Month: February 2009

It’s always satisfying to eat good-quality ingredients, even if you don’t do anything particularly special with them. That’s why my mid-afternoon snack of French saucisson-sec, made from pork, a large field mushroom (which cost 23 pence from the market) and Bavarian smoked cheese tasted so delicious! All I did...

My lunch guest had expressed a preference for a “fruits de mer” pizza, so I picked out one of the several pizza places in the pedestrian area (Pietonnerie) of Nice.  As is not uncommon, it features a brick wood-fired oven and lets you see the pizzas being made.  When...

This curry makes a great and quick supper. To serve six people, dice an onion and fry in olive oil for about 10 minutes, then add a crushed clove of garlic and continue to fry for another minute. Next add two jars of Sharwoods Bhuna sauce, rinse each jar...

I’ve recently had cause to be in town at times that I’ve been hungry. The obvious thing to do is get a snack from the local supermarket, but I don’t like the fatty sort of snack most people get – crisps or nuts or chocolate bars. So instead, I...

The day’s special at Les Jardins du Capitole was duck with sliced potatoes.  It look nice enough, and was indeed very tasty.  But that was only after the skin and the underlying white fat had been removed.  By my estimate they were over a third of the volume.  Take...

I had some apples that had been hanging around for a bit, so decided baking was the best option. I cut the cores out –  a little ham-fistedly, I might add – and put in a few whole almonds and a small spoonful of rhubarb and ginger jam. They...

It’s a totally new variety of fizz from Chile and 12%. Vina Maipo is made from Chardonnay, Riesling and Chenin Blanc – something of a difference from the grapes used in Champagne. It was, of course, ‘brut’, but non-vintage. I didn’t like it myself, so instantly reached for the...

Skinless breasts of duck had been on offer in Waitrose, and they looked mightily tempting. I pan-fried these (with no oil, as is my style), for about 7 minutes each side, and left them to rest for 5 minutes before slicing into half-inch-thick pieces for serving. To serve them,...

I ate lunch at About Thyme in London’s Pimlico, and was intrigued to see a new dessert on the menu.  I began with beetroot and tequila cured gravad lax with pickle cucumber and sweet mustard, and chose for the main course a pan-fried calves liver with grilled pancetta and...

It seemed like a good combination, and it was. I made sweet potato mash by cutting the potato (with skins on) into cubes and boiling for about 20 minutes – till soft. I left them in the pan, drained, for a few minutes with finely diced fresh root ginger....