It’s Friday – Lets Drive Home at 200mph.

Now I know this is probably getting a bit tedious, but I purchased a holder for my iPhone and then filmed a trip home on the most famous car park in the world – the M25. (If you’ve never heard of this motorway then shame). Tonight we do the 33 mile trip in about 3 minutes, accompanied by Michael Gray’s ‘Weekend’:

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I’m not sure how this weekend is actually going to turn out – I’m making a Frasier Cake for my sister’s birthday – they did it on the Great British Bake Off and it looked like a total nightmare; I can see a big pile of cream with bits of sponge and strawberries stuck in it coming on. I can’t wait for the weekend to arrive!

Beef Braised in Honey and Soy

Nearing the end of my butcher’s blowout. This creation combines a cheap cut of meat with honey, madeira wine and soy sauce, served with bok choi (or pac choi, or bok choy, or pak choy or…you get the idea).

Its got some pretty intense flavours and comes from our very own psycho-chef Gordon Ramsay (by the way have I mentioned how much more pyscho he appears on American TV compared to UK TV? On UK TV he is a pussy cat – he does a show where he gets prisoners to cook in Brixton prison, and if he acted in there the way he does on Hell’s Kitchen USA they would serve him up with a side order of fries).

Epic Lunchtime Fail

My wife is a qualified accountant. I am a qualified blagger. Nevertheless early morning starts are a great leveller. No matter what your intellect, the bleary-eyed semi-dawn of an Autumnal 6am start can play tricks with the mind – especially when you are hunting through the pantry for something to eat for lunch at work.

My wife found a tin of tomato soup in the back of the cupboard, and off she went. Come lunch time she dug her tin out of her handbag and headed for the canteen microwave, only to find she had this:

Foolproofed Poached Egg Methodology

I think poaching is the most impressive way to cook an egg . There are many ways to do it – use a poacher, cooking rings, or just put them in water ‘free-form’.

But the problem with these methods is that either the eggs end up looking flat and a bit boring or they try to disintegrate in the water, looking like they’ve blown up. What you want with a poached egg is something that looks like a little white cloud!

Of course I didn’t make a poached egg and then just eat it. I serve it with steak!

Oxtail Braised in Sherry with Parsnip Puree

Following the Butcher’s Bazaar this weekend I decided to kick off with an oxtail creation. Our recent visit to the BBC Good Food Show in London meant I had come away with a nice collection of recipes, including one from Ash Mair, last year’s winner of Masterchef: The Professionals.

His creation combines oxtail with Pedro Ximenez sherry and serves it with parsnips and pancetta. I didn’t have either of these but I substituted with a different sherry and smoked bacon.