The Wig and Pen, City Centre

So James' mum didn't make a Sunday dinner last week (how dare she?!).  We'd been meaning to visit The Wig and Pen for Sunday dinner for a while and since it was Tramlines weekend, we got the bus into town and exploited their three courses for 13.95 (still can't find the pound sign), Sunday lunch and jazz deal.  We visited this restaurant last year for my birthday not long after it was taken over by the guys who run The Milestone on Kelham Island.  At that time (Feb 2011) it was quite expensive and a bit overly fancy.  I think the Milestone guys were still riding high on their success with Gordon Ramsey.  The Wig and Pen has now come back down to earth a bit and is offering local, fresh and seasonal produce at competitive rates with a Michelin-esque flourish.

For starters I had ham hock terrine, served with mint pea puree, fresh peas and pea shoots.  The terrine was salty and chunky and when blended with the peas, it was light and fresh and just a tad sweet.  There wasn't enough pea puree (I love peas) and I did have to pull a chunk of fat out of my mouth but that's kind of the point with terrine.  James' starter was a salt cured salmon with a cucumber sorbet and a beetroot puree.  Again it was light and fresh, perfectly balanced and the different textures from the salmon, cucumber, sorbet and puree complimented each other very well.  These, as all of the dishes, were well presented and visually appetising.

My main course was a whole plaice, crushed jersey royals and a crayfish crumble.  'Crayfish crumble?!' I here you say.  Yes indeed.  There was a small amount of it but you didn't need any more.  It was very rich and creamy, so different but delicious.  I'm a big potato girl, and the jerseys were crushed with spinach.  I had to add salt, but I can't really mark them down for that, as I'm a salty sea dog!  The plaice was perfectly cooked and just fell off the bones.  Perfectly complimented by the pickled carrots, just enough of a tang to bring the fish out of itself and prevent it from being bland.  James' choice was a classic Sunday lunch, pot roast guinea fowl with all the trimmings.  The yorkshire pudding was a monster!  But it was crispy and delicate.  The guinea fowl was moist and full of flavour, the vegetables still had some bite (not to my taste but again, that's how they're meant to be!).  Finished off with a gravy that was just the right side of thick.  I'm a big believer in ideal gravy consistency.

 
The desserts did not disappoint on aesthetics, but unfortunately did disappoint on tasting.  My choice was apple crumble and apple terrine.  It came with a big blob of cinnamon sauce on the side.  The terrine was disappointing.  It was so tart it was practically sour, and it's layers slid apart when you attempted to slice it with your spoon.  When taken with the cinnamon sauce it remained unappealing.  The crumble was delicious, but again it was very cinammony and after a few mouthfuls it was very cloying.  The dish simply lacked something.  Even being served on slate didn't save it.  James, as exemplified in previous posts, is a massive pudding fan.  The chocolatier the better.  So there was only ever going to be one choice for him, the chocolate brownie.  It came with homemade honeycomb, milk puree and a milk sorbet.  The honeycomb was fantastically sticky but again, that's where it ended.  The brownie was only slightly soft in the middle, whereas we would have expected it to be gooey.  The milk sorbet and ice cream were mildly interesting but were not strong enough in flavour to add anything to the dish.

The desserts being short of the mark has dropped the score for this restaurant but the overall quality of the food was superb.  The atmosphere was relaxed, but the live jazz a tad too loud through the speakers.  The Wig and Pen would have scored an 8/10, but when the bill came, they had over charged us for my dessert.  I pointed it out and the waitress was very friendly and altered the charge without a quibble.  But this minor detail means that the overall score was 7.5/10.  I highly recommend this place either for a meal or just for a casual drink and a nibble.

World's best triple chocolate cookies

Yes, that does sound like a very pompous title, but the instant you taste these bad boys, you will totally understand why I make this claim.  Apologies for the mixture of weights but chocolate comes in grams!

• 4oz margarine
• 3oz dark brown sugar
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 4oz self raising flour
• 2oz cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp milk
• 100g white chocolate, roughly chopped
• 100g milk chocolate, roughly chopped

 

1. Heat oven to 180c and grease 2 baking trays (remember I recommend that you grease the trays then put greaseproof paper on them.  Sounds daft but it makes the paper stick to the tray and stops the cookis from sticking).
2.  Beat margarine untill soft, then add sugar and cream together until light and fluffy.
3. Stir in syrup, flour and cocoa and stir until well mixed.  Add milk and chocolate and stir until evenly mixed.
4. Place table spoons of the mixture onto the baking trays and bake for NO MORE THEN 10 MINUTES!  I don't care how not done they look, bang on 10 minutes, no more and no less.  
5. They will be hard to get off the baking tray and they may attempt to fall apart when you do.  You must remove them to a wire rack to cool straight away, just be very gentle with them.

These are James' favourites.  They are ultimately chocolatey and may be very cloying but as they crumble so easy they can be eaten in little bits.  They are gooey in the middle and go great with ice cream.

The Sandwich Division, Division Street

I had an amazing roast beef and salad sandwich in town yesterday.  So there I was, it's just gone one o'clock and as my James doesn't check his phone, I'm all alone and at a loss as to where to go to eat.  I considered Subway as I always have my kindle and wanted to sit in somewhere but the darn place is always so full.  I was on my way to a different sandwich shop when I passed The Sandwich Division.  It was an irregularly sunny day and I thought hmmmmmmmm.....why not?  And I'm very glad I did.  There was a great big chalkboard behind the counter which was clear and the choices/pricing was easy to follow.  There was a choice of bread and when I asked for the roast beef he asked if I wanted it pink.  Which, let's face it, is always going to be a great big YES!  I asked for salad and when I looked at the choices under the counter it wasn't just same old lettuce cucumber and tomato.  There was grated carrot, sweetcorn, beetroot and a host of other healthy optional extras.  There was also plenty of additional sauces.  

I ended up being one of those people who sit eating lunch on the steps of the city hall.  With my trusty kindle and a bottle of water I was all set.  The bread cake was soft and doughy and the beef was pink (as requested) and juicy.  The iceberg lettuce was a bit on the yellow side but still crunchy and the rest of the salad perfectly complimented the meat.  All the vegetables were tender and crisp.  They were also dry enough so they didn't make the sandwich all soggy.  I was pleasantly surprised by my sandwich and I would definitely go back again!  So often sandwich shops are over the top these days, trying to be gourmet, it was a breath of fresh air to find somewhere that is simple and honest and happy to have basics like potted meat on the menu.  They also sell salad boxes, individual fruit, fruit salad boxes, crisps, soft drinks and a very tempting range of delicious looking baked treats.

Had it not been a sunny day I don't think I would have ended up there as it's a proper takeaway so there is no seating.  But for anyone who works in the city I would highly recommend The Sandwich Division whatever the weather.  I rate it at 7.5/10.

A brief interlude in Minehead

As the title to this post suggests, I have recently enjoyed a jaunt to none other then Butlins in Minehead!  My sister has a little girl who is four and a half, so they usually go away in the UK for family holidays.  This year as they were staying in a static caravan that was the same price regardless as to the number of people inside, they suggested my boyfriend James and I come along.  It was 5 days and 4 nights of tongue-in-cheek fun. The caravan was clean and well equipped (and fully plumbed!) and far enough away from the actual chalet site to be quiet enough to sleep.  There was a fishing lake on the other side of the caravan site and as such there were flocks of Canadian geese running across the road every time you attempted to drive up the track.  Around our caravan however were plenty of ducks, who tried to get into the caravan after James started feeding them, and wild rabbits, who apparently do eat carrots.  To say Minehead is a seaside town, the seafront itself was very short.  Two fish and chip shops, an indoor market, one or two tat shops and an ice cream parlour.  The stretch of beach is floor-less and the weather was ideal for kite flying. 


I don't know about you, but for me when I head to the seaside I want one thing....seafood!  I was very disappointed as it appears that Minehead no longer has an active fishing trade.  There were no quirky little shellfish stalls, no local fishmongers and most of the cafes and takeaways boasted that they served Whitby Scampi.  For those of you who are lousy at geography, Minehead is on the coast of Somerset, just underneath Wales.  In fact on a clear day you can see Wales from the bay.  Whitby however is on the coast of North Yorkshire, about halfway up the country on the east side.  To my mind there is something not right about bragging you have fish from across the country when your property sits right on the seafront.  But what this post is really about....fish and chips!  First stop was Donnas.  I am still cross about the lack of accurate grammar in their name.  Connie had a children's box meal from here.  She had chicken dinosaurs, which came with chips, a lolly, a toy and a box of juice.  Not bad at all for 2.99 (again apologies for not knowing where the pound sign is!).  My sister Felicity and brother in law Rikki also had fish and chips from here on the same day.  They do a deal for a small fish and chips for 2.00.  Fantastic value, but James and I were put off as the chips, whilst salty, soft and very more-ish were clearly frozen.  I'd recommend the place if this doesn't bother you.  I can't vouch for the fish but Rikki also went back a few days later for a jumbo hotdog.  And it really was jumbo!  It was also piled high with fried onions (which ended up on his shoes) and gallons of tomato sauce and mustard (which ended up on his shirt).  I think the traveling vegetables and condiments show how good a hotdog is.  Again I didn't taste it, but Rikki really enjoyed it!  I'm unable to give Donnas a rating as I didn't have anything from there myself.

Next up was Seaview Takeaway.  It cost James and I just over a tenner for cod and chips twice and a can of Fanta.  The fish still had the skin on, which I'm not fond of.  I think it makes the fish taste oil-spilly.  But it was tender and well cooked and the batter was very crisp, nearly burned kind of crisp.  That's a good thing in my book.  I did enjoy the chips but they were nothing special.  I was a bit cross as the salt and vinegar were behind the counter and were put on by the lady who served us.  I think salt and vinegar is quite an individual taste, so to not be allowed to put it on myself spoiled the meal for me, giving Seaview Takeaway a 5/10.  As usual I couldn't finish it all and the seagulls got their fill too.


Finally on Thursday we went to Jaws.  This takeaway also had a table service restaurant.  We ate on the picnic tables out front.  They were shoehorned in and you kind of ended up sitting over one and a half tables as the benches were back to back.  You ordered at the counter and they brought the food out to you, which was nice as you didn't end up standing in a huge queue at the counter waiting or get split up from the rest of the party as everyone else has gone to score a table.  James has a large cod and chips, mine was a normal size and I had mushy peas.  We also shared a bottle of Fanta, which accumulated to approx 12.00.  This was definitely the best fish and chips we had that week.  The batter was crispy and dry, the chips were freshly cut and cooked, soft and fluffy and a little bit crisp.  The salt and vinegar were brought out to the table with your meal, so I got to add them as and when I wanted (you may be getting a vibe I'm a bit obsessive about salt and vinegar on fish and chips).  The mushy peas were sweet and soft and just the right shade of green.  I often find that mushy peas are a bit bland but these were perfect.  The miracle that makes Jaws was that I ate all my fish!  And I only left half a dozen chips!  Which James gave a good home.  For me it was the best fish and chips I've had outside of Whitby.  But it wasn't all perfect.  The place also serves pies and fried chicken which Felicity and Rikki enjoyed, but sauces (i.e. mayonnaise, tomato sauce etc) was 20p each!  A bit of a rip off to me.  Connie's meal wasn't up to much either.  Whilst she enjoyed the nuggets (she's not a big chip fan) there was nothing else that came with the meal and whilst the menu said 'box of juice' when my sister asked what flavours they had, there was only fizzy drinks.  Connie is only four and Felicity and I are fanatical about looking after our teeth, so Connie is too little for fizzy drinks.  The only alternative was a bottle of water, so that's what she had.  And shock horror, she didn't really want it.  Felicity is still fuming about that!  So that's a 7/10.


All other meals were eaten in the caravan, cooked by yours truly.  We didn't eat anything in the Butlins campus as it all tends to be fast food that's massively overpriced.  We did run around the tuppence slot machines a few times, played pool and went bowling.  Butlins is a fab place for young kids and young teenagers, as it's a relatively safe environment and it has plenty of stuff going on that they like to do.  However if you have older teenagers watch them like a hawk!  There are many dark corners and it was whilst visiting Minehead Butlins with friends eleven years ago that my then seventeen year old sister met her now husband.  This time around however it involved classic board games, cards, dvds and copious amounts of alcohol.  A good time was had by all!

Unpretty coffee and walnut muffins

So called as they are not the most attractive muffins I've made.  Apologies for the lack of pictures, as previously stated they are not photogenic!  Historically I suck at creating anything even remotely coffee-ish so I had no hopes whatsoever when I set out to create these little treats.  I was armed with my basic muffin recipe, a cupboard full of baking gear and as I had no faith in myself, I was fearless!  They turned out delicious.  Be warned!  If you attempt these they do look and taste not best pleasant at every step of the way until completed.  Again, due to trial and error, and my catastrophes as well as my acheivements are being published, future alterations will be documented following the recipe.  This recipe follows the same basic muffin ingredients as the breakfast muffins.

• 250mls milk
• 80mls vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 120g caster sugar
• 280g self raising flour
• 3 tablespoons instant coffee (I used Kenco Smooth Blend which is my everyday coffee of choice, but any decent coffee I'm sure would work)
• 100g rough crushed walnuts (I shoved 'em in a bag and bashed 'em with a rolling pin)
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 150g icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180c.  Line a muffin tray with muffin cases (Much of this really is exactly the same but bear with me).
2. Beat egg and sugar until light and fluffy.  In a separate bowl combine oil and milk.  Add milk and oil to sugar and egg until combined.
3. To the coffee, add just enough boiled water to dissolve the granules (approx 50mls).  When mixed, stir the coffee into the existing mixture.  Stir in the golden syrup and crushed walnuts until both are thoroughly and evenly mixed in.
4. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases.  The muffin batter is very runny but that's ok.  I filled the cases to the top and they rose ok.  Bake for 15-20mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Poomf the icing sugar through a sieve (it makes it easier to dissolve) and add the vanilla extract.  It will be thick and stick to the spoon in a very annoying manner which is difficult to get off).  Add warm water 1 teaspoon at a time until the icing is the desired consistency, which should be thick enough to drip very slowly off the spoon.
6. Drizzle the icing over the cooked and cooled muffins so it is thick and messy when set. 

When I made these I tasted them at every step of the way and I was never happy that they were right!  Even the vanilla icing, which I admittedly got lazy with and it was far too runny, never tasted right.  Next time I make these I will either make sure to make the icing properly or top them with American style thick vanilla frosting.  Let me know what you think if you make them :).