Oscar’s Birthday!

Three hours trying to amuse 17 eight years olds in a sports hall with a football, a basketball and a bouncy castle – it is a fact that they get more frightening as every year passes. And not one of the little buggers ate my sandwiches

I’m on my own tonight and I decided to try something different –

Beef fillet with pureed cauliflower and parsnip chips (for two)

Take half a cauliflower and cut it into small florets then heat in a saucepan heated with a good knob of butter (and with the lid on). After 5 minutes add a good glug of white wine and leave it to cook in the wine for a further 5 minutes. In the meantime peel a few parsnips, cut in half lengthways and cut into thin chips, then put them in a deep pan of sunflower oil for 5 minutes (hot but not too hot). Take them out and turn up the heat to get the oil really hot (but not smoking). In the meantime add some cream and dijon mustard to the cauliflower and use a hand blender to puree the mixture. finally add tarragon and season with salt and pepper.

Now put the beef fillets into a very hot frying pan (after seasoning and rubbing with olive oil). After a few minutes turn over and put the parsnip chips back into the (now) hot oil.

As soon as the parsnips start to turn brown, bring them out of the pan and onto some kitchen roll, then season. Take the fillets out of the frying pan when ready (for perfectly rare you just need a few mins on each side) and leave to rest.

Now put the cauliflower puree on the plates with the fillets on top (probably best sliced into three or four pieces and hopefully beautifully red inside) and the chips on the side – lovely. Personally I think the more mustard you use the better….

And then back to the X factor – finally Daniel goes – fingers crossed for Rachel to go next week… How is it that either of these people managed to stay on the show for so long – they are hopeless, simple as that…