Mintball wrote:First attempts from a new book by Bruno Loubet, including a delightful dish of confited salmon with asparagus, new spuds and a green 'gazpacho'. You ask what else to do when the new potatoes arrive. When the Cheshire new potatoes (far better than the Jersey's) arrived, used to always have a simple dish - with bacon and the warm bacon fat poured over the potatoes. Gorgeous - much better than butter.

Mintball wrote:First attempts from a new book by Bruno Loubet, including a delightful dish of confited salmon with asparagus, new spuds and a green 'gazpacho'. You ask what else to do when the new potatoes arrive. When the Cheshire new potatoes (far better than the Jersey's) arrived, used to always have a simple dish - with bacon and the warm bacon fat poured over the potatoes. Gorgeous - much better than butter.

only you could troll a food thread

Haven't risked mussels since I was up all night spewing myself senseless after having them as a starter in a North London restaurant a couple of years back.
Not very impressive as I had gone down to spend the weekend with a young lady.

Sure it was the mussels and not the memory of grooming yourself in the mirror before meeting her?

Slow day is it?

I had mussels as well last night (no, I'm not Mrs D posting in a fit of rebellion), a mussel and prawn gratin. It was a recipe from t'internet that a Portuguese man had randomly posted. The English was a bit pigeon so not sure if I did it right.

Fry some chopped shallots and garlic in olive oil add 2 cups prawns and equal amount of mussels and saute for a few seconds longer. Add splash of dry white wine, salt and pepper. Drain juices and save for later. Add couple of fistfuls of spinach, cover pan and let sweat for a couple of minutes until spinach wilted. Butter an oven dish liberally and empty mixture into the bottom.

Into a heavy saucepan (I used a small cast iron Balti pan, the curved surface heats the sauce from all sides gently and it thickens great) melt 2 tablespoons of butter, stir in a large tablespoon of plain flour to make a thickish roux. Gradually add half a litre of hot milk. When it starts to thicken add the discarded juices, salt, pepper and a snooker-ball sized amount of grated cheddar. Once brought to the boil and thickened, remove from heat and add 1 egg and 2 further egg yolks, beaten so they're just mixed. Stir in thoroughly. Pour over mussel concoction, let cool for a minute or so, then cover surface with lots more grated cheddar. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until golden brown on top. When removed from the oven let it cool to set slightly for a few minutes.

It tasted sublime, like a savoury mousse-like souffle-type-thing that didn't overpower the shellfish, really melted in the mouth, but I think I went a bit overboard with the spinach 'cos it was a bit sloppier than the picture. It tasted even better when we polished off the rest today.

cod'ead wrote:Italian week at Lidl. I can recommend the anchovy fillets, not as salty as the tinned variety and only 99p. But what is worth popping in for, if you like lemons is Limoncino di Sorrento lemon flavoured liquer. The lemons are intense and at 30% it gives a pleasant kick but at £6.99 it has bargain written all over it. Its very good. Treated myself to a bottle, it'll work well in buttercream and drizzled into lemon cake.

cod'ead wrote:Italian week at Lidl. I can recommend the anchovy fillets, not as salty as the tinned variety and only 99p. But what is worth popping in for, if you like lemons is Limoncino di Sorrento lemon flavoured liquer. The lemons are intense and at 30% it gives a pleasant kick but at £6.99 it has bargain written all over it. Its very good. Treated myself to a bottle, it'll work well in buttercream and drizzled into lemon cake.

I just drizzle it over ice and drink it

Talking of lemons, I only like two flavours of ice cream and only the Italians can get it right: lemon and coffee

I have a taste for lemons

I also bought some roasted coffee beans in chocolate and although i never drink coffee these are superb.

I have a small storage jar full of them on the table in front of me, they're delicious