1796 Foods

790. Tellicherry Peppercorn

I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone that I don’t like doing the dishes. In fact, does anyone like doing the dishes? Probably not. So therefore I always like meals I can make it one pan as then there is only one pan to wash! 

This was an all-in-one pot roast pork type thing. I started a joint of pork off with a little cider in the pan so it could get all steamy and juicy, and then popped potatoes at one end of the pan and carrots, celery, apples, and onions at the other end of the pan when it had about 45 minutes to go. I sprinkled the whole lot with smoked sea salt and a TON of ground tellicherry peppercorns, which are basically just a very nice variety of black pepper. 

I served it all up with a little (read: swimming pool of) gravy and very tasty it was indeed.

790 down, 1006 to go

778. Cuban Sandwich

I’d never made a Cuban sandwich before. In fact, I’m not sure I’d ever eaten a Cuban sandwich before. But ever since I made this first one, Pie has insisted I make them again about 4 times. Obviously a success then!

I used leftover roast pork, ham, cheddar, proper French’s mustard, and pickles. Though I must admit in my case it was just the one pickle so that I could have one proper authentic bite but then actually enjoy the rest of my sandwich!

778 down, 1018 to go

770. Pollo Rossini

Rossini anything means that it is made with black truffles, so pollo rossini is chicken that is roasted with truffle under the skin. I chose to use a whole chicken and placed thin slices of the truffle over the breast with some butter to make the skin nice and crisp. The truffles were subtle, but did add a lovely little hint of earthiness which permeated through the meat.

770 down, 1026 to go

755. Irish Stew

The other week I went for a night out with my flatmate and our friend. I had a feeling that I’d be having a drink or two so I thought I better start out with a hearty meal. I was in O’Neills, which is an Irish pub, so I decided to go for an Irish meal. I had the Irish stew, which was served with soda bread. The stew was surprisingly nice for basic pub food; the lamb was really tender and the sauce had a rich, meaty flavour.

756. Irish Whiskey

I decided to continue the Irish theme by having a Jamesons to go with it. I don’t tend to drink whiskey all that often, but I do enjoy it.

756 down, 1040 to go

749. Boeuf Bourguignon

I carried on the French meal with boeuf bourguignon. The French are pretty great at making stews - boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin are easily two of the best. The rich red wine gravy with tender, falling-apart meat, bacon, mushrooms and onions is a heavenly combination. This one was made even better because it was served with gratin dauphinois, which are clearly one of the best types of potatoes. Yum.

749 down, 1047 to go

746. Rib-eye Steak

One of my best friends recently came to visit for the weekend. It was awesome as I rarely get to see her nowadays and we got to do lots of fun stuff like shop and visit the outdoor museum. One evening we went out to Miller and Carter steakhouse which I’d been wanting to try for ages. It’s a American-stye steakhouse chain, although I’d never heard of it before, and it was incredible. I had the rib-eye steak which came with garlic butter, baked potato lettuce with blue cheese dressing and their signature onion loaf, which is a bit like a condensed mass of onion rings. It was all utterly delicious. The steak was so wonderfully juicy and tender. I’d never had a rib-eye steak before and I am going to start having it all the time.

747. Field Mushroom

The night before we went out, I cooked us a meal at home, and promptly forgot to take a picture of it. I blame being too excited that my friend was there. That’s a good excuse right? Anyway, I shall describe it for you. I made pasta with a chicken, mushroom, cream and white wine sauce. I used the big field mushrooms and they added a really earthy, properly mushroomy taste. It was pretty nice.

747 down, 1049 to go

742. Morcilla de Burgos

This was my Easter dinner, so it’s going back a little way now. There are very few meals that can beat a proper roast dinner but as I’m usually only cooking for two I normally tend to make very basic versions with just meat, potatoes and veggies. As it was Easter though I thought I’d go all out, so we had roast chicken, roast potatoes, yorkshire puddings, cauliflower cheese, roasted carrots, peas and a stuffing I made with morcilla de burgos. Morcilla is a Spanish version of black pudding (blood sausage) and is really tasty. It worked perfectly in stuffing which I made with half morcilla, half regular sausagemeat plus breadcrumbs and herbs.

743. Smoked Sea Salt

I used smoked sea salt to sprinkle on the skin of the chicken. Even though it was just a very slight hint, you absolutely could taste the smoke. I got a big bag of it so I have since been using it in place of regular salt on all kinds of things!

743 down, 1053 to go