Got up late, and started the day with eggs, bacon and french bread. The egg, bacon and bread were from Clapham South farmers market, which is small but contains a decent butcher, baker and veg stall. The eggs were cooked using the "Heston Method" as demonstrated in his new programme that aired last Wednesday. Heston's approach worked well, producing luxurious yolks, though the white wasn't quite set enough. Obviously this can be easily rectified with practice, but it definitely seems to be a solid recipe.
Canapes were had late afternoon, which consisted of black olives, roasted pepper, cream cheese, and anchovies (for me but not for her) on thin slices of french bread which had been roasted in the oven in a little olive oil and garlic. This is a great canape which we make quite regularly, it's cheap and most people seem to enjoy it, even if they don't like anchovy. They were good on this occasion though not perfect, as the bread had spent too long in the oven, resulting in a slightly bitter garlic taste. I also think that (quality - think Ortiz) tinned anchovies work better than the preserved in oil variety we've used below, being a bit saltier and less fishy.
Dinner was roast chicken from Oakham Farm aka M&S. Don't go looking for Oakham Farm, as it doesn't actually exist, being a brand name rather than a place - please see this recommended article in the Telegraph for further details. Dinner was part of the M&S "Dine in for £10" range, which I must admit we're quite partial to when it involves a whole chicken, as this will typically feed two of us for 3 or 4 meals each. Yes, I'll be reviewing leftover chicken dishes this week, what an exciting start to my blog! Anyway. the £10 offer is a bargain (take the time to pick out a particularly large chicken), when you consider that the deal includes a bottle of drinkable wine, a side dish and a dessert. We had carrot and swede mash (side dish in aforementioned meal deal) and savoy cabbage to go with the chicken. Cabbage was cabbage, the mash contained too much nutmeg and tasted more like a pudding than a side dish. The chicken was perfectly cooked, and whilst not up to Poulet Bresse standards, it still hit the spot, helped along by the tasty jus which V made.
To finish, I had a GU chocolate and vanilla cheesecake. I've liked GU deserts when I've had them in the past, but this was not good. The "Madagascan" vanilla flavour in the cream layer of the pudding was undetectable beneath the rich chocolate topping, and the biscuit base was just roughly crumbled biscuit as opposed to being a properly constructed base. The presentation wasn't good either, the layers being uneven and bearing no resemblance to the promotional pictures used on the packaging. The top was uneven and discoloured, again bearing no resemblance to the luxurious promotional image.
So, that's my first day down. This is my first blog and the first time that I've written anything publicly, any comments or constructive critisism would be appreciated. Finding enough food adjectives is clearly going to be a struggle, with about 1000 meals to review in a year . . . hmmm, this could get repetitive!
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