Well tonight I managed to get a question in at the Radio 4 recording of the culinary panel show The Kitchen Cabinet, which took place at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds. The panel led by Jay Rayner included Sophie Wright (chef and author) Masterchef champion Tim Anderson, Food Historian Dr Annie Gray and Bury St Edmunds born Chef/Musician Andi Oliver. Listen to the programme on Saturday May 23rd at 10.30am. It's the last question and I use my real name! 

Barbara Segall writes about gardens and herbs. Some great tips on her blog for growing and harvesting your own produce. 

Made on site, at the build up for the 1st European Games, Asberbaijan. The creative team from the UK fancied some home comforts. They sent me a picture of the results and the recipe:

One packet cake mix from a local Baku supermarket. (instructions in Russian)

Some water to add to the cake mix.

A 2 litre paint cup and stick for mixing.

An old camping oven found on site.

A coerced Quarter Master to keep an eye on the cakes and remove from the oven once cooked. (the team were working)

A plastic bag to mix the icing and use with the corner cut off to decorate the buns.

Tah Dah! 

From 8th - 22nd May visit Ipswich and take part in the Food and Drink Forknight, celebrating all that’s good and great in the local food scene. There should be something to tickle your tastebuds. Try the very special Afternoon Tea at The Salthouse Harbour Hotel. Read all about our visit on the Ipswich Central website and check out the special offer during the Forknight.

I just drove home way too fast because I had a loaf of freshly baked bread in the back of my car.The smell was tormenting me and I wanted to cut myself a slice and spread it with butter.The loaf of Pakenham bread (made with Pakenham Mill flour) had just been baked by Mark Proctor from The Friendly Loaf Company which is based in Rede.The smell of a bakery always brings back childhood memories of visiting my Grandad in his bakery in Ixworth. Mark told me all about his Barm bread, which is an ale leavened bread.I'll try that next time. He also told me he has a job vacancy for a bakery assistant, to help him in the bakery and learn the art of breadmaking.Now that is a fine opportunity....

If there's anything you ever wanted to know about food or cooking, but didn't know who to ask?Come and be part of the audience at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds for The Kitchen Cabinet BBC 4's culinary panel programme.Hosted by Jay Rayner the show is witty, fast-moving, and irreverent, but packed full of information that may well change the way you think about cooking.You'll have the opportunity to put your questions on anything and everything to do with food and drink to a panel of experts, and enjoy plenty of good-humoured conversation about cooking and eating.

People have been telling me the food is good at The Bear Inn, Beyton, so we nipped in for a family supper, which was just going to be a main course and then the chicken liver parfait sounded tempting with the fruit chutney and homemade bread (which had been toasted over the flame grill) so I ordered that. It was excellent. Much to the surprise of my family, as I never eat steak when I am out, I ordered a rib eye steak cooked rare, which it was.  Salad leaves were properly dressed and fat chips crisp. That left no room for a pudding...or did it? I noticed the taster puddings which are scaled down portions so ordered the apple crumble with homemade vanilla custard. Wow, was that good and just £3 for the small, yet not so mini, deliciously tart apple crumble with sugary crunchy top and the best custard that I have eaten out for a long time.

Here is the link to The Bear Inn recipe page. Try making their lemon possett.

Alan is the Executive Head Chef at Stoke by Nayland Hotel, Golf and Spa.He shares his bun recipe that he created as part of a breakfast offering for 250 chefs and catering industry leaders.The base of the recipe is a Chelsea bun. The filling for the buns has cut mixed peel, chopped pecans, maple syrup and Pancetta. For the topping Alan uses his favourite buttercream recipe;it really is worth the extra effort of making it. The recipe calls for making an Italian meringue before adding the butter. This topping just melts in the mouth beautifully.

Makes 10 standard size or 20 small buns.

      Ingredients

       500g plain strong flour, plus extra for dusting

       1 tsp salt

       1 x 7g sachet of fast action yeast or 16g of fresh yeast

       300ml milk

       40g unsalted butter, at room temperature

       1 free range egg

       Vegetable oil for greasing

        For the filling

25g unsalted butter, melted

50g soft brown sugar

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

2 tsp ground cinnamon

100g cut mixed peel

75g chopped pecans

15 slices of Pancetta cooked, cooled and crumbled

        For the glaze

2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp caster sugar

Method

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the yeast.
2. Meanwhile, warm the milk and butter in a saucepan until the butter melts and the mixture is lukewarm.
3. Add the buttery milk and egg to the flour mixture and stir until the contents of the bowl come together as a soft dough. (You may need to add a little extra flour.)
4. Turn the dough out onto a generously floured work surface. Knead for five minutes, adding more flour if required, until the dough is smooth and elastic and is not sticky.
5. Lightly oil a bowl with a little of the vegetable oil. Place the dough into the bowl and turn until it is covered in the oil. Cover the bowl with cling film and set aside in a warm place for one hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
6. Lightly grease a baking tray.
7. For the filling, knock the dough back to its original size and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough out into a rectangle 0.5cm/¼in thick. Brush all over with the melted butter, then sprinkle over the brown sugar, cinnamon and peel, pecans and bacon.
8. Roll the dough up into a rolling pin shape, cut ten 4cm slice and place them onto a lightly greased baking sheet, leaving a little space between each slice. Cover with a tea towel and set aside to rise for 30 minutes.
9. Preheat oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.
10. Bake the buns in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown.
11. Meanwhile, for the glaze, heat the milk and sugar in a saucepan until boiling. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
12. Remove the buns from the oven and brush with the glaze, then set aside to cool on a wire rack.

Buns are prepared and proved in paper cases

For the Italian Meringue Buttercream

75 g egg whites

140g caster sugar

30mls water

225g salted butter

1. To make the syrup, place a sugar thermometer in the saucepan and heat water and 120g of sugar over a medium-high heat.
2. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Once stiff gradually add the remaining sugar to the meringue.
3. Raise the heat under the syrup and bring to 245 degrees F, once reached remove from heat and slowly add to the meringue, reduce the whisking speed to medium and mix until cool. Once cooled ( must be cooled or the butter will melt and the buttercream be too soft) add the butter a tablespoon at a time, beat until fully incorporated.

 Decorate with the buttercream and a rasher of crispy Pancetta

Old Speckled Hen is celebrating Easter this year by bringing its much loved ale to Suffolk in a characteristically cunning style, that's set to test the grey matter and get those bushy tails wagging. The UK's number one ale brand will be burying its Hunt for a Hen Travelling Bar in a secret location in Bury St Edmunds on Saturday 14th March, and rewarding those who find it with a free pint of its full, smooth flavoured ale, in exchange for a social post. The social hunt will be taking place across four secret locations in the UK throughout March and the Easter weekend with clues appearing online from March 9th. All those up for the "Aleventure" just need to follow @SpeckledHenry on Twitter and keep a beady eye out for his clues dropped with a dedicated #huntforahen hashtag. It's then up to you to crack the clues and head to the secret location to reap the reward.It won't be hard to miss. Free ale won't be all that's on offer;there will also be the opportunity for dedicated explorers to boost their trophy cabinet with the Old Speckled Hen "Hen Hunt" competition. There are lots of prizes on offer including free beer and even up to £1000 in cash. SuffolkFoodie also have some prizes to giveaway.

Being serious foodies we also recommend that you try baking this delicious ale infused chocolate cake.

Rich and Dark Old Speckled Hen Chocolate Cake

Delicious served with freshly whipped cream....

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients;

175g self-raising flour

• • ¼ level tsp baking powder

  • 1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda

  • 275g dark brown soft sugar

  • 110g spreadable butter

  • 2 large eggs, beaten

  • 50g cocoa powder, sifted

  • 200ml Old Speckled Hen

  • For the Icing:

  • 200g butter, soften

  • 400g icing sugar

  • 2 tbsp Old Speckled Hen

  • 50g dark chocolate, melted

  • Cocoa powder or grated chocolate to dust

  • Method:
    

 Preheat the oven 180°C, fan oven 160°C, gas mark 4.  Grease and line the base of 2 x 22cm round cake-tins, with non-stick baking parchment.

Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a freestanding mixer.

Add all the other ingredients, except the Old Speckled Hen. Either using an electric hand whisk or the freestanding mixer combine all the ingredients for about one minute until you have a smooth creamy consistency.   Add the Old Speckled Hen a little at a time until thoroughly combined.

Divide the mixture between the two prepared tins and bake for about 30–35 minutes.  The cakes are cooked when pressed lightly with your little finger and the center springs back.

Place on a cooling rack and leave to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tin and cooling further on a cooling rack.

To make the icing: melt the chocolate in the microwave - 2-3 minutes on medium should do it - or in a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and let cool slightly.

Beat the softened butter, gradually adding the icing sugar a spoonful at a time. Once all the icing sugar has been added, whisk the icing for about 5 minutes on a high speed with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Add the Old Speckled Hen and mix thoroughly. Add the melted chocolate and beat until everything is glossy and smooth. Spread or pipe half the icing onto the bottom layer, top with the other cake, spreading the remaining icing on top.

I was working in Essex last week and discovered my B&B was B and no B so I had to go hunting for my breakfast. I headed for Dedham where I had heard there was a very good tea room which opens at 9am and served breakfast. Essex Rose Tea House is owned by Wilkin and Sons, famous for the Tiptree preserves.I ordered the Welsh Rarebit made with Tiptree mustard. Perfect, as was the service and the pot of tea.