Category: Local meat

Kale, pork and potatoes

An excellent, very simple meal, with bonus stock at the end for adding to soups and stews. I have a lot of kale this year, so look out for a series of kale recipes. This recipe serves 6 to 8 people. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • Around 800g bacon joint or pre-soaked salted ham
  • 1 bayleaf
  • 1 tsp peppercorns
  • 1 tsp cloves
  • 1 tsp allspice
  • 1 tbsp date syrup or brown sugar
  • 1 level tsp salt (if not using salted ham)
  • around 500g shredded kale
  • 1kg peeled new potatoes cut into chunks.

METHOD:

  • Put the ham or bacon joint into a large saucepan, and just about cover with water. Add the bayleaf, peppercorns, cloves, all-spice, date syrup, and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook over a low heat for 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Add the potatoes and cabbage, and simmer until the potatoes are just cooked
  • Strain off and reserve the stock
  • Slice the bacon and serve on a bed of potatoes and kale. You can pour melted butter over the latter. 

Home-made shish kebab

We had planned a barbecue, but rain stopped play, and we ended grilling these. Better on the barbecue though. Don’t forget to marinade the ingredients the day before.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 750g good quality local beef
  • 3 green peppers
  • 4 tomatoes
  • 8 Spring onions
  • 8 close cup mushrooms
  • 8 bayleaves
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 1 cup fresh oregano or marjoram, or 1 heaped tsp dried
  • 1 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt & freshly ground black pepper
  • skewers

METHOD:

  • Cut the beef into large cubes, about 2 inches, 5cm across. Cut the tomatoes in half, and cut the peppers into large squares.
  • Make a marinade as follows: slice the onion, and combine with the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and crushed garlic. Put the kebab ingredients into the marinade in a large sealed container, and leave in the fridge for 8 to 24 hours. If you are using wooden skewers, dampen them and put them in the freezer overnight.
  • The next day, set the barbecue volunteer to lighting the charcoal at least 30 minutes before you are due to cook. Let the charcoal burn until they form a hot bed of glowing coals. Meanwhile, thread the ingredients onto the skewers, alternating beef cubes with other ingredients, and dividing them equally.
  • Cook the kebabs on the barbecue for about 5 minutes on each side, total cooking time around 10 minutes. You are not aiming to get the meat any more than ‘medium’. Baste the kebabs as they are cooking with the remaining marinade.

Serve with nan bread or pitta bread, side salad, and greek-style plain yoghurt.

Venison stew

This is a delicious stew with a lot of sauce, excellent with cous cous. I used a lot of celery, which went well with the rich taste of venison. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 700g diced venison e.g. from haunch or leg
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 sticks of celery, diced
  • 2 small onions, or one large onion, diced
  • 4 carrots, diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp herbe de Provence (I used a mixture of dried basil, dried oregano, dried savoury, dried thyme, dried rosemary, bay leaves)
  • 1 scant tsp salt
  • black pepper
  • 1 400g tin of tomatoes
  • 3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 litre of stock

METHOD:

  • Dice the venison, and fry in a casserole pan in hot oil until browned, and then set aside.
  • In the same pan, fry the onion, celery and carrots over a medium heat for around 10 minutes.
  • Add the garlic, herbs and salt and pepper, and fry for a minute or two, before adding the tomatoes, stock and Worcestershire sauce, and bringing to a simmer. 
  • Add the venison, stir together and then cook in the oven at 140C for 3 hours, or until the venison is tender.

You could add dumplings or potatoes. The potatoes are best added to the stew about 40 minutes before serving. Dumplings take about 30 minutes to cook in a stew. 

Rabbit with white wine and celery

Another rabbit recipe. I keep finding more, and I’m still working through them; who knew there were so many? This one was especially tasty, and I would make it again, no bother. It might be good with green olives as well. I served it with polenta, but mashed potatoes would be good as well. 

INGREDIENTS: 

  • 1 wild rabbit, jointed
  • 30g butter, or a mixture of butter and lard
  • 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
  • 2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
  • 1 can of chopped tomatoes, or 250g ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 300ml dry white wine
  • salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • In a large casserole dish or lidded saucepan, brown the rabbit pieces in the butter and lard. Remove from the pan and put to one side
  • In the butter and lard, brown the onion for five minutes, and then add the celery and garlic for another couple of minutes.
  • Add the tomatoes, and simmer for five minutes
  • Return the rabbit to the pan, and pour over the white wine. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer
  • Reduce the heat and cook slowly for around 2 hours, or until the rabbit is nice and tender. If the sauce is looking a bit dry, add some more wine. 

Serve with polenta or mashed potatoes. 

Venison slow-cooked in red wine

This is a very simple French recipe for cooking a piece of venison weighing around 1kg all in one piece. There is the small matter of remembering to marinade it for a day first, but there is remarkably little fuss. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 900g venison for stewing, all in one piece and tied in an oval shape. 
  • 4 tbsp port
  • 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp white flour
  • 1 large onion, sliced finely
  • pork or bacon rind, in one piece
  • A little red wine if required, around 200ml
  • salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • Put the venison into a container with a lid, along with the port, vinegar and olive oil. The venison should just fit. Marinade for 24 hours.
  • Take out the meat, pat it dry and coat it with white flour. Put it into a dish with a lit that is just the right size, and pour over the marinade and season with salt and pepper. Cover with a layer of sliced onions, and then the pork rind. 
  • Cover with a lid and cook in a slow oven, around 130 to 140C for 4 hours. You may need to check up on the venison during the cooking. If it is looking a little dry, add some red wine. 

When it is cooked it will be very tender and shred easily. Serve on hot plates with celeriac mash, a green vegetable, and with red currant or rowan jelly on the side. 

Lamb with mint and chickpeas, Afghan style

This is not the first recipe I have made using these three main ingredients, but it is the simplest, and it uses lots of bits of meat that don’t always find a good home. I made this with a bag of lamb ribs and breast, but you could also use boned shoulder of lamb, cut into cubes. For cooking these cuts of meat, a long slow cook is best. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • About 1kg of mutton or lamb, cut into large pieces. 
  • 2 cans of chickpeas, drained
  • Around 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, finely sliced
  • 600ml of water or simple lamb stock
  • 2 tsp dried mint leaves
  • 3 tsp hot paprika
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • salt and pepper
  • juice of half a lemon, or more to taste
  • around 450g waxy potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced

METHOD:

  • Heat the oil a large casserole pan, and add the lamb and sliced onions. Cook over a medium heat, stirring from time to time, until the onion is softening and the lamb is browned. 
  • Add the drained chick-peas and the water or stock, and bring to a simmer. Stir in the herbs, paprika and turmeric, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer over a low heat for a couple of hours, until the meat is becoming tender. 
  • Add the lemon juice, adjust the seasoning to taste, and then put the sliced potatoes on the top. Cook for another thirty minutes. As an alternative, cook the potatoes separately and serve them mashed. You could also set the stew aside, or freeze, ready to finish with the potatoes the next day. 
  • Serve with a swirl of plain yoghurt. 

Pork steaks with rosemary

You’ll think I’m obsessed with this book and you would be right. If anything happened to it, I would buy another one, or get this one sorted at a book binders. The recipe is from Nigel Slater’s book, The Kitchen Diaries. I got the pork steaks from Long Island Larder, locally raised produce. They do produce boxes, croft visits, and will be opening a shop next year. 

Don’t get caught out (as I often do) – this involves marinading the pork steaks for at least an hour before cooking. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 pork steaks
  • 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 6 peppercorns
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • juice of half a lemon

METHOD:

  • Strip the leaves from the rosemary sprigs, and put them in a large pestle with the salt, pepper and roughly chopped garlic. I used seasalt to help with pounding and grinding this to a rough paste.  Add the olive oil one spoonful at a time, keep grinding, and then add the lemon juice. 
  • Rub the marinade onto the pork steaks and put them in a lidded plastic box or plastic bag in the fridge for at least an hour. 
  • Preheat the grill to around 200C. Grill the steaks for around 7 to 8 minutes each side. You may need less if the steaks are thinly cut, more if they are really chunky. Once the fat is beginning to crisp up, and the steaks look done, remove from the grill, cover and let them sit for a few minutes before serving. 

We served these with baked potatoes and beetroot. The potatoes soaked up the meat juices and flavours from the marinade. Delicious. 

Lamb rib stew

When buying locally slaughtered lamb or mutton, there are inevitably cuts of meat that may be less familiar, or harder to find recipes for. Ribs are one of these, not featured in posh recipe books. I made this last night, it was delicious. There is curry powder in there, but it is subtle, not a dominant flavour, just balancing the sweetness of the lamb. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil, such as rapeseed oil
  • 600g lamb ribs (if you have more, increase the curry powder and lemon juice to taste)
  • 1 heaped teaspoonful of Madras curry powder
  • salt and pepper
  • juice of half a lemon
  • 100g leeks, sliced
  • 100g carrots, in large chunks
  • 1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped
  • a handful of parsley, roughly chopped
  • 500ml stock, (lamb stock or vegetable stock)
  • 30ml dry sherry
  • 4 potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced. Use a waxy potato such as Charlotte. 

METHOD:

  • Heat the oil in a large saucepan or casserole dish, and fry the lamb ribs over a high heat until browned. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice, and spoon into a bowl. 
  • In the same pan, saute the leeks and garlic for a few minutes. Stir in the curry powder and cook on a medium heat for a minute or two, until really fragrant. 
  • Add the meat back into the pan, along with the sherry, stock and parsley. Bring to a simmer and check the seasoning. 
  • Simmer at a low heat for around an hour and a half. Check that it is not boiling dry, and add water if necessary. This could be on the stove top or in the oven. 
  • Add the potatoes and carrots over the top, check for water, and simmer over a low heat for another hour. The longer and lower the cooking time, the more tender the meat will be. 

Beef and butternut squash khoresh

When I first made this, it was so delicious, I woke up the next day, still longing for it. The flavour is rich and comforting, sweet and sour. Cutting the beef into thin strips means that it cooks to tender morsels in a short time. We purchased the beef from Long Island Larder.  They were selling their produce at the Tagsa Saturday Market in Balivanich, but the’ll soon have a farm shop in Loch Skipport as well. The meat was delicious, excellent quality. Just a note, Tagsa will continue with their neighbour food project through the winter, but the fresh produce market is a summer/autumn thing. 

Here’s the recipe. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 5 tbsp olive oil (or butter)
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 500g beef, cut into thin strips
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 150g ready-to-eat prunes
  • 1 medium butternut squash (pick one that feels very heavy for its size)
  • 3 tbsp date syrup or brown sugar
  • Juice of 2 limes (about 60ml)
  • A large pinch of saffron, dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water

METHOD:

  • In a medium casserole or large saucepan, heat about 2 tbsp oil over a medium heat, and fry the onion for around 5 minutes, so that it softens and becomes translucent. 
  • Add the beef and fry for another 15 minutes, stirring from time to time. 
  • Add the salt, pepper, cinnamon, prunes and around 600ml water. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for a further 20 minutes. 
  • Meantime, peel and chop the squash into large chunks, coat with olive oil and roast in a hot oven (200C) for around 15 minutes. You could also fry the squash in olive oil, until the outside is browned.
  • Stir the date syrup, lime juice, saffron water into the stew, and then add the squash. Cover and simmer for a further 40 minutes. 
  • Serve with white rice, preferably saffron steamed rice. 

Venison Pörkölt (Hungarian venison and onion stew)

I have quite a bit of South Uist Venison in the freezer, so be prepared for some variations on this theme. I made this rich Hungarian stew last night, and it is delicious. It is usually served with dumplings. The key is to stew the onions very slowly, preferably in lard, and to add the paprika fairly late in the proceedings. There will seem to be an unfeasibly large quantity of onions, but don’t worry, this works. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 60g lard
  • 900kg venison, cut into slabs about 1 inch thick, and about the size of half a postcard
  • salt and pepper
  • 4 onions, chopped (about 750g)
  • 2 tsp caraway seed
  • 2 tbsp sweet paprika
  • 2 tsp hot paprika 
  • 1 tsp dried marjoram
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • 500ml beef stock or venison stock
  • 300ml red wine

METHOD:

  • Melt the large in a large casserole dish, and brown the venison in batches, and set aside on a dish. You can season the venison as it cooks
  • In the same pan, add the onions and caraway seeds, and cook over a medium heat. Stir often and cook until the onions are browned. This might take up to 30 minutes. 
  • Add the venison, and all of the other ingredients and bring back to a simmer. Cook in the oven at 140C for a couple of hours
  • Make your favourite dumplings, if this is your thing. I had mashed potato and celeriac. 
  • When the stew is done, break up the meat a bit with a pair of forks. Serve with the dumplings and sour cream for those that wish to add it.