Food 2009 - cookery...

[mrph]

I'm starting to learn that if I set myself targets for cooking interesting stuff, I'll just fail to meet 'em. So, this year, I'm just noting the what/when/how for each meal that seems worth a mention.

Jan 4th - roast pheasant
Sunday lunch for Elaine (WINOLJ), davefish  and keris .A brace of pheasants, roast potatoes, mashed swede, mashed parsnip (for the two of us who like parsnips...) and kale. Mostly a success. I might have left the birds a little pinker, depending on who was going to be eating them, but they were barded with bacon and didn't dry out at all. The potatoes were, well, roast potatoes. Not much more to say.  The swede was buttered and peppered, but might have benefited from a longer simmer first. The parsnip was just about right, although a touch of nutmeg might have helped. The kale was steamed and then mixed with the (chopped) bacon I'd used to bard the birds.

...the quantities were just right for four (including seconds) and it was all ready at the same time, on time. That's not something that's normally happened with my Sunday roasts, so it seemed worth a mention. :)

Jan 18th - roast guinea fowl
Sunday lunch for Elaine (WINOLJ) - my other guest cancelled due to illness. Another spur-of-the-moment purchase from my local butcher, who had a few odd frozen game birds in their freezer. Although I'm not entirely sure that guinea fowl really counts as game...

Served with roast potatoes and steamed mixed veg (chanteray carrots, broccoli, leeks). Not too bad. The bird itself was nice, barded with a little streaky bacon, but I didn't get the roast potatoes quite as crisp as I'd have liked. Elaine provided pudding - apple pie and home made cinammon ice cream, which was lovely.

Second roast in a row that was on time. I'm improving. :)

Comments

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

All that sounds very good :) We've been eating wild venison this week at home after I got a pack from the butcher. Bizarrely for Trowbridge, which is a land of charity shops and pound shops, we have a very good butcher (he also supplies Babington House).

I still can't get used to paying for pheasants, though. Back home they just turn up hanging from a nail by mum's door!