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Looking forward to getting porky with my Sheffield Moss Valley sausages

Are you all ready to celebrate #BritishSausageWeek (BSW) running from 31st – 6th Nov 2011? – I am. Whoop Whoop British Sausage Week starts next week with Slade frontman, Noddy Holder as ambassador – its gonna be a sizzler!! It is an annual event to celebrate the taste, quality and diversity of the great traditional butchers’ sausage – when I first heard about it a few weeks ago from LovePork, I thought what a great way to get all porky! Afterall, the porky fella is made, eaten and enjoyed all over the world. In Chinese cuisine we love a bit of Lap Cheong – which is dried pork sausages that look and feel like pepperoni, but are much sweeter. Don’t worry, there’ll be no Lap Cheung on my plate next week because it’s all about the British banger!

Supporting your Local Community
Like always, you know how I always love a good food ramble and challenge so for British Sausage Week, I will be rustling up classic sausage recipes like Toad in the Hole, Sausage and Mash and an ‘Ultimate’ brunch sausage sarnie both meals that are perfect for entertaining family and friends. I might even be a lil adventurous and try delicious Sausage and Potato Patties as a tasty starter for my guests coming round next Wednesday or, for a hearty and comforting dish, I might try the  Sausage Casserole – a recipe provided by Clare Tollick (@FeastAndGlory) – now, I am really hungry!

To get together with all the ‘Sausage Lovers’ around the UK and promote the great tradition of sausage eating in Britain. I am going to use British Sausage Week to help support my local community in a number of different ways:

• British Sausage Week’s aim is to make us aware of how British pork is the best and encourages us to support our own farmers and producers by buying quality sausages. So in the week, I will be eating sausages made by my local, Sheffield butcher(s)
• See if there is a butcher and offer to help them in the week using my specialist (design and tweeting) skills and will Blog to you about what meaty deeds I’ve been up to :)

I can tell we can’t resist a nicely cooked sausage – this week on Twitter, I asked the question to my followers “What’s your most favourite sausage related recipe” and here was what you said were your banging faves:

Thanks for your tweets :) I am lucky enough to have a good number of food producers in my purple address book that make the finest sausages using meat from animals that have a led a healthy and happy life – so when you buy sausages try your best to make sure you choose British and local bangers – take a look at one of my previous posts: Get Some Pork on Your Fork where you’ll find some friendly Sheffield butchers and restaurants nearer to you than you think.

Finally, for the Love Pork power users amongst you, here’s a link you can find all sorts of #BSW promotional material like posters and recipes right here: www.lovepork.co.uk

{photo of Green Piggy by Cindy Cheung}

Sheffield's Akbars Chef's Challenge naan bread...this was almost the size of my table!

I know I’m always up for a Food Challenge but when I thought I’d have a go at Akbar’s Chef Challenge with a curry this weekend, gosh, how I so struggled!!!

Akbar’s Chef Challenge meal consists of Chicken, Lamb keema and potatoes cooked in the famour Akbar’s balti sauce served with naan and pilau rice. If one can finish this challenge alone you will qualify for a FREE dessert. I saw the words a FREE dessert on the menu and thought, yes, I must have this! :) The naan bread was literally the size of our table! (no joke). I couldn’t imagine how anyone would or could be able to finish this alone, just nomming the naan (that arrived on an impressive looking tall silver stand), alone would finish you off! I’d heard lots of good things about Akbar’s Curry House and being a food fan of all things delicious, I must say their curries were pretty impressive and delicious.

I highly recommend their delicious mango lassi too, this is a very sweet and thick smoothie-like drink, made from yogurt, full-fat milk, water and mango pulp. I’d say treat yourself and have a jug, I did, this sweet stuff is addictive – but just make sure you’re on the SEE-food diet! (I dread to think how many calories are in a glass! :)

The seats are high backed leather seats which are very comfortable, the only downside for me was the lighting in the restaurant which was rather dim (on the verge of dark), most restaurants I’ve been to have mood lighting and I like to be able to see what I am eating (and of course especially for my food photos to Twitpic with Followers), I would have preferred it to be a bit lighter. But I’m sure they have their reasons for the dark setting.

Their menu choice was huge, I was definitely spoilt for choices with several starters and main courses, catering for every need, and if there is something you would like that isn’t on the menu, they will endeavor to make it, and you can always ask for variations of the dishes i.e. less/more spicy. When going for an Indian, I always make sure I start off with a pickle tray and crispy poppadoms (which are large so you’ll probably only need one each). The pickle tray includes mango chutney, raita dip, some kind of spicy chopped onion dip and another spicy dip (not sure on the name so if anyone knows, please let me know). Overall, I’ve got to say, I’m really glad I went to Sheffield’s Akbars, even though I didn’t successfully complete the ‘mighty’ Chef’s Challenge, I’m quite happy I’d been there and had tried their food. Great food, our waiter was really friendly, charming, attentative too – great customer service are ‘plus points’ for me, plus fab value for money aswell. So if you guys fancy a curry next weekend? How about taking on the Chef’s Challenge?…….The Missie Cindz DARES you!!

Akbars Indian Restaurant
Meadowbank Road
Rotherham S61 2NF,
Tel: 01709 555 500

Did you all read how I got myself to a size Sheffield!? (page 20).

Phew! What a busy month it has been (and it’s only the 14th!). The Sheffield Food Festival was a fantastic success and my Sheffield Food Week Challenge went amazingly well – I certainly enjoyed a whole week of food loving in the city centre and at home. Thank you so much to everyone who was involved and thank you Sheffield for feeding Cindy/Missie! The Challenge made Wednesday’s Food & Drink section in the Sheffield Star newspaper – an article I’m really proud of as I wrote the piece myself and if I’m honest with you, after reading the piece in print, I was actually a little choked by my own written words – I was sad the challenge was over. I had such a tasteful week of experiences.

I’m not sure if you can read the article (as pictured above) and I will certainly do my best to badger The Sheffield Star to have the article put up online for you to read and share with others.

The journey to Eat Sheffield Food for a week came about from a visit to the Sheffield Farmers’ Markets, where I was amazed by the sheer amount of wholesome Sheffield produce available and saw how food was able to bring communities together.

It took months of research of local food producers and growers – I started visiting my local farmer’s markets more than just once or twice a month. I started developing relationships between farmers and other local eaters, I realised that this is more than just eating local (Sheffield) to prove I can do it. I did have to extend my research to Yorkshire for some items but eventually I was able to draw up a full menu of meals. I wanted to let people know about the fab food range and producers we have on our doorstep.

The 7 days of eating my way to a size Sheffield is officially over and I couldn’t be happier with my results or the things I learned. I must say I had a great week and learned so much about Sheffield food and what delights I can create with just a little imagination and time! I even went wild foraging for the first time ever in Wyming Brook (Tuesday) with PJ taste – I must’ve been pretty hard up to forage right? wrong. It’s good fun and I learnt a lot about nature, picking wild food meant that I got to eat local, fresh, seasonal food, and the exercise taught me about spending more time outdoors (which is definitely something I don’t get to do enough of). Plus, free food is great!

A guided foraging walk around the beautiful Wyming Brook nature reserve

A couple of the challenges I encountered were things like, I work full-time so have an ‘On the Go’ attitude – convenience plays a really important factor in my purchasing decisions. It’s no secret that, produce, baked goods, meats, etc. from local farmers markets or artisan producers can be more expensive than running to the nearest supermarket chain, especially due to the low costs of processed foods which are highly subsidised. I follow a strict budget, and although a lot of the foods consumed in the Food Challenge were generously donated I would find it extremely challenging going to the local market and butchers and get anything I wanted, which made experimenting with different foods very difficult.

The best part of the Challenge was learning the art of ‘real’ cooking at home. The week saw me getting to grips with ‘real’ ingredients such as using free-range chicken breasts, slicing up raw beef, cooking and eating fresh gooseberries (something I’d never tried before), using fresh chervil, parsley and chives for extra flavour to dishes and think of new fun ways I could eat my grass-fed beef or prepare my free-range chicken. It’s all meant I’ve truly had to get my fingers into fresh produce and to make time for it this.

Fresh gooseberries for breakfast

Redcurrants (from PJ Taste's allotment) - amazingly sweet with a crisp, tangy taste

I realised the challenge was harder than I thought. Sure, I ate plenty of potatoes, salad, chicken and local beef every day but I was really hungry for variety! – give me pasta, couscous, rice, mixed peppers, sweetcorn and plenty of fresh fruit and veg. By Friday night I almost felt like a spud. No joke!

A big thank you to the amazing Sheffield Food producers and Twitter followers who participated in my food week challenge, each day you were helpful, offering recipes and ideas to spice up even the most generic ingredients – potatoes! Through this all, though, I’ve learned the importance of eating locally and have met some wonderful people – who now I’d call friends, I’ve learned that buying and eating locally isn’t something that everyone can do, but something everyone should try at least once. Not only will you learn a lot about your own food tastes, but you’ll learn your limits and that you can push past your frustrations to help something and someone greater than you. It was indeed a very tasty experience!

Make sure you look out for my food week photos on my Facebook page, I’m hoping to have these up by Sunday. Thank you so much for all your support :) and I’m looking forward to curating more tasteful food adventures & stories to share…keep those forks on standby – Cindy/Missie x

Hungry for a taste of Sheffield!…This week you’ve seen and read about me eating Sheffield Food for the week (not literally but I definitely made sure I gave it a good go!). I’ve told you blow by blow what I’ve eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner each day and also any snacks or if there has been anything I’ve craved or missed from my old usual diet.

My 7 days eating fest is officially over and I couldn’t be happier with my results or the things I learned. I’ve had a great week learning so much about Sheffield food and what delights I can create with a little imagination and a bit of time! – What is Sheffield food I hear you ask? there’s lots of interpretation as to what this could be, but to me, Sheffield food is food that is grown, picked or made in the city by our talented bunch of Sheffield producers. The week’s challenge has seen me making meals from scratch and the best part of the challenge was having to learn the art of ‘real’ cooking at home – getting to grips with ‘real’ ingredients such as Coppice House Farm chicken breasts, cooking and eating fresh gooseberries, using fresh chervil, parsley and chives for extra flavour to dishes, I’ve had to slice raw beef and think of new fun ways I could eat my grass-fed beef or prepare my free-range chicken. It’s all meant I’ve truly had to get my fingers into real produce and to make time for it this.

I was determined to prove that there is so much produce available and aimed to highlight (and introduce) to people the fabulous food scene our city has to offer all year round – informing you about the fresh produce, baked goods, meats, food producers, etc and naming them. Many people were unaware these artisan producers existed or were available on their doorsteps, the public had an interest in local food but just didn’t know who and where these people were. On the other hand, Sheffield’s food producers are so busy making delicious food for us that they don’t have the time to market themselves effectively and their voices and personalities aren’t heard or seen because they’re too busy outdoors foraging, baking up treats, in the butchery or in the kitchen rustling up Sheffield nosh for us…the two groups were just moving further and further away from one another when in fact they needed to seal a bond – So that’s when Missie Cindz decided to help – I love food and it makes me happy!

I’m really happy with how much interest and community engagement the Missie Cindz food challenge created. I curated the whole campaign, It took months of research of local food producers and growers – I started visiting my local farmer’s markets more than just once or twice a month. I started developing relationships between farmers and other local eaters, I realised that this is more than just eating local (Sheffield) to prove I can do it. I did have to extend my research to Yorkshire for some items but eventually I was able to draw up a full menu of meals. A big thank you to all the food producers involved and Twitter Followers of the Missie – you’re all NOM! :)

Please do not through away your Missie Cindz badges (not only would I be upset) but PJ taste and Our Cow Molly are still offering food discounts. PJ taste are offering for the whole of July a 10% discount on a range of specially selected PJ Taste produce. This will be available at 249 Glossop Road to followers of Missie. Here is the full list of featured items – so go on grab that badge and enjoy a range of breakfast and lunch items throughout July with a discount incentive.

Our Cow Molly are kindly offering a 10% discount on ALL range of ice-cream flavours at their Farm shop to the followers of Missie at their farm in Dungworth, Sheffield, S6 6GW. Web: www.ourcowmolly.co.uk

Cindy proudly wearing her Missie Cindz badge during her Sheffield Food Challenge

Today I ate:

Breakfast:

Catherine’s Choice preserves on buttered toast (bread provided by Sheffield’s Cat Lane Bakery).

After breakfast, I wandered down to town for the last and final day of the Sheffield Food Festival celebrations. I heard Molly the cow would be in town today and it’d be rude not to say a moo-full hello to her (after all she has kindly provided the awesome Sheffield milk for me this week!). In town I also saw Cat Lane Bakery – run by Beanies Wholefoods in Walkley – who were selling a range of their great breads, teacakes and cakes but unfortunately by the time I got down there, there weren’t anymore of their popular chocolate and cranberry teacakes left. I was gutted! There was plenty of hot food available, including bacon butties and sausage patties from Moss Valley Fine Meats, It was also great to see Lorna’s Heavenlies cakes stall, from Sheffield, who specialise in cakes suitable for people with food intolerances and health-related conditions, including gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and no-added sugar cakes and bakes. I’d highly recommend her chilli chocolate brownies too. Lorna also tries to source ingredients from as close to home as possible and will use Sheffield Food wherever she can (yay, hi-five!) and shows support for Sheffield Food producers Tea Box as she uses their tea to make chai latte cupcakes and Sheffield Honey in her orange & almond cake with spiced honey syrup (which were both on my week’s snacks list and you all could’ve received a generous 10% discount off these if you wore your Missie badge). Both products have sold well which suggests that there is a real interest in Sheffield Food – I was really happy when Lorna agreed to participate in my food week challenge, I know that with her cakes on my snacks list, I’d have the will-power to go all the way! :)

The smiley staff from Cat Lane Bakery – run by Beanies Wholefoods

Cat Lane Bakery – run by Beanies Wholefoods...Mmmm Missie Cindz ate all the breads!

Cat Lane Bakery...Mmmm Missie Cindz ate all the buns! Thanks Beanies for the fab photo :)

I also stumbled across PJ Taste’s Citrus Hits stall, soft drinks that are made and sold in Sheffield. New Made in Sheffield member Citrus Hits is a small company with a ‘Big Idea’. These drinks featured on my week’s drinks list (I don’t know how I’d manage to complete the challenge without these juices!). These drinks are supplied in recycled J2O bottles and some 250 drinks are sold every week at venues including parent company PJ Taste outlets, the Devonshire Cat and the Advanced Technology Centre. Citrus Hits – whose flavours include Real Lemonade with a Hint of Yorkshire Mint, Pennine Lavender with Lemon and Spiced Sheffield Apples – are not pasteurised which means that they have a relatively short shelf-life of 7-10 days….just look at me below with Andy from PJ taste below, who really know his Hits! (and was rather good at belting one out himself too, I was informed by Peter from PJ taste that Andy was a musician – I did wonder if he belted out a few tunes whilst Sheffielders drunk their Hits?).

PJ taste's Citrus Hits Sheffield Food Showcase stall on Fargate

Cindy enjoying a PJ taste Citrus Hit....slurp!

I also picked up a delightful box of homemade scones (see piccie below) from the Seven Hills WI (@sevenhillswi) ladies, who all looked delightful (as well as their cakes and produce), it all bought a little sophistication to The Sheffield Food Festival (@foodfestsheff). They created a ‘village show’ type atmosphere serving up a classic British cream tea with strawberries, scones and jam. Yum!

Seven Hills WI's Food Festival Cream Tea box

Dinner:
For meal 21, my last and final meal for my Sheffield Food Challenge, I’ve decided to go off my Menu Plan and cooked up the highlight dish of my week. The dish, I enjoyed and found most satisfaction in making the most. My most favourite dish was Wednesday’s meal – the mustard stuff Coppice House Farm chicken breast, I’m a big fan of poultry, but those chicken breasts from Coppice Farm are just ‘Out of this Sheffield!’ – they’re huge and delicious! I love the combination of sweet and savoury the mustard and Sheffield ‘vanilla’ Honey give the chicken. It has simple ingredients and is so good (the smell is mouth-watering as you take these out of the oven).

Day 7, Meal 21: Mustard stuffed chicken breast served with spinach and mushrooms

Ingredients

• 80g Yorkshire cheese, grated
• 2 tbsp wholegrain mustar
• 1 tbsp Sheffield Honey
• 80g chopped parsley and chives
• 2 skinless boneless chicken breast fillets
• 4 smoked streaky bacon rashers

Instructions
Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Mix the cheese, chives, parsley, mustard and Sheffield Honey together. Cut a slit into the side of each chicken breast, then stuff with the mustard mixture. Wrap each stuffed chicken breast with 2 bacon rashers – not too tightly, but enough to hold the chicken together. Season, place on a baking sheet and roast for 20-25 mins. Simple and delicious!

I served my dish with a quick stir-fry of @eatSheffield’s own grown spinach and sliced mushrooms (from Sheffield’s Castle Market). There’s a video I’ve posted up on my Facebook page, please give the page a ‘Like’ then drool over the culinary delight I’ve whizzed up as my final dish of the week. Please don’t laugh at my home-made video ;) at least it’s 100% natural, no editing or fancy filters!

I am really keen to develop on-going campaigns now that the Sheffield Food Festival is over, to highlight that people have got a food choice – they can choose convenient, local, nutritious and healthy over typical supermarket fayre. It’s important for us to widen the market to the people who currently may not be aware of the great Sheffield Food on their doorstep. I’m looking forward to working curating more engaging, tasty food events for you so that you can all join me on my expedition to suss out all these food gems! Missie’s on a trail…she has her fork and backpack ready so watch this space!

Catch up more on my Missie’s Sheffield Food adventures on Facebook at: Missie Cindz Food Adventures or tweet @MissieCindz

The dusk settles on another Eat Sheffield Food day and I feel mighty.
I ate like a queen again today with meals including beef from Whirlow Hall Farm, monsterous sized pork chops from Gerty’s and ice cream from Yee Kwan. Today was Day 6, just one more day left and the week’s food challenge has definitely been a tasty culinary adventure! The whole week has seen me making my own meals from food that’s grown, picked or made in Sheffield – fried rice? noodles and pasta? nah, not this week, my kitchen hasn’t felt so much love in months!

I also had a fabulous day at the Sheffield Food Festival today – photos uploaded soon to my Facebook page (keep an eye out for these). It was fab to talk to so many people, I had a great time, and I hope you did too – what did you eat and drink? did any of you try anything adventurous at the ‘Eat the World’ or ‘Try Something New…” food stalls in the Peace Garden and Fargate? or did the little ones take their teddy bears to Fancie’s teddy bear picnic? – let me see your food pics (I always share mine with you), I love a good food gawp! It would also be great to get tweets, foodie pictures and comments from individuals who have been following my week’s Sheffield food challenge – what are your thoughts on my food quest? did I introduce you to new and interesting food producers – if so, which ones? and did you get to see these at the Sheffield Food Festival? – I’d love to hear from you!

Todays menu was:

Breakfast
10.10am: Sheffield’s Catherine’s Choice Apple and Blackcurrant conserve made with Sheffield fruit on toast (granary bread from Beanies Cat Lane Bakery) – simple and nice.

Lunch
2.30pm: I had to finalise some design work for a client which took me longer than expected to complete so by the time I’d finished it was 2.00pm! – I didn’t want to spend too long cooking as I wanted to get myself down to the Sheffield Food Festival in town, I didn’t have time to see everyone yesterday due to work commitments so today I mad it a priority. I had some beef (from Whirlow Hall Farm) left from the previous night and use this to rustle up a quick and tasty omelette type dish, Chinese Egg Foo Yung? (eggs and milk from Our Cow Molly farm). I love eggs simply because eggs are so delicious, yummy,  full of nutrition, and of course it’s rather cheap if compared with other food. Egg Foo Yung is the most popular egg-based dish in Chinese cooking too and it is also the favorite dish of Mums because the dish can easily get hi-fives from children and adults (my mum used to, and still does, make this dish for me). For those who are still fresh in cooking and looking for some easy to cook recipes, Egg Foo Yung is definitely a good choice to make – throw in some onions, mushrooms, peas and your favourite meats, hey presto! A lazy man’s version of an omelette!

The making of my beef foo yung dish

Beef from Whirlow Hall farm foo yung (a scrambled egg type dish but with a tasty twist!)

Ingredients
3 eggs (from Our Cow Molly (OCM) farm), beaten
80g beef chopped into small pieces (mine were cooked leftovers from the previous night)
1 small onion, chopped into small pieces
1 spring onion, chopped into small pieces
3 tbsp OCM milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cooking oil

Instructions
1) In a big bowl, add in eggs, half the spring onion, salt and milk. Beat until the egg mixture become smooth and the salt has disappeared.
2) Heat up a frying pan or wok, add in cooking oil. When the oil is hot, add in onions, beef and stir fry for around 2 minute or until the meat is cooked (see image 1 above).
3) Pour in the egg mixture, make sure the fried ingredients are fully covered by egg mixture. Turn to medium heat (see image 2 above).
4) Cook until eggs are just cooked but still slightly loose. Cover pan/wok and cook until eggs are just set, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining spring onions.
5) Served hot with steamed rice (but in my case, Cat Lane Bakery granary bread). Egg-Tastic! (image 3 and 4 above).

There was also some Lorna Heavenlies carrot cake left over. I ate that for lunch too.

Lornas Heavenlies carrot cake slice

Dinner
9.45pm: Fried pork chop (from Sheffield’s Gerty’s Pork) served with oven cooked potatoes and red onions (from Our Cow Molly Farm)
Things got back to normal this evening and I found time to cook dinner. I decided to get some pork chops – Gerty’s pork chops are HUGE!! (very meaty and wholesome indeed). I mixed in salt and chopped chives for extra flavour. I pan fried this and then served it with oven cooked potatoes (chips-like) and red onions. Good tasty food.

fried pork chop (from Sheffield's Gerty's Pork) served with oven cooked potatoes and red onions (from Our Cow Molly Farm)

Pan-fried pork chop (from Sheffield's Gerty's Pork) - their pork chops are HUGE!!

The Gerty’s pork chops were huge!! (I was really happy whilst I was pan-frying these off, I’m a girl who likes her meat :) – it was my first taste of meat from Gerty’s, I’d heard many good things about them from The Bradfield Farmers’ Markets and I’m gutted I’ve still not yet had the chance to meet Jess from Gerty’s yet. Gerty’s rear their own pigs on their own farm and makes a huge range of sausages and pork joints. I’m informed that a favourite with customers are their Pork and Pig Boxes, with a variety of joints, chops and sausages, a range of complementary sauces and chutneys and a discount for a whole or half carcase.

Drinks: included water, TeaBox’s English Breakfast, Cafeology beverages (hot chocolate) and Busters filter coffee (I didn’t forget to use my tea strainer today, this novelty thing is beautiful too! Thanks TeaBox).
Snacks: I was prettty bad today and snacked quite a bit – Yee Kwan’s chocolate and chilli ice cream (up at her Food Fest stall), Victoria Made’s carrot cake and snacked on toasted Cat Lane Bakery bread with assorted preserves late evening.

During my Eat Sheffield Food Week (4th – 10th July), I have been Blogging and taking plenty of food photos about my experiences for each meal and the different Sheffield food producers I have engaged with – a big thank you to those who have given me a good feeding! Feel free to download and read my full week’s Sheffield Food Menu Plan (and why not continue eating along with me?). Just one more day left – bring on the sharpened fork! – Cindy/Missie x

Cindy/Missie drinking MORE tea. Slurp! Thanks TeaBox

I flashed my Missie Cindz badge to Yee Kwan and got 10% off my two scoops of her lush ice cream!

During my Eat Sheffield Food Week 4th – 10th July, I will be Blogging about my experiences for each meal.
I will tell you blow by blow what I’ve eaten today for breakfast, lunch and dinner (each day) and will also include any snacks I’ve had or if there was anything I’ve craved or missed from my old usual ‘supermarket’ diet. I’m over half way through my food challenge week, but have been feeling very tired (all this eating is exhausting stuff) and feel awfully ‘cleansed’ on Sheffield goodness…

Breakfast:
Sheffield Gooseberry Pancakes served with Sheffield Honey – Gooseberries were from PJ Taste’s allotment (Woodhouse area).
Light, fluffy and fruity, these pancakes are the perfect special breakfast. It was my first time cooking and eating fresh gooseberries. This was definitely an experience. They were very tangy, sour and ‘sharp’ in taste, I suppose I didn’t know what to expect really from these fruits – I actually thought they’d be similar to grapes?… I’m still learning a lot about different types foods.

Fresh gooseberries for breakfast

Ingredients
200g Yorkshire wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs (Whirlow Hall Farm)
300ml milk (Our Cow Molly farm shop)
50g sugar (Cafeology)
30g butter (Our Cow Molly farm shop)
220g gooseberries – washed and chopped into smaller pieces
(gooseberries Sheffield grown and picked in Woodhouse)
a little butter for cooking
Sheffield Honey to serve

Instructions
1. Mix together the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Beat the eggs with the milk, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and whisk in the milk to make a thick smooth batter. Beat in the melted butter, and gently stir all the gooseberries.
2. Heat a small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Drop two large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 9cm across. Make two or three pancakes at a time. Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden. Cover with kitchen paper to keep warm while you use up the rest of the batter. Serve with Sheffield Honey.

This batter has that perfect consistency (not too liquid not to thick) that can be hard to find in pancake recipes. Try it and let me know what you think too? try the recipe with different fruit like strawberries, blueberries or rasberries. Yum!

Fresh gooseberry pancakes served with Sheffield Honey

Lunch:
PJ Taste Ultimate Cheese Toastie with caramalised local onions and Henderson’s Relish with glass of Citrus Hits.

PJ Taste Ultimate Cheese Toastie with caramalised local onions and Henderson’s Relish

Dinner:
Homemade ‘Missie Cindz’ burgers using Sheffield’s Moss Valley sausages with herby potato wedges. Classic and delicious. Oh yeah!

Homemade burgers using Moss Valley sausagemeat, or meat squeezed from 8 large Cumberland sausages

Well, who doesn't love burgers!?

Serves 4 persons
3 large baking potatoes, cut into wedges
8 Moss Valley Cumberland pork sausages
1 onion, grated
50g spring onions (from Cindz mum’s allotment), chopped
a small handful parsley and chives, chopped
1 tsp clear Sheffield Honey
1 egg yolk, beaten
sunflower oil

To serve:
4 grilled rashers streaky smoked Moss Valley bacon,
4 large bread rolls from Cat Lane Bakery, halved and lightly toasted
Taste carrot chutney made with Sheffield carrots, splashes of Henderson’s Relish and a healthy portion of homecooked potato wedges (using potatoes bought at Sheff’s Castle Market)

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 230C/210C fan/gas 8. Toss the potatoes with 1 tbsp oil and 1 tsp herbs on a large baking tray. Roast for 25 mins, turning once, until the chips are golden.
2. Meanwhile, snip the tops off the sausages and squeeze the meat out into a bowl. Stir through the grated onion, spring onions, chives and parsley, then shape into 4 burgers. Can now be frozen. Heat a frying pan, add 1 tsp oil, then cook for 15 mins, turning halfway.
3. Grill bacon until crispy and brown (8 mins)
4. Season the wedges. Place a burger in each bread bun, slice of bacon and cheese then top with some chutney, fresh salad and cheese (you’ll be lucky if this doesn’t start toppling over by now :)

Moss Valley Fine Meats provide local pork, bacon, sausages, ham – basically, anything from a pig! You can collect direct from their farm (see address details below) or at local farmers’ markets – they’re a regular at the Sheffield’s FM in the city centre.

Moss Valley Fine Meats
Povey Farm
Lightwood Lane
Norton
Sheffield
S8 8BG

Stephen/Karen Thompson
Tel: 0114 2396904
Email: info@mossvalleyfinemeats.co.uk
Web: www.mossvalleyfinemeats.co.uk

The burger buns were monsterous too (and that’s a compliment. I love bread! :) – my breads this evening were provided by Sheffield’s Cat Lane Bakery. Who have been producing quality artisan breads from organic stoneground flours from Mount Pleasant Windmill in Kirton in Lindsey and Shipton Mill. They aim to make great bread available across Sheffield and the surrounding region and you can also buy Cat Lane bread more closer to home in their very own outlet Beanies Whole Foods, and in other outlets such as: Crumbs, Down to Earth, Zeds on the Edge, PJ Taste and Café Juniper at Bank Street Arts. I was really lucky to get the chance to pop up to bakery on Cat Lane and to meet Christopher Baldwin, one of the head-bakers there – I’ve always had a fascination with bread and bakeries so it was one of my dreams to see how a commercial bakery functioned – but all these rambles and pictures I took of the morning’s adventures will be in a blog post on its own (so keep a look out for the delicious read!)

If you’re interested in more infor regarding Cat Lane breads, you can contact them directly via email: catlanebakery@yahoo.co.uk or give them a ‘like’ us on facebook (afterall who doesn’t love bread!?)

Dessert: provided by Victoria Made Cakes
I felt one of the luckiest girls ever when Victoria wanted to participate in my Sheffield Food Week Challenge. I’d seen her beautiful cakes at the first ever Devonshire Market in Sheffield city centre back in April. Based in Sheffield, Victoria Made designs and creates wedding, corporate and occasion cakes for clients throughout Yorkshire – and her cakes are so artistically beautiful, I was gawping at the cupcakes for ages before ramming one down. You can really tell each and every cake Victoria creates prides themselves with personal touches, extra care and attention – my pictures don’t do them justice, you really must see them for yourself!

White chocolate & vanilla cupcakes with homemade strawberry compote.

Rich Valrhona chocolate mud cake and chilli cherries with cupcakes

A 3/4 eaten strawberry and vanilla cupcake. Magic!!

All her baked goodies are made from top quality ingredients and she uses as much Sheffield produce as she can – for instance in the cakes (pictured above) I was informed by Victoria most of the ingredients were from Sharrow Marrow on Sharrow Vale road and Whirlow Farm eggs. Yorkshire milk and butter! (is Victoria doing my Sheffield Food Challenge too? these places sound familiar). Her product list include larger cakes and favours for weddings and other occasions, and smaller cakes and other products such as cookies for other events.

If not all, of these producers will be in full force at the Sheffield Food Festival’s Producers Market on Fargate from 8^th July to 10^th July. Plus, there’ll also be the much talked about and utterly delicious Sheffield Food Showcase where you will be able to find Moss Valley Fine Meats, Sheffield Honey, Our Cow Molly, Catherine’s Choice, PJ Taste, Cat Lane Bakery, Tea Box and Fancie.