8:41am Monday 30th August 2010
THERE was plenty to tickle the taste buds at this year’s Bolton Food and Drink Festival.
Saturday Kitchen regulars, the Hairy Bikers and Italian chef Gino D’Acampo, were the key ingredients of the four-day festival.
The television duo, Dave Myers and Simon King, were back in town on Saturday to cook up a feast of treats using local products fresh from the market.
Their menu, which they delivered to audiences throughout the day, included scallops and black pudding; smashed up chicken pasta; fillet steak and goats cheese; salmon and dill fishcakes with hollandaise; and duck breast with roasted plum, potato cakes, caramelised Granny Smiths and asparagus.
Dave, who hails from Cumbria, said: “It’s great to be invited back, we had the best time last year, it’s one of the best festivals going. Bolton has put a lot of money into it and they’re doing it properly, there’s a lot going on.
“When you do TV you don’t meet anyone, but this is more intimate and you get to have a natter with the audience. It’s like the UK tour we’ve just finished, they can ask the questions they would normally shout at the TV.”
Simon, from Tyne and Wear, said: “You can see the commitment from the local council when they put on events like this. It’s a celebration, and it’s always nice to be asked to do a party.
“We want people to get some ideas and to have a laugh and a right good giggle about the food.
“What we love to cook is seasonal and regional food because it’s a great opportunity for us to celebrate what great produce we have in the North. We’re not this shape for nowt!”
Sarah and David Aston, from Heaton, had tickets to all three celebrity chef demonstrations over the weekend and the Hairy Bikers set the standard.
They said: “It was a great show, far better than we expected. They’re very funny.”
On Sunday, heart-throb chef Gino D’Acampo cooked up pork in marsala wine, as well as a number of dishes from his homeland, including tagliatelle with capers and the popular Italian dessert tiramisu.
He said: “I want people to realise cooking is easy, to use fresh ingredients and know that with a bit of effort it is easy.”
“After my demonstrations I will go round the stalls and see if I can be inspired,” he added.
During his last demonstration Gino enlisted the help of nine-year-old Matthew Wolfenden, a pupil at Claypool School in Horwich.
The youngster was the lucky winner in a competition for a pupil to create a pizza or pasta recipe with a local twist.
The two of them cooked up Goosnargh duck with creamy pasta for the Mayor of Bolton, Cllr John Byrne. Matthew said: “It was brilliant. It all turned out well so I am happy.”
Cllr Byrne said: “It has been really good. There are hundreds of people coming down into town enjoying themselves.
“There have been a lot of free demonstrations that people have enjoyed immensely. I think it is has been the best festival yet. We step it up a gear every year.”
He added: “With things like this and the Ironman triathlon, we are trying to encourage people to go into town. We have got a lot to offer in Bolton.”
BBC Fusion Chef Aazam Ahmed flew back from the Far East to be part of the culinary festival to inspire people to experiment in the kitchen and create tasty meals.
The chef created some mouth watering dishes, including asparagus tart and goats cheese with sun blushed tomatoes.
He said: “The festival is just brilliant. It really is a community festival.”
His dishes were complemented by those of Bolton chefs Anjali Patak, and Nick O’Mahoney, of the Egerton House Hotel, in Egerton.
Thousands of people browsed the stalls selling traditional English fare as well as delicacies from Germany and Asia. Anthony Aspinall, aged 30, from Bolton, said: “The festival is great, I came last year and it is good family day out.”
His daughter, Charlie, aged 10, added: “It is really good.
Normally when I come into Bolton it is to shop and this is better. I have really enjoyed it. The food has been good, it should be on all the time.”
Stallholders said the festival was bigger than others they have attended.
Tracy Jennings, from The English Chocolate Fountain Company, said: “It is bigger and very well organised. It has been advertised well and the profile of it has been raised by having the Hairy Bikers and Gino and other chefs. This has given the festival a buzz.”
Bolton Council’s regeneration and development representative, Cllr Ismail Ibrahim, said: “The Hairy Bikers and Gino D’Acampo went down a storm and the chefs have all said how much they love Bolton.”
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