The homemade sausage project: the balance of texture and flavour
Danny and I were given a mincer and sausage making attachment for the Kenwood Chef this Christmas. This was the final step in our homemade sausage making dream. I’ve fancied making sausages for months but have held back since Hank tipped that having the right equipment was essential in the long run. Living near Newmarket, the award winning sausage making capital of England, the yen to produce our own must be floating in the air. Since I caught the bug I’ve researched Newmarket sausage making. This involved lots of stops at Sam’s stand...
read moreBest roast goose and recipe
What do Heston Blumenthal and I have in common? Apart from the fact that we both wear glasses. We buy our geese from Clerkesgeese. Decorating other peoples’ houses has wonderful benefits. Generally the conversation turns to food and information is shared. A young client (‘mother‘ of the mischievous Freddie) mentioned that she had tasted one of the Clerkes Farm Geese last Christmas and had ordered one this year. When she added that Heston Blumenthal had voted their geese the best in his goose taste test, the die was cast. The prices were...
read moreEasy gravadlax/gravlax recipe for Christmas or any special occaision
Skimming past the condemned food counter at Tesco, Danny spotted 600g of fresh salmon fillet reduced to £1.86. “I know that you don’t like poached salmon but if this went into a fish pie, you’d hardly notice it.” I examined the carrier bag. He’d also picked up a pack of fresh dill for just a few pence. “Why don’t we try to make gravadlax? I’ve heard that it’s really easy if you have dill.” [gravadlax or gravlax for short (thank you Martyn and Happy Christmas!)] So we studied a handful of cookbooks. All recipes add salt,...
read moreDanny’s best juicy Tuna steak recipe
Danny is addicted to the “condemned food counter” at our local Tesco. This is our name for the reduced price section. A fun avatar for the place that has become a regular routine in our lives and something that adds zest to our cooking regime. We have to adapt at a moment’s notice to whatever bounty D drags home. Some goes into the freezer and some into the fridge to be relished within a day but most is cooked immediately. This is one way that we have slashed our food bills and are eating far better than we have done before. These cut...
read moreBest homemade taramasalata recipe
Danny lips always go pleaty when I suggest taramasalata on pitta bread for a lunchtime snack. Some might call this a benefit as I could eat a whole tub on my own. But even the smaller tubs are too much for a single sitting. It’s the sort of thing that I long for and then feel replete after a slice of laden pitta bread. The tub is pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten after my fix. Several weeks later it’s discovered by D on a fridge clearing binge. The thin lips as it is tossed into the bin say it all. Last night I discovered...
read moreBaked sausages recipe with Bramley apples, honey and star anise
Sometimes it’s really good to get home, pour a large glass of wine and rustle up a dish that takes just ten minutes to prepare and is cooked in under an hour. This dish also keeps warm well and is a delight when you eventually tuck in. It’s one of those easy dishes. Filling the kitchen with great aromas as you get on with the more enjoyable sides of life than standing by a hot stove. I made a very similar dish a few weeks ago and we loved it. This evening I discovered that the recipe had been swept away on a kitchen clearing binge....
read moreBest potato cakes with parmesan and smoked paprika recipe
“I’ll cook this evening. We’ll have the pork hock dish from last night. There is loads of mashed potato left over. How about potato cakes?” Mondays are always busy for both of us. A simple meal seemed perfect. But returning home I discovered that we had no eggs. So I pulled out all the stops and made a new potato cake recipe. If you have an egg to coat the cakes before rolling in flour, it would probably be even better as the cakes would retain their shape. Meanwhile our cakes spread a bit in the in the frying pan but they were...
read moreCelebration pheasant recipe with plums and spices à la Monique
My Mum celebrated her birthday this month. As your parents get older, each birthday is a bit more special than the one before. Racking up the years is an achievement. So we wanted to make the celebration lunch a bit special. “Why don’t we create a pheasant dish for your mum?” “She loves Victoria plums and we have some in the freezer. I reckon that they’d work well with pot roast pheasant.” And they did. This is a really easy recipe that tastes as if you have slaved for hours. The sauce has loads of depth and vroom and the pheasant...
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