Food and drink

Pancake Breakfast

I was out of the house on Tuesday so missed pancake day, though to be honest it’s not something I tend to pay attention to most years. Still in advance of it the local supermarket had stocked up on pancake related supplies including maple syrup so I picked up a bottle and as I had some eggs in the kitchen decided a pancake breakfast would be a great way to start the weekend.

Pancakes are so easy. You’d really have to work hard to screw them up. The batter is simple, I use the same recipe as I do for Yorkshire puddings – just flour, eggs and milk with a small pinch of salt (or sugar if making for dessert). Cook in a medium non-stick pan with a tiny bit of oil. It just takes minutes to get perfect, fluffy pancakes that are great with a few slices of bacon and a generous glug of the aforementioned maple syrup. Just the thing for a Saturday morning. Especially if, like me, you’ve had one beer too many the night before! Continue reading “Pancake Breakfast”

Snapshots

Home Cured Bacon

I’ve wanted to try my hand at the mysterious arts of curing and smoking that make up charcuterie for a while now. Luckily for a recent birthday I was given Michael Ruhlman’s excellent book on the subject. This bacon is my first attempt at home curing using just a simple dry cure mix of salt, sugar and prague powder (a mix of salt and sodium nitrate, which prevents botulism). The pork belly is left to cure for a week then slowly roasted in the oven to replicate a hot smoked process.

I had to try a piece as soon as it came out of the oven. If you’ve never tried fresh bacon you’re missing out on an absolute treat! Once it cooled I sliced off another piece and grilled it to check the final flavour. It really is superb and I can’t wait to try it at the weekend with some eggs.

Food and drink

Roast Rabbit With Bacon

I’m always a happy bunny when the guy from Mortlach Game appears at the farmer’s market with some rabbits. I don’t understand why we rarely see them in supermarkets and butcher shops in the UK. When we were in France in the summer the meat counter had a lovely display of rabbits, skinned and laid out front and centre of the cabinet. You never see that over here. Instead in the heart of one of the most important game regions in Scotland our local Tesco only has chicken, beef, lamb and pork. Great.

Anyway here’s yet another Stephane Reynaud inspired recipe. Continue reading “Roast Rabbit With Bacon”

Food and drink

All hail Caesar! (salad)

It’s probably about time we had a salad featured on this blog. No, wait! Come back! It’s not that kind of salad. Sure there’s lettuce in it but this is a caesar salad. King of the salads and a million miles away from boring rabbit food. Featuring bacon, awesome croutons, anchovies, cheese and roast chicken. Hail Caesar! Continue reading “All hail Caesar! (salad)”

Food and drink

Pheasant in a cream sauce

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”