And there was me agonising over what to do with a gorgeous hunk of pork belly – Cider? Wine? Fennel? And then I remembered, it’s Chinese New Year tomorrow – a perfect opportunity to crisp up my belly with five spice, garlic and a damn good roasting. I absolutely adore Chinese food, but I also know next to nothing about cooking it myself. Lizzie pointed me in the direction of a recipe on Sunflower’s Food Galore for a garlic and five-spice infused belly, which I served with some choi sum (identified via a Twitpic), stir fried with garlic and chilli and steamed plain rice.

It was seriously delicious – if perhaps a little over ‘caramelised’ around the edges from an over enthusiastic grilling at the end. I had to leave a couple of ingredients out of Sunflower’s recipe (the bean curd and Chinese rose wine), simply because I didn’t have them. Overall, I was very happy with the results, which I attribute in (a major) part to the quality of the meat – from online farmers shop Paganum.

Based in the Yorkshire Dales, all Paganum’s meat is traditionally reared on family run farms. And it shows. It shows in the flavour of the meat, in the appearance of the meat, the texture of the meat. It’s good, really very good. The Paganum philosophy is this, “Our farmers respect the animals and our customers respect the product”. The producers concentrate on the best possible quality of life for the animals, using sustainable methods, and all meat is ‘hung, prepared and cut properly’. What more could you want, really?

Attitudes towards eating meat have changed drastically in the past few years or so. People are now prepared to pay more for decent products. Of course, quality costs more but we have asked ourselves, if the ‘bargain’ meat often found languishing on supermarket shelves is so cheap, what are we actually paying for? We are paying for the bare minimum that’s what. Even if we didn’t care about welfare, sustainable agriculture and proper butchery – the meat on the plate would ultimately be of poor quality and therefore make for poor eating. It’s a no brainer.

And now, you don’t even have to worry about accessibility. You don’t need to live near a good butcher or farmers market, because the meat comes to you, direct from the Dales. Hooray for people who care about producing good food, hooray for the internet and hooray for their happy happy union – place your order and it arrives by courier (guaranteed next day), all tucked up in the most ingenious packaging – sheeps wool. Yep. It’s natural and sustainable – even the plastic wrapper that keeps the wool out of your meat is biodegradeable.

I shall definitely be ordering more meat from Paganum and pork belly will again be on my shopping list. This piece (from a Pietrain Welsh cross pig) came on the bone. Oh happy joy. A meaty bonus in the form of tender, spiced, melting ribs. I wonder if they sell bibs?

St. John has been high on ‘the list’* for a year or so now, so I was chuffed to say the least when I (along with Helen, Lizzie, Chris and Niamh), got invited to eat there by wine blogger Rob McIntosh (of Wine Conversation and Thirst for Rioja) and winemaker Rafael Vivanco and Hugo Urquiza, from Bodegas Dinastia Vivanco. Our visit fell just one day after St. John received its first ever Michelin Star. Now that’s what I call great timing. I’m a big fan of the St. John nose to tail eating philosophy, I eat a fair bit of offal and I’m always up for trying new bits of animal, like a good foodie. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever turned down any food that was offered to me. Including a fried cricket. Which tasted, incidentally, like sawdust.

The purpose of our get together was to discuss the fascinating phenomenon that is social media (particularly Twitter), and to have a general all-round banter about the wine (all from Dinastia Vivanco), the food and well, everything really.

Before we got down to the business of ordering the nose, the tail and everything in between, we started the wine tasting with a white Rioja (above), which I loved. I’m sure I’ve tasted a white Rioja before, but I didn’t appreciate it fully as apparently, it is uncommon to find a white from the region.

As Helen says, it was around this time that Rob talked about the acidity of wine and how it really matters when matching with food. For example, some wines may taste a little too acidic for ‘just’ drinking but when paired with particularly rich or fatty food (St. John has a lot of this), it is able to cut through and balance.

A bit of acidity was most definitely needed with my starter – the St. John signature dish of roast bone marrow with parsley salad. I’d tried bone marrow before at The Taste London Festival and it didn’t really leave much of an impression. I hear so much about how it tastes so amazing, that I had to try it again in case my tastebuds had deceived me. It was better this time but again, I don’t quite understand the hype. Don’t get me wrong – the rich marrow, topped with the piquant parsley salad and a good spinkling of salt really makes for some lovely eatin’, but I think I was expecting the experience of a lifetime. A girl sure can make a mess eating it too. Check out the carnage below.

With the starter we also sampled a Dinastia Vivanco Rioja Crianza 2004 (that’s red, and fruity). It was at this point I had a mini epiphany about wine tasting, realising that I can actually pick up the aromas and flavours the rest of the table was talking about (check out Rob’s write up for more detailed notes). To me, wine tasting and matching is something I’ve always found daunting, thinking I will humiliate myself by making the most awful pairing ever known to man. Then I realised, I’m just trying to overcomplicate things. I actually drink a lot of wine, but I never write about it in case I get it wrong. Things will change!

For my main I ordered the roast kid and when it arrived, I was pretty chuffed to be honest. It looked stunning, served with white beans and kale – perfectly cooked and hearty. It tasted (unsurprisingly), like goat but milder. The meat was beautifully tender with excellent crispy fat. Yes, more fat. Detox schmeetox.

Our remaining wines were both red, a Dinastia Vivanco Rioja Reserva 2001 (I remember Rob saying look out for hints of balsamic and I amazed myself again by actually picking some up) but my favourite without doubt was the Coleccion Vivanco Rioja 4 Varietales 2005 (sorry about the photo). A really big wine for my really big plate of meat, beans ‘n’ greens.

When it came to ordering dessert I was drawn to the Eccles cake with Lancashire cheese – firstly because Chris mentioned that he loved it on his last visit and secondly, because I missed out on a similar dessert at the sherry and food pairing with Heston Blumenthal (I had to leave early. Gutted). The fruity, sweet cake was balanced well by the slightly sharp cheese although I couldn’t eat it all – the slice of cheese was big, as are all the portions at St. John. I had a touch of food envy over Lizzie’s wibbly wobbly rhubarb jelly, which seemed like a much more sensible option after two rich courses and much tasting of wine.

Overall then, St. John surprised me. I knew the food would be ‘rustic’, but I did expect a little more ‘refinement’ from a restaurant just awarded it’s first Michelin star and I think this was the general consensus among our group. That said, the ambience is informal, which I enjoy, despite the surroundings being even more stark than anticipated. The lack of any embellishment in the restaurant decor does focus attention solely on the food, wine and company though, which is, after all, the point. Perhaps it’s just the unfamiliarity of a total absence of ‘faff’ which caught me off guard. Makes you wonder if it’s all really necessary doesn’t it? Lizzie also wonders this in her write up.

I’ll definitely go back to St. John, although I wouldn’t dine there with any vegetarian friends. The emphasis on meat and offal, the stark, white surroundings (reminiscent of a butchers shop) and the ’serious’ meat knives already present at table when you arrive, may prove a little unsettling if you’re not the carnivorous type. That said, the menu includes fish and vegetarian options, something to bear in mind for my return visit. Which, if Chris’s reaction to the photos is anything to go by, will be just as soon as payday arrives.

Oh, and I’ll be ordering some wine. And not apologetically like I usually do. I shall be asking for advice, thinking about it, remembering and most of all enjoying. If there’s one thing I’ve learned recently, it’s to stop giving myself a hard time over wine tasting. I don’t know much about it, but then there’s only one way to learn, right?

(The Bakery at St. John, above. I must add that the bread is excellent, Lizzie and I couldn’t stop eating it! Chris also recently tweeted that he thinks he may never be able to eat bread from anywhere else. I can see where he’s coming from..)

St. John
26 St John Street
London
EC1M 4AY
0207 251 0848

*’the list’ is my ever growing scribble of restaurants I need to visit, like, yesterday. It’s a tatty little notebook, crammed with bits of paper which fall out all the time and have me scrabbling around on the floor like an idiot.

Food Stories has been chosen as a finalist in The Well Fed Network Awards, in the category ‘Best Food Blog – City’. Hard to believe I know. If you would like to head over and vote, here’s the link.

Thank you to the crazy lovely person/s who nominated me and to the folks at Well Fed Network for choosing FS as a finalist. Are you sure you weren’t desperate?!

The voting is open until Saturday 24th Jan, 8pm EST.

Here’s the rest of the categories and nominees. Good luck to all!

Wow. I’ve really been enjoying my anti-detox. A bit too much methinks. I am a little embarrassed to reveal just how ‘well’ I’ve been eating over the past couple of weeks. There’s me banging on about how my internal diet regulation mechanism is on autopilot and then I come to write this post and find I’ve been talking absolute tosh. Well, whatever. It’s been great. I’ve eaten lots of delicious things, this fruity duck being one of them.

I was left with a bottle of pomegranate molasses after making Ottolenghi’s beautiful squash recipe. A quick flick through Moro East revealed Sam and Sam’s pomegranate marinade, which I used to flavour the duck. I combined it with caramelised endive, sweet pears and some green lentils, then topped everything with an orange-pomegranate dressing – just tangy enough to cut through all that sweet ‘n’ rich goodness.

Here’s what else I’ve been putting away over the last couple of weeks – hands up who’s been scoffing too much bread and meat then?

(Left to right from top)
1. Bresaola sandwich on olive bread.
2. Smoked trout with yoghurt and salsa.
3. LOADS of Copella apple juice.
4. A rubbish pizza from – shock horror – Tesco, onto which I chucked the contents of the fridge.
5. Steamed spring rolls (very badly rolled indeed), containing prawns, vermicelli, chilli, cucumber and Thai basil.
6. Some sticky chicken.
7. Chris’s amazing eggy bread, which I am going to post about – it is divine.
8. Salt beef sandwich from Roast to Go in Borough Market.
9. Celeriac soup.
10. Desperation lunch made from contents of fridge thrown into a wrap.
11. Egg!
12. Chorizo, spinach and sun dried tomato baguette.
13. Baba ganoush and pitta, way too garlicky, I was regretting it for the rest of the day. No,no, no Sun and Doves! Same problem with the salad dressing, by the way. Oh, and you know how I asked you not to put the hummus on there? That’s because it’s way too garlicky.
14. Mixed ‘bean feast’ from the health food shop. It’s actually really tasty, honest.
15. Clementines! You can do no wrong. Well, perhaps the pips could go?
16. Brie, pesto, cherry tomato and red onion on focaccia.
17. Clearly the biggest apple in the world – although you can’t tell from my really badly composed iphone photo.

But, there’s not just been too much food passing my lips. Oh no, there’s been drinking too….Brew Dog beer has got to be the beer of the moment – for me anyway and for the guys who introduced me to it. More of that – and the fantabulous Tipped Winter Barbecue (which happened in 2008, included large amounts of Brew Dog and is begging to be blogged), in an upcoming post. Here’s a picture of the little beauties in the meantime.

If you would also like to stick two fingers up to detox, here’s the pomegranate marinade from Moro East, it’s lovely on duck, all that crispy fat. Detox schmeetox. Seriously though, I think I may need to lighten things up..there’s only so much exercise can do, after all….

Pomegranate Molasses Marinade (from Moro East by Sam and Sam Clark)

1 garlic clove, crushed
Juice of 1 pomegranate
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon finely grated onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

- Combine all ingredients except olive oil in a blender and whizz until smooth.
- Toss the meat in this mixture and add the olive oil.
- Marinade from 4 hours to 2 days.

The phrase I’ve probably used most often in the past week or so (apart from, ‘I think I’m lost’ and ‘nom nom nom’), is, ’detox schmeetox’. Yes, I have been predictably unsuccessful in making more ‘healthy choices’ after the Christmas period, I’ve just been exercising like mad instead. Which, quite frankly, works for me. I mean, if I can exercise enough, then I can eat pretty much what I want, right? OK, so I stil need to rack up the requisite portions of fruit and veg and keep the saturated fat down but, apart from that, this is a plan I can see myself sticking to.

My exercise ‘regime’ consists of this – as much cardio as I can bear (varies between 30-60 minutes), followed by weights, as often as I can manage it. My chosen cardio exercise is alternating stints on a cross-trainer with…skipping. Now, now, don’t laugh. It’s not just for kids alright? Boxers do it and everything. Apparently, it’s a massively effective cardio workout. So there. I do have a pink rope, but that’s beside the point.

It’s cold outside, I’m craving comfort food and that’s damn well what I’m gonna have. Before my ‘hardcore exercise’ decision, I’d been scorning myself for ’slipping up’ and finding myself purchasing chorizo and rocket sandwiches and having full on blow outs at the always superb New Tayyabs *sigh*. It was amazing, as usual. Myself and the blogging crew (including Chris, Lizzie, Niamh and Charles and Joel from Tipped) congregated there on Thursday for a feast. We managed to work our way through….

…(clockwise from top left) the famous Tayyabs lamb chops, grilled meats, some rather fine ales and towering stacks of puffy, warm breads, liberally doused with ghee.

I was also very pleased with how my favourite Tayyabs dish went down among my blogging mates. It could have been embarrassing. As it was, everyone loved it! The ‘Tindi Masala’ is made with baby pumpkins, highly spiced yet fresh tasting, those juicy little pumpkins are a joy. A Twitter conversation yesterday revealed that Lizzie is going to try and re-create the dish. I am crossing my fingers and toes for her.

Above is the temptingly named, ‘dry meat’. Don’t let that put you off though, it’s another must order. Meltingly tender slow-cooked lamb. It literally falls apart in the mouth. Very rich and very good.

This minced chicken dish was delicious too, I’ve not tried this before and I can’t remember what it’s called. How useful.

Masala fish -  gorgeous crispy coating of spices and flaky fish within. This was another new one on me – I loved it. Can they do no wrong? Did I mention it was a mere £15 a head each? They can do no wrong.

And finally, a dessert! I’ve never tried the sweet things at Tayyabs and these ice lollies were a lovely cooling way to finish – just like mini milks but with more exciting flavours (mango and pistachio). Anyway, that was Thursday, this is today and, despite all that exercise and detox schmeetoxing, I found myself craving something light. After all, there’s only so much fat and meat one woman can eat, apparently. A quick survey of available ingredients revealed some rice vermicelli – good for a fresh and punchy noodle salad. Preferably containing prawns, most definitely with lots of lime and chilli and some thai basil, if I could lay my hands on it, which I did.

So it turns out my body doesn’t want to eat fatty foods all the time – who knew? If I let myself eat what I like, eventually I start craving lighter dishes anyway. Which begs the question why I worried about the whole thing in the first place. I’ve clearly got self-regulation all sewn up. As long as I keep really active, of course – and therein lies the challenge…

Vermicelli Noodle Salad with Prawns

100g rice vermicelli noodles
1 red chilli, finely sliced
1 handful coriander leaves
1 handful Thai basil leaves, shredded
2 fat spring onions, finely sliced
1/4 cucumber, finely diced
1 large mushroom, finely sliced
180g prawns
Handful peanuts, crushed lightly

Dressing

Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 inch piece ginger, grated
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon sugar

- Cook the noodles in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, drain and refresh under cold water.
- Mix all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl.
- Mix everything in a bowl. Scatter the peanuts on top.