You really can’t beat a nice bit of Sirloin, Rump or even Fillet steak if you are pushing the boat out and it seems that not an awful lot of people can cook steak just how they like it.  I know this as people keep asking me how do I do it.  I am no expert but my wife and I do enjoy steaks cooked by me, so here goes on my preferred method.

First and foremost is the get the cooking method right.  Many seem to grill it, which if you have an industrial strength ‘Salamander’ style grill you may be successful, however if you are on a regular grill it simply cannot get hot enough.  Heat is what you want with cooking steak, the hotter the better.  Why?  It’s simple.  Too cold and the meat will start to boil and not grill/fry.  Therefore you need to cook it on the stove.  To do that you will need a quality pan in which to do so.

When I tell people what pans I have for cooking they often laugh at home much I spent on them.  I bought a Meyer Circulon set of 5 pans including the frying pan that I use for my steaks for £79.99.  Actually that was a cheap deal as they should have been about £129.99.  Basically the more you spend the better they are and these are great.  I have now had them for almost 5 years and they are still magnificent pans.  I also have a Wok that cost £30 and was great.  What is so good about all the pans is that they are non stick, but not just a cheapy non stick that last for a round 6 months before washing away in the sink water.  No these non stick are true non stick and then have lasted well.  In fact they are so tough and durable that you can even use metal utensils and pan scourers on them without ruining the pans.

So now that you have the pan, the next thing that you need to get is the steak.  Personally I prefer Sirloin to fillet or rump.  Rump is a little too fatty for my liking and fillet is a little too lean.  It needs to have just the right amount of fat in the steak to make it tasty without being too greasy and grissly.  The fat gives it a nice taste, as long as it is in the right amount!  It should have small flecks of fat running through the meat, which is what chef’s often call ‘marbling’.

The next thing is to prepare your steak.  It should be cooked at room temperature and therefore you need to leave it out of the fridge for a good 30 - 45 minutes before you cook it.  Once you have it ready you should season with pepper, but not salt as this will draw the moisture out of the steak and can make it tough.  Plenty of freshly milled black pepper is my personal choice.

Now put you pan on the stove (a gas stove is always best for this as electric stoves just don’t get hot enough) on full heat on the biggest ring that you have.  Leave it there for around 5 minutes to heat up.  If should be lightly smoking before you start cooking anything.  Then once really hot, add a few sprays of oil (I use the spray oils that you can get from the supermarket).  You should only use sunflower or vegetable oil and not olive oil as the high temperatures will burn the olive oil and leave a nasty taste in your mouth.  Once the pan is pipping hot add your steaks.  Once in the pan don’t move them about, just let them cook after seasoning with a little salt.

Depending on how you like your steak, will depend on the cooking time.  Personally I am a medium type person and there fore around 3 - 4 minutes on each side will do, depending on the thickness of the steak.  Once you have cooked the steak, remove from the pan and place on a plate in order to rest.  This is crucial as it will prevent any blood from the steak running all over your plate.  Let it rest for around 5 minutes.  People often say what is the reasoning behind leaving your steak to rest?  Well the best way I can think of to explain this is imagine you jumped into a ice cold swimming pool.  Your body would contract into itself, and you would curl up into a ball, shivering no doubt!  Well this is what happens to the steak when it enters a hot pan.  Therefore allowing it to stand after cooking gives the meat time to relax and ’separate’ again.

Once you have it cooked then all that is left is to serve.  I think that it is best with a small salad with a vinigarette dressing and some simple boiled new potatoes (if it is spring/summer then good old Jersey Royals are always a good choice).  I also like a little Dijon or Peppercorn mustard on my steak to finish it off.  Lovely!

I have been making this recipe for a while now and thought that I would share it, as it has to be the best quick chicken recipe I have had.

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp. runny honey
4 tbsp. soy sauce (I prefer the light soy sauce)
2. tbsp. tomato ketchup
A pinch of crushed chillies
1 garlic clove, crushed
Water to loosen if needed
Plenty of freshly ground black pepper
2 chicken breast fillets

METHOD

1. Combine all of the ingredients, except the chicken into a shallow tray (Lasagna dishes are good) and mix together well
2. Score the chicken breast fillets and then place them score side down into the tray. Baste the marinade over with a spoon and then set aside to marinate for anything between 20 minutes and 3 - 4 hours.
3. Now cook as desired. I like to fry them on the griddle pan to start off with and then finish them off in the oven.

It is great served with all-sorts. My favourite is with a simple dressed salad and some potato wedges. My wife likes it with rice and peas.

Remember when you were a kid and you used to go around to the corner for them Penny sweets that were half a penny and a penny. Well one of the favourites amongst them were the teddy bear little gummy sweets. Because of them Haribo was born.

Now we have all had Haribo before I am sure. You get the large bags and even boxes in the supermarkets and especially at the cash and carry places. We often end up sampling them at work in the office as they are used for rewards with the children. But this week we have all become addicted to a new type of Haribo. A Haribo Fizz.

I have had them before. They are the ones with the fizzy, sugary coating on the outside and then have a real zing with them when you eat them. They are one of those funny foods really. When you first put them in your mouth you have this urge to spit it out straight away, and then almost immediately you get this sense of satisfaction when the fizz kicks in. The best ones are the ones that make you wink uncontrollably, or as my family would call them ‘a bit seem lucky’. Why I will never know but when someone says that we all know exactly what they mean.

If you haven’t tried them I would strongly urge you not to as one will lead to two, which will lead to half a pack which will then lead to a full packets and possibly one of those great big bucket fulls of the things. This surely cannot be good for you. We need help!

The date was mid March 1998. I was a healthy, happy 18 year old student attending university at Lancaster. I was around six foot two inches and 12 stone. A healthy weight for someone of that height. Since then life has never been the same, but I finally feel that the battle is now won.

What battle you might be asking yourself? Well it was around 6 months later (Sept ‘98) that I was in a doctors examination room being diagnosed with anorexia. The battle had just begun. Little did I know at the time that it was a battle that was going to take the best part of 10 years to overcome and eventually get back to a normal weight.

Having gotten down to 7 stone during the worst times of battling my anorexia, I have been a fairly healthy weight now for the past 5 years. Indeed in 2003 I was 10 stone 7lb which was still a lot on the skinny side, but things were under control and I was dealing with the illness well. From then until now I have been somewhere between 10 stone 7lb and 11 stone 7lb, but I was finding it harder and harder to get that last little bit on.

It was November 2007 that I finally made a conscious decision to try and gain the last 8 or 9 lb or so. It was extremely hard. In many ways I went back to how I was when I was anorexic, thinking about what I was eating all the time, not, this time has how many calories was in a food, but how few. It seemed that no matter what I ate nothing seemed to add those extra pounds that I needed in order to get back to the weight I was some 10 years early.

Today I decided to get on the scales. What the hell? Maybe the last 4 months weight gain effort had made the difference and I would be back up to the weight that I was some 10 years ago? Well glancing down at the scales, I couldn’t believe my eyes. 12 stone exactly. Finely I had reached the milestone. What a journey but I was there! It is funny because back in 1998 and 1999 when I was as low as can be, if you had asked me will you ever weigh 12 stone again I would have thought never. Just goes to show what determination and great support from friends and family can achieve. Anorexia is a horrible illness, but it doesn’t always have to win. You can beat it. I did!

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Anorexia - My Story

We all love it and drink it every day of the week, I know I do and many of us grab a cup or two when out and about around town in stopping at a services for a break.  But do you know the real cost of the coffee that you are drinking in these large chain store coffee houses?

It has been in the news this week all about the coffee’s that are now house hold names.  Examples include double white mocha choca, Caramel Macchiato and Venti Cafe Mocha with whipped cream.  I mean come on these names are just ridiculous!  Caramel in coffee?  But do we know how man calories are in these rather stupidly named drinks?  Probably not.  Yes you are probably thinking that they have a few more calories than a normal white coffee but are you aware of the real amount of calories in them?  Maybe, maybe not.

It was revealed on the BBC News site this week that a Whole Milk [Venti] White Chocolate Mocha with Whipped Cream has a massive 619 calories in it if bought from Starbucks.  For a women that is around one third of her total calorie intake for the day.  Like I said you probably thought more than 20 calories (what is in a normal cup) but 619.  That is outrageous.   That around 13 calories for every letter in the name!!

Now don’t get me wrong if you want to drink coffee (and everything else that they bung into that plastic cup) that contains this many calories then that is great.  However there are two things to mention here.  Firstly we should be told as consumers what these drinks contain.  No where prominent does it tell you in these stores or on the drinks themselves how many calories they contain.  This is probably because they wouldn’t sell!  Secondly going into these cafe’s can one order a simply coffee.  By that I mean just a plain standard filter coffee with milk without having to be asked which type you want and whether you want whole, skimmed, semi skimmed or cream in it.  When I was younger you asked for a coffee in a cafe and you knew exactly what you were going to get.  A cup of filter coffee, not too strong and not to weak with a small jug of semi-skimmed milk to add yourself.  I don’t think you could have this confidence any more?

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BBC News -  Morning coffee is ‘meal in a cup’

This weekend I decided to open a bottle of red wine and was given an rather nice surprise was I tasted the vintage.

I was given a bottle of wine by a colleague at work for Christmas which was most welcome. The bottle was a “Gran Reserve Castillo De Calatrava Tempranillo 1996. Although I enjoy wine I am not a wine expert and therefore I can only think that it comes from Spain. It was only after opening it and drinking it that I noticed the year 1996 on the bottle.

It was clear after the first taste that this was something special. In fact I would go as far to say that this was the best bottle of red that I have had the pleasure to taste. It is an 11 year old wine which is unusual as wines that old tend to be passed there peak (so I am told!).

Well this was a treat indeed and if you are ever in a supermarket or even a wine shop and you come across this wine I would suggest you getting some, whilst at the same time getting in touch with me so that I can get some more.