Recipe CIV - Rocket Salad

A few days ago, I read something from a Mr Lobstermuncher of Beckenham, Kent, along the lines of "Rocket Salad is rubbish", or words to that effect. Anyhow, I beg to disagree, Mr Lobstermuncher. Rocket salad is really tasty, but that means doing something with it. I have often wondered why kids don't want to eat veggies and salad - if they're so dull and lifeless, I wouldn't want to eat them either. I mean, you wouldn't have ever drunk tonic on its own unless you had spent some time convalescing in the 19th century, so that's why people add vodka or gin. The same goes for salads. Most leaf salads are quite bitter if you do nothing to them. Here's a little suggestion using ingredients nearly everyone has in their kitchens, or are easy to obtain.

Ingredients:

Some rocket salad

Some olive oil

Some balsamic vinegar

(Oil : Balsamic ratio = 3 : 2)

1-2 tsp brown sugar in a bowl

20-30 raisins or sultanas

4-5 hazelnuts

Some ground black pepper

2 cloves of garlic (cut into pieces)

Some grated slices of hard cheese like Cheddar, Parmesan, Manchego, Leicester, etc...

Instructions:

Take the olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, the pepper and garlic, and pour them in the bowl with the sugar. Give them a gentle swirl with a spoon until it's all mixed up.

Take your hazelnuts and crush them with your finger, sprinkling half into the bowl with the salad, and half into the oil and vinegar mix. Cut up half of the sultanas and put them in the oil and the whole ones in the salad. Mix up the salad, then taste the oil mixture and add more of what you think (maybe sugar, maybe oil or vinegar), then pour it all over the rocket salad and toss until all the leaves are saturated.

Finally, add the cheese on top and serve with your main course!

Cherry tomatoes go very well with this dish, as do Mozzarella, basil, chives and a lot of other ingredients. If someone says, "But I don't like .....," just remember that when it's mixed up with other ingredients, it probably tastes fine. But you're going to put people off for life if you serve certain things on their own!

Recipe LXXIII - Mint and Mustard Marinade

I love lamb. But here in Germany, it's really hard to find. In fact, if you go to the supermarket in this area, you find a thousand kinds of pork. I had an argument with the local butcher because once I dared ask for wild boar and she thought I was being awkward. Who's the customer here?? So I do most of my non-pork meat shopping in Luxembourg. I picked up these delicious lamb chops on a recent shopping trip there and I wanted to give them proper respect, especially as the pack said "Origin: UK", which was a pleasant surprise. The proportions in this recipe are purely by rule of thumb, so if you want it sweeter or spicier or sharper, you just add more of one ingredient!

Ingredients:
A few sprigs of fresh English mint
A teaspoonful of ground cumin
A tablespoonful of mustard (you choose the kind - I used a Dijon-style, but I'm pretty sure English or Russian would be just as good)
A tablespoonful of balsamic vinegar
A tablespoonful of golden syrup, molasses, caramel or honey
Ground black pepper
Salt



Chop your mint into small pieces. I used a blender. Put all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix until they form a sticky consistency. Dip the lamb chops in there one by one or all together and coat them. Put them in the fridge to marinate for a minimum of two hours.



They will take on a tremendous amount of flavour in that time.



Put a high-sided non-stick frying pan with some olive oil on a medium-high temperature and once hot, place the lamb chops in there. Fry them until the outside is done to your liking.



I served mine with roast carrots and potatoes, but use your own discretion, of course.



I will be making this again very soon!

Recipe LXVIII - The Yorkish Pasty

Thanks for your patience over the last month - I have been taking a break from cooking for a while, spoiling myself away from the kitchen. I went to London for the Olympic Games and had some of the most memorable days of my life. While I was there, I gained a lot of inspiration for some future recipes, one I wish to tell you about here.

In the UK, there is a great pie tradition. Some languages have only one word for the casing, but in English there is dough, or batter, or pastry, to name but three. I tried a few pastry-based items, however one pie above all really stood out for me during my stay in London. In M&S in Stratford's new shopping centre, right next to the Olympic Park, there are two restaurants. In the top one, there is a tremendous view of the stadium and many other fabulous buildings, but the greatest feature is its Yorkish pasty.

I had only ever been moved to tears once before because of the delightful food put in front of me, but the second time happened there. And I really wanted to share the recipe with you because it is probably the best item of prepared food in the country. This is not precisely the recipe, because it's a closely-guarded secret, but it's as near as I believe to the original as possible.

Ingredients for the pastry (I made half twice - it was easier):
450g plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
120g butter
2 egg yolks (keep the whites!!!)
Some water
A pinch of salt

Instructions for the pastry:
Knead the flour, baking powder, salt, butter and egg yolk together until it looks like crumble mix.

 

Add some water very slowly until it makes the pastry form a dough. Wrap it in clingfilm and put it in the fridge for an hour.

 

Ingredients for the filling:
About 100g of swede (US = rutabaga)
About 300g of potato
2 onions
300g of finely chopped beef
Some finely chopped parsley
Some ground black pepper
Some salt

 

Instructions for the filling:
Cut up the potato and swede into very small pieces and drop them into salted boiling water for 4 or 5 minutes. Drain the water and leave them to cool.

Cut up your beef up into adequately small pieces. Do the same with the onion.

 

Instructions for the combination:
Switch the oven on to 180°C. Take the pastry out of the fridge. Pull off a lump and roll it out on a well-floured flat surface. Take a bowl or a plate and cut out a circle. Put some onion slices in the middle of the circle. Add some beef pieces. Put some salt and pepper on it, and add some chopped potato and swede. Sprinkle some parsley over the top. Use some of the egg whites to brush over the periphery of the pastry to be able to close it up over the top of the filling, making an envelope. Use some more egg white to baste the outside of the pasty so it goes a nice shade of brown. Repeat until all the ingredients run out.

 

Spread some butter inside a baking tray and put each pasty into it. You may end up with more pasties than room. Just baste a second baking tray. Put it in the oven for a minimum of 30 minutes. I put mine in for 45 minutes.

 

I made nine in the end, and they were utterly delicious. But it doesn't come close to the taste of a real M&S Yorkish pasty. Maybe because it was put in front of me.

If you do go to M&S in Stratford, you'll be surprised how many members of staff there are. It was a pleasure to not have to wait round until someone shows up. I hope they open up in Germany.

Recipe LXIII - Apple and Bacon Salad

As I haven't done a salad for a while, I thought the sunny period we had a few days ago was the ideal opportunity to make one. Salads are, for me, pretty unappetising, for two reasons. Firstly, they contain stuff that makes my lazy, feckless digestion system spring into action as if it had to catch up with lost time (a lot of which I am still owed by it), and secondly because it doesn't really fill me up. If I served a salad as main course, I would not be surprised if my guests then went to get some chips or a kebab... So if I were to make a salad, I would at least make sure it had something solid in it, otherwise what's the point of eating for enjoyment?!


Ingredients for the salad:
250g-400g bacon, >1cm thick
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 apples
A bunch of seedless grapes (I didn't use all the grapes in the photo)
A handful of field salad (lamb's lettuce)
Some hazelnuts
Ground black pepper

Ingredients for the vinaigrette:
2-5 tsps of mayonnaise
Some olive oil *
Some red wine vinegar *
Some cream *
5 stalks of chives
2-3 cloves of garlic (crushed)
Some ground black pepper and salt
* Equal amounts of olive oil and vinegar, triple the amount of cream

Instructions:
Cut up the bacon into long, thin slices, and fry them in a frying pan in olive oil or butter, put in the garlic just before the end, and set aside to cool. Alternatively, you can heat it up again just before serving.



Cut up your apples, slice the grapes in half, crush your pepper, scissor your chives. In a bowl, put the liquid ingredients (*) together with the mayonnaise and stir until it is a consistent mix.



Add the apples, chives, grapes, pepper, hazelnuts, the garlic, some pepper, and a very little salt. stir it all in, to make sure everything is saturated.



To prepare your salad bowl(s) for presentation, put in the field salad first. Then, pour the fruity vinaigrette over the top.



Then add the bacon.
You can either spread the bacon over the dish:



Or you can put it in the centre, like a kind of thin inner layer:



In any case, serve with something like boiled potatoes and eat al fresco!

Recipe LXII - Stoved Chicken

Last weekend, I was in Belgium and whilst perusing the shops of Leuven's historic centre, I came across a bookshop where, in the window, was the last thing any Belgian would ever expect to find in pride of place: "Good Housekeeping: Book of British Food". Billowing with nostalgic pride, I immediately opened it, and found everything in it you could ever wish for in a book: advice on choosing various meat; when fruits and vegetables are in season; where the best places in each British region are to buy various items; local gastronomic events, and the main wine producers in the UK. It was a small fortune, but I bought it and took it to work to show my classes. They were pretty fascinated, and not one made a sarcastic remark. Ladies and gentlemen, British food is being taken seriously - get used to it!
Today, I am sampling a recipe from that very book, which took the fancy of some of my French, Spanish and Italian students. As with a lot of British recipes, they are mere guidelines, and not Gospel, so I have adapted it to suit my requirements and tastes.

Ingredients:
500g chicken breasts, halved or 4 chicken quarters
2 thick slices of back bacon, the skin removed and cut into strips
6-8 large potatoes (floury ones like King Edwards), peeled and cut into slices
2 small onions and 2 shallots
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
7 teaspoon-sized knobs of butter
600ml chicken stock
Salt & plenty of ground black pepper
Fresh chives for garnishing



Instructions (there are three layers: potatoes, meat, potatoes):
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Fry the chicken, shallots and the bacon for about five minutes to seal, until they are lightly browned. Leave to one side.



Start layering half the amount of onions and potatoes in a casserole. This will be the bottom layer of the three. Do not forget to season it well - I sprinkled ground black pepper between them. Put half of your knobs of butter in strategic places.



Now put the bacon, chicken and shallots on top. This will be the middle layer of your dish. Sprinkle the thyme into it.



And now for the top layer. Repeat the bottom one, not forgetting the butter. Pour over the chicken stock so it barely covers the ingredients. Put the whole thing into the oven, and wait for about 2 and a half hours.



Sprinkle the chives on top just before serving.



REMARK:
The recipe was in every way spot-on in terms of measurements, cooking times and flavour balance. However, I would say carrots, garlic and some white wine would go extremely well with this recipe.



I wholeheartedly recommend the Book of British Food, and believe that the bookshelf of every true lover of cooking would only be enhanced by it.

Recipe LXI - English Peppered Venison Stew

Midsummer is the festival of virility and fertility, when we men are supposed to show off our hunting skills and prove our eligibility. So I hunted down a stag. Well no, I pulled a pack of venison meat out of the freezer at the supermarket, and spent yesterday evening making this, a midsummer-themed, truly English dish, which smells glorious in the oven and tastes sumptuously divine. It is therefore a paradox, that at midsummer, I am making a stew from it, but such has been the adversity of the weather, that putting it on the barbecue would seem reckless, especially as I am typing this in the middle of yet another shower of rain as a clap of thunder echoes outside in the valley.

Ingredients:
500g-800g diced venison
5 to 10 shallots, whole
5 carrots, sliced
1 large onion, finely diced
5 potatoes, sliced or quartered
Other root vegetables are acceptable, like parsnips, turnips or celeriac
Most of a bottle of red wine
1 cup of red wine vinegar
5 cloves of garlic
1 small can of tomato purée
2 tbsp redcurrant jelly
3 or 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
3 cloves
3 bay leaves
15 peppercorns, crushed
3 tbsp cinnamon
4 tbsp plain flour



Instructions:
Take the plain flour and mix with some crushed peppercorns and some salt. TIP: use a plastic bag for this, tossing the contents to make everything stick well. Heat the oven to 180°C.
Put some butter and oil into your casserole dish and fry the meat until all sides are browned and sealed. Remove the meat to a side plate for a while, keeping the oil going (add more if necessary), and put the shallots in it to brown. Once they have softened (4-5 minutes), add the onions and garlic. Then put the tomato purée in, and cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the red wine vinegar and wine itself. Allow it to boil before you add the redcurrant jelly, thyme, the rest of the pepper and the bay leaves, and reintroduce the meat. You should make sure that the liquid covers all the ingredients. If not, add some beef stock or more wine, depending on your taste.



Put it in the oven for up to 3 hours, but check after one and a half, as the heat may cause the liquid to dry up. Serve with cauliflower cheese or green beans.

Recipe LIX - Coronation Chicken

It's the 60th Jubilee of the accession to the throne of Her Majesty the Queen and I wanted to do something extra special today to play my part in this historic occasion, the likes of which I will never see again. Coronation chicken was the brainchild of two ladies: a florist and a chef, for the coronation in 1953. The combination of ingredients is quite startling as you will see, but the final result is simply delicious, a stroke of genius.



Ingredients:
For the chicken part:
6 spring onions
8 cloves of garlic
900g chicken breasts
Fresh ground pepper
Salt to taste

For the sauce:
1 chopped onion
1 tbsp curry powder
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp tomato purée
juice of half of a lemon
85ml/3fl oz red wine
150ml tap water
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp sugar
425ml/15fl oz mayonnaise
2-3 tbsp apricot jam (YES, YOU READ THIS CORRECTLY)
2-3 tbsp whipped cream
1 tbsp chopped green coriander



Instructions:
Put some water into a deep, rounded pan and add the spring onions, salt, pepper and chopped garlic. Once steaming, add the chicken and simmer for a good half an hour until the meat is cooked through. Then set it aside with a lid on to cool and for the flavours to work in.



While this is taking place, cut up your onion, put it into a saucepan and fry in olive or vegetable oil for a few minutes until soft. Then add the curry powder and let it mix in. Add the bay leaves, wine, tomato purée and the water, and let it gently come to a boil. Add the sugar, lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper and turn down the heat. Allow it to simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, thickening slightly.



Strain the larger bits from the sauce, and leave it to cool next to the chicken. Spend this time cutting up the chicken into bitesize pieces and whipping some cream..



Now comes the weird bit.
Spoon your mayonnaise and apricot jam into a large bowl. Pour in the liquid part of the sauce, and thoroughly fold it in. Add the whipped cream and with the aid of a blender on very slow, turn it into a full consistency.



Serve as a side dish, starter or as a feature in a buffet.

The leftover spring onions in water and the larger parts of the sauce make an ideal soup.
This dish is probably the most satisfying thing I have made in my kitchen. For although it contains some wacky combinations, it was simple, fast and utterly rewarding.
Long Live Her Majesty The Queen!