Department: Food
Deanna on the Radio #4
I was asked to go on BBC Radio Manchester again recently (no clip this time - sorry!) Tuesday afternoons seem to be North Star Delicatessen's regular moment of media glory- do you think Nigella should be watching her back? This time, they asked me to come up with the subject matter, so I had to think about something that was close to my heart - Superfoods.
It bothers me that the show's host Becky Want, and many people like her, don't cook, so instead of just giving out a load of recipes, I wanted to explain what she could get out of it if she put in a bit of effort.
I thought I'd try and get across the unknown health benefits that many seemingly ordinary foods have. It's my aim to persuade people that cooking and eating healthily needn't be boring, expensive or time consuming and some foods that we take for granted could be working magic on your body and mind.
Below is a list of common foods and their beneficial properties regarding certain conditions. Most of this information comes from one of my favourite books Superfoods
Things you didn't know about....
Apples - Pectin and vitamin C help keep cholesterol levels stable. Pectin also helps protect us from the ravages of pollution, binding to heavy metals like lead and mercury in the body and carrying them safely out.
Garlic - Amazingly effective against cancer, heart problems, lung infections ranging from colds to bronchitis, rheumatism, arthritis and gout.
Lentils - About 100g supplies about two-thirds of an active man's daily protein needs (eat with something containing vitamin c in the same meal to improve absorption). They also contain good amounts of B complex vitamins which help avoid poor memory, irritability and other signs of nervous wear and tear. (try our own puy lentil salad with feta, red onion, parsley and sunshine tomatoes.)
Pineapples - Cures digestive problems as it contains an enzyme, bromelin, which can digest many times its own weight of protein in a few minutes. It breaks down only food and dead tissue leaving our guts miraculously unassailed.
Basically, if you can manage to make small changes in your diet like having brown rice and wholegrain bread instead of white, eat porridge for breakfast and snack on foods like grapes, nuts and seeds, you stand a better chance of being the best you can be.
Chorlton Food Festival 2007
We're delighted to both support and be a part of this year's Chorlton Fringe Food and Drink Festival, and we've lined up some fabulous foodie events and special offers for the duration of the event, which takes place from Friday October 5th through to Monday October 15th. For further information on the festival, visit www.chorltonfringe.com
Throughout the festival we have a fantastic sandwich special offer for hungry folks looking for a great value and hugely satisfying lunch. You can order any one of our three super-stuffed North Star Club sandwiches, combined with any of our cakes and a soft drink from our wide range of juices and sodas for the bargain price of only £10.00.
Friday 5th October
A chance for everyone to come and taste a wide variety of different Spanish wines, including sherry. Advice on Spanish food and wine matching and festival discounts on offer.
Saturday 6th October
Cheese experts on hand in store to give detailed descriptions of some interesting and lesser-known English cheeses. See why Britain can really give the French a run for their money when it comes to cheese making. Tastings and festival discounts in store.
Sunday 7th October
Atkins and Potts - We're so excited about this supplier. They have an amazing range of products all produced in small batches in their own kitchens - savoury jams, condiments, dressings, salsa, marinades, sauces, relishes, chocolate spreads and dessert accompaniments. Tastings and festival discounts in store. See this blog entry for some of the products we already carry.
Friday 12th October
Australian House Wines - Easy drinking, well priced, good quality Aussie wines in store for tasting. Food and wine matching available as well as festival discounts.
Saturday 13th October
Chegworth Valley Juices - This company have the most fabulous range of pure apple and pear juices. We stocked these babies since we opened nearly four years ago because they are the best. Here's a chance to learn about and compare different varieties of apples. Tastings and promotions in store.
Sunday 14th October
Olives Et Al - Your chance to try a wide selection of amazing olives and snacks from this great supplier. Discounts available throughout the festival.
Deanna on the Radio!
Deanna appeared on the radio last Saturday as a guest on BBC Radio Manchester's Becky Want's Retail Therapy show, live from The Trafford Centre. Amid the hustle and bustle of the Saturday morning shoppers, Deanna valiantly plugged the deli and spoke knowledgeably about cheeses and meats and whatnot, and generally did us proud. If you didn't hear it, the clip is below. (My grateful thanks to the ever helpful Sam Tonge for the clip).
Deanna’s Recipe of the Week #7 Smoked Salmon Fishcakes
Oh you lucky people! Deanna's clearly gone bonkers, and is allowing one of our best recipes to be published online! The North Star Smoked Salmon Fish Cakes have been on our menu since the day we opened and remain both a top seller and perennial favourite with customers who can cause a stir if we've sold out. And these babies sell out faster than we can make them!
The key ingredient, by the way, is the flaky hot smoked salmon from the Salar Smokehouse up in the Orkney's - a producer with a string of accolades and famous admirers. We order whole sides of this delicious product to cook with, though we often have it available in retail packs too. Their web site has some truly mouth-watering recipes, but here's one of Deanna's very own!
Smoked Salmon Fishcakes
We make these in quite large quantities so I've tried to scale it down a bit. This should make about eight or nine. Incidentally, they freeze well, so it's worth making more than you need as the smell of frying fishcakes does pervade the home somewhat. Spot the understatement! You will need :-
1 pack of Salar Smoked Salmon
Approx 1.5kg potatoes (use a relatively dry one like Marphona)
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
20g Butter
1 tbsp creamed horseradish
1 bunch spring onion, chopped finely
About 25g chopped flat leaf parsley
Plain flour to coat
2 beaten eggs
Breadcrumbs (make your own by toasting unwanted crusts of bread to dry them out and blitzing them in a food processor)
Vegetable oil for frying
Method : Peel the potatoes, cut into medium sized chunks and put them in a pan of cold water with some salt. Cover with a lid, bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes until tender. Drain immediately in a colander and put them back in the pan. Whilst they are still warm, mash them together thoroughly with the butter, lemon juice and rind and the horseradish.
Leave until they are cool enough to handle. Stir in the spring onions, chopped parsley and flaked smoked salmon. Mix thoroughly. Weigh out the mix into 150g balls, press them down slightly and place them on a baking tray.
Prepare 3 containers, one with flour, one with beaten egg, and one with breadcrumbs. Coat a fishcake with flour with one hand, use the other hand to dip it in the egg, and use the first hand to roll it in the breadcrumbs - this way, you don't end up with big breadcrummy fingers! We call this game "Wet Hand, Dry Hand". Carry on until all the fishcakes are coated.
Pour the oil into a wide pan so it reaches a level equal to half way up the fishcake. Turn on the heat. When you think it may be hot enough (about 180 degrees) pop in a breadcrumb. If it starts to bubble and comes to the surface, it's ready. Fry the fishcakes in batches on both sides - make sure there's enough room to turn them. They should be a nice golden brown. Drain them on a baking tray covered with kitchen roll to absorb any extra oil.
Note - you could vary this recipe by substituting half the potato for sweet potato, the salmon for cooked smoked haddock, the lemon for lime and the parsley for coriander. There you go - that's two recipes for the price of one!!!
Adam’s China Trip Report #2
Day 1(Still): "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."
On the highway back to Beijing we passed what looked like a huge concrete bird’s nest. "That’s known locally as the huge concrete bird’s nest," explained Jenny. Beijing is beset with construction projects for the 2008 Olympics, & the National Stadium is a truly magnificent structure.
We were due to leave the city early next morning; not enough time on this visit to take in the Summer Palace or the Forbidden City. We opted for Tiananmen Square, at 440,000 square meters, the largest urban space in the world. Waving away swarms of rickshaws descending amongst the flagging tourists, we undertook the long march towards Mao’s huge portrait.
At 6pm precisely, the Five Starred Red Flag was struck by an honour guard in front of the Tian’an Gate. Impressive, but power in China increasingly resides in the office blocks of the financial districts. As the sun retreated over the Gate of Heavenly Peace, and the Chairman’s countenance faded into dusk, my thoughts turned inevitably to dinner. Jenny’s thoughts turned inevitably to shopping.
We compromised with a visit to the Oriental Plaza. Beneath gleaming frontages flaunting western brands, its vast subterranean food hall is a cornucopia of culinary traditions. Cities and provinces were represented, from Shanghai to Szechwan, as well as Japanese and Thai foods. Sushi, dumplings, seafood, noodles and curries all jostled for attention under the bright lights. The USA had colonised an ignored corner from where McDonalds and KFC glowered like Nixon. I had a Big Mac & fries. Not. Jenny wanted to take me to her favourite Szechwan restaurant, so we hopped on a bus.
At Jin Shan Cheng I enjoyed the best Chinese food I’ve ever had. The menu was extraordinary, featuring such items as boiled cow frog with chilli pepper; river turtle with Chinese prickly ash; braised fresh deer tendon; frozen fungus; crystal jelly fish; smoked rabbit tea flavour; crispy iced algae and braised sea cucumber. I’d been awake for 36 hours and it was all getting a little surreal. I gazed hollow-eyed at the swimming images.
"How about the frog?" enquired Jenny.
"Just get me chicken or lamb."
"It’s farmed frog, it’s nice."
"Chicken or Lamb. And a beer."
Crispy lamb shank, and chicken sautéed with red chilli & peppercorns arrived at the table with spinach & pine nuts, cold potato noodles, & boiled rice. The lamb was tender and fragrant, the volcanic chicken one of the best (& hottest) dishes I’ve ever eaten. For desert - white dark yin yang bean curd cakes, sweet rice congee, and turtle shell jelly. The jelly, a medicinal delicacy, tasted vile, it’s bitterness unassuaged by the tablespoon of honey I’d added to help it down. The entire meal cost less than the equivalent of twelve pounds.
A taxi to the hotel, a deep and dreamless sleep, and a morning trip to the airport. Destination Lanzhou, from where we take the Quingzang train over the mountains to Tibet, and the holy city of Lhasa…
North Star Birthday Cakes
Ahh! Deanna's daughter, our very own Katie Bo, had her first birthday on Saturday, and mummy laid on a fantastic party. Here is the centre-piece of the spread - a cake every bit as delicious and pretty as the birthday girl herself!
North Star Delicatessen really excels at producing bespoke, home-made cakes for any occasion. Our fantastic, freshly made in-store cakes - carrot cake, chocolate cake, the gluten free lemon almond & polenta cake and our coffee and walnut cake - are all available to order whole. Just as easily we can create pretty much any flavour cake you like and ice and decorate it to your specifications. All we require is at least 24 hours notice.
So, if you're looking for a real talking point for your party table, why not contact us directly?
Adam’s China Trip Report #1
I've recently returned from a trip to China. Over the next few weeks you can read about some of the amazing culinary experiences I enjoyed during my travels.
Day 1: Brunch in Beijing
After a comfortable flight, we arrived at Beijing. Our time in the city would be brief, so a drive through the early morning rush-hour took us straight from the airport to The Great Wall.
Wanting to stretch our legs after an eight hour flight, we opted to walk up. At 4000 miles, The Great Wall is the longest human-made structure, and some sections date from as early as 200 BC. Seemed to me like a lot of trouble just to keep the Scots out! Nevertheless, it made for a steep and tiring two hour climb in the humid noon sun. At the top we had our photo taken next to a sign quoting Mao's proclamation that any who had managed to reach this point without collapsing were heroes. Bolstered by this, we decided to take the cable car back down and head back to the city for brunch.
Like many of you, I've been enjoying Chinese cuisine in the UK for years. How, I wondered, would it differ in its eponymous homeland? Jenny Li, my delectable and erudite travelling companion, hails from Beijing, & was eager for me to sample its culinary diversity. She took me to one of her favourite restaurants specialising in crab recipes.
Even in a city as large and cosmopolitan as Beijing, If you don't speak Mandarin (which I don't yet), you're lost. I was presented with a menu without a word of English. No matter, Jenny ordered a local beer to keep me occupied whilst she perused the carte du jour. Minutes later the waitress set a huge live crab in front of me at the table.
Not wanting to offend local custom by leaping out of my chair, I tactfully nodded my appreciation. What to do... make friends with it? Jenny said that the staff merely wanted to assure us that the food is fresh. Fresh? It's grabbing my shirt! To the Chinese, she explained, the concept of eating seafood that has been dead for an indeterminable period is distasteful, so it's kept alive until the moment of preparation... which sounds very sensible to me.
The crab waved goodbye to us as it was taken away. It returned ten minutes later in a pan with leeks, shallots, chillies, coriander, and star anise. Accompanying dishes were boiled rice, and one of my favourites - Chinese spinach. There were several cold dishes too; thinly-sliced braised beef, pickled mixed vegetables, & green beans.
The meal was spicy, & delicious, but the beer reminded my brain that it was, by my body-clock, five o'clock in the morning. No time for sleep yet, though, the city awaits…
Deanna’s Recipe of the Week #6 Rustic Fish Soup
Rustic Fish Soup
People are always curious about what I cook at home for dinner. This is really popular in my house because it's tasty and low fat. I always make it when we go away on holiday too(self catering of course!) with what we've found at the local fish market. Chrolton locals are well advised to visit Out of the Blue on Wilbraham Road - how lucky we are to have such a fantastic fishmonger on our doorstep!
Once you've put the white fish in, you can use any seafood you like, even frozen packs of mussels, prawns and squid. Below is just what I used the other day but it varies.
This should serve 4
2 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, sliced
1 bulb fennel, chopped
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 cloves garlic, squashed then chopped
1 red chilli, chopped
1 red pepper
tin chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 glass red wine
1pt fish stock
Handful fresh basil leaves
250g large prawns
500g any flaky white fish (I sometimes use those frozen blocks of cod and pop them in straight from the freezer)
1 jar/tin of mussels or clams
Handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
Cut the red pepper into quarters, remove the seeds and place on a tray under a hot grill, skin side up until blackened. Place in a bowl and cover with cling film or a plate. leave to go cool and then remove the skin. Roughly chop the peppers.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a soup pan and add the red onions.
Cook for 5 minutes then add the thyme, chilli, garlic and fennel.
Cook for another 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
Add the roasted and skinned pepper, wine, the tin of tomatoes, tomato puree and fish stock. Cook for about 20 minutes.
Add the fresh basil and blend (you can leave it a little chunky if you prefer)
Add the fish (from fresh or frozen it doesn't matter) and cook until the white fish disintegrates, about 20 mins.
Season with plenty of freshly ground black pepper and finish with the chopped parsley.
Serve with bread. It's nice to have toasted baguette slices topped with freshly made basil pesto.
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!
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.
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?
A Quorney Issue
I came across this interesting entry on Wired.com, especially in light of National Vegetarian Week as detailed in my previous entry.
I have eaten Quorn once or twice... or was it Tofu? And certainly it was by accident after someone had told me it was chicken... probably.
The point is (as the Wired article so deftly points out) what exactly is it? Some sort of mushroom?, or fungus? or perhaps - as my Dad once told me (a man with a talent for tall stories) - it is a by-product of a water filtration process. My guess is that all these derivations are true in some way, but that doesn't make it any more palatable to me. Whatever Quorn may be (and this Wiki entry gives some clues) it can't be traced, like a good piece of organic steak right back to the farm / water filtration plant that might have produced it, and that can't be good, can it? And why, if you are a vegetarian (and some of my best friends indeed are!) would you chose to eat something that resembled meat (which of course, it doesn't, not in the slightest) but wasn't. The same principle follows in my opinion for non-alcholic beers or herbal cigarettes- I mean what's the point in a poor substitute? Surely it's better to either do it or don't it. The middle ground has no merit whatsoever.
House Wines of the Month
Until the end of June at North Star we have two fantastic Australian wines available to take away, or to enjoy in the deli by the bottle or the glass.
Marktree Soldier’s Block Chardonnay (2005) £7.25
‘Fresh and ripe with citrus and peach fruit flavours combining with crisp finish yet some roundness in the mouth,’ say Marktree, a description to which I’d add 'melon, fig, and a touch of creaminess.' This is a richly textured and elegant Chardonnay, perfect for summer drinking with smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches, salads or summer soups such as carrot and coriander. Try it with our Chorlton Guacamole as a pre-barbeque tipple, before cracking open a bottle of the Shiraz.
Marktree Soldier’s Block Shiraz (2005) £7.25
The winery’s tasting notes describe an ‘attractively fruity Shiraz in a cooler-climate style, with concentrated mulberry and black pepper notes combining with elegance and structure on the finish.’ I love full bodied Australian red wines, and this is one of my favourites. It’s a concentrated, richly-flavoured wine. Spicy, smooth and distinctive - it’s one of the best, most elegant and complex Shiraz I’ve tasted. A perfect accompaniment to Deanna’s Eurovision Lasagne recipe.
Get two bottles of our featured wine in any combination, & we’ll knock ten percent off the price. Here comes the summer!
Deanna’s Recipe of the Week #3 - Eurovision Lasagne
Every year, my husband Patrick (not pictured here on the left!) likes to watch The Eurovision Song Contest and eat Lasagne (which we also only do once a year.) This year, I thought I'd base our lasagne on the one we make for the deli, but with a little (non-vegetarian) twist. Needless to say, once again, the lasagne was the highlight of the evening. Even the Italians would have given it 'Douze Points'.
Roast vegetable & Feta Lasagne with Smoked Chorizo -- serves 3/4
2 large courgettes
2 red onions
1 red and one yellow pepper
olive oil
salt and pepper
fresh or dried thyme or oregano
200g feta cheese
about 50g smoked chorizo, sliced
fresh basil
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
lasagne sheets
50g butter
50g plain flour
500ml milk
freshly grated parmesan
grated nutmeg
Heat the oven to 180/gas 6.
Peel and chop the onion into chunks (about 9 each half), cut the pepper into similar sized pieces and slice the courgettes into rounds about the width of a pound coin - if you cut the veg too small, they can catch and taste bittter, too large and they can go soggy.
Place the veg in a roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs and use your hands to mix so all the veg is coated. Roast in the oven for about an hour.
Meanwhile make the white sauce by melting the butter, stirring in the flour and adding the milk bit by bit until thick. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
If using, chop the slices of chorizo into strips. Place in a small, hot frying pan and cook for a minute or so until crispy. When the veg are ready you can begin putting the lasagne together.
Spoon a little chopped tomato onto the bottom of your oven proof dish to stop the lasagne sticking. Place a single layer of lasagne sheets on the bottom so it is covered entirely - you may need to break a few sheets to patch it up.
Scatter half the veg evenly and crumble over half of the feta. Add a few torn basil leaves and cover with a tin of tomatoes. Scatter over half of the fried smoked chorizo and repeat the layer. Top with another layer of lasagne sheets and cover with the white sauce. Scatter over some grated parmesan cheese and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes until golden on top.
Deanna’s Recipe of the Week #2 - Nana’s Lentil & Lovage Soup
Our herb garden has started to come to life again and one of the most enthusiastic perrenials is our lovage.
Lentil & Lovage Soup
This recipe is one from our nana's repertoire. I asked her once why her lentil soup tasted so much better than other peoples. She said it was because of the love she put into it. I subsequently found out that it was in fact lovage that she used - though I think the love helped too!
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 leek, chopped
1 carrot, chopped, 1 stick celery, chopped
1 red chilli, chopped (leave seeds in if you like it spicy)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 inch ginger, chopped
3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
splash of worcester sauce (leave out to keep vegetarian)
250g red lentils
1 1/2 litres vegetable stock
pinch of sugar
squeeze lemon
freshly ground black pepper
a good handful (20g) fresh lovage, shredded
Heat the oil in the pan.
Add the onions and cook on a low heat, stirring from time to time.
Add ginger, chilli and garlic and continue to cook for a couple of minutes.
Add celery, leek and carrot, cook for five more minutes.
Add tomatoes, stir and cook for a few minutes more until the tomatoes begin to break down. Add the tomato puree and the red lentils.
Add the stock and the worcester sauce. Stir and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes. Season with pepper, sugar and lemon juice.
Add the lovage, cook for about 5 minutes more and blend.
This recipe serves 4.
As with all soup recipes, it's up to you whether you add more or less of particular ingredients, or be thicker or thinner. It should be to your taste.
Deanna’s Recipe of the Week #1 - Chorlton Guacomole
Here's a little feature that we're hoping will become a regular posting here on the North Star site. Keep checking back (or simply subscribe to our blog feed) to keep up to date with all my recipes.
With the unseasonably warm weather, I'm sure some of you will have started barbequeing. Here is a recipe for Guacamole which originally came from Adam but which I took the liberty of improving a little.
Incidentally, we would love to sell this in the deli counter but avocadoes have a nasty habit of turning black when exposed to the air and serving up food choc-full of preservatives isn't really our mission. Mind you, this guacamole is so tasty and moorish, I bet it wouldn't last more than hour in the counter before it was sold out!
Serves 2 (easily doubled or tripled etc)
1 ripe avocado, roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 spring onion, chopped
a small handful of coriander, chopped
the juice of half a lime
1 red chilli, chopped (seeds taken out)
Place all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
If you don't have a blender, you could make this into a more chunky salsa by chopping everything more finely and mixing it all together. Serve with raw vegetables, tortilla chips or warm pitta bread.... and remember to share it with everyone else.
If you're hooked on Guacamole, you can find a bunch of other fabulous recipes over at www.avocado.org.
Is it a sin?
As we know, greed (aka Covetousness - an unreasonable desire for what we do not posses) is a grievous sin.... a deadly sin in fact. But here's some great news! It doesn't apply to Peanut Butter!!
I've wanted to taste this peanut butter ever since I stumbled across it online - Peanut Butter & Co. is an independent deli in New York's Greenwich Village. Basically it's a foodie temple dedicated to all things peanut butter related and they have put together their own brand that to a British PB fan like me, is completely irresistible.
Their Dark Chocolate Dreams is a look into my own PB obsessed mind - the physical manifestation of all my deepest peanut buttery desires. I must, must, MUST have it!
But... wanting it and getting it have been mutually exclusive terms where this product has been concerned. Though it is available online via the Peanut Butter & Co. web site, they are unable to ship outside the US. The product is available via, I think, one Amazon Shop - some department store in New York, but to have three tubs shipped over to the UK so that I can indulge my secret shame in the privacy of my own home, would have cost just under a hundred bucks!! I do want to taste this peanut butter, but I'm not actually insane!
But the more it has proved impossible to get this stuff, the more determined I am to get it. Then, a stroke of luck! I attended the Speciality Fine Foods Fair last year at Olympia and who should be there exhibiting, but the Peanut Butter Guy himself, Mr Lee Zalben - a big, ebullient American, intent on bringing his product to us poor peanut butter deprived Brits, who have been raised on mere "Sunpat" - a trusty, but IMHO, a tired brand to say the least. I button-holed the Peanut Butter Guy, finally got to taste this divine product in all in delicious incarnations - and it didn't disappoint, each one a heady, peanuty, mouth-watering delight to be savoured. But... the PBG said he was here to find a distributor and North Star (being a single independent) could not do business direct, given that we'd need to order a container-full to make the enterprise cost-effective. Not even I could eat that much, (though I'd be willing to try!). I did however persuade him to part with a jar of each flavour, though he said that I'd have to come back the next day to pick them up, as he needed them for his display right to the end of the exhibition. "Come back just as we're packing up tomorrow and you can take away whatever you can carry!"
So, a night of Dark Chocolate Dreams followed and I altered my plans for that day to fit in a return journey to Olympia. I made room in the boot of my car and readied myself to bring my prizes home. And what happened? My damn car got broken into ten minutes before I was due to leave for Olympia and I got embroiled in police, car hire and insurance matters! My Dark Chocolate Dreams were shattered. Clearly a peanut plot was afoot!
However, a year later at the IFE (see my earlier entry), I found a supplier for this product. Hoorah! And, as I write, their container, full of my Dark Chocolate Dreams, is not far from landing on these shores and should it sink or run aground, I will know that there's a plot!!
All being well, the product will be available at North Star from some time in May, in all its glorious flavours. So come and join the peanut butter party before it all gets eaten... by me!
JB @ IFE
Last month's IFE is a HUGE trade show that takes place every two years at Excel down in London. I guess the acronym stands for "International Food Exhibition" but it might just as well stand for "I'm F***ing Exhausted"!!
It really is huge... hugely huge. Two huge aircraft hanger type exhibition halls full of supplier and distributor stands which, after a few hours all blend into one. Some exhibitors are pushy, shoving samples into your face as you traipse by them. It becomes a skill to navigate through - time after all, is precious and it's not a good policy to waste it with people you've no intention of doing business with. Saying no and escaping with tact isn't always possible - often "no" must suffice on it's own!
I've been covering these shows for North Star for four years now and tradition now dictates that I attend with my best pal Russell who tags along under the guise of "Consultant". I love going with him, not least because he's a long-time vegetarian and it's fun watching him refuse the many and various bits of cured animal that get proffered.
Then there's "Trade Show Belly" - an ironic condition, given that everyone there is a foodie of sorts. Basically, think of the worst combination of foods you can possibly imagine and then imagine eating it all day. As you make your way down the aisles, you'll eat an olive or two, followed by some Parma ham, then you'll be offered some chocolate or rapeseed oil, a pickle, some dried fruit, a piece of cake, some coffee or highly sugared drink, more olives, some mustard, some honey, something honey-mustard, more olives, some fudge, a donut, a milkshake, some salami, cider, olives, olives, sorbet, some sticky concoction which tastes like old socks, cheese, a boiled sweet, cheese, an olive or two, pickled garlic, chocolate, cheese ...and this cycle repeats itself endlessly - literally ad nauseum - for the entire day. Not exactly what can be described as a balanced diet - and of course, no chocolate in the world tastes that nice when consumed straight after a pickled onion!
All this aside, the IFE is a fun, if exhausting day and, of course, it's essential that North Star attends when this extravaganza comes to town. Just as it is for all who attend this over-facing, bloated festival of food, it is a chance for us to do business, to meet and shake the hands of the suppliers who look after us, and of course to discover new suppliers and exciting new products. This last thing is really the main reason we make the trip.
And, inevitably, I did indeed come across any number of wonderful products that I'm hoping to stock in the deli - and I'll be using this new web site to bring news and offers over the coming weeks as this new stock arrives and is put out on our shelves - so check back for update regularly, won't you?
The Best Sandwich in the Whole Wide World?
At North Star we offer maybe a dozen types of sandwich on our menu, ranging from the humble but ever-popular bacon butty, to the stuff-yourself-until-you-burst North Star Club, but I was wondering what you folks thought about our sandwich offerings. Is there enough choice? Or too much? Would you prefer your sarnies in tortilla wraps or on plain old sliced white? Do you like your butties so stuffed (a la New York deli) that you need to dislocate your jaw to cram it in, or do you favour British restraint where your fillings are concerned?
Sandwich Project is a great site, featuring more than 2000 recipes for the world's favourite lunchtime nosh. Let us know if there's anything you'd like to see added to our menu.
And pictured above is apparantly the world's most expensive sandwich, offered last year by Selfridges, (I have no idea how many they sold or if it is still on their menu). This rather over-facing concoction is made up of "rare Wagyu beef, the finest fresh duck foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit with English plum tomatoes in a sour dough bread" - a snip at £85.00!!!
I'll have two please! And one for my friend!!
-
Search North Star Deli
-
North Star Deli Info
-
Join the North Star Deli Mailing List!
-
RSS
-
Syndicate
-
Latest North Star Deli News
-
North Star Deli Departments
-
North Star Deli Archives
-
North Star Deli Links
-
Admin
