Happy to say it has a been a very busy fortnight, with too much to do, places to go, birthdays and dishes/ingredients I want to try at work, in too little time!
As I mentioned on Twitter, now is the time to start using chestnut, cavolo nero, kohlrabi and quince, a little bit of venison and I’ve been getting into flavour-packed jumbuck (basically old sheep) from Greenvale Farm (Grampians) apples, pears etc! Oysters are fabulous right now, and they are on menu’s everywhere, so I eat them almost everytime I am out, as well as a sneaky one every now and then during service!
Tuesdays out have seen us at Shandong Mama for dumplings (again!) where we also had the brisket with chillies (like, whole ones, which were a little too OTT). Some Ribolla at Grossi Florentino after, and the following Tuesday we got to France Soir for some bistro fare including fried lamb’s brains, beef tartare, steak au poivre, whole baked fish and duckling a l’orange. A memorable Chablis was had.
At Neighbourhood Wine charcuterie projects included croustillant au pied de cochon (crumbed and baked pig’s trotter) served with a velvety red wine sauce, pressed pig’s head terrine with tartare sauce and pork & hazelnut terrine. The one currently on the menu is a quail & pork terrine with apricots, wrapped in Greenvale Farm bacon. I also got in some ox heart, a product seldomly seen on menus, but when tasted surprises nearly everyone – meaty but not at all like liver or kidney. I slice it wafer-thin, then sauté it for about 4 sec in a smoking hot pan, and serve it in a watercress salad with kohlrabi, a mustard vinaigrette and pickled walnuts. A slightly British dish, and I love it!





































