• Blog

    Slow-cooked Sausage Casserole

    6 January 2019 - By 

    This is an unbelievably simple recipe, with only 5 ingredients in the casserole.  There is no depth of flavour here in truth, there are certainly modifications you could make to boost that, such as browning off the meat, adding some alliums, perhaps.   But I feel this misses the point of this particular recipe. The beauty here is the effort to outcome ratio is off the charts.  With hard morning in the garden, digging up and scrubbing clean some red bricks that are soon destined for great purpose, I wanted to refuel and resume the productivity.  On such days the…

  • Blog

    Turkey Schnitzel

    6 January 2019 - By 

    This whole thing was a powerful collection of flavours, picked chillies and artichoke hearts, anchovies and capers. They ride close to the edge, but it’s delicious and really brought all together by the egg. As much as it did work, I think next time I might be tempted to leave the capers out of the sauce, just to tone things down one notch. Love the process of marinating the turkey in buttermilk… Well, actually Greek yoghurt and lemon in this case, because buttermilk is not always at hand. The crisp onions, coconut flour and sesame seed coating was lovely and…

  • Blog

    Shepherd's Pie & Peas

    3 January 2019 - By 

    This is roughly taken from Gordan Ramsay’s recipe.Although I added a mix of beef mince and turkey mince, which I thought worked very well, as did the suggested grating of the carrot and onion rather than finely chopping, as you might typically for this. Very nice, super-comforting. My only change would be to leave it for another ten minutes to allow the topping to crisp, or perhaps to add a short blast under the grill before serving. From https://www.thecoast.net.nz/life/food-recipes/gordon-ramsay-s-shepherds-pie/

  • Blog

    Christmas slow-cooker filet of beef, glazed carrots and sour cream mash

    3 January 2019 - By 

    The sour cream and chive mash is exceptional, and just an awful thing to do to your body. but I wholeheartedly recommend it. It works wonderfully with some Dijon mustard. The filet of beef was the most expensive joint I’ve ever bought, and I was terrified of ruining it by the fact that I had to cook it in the slow cooker. But I needn’t have been, it was quite delicious, amongst the finest beef I’ve ever eaten, in fact. Sour-cream mash from:https://food52.com/recipes/14497-monica-s-sour-cream-and-chive-mashed-potatoes Slow cooker beef from:https://www.aspicyperspective.com/slow-cooker-honey-garlic-beef-tenderloin/ Glazed carrots from:https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/sweet-glazed-carrots/

  • Blog

    Turkey Burger & Kohlrabi slaw

    3 January 2019 - By 

    Turkey meat is quietly climbing onto my list of favourites. Inexpensive, more flavoursome than chicken and lean. It takes a little more care to keep moist, but giving it that deserved attention is well worth it. The addition of sausage meat here gives a significant leg up on the challenge keeping the meat moist. And the number of flavours packed into them means this was a real winner. The method of allowing the burger mix to rest in the fridge to firm up is a good one, and was particularly beneficial here as I made these probably larger than any…

  • Blog

    Gammon and duck eggs

    3 January 2019 - By 

    Really good, lovely, luxurious combo with the rich duck eggs and the gammon a real treat. The pork scratchings gravy on the other hand is rather gilding the lilly,and can easily be omitted. From Tom Kerridge – Dopamine Diet, pg. 234

  • Blog

    Pesto Tagliatelle with Almond Sprouts

    11 December 2018 - By 

    A festive concoction to provide a dose of winter vitamins. Using the leftover pesto from yesterday’s courgetti dish, and the sprouts cooked in Rory O’Connell’s method, which is by far the most consistent way of boiling a sprout.  Quickly stir fried together for a minute at the end.

  • Blog

    Courgetti with Baked Ricotta

    11 December 2018 - By 

    Second go for this one. Nice and fresh again. Making the courgetti yourself turns this into a slightly laborious task though. A few changes, mostly for the better, one for the worse. Due to simultaneous Christmas caking, the ricotta was baked at a significantly lower temperature than would be preferred, 140 as opposed to 200, and suffered for it. A more generous helping of honey is also greatly beneficial. On the bright side, the sliced lemon cooked quickly as described last time didn’t quite work for me, remaining too astringent. Cooking then low, slow, covered by baking paper pushed up…

  • Blog

    Fresh Thai Curry

    11 December 2018 - By 

    Hm. I have to say I’m not blown away with this recipe. I don’t think it’s the clearest set of instructions I’ve ever read, leaving much to interpret. This is a challenge if you’re not intrinsically familiar with this style of food. What I created was fine, but certainly not Nigel Slater’s intended outcome, nor like the best fresh, zingy Thai curries I’ve had. Be it tiredness, lack of skill or recipe ambiguity, I choose to blame the latter as it’s the only one that isn’t my own fault. Try a different recipe for green curries. From Nigel Slater –…