January 19, 2012 • 20 notes
614. Confit Duck with Puy Lentils featuring 615. Confit Last Christmas (as in Christmas 2010), we were allowed to choose some foods from work to take home as a Christmas gift. For part of mine I got a can of French confit duck legs, which I then promptly put in the cupboard and totally forgot about for nearly a year. It meant for a nice surprise when I found them though, and for a really rich and luxurious Sunday dinner. The duck comes canned in a lot of duck fat, so I drained all of that off (and kept it to make future roast potatoes with), and roasted the confit legs in the oven to warm them through and crisp the skin. I served it with puy lentils. Personally, I love lentils. I think they’re tasty, not only in themselves but also because they are so willing to soak up any other flavours that you put with them. For these, I sauteed a little onion and celery with a couple of rashers of finely chopped bacon. I then added a pouch of pre-cooked lentils with a splash of chicken stock and left them to cook for about 10 minutes until they were all soft and full of bacony goodness. I maybe could have done without the bacon as I think the lentils are supposed to be a light, refreshing companion to the fatty, salty duck, but everything is always better with bacon. 615 down, 1181 to go

614. Confit Duck with Puy Lentils featuring 615. Confit

Last Christmas (as in Christmas 2010), we were allowed to choose some foods from work to take home as a Christmas gift. For part of mine I got a can of French confit duck legs, which I then promptly put in the cupboard and totally forgot about for nearly a year. It meant for a nice surprise when I found them though, and for a really rich and luxurious Sunday dinner. The duck comes canned in a lot of duck fat, so I drained all of that off (and kept it to make future roast potatoes with), and roasted the confit legs in the oven to warm them through and crisp the skin.

I served it with puy lentils. Personally, I love lentils. I think they’re tasty, not only in themselves but also because they are so willing to soak up any other flavours that you put with them. For these, I sauteed a little onion and celery with a couple of rashers of finely chopped bacon. I then added a pouch of pre-cooked lentils with a splash of chicken stock and left them to cook for about 10 minutes until they were all soft and full of bacony goodness. I maybe could have done without the bacon as I think the lentils are supposed to be a light, refreshing companion to the fatty, salty duck, but everything is always better with bacon.

615 down, 1181 to go

January 19, 2012 • 41 notes
613. Crystallized Ginger I find that ginger is one of those flavours that really divides people - you love it or hate it, and I am firmly in the first group. I adore ginger everything - ginger beer, gingerbread, ginger tea, and this, crystallized ginger. As far as I’m concerned if you combine ginger and sugar you cannot possibly go wrong. This was good ginger as it was nice and sweet on the outside, but it gave way to a super spicy, tongue-tingling centre. Yum. 613 down, 1183 to go

613. Crystallized Ginger

I find that ginger is one of those flavours that really divides people - you love it or hate it, and I am firmly in the first group. I adore ginger everything - ginger beer, gingerbread, ginger tea, and this, crystallized ginger. As far as I’m concerned if you combine ginger and sugar you cannot possibly go wrong. This was good ginger as it was nice and sweet on the outside, but it gave way to a super spicy, tongue-tingling centre. Yum.

613 down, 1183 to go

January 18, 2012 • 140 notes
612. Edamame Edamame was another of the dishes I ordered when I went to the sushi restaurant for my friend’s birthday. I’d actually never had them before, and so I was expecting them to taste kind of like peas, because that’s what they look like. The flavour was really different though - nutty and just a little sweet, and totally accentuated by the salt and chilli that was sprinkled on the outside. I found they were completely addictive and I was kind of sad that I had to share the bowl with my friends! 612 down, 1184 to go

612. Edamame

Edamame was another of the dishes I ordered when I went to the sushi restaurant for my friend’s birthday. I’d actually never had them before, and so I was expecting them to taste kind of like peas, because that’s what they look like. The flavour was really different though - nutty and just a little sweet, and totally accentuated by the salt and chilli that was sprinkled on the outside. I found they were completely addictive and I was kind of sad that I had to share the bowl with my friends!

612 down, 1184 to go

January 18, 2012 • 41 notes
611. Honey-Glazed Ham I rarely cook a ham, when I’m making a roast I normally plump for chicken, or occasionally pork, but I thought that ham would make a nice change. Pie’s mum makes this amazing honey and mustard glazed ham which gets this thick, sticky, caramelized coating on the outside, and I wanted to try and make something similar. Mine was not quite as good, I think my glaze was a little runnier so it tended to run off and gave a hint of honey and mustard all over the meat rather than a thick layer on the top, but it still tasted lovely. The sweetness of the honey with the saltiness of the ham is always going to be a winning combination in my book. 611 down, 1185 to go

611. Honey-Glazed Ham

I rarely cook a ham, when I’m making a roast I normally plump for chicken, or occasionally pork, but I thought that ham would make a nice change. Pie’s mum makes this amazing honey and mustard glazed ham which gets this thick, sticky, caramelized coating on the outside, and I wanted to try and make something similar. Mine was not quite as good, I think my glaze was a little runnier so it tended to run off and gave a hint of honey and mustard all over the meat rather than a thick layer on the top, but it still tasted lovely. The sweetness of the honey with the saltiness of the ham is always going to be a winning combination in my book.

611 down, 1185 to go

January 17, 2012 • 11 notes
610. Marrons Glaces Marrons glaces are candied chestnuts - basically chestnuts that are just soaked in a sugar syrup until they are just these soft but hard, sticky but crunchy balls of super sweet nuttiness. I was kind of dubious as I’m used to having chestnuts savoury - either in a stuffing or with brussel sprouts, or my favourite way where they are just roasted and then covered in a metric ton of salt. They’re supposed to be a delicacy, and can be pretty expensive though so I guessed that there had to be something good about them. It turned out that they were actually really nice, something similar to a praline but with a much softer texture and a hint of that unique chestnutty flavour. They are very sweet though so you would not want more than one at a time. 610 down, 1186 to go

610. Marrons Glaces

Marrons glaces are candied chestnuts - basically chestnuts that are just soaked in a sugar syrup until they are just these soft but hard, sticky but crunchy balls of super sweet nuttiness. I was kind of dubious as I’m used to having chestnuts savoury - either in a stuffing or with brussel sprouts, or my favourite way where they are just roasted and then covered in a metric ton of salt. They’re supposed to be a delicacy, and can be pretty expensive though so I guessed that there had to be something good about them. It turned out that they were actually really nice, something similar to a praline but with a much softer texture and a hint of that unique chestnutty flavour. They are very sweet though so you would not want more than one at a time.

610 down, 1186 to go

January 17, 2012 • 46 notes
609. Edam I bought this cookbook in Greece of traditional Greek recipes, and when I was browsing through it the other week I found a recipe for a mac and cheese pie. Yes. You heard that right. Mac and cheese PIE. And on top of that it also included sausage. Mac and cheese + pastry + sausage. Of course I immediately thought that this sounded like the single best idea I’d ever heard and rushed to the store to buy the ingredients to make it for dinner. To make a bit of a change from cheddar, I chose edam as the cheese. I thought that with the sausage and pastry, choosing a slightly milder, lighter cheese would probably be advisable. Edam still has enough of a cheesy flavour to make it good for a mac and cheese though. Basically, to make the pie, you make a homemade cheese sauce and boil the pasta like you normally would for a mac and cheese. At the same time, grill the sausages. Slice them up when you’re done and mix the macaroni, cheese sauce and sausage together. Pile it all into an oven dish, cover the top with storebought puff pastry (get the all-butter stuff if you can find it, it’s so much better) and bake for like 20 minutes. Voila, awesomest dinner ever. As you can see I served mine with some green salad to try and pretend that it was the unhealthiest meal ever. But frankly when something tastes this good, who cares. 609 down, 1187 to go

609. Edam

I bought this cookbook in Greece of traditional Greek recipes, and when I was browsing through it the other week I found a recipe for a mac and cheese pie. Yes. You heard that right. Mac and cheese PIE. And on top of that it also included sausage. Mac and cheese + pastry + sausage. Of course I immediately thought that this sounded like the single best idea I’d ever heard and rushed to the store to buy the ingredients to make it for dinner.

To make a bit of a change from cheddar, I chose edam as the cheese. I thought that with the sausage and pastry, choosing a slightly milder, lighter cheese would probably be advisable. Edam still has enough of a cheesy flavour to make it good for a mac and cheese though.

Basically, to make the pie, you make a homemade cheese sauce and boil the pasta like you normally would for a mac and cheese. At the same time, grill the sausages. Slice them up when you’re done and mix the macaroni, cheese sauce and sausage together. Pile it all into an oven dish, cover the top with storebought puff pastry (get the all-butter stuff if you can find it, it’s so much better) and bake for like 20 minutes. Voila, awesomest dinner ever. As you can see I served mine with some green salad to try and pretend that it was the unhealthiest meal ever. But frankly when something tastes this good, who cares.

609 down, 1187 to go

January 17, 2012 • 4 notes
Q
Hi! I just stumbled upon your blog recently and I absolutely LOVE it! I just have one question, but you might have answered it already, I haven't gone through the whole thing yet. Where do you work....or more, what do you do? You talk about getting free things, well food, and I was just curious to know what kind of job gets you free food? Awesome blog and thanks for all the inspiration!
gonebeforeyouarrived
A

Thank you so much, that’s really sweet of you to say :)

I actually am currently looking for a new job because I moved to Cardiff (from London) before Christmas. When I was still in London I worked in sales and marketing for a company that imported and distributed popular and luxury food brands - those included French’s mustard and Frank’s RedHot sauce, German and Italian Christmas treats, a lot of French foods, and Clamato which is my absolute favourite.

January 17, 2012 • 3 notes
Q
Hi, where do you get your more "exotic" meats from? I'm on a bit of a tamer food challenge but believe I'll hvae difficulty finding meats not usually found in britain. Any help would be much apreciated :D
educatedoaf
A

The meats that I had at the barbecue were bought at one of the stalls in Cardiff Market. There is a similar stall in Borough Market in London and I’m sure there are other similar places in other permanent markets around the UK. You can also easily order exotic meats online - if you google it you will come up with quite a few sites that all sell a wide range of exotic and game meats and insects too. The prices tend to be a bit more expensive than regular steak but I think that it’s worth it to try something new.

Good luck on your challenge!

January 16, 2012 • 97 notes
607. Kangaroo and 608. Ostrich For my brother’s birthday, we had an ‘Exotic Meats Barbecue’. We got four different weird meats - kangaroo, ostrich, kudu, and zebra - and everyone tried a little piece of each. The only one I’d tried before was ostrich, and that was as a burger. They all had similar tastes to an extent, they were gamey, and as obvious as it sounds, steak-like. I definitely had my favourites though. Kangaroo tasted good to start but had a slightly odd aftertaste that I’m not sure if I was so keen on. Zebra was probably the strongest of them all (I haven’t tried horse so I’m not sure if it tastes similar, though I guess that it would). Kudu was similar to springbok which I’ve had before and that was pretty nice, as was the ostrich. It was really fun to try all the different meats. 608 down, 1188 to go

607. Kangaroo and 608. Ostrich

For my brother’s birthday, we had an ‘Exotic Meats Barbecue’. We got four different weird meats - kangaroo, ostrich, kudu, and zebra - and everyone tried a little piece of each. The only one I’d tried before was ostrich, and that was as a burger. They all had similar tastes to an extent, they were gamey, and as obvious as it sounds, steak-like. I definitely had my favourites though. Kangaroo tasted good to start but had a slightly odd aftertaste that I’m not sure if I was so keen on. Zebra was probably the strongest of them all (I haven’t tried horse so I’m not sure if it tastes similar, though I guess that it would). Kudu was similar to springbok which I’ve had before and that was pretty nice, as was the ostrich. It was really fun to try all the different meats.

608 down, 1188 to go

January 16, 2012 • 125 notes
606. Lamb Chops I had these lamb chops when I went out for a big family dinner for my Gran’s 80th birthday, and they were hands down the best lamb I’ve ever eaten. We went to Nicolino’s which is an Italian restaurant in my hometown that always serves great authentic Italian food. The lamb chops were pan-fried and came with a little parcel of spiced minced lamb rolled in aubergine, some potato gratin and a delicious rich wine gravy. Oh my god. Seriously, I said it before but it was really the best lamb ever. It was cooked perfectly, just a little pink, it was tender and juicy and moist and flavourful and sweet and rich and the tiniest bit charred and I could go on and on. And now I’m starving. 606 down, 1190 to go

606. Lamb Chops

I had these lamb chops when I went out for a big family dinner for my Gran’s 80th birthday, and they were hands down the best lamb I’ve ever eaten. We went to Nicolino’s which is an Italian restaurant in my hometown that always serves great authentic Italian food. The lamb chops were pan-fried and came with a little parcel of spiced minced lamb rolled in aubergine, some potato gratin and a delicious rich wine gravy. Oh my god. Seriously, I said it before but it was really the best lamb ever. It was cooked perfectly, just a little pink, it was tender and juicy and moist and flavourful and sweet and rich and the tiniest bit charred and I could go on and on. And now I’m starving.

606 down, 1190 to go