december

 
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Monday 1.12

Hummus (homemade) and pitta

WR ham hock and leek parcels, green beans, new potatoes

Tuesday 2.12

WR lobster bisque

Crab and funny mushrooms in a sort of Thai sauce; rice and peas

Wednesday 3.12

Venison, red cabbage, fried potatoes

Grilled persimmon, rice pudding with orange peel and candied lemon peel

Thursday 4.12

Tartines of peppers and dried tomatoes and chevre; saute fennel, olives, flageolet beans

Pear and dried fruits poached in rum, with marzipan

Friday 5.12

Ate out

Saturday 6.12

Ate out

Winter is the new summer so we went away for the weekend

Sunday 7.12

Dinner: Sauteed squash, chevre, salad, quinoa

 
Monday 8.12

Squash, lentil, walnut soup with fried pumpkin seeds and pumpkinseed oil

Lamb sausages, flageolet beans, salad, potatoes

Tuesday 9.12

NCG winter veg soup of some sort

WR Keralan lamb curry, channa dhal, rice

Wednesday 10.12

Beefburgers, sauce of tomato, mushrooms, cream, horesradish, salad, gnocchi

Pears, pistachios, amaretti, Poire Williams

Thursday 11.12

WR ham and wild mushroom tarts, rocket

Towers of aubergine, peppers, mozzarella, basil with tomatoes, ciabatta, rocket

Friday 12.10

Parsnip, lentil curry soup

Bratwust, sauerkraut, parsley and garlic mash

 
Saturday 13.12

Lunch: spag with red peppers

Dinner: salad with chevre croutes and chilli jelly

Wood pigeon breasts, sauce of Lapsang Souchon and Whisky; beluga lentils, cauli cheese with braised garlic, barley

The sauce had an intriguing rich smokiness without being overpowering. The whishy was a good one, Caol Isla, I think but I can't be arsed right now to go down to the kitchen to find out for sure. We had a bottle of the Patache d'Aux, which is excellent right now.

Sunday 14.12

Lunch: spag with sauce of the pigeon carcass and leg meat, with saffron, almond, ginger

Dinner: Confit of duck, watercress, baby potatoes

Pear with caramel sauce, croissants

.. which Waitrose were trying to get rid of. The caramel sauce is a cautionary tale. I made caramel and I was going to put cream in it to make a sauce but used milk instead. This does not work in an interestingly horrible way. The milk separates and you get a cheesy pong. The liquid was still usable.

 
Monday 15.12

Shitake mushrooms and winter cabbage in garlic, ginger, chilli, mirin sauce, fried cashews, soba noodles

Colin has a cold and I had a buffet lunch thing at work at which I ate too much but the food was nice

Tuesday 16.12

Lamb sausages, "tagine" of chickpeas, kabocha squash, cabbage; couscous flavoured with seed oil

Pear with cream and ginger-cinnamon-rum sauce, crystallised ginger and some rather old and soft biscuits

WR sell ripe pears in packs of 4, which is what Colin buys when he wants one or two ripe pears. Then it's a race to use up the others in varied enough ways

Wednesday 17.12

Smoked salmon pieces, coucous, slated lemon, chilli, capers

Venison steaks, spinach, Dauphinoise potatoes

Thursday 18.12

Salad of avocado, aubergine, chorizo, rocket, ciabatta

Friday 19.12

WR stilton and pear chutney tarts

Spanish pork with chorizo and chickpeas, spinach, green beans, rice

Saturday 20.12

Brakfast: smoked salmon and scrambled eggs

Lunch: Russian pasta with Turkish red pepper sauce, red cabbage

Dinner: pea pannacotta with bacon

One of those little pudding bowls-ful of peas. Cooked a little shallot and garlic in butter, added peas and cooked in some water. Added a cube of stock. $ spoons of thick cream. Liqudised with (I think) water to make 8floz. A tiny drop of vanilla essence and of lemon juice. Set with 1.5 sheets gelatine. This is just right. Garnished with what the slugs have left of the mint in the garden. I think this is one of the highlights of the year

The colour is, of course, a beautiful pea-green, and in making this I've got going round and round in my head Stravinsky's setting of the Owl and the Pussycat. It's better than all those dreadful Christmas pop singles.

Roast Guinea fowl with chorizo and chestnut stuffing, cabbage, roast potatoes

Sunday 21.12

Breakfast: salmon, bacon, potato

Lunch: couscous with chickpeas and the Turkish stuff

Tea: mulled wine and stollen

Dinner: Black pudding, apple in caramel, red lentil puree

G.fowl legs with braised chicory, baby red potatoes

Monday 22.12

Cauli cheese

Roast jerusalem artichokes, peanut-chilli-garlic sauce, green beans, quinoa

This is not veggie because I used duck fat to roast the artis

Tuesday 23.12

Roast squash in yoghurt, ginger, garlic; green beans, yoghurt and cream with shallot, garlic, dill, Turkish pepper puree, bulghar

Date sponge puddings with cream, maple syrup, fried pecans

Wednesday 24.12

Breakfast: pancake with maple and bacon

Lunch: spag, G.fowl scraps, chorizo, tomato, cream

Dinner: hake with porcini, chestnut veloute, spelt risotto

This is from D E-M's "Essence" and it's lovely. I used half spelt and half barley, and also soaked the spelt overnight. It's still a bit chewy.

Danzig Gold jelly

This is a liqueur with flakes of gold leaf, perhaps it no longer exists because Colin says the EU has banned gold as a food additive. I sort of forgot about what the overall alcohol content of this jelly might end up as.

Thursday 25.12

Lunch: Mum

Smoked salmon, sauteed fennel, fennel seed, potato

Roast pork loin, gravy, quince puree, chestnuts and bacon, sprouts with pine kernels and seed oil, carrots and cumin, roast potatoes

Christmas pud, brandy sauce

Stilton, Sharpham, Isis

Dinner: watercress, cold pork, chutney; then cheese

Friday 26.12

Lunch: Ate out

Dinner: beetroot in pomegranate; lettuce with yoghurt and dill

 
Saturday 27.12

Lunch: spelt and barley, sprouts and seed oil

Dinner: smoked salmon, watercress, wasabi

wasabi and watercress clash

Roast onions, cream and bacon, baked Shetland potatoes

Baked custard and quince puree

Sunday 28.12

Lunch: Ate out

Dinner: Diana and Martin

Pumpkin, orange, saffron soup

Recipe is from the Ottolenghi special in the newspaper - this is fab

Pork, beluga lentils, cabbage, potatoes

Chestnut pave

Cheeses as before

 
Monday 29.12

Dinner: pumpkin soup

Pork as yesterday but with chorizo as well

Tuesday 30.12

Lunch: Philippa and Mike's

Dinner: grapefruit, orange, couscous, chilli, with fennel in olive oil

the fennel lost. but it has been in the fridge needing to be used up

Thai yellow curry with pepper, sweet potato, pak choi, chard, tomato, with rice

The packet claimed this to be mild, so I added extra chilli...mistake

Wednesday 31.12

Trout fillets, mushrooms in cream, chard with chorizo, potatoes

Christmas pud

 
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