Jamie O or Jamie No?

Here at Dinner at the Manor we love to gauge the opinions of our guests and anyone interested in our supperclub! We want to bring you themes based on the hundreds of cookery books that are resting on our shelves…

Which got us thinking. Both myself and Martini Man’s bookshelves are littered with the publications of one man who has changed the way we think about food – Jamie Oliver.

We think he’s a bit of an interesting one…we own many of his books, yet would anyone want to come to an event themed around his books? In our eyes he’s a love him or hate him character but you can’t deny his passion for food and ultimately changing the way we think about food over the past 10 plus years. Be it changing school dinners or getting the nation to eat healthy, fresh meals – the man is passionate about good food. Martini Man helps this cause and volunteers the Ministry of Food!

What do you think of Jamie Oliver? Would you come to a JO inspired Dinner at the Manor evening? (We promise that we wouldn’t base it on 30 minute meals, although that could be a challenge?!)

Dinner at the Manor’s Mrs Beeton Menu

Mrs Beeton is coming to Dinner at the Manor on the 10th March! We hope our guests are looking forward to it as much as we are!

We have been trawling her Book of Household Management for inspiration and we want to showcase some interesting food which can be enjoyed by modern day guests!

Don’t forget that we also have the fantastic Jo Stephenson joining us for the evening who will be providing some musical comedy – you’re in for a treat.

We will have some new season preserves on sale too, including a range of marmalades and chutneys so remember to pick some up on your visit.

Looking forward to it!

Jo Stephenson takes over Dinner at the Manor!

In anticipation of next month’s homage to Mrs Beeton we are pleased to introduce you to Jo Stephenson, comedy song writer and lover of all things Beeton related. Jo will be performing some of her witty ditties at our supperclub and so we invited her to guest blog to introduce herself:

Greetings supperclubbers. I’m really looking forward to coming to the Mrs Beeton-themed Dinner at the Manor on March 10. I’ll be singing some songs, which will hopefully add to everyone’s enjoyment of the night, but – to be honest – I’m mainly interested in the food. I have sampled the culinary genius of the delightful Dinner at the Manor hosts many times before at informal gatherings but I have never actually been to their supper club. I have been following its progress, however, and am constantly impressed with the menus, attention to detail and emphasis on using local produce.

Dinner at the Manor turns into a pub!

This weekend at Dinner at the Manor we donned our spectacles and beige slacks as we channelled our inner Nigel Slaters to bring our favourites from his beautiful Kitchen Diaries to the Manor. Not only that but this was our experimental ale and food pairing weekend, with beers courtesy of the great Leeds Brewery.

Veg heaven at Riverford Homefarm Restaurant

During my recent weekend in Devon, when I wasn’t butchering various animals as part of my game cookery course (which you can read about here) I also went to stuff my face at the fantastic Riverford Homefarm Restaurant near Taunton. Riverford are the Devon based organic veg box people, who over the years have grown into a massive network of regional farmers and growers that get good quality organic produce all over the UK. I had no idea that they had any restaurants, until I’d started to hear good things filtering through from various foodie friends.

Rib Tickling Fun at the Shakk!

The Rib Shakk has been on my list of places to eat for a while – what’s not to like about getting your hands dirty when eating food?

Dinner at the Manor fill their Bootleg Belly

Last night saw us visit Leeds’ newest supperclub, the Bootleg Belly. Run by couple Justin and Lisa it is only a mile up the road from the Manor, so we were chomping at the bit to pay a visit. We’ve met Justin and Lisa a few times now, who are great fun and the kind of people we hoped to meet through doing the supperclub.

The torrential snow was still descending as we started our journey and we were worried it would put other guests off from coming. We managed to convince the Manor’s pot washer to give us a lift on his day off. The promise of gourmet delights was also too much for others who ended up abandoning cars all over West Leeds in order to get to the Bootleg Belly for their tea!

The delicious ginger cake with pineapple carpaccio - unfortunately this was the only picture we took as greed got the better of us!

Game on – day two

Missed part one? Well read it here then!

So after a whole day of stuffing rich food into ourselves and a night of jolly drinking we awoke early on the Sunday, bleary-eyed, to prepare ourselves for yet more butchery! Luckily I’d seen sense to stick to local yummy ciders the night before, but my gaming partner had been at the red wine and agreed she was not 100%. A crisp walk up to the cookery school soon sorted us both out.

Our Sunday session seemed far more calm and collected, maybe we had just settled in with the resonance of the kitchen, I don’t know? We started doing our mise-en-place (prep) for our dinner later in the day, so it was quite similar to a supperclub day in fact. This included heating up cream, laced with lavender, ready for a wobbly pannacotta and chopping up tiny bits of veg for our anticipated consomme.

The rabbits we prepared the day before were handed back out again. They had been marinating overnight in a concoction of five spice, garlic and thyme. They smelled amazing and their fate was a giant pan full of melted duck fat. These were to be cooked, confit style, in a low oven for 5 hours and would be turned into rillets for us to take home.