Donald Russell have been on my radar for quite some time as when I was at BBC Good food years ago they were always being spoken about. It has taken me 5 years to actually get my first order in and boy am I glad I did. Part of what they sent me was a small Game mixture which included a stuffed, boned pheasant and 2 stuffed boned partridges which I decided to cook with some crispy roast potatoes and parsnips, some honeyed carrots, shredded cabbage and most importantly proper gravy and bread sauce for Sunday lunch today as I had my Ma coming round.

The meat was great and so easy to cook. I have quite a bit to test from Donald Russell and I will keep you updated but for now, I am LOVING them. 

what a piggy

lunch

www.donaldrussell.com

Here are my top 5 tips to ensure a great roast and the most fantastic bread sauce recipe. I hope it helps over the Christmas period…

1. Always season your meat well and if your cooking a bird or meat that is not that fatty like Turkey or any game, you might want to layer it with plenty of streak bacon and a bit of butter.

2. Alway cook your meat for the first 20 minutes in a really hot oven, (about 220C). This will ensure a crisp skin and good colour. Then turn it down to about 180C for the rest of the cooking time.

3. Always rest your meat after its cooked. 15 minutes is normally enough. To do this transfer the meat to a plate and cover with foil, unless you are wanting crispy skin or crackling. Save any juices it seeps for the gravy.

4. For your roasties use King edward potatoes. Then par boil them until the start to break around the edges before roasting them. I have stopped using goose fat as while the flavour is great you get less of a crunch which I only seem to get with a good olive oil, (not extra virgin).

5. When making gravy always use fresh stock from the chiller cabinet at your supermarket (or home made) for best results. The reason being is that while the stock reduces it will become really viscose and sticky and really concerntrate the flavour. Cubed stock cubes are full of salt so as they reduce they become saltier. When you use fresh stock you can season at the end and concerntrate on the flavour quality.

The ultimate bread sauce recipe.

1 onion, quartered

6-8 whole cloves

6-8 whole peppercorns

2 bay leaves

600ml whole milk

3-4 thickish slices of fresh or stale white bread, trimmed of crusts and turned into breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons double cream

1/2 teaspoon butter

a pinch of ground alspice

a pinch of ground cloves

salt and pepper

Place the onion, cloves, peppercorns, bay and milk in a small saucepan. Over a low heat bring to the boil, then turn off and leave to infuse for about a hour. Drain the flavoured milk, discarding the  aromatics and reserving the milk.

Stir in the breadcrumbs, cream, butter, spices and seasoning and cook gently until thickened. Serve warm with poultry.

I leave tomorrow for Italy, it’ll be my first proper holiday in 5 years. As you can expect I am beyond excited. We touch down in Pisa and spend some time in Florence, before heading to Tuscany for 3 days, then driving down to Rome and finally hopping on a train to Puglia for a week. All gastro areas so I intend to munch my way through and come up with a whole array of new recipes to share with you.

I did a shoot for the Christmas InStyle yesterday. It was so exciting, I was dressed up in posh frocks (very posh for me) and had my hair and make up done, then cooked up a storm. You will have to go buy it and have a look but the recipes were splendid. I’ll give you a clue though. It’s a lazy girl’s Christmas heaven.

Anyway - I have tons to do before I jet off so bye for now and speak in two weeks. xx

This has been a long time in the making and I hope it becomes everything I want it to be. What I would really love is for this site to be used as a companion to all cooks, whether you are looking for some inspirational recipes or want actual help with some skills and techniques – something which has got lost in the cookery market these days.

You see, I believe that while there are undoubtedly more celebrity chefs and cookery books on the market than ever before, it is also a fact that fewer and fewer people are actually cooking. When you ask them why this is, they always come up with the same answers. Some say they do not have enough time; others say they don’t understand why you would spend time cooking something when it only takes a few minutes to gobble it down, but most people say that they simply do not know how!

I don’t believe that people are born great cooks. Instead I think that everyone has it in them to be an amazing cook – it’s just a matter of a little fine tuning. This means that I have adopted a back-to-basics approach and you’ll see that my recipes have been reinvented to suit our modern lives, taking timings, gadgets and ingredients into consideration.

Each month I will post a cookery skill. This month it’s shortcrust pastry – my cookery nemesis! I’ll show you exactly how to make it, as well as pointing out that you can’t mess it up as there are ways to salvage it. You can treat this like a monthly cookery course and to inspire you to take the bull by the horns and really get to grips with the skill, I will demonstrate it with some of my magical recipes.

But that’s not it. Another thing that can put people off cooking is when an ingredient is used in a recipe but then you never need to use it again. So, I am going to show you how to get the best out of your ingredients by each month putting up a ‘3 ways with …’ post. This could be something like soy sauce, rice wine vinegar or even pomegranate molasses. By the end of it you’ll really be utilizing your store cupboard and won’t feel worried about buying a certain ingredient again.

I will also be blogging regularly, giving updates on what’s going on in Gizzi World, which will be everything from work news, to my social life, travels, and any other recipes or foody thoughts. Knowing me, I will probably be boring you with everything including what I’m having for dinner. I will also be giving you the lowdown on what restaurants, bands or products are currently rocking my world and there will be a forum where you guys can talk to each other, which I promise I’ll contribute to whenever I get the chance.

Finally, I’m personally really looking forward to this interactive journey and I would love it if you wanted to come along for the ride and hopefully learn a thing or two as well. And because of this I really want your feedback. What do you like? What don’t you like? What do you want to see? Give it to me – I can handle it! So enjoy and speak soon.