february

 
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Friday 1.02

Ate out

 
Saturday 2.02

Lunch: Ate out

Dinner: Salad of roast fennel, orange, watercress

I think this works better than a salad in which the fennel is raw. The fennel flavour comes out more (especially if you add fennel seeds and you drench it in Pernod). Also you get more of a variety of flavour with the bitter-sweet flavours you get from roasting the fennel

Pheasant, saucisson, chestnut, mushroom pie; cabbage with cream, cloves, nutmeg; mashed potato

Sunday 3.02

Lunch: Risotto with onions and gorgonzola

Dinner: carrot, celeriac, lentil soup with saffron, cumin, coriander, ginger, chilli

Bigham's Spanish meatballs, rice

 
Monday 4.02

Borscht

Risotto with smoked chicken, mushrooms, porcini, peas

Tuesday 5.02

Braised beef with pickled walnuts, mushrooms, sauerkraut, mashed potato

Pancakes, lemon, sugar

Wednesday 6.02

Smoked chicken, sourdough toast, quince jelly

Janet's quince jelly, which is delicious

Potatoes and onions with ripe brie, salad

The brie, from last week, was even riper than then and so runny that it invited being draped over warm potatoes and soft onions. Also I have been thinking about little else but Tartiflette since Mark and Navah went skiing.

Thursday 7.02

Ate out

Friday 8.02

Spinach, lentil, cashew, lemon soup with Indian spices

Lamb with pomegranate; dhal with tamarind and kalonji, rice

Lamb from the freezer, which I am at last defrosting, tomorrow. Perhaps it is worth noting that this "heating something up from the freezer" dinner took an hour to prepare and cook.

 
Saturday 9.02

Lunch: spinach and lentil dhal, onions, rice

that is, yesterday's soup. Colin went for a ride and ate out

Dinner: rabbit saddle stuffed with shitake mushrooms, rabbit innards, spring onions, 5-spice, wrapped in serrano ham; green lentils, purple sprouting, new potatoes

I took the meat off the bone, and made a stock with the bones and the trimmings. Made a gravy with some stock and the mushroom soaking liquid and some 5-spice. I suppose I only used about 1/2 tsp 5-spice in total so it wasn't very apparent, though Colin did notice something fennely. I poached the kidneys in the gravy right at the end.

Pears baked in brandy with cantucci

We added apricot brandy and dunked the cantucci in it

We discussed how many different sorts of booze we have managed to team up with pears. Colin wondered why we always cook pears and not apples but answered his own question saying he found apples too aggressive in their appleyness. I suppose the other end of the spectrum is quinces, which you don't want to do anything else with but cook them simply and serve with cream. You can make quince tarte Tatin but then they don't taste any different to apples. We still have a freezer full of quinces. Simon had even more than us but he is eating them for breakfast.

Sunday 10.02

Lunch: spag, tomatoes (colin); spag, onions, broccoli, cream (Tracey)

Tracey also had had a egg and cress roll and chocolate cake, after the Dursley dozen race, and still she despairs about why she is so fat

Dinner: Fillet steak, mushrooms, gorgonzola sauce, peas, rosti potatoes

Cherries soaked in Kirsch, cream, shortbread

 
Monday 11.02

Tuna steaks, Thai curry sauce with peppers, cilantro, rice

Mango, white rum, lime, coconut milk

Tuesday 12.02

Waitrose crab and leek tartlets

Saffron risotto with fennel, red peppers, courgette, tomatoes

Wednesday 13.02

Sourdough toast with fennel, tomato, Pernod, olives

...using leftover fennel from Colin's risotto

Caramelised chicory, gorgonzola, butter beans, sourdough toast

Thursday 14.02

Rabbit legs braised in tarragon and mustard, braised lettuce, new potatoes

I had made stock from the rabbit carcass and cooked the legs in this, with garlic and tarragon. Then reduced the sauce and added mustard.

White chocolate pannacotta with cherries in Kirsch

30g white chocolate melted, 170ml cream+milk, 1 leaf gelatine (Costa, small leaf), a little vanilla extract and some Kirsch. Did this yesterday. The cherries were leftover from Sunday

Friday 15.6

Ate out

 
Saturday 16.02

Lunch: Couscous with chickpeas, carrots

Dinner: Vincisgrassi, rocket and chard salad

Yorkshire Rhubarb, cream and ginger syrup, cantucci

Sunday 17.02

Lunch: Ate out

Dinner: rump steak, port and cream, sauce, green beans, saute potatoes

Waitrose pear and almond tartlets

 
Monday 18.02

Sweet potato gratinated with gorgonzola, walnuts; caramelised chicory, croutons, a few green beans

Poached peaches, cream, amaretti

Tuesday 19.02

Duck liver pate, sourdough toast

Duck confit, haricot beans, green beans, ciabatta

Wednesday 20.02

Chicken livers, onions, pink peppercorns; cauliflower wih cream and roast garlic, new potatoes

Rhubarb with crystallised ginger and preserved ginger, cream, toasted brioche

Thursday 21.02

Ate out

Friday 22.02

Sauteed carrots, cashew-roast garlic-chilli-spring onion sauce, spelt

Ok, this sounds weird, a sort of Garfagnana peasant and Chinese fusion, but it was good. We had weiss beer with it

Christmas pudding, apples, rum, cream

 
Saturday 23.02

Lunch: Risotto with smoked mushrooms and cauliflower

Dinner: toasted sourdough with onion confit and olives

spag with red peppers, tomatoes, chilli, basil, pine kernels

Sunday 24.02

Lunch: Ate out

Dinner: Salad of Purple sprouting, feta, sourdough croutons

 
Monday 25.02

Purple sprouting with confit onions, smoked bacon, cream, balsamic, crispy bacon, new potatoes

Panna cotta of Dulce de leche and yoghurt, Lexia raisins in rum

Tuesday 26.02

Pork burgers, tomato and chevre sauce, courgettes, spaghetti

Raspberries in Framboise, cream, cantucci

Wednesday 27.02

NCG Sweetcorn and sweet potato chowder

Lamb shanks, mushrooms, spelt; spinach

Thursday 28.02

Ate out

Friday 29.02

Salad of purple sprouting, walnuts, gorgonzola, spinach, green lentils

Baked marrow stuffed with onion, ham, mustard, spinach, spelt

Marrow's a bit boring, honestly, but harmless

 
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