Ham in Coca-Cola

This sounds totally gross, but don't knock it till you've tried it. And you really have to make it yourself to appreciate this recipe in all its glory. There are few things more fun to do than to pour a two-litre bottle of Coke on a 2-kilogram piece of ham (or gammon, rather). There's a good recipe for this in Nigella Lawson's Nigella Bites (amusingly, under the section headed Trashy). Basically, you get a mild-cured piece of gammon (you can soak it overnight to remove some of the salt), put it skin down in a large stockpot with one onion, pour two litres of Coke (the normal version, not Diet or Cherry or Orange or Zero or any of that), bring it to the boil and simmer it for two hours:

When it's done, let it cool slightly and take the skin off. Make a criss-cross pattern on the fat with a sharp knife and stick some cloves where the lines meet. Then spread a couple of tablespoons of dark treacle all over the fat, some demerara sugar and mustard powder, and cook for about 15 minutes at 180C.

Serve with vegetables of your choice

The ham has a deep, smoky, caramelized flavour. Be sure to keep the cooking stock, which you can use as a base for stews (in small doses, as it's very sweet!).

Recipe competition: wasabi seared tuna

This is another one from SN. Must be from her fusion collection. Tuna steak marinated in wasabi and soy sauce, seared (it helps if you have one of those griddle pans, so you get the grill marks, like proper chefs do....), and served atop butternut squash mash. Great winter dish, and you don't have to worry too much about your heart giving out.

Season's apologies....

Click on me to make me bigger...

Dear All,

I can only apologize for my lack of organization, and the fact that I nowadays spend more time in meetings than I care to think about, and hope that you'll forgive me for not getting around to sending you individual Christmas cards. In my defence, the goodwill was there, but time forsook me.

Grovelling aside, I wish you all a nice break from the shameless, mass consumerism (what's the point? The sales are just a few days away....), being trampled over by demented shoppers, run over by crazed mothers and their Bugaboos and general feeling of mania. I hope y'all managed to get that Nintendo Wii for your dearly beloved and that you'll have endless hours of fun playing Guitar Heroes. And finally, all the best for a happy and prosperous 2008.

In the meantime, here's the latest from my kitchen...... still waitin' on those recipes y'all....

Recipe competition - Black Midnight Cake

This entry was submitted by SSR. It's a rich chocolate cake, kind of fiddle to make, as it requires two cake tins and some surgery if the two halves rise too much in the oven. The icing recipe supplied by SSR was also a bit dodgy and requires a rather lengthy period of stirring, for which I clearly didn't have enough patience. I have to thank G* for fixing it...

All that aside, the cake is fantastic and the unorthodox icing quickly improves on cooling. It tastes much better after a day in the fridge.

Stirrin' icin'

Black Midnight Cake

The Editors

The Editors, live at the Brixton Academy, October 8, 2007

The Editors' second album, An End Has A Start, is the best CD I've bought this year (of course, you haven't seen what else I've bought....). A mix of The Smiths, Radiohead, Coldplay and U2, the Birmingham band nonetheless has its own distinct sound and style. There's not a bad song in the whole album, which gets better with every listen.

Their sold-out gig at the Brixton Academy was a manic, awesome affair, with Tom Smith climbing all over his piano and running around the stage like a crazed man until he eventually managed to rip out his leads and threw his guitar on the ground in contempt. But he has a compelling voice and delivers lyrics with a punch ("How can you know what things are worth if your hands won't move to do a day's work?"). The songs are full of fantastic guitar riffs and original drums sections. Escape The Nest is my personal favourite. We were deaf for about two hours afterwards, but it was well worth it!

I'm back!

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly three months since I posted something. It's been pretty hectic, so I can only apologize for my virtual absence. I better make a list of things I should have blogged about, in the hope that I'll gradually manage to catch up...

1. The Editors, live at the Brixton Academy - what a fantastic gig that was!
2. Josh Ritter, live at the Shepherd's Bush Empire - fun, folk and potatoes from the Idaho rockster
3. SSR's midnight chocolate cake
4. SN's seared wasabi tuna
5. The Sixteen x2 - A Ceremony of Carols and The Messiah
6. Ham in Coca Cola
7. G*'s cranberry and white chocolate cookies - yum!
8. The French Table - a great restaurant in leafy Surbiton
9. Jiu Zhai Gou and Huang Long - more travels around Sichuan
10. Celeriac!

Anything else I've left out?