Wild garlic salad with poached egg

 

If you’ve walked in woodland, especially along river banks, in the last few weeks and seen some bluebells, you’ve probably experienced the smell of wild garlic in the air. It’s the leaves, as well as the flowers, that we tend to use rather than the bulbs which are much smaller than with normal garlic. It’s not difficult to find and you can’t mistake it. Lots of it grows together and it’s got green leaves that are about six inches long that grow in clusters straight from the ground. And if you’re in any doubt, pick a leaf, crunch it in your hand and put it to your nose. If it smells of garlic, it’s wild garlic. It’s that obvious.

It’s got a similar taste to domestic garlic but milder without the bitter taste and can be eaten raw or cooked like spinach. Just make sure it’s very well washed and, if using with a dressing, well drained.

We’ve frequently use it on our menu to flavour a salad which makes for a lovely quick lunch or supper dish and is a timely reminder that Summer’s on its way.

Serves one

One fresh free-range egg

A handful of mixed salad leaves - torn

A handful of wild garlic leaves – torn

A couple of teaspoons of vinaigrette

A slice of bread – cut into cubes

Rapeseed oil

Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (gas mark 6)

Toss the cubes of bread in a little rapeseed oil and salt and pepper. Spread them out on a baking tray and bake in the oven for five to ten minutes until golden brown.

Meanwhile, bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil and add a little salt. Break the egg into a cup. Using a large spoon, swirl the water in the pan until you’ve got a whirlpool. While it’s still spinning, pour the egg into the middle and turn the heat very low. Place a lid on the pan and leave to cook for three minutes after which you should have a runny yoke with the white set all around it.

During the three minutes cooking time, place the salad leaves and wild garlic into a bowl, spoon aver the vinaigrette and toss.

To serve, pile the dressed salad onto a plate, scatter the still-hot croutons over and around and, using a slotted spoon, lift the egg from the water, rest on a kitchen towel to remove excess water and then place on the top of the salad leaves.

Ox tongue and beetroot with ramsons and horseradish

It’s all too easy to turn one’s nose up and something like ox tongue but, as I’ve discussed in the adjacent column, if you’ve decided to eat well-reared and slaughtered meat you might as well go for all the bits of the animal; particularly when it tastes as good as this.

You can buy pressed tongue from all good butchers but, if you wanted to do it yourself, it’s easy enough and so cheap with enough meat to feed a family of four . It just needs a little forethought. Take one salted ox tongue and soak it overnight in plenty of cold water. Drain, place in a large pan, cover with cold water while adding a few peppercorns and something like a couple of carrots, sticks of celery and a bay leaf. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 to 2½ hours until tender. Remove from the water and allow to cool a little before peeling off the skin and chilling well before slicing.

As for the ramsons (wild garlic), along with asparagus it’s one of my favourite seasonal vegetables of the moment and I love it because it’s free. Found in moist wooded areas, it’s recognisable by the garlic smell in the air and when the leaves are crushed between your fingers.

Serves two as a starter or light lunch

A few slices of ox tongue

One whole uncooked beetroot

Horseradish sauce

The zest of half a lemon

A large pinch of smoked paprika

Extra virgin rapeseed (or olive) oil

A handful of wild garlic (ramsons) leaves

A couple of walnuts or two or three hazelnuts

A few salad leaves of your choice

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Wash the beetroot but don’t cut off the stalk, just trim back a little with scissors. Piercing or cutting into beetroot before cooking dilutes the flavour. Place in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes until it can be easily pierced with a skewer or pointed knife. Drain and allow to cool enough to handle.

To peel, you can use a potato peeler or sharp knife but the slices have a propensity to end up in the shape of a 50 pence piece. We use an old tea towel to rub the skins off but it will turn the towel pink.

To prepare the wild garlic, bring a large pan of water to the boil, blanch the leaves in it for a few seconds (this kills any germs or bugs) and then quickly drain and plunge into iced or very cold water. Drain well. Place in a blender, add the nuts, a little salt and black pepper and blend, adding enough oil to make a slushy sauce.

Place a teaspoon of horseradish sauce, the lemon zest and paprika in a small jar, add a little rapeseed oil and shake until well blended.

Place slices of ox tongue and beetroot on the plate along with the salad leaves. Spoon over then spoon over the horseradish and ramsons dressings.

Sausage and black pudding casserole

Sausage and black pudding casserole might seem like a winter dish but it’s so popular in our restaurants that we often have it on the menu, no matter what the weather.

It seems obvious but a good casserole depends on the quality of the ingredients you use. Obviously you’re depending on someone else’s product when using sausages and black pudding so do try to get the best you can. It’ll make such a difference to the dish.

And for those people who aren’t that keen on black pudding, give this dish a go; particularly if it the texture you don’t like. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Serves four

600g good quality pork sausages
250g good quality black pudding - cut into cubes
Four carrots - peeled and roughly chopped
Half a swede - peeled and roughly chopped
One large onion – peeled and finely diced
Four sticks of celery – cut into  1cm pieces
One litre of chicken stock

A couple of sprigs of thyme
Two bay leaves
A handful of pearl barley

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Vegetable oil
 
Unless you like the look of pink sausages, lightly brown the sausages under the grill. They don’t need to be cooked, just coloured.

Pour a couple of tablespoons of oil into a large pan or casserole that can sit on the cooker. Heat, add the carrots, swede, onion and celery and cook over a low-to-medium heat until they start to brown. Add the chicken stock, bay leaves and thyme. Bring to a boil, add the pearl barley and allow to cook for a further ten minutes.

Then add the black pudding and allow to cook for a few minutes and you’ll notice the pudding start to break down a little and enrich the sauce. Turn the heat down and add the sausages along with a little black pepper. Cook for a further 20 to 25 minutes, tasting and adding salt if necessary.

To serve, pile into warmed bowls and accompany with crusty bread. Or, if you wished, it goes great with mash, bubble and squeak or a few new potatoes.

Pan-fried Coley, tomato and fennel salad

Coley is one of the least expensive fish in the cod family and is generally regarded as a sustainable fish, unlike everyone’s favourite cod. On the fishmonger’s slab, the flesh appears a little pinky/grey but turns white when it’s cooked. Also sometimes known as saithe and coalfish, coley can be used in any recipe calling for cod. For reasons of speed and ease of cooking, thrift and the welfare of the cod itself, it really is worth a try. And if coley’s not available, hake is a great alternative.

Serves two

Two 200gm coley fillets – skin on, scaled and pin-boned by the fishmonger

One head of fennel

Two tomatoes

Six cherry tomatoes - halved

Extra virgin rapeseed or olive oil

A few mixed salad leaves

Lemon juice

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Butter

Flour for dusting the fish

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C , gas mark 6

Cut the fennel in half length-ways, remove the core and cut the remainder into 5mm-thick slices. Heat an oven-proof pan, pour in two or three tablespoons of oil, add the fennel slices and allow them to brown a little over a medium heat, stirring occasionally as you add a little salt and pepper and a few drops of lemon juice. Meanwhile, remove the eye from the two large tomatoes, cut them into wedges and add them to the saucepan. Give a further stir and place the pan, uncovered, in the oven for around ten minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Heat a frying pan and add a little oil. Dust the skin of the fish fillets with flour, shaking off any excess, and place in the frying pan, skin side down, over a medium heat. Season with a little salt and pepper but don’t move the fish. After four or five minutes of frying, add a walnut-sized knob of butter to the pan and carefully lift the fish to see if the skin appears golden and crisp. When it is, carefully turn the fillets over to cook for another three minutes.

While the fish finishes cooking, drain the oil from the fennel and tomato mix but make sure you reserve it as it makes the perfect dressing for the salad. Place the salad leaves and cherry tomatoes in a bowl together, pour over the reserved oil and toss. Pile onto plates and place the fish fillets on top or alongside.

Broken biscuit cake

I’m sorry to admit this – but I’m a bit of a fraud. The editor of the Newcastle Journal employs me to provide him with a recipe every other week on the basis that a lot of people consider cooking difficult and appreciate a little guidance. Therefore, one assumes that the recipes are sophisticated and provide an insight into the years of learning and research that the average restaurateur experiences over his or her lifetime. Well, the truth is, a lot of cooking’s not that difficult. In fact, anyone can make a cake out of broken biscuits. So, here’s a short recipe that makes enough for a few dozen biscuits, depending on their size.

One kg of a good quality dark chocolate

500g of butter

100g shredded or desiccated coconut

150g walnuts - roughly chopped

Three tablespoons of honey or golden syrup

One packet of Hobnobs – broken into 1cm pieces

Three balls of stem ginger – finely chopped

Choose a pan of the right size that a heat-proof, such as Pyrex, bowl sits neatly and securely on top. Bring an inch or so of water to the boil in the pan and place the bowl on top, making sure the water cannot touch the bowl. Lower the heat until the water’s simmering. Add the butter, honey and chocolate to the bowl and allow to melt, stirring occasionally.

When fully melted and combined, mix with the coconut, walnuts, stem ginger and broken hobnobs. Spoon into a greaseproof paper-lined cake tin and smooth until flat. Place in the fridge to set, removing halfway through to cut into pieces so as to make it easy to break once fully set.

Lovely served with ice-cream and fruit.

Whisky-cured fillet of beef Carpaccio with radishes

If you think this sounds posh and very much a restaurant dish you’d be wrong. It’s a terribly simple starter or, maybe when served with a little crusty bread, light meal that’s essentially very thinly-sliced raw beef. It’s hardly cooking at all.

The name Carpaccio allegedly comes from the fact that the colour of the meat is similar to a particular red used in the paintings of the Italian master Vittore Carpaccio (whose real name, I understand, was Scarpazza which, if used by the artist, would have changed the name of this recipe).

The beef’s marinated for an hour or so in whisky. Therefore, depending on the whisky you choose will affect the flavour. I particularly like using a peaty Islay malt.

Serves four

400g of best beef fillet – trimmed of any sinew

Two teaspoons of black peppercorns

Flaked sea salt

Sugar

Some good whisky – preferably a malt

Six to eight radishes - washed with stems and roots left on

A couple of handfuls of watercress

Wholegrain mustard

Oil for sealing the meat

Crack open the peppercorns using a mortar and pestle or, if you don’t have one, use freshly-ground black pepper. Place the pepper in a bowl along with a teaspoon of the flaked salt, a teaspoon of sugar and two tablespoons of whisky. Mix well and add the fillet of beef; coating all sides with the mixture. Cover with clingfilm and allow to marinate for an hour or two, turning or shaking occasionally. Remove and allow to drain but don’t remove the pepper coating.

Heat a frying pan, add a little oil and seal the fillet on all sides. Remove, allow to cool a little and then roll it up in a square of clingfilm and twist up the ends tightly until it resembles a firm sausage. Place in the fridge for an hour or so to set.

Make a dressing by combining a teaspoon of the mustard with a little more whisky, a little salt and pepper and a couple of pinches of sugar. Slice the radishes, roots and stems included, as thinly as possible. We use a mandolin but you could use the thinnest slicing blade of a food processor or even a very sharp knife.

To serve, slice the beef as thinly as possible, arrange on plates and season lightly with a little flaked sea salt and black pepper. Place watercress and radishes on top and dribble over the dressing.

Mordon Blue cheese and celery terrine

We’ve discovered some fabulous local produce over the last few years and the closer to the restaurant’s doorstep somehow the better. One such find is from Carol Peacock’s cheese making business in Mordon just of the A1 a little to the south of us. Trading under the Parlour Made name, Carole produces three lovely cheeses: a Farmhouse White which is a bit like a Cheshire cheese, a wonderful camembert-style cheese and, our favourite, a cheese called Mordon Blue. We’ve been using the latter in salads over the summer but the following recipe is for an interesting take on a terrine. You could, of course, use any type of good blue cheese but I’d recommend trying to get hold of Carol’s Parlour Made. This is a local cheese maker who certainly knows what she’s doing.

Serves at least six as a starter

250g of Mordon Blue cheese or other good quality blue cheese

100g unsalted butter

Three sticks of celery

50ml double cream

A handful of chopped parsley

Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper

First, slice the celery sticks as thinly as possible. Spread out the slices on a plate and sprinkle well with salt to draw out the moisture. Leave for about 30 minutes before tipping the celery into a sieve, rinsing under the tap to remove the salt and then tipping out onto a clean towel to dry.

Place the butter in a food processor and process until fluffed-up somewhat. If you don’t have a food processor you can place the butter in a mixing bowl and beat it with a wooden spoon until, again, fluffed-up. Add the celery and a little salt and pepper; tasting to adjust, remembering that the cheese will be quite salty. Then mix in the chopped parsley.

Line a small terrine mould with clingfilm (or, if you didn’t have a terrine mould, a small bowl would do) and spread the butter and celery mixture around the cover the base.

Process the cheese in the food processor, adding the cream as you do. But watch the consistency; you want it creamy but not too slushy. Spread the cheese and cream mixture on top of the butter, cover with clingfilm. Place a suitably-sized weight on top such as another mould filled with water and place in the refrigerator for an hour or so to set.

This is lovely served in slices, as we do in the restaurant, with hot toast and a few sliced radishes.

Venison-stuffed chicken

When chicken’s good it can actually be some of the best meat to eat. But usually the stuff we’re offered in the shops is the intensively-raised variety that lacks its full potential. So we’ve come up with a dish that is lifted by the use of another meat stuffing and uses the tasty and less expensive legs of a chicken.

We’ve used venison mince here but it doesn’t have to be. Any good pork sausage meat will do. Also, if you were using pork you might be able to omit the pork fat. It’s used here because venison is such a lean meat. The easiest way to check what you need is to mix up a bit of the stuffing first, maybe without the fat, and make a small “burger”. Fry it off and taste it to see what you think. This also enables you to get the seasoning right.

serves four

Four whole chicken legs - skin on

200g venison mince or sausage meat

50g pork fat

One head garlic

A sprig each of rosemary and thyme – picked off the stems

One tin of chopped tomatoes or 1kg of fresh tomatoes - chopped

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Rapeseed oil or similar

A pinch of sugar

One bay leaf

String for tying the legs.

First take half the garlic, peel the cloves and crush finely. Finely-chop half the thyme and rosemary, dice up the pork fat and add both to the minced meat. Mix and season with salt and pepper.

If you have a half-decent butcher you could ask for the bones to be removed from the chicken legs but it’s not that difficult and just involves a little patience. First lay the chicken flat on the chopping board, skin side down. Pinch the thigh bone between the fore finger and thumb and simply cut around it with a thin sharp knife. Work down past the knee joint, making sure not to break the skin, and pull the bone free. You’ll now have a boned chicken leg but don’t throw the bones away.

Divide the stuffing into four and fill each leg, folding the meat and skin around the stuffing so that it forms a tidy parcel. Secure by tying with the string like wrapping a present.

       

Heat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Meanwhile, heat a steep-sided pot or oven-proof pan,  add a good slug of oil and brown the chicken legs on all sides while adding the removed bones and browning those too. Place the pan in the oven for 5 minutes or so whilst roughly chopping the rest of the garlic, thyme, rosemary and, if using, fresh tomatoes. Remove the pan from the oven and lower the temperature to 160°C, gas mark 3. Add all the remaining ingredients to the pan with the chicken and bones and return to the oven to cook a further 30 minutes.

Lift the chicken legs from the pan and keep warm. Push the sauce through a sieve and return to the pan to reduce until thickened. Taste and adjust the seasoning; adding a little sugar if necessary, particularly if using fresh tomatoes.

Cut the string from the chicken legs, slice in two and serve with some greens and good bread to mop-up the delicious sauce.

Pinscar Crag Organic mutton with Irish stew

Ask half a dozen people “in the know” their definition of mutton and you’ll often get six different answers. To many people, mutton’s a tough fatty meat and, without doubt, it can be true. The most tender meat usually comes from the youngest animals because meat is muscle and young animals haven’t worked that hard. So it stands to reason that the older the animal, the harder it’s worked and the tougher the meat. So, if a six year-old female sheep that’s mothered over six different years is used for meat, it’s fairly certain that the meat could be tough. Whether it’s fatty or not depends on whether it was a fat animal. However, a two year-old sheep, properly fed and reared, can have a much better taste than a six month-old lamb and the meat can be just as tender. It depends, amongst other things, on the breed of sheep and the cooking.

Older meat can really deliver superb flavour; particularly when cooked long and slow. Irish stew is a dish that makes use of the traditionally tougher and less popular cuts of meat, such as neck end, which while giving a great flavour, can lack a little sparkle in the visual department. However in the following recipe we use mutton from two year-old organic sheep and we finish the dish off with quickly-seared mutton cutlets or chops which provide a whole new dimension to this traditional dish.

We call it Pinscar Crag on our menu because that’s where we get the mutton from. And I promise you, it’s the best meat I’ve ever tasted – and that’s saying something. So it almost goes without saying, it pays to get the best meat you can afford.

Serves four to six

One mutton or lamb neck

A handful of pearl barley

Three carrots cut into large chunks

Two potatoes - peeled and cut into chunks

Two onions – peeled and diced

½ a swede – peeled and cut into chunks

½ Savoy cabbage - shredded

Three sticks of celery – cut into chunks

A sprig each of thyme and rosemary

A bay leaf

Ten white peppercorns

Salt and freshly-ground white pepper

Two mutton chops per portion.

First, take the neck and simply cover with cold water in a suitable pot. Add the bay leaf, thyme and rosemary sprigs and peppercorns and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for around two hours until the meat can be easily picked from the bone, making sure to skim any fat or impurities from the surface of the liquid. Once cooked, remove the meat from the pan and allow to cool on a plate. Pass the stock through a fine sieve, return to the pan, add all the other ingredients apart from the chops and cook for a further 30 to 40 minutes. Meanwhile, pick the cooked meat from the bone and reserve.  When the vegetables in the pot are tender, simply stir the picked meat back in and adjust the seasoning as necessary with salt and white pepper.

To serve, grill or fry the chops to your liking, preferably a bit pink, and place alongside the stew and eat with some crusty bread.

Venison tartare

I once employed a chef who used to say that cooking was simply burning bits of food to various degrees. Funny but untrue. Making a salad’s cooking so, therefore, must be a raw meat dish.

Most of us have heard of steak tartare but we’ve currently got a fabulous venison version on the menu at the restaurant. As with any raw food, make sure that everything is scrupulously clean including the meat before preparing. If you’ve any doubts about eating raw meat or eggs for personal health reasons, please listen to them. However, I’ve never known any problems as long as cleanliness is observed and the best ingredients are used.

Serves four

800g venison loin – trimmed of any sinew and fat.

One medium onion - chopped

One tablespoon of capers – drained and washed if pickled

One tablespoon of chopped chives

One tablespoon of chopped gherkins

Two tablespoons of tomato ketchup

Four tablespoons of extra virgin rapeseed or olive oil

Two tablespoons of chopped parsley

Four to five drops of Tabasco

One teaspoon of Worcester sauce

Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Four egg yolks – optional

Using a large sharp knife, chop the venison as finely as possible. You could use a food processor but a knife leaves the meat with a better texture. Place the onion, herbs, capers and gherkins on a chopping board together and chop finely.

Place all the ingredients, except the egg yolks, in a bowl mix, checking the seasoning as you go.

To serve, pile onto plates and, if using the egg yolks, make a dip in the top of each into which you place a yolk. Great if accompanied by toast or even Melba toast.

Ox tongue and beetroot with ramsons and horseradish

Ox tongue and beetroot with ramsons and horseradish

It’s all too easy to turn one’s nose up and something like ox tongue but, as I’ve discussed in the adjacent column, if you’ve decided to eat well-reared and slaughtered meat you might as well go for all the bits of the animal; particularly when it tastes as good as this.

You can buy pressed tongue from all good butchers but, if you wanted to do it yourself, it’s easy enough and so cheap with enough meat to feed a family of four . It just needs a little forethought. Take one salted ox tongue and soak it overnight in plenty of cold water. Drain, place in a large pan, cover with cold water while adding a few peppercorns and something like a couple of carrots, sticks of celery and a bay leaf. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 to 2½ hours until tender. Remove from the water and allow to cool a little before peeling off the skin and chilling well before slicing.

As for the ramsons (wild garlic), along with asparagus it’s one of my favourite seasonal vegetables of the moment and I love it because it’s free. Found in moist wooded areas, it’s recognisable by the garlic smell in the air and when the leaves are crushed between your fingers.

Serves two as a starter or light lunch

A few slices of ox tongue

One whole uncooked beetroot

Horseradish sauce

The zest of half a lemon

A large pinch of smoked paprika

Extra virgin rapeseed (or olive) oil

A handful of wild garlic (ramsons) leaves

A couple of walnuts or two or three hazelnuts

A few salad leaves of your choice

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Wash the beetroot but don’t cut off the stalk, just trim back a little with scissors. Piercing or cutting into beetroot before cooking dilutes the flavour. Place in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes until it can be easily pierced with a skewer or pointed knife. Drain and allow to cool enough to handle.

To peel, you can use a potato peeler or sharp knife but the slices have a propensity to end up in the shape of a 50 pence piece. We use an old tea towel to rub the skins off but it will turn the towel pink.

To prepare the wild garlic, bring a large pan of water to the boil, blanch the leaves in it for a few seconds (this kills any germs or bugs) and then quickly drain and plunge into iced or very cold water. Drain well. Place in a blender, add the nuts, a little salt and black pepper and blend, adding enough oil to make a slushy sauce.

Place a teaspoon of horseradish sauce, the lemon zest and paprika in a small jar, add a little rapeseed oil and shake until well blended.

Place slices of ox tongue and beetroot on the plate along with the salad leaves. Spoon over then spoon over the horseradish and ramsons dressings.

June 2011

Chocolate coffee mousse with Anzac biscuits

Here’s a recipe for an unctuous mousse that never fails. But as a contrast we serve it with Anzac biscuits which, considering we’re a British restaurant might seem a little odd. However, I like to think it’s something to do with our colonial history that allows us to make this Australasian treat. It’s said that they were originally made by antipodean wives to send to soldiers abroad during World War 1 and they had particularly good keeping qualities. This is useful because I can never be sure how many biscuits the following recipe will produce but at least you can put the extra in an air-tight tin for future elevenses. The mousse recipe makes enough for four to six people, depending on appetite.

For the Anzac biscuits

50g rolled oats

55g desiccated coconut or flakes

250g plain flour

200g sugar

10g bicarbonate of soda

110g butter

One teaspoon golden syrup

30ml boiling water

Place the oats, sugar and coconut in a large bowl and mix well. Put the butter and syrup in a small saucepan and heat until melted before adding the bicarbonate of soda and water. Mix together and pour into the bowl and mix well. Place teaspoonfuls onto a greased tray, flatten slightly and bake on the middle shelf at 160°C for 18 to 20 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Allow to cool on a wire rack and store in an air-tight container.

And for the mousse

250g good quality dark chocolate

50g unsalted butter

40g caster sugar

6 free range egg yolks

9 free range egg whites

A teaspoon of good instant coffee mixed with a teaspoon or so of water.

Place the chocolate and butter in a small Pyrex bowl that sits comfortably on top of a pan of simmering water and allow to melt. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks with half of the sugar until the mixture lightens in colour and becomes creamy. Then whisk the eggs whites with the other half of the sugar until the mixture forms stiff peaks.

Add the whisked egg whites to the yolks along with the melted chocolate and butter mix as well as the coffee and combine with a whisk before covering the bowl with clingfilm and placing in the fridge to chill.

To serve, spoon the mousse into serving bowls or wine glasses and place a biscuit or two in with it.

February 2011

Irish Stew-style mutton

Irish Stew-style mutton

This week’s hearty one pot recipe requires very little effort. So it’s ideal for those with a hectic lifestyle but needs a little patience. Do use mutton if you can get it. It works with lamb but the flavour of mutton is better and the long slow cooking will definitely tenderise it.

It’s ideal for the cheaper cuts of meat such as neck, scrag end (which is essentially neck) or shoulder.

1kg Mutton shoulder, scrag end or neck

Some mutton bones – if available

One onion

Two sticks of celery

Three carrots

½ a swede

50g of butter.

Two potatoes

Sprig of Thyme

Two bay leaves

A bunch of curly parsley - chopped

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper.

First, simply place the mutton, along with any bones, into a large pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for two hours, skimming off any scum or fat that rises to the surface with a ladle or spoon.

Meanwhile, wash and peel all the vegetables and cut into 1cm dice. Pick the thyme leaves from the stalks.

After two hours simmering, the meat should be tender and starting to break down. Remove it from the liquid and cut into bite sized chunks. Then pour the stock through a fine sieve into another pan or large bowl. Place the original pan back on a medium heat, melt the butter in it and add the diced vegetables. Allow them to sweat for five or ten minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure they soften but don’t colour.

Add the reserved liquid along with the bay and thyme leaves and cook for a further 30 minutes. Taste, season with salt and pepper, add the mutton back to the pot and finish with a generous handful of chopped parsley.

February 2011

Squid, garlic and potato casserole

Squid, garlic and potato casserole

Today’s recipe contains squid which is regarded as a sustainable fish. Never mind if you’ve had poor, rubbery experiences of it before. The long slow cooking makes it a melt-in-the-mouth fish. Give this a go and be delighted.

Ask the fishmonger to prepare and clean the squid with the ink sac and other internal bits removed. Otherwise, prepared frozen squid makes a reasonable substitute.

While not absolutely essential, the addition of a little truffle oil at the end lifts the dish onto another plane and is well worth it if you can get some.

500g fresh or frozen squid

500g potatoes - peeled

One onion - peeled

One bulb of garlic - peeled

One glass of dry white wine

Two bay leaves

A sprig of fresh thyme

200ml double cream

A bunch of parsley - chopped

50g butter

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Truffle oil (optional)

Cut the squid into bite-sized pieces, including body and tentacles. Place the garlic and onion into a food processor and pulse until all finely chopped.

  

Place a saucepan over a gentle heat and melt the butter. Add the processed onion and garlic and gently cook for five minutes or so. Add the chopped squid and cook for a further five to ten minutes. Pour in the wine, turn up the heat a little and reduce it by half before adding the thyme, bay leaves and double cream. Reduce the heat again and simmer for around 30 minutes.

Cut the potatoes into two centimetre cubes and add to the pan, simmering for a further 30 to 40 minutes. If the cream appears to be getting a touch thick at any time, just add a little water.

  

At the end of this time, taste it. The squid should be very tender. Season as necessary with salt and ground white pepper. Just before serving, add a large bunch of chopped parsley and, if you have it, trickle a few drops of truffle oil around once you’ve spooned the casserole into the bowls. Lovely with some crusty bread.

March 2011

Chocolate flapjack

Chocolate flapjack

Canadians often refer to pancakes as flapjacks. But then what do they know? Here in the UK, what we know as a flapjack (and some Canadians know as Hudson Bay bars) generally means a baked dessert or sweet made from oats, brown sugar and golden syrup. This week’s recipe is for our own twist on the traditional flapjack made with chocolate. Delicious.

Incidentally, did you know that Scott’s the oat processors spell “porridge”, “porage”? My spell checker doesn’t agree.

175g unsalted butter

Two tablespoons of golden syrup

75g soft brown sugar

75g castor sugar

225g rolled or porridge oats

Three tablespoons of cocoa powder

75g of dark chocolate

Makes ten flapjacks

Pre-heat the oven to 150°C, gas mark 2. Butter the insides of a baking tray big enough to take ten portions of flapjack. Place a saucepan over a gentle heat and melt the butter, golden syrup, both sugars and the dark chocolate, stirring continuously and not allowing to bubble.

Once melted and combined, simply remove from the heat and stir in the oats and cocoa powder until mixed well. Press the mixture into the baking tray using the back of a spoon and bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

The flapjacks need to cook in the centre but stay moist so that’s why they’re cooked at a low temperature. You don’t want them to bubble whilst cooking as this will result in them becoming too toffee-like. Remove from the oven and cool for 20 minutes before slicing into ten pieces. Leave to cool completely before removing from the baking tray.

We serve them in the restaurant with lots of home-made custard but I’m a big fan of Bird’s and I think that would still do your flapjacks proud. Alternatively, just warm them a little and eat as a chewy, oaty, chocolaty, biscuit-like treat.

April 2011

Beetroot and spiced onion salad

Beetroot and spiced onion salad

Currently on our menu, this salad is a nice light lunch dish or starter to reflect the fact that spring is here and the sun’s been shining – a bit.

Buy fresh, uncooked beetroot which should always be cooked unpeeled, otherwise the purple juices will bleed out. Just trim the stalks and was the beetroot under a running tap before boiling. Once cooked, peeling is very easy using just a tea towel to rub off the skin – although you’ll need to wash the towel afterwards.

The salad leaves themselves could be some micro cress, watercress, rocket, baby spinach, standard salad leaves or a even a combination of some of those. It’s up to you.

Serves four as a starter

Two whole beetroot – trimmed and washed

Extra virgin rapeseed or olive oil

One clove of garlic – peeled

50g pine nuts

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

One red chilli

One white onion

Two spring onions

A few handfuls of salad leaves as described above

A few spoons of natural yoghurt

A little smoked paprika (optional)

Place the beetroot in a large pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and leave to cook for a about two hours. When cooked, drain, allow to cool a little and peel off the skin using a tea towel.

While the beetroot’s cooking, peel the onion and slice very thinly. Slice open the chilli lengthways and, if you don’t like too much spice from your chilli, remove the seeds and white membrane from the inside. Slice the chilli very thinly and place in a sieve along with the sliced onion. Put the sieve over a bowl or over the sink and sprinkle the onion and chilli liberally with salt and leave for at least an hour. During this time the salt will draw the moister from the vegetables, intensifying their flavour. They don’t need to be washed at the end of the process as the salt will have washed itself off.

Tip the onion and chilli into a bowl. Chop the spring onions finely and add them to the bowl along with a few splashes of oil, mixing to dress everything.

Once the beetroot’s cooked and peeled, place in a food processor along with the clove of garlic, pine nuts and some salt and pepper. Blend until smooth, adding a little oil to make the consistency of a stiff paste.

Add your choice of salad leaves to the onion and chillies and toss

Arrange the salad leaves on serving plates, spooning the beetroot puree alongside. Serve with a dollop of yoghurt on top and, perhaps, a little smoked paprika sprinkled over the top. 

March 2011

Mackerel on toast with ramsons

Mackerel on toast with ramsons

You may never have heard of ramsons. But you might have heard of wild garlic and it’s the same thing. Purportedly named after being found on the banks of the River Irwell  that flows through Ramsbottom, it’s also occasionally known as bear garlic or boar garlic because of those animals’ liking for it. I’m lucky enough to have it growing at the bottom of my garden and now’s the season so I gather it for the restaurant. Some greengrocers sell it but you can pick your own. Usually found along the banks of rivers, it’s easily identified by its garlicky smell, particularly when rubbed between the fingers. It’s important that you test it like this because visually the leaves can be confused with Lilly of the Valley which are poisonous!

Mackerel can be filleted by the fishmonger or the recipe works equally well with fresh sardines.

Serves two

Two mackerel fillets

Flour for dusting

Two thick slices of bread

Three or four tomatoes - eyes removed and roughly chopped

One fennel bulb - finely sliced

A generous handful-sized bunch of ramsons

A small handful of hazelnuts

A few fresh soft herbs

Extra virgin rapeseed or olive oil

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and blanch the ramsons in it for 20 to 30 seconds. Immediately drain and refresh in iced water to stop them cooking further and to retain their colour. Drain and dry using a tea towel before putting them into a blender along with the nuts and a glug of rapeseed oil. Blend until it resembles pesto, adding a little more oil if necessary and season with salt and pepper.

Heat a grill pan or heavy-based frying pan, add the tomatoes and fennel along with another glug or two of rapeseed oil. The contents, along with the resulting liquid, will make both a garnish and a dressing for the dish with the acidity coming from the tomatoes. Cook gently for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, dust the fish fillets with flour and cook, skin side down, in a hot pan for a few minutes, until the skin is golden and crisp. At the same time, brush the bread with oil and toast under a pre-heated grill.

To serve, arrange the tomato and fennel and fish on top of the toast. Finish with a generous spoonful or two of ramsons puree and sprinkle around some of the torn soft herbs.

April 2011

Kipper paté

Kipper paté

If you’re like me, you possibly really like the idea of kippers but something puts you off buying them and serving them for breakfast. Could it be the way kippers can linger; in the air and your mouth?

However, the following is a way of making a seriously tasty paté. Great for outside eating now that the weather’s showing the potential for a good summer or simply as a starter or light anytime dish. It’s possibly the easiest recipe I’ve ever written down and the only real skill it requires is that for making toast. If you can’t do that, I go out to eat if I were you.

To make things as simple as possible, see if your fishmonger will remove all skin and bones. However, it’s an easy job to do yourself.

200g kipper - bones and skin removed

Four tablespoons of good horseradish sauce

The grated rind of half a lemon

A pinch of cayenne pepper

A handful of fresh parsley – roughly chopped

If the fishmonger’s not done it for you, remove all bones and skin from the kipper.

Then, simply put into a food processor along with all the other ingredients and pulse to the consistency you require which could be smooth or more coarse. Either are good but different.

When the correct consistency, adjust the seasoning by adding more lemon, cayenne or horseradish to suit your taste.

Serve with thick sliced toasted bread. The paté can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days if necessary.

May 2011