Sunday 21 March 2010

Nether Edge Farmers Market


Hooray!
Today the day finally arrived for the farmers market in nether edge!
I had been looking forward to it all week and it was fantastic!
The sun was out from 11 o clock and stayed around til 4 it was probably the nicest day we've had all year, very lucky indeed.

There was lots of entertainment including morris dancers, a brass band and bowling as well as all the wonderful stalls that ranged from cakes, cheese, meat, some vintage clothing, books etc it was all great and there was also a bar on the bowling green so I had a couple of pints of moonshine in the warm sun with friends which was very pleasant.

Here are a few photos from the event.



Carrot cake bun - tasted of onion seed...

Morris dancers


Lovely cakes


A brass band


More cake


Various mushrooms


Yabba


Coconut chicken with rice and peas and my moonshine - they were both delicious



So as you can see it was a truly wonderful day, beautiful weather and a chance to catch up with old friends and relax and just enjoy yourself.
I can't think of any other way I'd rather spend my day.

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Creamy mushroom and kale puff pastry pillows

These are a delicious treat as the creamy mushroom part is very rich. I like to serve these simply on their own as a meal on the go or with salad. I used crimini mushrooms from waitrose but it works well with any variety. Ingredients 1 pack of mushrooms 1 onion butter curly kale splash white wine cream garlic puff pastry beaten egg Method
  1. First fry the onions with the garlic in butter til softened
  2. Add wine and let the onions absorb the wine, season with salt and pepper
  3. Add the mushrooms, fry until mushrooms are golden
  4. Add the cream, reduce for 5 mins and set aside
  5. Steam or saute some kale until cooked, season, set aside
  6. Cut puff pastry into squares
  7. Add a spoon of the kale to the middle of a square
  8. Add some mushrooms (not too much juice)
  9. Brush the eggs around the side and place another square of pastry on top
  10. Crimp with a fork to seal and make a small slit in the top
  11. Brush the egg on the top and bake for around 10 minutes or until puffed and golden

Sunday 14 March 2010

Yuen Shan

I was sitting in the pub with my friend drinking rum when we both realised we were getting rather hungry.

I remembered this place having visited there about 6 months ago and it being really good so I suggested we go visit.
It was only two doors down from the pub that we were in so we didn't have far to go.

We arrive and its full. Most of the customers are Chinese which is always a good sign when you're dining in a Chinese restaurant.
After waiting for about 5 minutes we are seated to our tables and are given the menu.

Its all you can eat for £11.99, its not a buffet as the food is cooked fresh to order but you just keep on ordering dishes until you can't eat any more.
You choose your dishes, write down the number on a piece of paper and hand it to the waiter.

There is free prawn crackers and green tea.
I'm not too keen on prawn crackers but my friend says they're the best ones he's ever had and I'm so hungry I eat a few anyway.
We also order some wine and it comes with an ice bucket.






Our food arrives soon and there is crispy wontons first which are mainly pastry with a tiny bit of prawn in the middle so we weren't too impressed by them.

Next is beef in satay sauce and thats tasty, can't taste any peanuts though but its still good nonetheless.





Malaysian lamb is next and arrives with pancakes, cucumber, hoi sin sauce and leeks, like crispy duck is normally served but with lamb instead.
I prefer the lamb to duck because its very sweet and not as fatty as duck.

Shredded crispy chicken is basically strips of chicken skin that has been coated in a batter, deep fried and then covered in a very sweet sticky sauce. It tastes good but is very hard. This is the one we end up leaving the most of.

The spare ribs in chilli sauce however are very delicious, slow cooked pork so that it just falls off the bone. My friend realised this as he picked up a piece by the bone and it the meat just slid off and fell into the hoi sin sauce!






We're pretty stuffed but choose one more dish when the waiter returns - salt and pepper ribs which would be really tasty if they weren't so incredibly salty.

Stuffed, we force as much food down us as we can and ask for the bill which is around £32 so we leave £36. Good value food that is quite tasty.
I'll probably return when I fancy lots of tasty Chinese food for only £11.99.