The weekend cook: Thomasina Miers’ recipes for cassoulet and chocolate mousse

At last, a reason to celebrate: Easter is just a week away, and spring buds and blossom are all around. Goodbye winter, hello spring and a fresh cycle of life. Over the holiday, I intend to see friends and family, and not be hidden away in the kitchen the whole time, so I’ll be cooking simple but fun food. For Easter Sunday, I’m planning a light take on cassoulet, using neck of lamb instead of more traditional meats, and at a fraction of the cost, but still with that fantastically rich flavour. I’ll lighten the dish with some small spring onions, radishes and carrots, and give it a kick with a gutsy salsa verde made from wild garlic and watercress, both of which are in full season. As for pudding, I’m not looking much beyond a classic chocolate mousse with a scrunch of sea salt and a sprinkling of honeycomb.

Spring cassoulet with neck of lamb, borlotti beans, radish and watercress
At this time of year, lamb is tender and mild-tasting, so if you prefer something with more oomph, ask your butcher for hogget or mutton instead. Serves six.

1 whole head garlic (or 1 large bunch wild garlic leaves)
200g dried borlotti (or flageolet) beans, ideally soaked overnight in cold water
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
600g neck of lamb
3 medium carrots
25g butter
2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
300g radishes, topped, tailed and halved
2 bunches spring onions, topped, tailed, trimmed and cut in three lengthways
3 bay leaves
2 large sprigs rosemary
500ml stock
500ml white wine

For the salsa verde
1 large bunch watercress, large stems removed and discarded
1 handful wild garlic leaves, roughly chopped (optional)
1 large handful mint leaves
2 baby shallots, peeled and quartered
1 large clove garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tbsp capers
2 tbsp red-wine vinegar
100ml extra-virgin olive oil

Heat the oven to 160C/320F/gas mark 2½. Bash the head of garlic once with a rolling pin, to separate the cloves, then peel them. Put the beans in a pan and add enough cold water to come a finger’s length above the top of the beans. Add the bicarb and half the garlic (if you can get wild garlic, use half a bunch instead of the garlic cloves). Bring to a boil, then leave to simmer gently for 60-90 minutes, until the beans are very soft.

Meanwhile, cut the lamb into five or six pieces and season all over. Peel the carrots and cut them into bite-sized chunks roughly the same size as the radishes.

Heat a heavy casserole on a high flame, then add the butter and oil. When the fat is sizzling, add the lamb pieces and brown on all sides for a few minutes. Transfer the meat to a plate, tip the radishes, spring onions, carrots and the rest of the garlic into the pot, and saute for six to eight minutes, to colour. Add the herbs, browned lamb, stock and wine, bring to a simmer, then half-cover and transfer to the oven to cook for two hours, turning the meat once halfway through.

Meanwhile, make the salsa verde. Blitz all the ingredients bar the oil, in a food processor, then slowly stir in the oil until you have a loose-ish and vividly green sauce. Season to taste and put in a bowl.

Serve the lamb in shallow bowls with new potatoes or mash, and top with a dollop of salsa verde.

Chocolate mousse with honeycomb

To give this rich pudding an even more grown-up edge, add a tablespoon or two of dark rum, brandy or mescal to the beaten egg yolks. Serves four to six.

200g 70% cocoa solids dark chocolate, broken into pieces
Sea salt
5 eggs, separated
250ml double cream
50g caster sugar

For the honeycomb
200g caster sugar
5 tbsp golden syrup
2 tsp baking soda

Put the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water (make sure the base of the bowl is not in direct contact with the water), stir with a wooden spoon until melted and glossy, then season with a few pinches of salt. Put the egg whites in a large, squeaky-clean bowl, and whisk to stiff peaks.

In another bowl, whisk 100ml of the cream until it’s just thickening: if you whip it too much, it will make the mousse turn grainy, so you want to take the cream to the point where it just slides off a spoon in dollops.

In a third bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until the sugar dissolves and the mixture doubles in volume. Whisk in the chocolate, then gently fold in the thickened cream with a large metal spoon. Fold in a third of the egg whites, then fold the lot back into the remaining egg whites, taking care not to beat out too much air. Spoon the mousse into four to six ramekins or one large glass bowl, then refrigerate for a few hours, to set.

To make the honeycomb, oil and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. Put the sugar and syrup in a deep saucepan and, over a low heat, stir until the sugar dissolves. Turn up the heat and simmer until the mix turns a pale golden amber, then take off heat and whisk in the bicarbonate of soda (it will foam and fizz on contact, so take care). Pour out the mixture on to the prepared baking sheet and leave to set.

Serve the mousse with the rest of the cream softly whipped and chunks of honeycomb scattered on top.

Magnificent seven: easy, speedy weeknight pasta sauces

Felicity Cloake’s piece last month on Britain falling out of love with shop-bought pasta sauce garnered more than 1,000 shares and twice as many comments. Proof – if it were needed – that when it comes to sating our collective hunger, pasta enjoys a default position few other foodstuffs ever will.

What is less obvious, though, is why ready-made pasta sauce became so comprehensively embraced in the first place for there to be such a nationwide falling out. Making your own sauce from scratch, as Cloake put it, is laughably simple. And many take little longer than the time it takes to boil the pasta itself.

So here are our pasta quick fixes, perfect for the midweek post-work scramble to get dinner into tiny tummies before all semblance of domestic composure is permanently obliterated. They’re just ideas, endlessly adaptable, so long as you have a few things in your fridge and a few tricks up your sleeve. Any veg, steamed (broccoli, sweet potato, butternut squash) or roasted (tomato, cauliflower, beetroot), can be mashed in to a paste and enlivened with garlic, capers, olives, lemon zest; even miso.

Be sure to drain your pasta over a bowl: the cooking water is a useful thinner for thick sauces. Thin sauces can be thickened with cream of any kind – cheese, cream cheese, tahini ... Herbs and toasted nuts (hazel, pine, walnuts, almonds) bring colour and flourish to plated pasta. And with olive oil, salt, lemon juice and parmesan on the table, you’re sorted.

1 Sweetcorn

Stir a drained canful with one of tuna into a pan of seasoned bechamel. Mix in a handful of chopped curly parsley and some grated parmesan.

2 Cherry tomatoes

Roast a punnetful until caramelised and collapsing. Mix with steamed spinach and toasted pine nuts. Season and dress with olive oil.

3 Beetroot

Roast until tender (or use ready-cooked) and mix with seasoned cream cheese, toasted cumin seeds and lemon juice. Garnish with dill.

4 Sweet potato

Steam thick rounds until tender then mash with tahini and sweet white miso. Garnish with finely chopped chives.

5 Aubergine

Char whole in a dry pan then bake at 180C/350F/gas mark 4 until completely soft. Scrape flesh from skin, chop finely and mix with lemon juice and zest. Garnish with crumbled feta.

6 Broccoli

Steam florets until tender then fry in olive oil with garlic and chilli flakes, mashing everything together. Stir in lemon zest and juice.

7 Cauliflower

Roast half a head until tender and slightly charred. Mash with creme fraiche and lemon juice, season to taste and garnish with toasted hazelnuts.

How to make baked aubergine with lemon, thyme, feta and olives

One variegated thyme plant – that’s all that has survived the winter (so far) in a pot in my back garden. The other two thyme plants are either dead or doing a fabulous impression.

But the one that is hanging on is reason enough to venture out and pick fresh herbs.

It’s a small thing but it lets me (briefly) ignore winter and pretend (briefly as well) that spring is here.

This is especially welcome as thyme screams summer as if it can’t be bothered to acknowledge that either winter or spring even exist. Its aroma says Greece and southern France and sun and outdoor dining. With not a holiday in sight, these are important memories to savour.

Thyme is a grand partner for many ingredients including lemon and garlic and aubergine. Bake them together and dot with some black olives and feta cheese and you have a lovely side dish or a satisfying vegetarian meal: a bit of sunshine when the weather forecast is less than accommodating.

Baked aubergine with lemon, thyme, feta and olives

Sometimes (not always), garlic will turn blue when it’s cooked with an acid like lemon juice. Not to fear – it’s safe but if it should happen you can remove the garlic before serving if the colour bothers you. I use lovely Italian striata aubergines as they’re longer and thinner and fan out better. Small Japanese aubergines would work well too.

Serves 4 as a side dish or 2 as a main

400-500g aubergine, about 2
1 lemon, rinsed and sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
4-5 tbsp olive oil
small bunch of thyme
50g black olives, pitted
60g feta or goat’s cheese
Sea salt
Chilli pepper flakes, to garnish (optional)
Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, to garnish

Pre-heat oven to 160C. Slice the aubergines lengthwise, keeping the stem attached so it creates a fan shape. Each slice should be about ¾-1cm wide. Lay a large piece of aluminium foil in a baking dish that is large enough to hold the aubergines comfortably side by side.

Place the aubergines on the foil and brush the outer skin and cut sides with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

Place a slice of lemon and garlic in between each slice, along with a sprig of thyme. Wrap the aluminium foil around the aubergines to create a foil parcel. Place in the oven and bake until the aubergines are cooked through and fragrant with the herbs and lemon – about 45 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven, open the parcel and dot with the cheese and olives and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes until the cheese is softened and warm. Garnish with chilli pepper flakes if using and a healthy drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Top restaurant critic sparks outrage after writing a zero-star review of progressive fast food restaurant

A recent review by The New York Times, however, has bucked the trend and sparked outrage across the internet.

NYT restaurant critic Pete Wells wrote a scathing zero-star review of one branch of LocoL in California and has received a backlash as a result - some people have even canceled their subscriptions to the paper.

Part of the reason people have responded so strongly is that LocoL is a restaurant with honourable intentions - the idea behind the mini-chain is to offer good quality, healthy food at affordable prices to some of the poorest, most neglected neighbourhoods of the US.

But Wells is used to reviewing fine-dining establishments, and he was not impressed.

He slammed both the service and the menu, claiming what he ate tasted “like hospital food.”

The biggest offender for Wells was the chicken: “LocoL’s chicken is an amalgam of chicken bits invisibly bound together.

“Inside a thin sheath of fried coating, this composite of ground meat is mysteriously bland and almost unimaginably dry,” he wrote.

It’s not all negative though, and the critic does commend LocoL’s wider mission, but that didn’t stop the furious reaction the review provoked.

Fans of the restaurant jumped to LocoL’s defence, arguing the critic had been unnecessarily harsh.

“Lovely takedown piece on a small company genuinely trying to make underserved communities better through food, innovation and employment,” commented one person on Facebook.

Another claimed that the restaurant was an example of west coast food scene being “too innovative for the suits on the east coast.”

But LocoL chef Roy Choi managed to take the high road, writing a lengthy response to Wells’ review on his Instagram account: “I welcome Pete's review. It tells me a lot more about the path. I don't know Pete but he is now inextricably linked to LocoL forever,” he said.

How to make unusual food combinations according to the woman who wrote The Flavour Thesaurus

The Flavour Thesaurus – a bible for anyone who cooks by grabbing ingredients from the fridge – includes tips on imaginative food combinations from white chocolate and olives to bacon and pineapple.

But the book, which has been translated into over a dozen languages, still isn’t comprehensive enough for its writer and tireless food-lover Niki Segnit, who has revealed to The Independent the combinations she wishes she could now include.

“In the south of Italy they pair aubergine and chocolate. It’s like a chocolate pancake,” she said. “Slice and fry the aubergines, and put booze in a chocolate ganache with dried peel and nuts. It’s incredibly delicious."

The combination works because aubergine has a neutral flavour, she explained.

Floral raspberry and deep and musky elderberry is another combination she wishes she could have included. “It’s one of those very harmonies matches."

Pear cooked in sauvignon blanc, rather than the traditional red, is another winner, she added.

“Red wine can dominate but this combination gives that crispness and the herbal qualities of a sauvignon blanc.”

But pear and nutmeg, she cautions, is one flavour she certainly wouldn’t include.

“My poor husband blind tasted the combinations and I gave him a very nutmeggy pear pudding and he thought it was parsnip.

“It was really horriblem but those mistakes can teach you things," she said.

Segnit hopes her book, which she spent three years working on before it was released in 2010, will also have an impact on food waste by giving people the confidence to step away from recipe books and experiment with what is in their cupboard.

Novices in the kitchen who are daunted by flavours should simply allow themselves the time to gain a footing, says Segnit.

“When you are cooking something up that you are using for the first time always take a bit, try to be on your own, concentrate, close your eyes, and really taste it.”

Try some of Segnit's flavour combinations taken from The Flavour Thesaurus below.

Spiced apple and golden syrup to glazed cinnamon pies

Spiced apple and golden syrup pie

This pie reminds me of a really good British pudding, a great one you get from a proper pub lunch. The apples are slightly spiced and are rich and sweet with the toffee flavour of golden syrup, and it is topped with crisp buttery bread – think a crispy bread and butter pudding.

Serves 8

150 g unsalted butter
1.5 kg  apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
110 g caster (superfine) sugar
250 g golden syrup
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
1½ teaspoons ground allspice
300 ml  thick (double/heavy) cream
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1 loaf pane di casa, crusts removed, torn into 1 cm (½ in) and 2 cm (¾ in) pieces (550 g crumbs)
100 g pecans, chopped
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
vanilla ice cream to serve

Pastry

200 g (7 oz/11/3 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
55 g  caster (superfine) sugar
125 g unsalted butter, chopped
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar mixed with 80 ml cold water and 4 ice cubes

For the pastry, combine the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the butter pieces and toss to coat. Turn out onto a clean work surface and, using a pastry cutter (or flat-bladed knife), roughly cut the butter into the flour mixture (leave some large chunks of butter as this will help the pastry to become nice and flaky as it cooks). Create a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add the vinegar water in 3 batches, working it in with your hands to form a rough dough (you may not need all of the water). Shape into a rough disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 3 hours. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface to a circle with a thickness of 3 mm (1/8 in). Line a 22 cm (8. in) cast-iron ovenproof frying pan or pie dish with the pastry. Chill for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make the pie filling. Melt 50 g (1. oz) of the butter in a large deep saucepan over medium heat. Add the apples, sugar, golden syrup, cardamom and allspice and cook, stirring, for 15 minutes or until the apples are tender. Remove from the heat and stir through the cream and vanilla, then leave to cool completely. Melt the remaining butter and combine with half the breadcrumbs and the pecans in a bowl with the salt, using your hands to make sure the breadcrumbs are completely coated in the mixture. Stir the remaining breadcrumbs through the apple mixture. Preheat the oven to 180 C. (350 F). Pour the apple mixture into the pastry case and top with the nutty bread mixture. Bake for 45 minutes or until the pastry and breadcrumbs are a dark golden colour. Remove from the oven and rest for 30 minutes before serving with ice cream.

Caramel apple pie

In the picture, this pie is housed in a family heirloom: a cast-iron frying pan that we’ve had since I was born. When I was seven my parents took my sisters and me on an amazing six-month trip around Australia in a caravan. This pan was the vessel for months of Dad’s bolognese, sausages, baked beans and freshly caught fish, quite possibly pancakes (if we were lucky) but never pie. Nostalgia can be attached to the strangest things but I’ve always loved the fact that this pan lives permanently in our family kitchen and I jumped at the opportunity to put it in the book. This caramel apple pie is such a cinch to make with a good pan and a good piece of bought pastry.

Serves 8

850 g sharp green apples, e.g. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
450 g jar dulce de leche
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
60 ml pouring (single/light) cream
2 x 435 g  frozen Careme vanilla bean pastry, thawed, or other bought sweet shortcrust rolled to a thickness of 3 mm (1/8 in)
35 g vanilla custard powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon demerara sugar

You can make your own dulce de leche by boiling two 395g (14 oz) tins of sweetened condensed milk, if you prefer. Remove and discard the labels from the tins, then make two holes in the lid of each using a tin opener. Place the tins in a saucepan, open side up, and fill the saucepan with cold water to about 1 cm below the tops of the tins.

Bring to the boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium–low and simmer for 3 hours. Keep topping up the water. Carefully remove the tins and leave to cool, then open the tins and scoop out the caramel. You may have a bit left over after making this recipe but that’s no bad thing!

Preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F). Cook the apples, dulce de leche and cinnamon in a large saucepan over medium–high heat, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until the apples are slightly softened. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely. Stir through the cream. Line a 26 cm ovenproof frying pan or pie dish with half of the pastry. Scatter the custard powder over the top then spoon in the apple mixture. Top with the remaining pastry, trim any excess from the top layer that doesn’t match up with the bottom and press to seal. Cut a cross in the top of the pastry using a sharp knife. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg then scatter with the demerara sugar. Bake for 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Rest for 30 minutes before serving.

Glazed apple and cinnamon handpies

These handpies are like apple pie and a doughnut in one. The flaky fried pastry and caramelised apples is an absolutely wicked combination, and the crunchy Krispy Kreme-style glaze is the perfect finish. I took these to a picnic and they were devoured in minutes. They don’t have a great shelf life, so make sure they’re eaten on the day you make them (it won’t be hard).

Makes 6

600 g  plain (all-purpose) flour
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
200 g  cold unsalted butter, chopped
300 ml cold milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Apple filling

40 g unsalted butter
250 g  dark muscovado sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 apples, peeled, cored and
sliced into thin rounds
1 egg, lightly beaten
vegetable oil, for frying

Doughnut glaze

90 g  pure icing (confectioners’) sugar
25 g unsalted butter, melted
1½ tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and roughly cut into the flour (leave some larger chunks of butter in the dough, as this will make the pastry lovely and flaky as it cooks). Add the milk and vinegar and stir to combine, then knead until the mixture just forms a dough. Shape into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 3 hours. For the apple filling, melt the butter in a saucepan with the sugar, cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of water over low heat. Cook the apples in batches for 10 minutes or until tender. Remove the apples using a slotted spoon and leave to cool. Cook the syrup for a further minute or until very thick and reduced. Cool completely.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface. Cut out six 10 cm circles and six 11 cm circles. Place about 4 apple slices in the centre of each smaller circle, and top with 1 teaspoon of the reduced syrup. Brush the edges with the beaten egg, then place the larger rounds over the top, pressing the edges together to seal.

Half-fill a deep, heavy-based saucepan or deep-fryer with vegetable oil and heat to 170 C (340 F). (If you don’t have a kitchen thermometer you can test if the oil is hot enough by dropping in a small cube of bread; it should sizzle and turn brown in 20 seconds.) Working in 3 batches, cook the pies for 4 minutes on each side until golden and cooked through. Remove them using a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Leave to cool slightly.

To make the glaze, whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Dip the pies in the glaze and drain them on a wire rack set over a tray. Serve while still warm.

Thomasina Miers’ game recipes – steamed venison buns and pigeon with lentils

Game has a fusty image, which is odd when you consider how many of us are concerned about healthy eating. Unlike farmed meat, game roams freely and, because of its foraged diet, is naturally low in fat, rich in protein and full of flavour; it can also be great value. Compare that with packaged foods crammed with additives to prolong shelf life, improve appearance and, in the case of meat, pumped full of unknown quantities of antibiotics. Game is generally free of all that; it’s common sense to give it a go.

Venison steamed buns

A street food classic to have at home. Beware: they are very moreish. Allow two hours for proving. Makes 12.

600g venison steak, cut into thick strips
500g plain flour
60g sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
7g fast action yeast
60ml whole milk
150ml water
20ml sesame oil
25ml brown rice vinegar
1 tsp each black and white sesame seeds, toasted

For the marinade
2 tbsp brown rice vinegar
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the carrot pickle
2 carrots, shaved with a vegetable peeler
2 tbsp brown rice vinegar
A squeeze of lime juice
¼ tsp caster sugar

For the mayonnaise
150g mayonnaise
40g gochujang (Korean chili paste)

In a bowl, whisk the marinade ingredients, season, then add the meat and toss. In a second bowl, mix the pickle ingredients. Put both bowls in the fridge and leave to marinate. In a small bowl, mix the mayo and gochujang and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Put the yeast in a small bowl. Heat the milk and water until tepid, then pour over the yeast, stir and leave to froth slightly, then stir into the flour with the oil and vinegar.

Turn out the dough on to a work surface (don’t worry if it looks scraggy) and knead for seven to 10 minutes, until smooth and bouncy. Shape into a ball and put in a lightly oiled bowl. Loosely cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place to prove for an hour, or until doubled in size.

Turn out the dough on to the work surface and knead for five minutes. Roll it into a fat sausage and cut into 12 evenly sized pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and flatten into a neat circle with the palm of your hand. Fold the circles into half-moons, and put a small, lightly oiled piece of baking paper between each fold. Lay the buns on an oven tray lined with more oiled baking paper, cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for an hour, until swollen.

Meanwhile, heat a little oil in a very hot frying pan and sear the venison in batches for two to three minutes, until browned all over but pink in the middle. Toss the meat in the toasted sesame seeds, cover in foil and leave to rest while you steam the buns.

Tear away the exposed baking paper around the proved buns (ie, so the bases remain lined) and lower them carefully into a metal or bamboo steamer (do so in batches, if need be). Cover and steam for 10 minutes, until the buns are puffed and glossy.

Remove the paper from the bases and folds of the cooked buns, stuff with the venison, carrot pickle and mayonnaise, and tuck in.

Pigeon, lentils, mushrooms and apple

Allow two pigeon breasts per person (or one partridge or pheasant breast, if you’d rather). Serves four to six.

45g dried porcini, soaked, or fresh, sliced
60g butter
1 small onion, peeled and finely diced
1 small carrot, peeled and finely diced
2 tbsp thyme leaves, plus extra to serve
1 large garlic clove, peeled and sliced
300g puy lentils
1 litre chicken stock
1 bay leaf
8-12 pigeon breasts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp red-wine vinegar, plus ¼ tsp extra for the apples

2 apples, very finely sliced
30g hazelnuts, toasted and finely sliced
1 tbsp olive oil

Soak the dried porcini, if using, in boiling water for 10 minutes, then drain. Heat two-thirds of the butter in a deep saucepan and saute the onion, carrot and half the thyme for 10 minutes, until just softened. Add the garlic, fry for a few minutes, then stir in the lentils, until coated.

Pour in the stock, add the bay leaf and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and leave to cook for 25-30 minutes, until almost all the liquid is absorbed and the lentils are tender.

Meanwhile, heat a wide frying pan until very hot, add half the remaining butter and fry the mushrooms until golden and stir into the lentils.

Season the breasts. Add the rest of the butter to the same pan and, once sizzling, sear the breasts for two to three minutes on each side, until golden on the outside and pink in the middle, basting as they fry. Transfer to a plate, cover with foil and leave to rest for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, add a tablespoon of vinegar to the pan and stir, scraping up any caramelised bits, then set aside. Combine the apples, nuts, remaining thyme and vinegar, and the oil in a bowl, and season to taste.

Slice the breasts (add any juices to the reduced sauce). Spoon the lentils on to plates, top with pigeon, scatter with a little thyme, spoon on the pan juices and serve with the salad.

And for the rest of the week…

The bun dough freezes well, so make double and keep some for another occasion (you can also use it for bite-sized buns for fun party food). The venison marinade works well on beef, too – try marinating a whole joint and pair with noodles and an Asian salad. The apple salad is also delicious with pork chops or roast pork – just add potatoes, preferably dauphinoise.