Category: Wild and foraged

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. 

 

 

Rabbit paella

I’ve been itching to make rabbit paella since the spring, when we went on holiday to Madrid, and I realised that rabbit paella is a thing. Paella can combine many ingredients, it is essentially a one pot mixture based on what is available. I’ve had a couple of rabbits in the freezer, and once I had access to some fresh garden vegetables, I defrosted one, and this is what I did:

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 small rabbit, jointed
  • 2 chicken thighs, boned and chopped
  • 2 tsp smoked sweet paprika
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 100g artichoke hearts (in oil, or fresh, optional)
  • 100g broad beans or green beans
  • 100g runner beans, sliced
  • 1 can of chopped tomatoes, pureed
  • a couple of generous pinches of saffron
  • 1 litre or so of chicken or rabbit stock
  • 400g paella rice
  • 1 tsp dried rosemary
  • A squeeze of lemon juice

METHOD:

  • Add the oil to a large pan, such as a wok, shallow casserole dish or paella pan, at least 25cm across, and deep enough for all of the ingredients to cook together. Heat it up and fry the rabbit for around 3 minutes, then add the chicken and fry for another 5 minutes, seasoning the meat with salt. Cook until the meat is browned. 
  • Add the paprika and one pinch of saffron and keep cooking for another 5minutes, before adding the garlic, broad beans, runner beans, artichoke hearts, dried rosemary and pureed tomatoes. Continue to stir and cook together for a further 5 minutes. 
  • Meanwhile, heat the stock in another pan and add the rest of the saffron, leaving it to steep. 
  • Add 2 cups of the stock to the fried rabbit and chicken and let it simmer for around 20 minutes. 
  • Add the rice – traditionally in an x shape to ensure it cooks evenly through the cooked ingredients. Add any remaining stock. 
  • Cover the paella with a lid and leave to cook on low for another 20 minutes. Check at around 10 and 15 minutes to ensure that it is not cooking too dry, you may need to add a little more water or stock
  • At the end of cooking, let the paella rest for around 5 minutes before serving with a squeeze of lemon.

Dried Apricot and Angelica Jam

I made this in a large quantity the first time, which was a mistake. When making jam, smaller quantities are easier to manage. This was the outcome of round 2. I also used local angelica, which has a strange and pungeant smell on its own, but divine in apricot jam. The wild angelica locally is Angelica sylvestris, and you need to be sure of your plant identification. It is very common locally. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 500g dried apricots, chopped
  • 1.9 litres water
  • 3 stems of angelica, finely chopped
  • 2 lemons
  • 1.5 kg sugar

METHOD:

  • Chop the angelica and apricots, and cover with the water in the jam pan. Leave to soak for 48 to 72 hours
  • Simmer for around 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apricots are soft. 
  • Add the sugar and lemon juice and stir until dissolved, then boil rapidly to setting point. Pour into warmed clean jam jars. 

Candied angelica

Angelica grows in profusion across North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist. First, rosettes of dark green leaves appear, and then from the centre, around the end of June, great fists of flower buds start fighting their way up above the grass, and then in July, domed panicles of white flowers come out. It is related to Alexanders, and you can candy their stems as well. Other endemic plants in the family, not all edible, include hogweed, and wild carrot, sweet cicely and wild parsnip. 

It is Angelica sylvestris that grows wild here, but there are cultivated varieties with a pinkish tinge, and also Angelica archangelica, a much larger cousin. You can read more about the botanical aspects on the Botanical Society of Scotland blog.  

This year, I decided I would work out how to make candied angelica. We used to get it in tiny squares and slivers, decorating cup cakes, and it is used as a flavouring in gin. First of all, at the very start of July, when the buds were beginning to burst upwards, I cut the stems while they were still tender. I blanched them, filling the kitchen with the most peculiar aroma. I left them in the boiling water for ten minutes and left them to cool. I reserved the poaching liquid. Once the stems were cool enough to handle, I peeled the outer layer off with a small sharp knife. 

At this stage, you could chop finely and add to rhubarb jam, about 50g per kilo of rhubarb.

To make candied angelica. I weighed the peeled angelica, and then added an equal amount of sugar to the poaching water. The ideal proportions would be for each 50g of stem, add 25g sugar, 25g glucose and 75ml water, but we can’t get glucose and I didn’t worry too much about weighing anything. I boiled the sugar and poaching water to a syrup and then added the angelica, and left it to cool. The next day, I removed the angelica, brought the syrup to a boil and then added the angelica again as it cooled. I repeated this every day until the syrup was the consistency of honey. I left the angelica in the syrup for a week at this point, then removed it and let it dry before storing in a sealed jar.

This is definitely more useful as a flavouring than as a sweet snack, the taste is completely unique, slightly bitter, and very herbal. The best thing I did with it was to add it to rhubarb jam after blanching it. It adds a hint of gin to the jam. 

 

 

Orache

I have been continuing my adventures with wild food, and finally overcame my anxiety about trying orache. I am not 100% sure which variety I picked in the end; it was not exactly like the pictures in any of my wild food books. For reference I looked at ‘Food for Free’ by Richard Mabey, Prehistoric cooking by Jacqui Wood, and ‘Edible Seashore’ by John Wright. This last book is one of the River Cottage Handbooks. All three books recommend orache as a wild food, similar to spinach but not producing as many leaves per plant. The Orache plant family is related to ‘Fat Hen’, an edible weed that I find on my compost heap, and other plants in the goosefoot family.

This was also the first road test of the Richard Mabey book, and it let me down by not discussing or referring to the huge range of orache plants. The Prehistoric cookery book also hints at the possibilities, but it was the Edible seashore book and google that were the most helpful.

Anyway, off we set with our bucket, across the dunes and down to the shore to see what we could find. We found a lot of orache, several varieties, growing in the dune grasses, on the edge of the machair, and then on the higher parts of the shore. We found a whole area of frosted orache (Atriplex laciniata), good big plants with lots of shoots. The plants were low, lying, growing straight out of the sand. The leaves were frosted and rough, and there were clusters of small buds towards the tips, arising in the joints where the leaves leave the stem. I took one shoot of each plant we saw, and ended up with about three good bunches. This was enough to feed three people; like spinach, it cooks down a lot.

When I got home, I rinsed it off to remove the sand, and then cooked it in garlic butter for about three minutes. It was very good indeed, better than spinach, and a good side dish. Next time I see it growing well, no worries, I would pick it again.

In terms of nutrition, it was extremely fresh and extremely local, so there was minimal wastage of nutrients. It was better cooked, and the books agreed with me on that one. It is hard to get data on the nutritional value of Orache, but it is reputed to be rich in calcium, vitamin c, vitamin b1, and iron.