Changing Food… One Meal At A Time!
Spring
Jan Fullwood Food Consultant
(aka JamJarJan)
NOTES FROM A CHAOTIC KITCHEN
Welcome to daily life in a chaotic, well-used kitchen…..
A constantly busy, always evolving space: full of cooking, eating and creating (dinner, treats, mess), for work and for play, for family and friends.
Let me introduce myself and my family:
- A Food and Recipe Consultant who is ‘never knowingly under-catered’, I’ll whip up a five-minute muffin mix at a moment’s notice. I’m constantly creating, evaluating and tasting, always cooking, eating and learning something new
- Long-suffering Hub, who just wants a clutter-free kitchen and peace and quiet. Happiest in the garden. He grows, I cook and preserve
- Eldest Cheffy Son and his Pastry-chef girlfriend, who cook catering quantities of restaurant quality food at every opportunity
- Protein & carb-obsessed younger Student Son, currently at uni. Loves food, but cooking not his forte - student survival skills ongoing
We all eat to live. Let me help you live to eat.
Share my learning and experiences to make the most of your meals too.
What's in Jan's Pan?
MARCH 2026
Mad March hares come to mind when I think of the last month - it has been manic here, hence the lack of updates so far. No one warns you that when you have a Bereavement there is so much Admin. How does the loss of a loved one equate to so much paperwork when it is the last thing that you feel like doing? So apologies for the lack of fresh material for this month, but I really have been otherwise engaged with what a friend aptly calls 'sadmin'.
It's a shame, as there have been some lovely light moments to get me through. Judging for The Great Taste awards has been an absolute blessing for me. Two to three hour sessions of total focus, and a joyful day of interacting with like-minded people fascinating backgrounds in some facet of the good industry.
Also the excuse to meet up with close friends for coffee and consolation along my first visit to the garden museum. It was through fellow Guild member, Ceri Jones, who works in the learning facility there that I discovered this best kept secret. Next to Lambeth Palace and St Mary's church the museum has regular exhibitions, with not just a cafe once you've pottered round, but a full blown restaurant serving delicious dishes of the day. We had the set lunch - no choice, just the simplest freshest and most seasonal dishes. Excellent value, light and delicious. Book, or don't blame me if you can't get a table.
And finally, I’ve been living vicariously through student son as he maximises his study outing NZ, exploring at every opportunity. I don’t need to do the hikes as he has done the hard work for me as he climbs the next mountain and sends me his pictures of the latest Lord of the Rings inspired view. We are lucky enough to be able to go and join him to celebrate his birthday and our wedding anniversary (silver medal for us this year!!), so coffee culture of Wellington, here we come!
So I promise it will be back to normal service very soon, I have lots to look forward to and report back on, so watch this space... I will be back.
Guild of Fine Food
Great Taste Coordinators Workshop.
We always kick the month off with a Coordinator workshop in preparation for the Great Taste tastings from February through to June. This means a trip to Southwark Street on the outskirts of Borough Market. My first stop is usually at Maria's for a piping hot cappuccino to combat the cold of the outdoor seating in the middle of the market.
This year we had some fascinating speakers, AJ Sharp of Sharp Communications, and Eleanor Ford, author of four spice books including the 'Nutmeg Trail'. We are sometimes asked to taste and assess whole spices for the star awards and she shared her knowledge and expertise to help with descriptors when judging and recording comments. We were also blown away by her 'rice puddings of the world' map - who knew such a simple pudding varied from country to country with just subtle changes of spice, from a Jamaican version with allspice, rum and raisins to chocolate and dried salted fish in the Philippines!
AJ Sharp has a great overview of the business, and her presentation 'Opening minds, expanding palates', did exactly what it said on the tin. We talked about food trends and innovations and had the joy of tasting foods for the future: cheese tea or chocolate seaweed anyone? We sampled crunchy teriyaki crickets - reminiscent of prawns, and protein-rich, the teriyaki flavour made them no different from any other crunchy snack. Mushroom coffee is big everywhere too at the moment - reputed to help cognitive and immune functions as well as inflamation - a truly 'magic' ingredient. It certainly popped up again in various guises for the chai and infusions tasting I coordinated later in the month.
Part of the benefit of entering the Awards is to provide feedback to the suppliers to help them to develop their products and hopefully attain that revered set of 3 stars. This means that as Coordinators we need to write positive constructive comments and we're told that we should not write anything we wouldn't say to the producer's face, so Anna May, a seasoned judge and editor of the judges’ feedback, gave us an update on the best way to present the information. According to her, 58% of consumers recognise the Great Taste Logo and understand it represents trustworthy, quality products that deliver on flavour. Everywhere you look you can find the prestigious stars, and with the rigorous testing you can guarantee a quality product. There’s a phenomenal 14,500 products vying for stars this year so we’ve our work cut out. Bring on the tasting!
What's in Jan's Pan?
Sea Bass with sweet potato and vinegar peppers
One of my birthday treats was to see Moulin Rouge the musical (for the third time - it's a must see spectacular Spectacular, so see it if you Can Can Can). We went to the Hawksmoor in Air Street for their good value set lunch, 2 courses for £23. Despite its' reputation as a steak restaurant (their bone marrow gravy is a must), they do offer a fish dish on the menu, and that day we chose the hake with vinegar peppers and charred sweet potato. It was so good that I replicated it at home using sea bass fillets for a very easy weekend dinner treat for hub and I - suitably spectacular but minimum effort.
Sea bream or sea bass fillets take minutes to cook, and are readily available in supermarkets, or ask your friendly fishmonger to fillet the fish for you. My local, Clayton's fishmonger, sadly closed a good while back due to retirement, but there continues to be a regular stall on the market to keep us in fresh fish from Billingsgate.
The vinegar peppers are a form of peperonata, with soft sweet, stewed peppers. The addition of capers gives that salty acidity, and rather floral flavour that is not to everyone's taste but adds piquancy and lifts the soft sweet peppers along with a sharpness from the vinegar.
Halve a large sweet potato and bake at 220C/200Cfan/Gas 7 for 15-20mins until softened.
Meanwhile, cook 1 yellow and 1 red sliced pepper and 1 sliced onion with a clove or 2 of garlic in a good splash of olive oil over a medium heat for 5-10mins - you want to soften but not colour them.
Add in the capers and a tablespoon of white wine vinegar, then pop the lid on and let the mixture steam and soften allowing the flavours to mingle for a further 5-10 minutes.
When almost ready to eat, heat a splash of oil in your frying pan on high heat. Season the fish with salt and pepper on both sides. Add the fillets to the pan skin-side down and leave to cook for 3-4 mins. Once the skin is crisp and golden, carefully turn and cook the flesh for another 1-2 mins until the flesh is cooked through.
Heat a dry pan or griddle pan until hot and char the cut surface of the sweet potato to colour, then serve with the peppers alongside the fish with some steamed kale sprinkled with toasted almonds.
As Harold Zidler would say - everything's going so well!!!
This month's recipe for The Pantry was a lentil soup, designed to make the most of some of the common ingredients they have available, tomatoes, bread and peppers, and provide the most simple preparation for those who have limited cooking facilities. No special cooking skills are required for this, ensuring that anyone can have a quick healthy meal on the plate with minimum effort, and options are given for differing abilities and circumstances where possible.
EASIEST EVER RED PEPPER & LENTIL SOUP
with leftover bread croutons
Serves 2-4
Makes approx 1 litre
Prep 10mins
Cook 10-20 mins
1 x 390g tin lentils in water
1 large or 2 small red peppers, halved, deseeded and chopped into bite-sized pieces
4 medium fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
400ml water or vegetable stock
For the croutons
a drizzle of oil
any leftover bread, roughly torn into cubes
· Tip the contents of the tin, the lentils and their water, into a medium-sized pan
· Add the peppers and tomatoes to the pan
· Pour over the water or stock (fill the empty tin to the top to measure 400ml )
· Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the pepper has softened and the tomato breaks down
· Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add any other flavourings here if you have them (see tips below)
· Serve it chunky, or lightly mash everything together with a fork to thicken the soup. If you have a hand blender or processor you can blend it until it is smooth.
· To make the croutons heat the oil in a pan over a medium-high heat. Add the cubes of bread and fry until crisp and golden
· Serve with the hot soup straight away.
The soup will keep for a day in the fridge and can be reheated.
Recipe Tips
· If you don’t have any stock cubes a teaspoon of Marmite adds extra flavour
· Add a tablespoon of tomato puree or tomato ketchup for extra flavour if you have it
· Use a tin of chopped tomatoes instead of the fresh tomatoes if you prefer
· If you have dried red lentils use 150g and cook in 525ml liquid with the tomatoes and pepper for 15-20 minutes until cooked through
· Sprinkle over some herbs or sliced spring onions if you have them
· If you have a toaster or grill, use this to brown slices of bread then cut or tear into cubes
· Alternatively, cut a crusty baguette into cubes and drop straight into the soup
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