Category: Other recipes

Chestnut Bourguignon pie

My lovely sister was making me jealous with tales of the lovely harvest of apples, pears and plums from the surrounding orchards, down in kent where she lives. She suprised me this weekend by sending me a box full of plump, shiny, perfect chestnuts – freshly picked of course.

I knew exactly what I was going to do with them – make my favourite vegetarian pie. If you don’t have a lovely sister to send you fresh chestnuts, then you can sometimes buy tinned or vacuum packed ones locally or alternatively, buy them dried online. This recipe is taken from the BBCGood Food magazine. It is wonderful with creamy mash and sweet potato.

To prepare the fresh chestnuts, snip of the tip of each nut, and bake at 200C for around 8 minutes. Let them sit for a couple of minutes until they can be handled, and peel.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 250g/8oz of fresh chestnuts OR 125g/4oz dried chestnuts, soaked for 6-8 hours
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary or 1 tsp/5ml dried rosemary
  • 210ml/7fl oz red wine
  • 300ml/10fl oz Marigold vegetable stock or water
  • 25g/1oz butter or soya margarine
  • 8 small pickling onions or shallots, peeled
  • 125g/4oz chestnut mushrooms, wiped
  • 125g/4oz button mushrooms, wiped
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 2-3 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 225g/8oz pastry. You could use Gluten Free Pastry.

METHOD:

  • Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
  • Place the soaked chestnuts, herbs and 150ml/5fl oz of wine in a saucepan with vegetable stock to cover and cook until just tender – approximately 50-60 minutes.
  • Drain the chestnuts, reserving the liquid.
  • Melt the butter in a frying pan and sauté the onions until slightly browned.Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 4-5 minutes.
  • Add the chestnuts, the remaining red wine and sufficient chestnut cooking liquor to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes to reduce the liquid a little.
  • Stir in the mustard, tamari and black pepper to taste and cook for a further 5 minutes.
  • Check seasoning and adjust as necessary. Spoon the mixture into a pie dish. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and place on top of filling. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden.

Tagliatelle with carrot and tarragon carbonara sauce

Trust me: this is good.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped onion
  • 1 tbsp olive oil or butter
  • 250g tagliatelle
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 50g grated parmesan
  • 1 tbsp tarragon
  • salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, put in the tagliatelle, and cook for 8 minutes.
  • While the tagliatelle is cooking, fry the onion and carrot in the olive oil or butter until cooked, about 6 minutes.
  • Mix the eggs, tarragon, salt and pepper and parmesan in a bowl.
  • When the pasta is cooked, drain it, and stir in the carrots, onions and egg mixture, and stir until the sauce is hot but still creamy; do not try to get the egg set, that is not the point
  • Serve quickly, while still good and hot, with pepper and more parmesan, to taste.

Pork and Saffron Risotto

This recipe comes from Valentia Harris’s excellent book on risotto, which I use frequently. This is the only recipe for risotto that I have found that uses pork. I used a piece of a hand of pork, and some dripping that Malcolm had clarified.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 75g pork dripping, lard or pork belly fat
  • 1 finely chopped onion
  • 300g finely cubed pork, eg from shoulder or hand of pork
  • 1/2 glass dry white wine
  • 1 tin organic chopped tomatoes
  • pinch of safron strands soaked in a little warm water
  • 500g organic risotto rice
  • 1.5 litres hot stock
  • 50g freshly grated pecorino/parmesan cheese
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper

METHOD:

  • Fry the onion in the pork dripping slowly so that it softens, then add the cubes of pork
  • Cook together and add the dry white wine, until the pork is browned.
  • Add the tomatoes and mix well, then add the saffron and the water in which it soaked, and bring to the simmer.
  • Continue to simmer gently for about an hour, adding water if required to keep the mixture moist. At the end of the cooking, the pork should be almost falling apart.
  • Add all the rice, and stir until it is heated through and well coated.
  • Start adding the hot stock a little at a time, stiring it in as you go. Make sure that all the liquid is absorbed before adding the next bit of stock.
  • When the rice is cooked, firm, yet velvety and the sauce is creamy, take the risotto off the heat and add the cheese, salt and pepper. Let it sit for a few minutes and stir before serving from a warmed platter.

Truffle Risotto

Mm. A recipe to start early, it doesn’t take 20 minutes, more like 3 to 4 hours. It involves making a mega rich stock, and then adding the rice. This is from one of my favourite recipe books, ‘Risotto Risotto’ by Valentia Harris.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 40g pork fat or lard
  • 40g prosciutto crudo
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 carrot, finely sliced
  • 1 celery stick chopped well
  • 400g beef offcuts or skirt
  • 1.5 litres boiling water
  • salt and peppper
  • 400g risotto rice
  • 75g butter (
  • 75g grated parmesan
  • white truffles, preferably fresh, but can be bought as a paste or in oil

METHOD:

  • Put the pork fat, onion and prosciutto in a blender and whiz to make a thick paste.
  • Put the paste in a large and heavy pan, and fry until soft and golden, at least five minutes, then add the carrot and celery and fry for another five minutes.
  • Add the beef and brown on all sides. Cover with the boiling water, season with salt and pepper and put a lid over the pot. Simmer for three hours.
  • Remove the meat and set aside. If you have used a very rough cut like the skirt, then discard this. We used left-overs, which we shredded and added back later.
  • Put the remaining stock through the food processer so that it is really smooth, and add boiling water to make up to 1.2 litres.
  • Bring the smooth stock to the boil, add all the rice and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until there is no free fluid
  • Add the butter and cheese and any reserved beef that is tender enough to eat. Stir and leave to relax for five minutes.
  • Cover the risotto with shaved truffles, or stir in the white truffle paste, and serve.

Sweet and easy tomato sauce

‘The Moro Cookbook’ by Sam and Sam Clark is one of my favourinte cookbooks. They have also written Moro Easy, and Morito (tapas).

This particular recipe is from their first book, and was a revelation. Until now, if I wanted to make a tomato sauce, for example to pour on meatballs, I would have added all kinds of things, and certainly started with an onion. This recipe is easier and better.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 tin organic tomatoes (or 500g fresh tomatoes with the skins removed).
  • 2 tbsp organic olive oil
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • If you are using fresh tomatoes, chop them finely. If you are using tinned tomatoes, put them in a bowl and squish them up with your hands
  • In a medium saucepan, heat up the olive oil. When hot but not smoking, add the finely sliced garlic and fry until the garlic is beginning to turn brown
  • Add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook over a low heat until a lot of the liquid has evaporated, a least 30 minutes. You can also leave this in a slow oven for 30 minutes or more, until the sauce is at the right consistency.

If you wish, add cinnamon or chilli with the garlic at the start.

Honey

Honey is one of the foods that I can remember eating when I was very young. I can remember eating comb honey when we lived in New Zealand; I must have been aged about four. Later, when we lived in the middle east, we used to buy honey from the people living in the Alburz mountains; we called in bees-foot honey, as it sometimes contained small fragments of the poor bees that made it. In Nigeria, honey was rare and costly, and sold wrapped in leaves by tribesmen sitting at the edge of the market place.

In all these parts of the world and more, and going back through the millennia, honey has been eaten. There are Mesolithic cave paintings in Spain, showing women collecting honey. It has value as a food, and as a medicine. The ancient Egyptians new of its healing powers and used it to dress wounds, and to embalm the dead. In the bronze-age, in Britain, honeyed breads were made for festivals.

Honey has value as a food, and also has medical uses. These are still being researched, and include measuring the medicinal value of honey to help with oral infections, reducing cough in children, and in the management of chronic wounds and acute burns. The use of some types of honey for wound management is already part of mainstream practice in the UK. There seems to be variation between types of honey when it comes to how well they work; Manuka honey is the most widely know therapeutic honey, made from nectar collected by bees from the Manuka tree in Australia and New Zealand. There seems to be several different ways in which the honey works to treat and prevent infections in wounds.

WHAT IS HONEY?

Honey is made from the nectar of flowers, which collected by honey bees. Bees manufacture honey as a stable, high-energy food for their young. They collect nectar from plants that are in bloom. Flying back to the hive, the bees then transfer the nectar into six-sided wax cells. They then flap their wings to help water to evaporate from the nectar, and condensing it into honey. Once the honey is ready, the bees seal each cell with wax, storing it for when it is to be consumed.

When it comes to harvesting the honey, the beekeeper removes the combs of honey from the hive, cuts off the wax caps and spins the come to get the honey out. The honey is then strained and bottled. Only honeybees make large enough colonies in hives for this to work; bumblebees do not live in large colonies, and honeybees are not native to the islands.

TYPES OF HONEY

The colour and flavour of honeys differ depending on which flowers have been visited by the honey bees. The colour ranges from nearly colourless to dark brown, and the flavour varies from mild to distinctive and bold, depending on where the honey bees buzzed. Honey from different flowers has a distinctive flavour and colour due to differences in the nectar

As a general rule, the flavour of lighter coloured honeys is milder, and the flavour of darker coloured honeys is stronger. Darker honeys have more nutrients than light ones. Vitamin and mineral content also depend on the floral source of the honey. Below is a list of some of the more commonly available types of honey in the UK and in the wholefood catalogue.

Acacia honey: A light mild clear honey produced from Acacia and a blend of other flower nectars.

Chilean ulmo honey: Growing along the coastal areas of southern Chile, ulmo trees produce a white blossom in February and March. This honey has a delightful flavour reminiscent of aniseed and parma violets.

Greek honey: A strong rich dark clear honey produced from pine, wild rose and other flower nectars.

Clover Honey: Usually a pale set honey, it has a smooth texture and a deliciously mild buttery flavour.

Orange blossom honey: This clear honey is collected from hives sited in orange groves. It has a deliciously distinctive orange flavour and a light amber colour.

Turkish pine honey: From the pine forests of western Turkey, south east of Izmir, this dark, clear honey comes from hives managed to organic standards. It has a rich, full-bodied flavour reminiscent of sweet molasses.

Scottish heather honey: This is a dark, set honey, usually gathered from the moorlands around the Grampian mountains during August and September. Heather honey has a distinctive thick consistency with a rich flavour – slightly bitter with a pleasing aftertaste of burnt caramel. Some find it too strong.

COOKING WITH HONEY

There is an art to cooking with honey; as well as being very sweet, some honeys have quite a strong flavour, while others lose their floral taste in the process of cooking. In addition, honey includes water, so adjustments need to be made to recipes when substituting honey for sugar.

There are some combinations that blend well with the texture and flavour of honey; my favourite is Greek yoghurt with honey and nuts. A similar classic combination is icecream and heather honey; the neutral ice cream showcases the strong flavour of heather honey . Another classic combination is pecorino cheese with walnuts and comb honey.

When it comes to baking, most recipes work best with a blended wildflower honey, whose flavour is not too cloying or assertive. If you substitute all the sugar for honey, the texture of the finished cake or biscuit can be a bit chewy. Instead, use a mixture. The suggested substitution method is to use about 1/3 honey, 2/3 sugar. Use an equivalent weight, for example for a recipe asking for 100g sugar, you would substitute 30g of the sugar for 30g of honey.

If you are using a lot of honey, you should also subtract about 100ml of liquid from a recipe for every 250ml honey used and some sources suggest adding 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda to a recipe to counteract honey’s acidic nature, which can affect other ingredients.

RECIPES:

Lemon soother:

  • Juice of 2 lemons, plus 2 thin slices
  • 1cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 tsp Honey
  • 4 tbsp whisky (optional)

Pour the lemon juice into a measuring jug and add the sliced ginger and honey. Add enough boiling water to the jug to measure 300ml and stir. Pour into 2 heatproof glasses, add the whisky if desired and serve immediately, garnished with a thin slice of lemon.

Banana Honey and Cinnamon Smoothie

  • 1 banana
  • 150ml semi-skimmed milk
  • 150g Natural Yogurt
  • 1 tbsp clear honey
  • 1 large pinch ground cinnamon

Chop a banana into large chunks and place in a blender. Pour in 150ml semi-skimmed milk and add a 150g pot Natural Yogurt with 1 tsp clear honey and a large pinch of ground cinnamon. Blend until smooth, pour into a glass and serve, sprinkled with a little more ground cinnamon.

Tofu (or chicken) and egg noodles with black bean sauce

This is a very versatile recipe; it is possible to substitute ingredients quite successfully and still get a delicious result. It is based on a Wagamama recipe, but it has been through a number of versions in our own home. This makes two servings.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 100g egg noodles
  • 1 tsp cornflour or kudzu powder
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 150g firm tofu (you can substitute chicken breast)
  • 1 green pepper, deseeded and cut into 2cm squares (you can also use mange tout peas)
  • 1 small hot red chilli pepper
  • 1 sprin onion
  • 1/2 jar black bean sauce
  • 600ml light stock, such as marigold stock
  • 1 tbsp sake or dry sherry

METHOD:

  • Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the pack. Drain and rinse in cold water
  • In a small jug, blend the cornflour with soy sauce, sake, and stock. 
  • Slice the tofu and pat dry
  • Heat a wok and when it is very hot, add the oil, then the tofu and chopped pepper, and stir-fry for a minute or two. 
  • Add the black bean sauce and the chopped chilli and cook for another couple of minutes, until the tofu or chicken look cooked. 
  • Stir in the stock mixture, and simmer for a couple of minutes
  • To serve, spoon the noodles into large plates or bowls, and then top with the sauce. 
  • Garnish with finely chopped and sliced spring onion. 

Brown rice with spinach and tomatoes

This is another old recipe from 2009. You can use any green leaf if you don’t have spinach, it works well with New Zealand Spinach, or chard as well. New Zealand Spinach grows well here, but I’m not sure whether people know much about cooking it.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 450g brown rice, soaked in cold water and drained
  • 50g butter or vegetable oil
  • 300g spinach or similar
  • 1 can of chopped organic tomatoes
  • 1 finely sliced onion
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 900ml stock or water

METHOD:

  • Steam the spinach for three minutes, and chop.
  • In a pan, fry the sliced onion in the oil until it begins to brown.
  • Add the drained rice to the pan with the spices and fry for two minutes
  • Add water, salt, spinach, tomatoes and bring to the boil
  • Cook over a low heat for 35 minutes, covered. Check ever five minutes or so to make sure it hasn’t boiled dry.
  • Turn off the head and uncover, and leave to stand for ten minutes before serving.

You can add a can of pinto beans, or fry the onion with garlic, to add a twist.

Courgette risotto

This is a delicious vegetarian risotto, although it can also be made with a chicken stock. It is adapted from a basic recipe with a few ideas stolen from elsewhere. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 small onion, or shallots, finely chopped (about 2 tbsp)
  • 1 stick of celery, stringed and finely chopped
  • 40g unsalted butter, plus an extra 20g butter for the end
  • 200ml dry white wine
  • 1 litre of vegetable stock, simmering and hot (or chicken stock for a non-vegetarian version)
  • 300g risotto rice
  • salt and pepper
  • 3 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • 2 large or 3 medium courgettes, grated
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • A splash of olive oi
  • 1-2 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint

METHOD:

  • Start frying the courgettes in a pan with a little olive oil and the garlic. Keep the heat quite high and stir frequently. You are looking to see bits of the courgette starting to brown. When they are cooked, season with a little salt and pepper.
  • In a small pan, cook the onion and celery very slowly in melted butter, until soft and translucent. 
  •  Put the fried onion into the risotto pan, and continue to cook over a low heat. Add the rice and stir it all together, until the rice starts to get a bit shiny and translucent around the edges. 
  • Add a glass of wine, and once it is simmering, add the courgettes, and stir together, along with the chopped mint. 
  • When the mixture is simmering and looking a little dry, start adding the hot stock. Add this a ladleful at a time, and simmering and stirring until it is all hot and incorporated, before adding the next bit. Towards the end of cooking, check the flavour, and add salt and pepper to taste. Remember that the cheese will be salty. 
  • Once the rice is cooked, tender but still firm, take the risotto off the heat, and stir in the parmesan. When that has all melted, stir in the butter, cover and let the risotto sit for a few minutes before stirring and serving. 

Mole with black beans

My daughter has been staying, and she and her boyfriend cooked me this dish. I didn’t really see what they put in it, but I did some research afterwards. I was sort of watching, and then I looked up some more information about the recipe. 

First off, think of guacamole, an avocado dish. The last part of that word, that is how you pronounce mole, it means a sauce, and there are many kinds. The type of mole that was prepared for me was an especially complicated one, to celebrate the fact that we were all together for Easter.

This recipe is based on a celebratory dish that is prepared usually for the Mexican day of the dead. The spice mix is usually prepared in a spice mill, and can contain thirty or more ingredients, including several types of chillies, chocolate, nuts, sesame seeds and dried fruit. The resulting sauce is dark, unctuous and rich, fruity and spicy.

We used a small mechanical spice grinder to mix and grind the dried ingredients, and then used a soup wand to make sure the sauce was rich and smooth before adding the black beans. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 25g Pumpkin seeds
  • 25g Pecan nuts
  • 25g Almonds
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns
  • 2 tsp coriander seeds
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 8 cloves
  • 50g Sesame seeds for a garnish at the end
  • Peanut or sunflower oil
  • A mixture of dried chillies (the suggested trio is mulato, ancho and morita, I used paprika, cayenne, birdseye and chipotle) – to taste.
  • 8 cloves of garlic
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 1 tin of chopped tomatoes or 8 whole tomatoes
  • 700ml vegetable stock
  • 2 tsp oregano (more authentic would be Mexican Oregano)
  • 2 tsp thyme (more authentic would be Epazote)
  • A pinch of anise powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • Dried white bread, or panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 tbsp smooth peanut butter
  • 1 tbsp tahini
  • 1-2 tsp date syrup, to taste and add a fruity flavour
  • 25g dark unsweetened chocolate, the expensive stuff
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 to 3 tins of black beans, drained
  • Chopped coriander leaves

Most of the herbs and spices are available from Seasoned Pioneers – but you’d have to be really keen to get to grips with Mexican cookery, or like a very cluttered spice shelf. 

METHOD:

  • In a large dry pan, over a low to medium  heat, toast all of the nuts, pumpkin seeds and whole spices for around five minutes. Stir all the time, and don’t take your eye off them, so they don’t burn. Set aside. Grind the toasted dried ingredients in the spice mill once they have cooled. 
  • In the same pan, toast the sesame seeds the same way, and set aside. 
  • Wipe the pan clean, and cook the peppers in oil for around three minutes, until they are beginning to char, around three minutes. 
  • Add the whole garlic cloves for the last thirty seconds and continue to cook. When done, set aside.
  • In the same pan, add a little more oil. Gently fry the chopped red onion until it is beginning to brown 
  • Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer, you could also add soaked dried apricots or sultanas at this stage
  • Set aside the toasted sesame seeds to garnish at the end. To the pan, add in the rest toasted ingredients, herbs, cinnamon and anise powder, the dried bread crumbs, peanut butter, tahini and the stock, and blend with a soup blender. 
  • Make sure the sauce is really smooth, you may want to put it through a coarse strainer or fine mouli, just to get it smooth enough. 
  • Once the sauce is smooth enough and any stray seeds have been sieved out, bring it back to a simmer for around five minutes to cook the flavours together. Season with salt to taste.
  • Melt the chocolate into the sauce. Adjust the sweetness and fruitiness with the date syrup.  Here is the point when you can start testing the sauce and add ingredients to get it just right. 
  • Drain the beans, and add to the smooth sauce. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and chopped coriander.

Serve with lime wedges to add some sourness, and some plain boiled rice. You could also serve guacamole as a side dish, but buying avocadoes in the local shops can be a bit of a gamble. For a less vegetarian version, you could use fried fish cakes or broiled chicken instead of the black beans.