g7uk » Food & cookery

Slow cookers

GS — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:10:38 +0000

Talking about slow cookers, I’ve been looking at some modern ones on the Argos website. The odd thing is they seem to use more electricity than the Tower models from quarter of a century ago.

Sainsbury’s to challenge EU on ‘ugly’ fruit and veg

GS — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:13:10 +0000

‘Supermarket Sainsbury’s has said it will challenge a ban on selling ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables which fail to meet EU rules on size and shape.’

BBC News

How ASDA prevents customers from making price comparisons

GS — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:10:28 +0000

Heinz pulls ad for unhealthy Deli Mayo due to ‘gay’ kiss

GS — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:35:50 +0000

Heinz has pulled a TV ad which featured a kiss between two men, following 200 complaints from viewers. Some of them complained that it was unsuitable for children. However the ad was banned from being shown in and around kids’ shows anyway because the unhealthy Deli Mayo product is high in fat, salt or sugar, not because of the same sex kiss.

Britain throws away £10bn of food every year

GS — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:02:51 +0000

‘Each day, according to the government-backed report, Britons throw away 4.4 million apples, 1.6 million bananas, 1.3 million yoghurt pots, 660,000 eggs, 550,000 chickens, 300,000 packs of crisps and 440,000 ready meals. And for the first time government researchers have established that most of the food waste is made up of completely untouched food products – whole chickens and chocolate gateaux that lie uneaten in cupboards and fridges before being discarded.’

The Independent

Fast food: the reality

GS — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:09:09 +0000

Someone has photographed various fast food and put the photos alongside the glossy promotional images.

Check out the Basement Cafe and Social Centre in Manchester city centre

GS — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 01:43:08 +0000

It comes as a breath of fresh air to realise that there are still good people around in Manchester who are not focused on relieving you of as much cash as possible.

Bargain Hunters: Big Brother Special

GS — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 14:44:56 +0000

This episode has a Big Brother theme (Channel 4 not Tony Blair via George Orwell).

We filmed it on 1st June. Hilariously, considering the theme, during the making of this we were told that filming in Piccadilly Station is no longer allowed as it’s a ‘terror threat’.

Home-made pasta sauce (video)

GS — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 00:33:19 +0000

Delicious! Make it with minced (ground) beef or lamb. I used lamb here…

I start off by frying the minced lamb (about 8oz/250g) in a little olive oil. I always get the really lean meat but I like to see how much fat comes off and drain it away if necessary. But don’t brown it completely.

Put a tablespoon of olive oil in another pan. Add a rasher of bacon that you’ve chopped into small pieces. This flavours the oil nicely.

Put in two small onions, chopped (I used red onions here), and two cloves of garlic also finely chopped. Keep stirring. After a couple of minutes put in a stick of celery and a small carrot, both chopped. You could also add a couple of sliced mushrooms (I didn’t this time). Cook and stir for another minute or two.

Add the minced lamb, stir for a minute (or longer if you didn’t pre-cook it a little before). Then put in a deseeded and chopped red pepper, a can of tomatoes with juice, a tablespoon of tomato puree, some black pepper, a stock cube, a bay leaf, fresh basil or a teaspoon of dried basil, a teaspoon of dried oregano and a pinch of chilli powder. Once this is bubbling, put on the lid and turn the heat right down so it is just simmering. Leave it like that for an hour.

Now watch the video to see how it turned out:

Download: Windows Media (wmv) | Quicktime/iPod

Serve with spaghetti or other pasta. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top (should be parmesan I suppose but cheddar is just fine!). I get my pasta from Marks and Spencer. They do several varieties that are made with free range eggs.

This is plenty for two people. If you cook up a triple quantity you can freeze it. Giving you several quick meals. Anyway, these things are always better at least kept overnight in the fridge, as it lets the flavours mingle.

Environmental health officer hit by ‘strong smell of mice’ at London Starbucks

GS — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:33:50 +0000

Starbucks has been fined £12,000 after one of its coffee shops was found to be infested with mice.

‘Mouse droppings were found next to spoons, knives, cups, clingfilm and boxes of biscuits and coffee that were about to be used, London’s City of Westminster magistrates heard.’