"Read, Wrote"...

January's book for Book Club was Hilary Mantel's 'Wolf Hall'. This was supper.

• ROAST PHEASANT, WITH CIDER GRAVY, ROAST PARSNIPS, SAVOY CABBAGE
• FENNEL AND BLOOD ORANGE SALAD
• BAKED APPLES ON TOAST

THE FENNEL

Finely slice the fennel. A shallow bowl or plate. White ideally. Salt, pepper, walnut oil, mix. Skin the blood oranges. Finely slice the oranges in rounds. Neatly cover the dressed fennel with the rounds. Add any juice. Done. Simple.

THE APPLES

Double layer of foil on the roasting tin. Even if it is non-stick. Ideally the bread is wholemeal, the marmalade is orange, the cooking apples are Bramleys. But cooking apples are essential.

- Double layer the tin with foil

- Butter and marmalade each slice and put on the foil

- Core each apple and score round its middle and put on its bread

- Stuff each core with sultanas, packed tight

- Spoon a little caster sugar carefully on top of the sultanas

Leave the apples sitting quietly until the parsnips come out of the oven.

THE PHEASANT

Protect the breasts with bacon. A trivet is essential. An inch or so of cider underneath him. 30 minutes high; 20 minutes medium/low; 20 minutes resting in the warm. Or so. The skinny parsnips go into the hot goose fat when the pheasant comes out. Then boil the water. Link the cabbage's entry into the water with the time the parsnips need - the pheasant will be patient; the cabbage won't.

THE APPLES AGAIN

The apples have 30-60 minutes in a medium oven, which is about the time it takes to eat the rest of supper. Pluck off the top half of apple skin and the burned cap of sugar. Some will ask for cream. Humour them. Little do they know they are wrecking their toast.