And so we’re onto December, almost. No, I’m not going to say the ‘C’ word just yet or throw mince pie and Stollen recipes your way. Although by all means, a quick search of these pages will bring both and more.
No; even though I’m going to the Winchester fair or winter festival as some might prefer to call it at the end of the week. Not yet, damn it! It’s still November! And anyway this year, unusually, there will be just the two of us for Christmas dinner so we’ll have fried eggs with noodles. Well, I certainly could.
Let’s have a sloppy week of relaxed cooking and casual eating – plus as little washing up as possible. Pork gyros: marinate your meat on Monday night, roast and stuff into pita bread on Tuesday night with some grilled haloumi for vegetarians. Or do the same with beef and flash fry it into Korean bulgogi. And serve either with the oriental flavoured broccoli salad.
Fish could be a fillet of cod, hake, pollock or haddock roasted with sliced potatoes – it’s a crowd pleaser and a tray bake dinner. And if you’d rather have a salad, cook those potatoes and toss with smoked mackerel. Warm potato and smoked mackerel salad will also be a winner.
You could cook a stir fry one night and if, like me, you’re happy to have it with more veg and no rice, it will be a one wok dinner. Sticky pork stir fry for instance – easy, tasty and the choice of vegetables is totally flexible. And if you'd rather have rice but want no meat - I have a fool proof rice cooking tip in the vegetable fried rice recipe.
And the last suggestion is about dessert or breakfast, or both: buttermilk scones with dried fruit. And the recipe has a nifty method of cutting them with minimum fuss and no offcuts. Save your energy for the coming season of big baking and cooking. And the Winchester Christmas market looks really good!