Hope it's worth all the effort pw. Were you told what the mystery veg was or did you have to identify it yourself?

They look like hairy carrots - what do they taste like?

I can has oatcakes?


Now correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to recall that they're supposed to taste like truffles...
Which reminds me to tell you all about the rather disappointing meal I had in the hotel on Thursday night.
I chose the Mussels in coriander and chilli cream for starters, which was fine but two of my mussels (in a small bowl) were closed. I was quite shocked that they'd been allowed to leave the kitchen. Then for my main I had chosen a duck breast which was served on an asparagus salad dressed in truffle oil, with orange and a poached egg. Now, for some of you, alarm bells will already be ringing but I thought that if it was well done, it would be marvellous.
Guess what.
The duck was perfectly cooked (except I would like a crispier skin personally - no, not on me, on the duck) but rather than than being dressed in it, the salad (and I suspect that the salad leaves came out of a packet - rather insipid and flavourless) was drenched in truffle oil. Horrible. Couldn't taste anything else (except for every now and then some orange). Ruined the whole dish for me and I had the taste in my mouth all night.
Bleuch. Raspberry syllabub for pudding was ok, but it was more mousse than syllabub if you ask me.

So, did I complain?
You kidding? I'm English init.

Well, in the end the salsify was a bit of a disappointment.  Yes, we were told what it was but it took a bit of googling to find out more about it (it's very popular in Belgium, apparently).  The main problem with the fritter recipe was that, after peeling and steaming, the buglers simply wouldn't mash - so I sauteed them instead with a bit of cauliflower.  The nearest taste I can think of is Jerusalem artichoke, so I suppose I might have been better off making them into soup.  But they were a bit bland.

Martle - the butcher is Standean Farm Butchers, in Ladies Mile Road (next to the Methodist church).  I suppose it's the sort of bog-standard local butcher's shop that a few years ago would have been found in every high street but is now like hen's teeth.  It's decent, sometimes considerably more than that (good sausages), not too expensive and a lot of the meat  comes from its own farm - and of course we support it, because if we don't it'll soon be yet another estate agent.   

This photograph does not do justice to these truly fabulous chocolates. I'm not a chocoholic but I am an absolute pushover for these. Orgasmically beautiful handmade Belgian chocolates that leave other chocolates standing on the sidelines. Truffles to make you swoon, MJ! And the smell when you open the box <faintemoticon> Best thing is that, in their shops, you can pick out precisely what you want and they don't cost an arm and a leg. I'm not wild about white chocolate but theirs is lovely.

I must go and rest now
[img width=30http://0]http://en.finesses.com/bitmaps/vignettes/chocolats/Chocolat_Leonidas_assortis_5.jpg[/img]

Good old Nige has got some scrummy sounding chicken recipes in The Observer today. I've been practically salivating over the page. Do I have a chicken in the house? I do not

I had chicken last night.
Today I'm going to cook another one of those yummy smoked ham houghs.
But first I have to work out what I want for lunch...

The Marquis of Posa returns yesterday with a bag of stinging nettles.  Fig. 1 on Milly style granite drainer:

   

These were not gathered in the lanes and ditches of Stoke Newington, but bought from the farmers' market.  He leaves me to convert these plants into nourishing soup.  I have done this before, but can find no recipe.  Jane Grigson is her usual vague and delightful self.  She implies you should remove the leaves from the stalks and this makes sense.  She recommends gloves.  We have a number of rubber glovlies available, but all will have been used for unblocking the loo, applying drain cleaner or even toxic paint, so I fall back on the use of spaghetti tongs.  Fig 2.



I was holding the camera with the other hand.  Not bad in the circs, eh?

I treat them like spinach, as recommended by Mrs G, or at any rate how I treat spinach, and then add them to a base with butter, wholemeal flour and milk.  I then mouli the result.  Fig 3.

  (Milly may recognise the granite.)

And the final result, awaiting later consumption, Fig 4.

They do taste rather nice and not like anything else.  Bit like sorrel, rather than spinach, and goes well with lemon.  I'll let you know when we try it.  But, hey, it was a challenge.  If you hold the stems firmly and the leaves lightly, they don't sting.  I got bored with the spaghetti tongs, and thought gloves are for wimps.