Surprise dinner for the birthday girl last night at The Angel Inn, Hetton, Nr Skipton, Yorkshire Dales.

The last few times we have been to the Angel have been for bar meals and the service has been disappointing but we tried the restaurant and A LA CARTE menu last night and all was forgiven, back to the usual quality service and excellent food.

We arrived on time (unusually for us!) and we were immediately shown to our table, 2 glasses of the Wine Cave Rose Champagne Cuvee Brut Bernard Remy ordered and arrived quickly while we perused the menu.

The Food:-

Selection of fresh warm bread rolls including walnut and Parmesan in brown or white.

To start I went for the WHITBY CRAB RAVIOLI with fennel and ginger cream and the better half had the old Angel favourite of ANGELS BLACKPUDDING with seared foie gras, artichoke veloute, grape and walnut salad both dishes were fantastic and my crab ravioli was particularly good!

An amuse-bouche of Cheese with an onion marmalade was served between courses, I didn’t quite catch exactly what the waiter said it was but I know it was tasty!

The main courses, CORNFED CHICKEN BREAST with spring asparagus, peas and beans, truffled pomme puree served with Albufera sauce.  SEARED LOCH FYNE KING SCALLOPS WITH CRISPY YORKSHIRE SUCKLING PIG with apple and cauliflower, pomme puree and a red wine reduction.  Both very well put together dishes with excellent taste combination’s and they looked fantastic.

The Beer:-

did you really think I wasn’t going to try the beer! Dark Horse Brewery, Hetton Ale was on hand pull and as it’s brewed all of 500 yds down the road from the Angel thought it rude not to try it!  The sprinkler had been taken off to wash but the friendly bar staff were more than happy to oblige, replace and pour a pint, again an excellent creamy and very local pint!

No room for pudding so just had the coffee and sweet things which included a mini doughnut and soft vanilla fudge, a very enjoyable evening and I would heartily recommend The Angel, great service and top food.

Dinner is served Monday to Friday 6pm to 9pm and to 9.30pm on Saturday, The Angel Inn Website

The Angel Inn, Hetton, Restaurant

Matthew at The Bath Pig Company sent me a lovely surprise package today, pre-launch samples of British or more specifically Yorkshire Chorizo!  Still in the pack now but will be reviewing over the weekend.  I have 2 versions, Garlic & Herb Chorizo and Spicy Chorizo, all made using free range, British pigs.  Other products will include Semi cured cooking chorizo, extra spicy chorizo and The Pub Pig, spicy chunks of Chorizo, all should be available to buy in June 2009 and hope to have them on the Paganum website.

We have now tried both flavours and these are really delicious and taste exactly as described “on the tin” the garlic & herb has a nice herb flavour and makes a very British style Chorizo whilst the spicy version is much more traditional and quite fiery.  There is likely to be a classic Chorizo and this one the extra spicy version.  Whilst at the Leyburn Food Festival we tried out both varieties on the unsuspecting Yorkshire public and feedback was excellent for both.  Hope to have them for sale for inclusion with your meat box or individually on the Paganum website very soon.

Jamie Oliver Saves our Bacon

A further TV Show from Jamie Oliver goes out tonight 29th January 2009 on Channel 4 at 9pm “Jamie saves our bacon” and should be worth watching.

This is a great cause highlighting Pig welfare and supporting British farmers, Jamie will be showing us what to do with some cheaper cuts of pork and highlighting the strange rules about packaging and Country of origin.

Make sure you buy British Pork, ask your butcher or supermarket before you buy and check the packet to make sure it is labeled clearly, if not complain, all meat products should be clearly labeled so you know where your food is coming from..

You can follow Jamie Oliver on Twitter

or have a look at his website which includes some recipes and you can sign up and pledge your support Jamie saves our Bacon

For further British Pork inspiration check out these other posts

• Roast Yorkshire Pork on the Eat Like a Girl Blog,
• Crispy Chinese Roast belly Pork on Food Stories,

Following on from the success of Brother Nigel’s initial Hogroast events, we now have a shiny new Hogroast machine for hire complete with our home reared pork and Nigel the Chef.    Our current home bred pig breeds include Belgian Pietrain and Welsh.