I recently bought this book in an effort to start cooking more interesting food for my 1 1/2 year old son, also food that my husband and I could also get excited about.  I find the recipes fairly quick and very easy and the end result delicious - even to a fussy toddler!

The minestrone is a huge favourite of my husband’s and mine - I just don’t seem to be able to make enough!  Some of the portions seem to be huge but so far everything I have made has frozen wonderfully.  My only comment would be that the with the recipe for Pork, Lamb and Apple Meatballs with Sweet & Sour Sauce I would make three or four times the quantity of sauce - there was not nearly enough.

 I really do recommend this book highly to anyone with a family - it is hugely inspiring!

Goose fat is normally associated with Christmas Dinner and the perfect roast potato but it can be used all year round.  Due to its high burning point foods can be cooked at a high temperature without the fat burning or breaking down. 

Goose fat has many uses, read on…

To make the ‘ultimate’ roast potatoes
Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 7 or 220°C. Par-boil potatoes for 8-10 minutes; drain and then put back into the pan, shaking to roughen the edges. Measure 1 tbsp of Goose Fat for every 450g potatoes into a roasting tray and heat until the fat is smoking.

Place the potatoes in the tray and roast for 45 minutes, or until crisp and golden, basting and turning frequently. All root vegetables are good roasted with goose fat, especially parsnips.

• Other potato recipes: oven chips - par-boil potatoes for 5 minutes and then roast them for 30 minutes, use goose fat instead of butter in mashed potato or sauté potatoes in a little goose fat.
• Frying onions: heat a little goose fat over a high heat, add the onions and cook over a low to medium heat until the onions are softened.
• For a posh canapé spread goose fat on rye bread and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Top with some pickled red cabbage.
• Fried bread: Spread goose fat generously on pieces of bread and put them into a hot frying pan for an even coating and golden colour.
• Fried eggs and omelettes: If you like a crispy edge to your fried egg, fry it in really hot goose fat. Omelettes will have a richer flavour too.
• Roasting poultry and game: brown the birds in hot goose fat in a frying pan to colour and seal them before cooking, or just spread goose fat on the breasts of the bird before roasting it. Good for keeping turkey breast tender.
• Stuffings: fry chopped onion, celery and garlic in goose fat to soften, before adding the rest of the ingredients.
• Risotto: a recipe that normally uses a lot of butter for frying the onions and coating the rice grains, goose fat gives depth and richness without adding as much fat.

For more  information and recipe ideas go to www.goosefat.co.uk

Restaurant Sat Bains is Nottingham’s only Michelin stared restaurant and boutique hotel.  I was lucky enough to be taken out to dinner in this remarkable restaurant last week.  I had been looking forward to the dinner for weeks and had huge expectations, every expectation was exceeded.

Knowing Sat Bain’s philosophy for giving guests something unique we decided to opt for the tasting menu - a culinary journey through various courses of taste, texture and temperature.  The menu was seven set courses plus a number of sublime surprise courses in the form of Amuse-Bouche prior to the menu starting. 

The “Duck egg 62c with artichoke veloute and Bellota ham” was out of this world.  Every course after this was equally delicious and exciting.  We finished with Blackberries with honey and lavender and were all disappointed that the “culinary journey” was over.

I really cannot recommend this restaurant enough - from the food and wine to the ambience to the knowledgeable staff.  It is expensive, but so are most of the local Gastro Pubs, and if you compare the food at Sat Bains to that of the pubs it is absolutely worth every penny.  I only hope that I can go again and stay the night next time!

Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms, Lenton Lane, Nottingham NG7 2SA
www.restaurantsatbains.com
Tel:  0115 986 6566

The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

I refer to this book time and time again.  It is brimming with ideas for those odd cuts of meat that you are not sure what to do with, and if you are a fan of buying half a pig or half a lamb, as I am, you often come accross joints or cuts that baffle you!  

It is a definitive guide to the preperation and cooking of meat and I find Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Meat Roasting Table invaluable and using his methods you do get the perfect result every time.

My favourtie recipe is the Slow Cooked Shoulder of Pork “Donnie Brasco” - it melts off the bone and has the most superb flavour.

Visit www.amazon.co.uk for more information.

We would love to hear about your favourite cookery books - so why not click on “Comments” below to join in?

Paul has been serving contemporary cuisine at his restaurant in Bottesford for eight years now.  It is without a doubt my favourite restaurant locally. 

The restaurant is a great place to meet friends, but be warned you do need to book, especially at the weekends.  I can’t recommend their Seabass Fillet on Grilled Asparagus with Sunblushed Tomato and Lemon Dressing highly enough.  I have something different every time I go and have never been disappointed, they also have a wide range of delicious wines.

My husband and I often pop in to the Wine Lounge early on a weekend evening, you can’t book there but if you do go early, especially in the Summer when you can sit outside, you will usually get a table.  The food is just as good as in the restaurant but the menu is slightly smaller.

Go to www.pauls-restaurant.co.uk for more information.

The Essentials of Classical Italian Cookery by Marcella Hazan

“This book is my Italian cookery bible” says Louise Lee who works in the Gonalston Farm Shop office “recipes are simple, clear and delicious creating traditional authentic Italian dishes”.

You can buy this fantastic book at www.amazon.co.uk

The University of Aberdeen have completed a new study into the consumption of apples in pregnant women - BBC news reported in May.

Apparently women who eat apples during pregnancy may protect their children from developing asthma in later life.  They have also discovered that children of mothers who ate fish had a lowered incidence of doctor-confirmed eczema.

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6669173.stm for more details.

To celebrate our 4th Birthday, we would like to invite you to our Farmshop Family Extravaganza on Sunday 12th August between 10am and 4pm.

We were hoping to have pens of friendly farm animals at the shop but, unfortunately due to the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in the South East this will no longer be possible.  However there will still be lots going on!

We will have a bouncy castle, a model cow that you can actually milk(!), Vera Oxby and some of her Prize Winning chickens and our trusted friend Barney the Bull here all day.

We will be running a competition for the Under 12’s to make an animal from vegetables… the only rule is that no plastic pieces are allowed to be used (cocktail sticks and straws are OK!). All entries are to be in the shop by 1pm on the day for judging. We are really looking forward to seeing what budding sculptors we have amongst our younger customers.

Lurgershall Winery, Mr Pitchforks Pickles, The Cookie Stop, Premier Cheese and Thaymar Ice Cream, will be offering scrumptious morsels to taste and, of course, our own Award Winning sausages and beef burgers will be available.

We look forward to welcoming you on the day for fun, games and many delicious treats!

One of our very helpful Gonalston Farm Shop customers has given me a gentle nudge to encourage me to write about our favourite restaurants closer to home. He made a very valid point that although it is interesting to hear about exciting places to eat around the world, wouldn’t it be slightly more useful to hear some reviews of places we actually might get to visit?!!

So going forward we will regularly be featuring our favourite restaurants in our local region. This week we will be starting with Kevan’s reviews of two restaurants in Nottingham, having read about them I am now longing to visit. Please let us know your special eateries too!

The first is called French Living, I believe established in 1994 - you may be familiar with it? It is small establishment with an excellent cafe and delicatessen at street level and a wonderful restaurant below stairs. The proprietors, who are a married couple, are, I believe, one from Corsica and the other from Nottingham. The environment is pleasant, the service is both excellent and friendly and the food divine, fresh and authentically French in every detail. I can heartily recommend a visit to it. I discovered French Living about ten years ago when my daughter, then only eleven years old, and I used to visit it for fresh coffee and croissants on Saturday mornings, before I dropped her off for her drama class. We’ve been going back ever since.
www.frenchliving.co.uk

The second restaurant, which currently shares the title of “my favourite” is located just a few doors down the hill from French Living, towards the Market Square. It is called the Lock Fyne Fish Restaurant. Though I believe this is part of a chain of similar restaurants situated around the country, that fact takes nothing away from the experience of eating there. The environment is very comfortable and very professional. It reminds me, in style, of a sea-food restaurant I’ve eaten in in Soho. The service is good and the seafood served there is of the highest quality. Again, I can heartily recommend it.
www.lochfyne.com

We are beginning to get into the time of year when courgettes are multiplying faster than we can cook them - I am contstantly trying to find new ways to fool my husband into eating them.  I came accross this recipe for a savoury courgette cake that is absolutely delicious and has so many uses.  It can be a delicious starter, makes a fine addition to any picnic, cut up small can be a delectable canapé and is perfect for a summer lunch with salad.

Do you have any exciting seasonal recipes to share with us?  Please let us know!

Courgette, Bacon and Pine Kernel Cake

300g firm small courgettes, washed, dried and coarsley grated
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
100ml milk
100ml olive oil
180g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
80g Gruyere or Emmental cheese, grated
20g Parmesan, finely grated
100g bacon, cooked lardons or diced streaky bacon (optional)
100g pine kernels, toasted
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives
Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C, butter and line a 10×24cm loaf tin.

Pour the eggs, milk and oil into a jug and whisk lightly.  Season with salt and pepper.

Sieve the flour and baking powder into a medium sized mixing bowl and gradually whisk in the liquid until you have a smooth batter.  Fold in the courgettes, grated cheese, pine kernels, bacon (optional) garlic and chives then spoon the mixture into the tin.

Bake for around 45 minutes until firm and golden.  Test with a skewer to make sure the cake is cooked in the middle.  Leave to cool in the tin for around 15 minutes then turn out carefully.