July brings us beans, burgers and the best of food festival fun.
Far be it from us to crowbar a concept in but as this underrated vegetable is bang in season AND this month sees the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in our region then we had to dedicate July’s Seasonal Eatings to the humble French bean! Much more than just a side dish…
Garlicky green beans Ooh la la
Green Bean Salad With Walnuts, Fennel, and Goat Cheese a delicious combination of beans, nuts and cheese
French bean crumble not a crumble you'd serve with custard! French beans with a crunchy nut and breadcrumb topping
Summer is well and truly here and as we all start to think about day trips and making the most of the sunshine it seemed appropriate to provide a rundown of Yorkshire’s food related festivals (or should that be feast-ivals??):
8-10 July, The Great Yorkshire Show - Harrogate
12 July, Jay Raynor (food critic) at the Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival – Harrogate
13 July, Pontefract Liquorice Festival - Pontefract
7-9 August, Yum Festival - Hull
23 August, Wensleydale Show – Leyburn
Happy feasting!
Last month I was lucky enough to dine in two very different restaurants – upmarket The Treehouse at Alnwick Gardens in Northumberland and ‘down n dirty’ burger and ribs joint, Red’s True Barbecue in Leeds.
The Treehouse certainly lived up to its name and followed the treehouse theme through well both inside and out. Set in the beautiful Alnwick Gardens and complete with rope bridges and fairy lights it felt really special. The menu was quite limited and it wasn’t the most family friendly place (considering it’s set in one of the region’s most popular tourist attractions) but the quality was very good. Nice experience but perhaps not one we’d rush back to.
Red’s True Barbecue on the other hand was quite different – very relaxed, big menu (as long as you like meat!) and very bustling. They have gone with a theme as well – taking ‘holy smoke’ to mean an evangelical love of smokehouse meat – and have applied it consistently throughout the brand, the interior and the menu. The food was very naughty, very meaty and very nice plus they had a few twists on the traditional burger and ribs including the Doughnut Burger you can see in the background on the main image (yes really – doughnut instead of bun!) and the belly busting Pit Burger which pretty much had a bit of everyt hing!
