Tag: gravy

Food and drink

Steak and ale pie

minceandskirlie

When I think of the food I enjoy the most it always seems dishes that involve chunks of meat cooked for a long time in boozy liquid are the ones that come to mind. A lamb shank cooked in red wine for a couple of hours or those French classics beef bourguignon and coq au vin. Any dish that involves moist meat which just falls apart without needing a knife and a thick, rich sauce which you can only get from a couple of hours of slow cooking is a winner. The only way you can make that better is by sticking some pastry on top of it. Continue reading “Steak and ale pie” →

Food and drink

It’s asparagus season!

minceandskirlie

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!” →

Recipe

Roast poussin with chestnut and crouton stuffing

minceandskirlie

I shouldn’t be allowed to go into supermarkets on my own. At least not into nice ones like Sainsbury’s. Tescos is probably safe enough if I avoid the world foods aisle – which also contains their specialist cooking ingredients. Or even the little Morrisons in Banchory as it’s got a pretty sparse range of food.

The other day I went to Sainsbury’s to pick up some cat litter and returned home with 2 poussins and a couple of tins of chestnuts. Not to mention the tub of deli olives, cat treats, two cat toys and the aforementioned bags of litter. There would have been more spur of the moment purchases but the beer aisle was closed. Continue reading “Roast poussin with chestnut and crouton stuffing” →

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” →

Food and drink

Pork medallions with cider gravy

minceandskirlie

Just a quick recipe post for this one. Frankly it didn’t turn out nearly as good as I hoped. I’ve finally given up on low-fat creme fraiche now. It’s just no use for cooking at all. Every time I try to gently introduce it to a sauce it splits and curdles, producing an unpleasant mess of a gravy.

So imagine the picture you see here has a lovely, creamy cider sauce poured over the pork instead of the thin gravy I ended up with after abandoning the creme fraiche (I’d tried adding it in tiny amounts at a time without too much heat, didn’t work). Continue reading “Pork medallions with cider gravy” →