Christmas Feast

Many thanks for all the lovely comments about the turbot dish we did this week, I thought we all deserved a treat and we’ll definitely do it again. I’m just perusing another turbot recipe, this time from Tom Kerridge’s, ‘The Hand and Flower Cookbook’ which came out last week and was a birthday present to myself. I’ll say immediately that we won’t be doing this as a take away, I realised that when I read; ‘A spoonful of Beluga caviar adds texture and a touch of luxury to the sauce.’ We’ll definitely be featuring dishes from this book though, once we can re-open the pop ups and private dining experiences here at Longford Farmhouse. I think we can run to shaved truffle and foie gras.

Talking of truffle, we’re just finalising our Christmas Feast offer for you to order and pick up during Christmas week, we have about a dozen delicious dishes to choose from. For the main event, we’re going with guinea fowl, poussin or chicken. We’ve given it the Bread and Flowers lift, by chopping up liberal quantities of English truffle, thyme, parsley and mixing it with butter and truffle oil, Malden salt and black pepper. This mix is eased into the space between the skin and the flesh of the birds, over the breast and legs. Then rubbed all over with any excess butter and truffle and seasoned top and bottom. The bird sits on sliced onion and orange, with shredded sage, olive oil, seasoning and a generous glug of white wine. The streaky bacon for the pigs in blankets is stretched out and spread with runny honey, Worcester sauce and chopped thyme, before being wrapped around the lovely chipolatas and tossed in the roasting tray next to the birds. Then stuffing balls sit alongside. The whole lot sits in a foil roasting tray, ready for you to collect. Then all you need to do, when you’re ready, is chuck it in a preheated oven, baste the bird every 15 minutes, pull it out when it’s done and serve.

We’ll have the full menu out to you early next week. Meanwhile, this week’s take away offer is as follows;

CHERMOULA MARINATED COD OVER POTATOES AND TOMATOES
A lovely Moroccan dish from Claudia Roden’s ‘Arabesque’ using a fat, fresh cod supreme from Brixham, perfect for Friday fish night. I would serve it with the braised lettuce and sweet peas.
£10.50

LAMB WITH CLAMS
I think it’s time for this dish again, we had such great feedback last time we cooked it. If you can’t imagine the combination of lamb with clams, you really have to get over it, it’s positively erotic. Add the boulanger potatoes & braised lettuce sides for the full taste experience.
£10.50

BOULANGER POTATOES
Perfect for mopping up all that lovely lamb and clam juice, it’s a classic potato dish which ticks quite a few of my boxes.
£3.50

BRAISED LETTUCE AND SWEET PEAS
This eats really well with both the lamb and the cod, a gentle, delicious side dish.
£3.50

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, AUBERGINE, RED LENTIL SAMBHAR
Another Meera Sodha dish, loved by my vegetarian daughters. As Meera says; ‘It’s a South Indian, vegetable based stew that is eaten daily, all the way from Mumbai to Bangalore. It puts vegetables front and centre and surrounds them with sharp, clean flavours like curry leaves, tamarind, tomatoes and chilli." Grab some frozen lemon rice to go with it.
£6.50

CHOCOLATE & SALT CARAMEL BROWNIES, CHERRY & ELDERFLOWER SAUCE
It’s a second outing for this pudding, we’ve been meaning to re-run it for some time. It’s from the gorgeous guys over at Barley Wood, Bristol, Iain & Matthew Pennington, who run the splendid Ethicurean Restaurant. I’d love to get hold of their toffee apple pudding recipe, but it’s the most guarded recipe I’ve ever heard of. If you’d tasted it, I guess you would know why.
£5.00