George Foreman Evolve Grill - Cactus Kitchens London

I was recently invited to go to the Cactus Kitchens in Clapham which is co-owned by Michel Roux Jr and is the film studio for Saturday Kitchen as part of a small band of Food Bloggers for the launch of the new George Foreman Evolve Grill.

On arrival at the event, we were taken upstairs to the Cookery School which is on the top floor of this converted church and which has an incredible space and light as well as beautiful original feature beams where we were welcomed with glasses of Prosecco and canapés of cream cheese and smoked salmon served on savoury cheese waffles.

We were introduced to the lovely team from George Foreman and the members of the PR company before being shown to our work stations where we each had an Evolve Grill to use to create our dishes that we'd eat that evening.

To start, we created a tasty dish of sesame crusted tuna steak served on an light and fresh Asian salad base.  Using the sear function of the George Foreman ensured a perfectly cooked crust to the tuna steak.

Following on from our starters, we changed the bottom grill plate to the deep baking pan and created a fresh tasting beetroot and broccoli pizza.  The base of the pizza was perfectly cooked and crispy whilst the top of the pizza, under the heat of the top grill plate ensured that the cheese was melted beautifully.

To follow we created light and fresh yellow plums skewered with rosemary sprigs, over which we poured a delicious honey, orange and liqueur syrup.

We were also treated to a taster of an incredibly tasty sirloin steak with a Hollandaise sauce as well as the some American style waffles and fruit.

To top off the evening, we were each given the George Foreman Evolve grill that we'd been using to take home and were invited to have a look around the Saturday Kitchen film studio, where we duly posed for our 'Omelette Challenge' photo.

Spurred on by the versatility of this amazing machine (my first ever George Foreman), I then ordered a set of the waffle plates (£14.99) for collection from my local Argos.  Needless to say, Sunday saw us eating waffles and fresh fruit for breakfast!

Since then, I've grilled chicken, steaks, bacon and toasted sandwiches on the grill plates, made a sweet & sour chicken in the deep baking pan and have had waffles most weekends for breakfast!  I think I'm in love with my George Foreman Evolve and how clean and versatile this piece of kitchen equipment is.  No more cleaning fat splashes from the tiles at the back of the hob when preparing chicken or steaks, or from the top of the grill when making bacon in the oven.

The Evolve is a 5 portion, family sized, grill with removable plates which you can easily place in your dishwasher to clean after use.  It comes with a pair of non stick grilling plates which are angled to allow fats and juices to run off and which are caught in the trough that you place at the front of the machine.  What's different about this grill though is that you can easily, with the twist of a lever, adjust the foot so that the grill is horizontal, making it perfect for toasting sandwiches and for grilling vegetables or fish.  Not only this, but the bottom grill plate is easily and quickly changed for a deep baking pan, in which you can cook omelettes, pizza and tray bakes.  Ordinarily the George Foreman grills heat up to 220℃, but this new Evolve machine has a digitally variable temperature selection which includes a 90 second, 260℃, sear function allowing you to quickly sear your steaks to lock in that all important flavour.  An additional feature is the digital 20 minute timer which you can set and leave until it reminds you when your food is cooked.

An optional extra purchase available for this grill is a pair of non stick waffle plates, allowing you to make an incredible, quick and easy, tasty breakfast in no time at all. These also go into your dishwasher for easy clean up after breakfast.  Of course, waffles aren't just sweet treats, but can be made into a savoury base for canapés or teatime snacks.

I attended the event as a guest of the PR company for George Foreman Grills.  As part of the event we were each given the George Foreman Grill that we had been cooking on that evening, free of charge.  The waffle plates I purchased personally.

Event - Unilever Kitchen

I was one of 12 food bloggers to attend a rather special event at the Unilever headquarters in Leatherhead, Surrey on 13th October.

After an early morning start, 2 trains, the Underground and 3 hours later, myself, along with the other bloggers, were met by minibus at a very wet and rainy Leatherhead station for the short transfer to their impressive building.  The atrium at Unilever opens to reveal a light and airy space complete with hairdressers, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream lounge and Unilever staff shop which you can't fail to be impressed with.  We were met by the Clarion Communications team and taken into the kitchen where pastries, tea and coffee awaited our arrival as we dried out from the rain.

We were treated to a talk on the history of Tea by Jane Pettigrew. Who knew that servants were paid in tea as part of their wages as it was so expensive originally?!  I'll write up a few of these interesting facts of tea in a separate post for you soon.

We were taught to taste tea, which teas should be served with or without milk, what temperature your water should be at for the various types of tea, and where the teas come from in the world.  We were also given the history of PG Tips from inception in the 1930's through to today and what we see on our supermarket shelves to buy and enjoy.

Next came an exciting introduction to seasonings and flavourings in a masterclass by Marco Pierre White.  We were treated to two tastes of fillet steak; one with only salt used as the seasoning, the other with a Knorr Chicken Stock Pot rubbed on as the flavouring.  The taste is more rounded with the stock pot as it contains a blend of herbs as well as the meat seasoning.  We were then shown how to cook the perfect fillet steak with a wonderful, rich and creamy 3 Peppercorn Knorr Flavour Pot sauce (not for those dieting as it did contain a fair bit of double cream and a whole bottle of Worcester Sauce, but nevertheless, it did taste fantastic!)

Oh, and guess who got caught taking a sneaky photo of Chef? Yep, me!

His reaction?  'Madam, if you're going to take a photo, let's do it properly and do a selfie!'  What a gent!

We were then split into pairs to prepare lunch under the guidance and critique of Marco.  Teams cooked Risotto al Funghi, Curried Parsnip Soup, Bruschetta with Tomatoes and Herbs, whilst my team-mate Layla and I cooked a simple bolognese sauce.

Our afternoon was completed with a talk and demonstration by Sue Batty, the Stork expert.  We were then invited to choose our flavourings and make our own batch of cupcakes to take home with us.  the 7 of us on the train back to London had a bit of a cake swap!

My fellow bloggers were Kirsty (Hijacked by Twins), Lucy (Supergolden Bakes), Amy (She Cooks She Eats), Leyla (Motherhood Diaries), Dominic (Belleau Kitchen), Agata (Barktime), Fiona (London Unattached), @GlutieBaker, Jack (koukouvaya), Manjiri (Slice Of Me) and Heidi (Heidi Roberts Kitchen Talk).

Thank you to the Unilever Kitchen, Jane Pettigrew, Marco Pierre White, Sue Batty and to Clarion Communications and all my fellow bloggers for a fantastic event.  A very long day for me with 6 hours spent travelling but a lovely day too.  Thank goodness for the trains so I could sit and chill out on my journey home with Monkey to keep me company!