We’re so chuffed that just last week our very own show, Andy Bates Street Feasts starring the pie-maker extraordinaire himself, was nominated at the Royal Television Society Awards (South).

The original UK series that debuted last September followed Andy Bates up and down the country and saw him visiting the Britain’s most vibrant street food destinations to find out the stories behind the trend.

Named as one of the top three shows in the factual entertainment category, the judges noted that, ‘Andy Bates Street Feasts gave a fresh and vibrant take on cooking and culture from a strong new passionate presenter.’

Quite frankly, we couldn’t be happier for the cheeky chap.

If you haven’t had a chance to feast your eyes on the show, watch it online now.

Our giant red velvet whoopie pie

I can think of no better way to celebrate Valentine’s than by making whoopie. After all, nothing beats two layers of soft, perky red sponge, sandwiched together by a thick smothering of cream cheese frosting. That’s right; I’m talking about whoopie pies (what were you thinking!).

When it comes to making whoopie, there was only one place I had in mind, our friends at Outsider Tart.

I asked them to create us a special Valentine’s whoopie and they agreed. It’s big, red and heart shaped. In fact, it’s so good we’re giving you the recipe so you can try it out yourself.

I’ll let the experts from Outsider Tart explain what makes the Red Velvet Whoopie Pie so special.

“Red Velvet Cake is a unique creation from the American South. Deep red inside, the outside is frosted with white cream cheese frosting to conceal the goodness stacked within. Not much to look at, it’s always a crowd pleaser once the slicing begins. It has taken everywhere by storm.”

“Everyone wants red velvet this, that and the other (this recipe, in fact). Years of trying and researching only revealed recipes that seemed complicated, though, to be honest, they weren’t; they just had more steps than seemed necessary. Some had you make a paste with the cocoa powder; some had you mixing vinegar with the bicarb either before or after the batter was mixed. Some had you mixing in boiling water at the last second and rushing to the oven. Some had you doing it all.

“One day we decided to turn things upside down and combine the ingredients like we would any other cake. Dry here, wet there. We also ditched the vinegar and hot water. This is our one conceit when it comes to food colour, since it’s the only way to achieve the desired results. People always ask if we use beets, but if we did you’d know it in one bite. Not pleasant. Natural or organic colouring will yield a brown mahogany while old-fashioned colouring gives you the classic red mahogany we prefer. We’ve introduced orange zest to mask the aftertaste that any type of food colour imparts. While the quantities of bicarbonate of soda and salt might seem alarming, they are the reason the crumb is so soft and why it’s called velvet in the first place.”

But what about the shape, why a heart and not a classic round whoopie?

“When I was little, the best thing about Valentine’s Day was the heart shaped boxes of chocolates at the local drug store.  Why you ask? Well, mostly for the assortment of cheap chocolates inside but also the box.  Now that box was absolutely useless once the chocolates were gone, but when you got one you knew you were loved and you knew how much based on the size of the box.  So, when Food Network asked for a Valentine’s whoopie, red velvet was the obvious choice not just for the colour, but the soft velvety texture is the perfect seduction for this day of love.”

Get the Red Velvet Whoopie Pie recipe from our friends at Outsider Tart >>

Are you a whoopie pie fan? What’s your favourite flavour and will you be baking one for your valentine?

By Jo Cotterell

Lotte Duncan's Chocolate Mess

I love dessert. Just don’t ask me to share, unless it’s Valentine’s, where I lose my pudding morals.

I’m partial to a chunk (read bar) or two of chocolate, or if you want to be more blasé, I’d settle for pudding. That is my favourite part of dinner. In fact, if all of dinner could be dessert, then I’d be very happy.  You see I’m no cook, but I can bake and mix a mighty fine cocktail. And that is why I’m planning my first DIY Valentine’s for my sous chef (the boyfriend).

I’m thinking of a simple yet effective menu: Dessert, followed by cocktail, followed by dessert, followed by cocktail – you get the gist.

Kiss and Tell Cocktail from Matt Evers

This translates for tonight as Lotte Duncan’s Chocolate Mess (heavy on cream, chocolate and booze ensures a winner in my books), Matt Ever’s Kiss and Tell Martini (it’s in the name), Tequila Chilli Chocolate with Strawberries (one of my five a day, surely), topped off with a sparkly Rum Fizz to cleanse the palate.

If you’re still looking for last-minute inspiration (don’t panic), we can help. Dig into our Valentine’s Day menu, which we’re affectionately calling Made with Love.

This has left me thinking, if I could share my DIY dinner with anyone, it’d have to be with Ace of Cake’s confectionary God, Duff Goldman (don’t tell my sous chef). We’d have a lot in common as we both love cake.

Which Food Network chef is your dream dinner date?

By Jo Cotterell

Spag Bol - a romantic dinner or a recipe for disaster?

In honour of all things Valentine’s Day, we at Food Network UK took it upon ourselves to reveal the biggest dinner date no-no’s and the dishes that are so romantic, you’d like to be proposed to over them.

Forget what you’ve seen in classic cartoon movies starring cute dogs (Lady and the Tramp, anyone?) It turns out that spaghetti is the worst offender when it comes to dinner date fare. Despite our best efforts to spin a tidy web of spaghetti on the ends of our forks, we had a feeling all that slurping and sauce splattering wasn’t so sexy after all.

Three Foods to Avoid

1. Spaghetti Bolognese
It may be one of the nation’s favourite suppers, but is it best enjoyed behind closed doors?

2. Spare Ribs
Unless you’re partial to wearing barbecue sauce on a first date, it’s probably best to keep this sticky finger food off the menu.

3. Garlic Bread
Leaning in for a post-date kiss with garlic breath has the potential to scare away both first dates and vampires.

Three Foods to Cook

Thought about popping the question over a steak dinner?

1. Steak
Planning to propose? If this juicy classic is done properly, your date could be saying ‘I do’ before you can say, ‘do the washing up’.

Our top steak recipe: Steak and Potatoes from Ed Baines.

2. Oysters
Aphrodisiac or not, we found out that serving an exotic oyster dish will make your date think you’re a more interesting person.

Our top oyster recipe: Rockefeller Oysters with Bacon from Lotte Duncan

Flash your mussels on a first date.

3. Mussels
Whether you opt to cook mussels or lobster, romantic seafood dishes are a winning choice overall.

Our top seafood recipe: Thai Red Curry Mussels from Bobby Flay.

So now that you’re all clued up on Valentine’s feasting, we want to know which foods you always steer clear of and what you find utterly irresistible (and you’re not allowed to pick your date!)

>> Read the full survey

>> Watch Made with Love for romantic recipes from Lotte Duncan and Matt Evers

By Sanjana Modha

Labelled “Mystery Flavour A, B and C”, I discovered that the three bags are part of Walker’s new ‘What’s that flavour?’ campaign, giving the nation the chance to guess the combination and win a tasty sum of £50,000 each.

Can you guess the winning flavour?

Obviously I couldn’t go it alone, so I roped in the sensitive taste buds from my office to help me work out the flavours. Without giving away our guesses (think of all the cake I could buy with the prize money) here are a few of the ideas we’ve heard so far…

Roast Beef and Gravy

Smokey Chicken

Sour Cream and Chive

We spent hours and hours of our work day (don’t tell) guessing the flavours so no stealing our ideas now!

We’d love for one of our own (that means you) to guess correctly and win, so why not give it go?

You’ve got until the Friday 9^th March to get your guesses in over at www.walkers.co.uk or via their Facebook tab.

By Jo Cotterell

A double-decker marshmallow stack from Three Tarts

They’re fluffy, sometimes adorned, and remind Americans of their childhood. And this time we’re not talking about cupcakes!

For Americans, marshmallows hold a special place in our dessert repertoire, particularly in the summer time when we make S’mores, first roasting them over an open flame and then sandwiching them between squares of chocolate and graham crackers.

These plush, sticky pillows do have a reputation for being too sweet (and not just when they’re smooshed between chocolate and cookies!), but a host of bakeries and specialty dessert shops around New York city have found a way to elevate this seemingly simple treat to gourmet status, first reported in the New York Times and then across the pond in the Daily Mail and the Metro.

In winter time, City Bakery pops a fluffy square of their homemade marshmallow on top of a cup of rich hot chocolate. Lighter than air treats abound at ChikaLicious Dessert Club in the East Village, where the flavoured puffs are topped with shredded coconut. And for a year-round way to satisfy your S’mores craving, drool over one of my favourite desserts in the city, the Toasted Marshmallow Shake at Stand Burger. Vanilla ice cream and marshmallow fluff are whipped into a frozen concoction, and then topped with golden toasted ‘mallows that sink deliciously into the froth below.

What's your favourite marshmallow flavour?

For the ultimate in gourmet marshmallows, I caught up with Marla D’Urso, one of the ‘tarts’ of Three Tarts Bakery, who recently avowed that marshmallows are the new cupcake.

LKH: I couldn’t help but notice that your bakery is completely devoid of any cupcakes. Why is that?

Marla: When we (me, Sandra and Kiyomi) opened this bakery six years ago, we vowed never to produce a cupcake. We felt that the market was too saturated (even back then), and we wanted to do something more sophisticated. It’s just not our thing.

LKH: What makes you so sure that marshmallows are the new cupcake?

Marla: I think it fits a niche of nostalgia that people connect to, particularly Americans. It reminds them of childhood, campfires, ice cream sundaes… it’s like a cupcake in that sense, it’s fun, it makes you feel young…

LKH: So why marshmallows? What made you add them to your bakery menu, particularly such a wide range?

Marla: We didn’t set out to make marshmallows exactly; it was more of a happy accident. We developed a homemade mini marshmallow to sit on top of our S’mores parfait, and the resulting product was so much better than anything we had had, that we decided to package them and put them out on the shelf for sale. As they grew more popular, we developed more flavours.

And they fit the scale of what we do – everything we make is bite-sized, and everything has a visual component. We love the colourful jars of marshmallows out on the counter, we like the architecture of the double-decker marshmallows, the way that they’re cut very exact – it’s very artistic.

Pastry Chef Kiyomi Toda-Burke slicing marshmallows

LKH: What makes your marshmallows so special?

Marla: We use all-natural products and absolutely no artificial flavourings. For our fruit flavour marshmallows, like the mango or raspberry, we incorporate a puree of the actual fruit into the mix. The cinnamon ones have ground cinnamon sticks, the espresso one has real espresso beans.

We like to do seasonal flavours, like strawberry-basil or passion fruit in the summertime, pumpkin pie spice in the fall. And we like to play with shapes: Turkey-shaped marshmallows around Thanksgiving (with toasted coconut for feathers!), snowmen for Christmas, and Peeps at Easter.

We’re currently producing boxes to sell the regular ones in, to create an even more sophisticated product.

LKH: What’s your favourite Three Tarts marshmallow? Or is that like choosing your favourite child?

Marla: That’s a good analogy! It is a bit like that. I’d have to say year-round I like the fruit flavours, like mango or raspberry, in the summer we do a double-decker Mojito marshmallow with lime and mint that’s fantastic, and for fall I like the pumpkin pie spice flavour.

LKH: What flavour would you like to see developed next?

Marla: I’d like to do something with ginger, in a double decker style marshmallow. Or a Grand Marnier flavour to go with hot cocoa – unfortunately, the chemistry of the alcohol with the sugar and gelatine makes it hard to get right.

While I enjoyed my sampling of the Three Tarts ‘mallows (the Espresso being my top pick), I don’t think marshmallows are poised to overtake cupcakes just yet – they are just too difficult to make at home. Mark this trend as one to watch.

Do you think marshmallows are the new cupcake? What flavour do you want to sink your teeth into?

By Layla Khoury-Hanold

New York Food Correspondent

A Glass Of Rosé

In Scotland, a turnip is a swede, and a swede is a turnip. Or (just for diplomacy’s sake) in England, a swede is a turnip, and a turnip is a swede. Something funny happened, somewhere around Hadrian’s Wall, and left many a violent vegetable dispute in its wake.

A turnip by any other name would taste as swede

Most of the time, this doesn’t have hugely dramatic consequences. It is not as though they have swapped ‘chocolate’ and ‘sprouts’; most people would be equally happy (or unhappy) to be served either turnips or swede. But on Burns Night – in the name of Scottish authenticity – it becomes incredibly important.

The traditional Burns Supper on 25th January, at which Scots celebrate the life of Scottish poet Robert ‘Rabbie’ Burns, is Haggis served with Neeps and Tatties. ‘Neeps’, as I hope you’ve already guessed, is short for Turnips (if this foray into Scottish language confuses you, it’s not looking good for the rest of this blog). And if you’re English, by ‘turnips’ they mean ‘swede’.

Phew. All this, and we haven’t even got onto the troubling question of what is actually in a Haggis.

As well as a bit of confusion, the traditional Burns Supper (like all good meals) also comes with its own poem, the ‘Address to a Haggis’. Thankfully, Burns doesn’t dwell too much on its contents (‘Painch, tripe, or thairm’ roughly translates as ‘gut, stomach lining or intestine’ – YUM!) but spends most of the time explaining its appeal.

As a child, and truthfully as an adult, the words of this poem were totally foreign, and only brought alive for me by the spirited performances of my father. My favourite bit (probably everyone’s favourite bit) is the third verse, where the Haggis-addresser must clean his knife,

An’ cut you up wi’ ready slicht,
Trenching your gushing entrails bricht,
Like ony ditch;*

At this moment, the Haggis is sliced open. Growing up, this was about as exciting as meal-times got. One year, the juices even sprayed some of our guests. I’m not sure if this is obligatory, but I would definitely recommend it.

Who wouldn't want to eat this?

But as a grown up, this ‘Address’ is not just exciting because of grease-spattered guests. It is also very funny, and sums up Scotland’s understanding of how the rest of the world views its food (and its place in the world) while being peppered (excuse the pun) with heavy Scottish sarcasm.

The foreignness of the words makes the poem a bit more exciting than the usual – almost like watching a play, but with dinner thrown in. Spoken in a Scottish accent, they’re also easier to understand than they look on the page. But perhaps most importantly, the Scottish words make it possible to ignore what you’re putting in your mouth. As the Scots would say, dinna fash yersel. Just eat.

*And cut it up with great skill, making a trench in the bright, gushing entrails, to form a ditch.

Have you ever eaten haggis? Would you ever?

If you can’t face it, but want to help celebrate Scottishness, try something more gentle from our Burns Night Menu.

By Holly Graham

Today may be America’s National Pie Day and even though they might know how to whip up a delicious pie or five, here at Food Network UK we think the upper crust of British pastries are fabulous enough to triumph over quintessential American creations.

With the UK’s repertoire of gorgeously retro bakes, we think we have what it takes to challenge our friends across the pond at Cooking Channel to a battle of the pies.

Not ones to crumble under pressure, we’ve left no pie tin unturned in our search for the ultimate recipe to enter into combat with. Join us as we step up to the plate with cheeky chap Danny Boome’s classic Banoffee Pie and challenge a stateside classic.

5 Reasons to Love Banoffee

• Measured against its potential to satisfy, banoffee pie is a relatively quick dessert to make.
• Using up sad-looking bananas never tasted so good.
• Technically, banoffee pie could count as one of your five a day.
• Bananas are a great source of potassium.
• You can never get enough whipped cream.

Have Your Say

Whatever way you slice it, there can only be one pie that wins this epic trans-Atlantic battle – the proof of the pudding will be in the voting.

Our friends at Cooking Channel have stepped up to the plate to bring us this Salted Caramel Apple Pie.

*UPDATE – THE RESULTS ARE IN*

Food Network UK:
The brilliant Banoffee Pie received 22 votes
Cooking Channel’s Salted Caramel Apple Pie received 5 votes

So in the UK the Banoffee reigns champion.

Cooking Channel:
Salted Caramel Apple Pie – 52 votes
Banoffee Pie: 8 votes

Apple Pie is the pick of the Americans!

Tell us about your pie of choice.

By Sanjana Modha

In honour of Chinese New Year and The Year of the Dragon, we’ve teamed up with one of our favourite food bloggers, Xiaolu of 6 Bittersweets to indulge in these delicious flame-hued tartlets.

Although these tartlets are not traditional Chinese fare, oranges and tangerines symbolise good health and longevity in Chinese culture, so it was only right that citrus fruits were chosen to be baked into a light and refreshing pud.

The recipe in Xiaolu’s words

A fun meeting of tangy and sweet fruits, creamy curd, and crunchy poppy seeds, these are tarts fancy enough for guests or as a special treat for yourself.

You can use any combination of citrus fruits that you want for the topping, really. I chose orange, blood orange, and cara cara oranges.

Practically all components of this recipe can be prepared in advance, leaving only minor assembly to be done the day you want to serve the tartlets.

Orange Passion Fruit Curd Mini Tarts Recipe
Makes six 4-inch mini tarts

For the Poppy seed Mini Tart Shells:

8 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold
187g plain flour
1 Tbsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking powder
2 ½ to 3 ½ Tbsp iced water
1 ½ tsp apple cider vinegar
large egg white, lightly beaten

Method:

1. Divide cold butter into 5 tablespoons and 3 tablespoons. Cut all butter into 3/4-inch cubes, and wrap each portion with plastic wrap. Place the flour, poppy seeds, salt, and baking powder in a resealable gallon-sized freezer bag. Freeze all of the above for at least 30 minutes.

2. Transfer the frozen flour mixture into medium bowl. Whisk to combine this mixture. Then using a pastry cutter or your fingers, work the larger portion (5 Tbsp) of butter cubes into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.

3. Transfer this mixture and the smaller portion (3 Tbsp) of butter cubes into the freezer bag used earlier. Remove any air from the freezer bag and seal it. Now, use a rolling pin to flatten the butter in the bag into flakes. Freeze the bag until the butter is very firm, another 10 minutes.

4. Transfer the contents of the bag back to the bowl. Sprinkle 2 1/2 tablespoons ice water and all the vinegar onto the mixture, tossing it lightly with a rubber spatula. If the mixture still seems very dry, sprinkle 1 tablespoon more ice water and toss again with the spatula.

5. Move the mixture back into the freezer bag. Keeping the bag unzipped, knead the mixture by alternately pressing it, from the outside of the bag, with the knuckles and heels of your hands until the mixture holds together in one piece and feels slightly stretchy when pulled.

6. Wrap the dough with cling film, flatten it into a disc, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.

7. Remove dough from the refrigerator and let come to room temperature, at least 45 minutes.

8. Roll dough out to 1/16-inch thickness. Cut out 5 1/2-inch circles of dough and press each of these into a mini tart pan. Prick the bottoms of the dough all over with a fork. Cover and freeze for at least 30 minutes and up to a day before baking.

9. Preheat the oven to 220°C Cover tart pans with parchment paper and weigh down using dry beans or pie weights. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, and remove the beans and parchment. Press down lightly with a spoon on any areas of the crusts that have puffed up while baking. Return to the oven for 7 to 10 minutes more or until golden brown. Remove from oven, and brush with beaten egg white while crusts are still warm. Let cool.

For the Passion Fruit Curd:

3 assorted citrus fruits, ends and peel sliced off and segmented
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 tsp cornflour, sifted
200g sugar
200g passion fruit puree OR juice from 9 to 10 fruits, divided
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp finely grated orange zest
1 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

Method:

1. In a heavy non-reactive saucepan, beat the eggs, yolks, cornflour, and sugar until well blended. Stir in 3/4 of the passion fruit puree, butter, and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the sides of the pan, until mixture is thick enough to coat a spoon but liquid enough to pour. Mixture will change from translucent to opaque.

2. Once curd is thick enough, press it through a strainer suspended over a medium bowl that contains the zests. Add remaining passion fruit puree to the bowl and stir thoroughly; allow to cool. Curd can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

To make the tarts:

1. Preheat oven to 150°C at least 15 minutes before baking. Smoothly fill the prebaked tart shells with passion fruit curd and bake for 7 to 10 minutes. The filling shouldn’t change colour and should barely jiggle when the pan is moved. Transfer tarts to a rack to cool.

2. Once the tarts have completely cooled, arrange several citrus segments atop the tarts. Then remove tarts from their pans and serve.

Finish your Chinese New Year dinner with a bang and offer up a platter of these jewelled treasures before you step outside to gaze up at the fireworks.

Love Asian cuisine? Celebrate Asian month with us and create some of our favourite recipes inspired by the East.

By Sanjana Modha
Recipe and images courtesy of 6 Bittersweets

Cheesecake... not just for Christmas

In many ways, this isn’t fair. The change between the indulgence of the last hours of December (and maybe the first few hours of January) and the diets and deprivation of the New Year is too radical. Your body doesn’t know what’s hit it – but, more importantly, neither does your mind. For the last few weeks, you’ve allowed yourself every treat within reaching distance (it would be far too much effort to get up) and suddenly you’re expecting levels of willpower that a Benedictine monk would be proud of.

The stitches, the lactic acid build-up and the aching muscles at your first ambitious trip to the gym are nothing when compared to the shock you are giving your self-control. So you end up giving in. In this, you are not alone. Resolve falters in the face of adversity. It is the stuff great literature is made of. And great blog posts.

As I walked out of a coffee shop on the 3^rd January, latte in one hand and un-used gym clothes in the other, I decided that this year I wouldn’t punish myself. Instead, I would make positive resolutions. Rather than telling myself I should give up things, I decided I would focus on the positive; I would resolve to take more exercise, eat more greens, do more washing-up before I run out of forks.  This focus on the positive means that every little slip-up doesn’t feel like failure, and the feeling of failure doesn’t lead you to abandoning it all entirely. It also means that nothing is outrightly denied, which – as our friends at Stylist Magazine reported last week – only leads to you wanting it all the more.

I am taking inspiration from the amazing things you can do with healthy food, rewarding rather than punishing myself for eating well. Dishes from Cod with Pistachio and Lime Crust to Seven Vegetable Couscous, and even light Lemon Ricotta Cookies with a tangy lemon glaze, mean that my healthy January feels virtuous rather than vile. As Ellie Krieger shows with her delicious Lemon Icebox Bars, with a few changes even cheesecake can be part of my New Year’s regime. I have replaced the short-lived smugness you get from joining all the other schmucks during the early January gym rush with a change in attitude which might actually last.

In this, I suggest you join me. Don’t deny yourself entirely because, as I discovered about my duvet in the early hours of the morning, if something is forbidden it only serves to make it all the more alluring.

What are some suggestions for the best positive resolutions? What do you want to do more of?

By Holly Graham