Monday February 07, 2005

A nice walk to the Castle..

Did a nice five mile round trip to the Castle Restaurant yesterday.

A pub with a chequered history for us as when we moved here it was a nice cosy pub that did good food at reasonable prices. It changed hands but retained the format.

The pub then changed hands again but this time for the worst. It turned itself into a restaurant but not a good one in our opinion. It was very cold and formal and the food and service were not up to much and expensive.

A leaflet wizzed onto the doormat before Xmas saying the place had a new chef and menu etc etc. So when we passed it we popped in for a look. The appearance is now softened and is a bit more homely and we were welcomed even though we just wanted to see the menu by a friendly waiter. He suggested we try them on a Sunday when they for 12.95 do a two course meal.

So we walked there yesterday. I started with a large lump of chicken liver parfait with some nice bread. My wife had the beef roast and I tried the fried chicken with stir fried vegetables and hoisin sauce. Good portions good food. My wife then had for her second course a large chocolate and orange pudding with ice cream. We had a nice bottle of merlot 13.00. Needless to say the stroll back was nicer than the one there..

The service was very good too. I hate being told to "enjoy your meals" yesterday it was "I hope you enjoy your meals" - much better. It is not the old pub anymore but at least it is a good restaurant now.

A classic winter dinner

Has to be Boeuf Bourguignonne. I made it this weekend.

It takes a bit of preparation but once it is going you leave it in the oven like a roast dinner to cook.

Pre heat the oven to 275F, 140C or Gas mark one.

Start with say a pound of stewing steak (cubed) put a little cooking oil in a flameproof casserole dish and brown the meat all over.These are perfect for the job. Remove the meat but leave the oil and juices in the pan and add two medium onions sliced not chopped. Let them brown off a bit and then return the meat to the dish. Take the dish off the heat for a moment and add a heaped tablespoon of plain flour. Things look pretty dreadful at this point. Now add a pint of red wine - I use my homemade for this blackberry and elderberry - you want a good strong wine, and stir it in and eventually things start to look better. Put back on the heat. I remove it from the heat to avoid burning the flour. Now add a bayleaf, one teaspoon of thyme, two cloves of garlic chopped and crushed and a little salt and pepper. Put in the oven for two hours.

Have a slurp as Keith Floyd would say as long as you are not driving and then get ready for stage two. Cube up some bacon (half a pound) it does not really matter what sort but take off the rind first. Peel three quarters of a pound of shallots or small onions. These can be tiresome to peel so rub in your hands to remove the loose bits off them and then using a small knife top and tail each and then scrape the onion as you do a new potato. Do not peel as you do a large onion. Sit down to do this and this means the onion won't make you cry as you are not leaning over the source of the problem. Also peel and slice five or six mushrooms but also use the stalks !

After the two hours are up put the mushrooms, onions and bacon in the dish and return for another hour. Serve with a baked potato and do not forget to remove the bayleaf before serving.