It's Been a Long Time

I cannot believe its been early April since I last blogged. I briefly saw Tim Anderson (MasterChef winner 2011) in Edinburgh on Sunday.  I just glanced into the door of Mellis in Stockbridge (as I usually do when passing) and saw a glimpse of someone sniffing some produce, wandering on, I thought that looked a bit like Tim but thought nothing of it.  A few minutes later I met my sister-in-law who said she had just seen him.  That is a pity, I was routing for him all the way through the last show. It would have been a great photo for the blog.  Well below it's not exactly hamburger and chips three ways but hey ho.

Thai Stuffed Squid 
Dice the tentacles and some prawn and mix with some finely chopped garlic and fresh ginger that has been softened in a frying pan. Add some fish sauce, coriander, chili and a squeeze of lime or some grated lime rind.  I used some of the squid ink to darken the rice as an experiment, it came out a strange grey colour but worth a try.

GastroTastic
Pesto spaghetti and stars, with chicken,  tomato and basil.  When I say pesto spaghetti, the spaghetti is made of pesto not pasta (courtesy of my new gastro purchases). The stars are also made of pesto, one course with pine nuts still visible and the other was put through a strainer to remover the bits.

Venison
Scottish Venison with spinach and walnuts, mash potato, a herb polenta and a sweet potato and a butternut squash puree with venison jus. The walnuts were to give it a bit of texture otherwise with the mash and purees it would be a bit mushy. Beautifully pink venison can't be beaten.