Extreme steaks

The clergy were round for tea, so something special was in order, - I tried mail ordering some steaks from Donald Russell

The packaging was a tad extreme - polystyrene outer pack, dry ice capsules and then an inner tissue-paper lined box!

The steaks are provided shrink packed and frozen

We went for their on the bone double rib

I seared it in the pan, then seasoned it and oven cooked it for a few minutes

And carved at the table

I served it with dauphinoise potatoes and green beans, and a peppercorn sauce

It was tender, and beautifully presented, but I wouldn't order again. For the price you pay it wasn't noticeably better than what I'd get from the butcher or a good supermarket for a quarter of the price.

Still, the Wine Society Pauillac was excellent!

Hog roast!

The hog arrives . . .

. . . the hog roasting machine is somewhat industrial in appearance . . .

. . . but nonetheless. 5 hours later a perfectly crispy and rather tasty roast pig emerges

Ice cream

Vanilla ice cream with homemade damson puree

Cupcakes at work

Some amazing cupcakes at work

Beautiful and tasty!

Saturday night food

Impossible to watch TV cooking without some food in hand, so a quick bowl of noodles cooked with chilli, garlic and coriander to accompany the new Nigel Slater series

A Saturday roast

Roast loin of pork

The pork was great - real flavour to the meat, and some nice crackling. Served with perhaps the last of the summer's courgettes, roast potatoes, homemade apple sauce and roasted onions

Finished with three sorbets - damson, blackberry and raspberry, and blackberry and redcurrant

A rare treat

Cooking for one, so a rare ribeye steak

With chips and bearnaise

Midweek dinner

A simple pasta puttanesca - olives, capers, garlic, chilli and anchovies

Followed by homemade frozen raspberry yoghurt

Crabapple jelly

The most time consuming section of weekend cooking! The crabapples were washed, chopped and stewed in water

They were then strained through muslin

I added caster sugar, and boiled until it hit 105c

Secanted into sterilised jars - it should be ready in a few weeks, and keep through the winter

Rhubarb crumble

Probably the last of the season's rhubarb

Using up the rest of the shortcrust pastry

Baked into a rhubarb pie

Fried chicken

Sunday lunch is chicken breast fried in breadcrumbs, with a green salad

Beef stew

A straightforward beef stew for Saturday evening

Feather steak, carrots, celery, onions, thyme, garlic and red wine

Served with mashed potato and sauteed leeks

Apple pie

Plenty of crisp cooking apples

A quick shortcrust pastry for an apple pie

Baked for half an hour

And served with creme fraiche

Damsons into sorbet

The damsons looked great, but i don't like spitting out the stones, so decided to make these into a sorbet

They were stewed with a little sugar and some water

Until the fruit had nearly collapsed. Then strained through a sieve, and mixed with some creme fraiche

Before being churned for half an hour in the ice cream maker