Food On the Move - Grab 'n' GO!

Longer than usual break this time, Chef's been busy taking a holiday, and involved with other commitments, but now he's back, and because he's been pressed for time and skipping meals, thought it was time to look at food on the move.

Where it all started - The Cornish Pasty.

For me, the original, and still the best. Originally a hand held portable snack for miners, and was the staple diet of men across Cornwall. Perfect to the job, it was easy to carry, was filling and was perfect as part of a balanced diet, (Pasty in one hand, a pint in the other right?) containing Meat, veg and our favourite. The potato.

Nowadays, things have moved on a bit and there is now an endless supply of tasty comestibles to eat on the go. Burgers, Wraps, Pies, Salads, Noodles, Sushi, Tacos, Cakes, Pastries, and muffins. You name it, and it's out there somewhere.  

Not only that, but we've gone truly global. North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa. Street vendors are becoming big business, and they've taken their inspiration from EVERYWHERE. 

So, how do you take advantage of this growing trend to be able to offer this as part of your business??

1. Well, first you need to look at your existing concept, and see which style of street food will fit. We'll assume you're going to go Mexican.
2. Look at your existing dishes and see what could be adapted to being hand held, and pull together a limited 'Street Menu'
3. Decide whether  you want to go the whole hog and have a bespoke stall in a high footfall area, like this. The Meat Wagon or just a takeaway service from your existing site(s) 
4. Promote it, on Twitter, your facebook page, (You ARE using social media right?) and in your restaurant. 

Lets look at some ideas to get you going. Here's your whistle stop World tour of hand held delights..

1st Stop - Europe.

Grilled Sausages and Baguette

Whether you go for French style or a German Bratwurst, you can't beat these, cooked over an open fire / grill with some well fried onions, and mustard. (Well maybe if you served it up with a portion of crispy french fries)

The Pasty - Since 2011, it's not Cornish unless made it was made there!

Traditionally equal amounts of Beef skirt, and raw diced potato mixed with swede and onion and seasoning, wrapped in pastry, and crimped into a 'D' shape. Brush with egg, and bake for approx 1hr at 200C. Perfect hot or cold.

Rory Finneren

 
Stop 2 - North America - Home of the Burger.

 If you're going to do this, then do it right. If you can't make the best, then buy the best burger you can find. - Pure ground beef and seasoning is all you need, but make sure you use a cut with plenty of fat, or it'll be dry. I find Chuck works extremely well.

Form into Burgers, and chill for 1hr before cooking to allow the mixture to firm up. Grill untouched for 2-3 mins to allow a good seal, and then carefully turn. Cook until done to your guests liking, and top with whatever your choices are, but please don't turn it into a 'culinary dustbin'. Cheese, bacon, BBQ, lettuce, onion are perfect. Sreve on a lightly toasted good quality bread bun.

Tex Mex style wedges and fries are the perfect accompaniment, although for a twist, you might want to try these.

Stop 3 - A short Hop down to South America.

Empanadas 
Widespread throughout S. America, this is the great British Pasty, with a twist. Wrapped in a thinner lighter pastry case, this holds a mic of beef, potato, onion, pepper, seasoned with cumin, paprika and chilli, although to be honest it varies throughout the continent, so you can be as creative as you like. My personal start point would be the 'holy trinity' of cumin, coriander, and chilli.

Empanadas - Jules Clancy

Tacos 

Everyone knows these filled with spicy ground beef, but for something a little more traditional take some white fish, marinate in Chilli powder, lime, and coriander leaf for approx 15mins, grill until just cooked, and flake into your lightly griddled flour tortilla. Garnish with finely shredded white cabbage, red onion, and coriander leaf. Add a little of your favourite salsa and serve.
Mix the fish, mashed potato, and veg together.
Form into your chosen shape.
Dip in beaten egg, and then coat in the crumb.

Lightly pan fry until crisp, and finish in the oven for best results.

Fish Tacos - Heather Cowper

That's all for now, but should be enough to get your creative juices flowing.

www.aviko.co.uk

Food for Kids!

This month, we're tackling the issue of how you get kids to eat the foods that they are not so keen on, particularly when they're at school, where nutrition is key. It's been well publicised recently, but I happen to think this girl has a point. http://neverseconds.blogspot.co.uk

As a parent, I want to make sure that my kids eat healthily, but at the same time, I want them to enjoy their food, and appreciate good food, and new ingredients. So I use few techniques that work, and could be used in schools, colleges and restaurants to good effect. Here's my top 5.


1. Marketing - Sometimes the truth hurts, so it's better to dress it up a little. When I want to get my kids to eat something controversial, I dress it up a bit. Sprouts become 'baby cabbages' which sound much more appetizing.


2. Make it look and taste nice - Colour is vital here, bright, fresh looking food is essential. Peppers, tomatoes, and carrots are great for adding vibrancy to a dish. If you're hot holding, then make sure it's turned / stirred from time to time so that it stays looking it's best. No-one wants to eat food that looks bad.


3. Make it fun to eat - Finger food is FUN (fact). Use skin on wedges instead of fries - These can be baked, and so are a healthy alternative too. Kids love 'mini food'. Instead of making one big portion, split it down and give them 2 or three ' mini meals'

Aviko 'Tiger Fries' made with Skin on and Sweet Potato fries

4. Wrap it up! - Tortilla wraps are worthy of so much more - Take a  bolognaise sauce filled with plenty of veg make a tortilla parcel, top it with cheese, and bake, and baked in the oven is a great alternative for this dish. A wrap can make any food portable, finger food and therefore fun.

5. Less is More! - One of the most common mistakes is overcooking our kids food. Veg should be crunchy, fish should be juicy, and meat should be succulent, just the way we like it.

For pub / family restaurants, kids food is a massive driver. I know as a family, with budgets tightening, when we go out, we go where the kids like the food because you don't want that money to be wasted. If you get the kids, you get the parents too, and that's where the profits are made.




My Kids (Current) Favourite Dishes: 

Grilled Fish with Lemon


Directions
It's an odd one this, as you'd think fish might be less popular, but mine love it (As long as it has a good squeeze of lemon)

Take your fish of choice.

Grill until just cooked - Remember what I said earlier?
Give it a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Serve with your child's favourite veggies, and some crispy baked skin on potato wedges, or Sweet Potato fries as shown here.

Grilled fish with Sweet Potato fries

 

Fish Cakes


Directions
I've never met a child yet who didn't like good mashed potato, and this a great way of using up leftover mash. On top of which, you can hide veg inside, make them as 'mini' fish cakes, AND you can make them into shapes!


  
Approx equal weight of cooked, flaked fish and mashed potato.

Peas, sweetcorn, or whatever veg you want to hide in there. 
Breadcrumbs (Made from slightly stale bread whizzed in a food-processor is best)


Mix the fish, mashed potato, and veg together.
Form into your chosen shape.
Dip in beaten egg, and then coat in the crumb.

Lightly pan fry until crisp, and finish in the oven for best results.

Spaghetti Carbonara (serves 2)

Spaghetti Carbonara

 

Directions

This can be a quick, simple meal and with half fat cream, and reduced fat cheese, can be made into a much healthier choice (Or do what I do, and give 'em the real thing, and then send 'em out for some exercise. I find that washing my car burns off about enough calories hehe)


2 Eggs
100ml Dble Cream (Or low fat alternative)
50g Parmesan
Thinly sliced pancetta

Lightly whisk the eggs, and mix with the cream.
Add the finely grated parmesan to the cream mix and set aside until required.

Grill or fry the pancetta until crispy and then break into small pieces. (Or use lean ham cut into small dices if you want to be healthier)

Cook the pasta, and drain. Return to the pan, and pour over the egg, cream and cheese mixture, stirring all the time. The heat from the pasta will cook the egg, and thicken the sauce. Mix in the pancetta / ham and serve. Feel free to add cooked peas / broccoli to this for even more colour! 

www.aviko.co.uk 
 

When Is A Potato Not A Potato?

When it's an Ipomoea Batatas!! AKA The Sweet Potato. 

Often confused with Yams, which are grown in the tropics, this super versatile vegetable is under utilised in the UK. Most well known in it's orange fleshed guise, it comes in several different varieties, with different qualities just like the potato us Brit's have known and loved for so many years.

So who is this (not so) new pretender to the potato crown? Well, our favourite of the varieties is Beauregard. Mainly, this is commercially grown in the Southern US states, in particular, Louisiana, and North Carolina.

They are planted after the last frost has gone and take approx 100 days to reach their harvesting potential. Beauregard has a rich orange flesh with a copper brown skin (No Essex girl jokes, please.) Rich in essential nutrients, particularly high in Vitamin A and suitable for a low GI diet, these are best steamed, as some of it's benefits can be lost through the boiling / baking process.

OK, so I've got my sweet potato, now what do I do with it? Well, you treat it pretty much like your regular potato, except that you'll find it cooks MUCH quicker. You can bake it, mash it, steam it, boil it and pan fry it. You can even use it in desserts, but you'll find it's given a huge lift when you marry it with your favourites from cinnamon, chilli, rosemary, thyme, coriander, ginger, and even curry.

It's an amazing accompaniment to Lamb, and works especially well alongside a lamb burger in the form of wedges or fries.

Our favourite recipe ideas include: 

Made into Wedges / Fries, and baked in a hot oven

Photo - Dean Sebourn

Directions

Preheat oven to 225 degrees C

Peel and slice your sweet potatoes into approx 10mm 'chips', toss in just enough olive oil to coat, and season with salt, black pepper and paprika to taste. Or, leave the skins on, and cut onto 6-8 wedges depending on the size of the potato.

Spread in a single layer on a non stick tray with some space to allow the heat to circulate.

Bake until sweet potatoes are tender and golden brown, turning occasionally, about 20 minutes.

Or, you could just save yourself a load of time, and get These. 

Shepherds Pie with Sweet Potato Mash - Give this a Caribbean twist by adding orange zest, cinnamon, and chilli to the base. 

Directions
Take your favourite shepherds pie recipe, and add the following to approx 750g minced lamb. 

3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground mixed spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Enough fresh or dried chilli to suit your palatte
Splash of orange juice and zest of an orange.

For the Sweet potato mash topping, bake approx 1kg of Sweet potato, bake in the oven until soft (30-40 mins), scoop out the flesh, and mash with butter, salt and pepper. Here's our favourite top tip. If you work round the outside of your dish first, and work your way into the middle with your mash, you will get a better finish with less filling oozing out of the sides!

Sweet Potato, Spinach and Lentil Dhal 

100g red lentils
450ml vegetable stock
1 small onion , grated or finely chopped
2 tomatoes , chopped
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1 red chilli , finely chopped
1 large sweet potato , cut into small pieces
2 handfuls young leaf spinach , shredded 

Directions

Put all the ingredients except the sweet potato, and spinach in a pan, bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Add the sweet potato and cook until tender, another 10-12 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook for a minute until wilted. Serve with a fresh naan bread and enjoy.

Sweet Potato Ice Cream

Are you sure? It can be made into ICE CREAM? - Oh Yes, just make your standard custard base, omitting the vanilla, and mix in approx 250g sweet Potato puree to each litre of custard. Flavour with cinnamon, and nutmeg to taste, and churn away!!

www.aviko.co.uk