Best recipes for left overs: Comforting pheasant pie recipe
Last week we ate a slow pot roast pheasant baked in a nest of spicy red cabbage. It was pretty good – an easier variation of the recipe that appeared in The Times . But I didn’t think that it was a patch on our gypsy style roast pheasant. This evening I made a pheasant pie with the remaining meat. I have be wanting to make a game pie that incorporated a thick bechamel sauce for ages and with six pints of fresh bechamel sauce at the hip now was my chance. Our recipe for thick bechamel is contained in our cauliflower cheese...
read moreHero’s best potato recipe
Although all heroes would demand these delicious potatoes if they sampled them, these potatoes were inspired by a wonderful dish that I tasted on my visit to the island of Hero many years ago. Every now and then I have tried to recreate this special island dish. Small, delicious potatoes baked in the oven in a dish with a lid. They were moist, slightly salty and melt in the mouth. It was nearly twenty years ago and eating rather than cooking good food was my focus at the time. All attempts failed until a few weeks ago when, pressed for time, I...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: Goose risotto to die for
“Come on over. We are having goose risotto.” “What sort of goose?” Gilbert’s tone was wary. “A free range Gressingham goose. Cost a fortune but it was a present from my Mum as our Christmas Day treat.” There was no response so I added: “A goose that’s had a happy life in a goosey sort of way. It even came with a small cookbook and an oven thermometer.” Gilbert thought for a moment. “So it arrived for Christmas with full instructions on how to cook it? Thank goodness geese...
read moreGuest spot: Blueberry Friands recipe from The Mildred Mittens Manufactory
Shortly before Christmas, Mildred sent me this recipe for these “little light muffins which were so easy to do . . .the recipe was from my friend, Sylvia. You don’t need a mixer, thinking about it I expect they would be fun for children to make! They are yummy, and look so nice!” Baking with children is always rewarding especially if the cooking time is under half an hour and you don’t needto drag them away from another project at the end of cooking time. The name Friand was new to me and a brief foray onto the internet...
read moreBoxing day lunch: smoked ham with a fresh parsley sauce recipe
We always buy a ham at Christmas to keep the goose company in the fridge and provide us with endless meals. Starting with ham sandwiches on Christmas day and hot ham with a fresh parsley sauce on Boxing Day. The latter is eaten on trays as we indulge in an afternoon of horse racing on the telly. Danny and my mum sit watching the racing whilst I put on my pinny and provide the maid service end of things. Homemade parsley sauce is a cinch to make. A basic Béchamel with parsley lemon and quite a bit of freshly ground white pepper makes a good...
read moreCranberry and clementine sauce recipe
I finally found cranberries in the Cambridge Sainsbury’s store on Friday. I wanted to whoop with joy and run around the store waving them over my head. Instead I quickly grabbed two packs and quietly popped them into my basket. I’ve been looking for cranberries for weeks and was beginning to worry that we wouldn’t have homemade cranberry sauce with our Christmas goose this year. We have a great cranberry sauce recipe here. Reading the comments on that article prompted me to give our sauce a new twist this year. Why not...
read moreGuest spot. Best vegetarian recipes : Emma Bennett’s Vegetarian Moussaka recipe
Last week I ate three excellent vegetarian meals. Danny ate two – he was stuck coming back from Wales and made do with a burger. My trusty Alpha Carnivore mentioned his meal in passing. “It was an Aberdeen Angus burger but it was tiny. I didn’t want a burger and envied you.” I was polishing off the final (large portion) of Emma’s Vegetarian Moussaka. Unbelievably good. With Danny away I could have seconds too. I decided to start cooking this meal on Sunday evening and prepared the lentils and aubergine. I made...
read moreBritish and American units of measurement
Last Sunday I drifted into TKMax. The shop is heaving with great stocking fillers. Scented drawer liners, a loofah, Amaretti, shortbread and Liquid French soap for my mum. Toffee for Danny. The kitchen department is always worth checking out. I’ve bought great kitchen knives for under a pound. We needed a new saucepan so I went upstairs to see what they had. I spotted a small clutch of measuring cups that were American cups. I was tempted, I wanted them. The little nest was so cute. Then I remembered that we had found this great site for...
read more
FD