Displaying items by tag: restaurant foodie

In ASK for a family celebration at the weekend. Clutching our '2 mains for 1' vouchers we ordered a variety of starters. All arrived hot and at the same time, followed by the main courses, delivered swiftly before impatience could build.

The kids tucked into their staples of garlic bread followed by pizza. I had the Capra Grill (goat's cheese on ciabatta with caramelised onions, tomato, salad and a balsamic dressing). Well presented and delicious. To follow a dish of penne with artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. Very tasty, and filling.

Coffee to finish but others had desserts, with the banoffee pie in particular a high scorer. ASK can be disappointing when busy, with service and portions stretched too thinly, but I couldn't fault any aspects of this meal. The vouchers helped.

And here is Justin's recipe -

Saute of snails, bacon and bone marrow, flat parsley and capers.

4 pieces of short sawn bone marrow

12 ex large snails (tinned will do if you can't get fresh)

1/2 shallot chopped

2 slices of pancetta cut into lardons

100g fresh garlic butter

For the parsley salad:

small bunch of flat parsley, picked and washed

1/4 red onion thinly sliced and sprinkled with salt to withdraw moisture

20 baby capers

salt and pepper

drizzle of olive oil and squeeze of 1/4 lemon. Combine all ingredients together just before serving.

First roast your bone marrow in a medium oven, on a rack on a tray sprinkled with rock salt for 10 mins then turn the bones for another 5 minutes.

Gently colour the pancetta in a small frying pan, then add the chopped shallot, add the snails and gently fry without colouring the shallots.

Add the garlic butter and allow the butter to start to froth and gently colour.

Assemble by placing the parsley salad on a plate alongside the bone marrows and spoon the snails on top and around the marrows. Serve with a spoon to scoop out the marrow and good bread to soak the juices. Simple but delicious. And it has been on the menu since day one. Serves 2.

Hooray! Another pop up restaurant to go to and just in time for my birthday. At the Queens Head in Brandeston with David Williams (Alimentum) cooking and only for two days. Book on their website  www.thetrufflepig.co.uk and see you there.

A great day out of free tastings and sous-vide immersion into the world of culinary arts. There were olives, ice creams, huge parmesans, coffee, pastries, salami and of course plenty of wine and we tried it all.  I correctly matched a Pinot Noir to Jimi Hendrix in the completely mad music-with-wine tasting by Mickey Narea - the sommelier at Launceston Place, and afterwards went to eat at beautiful Benares for their early supper at £25 for three courses. Not much Suffolk in this show though.