Main course was James Martin's Honey Fried Duck Breast with Winter Vegetables; bit too heavy on the old butter, so I halved the amount and it worked well without as much. On Mrs Fod's request, I added Jamie's 30 minute Dauphinoise, but I didn't really rate it and that was the first disappointment for me, it has all the right stuff, but doesn't quite have the body or creaminess of a "proper" Dauphinoise.
For dessert, we moved onto pomegranate surprise Panna Cotta with a pomegranate glaze (the surprise is that the pomegranate seeds ("arils") were hidden inside the pannacotta). The glaze called for 600g of sugar! But I was a little disappointed again, because I had wanted it to set like brittle boiled sweets, so I could do a "stained glass" effect, and it came out like a syrup...more research needed I think... That said, it was sweet and sharp and really offset the creamy pannacotta (which is easy to make and lovely when sprinkled with a little lemon zest whilst cooking) . Don't put the pannacotta in the freezer like I did, though; it's meant to be soft and creamy, not like hard ice-cream!
Meal over, port and cheese to finish, fireworks in the garden to welcome in 2011 and then I slipped on some moss and tore my ligament ...ho hum ... managed to cook a "hangover cure" breakfast this morning, though :-)
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