Displaying items by tag: Bury St Edmunds

This was full of people on Saturday and ice creams were selling fast. I tried gooseberry and elderflower (Aldercarr) and double cream vanilla (Criterion) Both were fab. I came home with a mutton curry from Jimmy's Farm, eating it now - very spicy and soon to feature on our Dish of the Day. Also tried guessing the four ingredients of the smoothie - I got carrot, ginger, apple, mango - how did I do?

Send us your most interesting menu items and we'll feature them here. In Bury we have wild garlic leaf soup, montbelliard sausage with toasted pine nuts, and salt cod brandade, spiced crispy octopus and parsley cramessqui starters on the Pea Porridge dinner menu. And for main course at the Angel -  Denham estate venison with wild mushroom and potato beignets or tagliatelle with butternut squash, sage and parmesan. Pudding anyone?

And here is Justin's recipe -

Saute of snails, bacon and bone marrow, flat parsley and capers.

4 pieces of short sawn bone marrow

12 ex large snails (tinned will do if you can't get fresh)

1/2 shallot chopped

2 slices of pancetta cut into lardons

100g fresh garlic butter

For the parsley salad:

small bunch of flat parsley, picked and washed

1/4 red onion thinly sliced and sprinkled with salt to withdraw moisture

20 baby capers

salt and pepper

drizzle of olive oil and squeeze of 1/4 lemon. Combine all ingredients together just before serving.

 

First roast your bone marrow in a medium oven, on a rack on a tray sprinkled with rock salt for 10 mins then turn the bones for another 5 minutes.

Gently colour the pancetta in a small frying pan, then add the chopped shallot, add the snails and gently fry without colouring the shallots.

Add the garlic butter and allow the butter to start to froth and gently colour.

Assemble by placing the parsley salad on a plate alongside the bone marrows and spoon the snails on top and around the marrows. Serve with a spoon to scoop out the marrow and good bread to soak the juices. Simple but delicious. And it has been on the menu since day one. Serves 2.

Well we knew this all along didn't we? Went for a lovely meal here before Christmas, when I still had an appetite. We had slow-braised ox tongue, the sauté of snails, bacon and  bone marrow, partridge,  our favourite cotes de boeuf with fat chips and béarnaise and then delicious desserts. Still faultless, and now a bit more relaxed. www.peaporridge.co.uk

And prime they are indeed! I bought a chicken but what I really wanted was that rib of beef in the window at £40 - and probably worth every penny.

Went to Pea Porridge last night, used to be The Chalice, by the Old Cannon on Pease Porridge Green - hence the name, and couldn't fault it. Starter of squid with chorizo was great combination, squid clearly fresh, tender and complete with tentacles unlike the de-squeamified frozen versions. My main was lamb (with a crispy artichoke fritter balanced on at least four chunky slices of  perfectly pink tender meat) and a dessert of chocolate tart with stem ginger ice cream, with a glass of dessert wine we shared. Ruth had snails with bone marrow, hake with butter beans and prawns, followed by a plate of cheeses that were delicious - served with a tiny bowl of  chestnut honey - a strange sweet & metallic aftertaste I have never had before, but so good to be served something new in Bury. This is was good as it gets round here. www.peaporridge.co.uk

Lunch with Sarah at West Suffolk College's Zest restaurant, one of the best value meals in Bury and a chance to contribute to the experience of young people training to be in the restaurant business. I had nice lamb hot pot with some far too vinegary red cabbage (I told them) and then Key Lime Pie.  Sarah had veg option which escapes me now. Abundance of service from students and both meals lovely - under £12 for two .

Lunch with two American student backpackers who are staying with me for two days, after showing them round the Abbey Gardens. Went to the Cathedral Crypt restaurant as it had to cheap and more or less English. Sure enough - Liver and Bacon - but not hungry enough today.  Had really nice Root Vegetable soup that came with bread (£2.95) and they had Bacon Rolls (£2.75) as well, although the Americans didn't seem to know what a bacon roll was. We shared a lovely Gooseberry Crumble Tart (£2.95) with custard, but I can't understand why it has to be a crumble on top of a tart. One or the other would be fine wouldn't it?

Last minute after parents evening and as a reward to myself for my skill at getting my son to choose the right A levels, we go to Bury for a takeaway and end up eating at the Noodle Bar again. Always busy in here, but this is really fast food - within minutes we had prawn toasts and deep fried squid - piping hot, freshly cooked and delicious with plenty of chili and garlic.

Granny wanted to go out to lunch so we persuaded her that The Angel would be a good place to go. Had the good value set menu £12.50 for two courses/£15.50 for three. Avoided 'Soup of the Moment' - best starter was crispy bacon & chicken livers on toast. Main courses - nice thyme crusted chicken and partridge pie, and roast pork belly. We tried all four puds because we couldn't decide which ones to have. Even better value because she paid!