Pigeon with Beetroot and Rabbit Risotto

I thought I had better have a practice at getting back into the blogging groove. It will be another 4 weeks until I am back up and running properly.

This recipe is a treat. The sweetness of the beetroot in the risotto provides a freshness against the pigeon breast's depth of flavour.

The Purple Sprouting Broccoli comes from my own garden - having a north facing veg patch means that we get this in abundance over a longer growing season than we might otherwise experience.

Ingredients

250g risotto rice
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
100g olive oil spread
1 table spoon of brandy
1 large glass of red wine
4 mushrooms
5 cooked baby beetroot
handful of fresh thyme
100g grilled (or BBQ'd!!) rabbit
handful of parsley
1 ltr beef stock
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon of Mascarpone cheese

3 Pigeon breasts

Purple Sprouting broccoli

Method

Melt the olive oil spread in a heavy bottomed frying pan.

Soften the onion and garlic then add the risotto rice. Make sure this is well coated then add the brandy and flame off the brandy. Give a good stir to the pan and add the red wine.

Simmer off the wine and then the intensive bit of the job starts. Make your stock (I put the bay leaf in this rather than the main pan) and add a little at a time whilst constantly stirring the rice. Do this until the rice has softened - about 45 minutes or so. You may need more stock - it really requires a bit of judgement on behalf of the maker (or chef if you are better than me at it!).

Part way through add the mushrooms and beetroot, sliced to a medium thickness. Then add the thyme - finely chopped.

We had BBQ'd a rabbit last night and there were the hind legs left so I added a bit of that in (not essential though). Rabbit is great - but a bit bony so if you do put dome into this dish make sure no bones get in there - they are an unwelcome addition to a bite of food!!

Just before serving stir in the parsley (finely chopped) and the mascarpone.

Grill the pigeon breasts for a minute on each side. I seasoned with some good salt and nothing else. Let it rest for 5 mins and slice to serve.

The Purple Sprouting Broccoli only takes a minute or two in a pan with a shallow amount of water.

This is a great dish and really enjoyable "something different" meal.

Missing

Andy has been working away for the last year and so hasn't been able to do this blog, anyway he'll be back in August so things should change soon.

New Kitchen

Only a matter of days now till we'll be back up and running

New Kitchen

At the moment we are currently half way through getting our Kitchen re done and so haven't got any updates at the moment. As soon as were back up and running were going to treat ourselves and cook something special.

Fish Pie

Our village has a market on a Wednesday and when time permits in the morning before going to work Andrew likes to go. The fish stall comes from Fleetwood with that days fresh catch so its really as fresh as it gets.

Ingredients

Cod
Sweetcorn
Spinach
Seasoning
White Sauce
Mashed Potatoes
Breadcrumbs

The cod, sweetcorn, spinach and seasoning were mixed together in the white sauce and the the mashed potato was the layered on top with breadcrumbs spinkled on top. This was then all baked in the oven for 30 mins.

Leg of Lamb

Andrew asked that I update his website this week whilst he's away as he thought it would give me something to do, so apologies now for not putting up as much detail as normal. Maybe Andrew will update it soon with the detail.
Anyway my sister-in-law was with us this weekend so we decided that we'd use something local so we choose a leg of lamb from the farm across the road. This was marinaded for a few hours in a range of spices (in a Moroccan style) this was then roast for a couple of hours. Shortly before the lamb was ready we add a couple of tins of Chick pea's so they'd absorb some of the flavours of the meat. To serve we also made a salad with some lettuce from the veg patch as it was a really lovely day we ate outside.

Picture should be here but I can't get the computer to do what i want

Frank Salad

I am not sure if I have any avid fans but just in case I do I need to explain why the blog has been unpopulated over the last month. The reason is that we have moved from our little two bed apartment and purchased an old farmhouse out in the sticks. The place is significantly bigger than what we are used to and needs a bit of effort to scrub it up to my wife's high standards.

Anyway - first job was to plant up the vegetable patch (we moved in at the start of June so were probably a bit late for the growing season but spinach and salad should do ok).

We have some really nice new neighbours and Frank from across the road dropped off some salad leaves and some lettuce for me to plant so fittingly (despite having a lovely range cooker at my disposal - and gas!!!) the first post is dedicated to the humble salad.

Ingredients

Selection of fresh salad leaves
2 tomatoes
4 radish
1 ball of buffalo mozzarella
1 red onion
4 new potatoes
1 oz butter
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of ginger wholegrain mustard
2 tablespoons of honey
1 teaspoon of plum and port conserve
salt

Method

Arrange the salad items (less the red onion) on a plate, leaving a gap in the middle.
layer the mozzarella on the plate with the tomato and put mozzarella in the gap in the middle of the leaves.
Boil the potatoes then drain. Add the butter to the pan and keep on the heat. When the butter is melted add the sliced red onion and then mix the remaining ingredients and reduce the liquid by half.
Place the potatoes with onion and dressing in the middle of the plate, the heat will start to melt the mozzarella and any spare dressing in the bottom of the pan can be drizzled over the leaves.

De Neils Curry

This is a mish mash curry that takes influence from both India and S.E. Asia. This is a home devised recipe but is a real corker.

Curry is a well favoured meal in the UK but there is no need to turn to a tin or take-away as it is dead easy to rustle up your own top notch curry and it is possible to make your own creations like this one of mine.

Ingredients

Spice mix
1 onion
2 tbs groundnut oil
4 cloves
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fenugreek
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp cinamon
1 tsp paprika
3 cardomon pods
3 red birds eye chillies (de-seeded and finely chopped)
3 tsp garam masala

Curry
2 chicken fillets
one sweet potatoe
3 tomatoes
300ml coconut milk
one tsp tamarind paste
4 green birds eye chillies (whole)
250ml reduced fat creme fraiche

Method

Start by making the spice mix. Put all the ingredients (except the oil and onion) in a mortar and pestle and pound to a paste as far as possible (whole cloves are nasty if you crunch on one when trying to enjoy your curry so at least make sure these are bashed a bit).

Heat the oil in a frying pan and start to saute the onions then add the pasted spices fry off for a good fie minutes or so - stirring regularly. This gets the spices working and is an importnt stage in the process.

Remove from the heat and set aside whilst the rest of the dish is created.

For the curry

Peel the sweet potatoe and slice into small discs the thickness of a 1 pound coin but the size of a 10 pence piece. Add these to the frying pan and cook off for a few minutes. The add the cubes chicken and add three tomatoes (quartered). Cook until the chicken is sealed all over then add the stock. To make this warm the coconut milk with the tamarind. Add the spice mix that was created previously and the whole green chillies, stir well. Cook for 20 minutes at a low simmer in the pan, or so until the chicken is cooked.

Just before serving add the creme fraiche and stir through - natural yoghurt could also be used if desired. To finish sprinkle with freshly chopped coriander.

I served with Naan bread a great product for mopping up any left over sauce.

Beef and Mushroom Stew with Dumplings

Right then this is good British grub simple, and delicious. It wont win a Micheline star but it will put a smile on the face of the eater.

Ingredients

500g stewing steak cut into chunks
6 mushrooms
one onion
1 beef stock cube
2 tbs turkey gravy granuals
two bay leaves
6 dashes of Worcester sauce
1/2 pint beer
flour
50g suet
100g self raisimg flour
a few sprigs of fresh thyme

Method

Start by softening the onion (roughly chopped)in a casserole dish with a tablespoon of sunflower oil. Add the stewing beef tossed in seasoned flour.

When the beef is browned add the mushrooms (cut in two) and add 500ml of boiled water mixed with the stock cube and turkey gravy (lighter and fresher than beef gravy granuals). Drop in the bay leaves and Worcester sauce and cook for an hour and a half.

To make the dumplings mix the suet, self raising flour and finely chopped thyme (remember to season them up with salt and pepper) with a few tablespoons of water. The consistency should be non sticky to the hand but still feeling moist.

Make golf ball sized dumplings and add to the stew. If you want soem veg add it at this point. I lobbed in some broccoli but carrots are a good choice as well. Given the flour basis of the dumplings there is no need for extra carbohydrates e.g. potatoes.

Add some extra moisture (I used half a pint of beer) and cook for 20 minutes and then serve.

pollo a la dolchelatte

Chicken is so versatile but by itself it can be a bit bland. If using a chicken fillet simply cutting a slice to make a cavity in the breast makes a great pocket to pack flavour into the meat.

Using salty and strong flavoured dolchelatte is perfect for this purpose. Tht being said Gorgonzola, Stilton and Roquefort all perfectly suitable for the job.

I also add some herbal flavour inn the for, of 2 dried bay leaves.

Ingredients

chicken breast
2 slices of dolchelatte cheese
2 bay leaves
olive oil
salt and pepper

vegetables to serve with

Method

Cut a slit in the chicken to make a pocket. Stuff the pocket with the dolchelatte and bay leaves. rub the outside with olive oil and season well. Place in an oven proof dish and put in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve with fresh vegetables - I had new potatoes, chanterelle carrots and French beans

Oriental Wild Boar

Obviously pork has a limited place in asian cuisine (given the religious preferences of not an insignificant proportion of SE Asia). Wild Boar, however, is probably more akin to the type of pork meat encountered in Asia - the standard European pig (as popular in Britain and Denmark) is a different proposition so when I had a look in the freezer and saw we still had some wild boar steaks this easy throw together was an easy decision.

Ingredients

Marinade
1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 teaspoon Rice Wine Vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 wild boar steaks

Quick cook noodles, mange tout and baby corn to serve.

Method

Add the marinade ingredients to a dish, mix and add the Wild Boar (coat on both sides and set aside for an hour to marinade).

Grill for 5 or so minutes on each side. The other ingredients take about 4 onutes to boil in a pan.

Pork Balls

Nothing to do with pig's testicles - but a cunning twist on the Chinese takeaway favourite (and not very Chinese at all really).

Having 2 kilos of pork between two of us was clearly going to be a multiple meal situation - or at least the same sandwiches for a week.

Ingredients

Pork Balls
chunks of cold roast pork
3 slices of bread (cheap white sliced is best)
chilli chutney
one egg

Sweet and Sour Sauce
2 tbs tomato ketchup
4 tomatoes (diced)
one onion
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar

Method

Start with the sauce - add the onion (finely sliced) to a sauce pan and start to heat gently in some sunflower oil. After the onions have softened add the diced tomatoes - keeping the heat at medium. Add the ketchup, sugar and red wine vinegar and continue to heat gently - stirring frequently. This will take about 15 minutes in total to cook down. Whilst you wait crack on with the pork balls.

Cut the crusts off the slices of bread. Then slice into thirds and coat them on the inside with chili chutney. Seal the bread around the meat, pressing to seal. Beat the egg and season. Dip the bread balls into the egg and then add to a hot pan with sunflower oil. Turn frequently until evenly crispy.

Guacamole

Guacamole is simple,tasty and whilst high in cholesterol its the right type of cholesterol.

The key thing to do is make sure that your avocados are very ripe. If you make sure of this you can't go wrong. I use a bit of my own birds eye chilli chutney (about a half teaspoon) to zing it up a bit.

Ingredients

5 very ripe avocados
1/2 teaspoon of chilli chutney (you could use Bajan Hot pepper sauce or tabasco - just make sure it is a wet chilli sauce i.e. not dried chillis or chilli powder)
teaspoon of olive oil.

Method

mash the avocados with a fork and mix the rest of the ingredients - if you like it chunky just mash a little less.

I served with warm toast.

Roast Loin of Pork Stuffed with Peaches and Garlic

We went to the wholesalers today and got a cracking load of garlic and a big 2 kg loin of pork.

I have done a variation of this many times over the years. Using fruit with meat is not widely enough used as the natural sugars combine well with the meat and any herbs - when roasting like this cutting a cavity to allow the fruit to get into the meat does a wonder.

Ingredients

a 2kg loin of pork
one tin of peaches in syrup
2 cloves of garlic
one teaspoon of oregano
olive oil

Method

Slice a slit into the loin (make sure you don't go all the way throughand ensure not to go to the ends.

Add the peaches, some salt and pepper, the garlic (crushed) and the oregano. I re-used the elasticated string that the meat came in but if you don't have this tie with butcher's string.

I roasted, wrapped in foil, for about an hour and a quarter and served with roast butternut squash and courgettes.

Steak Frites

As a youngster I remember going to France on a camping holiday and having steak frites on the ferry - dead simple, bloody in the centre and charred on the outside. Chips all crispy and the juice of the steak there to be mopped up with the last of them.

For this don't use fancy cuts like fillet or rump - the thin frying steak is perfect. Use a griddle pan (ensure well heated before putting your meat in) oil the meat before putting into the pan then add a good cube of butter on top.

I griddled a tomato to go with and a bit of lambs lettuce (it made me feel better about the healthiness (or lack of)).

Spaghetti with Muscles and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Spaghetti with Muscles and Sun Dried Tomatoes

I came home on Friday expecting a nice piece of white fish or a whole sea bass or something - ritual in our house is to buy what looks good at the fishmonger on a Friday and make it up from there. Judging from the purchase of ready cooked muscles I guess the fishermen hadn't had a good week!!

Whilst cooking your own can add a bit more flavour to the muscle the ready cooked variety are pretty cheap (85 pence for a pack at our supermarket) and a few bits of careful ingredient adding and a really nice, tasty meal can be prepared without much fuss.

Ingredients

wholewheat spaghetti (enough for 2)
2 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
pack of ready cooked muscles
6 sun dried tomatoes
150g of reduced fat creme fraiche
half a glass of white wine
basil leaves

Method

Start by boiling some water and getting the sundried tomatoes on to soak (they need about 10 - 15 minutes to refresh them otherwise they can be a bit leathery).

Get the spaghetti on the boil - mine takes about 10 - 12 minutes to cook which is plenty of time to prepare the sauce.

Finely chop the shallots and garlic and add to a hot pan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Let the shallots soften rather than fry to a crisp. Add a dash of sea salt at this stage.

Next remove the sun dried tomatoes from the soak and slice into thin strips and add to the pan. After the pan is back up to the heat add the white wine and the muscles - make sure you don't overcook the muscles as they only really need heating through.

Drain the spaghetti and add the contents of the pan to the spaghetti pan. Give a good stir, the olive oil should evenly coat the spaghetti. Then add the creme fraiche and a good bit of black pepper. Stir well.

Serve with the ripped basil leaves on top. Great with the rest of the bottle of wine.

Home Roast Coffee

How often do you see coffee claiming freshness? Well fresh ground and fresh roast are two different levels.

Green beans aren't so easy to get hold of but when you can grab them cos fresh roast and ground coffee is a real treat.

Simply heat the green beans in a non stick skillet, they will start to colour and crackle.

The darkness of the roasted bean will determine the strength of the coffee, a softer French roast comes from a brown bean. Black beans pack a punch.

When roasted to your liking place on two pieces of kitchen roll and give a rub to get the loose husks off the beans.

Grind in a coffee grinder. I have had mine for years and whilst electric grinders are available there is something satisfying about using a bit of elbow grease.

Sweet and Pepper Parsnips

Sweet and Pepper Parsnips

Ingredients
2 pasnips
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp sunflower oil
2 tsp golden syrup

Method

Place the parsnips, sea salt, black pepper and sunflower oil in an oven proof dish. Place in an oven for 15 minutes. Then remove the dish from the oven, give a quick mix then drizzle with the golden syrup. Place back in the oven for 5 minutes.

Curried Potatoes

Curried Potatoes

Great by themselves with chapatis - I served as an accompaniment to my Roast Chicken (see next post).

Ingredients

1 onion
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garam masala
small potatoes
2 tablespoons sunflower oil

Method

Finely slice the onions and mix with the spices in an oven proof dish. Add the oil - mix well and place in a hot oven for 10 minutes. This softens the onion and gets the spices working. Add the potatoes (diced) and put back in the oven for 20 minutes.

Spiced Roast Chicken

This is an own creation that relies on a good dry spice rub to flavour the chicken with.

I use free range, corn fed chicken - it costs more than a battery bird but is well worth the additional expense.

Ingredients

1 corn fed free range chicken
a lemon
2 kafir lime leaves
2 pieces galangal
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp ginger powder
6 cloves
1 star anise
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp fenugreek
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt

Method

squeeze half the juice of a lemon over the chicken. Put the other half inside the bird with the galangal and kafir lime leaves (this helps keep the bird moist).

Mix the dry spices in a mortar and pestle. Rub the spices over the bird (if you want to avoid hands that look jaundiced either don't add the turmeric or use a piece of clingfilm over your hand!

Drizzle with olive oil and wrap in tin foil. Place in a preheated over at 180 degrees for about an hour and a half (remove the foil for the ast 30 minutes) - to check whether the bird is cooked prize a leg from the breast and check that the juices run clear.

Let the bird rest (wrapped in foil) for 10 minutes before carving - this lets the meat relax and absorb juices in the cavity.

I served with my curried potatoes, French beans and sweet and peppered parsnips (see previous post).