Food & Drink

Celebrity Chef John Torode’s quick Seafood Paella Recipe

PaellaWatch our video to find out how to make quick and tasty Paella

TV Chef John Torode has partnered with Neil McGuigan to launch their new recipe collection. 

This dish captures the fresh and crisp Mediterranean flavour’s of Paella. John recommends having a crisp Pinot Grigio or a Chardonnay to bring out the tones and compliment this scrumptious seafood dish. 

The new recipe collection is a mixture of a personalised and revolutionary food & wine matching service available at  www.mcguiganwines.co.uk

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Paula's Wines of the Week starting 17 June 2013

Paula GoddardMatching wine to a baby leaf and herb salad, whose only coating is sea salt and black pepper, is easy - almost any white or light red wine will go. Finding a wine for a salad dressed in oil and vinegar is a little more difficult.

Malt vinegar mixed with oil produces tangy vinaigrette, but its acidity can mask the delicate flavours of both salad and wine. Try lowering the amount of vinegar or replace the malt vinegar entirely: red or white wine vinegars taste fruity and match the robust taste of cos lettuce and peppery rocket leaves. A less acidic dressing can be made with olive oil and lemon juice. Serve with light red wines, like Beaujolais, or whites from New Zealand or Sancerre in the Loire Valley.

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TV chef Jun Tanaka on the importance of Umami - the fifth taste

Jun TanataJun Tanaka was at the Foodies Festival in Clapham last weekend. He hosted a Discover the Origin food and wine pairing master class, highlighting the importance of Umami rich foods.

Jun Tanaka is a great believer in umami and the importance of looking out for quality produce in creating the perfect dish for our taste buds. In this video he tells us a little more about the "fifth sense", the ingredients that contain umami and how to use it effectively to get the best out of your cooking.

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Muscovado chocolate cakes with cocoa nibs and Mayan spiced syrup

paul-youngMy name is Paul A. Young and I am a cake-a-holic. I cannot imagine my life without the humble cake, whether it’s for afternoon tea, a quick coffee break or a stolen hour gossiping with friends. Moist and sticky with crunchy cocoa nibs and an aromatic sweet-spiced syrup, these cakes are the perfect dessert served warm with real vanilla ice cream or cold with rooibos or Earl Grey tea.

FOR THE CAKES

115g self-raising flour

65g dark cocoa powder, the best quality you can buy

½teaspoon sea salt

185g unsalted butter

225g unrefined muscovado sugar

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Andy Waters’ Vegetarian lasagne

Ricotta Kale_LasagneThis fantastic recipe from Great British Chefs is a perfect dish for a large family, or made into portions and frozen for more than one meal. 

Gorgeous!

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Paula's Wines of the Week starting 10 June 2013

Paula GoddardChoosing a gift for next Sunday's Father's Day is never that easy for sons and daughters, of whatever age. I'm sure you'll not complain when you receive the usual power tool or tankard, but it would be nice to get something rather more personalised wouldn't it? So why not help your children along by dropping subtle, or not, hints that a bottle or two of your favourite wine would be much appreciated.

Their urge to buy some high-strength and high-tannin red wine will be strong – don't try to divert this but direct it either towards something really, really expensive (after all you're worth it aren't you?), or a bottle of easier drinking French Claret or Aussie Shiraz you know only you will enjoy.

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The Ultimate Weekend For Food Lovers: Dartmouth Food Festival (25th - 27th October 2013)

Dartmouth Food_festivalThe date for every food lover's diary has been announced. This year's Dartmouth Food Festival is set to take place from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th October 2013. Don't miss out; make a note of it now!

Every year the line-up of celebrity chefs who come to the Festival gets more and more impressive. One of this year's most talked about chefs, owner of The Seahorse in Dartmouth and fish chef extraordinaire, Mitch Tonks, will be sharing his incredible skills. 

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Charles Metcalfe pairs foods and wines together

Charles MetcalfeCharles Metcalfe was at the Foodies Festival in Cheshire last weekend. He hosted food and wine pairing sessions in the marquees set up on site.

We produced a short online video with Charles giving his top tips on what foods go best with what wines and how you can make a difference when serving at home. Charles covers what wine will best compliment each course of a great summer meal, including a great wine partner for a chocolate desert.

He was working with Discover the Origin, a European Union campaign designed to raise awareness around five Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) products:

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Paula's Wines of the Week starting 3 June 2013

Paula GoddardI admit I was ignorant of how to go about fossilising a (deceased) pet hamster until I purchased the paperback of the same name.

How To Fossilise Your Hamster: And Other Amazing Experiments For The Armchair Scientist (£6.39 on Amazon for the paperback, £4.12 for Kindle version) is a must for anyone who longed to receive a Chemistry Set for Christmas but never did.

So if you've got half a bottle of rum, a can of coca cola with the fizz intact and some ice cubes you too can experiment with the contents of the drinks cabinet.

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