The Last Supper

With Helena off to Switzerland and me off to Italy, we decided to have a Last Supper before we we are to be reunited in Vienna (Little jet setters that we are...)
It was a fairly rustic supper of warming, almost autumnal dishes, heavy with root vegetables, mushrooms and seasonal produce- but with the English climate as it currently is, I think we got away with it.

As a starter, we had pan fried polenta with girolles mushroom. This course was of particular excitement to me. I had been working on a Foraging article at Food and Travel Magazine and had been attracted to the deep yellow and ribbed girolles.

I have also been reading a lot recently about polenta (I had acquired a lovely hard back copy of River Cafe from a charity shop and have spent a lot of time looking into the cuisine for my impending Italy trip.) Amazingly, I have never had it before. And, like scallops were my discovery of 2009, polenta is definitely my discovery of 201o. I feel this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Roast butternut squash wedges with mixed roast nuts and a burnt aubergine and tahini dip, on the side.

This dish made us feel a little bit like we were in a wood cabin in the forest in Europe... Roast pheasant with a fennel puree.

My favourite!! I will follow this with a recipe as it's so simple and lovely and easy to do. Coffee cup cheesecake with a home made cherry brandy compote. Delightful, I think is the best word for this.

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