DJ has been eager to improve the standard of the roast potatoes we dish up, so yesterday he began the quest for a method for producing the best roast potatoes in the world. The previous title holder for "Best Roast Potatoes" has been his sister, but her long reign may well be over.The above picture shows potatoes that were of that standard. They were boiled till nearly cooked then drained, shaken and cooled before gently and carefully rolling in smoking hot goose fat and roasting for up to 45 minutes with occasional careful turns; they were perfection.
At the same time I made parsnips dauphinoise. They were very thinly sliced lengthwise in my new kitchen food processor (expensive and unnecessary kitchen toy but such fun), Cream, milk, nutmeg, bayleaves, honey and S&P were boiled and then the parsnips were added for a minute or two before transferring the lot to an oven dish. They were baked for 45 minutes too. They melted in the mouth but didn't photograph so well. Brussel sprouts with chestnuts were also produced but it was agreed that chestnuts spoil a good brussels sprout. We are both very fond of brussels and will have them steamed with a smear of butter on christmas day instead of tarting them up with posh bits.
Today I played with marzipan. I did the christmas cake and because I used ready made stuff there was some left over. I made some marzipan sweets by icing them and dipped some in chocolate to make small logs. Very small.
A sortie round Laura Ashley last weekend made me want a throw for the end of the bed made in super-chunky, big wool. I shall knit one, I thought. It will save me buckets of money and be finished by christmas. Well maybe not. To get it chunky enough I had to double up the wool so it will not save me buckets and I will have to wait for another lot of wool to arrive to knit it long enough. At least it doesn't have to come by air. I hear they are keeping camera crews out of Heathrow Airport because the scenes inside are not "happy christmas" ones.
It is quite quick to knit up at two stitches to the inch but the needles are a bit unwieldy and the throw is getting heavy. I have a circular needle the same size but I found it tedious to drag the stitches around it all the time, they slide well on the wooden ones though.Cheers for now
Gillian
3 comments:
Those roast potatoes look delicious! Nice to see some knitting on your blog too, and I am sure the afghan will be perfect for keeping you warm.
thank you for sharing some very different traditions from mine... gotta try those roasted potatoes.
I've never had roasted potatoes before, but I'm going to try making some tomorrow (I need to find a substitute for goose fat though, there's none to be had here). Potatoes are da bomb! The afghan is beautiful. What is the pattern? I didn't see a name mentioned, but I may just be blind. I'll check again. Cheers!
Post a Comment