Valentine Dinner
Kerri and I planned a Valentine’s dinner – she planned the starter and dessert and I planned the main course. We only found out what each other had planned when we started preparing it on the day. Very exciting!
First was scallops with chorizo and salad leaves. These went well together; maybe the chorizo could have been a little thinner though to make it a bit less overpowering. Very tasty nonetheless.
Served with the scallops and chorizo was some toasted ciabatta, served on the very lovely heart-shaped chopping board that Kerri had had made for me for a Valentine’s present.
Next up was rack of lamb with sauteed potatoes, mashed butternut and carrots. My plan was that two lamb cutlets would look a bit like a heart, but the plan didn’t work out very well. The lamb was good though; it was salt marsh lamb from our local butcher. The carrots were vaguelly heart shaped, not sure if it’s possible to make that out from here.
Kerri had planned a chocolate-related dessert, but we were too full for it after all of that so we’re saving it for another time. We did have a few chocolate truffles in its place though… yummy.
F
Happy Valentine’s Day
For breakfast, I made heart shaped cranberry and orange muffins.
G
Chicken and Artichoke and Mushroom Pie
This started off in our heads as a casserole but, somewhere along the line, became a pie, and a tasty pie at that.
We started off by browning the chicken and removing it from the pan, next we softened some onion, garlic, celery and carrot. Then we threw in the mushrooms (chestnut, white and another strange type that Stephen can’t remember the name of) and the peeled and halved Jerusalem artichokes. When this was all cooked down, we added some chicken stock, salt and pepper, bay and thyme and cooked it for about an hour – basically, until the majority of the liquid had disipated.
We then put it in a pie dish (the new red one, isn’t it pretty?), added a puff pastry lid (and some decorative hearts as it is almost Valentine’s Day) and baked it in the oven for about half an hour.
We served it with winter greens and peas.
Venison Casserole
We’d been talking about cooking venison for a while, so today we did. We cooked it in a casserole with bacon, onions, mushrooms and red wine and ate it with mashed potato, winter greens and red cabbage. The casserole turned out rather well – the meat was tender with a typically venisonny (is that a word?) flavour and texture to it and the sauce had a good depth of flavour. The red cabbage on the other hand was rather too tart to eat much of – it was cooked with juniper berries, apple juice and cranberries. We left most of it behind.
F
Pizza
We’d planned to make pizza on Friday night, but went to the pub instead. So, we made it on Saturday night instead. We used our normal dough recipe but, this time it was a bit doughier. Not sure why.
We topped it with the cheat’s Waitrose bruschetta topping, some really peppery salami, some artichokes and some olives and ate it on our laps while watching a DVD. It was good but next time we’re going to vary the toppings – roasted peppers and onions and maybe some tuna (for Stephen).
G
Flaked Baked Salmon with Pasta and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
Another quick dinner, this time one that we made up ourselves. We roasted the salmon with a little tomato pesto on it. Then we stirred some more tomato pesto into the cooked pasta before adding the flaked salmon, roasted cherry tomatoes, parsely and lemon juice.
F
Pork Stroganoff
We cooked this last night. Really simple, really quick and really tasty. Sliced pork fillet with onions, paprika, parsely and soured cream. We served it with rice and waiting for the rice to cook was the longest wait. We’ll definitely be exploring many variations on this theme in the near future.
F
Cottage Pie
Mmmmm cottage pie. Kerri assembled this yesterday and we baked it tonight. It was made with really good mince from our butcher, which had a wonderful texture and taste. We had it with some vegetables – brussels sprouts, carrots and peas. Also some gravy that I’d made which wasn’t that great – luckily we didn’t really need it.
Venison Sausages
I got home from work (and pub) a bit late today and Kerri had cooked some venison and red wine sausages. She had also made bubble and squeak. The aroma when I arrived home was really brilliant. The sausages were tasty but had dried out a little; maybe they would be good in sausage casserole?
F
Rack of Lamb with Sauteed Potatoes
Mmmm rack of lamb. Served with sauteed potatoes and a selection of vegetables – brussels sprouts, carrots and salsify. It’s the first time I’ve had salsify; not quite sure what to make of it. The lamb and potatoes were good.
