0 September 2014 - Amy Cheadle from Northern Dough Company

Say Hi everyone to Amy Cheadle one half of the talented Northern Dough Co Pizza dough company (the other being Chris her husband), who lovingly create artisan frozen dough so you can create a superior pizza at home. Available at various farmers markets, quality food outlets and also from Booths,Waitrose and Ocado, this is a Lancashire food business success. Amy is currently cooking a little dough ball all of her own which is expected any day soon so she managed to fit in answering our questions whilst resting at home.

Their ready to roll bases are available in four flavours, original, wholemeal, rosemary and chilli they have a base to suit all tastes. Self confessed pizza addicts they love what they do and the product they have created.

Recently featured in BBC Good Food Magazine as a face of Clitheroe food festival the team are a regular feature of local food shows.

So on to our questions, so what makes Amy tick .....

•      What is your favourite cookery, food book or publication ?

There’s so many cookbooks I love – I have Delia’s ‘How to Cook’ where I learnt the basics and find Jamie’s fresh flavours and simplicity great for everyday, but one of my favourite times of the month is when my foodie mags pop through the door and I can sit down and leaf through the seasonal recipes – I cut out my favourites and keep them as an ongoing scrapbook to refer back to on a regular basis. Olive, Delicious and BBC Good Food are all delivered to the door.

•         What sentence sums up Lancashire Food to you ?

Hearty, homely and comforting – food that brings family and friends together.

•         If you weren’t doing what you do now, what would you like to be ?

I absolutely love working with food, but my long term dream is to write a novel, so I’d love to spend my days in a cottage in the countryside gazing over a lovely view and coming up with plots – food would have to feature heavily though!

•         Which piece of kit could you not do without ?

My pizza peel – it makes getting a pizza in and out of a hot oven on a stone really easy and is always a talking point when people come over for a pizza party. They’re not expensive though, about £10 or so for one that will last a lifetime.

•         Who would join you at your ultimate dinner party and why?

My ultimate guest would be Roald Dahl, his stories fired my imagination as a child, The Witches was my favourite and I thought it was delightfully frightening that you could be turned into a mouse by eating chocolate and sweets! I’d also invite a true Neopolitan pizza chef and the team at Bake Off – Mel and Sue as they would provide the entertainment and Paul and Mary to keep me on my toes and make sure my baking was up to scratch!

•         What advice would you give to your younger self ?

That setbacks are critical to finding the very best solution. Sometimes at the time things not going the way you planned feels tough, but in hindsight I’ve always learned far more from situations that I’ve had to approach for a second or third time – challenge inspires innovation and that’s what keeps things interesting. (This doesn’t however apply to my driving test, which took 9 attempts to pass!)

•         Describe your style in three words

Currently its comfortable, cool and expandable as I’m 8 months pregnant but usually its pretty much summed up as classic – whether it be fashion, food or at home, I love the basics but keeping things fresh with a little twist here and there.

•         What was your latest foodie gadget purchase ?

A Kitchen Aid pizza wheel, it was ludicrously expensive given you can pick up a similar gadget for a few pounds, but it slices through any pizza/ topping like a knife through butter and at food shows we can cook 50 pizzas a day and cut them into 30 mini slices for sampling, so efficiency is a must!

•         What is your greatest achievement to date ?

Creating a brand at our kitchen table and getting into onto supermarket shelves nationally within two years. We started the business with a small sum of money left to my by my late Grandmother, who was renowned for her larger than life personality and strong work ethic and it makes me very proud to think of the delight she’d take in our success. I also love when people are surprised that as a husband and wife team, people think that Chris and I would drive each other crazy living and working together – its quite the opposite, I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather run a business with.

•         What is the worst mistake you have made ?

Making things overcomplicated – at our first food show in 2011, we were making samples so people could taste the pizza dough freshly baked. I devised an elaborate list of different toppings, and tried to re-create them on the stand only to find that it was an absolute disaster and meant timings were all over the place. Since then, we opt for tomato and mozzarella and let the dough speak for itself – I also always look to Chris to simplify things, he’s great at seeing through the detail and pulling out the one or two key elements that are important.

•        Tell us a secret about yourself ? may be something we wouldn’t expect !

There’s not much in the food world that I don’t enjoy – sweet, savoury, all the cuisines of the world and food is always a huge part of holidays and day trips wherever I am. Not a secret, especially for someone working in the food industry, but if someone was to offer me a last meal ever, it wouldn’t be lobster or fillet steak, I’d head to a chippy in Preston city centre and order chips, cheese and gravy and sit on a bench outside to eat them, covered in vinegar! It was a student staple years ago, and still something I crave as comfort food.

Detail: September 2014 - Amy Cheadle from Northern Dough Company

0 Coast at the Glendower Hotel, Lytham St Annes.

The Glendower Hotel is a family run hotel in the genteel seaside town of Lytham St Annes, recently refurbished, MR LF and myself were lucky enough to invited to the press launch lunch in their newly opened restaurant "COAST".

With the emphasis on seafood, COAST is set to become the dining destination for locals and visitors alike once word gets out of the quality dining experience now available. Supplied by local fishmongers - Lannigans and the farmers of the Fylde's rich agricultural lands, the menu is a great showcase of local produce, cooked with love, care and attention.

Craig Brown has recently been appointed of the Head chef at COAST, formerly of the gastro pub chain Green Crab, Fylde Rugby club and the Villa Country House Hotel. The talented kitchen team want to provide a classic twist across the spectrum of British Food, with a strong emphasis on local ingredients.

Craig's ethos, is that fresh produce is absolutely essential to exemplary food. Right here in St Annes, COAST is in an exceptional location for sourcing the very best ingredients from both land and sea.

Our delightful amuse buche, a great start to a lovely meal, accompanied by some great artisan style breads and olives.

After making our choices from the wide ranging menu, Mr LF chose the ham hock terrine with homemade piccalilli and granary bread, a perfectly balanced dish with enough poke in the pickle to offset the rich porky terrine.

My choice was the asparagus with crispy egg, as I was intrigued by the pink grapefruit and citrus hollandaise. A delicious combination  and the citrus flavours worked beautifully alongside the asparagus and egg.

On to our mains, Mr LF chose the hotpot, which was a deconstructed version and apparently tasty enough to give Lancashire's Michelin starred chef a run for his money. The dish was also a generous man sized portion.

Given that COAST's emphasis is seafood I chose the plaice dish which included the ultra local ingredient "Lytham shrimp". A delicious balance of flavours and textures which had been prepared with great attention so that the fish was perfectly cooked and the samphire crunchy, just like I like it !

For dessert we both selected the chocolate mousse, which was also the most popular dessert dish with the rest of the table too. A decadent combination of chocolate and cherries which rounded of the meal beautifully.

The service was attentive and friendly and we loved the driftwood feel to the decor, providing a modern contemporary ambiance to the restaurant. 

The Glendower Hotel is part of the Best Western Group and is situated on North Promenade, Lytham St Annes. Over looking the iconic Sand dunes, the 60 room hotel is ideally situated for short break, weddings, corporate events and has stunning coastal views.

Lunch was provided on a complementary basis however I was not required to write a review (positive or otherwise), all comments, views and opinions are my own.

Detail: Coast at the Glendower Hotel, Lytham St Annes.

0 Spiral Pasta with tasty creations Lancashire cheese sauce, mushrooms and parma ham

Recently here at Lancashire Food, we were approached by Tasty Creations a local company who produces ready made luxury cheese sauces from great local produce to sample their sauces. 

Tastycreations is small specialist food company based in the North West and they produce a range of premium cheese sauces using some of the excellent award winning local and British produced cheeses and specialist food ingredients. They buy their cheeses and milk from Lancashire and Cheshire, herbs from Yorkshire, onions from Lancashire, stock from Cheshire and their packaging is made in the UK. In the Lancashire Cheese sauce they use award winning DEWLAY Tasty Lancashire cheese. 

Having worked in the food industry for many years, Steven uses his culinary skills and knowledge of the specialist food and drink industry to produce a delicious selection of cheese sauces that are both convenient and versatile to use.

The sauces can be poured hot on top of chicken, fish, meat, pork, vegetables, potatoes or use as a cooking sauce to make a fish pie, pasta, lasagne, quiche, soufflé or use it as a dip. The chilled sauces  take two minutes to re-heat and can also be frozen for up to three months. They have also won a Great Taste Gold award in 2012.

We have chosen to use the sauces in a couple of recipes but they would also be great alongside a steak in the case of the Garstang Blue sauce , simple fish or grilled chicken and I am sure your cauliflower cheese would be enhanced by one of these fine sauces.

Our favourite was the "Lancashire Cheese Sauce" of course, in which you could really taste the Lancashire cheese l, this was a great base sauce for this pasta dish.

Ingredients 

• 1 pot of Tasty Creations Lancashire Cheese Sauce
• Fusilli pasta - suitable quantity for the number of portions you are making
• Mushrooms - thinly sliced
• Prosciutto or parma ham - finely sliced
• Parmesan cheese to serve
• A little olive oil

Method

• cook your pasta in boiling water for the specified time on the packet
• Whilst the pasta is cooking, quickly fry off the mushrooms in a little oil, once cooked add the Tasty Creations sauce
• Cook until the sauce is hot
• Now add the ham or prosciutto
• Serve over your drained cooked pasta, sprinkle with some freshly grated Parmesan to serve

Tasty Creations sauces are available from a number of outlets, details on the website.

Detail: Spiral Pasta with tasty creations Lancashire cheese sauce, mushrooms and parma ham