Offally bad

Please excuse the terrible pun, but I feel I deserve my dodgy jokes even more than usual this week! In the name of trying to make new things, I decided to try cooking things I don't like. I hadn't eaten liver in years, and the last time I did I was in a situation where I really felt I couldn't refuse, and I did at least manage to smother it in gravy. Anyhow, I thought, with the recent renaissance in cheaper cuts of meat and offal, and my rapidly expanding eating horizons maybe now was the time to give it another chance. (A spell as a smoker has also killed of several of my tastebuds, so I was in hope that I wouldn't be able to taste it.) Anyway, armed with this recipe for chicken liver salad with mustard pears and shallot rings from Gordon Ramsay, which had lots of nice sounding bits to go with the organ (can I just say at this point, I wanted to make pate, which I know I do like, but the gentleman I live with vetoed this strategy), I decided to try it again.

I should say at this point, that I am not sure I cooked it correctly, I thought it looked a little bloody after the recommended minute of cooking, so I gave them a bit longer in the pan, and they still didn't look nice. The mustard pears were easy to make, tasted nice, like a pickle, and making them before I started on the shallot rings and liver was a good idea. The shallot rings shall definitely be making another appearance in this kitchen, they were amazing: crispy and sweet. I attempted to assemble the components in such a way to make the liver look appetising. I tried to eat it, I really did, but I couldn't get beyond a small piece. It still just tastes like something which should not be eaten. And as its primary function in life is to remove toxins, I stand by my correct opinion that liver is for dog rewards, not my Cath Kidston crockery. The second photo is of our plates, Sam made a much better job of eating liver than I did (he usually does make a better job of eating than I do).

So to my next, er treat. Most people who know me well, know that I hate jelly.I find the way it wobbles unnerving, I dislike its texture, in particular the way it collapses in the mouth without any chewing. The last time I can recall eating it was when, during a spell as a vegetarian, a relative made me a trifle with jelly in it as she was concerned that my animal free diet was leaving me malnourished!

Anyway, I thought to myself, now could be the time, jellies have got a lot more sophisticated of late. I found this recipe for summer berry and lime jellies from James Martin. Perhaps with fresh fruit, I could learn to love the wobble! I say perhaps, and could, because I haven't tried them yet. Hang on a minute.... It's good! I can report that having my own private ramekin of delicately flavoured and coloured not-excessively-set, filled-with-summer-fruit jelly is very lovely indeed.

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Not being a complete masochist, I decided I would also make something I knew I would like: iced buns, or 'sticky buns' as we say in Yorkshire. Once, when out with best-friend-now-in-Australia F we bought a couple of iced buns and I vividly recalled her saying that they were a crap treat. I think this is a very fair assessment: there is no chocolate, no fruit, no jam, custard or cream, but those fluffy bready buns with a stripe of icing are a treat nonetheless, and I had all the ingredients for this lemony variation on them in the house, so I thought I'd have a go. They were nice and simple to make--the usual knead a bit, wait a bit, knock back, divide up and wait a bit more, that you get with bready things.

I know my oven is a flaming inferno. However, I would still like to moan about the cooking times on this recipe. My buns were on the point of being overdone after 9 minutes--if I'd left them for the lower end of the cooking time, I'd still be sobbing over a pile of ashes! As it is they have a somewhat deep hue, but are perfectly nice. The icing also requires rather more sugar than the recipe says, and, even after adding more, it was still rather runny. But they were good sticky buns, excellent fodder for me and A to have with tea and a few episodes of Ab Fab.

Au revoir for this week, and adios to liver for good. I have no idea which direction the blog is heading in next week, so it'll be a surprise for everyone concerned.