bbc good food show round up

so yesterday i met up with two of my uni housemates for a food related jolly in kensington - the bbc good food show to be precise. this is my fourth visit to one of these shows (i like to defy the predominant middle age demographic). they are always a good day out; lots of food (and alcohol...) samples, celeb spotting and a generally fantastic atmosphere.

this year was no exception (possibly even better being the first time i was able to get on the alcohol samples, i think by 1pm i had sample gin, wine, vodka and irish cream - whoops!). i had never been to the olympia venue before, so it was also nice to see a different part of london - the big glass ceiling/windows are a really cool feature.

our day had a definite GBBO off theme - we had our tickets ready to see paul and mary's demonstration in the supertheatre. this was great fun, they are just as quick and witty in person! plus the cameraman was up to all sorts of mischief which got the audience going! there was a controversial moment when paul interacted with the audience: when asking if we had watched GBBO he was (obviously) greeted with a loud cheer. then he asked if we thought the right person had won - a far smaller cheer followed by a tense 'oooh' reverberating around the crowd! he did a cheer-o-meter poll which saw nancy get a small cheer, luis a much more sizeable one - but then the crowd (myself included) erupted for richard! although paul and mary did do a good job of justifying their decision, you could tell the public's choice was very clear.

 

 

we also got the chance to listen to mary berry being interviewed. i got a bit flustered that she was right in front of me - i mean, it's bezza! and i loved hearing that lemon bakes are among her favourite since lemon drizzle is mine - we're practically twins...

 

 loving tiny mary with her massive bodyguard! 

rocking a stylish ensemble as always,

our final GBBO encounter of the day (and by far the most embarrassing) was when i spotted 2014 finalist luis in the middle of the hall. at which point i hissed to my friends to stop. he walked past and i blurted out something mostly incoherent - how do you greet people who you feel you know from tv?! not the way i did, that's for sure! but he was very charming, asking us if we were enjoying our day and i managed to pull myself together enough to congratulate him on getting to the final. to say i get starstruck is an under statement...

but moving away from the celeb portion of the day, let's get to the really important part - the food! here are a few of my highlights from the day!

first up is the brownie bar - i will pretty much let the photos speak for themselves. LOOK AT ALL THE BROWNIES. this was such a stressful decision. eventually i went for chocolate and raspberry which was sooooo good and greatly improved my train journey home. having had a stalk of their website they are based in the north east (sad face) - but do also trade at events so have a look on their website to find out when they will be close to you. they are definitely worth making the effort for.

 

my chocolate and raspberry brownie - delish!

 

 next up - the meringue girls. my friend hannah had already heard of these guys and made a prompt beeline for their stall. it was absolutely stunning (serious food porn) - it was impossible to walk away without making a purchase. i got a passionfruit kiss (so cute) which was perfectly crisp with a slightly gooey-er centre, and a lovely exotic hint.

 

 

 

my last purchase was from olivier's bakery (who are usually located at the borough market in london). stalls of fresh, crispy bread like this are my kryptonite. i bought a lovely rosemary focaccia which i have just been enjoying for lunch.

 

i hope you've enjoying my highlights - if you ever get the chance to go to a good food show, i would highly recommend it. the tickets are very reasonably priced and you more than get your money's worth with everything going on! did any of you visit this weekend? share your pictures and favourite stalls!

love,
nen
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procrastibaking take one: lemon tart

it is a truth universally acknowledged that a student undergoing exam season must be in need of baked goods...

and so it was that during this exam season several hours were set aside for some baking therapy! this included the night before an exam where I really needed to switch off and so whipped up a batch of fairy cakes - a classic bake that involves so little thought and produces a sweet pre exam treat.

however this was only the warm up for a serious procrastibaking season that featured two tarts! this post will track our first attempt, a delicious lemon tart. this is easily one of my favourite desserts, it hits the spot after a good dinner while not being too sickly like chocolate. making one yourself also involves relatively few ingredients so this was a perfect choice for mine and april's first attempt.

we used a mary berry recipe, as she is the queen of home baking, and it included some really useful hints about rolling out the pastry which is the tricky part. we decided to be good (and waste some more time) by making our own pastry - which went surprisingly well! and it makes the tart taste all the better (even if pride is the only addition!)

all the ingredients ready to go

so the first step is to cube the butter and then cut it into the flour. now I didn't know what this meant at first, but a quick google search revealed it's when you use two knives (or a special tool, but who has one of them?!) to break down the butter into the flour. I found this video quite useful for a visual prompt:

the next stage is to add the egg yolk and water to bring the mixture into a pastry dough. there is quite a bit of pastry resting in this recipe, once before being placed into the tin and then again when the tin is ready.

kneading the pastry together

prepping the tin

rolling out the pastry - remember to well flour your rolling pin and surface

getting a bit cheeky with the rolling pin!

once the pastry is in the tin and has been rested it is ready for its first trip to the oven. it is blind baked at first, we used baking beans but you can also use uncooked rice. once it had started to cook we trimmed the excess pastry from the crust, which started to catch so we used tin foil to protect it from burning.

while this is baking we prepared the filling which consisted of a lot of zesting and juicing!



lemons galore!

once the filling is prepared place it into the blink baked pastry case - it is easier to do this while the case is in the oven (with the shelf pulled out) as you don't have to carry it and there is less likely to be any spillages!

the tart then bakes, filling the house with the most delicious smell ever, which meant - as has become expected - we didn't really wait long enough for it to cool before digging in...!

a dusting of icing sugar finishes this off perfectly, and a couple of raspberries would not go amiss

I am pleased to say this tart continued my love for lemon tarts, the pastry was gorgeous and flaky and the filling was the perfect mixture of sharp and sweet. it was delicious both warm and cold, not that it lasted long in our fridge!

I hope the plethora of photographs and the addition of a video makes up for the delay in posting!

love,
nen
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