Winter Stodgefest.

Winter has truly set in during the last week or two.  Snow and everything!  So much snow in fact, that the country has (as usual) just about ground to a halt, and the 10k run I've entered for this Sunday (foolish, I know) has been postponed until 9 January, meaning I've been carb loading for nothing!  (Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).  I just want to eat spuds and stodge at the moment, and lurk around the house in a hooded dressing gown when I'm not out running in the snow.  I have eaten some magnificent stodge in the last couple of weeks, including a plate-piled-high carvery at this place:
http://www.thespottedcow.co.uk/
I have been a few times over the years but I really don't remember the carvery being as delicious as it was last Sunday.  The Kir Royal I had as an aperitif certainly put some extra bubbles into the proceedings, followed by a nice glass of shiraz with my carvery; a mixture of gammon and beef, so nothing wrong with a red.  If you want a cosy, family orientated pub in the Derby area this is miles ahead of any of the city centre pubs serving roast dinners.  Booking is advisable, especially as there were close to fifteen of us meeting and greeting the latest addition into the extended family of reprobates, baby AnnaWilliamson-Bach-Nielson, all of 8 weeks old.  What a cutie!

I actually did some cooking on Friday and set out on a rather ambitious mission to make Choucroute Garnie, aka sauerkraut garnished with loads of pork products.  There are a multitude of recipes out there and each one is different so I came up with my own broad interpretation, maybe not strictly authentic but really delicious.  I limited the pork products to two, some have about 5 different types.  First of all you want sauerkraut, I bought a kilogram of it from the Polish stall in the market hall (not the Eagle Centre).  If you go into the entrance where the Tiger bar is and turn right the Polish stall is the last stall on your right.  They sell loads of excellent pork products, including, oddly, the best Chorizo sausage in Derby.  I picked up some smoked pork belly while I was there.  A kilogram of sauerkraut is enough for 4 people easily, although I cooked it all there was loads left over.
I sliced an onion and cooked it gently in butter (lots of recipes ask for goose or pork fat, which I didn't have to hand; like, who does.....!) then added the sauerkraut with the chopped pork belly, bay leaves, juniper berries, garlic and salt and pepper, and poured a couple of glasses of white wine over the lot (and one for me, I used Pinot Grigio although most recipes ask for Riesling, but I doubt one could tell the difference) this simmers away for as long as you've got, anything up to two hours.  Word of warning, don't bite into whole juniper berries, unless you really really like straight gin.  Served with grilled sausages - I used  Toulouse, and sliced fried potatoes, this was Christmas Market type street food-tastic.

Finally an honorary mention to Helen G who served up totally wonderful and hearty Caribbean fare at book club on Saturday.  Mutton curry, yam, rice and peas, washed down with a little bit of wine, helped to fuel plenty of book related ranting and later some hazy gyrating to Salt n' Pepa?  Oh dear.....