Simply baked fish and veg with Knorr Flavour Pot

The people at Knorr recently sent me some of their new Flavour Pots to try out. If I'm not using home-made stock (usually chicken) and I need to pep things up I use Marigold powdered stock or Oxo cubes,  so I didn't mind giving these little pots of seasoning paste a whirl.

They sent a selection of flavours and a hamper of fresh produce from Waitrose so, in a sort of Masterchef fashion, I created a dish based on these ingredients. Using some sea bream I'd bought the day before, I assembled a light, spring inspired fish supper.

As you can see I cut up the peppers and fennel, arranging them in the baking tray before placing the fish on top. Then I combined the mixed herb Flavour Pot with about a glass of white wine, topping up with water to pour into the tray. I left it unseasoned in order to test the strength of the Flavour Pot, covered it loosely with foil and baked it in the oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes. The result was a tasty, easy (and healthy) meal.

Since then I've been trying out the other flavours. The curry flavoured pot was good and pokey in a prawn biryani (that went brilliantly with Veuve Clicquot demi-sec) and the garlic flavoured pot worked well with some braised vegetables. My main gripe is with the plastic packaging as they are single serve portions (I'd prefer small glass jars – think pesto or tomato purée), but otherwise a helpful addition to your larder.

Ikea rhubarb cordial and other goodies

Apart from a naughty plate of meatballs and chips you don't tend to go looking for food and drink at Ikea. However, it's always worth having a nose around their food shop once you've passed through the main checkout. We've developed a taste for their rhubarb cordial since they offered it on tasting a few visits ago. It isn't too sweet, so makes a tasty adult soft drink, especially with soda or sparkling mineral water. Daughter Alice likes it too. Mind you, she prefers French sirops to our squashes, so no surprise there.

At the same time I picked up some encouraging looking little pots of herring and seaweed caviar. With some cream cheese and biscuits, they're excellent for instant nibbles for drinks. The seaweed 'caviar' is particularly good in a tasty saline way.

Proper home made pizza

We had a big new experience a couple of Saturdays ago. We made pizza – from scratch. My husband (who doesn't do much baking) decided to research recipes for pizza dough, found this by John Torode and in the afternoon got cracking. A few hours later we arranged our favourite toppings in bowls and made a simple tomato sauce by simmering tinned chopped tomatoes until thick.

We like thin, crisp bases, so rolled out the dough as thinly as possible and started assembling pizzas. Once ready for the hot oven, they were transferred to our brand new baking stone. After about 20 minutes the crunchy, bubbling treats were ready. We're fans of the wood fired pizzas from Firezza and  (even though we say this ourselves) these were as good. The dough could have done with more seasoning (the recipe includes sugar, rather than salt), but the baking stone allowed the thin bases to puff up and cook brilliantly.

The previous month we'd enjoyed home made pizzas with friends who have a rather glamorous Chadwick pizza oven which cooks them in 4 minutes. Although ours took longer, for the three of us it worked out fine and the results were brilliant. A great way to spend a Saturday evening.

Veuve Clicquot demi-sec and lemon madeleines

I'm rather partial to drinking Champagne with food and just before Easter Veuve Clicquot sent me a bottle of their demi-sec to taste with some lemon madeleines. I have concerns about sparkling wine and desserts. It's quite traditional in France to serve smart fizz with dessert and, sadly, desserts are generally far too sweet to do it any justice and leaving it tasting dry and sharp in comparison. However, the combination looks pretty and has uplifting sense of occasion, so I can understand the appeal.

That said, when I tried the Veuve demi-sec with the madeleines, I was genuinely surprised. Demi-sec Champagne can taste a bit two-faced or confused, with the sweetness seeming confected and awkward alongside crisp acidity. This was not the case with the Veuve demi-sec whose honeyed sweetness was harmoniously integrated – unexpectedly good with the madeleines as they were not that sweet. We also enjoyed the demi-sec with a spicy main course – prawn biryani with yoghurt and mango chutney. This worked brilliantly (although perhaps not quite what Veuve Clicquot had in mind).

Stockists include Laithwaites (£40), Tanners (£39) and Majestic (£45 or a more realistic £29.98 if you buy two bottles).

Travelling in France: Logis Hotels

I was very interested to read a large feature on Logis (de France) in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday. The organisation has undergone some changes, reducing the membership, sprucing up the website and now simply calling itself Logis Hotels as other countries are now covered. The way it works is that approved hotels pay a fee to join and be included in the annual guide.

Over the years we have routinely used Logis when we've needed an overnight stop and a meal to break a long journey. They are generally family run, independent hotels offering decent value for money, often located in characterful towns on the old routes nationales. In the main they are not the most glamorous or luxurious places, but they have a certain provincial charm. However, they can punch above their weight food-wise, albeit in a rather formal French way, but remain passionately regional. Confusingly, there is a broad range of Logis, but a new rating system should help travellers get a better idea of what to expect. Logis d'Exception is the most upscale.

Last summer we stayed at the Hostellerie des Clos in Chablis, a swankier example of a Logis (see pics above and read more about it here) and another smart example is Hostellerie de la Mère Hamard in Semblancay north of Tours. More typical is Le Dauphin in Salbris in the Sologne region south of Orleans. Another time we'll try out the Hotel Tatin in nearby Lamotte-Beuvron where allegedly the Tatin sisters (accidentally) created the famous apple tart. 

Logis membership can alter from year to year and one of my favourites is no longer listed – Au Coeur de Meaulne run by award-winning chef Patrick Rajkowski and his wife Karin on the edge of the Tronçais forest in the Auvergne. Moving their young family from Switzerland, the Rajkowskis acquired what was a run-down inn and have turned it around. It is now rated by Michelin as a Bib Hotel and is busy with plenty of repeat business. Never underestimate a Logis.

Brasserie l'Ouest, Lyon

Quite honestly, this could be one of the best lunches I've ever had. As we were leaving Les Pasquiers in Beaujolais, our hosts Guillaume and Marylène Peyraverney recommended a few restaurants for lunch in Lyon as we were continuing our journey south. The Peyraverneys lived in Lyon until they took over Les Pasquiers earlier last year and given how much we'd enjoyed lunch at Domaine de la Madone which they'd suggested, we were keen to ask for more advice.

Nathan was driving and I had no idea where we were going – neither did he really as all he'd done was keyed the address into the satnav following Guillaume's instructions. I'd been chatting with Marylène in the kitchen at the time, so didn't know what had been discussed.

Anyway, it was one of those days when everything just fell into place. The weather was bright and sunny, our drive took us through the southerly Beaujolais crus before we picked up the A6 to Lyon and the satnav did its thing, directing us to a cool industrial site on the leafy banks of the Saône river on the outskirts of Lyon. Given the predictable image of dining in Lyon is based on traditional bouchons in the city centre, this airy, modern brasserie was quite unexpected. L'Ouest is part of the Nordsud chain of brasseries established by the hero of Lyonnaise cuisine, Paul Bocuse.

We parked beside the river and, without a booking, settled down inside at one end of a large shared table with views across the terrace to the Saône and around the buzzy restaurant and the open kitchen. It was a busy Friday lunchtime with a fascinating mixed urban crowd. The rotisserie caught our eye, so we instantly ear-marked the roast Montrevel chicken from the set menu for our main course. For starter Nathan had tartare of fresh salmon with dill and I had melon with Serrano ham – almost too generous a portion to finish. I managed though. Daughter Alice did splendidly with the menu enfant – salmon fillets with buttered noodles.

Having already been bowled over by the starters, our chicken arrived which was exceptionally good. Juicy, richly flavoured corn fed chicken with a buttery sauce and a medley of seasonal vegetables. Beautifully simple. Keen to have some Rhône wine as that's where we were heading, glasses of St Joseph blanc partnered the dish brilliantly.

On to dessert and Nathan was very happy with his raspberry tarte sablée and I was delighted with my rum baba, served deconstructed with the bottle of rum left on the table (I wasn't driving). Alice had ice cream. With two coffees, this lunchtime feast came to less than 100 Euros (the set lunch cost 32.50 Euros, 35.50 if you included cheese; menu enfant 11.50). Fantastic.