News
Spiralizing: How to get the best results
WTF you might be thinking?! A spiralizer is a contraption that you put veg into and it comes out the other end spaghetti shaped! Ta-daaa. Favoured by the health conscious. Check out the picture - spiralized courgettes in a faux spag bol concoction. Nice.
Turning our mountains of food waste into graphene
Ideally we don't want food waste, but until that day happens, it's a good plan to put it to positive use rather than chucking it all on a landfill site. Graphene is being touted as a 'wonder material' that can help us become greener so if we can make it with food waste then that's bonus green points, surely?
Crowdfunder project: Mazi Mas restaurant at Ovalhouse, South London
The Mazi Mas restaurant is all about giving migrant and refugee women a place to show off their amazing cooking, gain valuable paid work experience and training, and connect with their local community through their passion for food. Please watch this video if you have chance to hear Mazi Mas' founder, Niki, present her vision. A really important, exciting project for London, I'll def try out the restaurant next time I'm in the big city, it opens 17 March.
The Big Feastival
Whether you're a Jamie fan or not, this festival looks pretty ace - good music and brilliant food in the middle of Alex James' farm (yep, the one from Blur who is a born again cheese maker, who knew). Groove Armada seem to be a musical highlight with the ubiquitous (and rather lovely) Hemsley sisters and Deliciously Ella cooking up a storm in the Feastival kitchens. I'd probably go for these three street food vendors alone - super amazing pimped up mac cheese from Anna Mae's, epic burgers from The Original Patty Men and fab flavoured meatballs from The Bowler - so good.
Local News
The Jabberwocky Restaurant
If you're into street food and live in the West Midlands then chances are you've seen the beautiful green Beast that is The Jabberwocky gourmet toastie van. And if you've been lucky enough to tuck into some of their delicious toasted snacks then you'll know that this is exciting news - The Jabberwocky are joining forces with the fantastic The Cake Doctor to create a restaurant and cafe in Leamington Spa. Due to open in April, form an orderly queue!
Recipes
Beef Tagine | Jamie Oliver
This tagine is such a winner - perfect for a crowd, stick it in the middle of the table with a big bowl of couscous. Job done. Use beef shin if you can, it has great flavour and goes super tender after a few hours of cooking.
How to make the perfect salted caramel sauce
Hmm this should come with some kind of public health warning. I've eaten gallons of it with pancakes, ice cream, brownies and straight out of the jug. Don't say I didn't warn you! Use a silver pan if you have one as it's easier to spot when the sugar goes amber.
Food for Thought
Photo Series Shows What School Lunches Look Like Around The World
This story came out a while ago but thought I'd share it here as it's really interesting to see how the quality of kids' school dinners differ from country to country. Whilst it's debatable how accurately depicted these dinners actually are, the article presents a good starting point for a discussion on school dinners and the importance of presenting our kids with healthy, good quality food in education.
Thanks for everyone who signed up for my first weekly newsletter and thanks for the kind feedback. This week we've got one of my fave fail safe recipes - Jamie's beef tagine, you can reminisce about school dinners with a great insight into kids' lunches around the world and be inspired by a Crowdfunder foodie project in London. Hope you enjoy!