Reindeer steaks

If you follow my blog regularly you will probably have realised that I am partial to game - especially Venison.

Recently Jane was shopping in our local branch of the Lidl supermarket, looking for Goose breasts, which they normally have in stock at this time of year. Unfortunately they had no Goose breasts, but they did have Reindeer steaks. Not the same thing at all of course, but appealing nonetheless!

Having experienced Reindeer meat on a couple of occasions during business trips to Sweden and Finland, I immediately "bagged" this meat, with the intention of creating something vaguely Nordic / Scandinavian. And then I noticed that this Reindeer meat came from Siberia, nowhere near Scandinavia at all. Oh well....

The meat was frozen, so the first task was to let it thaw out slowly, overnight in the fridge. Then I marinated it for about 8 hours with a little vegetable oil, Bay leaves, Thyme and lightly-crushed Juniper berries, a splash of Gin (to accentuate the Juniper flavour), and some freshly-ground black pepper.

While this was happening I made some Cranberry relish.

In Scandinavia they would probably serve Reindeer with Lingonberry sauce, but Lingonberries are unobtainable in the UK as far as I know. I thought the fact that my Cranberries were Latvian rather than the more usual Canadian ones was quite appropriate, since Latvia is nearly Scandinavian!

 My version of Cranberry relish includes (as well as Cranberries), apple, Creme de Cassis, and Blackcurrant Balsamic Vinegar, with a little Sweet Freedom sweetener (in lieu of sugar, because Jane is diabetic). The smell of this lot cooking was wonderful! Jane said "It smells like Christmas". And the sound was wierd too - as the frozen Cranberries cooked their skins burst with a loud "pop".

Later on I prepared my vegetable accompaniments for the meat. First up was a handful of Cavolo Nero leaves from the garden. Washed and with their tough central veins removed, these were stirred into some soft polenta, just minutes before serving. They cook very rapidly: 2 or 3 minutes is plenty.

Then there was a steamed vegetable medley, inspired by the presence of my Golden Ball turnip (as described a couple of days ago). I wanted these vegetables to be served plain and unadulterated, so that we could really enjoy their flavour.

The Broccoli is home-grown too, but the Carrots and Parsnips are from our weekly veg-box (not as good as home-grown, in my opinion, but still very good). In the photo below the green bits are peeled Broccoli stems, which are every bit as good as the florets. I put the Broccoli florets into the steamer only after the other veg was nearly cooked, because they need less cooking time.

Since I had plenty of time, I decided to make some gravy "from first principles". I used as the basis of this the trimmings of a batch of stewing beef that was waiting to go into a casserole the following day. These were fried for a few minutes until nicely browned; put into a saucepan with some water, and then simmered for about half an hour to extract all the flavour. Having strained the resultant liquor through a sieve to remove the meat pieces, I returned it to the saucepan and boiled it hard for a few minutes, to reduce it to the right consistency. The finished article had a lovely deep savoury flavour.

A short while before starting to cook, I lifted the meat out of its marinade and beat it out thin, using a meat-mallet. (I put the meat inside a plastic bag while I'm doing this, to avoid splashes).

This procedure ensures that the meat will cook quickly. Since it contains little fat,Venison (and presumably Reindeer) is best served on the Rare side of Medium, and will go dry and tough if overcooked.

My cooking method for the meat was simply to griddle it in a very hot cast-iron griddle-pan. (No picture available - the opportunity was v. brief!).

So here it is, all together. It's funny isn't it, how the Finished Article often gets the least photographic coverage, since we Bloggers are always in too much of a hurry to get stuck in and eat, whereas the Food Stylists seem to be happy to eat cold food...

For what it's worth, this is my opinion of Reindeer meat:- very nice, but very similar to Venison. Is that a surprise? Surely not. The meat was tender and full-flavoured, but not unduly "gamey". And the verdict on home-grown Turnip, Broccoli and Cavolo Nero? Ab Fab, of course! Seriously, I don't remember having ever had a Turnip that nice. Next year I must plan to grow a bigger quantity of them.

Winter lettuce

In the UK most people think of Lettuce as being a Summer crop, but the truth is that if you choose the right variety you can grow Lettuce more or less all year round. With the protection of a cloche, certain types of Lettuce will survive some seriously negative temperatures. Last Winter we had some very harsh conditions, yet I produced some of the best Lettuce I had ever grown! The varieties I grew were "All Year Round" and "Winter Density". This year, to be honest, I forgot to sow Lettuce seeds specifically for Winter growing, but I did have some "Webbs Wonderful" that went in rather later than they should, so accidentally became my Winter crop.

The Webbs Wonderful is an Iceberg type, which when mature produces a tight crispy head. It is a variety that has some 'resonance' for me since it is one that my Dad always used to grow in his garden in Cornwall. Because of this it reminds me of my childhood and teenage years. It is quite a big one though, and needs a fair bit of space if it is to do well. For this reason I only have a small number of them. I have eight of them under two of my Longrow cloches, and a further three (or is it four?) in various other places.

At the weekend I briefly removed the cloches to see how my Lettuces were doing. I think this is a good thing to do, because it gives you the opportunity to remove any decaying leaves - of which there are bound to be a few at this time of the year - so that you limit the spread of any fungal diseases. You can also add a few more slug pellets if you use such things, and water the plants if they need it (since the cloche prevents them benefitting from rainfall).

My Lettuces are nowhere near ready yet; they are still immature. I think they are doing OK though. You can see that the leaves are beginning to "curl in" and form hearts.

With a bit of luck these Lettuces will keep growing and in another few weeks will be ready for using. Actually, as with most Lettuces, you could use them right now - you just wouldn't get a very big yield.

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P.S. Apology.  Yesterday I accidentally published this post before it was ready to go. A straightforward case of finger-trouble! Some of you may therefore have seen the unfinished version, whereas others will have seen a message saying something like "Sorry, the post you are trying to view doesn't exist".

Buddleia

One of my favourite shrubs is Buddleia Davidii, whose flowers are reputedly very attractive to butterflies. I have one specimen of the variety "Royal Red". Incidentally, it is incredibly difficult to accurately reproduce its true colour in a photograph, so please don't use my photo as a guide. I'll just say that the flowers are slightly redder than most Buddleias, whose flowers are most often a rather blueish purple.

I may actually have TWO of these plants. Last Autumn when I was pruning the shrub I found a tiny seedling at its base, and potted it up.

Circumstantial evidence suggests that this is a self-seeded "child" of the first one, but I won't know for sure until it flowers. I grew the little plant indoors over the Winter and then planted it out in the border, where it has grown enthusiastically, but hasn't yet flowered. Hopefully it will do so next year.



The original plant (which I bought via mail order from the Duchy of Cornwall Nursery) was probably a two-year-old plant when I got it:

When I planted it out in Spring 2011 it was a compact, tidy plant...

In its first year it grew a lot, and produced a modest number of flowers. In the Autumn I pruned it hard, and it grew back vigorously this Spring, putting up lots of long whippy stems. 

Unfortunately, as these stems got bigger and became covered in a mass of vibrantly reddish-purple flowers, the plant got top-heavy and gradually flopped over.

This past weekend I pruned the shrub again. This time I have made a special effort to prune back to vertical-growing shoots, which may help to re-balance it.

I have also used some of the prunings as cuttings, pushing them into the soil at the base of the parent plant, round at the back. Maybe next year I will have a whole clump of Buddleia bushes!

Unfortunately even the Buddleia didn't manage to attract into my garden more than the odd one or two butterflies. Here's hoping for a better year in 2013. When I first moved into my current property, more than 20 years ago, we used to see loads of Red Admirals on my neighbour's Buddleia - sometimes 15 or 20 simultaneously. Now I consider myself lucky if I see even one.

Brassica beauties

Brassicas grow slowly. There is no doubting this. I go out into my garden almost every day, and somehow I still expect to see them dramatically changed each time, but of course I don't. Still, it gives me ample opportunity to study them closely.

This photo of Purple Sprouting Broccoli "Red Arrow", taken with the flash, gives it an almost supernatural look:

Its neighbour, "Rudolph", although less purple, is further advanced and already beginning to put out tiny flowers. These are the embryonic "spears" that we will eventually eat.

The Brussels Sprouts are still frustratingly minuscule. At this rate we'll be eating them for Easter, not Christmas!

I have always been told that you should leave the cabbage-like tops of the Brussels sprout plants in place until the sprouts have been picked, since the plants need them for energy-production. Now I'm not so sure. My blogging friend David Offutt suggests that removing the tops quite early forces the plant to divert energy from the root-system into the sprouts. The results he has achieved are impressive, so maybe I should follow suit.

Brussels top - "Brilliant"

The Cavolo Nero is always good for a photo! I am fascinated by the knobbly, wrinkled texture of the leaves - very picturesque! I know that many people grow this plant not as a vegetable, but as an ornamental It can be both, if you use the Potager principle, interspersing flowering plants with edible veggies.

Doesn't this make you wonder WHY the leaves are like this? Perhaps it helps with water-retention, or perhaps it traps air to provide better insulation? There has to be a reason for it to have evolved like that, surely. Any ideas?



The best thing about Cavolo Nero and other kales is that you can harvest it progressively, a few leaves at a time, without it looking unduly depleted. We had some yesterday, stirred into some soft polenta - yummy! [More about this to follow soon...]

The Midas Touch

On Friday we had some beautiful light conditions. As a corny novel might say "the whole garden was suffused in glorious golden sunlight...." Since I was at home during daylight hours for a change, I made the most of the photo opportunity.

I don't have many words to write today. The pictures say everything that is necessary.

Dogwood "Midwinter Fire"

Dogwood "Midwinter Fire"

Blueberry

Blueberry

Pear "Conference"

Fern "Dryopteris Erythrosora"

Fern "Dryopteris Erythrosora"

Prunus Autumnalis "Surbhitella"

Prunus Autumnalis "Surbhitella"

I really am not looking forward to the dingy grey wet days which are bound to come soon!

Small, but beautifully formed...

I'm sure you know that my garden is not given to producing large quantities of anything (except possibly Runner Beans), so it probably won't surprise you to hear that I have today harvested ONE turnip!

This little beauty is a "Golden Ball". It is the first of only six, growing in a black plastic container on my patio. Hopefully the others will eventually grow to this size too.

As you can see, the turnip was harvested at the same time as the main heads of two "Matsuri" miniature broccoli.

Again, they are (intentionally) small, since they have been bred for growing as "patio veg" in small containers, but I think you will agree that they look pretty respectable too. Each one of these is about the right size for a single-person serving.

I think the turnip will have to be combined with other veg (maybe carrots and parsnips) to make a viable serving, but I'm expecting it to score well in taste terms, even if not in volume.

If ever there was the need to prove that growing veg in small containers is both possible and worthwhile, I think this provides it!

Finally, just to prove that I can occasionally grow Parsley, here is a picture of some... (Not on a par with Liz's,[Suburban Tomato] I'm afraid, but not bad by my standards.)

Fallen leaves and watery sunshine

My garden is rapidly filling up with leaves, mostly from my Maple tree. They are congregating in big drifts in every conceivable corner:

The shrub with the glowing golden leaves is the "Midwinter Fire" Dogwood. Just to its right, next to the shed is another Dogwood which has already *shed* its leaves:

A bit further along the back fence is my Fennel, now cut down to about 15", but still acting as a leaf-trap

The Callicarpa has lost most of its leaves now, adding to the general carpet of decaying foliage and highlighting the purple berries:

We have had a couple of nice sunny days recently, but the Autumn sunlight is weak and watery, and with the sun being low in the sky it tends to spotlight a particular area of my garden rather than covering all of it at once.


Rosemary bushes in the spotlight



Purple Sprouting Broccoli in the spotlight

The "Sunset Boulevard" Rose is incredibly producing new buds. Doesn't it know it's November???

Whilst the Rose doesn't know when to stop flowering, the bulbs are over-eager to make their entry. Some of the Crocus bulbs I planted in September have decided to come up already. How do I persuade them that they need to wait a few months?? Make the weather turn cold, I suppose...

There's not much happening on the Veg front just now, but here's a token offering...

Webbs Wonderful lettuce are pretty hardy and will survive well enough unless we get some very low temperatures. Many of mine are under the cloches, but there wasn't room for all of them.

The growth of the "Golden Ball" turnips has slowed down dramatically. One of them is probably big enough to be harvested, but the others are still not much bigger than a large radish.

No, that one is NOT the size of a Swede, it's just an illusion!

With things slowing down in the garden I will probably shift the emphasis of my blog to food and cookery matters for a while, so I'm off now to do a bit of menu-planning.

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P.S.  Do any of you use Networked Blogs?  I've just added their Widget to my Blogger page, so why not use it to link your blog with mine?