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Having failed miserably in my pursuit for grouse,
Dugie at Wark farm came up trumps with another beast of fine repute, the
woodcock. Turning up for their pie and beer tasting, he presented two
undrawn fresh specimens, awsome. Of course, the traditional approach is
to roast them whole, spreading the innards on fried bread. For some
reason I thought of doing them pizza style. You won't get this from
Pizzahut.
As it was, I inadvertently knocked back the
breadmaker pizza dough which had the interesting effect of making it
completely impossible to 'self stretch' into a nice thin disc, those
gluten molecules were just not sliding past each other. Of course, this
was a blessing, since a woodcock on a thin crispy pizza might look a bit
silly, thouh would be a good innard receptacle. I tossed the birds in a
good deal of lard, and sat them in their beanbag dough nests. They look
very happy, sitting there, as I'm sure you will agree.
I have to say, they were just sublime; a herby
mushroom meaty thwack around the head. A completely impossible wine
match, the rather fine and pricey Italian Pinot Noir that accompanied
was rather swamped. |
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We rented a superb cottage on the Black Isle,
Torgorm No 1, very cosy, and beautifully done. Inverness has a good
vibe, and the fishmonger also sold game, which is always commendable. We
had the best langoustines since Jura, lively, but not quite as. I also
cooked some partridge in rice, Persian 'Chilau' style, though due to
Rory's roaring, the rice became a bit sodden. Not to be repeated. Below
is a brioche being eyed up by those two. I can't remember the last time
I made one, far too long a break. |
