“Skirt steak with spicy potatoes” from “Entertaining at Home”

Kirstin: It’s a bonus post! But I couldn’t get skirt steak. The butcher said I should have ordered it.

Phil: It’s just a cheaper cut than fillet, though. And you got fillet.

Tom: Is skirt steak thinner? Because I still only cooked it for one minute each side, like the recipe says. So it was rather rare. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Or was it too rare?

Jen: If you’re doing it with a thicker cut, you could probably do it for longer. But I like a really rare steak.

Phil: No, not too rare at all. I think the chilli could have been extended to the meat, though. I really liked the chilli with the potatoes.

“Entertaining at Home” – our verdict

Kirstin: Well that was a fun month!

Anna: I only managed to cook one meal from it though!

Kirstin: But wasn’t that one meal lovely? I loved that melting pork. And those souffles. Those souffles! That evening was worth every second of the resulting hangover.

Anna: I liked the look of some of the recipes you cooked too.

Kirstin: Which ones?

Anna: Well, the peppered steak looked good. And the duck. But would you ever cook from it again?

Kirstin: Do you know, I think I would. I still have some of that gin and tonic sorbet in the freezer. And the winter sausage sauce was a definite winner. And I mustn’t forget that oh so easy duck recipe. Rachel was very no-nonsense and I felt confident with her recipes. It’s a shame I don’t cook for larger parties because I know I would have tried different recipes, but there you go. Should I ever attempt to cook for a group of twenty then I know which book to turn to.

Anna: Well I may well have some late-entry posts as I still have things I want to try.  The parents-in-law are potentially here this weekend, and this strikes me as a very parents-in-law-friendly book.  It’s certainly seems to be a special occasion cook book, which was my challenge with it this month.  But you’re right, she does make everything seem very straightforward.  So next time I have a special occaision meal, I know which book I’ll turn to!

“Garlic and herb pork chops”, “Fluffy mashed potato” and “Buttered courgettes” from “Entertaining at Home”

Tom: Well, that was a different mashed potato recipe from the usual one.

Kirstin: We don’t normally do mashed potatoes, do we?

Tom: We don’t normally do carbs.

Kirstin: We do a little bit of carbs. The mash had a secret ingredient! Can you tell what it is yet?

Tom: It is something that doesn’t quite look like Mickey Mouse? I give up.

“Roast duck legs”, “Lentils with red wine”, “Braised chicory” and “Gin and tonic sorbet” from “Entertaining at Home”

Kirstin: Did you like it, Toby?

Toby: Yes. I did. What was the duck recipe?

Kirstin: You bung it in the oven with some salt and pepper on. For an hour. It’s the “easiest recipe ever” or something, she says.

Tom: It’s not really a recipe if you don’t have to do anything.

“Smoked mackarel and goat’s cheese souffle”, “Roast pork belly with a fennel and garlic rub”, “Butternut squash and chickpeas with cumin and coriander” and “Salted caramel chocolate tart” from “Entertaining at Home”

Anna: For the souffle, Peter had to go out on a ramekin hunt in five inches of snow.

Peter: They’re real buggers to shoot!

Zoe: With their little legs — ‘you’ll never take me alive!’

Anna: They must difficult to spot in the snow.

“Winter herb and sausage pasta” from “Entertaining at Home”

Tom: Well. This is sacrilege!

Kirstin: Why? Pray, do tell?

Tom: Because, as you well know, we have been cooking the sausage sauce from River Cafe Book 1 on Friday nights every week for about 2,000 years.

Kirstin: We sometimes have clams on Friday evenings in summer instead.

Tom: True. But that’s only a few weeks a year. Normally, wherever we are in the world, we find sausages, sometimes of dubious provenance, and wine, and onions, and tomatoes, and pasta and cream. And this week you’ve gone and used a new recipe!

Kirstin: Did you like it?

“Roast Loin of Lamb with a Spicy Rub”, “Spinach and Mint Orzo” and “Tiramisu” from “Entertaining at Home”

Tom: You hadn’t cooked this cut of lamb before, right?

Kirstin: I had to ask the butcher. And when I picked it up, he said are you going to be putting this on the blog? It was Drings. And I said: yeah!

Tom: I liked the lamb because it had crackling! Pork is boring but has crackling. Lamb is tasty but doesn’t. So lamb with crackling is the perfect combination.

“Steak au Poivre” from “Entertaining at Home”

Kirstin: It was a cold and snowy day…

Tom: Don’t you mean a cold and stormy night?

Kirstin: No. A cold and snowy day. And I fancied sharing a bottle of red wine and having steak. So on the way home I bought some steak.

Tom: And lo, it was yum. The sauce was creamy, but it had these lovely cracked peppercorns in it. Yum!

Kirstin: I had to sieve the cracked peppercorns, because she says if you have the powder as well, it becomes too hot. And I guess her steaks were smaller, so I had to double the amount of sauce. And I used rum instead of brandy. I set the alarm off in Marks & Spencer with these steaks!

Cookbook of the Month, December 2010, “Entertaining at Home” by Rachel Allen

Anna: I’m not actually going to be in the country for most of this month, so most of the blogging is going to have be done by you, Kirstin.

Kirstin: December is always a heavy month for entertaining….can’t think why.

Anna: I wish. That’ll be the Christmas run-up that I won’t be having. You are always busy in December.

Kirstin: This year, I’m going to be organised so it’s less chaotic.

Anna: You always say that.

Kirstin: But this year I mean it. I thought about choosing a specifically Christmas book, but instead  I’ve chosen Rachel Allen’s book, Entertaining at Home. It seemed like the perfect book for this month. I only have one of her other books, complete with all the pictures of her lovely home and family. Oh yes, the recipes were good too.

Anna: Can I come around and taste some of the food then?

Kirstin: I’m sure I can fit you somewhere into my busy Christmas schedule (grinning). I’m planning to do all sorts of Christmas bokeh too!

Anna: Well, there you go all. Entertaining at Home, by Rachel Allen. Cooked by Kirstin. With occasional appearances from me.