This week is Farmhouse Breakfast Week.  Today I made ...wait for it.... balsamic roasted tomatoes squashed onto toasted rye bread, topped with stir fried mushrooms and spinach, griddled halloumi cheese and a poached egg...what a pig!

Visit the ShakeUpyourWakeUp website for lots of breakfast ideas and recipes.

I was invited to the West Suffolk College this week to speak to the 1st year BTEC students in the morning and the Introduction to Catering students in the afternoon.  Which meant lunch at Zest Restaurant and a tour of the kitchens in the middle.  It never ceases to amaze me of the high standards and professionalism achieved by both the students and the lecturers in the Catering and Hospitalty Faculty. Bury definitely has got talent!

A fellow Suffolk food blogger - lots of good recipes, especially baking .. that means cakes.

I found a lot of cheese, cured meat and bread at Borough Market. I also found tomatoes.  I don't usually bother much with tomatoes in the winter, but these were just too tempting...

If you get the chance to spend a day or two in Cambridge then here is my mini food tour. Arrive in the afternoon and start with Afternoon Tease in King Street.  It is very close to the bus station in Drummer Street and as the name suggests serves tea and cake.  You can also get breakfast, brunch and lunch.  It stays open until 6pm in the week. I had a big slice of stout Christmas cake with homemade marzipan and icing. The dark molasses flavoured cake had huge juicy chunks of stem ginger and figs which made me go straight out and buy figs, because sometimes you just forget how nice they are.

After a good long walk around the city, a little retail therapy perhaps and working up an appetite, then go for supper at Pint Shop, another new restaurant to the Cambridge scene and just off the market by the Corn Exchange. Meat, bread, beer, about 50 types of gin, 30 whiskies and a very good wine list. The bar was full but I got a glimpse of some scotch eggs and sausage rolls on the bar top as I walked through to the restaurant. I was by myself, but had a good time.  Staff are friendly and welcoming and bring a plate of bread to the table once you are seated. I had half a pint of so'hop moor ultra pale keg beer, with triple cooked smoked ox cheek, horseradish gremolata and sprouting broccoli.  The side order of mash was perfect to mop up the gravy. The puddings sounded really good and included a sticky figgy pudding, but you can only eat so many figs in a day. And so to bed..... there are loads of places to stay, look at Quality in Tourism for rated properties.

In the morning find your way to Norfolk Street Bakery. it is an easy walk from the Grafton shopping centre. Do not leave Cambridge without visiting this delightful, bijou, Portuguese bakery.  Adilia bakes with her cousin Daniel and the window alone just calls you in.  It is bang in the middle of a residential part of town and a little terraced property.  You can get coffee to drink in or take away.  I tried salt cod pie, a meat croquette , a suckling pork rissole and cod fish cake. Yes, I am a pig, but how can you resist, and they were still warm!  I brought home a box of  cinnamon topped pastel de nata (custard tarts) to eat later.

• pastel de nata
• suckling pork rissoles,meat croquette
• chicken and salt cod pies
•  

All Manor of Events in Henley, outside Ipswich, are holding Christmas in Oz themed parties.  This is a really original place to go for the staff Christmas party.  Each year the theme is different and we really enjoyed the chance to spend the evening in Oz.  The food was very good ( Christmas menu ) and the decor brilliant.

Xoliswa Ndoyiya was Nelson Mandela's personal cook from 1992. Her job interview consisted of just one question: “Can you cook our home food?”

 Here is the recipe for Umphokoqo, a porridge made of maize meal and sour milk which was one of Madiba's favourite foods.  He had it made whilst staying at The Dorchester in London.

Mr Suffolkfoodie having been brought up in South Africa also enjoys a bowl of this on most mornings.

Ingredients

2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt 
2 cups mealie meal ( polenta )
1 litre amasi (sour milk similar to buttermilk, buttermilk will do)

Method

Bring the salted water to a boil.

Add mealie meal, stirring constantly. Lower the heat and, stirring throughout, cook until the porridge is soft, approximately 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, stop stirring. Reduce the heat to an absolute minimum and cover the pot with a lid for 15 minutes or until the texture is totally soft (if there are still granules, the mixture is not yet cooked).

Remove from the heat, turn the contents of the pot into a large bowl and allow it to cool completely.

Serve with soured milk on the side so that each diner can determine how sour they would like their umphokoqo to be. The soured milk is then stirred into the porridge.

We are pleased to tell you that we will be popping up again at The Chequers in Gazeley on Saturday February 22nd  with our "one great price, one great menu" supper.

Suffolk Foodie February Popup Supper

Saturday Feb 22nd from 7pm

One Great Price - One Great Menu

£20.00 per person

Vichyssoise

with Stilton Scones

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6 hr Slow cooked shoulder of Pork
with apple sauce

or

Chestnut & Mushroom Loaf

Baked Red Cabbage & Roast Potatoes

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Home made Orange Marscapone Cheesecake
with poached fruits

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Limited number of tables so please book via

01638 551511  email or use the link to the online booking form

Benson Blakes in Bury St Edmunds has just taken over a country pub; not  to make it into a burger bar but for a very exciting project. The pub is owned by the local farmer who will be supplying the pub with rare breed pork (Oxford Sandy & Black) with beef, lamb, free range turkey, wild venison and local game. There will be a small holding established early next year for herbs, salads and vegetables. The farmer will also be growing wheat, barley & hops for a microbrewery that will be established in the farm. They are also setting up a smokery and doing a full range of charcuterie meats and chutneys... Real Suffolk food !!

 Please book your table via the online booking form