Actually my story starts on Saturday morning with a visit to an Aladdin’s cave which we were introduced to a couple of years ago by some dear friends who live not far from Bedford. Up until that point I hadn’t realised that there was a sizeable Italian community there and in fact there is even an Italian consulate office in the town. What we were originally after was somewhere to buy good coffee beans, but A1 Foods proved to be so much more.
The problem is I do go a bit mad when I go there. I now have to make a list when I am visiting (and do my level best to stick to it) otherwise I find myself with more chopped tomatoes and peppercorns than will fit into any reasonably sized kitchen. My shopping has on more than one occasion had to be at least partially accommodated in the garage due to my over-excitement. I confess there is a slab of canned chopped tomatoes on the floor of the music room – it’s the old dining room but it houses the piano so we call it the music room and pretend to be posh – because they haven’t yet made it outside. My excuse for this is that the weather over the weekend has been pretty foul, but at least this time we actually had run out. On the list this weekend as well as the tomatoes, was Pecorino cheese (being sheepy it is lower lactose and a great alternative to Parmesan), coffee beans, Prosecco, Sardinian Vermentino, black peppercorns and pesto. That said, we also picked up some sheepy Ricotta (new one on me), some cheesy snack packs (senza lattosio!), a large bottle of Aperol and some short pasta (Casareccia). However, it looks like we’ll have to go back in a couple of weeks as latest delivery of the blush pink Prosecco we favour hasn’t arrived yet. What a darn shame! As you can see from these photos, it truly is a marvellous place for Italian food and wine and is highly recommended for all lovers of Italian delicacies. If you are anywhere near Bedford and have some spare space in your car (and preferably your garage) pay them a visit. Tell them I sent you! I’m not sure it will do you any good, but you can try it anyway…
It was Valentines date night this Saturday and I had booked us a table at one of Cambridge’s newest restaurants, Millworks. We would have visited a couple of weeks ago, but they were fully booked – a good sign in my book. Millworks is the latest in the successful Cambscuisine stable which includes the two Chop House Restaurants, Smokeworks, The Cock at Hemingford Grey, The Tickell and The Crown & Punchbowl. Unfortunately last year’s Valentine date night was a bit of a disaster because of some badly prepared and horribly undercooked kidneys served in such a dimly lit room that I almost ate them. Don’t worry, I didn’t pay very much for the experience and also made sure the offending establishment suffered for it later on Trip Advisor.
Anyway, back to this Saturday. Our taxi arrived in the middle of the Rugby 6 Nations England-Wales match and we had left home with England trailing. Luckily we were a little early into town so we popped into The Granta for a pre-dinner drink just in time to see the winning England try. By the time we wandered into Millworks we were buzzing not only from the aperitif but also a slight patriotic glow induced by the latest England win. The welcome in the restaurant was warm and the staff were friendly and well-organised. Having noted on my booking the fact that I am lactose intolerant, I was immediately given the dairy-free menu. For once I wasn’t going to have to deduce appropriate menu choices for myself, or send the waiting staff on multiple trips to the kitchen to interrogate the chef as to the whereabouts of evil cow juice.
The dairy-free menu is slightly less extensive than the main menu, but is helpfully marked up with the items that you shouldn’t be eating crossed out. There is also a gluten-free version so everyone is looked after. I started with the intriguingly named pulled pork scrumpets which turned out to be scrumptious pork croquettes. My husband ordered the chicken liver peanut butter – a pate served in its own dinky little Kilner jar with toast and a quince & cranberry jelly. To follow we opted for the Meat Fest sharing platter, with me avoiding the Bearnaise sauce (very helpfully crossed out on the menu).
It was every bit as delicious as it looks and I was a very happy carnivore. I’m afraid I can’t make comment on the dessert options because we were both too full to contemplate eating anything else after clearing our board. Millworks definitely gets a thumbs up from us and I’m sure we’ll be back soon – if we can get in that is…
I finally built up enough confidence in my sourdough starter to attempt to make a loaf with it. Although I quickly realised when I went to measure it out that there wasn’t going to be much left! A whole 2 weeks of nurturing my culture seemed a little too much like hard work for one loaf so I poured it back into its jar and gave it another good feed of flour and water. Once it had beefed up and bubbled up overnight, I made another attempt. The thing about sourdough is it needs plenty of time in the rising and the proving, but what else do you do with a cold, damp Sunday? Anyway, 9 and a half hours after my starter had ventured out (for the second time) from its little glass house…Get a load of this baby!
You might even say it could be the loaf of my life…
Loaf and kisses
MC
Flying Spatula 