The Sweet Tooth Cupcakery, Chorlton, Manchester

Gluten-free chocolate and vanilla cupcake

I have been visiting The Sweet Tooth Cupcakery in Chorlton for some time now with work colleagues. Whatever the occasion, birthdays, leaving dos, or because its summertime, there's always a reason for cake!

The range of cupcakes is outstanding, each names after a famous person or character, whether it is Kylie, Willy Wonka, David Niven, or Iggy Pop. They are all handmade within the shop (or at their Northern Quarter cafe) and are decorated with  a mixture if sweets, sprinkles, glitter etc, all having some relevance to the name.

Some of the range available

  The Sweet Tooth Cupcakery in Chorlton had a few tables inside and out and is decorated with kitch pictures, artwork and fittings. They serve a selection of drinks; a coffee, herbal tea, smoothie or sherbet or their rather special hot chocolate (definitely get it with cream!).

Red Fruit Smoothie

Their second cafe in the Northen Quarter calls itself a milk bar, and as I've yet to visit, I can only assume they offer a wider range of shakes and smoothies than at the Chorlton shop.

One thing to note is the range of dietary requirements they cater for. They generally have at least 2 gluten-free cupcakes to choose from and 1 vegan cupcake. On my last visit, they also had slices of gluten-free carrot cake available.

This visit I chose a chocolate and vanilla (meaning chocolate cake and vanilla icing) cupcake and a red fruit smoothie, and my friend chose the Willy Wonka with a cappuccino. I also chose the chocolate and chocolate (meaning a big chocolate hit!) and the Willy Wonka to take home. The packaging is almost as lovely as the cupcakes themselves. Each box is hand tied with a ribbon and sometimes decorated with stickers saying "Bite me" or simple love hearts.

Willy Wonka cupcake and parcel to take home

I spent over £8 so the Cupcakery isn't cheap, but certainly worth a visit to sit and relax with tea and cake, or that special treat to take home. If wondering what to drink - go for the hot chocolate, you will not regret it!

Jamie Oliver's Cauliflower Risotto

Jamie Oliver's Cauliflower Risotto

The next cauliflower recipe we tried was Jamie Oliver's Cauliflower Risotto from the Jamie's Italy book. The recipe uses his version of risotto bianco with certain additions, most notably the pangrattato to sprinkle.
I have reproduced Jamie's recipe here - mainly for our own use since the book has you flipping back and forth between the cauliflower risotto and the risotto bianco recipes.

1.1 litres stock (chicken/vegetable)
2 tbsp olive oil
knob of butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Half a head of celery, finely chopped
400g risotto rice
2 wineglasses of dry vermouth or dry white wine
70g butter
115g grated Parmesan
2 handfuls stale bread (we used one gluten-free roll)
1 small tin anchovies
3 small dried chillis
1 cauliflower
Parmesan for grating
Chopped fresh parsley

1. Heat the stock. Break the cauliflower into florets and add to the stock. Put the olive oil and butter unto a separate pan, add the onion, garlic and celery and cook very slowly for15 mins. When the veg has softened, turn up the heat and add the rice.

2. Lightly fry the rice, stirring continuously. After about a minute it will look translucent. Add the vermouth and keep stirring.

3. Once the vermouth has cooked into the rice, ass the first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn't cook too quickly. Keep adding ladles of stock stirring continuously, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. The cauliflower should be softened by now so you can start adding it bit by bit, mashing it into the rice. Continue until the rice is cooked and all the cauliflower had been added.

4. Meanwhile whizz the bread in a food processor with the anchovies and the oil from the tin along with the chillis. Heat a frying pan with a splash of oil and fry the flavoured breadcrumbs, stirring and tossing continuously until golden brown.






5. Remove the risotto from the heat and add the butter, Parmesan and parsley. Stir well. Place a lid on the pan and allow to sit for 2 mins. Sprinkle with the anchovy pangrattato, grate some more Parmesan over and serve.

Once again, this recipe was superb. The cauliflower flavour coming through nicely. Using this much celery in a risotto was a new one for me, and as a well-known celery-hater (or I thought I was a celery hater until now) I was pleasantly surprised. Jamie's tip of letting the risotto stand seemed to work as the texture was spot on. The pangrattoto is something we're likely to try for other things as it added - in Jamie's words "an amazing kick". it was salty, hot, crunchy and was the perfect garnish.

Gordon Ramsay's Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Gordon Ramsay's Cream of Cauliflower soup

After watching the Hairy Bikers talk about cauliflower on the BBC's Great British Food Revival the other week, we decided to try and find some interesting recipes for it. We've previously only used cauliflower as an accompaniment to a roast meat, or had it with cheese sauce at The Parents'. We were inspired by the recipes from the programme, but knowing full well that our local Morrisons and Lidl would not stock Romanesco cauliflower, we decided to find something else.

I'd previously made cauliflower and broccoli soup, but the cauliflower was overshadowed and just bulked out the soup. I also have memories of a childhood visit to a small bookshop and cafe in St Andrews in Scotland where I had the most lovely cauliflower soup, and I've never properly attempted to recreate it. So soup it was.

A quick search on the internet found this Gordon Ramsay recipe on the Good Food website. Surely a recipe from Gordon would be a safe bet. We didn't do the mushrooms, as we wanted to taste the soup just as it was.

Recipe (directly taken from Good Food, without the mushroom section)

1 large cauliflower (about 1.3kg/3lb), stalks discarded and florets chopped
1 large potato, peeled and chopped into large chunks
1 medium onion , chopped
25g butter
4 tbsp olive oil
1.2l light chicken or vegetable stock
600ml full-fat milk
142ml carton double cream
1-2 tbsp finely snipped chives

1. Put the cauliflower, potato and onion in a large saucepan with the butter and half of the oil. Gently heat the contents until they start to sizzle, then cover with a lid and sweat over a low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The vegetables should be softened but not coloured.

2. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil, then pour in the milk and return gently to a boil. This way, there will be no scum forming from the milk. Season to taste then simmer, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Pour in half the cream.

3. Blend everything in a food processor or blender, in batches. For an extra creamy texture, push the purée through a sieve with the back of a ladle. Stir in the rest of the cream. (If preparing ahead cool, cover and chill for up to a day.)

4. Check for seasoning and ladle into warmed bowls. Sprinkle lightly with the chives.

This soup was fantastic. The specific yet subtle flavour of the cauliflower came through well. The texture of the potato was there but not too overpowering, and the creaminess was just right.

One thing to note with this soup was that it was rather thin. It would work well as a starter when you don't want anything too heavy, or as a light lunch (especially with no bread). What it lacked in thickness it certainly made up for in flavour. This soup has more lovely cauliflower flavour than any boiled florets alongside a roast dinner. We will certainly be making this soup again.

Again? This leads to another issue. One which was raised in the BBC's Great British Food Revival. British farmers now only receive around 20% of the retail value of each cauliflower which has decreased recently (according to the programme), and most cauliflowers in the supermarkets are imported. Why should this be? Especially since one farmer interviewed for the programme said that cauliflowers were grown all year round in this country.

Our next mission was to find local or British cauliflowers for our next recipe.

Morrisons (at the time) didn't have any British in, but Lidl did, and on offer for 79p. Plus we've since bought local from Kenyon Hall Farm (£1.20) and have noticed that the stock in Morrisons is now British (£1.98).

We will no longer think of cauliflower as a vegetable just to go with a roast or cheese, and we will continue to try different ways of using it.

The Banyan Tree, Manchester

It had been a while since we last took advantage of an offer from Groupon and with a voucher to The Banyan Tree in Manchester fast approaching it's expiry date we had to make the effort to head into town on a Wednesday night to see if it lives up to the impression it gives on it's website. 
I have had discussions with people local to The Banyan Tree about whether it is a bar with a restaurant or vice versa.  I was told primarily it was a bar but the website certainly does not give that impression and in fact describes itself as a Restaurant and Bar.  For me this may be the root of the slight issues I had with the set up and service we experienced on the night.

First impressions were a little disappointing as we were expecting a restaurant and on arrival there was no area to wait for our table.  There seemed to be very few staff and had to wait at the bar behind people ordering drinks to ask for our table.  Normally if I book a table I would expect to be shown to the eating area and seated without having to queue awkwardly at the bar.  I feel it would be easy to introduce a small waiting area near the door where restaurant reservations can wait to be seen.  It would probably only need a small stand in the porch area.  That said, it didn't take long to be seen at the bar and the few staff we came into contact with were very pleasant and we soon settled down to browse the menu.

The restaurant was very busy for mid week which may have been due to the Groupon voucher coming to an end.  The waitress even asked if we had a voucher so do not expect we were the only ones.  One big plus was that the waitress remembered our telephone booking when we explained again that we would need to know which options were gluten-free.  It was great she remembered us but again we were a little disappointed to discover that the only option available for Fran was the Duck.  It was a good job this was the dish Fran would have chosen anyway.

We ordered a bottle of Spanish White which was very pleasant as I looked through the rest of the menu.  The voucher we had was for 2 starters and 2 mains. 

Fran ordered a Cabrese Salad for starter which consisted of the world's biggest tomatoes, mozzarella, some leaves and a red pesto dressing.  All in all Fran thought this was fantastic.  More red pesto dressing would have been nice but that is because she could have drank it from a jar, it was that good.

I ordered vegetable samosas and a soy and sesame dipping sauce.  The chilli sauce on the picture was changed.  These were again fantastic.  Big and chunky and full of flavour and obviously hand cooked by a talented chef.

As mentioned, Fran ordered the confit of duck for main.  This came with new potatoes, roasted beetroot, some green veg similar to Chard and a sauce (now wish we had taken a photo of the specials menu as we cannot remember the description).  Fran says the beetroot was lovely and fresh.  The duck could have been more tender but was still very flavoursome.  Although not being sure what the greens were  -could have been chard or beetroot tops, they were still a delicious addition.

I ordered Sea Bass with coconut gratin, roasted tomatoes and a chervil and turmeric veloute.  The flavours were just amazing.  There really is someone very talented in that kitchen.  In some ways the flavours were so good that it almost didn't need the sea bass on top.  It has to be said though that I thought the fish had got a bit dry and the sauce a little thicker than when it was put on the plate  This is just an assumption but I fear the dish may have sat for a little while before being brought to the table.  This is a real shame as other than that I thought it was beautiful.

In summary we would say that the food was excellent but our experience suffered a little bit as we feel they were a bit understaffed for the volume of diners that night.  The service was by no means bad but it did seem the waitress was run off her feet all night.   We would also like to see more gluten-free options on the menu.  There were some dishes that really should or rather could be gluten-free with a little bit of thought.  For instance, I am sure the chervil and turmeric veloute could be made by reduction and not flour, if in fact it was as we couldn't find any other reason why it was out of bounds.  We were also a little confused as to whether the place is primarily a bar or restaurant.  A system for meeting diners at the door could easily solve this.  As for prices, the specials seemed reasonable at around £15 and the main menu is all under £10 a course so cannot argue with that.

We don't want this post to sound too negative as we would recommend it, however we are unlikely to return given the limited choice of gluten-free options.  We are aware, however that the specials do change from day to day so this might not always be the case, although it is a little out of town to just drop in and check what is on the menu.

Pancakes

Yes I know its over a week late, but this post is more about a kind of revelation. 

While I searched for inspiration for a savoury pancake last week I remembered something foodie that must have dug itself deep into my head. Some time ago, I knew of an Italian chef who ran a small village restaurant. His food was excellent and his passion for his restaurant and customers was second to none. He ran a traditional type of Italian where the pasta could be the starter, then a salad or veg, followed by the meat or fish. There was not a pizza in sight (This is street food, not restaurant food!). He was a character. I remember him once insisting that Cannelloni was not pasta, but pancake.

After googling this, I couldn't seem to find a definitive answer to whether Cannelloni is supposed to be pasta or pancake. I found out that it can be. I also found out that manicotti is also the name for a dish of pancake tubes, filled in the same manner as cannelloni. But then when searching further, it seems that mancotti can be pancake or pasta. All very confusing. But also very simple.....

Being gluten-free now, this means my pasta choices are limited. Generally there is fusilli or penne available, and incresingly so spaghetti and sometimes lasagne. But that's it. So here is the revelation. If cannelloni/manicotti can be pancake, it certainly will be in this house! Gluten-free pancakes are no trouble, but finding and cooking lasagne sheets and constructing rolls would involve so much more faff (and cost).  A workable way of making interesting baked pasta dishes has now come into my life! Hurrah!

What I made came straight from my head and I didn't follow any recipe, but I will attempt to document it here as best I can. Apologies for the picture, not very appetising. I promise it tasted much better than it looks!

I used a standard pancake recipe of 100g (gluten-free) flour, 1/2 pint milk and egg. There are so many recipes and recommendations out there so I won't re-write the method. I made a batch of 6 pancakes and let them cool between sheets of greaseproof paper.

Filling:
A few mushrooms, chopped
Bacon lardons
Red onion, chopped
Dried sage
White wine (optional)
Cream

Topping:
Milk
Flour
Butter
Cheese, grated

1. Gently fry the bacon, onion and mushrooms together. They want to be softened rather than browned.
2. Add a dash of white wine if you have any in (and open - its not that important) and reduce.
3. Sprinkle in some dried sage. I like sage flavour so added about a heaped tsp.
4. Pour in some cream and stir. The amount I used was enough to make a sauce, but not make it runny. This is actually the stuffing rather than the sauce, so it needs to be chunky.
5. Make a bechamel sauce with the butter, flour and milk (Delia's recipe (within her cannelloni recipe) uses cream and nutmeg which I left out - there are so many calories already!). Stir through some grated cheese, saving enough for the top.
6. Construct the cannelloni by spooning some bacon mixture onto each pancake and rolling it up. Place the rolls side by side in an oven proof dish. Pour over the bechamel sauce and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
7. Bake until heated through and the cheese and sauce are bubbling. We serves it with a dressed green salad.

P.S. The picture at the top is of dessert. A standard pancake with the obligatory nutella and a generous drizzle of cream. Lovely!