Karlaby Kro's Swedish Berry Pie

I love travelling abroad and experiencing new countries and cultures. I am not one for a 'brits abroad' holiday as laying on a beach or around the pool for most of the day is not my idea of a holiday. When I travel, I want to immerse myself in the culture, traditions and cuisine of a country, rather than visiting somewhere which is essentially the same as the UK, (and to quote Peter Kay) "but you've got the weather".

As my purse strings are not infinite, I am yet to travel to all of the wonderful places in the world that I would like to visit. However, even though I cannot visit lots of new countries, I am always keen to learn about different cultures and cuisine and am often on the look out for new dishes to taste.

Recently I discovered the Sunvil Supper Club. Sunvil are a holiday company who encourage travellers to "find the real country" - something which I am a big fan of. They have just started a new Supper Club, and each month, they will be sharing a recipe from different cuisines around the world, complete with the history of the dish and recipe cards so that readers can make the dish at home. Last month they featured Baklava from Crete, and this month they are featuring Swedish Berry Pie - a genuine exclusive in-house dish from the Karlaby Kro Hotel in Skane, Sweden where they use fresh ingredients from local suppliers. The hotel collects their own berries from Ingelstorp, although us brits may have to settle for a trip to a pick your own or the the local supermarket to source ours.

            

Sunvil kindly sent me the ingredients to make a Swedish Berry Pie of my own. I was sent blueberries and strawberries along with the other ingredients, and a recipe card to help me along. The pie is extremely quick and easy to make. All you have to do is place the berries in the bottom of the pie dish, then make the crumble topping and sprinkle it over the top and bake. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream for a great summer dessert. I really enjoyed eating this Swedish Berry Pie. The crumble topping resembles a traditional british crumble, but has a lighter, less nutty texture and taste. We made this dish for lunch before we left to travel abroad and so the pictures I took don't really do this dish justice, but it really is a wonderful dish and can be whipped up so quickly that serving it will make you look like a real professional in the kitchen. I love that it is vegetarian, and that the topping is so easy to prepare, so you don't have to be handy with a rolling pin to make it, as you do with other pies. I will be making this dish again, probably with a glut of delicious autumn blackberries or gooseberries.  I will also hopefully travel to Sweden one day to experience a traditional Swedish Berry Pie in it's country of origin! If you would like to have a go at making the dish (and why wouldn't you?) you can find full instructions on the Sunvil Website

Disclosure: Ingredients offered in consideration for review

Morphy Richards New Accent Range

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to become a Morphy Richards Innovator, meaning that this year I will be testing out some fab Morphy Richards products. Recently I was sent my first product to review - a fabulous Accents Hand Blender Work Station from the new Accents range. Snowed under with the kids this summer holidays, I haven't had the chance to do the full comprehensive review that this nifty piece of kit deserves, but I thought that I would give my readers a little preview before the full review and give you a chance to purchase products from the Morphy Richards Accents range at a reduced price for a limited time, or even win an Accents set of your own. 

Take a look at the video below to see how fantastic this Hand Blender Work Station is. I have loved using it in my cooking recently and I cant wait to tell you all about it.

At the moment Morphy Richards are running a fantastic offer where readers of my blog can enjoy an amazing 25% off any product from the Accents Food Preparation range. Just enter the code FP1002 at the checkout to enjoy great savings. This code is valid until the 31st of August 2012. 

If you fancy winning a Morphy Richards Food Preparation set, then Morphy Richards have also partnered up with the Foodies 100 this month for a summer baking competition. To be in with a chance of winning a food preparation set all you have to do is submit your favourite summer baking recipe to the Morphy Richards team. Summer is a fantastic time for baking and so I'm sure that there are lots of fab recipes you can come up with. To enter, just go to the Foodies 100 website and read the full details. Then you can either leave a comment with a link to your recipe if you have it online, or you can email the original recipe to Janelle.hardacre@finncomms.com.

I will be blogging a full review of this product at the earliest opportunity.

Disclosure: Morphy Richards Work Station offered in consideration for review.

Essential Cuisine Vegetable Stock

One of the nice things about blogging is that from time to time I get sent products which might be of interest to me. This week I was sent some vegetable stock to sample by those lovely people at essential cuisine.  Essential Cuisine mainly supply stock to the hospitality market, but they also sell to their products to the retail market.  

Suitable for both vegetarians and vegans, this stock helps to create wonderful home cooked meals and can be added at any stage in the cooking process. Vegetable stock is great for using in soups, stews, risotto and lots of other dishes, and I use it quite often in my vegetarian cooking. This looks like a vegetable stock of great quality and I am looking forward to using it over the next few weeks. Essential Cuisine Vegetable Stock is priced £3.95 and makes 6-8 litres of stock. It is available from the Home Chef Essential Cuisine website.

Disclosure: I was sent a free sample of Vegetable Stock

La Tasca Review

It's always exciting to visit a restaurant where there is ample choice for vegetarians and so when I was invited to review a meal at La Tasca, I was very happy to discover that there were over twenty four dishes on the menu for vegetarians. My local La Tasca has been open for a number of years and I had visited quite a few times before this review opportunity and always had a good experience. La Tasca specialises in tapas, paella and other traditional spanish dishes. The idea of a Tapas meal really appeals to me as I believe that food is a social experience to be shared, although it sometimes can be problematic as a vegetarian if the carnivores also eat the vegetarian dishes and there isn't much left over for you. Thankfully my family are adept at eating out and sharing with a vegetarian and so I didnt have to worry about this at all during our meal.

In Spain, many different Tapas dishes often create a main meal. As I like to try different foods, I much prefer the idea of a little of lots of food dishes rather than having one plated meal and indeed at home we often eat tapas (or buffet) style as I think it also encourages the kids to try new things as they have control over what they are putting on their plate. 

Booking a table at our local La Tasca was very easy and we booked for a Sunday lunchtime. When we reached the restaurant we were surprised to find that we were the only table there. We were welcomed by a member of staff and the children were able to choose the table they would like. As we had a Spanish student staying with us, we thought that this was the perfect opportunity to give her a taste of spanish food, english style and for her to tell us how true to traditional spanish food La Tasca really is. 

Spanish dining style is leisurely and laid back, and this is certainly what we found in this restaurant. The menu is so vast, that we were given ample time to make our menu choices and decide what we wanted to order. I started off with the obligatory glass of Sangria, and we also ordered other drinks which arrived swiftly at our table.  Whilst we mulled over our options, we ordered some a Spanish Rustic Bread Board and some Manchego Cheese to share. The bread and oil was so lovely and there was an interesting choice of different breads. The cheese was also really delicious and everything tasted very fresh.   

We were also very impressed with the new kids menu which La Tasca has recently introduced. Kids can choose three tapas dishes, a drink and a dessert for £5.95 which I think is excellent value for money. The kids absolutely loved their menu, and it was even better that they were given crayons to colour it in with also. They both chose non-veggie options. Eldest chose salad, chicken nuggets and chips. Youngest chose chips, manchego cheese croquettes and fish fingers.

Both of their meals also arrived with an extra pot of peppers, carrots and cucumber, plus ample ketchup for dipping. Both girls absolutely loved the presentation and the tapas style food, with the board as it felt a lot more special to them than just being given a plate of food. The fish also looked as if had been cooked and battered fresh rather than being cooked from frozen.

One thing I was particularly impressed with was that our server was very on the ball and brought the children's main courses whilst we were still having our starter - meaning that the children did not have to wait for the grown-ups before they could start eating. This is a huge bonus point in my book and one which almost every restaurant we visit fails to do.

       

Armed with the spanish student to translate for us, we also ordered our main courses. Hubby and our spanish student chose an array of meat dishes, plus a seafood paella which hubby quite liked. However our student, who lives on the coast back home felt that the seafood in the dish was not fresh enough - and to her experience of fresh seafood and paella it probably wasn't, but to the english inlander it tasted good. I chose an selection of vegetarian dishes including Patatas Bravas, Croquetas de Manchego, Tortilla Espanola, Montadito La Tasca and Berenjenas Gratinadas which were shared with the others on the table. All of the tapas was served piping hot and they all tasted absolutely delicious. I was in veggie food heaven! My particular favourite was the manchego croquettes and the aubergine berenjenas gratinadas. I really enjoyed the different tastes and textures of all of the different foods, and being able to offer the dishes round to everyone. This style of eating is certainly for me!

After we had finished our main courses, there was a short interlude whilst we let our meals go down and considered the prospect of a quick siesta before desserts. However, the kids quashed our siesta ideas and we went on to order our puddings. Both girls chose a chocolate brownie and ice cream from their menu for dessert, which they both really enjoyed - as their empty plates were testament to. I opted for Arroz Con Leche - a spanish take on rice pudding, made with clotted cream, orange zest and cinnamon which tasted amazing!. I haven't had a dessert like it before and I was very impressed. Our spanish native opted for Churros which were a favourite of hers and she thoroughly enjoyed them also. Hubby, although full up, had a taste of everyone's desserts for the purposes of review of course.

Our spanish student was very impressed with La Tasca, just as we were. Although admittedly some of the dishes were not as fresh or tasty as they are back home (probably due to different ingredients and product availability), she felt that the restaurant represented a true taste of spain and spanish culture and she was the most animated we saw her all trip!

We really liked the restaurant, and the food. I think it is a great place to go with the kids during the day, and fab for a night out with the grown-ups in the evening.

The Scores:

Price: The kids menu is competitively priced. It is hard to compare the main menu to others, as how much you pay depends on how much you order, but the dishes are reasonably priced, although it is easy to get carried away!  9/10.

Ambience: I really liked the relaxed feel of the place, although the decor and premises looked in need of attention. My only negative was that I felt that the restaurant was too dark, which made it feel a little claustrophobic, especially as it was day time. We were made to feel welcome and I thought that the colouring was great for the kids. 8/10.

Service - Our server was on the ball and gave us time to browse the menu and order. He also kept us well topped up with drinks and food and was very attentive to the children. However, he did commit one of my personal bugbears which was going off for a cigarette break and coming back to the table smelling strongly of smoke. 9/10.

Food - Fresh, well cooked, delicious, great variety and choice, and a fantastic vegetarian menu. 10/10.

Overall: 36 Points = 9 out of 10.

I have come to the conclusion that La Tasca is a fab restaurant for everyone - the kids are well catered for, as are meat eaters, seafood lovers and vegetarians. Thanks to La Tasca for inviting us to review their restaurant. With over sixty locations in the UK, it shouldn't be too hard to find a La Tasca restaurant close to you, or to come across one whilst travelling.  We think that they are fantastic for the kids and the adults so we will definitely be back! 

Disclosure: A free meal was offered in consideration for review. All views are my own and I was not asked to write this post. 

Brie, Apple and Walnut Salad

I hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather we have been experiencing this week. The kids and I have been out in the garden a lot and we have been trying to eat as many meals outside as possible. To match the warm weather, today I am featuring a lovely Brie, Apple & Walnut Salad. This summer I have challenged myself to create and eat more interesting salads. Quite often I will just stick to a lettuce, cucumber and tomato side salad and so I have been trying to find different salad flavour combinations to enjoy. I have also tried to include more nuts in my diet they offer great protein for vegetarians. I enjoyed eating this salad and I thought it tasted really delicious. I especially liked the contrast of taste and texture between the Brie, Walnut and Apple. I poured some balsamic reduction over the top of the salad which really complemented the salad and tasted fab with the Apple. I served my salad with some crunchy, fresh baked bread.

This Brie, Apple and Walnut Salad is really quick and easy to prepare and tastes fab, especially sat out in the garden with a glass of wine on a summer's evening! I hope you enjoy it. What are your favourite salad combinations?

Supermarket Vegetarian Takeaway Options - Why don't they exist?

A small rant from me today:

As you well know, I like to cook most of meals from scratch. I love cooking and creating my own meals. However, occasionally, everyone fancies a night off from cooking, and so like most people, hubby and I like to indulge in a takeaway every once in a while.

We regularly buy our takeaway from local Chinese and Indian establishments. However, this is often a £20-30 meal for two of us - much more than we would spend on one meal if I cooked it myself. As we are budget conscious, a cheaper option would be to buy our takeaway from the supermarket, and we would love to do this were the option available. I can regularly buy a chicken tikka, or a korma for hubby, but sadly I always come out of the supermarket empty handed for myself. Yes, I don't know if you have noticed, but if you are a vegetarian, it is virtually impossible to find a Chinese/Indian takeaway main meal in the supermarket.  I am always unable to buy one that doesn't contain meat or fish - pretty ironic considering that most Indian people are actually vegetarian, as are a lot of Chinese people. In China or India, I would not have trouble finding vegetarian dishes to buy, but their dishes have been so hugely adapted for the english market, that they always contain meat or fish. I am typically able to buy lots of vegetarian sides - spring rolls, noodles, vegetable samosas, onion bhaji's, saag aloo, naan bread, rice, etc. However, I can't recall ever being able to find a chinese or indian takeaway main course in the chilled section of the supermarket.

Why is this? Am I just being blind? Or why do no vegetarian supermarket takeaway meals exist? Here are the range of Indian takeaway dishes from the supermarkets according to mysupermarket. Waitrose Indian Takeaway dishes contain no vegetarian dishes. Asda's search does bring up one vegetarian main course - but that's not much choice!. Sainsburys had two vegetarian dishes, but they paled in comparison compared to the choice of meat dishes. Tesco also had two choices but failed in comparison to their meaty counterparts. None of the supermarkets offer an all in one takeaway in a box vegetarian option.

Why is this? I really think they are missing a trick here! How hard would it be to put vegetables in a dish rather than meat or fish? There are times when I am dashing around and a quick takeaway in a box would make the perfect vegetarian meal option, but this doesn't currently seem possible.

Thankfully we do have an awesome Indian Takeaway restaurant nearby where we always end up buying from, but I really do think that the supermarkets could hugely improve on their vegetarian takeaway option and I think they would be really popular as more and more people are starting to eat meat-free for health, dietary, lifestyle and budgetary reasons. Indian and Chinese cookery is so interesting and full of delicious ingredients and flavours. Us vegetarians would love some new really exciting, full of flavour vegetarian takeaway options, aside from the usual generic bland vegetable curry typically available.

So what do you think? Should supermarkets produce more indian and chinese (and other) takeaway options that cater for vegetarans? Are they already? Do you think a vegetarian takeaway meal could ever be possible from the supermarket? Or is it just wishful thinking?