A Quick Bite of Lancashire Food

When I started this blog a few years ago I never dreamt that it would become as popular as it has and I had no inkling of the number of other passionate Lancashire Foodies that where out there working hard loving Lancashire Food in all its many forms. Over the years I have met so many wonderful advocates of Lancashire Food in all its senses, whether it be a chef, artisan producer, farmer, cheese-monger, baker etc.

So with that in mind and so that we can all learn more about these lovely "Lancashire Food" people, we have developed a "Quick bite of Lancashire Food" a running monthly post which will feature one of these friendly food loving folk and ask them some quick questions about their food inspiration amongst other things.

June 2016 - Gill Osbourne, Middle Holly Cottage Team Room and Cake Parlour

May 2016 - John Caffery, Manager of Chorley Dukpond

April 2016 - Chris and Christine Thommason - Rivington Chocolates 

March 2016 - Andrew Whiting, Beechs Fine Chocolates

February 2016 - Kevin Stickley, Cottage Loaf Bakery

Special Edition - Philippa James - A Great Loss to Lancashire Food

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December 2015 - Richard Lowthian - Ham and Jam, Preston

November 2015 - Colin Shepherd - Clog and Billycock

October 2015 - Debbie Johnson - Westshore Chillies

September 2015 - Tim Procter - Procters Cheese / Kick Ass Cheese

August 2015 - Russell Lambert - M and O Fish

July 2015 - Nadia Southwood - Flap O Jacks - The Round Flapjack Co

June 2015 - Lee Birtwistle - All Fired Up - Wood Fired Pizza

May 2015 - Mike Bryan - The Bees Country Kitchen

April 2015 - Antony Shirley - Seafood Pub Company

March 2015 - John Winnard of Santus (Uncle Joes Mint Balls), Wigan

February 2015 - Simon Mellin of Roaming Roosters, Higham

January 2015 - Nicola Hanmer of The Mill Cafe, St Catherines Park

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December 2014 - Craig Hughes of Crossmoor Honey

November 2014 - Phil Keenan / Foody Phil -  Bite Local 

October 2014 - Andrea Mellon of Dukpond, Preston

September 2014 - Amy Cheadle of Northern Dough Co

August 2014 - Anson Bolton, Millstone at Mellor

July 2014 - Celia Gaze - The Wellbeing Farm, Edgeworth

June 2014 - Amanda Biggs - Thyme Deli, Horwich

May 2014 - Sharon Loving - The Ginger Baker, Longridge.

April 2014 - Chris Brown of Browns Butchers Chorley

March 2014 - Sarah Longlands and Lisa Kidd from - I Heart Jam

February 2014 - Sean Wilson - Saddleworth Cheese Co and Chef 

January 2014 - Gail Brown, Thornleys Natural Foods

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December 2013 - Paul Williams - Master Chocolatier - Choc Amor and The Chocolate Rooms.

November 2013 - Mike Rawlinson - Red Cat restaurant Chorley and the Royal Oak at Riley Green.

October 2013 - Craig Dugan - All You Knead

September 2013 - Paul Ainscough - Fatjax Chutneys

August 2013 - Stosi Madi - Parkers Arms, Newton in Bowland

July 2013 - Vickie Anderson - Liverpool Cheese Company

Royal Oak at Riley Green

                            

STOP PRESS - Updated article 9th March 2013

The pub has now been fully re-furbished and has a full menu featuring some great local produce, we were kindly invited to attend the re-launch and to meet the Thwaites Shire horses too, who came out to celebrate the re-launch. We  were treated to some lovely Lancashire nibbles all washed down with some of Thwaites fine ales, of special note was the Wainwright caviar !

As you may have gathered here at Lancashire Food, we enjoy eating out and were excited to here that the team behind our favourite restaurant were taking on the tenancy of the Royal Oak at Riley Green.  This country inn is situated on the main road to Blackburn from Preston and Chorley, not far from Hoghton Tower, so its easy to find.

To the delight of Mr Lancashire Food this is a Thwaites house so the beers are good and his favourite brew "Wainwright" is available on draught. Chris and Mike  have introduced a menu which  focuses on quality , consistency and freshness, from local suppliers. The menu is currently shorter than they would like as they are planning alterations to the kitchen and dining areas in the very near future, but their is still plenty of choice.

Our visit was on a Saturday lunchtime and we were pleased to see that several other parties were already dining on entering the pub. We were warmly welcomed by the knowledgeable and polite front of house team and seated near the fireplace. 

We ordered drinks as we browsed the menu and made our choices. After a reasonable wait ( our waiter was keen to tell us everything is cooked from fresh) our food arrived. 

Mr Lancashire Food's choice was a steak and ale pie with the days choice of vegetables and twice cooked chips. The vegetables were deliciously tender and cooked from fresh and the pie well flavoured and packed with tender steak.

My burger was delicious, served in a muffin with cheese and tomato relish , the chips were amazing and the salad fresh and well balanced, no soggy sad lettuce here.

Both were well sized portions and good examples of pub food done well. We will be back and will be bringing friends next time who we are sure will enjoy the warm friendly pub environment and the great food and ales, the pub also welcomes families.

We did not give notice of our visit to the team and we paid for our food and drinks, just in case you were wondering.

Fabulicious Ices Blog Competition round up

Well despite really rubbish Summer weather (apparently the wettest summer for 100 years) we have had some fabulous entries for Lancashire Foods first  recipe competition. The brief was to share your favourite summer ice recipe and the winner would be judged by award winning local chef Chris Rawlinson. The prize for the winner was an Emma Bridgewater union jack cooler bag.

Chris Rawlinson is Chef Patron of The Red Cat, Chorley, despite only being in his twenties he has achieved numerous accolades including 

Michelin Guide Entry 2009/10/11/12

Awarded 2 AA Rosettes

Taste Lancashire Highest Quality Assured 2010/2011

Hi Life Best Platinum Restaurant Finalist 2010

North West Young Chef of the Year 2009

Lancashire Life Winners 2007 - 2008

and he also was a participant in this years Roux Scholarship.

He also has a particular flair for creating amazing desserts in his restaurant, many of which I have enjoyed as part of some great meals with my friends and family. If you are ever in the area make sure you book a table.

Chris thought all of the recipes sounded really good and were diverse and used lots of different ingredients, methods and flavours, so it was a difficult decision to decide a winner, but there is always only ever one winner !

So on to our WINNER -  from Laura at How to cook good food

Tea Ice Cream and Biscuits 

Wow, doesn't that look fab and who doesn't like tea and biscuits, Chris particularly liked  the marriage of the ice cream, tea and biscuits and thinks this works really well as a combination. Ever the chef he even provided a tip that personally he would create a tea infusion overnight and then strain and churn, this would leave a smooth tea flavoured ice cream and the crunch coming from the biscuits.

So the prize of the funky Emma Bridgewater cooler bag is winging its way to Laura , well done and thanks for taking part.

I can quite understand the difficult task Chris had in choosing a winner as the other entries are all equally delicious looking. So here goes with the round up

Raspberry Ripple and White Chocolate Ice cream from the lovely Jacq over at Tinned Tomatoes

What a great looking entry and its no churn too, which is great in a busy household or if like Jacq you have little ones, I am sure this recipe would be popular with all the family and would be a great way to get little ones to eat fruit.

Our next entry was from choclette8 who blogs at Choclogblog who entry was Blackcurrant Rose and white chocolate ripple ice cream.

This is a lovely summery combination of ingredients and features the delicious rose syrup to compliment the blackcurrants and white chocolate, Chocolette8 is an expert in all things chocolate , thanks for the entry.

Now we are popping over to Janine at Cake of the Week blog who entry was a yummy sounding and healthy(ish) Sugar Free Peanut butter and banana ice cream, I love peanut butter  so if I had been judging this would have been made favourite . She also provides a handy tip on an easy conversion on the recipe to a custard. Thanks for the great post .

An even healthier recipe came from my cake club chum Sue who blogs over at A little bit of heaven on a plate ,sent in Dieters' Blackcurrant and mint sorbet.

Sue's entry is a great dessert for anyone watching their waistline and will provide a delicious fruity end to any meal. What an amazing colour too ! Thanks Sue for the post.

Finally we have another entry from our winning blogger Laura at How to Cook Good Food, this time is a very child friendly Banana Shake Pop and an ode to the banana milk shake. This ice looks like fun and is super easy to make too, just buy milkshake and freeze in moulds.Looks like its popular too !

Spout House Farm

Today saw our first visit to Spout House Farm in Higher Wheelton, Chorley. We have been meaning to visit for  quite a while as this is a supplier to our favourite restaurant " The Red Cat", which is just down to the road from the farm. The farm shop also comes recommended by Phil from Slow Food Lancashire and Throughly Food. 

We were warmly welcomed and glad to see that this is a family affair with the emphasis on local produce and  Lancashire, the lamb and beef is produced on the premises and at a great price, also they have local free range chicken and pork, cheese vegetables and baked goods. 


Pay them a visit. I have some lamb shanks I am planning to slow cook, so I'll let you know the results.

UPDATE - The lamb shanks were awesome, slow cooked .

Kitchenaid !

My beloved mixer, after coveting Kitchenaid mixers from a far for a number of years, in February of this year for valentines day my husband purchased a Kitchenaid Classic mixer for me. For the uninitiated the classic is exactly the same as the artisan mixer, other than the bowl supplied is slightly smaller , it only comes in white not the funky colours of the artisan and most importantly is about £100 cheaper !

The mixer is a classic, my favourite local chef (Chris Rawlinson) has a kitchen aid classic , so has Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa), so it comes well recommended. Its chunky , classic and will last you a lifetime, the design is fab as there are no awkward bits that you can’t clean and the different mixer heads are a breeze to swap over. Everything is metal, no plastic bits, I love love love it :-)

Must also say I bought mine via a family firm in Cumbria and they were fab, customer service wise as these mixers can be hard to get hold of.