There’s nothing like a good beef stew, warming and hearty, and this recipe shows all the promise of being an excellent beef stew. I’ve made variations on Boeuf à la Bourguignonne many times, but I can’t honestly remember if I’ve made this specific recipe. Well, now I’ll be sure. The recipe starts with the sauce. […]
I was after something that would make a relatively straightforward week-night dinner, and this pasta dish looked just the thing. It needed only a handful of ingredients, all of which I had to hand. This recipe is another cheat – it apparently comes from The River Café Cook Book. I have a copy somewhere, I […]
It’s shocking, I know, but I don’t think I’ve ever had minestrone that didn’t come out of a can. I’ve certainly never made one. I have looked at this recipe many times, but there’s always been one ingredient or another that I didn’t have to hand and so I just moved on. Well today’s the […]
This lasagne recipe is an old favourite. I used to cook it regularly, and whilst it takes a bit of effort, we’d comfortably get three meals out of it for the two of us. It’s rather fallen off the radar a bit just lately though and it’s been a good while since I last made […]
As I’ve said before, I’m not much of a pudding person, and so far, I’ve shown a definite bias towards the savoury recipes in the book. I can see the desserts are starting to pile up, so I need to address that – otherwise I’ll end up with nothing but puddings left. I’d better make […]
Beef Wellington feels like one of those dishes that needs to be shared, so we arrange a date with some friends and invite them over. I’ve never made a Beef Wellington before, but it can’t be that hard – after all, it’s just a kind of free-standing meat pie, right? We have six people for […]
It was a Saturday afternoon. The doorbell rang, and on opening the door, we were greeted by our neighbour’s young son proudly proffering a bag containing what turned out to be two very large rainbow trout. He had been fishing that morning and was now sharing some of his catch. It was, of course, immediately […]
I’ve spent my life shying away from the idea of cold soups, but after the outstanding success of last summer’s gazpacho, the recent spell of hot weather makes me think it’s now time to try the vichyssoise. The recipe looks incredibly simple. It’s basically a creamed leek and potato soup, that’s blended, sieved and chilled […]
The second Creamed Spinach recipe in the book is very different to the first. Whereas the first recipe is cooked long and slow in butter, this version is cooked much more quickly and then mixed with a béchamel sauce. Once again, the recipe calls for an outrageously large amount of spinach, so I scale things […]
I don’t believe I’ve ever eaten Chicken Maryland in my life. I remember seeing it on restaurant menus back in the 1980s, but haven’t seen any reference to it in more recent days. In fact, I think the only time I have been directly exposed to it was many years ago when I was sent […]