Tag Archives: Cheese

April 23, 2013

Review: Heinz Five Beanz vs Heinz Baked Beans

For me, there is no better hangover breakfast than a meaty sausage and grilled cheese on toast smothered in Heinz Baked Beans. So as I staggered back from the school run the morning after celebrating my football team’s title win, I popped into the corner shop to hunt down said beans – only to find an imposter.

The brand name was the same, but the tin was different, darker. And instead of one bean immersed in sweet tomato sauce – the writing on the tin promised FIVE. Five beans for the price of one (well almost: it was 10p dearer than the ‘ordinary’ fare).

Of course, a change is as good as a rest, but would a quintuple of beans be an improvement? I had to find out – for that is the kind of adventurous guy I am.

The label detailed five beans: red kidney, pinto, haricot, borlotti and cannelini. All fine, all dandy beans.

And inside, the sauce was just as radioactive orange as the standard variety.

But the real proof is in the tasting, so here is the verdict….drum roll….heated in a saucepan for 5 mins and seasoned with a twist of pepper, they taste absolutely the same as the established pulses. There is a little more texture (from the skins of the kidney beans) but that’s it. Same taste, same gloopy sauce, slightly chewier, but 10p dearer.

Not better, not worse, not even different. Just beanz.

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Filed under Reviews, Comps & Sponsored Posts

Tagged as Breakfast, Cheese, Heinz Five Beanz, Reviews, Sausage

February 9, 2013

Classics with a Twist: Felicity Cloake’s Perfect Burger

I cannot tell a lie. This is not my recipe. Rather, I have adapted it from Felicity Cloake, of the Guardian, who tested different methods before arriving at this one, which she has named ‘Perfection.’ And she’s not wrong. The burger patty was superb – loose and moist, with great charring on the outside. The twist is the addition of Guinness, which gives the burgers great depth of flavour.

I’ve served these on homemade brioche buns (the bun of Heston Blumenthal’s choice). The sweet butteriness of the soft brioche really creates great ‘mouth feel’ with the juicy burger. Use a good melting cheese, such as this nutty Jarlsberg, or a Gruyere. Serve with gherkins and a simple coleslaw, made from shaved carrots, shaved apples and mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

Makes 4-6 burgers

1 tbsp oil or butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
1kg roughly minced chuck steak (or any non-lean mince)
100ml stout
2 tbsp brown breadcrumbs
2 tsp chopped herbs (parsley or thyme work well)
1 tsp salt
Black pepper
Garnishes, sauces and rolls, as desired

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a low heat, and cook the onion until soft and slightly browned. Leave to cool.

2. Spread the beef out and sprinkle over the onion. Add the stout, breadcrumbs, herbs and seasoning and mix together with a fork, being careful not to overwork it.

3. Divide the meat into 12 flattish burgers, putting a dimple in the centre of each. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

4. Cook the burgers on a medium to hot barbecue or griddle pan: leave them undisturbed for the first 3 minutes so they build up a good seal on the bottom, then carefully turn them over, adding a slice of cheese on top if desired. Cook for a further 4 minutes for rare, and 7 for well done, and allow to rest for a few minutes before serving. (You can toast buns, cut-side down, on the barbecue at this point.)

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Filed under Beef, Recipe Shed

Tagged as beef, Burger, burgers, Cheese, classic, classic with a twist, coleslaw, fry, frying, Gruyere, hamburger, Jarlsberg, Recipe Shed, Recipes

January 8, 2013

Recipe Shed: Faux Carpet-Bagged Fillet Steak

A traditional carpet-bagged steak is stuffed with oysters and was popular in the 1950s and ’60s. But I couldn’t find any oysters near where I lived, so I stuffed these with slices of Cropwell Bishop Stilton cheese. You don’t need a Sous Vide water bath to do this recipe, but it helps. Cook the steak to medium-rare by vac-packing the steak and immersing it for one hour into a water bath set at 57.5C.

After an hour, snip the vac-pack open, remove the steaks and create a pocket in the steak by slitting them with a sharp knife and then stuffing with the cheese. Then heat a frying pan to very hot, oil the steaks and sear on both sides to create a Maillard Reaction (in which the sugars on the steak brown to create a crust and an amazing flavour).

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Filed under Beef, Recipe Shed, Sous Vide Cooking

Tagged as beef, blue cheese, carpet-bag, Cheese, Fillet, Sous Vide, Steak

September 25, 2012

Recipe Shed: Vegetable Tagliatelle with Oven-Dried Cherry Tomatoes and Lancashire Cheese

Lancashire cheese? LANCASHIRE CHEESE? In an Italian pasta dish? Well, it was all I had to hand – and it worked a treat. I used the Extra Tasty variety, which added a lovely tang and creamy finish to the final dish. In fact, this whole concoction is full of tang and zest, with a sharp acidic bite coming from the lemon peel and intense oven-dried cherry tomatoes and balsamic vinegar.

Serves 2

1 tbsp oil
Knob of butter
20 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Peel of 1 lemon, finely sliced + juice
1 red chilli, deseeded and finelyy chopped
5-6 broccoli florets, cooked until slightly tender in boiling water for 2-3 mins
6-8 mushrooms, sliced
100ml double cream
100g Tasty Lancashire cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
6-8 ‘nests’ dried tagliatelle

1. Preheat the oven to 140C/Gas 2. Put the tomatoes, cut-side up, on a roasting tray and drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Put in the oven and leave for 1 hr 30 mins until the tomatoes have shrunk by half and nearly all the liquid has evaporated.