Slow cooked

Individual Venison Pies

Individual Venison Pies

An indulgent venison pie recipe from Tom Kerridge; with a twist!

Mediterranean Stuffed Lamb Breast – from Gordon Ramsay

Mediterranean Stuffed Lamb Breast – from Gordon Ramsay

Time to get my personal prejudices on the table – I have never enjoyed watching Gordon Ramsay on the television – but I really do like some of his recipes!  There you are – all out in the open!  This recipe is a perfect example!…

Pork cheeks braised in sherry

Pork cheeks braised in sherry

A recent raid on our freezer turned up a 1Kg pack of pig cheeks that we had completely forgotten about.  Well time to correct this omission immediately!  I really think that pig cheeks are an overlooked resource so often just turned into pork mince.  They…

Pulled Goat Kid with sticky onions & Pomegranate glaze – Coronation Goat!

Pulled Goat Kid with sticky onions & Pomegranate glaze – Coronation Goat!

We took quite a little time to decide what to cook on the day of the Coronation of King Charles III.   Coronation Chicken entered the catering lexicon 70 years previously at the Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953.  I suspect that our Coronation Goat…

Ragù di Osso di Capretto (Kid Goat Bone Ragù)

Ragù di Osso di Capretto (Kid Goat Bone Ragù)

It We need to start with two small confessions.  Firstly, we have not found an authentic Italian recipe for this dish (yet)! And secondly, we have taken longer to name the dish than it did to cook and eat it!!  Lets start with how we…

Venison and Vegetable Bourguignon

Venison and Vegetable Bourguignon

There are no authentic ‘Venison Bourguignon’ recipes in the same way as there are no authentic  ‘Vegetable Bourguignon’.  In food terms Bourguignon is a classic beef dish.  That has not stopped us playing with ideas for a similar tasting, but vegetarian dish.  We first published…

Coda alla vaccinara – Braised Oxtail Ragù

Coda alla vaccinara – Braised Oxtail Ragù

This quintessential Roman dish is a perfect example of Roman food history.  This particular recipe dates from 1887 and is an iconic dish, but one probably few people know about, and certainly very few outside Italy.  In Rome, until late in the 20th century, prestigious cuts…

Slow Roast Leg of Lamb – from Marcus Wareing

Slow Roast Leg of Lamb – from Marcus Wareing

We have quite a number of successful ways of cooking lamb leg.  Our regular ‘go to’;  Greek lamb and roast potatoes  – is a particular favourite, but this Easter we wanted to try something slightly different.  We had came across a recipe from the delightful…

Beef Shin Ragù with red wine

Beef Shin Ragù with red wine

We are continuing to plan our way through the diversity and breadth of the history of ragù in Italy.  Some time ago we published our first ragù recipe from that master of Italian food;  Theo Randall (you can find that recipe here) – if you…

Braised Lamb Neck and Chickpea Ragù

Braised Lamb Neck and Chickpea Ragù

This dish is based on a dish from Angela Hartnett and Cafe Murano.  The original meal was described as “slowly braised lamb neck served with a light chickpea ragù.  The vegetables from the lamb braising liquor adding to the richness of the base of the…

Vegetable Bourguignon – revisited

Vegetable Bourguignon – revisited

We first published this recipe about 18 months ago – you can find it here.  Since then we have regularly dipped in to this dish.  In so many ways I am always surprised when eating it that there is no meat!!!  It certainly doesn’t feel…

Sicilian lamb and mushroom ragù: with a twist

Sicilian lamb and mushroom ragù: with a twist

The more we look at some of the worlds great foods the more we are finding that so many have been born out of poverty, food shortage and simply the need to survive the perils of winter, looking forward to a new spring.  So we…

Slow cooked crispy crackling belly pork & other friends!

Slow cooked crispy crackling belly pork & other friends!

The first thing we bought from our local butcher after the first batch of pandemic ‘lockdowns’ was a good piece of belly pork.  This is something we have never really managed to find in our supermarket deliveries as they are just too thin and lean!…

Wagyu Ragù:- crazy title – great dish!

Wagyu Ragù:- crazy title – great dish!

We have cooked so much ragù on the Big Green Egg but written very little about it.  This is just because I have been overwhelmed by the diversity and breadth of the history of ragù in Italy.  So where do you start?  Well we are…

Pollo alla Cacciatora, Chicken Cacciatora or Hunter’s chicken

Pollo alla Cacciatora, Chicken Cacciatora or Hunter’s chicken

What is in a name? I often think it funny how we accept both the name of dishes and their presentation as though they are ‘original dishes’. I mean original in the sense of – always made this way.  In reality the dishes we have…

Vegetable Bourguignon – sounds ridiculous but it is great!!

Vegetable Bourguignon – sounds ridiculous but it is great!!

Our youngest daughter has been a French citizen for more than 20 years and when I said I was going to cook a vegetable Bourguignon her reply showed the initial contempt one might expect from a French woman!  The term for the brilliant

Crispy Allendale Belly Pork

Crispy Allendale Belly Pork

Slow cooked belly pork is a real joy!  But is has become difficult to find good “fatty’ belly pork to allow the release of that beautiful ‘porky goodness’.  Understandably there has been a trend to produce less fatty pork for health reasons – and the…

La Scottiglia

La Scottiglia

For some years now we have visited a delightful restaurant in Tuscany called La Scottiglia in the village of Pescina on the side on Monte Amiata.  We have always been looked after exceedingly well there and it is a place we frequently recommend. They do…

Smoked Venison Ragù

Smoked Venison Ragù

We had planned to make a very rich casserole using some cubed shoulder of wild venison that we had picked up just before Christmas.  With all the festive excitement it had been popped in the freezer.  Once defrosted I was a little disappointed to see…

Our Christmas Terrine

Our Christmas Terrine

Having finally come to the conclusion what we were going to include in the Christmas Terrine it was time to put it all together!!  The one thing we have learned this year making terrines is that

Game Terrine – getting in practice for Christmas

Game Terrine – getting in practice for Christmas

We had fun making terrines on the Big Green Egg over the summer when on holiday in Tuscany.  So now it was time to put some of that experience together as we get ready for Christmas.  

Rabbit served Tuscan style

Rabbit served Tuscan style

This is really a footnote to the recipe “Slow cooked rabbit with boozy apricots”.   Slow cooked meat dishes with a rich sauce are often served in the same way that the Tuscans serve their rich soups,

Slow cooked rabbit with boozy apricots

Slow cooked rabbit with boozy apricots

Rabbit has been a European staple for certainly the last 3000 years and was introduced into Britain by the Romans in the first century AD under the Emperor Claudius.  Its popularity throughout Europe has remained strong but in the latter half of the last century…