Here are a few more things I've been eating lately, including some particularly fine bread and cheese that's worth seeking out.
Ogleshield cheese
Let's kick things off with the cheese. Ogleshield is a washed rind cow's cheese, and it's an absolute bobby-dazzler. It's got that penetrating, lasting intensity of flavour you only get from cheese made with unpasteurised milk. Very smooth and quite dense in texture, it melts slowly on the tongue releasing wave after wave of tangy, almost wine-like flavour.
I've eaten it with apples, on bread and toast, and grated into a mushroom risotto as an adjunct to the parmesan. Every which way was a winner.
A quick google search told me that it's made by the Montgomery family in Somerset, the same people who make my beloved Montgomery's cheddar. I have no doubt that they are among the finest cheese makers in the land. Marvellous stuff.
The Lincolnshire Poacher stall at Sharrowvale market sells Ogleshield, as will any Neal's Yard Dairy stockist. If you're in the North-West (or Ilkley) give Booth's a try.
http://www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/cheeses/Ogleshield.pdf
http://www.lincolnshirepoachercheese.com/
Sabra Hummous
I finally found a good brand of hummous that's readily available in the supermarket. Spend any time in the Middle East and British supermarket hummous will forever be a disappointment. But it's just mashed up chickpeas, oil and tahini you say. No, no, no. The really good stuff is smooth and light, and lemony and nutty, and delicious and really, really bloody more-ish. The rubbish stuff is dull and dense and grainy and boring.
You can get this in Sainsbury's and while it's not absolutely top notch it's a far better effort than the norm. Having looked at the ingredients I think the key to good hummous is probably more tahini and oil, and fewer chickpeas. We all know fat equals flavour after all.
Seven Hills Bakery bread
Alongside the aforementioned cheese, bread from the Seven Hills Bakery stall was the best thing I bought at the Sharrowvale market on Sunday. A quick word on the market: it's excellent, with a good range of stalls on the food front (cheese, meat and especially cakes are well represented) covering all bases the only exception being a complete lack of fruit and veg. It was busy without being overbearing and the atmosphere was fantastic. Highly recommended.
Seven Hills Bakery have a shop on Sharrow Vale Road, but also set up a stall out front on market days. Their Sharrow sourdough is the best bread I've eaten in ages. I can't find the words to describe precisely what makes it so good, it's just got that magical combination of taste and texture. You'll have to try it for yourself to see what I mean. It's pictured at the top of the post with the cheese, and above, toasted with my porky beans.
Although way past its best for eating as it is, five days on it's still toasting beautifully. I will be back for more.
376 Sharrow Vale Road, Sheffield
http://www.sevenhillsbakery.co.uk/
Watkins Mushroom Ketchup
I'd like to continue the Sheffield love-in here and talk about Henderson's relish, but the truth is I'm not a big fan of the stuff. It's touted locally as some sort of magical elixir, a wonder condiment far superior to Worcestershire sauce to be applied liberally on all manner of foodstuffs. Sorry, to me it's the other way round, Henderson's just tastes like a crapper version of Lea and Perrin's.
A new and exciting sauce I have discovered however is mushroom ketchup, which is rather like a super-mushroomy Worcestershire sauce. Adding fungal depth to whatever you put it in (having just read what I've written I'm not sure 'fungal depth' is really an appropriate descriptive, but never mind) I really like this stuff. So far it's gone in a mushroom risotto and the porky beans I've just had for tea. There will be many more uses for it.
Widely available in supermarkets.
Ogleshield cheese
Let's kick things off with the cheese. Ogleshield is a washed rind cow's cheese, and it's an absolute bobby-dazzler. It's got that penetrating, lasting intensity of flavour you only get from cheese made with unpasteurised milk. Very smooth and quite dense in texture, it melts slowly on the tongue releasing wave after wave of tangy, almost wine-like flavour.
I've eaten it with apples, on bread and toast, and grated into a mushroom risotto as an adjunct to the parmesan. Every which way was a winner.
A quick google search told me that it's made by the Montgomery family in Somerset, the same people who make my beloved Montgomery's cheddar. I have no doubt that they are among the finest cheese makers in the land. Marvellous stuff.
The Lincolnshire Poacher stall at Sharrowvale market sells Ogleshield, as will any Neal's Yard Dairy stockist. If you're in the North-West (or Ilkley) give Booth's a try.
http://www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/cheeses/Ogleshield.pdf
http://www.lincolnshirepoachercheese.com/
Sabra Hummous
I finally found a good brand of hummous that's readily available in the supermarket. Spend any time in the Middle East and British supermarket hummous will forever be a disappointment. But it's just mashed up chickpeas, oil and tahini you say. No, no, no. The really good stuff is smooth and light, and lemony and nutty, and delicious and really, really bloody more-ish. The rubbish stuff is dull and dense and grainy and boring.
You can get this in Sainsbury's and while it's not absolutely top notch it's a far better effort than the norm. Having looked at the ingredients I think the key to good hummous is probably more tahini and oil, and fewer chickpeas. We all know fat equals flavour after all.
Seven Hills Bakery bread
Alongside the aforementioned cheese, bread from the Seven Hills Bakery stall was the best thing I bought at the Sharrowvale market on Sunday. A quick word on the market: it's excellent, with a good range of stalls on the food front (cheese, meat and especially cakes are well represented) covering all bases the only exception being a complete lack of fruit and veg. It was busy without being overbearing and the atmosphere was fantastic. Highly recommended.
Seven Hills Bakery have a shop on Sharrow Vale Road, but also set up a stall out front on market days. Their Sharrow sourdough is the best bread I've eaten in ages. I can't find the words to describe precisely what makes it so good, it's just got that magical combination of taste and texture. You'll have to try it for yourself to see what I mean. It's pictured at the top of the post with the cheese, and above, toasted with my porky beans.
Although way past its best for eating as it is, five days on it's still toasting beautifully. I will be back for more.
376 Sharrow Vale Road, Sheffield
http://www.sevenhillsbakery.co.uk/
Watkins Mushroom Ketchup
I'd like to continue the Sheffield love-in here and talk about Henderson's relish, but the truth is I'm not a big fan of the stuff. It's touted locally as some sort of magical elixir, a wonder condiment far superior to Worcestershire sauce to be applied liberally on all manner of foodstuffs. Sorry, to me it's the other way round, Henderson's just tastes like a crapper version of Lea and Perrin's.
A new and exciting sauce I have discovered however is mushroom ketchup, which is rather like a super-mushroomy Worcestershire sauce. Adding fungal depth to whatever you put it in (having just read what I've written I'm not sure 'fungal depth' is really an appropriate descriptive, but never mind) I really like this stuff. So far it's gone in a mushroom risotto and the porky beans I've just had for tea. There will be many more uses for it.
Widely available in supermarkets.
2 comments:
mushroom ketchup? nice!
It is. Get some!
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