A big wheel and a deconstructed brulée

Harvey Nichols Second Floor restaurant seemed the ideal place to view the post Christmas Manchester streets below. When they called me to confirm the reservation at lunchtime it sounds like a wild party was taking place and I could barely hear them. But tonight it seems we are the only people in Manchester, the city is deserted and so is the restaurant. But that’s okay; we have all the attentive staff to ourselves.

The place is decorated with a slight festive nod with fairy lights adorning the windows framing the view of the lit big wheel slowly turning in Exchange Square. The waiter whisks over the Champagne trolley with that expression of “Which Champagne would you like?” rather than “Would you like some Champagne?” We have the obligatory Kir Imperial and peruse the menu.

I choose one of my favourites the Seared foie gras, creamed parsnips & apple foam and was not let down. I do so adore the sweet yielding texture of the foie gras and the creamy streak of parsnips.

M feels that she has done scallops recently so plumps for the Game terrine, mulled pear chutney & cinnamon brioche which comes on an immaculately dotted with chutney dressing plate.

M continuing her usual fishy theme opts for the Fillet of Shetland organic cod, wilted spinach & brown shrimp butter and she seems very happy with her whiter than white chunky flakes and little shrimps.

I continue my meaty theme with the Breast of Goosnargh duck, leg confit, braised red cabbage with prune & bacon rolls accompanied by the most robust Gratin Dauphinoise I’ve ever had. The duck was the perfect combination of juicy and meatiness as really only a duck can be, the confited leg was melt in the mouth and the dense gratin Dauphinoise was tasty though not the unctuous creamy concoction I would normally go for.

I loved the idea of the Hot chocolate fondant with snowball ice cream, I briefly convinced myself that the ice cream would look like a snowball or made from some snow shipped in a ice box from somewhere. And then I realised that we are talking about that 70’s throwback drink of Advocaat. Never one to excite my taste buds so after some gentle persuasion I have my snowball flavoured ice cream substituted for a greener mint choc chip snowball sandwiched between two crumbly snowflake-shaped sable biscuits. I could see that mint chocolate chip ice cream was the finishing touch to another dessert but they seemed a little perturbed by my wish, what would they do if there was a run on the other pudding? Fortunately as we’ve only been joined by another pair of diners, they realised that the likelihood of such a disaster was somewhat remote!

And very important, the chocolate fondant centre did flow out in a rich river of loveliness.

When M selected the Milk chocolate crème brulée with clementine jelly & crème fraîche sorbet I am sure she didn’t imagine the sculptural creation that was placed before her. Here is a crème brulée deconstructed and shot through a prism. The milk chocolate part is a spiral of the thinnest chocolate with the crème fraîche sorbet nestling inside all perched precariously on a jewel bright clementine jelly bed. The brulée top of is an explosion of crunchy caramel leaping out of the custard mountain. All very stunning and I assured rather fabulous to eat also.

We’ve had an elegant evening in a quiet and pretty restaurant even if a tad too dark for our tastes. We have also managed some essential sale shopping before our delicious meal so are surrounded by some intriguing shopping bags. Finally we feel we should hit the mean and chilly streets below to start our journey home, it’s probably too late for a big wheel ride so we plump for a taxi instead. Three sparkly forks for Harvey Nichols Second Floor, another one to revisit on a future trip.

Three bird roast

So yesterday I picked up from the local butchers their three bird roast offering – a brace of pheasants on top of a fat turkey breast all contained inside a duck. Not exactly the perfect Christmas lunch for two people but it was a particular request of M and fortunately, she just adores cold cooked meat. Whereas I prefer revitalising the vegetables for another meal – but each to their own!
I roasted the bird trio according to the instructions, it was easy to carve due to lack of bones but very quickly looked like a poultry car-crash as it fell apart at each slice. And Mark Hix was probably right; it was a bit dryer than a single bird might have been. When James Martin was talking about his local butcher’s version of the three-bird roast he mentioned the layers of sausage meat and stuffing and I think ours might have lacked that extra lubrication.

To accompany our plump three bird roast I somehow managed to prepare enough vegetables, ummm maybe for a small village. Well it is Christmas! M wanted sage and onion stuffing so I made little bacon boats in the mini muffin tin and stuffed them with the stuffing. I wanted mash potatoes, M roast potatoes and sorry I did rather let them brown a little too much. M didn’t really want any vegetables probably, whereas I wanted creamy cauliflower and broccoli gratin and glistening Brussels sprouts. Hence the rather groaning plate! Well, I think they'll be plenty of leftovers, hmmm possibly enough for another village.

Christmas en cocotte

I’d promised a Christmas day breakfast of my 2007 favourite - oeuf en cocotte. And as smoked salmon seems to be a classic Christmas day ritual, the surprise under the soft egg and cream blanket was an easy choice. And in deference to M’s feeling about too many vegetables, it was shrubbery free! The little ramekins that M has stockpiled into the great formerly crab gratin ceramic dish mountain seemed a little too shallow and slight for my needs so I opted for the quirkily shaped Jamie Oliver party dishes that are not only capacious but happily oven proof. And it was very good!

Eating French at the Midland in Manchester

The Midland Hotel is the sort of place I would have liked to have been taken to by my godfather for my first grown-up afternoon tea probably to celebrate a special birthday. I would have been picked up from school by his peak-capped driver in a highly polished silver shadow, all glossy walnut and deep leather seats. We would have glided to a halt at the main entrance and the white-gloved doorman would have tipped his hat and led us through to the octagonal palm court. There we would have been relieved of our astrakhan collared cashmere coat and school trench-coat respectively and settled down to a fine afternoon tea. Amongst the gently tinkling sound of silver tea pots filling china teacups we would have sat at our starched linen clad table and daintily nibbled crust-less cucumber sandwiches and plump scones smothered in jewel bright strawberry jam. My godfather would have handed me my birthday present, maybe a pale blue gift bag stuffed with clouds of tissue paper and containing a pale blue beribboned box containing an elegant silver Tiffany pedant – possibly a starfish.

An idyllic picture and possibly one born of too many Agatha Christie reruns or Rosamund Pilcher novels. I certainly never went to a school that would have had a regulation trench-coat; I never had a godfather that would whisk me off to afternoon tea or lavish me with Tiffany trinkets. I am fairly sure my godparents (not that I could even name them) were on different continents by the time I was past the stage of puréed food so the Midland was somewhat out of the question.

But fortunately on this nippy Christmas Eve we have managed to secure a late cancellation to their French Restaurant. I had tried previously to get a reservation but they are rather sought after so if was fortunate that a random call a few hours ago struck gold. We are here early as the whole of Manchester seems to be already shut, so we avail ourselves of their comfy sofas and start with a cup of tea before hitting the Kir Imperials. Well that was our plan but my explanation as to perfect Kir Imperial got somewhat misinterpreted so we were shaken up French Martinis instead. We were bought the menu whilst sipping our martinis and waiting for the art nouveau doors to the restaurant to open. I had been taken when reading about their tasting menu that they was a little savoury course of Welsh Rarebit before the dessert but being Christmas Eve they weren’t doing the lengthy tasting menu and it was à la carte only. But I still thought I should try their rarebit and they were happy to oblige my curious request.

Our little amuse bouche was a delicate creamy white onion soup topped with a little basil oil whilst the waiter sliced our chosen loaf off a large trolley. As the bread we’d had at Choice was a little stale, this seemed a good idea but possibly rather a palaver for a couple of slices of fresh bread.

I started with fat cushions of Tortellini of Woodland Mushrooms, Local Corn Fed Chicken, Black Truffles which was as fabulous as it sounds. The rich Autumnal woodiness of the mushrooms, the soft chicken and that heady truffle, not a bad start at all!

M’s appetiser was the artistic and vibrant Oak Smoked Salmon “3 ways” and she wasn’t disappointed in fact knowing her love of both small portions and seafood, it was the perfect starter.

Then to continue the fishy theme M tucked into the Cornish Seabass, Crab Tortellini, Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Shellfish Foam which was another beautiful looking dish. The sea foam in particular gave it that very en vogue modern twist. And I was on hand to help with the odd pert Chantenay carrot.

In the mean time I was enjoying my Cutlet, Saddle, Rillette of Cumbrian Lamb, Buttered Leeks and Fondant Potatoes. A local lamb feast! The lamb was perfectly pink and beautifully cooked, the potato tower soft and buttery.

I probably missed a trick opting for the Welsh Rarebit in favour of the dessert menu. I could have had a Raspberry Soufflé or a Vanilla Brulée with homemade Garibaldi’s or indeed the delicious Tasting of Chocolate that M chose. Oh such dessert envy I suffered. There was chocolate mousse piled high with fruit, an oozing chocolate fondant and a slab of chocolate parfait and a delicate chocolaty wafer construction. What was I thinking of.

My Welsh Rarebit was a teensy bit flabby as it can often be. I should have stuck to the sweeter options.

But if I had a lack of “a sweet finale” regret it was immediately sated by the wonderful sculptural petite fours silver tree adorned with various chocolates. We couldn’t do them justice but I really had to admire the special stand, there is a piece of table adornment I don’t have in my collection, oh woe is me!

The French at the Midland was a last minute restaurant substitution but went to the top of the table, a fine three forks for them. And just the perfect way to spend the night before Christmas!

Lamb surprise!

The surprise was that I thought I’d removed the Christmas Day lamb from the Ocado delivery as we’d had a change of plan and gone for a three-bird roast instead, however clearly altering the Ocado delivery late at night when you’re distracted should come with a health warning as I didn’t do it so well and the original lamb turned up with the rest of the festive food – whoops!

But it’s hardly going to go to waste when it’s this good so it gets anointed with a little English mustard and a herby crust made from a couple of slices of white bread, a few sprigs of rosemary and thyme and all whizzed up in the Bamix chopper. The herby crumb is pressed into the mustard and then browned in the pan before being slammed into the oven. Oh and those aromas!

One of my favourite accompaniments to lamb is a good old gratin Dauphinois, so I speed things up by parboiling the thinly v-sliced potatoes in the garlicky cream on the hob before layering a buttered dish with the aromatic slices. It’s finished off in the oven and as we have French trimmed rack of lamb today, they don’t take too much cooking the gratin can bake at the same time. And the resultant hearty yet elegant dish is finished off with some well-dressed greenery.

And for a special starter Waitrose/Ocado are selling rather delectable seafood spoons with edible spoons – great no washing up, and also rather tasty!

Okay maybe the lamb was a mistake, but a very delicious mistake in the end!

Nice new black plates as well M!

What a Choice!

When selecting some fabulous Manchester restaurants to delight us over the Christmas period several things had to be considered. We wanted new places to experience, though old favourites wouldn’t have been amiss but weren’t available anyway, and that was the main thing, whether they were available. Many restaurants were either totally closed or more often closed for a private party. I went through an extraordinary list of bookings before this award winning one struck gold. And what an intriguing place Choice was – firstly our black cab driver just couldn’t find it but after a mixture of logic and luck we found this jolly little restaurant next to the canal.

I noticed that the waiter didn’t write down our order, I don’t why this annoyed me. Maybe I considered he was showing off that he had a better memory than I did or he just didn’t have a pen to hand. I did feel slightly vindicated when he had to pop back to confirm some of our order details. Ha!

There was a whole menu of Lakeland breads so I chose the selection we would most favour, but it seemed you just got whatever came to hand first so I guess that was one thing the waiter didn’t even have to remember, no wonder he looked slightly perplexed when I plumped for pesto bread etcetera. Though unfortunately I have to say the rolls we received were a little solid and past their best.

For my starter I chose Cream of Cauliflower Soup – finished with Crumbled Lancashire Cheese and Chive Oil. I make a lot of cauliflower soup at home so it seemed slightly odd to eat it in a restaurant but when in Lancashire…

I liked the texture of the cauliflower soup and the Lancashire cheese was a nice touch but it was a hefty portion, I was slightly concerned that I would struggle come dessert time.

M desired the “Scallops – Our signature pan fried hand caught King Scallops on a Cheshire Cheese Scone with Saffron Sauce and Chive Oil” which I suspected due to a love of scallops and cheese scones. Certainly it seemed an intriguing proposition. The saffron sauce and chive oil was a very striking pond around the tower of cheese scone and scallops. I had a bite of the cheese scone and thought it was a little dense, I am not sure entirely that it went with the sweet, plump scallops. I think the flavour of scallops is so delicate that I worry sometimes what it accompanied by. But never one to shy away from an M&S cheese scone, it was definitely intriguing and as Choice’s signature dish, clearly it was a popular choice. I have to admit that the jury was still out for me though M seemed delighted with it herself.

There were plenty of interesting choice for the main course but I fancied the Lamb Rump – Borrowdale Valley Herdwick Rump of Lamb on Colcannon Potato with Smoked Garlic Jus. The lamb was pink, succulent and flavoursome and the colcannon and garlicky jus went with it very well. I would have liked something green to accompany it but there's always a chance M will donate some of hers!

M was clearly feeling much more experimental than me tonight and chose the curious sounding main course of Duck – Peppered Duck Breast on a warm salad of Broccoli, Spring Onions and Sesame Seeds topped with cool Chilli and Honey Ice Cream. This was indeed a curio, the cool chilli ice cream certainly had a kick, not one I was totally crazy about but then I have never been a big fan of too much heat with my food. I know the fashionable taste seems to be for many foods to have a certain eye watering, lip numbing quality but it’s not really me. Though I am more of a fan of horseradish than I ever used to be so maybe it is something I can learn to enjoy. M however, seemed rather taken by her fusion duck though and that is more important than my slight misgivings.

By donating and leaving some of her unnecessary broccoli, M had left space for one of her favourites - Sticky Toffee Pudding – Homemade Sticky Toffee Pudding with hot Toffee Syrup and Vanilla Ice Cream. Whereas I was suffering from perhaps my soup being a little too plentiful I opted just for a little vanilla ice cream to round the meal off.

Choice was certainly a remarkable evening, M stretched the boundaries in her culinary experience whereas I definitely opted for the safer options of old favourites but we had a lovely two fork meal. We made our way outside back to the rather close canal just as the pianist (of indeterminate gender) started tinkling away at the piano. Choice was a good choice!

Fast final fish feast

I had promised to whip up a tasty little treat for M and myself with the pot of white crabmeat Ocado had dropped off. I had intended to revitalise my interpretation of M's favourite M&S's crab gratin but instead I thought I might try a crab version of Clotilde's oeuf cocotte. I poured a little double cream into the bottom of a couple of buttered ramekins (not the M&S ones ironically enough because I thought they were a little shallow) and topped this with well seasoned crab meat, a little grated Cheddar cheese and then a sunshine yolked egg. I remembered the oven temperature and timing but I utterly forgot to dunk the ramekins in a bain marie before placing them in the oven. The cocotte was very tasty but the slip up with missing water bath meant the eggs weren't cooked as delicately as they should have and subsequently the yolks were not as runny as I would have liked. They were rather scrummy though, the crab meat stood its ground more than you'd expect white meat to do so.

After our crab starter we had one of the delicious H. Forman salmon and lobster fishcakes with a light creamy horseradish and finely chopped chive sauce (the influence of Jeremy Lee is still guiding me) and a mâche salad. And we very crucially got to christen the new black damask crockery. New House of Fraser black damask crockery that M kindly agreed to split with me so we could both enjoy their lacy loveliness. If of course I can carry mine back home in one piece, but I'll happily try when it comes to supplementing my crockery further. Though frankly there's no room at the inn really!

What the Dickens!

M had been trying to reserve a table at Copperfield restaurant on my last couple of visits and we hadn't been successful but this time she managed to secure a Sunday lunch slot in this popular local eatery. It is one of restaurants where you order your food whilst enjoying your aperitif in the slightly chintzy bar.
When M heard that there was crab on offer, that was an easy decision and the king prawn and crab salad was immediately her starter. I ordered home made chicken liver pâté for my starter and I have to admit I utterly adored the pâté but was totally floored by the truly bizarre plate decoration.
The ice cream scoop of pâté was placed on a plate flooded with aspic and with a tomato petal flower set into this pink pool. Apart from a rather artificial clump of jellied bay leaves and peppercorns sometimes lurking on top of supermarket pâté I can't recall stumbling across any aspic this century. I did stick a tentative knife into the pale pink puddle but I really didn't like the taste. Maybe the proximity of those creepy tomato petals tainted the taste. So full points for fabulous pâté and nil points for scary aspic!

For my main course I had chosen fillet of pork dusted in crushed peppercorns in a cream and brandy sauce. But I was surprised to experience the full silver service treatment. Though thinking about the aspic, why was I surprised? This was seriously old school Sunday lunch. And being that I am dining with the great vegetable avoider, I got to have a veritible allotment worth of chaffing dishes heaped up on my plate whilst someone else got to cherry pick two carrot slices, the merest scoop of creamy leeks, a small roasted potato and a broccoli spriggette. The pork and creamy sauce weren't too bad at all, though not up to heady heights as the pâté.
And to continue our fabulous trip down culinary memory lane when we were ready for dessert they wheeled a multi-shelfed trolley over for our persual. They were all there, profiteroles, fruit salad, cheese cake and slabs of chocolate mousse cake. And that's what we plumped for - chocolate cake. I also discovered why M holds back on the vegetables, she can polish off all her dessert where I can only have a few sweet mouthfuls. When I eat out it's quite rare that I have my own dessert as I'm normally splitting something cholately with several forks so we have our sweet finale to our meal. I really couldn't face all of this but M licked her plate clean.
Copperfield's is a fabulously retro experience, clearly many of the diners are regulars as they all seemed to know the many waitresses by name and it is extremely popular for Sunday lunch. A nostalgic fork for Copperfield restaurant, I am sure it will be the only time I see aspic on my plate for the rest of the year.

Holy cow!

When M and I went searching for sustenance and a good sit down in Manchester after a day of thrashing the credit cards in the shops it seemed appropriate to try out the meaty delights of apparently the only Gaucho outside of London (according to their website). Though I have been to one in Barcelona, does that count? And Barcelona is quite out of London if I recall!
M had already set her heart on the salmon but when our waitress swung by with the customary platter of carnivorous cuts, she totally got won over by the hunky fine looking (Churrasco Lomo) and all fishy aspirations were abandoned. I ordered the same both fabulous looking spiral cut fillet steak to be served with a foie gras sauce, which seemed most intriguing and I ordered fat chips and M deigned to have a baked potato near her meat. But this was swiftly liberated by me so I got to have meat and two potatoes for a change! I could say so much about being related to someone who loves tomatoes, goats' cheese and coffee but doesn't like potatoes and rarely dabbles with vegetables, but I'll get into trouble so I won't. And why should I, I get more potatoes and other sundry green things. Though in this case I only had half a of the baked potato and half of the fat chips.
We immediately hoovered up the basket of cheese bread and marvelled at the fact we seemed to sat in a large hall with stain glassed ceiling and a large organ just next to us. Fortunately no one was playing it as we would have been truly deafened. It transpired that this particular Gaucho used to be a Methodist church and hence the cavernous appearance, the unusual restaurant accoutrements and only a smattering of their trademark cowhide decorations.
And after all that delicious meat a slice of something sweet to round off the meal. A rich chocolatey soft chocolate truffle cake for me and a dulce de leche cheesecake for M, it's the caramel sauce that does it for her.
We had a very good meal, a fruity full bodies glass of Syrrah and an exceptional piece of meat for a church! Holy cow indeed!

Fortification for travelling

It’s time to pack my unfeasibly large shiny black case and hit the trains again. I’m Cambridge bound for New Year but British Rail don’t feel it necessary to make the journey from Manchester to Cambridge easy so I’m actually heading for Peterborough and D and MC are going to collect me from there. Last year I made the same journey and as we drew into Peterborough station there was some issue and they kept us mysteriously lingering within touching distance of the platform for an hour. Not too bad for me as I was just stuck on a train but D and MC had to stand on a crowded platform in the freezing cold (and it’d been snowing!) I am intending this year to be considerably less troublesome. Though there’s quite a lot of the festive food left lurking in the ridge and cupboards and M is bound to stock me up so if I do get holed up in some snow bogged hole due to freakish British Rail behaviour at least I can feed everyone!
To fortify me for the journey ahead we have more of the delicious soup (in a triagular bowl, why not?) and I whip up a duck breast, mash potatoes and creamed leeks - and then serve them on possibly the large plates ever. The instructions said to pan-fry the duck for 45 minutes, I would prefer mine slightly less crispy but M doesn’t do pink so it looks rather disconsolate next to the lovely vegetables. It was very tasty though. Farewell M!

Decking the table again

Definitely a case of style over content! Today’s table layout was more attractive that our salmon and broccoli en croute so I’ll talk about that instead. I’ve been particularly taken by my metal snowflakes from M&S. They come with a magnet for easy clean-up which is a great boon as I like scattering the table with interesting themed table confetti but clearing it up can be quite a pain. I’m still finding the odd duck from when I made them for the duck-tacular back in May. And I’m fairly sure I’ve inflicted more than D’s fair share of interesting table titbits. I think she’ll like these ones better.
M&S have had some lovely tableware added to their collection this year, this is more of the M’s new Mikado crockery. The fabulous black beaded placemats, coasters and the fairy lighted Christmas tree are from M&S also. The silver snowflaked napkin rings are from Harvey Nicholls and the other bejewelled Christmas trees are from Lakeland that quiver dramatically as you eat. The table is a plethora of glittery sparkly goodies. Heavenly!

Also we have yummy Brown Brothers orange muscat and flora wine to drink. And there’s Gü for dessert, naturally!

All I want for Christmas is Gü

...or even Frü.
M thought that we’d better ensure we have a couple of desserts to tide us over the festive season… and clearly beyond! As well as our beloved favourite little pots of chocolate, we also have the hot lava tarts to try, Frü lemon soufflés and even another new experience - Frü lemon shots. We are positively awash with yummy Gü and Frü goodies.
The hot lava tarts turned out to be okay but a little more cakey than I would have thought. I’d rather have something more gooey or Gü-ey as they call it! I’ve had Gü chocolate soufflés before and the hot chocolate pudding and they were considerably more unctuous. So personally, I don’t think I’d bother with the lava tarts again.
The Frü lemon shots and soufflés had a nice little zesty zing if you’re not feeling in a chocolatey mood - and why wouldn’t you?
And yes just to be really corny, I'll reiterate - all I want for Christmas is Gü!

Christmas dinner in a box?

It all started with D thinking that she'd forgo the traditional Christmas lunch with all the trimmings in favour of a bowl of hearty soup and a brisk walk on a cold beach. I'm not entirely sure that MC was as excited at the prospect as she was but I can appreciate D wanted an easy Christmas for once.

I'd recently come across the Banquet in a Box website where you can choose various gourmet meals that are pre-prepared and then blast frozen. These arrive packed in a snug jacket of insulation ready for transfer to your freezer. The meals can then be cooked from frozen at a convenient time.

I decided that it might be fun to order a special Christmas day meal for D and MC and order the same meal for M and me to share and have a virtual Christmas lunch together.

I picked the Boxing Day special as we didn't want turkey and all that and ordered instead a coquille of salmon and monkfish, followed by pleasingly plump beef Wellington, winter vegetables and loads of sautéed potatoes. There were also bundles of green beans and little banqueting rolls.

The coquille meant that I had some lovely mash on Christmas day; I'm pretty sure that's what I'd asked Father Christmas for! And I was able to 'enhance' the beef Wellington with a little Christmas tree-shaped sparkler.

Dessert was a raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake but as cheesecake isn't a huge favourite of mine (even when I make it myself) I swapped this with a chocolate bavarois. Though my swapping wasn't entirely successful as they still delivered the cheesecake!

The food was very tasty and the portions were very impressive. I do recall a voice from my past peering inconsolably into a meal-for-two ready meal box and asking if it was actually for two mice! In fact the portions were so impressive we were unable to finish it all. Though naturally I had the lion share of the vegetables!

We had our meal with our telephones on speakerphone in the centre of the impressively decorated respective tables (note especially the colour changing Christmas trees and the ‘best’ china!) M and I had all the crackers so we pulled everyone's, read the jokes and saved the gift for the lucky recipients!

I don't mind cooking a Christmas lunch at all and as I don't have a hungry family to feed every day so it still seems more of a novelty but I must admit that this was just so trouble free, with the merest smidgeon of washing up and really tasty food to boot. I’d really recommend it! A three flying forks for Banquet in a box (though it was slightly marred by my lack of promised chocolate dessert!)

I am planning to use the same company to send a couple of days of hearty meals for the new parents when L relinquishes her bump next month. It seems so much more practical than flowers, as lovely as flowers are I can appreciate that some trouble free meals without the hassle of remembering to go to the shop would be a particular boon for new parents.

Update – L’s bump couldn’t wait until his due date and the handsome AJ was born on December 27^th instead so too soon for me to organise a food parcel. Ah well, better luck next time!

The day after the night before...

Today is for leftovers. I don’t mind this as often something extremely tasty comes from re-imagining a previous meal. In fact I had set my heart on whipping up some bubble and squeak from the fabulous Brussels sprouts, pancetta and chestnuts but M was a little too keen in the clean up and they got black bagged before I could secure them. Shame!

First it was a little more of the yummy PIMM’S Winter drink. This was made with 3 parts apple juice, 1 part PIMM’s No.3 Winter warmed gently on the stove with a few slices of red apple (though apparently slices of orange is a good choice as well). Oooh I feel Christmassy already!

And then it was an M speciality – a meal of canapés! We polished off the remaining lobster, hot smoked salmon and prawn spoons and also the ever-lovely mini coquilles St. Jacques – both from M&S. The miniature scallops wasn’t strictly a leftover, as we hadn’t served them yesterday. But we did finish off with the cheese (finally) and more ginger chocolate pots.