Squid with Lime and Thyme [#191]

Well, I took real liberties with this one, but as it is near the end, I think I am entitled! The original recipe calls for squid to be chargrilled then dressed with lime juice and thyme. Here's how I changed it:

• used coriander leaf instead of thyme


• used a misture of squid, prawns and scallops


• quickly stir-fried in a stonkingly hot wok, rather than chargrilling, then tossed with lime and the chopped coriander


• stirred through egg noodles that had been dressed with sesame oil and soy

So, a radically different version using Nigel's recipe as an interpretation and idea. Jolly nice, though. Next time, will add some chilli.

Only two recipes to go!

Walnut and Candied Peel Tartlet [#190]

These are so dinky, and would be a good alternative to the Mince Pie at this time of year. Nigel's approach to lining tartlet tins is inspired - roll the ball of pastry into a cylinder with the same diameter as your tartlet tin holes, then, after chilling, slice thin discs off the roll and press into the tins. This saves rolling out and cutting, then transferring fragile circles of dough to the tins. The filling is like an Italian version of pecan pie - chopped walnuts, finely diced candied peel, crushed amaretti biscuits and some mixed spice, blended with golden syrup, melted butter and egg. The smell as these baked was divine - I shall report on the flavour after they have been consumed, shortly, with a dollop of whipped cream!

The Challenge - 4 recipes to go!!!!

Can you believe it? Only four left to go, with 189 under the belt...literally. The remaining recipes?

• Walnut and Candied Peel Tarts (being done tomorrow)
• Squid with Lime and Thyme
• Marinated Artichoke and Feta Salad
• Orange Sorbet

I am sure we'll get these in easily in the remaining weeks left of the year - and for the challenge. I am planning on the orange sorbet on New Year's Eve, as an antidote to all the rich food we will inevitably consume over Christmas. The squid with lime will be for tea one night. The artichoke salad appeals less, as the temperature plummets to below zero, but we'll probably get it in for lunch one day. Watch this space for The Challenge 2010....should you be interested!

Roast Partridge [#189]

A classic treatment, this. Excellent partridges from the Wild Meat Company in Suffolk, seasoned with thyme, smeared with butter, and draped with good bacon, then blasted in a hot oven for 25 minutes. They emerged succulent and bronzed, and were served with a Madeira gravy and bread sauce. However, I wimped out at the last minute because I really can't cope with whole little birds on my plate, so Hubby made a pig of himself. I made do with baked beans. This challenge is all about cooking every recipe from Nigel's book, not eating them! They did taste good, though, so next time, I might treat myself to boned birds to help me over my squeamishness. We drank a very good German Pinot Noir to accompany them - it even went well with baked beans!

Sauteed Chicken with Spices, Fennel and Cream [#188]

This turned out like a mild korma, very nice, but not really what we were expecting! Also, the fennel got a bit lost, and was more of a texture than a flavour that contributed to the dish. OK, nice sauce, but nothing very special. Of course, we used WAAAAY less cream than Nigel suggested, about 40ml rather than the 300ml in the recipe. Nigel's arteries must be made of steel to tolerate that amount!!!

Baked Onions with Parmesan and Cream [#187]

We used a large Spanish onion for this dish, boiled whole for half-an-hour (it makes for a really great stock, by the way) which was then sliced and baked with cream and Parmesan. A delicious accompaniment to a good smoked Gammon steak from M&S with steamed potatoes and broccoli. Surprisingly nice, elegant little dish, this. We did, of course, scale the recipe down by reducing the quantity of cream to about 4 tablespoons - plenty enough!

Lemon Ice-Cream Tart with Gingernut Crust [#186]

This was a delicious, refreshing dessert to have after an excellent roast chicken. It was creamy, yet sharp and lemony, with a great hot, gingery crust made from ginger oatmeal cookie crumbs mixed with chunks of preserved ginger. Dead easy to make too. I halved the recipe, though, as a pint of cream was too much, and this is still enough to feed six people, so we will indulge on another couple of occasions throughout the week - well, it is nearly Christmas! This would be worth making a few days in advance of a meal and keeping stashed away in the freezer for a great, simple pud, perhaps as an alternative for Christmas Pudding haters.

Christmas Cake [#185]

Okay, so I won't know what this cake tastes like until Christmas - although the raw mixture was mightly good. This made a deep, richly fruited cake that certainly smells fantastic. It is now tightly wrapped, ready to have brandy spooned over every week until it is consumed greedily. I don't intend to decorate it, leaving it as a perfectly plain, rich fruit cake - there is enough sweet over-indulgence at this time of year as it is.
Tasting notes: well, we had our first slices on Christmas Eve. After weekly feeding with cognac, the cake was exceedingly moist and totally delicious. The crumb insode is buttery and surprisingly light - not at all dark and treacly, like some Christmas Cakes. Another example of Nigel's excellent baking skills.

Grilled Pork Chop with Vermouth and Fennel [#184]

Very nice way with a pork chop, marinated in rosemary, garlic and lemon juice and then (in my case) fried until still succulent and served with a pan gravy of vermouth and caramelised braised fennel. Nigel recommends grilling, but I felt I needed the sauce you get with a sauteeing. We drank a delicious Pinot Gris d'Alsace, not too sweet, with this and it set it off beautifully.

10 RECIPES LEFT!!!!

I can't believe I only have ten recipes left. I have, so far, cooked 183 recipes from Nigel's Kitchen Diaries throughout the whole of the year. I am going to hit several more this weekend - the Christmas cake, some pork chops with fennel, a lemon ice-cream dessert cake, so we will head into December, the final month, with just a handful to do. Part of me feels elated and relieved, the other part is already scouting round for ideas to do for next year.

• should I do another complete book?
• should I pick 12 books and make myself cook 10 recipes from them throughout the year?
• or 12 books, and make myself cook from one book a month, again, perhaps 10 recipes, which seems reasonable
• or should I stop being so stupid and get a life?

Comments please!

Pot Roast Pheasant with Celery and Sage [#183]

Firstly, sorry for the huge gap since the previous entry - busy, busy, busy, with a crook back and a trip up north to our friends in Lancaster. Still, while we were there, we cooked this delicious recipe. Surprisingly, no official online presence, so you know the mantra by now....go buy the book! Anyway, to give a taste of the recipe: we used FOUR pheasants (greedy), which are carefully browned in butter, then casseroled for an hour with chunks of celery, small potatoes, an onion, lots of garlic, sage leaves and......a bottle of white vermouth. The birds threw loads of wonderful juices, and emerged tender and succulent, which is a triumph for pheasant. Absolutely lovely all-in-one recipe, and great served with roasted roots and sprouting broccoli. We had a lot of pheasant left over, so we shredded it the next day and 'potted' it with melted butter flavoured with lemon zest and juice, mace, and generous salt and pepper. A few spoons of the left-over braising juices were added too. Packed into a bowl and chilled, it made the most amazing 'rillettes' to serve with hot toast. Great recipe all round, and our friends' 3 little boys couldn't get enough of it, with even the 8 month-old cheekily reaching over to his his brother's plate to grab a pheasant leg!

Hot and Sticky Quail (or Chicken) [#182]

As mentioned before, I have an aversion to eating whole little birds - so I followed Nigel's suggestion and used chicken instead. I used organic chicken thighs marinated in the spiky dressing of cayenne pepper, grain mustard, loads of crushed garlic, lemon juice and some light soy sauce. They were cooked under a hot grill for about 20 minutes and then served with stir-fried egg noodles and shredded vegetables. Delicious supper - easy recipe, quick and gutsy, and one to do again.

Roast Pork Loin with Onion and Marsala Gravy [#181]

Another lovely pork roast from Nigel - instead of the leg he suggests, I went for a boned loin. I also didn't make the gravy separately, as he suggested, but used the pork juices from the roasting tin and deglazed with the Marsala (and a little Madeira) and water. Lovely with a big dish of baked root vegetables and Delia's most wonderful Braised Red Cabbage - absolutely delicious, especially with an Italian Barbaresco to wash it down.

Christmas Puddings [#180]

Well, this recipe was a wee bit of a gamble as I have used the same Delia recipe for well over 15 years, but actually, Nigel's isn't that dissimilar. The biggest change I made was to use creamed unsalted butter instead of suet (as I do with Delia's recipe as well). This is to ensure that the veggies in the family can eat it, and I don't use so-called 'vegetarian' suet, as it contains hydrogenated fat - not nice. Usually, with Delia, I mix the puddings up and leave them overnight. This time, following Nigel, I left all the dried fruits to soak overnight with a mixture of brandy, rum and ginger wine. This morning, they were plump and glistening and ready to be mixed into the spicy cake mix. I made 7 puddings in total this year, and most of them are entering their final hour of steaming as I write. They smell gorgeous. I shall report on the taste on Christmas Day! Now, I just have to make Nigel's cake.......

Tasting note- superb. The only word to use. I am sure that macerating the fruits overnight in copious quantities of alcohol really contributed to the marvellous, friable, moist texture. Fresh citrus flavours, and deep fruitiness abounded! Thanks, again, Nigel (with help from Delia!) for another fabulous recipe

Celeriac and Walnut Remoulade [#179]

Nigel's recipe suggested using creme fraiche instead of the usual mayonnaise, which seemed a bit too rich and creamy to me, so I did half-and-half, using Hellmann's and half-fat creme fraiche instead. It needs a bit of poke, with Dijon and grain mustard, lemon juice and salt and pepper. It was very good, although next time I'll cut the celeriac even finer (I don't have a mandolin grater) to avoid having to chew QUITE so much! I served it with smokey applewood ham and lots of watercress for a healthy salad. We started with vegetable and barley broth to get some warmth into us!

Duck Fat Potatoes with Garlic [#178]

What's not to like? Duck fat makes just the best roast potatoes, even better than goose fat, in my humble opinion. The garlic (and some thyme) introduces a nice twist to the usual recipe. However, I did change the cooking method here - rather than pan-frying for 40 minutes (splattery and messy) I cut into dice, par-boiled, drained, mussed in the pan, then crisply roasted them, with chopped garlic and thyme to season them. Lovely with roast lamb with rosemary, savoy cabbage and braised carrots. Mm-mmmm! (note that the online recipe here, from the Guardian, also included Pumpkin, which would be an excellent variation, I should think).

Coffee and Walnut Cake [#177]

As Nigel says, this is SOOOOO much better than a bought cake. Using his now familiar variation on a pound cake recipe (usually 175g each of buttter, sugar and flour with 3 eggs) these cakes from Nigel are always reliable. I made this in a loaf tin rather than as two round sponges, as in my memory, coffee and walnut cake with buttercream icing was always a loaf. I had planned on taking the remainder into work, but Hubby's face dropped, so it will be eaten during the week - I, of course, won't touch another slice.......... ;o) yeah, right!

Braised Lamb with Leeks and Haricot Beans [#176]

A lovely warming dish for a chilly November night. I left out the cream that the book's version of the recipe has (although, oddly, the online version doesn't have this addition) and used lamb leg and chump steaks rather than shanks or neck fillets. Lovely with fluffy mounds of creamy mash. Nice to get back to Nigel after a haitus, caused by a very busy week with Hubby hardly in during the evenings.