Saturday 13 September - A Birthday Meal

Bob had a bit of a milestone birthday this week, so we decided to cook on Saturday rather than go out to eat.

For a starter I remembered a ham hock that was in the freezer, and found a recipe by Tom Kerridge that sounded ideal to use it up.

The hock was simmered for several hours with carrots, celery, bay leaves, clove studded onions and a dash of vinegar.

Once the meat was tender, it was shredded away from the bone, and all the fat was discarded.

Gelatine was added to the stock, along with chopped tarragon, and some toasted mustard seeds. The meat was then packed into the serving ramekins and left to set in the fridge.

To serve with this some toasted bread, and some pickled beetroot.

I roasted the beetroot in foil, and then peeled - I picked a variety of different colours from the garden, although they all taste pretty similar.

This was again a Tom Kerridge recipe, the pickling liquid was a rather unusual mixture of red wine vinegar and redcurrant jelly, reduced to a syrup, and mixed with dijon mustard.

We also added some piccalilli to the plate for colour.

For the main course, a simply fried fillet of salmon, which was served on a bed of samphire, peas and asparagus.

I added a champagne and chive sauce from one of Rick Steins books to add an extra dimension to the dish.

I decided on lemon tarts for the next course, and was rather anxious about making individual ones as I didn't want the pastry to be too thick. I made a sweet shortcrust using egg instead of water to bind it, and was pleased to find it didn't shrink in the tins when it was blind baked.

No soggy bottoms on these, and apart from the cracks that appeared when they cooled down I was really pleased with the end result.

Finally, because it was a special occasion, the only way to finish the meal for me was with a lovely bottle of port, and a big piece of stilton.