It's 5th January and I have been busy in the kitchen. We started the new year with a favourite old recipe - cinnamon duck with redcurrant sauce - from Good Housekeeping (April 1992). Basically, you sear duck breasts in a pan with a stick of cinnamon, then transfer the breasts to an oven (skin side up) to roast while you make a sauce with onions, thyme, stock, red wine and red currant jelly. A delicious start to the year.
Yesterday I decided to make soup from one of our cookery books other than The Soup Book. I selected River Cottage Veg Everyday! (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, 2011, Bloomsbury) but didn't go for a straightforward recipe. In order to make Hugh's Mexican tomato and bean soup, I first had to make roast tomato sauce (1.5kg of tomatoes yielded about 550ml of sauce) and go on the hunt for a tin of black beans. Finding black beans was the hard part. Once I found them, there was no holding me back. The spouse said of the home-made tomato sauce: "Very good. There's no comparison!" The soup was very tasty too, a tangy contrast to the baked Mont d'Or cheese that we ate afterwards - the spouse's Christmas present from the younger offspring.
My second venture yesterday was Liam Charles' Christmas gingerbread fudge. Strictly speaking, it's not fudge: too waxy and not crumbly at all. The assorted spices hit the palate at once but the aftertaste is of black treacle. Once I see a recipe which involves heating condensed milk and adding white chocolate, I drool. However, I'm not sure that I'll make this "fudge" again.
While getting ingredients out of the store cupboard yesterday, I noticed that my bag of dried apricots and one bag of ground almonds were perilously close to their respective expiry dates. What could I do with them? Why not make the apricot and almond cake I cut out of a magazine in April 1989 and first made for the older offspring's christening? I did that today and lo and behold! The older offspring did appear at my front door!
Thoughts for the new year
This year the spouse and I will celebrate milestone birthdays. Reflecting on this and on the new year has caused me to think about what I would like to do. This poem by Ezra Pound gave me pause for thought:
And the days are not full enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
Not shaking the grass.
I hope I can shake some grass this year.
All the best.
Minnie
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| Getting ready to roast tomatoes |
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| Mexican tomato and bean soup served with sour cream and avocado |
My second venture yesterday was Liam Charles' Christmas gingerbread fudge. Strictly speaking, it's not fudge: too waxy and not crumbly at all. The assorted spices hit the palate at once but the aftertaste is of black treacle. Once I see a recipe which involves heating condensed milk and adding white chocolate, I drool. However, I'm not sure that I'll make this "fudge" again.
 |
| Christmas gingerbread fudge |
While getting ingredients out of the store cupboard yesterday, I noticed that my bag of dried apricots and one bag of ground almonds were perilously close to their respective expiry dates. What could I do with them? Why not make the apricot and almond cake I cut out of a magazine in April 1989 and first made for the older offspring's christening? I did that today and lo and behold! The older offspring did appear at my front door!
 |
| Apricot and almond cake |
Thoughts for the new year
This year the spouse and I will celebrate milestone birthdays. Reflecting on this and on the new year has caused me to think about what I would like to do. This poem by Ezra Pound gave me pause for thought:
And the days are not full enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
Not shaking the grass.
I hope I can shake some grass this year.
All the best.
Minnie
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