highest degree that you experience this course for yourself because it is a magnificent one.

Mark is left, Me ( Centre ), Right is Adam who came in for a while to check us out!

Philippe is behind the scenes working as usual so clap, clap, clap!

Thank you very very very much to:

Mark Peregrine (THE HEAD TUTOR ALSO THE FUNNY ONE AND THE MAKE IT ENJOYABLE ONE!!)

Philippe Tsolakis (THE COURSE TUTOR ALSO THE TECHNIQUE MAN AND THE BEHIND THE SCENES MAN!!)

THANK YOU!!!!