As Strong As Soup

With a chill in the air and a sky full of grey clouds, I was thinking about autumnal dishes. Then the sun came out, the temperature shot up and I forgot about the English autumn and found myself thinking about south-west France instead (I tend to do that every so often, I have to admit). As a result, I came up with this French-inspired dish. Perhaps I should be calling it Hachis Parmentier au Canard or something like that, but given my endless struggles with the French language, maybe it's best that I don't. This should serve 3 people unless any of them are as greedy as me, in which case it will comfortably serve 2. 1 small handful of dried porcini mushrooms (I suppose I should say cèpes) 2 duck legs 1 onion, chopped leaves from 3 or 4 sprigs of thyme leaves from 2 small sprigs of savory, chopped (this isn't crucial if you don't have any) 1 garlic clove, crushed 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1 tbsp armagnac 200 ml red wine (southern French ideally, of course) 2...

Autumn’s definitely here and the darker evenings call for comfort food. Cottage pie is definitely comforting. Since I didn’t have any leftover meat to make it with, I decided to try some pork mince rather than the usual beef or lamb. (Despite using pork I can’t quite bring myself to call it a Swineherd’s pie.) Fruity, sour flavours often go well with pork so I decided to throw in some sour stuff and balance it with some sweet bits. This is a bit over the top, maybe, but if the balance of sweet and sour is right, then it makes a refreshing alternative to the usual taste of a cottage. For the “filling”: 2 small or 1 large carrot, finely chopped 1 onion, finely chopped 500 g pork mince 5 or 6 mushrooms – common button ones will do – chopped coarsely 1 apple, cut into big chunks Skin of ½ preserved lemon, finely chopped ½ tsp dried chilli flakes 2 tsp cumin 2 tsp sumac 1 tsp ground dried lime 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses 2 tbsp honey 1 tbsp lemon juice 2 tbsp tomato purée...