Queen Eleanor

We finished the evening on the balcony with the Queen Eleanor, a delicious extension of a Martini. The added Crème de Pêche and Celery bitters gave a lovely combination of fruity and herb, bitter and sweet. I forgot to add the lemon garnish (it was late and we had already had Pimms and split a bottle of Sake), but the cocktail was still a winner.

Dark Rum and Carpano Antica

I was looking for something with Carpano Antico in it, and I ended up doing a variation on this recipe on the Cocktail Virgin blog, because I don't have any Bénédictine. I used Grand Marnier instead, so mine came out much more orange-y. Still very drinkable though. And my photo is better than theirs!

Veal Escalope

Wednesday, 24th July 2013

Not much to say about this. Simple pan fried veal escalope. Fried mushrooms and onions with baby spinach added to the pan for a couple of minutes at the end, with a dash of champagne vinegar.

Red Dwarf

Still getting most of my cocktail ideas from the Cocktail Virgin blog. This one was very pleasantly bitter, and the with the lovely pastis flavour underneath.

Pasta with Bacon and Mushrooms

Monday, 22nd July 2013

Soften onions and garlic, add bacon and fry, then add mushrooms and cook through. Add a little wine and reduce, then add cream and bubble until thickened. Season and sprinkle chopped parsley. Pretty simple but very nice.

Pasta with Meatballs

Tuesday, 16th July 2013

For the meatballs I bought some bratwurst, removed the skins and mixed the meat with plenty of ground fennel and pink peppercorns. Fry some onions and garlic in plenty of oil, add the meatballs and brown, add halved cherry tomatoes and adjust seasoning. When the pasta is cooked at a small amount of the cooking liquid to the meatball pan and bubble it up, so the sauce has some juice. Delicious.

Black Cadillac

We had one spare egg left over from the the weekend's recipes, so I wen looking for a cocktail with egg in it and found the
Black Cadillac. Naturally, I had to substitute a different dark beer, as well as a different scotch, a different rum and a different syrup. Oh and different bitters. But the egg was as specified!
I discovered that shaking a cocktail with a lot of beer in it leads to some rather explosive results, and that it is important to pour out the result properly if you want to keep the frothy head.
This had a fairly strong coffee taste, which I can only assume came from a combination of the beer and the Mole bitters I used. But it was not too alcoholic and nice, quaffable alternative to the powerful after dinner drinks we've been having.

Gooseberry and Elderflower

We saved some juice from the Gooseberry Pie, to use in a cocktail, and I made one based on this recipe. I tried the initial mix and found it a little too sharp, so I added a very small amount of simple syrup, which rounded it out nicely. Lovely combination of fruity and floral.

Gooseberry Pie

Saturday, 14 July 2013

Monika brought some gooseberries and a few red-currants from her garden and we made them into this pie. The pastry baked much more quickly than the recipe suggests and was a little dry around the edges, but overall the pie was delicious. The gooseberry filling was probably more tart than most people would like, but we found it just right and scoffed the whole pie in one sitting.

Bourbon Belle

Bourbon Belle
I've never really like scotch as a drink, so I have also tended to be wary of Bourbon and Rye. But now I am discovering just how well these work as the base for a cocktail. I didn't get much of the peach taste in this one, but the overall combination was rich and satisfying.

Iberico Pork Cutlet with Leek & Roquefort Sauce

Friday, 12th July 2013

Based on this recipe but with pork cutlets instead of veal. Otherwise I stuck to the recipe pretty closely. The meat could have been pinker in the middle but was still tender and juicy, and the sauce was lovely and rich. The pasta we had was thicker than normal and, despite having cooked for longer than it should, was still a little firm and could have used even a minute or two more.

Root of all Evil

A rather harsh name for a rather smooth cocktail. Nice combination of sweet, orangey Grand Marnier, with the bitter but rich Fernet Branca, and the Orange Bitters covering both bases. Very drinkable late at night sitting on the balcony.

Riñones al Jerez

Wednesday, 10th July 2013

Lambs kidneys from the Turkish butcher. Soften onion and garlic in plenty of oil, then add sliced kidneys generously coated with seasoned flour, and brown all over. Add some dry sherry, stir well to scrape up any bits and bubble away the alcohol. Add a dash of beer vinegar and some water and simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.
These came out just right, tender and flavourful, with a lovely rich sauce.

Black Feather

Still trying to make sure there are no unopened bottles, so this time we cracked the Brandy and tried a Black Feather.
It came out wonderfully clear, thanks to stirring rather than shaking, and had a lovely rich, orangey flavour, with a nice touch of bitterness.

More sampling.

Jack Rose - a little too sweet for my taste.
Something Blue - Apart from Blue Curacao I can't recall what went into this.
Meant to Be - nicely minty but I overdid the Pastis.