Archive for June, 2007
Beijing’s Penis Emporium
Adam is enjoying a well-earned holiday at the moment, visiting China and Tibet. He has promised to hunt down some interesting foods and will hopefully report his expereinces here on this blog in due course.
Meantime, on the subject of indigenous foodstuffs, I've uncovered this article of, shall we say... questionable taste?... on the BBC web site. I think it might give Adam some pause for thought before wolfing down whatever delicacies are set before him!
I'm seriously thinking of becoming a vegetarian!
Top 10 Uses for Used Coffee Grounds
This from Curbly via Lifehacker...
I don't have a clue how much North Star produces in coffee grounds over the course of a year - but thinking about it, we go through a good few kilos of coffee per week and all those grounds just get tipped into the bin. I've often thought that there must be some sort of use that all this waste can be put to (to be fair, I was aware that they made decent compost, but then again, I don't have a garden!) ... so here is a definitive list entitled "The Top Ten Uses for Used Coffee Grounds".
It's a shame they're all a bit lame! I was hoping for some alchemical method of turning them into gold dust!
Deanna’s Recipe of The Week #5 Nana’s Ginger Cake
Ginger Cake
Sticking to the theme of Nanas recipes (see my second Recipe of the Week), I thought I'd share another one with you. It's her absolutely fantastic ginger cake, a family tradition and one that deserves a wider audience. I had to do a bit of conversion as I found the recipe scrawled on the back of an old bill and it was all in vague measurements (eg "a glass of oil" &etc.)
This is a true classic. It makes 3 cakes which will freeze beautifully. I also like it because you can just throw everything together - there's no equipment needed apart from bowls, jugs and mixing spoons.
You could eat these as they are or sandwich two together with lemon or stem ginger buttercream.
Ingredients
450g self raising flour
450g golden syrup
225g caster sugar
300ml Boiling water
4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp each of mixed spice, cinnamon and Bicarbonate of soda
3 eggs
250ml vegetable or sunflower oil
Beat the eggs and the sugar. Add the dry ingredients (except bicarb). Add the oil and then the syrup and mix. Mix in the boiling water leaving a small amount. Mix this remaining water with the bicarbonate of soda and add to the mixture.
Pour into 3 x 8 inch cake tins which have been lined with baking paper or paper cases - NOTE - is essential that you line the tins. These cakes will be very soft and moist - they'll never come out of unlined tins!
Bake for 1 hour at 300f/150c/Gas 2
North Star Name-checked (Kind Of)
We had nice mention in The South Manchester Reporter on Thursday June 7th. In the Who's Who section Beth Buxton, 26, a local resident involved with the Chorlton Arts Festival was asked in an interview ....
Where is your favourite place in south Manchester?
"I absolutely love food [replied Beth], so I have two favourite places, The North Star Delhi [sic] and Barbakan. The North Star Delhi do the most amazing goats cheese, rocket and honey bagel..."
Later on Beth was asked...
How would you spend a perfect day in Manchester?
"I'd get up in the morning and go to the North Star Delhi for a really nice breakfast..."
Thanks Beth for those nice words (I owe you a coffee next time you're in!), but a note to the reporter, the copy editor and, indeed, the editor of The South Manchester Reporter... It may surprise you to learn that "Delhi" is not the diminutive for the word "delicatessen", but is in fact India's second largest city and you should all hang your heads in shame at such a pitiful copy error.
Let us know of any North Star name checks you spot, won't you - even if they're spelt wrong!
New Products 9/6/07
We've recently stocked in some wonderful new products from Atkins & Potts - a manufacturer and supplier of premium food lines that you won't find in the multiples and a company I discovered at last year's Speciality Fine Food Fair in London. These delicious products are all perfect for your summer BBQ, garden party or just for snacking in the sun and are available in-store now.
- Red Onion & Jaleno Relish - A crunchy and spicy relish of red onions and white wine vinegar with the heat of red and green jalapenos. Perfect for dipping tortillas and nachos, great for glazing sausages and absolutely essential at a barbecue.
- Fennel Relish - A fresh, clean and crunchy relish with the delicate aniseed flavour of fennel. Perfect with Parma or Serrano ham and superb with fish.
- Rhubarb and Ginger Chutney - A fantastically tangy combination of traditional food partners. Rhubarb and shredded ginger blended together to accompany your favourite cheeses, cold meats and pies.
- Hot Mango Salsa - Sweet and hot, all the flavour of a good fruity salsa with plenty of chillies. Fantastic with tortillas and all Mexican dishes. The perfect partner for chicken kebabs as well as grilled or barbecued fish and prawns.
- Dark Chocolate Sauce with Limoncello - Bitter dark Belgian chocolate sweetened with a good measure of Limoncello, the classic lemon liqueur originally from Sicily
- Milk Chocolate Sauce with Orange & Cardomon - Rich Belgian milk chocolate infused with cardomon and orange oil.
- White Chocolate Sauce with Lemongrass & Ginger - Creamy white Belgian chocolate invigorated with lemongrass and ginger
These mouth-watering gourmet sauces will compliment your pancakes and waffles, and 'sex-up' any fresh fruit or ice cream. And when the summer is over (assuming you have any left!) try stirring into hot milk for a luxurious and indulgent hot drink.
What The World Eats
Once again via Boing, Boing (that superb repository for endlessly fascinating things) this wonderful link to a series of photographs at Time.com depicting the weekly grocery shop for various families all over the world. These photographs are from a book called Hungry Planet: What The World Eats
What is particularly striking is the extraordinary varience in packaging used in the different parts of the world - there's no doubt we use far too much here in the UK.
Above is my genuine favourite of the sixteen pics featured in the link - The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar - all this food, feeding entire family for an entire week for just over $40.00 USD (or 41,985.85 togrogs!). Given the projected profit margins, I'm forthwith cancelling our expansion plans for a Mongolian branch of North Star!
Credit Card Cutlery
Via Boing, Boing this innovative gadget which, I think, lies somewhere between inspirational and insane. Perhaps a credit card coffee cup will follow?
Available via the online shop at New York's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
Deanna’s Recipe of the Week #4 - Quick & Easy Pasta Sauce
Quick & Easy Pasta Sauce
Here’s a simple and delicious pasta sauce using some wonderful products available at North Star Delicatessen. This recipe has been written by Adam, who I must admit, makes a mean pasta sauce - and curries too, but we'll save that for a later recipe blog. I'm not sure what to call it but it's somewhere between an Amatriciana and a Puttanesca (if you substitute the chorizo for anchovies and capers)
You can adapt this for smaller or larger quantities but the following method will serve two
2 tbsp good olive oil
1 or 2 cloves garlic, crushed
Dried Chilli flakes to taste
1 jar or tin peeled plum tomatoes with basil
1 tbsp Tomato puree
a few pitted green olives
200g Chorizo Picante, sliced (or chopped anchovies and a few rinsed capers)
Freshly ground salt & black pepper to taste
a pinch of sugar
175g Penne pasta
Put a large pan of salted water on to boil & cook the pasta following the instructions on the packet.
Meanwhile, place a deep frying pan on a medium heat and add the olive oil.
Add the chopped garlic and ground chilli flakes, fry for a minute.
Add the chopped tomatoes & stir well, then add the tomato puree.
Simmer the sauce on a low heat, for a few minutes, add the olives to the sauce, and then the chorizo (or anchovies/capers)
Finally, add salt, ground black pepper and sugar to taste.
When the pasta is ready, drain it, and then stir into the sauce.
What’s For Breakfast?
It's no secret that North Star serves the best cooked Sunday breakfast to be found anywhere in the Chorlton area, but for those seeking to recover from a busy weekend’s revelry with something a little lighter than our usual breakfast option, we’ve introduced the North Star Muesli Breakfast.
Consisting of organic muesli with milk, fresh banana, bio-yoghurt, and organic honey, this breakfast has fruit, fibre, bio cultures, and slow-release carbs making it a most delicious way to begin the day, and it’s now available every day for only £2.49.
The Liquid Donut
This from Coffee Geek, a site for aficionados of ... well, coffee, obviously.
I can't help but admire those who enter the barista championships and work hard to develop their signature drinks. On the other hand, it must be nice to have the time to be that self-indulgent! I can't quite imagine using liquid nitrogen in our coffee prep here at North Star, as the Australian national barista champion apparantly did with his winning creation - it'd mean you having to wait longer for your order (did I just hear someone say even longer???).
UK barista champ, James Hoffman came up with this extraordinary creation - The Liquid Donut - an odd and fascinating coffee concept, though in the same way that many of the outré confections that appear on the fashion catwalks of Milan are too outlandish for our proletariat tastes, there is little commercial potential for a coffee that takes this much trouble to put together.
I am, however, thinking of creating a North Star equivalent - this would involve a donut that you dunk in your latte! Any takers?
Live Lobster Catcher
This from Flickr via Boing, Boing... essentially a lobster vending machine crossed with one of those "win a crappy prize" crane things you find at holiday resort amusement arcades.
Given that lobsters are kept in tanks like this at hundreds of restaurants all over the country, I can't work out if this is cruel or not. (Mind you, one does wonder how often the water is changed in this thing.) Apparently they're fairly common in places where lobsters proliferate - does Chorlton count?
Anyone out there know of other wierd vending machines we could consider?
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