Xmas 2011

Apologies for the slackness, I was very busy doing nothing for quite a few days. Other days were spent touring around the country to Norfolk and Glastonbury, eating fish, spotting seals, watching Spiral, reading and drinking gin and ale. Now it's 2012, it's January, it's windy and it's back to work. So it goes. I'm ready to approach cooking and the blog once again with a manner befitting a new year and new resolutions.

Here are some snaps of xmas dinner.

 topside of beef

pigs in blankets

spuds being prepped

nut-roast

• brown bread crumbs
• mixed nuts
• carrots, peas, onions
• veg stock/marmite

Fry a couple of onions chopped with garlic in oil. After a while add the carrots chopped small and the peas. Add seasoned brown breadcrumbs and smashed up nuts. Top up with some veg stock and top with nuts toasted with sage. Bake. Delicious.

 carrot and swede purée

This is the bomb! Take an equal amount of carrot and swede and boil until very tender. Blitz in a magimix, add a knob of butter, a couple of spoons of creme fraiche and a seasoning of cumin and black pepper. Don't be tempted to mash by hand - it's just not the same. The cumin and the pepper bounce of the sweetness of the vegetables wonderfully, and the dairy stuff rounds it all out. Very nice.

The whole hog with sprouts, potatoes, yorkshire puddings and roast parsnips. I think having something mashed is great as otherwise everything is roast and crispy. Soft and giving mash compliments the crunch and heft of the other elements.

Happy new year.

Big boy steak and chips

turnips, looking strangely beautiful

It's hard to add anything new to the description of good steak really - meaty and succulent, rich and savoury, umami-rich, sure. But nice steak sometimes really just tastes of cow. And I guess that's as it should be.

  beef and spinach

So for this meal it's all pretty simple really. A lovely porterhouse (or is it T-bone...?) courtesy of Markymarket (follow @markymarket twitter) and spinach for the greens - an echo of grass for the cow on the plate. Fried potatos and turnips and some horseradish mayonnaise and it's good to go - the rightly revered trinity of meat, starch and veg.

glossy

Turnips are brilliant, standard. Slices boiled to 90% cookedness then fried in duck fat are amazing. I am positive these would be a good snack to have with a few pints of ale.

The steak was cooked on a cast-iron ridged pan and rested for about twelve minutes.

Just enough left over from this beast for a salad of meat, turnip and potato and baby spinach dressed with the horseradish mayo. This looks like something you might get at Bread and Wine - should go down a treat for lunch!