Hull Global Food Festival
22-24 August 2008

Hull City Centre is set to host its 2nd 3 day Global Food Festival from the 22nd- 24th August 2008. With a main event stage, marquees and markets as well as a complete programme of entertainment, there really will be something for everyone!

Nigel will be demonstrating fabulous fish dishes in conjunction with The Yorkshire & Humber Seafood Group over all 3 days. Celebrity chef and host of BBC2’s Ready Steady Cook, Ainsley Harriott, will also be taking to the main stage on the Saturday of the festival, creating mouth-watering dishes and sharing expert hints and tips.

Last year’s event proved to be huge success with around 100,000 extra visitors flocking to the centre of Hull to grab a taste of the action. This year’s line-up of chefs, exhibitors, demonstrators and stall holders promises to be just as impressive, showcasing the best in local produce and global cuisine.

For the duration of the festival, the centre of Hull will be transformed into a bustling hub of activity with several key locations hosting markets, demonstrations, speciality produce and, of course, giving away free samples!

The festival offers a great time for all the family in the run up to the August bank holiday, with the markets providing a range of products from around the world and a series of events on the main stage that are just too good to miss!

For more information about Nigel Brown and The Nigel Brown Cookery Academy visit www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk

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Come and watch Nigel take part in a Hull version of Ready Steady Cook called “Dash Out, Dish Up” with Ainsley on Saturday 23rd August on the main stage at 10am in Hull city centre.

For more information about Hull Global Food Fest 2008 visit http://www.hullglobalfoodfest.co.uk/index.html

Strawberry Summer Cheesecake 

Makes one 8 inch cheesecake

Ingredients

6 Digestive Biscuits or 12 Ginger Nuts

100g melted Unsalted Butter

Filling

250g Full Fat Cream Cheese

250g Extra Thick Double Cream

1 tbsp Elderflower Cordial

Icing Sugar (for additional sweetness if required)

1 Punnet (approx 250g) Strawberries

Method

1. Using olive oil, lightly oil one 8” flan ring.

2. Melt the butter to a liquid, add to the crushed biscuits and mix until completely    coated.

3. Place the flan ring on your serving tray. Place the biscuit base in the flan ring and using the back of a spoon flatten and smooth the complete base to the edges of the ring.

4. Combine the cream cheese, double cream and elderflower cordial together.

5. Wash and hull the strawberries removing a slice from the bottom of the strawberry. Slice the strawberries to the required thickness and place neatly on the inside edge of the flan ring. If possible, raise the strawberries to the top of the ring.

6. Pour in the filling mixture and using a palette knife spread and flatten the mixture to the top of the ring. If time allows, refrigerate for 2 hours.

7. Just before serving, remove the ring, garnish with additional strawberries, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream and/or your chosen coulis.

Strawberry Coulis Recipe 

250g washed, hulled strawberries

100g icing sugar

Place both ingredients into a thick bottom pan. Gently heat to boil. Once the strawberries have become a pulp, remove from heat and using a hand blender blend to a liquid, pass through a fine sieve to remove the seeds, chill and refrigerate.

For additional flavour you may wish to add a liqueur of your choice such as Grand Marnier.

For more information about The Nigel Brown Cookery Academy visit www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk

Just been cooking on the Barbecue this afternoon and cooked some superb pork steaks which you might like to try yourself. First of all, make sure your bbq charcoal is completely flame and smoke free, your charcoal should be glowing with a white surface, this will stop you from having charred and sooty pork steaks and them still being raw in the middle.

Your can find more exciting recipes on my website www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk

Nigel Brown

For the first time The Nigel Brown Cookery Academy opened it’s door to pupils from Kirton Middlecott School in Lincolnshire.

The six lucky students were selected from the “Gifted and Talented” group by Head of Food Technology Sally Walsh to attend The Academy run by top chef Nigel Brown. Their day started with a tour round the garden, vegetable patch and greenhouse then straight into the kitchen to get “hands-on” preparing pastillage boxes to be filled later in the day with champagne chocolate truffles. After making some speciality bread with camembert and mediterranean vegetables the students moved on to preparing a lunch of chicken provencale en croute with buttered new potatoes which they all enjoyed in the dining room.

The afternoon was spent assembling and decorating their sugar boxes and creating little chocolate truffles to fill them. A great deal of tasting went on but hopefully a few truffles managed to make it home on the school’s minibus back to Boston. 

Nigel said “The children were an absolute pleasure to teach, they were keen and attentive and a credit to their school”.

For more information about Nigel Brown and The Academy visit www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk

Thanks to everyone who came to say hello at this wonderful show.

We were very lucky with the weather, just a bit of a downpour Sunday afternoon but it didn't dampen any spirits.

Nigel cooked up a beautiful tuna steak wrapped in bacon with mediterranean tagliatelli and a white wine dressing followed by caramalised bananas with a toffee sauce and fresh strawberries in a sugar basket.

Hope to see you all again at Newby Hall this weekend.

Shugborough Hall, Craft, Food and Garden Show

Milford, Near Stafford
ST17 0XB

  

After spending two years at Weston Park this enormously popular show returns to its home at Shugborough Hall. Shugborough Hall is a tranquil setting in the heart of Cannock Chase National Park, one of the country’s finest areas of outstanding natural beauty. The show takes place on the front lawn of the ancestral home of the Earl of Lichfield and is bigger and better than ever before with trade stands, attractions and entertainment to keep the whole family entertained. Those of you with an eye for quality have the opportunity to browse and purchase an enormous array of products from up to 150 trade stands.

     

Don’t worry about purchasing too much, or too many heavy items as we provide a ‘carry it to your car’ service. To help plan your day you can find below a list of all the attractions that will be at the show. 

Attractions include:
 
Huge Craft Marquee, Fantastic Food Hall, Dozens of Specialist Garden Nurseries, Wood Turning Demonstration, Children’s Make ’n’ Bake Area, Craft Make ’n’ Take Area, Celebrity Chef Cookery Demonstrations, Clay Workshop, Amazing Flying Vulture, Chainsaw Carving, Garden Design experts, Children’s Planting Workshop, Gardeners Question Time (including Shugborough’s very own head gardener), Kids Zone, Monster Bouncy Castles, Kids Quad Bikes, Pets Corner, Donkey Sanctuary, Cooking with Spices Demonstration, Pedro’s Circus Skills Workshop (suitable for young and old), Archery, Owls Great and Small, Dog Display, Live Music, Card Making Workshop, Full Catering Facilities.

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Nigel Brown  is coming to Shugborough Hall

 

Celebrity chef Nigel Brown will be giving three free demonstrations each day and will be available to chat to afterwards at The Nigel Brown CookeryAcademy stand. For more information about Nigel and other events he will be attending visit www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk

  
       

Show opening times: 10am – 5pm daily  Admission charges: Adults £5.00, Children £2.00, Family Ticket £15.00 (up to 2 adults and 3 children) Under 5’s go free This charge does not include entry to the house and farm.     

How to get there:  

Shugborough lies just a few miles from the county town of Stafford and is well signed from Junction 13 of the M6. The main entrance is located at Milford Common on the A513 Stafford to Lichfield Road.  

BY CAR Follow the brown heritage tourist signs from Junction 13 of the M6.  

BY TRAIN The nearest mainline stations are Stafford and Rugeley.  

BY BUS A public transport stop is situated near to the pedestrian entrance to Shugborough in the village of Great Haywood (Clifford Arms/Essex bridge). Arriva bus routes are 841/844 Stafford / Rugeley.   

The weather was beautiful and the food was fantastic at last weekend's Taste of Leeds Festival. Top chefs from around the region produced michelin star food for the 10,000 visitors to sample.

In the Taste Kitchen, sponsored by Sainsbury's, chef's including Antony Worrall Thompson, Aldo Zilli and Nigel Brown demonstrated different recipes using sirloin steak, cheese and strawberries.

Have you ever wondered why the cakes and pastries always look so tempting and appealing in the baker's window or the sweet trolley in your favourite classy restaurant?

The Superchef Secret is mirrors. If you pop into your local supermarket and buy a box of fancy cakes for tea, once you've opened the packet and plonked them on a plate they never quite resemble the pretty picture on the front of the box. However, if you dig out that old mirror you put in the back of the garage because it didn't match your new colour scheme, give it a good clean with some antibacterial spray and then arrange your cakes and pastries on the top, suddenly you've promoted your French fancies and mini éclairs into top chef style petit fours.

Nigel Brown's Top Tip Is Mirrors

The same principle applies to all kinds of other dishes too. Cold meats look fantastic fanned out over the mirror with some cherry tomato and parsley garnishing, samosas look like they've doubled in quantity and a large creamy gateau wouldn't look out of place during afternoon tea at The Ritz.

For a truly spectacular dish, why not try using a fairly large mirror with a whole poached salmon, skinned and garnished with lemon and cucumber laid on a bed of blue-tinted aspic jelly. This makes a fantastic centre piece to your table and will have your guests gasping in admiration at your skill and talent.

For more information about Nigel and his cookery academy check out
www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk