Beef Carpacio - a Sunday Roast for Summer

Been a way for a bit, hence the pause, but here's a goody that I've already managed to squeeze in twice this summer. The idea is to coat a nice piece of beef fillet with a very generous amount of crushed sea salt and black peppercorns, fry it over a high heat on all sides to give that crispy outside, and then finish off for just ten minutes in a very hot oven.




You end up with a piece of meat that's practically raw in the middle and crusty on the outside, so you have to make sure you're using a really good piece of meat to start with.



The other great thing about this dish is the sauce - a mayo made with lots of fresh mint and mustard. Wouldn't have thought of mint and beef, but this works a treat. Served with new pots and a leafy salad. And to finish? What could be better than a traditional english trifle, made with fresh cherries from the village and whatever else we could find!

A Wild Weekend

Wild food seemed to be the theme from last weekend. Cycled over to the Thorverton Country Show, which is always fun, and then down the river for a swim where we found wild mint growing in abundance on the bank. As our cucumbers are just about ready Tzatziki was planned with that, which turned out very well on Sunday night. We also gathered about 20 heads from the Elders around the village which are now becoming Elderflower Champagne as I write (fab drink that). And then there was lunch - pesto I made using wild garlic from the Exe valley.

Here's the roast chicken I did that went with the Tzatziki - kind of spatchcocked and then roasted with orange, lemon & thyme. Nice recipe, but it was the combination with the Tzatziki which really made it.

Altogether I'm feeling very environmentally friendly :-)

Sheepish Return

No that title doesn't mean I did lamb last week, just that I haven't been posting here in a while so am feeling guilty! Hard to keep this blogging thing up.

Actually I have done lamb, and just about every other meat you can think of since the last time I posted. But ironically yesterday it was rib of beef again, just like my last post. If nothing else this blog is making me think how repetitive I can be! Must try and be more creative.

One of the lamb dishes I have done - a roast loin together with rosemary & garlic roast potato squares (at least they will be :-)

That said I did do yorkshire pudding in a small round dish this time, cut into wedges to serve. Decided that it was much better than the usual small round ones, so that might be the choice in future too. Much more like a pudding, with an evenly cooked eggy middle and only some limited 'crusty bits' on the edges. Yum. There were also Jersey Royals on the side, which were delicious, but to be honest I think we'll be back to Cornish new potatoes next - as nice as the Jersey's were, the Cornish are coming out even better.

In other news - the veggie plot is almost done. I've been planning to make a vegetable garden for years it seems, and have been keeping an old queen size bed that I broke up a long time ago (the first I owned - all of £10 it cost!) in the shed, with the plan to turn this old bed into ... you guessed it ... raised beds. One is now in place, filled with my own compost and 15 broad bean plants. The next will be up and running shortly. Now all I have to work out is what to put in it ...

Benedetta putting the finishing touches to the Broad Beans