Brussels sprout gratin

Brussels sprout gratin with sherry, nutmeg and cheese This dish can be made up and baked straight away or assembled the night before then cooked when required. If making in advance, it will need 10 to 15 minutes’ extra cooking time and the top may need covering if it starts…

Country Christmas living room

Christmas is the time of year to bring the outside in. Fragrant pine trees are decorated with twinkling fairy lights and placed in the corner of sitting rooms and the halls are decked with boughs of holly. If you want to achieve a cosy, country Christmas interior this year, opt…

cook with venison haunch

If the history books are to be believed, we have Henry VIII to ‘thank’ for first adding turkey to the table, but as far as I’m concerned he would have done better to leave it in the Americas where it belonged. He may well have been the first monarch to…

Fabarm side by side guns

I’ve taken a look at two Fabarm side-by-sides imported by Anglo Italian Arms. Both are built on rounded-bar, forgedsteel- frame, trigger-plate actions that are mechanically alike. The guns have similarities in stocking and boring, too, but beyond that their specifications are quite different. One, the 12-bore Infinite RS, is a…

crispy pretzel partridge

Nearly impossible to say after a glass or two but always utterly delicious to eat, this crispy pretzel parmesan partridge served with a buttery sweet and tangy sauce makes for a wonderfully fun starter. Crispy pretzel parmesan partridge Ingredients Sauce 100g honey 100g raspberry vinegar 200g salted butter Partridge 90g…

Spiced apple and cider fruit cake

If you would like to use an English brandy instead I highly recommend the Somerset Cider Brandy Company, which also makes super cider under the Burrow Hill label. My other cider picks include Worleys (Somerset), Butford Organics (Hereford) and Cranborne Chase (Dorset). Much like a classic tea bread, this cake…

pigeon and cranberry terrine with cointreau and hazelnuts

Recipe for pigeon and cranberry terrine with cointreau and hazelnuts Ingredients 80g dried cranberries 50ml Cointreau 4 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp butter 300g shallots, peeled and finely sliced 8 pigeon breasts, skin off and cut into 1cm-thick strips 80g hazelnuts, roughly chopped 60g fresh white breadcrumbs 15g parsley, finely…