Summer in the city - lunch at Turtle Bay, Preston

Turtle Bay, Preston sits in the heart of the city near to the Harris Museum and next to the iconic flag market, famous for its warm and friendly relaxed vibe, Turtle Bay is a popular spot in the city and we were recently invited along to sample their new summer menu.

Harking back to the days when the venue was a record shop ( yes I'm that old ... and yes I remember it as a record shop) part of the interior is decorated in homage to its roots, I loved this area, each Turtle bay has similar relaxed Caribbean styling to its decor, rough plasterwork, bare concrete, sheet steel and of course the colours of the Jamaican flag.

                                         

Later in the post there are more images of the fab interior, which screams summer and warm tropical breezes, which put us in a sunshine mood despite it being a typical Lancashire June day outside i.e. 14 degrees and overcast. The welcome was warm and friendly and the team eager to please.

So lets get down to the the food and drinks, the menu has been tweaked to reflect the change in season and the hopefully rising temperatures. 

Drinks - Mr LF was disappointed to discover that the Guinness West Indian Porter he so loved last time we visited was no longer on the menu, so instead he chose the Jamaican Pale Ale, brewed by The Bay especially to complement the jerk dishes at Turtle Bay. 

                                                          

I chose the Elderflower cooler, a refreshing mocktail with elderflower cordial, cucumber ribbons, fresh mint and lime juice topped up with soda and lots of ice. Delicious and very summery.

                                                     

On to the food, starters -  the Classic chilli beef patty for Mr LF, a crisp turmeric spiced pastry parcel, with a ground spiced beef filling and scotch bonnet chillies, served on a plank with baby gem lettuce cups of cooling house mayo.

My choice was the Jerk Pit chicken wings, three wings of chicken, spiced and marinated for 24 hours before being pit grilled,  the skin was a little flabby but  overall a tasty dish served with a choice of glaze, I plumped for pineapple. Sweet spicy and tasty, and very messy... no knifes and forks here.

Mains now, Jammin Lamb burger, a pit grilled lamb and mutton burger, served on a sweet pineapple glazed bun with crispy baby gem lettuce, sliced tomato, fresh mint and onion salad, herb mayo accompanied with spicy fries and Caribbean slaw. Juicy lamby and tasty, but  it wasn't very spicy.

My choice was the Avocado, butternut squash and mango salad, I chose pit grilled garlic and chilli prawns to up the protein content of my dish, I was slightly disappointed (only 4 prawns but they were whoppers) and not very spicy but well cooked. The salad made me smile with crispy gem lettuce, sugar snap peas, beets and juicy avocado and mango, coconut shavings and a citrus lime dressing, very summery and colourful.

                                                   

Dessert time, well it would rude not to, Mr LF loved the sound of the Cayman upside down rum cake, this is Turtle bays equivalent of sticky toffee pudding, warm vanilla rum cake, with rum caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. 

             

I liked the sound of the Spiced Rum and chocolate pot with coconut ice cream, Richly spiced decadent chocolate mousse served with refreshing coconut ice cream, the portion was very large and not very glamorously presented but it tasted very very good, just a little large portion wise given the richness of the pudding. I loved the enamel dishes used , they just look so rustic

                    

Here are more interior shots for you to enjoy

                                

                                         

So That's all Folks ! until next time

                                        

Turtle Bay Preston,

Crystal House,

Birley Street, 

Preston, 

PR1 2AQ

We dined on a complementary basis after being invited to give a review, all thoughts, views, opinions are our own. We were not expected to give a positive review.

Elderflower Challenge blog round up

Thanks to all my lovely food blogging chums my blogs first challenge has been a roaring success and saw no less than 14 blog link up posts. This celebration of this great foraged ingredient had bloggers taking part from all over the country eventhough the summer weather has been dire in the UK.

Several of the posts were from the lovely Karen at Lavender and Lovage, Strawberry and Elderflower cake and tart topping was her first, a very versatile recipe that can be used in all manner of ways for topping cakes, ice cream and pancakes. I really like that.

Another of Karen's post was an Old fashioned English elderflower cordial, the quintessential way of capturing the fleeting flavours of elderflowers. Aren't Karen's images stunning as well.

Lavender and Lovage's next post was the very delicious looking Royal Elderflower and Lemon Curd Butterfly cakes, which she devised in celebration of the Queens Diamond Jubilee celebration. The cakes do look fit for a Queen. 

Thanks Karen for all your support and helping to interest so many bloggers to be involved in the #Elderflowerchallenge.

The next link up came from Chris at Cookingaroundtheworld with his Elderflower cordial cocktails , he posts not only how to make the cordial but a few good suggestions of how you can use the cordial in some nifty little cocktails, including elderflower martini which I am sure James Bond would have approved of. Hick !

The next two posts come from All that I am Eating blogger, who has quite a few lovely elderflower posts on her blog, so I think it was probably a bit difficult to choose which to share for the challenge, her first post is  Elderflower sugar and elderflower cakes, gorgeous sweet looking little cupcakes which I am sure tasty equally delicious as well.

The second post is for Rhubarb and Elderflower crumble a classic seasonal combination of  wild and cultivated ingredients, I have tried this combination myself previously and its delicious, the elderflowers adding a delightful muscat flavour to the crumble.

Our next post was from Diana from Gelsomina's Cucina with a delightful Elderflower Panna cotta, I love panna cotta and have made HFW version of this. This is another excellent way of capturing Elderflower fragrance in a delicious summer dessert.

Kate from Turquoise Lemons contribution to the challenge is a Gooseberry and Elderflower Jam, I love gooseberries but don't seem to be able to beat the dreaded gooseberry sawfly so I will just have to lust after this from a far. When Kate posted this recipe there was some discussions on Twitter and the general consensus was scones would be the preferred accompaniment , I think this would be delicious with clotted cream as well.

To my surprise the next link up was from Transition Plymouth and it wasn't recipe it was a whole selection, they call their page Elderflower alchemy and it is the post features herbal teas, compote and elderflower fritters. Please check out the page.

The blog challenge baton ( well I had to get an Olympic pun in somehow) was picked up next by Laura at How to Cook Good Food and she added Strawberry tart with Elderflower pastry cream to our delicious and varied collection of recipes. Given the write up on the blog post this proved a winner with her family and is one I need to try in future.

Inspired by the Gooseberry and Elderflower Jam from Turquoise Lemons, I decided that I would make a strawberry and elderflower jam, minor cheat I know but hey , it contains elderflowers !

Loving all things chocolate I was pleased to see the next linky from Choclette , some very delicious looking Elderflower and White chocolate cupcakes from Chocolate Log Blog, unusually the cupcakes feature Truvia one of the new natural no calorie sweetners. Very helpful  as always, Choclette has provided links to the website for conversions for the Truvia.

Our penultimate linky is from Vivien Lloyd - The Preserves expert, she has kindly posted Elderflower Moments from the fabulous Miranda Gore Browns book - Biscuits ( this is by the kind permission of Miranda and Ebury Press). So that went on my Amazon wishlist immediately. Delightful melting moments filled with a decadent elderflower flavoured buttercream filling, perfect for afternoon tea in the garden.

Last but no means least our final post came from Mainly Baking, a beautiful Gooseberry, almond and elderflower cake. I think the combination of almonds and elderflowers is an inspired one, thanks for the post.

In summation, I have really enjoyed looking at all the lovely elderflower posts contributed to the blog link up, we are so lucky to have so many talented food bloggers in the UK. Thanks everyone for taking part and for making my first linky blog challenge such a success.

Strawberry and elderflower jam

Another post featuring the delightful elderflower and that ever so delightful quintessential British Berry - the Strawberry. 

I like to make Strawberry jam ever year as I believe that the end result is far superior to any shop bought jam or preserve and you just can't beat strawberry jam on scones, on toast or in your victoria sponge.
Strawberry jam can be difficult to set as the fruit is low in pectin, so I tend to use jam sugar or add pectin powder to my jam so I am ensured a good set. I decided to add elderflowers to the mix to capture the beauty of the individual flowers and their fragrance and also some vanilla to further enhance the jams flavour.
I recycle my jam jars and  this recipe makes about 4 jars, so ensure they are washed and sterilised and warm in the oven ready for your potting.


Ingredients 

800g British Strawberries, hulled and washed
1kg jam sugar or ordinary granulated sugar and a sachet of pectin
3 large elderflower heads- snip off the tiny flowers and remove wildlife
2 tsp vanilla paste

Method 

Mash your strawberries into your jam pan and then add your sugar and pectin, slowly heat the pan until the sugar has melted, stirring frequently.
Once your sugar has melted increase the heat, keeping stirring until you have a good rolling boil which won't be stirred down, now boil until setting point or follow the instructions on your pectin as to long to boil.
Once setting point is reached stir in your vanilla and elderflower flowers and pot in to your warmed jars.
Allow to cool and store

Lancashire Food - Elderflower Challenge

Recipe sharing Blog Challenge - an easy great fun event to celebrate Summer !

I really Elderflowers, its summery muscat scent that needs to be captured whilst the frothy blooms billow on the hedgerows. As some of you know I love it so much I grow a large bush in my garden so I can ensure its not sprayed or polluted, this is what I use to make a supply of summer delights. Over the years I have posted numerous recipes which feature this plant so I thought I would run a seasonal recipe round for all things elderflower, that quintessential forage ingredient for Summer.


Its easy to take part, just use the linky blog button thing (kindly designed by Synergy Imaging for me) and post on your blog and link back to this blog post by putting a link on this page. At the start of July I'll post a summary of all the lovely recipes posted.

LANCASHIRE FOOD - ELDERFLOWER CHALLENGE GUIDELINES 

• Post your blog URL link to the "linky" below, please include your email and the name of your elderflower recipe. Closing date for contributions is 30th June 2012.
• Copy the code from the challenge button below to add on to your post which will link back to this post.

• Please tweet that you have contributed to the fun!, use #elderflowerchallenge and mention @LancashireFood in your tweet.I will retweet any I see.
• The recipe can be your own or one you have seen somewhere else, please be respectful of copyright and give credit where due , please feel free to publish old recipes or old blog posts, but make sure you add the lovely challenge badge.

I haven't posted a recipe for cordial as they are hundreds available on the internet plus mine seems to change every year. Here are the links to some of my earlier elderflower posts

Elderflower champagne

Elderflower sorbet

Elderflower delight

Remember you can also use elderflower in ice cream, panacotta, glace icing, cake mixes, jellies and many other recipes and you can also use the flowers in jams and preserves.

I am planning on trying deep fried flowers, elderflower cake and a couple of other recipes this year, so I'll post and link as and when these are available.


Above all have fun and use this great seasonal  forage ingredient whilst you can !

Lancashire Elderflower delight

I love this time of year when the Elder tree is in flower, from earlier blog posts you can see I have somewhat an obsession with the flowers and what you can do with them. So when I purchased River Cottage Handbook no 7 Hedgerows I was pleased to see another way to use them. Elderflower delight. I just had to have a go, especially as on my last visit to The Red Cat, my favorite restaurant, the team had prepared their own Turkish delight which was served with coffee.

Ingredients

• 20 Elderflower heads
• 20g leaf gelatine
• 700g granulated sugar
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 400ml water
• 130g cornflour
• 30g icing sugar

Method

Soak the gelatine in a shallow dish of water, meanwhile strip the elderflower heads of the flowers and place in a piece of muslin which you are going to make into a bag tied with string. Take the granulated sugar, lemon juice and 300ml of the water, put in a saucepan and heat gently until all the sugar is dissolved, leave this to cool.

In a bowl mix 100g of the cornflour with the remaining water until smooth, then mix into the cooled lemon sugar syrup. Put the saucepan back on a low heat, add the gelatine sheets, squeezed of any excess water and whisk until throughly dissolved.

Bring back to the boil slowly and simmer for 10 minutes stirring all the time. suspend the muslin bag in the mixture and simmer for a further 15 minutes, squeezing the bag to release the flavours. The mixture will become very sticky and gloopy, keep stirring, when ready cool for 10 mins.

Mix the remaining cornflour and icing sugar in a bowl to create the tossing powder, line a shallow baking tin with baking parchment and dust with a tablespoon of the tossing mixture. Poor in the warm delight, removing the bag. Leave to cool fully and then put in the fridge to firm up until rubbery. Cut up with a knife or scissors into cubes and toss in the tossing mixture.

Very impressive and very delicious. The ideal gift.

Elderflower sorbet recipe

Make this absolutely delicious sorbet with elderflowers and freeze for us later in the summer. Goes particularly well with strawberries / gooseberries, in fact any other soft fruit.

225 grammes white sugar, in 600ml water, boiled for 7 mins to make a sugar syrup, take off heat and add 8 elderflower heads, peel and juice of 3 lemons, allow to cool fully, then churn in ice cream maker. Alternatively if you don't have an ice cream maker, put in freezer box and freeze for an hour, then , beat and refreeze, keep doing this until you have a smooth finish to your sorbet.

Never wash the elderflowers as you loose the flavour, just pick off any insects , leaves etc

Elderflower Champagne recipe

Ingredients

• 4 litres of cold water,
• 2 1/2 cups white sugar,
• 4 large flower heads, (I sometimes use a few more depends on the size of the heads),
• 2 lemons sliced,
• 2tbsp white wine vinegar.

Method
Put all the above in a bucket and cover for a couple of days ( don't worry if it goes scummy), then strain and bottle.
Ready after approx 2 -3 weeks, best served chilled.
Just watch out for the pressure rise in the bottle, you may need to chill your bottles to calm fermentation or alternativelt degass every couple of days.