Archive for the ‘Food’ Category

This is the second Mary Berry cookbook I have worked my way through, the other being Absolute Favourites.

I have eight recipes that are “keepers” from this book. That is two more than Absolute Favourites, and only beaten by two of the River Cottage cookbooks. It is useful for basics like roasting potatoes and vegetables, as well as some really nice starters, mains and desserts. I highly recommend this cookbook.

This is a recipe from Le Cordon Bleu’s Complete Cooking Techniques. You slice the cheese, crumb it and put it in the fridge until it has regained its structure. Finally, you deep fry it.

In the Worfolk household, we have themed months. I work through cookbooks fairly sequentially, and it takes me about a month to get through one, so each month ends to have a theme. For the past two months, that theme has been sauces.

I have been working with Michel Roux’s Sauces. I think it might be my new favourite cookbook. It has so many great recipes in there. It feels different to a regular cookbook and in some ways it makes things easier: if you have a great sauce you can literally just fry some chicken and serve it as is with the sauce.

The book is not without criticism. The recipes use so much veal stock. I don’t think I have ever seen veal for sale in UK supermarkets. Other ingredients are unavailable too. So far though, they have all been easy to substitute.

Bread sauce, mustard and white wine sauce.

Parsley nage with lemon grass.

Bearnaise sauce.

Juniper sauce.

Curried mussels.

Sea bass and shrimp sauce.

Can you tell the difference between fresh and frozen prawns? That was the best we put ourselves to. Two sets of raw king prawns, one which I put in the freezer for a month and then defrosted, and one that was fresh.

Two identical frying pans, to cook each set of prawns in a mixture of oil and butter. They were otherwise unseasoned.

Finally they were served up on identical plates. Elina did not know which was which, but obviously I did.

Could we tell the difference? Yes: but it is not clear which is best! The fresh prawns had more of a meaty texture, but the defrosted prawns actually had more of a prawn flavour.

This is a great salsa for Elina as it is onion-free and full of pineapple (surprisingly). It goes superbly with pork, and simple to make: chop up a chilli, lime and coriander and mix it all together.

I also tried Michel Roux’s tropical salsa. It is similar, but uses kiwi fruit and mango as well. This makes it quite watery, especially with the other ingredients, so not quite as good as the pineapple.

God bless parents.

Apparently you are not allowed to smoke in maternity wards anymore. Luckily, Elina got me some chocolate cigars instead.

Last month I got the mincing attachment for my stand mixer. It is a bit of a pain to issue. It looks like it is doing nothing for ages but eventually gets there.

We minced up some diced venison and made burgers.

I made a red pepper sabayon a few weeks ago.

You will have to take my word for it that I was using sweet pointed red peppers. I had already taken them off the BBQ by the time I took this photo. You blister the skin then plunge them into icy water so that you can peel them.

The finished sauce.

Spicy chicken marinade. This is a total winner. Make it in the morning and leave tour chicken to sit in it until dinner time. It is slightly spicy, but mild enough for pretty much everyone’s taste.

Red wine marinade. Great for red meat.