Posts Tagged ‘Food’

Could you be a locavore for lent?

Friday, March 11th, 2011

We all know a carnivore eats meat, a herbivore eats vegetables and an omnivore eats both but the other day my mum walked in saying she was going to try to be a locavore. It seems it’s an American term for shopping and eating only local foods.

A few days later I bumped into an old friend on Cardiff’s Lower Cathedral Road whose New Year resolution was to shop and eat only from local sources for a year to see how it would change his eating habits. The results are changing far more than just his eating habits.  He shops more regularly as it is often on foot and involves carrying bags.  As the journey on foot is slower and more purposeful he makes sure he never forgets his bag for life and so very proudly has not taken a new plastic bag this year.

Menu planning has become much more important and he finds himself reading lots of food related articles, recipe books and magazines.  His cooking is more efficient and creative, he is eating a lot more vegetarian meals, treating meat as a treat.  But the best of all is the social aspect, regularly shopping locally on foot he is meeting all sorts of old friends, work colleagues, it is doing wonders for business networking and making new friends.  Financially it is probably similar, what he is buying is a little more expensive but the quality more than makes up for it and he is not wasting any food.  Plus as the allotments begin to yield he is on a good few promises. He is well and truly becoming a character of the high street!

The Riverside Sunday market in Cardiff is a buzz of creative local suppliers. Standards and quality is high, food miles are low.  You follow the seasonal vegetables at their best .  I have recently starting juicing regularly. The yield, flavour, smell and colour is so superior from local seasonal vegetables I am in danger of becoming a carrot snob!

Here are a couple of my favourite juices:

Detox and Vitamin C pick me up:

Power and Irons

Each recipe makes about a glass of juice

A year may be too much of a commitment for most of us to become locavores but we can try to be mindful about what and where we buy.  Maybe try buying vegetables only from a grocers for a month, there are lots of good ones. Be healthy, be a locavore this Lent!

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Pancake Day – Shrove Tuesday

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

Here’s Emma’s recipe for perfect pancakes.

Heat a non stick frying pan with a small splash of oil and spoon in individual serving spoons of mixture at a time. This will make a small drop scone pancake. Cook on each side for a minute and repeat.

For starters serve with bacon and sweet corn and for pudding serve with chocolate ice cream, hot chocolate sauce with a flake in the top and dust with icing sugar. Or just simple lemon juice and good quality honey.

However you eat them, enjoy!

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What’s in the Freezer?

Monday, February 14th, 2011

Our freezer is full to the brim, pop in and fill yours with our tasty nutritious ready made meals.  Perfect for those busy days when you don’t have time to cook.  All double portions:-

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Valentine Special – Take Away Dinner for Two

Friday, February 11th, 2011

Surprise your loved one to fine dining at home. Ready for collection on Monday 14th February pm.

- Starter -

Scallops with a tarragon and butter sauce, served with homemade bread
(Served in a half shell with a brioche crust, all you need to do is flash them under the grill and lightly warm the bread)

- Main -

Slow braised pork belly with bang bang sauce served with garlic mash and stir fried bok choy
V- Pressed aubergine, tofu & courgette terrine with bang bang sauce served with garlic mash and stir fried bok choy

(Flash the pork belly also under the grill or in the oven, re heat the mash in the micro wave or oven, re heat the boc choy in the microwave or a quick toss in a hot pan).

-Dessert-

Mini homemade doughnuts with 3 dipping pots
Dark chocolate and fresh mint
Merry berry splashed with brandy
Dreamy creamy White chocolate

£35 per couple

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Foodie News – Menus of the Week 11th February and Valentine’s Day

Friday, January 28th, 2011

We are running two extra special ‘menus of the week’.  If you wish to give someone a treat, or have guests coming to town, why not give this delicious menu a try.  You relax with your guests and let us do the cooking!

Home Counties – Take Away Dinner –

Collection on Friday 11th February 2011

Scottish Starter Canapés

Scottish smoked salmon with caper and lemon butter

Arbroth smokie pate on teeny tiny toasts

Fillet of Aberdeen Angus with horseradish cream

Creamy Arran blue tartlets

Welsh Main – Course please choose one

Cawl Cymru with winter roots – served with rustic garlic spuds

Welsh beef braised in brains SA with flat field mushrooms and shallots – served with creamy mashed potatoes

(V) Gooie leek and goat’s cheese strudel

Irish Pudding

Irish chocolate coffee shot mousse

English petit four

Crab apple toffee apples

£22 a head (collection only)

Valentines Take Away Menu –

treat your loved one to a romantic dinner at home – ready for collection on Valentine’s Day – please see the Valentine’s Menu under ej @ Home.

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Recipe blog – EJ’s Energy Bar

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

Wales the True Taste 2010 is just under a month away. The True Taste Awards are the Welsh awards for small and large producers of everything from free range chicken, confectionery, cheese, sausages, dairy, lamb, beef, wines, beers and juices. It includes the best well-sourced deli and vegetables grown in Wales.
We won an award last year for our homemade lemon and thyme cordial.  The accolade allows great marketing potential and support from the Welsh Assembly Government.
This year we entered the long and difficult tender process to cater for the awards dinner, research, menu planning, local sourcing, budgeting and creative ideas all went into my long tender document and I was thrilled to be awarded the job.   It is a great honour as all the guests are very knowledgeable food lovers.
All the food must be sourced from the county in which the awards dinner is to be held and each year this changes giving every county their time to show off their produce.  This year it is Pembrokeshire and there will be 500 guests attending the event.  The event  attracts many major sponsors.    I organise the staff – there will be more than 50 – and the table hire, including more than 4,500 pieces of cutlery, 3,750 items of crockery and I am yet to calculate the total number of glasses!
We hire in all the equipment required for the kitchen in order to get the meal out quickly, efficiently and of course piping hot. It is a mammoth but exciting task.
Last week we held the menu tasting at our kitchen in Clive Road, Cardiff. It is a fun, full-on day and lots of decisions were made.  I don’t want to give the menu away at this stage so my recipe this week is for the energy bars I will making for the chefs to keep them going throughout the day which will be long, full of pressure, heavy loads and deadlines.
 
Ej’s energy bar
12 oz oats
2oz toasted sesame seeds
3 oz of walnuts
2oz pumpkin seeds
4oz crunchy peanut butter
4oz Welsh honey
Juice of half an orange
Zest of 2 oranges
3oz dried chopped apricots
2oz dried chopped prunes
2oz golden sultanas
2oz dried cranberries
 
Feel free to adapt the nuts and dried fruits to suit your taste or what’s already in your cupboard
Place all the seeds and nuts on a large baking tray and toast in the oven for about 5-10 mins.  Watch carefully you do not want them to burn, just turn golden brown and fill the kitchen with roasting smells.
In a saucepan melt the honey and peanut butter with the orange juice and zest
Add all the dried fruit and nuts to the pan.  Line a baking tray with cling film and then firmly spread the mixture into the baking tray.  Put in the fridge for at least an hour – overnight is best.
Turn out and cut into wedges.  For a really decadent version coat one end of each wedge in melted dark chocolate.  It does not have to be all healthy it just has to keep us going!

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Menu of the Week

Monday, July 19th, 2010

23rd July 2010

Free range chicken in orange and mustard sauce (Highly Commended award received from True Taste Awards 2008/09)

New season potatoes with Welsh butter and fresh mint, olive oil, basil and spring onion

A trio of green beans, mange tout and peas tossed in garlic oil with a chiffonier of lettuce

Summer Pudding with crème fraîche

2 course – meal for 1 £10.50

2 course  meal for 2 @ £20.00

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Menu of the Week

Monday, July 12th, 2010

16th July 2010

Seared free range chicken with lemon, garlic and parsley or

(V) Local field mushroom filled with creamed leek, toasted walnut and Caws Cenarth

Served with roasted sweet peppers and red onions in a thyme oil

Cup cakes topped with fresh orange cream

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Menu of the Week

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Hello Folks

Our ‘Menu of the Week’ service is aimed at the foodie who wants to entertain at home with fine cuisine.  The meals are cooked with the freshest, seasonal ingredients from scratch by skilled chefs at our kitchens in Clive Road, Canton (next door to Waffles).  It is our version of the ‘upmarket takeaway’ and is the perfect way to entertain your guests – or yourselves- at home without the bother of choosing, shopping and cooking a fabulous meal at the end of a busy week.  Enjoy!

Here are our summer menus for the next two weeks.  As usual, orders in by 4.00 pm on Thursday and collection between 3.00 – 5.00 pm on Friday.

2nd July 2010

Salmon & monkfish kebabs with citrus & coriander dressing or

(V) Roasted peppers, tomatoes & courgettes, all stuffed with bulgar, Halloumi, artichokes and raisins

Served with chilled green beans and spinach and wee roasted potatoes with garlic

Petits Fours – minted dark chocolate truffles, pistachio pralines, honey wild thyme flapjacks

9th July 2010

Tart of poached pear and Perl Las cheese, hazelnut & balsamic dressing

Pot roasted shoulder of local Welsh lamb with fondant potato, a rosemary and red wine jus and fine French green beans or

(V) A tian of grilled aubergine, courgette, tomato and goat’s cheese with salsa verde

Dark chocolate and raspberry cheesecake

2 course  – Meal for 1 @ £10.50 or Meal for 2 @ £20.00
3 course – Meal for 1 @ £13.00 or Meal for 2 @ £25.00

This Week’s Price Comparison – source from a leaflet posted through our letterbox  today.
Pizza Hit Delivery Service – Full Works Deal
2 Italian Pizzas, 2 x classic sides, 2 desserts
Medium £22.99 Large £24.99

I hope you’re all enjoying this glorious weather.  We hope to see you at the shop some time soon.

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Welcome to EJ Catering

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Welcome to the EJCatering website. We have added a news section to the website which we’ll be updating reguarly with food news, reviews, recipes and offers.

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