Author: drceit

Sausage and celery casserole

At the moment, our local shopping has been impacted by the cyberattack on the Co-op. It has greatly altered the availability of all sorts of things. I have been avoiding going to the shops and using up what I have. This time, from the freezer, I had a pound of sausages, some ham stock, and the only vegetable I had was half a head of celery. I also have a lot of garlic and lots of tins of this and that. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • Olive oil
  • 1 pack of sausages (around 400 to 450g)
  • 1/2 head of celery
  • A good pinch of dried peperoncini or other chilli flakes
  • 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • Half a glass of white wine
  • Around 200ml ham stock (or chicken stock)
  • A tin of chickpeas in water – do not drain the chickpeas
  • Lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice
  • Salt and pepper
  • Chopped parsley and potatoes to serve

METHOD:

  • Heat a little oil in the bottom of a large pan, and fry the sausages over a medium heat while you prepare the other ingredients. Turn them so they brown evenly. 
  • Slice the celery, leaves and stems, and chop the garlic.
  • Remove the browned sausages from the pan, and turn to a low to medium heat with a bit of extra oil.
  • Add the chilli flakes, and as soon as they start to sizzle, add the garlic and stir for a minute or two. 
  • Before the garlic starts to scorch, add the wine, stir to deglaze the bottom of the pan, and then add the celery, stock, chickpeas and the water in the chickpea can (this will thicken the gravy in the casserole). Add grated lemon zest, salt and pepper, bring to a simmer and then add the sausages. 
  • Cover and simmer for around 30 minutes. Once the celery is tender, it should be ready but if there is too much liquid for your liking, take off the lid and simmer to reduce this for around five minutes. 
  • Adjust seasoning and add a squeeze of lemon juice. 

I served this with new potatoes, the whole lot garnished with chopped parsley. 

Fesenjan: walnut and pomegranate stew – with goose breast – version 1 with beetroot

This is an adaptation from a classic Persian recipe. Traditionally, it is made with duck legs, and simmered slowly until the duck meat is tender. It can be made with goose legs as well, simmering for five hours or more. However, I had goose breast meat which goes strangely dry and stringy if overcooked, so it is best flash-fried in thin strips and then added to the stew at the end. 

Everyone says their version is the best, and there are variations. Next time I make this, I will be trying out using butternut squash. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 tbsp duck fat
  • 2 goose breasts, sliced into thin strips
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 100ml pomegranate molasses
  • 100g walnuts, toasted, cooled and ground finely in a food processer
  • 500ml chicken stock
  • 1 beetroot about the size of a tennis ball, peeled and diced
  • a pinch of saffron
  • a small cinnamon stick
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • chopped parsley to garnish

METHOD:

  • In a large pan, melt the fat and saute the onions over a low medium heat until it softens. 
  • Add the stock, walnuts, pomegranate molases, and spices and bring to a simmer.
  • Add the diced beetroot and simmer very gently until the beetroot is cooked. 
  • In a hot pan, melt duck fat, and fry the strips of goose meat until they are browned and still tender and moist. 
  • Add the meat to the sauce, heat through and serve with rice, and garnished with chopped parsley. 

Venison goulash

This is inspired by the excellent shops online, selling Hungarian food. I tried out ‘best of Hungary’ which did me proud, but there are many others. I would love to visit Hungary, I am googling the methods on ‘the man in seat 61’.  I bought a tube of goulash seasoning to appease my longing. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 tbsp beef dripping or lard
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 200g celery, diced
  • 1 1/2 tsp caraway seeds, ground for preference
  • 2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 bayleaves
  • 2 1/2 tbsp hot smoked paprika (or use mild smoked paprika if you prefer) 
  • 900g stewing venison, in small cubes
  • 1 can tinned tomatoes
  • 2 red peppers, skinned and sliced into rings (or use 2 tbsp red pepper puree)
  • 1 tbsp goulash paste
  • 1 litre beef stock
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 2 parsnips, peeled and sliced
  • 400g waxy potatoes, diced
  • 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • A bunch of parsley stems
  • a litre of hot water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 100g csipetke – Hungarian pinched pasta – or use Italian soup pasta or orzo pasta. 

That seems like a lot of ingredients, but the recipe is easy. 

METHOD:

  • Heat the lard in a very large saucepan or casserole dish. Add the onions and celery and cook over a low-medium heat for around 8 minutes, stirring so they don’t burn.
  • Add the caraway seeds, black pepper and bayleaves and cook for a further two minutes.  
  • Turn off the heat, and add the paprika, and stir in well. Add a little stock or hot water to help it mix. It is a lot of paprika. 
  • Add the venison and garlic, stir it all together and cook over a medium heat until the meat starts to brown. 
  • Add the tomaotes, peppers, goulash paste and the stock. The meat should be covered well buy the stock. 
  • Cover and simmer for an hour and a half. 
  • Add the carrots, parsnips and potatoes, along with the parsley, and add enough hot water to cover the ingredients by a couple of centimeters. Season with salt, bring to the boil, and then simmer, uncovered, for around 15 minutes.
  • Add the csipetke pasta and boil uncovered for another 15 minutes. Check the seasoning before serving.  

This is excellent with red wine, and cabbage as a side-dish. 

Persian wild goose meatball soup

This is an excellent way to cook with wild goose; the meatballs were tender and the flavour of goose was enhanced by the broth and the chickpeas. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 goose breasts
  • 1/2 onion
  • 3 large cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tbsp chopped mint
  • 70g brown flour
  • 1500ml chicken stock
  • 1 tin of chickpeas in water
  • 1 dried lime
  • a pinch of saffron
  • Chopped chives

METHOD:

  • Mince the goose meat and the onion
  • In a large bowl, mix the minced goose, minced onion, garlic, mint, beaten egg, salt, turmeric, cardamom, black pepper and flour, and kneed together.
  • In a large pot, bring the chicken stock to a simmer, and add the dried lime and a small pinch of saffron
  • Form the meatball mixture into around 18 balls about the size of a golf-ball. Add the meatballs to the simmering stock and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes. 
  • Add the chickpeas inclidng their liquid, and simmer for another 20 minutes, until the chickpeas are tender. Adjust the seasoning at the end of cooking. 
  • Serve in deep bowls, allow three meatballs per person, and garnish with chopped chives. 

Hungarian goose and barley (Ludaskasa)

I have a great colleague who is really into cooking, so it is a real pleasure to meet and discuss new cooking ideas. I really like Hungarian food, and he’d been experimenting with confit wild goose leg. So this is where we ended up. 

This is a traditional Hungarian recipe, I’m sure there are many versions. I made mine with dried porcini mushrooms, but there are recipes that don’t use them. It takes a while to make, so be prepared. 

First of all, when presented with a wild goose, peel off the skin without plucking it. Take off the breast meat and save that for another day, in the freezer. Next, take the legs, trim them and cook them in hot duck or goose fat. The legs should be completely covered, and then put in a covered dish in a very low oven, around 90C for 4 to 6 hours. 

Next, while the goose legs are being cooked slowly, make a goose soup. 

INGREDIENTS FOR GOOSE SOUP

  • 1 goose carcase, including liver, heart, gizzard, if possible
  • 2 tbsps goose or duck fat
  • 1 large onion, cut into wedges
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 4 sticks of celery, chopped
  • 2 red peppers, chopped
  • a couple of bay leaves
  • 15g dried porcini mushrooms
  • Salt and pepper

METHOD FOR GOOSE SOUP

  • In a large stock pot, melt the fat and fry the onion. As it starts to soften, add the celery, carrots and peppers, and cook until they are beginning to brown
  • Add the goose carcase, enough water to cover, salt and pepper, bayleaves and the porcini mushrooms. 
  • Bring to a low simmer, and simmer for four hours. When the soup is made, cool it and remove the remains of the carcase. Strain the soup. Any cooked meat on the carcase, plus the heart and liver can be shredded and reserved. 

Now you are ready for the next step. You won’t use all of the strained soup, and it is good in its own right. It also freezes well in case you want to make more of the Orzotto. 

INGREDIENTS FOR THE LUDASKASA

  • Goose fat
  • Hot stock
  • Saffron
  • White wine
  • Confit goose legs
  • Shredded goose meat from the soup preparation
  • 160g pearl barley soaked in water for 1 hour or more
  • Chopped parsley

METHOD: 

  • Reheat the soup
  • Take a cup of hot goose stock and add a pinch of saffron
  • In a large pan, heat 2 tbsp goose fat on high, and add the soaked and drained barley. Toast it for a minute or so, and then add a glass of white wine. Let this cook away and then start adding the stock, a ladleful at a time. I started with the saffron stock first. Simmer away the moisture from each ladleful before adding the next, just like making a risotto. Keep adding the stock until the barley is well cooked and tender. 
  • Serve in a deep bowl, stir in the shredded meat, and top with the confit goose legs and chopped parsley. 

I found the barley part of the dish to be the bit I liked the best, and I had plenty of goose soup left at the end, so I can make that again. 

Grilled lobster with charmoula butter

Thanks to a kind gift of two very lively lobsters, we had this delicious meal during the week. In honour of the lobsters, we also had a bottle of champagne, the whole evening was very messy and delicious. 

We learned several lessons. First off, we split the lobsters before grilling them. It is better to use a finer grill support. The claws are best boiled in a separate pan for around 10 minutes. The half lobster tails need to be grilled on high for 10 minutes, with the butter poured on before serving, with slices of brown bread. 

If you don’t have a grill, you could boil the lobsters whole for ten minutes, and then split in half. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • Two local lobsters, claws removed and cut in half
  • 100g butter
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp chopped coriander leages
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • a pinch of Aleppo chilli pepper, or other mild chilli pepper
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp hot smoked paprika 
  • Salt, to taste 

METHOD:

  • Boil the claws for ten minutes. Grill the tails for ten minutes under a hot gril
  • While the lobster is cooking, melt the butter in a small pan, and add the garlic, and simmer in the butter for a minute. 
  • Add the rest of the ingredients, season with salt. 

To serve, pour the dressing into individual ramekins. You can pour the sauce onto the lobster, or dip the lobster in. Mop up the juices and the left-over sauce with thick slices of white bread. 

 

Goose and paprika

The flavour of green sweet peppers and goose just go so well together. This is a rich stew with a Hungarian twist, rich with paprika, peppers and tomatoes. After I made this, I found lots of recipes from Hungary using goose, but this is not a classic. I think there is a similar dish using chicken but it has a lot of sour cream in it, unlike this rich stew. 

I think it should probably be served with Hungarian nokedli, a sort of pasta. I had mine with linguine. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 tbsp lard (or olive oil)
  • 3 wild goose breasts,
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 4 heaped tsp sweet paprika
  • 2 tsp caraway seeds
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • Chicken stock
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • salt and pepper
  • chopped parsley to serve

METHOD:

  • Heat the oil or lard in a casserole dish, and fry the chopped peppers and onions. Once they begin to soften, add the garlic and spices, and continue to cook over a medium heat. 
  • Add the tomato paste, paprika and tinned tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cook until the sauce is nice and thick. Season to taste. If the sauce looks a bit thick, add chicken stock and then cook it down. 
  • Version a: I fried off the goose meat, cubed, added to the stew and cooked it in a slow oven, around 120C for 4 hours. The goose was very tasty, but it took a while to get tender. 
  • Version b: I cut the goose meat into goujons, fried them quicky and put them onto the pasta and sauce on the plate. Version b was quicker and the goose was tender, but the flavour was not as good. 

Served with noodles and garnished with chopped parsley. 

 

 

Smoked haddock and parsnip fishcakes

I managed to get a bag of parsnips at a reduced rate from our local supermarket, as they weren’t beautiful. It was a good bargain, I got about 500g of parsnips. I made this recipe from Ottolenghi’s book, Simple. I halved the quantities, and substituted dried dill, on account of not being able to get fresh dill. I had enough for six large fishcakes. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 300g peeled parsnips
  • Olive oil
  • 250g smoked haddock fillets, skinned
  • 2 tsp dried dill
  • 10g chopped chives
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • zest of one lemon, cut the lemon into wedges for serving. 
  • a large egg, beaten
  • salt and pepper 
  • butter

METHOD:

  • Preheat the oven to 190C fan
  • Chop the peeled parsnips into chunks, toss with 3 tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt. Roast in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes, until soft and browned. Sit to cool slightly. 
  • Put the cooked and cooled parsnips into a food processor and blitz to a coarse mash. I had some extra parsnip, so I put this into a container for the freezer for use later. Put the parsnip in a large bowl
  • Put the fish into the same processor, and blitz again intil roughly chopped.
  • Add the fish to the parsnip mash along with the egg, garlic, chopped herbs, 1/2 tsp salt, ground black pepper, and the lemon zest. Mix well, and shape the mixture into fishcakes. Mine were about the size of a crumpet or small burger. You can also put the mixture in the fridge for use the next day. 
  • Put a bit of butter in a frying pan along with a bit of olive oil, and heat to medium, with the butter melting and foaming. Add the fishcakes and fry them, around 4 minutes on each side. Two fishcakes is plenty for one person. Serve with a wedge of lemon. 

Iced Gingerbread

This was made by special request. My grandson wanted help making it for his mother’s birthday, so that is what we did. We started from Nigella’s book, ‘Domestic Goddess‘. If you’ve ever made any of her recipes, they are well written and with latitude to adapt, and the final result is excellent. There’s a very similar recipe in ‘The Farmhouse Kitchen Book’, which has several recipes for gingerbread from around the UK. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 150g butter
  • 125g dark muscovado sugar
  • 200g golden syrup
  • 200g treacle
  • 2 tsp ground ginger, or fresh grated ginger
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 250ml milk
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 300g plain flour
  • A tin measuring 30x20x5 cm (a medium roasting tin) greased and lined with greaseproof paper
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 175g icing sugar
  • 1 tbsp warm water

METHOD:

    • Preheat the oven to 170C
    • In a saucepan, melt the butter, sugar, treacle, golden syrup, ginger and cinnamon. Once everything has combined, set aside to cool
    • In a bowl, beat the eggs, and add the milk. Mix bicarbonate of soda with a little warm water, about 2 tbsp and add to the eggs and milk. 
    • Measure out the flour into a large bowl.
    • Pour the egg mixture into the sugar mixture, stir together to combine and then tip the whole lot into the flour. Use a hand whisk to mix everything together, making a runny batter
    • Pour the batter into the tin, put it into the oven and bake for around 50 minutes. 
    • Let the cake cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes before attempting to lift it out onto a wire rack. 
    • Once the cake is cool, you can ice it. Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl, and mix in 1 tbsp water and 1 tbsp lemon juice, plus any food colouring that you wish. We used yellow, on account of that being a favourite colour and the lemon being yellow. Pour the icing into the middle of the cake and spread out a little, using a flat knife. It will tend to flow out so you don’t need to be too precise. 

Once the icing has set, you can cut the gingerbread into fingers or squares. We cut ours up into 24 squares, but then we all ate at least two squares, served with Earl Grey tea, 

Stewed broad beans with tomatoes and bacon

I am testing broad bean recipes, many of them involve bacon, or herbs, or both. This is a robust stew from Umbria, for when you have a lot of broad beans. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1kg shelled broad beans
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
  • 1 onion, peeled and chopped
  • 2 stalks of celery, diced
  • 200g smoked pancetta, chopped
  • 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • Dried pepperoncini flakes (or any chilli flakes)
  • 2 cans of chopped tomatoes
  • Fresh parsley

METHOD:

  • Heat some oil in a large casserole dish or heavy saucepan, and slowly fry the pancetta, carrots, onions and celery for around 10 minutes, when the pancetta should be starting to brown. 
  • Add the garlic and chilli flakes and cook for another couple of minutes, before adding the beans and tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper and parsley. 
  • Simmer for around 20 to 30 minutes, when the beans should be tender. Take off the heat, and garnish with a swirl of good olive oil and some chopped parsley. 

I had this with bread and pecorino cheese. There are variations as well, you can add some chopped chard, or cooked peas, or artichoke hearts, or use fewer tomatoes. You can substitute basil or mint for the parsley. You could stick a poached duck egg on the top.