Boxing Day

Today for lunch I served my marinated salmon and terrine with a freshly made Salad of celeriac, soured cream and mustard. 

Went extremely well together and was enjoyed by everyone 

Christmas Eve

This is how my marinated salmon looked when it had been refrigerated for four days.( The accompanying Salad of celeriac, soured cream and mustard not yet made as we will have this on Boxing Day )

Yesterday I made the Mincemeat and orange trifle just topping it with the cream this morning ready for Xmas Eve supper.  December 23rd and the chapter is headed " A long day in the kitchen" and of this recipe Mr Slater says " this is probably the longest and most complex recipe I have ever included in a book". 

It is time consuming to make but not that complex. The result is a very rich but quite different trifle, the addition of mincemeat giving it a Christmassy feel. Definitely worth a go. 

No left overs here!!!

Getting ready for Christmas

Today I have started getting ready for Christmas - a rest from the wedding preparations!!!

I have made A coarse and fruit terrine - well two actually.

Here they are in their water bath ready for the oven. Will report their success or failure at a later date!!!

I also made  Salmon marinated with beetroot, dill and orange.

Here it is awaiting being pressed with a heavy weight. Again I will report on its success or failure later. I have never cured fish before, always buying ready done. In fact my husband couldn't understand why I wanted to do this when I could buy it ready done saving a lot of time and energy!!!! 

The salmon will now rest for 4 days. 

Bring on the wedding !!!!!

  

Clementines in your Christmas stocking

The recipe yesterday was Roast Duck with apples, clementines and prunes. 

Mr Slater reminisces about the arrival of Christmas oranges when he was little. I remember they were always put in our Christmas stockings along with new coins - can you imagine the faces of children today if that is what they found in their stockings!!!!

I made this for my husband and daughter and wow , what a success. They both loved it and want me to make it again - soon !!! The accompanying gravy is a delight, full of flavour and texture - don't blend it. I also followed the recipe for the duck stock so this probably added to the rich rich flavour of the gravy.

Making life manageable

The recipe yesterday was a Lifesaving soup. 

Mr Slater describes this fishy soup as one which makes "......life manageable when there's so much going on!"

Well I hope he is right, Christmas round the corner and my daughter getting married on Saturday I am in need of some life saving!!!!

Couldn't find the white misto misto paste so had to settle for brown. 

Well it was a good soup but life saving? A stiff drink would be better !!!

"Carnivorous lust"

This recipe says Mr Slater is "....a feast of sorts..."

It is certainly for the meat lover but absolutely wonderful. The recipe Roast pork belly with   Pomegranate molasses 

The pomegranate molasses had to be another internet buy and although it was only £2:39 the postage was £5:99!!!!!!!

Worth buying though because I will make this recipe again. Long slow cooking with high heat at the end results in meat which pulls apart easily with a wonderful crisp crackling. The molasses gives a depth of flavour with a caramelised crust. Delicious !!!!

The most expensive vegetable dish ever !!!

Today I made Roasted roots with vin cotto ( should have made it yesterday but thought they would go well with the steak we were having for tea tonight!)

This recipe has to be the most expensive vegetable dish I have ever made. The dressing proved to be the expensive item. The verjuice and vin cotto I had to get on the Internet and couldn't get them from the same supplier consequently postage cost quite a lot the verjuice cost £12:74 in total and the vin cotto £14:94 so as you can see a very expensive evening meal but of course I still have lots left to use on other occasions. 

The result was nice - ish but not sure worth the effort of finding the vin cotto and verjuice!!!