As is usual when confronted with an unusual vegetable, I hit the Internet looking for inspiration. Sadly, I found none. Nigel Slater, my favorite source of inspiration, detests the poor vegetable. Other offerings were almost universally unsuitable for a woman on a diet, involving baking the slices in cream or grating them and dousing with mayonnaise. So I turned back to my first idea: cumin and kohlrabi. I decided they needed a substantial background and so I opted for quinoa as a base and also threw in a red pepper that was lingering in the back of the vegetable drawer. And finally, I decided to add a generous helping of mushrooms. We recently got the barbecue working again for the season and so I opted to simply grill the mushrooms. The result was deeply satisfying, with the spicy flavors of cumin and cayenne pepper, meatiness of the grilled mushrooms, sweet red peppers and kohlrabi with its delicate brassica note. It stood up well to the other flavors but didn't fight them - a perfect hearty summer salad.

If you are interested in the less diet conscious classic kohlrabi recipes, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a fan of the kohlrabi and included three recipes I'd like to try in last Saturday's Guardian.

Continued reading The Cumin Kick: Kohlrabi and Quinoa Salad...

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(Lauren on Jun 30, 2009 3:27 PM) Hi Meg, Wow it's wonderful that you posted a recipe using kohlrabi on the very day I get one in my veggie box! I am definitely going to try this one out. Thanks, Lauren

* This dressing, by the way, bears only the vaguest of resemblance to the commercial dressing of the same name. Both are green. Both have garlic. And both - heaven help me - are beloved by yours truly. Actually, I haven't tasted the commercial version in a few decades so that last one may no longer be true. But when I was a young lass, I used to drown my salads in it and would have happily eaten it straight from the bottle if my mother let me!

Continued reading Green Goddess Salad Dressing...

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(Juliet Upton on Jun 18, 2009 10:54 AM) WOW Meg, how cool! I have always thought you were a fabulous cook and a great writer!! I've printed out the receipe and definately am going to try it out! Please post some more! Juliet

(Meg in Sussex on Jun 19, 2009 3:35 AM) Hey, Juliet, glad you like it! Although my posting has slowed down to once every week or two, there are about 2000 recipes in the archives. The more recent ones are mostly diet-conscious because I've been on the Weight Watchers program, but the rest are all full fat and indulgent. (Which is why I'm on WW, incidentally...!) Hope you enjoy the dressing - I really did think it was fabulous!

(Big Brother on Jun 28, 2009 11:43 PM) At our work place we've developed a regular Thursday lunch bunch with the other engineers... I was a late-comer to the traditional weekly lunch, so by the time I joined up they were used to ordering in shorthand: "I'll have the G-13, please." The two favored destinations are a horrible Mexican place (cholesterol alert, Dive, Dive!) and a Vietnamese place. It was while seated at the Vietnamese place that Leonard, who is from south-east Asia, revealed what exactly is in the fabled fish sauce: fermented anchovies! Big Brother, who on the advice of his doctor has given up on butter.

When I next saw the farmer's wife (who is actually the wife of the head of the local agricultural college if you want to be exact) she asked what I had done with it. And I had done as I always do: stewed it with sugar until it made a glossy red compote and spread it thickly on my morning toast every day for a week. (As an aside, rhubarb stewed with sugar is only half a Weightwatchers point for 75 g, which is plenty for a piece of toast.) She thought this sounded disgusting. Which is funny to me, because my first (and last, as far as I am concerned) experience of an English rhubarb tart truly was disgusting. It managed to be simultaneously slimy and woody - and so sour that I am puckering again just remembering it. There are some aspects of English cooking I will never understand.

I thought of this when I began planning a big barbecue combining a housewarming (which we never held when we moved) and a birthday party (because my 40th was spent nursing a newborn every two hours in a post-birth hormonal haze). I would make a rhubarb dessert that would show this woman exactly how amazing rhubarb could be when stewed with sugar. And I would have shown her too, if she had shown up.

Actually, the dessert was a huge hit. Even the Critic, who, because of experiences with the aforementioned English Rhubarb Tart, has always maintained that he doesn't like rhubarb - loved it. The mousse came out a bit sweeter than I would normally make it, but this complimented the strawberries perfectly. Topped with unsweetened whipped cream, the parfait was creamy and sweet but with a bite of ever so slightly sour strawberry. It really was a perfect early summer dessert. Or pudding, as they say over here.

Continued reading The Perfect Rhubarb Parfait...

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(Laura [What I Like] on Jun 3, 2009 1:53 PM) Oh delicious! This is the first year I've been buying rhubarb religiously, and I too am a massive compote fan (although I put it on my yogurt rather than toast). I made a rhubarb custard that, if poured into a tart shell would make a nice tart...give it a try and get that terrible taste of rhubarb tarts out of your mouth!

(Jackie @ PhamFatale.com on Jun 4, 2009 12:22 AM) I've always been intimidated. Rhubarb always seemed to me like a difficult ingredients to cook... I don't know why. You did an excellent job, it looks perfect

(Meg in Sussex on Jun 4, 2009 1:52 AM) Laura, it's a funny thing about the English rhubarb tart. The day I was given one by a neighbor, my Facebook status read "Meg now understands why her husband thinks he hates rhubarb" and within minutes I had a response from a Kiwi friend saying "I'll bet you just tasted an English rhubarb tart!" For me that was the proof that it wasn't just a one-off! Jackie, rhubarb compote is the simplest thing in the world to prepare - I've been making it since I was about seven! Just chop it up, add a minimal amount of water (it will release quite a bit of water as it cooks) and sugar to taste and simmer until it's soft, about 20 minutes. The proportions in this recipe are about right, except that I would start with about 2/3 of the sugar and taste and correct with more sugar once it's cooked.

(James on Jun 5, 2009 6:16 PM) Hey this looks good Rhubarb was one of the first things I planted in my garden when I moved into my new house. Not being a fan of sour tasting rhubarb either I add plenty of sugar to my rhubarb crumble tart: http://www.thecotswoldfoodyear.com/2009/05/rhubarb-crumble-tart-with-creme.html

When I first arrived in Europe, I was determined to immerse myself in the local culture and turned my back on American food. In Bavarian beer gardens, I ate steckerlfisch and and consumed vast quantities of Edelstof and schnapps. In Paris, I happily explored the 365 cheeses and ate, well, everything in sight: snails, frog legs, steack-frites, moules-frites, crêpes and pastries. I turned into the ultimate Francophile snob, informing visitors how superior a croque-monsieur was to an American grilled cheese sandwich, how they would never find a baguette in American to compare with a Parisian one. (Though I did loftily admit that a friend of mine had told me of a bakery in the Seattle Pike Place market which had bread that was was made by a Frenchman, in a French stove, with French flour - which was "not bad".) But over time, I found more and more food items sneaking into my suitcase when I returned from visits to the US. Smoked oysters and Triscuits. Concentrated cranberry juice. Baking powder and yeast. Reese's peanut butter cups. And I came to realize that although French food might be vastly superior to American food in general (and I do say might: the Critic would disagree completely) in your heart of hearts, nothing can replace the food you grew up with.

Now that I am the mother of two boys with American and British passports, another truth has become apparent. Not only do we crave the food of our childhood, but we yearn to pass it along to our children. While I am delighted that my boys will have happy memories of Cadbury's chocolate and the fish and chips van that comes to the village every Tuesday, I also want them to remember fresh picked Illinois sweet corn and trick or treating on a cold October evening. In short, like every parent, I want it all for my kids. And while I can't change the fact that "pudding" will forever mean "dessert" in their little half-British minds, I can at least ensure they know and appreciate what an American means by "chocolate pudding" . Chocolate pudding may not come in a little cardboard box here (one of my earliest cooking triumphs was making Jello brand chocolate pudding) but it's almost as easy to make with ingredients in your cupboard. Well, in my cupboard anyway.

Continued reading Remembrance of Things Chocolate...

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(Dumdad on May 22, 2009 11:29 AM) Great photo! You're absolutely right about food and expats. Like you, I'd like my Anglo-Frog kids to like British comfort foods I relish. Marmite's a good example: My son hates it, my daughter loves it. They both love 99s though.

(Meg in Sussex on May 22, 2009 1:19 PM) Thanks! Dumdad, you probably remember as well as I do the waves of despair that went through the British expat community in Paris when Marks & Spenser's closed down its foreign stores. Let me know if your stock of Marmite runs low and I'll pop some in the mail!

(Meg's MOM on May 25, 2009 11:06 PM) Oh, Brandon surely is feeding himself! Love it!

(web design studio on May 26, 2009 9:31 AM) after seeing this im gonna grab a cup fup of pudding from the fridge before i head off to work in an hour. i really shouldnt and say no, but chocolate is such a weakness. i should have never had made it! lol

Like about a million other enthusiastic cooks and Paris fans out there, I read David's blog avidly. I have followed his adventures with the French, commiserated knowledgeably with his trials confronting French bureaucracy, bookmarked his recipes and enjoyed keeping up with a friend who is witty, warm and observant. So I knew his book would be good. What I didn't expect (and forgive me, David) was that it would be great. There are books that I read, enjoy, and pass on to others to enjoy. And then there are books that I read, enjoy, and put on my bookshelf so that I can read them again later. David's book falls in this category. If any of my friends or family receive a copy of The Sweet Life in Paris, it will be because I have ordered them their own, new, copy.

So how is this book different from the blog? Well, it has some of the same stories, it's true. But the virtue of a blog is its immediacy and rough edges. I enjoy reading blogs - no one more - but I don't expect them to have such good writing that I'd like to curl up in front of a fire and consume them slowly. I expect them to have a good story, possibly a good recipe, a lot of fun. Blogs, for me, are like newspapers - to be consumed with relish and then you move on. A book should be enjoyed in comfort, away from the lure of emails and news stories. And although the book follows many of the same themes and stories as his blog, David's book is a coherent whole, standing on its own.

The Sweet Life is divided into thematic chapters, recounting David's move to Paris and his first steps growing to love and adopt his new city. Without being coy or cutesy (David is never cloying) he manages to convey a deep love and appreciation of its quirks and beauties, while keeping a firm lock on the absurdities of your average Parisian. I have read many, many books about Paris over the years. (For some reason, living in a place like Paris makes people think you need to know more about it and they send you books and articles galore. Especially if they are my mother.) The best of them had me nodding my head sagely a few times in agreement. Many made me think "this writer has no clue what makes a Parisian tick!" And many of them were simply badly written stories by people who (understandably) love the maddening city of Paris. What makes David's stories different from all of these is that he has a way of delving into the "why" of the behavior he observes. Instead of just collecting a group of humorous stories about living in Paris, he has tried to understand his subjects. When he first arrived in Paris, like every other visiting American he was appalled with how "rude" shopkeepers could be. But unlike most of them, he took the time to observe and figure out that there is a different set of rules: in Paris, the cheese monger or store clerk you meet has a sense of métier, or profession, and considers it a gross insult if you don't greet him politely ("Bonjour Monsieur, Bonjour Madame") on entering the shop. Rudeness, begets rudeness, and the American client gets pointedly ignored when asking for help. And then, in addition to the funny and insightful stories, there are the recipes. If you own any of his cookbooks you know that the man knows how to construct a foolproof recipe. However, like his blog, the book does not confine itself to sweet recipes but also shows his flair for fascinating savory dishes. The only problem for me is deciding whether to put his book on my cookbook shelf or with the rest of my books. It's a dilemma.

Only once before have I bought a book that so closely resembled the blog of the author. Sadly, in that case I was left feeling like the book simply existed so that those who were new to the blog wouldn't have the bother of paging through her archives. The stories seemed to have been lifted straight from the web, with editing and little or no expansion. It was a nice book and I'll pass it along to a friend one of these days. And I'll keep reading her blog, because I do think she's a wise and witty woman.

But David - needs to write another book so that I can buy it and put it on the shelf next to this one. If you love David, buy it. If you love Paris, buy it. If you are unsure, check it out from the library: you'll undoubtedly end up buying it afterwards.

Living the Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City
David will be signing copies of the books at W.H. Smith's on Tuesday, the 19th of May 2009 at 19:30. For more details on other signins, check the Schedule section of David's blog.

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(John Shoup on May 11, 2009 1:02 PM) Boy, talk about too many archives, blogs and chefs, especially in France. And they forgot the oldest and perhaps largest website (greatchefs.com) that has over 3100 chefs videos YouTube.com/greatchefs and Twitter.com/greatchefs Thank goodness

(Elizabeth on May 11, 2009 4:34 PM) Awe, don't give up on that other blogger, just yet. She may write something you like better some day!

(Meg in Sussex on May 11, 2009 5:35 PM) Oh, Elizabeth, I never thought you'd actually ready my blog! I think you are a GREAT writer and certainly capable of a great book. I am sooooo sorry and hope I didn't offend you! In fact, I'm going to take out that line, which was really just there for dramatic effect leading into the "buy David's book now". I am so ashamed. Write another book and prove me wrong, please!! (says the woman who has never had the courage to even start a book herself...)

(Elizabeth on May 11, 2009 6:23 PM) Oh good grief, don't you dare be ashamed!! There's nothing personal in what one likes or doesn't like, and nothing at all good in a world where no one is brave enough to have an opinion. I thought what you wrote was interesting and constructive and nothing to be sorry for. I love your blog. I'm a happy home cook and in awe of people whose skills are much greater. I wish I had more time for it.

(Meg in Sussex on May 12, 2009 10:35 AM) Bless you - I am so happy you enjoy the blog as I have certainly enjoyed lurking on yours for the last three years. I just felt like the bit about your book came off a lot harsher than I meant it to be. What I should have said is "I love this blog so much that I actually spent several afternoons sifting through all her archives and laughing until I cried. And so when the book arrived, I was disappointed that it wasn't completely new laugh-until-you-cry material." Because, you know, raising a couple of kids and blogging every day doesn't take THAT much time - surely you could have squeezed in a whole new novel too right? ; ) That's where David has the advantage over both of us: unlimited free time to write!

(Liz on May 13, 2009 10:31 AM) Just stumbled onto your blog, thanks for this review! This book sounds fabulous.

(Tatiana on Jun 4, 2009 12:14 AM) sounds interesting! Awesome Vegan Girl

Plaice seems to be a fairly uncommon fish in North America, judging by the number of people who thought I'd made a typo when I mentioned it in my Facebook status line. Here in the UK, it's very popular - both in the ubiquitous fish and chip shops and also in restaurants, where it's often cooked similarly to sole. It's a very versatile fish in that way. And its tender flesh and subtle flavor shine when paired with sweet orange juice and creamy (low-fat) yogurt. A touch of tarragon brings the elements together and you end up with one delicious diet dish.

Continued reading A Zen Plaice...

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Continued reading It's not easy being green: Spinach and Feta Turkey Burgers...

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But although I do try to eat seasonal foods and ones that are grown locally, there are a few specialty items that I can't imagine living without and so do buy in small quantities even if they do come from another climate. Lemons, ginger, the occasional bunch of bananas. I try to shop sensibly but at the same time I don't want my children to grow up without these flavors.

So when I noticed a couple of small heads of bok choi nestled between the carrots and rubbery turnips, I thought of another bright, light flavor sitting in my fruit bowl: beautiful firm yellow lemons from Spain. The resulting dish isn't really oriental or Spanish or any specific ethnic variety. But it is bright and light and full of tang and most definitely a fitting spring supper. And for those following my Weight Watchers quest, it's a mere 3.5 points (plus another 2.5 if you are serving it over wild rice, as I did).

Continued reading Spring chicken...

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(Big Brother on Apr 24, 2009 12:50 AM) This kinda-sorta reminds me flavor-wise of the fabulous chicken soup we had last night at a Greek place... there is something magic about chicken broth, lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil. In fact, several of the dishes we sampled featured lemon prominently. One that I am DEFINITELY going to recreate is a saute'ed spinach dish with pine nuts, golden raisins, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and of course, heaps of spinach. In other news, we lost one beehive colony due to insufficient winter feeding, but started up another in our local Portland backyard where I can keep a close on the little critters. It's just too hectic to add another essential chore to my farm trips, so for now the new bees are in the back yard. Our other Portland bees seemed to do better than the farm bees anyway. Cheers, Big Brother

(Phil Younger on May 11, 2009 10:33 AM) Mmmmm.. very healthy... it's nice go with cheese. salmon fishing

When I started visiting the UK with the Critic a decade ago and more, I was frequently taken in by the lure of Caesar's salad. It's not a dish that shows up frequently on French menus and it's one of my favorite dishes of all time. When it's done right. But pretty much universally - and especially in theoretically "American" restaurants - it's criminally awful in British restaurants. Anchovies rarely figure in the salad or the dressing. The tomatoes are woody and flavorless. It actually tastes like someone has taken salad cream (i.e. watered down sweet mayonnaise) and added a teaspoon of grated industrial Parmesan per cup of sauce, plopped on some wilted lettuce, added a few dried out bits of bread and the aforementioned tomatoes and - ta-da! - served something that tastes almost but not quite entirely unlike Caesar's salad.

It makes me very, very angry. Or it did until I learned better and swore off ordering Caesar's salad in the UK.

This salad is also, sadly, not a true Caesar's salad. But the difference - and the reason it is not a crime - is that it is true to the spirit of a Caesar's salad and sings with flavors. I just cut out ninety percent of the fat so that I can have it frequently for lunch and still lose weight. Feel free to increase the amount of olive oil and add some paper thin shavings of Parmesan if you are not on a diet; you will undoubtedly be glad. But if you are looking for a relatively low calorie version of this classic salad, this is the one for you.

Continued reading Crimes against food: Caesar's salad...

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(David on Mar 25, 2009 12:57 PM) Tomatoes? In a Caesar? Pas de tout!

(Meg in Sussex on Mar 25, 2009 2:47 PM) Well, I DID say it was not authentic! When they are in season and sweet, I can't resist the combination of anchovies, Parmesan and tomatoes...I'm even tempted to leave out the lettuce in those circumstances!

(sab on Mar 25, 2009 4:30 PM) the best salad ever!!!!

(M on Mar 26, 2009 8:48 AM) This recipe sounds great! I like to do a more creamier dressings using low fat/ fat free yoghurt, anchovies, garlic, salt and pepper, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce did I spell it right?) and just a little parmesan cheese..delicious!

(M on Mar 26, 2009 8:55 AM) Forgot to mention..I just like to put it all in a blender and blend..adjust the amount of ingredients according to your taste

(David in AZ on Apr 9, 2009 8:51 AM) great recipe Meg! I've made it 3 times already. Thank you

(restaurant menu design on May 6, 2009 1:43 PM) Caesar salad rules!

(Phil Younger on May 11, 2009 10:30 AM) Looks tasty...

(chef knife happy on Jun 11, 2009 3:25 AM) finally agood recipe for ceasar salad. In the UK, not only the ceasar salad is bad. Most food there has no taste and usually no form either :)

What I loved about this dish was the way the sweetness of the scallops played against the spiciness of the pepper. Add to that a colorful selection of crunchy vegetables and the whole mess sang with flavor and interesting textures. I have another package of frozen scallops in the fridge and the vegetable delivery is due today. I have my fingers crossed for the same boring old root vegetables as last time, because this dish turns them into stars. Oh and it's only 7.5 points per generous serving, including the rice. Heaven on a plate.

Continued reading Spicy Scallop Stir Fry...

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(Phil Younger on May 11, 2009 10:38 AM) Mussels, clams, scalops, oysters, wow..

Now that I am on a diet, though, I have decided to cut myself (and the family) a bit of slack on the fish issue, albeit temporarily. Seafood is remarkably low in calories and since it's become such a rare treat for us, it makes up for other sacrifices in my diet. (Which, oddly enough, include the only two fish dishes that are easily accessible to me without a fishmonger: kippers and fish and chips. Sigh.) I remember going through a similar phase when pregnant. Can't eat raw oysters? Fine, I'll have another square of chocolate. No wine with dinner? Hand me a pain aux raisins for breakfast, please. And yes, I'll have another tomorrow and in fact every day until this child breathes his first gulp of air.

So when I noticed that my online supermarket had fresh unfarmed tuna on offer, I jumped. Weight watchers points: 3 for a medium portion of tuna and healthy omega oils on the side. A treat no matter how you look at it.

As the tuna, being an oily fish, is higher in calories than most seafood, I wanted to find a really tasty low calorie way to dress it: a simple oil-free salsa verde made with frozen basil, anchovies and lemon juice. You could keep the points insanely low (as I did, after an indulgent breakfast and lunch) and serve it with a lot of freshly steamed broccoli. Or you could add some steamed new potatoes with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Or, if you are not counting calories you could make a nice lemon rice. No matter what else you put on the plate, the tuna will be a star: with a bit of crunchy spice from the peppercorns and zingy green sauce.

Continued reading Tuna with salsa verde...

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(CookingSchoolConfidential.com on Mar 15, 2009 10:40 PM) What a good post. I am really into chicken overload (I'm a culinary student and I've fabricated, trussed, and cooked more chicken in the last week then I have eaten in the last year!) so fish is calling out to me. Well, not literally. Cheers!

I have to say that endives (or chicory if you are here in the UK) have to be one of my favorite winter foods. They keep forever. (The pair I found had been in the vegetable drawer since well before our holiday in France and were still beautiful.) They are low in calorie and high in crunch factor when you put them in a salad. And when you braise them, they make the perfect light lunch. Savory with a hint of sweetness, extremely healthy and filling. And they take all of about 15 minutes to cook. The only frustrating part is waiting five minutes or so for them to cool down enough to eat.

I know I wrote up my recipe for braised endives a few years ago, but I thought it was worth directing you to the recipe again. Firstly because you might not have caught it the first time around. And secondly because I neglected to mention how low calorie this satisfying lunch is. If you cut the sugar to 1/2 tsp (which you can easily do if the endives aren't too old and bitter - and my 3 week old pair were not yet bitter at all) and limit the butter to 2 tsp in a non-stick pan, the whole dish is only 2.5 points. I generally increase the amount of stock to 250 ml and serve it in a bowl, so that after I've eaten the endives I have a lovely endive-flavored soup to finish.

So how do you like your endives? A crunchy salad with walnuts and blue cheese? Or covered in a creamy bechamel and baked with ham? Or simply braised with good quality stock? If you have any new ideas I'd love to hear them!

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(vincent on Mar 9, 2009 1:38 PM) Hello, We bumped into your blog and we really liked it - great recipes YUM!!! YUM!!!. We would like to add it to the Petitchef.com. We would be delighted if you could add your blog to Petitchef so that our users can, as us, enjoy your recipes. Petitchef is a french based Cooking recipes Portal. Several hundred Blogs are already members and benefit from their exposure on Petitchef.com. To add your site to the Petitchef family you can use http://en.petitchef.com/?obj=front&action=site_ajout_form or just go to Petitchef.com and click on "Add your site" Best regards, Vincent petitchef.com

(vincent on Mar 13, 2009 5:35 AM) We love food, especially cheap food. We too have a lots of free and cheap recipe that user can make at home. Visit us at cheap-recipe.com

(poppy fields on Mar 24, 2009 1:30 PM) I'm going to make your endive recipe tonight...looks like just what I want.

It really is the perfect food.

The bones from my roast pheasant yielded a lovely rich stock, but if you don't happen to have recently roasted a pheasant you could easily use a nice dark turkey stock with dark meat or even chicken. The main thing is that you want dark meat to stand up to the cabbage and barley. A good grinding of black pepper is essential here, spicing up the bland barley and challenging the cabbage and roasted meat. As the WW site does not have pheasant legs in its recipe builder, I used chicken drumsticks to calculate the points: a measly 1.5 points per bowl. At that rate, you could have seconds - or splurge on a nice piece of crusty bread with a dab of butter - and still be on target to lose weight.

Continued reading Never waste good bones: pheasant and barley soup...

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(Scott at Realepicurean on Feb 16, 2009 2:38 PM) A great country style soup!

(Jenni on Feb 16, 2009 3:23 PM) Wow, I think your grandma and I would get along well. I usually have some bones in the freezer and some stock on the stove. Lovely soup--I can imagine that it was fantastic!

(Brian on Feb 23, 2009 10:14 PM) Looks like a great soup. i will give it a try soon. >

(Mama Chicken on Feb 25, 2009 3:05 PM) Just so happens that I am roasting chickens today, for chicken stock tomorrow. Soup is one of my favorite meals to make for the family - it just feels loving to serve a bowl up. Reminds me of soup days when I was a kid!

(Director Web on Apr 30, 2009 6:53 AM) I love food, i love cooking but most of all i love to eat some good food ;)

So I was extremely pleased on a recent trip with the Critic to a farm shop to discover a butcher counter with a wonderful selection of game: guinea, pheasant, venison sausages. The Critic was delighted with the selection of pork sausages and less pleased with my choice of venison sausages and pheasant. But he manfully swallowed his criticism and confined himself to pursed lips and a dubious side look at the package. And for my part, I resolved to roast up some potatoes with my pheasant, because I know the way to the Critic's heart is through roast potatoes, bless him.

Pheasant is a tricky bird to roast if you have a doubtful spouse. Although all the books will tell you that the meat is fine - and in fact tastier - if it isn't too well done, I knew that my Critic would have none of that. Fowl is meant to be cooked through. Period. So a good thermometer is essential to catch the point when the bird is cooked through, but before it dries out. I love my thermometer. Another common device to keep a pheasant nice and moist is a few strips of bacon and I had a half a package lurking in the back of the fridge. You might think that this is inconsistent with a Weight watchers regime, but actually it was perfect: the bacon would no longer be there to tempt me into an illicit BLT sandwich and the fat from the bacon is drained away from the bird before serving. As I scanned the kitchen looking for inspiration, another solution to dryness jumped out at me: half an orange, left over from breakfast a few days before. During the roasting process, it gave a welcome moist center to the bird and with a heaping spoonful of mustard, its juice made the perfect gravy: savory and sweet and intense, a perfect match for the slight gamy edge of the pheasant.

Continued reading Hunting for good game: Roast Pheasant with Orange and Mustard Sauce...

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Continued reading Celeriac Beans...

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(Steven Schroeppel on Jan 29, 2009 1:03 AM) Meg -- Je te cherche! Passe-moi un e-mail. sjschroepp@yahoo.com

(kazari on Mar 5, 2009 6:52 PM) This is a combination I'd never have thought of! I'm definitely going to try this, next time I buy celeriac