Chorizo Butterbeans

Chorizo Butter beans

This is a warm and tasty dish that is great soul warming food with plenty of flavour.

Ingredients

One Chorizo
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 sticks of celery
one red pepper
6 cherry tomatoes
a small handfull of French beans
sea salt
tin of butter beans
sprig of fresh thyme

Method

Place the olive oil and chopped garlic in a saucepan and gently heat from cold. This should soften the garlic and it is important to start adding the celery before the garlic starts to fry, do so in a manner that keeps the pan from getting too hot.

After a minute or so add the chorizo, roughly chopped into one pound coin size bits. The better the chorizo the better the dish - I have used the cheapest in the supermarket and found it to be sadly lacking in flavour or good texture.

Let the paprika and fat leach out of the chorizo before adding the thyme, tomatoes (halved) and red pepper (roughly chopped). After the pan has come back up to the heat add the tin of butter beans (drained and rinsed in cold water.

Make sure everything gets a good coating of oil and heats through. Add the French beans, salt and some more chopped thyme about a minute before serving.

This went brilliantly with the Foccacia that was a wonderful way of mopping up the flavoursome juices.

Chilli and Olive Foccacia

Chilli and Olive Foccacia

This is a great big flavoursome bread that used up a jar of olives that I have had hanging about for a while and some pimento peppers to add a bit of zing. The key ingredient is the oil that the olives had been stored in, rather than just using olive oil using the herbed oil that the olives were preserved in.

Ingredients

500g Organic White Bread Flour
one sachet of dried fast action yeast
18 de-stoned olives
12 pimento peppers
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 dried bay leaves
50ml herbed oil (from the olive jar)
1 teaspoon sea salt
300ml warm water

Method

mix the flour, salt, oregano, bay leaves and fast action yeast in a bowl then

Mix the olives, 6 of the pimentos and herbed oil into the bowl then gradually add the water bringing the flour mix around it until a dough has formed.

Kneed the dough on an oiled surface until the dough is elastic in texture.

Place the dough mix into a round flan dish and cover with a damp tea towel in a warm place for 45 minutes. The focaccia should rise. Dust with oregano and the rest of the pimento peppers. Place in a warm oven (200 degrees C) for about 30 minutes.

Turn out into a wire rack and let cool.

I served this with a chorizo butter bean stew (see separate post).

Gammon Ham with Spiced Black Pudding Crust

Gammon Ham with Spiced Black Pudding Crust

This is a bit of a labour of love. The flavouring starts right from the off with the boiling liquor.

Ingredients

One Gammon Ham (sized for the number of people to feed)

For the pot

12 peppercorns
6 juniper berries
2 bay leaves

For the Glaze

2 tablespoons of thick cut marmalade
2 tablespoons of cinnamon cranberry sauce
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
12 cloves
50 grammes black pudding


Take the Gammon Ham and place in a pot filled with water until it is covered. Add the peppercorns, juniper berries and bay leaves.

Boil the gammon as the size requires. Mine was for an hour and a half. My cook book suggests for hams up to 2.25kg/5lb boil for 30 minutes per 480g/1lb; for hams weighing 2.5 to 5kg/5.5 to 11lb boil for 15 minutes per 480g/1lb and those over this weight boil for 10 minutes per 480g/1lb.

When the boiling is complete remove the ham from the pan - retain the stock for a risotto.

Remove the skin with a sharp knife - make sure to retain the fat layer though.

Cross cut the fat and stud with the cloves.

Mix the glaze ingredients together and cover the meat before roasting in a hot oven for 15-25 minutes. The black pudding adds texture and the cranberry/orange mix is luscious.

I served this with:
- a baked sweet potato (cross cut a sweet potato and rub with olive oil and sea salt, wrap in foil and bake for 45 minutes).
- boiled carrots and roast Jerusalem artichokes method as per the sweet potato above).

The next day's ham sandwiches were exquisite - the flavour penetrates the meat marvelously.

Garlic and Artichoke Heart Dip

Garlic and Artichoke Heart Dip

I have had a tin of artichoke hearts in the cupboard for ages. Having never remembered to use them and after starting to feel a bit peckish after dinner last night I decided that the pita breads in the bread bin needed something tasty to accompany them.

This is a bit of a throw together but full flavoured.

Ingredients

3 cloves of garlic
tin of artichoke hearts
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
2 dried chillies

Method

In a food processor chop the garlic then add the tin of artichokes (drained and rinsed). Mix in the olive oil.
add the chillies (chopped)and lemon juice and mix thoroughly.

Serve sprinkled with paprika and dip with warmed pita breads.

Trout with Warm Black Eyed Bean Salad

Trout with Warm Black Eyed Bean Salad

Pulses are much underutilised but are such a great vehicle for flavour. This warm black eyed bean salad could be done with an alternative bean (butter beans or canalenni perhaps).

The fish is simply seasoned and grilled as the natural flavour is not required to be messed with - there is enough in the beans.

Ingredients

one small tin of black eyed beans
3 spring onions
2 tablespoons of olive oil
juice of half a lemon
sprig of fresh thyme
half a glass of white wine
6 french beans
6 cherry tomatoes
12 black olives
dressing made from 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar a teaspoon of pesto.
Good handfull of fresh parsley

Method

drain and rinse the tin of black eyed beans. Place in a saucepan with the lemon juice and olive oil. Add the spring onions (finely chopped)and the thyme. Let this come p to a simmer and reduce the heat.
On the side chop the cherry tomatoes in half and mix in the black olives and the dressing.
Add the wine to the pan and then the french beans, slowly bring the pan back up to the simmer and add the tomatoes, olives and dressing mix.
Slowly bring back up to the simmer and just before serving add the chopped parsley.

Serve with a grilled trout - simply trim the tail, head and fins then season with sea salt and grill until cooked through.

Venison One Pot Special

This is normally something that my wife does with Belly Pork. On the basis that Belly Pork doesn't quite meet the grade from a health perspective venison has been bought into the equation. The Belly Pork does do well with this method as the fat goes soft and delicious - venison is a different beast (quite literally) and gives a different dimension to the dish.

Ingredients

250g diced stewing venison
2 peppers
4 plum tomatoes
12 button mushrooms
500ml beef stock
2 tbs tomato ketchup
2 tbs brown sauce
3 dashes of Worcester Sauce
75g brown rice

Method

Normal convention is to seal the meat first but for this dish everything goes into one pot and does not do anything other than boil to ingredients. As the amount of liquid all gets absorbed no flavour is lost.

Dice all the ingredients (excluding the rice) and put into a large casserole dish with the stock and sauce. Bring to the boil and let simmer for 2 hours. With 20 minutes remaining add the rice.

All the liquid should be absorbed by the rice so nothing is lost flavour wise. Whilst exceptionally simple, and washing up limited this is a great dinner.

Taramasalata

Our house could probably boast a supply of taramasalata vast enough to feed a Parthenon full of Greeks for a week. The way to avoid this is to not use too much roe (like I did). Either way if there are any suggestions of how to convert Taramasalata into something else (cos whilst it's nice there is only so much that I can take) please send them through sharpish.

Ingredients

100g cod roe
an onion
stale bread (4 slices)
50ml olive oil
paprika

Method

Start by grating the onion. I used a food processor to save my eyes. Then soak the bread (I had a left over homemade loaf which is denser than the shop bought air pumped guff) in water and squeeze out the liquid. Add this to the onion and mix i the food processor. As it is mixing add the olive oil.

Cod roe is a funny thing to handle. The roe is inside a skin/sac and can be squeezed out like piping icing.

My error was to use 5 times the roe in the recipe above, I just asked for a whole roe from the fishmonger and didn't appreciate the weight of them. You live and learn as they say.

Mix the roe into the food processor and serve. I sprinkled it with paprika and served with black olives and warm pita bread.