Tag Archives: England

Method

Preheat the oven to 150°C/Gas 2.

In a casserole with a well-fitting lid, layer the cabbage, onion and apples, sprinkling with sugar, spices, salt and pepper as you go. Dot with butter, cover with the lid and cook in teh oven for 3 hours, stirring every hour or so. When you stir, check that the cabbage remains just slightly moist; if not splash in a little water to stop it burning on the pan.

Method

Strip the leaves from the parsley and chop up the stalks. Roughly chop the parsley leaves.

Melt the butter in a suitable saucepan over low heat and sweat the onion, potatoes and parsley stalks for a few minutes. Add a few spoonfuls of the chicken stock to keep things moist and continue cooking until the potatoes are barely done. Add the rest of the chicken stock, bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer cooking for a further 10 minutes. Stir in the parsley leaves and cook for 1 more minute before pouring everything into a cold bowl to stop the parsley overcooking.

Liquidise the soup before reheating gently and adjusting the seasoning to serve. Garnish with fresh parsley if you’re being posh.

Method

As usual with risottos, keep the stock hot in a separate pan ready to add to the risotto in batches. In your chosen risotto pan, melt 50g butter over moderate heat. Reduce the heat to low, add the chopped leeks and fry gently for about 10 minutes to soften without colouring. If you want a hint of spice, stir in the pinch of cayenne pepper now. Now add the rice; increase the heat slightly and, stirring constantly so as not to burn it, cook the rice for about 2 minutes until it begins to look a little translucent around the edges of the grains. Toss in the wine/vermouth and let the alcohol bubble off.

Once the rice has absorbed the vermouth, start adding the stock, which should be very hot so as to keep the simmer going. Add the hot stock a ladle at a time. With the first ladleful, add about half a teaspoon of salt and a good few grindings of black pepper. Adjust the heat so that the stock simmers gently and the rice does not cook too quickly. Stir the rice frequently to help release the starch and make the traditional creamy consistency of risotto. As each ladleful of stock is absorbed, add another and continue simmering and stirring.

The amount of stock required varies a little, maybe because of the rice but also depending upon the size of your wineglass. You will learn to tell when not to add any more because it wont get absorbed. Don’t add it all if you don’t need it.

When all the (required) stock has been added and the risotto has the traditional almost soupy consistency, adjust the seasoning, remembering that smoked food is already somewhat salty so you don’t need too much salt. Add both the remaining 25g butter and the flaked trout. Fold this in gently so as not to break up the trout flakes/chunks too much further.

Cover the pan with a lid and let it sit for two minutes. The resting both reheats the fish and makes the risotto rich and silky.

Parmesan is traditionally NOT used with seafood risottos.

This really just needs a good leafy salad, appropriately dressed, for accompaniment.

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas 3.

Begin by getting the brown stock going for the gravy (or jus, if you prefer). Chop up the duck neck, halve the heart and pieces of gizzard. (Do NOT, repeat NOT, use the liver – it will make the stock bitter. Save this delicacy to serve on toast.) If the duck came with wing tips, remove them, halve them and add them to the giblets. Heat a heavy based pan on the hob over medium heat and, with very little olive oil, brown the duck pieces for ~10 minutes. (You should be getting some caramelized meat bits sticking to the bottom of the pan. This is good.) Toss in the chopped veggies, stir and continuing browning everything for about another 5-10 minutes. Cover with water. Stir with a wooden spatula scraping all the caramelized juices from the bottom of the pan. Add the bay leaf and black peppercorns, and bring to simmering point. Leave it to simmer, topping up as necessary with boiling water water, while you cook the duck itself. (It can cook as long as you like but needs at least 2 hours.)

The Duck. Slash the duck skin in a criss-cross, diamond pattern. Take care to cut only the skin and fat, not the flesh underneath. The point here is to let the fat run out as it melts while cooking. Dry the duck skin with kitchen towel (moisture tends to stop it crisping) and season with salt & pepper. Put the duck, preferably on a low wire support, into a roasting pan and set in the middle of the oven. Leave it for 90 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 220°C/425°F/gas 7. Continue roasting for another 30 minutes by which time, hopefully, the duck skin will have crisped up.

The gravy/jus. Strain the brown duck stock. Remove the duck from the roasting pan and cover loosely with foil to keep warm. Strain most of the fat from the roasting pan, set it back on a moderate heat and stir the flour into the remaining fat. Cook the flour out for a minute or two then stir in your duck stock (just about 8-10 fl oz of it if you have more). Continuing to stir, scraping any brown gooey bits from the pan, bring this to the simmer and cook for a couple of minutes. While it’s simmering, carve the duck.

Method

Rinse the sliced potato under running water for ~30 seconds then drain well.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over gentle medium heat and cook the onion and potato for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Toss in the leeks and cook for 5 minutes more. Pour in the fish stock together with the bouquet garni, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes (or until the potatoes are tender). Add the cream and milk and cook very gently for another 10 minutes.

To finish the sauce, remove the bouquet garni, blitz and strain into a clean pan. Season with salt & pepper and keep warm while you cook the fish.

Heat the oil in a fying pan on high heat. Season the fish with a little salt and sear it for about 2 minutes on both sides. The precise time will depend on thickness – you want it just cooked, only just “setting” in the centre.

Get all chefy and serve the cod on or surrounded by the sauce, sprinkled with chives and garnished with the pea tops. It goes well with some waxy potatoes (which could sit under the fish) and green beans.

Method

Melt about 30g butter in a frying pan and add one third of the chicken livers and one third of the chopped anchovies. Add a few grindings of black pepper and cook them gently, turning once, for about 7 minutes until cooked through. Tip them, along with all the pan juices, into a food processor. Repeat this process with fresh butter for the remaining two portions of chicken livers.

In the same pan, melt a further 30g butter and sweat the chopped shallots, along with the fresh thyme, until the shallots are soft but not browned (about 5 minutes). Stir in the smashed garlic towards the end and cook it for about 2 minutes. Toss in the brandy and simmer it for a minute to drive off the alcohol. (Sniff it, don’t waste it.) Tip this lot into the blender with the livers.

Assuming you have 2 x 250g/8oz packs of butter, you will have used half of one pack. Keep the remaining half to melt and seal the top of the paté. Roughly dice the contents of your second, unbroken pack of butter and add it to the processor. Blitz it all until smooth. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, being careful with the salt because you have anchovies in there.

Fill your chosen paté container(s) with the blitzed paté and smooth the top. Melt the reserved 120g/4oz/half pack of butter over gentle heat. Place the bay leaves on top of the paté and gently pour over enough melted butter to cover the top completely. The bay leaves will, of course, try to float away so be firm.

Allow the paté to cool and then refrigerate until needed. Remove it from the fridge about an hour before you want to serve it though – it tastes better at room temperature.

Method

Sift the flour, salt and icing sugar into a food processor/mixing bowl. Add the chilled butter and blitz/work together to the fine breadcrumb stage. Stir in the egg yolk and sufficient water for the mixture to start coming together into a ball.

Turn it out onto a floured surface and kneed it briefly until smooth. Rest the dough for about 30 mins in the fridge before using it as needed.

Method

First make the black olive breadcrumb mixture. Blitz the bread into breadcrumbs, preferably in a food processor and turn it out into a glass bowl. Chop the olives reasonably finely and add them to the breadcrumbs followed by the chopped herbs. Crush the garlic clove and add it to the breadcrumbs together with a few twists of salt and pepper, then stir all together to mix well.

Heat the butter in a small frying pan to make a beurre noisette. When it is nicely nutty brown, turn off the heat and add the lemon juice to stop it cooking further. Pour the beurre noisette into the breadcrumb mixture and mix well with a fork. You should be able to form the mixture into a reasonably firm mass. You can do all the preceding ahead of time and leave the flavours to blend a little.

When you are ready to cook the fish, get your grill blastingly hot. Lightly oil the skin side of the fish fillets before putting them skin side down. Season each fillet lightly with salt and pepper, then coat the flesh side with the breadcrumb mixture. Just press a modest coating all over with your fingers.

Get a cast iron griddle (plain, not ridged) or a shallow cast iron skillet hot and place on each fillet skin side down. You want the griddle/pan hot enough for the skin to sizzle a little. Place the hot griddle/pan under the blastingly hot grill and brown the crumb topping for about 5 minutes. Make sure it doesn’t burn – your grill may be more powerful than mine. Brown is good, black is bad! The residual heat and grilling will finish cooking the fish through.

This is good served with a green vegetable and, perhaps, some finely sliced fresh fennel sautéed and flamed in a little Ricard.

Method

Melt the butter and olive oil together in a heavy-based pan. Add the finely sliced onions and fry for minutes, stirring occasionally, to soften but not colour. Add the red wine, vinegar and a little salt. Set this mixture simmering gently until all the liquid has evaporated (it will take about 30 minutes).

While it is cooking, add the sugar a spoonful at a time to adjust the sweetness to your liking. As the evaporation progresses, watch the heat so that it doesn’t catch and burn.

Put the caramelized onion in a bowl and allow to cool.

This is a wonderful topping for live ras part of a tapas meal but it also works with some cheeses and cold meats.

Method

Your bottles must be clean and dry to start with. Half-fill each bottle with pricked sloes (I prick them as I go and get my fingers in a terrible mess). Depending upon bottle size, add sugar as follows: 750ml bottle – 2oz, 1000ml bottle – 3 oz. (I know those proportions are not quite consistent but it seems ot work.) Top each bottle up with your cheap gin and stopper them.

Find somewhere cool to store the bottles. For the first week, agitate the bottles well daily by inverting them a few times. After the first week leave them well alone (as in, don’t drink them) for at least 3 months and preferably 6 months. Just try to forget them, though further occasional agitations would not go amiss.

After 3/6 months you should have a very appealing deep red liquid. Strain the gin into a single container so as to distribute the sweetness evenly. Using fresh, clean, sterilized bottles (preferably clear glass), bottle and cap the gin. Now drive yourself completely nuts by standing it and leaving it well alone for at least another month, preferably 3 months.

OK, have at it!