Delicious Roast Duck!

I've never really been a massive fan of duck - I would eat it, but not usually choose it over something else - and, to be honest, always found there to be far too little meat on far too many bones!! (My favourite duck dish would have been hot duck breast salad with orange dressing ... now, that IS yummy!)

However, this duck "crown" that my husband roasted yesterday was truly delicious, with a tasty gravy freshened with orange, and some gorgeous veg (roasted new potatoes, roasted parsnips, steamed carrots and romanesco cauliflower, brussels sprouts with lardons ... all just beautifully cooked and flavoured!). In fact, it was so nice that we are having a re-run with the leftovers for supper tonight - great!

Sausages with mushrooms & peppers

I can hardly call this a "sausage casserole", as I simply cooked the sausages in the oven, sauteed some sliced peppers and mushrooms, then put them all together with some gravy made from granules!! It was very tasty, all the same, although a little too "sweet" tasting for our palates, as we used Tesco "Finest" Pork & Caramelised Onion Sausages ... would have been better with our local butcher's own sausages, which are gorgeous!

All the same, it made a hearty winter meal, served with battered onion rings, peas and a few oven chips!

Pork Chop with Caramelised Apple

Delicious dinner for two! Juicy pork chops from our excellent local butcher (their meat is all local, too), simply seasoned with black pepper and lots of dried sage, dry-fried in a non-stick pan; slices of eating apples, added to the pan with a knob of butter (while chops were finishing off in the oven) and caramelised. Made up some gravy granules (chicken variety), drained off the fat from the pan and put chops back in with apples and gravy. Served with roasted swede chunks (unusual flavour but very nice!), steamed carrots and romanesco cauliflower, plus some braised red cabbage re-heated from the freezer ... very colourful, tasty and substantial meal.

Fish 'n' Chips!

We have, in the last few weeks, been allowing ourselves a once-a-week trip to our local chippy, Ian's Fish Bar, which is excellent. The fish (we usually have haddock) is always very fresh, plump and juicy, with tasty batter that is not dripping with oil! The chips are also nice, but what can you say about a chip, really? Again, they are not unpalatably greasy and are always hot and fresh. If you are ever on the last SW stretch of the M5 and are hungry, it's literally a couple of minutes onto Cullompton High Street, where Ian's is immediately on your left ... well worth a minor detour!

A word of warning, though - the portions are very large! The above photo represents half a portion of chips and a piece of fish ... we only ever buy one portion of chips and share them and it is still a very hearty meal!

Potato and Leek Frittata

V My husband and I have committed to having a midweek meat-free meal (regardless of how many other vegetarian meals we may or may not consume!) and last night we enjoyed this delicious frittata. I simply shallow-fried slices of potato in oil until beginning to soften, added some sliced leeks until cooked, then poured off any excess oil before tipping in the egg mixture. This consisted of six eggs, whisked up with black pepper, Italian seasoning (or any herbs you like) and a generous amount of grated strong-flavoured cheese. I placed the lid on my pan, which helped the frittata to puff up nicely, then shoved it under the grill for a few minutes to brown. Served with a nice fresh salad, it was a totally scrumptious and filling meal.

You could substitute any ingredients you like and apparently this dish tastes even better cold, so is excellent to make for a picnic!

Salmon Fillets and Stir-fried Veg

This has to be one of my favourite meals ... and I'm sure I've posted a similar meal on here before, but I don't care! The salmon was poached in a stainless steel tray with a little water, a squirt of lemon juice, a sprinkle of tarragon and some black pepper, topped with a tiny knob of butter and covered with foil. It only took about 15-20 minutes to cook and was unbelievably melt-in-the-mouth tender ... just gorgeous!

The vegetables were a selection from our local High Street greengrocer and consisted of red onion, leek greens, yellow and red peppers, tiny carrot batons, thinly-sliced courgettes and mushrooms, which were all stir-fried in some oil. I added a shop-bought sauce (Amoy Pad Thai) and covered to simmer for a few minutes. It was a lovely mixture - well-flavoured by the sauce but still with the distinctive flavours of each of the vegetables - and actually wasn't nearly as oily as the photo suggests! It complemented the fish perfectly.

(Admittedly, there was some oil left on our plates when we had finished, but the vegetables didn't taste greasy at all ... I only used a small amount of oil to cook them, so I think the sauce must have had a fairly high oil content.)

Steak Medallions with Mushrooms and Peppers

We thought these steaks would be better slow-cooked than just griddled or pan-fried, so I cooked them in a casserole pot instead, which worked a treat! First, I seasoned the steaks with black pepper and a little paprika, then sealed them in oil, turning them once and adding onion rings, sliced peppers and mushrooms when they had browned. Then I sprinkled in a little plain flour, stirred it around for a minute or two, sploshed in some red wine and half a stock cube, put on the lid and placed it in a medium oven for about an hour ... it was delicious!

I served it with fondant potatoes (my first ever attempt - they were almost perfect, too!) and plenty of steamed veg.

Butternut Squash Curry

V  I made a rather delicious butternut squash curry last night, using a recipe from a BBC Good Food Magazine as a starting point ... although I did make several substitutions, as some ingredients I couldn't get locally and some I had something very close that needed using up!!

In fact, we should have had this on Wednesday night, as we have decided to commit to a fixed one-night-a-week vegetarian meal. We didn't fancy doing a "meat-free Monday", as we often like a roast or a barbecue on bank holidays, but we're more than happy to have a "meat-free midweek meal" instead. We actually eat quite a few vegetarian meals, but we wanted to make a firm commitment to having at least one every week.

Served with raita, mango chutney and poppadoms, it was very tasty and one we will definitely be having again ... and actually, it was more than enough for a meal. We certainly did not need a portion of this afterwards:

It was a scrumptious fruit & nut crumble (possibly the best crumble I've ever made ... or ever tasted, come to that!!) with a generous dollop of extra thick double cream. Phwoooaarr!!

I layered thinly-sliced cooking and eating apples with mixed fruit and nuts (from a bag bought for Christmas nibbles and never opened), cinnamon and a little cornflour, then added some water and a teaspoon or two of fruit sugar. I covered it with foil and cooked it in a medium oven for about 20 minutes.

For the crumble topping, I rubbed 4oz chilled butter into 8oz plain flour, stirred in 2oz sugar and 1oz rolled oats (porridge oats); this was sprinkled onto the semi-cooked fruit, levelled and put back in the oven until brown and crisped, which was around another 20 minutes. Absolutely gorgeous!

Moules Marinieres and Pesto Pasta

Hubby cooked up this delicious treat last night: mussels cooked in dry cider (made a nice change from white wine, very fresh tasting) with shallots, garlic and herbs, served with some pesto pasta and cheesy garlic slices ... death by garlic!!

He sauteed a couple of shallots and some chopped garlic in a little olive oil, then added the (scrubbed and de-bearded) mussels, cider (usually white wine) and herbs ... just cooking until they had all opened. The pasta (a mixture of white and wholemeal) was cooked al dente before adding a good dollop of ready-made pesto sauce (of course homemade is better, but there wasn't time and the Sacla one we used is pretty good. A shake of parmesan and some garlic bread made it a delicious and very quick supper.

Scallops in Wine and Cream Sauce

Almost two months since I last posted here ... disgraceful!! The main reason, actually, is an issue with my camera which turns everything yellow. I know it's probably a simple thing to rectify, but I just haven't got round to sorting it out yet. However ... I was so pleased with what I created last night, that I decided to post the yellow picture anyway!!

I've always been a little bit afraid of cooking fish and seafood; I'm ok with the obvious things - I can do salmon fillets, a pretty mean fish pie, Moules Marinieres - and I used to do gorgeous battered cod in the two pubs we ran, but the more subtle stuff scares me. I guess I'm worried I'm going to overcook it or lose all the flavour or something? I've eaten scallops before (love them!) but never actually cooked them myself, as far as I can remember ... so this little beauty of a dish marks a first for me!

I fried some tiny, frozen scallops (defrosted) in a little oil and garlic butter until almost cooked (only a few minutes), then added a few cooked king prawns (also defrosted). After stirring them together for a minute or two, I added some white wine (probably a bit too much, will hold back next time!!) and a sprinkle of tarragon. I let that come to the boil, added a bit of cornflour and water (already mixed together) to thicken, then finished off with a slug of double cream.

A very tasty and satisfying dish (hubby was making Homer Simpson noises while he ate!!), it needs only a hearty salad and a bit of garlic bread (made ours using a halved panini), both of which need to be almost ready before you start cooking, as it's a very speedy meal to prepare!