No credit crunch drinking recs this week or next I'm afraid as I'm away on a work trip to Australia. (Yes, jammy, I know) Normal service will be resumed after December 11...
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Pears in mulled cider
Given how much leftover wine we have in the house (I'm also a wine writer for those of you who don't know) I normally poach pears in red wine but I tried them again the other day in cider and I'm not sure I don't prefer them that way. It seems to preserve the pear flavour better. (You could also use an off-dry perry, of course)This is a great way to use those greenish brown conference pears which never look very appealing but have a superb flavour. You want them not quite ripe enough for eating but not rock-hard either. I'd pick them out by hand rather than buy a bag of them even though they tend...
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Wine of the Week: La Metropole Rouge
It's always good to have a standby wine that will go with virtually everything and La Metropole rouge fits the bill. Sure, the 'ooo-la-la' label isn't going to impress wine snobs but the content - a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Carignan and Cabernet Franc from the Roussillon region of southern France - is more than generous for the £4.99 price tag. They suggest drinking it with rich stews such as Lancashire hotpot or boeuf en daube or with simple grilled meats - I'd add stalwarts like sausage and mash, shepherds pie and lasagne. Just the sort of lipsmacking red you need for everyday drinking. Although...
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Tacos: the perfect food for kids
One of the biggest problems about bringing up four children was getting them to eat the same food. Indulgent you might say - they should have eaten what they were given - but it doesn’t somehow work like that these days. There were meals that 3 out of 4 liked like sausage and mash but even then my eldest son bewilderingly disliked the mash. MASH! Who dislikes mash?The most popular meals (apart from roast chicken and spag bol and even they didn’t work when the girls periodically went veggie) were dishes they could assemble themselves, top of the list being pizza and homemade doner kebabs. To this...
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Wine of the Week: Vidal-Fleury Côtes du Rhône 2009
Here's a really good bottle to put on your Christmas table - or pull out for supper with friends. It's a smashing Côtes du Rhône from the excellent 2009 vintage - a warm, generous, spicy blend of grenache, syrah, mourvèdre and carignan. It would work brilliant with roasts, beef stews, hearty bean dishes like cassoulet and cheese. It's normally sells for around £10-11 but is on offer at Majestic at the moment at £6.99 if you buy two bottles as part of their current 20% off Rhône offer. As you have to buy six bottles at Majestic (if you pick them up from a store - 12 if you order online) two other...
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Cauliflower cheese with parmesan and almonds
They had some really nice cauliflowers in the greengrocer the other day which prompted me to make this cauliflower cheese with a twist. My husband isn’t mad about cooked cheese anyway so I decided to cut the amount of cheese and top it with flaked almonds which I reckoned would go well with cauliflower. (They really do). I think some chopped ham would be nice too if you want to make it more substantial. The main thing is to use a strong, dryish cheese so you don’t have to use too much and can keep the flavour and texture light. I used some mature Old Winchester which I happened to have after a...
Friday, 4 November 2011
This week's best drink buys
You might be the kind of person who thinks the beginning of November is FAR too early to start planning what you're going to eat and drink over Christmas (me too) but the supermarkets have decided otherwise.When I walked into Sainsbury's yesterday the drinks deparment was packed with special offers - and some quite spectacular ones too. Leaving frugal options aside for the moment you can pick up the particularly lush Glenmorangie Nectar d'Or whisky at the moment for just £25 instead of £39.99 (and £42.95 at royalmilewhiskies.com) Aged in Sauternes casks it's a lush cross between a sweet wine and...
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Sausage, potato and dill pasties
I suddenly realised we were almost half way through this week and I hadn't posted a recipe. Not having done any cooking for the last few days (long story) I've had to dig out an old one but an apposite one as it's British Sausage Week.To tell the truth I'd completely forgotten about it but I do remember it being extremely tasty. It comes from my book Sausage and Mash and was inspired by one of The Ginger Pig's butchers Paul Hughes who told me they used to make a Swedish potato sausage flavoured with dill. Apparently there wasn’t huge demand for it so they dropped it but it seemed a brilliant...
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