sprouts

Not liking sprouts doesn't mean I don't eat them. Historically, I've had between two and four every Christmas, partly due to famillial festive pressure and partly because every year I think that my palate will have matured enough to appreciate their bitter cabbage-y-ness. I like cabbage, so sprouts should be a logical step.

I've cooked them before under duress - usually chopped up with enough honey and nuts (chestnuts or almonds) to please Mr Kellogg (sprout lovers tell me this is delicious - I felt it a waste of potential cake ingredients). But following much pleading in Sainsburys from bf (who loves them), decided to buy a stalkful. They did look nice on the stalk.

This is them: cooked with pancetta, butter, half a red onion and (a little bit of) caraway. They were boiled for a few minutes first, and then added to the rest of the mixture, and were still nice and crunchy inside when we ate them. And I don't know if it was the cold taking the edge off my tastebuds, but I actually thought they were pretty nice. Which is s good job, as there's still half a stalkful in the cupboard that need using up. Bf very pleased.

On the left of them is a lamb steak from Gonalston Farm Shop in Nottinghamshire (full love letter to Gonalston to come over next few weeks). God it was gorgeous. As you might be able to tell, there's a little bit of rosemary on the top, the fat is deliciously crispy and it is beautifully pink inside. What you can't tell from that picture is how meltingly delicious it was. I'm licking my lips as I type.