Recipe

Osso Bucco

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As you can see buying a new camera may make it possible for me to take better pictures but I’m still getting the hang of the technique required to get those pictures and I still have a long way to go on the presentation front. Well I’m always learning so one day perhaps I’ll get that happy moment when I can cook a presentable plate of food and take a good photo of it. Until that day comes you’ll just have to put up with what I can get in the meantime.

I’ve not done much cooking recently as the last few weeks have been pretty hectic in our house. It’s starting to calm down again now and I had time on Sunday to dig out the veal shins I bought at the farmer’s market last month and try a recipe for osso bucco I’d been eying up for a while.

I’ve blogged about Stephane Reynaud before and after expressing my love for Ripailles I was given his latest book – 365 Good Reasons To Sit Down And Eat for my birthday last year. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to try many of the dishes because almost all of them involve large amounts of butter, cream or some other fatty substance. However we are gradually becoming free of that limitation and so to celebrate I finally opened this weighty tome (he doesn’t seem to like writing small books) and selected his recipe for osso bucco. Continue reading “Osso Bucco” →

Thoughts

Messing about with my new camera

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While I’ve managed to reach something of an understanding with my trusty little Canon Ixus I have been getting more and more frustrated with its limitations. It’s time to dive into the world of manual controls; f-stops, shutter speeds and ISO settings.

A DSLR is a step too far just now so I’m testing the waters with a bridge camera – the Canon SX30. It’s not going to solve all my photography issues but hopefully with a bit of practice I can get faster and more effective results. Or at least I can take a usable photo before the food goes cold!

I haven’t done a lot of cooking this week for the blog but I have managed to take lots of pictures of our new kitten – Mitsy, and the steak and beer I enjoyed tonight.

Food and drink

Garlic and rosemary lamb chops

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I know this is very similar to another post I made recently, but I don’t care. This version is massive improvement.

Last time I just threw some rosemary at thyme at the gravy after pan-frying the chops and hoped I’d get a superb meal at the end of it. That tactic almost worked but there was definitely room for improvement. This time I decided I needed more firepower. The small arms fire of rosemary and thyme are all very good but they need some heavy weapons backing them up. I reached for garlic, anchovies and a roasting tin. Continue reading “Garlic and rosemary lamb chops” →

Thoughts

A capital weekend – 3 days in Edinburgh

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We thought it would be a good idea to go to Edinburgh for the Scotland – Wales six nations match. Turns out that was a mistake, but the rest of the weekend was great. I’ll pick up from 75 minutes into the rugby. Probably best as everything before that was a bit disappointing. Anyway, we had enough and decided to steal a march on the rest of Murrayfield so nipped out early. A long walk at a brisk pace brought us to Zizzi before any other rugby fan and we managed to secure a table for two where we sat and watched the baying hordes arrive a couple of minutes later and be turned away. Continue reading “A capital weekend – 3 days in Edinburgh” →

Review

Quick lunch – meat board at Buchanan’s

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I’m off for a couple of days which gave a great opportunity to meet my brother for lunch. He’s recently started working for Woodend Barn, a local arts and music venue. Last year it completed an extension to the main building which includes a small restaurant called Buchanan’s.

The room is bright, sometimes a little too bright should you sit by the large glass windows on a sunny summer’s day. However the views over the fields towards Crathes are worth that little discomfort. It feels very comfortable with a relaxed atmosphere and a varied range of tables. They’ve also added a long table in the centre with newspapers and books for their more casual visitors. Continue reading “Quick lunch – meat board at Buchanan’s” →