Recipe LIII - Two-In-One: Spotted Dick (without suet) and Custard, plus a Chocolate Mousse spin-off

Yes, you read it right: Spotted Dick. No, this is not an article on sexual health, it is actually an old English pudding. And one of the most delicious things to ever come out of my kitchen. It is known as "spotted" due to the currants in it. The name "dick" is said to come from the Dutch/German word for dough (Deeg/Teig). In any case, it is king of the puddings at the moment in my house. It is traditionally made with suet, which is beef kidney fat, an unattractive prospect at the best of times. But its 21st-Century remake is done with butter, flour and sugar. The reason there are two recipes this week is because for the custard, I needed some egg yolks, which give the custard its yellowish hue. I only used four, because I think it an exaggeration to waste so many eggs simply to colour up the custard. I could then recycle the whites to make a chocolate mousse. The great thing about these three items is they follow each other in a sequence as you make them and don't require you to do too much at one time.

Ingredients for the Spotted Dick:
100g flour
Half a teaspoon of baking powder
A handful of raisins
A tablespoon of cinnamon
1 pinch of salt
100g butter
100g sugar
2 large eggs
A dribble of milk
I included some treacle (Karamell) in the photo because you could make a treacle version by putting some in the bottom of your bowl before steaming. I didn't.



Instructions:
Put the sifted flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. In another bowl, put the sugar and butter. rub the butter and sugar together really well until they become consistent. Add one egg and a tablespoonful of flour. Fold it into the mixture. Repeat with the second egg. Now put in the remaining flour, the raisins and a dribble of milk to help the moistness. Finally, add the cinnamon.



Your preparation should look something like this:



Put the mixture into a heatproof bowl of about 750ml, seal it with tin foil and put it into boiling water, making sure no water is high enough to not enter the bowl (I put a jam pot lid in the bottom of the saucepan to keep it up). You will need to boil it for about 2 hours.
To remove it, take off the foil, put a large enough plate over the top of the bowl and turn it upside down onto the plate.


In the meantime, you can make the custard.

Ingredients for the custard:
500ml of milk
100 ml of cream
4 egg yolks
1 vanilla pod
40g fine sugar
2 teaspoons of cornflour



Instructions:
Take the eggs and separate their yolks from their whites. Put the whites aside for the mousse. Take the yolks, the sugar and the cornflour, and mix them together in a bowl very, very well.



Heat the milk, cream and the vanilla pod (split open) slowly. Before it boils, pour it into the bowl with the yolks, stirring with a whisk until consistent.



Put it back into the saucepan and allow it to thicken. Serve it immediately on your spotted dick.



Chocolate Mousse - Ingredients:
600g cooking chocolate (broken into pieces)
Those 4 egg whites
40g sugar
100ml cream (thick if possible, but not essential)

Instructions:
Put the egg whites in a mixer and whizz them until they are nicely fluffy and produce peaks. Add the sugar and do it a little more.



In a saucepan, put the chocolate into a heatproof jug and melt it.



Whip the cream for a bit to get it airy. Fold the melted chocolate into the cream with a wooden spoon, then fold in the whipped egg whites. Make sure it is a consistent mixture before you put it into dessert bowls.



Put the bowls into the fridge and let them set. Serve when you're hungry!

Recipe LII - English-style Slow-roasted Leg of Lamb, Vegetable Medley and Roast Potatoes

Lamb is my favourite meat. I love lamb so much, I only eat it four or five times a year. It is such a wonderfully sumptuous meat that the best people in the world to consult when it comes to its cooking are the people of the English-speaking world (UK, New Zealand, India, especially), but also the Spanish to the west of Madrid, the North Africans and the Portuguese. There are some very, very special breeds of lamb that provide some of the best meat in the world.:Shetland lamb, grazing on grasses close to the sea, giving them a briny taste, the farming practices of Wales which have been recognised with the PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) by the European Commission, but whichever lamb you choose, be sure to cook it with love, and over a long period of time.
This recipe takes a loooooong time to cook, but gives you a loooooong time to do other things too.

Ingredients for the lamb:
One leg of lamb, fat removed, tendons cut off
4 carrots, diced
1 whole garlic head, cut in half
2 onions, cut into rings
1 long, thin red pepper, diced into small pieces
3 sprigs of thyme
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary (my rosemary hasn't woken up yet, so I used what I'd saved from last autumn)
Ground black pepper
350ml meat stock and 200ml red wine (see below for details)



Instructions:
Switch on the oven to a low 120°C (or 100°C if you have no fan). Dry the exterior of your lamb from the moisture it may have accumulated by being in a plastic pack. Rub salt into it thoroughly. Then rub your fresh herbs and pepper into it.



Take a large, high-sided baking tray and put your diced vegetables in there randomly. Place the meat on top and put it in the oven for seven (yes SEVEN!!) hours. The low heat will mean it will fall off the bone when time to eat.



After 2 hours, remove the lamb from the oven and pour the stock and red wine over it. Cover the top well in aluminium foil and put it back in the oven for the remaining time.



On the seventh hour (imprecise - an hour either way won't hurt it!), peel your potatoes and parboil them. When the potatoes are ready to go in the oven, remove the lamb from the oven, put it and the potatoes in a separate roasting tray and turn up the heat to about 180°C to 200°C. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes.



Meanwhile, take the remainder of the juice from the seven-hour slow roast and reduce slowly to make a delicious gravy.



I like to serve the whole thing on a large plate so guests can help themselves.



To make meat stock:
Save the bones of a roast chicken. Don't throw them away. Put them in a large saucepan. Add a generous amount of salt, some pepper, dried herbs and an onion, halved. I even used some of the peeled carrot, as you see in the photo below. Boil it for a good hour on a low heat.
Drain it off into a bowl.
Take the amount you want for this recipe and put the rest in an old resealable ice cream tub and put in the freezer for another day.



To make the vegetable medley:
Take 3 carrots (chopped), a handful of green beans (halved), one head of fennel (diced), and 3 cloves of garlic (thinly chopped).
Fry the fennel for 4 minutes. Add the carrots, fry for 3 minutes. Add the green beans, fry for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, fry for 1 minute. Add the water from the potatoes. Cover and cook on a medium-low heat until all the water has disappeared. Put aside until the rest is ready.

Recipe of the Week LI - Polish Pierogi

Polish food: Europe's best-kept secret. There is a north-south split in attitudes to national pride - the south of Europe blows its own trumpet and everyone puts their hands in the air, giving it accolades and being hypnotised by its pulling power. It's photogenic. The north is different: we don't need to advertise the sun or the climate, because we are generally happy with who we are. Despite many similarities with the south, we don't need to advertise ourselves so much, and this recipe is proof: pierogi are, due to the shape and contents, known as the Polish ravioli. But, unlike its Italian Doppelgänger, it requires no sauce to flatter it; a simple dripping and some glazed onions are enough. I had mine with a little sour cream.


Many other countries have something similar to this: German Maultaschen, Cornish Pasties, Spanish Empanadillas, and all have a different take on the same format.
This recipe is inspired by a Czech friend, who recently went to Poland, and was inspired to attempt to make them at home. I hope he tries it once more!


Ingredients for the dough (proportions = this makes about 100 to 120):
1kg Flour (1:1)
125g Butter (1:8)
500ml Warm water (1:2)



Instructions:
Use a large flat surface - I used a drip tray, but your work surface would be enough. Make sure the butter is soft (room temperature). Put all the flour onto your surface and work in the butter. Take the warm water and slowly knead it into the mixture (you may wish to ask another person to pour it on slowly, as your hands will be covered in dough). In the end, you should have a fairly stringy, soft dough. Put it into a bowl and put a towel over it whilst you make the filling.



Ingredients for the filling:
1 kg beef ribs, not minced beef if it can be avoided
2 finely chopped onions3 carrots, peeled and roughly choppedA bunch of parsley, chopped
7 peppercorns, ground
400-500ml water
1 or 2 stale bread rolls
Some olive oil and butter for frying purposes



Instructions:
Preheat the oven to about 160-170°C. In an oven-proof casserole dish, pre-fry the carrots, one of the onions and the parsley very gently on a medium flame. Add some salt and the pepper.



Then put in your beef, ribs included. Pour the water on it until the meat is covered, and put it in the oven for an hour to an hour and a half.



Now remove the beef from the bone and cut the meat into pieces, suitable for an efficient blender. Put in your bread roll (in pieces) to soak up some of the fluids and little by little reduce the whole thing to a pulp in your blender. I did my meat separately and added it again to the mix afterwards (see photo below). You should be left with the filling for up to 120 pierogi, depending on the size you make them.



Bring back your dough. With some flour, break off chunks of the pastry and roll it to about 2.5mm thick. With a pastry cutter of about 7 to 8cm in diameter, cut out circles in the pastry and with a teaspoon, put half a spoonful of meat and vegetable mixture into the centre of your circle.



Fold it upwards and press it together tightly to stop it from opening. Congratulations - you have made your first pierog, only 99 to go!



To cook them, you need to boil some salted water. Put the amount you wish to eat into the saucepan. 8 to 12 per person on average. Once they begin to rise, they are ready. Remember, this may only take a minute or two.



Yesterday, I had mine almost on their own, just with a light sprinkling of herbs and some sour cream.



Today I boiled them then fried them in oil with some thinly-sliced onions.



All the time it took was well worth it.
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Fruit Pierogi (pierogi wiśniowe)
Pierogi can also be eaten sweet. Cherries, apricots, raspberries, whatever.

Ingredients:
Take 500g of fruit
100g of sugar
[some cherry brandy if you like]
the rest of the dough
some milk and a little flour for rolling out.
Put the cherries in a bowl, add the sugar and the cherry brandy. Mash it up a little. Roll out the pastry in lumps and use a cup or glass (+/- 9cm) for cutting.



As in the picture below, the three stages, from right to left - put a couple of light fork marks in them to distinguish them from the savoury ones, brush it with some milk, then put a spoonful of fruit on it. Pinch the ends together very well. Put them in boiling water and serve with some whipped cream and powdered sugar.



TIP: If you have a lot left over, get a freezer bag and put 12 to 20 in each bag. Put them in the freezer. When you're feeling lazy, just boil some water, remove them from the freezer and get yourself an instant meal/dessert.

Recipe L - Bread Sauce (on Turkey Steak, Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli)

Charles De Gaulle was a man obsessed with food. He famously said about France, "How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?" and then went on to say, "In England there are sixty different religions, and only one sauce," which shows you where his priorities lay. As long as the food is to his satisfaction, who cares about democracy and religious tolerance? However, in Britain, there are literally thousands of sauces. He obviously couldn't get a decent chef. This one is so easy to make, and yet people choose to get it from a packet. Things taste so much better when made at home.

Ingredients for the sauce:
About 80g sifted breadcrumbs
About 60g butter
Between 30cl and 50cl milk
1 whole onion
1 clove
Half a carton of fresh cream
Some ground black pepper
A pinch of salt



Instructions:
Take the peel off the onion and with a cocktail stick make a hole in the top. Using that stick, force the clove into the onion. Don't worry, all will soon become clear...



On a hot flame, heat up about 30cl of your milk. Turn down the heat and add the butter and two thirds to three quarters of your breadcrumbs. Put the onion into the mixture and allow to simmer for 15 to 25 minutes, making sure you stir regularly to stop it burning the bottom of the pan. You can, during this time, add more milk and breadcrumbs, depending on how much sauce you want. Once you are satisfied your sauce is runny enough (it's like a kind of lumpy custard), take out the onion and serve quite soon after, as a layer of skin will form on the top!



The rest of the meal:
I took 500g of turkey steaks, salted them and put them in very little butter for about 30 minutes on a low heat. Half way through, I added some freshly ground black pepper.
To go with it, I boiled some potatoes and on top, steamed some broccoli.

Bread Sauce: the onion in it truly adds to the flavour, giving it a tang that will really compliment your meal. This sauce is perfect for poultry or fish.

Recipe XLIX (1st Anniversary Edition) - Grated Cheddar (with Penne al Tonno)

To celebrate one whole year of RRotW, I would like to do something extra special - to dedicate this edition to the greatest, tastiest and most versatile of all the world's cheeses, Cheddar. Real Cheddar that is, not that revolting stuff they stick on top of burgers in some plastic-and-white-tile fast food joint. There are many foodstuffs that have been "copyrighted" through the EU's Protected Geographical Status scheme, like Gorgonzola, Brie, Feta, etc... Cheddar has not. It is seen as a generic name. For that reason, it is much maligned and many cheap imitations have arisen, particularly in the US, New Zealand and even China. Not so much in continental Europe, where there are some other hardened cheeses, like Pecorino, Manchego, Maasdamer and Emmental, all with distinct flavours. What marks Cheddar out from all the others, is it doesn't try to be cool or quirky, pretentious or arrogant. It is what it is - Cheddar, and I for one am so glad my local supermarket here in Germany stocks it.

Ingredients:
250g Cheddar
A grater



Instructions:
Put one of the longer edges of your cheese against the grater on the side where the smallest holes face upwards. With short pressing movements, grate the cheese until you have enough to put over your pasta dish, details below.

To go with your Cheddar, there are many possibilities from a cheese & tomato sandwich (with fresh ground pepper and mayo), to a topping for your dauphinois. I have chosen an Italian number, a variant on the Puttanesca recipe. Puttanesca is a sauce made by the prostitutes of Sicily to serve their customers after they'd... well... exerted themselves somewhat, and needed a pick-me-up. Lots of Italian recipes come out of cans and packages, which is why the ingredients photo is a bit odd this week...



Ingredients:
500g penne rigate
1 can of tuna
1 onion, sliced into large-ish pieces
4 or 5 cloves of garlic
250ml tomato passata
Some olives (usually black, but I'd eaten them all, so green will do)
Some ground black pepper (10 peppercorns or so)
Half a teaspoonful of chili powder
Some oregano (preferably fresh, but out of season, dried will have to do)


Instructions:
Heat up a saucepan with salted water. Once boiling, put in the pasta. Take a deep-sided frying pan and put in some olive oil. Once hot, sweat the onions for a couple of minutes. Add the tuna, olives, pepper and the chili powder, then just a minute before the passata, add the garlic. The garlic releases its aroma very quickly, but putting it in in the beginning burns it, ruining the flavour and consistency.



Add the passata (and if you like, some red wine), and put on a low heat for ten to thirty minutes, depending how much you would like your sauce reduced. Mine was only 10 minutes, because I like my pasta moist.



Once the pasta has cooked (TIP: don't believe boiling times on pasta packs - if you like it al dente, try a piece of it a couple of minutes before recommended cooking time) drain the water and pour the pasta into the sauce. Stir all the ingredients into each other.



Add it to the Cheddar by putting it into a bowl, carefully placing the cheese where it should be: on top, in pride of place.

Recipe XLVIII - Roast Cauliflower, Potatoes and Turkey Breast

The cauliflower, one of Nature's worst-treated vegetables. People boil the blessed thing until it becomes pulp. Wrong. Steam it with some fresh mint, at least, please... I love cauliflower cheese, and can still taste the skin from the cheese that formed on the top of (my old school cook) Diane's oven bakes. She could seriously cook. There were only about 75 to 80 pupils in my school, and Diane never failed to nourish us with the finest food. In this recipe, however, I have left the cheese off, partly because I'm trying to lose weight, and due to this, I haven't got the strength to make a seriously big effort this week...


Ingredients:
400g-500g turkey breasts
2 onions
1 whole cauliflower, chopped into stalks
250g new potatoes
300ml chicken stock
5 cloves of garlic (2 cut into slices, the others just into 3 pieces)
Herbes de Provence (a decent tablespoon's worth)
2 glasses of white wine
Olive oil and butter
A handful of chopped chives (if in season)





Instructions:
Heat the oven to 160°C. Take a high-sided pan and fry the turkey, 2 cut cloves of garlic and onion until the meat is sealed and the vegetables are soft. Put in the chicken stock, herbes de Provence and wine, and let it heat up on a low flame. Take the turkey out of the liquid and cut it into bitesize pieces. Cut the new potatoes in half and parboil them for 7 minutes or so. In a baking tray, spread the cauliflower (still raw), potatoes and turkey around, and put in the other cloves of garlic at intermittent places. Pour olive oil over the combination, and put some slices of butter on the top.
Cook for 30 to 45 minutes in the oven, or longer, depending when you want to eat. When nearly ready, reheat the chicken stock from earlier and pour it over your creation, either on the plate or while it is still in the oven dish. Put the chives on top and serve immediately. It would accompany some peas and (baby) carrots really well.



If you have worked really hard (like me), indulge yourself with some mayonnaise or mustard.

Recipe XLVII - Beef and Ale Pie

The French often sneer when it comes to the cooking of that island off its northern coast, yet they only have one word for dough, pastry, batter and paste: la pâte. The British can distinguish between all different types of flour-based substance, and in this one, they're coming up with one of the finest examples of traditional cooking anywhere. The method is so simple, very little needs to happen, but it requires a little timing. And at the end, it will provide your stomach with all the satisfaction it needs.


Ingredients:
900g of steak, diced into bitesize pieces
2 large onions, sliced into rings
10 button mushrooms
6 carrots
75g butter
40g flour seasoned with salt, ground black pepper and dried herbs
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 250ml bottles of Guinness or other stout
275g puff pastry
1 egg



Instructions:
Cut up the vegetables and roll the beef in the seasoned flour.



Put the majority of the butter in a high-sided pan and when melted, fry the beef in it. Once sealed, add the vegetables.



Sweat them for a few minutes, then add the bay leaves and pour the ale in. Put on a low heat and simmer for an hour or more.



Towards the end of the beef's time in the pan, turn on the oven to a little over 200°C. Get your puff pastry and put your baking dish on top of it. With a knife, cut round the outside of the dish to make the top of the pie. Leave it aside until needed. With the rest, roll it into a ball and use it to make a base. Or if you prefer, to make some decoration on the top. I used mine for a base, because I absolutely adore stodgy pastry. Then, with a ladle, pour the contents of the pan into the baking dish.



Then put the top on, and with a fork, pinch the edges of the pastry onto the baking dish to seal it. Brush the egg onto the top of the pastry to glaze. Put it into the oven for 20 to 30 minutes.



Take the pie out of the oven and leave it for a few minutes to cool.



To take it out of the baking dish, cut through the middle with a knife and put the pastry upside down on a separate plate. Spoon the interior out onto the plate and put the pastry on top.