David Johnson's Blog

This post is partly inspired by The Food Pornographer, but mostly in memory of the original-and-best TV chef Keith Floyd, who died this week.

Floyd was by far the most passionate and inspirational TV chef to ever grace our screens. Over the years his shows were instrumental in fomenting my love of food, as well as being highly educational and inspirational, uniquely covering everything from peasant food to elaborate feasts. The combination of food and travel is one of my favourite things, due in no small part to his shows. I must get to his restaurant in Thailand sometime soon, presuming it stays around.

In an attempt to pay tribute to Floyd, I thought I’d try to cook something vaguely cheffy for the first time ever, instead of the quick/easy/lazy dishes I usually make. So I cooked a well-seasoned fillet steak in olive oil and butter, served with a stack of sweet potato chips and portabello mushrooms (cooked in the steak pan while the meat was resting). It’s not perfect (the plate seems unbalanced, maybe needs some other kind of veg), but it was really, really tasty. Naturally I consumed a fair amount of wine during the preparation – doing otherwise would just be disrespectful

So long Floyd. As Marco Pierre White said, “a little piece of Britain…died which will never be replaced”.

…should be banned.

All they do is prey on unsuspecting foodies with more disposable income than sense.

This weekend I’ve spent as much on food and beer as I normally would in three weeks…

…is a farmers’ market fry-up. It really can’t be beaten for a good lunch at the weekend (or indeed on Good Friday).

The idea is simple: go to your local farmers’ market and buy the ingredients for a fry-up. Today I’ve had organic rare-breed bacon (tastes a million times better than supermarket bacon and you can render down the rind to cook your eggs and fried bread in!), organic free range eggs (really fresh, with a good rich yolk) and local Portobello mushrooms. I passed on the sausages, as there was a particularly poor selection available. Fried bread as well of course, and you could have black pudding if you’re that way inclined.

Total cost about £7 for a pack of bacon, half a dozen eggs and loads of mushrooms – not cheap, but worth every penny for an occasional treat.

If you’ve never done this before, you really must give it a go.