Photo by citymama

The simple secret

A simple Hollandaise recipe (and the Internet is full of them, so get googling!) runs along the lines of melting butter to set aside, then heating whisked egg, lemon juice and seasoning over a bain-marie before adding the butter in stages, whisking throughout. Now, read in a completely straightforward way, this will yield good results provided you’re cooking on an industrial scale, but the fact that you may only be preparing food for two, and therefore not using more than a few eggs, means that they are prone to overcooking more quickly than a sane person can handle, yielding little more than a scramble that tastes of lemon. No good, baby.

The solution: simply take your time, and realize that the heat can be deployed with discretion. Start by putting the bowl containing your egg mixture over the steam for seconds at a time, whisking continuously. When the colour and texture begin to change, you can start adding the butter…

And when you do, do it very slowly, a dribble every ten seconds or so, and off the heat! The principle here is the same as that of home-made mayonnaise: emulsification. Once you get the unmistakable texture of Hollandaise, the bain-marie is there simply to raise it to serving temperature, which won’t take long at all if you’re only cooking for a small household. But the danger, as with mayonnaise, is separation. When it happens, and it happens to the best of us, don’t despair. There is a solution…

Saving the ‘daise 

If your Hollandaise separates, you’ll know about it, believe me. Essentially what has happened is that the fat content and emulsifying agent (or "butter and egg", to the layman) slipped out of proportion, and the chemical reaction that forms the identifying texture of the sauce stopped taking place. Before long, you were left with a bowl full of soupy liquid, far from the thick, creamy gel we know and love.

But don’t dismay! There is a simple way to put it right, and it’s doubly satisfying to do so, as we’ll see. Start by taking a fresh bowl, and put a single egg yoke in there. Whisk it for a while, and add the sad remains of your Hollandaise slowly in tiny quantities. You’ll see that familiar texture re-emerge. Keep things nice and relaxed, and eventually the entire quantity of broken Hollandaise will be restored to its rightful state. Put it back on the steam momentarily to warm it up.

There we are, you made Hollandaise sauce, it broke, and you fixed it. Not only are you a chef, you’re a kitchen mechanic — nay, a kitchen hero! Well done, you!

Everyone Cooking together at Foodie Cooks London

Although the line between our “real” and “virtual” selves is increasingly blurry, Foodie Cooks has the purpose of making that line virtually obsolete.  As you may know, Foodie.fm is a community of web and mobile users coming together for the purpose of connecting over a mutual love for food and desire for open information and a personalised experience. This love for food of course translates into the “real world” where we then buy great products and cook delicious recipes, but what doesn't translate as easily are the friendships and connections which are made online. This is where Foodie Cooks comes in, as a live event for our users to share in their love for food together.

The event took place at the Cookery School on Little Portland Street, a venue where the love for food and importance of kind, conscientious service is wonderfully apparent. The kitchen is stocked with the best appliances and covered in stainless steel, a Foodie's dream really. It sort of had that 'cooking show'  type of feel, and we even got to use their television screen so that what was going on the main counter could be seen by everyone.  

Eating together - The Kitchen at the Cookery School doubles as a dinning rooom

The winning menu belonged to our food blogger Sophie Mackenzie who also lead us in our cooking at the event. Sophie was absolutely fantastic at leading the group, and the food was delicious. The menu comprised of three courses, which although were all somewhat traditional dishes, each of them had a little “something special” which set them apart. The grilled asparagus appetizer for example was accompanied by a smokey red pepper mayonnaise, and the white chocolate pistachio cake for dessert combined with a Campari cream sauce. Our salad was not your typical lettuce kind but rather one made with pearl barley and so serving the purpose of both a salad and a carbohydrate at the same time, and the ham cooked in cider which gave it a really yummy taste and moist texture.

                                            “Food is our common ground, a universal experience”

The above quote is one by James Beard which captures the overall feel of the event quite nicely.  While eating, Selina sat to my left, a young woman of Mauritian decent living, blogging and eating in London and  Laura was to my right, a half-Brit half-Fin with a passion for smart kitchen design. With me in the middle, and in the great company of  James, Heli, Laura,  Damarise,Tristan, Sophie, and Hanna we came together from such a diversity of backgrounds, interests and professions that at some points I was really rather amazed that this group of people who only just met  managed to keep the room buzzing with conversation (that is except for when we all got incredibly hungry towards the end of our cooking and when the food first came out).

Thank you to everyone who attended, and to the Cookery School who hosted us with the great help of Ian. It really was our combined efforts which made the event as enjoyable as it was. To take a look at more great photos from the event, check out our Flickr album.

HELSINKI (23rd May, 2012) – S Group, Finland’s leading grocery retailer, and Digital Foodie, the company behind Foodie.fm, the world’s first fully personalised social shopping platform for groceries, have been awarded gold in the Channel Innovation Awards. The second annual Channel Innovation Awards by US based Retail TouchPoints honour retailers achieving cross-channel success.

Foodie.fm is a personalised eCommerce and recommendation platform developed by Digital Foodie Ltd. At the awards, the service outshone leading retailers such as Marks & Spencer and Target. The Channel Innovation Awards highlights the benefits of cross-channel marketing and services to consumers.
 
"We are extremely pleased with this international recognition. Online commerce for groceries is evolving fast and the level of competition for the awards was high. However, we know that the work we do for personalised social groceries is something that no one else in the world has yet done,” rejoices Kalle Koutajoki, CEO of Digital Foodie.
 
In less than two years, Foodie.fm has grown from a digital cooking assistant to interactive and personalised eCommerce platform for groceries. Foodie.fm already has over 220 000 users in Finland, which is impressive for a country of 5.3 million inhabitants. In addition to the integrated online community Foodie.fm operates a full-scale online grocery store for S Group. This enables S Group’s customers to buy groceries online as well as from their iPads and smartphones.

Foodie.fm is at the heart for all S Group’s digital grocery services. S Group continues developing new services to ease the everyday life of their customers.
 
“Our goal is to develop new interactive and personalised services that make shopping groceries easier and fun. Foodie.fm is continuously evolving to become more transparent and customised for individual needs. Currently we have real-time price and assortment information available online for 630 stores and by the summer we will have information online of all our stores. This level of pricing transparency is unique even on a global scale,” explains Ilkka Alarotu, Director from the S Group Grocery Chain Management.

# # #
 
Notes to editors:

2012 Retail TouchPoints Channel Innovation Award Winners
Platinum winner: Republic
Gold winner: Tesco
Gold winner: S Group
Silver winner: Envelopes.com
Silver winner: David’s Bridal
Bronze winner: Marks & Spencer
Bronze winner: Target
Bronze winner: Step2
Honorable Mention: Stop & Shop

To view the complete report, please visit http://www.slideshare.net/G3Com/channel-innovation-awards

About S Group
S Group consists of 21 regional cooperatives and SOK Corporation, which is owned by the cooperatives. The S Group’s purpose is to provide services and benefits for its co-op members – 2 million Finnish households. The total of retail sales in 2011 was 11.461 million euros. The store network consists of 1,668 outlets employing over 42,000 people. S Group operates a number of retail brands and provides services for the supermarket trade, service station store and fuel trade, the department store and speciality store trade, the tourism and hospitality business, the motor trade and accessories as well as the agricultural trade. S Group is the market leader in grocery business of Finland with market share of 45,2%. There are 62 Prisma hypermarkets in Finland. In addition to Finland, the Prisma chain operates in the Estonian (7), Latvian (3), Lithuanian (2), and St. Petersburg markets (9). S-market is a supermarket chain, which has over 430 outlets. Sale and Alepa chains consist of almost 340 neighbourhood stores. www.s-kanava.fi

Media contact:
Ilkka Alarotu
S Group / SOK
Director, Customer Oriented Assortment and Pricing Solutions
Tel. +358 10 76 80634,
ilkka.alarotu@sok.fi


About Digital Foodie Ltd.
Foodie.fm is a multi-platform service designed by Digital Foodie. It is a fully personalised social shopping platform used by major food-retailers and brands. The core of the service is formed by highly personalised food and product recommendations that make everyday shopping easy and fun. For retailers, the Foodie.fm platform provides all the tools needed to run modern eCommerce operations and home deliveries. Foodie.fm is currently available on the web, Facebook, iPad, iPhone, Android and Nokia platforms. Digital Foodie is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. www.foodie.fm

Media contact:
Hanna Manninen
Digital Foodie Ltd.
+358 40 1780 980
Hanna@foodie.fm

Hanna smiling big in front of our booth at the Allergy Show

The show itself was largely about consumers stocking up on food products that are perhaps more difficult to find in regular grocery stores. Being bought at the Allergy Show is itself a sort of guarantee that the products you are buying are truly “safe” to eat while providing the extra reassurance of being able to speak directly to producers. Since the focus was around free-from food products, this meant that food samples were everywhere, a treat which both consumers and exhibitors seemed to enjoy since it meant trying out new and delicious food.

Being surrounded by tasty food for three days was really a nice treat since we had sort of considered prior to the event that perhaps “free from – everything” could really mean “free from taste”. Luckily, we were wrong since generally the different companies each cater to specific allergies meaning they are not free from everything, but only from some things and those some things easily replaced by ingredients which serve the same general purpose (ie. soya based milk products versus cows milk for example).

Although there were a ton of great exhibitors, one of my personal favourites had to be our “perky” neighbours to our left from Perkier, a new and ambitious start up company making gluten and wheat free food including bread, brownies and porridge oats in different flavours which I have been enjoying for breakfast these past few days. Another favourite was Liz from the Cake Crusader who had a collection of beautifully made gluten free cakes including one made to look like an angry bird (something which obviously caught my eye since the “Angry Birds” are from the Finnish company Rovio- check out the awsome picture below).

The "Angry Bird" cake from the Cake Crusader

Although specific allergy needs varied, what seems to bring the community together is a genuine concern for health and finding good and reliable information about what is in our food. This is where the Allergy shows different patient associations and information seminars came in handy, while people seemed to enjoy simply sharing their allergy stories with one another as a source of information and support. It was both interesting but incredibly difficult to hear some of the stories that people told, from a small girl who has not been able to attend school because of the severity of her nut allergy, to an older gentleman whose allergy to sulfates makes it incredibly difficult to eat any food which has preservatives, something which has become nearly impossible to avoid with the general trend towards extending the shelf life of food.

The power of sharing stories and the need for information and support made Foodie.fm genuinely welcomed by most people we had the chance to speak to. People seemed to like that users can set a user profile to specify their food preferences and allergies in order to receive personalized product and recipe recommendations, and thought that our new Allergy page could be a useful forum for discussion. The main concern that people with food allergies had about Foodie.fm was that there was no guarantee that the information which people share through our service is reliable, something that when it comes to one's own health can pose a real problem. This problem of reliability is one which we hope can be answered through building a trusting, interconnected community of people sharing their personal stories and bits of knowledge. This is the type of community Foodie.fm hopes to support through our service, and more specifically to food allergy sufferers through the allergy page

We're always learning and so we greatly appreciate the knowledge that we gained through our discussions at the Allergy Show and meeting the lively allergy community. Thank you to all who were there, we hope that with our combined efforts that both allergy sufferers and non can learn from the allergy community in order to contribute towards the need for open and reliable information about what is in our food.

- Amy Pereira

Organic. This word carries so much weight in the modern culinary world. Accompanied by typically exorbitant price tags and an automatic association with high-end goods, there is a debate whether natural goods are more flavorful when grown, well, naturally. Some proponents of organics argue that the produce is higher in minerals and nutrients than conventionally grown foods. While whether taste and nutritional levels may be arguable, health is not. While the long-term effects of pesticides have not been explored, it is not disputed that their residues remain on a conventional crop, even when delivered to your local grocery store, and are ingested in to your body with every bite.

The concept of a thin film always gave me the slight heebie-jeebies, even if it was simply a light skin on over-heated milk. Thin layers have always disquieted me, and as such, I began to explore which foods I should be consuming without these light, invisible coverings and which I should just attempt to not visualize while masticating.

Pesticides are not a new phenomenon. The Ancient world used a profligate amount of sulfur, manure and certain plants to ward off pests. Toxic substances, though believed harmless at the time, were utilized in the mid-1400s, with lead and arsenic being liberally sprayed. This preference towards arsenic continued until the 1970s, DDT being one of its offspring, created in the 1950s. It was this decade where pesticides began to come to the forefront of technologically advanced farming techniques. While DDT has been generally replaced in many developed countries, though not their developing counterparts, by ‘healthier’ chemicals, their use has continued to be pervasive throughout farming. Within the UK alone it is estimated that 31,000 tonnes of pesticides are used in agricultural farming every year.

This staggering number illustrates that it is not only the health of the body addressed by organic farming, but also the wellbeing of the land.  Another byword bandied about within this natural world is sustainability – as earth that has nutrients leeched from it by crops must be replaced in a natural manner, such as growing clover, rather than manmade nitrogen and other minerals. The elimination of fertilizer and pesticides from fields keeps water systems clean and pure, protecting the areas around farms.

The perfect means of beginning my own foray in to the world of organics was at my local farmer’s market. There is no point, I believe, in being conscious of the health of your body and the earth if you insist on purchasing organic products that are grown and shipped from halfway across the world. For one thing, the regulations on organics in another country may be different than your own, and the carbon footprint left by transiting goods is substantial. Eating both local and seasonal also makes a diet varied, for the same produce cannot be eaten all year round, but has a variety of textures, colors and nutrients cycling through.

However, I recognize that as specialty products, organic and local produce can be expensive, almost double the price than the standard ol’ sprayed foodstuffs. One way of limiting your intake of pesticides without selling your car, house and soul for plain organics, is choosing which ones to consume free of chemical sprays. Residues are found on differing levels on foods –those that are more susceptible to damage from pests, fungi or other blights tend to have higher percentages, making them easier to grow and transport.

When meandering through the wood stalls and rustic surroundings of your local community farmer’s market, there are certain foods (when in season) that you should purchase. These are the products most heavily sprayed by conventional farming and, if watching your pesticide intake, should be avoided in the supermarket unless labeled ‘organic’. The most contaminated vegetables are celery, bell peppers, spinach, lettuce and potatoes. All are easily accessed at a farmer’s market, though less obtainable in the winter. Purchase these during the summer and early fall months, enjoying them fresh but retaining a certain amount through canning and freezing. Soups, stews and other savory, bubbling dishes welcome the addition of any of these in the winter months. Peaches, apples, nectarines, pears, cherries and strawberries are also highly sprayed, due to not only humans adoring them, but pests as well. Their thin skins allows the sprays to penetrate past the first layer of defense, leaving a residue that cannot be washed off by a simple rinse under cold water.

 For those watching their dwindling finances due to increasing organic intake, there are a certain amount of fruits and vegetables labeled ‘clean’, as they are minimally sprayed, or have a tough hide which nothing can get through. For vegetables, onions, asparagus, broccoli, and cabbage are all minimally sprayed and, for the most part, are cheap to purchase. Concerning fruits, those which carry the least amount of pesticides are foreign, exotic varieties, which may go against the conscious of some who wish to purchase within a certain mile radius, or at least from within their own country. Pineapples, papaya, banana, kiwi, and mango are all fairly clean.  

Personally, I’m not a purist, I will shop for convenience’s sake at a grocery store, or occasionally purchase apples that are local, but not organic. However, these are informed choices, with knowledge behind them – I can choose to either eat organic or conventional, as I know the background of each. As a conscious cook, I believe I have a responsibility not only to my own body to treat it with respect concerning the things I ingest, but also to the land that grows my food. Whether or not I choose to follow these dogmas all the time, I believe that an informed consumer is a responsible consumer (though luckily being responsible also brings joy to my tastebuds).

- Samantha Lowe

Samantha Lowe is a guest blogger for Foodie.fm whose views do not necessarily reflect those of the company's. If you like her work, you can check out her personal food and photography blog.

Personalised social shopping platform for groceries helps you to eat well and shop smart regardless of your allergies or food intolerances

HELSINKI (16th May, 2012) – Digital Foodie, the company behind Foodie.fm, the world’s first fully personalised social shopping platform for groceries, has launched a new Allergy Page to accommodate the fast growing community of people with food allergies and intolerances. Foodie.fm Allergy Page is an online community that helps consumers shop smarter and eat better.

“In Europe alone there are over 19 million people living with a food allergy of some sort, 11 million of which are under the age of twenty meaning the problem is only getting bigger. Having a food allergy can be complicated. It means constant planning, checking labels, and worrying about the food you buy. This is why we wanted to dedicate a service for allergy-friendly cooking and shopping to demonstrate that allergies shouldn’t stop you enjoying good food,” said Kalle Koutajoki, CEO of Digital Foodie.

Foodie.fm Allergy Page keeps users informed about allergies and allergy-friendly cooking. From the Foodie.fm Allergy Page people with allergy concerns can find support and new ideas for cooking from dedicated allergy specialists as well as from other users. Foodie also provides tools to make shopping for food online or in-store much easier and faster. Users can specify their food preferences and allergies and in return get personalised recommendations for food and products that fit their very personal taste profile.

Foodie.fm is a multi-platform storefront designed by Digital Foodie. It is a fully personalised social shopping platform used by major food-retailers and brands. At the core of Foodie.fm is a patent pending recommendation server that learns from users' eating and purchasing habits and suggests recipes and groceries that match their taste profile. Foodie’s smart tailoring also takes into account users’ personalised preferences -- food allergies, intolerances, predilections and budget restrictions.

In the UK, Foodie.fm is available as beta and the product assortment is linked to Tesco through the Tesco API enabling the community a direct checkout with Tesco.com. In the UK, Foodie runs independently. In Finland Digital Foodie has created a close co-operation with S Group, one of the largest retail chains in Scandinavia and the leading retailer in Finland with a 45% market share, as well as with major brand partners.

Foodie.fm is currently available online and as Facebook, iPad, iPhone, Android and Nokia applications. Foodie is free for consumers to use and currently has 220,000 unique users.

The new Foodie.fm Allergy Page will be showcased at the Allergy + Free From Show in London Olympia from 18th – 20th May and is available online www.foodie.fm/allergypage.

About Digital Foodie Ltd.

Foodie.fm is a multi-platform service designed by Digital Foodie. It is a fully personalised social shopping platform used by major food-retailers and brands. The core of the service is formed by highly personalised food and product recommendations that make everyday shopping easy and fun. For retailers, the Foodie.fm platform provides all the tools needed to run modern eCommerce operations and home deliveries. Foodie.fm is currently available on the web, Facebook, iPad, iPhone, Android and Nokia platforms. Digital Foodie is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. Foodie.fm on the web at http://www.foodie.fm

Media contact:

Hanna Manninen
Digital Foodie Ltd.
+358 40 1780 980
Hanna@foodie.fm

It's big. It's dangerous. And there is nothing we can do to get rid of it.
The problem is food allergies, and it's an epidemic really.

In Europe alone there are over 19 million people who live with a food allergy of some sort, 11 million of which are under the age of twenty meaning the problem is only getting bigger.

Having a food allergy can be complicated.

For those of you who are affected you know that having a food allergy means constant planning, checking labels, and worrying about your health or the health of your child. You know that despite all of the planning you do, the doctors you visit, and the people you inform about the severity of the allergy, there will be people you are in contact with throughout the day that are not aware of the condition and so may put your or your child in a life-threatening situation. You know that when you check a food label you will have to read the fine print, and that going to a restaurant is challenging if not impossible.

Despite both its prevalence and potential severity, there is a problem of staying informed which is both about educating yourself and informing others.

Food production is complicated, the chances that you know exactly where your food is coming from and what it has been in contact with before reaching the grocery store shelves is slim to none. It's hard to really know what you're eating, and nearly impossible to know what the people around you are eating. You want to inform others about the condition, perhaps by sending a letter to your child's school but you know that some of them, despite your efforts just won't understand or think you're being paranoid or too picky.

This need for information is about sharing what we know and reaching out to others so that they can do the same. It's about creating a community of concerned people whose shared knowledge is exponentially more powerful than the knowledge of any single one of them.

This is why we have created the Foodie.fm Allergy Page so our users with allergy concerns can stay informed, connect and reach out to others who have similar concerns. It's already possible on Foodie.fm to specify your user account by setting your food preferences and allergies while getting up to date information about the products you buy. And now, with the launch of our Foodie Allergy page you can make this your sub-community to share and discuss food-allergy related issues. We want to learn together, and have fun while doing it.

Join us in the discussion on our Foodie Allergy Page, or in person by visiting us at the Allergy Free Show between the 18th-20th of May where your entrance is free if you sign up as our guest.

We know that Food Allergies are a problem, let's open up the discussion and work together for smart solutions.

- The Foodie Team

With almost half an isle in every grocery store stocked with racks and racks of dried herbs and spices, the use of fresh, live leaves has lessened in years in favor of convenience. The fresh sweetness of basil or the pungent scent of dill no longer fill kitchen spaces during the preparation of a meal, with only the ghosts of their smells becoming present when a dried herb jar is opened. However, with the growing movement towards home grown produce and healthy cooking, fresh herbs are regaining the culinary spotlight in everyday dishes – back on the pedestal that they belong on.

There are a variety of divisions within the herbal world, with two distinct families and three different classifications – medicinal, colouring, or, the most common use, aromatic. I remember my first induction in to the last category’s use. I peered over a counter, level with my eyes at the time, to watch my mother prodigiously chopping basil, preparing it for a dish that is lost in memory. However, the smell still lingers in my mind. Fresh, sweet, and saturating the kitchen, the scent even seemed to cling to my parent the next day. From that instance, I was entranced. While vegetables and fruit were obvious and almost boring in their natural state, fresh herbs appeared to bring the garden inside, often still with clumps of dirt to brush off of their delicate leaves. 

No one, however, enjoys grittiness in their food, no matter the flavor. When washing a bunch of herbs, fill a large bowl with cold water. Continuously dip the bunch in to the water, shaking it slightly from side to side, and allow dirt and debris to settle to the bottom. Do this 4 to 5 times, until the bunch is clean. Remove and gently shake it dry, being careful not to break the stems by shaking too vigorously. With larger leaves, such as basil, the leaves can be tossed under running water in a colander. Gingerly pat the leaves dry with a washcloth, ensuring your touch is gentle so as not to bruise the herb.

While my mother was quite right in chopping the herbs, which releases the most flavor and smell, she unfortunately was using something found in many kitchens – a dull knife. This is one of the main ‘do-not’s’ of utilizing herbs. A sharp knife is a best friend to the delicate leaves, as it does not crush the greens but creates sharp edges from which the tastes can seep in to the surrounding dish.

Another salient point when using herbs, often pointed out in cookbooks and recipes, is that while the fresh plant retains a richer, more diverse flavor, it is less concentrated than that of its dried counterparts.  Use a ratio of 3 to 1, utilizing an amount three times greater of fresh herbs to the amount called for by dried.

Another difference from dried herbs is the time when fresh are added to the dish. While their dried counterparts are generally added at the beginning or middle of the cooking process, add fresh herbs at the end of the cooking process, usually 5 to 3 minutes before serving. This allows the herb to retain its flavor, and adds small pockets of savory delight throughout any meal.

Not only do fresh herbs provide light flavors and beautiful green flecks to dishes, they are also full of medicinal value. While nutrition in the small green leaves remains quite small with negligible amounts of potassium or calcium, each herb has its own natural value. Basil is full of flavonoids, which help fight free-radicals in the body. Italian parsley is known for its blood cholesterol levels, as well as its high levels of antioxidants. A favorite herb for cooking or brewing tea, mint is perfect for soothing the stomach or helping digestion.

When storing these tendrils of joy, be cautious. The very delicacy that adds to dishes is easily spoiled, becoming a brown, dried mess in the back of the fridge. For short use, up to 2 to 3 days, wrap them in paper towels and place in a sealable plastic bag in the crisper. If wishing to capture them for a longer period of time without drying, freeze the leaves. Unlike drying for preservation, this retains the oils, not allowing them to evaporate, and while the herbs may droop when defrosted, they still keep their rich flavoring. A final means of storage is perfect for gifts or elegant addition to any dish – bottling in vinegar or oil. Seen in high-end restaurants and pricy foodie boutiques, this simple means of preserving not only keeps the herbs, but diffuses their flavor throughout the liquid they sit in.

When able to cook with fresh herbs instead of the standard dried version, do it. While many think that the fresh plants are daunting to work with, a minute or two of chopping and simple storage afterwards are enough to dispel those fears while producing a superior dish in both flavor and appearance.

- Samantha Lowe

The winning menu for Foodie Cooks London is Spring Surpirse by food blogger Sophie Mackenzie

This means that next Thursday May 17th we will be meeting Sophie and some of our fabulous bloggers and users at the Cookery School at Little Portland Street in London for an evening of cooking and eating.

So that you don't have to be sad about missing out, we're sharing the winning menu with you to try out at home. 

Spring Surprise

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Grilled Asparagus with smokey red pepper mayonaise

When English asparagus is in season, it's tempting to eat it every day! The red pepper adds a new dimension to the traditional way to serve it. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Treacle Glazed Ham

 I love the fresh, sweet flavour cider adds to ham - this is a real celebration dish. Serve cold with salad and some good bread, or hot with potatoes and purple sprouting broccoli.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

White chocolate pistachio cake with campari cream

 This pudding is as pretty as it's delicious! Campari is an unusual ingredient in desserts, but its bitterness contrasts beautifully with the sweetness of the cake.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Sophie Mackenzie is a freelance journalist whose natural greed attracted her to food writing. She is a regular contributor to Foodie.fm, and The Guardian's Word of Mouth pages, and her food-related fiction has appeared in Fire & Knives magazine. She tweets @SophieM2401 and blogs at ovalepicure.wordpress.com.

Looking forward to a tasty evening in London!

- Amy & Hanna

Bambi. That’s what always sprang to mind when I consumed meat as a teen. The large eyes of an innocent beast staring back at me. However, as I became older and attained an appreciation for a succulent steak (somewhere between rare and medium-rare), this image mellowed and faded in my mind, becoming the faint bleat of a lamb in the far off distance whenever I heated up the barbecue.

As I reached my 20s, however, I began to ponder the notion of eating meat once more. Being older and ‘wiser’ (and more politically highfalutin) than my adolescent self, I also began to look at food on a global scale. The tipping point came when I read that the average European Union cow is subsidized to an annual amount of around 800 dollars. This is starkly compared to the average annual amount that an Ethiopian adult makes per year – 100 dollars.

Aghast and saddened, I decided to do the only thing I could with my puny, insignificant power – stop eating meat. And so it began. I pushed away savory dishes at potlucks, apologized to my friends for not being able to try their ‘grandmother’s famous secret bolognaise sauce’, and became that person that servers at restaurants look upon with small frowns of disapproval (unless the establishment itself is herbivore based).

Instead of beef, use a large portabella mushroom head as a burger patty, grilling it as you would a normal meat burger.

There are a variety of different subtypes within the vegetarian spectrum. The most strict is the vegan, who has a singularly plant-based diet. The next is a lacto-vegetarian, consuming dairy along with plants, and an ovo-vegetarian, who allows themselves to eat eggs but forgoes the dairy. The most common, and the definition I decided to apply to my own gastronomic endeavors, was a combination of the two – a lacto-ovo vegetarian. My mother wanted to me to be a pesco-vegetarian, eating fish with my vegetables, but I declined – probably due to something concerning deep sea fishing and immigrants rather than for health preferences.

Called a hippie by some and fussed over by my mother, who worried that I was not consuming enough protein or iron, I persisted in my avoidance of all things animal. My beloved parent had a point, however, as protein began to be an issue. I was sluggish, raccoon-eyed, and irritable.  With a little education and learning through the experience of loving vegetables, I began to round out my diet. The rich, thick flavor of beans began to show in my dishes, and I discovered the varieties of tofu, ranging from silken to extra firm. Quinoa eventually came to my attention, as did spelt, which were both high in protein and needed carbohydrates. With the additions of more complex carbohydrates and complete proteins, I found myself with more energy than I ever had when I had consumed meat.

Fry large pieces of extra-firm tofu in sesame or peanut oil and use them in lieu of meat in curries and South East Asian stews.

Three to four years into my self-imposed exile from the land of meat, I continued to have a high amount of energy, and just in general felt what only could be described as ‘good’. In addition to this, my doctor noticed a significant drop in my LDL cholesterol levels and an elevation of my HDL levels. As I have hyperlipidemia, or high cholesterol, due to the blessed genes of my mother, this was welcome news.

Many believe that being a vegetarian doesn’t provide the body with enough, or needed nutrients. However, with known nutritional values, a little planning, and a trip to a local farmer’s market, it is simple to combine ingredients needed to achieve both a healthy and whole meal. With the lowest rates of all chronic diseases or bodily issues that can cause them, such as my own high-cholesterol, vegetarianism is not only a statement about your political, social, or food preferences, but also a means of healthfully warding off a variety of health issues that plague modern societies.

Add a creamy shot of healthy protein to almost every smooth soup by blending silken tofu and mixing it in.

Unfortunately, only about 2.5 percent of the population are vegetarians. As a cook, this can cause problems during dinner parties, with final dishes not being able to be taste tested before served to guests. As I enjoy hosting friends, family and acquaintances around my table almost more than my political beliefs, which have lessened in their intensity as I became older, I became a ‘flexitarian’ in order to continue my healthy diet but keep from killing guests with an overabundance of salt in untasted meals. A newly coined word, flexitarian is the general combination of a predominately vegetarian diet with the occasional piece of meat thrown in. This is the mainstream, healthy diet – full of the variety of colors, textures and flavors that come from numerous vegetables, fruits and grains, but not discounting the nutritional value, nor taste of a good steak on occasion.

However, a consciousness concerning what I was placing in my body carried on from my herbivore habits. I now purchase lean, fresh meats that are full of nutrients, such as pork loin. I avoid smoked meats, or those with nitrates in them and, whenever possible, opt for grain-fed or wild game. The transition back to eating such heavy morsels is not easy, however, as the first few meals make a large, negative impact on the stomach. My own roiled in protest with my first bite of steak in six years. However, even with the addition of meat back in to my diet, my energy levels have remained high and (I believe) my nutritional profile is better than ever. But the most valuable aspect of my abstention from meat was the lessons I learned: having the animal protein was not supposed to be a standard, nightly occurrence but rather was to supplement headlining vegetables; a variety of carbohydrates and vegetables were not only filing but sustaining throughout the day; and that game is one of the healthiest and guilt-free meats you can eat (at least concerning subsidies and developing country incomes), even though Bambi may look up occasionally from your plate.

- Samantha Lowe