personal

Reasons to be Grateful 6

Experiment, week 6. This week’s five things which have made me happy or for which I’m grateful.

  1. Elveden Estate Shop. Not going to say any more about that here as I wrote about it earlier in the week.

    2. Sally Spends Christmas Day Relaxing

  2. Cats. We love our two cats, even when they (threaten) to throw up on the clean bed linen on Christmas morning. Harry has spent a large part of the last few days insisting on inhabiting my desk with me. He was last seen asleep in my grandfather’s chair in the dining room. Sally is currently reclining on the back of the sofa over the radiator (see photo). Somehow they always manage to get their priorities right!
  3. Gin. Amongst my presents were two bottles of gin! A bottle of Sipsmith’s London Dry Gin: very nice and juniper-y. And a bottle of Martin Miller’s Icelandic Gin: still distinctly gin but closer to vodka than the Sipsmith’s. Standard Gordon’s tastes bland against both of these. So now there are at least three different flavours of gin in the house. This bodes well (or maybe not!).
  4. Fairy Lights on Trees. One of the things I like about Christmas is fairy lights, especially on trees. Christmas trees are good, but even better are fairy lights, lots of fairy lights, on ordinary trees in the street — at any time of the year. Somehow they always make the place look fun and festive.

  5. King’s Head at Bawburgh. I’d not eaten pigeon in years until earlier this week when we had lunch in the King’s Head at Bawburgh, just outside Norwich. Two breasts made a small starter but they were excellently tasty and gamey — almost like liver. That marks this pub out as something special: gastro-pub food to die for, with many locally sourced ingredients, and at sensible prices. Since my student days they’ve had a reputation for good beer and good food. If you’re anywhere near Norwich, the King’s Head is an excellent place to eat: not just for the food but also several good real ales (including the local Adnams); friendly staff; an old building in a small village complete with river and mill; and not over busy on a weekday lunchtime (but busier at weekends).
food+drink

Game Terrine

This makes a good alternative to that Boxing Day cold turkey or for a quick lunch on Christmas Eve. The quantities below make at least enough to fill a large loaf tin or medium sized casserole (see photo).

I used …

  • Meat from 2 roast pheasants and a partridge after the breasts had been eaten hot.
  • 5 rashers streaky bacon or equivalent in bacon offcuts
  • About 350 gm belly pork
  • About 350 gm pigs liver
  • 4 plain pork sausages, skinned; or equivalent amount of sausage meat
  • 100 gm bread without crusts
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • Handful of leftover garlic roast potatoes (optional)
  • 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • End of a bottle of Calvados
  • Half a glass of white wine
  • 2 tablespoons garlic purée
  • 1 large egg
  • Pinch of salt and a generous grind of black pepper
  • Two or three generous pinches of dried mixed herbs
  • Olive oil

Game Terrine
My finished product in our 40 year old Le Creuset terrine after having been attacked for Christmas Eve lunch.
This is what I did …

  1. Bone the meat off the pheasants and partridge and chop up very finely. This is best done by hand as a food processor will just smash it to a pulp. Put this in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Chop the bacon into small pieces, no more than 5mm square. Add to the pheasant mix.
  3. Cut the belly pork into 1-2 cm cubes, removing the skin, bone and any excess fat.
  4. Cut the liver into roughly 2cm cubes.
  5. Put the bread, herbs, salt and pepper, garlic cloves in a food processor and whizz to a crumb.
  6. Add the left-over potatoes, sausage meat, half a glass of calvados and the egg to the food processor and whizz again to a smooth paste. Add this to the meat mix.
  7. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until translucent. Tip this out into the food processor and add the garlic purée.
  8. With a little more oil if needed fry the belly pork until the outside is seared and browning. (Yes it will still be undercooked inside.) Add this to the food processor.
  9. Now fry the liver for a few minutes again until the outside is beginning to brown. (Again it won’t be cooked through, so no tasting the cake mix!) Add this to the food processor.
  10. Deglaze the pan with another half glass of calvados and the white wine. Add this to the food processor and whizz the whole lot to a rough paste. Add this to the meat mix.
  11. Mix the meats together thoroughly; don’t be afraid to use your hands.
  12. Butter the casserole generously or, if using a loaf tin, line it with baking parchment.
  13. Pour the meat mix into the tin/casserole and firm it down well. Cover with foil or a tight fitting lid.
  14. Cook in a Bain Marie in the oven at 170°C for about 1½-2 hours. It is done when a knife stuck in the terrine for a few seconds comes out very hot.
  15. Remove from the oven and if possible weight the terrine to press it. (Use something flat with tins of beans or a brick on it.)
  16. Allow to cool for a couple of hours and then put in the fridge for at least 2 hours more, but preferably overnight, still with the weight.
  17. If you made the terrine in a tin you can now turn it out. If you used a casserole you’ll need to serve it from the dish.
  18. Serve with crusty bread and/or salad.

Notes

  1. This recipe is very forgiving. You can use any mix of game meats you like. And you can vary the proportions according to taste.
  2. Some people like to line the tin/casserole with streaky bacon. This holds the terrine together better if it is turned out as a loaf. Personally I can’t be bothered.
  3. You could use a handful of chopped fresh herbs if they’re available. Sage is especially good. You can even leave out the garlic!
  4. You can also add a few juniper berries. Put them in with the bread when processing it.
  5. You can use any odd ends of leftover veg (root veg, mushroom, tomato, potato; greens don’t work too well) but this is entirely optional.
  6. You can get away without pressing the terrine (as I did) but the result will be more friable and crumbly, and won’t turn out of a tin so well.
  7. Don’t throw out the bird carcases. Put them in a saucepan with some water, a bit of onion, ends of root veg etc., herbs, pepper and any other meat scraps. Simmer gently for a few hours to make stock. When done, strain off the liquid, allow to cool and freeze in useful-sized portions. It’s good for risotto!
beliefs

Today

Although we always think of 21 December as being the shortest day and the Winter Solstice, in fact this year both fall today, 22 December. The Solstice was actually at 05:30 UTC (aka. GMT) this morning. And today is the shortest day (time between sunrise and sunset) of the year in London; with just 7 hours 49 minutes 43 seconds of daylights today is just 1 second shorter than yesterday, and 5 seconds shorter than tomorrow.

Almost every culture around the world has a rite (often a festival of rebirth, light or fire) observing “the turning of the year”: that time when the days start lengthening and we know Spring is on the way. For most of us in the western world the Roman Saturnalia and the Celtic fire festivals have been admixed by Christianity to make our Christmas.

So we had jam yesterday and although there’s no jam today there will be jam again tomorrow.

quotes

Quotes of the Week

Thin pickings in terms of thoughtful/amusing quotes this week — everyone must be on Christmas holidays already. But here are the few I have seen.

Fitch has downgraded six of the world’s largest banks (Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse). Commenting they said the downgrades
reflected challenges faced by the sector as a whole, rather than negative developments in idiosyncratic fundamental creditworthiness.
[BBC News]

We are of course aware that kingdoms are governed and laws upheld primarily by prudence, fortitude, moderation and justice, and the other virtues which rules must strive to cultivate. But there are times when money can speed on sound and wise policies, and smooth out difficulties.
[Richard FitzNigel, Treasurer to King Henry II]

Finally two thoughts of unknown provenance …

Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

food+drink

[51/52] Carrots at Elveden

1 Comment

Carrots
Week 51 entry for 52 weeks challenge.

Rainbow carrots for sale yesterday at Elveden Estate Shop, Suffolk (on the A11).

I love Elveden Estate Shop and we try to drop in every time we go to see my mother. The estate is certainly doing it’s best to diversify capitalise on it’s asses. When we were there yesterday morning it looked as if there was a shoot later in the day as all the beaters were gathering and being fed breakfast! And we dropped in again just before closing time yesterday evening when there was a bus-load of people descending on the place, I guess for carousel rides and a party.

The shop is actually a small complex of shops, but don’t expect the usual slightly scruffy farm shop. This is a high class estate shop and truly professional in everything they do. As one might expect they major on food, selling a wide variety of quality groceries (many produced by the Estate) and not always at high prices. There is also a small range of vegetables and some superb meat. Wherever possible the veg and meat is sourced from the Estate or the local area. Sadly on this visit, because we already have our Christmas meat arranged and weren’t certain to get to Elveden, we just picked up a couple of pheasants and some veg – so roast pheasant for dinner today followed by game terrine for Christmas! These rainbow carrots are really fresh, straight from the farm, and delightfully tasty.

As well as the “produce” shop there is a great coffee shop/restaurant (the best full English breakfast I think I’ve ever had), a small range of garden plants and a couple of gift shops. At this time of year there is always a stall or two of crafty things, plus Christmas trees from the Estate. And this year there was a carousel too!

If you’re in the area (and that isn’t so unlikely with a CentreParcs just down the road) Elveden Estate Shop should be on your “must visit” list, if only for coffee and cake. The shop is well back off the road in what was probably the old stable blocks; there are entrances from the A11 (almost opposite Elveden church) and the B1106. Don’t miss it!

More on the shop and the Estate.

Noreen also blogged last year about breakfast at Elveden.