DOING A DELIA...

These days, since I ejected myself from a successful career, and a great income to dedicate my time to figuring out a different path and live more frugally (the latter part is just the inevitable result of my actions, not really a goal of mine!) the result is a much more creative lifestyle. That bit I LOVE! One side of this is that I get time to cook, which has always been a passion for me and one that took a back seat while I was devoted to my job.

In our house, there is a freezer full of mostly unidentified animal parts. No vegetarians in our household, or at least not unless you want to starve. Pops gets many gifts of thanks from friends and acquaintances in the form of meat. Hunting season brings bundles of deer parts, plucked game birds and such like left on the doorstep. Currently we have allot of pheasant, so my challenge last week was to decide on a way to prepare one for supper. My go-to is of course Julia Child, and then Fanny Farmer, and more recently the fabulously comprehensive and very French "Je Sais Cuisiner", newly translated into English as "I Know How to Cook" . But for this task, I just had to use a Delia Smith recipe, Pot Roast of Pheasant with Shallots and Caramelised Apples.

I made Roast Root Vegetables with Garlic and Thyme to go with the Pheasant.

Delia Smith is the doyenne of British Cookery. Think Julia Child and you will understand what she means to the British, although I would have to say that she doesn't have a tenth of the character or flair of Mrs Child. Delia is a little too up tight and rigid when it comes to her approach to recipes and cooking, in my view. I always have a tendency to want to tweak recipes and make additions and adaptations as I go along. For this recipe, I ditched the caramelized apple part, as I never was much of a "fruit in savoury dish" fan. Well, I can tell you it was delicious, and the leftovers have been made into a rich soup with the addition of some turnip and leeks. You HAVE to make soup out of the bones and vegetables left from any dish, even if you might ultimately end up feeding it to the chickens, like so often happens in my house. I use soup making kind of as therapy, but the process is often more enjoyable for me than the eating part in the end.

One day I will tell you about Pops' love of "Road Kill" and I may even have one of his favourite recipes for it to share with you!!