Sally Vincent’s Diary of Food and Life on a Devon Farm.
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Roasted Fillet of Beef with Herbs and Porcini, Wrapped in Prosciutto.
As far as roasted meat goes, this is extremely fast and simple, yet decadently rich. Serves 4: 12 – 18 slices prosciutto or Parma ham. 3 cloves of garlic, peeled. 1 good handful of dried porcini, soaked in around 285ml / ½ pint boiling water. 3 good knobs of butter. Juice of ½ lemon. Sea…
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Curing Bacon
Back to pigs and curing bacon. I become fussier and fussier about the bacon I buy. What is that awful, white, fishy smelling, sticky goo that emerges from each rasher as it fries, rendering the lot soggy and welded to the pan? Why doesn’t it turn crisp and fill the air with that irresistible coffee…
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Coq au Vin
Hmm, but what on earth is “Classic Coq au Vin”? Larousse Gastronomic dispatches it in one brief paragraph, Constance Spry doesn’t give it a mention and Hugh FW does it proud, of course. But I, as usual, return to my dog eared French Provincial Cooking held together with an elastic band (I couldn’t bear a…
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Cooking Venison
Venison is a very lean meat much in favour as we become ever more aware of our cholesterol level and fat intake. We’ve been eating venison in Europe for hundreds of years. Of course most of the early recipes, by that I mean those of the Middle Ages, deal with salted meats. The old recipes…
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Chicken Orvieto
Here is a classic Italian dish which is very popular around here! Melt a little butter in some oil in a large flat pan or frying pan ( the oil stops the butter burning) and saute a couple of chopped shallots or a small chopped onion, with the chopped giblets from a large free range…
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Chicken Liver Pate
Clean and finely slice the chicken livers discarding sinews. Chop shallot and crush a clove of garlic. Melt a knob of butter in a heavy pan with a splash of olive oil. This will stop the butter burning. Soften the shallot, don’t let it colour, add the garlic and livers and turn quickly in the…
