Nope dont dig the partridge!

The minute I cut into the skin and saw the teeny ball bearing which was the shot that deceased this mini bird , that was it , I had to stop eating. I really was not enjoying the nutmeg cabbage either. I did have a picture of the offending article, (he the mans I apologise for my criticising), but it just looked nasteeeee and it seems to have disapeared also , strange? Is he hiding evidence may be! Its so strange how a taste can conjure up a feeling of such dislike in the mouth and nasal passage! It had such promise in the packaging , this teeny interesting little thing, so full of tasty hope , but it was not meant to be! Anyone want the one I have left in the freezer?

I reckon he the mans is allowed a small percentage of experimental disasters, I certainly have in my time; watery cauliflower cheese , sunken cakes , over alcoholised stews, over cooked rock hard mini wall tiles biscuits and more!

My success in August , was a lovely breast of duck in sichuan spices. I was very reluctant to cook it as its not an easy dish to do , as you have to be patient and render the fat of really slowly by cooking on a low light skin side down and I was determined to make sure it was medium rare too , so quite a tall order I gave myself!!! He the mans was due home late and I just had to try. After a lot of shouting and panicking to no one in particular, it came together. You would think I was creating some intricate gourmet dish with the way I was flapping around! It was in fact very simple in the end! I wilted some pak choy and then after I then de glazed the frying pan with soy sauce , rice wine and a little sugar poured this over the dish.













Another dish Id forgotten about , but was very savoury and flavoursome , was a Bruschetta dish created by he the mans with fresh grilled sardines on toasted Bruschetta bread , served with a wonderful tomato compote made with a mixture of mini santini tomato's, capers , onions , balsamic vinegar , parsley , lemon, garlic & seasoning all shallow fried together with olive oil.













Tonight's meal is another experimentation, whilst it doesn't sound to good , it smells amazing. He the mans has coated lamb chops with ciabatta breadcrumbs , mixed herbs and garlic salt. There is also a whole butternut squash being roasted in Cinnamon, honey & olive oil and seasoning. It should in all intents and purposes be good to eat, who knows , Ill find out in 5 minutes and let you know!!!!!!

Goujons , kebabs and taking a wordy break

Ive had to take a break from doing both blogs in tandem and this one took the back seat for a couple of weeks. I have continued to take photos and make notes of what I wanted to write about, but I didn't quite realise what an undertaking it would be to actually do. He the mans is also getting rather fed up with hearing the tap tap tap of the keys every night! I also needed to get some relaxation away from the pc screen and of course catch up on my sky+ recordings!!!

I may have to set one evening a week to post on here and stick to it ,somehow!!!

A couple of weeks back he the mans made an old fave for me and my littluns fish goujons. We normally have it with salsa Verde , but this time he made a traditional tar tare sauce (well a cheats one!). His special ingredients for the batter being panko breadcrumbs and ciabatta breadcrumbs. It gives them an amazing crunch and the leftovers were heated up in the oven the next day for my girls and they love them.

You will need

sunflower oil for frying
2 fillets cod/haddock
panko breadcrumbs (or try Atari Ya supermarkets)
ciabatta breadcrumbs (sometimes sold in Waitrose - although not seen them on Ocado)
1 whipped egg
check seasoning , some ready made breadcrumbs are seasoned already
Cut fish into long small pieces , coat in egg , roll in the breadcrumbs and fry until golden.

Tar tare sauce :
Mayonnaise
Capers
lemon juice
cournichons
chop all ingredients finely and mix with the mayo.

Onto the Salmon kebabs for the girls, cupcake loved them , however pickle wasnt so keen , but its always worth another try!

You will need
2 fillets of salmon cubed
yellow pepper
baby corn

I did these in a chinese marinade with light and dark soy sauce, mirin, agave syrup and sesame oil and a little groundnut oil for frying. Make up the kebabs 1st and sit them in a wide shallow dish with the marinade for a couple of hours. Then griddle until done. I served them with an uncle bens special fried rice. I would normally do fresh , but this is a great time saver when I only have a little time at home before their dinner