Chinese Food at the Phoenix, Histon
This is one of my favourite restaurants, so much so that when I took the pictures of the busway, I included a picture.
Phoenix Chinese Restaurant, Histon
I went last night and had an excellent meal.
As a coeliac I sometimes fear restaurants, as I’m not sure about how things are cooked. The waiter explained that most dishes are cooked with potato flour, which surprised me and that soy sauce was a problem.
For a starter, I had crispy lamb wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Note that lettuce leaves are a great alternative to pancakes and totally gluten-free.
I followed it with beef and lemon chicken. That incidentally uses custard powder, which I wasn’t sure about, but I have had no reaction today.
So if you’re travelling down the A14, visit the Phoenix, which is about two kilometres from the road on the B1049 going north.
I Don’t Drink Enough
Sometimes research gives you a lift.
Spanish research has now shown that drinking a bottle of wine a day is good for your heart. It’s published in the magazine, Heart, so it’s probably been peer-reviewed.
I’ll drink to that!
But on the other hand if I drunk that much every day, I’d never get any work done!
Aspall Cyder in Greene King Pubs
My local pubs, which are Greene King, have now started serving Aspall Cyder on draught. I’m not sure whether this is Greene King policy, but I suspect that as Aspall is a Suffolk brand and we tend to be parochial, you can’t sell Strongbow against a proper local cyder. So I suspect that Greene King have had to allow their landlords to stock a rival product, as Aspall is distributed by Adnams.
If you haven’t tried it yet, draught Aspall Cyder has made me forget all about trying to find any decent gluten-free beer.
Clapham Junction
I’ve rarely caught a train from this station, but the Train Timetable site said that by travelling via Tottenham Hale, Vauxhall and Clapham Junction was the quickest way to get through London. I was actually travelling from Stansted Airport to Winchester.
Note the Hot Ribena. I used to like that, but now because it is made from wheat glucose, it gives me the runs.
One of the problems of being a coeliac. But the EU says that wheat glucose is fine for me, so it must be OK!
It bloody well isn’t!
A Pleasant Surprise
I enquired about booking a box at Ipswich Town Football Club and we were discussing food, when I said that I was a coeliac. The lady at the other end said that was not a problem, provided they had a day’s notice. She said that they were increasingly being asked for gluten-free meals in their catering and their chefs were trained accordingly.
What was also good, was that the lady on the phone knew all about it, without referring to a chef or a manager.
Let’s hope this is a sign to come for mass catering.
Shepherd’s Pie
This a low fat take on a classic English dish. Shepherd’s Pie was traditionally made with leftover meat–usually lamb or beef. This is a recipe that can be made ahead and frozen for later use. I have modified it slightly to use metric measurements and make it gluten-free.
It came from Fiona Haynes of About.com.
My version used the following ingredients.
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 large carrots, chopped
- 500 grams extra-lean minced beef
- 2 tbsp gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp Waitrose organic tomato paste
- 2 tsp dried mixed herbs
- 250 ml, beef stock
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 kilo of King Edward or similar potatoes
- Milk and fat to mash the potatoes with
The method was as follows.
- In a large pot, heat olive oil on medium-low heat. Saute onions and carrots until softened. Turn up heat to medium-high and add beef; cook until no longer pink. Add Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, herbs and broth. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Add peas, then simmer 5 minutes more.
Tip: If sauce seems a bit thin for your liking, add some cornflour or gluten-free flour and stir into beef mixture. - While sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add potatoes, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain water. Add milk and butter. Mash with a potato masher until smooth. Season if you like.
- Pour sauce into an 11-inch by 7-inch baking dish and allow to cool slightly. Top with potato.
- Bake in the bottom of the top over of the AGA.
I actually cooked two, with one going in the freezer and the other shared with my son.
White Horse, Brancaster Staithe
My late wife and I ate several times at this pub on the North Norfolk Coast.
Today, I had to visit a friend in the area and we had lunch in the restaurant. For a bad day in October, that was cold and looked to be turning wet, the restaurant was full. Perhaps it was more a day for eating and drinking rather than walking.
I said that I was a coeliac and I was told that everything on the menu was either naturally gluten-free or could be modified.
So I had salmon and potato fishcakes. I can’t remember the last time I had any decent fishcakes.
With a pint of Aspall‘s cyder as well.
Heaven!
Note that the group also have a similar and equally good pub called the Fox at Willian. This is useful as it is close to junction 9 of the A1(M). It’s so much better than the Service Area a few kilomtres to the north.
How to Run a Pub
My late wife and I used to eat regularly in the Beehive at Horringer, near to Bury St. Edmunds. I always remember Gary being one of the first landlords who took down his cigarette machine and banned smoking, a few years before it became mandatory. But it was also a pub that had a good food offering, excellent wine and if you drank it, the beer was as it should be.
But over the last few years, I have had one problem with the pub. As it was a tied Greene King pub, the cider offering was undrinkable.
But they have now decided to remedy that!
They are moving to the White Horse at Whepstead. And the cyder will be Aspalls. No-one should be allowed to die without having a pint of that first!
Now the Kingshotts must have done more than a lot right, as they have run the Beehive for more years than I have been in this part of Suffolk, but it never amazes me how some people think they know better.
I’ve just heard of a story in another part of the country, where someone with little experience of the licenced trade has taken over the village pub. The first thing they have done is annoy all of the locals, some of whom have drunk in the hostelry for many years. That attitude will see the For Sale or To Let sign up again in the coming months.
But I shall be trying out the Kingshott’s new pub in Whepstead.
Baked Haddock
I needed a new recipe for some haddock and a friend messaged me this one.
My version used the following ingredients.
- Two haddock filets. These were line caught from Waitrose.
- The juice of two limes.
- One chopped medium-sized onion.
- Four quartered tomatoes.
- Some fresh parsley from my herb garden.
The method couldn’t have been simpler.
- Place the fish in a shallow dish.
- Combine the lime juice, onion, tomatoes and parsley and pour over the fish.
- Bake in the bottom of the top oven in the AGA for 20 minutes.
The dish looked like this before I cooked it.
Baked Haddock Before Cooking
After cooking, the tomatoes had created a sauce.
Baked Haddock After Cooking
It worked and the fish was very tender. I did get a bit too much sauce and next time I cook it, I think I’ll used a second onion and also add a crushed clove of garlic.
But it was very quick and simple. And no saucepan to wash up.
Norman Borlaug
I’d never heard of Norman Baulaug until yesterday. But as his obituary in the Times today stated.
Norman Borlaug has, in the opinion of many experts, saved more human lives than any other individual in history. He was the grandfather of the “Green Revolution” in which, between 1961 and 1980, wheat crop yields doubled, tripled and sometimes quadrupled around the world. His experiments with hybrid wheat strains and nitrogenous fertiliser created strains of the staple food impervious to pests, bad weather and poor soil, enabling the world to support a far greater human population than many thought possible after the Second World War. Yet his methods and message fell out of favour, to the detriment of millions — especially in Africa.
Read the full obituary and you get a flavour of someone who was not only a great scientist, but someone who was a deep thinker. He warned against population growth and felt that his advanced crops would only give a breathing space.
But it still did not prevent others from rubbishing his achievements.
Therein lies the rub. Some of his methods of using lots of fertiliser may well be challenged, but we all should agree with his policy of growing crops on the productive land. Surely, this should leave more land for other more idealistic uses. He even signed an agreement with one of founders of Greenpeace on this.
But one paragraph in the obituary is this.
Others followed his example, and India’s wheat crop increased from 12 million tonnes in 1965 to 17 million in 1967. That year Pakistan, a country dependent on wheat imports, imported 42,000 tonnes of seeds. It was self-sufficient in seed stocks 12 months later.
It just shows how if you are more efficient, things can a lot better.
If I have a gripe with him personally, it is that the greater part of his work was with wheat! I can’t eat it or wheat products because I’m a coeliac.
But as I repeat many times. It will not be politicians who get us out of the mess that they have created, but the scientists and engineers. We need a lot more like Norman Borlaug.
The Anonymous Widower 