Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
421
That series has just started to appear on TV in the UK.
Now, I first have to tell you that I am considerably opposed to violence towards women. But, second, I could make an exception in her case. Just such an irritating persona.
Not as bad as a series that only very briefly appeared. Can’t recall the name but she was a young woman who just seemed to shout all the time in the manner of a movie “gangsters moll”. Simply awful.
As for dinner at Harters Hall:
To start…watercress, chicory and orange salad
To continue…roast lamb, crushed and roasted new potatoes, mashed carrot & swede, peas, gravy, mint sauce
To finish…Flourless chocolate cake which incorporates prunes & brandy. Mrs H says it has icing so it should be moist enough not to need anything else with it, but she’s getting some cream.
For later…there are Cadbury’s mini-eggs, of course. And the nephew has bought us an Easter egg to share - again Cadbury’s and filled with “Heroes”.
Spent Good Friday at all sorts of music events, so nothing exciting for dinner then, and yesterday we are all at my Dad’s and went out to eat. So tonight, making up for it with proper cooking. A lamb fillet has been seared and coated in breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic, and lemon, and roasted, it is resting as I type. Roasted butternut squash and the last of the kale from the garden with it. To follow, a caramelised rice pudding recipe that I half remembered from a book I was reading while at a friend’s this week. Ravenswood Californian zinfandel to go with it all. Happy Easter everyone.
A friendly game of cards had our gang order Thai food - drunken noodles, som tam, laarb, scallops & green beans in chili sauce, pad thai with shrimp. Managed to once again lose to the hostess (but not only to the hostess ), but made up for it by winning $8 on two lottery tickets - we often throw these into games.
Working on this very quiet day, so dinner will be late and relatively light: TJ’s burrata with roasted tomatoes (my second attempt – low and slow this time in the hopes that they won’t melt into tomato jam like last time… OTOH, that would still be tasty
Maldon sea salt, fresh ground pepper and basil chiffonnade to top.
Bought two big short ribs , about 2.8 lb. for both . Tied them together and applied a good amount of crushed black pepper an salt . And into the smoker . Start checking in about 4 1/2 hours . Salad with Romaine and some red leaf lettuce I picked up at the farmers market this morning ,with some cubed radish. Oil , and red wine vinegar for dressing . Canned great northern beans , with a little sage , olive oil , garlic , and halved cherry tomatoes added .
Taxes done, and I’m getting more money back than last year. Not sure how, but I won’t question TurboTax. Come to Mama!
Of course, the plumber coming next week will cut into that, and the carpenter needed after the plumber cuts into the ceiling to fix yet another pinhole leak will take a chunk more.
A proper Sunday roaster chicken was air-dried in the downstairs fridge, seasoned with salt and pepper, a cut-up half lemon and a rosemary sprig tucked into the cavity, and it was roasted. Could have used a bit of a higher temp to crisp up and brown the skin even more, but didn’t want to risk drying out the chicken.
A soubise sauce mentioned on another food group sounded perfect (a mild onion-cream sauce) instead of traditional gravy. I had to try and tweak it a bit and whisked in about 2 tsp. of freshly squeezed lemon juice to the final sauce. Oh - I also cut it back by at least half, if not more.
Sides were roasted potatoes (again - can’t go wrong with roasted potatoes!) and sauteed carrots, sugar snap peas, and red bell pepper sprinkled with fine herbs. There was wine.
Never got around to making a dessert, so a couple of squares of chocolate will suffice as a stand-in for Easter Bunny ears.
New to me soup, i almost followed the recipe but omitted the cinnamon (uh, no), used olive oil instead of butter, more spinach and veg stock. Not life changing but very tasty. I had a big bowl with seedy crackers.
After 5 hours the meat was pulled back from the bone , seemed to starting to dry a little , Crust was good . So I wrapped them in foil for 1 hour . Out of the smoker to rest for a half hour . Cut off the bone into chunks . There is something to grabbing that piece of beef and squeezing that smoked flesh and having the juice run over your fingers while pulling it apart . You pretty much have to be ready for the beef shock . Deelish . Spring is here .
A total un Easter meal- hand battered fish and chips with homemade tartar sauce.
I’ve been sick and dragging my way through the week, so I decided not to throw a big Easter dinner party. Christmas dinner this year resulted in me being in bed for days after, exhausted. I couldn’t do that again.
We made a quick trip up to Ojai for lunch with family. For un-traditional Easter we did cheese enchiladas, grilled chicken with my Uncle’s mole, beans, and salad. DH and I just had snacks for dinner. Oven dried cherry tomatoes, salami, Cowgirl Creamery cheeses, baguette, and an orange. There was wine.
4 Likes
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
435
We’re going out for lunch - a favourite Michelin starred place about an hour away.
Dinner will be snacky - there’s quiche in the fridge, there’s ham, there’s an empanada from the brother in law, there’s salad. We’ll slump on the sofa, nibbling and watching back-to-back episodes of “Family Guy” (which has recently started showing here and has become a firm favourite)
Yesterday WFD, Seafood Pot au Feu - seafood stew. Stirred the vegetables: sliced onions, fennels, leek and 10 baby potatoes for a few minutes with olive oil, then add equal quantity of white wine (I used Sauvignon) and water, 1 tbs of sugar, salt and black pepper and cooked for 20 minutes with a lid. Add equal portion of cream, 1 lemon thinly sliced, 1 star anise and a few grains of coriander and cook for few minutes more. Add cubes of cod, scallops, clams, squids (I skipped that since market doesn’t have fresh one yesterday) and cook a few more minutes. Sprinkle some fresh herbs: dill, coriander and parsley. (I have only fresh dill…)
Not bad, a change from the usually way. Even with cream, I didn’t feel heavy, I guess the lemon did the job. A big pot, will have leftover meals…
6 Likes
Presunto
(--> Back in Athens - Goat's/Sheep's Yoghurt every day ... [Fleeced Taxpayer :@)) :@)) ])
437
Almost like mine yesterday. Almost. I had hot pot. Took us nearly 2 hours to eat, drink and enjoy ourselves. My hot pot is different every time but for sure there’s a bit of everything, some old favourites and some new things to try. This was the previous one, just a small sample.
Is there something wrong with my computer? This is all jumpy (
Presunto
(--> Back in Athens - Goat's/Sheep's Yoghurt every day ... [Fleeced Taxpayer :@)) :@)) ])
440
It’s a .gif file, 2 images in one. It should rotate every 5 secs. Anyways, can’t edit the post now. You can right click on it and choose “block this image” option and it should go away.
), but made up for it by winning $8 on two lottery tickets - we often throw these into games.
