Wednesday 21 September 2011

Harvest at Jimmy's, Suffolk

The perfect festival for a foodie! Harvest at Jimmy's is a festival that's been held at Jimmy Doherty's farm in Suffolk for the last 3 years. It's a fantastic weekend with live music from bands such as the Kooks but the highlight for me is always the chefs and the food. This year the festival was also held at Alex James' farm in Oxfordshire. There's a whole host of food stalls from Jun Tanaka's 'Street Kitchen' to Jamie Oliver's 'Fabulous Feasts'. We had food ranging from Risotto Balls, to Tartiflette, to Chorizo and Halloumi. There was a great selection of gluten free options.

There's also demos from some great, well known chefs! Hope you enjoy the pictures and make sure you book your tickets for next year @ www.harvestatjimmys.com or www.alexjamespresentsharvest.com

Jimmy's Hog Roast!
Matthew Fort and winner of the main course on Great British Menu 2 years running Tom Kerridge
Food critic Jay Rayner (who read some extremely funny bad reviews!)
Jamie Oliver and his Italian friend Genaro Contaldo
70 cookbooks to her name and judge on Great British Bake Off Mary Berry
Jun Tanaka's Street Kitchen
My girlfriend got the opportunity to do a master class with last year's Master Chef Winner Tim Anderson
Richard Corrigan, top chef and regional judge on Great British Menu

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Spicy meatballs in a noodle soup

Oriental inspired food can be difficult for those eating a gluten free diet, but it doesn’t have to be. All you need is a few gluten-free store cupboard essentials. First, has to be Tamari Sauce; a gluten free soy sauce and quite why everybody doesn't use this is beyond me! It tastes exactly the same as soy sauce and is the same consistency etc. If more restaurants used this there would be a lot more options for coeliacs. Another great product we found recently was gluten free soba noodles, once again I couldn’t taste the difference. These are available in larger branches of tesco or you can buy other varieties online. Finally, sausages – why they need to be packed out with wheat and breadcrumbs I'm not sure, the best sausages certainly aren't. For those living in the Norwich area, there’s a fantastic butchers on Norwich market which does a huge variety of sausages, all gluten free. And it was the chilli and lemon grass sausages that inspired this recipe! There’s a decent selection of gluten free sausages now at most supermarkets and you can make this recipe with any variety really or even some grilled chicken breast or duck.
  • Take 6 sausages out of their skins and roll into balls. Brown in a pan of oil, then put in the oven for about 15 minutes at 180 or until cooked through
  • Bring 1 litre of chicken stock to the boil and add 2 crushed cloves of garlic and a 5cm piece of grated ginger. Add the noodles and cook according to the packet instructions. 2 minutes before these are done add your vegetables - we used pak choi, spring onion, beansprouts and mushrooms (around a handful of each). Just adjust the cooking type depending on the vegetables.
  • Add the meatballs and then serve into bowls. Top with chopped fresh coriander, sliced chilli and spring onion. Put tamari sauce and chilli oil on the table for people to add to taste. 
  • Enjoy!