Since things are busy here, this is a good week for me to be borrowing ideas from other people so I don’t have to spend too much time thinking about dinner. So yesterday I thought I’d try out Lea’s pan seared duck breast with raspberry coulis.
I had everything I needed except the raspberries and the Chambord so I headed over to the big Tesco superstore to find some. That’s where I encountered a big problem. No Chambord. No Framboise. Nothing remotely useful in any sense. There were about 7 million different types of vodka (I hate vodka) but no bloody fruit liqueur anywhere! Grr!
I got on the phone to goon to see if he could help. Goon said he’d go down to Threshers. They specialise in selling wine and liqueur, so they should have this stuff, right? Yeah, fat chance. When I got back to goon’s flat he was there with a bottle of raspberry flavoured rum. Not quite what was required but I thought I’d improvise anyway.
So I followed Lea’s recipe adding about twice as many raspberries to account for the loss of liqueur. Amazingly, once all the alcohol had burned off the rum it tasted quite nicely of raspberry and wasn’t as synthetic as I had expected. Since it was a clear spirit the coulis ended up a VERY bright pink.
My next problem came from the chicory. The shit student fridge in goons flat had frozen it. It still tasted fine but had lost some of its firmness. So it was soft chicory instead of crunchy. 
Despite the setbacks it was a nice meal. The chicory and raspberry worked particularly well together. I served it all with some rosemary new potatoes.
Since things are busy here, this is a good week for me to be borrowing ideas from other people so I don’t have to spend too much time thinking about dinner. So yesterday I thought I’d try out Lea’s pan seared duck breast with raspberry coulis.
I had everything I needed except the raspberries and the Chambord so I headed over to the big Tesco superstore to find some. That’s where I encountered a big problem. No Chambord. No Framboise. Nothing remotely useful in any sense. There were about 7 million different types of vodka (I hate vodka) but no bloody fruit liqueur anywhere! Grr!
I got on the phone to goon to see if he could help. Goon said he’d go down to Threshers. They specialise in selling wine and liqueur, so they should have this stuff, right? Yeah, fat chance. When I got back to goon’s flat he was there with a bottle of raspberry flavoured rum. Not quite what was required but I thought I’d improvise anyway.
So I followed Lea’s recipe adding about twice as many raspberries to account for the loss of liqueur. Amazingly, once all the alcohol had burned off the rum it tasted quite nicely of raspberry and wasn’t as synthetic as I had expected. Since it was a clear spirit the coulis ended up a VERY bright pink.
My next problem came from the chicory. The shit student fridge in goons flat had frozen it. It still tasted fine but had lost some of its firmness. So it was soft chicory instead of crunchy.
Despite the setbacks it was a nice meal. The chicory and raspberry worked particularly well together. I served it all with some rosemary new potatoes.
hahahaha that is so cool =) I’m actually pretty sure the first time I made this I couldnt find Chambord either (or saw the price tag and ran away screaming)…. used some pretty cheap raspberry crap stuff too and it came out just as well as with Chambord! =) It was easy wasnt it! One of those things that looks and tastes all fancy pants and really is pretty simple. =) Glad you tried it and liked it!!! =D
BTW, we’re having bangers and mash for dinner!
Comment by Lea — October 12, 2006 @ 3:35 pm
Yeah, it is a good one: simple yet impressive!
What’s happened to your site? I’ve been trying to get the link to your recipe but I can’t seem to get to it.
Mmmm…. bangers and mash. I haven’t had that in ages. I should order some bangers from Manor Farm becuase those are totally amazing.
Comment by ros — October 12, 2006 @ 3:42 pm
hmmm.. the link is working for me.. but blogger seems to be on the fritz today… >_
Comment by Lea — October 12, 2006 @ 9:51 pm
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph… Can I, like, hire you to cater for me? O.o
Comment by Garrett — October 12, 2006 @ 10:19 pm
Garrett, you don’t need anyone to cater for you! You cook lots of great stuff yourself…then again, I have always fancied moving to the USA.
Comment by ros — October 13, 2006 @ 2:24 pm
Why not Ros? My fiance is a Brit.. he dropped everything to move to the US… didnt even have a job but it didnt take him long… now he makes more than 3 times as much as I do!! Amazing how far that fancy accent can get you over here lol!
Comment by Lea — October 13, 2006 @ 7:34 pm
Heh.
No stealing Ros and taking her off to America… How would I cope?
Comment by Andy — October 14, 2006 @ 4:50 pm
I fully intend to move over there one day - hopefully in the next few years. Florida is actually top of my list on where to go. No income tax and warm weather.
The only problem I see is the lack of shops selling offal.
Oh, yeah, and goon might have to go back to eating plain rice and tinned tuna. But I’m sure he’ll cope.
Comment by ros — October 14, 2006 @ 4:56 pm