173: Roast partridge, p316

Gosh, partridge is gamey. This was a really strong tasting little creature - could only find the one (again in Sainsbury's, bizarre!) so had to do this recipe when T was out, hehehe. Not much fat on a partridge, so it dried out a bit on top (even with the bacon, which went quite dry), I'd have liked to have roasted it breast down but must try and follow the instructions for this challenge!

112: Ham and butter beans, p321

An autumnal dish for the first day of August! Hmm, a hearty, meaty stew didn't really suit the weather today, but hey, I fancied it, and had all the bits... plus it will make for easy lunches at work this week. I halved the quantities and still had enough for four, the butter beans were from a tin, not dried, so a little shortcut there... and boiling bacon was replaced with a gammon joint. The resulting stew was scrummy, but I should have used two tins of butter beans to balance out the salty spiciness of the chorizo and gammon. I'm not sure about serving a slice of the fat with each serving - the slice of fat browned up at the start of the recipe but didn't exactly go crispy, and remained rather slimy - not very appetising!

59: Roast haddock with bacon and parsley, p302

Oh dear, I forgot to write this one up last week, my bad again! A very simple recipe, but a tasty combination and made for an easy, quick supper on Saturday evening. I'd not normally think of putting bacon with white fish, as you'd think it would be too strong, too overpowering a taste for delicate white fish but this worked really well - the haddock was meaty enough to balance out. I'm not entirely sold on the use of parsley as a strong flavour on its own though, except maybe in a white sauce, I don't think it's a flavour I desperately like, but nonetheless...

18: Spiced pumpkin soup with bacon, p58

Another easy one, and super scrummy it was too. I don't normally add cream to soups, nor blend them until smooth, but this one will definitely be repeated. No pumpkins around at the moment (even though this is from the February section of the book), could only get hold of butternut squash, but hey, that's close enough :)

Addition of bacon should hopefully make it hubbie pleasing too...

Update: And it did!

11: Pork burgers with lime leaves and coriander, p81

Ooooh, we are diiiiining finely this year!! Scrummy scrummy fiery little munchkins these. Lots of garlic, lots of chilli, lots of ginger... Easy peasy. I used the food processor as in the recipe, but I think next time I'd just use the handheld chopper as the whole mix doesn't go in (spice paste made first, then the bacon - no pancetta I'm afraid - whizzed up separately, and then the whole lot mixed up by hand in a bowl).

Even did the lettuce dressed with lime, coriander, mint, and salt, as in the intro, but baked some paprikay wedges in the oven instead of rice (T's request, two nights of rice in a row seemed a bit much for him).