Brain Boosters

A nice little collection of slow-release energy boosters that’ll sort you out till your next meal, or great for breakfast.

Pastry shrinks in the heat if you cook it at once. Roll it out to line your tin but then always chill it out in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Sweet Treats
It’s been a week of food contrasts. At one end of the scale I’ve been making a load of old-school sweets and cookies for my feature in Yorkshire Life. Before you scream that sugar’s the Devil I should maybe point out that the piece is about edible gifts so these are for special treats not everyday eating. I’m talking Cinder toffee, Marshmallows, Old school Vanilla Fudge, elegant Florentine biscuits and loads of buns and cookies.

Sweet making can be so exacting. You’ve got to get the temperatures perfectly right if you want your cider toffee to puff up without burning or becoming slab toffee (I made it 5 times and I still haven’t got it right). And if your want your mashmallow to have that lovely gooey fluffy texture. Luckily I was ok with that one. Homemade taste so much better than the relatively dry confection you can buy. The same goes for everything else I made and the point holds. People love to get treats you’ve made yourself. By the time I finished two days of testing, re-making, photographing the kitchen looked like a sweet shop. Too much for us to eat anyway and you don’t always fancy cinder toffee when it’s your millionth version – it tastes of frustration. So I headed round to mate Joe’s place with a load of other mates and bags of sweet stuff. It all went down a treat.

Which brings me to the contrast. While I was there we went hunting for rabbit. I caught four. Skinned, prepped, cooked and ate them. Field to plate in less than 2 hours. It was lovely. Rabbits roasted with onion, garlic, lemon juice, chorizo, olive oil, herbs, seasoning. Fudge and marshmallows for pudding. Joe did Toad in the Hole for starters. So, a little light meal! Enjoy the sun. Sam x


Tales From My Travels!
Sorry for dropping out of contact for so long. I’ve been in Vietnam which is an incredible country and I can’t even begin to describe the experience. My mates and I did a four city tour, Ho Chi Minh, Mui Ne, Nha trang and Hoi An.

The food, as I anticipated, is amazing, though I didn’t get to eat the cobra heart. You need to go further North for that. It’s all about the street food – I can’t give you too much detail as no-one spoke much English and my Vietnamese is rubbish. It was all ‘point and eat’ based on noodles, rice, soup. You can get a good meal and a beer for a quid which is delightful. I ate some of the best fruit I’ve ever had. Check the mangostine if you’re there – it’s gorgeous. Dorian is a smelly fruit that has the whiff of rotting flesh but tastes like heaven.

On the souvenir front, I had a suit made and a couple of pairs of trainers – you don’t have to go to Savile Row for the top tailoring treatment and it’s such good value. Go and visit if you get the chance to.

Back home, it’s all been finalising text and photos for the Vegetarian book. Busy! Good luck with exams if you’re still doing them. Sam x

P.S. Here’s the recipe for a drink which we all found addictive. Make a small pot of proper coffee. Tip a bit of condensed milk into a cup. Stir in the hot coffee. Pour the lot over a stack of ice cubes in a mug/tea glass.It tastes oddly lovely – especially in a hot climate – a bit like a frappacino.


A Week of Contrasts -Elderflower Jelly and Vietnam!
Vietnam, here I come. Soon I’ll be chilling out in the monsoon season but hey, it’s raining up in Yorkshire, though I guess it’s not as hot here. I can’t wait to try the food. I’ve been doing my research and it sounds amazing. The national dish is Pho (noodle soup). So I’ll be having that every day for breakfast. And then there’s the beating heart of the cobra which is probably the strangest thing I’ve contemplated eating. But it’s not all about the food. I’ll be meeting up with a couple of mates and travelling to loads of places I studied during A level.

In the meantime, I’ve been cooking picnic style food for my next feature in Yorkshire Life. I made some cheese and onion pasties (known as Chunions by me and my mates) and a batch of brownies which went incredibly wrong thanks to some dodgy scales and me being particularly unobservant and knackered, One of the feet on the scales was balanced on a slightly raised ledge bit I didn’t notice so I ended up putting far too much flour and sugar into the mix. The cooked result was more of a brick than a brownie. Hey, we all have our bad days.

Something I was trying out for the first time – a sparkling summer-fruit jelly – turned out successfully. I used Pear Cider (Perry) with leaf gelatine to make the lightest sparkling jelly and layered in a selection of berries and just a few grapes. It’s a perfect for a summer day and works brilliantly with the pasty because of the contrast. Well, got to go pack my bag.Be in touch when I’m back. Good luck if you’re doing exams. Sam x




Tasty, Healthy Treats - It's Easy!
Last week it was all change – as in Changeit. I headed down to London for the final of this cool competition which celebrates young people’s campaigning achievements. Much of the time we don’t know this stuff is going on, kids out there all over the place working as individuals or groups trying to make a difference in their communities. I was lucky enough to meet loads of them. I was really impressed by everyone who entered – you’re never forced to do this stuff but they did. Check out the Changeit website for the worthy winners but massive respect to everyone who took part.

On the eating front I met a mate of mine, Joe, and we went to a brilliant restaurant called St John’s for a treat. It’s known for a particular dish – bone marrow and parsley salad. I ate it and it was gorgeous though not everyone’s cup of tea. But I really love the philosophy of the place – it’s nose to tail eating. It’s not pretentious but classic and no-nonsense. The food’s just gorgeous.

On the cooking front I’ve been testing a few brownie recipes – which is always fun. Ingredient of the week- It’s got to be asparagus, aka Sparrow Grass. Yorkshire sparrow grass is brilliant. To prep it, just wash then bend it. Snap the base of the stem at the bend. Steam till just tender (just a few minutes) or boil quickly. Eat it simply with melted butter and lemon juice, seasoning. Or dip it into mayo. Or boiled eggs. Or top with garlic breadcrumbs. It’s not only tasty, it’s pretty nutritious. Lovely.

Happy cooking. Sam x


Making Bread - The Fun Kind
Please excuse any mistakes in this blog. My tortoise is walking across my keyboard. He’s just having a bit of a run around before tucking into some tasty chicory leaves.

This week’s been all go – I’m planning a trip to Vietnam in a month or so to check out the food there and have a little bit of a relax. It’s going to be completely different – I’ve never sampled it but I’ve heard great things and can’t wait to tell you all about it. I’m taking a camera out with me to document my meals and will post them up when I get back.

On the cooking front there’s been other experimenting going on. I’ve been boiling up some ham hock. I saw a great looking recipe for ham hock terrine on The Great British Menu on TV. My mum just happened to have bought one the day before so she got it out of the fridge and said ‘do something with it’. My mate Henry was round and we started cooking – didn’t finish until one in the morning! Part of the dish involved making the great north eastern speciality Pease Pudding.

Yesterday afternoon I made myself a monster Foccacia. Everyone else was out and I had nothing in particular to do so I made this lovely Italian bread and stuck bits of sundried tomato in there for extra flavour. Tasty.

Sam x