Mr LTT’s parents gave us this totally amazing hamper for Christmas and it had some of this popcorn from a company called Joe & Seph’s in. I was instantly taken with the branding, I can’t help it, it’s my day job to appreciate beautifully designed things! I found this amazing organic popcorn company called Quinn before Christmas, they’re based in the US. They’re a startup who got seed funding by people pledging maybe $1 or $2. I wondered why no-one was doing something similar in the UK. After all, my experience of popcorn pretty much amounts to stale popcorn from the cinema. And we don’t go to the cinema nowadays. There’s one less than a mile away but we haven’t been for over a year. I think it’s expensive (unless you go on Orange Wednesdays when it’s packed out) and the seats are uncomfortable. At home (although obviously we have to wait to see films) we get the best seats in the house, toilet breaks without missing the action and regular cups of tea.

So anyway, back to this popcorn…I have NEVER asked for PR samples before, it’s just not my style. But when I tasted the popcorn from the hamper and saw like HOW MANY AMAZING FLAVOURS THERE ARE (salty caramel, goat’s cheese and black pepper, smooth caramel and almond), I knew I would have to ask for a little Samply McSample. Mr Joe was nice enough to send me three flavours: Toffe apple and cinnamon, Valentine’s flavour caramel, white chocolate and strawberry, and mirin, soy and sesame flavour.

The popcorn is “the finest air popped corn” by the way. The toffee apple and cinnamon is a really good wintery flavour. Bags of flavour, loved the cinnamon notes mixed with a little bit of apple and a sugary toffee high…

The caramel, white chocolate and strawberry is “seductively fruity” (according to the pack) and yes, I’d totally agree with that. The flavour was a lighter one, it reminded me of spring. The strawberry flavour mixed with the white chocolate was totally delicious. And because it’s a special Valentine’s popcorn, it does seem like quite a tempting option for the big day if you want to save a few pennies but still have a great foodie experience!

Finally, for those without a crazy sweet tooth, there’s some great savoury options. I was SO GLAD I was sent the mirin, soya and sesame flavour. I think you probably know how much I love asian food since I talk about it QUITE A LOT. They’re like rice crackers on speed. There’s black and white sesame seeds on, and each taste made me want to pop another piece in my mouth. They’ve got that wonderful salty sweet flavour.

So where can you get hold of these amazing popcorn delights? Well there’s quite a few stockists nationally, but the easiest way is to buy them online from Joe & Seph’s. You can get three pouches for £12 – shipping is free within the UK (BONUS) and they’ll also ship to Europe and the US!

PS Thanks Mr Joe for sending me the popcorn, you’re awesome

Yes so remember I mentioned my diet was going well? I think PRs must sense this and then want to send me treats. But these new Häagen-Dazs Secret Sensations icecreams are well worth being a bit naughty for.

I was sent these new Häagen-Dazs flavours to review through the Häagen-Dazs program. It’s pretty neat actually, when I joined the program they sent me a USB stick shaped like a Häagen-Dazs tub (it’s amazing, everyone at work is envious!) and a scoop plus some gorgeous Cowshed goodies! Last week I was sent these by courier and I was so worried because even though Mr LTT works at home, he was going to be out at meetings on the day they were going to arrive. This meant I had to have them delivered to work where there’s no freezer and I thought they’d be melted by the time I got home and have good light to photograph by. I needn’t have worried! It arrived on dry ice which I’d never seen before and although I cheekily ate one of the chocolate fondant ones at lunch and opened the box, they were still really really frozen by the time I got home and finally got them in the freezer!

So the new flavours…the first is chocolate fondant. The chocolate icecream is quite rich but the mini cup is just the perfect size portion to make sure you don’t overdo it.

There’s little brownie pieces sprinkled through the icecream and rich chocolate sauce centre. I liked working my way from the outside to the inside and getting lots of sauciness at the end.

The thing I really love about Häagen-Dazs ice cream is that it’s got such a smooth flavour, the chocolate is really good quality, exactly what you want and because it doesn’t melt quickly I had time to savour every mouthful!

My favourite of the two (and that doesn’t mean that the chocolate fondant wasn’t delicious because IT TOTALLY WAS) is the Crème Brûlée.

It’s vanilla flavour with crunchy bits of caramel just like the crispy top on a traditional Crème Brûlée and then, just like the chocolate fondant one, there’s a saucy centre which in this one is caramel sauce.

Both flavours are sexy-licious. Yeah I just made that word up, but when you try them you’ll completely agree with me! They’re available now and you can buy them in packs of two x 100ml (RRP £3.29) or single 100ml tubs (RRP £1.99).

I was due to write this post later this week until Mr Lay the table informed me that he’d wiped the camera memory and had therefore lost all the photos for the other post I was going to write. He is currently in the dog house! Luckily I still have lovely stuff to write about! On Thursday I will be on BBC Radio Leeds with the lovely Lynn from Clandestine Cake Club and My Secret Team Room, so if you have a chance, please listen in from around 9am I think! It’s all about National Cake Week so please bake a cake and donate some money to Marie Curie Cancer Care.

It’s always nice to get the gift of chocolates but it’s really super lucky to receive Lucky’s chocolates.

Lucky’s chocolates are like a halfway house between chocolate and cake. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, the “Mad Hatter” chocolates I was sent to review are brownie based inside, mixed with a special filling then cased in chocolate.

Look how beautiful the box is! There’s a little peep hole to let you have a sneak peek and see the surprise inside…

There’s dark, milk and white chocolates in my selection with names like “Salty Insanity” (a salted caramel chocolate), “Coco rush” (creamy coconut filling) and “Hurry Bunny” (blueberry compote). Oh, I didn’t mention it before but they’re all covered Valrhona chocolate, it’s like totes the best quality chocolate. And they’re hand made too (I do love a bit of handicraft).

They are truly some of the most unique chocolates I’ve come across. They taste divine too – honestly I had a job to keep a hold of them at work when they arrived and was sure I wouldn’t have enough to photograph! I think my favourite was the Looney Raspberry – raspberry and pistachio pieces. The only problem was I had to keep checking on the website to find out what each one had in them as there was no information card inside!

These are luxury chocolates and so they do come with a luxury price tag – the Mad Hatter 12 piece box is priced at £35 but there is free delivery. I definitely think I’d order a few of these for Christmas gifts because they’re so unusual. Who knows, maybe Mr Lay the table might get one in his stocking!

Get your Lucky’s chocolate at Lucky’s online shop

I was sent these lovely loose teas by Squeeze me juice. When I opened the parcel and saw the pretty foil-sealed packaging I knew I was in for a treat! In the pack I had two teas: Good Morning Sunshine which is Golden Monkey King tea and sunflower petals, and Simply The Zest which a fruit tea which is zesty citrus with hibiscus and rosehip.

I opened the Good Morning Sunshine. It had a very nostalgic effect on me as it smelt of a little hay and it reminded me of summers spent horse riding. I brewed up the Good Morning Sunshine and had a try. When it’s brewing it turns a lovely chestnut colour. I did add a splosh of milk but not too much, but it would also be nice with a slice of lemon and some honey. It’s wonderful – a breakfast tea with a tiny hint of flower that isn’t too overpowering (no hay taste when brewed!). I’ll be honest, I’m actually drinking this a lot at the moment instead of a full on builders brew. It’s light and yet still packs a good taste punch. Mr Lay the table described it as ‘like earl grey without the strong flower taste’.

Next I got out the Simply The Zest. On opening the bag there’s the wonderful aroma of berries, it feels very comforting and relaxing and it’s great to see all the bits, rather than them being ground up.

What a pretty colour my brew was! This was a great fruity flavour and even though I’m not normally a fan of fruit teas, with a bit of sugar for my sweet tooth it was quite delectable. You could taste the rosehip but it accentuated the other zesty flavours rather than overpowering them. A great taste for those looking for a caffeine free refreshment or you just love fruit tea.

You can buy these lovely Squeeze Me Teas Me teas for £3.99 a pack (100g) from the Squeeze Me Juice shop

Now is your chance to win an absolutely amazing cheese prize!

President are giving away a luxury French food hamper filled with amazing treats, plus a year’s supply of brie, perfect for a cheeky brie and bacon sarnie. The total prize value is £350!

What’s inside:

• Traditional French Cornichons
• Fortnum’s Relish
• Picadilly Blend Coffee caddy
• Bountiful Butter Thins
• Olive Bazaar
• Fortnum & Mason Biscuits for Cheese
• Fortnum’s Chablis, Louis Michel, Bottle
• Olive Oil
• Marc de Champagne Truffle

Président® research shows that 72% of Brits spend less than 15 minutes eating lunch and 3/4 of Britons scoff their food without even tasting it, suggesting we are opting for quick and tasteless foods, rather than taking the time to enjoy and savour our foods.

The Président® brand is calling on the nation to improve their taste experience and mix up their culinary routine, because they believe that taking the time to taste improves well-being and productivity!

All you have to do to win this amazing prize is answer the question below and leave your email. For full terms and conditions click here

Please note: This is a sponsored competition from President Cheese

Just a quick post really to tell you about the fabulous event that is Clandestine Cake. It’s a monthly event and there’s load of Clandestine Cake Clubs springing up all over the country (and even New Zealand!).

This month I invited the Leeds event to be hosted at my house – we’re very fortunate to have a large kitchen to put all the cakes and also receive all the lovely cake enthusiasts. The theme was “You are what you eat” encouraging us to make cakes that held special memories for us. To be honest, there are only two cakes I remember eating from our childhood: Cartoonies buns (Looney Tunes edition strawberry fairy cakes) and Victoria Sponge. My mum’s Victoria wasn’t the traditional kind, it had apricot jam in and buttercream. I grew up with a hatred for anything but apricot jam until recently, when I tried strawberry jam again a year ago I actually liked it.

As one of the rules of Clandestine Cake is to only make a full size cake, Victoria Sponge was the only option. I made it my way and you can find the recipe for my Summer fruits Victoria sponge. I said I made it, but actually a I had a fair bit of help from the lovely Hayley from Ceriselle.org who I’ve known pretty much since I joined Twitter. I invited her to come and stay at my house as I was holding a blogger event at work and knowing she’s as keen on tea and cake as I am, I knew she’d like to partake of some cake at the club. SO yeah, we make it together and she made all the fruit look way prettier on the top than I ever could.

I seemed to only manage about 3 slices before I felt completely stuffed, even though we’d only had brunch. I had to prostrate myself on the sofa for several hours afterwards to recover! Luckily there’s always loads of cake left over so had some over the next couple of days.

I’d REALLY love you to go and have a look over at Clandestine Cake Club and find out what it’s all about! I shall leave you with a few photos…

A huge butterfly cake

Pineapple upside down cake

Giant lemon french fancy

A beautiful battenburg

Date and walnut loaf

Whipped cream cake

Orange cake

Vanilla and coconut cake

The cake spread!

I’ve heard of the Saucy Fish Co before but as we don’t really go to Tesco where their product is stocked (it’s the other side of the city for us) I’ve never really thought about buying their stuff. As some of you may be aware, I’ve also never really been into fish (a horrific memory of Lowestoft fish market aged 10) but have got into it more recently since Mr Lay the table demanded I stop being so fussy and also thanks to the fabulous fish business Fish&, I’m not eating all sorts of tasty fish combinations. But anyway, back to Saucy Fish Co…They sent me an email asking if I wanted to try their fish and I thought to myself, why not? I had a look on their website and there were lots of tasty fish meals and I wanted in.

Considering how huge our Tesco’s Extra is up here they had a surprisingly poor selection of Saucy Fish Co products. I don’t want to get all monay about how we never get any good stuff in the North because that’s simply not true. I did manage to buy two different types of fish cakes (2 for a fiver) AND some salmon fillets AND extra sauce all for just over a tenner.

We try not to buy too many ready meals here. It’s not that we’re THAT food snobby in the house, it’s usually because we can make it better than what we buy. Fishcakes are a bit more challenging and time consuming though. We tried the smoked haddock and Davidstow cheddar fishcakes with some potatoes from Daddy Lay the table’s veg patch and some peas. A simple fish supper by all accounts but it was a Monday! The outside of the fishcake had a great crunch to it – a good layer of crunch too. Whenever I’ve seen fishcakes before they’ve always got that horrid artificial orange hue to it but not these ones. The cheddar and smoked haddock worked wonderfully together – there was a good amount of cheese sauce, I think I might’ve liked a tiny bit more but at least we didn’t lose out on a load of fish to make way for the sauce. I was quite disappinted we only had one each. I would’ve easily traded in the veg on my plate for another one!

Later in the week we tried the salmon and hollandaise fish cakes – also great because it nice big chunks of salmon in it. Perhaps it’s just that salmon has a more meaty texture anyway. We weren’t sure which one we liked more, they both have their merits. We popped the salmon fillets in the freezer for a later date.

I love all the Saucy Fish Co branding and their website is pretty awesome too (particularly with my web designer hat on!) – that’s where you find out about all their products too. Check out Saucy Fish Co online or stop by Tesco to pick some up!

I’m a bit of a poorly panda this week and what with all that’s going on in the UK right now I don’t feel much like posting. I can only hope all you lovely people are safe at home. I’ve been meaning to post this for weeks – I thought I’d wiped off the images from my camera which annoyed me because I had to bring my camera into work. I knew I was receiving these brownies in the post and I would have to try and get a quick photo before they were plundered by my team.

Brownie Heaven is a mail order brownie company by the same people that run Dine on the Rowe which I’m dying to visit one day. They make all different types of brownie including black forest, Leffe brownies, gluten free brownies and of course you’re dark or white chocolate brownies. They run a monthly competition to win 8 dark chocolate brownies on the Brownie Heaven Facebook Page which is how I came to have these delicious brownies in my hand and consequently in my tummy!

So what are they like? Well, they arrived in a cute little box, wrapped with pretty golden cellophane, ideal for gifting. The brownies are have more of a spongey texture with a bit of squidge and a wonderfully rich dark chocolate flavour. With a lot of chocolate stuff with such a powerful cocoa flavour, the taste can be quite bitter but they’re not at all. They are completely moreish.

Prices start from £9.95 for 8 dark chocolate brownies. You can shop now at http://www.brownieheaven.co.uk ]]> http://laythetable.com/reviews/brownie-heaven-review/feed/ 1 http://laythetable.com/reviews/veal-truffle-ravioli-broad-bean-veloute-exotic-mushrooms-and-wild-asparagus/ http://laythetable.com/reviews/veal-truffle-ravioli-broad-bean-veloute-exotic-mushrooms-and-wild-asparagus/#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 21:27:34 +0000 Becs http://laythetable.com/?p=1334

I’ve been really excited since reading about buying truffles by the gramme from Mister Truffle on Meemalee’s blog. I’ve never really tried truffles before so when the stars aligned last week I realised it was time to order.

But what could I put with the truffle? I scoured the internet for ideas and having recently bought my pasta maker decided making my own ravioli would be a great way to put my skills to the test. Sure, I could do it, it looks so easy on the telly! It was not so easy, but I’ve figured out a way to make it easier, which I’ve explained in the recipe.

I managed to get hold of some veal from Headingley Farm Butchers and broad beans from the greengrocers next door, Doves organic type 00 flour from the Headingley Health Food Coop and from our awesome Morrisons I bought tiny little mousseron mushrooms (above), some other little mushrooms I don’t know (below and if you can help me out and tell me what they are I’d appreciate it!) plus wild asparagus.

The broad bean veloute came about because I’d tried a pea one at a restaurant in Portsmouth (it was either Bistro Montparnasse or Restaurant 27) – I tried to make it before but it never really turned out well because it didn’t have enough flavour, this time I think I got it right. The poached egg in the ravioli was inspired by what I saw on Masterchef a couple of years ago, except that they did it as a raviolo (just one) as a starter I think.

I was asked whether I wanted to take part in a little event with So Feminine and my recipe will be be showcased there in the food gallery. I received £50 for the food and so could you as they’re looking for people to take part! If you’re interested, you can download the details here.

{Makes about 2 portions}

Instructions

For the broad bean veloute

• 150g broad beans
• 200ml chicken stock
• 1 shallot
• ½tsp sugar
• 15g butter
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

For the ravioli pasta

• 150g type 00 pasta
• 2 free range eggs

For the ravioli filling

• 1 dozen quails eggs
• 330g veal chops trimmed
• 5g truffles
• 15g butter
• 1 shallot
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 good glugs white wine

Garnish

• A handful of mousseron mushrooms, or other small mushrooms, caps gently wiped with a damp cloth
• 1 bunch of wild asparus, trimmed to leave 1 inch of stalk

Instructions

1. Make the pasta dough by placing the flour in a large bowl and making a well in the centre. Whisk the eggs and pour in to the flour well bit by bit, mixing in between. Once it can form a ball, knead on a floured surface for 15 minutes until the mixture becomes much more elastic. Roll in a ball and wrap with cling film and place in the fridge at least 20 minutes
2. Whilst the dough is in the fridge, you can make the veloute and just warm it through again gently once the ravioli is cooked. Steam the broad beans until their outer shell goes that nasty grey colour, then leave to cool so you can peel the shells off.
3. Slice the shallot then sweat in saucepan with the butter until the shallot softens. Add in broad beans and stock and cook for two or three minutes then blend mixture until smooth. Run mixture through a fine sieve and discard pulp left in sieve. Add the sugar and season well.
4. To make the ravioli filling, slice the veal then mince in a blender. Finely chop the shallot and crush the garlic, then sweat in a saucepan until the shallots are softened. Add in the veal and fry until the veal is cooked then add the two good glugs of white wine. Stir and let it simmer for five minutes or until the wine has been absorbed.
5. Roll the dough through the pasta machine following the machine’s recommendations, I rolled mine down to number 1 as I read ravioli needs to be thin to cook properly. Now this is where it gets a bit experimental as I tried doing this by putting the meat onto the pasta and cracking the egg on top but as the egg ran, it stopped the pasta sealing properly because it was wet on the edge. Using a shallow muffin tin, cut pieces of pasta to fit into the hole and leave an edge. Place a tablespoonful of the meat into each hole, making a little well, then crack the quails egg into the well. Place another piece of pasta dough over the top and press down hard on the edges to seal. Using a round cutter, cut around the edge, then flip out. Boil for 3 minutes.
6. While the pasta’s cooking, steam the asparagus for 3 minutes, and fry the mushrooms in a little olive oil for 2 minutes. You may need to reheat the veloute at this point too.
7. To serve, spoon some of the veloute into a bowl, place the ravioli on top and garnish with asparagus and mushrooms.

OMG OMG OMG, Krispy Kreme is finally coming to Leeds! Well, Burstall actually (you know the one, with the Ikea and Habitat etc) but it’s a heck of a lot closer than Manchester, which was previously the closest place to get my Krispy Kreme fix!

When Krispy Kreme got in contact to let me know the store was coming I was so excited, especially as they kindly sent me some Krispy Kremes to try! They arrived at my work place where I was nearly sieged, “Where did you get these Krispy Kremes from Becs?!” so I shared them out and everyone licked their lips and agreed the same as me, they are the best doughnuts E-V-E-R. They’re really light in texture and melt in the mouth, completely addictive. I love the maple flavour ring doughnuts and the plain ones the bestest. They also do seasonal flavours too like strawberries and cream during the summer.

When I lived in Portsmouth the Krispy Kreme there opened up and I soon became an addict. I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten nearly a whole double dozen in a weekend, so I’ve tried nearly all the flavours. Whenever I go to London and Mr Laythetable asks me to bring him a present, what he actually means is that he wants me to bring him Krispy Kremes.

So the new Krispy Kreme at Centre 27, Birstall opens on Tuesday July 5th but they’re handing out free Krispy Kremes at various places around Leeds beforehand! If you want to find out where they’ll be so you can get yourself some free Krispys, like them on facebook:

And follow them on twitter