Seeing the amber light

Something unexpected has happened to me since I’ve been living in England. I’ve become a beer snob. Really, no one could be more surprised than me.

I grew up believing that the measure of a good beer is how cold it is. The colder, the better because we were indoctrinated with the slogan ‘a hard earned thirst needs a big cold beer’. Pub selections were always based on which one served the coldest beer (chilled glasses scored highly) rather than the type they actually kept.

When I arrived in the UK and was served tepid, flat beer, helpfully labelled ‘bitter', initially I was perplexed. How could the beer stay cold when poured by the pint rather than the pot? Clearly the poms weren't working up much of a thirst.

I'm not sure exactly when or how it happened but at some point over the last 4 years I had a beer epiphany. Its like discovering iberico after being raised on spam or drinking a proper espresso after making do with instant coffee. Suddenly the penny drops.

Just as I learned that the taste of coffee differs enormously depending on the origin of the bean and how its roasted and brewed, I came to appreciate that beer is a similarly complex beast. The hops, the malt, the alcohol content and the brewing recipe all add up to a smorgasbord of styles from porter and stout to lager, pale ale and yep, good old bitter, a far cry from Victoria Bitter, which I now recognise as a pretty piss poor lager.

As my exposure to different beers has widened, so too has my beer vocabulary from 'mmm its cold' to it's 'biscuity' 'floral', 'citrusy', 'grassy' or 'treacly'. To drink generic bottled lager now seems completely uninspiring, even if its a frosty cold one. Its hard to go back to instant coffee once you’ve had a flat white.

Having seen the amber light I'm thirsty for knowledge and eager to research.  


You'll find me arriving with beer instead of wine when invited for dinner;

Meantime's Porter goes down a treat at a barbeque

I spend my days off visiting micro brewerys like The Kernel,

The Kernel Brewery in Bermondsey

where they hand label every bottle;

a labour of love that few could appreciate.

Angelle stamping Lantana takeaway cups

I seek out pubs based on the range of beer they serve rather then its temperature;    

The Jerusalem Tavern in Clerkenwell

The Charles Lamb in Islington

And of course, I look for opportunities to incorporate beer into my cooking.

Beef and Stout Pie- recipe below

Like a true evangelist, I want to share my new love so Lantana is now stocking some interesting craft beers. Come in and enjoy a cold frosty, metaphorically speaking.

Beef and Stout Pie

(serves 4)


750g stewing beef such as skirt, chuck or shin
4 tbsp plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tomato purée
500ml Stout

350g shallots, peeled

1 tablespoon muscovado sugar

1 teaspoon soy sauce

Few sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, peeled 

200g chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
500g puff pastry
1 egg lightly beaten

Dice the beef into 2.5cm cubes and toss it in the seasoned flour to coat.

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the beef until golden brown. Add the tomato purée and cook for 1 minute, stirring well. Pour in the stout and add the sugar, soy sauce, shallot, thyme, bay leaf and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 1.5 hours. Half an hour before the end of the cooking time, add the mushrooms. Once cooked, remove the bay leaf and discard. Allow the mixture to cool.

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.

Transfer the meat to a 20cm pie dish.

Roll out the pastry and cover the pie. Scrunch the pastry to the edge of the dish and trim around the edge, leaving 1-2cm overhanging. Brush the top with the egg.


Bake for 15-20 minutes.    

The international language of gastronomy

Ah C'est bon vacance en France.

How could it not be? Cocooned in a tiny medieval village in the Perigord region of Southwest France, it was 6 days of eating and sleeping, a castle here, a glass of vin de Cahors there, eating, sleeping, eating, eating, eating, sleeping, eating, eating, eating...

With such amazing gastronomic inspiration surrounding me in the boucheries

boulangeries

fromageries
and even on the roadsideries

I couldn't resist spending some of my holiday doing a little cooking too.

Buying ingredients at the markets and in the shops was fairly unproblematic (and entertaining for the locals) using my basic French with lots of pointing and miming - flapping my arms and slapping my bottom for various cuts of meat. But one day my charades a francais failed me and a request for speck was met with a blank look from the butcher.

How do you say speck in french? "Jambon fume?" "Jambon avec sel?" Apparently not. I was starting to get a little stressed as a queue of customers was forming behind me so in a desperate plea I said "pour coq au vin!"

"Ahhhh lardons!" was the relieved chorus from the other customers as the butcher produced a magnificent slab of fatty bacon. The woman behind me then proceeded to instruct me to cut thick slices: "epais- non fine pour coq au vin". I was patted on the back and wished "bonne chance" as I left the shop. I hope I did the residents of Monpazier proud with my 3 course menu a la Perigord.

Grilled goat's cheese with honeyed walnuts for entree


Coq au vin (avec lardons) for plat principal


and Monpazier Mess for dessert


One thing I won't miss about France is the coffee.

Quelle merde. An opportunity for La Lantana en Perigord?

Recipe for Coq au Vin (Serves 6)

6 chicken pieces (leg and breast pieces)
200g speck cut into thick slices
2 cloves garlic crushed
50ml brandy or cognac
1/4 cup plain flour
200g eschalots
1 tablespoons castor sugar
50g butter
1+1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
450g button mushrooms

Marinade
2 x 750ml bottles shiraz or burgandy
2 carrots sliced
1 onion sliced
3 cloves garlic crushed
12 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
8 sprigs thyme

Combine all marinade ingredients, add chicken, cover and marinate in fridge overnight.

Remove chicken from marinade, pat dry with paper towels.

Strain marinade into saucepan (reserve marinade), bring to boil, then strain.
Heat large casserole over medium heat, add speck and cook for 8 minutes until speck is golden. Drain on paper towels. In same pan, brown chicken in batches. Remove from pan.

Add reserved solids and crushed garlic to pan and stir ocassionally for 8 minutes. Add brandy and ignite with a match, then stir in flour. Gradually add marinade, return chicken to pan and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 1 and a half hours until chicken is very tender.

Meanwhile place eschalots in a pan with castor sugar, 20g butter, 125ml water and a large pinch of salt. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce to low and simmer until liquid is nearly all evaporated and syrupy and onions are lightly golden. Heat remaining 30g butter and oil in large fry pan, dd mushrooms and cook, tossing for 3 minutes until golden. Season.

To serve, stir speck, onions, mushrooms and steamed baby carrots into coq au vin and scatter with parsley.

A national treasure

They say you should never meet your heroes as they will only disappoint. But when I met Maggie Beer at an event at Australia House last week she was everything I imagined her to be; passionate, inspiring, warm, and extremely down to earth. The Agent General for South Australia, Bill Muirhead, introduced her as a national treasure, and a treasure she is.


She was so approachable that I didn’t mind elbowing a few journalists and publishers out of my way to monopolise her in conversation as much as I could. There were many questions I wanted to ask her, (what does she really think of Simon her co-presenter on the ABC’s Cook and the Chef series?, was she offended when he snubbed her singing group's Christmas carol sing-a-long?) but most importantly, how had her career in food developed? She told me about the restaurant she and her husband had run for 15 years- an experience she said nearly killed her because it was so exhausting but, in true Maggie half-glass-full style, said she didn’t regret for a second as it has given her a launching pad for the rest of her career.

I took great comfort in Maggie’s words and in the food I cooked from her book. It doesn’t get much more comforting than chicken pie and baked apples.

By the way, she loves Simon.

Chicken, grape and champagne pie
(serves 4)

40g unsalted butter
3-4 chicken thigh fillets (770g)
2 leeks, white parts only, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 cup champagne
¼ cup plain flour
11/2 cups chicken stock
1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped tarragon
1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped thyme
½ preserved lemon, flesh removed, rind rinsed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons verjuice
1 cup seedless green grapes

Heat butter in large frying pan until nut brown then add a splash of olive oil. Season chicken with salt then sauté in batches until lightly coloured. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add leeks and garlic to pan and cook over low heat for 5 minutes until soft. Increase heat to high, then deglaze pan with champagne and cook over medium heat until wine has reduced by half. Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine then add stock and bring to simmer. Add chicken, herbs and preserved lemon and combine, then cook 4-5 minutes. Add verjuice and simmer another 2-3 minutes. Remove chicken from heat, then add grapes and leave mixture to cool completely.

Sour cream pastry
250g plain flour
200g chilled unsalted butter
120ml sour cream

Process flour and butter in food processor until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Gradually add two thirds of the sour cream then enough of the remaining sour cream to help pastry come together to form a ball. Refrigerate at least 20 minutes.

Cut in 2 and roll each piece to 3mm thickness. Line pie tin with one piece. Spoon cooled chicken mixture into pie and top with remaining rolled pastry. Brush with lightly beaten egg. Place pie in fridge to chill before baking for 30 minutes in preheated 220 degree oven.

Baked apples
(Recipe below is for 4)

50g unsalted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons roughly chopped almonds
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
4 clusters dried muscatels
4 granny smith apples
2-4 tablespoons verjuice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Process butter, sugar, almonds, cinnamon, lemon zest and half muscatels in a food processor until well blended. Transfer to a bowl and stir in remaining muscatels.

Use an apple corer to remove apple cores and create a cavity but don’t push through to base of apples. Use a teaspoon to scoop out any remaining cores and to create a good sized cavity for stuffing. Divide butter mixture between apples then place in baking dish. Pour verjuice over apples then bake 1 hour or until apples are soft. Serve with cream.

Not blagging, baking. Honest gov’nor.

The other night I had a dream that two uniformed policemen came to the café to question me about my blag. "Do you mean my blog", I asked? "No, it’s your blag we are interested in. We’ve heard from various sources that you’re a blagger".

I kept insisting that I have been blogging, not blagging, but they wouldn’t believe me and as they threatened to close down the café I awoke in a sweat. True story. What is my subconscious trying to tell me?

This week there is to be no blagging, barely any blogging, just a bit of baking: a less offensive use of hot air.

Orange and Cranberry Torte (serves 10)
From the December 2008 issue of delicious. (Thanks for the magazine freebies and this damn fine recipe which is definitely going to become part of my repetoire).

350g ground almonds
350g castor sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
3 teaspoons baking powder
8 large free range eggs lightly beaten
400ml sunflower oil
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon and 2 oranges
200g dried cranberries
3 cloves

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C

In a bowl, combine ground almonds, 300g of castor sugar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and the baking powder. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs and oil. Mix together then add the dried cranberries and zest. Combine.

Pour into greased and lined springform cake tin and bake for 50 minutes to an hour- until skewer comes out clean.

Meanwhile gently heat the citrus juices in a pan with the remaining 50g sugar, cloves and remaining cinnamon until sugar dissolves. Increase heat an simmer for 3 minutes.
Remove cake from oven an pierce a few times with a skewer. Drizzle cake with the syrup and leave for an hour to soak in. Transfer cake to wire rack and decorate with extra cranberries.

We all have our intolerances

Is it just me or does everyone have friends who don’t eat certain things because of allergies, intolerances, principles or just squeamishness (my sister in law will eat meat but can’t face a bone on her plate).

It means that every time I have people over for dinner I seem to be faced with a long list of ingredients I can’t use which, on the one hand, can be a good test of my culinary skills (the inverse of MasterChef’s mystery box challenge), but on the other hand can be highly annoying because it often means I can’t cook dishes I want to try and food I like to eat.

I’ve learned that its easiest to avoid certain guest combinations eg- I don’t invite the lactose intolerant friend with the friend who is allergic to nuts as it makes desert a bit tricky and I don’t ask vegetarian friends at the same time as my celiac friend as a few non-meat staples have wheat in them.

On Friday night I invited some friends for dinner and only had to contend with no wheat and no fish: a walk in the park. I wanted to try a recipe for a slow cooked Spanish lamb stew and I could do a flourless cake for desert and grilled haloumi for starters.

At the last minute I invited a couple I didn’t know very well who were friends of one of the other guests. I was speaking to the mutual friend on Friday afternoon and when I told her what I was cooking she said, ‘Oh I think Nat’s vegetarian’. Ok, no lamb for Nat, but she could eat everything else. My friend then called back to tell me that she’d just checked with Nat and she’s actually a vegan.

Nat’s plate was now looking pretty bare but it was too late to change the menu. Instead, I did some last minute shopping and was a bit vague when she asked about one or two ingredients. That fantastic flavour in the pilaf that you were trying to put your finger on Nat? Well, it was butter. Lots of lovely nutty browned butter. Does that make me a bad person?

Below are pictures are of the leftovers I ate the next night. Although I don’t have a photograph, I promise I made Nat a very tasty baked Portobello mushroom using no meat or dairy products whatsoever.

I did feel slightly less guilty about my butter deception after reading Jay Rayner’s article “Eats leaves and shoots ... himself" in the Observer’s Food Monthly yesterday. He says he doesn’t believe you can be genuinely happy and vegan - “…the two are mutually exclusive”. So really I was just trying to spread some happiness.

Pyrenees Lamb with white wine and paprika sauce (serves 8-10)
from the MoVida Cookbook - one of my favourite restaurants in Melbourne


Ingredients

2.5 kg lamb shoulder - ask the butcher to cut into chunky pieces. (You could also use shank, or forequarter chops)
2 tablespoons thyme leaves
150ml olive oil
6 cloves garlic chopped
3 brown onions finely diced
6 bay leaves
7 red capsicums, seed, membrane removed and finely chopped
8 large tomatoes. peeled, seeded and roughly chopped

To make the sauce, heat ¼ cup olive oil in large heavy based saucepan over medium heat and sauté garlic, bay leaves and onion until soft. Reduce heat to low. Add capsicums, cover and cook stirring occasionally for 30 minute or until well softened. Add tomatoes, cover and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add white wine, and cook 10 minutes. Add 5 and a half cups of hot water and increase heat to high. Once the water is boiling add the paprika, reduce water to low and continue cooking the sauce gently for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Trim lamb of any excess fat and put in a roasting tin. Pour in the sauce to just cover the top of the meat (you will have left over sauce). Cook in the oven for about 2½ hours until meat comes easily off bone. As the lamb cooks, some of the sauce will evaporate, allowing the top of the meat to brown.

Eggplant (Aubergine), tomato and herb salad (serves 10)

Ingredients

4 large eggplants sliced into 1 cm rounds
6 tomatoes chopped into 2cm cubes
1 red onion, halved then finely sliced
small bunch flat leaf parsley roughly chopped
small bunch mint roughly chopped
juice of a I/2 lemon
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sumac

To make the dressing put oil, lemon juice, pinch of sea salt and a couple of grinds of black pepper in a jar and shake.

Preheat oven to 220 degrees. Brush both sides of eggplant with olive oil and season with sat and pepper. Roast for 20-30 minutes until golden brown (even better if you can grill them on a barbeque). Allow to cool to room temperature. Gently mix with other ingredients and arrange on a platter. Pour over the dressing and then sprinkle with the sumac.

Pilaf with asparagus (serves 10)

Ingredients

500g basmati rice soaked in water for an hour or 2 (the longer you soak the less cooking time required)
75g unsalted butter
2 brown onions finely sliced
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
2 bunches asparagus, cut off tips and cut stems cut into 1cm rounds
700ml hot vegetable stock

Heat butter in a medium saucepan with the cinnamon and allspice until it foams. Add onion and a pinch of salt and cook over medium heat for 20-25 minutes until the onion is soft and caramelised. Drain rice and add to pan. Stir to coat in butter. Add the asparagus and stock. Cover with a circle of grease proof paper and place lid on saucepan. Bring to boil and then reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Orange and pine nut cake (serves 8-10)
from Tamasin Day Lewis’s cookbook All you can eat: 1000 Recipes

Ingredients

190 g castor sugar
6 eggs separated
175 g flaked almonds toasted and roughly ground
275g pine nuts
zest and juice of 2 oranges (keep separate)
2 tablespoons runny honey

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a round springform cake tin.

In a bowl, beat 85g of the sugar with the egg yolks until pale and golden. Fold in the ground almonds, whole pine nuts and orange zest.

In another bowl whisk the remaining sugar with the egg white to a thick, glossy meringue. Fold, a third at a time, into the orange zest and nut mixture, then pour into cake in.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour until skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool 15 minutes. Warm the honey until it thins and mix with strained orange juice. Pour this mixture over the cake in the tin.

When cool, remove from tin and serve with cream and berries. The vegan just gets the berries.

There is no winter any more

It's official, I read it in the Daily Mail (what can I say, customers leave copies in the café at Tom’s). The Mail fuelled global warming conspiracy theories, reporting that the “burst of sunshine” London has experienced since the weekend “comes just days after one of Britain’s most respected horticultural experts [Dr Nigel Taylor] proposed moving the seasons by bringing forward the official start of spring”.

Quite a clever way of tackling the problem of climate change I thought.

I embraced the early (though I fear temporary) onset of warm weather by experimenting with some salad recipes for the café. This is quite a tasty little lentil number. I'll call it 'Dr Taylor's spring-is-the-new-winter lentil salad'.


1 cup Puy lentils
¼ red onion finely diced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic crushed with salt
handful of cherry tomatoes quartered (or large tomato, deseeded and diced)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ bunch flat leaf parlsey chopped (could also use mint, coriander or all 3)
seeds of ½ pomegranate
handful of baby spinach
1 avocado roughly chopped

Place rinsed lentils in a saucepan with water - about twice the volume of lentils. Bring to the boil then simmer until tender- about 20 minutes. Make the dressing by combining oil, lemon juice, ground cumin, ground coriander and garlic in a jar and shake. Once cooked, drain lentils and while still warm, mix them with the onion and dressing. When ready to serve, combine with other ingredients.

I’ve also made this with blanched green beans instead of the spinach which I think I prefer but I had the camera handy for this version.

The ham

The first time I saw Ina Garten (aka The Barefoot Contesa) on her cooking program I watched in horror as she flattened feminism with her rolling pin, swanned about her enormous house in the Hamptons preparing excessive amounts of rich food for her sweater wearing cheesy friends and doted upon husband Jeffrey. But for some reason, I am intrigued by her and her complete lack of irony. I've even started to try her recipes and mimic her favorite expressions: "let's have a party", "it's going to be so much fun" and "why does everything start with a stick of butter?"

This is Ina's recipe for ham glaze and like everything Ina makes, it's "so good".

Glaze

6 garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 cup good mango chutney
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
zest of 1 orange
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Score and stud the fat of the ham with cloves. Spread with the glaze and cook in a preheated 160 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.



If you want to cook the ham from 'green' rather than buy a cooked ham, here is what you do before glazing.

Soak the gamon in a basin of cold water overnight. To cook, place ham in a pot large enough to hold it. Place it on the stove and fill with cold water, then add a handful of cloves and peppercorns, several bay leaves, a couple of star anise and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Put it over a medium heat and bring slowly to the boil, for about 30 minutes. Watch it carefully - as soon as the first bubble breaks the surface, turn the heat right down. It is very important that you don't let the ham boil. Allow a cooking time of 20 minutes per 500g. Cook in the water for two thirds of the cooking time. Remove from the water, remove the rind and glaze the ham as above. Transfer to a preheated 160 degree oven and cook for remainder of the cooking time.

Of course, ham is the perfect way to indulge in some chutney loving.



For this occasion I cracked open a jar of pear and capsicum chutney.

I had managed to let the chutney mellow for a whole 2 weeks and it was delicious. Not too sweet and not too sour but just right.

A day to preserve

Peering out my bedroom window this wintry morning I was greeted with a sky of grey. A lovely day for staying indoors and making chutney.

Most recipes tell you that chutneys benefit from ageing- anywhere from a month up to a year- to allow the flavours to mellow. The longest I’ve been able to hold off is about a week, the shortest, a day, which may be why my chutneys have a slightly wincey, sharp flavour. This time I’m determined to exercise some self control and give my chutney some time with itself. I’m also going to make plenty so at least some jars will sit on the shelf for awhile.


Tomato and capsicum chutney

1.5kg red tomatoes coarsely chopped
5 cloves garlic chopped
2 white onions finely diced
1 red capsicum, roasted, skin and seeds removed, finely diced
475ml cider vinegar
150g raisins cut in half
8 whole cloves
2.5 teaspoons chili powder
5 small red chillies finely diced
½ cup lime juice or lemon juice
½ tbs ground cumin
420g sugar
2 tsp salt
1 cinnamon stick broken in half
2+1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated

Place tomato, garlic, onion and capsicum in large saucepan and slowly bring to the boil. Stirring occasionally, simmer 20-25 minutes. Place remaining ingredients in bowl and mix well to combine then add to tomato mixture and mix with wooden spoon. Continue to simmer for 11/4 hours, stirring occasionally. Take off heat, remove cinnamon halves and spoon into hot sterilised jars and seal. WAIT BEFORE USING.

Pear and tomato chutney

675g of pears peeled cored and cubed
8 cherry tomatoes quartered
175g light brown sugar
300mp cider vinegar
75g sultanas
2 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons mustard seeds

Place all ingredients in saucepan and cook gently over low heat for 1 + ½ hours, stirring frequently until the mixture has thickened. Spoon into 2 x 450g warm sterilised jars, seal and store in cool dark place for up to 6 months. WAIT BEFORE USING.

Beetroot and ginger chutney

225g onion, chopped
45g butter
3 tablespoons sugar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
450g raw beetroot, peeled and grated
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
25ml (1fl oz) sherry vinegar
120ml (4fl oz) red wine

Sweat the onions slowly in the butter (they should be very soft) and add sugar and seasoning. Then add the rest of the ingredients and cook gently for 30 minutes. Pot the mixture in sterilised jars. WAIT BEFORE USING.

The chutneys of my labour.


And now I wait…

The search for sausage (oo er)

It was a scene like Brad and Janet’s fated drive in the Rocky Horror Picture Show when my sister and I took a wrong exit from the motorway one dark and rainy night heading down to Wiltshire for the weekend. As we veered off the M3 prematurely the headlights shone on a sign by the road, partially obscured by overgrown grass: “Olde Forde Farm Shop next left”. We gasped in unison – our city slicker cunning telling us that if it was olde it must be goode.

The next day we drove up and down the M3 trying to find the sign again to no avail.
Finally we drove into a little town and stopped to ask at a delicatessen that was promoting itself as a supplier of local produce. Surely they’d know all of the farm shops in the surrounding area. Unbelievably they did know the farm shop because they were it - they’d relocated from the farm into town but had never bothered to remove the sign. Despite my initial suspicions and disappointment that we weren’t going to see haystacks and chickens running around our feet we decided to trial their sausages for the cafe. By god they were tastee.

The cook off

The tasting plate


The performers from left to right are: Pork and herb sausage; Hickory smoked pork sausage; Traditional pork sausage; Old Forge special sausage. Unfortunately they had sold out of their traditional breakfast sausage which is their biggest seller.

And the winner for best performance as a sausage goes to....Traditional pork sausage.

Our tasting notes for the file


1. Traditional pork: * Best. Good flavour and texture. Still quite salty.
2. Hickory smoked pork: Strong taste of smoking. Frankfurter style.
3. Old Forge special: Sage comes through. Drier than 1 and 2.
4. Pork and herbs: Quite dry - very herby but no clear flavour.

Co-stars

For this performance, Sausage co-starred with Spinach and Lentils. As one of the true veterans of the culinary stage, Sausage has performed at many venues throughout the world with a wide variety of co-stars. Some would argue it was happiest in a bun with T Sauce or on a plate with its old friends Mash and Onion Gravy. But like all seasoned performers, Sausage has adapted to modern times and now finds itself working with some of the rising stars of gastro theatre such as Puy Lentil.

This is a really easy and yummy recipe for lentils from Peter Gordon’s book ‘A World in My Kitchen’. It has a subtle asian flavour because of the soy and ginger but it doesn’t steal the limelight from Sausage.

Puy Lentils (serves 4 as a side)

1 large red onion
60ml olive oil
1 clove garlic peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon of ginger- grated
100g puy lentils rinsed and drained
4 teaspoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons vinegar
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

Finely dice half the onion and fry in oil until it begins to caramelise. Add garlic and ginger and cook a little more. Add lentils, soy and enough water to cover by 1cm. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer 20 minutes. If still chewy and the water has gone, add extra hot water and cook until lentils are al dente. Heat remaining oil and add other half of the onion finely sliced. Cook until caramelised. Add vinegar and cook to evaporate it then add pomegranate molasses and bring to the boil. Serve lentils with dollop of yoghurt and onions.

Sauteed spinach

Rinse spinach and drain. In a frying pan heat a tablespoon of olive oil. Add 1 sliced clove of garlic and fry for about 10 seconds before adding the spinach. Toss to cover with oil, season with salt and pepper and then cover with a lid and turn heat right down. Cook for a few minutes until spinach is cooked to your liking.

Dancing with the Aga at Duncan's

One weekend a month my sister and her family head off to Wiltshire where they stay in a cottage owned by their friend Duncan. Over the last couple of years the weekend at Duncan’s has become an indispensable ritual in my sister’s life – pack up and head off from London on Friday night after work, arrive late and collapse into bed, wake up Saturday morning to a view of rolling hills and fields with sheep and beautiful dopey cows. The village itself is a small windy street of thatched cottages with a church and a bus stop. No shops, not even a pub (whoever heard of an English town without a pub?). But best of all no broadband or mobile phone coverage. Ah the serenity.


There is very little to do at Duncan’s other than read and, of course, cook. Before I’d been to the cottage my sister had told me about the amazing oven – a Swedish designed cast iron Aga. I’d never heard much about Agas but after a few months living in England have discovered that they are quite the thing to have. Definitely a cold climate accoutrement as the Aga is always on which means it does make it toasty in the kitchen.

The beauty of the Aga is supposedly in the flavour of the food as it uses a less drying, gentler form of heat to cook. The tricky part is you can’t really set the oven temperature. You ‘find the heat’ according to the smug instruction book and learn where to position the food in the different parts of the Aga to get the desired result. For example, you start a roast chicken on the top shelf of the top oven to get a crispy skin then transfer to the bottom oven for a slower cooking heat; boil water in the centre of the left hand hotplate; gently simmer on the edge of the right hand hotplate etc etc.

It feels a bit like learning to dance with a partner. You can’t just close your eyes and boogie like you’re the only person on the disco floor. You have to dance in step and sometimes even let your partner take the lead.

The Aga and I danced the weekend away and together we found the heat.

Saturday lunch - a little two step

Carrot, thyme and orange soup with rosemary and onion bread


Ingredients

2 tbls olive oil
1kg carrots peeled and chopped into pieces
1 onion
clove garlic
about 1 litre stock
thyme
juice of ½ orange



Heat olive oil in large saucepan and sweat onions and garlic gently for about 15 minutes. Add carrots, thyme, then the stock and turn up heat to bring to the boil.


Simmer until carrots are tender. Remove from heat. Blend soup and then add orange juice and reheat. Season with salt and pepper and serve with bread.

Rosemary and onion bread
(makes 1kg loaf)

Topping
1 onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic crushed
2 teaspoons chopped rosemary
Heat oil in fry pan and slowly fry onions until translucent and sweet- about 10-15 minutes. Add garlic and fry another 2-3 minutes.
Mix in the rosemary and leave to cool.

Dough
500g wholemeal plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sachets fast action dried yeast
310 ml warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix flour, salt and yeast together in large bowl. Stir in the warm water and olive oil. Work to a dough and knead well (about 10 minutes until it becomes springy and bounces back when you poke it with your finger). Roll out the dough into a short, thick oblong shape. Make holes along the top with your finger and spoon over the onion mixture. Roll dough around the filling and knead briefly.

Shape into a loaf and place into well greased loaf tin. Cover and leave to prove in a warm place for approximately 40 minutes until doubled in size.



Preheat oven to 220 degrees. Glaze loaf with a beaten egg. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until well risen and golden. It should sound hollow when you tap it with your finger. Allow to stand in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool.

Saturday dinner - the tango

Boef en daube followed by apple and blackberry crumble


Recipe from the Divertimenti cookbook by Camilla Schneideman (serves 6)

1.5 kg chuck steak or shin of beef cut into large cubes
350g streaky bacon
5 cloves garlic bashed with flat of knife
1 can plum tomatoes, with juice and seeds from tomatoes discarded
6 strips of orange zest
1 ½ glass of red wine
2 teaspoons herbs de Provence or if using fresh herbs, 6 sprigs of thyme, 2 sprigs rosemary, 6 sprigs parsley and 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Cut bacon into thin strips and fry gently in a heavy pan until fat is translucent and begins to brown. While bacon is cooking, mix together the meat, garlic, tomatoes and orange zest in an oven proof casserole. Add the bacon and salt and pepper. In the pan used to cook the bacon, heat the red wine, deglazing the pan with a wooden spoon to release any sediment. When bubbling, pour over meat in pot.

Put on the lid and transfer to the oven. Once simmering (about 15 minutes) turn the oven down to 140 degress and cook gently for further 2+1/2-hours until meat is tender.

The stew has a thin sauce like French casseroles rather than the thick Italian type ragouts. I served it with mash and string beans dressed with lemon, oil and salt and pepper.

Apple and blackberry crumble (serves 6)


2 cups black berries
6 apples peeled, cored and sliced
2 tbls castor sugar
pinch ground cinnamon
2 cups plain flour
110g cold unsalted butter
½ cup light brown sugar
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 190 degrees
Put apples in pan with sugar and sprinkling of water. Gently cook until apples start to soften. Stir in black berries and cinnamon. Place in 25 x 20cm baking dish.
Mix dry ingredients together. Cut butter into small pieces and rub it through the dry ingredients with fingertips until it resembles dry bread crumbs. Sprinkle mixture over the fruit and bake for 40 minutes till top is golden.

Sunday brunch - lets rumba

Egg and baked bean tart


A little while ago I made egg and baked bean pie's for one. Here is the group version for 6. This time I thought I'd try a different baked bean recipe and I reckon this one's the winner. I had to cheat a little and use tinned haricot beans as I couldn't find any dry beans as I sprinted around the Tesco store in Salisbury on Friday night before jumping on the last bus to Duncan's.

Baked beans

3 tins haricot beans
4 slices maple smoked bacon
1 onion finely chopped
400g canned tomatoes mashed
1 tbls brown sugar
2 tbls wostershire sauce
1 bay leaf
1 star anise
1 teasp sea salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 extra tbls brown sugar
2 tbls chopped fresh mint

Cut rind from bacon and cut into cubes. Cook bacon and chopped onion in base of lidded ovenproof casserole until bacon is slightly crisp and onion soft. Add tomatoes, brown sugar, maple syrup, wostershire, bay leaf, star anise, salt and pepper and mix well.

Add the beans which have been drained and rinsed, together with 2 cups cold water. Stir and cover tightly. Bake for 2 hours adding a little water if dry. Sprinkle with extra brown sugar and bake uncovered for another 20 minutes until glazed on top. Remove from oven an stir through the fresh mint.


I cooked the beans on Saturday afternoon and then assembled the tart Sunday morning. You need a 28cm pastry case. Follow the same recipe as for the individual pies or use frozen pastry. Heat the beans and spoon into the pastry case which has been blind baked. Make six holes in the beans with a spoon and then gently crack the egg into the hole. Cook in a hot oven for 20 minutes or until the eggs are just set.