The July issue of the Observer Food Monthly. If you like long lists then you will enjoy this issue.

• The Taste of Summer Special details the top five restaurants and eateries - Top five seafood Top five British Top five chic eats Top five beach shacks Top five by the seaside Top five curries Top five in Scotland Top five in Manhattan Top five Chinese Top five tapas Top five meat Top five sushi Top five in Cornwall
• Recipe wise Nigel Slater goes for Mango Fool, Meringues with Summer Berries, Goats Cheese and Cherries (a combination I have not encountered before) and Pistachio and Blackcurrant Trifle.
• There is an interview with Morgan Freeman who has moved to a nondescript town in Mississippi
• More childhood memories from Nigel Slater (how does he remember all this stuff? obviously didn't do enough drugs during his teenage years)
• A fascinating article on Tea in China - in Shanghai alone there are now 47 Starbucks
• Tim Atkin reviews 37 wines for summer (another list)

Food For Kids Special - that's the heading emblazoned on the this months issue of the Observer Food Monthly.

• The truth about school dinners: what happened when Jamie went home Are the UK's children now eating healthier foods?
• So what do Michelin kids like to eat? Better in pictures than online - it all gets a bit messy - but what do the children of Britain's top chefs eat?
• Top 50 pubs for lunch this summer : Dream locals Eat outside Rural bliss Exceptional food Stay the night My favourite pub 
• Can we have one, Dad? - ice-cream for kids a taste test of tubs, lollies and cones.
• Tried & tested: Prosecco from £3 I told you Prosecco was going to be big this year and the Observer agrees - a 19 bottle taste test
• Let them bake cake Time to get the kids and the mixing bowl together says Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

The May issue of the Observer Food Monthly -

• Nigel Slater puts the season's vegetables and herbs to good use with braised spring vegetables, grilled chorizo with almonds sherry vinegar and spring cabbage, green chicken and coconut soup and salmon with pea puree.
• Green and Black's Maya Gold, the first British Fairtrade project, is the livelihood for a whole area of Belize.
• Scottish children have the worst teeth in Britain. But can the blame really be laid at the door of sugary sweets?
• Willie Mae Seaton explains how, post Katrina,  food is the key ingredient in the regeneration of New Orleans.
• New books for foodies.
• Can you shop at the supermarket and be eco-friendly? Only if you drink carbon-neutral tea.
• Gardener Diarmuid Gavin at his favourite table in Eden, Dublin.

I have just posted this over on our Digital Photographer blog but I thought it worth repeating here - The Observer, in conjunction with Seeds of Change, is hosting a food photography competition with prizes up to £10,000.

FOr all you budding foodporn merchants: you need to impress! They have set up three categories: Food and People, Food and Thought, and Food, Glorious Food. So plenty of opportunities for demonstrating your creativity. Entrants can submit up to 5 photos per category, and short listed exhibitors will receive a subscription to Practical Photographer magazine. UK only I believe.

Entries are due by June 30th, and can be submitted on-line.

The Observer Food Monthly published a taste test last Sunday that detailed those selected by Christophe Michalak the world's top pastry chef. He works at the Hotel Plaza Athénée Paris.  His top selections are -

• White Chocolate - Marks and Spencer Swiss (£1.19 125g) 'refined and delicious'
• Milk Chocolate - Divine Fairtrade (£1.09 100g) 'smells and tastes like milk chocolate should'
• Dark Chocolate - The Chocolate Alchemist (£1.75 100g) 'very intense... fantastic'
• Nutty Chocolate - Prestat Organic (£3.60 80g) 'Absolutely delicious'
• Boxed Chocolate - Pierre Marcolini (£25.50 250g) 'not perfect but very good'
• Truffles - Fortnum and Mason (£25 250g) 'seductive presentation' (but only two out of 5 stars!)
• Chocolate Spread - Nutella (£1.35 400g) 'Nothing compares to Nutella'
• Low Fat Chocolate Mouse - Marks and Spencer Count on Us (49p 70g) 'a good texture and isn't too sweet'
• Chocolate Pudding - Marks and Spencer Fudge (£3.49 400g) 'almost perfect'
• Brownies - Village Bakery Organic (£2.39 140g) ' great flavour'

 

A Vegetarian Special with 10 pages to cook up a meat-free feast. One thing I did notice was that a picture is labeled Potatoes with dill and chicken stock; the recipe is titled Potatoes with Dill and Vegetable stock - I guess you can use either.

Any-road-up the recipes for those with a vegi-bent include Sweet Potato and Coconut Polenta with Asian Vegetable Fricassé (which sounds lovely except I seriously dislike sweet potato, coconut and polenta... no hope really).  The Tuscan Tomato Bread Pudding with Peas and Broad Beans sounds more my thing as does Spice-Roasted Nectarines with Pistachio Milk Sauce.

Nigel Slater has all the potato recipes suggesting the chicken/vegetable stock one as a stand-alone dish or, for the carnivores, great with grilled mackerel, flash-fried lamb's liver (thats the one for me!) or bacon. His Crushed Potatoes with Cream and Garlic I am sure has appeared in several of his books but I don't recall seeing Sea-Salt Baked Potatoes with Parmesan Greens before. Nice.

A fascinating piece on life in China during the Cultural Revolution with food as the only safe topic of conversation... Jamie Cullum picks Fifteen as his Favourite table... a big piece on fair trade products... sushi... how chef Fergus Henderson suffered from Parkinsons before 'they drilled into my skull. Now I can cook again"... a piece on the Diesel fashion brand's wine. The taste test on chocolate and the best buys for wine need an article of their own...

The Dirty Dozen - Tim Atkin selects his top 12 bottles for seduction. From the Observer Food Monthly:

1. Cono Sur Pinot Noir 2005 Chile (£4.99 widely available) "elegant, strawberryish.. the best sub-£5 Pinot Noir in the country"

2. Tesco Finest Gewurztraminer 2004 Alsace (£6.99 Tesco) "a great seduction wine. Even if you're not David Ginola"

3. Disznok Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos, Hungary (£21.99 Oddbins) "for the more traditional seducer.. thrilling balance

4. Almond Grove Noble Late Harvest Riesling, 2003, South Africa (£5.99 Majestic) "a dessert wine with flavour to burn"

5. Larmandier-Bernir Champagne, France (£17.95 Vine Trail) "brilliant value organically-grown blend"

6. Felton Road Pinot Noir, 2004, New Zealand (£24.95 Berry Brothers) "one hell of a Pinot Noir"

7. Marques de Monistrol Cava Reserva Rosé, Spain (£4.86 Waitrose) "two bottle for under a tenner at the reduced price. If you're a cheap date, you won't do any better than this"

8. Oudinot Champagne, 2001, France (£19.99 Marks and Spencer) "some attractive bottle-aged characters"

9. GH Mumm Brut Rosé Champagne, France (£29.99 Sainsburys) "really sings in the glass"

10. Little Yering Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley, Australia (£6.99 Co-Op) "soft and seductive"

11. Gaillard Cuvée Jeanne Elise Viognier, 2001, Rhone, France (£21.50 H&H Bancroft) half "inordinatetly sexy"

12. Cathiard Nuits St Georges 2000, Burgundy, France (£28.75 Stoe, Vine & Sun) "elegant ready-to-drink" 

The UK national Sunday paper - the Observer - publishes a monthly food supplement. This month the main focus is on the Best Recipes of All Time where "top foodies reveal their favourites." 

So we have Giorgio Locatelli (author and chef of Locanda Locatelli, London) recommending Antonio Carluccio's Bagna Cauda as a starter (taken from Carluccios book Italia) and Rainer Becker (head chef at Zuma) going for Best Roast Chicken by Alain Ducasse (from Flavours of France). The chicken sounds superb with a rich stuffing of duck foie gras, bacon and chicken liver and a second stuffing under the skin of herb butter).