Saturday 2 February 2008

The perils of brown food

One of the problems about using leftovers is that everything can end up looking sludgy. I fell into that trap last night with my pheasant and mushroom pilaf. Good though it tasted it looked unrelievedly brown.

In my defence I should say that I deliberately didn't buy any fresh herbs which would have immediately made the dish look - and taste - more appealing. We're off to France on Monday and I'm trying to run the fridge stocks down instead of chucking away a bin bag full of unused food. Parsley would have done but coriander would have been better. And even a few finely chopped mint leaves

Other ingredients, currently missing from our store-cupboard would have also helped. Some finely snipped dried fruits (apricots or figs would have been nice with the pheasant); some nuts to add crunch (we normally have some brazil nuts lying around but cashews or pistachios would have worked). Oh, and a final squeeze of Seville orange juice would have been lovely.

They'll be gone from the shops by the time we get back so must buy a few to freeze. Although you can create a similar flavour by mixing orange and lemon juice they have a unique aromatic bitterness which gives a lovely lift to game like pheasant or duck.

No comments:

UA-3466976-1