The Wise Old Sage

I have to thank Irenethegardener for introducing me to the Kitchen Diaries of Nigel Slater as a birthday present last year.  Fitting then that at the end of 2010, on the night when the autobiographical 'Toast' was aired on BBC TV, I cooked his pheasant recipe ( Nigel Slater - Kitchen Diaries: A pot roast pheasant with celery and sage,  page 25)

Sadly the only ingredient I could harvest from my kitchen garden was the wise old sage but the pheasants were proudly labelled 'West Wight: some buckshot within'. I could even hear the echos of gunshot across the road at Afton Farm as I browned my mis-matched pair in the pan.

Now I must confess to holding mixed feelings about game-bird farming.  Where I live they are now so abundant as to be a public health hazard.  Pyschotic pheasants seem to inhabit every hedgerow bottom with their will they/won't they throw themselves in front of your wheels, every damn time you set out on a country lane. They are also frequent visitors to the garden bird feeder that we even named one particularly  vocal chap, 'Lucky'...

Not so lucky though the two ( or more correctly Brace ) in my pot tonight, but what a delicious evenings menu of both food and TV viewing.

 'Toast' was the best TV programme I had watched all Xmas.  It so accurately portrayed, without sentiment the drabness of those 50s years whilst conveying the young Slater's path to culinary liberation.  The whole cast was admirable but the young actors were perfect in their roles and I loved Mr Slater's mischevious cameo appearance at the end.   The screenplay was as apt and tempting as the man's writing - not a wasted word. 

But, then who wouldn't be 'awakened' by such a gorgeous gardener. No wonder Nigel's yearnings encourage him to recapture those lost feelings in his Veg patch!   Happy New Year indeed!