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offcentre

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Everything posted by offcentre

  1. I'm not aware of that one, Thanks. Pie has gone in the Aga. Here she is ready to go... I followed the recipe to the letter, using the size of tin specified but had 25% of the filling remaining. I know I probably shouldn't be posting all this here but still...its exciting isn't it!
  2. Thanks to Masterchef The Professionals I received three cracking books for Christmas: Le Gavroche Cookbook, Michel Roux Jr Sauces, Michel Roux. Pastry, Michel Roux. I'm posting this from my phone and interestingly Android wants to change Michel Roux to Michel Food. All lovely books with loads I want to cook. First up the Potato Pie from Pastry. Having not done much with pastry before I'm loving this book. The pate brisee-lined tin is in the fridge resting at the moment... I shall update you with a photo of the finished pie.
  3. sounds great, but why serve it on floor tiles. Plates not good enough?
  4. We now drink nothing but 'raw' unpasteurised milk from the nearby demeter (bio-dynamic) farm. And yes, it tastes very different from normal shop-bought milk, even organic.
  5. "I really fancy eating at Ockenden Manor, but its miles and miles away from us. Any chance of some more info on the food, or even better a review with some piccies" There is a thread. I didn't post my last meal, but that was a couple of years ago now I would think.
  6. The Griffin is one of my favourite pubs around these parts and they cater for weddings. There is a norman church in the lovely village you can tie the knot in and they have rooms. I can also recommend Ockenden Manor.
  7. Not many elderberries around these parts but we've had a bumper crop of ceps again this year. Been gathering for a good couple of months now off and on - I am learning more year on year on the behaviour of mushrooms round here. Definitely more appear a couple of days after the full moon, and they seem to begin in the woods and move out onto the grassy borders as the year goes on. With the leaves having fallen now they are getting more difficult to spot... but once you stumble across one there's sure to be more close by... This one a nice twin... There are a lot of people in my local area gathering from the same general location as me, but there's enough to go round. Here is the fruits of 2 hours of meandering this morning, just over a kilo of mostly ceps, with a few other boletus and some saffron milk caps... Some have been pickled, some dried, and a lot eaten fresh, such as this lovely cep and parmesan pizza with garlic butter for lunch... Lovely!
  8. order going in now. thanks Darienne.
  9. ahhhh, okay...thanks Darienne. Will this work? Won't the stones clog up the mechanism...loads of stones under the plate?
  10. you gotta love egullet - another generally-accepted piece of advice out the window. gotta give this a go
  11. hmm, I like the idea of a bag with holes just smaller than the stones. And I still don't know what a food mill is but I shall investigate further. Thanks very much.
  12. I didn't remove them before cooking because it takes longer to do this than to remove afterwards! These are small stoned fruit, hundreds in the pot at once. Stones stuck firm to fruit, so I lose some of the fruit when stoning like this. Good question though I don't know what a food mill is, but a quick search and it looks like this will take the whole fruit into the mill and grind it all up, stones and all....no?
  13. Any advice for removing stones from stewed fruit? We make a fair amount of chutney, jams and fruit leathers from small, foraged fruit such as damsons and sloes. Lovely, but incredibly time consuming removing stones from a stewed fruit mess. Not a particularly enjoyable task either. Any tips, other than donning the rubber gloves and sorting by hand? Its generally too thick to move through a colander or sieve, even to push through with a wooden spoon. thanks
  14. Hey Lindsey - any update on how its going? Having read Tim's success story it'd be good to hear/see whats going on up there.
  15. Do you exercise much David? I'm starting to get a little worried at how often you eat out Thanks for another great report.
  16. I've been making little parmesan biscuits as canapes recently. These take all sorts of lovely things chopped up inside or balanced on top - capers, anchovies, olives, cured meat... not all at the same time. Not very creative though.
  17. ah, forget most of those questions - it'll teach me for browsing on my phone. Website answers all these questions apart from...is it any good?
  18. Does anyone regularly receive this periodical? Does it come recommended? I almost paid for a yearly subscription yesterday but backed out at the last minute - £32 is a fair amount for 4 issues a year with no idea of the content, size etc. Does anyone know of a place in London I can pick up a copy?
  19. Give us some more information on the place - much passing trade, is it in a village, near a busy (?) road, whats it serving at the moment and is business good on the current menu. Have you got access to good local produce; any competition - what are they serving. Who are your target clientele? Are you open all day?
  20. offcentre

    Aga Cooking

    Belated thanks for the replies. It went in the top oven for seventy minutes and rested on the top of the aga for getting on for an hour. It was wonderful - I was amazed at how moist it was. Camera photo's don't do it justice... lovely crusty outside: moist inside: thanks Jackal, Aga_Official. edited to sort out photo's, but still couldn't.
  21. offcentre

    Aga Cooking

    Thanks for the reply Jackal - your previous posts make you an authority on aga cooking in my book, and incidentally you also get my award for all-time best foodblog. I should have mentioned...I have a 2-oven aga. Mine is a 50's reconditioned I believe. I've had it for a couple of years so am used to cooking on it now, I just never roast joints of meat. I had always lusted after an aga when I was younger and it hasn't disappointed - it cooks things beautifully - roast spuds and sponge cakes especially! And steak directly on the hot plate. I'll go and buy myself a digital thermometer I think and stick it in the top oven as you suggest. thanks folks.
  22. offcentre

    Aga Cooking

    I am relatively new to aga cooking and have never cooked a rib of beef before at all. Someone just gave me a 2 rib joint from their own cattle so I am keen to cook it as best I can. Any advice - should I bbq it first to get a nice crust then stick it in the slow oven? All in the top oven? Its 2.1 kilo's. thanks....ross
  23. I made my own in a pottery lesson. Its too small so the block of butter rubs against the inside and makes it all messy, but I made it so I love it.
  24. best scrambled eggs I had were in a cafe in north london - they told me they cooked them using the steam nozzle on their coffee machine.
  25. Hmm, this is england is it - class A drugs, french wine, indian food and no knickers. Sounds like a good night out to me but I'm obviously living in the wrong part of it. High tea is a good idea - sarnies (triangles or fingers are fine, crusts removed) - cucumber, salmon, egg mayo, ham, served on a tiered cake stand. Some scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam, a few choice pastries and a nice cup of char. And yes, a good english sparkling wine and strawberries to follow. Nice to see some of you guys getting excited about it!
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