November News from Nutter....

What a month. From food festivals, judging cooking competitions, hosting award dinners, putting my new book to print, oh and of course nearly blowing up Rochdale with my firework display on November 5th.

The great Northern Cook Off went down a storm – held at The Midland Hotel. I’ve now hosted it for 3 years and have to say it was the best ever.

Our sell-out Guy Fawkes event was a blast and I’m still recovering now – it’s one night I really allow myself to let my hair down and party.

Really excited about the next few weeks – my new book (it had to be extended to 224 pages as there were too many great recipes) is out. “Nuts About Food” will be hitting the book shelves from December and is being billed as the must have cook book – so anyone looking for a fab Christmas gift – that’s the answer! Cheers! Nutter...

Steve Walpole takes a break in Yorkshire then returns with the pikey Viking.....

I finally got a holiday this month and for the first time in a long while stayed in this country. We had a family break in Yorkshire. Being an Essex boy I had thought I had seen my fair share of farms and fields but where we stayed in Ingleton was truly a beautiful picture. My daughter loved the fact that outside her bedroom window we had cows in the field and the farmer had sheep dogs and puppies. Even got to sample a lot of the local food and one place in particular took our fancy and that was the Riverside Restaurant in Barnard Castle. One of the best meals we had by far. You never know I may have been converted to Yorkshire life.

Anyway back now and straight into a great event, not in Essex this time but sunny (Not) Leeds. Typical I go all the way to Yorkshire for a holiday then return to go all the way back again. Need to organize my diary better lol. This was a different type of event than I have done before, we had four chefs all showcasing their own dishes in a taste of celebrity chefs style. So I was pitched against the very talented Martin Blunos, the Irish master Paul Rankin and the French Mistro Franck Pontais. Being the cocky chappie that I am I had complete faith in my menu until Mr Blunos unleashed his show case dessert of egg and soldiers, with that my posh bananas and custard ( banana tart tatin, almond brittle and traditional custard) had a bit of work to do. Especially as SOMEONE ( yes you Mr B) spread a rumor that I was using birds instant how very dare you. But it was a great day and the clients were bowled over that they could pick and choose as well as interact with us chefs. Plus it was in a fabulous venue of Harewood House, so all in all a long day but an enjoyable one. Judging by the feed back I am sure the Essex boy cleaned up, pikey Viking was definitely 2nd but gave me a run for my money. Good news for me is I will be nicking his ideas for British Airways First Class but don’t tell him.

Catch up soon people

Steve

We (try to!) catch up Martin Blunos..... children look away!!

the Pikey Vikings back (albeit slowly):

'been running around like a 'nutter' (no disrespect Andrew - love him to bits) anyway for my troubles Ive picked up two speeding tickets in as many weeks. So now up to nine points my driving has become, how shall I put it, 'more sensitive to the environment = slow'. Mind you there are pro's and con's to this form of driving - on the plus side my fuel bills are much much lower - on the minus I get overtaken by anything with the semblance of an engine (a mobility scooter towing a four birth caravan had me on the A46 last week - he'll see who the daddy is when I'm back to six points!!).

Strange how things happen in threes. Those two brushes with the law led to an invite to prison (maybe the big man is trying to tell me something?). The gig at HMP Earlstoke, a category C venue down my way was to attend a formal dinner cooked by the inmates followed by a ready steady style cook off between three prisoners that I was asked to judge. The dinner was triffic and the cook off was a blast. The winner received a tidy engraved silver salver - and whilst posing for the obligatory pics he whispered to me that the last time he had anything like that in his possession he got five years for it - wicked what!

Also (see pic) my boy Max, the drummer, got me an acting part in another music video, my second to date (check out you tube / trigger the bloodshed / laceration video for the first, I'm the one chained to the floor - yeah I thought that would would make you have a look), at this rate I reckon I could be to rock videos what Harvey Keitel is to Tarantino films (small parts but integral to the plot. Ha! I had play a bit of a lech (stereotyping or what?). I'll keep you posted on release date (sometime early 2010).

laters peeps

John Quilter films in Wales and raves about the produce....

Octobers been a busy month for me. I'm working on a new menu for an exciting new business thats launching in London next year – I'll keep you posted. Also I had a cooking demonstration at Manchester's Arndale market and three days filming in Pembrokeshire south Wales for a TV pilot.

Hundreds of visitors helped Haverfordwest Farmers Market celebrate its 10th birthday at this year's Harvest Fayre. The annual autumn fayre, which was held in glorious autumn sunshine, celebrates the best seasonal local produce as well as British Food Fortnight. Stall holders reported bumper sales as visitors browsed through the tempting choice of delicious local produce on offer.

There were cookery demonstrations, recipe ideas, tastings and me running round like a man on a mission. I had a day to visit suppliers to find the right local produce to turn into a mouth watering and profitable lunchtime offer. I visited local mountain farm Cig Lodor and got some fantastic lamb that I minced on site with owner Benny. The next day I was feeling the pressure a bit as I struggled to make 120 Lamb burgers for the lunch time rush. I made it with 10 minutes to spare, of course, and sold out 2 hours later, whooo. It was a real hoot although I thought the camera crew were a bit lazy to be honest......well I was the only one doing any work.

Pembrokeshire is a foodie heaven with a selection of the finest producers in the UK with a number of great restaurants, my top tip is try Cwtch in St Davids. Rachel who owns and runs the place used to be an advertising exec in a former life. She gave it all up to follow her dream of becoming a restaurateur and this passion comes through in the service and food thats served.

The award-winning Haverfordwest Farmers Market is held every other Friday and is managed by Pembrokeshire County Council. It was the FARMA Farmers Market of the Year and True Taste Gold Retail winner in 2005/6, a FARMA regional winner in 2006/7 and runner up in the FARMA rural Farmers Market of the Year this year. Well worth a visit.

I'd like to say a big thank you to Kate from the County Council, the guys from the tourist board and John, Phil, Alex and Lee (the work shy camera crew!).

See you soon
JQ

The ever smiling Paul Da Costa Greaves updates us and introduces his latest addition!

Sun's shining & what have I done these last few months!.....

August - It's now been 7 years now since loosing my little girl.(dog)...my energetic Weimeraner, her ashes still placed in a lovely oak box sitting above the log fire. As a madness moment I decide to pop a Google alert on for 'Weimeraner puppies!' yes as you can see from the picture my new little girl called kharma!. Lets face it could you say no to her..? The 1st week so far into august and exactly 1 month to go for this years Speciality Fine Food show in London. I'm ready with samples, press releases and promotional merchandise, and the new packaging for the Christmas puddings look FAB....

On another note the restaurant is busy which is to be expected and yippee no cooking demo's or business meetings so far booked in, this makes a lovely change not to pop on a face pack!...

The suns still shinning and the chickens are all laying, lots of lovely soft fruit to be picked from the fruit section of the paddock and apart from a few hit and misses my lettuce has certainly been in abundance ....

September - 2 weeks to go before I pick up Kharma! I've never done so much gardening!....filling in the garden holes made by badgers and replacing the holes also in the fence with chicken wire so she can't get out or get the chickens. Business is starting to pick up with a few new chocolate sales which is good and the billboard campaigns we have had running has certainly driven new interest. Speciality fine food show went very well, met with Fortnum & Mason's buying department and now Selfridges are wanting samples, wow suddenly I'm again in demand....! Ahhh I can fee the face pack ritual coming back.

Oooooo 1 week to go now and I'm pleased to say I'm very much ahead of my schedule, I've spent the day planting my winter seedlings for the restaurant, and the eggs from the girls are going down a treat in the restaurant, nothing like being a little self sufficient. The big day arrives and shes so gorgeous, alas I know she won't stay like that for long..!!..but lovely to enjoy the moment and to have another dog in the household, and shes already found her favorite spot in front of the Aga.

Big week end 26th & 27th and what glorious weather still. I've got a full on packed weekend of cooking demo's, which I've organised for one of our new major wholesale accounts. At least I suppose all the recipes are on how to use our branded retail seaweed sauces and to showcase our new Christmas puddings in a box. Ha some days I feel like 'George Foreman' promoting his lean cuisine cooking machine!!...

Staying one step a head I'm also ready with my Christmas menu which is also available as a download.....http://WWW.galleyrestaurant.co.UK/assets/alternative_menu.PDF

Well peeps See you in a few weeks for next blog where I'll be posting a fab sensory chocolate cake recipe!

Update from Steve Walpole...

well after weeks of hard work, up to birmingham and back, photos, recipes, videos, removing half a ton of flour from my hair ( take a look at the steve walpole tab on the web site and you will see), Aspire2 cook is up and running. i mentioned this a few months back but steve myers and the team have worked tirelessly to get this going and i think its fabulous. take a look at the site ww.aspire2cook.co.uk I believe this is a major step forward for healthy eating and food education in schools. also i am loving the fact i have become a cartoon character too. not quite superman or batman but all the same i have now been imortilised into a 2D format. good news is i will now never age ha ha.

also been busy demonstarting around essex. was at the RHS chili fire weekend last weekend, although ended up with lips like Katie price for a couple of hours after using the wrong chilli in a chocolate fondant but fun all the same see us professionals are not all perfect oops. then 5 course dinner party event at the smart cookery school this weekend great fun and a real laugh, nice to meet people who love to cook, have fun and enjoy trying new things, so looking forward to a rest over the next few days. chance to recoup and recharge ready for the next few months and dare i say it the build up to christams gee its only 14 weeks away. well if the shops have christmas crackers already i am allowed to mention it

happy cooking people catch up soon

steve

Valentina updates us.....

It has been a very busy summer! I spent what now feels like most of it in Suffolk, at The Crown in Framlingham
where I hosted several very well-attended special dinners, and some cooking classes, as well as taking over the daily specials menu...a lot of headless chicken behaviour, but I loved every minute, except for the tardy arrival of the (completely uncleaned) seafood for the Seafood Extravaganza on the final Friday night. It is really not funny at all to be presented with the task of cleaning 5 courses and 70 customers worth of scallops, mussels, squid etc. at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, single-handed, for a 7 p.m. start!! Various members of staff got roped in to clean and prepare, undertaking gooey, messy activities that were certainly not in their original job description! I’m back in London now, starting yet another cookery book (Pasta Galore, the latest published, is in your shops now!) and having a bazillion meetings about all kinds of wonderful potential projects, so who knows where I’ll be this time next month? I am keeping a few plates spinning, as usual, and will let you know more once one or more of them lands safely – keep your fingers crossed for me won’t you?

Last weekend I was at Goodwood, for the Revival, which is a truly incredible bit of theatre on an enormous scale, I dressed up, and I’m glad I did because almost everybody else there is beautifully authentic in their vintage gear. Went to see Julie and Julia yesterday, for a little light relief and to stop my head spinning out of control with all these ideas and proposals to prepare, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you simply must go! The filleting of the Sole Meuniere, right at the start, is an epic moment of food cinematography! Bon Appetit! In the inimitable accent of Julia Child, (or do I mean Meryl Streep?).

Keith Floyd....

We are incredibly sad by the news that Keith Floyd enjoyed his last lunch on Monday and will no longer be entertaining us with his charm, knowledge and unconventional cooking style.

In my cooking days my team frequently referred to me as a ‘female Keith Floyd’ and I was flattered to be placed in the same sentence (though on reflection the ‘odd slurp’ was probably the only comparison…). He inspired me enormously and his ability to bounce back was a great inspiration. My fondest memory was the Ostrich scene in Africa when he eventually gave up and the ostrich’s took over – classic!

RIP Keith, there will never be another legend quite like you.

Rosemary

Prepare To Go Nuts!!

Andrew Nutter's second book, Nuts About Food will be hitting the shelves this Christmas. 192 pages of fabulous recipes, top tips, techniques and ideas, plus dazzling photography by Tim Bradley - What more could you ask for?

Roast pig anyone??

Steve Walpole gets judging...

Well its now the day after my 2nd full day of judging at this years Quality Food Awards and I have booked into the gym for a monster session to burn off the excess food I have eaten and all I can think is I still have another day to go on Friday. Ahhh!!

This is my 3rd year now of judging this event and I must say its great. The people who organize this event Metropolis Business Publishing are fantastic and especially Nancy Mok, Helen Lyons and my favorite home economist lady Iris from Woman’s Weekly who manages single handedly to keep me in line. When the cheeky Essex lad gets all excitable over anything about products well mostly the cakes section

The Quality Food Awards celebrate their 30th anniversary this year – they are the most prestigious awards for food and drink products on sale in the UK. Obviously I do not eat and judge on every category other wise I will end up swapping the motorbike for a fork lift. There is a vast panel of judges from across a broad section of industries to help with this mammoth task and so we get asked to judge on set days and certain categories. This year I judged local food, fresh produce and frozen items on one day and then I also judged breads, cheeses and sauces and accompaniments on another day. The standard this year was good and although I cannot give much away there were some great products. It is a real eye opener to what the supermarket, retail and consumer markets are up to and what they are focusing on. Its great to see everyone cleaning up their acts on ingredients list, packaging, and quality products. Even the value catagories have seen a massive improvement. It has certainly changed my shopping habits and also shows that the under dogs are not as far behind as you might think.

Anyway check out the site and look out for the quality awards mark when shopping - trust me it means what it is. We do endeavor to give the best awards to the best products (even if I do favor the cakes ha ha ) so you can rely on the logo.

Regards, Steve Walpole