I don't know about you, but I get pretty excited about this time of year - not just Christmas, but winter in general (and I do hope that you have noticed my lovely seasonal banner, courtesy of the very clever Mr Jon Monkhouse, whose website I would put a link to if I knew how) as it means big bowls of hot, comforting soup, clouds of mashed potato that you want to bury your face in and second helpings of cinnamon-y apple crumble and custard. Ah, winter, you're always welcome in my kitchen.
It also seems to be the time of year when I feed people more. Not just more helpings, but more frequently, which suits me down to the ground, as cooking for more than one means I get to try all those recipes that just suit larger quantities of people. I had my friends Laida, Lynsey and Ferg over for dinner a couple of weeks ago, which meant that I got to try out this bad boy:
Peeping out from under a cheddar cobbler topping is a glorious beef stoo, which I served just with some buttered leeks - seasonal veg, dahling, it's all about the seasonal veg. I would post the picture of the stew served up on the plate, but to be honest the flash on the phone and my below-par food photography skills made it look rather uncannily like sicked up dog food, which is not really the idea. Suffice to say, it tasted really quite scrummy and it was the perfect thing for a freezing winter evening. Also, I feel proud to say that Ferg, a former professional athlete, judo player and a 6 foot something man seemingly made entirely of muscle, declared himself full after eating this. Apparently he only usually says this once a year.
Now, this next dish was made when my friend Caroline came over from Dublin to stay for a weekend - not for a crazy weekend in London, oh no, none of that, but for a weekend to be spent, and I quote, "sitting down". So sit down we did, but always with a cup of something or a plate of something, such as this:
This is the rare occasion where the picture of the food on the plate looks nicer than the food in the dish (in this instance, like sausages surrounded by shrunken testicles, not ideal, I think you will agree). Ladies and gentlemen, if you look to your right you will see an aforementioned cloud of mashed potato and to your left, fat, succulent sausages bought as a special treat from Borough Market cooked in onion and grapes. Yes, grapes. No, I wouldn't have thought of it either. That's why I buy recipe books.
I am very lucky with my friends as I have yet to have a single one of them refuse pudding, which is a blessing as I don't feel that I have fed people properly without giving them pudding as well. Am I secretly a feeder? Am I a 1950s housewife reincarnated? I wouldn't be surprised as this next photo was taken less to portray the crumble and more to show off my newly acquired VINTAGE 1950s BLUE PYRITE (quite rare according to the man on the stall but then he would say that) DISH THAT I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT WHICH IS A BIT WEIRD AS IT'S BASICALLY A DISH BUT NEVER MIND BECAUSE I LIKE IT:
Ahhh. Just looking at it makes me smile. I'll go into the kitchen in a minute and have a look at it too. Ahhh.
I think that this will be my last post before Christmas, but, dear reader, I hope that you have a lovely time feasting with all your loved ones. I leave you with a picture of, in my humble opinion, the ultimate Christmas food, made this year with the mincemeat made from the apples of my last post. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you....The Mince Pie.
Merry Christmas!
