Theatre tickets
A chance to win tickets to see 'Allo Allo' at the Lowry's Quay Theatre.
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Win tickets for the hilarious festive farce, See How They Run, at the Royal Exchange.
FIND OUT MOREChampagne afternoon
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Chartered Accountants Lucas Reis are offering an hour's free business consultation.
FIND OUT MOREManchester on a plate
They use the finest regional produce to create some of the most scrumptious food in the city. We meet up with three of Manchester's leading chefs to find out what their favourite ingredients are and how we can use them in our cooking.
Photographer: Joe Gardner
Neil Armstrong, 34,
Opus One (Radisson Edwardian Hotel)
My favourite ingredient is rosemary from our kitchen garden - it has a strong earthy flavour that lends itself excellently with robust dishes. We use rosemary in our lamb dish. Try this recipe at home as an alternative to the Sunday roast:
Colour a 10 oz lamb rump in hot oil. You need lots of colour as this adds to the taste of the lamb and the dark richness of the gravy.
Sweat off root vegetables cut into cubes (onions, celery, leeks and carrots) until coloured and softened, add the lamb rump and cover with lamb stock.
Place rosemary, bay leaf and half a bottle of good red wine in the pan. Cover and cook in the oven at 140˚C for approx 2 hours or until very tender.
Remove the lamb and leave to cool. Strain the stock and leave to stand for 10 minutes so as to allow excess fat to float to the top, take this off the top with a ladle.
Reduce the stock by a third and thicken with a little soft butter and flour mixed together, season to taste and finish the gravy with finely chopped rosemary - use only the soft leaves.
Purée 2 oz of chicken, add 1 egg, 0.5 oz of butter, 5 ml of cream, 0.25 oz of rosemary, a pinch of salt and pepper - this makes a farce. Spoon this mixture over the lamb rump and wrap with pig's caul. This will work without the pig's caul but presents better with it.
When ready to eat, place the lamb on a lightly buttered tray and put in the oven at 160˚C for 12 minutes. This will help with the colour, as well as heat up the lamb and cook the farce. In a sauce pan warm the gravy.
This dish is great served with fennel dauphinoise potatoes and baby carrots, or alternatively with red onion creamed potato and buttered savoy cabbage.
Oliver Thomas, 36,
The River Restaurant (The Lowry Hotel)
My favourite ingredient is the Lancashire Bomb Cheese made by Andrew Shorrock in Goosnargh, Lancashire. The family have been making Lancashire Cheese at Newhouse Farm for four generations, and all their cheeses are unpasteurised and handmade. On our menu we have Worthington Farm beetroot with Lancashire Bomb and wild herbs.
A recipe to try at home: Top and tail the beets and then boil in their skins. We use two types of beetroot - golden and the normal red.
Use cold press rape seed oil with Chardonnay vinegar, a little tarragon and garlic to keep the cooked beetroots in. The beets bleed into the dressing, creating a great accompaniment that you can drizzle around the plate.
The Lancashire Bombs is a wonderful cheese to serve with this, both in flavour and texture. Simply crumble it over the beetroots and finish with a salad of wood sorrel and dandelions.
The dressing is so simple. Mix 500 ml rape seed oil, 300 ml vegetable oil, 200 ml Chardonnay vinegar, salt and pepper, 1 sliced clove of garlic, a few sprigs of tarragon and the juice of 1 lemon together, and allow to infuse overnight.
Paul Beckley, 34,
The French Restaurant (The Midland Hotel)
My favourite ingredient is Kendal Rough Fell Bred Lamb, which is available from Orton Farmers' Market and directly from some of the farms in Kendal, Cumbria. It is excellent quality, full flavoured lamb. We use the cutlet, saddle and shoulder in our menu. An easy recipe to try at home is Saddle of Kendal Lamb with Bury Black Pudding:
Bone and roll one saddle of lamb, trimming the saddle of excess fat and leaving sufficient meat to be able to cover the stuffing - you can ask your butcher to do this for you.
Fill the lamb with 1kg of Bury Black Pudding, which you can buy from Bury Market. Roll and tie the lamb in as symmetrical a cylinder as possible, and season.
Heat a little olive oil in a pan and seal the lamb on all sides. Transfer to an oven dish and roast in the oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes at 185˚C.
Serve with roasted root vegetables and parmentier potatoes.