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foodrambler

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  1. foodrambler

    Brussels Sprouts

    Try this Nigella Lawson recipe - I made them last year and am doing them again this year. Yum. Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta, Marsala, Chestnuts and Parsley INGREDIENTS • 10 cups/2 lbs. Brussels sprouts • 8 oz. pancetta, rind removed, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (to give 1 1/2 cups) • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil • 1 1/2 cups/8 oz. vacuum packed chestnuts • 2 tablespoon butter • 1/4 Marsala • 1 large bunch parsley, finely chopped to give about 1 cup DIRECTIONS Trim the bottoms off each of the brussel sprouts, cutting a cross into them as you go. Then tip them into a large pan of salted boiling water and cook until tender but still retaining a bit of bite, about 5 minutes or so depending on size. Spoon one out of the water to test (without burning your tongue and thus ruining the whole lunch for yourself) whether they are cooked to be sure. Meanwhile, in a pan large enough to take everything later (or just drain the sprouts and use their pan, once you’ve drained them), cook the pancetta cubes in the oil, with the rind for more salty fat rendering, until they’re bronzed and crisp, but not cooked to the point of having dried out. Add the butter and the chestnuts and, with a wooden spoon or spatula, press on the chestnuts to break them up a bit. When they’re warmed through, turn the heat up and throw in the Marsala, letting it bubble away, fusing with the pancetta fat and chestnutty butter to form a glorious savoury syrup. As the drained sprouts and turn well, sprinkling in half of the parsley as you do so. Give a good grinding of pepper; you shouldn’t need salt, given the pancetta, but obviously taste to see. Decant to a warmed serving plate and sprinkle over the remaining chopped parsley.
  2. [Moderator's note: Please use this topic to share information about food-related charitable organizations. -- CA] Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising campaign hosted by Chez Pim and a revolving group of food bloggers around the world. The idea was born five years ago, after the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia and has become a yearly affair, raising funds to support worthy causes worldwide. In 2007, Menu for Hope raised nearly $100K to help the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry. Each December, food bloggers from all over the world join the campaign by offering a delectable array of food-related prizes for the Menu for Hope raffle. Anyone – and that means you - can buy raffle tickets to bid on these prizes. For every $10 donated, you earn one virtual raffle ticket to bid on a prize of your choice. At the end of the two-week campaign, the raffle tickets are drawn and the results announced on Chez Pim. Whether you are a food lover, food blogger, blog reader, restaurateur, author or food producer/seller or all of the above, see here for details of how to get involved: http://www.chezpim.com/blogs/
  3. I'm having trouble tracking down jelly moulds in London. I'm making glow-in-the-dark gin jelly for Christmas dinner and want something exciting to put it in. Any suggestions? Divertimenti has some, but they're not cheap... The only other option for proper copper moulds seems to be ebay. Are there no shops that sell them these days? http://foodrambler.com/2008/11/13/glow-in-...dark-gin-jelly/
  4. La Ratte, French Fingerling, or Russian banana - those are great potato names! Do you know if they're available in the UK? Thanks for the recipe - sounds deliciously herby.
  5. I’ve always been led to believe that roasting potatoes is a fine art. And as my mum is a maestro, I thought it best never to cook them myself. There is a glitch here though: I’m cooking dinner at mine on Christmas day and having visions of my mum carrrying trays of of hot fluffy, crispy roasties through the drizzly streets of London and the poor tatties dying on the way, arriving cold, leathery and sad. So, last week I tried to cook some myself and here is the result, pictured with ginger tuna and lime, avocado, cherry tomato salad - not the most suitable accompaniment I know… So, I thought I’d go with Heston Blumenthal’s recipe from In Search of Perfection. Surely that’s got to be a pretty perfect potato! I was mightily surprised to find he uses olive oil - the debates that rage over the best roasties always seem to be about goose fat, duck fat, lard… in fact anything but the healthy option. But Blumen knows best. Or does he? I followed the recipe, leaving out the garlic and rosemary so I could get down to the nitty gritty essential taste of the potato. And I didn’t bother with peelings in a muslin bag - who keeps a muslin bag hanging around? These potatoes were undeniably crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. They looked perfect. But they didn’t taste like the goosey, moreish potatoes I’m used to. There just seemed to be something missing. I don’t really want to advocate animal fat over olive oil, but if I’m only going to have roasties a few times a year, I know what I’d prefer… But what do you think? http://foodrambler.com/2008/12/01/the-perfect-roast-potato/
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