Wednesday, July 08, 2009

1001 Kitchen Tips # 50 - How to make crispy crackling

Everyone (bar possibly vegetarians, pescetarians and vegans) loves crispy crackling - but how do you get it crispy everyone always wants to know.
If you are roasting your pork you'll need to score the skin really well with a sharp knife (butchers use a stanley knife for this), and salt it well - the salt brings out the moisture - and it's that moisture which will stop the crackling from crackling.

If you load up your oven with roast pork, roast potatoes and roast vegetables you're going to create a lot of steam - as outlined in an ealier kitchen tip, and the crackling needs dry heat.

There are several ways you can get round this:

  • I cook it seperately. Esepcially when barbecuing pork. Trim the skin and a little fat from the pork before you cook it. Cut it into strips and cook it in the oven on a baking tray on it's own on high heat - 240 oC. You can also do this under the grill but you have to watch it doesn't burn.
  • Sue, who works in the farm shop at Home Farm where I get most of my meat these days suggested cutting up the skin as above and mixing with the potatoes when roasting so the fat renders as it cooks, then both the potatoes and the crackling crisp up. I have yet to try that - but it sounds so good. These would need high heat too - see roast potatoes.

  • If you've left the crackling on your pork joint while roasting and it hasn't crisped up you can carve off the un-crackled crackling and finish it under a hot grill...... or microwave it. I know what you're going to say - but it works. If the crackling hasn't crisped up you can blast it in the microwave like cheese crisps and it crisps up. Haven't tried it for c. 13 years, but I remember it working on busy Sunday lunch services at Goblets.

One more thing - when cooking a whole pig, possibly the tastiest part of the whole animal is the snout, ears and trotters - try them next time.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Barbcued bananas in toffee sauce

You can order the barbecue, but you can't order the weather. Luck was with us last night at Upper Court and the weather held, so we set up tables for the 37 guests right by the lake - always a great back drop.

After the pork (as seen in a previous post), Donnington trout marinaded in coconut and lime (24 hours marinading and it really takes on the flavours) and chicken poached in plum and brandy wine and wrapped in parma ham had finished cooking, there was just enough heat left in the coals to cook these bananas and caramelised pineapple.

The bananas just go on raw, and because of their natural sugar content caramelise on the outside and go wonderfully soft in the middle.

Then they were served with warm toffee sauce on top, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, and chopped mint from the kitchen garden just a few steps away from where I was barbecuing. There was also malibu ice cream which I had been making over the previous 3 days.

You could also do these indoors on a grill pan - instant dessert, well almost.



Related posts:

Budget barbecue
Other barbecues we have served
Whole roast lamb
Barbecue July 2008
Marquee barbecue for a wedding of 120 guests

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Where to eat in Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds

Seen here from the bank of the River Severn, Oddas Barn in Deerhurst, just outside Tewkesbury, and around 8 miles from Cheltenham is the perfect location for a dinner party for your family and friends. It's your evening: Your Menu. Your Wine. Your Chef (that could be me!)
Renovated around 25 years ago by the architect who went on to design the Canary Wharf Tower, Oddas Barn, named from the historic Oddas Chapel next door, blends the traditional with a contempory feel. There are two reception rooms on the second floor - which allow good views over the meadow to the river beyond. Perfect for 8 - 12 guests, there is even a grand piano if you want music while you dine. The owner, Kim, said they had recently had a jazz pianist to accompany a dinner party for friends and it made for a great atmosphere because unlike in traditional restaurants, here you have the freedom of being the only party there - so it really is your evening.

For those really warm summer evenings or lunch times (like now) there is also dining space outside - with a wood burning oven and outdoor kitchen at the back. This photo was taken by them in April, but for the summer they also have drapes which can be attached to the sides of the arbour.

If you are planning a small intimate wedding - up to 12 guests - Deerhurst church, also dating back to Saxon times and much revered in the area is situated next door to Oddas Barn.

So if it is a birthday, anniversary, a dinner party for friends or small wedding you are hosting near Cheltenham, Tewkesbury or Gloucester, Oddas Barn is the place for you!
Contact details click here

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Wedding in the Cotswolds

Hello James, I can't thank you enough for the wonderful wedding buffet you provided for Paul and Sophie at Wellacres on Saturday. The food was amazing and everybody was so impressed with the quality. You certainly helped to make the day one to remember. Good luck for the future and we will certainly recommend you to our friends.
Kind regards
Carol
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25kg of goose foie gras. There's some things you never forget, and the divine aroma of 25kgs of foie gras filling the Claridges larder on the week of Joan Collins' most recent wedding (8 years ago? You can not be serious) is one of them.


For this event two days ago at Wellacres (which I know now better than my own kitchen at home) I was emailed a wishlist of what the bride and groom would like. Quite traditional - which is fine. As it is the wedding couple's special day I am always quite happy to cook whatever they want. Even simple food can be made special if you bring the best out of your ingredients. As they wanted to serve and clear up themselves, I just set up everything ready for them.

The best thing about holding a wedding reception at a luxury holiday house rather than a hotel or wedding venue is that in the holiday house you have exclusive use, all day, and all weekend, so it can be much more relaxed as a result. I always feel in wedding venues you are rushed through so the next wedding party can arrive, so if something overruns, the time of your reception gets cut. In the holiday house this never happens - because you're the only party there, and you have the freedom. There was a wedding we did at Wellacres a couple of years ago when the weather was once again favourable and after eating some of the younger guests dived in the swimming pool and hot tub while others relaxed on the terrace in the sun - that's how to enjoy a wedding.

Crudités with dips - blue cheese, onion and chive, tatziki

It took quite a while for them to decide whether they wanted canapés or not. In the end they asked for crudités and dips which they tucked into after the champagne had been flowing and the band had been playing on the terrace.





Homemade walnut and raisin bread rolls, soda bread, sun dried tomato, olive and basil knots and clover rolls, granary bakers knots, sesame and poppy snail rolls, lemon and dill bread.


All they had put was 'Selection of breads (i.e. granary, white, wholemeal, baguettes and fancy etc.) ' . So this is what I came up with, and two large interlocking bread rings (shame I didn't snap those). As the soda bread (left) is so easy that was made first thing in the morning.






Platter or cooked meats – beef, ham, chicken with homemade chutney

For the ham I used a piece of gammon from Home Farm and cooked it in cider, apples, onion, carrot etc. which gives it a sweet flavour, then finished it off in the oven with the skin scored and studded with cloves and coated with a molasses and wholegrain mustard glaze.


The chicken was a Madgetts farm chicken ballottined and roasted.

The beef was roasted last thing, timed exactly so it would be ready just before I left, and could rest on the way. I sliced the other two meats but left the beef whole so they could carve it themselves at the table - this would stop it drying out or discolouring, but also add a little theatre to their dining.

Smoked salmon

.....and poached salmon too. Some crème fraîche, chive and lemon dressing to go with it.









Nicoise vegetable tart - as seen here

King prawns with cocktail sauce

These never fail to please. They actually went out with the crudités in the end.







Potato salad - Like this one we served at Wellacres in February with the whole lamb roast

Rice & pearl barley salad



Adzuki beans and fresh (uncooked) peas in there too along with peppers, onions, raisins, coriander, cumin etc.




Tomato and mozzarella salad








Grilled vegetables

A bit like these from February but with asaparagus as well. They were cooked fresh on the morning.







Cucumber, yogurt and mint salad - Like the one served for a barbecue last month

Green salad with vinaigrette

XXX

Summer pudding -
like this one but larger

Chocolate brownie



Same recipe as the one seen here, but cooked in individual tins - like the one, left, from Easter.




Berries with crème fraîche

Strawberry tart

Well this wasn't on the original proposal, but you know how it is - you see recipes on food blogs and you bookmark it, but never get round to making it. Well this one I did. When I saw it over on Kevin's blog, I knew it would fit perfectly on this wedding buffet. Without the nuts though, as there were nuts in other things.




Fairy cakes

They had asked for these for the children, so while the grilled vegetables were grilling, the roast vegetables roasting, the base for the rice salad sweating, the soda bread baking, the beef roasting and the salmon poaching I made these fairy cakes. Think they call that multi tasking.

Must be over 20 years since I made any. I remember making and entering them for a cub scout county craft fair when I was about 9, and that was a while ago, so I had to look up a recipe and found this one. I didn't use their icing recipe, but instead used equal quantities of butter and icing (confectioners) sugar and a drop of vanilla essence. As I had some candied orange zest on the shelf I sprinkled those on top. One taste, and it was like being transported back in time. Should make these more often.

As we had a spare lemon drizzle cake from the day before, I cut this up and added it as well.


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After this it was a quick clear down and back to base to whip up 3 strawberry meringue roulades and 2 duck ballottines for the evening while Adam packed up everything we both needed. Soon enough I was back on the road to Blockley again, and Rock Bank Cottage, while he was at Upper Court. Now that's a lot of food in 2 days!


Related posts:

Monday, June 29, 2009

Buffet, afternoon tea cakes and barbecue in Gloucester

Dear James

Thank you once again for a superb job last Friday. We received so many nice comments about the food and the dicreet and professional way in which you worked. We still have a few cakes left and will be enjoying those with our afternoon cup of tea this week! I did not have a chance to see the two ladies who helped out at lunch time so could you please pass on my thanks to them.

Thank you again and I wish you every success for the future -maybe one day it will be you celebrating a Queen's Award.

Best regards

Sheila



SMI Labhut just outside Gloucester were awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2009. The Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire was presenting the award to them last Friday on behalf of the queen, and we were there providing the food for 3 different functions that day. Firstly a lunch buffet for 38 following the award presentation, then afternoon cakes for 50 guests from their neighbouring businesses at the Steadings Business Centre, and finally an evening barbecue for the owners and their staff's families and friends - another 50.

12:30 Lunch Buffet Menu

Open sandwich of parma ham, rocket and parmesan - as seen here
Confit of duck wraps with hoi sin sauce - as seen here
Open sandwich of vine tomatoes and mozzarella


The first two plates of these went so fast we had to reload twice.







Homemade mini quiche

I find individual ones work much better - they hold together as you eat them. Cases were made in muffin tins on Tuesday, and the filling (nicoise vegetable and also ham, onion and cheese) added and baked just before we left on Friday so they were fresh.









Homemade pork pie using Home Farm pork

Made Wednesday into Thursday so they had time to set up. I use the good old Gary Rhodes recipe from the New British Classics book, with sage picked fresh from the garden that morning, while I was picking the wild strawberries. I doubled up the amount of sage, mixed spice and mace (an excuse to use mace is always good) - it really gives it a flavour boost.

On the same day I was de-boning 8 Madgetts farm chickens to use for a ballottine for a wedding on Saturday, and the chicken in elderflower Adam cooked for two parties - one on Friday night at Kempley Barns while I was doing the barbecue, and the other on Saturday night at Upper Court while I was back at Rock Bank Cottage. This meant I could use all the chicken bones to make a serious flavoursome jellied stock which I could then use for the pork pie.
The pork pies are cooked with a metal piping nozzle in the middle which lets the steam out as they cook so the pastry doesn't burst, and also becomes the funnel to pour in the warm stock after it has cooked and rested. You keep filling it up slowly and the pork mixture inside absorbs it which gives it moistness, and the extra stock fills the gap between the pork mix and the pastry, and sets overnight in the fridge. So just as you see on shop brought pork pies but with a much better flavour and texture - and a fresh taste.
I was worried I had made a little too much, but once the first one had gone out, they asked for more immediately, and both of them just went - think they must have liked it!

Salmon and king prawn terrine with herb crème fraîche and lemon bread


Wrapped in smoked salmon, with salmon and smoked salmon mousse. Layered with king prawns, asparagus and dill.







Pear and almond tart - as seen here

Chocolate nemesis - as seen here

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15:00 Afternoon cakes – 50 people

Lemon drizzle

No picture of this one - it was 2:30am on Friday morning by the time it was finished - but the recipe came from A Pot Of Tea and a Biscuit blog - very apt name. How can something so simple be so tasty?

Chocolate brownie

This photo is actually from a few months ago. As you can see I make industrial amounts of these (each of those trays does 8 - 12 as a dessert or 16 as an afternoon tea cake), as I also sell them to a restaurant in Cheltenham. The restaurant get through that quicker than anything else (one of their regular customers comes in just for the chocolate brownie in fact) and sure enough, it was the chocolate brownie that we couldn't see a trace of when I returned to the venue later in the day.

At room temperature it's chocolate heaven.


Date and walnut slice

All through the autumn and winter months (and occasionally in the summer too), everyone loves the sticky toffee pudding - it's the decadence. Here it's turned into a cake with sticky toffee sauce and walnuts on top. There were very few left overs of this also.






Raspberry shortbread

A variation of the raspberry shortbread I do for the assiette dessert. Only this time with lemon curd rather than crème patisserie as they had to last through the afternoon and the crème pat really wouldn't. Shortbread recipe can be found here (without the hazelnuts). You could make raspberry curd of course, but lemon works just as well - like lemon tart with raspberries.






Blueberry muffins - as seen here



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20:30 Barbecue menu – 50 people


The first outing for the budget barbecue menu. With 177 covers in 2 days I had really run out of fridge space, so we picked up the burgers and sausages that Ann Meadows had made the night before (Herefordhire cows for the beef, Gloucester Old Spot and Berkshire cross pigs for the pork) on the way back from the lunch, then it was a quick rush to pack up everything for the 2 evening events, and back to Gloucester with barbecue in the back.


Chicken fillet (marinaded in barbecue sauce)
Home Farm Bredons Norton sausages
Home Farm Bredons Norton beef burgers
Homemade black bean and bulgar wheat burgers

Tomato and basil salad
Potato salad
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After that (23:00) it was just a quick trip to the 24 hour supermarket on the way back for last minute provisions (now I'd cleared some fridge space), unpack, clean up, a quick rest and back to work on a wedding buffet for Saturday lunch, and 2 parties on Saturday evening. "Sounds like you're in demand" said the hens at the hen party I cooked for the following evening when I was relaying all this to them. They had a point.

Related posts:

Corporate Lunch buffet
Vegetarian lunch buffet
Easter buffet 2009
Previous barbecues

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Wild strawberry and coriander sushi

Strawberries and coriander - who would ever think of putting those two ingredients together?
Mr Brooks might. And did - that's where I got the idea for doing this. I was going to use normal strawberries, but as I went through the garden this morning in search of rosemary and sage to go on top of foccacia I saw the recent sun had ripened up all the wild strawberries so I just had to pick them......




As this is a sweet version of sushi I used coconut milk to cook the rice rather than water. I'm not sure this is quite authentic - maybe in malaysian cuisine, but it tastes good. If you want a savoury version (with normal sushi rice) tuna and strawberry sushi is a classic.



No nori on this one - though if you google strawberry sushi - you can see some quite interesting versions and some 'interesting' ones too.





Rolled in toasted dessciated coconut. Best to toast it in a frying pan - if you put it in the oven you'll remember it's in there only when black smoke is wafting through your kitchen.......

Let it cool down too before you roll. Roll tightly in cling film - this helps you cut the round shapes easily.
Balsamic syrup makes a nice accompaniment (as above), but you could also sieve some strawberries to make a coulis as a dip.

This has been submitted to the Strawberry Feast at My Kitchen Treasures.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Bakers knot bread rolls - get knotted!

Right over left and under, left over right and under. Oh wait a minute, that's a reef knot. These are bakers knots - granary bread rolled into a long rope, like the snail shapes last week, then made into a figure of 8 with the ends tucked in.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Vegetarian sausages

You can buy vegetarian sausages in supermarkets - but have you ever tasted them? The cardboard boxes they are sold in probably have more flavour. I couldn't really bring myself to serve those. So like everything else I make my own.
I've always liked the pearl barley in black pudding - and these vegetarian sausages have pearl barley in too. I used the vegetarian kofta recipe I had used last year, replacing the bulgar with pearl barley, and the aduki beans with a mixture of chickpeas, black eye beans, cannellini and red kidney beans (the aduki beans turn out a little too dark for this purpose), and rolled the mix into sausage shapes in cling film as above. I didn't really measure any of the ingredients - and probably added more ground coriander and cumin that they say, and added some ground ginger too.


Thinking they might set up over night (well a few hours in the morning as the sun rose on the longest day as it turned out) I left them in the fridge. I found they don't set raw as the mix is quite wet. This means you get tasty and moist vegetarian sausages - rather than adding extra bread crumbs which will dry them out. So as I got to the house on Sunday morning, I dropped them in to the freezer to make a firm layer around the outside, setting them into a sausage shape. They have recently invested in new fridge freezers in a couple of the houses at Upper Court, and the freezers chill things down faster than a blast freezer. So once they had set I could unwrap them, put them on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven - and then serve them with everything else you need for a vegetarian Sunday breakfast - homemade baked beans, hash browns, Oakfield organic portobello mushrooms, locally grown tomatoes & scrambled burford brown eggs.
Vegetarian sausages with homemade baked beans

Related posts


Breakfast delivery
Beer baked beans
Baked beans (tomato flavour)
Brunch - top 5 flavours
Hash brown (with baked potatoes)
Potato rosti
Breakfast muffins
Almond and cranberry granola

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Keeping your finger on the pulse

How nice are these!
They're sprouting chickpeas, lentils, adzuki and mung beans from And so on..... which I just found the other day. That's found as in brought. Wonderful just to eat raw (fresh crunchy texture. Healthy eating too), or you can cook with them. I added them to a bean salad we served with a barbecue earlier while Adam was 83 miles away cooking for another party near Northampton.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Snail bread rolls

Sesame and poppy seed bread. You roll it in to a long thin rope and then roll it up tucking the end underneath which gives it the little height it needs.



Clover leaf shapes - sun dried tomato, olive and basil bread.









Related posts

Normal bread recipe & spelt bread
Gluten free nettle soda bread
Soda bread - buttermilk vs. vinegar & water
Cinnamon, raisin and candied orange bread crown
Thyme bread

Hash browns

Normally I make potato rostis for the english breakfasts we either deliver ready to heat, or that we cook and serve in the house. Last Friday though I was packing up 3 meals (2 course bistro meal, cooked breakfast and a 3 course dinner party meal) for a budget weekend catering package which was delivered in a catering size cool box to a group taking it away Derbyshire for the weekend. As they had the rostis on one of the evening meals, I made the hash browns for the breakfast slightly differently.

These were made almost the same way as the rostis, but with baked potatoes and softened red onions.

The baking potatoes give a wonderful strong flavour, and once cooked you cool them down for a good few hours in the fridge (this stops them falling apart) before cutting them into large slices. Like the rostis, a little egg and cornflour helps keep them together. You could also add pancetta, ham or smoked salmon in the potato mix.


Breakfast menu


Related posts:

Rosti potato
1001 Kitchen Tips - Red onions pronto

Saffron potatoes

A little saffron added to the turned new potatoes as they boil results in a wonderful flavour. The colour is good too.

These went with the scallop dish last Saturday.














Related posts:

Scallops with saffron potatoes and pea puree
New potatoes with chives

Sunday, June 14, 2009

1001 Kitchen Tips #49 - Chicken and Duck stock - save the livers

A frugal tip possibly, but I had always added all the giblets to chicken, duck or game stock until last year, when I realised it might be a good idea to keep back the liver.

It's amazing how chicken livers are so hard to find these days - so full of flavour people don't know what they are missing out on. But the duck liver - you never see those. Foie gras, as you know, is from force fed ducks, but the regular duck livers inside whole ducks are amazing too, sautéed with a little duck jus, hoi sin or balsamic. And they seem to go so well with pearl barley risotto......

This way you get just that few extra meals from a duck or chicken.


Related posts

Other 1001 Kitchen tips
Duck and chicken ballottine
How to bone a turkey

Parmesan shortbread

Fancy a biscuit?

Made as Friday was becoming Saturday, these parmesan shortbreads were the base for a beef, rocket and horseradish canapé last night.

The good thing about the shortbread recipe rather than a pâte sablée is when you re-roll the scraps with the pâte sablée if you have too much air in it, it makes huge air bubbles when you cook them - so you end up with a mountain effect, no good for putting canapés on top. With the shortbread that just doesn't seem to happen.

Canapés. What a useful book. This is where these come from:

60g Plain flour (although I'll try ½ wheat flour and ½ rice flour next time).
salt
Cayenne pepper
45g cold butter
60g parmesan cheese, grated

You can pulse these in the food proccessor, or as I prefer, mix them by hand. Once you have a smooth dough, roll it out to 5mm thickness and stamp them out with a cutter - canape size is a 3.5cm cutter. Shapes would be good too. Place them on baking mats on baking trays 2 cm apart, and refrigerate for 30 minutes (this holds the shape when the go in the oven rather than spreading). Bake at 180 oC for 7 - 8 minutes.

Sesame beef salad with soy and chilli

Admittedly this looked far better about 7 ½ hours ago when the fillet was fresh from the oven when we served it at Wellacres earlier.

Julienne of cucumber, celery, peppers, spring onion, radish, baby gem lettuce, mint and basil are bound with a dressing made from a little of the caramel from cooking apples for tarte tatin with soy, oyster sauce, chilli, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil.


Friday, June 12, 2009

Happy birthday - 3 years old today!

Yes - it's my baby's third birthday. Monday 12th June 2006 I opened the doors for my first day of business.
Photo courtesy of Miette who also started their business at the same time as me

What a day that was. No phone calls, no emails, nobody calling in. Nothing. Zip. Had I done enough marketing in the previous weeks? You don't want to do too much before you're set up and ready, but on the other hand, especially when you don't have a shop front, you have to let people know you're there. It was a nerve racking day.
You can't wait for business to come to you though - you have to be proactive. The next day I got down to organising some promotions for the fathers day which was on the Sunday. On the Wednesday I got 2 orders from the 'Take Home Friday' promotion I had advertised around the 2 business parks in Tewkesbury figuring that Friday might be a good day for people to order meals to take home, then on the Thursday I got my first email order 'We'd like to try some of your yummy food please'. And on the Friday 3 orders for the Fathers Day came in. I had begun.


Business Plan

Interesting article in the Sunday Times business a couple of weeks ago, following up a few years on from 3 people who had started their own business. One said having a business plan is all very well but it's not till you hit the market you really know where your market is - then you can tear the business plan up and start again. That is exactly what I found. What I do now bears little resemblance to the original plan.


From Barcelona to Broadway

The original plan drawn up in 2 hours on a table in Barcelona was similar to the ready meals businesses like Cook! and two others they profiled in the Sunday Times that we had picked up in the airport at Stansted as we waited for our flight out. But unlike those business models which were based around their own shops and selling to farm shops, I could deliver the meals direct to people's homes. That is how it started. A few weeks into doing this people were saying 'that's great, but could you actually come and cook and serve it at our house'. So with help from friends and family in the begining that is exactly what I did - giving customers what they want rather than what you think they want is a simple, but essential principle.

1 or 2% Return

They say you only get a 1 or 2% response from leaflet and flyer drops. I can say that that figure is absolutely spot on. But that 1 or 2% when you are a small, and, especially new business can be all you need. I had been dropping those leaflets everywhere I could think of around the local area. At the same time I was starting up, so were Michael and Catherine Foster of The Big Cottage Company. They were getting enquiries for catering, and they came accross a couple of leaflets I had posted up. Other people they had called had been to busy to come and see them, I went over that morning when they phoned, and my business took a side step to the left and went in a whole new direction.

What's next?

The question they always finish with in interviews. The diary is already pretty full for the rest of the year now. Next year is starting to fill up and I've almost got the first booking for 2011 - that should keep me busy for now.

Acknowledgments

Big thanks goes to my parents, brother, grandmother, friends and clients who have given support and helped make it all happen over the last few years!

Elderflowers


Blink and you'll miss it. The elderflower season can be here and gone before you realise it. I picked a lot today up from the river Severn a couple of miles from Tewkesbury. Here some are soaking in water (right) for poaching chicken and salmon, and in gin, sugar and lemon (left) to make an elderflower liqueur (let you know how that turns out).


Weather permitting I'll be picking more on Sunday..... not that rain really stops me - I picked the absolute last of the crop a couple of years ago in rain ending up wet through and covered in elderflower pollen ..... which to be fair is no bad thing - the van smelt great driving back.

Related posts

Elderflowers 2007
Elderflower poached chicken

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Breakfast muffins

Contrary to what you may have heard 6:30am on a Sunday does exist. That's what time these muffins went in the oven for a breakfast delivery this morning.

  • Double chocolate
  • Apple and cinnamon
  • Blueberry (and orange)

Muffin



Nuffin

I came accross this recipe on Joanna's Food when I wasn't specifically looking for it, but bookmarked it for this morning. I did add the orange zest for the blueberry ones, though as I didn't have yogurt I used crème fraîche. No sugar - with the bluberries you don't need it. For the chocolate ones I missed out the blueberries and added a couple of teaspoons of cocoa and some white and dark chocolate pellets. For the apple ones, 2 diced golden delicious apples and a teaspooon of cinnamon - though that could have been 2 tsp really.


It has been bookmarked for anyone else who wants to try it on the virtual recipe drawer that is Bookmarked Recipes - where anyone from anywhere can blog about a recipe they had bookmarked from a cook book, food magazine, food blog, food website, from TV etc, make it and submit it to a weekly roundup.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Greek style baked field mushrooms with tabbouleh and pesto

Amazing what you can make from left overs in your fridge. Feta, sun dried tomato, olives and lemon thyme and, of course, olive oil topped Oakfield organic portobello mushrooms in a quick lunch dish on bread making day.

Involtini of veal

A quick picture before rolling up the veal last Friday. I have a hole in the back of my kitchen clock at the moment, and all the time seems to be falling out of it, so in the rush this was all I was able to take.Batted out veal escalopes rolled in pancetta, with roasted peppers and red onion, mozzarella, parsley and basil.

Once rolled (left) you refrigerate it to help it set in shape, then unwrap and roast on a roasting rack/ trivet at 200 oC. 20 minutes was medium, 30 well done.

This went with parsley pesto, grilled vegetables, tomato and basil salad and garlic bread.

Friday, June 05, 2009

Spelt bread & bread rolls

How many months have I been eyeing the spelt flour up every time I pop up to Home Farm? Must be 6 months at least. They have all the Wessex Mill regulars - white, wholemeal, strong white, rye etc. but it's the spelt that I haven't tried before, and now have an excuse as the only bread that one of the guests can eat tommorrow is spelt bread - spelt being very low in gluten.

The texture was just so different to supermarket flour - almost equal to the hand ground flour that you can get from the local Overbury estate (they have an antique hand flour mill in the kitchen). And I must say it makes one of tastiest loaves. Good spread with dulce de leche too......

Due to the low gluten content I played on the safe side and added a teaspoon of baking powder too, otherwise just used the normal bread recipe:

750g flour
450 ml liquid - mostly hand-hot water, and a little olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 pkt (7g) instant yeast

(1tsp baking powder for the spelt flour loaf)

Maybe try adding molasses too next time.
Related posts:

Gluten free nettle soda bread

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Beef olive with pearl barley risotto and grilled vegetables

"I'd like the beef olive.... without the olives please"


Ever been in a bistro and heard this? It's the idea of a stuffed olive that lends the dish it's name though, rather than the dish actually containing olives.
I've been looking at the WTSIM food blogging event for a couple of years, yet never got round to entering anything. Almost got there last month - retro dishes - but then got so many last minute parties to cook for that it went right down the list of priorities.

This month the task was to blog about a bistro dish - which I do here quite often, since my bistro menu has become more and more popular in the last year.

I was still wondering what to do as I drove up to Home Farm where I was beckoned inside the butchery by Micky, the farmer/ butcher. He had a skirt laid out on the bench - "What do you think?" he asked "beautiful" I said. And it was. An amazing piece of beef skirt.

But I didn't have anything I could do with it - I like to sell things before I buy the ingredients rather than the other way round - but as I reversed out of the yard I stopped, then went back in and picked up the skirt. It was just too good to miss.

I once made a steak baguette for the executive and sous chef at Claridges when I was a more junior larder chef, using what we had in our mise en place - the grilled sirloin steak, tomatoes, rocket, parmesan and shallot mayo. They liked the combination. They liked it a lot. And it became steak parmesan (without the baguette), a classic on the foyer menu - with bearnaise rather than the mayo. So I was thinking of something similar to go inside this piece of beef to make a beef olive. This time I had some blacksticks blue cheese, watercress, sun dried tomato and wild mushrooms which I mixed with some of the home farm sausagemeat. This was rolled inside:
and tied (though you could use cocktail sticks instead)

Then sealed to get a good colour on it and braised for 3 hours in red wine, onions, carrots and beef stock:
You could also use beer instead of wine. Once cooked, I removed the beef olive, onions etc. and re-boiled the sauce to thicken it a little, and added a dash of balsamic, then cut the beef olive into 4 and served it as above with some watercress.





For pearl barley risotto click here
For grilled veg click here




My bistro menu reviewed by a fellow local food blogger: What I Ate Today. They seemed to have left the salad and lemon oil for the starter in their fridge though.

Some other bistro dishes:

Starter

Parma ham salad
Tart of red onion and St. Agnes cheese
Smoked salmon blinis

Main course

Shoulder of lamb with tabbouleh
Smoked salmon, leek and tarragon lasagne
Hake with tomato baked beans or beer baked beans
Irish stew with dumplings
Beef and Cotswold Way ale pie
Slow cooked belly pork with creamy lentils
Lamb and apricot casserole
Salmon provencal with red pepper coulis
Involtini of veal

Dessert

Glazed lemon tart
Sticky toffee pudding
New York vanilla cheesecake
Canary pudding
Hazelnut shortbread recipe for crème brûlée


Frozen bistro meals





Sunday, May 17, 2009

Brandy snaps

Made the weekend before last between 2 and 3am on Saturday morning. Somehow I fitted in 13 parties in 5 days - lucky there are 25 hours in a chef's day.

These accompanied passionfuit panna cotta and the caramelised oranges, requested by the contact who had passed on my details for what turned out to be my first ever dinner party booking, almost 3 years ago. The two events I cooked for that week were following his father's passing, so he was choosing things that might appeal to his slightly older guests - a couple of days before I had done the smoked trout trio, with coq au vin, then crème caramel and a large pear and almond tart. The two desserts (above) on this day accompanied the grilled asparagus and rack of lamb dish made with saddle of lamb rather that racks.

I was going to pipe one of the left over brandy snaps with cream and accompany it with berries and coulis a bit like this, a real retro classic, but the left over ones mysteriously dissappeared......

Very easy to make in fact - like biscuits. You can make the dough and roll it into balls and bake them. As they bake they spread out flat, then you just leave them to cool for a couple of minutes before rolling them on a wooden spoon as shown here, or making baskets the same way as I make the tuile or filo baskets - ideal for ice cream or fresh summer berries spread over an overturned ramekin. If you keep the flat you could also make this simple dessert.

The recipe I used here came from Merilees Parker - but without the lime juice and zest. Jan may not have approved of her venison sauce recipe when she met her, but this worked for me - the BBC test everything of course before they publish it.

It has been bookmarked for anyone else who wants to try it on the virtual recipe drawer that is Bookmarked Recipes - where anyone from anywhere can blog about a recipe they had bookmarked from a cook book, food magazine, food blog, food website, from TV etc, make it and submit it to a weekly roundup. this week hosted by Divya at Dil Se….

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Vegetable samosas

Similar to making the filo rolls - just got to think triangles.

I made a vegetarian curry mix of small diced potato, carrot, onion, peas, curry paste and a little fresh coriander (so tasty - should make that more often) rolled inside and served with yogurt and mint dip.
It was one of the vegetarian canapes to accompany the vegetable en croute and sole.
Related posts:

Beans on toast

I stopped off on the way back to base after my Sunday brunch deliveries to pick some nettles. At last there would be a little time to try making this bread.......

Gluten free nettle soda bread

I used the soda bread recipe I had used before (buttermilk version). As I was using rice flour rather than wheat flour though, I added 1 teaspoon of baking powder and an egg as well to help things along.

Sauteed nettles chilled and pureed with buttermilk. Then just stirred in the nettle-buttermilk mix with flour, soda etc.

I kept some to make a nettle pesto to spoon over the beans.

This went with beer baked beans (last of the frozen left overs)

The verdict - tasty bread. Next time definitely use a mix of rice and tapioca flour - the tapioca being so starchy will help it be less crumbly.

Related posts:

Roasted vegetable en croute

I've done a few of these all vegetarian menus now. This was for a family staying in Chipping Campden for the weekend almost 2 weeks ago, and the hostess was cooking for her daughters, grandchildren and other family members, and wanted everything delivered so she could finish it off simply.

Instead of a starter we went for 6 different canapes. For the main course they were having trouble deciding, and as it was a fish-eating vegtarian party in the end we went for a combination of sole roulades with asparagus coulis (asparagus, white wine, creme fraiche) and these roasted vegetables en croute with vegetarian gravy. I did enough roulades so there were 2 per person, and 5 of the en croute so, if they wanted, they could cut each in half, and then they could each have a bit of both.


Roasted celariac, swede and butternut squash, peppers with creamy mushrooms and leeks (which gives a little moisture).

Served with new potatoes, runner and broad beans.

Related posts:

Beef en croute
New potatoes in chive butter

Monday, May 11, 2009

Lunch near Stratford on Avon

It's always good to catch up with previous clients. Especially when they're so nice, and cooking in their home feels so relaxing. This time it was a lunch party for a select group of friends, and as luck would have it, it was a warm and sunny day.

Just in season at that point (2 weeks ago) I found some asparagus just outside Pershore and re-created the grilled asparagus and parmesan dish which I used to do a couple of years back.

Slow cooked shoulder of lamb with tabbouleh and grilled vegetables

When I cooked the whole lamb in February I really liked the way it went so well with the salads - a much lighter alternative to a traditional Sunday roast with roast potatoes etc.

The slow cooked shoulder of lamb has quickly become popular after I put it on our summer bistro and Sunday lunch menu - I cooked it again that week for 30 people for a Sunday lunch buffet. Being cooked for 6 hours means it is really soft and tender, and because it is sourced directly from the farm you know it's produced by farmers that really care about their animals - and this shows in the texture and flavour of the meat - you can't beat it.

This version was served with tabbouleh (hiding underneath the lamb) and grilled & roast vegetables - aubergine (which is a classic with lamb), courgettes, peppers, a spoon of pesto on top and a wedge of roasted butternut squash on top of that.

Summer pudding


An english classic which is a must as soon as the warmer weather comes along.






What was the verdict?

Thank you so much for cooking such a wonderful lunch yesterday. It was seasonal, fresh & absolutely delicious & was very much appreciated by our guests. After our holiday in France we will fix our entertainments for the rest of the year.

Related posts:

Bookmarked Recipes #53

Here’s this week's round up of Bookmarked Recipes and this week we have some more great recipes from some more great bloggers. This week’s round up is being hosted by James at The Cotswold Food Year


You're wondering what to eat for lunch? You're wondering what to eat for dinner? Don't worry - we've got it taken care of at Bookmarked Recipes this week.



Lunch City Girl (who likes to blog anon) of City Girl Lifestyle finds a great way to chill out on a hot day with this Cucumber watermelon cooler which her husband bookmarked from My Spicy Kitchen. And as yesterday was Mother's Day in the US, Canada and Australia, it would have made a great addition to your Mother's Day celebrations.



Ning at Heart and Hearth has been baking, and shares her easy beer bread from an original recipe from Dog Hill Kitchen. Easy because it contains no yeast, so there's no need to knead - how good is that! You may remember this from a previous Bookmarked Recipes. It's been on my to-make list ever since then. With 2 recommendations now it has to be good! With such wonderful bread, you need the perfect accompaniment. Something like this hot artichoke dip from Patsy at Family, Friends and Food. The recipe, originally from Sweetnicks, was ideal for the monthly Bunko night, and luckily her sons are good at stirring, if they could just remember whose turn it was to stir..... Dinner


Shhh! Can you keep a secret? The secret of the Secret-Secret Geography Club. This time Kindra of The Meal Planner turned the club's attention on the cooking of France and made this decadent dish of Coq au vin. She wanted a recipe that would knock her guests socks off, and found one by Emeril Lagasse on the Food Network. The only problem being, when her guests came to go home they realised they didn't have any socks left.....
P.S. I also know from Foodie at 15 that a Dutch Oven in the US is what we call a casserole dish in the UK. You guys have some funny words.



For dessert you might try making this rhubarb jelly which I found from Keiko at Nordljus and made from the rhubarb growing in my garden. She sets the jelly on top of pistachio mousse, but back on the Cotswold Food Year, I set it in a container and diced it as a garnish for my rhubarb crumble tart. If you adjusted amount of sugar you could use any fruit instead of the rhubarb. Except kiwi of course - the acid content is too high for the gelatine. Thanks everyone for your submissions!!! It's always exciting to see what people have been making and recreating as well as meeting some new bloggers. Next week’s round up will be hosted by Divya at Dil Se…



That's it for this week. Remember if you want to take part here's all you have to do....



1. Pick a recipe from a book/magazine/blog/website/tv show and make it. (Note you can only submit 1 recipe per week)

2. Blog about it - include where you got the recipe in your blog post (including a link to their website if possible) - include a link to this post or this blog in your blog post - include the logo (see above) for Bookmarked Recipes in your blog post - include a photo of your recreation on your blog post

3. Email bookmarkedrecipes[AT]gmail[DOT]com with the following information: - Your name - The name of your blog - The URL of your blog - The permalink for your entry - A photo of your entry - A note of where you got your recipe from

Rhubarb crumble tart with crème anglaise and rhubarb jelly

The rhubarb I planted in my garden 2 years ago is now looking really healthy and abundant. It was time to make the rhubarb crumble tart, and I was thinking about a garnish when I came accross this recipe for rhubarb jelly from Keiko at Nordljus. I liked the idea of serving it in a glass with the pistachio mousse underneath, but instead poured the jelly into a container and diced it below to serve with the crumble tart:
It would be just nice to eat as it is though. If you adjust the amount of sugar you use any other type of fruit to make a jelly like this - strawberries, blackberries, plums.


It has been bookmarked for anyone else who wants to try it on the virtual recipe drawer that is Bookmarked Recipes - your one-
stop shop for tried and tested recipes from the food blogger community updated every Monday which I am hosting this week.








Hen party in the Cotswolds

What could be better than leaving London behind for the weekend and escaping to the Cotswolds for a hen party?

Need a venue? To see some Cotswold houses ideal for hen parties click here

While the Cheltenham Buttlers (emphasis on the 'butt') entertained the hens at Littleton Manor, and the champagne flowed, I got on with preparing the barbecue.....

Honey and mustard Home Farm pork loin steaks with glazed apples

I got a whole pork loin from Home Farm where their pigs are Berkshire/ Gloucester Old Spot cross. I took off the top layer of skin, and cut that into strips and cooked it in the oven to make crackling. Meanwhile, the loin I cut into steaks and marinaded those in honey & mustard. Apples I pan-fried in a little butter earlier in the afternoon and re-heated them in the oven prior to serving. There was actually a lot more crackling than that shown - it was so popular/ tasty it all went.



Chilli prawn skewers with garlic mayo

Salmon and basil skewers

Although I've done these before so many times, these turned out the best. A little dusting with flour before they go on the barbecue means they don't stick to the grill.

No picture of the chicken poached in plum and brandy wine and wrapped in parma ham - but you can see that from a previous barbecue.

Homemade walnut, raisin and rosemary bread rolls and a few salads accompanied this:

Cous cous with barbecued vegetables
Cucumber, yogurt and mint

I picked the mint from the kitchen herb garden to mix through, and the chive flowers, now in their brief season, to sprinkle on top.Salad of spinach, blacksticks blue, baby plum tomatoes, red onion and olives

Then it was a 30 minute dash to the next party of the evening......

Barbecue menu

Other menus

Also useful - Cotswold Indulgence Tour Tailors has recently launched stylish and sophisticated Cotswold hen weekends with a difference.

Related posts:

Whole roast lamb
Barbecue July 2008
Marquee barbecue for a wedding of 120 guests

Update 6 June 2009

We normally cook for at least one hen party in the Cotswolds a week. On the 6th June it was 4 in the same evening - I cooked for one, my brother Adam cooked for another, Gill cooked for another and one was delivered ready for the hens to finish off themselves.

As it was so busy organising all those events in the same evening, we only managed to get three pictures of the food - the spelt bread which was for one guest who was on a low gluten diet, the muffins cooked early next morning for one of the hen party's breakfast, and the assiette of desserts I served at Upper Court:

Each assiette of desserts is different depending on what guests (or the organiser of the event) choose. In this case we went for:

Mini vanilla creme brulée
Glazed lemon tartlets
Shotglass of homemade orange sorbet - recipe click here
Raspberry shortbread - shortbread recipe click here
Chocolate eclair - eclair recipe click here

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Rack of lamb with aubergine and potato gratin, roast courgettes and an oven dried tomato and basil sauce (ii)

Finally. Finally got it right.
You may remember this from a previous post. All the flavours of moussaka, just done slightly differently.


I had cooked it for a party on Wednesday night (left), but when it came to plating it up the lamb just took over the plate. It was just too big. Today (well last night now, the second party of the evening, above) I trimmed them a little more than the butcher at Home Farm does. Simple things.


Brushed with dijon mustard and sprinkled with breadcrumbs whizzed with cumin, fresh coriander & chives they're roasted for c. 30 - 35 minutes. 58 oC on the probe. Roasted courgettes (right) served seperately.
Then there was just a little assitte for dessert........



Thursday, May 07, 2009

Food blogging event


I would have mentioned this earlier, but 18 - 24 hour days get in the way.....

I'm hosting this week's Bookmarked Recipes, the food blogging event created by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments where anyone from anywhere can blog about a recipe they had bookmarked from a cook book, food magazine, food blog, food website, from TV etc, make it and submit it to a weekly roundup.

It's OK - you've got all weekend to do it!

Remember if you want to take part here's all you have to do....

1. Pick a recipe from a book/magazine/blog/website/tv show and make it. (Note you can only submit 1 recipe per week)

2. Blog about it- include where you got the recipe in your blog post (including a link to their website if possible)- include a link to this post or this blog in your blog post- include the logo (see above) for Bookmarked Recipes in your blog post- include a photo of your recreation on your blog post

3. Email bookmarkedrecipes[AT]gmail[DOT]com with the following information:- Your name- The name of your blog- The URL of your blog- The permalink for your entry- A photo of your entry- A note of where you got your recipe from

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Chef for the evening

"What's that? Oh it's the door."

It's always funny to see the reaction when I turn up as the suprise chef for the evening for someone's birthday, in this case a 60th between Moreton in Marsh and Shipston on Stour.

Salad of parma ham, pears and goats cheese was followed by fillet of beef with rosti and roulades of sole with mussel and saffron paella (left, before plating) and white wine sauce.

"I loved the dessert!" said one guest as I cleared up in the kitchen afterwards "It's like you don't have to decide which dessert to have - you just have all of them. "





Assiette of desserts

Each assiette of desserts is different depending on what guests (or the organiser of the event) choose. In this case we went heavy on the berries:

Mini vanilla creme brulée
Strawberry and champagne tartlets
Shotglass of tiramasu
Raspberry shortbread
Chocolate dipped strawberries


Canape sized tart cases cooked in the afternoon.


Related posts:

Previous assiette desserts we have served
What does 'assiette' mean? Assiette of desserts 12 July 2008
Roulades of sole

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Roast tenderstem broccoli

I had previously sauteed broccoli, but with the success of the roasted cauliflower tried roasting it instead. Crispy florets. Very nice.

I don't have anything against boiled or steamed vegetables, I just find other ways of cooking keep in the flavour instead of it being lost in to the boiling water which invariably is thrown away.

The stems being thicker take longer to cook, so I cut those into rondels and roast them seperately.

Tossed in a little olive oil and maldon salt.

Don't cook it too long or you loose the colour and the florets will be too crispy (like deep-fried). You want it still al dente.

You can finish with balsamic and toasted pine nuts (toasted in the same way as the sesame seeds) to give an extra flavour.


Related posts


Crushed Jersey Royal potatoes

Is there anything you look forward to more than the first Jersey Royals of the season?
They have a taste like no other. Here they are boiled and lightly crushed with the all important skin left on, and mixed with a little unsalted butter and chives.

Best eaten outside they can just make a meal in themselves. These accompanied fillet of beef and also sole in white wine sauce. Also great with trout and smoked trout (or salmon) though.


Related posts:

Roast courgettes..... that children like

In the peak of season, courgettes just grow at such a phenomenal rate - look at them in the morning and they're babies, look again in the evening at watering time and you'd think they'd been drinking miracle grow all day.

Leaving them to grow was never a problem for me when I was young - I preferred the steamed marrow rather than the fried courgettes, except maybe if they were mixed with onions, tomato and cheese.....

Last year when I was cooking for a family for a whole week I looked into different vegetable options for each day. Children, as you know, have a certain aversion to vegetables (it's a power issue), but I found with a few simple tricks, you can make something tasty that they like.

This week I have been cooking for a family for 4 days, so again, made sure we had different vegetable accompaniments each day.

These courgettes are peeled, sliced thin on the mandolin, sprinkled with olive oil and a little bit of maldon salt, and then roasted. I find it's the dark green skin that puts children off - looks are everything. Without the skin, it also tones down the taste, which, when your taste buds are young, can be a good thing.

Related posts

Steamed marrow
Children's dishes

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Roast asparagus and pepper salad

They say the simple things are the best.

They'd be right too.






Serve at room temperature or warmed in the oven with olive oil & balsamic.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Chips

What type of potatoes do you use for chips?

Not estima - that's for sure. While they make great mash or fondant potatoes, chips they do not make - they just don't taste right. Maris Pipers? I tried those last week, when desiree were unavailable, and, I concede they do work well - with a crisp outside and floury middle, but if you want a creamy dreamy middle I still desire the desiree.

Blanched at 140 oC till soft in the middle


Finished at 180 oC

Buffet lunch

Easter weekend is a popular time to be married or christened. Some people of course have their birthdays, and what better way to celebrate than to gather all 3 generations of the family together. The Cotswolds is an ideal location for families to join up in the middle - some coming from London and the south and some from the north as was the case at Wellacres last Saturday lunch time.
Red onion and St. Agnes cheese tart with oven dried tomatoes and sauteed baby plum tomatoes


Grilled asparagus with parmesan, and, in the far left top corner, melon balls in grenadine for the younger guests

Main courses were roast sirloin of beef with yorkshire puddings (which went in the oven as everyone sat down for the starter) and Smoked trout parcels - with smoked trout from Donnington trout farm just a few miles from Wellacres, and some chicken goujons and chips for the youngest members of the family.

Glazed lemon tart (ever popular), and chocolate nemesis topped with white chocolate and nuts

Then, after cheese was served, there was just time to finish off some miniture desserts for the assiette dessert to round off the 3 course dinner party delivery which we dropped off at Hill House on the way back to Upper Court where I dropped off another dinner party. Then there was just time to clear up before packing up the Sunday deliveries - after all there are 24 hours in a day......


Related posts:

Cotswold Way ale sauce

Michael Roux's book 'Sauces'. It's the stuff food dreams are made of. As Eddie and Mary Cadogan point out, recipes can be used just as inspiration, or as a guide - it's when you adjust them to taste that you make them your own. Such is the case with the books stacked up on my desk, on the bookshelf and lodged behind the sofa. I use the books for inspiration, ideas and flavour combining, add my own ideas and then go off and cook.
Half way through cooking a large order of frozen meals I realized rather too many were tomato based, so I hunted around and found the beer baked beans recipe. Beans - beer - beer batter - hake - hake and beans - beer and beans - hake and beer sauce.... it all seemed to fit together.

The beer sauce was one I had been looking at on and off for years in the 'Sauces' book but have never got round to making, so this seemed the ideal moment. Nice, but I needed something that could freeze, so as it is heavy on the cream I also added a little chicken stock I had left from the chicken chasseur and beurre manie to thicken it. You could also use vegetable or fish stock.




Originally this was going to be added to the beans entry to Bookmarked Recipes last week in a two for the price of one, but I just ran out of time in the pre-Easter rush, so here it is.

It has been bookmarked for anyone else who wants to try it on the virtual recipe drawer that is Bookmarked Recipes - your one-stop shop for tried and tested recipes from the food blogger community updated every Monday this week hosted by Laurie, of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska.

Re: cipe

60g shallots finely sliced (onions are fine too)
1 small (fresh) bouquet garni
4 juniper berries
300ml mild light beer (but I used Cotswold Way ale - it works well for me)
200 ml double cream
60g butter
1/2 tbsp snipped flat leaf parsley (I had some english parsley growing so used that)
salt & pepper

Put the shallots, bouquet garni and juniper berries in a saucepan, pour in the beer and reduce by two thirds over a medium heat. Add the cream and bubble for 5 minutes, until the sauce will lightly coat the back of a spoon. If it seems to thin, cook it for a few more minutes. Pass the sauce through a conical sieve, whisk in the butter, a small piece at a time, and finally stir in the parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Good with braised/ baked fish and also good with roast cauliflower:


Related posts:

Hake with beer sauce
Roasted cauliflower in Cotswold Way ale sauce

Freezer filling

When I'm not busy cooking for dinner parties, making wholesale desserts for restaurants or preparing corporate buffets, I also cook meals for the freezer.
I have one regular client who likes to take frozen meals in large containers and frozen canapes to her holiday home in Cornwall so she can feed all the extended family of 12 (children and grandchildren) without spending all day in the kitchen - after all everyone needs a holiday from cooking.

Another local family ordered a month's worth of meals when they were having their kitchen re-built. With just a microwave to cook with in their utility room for a month - they found my home-cooked meals with meat from the farm just 4 miles away from them a godsend - so much so they reccommended me to all their local friends, and the fish pie they liked so much I cooked for 50 of their guests when they entertained just before new year.

These particular meals were for another regular client who has the family to stay in the Cotswolds during the major holiday periods - Christmas, Easter, Whit week etc., and again it saves spending all the time in the kitchen when you can spend it with the family instead.

Cottage pie


Preparation as seen in the shepherds pie post, just using minced beef from Home Farm instead of minced lamb.










Chicken Chasseur

This time using free range chickens from Madgetts Farm.
A traditional chasseur with onions, mushrooms, tomato, white wine and fresh tarragon. Sauce preparation is similar to the coq au vin - once the chicken has been taken off the bones, the bones are used to make a stock which is then reduced and added to the sauce after cooking, so you have an intense chicken flavour.

A few cherry tomatoes are placed on top of the sauce so they soften and burst as the meal is reheated.


Slow cooked shoulder of lamb with tabboulehAs seen in a previous post the shoulder of lamb is cooked for 6 hours will it's soft and delicious. Once chilled it can be sliced as above.

The canelle carrots and onions that were cooked with it are added on top with fresh rosemary from the garden and the sauce.

Taste the tabbouleh and you're almost back on Edgeware Road.


Tabbouleh - the ideal accompaniment to lamb

Lamb shoulder cooked whole

Salmon provençal

Like the gravadlax, this is marinated too - but only overnight, and in a classic tomato sauce, after which it is baked.

With this is provençal style vegetables made to an old family recipe. My grandparents who lived locally when I was young had a large vegetable garden, so we were pretty self sufficient harvesting in the summer months, blanching and cooking like mad and then freezing so there would be vegetables and fruit throughout the winter months. The provençal vegetables were always one of my favourites on it's own with freshly made bread, or as an accompaniment to fish, rabbit or chicken.











Fillet of hake with homemade beer baked beans and ale sauce


There's more on the sauce here, and the beans here. I think it's a winning combination.







Fish pie

Another family recipe - originally from my maternal grandmother who's been making it for 70 years or more, but which I have, again, improved a little bit. I did give away the recipe once to a group on a hen weekend after they raved about it so much, but that's as far as it goes at the moment.
Cod, salmon, king prawns. oven dried tomatoes, egg and parsley. Grain mustard and Gorsehill Abbey Farm St. Kennelm cheese potato puree is piped on top.


XXXXX


These were taken from our bistro menu, but as they are made to order it means I can make whatever anyone asks for, and can account for any allergies or preferences. They can be made at a clients house using their own dishes, or most often I make them at my premises fitting them in between everything else and then deliver them at a suitable time.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Roast cauliflower in Cotswold Way ale sauce

Soggy cauliflower no longer.

Isn't it annoying when you sauce your cauliflower cheese and by the time it's browned you have a pool of water at the bottom of the dish. Like broccoli, sprouts, you name it, roasting is the way forward, keeping in the flavour (boil it and the flavour goes into the water), plus you get the caramelisation.

Roasted with olive oil, maldon salt and fennel seeds.
Nice with left over baked beans......

Vegetarian heaven.

Click here for Cotswold Way ale sauce recipe.


Related posts:

Roast tenderstem broccoli with balsamic and pine nuts

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Beer baked beans

So you're half way through cooking a large order of frozen meals for a regular client for the Easter week, and you suddenly realise that rather too many dishes are tomato based what do you do? I hunted around and found a baked bean recipe without tomato from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks. Beans - beer - beer batter - hake - hake and beans - beer and beans - hake and beer sauce.... it all seemed to fit together.

This has been bookmarked for anyone else who wants to try it on the virtual recipe drawer that is Bookmarked Recipes - your one-stop shop for tried and tested recipes from the food blogger community updated every Monday this week hosted by Ivy at Kopiaste...to Greek hospitality.

I'm not sure if the berry beer (beer flavoured with berries) which she mentions has really taken off in the UK yet - though berry cider seems to have - and some can be really good. As I was accompanying these beans with hake I decided against the berry flavours and used Cotswold Way ale. I liked the idea of molasses - this is what you should use in a traditional Boston beans which gives it a deep strong flavour (it's hard to resist the assosciation with liquorice allsorts when you taste it).

!Warning!

If you're using red kidney beans, or, as I was here, cannellini beans make sure you bring them to the boil and boil them rapidly for 10 minutes before simmering/ braising - we don't want any nasty food poisoning outbreaks!..... I used:

500g cannellini beans
Olive oil
1 - 2 onions
1/4 cup of molasses (+ the little bit that spills over the top)
1 tbsp dijon mustard
Chilli - well you decide how much you like
A 500ml bottle of Cotswold Way ale
Chicken/ vegetable stock
Seasoning

Soak the beans overnight. Drain them. Add to boiling water, bring back to the boil and boil rapidly for 10 minutes. Then drain them and wash them through in hot water (keeps the heat). Meanwhile sweat the onion. Then add the rest of the ingredients to the pan (excluding the beans which are still boiling). Bring this the boil and transfer to a deep baking tin along with the beans. Cover with foil and bake in the oven at 180 oC for around 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

As Heidi mentions it's an idea to check them every 25 minutes after an hour or so to see if they are soft or have run out of liquid. If they have dried up and need more liquid add a little more stock or water.

Ideally you want the juice to be mostly all absorbed as above. If the beans are cooked and ready before this you can put them on the stove top, uncover them and boil off the excess liquid.

Season with salt and pepper, and paprika too if you like.

You could also add bacon/ pancetta lardons, kabanos, belly pork, sweetcorn - all these would give it an extra flavour.

Eat warm on their own as an accompaniment (I accompanied these with hake), with cold meats, or just on their own with fresh bread.


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Beans means hake - tomato flavoured baked beans
Beer baked beans on toasted nettle gluten free rice soda bread
Beer sauce

Monday, March 30, 2009

Warm fillet of salmon gravadlax with rosti potato, cucumber noodles, beetroot and a dill mustard dressing

So much wonderful food in the last week, but all I have to show for it is this one dish. So busy with 87 people over 5 parties in 2 days there wasn't much time for photos. So no photo of the pigeon salad ("the pigeons are in the courtyard, they just need feathering and gutting.....") with celariac puree, black pudding, parsnip crisps and mustard vinaigrette, no photo of the pheasant au vin with pearl barley risotto, or the canapes (savoury and dessert), or the rack of lamb dish finished, or the white chocolate and blueberry cheesecake which I rather like. What we have here though is the salmon gravadlax for another new dish.
I've always loved warm smoked salmon - thinly sliced and warmed slightly under the grill it makes a great starter with a beurre blanc and a little salad. When I was looking at new menu ideas around new year I thought of using gravadlax instead.

Gravadlax was always a Saturday night job at Claridges - late after all the banquets had been sent. You had to hide the whole salmon fillets deep inside your fridge so the fish section wouldn't use them during their service, and then do it on Saturday night in case they came in early on Sunday to hunt them out. It takes a minimum of 2 days, preferably 3 to marinade, so if you had to wait till Monday you ran the risk of running out of time.


These were done on Thursday morning for Sunday night. Having done this so many times I never use quantities, but you start with orange and lemon zest and equal amounts of sugar and salt. If you have any caster sugar left from making candied orange or lemon zest this is ideal to use because it has extra flavour. To this you add a few juniper berries pounded in the pestle & mortar (or broken with the back of a knife), milled black pepper and chopped dill. Sprinkle this over the salmon and press it on. If you are slicing it thin, like smoked salmon you use skin on salmon which makes it easy to carve. Make a little nick in the skin so the marinade flavours go through the skin. Here I am using 150g fillets to serve it as a main course. You can also add vodka, cognac or gin which give you an extra flavour. Also beetroot to make the russian style gravadlax.

After this I put another tray on top, wrap it well so it doesn't get exposed to the air which would dry it out, then it is pressed (if you haven't any heavy weights you can use a saucepan full of water) at the bottom of the fridge - that way any juice that drips out doesn't go over anything else in the fridge. The pressing along with the salt helps remove some of the water content in the salmon which cures it.

2 or 3 days later you remove the marinade layer of salt, sugar, zest etc and sprinkle them with a small amount of fresh chopped dill to just coat the top, and you can bake them in the oven. Because it is cured you don't have to cook them all the way through.

Gill took these ones away to Hill House to cook for a hen party, while I was cooking pigeons, pheasants and lemon tart for a stag party at Park Hall near Kidderminster so I will get a photo of the finished dish this coming weekend when I re-create it at The Boathouse near Stratford-on-avon - watch this space.

Edit - Photo added above, taken rather hurriedly as Delia was rushing to take it to the table while it was hot - only right really.

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