Last night myself and Sue (my plus one and fellow Lady that lunches) where  privileged to be invited to the Sheffield Cookbook ‘Second Helpings’ Celebration Party which was held at The Silver Plate , Sheffield and hosted by Meze publishing.

It was a chance to meet everyone involved in the book and to celebrate the regions fabulous food and drinks scene.

The Venue The Silver Plate Restaurant is part of the Sheffield College and is run by the Catering & Hospitality students under the watchful eye of the staff, three of whom are Master Chefs of great Britain.

Who knew eh?

The Silver Plate is open term time only serving Lunch to the general public – Tuesday to Friday. It also  opens Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

For bookings please call 0114 2602060 and they’ll do the rest. It’s already on the Ladies that Lunch list!

They have a couple of recipes  in the Cook book :

• Seared scallop, confit and puree of cauliflower, candied bacon and ribbon vegetables
• Stuffed breast of chicken with air dried ham, onion puree, vegetable and red wine jus
• Chocolate and lime.

I’m no cook but I like the sound of Seared Scallops…one for the boyfriend to try me thinks.

We received a warm welcome in the way of a large glass of fizz…

A bevvy of waiters and waitresses walked the room tempting us with delights made by the establishments featured in the cook book.

Below : Goats Cheese and Caramelized Tart from the Burton Street Foundation.

One of my particular favorites was the ‘Ginger Tingle’ fruit cake by Tipple Tails.

Seriously I’ve had some bloody lovely fruit cake in my time but this was just something special. Moist and packed with fruit, smelt soooo good ..mmm mmm . I’ll shut up now or I may sound like I know what I’m talking about.

Unfortunately there are no piccies of said cake… I was too busy scoffing! #bloggerfail.

I also spied some delicious looking scones making their way around the room courtesy of Jameson’s Cafe and Tea Rooms. So much food .

John Crawshaw Butchers were in attendance with a variety of the food on offer for us to sample. They were cooking up hot food in the way of sausages and burgers. There was also  a variety of pork pies, scotch eggs and cold meats to taste.

They currently have a shop in Hillsborough and are due to open a new store at Fox Valley, Stocksbridge. My mum’s been a regular at Crawshaws for years and I can see why. The food was delicious.

A big thumbs up from us both for the pork-pie topped with Stilton (below)

In fact (and as expected) all the food and drink on the night were seriously tasty including these hand-made chocolates (above)

There were a selection of beers on offer from Sentinel Brewing Co.

I plumped for  white wine which I don’t normally drink  (my heads been telling me that all day ) it made a refreshing change.

Sue stuck to the evil red… something I’ve steered clear of since the year 2000 when I was unfortunately sick in a friends neighbours garden, while they stood on watching! I had to go back the next day and clear it up. The shame.

I was sent a copy of The Sheffield Cook Book ‘Second Helpings’ before Christmas and reviewed it / HERE …

In a nutshell it’s a beauty of a Cook Book.

I can’t name them all but it features 80 recipes from the likes of Brocco on the Park, Craft & Dough, The Harland Cafe, Jamesons Cafe, The Rutland Arms and The Bhaji Shop to name just a few.

A lovely finishing touch before everyone left was that all contributors were asked if they would be so kind as to sign their particular page of the book. Five signed copies will be auctioned off for charity. I like that. 

Below: Martin Dawes former restaurant writer for the Star Newspaper who wrote the Foreword to the book with Paul Cocker Director and Head of Design at Meze publishing.

Lastly I would just like to say a big thank you to Paul and everyone at Meze Publishing for a great night… and for the extra 2 inch I’ve gained around my ever-expanding waistline!

Dry January phhhha!

I can resist most things apart from temptation …and Tingle cake.

Until next time, Tracey x