the Grubdaily Grotto

Apples

2012-01-15T22:19:00.000Z

I have an obsession with apples; I will on a daily basis fill my pockets with them so that I have a handy snack to enjoy when I am out and about. I love that amazing balance of sweet and sour that an apple provides. Of course it differs from apple to apple, and there are so many types! It would be a dream to eat all of the different varieties in the world, which is quite a task as there are over 7000! Braeburn was my favourite for a long time, I adored the tart crunchiness that made my mouth zing. I am also appreciative of the worthy Granny Smith although I use them more often for cooking than eating; a good choice to make pie with (although inferior in this respect to the glorious Bramley). At home we have a Discovery apple tree; pinkish red with streaks in the flesh, they are tart and fantastic. Recently I am more inclined towards sweeter apples such as Royal Gala, or sometimes Jazz which I discovered a few weeks ago. I looked up Jazz and it turns out it was cultivated for the first time in 2007 by crossing a Braeburn with a Royal Gala. Magic! Indeed most of the varieties of apples that exist are simply cross-breeds of two different existing ones.

I am planning an apple party, there will be a fantastic spectrum of tasty apple treats. Apple pie (of course), toffee apples and baked apples, apple jelly....and it will all be accompanied by plenty of cider (a drink which I am particularly fond of). I will have a think and maybe invent some apple cocktails. Apple sorbet is my next adventure; I got given Raymond Blanc's Kitchen Secrets for Christmas and he has a recipe for raspberry sorbet. It looks delicious, and he suggests trying the recipe with other fruits... i.e. apples! So I thought I'd give it a try. It is possible to make sorbet without an ice-cream churner, and although the resulting texture won't be quite as smooth it is still pretty good.

Apple Sorbet (makes about 600ml)
Core and roughly chop 6 granny smith apples, placing each one into a bowl with 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice in the bottom, giving a good stir to ensure the apple doesn't go brown. Add to the bowl 200g caster sugar and mix well. Blitz in a blender until smooth and a light green colour is achieved. Don't blend for too long as the apple will start to oxidise and turn brown. Quickly pass the mixture through a fine sieve and place in the freezer. Beat the mixture with a whisk every 2 hours to stop large ice crystals forming. When fully frozen, take out of the freezer to soften, then put back in the blender to blitz smooth again. Place back in the freezer to harden slightly, then serve! Excellent with apple pie.

Pork Belly

2012-01-14T16:02:00.000Z

Pork belly is a favourite of mine; if I had to choose a favourite cut of meat from any animal then this would be a strong contender! I bought a whole belly the other day, used half of it to make some dry-cured bacon and planned to cook the rest of it, slowly braised to create that unctuous melting texture that only pork belly can give. Indeed as pork belly is a tough part of the animal, it must be slowly cooked like this in order to tenderise it. Unlike many other braising meats (beef shin, for example), pork belly tends not to dry out when being cooked as it contains a lot of fat. And as far as I'm concerned, lots of fat means lots of flavour!

I have done pork with ale before, in my pig's cheeks recipe, and this dish is quite similar, but worth trying as pork belly has quite a different flavour from cheek. I cooked the belly in ale and water, with the ribs included so that the cooking liquid turns into a pork stock, ready to reduce down and thicken to make the gravy. The crunchy crackling skin is a highlight here, something unobtainable from a cheek! To contrast the texture of the crackling I garnished it with humble yet excellent mashed potato. Seasonal vegetable choice today was brussel sprouts, which I adore, and they add a nice contrast in colour on the plate.

Slow Cooked Pork Belly with Ale Gravy Recipe (Serves about 8)

Firstly take 500ml of strong dark ale and boil for 5 minutes to remove the alcohol. Cut off the ribs from a 2kg piece of pork belly and separate into individual ribs. Now to cook the pork belly; line a suitably sized roasting tray with greaseproof paper and put the pork belly in skin side down. Place the ribs around the edge of the belly. Pour the ale, plus 200ml of chicken stock around the pork and top up with water until all of the meat is just covered. Wrap the roasting tray tightly with 2 layers of tin foil and place in the oven at 140C for about 5 hours, or until the pork is soft and tender (the handle of a spoon should pass through the meat without resistance). Once the pork is ready, put another layer of greaseproof paper on top, followed by a flat tray and press with a heavy weight (about 3kg). Leave to cool slightly, then refrigerate overnight.

Carefully remove the belly from the tray and portion into squares. Score the skin in a criss cross pattern, being careful not to cut the whole thickness of skin. Store in the fridge whilst making the sauce. Take all of the braising liquid (which has probably turned to jelly) and place in a pot. Gently heat, and remove the bones. Dice 1/2 a carrot, 1 small onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 3 very ripe tomatoes 1/2 stick of celery and 1/2 bulb of fennel and add to the sauce along with another 150ml of strong dark ale. Simmer gently for 1 hour, then strain through a fine sieve. Reduce by half, then thicken with a little beurre manie. Season to taste with sea salt.

To crisp the skin of the pork belly you will need a non-stick oven-proof pan. Pre-heat the oven to 230C. Put 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable oil into the pan and place the portioned pork belly in skin side down (you may have to do this in batches) then simply put in the oven until the skin is golden and crisp. Sprinkle the skin lightly with sea salt.

Wild Teal

2011-12-06T16:19:00.001Z

As you may know from my kitchen adventures with rabbit, I am lucky enough to be provided occasionally with some game from the farm at home, and when my parents came to visit last week they brought three wild teal that had been shot from over the game pond. A teal is a small duck, barely larger than a pigeon - I had never tasted this meat before but I expected it to be similar in flavour to normal duck yet richer due to its natural wild diet and lifestyle.

But what was I to do with these tasty birds? Rich meat flavours are known to be well complimented by sweet fruit, often with an acidity which cuts through the savouriness. Take pork and apple sauce, or beef and redcurrant jelly; two classic examples. A traditional partner to duck is orange, as in the classic French dish duck a l'orange. Traditional dishes like this are considered classic for a reason; because they taste great! Although they may be seen by some as old fashioned when served in restaurants today, I think there is merit in exploring tried-and-tested flavour combinations.

At work we do a "toffee apple" sauce by making a dry caramel then adding apple juice and some reduced veal jus to get an amazing savory-and-sweet toffee apple flavour. I wanted to try the same thing but with orange juice, and make a stock from the teal to add to the sauce instead of veal jus. For this dish I used almost all of the bird; the breasts were removed and set aside while I used the carcass, legs, heart and neck to make a delicious stock. It is a satisfying feeling to know that you're using all of the animal and that nothing is being wasted. This is as it should be (I did a similar thing with my lapin a la moutard recipe, another classic dish). I served the teal with finely shredded savoy cabbage and fondant potato. The fondant is easy; simply cut a flat cylinder out of a large potato (Maris Piper is ideal) using a round cutter. Brown the top and bottom in a hot pan with oil. Now poach the fondant in clarified butter in the oven at about 150C until just cooked through. Remove and drain on kitchen towel. You may refrigerate these until needed and reheat in the oven to serve.

Breast of Teal with Caramel Orange Sauce and Fondant Potato Recipe (Serves 3)

Take 3 wild teal and remove their feathers and intestines if not already done. Reserve the neck and heart. Remove the legs and wings from the body then carefully cut off the breasts, being careful not to leave any meat on the carcass. Store the breasts in the fridge until later. To make the stock; place the carcass, legs, wings, hearts, and necks in a roasting tray, lightly coat with oil and place in an oven about 200C until lightly browned. Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium sized saucepan and add 1/2 an onion, 1 carrot, 1/2 stick of celery, 1/2 small leek and 1 clove of garlic. Fry until slightly browned, then add the bones. Add one glassful of red wine and top up with cold water until just covered, then slowly bring to a simmer. Cook very gently for about 10 hours, topping up with more water when necessary. Strain the stock and discard the vegetables and bones. Now boil vigorously to reduce the stock down to 150ml.

To make the caramel orange sauce; place 150g of caster sugar in a pan over a medium heat until just caramelized. Immediately add 150ml of freshly squeezed orange juice, which will make the caramel seize up and solidify. Leave on the heat until the caramel has melted and the mixture has combined, then add the reduced stock. Boil to reduce until the desired consistency is achieved, then season to taste with salt.

To serve; cook the teal breasts by placing them skin side down in a cold pan with a small amount of oil, place on a medium heat and cook for a few minutes on one side, then briefly on the other side until the meat is hot but still rare in the centre. Take off the heat and remove skin from breast, slice each in half lengthways and arrange on top of the cabbage and fondant potato (as pictured!) drizzle the orange sauce around and enjoy.

Rabbit Parfait

2011-11-20T15:03:00.000Z

Until recently I hated eating liver. One of our regular meals at home was a bacon and tomato pasta sauce which was finished with sautéed chicken livers. I would always baulk at the livers and have just the pasta sauce instead. The flavour has grown on me recently though and I actually love it now. Strange though I have always loved paté. Mum always made it at Christmas time, which we'd have on toast with chutney and salad for lunch; delicious! She made it by frying the liver with bacon, adding some herbs, a splash of sherry and some cream then puréeing and leaving to set in a bowl. It was a favourite and always got finished quickly. When I was working at Blackmore's I got introduced to chicken liver parfait. It's a luxurious version of pate that is enriched with eggs and butter. All the ingredients are blitzed together raw, poured into a mould and cooked very gently so that the finished article is still beautifully pink. It's really fantastic, and easily the best way to treat livers in my opinion.

You may have heard me talk before of a farmer's dislike of rabbits. With the help of a rifle my brother acquired 18 wild rabbits from the farm at home, brought them up to Edinburgh and put them into his freezer. I went over to his house today and got a couple to make something tasty with. I also picked up all of the livers from the rabbits which he had set aside. Rabbit liver parfait! Rabbit liver has a similar consistency to chicken liver but tastes miles better. It would be perfect to make parfait with. I couldn't find any recipes for rabbit parfait so I have used Raymond Blanc's recipe for chicken liver parfait and adapted it slightly. I cooked it in a water bath in a cool oven to ensure that the heat transfer is gentle and we end up with a lovely pink colour. To execute this recipe properly, you will need a temperature probe, otherwise determining when the parfait is done is pretty much guess work.
Because liver parfait is so rich, it needs to be garnished appropriately. Pickle or chutney is great as it has an acidic kick of vinegar which cuts through the meaty savouriness. Add some salad leaves for freshness and you have an excellent dish. Served on toast, or with delicate melba toast as I did, and you have a luxurious and delicious platter for your lunch.

Rabbit Parfait Recipe
Take 400g of rabbit livers and trim them of all sinew. Rinse several times with water, then soak in milk for 1 hour. This draws out the blood which would cause the parfait to be bitter. Meanwhile, place in a pan 100ml port, 100ml madeira, 70g shallots, 2 sprigs of thyme, 1 clove of garlic and 60ml of brandy. Bring to the boil then reduce to a syrup. Set aside and leave to cool to room temperature. Carefully heat 400g of butter so that it is melted but at room temperature. Blend the livers until smooth with 2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks. With the blender still running, gradually add the butter. Once everything is combined, season to taste with salt and black pepper, then pass the mixture through a fine sieve. Pour into a terrine mould or loaf tin lined with cling film, with enough cling film spare to wrap over the top. Alternatively you could pour it into small ramekins
Pre-heat the oven to 120C. Get a roasting tin and place a folded tea towel in the bottom, this will help stop the terrine mould from sliding when placing into the oven. Put the terrine mould in and pour boiling water around to reach two-thirds of the way up, then place into the oven until the centre reaches 55-60C. It should take around 30 minutes but keep checking and measuring the temperature often with the probe.
Remove from the oven and place straight into the fridge to cool. Leave for several hours, preferably a whole day. To serve, cut thick slices and trim of any discoloured bits from around the edge. The parfait should be uniformly pink.

Lapin à la Moutard

2011-10-04T13:32:00.000+01:00

The only way I've cooked rabbit until now was to cut it up into pieces and make a rustic stew with cider and bacon, with the meat still on the bone. It's an excellent way to treat the meat and, as a rabbit dish, is hard to beat. I wanted to try something different this time though, and I read about lapin à la moutard, or rabbit with mustard. It's a classic French dish which would usually be prepared in a similar way to my rabbit stew, in quite an unfussy rustic fashion. To make things more interesting I thought I'd try something different, a little more complicated and fun to prepare.

The problem with cooking rabbit in large jointed chunks is that the tender loins which lie either side of the spine require brief cooking to ensure that the meat is still moist. Like chicken breast, if the loins are overcooked they will be very dry and quite unpleasant to eat. The legs on the other hand, consist of more well-used muscle which is more flavoursome and considerably tougher (especially if the rabbit is wild). These requires longer, slow cooking to obtain the best flavour and texture. So, I will remove the legs and the loins from the rabbit and cook them separately.

This recipe makes good use of the rabbit, so nothing is wasted, although the liver, heart and kidneys are set aside for use elsewhere. The loins I separated from the main body and gave a mustard crust before sautéing, the carcass was used to make a delicious stock which was then used to slowly braise the legs and then to make some mustard sauce.

You may know already of my love of brining. I decided to make a mustard flavoured brine to enhance the flavour of my rabbit legs and to make them extra juicy and tender when cooked. I took Brian Polcyn's all purpose brine recipe from Charcuterie and added some extra flavourings. I then made a ballotine out of the leg meat. Traditionally a ballotine is a whole piece of meat that has been boned, stuffed with extra flavourings added to the meat and rolled into a uniform cylinder. My ballotine was a variation on the traditional version, using the already cooked leg meat, mixing it with some parsley, garlic and dijon mustard and then rolling it in cling film. Since the rabbit meat is quite lean, I added some duck fat to the mixture to help it stay moist.

Lapin à la Moutarde (Serves 4)

Preheat the oven to 250C. Take 2 rabbits (skin and guts removed), each weighing about 1.25kg; remove the legs and set aside. Carefully cut out the loins from either side of the spine, cut off the membrane and trim of any sinew.

To make the stock: place the rabbit carcasses in a roasting tray, coat them with oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Place in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes until lightly browned. Meanwhile, heat a splash of oil in a saucepan and lightly brown 1/2 a leek, 1 carrot and a clove of garlic. When the rabbit carcasses are done, add to the pot and crush them to make a snug fit. Place the roasting tray over the cooker and de-glaze with a splash of white wine. Add this to the pot along with enough cold water to completely cover. Slowly bring to the boil, then reduce to a barely trembling simmer and cook like this for 4 hours, frequently skimming off any scum that rises to the surface. When it is done, strain the stock through a fine sieve and set aside.

To make the brine: place the rabbit legs into a container and pour over enough water to just cover them. Measure this water, then discard and pour the same amount of fresh water into a saucepan with 6% of the water's weight in salt (40g of salt per 1 litre of water), half that amount of sugar (20g sugar per litre of water), 3 bay leaves, 1 clove of garlic, 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard and a few black peppercorns. Dissolve over a low heat then refrigerate until completely chilled.

Once the brine is cold, add the rabbit legs, and leave in the fridge for 2 hours, ensuring that the meat is completely covered. After 2 hours, remove the front legs, rinse, dry them and refrigerate. Leave the hind legs in the brine for another 2 hours as they are larger and require longer for the salt to penetrate through the meat.

Place the brined legs in a casserole dish or roasting tray and cover with the stock. Cover with foil and place in the oven heated to 150C for 2 hours, until the meat is just tender and flakes off the bone easily. Take out 120ml of the stock and reduce by half in a separate pan. While the meat is still warm, take the meat off, flaking it into medium sized pieces and place in a mixing bowl. Add a small handful of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, a finely chopped clove of garlic, 60g of melted duck fat and the reduced stock. Mix well, and season lightly with salt and cracked black pepper. Now clear the work surface, moisten with a wet cloth and lay down several sheets of cling film, ensuring there are no air pockets trapped. Place the rabbit meat along the length and fold the cling film over it, creating a cylinder. Roll it up so that the meat is tightly packed with no air pockets and tie securely at the ends. Place in the fridge to set for several hours.

Make the mustard sauce by reducing the stock by 1/3, and thicken by whisking in some beurre manié until the desired consistency is achieved. Add a few tablespoons of double cream, a large handful of chopped flat leaf parsley and 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard. When you are ready to eat, slice the ballotine into portions with the cling film still on (you should get 4 decent sized portions). Fry in oil over a medium heat, to nicely brown both ends. Place in the oven for 5 minutes at about 200C to heat through. Meanwhile, prepare the loins; brush them with Dijon mustard and roll in breadcrumbs. Fry in the same pan until golden, then place in the oven until they are just firm to the touch. Serve with baby boiled potatoes, wilted spinach and plenty of the mustard sauce.

Tomato Concasse and Prawn Spaghetti

2011-10-02T18:59:00.001+01:00

I got the idea for this recipe when I was in India with Jack and Claire. We were in Goa and, growing tired of curry, were craving some western food for our dinner. We came upon an Italian restaurant on the edge of the beach, with plastic tables and chairs arranged under palm trees. Reputedly the pizzas and pasta were particularly good so we thought we'd give it a go. I went for 'tomato and prawn spaghetti' and it was absolutely delicious. It was a simple dish, using fresh tomatoes and little baby prawns. It had a really nice light sauce and was the perfect thing to eat on a hot evening, accompanied by a chilled bottle of beer!

So this is my attempt at replicating that dish. It's basically a sauce made from tomato juice, white wine and garlic, then thickened and enriched with butter. The diced tomato flesh and prawns are then simply added to heat through, just before serving. I used frozen cooked baby prawns, but if you can find fresh ones then all the better. It's seasonal too; tomatoes are just about still good at this time of year, so make the most of it!

Tomato Concasse and Prawn Spaghetti Recipe (Serves 2)
Get a pan of salted boiling water on the go; this will be for blanching the tomatoes and cooking the spaghetti. To peel the tomatoes: take 3 large ripe tomatoes, carefully cut out the stalk with the tip of a small knife and score a cross in the bottom. Get a large bowl of very cold water ready, drop the tomatoes in the boiling water for 15 seconds, then remove and place straight into the cold water. Once the water has come back to the boil, add a glug of olive oil, put in 200g of spaghetti and cook according to the packet instructions.
Peel the tomatoes, discard the skin then quarter, de-seed (reserving the pulp and seeds) and cut the flesh into small dice. Set aside the dice (this is called tomato concasse). Take the pulp and seeds, blitz in a blender and pass through a fine sieve into a saucepan. Over a medium heat, add 1 crushed clove of garlic and a glassful of dry white wine to the pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Whisk in 30g of unsalted butter cut into small dice piece by piece, being sure to emulsify properly. Add the tomato concasse, 180g of small cooked prawns and a handful of chopped fresh basil leaves. Add the spaghetti and mix everything together, making sure the pasta is nicely coated with the sauce. Taste and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Serve and eat immediately!

Granny's Spelt Bread

2011-09-29T18:32:00.001+01:00

I went to visit my granny last week. She lives on a farm on the west coast of Scotland near Oban, right by the sea where it's windswept and wild. The best bit about going to visit my granny is that you get treated with her home-made bread. She makes beautiful wholegrain rolls with seeds in and treacle to make them extra dark, rich and malty. They're the tastiest, nourishing things you could imagine. She used to make them with normal wheat flour, but in recent years she found that she has an intolerance to wheat gluten so she uses spelt flour now instead.

Spelt is brilliant. It's an ancestor of wheat that has been used for around 9000 years. There are various references to it in the Old Testament and spelt bread was a favourite of the Romans. It was an important crop in the development of civilisation because it thrived in poor growing conditions and was particularly resistant to disease and pests due the tough outer husk surrounding the grain. Spelt has become redundant as a crop in modern times as preference has moved to higher-yield varieties of wheat that are better suited to the commercial bread industry. Recently though, spelt has been rediscovered and you can buy it from some health food shops and delicatessens. As well as making bread with the flour you can make excellent risotto from whole spelt grains, as they do in a number of restaurants now.

My granny doesn't knead the dough at all, which gives a pleasing rustic consistency to the bread. She also uses fairly hot water to activate the yeast; the water shouldn't be too hot, as this would kill the yeast, but just hand-hot (about 50C). This relatively high temperature causes the bread to rise quickly, resulting in lots of little air pockets. Her technique for baking the bread is to simply bake all of the dough into one large flat loaf, then cut it up into roll-sized portions once it has cooled. If you prefer, you could shape into individual rolls and bake them separately.

Granny's Spelt Bread Recipe

Heat the oven to 230C. In a large bowl, mix 1kg of wholegrain spelt flour with 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of dried yeast and a handful each of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds (pine nuts also work well). In a jug, mix 1 litre of hand-hot water with 2 tablespoons of treacle and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix the contents of the jug into the bowl with the flour, cover and leave in a warm place for 20 minutes.

Line a large roasting tin with greaseproof paper and scrape the dough into it. Leave in a warm place to rise again for 10 minutes, then place in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until nice and brown on the top and sounding hollow when tapped underneath. Enjoy hot with butter and Marmite!

Peanut Butter and Jam Creme Brulee

2011-09-12T18:12:00.000+01:00

One of the desserts we serve at Wedgwood is a marmalade on toast creme brulee; it has a layer of marmalade in the bottom of the ramekin and then a toast-infused cream that is set on top. It tastes fantastic. Since I was in 'peanut butter mode' after making my shortbread, I thought that the same method could work well with peanut butter and jam. This is basically a peanut flavoured custard set into a ramekin on top of some jam. To 'brulee' a normal creme brulee, sugar is sprinkled on top and then caramelised with a blow torch or by grilling. Tony, one of the Wedgwood chefs, suggested sprinkling on some toasted crushed peanuts at the end to create extra crunch, which I thought was a great idea. Nice one Tony! I decided to use salted peanuts, as the peanut butter contains salt anyway and it gives a nice contrast to the sweet cream and jam.

Peanut Butter and Jam Creme Brulee

Heat about 300g of strawberry or redcurrant jam in a saucepan until it melts. Strain through a fine sieve then pour into the bottom of 6 or 7 ramekins, depending on their size. Place in the fridge to set. Crush some salted peanuts into small crumbs and toast in a frying pan until golden. Set aside.

Put 200ml of double cream, 200ml of milk and 120g of peanut butter into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring with a whisk to incorporate the peanut butter. Set aside. Place 5 large egg yolks and 50g of caster sugar in a metal bowl, and whisk over a pan of simmering water until it forms ribbons when lifted up. Pour the peanut butter cream onto the egg mix, continuing to whisk. Heat the mixture on the pan of simmering water, stirring constantly to prevent it sticking. Thicken again until it makes thick ribbons when you lift the whisk up. When your pour the mixture into the ramekins it should be thick enough that it only just levels out. Place in the fridge for several hours to set. When fully chilled, sprinkle a thin layer of sugar over and caramelise with a blow torch. Quickly sprinkle some toasted peanuts over before the sugar has cooled, so they set into the caramel.

Peanut Butter Millionaire Shortbread

2011-09-04T01:30:00.000+01:00

My mum makes excellent millionaire shortbread. It's a treat when she comes to visit because I always get a tin full of lovely caramel-y chocolatey shortbread squares. On a daily basis I'll come home from work and, hungry, peruse the fridge for something to eat. The tin of shortbread generally gets raided whilst I'm deciding what to make for my dinner...just one piece usually ends up being two or three; needless to say the millionaire shortbread supply never lasts long!

I had the idea of doing peanut butter caramel because my girlfriend Mairi loves peanut butter. Although I do like peanut butter, it's nowhere near as much as Mairi. She adores it, eats it every day on bagels for breakfast. So this was a good excuse to treat her. Since peanut butter and chocolate is already established as a good flavour combination it was just a small logical step to make peanut butter millionaire shortbread.
I've been doing blog posts on Scottish ingredients and recipes, and shortbread is definitely a Scottish thing so I suppose at a stretch this is a Scottish recipe! On flicking through my recipe books, I picked up some tips on how to make shortbread. It's such a simple thing to make, but it's important to make it carefully so as not to end up with a poor result. When mixing the ingredients it's vital to not overwork as the butter will begin to melt; then when it cooks it'll be hard instead of the soft, melting-in-the-mouth consistency you're looking for. Marcus Wareingsuggests finely grating the chilled butter, then you hardly have to work the mixture with your hands and the butter barely softens at all. The result is excellent.

Peanut Butter Millionaire Shortbread Recipe
First make the shortbread: in a large mixing bowl, place 270g flour, 80g caster sugar, a pinch of salt and 180g of chilled and finely grated unsalted butter. Lightly rub the mixture together with your hands until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Line a 20cm x 30cm baking tray with greaseproof paper and press the shortbread mixture into it. Place in the fridge for about an hour. Preheat the oven to 160C and bake for 40mins or until light golden in colour. Remove from the oven, prick all over with a fork and leave on a rack to cool.
When the shortbread is completely cool, make the peanut butter caramel: place 150g condensed milk, 40g unsalted butter, 50g of golden syrup and 150g of smooth peanut butter in a saucepan over a low heat and stir until melted and thoroughly incorporated. Simmer for 5 minutes whilst stirring constantly with a spatula; this thickens the caramel making it set firm when cooled. Pour onto the shortbread and spread evenly. Put in a cool place to set. To finish, melt 200g of milk or dark chocolate and pour over the caramel shortbread once it has cooled. Leave again to cool, then cut into squares.

Excellent Scottish Beef

2011-07-09T21:17:00.000+01:00

I am celebrating Scottish produce and classic Scottish ingredients. Raspberries were first in the spotlight as I was intent on getting some sweet things on this blog, and also because they are so quintessentially Scottish. One of the other things that first sprung to mind when I tried thinking of ingredients was beef. Aberdeen Angus beef is widely regarded as the finest in the world and it is native to the counties of Aberdeenshire and Angus in Scotland. A nicely cooked steak from a well aged tender piece of Scottish beef is truly a thing of joy; definitely something worth celebrating!

Since it is summer, even though typically it is actually cold and raining outside, I decided not to do steak but a salad. This one is warm and savoury, with delicious rare nuggets of seared beef being the focal point. Another component of this mouth watering concoction is blue cheese; Dunsyre Blue, another example of excellent Scottish produce, is from Lanarkshire, a county renowned for it's cheeses. You know already of my fondness for blue cheese, and because it's well-known as an accompaniment to beef, it seemed an obvious choice here.

The nuggets of meat will be briefly cooked in a very hot pan, browning the outside creating intense flavour whilst leaving the middle soft and rare. The beef for this recipe must be well selected. In order for meat to be flavoursome and tender the animal needs to be hung after slaughter before it is cooked. For beef, this should be around 1 month. Beef sold in supermarkets is rarely hung for this long as it is expensive to do so; between 4-10 days is normal in this instance. What actually happens in the meat when it's hanging is that the muscle enzymes act upon fat and protein molecules, breaking them down into their component parts and releasing flavourful amino and fatty acids respectively. These enzymes also attack filaments between the muscle fibres, reducing toughness. So, buy your beef from a good quality butcher and not a supermarket, demanding that the meat has been hung for at least 21 days.

Which cut to use? Fillet is coveted for being extremely tender and succulent, which is exactly what I am looking for here, so that is what I shall use. Ask for fillet trim or the tail end as it will be cheaper. To complete the dish I have used baby spinach and tomatoes, giving the dish a striking colour contrast, with croutons to add texture variation. The tomatoes also bring a vital acidity in flavour that cuts beautifully through the rich meat and blue cheese.

Seared Beef Salad with Spinach, Tomatoes and Dunsyre (Serves 1)

To make the croutons: heat the oven to 250C. Put some thick-sliced white bread in the freezer for 10 minutes, then use a bread knife to cut into perfect cubes. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and place in the oven for 5-10 minutes until golden, then set aside.

Take 100g of well-hung Aberdeen Angus beef fillet, trim off all sinew and cut into approximately 1 inch pieces. Cover with cling film and leave for 20-30 minutes to come to room temperature. Have all your ingredients at the ready, as cooking the meat will take only a matter of seconds. Take a generous handful of baby spinach, washed and stalks removed, and place in a bowl. Halve 3-4 cherry tomatoes and crumble about 20g of Dunsyre Blue.

Place a frying pan over a high flame and leave until smoking hot. Pour 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (not olive oil as it will burn) in followed by the diced beef. Season generously with salt and stir until the meat is almost uniformly browned, about 10 seconds. Add the tomatoes and toss until the meat is all browned. Put the spinach from the bowl into the pan and toss once, then quickly throw everything along with the juices from the pan back into the bowl, followed by the blue cheese. Stir until everything is mixed and the spinach barely wilted, and serve. Garnish with the croutons.

Raspberry Cordial

2011-06-28T13:36:00.001+01:00

I had some leftover raspberry puree from when I made the chocolate and raspberry brownies, so I decided to turn it into cordial. My mum makes blackcurrant cordial from hoards of blackcurrant bushes we have back home and it's fantastic. She puts it in empty Ribena bottles and it's indistinguishable from the genuine article! I've always loved Ribena, and although blackcurrant cordial is quite readily available I've never come across a raspberry version. So here it is; the sweet taste of summer in a bottle. A basic fruit cordial consists of fruit, sugar and water. My first attempt was simply to make a sugar syrup, add the raspberry puree and bring to the boil. The result was excellent, yielding a really fresh raspberry flavour.

When I subsequently did some research online, I found that most of the recipes for fruit cordial involved heating the sugar water and fruit together and simmering for 10 minutes or so before allowing to cool and bottling. I tried a second batch using this method, also adding some lemon juice and peel for a extra dimension in flavour, and although the flavour was good it was not as fresh as the first method which didn't involve cooking the fruit for as long. In addition I think it tasted better without the lemon; I believe the amazing flavour of fresh raspberries should be allowed to shine without hindrance. This is simple, unadorned raspberry flavour!

Fresh Raspberry Cordial Recipe
Puree 550g of fresh raspberries by placing them in a blender, blitzing until smooth then passing through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Make the sugar syrup: place 400ml of water in a saucepan, add 350g sugar and bring to the boil, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved. Add the raspberry puree to the pan and gently bring back to the boil. Turn off the heat, and skim off any scum that has risen to the surface. Pass once more through a fine sieve, allow to cool, then store in sterilised bottles.

Chocolate and Scottish Raspberry Brownies

2011-06-24T15:17:00.000+01:00

It's been too long since I posted anything on here, I have been a bit preoccupied lately with finding a new home. Now settled in and enjoying the comforts of a nice flat with a better equipped kitchen than the last one (the kitchen is, after all, the most important room in any house) I am set to get blogging again.
I'm very aware that there's a lack of sweet things on this blog. I must make amends. Also, I had an idea to do a series of recipes involving quintessential Scottish ingredients...such as raspberries! This is a replication of the brownies that Marc made at Wedgwood last week; I used Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's basic brownie recipe as a basis. For chocoholics this is a truly indulgent affair, and combined with a gorge of fresh summer fruit in the form of juicy raspberries it's brilliant. A fantastic marriage of flavours. The brownie should be shiny and cracked on top, hiding the heavenly soft centre which any brownie lover craves.

Chocolate and Scottish Raspberry Brownies
Heat the oven to 160C/Gas 3. Grease a 22x22x5cm brownie tin and line with two strips of baking parchment, letting the sides hang over the edge to make removing the brownies easier.
Firstly, prepare the raspberries: place 150g of fresh scottish raspberries in a blender and puree. Add icing sugar to sweeten to taste. Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds. Set aside.

Place 170g of butter in a saucepan and melt over a medium heat until it turns brown and develops a nutty aroma. Set aside to cool. Using an electric hand mixer, bet together 200g caster sugar, 100g of light muscovado sugar and 3 eggs until thick and glossy. The ribbon of batter should be visible on the surface for several seconds when you lift up the whisk. Beat in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and the browned butter.

Sift 100g of cocoa powder and 50g of plain flour into a separate bowl. Gently fold this into the egg mixture with a spatula. Scrape about half of the mixture into the prepared tin, then spoon dollops of the raspberry puree on top. Scrape the rest of the brownie mix on top, and stir the mixture slightly to create a marble effect. Place in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the middle of the brownies with a few moist crumbs attached.

Fresh fresh fish

2011-03-21T00:43:00.000Z

I haven't got one single post about fish on this blog yet, which is a shame because I've been living in Edinburgh for a while now and, being in Scotland and situated right next to the sea, it's obviously a great place for eating seafood. I admit that I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to fish as I don't often cook it, although I do love eating it. I recently invested in a copy of the River Cottage Fish Book which has provided a good bit of inspiration. Flicking through it the other day, a photo of salmon tartare grabbed my attention. Since making steak tartare recently and appreciating it's beautiful simplicity, salmon tartare obviously appealed to me. Steak tartare is a celebration of well-aged, tender beef that is full of flavour. Salmon tartare is much the same: the piece of fish used must be top quality and as fresh as possible. Finding such a piece of fish was not going to be a problem in Edinburgh, and was particularly easy for me as Armstrong's fishmongers, recognized by many as the best in the city, happens to be just down the road from my flat.

"All of this was fresh this morning" he assured me when I told him I needed a piece of salmon as fresh as possible. On slicing it was clearly very fresh, the orange-pink flesh glossy and firm. Tasting it as it was, pure and unadorned, it already had excellent flavour. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall uses Tabasco and Worcester sauce in his recipe which I chose to omit here as I think the amazing flavour of the fish shouldn't be masked too much by additives. My version of the dish, I believe, includes enough extra ingredients to compliment and enhance the natural flavour of the fish without overpowering it.

One of my favourite things about this dish is the magic worked by the lemon juice. As well as imparting sharp fresh flavour, the acid in the lemon juice affects the protein in the fish, causing a "cooked" texture on the surface of the meat. The acid denatures the protein molecules just as heat does when cooking, and as the brine did in my pig's cheeks recipe. Pickling things in vinegar, again, has the same denaturing effect. All of these in a sense are just different ways of cooking meat. The advantage of using a method like this is that the fresh flavour of the raw meat does not change nearly as much as if you cooked it. The salmon will continue to "cook" for as long as it is left to marinate in the lemon juice. I would recommend no more than 5 minutes; this will result in a fairly thin layer of cooked-texture meat surrounding a lovely soft rare centre.

Salmon Tartare Recipe (serves 1)
Take 150g of very fresh salmon, remove the skin and cut out the grey coloured blood line so you have only the shiny pink flesh. Cut into approximate 1.5cm dice and place in a bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of finely chopped shallots, 1 teaspoon of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, 1 teaspoon of finely sliced chives, 1 teaspoon of finely diced gherkin, 1-2 teaspoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Mix well, taste and adjust the quantities and seasoning if need be. There are no exact quantities for this, just experiment and find out what works best for you. Leave to rest for 5 minutes to let the lemon juice do its magic. Serve with buttered crusty brown toast.

Aioli

2011-03-18T17:03:00.000Z

My brother is into making his own mayonnaise. From first trying it and learning the basics of emulsification (the oil much be added gradually!) he is now a mayo expert. Having a weakness for garlic (like myself), he usually includes some in his recipe, so one could argue that it's technically not mayonnaise but aioli. Aioli is basically garlic mayonnaise. It's a famous classic French sauce from Provence which was traditionally made with olive oil and alot of garlic. The recipe for aioli in Gastronomiquecomprises 4 large garlic cloves, 250ml olive oil and 1 egg yolk. This results in an overpoweringly strong garlic flavour, and is good only if used very sparingly. I prefer to make my aioli with less garlic and a proportion of less strongly flavoured oil such as sunflower or groundnut oil mixed with the oilve oil. This results in a much more palatable sauce which can be generously spread on sandwiches as is done with normal mayo. It's absolutely fantastic in a bacon sarnie!

Aioli Recipe
Place two egg yolks in a bowl and whisk with 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar, 1 finely crushed clove of garlic and a pinch of salt until well blended. Mix together 150ml of extra virgin olive oil and 150ml of sunflower oil in a jug. Start adding the oil to the egg mixture, very slowly in a thin trickle whilst whisking vigorously. If you don't do this slowly then the oil will not emulsify with the eggs and it will not thicken. Keep adding the oil gradually until it is all incorporated and you have a thick glossy texture. Thin the aioli if you wish by whisking in some water. Add a squeeze of lemon juice, to taste, and adjust the seasoning if needed.

Steak Tartare

2011-03-07T14:26:00.001Z

I have become very fond of raw meat. I only recently tried steak tartare, the classic dish of diced raw beef, for the first time and instantly fell in love with it. It is traditionally served with finely chopped shallots, parsley, capers and gherkins, and I have learned that there is some debate about how many extra ingredients to add to the meat. Some like to include condiments such as Worcester sauce, tomato ketchup, mustard, lemon juice and even brandy. One thing is pretty indisputable though, which is that the meat - being the central aspect of the dish - should be of the highest possible quality. I have had discussions about steak tartare with Alan, fellow Wedgwood chef, who believes that this dish is a pure and simple celebration of meat and should be accompanied by little more than some herbs and seasoning. I appreciate his sentiment and agree that the dish should simple, but I do like to include a couple of extra ingredients...

Steak Tartare Recipe (serves 1)

The quantities here need not be exact, just experiment and see what works best for you. Take 100g of best quality sirloin steak and, with a sharp knife, cut into small dice. Add to the meat 30g of finely chopped shallots and about 1 teaspoon each of finely chopped capers, gherkins and flat leaf parsley. Taste and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Arrange on a plate, placing a raw egg yolk in a hollow in the centre.

Eggs!

2011-02-23T14:20:00.000Z

Scrambled, fried, poached, soft-boiled... creme anglaise, hollandaise sauce, mayonnaise, pancakes... there are a myriad different uses for them. Imagine life without eggs! It would be a dull existence. I hold eggs in the highest regard and also love to eat them. Out of all the ways to simply prepare them, poached egg is my current favourite, having recently overtaken soft-boiled which held the number-one spot for some time...not to take any credit away from the others however, I still love and respect scrambled, fried and omelette. "What better food is there than an egg which, if kept warm for just three weeks hatches into a living, breathing thing?" was something my grandpa used to say, which I think is a great statement proving that, basically, eggs are awesome.

   This is just a simple dish which I made for my lunch the other day. Simple yet delicious. Sautéed potatoes are something we serve up at work, and they're pretty tasty things. The contrast of colours on this plate are fantastic, just making it seem all the more appetising.

Poached Egg with Spinach, Mange-tout and Sautéed Potatoes
   First of all, cook your potatoes: place 2 generous handfuls of new potatoes into a pot with a good pinch of salt and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then turn it down to just under simmering point and cook for about 15-20 minutes, until they are tender but not soft and falling apart. Refresh immediately with cold water. Use however much you want for your meal, and the rest will keep in the fridge for several days.
   Slice the potatoes into discs, and fry them in vegetable oil over a high heat on each side until they are golden and crisp. Season with salt and then drain on kitchen paper. Prepare the pan for your spinach and mange-tout: place a frying pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter. Cut a handful of mange-tout into thin slices lengthways and have about 50g of baby spinach leaves ready. For the poached egg: get a medium sized pan of water, bring to the boil and add a teaspoon of vinegar. Swirl the water, then gently slide in the egg, turn the heat down and cook for about 3 minutes, for a set white but nice runny yolk. Just before the egg is cooked, add the mange-tout to the frying pan and turn the heat up. Cook for about 30 seconds then add the baby spinach. Cook until the spinach just wilts, then season and remove from the heat. Arrange everything on the plate, and enjoy.

Coriander, chilli and lime meatballs

2011-02-15T23:35:00.001Z

This one is a departure from the usual for me. Pork mince that happens to be sitting in my fridge normally gets turned into either bolognese sauce or meatballs in spicy tomato sauce (arrabiatta) served with pasta. Pasta seems to have already made its presence felt on this blog; not surprising as I love it so...but this time I felt that I needed a change, and so we see the first appearance of couscous on this blog, lovely stuff that it is.

Coriander, chilli and lime meatballs recipe
   Take 500g pork mince and place in a mixing bowl. Add 1 finely diced shallot, 2 finely diced large cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of ground coriander, the zest of 2 limes finely grated, a small bunch of parsley roughly chopped and 2-3 hot red chillies, seeds removed and finely diced. Add a generous pinch each of salt and cracked black pepper. Mix everything together thoroughly, squeezing the mixture together in your fists. Place the mixture in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to allow the mixture to firm up, making it easier to roll into balls.
   To make the couscous; put 350g of fine couscous in a bowl and add 450ml of boiling water. Cover and leave for 5 minutes. Fluff up the couscous with a fork, add more water and soak further if need be. Add a generous glug of olive oil, a large bunch of fresh coriander leaves roughly chopped, and the juice of 3 limes. Mix and season to taste with salt.
   Pre-heat the oven to 220C/Gas mark 7. Shape your meatballs to about 3cm diameter, then heat a frying pan suitable to go in the oven (ie one with a metal handle, not plastic) and add a splash of vegetable oil (don't use olive oil as it burns at too low a temperature). Fry the meatballs over a high flame, constantly turning them until they are uniformly browned, then place them in the oven for about 5 minutes. Serve on a pile of couscous and garnish with some finely sliced chilli.

Mutton Mulligatawny

2011-01-18T23:04:00.001Z

Growing up on a sheep farm, lamb or mutton for dinner was a fairly common occurrence in our house. Any left-over scraps of meat from a roast were always put to good use in some way or another, and this soup was a firm favourite of mine. My freezer has recently been endowed with a generous supply of mutton in various different cuts, including some bones which I intended to make stock with. I also had a piece of breast (the upper end of the belly/ribs next to the shoulder) which was destined to be braised.

This is an awesome soup, I adore the combination of rich mutton meatiness and spicy curry. It's a proper hearty winter warmer of a dish, and pretty much a meal in itself as it is so thick and substantial. I made this soup with meat from the braised breast and stock that I made from the mutton bones. You could instead use leftover meat from a mutton or lamb roast, along with chicken stock from powder if you don't want to make stock from scratch. The mutton could also be substituted quite satisfactorily with chicken; get some chicken thighs, season and toss in olive oil and roast on gas mark 7 for about 30 minutes. Then just pick off the meat and substitute into the recipe below accordingly. I used braised breast, but you could just as well use another cut such as scruffy chops, belly or neck chops. If you do braise some meat, you could use the braising liquor instead of making stock, although it will taste quite strongly of wine (if you use my recipe below) which you may not want in the soup. I believe the rich mellow flavour obtained from the slowly cooked stock is preferable in this case.

Mutton Stock: get a load of mutton bones (enough to pack tightly into a fairly large pot) and lightly roast in a hot oven for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, roughly chop 1 large carrot, 1 leek, 1 stick of celery and 1 onion into large chunks and fry in oil over a high heat until lightly browned. Add the mutton bones, along with 1 large clove of garlic, 1 bay leaf and a sprig of rosemary. Add a large pinch of salt, then pour in cold water to just cover. Bring to the boil, skimming any froth that rises to the surface, then turn it down to just below boiling point and gently cook for at least 8 hours. Taste the stock; if it lacks flavour reduce it by boiling vigorously. Leave to cool slightly, then skim off and save the fat from the surface.

Braised Mutton: Place your chosen cut of meat in a roasting tray on top of a bed of roughly chopped vegetables (carrot, onion, celery, leek, garlic). Season the meat with salt and pepper. Pour over a 50-50 mixture of red or white wine and water so it reaches half-way up the side of the meat. Place on the hob, bring to the boil and simmer gently for a few minutes to boil off the alcohol. Tightly cover with foil and place in the oven on gas mark 1 for about 4 hours, or until the meat is falling apart and tender (but not so overcooked that the flavour has all been lost to the liquid). Remove from the oven, and leave to partially cool. While it is still warm, pick all the meat away from the bones and fat and set aside. The braising liquor is full of flavour; skim the fat, reduce if need be and save.

Mutton Mulligatawny Soup

Cut 150g of streaky bacon (preferably home-cured) into thin lardons and fry in a little oil in a large pot until just starting to colour. Dice 1 large onion and 2 sticks of celery, and finely chop 3 large cloves of garlic. Add these to the pot with the bacon, along with about 1/2 teaspoon of fat skimmed from the mutton stock. Turn the heat right down and gently sweat the vegetables down for 10-15 minutes until they are nice and soft. Add to the pot 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 5mm dice, 300g of flaky braised mutton cut into small pieces, 1 1/2 teaspoons of madras curry powder, 1/4 teaspoon of paprika and 1 litre of stock (ideally quality home-made mutton stock). Taste and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to just below simmering point and cook for 15-20 minutes. Add a few drops of Worcester sauce and 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar. Peel and dice 300g of potatoes into 1cm dice and add to the soup. Cook until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart. Adjust the seasoning and serve with some roughly chopped parsley scattered over.

Pancakes

2011-01-09T12:42:00.001Z

Pancakes are great. When I was little I always looked forward to Shrove Tuesday because it was pancake day! Dinner consisted of as many pancakes as you could possibly eat, accompanied by a variety of fillings. The most popular, and an all-time classic was sugar and lemon juice. Simple and delicious; hard to beat. Other household favourites were bolognese sauce; maple syrup; and - I think it deserves a mention, although I realise that this will cause severe discontent among some - Marmite. "Crazy talk!" I hear you say, but if you (like me) are not a hater but a lover, put some Marmite on your pancake along with some butter, it's fantastic.

   The final addition to my list of classic and favourite fillings is a relatively new one for me. My friend Richard, a fellow pancake obsessive, is an advocate for butter and sugar being the all-time best pancake filler. I was surprised that I had never before thought of this combination, they are two ingredients that almost everyone is bound to have in their house, and it's a winner. So if you make pancakes you must try it. Make sure you use plenty of butter; fry the pancake in butter and put more butter on after flipping and before adding plenty of granulated sugar. Sweet buttery goodness. Lovely.
   Today I decided to have a break from tradition and try some new fillings. I found in my fridge some smoked salmon, crème fraîche and spinach... I waved my magic wand and very soon I had two delicious pancake fillings ready to be married in tasty happiness to some beautiful crêpes.

Pancakes
   Smoked salmon filling: cut the smoked salmon into small dice, finely chop some chives and parsley and mix in a bowl with a dollop of crème fraîche. Add a pinch of freshly cracked black pepper and a little squeeze of lemon juice. Mix, taste and season.
   Baby spinach, Parmesan and garlic filling: gently fry 2-3 cloves of garlic in butter in a large frying pan until soft. Take a large double handful of baby spinach and roughly chop. Add to the pan with the garlic, season with salt and pepper and stir until the spinach has wilted. Set aside and allow to cool completely. Mix with a good dollop of crème fraîche and a generous amount of grated Parmesan cheese.
   Pancake batter: crack 3 large eggs into a bowl, add 250g of plain white flour, a splash of milk and a pinch of salt. Mix until a uniform consistency is achieved. Now add 500ml of milk in stages, mixing to get a smooth texture in between each stage. Let the batter stand for 2 hours before cooking; this allows any air in the mixture to dissipate, ensuring that the pancakes do not rise when cooking and stay nice and flat. Thin the batter just before cooking with 50-100ml of milk. To cook the pancakes, get your frying pan nice and hot before adding a knob of butter. Once the butter has melted, pour in a small amount of batter whilst carefully tilting the pan to ensure that a nice thin even spread is achieved. Fry for a few minutes on each side, until nice and golden.

Bolognese Sauce

2011-01-06T12:46:00.000Z

This has long been a staple dish in my repertoire and I think that I, like many of us, have a weakness for a good meaty pasta sauce. However, bolognese sauce can often turn out mediocre if thrown together in a hurry and without much thought. My philosophy for making a good bolognese rests on two principles. One: it should be really meaty, and two: it should simmer gently for a long time to tenderise the meat. My usual bolognese contains beef mince, pork mince, bacon, and pork sausage meat. This gives a nice combination of meaty flavours. It's nice to vary things though, and I sometimes combine the beef mince with lamb or venison mince. Another thing about my bolognese, which is slightly controversial, is that I omit tomatoes and only include tomato puree. The main liquid component of the sauce instead comes from beef or pork stock, which promotes a richer meat flavour.

This is an easy reliable meal, and a great one to serve if you have guests since just about everyone likes spaghetti bolognese! I usually make a big quantity, then freeze most of it before adding the cream.

Bolognese Sauce (serves 6)

Chop 150g of streaky bacon into small lardons and fry in oil in a large saucepan. Meanwhile, peel and finely dice 2 medium onions, 2-3 cloves of garlic and 1 stick of celery. Add to pan with the bacon just as it is starting to colour. Turn the heat down and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, until the onions are soft and translucent. Peel and chop 2 medium carrots into small dice and add to the pan. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Now add the rest of the meat: 500g of beef mince, 500g of pork mince and 250g of good quality pork sausages, taken out of their skins. Turn the heat up and stir constantly until all the meat is browned and well mixed. Add to the pan 5-6 tablespoons of tomato puree, 200ml of red or white wine and 300ml of good quality beef or pork stock. Add a good pinch of cracked black pepper, a sprig of fresh thyme and a bay leaf. Bring to the boil, then leave barely simmering, uncovered, for about 2 hours, or until the mince is very tender and the sauce is intense and rich. If need be, add more stock if the sauce is looking too dry. Taste, and season. Just before serving, stir in 2-3 tablespoons of double cream, or more if desired. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese and a nice big fresh salad.

Brining

2010-12-02T21:50:00.002Z

My first attempt at brining was a success. The reason I brined my pig's cheeks was to preserve the meat, but brining also serves - as I discovered - to improve it's texture and increase the moisture content once cooked. My braised pig's cheeks were extra mouthwatering and tender thanks to their time spent in the brine I made. So I am now a firm advocate of brining. In future I intend to apply this process to any slow-cooked meat dish that I undertake. On my to-do list now is to make Puerco Pibil with brined pork shoulder; the one thing that always disappointed me slightly about that dish is that the pork is a bit dry when it comes out of the oven. Brining is the answer!

So what actually happens to the meat when it's sitting in the brine? I decided to consult the books and find out. Harold McGee, in On Food and Cooking provided the answer: the salt in the brine reacts with the long protein molecules in the meat's muscle fibres, causing them to unravel and lose their characteristic shape. This process is known as denaturation; it increases the muscle fibres' ability to hold moisture, allowing them to absorb water from the brine along with any aromatics it has been flavoured with. When any meat is cooked, it typically loses about 20% of it's weight in water. However, the brining process causes the weight of the meat to increase by around 10%, resulting in half the amount of moisture loss once the meat has finished cooking. The beauty of it all is that the brine has most of an effect on the outer part of the meat, which is the region most likely to be overcooked. Conclusion: brining is good!

Brined and Ale-Braised Pig's Cheeks

2010-11-29T17:35:00.007Z

Pigs and pork has been a popular topic of conversation at work the past week or so, in part due to my adventures making bacon, and the amazing Ibérico ham which Marc and I sampled at a wine-tasting the other week. It's easily the best ham I've ever tasted; it comes as a whole leg with hoof still attached, and a special wooden stand is provided to mount it on, enabling easy slicing. The black Iberian pigs that are reared for this ham are fed on a strict diet of acorns which gives the meat it's distinctive flavour. The hams are salted and left for two weeks; they're then rinsed and left to cure for 24-36 months. The result is a cured meat with brilliant texture and flavour. So, it was a happy moment when we found out we could get black Iberian pig's cheeks from one of our meat suppliers at work.

   Marcus had told us of the delicious meal he cooked with pig's cheeks he bought from Waitrose; they are tasty and very cheap. We ordered in a couple of packs of the special Iberian cheeks. This wasn't to serve in the restaurant though, this was just for the boys to take home! So... I had six pigs cheeks in my fridge waiting to be turned into something tasty.
   As I was at work for the rest of the week it was going to be 4 days before I'd get time to cook them so I decided to brine the cheeks to prevent them from going off. I immersed them in brine for 24 hours, then in fresh water overnight to reduce the saltiness. I added garlic, peppercorns and bay to my brine to add some flavour. Then I got out of bed early this morning to get them in the oven. I got the idea of cooking pork with ale from a recipe for belly pork on the channel 4 website (here). I have done that recipe a few times now and it's really, really tasty. So this pig's cheeks recipe is pretty similar.
   It was freezing cold and snowing all day today so I stayed indoors in the warmth and comfort, with my pig's cheeks gently cooking in the oven, slowly becoming tender and delicious. The resulting meal was absolutely fantastic. The brining of the meat I believe really helped in making it really tender and moist, I think I shall be brining more often in the future.

Brined and Ale Braised Pig's Cheeks Recipe (Serves 3)
   Get six pig's cheeks and trim off the sinew and fat. To brine the cheeks: for every litre of water, you need 180g of salt (this is according to Lindy Wildsmith, author of Cured). Place the cheeks in a plastic container and pour in enough water to totally immerse them. This is how much water you need for the brine. For my six cheeks I used 1 litre of water. Add the water and salt to a pan, along with a few peppercorns, cloves of garlic, a bay leaf and any other flavourings you fancy. Make sure all the meat is immersed by placing something on top to weigh them down. Place in the fridge or a cool larder and leave for 24 hours. Drain off the brine and rinse the cheeks. Now put back into the container and immerse with fresh water. Leave overnight, or for 6-8 hours.
   Now for the cooking: heat the oven to 140C/Gas Mark 1. Get a casserole style pan that can be used both on the stove and in the oven. Heat a little oil, then add about 100g of home-cured bacon or pancetta, cut into chunky cubes. Fry over a high heat until just starting to colour, then add 3 carrots and 2 onions, cut into large chunks. Add 4 cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole. Continue to fry over a high heat, allowing the vegetables and the bacon to brown nicely. Add 250ml of strong ale, 200ml of water and 1 tin of chopped tomatoes. Throw in a spring each of rosemary and thyme, 2 bay leaves and a generous pinch of cracked black pepper. Cover tightly with foil and a lid to make sure it's thoroughly sealed, then place in the oven for 4 hours, until the meat is falling-apart tender.
   Remove the meat, cover with foil and keep warm whilst you prepare the sauce. Strain off the vegetables and bacon from the pan and pour the liquid into a saucepan. Bring to the boil and thicken with beurre manié, a little at a time, until the desired consistency is achieved. Taste, and season if need be. Make sure you simmer the sauce for 3 minutes or so after adding the last bit of beurre manié to ensure that the flour is cooked. Roughly flake the pig's cheeks apart into rustic chunks, and serve them on top of a good dollop of mash with the sauce poured around. Garnish with some roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley. Awesome!

Some thoughts on food and cuisine...

2010-11-22T15:20:00.004Z

I've been working as a chef in Edinburgh for three months now, and have pretty much adjusted to the lifestyle which being a chef entails. Long hours and little sleep is the price for a culinary education in a top restaurant. As I've said before, my life completely revolves around food now so I'm happy. Wedgwood is a good place to learn and I am learning lots about food every day; my days off are spent reading books on food, cooking and taking photographs for this blog.

   I am endlessly fascinated by the degrees of complexity and inner-workings of cuisine on all levels. I love French style preparations like pates and terrines, which involve a bit of a process and are time consuming. Equally, I love simple yet beautiful preparations such as pasta carbonara which involve much less of a process and rely more on the high quality of the ingredients to ensure success. I appreciate the complex nature of French cuisine and the techniques it involves, and I wish to know everything about it. Such a large proportion of western-cuisine restaurants are built on the solid foundation of French cooking and so I feel it demands the utmost respect. Saying that, for this blog I think simple rustic food has more of a place. I love food universally, but I admit I have a penchant for simple dishes where the ingredients really speak for themselves.
   In considering what photograph would accompany this post, I ended up deciding that an onion would be an appropriate thing to have here: such a humble vegetable, so vital in so many recipes in so many cuisines. So there you have it: my formal appreciation of the onion.
   The thing that I love about food is that there is a virtually endless number of things to learn. For me, every day is a exercise in gathering knowledge and learning as much as possible. My plan is then to regurgitate that knowledge and stick it up on the internet for the world to digest.

Tortellini

2010-11-15T14:28:00.002Z

I have always been a fan of pasta. Since dried pasta is so easy to prepare, it's not surprising that the first dish many of us learn to cook is a pasta dish. The first recipe I learned by heart was a bacon and tomato sauce. It's really easy and really tasty! So, pasta is good. However, when I discovered how easy it is to make your own from simply eggs and flour, my appreciation for it increased dramatically. It takes some time to make, but it's really simple and the result is fantastic. It completely knocks the socks off dried pasta.

My parents gave me a pasta machine as a flat-warming present (thanks Mum and Dad!); a very useful item in the pasta-maker's tool kit as it saves a bit of time and effort rolling out the dough. I've made pasta a few times now, most recently to go with my chicken and olive stew, which was an excellent accompaniment. A while ago last year Guy and I had an afternoon pasta-making session at his house back in Rothbury, making use of his mum's pasta machine which was gathering dust on the shelf. We had a production line going on his kitchen table, making a proper floury mess, kneading and rolling. It was great fun. Since our options were somewhat limited as to what shapes we could make, we did spaghetti, tagliatelle and ravioli, with three different sauces to go with each. They were all delicious as I remember; a true pasta-fest. This time I wanted to try my hand at tortellini, one of the most attractive looking pasta shapes; supposedly resembling a beautiful woman's navel, or so the story goes... Once again I had pasta dough all laid out on the kitchen work surface, flour getting everywhere. The afternoon sun was shining brightly through the window and I was quite content, carefully constructing my little pasta-navels. It's quite a time-consuming process, but I find it immensely satisfying and can't think of many better ways to spend my afternoon. To live up to it's delicious and inviting appearance, I reckoned the tortellini must be filled with something equally special, so obviously my own dry cured bacon was going to play a part in the dish! I fried lardons then added garlic, spinach, crème fraîche and black pepper. It was top notch.

bacon, spinach and garlic tortellini (serves 4)
Make your pasta dough: mix 500g of pasta flour with 6 eggs to make a dough. Knead until smooth, silky and elastic - around 10 minutes. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the filling: dice 2-3 rashers of streaky home-cured bacon in olive oil until just starting to turn crisp, then turn the heat right down and add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic. Cook gently for 10 minutes. Now add a pinch of cracked black pepper along with 2 large handfuls of chopped baby spinach leaves and cook briefly until it has all wilted. Transfer it all to a plate and set aside to cool. When cool enough, put into the fridge. Now for the pasta: roll out the dough very thin, no more than 1mm, then cut into circles of diameter 4-5cm with a pastry cutter or a glass tumbler. Get your spinach filling and stir 1-2 tablespoons of crème fraîche through it, depending on how creamy you want it to be. Lay out all the circles on a lightly floured work surface and place 1/2 a teaspoon of the spinach filling in the centre of each. Fold the tortellini in half around the filling to create a semi-circle, and press down the edges to seal. Now pick it up and wrap it around your index finger, pressing the two corners of the semi-circle together, creating that distinctive navel shape. Magic! Once they're all done, boil in plenty of salted water for 3-4 minutes. To serve them, you could make a creamy mushroom sauce which is a common accompaniment. I decided to keep it simple though, and just gently fried a garlic clove in a generous knob of butter and stirred my tortellini through it.

Dry cure bacon Part II

2010-11-04T13:08:00.003Z

Since my last batch of dry cure bacon had been finished up a while ago, it was high time I made some more. Although I was pleased with the last lot, I was slightly annoyed by the fact I had to soak it in water to reduce the saltiness, as the flavour from the rosemary, sugar and black peppercorns will have also been reduced. Whilst browsing the River Cottage forums one day, I read about other people who had had the same problem when following Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's recipe for dry cure bacon. There was one person, Howard, who had done alot of research and looked at several different recipes before he tried curing his bacon, and said it turned out beautifully. So I decided to follow his guidelines.

Thanks to Howard for the useful info! Here's a link. I love making bacon. Such a simple procedure, with such amazing results. It's quite comforting to have a load of delicious streaky bacon sitting in my fridge, waiting to be turned into something tasty. Again, I got a hold of a whole pork belly (I don't like to do things by half), but it wasn't all for me; the other chefs Marc, Marcus and Alan from work were going to split the cost with me for a piece of bacony loveliness. I was more adventurous with the flavourings this time; nutmeg and rosemary were the primary notes, with undertones from a few other spices also coming through. I did actually end up soaking the bacon, but only for 1 hour this time, so the extra flavours were still noticeable in the finished bacon. I didn't manage to get a hold of any salt petre unfortunately, so the bacon won't keep its pinkness when cooked. The flavour will unaffected though, which is the main thing. I'm very happy with the end product; I have delicious things in store for it. It was a source of comfort and joy to have my bacon hanging up in the kitchen, slowly maturing and increasing in firmness and flavour. Everyone should try making bacon, it's so easy, and you will have a product which is many miles better than anything you can get in a supermarket.

Dry Cure Bacon Part II

For a 5kg pork belly, I used 300g salt, 100g of soft brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of cracked black pepper, 6-8 bay leaves finely chopped, 3-4 sprigs of rosemary finely chopped, 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg or mace, 6 ground all spice, 3 cloves, ground. Rub three-quarters of the cure mix into the belly, leave for 24 hours, then pour away the liquid and repeat, but only adding a small amount of cure mix after the first day. Cure it for 4 days, then cut off a piece and fry it to test for saltiness. If it's too salty, just soak it under running water for an hour or longer to reduce this. Finally, wrap it in muslin and hang for a week to dry and allow the flavour to mature.

Stock and broth

2010-10-31T14:38:00.002Z

So, after enjoying our roast partridge so much the obvious thing to do next was make some stock with the leftover carcasses. Guy took on that responsibility, and he had a pot of gently simmering gamey liquid on the stove all afternoon, promising flavour and goodness. I reckoned the most appropriate thing to make with the stock, which incidentally turned out to be delicious, was a nice autumnal broth. However, since we were both working all week with no time off to indulge in soup-making, the stock went into the freezer to wait for its moment to shine.

In the time between my days off we had a new menu launched at work, with recipes and ingredients changed to follow the turning season. As it is the season for game we have pheasant and pigeon on the menu, as well as venison. The pheasants get delivered as whole birds, but we only serve up the leg (confit) and breast (pancetta-wrapped and roasted). The remaining carcass is roasted then turned into stock. This stock was a cut above mine and Guy’s effort, I must admit. Sous chefs Marc and Marcus worked their magic; pheasant and pigeon carcasses and venison bones made up the essential component, and Marcus decided to add extra flavour only in the form of wild foraged mushroom stalks, mainly birch boletus. Game and mushroom stock, it was going to be awesome. Myself and Marcus, a talented chef and fellow food obsessive, were appreciating the fact that the mushroom and game season coincide and that their flavours complement each other so well; it’s as if Mother Nature intended them to go together. And so, the job of turning the excellent game stock into a delicious broth fell to me and was to be served up at lunch. I was delighted to do so, and the broth turned out to be very tasty. There is nothing better to warm you up on a cold, windy October day.

The bar had been set high; mine and Guy’s broth was unlikely to be quite as good as the one I served up at Wedgwood, but would be pretty good nonetheless. The resulting product was much lighter and delicate than the hearty broth we did at Wedgwood, a result of the partridge's delicate flavour compared to that of pigeon, venison and pheasant. The gamey flavour was still present though, and it went down a treat. Here it is.

Tom and Guy's game broth
To make your stock: take your partridge carcasses and place them in a pot with some roughly chopped vegetables. Carrot, leek, celery, onion, garlic. Add also a few black peppercorns, a sprig of thyme and a bay leaf. Mushrooms are good, get some of those in there too. Pour in cold water so it just covers everything and increase the heat, bringing it to a barely trembling simmer. Leave for at least 4 hours, with the lid off, preferably longer. Ours was on the stove for about 8 hours.
To make the broth: Take 2 or 3 rashers of smoked streaky bacon and chop into lardons. Saute in olive oil until just starting to turn crisp. Meanwhile, get 1 large onion, 2 carrots, 1 leek and 2 sticks of celery. Cut them all into medium sized dice. Peel and finely chop 3 cloves of garlic. Throw all into the pot and saute until soft. Whilst the vegetables are cooking, get your stock into a separate pot and pour in about 100g of broth mix or pearl barley. Bring to boiling point, ready to add to the veg. When the vegetables are nearly cooked, add the stock and broth mix and simmer everything together for a few minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then serve. Sprinkle some chopped parsley or chives to garnish.

Roast Partridge

2010-10-22T17:02:00.004+01:00

George Bower. that is the name of the butcher’s shop just down the road from our flat. He specialises in game, and there is a whole array of wild birds on his shelf at the moment: grouse, partridge, guinea fowl, pheasant... a treasure trove of delicious meaty morsels. I was keen to cook some game as it is the season for it, and also because I wanted to cook something Scottish. Game is a big deal in Scotland. Seasonal and local, it’s the best way to eat.

Most of the game I’ve eaten before came in the form of pheasants given to us by the shoot who rear them to shoot for sport on the farm back home, and rabbits, shot in the field with the rifle. Rabbits are a farmer’s sworn enemy. They feed mainly on grass, but a newly planted field of oats or barley when the shoots are young and tender is a much more delicious prospect for them, and they can devour the best part of a crop before the plants get a chance to grow more than a few inches. Rabbits are also prolific breeders, churning out several litters in a breeding season that lasts nine months. They're the most populous land mammal in Britain; in other words: a pest. Naturally then, our Dad was more than happy for my brother and I to go out and shoot rabbits on the farm, their destiny usually being a delicious rustic stew with cider and bacon, served with fluffy mashed potato. Just the thought of it makes my mouth water... I must get some rabbit sometime soon.

So one day I was out shooting rabbits when I spotted something rabbit-coloured moving in a tuft of grass. I shot it, but it turned out to be a partridge! From a distance, the grey feathers looked uncannily like a rabbit’s fur. This partridge, along with all the other partridges, pheasants and ducks on the farm were paid for and reared by the shoot and are off limits for us to take for our dinner. Oops! Well I wasn’t going to waste it, so I took it home, plucked, gutted and roasted it. It was tasty, but I can’t say I was blown away by the flavour. However, I then found out that there are two types of partridge; the French red-legged partridge, and the grey English one. The one I had was the red-legged variety and I'd read that the grey partridge has a richer more prized flavour, so I was keen to try it and see. And today I found myself standing in George Bower’s butcher’s shop looking at all these partridges! I was told it is the perfect time of year for partridge, and the evidence was in front of my eyes. The time had come. I picked up two to take home and roast for lunch. I wrapped them in bacon, stuffed them with apple and laid them on a bed of rosemary, garlic and bacon. The result was excellent, and definitely better than the other red-legged one I shot by accident. This recipe was compiled from a number of different sources, including Gastronomique, Leiths Cookery Bibleand Rick Stein's French Odyssey.

Roast Partridge with Smoked Bacon and Port Jus (Serves 2)

Preheat the oven to 200C. Get a roasting tray large enough to fit two small partridges in side-by-side. Chop an onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 rashers of smoked streaky bacon and 1/2 a carrot and lay them in the bottom of the roasting tray along with 1 sprig of rosemary and 1 sprig of thyme. Clean up the birds, then stuff a quarter of a sweet eating apple inside the cavity of each one. Lay the birds in the tray on top of the veg and cover with a few rashers of streaky bacon. Place in the oven for 20-25 mins.

As you can see from the photograph, I served mine with home made hand cut crisps. You don't need a deep fryer to do this, just get a pan and heat up about 1 litre of vegetable or sunflower oil. Slice your potatoes and throw them in once the oil is nice and hot. Keep stirring them occasionally to stop them sticking to the bottom of the pan. Whilst the crisps are cooking, you can get on with the sauce. When the birds are done, take them out of the tray, cover with foil and put in a warm place. De-glaze the roasting tray with some hot water from the kettle, scraping off all the tasty goodness sticking to the bottom. Strain through a sieve into a saucepan and add 50ml of port and 150ml of chicken stock. Boil vigorously for a few minutes to reduce the sauce a little. Finally, thicken with some beurre manié. Drain the potato crisps on kitchen towel, and season with salt. Served up as shown in the photograph!

Saint Agur

2010-10-16T01:55:00.000+01:00

I feel the need to express how much I love cheese. I particularly like blue cheese and their strong in-your-face flavours. I love all rich tasting food, so it may come as no surprise that I like blue cheeses so much. My favourite is St. Agur, which I photographed nicely here on a crusty white baguette. It's a strong tasting creamy cow's milk cheese from France, the home of so many great cheeses. It has an agreeable soft consistency which makes it easy to spread on a cracker if you so wished, perhaps accompanied by a glass of wine. It also goes really well with tomatoes; little cherry tomatoes are the best, on a cracker with a wedge of the cheese. It's also pretty awesome spread on toast. I have to say however, that my favourite way to enjoy St. Agur is simply with a bottle of good Port. All you need is a glass and a knife; slice off chunks of the gorgeous cheese, savour it as it melts away in your mouth, then wash down with a swig of Port. Decadent!

Although I wouldn't call myself a cheese connoisseur (I'm aware that there are hundreds and hundreds of cheeses that I'm not even aware of the existence of, let alone tasted!) I am a huge fan of cheese and it is a staple part of my diet. At home home our fridge was always packed with cheese; mainly various types of cheddar. Lunchtime always consisted of bread with cheese and ham, cheese and ham and tomato, cheese and tomato, cheese and pickle, cheese and pickle and tomato... you get the idea. Cheddar is so widespread that it has a bit of a reputation for being mediocre I think, which is a shame because there are some really fantastic tasting mature cheddars around. My favourite mass-produced one is Seriously Strong Cheddar, made by McLelland & Son. It's tangy and reliably good. The best cheddars to be found, however, are from local. small scale producers. We serve Isle of Mull cheddar as part of the cheese selection at Wedgwood, which is excellent. The best cheddar I've ever tasted though, was from Green's of Glastonbury. It's a really mature cheddar, with amazing flavour. It beats Seriously Strong easily. I urge you to try it, you can order it from their website: www.greensofglastonbury.co.uk. Go for the "Traditional Mature Cheddar", you won't be disappointed.

Chanterelles!

2010-10-03T21:53:00.000+01:00

It has been over six weeks since I put a new post up here; shocking I know, I apologise. The reason for this is that I moved to Edinburgh to live and get a job as a chef, so I've been busy sorting out the flat in my days off and didn't get internet sorted out until recently. My job is at Wedgwood restaurant on the Royal Mile; the cuisine is fantastic and quite fancy so it's a great place to learn, which is what I am there for. My life is now centred even more on food, as I am cooking every day at work and then planning things for the Grubdaily Grotto when I'm at home! Things couldn't be better.

I went back home to the farm this weekend for a bit of a gathering with the folks. Lots of food and wine and merriment was had. It also just happened to be the perfect season for my favourite mushrooms: chanterelles! There is a particular spot in the woods, beneath the silver birch trees, where I know I can find them. So we went up to see what we could find, and were not disappointed. There is a deep satisfaction in strolling through the woods foraging for mushrooms, knowing that they're going to be turned into something really delicious back in the kitchen. Chanterelles are amazing things. Such an outrageous bright yellow colour, and with their trumpet-shaped curves they seem almost other-worldly. Surely the most photogenic of mushrooms.

It seems about time I put a risotto recipe up here. You may have noticed that I have a thing for Italian food; I love the ethos behind it: simple and delicious. Risotto was introduced to me a few years ago by my good friend Cecily, and I instantly fell in love with it. I love the mechanics; the constant meticulous stirring, coaxing the starch out of the rice. Since then I have made many many risottos. So here it is on the blog at last. The key to an excellent risotto, I believe, is to have a good stock. So if possible make it from scratch rather than using a stock cube. If you make a roast chicken for dinner, you can use the carcass to make stock and have a fantastic risotto for dinner the next day.

Risotto with Wild Chanterelles (serves 4)
Get a large, wide-bottomed pan and gently saute 1 large onion, 2 or 3 sticks of celery and 3 cloves of garlic for about 15 minutes until they are nice and soft. Meanwhile, get about 1.5 litres of chicken or vegetable stock simmering in a separate pan, grate 100g of parmesan cheese ready for adding at the end and finely chop 2 large handfuls of flat-leaf parsley. Also, prep your chanterelles: tear or chop so that they're all about the same size, leaving the small ones whole. You want about a handful of mushrooms per person. Once your onion base is nice and soft, turn up the heat, add 350g of risotto rice to the pan and stir briefly. Now add a generous glassful of dry white wine and stir until the liquid has been absorbed. Turn the heat back down to a medium flame and add your stock in the same fashion, one-ladle at a time. Constant stirring is required to stop it sticking and to gently massage the starch out to make that lovely thick sauce. When the rice is al dente, add a large knob of butter, most of the chopped parsley and all of the parmesan. Give a good stir, then place a lid on the pan and leave to rest for 3-4 minutes. Meanwhile, cook your chanterelles: melt a small amount of butter in a frying pan, and over a medium heat toss the chanterelles with a pinch of salt and pepper until just tender. Add the rest of the parsley and a small squeeze of lemon juice. Arrange as shown in the photo. Serve with more grated parmesan sprinkled over.

Tasty pesto morsels

2010-08-14T14:05:00.009+01:00

My mum’s greenhouse is a veritable jungle of green at the moment. There is a peach tree, a small hedge of tomato plants and numerous other pots of things growing here and there, including some basil plants. I went in yesterday to see what I could see, and two of the basil plants had grown over-enthusiastically and were starting to go to seed. Emergency action was required: I took a pair of scissors, hacked the tops of them and made pesto.

Pesto is great. I heard Jamie Oliver describe it - rather aptly - as “the viagara of the culinary world” because you can add it to something tasty and make it intensely extra-specially amazingly tasty; such as minestrone soup, risotto, or a pasta sauce. I’ve got a recipe where you stuff chicken breasts with pesto and mozzarella cheese, wrap them in prosciutto ham and bake them. That’s pretty good too; maybe I’ll put it on here sometime. Today I decided to just make something simple, to put my pesto in the spotlight. Using some of the many many tomatoes which I found in the greenhouse alongside the basil, I made some of these. Tasty Pesto Morsels.

Many recipes for pesto tell you to pound the basil leaves whole with the pestle and mortar but my brother Rob, who is something of a pesto expert, believes you get better results if you chop the basil before then grinding in the mortar and I'm inclined to agree with him. I added some parsley this time which gives it a fresh flavour and a more vibrant green colour. You could change the proportions of basil and parsley as you wish, even make it 100% parsley which is a nice alternative. Most of you probably don't need a recipe for pesto, but here it is anyway. A pestle and mortar is the best thing for job I reckon - a nice heavy granite one - but a blender is a reasonable substitute. If you find yourself without either of these, as I did on holiday recently, then chop the basil extra fine and mash everything in a large mug with a fork. It'll come out chunky but it doesn't matter; 'tis nice to vary things.

Tasty pesto morsels recipe
Don't worry too much about quantities, it doesn't need to be exact. Take one or two cloves of garlic, two large handfuls of basil and/or parsley leaves, chop, and put into your mortar. Add a pinch of salt, black pepper and a splash of olive oil. Pound until you have a coarse pulp. Now add a small handful of pine nuts or almonds, and a handful of grated parmesan cheese. Keep pounding until you have a nice consistency, adding more olive oil if need be. Keep tasting and adjust the quantities of nuts, cheese and oil as you see fit. To make the morsels, slice some ripe cherry tomatoes, break up some bits of ryvita and arrange with the pesto as shown.

Eggs Benedict

2010-08-10T11:32:00.004+01:00

As previously mentioned in my English muffins post, eggs Benedict for breakfast became something of a ritual for Jack, John and myself (and Claire) during our days on Barber Road. Every Saturday one of us (not Claire who would have hers served to her in bed) would be in the kitchen, bleary-eyed and hung-over, whisking egg yolks in a bowl to make the hollandaise. The combination of bacon, poached egg and that lovely tangy sauce is fantastic, and a great hang-over cure too! Classic eggs Benedict is made with ham I believe, but we always used bacon because we were convinced it was tastier.

Although making the hollandaise is a bit involved, it's not difficult; the only potentially tricky bit here is poaching the egg. The most important factor in producing a nice-shaped, tidy, poached egg is to have it as fresh as possible. When I use fresh eggs from the farm at home, they nearly always turn out beautifully. The other important factor is to have eggs from active hens with a healthy diet; these eggs will tend to have thicker whites which spread out less. So, use free-range or farm fresh eggs if possible. One last thing; I find it useful to have the water just below boiling point, helping to prevent the turbulence in the water from breaking up the white.

Eggs Benedict Recipe
To make the Hollandaise Sauce (serves 4-5): Prepare some reduced vinegar by boiling 500ml white wine vinegar with some flavourings (eg black peppercorns, fresh tarragon, whole mace, bay leaf) and reduce by half. Strain and pour back into the bottle. You'll only need 2 tablespoons for the hollandaise but you will have a supply for next time! It's also nice in a salad dressing. Next, take 250g butter and melt in a pan over a gentle heat. Separate the milk solids from the clear stuff and set aside. You should have about 200ml of clarified butter. Get a large-ish mixing bowl and whisk 3 egg yolks with 2 tablespoons of your reduced vinegar over a large pan of simmering water (you will also use this for poaching the eggs), taking it off frequently to avoid overheating and cooking the eggs. Keep whisking for about 10 minutes, until it forms ribbons when you life the whisk up. This is called a sabayon. Now take it off the heat and whisk in the clarified butter, one ladle-ful at a time. Finally, add some salt to taste along with some freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Fry some bacon, preferably streaky and smoked, and keep warm. Slice 1 English muffin in half and put in the toaster just before poaching the egg. Carefully crack the egg into a small shallow dish and slide it gently into the almost-simmering water (do two in one pan if you can). Use a spoon to manipulate any stray bits of white back into place if you dare. Once done, simply arrange on a plate as shown in the photograph above, and don't be shy with the hollandaise. Superb!

Green and Black's Truffles

2010-08-09T09:43:00.002+01:00

I saw these in Green and Black's chocolate recipes; I was seduced by the photograph in the book and had to try them out (and attempt my own photograph). They're really simple to make, and so delicious you will want to keep eating until they're all gone!

Chocolate Truffles recipe (makes about 20)

Finely grate 170g of dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) and set aside in a mixing bowl. Put 160ml of double cream along with two tablespoons of unsalted butter into a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Pour the butter-cream mixture into the bowl with the grated chocolate along with 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and whisk until smooth. If need be, place the bowl over a pan of simmering water to melt the chocolate a bit more. Cover the bowl with cling-film and refrigerate for at least 3 hours (or overnight).

To form the truffles: sieve about 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder onto a plate, then scoop the mixture out with a teaspoon. Coat your hands with cocoa powder and roll the mixture into balls. You may sieve the truffles to remove excess cocoa if you wish. Keep refrigerated.

Tangy Bacon and Tomato Pasta Sauce

2010-08-08T12:01:00.001+01:00

This was our favourite meal when we were kids; mum was always guaranteed to get empty, licked-clean plates when she served this up! It was consequently the first ever meal that I learnt off by heart; a good starting point to get into cooking as it is so easy. I have modified the original recipe: balsamic vinegar added at the end just before serving makes it tangy and even tastier! I reckon its best served with lots of salad and some garlic bread. A perfect summer meal.

Bacon and Tomato Pasta Sauce recipe (serves 4)

Chop 250g of streaky bacon, preferably smoked, into lardons and fry them in a saucepan in olive oil until just starting to turn crispy. While the bacon is frying, peel and finely chop 1 large onion and 2-3 cloves of garlic. When the bacon is done, add the onion and garlic to the pan and stir. Turn the heat down and gently simmer for at least 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and translucent. Add two tins of plum tomatoes and about 1 tablespoon of tomato purée. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 25-30 minutes, or until the tomatoes have broken down nicely and you have a good homogeneous consistency. Add salt, freshly cracked black pepper and balsamic vinegar to taste. Just before serving, add a large handful of chopped fresh basil leaves and stir through. Top with a generous sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Delicious!

Luxurious Chicken and Olive Stew

2010-07-02T12:22:00.001+01:00

I am writing this after having just eaten this delicious meal; my belly is full, it's a warm summer evening and I feel content. The combination of green olives, wine and cream in this dish is a bit decadent but absolutely worth it. Such rich flavour. It's great served with pasta, as I did today, but is just as good with new potatoes. The original version of this recipe came from an old cookbook on Italian cuisine that I picked up in a second hand shop a while ago, and it's become one of my favourite ever meals. A nice green salad with a light vinaigrette dressing is the perfect compliment on the side, and a bottle of chilled white wine to accompany is not essential, but definitely recommended!

I was feeling adventurous today and decided to make some fresh tagliatelle instead of the usual dried pasta. The dough was a pleasing rich yellow colour (it turns much lighter upon cooking) and I spent a good twenty minutes kneading it into the desired elastic consistency. It was satisfying and therapeutic. It's too time consuming to make fresh pasta every time you make a pasta dish - after all, Italian cooking is supposed to be quick and simple - but it's definitely worth doing it every once in a while.

Chicken and Olive Stew (serves 5)

First of all, take 5 large chicken thighs (about 600g altogether) and remove their skins and de-bone them. Slice them into strips about 1.5cm thick and set aside. In a large pot, melt a knob of butter and gently sauté 1 large onion, diced, and 3 cloves of garlic, chopped, for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, take 250g of button mushrooms and quarter them, take 1 green pepper and 1 yellow pepper and coarsely chop. Add the peppers and mushrooms to the pot and cook for a few more minutes. Peel and quarter 3 medium tomatoes (about 175g) and add to the pot along with the chicken. Add 250ml dry white wine and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes with the lid off to allow the alcohol to evaporate. Give it a stir, then simmer gently with the lid on for 40 minutes. Add 175g of pitted green olives and cook for a further 10 minutes. Add 6 tablespoons of double cream, and bring back to the boil before adjusting the seasoning, sprinkling over a bunch of chopped flat leaf parsley and serve with generous quantities of grated parmesan cheese.

If you want the sauce to be a bit thicker, what I do is strain it off into a separate pan, and whisk in small lumps of beurre manié, one at a time until the desired consistency is achieved. Make sure you simmer the sauce for a few minutes after adding the last piece of beurre manié to properly cook the flour.

Indian food: Street snacks and dal

2010-03-08T21:53:00.003Z

A love for Indian food was a major reason for embarking on this trip around the subcontinent. I've had an affinity for curries -especially Indian ones- for some years now. I loved the curry nights with friends from school where we'd stuff our bellies almost to bursting point with meat in rich spicy sauces and mountains of rice, always washed down with plenty of cold lager. I loved those curries, and still do. I also love the curries dad makes at home, often Malaysian style, served with large quantities of stir-fried vegetables. He also makes an amazing thing called "Devil", which is a tangy, vinegary curry with lots of sliced onion in made from the leftover meat from a roast. We are all big fans of Devil in my house. At university, my flatmates and I made a worthy purchase when we moved into our flat: Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible. We made loads of recipes from it over the following two years and rarely, if ever, did it disappoint. Just about every dish we made from that book was amazingly tasty; they were a big step up from what I previously considered to be a good curry; delicately balanced complex flavours and meticulously prepared (the ingredients list was usually fairly long, with a very detailed method accompanying it), these were quite different from the "curry night" dishes I'd had before. Were these more like proper Indian curries? I'd always had a suspicion that the curries served up in your typical British curry house weren't quite the same as what Indians eat in India.

I was keen to find out what the food in India was really like, what the locals eat eat on a day-to-day basis. I had read that street food is commonplace - fried snacks like samosas - and indeed it is true: since our arrival we have sampled quite a range of greasy fried morsels. They are readily available and the street side pram-like contraptions, mounted on old bicycle wheels and with rickety corrugated roofs, are omnipresent in all towns. We don't know the names of most of them, so we just point. The samosas are excellent everywhere and are firmly placed at the top of our street-food popularity chart. Another favourite is the fried dough rings with bits of chilli and onion in - a soft bread inner surrounded by a crispy fried outer. Delicious.

Enough about street food, I could go on all day. In Pune we enjoyed many delicious dals. In the small dingy restaurants nearby our hotel that we frequented, the menus were never in English as these places were not expecting many tourists. We just had to point at what the locals there were eating, which was mostly dal. They were invariably excellent, those dals. Much thinner than any I'd had in England, but full of flavour. It seemed that the dal was used more as a sauce to flavour the rice, which was the bulk of the meal. A favourite of mine was dal tadka - a dal which is garnished by frying a selection of spices, often including lots of cumin, and pouring over the dish, giving it an extra boost of flavour. Lip-smacking stuff.

The freshest fish ever

2010-02-05T16:07:00.015Z

We went on a fishing trip out in the bay just around from our beach, in the hope of catching some fish for our dinner. There were five of us, so we would need to catch a big one to fill us all up (or lots of little ones). As it happened, we caught a whopper! It was a Rock Fish, and pretty ugly looking, although very tasty according to our Indian fisherman.
We took it to a beach side restaurant and they cooked it up for us to have for dinner! It's preparation was bare- just a simple marinade and then grilled. Served with chips, it was really good. Less than two hours from sea to plate, easily the freshest fish any of us had eaten. My mouth is watering just thinking about it...

Janisha's Aloo Gobi

2010-01-29T12:00:00.006Z

I had this potato and cauliflower curry a couple of times from the restaurant (called Janisha's) attached to the beach hut village we stayed in as Palolem beach in Goa. It was really good and since the staff there were pretty friendly I decided to ask them for the recipe. Since the chef didn't speak very good English, one of the waiters acted as a go-between; he wrote it down on a waiter's pad and went through it with me. Although the language barrier was a hindrance, and his spelling wasn't too good (he is Indian after all) I managed to get the gist of it. There were no quantities mentioned, only a list of ingredients and the general method. I have basically made up the quantities, based on what I think would make a nice balanced curry. Unsurprisingly, I haven't had a chance to test it yet, so if anyone fancies giving it a go, I would love some feedback!

Janisha's Aloo Gobi (serves 3-4)
The dish is simply potato (aloo) and cauliflower (gobi) added to a sauce. To make the sauce: Very finely dice 1 medium onion (or use a blender) and coarsely grate 400g of ripe fresh tomatoes (or put peeled tomatoes into blender with onion). Take 2-3 tablespoons of cashew nuts and grind to a pulp in a pestle and mortar (or add to blender). Now, in a medium sized saucepan heat 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable or sunflower oil, then add the tomatoes, onion and cashew nut pulp. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 5 minutes with the lid partially on. Add to the pot 1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon of ground coriander seeds, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a pinch of asafetida powder (try experimenting with different quantities of these spices). Set aside. Peel about 250g of waxy potaoes, chop into bite-sized pieces and boil in water for about 5 minutes to part-cook them. Add 1 or 2 medium tomatoes, quartered, to the sauce and add the drained potatoes. Add a little water if it looks a bit too dry. With the lid partially on, simmer gently for about 20 mins, or until the potato is nearly cooked. Add 200g of cauliflower florets and cook for about 5 minutes, or until tender. Just before serving, sprinkle over a handful of chopped fresh coriander leaves, and a generous pinch of garam masala. Serve with white rice, or roti.

A food tour of India

2010-01-27T10:13:00.004Z

I'm in India on a three month trip with Jack and sister Claire. Apologies there haven't been any posts here for a while - we've been here 2 weeks now and I have been somewhat preoccupied! I do have a recipe on the way though, a tasty curry for you. My aim for this trip is to collect lots of recipes from all over India, and put them on this blog. I also plan to post general articles about Indian food, ingredients and cooking. It's a bit of a hassle using the internet here as the internet cafes are usually small rooms, very hot and crowded and with frustratingly slow connections! I will do my best... Come back soon and I will hopefully have the first grubdaily recipe from India online.

Carbonara extraordinaire

2010-01-10T10:04:00.011Z

The best pasta dish on the planet, I reckon, could only be the glorious Carbonara. It exemplifies everything great about Italian cuisine – simple, quick and with an emphasis on quality ingredients. It can be deceptively tricky to perfect however; too much heat when adding the eggs can result in scrambling them instead of gently cooking them to get the desired silky smooth sauce. There is definitely emphasis on quality ingredients here, as my own dry-cured bacon takes centre stage! I love using my bacon in a simple recipe like this, as the flavour can really be appreciated.

My favourite way to have this meal is to make the sauce fairly runny, so that a lovely gooey creamy sauce collects at the bottom of your bowl. Each forkfull can then be stirred through this sauce to get it well coated before shoving it in your mouth with gusto, licking your lips and greedily going for another mouthful. This should not be done with any attempt to look dignified – just enjoy it!

Spaghetti Carbonara (serves 2)
Put the kettle on to boil for the pasta. Peel and finely chop ½ an onion and 1-2 garlic cloves and set aside. Chop 80-100g of streaky bacon (preferably smoked) and fry in olive oil in a large frying pan or pot (it will need to be big enough to mix the pasta and the sauce together before serving). Get a pan of boiling water, add plenty of salt and a glug of olive oil and keep it simmering. When the bacon just starts to turn crispy, add 250g of spaghetti (or any other pasta shape) to the boiling water. When the bacon is nice and crispy, add the onion and garlic to the pan along with a knob of butter. Turn the heat down and leave to cook gently. Now make your sauce: in a jug, whisk 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons of single cream, 30g of grated parmesan cheese and a generous pinch of freshly ground black pepper. When the pasta is al dente, drain it, reserving some of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the pan with the bacon and briefly stir (this helps to cool everything slightly to avoid scrambling the eggs). Now pour in all of the egg-cream mixture and mix everything together thoroughly. The residual heat from the pasta and bacon will gently cook the eggs and melt the cheese, resulting in an amazingly rich creamy sauce. Add some of the pasta cooking water to achieve a more fluid consistency. Keep stirring until the sauce is silky and smooth, then serve and eat immediately.

Curried parsnip soup

2010-01-08T22:57:00.010Z

This is my new favourite soup – it’s essential for keeping warm on freezing cold winter days like today. It reached minus 15C here last night! Ridiculously cold, I’m sure you’ll agree. To go outside today was to subject the face (especially the nose) to a horrible icy onslaught which was equally effective at making one’s eyes water and freezing their snots. Not very pleasant at all.

This curried parsnip soup is the perfect form of resistance against such a bitter chill; it will warm your aching bones and put a smile on your face, I guarantee it! I got the recipe from Soups by Marguerite Patten, which I bought a few weeks ago in Barter Books. I added chilli to the recipe to give it a fiery kick - that really helps warm you up! The recipe has the unusual addition of coconut - just a hint - which surprised me a bit, but really transforms the soup and makes it extra delicious. The original recipe called for chopped red pepper as a garnish, and since I didn't have any I sprinkled some smoked paprika on instead, which turned out to be a winner! I definitely recommend it.

Curried Parsnip Soup

Peel and chop 300g of parsnips, 2 medium onions and 2-3 cloves of garlic. Heat 50g of butter in a saucepan and add the onions and garlic. Cook gently for about 5 minutes without colouring. Add to the pot 1 tablespoon of curry powder and 1 chopped fresh red chilli. Add 1.2 litres of chicken or vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Peel and chop 2 medium (150g) potatoes. Add the parsnips, potato and 1 tablespoon of creamed or dessicated coconut and simmer with the lid on for 20-25 minutes, or until the parsnips are tender. Liquidise until smooth with a stem blender. Garnish with a swirl of double cream, and a sprinkling of smoked paprika. Alternatively, try chopped red pepper with chives.

English breakfast muffins

2010-01-06T09:38:00.011Z

Yesterday I made some muffins. Not the American-style cake ones, but the English breakfast variety - the sort used in making Eggs Benedict. At uni last year, Jack, John and I consumed many muffins in our weekend Eggs Benedict sessions. We first saw this famous breakfast dish on Masterchef, in the round where the contestants have to do a breakfast service in a posh London restaurant. The Eggs Benedict was always a popular choice, and it looked so tasty that we decided to try making some. The star of the dish is the Hollandaise sauce, in all its rich, tangy, buttery glory - it's quite a calorific breakfast, with all the butter and egg yolks in the hollandaise, and then the poached egg and the bacon... it's so tasty though! Anyway, enough about Eggs Benedict, I will put up a recipe for it along with a photo sometime in the future.

We always used to get our muffins from the shop for Eggs Benedict, but I was flicking through Gastronomique one day and found a recipe for them, I had some time to kill and decided to try making some. They were great, really soft, doughy and chewy, much better than their shop-bought counterparts. They are best eaten when still warm from cooking. The recipe here is basically the same as in Gastronomique but with added butter. The combination of textures is what makes a muffin so enjoyable; the slightly crispy outer layer that you get from cooking them on a griddle or frying pan contrasts beautifully with the soft doughy inside. It's scrumptious!

English Breakfast Muffins (makes about 9)

To prepare the yeast: blend 15g of fresh yeast in 300ml of warm water. Alternatively dissolve 1 teaspoon of caster sugar in the water and then sprinkle in 1.5 teaspoons of dried yeast. Leave for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is frothy. Melt 50g of butter and set aside. Mix 450g of plain white flour with 1 teaspoon of salt in a bowl. Add the yeast mixture and the melted butter and mix to form a dough. Turn onto a floured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in an oiled plastic bag and leave to rise for about 1 hour, or until it has doubled in size. Knock the air out of the risen dough by kneading again for 2 minutes or until it is firm. Cover and leave to rest for 5 minutes. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to 1cm thickness. Cover again and leave for 5 minutes. With a plain cutter, cut the dough into approx. 9cm rounds. Place on a well floured baking sheet and dust the tops with fine semolina or polenta. Cover and prove in a warm place until they have doubled in size - about 20-30 minutes. To cook: heat a griddle, or heavy frying pan and grease it lightly. Cook the muffins for about 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Canapés!

2010-01-02T21:57:00.011Z

I came home from work today to find Rob, Claire and Amelia sat at the kitchen table making canapés! They looked so good that I was compelled to take some photographs of them. Plates of the classic combination Parma ham, tomato, mozzarella and pesto cocktail sticks sat next to the more unusual mini crumpets topped with crème fraîche and smoked salmon. The latter were most unique, and very tasty. With a little squeeze of lemon juice on top they made a lovely little morsel. Claire was inspired to make canapes after seeing "party forks" in this month's issue of Jamie Magazine, which she has a subscription to. It's a beautifully produced magazine; printed on matt paper, full of sumptuous photographs and very well laid out. As a graphic designer, she finds it irresistible!

I hope you like the photos. If anyone else has any good ideas for canapés, I'd love to know!

Bacon galore

2009-12-29T14:55:00.008Z

My dry-cured bacon is finished. Actually, I had finished curing it several days ago but I've only now gotten round to taking some photos and putting them up. It looks great, if I say so myself! The rind has gone a lovely dark colour, which pleases me. It has a good flavour too, which will only improve after a few weeks hanging. I now have ALOT of bacon to use up - many a spaghetti carbonara will be enjoyed in the next couple of months I suspect, with lots of lovely crispy bacon lardons in.

Dry-cured Bacon

To make the dry-cure mix, take about 2kg of salt (ordinary table salt will do), put into a large bowl or container. Add 1 tablespoon of crushed black peppercorns, 2-3 chopped springs of rosemary, about 4 teaspoons of salt-petre, if desired (this helps the bacon retain its pink colour when cooked) and about 200g of soft light brown sugar. This should be about enough for a 5kg piece of belly pork. Cut your (approx 5kg) piece of pork into 3 square pieces. Rub handfuls of your cure mixture into the meat, including the skin, making sure to cover every bit of it. Stack the pieces in a plastic tray (do not use metal) or cool-box and leave. After 24 hours, drain away the liquid that has leached out of the meat, and apply more cure mixture. Repeat this for 5 days.

Now, to remove some of the salt from the saturated outer layers, soak the pieces in water for 4-6 hours, replacing the water every 2 hours. Finally, hang the bacon in a cool (around 10C) dry place (such as a cellar, or utility room) to dry and mature. It should be fine for several weeks, and the flavour will become richer.

Annatto Seeds and Pibil

2009-12-25T19:02:00.035Z

For dinner this Christmas eve I made Puerco Pibil - a slow-cooked pork dish with an amazingly intense flavour. It's flavoured -and coloured- with annatto seeds; they have a distinctive, slightly sharp flavour and a deep red colour, as you can see from the photos. This is an uncompromising meal. When you eat, it rampages down your throat. When I first made it, 'twas was like nothing I had ever tasted before and it remains one of the most unique flavours I have ever encountered. It's not just the heat from the chilli, its the combination of that along with the vinegary tang and the distinctive flavour of annatto which makes it. You have to try it.

You may have heard of this recipe, as it was made famous by the film, Once Upon A Time In Mexicoin which Agent Sands (Johnny Depp) eats a Pibil so delicious that he is compelled to go into the kitchen of the restaurant and shoot the chef. It's a great film; a real epic - I recommend you buy it!On the bonus section of the DVD there is a '10 minute cooking school' - a video of the director, Robert Rodriguez, cooking Puerco Pibil. It was a couple of years ago when I saw this, I was intrigued and decided to try it out. It was so good that I've made it several times since!

Puerco Pibil Recipe (Serves 6)
Take about 2.5kg of pork shoulder, cut into very large chunks (at least 5cm cubes) and set aside. Grind 5 dessert spoons of annatto seeds, 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds, 1 tablespoon of black peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoon of cloves and 8 allspice in a spice grinder. Put these dry spices into a large bowl (or zip-lock bag) in which you will marinate the meat. Chop 4 red chillies and 8 large garlic cloves and add to the bowl. Now add to the bowl 200ml of orange juice, 200ml of white wine vinegar, the juice of 5 lemons, a glug of tequila, 1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of salt. Add the meat to the ingredients in the bowl, mix well, cover and leave to marinate for 4-6 hours, preferably overnight. Heat an oven to 165C/Gas mark 3. Line a roasting tin with banana leaves, if availiable. Pour in the meat along with the marinate, cover and cook for 4 hours. Just before serving, remove from oven and sprinkle over another 1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar. Serve with fluffy white rice.

Christmas crackers

2009-12-25T10:38:00.013Z

Happy Christmas everyone! I have some mouth watering pictures of cheese and red onion chutney crackers for you to enjoy, they were extremely delicious indeed.

Blue cheese such as the Castello above was a particularly

good accompaniment, although I have to say that the best combination, by far, was a slice of goat's cheese log with a good dollop of onions on top.

Lots of lovely onions

2009-12-23T14:24:00.015Z

I am making some red onion chutney, it should exceedingly tasty - the perfect accompaniment to cheese and crackers, or liver pate on toast... Many tears were shed during the preparation process (it will be worth it!), and there is a lovely pot of goodness bubbling away on the stove right now. The lovely tangy smell is filling the whole house and putting smiles on many faces. The recipe is more or less the same as we make at Blackmore's, with some alterations to it taken from Gastronomique (which is an excellent book, by the way).

I am quite pleased with the photograph too. I had to wipe the tears from my stinging eyes to be able to see through the viewfinder! I will also upload some photos of the finished chutney, all done up with some crackers and cheese to make it look nice.

Red Onion Chutney (makes enough to fill 3-4 jam jars)

Slice about 2kg of red onions and put them in a large pot. Add to the pot 1 cinnamon stick, 1 star anise, 1 bay leaf, 3 crushed garlic cloves, 400ml of red-wine vinegar, 400ml of dry white wine and about 500g of soft brown sugar. Bring everything to the boil and simmer for 2-3 hours, depending on how fluid you want your chutney to be. If you want a well-set product, test it by spooning some of the liquid onto a saucer in the fridge and leave it for 5 mins. When it has finished simmering, remove from the heat and let it cool, then put into jam-jars and store.

Making bacon

2009-12-17T13:29:00.010Z

Although I thought about making some roast belly pork, I have decided instead to make some dry-cured bacon. Yesterday I went to the butchers and obtained a whole pork belly - it's huge - about 6 kilos! I made some dry-cure bacon last year after reading about it in The River Cottage Meat Book and it turned out well, although the final product was a bit too salty. It's so easy, all you do is make the cure mix with salt, pepper and a bit of brown sugar, and rub this into the meat. After each day, you pour away the liquid that has leached out, and rub again. After reading around a bit on the internet, I've decided this time to cure the bacon for 5 days (which is what Hugh-Fearnley Whittingstall recommends), then soak them in water to remove some of the saltiness from the outside layers. See this site: www.accidentalsmallholder.net/articles/bacon/drycuring

I will let you know how it goes!

Dreaming of pork

2009-12-14T23:03:00.008Z

I have just arrived home from work. It was a fairly quiet evening shift at Blackmore's restaurant, and I managed to get away by 10 for a change. I drive home through thick mist and torrential rain; typically dreary mid-December weather for Northumberland. It feels like it has been raining non-stop for the past week. How depressing. As my rickety vehicle trundles through the deluge, my mind turns -as it often does- to food. I am thinking that some pork might help to fight off the depressing mood induced by the rain. Belly pork or shoulder of pork? Either way, it will be slow-roasted, succulent and tender: mmmmm. The thought of steaming juicy roast pork makes my mouth water and all of a sudden I feel in a much better mood! It will be the perfect thing to combat these harsh northern winter days. A visit to the butcher's may soon be on the cards...

An ode to minestrone

2009-12-13T14:29:00.002Z

I absolutely love minestrone soup - all the produce from your vegetable patch brought together in a delicious and hearty broth. A true minestrone should be composed of seasonal ingredients: the beauty of this means that it will be a different dish at different times of the year - the variation in flavours reflecting the variation in the weather and temperature. How very symbiotic. Deep and meaningful implications aside however; the best thing is that it is lipsmackingly tasty. I made this back in September, hence the inclusion of courgettes which aren't in season at the moment.

Minestrone Soup (serves 6)

In a large pot, fry a few rashers of smoked streaky bacon in olive oil until slightly crispy. Finely dice an onion, 3 garlic cloves, 2 carrots and 2 celery sticks and add to the pot. Simmer very gently for 15 minutes. Add 2 cans of chopped tomatoes, 2 small courgettes, diced, and a glass of red or white wine. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add about 200g spinach, a can of beans (cannellini, flageolet or borlotti are all good), a small handful of broken dried spaghetti and 1 litre of ham stock. Simmer until the pasta is cooked.

The start of something great...

2009-12-13T11:54:00.000Z

Welcome to the Grubdaily grotto - otherwise known as the Grubdaily blog! Grubdaily will eventually be an online recipe book, filled with seasonal recipes and beautiful photographs of the dishes. Along with recipes, the website will also be filled with information on growing your own vegetables, general cooking tips and advice, weekly shopping lists, reviews of kitchen equipment and recipe books etc... It's an ambitious project, and at the moment it is some way from completion, but when finished it will be amazing. Watch this space!

Because this thing is going to take so long to finish, I have started this blog to try and maintain some enthusiasm for it, and to help spread the word!

I don't have anything recent to put as my first post, so I will express my love for a certain Italian vegetable soup. Including and a photo of one I made a few months earlier...