Writing and thoughts from NE Scotland
Until recently I thought I could make a pretty decent cup of coffee using a cafetière. I was wrong. I’ve eyed up various espresso machines and added them to internet wish list vainly hoping they’d appear some birthday or Christmas. Recently I decided to treat myself and finally bought one. Continue reading “I’m loving my espresso machine”
With a month to go until the City of Aberdeen Bakery Hughes 10k I’m out running most evenings to get the miles under my belt. I’m determined to try to get a 10k time below 50 mins this year so I’m aiming for sub 55 minutes next month. That doesn’t leave a lot of time during the week for cooking but I was able to get this pheasant dish together on Thursday. Continue reading “Pheasant in a cream sauce”
There’s a lot of things about spring which are pretty awesome. One of them is the arrival of lots of spiky green spears in the supermarkets. British asparagus has a fine reputation which is greatly deserved but unfortunately the season is only two months long. It just means we need to make the most of it when it’s here!
With that in mind I rushed eagerly to the veg section when we were doing the weekly shop on Sunday only to find half a spear left in the section marked “asparagus bundles”. Most disappointing. There were still two packets of the plastic encased variety though (plus a massive amount from Peru and Thailand) so I grabbed them and decided as one packet was thin spears and another was thick tips I would cook them two different ways for an asparagus celebration post. Continue reading “It’s asparagus season!”
What a couple of weeks its been. Redundancy, leaving nights out (or day as it turned out) and then starting a new job have meant the last wee while’s been pretty chaotic. Still things are calming down now and a week of sunny weather put me in the mood for some sunny food on Friday.
When I first started cooking one of the first things I made for other people was roast cod wrapped in parma ham. It was from a fantastic cheap book full of about 400 recipes using only 3 or 4 ingredients (store cupboard essentials not included). As a learning resource this book was fantastic for a lazy fat man getting started with proper cooking. It taught me basic techniques, what foods work together etc. Now I’m further along my culinary journey I dusted down the book to try an old favourite again. Continue reading “Roast cod with parma ham”
It all started because Oliver at Salad Days, Offal Nights made a St George risotto using English ingredients (which seemed to contain mostly leeks!?). That’s a good idea I thought so I started thinking about a St Andrews version.
Neeps (swedes) would work quite well with the barley and my first thought was to roast some small joint of lamb or venison to go with the risotto. Then I remembered about the haggis in the freezer. Continue reading “Haggis, neeps and barley risotto – when good ideas go bad”
Mince and Skirlie 